59 Comments
Nov 13·edited Nov 14Liked by Bill Astore

Perhaps the most jarring thing about yesterday's flow of appointments was how rapidly they were announced; clearly there was a list prepared of those who would be given Cabinet and other national security roles. It appears each was chosen based on personal loyalty to Trump and support of the goals of Miriam Adelson.

Rubio as Secretary of State is ridiculous; whether he will be worse than Blinken remains to be seen. The only thing that's clear is the State Department will continue to diminish as it has over the last 30 years - being little more than the auxiliary of the DOD.

The DOD will continue to rake in and spend hundreds of billions of dollars buying weapon systems that are look nice but are inferior to other countries (little reported in the MSM, but the F-35 was apparently painted by Iranian radar in Israel's last raid). About the only Trump victory in the DOD might be its war on woke generals.

The most frightening is Waltz's appointment as National Security Advisor. As Caitlin observed, he is a hawk on war everywhere - but I wonder if he understands wars against nation states with advanced technologies are not the same as waging war on second world armies and peasants with AK-47s.

I wonder how all this will be received by MAGA (the desperate working class portion), after body bags of dead sailors and airmen start coming back from the Mideast?

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My question is, who made up the list? I don't see Trump, who doesn't read or write or ever had an original thought, actually making any lists of any kind. So someone made it for him. Who?

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Yup - that was my question too. I have no idea but I suppose there are the usual suspects: AIPAC, Netanyahu, etc. I'm guessing we'll never know

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founding

If we don't know, it's because we are ignoring all the Evidence that makes it perfectly obvious.

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founding

The same people who made up Biden's List, who made up Trump's 1st term List, who made up Obama's List, who made Cheney/Bush I's List, etc, and so on, and so forth back as far was You dare look.

It's called The Deep State.

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I'm looking for names, not what "its called". I want people's names, and maybe phone numbers and addresses. If you have names, let me in on it. Otherwise, I don't want to hear about it.

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founding

Fine. Don't hear about it.

Join all Your fellow-Americans who feel and think the same way.

And even if You had names, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses, What would You do with them?

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Since you know who they are, why do you simply give me the names instead of the BS?

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founding

The "names" are those who own, operate, command, and control the military-industrial-congressional complex, the banking-investments- finance-printing press web, the techno-infotainment matrix, the petro-food-guns-n-drugs cartels, the pharmo-medico-insurance-legal cabals, and the surveillance-secrecy-security-censorship-propaganda-proto-police state panopticon that owns and operates, and commands and controls the politicians and bureaucrats at center stage in America's reality-tv soap opera extravaganza; and America's $ 1 = I Vote system of government and governance that gets, puts, and keeps them there.

Or is all that just more "BS"?

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Nov 13·edited Nov 13

Trump's job never was to make up lists and decide policy. His job was to win the elections, which he did. And the DNC let him do it without any resistance.

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Trump Jr. ?

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Not likely. Whoever it is, it's someone who has been around for a long time because the policies never change even when the president changes.

If I were to name people, I would start with Victoria Nuland and her lunatic husband Robert Kagan. Nuland, as you might recall passed out cookies (along with gobs of cash) to the Nazi insurgents at the Maidan revolution in 2014. At that time, she served as Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs under Hillary Clinton, (who I would name next). Then, under Biden, she served as Undersecretary of State for Policy. Then there are people like the Cheneys, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Bolton and others who rotate in and out of the State Dept., CIA, and NSC and the various neoconservative "think tanks" and organizations like the National Endowment for Democracy. All these people are in positions to influence policy, have been around for a long time, and are all in bed with the entire defense industrial complex that funds them.

If I were to guess who prepared the list, my first choice would be Marco Rubio. He's been around long enough, he's a hard core neocon, he knows the system, he knows the people, Trump knows him well (and picked him for Secretary of State), and he's from Florida. (And he can read and write.)

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founding

Does that answer Your request for the "Names" of those who are part of, and in some cases, key role players in The Deep State?

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That's a WAG - otherwise known as a wild ass guess. But since you know who they are, I would still like you to enlighten the rest of us who are in the dark.

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founding

i already told You and the rest of You who may be interested:

For starters, name the CEOs, Boards of Directors, and principle Share Holders of:

The 10 biggest Defense Contractors;

The 10 biggest Banks and Investment firms [and their Servant, the Federal Reserve System];

The entire MSM and CON, plus Hollywood;

The 10 biggest Big Oil, Big Agro, Pharma, Insurers, and Law firms, all intimately and deeply connected in DC.

Plus: The 10 biggest IT/Internet/Social Media/AI corporations, and,

The 10 most influential Think Tanks, regardless of who is in the White House and/or up on Capital Hill

Do any of the folks You named in Your WAG have any connection to any of those people and/or firms?

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founding

MAGAtards won't give a shit about dead Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Soldiers coming back from the Middle East or anyplace else because it won't be them or their Kids who are coming back in bags.

And thru the magic of Deficit Spending, no MAGAtard will pay a single dime for any of those Wars or Body Bags.

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Jeff, that is a possibility. When 241 Marines and sailors, and 58 French troops were killed in the truck bombing in Beirut in 1983, Reagan quietly withdrew and not a word was said. Of course, he immediately invaded Grenada to 'rescue' medical students and people cheered and it remained Morning Again in America (MAA?).

MAGA certainly has neocon elements - but I think there's also percentage (how much is debatable) who flocked to Trump over disgust at the policies of the Obama administration (particularly protecting the banksters after 2008) and fears for their own futures.

Whether they stick with Trump is uncertain - particularly if he is unable to deliver the economic magic he's promised in spite of the looming debt bomb, and war with Iran that leads to gas prices going to eight, nine or more dollars per gallon.

At that point, who do they, and everyone else, turn to? The Democrats are broken, perhaps irreparably until the Clintons and Obamas get sent packing.

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founding

First of all, TomR: How many Americans are actually, really "With" Trump?

As it stands right now, Trump has won 50.2 % of the Total Popular Vote.

That means that 49.8% of Voters voted against him.

Given that Voter Turnout was at about 65%, that means that only 32.6% of all Registered, Eligible-to-Vote Americans chose Trump to be their next President. [Only 31.4% wanted Harris.]

And given that Trump lost the Popular Vote in 2016, how was the result of that election any indication of disgust with the Obama Administration, especially about what happened in 2008 and after on Wall Street?

And finally, it's not just the Democrats who are "broken."

The American Empire is broken, and as it unravels and disintegrates further, the Experiment of the Nation-State of the United States of America will come to an end, as well.

Perhaps even before July 4, 2026, America's 250th Birthday, 598 days from today.

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Be nice to America or we will bring Democracy to your country. Like we did in Vietnam, Chile, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Ukraine, and God knows where else.

I wonder if the earth will ever recover after all the destruction rendered in our effort to "democratize" our official enemies (who can be anybody at any time).

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Trump is not a particularly intelligent or thoughtful person, to say the least, so I have always been skeptical that he can put together a well-functioning team for his administration. He is greatly surpassing my pessimism about the prospects, at least so far. We will have to wait to see what his final cabinet looks like, but at the current rate it will be another disaster, and he will be firing people and hiring new ones on a regular basis. It will most likely be chaos. The only good thing to come of it all is that the Biden team is on its way out. It will be interesting to see if any of the Blue Team voters all of a sudden notice things like genocide, now that the Red Team is in charge.

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founding

Don't volunteer to hold Your breath, John, waiting for Team Blue Voters to notice anything that has anything to do with Reality. Especially Genocide.

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Agreed, but they always seem to notice problems only when there is a Red Team president. Those problems immediately evaporate when the Blue Team takes over. Propaganda works.

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It's always the "other guy's fault". If it's good, I'll take the credit, but if it's bad, "it's his fault", no matter what.

Hypocrisy reigns supreme.

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founding

Heh. That sounds exactly like the same mindset and operating principles that drive the Red Team when it takes over, doesn't it?

That's how The System is set up to work and exactly how it works.

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I can just imagine the deep respect that Stefanik will get from her peers at the UN. I suppose the only positive things are she won't be heading up anymore congressional hearings on faux anti-semitism, and that other than Israel, the UN members will dismiss her out of hand for the nut-job she is. Even our security council allies, must be at least a bit dismayed.

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As I was picketing today, my signs saying PALESTINIAN LIVES MATTER 50,000 DEAD AND COUNTING

and on the sign on my back ZIONISM IS NOT JUDAISM I was treated to a couple of guys in a huge Cadillac Escalade who rolled down the window to shout..."All two million of them should be killed!" and then they began to sign the Israel national anthem. I had another window roll-down to call me a Nazi.

I am picketing in front of a large synagogue which has a banner on the side proclaiming black lives matter, hence my sign about Palestinian lives. The rabbi and a group of congregants appeared at a public hearing to denounce my city having a resolution to call for a ceasefire, and this was way back last year before most of the 50,000 had been killed.

The police were called by the synagogue to try to evict me from my position at the corner of two busy streets where the synagogue is located. Being on the public sidewalk I knew I could not be evicted and when the police arrived they confirmed that but said that "some people are made uneasy by your presence" and they wondered if I might cross the street. Of course I said no and they left.

It astounds me that this "some people are made uneasy" stands in the face of an outright slaughter that sure as hell makes ME uneasy and should do the same for all Americans, but no, most people just get on with their day.

I would say a thousand cars pass within a few feet of where I stand and I do get positive comments, beeps of the horn and an occasional visitor coming down the sidewalk. I can't think of a more appropriate place for me to be with my message, day after day, right in front of the synagogue whose membership is at easy with slaughter for a colony even as these members enjoy full safety and success here in the US.

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Prospects for peace are bleak, if not entirely non-existent. Only an awakening of "the people", enlisting their support in defeating the war machine has any hope of stopping the military madness. We must get "the people" to understand what a fraud, a con, a total rip-off perpetual war and the Imperial Project are. Citizens must be educated, convinced of the truth: the war profiteers are stealing their money and their futures. Then citizens must unite en masse and collectively act to throw the war pigs out of power ... https://warismakinguspoor.com/a-nation-at-peace/.

The world and our children will thank us. At least there will be a world and our children won't be turned into radioactive dust.

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founding

Very well said, John. Thank You for sharing those thoughts and convictions.

And the bottom-line, bullet-hits-the-bone Question is: Exactly HOW are those Citizens to be educated and convinced of those Truths? And then effectively organized so as be able to throw those "war pigs" out of power?

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I've made my strategies clear. There have been a couple specific plans. They both revolve around campaigns targeting everyday citizens, organizing at the local level, identifying and promoting "people's candidates".

One is summarized here: https://peacedividend.us/what-is-the-peace-dividend-strategy/.

Another is posited in my book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D78YMMKW

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founding

Thank You, John. i just took a look at Your website, and Kindled Your MAKING US POORER and PEACE DIVIDEND books.

i'm looking forward to digging into all three.

Given America's Sovereign, National Debt of $35.996 TRILLION and counting

[ https://www.usdebtclock.org/ ], i'm particularly interested in learning how The Peace Dividend is going to be paid for. And by who? [Or is it whom? i can never keep that straight.]

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founding

Thankee.

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I realize my ideas are way outside-the-box. Thus, I'm always open to constructive suggestions for improving them, as well as for ways to make the ideas more accessible to everyday folks. The fatal errors that most activists make are 1) not knowing what the true priorities of the majority of citizens are, 2) "talking down" to people as if they're stupid and as if the activists know better what should be important to them, and 3) not knowing how to frame actionable plans in simple, straightforward language.

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Who made up the list? I suspect it's the deep state; that is the one that definitely does NOT want a world where the US is not the power and the basic ruler of all others. BRICKS has definitely showed that US hegemony is not going to last forever and the deep state is pulling out all the stops to make sure the US remains in power. We aren't hearing much about the rest of the world lately because all the MSM noise is going to Trump's choices for various positions of power in his administration. But I think we need to look wider and see just what game is going on here and who is really playing and why. If I were an optimist (which I am every other week or so) I'd guess that this is the dying throes of the US hegemony. It;s going to be ugly, let's just hope it doesn't last too long, or that the senile antiquated deep players aren't so far gone that they are willing to put the planet's existence on the table.

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Many are familiar with what happened in Amsterdam prior and after the Israeli-Dutch soccer game.

If you believe Western Newspaper reports, the Israelis were innocent VICTIMS and the Israel government and their Western MSM Propagandists played it up as a serious case of resurgent anti-Semitism, even an anti-Jewisn pogrom.

With Trump's US Ambassador to the UN, and the appointment of Mike Huckabee as US Ambassador to Israel, being so anti-Palestinian anti-Semitic, the stage is set on the Path to ARMAGEDDON, aka the Battle of the great Day of God Almighty. Revelation 16:13-16

Trump and his MAGA Base believe they are the Vanguard in the Battle between Good and Evil!

It's saturated on the airwaves but who takes it seriously? It's too BIG for too many People to take it seriously, doing something to stop the Insanity! It's much easier to put it out of one's mind. SILENCE is CONSENT.

PATRICK LAWRENCE: Zionists in Amsterdam

November 12, 2024

What happened in one Dutch city is the world, since the Zionist regime began its limitlessly barbaric assault on Gaza: Western powers blessed it, and Western media determined to hide it from view.

In the annals of “anti–Semitism,” if not anti–Semitism in its un-weaponized form, the events before, during, and since an ill-fated soccer match in Amsterdam last week merit a prominent entry.

We find in these chaotic days a picture in miniature of the sickness that has overtaken “the Jewish state,” the shameless apology those purporting to lead the Western post-democracies make for the straight-out barbarities of Zionist zealots, and the full-frontal disinformation spread by corporate and state-funded media as they pose as the first line of defense against disinformation.

It’s a three-fer, then, the whole banana in one place and at one time —all of this in the cause of the Zionist regime as it prosecutes its yearlong genocide in Gaza and sets about expanding its campaign of murder and destruction across West Asia.

Bad enough that planeloads of freak-show Israeli extremists arrived in Amsterdam last week for a match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax, the famous Dutch side, and instantly set about terrorizing the city in the name of Zionist chauvinism.

Worse were the authorities, starting but not ending with Amsterdam’s mayor and the Dutch foreign and prime ministers, recasting what was bound to follow as anti–Semitism, a 21st century pogrom, and so on down the list of hyperbolic absurdities.

Worst — and I indeed count this worst for its consequences — Western print and broadcast media purposefully falsified all representations of these events to turn reality upside down: Wall-to-wall, the criminals became the innocents in the news accounts, the victimizers became victims, and the victims became condemnable, anti–Semitic menaces to human decency.............................................................

https://consortiumnews.com/2024/11/12/patrick-lawrence-zionists-in-amsterdam

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Amsterdam police chief: Israelis provoked Palestine supporters

Amsterdam's police chief acknowledged that it was the Israelis who rioted, incited the supporters of Palestine, and angered them with offensive slogans and burning flags.

https://x.com/i/status/1855878723838546060

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I'm kinda out of the loop when it comes to wokeness in Generals. Could you explain. Sounds oxymoronic

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author

Under Biden, there have been efforts within the Pentagon to foster and embrace diversity, LGBTQ, etc. Basically wrapping militarism in a rainbow flag. Republicans want to keep the militarism, and accelerate it, with no rainbows. That's the gist of it.

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Nov 13·edited Nov 13

Bill will likely have a better answer, but here's my take.

First, at least when I was active duty many decades ago, promotion to flag rank (generals and admirals) was entirely political - depending on getting the right billets; who was your 'sponsor'. etc. In the Navy it was said your spouse was evaluated for fitness for flag rank too as most of the role of the flags was, and is, muscular diplomacy. So, I've always known most of the 'stars' are political animals.

During Biden's administration, with its emphasis on diversity, promotions to flag rank and above appeared to use diversity as a key criterion. The political flag officers seemed only too eager to go along - all the while going along with the problems in the material, operational, and personnel state of the military.

In the end, even if the Republicans get rid of the 'woke' flag officers - they still have a a group of senior military who have little understanding of war against peer powers. Hearing the CINC of the Pacific Fleet talking about 'winning' against China leaves me shaking my head.

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author

Yes, flag rank promotions are political, with an emphasis on loyalty to service and perceived "reliability." Under Biden/Harris, "reliability" included so-called woke agendas. For Trump, I guess it'll be anti-woke.

But what really matters is conformity and obedience to the MICIMATT.

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Absolutely. Those ensure a second career on the BOD of a defense contractor or as a 'military expert' on the MSM.

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founding

The more i think about it, the more convinced i am that The Plan ~ by America's Ruling Political Caste element of The Deep State ~ for Election2024 was, from the beginning, to put Trump back in the White House.

And The Plan worked perfectly, with the MSM and CON providing all the Propaganda and other Psy Ops necessary to grease the skids.

It started with the denials of Biden's cognitive malfunctioning last spring, exposed as the Bullshit those denials were in the debate with Trump, and the subsequent unchallenged and unchallengeable coronation of Harris as the Democrats' standard bearer.

And then, the manifest Incompetence displayed by Harris as a Candidate and the DNC's management of her Campaign cinched the deal.

The RPC/Deep State got exactly what it wanted from Trump during his first term; just like has got and is getting exactly what it wanted from Biden.

And it will get exactly what it wants from Trump 2.0. That is being clearly demonstrated by the people he has been instructed to choose as his prospective Cabinet and other senior Administration officials.

Either it will get what it wants from Trump, or the next bullet won't just "nick his ear."

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founding

The Russian News Agency TASS reports... “

TRUMP TO RELY ON FORCES THAT BROUGHT HIM TO POWER — RUSSIAN PRESIDENTIAL AIDE

MOSCOW, November 11. /TASS/. In his future policies, including those on the Russian track US President-elect Donald TRUMP WILL RELY ON THE COMMITMENTS TO THE FORCES THAT BROUGHT HIM TO POWER, RATHER THAN ON ELECTION PLEDGES, Russian presidential aide Nikolay Patrushev told the daily Kommersant in an interview.

"The election campaign is over," Patrushev noted. "To achieve success in the election, Donald TRUMP RELIED ON CERTAIN FORCES TO WHICH HE HAS CORRESPONDING OBLIGATIONS. AS A RESPONSIBLE PERSON, HE WILL BE OBLIGED TO FULFILL THEM."

He agreed that Trump, when he was still a candidate, "made many statements critical of the destructive foreign and domestic policies pursued by the current administration."

"BUT VERY OFTEN ELECTION PLEDGES IN THE UNITED STATES CAN DIVERGE FROM SUBSEQUENT ACTIONS," he recalled.

Continued at https://tass.com/politics/1870713 ; EMPHASES added.

***

My question is: Is Mr Patrushev talking about Trump and his relationship with Putin [including the phone call that didn’t happen]?

Or about Trump and his relationship to his owners, operators, commanders, and controllers, The Deep State?

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founding

And then came Gaetz.

One can only guess where MT Greene will be gifted to, eh?

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founding

As You say, Bill: "Maybe there's a way to drive [Trump] toward peace, dangling the carrot of a Nobel Peace Prize for him."

Well, if Obama could get a Nobel Peace Prize after being in office less than 10 months for doing absolutely nothing but carrying on The Forever War, why couldn't and shouldn't Trump get one for doing absolutely nothing, as well?

Maybe he and Putin could get together at Mar-a-Lago and pull a Carter/Begin/Sadat "Camp David Accords" stunt, and get them both a Nobel.

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Bill, Daniel Larison had a good Substack article on this as well yesterday, pretty much stating what you are - "Rubio Would Be a Terrible Choice for Secretary of State" - https://daniellarison.substack.com/p/rubio-would-be-a-terrible-choice

Linked his yesterday and linking yours' today @https://nothingnewunderthesun2016.com/

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"It's possible Trump/Vance will be more likely to pursue diplomacy with Russia; perhaps the war in Ukraine will finally stumble to an end."

Sure---Putin will be handed most or all of Ukraine, and be free to start on the next target on his map.

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founding

Can You enlighten us as to what that "next target" on Putin's map is?

Is his intent to bring back the good old days of the USSR and its Empire in Eastern Europe?

Along, this time, with Scandinavia, Germany, France, the UK and Ireland, Spain and Portugal, and so forth?

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Nov 13·edited Nov 13

That's about the size of. S**** do it for free whores do it for money though. That's funny how when I was voice texting it censored the first word there.

Anyway, as I mentioned before, I have my popcorn and I'm ready to watch the world burn, but as I do, I'm going to be doing a lot of finger pointing when it starts to go sideways. I have such little joy left that showing those that decided this is the direction they wanted to go is what's going to make me smile. I love the smell of napalm in the morning, or afternoon, or evening... anytime, really. xo

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founding

What makes You think You won't be burned along with the rest of the world?

And have You ever actually smelled napalm in the morning or at any time of the day and nite? Especially when it includes the smell of burning Human flesh, bones, guts, and brains?

When were You in Vietnam? i was there from August 1966 to August 1968 and still remember that smell. very, Very well. Once You've smelled it, it is never to be forgotten.

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