One doesn't have to be a Trump fan to know a political persecution when one sees one, just like one doesn't have to be an Arab to know a genocide when one sees one.
We should drown our ruling class in the wave of revulsion they so richly deserve.
Bill, you are too observant and critical thinking. You need to passively acknowledge what the media tells you and buy the next generation phone after the next spectacular release. ;-)
And make babies who "passively acknowledge what the media tells them and buy the next generation phone after the next spectacular release." That's patriotism.
As a Canadian, as soon as I developed critical thinking, I understood how important it is for Canadians to watch what the American Goliath does next door to small CanaDa.
CanaDa is the only other place on Earth, apart from that blood soaked small sliver of land this World calls "Holy" in The Middle East, rooted in The Plains of Abraham..
After thousands of Years of killing for such a small sliver of this Whole Earth over the 4000 year old Promised Land of Peace and Security for ALL the People on The Plains of Abraham over there, this World is going in the opposite direction.
CanaDa's Nationality Identity struggle is also rooted in the Plains of Abraham over here!
One is Temporal, the Other is Spiritual!
Like most indoctrinated and brainwashed Americans & Canadians in the 50s & 60s, I believed only Soviet Russian Propaganda was filled with lies.
Our Media told The Truth, The Whole Truth, and nothing but The Truth. How Innocent, Ignorant and Naive I was in my Youth! I didn't question it, not being involved with Politics.
For those who remember US Propaganda in the early 60s, Reefer Madness. It was the constant repetitive theme in the print, radio and TV Media. The Propaganda said 'taking just 1 puff of Marijuana causes anyone to snap, commit suicide, go blind, rape, plunder steal and kill.'
I believed the propaganda, wondering why anyone would do that, and THE POLICE had to stop it.
It was just appearing on the streets in Montreal at that Time. None of my friends did it and it was not a topic of conversation in our group.
That was until a fun Dinner Party with mucho wine and good food.
A trusted friend told me he had some pot, confessing he has been doing it for a year but was afraid to tell me.
I didn't smoke cigarettes but I trusted him as he handed me the joint. All I felt was coughing and choking. I didn't get 'High' whatever that was? But I wasn't taken over by Reefer Madness. Nothing good or bad happened!
But I couldn't put any Trust in what the MSM propagated from then on. I started questioning?
It didn't happen in CanaDa, but the US government was lying to the American People giving them a FALSE Sense of Security.
The government, knowing it was a LIE told Americans in a Nuclear War, ducking under a table would save them.
Some of you may remember the drills in school?
The 1983 movie THE DAY AFTER Kansas City was incinerated in a Nuclear Holocaust exposed the LIE when People saw what Nuclear WAR would be like in this clip from the movie:
Asthmatic, so I don't smoke and don't believe idiots who say weed is a cure (as if they're doctors promoting ciggies in the 60s). But I wanted to encourage someone in pain to eat weed so I had weed-filled chocolate cookies with him, first time in a decade. Takes 60-90min for it to hit and relax. Be sure to try several kinds of weed as different strains have different effect. Find the one that allows you a buzz whilst listening to music, and then grants a good sleep. Just don't do it everyday unless you've got pain and are retired. Regular stoners are too damn lazy and apathetic.
I just want to thank you for your perspectives today. Also I have ignored Trump as I think he is beneath contempt (but so is that thug Biden), so appreciate your summary of Trump's current judicial situation.
I kind of feel alone in my view on Ukraine, and there is black cloud of genocide that hangs persitently over my head. And then even more money for enabling Israeli genocide and Ukraine, as most of Congress turns its back on climate change by fueling forever wars. I have at least to call and thank my rep in CA (Mark DeSaulnier) who voted against sending more money for genocide. Also I will call Cori Bush to thank her for her bravery (I spent my childhood in St. Louis and was a red diaper baby.) Again, thank you so much for your columns! I will upgrade to paid later today.
That says a lot about the situation now. Even those who manage to resist genocide in Gaza haven't shaken off the lies and propaganda that has allowed the perpetuation of the Ukraine proxy war. It's bewildering.
Professional sports. I don't deny the talent of those playing, but the mind of the American male has been completely captured. Sports talk is THE bond that allows unlimited conversation, controversy with nothing significant involved, emotions that can run free and usually will end in mirth rather than mayhem because nothing is at stake. If ever Macbeth's remark about sound and fury applies, it is to professional sports in America. So much passion dissipated in vicarious competition...if only it had kept us out of wars.
In my experience men don't easily venture into other areas because they don't know enough about them to present a logical opinion and are at the same time afraid an opinion might be contested or, even worse, to be challenged and shown false. Our politics could not be more shallow.
While it is great to be able to walk into any bar and instantly be an accepted member of a conversation, nothing is really ventured and nothing gained because in the end it doesn't matter who wins and who loses, who is right about team X and who is wrong.
How many will wildly wave flags and decorate house exteriors with sports symbols, but would never dare speak out for, march for, or display a symbol for a movement of real significance. What would the neighbors think?
William Dement said, "dreams allow us to go quietly and safely insane every night of our lives". I think professional sports allow us to go noisily and safely insane at any time while happily opening our wallets to millionaire players and billionaire team owners.
Great comment, Cliff! Not much has changed from Roman Times!
It's still Bread and Circuses adapted to our Times!
The General Problem I see in Our Small Sector of the Mostly Poorer Larger World is, in Our Sector, there is So Much STUFF to WANT, People have Lost Sight of what they NEED.
Jesus overturned the tables of the Bankers and Merchants working the Shopping Mall on Temple property.
The Temple Guards and Priests came to him asking, 'By what Authority do you do that?'
Answering directly to the Faces of the Chief Priests of the Jewish Religious Establishment Temple Headquarters in Jerusalem, declared
'The House of my Father is a House of Prayer for ALL Nations and you have made it a den of thieves!'
In other words, the Christ was saying Israel and Jews no longer had exclusivity with God during the New Testament of The Common Era.
He knew then he was facing the torture and pain of Crucifixion, the Roman way of stifling dissent.
After the wine at the last supper, all Christ's Disciples were asleep. He was all alone praying to God he be spared Crucifixion. It hurt his physical body as it would ours.
He could have got out of Jerusalem and start up again someplace else. Obviously God didn't answer that prayer. Did God screw up the Son, the 1st begotten of the Dead?
Christ had to be Crucified in Jerusalem because of the role Jerusalem is playing in TODAY'S World with the Gaza genocide.
Its way over my head, Ray. I'm not smart enough to figure it out! LOL
ANZAC day here in Godzone today, Ray.
ANZAC Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand that commemorates all Aussies and Kiwi's who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations, and the contribution and suffering of all those who have served.
I enjoyed listening to the Scottish bagpipes in the parade today.
Hope you are well my friend. Get your TURPS done yet?
Dennis, I was inspired seeing a couple (man and wife) wearing Palestinian keffiyehs on the street. Today seeing Jonathan Greenblatt, head of the Anti-Defamation League, calling all of the demonstrators for BDS at Columbia U. "terrorists" and that the national guard should be called out on them (remember Kent State?) did the trick for me and I will be wearing the keffiyeh I got a couple of years ago in public now.
In ref to WJA's contrast of hush money and genocide, did you see where the US is supposedly going to sanction some unit of the IDF for doing nasty things to Palestinians in the West Bank...at the same time we are sending Israel all those billions! The Israeli Defense Minister has said he stands by the IDF unit and Netanyahu says there will be no sanctioning of any of the IDF. So, those in charge of our Middle East policy have had their say and that's that!
“Not only did Columbia make the horrific decision to mobilize NYPD on their own students, but the units called in have some of the most violent reputations on the force,”......... “NYPD had promised the city they wouldn’t deploy SRG to protests. So why are these counterterror units here?”
“While it was founded in 2015 as a counter-terrorism unit, from its inception, the SRG’s mission conflated protest and terrorism,” the American Civil Liberties Union’s New York branch wrote in a 2022 report. “Within its first year, the SRG doubled in size, and its budget increased from $13 to $90 million. Seven years later, the SRG functions almost entirely as a violent protest-policing unit. With more funding, more equipment, and almost no transparency about the unit’s cost or function, the SRG has become one of the most dangerous and unaccountable arms of the NYPD.”
jg, I don't know about it being a counter-terrorism unit, but the president of Columbia did call out the NYPD and upon arrival they said that there was no violent behavior going on.
Is Israel the US proxy in the World or is the US Israel's proxy in this Material World?
Is it Brainwashing Manipulation and Propaganda when both Israel and the US have the delusional belief they are chosen by God to have full spectrum dominance on Earth?
I think Islam on the other hand, believes by the same God, they have to moderate that kind of Jewish-Christian extremism.
Ray, and everyone who reads BV, I'd like to recommend an excellent article from way back in 2004 from Francis Fukuyama. He has been ridiculed by many, but he is an intelligent guy with a profound grasp of world politics that shines in this work. It is prophetic.
His 2004 essay is called The Neoconservative Moment (he was part of the group). His take on the impossibility of the US forcing itself on the world being happily received has become more evident since then. The comments regarding Israel are spot on and he mentions the danger of the US putting itself in isolation with Israel, which is exactly where we are today.
Re the Question You posed to Middle East Peace Negotiators; ie:
“If Your GOD says that it is Your Land;
and if His GOD says that it is His Land;
and if Their GOD says that it is Theirs…;
then, Whose Land is it? Really?
“And, how are we to know?
And more importantly, how do those GODS know?
And finally and most importantly, how do any of YOU know?”
[crackle...hisssss]
“Exterminate them. Exterminate them all. Or rather, Terminate: With Extreme Prejudice. And then let YHWH, God The Father, Allah, and The Etceteras sort them all out.
“Or better, terminate YHWH, God The Father, Allah, and The Etceteras, and let the dearly beloved faithful believers sort Them all out.
“In either case, as retired US Army Special Forces Colonel Walter E Kurtz once put it [albeit in a different context]: ‘….. We must kill them. We must incinerate them: pig after pig, cow after cow, village after village, army after army… . ‘
“This nonsense needs to end. This nonsense must end. This nonsense will end. Now.
“Before ALL Life ~ to say nothing of Human, or at least Humane Life ~ on that Planet is very seriously disrupted.
Retired U.S. Army Colonel Douglas Macgregor’s 23 Apr 24 piece in The American Conservative ~ IS IT GAME, SET, MATCH TO MOSCOW? : The American Brand Will Suffer So Long As Washington Pretends Its Capacities Are Limitless ~ should be required reading for every American still capable of thinking and acting for her or himself.
It concludes as follows:
“During the 1930s, FDR became trapped in a debt spiral of “special interest” spending. In defiance of logic and affordability, FDR opted for more Federal spending until he realized that it was not working. WITH THE ONSET OF WAR IN EUROPE, FDR SAW THE OPPORTUNITY TO EXTRICATE AMERICAN SOCIETY FROM THE DEPRESSION BY STEERING THE UNITED STATES INTO WAR. FDR’S SCHEME WORKED. The Second World War reinvigorated the American economy and ended America’s chronic unemployment. At the same time, America’s physical insularity kept American infrastructure and the American People beyond the reach of its enemies.
“President Biden and Congress are on a similar course with profound consequences, but today, horrifically destructive modern weapons make the war option suicidal. Put another way, 21ST-CENTURY PROBLEMS CANNOT BE SOLVED WITH THE USE OF 20TH-CENTURY PLANS AND POLICIES. Instead of framing another false narrative to justify funding for a corrupt Ukrainian state that is collapsing, Washington and its allies should question the rationale for a new, costly cold war directed against Moscow, Beijing, Tehran, and a host of countries with world views that diverge sharply from our own.
“Business schools teach their students that good brands have the power to sway decision-making and create communities of like-minded people. It isn’t just companies that need brands; countries need them, too. When asked about Washington’s ability to cope with wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, PRESIDENT BIDEN SAID, “WE ARE THE MOST POWERFUL NATION IN THE WORLD, IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD. WE CAN TAKE CARE OF BOTH OF THESE [WARS].” Biden was and is wrong. America’s resources are not limitless. Our power is constrained.
“In Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America, the American brand has been damaged. AMERICANS NEED (AND SHOULD DEMAND) A SOBER-MINDED ANALYSIS OF THE FACTS FROM THE MEN WHO WANT TO BE PRESIDENT. They should be compelled to identify the united states’ true national interests; a process that should also identify the political and cultural realities that are not Washington’s to change.
Given all the Pro-Palestine demonstrations, protests, and other actions on college campuses and in the streets, one can only wonder how long it will be before some Governor calls out her or his National Guard and there is another Kent State.
Or as an alternative: When will a person decide to not self-immolate to proclaim his or her allegiance, and, instead, shoots up and down one of those gatherings of Pro-Palestinians? Or a gathering of Pro-Israelis?
Political prosecution? In a country overflowing with laws and an impeccably fair, balanced justice system and media? Everyone loves a sex scandal. They're great for ratings. The judges and attorneys get to be Hollywood stars. Maybe they can win themselves an Oscar. The masses will all be on the edge of their couches hopeing to hear about Trump's weapon of mass destruction.
Insurrections trials after all are boring. Tedious. Divisive.
What could possibly go wrong in a country run by lawyers who get their money up front win lose or draw? Ones trained to lie to protect the states or clients interests? Whoever has the most money wins.
Does anyone consider the US to be a "free state" any longer? If not the constitution provides the solution with the first and second amendments which need to be simultaneously executed by the people who are supposed to be in control of the US. Not the politicians who are only supposed to represent the people and are failing to do so breaking their oath of allegiance. The same ones who reinterpret the constitution to achieve their own goals. Tyranny and oppression now rule. Not freedom and democracy. This was discussed in The Federalist #28 by Hamilton. The solution is to be found in the constitution. Not the politicians.
Heavy sigh ... If only I could be shocked by our ridiculous leaders.
As I reflected on the morning's headlines earlier today and following breakfast, we walked through Parque Calderon in Cuenca, Ecuador as a class of school-uniformed children (not more than first graders) were all sitting on a long cement bench with paper and pencil in hand as they worked on whatever it was the teacher had assigned. I said out load as I passed by them, "I love Cuenca." My mind immediately went to Thomas Merton's account of his similar epiphany.
"In Louisville, at the corner of Fourth and Walnut, in the center of the shopping district, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all these people, that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers."
And I thought, how badly my homeland and its leaders need their Merton moment.
Max Blumenthal and Aaron Mate discuss the importance of Columbia University's Gaza protest, and the Biden administration's pro-Israel police actions against the growing protest movements protesting Israel's genocide.
Let's hope these protests get bigger and bigger like those against The Vietnam War.
More from Caitlin Johnstone: "It's just a tough situation, with victims on both sides. On one side you've got people being slaughtered in droves by genocidal massacres and siege warfare, while on the other you've got people whose feelings get hurt when these atrocities are opposed. Hard to say which is worse."
Middle Eastern Regimes—and America—Ignore Public Anger at Their Peril
Since Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, the Middle East has been rocked by mass protests. Egyptians have demonstrated in solidarity with Palestinians at great personal risk, and Iraqis, Moroccans, Tunisians, and Yemenis have taken to the streets in vast numbers. Meanwhile, Jordanians have broken long-standing redlines by marching on the Israeli embassy, and Saudi Arabia has refused to resume normalization talks with Israel, in part because of its people’s deep fury over Israel’s operations in the Gaza Strip.
For Washington, the view is that none of this mobilization really matters. Arab leaders, after all, are among the world’s most experienced practitioners of realpolitik, and they have a record of ignoring their people’s preferences. The protests, although large, have been manageable. Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and other leaders have long encouraged protests about the treatment of Palestinians, which allow their people to blow off steam and direct their anger toward a foreign enemy instead of against domestic corruption and incompetence. In time, or so the argument goes, the fighting in Gaza will end, the angry protesters will go home, and their leaders will carry on pursuing self-interests, an activity at which they excel.
U.S. foreign policymakers also have a long history of disregarding public opinion in the Middle East—the so-called Arab street. After all, if autocratic Arab leaders are calling the shots, then it is not necessary to put stock in what angry activists shout or in what ordinary citizens tell pollsters or the media. Since there are no democracies in the Middle East, care need not be given to what anyone outside the palaces thinks. And for all its talk of democracy and human rights, Washington has always been more comfortable dealing with pragmatic autocrats than with publics it regards as irrational, extremist mobs. It rarely pauses to consider how this might contribute to its dismal record of policy failures.................................................................
'Ukraine War Funding and Failed Russian Sanctions. Is the US Empire Shooting Itself in the Foot?'
This past weekend, April 20, 2024 the US House of Representatives passed a bill to provide Ukraine with another $61 billion in aid. The measure will quickly pass the Senate and be signed into law by Biden within days.
The funds, however, will make little difference to the outcome of the war on the ground as it appears most of the military hardware funded by the $61 billion has already been produced and much of it already shipped. Perhaps no more than $10 billion in additional new weapons and equipment will result from the latest $61 billion passed by Congress.
Subject to revision, initial reports of the composition of the $61 billion indicate $23.2 billion of it will go to pay US arms producers for weapons that have already been produced and delivered to Ukraine. Another $13.8 billion is earmarked to replace weapons from US military stocks that have been produced and are in the process of being shipped—but haven’t as yet—or are additional weapons still to be produced. The breakdown of this latter $13.8 amount is not yet clear in the initial reports. One might generously guess perhaps $10 billion at most represents weapons not yet produced, while $25-$30 billion represents weapons already shipped to Ukraine or in the current shipment pipeline.
In total, therefore, weapons already delivered to Ukraine, awaiting shipment, or yet to be produced amount to approximately $37 billion.
The remainder of the $61 billion includes $7.8 billion for financial assistance to Ukraine to pay for salaries of government employees through 2024. An additional $11.3 billion to finance current Pentagon operations in Ukraine—which sounds suspiciously like pay for US advisors, mercenaries, special ops, and US forces operating equipment like radars, advanced Patriot missile systems, etc. on the ground. Another $4.7 billion is for miscellaneous expenses, whatever that is.
In other words, only $13.8 billion of the $61 billion is for weapons Ukraine doesn’t already have!
And that $13.8 billion is all Ukraine will likely get in new weapons funding for the rest of 2024! Like the $23 billion already in theater, that will likely be burned up in a couple of weeks this summer once Russia’s coming major offensive—its largest of the war—is launched in late May or early June. So what does the US do in order to continue to fund Ukraine’s economy, government and military efforts this fall and thereafter?
In other words, what’s the Biden/NATO strategy for aiding Ukraine, militarily and economically, after the $37 billion is expended by late this summer? Where’s the money to come from?
To understand how the US/NATO plan to fund subsequent weapons production for Ukraine in late 2024 and early 2025, one must consider not only the $61 billion bill but a second bill also passed by Congress this past weekend that hasn’t been given much attention in the mainstream media.
That second bill may potentially provide up to $300 billion for Ukraine from USA and its G7 allies, especially NATO allies in Europe where reportedly $260 of the $300 billion resides in Eurozone banks.
What has Trump had to say about that $95 BILLION in military aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan? Other, of course, than praising "MAGA Mike" Johnson for the Great job he did sliming it thru to passage?
And what has he had to say about the FISA Extension, about which he had been making so much recent noise? Anything?
And finally, what has Trump had to say about Budget Deficits and the growth of America's Sovereign, National Debt? Anything?
Jeez Jeff, Settle down! Why all the confrontational rage my man? One of these days you are going to shock us all by saying something positive about......well anybody!
When the US Senate passed Joe Biden’s original US$95 billion foreign aid package in February, Trump came out against the bill, and the Republicans were divided. Trump called the bill a “horrible, open borders betrayal of America,” and vowed that he would “fight it all the way”. But on April 12 Republican presidential candidate Trump, realizing he will need support from both the left, right and independents to be the 47th POTUS, voiced support on social media for Johnson's Bill which was heavily backed by democrats. He is not dumb. Realizing that to not support the Bill would be political suicide for his POTUS candidacy.
Trump urged Congress to tank reauthorization of Section 702 of the FISA Act ahead of the House vote on the legislation ~ as President Joe Biden urges lawmakers to move forward with the bill, while right-wing members are calling for stricter surveillance controls. “KILL FISA,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, alleging the law “was illegally used against” him to spy on his campaign.
Trump left office four months after the U.S. recorded its largest annual deficit of $3.1 trillion in fiscal year 2020. Economists agree that this was mostly the result of the coronavirus pandemic, which reduced government revenues and spurred massive government spending and borrowing to help the nation cope with the economic and public health challenges of the pandemic. Three weeks after Trump was no longer in office the fiscal 2021 deficit would be $2.3 trillion. It continued to rise after Biden took office, as the new president and a Democratic-controlled Congress provided still more pandemic relief. To say that Trump was the cause of the deficit, and his economic policies will be further detrimental to the nation, is only a meme touted by those who have a personal hatred for the 45th POTUS.
And in your case, by a person who supports nobody! We have long given up expecting you to stop being a chicken and show your hand and get behind a candidate who you think will be the 47th POTUS. It's easier for you to just to just rubbish everybody else's choice.
Sorry You interpret my questions as "confrontational rage," Dennis. It's actually nothing but "conversational curiosity." i guess You spent enough time in America to pick up that standard American Aversion to Questions in favor of their Preference for Answers.
In any event: See my follow-up comment to Your response. Sorry, but more Questions..
And are You waiting for me to "show my hand" to tell You who i think WILL BE POTUS Maxximmuss XLVII? Or who i think SHOULD BE the next President?
1. So Trump heartily endorses the $95 BILLION gift ~ or is it grift ~ to America's MICC, correct?
2. i know what Trump said about FISA and Section 702 BEFORE the vote. What has he said about them SINCE they have been extended for two years by Congress and signed off by Biden?
3. What has Trump said he would do to deal with Deficit Spending and, particularly, the National Debt should he become President again? Has anybody even asked him that question?
4. And exactly Who is saying that Trump is "the cause" of today's Deficits?
Not going to be dragged into endless confrontational debate with you my man.
Answering your never ending gotcha questions. Sorry. It's not a life-or-death struggle for me! You will always get the last word in in any case.
Take care
EDIT: Thinking about it, if you were a Team member on those 300+ person Teams I managed on those big Construction Projects all over the US; with your attitude you would not have made it to your first paycheck my man!
Again, sorry You interpret that as "confrontational debate."
All i asked is what Trump has said about these matters since, as Ron Paul put it: Passage of that $95 BILLION military aid bill and the FISA/702 Extension may very well be "the Final Nail in America's Coffin."
In any event, Mr Merwood: What do YOU think of FISA/702 Extension and the Aid Bill? Do You think they are good ideas?
And if You had the same attitude as a Project Manager then as You have as a BV Commenter now, i seriously doubt i would have wanted to stick around long enough to get my first paycheck.
I can proudly point to infrastructure my Teams completed on schedule and within budget all over the USA Jeff. Despite your oft toted ill-informed opinion that all construction projects in America are Cost Plus. ALL the projects I managed were competitively bid fixed price Contracts.
And I proudly have a Company Annual Award for employee excellence named after me Mr. Moebus. And you? How many villages did your Team destroy to save them?
One doesn't have to be a Trump fan to know a political persecution when one sees one, just like one doesn't have to be an Arab to know a genocide when one sees one.
We should drown our ruling class in the wave of revulsion they so richly deserve.
The converse is that if that were you or me, we would have been prosecuted ages ago.
Of course! That's part of the revulsion.
Bill, you are too observant and critical thinking. You need to passively acknowledge what the media tells you and buy the next generation phone after the next spectacular release. ;-)
True!
And make babies who "passively acknowledge what the media tells them and buy the next generation phone after the next spectacular release." That's patriotism.
As a Canadian, as soon as I developed critical thinking, I understood how important it is for Canadians to watch what the American Goliath does next door to small CanaDa.
CanaDa is the only other place on Earth, apart from that blood soaked small sliver of land this World calls "Holy" in The Middle East, rooted in The Plains of Abraham..
After thousands of Years of killing for such a small sliver of this Whole Earth over the 4000 year old Promised Land of Peace and Security for ALL the People on The Plains of Abraham over there, this World is going in the opposite direction.
CanaDa's Nationality Identity struggle is also rooted in the Plains of Abraham over here!
One is Temporal, the Other is Spiritual!
Like most indoctrinated and brainwashed Americans & Canadians in the 50s & 60s, I believed only Soviet Russian Propaganda was filled with lies.
Our Media told The Truth, The Whole Truth, and nothing but The Truth. How Innocent, Ignorant and Naive I was in my Youth! I didn't question it, not being involved with Politics.
For those who remember US Propaganda in the early 60s, Reefer Madness. It was the constant repetitive theme in the print, radio and TV Media. The Propaganda said 'taking just 1 puff of Marijuana causes anyone to snap, commit suicide, go blind, rape, plunder steal and kill.'
I believed the propaganda, wondering why anyone would do that, and THE POLICE had to stop it.
It was just appearing on the streets in Montreal at that Time. None of my friends did it and it was not a topic of conversation in our group.
That was until a fun Dinner Party with mucho wine and good food.
A trusted friend told me he had some pot, confessing he has been doing it for a year but was afraid to tell me.
I didn't smoke cigarettes but I trusted him as he handed me the joint. All I felt was coughing and choking. I didn't get 'High' whatever that was? But I wasn't taken over by Reefer Madness. Nothing good or bad happened!
But I couldn't put any Trust in what the MSM propagated from then on. I started questioning?
It didn't happen in CanaDa, but the US government was lying to the American People giving them a FALSE Sense of Security.
The government, knowing it was a LIE told Americans in a Nuclear War, ducking under a table would save them.
Some of you may remember the drills in school?
The 1983 movie THE DAY AFTER Kansas City was incinerated in a Nuclear Holocaust exposed the LIE when People saw what Nuclear WAR would be like in this clip from the movie:
https://youtu.be/7VG2aJyIFrA
Asthmatic, so I don't smoke and don't believe idiots who say weed is a cure (as if they're doctors promoting ciggies in the 60s). But I wanted to encourage someone in pain to eat weed so I had weed-filled chocolate cookies with him, first time in a decade. Takes 60-90min for it to hit and relax. Be sure to try several kinds of weed as different strains have different effect. Find the one that allows you a buzz whilst listening to music, and then grants a good sleep. Just don't do it everyday unless you've got pain and are retired. Regular stoners are too damn lazy and apathetic.
"The Day After' is highly recommended but the one that fucked me up (and I watched both the same week) was 'Threads' - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090163/?ref_=tt_sims_tt_t_1
I just want to thank you for your perspectives today. Also I have ignored Trump as I think he is beneath contempt (but so is that thug Biden), so appreciate your summary of Trump's current judicial situation.
I kind of feel alone in my view on Ukraine, and there is black cloud of genocide that hangs persitently over my head. And then even more money for enabling Israeli genocide and Ukraine, as most of Congress turns its back on climate change by fueling forever wars. I have at least to call and thank my rep in CA (Mark DeSaulnier) who voted against sending more money for genocide. Also I will call Cori Bush to thank her for her bravery (I spent my childhood in St. Louis and was a red diaper baby.) Again, thank you so much for your columns! I will upgrade to paid later today.
You're not alone. Lot of us on substack are against people being killed for profit.
DeSaulnier voted Nay on Israel aid but Yea on Ukraine and Taiwan aid.
That says a lot about the situation now. Even those who manage to resist genocide in Gaza haven't shaken off the lies and propaganda that has allowed the perpetuation of the Ukraine proxy war. It's bewildering.
Professional sports. I don't deny the talent of those playing, but the mind of the American male has been completely captured. Sports talk is THE bond that allows unlimited conversation, controversy with nothing significant involved, emotions that can run free and usually will end in mirth rather than mayhem because nothing is at stake. If ever Macbeth's remark about sound and fury applies, it is to professional sports in America. So much passion dissipated in vicarious competition...if only it had kept us out of wars.
In my experience men don't easily venture into other areas because they don't know enough about them to present a logical opinion and are at the same time afraid an opinion might be contested or, even worse, to be challenged and shown false. Our politics could not be more shallow.
While it is great to be able to walk into any bar and instantly be an accepted member of a conversation, nothing is really ventured and nothing gained because in the end it doesn't matter who wins and who loses, who is right about team X and who is wrong.
How many will wildly wave flags and decorate house exteriors with sports symbols, but would never dare speak out for, march for, or display a symbol for a movement of real significance. What would the neighbors think?
William Dement said, "dreams allow us to go quietly and safely insane every night of our lives". I think professional sports allow us to go noisily and safely insane at any time while happily opening our wallets to millionaire players and billionaire team owners.
Clif, this comment is a mini-essay in its own right. Very well said.
Great comment, Cliff! Not much has changed from Roman Times!
It's still Bread and Circuses adapted to our Times!
The General Problem I see in Our Small Sector of the Mostly Poorer Larger World is, in Our Sector, there is So Much STUFF to WANT, People have Lost Sight of what they NEED.
Great post Clif,
I love the NFL players who look skywards thanking "God" for their Superbowl win.
The same "God" who is standing idly by with folded arms while 30,000+, mostly women and kids, get slaughtered in his name.
I'll give three months of my Social Security benefit to the first losing Super Bowl coach who says, "God really screwed us over today."
Jesus overturned the tables of the Bankers and Merchants working the Shopping Mall on Temple property.
The Temple Guards and Priests came to him asking, 'By what Authority do you do that?'
Answering directly to the Faces of the Chief Priests of the Jewish Religious Establishment Temple Headquarters in Jerusalem, declared
'The House of my Father is a House of Prayer for ALL Nations and you have made it a den of thieves!'
In other words, the Christ was saying Israel and Jews no longer had exclusivity with God during the New Testament of The Common Era.
He knew then he was facing the torture and pain of Crucifixion, the Roman way of stifling dissent.
After the wine at the last supper, all Christ's Disciples were asleep. He was all alone praying to God he be spared Crucifixion. It hurt his physical body as it would ours.
He could have got out of Jerusalem and start up again someplace else. Obviously God didn't answer that prayer. Did God screw up the Son, the 1st begotten of the Dead?
Christ had to be Crucified in Jerusalem because of the role Jerusalem is playing in TODAY'S World with the Gaza genocide.
Please explain your last sentence for me, Ray? Thanks.
It's self explanatory if taken in the context of the whole comment. It has to be thought through!
Its way over my head, Ray. I'm not smart enough to figure it out! LOL
ANZAC day here in Godzone today, Ray.
ANZAC Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand that commemorates all Aussies and Kiwi's who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations, and the contribution and suffering of all those who have served.
I enjoyed listening to the Scottish bagpipes in the parade today.
Hope you are well my friend. Get your TURPS done yet?
Dennis, I was inspired seeing a couple (man and wife) wearing Palestinian keffiyehs on the street. Today seeing Jonathan Greenblatt, head of the Anti-Defamation League, calling all of the demonstrators for BDS at Columbia U. "terrorists" and that the national guard should be called out on them (remember Kent State?) did the trick for me and I will be wearing the keffiyeh I got a couple of years ago in public now.
In ref to WJA's contrast of hush money and genocide, did you see where the US is supposedly going to sanction some unit of the IDF for doing nasty things to Palestinians in the West Bank...at the same time we are sending Israel all those billions! The Israeli Defense Minister has said he stands by the IDF unit and Netanyahu says there will be no sanctioning of any of the IDF. So, those in charge of our Middle East policy have had their say and that's that!
Clif, the NYPD's "Counter Terrorism" unit has been deployed to Columbia University to arrest protestors against the US-Israeli genocide of Palestine.
Anti-genocide protesters are now "terrorists."
Insane.
Do You have a source on that?
A Hunt and Gather on Google and Presearch has no mention whatsoever of "NYPD's Counter-Terrorism unit being deployed to Columbia University."
“Not only did Columbia make the horrific decision to mobilize NYPD on their own students, but the units called in have some of the most violent reputations on the force,”......... “NYPD had promised the city they wouldn’t deploy SRG to protests. So why are these counterterror units here?”
“While it was founded in 2015 as a counter-terrorism unit, from its inception, the SRG’s mission conflated protest and terrorism,” the American Civil Liberties Union’s New York branch wrote in a 2022 report. “Within its first year, the SRG doubled in size, and its budget increased from $13 to $90 million. Seven years later, the SRG functions almost entirely as a violent protest-policing unit. With more funding, more equipment, and almost no transparency about the unit’s cost or function, the SRG has become one of the most dangerous and unaccountable arms of the NYPD.”
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/house/2978566/aoc-criticizes-horrific-decision-deploy-police-columbia-protests/
Thank You.
jg, I don't know about it being a counter-terrorism unit, but the president of Columbia did call out the NYPD and upon arrival they said that there was no violent behavior going on.
It is a legitimate topic for discussion.
Is Israel the US proxy in the World or is the US Israel's proxy in this Material World?
Is it Brainwashing Manipulation and Propaganda when both Israel and the US have the delusional belief they are chosen by God to have full spectrum dominance on Earth?
I think Islam on the other hand, believes by the same God, they have to moderate that kind of Jewish-Christian extremism.
Ray, and everyone who reads BV, I'd like to recommend an excellent article from way back in 2004 from Francis Fukuyama. He has been ridiculed by many, but he is an intelligent guy with a profound grasp of world politics that shines in this work. It is prophetic.
His 2004 essay is called The Neoconservative Moment (he was part of the group). His take on the impossibility of the US forcing itself on the world being happily received has become more evident since then. The comments regarding Israel are spot on and he mentions the danger of the US putting itself in isolation with Israel, which is exactly where we are today.
The link to his essay is
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/522cc5b4e4b0a015e8d59b21/t/522d1617e4b0069c1e7d6aa5/1378686487683/Fukuyama_NeoconservativeMoment.pdf
Thanks for the link, Clif.
I took exception to Charles Krauthammer's views often when he wrote for The Washington Post.
His belief the US was entering a uni-polar Era turned out to be a uni-polar moment after all.
Bill, your words, "Crimes against humanity—what? Where? I don’t see any" affirm my Blog article: http://rayjc.com/2024/04/02/war-crimes-we-see-and-say-nothing/
Option 3: Intercepted Message [Source Vicinity: Galactic Sector ZZ 9 Plural Z Beta]
Re the Question You posed to Middle East Peace Negotiators; ie:
“If Your GOD says that it is Your Land;
and if His GOD says that it is His Land;
and if Their GOD says that it is Theirs…;
then, Whose Land is it? Really?
“And, how are we to know?
And more importantly, how do those GODS know?
And finally and most importantly, how do any of YOU know?”
[crackle...hisssss]
“Exterminate them. Exterminate them all. Or rather, Terminate: With Extreme Prejudice. And then let YHWH, God The Father, Allah, and The Etceteras sort them all out.
“Or better, terminate YHWH, God The Father, Allah, and The Etceteras, and let the dearly beloved faithful believers sort Them all out.
“In either case, as retired US Army Special Forces Colonel Walter E Kurtz once put it [albeit in a different context]: ‘….. We must kill them. We must incinerate them: pig after pig, cow after cow, village after village, army after army… . ‘
“This nonsense needs to end. This nonsense must end. This nonsense will end. Now.
“Before ALL Life ~ to say nothing of Human, or at least Humane Life ~ on that Planet is very seriously disrupted.
“Out.”
Retired U.S. Army Colonel Douglas Macgregor’s 23 Apr 24 piece in The American Conservative ~ IS IT GAME, SET, MATCH TO MOSCOW? : The American Brand Will Suffer So Long As Washington Pretends Its Capacities Are Limitless ~ should be required reading for every American still capable of thinking and acting for her or himself.
It concludes as follows:
“During the 1930s, FDR became trapped in a debt spiral of “special interest” spending. In defiance of logic and affordability, FDR opted for more Federal spending until he realized that it was not working. WITH THE ONSET OF WAR IN EUROPE, FDR SAW THE OPPORTUNITY TO EXTRICATE AMERICAN SOCIETY FROM THE DEPRESSION BY STEERING THE UNITED STATES INTO WAR. FDR’S SCHEME WORKED. The Second World War reinvigorated the American economy and ended America’s chronic unemployment. At the same time, America’s physical insularity kept American infrastructure and the American People beyond the reach of its enemies.
“President Biden and Congress are on a similar course with profound consequences, but today, horrifically destructive modern weapons make the war option suicidal. Put another way, 21ST-CENTURY PROBLEMS CANNOT BE SOLVED WITH THE USE OF 20TH-CENTURY PLANS AND POLICIES. Instead of framing another false narrative to justify funding for a corrupt Ukrainian state that is collapsing, Washington and its allies should question the rationale for a new, costly cold war directed against Moscow, Beijing, Tehran, and a host of countries with world views that diverge sharply from our own.
“Business schools teach their students that good brands have the power to sway decision-making and create communities of like-minded people. It isn’t just companies that need brands; countries need them, too. When asked about Washington’s ability to cope with wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, PRESIDENT BIDEN SAID, “WE ARE THE MOST POWERFUL NATION IN THE WORLD, IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD. WE CAN TAKE CARE OF BOTH OF THESE [WARS].” Biden was and is wrong. America’s resources are not limitless. Our power is constrained.
“In Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America, the American brand has been damaged. AMERICANS NEED (AND SHOULD DEMAND) A SOBER-MINDED ANALYSIS OF THE FACTS FROM THE MEN WHO WANT TO BE PRESIDENT. They should be compelled to identify the united states’ true national interests; a process that should also identify the political and cultural realities that are not Washington’s to change.
Full article at https://www.theamericanconservative.com/is-it-game-set-match-to-moscow/ ; EMPHASES added.
Given all the Pro-Palestine demonstrations, protests, and other actions on college campuses and in the streets, one can only wonder how long it will be before some Governor calls out her or his National Guard and there is another Kent State.
Or as an alternative: When will a person decide to not self-immolate to proclaim his or her allegiance, and, instead, shoots up and down one of those gatherings of Pro-Palestinians? Or a gathering of Pro-Israelis?
This could get very interesting. And very ugly.
"What a country!"
"What country?" is more appropo.
Political prosecution? In a country overflowing with laws and an impeccably fair, balanced justice system and media? Everyone loves a sex scandal. They're great for ratings. The judges and attorneys get to be Hollywood stars. Maybe they can win themselves an Oscar. The masses will all be on the edge of their couches hopeing to hear about Trump's weapon of mass destruction.
Insurrections trials after all are boring. Tedious. Divisive.
What could possibly go wrong in a country run by lawyers who get their money up front win lose or draw? Ones trained to lie to protect the states or clients interests? Whoever has the most money wins.
Does anyone consider the US to be a "free state" any longer? If not the constitution provides the solution with the first and second amendments which need to be simultaneously executed by the people who are supposed to be in control of the US. Not the politicians who are only supposed to represent the people and are failing to do so breaking their oath of allegiance. The same ones who reinterpret the constitution to achieve their own goals. Tyranny and oppression now rule. Not freedom and democracy. This was discussed in The Federalist #28 by Hamilton. The solution is to be found in the constitution. Not the politicians.
Heavy sigh ... If only I could be shocked by our ridiculous leaders.
As I reflected on the morning's headlines earlier today and following breakfast, we walked through Parque Calderon in Cuenca, Ecuador as a class of school-uniformed children (not more than first graders) were all sitting on a long cement bench with paper and pencil in hand as they worked on whatever it was the teacher had assigned. I said out load as I passed by them, "I love Cuenca." My mind immediately went to Thomas Merton's account of his similar epiphany.
"In Louisville, at the corner of Fourth and Walnut, in the center of the shopping district, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all these people, that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers."
And I thought, how badly my homeland and its leaders need their Merton moment.
"Israel is a lying machine." - John Pilger
Columbia University is holding classes about the importance of the Vietnam anti-war movement while violently oppressing anti-genocide activists.
Bringing it all back home - The Grayzone live - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9QbINUwGy4&t=4721s
Max Blumenthal and Aaron Mate discuss the importance of Columbia University's Gaza protest, and the Biden administration's pro-Israel police actions against the growing protest movements protesting Israel's genocide.
Let's hope these protests get bigger and bigger like those against The Vietnam War.
And pray we don't have another Kent State.😵
If your leaders see nothing wrong with supporting genocide, what makes you think that they will treat you any differently?
Ivy League Students ARRESTED For Protesting Isr@el!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6det1mBDeyE
More from Caitlin Johnstone: "It's just a tough situation, with victims on both sides. On one side you've got people being slaughtered in droves by genocidal massacres and siege warfare, while on the other you've got people whose feelings get hurt when these atrocities are opposed. Hard to say which is worse."
The Coming Arab Backlash
Middle Eastern Regimes—and America—Ignore Public Anger at Their Peril
Since Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, the Middle East has been rocked by mass protests. Egyptians have demonstrated in solidarity with Palestinians at great personal risk, and Iraqis, Moroccans, Tunisians, and Yemenis have taken to the streets in vast numbers. Meanwhile, Jordanians have broken long-standing redlines by marching on the Israeli embassy, and Saudi Arabia has refused to resume normalization talks with Israel, in part because of its people’s deep fury over Israel’s operations in the Gaza Strip.
For Washington, the view is that none of this mobilization really matters. Arab leaders, after all, are among the world’s most experienced practitioners of realpolitik, and they have a record of ignoring their people’s preferences. The protests, although large, have been manageable. Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and other leaders have long encouraged protests about the treatment of Palestinians, which allow their people to blow off steam and direct their anger toward a foreign enemy instead of against domestic corruption and incompetence. In time, or so the argument goes, the fighting in Gaza will end, the angry protesters will go home, and their leaders will carry on pursuing self-interests, an activity at which they excel.
U.S. foreign policymakers also have a long history of disregarding public opinion in the Middle East—the so-called Arab street. After all, if autocratic Arab leaders are calling the shots, then it is not necessary to put stock in what angry activists shout or in what ordinary citizens tell pollsters or the media. Since there are no democracies in the Middle East, care need not be given to what anyone outside the palaces thinks. And for all its talk of democracy and human rights, Washington has always been more comfortable dealing with pragmatic autocrats than with publics it regards as irrational, extremist mobs. It rarely pauses to consider how this might contribute to its dismal record of policy failures.................................................................
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/israel/coming-arab-backlash?mc_cid=137939841b&mc_eid=707c81c7e0
The 2024 Election Map Based on the Latest Polls!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5XM8X5Ulq4
Trump 295 Electoral College votes. Biden, 232. Tossup, 11.
But remember in Murica it's not who has the most votes but WHO'S in control of counting the votes!
That's how the US ended up with Genocide Joe Biden in 2020.
But with The Democrats more interested in funding foreign wars, added with the border situation, Biden is surely going to lose this one. America last.
That will give the left something else to hate Trump for.
But here's the ACTUAL 2024 POTUS election vote tally ~ just come in:
Trump: 113-million
Biden: 7,678-billion.
We're convinced the election was fair and transparent and look forward to the 4th term of Obama.
'Ukraine War Funding and Failed Russian Sanctions. Is the US Empire Shooting Itself in the Foot?'
This past weekend, April 20, 2024 the US House of Representatives passed a bill to provide Ukraine with another $61 billion in aid. The measure will quickly pass the Senate and be signed into law by Biden within days.
The funds, however, will make little difference to the outcome of the war on the ground as it appears most of the military hardware funded by the $61 billion has already been produced and much of it already shipped. Perhaps no more than $10 billion in additional new weapons and equipment will result from the latest $61 billion passed by Congress.
Subject to revision, initial reports of the composition of the $61 billion indicate $23.2 billion of it will go to pay US arms producers for weapons that have already been produced and delivered to Ukraine. Another $13.8 billion is earmarked to replace weapons from US military stocks that have been produced and are in the process of being shipped—but haven’t as yet—or are additional weapons still to be produced. The breakdown of this latter $13.8 amount is not yet clear in the initial reports. One might generously guess perhaps $10 billion at most represents weapons not yet produced, while $25-$30 billion represents weapons already shipped to Ukraine or in the current shipment pipeline.
In total, therefore, weapons already delivered to Ukraine, awaiting shipment, or yet to be produced amount to approximately $37 billion.
The remainder of the $61 billion includes $7.8 billion for financial assistance to Ukraine to pay for salaries of government employees through 2024. An additional $11.3 billion to finance current Pentagon operations in Ukraine—which sounds suspiciously like pay for US advisors, mercenaries, special ops, and US forces operating equipment like radars, advanced Patriot missile systems, etc. on the ground. Another $4.7 billion is for miscellaneous expenses, whatever that is.
In other words, only $13.8 billion of the $61 billion is for weapons Ukraine doesn’t already have!
And that $13.8 billion is all Ukraine will likely get in new weapons funding for the rest of 2024! Like the $23 billion already in theater, that will likely be burned up in a couple of weeks this summer once Russia’s coming major offensive—its largest of the war—is launched in late May or early June. So what does the US do in order to continue to fund Ukraine’s economy, government and military efforts this fall and thereafter?
In other words, what’s the Biden/NATO strategy for aiding Ukraine, militarily and economically, after the $37 billion is expended by late this summer? Where’s the money to come from?
To understand how the US/NATO plan to fund subsequent weapons production for Ukraine in late 2024 and early 2025, one must consider not only the $61 billion bill but a second bill also passed by Congress this past weekend that hasn’t been given much attention in the mainstream media.
That second bill may potentially provide up to $300 billion for Ukraine from USA and its G7 allies, especially NATO allies in Europe where reportedly $260 of the $300 billion resides in Eurozone banks.
https://www.globalresearch.ca/ukraine-war-funding-failed-russian-sanctions/5855512
Congress allocates $100-Billion to defend Ukraine, Israel & Taiwan ~ yet the US doesn't have enough money to run the country for 3-months?
Trump requested $15-Billion to complete the Southern Wall and Congress said they did not have the money!
TRUMP 2024
What has Trump had to say about that $95 BILLION in military aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan? Other, of course, than praising "MAGA Mike" Johnson for the Great job he did sliming it thru to passage?
And what has he had to say about the FISA Extension, about which he had been making so much recent noise? Anything?
And finally, what has Trump had to say about Budget Deficits and the growth of America's Sovereign, National Debt? Anything?
Jeez Jeff, Settle down! Why all the confrontational rage my man? One of these days you are going to shock us all by saying something positive about......well anybody!
When the US Senate passed Joe Biden’s original US$95 billion foreign aid package in February, Trump came out against the bill, and the Republicans were divided. Trump called the bill a “horrible, open borders betrayal of America,” and vowed that he would “fight it all the way”. But on April 12 Republican presidential candidate Trump, realizing he will need support from both the left, right and independents to be the 47th POTUS, voiced support on social media for Johnson's Bill which was heavily backed by democrats. He is not dumb. Realizing that to not support the Bill would be political suicide for his POTUS candidacy.
Trump urged Congress to tank reauthorization of Section 702 of the FISA Act ahead of the House vote on the legislation ~ as President Joe Biden urges lawmakers to move forward with the bill, while right-wing members are calling for stricter surveillance controls. “KILL FISA,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, alleging the law “was illegally used against” him to spy on his campaign.
Trump left office four months after the U.S. recorded its largest annual deficit of $3.1 trillion in fiscal year 2020. Economists agree that this was mostly the result of the coronavirus pandemic, which reduced government revenues and spurred massive government spending and borrowing to help the nation cope with the economic and public health challenges of the pandemic. Three weeks after Trump was no longer in office the fiscal 2021 deficit would be $2.3 trillion. It continued to rise after Biden took office, as the new president and a Democratic-controlled Congress provided still more pandemic relief. To say that Trump was the cause of the deficit, and his economic policies will be further detrimental to the nation, is only a meme touted by those who have a personal hatred for the 45th POTUS.
And in your case, by a person who supports nobody! We have long given up expecting you to stop being a chicken and show your hand and get behind a candidate who you think will be the 47th POTUS. It's easier for you to just to just rubbish everybody else's choice.
Take care
Sorry You interpret my questions as "confrontational rage," Dennis. It's actually nothing but "conversational curiosity." i guess You spent enough time in America to pick up that standard American Aversion to Questions in favor of their Preference for Answers.
In any event: See my follow-up comment to Your response. Sorry, but more Questions..
And are You waiting for me to "show my hand" to tell You who i think WILL BE POTUS Maxximmuss XLVII? Or who i think SHOULD BE the next President?
1. So Trump heartily endorses the $95 BILLION gift ~ or is it grift ~ to America's MICC, correct?
2. i know what Trump said about FISA and Section 702 BEFORE the vote. What has he said about them SINCE they have been extended for two years by Congress and signed off by Biden?
3. What has Trump said he would do to deal with Deficit Spending and, particularly, the National Debt should he become President again? Has anybody even asked him that question?
4. And exactly Who is saying that Trump is "the cause" of today's Deficits?
Not going to be dragged into endless confrontational debate with you my man.
Answering your never ending gotcha questions. Sorry. It's not a life-or-death struggle for me! You will always get the last word in in any case.
Take care
EDIT: Thinking about it, if you were a Team member on those 300+ person Teams I managed on those big Construction Projects all over the US; with your attitude you would not have made it to your first paycheck my man!
Again, sorry You interpret that as "confrontational debate."
All i asked is what Trump has said about these matters since, as Ron Paul put it: Passage of that $95 BILLION military aid bill and the FISA/702 Extension may very well be "the Final Nail in America's Coffin."
In any event, Mr Merwood: What do YOU think of FISA/702 Extension and the Aid Bill? Do You think they are good ideas?
And if You had the same attitude as a Project Manager then as You have as a BV Commenter now, i seriously doubt i would have wanted to stick around long enough to get my first paycheck.
I can proudly point to infrastructure my Teams completed on schedule and within budget all over the USA Jeff. Despite your oft toted ill-informed opinion that all construction projects in America are Cost Plus. ALL the projects I managed were competitively bid fixed price Contracts.
And I proudly have a Company Annual Award for employee excellence named after me Mr. Moebus. And you? How many villages did your Team destroy to save them?