Month: November 2018

Always Go With The Good Customer

I see that nothing matters to this president…he will always go with the customer….and I am not necessarily talking about our booming weapons industry……

Trump refuses to state the facts that the intel agencies have handed him about the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi……..

President Trump made clear in a statement Tuesday that he has no intention of cutting ties with Saudi Arabia over the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. “Our intelligence agencies continue to assess all information, but it could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event—maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!” Trump said, referring to Mohammed bin Salman. Trump, however, pointed out that King Salman and the prince “vigorously deny any knowledge” of the murder, per the Washington Post. “We may never know all the facts,” he added, but “in any case, our relationship is with the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”

Trump rejected the idea of “foolishly” canceling military contracts, saying that would only benefit Russia and China, reports Reuters. The US, he said, “intends to remain a steadfast partner of Saudi Arabia.” As for critics in Congress who want to punish the Saudis: “I will consider whatever ideas are presented to me, but only if they are consistent with the absolute security and safety of America.” (The CIA is reportedly pretty sure that the crown prince is behind the murder.)

Our Dear Supreme Leader has stated that he has talked with MbS on at least 5 occasions and he has said he was not involved…..and Trump even dispatched SecState Pompeo to Saudi to “get some answers”…..

Really?  Or did he go to Saudi to help the prince with his lies?

During his trip to the kingdom last month, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reportedly provided Saudi Arabia with a detailed plan on how to make sure Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was protected from the fallout over writer Jamal Khashoggi’s murder—and possibly pin the killing on an innocent person. Middle East Eye reports Pompeo delivered the plan during a meeting with Saudi King Salman and and the crown prince last month in Riyadh. The U.S. State Department strongly denied the existence of the plan. The “roadmap” allegedly includes an option to pin the murder on an innocent member of the ruling family to avoid blame falling on those at the top. That fall guy has not been chosen, according to the report, and Saudi leaders are said to be reserving that plan in case the criticism of the crown prince intensifies. “We would not be surprised if that happens,” a source told the Middle East Eye. The U.S. State Department called the allegations “a complete misrepresentation of the secretary’s diplomatic mission to Saudi Arabia.”

(thedailybeast.com)

I wish I could say something nice but all I can do is think of what did MbS promise Trump to get him lying in support of the prince?  What is the price of a human life?

Besides….just what do we get from Saudi Arabia?  They have been a supporter of terrorism, they have done nothing to help with the Palestinians, they work on total self-interests not caring one way or the other about the US……again just what does the US get from the Saudis?  I think the Trump family gets more than the country does.

The Saudis owe us not we owe them!  And yet this president spends time on his knees before these barbaric murderers…….why?

Is Pence On The Chopping Block?

The same block that Sessions was sacrificed on…..is there a spot for Pence on the trash heap of rotting corpses of Trump acolytes?

Why do I ask?

Well next year, 2019, there will be a push for the 2020 elections…..personally I feel that if Trump’s numbers show he cannot win he will bow out for he would not want to bruise his ego by losing to a Democrat.

But let’s say he decides to run in 2020 will he keep Pence as VP?  The NYTimes calls his loyalty into question…..

President Trump’s post-midterm election news conference at the White House last week took a surprising turn when a reporter asked about locking down his 2020 ticket.

“Mike, will you be my running mate?” Mr. Trump asked Vice President Pence, who stood up, raised his hand, and nodded.

“Will you? Thank you. O.K., good,” the president said. “That was unexpected, but I feel very fine.”

If you have been watching the news of the country especially since we elected Trump then you will remember all the graveling his cabinet did especially the VP, Pence……

Mike Pence groveling before Donald Trump is painful to watch.

In 2016, Trump supporter Omarosa Manigault-Newman, who would go on to become a short-lived White House adviser, divulged why Trump gets so much satisfaction from displays of bootlicking. “Every critic, every detractor, will have to bow down to President Trump,” Manigault-Newman said in an interview with Frontline. “It’s everyone who’s ever doubted Donald, who ever disagreed, who ever challenged him. It is the ultimate revenge to become the most powerful man in the universe.”

https://newrepublic.com/minutes/146384/mike-pence-groveling-donald-trump-painful-watch

There is that…..and again let’s say he decides to run but not with Pence on the ticket….who could be next in line to massage the ego of Trump?

Here’s a thought….how about Nikki Haley?

Nikki Haley is on her way out at the United Nations, but she may not be gone from national politics for long.

The former S.C. governor and current U.S. ambassador to the United Nations has been mentioned as a potential running mate for Republican President Donald Trump in the 2020 election, according to sources who spoke with the New York Times.

Haley would replace Vice President Mike Pence on the ticket, sources say, a move that could improve the ticket’s popularity among women voters.

That would be a huge surprise. While Haley is almost certainly not done with politics, she is widely thought to be angling for a high-paying job in the private sector.

(thestate.com)
Personally, if he decides to run in 2020 then I think Haley is a good choice and dump that theocrat in waiting Pence…..
Just something to think about for the coming election….it will be the BIG ONE…LOL

Afghanistan–Update

As always I remind my readers….17 years and counting….a war that will not end.

I also try to keep an eye on this conflict because the MSM has decided that it is not important enough to report on…..that is until they can get some ratings from the report…..they follow one simple rule…”If it bleeds then it leads”…..

On with the news…..

There is a debate….can we win this or is it impossible to win….I have found two different reports from the two sides…..

On the winning side……

Washington’s special envoy to Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, met with the Taliban for the second time in Qatar to broker peace. Mr. Khalilzad’s trip to Qatar is part of his second regional tour from November 8–20 to garner regional support for peace in Afghanistan. His latest endeavor epitomizes Washington’s consistently inadequate policies on Afghanistan.

As Washington seeks to stabilize the situation in Afghanistan, it has sought various avenues to change the course of the war. Despite exhausting a variety of resources and billions of dollars, Washington’s policies have yet to address the root cause of the war: Pakistan’s pivotal role in the Taliban’s insurgency. Instead, Washington has acknowledged Pakistan’s role in the conflict but has wishfully urged Pakistan to change its pro-Taliban policy.

https://intpolicydigest.org/2018/11/17/winning-the-war-in-afghanistan-is-possible-with-one-tool/

Now for the losing side……

More than a year after President Trump announced his Afghanistan policy, the Taliban is closer to victory than we are. The Taliban contests or controls 61% of Afghan districts. More than 2,200 Americans have been killed in the long conflict. The United States has spent more than $840 billion. This month the Taliban has claimed credit for a major attack at a high level meeting in Kandahar that killed General Raziq, arguably the most powerful man in Southern Afghanistan.

On Nov. 15, Foundation for Defense of Democracies hosted a panel consisting of Jessica Donati, reporter at The Wall Street Journal, and Thomas Joscelyn and Bill Roggio, FDD senior fellows and editors of FDD’s Long War Journal, to discuss Afghanistan. The panel was moderated by FDD founder and president Clifford D. May. You can watch the video below:

https://livestream.com/accounts/15228011/events/8455600/videos/183634260/player

The reports say that the capital of Kabul is the only place the government of Afghanistan is in charge….

A major suicide bombing targeted a religious gathering in Kabul on Tuesday. The gathering was celebrating the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad. The government confirmed 50 dead, though the NGO running the hospital nearby said over 60 were killed, and 70 more wounded.

Religious scholars and clerics were gathered by the hundreds at Uranus Wedding Hall for the event, and were reciting passages from the Quran when the bomber arrived and detonated explosives in the crowd of people.

The attack caused chaos and overwhelmed emergency services. Some 30 ambulances had to be sent to collect the critically wounded. The Afghan government has announced a day of mourning on Wednesday over the deaths.

(antiwar.com)

So much for being in charge, huh?

All the Afghan news that one cannot use……

Closing Thought–20Nov18

For some time now Libertarian has been a lock step with the GOP on many issues especially on the economic side…..but a Libertarian think tank has made an observation that many of us have made in the past….it is a “one trick pony” ideology…….

Seems the Libertarians agree with me and others……

For millions of people, ideology is the lighthouse in a dark sea of politics. An uncompromising vision of how the world is supposed to work, and how to fix it, is just too alluring for partisans to ignore. Political parties’ most frenzied supporters are demanding ideological purity from their candidates as they push out moderates, especially on the right. As a result, ever fewer temperate souls are left to hold the middle ground in politics.

Yet the libertarian think tank Niskanen Center in Washington, DC, argues the moderate middle is the future. Niskanen president Jerry Taylor wrote in an Oct. 29 essay that he is dropping the libertarian banner the center has shared with the likes of the more conservative Cato Institute. In a 3,595-word farewell to the libertarian world, he says libertarianism, and ideology itself, is a dead end. “I have abandoned that libertarian project…because I have come to abandon ideology,” writes Taylor, who invites readers to flee the “clean and well-lit prison of one idea.”

https://qz.com/1443787/a-libertarian-think-tank-just-gave-up-on-libertarianism/

Really?

If I have any Libertarian followers please weigh in on this turn of events…..are they right about the politics of the party?

“Making America Great Again”–Part 20

The series is finally catching up with our times…we have been through the wars, the healings, the government and the failures of the people….now we enter into what has been called the “progressive era”…..The Progressive Era is a period of widespread social activism and political reform across the United States that spanned from the 1890s to the 1920s. The main objectives of the Progressive movement were eliminating problems caused by industrialization, urbanization, immigration, and political corruption.  (not much has changed, huh?)

What started the “Progressive Era” was the industrialization of the world…..and let me throw a little simple history at you first…..

The Industrial Revolution brought about bigger and better problems and solutions……

Part 20 of “American History for Truthdiggers.”

The Gilded Age. The American Industrial Revolution. The Progressive Era. Call it what you will, but one salient (Dickensian) fact about this period endures: It was the best of times, it was worst of times—depending on one’s point of view. Industrialization brought immense wealth for some and crippling poverty for others. Mass production might result in savings for the consumer, but working wages remained low. The boom-and-bust cycle of laissez-faire capitalism was in full swing, resulting in national banking panics and, from 1893 to 1897, the worst financial depression up to that point in the country’s history.

The key story of this era revolves around various attempts—by rural farmers and urban workers, by women and blacks, Republicans and Democrats, Populists, Progressives and even socialists—to mitigate the excesses of industrialized American capitalism. It would not prove to be an easy task, and, one could cogently argue, it is a task Americans still grapple with. The two-party system nearly fell apart in this period because neither major political brand seemed to have a viable answer to the key question of day: how to maintain peace and the basic standard of living during a time of massive industrial growth and rising economic inequality. It is a question familiar to supporters of Donald Trump and supporters of Bernie Sanders.

https://www.truthdig.com/articles/american-history-for-truthdiggers-wealth-squalor-in-the-progressive-era/

Plus with the industrialization comes the need for more resources and that need drives the necessity for armed conflict.

Sue The Bastards!

Staff Sgts. Matt Lewellen, Kevin McEnroe and Jimmy Moriarty….do those names mean anything to you?

Unless you read a lot those names mean nothing.

They are the names of Green Berets killed in Jordan by an ally…they were gunned down returning from a training mission…..well the families are suing Jordan for their deaths…..

The families of three Green Berets killed by a member of the Jordanian Air Force as they entered a base in Jordan filed a lawsuit against that country’s government, charging it attempted to cover up the incident and slander their fallen sons.

The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Washington seeks monetary damages from the Kingdom of Jordan, where the Special Forces soldiers were stationed when they were gunned down Nov. 4, 2016 by Jordanian Air Force 1st Sgt. Maarik al-Tawayha. The Green Berets – Staff Sgts. Matt Lewellen, Kevin McEnroe and Jimmy Moriarty – were driving onto King Faisal Air Base in southern Jordan midday after training Syrian rebel forces when al-Tawayha inexplicably opened fire on them.

https://www.stripes.com/news/families-of-slain-green-berets-sue-jordan-charging-a-cover-up-attempt-in-2016-deaths-1.556931

More useless deaths in a war that should have ended years ago.

I hope the families get satisfaction for their loved ones deaths…..deaths that did not need to be a statistic….endless wars and preparations are what killed these men…..and the country shrugs and allows the stupid to continue.

Wonder Where The Money Went?

I like to know where my tax dollars are being spent….how about you?

War seem to be the big drain on our national budget…..that is right the waging of war is flipping expensive…..right, how damn expensive could it be?

Glad you asked and I have the answer for you……

A new report from Brown University is aiming to provide a close estimate of the cost of the overall cost to the US government of its myriad post-9/11 wars and assorted global wars on terror. The estimate is that $5.933 trillion has been spent through fiscal year 2019.

This is, of course, vastly higher than official figures, owing to the Pentagon trying to oversimplify the costs into simply overseas contingency operations. It is only when one considers the cost of medical and disability care for soldiers, and future such costs, along with things like the interest on the extra money borrowed for the wars, that the true cost becomes clear.

That sort of vast expenditure is only the costs and obligations of the wars so far, and with little sign of them ending, they are only going to grow. In particular, a generation of wars is going to further add to the medical costs for veterans’ being consistently deployed abroad.

Starting in late 2001, the US has engaged in wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, Yemen, and elsewhere around the world. Many of those wars have become more or less permanent operations, with no consideration of ending them under any circumstances.

Those wishing to read the report can find it here.

Those are just words…….try this on for size……$5,900,000,000,000

That is right…..more damn “zeroes” than most of us can imagine……

The Pentagon has lied to us for years, grossly underestimating the cost of its military operations against enemies largely manufactured by intelligence agencies.

“That sort of vast expenditure is only the costs and obligations of the wars so far, and with little sign of them ending, they are only going to grow. In particular, a generation of wars is going to further add to the medical costs for veterans’ being consistently deployed abroad,” writes Jason Ditz.

https://www.globalresearch.ca/heres-youll-pay-neocon-wars-5900000000000/5660051

Something else for taxpayers to watch……the Pentagon FAILED a recent audit……that’s right FAILED!

After years of empty promises and demands from frustrated members of Congress, the Pentagon finally conducted its first-ever comprehensive audit—and unsurprisingly failed it, Deputy Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan revealed Thursday.

“We failed the audit, but we never expected to pass it,” Shanahan told reporters at a press briefing. While expressing irritation with the poor money management, he added, “it was an audit on a $2.7 trillion dollar organization, so the fact that we did the audit is substantial.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/11/16/insult-american-people-outrage-after-pentagon-fails-first-ever-audit

Just some of the sh*t in DC the waste of American taxpayer funds and NO ONE cares….why is that?

Are Americans ignorant, lazy, stupid or just plain moronic…..or could it be all of the above?

Afghanistan–What Is The Reason?

Even though my fellow Americans have seemingly forgotten that the US military is ass deep in many many wars…..and our first war after the 9/11 attacks was Afghanistan….we entered into that one to get the bastards that attacked the US.

That was the call….GET THE BASTARDS!

Now after 17 years of constant warfare what is the final goal the US is working toward?  AQ is a group that is a shadow of its former self….the Taleban is still the Talebane…..and ISIS is making in-roads into Afghanistan…..so if to get the Bastards and that would have been AQ pretty much marginalized why do we stay?

Nation Building?  Well not according to the rhetoric coming out of DC.  Then why?  To bring democracy to a country that at the best of times would have been in early Iron Age?  Hahahahaha!  (Good one)

If Afghanistan is a democracy how can the US consider postponing their elections?

Say what?

The Trump administration is considering pressuring the Afghan government to postpone next year’s presidential election as it seeks a peace deal with the Taliban to end the 17-year war, reports the Wall Street Journal, citing people briefed on the talks.

Why it matters: Some officials in Washington fear that voting irregularities and violence that routinely occur in Afghan elections could undermine or destroy the prospect of a peace deal. But this request “would be a contentious move that runs counter to the long-held U.S. objective of promoting democracy in Afghanistan,” and it could potentially create friction between both countries, the WSJ writes. President Ashraf Ghani has already come out against such a proposal.

https://www.axios.com/afghanistan-election-united-states-postpone-add753b3-dc63-4797-91d7-710213c3461c.html

Wait!  Postpone one of the major rights of a democracy?  Really?

That comedic skit out of the way…..was victory in Afghanistan evder the goal?

When Lt. Gen. David Petraeus returned from an inspection tour of Afghanistan in 2005 to brief then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, he began with a simple image.

“The very first slide in the briefing that I gave to him was, ‘Afghanistan ≠ Iraq.’ And I then laid out to him the areas and issues in which you could compare and contrast the two countries and situations,” Petraeus recalled in an interview this month. “That comparison clearly established why, frankly, Afghanistan is a tougher nut to crack.”

Events have vindicated his warning. As the seemingly intractable war stretches into its 18th year, military commanders who argue that any end is in sight are finding it a harder and harder sell.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/why-victory-isnt-the-goal-in-afghanistan

After 17 years and the goal is NOT a victory….then time to call the war and bring our troops home….NOW!

If the length of this year is not enough to demand an end then how about the amount of money being spent on all our “wars on terrorism”?  To the tune of $5.9 trillion…that is trillion with a “T”……

A new report from Brown University is aiming to provide a close estimate of the cost of the overall cost to the US government of its myriad post-9/11 wars and assorted global wars on terror. The estimate is that $5.933 trillion has been spent through fiscal year 2019.

(antiwar.com)

Those wishing to read the report can find it here.

Closing Thought–19Nov18

We have had a midterm election and as usual the GOP is claiming voter fraud to explain their losses….I mean it has to be fraud because no one would vote against their racist agenda, right?

But wait the dude that sits in cat bird seat of power has a better explanation of why his idiotic ideas failed……

President Trump asserts that Republicans are losing elections because people are donning disguises to vote illegally. Trump made the claim while discussing the Florida recount with the Daily Caller, along with his belief that Broward County Elections Supervisor Brenda Snipes should be fired (more on that here, here and here). The full transcript of the interview shows the president also brought up California before making his disguise statement, so it wasn’t clear which state he meant when he said this:

  • “The Republicans don’t win and that’s because of potentially illegal votes, which is what I’ve been saying for a long time. I have no doubt about it. And I’ve seen it, I’ve had friends talk about it when people get in line that have absolutely no right to vote and they go around in circles. Sometimes they go to their car, put on a different hat, put on a different shirt, come in and vote again. Nobody takes anything. It’s really a disgrace what’s going on. The disgrace is that, voter ID. If you buy, you know, a box of cereal, if you do anything, you have a voter ID.”

The Guardian, which along with other media outlets paints the “disguises” claim as being about Florida, notes that Florida counties face a 3pm deadline Thursday to finish their machine recounts and that it’s not clear all of them will be able to comply; six federal lawsuits have been filed so far over the election in the state. The New York Times reports that thousands of ballots may be disqualified due to signature mismatches, though US District Judge Mark Walker on Thursday extended a deadline on that. He gave voters whose ballots were discounted over their signatures until 5pm Saturday to show a valid ID and resolve the issue, reports the AP. He also chastised state election officials: Florida is “the laughingstock of the world election after election, and we chose not to fix this.” (Trump earlier called Florida ballots “massively infected.”)

You gotta love the bullshit these a/holes can stir, right?

The GOP has become the whiny ass losers they have always been but hid very well…..they come out of the woodwork when they are losing….like there has got to be fraud because we know that everyone loves a Repub right?

“Making America Great Again”–Part 19

The War is over and the country is attempting to heal itself and now the call goes out…”Go West Young Man”…..now we look at the massive expansion into the western US……white man goes face to face with the Native American and all Hell will break lose…..

What were Custer’s last words?

“Where’d all these f*cking Indians come from?”

Part 19 of “American History for Truthdiggers.”

“They [the Sioux Indians] are to be treated as maniacs or wild beasts and by no means as people.” —Gen. John Pope, in instructions to his officers during an Indian war in Minnesota (1862)

The West. The frontier. Few terms, or images, are as quintessentially Americans or as culturally loaded as these. Interestingly, the West—unlike other regions—is often defined as both a time and a place. It is also hopelessly shrouded in myth. Americans leaders, from George Washington to Donald Trump, frequently claimed that the West, the frontier, somehow defined us as Americans. It was long seen as a place of opportunity, rebirth even. If a man failed in the East, well, then, “Go West, young man,” as one Indiana newspaper declared in the popular phrase it coined.

The truth, of course, is messy. Even focusing, as we will here, primarily on the West’s most immortalized era (1862-1890), the serious historian finds a story teeming with less fact than fiction. Some have even questioned whether there is any merit in studying the West as a separate historical discipline. Still, in a series such as this, something must be said of the place and the time. Americans, after all, seem to have decided that the frontier does, in fact, define us; that the West is who we are. And so it is, for better or for worse.

https://www.truthdig.com/articles/american-history-for-truthdiggers-lies-we-tell-ourselves-about-the-old-west/

The West has been “won” and now the country prepares itself for industrialization…..once again forces are at work……

We are getting to the latest installment of Maj. Sjursen’s series……..I will beposting them as they become available and I will give my readwer access to the entire series as well…….

Learn Stuff!

Class Dismissed!