Day: November 12, 2019

Closing Thought–12Nov19

Yesterday we celebrated Veterans Day…and yet our vets are still fighting illnesses that they contracted while they fought our many wars…….

Us Vietnam vets had our Agent Orange….the Gulf War has its Gulf War Syndrome…..

Agent Orange gave exposed vets different types of cancer…..The Gulf War Syndrome has several symptoms among then are…..

  • Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, a condition of long-term and severe fatigue that isn’t relieved by rest and is not directly caused by other conditions.
  • Fibromyalgia, a condition characterized by widespread muscle pain. Other symptoms may include insomnia, morning stiffness, headache, and memory problems.
  • Functional gastrointestinal disorders, a group of conditions marked by chronic or recurrent symptoms related to any part of the gastrointestinal tract. Examples include irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), functional dyspepsia, and functional abdominal pain syndrome.
  • Undiagnosed illnesses with symptoms that may include but are not limited to: abnormal weight loss, fatigue, cardiovascular disease, muscle and joint pain, headache, menstrual disorders, neurological and psychological problems, skin conditions, respiratory disorders, and sleep disturbances.

I bring up these illnesses from our past wars because of the findings in our present wars…..

Veterans saw a spike in urinary, prostate, liver and blood cancers during nearly two decades of war, and some military families now question whether their exposure to toxic environments is to blame, according to a McClatchy investigation.

McClatchy found that the rate of cancer treatments for veterans at Department of Veterans Affairs health care centers increased 61 percent for urinary cancers ⁠— which include bladder, kidney and ureter cancers ⁠— from fiscal year 2000 to 2018.

The rate of blood cancer treatments ⁠— lymphoma, myeloma and leukemia ⁠— rose 18 percent in the same period. Liver and pancreatic cancer treatment rates increased 96 percent and prostate cancer treatment rates increased 23 percent.

McClatchy analyzed all billing data for veteran visits involving a cancer diagnosis at VA medical facilities from fiscal year 2000 to 2018. The data was obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests. A more in-depth methodology of the review can be found here.

McClatchy selected that time frame to look at what impact the last two decades of war in Iraq and Afghanistan have had on veterans’ medical needs, even as the VA continues to treat veterans from past wars.

Veteran Marine Corps Sgt. Mark S. Villamac Ho joined the military after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and deployed in early 2003 to Al Numaniyah, Iraq, as an aircraft rescue firefighter.

In Iraq he was exposed to the firefighting foam the military is removing from service due to its links to cancer, and to the open-air trash-burning pits that more than 187,000 veterans have reported made them sick.

(McClatchy)
Each war seems to have its unique illnesses that are a result of the actions in these conflicts.
 
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Will This Impeachment Thing Be Fair?

If you listen to Trump and his toadies in the GOP then it will not be fair, If yoiu listen to the lap dogs of Trump, Jordan, Gaetz, Meadows, then this whle process has not been fair or transparent….but that is a lie….the so-called secret hearings that these slugs ran to a camera to bitch about were lying….there were 40+ GOPers on the committees that had access to the people and the testimony and yet to listen to the idiots with the mouths we had a flawed process.

And there is their attack…they are attacking the process and NOT one word about the evidence…..that to me is pretty telling.

If the impeachment process is to be fair and transparent then it needs to hold to four principles for the Senate’s trial…..

  • Trial procedures should be established before the trial commences. A trial can only be fair if the rules are agreed to in advance. For that reason, any supplemental rules or modifications to the existing rules should be agreed to before the trial commences.
  • The Senate should hear the full case before voting on the President’s removal. The Senate must allow members of the House to present the case for the President’s removal and the President should be afforded an opportunity to respond. Both should occur before a vote to dispose of or approve an article of impeachment.
  • The trial should be open to the public. An impeachment trial of a president is a matter of exceptional importance to the American people. They should be able to understand the case for the President’s removal and the President’s defense. The doors to the Senate chamber should be open and the American people permitted to witness the proceedings to the extent possible. Transparency should only be sacrificed to advance compelling interests such as the sanctity of Senate deliberations, the need to protect legitimately classified information, or the recognition of a whistleblower’s right to anonymity.
  • Each Senator should take seriously his or her oath to “do impartial justice” and to “support and defend the Constitution.” The question is not whether to support the President. The question is whether the President has committed treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors within the meaning of the
    Constitution.

Read CREW and Public Citizen’s full report here:

 

I have been reading the transcripts and so far those GOPers that have been the loudest and lying…..the evidence is mounting and the denials are looking more and more cowardly….

Like I stated earlier…..All the protests and criticism is about the process and so far NOT one word about the evidence.

That tells me the GOP is struggling to try and spin the truth into the bullsh*t of Trump and his Boyz.

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

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Go To The Transcript #6

IST is your one stop shopping for transcripts and info ahead of the impeachment hearings……

Tomorrow begins the impeachment public hearings in the House….to help my readers understand what is being used as evidence I have been posting the transcripts of the evidence that was given in a closd session of the committee.

Yesterday another 3 transcripts were released….that of a Deputy Sec. of Defense, Laura Cooper……you may read the entire thing here…..https://docs.house.gov/meetings/IG/IG00/CPRT-116-IG00-D012.pdf

Christopher Anderson who was an assistant to the Ukraine Envoy….his testimony can be read here……https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/11/politics/read-testimony-christopher-anderson/index.html

Catherine Croft, a top State Department official….her’s can be read here…..https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-impeachment-inquiry/read-transcript-state-dept-official-catherine-croft-s-impeachment-testimony-n1080331

For those that have not been keeping up with the releases then I can help there as well…..

As a service to my readers in the hope they will acquaint themselves with the evidence being presented….the transcripts so far…..

Read Yovanovitch’s testimony in full here. (Initial news coverage of her testimony is here.)

Read McKinley’s testimony in full here.

Read Volker’s testimony here……https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/6540429/CPRT-116-IG00-D007.pdf

… another transcript was released to the public…that of Ukraine expert…..Bill Taylor and it can be read here……https://www.scribd.com/document/433753426/William-Taylor-testimony

The most recent release from yesterday…..State Department employee testimony can be read here…..https://www.scribd.com/document/433921637/George-Kent-testimony

…two transcripts released for public consumption……..first the transcript of the testimony from Col. Vindman…….https://www.scribd.com/document/434064258/Vindman-pdf

Second from Fiona Hill……https://www.scribd.com/document/434065486/Fiona-Hill-testimony

You are now armed with the evidence….make of it what you will.

Please take some time and see what is being said……then make up your mind…..these people are not the enemy…. they serve their country with honor and diligence….

If more transcripts are released then I shall post them so that the readers of IST have all the evidence.

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“Magis Lego, Magis Scitis”

Mayor Pete Embraces His Inner ‘Progressive’

(Pause here for laughter)

I am not one of those people that think Mayor Pete is a fresh face and is the face of the coming Democratic Party…I disagree that he is the future….I have written that I think he is the past……https://lobotero.com/2019/10/22/mayor-pete-is-old-hat/

He tries to fit into the title of ‘progressive’ and he has embraced an idea that Bernie has been championing for decades……the college education thing…..

Pete Buttigieg wants to help low-income families with free college tuition, free childcare, and expanded tax credits, according to a $2.1 trillion economic plan announced Friday. The plan includes free tuition at four-year public colleges for families earning up to $100,000, reduced tuition for those earning up to $150,000, and student debt forgiveness for people in “low quality” programs, reports the Washington Post. To help pay for it all, Buttigieg wants the top 1% of earners to pay more in capital gains taxes, per CNBC. “As president, I will measure success not just by the size of the stock market or gross domestic product, but by whether working and middle-class families are succeeding,” says the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Ind., who’s seen a spike in support in Iowa.

Per the Post, the plan puts Buttigieg left of Joe Biden but not as far left as Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, who have called for free college tuition for all. Yet Buttigieg’s plan to spend $700 billion on child care and education and $430 billion on affordable housing over the next decade, allowing for 2 million more housing units, is similar to a plan offered by Warren, who NPR reports is neck and neck with Buttigieg in Iowa. The Afghan war veteran also wants to invest $200 billion in job training, $50 billion in historically black colleges, and $5 billion in ensuring every American has access to an apprenticeship within 30 miles. And like Julián Castro, he suggests an expansion of the earned income tax credit. One analysis suggests 35 million US households with earnings under $55,000 would get an average tax credit of $1,000 under the plan.

How nice.

Is this a ‘promise’ not to be kept?

Is it that Mayor Pete is trying to win over the Millennials that are mostly breaking for Bernie right now….or a political ploy not something he would actually consider if elected……

Remember my friends change has NEVER come from the Center and Pete stands dead center.

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“Lego Ergo Scribo”

Iran And Enrichment

The media keeps the pressure up on Iran….it has jumped into the Neocon camp and dealing in false information……to illustrate their fanning the flames moment…..the headline was “Iran Thumbs It’s Nose At The Nuke Agreement”……

Iran is continuing to back away from its nuclear deal with world powers following US withdrawal over a year ago. On Tuesday, President Hassan Rouhani announced that uranium gas would be injected into centrifuges at the underground Fordo facility beginning Wednesday. A rep for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran later said gas would be injected into 1,044 centrifuges with the goal to enrich uranium up to 4.5% concentration of U-235. The 2015 deal limits Iran to low-enriched uranium, with no more than 4% concentration. Iran actually agreed not to carry out enrichment at Fordo until 2031, per the BBC. “Trump’s complaint with the Iran accord was that key restrictions expired by 2030, but the net result of the recent announcements is that those restrictions are largely being thrown out now,” reports the New York Times.

Iran sees its move as a bargaining chip. It’s “reversible” if other signatories—the UK, France, Germany, China, and Russia—allow Iranian oil to be sold on foreign markets and relieve economic pressure from US sanctions imposed after Trump pulled out of the deal, Rouhani said. “Then we will stop feeding gas to the centrifuges.” He spoke a day after Iran announced it had doubled the number of advanced centrifuges at its larger Natanz facility, where enriched uranium is already being produced, per the Times. On Tuesday, the US State Department said Iran had “no credible reason to expand its uranium enrichment program, at the Fordo facility or elsewhere, other than a clear attempt at nuclear extortion.” Per the Times, “with the steps taken in recent weeks, Iran might be able to produce enough fuel for a single nuclear bomb in under a year.”

Please someone tell the world that none of thus would be news if Trump had not wanted to destroy a deal of the Obama administration……had nothing to do with the nuke thing but rather a popular Obama policy……it had to go.

Really?  No”credible reason”?  Maybe all the past war drum beating and threats from some slug in DC…..maybe they take threats seriously?

Iran is an oil exporting country…well it just got a shot to the arm…..

Iran has discovered a new oil field in the country’s south with over 50 billion barrels of crude, its president said Sunday, a find that could boost the country’s proven reserves by a third as it struggles to sell energy abroad over US sanctions. The announcement by Hassan Rouhani comes as Iran faces crushing American sanctions after the US pulled out of its nuclear deal last year. Rouhani said the field was located in Iran’s southern Khuzestan province, home to its crucial oil industry, reports the AP. Some 53 billion barrels would be added to Iran’s proven reserves of roughly 150 billion, he said. “I am telling the White House that in the days when you sanctioned the sale of Iranian oil and pressured our nation, the country’s dear workers and engineers were able to discover 53 billion barrels of oil in a big field,” Rouhani said.

Oil reserves refer to crude that’s economically feasible to extract. Figures can vary wildly by country due to differing standards, though it remains a yardstick of comparison among oil-producing nations. Iran currently has the world’s fourth-largest proven deposits of crude oil and the world’s second-largest deposits of natural gas. It shares a massive offshore field in the Persian Gulf with Qatar. The new oil field could become Iran’s second-largest field after one containing 65 billion barrels in Ahvaz. The field is 925 square miles, with the deposit some 260 feet deep, Rouhani said.

Just a thought

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