Saturday–27Oct18–Part Two

One of my favorite stories is when I was in rehab and having to do a lot of physical exercise trying to get my leg back. The Rehab company did a lot of work with the local high school and junior college for sports injuries….well this one day two male high school students were talking while they exercised…apparently one of them had a date with the ever popular Betty Lou(name change to protect the innocent) it seems that these two youngsters went to see the movie Titanic….after a few minutes talking about the movie the one male said “and in the end the boat sank”…and then he said “I did not see that coming”…..well I stopped my routine and stood there in amazement.

What made me think about that day in Rehab was another story I read…..

The makers of the Titanic II aren’t boasting about it being “unsinkable”—but they do promise it will have much better iceberg-detection technology than the original, along with plenty of lifeboats. Blue Star Line Cruises says the replica ship, which was delayed for years by a financial dispute, will make its maiden voyage in 2022, USA Today reports. The company says the ship’s maiden voyage will be from Dubai to Southampton, followed by a journey across the Atlantic, retracing the route its doomed predecessor followed in 1912.

The replica, which will cost an estimated $500 million to build and is being made in China instead of Belfast, is going to have 2,400 passengers and 900 crew, almost exactly the same number as the original, and a very similar cabin layout. Blue Star Line says that after the maiden voyage, the ship will undertake world cruises for the rest of 2022. “The ship will follow the original journey, carrying passengers from Southampton to New York, but she will also circumnavigate the globe, inspiring and enchanting people while attracting unrivaled attention, intrigue, and mystery in every port she visits,” Blue Star Line chairman Clive Palmer tells MSN.

Whatcha think?

Me?

I’m saving my money and drink wine in my garden.

Saturday–27Oct18

Cooler weather for awhile…..garden is slowly showing the signs of approaching winter….Mo is ripping around the back yard and I am enjoying my beer….all in all a good day….this was the planter I was going to use for my radishes…..

I remember years ago when the Large Hadron Collider was in the process of being turned on and all the doom and gloom coming from some quarters.

We were told that once it was up and functioning then a massive black hole would be created and the destruction of our planet would be eminent….remember all those warnings?

Guess what. The predictions have returned!

Martin Rees, a well-respected British cosmologist, has a warning about particle accelerators. There is a small, but very real possibility of disaster. Rees claims Earth could be crushed to the size of a soccer field by particle accelerators.

The Large Hadron Collider, which is a particle accelerator, shoots particles at incredibly high speeds, smashes them together, and scientists observe the fallout. According toScience Alert, these high-speed collisions have helped us discover a lot of new particles, but according to Rees, these discoveries come with several risks to humanity. In a new book, called On The Future: Prospects for Humanity, he gives some pretty dire possible outcomes of this type of advancement in science.

Maybe a black hole could form, and then suck in everything around it,” he writes, as Sarah Knapton reported over at the Telegraph.

“The second scary possibility is that the quarks would reassemble themselves into compressed objects called strangelets. That in itself would be harmless. However, under some hypotheses, a strangelet could, by contagion, convert anything else it encounters into a new form of matter, transforming the entire earth in a hyperdense sphere about one hundred meters across.”

That’s about the length of one soccer field or 330 feet.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-10-02/renowned-cosmologist-warns-earth-could-be-crushed-particle-accelerator

Should we worry?

Time to sit and think……

Does The FBI Have Their Man?

Final Thought–26Oct18

Clapper, both Clintons, Obama, Biden, DiNero, Booker, Holder, Waters, CNN, Soros and Wasserman-Shultz….(a who’s who of the Democrats)….all these people were targeted by some unknown bomber…..and every one of these people, these public figures have been singled out by Pres. Trump for an angry insulting Tweet…..so he, Trump and his idiot gang around him wants the country to believe that these are just coincidences.

That is Bullsh*t!

And if you are waiting for the GOP to step forward then you have a long wait…..these gutless wonders will allow the Bullshit to continue…..

But not to worry…..the FBI has their man (we hope)…..

But after bitching about the bombs were putting the GOP off the headlines…..yep our president is worried about his election….then he praises the FBI for the arrest now that his election stuff can return to the forefront…..

President Trump on Friday praised the quick arrest of a suspect in the mail bomb case and promised that “swift and certain justice” would follow. “These terrorizing acts are despicable and have no place in our country,” Trump said. Speaking soon after authorities announced the arrest of Florida man accused of mailing explosive devices to prominent Democrats, Trump declared that “we must never allow political violence to take root in America,” reports NBC News. “We cannot let it happen. I am committed to do everything in my power as president to stop it and stop it now.” Americans, he said, “must unify.”

As the AP notes, the president’s remarks came after he tweeted a complaint about how the media’s focus on the incidents were distracting from what he sees as a Republican upswing ahead of the midterms. “Republicans are doing so well in early voting, and at the polls, and now this ‘Bomb’ stuff happens and the momentum greatly slows — news not talking politics. Very unfortunate, what is going on. Republicans, go out and vote!”

What a petty pathetic little man.

Another American Death

Closing Thought–26Oct18

Sad news another American soldier has been killed in Afghanistan……

Sgt. James Slape, 23, was killed by an IED in Afghanistan Oct. 4—and in a new report, the New York Times

An armored vehicle first struck a roadside bomb; no one was injured, but when Slape, a bomb disposal technician, went to the area with others to locate explosives and clear a path for the damaged truck to be towed away and its passengers to exit, he stepped on the bomb that killed him

Sgt. Slape’s unit had requested new and better equipment and it had been denied…..

Army National Guard unit had requested better equipment and training, but had been denied both because funds were not available.

Two officials tell the Times Slape’s unit was not in possession of the most advanced mine detectors that can be used to find bomb components used by the Taliban, and bomb technicians say much of the equipment and training his unit had asked for would have been standard for bomb disposal units in an area like Helmand. But it’s not clear whether the denial of such equipment contributed to Slape’s death.

As much money as this country spends on defense contracts then every soldier should have the most up to date and safer equipment available.

Just my thought here.

Our thoughts go out to Sgt. Slape’s family.

“Make America Great Again”–Part Three

Every hear of the Seven Years War or how about the French and Indian War? Actually they were the same war just from different angles.

History is a good subject……and many readers are into history……plus the editor is also a history nerd….this is an excellent series for those that enjoy learning American history.

Below is the third installment of the “American History for Truthdiggers” series, a pull-no-punches appraisal of our shared, if flawed, past. The author of the series, Danny Sjursen, an active-duty major in the U.S. Army, served military tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and taught the nation’s checkered, often inspiring past when he was an assistant professor of history at West Point. His wartime experiences, his scholarship, his skill as a writer and his patriotism illuminate these Truthdig posts.

If Americans have heard of the Seven Years’ War—a truly global struggle—it is most certainly under the title “The French and Indian War” (1754-1763). Popular images of the conflict are likely to stem from the 1992 movie “The Last of the Mohicans,” starring Daniel Day-Lewis. When Americans think of this war at all, or discuss it in school, they generally situate the central theater of the conflict in the northeast of North America. Yes, the savage Indians and their deceitful French allies were beaten back along the wooded frontier, allowing pacific English—soon to be American—farmers to live in peace. Ending in 1763, and saddling Britain with debt, the French and Indian War is often remembered as but a prelude to a coming colonial revolt over excessive taxation. Perhaps it was, but not in a direct, linear sense. Nothing historical is preordained. Chance and contingency ensure as much.

https://www.truthdig.com/articles/american-history-truthdiggers-whose-empire/

On a side note…..there are some that think George Washington while serving n a militia attacked a French diplomatic mission killing the ambassador was the start of the French and Indian War ( Seven Year War)…..

Hope you enjoy the series….

There will be no history posts over the weekend but will return on Monday…..

Class Dismissed!

History’s Terrorists Attacks

We just had an incident of domestic terrorism…..a bunch of pipe bombs were sent through the mail of prominent Democrats…..fortunately none of these bombs detonated and there were NO injuries or deaths.

Being a history nut I got to wondering about the terrorist attacks throughout history….is there a top 10?

Glad you asked and yes there is a top 10……

When World War I broke out in Europe in 1914, the American government officially stayed neutral, and while many in Washington and along the eastern seaboard harbored strong feelings for the United Kingdom, the U.S. government found it hard to convince the general American population of the war’s benefits, mostly due to the presence of a massive German population in the republic’s middle section (America’s first “silent minority,” the Germans encompassed roughly one-tenth of the entire population of the U.S. in 1914).

To make matters worse, the German government established the first terror cell in the United States in 1915, two years before the two countries would officially go to war with each other. The German terrorists were targeting munitions factories, horse farms, and railroads due to the fact that the United States, while officially neutral, was sending massive amounts of supplies to the British and French.

Woodrow Wilson was determined to drag the United States into the war, and the terrorist cells were as good excuse as any. Instead of rehashing the details of America’s entrance into World War I, and the results of that entrance, I thought I’d draw your attention to 10 terrorist attacks that deserve more attention.

https://www.realclearhistory.com/articles/2018/07/05/top_10_terrorist_attacks_in_history_332.html

Terrorist attacks have been with civilization from the beginning……these are just a look at the Top Ten in history.

And once a gain “terrorism” is different definitions for different folk….

SOCOM You Have A Problem

Looks like the US Navy SEALs are becoming a problem in the discipline department……while I has recovering in the hospital news came out that a couple of Special Ops troopers, SEALs, had killed a US Army Green Beret in Mali……https://lobotero.com/2018/01/13/death-in-mali-2/

(I was surprised that the reaction I got on the original post was “who gives a shit”….so sad that it meant very little to the people.)

I said that it was shameful to have Americans killing each other (I do not believe that the War on Terror meant killing each other)…..

More news comes out that two SEALs have been charged with war crimes…..first SEAL charged……

Charged earlier this month with multiple war crimes in connection with the 2017 stabbing death of a detainee in Iraq, Special Operations Chief Edward “Eddie” Gallagher vows to fight for his freedom.

The 19-year Navy veteran has hired two high-powered criminal defense attorneys who specialize in military law — Colby Vokey of Dallas and Phillip Stackhouse of San Diego — and he’s exploring a civil rights lawsuit against Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents for alleged misconduct linked to his Sept. 11 arrest and detention in San Diego’s Naval Consolidated Brig Miramar.

An Article 32 hearing with a special military judge sent from Florida will begin to sift through the evidence against Gallagher on Nov. 14 in San Diego, according to Stackhouse.

https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2018/10/19/charged-with-war-crimes-and-stuck-in-the-brig-a-navy-seal-vows-to-fight-on/

Then news came out that a second SEAL was being charged with war crimes for the death of a detainee…..

Authorities in California on Thursday charged a second Navy SEAL in connection with an ongoing war crimes probe tied to the alleged stabbing execution of an Islamic State detainee in Iraq last year.

Although he wasn’t present during the alleged homicide near the Iraqi city of Mosul in 2017, Lt. Jacob “Jake” Portier faces an upcoming Article 32 hearing for what authorities say was his help in covering up a string of war crimes committed by an enlisted SEAL leader, Special Operations Chief Edward “Eddie” Gallagher.

Accused of dereliction of duty, the highly decorated Portier insists he’s innocent and his high-profile San Diego-based civilian defense attorney, Jeremiah J. Sullivan III, believes he’ll be exonerated as merely the officer who received the allegations of Gallagher’s misconduct from a lead petty officer and reported them up the chain of command.

https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2018/10/23/second-seal-arrested-in-war-crimes-probe/

These are just allegations of wrong doing…..but the sad part is the SEALs are not claiming responsibility…..and say that they do not have a discipline problem….I also posted on that claim as well….https://lobotero.com/2018/10/19/its-about-the-discipline/

It is just sad that they, the SEALs, are in denial…..plus we should expect more out of our supposedly “elite” troops….the best of the best….as they like to claim.

These are the problems we know about and as they say it is a good possibility that it goes so much deeper.

Yemen: The Story Not Reported

For about 3 weeks the story has been the murder and dismemberment of WaPo journalist, Jamal Khashoggi.

So far everyone has an opinion on what truly happened….some say it is despicable, others think it is a made up story and those that justify it by the amount of jobs their deals generate…

It is the Middle East and the story is there for all to report.

There is another story about Saudi Arabia that has been raging for years instead of weeks….the Saudis war on their neighbor Yemen……and after the death and destruction and this is under reported……

Why?

The apparent murder of Saudi Arabian dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi is a shocking crime that merits the international attention it has received, but nonetheless it is impossible not to wonder why the death of a single person receives vastly more coverage than ongoing Saudi atrocities in Yemen.

Is it that a dramatic story involving a single personality is easier to grasp than a war fought over complex political and ethnic issues, or does the differing levels of attention signal that Mr. Khashoggi has achieved the status of an honorary westerner while the tens of thousands dead in Yemen represent a distant “other”? Some combination of both of these are likely at work, and that he is a fellow journalist makes his fate all the more compelling for reporters and editors. Geopolitical considerations are certainly at play here, with the towering hypocrisy of the Trump administration on full display, a hypocrisy that stands out even in the dismal history of U.S. government policies toward Saudi Arabia.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/10/24/why-do-yemens-dead-not-merit-the-attention-of-jamal-khashoggi/

The Yemen which was started by Saudi Arabia is creating the worse famine in the region, the worse health problems, the deaths of more civilians than “terrorists” and the total destruction of a country.

The death of Khashoggi is a barbarous act by the Saudis what they are doing in Yemen is far more barbarous.

As I was typing this post a veggie market in Yemen was attacked by the Saudis (photos included)……

The Saudi coalition bombed a vegetable market near Hodeidah earlier today and killed at least 21 people:

Attacks on food markets like this one are part of the coalition’s systematic campaign to target and destroy Yemen’s food production and distribution. The coalition has made a regular practice of targeting farms, fishing boats, and marketplaces as part of an effort to deprive an already malnourished population of food. There is no possible justification for targeting civilians as they were trying to obtain food from a local market. The slaughter of almost two dozen people is a reminder that Saudi coalition forces continue to hit civilian targets with great frequency, and civilians in and around Hodeidah are at great risk of being killed and wounded while the coalition’s attack on the port and its surroundings continues.

https://www.antiwar.com/blog/2018/10/24/saudi-coalition-massacre-kills-21-at-a-market-in-yemen/

The Saudis need to be held responsible for the the journalist death and should be hauled before the ICC on war crimes charges.

To protect the Saudis because of some defense contract is just turning our backs on the world we helped create after World War Two.

There is so much more from Yemen….like why are elite American mercenaries fighting in country?

A recent Buzzfeed exclusive reveals that veterans of America’s elite military units, working for the United Arab Emirates, are responsible for a string of assassinations in Yemen. They worked for a company called Spear Operations Group, directed and led in the field by an enigmatic Hungarian-Israeli named Abraham Golan. After meeting in Abu Dhabi with former Palestinian Authority security chief Mohammed Dahlan, now a top adviser for the Emirates, Golan was supplied with weapons, legal cover in the form of military ranks for him and his employees, escorts into Aden, and a list of names.

This is an explosive story. Golan constructed his unit out of former (and in at least two cases still serving) U.S. military personnel, and paid them to kill specific individuals at the direction of a foreign country. Even if it were clear that the targets of these operations were combatants — and it is not — this would go far beyond the now-routine employment of former U.S.military personnel as guards, escorts, and trainers by private military and security firms.

https://warontherocks.com/2018/10/what-should-we-make-of-elite-american-mercenaries-in-yemen/

There is so much in Yemen that goes unreported and the American people should ask why…..and keep asking.

Closing Thought–25Oct18

We have heard all the what use to be the GOP rail against the MSM as fake news…..just to remind my readers of my coverage…..https://lobotero.com/2017/06/28/all-this-fake-news/

I recently read a story that made me think of Germany of the 1920 and 30’s….Goebbels was a genus at “fake news”……like I said I read a story that made me think of ‘Heil’……

But he took his media antagonism a step further on Wednesday, wondering aloud via tweet whether the F.C.C. should revoke broadcaster NBC’s licenses, after the network published a story saying he had sought a tenfold increase in the U.S. nuclear arsenal. “Fake @NBCNews made up a story that I wanted a ‘tenfold’ increase in the U.S. nuclear arsenal. Pure fiction, made up to demean. NBC=CNN,” he said in a tweet. “With all of the Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!” According to the White House press pool, Trump later said on Wednesday: “It is frankly disgusting the press is able to write whatever it wants to write.”

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/10/trump-threatens-to-pull-nbc-off-the-air-over-scathing-story

Trump, Our Dear Supreme Leader, continues to show his ignorance of how government works….and to fail to realize that laws are not made for his benefit.

Once again this person thinks that all laws are to protect him and his presidency….

“Make America Great Again”–Part Two

I must continue with a journey through American history…..written by a Maj. Danny Sjurden a professor of History at West Point for a time….Part Two is about the religious zealots in our early history….keep in mind that some of the first Europeans to settle in the New World were religious zealots known as “Puritans”…..The Puritans were a widespread and diverse group of people who took a stand for religious purity in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries in Europe. Their rise was directly related to the increased knowledge that came to the common people in the Age of Enlightenment. As people learned to read and write, and as the Bible became more accessible to commoners, many began to read the Bible for themselves (a habit that was strongly discouraged in the established church). Some Puritans were connected with Anabaptist groups in continental Europe, but the majority were connected with the Church of England. The word Puritan was first coined in the 1560s as a derisive term for those who advocated more purity in worship and doctrine.

The English Puritans, who are the most familiar to Americans, believed that the English Reformation had not gone far enough and that the Church of England was still tolerating too many practices that were associated with the Church of Rome (such as hierarchical leadership, clerical vestments, and the various rituals of the church). Many Puritans advocated separation from all other Christian groups, but most were “non-separating” and desired to bring cleansing and change to the church from within. Holding a high view of Scripture, and deeming it as the only true law of God, Puritans believed that each individual, as well as each congregation, was directly responsible to God, rather than answering through a mediator such as a priest, bishop, etc. The Congregational Church in America is a descendant of the early Puritan settlers, and any group that advocates congregational rule and individual piety has been impacted in some way by Puritan teaching. Even today, theologians from many church backgrounds appreciate reading the works of the old Puritan divines, even if they differ in some points of doctrine.

Let’s look at the roots of religious zealots in Early America…..

It is the image Americans are comfortable with. The first Thanksgiving. Struggling Pilgrims—our blessed forebears—saved by the generosity of kindly Native Americans. Two societies coexisting in harmony. If Colonial Virginia was a mess, well, certainly matters were better in Massachusetts. Here are origins all can be proud of.

Our children re-create the scene every November, and we watch them with pride through the lenses of our smartphones. But is this representation of life in Colonial New England an accurate portrait of Anglo-Native relations at Plymouth, or, for that matter, in the larger Massachusetts Bay Colony? Of course it isn’t, but nonetheless the impression—the myth—persists. That’s a story unto itself.

https://www.truthdig.com/articles/american-history-truthdiggers-roots-religious-zealotry/

American history is fascinating……never a dull moment….