Saturday, July 16, 2016

Slow Saturday Coup Attempt

How lucky you are!

I woke up early since I went to bed about 8:30 last night, and I don't know what possessed me to look for live news at 4 a.m, but I went over to Fox for Breaking News shock regarding the coup attempt in Turkey.

The first thing I thought was it takes months of planning. The military doesn't just wake up one morning and say let's do coup today. The question is what forces were behind it? What forces have been behind them in the past? 

I switched over to CNN and they had Barbara Starr on for analysis saying this is tricky for U.S., they don't work with governments that take over in coups, and I laughed out loud!

Globe greets me with this:

90 dead, over 1,100 wounded in Turkey coup attempt

Then Steve Kinzer will tell you what the was the breaking point for coup attempt in Turkey.

On a flight from Istanbul to Boston, shock and concern over military coup

Amazing how things got back to normal so quickly in Istanbul, and now we have Nice.

Horowitz | Quick Study What is happening in Turkey?

Like the Globe is going to tell me what is really happening.

Erdogan called his supporters to the streets via FaceTime

Interesting since I've been told on many occasions that his government shuts down social media.

US military’s counter-ISIS operations in Turkey left uncertain

That mean Turkey stopped giving them aid and comfort? 

That would spring the CIA and its assets into action, wouldn't it?

Meet the cleric being blamed for Turkey coup attempt

He's Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric who is living in exile in Pennsylvania. 

He's a U.S. asset living in the Poconos? 

Then it is on to the front-page preview of the printed version:

Coup leaves Turkey in chaos, fear is the same piece noted above -- which is not the front page piece in print. That was NYT.


Along with a 3-month extension of the lapsing state of emergency. 

What timing by the terrorists, huh?!!


Already has, as noted, and will that make them call off the false flag dogs for this week?


As in a sixPence for a great supporter of the six-sided star and darling of AIPAC. Good thing VPs ('kept Cheney) are figureheads. (Btw, the fact that the Globe doesn't like him can only help Trump).


I wouldn't bet on me going forward and reading any of these links.

I marked Metro not Nation below page A1, it being Saturday and all.


Must be smoking something. 

Did you see what sugar does to you?


Booga-booga for something that kills maybe handful every year.



Just happened to be there, yup. 

What is he now, a crisis actor?


didn't see any of it, thank God.


That should give it some cache!


Once again, white lives don't matter.


Why can't you kids take that over to the beach?


Same as West Nile, few deaths, and this is looking more and more like a biogerm hatched in one of the military's weapons labs a la AIDS (which has also turned into profitable palliative care like with cancer) and not a bug bite (cover story or delivery system?) or vaccine (developing one to fight Zika. Hmm) induced.


The first impression I got upon reading that headline was what is Saudi doing wrong now (reluctance on war agenda??) and will the Israeli connections be redacted or omitted?


Last place you will find reality is a NYT article. Sorry.


Doesn't matter. VP's get a lot of attention from the pre$$, and rightly so to some degree, being a heartbeat away and all; however, Americans vote for the the name at the top. All this pre$$ speculation about helps secure swing states and regions is garbage.


I'm going to stay silent about that and look away from other things.

The World section would come next, followed by Business:


Don't want to you leave you hanging, but that's just what the world needs right now. More war refugees.


Talks of US and Russia cooperation take place against a backdrop of new carnage.

Then it's all bu$ine$$:


This is no defense of Eversource, but I've said it before and I'll probably say it again: what we have here is a bankrupt national government grabbing for any loot it can get. Unless they lose the case. Then the costs will be upon the U.S. taxpayer.


I'm going to let you go hungry, sorry.


No great loss.


I hope it's at a loss.


(See Zika comments)

A usually truncated op-ed section is followed by obituaries in sports along with my crossword and not usually noted, unlike the Good Life:


The true allure of Pokemon Go is in its introduction of augmented reality to the masses. The fate of a virtual world hangs in the balance. 

Yeah, just keep Pokemoning along with your stupid game.


As you may have suspected, your car is spying on you. Fire up a new model and it updates more than 100,000 data points, including rather personal details. 

Who is that riding next to you?


I suppose it's a stereotype to say stupid kids, huh? 

Aren't there more important things to worry about or do?

Biggest coup of morning? 

As I prepared this the cardinal started up at 4:45 while it was still dark, sky just starting to grey. 

Awesome! 

Well, it's off to get a coffee and Globe, although I would be better off without either.

UPDATES:

Coup?

Military Coup in Turkey- Destabilization to Coup - No surprise here

ATTEMPTED TURKEY COUP JULY 2016

Failed Turkish coup...was it really a "NATO" coup? 

Was The Nice Attack a Staged Event?

"One calculated terror event after another is now scheduled week to week, as we approach the presentation of all the details they will use in their arguments for martial law and that may or may not go to the nine Death Valley vultures, who will legitimize whatever they are told to legitimize; four of them are Zio-Ogres, who recite the Protocols in the subterranean death basements, below all those chateaus, inhabited by their kindred mutations around the globe. They have no conscience and truly believe that the death of one person is a tragedy and the deaths of millions is a statistic. You are going to see more of this in the coming months than you have seen in the last 10 or 20 years. It is coming to a head. There will be at least one of these that will be greater than 9/11. They know they are up against the relentless machinations of Mr. Apocalypse. They know they cannot stop or oppose him and so they intend to inflict maximum damage in the process. They believe they will get their payoff on the back end. In that respect they are correct. The problem, in the analysis, is in how the term 'reward' is to be defined. One thing further that we must all keep in mind; sometimes those who seem to be the greatest enemy of the divine are in fact employed by the divine. Unless you can understand the contradictions and keep the whole construct of opposing and yet verifiable true concepts in an equal and dispassionate perspective then you can't see what is in front of you when the lights go on.

In the meantime there is a spiraling Rolodex of injurious trends and events, as perfectly displayed in the following graphic....

--MORE--"

Globe NDUs (after breakfast):

The upcoming Republican convention dominates the front page above the fold, with a steady dose of insult regarding the insurrectionist insurgents that will be on display along with a This is Your Life, Donald Trump piece (as if it's anyone's business, BAM!).

I flip the over the front page and have kicked the habit, so.... 

"President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who had frequently talked of conspiracies afoot to undermine his power, was back in control, seemingly as powerful as ever, and perhaps even more paranoid.

Not like he wouldn't have reason, and the insulting slop that has been slanted against Erdogan as the pre$$ has walked a tightrope is noted, thank you.

The drama had a deep resonance for Western policy makers, who have long looked upon Turkey as a crucial partner in the fight against terrorism and an anchor of stability in a region full of trouble. The United States has sought close cooperation with Turkey in the fight against the Islamic State, while Europe has relied on the country to help stem the flow of refugees from war-torn countries of the Middle East to the Continent...."

“The whole night felt like doomsday, and so began a surreal evening that stretched until daybreak” when I came upon it out of the blue by tuning in Fox, and reading the paper or watching any ma$$ media has become surreal.

I open the Bo$ton Sunday Globe and on page A2 I get ISIS claims Nice attacker as a ‘soldier’ by the New York Times (spy deal didn't come in time, huh?). Next.

The brief side strip updates me regarding Africa among other things.

On to page A3 and brother killing sister in Pakistan. It's not that I'm unsympathetic, far from it, I'd like the drone strikes to stop making kids orphans and wives widows, but anytime the war-promoting pre$$ waves women and children at me while minimizing or ignoring Palestinian plight (as well as other victims of the EUSraeli war machine, unless they are pushing mass migration that they caused) I'm just not digging in like I used to. 

Page A4 brings Islamic scholar Turkey blames for the failed coup now lives in Pennsylvania, and John Kerry sure seems cavalier about him being here when I flip to page A5 for this:

"Turkey’s government, rallying behind its defiant leader, even as it appeared that the elected government had reestablished control, many questions remained, including who was behind the plot and what long-term damage had been done to the political system of Turkey, a NATO ally and important partner in the US fight against the Islamic State."

It's a New York Times pos, so there is no point in continuing; however, it is interesting to note that this comes on the heels of rapprochement with Israel and Russia. I'm thinking Turkey started scaling back its support of U.S.- and allied-backed ISIS, thus causing a rift. My propaganda pre$$ isn't going to tell me that. Nor will the tell us if this is a Bay of Pigs fiasco.

Then there is the Kurdish factor. They are staunch allies of the West right now, but that could change. That puts Turkey on the other side of that issue right now, and they have enclaves in not only Turkey, but Syria, Iraq, and Iran. Sort of a four crossroads sort of thing. 

Imagine how different the world would be had colonial powers drawn boundaries starting with a Kurdish state at center and then outward? That didn't happen, and it has led to the situation we have now. Many times they have been promised it. Kissinger did and then reneged. I'm thinking it is not meant to happen because Kurdish areas also supply bases for western intelligence. That's why Iraq rousted them in 1990s and broke up a CIA cell. Israel's Mossad is also known to have close ties and operated from Kurdish regions.

Anyway, I'm just trying to make sense of all the various forces and factions at work here. Nothing is ever as the newspaper describes, be it whopper lies or small distortions in a piece.

Pages A6, A7, A8, and A9 are taken up with the rehab turn-in, page A10 picks up the Trump life story -- which continues on to page A11 -- before the Donald steals the limelight from his VP choice(?). Pages A12 and A13 continues with the convention coverage and that's about when I gave the thumb to the whole darn thing.

Looks like I'll have to walk to get anywhere in the city, huh? 

There will be some hills to climb, but as long as you stay focused and keep up on the news you won't go down. The trip may be brief, but there is always somewhere to land. Then you can just hitch a ride to wherever you are going. My next stop would be a funeral:

"Nate Thurmond, 74, NBA Hall of Fame center" by Paul Elias Associated Press  July 16, 2016

SAN FRANCISCO — Nate Thurmond, a Hall of Fame center and longtime Golden State Warrior, died Saturday after a short battle with leukemia. He was 74.

The Golden State Warriors announced the death of one of the team’s most iconic players less than a month after they lost the NBA championship to the Cleveland Cavaliers in seven games. Both franchises previously retired the Akron, Ohio, native’s No. 42, and he is an iconic figure in both cities.

Mr. Thurmond played 11 of his 14 seasons with the Warriors and retired after the 1976-1977 season, one year after leading the ‘‘Miracle’’ Cavaliers to an improbable trip to the NBA finals.

?????????? 

Their first trip to the NBA Finals was in 2007

They lost in the 1976 EASTERN CONFERENCE finals!!

The 6-foot, 11-inch Mr. Thurmond was voted as one of the best 50 players in NBA history and is considered among the most-dominating centers in the game.

Yeah, I remember him. That's why I'm putting this up.

Mr. Thurmond’s play and numbers weren’t flashy, but he recorded the first official quadruple double in NBA history as a Chicago Bull when he had 22 points, 14 rebounds, 13 assists, and 12 blocked shots against the Atlanta Hawks in 1974. He is one of only four players to grab more than 40 rebounds in a game, and apprenticed under Hall of Fame center Wilt Chamberlain. Mr. Thurmond went on to average 15 points and 15 rebounds a game during his career.

The Warriors traded Mr. Thurmond to the Bulls prior to the 1974-1975 season. The Bulls traded him after 13 games the next season to his hometown Cavaliers, where he closed out his career in style.

He played a key role in the Cavaliers’ run to the championship his first year in Cleveland. The Cavaliers beat the Washington Bullets in dramatic fashion in seven games in the Eastern Conference finals.

Well, it was the semifinal and in six games, but who wants to nitpick?

The Cavaliers lost to the Boston Celtics in six games in the championship, but....

That's wrong! The Celtics beat the Suns in the Finals, with a 5th game that I will never forget.

--more--"

What a coup for me to spot sports wrongs, huh!! 

So what else are they wrong about in their pages, 'eh?

Now may they Rest In Peace:

"In 1936, the Spanish Civil War began as right-wing army generals launched a coup attempt against the Second Spanish Republic. 

Interesting coincidence 80 years later and Turkey.

In 1944, during World War II, 320 men, two-thirds of them African-Americans, were killed when two ammunition ships exploded at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine in California.

Some think it was an atomic explosion.

In 1945, following Nazi Germany’s surrender, President Harry S. Truman, Soviet leader Josef Stalin and British Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill began meeting at Potsdam in the final Allied summit of World War II."

I'm not trying to be funny by raising old ghosts so I'll keep my screams silent:

"Bitten by technical bugs, Gwen Stefani’s tour opener falls flat at Xfinity Center" by Marc Hirsh Globe Correspondent  July 13, 2016

Gwen Stefani’s “This Is What the Truth Feels Like” tour was already under a cloud before it even started, with reports of semi-disastrously low ticket sales trickling in from more than a few cities on the schedule. What the singer didn’t need, then, was a substantial technical glitch mucking up the very first song of the very first show, inching a run that’s supposed to be her feisty declaration of post-divorce independence toward “cursed” territory.

Yet there Stefani was at Xfinity Center on Tuesday, kicking off the show by singing the first few lines of “Red Flag” into a microphone that refused to pick up her voice at all.

It wouldn’t have been more than an awkward hiccup if it were just a one-off, but it seemed as though whoever was running the mix had no idea what to do with Stefani in the first place. For much of the show, her voice was largely muted — which given her piercing kewpie-doll warble was either fantastic negligence or calculated malice.

She wasn’t the only one who suffered at the hands of an indifferent sound tech....

Sorry to make you suffer, reader.

--more--" 

She ain't no Taylor Swift, that's for sure.

I don't know what was in the drink you gave me before the show, but I was seeing unicorns. Must be all the phones in the dark during the show. 

Then they found a body outside the hall. I don't think the game is a good Idea, and I think you can see why I'm saying f*** it. It's your choice. Either one or the other. Or all of them. 

Maybe putting on music will teach you a thing or two. God knows I'm not learning anything anymore. 

This was a bad idea, and it's time to move along.

(Did you see the Globe's getaway car and where it went?)

UPDATE: Three officers killed, three wounded in Baton Rouge shooting

The summer of chaos ending in coup continues here, and cut bono?