Tag: War

Murder in Portland, Trump’s Civil Unrest Dream Becoming Reality

The Trump administration announced Donald Trump will be visiting Kenosha, Wisconsin on Tuesday, September 2nd, in response to the unrest following the shooting of Jacob Blake. Unrest which involved organized protests, vandalism, destruction, and the murder of 2 people and injuring of another by stupid kid, Kyle Rittenhouse, thinking he was doing the righteous work that Donald Trump and the alt-right requested.

Trump’s visit is *not* to examine the causes of unrest or seek a resolution. No. The visit is to commend the police force and survey any damage done by rioting. Donald Trump does not want an end to the violence. He wants more of the violence. It is most likely he will not directly address, or address at any meaningful length, either the murders, or the causes of unrest in Kenosha, but will instead endorse the “tremendous” use of federal and local authorities to quell dissension. I fully expect that later, in a more comfortable cult setting, Donny will voice tacit approval of militias and/or individual gun owners taking the law into their own hands. One way or another, he will do it. This will happen.

Why? Because it suits his goals.

Antifa is BLM. BLM is all protestors. All protestors are extreme lefties. The extreme left runs the Democratic Party, therefore, we cannot elect a Democrat as President. True fact. If it takes a civil war to protect Donny’s rightful position as President, well then, that’s what should happen.

I had written of my concern recently; my fear that this is where the past events were cumulatively leading us, and it seems after tonight, we may have arrived.

Alt-right knucklehead, Joey Gibson also showed up in Portland tonight with his Patriot Prayer mob and ended up getting chased into a gas station where he wisely hid.

And…well, someone got shot and killed in Portland tonight. This video is a little rough, in both quality and content. I want to say, it appears to me, the guy in the white shirt, casually crosses street, shot dead a random person, and ran away. I want to say that because that is sure what it looks like. The video is very odd. Everything about it is odd. From the seeming non reaction of the guy who just happened to be there to shoot the video, to the inexplicable casualness of the skateboarder who literally rolled right into a crime scene as it was happening.

I also want to say, this event appears to be so random, I cannot attribute it to either protestors or the Trump truck brigade, but the thing is, that doesn’t matter. It is the violence itself in association to the left-right divide that is all that matters. It serves to prove whichever point is made most forcefully and effectively. And those points will be made, I promise you. It is similar to Kyle Rittenhouse’s murders. We don’t have all the facts in that case yet, but that doesn’t matter. The course was set as soon as it happened.

It is not only acceptable for Trump followers to wade into protestors, armed and looking for trouble, it’s required. This is how things must be. Protestors must take the appropriate counter-measures. They might as well be armed too. Be ever vigilant.

Now, if it turns out that the man who was shot and killed in Portland tonight, was wearing a BLM tee-shirt, or is similarly associated with the movement, or if he’s a member of the Trump truck brigade or “Patriot” group, well then, it’s on. Let’s start a civil war.

Russia Invades Ukraine Dec. 14-15

Since the Russian created tensions in the Kerch Strait between Russia and Ukraine, the US and NATO have done little to rectify the Russian seizure of Ukrainian vessels and abduction of 24 Ukrainian sailors.  The sailors have since been moved to Moscow where they are being treated as prisoners of war.

The Trump administration, in response to complaints that Donald Trump does nothing in response to Putin’s aggression, often points out how tough Trump is because of actions that the federal government has taken in response to Putin’s hostilities, as if they are one and the same.  They are not the same.  This is a case-in-point.

Donald Trump’s statements regarding Russian aggression have been, “I’m not happy,” and “They need to figure it out.”   In other words, he doesn’t give a fuck and he’s not going to do anything.  But will the US?

The US diplomatic corps, in the persons of U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine, Kurt Volker and Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, have voiced their opinions that Russia’s aggression is in violation of international law.
NATO head, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, also demanded an immediate release of the sailors and a concern as to what the Russians have in mind as they amass troops along the eastern border of Ukraine.

This is a time when luke-warm pronouncements from Sec. State Mike Pompeo is not going to cut it.  Trump needs to speak out now and in no uncertain terms.  We need leadership now that would cause Putin concern and forcibly shape his actions.

According to Ukrainian news outlet Radiolemberg, The Russians are preparing to invade Eastern Ukraine in order to acquire a land bridge from Western Russia to Crimea and complete their control of the Azov Sea.  Radiolemberg even has a date for an invasion: December 14th or 15th. 

In a strange interplay of propaganda and fake news, the Russian’s are declaring that Ukraine plans on blowing up their own industrial complex in Mariupol, Ukraine on Dec. 14th and blaming it on Russia and Russian backed separatists in order to start a direct military confrontation with Russian troops.  Who would do something that crazy?  Who would kill their own people in order to start a war with someone else?

Putin would.

All evidence points to Putin’s orchestration of the 1999 apartment bombing in Russia which killed over 300 russian civilians.  These bombings were the catalyst for a fabricated second Chechen war from which Putin consolidated power and ascended to the presidency of Russia.

Alternately Radiolemberg offers the following day, Dec.15, as a likely date for Russian to invade Ukraine as this is the day of the convening of the unification council for the creation of anautocephalous Ukrainian Orthodox Church to separate itself from the Russian orthodoxy.

Do we think Russia will actually invade Ukraine in December?  I doubt it, but that’s not the whole point of this exercise, is it.  The continuing and ongoing effort of Russia is to undermine, confuse, confound, and divide…and it’s working.  Russia will continue to arm rebels in eastern Ukraine and eventually they will have their land bridge around the Azov Sea through their separatists, then they will act as overlords of that sea.  Once that is complete, if no one halts their incremental progress, they will continue to chip away at Ukraine until nothing is left.

The administration says, “No one is tougher on Russia than Trump.  No one.”  But if you search, you will not find a single instance in which Trump has directly spoken out against Russian aggression or Putin’s long term plans to recreate the Soviet Empire, despite whatever the US government may have done.

This is the time when we need a US President to stand up and say, “We see what you are doing Russia.  This is not acceptable to us.  Withdraw your forces from the Ukrainian border, cease your hostilities, and end your clear support and involvement in Ukrainian unrest.”  Putin needs to know this is the truth, but he has absolutely no reason to believe that at this time. 

Putin will keep pushing unless he has reason to believe it is not in his best interests to do so.

January 1, 2018

We made it to 2018.  We have arrived in the condition we presumed we would be in with an incredibly unqualified administration.  From top to bottom, a collection of misfits and ideologues incapable of governing and found lacking of any desire to do well by the people of the United States.  Trump has made misstep after misstep from his very first day.  He has no agenda, as we were all fully aware.  He has reacted day in and day out to his childish whims, counter-punching those that call out his inadequacies, and made foolish, unsupported, unwarranted, and uneducated executive orders and unilateral decisions.

Exactly as we expected.

If anything came as a surprise, it was the GOP’s total inability to govern as well.  They can form no consensus aside from their spineless, heartless party-wide suffering of the existence of Trump.  Even as they look to their own demise; one by one, separately and together, and in their tacit acceptance of this wretched creature, they can’t stop themselves from their own self-fulfilling prophecy and the doom they themselves have wrought.  The GOP has become the antagonist caught in the last futile attempt to do any and all manner of damage to those around them as they fall from the cliff to which they have inexplicably run.

Their vast and spectacular forthcoming campaign contributions shall not be enough.

So where are we headed in 2018?

  1. I still think the Mueller Investigation will make the bulk of their indictments directly before the midterms.  I was surprised by the indictments at the end of 2017.  Wasn’t expecting that at all.  Although Mueller may not be at all politically motivated, I can’t help but to think there would be an internal clock ticking that begs some type of resolution before the election as a form of necessity and great import to the nation.
  2. The stock market will make a correction.  We are long overdue for a correction.  Very, very long overdue.  The exchanges are a strange creature that react more to emotion then often given credit.  It could be anything at all that starts a correction.  It could be something stupid Trump tweets.  It could be less than expected earnings on Apple or Google or AT&T.  Sooner or later it will happen.  Hell, it could happen this week with the, “Buy on the rumor and sell on the news,” already set-up in the form of tax reform.
  3. War.  I hate to say it, hate to even talk about it, but…we have to consider this.  With this administration purposefully stoking anxieties and enmities all over the world, the possibility of war is greatly increased.  Particular concern is this administration’s nudging of Saudi Arabia and Iran to drop the gloves on their proxy wars, for an all-out actual war.  I can’t see this happening in 2018.  2019, 2020..yeah it’s possible.  North Korea…well as stated by Lindsey Graham, he sees the US reacting militarily to N. Korea at 70% if they test again.  Right now, as things stand, there is a 100% chance they will test again in 2018.  So, if Graham is correct, that’s a 70% chance of millions of people dying.
  4. The unknown.  This is just as scary as war to me.  We honestly don’t know what Trump will fuck up next and how awful it might be.  He appears to be capable of anything.  The longer madness goes unchecked, the more likely that we shall have increasingly negative results.  Any manner of awfulness could happen.  We could suffer from some cumulative effects of bad decision after bad decision in the form of economic, natural, or man-made disaster.  We could suffer immediate and dramatic consequences of an unforeseen Trump created political catastrophe.  We can suffer from mere lack of knowledge created by the brain drain from the government and seriously depleted State Dept.  We just don’t know.

I would like to state that 2018 will be a splendid year in which we all bind together for some common good…you know, the kind of thing we always want to hear at the beginning of a year.  But, I can’t do that in all honesty.  I’m afraid that 2018 will be much worse than 2017.  There isn’t much to look forward to in the coming year as a Nation or individually as a citizen of this Nation.

I’d rather wish you a happy 2019.

December 26, 2017

Trump and the State Propaganda news network continue hammering away at the FBI, DOJ, and the Mueller investigation.  Meanwhile….

There are a couple administrative movements that concern me quite a bit.  They have been ongoing and at this point appear to be continual, concerted efforts.  The first one (the one I want to talk about today) takes shape in the destabilization and militarization of the world.

Trump has made clear his feeling that the US should not act as a peacekeeper or financier of global social programs or party to global pacts with peace in mind.  His administration has made it clear that they feel the ability of the State department to negotiate and promote common causes and peace is unnecessary to the point of it’s utter dismantlement.

Instead, Trump wants to arm Japan, to deal with North Korea directly.

The US approved an arms deal with Qatar, whom are in direct conflict with Saudi Arabia presently.

The US approved another new arms deal with Saudi Arabia…in conflict with Qatar and an ongoing heightened conflict with Iran currently taking place in a humanitarian crisis of inhumane proportions in their Yemen proxy war.  The current in-state intrigue in Saudi Arabia appears to be tacitly approved by this administration and we have yet to see what emerges from what could be the new ideological state of the house of Saud.

The Trump administration continues to disparage the peacekeeping forces of UN and NATO, removed the US from the Iran nuclear pact, declared it’s intentions to put the US embassy in Jerusalem which creates mass turmoil, has dismissively allowed Russian backed evil forces in Syria to prosper, regularly attempts to goad N. Korea into military action, and we don’t even know yet what the Kurdish-Iraqi situation is going to play out like yet, but I imagine it involves arming both sides from the US.

This administration’s goal is clearly to further financially prop up the US arms dealers and to dump billions into our own military.  This, in effect, is a type of social program that conservatives find more appealing than anything perceived as overtly social.  It’s not particularly effective though.  These billions and trillions would be better spent on direct social funding, nationally and internationally; an idea this administration finds anathema to it’s core beliefs.  Money spent on education, health, and housing is eminently more effective both short term and long term, rather than the reduction in mouths to feed via exportation of conflict and murder.

The current Administration cannot wrap it’s collective head around the idea that our money spent on peace will show no clear immediate return on investment that cannot be ascertained without a view for the long-term via intelligent, thoughtful diagnosis.  Tis nothing compared to the immediate, cold, hard cash received for the sale of military hardware.

I believe it is fully intentional that this administration seeks to create global destabilization and to broker sales for the conflicts born of the effort.

For future reference: US military personnel are disproportionately from Southern states.

December 14, 2017

“But on Wednesday Lindsey Graham did something different: He estimated the odds that the Trump administration deliberately strikes North Korea first, to stop it from acquiring the capability to target the U.S. mainland with a long-range, nuclear-tipped missile. And the senator’s numbers were remarkably high.

“I would say there’s a three in 10 chance we use the military option,” Graham predicted in an interview. If the North Koreans conduct an additional test of a nuclear bomb—their seventh—“I would say 70 percent.”

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/12/lindsey-graham-war-north-korea-trump/548381/

I wanted to analyze this statement with you, because suddenly, it’s more important at this time than parsing out Russian interference, or poll numbers, or Roy Moore.

“Graham said that the issue of North Korea came up during a round of golf he played with the president on Sunday. “It comes up all the time,” he said.”

I’ve been scrounging around for information as to whom else might have been golfing with those two on Sunday and I can’t find any information that there was anyone else, but I believe someone was, or at the least, someone else was privvy to this conversation and offered input that was seriously weighed by Graham.

Why? If the conversation were just Graham and Trump the reasonable percentages Graham would have offered would have been 0% 50% and 100%.  But, he split the difference to both sides as if weighing some other opinion…an opinion that mattered.  Someone Like NSA’s McMaster, or Chief of Staff Kelly, or Sec. of Defense Mattis.

What would Trump’s likely response have been to the prospect of an all out war with North Korea under any circumstance?  “I’m not sure.” (50%) “We’ll blow them back into the stone age with fire and fury blah blah blah…” (100%).  Someone else verified that plans were on the table and tempered Trumps usual stupidity or bluster with some hard facts.  Otherwise, Graham would not have offered the higher odds of 70%, but instead dismissed it all as usual Trump trash talk (0%).

Now, what is the likelihood that North Korea will test again? 100%.

“War with North Korea is an all-out war against the regime,” he said. “There is no surgical strike option. Their [nuclear-weapons] program is too redundant, it’s too hardened, and you gotta assume the worst, not the best. So if you ever use the military option, it’s not to just neutralize their nuclear facilities—you gotta be willing to take the regime completely down.”

I have a very large problem with this being such a casual topic of conversation as if it doesn’t mean anything to Graham.  As if this brinkmanship doesn’t represent real lives however distant and theoretical those lives may seem.  I happen to find the 70% chance of millions of people dying not acceptable and not something so easily bandied about as if it’s a game of golf and he’s merely stating the probabilities of his next 3 foot putt going down.

Trump did speak to Putin tonight on the phone, and there is a Russian delegation that had arrive about 24 hours ago to summit with the North Koreans.  Trump did make a statement about his phone call and did say they were talking about North Korea.  I think that this is one time you can believe Trump.  I also think this is one time I am rooting for the Russians to save us from our own stupidity.

We’ve all heard how a first strike scenario plays out and what happens to Seoul immediately after that.  No need to go over it again.  I imagine the Russians have the same ideas Graham does and would rather not see a global economic meltdown, millions of people die, and the possibility of a World War directly afterwards; unlike our “President” Trump who would only concern himself with his poll numbers following his created global crisis.

I imagine the Russians are working to reduce that 100% certainty that North Korea will test again, to anything lower than 50% and as close to 0% as possible.  If that happens, Trump could declare the ploy a complete success despite the fact he was willing to barter with millions of lives to carry it out.