Day: September 15, 2020

Closing Thought–15Sep20

Here comes Sally!

I apologize for the slack posts today but I must take time to make sure the house and property are secure…..

Usually the first thing to go is the internet…then the power…..so I try to get as much done on IST as I can before the fall.

The forecast is that the eye should come ashore between Biloxi and Destin…..Biloxi is about 10 miles East of my house…..so if true we will get rain and wind…..the forecast is about 8 inches of rain.

The one saving grace here is that as I write this post the storm seems to be weakening a bit…..but that is before landfall….so lots can happen between then and now….

I am far enough off the beach to avoid any storm surge….local flooding will be a problem.

If I disappear off WP for awhile it is because the storm has kicked our butts….but not to worry….I will return as soon as I can.

Be well….Be safe…..

“lego ergo scribo”

“If We Lose”!

It appears that the same rhetoric will apply for the election of 2020……Russia did it!  Or is it….China did it?

The VP candidate , Harris, has made her thoughts known…..

Kamala Harris says foreign interference, doubt cast about the election by President Trump, and voter suppression could potentially cost her and Joe Biden the White House in November. “I am a realist about it. Joe is a realist about it,” the California senator said on CNN’s State of the Union that aired Sunday, the AP reports. The 2020 election will be held under challenging circumstances. It will be the first US election in over a century to be conducted during a pandemic, which is expected to lead to a massive surge in mail voting. Trump has railed against mail balloting, which he says without proof will lead to voter fraud. And for the first time in decades, both parties will be able to closely scrutinize who casts ballots due to a recent court ruling that wiped out tighter restrictions on poll monitoring.

Meanwhile, US intelligence agencies have concluded Russia is once again attempting to interfere in the election by amplifying discord in the country. That all adds up to a volatile environment that Harris says could alter the outcome. “We have classic voter suppression, we have what happened in 2016, which is foreign interference. We have a president who is trying to convince the American people not to believe in the integrity of our election system and compromise their belief that their vote might actually count,” Harris said. “These things are all at play.” The Hill notes that Trump has consistently denied the allegation that Russian activities helped him win the 2016 election, dismissing it as a “hoax.”

Where did Harris get her info?

Microsoft?

The same Russian military intelligence outfit that hacked the Democrats in 2016 has attempted similar intrusions into the computer systems of more than 200 organizations, including political parties and consultants, Microsoft said Thursday. Those efforts appear to be part of a broader increase in targeting US political campaigns and related groups, the company said. “What we’ve seen is consistent with previous attack patterns that not only target candidates and campaign staffers but also those who they consult on key issues,” Tom Burt, a Microsoft vice president, said in a blog post. Most of the infiltration attempts by Russian, Chinese, and Iranian agents were halted by Microsoft security software and the targets notified, he said. The company would not comment on who may have been successfully hacked or the impact, the AP reports.

Microsoft did not assess which foreign adversary poses the greatest threat to the integrity of the November presidential election. The consensus among experts is that the answer is Russia. “This is the actor from 2016, potentially conducting business as usual,” said John Hultquist of cybersecurity firm FireEye. “We believe that Russian military intelligence continues to pose the greatest threat to the democratic process.” The Microsoft post shows that Russian military intelligence continues to pursue election-related targets undeterred by sanctions, US indictments, and other countermeasures, Hultquist said. The same GRU military intelligence unit, known as Fancy Bear, that Microsoft said is behind the current activity broke into voter registration databases in at least three states in 2016.

How true is this report?

Or is it just Microsoft doing some PR work?

But Sounds to me like the Dems are already setting the stage for the excuse of their loss to Trump.

If it was not Russia….then maybe China…..if mot China then what could have caused the loss?

This month, U.S. intelligence reported that Russia wants Donald Trump to win reelection, while China and Iran seek to help Joe Biden. Both sides of the political aisle have cited the report, claiming that one adversary or another would be happy if the other party takes power in January.

It shouldn’t surprise us that foreign countries have preferences about American electoral outcomes. Why wouldn’t they, given U.S. influence in the world? According to political scientist Lindsey O’Rourke, during the Cold War, the United States engaged in 64 attempts at covert regime change. More recently, we have overthrown and ultimately helped kill leaders in Iraq and Libya, while aiming to replace governments in Syria and Venezuela. Hillary Clinton believes that Vladimir Putin’s grudge against her goes back to comments she made about the 2011 parliamentary elections in Russia, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently urged the Chinese people to overthrow their government.

https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2020/09/03/the_real_threat_to_us_elections_doesnt_come_from_beijing_or_moscow_576253.html

I am weary of all the excuses…..just once I want someone, anyone, to grow a set and tell the truth….if we lost it is because we had a crappy candidate or shitty policies….something like that.

I Read, I Wrote, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

But if they lose what will the story be in reality?

This month, U.S. intelligence reported that Russia wants Donald Trump to win reelection, while China and Iran seek to help Joe Biden. Both sides of the political aisle have cited the report, claiming that one adversary or another would be happy if the other party takes power in January.

It shouldn’t surprise us that foreign countries have preferences about American electoral outcomes. Why wouldn’t they, given U.S. influence in the world? According to political scientist Lindsey O’Rourke, during the Cold War, the United States engaged in 64 attempts at covert regime change. More recently, we have overthrown and ultimately helped kill leaders in Iraq and Libya, while aiming to replace governments in Syria and Venezuela. Hillary Clinton believes that Vladimir Putin’s grudge against her goes back to comments she made about the 2011 parliamentary elections in Russia, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently urged the Chinese people to overthrow their government.

https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2020/09/03/the_real_threat_to_us_elections_doesnt_come_from_beijing_or_moscow_576253.html

I love excuses!

If Biden losses it will be my fault since I do not support him or his mate for any reason….they are the “old guard” that needs replacing as soon as possible.

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Biden And Endless Wars

Let’s say Biden wins in November and replaces Trump….what would that mean for our two longest wars?

First Trump is trying to look like a good guy just before the election by moving troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq….(personally I feel it is only a campaign ploy)….I wrote about Trump’s approach to these wars…..

Back to Biden….does he have a stand on these two endless wars?

Why yes he does!

Former Vice President Joe Biden gave some of his first foreign policy-related positions in an interview with Stars and Stripes on Thursday, saying the “forever wars have to end” while seemingly ruling out any full-fledged withdrawals, arguing the US still has to worry about terrorism and ISIS.

Biden said the ongoing US wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria are so complicated he can’t promise a withdrawal. He also suggested he may increase military spending even beyond its current record levels as he shifts focus to what he believes should be the military’s priorities.

The priorities, as are so often the case for the US, are fighting Russia, who Biden identified as a “near-peer” power. The US spends more than ten times the amount on its military annually that Russia does, and it is unclear in what way they are a “near-peer.”

Either way, Biden intends to shift the focus toward unmanned drones and cyber-warfare, and suggests that is likely to boil down to not just a shift in where money is spent, but likely an increase in spending as well.

(antiwar.com)

Mostly we will just have to stay awhile longer in the Middle East…..

According to the military newspaper, “Biden said the conditions in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq are so complicated that he cannot promise full withdrawal of troops in the near future.”

It added that the Democratic candidate “said he does not foresee major reductions in the US defense budget as the military refocuses its attention to potential threats from ‘near-peer’ powers such as China and Russia.” The Pentagon budget has soared under Trump, with overwhelming support from congressional Democrats, to $738 billion.

“In fact,” the article stated, “he [Biden] said defense spending could increase in a Biden administration.” It quoted the former vice president as saying, “I’ve met with a number of my advisers and some have suggested in certain areas the budget is going to have to be increased.”

The article noted that Biden has “vowed” to better equip the National Guard, which is increasingly being deployed in cities across the country to assist local and state police in suppressing left-wing protests.

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/09/12/bide-s12.html

I have said on many occasions that if Biden is elected in November that very little will change….so far everything I have seen would NOT sway me from my predictions.

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”