"Bannon out at the White House after turbulent run" by Maggie Haberman New York Times August 18, 2017
NEW YORK — Stephen K. Bannon, the embattled chief strategist who helped President Trump win the 2016 election through their shared nationalist impulses, departed the White House on Friday after a turbulent tenure in which he shaped the president’s populism.
The exit of Bannon was the latest in a string of high-profile West Wing shake-ups. It came as Trump remains under fire for saying that “both sides” were to blame for the deadly violence at a nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., last week.
Of course, what he said about both sides is true but the ma$$ media has twisted his statement and ignored his condemnations of the other side.
Earlier Friday, the president had told senior aides that he had decided to remove Bannon, according to two administration officials, but a person close to Bannon insisted that the parting of ways was his idea and that he had submitted his resignation to the president Aug. 7, to be announced at the start of this week. The move was delayed, however, after the violence in Charlottesville.
Bannon told Bloomberg News that he will be “going to war” for Trump and will continue to press for the populist cause outside the White House. “If there’s any confusion out there, let me clear it up: I’m leaving the White House and going to war for Trump against his opponents — on Capitol Hill, in the media, and in corporate America,” Bannon said.
He can probably be more effective on the outside now. Hope the mob enjoys the raw meat.
Bannon frequently clashed with the president’s other aides as they fought over trade, the war in Afghanistan, taxes, immigration, and the role of government. In an interview this week, Bannon mocked his colleagues, including Gary D. Cohn, one of the president’s chief economic advisers, saying they were “wetting themselves” out of a fear of radically changing trade policy.
You know who won that argument and Trump ain't no hero after all (or he just surrendered). No wonder Netanyahu isn't criticizing him. We are all be played by the Zioni$t lobby, which is behind this staged and orchestrated garbage with their media mouthpieces screaming at the top of their lungs.
Bannon’s removal is a victory for Kelly, a retired Marine Corps general whose mission is to impose discipline on White House personnel. Yet Bannon may still prove to be a confidant for the president, offering advice and counsel from the outside, much like other former advisers who still frequently consult with Trump, but the loss of Bannon raises the potential for the president to face criticism from the conservative media base that supported him over the past year.
In just seven months, the president has forced out his national security adviser, his chief of staff, his press secretary, and two communications directors, in addition to the FBI director he inherited from Barack Obama.
In a separate development, another advisory group to Trump is calling it quits after Trump’s response to the deadly events at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville.
The President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities, whose members include Caroline Taylor, wife of singer James Taylor, resigned en masse Friday morning.
Called on Trump to ‘‘resign your office.’’
Also Friday, billionaire investor Carl Icahn said he has ended his role as a special regulatory adviser to Trump after questions were raised about potential conflicts of interests with his business dealings.
Bannon’s dismissal followed an Aug. 16 interview he initiated with a writer with whom he had never spoken, at the progressive publication The American Prospect.
In it, Bannon mockingly played down the US military threat to North Korea as nonsensical: “Until somebody solves the part of the equation that shows me that 10 million people in Seoul don’t die in the first 30 minutes from conventional weapons, I don’t know what you’re talking about, there’s no military solution here, they got us.”
Can't speak the truth anymore, and oddly enough, North Korea is absent from today's paper.
He also bad-mouthed his colleagues in the Trump administration, vowed to oust a diplomat at the State Department and mocked officials as “wetting themselves” over the consequences of radically changing trade policy.
Of the far right, he said, “These guys are a collection of clowns,” and he called it a “fringe element” of “losers.”
“We gotta help crush it,” he said in the interview, which people close to Bannon said he believed was off the record.
Privately, several White House officials said that Bannon appeared to be provoking Trump and that they did not see how the president could keep him on after the interview was published.
I read that he actually submitted his resignation on August 7th.
Bannon had made clear to allies after the American Prospect interview that he expected to be back soon at the right-wing website Breitbart.com that he had steered before joining Trump’s campaign.
Going back to Breitbart, huh?
Bannon’s departure was long rumored in Washington. Kelly, a retired Marine Corps general who was brought on as chief of staff for his ability to organize a chaotic staff, was said to have grown weary of the chief strategist’s long-running feud with Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster, the national security adviser.
One White House official, who would not be named discussing the president’s thinking, said Trump has wanted to remove Bannon since he ousted Reince Priebus as his chief of staff three weeks ago; Bannon had been aligned with Priebus, but Trump changed his mind as several defenders of Bannon warned the president that he risked losing supporters who saw Bannon as a conduit of their views.
Finally put the hatchet to him, huh?
Since then, Kelly has been evaluating Bannon’s status, according to the official.
Bannon has been in a battle with Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, since the spring.
Bannon, whose campaign against “globalists” was a hallmark of his tenure steering Breitbart, and Kushner had been allies throughout the transition process and through the beginning of the administration, but their alliance ruptured as Trump elevated the roles of Cohn and Dina Powell, a former Bush administration official who also worked on Wall Street. Cohn is a registered Democrat, and both he and Powell have been denounced by conservative media outlets as being antithetical to Trump’s populist message.....
OMG, this is all STAGED SHOW and THEATER!
--more--"
"Back at Breitbart, Bannon takes aim" by Jeremy W. Peters and Michael M. Grynbaum New York Times August 18, 2017
WASHINGTON — Stephen K. Bannon has always been more comfortable when he was trying to tear down institutions — not work inside them.
Hours after his ouster from the White House, he was named to his former position of executive chairman at Breitbart News, the hard-charging right-wing website, and led its evening editorial meeting.
“In many ways, I think I can be more effective fighting from the outside for the agenda President Trump ran on,” he said Friday. “And anyone who stands in our way, we will go to war with.”
Among those already in Bannon’s sights: House Speaker Paul D. Ryan; Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader; the president’s daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law, Jared Kushner; and Gary D. Cohn, the former president of Goldman Sachs who now directs the White House’s National Economic Council.
“The president was buoyed to election by capturing the hearts and minds of a populist, nationalist movement,” Alex Marlow, Breitbart’s editor in chief, said Friday evening. “A lot of it was anti-Wall Street, anticorporatist, antiestablishment. And now we’re seeing that a lot of these guys remaining inside the White House are exactly the opposite of what we told you you were going to get.”
Americans are probably jaded at this point and expecting such things. The falsity of "change."
Bannon’s long enemies list will include anyone he deems hostile to the nationalist, conservative agenda that he viewed himself as the guardian of in the White House. And his most personal causes will involve some of the biggest fights that lie ahead between President Trump and Congress.
Most immediately, he has told associates that he wants to ensure that any spending resolution approved next month by Congress includes money to begin construction on the wall that Trump has promised to build on the southern border. “You can’t play by the Marquess Queensberry’s rules,” he often tells colleagues.
Whether he punches hard is not in doubt. The question that he and other like-minded conservatives see as fundamental for their cause is whether their efforts will have any effect on a White House that they fear is now dominated by people who are left of center.
Just as Obama became Bush, Trump becomes Obama.
Kushner; Ivanka Trump; Dina Powell, the deputy national security adviser; and Cohn have all been the target of unrelenting attacks by Breitbart and others on the right for their efforts to draw Trump to the political center.
“We’re going to have a keen eye to see if Trump is able to continue connecting with his base, as the numbers just become more overwhelmingly globalist, centrist, establishment Democrat, all of those in the mix, and a lot less populist-nationalists,” Marlow said.
Now the scenario that many conservatives long feared is reality: The centrist aides are going to be largely unchecked.
“With Bannon gone, who is left to help the president shepherd his agenda through the establishment morass that wants to sink it?” said Laura Ingraham, a conservative radio host.
Veteran conservative activist Richard Viguerie questioned Friday whether Bannon’s ouster was part of a looming “purge of conservatives on the White House staff.”
With Bannon no longer under any obligation to feign interest in working with Ryan and McConnell — whom he privately denigrated to Trump as backstabbers who would inevitably sell him out — the likelihood of a deepening rift between the Republican Party’s hard-line conservatives and its leadership has only grown.
Congressional Republicans have never been very enthusiastic about the pieces of Trump’s agenda that most animated his core supporters. The president’s proposal to cut legal immigration by half over the next 10 years fell flat on Capitol Hill, and he still awaits approval of funding to build the border wall.
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That's odd because my printed Boston Globe had an article by former Globe writer Callum Borchers.
"Ousting Bannon is a risky move for Trump" by Callum Borchers Washington Post | August 18, 2017
He moved on up, huh?
Stephen K. Bannon caused trouble in the White House. He could have even more of an impact on the outside.
President Trump has decided to remove his chief strategist following a tumultuous week, even by the standards of this White House. Trump drew criticism from within his party for a take on violence in Charlottesville that bore the fingerprints of Bannon and Breitbart News, the website Bannon once chaired and called “the platform for the alt-right.”
OMG!!
(Blog editor shakes his head)
Got any EVIDENCE?
(Even of they did.... fingerprints mean nothing)
On top of that episode, Bannon phoned a journalist at the American Prospect, unsolicited, and undercut the president's public stance that all options are on the table in a standoff with North Korea. “There’s no military solution,” Bannon said. “Forget it.”
Meaning the war faction has in fact won.
Under different circumstances, the latter might have been a fireable offense, automatically. Trump rails against leaks that reveal internal disagreements, and here was Bannon going on the record about national security deliberations and contradicting the commander in chief, but Bannon came to the White House marked “handle with care.” He represents the cornerstone of Trump's base — the populist, nationalist wing of the Republican Party that latched on to the fiery billionaire long before others in the GOP.
If a bitter Bannon were to return to the media and spread disillusionment among Trump's followers, he could become a problem for the president. Breitbart alum Ben Shapiro predicted a fierce battle.
Bannon knows where the bodies are buried.
Trump does have a knack for keeping former aides on his side. Roger Stone and Corey Lewandowski are prime examples of people who have devoted themselves to boosting the president in the media after leaving his service.
Globe spent an hour with him.
If Trump can manage another amiable split, perhaps Bannon will remain a valuable ally. The Washington Post's Ashley Parker, Philip Rucker, Robert Costa and Damian Paletta reported Friday that “Bannon had been expecting to be cut loose from the White House, people close to him said, with one of them explaining that Bannon was resigned to that fate and is determined to continue to advocate for Trump’s agenda on the outside.”
Bannon wouldn't necessarily have to pull a complete reversal to give Trump a headache, however. He could focus his fury on former White House rivals who pulled the president in different directions. Even that kind of narrative would crack Trump's image as a swashbuckling Washington outsider determined to “drain the swamp.”
These terms and narrative have become meaningless.
It's all pre$$ labeling for ulterior purposes.
Bannon certainly would have plenty to complain about. As Trump's posture on North Korea illustrates, the president is not governing as the noninterventionist he played on the campaign trail.
They then turn the next paragraph into health-care and Southern border wall failures.
?????????
Although it is possible that Bannon could return to Breitbart, he also could launch a new venture. That's what media entrepreneur Jim VandeHei predicted before news of Bannon's departure broke.
One other potential drawback for Trump: Bannon was useful, at times, as a shield. The president's critics sometimes suggested that Bannon, not Trump alone, was responsible for political missteps.
Bannon himself seemed to embrace the role, telling the Daily Mail on Thursday that his call to the American Prospect “drew fire away” from Trump.
Bannon appeared unfazed by accusations that the president he serves is racist -- or, at least, far too tolerant of racists. In fact, Bannon welcomed such charges as a sign of how effective the nationalist approach has been for Trump.....
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Related:
"James Murdoch, CEO of 21st Century Fox, denounced racism and terrorists while expressing concern over Trump’s reaction to the rally. Murdoch also told friends in a personal e-mail that he and his wife, Kathryn, will donate $1 million to the Anti-Defamation League....."
Looks like Fox just divorced themselves from the president and so much for my respect for James.
Speaking of lambs being led to slaughter:
"Thousands of people expected on the Boston Common Saturday during ‘free speech’ rally" by Jan Ransom, Travis Andersen and Emily Sweeney Globe Staff August 18, 2017
It's a pied piper pre$$!
The permit issued by the city is for only 100 people, but tens of thousands of counterprotesters are expected to show up to denounce racism and anti-Semitism.
Meaning authority approves of law-breaking, left-wing sh**.
The heightened concern comes in the aftermath of the Charlottesville rally.
My suggestion: STAY the F*** OUT of BO$TON THIS WEEKEND!
Police Commissioner William B. Evans said his department has ample experience with crowd control, including during the Occupy Boston encampment, Black Lives Matter marches, and sports team championship parades.
Anyone remember David Woodman?
Of course, they waded in with the clubs and the bulldozers to clear Occupy from the Common.
But, he said the rhetoric he’s heard leading up to Saturday is concerning.
“I’ve never seen so many people almost looking for confrontation,” Evans said. “Tomorrow’s about coming together against the hate and bigotry.”
Who is looking for confrontation?
“We believe violence is actually a pretty good tool to use against people who don’t agree with our worldview.”
I pray nothing happens, but the pre$$ seems to endorse such things!
Two of the keynote speakers scheduled to address the rally are Kyle Chapman and Joe Biggs.
Chapman gained notoriety earlier this year after he was captured on video smashing a wooden post over the head of an antifascist protester at a march for Trump in Berkeley, Calif. He started the Fraternal Order of Alt Knights, which the Southern Poverty Law Center describes as a “New Alt-Right Fight Club ready for street violence.”
Biggs, a former Army staff sergeant, worked until recently for Infowars, a website founded by Alex Jones, the notorious conspiracy theorist.
Yes, the right has its controlled-opposition groups, too.
You don't see Jones anywhere on my blog roll, do you?
Police will seek to keep the rally-goers and the much larger group of counterprotesters separated on Saturday, using officers and barricades between the groups. One group is planning to march from Roxbury to the opposite end of the Common from the rally.
Why not just surround the 100 rednecks (or 50 as it turned out and what is with the f***ing language on the signs?) and protect them? It would be easier than controlling the two-mile mob greeting them.
My God what a staged and scripted show!
“We’re expecting about 20,000 to 30,000,” Roxbury activist Monica Cannon said. “We’ve had people reach out from the Jewish community, the Asian community. We have people coming from all over the country. I know Black Lives Matter global network, from Toronto, Minneapolis. . . . We have some activists who were on the front lines in Charlottesville coming to Boston as well, so we’re really hopeful.”
So the Globe embraces militancy, huh?
Cannon said demonstrators plan to meet in front of the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center in Roxbury at 10 a.m. for the “Fight Supremacy! Boston Counter-Protest & Resistance Rally”. Then they are expected to march down Tremont Street to the Common, at the corner of Beacon and Charles streets.
“We plan to send a really strong message that . . . you don’t get to come here and do this,” Cannon said.
And the authorities are not only letting you, they support you!
Come to think of it, that is NOT REAL PROTEST!
It's staged and orchestrated COINTELPRO sh**!!
To prepare for the march, dozens of people gathered in the basement of the Union United Methodist Church on Columbus Avenue on Friday for an hours-long training in “nonviolent direct action.” The session was taught by Black Lives Matter activists from Washington, D.C., and activists from New Jersey and Baltimore. It was organized by clergy and activists in Boston.
Everyone who is everyone coming together, huh?
“You have to think about the actions you’re going to take,” said Tre Murphy, 22, with the Baltimore Black Leadership Organizing Collective, and one of the instructors. “One wrong move can put your life in jeopardy.”
That is why I'm not taking any.
Participants acted out hypothetical hostile situations. Afterward, they discussed how their actions either escalated or deescalated the situation.
To later be presented as a real-time event?
Prema Bangera, 31, of Brighton, played the role of a counterprotester who faced raucous “Free Speech” protesters and police.
It is TRULY a ROLE!
“I want to make sure I prepare myself mentally, physically, and emotionally,” she said. “I’m preparing for the worst.”
Me, too, which is why I'm not watching any news or checking the Globe website today.
Reverend William B. McClain, senior pastor of the Union United Methodist Church, also participated in the antiviolence training with his wife, Jo Ann, though he was no stranger to facing hate. In September 1963, McClain said, he and another reverend were viciously beaten in Anniston, Ala., when they tried to integrate a library.
After the first black president was elected, McClain said, he thought the country was moving in the right direction. He feels differently now.
“I thought we had a long way to go, but not this far to go,” he said referencing the events in Charlottesville, and Trump’s comments about the protests. “I thought we were closer to a freedom-loving society.”
Where did you get that idea, or did all the data collection, cameras, and surveillance slip past you?
Not only that, the attempt to silence one side while legitimizing violence on the other is so far away from free speech is mind-boggling. And yet self-righteous left-wing sh**s can't see it.
Others prepared for Saturday by attending an interfaith gathering at Temple Israel of Boston late Friday afternoon. Clergy from various faiths and public officials delivered messages of unity to the more than 1,700 people gathered on the eve of the “Boston Free Speech” rally.
About says it all, doesn't it?
“What unites us is always stronger than what divides us,” said Attorney General Maura Healey.
Healey, a Democrat, also criticized Trump.
“Anyone who struggles to denounce white supremacy or Nazism does not deserve to be president of the United States,” she said, drawing a standing ovation.
When are you going to start worrying about the crime and corruption in this state rather than grandstanding for the agenda?
Why do the feds have to be the ones to bring charges against the Teamsters and Beacon Hill $cum?
“Let’s all go forth . . . as peacemakers,” Governor Charlie Baker told the crowd. Earlier in the day, Baker said that Boston played an important role in the fight for freedom and equality and that that would continue.
Has he forgotten the busing crisis of the 1970s?
“We’re going to do everything we can to make sure tomorrow is about liberty and justice, and about freedom and peace,” he said.
Uh-huh.
--more--"
When authority and pre$$ take one side over another you know it is getting dangerously close to 1984 and the society of RIGHTTHINK and THOUGHT CONTROL TYRANNY!!
When all else fails, they resort to WAVING the CHILDREN in front of you!
"Would you take kids to protest Saturday’s ‘free speech’ rally?" by Mark Arsenault Globe Staff August 18, 2017
Well, if you can't leave them at day care and no one is willing to baby$it, so.....
Her children have joined her to march for science and to walk for peace, but they won’t be at Saturday’s protests around downtown and on the Common.
“We’ve been to all the other rallies, but it seems the mayor and everyone is concerned that this one could go bad,” said Nicole Doyle, a 33-year-old mom from Quincy.
The Women’s March. The March for Science. Black Lives Matter demonstrations. These recent spate of protests have collectively attracted hundreds of thousands of people to downtown, including many families who brought children carrying colorful handmade signs, but as the city girds for Saturday, when the Boston Free Speech Coalition — which civil rights advocates say is linked to people who espouse racial hatred and violence — is sponsoring a speaker’s event and rally on Boston Common, many parents say they’re keeping their kids at home.
EVERYONE should STAY HOME!
Those that show are up are either paid to be there or damn fools!
They have reason: the event has raised substantial concern among city officials in light of last weekend’s violence at a “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Va., where a white nationalist allegedly drove into a crowd of people, killing a woman, and two state troopers died in a helicopter crash.
No mention of the violence from the other side, the antifa left.
Organizers of the Boston rally say their event is all about the First Amendment and freedom of expression, and that they denounce violence.
No one hears them.
Counterprotests organized downtown could draw tens of thousands of people, organizers predicted. City officials have pledged that more than 500 police officers will be working to keep the peace, and will end the event if it becomes violent.
I don't see how it can not become violent know, and how are 500 cops going to secure the area against tens of thousands?
This is a RECIPE for STAGED and APPROVED VIOLENCE by AUTHORITY!
For Doyle, participation in recent protests show her children, ages 10 and 7, “how many people are around us who feel the same way that we do. And that everybody matters, that ultimately the world is a good place.”
(Blog editor just shrugs shoulders)
Like a lot of civically-active parents, Doyle has had to balance concerns over safety with her sense of duty to raise her children to oppose racial intolerance.
Okay. I'm sure she is very active on the antiwar set, huh?
I mean, all those dead and orphaned children, families broken apart, etc.
“I fear that if it does turn violent that having children there will force police officers to perhaps put themselves at risk because children are obviously not as able to defend themselves,” she said. “And I just really didn’t want to be any more of a burden, because I am sure they are overwhelmed.”
She also wants to protect her kids from witnessing any bloodshed, she said.
Where do they get these people?
All friends and acquaintances or do they make 'em up?
Kathryn Link, 54, of Brookline, said her 13-year-old daughter insists on coming to the counterrally, though Link said she will see Saturday morning how event are unfolding and assess the risks at that time. She also has a 19-year-old daughter who will decide for herself if she will attend.
They attended the Woman’s March earlier this year and felt safe, but when leaving the Boston rally opposing President Trump’s travel ban, Link said her group encountered several young men who told Link’s Chinese-born daughter, then 12, to “go back to where you came from.”
“She was the only nonwhite person in our little group of people,” Link said of her daughter. “And there was just this moment of — wow. I didn’t have some smart response. It took me too long to say to her, basically, we are home. It was upsetting.”
I'm sorry, but I simply don't believe her.
Nothing personal. I'm just considering the source.
Link has been thinking of that incident ahead of Saturday’s protest.
“I’m white; I can blend in,” she said. “I can choose when to confront intolerance. By my children and other people of color, they don’t have that choice. [She] was just walking down the street coming back from that protest, and that somehow invited them to confront her. She didn’t confront them.”
“For people who are white it’s healthy sometimes to feel that fear and intolerance because we don’t on a day-to-day basis. It’s not healthy for my children. Because they experience that often, I think.”
That is so insane and full of hate I can't think of anything to type.
Yes, it is GOOD to FEEL TERRORIZED for NO REASON AT ALL!
Aren't these phony protesters supposed to be protesting the exact opposite??!!!!!
Boston police have “are recommending that people with strollers leave them at home, along with other large items,” the department said in a statement sent to the Globe through the mayor’s office. “We are expecting large crowds and often that can be an uncomfortable experience for young people. We are expecting a peaceful day.”
Don't go.
Julia Sullivan, 35, of Scituate, brought her children to the March for Science, and last weekend to a Stand Against Hate rally in Plymouth, but they will not be coming to Boston on Saturday, because of safety concerns.
Her children are ages 5, 3, and 8 months, Sullivan said.
She said she’s glad they went to the Plymouth rally, which gave her the opportunity to teach her 5-year-old about the power of numbers and the need to stand up for what you believe in, as well as “to be kind and rise above hate,” but the atmosphere around the Boston event, she said, “is a little too volatile right now.”
What can a 5-year-old learn from all the chaos and confusion -- if he even remembers it in later years. I remember having to go to kindergarten and some of the things that happened there. That's about it. Otherwise it is nothing but brainwashing of the child and using them as a prop (pick it up around the one-minute mark).
--more--"
Better get there early if you are going.
"Give peace a chance August 18, 2017
What a bunch of usurpers, that's all I'm saying!
Violence cannot be allowed.
Unless you are pushing wars for the EUSraeli Empire or are some antifa thug.
Then it's not only okay, but encouraged!
The supremacists have demonstrated a willingness to resort to terrorism. There is also the potential threat of violent counterprotesters. The main groups organizing the counterprotests on Saturday are committed to a peaceful demonstration, but police have heard whispers about plans by a fringe element to physically attack far-right rallygoers with acid.
That would be a crime, and a mistake. The so-called alt-right, the loose community of extremists that includes white supremacists, neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klan members, and Internet trolls, would love nothing more than an opportunity to play the victim.
There’s a better way to respond to last week’s tragedy in Virginia and take a stand against hate in our own community. Boston, as Police Commissioner Bill Evans said on Friday, has its own recent experience with traumatic terrorist attacks like the one in Charlottesville. The 2013 Marathon bombing inflicted a terrible toll on Boston, including the death of an innocent 8-year-old child. Then, the city’s residents did not lash out. They came together. They trusted law enforcement agencies to protect the city and provide justice, and they did.
Aren't you so glad that authority and the pre$$ is on your side, lefty?
The police department has mounted an impressive effort to keep everyone safe on Saturday. No sticks, bats, or other possible weapons will be allowed onto the Common. On Friday, the police set up security cameras around the Parkman Bandstand to record the crowds. If anyone causes trouble, there’s every reason to have confidence in the police to respond to their tactics.
Then all you right-wingers need to not show up. Like we say yesterday, they will see your face and you will be in trouble.
A strong, united, peaceful city is the best response to their message.....
Give it a rest, Globe.
--more--"
Maybe having a beer is the answer.
Just don't drive afterwards. Grab yourself a cup of coffee and call a cab instead.
Time to move on:
*************
Police see wider plot in Spain and say carnage could have been worse
Will there be a vehicle incident in Bo$ton today?
8 stabbed, 2 dead after knife attack in Finland The suspect who was taken into custody was described by police said was ‘‘a youngish man with a foreign background.’’ Security was being stepped up across the Nordic country, and the man’s identity and nationality were being investigated. Police said he is likely to have acted alone though it was not possible to completely rule out that other people were involved.
Every time you turn around there is another false flag fiction or other such psyop nonsense for mind-manipulating purposes.
I can't even remember that last time I even saw Finland in the paper.
"President Trump and his top national security aides huddled in the seclusion of Camp David on Friday, trying to formulate an effective new Afghanistan strategy after 16 frustrating years of war. The administration has struggled for months to fashion a plan for turning around the stalemated war, but stepping up the fight in a way that advances peace prospects may be even more difficult. Trump was meeting with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, and other top military and diplomatic aides at the presidential retreat in nearby Maryland. Mattis said earlier this week the administration was ‘‘very close’’ to finalizing a new approach. Aides said the moves being considered included additional military trainers as well as more US air support for Afghan forces. The meeting participants did not include Steve Bannon, who resigned Friday. Also excluded: General Joseph Votel, the Central Command chief who is responsible for US military operations in the greater Middle East, including Afghanistan."
Well, so much for him being a hero. He's going to capitulate. More U.S. air support is NOT the answer!
And think how ORWELLIAN is THAT!
ESCALATING WAR to ADVANCE PEACE!
That's what we call the propaganda war pre$$!
"Syrian government forces and allied Lebanese militant Hezbollah fighters have captured several Islamic State positions on strategic hilltops along the Syrian-Lebanese border, a military outlet said Friday, ahead of an anticipated Lebanese offensive to clear the extremists from their side of the frontier. Separately, the Russian military said Friday that its aircraft are supporting a Damascus government offensive against the Islamic State in a town in central Syria. This is the second push by the government in the area — in July, Hezbollah and the Syrian army defeated a pocket of Al Qaeda-linked fighters nearby. In Moscow, Russia’s Defense Ministry said the Syrian army is finalizing its push to encircle ISIS militants in the town of Akerbat in Hama province. Syrian troops have already seized key heights in the area, cutting off avenues of supply for the militants, according to the Russian statement. The militants have started fleeing the area in small groups, making their way toward Deir El-Zour, the largest city still under ISIS control, the ministry said. It added that Russian drones are patrolling the area round-the-clock, directing air strikes. The ministry also announced that Russian representatives signed a deal on Friday with Faylaq Al-Rahman, a Syrian rebel group, to join a deescalation zone agreement for Eastern Ghouta, an eastern Damascus. The deal was signed in Geneva and is to go into force later in the day, the ministry said. Last month, another rebel group in the area, Jaysh Al-Islam, joined the deescalation agreement. The deescalation zone in Eastern Ghouta is one of four proposed in a plan approved in May by Russia, Turkey, and Iran....."
Trump simply cut his losses there, and apparently the Israeli lobby is not happy about it.
They can't run to Iraq, either:
"Senior US military leaders said Friday that Iraqi forces are largely set for their next major campaign against Islamic State extremists after closing out the wrenching nine-month battle to retake the city of Mosul. Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend, the top US commander in Iraq, said he sees the Iraqi assault on the ISIS-held area of Tal Afar ‘‘unfolding relatively soon.’’ The upcoming fight follows weeks of Iraq regrouping troops and repairing equipment and weapons after recapturing Mosul in July. Tal Afar and the surrounding area is among the last pockets of Islamic State-held territory in Iraq after victory was declared in Mosul, the country’s second-largest city. Tal Afar is west of Mosul and about 90 miles east of the Syrian border. It sits along a major road that was a key ISIS supply route. Mosul took a heavy toll on Iraqi forces. As many as 1,400 troops were killed and more than 7,000 wounded, and the Iraqi military has proceeded methodically since its biggest success to date. ‘‘The last days of Mosul looked like Iwo Jima to me,’’ Townsend told a small group of reporters. ‘‘In the end, it took bulldozers plowing ISIS fighters under the rubble,’’ he recalled. ‘‘Iraqi infantry men advanced beside the bulldozers, shooting and throwing grenades at Daesh fighters popping up out of the rubble.’’
[Aren't those war crimes, and if not, how about the morality of it?
Only one equal I can think of.]
Iraiqi Humvees emerged shot up, their glass spider-webbed with bullet marks and shrapnel, their weapons worn out or even destroyed. In the weeks since, much of the Iraqis’ equipment has been repaired or replaced, said General Joseph Votel, America’s top Middle East commander who spent the last few days in Iraq. ‘‘I think they are ready,’’ Votel told reporters Friday, echoing Townsend. The key priority, he said, is ensuring the Iraqis maintain momentum and have a good battle plan, and that the US-led coalition is prepared to support them. Votel met with Iraqi military and political leaders in Baghdad and with Kurdish Peshmerga leaders in Irbil, in northern Iraq. He was ensuring US military advisory teams are with the right local units to provide the best support, intelligence gathering, surveillance and advice.
[Is that why he was excluded from the Afghanistan meetings?]
Iraqi military leaders said Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi has approved their combat plans. The fight will involve a broad spectrum of forces, including the Iraqi Army, counterterrorism troops, police and a group of mainly Shi’ite, Iranian-backed militias. The government has agreed to start the fight ‘‘in the next few days,’’ Iraqi Brigadier General Yahya Rasool told reporters. Speaking through an interpreter, he said officials believe there are between 1,400 and 1,600 ISIS imilitants in the Tal Afar area. Many are foreign fighters, he said. Rasool said the various Iraqi forces already have largely encircled Tal Afar."
"Trump approves plan to create independent cyber command" Associated Press August 18, 2017
WASHINGTON — President Trump has approved a long-delayed Pentagon plan to create an independent and more aggressive cyber command in order to beef up cyberwar operations against the Islamic State group and other foes.
Great, that's all we need, another alphabet agency capable of spying and hacking.
The White House announcement Friday means US Cyber Command may eventually be split off from the intelligence-focused National Security Agency.
For now, Trump has agreed to raise the stature of Cyber Command within the military and give it more autonomy.
‘‘This new Unified Combatant Command will strengthen our cyberspace operations and create more opportunities to improve our nation’s defense,’’ Trump said. ‘‘The elevation of United States Cyber Command demonstrates our increased resolve against cyberspace threats and will help reassure our allies and partners and deter our adversaries.’’
What if the enemy is "ourselves?"
Making cyber an independent military command will put the fight in digital space on the same footing as more traditional realms of battle on land, in the air, at sea, and in space.
That is where my print ended and the web took over.
Another battlefield, yay!
Cui bono?
The move reflects the escalating threat of cyberattacks and intrusions from other nation states, terrorist groups and hackers, and comes as the US faces ever-widening fears about Russian hacking following Moscow’s efforts to meddle in the 2016 American election.
That has been discredited by ma$$ media outlets in the past week, it's become known that the "hacks" were nothing more than leaks from DNC members -- and yet here is the lie presented as narrative yet again!
The goal is to give Cyber Command more autonomy, freeing it from any constraints that stem from working alongside the NSA, which is responsible for monitoring and collecting telephone, internet, and other intelligence data from around the world — a responsibility that can sometimes clash with military operations against enemy forces.
So it can carry out OFFENSIVE OPERATIONS against who it so chooses.
Senator John McCain praised the move, saying the administration must now develop a clear policy and strategy for deterring and responding to cyber threats.
That should give you pause and concern!
Kenneth Rapuano, the assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense, told reporters Friday that elevating the status of Cyber Command will give it a bigger voice in advocating for resources to fight cyber threats.
The plan has been languishing since last year when then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter sent a proposal to President Barack Obama to make Cyber Command an independent military headquarters and break it away from the NSA.
At the time, he believed that the NSA’s desire to collect intelligence was preventing the military from eliminating the Islamic State’s ability to raise money, inspire attacks and command its widely dispersed network of fighters.
After Trump’s inauguration, officials said Defense Secretary Jim Mattis endorsed much of the plan. But debate over details dragged on for months.
Officials say the Pentagon plan sent to the White House calls for Army Lieutenant General William Mayville to be nominated to lead Cyber Command, although that has not been announced. Leadership of the NSA could be turned over to a civilian.
The United States has long operated quietly in cyberspace, using it to collect information, disrupt enemy networks and aid conventional military missions. But as other nations and foes expand their use of cyberspying and attacks, the United States is determined to improve its ability to incorporate cyber operations into its everyday fighting.
Well, at least the world has been warned.
Yeah, hacking and sabotage is okay when the U.S. government does it.
It's what is known as the old double standard.
--more--"
Time to get grounded:
"Saturday, August 19, 2017
The assassination/ressurection of Steve Bannon
"Ship Rudderless After Trump Drops Its Pilot" (Moon). "Cohn Beats Bannon" (Aangirfan).
That is a truly chilling Jewish supremacist caption (not to mention unbelievably boastful and instructive of what is really going on), the exclamation that Wars For The Jews are back on the table. Bannon was consistently blocking 'foreign entanglements'. He saw them, correctly, as being the main impediment to MAGA (see Moon: ""Grown-ups" Versus "Ideologues"? The Media Narrative of the White House May Be All Wrong").
There may be a ray of hope. This appears to be a plan. Bannon felt blocked in the White House, and the idea appears to be that he can better advance Trumpism by being an outside critic of the establishment figures, 'swamp' creatures, and Zionists that are dragging Trump down.
"Bannon Speaks: "I'm Going To War For Trump"". Tweet (Mark Ames):
"Bannon & Breitbart could be more useful to Trump opposing him from the right, just as Trump laundered reputations of every DC hack failure"
From inside the White House, the whole Charlottesville thing must look like an elaborate, and successful, IC/Soros plot (a psych op), with the CIA running the 'Nazis', and Soros running the antifa (for those demanding proof of Soros involvement, this is why it is hard to come by: "Here Is The NDA That George Soros Forced Professional Anarchist To Sign"), forcing Trump into a position that could be mocked by his opponents as fascist. Inside the White house, Bannon was powerless to change the narrative. Essentially, leaving the White House is an admission by Bannon that things are much worse than he thought, and change isn't possible from within. What is extremely worrying is that the United States has lost this veto to quick calls for war, which we will now start seeing.
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I normally pick and choose the commentary there; however, the posts are too important:
"Friday, August 18, 2017
Clown alley
"EXCLUSIVE: Republican Congressman Meets With WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange" and "EXCLUSIVE: Rep. Rohrabacher Says Assange Could Be Pardoned For Info About DNC Leak Source". Rohrabacher is one of those eccentric Republicans like Paul or Amash - there are absolutely no eccentric Democrats, who are all neolibs or disguised Republicans - whose politics is a bit unpredictable. The obvious deal is that Assange gets out in return for proving the non-Russian origins of the material released by WikiLeaks, a fact which would be devastating to the Clintonista/warmonger narrative. I wonder how Assange goes about proving this without disclosing his actual source(s). It was a three hour meeting!
Assange.
"Steve Bannon, Unrepentant" (added: if you believe all the timelines, Bannon gave this interview after he had submitted his resignation!):
"I asked Bannon about the connection between his program of economic nationalism and the ugly white nationalism epitomized by the racist violence in Charlottesville and Trump’s reluctance to condemn it. Bannon, after all, was the architect of the strategy of using Breitbart to heat up white nationalism and then rely on the radical right as Trump’s base.
He dismissed the far right as irrelevant and sidestepped his own role in cultivating it: “Ethno-nationalism—it's losers. It's a fringe element. I think the media plays it up too much, and we gotta help crush it, you know, uh, help crush it more.”
“These guys are a collection of clowns,” he added.
From his lips to Trump’s ear.
“The Democrats,” he said, “the longer they talk about identity politics, I got ’em. I want them to talk about racism every day. If the left is focused on race and identity, and we go with economic nationalism, we can crush the Democrats.”"
Clown alley.
Tweet (Stephen Miller):
"This isn't hard to figure out"
"Trump deepens appeal to fascist right with defense of Confederate monuments" (Martin). Buying right into the Democrat echo chamber. I'm surprised - the socialists are usually smarter than this. No, Trump isn't planning to win with the support of the 0.1% of the electorate that are neo-Nazis.
"Burying the Lie of the “Alt-Left”". Discussion at Naked Capitalism (which I guess is the start of the end of comments there!). The thing that makes the silent majority/deplorables seethe is having the elites tell them not to believe their lyin' eyes as they have made some kind of high-end political science conceptual mistake. The alt-right must have been fighting ghosts on the streets of Charlottesville. Pretending the conspiracy angle doesn't exist, or using the clever debating techniques of 'smart' people, no longer works. In fact, as Bannon so well knows, it backfires. You can 'win' every debate you enter into, and lose every election.
The Democrats could say something like "Trump thinks x, and we think he's wrong, and here's why we suggest he's wrong", but they always do it so as to assert their moral superiority over both Trump and anybody who voted for him, or considered voting for him. It always turns into a repeat of Killary's 'deplorables' speech. They can't seem to help themselves, and when Republicans who lost to Trump pile on in the same fashion, it looks even worse.
"Richard Spencer Tells Israelis They 'Should Respect' Him: 'I'm a White Zionist'".
"Hitler was a hunter".
Tweet (Gil Hoffman):
"Israel condemns Nazis but has to put it in proper proportion, bc relations with US govt are important, minister @ayoobkara tells @knesset99."
"If you're wondering why Saudi Arabia and Israel have united against Al-Jazeera, here's the answer" (Fisk).
"War Crimes: Saudi Arabia Should Pay the Penalty for Catastrophe in Yemen" (Prashad).
"Refusing to Learn Lessons from Libya" (Carden).
Whoops!: "NYT Shocking Report: US "Ally" Ukraine Is Source Of North Korean Missile Engines".
"C.I.A. Connections of White Nationalist Leaders and Alternative Media Figures". I don't know about all the details, but the gist of this is certainly correct. It is just a part of the political theater we saw in Charlottesville.
"From previously unpublished pages of Gogol’s “Diary of a Madman”"
Bannon Butts bromance.
--MORE--"
Also see: Trump Under Assault: Generals and Wall Street in Charge
"The Neocons are pushing the USA and the rest of the world towards a dangerous crisis
This analysis was written for the Unz Review.
First, my writing on the wall
In October of last year a wrote an analysis I entitled The USA are about to face the worst crisis of their history and how Putin’s example might inspire Trump and I think that this is a good time to revisit it now. I began the analysis by looking at the calamities which would befall the United States if Hillary was elected. Since this did not happen (thank God!), we can safely ignore that part and look at my prediction of what would happen if Trump was elected. Here is what I wrote:
Trump wins. Problem: he will be completely alone. The Neocons have a total, repeat total, control of the Congress, the media, banking and finance, and the courts. From Clinton to Clinton they have deeply infiltrated the Pentagon, Foggy Bottom, and the three letter agencies. The Fed is their stronghold. How in the world will Trump deal with these rabid “crazies in the basement“? Consider the vicious hate campaign which all these “personalities” (from actors, to politicians to reporters) have unleashed against Trump – they have burned their bridges, they know that they will lose it all if Trump wins (and, if he proves to be an easy pushover his election will make no difference anyway). The Neocons have nothing to lose and they will fight to the very last one. What could Trump possibly do to get anything done if he is surrounded by Neocons and their agents of influence? Bring in an entirely different team? How is he going to vet them? His first choice was to take Pence as a VP – a disaster (he is already sabotaging Trump on Syria and the elections outcome). I *dread* the hear whom Trump will appoint as a White House Chief of Staff as I am afraid that just to appease the Neocons he will appoint some new version of the infamous Rahm Emanuel… And should Trump prove that he has both principles and courage, the Neocons can always “Dallas” him and replace him with Pence. Et voilà!I went on to suggest that Trump’s only option would be to follow Putin’s example and do the the Neocons what Putin did to the oligarchs. Clearly that did not happen. In fact, one month after the election of Trump I wrote another analysis entitled “The Neocons and the “deep state” have neutered the Trump Presidency, it’s over folks!“.
Less than a month ago I warned that a ‘color revolution ‘ was taking place in the USA. My first element of proof was the so-called “investigation” which the CIA, FBI, NSA and others were conducting against President Trump’s candidate to become National Security Advisor, General Flynn. Tonight, the plot to get rid of Flynn has finally succeeded and General Flynn had to offer his resignation. Trump accepted it. Now let’s immediately get one thing out of the way: Flynn was hardly a saint or a perfect wise man who would single handedly saved the world. That he was not. However, what Flynn was is the cornerstone of Trump’s national security policy. (…) The Neocon run ‘deep state’ has now forced Flynn to resign under the idiotic pretext that he had a telephone conversation, on an open, insecure and clearly monitored, line with the Russian ambassador. And Trump accepted this resignation. Ever since Trump made it to the White House, he has taken blow after blow from the Neocon-run Ziomedia, from Congress, from all the Hollywood doubleplusgoodthinking “stars” and even from European politicians. And Trump took each blow without ever fighting back. Nowhere was his famous “you are fired!” to be seen. But I still had hope. I wanted to hope. I felt that it was my duty to hope. But now Trump has betrayed us all. Again, Flynn was not my hero. But he was, by all accounts, Trump’s hero. And Trump betrayed him. The consequences of this will be immense. For one thing, Trump is now clearly broken. It took the ‘deep state’ only weeks to castrate Trump and to make him bow to the powers that be. Those who would have stood behind Trump will now feel that he will not stand behind them and they will all move back away from him. The Neocons will feel elated by the elimination of their worst enemy and emboldened by this victory they will push on, doubling-down over and over and over again. It’s over, folks, the deep state has won.I then concluded that the consequences of this victory would catastrophic for the United States:
In their hate-filled rage against Trump and the American people (aka “the basket of deplorables”) the Neocons have had to show their true face. By their rejection of the outcome of the elections, by their riots, their demonization of Trump, the Neocons have shown two crucial things: first, that the US democracy is a sad joke and that they, the Neocons, are an occupation regime which rules against the will of the American people. In other words, just like Israel, the USA has no legitimacy left. And since, just like Israel, the USA are unable to frighten their enemies, they are basically left with nothing, no legitimacy, no ability to coerce. So yes, the Neocons have won. But their victory is removes the last chance for the US to avoid a collapse.I think that what we are seeing today are the first signs of the impending collapse.
The symptoms of the agony
- Externally, the US foreign policy is basically “frozen” and in lieu of a foreign policy we now only have a long series of empty threats hurled at a list of demonized countries which are now promised “fire and brimstone” should they dare to disobey Uncle Sam. While this makes for good headlines, this does not qualify as a “policy” of any kind (I discussed this issue at length during my recent interview with SouthFront). And then there is Congress which has basically stripped Trump from his powers to conduct foreign policy. This bizarre, and illegal, form of a “vote of no-confidence” further hammers in the message that Trump is either a madman, a traitor, or both.
- Internally, the latest riots in Charlottesville now being blamed on Trump who, after being a Putin agent is now further demonized as some kind of Nazi (see Paul Craig Roberts’ first and second warnings about this dynamic)
- Organizationally, it is clear that Trump is surrounded by enemies as illustrated by the absolutely outrageous fact that he can’t even talk to a foreign head of state without having the transcript of his conversation leaked to the Ziomedia.
The psychological preparation for the forthcoming coup: scaring them all to death
Here are three very telling examples taken from Newsweek’s front page:
Ask yourself, what is the message here?
Trump is a traitor, he works for Putin, Putin wants to destroy democracy in the United States and these two men together are the most dangerous men on the planet. This is a “plot against America“, no less!
Not bad, right?
“They” are clearly out there go get “us” and “we” are all in terrible danger: Kim Jong-un is about to declare nuclear war on the USA, Xi and Putin are threatening the world with their armies, and “our” own President came to power courtesy of the “Russian KGB” and “Putin’s hackers”, he now works for the Russians, he is also clearly a Nazi, a White supremacist, a racist and, possibly, a “new Hitler” (as is Putin, of course!).
And then, there are those truly scary Mooslims and Aye-rabs who apparently want only two things in life: destroy “our way of life” and kill all the “infidels”. This is why we need the TSA, 16 intelligence agencies and militarized police SWAT teams everywhere: in case the terrorists come to get us where we live.
Dangerous international consequences
This would all be rather funny if it was not also extremely dangerous. For one thing, the US is really poking at a dangerous foe when it constantly tries to scare Kim Jong-un and the DPRK leadership. No, not because of the North Korean nukes (which are probably not real nuclear capable ICBMs but a not necessarily compatible combination of nuclear ‘devices’ and intermediate range ballistic missiles) but because of the huge and hard to destroy conventional North Korean military. The real threat are not missiles, but a deadly combination of conventional artillery and special forces which present very little danger to the USA or the US military, but which present a huge threat for the population of Seoul and the northern section of South Korea. Nukes, in whatever form, are really only an added problem, a toxic “icing” on an already very dangerous ‘conventional cake’.
[Sidebar – a real life nightmare: Now, if you *really* want to terrify yourself and stay awake all night then consider the following. While I personally believe that Kim Jong-un is not insane and that the main objective of the North Korean leadership is to avoid a war at all costs, what if I am wrong? What if those who say that the North Korean leaders are totally insane are right? Or, which I think is much more likely, what if Kim Jong-un and the North Korean leaders came to the conclusion that they have nothing to lose, that the Americans are going to kill them all, along with their families and friends? What could they, in theory, do if truly desperate? Well, let me tell you: forget about Guam; think Tokyo! Indeed, while the DPRK could devastate Seoul with old fashioned artillery systems, DPRK missiles are probably capable of striking Tokyo or the Keihanshin region encompassing Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe including the key industries of the Hanshin Industrial Region. The Greater Tokyo area (Kanto region) and the Keihanshin region are very densely populated (37 and 20 million people respectively) and contain an immense number of industries, many of which would produce an ecological disaster of immense proportions if hit by missiles. Not only that, but a strike on the key economic and financial nodes of Japan would probably result in a 9-11 kind of international economic collapse. So if the North Koreans wanted to really, really hurt the Americans what they could do is strike Seoul, and key cities in Japan resulting in a huge political crisis for the entire planet. During the Cold War we used to study the consequences of a Soviet strike against Japan and the conclusion was always the same: Japan cannot afford a war of any kind. The Japanese landmass is too small, too densely populated, to rich in lucrative targets and a war lay waste to the entire country. This is still true today, only more so. And just imagine the reaction in South Korea and Japan if some crazy US strike on the DPRK results in Seoul and Tokyo being hit by missiles! The South Koreans have already made their position unambiguously clear, by the way. As for the Japanese, they are officially placing their hopes in missiles (as if technology could mitigate the consequences of insanity!). So yeah, the DPRK is plenty dangerous and pushing them into their last resort is totally irresponsible indeed, nukes or no nukes]
What we are observing now is positive feedback loop in which each move by the Neocons results in a deeper and deeper destabilization of the entire system. Needless to say, this is extremely dangerous and can only result in an eventual catastrophe/collapse. In fact, the signs that the USA are totally loosing control are already all over the place, here are just a few headlines to illustrate this:
- Iran could quit nuclear deal in ‘hours’ if new U.S. sanctions imposed: Rouhani
- Israel: Netanyahu declares support for a Kurdish state
- Syrian forces take 3 more towns en route to Deir ez-Zor in first airborne operation
- Maduro calls for nationwide ‘anti-imperialist’ drills after Trump’s threat of ‘military option’
- Soldiers of the 201st (Russian) base in Tadjikistan have been put on high alert as part of a military exercise
- Confirmed: Turkey to end support for anti-government terrorists in Syria
- Russia Plans Huge Zapad 2017 Military Exercises With Belarus
Dangerous domestic consequences
First on my list would be race riots. In fact, they are already happening all over the United States, but they are rarely presented as such. And I am not talking about the “official” riots of Black Lives Matter, which are bad enough, I am talking about the many mini-riots which the official media is systematically trying to obfuscate. Those interested in this topic should read the book Don’t Make the Black Kids Angry by Colin Flaherty which shows that racist attack on Whites by Blacks (aka “polar bear hunting”) are on the rise pretty much all over the county. Likewise, to anybody who stubbornly persists in ignoring the strong correlation between race and crime ought to read Ron Unz’s seminal analysis Race and Crime in America. Now, before some self-appointed thought police volunteer accuses me a racism, I am not saying anything at all about the causes of the racial problems in the United States. I am only saying that racial violence in the USA is severe and rapidly getting much worse.
The second problem which I see threatening the US society is an extremely rapid delegitimization of the entire US political system and, especially, of the Federal government. For decades now Americans have been voting for ‘A’ and each time what they ended up with is ‘non-A’. Examples of that include the famous “read my lips, no new taxes”, of course, but also Obama promises to stop stupid wars and now Trump’s promise to “drain the swamp”. Americans have been lied to for decades and they know it. There is a widening chasm between the so-called “American values” taught in schools and the reality of power. While officially the USA are supposed to stand for democracy, freedom and all the other good things advocated by the Founding Fathers, the disgusting reality is that the USA are in bed with Wahabis, Nazis and Zionists. The all-prevailing hypocrisy of it all now threatens to bring down the entire US political system just as the no less prevailing hypocrisy of the Soviet system brought down the USSR (if interested, you can read more about this topic here). The simple truth is that no regime can survive for too long when it proactively supports the exact opposite of what it officially is supposed to stand for. The result? I have yet to meet an adult American who would sincerely believe that he/she lives in the “land of the free and the home of the brave”. Maybe infants still buy this stuff, but even teenagers know that this is a load of bull.
Third, for all the encouraging statistics about the Dow Jones, unemployment and growth, the reality is that the US society is rapidly transforming itself in a three-tired one: on top, a small number of obscenely rich people, under them, a certain amount of qualified professionals who service the filthy rich and who struggle to maintain a lifestyle which in the past was associated with the middle-class. And then the vast majority of Americans who basically are looking at making “minimal wage plus a little something” and who basically survive by not paying for health insurance, by typically working two jobs, by eating cheap and unhealthy “prolefeed” and by giving up on that which every American worker could enjoy in the 1950s and 1960s (have one parent at home, have paid holidays, a second vacation home, etc.). Americans are mostly hard workers and, so far, most of them are surviving, but they are mostly one paycheck away from seriously bad poverty. A lot of them only make ends meet because they get help from their parents and grand-parents (the same is true of southern Europe, by the way). A large segment of the US population now survives only because of Walmart and the Dollar Store. Once that fails, food stamps are the last option. That, or jail, of course.
Combine all this and you get a potentially extremely explosive situation. No wonder that when so many Americans heard Hillary’s comment about the “basket of deplorables” they took that as declaration of war.
And how do the Neocons plan to deal with all this?
By cracking down on free speech and dissent, of course! What else?
Their only response – repression of course!
YouTube, Google, Facebook, Twitter – they are all cracking down on “bad” speech which includes pretty much any topic a garden variety self-described ‘liberal’ frowns upon. GoDaddy and Google are even going after domain names. Oh sure, nobody gets thrown in jail for, say, defending the 2nd Amendment, but they get “demonetized” and their accounts simply closed. It’s not the cops cracking down on free speech, it’s “Corporate America”, but the effect is the same. Apparently, the Neocons do not realize that censorship is not a viable strategy in the age of the Internet. Or maybe they do, and they are deliberately trying to trigger a backlash?
Then there is the vilification campaign in the media: unless you are some kind of ‘minority’ you are assumed to be nefarious by birth and guilty of all the evils on the planet. And your leader is Trump, of course, or maybe even Putin himself, vide supra. Christian heterosexual White males better run for cover…
Whatever may be the case, by their manic insistence, on one hand, to humiliate and crush Trump and, on the other, to repress millions of Americans the Neocons are committing a double mistake. First, they are showing their true face and, second, they are subverting the very institutions they are using to control and run this country. That, of course, only further weaken the Neocons and the United States themselves and that further accelerates the positive feedback loop mentioned above which now threatens the entire international system.
Us and them
What makes the gradual collapse of the AngloZionist Empire so uniquely dangerous is that it is by far the biggest and most powerful empire in world history. No empire has ever had the quasi monopoly on power the USA enjoyed since WWII. By any measure, military, economic, political, social, the USA came out of WWII as a giant and while there were ups and downs during the subsequent decades, the collapse of the USSR only reaffirmed what appeared to be the total victory of the United States. In my admittedly subjective opinion, the last competent (no, I did not say ‘good’, I said ‘competent’) US President was George Herbert Walker Bush who, unlike his successors, at least new how to run an Empire. After that, it is all downhill, faster and faster. And if Obama was probably the most incompetent President in US history, Trump will be the first one to be openly lynched while in office. As a result, the AngloZionist Empire is now like a huge freight train which lost its locomotive but which still have an immense momentum pushing it forward even though there is nobody in control any more. The rest of the planet, with the irrelevant exception of the East Europeans, is now scrambling in horror to get out of the path of this out of control train. So far, the tracks (minimal common sense, political realities) are more or less holding, but a crash (political, economic or military) could happen at any moment. And that is very, very scary.
The USA has anywhere between 700 to 1000 military bases worldwide, the entire international financial system is deeply enmeshed with the US economy, the US Dollar is still the only real reserve currency, United States Treasury securities are held by all the key international players (including Russia and China), SWIFT is politically controlled by the USA, the US is the only country in the world that can print as much money as it wants and, last but not least, the US has a huge nuclear arsenal. As a result, a US collapse would threaten everybody and that means that nobody would want to trigger one. The collapse of the Soviet Union threatened the rest of mankind only in one way: by its nuclear arsenal. In contrast, any collapse of the United States would threaten everybody in many different ways.
So the real question now is this: can the rest of the planet prevent a catastrophic collapse of the AngloZionist Empire?
This is the irony of our situation: even though the entire planet is sick and tried of the incompetent arrogance of the AngloZionists, nobody out there wants their Empire to catastrophically collapse. And yet, with the Neocons in power, such a collapse appears inevitable with potentially devastating consequences for everybody.
This is really amazing, think of it: everybody hates the Neocons, not only a majority of the American people, but truly the entire planet. And yet that numerically small group of people has somehow managed to put everybody in danger, including themselves, due to their ugly vindictiveness, infinite arrogance and ideology-induced short-sightedness. That this could ever have happened, and at a planetary scale, is a dramatic testimony to the moral and spiritual decay of our civilization: how did we ever let things get that far?!
And the next obvious question: can we still stop them?
I honestly don’t know. I hope so, but I am not sure. My biggest hope with Trump was that he would be willing to sacrifice the Empire for the sake of the USA (the opposite of what the Neocons are doing: they are willing to sacrifice the USA for the sake of their Empire) and that he would manage a relatively safe and hopefully non-violent transition from Empire to “normal country” for the USA.
Clearly, this is ain’t happening. Instead, the Neocons are threatening everybody: the Chinese, the Russians, the North Koreans and the Venezuelans of course, but also the Europeans (economically), the entire Middle-East (via the “only democracy in the Middle-East”), all the developing countries and even the American people. Heck, they are even threatening the US President himself, and in not-so-subtle ways!
So what’s next?
Truly, I don’t know. But my overwhelming sense is that Trump will be removed from office, either for “high crimes and misdemeanors” or for “medical reasons” (they will simply declare him insane and unfit to be the President). Seeing how weak and spineless Trump is, he might even be “convinced” to resign. I don’t see them simply murdering him simply because he is no Kennedy either. After that, Pence comes to power and it will all be presented like a wonderful event, a group-hug of the elites followed by an immediate and merciless crackdown on any form of political opposition or dissent which will immediately be labeled as racist, homophobic, anti-Semitic, terrorist, etc. The evil hand of the “Russian KGB” (yes, I know, the KGB was dissolved in 1991) will be found everywhere, especially amongst US libertarians (who will probably the only ones with enough brains to understand what is taking place). The (pseudo-) “Left” will rejoice. Should this course of action result in an unexpected level or resistance, either regional or social, a 9-11 false flag followed by a war will the most likely scenario (why stray away from something which worked so well the first time around?!). Unless the USA decides to re-invade Grenada or give Nauru a much deserved thrashing, any more or less real war will result in a catastrophic failure for the USA at which point the use of nukes by the Neocon crazies might become a very real risk, especially if symbolic US targets such as aircraft carriers are hit (in 1991 when the US sent the 82nd AB to Iraq there was nothing standing between this light infantry force and the Iraqi armored divisions. Had the Iraqis attacked the plan was to use tactical nuclear weapons. Then this was all quickly forgotten).
There is a reason why the Neocons thrive in times of crisis: it allows them to hide behind the mayhem, especially when they are the ones who triggered the mayhem in the first place. This means that as long as the Neocons are anywhere near in power they will never, ever, allow peace to suddenly break out, lest the spotlight be suddenly shined directly upon them. Chaos, wars, crises – this is their natural habitat. Think of it as the by-product of their existence. Eventually, of course, they will be stopped and they will be defeated, like all their predecessors in history. But I shudder when I think of the price mankind will have to pay this time around.
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