Day: November 16, 2020

Closing Thought–16Nov20

Do you have a right to own a gun?

*****Before the insults and bullshit starts…..this short video is provided as an educational opinion on the debate that has been raging for decades…..I am not advocating one way of the other……so please keep the lameass insults to yourself*****

I have written about this subject several times from social perspective to my theory of why historically…..

I offer this video as a way for a conversation to begin…a real conversation…..not some slug-fest of insults and lies….

https://youtu.be/rEqGBOt32NM
 
I also include a few other videos as to keep the interest alive…..
 
One more and after that you may go back to sleep….
 
 
But in case you are interested in my historic perspective…..https://lobotero.com/2013/01/30/why-the-2nd/
 
 
Be Smart!
 
Learn Stuff!
 
I Read, I Write, You Know
 
“lego ergo scribo”

The Violence Has Arrived

I have been reading several articles that predicts that Trump and his mouth and sycophants will make violence possible…..

Historians and other experts on Thursday warned that President Donald Trump’s attempt to remain in power despite his loss in the 2020 election is growing increasingly dangerous as Republican leaders willingly participate in the disenfranchisement of millions of voters and back the president’s refusal to accept the election results. 

In an op-ed at The Hill, journalist Albert Hunt wrote that Trump’s “deceitful charge” that the Democratic Party stole the election and allowed “illegal votes” to be cast—claims that have yet to be backed up by evidence—”undermines confidence in our Democratic system, but it could also threaten to unleash a dangerous wave of violence.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/11/12/coup-underway-experts-warn-election-lies-trump-and-gop-leaders-could-unleash-violent

…….and so it has over the weekend….

Pro and Anti-Trump protesters met at the SCOTUS building in DC….

Several thousand supporters of President Trump in Washington protested election results and hailed Trump’s passing motorcade before nighttime clashes with counterdemonstrators sparked fistfights, at least one stabbing and at least 20 arrests. Several other cities on Saturday also saw gatherings of Trump supporters unwilling to accept Joe Biden’s Electoral College and popular vote victory. Cries of “Stop the Steal” and “Count Every Vote” continued in spite of a lack of evidence of voter fraud or other problems that could reverse the result. After night fell, the relatively peaceful demonstrations in Washington turned violent, reports the AP. Videos on social media showed fistfights, projectiles, and clubs as Trump supporters clashed with those demanding they take their MAGA hats and banners and leave. The tensions extended to Sunday morning. A variety of charges, including assault and weapons possession, were filed against those arrested, officials said. Two police officers were injured and several firearms were recovered by police.

Trump himself gave an approving nod Saturday morning by dispatching his motorcade through streets lined with supporters before rolling on to his Virginia golf club. People chanted “USA, USA” and “four more years,” and many carried American flags and signs to show their displeasure with the vote tally and insistence that, as Trump has baselessly asserted, fraud was the reason. “I just want to keep up his spirits and let him know we support him,” said one loyalist, Anthony Whittaker of Winchester, Va. The marchers included the Proud Boys. Trump supporters who approached the area were harassed, doused with water and saw their MAGA hats and pro-Trump flags snatched and burned, amid cheers. As night fell, multiple police lines kept the two sides apart. Videos showed some demonstrators and counterdemonstrators trading shoves, punches, and slaps. The “Million MAGA March” was heavily promoted on social media, raising concerns that it could spark conflict with anti-Trump demonstrators, who have gathered near the White House for weeks.

This was not as violent as it could have been …..especially with those hairy gun toters……will this be the extent of the violence or will it escalate?

Trump’s mouth could be the catalyst for either calm or violence.

Things could get worse before it gets better….

Whites make up around over 65 percent of the electorate of the US. Surveys show that 57 percent of white voters (56 percent women, 58 percent men) went for Trump, despite everything—his awful mismanagement of the pandemic, his lies, his anti-science attitude, his divisiveness, and his blatant pandering to white nationalist groups like the Nazis, Klan, and Proud Boys.

…

That is where the danger lies now: the fascist mobilization of a white population that is in relative decline numbers-wise.

History has shown that when large social groups no longer feel they can win by democratic elections, the temptation towards extra-parliamentary solutions becomes very tempting. As the aggregate minority population in the U.S. moves toward parity in numbers with the white population over the next few decades, white nationalism is likely to become more rather than less popular among whites of all ages and across gender lines.

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2020/11/11/things-may-get-worse-they-get-better-us

I believe I know what he will choose…..do you?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

DACA Saved! (For Now)

We all know how much the Trumpian thugs hate immigrants and has been trying to end the DACA program….and their latest attack on immigrants has gone down in defeat….as it should…..

Looks like DACA was wrongly suspended this summer because the acting Homeland Security chief didn’t belong there—at least not in the eyes of the law, NBC News reports. Judge Nicholas Garaufis ruled Saturday that Chad Wolf, acting Homeland Security secretary, “was not lawfully serving” in the role when he suspended the so-called “Dream Act” in July. The Obama-era program protects migrants brought illegally to the US as children. The Garaufis ruling means “the effort in the Wolf memo to gut the DACA program is overturned,” said a lawyer involved in the case. “This is really a hopeful day for a lot of young people across the country.”

Garaufis explained that when former DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen stepped down, she was replaced by Kevin McAleenan even though he wasn’t authorized to do so, per Law & Crime. That means McAleenan’s delegation of the position to Wolf was not “authorized” and Wolf’s suspension of DACA “was not an exercise of legal authority,” the judge said. Wolf made the move after the US Supreme Court blocked a Trump administration effort to terminate the program. CBS News reports that the ruling affects hundreds of thousands of people who can be shielded from deportation by DACA. CNN reports that the US government can appeal the ruling.

You realize that they use that immigrants are a drain on our resources and country…..well that may not be true at all….

The administration has said that refugees – those forced to leave their country to escape war or persecution – do not benefit the U.S. economy. It has portrayed refugees as a drain on resources and argued that a lower number of refugees is required to prioritize the well-being of Americans.

This feeds into the perception among some Americans that immigrants come to this country and either take their jobs or do not work at all and live off of welfare. Both those ideas are false.

In my research, I have found that refugees are far from an economic drain. They are quick to integrate into local economies. And nationally they have high labor force participation rates, which includes people who are employed or looking for employment.

https://theconversation.com/refugees-dont-undermine-the-us-economy-they-energize-it-147146

There is a reason the Trump and the gang do not like facts and figures……those prove them wrong every time.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Senkaku Islands

Huh?

Where the Hell are these islands?

Easy remedy to that question…..

Japan-China relations - Jingoist jangles | Asia | The Economist

There seems to be a bit of a problem with the oil and gas fields in and around the islands…..everybody wants a slice of that pie…..especially China….

Let me continue the education…..this is the conflict according to Japan…..

China’s maritime adventurism in the East and South China Seas has lately attracted considerable attention. Fifty percent of China’s claimed jurisdictional waters are competing with neighboring countries in the East Asia.2 The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has named People’s Republic of China (PRC) as a maritime power in the 18th Party Congress in 2012 (People’s daily Online in Japanese, November 12 2012), and the PRC challenges Japan, the U.S.A., and the ASEAN countries. What happens in the East China Sea? China takes the maritime offensive against Japan. The authordefines the word “offensive” not only the military means, but also the political, legal, economic, and psychological means to oppress the competitor.3 If so, the Chinese maritime offensive against Japan includes not only the actual maritime conflict in the East China Sea, but also the natural resources demand at the disputed waters, anti-Japan demonstration inside and outside of China, the sovereignty assertion in relevant to historical issues with Japan, CCP’s internal power struggle, and China’s national integration policy.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/24761028.2019.1626567

The question is what is China’s desire for this region?

China’s recent moves are destabilizing, and Japan clearly stated as much in a newly released defense white paper. In the report, the Japanese government presents the nature of the Chinese challenge to its security — especially to the Senkaku islands — in the strongest terms yet. Chinese authorities are in fact described as “relentlessly” pressing their claims to the islands with ever-increasing levels of maritime activities undermining the status quo. Japanese Defense Minister Taro Kono made clear that further intensification of activities might trigger the intervention of Japanese military assets. In response to Japanese concerns, the commander of U.S. military forces in Japan has stated that the United States would help monitor the situation. Every successful step Beijing takes in undermining the status quo around the Senkakus through coercion and force is a direct challenge to the credibility of the U.S.-Japanese alliance and, crucially, to the principles informing the maritime rules-based order centered on the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea. While the United States is not party to this treaty, both China and Japan are, and Abe has clearly articulated why China’s actions around the Senkakus fundamentally undermine the principles enshrined in the convention.

What Is China’s Strategy in the Senkaku Islands?

In recent years the US has been itching for a fight with China…the South China Sea and now the Senkaku Islands……it is so serious that the US has stated that it could send troops to the islands…..

American troops could be sent to disputed islands inthe East China Sea, the head of US forces in Japan said, as the two allies began a high-profile drill amid growing concerns overBeijing’s military activities in the region

“Our arrival today was simply to demonstrate the ability to move a few people, but the same capability could be used to deploy combat troops to defend the Senkaku Islands or respond to other crises and contingencies,” Lieutenant General Kevin Schneider, commander of US Forces Japan,

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3107291/american-troops-could-be-sent-defend-senkaku-islands-us

Just those warmongering words should terrify Americans…they are basically daring China to act…..and the ultimatum could be disastrous…..

Hopefully calmer heads will prevail in January.

Then again those heads may not prevail…….

According to a readout of a call between President-elect Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Suga, Biden recommitted the U.S. to defending the Senkaku Islands as part of the mutual defense treaty between the U.S. and Japan:

Biden confirmed that Article 5 of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty will be applied to the defense of Okinawa Prefecture and the Senkaku Islands. Article 5 stipulates that the U.S. is obliged to defend Japan should its territories come under attack. Former President Barack Obama was the first U.S. leader to declare that the pact applies to the Senkakus.

Biden is reaffirming the position that the Obama administration took in 2014, but that doesn’t make this commitment any wiser or better than it was when it was first made. As a general rule, the U.S. shouldn’t extend its defense commitments to include disputed territories. In this particular case, committing to defend the Senkakus makes even less sense because these are just uninhabited rocks in the ocean. It strains credulity that the U.S. would actually go to war with China for the sake of these rocks, and that makes it more likely that China will test that commitment. The U.S. risks undermining its commitments to treaty allies when it recklessly expands them to include territory that we aren’t going to defend when push comes to shove. Instead of deterring China and protecting a treaty ally, this commitment seems more likely to create an unnecessary flashpoint that could lead to further escalation.

Would You Die for the Senkakus?

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”