"The scales have fallen from my eyes," my scabby old eyes, sob!
Last night I watched Gary Johnson and Bill Weld be tortured by the deplorable Chris Matthews. This was at the University of New Hampshire at Durham. This school is a beautiful, smallish place which the state minimally supports financially, on the "live free or die" principle. I taught ROTC classes there for six months long ago after returning from VN and while waiting for my class at the staff college to commence. Fees are high for a state university and Matthews looked surprised when he asked how many students in the audience had student loans or scholarships. There were not very many. Well, Chris, they are mostly there on mommy and daddy's dime. In other words, these are generally not poor kids.
I watched only the second half of this display of Matthew's ego. We had been viewing something worthwhile on France TV Monde. It was a series called "Les Francais" which deals with a small group of middle class French people trying to deal with issues and crises of the day; politics, making a living, philanthropy, etc. Last night's episode had a lengthy segment dealing with the efforts of dairy farmers to survive in Normandy under EU regulation. It was gripping. Really.
In the course of the town hall at U. of N.H. several things were confirmed to me about the Libertarian tcket:
1. Bill Weld is a very smart guy and I wish he were at the top of the ticket.
2. Johnson probably IS an unreformed pot-head and I don't care. Bill Clinton was or had been the same and he really was not all that bad a president.
3. Johnson is a geographical ignoramus and I don't care much about that at all. There would be people around who could show him where Aleppo is on the map, people like Weld. Actually there probably would be far too many people ready to educate him.
4. Johnson doesn't know any foreign leaders except for Vicente Fox, and could not remember his name. He fumbled around with the answer to "Who do you respect among foreign leaders?" Matthews had a good time sneering at him while he did that. The answer Johnson should have given was that he respects none of them and that he would start from that position of neutrality after inauguration.
5. Johnson stated clearly and unequivocally that he believes HC to be a trigger happy war lover who will set out to make the world safe for "the children." Johnson is disinclined to do that.
6. Johnson stated convincingly that he and Weld would try to restrain the growth of federal power and to reduce the influence of the nanny state in our lives. This was music to my ears.
7. Johnson has a sense of humor and asked Matthews if it would be a bad thing to have people running the government who had a sense of humor. I liked that. Humor seems missing from both HC and DT.
8. When asked by Matthews how he answers the question as to why people should waste their vote on him, he replied that "the only wasted vote is one you cast for someone you don't believe in." Amen
At that response I saw the light on the road to Damascus or some similar piece of ground. I am looking for a Johnson/Weld sign for the lawn if any exist.
And then on MJ this morning, Fightin' Joe Scarborough and his buddy Mike Hayden opined that someone needs to "teach the Russians a lesson." That's it for me. pl
Increasingly I believe that “Make America Great Again” = “Make Germany Great Again” dusted off from the 30’s. And I do believe that Trump, age 70, may very well have accelerated the process described in this extremely interesting article about drug use in the 3rd Reich.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/sep/25/blitzed-norman-ohler-adolf-hitler-nazi-drug-abuse-interview
Sir,
Your experience and intelligence are needed on the Alt Right. Don’t allow yourself to be put off by the memes. There are plenty of good Americans who used to be Libertarians over there.
And they call the Borg by its true name.
Sir
I lean libertarian philosophically. For over two decades I have not voted for the candidates from the duopoly. I have written in Ron Paul for the past 4 presidential elections. I have never bought into the voting for the lesser evil thesis that partisans use to justify their vote. Johnson is correct IMO when he states that only wasted vote is for one you don’t believe in.
This election however I am likely to change my voting tradition to vote fir Trump. There’s three reasons why. First, during the primary when it would have been politically expedient to take the Borgist stance, he took positions against war and unnecessary foreign interventions. Second, during the debate this week he took a no nuclear first strike position and reiterated his stance that we should not be the world’s policeman. Third, again during the debate he showed me that he got that the Fed’s policies have created a financial asset bubble and that despite the doubling of the federal governments debt under Obama and the trillions in balance sheet expansion by the Fed we have the weakest post-war economic recovery. He showed me that he understands that growth is going to require substantial reform.
Weld does surprise me. First time, I heard him was last August driving through NH to get back to Montreal.He was being interviewed by NPR and he sounded very smart and knowledgeable. I thought he was on top of that ticket since I was not paying too much attention then. Last month, he was interviewed on “with all due respect” on Bloomberg and that’s when I came to appreciate his person and personality. Hopefully, the next time (in 4 yrs) he will run as POTUS.
I voted for Johnson in 2012 and am going to vote for him again this time around. He can be a bit doofy sometimes but he’s smart and has a good background in terms of experience with governance. Although I’m a 3rd party voter, I still want to see a “good resume” for the job, and that includes prior political experience (meaning winning an election).
I think Johnson’s background as both a successful business owner and then a 2-term governor is more important and says more about his character and capabilities than gotcha foreign policy questions that are flubbed.
Short Johnson bio (purposefully avoided Wikipedia and campaign websites) http://www.nbcnews.com/id/44581578/ns/decision_2012/t/candidate-bio—gary-johnson/#.V-1lfoWcGcw
Gary Johnson is the former two-term Republican governor of New Mexico. Raised in North Dakota and then New Mexico, Johnson graduated from the University of New Mexico in 1975. Johnson started a construction company in 1976 which grew into a multi-million enterprise in the decades since. He won the governorship in 1994 as an upstart Republican candidate, making a name for himself over the course of his time in office as a libertarian-minded conservative. He’s been active in libertarian causes, including marijuana legalization, since leaving office and is an accomplished athlete, having climbed Mt. Everest in 2003.
Weld was the first republican I ever voted for. The Democrat he ran against was truly horrid. Even the super liberal newspaper of the Northampton, MA area at the time backed Weld over Silber.
Our current MA governor is a Republican who has over 80% job approval rating and is very well liked across the state. He’s very quietly competent, and had both prior business and gov’t experience… and it shows!
‘Boring’ Municipal Bill: Local Officials Applaud Cutting Red Tape http://news.wgbh.org/2016/08/09/politics-government/boring-municipal-bill-local-officials-applaud-cutting-red-tape
Gov. Charlie Baker signed off Tuesday on a major reform package aimed at cutting bureaucracy and giving cities and towns more autonomy over their finances. Baker describes his municipal regulations reform as “weed wacking” with good reason: the bill resulted from dialogue with the state’s 351 cities and towns, and has over 125 sections that total 200 pages. It is, by Beacon Hill standards, a delightful paradox: mounds of detail that make public life a bit more straightforward. Very Charlie Baker. … “I think the governor has made a thing about making things boring so that people can live their lives and not have to worry about government doing what it’s supposed to do. So boring is working,” Rivera said. In a nation wrapped in negativity, this is akin to a shout of joy.
Yeah, we have a governor who actually cares about good governance. Too bad this attitude doesn’t exist at the national level.
This poll of the U.S. military has Gary Johnson tied with Donald Trump in the race for president http://www.militarytimes.com/articles/this-poll-of-the-us-military-has-gary-johnson-tied-with-donald-trump-in-the-race-for-president
Let’s face it. Nothing of any significance will change in American foreign policy. Hillary has nowhere to be macho without risking intolerable consequences. She’ll follow Hayden’s juvenile posturing with tough rhetoric. She has no new ideas, no new people, who could make an alternative even possible. It’s likely that Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia et al will remain in a general state of disarray. She – or Kaine – will run on the boast that they crushed ISIL (2018). Of course, the remnants will be wreaking havoc in all the above mentioned places but, then again, no one is perfect.
So save some choice critiques and comments for a second or third coming over the next four years. Meanwhile, in Beijing….
Michael Brenner
“Neither fear nor hope.” pl
I’m with you; at this point, I intend to vote Libertarian. HRC scares the bejeezus out of me. The FBI investigation of Trump’s “nonprofit” is surely intended to solidify her advantage. God help us all.
grief ?
Bill,
We’ve had more Hitlers than a cat has lives. I make it so far:
Grand Ayatollah Khomeini, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,Saddam Hussein, Viktor Yanukovych, Kim Jong-un, Bashir Assad, Vladimir Putin, and Donald Trump. Then there is the actual dead guy, Hitler. Did I miss any, other than the latest ADL object of hate, Pepe the cartoon meme?
The only thing I disagree with is DT doesn’t have humor. When I’ve watched him on the campaign trail he comes out with the funniest lines. I LMAO. I agree Hillary is humorless and it’s painful when she tries.
I agree with you on Weld and wouldn’t mind him as President. And while I would trust him on the foreign policy realm (not to start wars, esp. with Russia), we are in extremely perilous situation economically and financially, and DT recognizes this. I’m in a job where daily I see the benefits provided to recent (or not so recent) immigrants and I see these numbers exploding and the expansion of the benefits exploding. I also know lawyers in immigrants rights groups here in the U.S. who regularly spend time in Guatemala, et al., helping future immigrants (and their families) set up housing and welfare benefits in the U.S. or particular states for when they come. I lower my anxiety by telling myself it’s not real money, just fiat money or just reorganization of electrons in financial databases. But I wonder how much longer this can go on? Maybe the monetary maipulation and the Fed have made fundamental economic laws like scarcity no longer relevant? There are a few titans of finance and industry who say it can’t, and we are facing cataclysmic collapse (Carl Icahn, Jim Rogers, etc.).
“the only wasted vote is one you cast for someone you don’t believe in.”
just about word for word the reason one of the nearest & dearest + noblest gave in 2001 for voting Nader in NH.
Col.,
How did this inverted ticket come to be? Weld should be at the top. I’d even be inclined to vote for him if the risk of a Trump presidency didn’t worry me so.
Colonel –
Weld is extremely smart and he was a good governor. My sister, a lifelong democrat, voted for him for governor and for his 94 re-election. He was an old line Republican like Dewey of NY or even like Senators Collins or Snowe of Maine.
Weld never got further along in the Republican Party due to antipathy from Jesse Helms and other whackjobs who could not stand his so-called New England social values.
As for Bill being a pothead, he says he tried it but never inhaled ( I know, I know, I can hear you all laughing and rolling on the floor ). I tried pot when I was a young Pfc back in 1960. I was hanging out with a young lady and trying to get to know her a lot better. I failed the test because when she passed me a stick of pot that she was smoking I tried to take a drag but immediately went into a coughing spasm from its harshness and was not able to inhale. I was a heavy smoker of unfiltered camels at the time. So I believe the man. Has anybody in this august committee of correspondence ever tried to smoke pot for the first time and not gone into a coughing jag?
What is its true name?
Col. Lang:
I’m extremely concerned about the “let’s teach Russia a lesson” mentality. Russia has the power to trigger a collapse of the stock market, and the Borg lacks the strategic analytic ability to anticipate this.
Virtually all the titanium used by the US defense industry is purchased from Russia. This is a major strategic and economic vulnerability, and the Borg is not taking this into consideration.
Consider what would happen if the Kremlin suddenly announced that Russia would no longer sell titanium to the US. The American defense industry would not be able to produce weapons. The reasonable action would be for stockholders to dump the stock. There is “plunge protection” in place to respond to a crash, in which financial firms such as Goldman buy stock and “stop the bleeding”. But this would not be an ordinary crisis.
We are at a point of tremendous economic vulnerability. Our stock market is estimated to be 50 percent overvalued. American corporations have invested $4.5 trillion to buy shares of their own stock since 2008. (CEO compensation is usually based on share price). Corporations have invested most of their earnings to do this. They also have taken on substantial debt to finance this. If the stock market crashes, the market value of these corporations will plummet. The corporations will still have to pay back loans, at a time that corporate earnings have declined for six quarters. The inevitable result: widespread corporate bankruptcy, a surge in loan defaults, and mass layoffs.
The Fed is well aware of this vulnerability. Janet Yellen recently said that Congress may consider changing the law to allow the Fed to purchase stocks.
There is no alternative source of titanium.
China and Russia are the only two sources of titanium. China uses all of its titanium and also would unwillingly to supply the US since the titanium would be used to make weapons that could be used against China.
The Obama administration feared that Russia would suspend titanium sales at the time that sanctions were imposed. Russia wasn’t strong enough at the time. Russia used the Swift payment system, and the US could have cut Russia off from the international financial system, replicating the strategy used against Iran.
Russia is now in a much stronger position. They have their own payment system and also could use the system developed by China. Russia has survived sanctions and has now come out of recession. Their debt is minimal at a time when other nations — including the United States — face exorbitant debt. An agreement to limit oil production has been reached. Germany cannot tolerate sanctions if Deutsche Bank has to be bailed out.
Russia is perfectly poised to strike.
https://www.google.com/amp/www.wallstreetdaily.com/2015/03/10/u-s-titanium-supply-russia/amp/?client=ms-android-att-aio-us&espv=1
A minor dissertation on Mathews,
I’ve never been able to tolerate him for even a minute. Channel surfing in there feels like walking into a room while someone is indulging a fetish…one that I can’t understand…and he want’s you to stay and watch. Yuk!
“Ahhhhhh…no, Chris…thanks for the offer but NO. Look, I’m not judgmental about this or anything, what ever consenting adults do and all that…Now, Chris, what’s going to happen is I’m going to close this door and we are BOTH going to forget that I EVER opened it, mmmmmmkay??”
Walk away..looking for a place to wash my hands…
In addition to the structural, political and intellectual reasons behind a forecast of inertial continuity, there is the simple truth that 70 year-olds with health problems and a mutually dependent husband who wants to “play” are not the stuff from which imperialist adventurers are made.
So, I think that what we have to worry about is more routine failure rather than outright catastrophe abroad. That may come eventually and incrementally. For the time being, isn’t our biggest enemy ourselves here at home?
Clinton didn’t inhale.
Although, Christopher Hitchens, who was an Oxford contemporary, said that was because Bill took his dope in the form of hash brownies.
Military conflicts are usually political liabilities. Especially for Democrats which have a large constituency much more sceptical of war. So if re-election and gains in the Senate or House are important to the Democratic party, they should try to keep a lid on Clinton’s Hawkishness throughout her first term in office.
But one of the weird things about Obama is how disconnected he has been to the wishes of his own elected Senators and Congressmen and Women. (This is in great contrast to GW Bush.) Maybe Hillary will learn from Obama’s political mistakes. Neglecting the needs of the House and Senate led to Obama’s loss of majorities in those chambers, which neutered him politically.
Colonel,
Re: ” Fightin’ Joe Scarborough and his buddy Mike Hayden opined that someone needs to “teach the Russians a lesson.”
This old infantryman wonders who that “someone” would be. Did these brave souls present any ideas?
Ishmael Zechariah
Personally, I’d prefer the president be versed in what is going on in Akron rather than Aleppo. I’m not a big fan of the Libertarians, but better they or the Greens than either of the two major party crooks and liars.
Let’s face it this is binary choice Trump is only real candidate who don’t want to start war with Russia. Vote for Johnson in any swing state is vote for war crazy Hillary.
the thing about Gore, and i voted for him, was he was part of the regime that put the medical embargo on Iraq that cost 1/2 million children’s lives. The embargo that Madeline Albright said was worth the deaths. He was a committed Israeli Firster. No guarantee he wouldn’t have hired the same NeoCons that Obama did and invaded Iraq just like Dubya.
So Nader was right, it was basically a contest b/c Tweedelee and Tweedelum. How impudent of the Gore crowd to say that Nader shouldn’t have run. Moreover, Gore won the election except for one crucial vote- Scalia’s. It was the Supremes that elected Dubya. Often, it is mentioned, that if he had just campaigned a little more in NH, then he wouldn’t have had to worry about FL, butterfly ballots et al.
I like Trump better than Hillary, but have reservations- the biggest one is his demonization of Iran. I may vote third or fourth party, in the end. I agree with the Col. that Gov. Weld should of have been on top of that ticket. He was governor of Mass and even tried a run as guv of NY before backing out.
Hidehi Tojo comes to mind.
Gary Johnson and William Weld are a kind of odd couple. And kind of odd being the selections of the Libertarian Party, where everything was done at one wide open convention with no prior primary votes.
Weld is a “blue blood” Republican who is personable and articulate. While governor of Massachusetts he ran against John Kerry in the 1996 U.S. Senate race in Massachusetts, but lost. He was Chief of the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice for a while when Ronald Reagan was president, but resigned in March 1988 when there were investigations of Attorney General Ed Meese over the Iran-Contra matter and some other things–
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1988-03-30/news/8803040787_1_burns-and-weld-gen-edwin-meese-gen-william-weld
President Bill Clinton appointed him to be the ambassador to Mexico in 1997, and Weld resigned as Massachusetts governor to seek that position. I remember that controversy, and C-Span has a video of the fascinating “meeting” of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on September 12, 1997, when Senator Jesse Helms, the chairman, was refusing to hold a hearing on Weld’s nomination. A few recognizable faces are in the video, 19 years younger, including smiling Joe Biden and John Kerry–
https://www.c-span.org/video/?90869-1/william-weld-nomination
Kerry tries to raise a point of parliamentary order, but Helms shuts him off. While reading his long statement, Helms says that he sent a four-page letter to President Bill Clinton offering to have Weld be ambassador to any country except those in which drug interdiction and narco-corruption are an issue, which includes Mexico. A copy of Helms’s letter to Clinton is here–
http://cdm17100.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p17100coll5/id/39/rec/1
Helms writes: “”… I personally will not object to Mr. Weld’s serving in any diplomatic post, anywhere in the world you choose — provided drug interdiction and narco-corruption are not principal U.S. foreign policy concerns there.” And: “Before Mr. Weld’s unfortunate outburst, the White House suggested India as a possible alternate posting for him. I indicated at the time that I would not oppose that.”
One of Helms’s objections was Weld’s support of medical marijuana. Helms was locked into the wrong belief that medicinal marijuana would automatically lead to total legalization.
Nevertheless, the Senate committee meeting and Helms’s letter provide a good view of political maneuvering and the obvious desire of Senate committee chairmen to maintain their prerogatives and institutional authority.
Probably the main negative thing about Weld is his being one of three co-chairmen of a “task force” of the Council on Foreign Relations, called “Building a North American Community”. It is one of the steps taken to try to promote an eventual North American Union of Canada, the U.S., and Mexico, which is very bad, in my opinion. The report of the group was issued in 2005, and you can download it for free from the site–
http://www.cfr.org/canada/building-north-american-community/p8102
The report lists the members of the group, which includes Heidi Cruz, who became publicly known when her husband Senator Ted Cruz ran for president in this year’s Republican primary.
It is a small world after all.
IZ
Fightin’ Joe never chose to serve and Hayden is a USAF non-aviator. pl
A poster on another message board commented on the Johnson statement in the following manner …
How would Vladimir Putin have answered that same question? Given his rhetorical history, probably something like, “I have no favorite foreign leader.
It made me chuckle, this would be a classic Putin response. I would have responded that my favorite world leader is Putin, if for no other reason just to see the look on Chris Mathews face.
I’ll just toss this out to our American friends. Primary season starts in 3 months. If you don’t want the same class of candidates in 2020 you have now then get off your @$$ and make sure some one good runs.
Pat,
I voted for Gary last time, when I knew there was no chance, and in spite of all his flaws, I’m probably more excited to vote for him this time. He may not be articulate, or quick on his feet when it comes to trivia, but from all I’ve seen he appears to be honest, humble, decent, non-corrupt, reasonable, a non-militarist, willing to find ways to work with people across the political spectrum to achieve libertarianish ends, and for getting government’s nose out of tasks it shouldn’t be doing, and then making sure that what it is supposed to be doing is done well and efficiently. I wish he had a better chance, and I wish he didn’t stick his foot in his mouth as much. But even though I live in one of the swingier of swing states (Colorado), I fully intend to vote for Gary.
I’m also planning to research what it would take to get an imitative on the ballot here in Colorado to change elections (presidential, US house/senate, governor, and state legislatures at least) from the current plurality first-past-the-pole approach to an Instant Runoff Vote approach. That would make it a lot easier in the future for people to vote their conscience, not just voting for one of the two major parties out of fear that Tweedle-dee might win if they don’t vote for Tweedle-dum.
~Jon
PS Did you see Elon’s Mars settlement presentation this week?
The vast majority of immigrants are from middle eastern, west Asian, and central & south American countries ravaged by decades of American military interventions. The only ones who aren’t related to immigrants are the indigenous Americans getting their lands raped by foreign companiesw US affiliates. America reaps what she sows. (Considering that most of SW used to belong to Mexico just some generations ago, most of those peoples are living where they always have.)
You might consider making your own sign.
Trinlae
Well, if you actually think we are going to give Mexico back the US SW, you don’t know much about us. If you want to see a lot of people die come try it. pl
Chris Chuba
This is not a message board. pl
Remember Roger Clinton telling an undercover cop that his brother “has a nose like a Hoover vacuum”?
Other than having been governor of MA, the only thing I know about Mr. Weld is his comment last 22 May on CNN w J. Tapper referring to Trump – “…..I’m hearing the glass breaking on Kistallnacht on the streets of WARSAW….! Being from a Polish-American immigrant family with my Godfather, Matthew Judycki, a Bronze Star Tanker in the Battle of the Bulge, I took offence and told him and CNN so, since Mr. Tapper did not correct him, in an email. I don’t believe this should disqualify him from office, but after all, he does claim to be a “Harvard Man.” He should get his holocaust history straight.
pl,
I notice a literary spring in your step with this post. And I thought I heard the distant strain of a marching tune. Those words of Johnson certainly do cast the meaning of a vote, a vote of conscience, in a noble light. I’ve been reading a lot about the Libertarian Party and what they stand for. Their emphasis on individual liberty, choice and responsibility is refreshing. No more NSA and FBI spying on us would be nice.
However, I am not convinced that the free market is an answer for everything. Shkreli and Bresch are free market. Free market also means eventually paying heavy tolls on a for-profit road system… everywhere you go and all the time. You should see what it now costs for the I-95 HOV lanes. I’d hate to have to pay a quarter just to drive down the road to Chic-fil-A. I guess all that can be discussed and eventually worked out.
BTW, the Libertarian Party is selling yard signs for $3.00 (lpstore.org).
Lord of Flies, no doubt.
Yup, but then, since 15, I have mostly lived in BC, where we have always had good weed.
mike allen,
I don’t remember any coughing spasms from my first marijuana inhale. I’m sure I coughed some, but not enough to remember it now.
On the other hand, when I tried to smoke a cigarette to see what all the excitement about the effects of nicotine was about, my airway cramped and spasmed severely enough that I was not able to get the cigarette smoke inhaled at all.
About Mister Bill telling the truth or not about “tried it but didn’t inhale” . . . I once saw on TV an interview with an Oxford classmate of his who had risen to be a BBC reporter. I would know his face and voice if I saw it. Anyway, this Oxford classmate said that Bill was indeed unable to smoke lit and burning marijuana cigarettes. But he was fully able to eat hashish brownies and he sure did “inhale” bunches of those.
So if that then-classmate/ now BBC reporter was telling the truth about Bill, Bill’s statement was another example of Bill’s oh-so-exquisitely technical truthfulness in the very narrowest sense.
Prem,
I wrote my comment up above before seeing this comment of yours. I did not know that Hitchens said Bill used to eat hash brownies. I remember a BBC reporter whose name I forget who said that. So that is two people who say they remember Bill eating hash brownies.
Which are a wonderful thing to eat, under the right conditions. But Bill macro-lied about his cannabis use with a micro-fact about “couldn’t inhale” and then got all high and mighty about legally persecuting the cannabis use of others.
Will Smith,
If the person voting Third Party is a person who definitely would have voted for Hillary otherwise, then his/her Third Party vote is like subtracting half-a-vote from Hillary. It doesn’t raise Trump’s total any, but it does lower her total by one.
The most effective anti-Hillary vote would be a vote for Trump. But there are people who also find Trump too deplorable to vote for. If their only choice is indeed the binary choice of Trump or Clinton, they might well vote for Clinton. Whereas if they make Third Party choices, they are at least attriting Clinton’s vote totals.
Will,
I think Gore would have taken warnings of “al quaeda determined to attack in America” with some seriousness and would have tried to organize or at least encourage government efforts to prevent it. Unlike Cheney/Bush ” okay, you’ve covered your ass now”.
Also, is there any reason to think that Gore would have brought Cheney into his administration and let Cheney bring Rumsfeld into his Administration and let them both bring in Rumsfeld’s particular zoo of vulcan neocons?
Also, is there any reason to think that Gore would have cancelled the ABM treaty the way Bush did? Or pretended that man made global warming is not a thing the way Bush did?
There were differences between Bush and Gore.
That’s a fine piece of writing, and funny as hell to me.
What’s the point of a statement like this from the State Dept. spokesperson other than to antagonize Russia? They’re out of their minds.
Anyone who think about voting for Gary Johnson should get his head examined when every war lunatic have endorsed Hillary.
“MR KIRBY: The consequences are that the civil war will continue in Syria, that extremists and extremists groups will continue to exploit the vacuums that are there in Syria to expand their operations, which will include, no question, attacks against Russian interests, perhaps even Russian cities, and Russia will continue to send troops home in body bags, and they will continue to lose resources – even, perhaps, more aircraft. The stability that they claim they seek in Syria will be ever more elusive, and it’s hard to imagine how a continued war – not just a civil war now, but increasingly more violent extremist activity in Syria – can be in the interest of a nation that says, that claims, and has claimed publicly time and time again that what they want to see is a whole, unified, pluralistic Syria and a stable Syria, a secure Syria, a Syria where they want to continue to have a defense relationship and a presence. So that’s what’s in it for them.”
Johnson/ Weld yard signs can be purchased online. Yes, buy them. Four years ago, I bought mine from cafepress.com, and the quality was fine. This year there seem to be additional sources, with a range of designs, sizes, and prices. (How free market…) Googling “libertarian yard sign” should bring up the options.
Bill, I was close to stop here, but I went further even to the end, passing the maybe ultimate selling point of all times: novelty:
Third Reich’s relationship with drugs, including cocaine, heroin, morphine and, above all, methamphetamines (aka crystal meth), and of their effect not only on Hitler’s final days – the Führer, by Ohler’s account, was an absolute junkie with ruined veins by the time he retreated to the last of his bunkers – but on the Wehrmacht’s successful invasion of France in 1940.
I don’t recall where I picked it up in Freud’s writings, I don’t recall either if it was morphine or heroin, but it must have been freely available at the time and widely used. If so? What new does it tell us about Hitler to focus on this aspect?
I may be completely misguided, but it may have been a footnote in his Interpretation of dreams (Traumdeutung).
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
I had struggles with Babak on that issue. The problem of his quite legitimate concerns as uttered in his speech at the UN was that they were somewhat embedded in a larger semi-fictional narrative.
published 1980:
https://www.amazon.de/Medical-Casebook-Adolf-Hitler-Illnesses/dp/081282718X
Oh dear, Pat to be quite honest, I never really understood why you dislike Chris Matthews so much. This got me over the river:
http://www.msnbc.com/hardball/watch/gary-johnson-i-m-having-an-aleppo-moment-775321667757
I disagree with you Prof. Things could go wrong on the border of Russia very quickly. It is the LOCATION of that ‘hot spot’, that concerns me. Iraq, Libya, Afghan, et al, is one thing. Crimea, another. And if HC does not have any new ideas, I’m sure Samantha does.
Trump is actually pretty funny at times, he just has no sense of humor about himself. Incredibly sensitive.
Steve
rg
We are buying one from their campaign. pl
LeaNder
His egoism always has turned me off but this AM on MJ he cogently explained to the smug and self-satisfied crew just why ordinary Americans feel that the elites have destroyed the country and are in revolt. pl
Libertarians are such a mixed bag. On one hand, they are the one group who I think might actually really try to cut back on our foreign adventures. On the other hand they believe in open borders and in complete free trade, even if it is one sided, meaning only the US removes any restrictions. On the domestic side they, in theory, oppose both big government and crony capitalism. In practice when it comes to policy, they only oppose big government. They have essentially aligned themselves with the big business branch of the GOP. Expect big tax cuts for the wealthy and spending on the poor to be cut.
As to personal qualities, we have ties to the runner world. By all accounts from what we have heard he comes across as odd at times, but Rocketpreneur above describes him fairly accurately. A much better human being than the other two clowns.
Steve
@ Jonst
Do you think that HC will include Samantha in her cabinet?
I doubt it – Susan Rice – yes because of dear Madeleine Albright who has been her mentor but Samantha is Obama’s girl.
Where was Samantha when HC was SoS?
As an adviser to Obama at the NSC and not at Foggy Bottom though she was on transition team but was not given a position.
Remember, the first 2 years of HC at Foggy Bottom was frustrating since Obama was micromanaging foreign policy from the oval office and she got a break only when she went along, with Sarko and Cameron, after Ghaddafi.
the Fed’s policies have created a financial asset bubble
Fred, is that how he said it? Or did he indirectly suggest that due to the present rates people have no other way then to invest on Wall Street? I would assume that it might be a good time for investors like him. Cheap money.
Slightly simplified, I know.
the doubling of the federal governments debt under Obama
precisely how did it double, and how does it look over the decades. How much impact had the “bailing out” to prevent the crash? Did it double debts?
Nader was on my mind recently, I checked Wikipedia, which led me to the spoiler debate:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Nader_presidential_campaign,_2000#The_.22spoiler.22_controversy
Sorry, Jack. I noticed I occasionally mixed you up earlier. I thought I were past that stage.
Should be read religiously:
http://thesaker.is/the-war-against-syria-both-sides-go-to-plan-b/
Excerpts:
“Once the US comes to realize that its policy sending MANPADs to Syria did not work, it will have only one last card to play: attempt to impose a no-fly zone over Syria.
The good news is that judging by this exchange, US generals understand that any such US move would mean war with Russia. The bad news is that the Neocons seem to be dead-set on exactly that. Since such an event has now become possible, we need to look at what exactly this would entail…
The risk of a US attempt to impose a no-fly zone over Syria will remain very real for the foreseeable future unless, of course, Trump beats Hillary to the White House. If Hillary wins – then that risk will sharply escalate…”
Q: Is a vital national security interest threatened?
A: No
Q: Do we have a clear attainable objective?
A: Kinda
Q: Have the risks and costs been fully and frankly analyzed?
A: Yes, and they are potentially extremely high
Q: Have all other non-violent policy means been fully exhausted?
A: No
Q: Is there a plausible exit strategy to avoid endless entanglement?
A: No
Q: Have the consequences of our action been fully considered?
A: Yes, and the biggest risk is WWIII against Russia
Q: Is the action supported by the American people?
A: No
Q: Do we have genuine broad international support?
A: No”
I’m sure Samantha
Samantha will be out, she misbehaved during the election campaign, not that the other side didn’t, as far as I am concerned.
Col Lang
A few comments, just for fun.
For the past 25 years or so I have
voted for the Libertarian candidate
whenever one appeared on the ballot.
Sure, usually they were eccentric, maybe
weird, politically incorrect and they
wanted to upset a few apple carts.
Never expected one to win but always
hoped they would get 5% and secure a
party ballot line in future elections.
Of course 5% is a lot of popular approval and
might have made me uncomfortable [i.e.
“I wouldn’t consider joining
a club that would have me”]
I have enjoyed the recent Johnson/Weld
interpretations of the old Cheech and Chong
skits; but they only get partial credit as I
I am not sure it was intentional. “What is
Aleppo?” is a great line if one knows what
Aleppo is and is deliberately rejecting
the Borg framework of what is important. If
it is just the old “Maui Wowie” (sp?) kicking in, well,
still funny, but as I said only partial credit.
This year I think I will vote for the candidate
that is genuinely politically incorrect, eccentric,
maybe even weird, and intends to upset a few apple carts.
Still better, a candidate that is always entertaining,
disliked by the people I dislike, and a candidate whose
views on guns, the killing of unborn children, taxes,
overseas military adventurism, law and order most
closely coincides with mine.
Deo Vindice,
Nightsticker
USMC 65-72
FBI 72-96
And a tangled web. Momma Spider ready to pounce and the Clown waiting to pick up some falling piecies for his chest of tricks
Prem: “Which are a wonderful thing to eat, under the right conditions.”
My one experience with the weed, 40+ years ago, was anything but wonderful. I ate one brownie, which tasted god awful by the way, and when I didn’t notice much effect after about an hour, I ate another. Big mistake. Shortly after the stuff hit me with a vengeance. Heart rate soared, the room appeared to be tilted, and everything looked as if I was seeing it through a brownish filter. Took a couple of hours for the effects to wear off, and I’ve never had the desire to try it again since. Give me a glass or three of good – or even cheap – Cabernet anytime.
Eight or ten years ago I read a short book entitled **Marijuana is Safer: So Why Are We Driving People to Drink?** Among other topics the authors went into some depth on cannabinoid chemistry. (Writing from memory now, which may be a bit hazy.) There’s a group of cannabinoid molecules and they have a chain-like configuration, similar to saturated hydrocarbon fuel molecules that are familiar (methane, ethane, propane . . . octane, etc.) There are considerable differences in the effects that these molecules have on the human nervous system, and IIRC, the one that has eleven of the repeated radicals (or whatever they’re called) is the most powerful. According to the authors when one tokes on a joint the molecules immediately go straight into the blood stream from the lungs. However when they’re ingested, the stomach converts the smaller molecules into number elevens. Plus, it takes about an hour for the cannabinoid molecules to get into the blood stream, and when they do many, perhaps most, are elevens. Because the authors’ description of why ingesting was frequently a much less enjoyable experience than smoking correlated almost exactly with my personal experience, it made the book more credible in my eyes. There was a lot of good info in the book, and it was exhaustively footnoted. Many of the references were to scientific papers that had been written by and/or funded by various federal and state government health agencies.
http://amzn.to/2dx5gf5
TTG
Yes, the moon started to rise for me. pl
Mike,
Kind of hard for Adolf to have the Emperor appoint him Prime Minister when he was busy being Germany’s Chancellor at the same time.
LeaNder,
Babak has never compared him to Hitler.
LeaNder
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/hedge-fund-legend-julian-robertson-140210505.html
This should help answer your question. IMO, central banks are trapped. They have too keep financial assets inflated, so they’ll keep going to the next extreme. The Japanese are at the cutting edge of this. We can be certain this period of mass delusions will end. We don’t know when the emperor has no clothes moment arrives.
The Beaver,
Who might be nominated to be Secretary of State for Hillary Clinton if the electronic voting machines elect her president?
My guess is Strobe “I Am a Citizen of the World” Talbott. He was in the State Department during both of Bill Clinton’s terms as president. He has been the president of the Brookings Institution (a “non-profit” organization) since 2002. Within the first minute of the video embedded lower in the web page, you know his attitude–
https://www.brookings.edu/experts/strobe-talbott/
To the question — should the European Union hang together? — Talbott says: “Should definitely hang together. We all should hope that it does, because it’s not only important to the future of Europe — if it can get back on track — it will, I think, represent to other parts of the world, effective, regional governance and integration. In fact, one can even imagine down the road quite a ways, that some of the federalist principles that have gone into the European Union could work even on a global basis.”
This is the clear and dangerous desire for a world commonwealth government. It has become obvious that a single world government will not be possible, as shown by the United Nations. But if you can get the number of areas with a central government down to a small enough number, then you can create one governmental body to control the world made up of the small number of “regional governments”, as in a commonwealth.
Thus, we have seen the promotion of the European Union (which was actually done), the African Union, and the North American Union.
The other part of the world government program is through banking and corporate arrangements. This is being done through the so-called “trade agreements”, such as NAFTA, the GATT with its World Trade Organization, and the most monstrous of all, the pending TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership) and TTIP (Trans Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership). These all create governing structures and secret courts (dispute resolution tribunals) that are superior to the governments and court systems of the individual countries.
Promoting the creation of central banks continues, and there is already the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), in Basel, Switzerland, which is a central bank for some central banks. The Not-Federal Reserve Bank is a member.
http://www.bis.org/about/chronology.htm?m=1%7C4%7C550
Here is a little taste of what the globalist people like to set up as their “legal” structure. This is the agreement between the Swiss Federal Council (the federal government of Switzerland) and the BIS; you will again see the magic words, “legal personality”–
http://www.bis.org/about/headquart-en.pdf
“Article 1. The Swiss Federal Council acknowledges the international legal personality and the legal capacity within Switzerland of the Bank for International Settlements (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Bank’).
Article 3. 1. The buildings or parts of buildings and surrounding land which, whoever may be the owner thereof, are used for the purposes of the Bank shall be inviolable. No agent of the Swiss public authorities may enter therein without the express consent of the Bank. Only the President [2], the General Manager of the Bank, or their duly authorised representative shall be competent to waive such inviolability.
2. The archives of the Bank and, in general, all documents and any data media belonging to the Bank or in its possession, shall be inviolable at all times and in all places.
3. The Bank shall exercise supervision of and police power over its premises.”
You can see what that means — no search warrants. None. Period.
Article 4 provides for limited civil lawsuits, but only by parties the BIS has contracted with, or if one of its automobiles is in a car wreck.
But perhaps all is not lost. There is one U.S. group whose mission is to gain knowledge of the capabilities and intentions of persons and organizations outside of the U.S. The NSA should certainly keep its eyes on the BIS.
Despite weasel wording and vagaries it looks like Jeb Bush is planning on voting for Gary Johnson.
Jeb Bush downplays report he’s voting for Gary Johnson http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/29/politics/jeb-bush-gary-johnson-donald-trump/
Jeb Bush sought to downplay a new report that he was voting for Gary Johnson, saying he hasn’t made up his mind. But the former Republican presidential candidate confirmed that he’s still considering the Libertarian nominee. “It’s a secret ballot,” he told reporters after speaking at Harvard’s Kennedy School on Thursday. “I haven’t made up my mind what I’m going to do.”
The New York Daily News reported that Bush hinted he was going to vote for Johnson at an event hosted by the Manhattan Institute on Wednesday. He reportedly joked about “President Johnson” and mouthed the nominee’s name to a man who said he didn’t want to vote for either major political party nominee.
“I don’t think so,” the former Florida governor said, when asked Thursday if he mouthed Johnson’s name as described in the article.
Bush routinely says — and repeated it again on Thursday — that he’s not going to vote for Republican Donald Trump or Democrat Hillary Clinton.
“I’m at peace with my decision,” he said, saying neither meet the “threshold” of the presidency. “It’s not a binary choice for me.”
Bush said he’s not being “derelict in my civic duties” and vowed to still vote for someone. “The presidency is a place where, for whatever reason, I’m not comfortable supporting either party’s nominee.” Asked what would happen if the average voter took his stance and didn’t vote for Clinton or Trump, Bush said such an act would send a signal. “Well, if everybody didn’t vote, that would be a pretty powerful political statement, wouldn’t it?”
———-
In reply to Nightsticker 30 September 2016 at 12:01 PM
So if the singular is a leppo what’s the plural? Should it be leppos or leppi? The case of the lerts (and remember your country still needs lerts!) doesn’t really provide a useful linguistic precedent.
(Colonel I’m sorry I simply couldn’t resist.)
In reply to Bill Herschel 29 September 2016 at 02:04 PM
CONGRATULATIONS ON WINNING “HITLER OF THE DAY” AWARD FOR SEPTEMBER 29TH 2016!
For your next trick you could either do yet another specious Hitler-Putin comparison or alternatively balance a big read ball on your nose.
In reply to Fred 30 September 2016 at 01:29 PM
You forgot Kim Jong-Hitler.
Or Lords of Flies, to use the appropriate plural?
The Syrians call Aleppo “Halab,” if I am not mistaken.
Nobody needs to teach Russia a lesson, and Bill Weld should have been at the top of the ticket.
If you don’t inhale, then why would you cough? I have more confidence in one of the committee’s suggestion that perhaps he imbibed orally, or just lied.
“Well, if everybody didn’t vote, that would be a pretty powerful political statement, wouldn’t it?”
Wouldn’t such a powerful statement deliver the selection of the president into the hands of Bibi’s congressional clients????
I agree, Fred, and I can assure you, I deeply dislike this type of comparison.
Actually dislike isn’t strong enough to express it, disgust is much closer to what I feel about it. It may have driven me to overreact to Bill Herschel’s curious off topic comment above. …
Babak: At the time our clashes happened, I still had some type of inquisitorial fervor. Trying to figure out why Babak seemed 95% percent pretty rational but on some issues seemed absolutely irrational to me. Ahmadinejad (irony alert): Personally, my impression was at the time of the UN speech the Mossad couldn’t have invented a better antagonist then Ahmadinejad. Although the mystery may well be, they don’t need to invent people like that. He may return as candidate in the next election.
Please get the chemical basics right, that changes the context dramatically:
1) Russia is at the moment the largest producer of elementary titanium, that is correct. But Russia is of course not an important producer of titanium containing ores.
2) The processes used to convert titanium ores (ilmenit, rutil) are well known, there is no technological bottleneck, only one of production capacity.
3) Only a small percentage of titanium is used in elementary form, more than 90% simply as pigment (TiO2, titanium white), toothpaste, paints for construction and artists, sun blocker….
Colonel, TTG,
I-dot Scarborough at the coaching of his errant Hayden has no clue regarding “teach the Russians a lesson.”.
Here is something Scarborough might want to watch:
1 October
1 октября — День Сухопутных войск
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnaAUgrrrXM
And Joe Scarborough and his Hayden buddy think war is a game?
Couple things came up. One, Kerry apparently had a couple very revealing things to share meeting a few “opposition”-characters last week, which was recorded and leaked to the NYT:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/09/30/world/middleeast/100000004683024.app.html?_r=2
Titled thus:
“Audio Reveals What John Kerry Told Syrians Behind Closed Doors
By ANNE BARNARD SEPT. 30, 2016”
-It includes, among other things, this oxymoron right here:
“At the meeting last week, Mr. Kerry was trying to explain that the United States has no legal justification for attacking Mr. Assad’s government, whereas Russia was invited in by the government.
“The problem is the Russians don’t care about international law, and we do.””
-Shows at least some awareness who is not the enemy in Syria, as well as the realization on Kerry’s part neither People nor Congress want a new R2P-war:
“At another point, Mr. Kerry spelled out in stark terms distinctions the United States was making between combatants, which have upset the Syrian opposition: The United States wants the rebels to help it fight the Islamic State and Al Qaeda because, as he put it, “both have basically declared war on us.” But Washington will not join the same rebels in fighting Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite militia allied with Mr. Assad, even though the United States lists Hezbollah as a terrorist group like the others.
“Hezbollah,” Mr. Kerry explained, “is not plotting against us.”
He also spoke of the obstacles he faces back home: a Congress unwilling to authorize the use of force and a public tired of war.
“A lot of Americans don’t believe that we should be fighting and sending young Americans over to die in another country.””
-As well as a very specious understanding of the democratic process on the part of the “opposition” assembled there:
“One of the Syrians in the room assured Mr. Kerry, “No one is requesting an invasion,” but he insisted that the rebels needed more help.
As time ran short, Mr. Kerry told the Syrians that their best hope was a political solution to bring the opposition into a transitional government. Then, he said, “you can have an election and let the people of Syria decide: Who do they want?”
A State Department official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said later that Mr. Kerry was not indicating a shift in the administration’s view of Mr. Assad, only reiterating a longstanding belief that he would be ousted in any fair election.
At one point, Mr. Kerry astonished the Syrians at the table when he suggested that they should participate in elections that include President Bashar al-Assad, five years after President Obama demanded that he step down.
Mr. Kerry described the election saying it would be set up by Western and regional powers, and the United Nations, “under the strictest standards.” He said that the millions of Syrians who have fled since the war began in 2011 would be able to participate.”
Aside that, jumping to the aforementioned Hayden’s and Scarborough’s support is a Charles Lister, PR-person for the unicorns employed by Qatar, who has this oh-so convincing piece on “winding down Syria” – by destroying it some more via the US and downplaying what else that might lead up to:
http://warontherocks.com/2016/09/a-plan-for-winding-down-the-syrian-civil-war/
One “argument” he makes there is this:
“Since Russia’s intervention in Syria in September 2015, the threat of force has undoubtedly acquired an additional level of risk. However, the question remains: to what extent does Russia have any interest in counter-escalating against the United States and risking open conflict with a superior military actor? Skeptics of an assertive U.S. approach to Syria have frequently used this question as an automatic veto, but they themselves have never justified in any level of detail why they think Russia itself actually would seek a “World War III” scenario.”
It’s a shame the think-tank caste isn’t called upon to man the front-lines of the wars they promote, otherwise this tripe wouldn’t be published, much less written. Then again, might this be merely a sign of breakdown occurring among the likes of Lister? Hopefully the type that leaves the many-headed hydra of regime-change in Syria too confused to commit to any new, grand strategery that may end up giving us all another “Great War” a century after the first.
People around here with much more knowledge on scientific matters may please forgive me, this nitwit question:
I am wondering a bit why Mars has been sorted out among terrestrial planets. Admittedly I always have the mythical Mars at the back of my mind. … Help me get it out in this context.
At one point in life I have been quite fascinated by a “crazy biologist”, whose studies and writings suggested to me, that humans ultimately always tried to somewhat imitate nature. Making me realized they also failed producing some type of unified theory in psychics (non biological, but some type of mathematical law of the universe).
In a vague way this reminded me of Babak’s response above.
Long introduction: Why Mars????
Not sure if that would make much of a difference given the way things are going 😉
Given the context of that statement (and the article as a whole), which was preceded by “Asked what would happen if the average voter took his stance and didn’t vote for Clinton or Trump”… it appears Jeb was talking about people not voting for the Dem or Repub candidates and instead voting for 3rd party candidates, not staying at home. Although he may have meant both of those.
The disgust with the 2 major party candidates is going to trigger many to either vote 3rd party, write in a vote, or stay at home. After all, those are the only ways people have or letting the establishment know they don’t approve what’s being offered.
I vote 3rd party for president on principle, because I refuse to give my assent to the current ruling paradigm.
LeaNder,
You posted your question on the wrong thread.
it’s closer and not as hot as Venus; same daylength as earth with more summer vacation days as a potential incentive.
Dubhaltach,
A big read ball? Who read the ball? What did it say?
James Loughton,
I believe Clinton did indeed ingest serious amounts of edible cannabis.
But Clinton didn’t just lie when he said ” I tried it but I couldn’t inhale”. He demonstrated the razor-fineness of his brilliantly shysterly mind in conveying a big-lie-sized false impression with the tactically clever use of an oh-so-exquisitely micro-correct micro-tiny micro-fact. I don’t remember exactly how the questioner worded the question to Mister Bill to begin with. But if the questioner asked Mister Bill whether he had ever “used marijuana” or even more accidentally-leadingly “ever SMOKED marijuana”, he gave Slicky Bill the perfect opportunity to answer the exact question exactly truthfully . . . exactly as asked.
” It depends on what the meaning of ‘is’ is.” Clearly the reporter did not know his Bill.
The facts are dripping:
“Western Journalists and Public are in a Collective Coma Regarding Death of US Servicemen in Syria,” by Theodore McIntire
“The mid-September 2016 a series of events that could be interpreted as retaliation in kind appears to have been intentionally overlooked and totally buried by Western mainstream media.
17 September 2016: U.S. admits carrying out airstrike that Russia says killed 62 Syrian soldiers
21 September 2016: U.S. Coalition Intelligence “Operations Room” Inside Syria, Destroyed by Russian Missile Attack: Thirty Israeli, American, British, Turkish, Saudi, Qatari Intelligence Officials Killed
Why is the public deprived of any further explanations and analysis of key events associated with what “appears to be an intelligence failure.” of the United States? By any chance, are there any journalists in the United States press corps located at the Pentagon, State Department or White House who are willing to follow up, ask difficult questions and report on this newsworthy item?
More importantly, what will each of us say to ourselves or to future generations when the realization hits regarding our participation or negligent toleration in the Global War on Terrorism was actually a Global Demonstration of Stupidity?” http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/western-journalists-and-public-are-collective-coma-regarding-death-us-servicemen-syria
“Thirty Israeli, American, British, Turkish, Saudi, Qatari Intelligence Officials Killed.” –
For what ideals did they die? Who is this incompetent prick that allowed them to be killed – in a company of Al Qaeda “freedom fighters” no less. Let me guess, some “warrior” with an agenda. A very special agenda expressed in dollar signs and various comforts provided for VIP. Again what was the rationale for the presence of the US servicemen in Syria? – pipelines or the Golan Heights, or both?
It is you who are irrational/emotional; Ahmadinejad insulted your cult – the pseudo-religion of Shoah – and you guys went through the roof; in Europe as well as in North America.
Since, in my opinion, our mutual discords – which are unresolvable in any case – are, in fact, increasing, for example; on such questions as “What is justice?” and “What is Sex?” – we need to create more Cease-Fire Agreements such as JCPOA.
Let us say that we will refrain in – correctly, mind you – the Cult of Shoah as a False Religion and may be you can stop insulting the Honor of Islam and the Prophet?
Or perhaps, you can accept the 99-Year cease-fire deal of HAMAS and help stop the wanton murder of Palestinians by Israelis; which, through the actions of your democratically and legally and popularly elected government, you support to the hilt.
Another such cease fire deal could be in Syria and indeed the entire Shia Crescent; whereby NATO and her erstwhile comapnions – A.K.A. the Gulfies – will pledge themselves to butt out of the old territories of the Great King.
A few more such cease fire deals and all will be fine, I should think.
Needless to say, I know all of that is a fantasy; people who have provoked the Russian Federation to the extent that her president has to explicitly mention her countries and nuclear weapons (with the implicit potential of annihilation (Shoah) are not interested in concluding cease fire deals with their stinking inferiors….
ex-PFC Chuck,
Thank you for the detailed comment and the link to the book. I haven’t used cannabis since 1986, when I had to give it up in order to become a Pharmacy Technician. But I enjoy thinking about it unto this very day. And I sometimes stop and take a moment to look back and remember the good times.
I am sorry to hear that your experience with ingested cannabis was so awful. The logical thing of course was not to do it again. I hope your experiences ( if any) with inhaled cannabis smoke were better. I could pull a Clinton and say that I never ingested any trace of hash brownie. And that would be oh-so-exquisitely micro-truthful. But I did eat some crude cannabis-leaf and stem brownie on three separate occasions.
The most memorable one was this. It was in the early pre-summer of 1979. I was living in a student co-op. I had dropped out of school for a while and was eking out a survival living as a security guard. One night I came back home from work and found a huge pan sitting on the kitchen-center worktable with a whole bunch of brownie-residue mass in it. No coherent brownies any more but lots of brownie debris. My first thought was: ” #@$-*@@# those %^#***s! They’ve made brownies with MY MONEY and eaten it up while I was gone!” So I ate a lot of the debris real fast to get it eaten before anyone else could come back and get any.
Then I ate some more slowly and notice it tasted funny. So I took a look at it. “Why does this taste so bad? . . . and what are all these little sticks and twigs in it? . . . . oooOOOOHHHhhhh … Oh HO. Well , too late now. I might as well eat some EVEN MORE and just see what happens.”
I had several interesting effects, but the most interesting was this.
I was arguing politics with a conservative School of Bussiness student who had moved to Ann Arbor from Los Angeles strictly to go to the U of M School of Bussiness and who was in the co-op only long enough to be able to find other housing. At some point in the discussion I suddenly realized that I had no idea of what I had just been saying for the last little while. It was like my self-awareness had been “somewhere else” and suddenly snapped back to him and me and the discussion. So I stopped what I was saying and asked if I had just then been making any sense lately. He said ” yes, for a liberal”. I explained why I had stopped to ask that and he laughed. But it gave me confidence ( rightly or wrongly) in the power of my brain and mind. If my awareness could dissociate into separately-functioning brain-mind modules . . . and “I” could be lost in one of those “other” modules . . . and yet my “political-discussion” module could keep functioning well enough that my co-op mate did not even realize I was high, then my brain must be pretty strong. Or so I flattered myself to think.
Some years later, I achieved a mild utility-grade marijuana-type high without even expecting to by combining a whole lot of high starch/fat/protein food with 7 or 8 cups of coffee with 2-3 spoons of sugar per cup and then starting at noon 4 or so glasses of champagne and some more food, coffee and sugar at an all-I-could-eat restaurant buffet.
So for those who would like to experience a mild weak-marijuana high with using any marijuana, huge amounts of heavy food, coffee, sugar and then champagne over several hours might give one that experience.
My personal gesture will be to don cape, elbow length gloves, picture hat with flowers, and strappy, spikey manolos to repudiate the Obama policy by choosing what seems most likely to bring it to a halt, when with a sweep emerge from the voting booth for my curtain call.
next step: sending NATO servicemen to join Ukrainian army (including Ukrainian neonazis) in fighting a civil war in Ukraine (hi Mrs. Nuland-Kagan): http://www.fort-russ.com/2016/10/nato-makes-europeans-accomplices-to.html
“…this is indeed a violation of international law. The UN Charter prohibits the supply of weapons to a country engulfed in civil war. Ukraine has been such a country for already 2 and a half years.”
Where is the sensitive Mrs Power to teach the world about “civility?”
Weld will never be at the top of any Libertarian ticket. He’s not really one of them and he’s only on the ticket because Johnson wanted him there.
Weld has been very civil about Clinton, understandably since they back a long time. He has said flatly that the e-mail issue is a “non-starter” (and he’s a former prosecutor), so needless to say he’s not serving very well in the veep nominee’s traditional role of attack dog.
the Cult of Shoah as a False Religion
I am not a “Shoah cultist”, starting with the fact I wouldn’t use the word, maybe since I am not Jewish. … Ha-Shoah, the catastrophe? The counter face the Palestinian Nabka? … Shoa, Holocaust, Jewish Genocide… The Destruction of European Jewish live?
What words do the Iranians use for both sides. Ha-Shoah – Nabka? Cult versus what? Remember clarification of terms?
Or perhaps, you can accept the 99-Year cease-fire deal of HAMAS and help stop the wanton murder of Palestinians by Israelis; which, through the actions of your democratically and legally and popularly elected government, you support to the hilt.
This is precisely the type of statement–notice not as a Shoa cultist–I consider slightly irrational. You once challenged Patrick Bahzad along the same lines. Collective responsibility. According to you, to the extend I recall, he was personally responsible as part of the European Union collective, French in his case, for it’s political decisions. Europe surely is, responsible in a way with us Germans adding the biggest share of responsibility.
Your 99-Years cease-fire remind me of the 99 years my favorite Hasbarah ones claimed applied to all real estate possession in Israel, versus all of our non-light-unto-nation countries. No one could own the land, you could only lease it for 99 years.
But apart from that. Why 99 years?
Would I still be personally responsible for my countries decisions, to leave out the more complex European context, if I hadn’t voted for either one of the parties presently “in power”? And thus in the best of all positions to decide in the wider European context as one among, how many now 28? And how and why would my positions on sex or justice matter in this context, ideally in the same combination you used them?
Babak – I recently came across an article that might interest you. It can be found at: http://www.religionconflictpeace.org/volume-1-issue-1-fall-2007/letter-killeth
This is a quote from an early part of it: “After extensive work on religious violence, I do believe we are confronting an unprecedented global crisis. We have had wars before, of course. We have witnessed the nuclear decimation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. However, today we are faced with the potential for the first global religious war fought with nuclear weapons.”
Thanks, I will read it.
You need to supply your own answers.
rjj,
I voted Nader with no regret and now will vote for Trump with some regret, but HRC is too dangerous to hold the office. At least Dems and Reps alike will keep The Donald in check. HRC will get away with more murder.
Different Clue,
Many of these terrorists are manufactured
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/10/01/pentagon-paid-for-fake-al-qaeda-videos.html