Tag Archives: America

The Man Who Tried to Make America First Again

23 Sunday Apr 2017

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Yesterday Politico ran an excellent expose on Pat Buchanan. Read it HERE. Do read it. I learned a few things I didn’t know about Pat even though I’ve been an admirer since at least 1992, to include supporting his 1996 Presidential bid.

Buchanan, for his part, feels both validated and vindicated. Long ago resigned to the reality that his policy views made him a pariah in the Republican Party—and stained him irrevocably with the ensuing accusations of racism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia—he has lived to see the GOP come around to Buchananism and the country send its direct descendant to the White House.

“I was elated, delighted that Trump picked up on the exact issues on which I challenged Bush,” he tells me. “And then he goes and uses my slogan? It just doesn’t get any better than this.” Buchanan, who has published such books as The Death of the West, State of Emergency, Day of Reckoning and Suicide of a Superpower, admits that November’s election result “gave me hope” for the first time in recent memory.

But none of this means he’s suddenly bullish about America’s future. Buchanan says he has “always been a pessimist,” and despite Trump’s conquest, two things continue to color his dark forecast for the nation. First, Buchanan harbors deep concerns over whether Trump, with his off-topic tweeting and pointless fight-picking, has the requisite focus and discipline to execute his nationalist agenda—especially over the opposition of a media-establishment complex bent on his destruction. Second, even if Trump delivers on the loftiest of his promises, Buchanan fears it will be too little, too late. Sweeping change was needed 25 years ago, he says, before thousands of factories vanished due to the North American Free Trade Agreement, before millions of illegal immigrants entered the country, before trillions of dollars were squandered on regime change and nation-building.

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Andre Chung / Politico.

Things would have worked out better had he made it to the White House in 1993, or 1997, or even 2001. Time was running out, then, and had expired by January of 2009. As the article notes, or Pat noted, the time for radical change was then, rather than now. The good news is that we can still gain a little Buchananism every week at http://buchanan.org/blog/.

I also can’t help but note that this subject article reads almost like a lifetime achievement piece or an obituary. I am not sure if it more resembles an epitaph for Pat or one for the Old Republic. It could be both.

I shared his uncharacteristic optimism about Trump last year as well as his current, well-founded reservations. That party to which he devoted so much attention continues to flounder, even in its victories. Just yesterday, also: Ryan: Focus is on keeping government open, not healthcare. Yes, we must keep Mordor up and running at all costs (and those are high). Of they try hard enough they may yet be able to wield the Ring of Power.

Back to Pat B.: he owns and displays a rare replica of Robert E. Lee’s 1851 Colt Navy revolver. That’s pretty cool.

Fred on America’s First Transgender President, the Hillary-fication of Donald Trump

21 Friday Apr 2017

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Fred takes note of the insane foolishness in D.C. as it concerns The Donald.

Hillary was on board with the Russia hysteria and the globalization and the immigration and so on. Trump could have screwed the whole pooch by getting along with Russia, so he had to be reconfigured. And was. A work in progress, but going well.

Too much is being asked of him. One man cannot overcome the combined hostility of the media, the political establishment, the neocons, the myriad other special interests that he has threatened. Mass immigration is a done deal. China develops and America, already developed, cannot keep up. The country disintegrates socially. Washington, always depending on war and its threat, faces a new world in which trade is the weapon, and doesn’t know what to do. The culture courses. The world changes.

Yet if only Trump showed some sign of knowing what he is doing, and could remember from day to day, if only he realized that wars are more easily started than predicted, if only he were not becoming an unbalanced Hillary.

Yet, apparently, he is.

Yes, a work in progress. And progressing very nicely. Tax cuts, they say, are coming. Just as Obamacare reform/repeal/replacement/whatever is coming along nicely … again … for the 90th time… Hillary is walking free. The terrorists are walking free. The judges and lawyers who support the terrorists are walking free. Julian Assange … is destined for prison. Goldman controls the economy and the currency. Bombs fall the world over based on lies. The swamp is thriving. No one has seen the wall…

There’s still a glimmer of hope left for this administration. But it’s a small glimmer and obstructed by the clouds and fumes of Mordor.

Fred did a great, typically-hilarious Fred job of showcasing the situation but he’s a bit late. I called this on April 7th.

MAGA can (could) still happen. But not with this crowd. Not with this government. Maybe not with this population.

Have a great weekend.

Department of Justice [SIC] to Charge Julian Assange … with Something

21 Friday Apr 2017

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The U.S. government is known by two hallmarks: absolute power over everything on Earth, and; a complete aversion to the truth. Naturally, it wants to prosecute Julian Assange of Wikileaks.

US authorities have prepared charges to seek the arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, US officials familiar with the matter tell CNN.

The Justice Department investigation of Assange and WikiLeaks dates to at least 2010, when the site first gained wide attention for posting thousands of files stolen by the former US Army intelligence analyst now known as Chelsea Manning.
Prosecutors have struggled with whether the First Amendment precluded the prosecution of Assange, but now believe they have found a way to move forward.

During President Barack Obama’s administration, Attorney General Eric Holder and officials at the Justice Department determined it would be difficult to bring charges against Assange because WikiLeaks wasn’t alone in publishing documents stolen by Manning. Several newspapers, including The New York Times, did as well. The investigation continued, but any possible charges were put on hold, according to US officials involved in the process then.

…

But Ben Wizner, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Speech, Privacy and Technology Project, argued that US prosecution of Assange sets a dangerous precedent.

“Never in the history of this country has a publisher been prosecuted for presenting truthful information to the public,” Wizner told CNN. “Any prosecution of WikiLeaks for publishing government secrets would set a dangerous precedent that the Trump administration would surely use to target other news organizations.”

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CNN.

There’s a pattern, here, as old as government corruption itself: government commits evil; someone exposes the evil; the evil-doers visit upon the exposing party.

A great opportunity for the advancement of human freedom is missed. Washington could acknowledge it’s many faults, as exposed by Wikileaks, and vow to fix them. It could stop spying on everyone, wasting money, bombing without cause, and generally mind its own damned business. They might actually thank Assange and Co. for their work.

That’s not going to happen. Dangerous precedents from dangerous people.

Evidence Suggests No Sarin Nerve Gas Was Used in Syria

20 Thursday Apr 2017

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Even if it was, that should have been none of our business. Deploy Sarin in Alabama, we have a problem. Thousands of miles away in an area known for perpetual violence – not so much. Heartbreak, maybe. Strategic interest, no. That’s IF it happened. Dr. Theodore A. Postol, professor at MIT, presented a scientific analysis which suggests it did not happen (at least as we were lead to believe):

This abbreviated summary of the facts has been constructed entirely from basic physics, video evidence, and absolutely solid analytical methods. It demonstrates without doubt that the sarin dispersal site alleged as the source of the April 4, 2017 sarin attack in Khan Sheikhoun was not a nerve agent attack site.

It also shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that the only mass casualty site that could have resulted from this mass attack is not in any way related to the sites that are shown in video following a poisoning event of some kind at Khan Sheikhoun.

This means that the allegedly “high confidence” White House intelligence assessment ssued on April 11 that led to the conclusion that the Syrian government was responsible for the attack is not correct. For such a report to be so egregiously in error, it could not possibly have followed the most simple and proven intelligence methodologies to determine the veracity of its findings.

Since the United States justified attacking a Syrian airfield on April 7, four days before the flawed National Security Council intelligence report was released to the Congress and the public, the conclusion that follows is that the United States took military actions without the intelligence to support its decision.

Furthermore, it is clear that the WHR was not an intelligence report.

No competent intelligence professional would have made so many false claims that are totally inconsistent with the evidence. No competent intelligence professional would have accepted the findings in the WHR analysis after reviewing the data presented herein. No competent intelligence professionals would have evaluated the crater that was tampered with in terms described in the WHR.

Although it is impossible to know from a technical assessment to determine the reasons for such an egregiously amateurish report, it cannot be ruled out that the WHR was fabricated to conceal critical information from the Congress and the public.

It cannot be ruled out? Given the fact that just about everything from D.C. in the past 100+ years has been a big, steaming pile of lies, it seems it would rule it in.

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Can solar declination, wind direction, and chemical science overcome the …. Never mind… Postol / Washington’s Blog.

This assessment, if true, would demonstrate not the first deception from Washington. It certainly won’t be the last.

Little, if any, of this will reach the ears and minds of average ‘Muricans of any political persuasion. Did you know Let’s Make a Deal! is back on the TeeVee??

The Topsy Turvy World of American Political Theater

13 Thursday Apr 2017

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Where to start? Where to start????

Mike Pompeo, new head of the secret police CIA came out with guns blazing today, hot after Wikileaks and their agency revelations.

Pompeo has in the past called for Snowden to receive the death penalty.

He said people at the CIA found praise for WikiLeaks “both perplexing and deeply troubling.”

“As long as they make a splash, they care nothing about the lives they put at risk or the damage they cause to national security,” Pompeo said. “It’s time to call out WikiLeaks for what it really is: a non-state hostile intelligence service often abetted by state actors, like Russia.”

During the question and answer portion of the event, Pompeo said because Assange was not a US citizen and lived in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, he “has no First Amendment freedoms.”

Odd. Odd. Odd. Odd. Very perplexing. Very odd, because, as the article explains, Pompeo was praising Wiki just last fall. Things change. No freedom of speech outside the U.S. Constitution? Shows a lack of understanding of the Constitution.

Elsewhere Pompeo (maybe on TeeVee) also claimed that U.S. citizens have nothing to fear from all the spying because the spy agencies do not spy on them. Well, they spied on Pompeo’s Boss, Donald J. Trump, and associates – the President and all … but you!, you little people have nothing to worry about….

Trump has pretty much dropped the spying allegations – even as more and more evidence comes forward to irrufutably prove them. Very odd. The media and the Democrats are a little quiet too – not so odd. Just after the Rice revelations surfaced, the Guardian presented evidence of British Intel involvement.

You read about that, here, last month, because I’m faster than the Guardian. Not as fast as Judge Napolitano, however. He blew the whistle first – and Fox fired him for it. I’ve heard no word of an apology from the Legs Network…

I supposed the “America First” White House has been preoccupied lately – what with bombing Syria, bombing Afghanistan, and preparing to bomb North Korea – all vital to Americans and their interests… All… Oops! Some of the bombs went a little off target. Not that anyone really knows what the target is. The important thing is that Raytheon, General Dynamics, and the banksters make money.

Healthcare reform has been slightly delayed. Tax cuts can wait a while. The wall can wait. Hilary’s still walking (stumbling?) free. Yeah… But Raytheon stock is up and the Goldman grip grows stronger by the day! There’s that.

The GOP is doing it’s part for the Big Club.

For their part,the Democrats are … doing something. I’ve got to give them a little blame here.

From the above, one might gather that now would be the time for the opposition party to strike back. If we had opposition, that might happen. We don’t.

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Considerably better looking than the previous alternative … and no email issues. NBC News.

The Dems have in their party a brilliant young female politician, one Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D, HI). Female and minority – all the things they say they like. She’s a veteran. She knows what she’s talking about. She makes sense. She is 100% against foreign meddling and needless wars. And she’s pretty easy on the eyes too. Perfect, right? Sane, young, patriotic new blood, hottie in 2020?? No…

Naturally, the Donkey Party wants her kicked out of office, maybe locked away in an asylum or something.

As Carlin said, “this is the best we can do”.

Puerto Rico Faces Bankruptcy: Watch YOUR Wallets

12 Wednesday Apr 2017

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A little less than a year ago I reported several times on Paul Ryan’s efforts to save banking profits by temporarily averting financial disaster in Puerto Rico. Then, I wrote:

May 24, 2016 I posted Paul Ryan Rescues Banksters, Globalists about Paul Ryan’s dastardly plans to force you (all of you) to pay Puerto Rico’s debts – all on behalf of the banksters of the world.

I said then:

The bailout will happen; consider it a done deal. Really $2 Billion or the whole $70 Billion is but a barely noticeable drop in the fed’s ocean of economic woe. Things like this add up though. When the whole system comes crashing down don’t count on the banksters to be found let alone lend a hand. They’re gathering the last of the cash (yours and mine) and preparing to flee. However, come hell or high water, the politicians will be easier to find. They’ll still expect to be re-elected. Remember this story and all the others. Hold them accountable or rinse and repeat with similar results.

U.S. Rep. Dave Brat (R-VA), who actually has a Ph.D. in economics, has caught on to the theft and deception:

“This makes the bill truly Orwellian — it remove[d] the consent of the Puerto Rican people and creates a fiefdom for unelected officials chosen by President Obama.

“As economist Thomas Sowell said, ‘The fatal attraction of government is that it allows busybodies to impose decisions on others without paying any price themselves.’ Congress can’t even get its own fiscal house in order, but [passed] a bill to solve Puerto Rico’s problems.

“This bill should [have been] subject to ratification by the Puerto Rican legislature or a vote from the Puerto Rican people. As it stands, I [opposed] PROMESA because it turns free citizens into subjects.”

He’s only talking about the loss of autonomy of the people of Puerto Rico; the rest of the American people will be losing their money. Pay up, subjects.

Temporary is almost over. The law passed and the wayward territory was given a year to get settlements in order. Like so much else Ryan touches, nothing has happened.

Bankruptcy for Puerto Rico is looking ever more likely as the clock ticks down toward a May 1 deadline to restructure $70 billion in debt, ramping up uncertainty for anyone betting on returns from the island’s widely held U.S. municipal bonds.

When U.S. Congress last year passed the Puerto Rico rescue law dubbed PROMESA, it froze creditor lawsuits against the island so its federally appointed oversight board and creditors could negotiate out of court on the biggest debt restructuring in U.S. municipal history.

The freeze expires on May 1, however, and an extension by Congress is “not going to happen,” said a Republican aide to the House Committee on Natural Resources, which is in charge of territory matters.

A round of mediated talks is scheduled to begin on Thursday. But absent an agreement soon, a growing number of analysts say Puerto Rico will seek protection from creditors under PROMESA’s court-sanctioned restructuring process, akin to U.S. bankruptcy.

Forbearance deals could let negotiations continue past May 1, but a source directly involved in the talks said avoiding an eventual bankruptcy is “impossible.”

Bankruptcy wouldn’t be the worst thing for P.R. In fact, it might be the best thing, here and now. It could give the people of the island room to decide if they want to continue their local fiasco. Hopefully, it will stay local and with them.

I have a funny feeling Congress won’t stand idly-by as the banks lose $70 Billion. Time will tell.

This case may serve as a canary in the economic coalmine. Watch and see what happens when governments default – more will surely follow.

This might be a good time to decide if P.R. should be granted sovereignty.

Might be a good look at the relationship between Congress and Wall Street.

It might be fun or funny, but probably not…

The Empire Falters

11 Tuesday Apr 2017

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John Whitehead muses over the new, emerging wars of stupidity in conjunction with all the other wars, programs, policies, debts, and expenditures which are pushing the U.S. closer and closer towards fifth-century Rome.

Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes… known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few.… No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare. — James Madison

Waging endless wars abroad (in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and now Syria) isn’t making America—or the rest of the world—any safer, it’s certainly not making America great again, and it’s undeniably digging the U.S. deeper into debt.

In fact, it’s a wonder the economy hasn’t collapsed yet.

Indeed, even if we were to put an end to all of the government’s military meddling and bring all of the troops home today, it would take decades to pay down the price of these wars and get the government’s creditors off our backs. Even then, government spending would have to be slashed dramatically and taxes raised.

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The government is $19 trillion in debt: War spending has ratcheted up the nation’s debt. The debt has now exceeded a staggering $19 trillion and is growing at an alarming rate of $35 million/hour and $2 billion every 24 hours. Yet while defense contractors are getting richer than their wildest dreams, we’re in hock to foreign nations such as Japan and China (our two largest foreign holders at $1.13 trillion and $1.12 trillion respectively).

The Pentagon’s annual budget consumes almost 100% of individual income tax revenue. If there is any absolute maxim by which the federal government seems to operate, it is that the American taxpayer always gets ripped off, especially when it comes to paying the tab for America’s attempts to police the globe. Having been co-opted by greedy defense contractors, corrupt politicians and incompetent government officials, America’s expanding military empire is bleeding the country dry at a rate of more than $57 million per hour.

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The U.S. government spends more on wars (and military occupations) abroad every year than all 50 states combined spend on health, education, welfare, and safety. In fact, the U.S. spends more on its military than the eight highest-ranking nations with big defense budgets combined. The reach of America’s military empire includes close to 800 bases in as many as 160 countries, operated at a cost of more than $156 billion annually. As investigative journalist David Vine reports, “Even US military resorts and recreation areas in places like the Bavarian Alps and Seoul, South Korea, are bases of a kind. Worldwide, the military runs more than 170 golf courses.”

…

Add in the cost of waging war in Syria (with or without congressional approval), and the burden on taxpayers soars to more than $11.5 million a day. Ironically, while presidential candidate Trump was vehemently opposed to the U.S. use of force in Syria, as well as harboring Syrian refugees within the U.S., he had no problem retaliating against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on behalf of Syrian children killed in a chemical attack. The cost of launching a 59 Tomahawk missile-strike against Syria? It’s estimated that the missiles alone cost $60 million. Mind you, this is the same man, while campaigning for president, who warned that fighting Syria would signal the start of World War III against a united Syria, Russia and Iran. Already oil prices have started to climb as investors anticipate an extended conflict.

Clearly, war has become a huge money-making venture, and the U.S. government, with its vast military empire, is one of its best buyers and sellers.

Yet what most Americans—brainwashed into believing that patriotism means supporting the war machine—fail to recognize is that these ongoing wars have little to do with keeping the country safe and everything to do with enriching the military industrial complex at taxpayer expense.

These facts and figures are staggering and Whitehead shoots on the low side of the costs involved. But he nails it that, whatever the cost, there benefits are nonexistent. Of course,the usual suspects are cleaning up. The rest of us are fleeced, lie to, and in some cases, maimed or killed.

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Not sure what these numbers refer to, if anything. Symbolism, this. Pagun View.

It’s always the internal affairs that bring down great nations and empires. We are no different. The problem is repeated throughout history: government’s run wild; the people are willfully blind. I can’t and won’t give any date as accurate as, say, 476 for the default – even that is speculative. But it’s coming, happening now, been happening…

“America first” would have gone a long way to “make America great again”. Make it just American again. Sadly, these slogans were empty as any and didn’t even remotely materialize.

The good news is that, eventually, life will go on. The average man in the Italian Alps circa 550 lived essentially the same life as his counterpart from 450. The getting there, getting through the end game, will require a little stamina and preparation. If you didn’t pay much attention to the recent past, at least give a little thought to the near future.

 

Nica: Cigars or Surveillance?

10 Monday Apr 2017

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I go ahead and call it: Nicaragua is the new Cuba – simply the best tasting cigars in the world (with some stiff competition from numerous countries).

Nica also has a long, sad history of civil strife, coupled with international meddling. The U.S. has been involved for decades as have the Russians. Now, the NZ Herald reports on new suspicions over a Russian facility outside Managua.

US officials are keeping a keen eye on a Russian complex nestled on the edge of a volcanic crater in Nicaragua.

The center, which is believed to be a satellite station, has been built near the Laguna de Nejapa in Managua – the capital of the Central American nation, according to Daily Mail.

The Washington Post reports the local government described the complex as, “simply a tracking site of the Russian version of a GPS satellite system”, but not everyone is convinced it isn’t something more sinister.

“Clearly there’s been a lot of activity, and it’s on the uptick now,” a US official and expert on Central America, told the newspaper.

Other officials said there are concerns the hub could be a “dual use” facility, meaning it could house equipment and workers with the ability to conduct electronic surveillance against American citizens.

From where the compound is located, it offers those who are based there a clear view of the US Embassy about 10 miles away in the heart of Managua.

I have no idea what is going on down there and, unless and until it disrupts the trade from Esteli or Jalapa, I don’t really care.

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Leave these folks to work. Smoke Shop Mag / Perdomo.

Nations spy on each other, tensions and reasons or not. That’s not my concern. My concern is earthy-flavored smokes. Let me make it clear to Washington and Moscow: leave my friends and sticks alone. Keep your braindead BS in Syria or Ukraine or anywhere else. Don’t make me come down there…

Well, This Isn’t Good

09 Sunday Apr 2017

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There is good news tonight: congratulations to Sergio Garcia on a Masterful performance at Augusta. One may have noticed a slight lack of color on CBS; they let the azaleas slip for once (no one is perfect, even the National). I guarantee the color will be back next year – along with many, many astounding changes (more on that later [HUGE doings in Augusta in years to come…]).

In Russia, the color is red. That’s what Putin is seeing and how he describes the line Trump crossed last week in Syria.

One of the things that got Trump elected was the fear that a second President Clinton would merely be a shill for the war parties, who would steer us uncomfortably close to armed conflict with Russia. Trump channeled his inner 2000-era W and promised a humble foreign policy. That all went out the window – missile tube, rather – last week.

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Honestly, I would have picked another man to piss off… Drudge.

From The Daily Mail:

The Assad regime has denied it was responsible and the Russians have claimed it was a ‘false flag’ incident carried out by jihadists who want to stir up tensions between Russia and the US.

President Trump infuriated Moscow when he authorised an airstrike on a Syrian air base on Friday, which killed at least six people.

British Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon said today it was the ‘right call’ for the Americans to bomb the air base as retribiution for a ‘barbaric, immoral and illegal’ act by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who he described as a Russian ‘proxy’.
But in a joint statement the Russian and Iranians said: ‘We will respond to any aggression’.

The Sun reported that a joint command centre in Syria said: ‘What America waged in an aggression on Syria is a crossing of red lines. From now on we will respond with force to any aggressor or any breach of red lines from whoever it is and America knows our ability to respond well.’

The Sun has a parallel story, perhaps most interesting because they dial back the rhetoric on the “definitive” narrative of the chemical attacks. Now, it’s only “suspected”. Next, will be privately written off and publicly ignored.

Right now, this all looks like two things: First, there’s tremendous rah-rah for Trump’s actions from the British Foreign Secretary. Second, there’s militant posturing from Damascus and Tehran. All well and good if it stays like that. Cooler heads might have a chance to prevail.

The British always have our backs. No change expected there. And neither Iran nor Syria have the ability to harm the U.S. in any significant fashion. It’s Russia that should worry sane people. They do have detrimental abilities.

Concerns mount that Kim-Jong Un(well) may have the ability to get one ICBM to Hawaii. Russia can get thousands of them everywhere. They can certainly disrupt American operations in Syria and the Med.

None of this is remotely good and it represents one of the major fears of last year’s campaign. Worst of all, is the fact that there is no rational basis for any of it – not for our intervention in Syria nor for anything but friendship with Russia.

To my previously dejected liberal friends, I say, “congratulations; it looks like your girl won after all”. To my Republican chums, I say, “congratulations; you elected Mr. Hilary Clinton”. To the rest of us, I say, “pray”.

The long odds are that this will all blow over. The short call is that it may blow up.

Developing…

 

Congratulations. You Elected Hilary Clinton…

07 Friday Apr 2017

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America is completely and utterly out of control. Any hopes that a Trump Presidency would reverse course or hold position have now faded away. Last night the President lobbed nearly 60 Tomahawk cruise missiles into Syria.

  • The US military fired more than 50 tomahawk missiles at al-Shayrat military airfield at 8.45pm EDT Thursday
  • Moves comes just hours after Trump said ‘something should happen’ following Tuesday’s gas-attack atrocity
  • Trump took action after more than 80 were killed and many more were injured in the Sarin poison gas attack
  • ‘Even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered in this very barbaric attack,’ he said after launching the strike
  • Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued a furious response calling airstrike an ‘illegal act of aggression’
  • US called ‘a partner of ISIS’ by al-Assad’s spokesman who said missile strikes are ‘reckless and irresponsible’
  • Trump says airfield used to store toxic weapons and was the base for the aircraft involved in the Sarin attack
  • Claims that nine were killed, and more were injured, in the strike which has severely damaged the airbase
  • US told Moscow it was launching an airstrike about 30 minutes in advance – but did not ask for permission

U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Porter (DDG 78) conducts strike operations while in the Mediterranean Sea

Bombs away, suckers… Daily Mail.

The public, those few who are somewhat awake, seems elated. As of this writing, 65+% of a Drudge poll see the action as favorable. I ask, “favorable to whom”?

Not everyone is happy. Rand Paul cautiously reminded the President that, per the Constitution, Congress is supposed to approve war. A little too late, Rand. This episode, if worth nothing else, proves definitively that the old Constitution is dead and gone. Cling at your own risk.

Nigel Farage, an early Trump supporter, cautioned:

The MEP hit out by warning that those who voted for the US president would be ‘worried’ by his retaliation.

‘I am very surprised by this. I think a lot of Trump voters will be waking up this morning and scratching their heads and saying “where will it all end?”, he said.

‘As a firm Trump supporter, I say, yes, the pictures were horrible, but I’m surprised. Whatever Assad’s sins, he is secular.’

He added: ‘Previous interventions in the Middle East have made things worse rather than better.’

Current UKIP leader, Paul Nuttal, was a bit more blunt: “The U.S. bombing of Syria last night was rash, trigger happy, nonsensical and will achieve nothing. I hoped for better.”

We all hoped for better. Hope in one hand and ….

Vox Day criticized the move:

That being said, I will certainly be disappointed if the God-Emperor makes regime change in Syria an objective of his administration, and I will continue to oppose any military involvement in the Middle East, Europe, the Ukraine, and any military activity directed against China or Russia.

The Russians are beyond livid:

“That’s it. The last remaining election fog has lifted. Instead of an overworked statement about a joint fight against the biggest enemy, Isis (the Islamic State), the Trump administration proved that it will fiercely fight the legitimate Syrian government, in a tough contradiction with international law and without UN approval, in violation of its own procedures stipulating that the Congress must first be notified of any military operation unrelated to aggression against the US. On the verge of a military clash with Russia.

“Nobody is overestimating the value of pre-election promises but there must be limits of decency.

“Beyond that is absolute mistrust. Which is really sad for our now completely ruined relations. And which is good news for terrorists.

“One more thing. This military action is a clear indication of the US President’s extreme dependency on the opinion of the Washington establishment, the one that the new president strongly criticised in his inauguration speech.

“Soon after his victory, I noted that everything would depend on how soon Trump’s election promises would be broken by the existing power machine. It took only two and a half months.”

-Dmitry Medvedev

Medvedev correctly pointed out the attack was both illegal and came within an inch of initiating a real war with a real and capable enemy.

Where to start with this???

The underlying Sarin gas attack is questionable at best. The U.S. media has taken the government’s word verbatim. Still, there is no definitive proof it happened. And, if it did happen, there’s no proof Assad was behind it. And, even if it happened and Assad is responsible, there is absolutely no American interest in the matter and nothing to be gained from intervention. It is not our damned business.

Is this what you voted for? Trump is now enacting the worst fears associated with the Clinton campaign. He’s running headlong towards war with Syria, North Korea, and maybe even Russia – in addition to ongoing actions in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan, Libya, and God knows where else. Madness. Sheer utter madness. I advised you all to abstain from the election. Hey, voters, this is on you!

The problem, for us, with radical Islamists, has nothing to do with their activities in their home nations. The problem is with their terrorism in our countries, like Sweden, home of the latest predictable attack.

The solution is very simple: 1) stop bothering these people in their countries, and 2) get them out of ours. Damned simple. And obviously not going to happen just yet. There must be a little more money to be given the banksters and the MIC. You voted for this.

You also voted for the jumbled, same-as-always home agenda. Trump, the businessman and outsider, is working hard to surround himself with more insiders and Wall Street criminals. He cannot marshal the idiots in the GOP, even as they hold a complete majority in D.C. No healthcare reform. No tax cuts. The wall may stall. The deportations and travel bans also stall even as easy solutions abound. A “neutral” budget with no redress of the $20 Trillion (on-books) debt nor the Fed’s funny money. Your vote wasted again.

*In fairness, the man is working to create some jobs and cut some regs. There’s that. Small things, mice among the elephants.

As Vox noted, the real war for the West will be fought in the West. The other side has been fighting for some years now, even as you’ve stared at the TeeVee. All the attacks on all the foreign nations are mere distractions. They garner easy support. Yet, few actually want to fight at home – fear of being called “racist” or something. I hear local Muslims are concerned about fictional backlash from tomorrow’s terrorist attack… The media, the SJWs, and the dullards will lend pitiful support. Madness.

None of our interventions in the Middle East and elsewhere over the past 25+ years have done anything except kill people, displace people, overrun the West with “refugees”, break things, empower terrorists, and waste money. We can’t ever win these wars because there is nothing to win or to gain. Syria is no different except that we risk war with Russia. And, that, we certainly cannot win.

All the while a real war (we must win if we are to survive) rages around us.

I love fun and games as much as the next man; I’m having a blast this Masters’s week. Yet, maybe, just maybe, it’s time to wake up and wise up.

Expect nothing but trouble (certainly no help from) the Washington-Wall Street-Fed-globohomo-MIC-media-GOP-DNC-Reagan-Bush-Clinton-Bush-Obama-Trump cabal.

Nothing. Maybe it’s time to revive that letter to Putin…