The war machine in this country is led by a coalition of liberal hawks and neocons. The liberal hawks are mainly Democratic Party politicians such as Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer. They tend to be "liberal" on domestic issues but rabid war mongers in foreign policy. The neocons are mostly GOP politicians, such as Lindsey Graham, John Bolton, and Tom Cotton, who try to outdo the liberal hawks in the Democratic Party in their rabid war mongering. The liberal hawks tend to focus on Russia, the neocons on China. They all share in common an addiction to militarism and US global hegemony as well as total allegiance to the military-industrial complex and endless war making. Sociopaths and psychopaths one and all.
Actually they are mostly “liberal” when it comes to rhetoric. They ‘deplore’ police violence while sending military grade weapons to police departments. They ‘embrace’ immigrants while deporting more than their republican adversaries. They are for equality while taking away child tax credits and refusing votes on wealth taxes. They are pro woman while refusing to enshrine roe, refusing to provide healthcare, refusing to provide maternity leave or universal pre k. They are even pro labor while actively breaking strikes. By their fruits shall you know them, and except for rhetoric there is not a dimes worth of difference between the two parties. They both serve the same masters.
Genocide Joe already has the Ray-bans, Mr. Astore. Heather Cox Richardson and Julian Barnes expose themselves as toxic morons. I guess that neither of them has any difficulty getting along from month to month like so many Americans; so, sure, go ahead and spend that 60 billion on the Ukraine war and to hell with Americans. Senator Chuck Schumer is an egregious, scheming son-of-a-bitch rather than a moron. (He may possibly lack intelligence, but he's chock full of low cunning.) He thinks of that 60 billion as campaign money to keep him in office and get Genocide Joe get reelected so that they can all go on feeding at the trough. I think, to edit Heather Cox's idiotic sentence, that "Americans are coming to recognize that Ukraine’s forces are being used as cannon fodder and that American and EU support are not benefiting Ukrainians in any way—quite the reverse—in defending the 'rules-based international order' that the United States attempts to use for global dominance and most especially to 'hurt Russia'". I even think that the demonization of Putin has finally run up against a brick wall, and that many Americans have concluded that Putin is actually a more benign—and certainly a much more competent—leader than anyone in the US political élites or in the EU (which has somehow morphed into NATO) "leadership". Most of the 60 billion, if paid, will go he military-industrial-congressional complex (to which Senator Chuck Schumer belongs; he'll get his cut) and the left-overs into the pockets of Zalenskyy and his cronies. I highly recommend the books Putin, Game Master? and Operation Z, both published by Max Milo, Paris, 2022 and written by Jacques Baud, who was formerly a member of the Swiss Strategic Intelligence, a specialist in Eastern Europe and head of the UN peace operations doctrine. He was also a NATO insider, followed the Ukrainian crisis of 2014 and participated in the assistance programs for Ukraine. These books provide the best exposure of "the narrative" that all of the corporate media are dedicated to defend to the hilt (since that's what they get paid for). If you can, read Baud's books in French, which is his native language and which he writes well. The English-language editions (self-translated, as far as I can make out) are loaded with weird typos and malapropisms that you have to skirt around. No matter. It's the bees knees. Why anyone at all goes on listening to Richardson, Barnes, and Schumer and their ilk is beyond me, and it's liable to cost those who listen 60 billion bucks (and doubtless more later) . . . for nothing but the slaughter of Ukrainian soldiers (mean age now about 55) and the utter destruction of Ukraine. If someone supports that, don't let them get away with saying that they are "standing with Ukraine", which is about as far from the truth as one can get. They are standing with war profiteers and greedy, evil politicians with no morals whatsoever but very, very receptive pockets. (These people are criminally complicit in genocide as well, as may be proven in the not-too-distant future, if we're lucky.)
It's all the çlever' people in the USA I blame the most. You know? Such as write columns/essays such as this. That make YT vids and appear on them, interviewing and being interviewed. That write books and have articles printed in 'serious'papers and whatever.
Why do I blame them?
Because they do nothing to dispel the vast ocean of ignorance within which the American people sink.
Nothing.
They even use, have always used, for instance, the misleading, lying terminology for the Ukraine conflict: Úkraine v Russia'.
Where the whole essence of the whole thing is Ukraine v Ukraine.
It is an ethnic cleansing thing by Kiev on the Donbas Ukrainians.
And so on.
Would the dumb millions of Americans be so meekly accepting of spending ('spending' ??) billions on 'fighting Russian' if they knew they were 'fighting Donbas Ukrainians in a attempt to dispossess, invade and ethnic cleanse them' ?
Would they?
But they don't know. And the informed intelligentsia have had two years now to tell them. But have not done so.
The USA has no govt. to lead it. It has been usurped by Oligarchs. It is in fact an oligarchy today.
But the USA has no íntelligentsia' to help it out, either.
If it is NOT Ukraine vs Russia, but Ukraine vs Ukraine, then Where, How, and Why does Russia fit into all this?
And When, How, and Why did the United States get involved in all this?
And when was the American government usurped by the Oligarchs? And weren't the Plutocrats and the Patriarchs involved, as well?
But most important: Why does America have no Intelligentsia to help it out? What happened to it?
That assumes, of course, that America has had various different Intelligentsia at various times thru its history; some that helped it, some that hampered it, and some that harmed it.
How does one go about bringing about an Intelligentsia that is focused on looking at what is happening in and to this Nation and on and to this Planet, and begin to consider exactly what to do about it before it is too late to even try anything?
I am happy that you are enquiring. But sad that it could get to this stage and there's still people who don't know. That's a terrible indictment of those very intelligentsia I'm talking about.
You can and should look it all up for yourself, of course, because I'm no expert in the first place and in the second place we all know today that even experts (especially 'experts' ?) can mislead as well as any ignoramus.
But here's my quickie that I used to print with just about every post I made to YT comment threads. But I've not been doing that for some time. But here it is again:
-----------------------------
Don't let the way anyone talks make you think this is 'Russia v Ukraine' because it is NOT.
When he says 'Russian' forces he really means 'Ukrainian And Russian' forces.
DONBAS Ukrainians and Russians.
They fight together, side by side.
The Russians helping the Donbas Ukrainians repel the invading Kiev Ukrainians.
The Kiev Ukrainians (those are the ones the Americans call 'the Ukrainians' and the ones who are the invaders, the aggressors, the extremists and the Nazis, the Stefan Bandera (look him up) worshippers, have been occupying Donbas Ukrainian land since 2014.
When he says 'Ukrainian' he just about always means only the Kiev Ukrainians. This is in line with the lying USA and Kiev narrative which wants you to think there are only two players: Ukraine and Russia. Everyone talks like this. It is a propaganda coup.
No. There are three players:
'North' Ukraine we might call it which is Kiev Ukraine and extremist Ukraine and 'nationalist' Ukraine which is sworn to building a 'pure' Ukrainian State after the style of the Nazis building a 'pure' Aryan German state. The decided to do that by oppressing, re-educating, victimising the Southern, Donbas Ukrainians who traditionally have much Russian connection.
'South' Ukraine we might call it which are the Donbas Ukrainians the North decided to 'ethnically cleanse' and exterminate for the crime of having Russian connections.
And Russia.
Three players. At the centre. And a host of malignant evil manipulators, leeches, provocateurs and profiteers on the side extending from USA to Kiev and encompassing the whole Western world.
Now the Russians are helping the Donbas Ukrainians because someone should and we won't, we ignored them for eight years and longer and because of the Russian connection and because the whole thing is an attack on Russia anyway after the style of putting missiles in Cuba was an 'attack' on the USA and we know what the Americans thought of that: they were willing to have a global nuclear war rather than tolerate it.
So okay? 'Russian' when he says it means 'Donbas Ukrainians and Russian help'
'Ukrainian' when he says it means Kiev Ukrainians ( and USA help and every pusillanimous stinking little lapdog of theirs doing their bidding. )
And the Donbas Ukrainians just don't figure in his narrative generally. But they should. Because that's what started it all.
And the fact that the fighting is ALL ON Donbas land that Kiev/USA has invaded generally doesn't figure either.
The fact that there's not one Russian boot on Ukrainian land where it was not invited and welcomed generally doesn't get a mention either.
Just saying. Because without forewarning listening/watching could give you the impression this is simply 'Ukraine' fighting off 'Russian' aggression.
Which is what the evil empire wants you to think. And which is entirely what it is NOT.
If you want to help Ukraine and Ukrainians help bring it to a STOP. Keep Ukrainians - on BOTH sides - ALIVE.
Kiev and Washington want dead bodies. Let them fight each other. The world will be well rid of them.
---------------------------------------
Hope that helped. Gave a starting point for your own researches at least.
It explained how Russia fits I think?
When was the American govt usurped by oligarchs? I don't know. I am naive. More and more I think it was ever thus. Money just gets its own way and always did. Way back during the World Wars the big money was calling the shots on both sides of the Atlantic.
And way back then the fear of the rich in the USA and UK was that competition from Europe might hurt their profits and greed for potential plunder motivated the rest of their hatred of Russia.
It is natural. If you and I had megabucks we would try to talk to those with power in order to get things done we thought ought to be done.
The point is not so much how that came about but why didn't it get stopped, or channeled, or utilised for benefit, mitigated to diminish harm, etc.?
Well I think it didn't because the controlling mechanism was supposedly Democracy. But there is no democracy. There cannot be any democracy without the democratic citizens. And millions of citizens cannot congregate in the plazas of Athens and each cast their votes.
Just physically impossible. Well known. Absolutely totally well know. That the essence of democracy was impracticable. No secret.
So a 'workaround' has been devised called 'representative democracy' wherein your voice is subsumed amongst a set of voices represented by a 'representative'. Which is bad enough.
But it gets worse, again for practical reasons.
. You only get to choose your representative once every few years.
. The representative doesn't even pretend to represent you, in fact, he boldly and loudly proclaims he represents a Party !
A congressman today has, I believe, constituency of upwards of 800,000 people. Pretty hard to represent all of them. Each one of them. But no problem. He doesn't try. He just does what he is told to do by the Party.
And the Party does what its sponsors tell it to do: the rich men, the oligarchs.
So the oligarchs become the govt in the absence of the government we're supposed to have and which we can't have because it is impractical.
Until today. With the internet and the smartphone and clever open source programmers we could truly be governing ourselves and our country but that's another story.
American intelligentsia. I don't know what happened to it. It was there alright. Or pretended to be, wasn't it? Many, many. I think of, today, Thomas Sowell. He belongs, I believe, though he generally confines himself to economics I suppose and the social effects arising from there.
Noam Chomsky would be the best known of all I guess. You can find a long list printed out here and there. So they're supposed to be there alright.
But most of them I have never heard of and I'd guess neither have 90% of the population.
Intellectuals are not much prized in American society. They are as often as not denigrated. Anyone or anything can be torn down, reviled, even banned, openly hated, especially if it is truth that goes against the prevailing money making or politician promoting narrative.
Prof John Ioannidis totally leading light of epidemiology told the truth of the Covid 'epidemic' right at the very beginning. Ignored, sidelined, marginalised, denigrated, maligned.
It is clear the mainstream media are totally dishonest and unreliable and one supposes that is because they are paid by the oligarchs at one side to say those things and threatened by government on the other side to say those things.
How to get an intelligentsia?
I think it is coming via the youth and the web and the smartphone and modern tools - software tools - written by open source programmers. https://mbccc.com sort of says it somehow as I see it.
At bottom we need the people. Simple as that. And we never could have them before, never in history. Not in an effective way to counter the (natural) forces of the rich seeking to preserve their riches and acquire more, the greedy seeking to get rich, the vain seeking vainglory and power and the fools mismanaging everything in sight.
All the people could ever do was revolt violently from time to time.
Well it is different now. I fervently believe. And hope. Not that there'll be any instant paradise. But there'll be hope and direction, tools, possibilities. When the people wake up to the power they carry in their pockets, their purses.
Thank You, arthur. You more than answered my questions and gave me a perspective on that whole thing i'd never seen before.
i call it America's War with Russia in Ukraine. Similar to what America did with bin Laden and Da Boyz in Afghanistan to give the USSR its very own Vietnam. Only this time, it's not working quite as well as it did then.
And one thing about those things people carry in their pockets or purses: They are essentially portable Orwellian Telescreens that perpetually blurt out news, views, and entertainment, while at the same time knowing exactly where everybody is, who they are communicating with, and even, if necessary, what they are saying and/or typing.
Makes the job of the Thought Police a whole lot easier, eh?
It does. Underlines the importance of the people waking up to their power soonest.
Noticeable that it is a two edged sword. It makes the job of the people knowing what the thought police are up to easier, too, doesn't it, don't they?
And who the thought police are and where they are and what they're doing.
See?
But there's an overall thing should transcend all that and make it moot.
We're talking division. The thought police on one side, the people on the other.
These divisions are what keep the people down. The people divide into parts and one part keeps the other part down.
So the police come or the paramilitaries or the secret police, etc., etc and begin doing their harm.
If one of them were to question it and think to not follow orders the very question of not obeying would be relayed back up the chain... To his superior and then the next superior and then the next until ultimately we reach the top of the pyramid, that one person sitting at the top that directs everything and in whom all power resides.
And who's main interest is that his power be obeyed.
So we know what orders come back down the chain, don't we? 'Continue the harm, obey.'
Simple as that.
But when the people recognise their power and become real democrat citizens then the questioning officer looks at the app and consults the people. And the further the questioning goes the further into the people it goes.
And he gets an answer back telling him what the people en masse wish for him to do.
The hope is that when we reach this state the wishes of the people are always going to be for the better.
It would seem natural and sensible that they would be.
But we can't be sure. For they have never been canvassed since the days of the smallest tribes.
The Australian Aboriginal tribes canvassed the opinions of all, for instance and I'd suppose from that many other small tribal societies did, too. It gave rise/gives rise when practiced, to management by consensus. Not by diktak, not by edict, not by pressure group minority etc. but by consensus. If everyone did not agree no action was taken.
'Tribes' got way too big.
Opinions no longer even canvassed. In fact the prevailing 'edict' from 'on high' via MSM seems to be that you should not even have opinions of your own if they do not match entirely the approved narrative.
But we know, just naturally we know, that in fact there are silent millions who just want peace and calm and justice.
Like the Ukraine thing is an example. Terrible furore. Full on war. 500,000 dead on one side alone. Heated words and hatred everywhere. BUT: we know millions have fled the country. We know grandmothers, grandfathers, mums and dads, they want an end to it all. We know children want an end to it. We know. It is only common sense. Seems to me. We know that the majority do not want any of this.
Hopefully, it would seem to me naturally, the same will obtain all across the nation, the world when the people adopt self governance via computer, internet, smartphone.
The wishes of the majority are going to be wise, peaceful, reconciliatory, healthy, equable, positive and building, sharing, cooperating.
Ms. Richardson really hits it out of the park. "_____ is trying to destroy that order, replacing it with the idea that bigger countries can conquer smaller countries at will." Her typo that the blank be filled with Putin is rich indeed. Our "rules based order" IS the empire bully ruling over countries large and small. I'd love to know how Russian imposed sanctions are crippling countries in any way, shape or form as ours do Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea and on and on.
Bill, you're certainly right about the need to direct equal effort and funds toward homelessness and mental illness. Likewise, food insecurity and outrageously expensive healthcare.
I'd say it deserves maximum effort. In a country where a handful of billionaires have amassed wealth equal to the combined worth of most of the rest of the population, no one should have to work multiple jobs to survive.
Some of them didn't even go to College such as Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates, but if they give something back to Society as a Philanthropist say they are alright by me-- my opinion!
I agree, Fireman, in principle. However, IMO, "giving back" means actually contributing a large chunk of one's wealth, if one is a billionaire. None of the men you list fits that description, not even Gates and Bezos. A few years ago, I remember that Gates' worth was listed at $37bn, on paper, of course. How many billions could he give away and still have more money than he could ever spend?
Thank you for reading HCR, so we don't have to. She is unhinged, and lacking ANY historical perspective. So is Julian Barnes at the NYT. Putin desperately tried to negotiate a solution to avoid invasion, but the "rules based order" would not even consider Russia's security concerns. No doubt the US would have sat still while Mexico joined the Warsaw Pact-oh, wait, perhaps not! Ukraine could have been sovereign, at peace, and with a chance at some prosperity, if they had remained neutral. Is this a perfect, or even a moral arrangement? No, but then International relations is wholly criminal, so the best we can hope for is harm reduction. A negotiated solution that recognized Russia's need to not have an adversarial military alliance deep in its flank would have avoided all of this tragedy.
As for Barnes claiming that the money will give Ukraine a better negotiating position, well... not really. Even if they get the money, there are few weapons to send them, and few soldiers to use them in any event. Strikes deep in Russia may not take much manpower, but risks the escalation that makes this whole thing so existentially dangerous. The only rational move is to negotiate a peace deal now, as Russia's terms will only get more onerous. The West may find that Putin and Russia are war weary enough to still negotiate some kind of compromise to stop the bloodletting. That would however, mean a sea change in attitudes in the US, so I am sadly not hopeful, yet we must keep making the case.
There was no Ukraine with anything like today’s supposed “sovereign territory” before Lenin and Stalin and the Red Army of 1945. Rules based international order is not worth another dime of U.S. debt!
So funny how Richardson tells Americans what they think (Americans love sending their money to Ukraine!!) and complains about larger countries imposing their will on smaller ones, which is obviously something the US never does. Delusional doesn't come close to describing that mentality.
"Of all the amateurish moments to arise as the Biden regime conducts its foreign policy, the White House’s official statement as B1–B bombers let loose over Iraq and Syria last Friday may be the taker of the cake.
As the ordnance fell on 85 targets in seven locations, many of them outposts of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, our addled president felt compelled to insist, “The United States does not seek conflict in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world.”"
Trump didn’t even bother competing in Nevada’s primary.
It doesn’t award any delegates needed to win the GOP nomination any way.
That leaves the result as meaningless in the Republican race.
Haley, herself a "dead horse" who would surely have lost irrespective of NOTC, became the first presidential candidate to lose a race to NOTC since that option was introduced in Nevada in 1975, nearly 50-years ago.
At this point, it’s about the only thing You can do, now that the Corporal’s claim to prosectutional immunity as POTUS MAXXIMMUSS XLV has been rejected at the Appeals Court level:
Your hero/savior/guru’s only hopes now lay with the Supreme Court. Unless, of course, he steals Election2024 [if it even happens], at which point he can pardon himself. LMFAO.
Just the man this nation needs to lead it to the 250th birthday of America on July 4, 2026. Assuming this nation still even exists by then, no matter who the next President is. But ESPECIALLY if that scumbag is.
If You have anything further to say to me on this or anything else, do it by email. Like I said, I am not going to waste any further space on Bracing Views conversing with You.
Plenty of slagging off and name calling of my choice for the 47th POTUS eh Jeff!
But at least I, unlike you, have the courage and balls to show my hand.
Who is your hero/savior/guru?
Too chicken to show your hand?
Fearful that the crude smears you deal out on other's choices will be dealt on yours!
You too have a great day.
BTW, even the biased Snopes had to reluctantly agree that Trump tweeted to his followers on the day of the U.S. Capitol riot to "remain peaceful" with "no violence". And "Please support our Capitol Police and law enforcement. They are truly on the side of our country. Stay peaceful!"
WASHINGTON, Aug 20 (Reuters) - The FBI has found scant evidence that the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol was the result of an organized plot to overturn the presidential election result, according to four current and former law enforcement officials.
Though federal officials have arrested more than 570-alleged participants, the FBI at this point believes the violence was not centrally coordinated by far-right groups or prominent supporters of then-President Donald Trump according to the sources, who have been either directly involved in or briefed regularly on the wide-ranging investigations.
Let me share with You an extract of something i wrote on January 12, 2021, six days after January 6 entitled “Observations and Thoughts on January 6.”
Part 1
PRELUDE. As a retired US Army Master Sergeant, the only thing that i have seen recently that filled me with the same sense of horror and nausea - and degree of disgust and foreboding - as the Trumpatistas' invasion of the Capitol was the sight back in August, 2017, of legions of young American white nationalists and supremacists carrying torches, signs, and flags, and chanting their chants on the grounds of the academy that Jefferson built in Charlottesville, Virginia. Having said that...
OBSERVATIONS. Whatever that was up on Capitol Hill on January 6, it was not a "coup," an "insurgency," or an "insurrection," no matter what the politicians, pundits, and other propagandists in Swampland, the Media, Tinseltown, or Academia may try to tell and sell us.
It was trespassing, assault on government employees, breaking and entering, the invasion and destruction of public and private property, the disruption of public business, and the wasting of public officials' and government employees' time, effort, and energy, and of taxpayers' money.
Coups, insurgencies, and insurrections aren't attempted by people carrying nothing but flags, signs, selfie-sticks, and smartfones, with hotel checkouts the next day at 11 am. That was not an attempt to overthrow the government of the United States [which, to actually happen in the real world, would have to start at the Pentagon, the CIA, and/or the Federal Reserve].
At this point, the whole "Save America March" - at least for the thousands who showed up to hear Trump's speech and didn't go on to Capitol Hill - was, rather, an attempt by a bunch of American taxpayer/citizens to have some sort of impact on what they see happening to their country and to their and their children's future. It was a chance for those "Disgruntleds" to let somebody ~ anybody ~ know how they feel about the next President and how he got there; much as there were massive anti-Trump marches the day after his inauguration back in 2017, and condemnations of the whole Electoral College system.
[Note: It was interesting to note how everybody's attitude about the Electoral College suddenly changed when asked how they would feel if the results were exactly reversed back in 2016: That Trump had won the popular vote, and Clinton the Electoral.]
Of the however many that then went to the Capitol, there were but a few hundred who actually attempted and made it into the building, and, of them, but a handful who actually made it into the Chamber or Congressional offices. And from the looks of many of those who got inside, they weren't exactly sure of what they were doing other than wondering how they got there, and what they were supposed to be doing next, other than making sure they captured it on their smartphone.
One thing that the Black Lives Matter activities and actions last summer have in common with the Save America March is that both started as, and consisted of peaceful, lawful protest by the overwhelming majority of the participants, on the one hand, and ended in violent, lawless rioting by a distinct, clearly identifiable minority, on the other.
Those several thousands of Trumpatistas who gathered to hear Trump's invocation were as peaceful and law-abiding as the BLM protesters who took non-violently to the streets in 2020. The question is: Were they, as a neighbor of mine put it, "a group of racist, while supremacists, neo-Nazi.far-right extremists out to let the world know that to 'Make America Great Again' and to 'Keep America Great,' is to rid America of Black and Brown people, and Jews too for that matter."
One can only ask: ALL of those several thousands are All of those things? And is that what they want to make the world know that MAGA and KAG mean? ALL of them?
My guess is that that would depend upon where You took Your sampling: at Trump's speech; enroute to the Capitol; at the Capitol; and getting inside. The further from Trump's altar, the concentration of "racist...extremists" no doubt increased even as the total numbers of folks up at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue steadily diminished.
No meaningful arguments can be had about the mindsets and worldviews of those who stormed The Hill. But it is incorrect to automatically ascribe those "racist... extremist" politics to those thousands who stood listening to and cheering, chanting, and applauding Trump’s "Why We Are Here; What We Are Going To Do; How We Are Going To Do It; and When" speech.
In any event, the biggest difference between the BLM and SAM events is that the violence on January 6 did not include the widespread damage, destruction, arson, and looting of government and private property that characterized how many BLM protests ended up. All that happened on Capitol Hill in terms of property damage was some smashed windows and bashed in doors, and nothing at all that could be termed "looting." Pelosi's lectern never even made it out of the building; probably would've been tough to check-in for the flite back home, eh?
Another difference is that BLM protests that turned into riots had virtually none of the direct, extended, face-to-face, hand-to-hand combat between law enforcers and SAM rioters; which included many very violent, individual and small-group physical contacts. This summer's riots had lots of rocks and stun guns, tear gas and fireworks, and counter-vailing aerosols; but very few up-close and personal, hand-to-hand combats, if any.
Another similarity between the BLM and SAM riots is that both included verbal and physical assaults by rioters against journalists and news crews, and the destruction of journalists' and news crews' equipment and property. One very notable difference is that, compared to the number of assaults, obstructions, and arrests by police of journalists during BLM protests, there seem to have been none during SAM. At least so far.
And finally, arguably the most important thing that both BLM and SAM have in common is that they both blame the violence and rioting on outsider infiltrators, agents provocateurs, false flaggers, and anybody but themselves. BLMers says the Proud Boys and their anti-Everything Not Them ilk are behind all the chaos; just like the Trumpites are claiming the same for the antifas [or "Pantifas," as one wag put it].
At this point, serious consideration should be given to the possibility that there is perhaps a third clement and force at work; one that seeks to use both BLM and Trumpatismo's SAM for its own agenda's purposes. See Question 4, which follows.
The most important Questions to be asked and answered about January 6 are:
I. Who shot and killed that woman, and Why? Whoever it was gave the MAGAites and Trumpatismo their first Martyr.
2. Exactly How did those two Capitol Police Officers die, and Why? However it happened, it gave somebody else their first Martyrs, as well.
3. Where were the Capitol and DC Police~ let alone Federal national defense and law enforcement agencies - while all this was going on? And more importantly, where were they even before it all started? What did they know and when did they know it? Where was our nation's most-extensive-and-expensive-in-the-world vaunted surveillance/secrecy/security/ safety panopticon when the Legislative Branch of the government of the United States of America really, really needed it?
4. Who benefited from all this? le, Cui Bono?, as they say in the investigative business. Who is better off today than they were before the "Save America March," in whatever currency of the realm of note? Which politicians, bureaucrats, special interests, and their owners and operators can and will cash in on it to advance their own individual, organizational, and institutional agendas? Biden and his cohorts certainly are and most certainly will; as will and are Trump and his compeers.
5. Will the "Save America March" becomes a so-called COVID-19 "Super Spreader" event? And how many Americans- in their deepest Heart-of-Hearts - actually, really hope that that is exactly what happens; that a whole bunch of those thousands of folks that showed up to hear Trump rant and then marched on the Capitol get sick and, before they die, pass it on to anybody who thinks like they do. That may be a number with a magnitude and intensity that nobody wants to know; or at least wants for the rest of the world to know.
THOUGHTS As November 3 dawned and then drug on, and it became evident that this election was nowhere close to being decided, two timeless truths came to mind;
1. Joseph Stalin's admonition that "It's not who votes that counts, it's who counts the votes."
2. Yogi Berra's reminder that ''It ain't over til it's over."
Presumably, the action by Congress on January 7 to certify the Electoral College victory of Biden/Harris over Trump/Pence will satisfy the "official" counting of the vote of November 3; thereby at least satisfying the requirements of the Constitution of the United States, regardless of who it leaves un~ or dissatisfied out in TrumpLandia.
And given all that has happened between November 3 and January 6 re: who the next President is, Item-to-Remember #2 goes without saying. A lot more can happen between now and January 20, both here in the United States and abroad; and, given the way this whole past year and past two months have unfolded, a lot no doubt will, both here and there. That is one week from today.
And speaking of abroad, every American should spend some time taking in what the rest of the world's News, Views, and Social media have to say about the day's events in DC, and the latest episode of the whole reality-tv extravaganza that America has been since at least November 9, 2016, if not 9/11. Of particular interest are what the media of China and Russia arc saying, and their takes on the problems America seems to be having with functional, efficient, effective democratic, representative government.
Shortly after Congress sealed the deal, President Trump vicariously assured somebody that there would be an "orderly transition" of power on January 20. Note, however, that he did not "concede" anything. And in fact, he promised that this was "only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again!"
So even if it does happen that Trump leaves the White House on or before January 20 [25th Amendment, Impeachment and Conviction, a relapse of his COVID infection, whatever], that does not mean that The Age of Trump is ending.
To a significant number of Americans, it is only just beginning. And a time for re-grouping for the next jihad. After all, some Germans thought they'd seen the last of Hitler after the failed Beer Hall Putsch; but other Germans thought otherwise.
Not only is this whole thing not only not over, it is actually just barely even just getting started.
And for the record, i believe that inclusion of January 6 in the weaponry of “Lawfare” being employed by the Democrats against Trump re: Election2024 as a means of getting and keeping him off ballots is complete and total Bullshit, for the exact reasons cited above.
As regards the other things that he has been charged with, i have no problem with them at all, and hope that those cases will be properly dealt with as soon as possible; ideally, before the election.
Putin's end of Year Press Conference lasted 4 hours, answering all questions from the hundreds of Domestic and Foreign Press without notes or a teleprompter. He took notes occasionally after committing to look into an issue Russian Reporters brought to his attention.
The US is the BIGGEST ARMS MERCHANT in the History of Nations.
Biden is presiding over the Ukraine and Gaza WARS, with the US ARMS INDUSTRIES making a KILLING off of BOTH of them. Biden may answer 1 or 2 questions shouted at him. Which President is more transparent?
Self-proclaimed MOST CHRISTIAN America has problems. The big name Christian Evangelists living the lifestyle of the rich and famous have much PASSION pleading for the unborn. They say nothing to change the Status Quo Pyramid System of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer, who can't afford the rising cost of having Children after they're born, already living at a basic subsistence basis, and the Homeless increasing in the land.
Christ said "hardly ever will a rich man enter the kingdom of heaven, and it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God" for a reason. The big name Christian Evangelists never highlight those Bible verses, Matthew 15:7-9, or the more explicit detail affirming what Christ Jesus said, James 5 records in his Book in the Book of Books.
At the opposite END of the Spectrum, they have no Pro-Life Passion for the living being killed by American weapons of Death and Destruction all over God's Earth.
Biden just blamed Iran, sparing Israel, for all the problems in the Middle East because they supply the weapons to their proxies resisting the Israeli OCCUPATION of Palestine, and the Murderous bombardment and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their demolished HOMES in Gaza.
The US supplies the weapons to it's proxy Ukraine, and to Israel. It's a debatable question to know if Israel is the US proxy or vice versa?
Those US Christian leaders never highlight the very important Spirit of this letter in their Bibles, so applicable for Our Generations and Times;
"This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, saying: 'Not by military force and not by physical strength, but by My spirit,' says the Lord of Hosts." Zechariah 4: 6
The Resurrected Christ Omega Today sees not much has changed since Jesus, Christ Alpha said, "You hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,
This people draws close to me with their mouth, and honours me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."
The literate can see The Christ is not addressing those words to those who don't believe in him, but to those who say they do!
Ray how can we be sure that a "Christ" actually said...."hardly ever will a rich man enter the kingdom of heaven, and it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God"?
And if he did say these words ~ who heard him? And who wrote it down word for word?
Isn't it much more probable that these words were just invented by cultists who wrote the Bible?
So we've got "Christ", "The Lord of Hosts", Jesus, Christ Alpha" and "The Resurrected Christ Omega"?
Faith may be a conviction for things unseen, but it certainly won't lead you to truth.
Faith is pretending to know what you don’t know.
One can believe anything based on faith. It's not a reliable indicator of the truth.
I have faith that fairies live in the bottom of my garden.
And I have just as much evidence for that as anything a "Christ" is supposed to have said.
Why I keep asking is ~ my friend Ray posts excellent thoughts and claims on geo-political issues on Bracing Views, invariably backed up with proof and evidence to convince us of what he is saying is true.
I enjoy, benefit and learn from those.
But then makes all sorts of claims - wanting us to believe them without any evidence or proof.
Huh? Why are these religious claims exempt from requiring proof and/or evidence?
“The reason we call it faith is because it’s not knowledge” – Christopher Hitchens
Maybe it would be better for me if I just skipped these Biblical claims in Ray's posts, eh?
Like I skip ALL religious claims in ALL old holy books.
Every religion claim's that theirs is the only true God!
How do they know that their religion is not just other false religion?
Why are their "Gods" real and all the others are not?
When they understand why they dismiss ALL the other possible "Gods", only then will they understand why us atheists dismiss theirs.
Sorry my friends Bill and Ray. Respectfully, Dennis
I'm agnostic, Dennis, so no need to apologize to me.
Ray is obviously a believer; I don't think he's insisting that you believe his claims. Yes, I think it would be better if you skipped his claims based on his reading of the Bible.
My God is The Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM), the holy deity of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, or Pastafarianism.
A Pastafarian prophet of the Venganza forums known as Solipsy received divine guidance and wrote The Loose Canon, the Holy Book of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. The book was completed in 2010 and was made available for download. The gospel urges readers to try Rastafarianism for thirty days, saying, "If you don't like us, your old religion will most likely take you back".
Some excerpts from The Loose Canon include:
"I am the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Thou shalt have no other monsters before Me (Afterwards is OK; just use protection). The only Monster who deserves capitalization is Me! Other monsters are false monsters, undeserving of capitalization". - Suggestions 1:1-5
"Since you have done a half-ass job, you will receive half an ass! The Great Pirate Solomon grabbed his ceremonial scimitar and struck his remaining donkey, cleaving it in two" - Slackers 1:51–52
The New Testament of The Flying Spaghetti Monster: Dinner 2.0 (also known as the New and Improved Recipe) was published in 2018. It became the Holy Book of The Unitarian Church of Pasta and The FSM Revival Church of Ziti.
Some excerpts from The New Testament of The Flying Spaghetti Monster include:
"We need never doubt our Divine Carbohydrate, for even our DNA is shaped like a noodle so we know that pasta is holy" - Book One: The Holy Book of Lasagna.
And I have faith in the Flying Spaghetti Monster. It is my belief that every word in the Gospels is true.
The Flying Spaghetti Monster commands us to go onto every internet site comment section, no matter what the subject, and spread the word of God.
And, as with the Judeo-Christian Biblical God, you are not permitted to ever question it. Ever! That is very offensive to us Pastafarians.
I'm a little more into "Rasta" farian with Bob Marley my Jesus gotta love that Reggae "One Love" Dennis. My Wife & I do love our Pasta though being that She is Sicilian and I'm 1/2 Italian (meta e meta)... :/ :o)
The war machine in this country is led by a coalition of liberal hawks and neocons. The liberal hawks are mainly Democratic Party politicians such as Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer. They tend to be "liberal" on domestic issues but rabid war mongers in foreign policy. The neocons are mostly GOP politicians, such as Lindsey Graham, John Bolton, and Tom Cotton, who try to outdo the liberal hawks in the Democratic Party in their rabid war mongering. The liberal hawks tend to focus on Russia, the neocons on China. They all share in common an addiction to militarism and US global hegemony as well as total allegiance to the military-industrial complex and endless war making. Sociopaths and psychopaths one and all.
Actually they are mostly “liberal” when it comes to rhetoric. They ‘deplore’ police violence while sending military grade weapons to police departments. They ‘embrace’ immigrants while deporting more than their republican adversaries. They are for equality while taking away child tax credits and refusing votes on wealth taxes. They are pro woman while refusing to enshrine roe, refusing to provide healthcare, refusing to provide maternity leave or universal pre k. They are even pro labor while actively breaking strikes. By their fruits shall you know them, and except for rhetoric there is not a dimes worth of difference between the two parties. They both serve the same masters.
Genocide Joe already has the Ray-bans, Mr. Astore. Heather Cox Richardson and Julian Barnes expose themselves as toxic morons. I guess that neither of them has any difficulty getting along from month to month like so many Americans; so, sure, go ahead and spend that 60 billion on the Ukraine war and to hell with Americans. Senator Chuck Schumer is an egregious, scheming son-of-a-bitch rather than a moron. (He may possibly lack intelligence, but he's chock full of low cunning.) He thinks of that 60 billion as campaign money to keep him in office and get Genocide Joe get reelected so that they can all go on feeding at the trough. I think, to edit Heather Cox's idiotic sentence, that "Americans are coming to recognize that Ukraine’s forces are being used as cannon fodder and that American and EU support are not benefiting Ukrainians in any way—quite the reverse—in defending the 'rules-based international order' that the United States attempts to use for global dominance and most especially to 'hurt Russia'". I even think that the demonization of Putin has finally run up against a brick wall, and that many Americans have concluded that Putin is actually a more benign—and certainly a much more competent—leader than anyone in the US political élites or in the EU (which has somehow morphed into NATO) "leadership". Most of the 60 billion, if paid, will go he military-industrial-congressional complex (to which Senator Chuck Schumer belongs; he'll get his cut) and the left-overs into the pockets of Zalenskyy and his cronies. I highly recommend the books Putin, Game Master? and Operation Z, both published by Max Milo, Paris, 2022 and written by Jacques Baud, who was formerly a member of the Swiss Strategic Intelligence, a specialist in Eastern Europe and head of the UN peace operations doctrine. He was also a NATO insider, followed the Ukrainian crisis of 2014 and participated in the assistance programs for Ukraine. These books provide the best exposure of "the narrative" that all of the corporate media are dedicated to defend to the hilt (since that's what they get paid for). If you can, read Baud's books in French, which is his native language and which he writes well. The English-language editions (self-translated, as far as I can make out) are loaded with weird typos and malapropisms that you have to skirt around. No matter. It's the bees knees. Why anyone at all goes on listening to Richardson, Barnes, and Schumer and their ilk is beyond me, and it's liable to cost those who listen 60 billion bucks (and doubtless more later) . . . for nothing but the slaughter of Ukrainian soldiers (mean age now about 55) and the utter destruction of Ukraine. If someone supports that, don't let them get away with saying that they are "standing with Ukraine", which is about as far from the truth as one can get. They are standing with war profiteers and greedy, evil politicians with no morals whatsoever but very, very receptive pockets. (These people are criminally complicit in genocide as well, as may be proven in the not-too-distant future, if we're lucky.)
That's "Max Milo, Paris, 2022"—I wish that there were an edit function for these comments.
There is mikjall. Click on the 3-dots to the lower right of your post.
Great comment BTW. Thanks
Wonderful! Thank you!
It's all the çlever' people in the USA I blame the most. You know? Such as write columns/essays such as this. That make YT vids and appear on them, interviewing and being interviewed. That write books and have articles printed in 'serious'papers and whatever.
Why do I blame them?
Because they do nothing to dispel the vast ocean of ignorance within which the American people sink.
Nothing.
They even use, have always used, for instance, the misleading, lying terminology for the Ukraine conflict: Úkraine v Russia'.
Where the whole essence of the whole thing is Ukraine v Ukraine.
It is an ethnic cleansing thing by Kiev on the Donbas Ukrainians.
And so on.
Would the dumb millions of Americans be so meekly accepting of spending ('spending' ??) billions on 'fighting Russian' if they knew they were 'fighting Donbas Ukrainians in a attempt to dispossess, invade and ethnic cleanse them' ?
Would they?
But they don't know. And the informed intelligentsia have had two years now to tell them. But have not done so.
The USA has no govt. to lead it. It has been usurped by Oligarchs. It is in fact an oligarchy today.
But the USA has no íntelligentsia' to help it out, either.
It has nothing.
But Hollywood, myth, fantasy and too much food.
i'm curious, arthur:
If it is NOT Ukraine vs Russia, but Ukraine vs Ukraine, then Where, How, and Why does Russia fit into all this?
And When, How, and Why did the United States get involved in all this?
And when was the American government usurped by the Oligarchs? And weren't the Plutocrats and the Patriarchs involved, as well?
But most important: Why does America have no Intelligentsia to help it out? What happened to it?
That assumes, of course, that America has had various different Intelligentsia at various times thru its history; some that helped it, some that hampered it, and some that harmed it.
How does one go about bringing about an Intelligentsia that is focused on looking at what is happening in and to this Nation and on and to this Planet, and begin to consider exactly what to do about it before it is too late to even try anything?
I am happy that you are enquiring. But sad that it could get to this stage and there's still people who don't know. That's a terrible indictment of those very intelligentsia I'm talking about.
You can and should look it all up for yourself, of course, because I'm no expert in the first place and in the second place we all know today that even experts (especially 'experts' ?) can mislead as well as any ignoramus.
But here's my quickie that I used to print with just about every post I made to YT comment threads. But I've not been doing that for some time. But here it is again:
-----------------------------
Don't let the way anyone talks make you think this is 'Russia v Ukraine' because it is NOT.
When he says 'Russian' forces he really means 'Ukrainian And Russian' forces.
DONBAS Ukrainians and Russians.
They fight together, side by side.
The Russians helping the Donbas Ukrainians repel the invading Kiev Ukrainians.
The Kiev Ukrainians (those are the ones the Americans call 'the Ukrainians' and the ones who are the invaders, the aggressors, the extremists and the Nazis, the Stefan Bandera (look him up) worshippers, have been occupying Donbas Ukrainian land since 2014.
When he says 'Ukrainian' he just about always means only the Kiev Ukrainians. This is in line with the lying USA and Kiev narrative which wants you to think there are only two players: Ukraine and Russia. Everyone talks like this. It is a propaganda coup.
No. There are three players:
'North' Ukraine we might call it which is Kiev Ukraine and extremist Ukraine and 'nationalist' Ukraine which is sworn to building a 'pure' Ukrainian State after the style of the Nazis building a 'pure' Aryan German state. The decided to do that by oppressing, re-educating, victimising the Southern, Donbas Ukrainians who traditionally have much Russian connection.
'South' Ukraine we might call it which are the Donbas Ukrainians the North decided to 'ethnically cleanse' and exterminate for the crime of having Russian connections.
And Russia.
Three players. At the centre. And a host of malignant evil manipulators, leeches, provocateurs and profiteers on the side extending from USA to Kiev and encompassing the whole Western world.
Now the Russians are helping the Donbas Ukrainians because someone should and we won't, we ignored them for eight years and longer and because of the Russian connection and because the whole thing is an attack on Russia anyway after the style of putting missiles in Cuba was an 'attack' on the USA and we know what the Americans thought of that: they were willing to have a global nuclear war rather than tolerate it.
So okay? 'Russian' when he says it means 'Donbas Ukrainians and Russian help'
'Ukrainian' when he says it means Kiev Ukrainians ( and USA help and every pusillanimous stinking little lapdog of theirs doing their bidding. )
And the Donbas Ukrainians just don't figure in his narrative generally. But they should. Because that's what started it all.
And the fact that the fighting is ALL ON Donbas land that Kiev/USA has invaded generally doesn't figure either.
The fact that there's not one Russian boot on Ukrainian land where it was not invited and welcomed generally doesn't get a mention either.
Just saying. Because without forewarning listening/watching could give you the impression this is simply 'Ukraine' fighting off 'Russian' aggression.
Which is what the evil empire wants you to think. And which is entirely what it is NOT.
If you want to help Ukraine and Ukrainians help bring it to a STOP. Keep Ukrainians - on BOTH sides - ALIVE.
Kiev and Washington want dead bodies. Let them fight each other. The world will be well rid of them.
---------------------------------------
Hope that helped. Gave a starting point for your own researches at least.
It explained how Russia fits I think?
When was the American govt usurped by oligarchs? I don't know. I am naive. More and more I think it was ever thus. Money just gets its own way and always did. Way back during the World Wars the big money was calling the shots on both sides of the Atlantic.
And way back then the fear of the rich in the USA and UK was that competition from Europe might hurt their profits and greed for potential plunder motivated the rest of their hatred of Russia.
It is natural. If you and I had megabucks we would try to talk to those with power in order to get things done we thought ought to be done.
The point is not so much how that came about but why didn't it get stopped, or channeled, or utilised for benefit, mitigated to diminish harm, etc.?
Well I think it didn't because the controlling mechanism was supposedly Democracy. But there is no democracy. There cannot be any democracy without the democratic citizens. And millions of citizens cannot congregate in the plazas of Athens and each cast their votes.
Just physically impossible. Well known. Absolutely totally well know. That the essence of democracy was impracticable. No secret.
So a 'workaround' has been devised called 'representative democracy' wherein your voice is subsumed amongst a set of voices represented by a 'representative'. Which is bad enough.
But it gets worse, again for practical reasons.
. You only get to choose your representative once every few years.
. The representative doesn't even pretend to represent you, in fact, he boldly and loudly proclaims he represents a Party !
A congressman today has, I believe, constituency of upwards of 800,000 people. Pretty hard to represent all of them. Each one of them. But no problem. He doesn't try. He just does what he is told to do by the Party.
And the Party does what its sponsors tell it to do: the rich men, the oligarchs.
So the oligarchs become the govt in the absence of the government we're supposed to have and which we can't have because it is impractical.
Until today. With the internet and the smartphone and clever open source programmers we could truly be governing ourselves and our country but that's another story.
American intelligentsia. I don't know what happened to it. It was there alright. Or pretended to be, wasn't it? Many, many. I think of, today, Thomas Sowell. He belongs, I believe, though he generally confines himself to economics I suppose and the social effects arising from there.
Noam Chomsky would be the best known of all I guess. You can find a long list printed out here and there. So they're supposed to be there alright.
But most of them I have never heard of and I'd guess neither have 90% of the population.
Intellectuals are not much prized in American society. They are as often as not denigrated. Anyone or anything can be torn down, reviled, even banned, openly hated, especially if it is truth that goes against the prevailing money making or politician promoting narrative.
Prof John Ioannidis totally leading light of epidemiology told the truth of the Covid 'epidemic' right at the very beginning. Ignored, sidelined, marginalised, denigrated, maligned.
It is clear the mainstream media are totally dishonest and unreliable and one supposes that is because they are paid by the oligarchs at one side to say those things and threatened by government on the other side to say those things.
How to get an intelligentsia?
I think it is coming via the youth and the web and the smartphone and modern tools - software tools - written by open source programmers. https://mbccc.com sort of says it somehow as I see it.
At bottom we need the people. Simple as that. And we never could have them before, never in history. Not in an effective way to counter the (natural) forces of the rich seeking to preserve their riches and acquire more, the greedy seeking to get rich, the vain seeking vainglory and power and the fools mismanaging everything in sight.
All the people could ever do was revolt violently from time to time.
Well it is different now. I fervently believe. And hope. Not that there'll be any instant paradise. But there'll be hope and direction, tools, possibilities. When the people wake up to the power they carry in their pockets, their purses.
Thank You, arthur. You more than answered my questions and gave me a perspective on that whole thing i'd never seen before.
i call it America's War with Russia in Ukraine. Similar to what America did with bin Laden and Da Boyz in Afghanistan to give the USSR its very own Vietnam. Only this time, it's not working quite as well as it did then.
And one thing about those things people carry in their pockets or purses: They are essentially portable Orwellian Telescreens that perpetually blurt out news, views, and entertainment, while at the same time knowing exactly where everybody is, who they are communicating with, and even, if necessary, what they are saying and/or typing.
Makes the job of the Thought Police a whole lot easier, eh?
It does. Underlines the importance of the people waking up to their power soonest.
Noticeable that it is a two edged sword. It makes the job of the people knowing what the thought police are up to easier, too, doesn't it, don't they?
And who the thought police are and where they are and what they're doing.
See?
But there's an overall thing should transcend all that and make it moot.
We're talking division. The thought police on one side, the people on the other.
These divisions are what keep the people down. The people divide into parts and one part keeps the other part down.
So the police come or the paramilitaries or the secret police, etc., etc and begin doing their harm.
If one of them were to question it and think to not follow orders the very question of not obeying would be relayed back up the chain... To his superior and then the next superior and then the next until ultimately we reach the top of the pyramid, that one person sitting at the top that directs everything and in whom all power resides.
And who's main interest is that his power be obeyed.
So we know what orders come back down the chain, don't we? 'Continue the harm, obey.'
Simple as that.
But when the people recognise their power and become real democrat citizens then the questioning officer looks at the app and consults the people. And the further the questioning goes the further into the people it goes.
And he gets an answer back telling him what the people en masse wish for him to do.
The hope is that when we reach this state the wishes of the people are always going to be for the better.
It would seem natural and sensible that they would be.
But we can't be sure. For they have never been canvassed since the days of the smallest tribes.
The Australian Aboriginal tribes canvassed the opinions of all, for instance and I'd suppose from that many other small tribal societies did, too. It gave rise/gives rise when practiced, to management by consensus. Not by diktak, not by edict, not by pressure group minority etc. but by consensus. If everyone did not agree no action was taken.
'Tribes' got way too big.
Opinions no longer even canvassed. In fact the prevailing 'edict' from 'on high' via MSM seems to be that you should not even have opinions of your own if they do not match entirely the approved narrative.
But we know, just naturally we know, that in fact there are silent millions who just want peace and calm and justice.
Like the Ukraine thing is an example. Terrible furore. Full on war. 500,000 dead on one side alone. Heated words and hatred everywhere. BUT: we know millions have fled the country. We know grandmothers, grandfathers, mums and dads, they want an end to it all. We know children want an end to it. We know. It is only common sense. Seems to me. We know that the majority do not want any of this.
Hopefully, it would seem to me naturally, the same will obtain all across the nation, the world when the people adopt self governance via computer, internet, smartphone.
The wishes of the majority are going to be wise, peaceful, reconciliatory, healthy, equable, positive and building, sharing, cooperating.
:)
Ms. Richardson really hits it out of the park. "_____ is trying to destroy that order, replacing it with the idea that bigger countries can conquer smaller countries at will." Her typo that the blank be filled with Putin is rich indeed. Our "rules based order" IS the empire bully ruling over countries large and small. I'd love to know how Russian imposed sanctions are crippling countries in any way, shape or form as ours do Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea and on and on.
Bill, you're certainly right about the need to direct equal effort and funds toward homelessness and mental illness. Likewise, food insecurity and outrageously expensive healthcare.
All deserving Denise not to mention that "Minimum Wage"-- deserves Minimum Effort!!!
I'd say it deserves maximum effort. In a country where a handful of billionaires have amassed wealth equal to the combined worth of most of the rest of the population, no one should have to work multiple jobs to survive.
Some of them didn't even go to College such as Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates, but if they give something back to Society as a Philanthropist say they are alright by me-- my opinion!
I agree, Fireman, in principle. However, IMO, "giving back" means actually contributing a large chunk of one's wealth, if one is a billionaire. None of the men you list fits that description, not even Gates and Bezos. A few years ago, I remember that Gates' worth was listed at $37bn, on paper, of course. How many billions could he give away and still have more money than he could ever spend?
Thank you for reading HCR, so we don't have to. She is unhinged, and lacking ANY historical perspective. So is Julian Barnes at the NYT. Putin desperately tried to negotiate a solution to avoid invasion, but the "rules based order" would not even consider Russia's security concerns. No doubt the US would have sat still while Mexico joined the Warsaw Pact-oh, wait, perhaps not! Ukraine could have been sovereign, at peace, and with a chance at some prosperity, if they had remained neutral. Is this a perfect, or even a moral arrangement? No, but then International relations is wholly criminal, so the best we can hope for is harm reduction. A negotiated solution that recognized Russia's need to not have an adversarial military alliance deep in its flank would have avoided all of this tragedy.
As for Barnes claiming that the money will give Ukraine a better negotiating position, well... not really. Even if they get the money, there are few weapons to send them, and few soldiers to use them in any event. Strikes deep in Russia may not take much manpower, but risks the escalation that makes this whole thing so existentially dangerous. The only rational move is to negotiate a peace deal now, as Russia's terms will only get more onerous. The West may find that Putin and Russia are war weary enough to still negotiate some kind of compromise to stop the bloodletting. That would however, mean a sea change in attitudes in the US, so I am sadly not hopeful, yet we must keep making the case.
There was no Ukraine with anything like today’s supposed “sovereign territory” before Lenin and Stalin and the Red Army of 1945. Rules based international order is not worth another dime of U.S. debt!
No more money for the Banderaists!
So funny how Richardson tells Americans what they think (Americans love sending their money to Ukraine!!) and complains about larger countries imposing their will on smaller ones, which is obviously something the US never does. Delusional doesn't come close to describing that mentality.
I am simply appalled that people think Richardson is a moderate “leftist.” Words have lost all meaning.
"Of all the amateurish moments to arise as the Biden regime conducts its foreign policy, the White House’s official statement as B1–B bombers let loose over Iraq and Syria last Friday may be the taker of the cake.
As the ordnance fell on 85 targets in seven locations, many of them outposts of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, our addled president felt compelled to insist, “The United States does not seek conflict in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world.”"
https://consortiumnews.com/2024/02/07/patrick-lawrence-lost-fearful-in-the-middle-east/
Meanwhile, in other news ~ and for those of You who dismiss "NONE OF THESE CANDIDATES" as a 50-year old "dead horse": Nikki Haley is trounced by the ‘none of these candidates’ option in Nevada’s Republican primary. [ https://apnews.com/article/nevada-2024-presidential-primary-biden-trump-haley-d731bf8ab1e7d4a7379c07d3a37b581b ]
Trump didn’t even bother competing in Nevada’s primary.
It doesn’t award any delegates needed to win the GOP nomination any way.
That leaves the result as meaningless in the Republican race.
Haley, herself a "dead horse" who would surely have lost irrespective of NOTC, became the first presidential candidate to lose a race to NOTC since that option was introduced in Nevada in 1975, nearly 50-years ago.
NOTC voting ~ losing to nobody! LMFAO
Go ahead and LYFAO, Mr Merwood.
At this point, it’s about the only thing You can do, now that the Corporal’s claim to prosectutional immunity as POTUS MAXXIMMUSS XLV has been rejected at the Appeals Court level:
[ https://apnews.com/article/trump-capitol-riot-presidential-immunity-appeal-46c2d7fc7807cd3262764d35e47f390e ].
Your hero/savior/guru’s only hopes now lay with the Supreme Court. Unless, of course, he steals Election2024 [if it even happens], at which point he can pardon himself. LMFAO.
Just the man this nation needs to lead it to the 250th birthday of America on July 4, 2026. Assuming this nation still even exists by then, no matter who the next President is. But ESPECIALLY if that scumbag is.
If You have anything further to say to me on this or anything else, do it by email. Like I said, I am not going to waste any further space on Bracing Views conversing with You.
Have a nice day.
Plenty of slagging off and name calling of my choice for the 47th POTUS eh Jeff!
But at least I, unlike you, have the courage and balls to show my hand.
Who is your hero/savior/guru?
Too chicken to show your hand?
Fearful that the crude smears you deal out on other's choices will be dealt on yours!
You too have a great day.
BTW, even the biased Snopes had to reluctantly agree that Trump tweeted to his followers on the day of the U.S. Capitol riot to "remain peaceful" with "no violence". And "Please support our Capitol Police and law enforcement. They are truly on the side of our country. Stay peaceful!"
WASHINGTON, Aug 20 (Reuters) - The FBI has found scant evidence that the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol was the result of an organized plot to overturn the presidential election result, according to four current and former law enforcement officials.
Though federal officials have arrested more than 570-alleged participants, the FBI at this point believes the violence was not centrally coordinated by far-right groups or prominent supporters of then-President Donald Trump according to the sources, who have been either directly involved in or briefed regularly on the wide-ranging investigations.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/exclusive-fbi-finds-scant-evidence-us-capitol-attack-was-coordinated-sources-2021-08-20/
And BTW: Where is the link to Snopes declaring that Trump sent those tweets to his loyalists on January 6? Where are the photos of those tweets?
The Reuters article says nothing about that.
Let me share with You an extract of something i wrote on January 12, 2021, six days after January 6 entitled “Observations and Thoughts on January 6.”
Part 1
PRELUDE. As a retired US Army Master Sergeant, the only thing that i have seen recently that filled me with the same sense of horror and nausea - and degree of disgust and foreboding - as the Trumpatistas' invasion of the Capitol was the sight back in August, 2017, of legions of young American white nationalists and supremacists carrying torches, signs, and flags, and chanting their chants on the grounds of the academy that Jefferson built in Charlottesville, Virginia. Having said that...
OBSERVATIONS. Whatever that was up on Capitol Hill on January 6, it was not a "coup," an "insurgency," or an "insurrection," no matter what the politicians, pundits, and other propagandists in Swampland, the Media, Tinseltown, or Academia may try to tell and sell us.
It was trespassing, assault on government employees, breaking and entering, the invasion and destruction of public and private property, the disruption of public business, and the wasting of public officials' and government employees' time, effort, and energy, and of taxpayers' money.
Coups, insurgencies, and insurrections aren't attempted by people carrying nothing but flags, signs, selfie-sticks, and smartfones, with hotel checkouts the next day at 11 am. That was not an attempt to overthrow the government of the United States [which, to actually happen in the real world, would have to start at the Pentagon, the CIA, and/or the Federal Reserve].
At this point, the whole "Save America March" - at least for the thousands who showed up to hear Trump's speech and didn't go on to Capitol Hill - was, rather, an attempt by a bunch of American taxpayer/citizens to have some sort of impact on what they see happening to their country and to their and their children's future. It was a chance for those "Disgruntleds" to let somebody ~ anybody ~ know how they feel about the next President and how he got there; much as there were massive anti-Trump marches the day after his inauguration back in 2017, and condemnations of the whole Electoral College system.
[Note: It was interesting to note how everybody's attitude about the Electoral College suddenly changed when asked how they would feel if the results were exactly reversed back in 2016: That Trump had won the popular vote, and Clinton the Electoral.]
Of the however many that then went to the Capitol, there were but a few hundred who actually attempted and made it into the building, and, of them, but a handful who actually made it into the Chamber or Congressional offices. And from the looks of many of those who got inside, they weren't exactly sure of what they were doing other than wondering how they got there, and what they were supposed to be doing next, other than making sure they captured it on their smartphone.
One thing that the Black Lives Matter activities and actions last summer have in common with the Save America March is that both started as, and consisted of peaceful, lawful protest by the overwhelming majority of the participants, on the one hand, and ended in violent, lawless rioting by a distinct, clearly identifiable minority, on the other.
Those several thousands of Trumpatistas who gathered to hear Trump's invocation were as peaceful and law-abiding as the BLM protesters who took non-violently to the streets in 2020. The question is: Were they, as a neighbor of mine put it, "a group of racist, while supremacists, neo-Nazi.far-right extremists out to let the world know that to 'Make America Great Again' and to 'Keep America Great,' is to rid America of Black and Brown people, and Jews too for that matter."
One can only ask: ALL of those several thousands are All of those things? And is that what they want to make the world know that MAGA and KAG mean? ALL of them?
My guess is that that would depend upon where You took Your sampling: at Trump's speech; enroute to the Capitol; at the Capitol; and getting inside. The further from Trump's altar, the concentration of "racist...extremists" no doubt increased even as the total numbers of folks up at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue steadily diminished.
No meaningful arguments can be had about the mindsets and worldviews of those who stormed The Hill. But it is incorrect to automatically ascribe those "racist... extremist" politics to those thousands who stood listening to and cheering, chanting, and applauding Trump’s "Why We Are Here; What We Are Going To Do; How We Are Going To Do It; and When" speech.
Part 2
In any event, the biggest difference between the BLM and SAM events is that the violence on January 6 did not include the widespread damage, destruction, arson, and looting of government and private property that characterized how many BLM protests ended up. All that happened on Capitol Hill in terms of property damage was some smashed windows and bashed in doors, and nothing at all that could be termed "looting." Pelosi's lectern never even made it out of the building; probably would've been tough to check-in for the flite back home, eh?
Another difference is that BLM protests that turned into riots had virtually none of the direct, extended, face-to-face, hand-to-hand combat between law enforcers and SAM rioters; which included many very violent, individual and small-group physical contacts. This summer's riots had lots of rocks and stun guns, tear gas and fireworks, and counter-vailing aerosols; but very few up-close and personal, hand-to-hand combats, if any.
Another similarity between the BLM and SAM riots is that both included verbal and physical assaults by rioters against journalists and news crews, and the destruction of journalists' and news crews' equipment and property. One very notable difference is that, compared to the number of assaults, obstructions, and arrests by police of journalists during BLM protests, there seem to have been none during SAM. At least so far.
And finally, arguably the most important thing that both BLM and SAM have in common is that they both blame the violence and rioting on outsider infiltrators, agents provocateurs, false flaggers, and anybody but themselves. BLMers says the Proud Boys and their anti-Everything Not Them ilk are behind all the chaos; just like the Trumpites are claiming the same for the antifas [or "Pantifas," as one wag put it].
At this point, serious consideration should be given to the possibility that there is perhaps a third clement and force at work; one that seeks to use both BLM and Trumpatismo's SAM for its own agenda's purposes. See Question 4, which follows.
The most important Questions to be asked and answered about January 6 are:
I. Who shot and killed that woman, and Why? Whoever it was gave the MAGAites and Trumpatismo their first Martyr.
2. Exactly How did those two Capitol Police Officers die, and Why? However it happened, it gave somebody else their first Martyrs, as well.
3. Where were the Capitol and DC Police~ let alone Federal national defense and law enforcement agencies - while all this was going on? And more importantly, where were they even before it all started? What did they know and when did they know it? Where was our nation's most-extensive-and-expensive-in-the-world vaunted surveillance/secrecy/security/ safety panopticon when the Legislative Branch of the government of the United States of America really, really needed it?
4. Who benefited from all this? le, Cui Bono?, as they say in the investigative business. Who is better off today than they were before the "Save America March," in whatever currency of the realm of note? Which politicians, bureaucrats, special interests, and their owners and operators can and will cash in on it to advance their own individual, organizational, and institutional agendas? Biden and his cohorts certainly are and most certainly will; as will and are Trump and his compeers.
5. Will the "Save America March" becomes a so-called COVID-19 "Super Spreader" event? And how many Americans- in their deepest Heart-of-Hearts - actually, really hope that that is exactly what happens; that a whole bunch of those thousands of folks that showed up to hear Trump rant and then marched on the Capitol get sick and, before they die, pass it on to anybody who thinks like they do. That may be a number with a magnitude and intensity that nobody wants to know; or at least wants for the rest of the world to know.
THOUGHTS As November 3 dawned and then drug on, and it became evident that this election was nowhere close to being decided, two timeless truths came to mind;
1. Joseph Stalin's admonition that "It's not who votes that counts, it's who counts the votes."
2. Yogi Berra's reminder that ''It ain't over til it's over."
Presumably, the action by Congress on January 7 to certify the Electoral College victory of Biden/Harris over Trump/Pence will satisfy the "official" counting of the vote of November 3; thereby at least satisfying the requirements of the Constitution of the United States, regardless of who it leaves un~ or dissatisfied out in TrumpLandia.
And given all that has happened between November 3 and January 6 re: who the next President is, Item-to-Remember #2 goes without saying. A lot more can happen between now and January 20, both here in the United States and abroad; and, given the way this whole past year and past two months have unfolded, a lot no doubt will, both here and there. That is one week from today.
And speaking of abroad, every American should spend some time taking in what the rest of the world's News, Views, and Social media have to say about the day's events in DC, and the latest episode of the whole reality-tv extravaganza that America has been since at least November 9, 2016, if not 9/11. Of particular interest are what the media of China and Russia arc saying, and their takes on the problems America seems to be having with functional, efficient, effective democratic, representative government.
Shortly after Congress sealed the deal, President Trump vicariously assured somebody that there would be an "orderly transition" of power on January 20. Note, however, that he did not "concede" anything. And in fact, he promised that this was "only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again!"
So even if it does happen that Trump leaves the White House on or before January 20 [25th Amendment, Impeachment and Conviction, a relapse of his COVID infection, whatever], that does not mean that The Age of Trump is ending.
To a significant number of Americans, it is only just beginning. And a time for re-grouping for the next jihad. After all, some Germans thought they'd seen the last of Hitler after the failed Beer Hall Putsch; but other Germans thought otherwise.
Not only is this whole thing not only not over, it is actually just barely even just getting started.
###
Sad to hear that smiling man didn't abscond with the lectern he was carrying.
And for the record, i believe that inclusion of January 6 in the weaponry of “Lawfare” being employed by the Democrats against Trump re: Election2024 as a means of getting and keeping him off ballots is complete and total Bullshit, for the exact reasons cited above.
As regards the other things that he has been charged with, i have no problem with them at all, and hope that those cases will be properly dealt with as soon as possible; ideally, before the election.
Comment on https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/tucker-carlson-spotted-moscow-necons-meltdown-over-potential-putin-interview
Putin's end of Year Press Conference lasted 4 hours, answering all questions from the hundreds of Domestic and Foreign Press without notes or a teleprompter. He took notes occasionally after committing to look into an issue Russian Reporters brought to his attention.
The US is the BIGGEST ARMS MERCHANT in the History of Nations.
Biden is presiding over the Ukraine and Gaza WARS, with the US ARMS INDUSTRIES making a KILLING off of BOTH of them. Biden may answer 1 or 2 questions shouted at him. Which President is more transparent?
Self-proclaimed MOST CHRISTIAN America has problems. The big name Christian Evangelists living the lifestyle of the rich and famous have much PASSION pleading for the unborn. They say nothing to change the Status Quo Pyramid System of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer, who can't afford the rising cost of having Children after they're born, already living at a basic subsistence basis, and the Homeless increasing in the land.
Christ said "hardly ever will a rich man enter the kingdom of heaven, and it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God" for a reason. The big name Christian Evangelists never highlight those Bible verses, Matthew 15:7-9, or the more explicit detail affirming what Christ Jesus said, James 5 records in his Book in the Book of Books.
At the opposite END of the Spectrum, they have no Pro-Life Passion for the living being killed by American weapons of Death and Destruction all over God's Earth.
Biden just blamed Iran, sparing Israel, for all the problems in the Middle East because they supply the weapons to their proxies resisting the Israeli OCCUPATION of Palestine, and the Murderous bombardment and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their demolished HOMES in Gaza.
The US supplies the weapons to it's proxy Ukraine, and to Israel. It's a debatable question to know if Israel is the US proxy or vice versa?
Those US Christian leaders never highlight the very important Spirit of this letter in their Bibles, so applicable for Our Generations and Times;
"This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, saying: 'Not by military force and not by physical strength, but by My spirit,' says the Lord of Hosts." Zechariah 4: 6
The Resurrected Christ Omega Today sees not much has changed since Jesus, Christ Alpha said, "You hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,
This people draws close to me with their mouth, and honours me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."
The literate can see The Christ is not addressing those words to those who don't believe in him, but to those who say they do!
Ray how can we be sure that a "Christ" actually said...."hardly ever will a rich man enter the kingdom of heaven, and it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God"?
And if he did say these words ~ who heard him? And who wrote it down word for word?
Isn't it much more probable that these words were just invented by cultists who wrote the Bible?
So we've got "Christ", "The Lord of Hosts", Jesus, Christ Alpha" and "The Resurrected Christ Omega"?
Phew.....thats a lot of "Gods" eh!
Take care. Hope you are well. Dennis
BTW aren't all Christian's self-proclaimed?
Dennis, the answer to this is faith. There's no concrete proof.
So much of religion is based on faith. And faith claims are obviously quite different from science-based investigation.
I'm not sure why you keep asking Ray the same questions. The answers are obvious.
"Philosophy starts with doubt and loves only Truth"--Henri Frederic Ameil
Faith may be a conviction for things unseen, but it certainly won't lead you to truth.
Faith is pretending to know what you don’t know.
One can believe anything based on faith. It's not a reliable indicator of the truth.
I have faith that fairies live in the bottom of my garden.
And I have just as much evidence for that as anything a "Christ" is supposed to have said.
Why I keep asking is ~ my friend Ray posts excellent thoughts and claims on geo-political issues on Bracing Views, invariably backed up with proof and evidence to convince us of what he is saying is true.
I enjoy, benefit and learn from those.
But then makes all sorts of claims - wanting us to believe them without any evidence or proof.
Huh? Why are these religious claims exempt from requiring proof and/or evidence?
“The reason we call it faith is because it’s not knowledge” – Christopher Hitchens
Maybe it would be better for me if I just skipped these Biblical claims in Ray's posts, eh?
Like I skip ALL religious claims in ALL old holy books.
Every religion claim's that theirs is the only true God!
How do they know that their religion is not just other false religion?
Why are their "Gods" real and all the others are not?
When they understand why they dismiss ALL the other possible "Gods", only then will they understand why us atheists dismiss theirs.
Sorry my friends Bill and Ray. Respectfully, Dennis
I'm agnostic, Dennis, so no need to apologize to me.
Ray is obviously a believer; I don't think he's insisting that you believe his claims. Yes, I think it would be better if you skipped his claims based on his reading of the Bible.
Yep.
"A Bottle of Wine contains more Philosophy than all the books in the World"-- Louis Pasteur
My God is The Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM), the holy deity of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, or Pastafarianism.
A Pastafarian prophet of the Venganza forums known as Solipsy received divine guidance and wrote The Loose Canon, the Holy Book of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. The book was completed in 2010 and was made available for download. The gospel urges readers to try Rastafarianism for thirty days, saying, "If you don't like us, your old religion will most likely take you back".
Some excerpts from The Loose Canon include:
"I am the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Thou shalt have no other monsters before Me (Afterwards is OK; just use protection). The only Monster who deserves capitalization is Me! Other monsters are false monsters, undeserving of capitalization". - Suggestions 1:1-5
"Since you have done a half-ass job, you will receive half an ass! The Great Pirate Solomon grabbed his ceremonial scimitar and struck his remaining donkey, cleaving it in two" - Slackers 1:51–52
The New Testament of The Flying Spaghetti Monster: Dinner 2.0 (also known as the New and Improved Recipe) was published in 2018. It became the Holy Book of The Unitarian Church of Pasta and The FSM Revival Church of Ziti.
Some excerpts from The New Testament of The Flying Spaghetti Monster include:
"We need never doubt our Divine Carbohydrate, for even our DNA is shaped like a noodle so we know that pasta is holy" - Book One: The Holy Book of Lasagna.
And I have faith in the Flying Spaghetti Monster. It is my belief that every word in the Gospels is true.
The Flying Spaghetti Monster commands us to go onto every internet site comment section, no matter what the subject, and spread the word of God.
And, as with the Judeo-Christian Biblical God, you are not permitted to ever question it. Ever! That is very offensive to us Pastafarians.
I'm a little more into "Rasta" farian with Bob Marley my Jesus gotta love that Reggae "One Love" Dennis. My Wife & I do love our Pasta though being that She is Sicilian and I'm 1/2 Italian (meta e meta)... :/ :o)
I will give up my Belief in Evolution when someone finds a fossil Rabbit in the Precambrian...:o)