Friday, August 23, 2019

Trump Willing to Cut Social Security and Medicare and Declare Himself King While the People Play Games on their Cellphones

So how is this going to work during the fraud that is our national election for the Office of President of the United States?


https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-tells-republicans-may-begin-162457862.html

With the democrats running on Medicare for All Improved, or what will probably end up to be improvements in the ACA and maybe an expanded Medicare, this should be interesting how they frame this.

Trump has said in the past that "unlike other republicans" he would not cut social security and medicare.  Now the work is leaked that he might just be amenable to it.

Sounds like a bait and switch to me.   They set the stage for cuts while giving hope for a major change and end up compromising to something like Obama did to save the medical insurance and medical/pharma corporations.

We're constantly being set up.  It's best not to take anything the establishment says at face value.  If they say blue is blue, do some research because it just might be black.

I also noticed Trump attacking the Federal Reserve chairman Powell while warning U.S. corporations they better get out of China. He also indicated he should be King.

As usual, the Fed did NOTHING! It is incredible that they can “speak” without knowing or asking what I am doing, which will be announced shortly. We have a very strong dollar and a very weak Fed. I will work “brilliantly” with both, and the U.S. will do great...

....My only question is, who is our bigger enemy, Jay Powell or Chairman Xi?

He's being mocked for his Royal Proclamation:

Leaning further into a burgeoning economic war with China of his own design, Donald Trump on Friday levied a series of bizarre demands of American companies who do business in the country.

They included an order for American firms to cease production in China.
“Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing your companies HOME and making your products in the USA.”
The proclamation, which the president does not have the power to enforce, might have been expected to unleash a wave of panic and terror among America’s mostly capitalist citizenry – such state-mandated orders are, after all, the stuff of planned-economy communist countries.
But instead, America’s Twitter-sphere resorted mainly to mocking Trump and his rhetorical flourishes. Soon “I hereby order” was taking on a life of its own: from top politicians down to the man-in-the-street Twitter inhabitant."
This is on top of his recent continued sanctions against Venezuela and his ridiculous notion to buy Greenland.  
The dude is nuts and apparently there is not a damn thing we, those of us who would like to, do about. I remember warning Obama supporters when Obama started with his Executive Orders that if they accepted this from a democratic party president, they'd better be prepared to accept it from a republican party president.  Here we are, they were warned.  
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/hereby-order-trump-mocked-highly-183918766.html

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

How to Tell If a Politician is Real

If they admit we do not live in a democracy and the two -party system is meant to maintain the rule of the oligarchy and they pledge to enlist in and support efforts to create a new political system for and by the people.

Anything less is just bullshit.

Monday, August 19, 2019

We the People



It never ends.  Epstein, Trump, right vs left, the next election, movie stars, fake news, Scaramucci, Antifa, recession, every day, every month, every year.

All while the rich and their corporations, banks, political parties ( i.e., the democratic and republican parties), think tanks, foundations, institutes, national and local media, continue to rape and pillage the planet to satisfy their lust and endless quest  for power, wealth and control.

It's disappointing reading the so called alternative media on the internet where the vast majority, no, almost all, of the blogs, news and political opinion sites focus on this day to day distraction from the only real goal, freedom.  It's more disappointing listening to most of them admit the situation is FUBAR, that we need something new, but they continue to "follow the bouncing red ball" according to the whims of the "great and powerful Oz".

What we should be doing, those of us who really want things to change and understand that electing "more and better" politicians to the ruling class political parties is not going to change a damn thing, is focus, daily, monthly and yearly on how to stop these fuckers.

Instead, those that are interested choose to discuss and debate who killed Epstein, Trump's latest tweet, and the poll numbers of their favorite politicians.

At least they're interested, right?  I mean, over half the country could care fucking less they're so in debt up to their eyeballs, or working three jobs, or struggling to buy new shoes for their kids for school, or too broke to go to the dentist, or on the other fucking hand, too busy because their hedge fund is bursting at the seams.

No, not really.  These are the enablers, those that help to legitimize and perpetuate our failed un-representative political system; those that continue to have faith in the latest politicians who they continue to foolishly believe can save all our asses from the tyranny of the rich and powerful, the Great Oz.  Or even if they don't believe that, they're the ones that get off on the fucking theater, the soap opera drama that our political system is. They're the ones who give enough attention to these fuckers and their media and political and economic systems to allow the bouncing red ball to continue to bounce.  They talk about Maddow, they talk about Carlson, they even have comedians now to keep them focused on the prize, their asses in chains. They're the ones who perpetuate the right vs. left, democratic vs republican, us vs them divide that infests our media, corporate and alternative. They're the ones who refuse to search for solutions, refuse to consider revolution and insist on baby steps, i.e., progressivism, as the only way to go.  Baby steps to chains is what it is.  Where's Richie Havens when we need him?

I don't know the answer, but I know what isn't the answer, this duopoly political system controlled by the Great Oz.  Perhaps if more of those that are interested would actually practice what they preach, We the People could actually live up to our reputation. It might actually catch on to a lot of those currently not interested.




Sunday, August 18, 2019

Revolution

Revolution, I'm sorry but it's not going to happen in the streets.  For those that keep dissing revolution in favor of the oligarchy's duopoly political system because revolution would be "violent" and other such bullshit, that's not how it's going to happen.  Maybe they're afraid of something, scared to look outside their fucking boxes they consider reality.  Whatever, I was reading about this Antifa group (the program changed it to a capitalized word!) and the reactions from the left and particularly the right and the overall media coverage.  There's a clear human theatrical behavior involved, typical, you see it the world over.  Nothing can change that way.  The revolution has to be about freedom and democracy and these representative political systems prevent that because they are inevitably completely taken over by human nature.

The streets are full, we have to do this with organization and common sense. We should be smart enough for that.

Thursday, August 15, 2019

No Action


Sometimes, when playing the craps table in Vegas, someone will plop down a two buck bet and the dealer will say “no action”., obviously meaning that two bucks is like, weak ass bullshit. I know because it’s happened to me.

That seems to be the situation regarding any type of citizen’s movement against the ruling class or whatever you want to call the rich and powerful that control everything, including our lives.  No action.  Most of those that are amenable to paying attention, or able to, are largely focused on the next election, as usual, and as guided by the ruling class media and our political un-representatives.  The follow the proverbial bouncing red ball.  There is no force building for revolution, in fact, the progressive left actively works against revolutionary tactics and goals.  I’ve seen it up close and personal with the Sanders and Gabbard supporters who routinely rail against revolution as too impractical, too violent, and too radical.  They seem to understand that a revolution is necessary because without it, nothing will really change.  But they can’t bring themselves to even support the idea because well, Gabbard and Sanders are running and Sanders can beat Trump and Gabbard can change the conversation about war and maybe, just maybe the democratic party can be reformed after all.  Eugene Debs and W.E.B. Dubois were wrong!

It’s kind of funny but extremely depressing because there are so many who know the basic situation but they can’t put it all together.  They can’t help themselves but to get caught up in the daily oligarchy controlled agenda instead of focusing on ways to end rule by the rich. 

Maybe that’s just human nature because haven’t the rich always ruled?

The thing that sticks with me is the fact that the national elections for president involve, at last election, at least. 130 million citizens, thereby proving that it’s possible to get a very large number of people involved in the political process.  In actuality that’s only a little over half of the voting eligible public, but it’s a lot of people. So, if THAT can be organized, why can’t something else major be organized, like a direct challenge to the duopoly political system? 

I don’t know, it depends on how you think.  I caught this commercial on tv tonight and it was a state government issued alert that in order to fly in 2020 (can’t remember the month), your current driver’s license won’t do the trick.  You’ll need a driver’s license Supremo Deluxe or a passport.  If you don’t have one, even if you have a birth certificate proving that you are a legal citizen of the United States, even if you have a DD-214 proving that you served your fucking country during the fucking Vietnam war and almost fucking died doing it, even if you get on your fucking knees and beg to the Lord Almighty and Donald Trump himself, you can’t fucking fly.  Not even to Des Moines. 

You tell me, is that freedom?  Is that liberty?  Is that the human right for the “pursuit of happiness”?  Well like I said, it depends on how you think.  It’s a proven fact that most people are authoritarians, people who would just as soon support Donald Trump or Tulsi Gabbard or Bernard Sanders than be free.  They would just as soon that one of those fuckers make all the decisions for the 330 million of us so we can stare at our damn cell phones.   So I guess I and others like me got the short end of the stick. 
AA

Wednesday, August 14, 2019

Tulsi Gabbard is an Imperialist and her Progressive Supporters are Imperialism Enablers

(Note:  I wrote this a couple years ago and wanted to re-visit this information.  Supporters of duopoly politicians are all too willing to overlook things they need to overlook to justify their support.  Much of that is directed at the other side, like with Trump supporters, so many of which support him because they hate the democrats or the left.  Same thing goes for the left who compromise their own values by overlooking the unanimous support of the Democratic party for US imperialism as clearly documented in the Democratic party platform.  The supporters of Gabbard and Sanders like to pretend their candidates are different even though they also support the imperialist democratic party platform.)

Some thoughts on America's attack on Syria.

-Trump/America's attack killed six children. Have you read or listened to anyone who mentioned that? Lamented about that? Maybe it wasn't enough, maybe it has to be fifty kids. Or 500,000. How about a million? Do you know what it's like to have your child killed? Not by a bomb, but by lies?

-Most progressives, and most everyone else, have taken to the narrative that the President of Syria, Bashar Assad, is an evil dictator, cruel to his people and "something" must be done about him. They just don't necessarily agree with the way the United States is going about it. A typical comment contains the caveat, "I know something has to be done about Assad, but bombing is not the answer", or "I know Assad is a brutal dictator but it's not up to the U.S. to solve this problem". I see that all the time. Why is it that so many Americans believe an elected president of another country that has a near 70% approval rating among it's citizens "must be removed"? How is it that so many Americans know so much about the crimes of the Assad government but they don't know shit about the crimes of their own government? Could it be because that's what they've been told to believe? Could it be there's a little racism involved here? ("They've been fighting each other for centuries", Ya, like "we" haven't") Oh ya, there will be those who will come out with stories about how Assad tortured, killed his own people, gassed his own people, etc, some true, some not. Assad and his government have done dirty deeds and should be held to account like all governments around the world fucking with their people. What about our presidents and our government? Bush, Clinton, Obama, now Trump? Why aren't the same people who are so convinced that the presidents in Arab countries are so fucking depraved that something has to be done about them, also demanding that "something" be done about their own presidents? Our presidents torture, they gas, they bomb, kill and steal, they kill children, they kill "innocents".

Can any dictator really equal what our own dictators are doing, have done and are responsible for? Can any dictator equal what our dictator wants to do which is rule the world? Think about that, "rule the world". When has that not been associated with insanity?
   
It's all ass backwards, 1984ish. The War is Peace, Lies are Truth thing. Check out these fuckers we have as our government leaders, like Nikki Haley, McMaster, Tillerson. The lies coming out of their mouths are so off the charts it's hard to take. These people are really great actors. They look in the cameras or stare out at their audiences with such sincere and serious looks and say things like "we will hold those who commit crimes against innocents accountable". In other words, "we" will bomb the shit out of you and kill your children. "We'll kill your children because we had someone else kill your children to make it look like you killed your children so we can kill more of your children". It's like a serial killer who killed your kid looking you straight in the face and saying he will help you find the killer.
 
What the fuck man, this is a country that has been practicing ruthless full spectrum imperialism, manifest destiny on steroids, waging wars, dropping insane numbers of bombs, conducting regime changes, country destabilizations, enacting sanctions that kill many millions including millions of children, threatening and pillaging it's way across planet Earth and our government "leaders" are lying like psychopaths who believe they're the next coming of Jesus Christ. This is a country that has bombed, napalmed, gassed, tortured, and incinerated it's way to becoming the greatest demockery in human history. This is a country with the largest prison system by far on the planet, that treats most it's citizens like slaves requiring them to buy health care from corporations and pay their taxes to enable the rich to get more rich and have our kids fight and die in their wars so they can rule the world. "Feed the rich til there are no poor no more". The poor will be gone, wiped off the face of the earth because they were too stupid to stand up to their oppressors.

Ya, what about the innocents, Tillerson? You're just another in a long line of U.S. government criminals that "think it's worth it" to kill children while pretending to care about children.
That's the American way isn't it? Kill anyone that gets in our way, steal their shit and go buy a big screen TV made in Vietnam. Manifest destiny man, get the fuck back on your reservations you sub-humans we own this now, not you. It's hard not to spread the blame at this point.

So ya, if Assad, who has a 70% approval rating from his citizens should be removed for committing "crimes against innocents", what about Trump who has a 36% approval rating from "his" citizens and his crimes against innocents? He's already killed kids in three countries. He's a war criminal, a murderer. What about Obama, what about Bush, what about Clinton? What does that say about this country that has two blatant psychopaths by the names of John McCain and Lindsey Graham running around demanding that we bomb the shit out of everyone. Two terrorist sympathizers, supporters and enablers, two despicable humans that make Assad look like Mr. Rogers because they want to bomb and kill the world, keep getting elected by big screen TV Americans election after election.
But the liberals and progressives keep up with the caveats. "I'm against war but something has to be done about Assad." The new progressive hero, Tulsi Gabbard, member of good standing with the Council on Foreign Relations, arguably one of the most evil organizations on the planet and certainly the preeminent imperialist organization, typifies the lame approach to peace most liberals and progressives practice. "The premier progressive of our time", she issued a statement against the bombing attack on Syria Trump ordered on April 4th that killed six children. She comes out strong against Trump's attack, calling it illegal but then says that by launching those missiles before U.N. could collect evidence, he has "jeopardized the legitimacy of future attacks on chemical assets or the regime airbases used to deliver them." She indicates it was poor judgment and that if Assad is guilty she'd be the first to call for prosecution, but the attack may have destroyed evidence.

She's worried about "jeopardizing the legitimacy of future attacks". That doesn't sound like someone totally against war, and future attacks, in Syria.

To her credit, she calls it like it is when she says, "Trump’s reckless escalation of the regime change war to overthrow the Syrian government will make things worse for the Syrian people, not better."
But then she asks if we've learned nothing from "our" invasions of Iraq and Libya. "The overthrow of Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi, brutal dictators who attacked their own people, has resulted in hundreds of thousands more civilians killed, millions more refugees, trillions of dollars wasted, and the strengthening of al-Qaeda, ISIS and other terrorist organizations."

There's that "brutal dictator" narrative. The message conveyed is the regime changes are being conducted because the dictator's are being brutal, but it's poor judgment to do it by bombing the shit out of countries, as proven with Iraq and Libya, and Congress must be involved in the decision process to remove these brutal dictators. That is bullshit. Although she withholds judgment on who was responsible for the April 4th alleged chemical weapon attack, she clearly equates Assad and the Syria war with the Libya/Gaddafi and Iraq/Hussein wars conducted supposedly to remove "brutal dictators". No mention of the real reasons for those wars, U.S. and Israeli imperialism. And no mention of the brutal American dictators killing, displacing and torturing their way thru the middle east, central asia and north africa.

But the progressives eat it up. She's the new Sanders, the one who will lead them out of the wilderness and back to the democratic party. She was also a key co-sponsor of the the North Korea Sanctions Enforcement Act last year which passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a stunning 418 to 2. Here's Gabbard:
"North Korea continues to pose a serious and dangerous threat to my constituents in Hawaii, the Pacific, and the West Coast of the United States. Our communities and our families lie within range of North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missiles. North Korea’s nuclear tests just a week ago, and their continued pursuit of developing more nuclear weapons and miniaturizing those weapons, serve as a reminder of the threat that North Korea poses to our country, which my constituents in Hawaii know all too well.”
This is similar to her stance on Iran where she was one of the few polticians to come out against the Iran "deal" because she felt it didn't go far enough and would be too hard to enforce. Here's Gabbard on Breitbart News:
"When asked if she had any advice for the president, she responded, “put yourself in Israel’s shoes. I think whether you’re — when you’re in any kind of situation like this where there’s a little bit of a standoff and personalities and egos are hurt, if you put yourself in their shoes and understand where he’s coming from, where the Israeli people are coming from and their deep concern about Iran’s continued development of a nuclear weapon and what they want to do with that.”
"Iran's continued development of A nuclear weapon". Bullshit.

So again, here's a representive of the U.S.A., the bully of the planet, the country with thousands of nuclear weapons; the only country that has used those weapons to kill up to one million Japanese (including all post attack casualties); the country that has been threatening nuclear war on the planet since it dropped those bombs in 1945; the country that has verifiable and open plans to use nuclear weapons during it's imperialist conquests; the country who's last president committed to a ten year, one trillion dollar nuclear weapon moderinization project; the country that just elected a psychopath billionaire as president who said he wanted the most nuclear weapons ever assembled; and the country that recently boycotted the UN nuclear weapons ban treaty effort because as Haley put it, "North Korea won't listen"; saying that Iran is a danger because it might develop one nuclear weapon, which it isn't and hasn't, and that "we" have the right to do something about it, to stop them by whatever means necessary. That is a tell ladies and gentlemen.
 
Sure, North Korea and Iran should not be allowed to have nuclear weapons, neither should Israel or any country on the planet, but how do you reconcile that with the United States of America? How do you rationalize that the U.S. should be able to have thousands while North Korea should not be permitted to have a single one? Because their leader is batshit crazy? What about our leaders? They're fucking batshit crazy too. The North Korea attacked by the U.S. who killed millions of their people. The North Korea the U.S. has been at war with since the end of WWII. Or how about Iran, same thing with Iran. How, when the U.S. is the only country to have used the evil weapons, resulting in the deaths of millions, is it incumbent on the politicians of this country to insist that other countries shouldn't have them? Shouldn't it be the other way around? The U.S. has used them and killed a million people, needlessly. It has proven itself as the most unworthy custodian of nuclear weapons on the planet. Shouldn't the U.S. be the one the rest of the planet is trying to get to "listen"?

What about Israel and it's crazy leader Netanyahoo and their brutal apartheid state? What's that Tulsi, put ourselves in their shoes? No thanks.

Fuck no, we're not going to go thru this charade forever or until we all get blown to kingdom come. "We all drop our weapons at once".

Here's Gabbard on Russia:
“Russia has violated the sovereignty and independence of the Ukrainian people, in direct contravention of its own treaty obligations and international law,” said Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, an Army combat veteran and member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “I support the sanctions announced today, and I strongly urge the President to go further and consider a broader range of consequences. If Russia is allowed to continue its aggressive push for control in Ukraine, there will be long-term, serious, and costly security risks for the United States and Europe. Russia must face serious consequences for their actions; the U.S. must consider options that truly isolate Russia economically and diplomatically—not just sanction a handful of oligarchs—and send a message of unity and strength from the international community.
“We cannot stand by while Russia unilaterally degrades Ukraine’s territorial integrity. We must offer direct military assistance—defensive weapons, military supplies and training—to ensure Ukraine has adequate resources to respond to Russia’s aggressions and defend themselves. We cannot view Ukraine as an isolated incident. If we do not take seriously the threat of thinly veiled Russian aggression, and commit to aiding the people of Ukraine immediately, we will find ourselves in a more dangerous, expensive and disastrous situation in the future.”
Peace candidate? Think again. She's an Islamophobe, Russophobe imperialist who believes the war OF terror is an ideological struggle against radical Islam, which it isn't. The war OF terror is a manufactured war based on lies, just like all wars are based on lies.
   
Gabbard is just another politician. Politicians won't save us. Imperialism must end and it must end soon. The end game is upon us. They're at level 8 of the video game "Conquer the World" and trying their damnest to get to the next level. They'll do whatever it takes.

Monday, August 12, 2019

Pigs

I went to the Clark County Fair last week with my kids and grandkids.  It's held right outside where I live in Vancouver, Washington, which is right across the mighty Columbia River from Portland, Oregon.  It's a pretty good county fair as they go with a long tradition.  Me and my family have been going most years for about 25 years now.

Every year there are a few booths publicizing the Clark County Sheriff's office.  When I was walking through the exhibit hall, they had a booth there with this real fancy all terrain vehicle all decked out with bullet proof vests and other police state paraphernalia.  It was pretty impressive, I'd imagine with the electronics and whatever else the police state industrial complex has produced, it cost way over 100K.  It looked brand new, absolutely spotless as did all the accoutrements. I didn't see anyone attending so I walked on by shaking my head, while wearing my "Stop the Wars!" t-shirt.

A while later we were walking up a vendor corridor and there was another exhibit for the pigs and lo and behold, another of those all terrain vehicles decked out with police state gear was sitting under a big tent.  In front were three bona fide sheriff deputies, also all decked out in their green uniforms (hey, this is Washington State), bullet proof vests, guns, handcuffs, pepper spray, kitchen sink. They were all pretty big with crew cut haircuts and steroid looking arms. They were ready for war at the Clark County Fair.  Just in case, you know how they are.

On the spur of the moment I decided to approach them and asked, so what's this vehicle you got here?  The context of it was that all three were standing there and I walked right up to them, a few feet away.  I'm a pretty big guy myself, 6'5", good shape, and I have long hair down my back and a long goatee on my face.  I've dealt with these type of guys and am not intimidated and at my size, I was looking down at them.  Like I said earlier, I was also wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with "Stop the Wars" on the front, so while they were doing their profiling, which the pigs do everyone knows that, you can imagine what they were thinking.  They sure weren't thinking of a Vietnam Era Vet, College Grad, Professional Compensation Analyst with the federal government for 30 years, father, grandfather, and descendent of Oregon Trail pioneers.

Their reaction was typical of the profilers, particularly the bigger one (still not bigger than me which I think affected them abit), who clearly smirked while explaining that they have a lot of fun in the vehicles. I felt like I was talking to pigs when I get stopped in traffic, the same type of condescending tones and aversion to humanity.  I did my own profiling while listening and they seemed like arrogant redneck fanatics who would do anything for their masters.  They looked up at me while looking down. All three of them chimed in because after all, this was a publicity booth the Clark County Sheriff's Office had set up for I would guess, publicity purposes, for whatever fucking reason I don't know.  They combined some serious reasons with the playful, like having some fun, without understanding what I was getting at.  The third one said again something about having fun, and I turned to leave while saying, "Ya, I bet you do".  Didn't look back for about 30 meters and saw the smaller one still staring at me.

Fuck the pigs.  And before you protest, remember history.  There have ALWAYS been those who have enforced the King's laws.  That will never change.

Justice Democrat Progressives Pushing People Toward Trump

This is rich.

"Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel announced Friday that President Donald Trump raised $12 million at two separate fundraisers in the Hamptons.

“Thanks to the unhinged mob on the left, @realDonaldTrump raised $12M today, $2M more than originally expected,” McDaniel wrote in a tweet.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/08/09/unhinged-mob-helps-president-trump-raise-12-million-at-hamptons-fundraisers/

It's funny because I've had this feeling for awhile now about the democratic party.  Not the feeling about the democratic party before this current feeling, but a relatively new feeling, the one I get when I think of AOC and her "gang", Gabbard, Sanders, and the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and Justice Democrats.  It's a sick feeling, one where I have begun to despise the party and the lying and hypocritical progressives trying to take it over. It's hard to explain, but it has to do with freedom, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and democracy, don't forget about democracy.  They seem to have an agenda, intentional or not, that doesn't give much attention to those key issues.  .

Maybe I'm a racist, that's probably it.  I am a white male, the stereotypical, dreaded white male that needs to be put in his place, needs to experience a little of what "we" did to everyone else.  I can't remember when I did it, but it must have been something because these progressives are getting really pissed off at me.

Now if I'm being repulsed by these new hypocritical and lying self described progressives, someone who actually agrees with them on the issues more than the republicans, imagine those that aren't so sympatico on the issues.  It's like those that hate Trump and would vote for say, Hillary the Warmonger Clinton, to get him out of there.  Looks like at least as many people want nothing to do with the new not white except for who  really controls it party.  

Well, maybe it's all a good thing.  Maybe we have to hit rock bottom before we can save ourselves.  Although that doesn't always work. Sometimes you hit rock bottom and don't get up.

Sunday, August 11, 2019

Tulsi Gabbard, The "Heart of a Soldier"? No, The Ulitimate Hypocrite

Here's Gabbard's new political ad.

"I will bring a soldier's heart to the White House, Putting service above self."

What a load of crap.  It's so blatantly self serving it's hard to describe the hypocrisy.  Here's a person who is saying she joined "after 9/11 to fight those who attacked us on 9/11" even though she didn't actually enlist in the reserves until late 2003 while she was serving as a politician in Hawaii.  Make no mistake, that was not a move to fight Al Qaeda as she says, joining the reserves was a self serving political move so she can do exactly what she's doing now, exalt the US military and herself for joining.  She joined for her political career and now she's duping people into buying it.

This woman is dangerous.

Btw, what is a Soldier's Heart?  One that kills children?

Now the news is out that Gabbard is going on her two week military reserve holiday to Indonesia.  Poor girl, what did she sign up for?  Some are very suspicious of the timing of it, believing the "establishment", which certainly their Tulsi cannot be, is doing this to ruin her chances to rule the world.  Of course, this has all been planned long before and she knew full well of her commitment.  It comes from the same people that are convinced Bernie Sanders was threatened with his life, or his wife's good arm, if he didn't endorse Clinton and be quiet about his supposedly getting shafted.  Ya, right.

Saw one tweet that had it right, but can't find it now.  The person wondered how her supposed anti-imperialist reputation is gonna survive engaging in actual imperialism. Then her supporters, who are now pro-military if they weren't before, got all over that person. How dare he or she criticize someone who has SERVED THEIR COUNTRY FOR SIXTEEN YEARS! But it's a good point although Gabbard is an imperialist, she is not anti-imperialism. She's like Obama, against bad wars and doesn't want to be the world's "policemen", the convenient obfuscating propaganda they all put out now when pretending to protest against wars, but not imperialism. However the exalting attitude toward her from progressives is just another example of how their cognitive dissonance regarding U.S. imperialism and militarism travels with the election cycle. They're calling someone antiwar who is in the active military reserves officer corps, has been for 16 fucking years, and is damn proud of it. Give me a break, she's an imperialist through and through. Those calling her antiwar ought to be ashamed of themselves.

Friday, August 9, 2019

The Beat Goes On and On

I wrote the below article, The Beat Goes On, almost ten years ago.  The crux (the decisive or most important point at issue) was how time flies and before we know it, the Afghanistan and Iraq wars along with the fraudulent based on lies global war OF terror will be ten years along with no end in sight.  Here we are at almost that ten year mark and it's worse than that.  

Now I can write the same thing about the next ten years.  Election to election, fucking wake up. I've said the same thing about Medicare for All Improved, which imo should be framed as a nationalized non-profit health care system.  (That's not socialism, that's just common fucking sense and what we need to consider as an inalienable right for citizens.) Count the time when Hillary Clinton, as the wife of Bill in 94, emphasized health care, to now, 25 years later.  It's only gotten worse.  If we count on the political system as it is to deliver the goods for what we need, for what is our right, then we'll be waiting for another fucking 25 years, and it'll continue to just be worse. GET IT!   I'll be fucking dead. Jesus. 

The title of my blog is what?  Fuck the Rich!

The Beat Goes On

I should start by saying this essay focuses on money, not the number of US military lives spent or those of the Iraq and Afghanistan citizens, and not the horrendous cost to the nations of Iraq and Afghanistan. If I had my way, that would be the true cost and the ultimate reason to end the wars. But the American public has become so apathetic to the sins of war, it seems the only thing that may awaken them enough to stop the madness is to appeal to their greed.
The United States military, NATO, and it's hired guns will be in the Middle East and Central Asia for at least ten more years. Regardless the promises made by Obama, or the SOFA agreement with Iraq, there is no way military forces will be out of, or even drawing down from, either country by the end of 2011. The counterinsurgency (COIN) efforts currently being deployed as ordered by CINC Obama and directed by Generals Petreaus, Odierno and McChyrstal in both countries are generally agreed upon by experts as tactics that could take decades.

So let’s assume the US military will be in those countries for ten more years. It certainly has been predicted for Afghanistan. "Asked by NBC's David Gregory about British General Sir David Richards' remark in August about staying in Iraq 30 or 40 years longer, McCaffrey claimed the United States needs another 10-year commitment in Afghanistan. Of the policymakers in the Obama administration, McCaffrey said: They've got to decide are we in, are we going to stay for 10 years and build a viable state? Or do we try and downsize, watch our allies disappear, watch the Pakistanis go unstable? My guess is they've got a political decision that's unbelievably difficult. The country isn't with him, his party isn't with him." Of course, we know now what Obama's decision was, and we must also realize he knows about the long term possibilities.

http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/world-mainmenu-26/asia-mainmenu-33/2072-mccaffrey-10-more-years-of-war-in-afghanistan

That 30-40 year prediction comes from Britains head of their Army: "General Sir David Richards, who becomes Chief of the General Staff on August 28, said: “The Army’s role will evolve, but the whole process might take as long as 30 to 40 years."

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6788043.ece

And the issue of extending the stay in Iraq has certainly been put on the table: "Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki opened the door for the first time Thursday to the prospect of a U.S. military presence in Iraq after the December 2011 deadline for troop withdrawal set by last year’s bilateral accord — something President Obama appeared to rule out during a joint appearance on Tuesday."

http://washingtonindependent.com/52402/iraqi-prime-minister-open-to-renegotiating-withdrawal-timeline

A decade can go by very quickly in our permanent war culture. Before you know it, we’ve been in Afghanistan for over 8 years and Iraq for over 6 years, both soon to become the second and third longest wars in US history, on the verge of surpassing the Vietnam war and more than WWI and WWII combined. When all is said and done, only the Apache Wars from 1840 to 1886 will exceed these wars. Hopefully.

What are the economic costs?

Most estimates put the total cost of both wars over the $1 trillion mark after the latest war supplemental ordered by President Obama. That figure is derived from the official war supplementals, above and beyond the US defense budget, actually approved by Congress. Those supplementals are financed by debt, which is another hidden cost of these wars. It certainly doesn’t include a vast array of other economic costs, many of which will not be felt for years to come. For instance, the greatest outlay of medical services for WWII veterans was in the 1990’s, forty to fifty years after the war. because when they get older, it costs more.
Other estimates put the real economic cost over $3 trillion. "From the unhealthy brew of emergency funding, multiple sets of books, and chronic underestimates of the resources required to prosecute the war, we have attempted to identify how much we have been spending, and how much we will, in the end, likely have to spend. The figure we arrive at is more than $3 trillion. Our calculations are based on conservative assumptions. A $3 trillion figure for the total cost strikes us as judicious, and probably errs on the low side. Needless to say, this number represents the cost only to the United States. It does not reflect the enormous cost to the rest of the world, or to Iraq." (Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes).

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article3419840.ece

Those figures do not include the base budget for so called defense and security of this country. The base DOD budget for 2009 is $654 billion dollars. That doesn’t include the war appropriations. Combine DOD with National Intelligence (classified budget but the 2007 budget was disclosed to be $43.7 billion, not counting drug, weapon and money laundering money), and Homeland Security and you can add over $100 billion to DOD totals for overall US defense and security. So the total baseline budget for defense and national security is at least $750 billion dollars per year, not counting off the books money. It isn’t a stretch to say we now spend one trillion dollars per year on defense and national security, not counting wars.

So let’s combine the baseline spending on national security and defense from the fiscal years 2002 thru 2010:
Grand total: Approximately $4.5 trillion. That's just the baseline, keep reading, there are more trillions out there.

How does that compare to domestic spending?

Approximate ten year official budget totals per agency (2002-2010):
Agriculture - $180 billionCommerce - $70 billionEducation - $430 billionEnergy - $220 billion HHS - $630 billion DHS - $320 billionHUD - $300 billion Interior - $95 billion DOJ - $200 billion DOL - $108 billion State - $360 billion Transportation - $240 billion Treasury - $108 billion VA - $350 billion COE - $50 billion EPA - $90 billion NASA - $135 billion NSF - $45 billion SBA - $6.3 billion SSA - 75 billion Other - $200 billionDOD - $4.5 TRILLION
Of course, this is the discretionary budget, that which we supposedly have a choice on how to spend, as opposed to non-discretionary items such as Social Security, Medicare, and our national debt. Let’s take out all defense and national security related budgets, including the VA, and see how that compares.

Total non defense discretionary spending, ten year total - $3.9 TrillionTotal defense and national security spending - $5.2 Trillion Total defense and national security spending with war supplementals - $6.2 trillion Total defense and national security spending with war supplementals and all long term costs - Over $9 trillion dollars. And remember, that does not include off the books money.

What about the next ten years, assuming the US stays in those countries.

The baseline DOD budget for the next ten years is estimated at well over $6 trillion dollars. Combined with other national security agencies and the VA, the total is well over $7 trillion. That does not include any future war supplementals requested by President Obama and future presidents. It isn’t beyond the realm of the possible that the total economic cost for national defense and security, and the waging of wars for the next ten years could easily exceed $10 trillion dollars in real and long term costs.

It wasn’t long ago that it could be claimed fairly rationally that domestic spending was half of our total discretionary budget. However, the last ten years cumulatively has seen that percentage drop to approximately 45 percent. The next ten years appears to be continuing that trend to the point where it could be lower than 40 percent. While pressure looms on the nondiscretionary budget, i.e., social security and medicare. Aint nothing they can do about the debt except continue to expand it.

This is all while the U.S. is experiencing the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression, the largest transfer of wealth since the Gilded Ages, and the turning of western societies into virtual police states.

Question time: Should we spend up to ten trillion dollars over the next decade on national security and defense, while spending less than half of that on all domestic programs?
What if we cut that total in half and spent it domestically? Single Payer, done. Jobs program, done. Infrastructure program, done. State assistance, done. Border security, done. Alot could be done with $5 trillion dollars. The United States has somewhere around 1,000 military bases stationed in about 130 countries around the globe. More are being built as we speak, including in Colombia and Africa. The Pentagon has initiated the official agenda of Full Spectrum Dominance, control of the planet's land and air spaces and waterways.

http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=45289

DOD has reorganized accordingly to establish a uniform global military command structure for this agenda. Africom was the latest major military command established as announced by President Bush and Defense Secretary Gates on Feb. 6, 2007.

http://www.africom.mil/AboutAFRICOM.asp

The U.S. is clearly an imperialist nation. I find it hard to believe anyone can't recognize that at this point. NATO nations are right there with us, according to their own interests, but imperialist nations have always had their minions. At this point, our two major adversaries, Russia and China, are just positioning themselves to play the game in this New World Order power structure. Both have some economic advantages, Russia with its natural resources, and China with its economic power and status as Chief Buyer of US debt. Both obviously have their own interests at heart, but neither have any illusions of yet to take over as the imperial power on the planet. The US military is so overwhelmingly strong at this point that no other country can challenge that strength for decades. Money talks, bullshit walks, but bombs trump it all.
Based on that military strength, and the unprecedented imperialist reach around the entire globe, the US is in a unique historical situation where it could, by virtue or in spite of its military strength, lead the world into a period of peace and prosperity never before achieved. Relatively speaking, perhaps the Romans had that opportunity as well, but those times were different due to the extreme changes ahead for the world. Many worldwide had high hopes that Obama would be the man to lead us into that period, However, he has proven in the past eleven months that he won’t alter the present state of world affairs regarding world power, and the geopolitical games played in that regard.

The reasons for the US being in the Middle East and Central Asia are complex yet simple. The simple fact of the matter is that we are not in Afghanistan, or escalating in that country, to combat terrorism. Let’s get that straight. Assuredly, we are fighting some terrorists, insurgents, and rebels, many of whom we have created by our arrogant invasion of their lands. But they are simply in the way of the primary mission. The war on terrorism is an excuse, instigated by the events of 9/11, to advance US and Nato imperialism in the Middle East and Central Asia. The basic reason is because of how the region fits in the overall imperialist plans, i.e., oil and natural gas pipelines, permanent military bases to facilitate Full Spectrum Dominance, and control over the major world source of heroin, the fabled Afghanistan opium crops. The CIA coordinates the flow of drug money to Wall Street, big banks, the MIC, and other off the book needs which is essential particularly considering the lack of cash flow during the banking crisis. You need cash to fight wars, to bribe the tribesmen and warlords. The same thing happened in Vietnam and Cambodia.

Over 3000 people died because of the 9/11 attack, on 9/11/2001. The United States has spent over $6 trillion and up to $9 trillion in that time on national security, including the establishment of a new government department, Homeland Security. Since that time, over 300,000 people have been killed in this country in traffic accidents. The United States has allocated approximately $240 billion to the Department of Transportation during that period. Simplistic rationality, maybe. I would say not unless you actually believe we are in danger of a nuclear bomb being smuggled into the country by some al Qaeda terrorist, who somehow could gain access to one in Pakistan. In that case, we may want to total up the cost of national security for the next sixty years, because that can go by pretty quickly as well. What comes after trillion anyway?