Month: January 2018

From Van Gogh To A Crapper

Sunday in the rain…….

This is the perfect post because of the president’s SOTU message will be given to the country next week….

Donald and Melania Trump wanted to borrow a Van Gogh painting from a New York museum for their White House private quarters, the AP reports. Instead, according to the Washington Post , the Guggenheim Museum’s chief curator came up with a pointedly satirical counter-offer: a working solid-gold toilet made by an Italian artist. The first couple had asked for Van Gogh’s Landscape With Snow, featuring a man and his dog. Curator Nancy Spector has been openly critical of Trump in social media. She emailed the White House Office of the Curator in September to say that the Trumps could borrow the toilet installation used by visitors in a museum restroom until mid-September. The 18-karat toilet, titled America, is Maurizio Cattelan’s jab at the nation’s greedier instincts. It has an estimated value topping $1 million.

Spector included a photograph in her email, saying, “We are sorry not to be able to accommodate your original request, but remain hopeful that this special offer may be of interest.” The toilet could be “a long-term loan,” she wrote. “It is, of course, extremely valuable and somewhat fragile, but we would provide all the instructions for its installation and care.” In a museum blog last year, the curator referred to Trump as “he of the eponymous gilded tower.” The president favors the color gold, plating bathroom fixtures in his various homes with the precious metal and redecorating the Oval Office with gold-hued drapes. The curator said his presidency has been “marked by scandal and defined by the deliberate rollback of countless civil liberties, in addition to climate-change denial that puts our planet in peril.”

No need for a closing statement….

See you guys tomorrow….chuq

Is It A Bad Rep?

MY regular readers know that I am a bit of a history wonk….and guess what…..a Saturday and a history post (and you thought you were safe on the weekends)

When studying world history we are taught that the epidemic known as “the Black Death” ravaged most of the known world and rats are always point to as the culprits as the carriers of the disease……

Is it possible our teachings could be wrong?

Those poor, misjudged rats? According to infectious disease experts in Norway and Italy, rats aren’t to blame for the spread of the Black Death, which has previously been referred to as the species’ most infamous crime. In fact, humans might’ve been directly involved, reports the CBC. While studying nine European plague outbreaks that killed 125,000 people between 1348 and 1813—considered the second pandemic of the bubonic plague, following the first in the sixth century—researchers at the University of Oslo and University of Ferrara used mathematical models to compare scenarios of transmission by humans, by fleas carried by rats, and by parasites carried by humans, reports CNN. In seven of nine European cities, the latter scenario best matched evidence in mortality records.

The theory is that fleas and lice carried by humans would bite an infected person, then jump to another victim and bite again, quickly spreading the disease, per the Independent. Researchers believe this is what led to the deaths of 10,000 people in Florence in 1400, 17,000 people in London in 1563-64, and more than 53,000 people in Moscow in 1771, according to the study published Monday in PNAS. Experts believe this may also explain more recent plague outbreaks in Africa. But perhaps you shouldn’t feel so bad for those misjudged rats after all. The study notes the flea-carrying rodents did help spread the plague in the third pandemic, starting in 1855. There are also researchers who continue to believe rats were involved in the Black Death, reports National Geographic, suggesting this “provocative” study won’t be the final word. (The Black Death had an upside.)

Your new theory has been taught…..have a good weekend…..be well, be safe…..chuq

Closing Thought–26Jan18

Ever notice there are always lists for everything?

And a new list of countries to be careful of has been issued……

US authorities issued an emergency order Monday requiring additional screening of cargo on flights departing for the United States from five Mideast countries, citing a threat of terrorism. The Transportation Security Administration order is aimed at preventing terrorist attacks in response to “persistent threats to aviation,” TSA said in a statement. The countries falling under this order are Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. The countries were chosen because of “demonstrated intent by terrorists groups to attack aviation from them,” the statement said. TSA said most of the requirements of the emergency order are already being carried out voluntarily by airlines in some countries, but it didn’t identify the countries.

Airlines that TSA said are affected by the order are EgyptAir, Royal Jordanian, Saudia, Qatar Airways, Emirates, and Etihad, although EgyptAir no longer accepts cargo shipments on flights to the US at the request of American authorities, notes the AP. Under the requirements of the order, airlines are supposed to provide certain information on the shipments “at the earliest practical point” before loading the cargo to US customs officials. The shipment information is then compared to information the US has on terror threats.

What I find the most interesting is that most of the countries are allies……go figure!

Just Another Shooting…..

I have waited a couple of days before I wrote about the latest gun violence…..I wanted to see how the nation dealt with it……apparently it is no big deal…….it is sad to see how this has been handled….

Another school shooting is in the news, this time in western Kentucky. Two 15-year-olds, a boy and a girl, were fatally shot Tuesday morning at Marshall County High School in Benton, Kentucky. Twelve others were injured by gunfire, and another five were otherwise injured in the chaos that ensued, says Gov. Matt Bevin. The alleged shooter is in custody and has been identified only as a 15-year-old classmate of the victims. More details on what is and isn’t known:

  • The shooting: Police say the shooter entered the school just before 8am and opened fire with a handgun. First responders got to the school in about nine minutes, and a deputy arrested the suspect. “He was apprehended non-violently at the scene,” says Lt. Michael Webb of the State Police, per NBC News. “There is no way to tell how far it would have gone.” A school law enforcement or resource officer was at the school when the shooting occurred, per Kentucky.com.
  • The motive: Police have not speculated on one. The suspect, who is expected to be charged with murder and attempted murder, was pictured being led away in handcuffs.
  • The victims: Few details were being released, but most of the victims were believed to be students. The deceased girl was dead at the scene, and the boy died at a hospital. Authorities have not identified them. At least two of those injured had gunshot wounds to the head, reports the Lexington Herald Leader.
  • The scene: The shooting erupted in a school common area, just before the start of classes. “I tried to run, but I fell,” says 16-year-old Lexie Waymon. “I heard someone hit the ground. It was so close to me. I just heard it and then I just, everything was black for a good minute. Like, I could not see anything. I just froze and did not know what to do. Then I got up and I ran.”
  • The escape: “They was running and crying and screaming,” Mitchell Garland, who provided shelter to dozens of students at his nearby business, tells the AP. “They was just kids running down the highway. They were trying to get out of there.”
  • Training: Students at the school, located about 120 miles northwest of Nashville, Tenn., recently underwent training on what to do in the event of an “active shooter,” says State Police chief Rick Sanders. They “did exactly as they were trained,” he said, per Kentucky.com.

Second in 2 days: The shooting follows another at a high school in the town of Italy, Texas, on Monday. Police there say a 16-year-old boy shot a 15-year-old girl in the school cafeteria. She is recovering in the hospital, and the suspect has been charged as a juvenile with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, reports NBC 5. One group counts nearly 300 school shootings since 2013.

It made the news but that was all there was…..a single day of varying reports about the shooting.

I guess it is no big deal any longer….I mean we have had 1500 mass shootings since Sandy Hook……and 2 this month alone.  Apparently these shootings have reached the point that it is just a routine event in our society.

Time For Turkey To Go

The country of Turkey has been in the news lately….from the supposed coup to the battle against ISIS to confronting the US over the Kurds in Syria…..in other words they are being a major pain in the butt of the US.

They have even threatened the US on Syria……

US-Turkey tensions mounting surrounding the Turkish invasion of the Syrian Kurdish Afrin District look to be getting much worse, with Turkey’s deputy premier Bekir Bozdag warning that the US is the one risking confrontation by supporting the Kurds.

Bozdag warned the US needs to “review its soldiers and elements giving support to terrorists on the ground,” and that US forces who continue to support the Kurdish YPG, which Turkey considers terrorists “will become a target in this battle.”

(antiwar.com)

How will Trump handle this threat coming from his “bromance”?

Turkey has been a member of NATO since 1952….they became a member during the Cold War as a blocking country for Soviet expansionism….but with the election of Erdagon Turkey has been becoming a “freneny” more so than an ally on the world stage.

Maybe now would be a good time to give Turkey the boot from NATO……

The case for evicting Turkey from NATO got stronger this week.

First, the United States announced the backing of a border security force drawn mainly from the People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Rojava, the quasi-independent Kurdish region in northeastern Syria along the Turkish border. Then Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says he will “strangle” that American-backed force “before it’s even born.” Russia, Iran and Syria’s Assad regime are standing with Erdogan.

The YPG, along with the multiethnic Syrian Democratic Forces which the YPG dominates, are the only armed groups indigenous to Syria that are willing and able to take on ISIS and win, and they’re the only significant armed faction in Syria’s dizzying civil war that isn’t ideologically hostile to the West. In October of last year, they finally liberated Raqqa, the “capital” of the ISIS “caliphate,” while the Russian and Syrian militaries were busy pounding rebels instead in the west.

http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/blog/michael-j-totten/time-kick-turkey-out-nato

Question should be would retaining Turkey in NATO be more beneficial than giving them the boot?

Trump Cronies Look At The World

As a foreign policy wonk I am always watching our public servants and how they handle situations…..the NatSec Adviser and the DoD are setting the tone and have blocked out State Department….

WE have a SecDef that thinks cute little statements will smooth over a wealth of crap spread by his boss.

Mattis tries to schmooze the Iranian people…..he will fail.

The U.S. has “no beef” with the Iranian people who have shown in recent street protests that they “aren’t buying” the policies of the regime in Tehran, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Friday.

Matts also told Pentagon reporters that Iran has thus far failed in the grand scheme to establish a “land bridge” across Syria as part of an overall effort to create a “Shiite crescent” in the Mideast running from Tehran to Beirut.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2018/01/08/mattis-us-has-no-beef-iranian-people-just-regime.html#.WlTmlt-yGCk.twitter

I think it is a wonderful statement but not firmly rooted in reality…..does he not realize that if push comes to shove it will be the Iranian people that will pay the price?  Like I said…..a cute statement.

Then there is McMasters who some consider a intellectual a thinking man’s soldier……and in reality he is nothing more than a warmonger toad…..

Why is H.R. McMaster so alarmed by North Korea? Why does Donald Trump’s national-security adviser insist—more vigorously than any administration official except the president himself—that Kim Jong Un must be denied the capability to place a nuclear warhead on a missile that can reach the United States, even if this requires initiating a military conflict with the North that could devolve into a cataclysmic war?

While Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense James Mattis are focused on diplomatic efforts to curb North Korea’s nuclear program, McMaster “is arguing more vocally, publicly and privately, that military options need to be considered,” The Wall Street Journal noted on Tuesday. The Trump administration, it reported, is debating whether to give Kim a “bloody nose” by conducting limited strikes against North Korean targets in retaliation for further nuclear or missile tests.

http://www.defenseone.com/politics/2018/01/world-according-hr-mcmaster/145087/

Nothing has changed…the M-IC owns DC and sets the agendas.

Closing Thought–25Jan18

Warnings Issued All Around!

The South China Sea is an active and popular spot…..China is flexing its muscle in the region…..most warnings are aimed at the US……

The Chinese government on Saturday accused the US of trespassing in its territorial waters when a US guided missile destroyer sailed near a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, the AP reports. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said China would take “necessary measures” to protect its sovereignty after the USS Hopper sailed within 12 nautical miles of Scarborough Shoal on Wednesday evening without China’s permission. Scarborough is a tiny, uninhabited reef that China seized from the Philippines in 2012. Known in Chinese as Huangyan Island, it lies about 120 miles west of the main Philippine island of Luzon, and about 370 miles southeast of China.

Defense Ministry spokesperson Wu Qian said a Chinese missile frigate moved to identify and verify the US vessel and warned it to leave the area. “We hope that the US respects China’s sovereignty, respects the efforts by regional countries, and do not make trouble out of nothing,” Wu said in a statement. The South China Sea has crucial shipping lanes, rich fishing grounds, and potential oil, gas, and other mineral deposits. China claims virtually the entire South China Sea and has carried out extensive land reclamation work on many of the islands and reefs it claims. The US does not claim territory in the South China Sea but has declared it has a national interest in ensuring that the territorial disputes there are resolved peacefully in accordance with international law. The Navy regularly sails through the area to assert freedom of navigation.

This is a region that the common person needs to keep an eye on because it will get hot quickly and without a warning (no pun intended).

Political Insanity

I could be writing about a fellow blogger whose site, “Finding Political Sanity”….but in this case it is more about political rhetoric.

This is an observation on the use of different terms to describe things we see and read……

A constant thread running through all of these “politicals” is that they are fraudulent. They are concepts that subvert, displace, and weaponize that which they profess to represent.

“Political Islam” is anti-Islamic. “Political Christianity” is anti-Christian. “Political Humanitarianism” is anti-humanitarian, and “political feminism” is anti-feminism.

“Political Islam” as represented by Wahhabism is an anti-Islamic extremist ideology that is grown nurtured and sustained by US imperialism which imposes mass murder, destruction, chaos and sectarianism on prey nations such as Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq, and Syria.

https://www.globalresearch.ca/political-insanity/5625901

Keep in  mind that social media plays a large roll in politics these days….as long as a leader can use 35% of the populace to help spread his brand of lies and misinformation……anything is possible.

USS Pueblo

Unless you are an old fart then the USS Pueblo means nothing.  During the Vietnam War a US naval sigint ship was captured by the North Koreans……

Fifty years after it was seized by North Korea, the USS Pueblo is the only US Navy ship held captive by a foreign government. And though mostly forgotten in the United States, the “Pueblo Incident” for North Korea remains a potent symbol of military success. The spy ship, attacked and captured 50 years ago this week, sits in the frozen Potong River on the edge of the sprawling “Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum” complex in central Pyongyang, the AP reports. Amid an escalating flow of rhetorical attacks on Washington for allegedly trying to sour North-South relations ahead of next month’s Winter Olympic, North Korea’s state-run media have played up the anniversary as a milestone in the country’s struggle against the US.

The Pueblo was ill-equipped for the fight it got on Jan. 23, 1968. One US sailor was killed when the ship was strafed by machine gun fire and boarded. The 82 survivors were taken prisoner. The US sent carriers to the Sea of Japan and demanded the captives be released. North Korea, for its part, forced members of the crew, who say they were beaten frequently, to make public confessions. Former POW Stu Russell says their treatment worsened when their captors realized the meaning of the middle finger gesture they had been making when forced to pose for propaganda photos. The incident came to an end and the crew members were freed on Dec. 23, 1968, after Maj. Gen. Gilbert H. Woodward, the chief US negotiator, signed a statement acknowledging that the Pueblo had “illegally intruded into the territorial waters of North Korea.”

A little slice of American Naval history……

Fifty years ago, on 23 January 1968, the North Korean Navy opened fire on the U.S. Navy in international waters off North Korea’s east coast in the Sea of Japan. The one-sided battle lasted almost two hours and left one U.S. sailor dead, more than a dozen others injured, the ship captured, and the surviving crew taken hostage. The first shots were fired at about 1332 (local time). The Koreans brought two sub chasers, three torpedo boats, and a couple of MiG fighters to the battle. The U.S. Navy brought the USS Pueblo (AGER-2)—virtually unarmed and outfitted as an electronic surveillance platform.

https://www.usni.org/magazines/navalhistory/2018-02/hell-and-back

Live and learn…..the history lesson is over…..class dismissed.