Month: February 2023

Blue Dogs–A Dying Breed

It all started in 1995 during the Clinton admin…..Dems, some Dems, were ultra-conservative Democrats that came together in our Congress….but for a more in-depth look at these, in my opinion, party cowards…..if there are DINOs then these people are the very definition.

The Blue Dog Coalition was created in 1995 to represent the commonsense, moderate voice of the Democratic Party, appealing to mainstream American values. The Blue Dogs are leaders in Congress who are committed to pursuing fiscally-responsible policies, ensuring a strong national defense, and transcending party lines to do what’s best for the American people.

The name “Blue Dog” was inspired by the famous Blue Dog paintings by Cajun artist George Rodrigue. The term is also based on the long-time tradition of referring to a strong Democratic Party supporter as being a “Yellow Dog Democrat,” who would have “sooner voted for a yellow dog than a Republican.” The founding members of the Blue Dogs said they felt that they had been “choked blue” by the extremes of both political parties, leading to the Coalition’s name.

Since 2010 their numbers have been declining for why have a Dem conserv when you have those thugs in the GOP….

But as I say they are declining…..(which is a godsend, IMO)

Blue Dog Democrats are seen as a moderate bloc in the House—a “fiscally conservative, pro-national security caucus” among Democrats that acts as a counter to progressives, per Roll Call. After the 2008 elections, the group had a healthy 54 members. Today, however, the number is down to seven, the lowest in the group’s long history, reports Politico. It might have been 15, but seven members have bowed out and an eighth is undecided. This group, which includes Abigail Spanberger of Virginia and Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey, wanted the Blue Dogs to ditch their name and rebrand as the Common Sense Coalition, per Politico.

When a vote on the name change failed, the exodus began. Spanberger’s camp (she and Sherrill were the last two female members) worries that the group still carries a stigma of a “boys’ club,” as Politico puts it, from its Southern roots. Remaining members, including four members of color, dispute that. “It seems like it’s been a pretty diverse group of people over the last four years,” says an unnamed member. “I’m not thinking of 30 years ago. I don’t really entertain that type of critique.” As small as they are, Blue Dogs could still wield influence, both sites note. Given the Republicans’ slim majority, even a handful of votes can make a difference in the current House.

The Democratic Party is dying as well and personally I believe the Blue Dogs are speeding the demise up.

That is my opinion but others see it not so differently…..(the DNC sucks!)

The future of the Democratic Party is bleak.

Up until recently in possession of the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives, the Democrats have failed to accomplish anything meaningful, anything that improves the quality of our lives.

Voters tend to notice that sort of thing. 

However, the DNC’s problem isn’t merely about contemporary underperformance; it’s not about Joe Manchin or Kristin Sinema’s moderate-conservative disruption of the liberal agenda.

No, the DNC’s problem is much deeper and more profound; the Democrat’s problem is the culmination of a four-decade ethos shift that has left what was once the party of the people a shriveled, impotent shell of its former self.

The Democratic Party is supposed to protect the middle class. And through the middle of the twentieth century, the Dems did just that.

Middle-class voters (i.e. the majority of Americans) responded favorably, and the results were politically prosperous – the Dems dominated federal elections; The Dems held the White House from 1933 until 1953 and then again from 1961 until 1969 – and once more from 1977 until 1981. Liberals also dominated the Supreme Court, where Chief Justice Warren led a nearly two-decade run of consistently progressive case rulings.

More importantly, during this time period of Dem vitality, America prospered. The American middle class was the envy of the world; long overdue reforms regarding race and gender were implemented; the American dream was a tangible thing – rather than just a campaign slogan – available to an ever-increasing swath of the U.S. population. The GOP had a powerful counterpoint in a righteous, convicted Democratic Party that knew how to win elections and knew how to govern. Professor Mark Lilla called this era the “Roosevelt Dispensation,” which “pictured an America where citizens were involved in a collective enterprise to guard one another against risk, hardship, and the denial of fundamental rights.”

Why the Democratic Party Is Dying

The Dems are now the Party of war….the middle class is not safe with the Dems nor the GOP.

I have been calling for a third party that has the interests of the workers and the middle class at their core…..we have none of that with our party system these days.

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Ukraine: Answers Not Given

This is a post that few will care about or will give a lot of unrelated answers….but what the Hell.

Questions?

When I was in school a teacher gave me some good advice.

“The wise man doesn’t give the right answers, he poses the right questions. “

It is the answers, not the questions, that are embarrassing…..and I ask embarrassing questions and get few substantive answers….but I will continue to ask.
 
It is what I do.
 
Since the war began a year ago I have been asking questions….some hard questions….and so far the answer I get are boiler plate responses….by boiler plate I mean the rubbish the media throws out with little facts behind the garbage they spread.
 
Recently I posted on the debate around this conflict….
 
 
The media has not always been so gung-ho in Ukraine’s corner….

The other day I stumbled across a 2014 opinion piece in The Guardian titled “It’s not Russia that’s pushed Ukraine to the brink of war” by Seumas Milne, who the following year would go on to become the Labour Party’s Executive Director of Strategy and Communications under Jeremy Corbyn.

I bring this up because the perspectives you’ll find in that article are jarring in how severely they deviate from anything you’ll see published in the mainstream press about Ukraine in 2023. It places the brunt of the blame for the violence and tensions in that nation at that time squarely at Washington’s feet, opening with a warning that the “threat of war in Ukraine is growing” and saying there’s an “unelected government in Kiev,” and it only gets naughtier from there.

I strongly recommend reading the article in full if you want some perspective in just how dramatically the mass media has clamped down on dissenting ideas about Ukraine and Russia, beginning with the frenzied stoking of Russia hysteria in 2016 and exploding exponentially with the Russian invasion last year. I doubt there’s a single paragraph which could get published in any mainstream outlet in the media environment of today.

Milne writes about how “the Ukrainian president was replaced by a US-selected administration, in an entirely unconstitutional takeover,” and about “the role of the fascistic right on the streets and in the new Ukrainian regime.” He says that “Crimeans voted overwhelmingly to join Russia,” and that “you don’t hear much about the Ukrainian government’s veneration of wartime Nazi collaborators and pogromists, or the arson attacks on the homes and offices of elected communist leaders, or the integration of the extreme Right Sector into the national guard, while the anti-semitism and white supremacism of the government’s ultra-nationalists is assiduously played down.” He says that “after two decades of eastward Nato expansion, this crisis was triggered by the west’s attempt to pull Ukraine decisively into its orbit and defence structure.”

 
It is fascinating but that would be for those that are interested and from what I have read few are that interested in what has been written and only embrace the manure spread by the MSM.
 
Then I read about a ignored settlement of this situation….and from an Israeli….
 

Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said in an interview posted to his YouTube channel on Saturday that the US and its Western allies “blocked” his efforts of mediating between Russia and Ukraine to bring an end to the war in its early days.

On March 4, 2022, Bennett traveled to Russia to meet with President Vladimir Putin. In the interview, he detailed his mediation at the time between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which he said he coordinated with the US, France, Germany, and the UK.

Bennett said that both sides agreed to major concessions during his mediation effort. For the Russian side, he said they dropped “denazification” as a requirement for a ceasefire. Bennett defined “denazification” as the removal of Zelensky. During his meeting in Moscow with Putin, Bennett said the Russian leader guaranteed that he wouldn’t try to kill Zelensky.

The other concession Russia made, according to Bennett, is that it wouldn’t seek the disarmament of Ukraine. For the Ukrainian side, Zelensky “renounced” that he would seek NATO membership, which Bennett said was the “reason” for Russia’s invasion.

(antiwar.com)

Appears no one wants this conflict to end…..maybe there is too much cash to effectively find a solution.
 
Like I said….hard questions.
 
I Read, I Write, You Know
 
“lego ergo scribo”

Only In Mississippi

Recently there was some news that had the GOP flinching and cringing.

For the last 40 years maybe more my state of Mississippi has been a bastion of far right ideology….our present governor, “Tater Twat’ Reeves is up for re-election this year, 2023.

Under normal circumstances he would be a shoo in for re-election but this year it is not a given.

That is right….for now a Democrat is leading a sitting GOP governor…..

Republicans’ worst fears about Mississippi’s gubernatorial race could be coming true after a new poll showed GOP Governor Tate Reeves trailing Democrat Brandon Presley on Monday.

Reeves’ first term, which began in 2020, has been marred by low approval ratings and several controversies, including his handling of a welfare fraud scandal involving former Governor Phil Bryant and NFL player Brett Favre and a drinking water crisis in the state capital Jackson—fueling Democratic optimism that they could flip the executive office in a state that has proven to be difficult for the party in recent years.

A new poll released on Monday could worsen Republican worries that the race could become competitive.

https://www.newsweek.com/republicans-mississippi-governors-race-fears-coming-true-tate-reeves-brandon-presley-1780930

The selling point is that Presley is a distant cousin to Elvis….but I do not think that will be enough to take him over the top in the general election in November.

There are too many ‘good old boys in the state that vote party not what is best for the state and its residents.

Reeves may be in trouble for now but I do not see the voter changing nearly a half a century of voting habits.

It is great news but I believe it is only a feel good temporary high.

I will post more on the situation in Mississippi as a run up to the general election of 2023.

Watch for the analysis.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Could The US Be Overwhelmed?

The war in Ukraine has many bloggers predicting that if Ukraine loses then the Russian machine will not stop there and may even use nukes on the rest of the world….especially on the US.

All that may well be accurate but there is very few bloggers that have had anything to say about news that broke just last week (I waited a bit to see if the same doom and gloom would hold as much interest)…

The news to which I am referencing…..

North Korea hosted a military parade Wednesday night in Pyongyang, a celebration of the 75th anniversary of the modern-day Korean People’s Army. But one attraction in particular rolling down the streets of Kim Il Sung Square is now drawing international attention: what the nation’s government claims were a dozen or so Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missiles—the largest number of the nuclear weapons yet witnessed in that country, reports Reuters. “This is cumulatively more ICBM launchers than we’ve ever seen before at a North Korean parade,” Ankit Panda of the US-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace tweeted of the 11 missiles he counted in images released by state media (check out some of the photos here).

The Hwasong 17, North Korea’s largest ICBM, is believed to be capable of reaching the United States, and the number apparently seen Wednesday might be enough to “conceivably overwhelm the United States’ defense against them, blowing a hole in decades of denuclearization and homeland security policies,” per Politico. The outlet, which reports there may have been as many as 12 of the ICBMs spotted, notes that each one can theoretically hold four nuclear warheads. The US, however, has only 44 interceptors on the ground in Alaska and California to take out any incoming missiles—meaning “it’s possible Pyongyang can fire more warheads at the US than America has interceptors.” Also seen at the parade: vehicles carrying what some analysts think were prototypes of solid-fuel missile canisters, which don’t need to spend time fueling up, as they come preloaded.

In 2020, Chad O’Carroll, founder of the US-based NK News, predicted that North Korea would have “military parades with dozens of ICBMs” and “solid-fuel ICBMs”—by 2040. “We’re only at 2023 and this parade shows rapid progress on these two points,” he tweeted Wednesday. Politico notes that it hasn’t yet been shown that the Hwasong-17 missiles can actually survive reentry or hit a US target from such a distance. But Wednesday’s show “punches a hole in 20-plus years of US homeland missile defense policy predicated on defending against a ‘limited’ missile threat from North Korea,” Panda tells the outlet, which notes that “administration after administration has failed to stop North Korea’s march to this moment.”

Why is this?

Does this not feed their preconceived notions of war and international situations?

Or could it be that this information is just too much for them to retain?

I’ll wait until I see more interest on a subject that most bloggers think is dire…..I may have a long wait.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

St. Valentine

Before I begin this history lesson I wish to ask that my readers give their special person a big hug on this day of celebration…..

Where did all this begin…..where did the ‘special’ day and it significance?

Boy is there a story in this event…..

hird-century Roman priest Valentinus was brutally beaten and beheaded after marrying couples in defiance of Emperor Claudius II’s ban on the sacrament of marriage on this day in history, Feb. 14, 270 A.D. 

“When Valentine’s actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death,” says History.com. 

“Valentine was arrested and dragged before the Prefect of Rome, who condemned him to be beaten to death with clubs and to have his head cut off. The sentence was carried out on February 14, on or about the year 270.”

The execution of the priest committed to betrothal is celebrated around the world as Saint Valentine’s Day. The celebration of romance has been secularized in recent decades as Valentine’s Day. 

The holiday’s association with roses and romance stands in sharp contrast to Saint Valentine’s grisly execution — or the contemporary fixation with the saint’s dismembered body parts. 

That tale of his martyrdom for uniting lovers in defiance of the emperor is one of several popular versions of the origin of Saint Valentine’s Day — each rooted in truth but shrouded by two millennia of poorly recorded history.

There are, for example, two different martyred Saint Valentines venerated on Feb. 14. The holiday may be a blend of their two tales of martyrdom.

“Although not much of St. Valentine’s life is reliably known, and whether or not the stories involve two different saints by the same name is also not officially decided, it is highly agreed that St. Valentine was martyred and then buried on the Via Flaminia to the north of Rome,” writes Catholic.org, published by the nonprofit Your Catholic Voice Foundation

There is so much more to this story…..

https://theconversation.com/the-real-st-valentine-was-no-patron-of-love-90518

There is so much more to the day than candy and flowers…..as usual history is replaced with blind consumerism.

Have a great day my friends.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

News From The Ukraine Front

There are many reports from the front lines of the Ukraine/Russian front…..but few make the headlines…..so I will try to bring as many of the unreported as I can.

The most disturbing news coming from the Pentagon about Ukraine….

The Pentagon is looking to restart special operations programs that it was conducting inside Ukraine before Russia invaded last year, The Washington Post reported on Friday.

The programs, known as surrogate operations, involve employing Ukrainian operatives to track Russian military movements and conduct information warfare. The Ukrainians involved in the programs would be overseen by US special operations troops.

The surrogate operations inside Ukraine first began in 2018 and were suspended before the invasion. The information warfare program involved using bloggers to counter so-called Russian disinformation. “We had people taking apart Russian propaganda and telling the true story on blogs,” an unnamed person involved in special operations told the Post.

The other program involved US commandos sending Ukrainians on reconnaissance missions in eastern Ukraine, where a civil war had been raging since 2014 that was sparked by a US-backed coup. “We’d train surrogates to go collect signals intelligence off a Russian radar battery … stuff like that,” a US government official told the Post.

Restarting the program would likely involve deploying US troops to Ukraine, although it’s possible they could direct the surrogates from outside the country. The Post report said there is no known US troop presence in Ukraine besides personnel based at the US Embassy in Kyiv, but The Intercept reported in October that US special operations forces were in the country, as well as CIA operatives.

If the programs are re-authorized, it would mark another dramatic escalation of US involvement in the war and make a direct clash with Russia more likely. Whether the US troops are deployed to Ukraine or run the surrogates from another country, Moscow would view the move as a major provocation.

(antiwar.com)

How many times have we heard this?  How many times has it come to bite the US in it’s ass?

This is a really bad idea.

Next the news of the proposal that Ukraine build their army of drones locally….

Ukraine’s military will spend nearly $550 million on drones in 2023, and 16 supply deals have already been signed with Ukrainian manufacturers, Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said on Monday.

Both Ukrainian and Russian forces have used a wide array of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), commonly known as drones, for reconnaissance and assault purposes during 11 months of war.

“In 2023, we are increasing the procurement of UAVs for the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” Reznikov wrote on Facebook. “We plan to allocate about 20 billion hryvnias ($547.05 million) to this segment.”

Ukraine has received significant supplies of UAVs from its partners, from Turkey’s missile-equipped Bayraktar TB2 to the Norwegian-made Black Hornet reconnaissance drone, which weighs less than 33 grams.

Kyiv is now seeking to boost domestic production to build what officials cast as an “army of drones”.

“The independence of the military-industrial complex is one of the factors of the country’s defence capability,” Reznikov wrote.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-plans-550-million-drone-investment-2023-defence-minister-2023-01-30/

Okay my question is….who will foot the bill for this endeavor?  My guess would be NATO and the US….if not that then why would you take funds to help the people of Ukraine to make a wider war?

Your thoughts please.

Next….most of my regulars know that I am supporter of finding a way out of the endless cycle of war….and now I hate to be on the same mindset as an GOP idiot in Congress, Gaetz…..

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) introduced a resolution on Thursday that calls for an immediate end to US military and financial support for Ukraine and urges the warring sides to negotiate a ceasefire.

The Ukraine Fatigue Resolution was led by Gaetz and received 10 other co-sponsors. If passed, it would express that it is the sense of the House that “the United States must end its military and financial aid to Ukraine” and urges “all combatants to reach a peace agreement.”

Throughout the war, Gaetz has been critical of US support for Ukraine and has previously called for an end to the policy. “President Joe Biden must have forgotten his prediction from March 2022, suggesting that arming Ukraine with military equipment will escalate the conflict to ‘World War III,’” Gaetz said in a statement on his resolution.

“America is in a state of managed decline, and it will exacerbate if we continue to hemorrhage taxpayer dollars toward a foreign war. We must suspend all foreign aid for the War in Ukraine and demand that all combatants in this conflict reach a peace agreement immediately,” he added.

The other co-sponsors for the resolution are Reps. Andy Biggs (AZ), Lauren Boebert (CO), Paul Gosar (AZ), Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA), Anna Paulina Luna (FL), Thomas Massie (KY), Mary Miller (IL), Barry Moore (AL), Ralph Norman (SC), and Matt Rosendale (MT).

Gaetz’s resolution notes that the US has already authorized over $110 billion to spend on the war in less than a year. The introduction comes after a series of escalations of US military aid, including M1 Abrams tanks, and Ukraine is now seeking fighter jets from the US and its allies. Each escalation risks a direct clash between Russia and NATO, which could quickly spiral into nuclear war.

(antiwar.com)

Are NATO troops fighting in Ukraine?

According to a NATO official……

According to Colonel Markus Reisner, the military strategist of the Austrian Ministry of Defence, Ukraine does not need NATO soldiers, as they are already there on the frontlines as mercenaries.

In a video posted on the Intel republic Telegram channel, the Austrian can be seen and heard giving his view on the situation. Reisner’s remark came in response to a question posed during a press conference at the AIES Institute. One of the journalists asked him who would be managing the proposed transfer of tanks to Ukraine – NATO servicemen or Ukrainians.

Reisner replied that if the military from Austria or NATO countries retired from service and became mercenaries, then they could no longer be considered representatives of the armies of their states.

WATCH: Austrian Colonel claims NATO soldiers are fighting in Ukraine as mercenaries

Did the US ever want to avoid a war in Ukraine?

On March 5, 2022, Bennett traveled to Russia to meet with President Vladimir Putin. In the interview, he detailed his mediation at the time between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which he said he coordinated with the US, France, Germany, and the UK.

Bennett said that both sides agreed to major concessions during his mediation effort. For the Russian side, he said they dropped “denazification” as a requirement for a ceasefire. Bennett defined “denazification” as the removal of Zelensky. During his meeting in Moscow with Putin, Bennett said the Russian leader guaranteed that he wouldn’t try to kill Zelensky.

The other concession Russia made, according to Bennett, is that it wouldn’t seek the disarmament of Ukraine. For the Ukrainian side, Zelensky “renounced” that he would seek NATO membership, which Bennett said was the “reason” for Russia’s invasion.

Reports at the time reflect Bennet’s comments and said Russia and Ukraine were softening their positions. Citing Israeli officials, Axios reported on March 8 that Putin’s “proposal is difficult for Zelensky to accept but not as extreme as they anticipated. They said the proposal doesn’t include regime change in Kyiv and allows Ukraine to keep its sovereignty.”

Discussing how Western leaders felt about his mediation efforts, Bennett said then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson took an “aggressive line” while French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz were more “pragmatic.” Bennett said President Biden adopted “both” positions.

But ultimately, the Western leaders opposed Bennet’s efforts. “I’ll say this in the broad sense. I think there was a legitimate decision by the West to keep striking Putin and not [negotiate],” Bennett said.

When asked if the Western powers “blocked” the mediation efforts, Bennet said, “Basically, yes. They blocked it, and I thought they were wrong.”

(antiwar.com)

Now who decided that this war should continue endlessly?

I know the answer….do you?

More news from the front to follow.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Civil Rights In The Middle

It is black history month and the perfect time for a little history lesson on the now famous Civil Rights Act….

There was more going on with this act than we are taught in our primary schools.

On August 7, 1957, Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson voted yea on the first civil rights bill passed by Congress in 82 years. He was joined by 71 of his Senate colleagues, including 43 Republicans and 28 Democrats, 4 of them liberals from the South like Johnson himself. One month later, on September 9, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1957 into law.

As majority leader, Johnson arguably did more than anyone else to ensure the passage of a civil rights act in 1957. He cajoled skittish progressives, most of them Northerners, into compromising with the Democratic Party’s powerful Southern voting bloc. Then, over bourbon and cigars, he convinced the Old Guard Democratic Southerners that they ought to give a bit on civil rights while one of their own was in charge, as legislative action on race relations could not be postponed indefinitely.

Limited in its scope and effectiveness, particularly when compared with legislation passed in the 1960s, the 1957 bill walked a treacherous tightrope that “was going to disappoint both the opponents of civil rights and the proponents of civil rights,” says Bruce Schulman, a historian at Boston University. The future president’s efforts were “totally based in the calculation of what was achievable” rather than ideal.

When defending his choice to support the bill on the Senate floor, Johnson admitted that it did “not pretend to solve all the problems of human relations.” Still, he said, “I cannot follow the logic of those who say that because we cannot solve all the problems, we should not try to solve any of them.” Instead, the majority leader stalwartly held the middle, resolute in his conviction that a symbolic victory, however weak, was superior to a total ideological defeat.

This political pragmatism defined Johnson’s lengthy career. As a sectional politician with national ambitions, he was a virtuoso of the art of the possible. Johnson considered the preservation of his political future the best opportunity to help the greatest number of people. By doing only what was feasible and, above all else, looking out for himself, he would make a better future for his “fellow Americans.”

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/to-fight-for-civil-rights-lyndon-b-johnson-settled-for-the-middle-ground-180981482/

I am not so sure that the middle was the best place to fight for real civil rights.

Why?

I believe that it made it too easy to lessen the impact over time….and so it has.

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Chasing Shiny New Keys

The American people need something to put the sparkle in their eyes….kinda like a baby and the rattling of shiny keys.

All this began with that looming ‘Chinese’ balloon trans versing the US and the US shot it down for our protection.

Then the food gates were opened….

The Pentagon shot down an unknown “high-altitude” object flying in US airspace off the coast of Alaska on Friday, White House officials said. The object was flying at about 40,000 feet and posed a “reasonable threat” to the safety of civilian flights, said John Kirby, White House National Security Council spokesman. Kirby said President Biden ordered the military to down the object, which he described as roughly the size of a small car—much smaller than the infamous Chinese balloon, per the Washington Post. No other details about what it was were immediately provided.

The object fell onto frozen US waters. The development comes after the US shot down a suspected spy balloon from China on Saturday. Officials are still recovering debris from that object, shot down off the coast of South Carolina. A fighter jet assigned to the US Northern Command conducted Friday’s mission, per Axios. It was not immediately clear who owned the object, which did not appear to be able to maneuver as well as the balloon, said Kirby. The US expected to be able to retrieve the debris.

The New York Times reports the object was flying over the Arctic Ocean, near the northeast border of Alaska and Canada, when it was shot down. Pilots confirmed it was unmanned before firing, said Kirby. The object previously had been flying over land. A US official describes the development as “fast-moving” to the Times. The official added that it’s possible the object had no military purpose and was a wayward commercial or scientific object.

Then the game continued…..

A US F-22 shot down an unidentified object flying at a high altitude over the Yukon territory on Saturday at Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s request. Trudeau tweeted that he’d discussed the matter with President Biden and that Canadian and US aircraft were scrambled after the object was spotted, the Washington Post reports. No one provided any details about the object, though NORAD released a statement earlier in the day saying it had been positively identified. The command guards skies over North America and includes US and Canadian officials.

Trudeau said Canadian personnel will lead the effort to recover and analyze the wreckage debris, per the CBC. Defense Minister Anita Anand tweeted that she had discussed the matter with her US counterpart, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and that they “reaffirmed that we’ll always defend our sovereignty together,” per CNN.

Apparently Canada does not have the capabilities of handling this situation for themselves.

And the hits just keep coming…..

For the fourth time in less than two weeks, the US has shot down an unidentified object flying over North American airspace. A Michigan congresswoman tweeted that it happened over Lake Huron on Sunday. “The object has been downed by pilots from the US Air Force and National Guard,” Rep. Elissa Slotkin posted, per the AP. Rep. Jack Bergman’s office reported that the craft was over US airspace at the time, per the Detroit News. American officials said that the craft went down in the lake and that it will be recovered. There was no sign that the shootdown caused any damage, they said, per NBC News. Airspace over the lake had been restricted earlier in the day by US and Canadian officials while planes were sent to identify the object.

Earlier Sunday, Sen. Chuck Schumer said that the objects shot down over Canada on Saturday and Alaska on Friday were—like the one the Air Force brought down earlier over the Atlantic near South Carolina—balloons. The majority leader told ABC’s This Week that he was briefed by White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan after the US shot down an object flying over Canada. A Pentagon spokesperson didn’t quite confirm that the targets were all balloons, per Politico, saying they “were objects and did not closely resemble” the balloon China sent over the US. More will be known when the debris is recovered, Sabrina Singh said.

Either way, Schumer said, “the bottom line is, until a few months ago, we didn’t know of these balloons.” per ABC News. Schumer praised the military and intelligence work against the balloons but asked, “why as far back as the Trump administration did no one know about this?” Officials said they believe the object shot down Sunday is the same one that was being tracked over Montana beginning on Saturday night.

I have called all this as ‘chasing shiny keys’…..but to summarize this……

Comparisons: The US is pretty sure the Chinese balloon was used for spying, though Beijing denies it, but much less is known about the objects shot down over Alaska and Canada. US officials are using a vehicle comparison: The latter two objects are about the size of a Volkswagen Beetle, reports the Washington Post, while the Chinese balloon was the size of three buses, per NPR.

  • Few answers: The US says the objects shot down over Alaska and Canada were flying at about 40,000 feet and thus posed a risk to commercial air traffic, reports CNN. By contrast, the Chinese balloon flew well above such traffic. The hunt for debris continues on all three shootdowns, and those recovery missions could answer a lot of questions about what the devices were doing and where they came from.
  • False alarm? Hours after the US shot down the object over Canada (after coordinating with that government), the FAA temporarily closed some airspace over Montana after a “radar anomaly” was detected by NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command. A jet fighter investigated but found nothing, reports the AP. Amid the newly heightened concern, such “false positives” may become more common.
  • Pressure: The incidents already are having an effect on national policy. The Hill reports that Senate Republicans are now pushing to take any defense cuts off the table in negotiations over the debt ceiling. And GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski, speaking after the shootdown in the skies above her state, told NBC News that “the first line of defense, again, is Alaska. … We need to send the message and we need to be clear and unequivocable that we don’t tolerate this, period.”
  • It’s classified: The New York Times reports that congressional lawmakers will receive an update on Monday of a classified report looking at more than 140 incidents of “aerial phenomena” between 2004 and 2021. Almost all remain officially unexplained, but they’re largely thought to be either foreign surveillance objects or weather balloons. Shootdowns are rare, but Pentagon spokesman Big. Gen. Patrick Ryder on Friday rejected the idea the administration was growing more aggressive because of political pressure.

Is there something happening or about to happen that the American people need to be fixated on something so it is not important for them?

I think I found the reason for all the faux interest…..

A growing number of Senate Republicans are saying that President Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) should take defense spending cuts off the table in their negotiation over the debt ceiling.

The Republicans are digging in their heels after receiving a classified briefing on a Chinese spy balloon that floated over sensitive military installations.

“The entire civilized world should recognize that communist China is probably the greatest threat we’ve ever faced, more severe than Soviet Russia was because of its economic integration into the West,” said Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) after receiving a briefing from senior administration officials on the spy balloon. “We should take every step we can to try to reduce our dependency on China [and] try to build stronger military deterrence against them. 

“I do not think that we should be talking about cutting the defense budget at all right now. If anything, substantial defense increases,” he said.  

Chinese spy balloon has GOP saying no cuts to defense

As usual the American media and public are chasing ‘shiny keys’….and more American cash will be thrown at non-existent problems….well done…..

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

‘Super Bowl’ Sunday–2023

I do not expect much activity on IST today for it is the annual ritual of the Super Bowl….I was there for the first one and I was a Green Bay fan and I remember when the Jets beat the Colts….but over the years I have lost all interest in the game.

These days about the only sport I watch is Hockey….New Jersey Devils, Colorado Avalanche or the Washington Capitals….

I know most of the hockey players are toothless ogres, right?

This my friends is a hockey player…..a goalie at that….

Goalie turned model Mikayla Demaiter heats up Instagram with Easter bunny photo

So much more to see….
 
https://brobible.com/culture/article/hockey-goalie-mikayla-demaiter-instagram/
 
Now you know why I like hockey.
 
When linebackers look like this then maybe I will spend more time with football.
 
All that aside…..please if you are having a Super Bowl party be careful and do not over indulge for the local constabulary will be looking for people that had lots of fun.
 
Enjoy your Sunday….Enjoy your game….see you guys tomorrow.
 
Be well and Be Safe….
 
“lego ergo scribo”

Usual Saturday News

The weekend begins and as usual I offer up news that you may not have been exposed to during the week….

Let’s begin with ‘organic food’.

Have you noticed that your favorite food store has an abundant amount of so-called ‘organic’ food?

The good question is just how organic is it really?

Amended U.S. Department of Agriculture rules announced last month suggest the agency has high hopes for plans to crack down on fraud in the organic food sector.

“The amendments protect integrity in the organic supply chain and build consumer and industry trust in the USDA organic label by strengthening organic control systems, improving farm to market traceability, and providing robust enforcement of the USDA organic regulations,” the agency explained in a January 19 notice in the Federal Register. The new final rule, dubbed Strengthening Organic Enforcement, is set to take effect next month (with enforcement delayed until next year).

Some are hailing the USDA’s stance.

“The Organic Trade Association, which lobbied for rule, said it represents the biggest change to organic regulations since the creation of the USDA organic food program,” the Associated Press reports. “OTA officials said in a statement the regulation ‘will do much to deter and detect organic fraud and protect organic integrity throughout the supply chain.'”

Organic food is a big business in this country, and the organic label helps to fetch a premium price.

“To consumers, the symbol means an assurance that an agricultural product such as beef or celery has been produced using only naturally occurring fertilizers, pesticides, and other inputs,” I explain in my book Biting the Hands that Feed Us: How Fewer, Smarter Laws Would Make Our Food System More Sustainable. “To producers, the USDA organic seal means higher costs, but also the opportunity to charge consumers more for that beef or celery.”

The USDA Can’t Stop Organic Food Fraud

Personally I believe the ‘organic’ label is nothing more than a marketing hook….organic food suspiciously taste similar to the crap that agri-business pukes out.

Next water has been found!

Planetary scientists have a fascinating hypothesis about Saturn’s smallest moon, Mimas, which they say may be home to a “stealth” underground ocean that’s been hidden from our best observations.

In a press release out of the Southwest Research Institute, principal scientist Dr. Alyssa Rhoden said that NASA’s Cassini mission to Saturn had “identified a curious libration, or oscillation, in Mimas’ rotation, which often points to a geologically active body able to support an internal ocean.”

Translation: Mimas’ wobble seems to suggest that it could contain an ocean under its icy surface.

A specialist in the geophysics of icy satellites — say that three times fast! — Rhoden is one of the authors of a new paper published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters about the tantalizing hypothesis centered on Saturn’s smallest and innermost moon, which she jokingly admitted looks “much like the Death Star from Star Wars” because of Herschel, its huge impact crater.

https://futurism.com/the-byte/ocean-planet-saturn-moon

Only in Mississippi.

A white supermajority of the Mississippi House voted after an intense, four-plus hour debate to create a separate court system and an expanded police force within the city of Jackson — the Blackest city in America — that would be appointed completely by white state officials.

If House Bill 1020 becomes law later this session, the white chief justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court would appoint two judges to oversee a new district within the city — one that includes all of the city’s majority-white neighborhoods, among other areas. The white state attorney general would appoint four prosecutors, a court clerk, and four public defenders for the new district. The white state public safety commissioner would oversee an expanded Capitol Police force, run currently by a white chief.

The appointments by state officials would occur in lieu of judges and prosecutors being elected by the local residents of Jackson and Hinds County — as is the case in every other municipality and county in the state.

Mississippi’s capital city is 80% Black and home to a higher percentage of Black residents than any major American city. Mississippi’s Legislature is thoroughly controlled by white Republicans, who have redrawn districts over the past 30 years to ensure they can pass any bill without a single Democratic vote. Every legislative Republican is white, and most Democrats are Black.

https://www.rawstory.com/amp/only-in-mississippi-white-representatives-vote-to-create-white-appointed-court-system-for-blackest-city-in-america-2659387358

Mississippi proves daily that the “New South’ is not real….especially in my state of Mississippi.

That is all the usual weird ass news I have time for this Saturday.

Be well….Be safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”