Month: April 2023

How To Crap On The ‘Happiest Place On Earth’

I see that immature little petty dictator in Florida has extended his feud with Disney.

He is trying to pull out all stops to make Disney’s time in Florida as miserable as he can.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, apparently hell-bent on showing Mickey Mouse who’s boss, announced new measures Monday in his ongoing feud with Walt Disney World. The Republican governor said new legislation would block the company’s attempt to circumvent control by a DeSantis-installed board. DeSantis said he also plans to give the state greater oversight of the park’s rides and possibly build on land next to the park, NBC reports. “People have said maybe create a state park, try to do more amusement parks, someone said another state prison, who knows?” the governor said. “The possibilities are endless.”

DeSantis—who often slams Disney as a “woke” corporation—said a bill next week would restore power to his appointees in Disney’s tax district, the New York Times reports. Last month, it emerged that the outgoing Disney-controlled board had stripped the new board of most of its powers. “They talked about a development agreement that would render everything we did null and void,” DeSantis said Monday. “Well, that’s not going to work. That’s not going to fly.” The AP reports that another bill proposed by DeSantis would end an exemption to state inspection of rides at Disney, but not other theme parks in the state. Critics noted that the inspectors Disney currently uses likely have greater expertise in the kinds of rides involved than state inspectors do.

With DeSantis expected to announce a 2024 White House bid, Donald Trump has been stepping up his attacks on the governor, NBC reports. In a Truth Social post Saturday, the former president referred to the surprise Disney move—and to the governor’s failure to visit flood-hit Broward County. “First Ron DeSanctimonious got outplayed, outsmarted, and embarrassed by Mickey Mouse and Disney, and now, while Fort Lauderdale is facing the worst flooding in 100 years, DeSanctus is on tour with his ‘shadow’ campaign for president, instead of taking care of the people of Florida,” Trump wrote.

What part of this mash up doing the best for Floridians?

This just illustrates how infantile the GOP has become.  PERIOD!

This is what my friend John wrote on his log today.

https://limingslynkz8.blog/2023/04/17/disatanist-is-after-disney-again/

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Ukraine: Are Cracks Forming?

I recently made a comment about the cracks that are forming around the support for Ukraine….and I waited to see if there would be any push back on that single comment.

And I waited.  (Was that crickets?)

Since that has not been forthcoming I will take the lead….

One issue is over Bakhmut, the eastern Ukrainian city where Russian and Ukrainian forces have been locked in battle for over eight months. Biden administration officials think Ukraine has expended too many resources defending Bakhmut and worry it will impact their ability to launch a counteroffensive this spring, but officials in Kyiv have decided to keep fighting for the city.

Another point of contention is over Crimea as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky insists they will retake the peninsula, which has been under Russian control since 2014 and is populated by people who are happy to be part of the Russian Federation.

While some Biden administration officials have vowed support for Ukrainian attacks on Crimea, the POLITICO report said other US officials believe Zelensky’s insistence that there will be no peace talks until the peninsula is taken will only prolong the war. But publicly, President Biden and other US officials maintain that negotiations will only happen under Kyiv’s terms.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has also acknowledged the risk of escalation that would come with a Ukrainian attempt on Crimea, calling it a “red line” for Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the Pentagon has said it’s unlikely Kyiv can take the peninsula.

The US also appears to be tired of Zelensky’s constant demands for weapons. Two White House officials told POLITICO that there are “grumblings” in Washington over Zelesnky’s constant requests and lack of gratitude. Despite the massive amount of support provided by the US and its allies, Ukrainian officials have frequently said that it’s “not enough” and are demanding fighter jets and longer-range missiles.

The POLITICO report mentioned the Nord Stream sabotage and how US officials are now linking the attack to Ukraine while insisting the Ukrainian government was not involved. But the vague claims are likely an attempt to shift blame from the US following the bombshell report from investigative journalist Seymour Hersh that alleged President Biden ordered the bombing of the pipelines.

Publicly, Biden still maintains he will support Ukraine “for as long as it takes,” but there are other signs that the US is thinking about winding down its support. CIA Director William Burns visited Kyiv in January and told Zelensky that Congress might not pass any more massive aid packages for the war. Ukrainian officials are concerned that the administration might use Congress as an excuse to scale down assistance.

(antiwar.com)

On a side note….a recent report does not lead me to have confidence in anything happening in Ukraine….

A senior Ukrainian government official told The Washington Post that Kyiv doesn’t have the resources to pull off a big counteroffensive in the coming months as Ukraine is lacking skilled troops, munitions, and other equipment.

“If you have more resources, you more actively attack,” said the official, who spoke to the Post on the condition of anonymity. “If you have fewer resources, you defend more. We’re going to defend. That’s why if you ask me personally, I don’t believe in a big counteroffensive for us. I’d like to believe in it, but I’m looking at the resources and asking, ‘With what?’ Maybe we’ll have some localized breakthroughs.”

The official said Ukraine doesn’t have “the people or weapons” to pull off a counteroffensive. “And you know the ratio: When you’re on the offensive, you lose twice or three times as many people. We can’t afford to lose that many people,” the official said.

The Post also spoke with a Ukrainian battalion commander who went by the name of Kupol and detailed the grim situation on the frontlines. Kupol said his battalion previously withdrew from the town of Soledar, which is near the eastern city of Bakhmut, and came under Russian control in January.

Ukrainian Official Says Kyiv Doesn’t Have the Resources for a Counteroffensive

I understand the troop thing….but the resources thing is baffling…..I mean we are pouring resources into Ukraine (or as we are told)….

Is this proxy conflict the death of Ukraine?

Proxy wars are notoriously hard to control, especially when the aspirations of those doing the fighting and those sending the weapons diverge. They also have a bad habit of luring sponsors of proxy wars, as happened to the U.S. in Vietnam and Israel in Lebanon, directly into the conflict. Proxy armies are given weaponry with little accountability, significant amounts of which end up on the black market or in the hands of warlords or terrorists. CBS News reported last year that around 30 percent of the weapons sent to Ukraine make it to the front lines, a report it chose to partially retract under heavy pressure from Kyiv and Washington. The widespread diversion of donated military and medical equipment to the black market in Ukraine was also documented by U.S. journalist Lindsey Snell.

https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/ukraines-death-by-proxy

Of course we can not talk about Ukraine without some mention of Crimea…..that part of Ukraine that has been annexed by Russia….what about the future of this region?

Well it seems that Crimea may be up for negotiations….with a caveat.

An advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told Financial Timesthat Kyiv would be “ready” to negotiate the status of Crimea with Russia if it launches a successful counteroffensive and captures the territory Russia controls that borders the peninsula.

“If we will succeed in achieving our strategic goals on the battlefield and when we will be on the administrative border with Crimea, we are ready to open [a] diplomatic page to discuss this issue,” said Andriy Sybiha, deputy head of Zelenskyy’s office.

Sybiha’s comments are the first sign that Ukraine might be willing to seek a diplomatic solution with Russia over Crimea. Kyiv cut off peace talks with Moscow in April 2022. Since then, Zelensky and his top aides have called for a complete Russian withdrawal from all the territory it controls, including Crimea, before any negotiations can resume.

The Zelensky posse may not be on the same page….on Crimea.

A Ukrainian official said Thursday that Kyiv’s goal of kicking Russia out of Crimea hasn’t changed after an aide to President Volodymyr Zelensky suggested Ukraine might be open to negotiating the issue.

“Ukraine will choose the way to bring Crimea back, using political and military means,” Tamila Tasheva, Zelensky’s envoy for Crimea, told POLITICO.

Andriy Sybiha, the deputy of Zelensky’s office, said a day earlier that Kyiv would be “ready” to negotiate over Crimea if it launches a successful counteroffensive up to the peninsula’s borders. The comments were the first sign Kyiv might rethink its position that peace talks can only happen when Russia is expelled from the territory.

More to come.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Was It Worse Than Anal Leakage?

While I was nursing a bad eye there was a incident where someone threw a bunch of tp secret documents about Ukraine and other allies onto the internet.

With the news there was much speculation on who would do a dastardly thing. First it was a Russian operation….then it was disinformation to try and break the support for US involvement in the conflict in Ukraine.

Who would do such a thing?

Well that question has been answered.

FBI arrested a 21-year-old member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard as the suspected leaker of the classified documents from the Pentagon and other US government agencies that have surfaced online.

Jack Teixeira was first named before the arrest as the potential leaker by The New York Times. The paper conducted an investigation with the website Bellingcat, which is funded by the EU and often praised by US intelligence officials, to identify the leaker.

According to the Times report, the paper discussed Teixeira with US government officials and asked for a comment from the FBI before the agency made his name public.

“Today, the Justice Department arrested Jack Douglas Teixeira in connection with an investigation into alleged unauthorized removal, retention, and transmission of classified national defense information. Teixeira is an employee of the United States Air Force National Guard,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said after the arrest.

Teixeira is a member of the intelligence wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, but it’s not clear how the young airman would have access to so many top-secret documents. According to the Times, he was promoted to airman first class last July, the third enlisted rank.

He worked for the Massachusetts Air National Guard’s 102nd Intelligence Wing, which is located at a base in Cape Cod. His job title was a Cyber Transport Systems Journeymen, which entails repairing communications equipment.

Teixeira is accused of posting the documents on a server on Discord, a messaging platform mainly used by gamers. The chat where he was sending the documents was private and had about 25 members, a group of young men and teenage boys.

One member of the Discord server was said to start releasing the documents in other chat rooms in March, and the documents were eventually discovered by the Times. According to The Washington Post, there were 300 photos of documents that Teixeira allegedly posted.

A 17-year-old who was a member of the Discord server and spoke to the Times described the person who allegedly leaked the documents as “antiwar” and a “Christian” who just “wanted to inform some of his friends about what’s going on.”

(antiwar.com)

Now the deflections in the beginning do not seem to be accurate.

So was the Guardsman a Russian spy?

So just how damn good is our cyber security?  How much cash have we thrown at cyber and this happened?

U.S. national security agencies are reviewing how they share their most sensitive secrets inside the U.S. government, and dealing with the diplomatic fallout from the release of dozens of confidential documents, three U.S. officials said.

Investigators are also working to determine what person or group might have had the ability and motivation to release the intelligence reports, said one of the officials. The leaks could be the most damaging release of U.S. government information since the 2013 publication of thousands of documents on WikiLeaks.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/intel-leak-has-us-officials-bracing-impact-home-abroad-2023-04-10/

Maybe we should re-think a lot about our cyber-security.

Then there is MSM’s treatment of this situation.

US Department of Justice charged Airman First Class Jack Teixeira with copying and sharing information “connected with” or “relating to” the “national defense.” The government alleges that Teixeira is the man behind “leaks” of classified information which worked their way from the Massachusetts Air National Guard to a Discord chat server for gamers and thence to social media and, finally and unfortunately only very partially, to the US “mainstream” media.

At this point, due to mainstream media’s refusal to do its job, the public doesn’t know very much about the content of the leaked information, but from what we do know, that information had little or nothing to do with any plausible conception of “national defense,” at least where the United States is concerned.

Mainstream Media Turn Coats on ‘National Security’ Leaks

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

One Eye Willy Update

After 4 days of rest my left eye has returned to almost normal.

This began with me rough housing with the Jack Russel, Sara…..I thought we were finished and she came screaming in when I was not looking and pop me in the left eye with a dirty paw…..lots of trash went into the eye which was very painful and blurry, to say the least.

Today is Monday and my vision is good and Sue has returned my PC and tablet so that I can return to work. I will be trying to catch up on the comments left while I was nursing the eye.

Drafts I had saved were a godsend for I could post without much to do.

I want to thank all those readers that have offered words of encouragement and their patience while I recover….your comments will be answered as slowly as I can muster.

Hopefully this incident is come to a close and I can return to doing what I truly love….research and writing.

Thanx again for your help and understanding….please know that I appreciate one and all.

Good to be back!

Biden Enables The Fraud

This is one of my FYI posts for I watch policies that could effect our seniors….the biggest thing that seniors need to be aware of is the ‘medicare advantage plans’….they are not all they are cracked up to be.

I have made my thoughts known about these so-called Medicare Advantage plans….I think it is taking advantage of seniors who are worried about their aging body.

But as usual the insurance industry has spent its cash well….all the facts point to these ‘advantage” plans are little more than a scam….the president has allowed this raping of seniors to continue.

Medicare Advantage providers whined for months that they simply couldn’t survive without being able to rip off the government, so the government said ‘you can rip us off for just a little longer,'” The American Prospect‘s David Dayen tweeted in response to the CMS announcement.

The changes involve tweaks to the Medicare Advantage risk-adjustment model, which determines how much the federal government pays insurers to cover patient care.

Medicare Advantage plans are notorious for piling on diagnoses to make patients appear sicker than they are to reap larger payments from the federal government. CMS estimates that overpayments to Medicare Advantage totaled $11.4 billion in fiscal year 2022, a sizeable drain on the Medicare trust fund.

“Nearly every large insurer in the program has settled or is facing a federal fraud lawsuit for such conduct,” The New York Timesnoted Friday. “Evidence of the overpayments has been documented by academic studies, government watchdog reports, and plan audits.”

…

Medicare Advantage insurers have been fighting the Biden administration’s proposed changes for months, running ads warning that the reforms would result in higher premiums and worse care for patients—claims that federal health officials adamantly rejected.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/biden-medicare-advantage-reforms

The lobbyists for the insurance industry has buckets on money to throw at Congress we, the people, do not.

Plus Wall Street is happy with the Biden decision….

UnitedHealth Group, a dominant force in the lucrative Medicare Advantage market, has seen its stock jump over the past week as Wall Street analysts and investors embrace the Biden administration’s decision to delay reforms aimed at tackling abuse in the privately run, government-funded health program.

STATreported late last week that “Wall Street was overjoyed” by the announcement from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which said it would phase in changes to the model that dictates how much government funding Medicare Advantage insurers receive to cover patient care.

Instead of implementing the changes all at once, the Biden administration will roll out the reforms over a three-year period, allowing Medicare Advantage insurers to continue overbilling the federal government in the meantime.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/wall-street-biden-medicare-advantage

Oh there is AARP to protect seniors….that is a lie for they endorse a ‘plan’ that is scamming their members.

Please if you are considering one of these ‘plans’ think twice and check out the evidence before wasting your cash.

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

Be Well….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Reagan’s Assault On Social Security

No news dump for today…Still recovering from the eye injury….Sue has taken my PC and tablet away from me….but she left my phone for me to entertain myself….I hope to be back 100% on Monday….thanx for bearing with me while I get my eye back to normal….I will try to get caught up with my comments then.

As usual the GOP is attacking Social Security every time they have some small amount of power they want to screw the seniors of this country.

But where did all this hatred begin with?

To answer that question easily….it began with Reagan in the 1980s.

In 1983, just before signing legislation that cut Social Security benefits, then-President Ronald Reagan declared that “we’re entering an age when average Americans will live longer and live more productive lives.”

But Reagan’s assumption of ever-rising life expectancy in the U.S. turned out to be false, according to a new analysis, a fact with painful consequences for those who saw their Social Security benefits pared back thanks to the 1983 law’s gradual increase of the full retirement age—the age at which one is eligible for unreduced Social Security payments.

As Conor Smyth wrote Monday for the People’s Policy Project, a left-wing think tank, the Social Security Amendments of 1983 hiked the full retirement age “from 65 in 2000 to 67 at the end of 2022.”

“What this actually meant was not that the age at which people could retire and start drawing Social Security benefits changed—that remained at 62,” Smyth explained. “Instead, by raising what’s called the full retirement age (FRA) by two years, the law effectively cut benefit levels across the board, regardless of the age that any particular individual began claiming Social Security benefits. The result is that those retiring at 62 today face a 50% greater penalty for retiring before the change than they would have before 2000.”

The 1983 law was an outgrowth of a special presidential commission headed by Alan Greenspan, a right-wing economist who would go on to serve as chair of the Federal Reserve for nearly two decades.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/reagan-social-security-cuts

This is a perpetual thing….if it is a GOP Congress then seniors benefits are in danger….which is amazing because the GOP’s greatest supporters are those that will suffer the most if they ever fulfill their wish of destroying the Social Security program.

Why is that?

Are these voters uninformed or just ignorant?

Why does anyone vote against their best interests?

Why?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

Our Man In Ukraine

NATO has set the president of Ukraine up on this pedestal as some sort of deity to be worshiped……because he is saving democracy and if he fails then democracy as we know it is in some sort of peril.

Early in this conflict I took a look at Zelensky here on IST…..(can be read here)

Zelensky–Part 2

Since I wrote my original series news broke that Ukrainian police will storm an orthodox monastery….

Ukrainian police in Kyiv are preparing to evict Orthodox priests who are refusing to leave a historic monastery complex known as the Pechersk Lavra or the Monastery of the Caves.

The effort is part of a broad crackdown on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) launched by the government of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The UOC has historic links to Russia but is the largest church in Ukraine, having more parishes than the similarly named Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), which has no affiliation with Moscow.

In the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the UOC denounced the war and cut ties with Moscow, but the steps were not enough for Zelensky. Some UOC priests have been accused of collaborating with Russian troops, and now many are facing sanctions, criminal charges, and eviction.

The 500 UOC priests, nuns, and theologians living in the Pechersk Lavra have been given until Wednesday to leave the monastery, but they say they aren’t going anywhere. “I won’t leave unless I am forced to,” Simeon, a young monk, told The Times of London.

Simeon said the police said they wouldn’t use force to evict the priests, but it’s not clear what will happen when the deadline comes, and they haven’t left. Police and members of the Ukrainian Culture Ministry have been standing guard outside of the Pechersk Lavra for a week to keep an eye on what some people leaving the monastery are taking out.

(antiwar.com)

Please before the slime begins…I am taking nothing away from his presidency all I am doing is pointing out that he may not be the savior all seem to worship.

Recently I read an article that agrees with my concerns on the actions that Zelensky has taken within the borders of Ukraine towards his fellow countrymen.

American supporters of Washington’s Ukraine policy often portray Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky as a noble champion of democracy who deserves even more U.S. military assistance than he has already received. The political and media love-fest accompanying Zelensky’s address to a joint session of Congress in late December 2022 was a recent example of such hero worship. 

Voice of America published an article comparing Zelensky’s appearance to Winston’s Churchill’s address to Congress in December 1941. David Frum, writing in the Atlantic, asserted that Zelensky recalled us to ourselves and our democratic values. Frum added that the Ukrainian president “came to the United States to thank us for supporting Ukraine. It is Americans who should thank him.” An earlier New York Times column by Bret Stephens contended that Americans “admire Zelensky because he has restored the idea of the free world to its proper place.”

Such fawning ignores the mounting evidence of Zelensky’s flagrant abridgment of civil liberties and democratic norms. The blind attitude of Americans is reminiscent of the sanitized treatment given to an earlier bogus champion of democracy, Angolan rebel leader Jonas Savimbi. Between the mid-1970s and the early 1990s (especially during Ronald Reagan’s administration), numerous political and media figures in the United States pushed for greater support for Savimbi’s National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and its insurgency against Angola’s leftist government. They also were willing to overlook their “democratic” client’s massive flaws. 

Volodymyr Zelensky: Not Exactly a Champion of Democracy

Please read the article with an open mind (now that is a request that will fall way short)….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

One Eye Willy

I want to apologize for my abscence.

I have injured my left eye and have been told to limit my computer time until it has healed. I will try to get caught up as soon as I can.

I will post drafts until I am better….thanx for your understanding and I will try to get back as soon as possible.

Is Bombing Mexico The Answer?

Recently I wrote a post about Graham suggesting that the US should invade Mexico……

Read my post from a month ago…..

Let’s Invade Mexico (Again)

It seems that the whole party, not just one idiot member, is suggesting some sort of military action against parts of Mexico…

A growing number of prominent Republicans are rallying around the idea that to solve the fentanyl crisis, America must bomb it away.

In recent weeks, Donald Trump has discussed sending “special forces” and using “cyber warfare” to target cartel leaders if he’s reelected president and, per Rolling Stone, asked for “battle plans” to strike Mexico. Reps. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) and Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) introduced a bill seeking authorization for the use of military force to “put us at war with the cartels.” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said he is open to sending U.S. troops into Mexico to target drug lords even without that nation’s permission. And lawmakers in both chambers have filed legislation to label some cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, a move supported by GOP presidential aspirants.

“We need to start thinking about these groups more like ISIS than we do the mafia,” Waltz, a former Green Beret, said in a short interview.

Not all Republican leaders are behind this approach. John Bolton, Trump’s third national security adviser who’s weighing his own presidential run, said unilateral military operations “are not going to solve the problem.” And House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Mike McCaul (R-Texas), for example, is “still evaluating” the AUMF proposal “but has concerns about the immigration implications and the bilateral relationship with Mexico,” per a Republican staff member on the panel.

But the eagerness of some Republicans to openly legislate or embrace the use of the military in Mexico suggests that the idea is taking firmer root inside the party. And it illustrates the ways in which frustration with immigration, drug overdose deaths and antipathy towards China are defining the GOP’s larger foreign policy.

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/04/10/gop-bomb-mexico-fentanyl-00091132

Is this stupidity real the answer to the problem?

Why is the only answer for the GOP is always some sort of military action?

Apparently someone with deep pockets is telling them what should be done.

Personally I do not see this as an answer to the situation they are concerned about….it will lead to more problems than it solves.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

There Is More On Those Leaked Documents

The big news for this week will be those leaked top secret documents….these have the admin scrambling to do damage control…..

One such document is the one that states that Ukraine will have little gains with any counteroffensive….

Ukraine’s challenges in massing troops, ammunition and equipment could cause its military to fall “well short” of Kyiv’s original goals for an anticipated counteroffensive aimed at retaking Russian-occupied areas this spring, according to U.S. intelligence assessments contained in a growing leak of classified documents revealing Washington’s misgivings about the state of the war.

Labeled “top secret,” the bleak assessment from early February warns of significant “force generation and sustainment shortfalls,” and the likelihood that such an operation will result in only “modest territorial gains.” It’s a marked departure from the Biden administration’s public statements about the vitality of Ukraine’s military and is likely to embolden critics who feel the United States and NATO should do more to push for a negotiated settlement to the conflict.

https://archive.is/Nclik#selection-535.0-535.473

ABC News has put all the stuff together for you ease of understanding….(or confusion)

The posting on social media of what appears to be several highly classified U.S. intelligence documents might be just the beginning of what could turn out to be the most serious U.S. intelligence breach in more than a decade.

After last week’s seeming leak, an ABC News review found dozens more top-secret documents posted in early March in a hard-to-find corner of the internet shortly after the documents were drafted.

The content of those additional documents appears to be U.S. intelligence about the war in Ukraine and in other parts of the world. And the disclosure has raised diplomatic issues as it appears that U.S. intelligence has been spying not only with its adversaries, but on allies and partners.

The apparent leak has triggered a criminal investigation by the Justice Department that will try to find out who posted the documents on the internet and why.

Here’s what you need to know about what happened and what the documents contain.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/leaked-us-secret-documents/story

There will be disinformation flying fast and hard….but most people will believe what they already think they know….then there are those will will assist in the deflection from what is truly the real story.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”