Month: May 2021

Not With US Help

For ten days Israel has been punishing Gaza’s civilians for the actions of Hamas…..and the US has called for ceasefire….most of that is rhetoric and means nothing….just a way to calm the protests and cover Israel’s ass for them (something we do constantly).

***A ceasefire after 11 days is holding but it is a very shaky cease***

The US has never been serious about a solution that is beneficial to both sides…..not since the 1970s that is…..and it is NOT serious today.

Why would I say this?

…

more than 300 American lawmakers publicly pledged their unconditional loyalty to a foreign power.

In a letter to the chair and ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, the members of Congress cautioned against “reducing funding or adding conditions on” US welfare checks (totaling $3.8 billion annually) to Israel.

The letter name-checks US President Joe Biden, who, nearly a year ago tried to have it both ways — decrying Israeli annexation of Palestinian land and the eviction of Palestinian residents to make room for Israeli squatters (“settlers”), while likewise volubly assuring Jewish campaign donors, “I’m not going to place conditions on security assistance.”

Now Biden and members of Congress from both sides of the partisan aisle feign surprise and dismay as the Israeli regime once again makes war on the populations of the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip.

What the heck did they expect?

Peace in Palestine? Not if American Politicians Can Help It

But as they (whoever “they” are) actions speak louder than words…..

The UN Security Council was considering a statement condemning the violence in Gaza, which has left hundreds of Palestinians dead including dozens of women and children, and calling for a ceasefire—but the US blocked it Monday, the Wall Street Journal reports. According to Al Jazeera, that’s the third time in a week US opposition to such a statement has prevented one from being released. The council held an emergency virtual meeting to discuss the crisis, and China, which holds the rotating presidency of the council for the month of May, drafted the statement late Sunday. After it was blocked by the US, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson told reporters, “We urge the US to shoulder its fair share of responsibilities, take a just stance, and work with the majority of the international community to support the Security Council.”

 
Times of Israel, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken became the first US official to call for a ceasefire late Sunday. The draft UN statement, obtained by the Times, “expressed [the council’s] grave concern regarding the crisis related to Gaza and the loss of civilian lives and casualties, and called for de-escalation of the situation, cessation of violence and respect for international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians, especially children.” On Monday afternoon, Israel’s defense minister thanked the US for blocking it, the Independent
Another reason there should be NO ONE country that can veto the will of the UN….plus there should be NO permanent members on the Security Council….that in NO way promotes democracy and that was the original intent for the UN.
 
If there is to be a peace then do not look to the US for leadership….we are too busy stroking the scrotum of BiBi.
 
While we snuggle up to Israel innocent civilians continue to die in the name of self-defense.
 
Keep in mind that Israel buys US weapons with US taxpayer dollars….

On May 5, Hamas commander Mohammed Deif issued a warning to Israel’s government: Unless Israeli police and troops stopped attacking Palestinians in Jerusalem — including not just those protesting against the regime’s theft of their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood on behalf of Israeli “settlers,” but also worshipers at al-Aqsa mosque, one of Islam’s most sacred sites — rockets would fly.

On the same day, the Biden administration notified Congress of its approval for Boeing’s sale of $735 worth of Joint Direct Attack Munitions to the Israeli regime.

When Israel’s Regime Buys US Weapons, It Buys Them With Your Money

 
Ask yourself this….if the Biden group condemns the Saudis action in Yemen…why not Gaza?
 
What part of killing civilians is acceptable?   Any civilian.
 
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A Mask-less Country

A new Sunday and a new victory lap for Biden the pandemic front.

It is official…Pres. Biden has said that if a person is fully vaccinated then they need not wear a mask…that they can go out and about and can integrate themselves into to society once again.

We are all on the honor system and can visit relatives and go dining, hang out in bars….all the things we use to do……a return to normal….maybe a new normal…..

But I question if this is necessary?

Seriously!  Do you trust Americans to be honest in this situation?

In the clash between sound science and political pressure from anti-science crackpots in the United States, the Biden administration and the Center for Disease Control have blinked, announcing prematurely that people who are vaccinated can basically give up masking except when traveling on public transit or visiting health facilities.

The idiocy and mendacity of this announcement, at a time when only 36% of Americans have been fully vaccinated (about half the rate required to stop the disease’s spread) is stunning.

Wearing a mask is not a burden, it doesn’t prevent someone from speaking, from going about routine business, even, as I have discovered over this past year, from running.  What it does do is prevent the spread of disease. Why the unseemly rush to do away with mask requirements?

Several doctors and a dentist I have had occasion to visit over the past few months have all remarked that the reason we did not have a flu epidemic too this year is because there was so much mask wearing going on that it the flu virus never got a chance to spread. That’s a pretty good good “control” demonstrating to even the most pig-headed anti-masker that masks do work.

Maybe we don’t know how well they work at preventing Covid spread, because we haven’t had a Covid epidemic like this before, but we have had a long history of raging flu epidemics, so we know what they typically look like, and there was really nothing this year resembling a flu epidemic.

A Maskless US Heads Down a Dark Road as the Covid Pandemic Rages On

True is sadly lacking in this country these days….

Me?

I feel this decision is premature….it is a political decision not a health care issue for Biden.

I shall continue my precautions until I feel that it is safe….I mean less than 40% have had one shot and about 48% are fully vaccinated (that is less than half the country)…..so my trust is not there.

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Worthless News Saturday

Thanx to the internet there is a wealth of worthless news….and so I will post on that news that I feel is more worthless than most.

Let’s start with the trend these for things that look like real food but instead is some sort of substitute…..we have plant based burgers……plant based sausage….now we will have what I think is a damn stupid idea…..coffee-less coffee…..

You can eat “meat” made from plants and drink “milk” made from nuts, but are you ready for coffee made without coffee? That’s the question posed by a story in Bloomberg about a Seattle startup producing just such a brew. The concoction by Atomo Coffee is made not from coffee beans but from “upcycled” ingredients such as sunflower seed husks and watermelon seeds that undergo a patented chemical process. “Upcycled” refers to items once commonly discarded by farmers, notes the Beet. It has caffeine, it looks and smells like the real stuff, and it passes the taste test of Bloomberg reporter Manisha Jha. “While the cold brew lacks some of the bitterness one might expect from a cup of traditional coffee, it’s refreshingly smooth with a lingering sweetness on the palate,” writes Jha. A previous CNET taste test also gave it a thumbs-up.

Atomo plans to roll out cans of cold brew later this year, followed by instant and whole bean varieties for home brewing. The company’s pitch is sustainability—climate change is taking an increasingly large toll on regions of the world where coffee beans, particularly arabica beans, are grown. “We’re not trying to replace coffee, but we want to provide a sustainable choice—like today, if you want to buy … an electric vehicle or gas vehicle, you have that choice,” co-founder Andy Kleitsch tells KING 5. The Beet looks at comments on the Bloomberg story and finds people passionately in favor and against. “That tells us either coffee-less coffee is the beginning of a new industry or is a fad that may quickly blow over,” writes Hailey Welch. “But, what will happen when there’s no option to drink regular coffee? Coffee-less coffee, we’re looking at you.”

What’s the point?

Either drink coffee or not….why pretend?

Stupid replaces science…..the way of the Right….this time it is an old theory about sperm…you read that right…..sperm….

The human species is in grave reproductive danger, according to recent headlines. Some scientists say that sperm counts in men around the world have been plummeting, with Western men approaching total infertility by 2045. Far-right “Great Replacement” theorists, who fear that people of color are “replacing” the white population, have taken up the research with gusto.

This all stems from a report published in 2017 in the journal Human Reproduction Update that claims sperm counts among men in North America, Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand have fallen by some 50 percent since the 1970s. In February of this year, an author on that paper, Shanna Swan, published a book titled Count Down, which elaborates on what the phenomenon means for our future. The lengthy subtitle, How Our Modern World Is Threatening Sperm Counts, Altering Male and Female Reproductive Development, and Imperiling the Future of the Human Race, suggests things could get really bad. But we at the Harvard GenderSci Lab think there simply isn’t enough evidence to warrant doomsday predictions. The reason is that the initial finding of plummeting sperm counts relies on questionable assumptions.

https://slate.com/technology/2021/05/sperm-counts-decline-fertility-science-white-nationalism.html

Some morons will believe anything that could reinforce their stupidity…..

This is ‘worthless news’ only because it will be never heeded by Americans….

Just turned 45 and figured you had another half a decade before your routine colonoscopies start? Well, maybe not. The US Preventive Services Task Force, an influential panel, now recommends routine screening for colorectal cancer should start at 45, not 50, NPR reports. Colorectal cancer is the third-leading cause of cancer deaths in the US, and is projected to kill 53,000 people this year, but it is quite treatable if caught early. The task force says if younger people are screened (whether through colonoscopies or stool testing), deaths can be prevented. It notes that there has been an “alarming” increase in colorectal cancer among younger people, ABC News reports. The American Cancer Society also recommends screening starting at age 45.

This is important health news but sadly will go unchecked until it is too late…..

That ends this Saturday’s worthless news installment….

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Why The Defense Budget Never Goes Down

As you know I believe the US spend way too much taxpayer money on weapons and so-called defense.

The Pentagon is a problem….a problem we refuse to solve.

A sad indictment of the system…..we spend over $700 billion a year on the Pentagon and they seldom ever pass an audit of their practices and expenditures…..

When the Pentagon launched its first-ever independent financial audit back in 2017, backers of accountability in government welcomed it as a major step for a department with a track record of financial boondoggles.

But the Defense Department failed that audit – and the next two as well. Now lawmakers are introducing a bipartisan bill that would impose a penalty for any part of the department, including the military, that fails to undergo a “clean” audit.

“The Pentagon and the military industrial complex have been plagued by a massive amount of waste, fraud and financial mismanagement for decades. That is absolutely unacceptable,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who co-sponsored the bill with Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, along with Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Mike Lee, R-Utah.

Despite having trillions of dollars in assets and receiving hundreds of billions in federal dollars annually, the department has never detailed its assets and liabilities in a given year. For the past three financial years, the Defense Department’s audit has resulted in a “Disclaimer of Opinion,” meaning the auditor didn’t get enough accounting records to form an assessment.

https://www.npr.org/2021/05/19/997961646/the-pentagon-has-never-passed-an-audit-some-senators-want-to-change-that

And yet they get increasingly more and more cash…..

If the taxpayer truly wants to know where their money is spent and wasted….then  look no further than the Pentagon.

I have written many times about the extreme money that the US throws at the Pentagon…..after the fall of the Soviet Union one would think that without a major competitor on the international stage we could save some cash and lessen the cash thrown at the Pentagon….but that has not happened…..why is that?

It is not rocket science….the M-IC needs an enemy and the government will create a threat as needed….

Strange, isn’t it? Our secretary of state emphatically claims that China has been acting “more aggressively abroad” and behaving “increasingly in adversarial ways.” No, he insists, we’re not exactly at the edge of a new cold war or planning, in the style of the last century, to “contain China.” All this country is doing is “uphold[ing] this rules-based order — that China is posing a challenge to. Anyone who poses a challenge to that order, we’re going to stand up and — and defend it.” Ah, you remember that “rules-based order,” don’t you? The one this country has sponsored in this century with an endless series of losing wars across the Greater Middle East and Africa, right?

Our secretary of defense, mentioning no country by name (cough, cough, but you know which one he has in mind), recently said: “I’ll never forget the valor that I saw and the lessons that I learned as a commander in Iraq and CENTCOM. But the way we’ll fight the next major war is going to look very different from the way we fought the last ones.” (The assumption being, of course, that such a war will indeed be fought.) And the Pentagon is already focusing its energy on just such a possible future war against “near-peer competitors” from the Arctic to the South China Sea. Even President Biden, addressing Congress and the nation, emphasized that “we’re in competition with China and other countries to win the twenty-first century.”

Why the Pentagon Budget Never Goes Down

There you have it…..what was once the USSR is now China…..

Just think what this country could do with $700 billion it would save with some reduction to the funds at the Pentagon…..

Just a thought!

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All Quiet On The Eastern Front

After almost 2 weeks of intense fighting between Israel and Hamas and many lives lost an agreement has been reached…..

Israel on Thursday announced a cease-fire in the bruising 11-day war against Hamas militants that caused widespread destruction in the Gaza Strip and brought life in much of Israel to a standstill, per the AP. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced the cease-fire after a late-night meeting of his Security Cabinet. The statement said the timing of the cease-fire was still being worked out. One member of the Security Cabinet said it would take effect at 2am, roughly three hours after the announcement. A Hamas official, meanwhile, said the declaration of a truce was a defeat for Netanyahu and “a victory to the Palestinian people.”

Ali Barakeh, a member of Hamas’ Arab and Islamic relations bureau, said the militants will remain on alert until they hear from mediators. Once Hamas hears from mediators, the group’s leadership will hold discussions and make an announcement, he said. Since fighting broke out on May 10, Israel has launched hundreds of airstrikes that it says have targeted Hamas’ infrastructure, including a vast tunnel network. Hamas and other militant groups embedded in residential areas have fired over 4,000 rockets at Israeli cities, with hundreds falling short and most of the rest intercepted. At least 230 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza health officials, while 12 people in Israel have died.

It is good for both sides of the conflict that there is a ceasefire…..and now is the time for Biden to step up where most presidents have not and help find a permanent solution to this conflict.

Did Biden start the process?

Biden stepped to the White House microphone to praise everyone involved and to offer assurances that he’s been pursuing diplomatic solutions all along. He said he’s talked to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu six times during the 11-day clash, and also to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, NBC reports. All told, per NPR, the White House counts 80 conversations between Biden, his secretary of state and other American officials and their counterparts in the Middle East, as well as to other world leaders. Administration officials call Biden’s approach “quiet diplomacy.”

A good start to the Summer, peace……at least in Gaza…..but ‘quiet diplomacy’?

Is that not what the US has been doing for 50 years…..’quiet diplomacy’ equates to do nothing and leave status quo in place.

This will do nothing to calm the chaos that has been created in the Middle East.

The US needs to step up and stop bowing to the almighty dollar and do what they preach in front of the cameras.

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America’s Extreme Domestic Terrorism

Closing Thought–20May21

I seems that the incidents of domestic terrorism is getting worse by the week……apparently it is according to a newly released FBI report…..

Killings by American domestic extremists in 2019 were the worst in the nation in 24 years, according to a chilling new report released by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security.

Of the 32 killings by extremists in five separate attacks in 2019 — the most lethal year for domestic extremist assaults since 1995 — 24 were committed by white supremacists, according to the report.

Gamification” — in which attackers seek to “score” a high “kill count” — “inspired” some of the assaults in 2019, and will likely continue to be a factor in future attacks, the report noted.

There were 57 deaths linked to domestic extremists from 2017 through 2019, with 47 of them racially motivated, according to the report.

“The greatest terrorism threat to the Homeland we face today is posed by lone offenders, often radicalized online, who look to attack soft targets with easily accessible weapons,” the report noted. “Many of these violent extremists are motivated and inspired by a mix of socio-political goals and personal grievances against their targets.”

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/deadly-domestic-extremism-worst-in-25-years-fbi-white-supremacists_n_60a0591ae4b03e1dd38a5b4e

This is a trend that I do not think will subside anytime soon…..if that is truly the case then why is there NOTHING we can do about them?

The term “militia” is inexact. It can conjure up a host of incongruous images, including units in the American Revolutionary War, the siege at Ruby Ridge, and mysterious groups converging since last spring to “protect” private property during Black Lives Matter protests. So when the intelligence community warns about “militia violent extremists,” what exactly does it mean?

When the media or government officials talk about militias, they’re talking about private armed paramilitary organizations that operate without government authority (so, not the U.S. National Guard). Hampton Stall, a researcher and militia expert at ACLED, uses three general descriptors to differentiate between militia and non-militia groups: strategy, structure and schedule. “Strategy” refers to a group’s political views around which members organize, while “structure” refers to a clearly defined hierarchy within the group, often including military ranks and a chain of command. “Schedule” refers to groups having regular, in-person events, including field-training exercises and recruitment. Plenty of groups have one or two of these elements, but the presence of all three is a sure sign of a militia, according to Stall.

Militias Pose A Serious Threat. So Why Is It So Hard To Stop Them?

As long as lies and misinformation feeds the idea of domestic terrorism this situation will not go away….or be solved.

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Lincoln Project Educates

I have been beating my gums endlessly about the lack of proper Civics instruction in our school….it seems someone has stepped up to try and repair our ignorance around civics…the Lincoln Project…..

Chasing after your fellow officials screaming at them, staging protests that gum up Congress, and attacks on the U.S. Capitol aren’t normal, but for some young people, it’s all they’ve ever witnessed from their government, Axios reported.

It’s one of the reasons that the GOP-expat group The Lincoln Project is starting a civics education program they’ll call The Franklin Project. They’ll also start doing grassroots organizing around those who are fed-up with “partisan dysfunction and authoritarianism.” It will become their Democracy Corps, a “hyper-local movement spread across the nation ‘that will advocate for and amplify the values upon which America was founded,'” said Axios, quoting the prospectus.

The move comes amid a group of over 100 Republicans threatening to leave the GOP amid Rep. Liz Cheney’s (R-WY) expulsion from the House leadership.

“We’re not the megaphone; we’re the convener,” co-executive director Greg Jenkins told Axios.

(Raw Story)

I applaud this attempt….I just hope that it is a good and concise program on Civics and does not sink to partisan BS.

Should we trust Republicans to do the right thing with the proposed program?

This country needs a vaccine to help them get into the Civics of this country…..if we want a progress past the manure of 2020 then we need this program.

Any thoughts?

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Ford’s Game Changer

Ford has been on the front line of innovation in the auto industry….think Mustang and Pinto……and now they have done it again…..and it is the most popular pick-up truck in the world….the F150.

Ford has revealed the all-electric F-150 pickup truck one day ahead of schedule. The truck, dubbed F-150 Lightning, was on display Tuesday at Ford’s Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Michigan during a speech from President Biden.

Images from the event show that the F-150 Lightning largely looks like its gas and hybrid counterparts, though the truck has a more modern grille, with an unbroken light bar that stretches from headlight to headlight. And even from a distance, it seems that the F-150 Lightning will have a large portrait touchscreen similar to the one in the Mustang Mach-E.

Biden gave the country and the world a peep at the new Ford in a speech in Michigan….

President Biden got to test drive Ford’s electric pick-up truck Tuesday when he made an unscheduled visit to a Ford driving course that typically carries out safety tests. The Secret Service trailed Biden as he tried out the Ford F-150 Lightning, CNN reports. Biden apparently gave away a secret when he told reporters the truck went from 0 to 60 in about 4.4 seconds; a rep later told reporters that information was supposed to be made public when the truck is officially revealed Wednesday, though he said it was fine that the president had let it slip early.

I applaud the ingenuity of Ford and under different circumstances it could be the game changer they are promoting.

A game changer?

First there needs to be a game before it can change…..

Who will buy an electric truck when there are few power charging stations across the country?

Wait…Biden has said that his infrastructure plan would give the country about 50,000 charging stations.

Now that sounds good right?

The problem is that his plan will most likely go NOWHERE in the Senate.

I say again…hard to be a game changer when there is no game to change.

This was purely a political thingy….reality says it all….was this just a PR thing to justify any government funding?

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A New “GOP” On The Horizon

There are those true conservs that are fed up with the Trumpian BS and have decided that they may start a third party so the country can have true conservatism once again…..

Christine Todd Whitman and Tom Ridge are among the more than 100 Republicans who have said they’ll sign a letter demanding that the party change direction. If it doesn’t, the group warns, the GOP can expect to be challenged by a third political party. The group is opposed to former President Trump’s continued control of the Republican Party, the New York Times reports. “When in our democratic republic, forces of conspiracy, division, and despotism arise, it is the patriotic duty of citizens to act collectively in defense of liberty and justice,” says the statement’s preamble. The letter, which is scheduled to be published Thursday, calls on Republicans to “either re-imagine a party dedicated to our founding ideals or else hasten the creation” of an alternative party.

Other former officeholders behind the letter include Mary Peters, Charlie Dent, and Barbara Comstock. Former Rep. Denver Riggleman said the group would prefer not to start another party, per USA Today. “The objective is to create a common sense coalition and policy-driven movement that pushes back against disinformation like the Big Lie” about the 2020 presidential election, Riggleman said. One of the organizers is Miles Taylor, a former Trump administration official who anonymously wrote a New York Times oped piece critical of the president in 2018, as well as a book. He said former governors, party chairmen, Cabinet secretaries and state officials plan to sign the letter, which Taylor called the first step. “If we can’t get the GOP back to a rational party that supports free minds, free markets, and free people,” he said, “I’m out, and a lot of people are coming with me.”

For more information on this possibility…..https://www.rawstory.com/republicans-threaten-leaev-party/

Will they make good on this threat?

How successful will they be in the age of Trumpism and misinformation?

We already have a centrist party….the Dems….what we need is more progressive thinking.

I am all for a third party….but I do not think it will be one that I will support….but I need to see their platform before I rule them out.

Thoughts?

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We Need A ‘Counter-Revolution’

There those out there (of which I am one) that believes that there needs to be a standardize educational program on civics.

For too long the subject of civics has been ignored and attempted to reign the subject to the dust bin of history (I always like the saying)…. most Americans are ignorant on the use of civics and how the government works….

Look at the last election and the response by Americans…..where about 10 millions Americans think the election was stolen or somehow illegitimate…. which NO evidence has proven the claims of a stolen election….all of which lead to the insurrection of 06 January….

So I agree with a statement from the Claremont Institute…..that there needs to be an educational counter-revolution.

Claremont Institute president Ryan Williams says that American civic education faces an acute crisis. In his estimation, essentially every institution – the vast complex of media, Big Tech, Hollywood, Fortune 500 companies, and education and government bureaucracies – teaches “vicious lies about America’s Founders” and our nation’s “heritage, heroes, accomplishments, and people.”

Williams argues that what passes for civic education today advances “the goal of wholesale revolution and the institution of a monstrous and unnatural tyranny.”

…

In light of these daunting circumstances, however, he counsels hope: “We at Claremont are happy warriors, and there’s no work we’d rather be doing with friends and fellow citizens.”

Williams describes The Claremont Institute, founded in 1979, as a think tank fomenting a “counterrevolution” to recover civic education through teaching, writing, and litigation. Its mission, he continues, is to restore the natural law and natural rights principles of the Declaration of Independence, the “ingenious political science of the Constitution,” and the “popular constitutionalism and reverence necessary for the maintenance of free government” to “their rightful, preeminent authority in our national life.”

https://realclearwire.com/articles/2021/04/16/the_claremont_institutes_counterrevolution_to_save_america_772948.html#

I believe that civics is one of the most important subjects that needs more attention in our educational system.

Any thoughts?

Coming soon is a post on a new civics project….something that is desperately needed….some may ask why….this cartoon says it all for me….

Image

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