Day: November 23, 2018

F*ck Veterans Day!

Closing Thought–23Nov18

***(A thought NOT a statement on my part.)***

That is the impression that I got on Veterans Day post comments here on IST…..I have been reading lots on the subject of Veterans Day……

Keep in mind that this is one person’s opinion…one that I am beginning to agree with…..

No one cares about the wars we are fighting these days……NO one talks about them….not the MSM or Our Dear Supreme Leader and especially the Congress…..but they will without shame trot out some Vets as a political prop for some ‘patriotic” porn they feel they need to win over voters……and then there is the laziness of the average person that will trot forward and offer a ‘thank you’ to a veteran….without no care of what that means……it means nothing to a veteran that cannot get his treatment from the very people that sent him to fight and are using the services that they depend on and cannot receive……

So I agree……why not just cancel Veterans Day altogether?  NO one really cares anymore!

Veterans’ Day – maybe we ought to drop the whole charade. Don’t get me wrong, there will be celebrations a plenty: the NFL will roll out the ubiquitous stadium-sized flags and march uniformed service members in front of the cameras; cities across the nation will hold parades; and millions of Americans will take a moment to go through the motions and “thank” the nation’s soldiers. Sure, the gestures are sometimes genuine and certainly preferable to the alternative. Still, all this martial spectacle misses the salient point hidden just below the surface: the American people are absolutely not engaged with U.S. foreign policy. Most could hardly name the seven countries its military actively bombing, let alone find them on a map.

Worse still, hardly anyone even talks about America’s wars these days – not the mainstream media, not the president of the United States, not the Congress. Veterans’ Day just happens to fall about a week after the midterm elections – which both President Trump and Barack Obama each told their supporters was “the most consequential of our lifetimes” – but the truth is that foreign policy was hardly even on the agenda this past Tuesday. Americans argued about healthcare, taxes, immigration, and Mr. Trump’s personality, but ignored our supposedly adulated soldiers.

https://www.truthdig.com/articles/should-we-do-away-with-veterans-day-altogether/

So since the people only see it as a day off from work why not just make it a special shopping day in the time before the big day, Christmas?

Look at the many wars we are now fighting.  I comment and post on them on many occasions and yet NO one seems to give a shit one way or the other that Americans are still dying for goddamn reason than to keep the M-IC is pocket cash.

In closing …..I do not think we should abandon the day….just making an observation by what I see here on IST.

I call it a day and will start my weekend…..leftovers are on the menu…..damn the leftovers!

Courts Mash-Up

You have with this president we have seen some juvenile attacks and immature rantings from Our Dear Supreme leader…..most are so funny that most of us can hardly stand them without peeing a little when laughing…..

The most recent mash-up out of the mind of Trump is the 9th Court of Appeals…..he has a hard on for them because they are in his words, liberal……and his rantings caused the Chief Justice of SCOTUS to enter into the discussion (if we can call a Twitter storm a discussion)…..

When the AP asked John Roberts for a comment about President Trump’s criticism of a federal judge, the chief justice delivered in a headline-making way. “We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges,” said Roberts in a statement released Wednesday. “What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them.” And on the eve of the holiday, he added: “That independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for.” The AP notes that it’s the first time Roberts has “offered even a hint of criticism” of Trump, while the New York Times characterizes it as a “direct rebuke.” (Read Trump’s response here.)

The controversy revolves around US District Judge Jon Tigar in San Francisco, an Obama appointee who ruled against the White House plan to restrict asylum-seekers at the border, per Politico. After the ruling, Trump belittled Tigar as an “Obama judge” and further called the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit a “disgrace” with a liberal bent. “Every case that gets filed in the Ninth Circuit we get beaten,” he said. At the conservative RedState site, Andrea Ruth found Roberts’ comments to be surprising: “It’s not all that rare for sitting Supreme Court justices to speak out on issues but I cannot remember a time when a justice flat out blasted a president for comments he made about the judiciary.”

Of course when taken to task by someone smarter than Trump he punches back with stupidity……

It didn’t take long for President Trump to respond to a rare rebuke from the chief justice of the Supreme Court. After John Roberts criticized the president for belittling a federal judge who ruled against the White House, Trump took to Twitter to make his case. “Sorry Chief Justice John Roberts, but you do indeed have ‘Obama judges,’ and they have a much different point of view than the people who are charged with the safety of our country,” he wrote. Trump also continued his criticism in particular of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, which is based in San Francisco. Trump asserted that the court tilts to the left so much that opponents of his polices make a point to file appeals there.

If the court were truly independent, they “why are so many opposing view (on Border and Safety) cases filed there, and why are a vast number of those cases overturned,” he asked. “Please study the numbers, they are shocking. We need protection and security—these rulings are making our country unsafe! Very dangerous and unwise!” Earlier, Roberts took issue with the president’s criticism of 9th Circuit Court Judge Jon Tigar, who ruled against the White House plan to stop asylum-seekers at the border. Trump called Tigar an “Obama judge.” The 9th has blocked multiple Trump initiatives on immigration and national security, notes the Hill.

Okay this is a stupid thing to be an argument…….does the 9th have a liberal bias?  No more so than the 5th has a conservative bias……you see when conservs need to go to court they choose the 5th to file their papers….why is that?

This is a moronic thing to rattle on about……but that is what Our Dear Supreme Leader does best….fire off his mouth before his brain is in gear……and this courts thing is a prime example.  A mindless accusation.  A silly diversion!

More News On Iran

The day after T’giving and Black Friday if you are crazy enough to go shopping…..I will most likely be a light posting day for me as well for I have a garden to seed and get ready for the fresh yummies…….

Pompeo got his wish when he became SecState for one Trump….a neocon war hawk in a place of power with a president that has no damn idea about the workings of world affairs……and once Pompeo was in place the drums stared beating for Iran….pull out of a deal, put in more sanctions and insert Iran into every conversation when possible……

Let’s start with the new Sanctions put on Iran……economics it always comes down to economics……

Faced with the relentless U.S. economic war, Iran needs a war economy. Indeed, the plan of a war economy should not be very difficult for Iran to implement since it has a relatively successful experience of carrying out such a plan: during the 8-year war with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, Iran embarked on an extensive state-guided economic management that effectively provided for both its military and civilian needs. Because of the revolutionary atmosphere of the time, and because of the corresponding spirit of generosity, selflessness, social cohesion, and national unity the country was able to effectively withstand both the military and economic wars launched against its territory and its people. Despite the extremely costly war, both in terms of blood and treasure, and despite the fact that Iran’s total output, or national income, at the time was only a fraction of what it is today, its people did not experience nearly as much economic hardship as they do today. Why? Mainly because its national resources were at the time distributed relatively equitably—unlike today where those resources are monopolized and plundered by a clique of financial oligarchs and economic mafias.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/11/06/why-iran-needs-a-war-economy/

In the 1980s Iran and Iraq were locked in a war for 8 years and now they will cooperate economically……

Iraqi President Barham Salih has announced that his country has agreed to establish a “free-trade zone” along its border with Iran, following a meeting with his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani in Tehran.

In a joint press conference in the Iranian capital on Friday, Salih declared that the relationship between the two neighbouring countries is a “fixed principle” that is “rooted in shared history, faith and geography”

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/11/iraq-establish-free-trade-zone-border-iran-181117085912770.html

The US economic war with China could present an opportunity to Iran……

With Iran’s convening of its first “Regional Security Dialogue” summit in late September 2018 with deputy national security advisors from Russia, China, and India, Tehran has taken a significant step toward creating a multilateral framework for Eurasian security cooperation in the face of renewed U.S. sanctions.  Ostensibly devoted to combatting terrorism in Afghanistan, the summit’s concluding declaration indicates a wide-sweeping stabilization agenda extending from Syria eastward to include all of Central Asia.

Though Iran is historically and geographically a quintessentially Eurasian power, Tehran has had difficulty engaging its Eastern neighbors. Iran’s “Look East” policy under the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmedinejad (2005-2013), struggled to bring Moscow and Beijing into alignment with anti-US policy despite Tehran’s strong commercial relationships with both countries. Iran’s post-JCPOA scheme of “preferring East to West” in a multilateral framework for collective security cooperation involving Russia, China, and India is proving far more successful.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/facing-sanctions-iran-pioneers-framework-for-cooperation-with-russia-china-and-india-138703

As usual Trump and his Boyz began thumping their chests…….

The United States is warning other countries not to allow Iranian oil tankers into their territorial waters or ports, saying such access may run afoul of US sanctions and not only incur penalties, but also result in catastrophic economic and environmental damage should an accident occur. The State Department reminded the global shipping and insurance industries Wednesday that as part of the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure campaign” to get Iran to change its behavior, insuring Iranian tankers will now incur penalties under US sanctions reinstated this week, the AP reports.

Brian Hook, the special US representative for Iran, said that as major insurers withdraw coverage from Iranian vessels, Iran will likely turn to domestic insurance companies that will not be able to cover losses for maritime accidents that could run into the billions of dollars. “Iranian tankers are now a floating liability,” Hook told reporters. The US “sincerely hopes” accidents do not occur, he said, but he noted that an Iranian tanker was involved in an accident in the East China Sea in January that resulted in the loss of the ship and a massive oil spill. He said the US has evidence that Iranian vessels are trying to evade US sanctions by disabling location transponders used to prevent collisions.

Remember that deal made by Obama and crapped on by Trump?

It appears that Iran is still working on the deal anyway……

Iran is implementing its side of its nuclear deal with major powers, the U.N. atomic watchdog policing the pact reaffirmed on Thursday, two weeks after the latest wave of reimposed U.S. sanctions against Tehran took effect.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-nuclear-iaea-idUSKCN1NR1DL

Iran is the new Iraq of the 2003……do not let this spiral into yet another war……..