Month: February 2021

Amazon Female Warriors

Did you see Wonder Woman or WW84?

Wonder Woman everybody’s favorite Amazon.

By Amazon I am talking about the warriors of legend not the rain forest or the business that is sucking the life out of local retail.

Yes the Amazons are the people of Wonder Woman….but were they real or just myth?

Were the Amazons of ancient Greek mythology — fierce female warriors said to have roamed a vast area around the Black Sea known as Scythia — real? Or were they as fictitious as other Greek myths, such as Aphrodite emerging from genitals thrown into the sea or Jason stealing a golden fleece?

Modern historians assumed that the Amazons, first documented by the poet Homer in the eighth century B.C., were fantasy. But then, in the 1990s, archaeologists began identifying ancient female skeletons buried in warrior graves in the same region.

Some skeletons were found with combat injuries, such as arrowheads embedded in their bones, and were buried with weapons that matched those held by Amazons in ancient Greek artwork, according to Adrienne Mayor, a research scholar in the classics department and History of Science Program at Stanford University. 

“Thanks to archaeology, we now know that Amazon myths, once thought to be fantasy, contain accurate details about steppe nomad women, who were the historical counterparts of mythic Amazons,” Mayor, who is also the author of “The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women Across the Ancient World” (Princeton University Press, 2014), told Live Science in an email.

These nomadic warriors were part of an ancient group of tribes known as Scythians, who were masters of horseback riding and archery. They lived across a vast territory on the Eurasian steppe, stretching from the Black Sea to China, from about 700 B.C. to A.D. 500, Mayor wrote in Foreign Affairs magazine in 2015.

The Scythians were a hard-core people; they had a reputation for drinking excessive amounts of undiluted wine (unlike the Greeks, who mixed wine with water), imbibing fermented mare’s milk and even getting high on hemp, according to The British Museum. Frozen bodies of mummified Scythians preserved in permafrost reveal they were heavily tattooed with animals, according to the museum. 

https://www.livescience.com/who-were-amazon-warriors.html

Your lesson is now complete.

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Afghanistan Forever

I recently read a statement made by a NATO official when asked about a possible NATO withdrawal he said that NATO would depart when there was more stability in the country.

Seriously?

After 20 years and the Taleban controls about 52% of the country……when would this stability miraculously appear?

The SecDef made it clear that there would be NO end to our involvement.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met with NATO ministers on Thursday and discussed the war in Afghanistan and the approaching May 1st deadline for all foreign forces to leave as per the US-Taliban peace deal. While no decisions were made on the pullout, Austin assured his NATO counterparts that there will be no “hasty” end to the almost 20-year-old war.

According to a statement from the Pentagon, Austin “reassured Allies that the US would not undertake a hasty or disorderly withdrawal from Afghanistan.” He also reiterated that the Biden administration is conducting a “thorough review” of the US-Taliban agreement.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said after the meeting that no decision was made on whether or not the alliance is planning to leave before May. While NATO and the US claim the Taliban hasn’t lived up to its end of the agreement, one pledge the Taliban did stick with was not attacking the US or other coalition forces in Afghanistan.

I am sorry but there needs to be some sort of moral obligation for Biden to end this forever war…..

The U.S. is approaching its 20-year mark in the Afghan civil war. Intervening after 9/11, Washington speedily crippled al-Qaeda and ousted the Taliban. Alas, three successive administrations found it much harder to bring strong central government and Westminster-style democracy to Central Asia. So American military personnel remain on station. Like in the Hotel California, it appears that Americans can check out but never leave.

Even many hawks gave up justifying the war on humanitarian grounds, preferring to talk about the importance of staying to fight terrorism or achieve other ends. However, Ronald E. Neumann, a former US ambassador to Afghanistan, took up the challenge of justifying nation-building. He asked: “At this time, when so many young Afghans are dying to build the kind of society we preached to them, have we no moral responsibility to sustain what we helped build?”

This claim has enormous emotional appeal. But it cannot justify America’s indefinite, and likely permanent, participation in someone else’s endless (civil) war.

President Joe Biden Has a Moral Obligation To Bring America’s Troops Home from Afghanistan

When will the American people start demanding that this war comes to an end?

When will the troops become a more important part of the dialog?

Questions with few actual answers.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–18Feb21

Looks like Twitter is trying to head off any crackdown by the Biden admin by permanently shutting down some of the hate users….like Trump.

But they also have suspended the accounts of some of the Saudi dissidents….

Twitter has removed the blue verified badge from the accounts of several Saudi political prisoners, including two prominent clerics who were detained in a crackdown against reformists, activists and government critics. 

Among those whose verification label has been removed are Ali al-Omary and Awad al-Qarni, two senior religious figures who have been jailed since 2017. They were seized during a purge that followed Mohammed bin Salman‘s rise to the position of crown prince.

Similarly, the accounts of the Saudi philanthropist Khaled al-Mohawesh and journalist Khaled al-Alkami, also jailed in the 2017 purge, had their blue tick removed, according to the advocacy Twitter account Prisoners of Conscience. It added that the account of economist Essam el-Zamil, another political prisoner, has been suspended. He tweeted under the handle @Essamz.

Middle East Eye has contacted Twitter for comment but has not received a response by the time of publication.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/saudi-arabia-twitter-jailed-scholars-verification-removed

I wonder how much that cost the Saudi royals?

And it makes me think of what is Twitter doing.

Seems the reforms in KSA does not mean the right to dissent…..

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“lego ergo scribo”

Make Your Voice Be Heard

How many times have you been asked to “make your voice be heard” by contacting your rep or the White House?

Do you really think that any of those people give a damn about you or your concerns?

Guess what….they do not!

Have you called or written to your government?

Did you get the answer you wanted?

What prompted me to write this post is the the White House has taken down the site for petitions….

It appears that the ‘We the People’ petition system has been taken off the White House website. Here is an archive of what it looked like before Biden took office.

The system has been around for many years. At any given time, hundreds of petitions were active. If you get 100,000 signatures, the White House is supposed to give an answer. You may remember that there was an active “Free Assange” petition that the Obama Administration was obligated to answer (and gave a bad answer).

When Trump took office, he briefly discontinued it but put it back up after a media uproar.

Now it appears the Biden White House has removed it. The website used to be here:
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov

This URL, as well as URLs for all currently-active petitions, just forward to the White House front page. I explored the website and could not find any mention of it. The link used to appear in both the “Contact” and “Get Involved” links, but it is gone from both.

I have seen nothing about this in the media. When I Google “White House Petition System Down” and other similar searches, I only get 4-year-old articles about the time that Trump temporarily disabled it.

Wikipedia says that the system was taken down the day Biden took office: On January 20 2021, the day the Inauguration of Joe Biden took place, the website’s address started redirecting to the White House’s website home address.

This is a terrible event, and it must be publicized, and Biden must be made to reverse this decision.

(antiwar.com)

It was returned but does it really have any effect on policy?

Biden is not a transformative president.

He just wants a return to the “good old days”…..the days of yore…..the days of 2008….the days of nothing actually being done but the appearance of change.

Even when the active engagement of their base in ongoing political advocacy enhances their ability to succeed, it is foolhardy to believe that politicians secretly welcome pressure or that they will pay tribute to those who, on select occasions, are able to force their hands. Having invested their faith in their talent for insider maneuvering, these elected officials see themselves as indispensable servants of the public good. They want their constituents to be appreciative, and they are rankled at encountering people who are not. “Cut me some slack,” is how Obama put it. “Give me a break, man,” Biden has already exclaimed. These are just other ways of saying, “Don’t make me do it.”

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2021/02/13/its-myth-presidents-welcome-movement-pressure-and-biden-no-different

Will we change the thinking in DC with our so-called participation?

NO!

Hope!  We will plug along and things will remain the same….no matter how much you attempt to participate and bring the message to those in the Ivory Tower.

Direct action is the only way to make change….and then it will be incremental because you have scared the economic titans….and they will sign on to some small advances.

Think I am mistaken?

Look at our history….that will tell you all you need to know.

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What To Do In The Middle East

Most regulars know that my studies and career was rooted in the Middle East…..it is time I got back to watching the events in the region.

We have a new president and the question is….will there be an adjustment in the Middle East.

The Brookings Institution offers a few ideas for our new president……

For over a decade, the United States has sought to wind down the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, reduce its military footprint in the Middle East, and redirect scarce resources to Asia. Global and regional trends reinforced this American desire to reduce the priority of the Middle East in its global strategy, and the military “pivot” is well underway. The challenge for American policy is how to protect its remaining and still important interests in that region in an era of austerity and fierce power competition, both in the region and globally. The incoming Biden administration should not waste the window for a reset.

Gulf Arab partners, facing fiscal constraints from lower energy prices and the COVID-19-induced global recession, are more open to conflict resolution in the proxy wars they hagve been fighting across the region. But their relative penury will also impede their ability to invest in stabilizing weaker neighbors, including key states like Jordan and Egypt. Meanwhile, the Islamic Republic of Iran is sanctioned to the hilt, and used to wielding regional influence on the cheap. Thus the balance of power in the region may even favor the Iranians as the pandemic begins to recede. The Biden team must set aside the Trump administration’s fruitless “maximum pressure” in favor of the mix of intelligence cooperation, diplomacy, financial and military tools that can effectively deter or disrupt subversive Iranian activity while incentivizing Tehran’s return to the nuclear negotiating table. And the Pentagon must undertake a zero-based review of its force presence in the Persian Gulf region to ensure it is both efficient and effective in fulfilling its core missions there.

The United States must rebuild what has historically been its most effective tool in the Middle East: diplomacy, especially in advancing conflict resolution. In Yemen and Libya, there might now be opportunities to pull competing regional powers out of the fighting and negotiate power-sharing governments that promote stability and reduce freedom of action for Islamist terrorist movements. Washington cannot let Israelis and Palestinians stew in their stalemated conflict — but rather than trying to reconvene talks, it should take a long-term approach to rebuilding foundations for compromise between the two societies while insisting that they both abjure destabilizing unilateral actions, and work to improve freedom, security, and prosperity for those living with the conflict every day.

Finally, the Biden administration must reestablish clear boundaries in relationships that were deeply unbalanced by President Donald Trump’s careless approach. Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) all have questions about the extent and durability of American security commitments to their neighborhood, and all three prefer to keep the U.S. closely engaged. Washington can pursue necessary de-escalation and nuclear diplomacy with Iran while engaging these key partners about where American interests begin and end, and where partners’ own preferences and behaviors present real obstacles to closer cooperation. As in all healthy relationships, honest communication and clear boundaries are essential to maintain mutual respect and good feeling.

What to do – and what not to do – in the Middle East

I disagree with almost everything that is written by this think tank…..especially the statement on the Israeli/Palestinian problem…..”Washington cannot let Israelis and Palestinians stew in their stalemated conflict — but rather than trying to reconvene talks, it should take a long-term approach to rebuilding foundations for compromise between the two societies while insisting that they both abjure destabilizing unilateral actions, and work to improve freedom, security, and prosperity for those living with the conflict every day.”

Really?

If they want a long term solution then maybe the place to start is with Israel.  The theft of land, destruction of crops, the hijacking of humanitarian funds, the random of harassment and arrests and those damn settlements would be a good start.

None of that means a damn thing….for the Biden admin will do business as it has been done for 50 years….especially in the Middle East.

The Biden admin is change that will not change.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

Closing Thought–17Feb21

Before I post on this situation I want all readers to know that I am a gun owner and I believe that there needs to be some sanity in our gun laws that we have today.

Now to the meat of this post……

A freshman rep from Georgia (that state not the country) who has been stripped of her committee assignments because of her hateful attitudes has offered up a bill the Second Amendment Preservation Act (SAPA)……

Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA-14) kept her campaign pledge to defend gun rights by introducing the Second Amendment Preservation Act (SAPA) to defund all federal gun control enforcement and end funding for regulation and guidance issued by the ATF.

The Second Amendment Preservation Act (SAPA) will:

  • Cut all federal funding from implementing, enforcing, or advancing any measure, law, regulation, or guidance relating to the lawful use, purchase, sale, possession, or transportation of firearms by any citizen of the United States for Fiscal Year 2021.
  • Prohibit any federal funds from enforcing or implementing regulations or guidance issued by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms promulgated after November 1, 2020.

“Throughout my campaign for Congress, I promised the people of Northwest Georgia that I would be the strongest defender of gun rights on Capitol Hill. The Second Amendment Preservation Act (SAPA) prevents the federal government from using our taxpayer dollars to enforce gun control on law-abiding Americans.

Our God-given right to protect our country, ourselves and our families shouldn’t be up for debate. I’m proud to introduce this legislation, endorsed by the American Firearms Association, that will defund the enforcement of tyrannical gun control laws.”

Congressmen Paul Gosar (AZ-4), Randy Weber (TX-14), Scott Perry (PA-10), Madison Cawthorn (NC-11), Thomas Massie (KY-4) and Chip Roy (TX-21) have joined Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA-14) as cosponsors of SAPA.

(allongeorgia.com)

This is a waste of time.

The ATF is going nowhere.

It makes no sense because there is no gun control in this country regardless of what loonies like Greene have to say.

More GOP games is all this is.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Let The Games Begin

Now that the Trump trial has come to an end……and now the retaliation may begin…..

Trump’s sack holder in the Senate Lindsey Graham has issued a Trumpite threat for 2022…..in an interview on FOX News (where else?)…..

Lindsey Graham gave a wide-ranging interview on Fox News Sunday all about the impeachment trial, a day after it ended in acquittal for former President Trump. Some of the topics the South Carolina senator touched on:

  • Trump’s reaction to the verdict: Trump “was grateful to his lawyers” and “appreciated the help that all of us provided,” Graham said, per the Hill, adding that the former president was “ready to move on and rebuild the Republican Party” and “excited about 2022,” though he was also “mad at some folks.”
  • Mad at who? Graham didn’t specify whether Mitch McConnell was one of those people, but he did say of the Senate minority leader’s speech condemning Trump (even after McConnell voted to acquit): “I think Sen. McConnell’s speech—he got a load off his chest but unfortunately put a load on the back of Republicans. That speech you will see in 2022 campaigns. I would imagine if you’re a Republican running in Georgia, Arizona, New Hampshire, where we have a chance to take back the Senate, they may be playing Sen. McConnell’s speech and asking you about it if you’re a candidate.”
  • Retribution? Graham warned that Democrats had set a dangerous precedent with the trial, the New York Post reports. “If you use this model, I don’t know how Kamala Harris doesn’t get impeached if the Republicans take over the House,” he said. “Because she actually bailed out rioters and one of the rioters went back to the streets and broke somebody’s head open. So we’ve opened Pandora’s Box here and I’m sad for the country.” He was referring to the now-VP’s support of the Minnesota Freedom Fund back in June, before she became now-President Joe Biden’s running mate. She encouraged people to donate to the fund, which helped Black Lives Matter protesters to post bail. It’s not clear what he was referring to with his “broke somebody’s head open” comment.
  • The phone call: With regard to the phone call in which Trump reportedly told House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy the rioters at the US Capitol cared more about the results of the election than McCarthy did, Graham dismissed it as “hearsay.” He acknowledged the former president “bears responsibility of pushing narratives about the election that I think are not sound and not true,” he said, but that is “politically protected speech.”
  • Lara Trump: Graham said the former president’s daughter-in-law, wife of Eric Trump, stands to gain quite a bit from this whole thing. “The biggest winner of this whole impeachment trial is Lara Trump,” Graham said, per Slate. “My dear friend Richard Burr, [the North Carolina senator who voted to convict Trump], just made Lara Trump almost the certain nominee for the Senate seat in North Carolina to replace him if she runs.”

A vindictive tit for tat from the Trump party of mindless and spineless slugs.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Play That Antisemitism Card

The ruling by the International Criminal Court has BiBi up in arms……

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned Friday’s ruling: “Today the ICC proved once again that it is a political body and not a judicial institution,” he said. “The ICC ignores the real war crimes and instead pursues the State of Israel, a state with a strong democratic government that sanctifies the rule of law, and is not a member of the ICC.

“In this decision,” Netanyahu added, “the ICC violated the right of democracies to defend themselves against terrorism, and played into the hands of those who undermine efforts to expand the circle of peace. We will continue to protect our citizens and soldiers in every way from legal persecution.”

https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20210205-icc-rules-it-has-jurisdiction-over-palestinian-territories-clears-way-for-probe-of-israeli-actions

“Pure anti-Semitism,” Netanyahu said, raising an argument likely to strike a chord with many Israelis who believe that criticism, especially in Europe, of Israeli policies toward the Palestinians has its roots in anti-Jewish sentiment.

Why is everything that does not go Israel’s way antisemitism?

Of course the US has to kiss Israel’s ass….so they oppose this action by ICC…..

In the US, State Department spokesman Ned Price said his office was still reviewing the decision. However, he clarified that the Biden administration has “serious concerns about the ICC’s attempts to exercise its jurisdiction over Israeli personnel.”

“We have always taken a position that the court’s jurisdiction should be reserved for countries that consent to or that are referred to by the UN Security Council,” Price added, hinting at US opposition to the decision, given that Israel is not a member of the ICC. The US is also not a member. The Palestinians joined the court in 2015.

There is a reason that Israel and the US has not singed on to the ICC.

The ICC is meant to serve as a court of last resort when countries’ own judicial systems are unable or unwilling to investigate and prosecute war crimes.

Has anyone else noticed that the countries that commit the worse offensives do not sign on?

Sorry but the destruction of crops, theft of land and extrajudicial raids and imprisonment without charge are all war crimes in my book.

Look at the BDS Movement…..a group that boycotts Israel until they start treating Palestinians humanely has been labelled ‘antisemitic’ by our Congress and admin……this is bullshit!

The Biden administration “embraces and champions” the so-called IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, a State Department official said on Monday.

Kara McDonald, deputy assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor, praised the definition “with its real-world examples” as “an invaluable tool” to “call hate by its proper name and take effective action,” according to the JTA news agency.

McDonald is serving temporarily as the Biden administration’s point person on the issue until it names a special envoy on anti-Semitism.

The IHRA definition has been promoted by Israel and its lobby groups.

It has been strongly opposed by civil libertarians and Palestinian and Jewish organizations which see it as a pretext to smear and censor supporters of Palestinian rights.

Its use as a tool of censorship has even been criticized by the definition’s original author.

My First Amendment rights….if Trump can use it then we all can.

Israel can kiss my old ass….call that what you may.

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Closing Thought–16Feb21

Now this is rich!

I seems that one of Trump’ sycophants has turned on him…..her name is Nikki Haley.

She has had an epiphany……

 

Nikki Haley refused to criticize Donald Trump for months while he claimed the election had been stolen, but her stance shifted dramatically after the Capitol riot, according to a lengthy Politico profile published Friday. On the day after the Jan. 6 attack, Haley, who served as UN ambassador in the Trump administration for two years, told a Republican National Committee meeting in Florida that Trump had gotten his words “badly wrong.” “And it wasn’t just his words,” she added. “His actions since Election Day will be judged harshly by history.” On Jan. 12, she told Politico chief political correspondent Tim Alberta that she was angered and disappointed by Trump’s treatment of Mike Pence after “the loyalty and friendship” the vice president had shown. “I’m disgusted by it,” she said.

“We need to acknowledge he let us down,” she said. “He went down a path he shouldn’t have, and we shouldn’t have followed him, and we shouldn’t have listened to him. And we can’t let that ever happen again.” Haley told Alberta that she was “deeply disturbed” by Trump’s behavior since losing the election. “Never did I think he would spiral out like this.” Haley, seen as a possible 2024 White House contender, said she considers impeachment a “waste of time,” but she doesn’t think Trump will run for office again. “I don’t think he’s going to be in the picture,” she said. “I don’t think he can. He’s fallen so far.” Alberta notes, however, that 13 days after the interview, Haley told Fox News that people should “give the man a break.” With a likely presidential campaign launch still two years away, Haley still has time to rekindle her “warm relationship” with Trump,” he writes.

Seriously?

After 4 years of carry water for Donald the Orange and she just now learned what he was all about?

Image

The reality is that she has eyes on a run for the presidency in 2024 and she is trying to save what little dignity she has left after being a toadie for Trump.

She is transparent….at least to anyone with an IQ about 50…..which does not include Haley.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Remember “Herd Immunity”?

There is so much news around the pandemic raging across the planet….I try to keep my readers up-to-date on the doings around the pandemic.

That silly notion is just let the virus run its course and we will eventually become immune.

A moronic statement by our then president Donald Trump supported this silliness.

But what is this?

Herd immunity occurs when enough people become immune to a disease to make its spread unlikely. As a result, the entire community is protected, even those who are not themselves immune. Herd immunity is usually achieved through vaccination, but it can also occur through natural infection.

But will it, the Covid-19, become less harmful as it progresses?

This article may answer all your questions on this matter….it appeared on theconversation.com….

A recent modelling study painted a reassuring picture of a post-pandemic future in which SARS-CoV-2 transitions, over “a few years to a few decades”, from dangerous pathogen to just another common-cold coronavirus. This predicted loss of virulence, the authors stress, is based on a specific idiosyncrasy of the virus, namely that it rarely causes serious disease in children.

Still, many experts agreed that we should not be in the least surprised by the authors’ conclusion, as all viruses “become more transmissible and less pathogenic over time”. After all, the seductive logic goes, from an evolutionary perspective it makes no sense for a pathogen to harm the host on which it depends for its survival. According to this reasoning, virulence is little more than a temporary evolutionary imbalance.

This comfortable chain of reasoning was rudely broken by the announcement of “a realistic possibility” that the new highly transmissible B117 variant “is associated with an increased risk of death”.

https://theconversation.com/will-coronavirus-really-evolve-to-become-less-deadly-153817

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