POTUS at SOTUS

357 Responses to “POTUS at SOTUS”

1. ccm989 March 3, 2017 at 9:33 am #

   Health care insurance is ridiculous. I’ll give you that. But those Republican Health Savings Plans are even worse and MORE expensive so either we switch to single payer or we stick with ACA. Otherwise tens of thousands of Americans will have no choice between either food or medicine. And let’s face it, with the GOP in charge we will never get single payer.

   Other disturbing trends from Trump World (formerly known as the USA) — more Russian connections! This time it’s Jeff Sessions who committed perjury under oath. Once he got caught, he recused himself. How convenient that he could have been charge of the Russian investigation. Frankly, he ought to resign. Immediately. But apparently writing a nice letter to Congress makes it all better. Bet Hillary wishes she had known that!

   And the leaks keep coming out. Flooding the news outlets. Trump’s cabinet was NOT vetted too well. It seems like every one of his picks has a strong Russian connection. Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn, Jeff Sessions, Wilbur Ross, Carter Page, etc. If Trump were smart, he could put the whole matter to bed by releasing his tax returns. Unless he has something big to hide. (Insert Cheshire Cat grin here). But don’t worry Trump is flying down to Mar-A-Lago for the weekend at the expense of an easy $1M. Wow. America is so screwed.
   • DA March 3, 2017 at 11:35 am #

     Single payer was never and never will be on the table for either legacy party.

     And the whole Russian investigation is nothing but a Democrat party sponsored witch hunt to avenge their queen’s election loss. The Dems have apparently morphed into the hysterical adolescent girls’ social club now. Sessions never should have recused himself and Trump never should have acknowledged any of this bullshit – starting with Flynn – in the first place. Quite frankly, it makes me wonder if all this isn’t joint D & R party kabuki theater as a further excuse to do nothing in DC. Wouldn’t be the first time.
     • outsider March 3, 2017 at 5:24 pm #

       The Democrats have reached an all time low with this Russia/Putin hysteria. I find it hard to believe that any Congressperson calling for investigations into Russian hacking even believes what they are saying. It’s really the height of hypocrisy. Their BIG LIE puts them in league with Goebbels. I wonder how many Americans still think that Russia is communist? Oh, the Horror, the Horror!
       • ozone March 3, 2017 at 6:09 pm #

         outsider,
         IMO, between yourself, JHK, and DA, you’ve got the current zeitgeist and political paradigm NAILED!
         (I really am surprised that some/enough people have seen through the veil. That’s [personally] encouraging.)
       • aNanyMouse March 3, 2017 at 6:50 pm #

         outsider, you’re mention of Goebbels brings to mind a crucial analogy, between this Russia/Putin hysteria (scapegoating for Hillary’s defeat), and Hitler’s scapegoating of Jews for Germany’s WWI defeat.
         Both defeats were huge shocks to these respective groups, and both groups were/are determined to grasp at any straws, to avoid facing the unhappy truths that the brass of, respectively, Hillary’s campaign, and the German General Staff, richly deserved these defeats.

         I’m moved to fall upon this analogy partly because of all the recent noise about a possible analogy, between Trump’s victory and Hitler’s rise to power (see e.g. the recent Special Edition of Newsweek, “Hitler… can he happen again?”).
         To my mind, this analogy is mostly grasping at straws, for a host of historical reasons (esp. Hitler’s mega-power over the Nazi Party, vs. Trump’s very-weak hold over the GOP).
         Any thoughts, DA, ozone, or Finca?
         • DA March 3, 2017 at 8:59 pm #

           I’m still trying to figure all this stuff out like everyone else, but at this point I see all the ‘Trump as Hitler’ hysteria as a sort of a ‘through the looking glass’ role reversal mind fuck on the part of the Globalist deep state (I’m searching for a proper label here, but I think they’re being defined faster than most of us casual observers can keep up). If anything, the Obama/Clinton agenda was as blatantly globalist – which is the new elitist ‘us vs them’ mythology, totally replacing the rather primitive (and “corn pone,” to borrow a term from Jim) mythology of Hitler’s Germany – as anything Hitler was able to produce back in the day. And that’s totally discounting the fact that much of what we here in the west were ‘officially’ taught about Hitler, Nazism, the holocaust, Communism, and the actual reasons behind WWI and WWII (or what Scott Nearing accurately referred to as “The Great War” (singular)) were true, which we know now, simply weren’t.

           In general, although I’m as prone to Wiemar/Nazi parallel accusations as anyone (and I’ve made plenty lately!), I try to resist the urge as much as possible, simply because the term has become so polluted by so many fools rushing in to use it. Everyone and his brother is rushing in now to make Nazi and Hitler comparisons, which of course is the point of current MSM propaganda efforts in the first place. When everyone’s Hitler, no one’s Hitler as they say.

           In summary: historical parallels are of course nice when they apply, and quite illustrative as well. But going to that well routinely as a matter of course will soon draw it dry. And on a more practical note, it just further confuses things if we start drawing historical parallels on a knee jerk basis when they only marginally apply. Most times it’s just best to consider the task at hand and tackle it directly. I think – perhaps foolishly – we’re still up to that.
         • Janos Skorenzy March 4, 2017 at 1:36 am #

           You’re onto something though not what you think. The Jews are pushing this narrative because they hate strong White Leaders for obvious reasons, namely the stronger we are, the weaker they are and vice versa.

           That they fill free to slander the President so freely now shows how close they are to complete power. Obviously they have it already in the media. They would have never dared do this twenty years ago.
         • aNanyMouse March 4, 2017 at 7:03 pm #

           DA, you may well be right about this Hitler analogy stuff, tho I lean toward saying that Dubya and Cheney were on mostly the same globalist page as Obama/Clinton, in the most crucial respects.

           As to your view that “much of what we here in the west were ‘officially’ taught about Hitler” etc. simply wasn’t so, please name the historians who you think make the strongest cases for that view.
   • xxzzy999 March 5, 2017 at 10:56 am #

     Say what ever you want about Trump….. but we are significantly better off not having the odious Clinton leading this country… PERIOD.
   • Last Wah March 5, 2017 at 3:15 pm #

     ccm989

     I understand the disappointment with the result of the Presidential Election. What I do not understand is the continued commentaries that are just not factual regarding almost (I stress almost) EVERYTHING. This specific “SESSION LIES” issue is related to the appointment process of people who are nominated for Cabinet positions and are going through the Congressional hearings of “ADVISE and CONSENT”. The fact that they are still going on after 45 days is in and of itself unprecedented. SO …When did Sessions LIE to Congress as you state?? Lets analyze this statement you make……..

     Instead of just listening to the reports about the supposed “FACTS” that Sessions misrepresented/lied/ relates to Sessions reply to Senator Frankin during a very long statement that finally became a question. I wanted to listen to Mr. Frankins entire Question to Sessions so I could hear for myself the “LIE”.

     When I was finally able to find the entire QUESTION ASKED by the Senator from the CNN file recording it is CLEAR to me that the Sessions reply was possibly one of the most accurate answers to the question AS FINALLY ASKED by the Minnesota Senator.

     How this accurate answer to an exact question can be called a “LIE” is just mind boggling to me. But many people are stating this. I have to wonder did they also do what I did? Or just listen to or read this from a source they prefer to believe out of hand?

     If “We the People” continue to create larger divides by not using our own mental abilities to listen to things COMPLETELY and make truthful decisions for ourselves, then others/media/blogs etc. will be successful in helping to speed up the demise of our society.

     Are we ready to live in “A world made by hand”?? Because the way things seem to be going our divisions will sooner than later surly cause us to become more and more divided.

     I am saddened by the misinformation being presented by ALL sides. Many are currently considered as what is fed to them by MEDIA as “FACTUAL”. We truly becoming “useful idiots” for the powers pushing their agendas of separate beliefs. This is leading the largest LEMMING like actions by the masses that I have seen in my lifetime.

     We are doing ourselves in without even looking for the truth on our own. Continuing to form opinions and attitudes (no matter what side you may be on) by just taking the spoon feed information as reality is going to destroy us!
     • Majella March 6, 2017 at 4:46 pm #

       Last Wah – which stream of information to take one’s spoon to? That’s the question. Judging by the comments above, there’s only two narratives: –

       1: the MSM is being led by the Deep State to support a concocted lie about Russian connections; OR

       2 – the Russian stories, combined with the discovered & proven lies of the likes of Flynn & Sessions actually support that narrative

       Let’s not include Trump as a liar – I don;t think he ever ‘lies’ because he’s such a fucking idiot he believes whatever comes into his head or out of his mouth or Twitter feed at the time, regardless of how contradictory that might be to previous expressed views [now known as alt-facts].
       • Last Wah March 6, 2017 at 8:43 pm #

         Majella
         Hello, my comment was to ask if others have watched the ORIGINAL complete entire question asked of Mr. Sessions by MR. Frankin. The one that has been used as the FACT that SESSION LIES Narrative is based upon. Also this can be found upon investigation on c-span). The other “meeting” that seems to be referenced as something he did not “DISCLOSE” with the Russian Ambassador was at a LARGE convention where the “meeting” was just part of the polite talk of the Speakers and many folks in attendance which seems as a fairly easily understood situation that most (including myself) have done in public. I would not do not even think of this as a private “DISCUSSION”. I probably would have forgotten about it in point of fact as this was inane in nature.

         So as far as the spoon fed info I have not found any evidence of the Senator LYING to Congress or in any public forums that I was able to listen to for my self.

         My conclusion is that he has not proffered any “LIE” to his peers or the public based upon these facts that I personally viewed/looked into on my own.

         If you can direct me to any other information that will show factual information of LYING to Congress please tell me so I can INFORM MYSELF as the hearsay stuff is out of hand these days.

         Thanks in advance for this info if you have it.
2. JimInFlorida March 3, 2017 at 9:39 am #

   The fundamental problem with health care in the U.S. started in 1973 with the creation of HMO’s. Before the HMO’s, the primary goal of health care WAS health care and it was funded to that end. HMO’s perverted health care into a commodity and the new goal became profits for shareholders.

   Medicare and Medicaid are relics of the pre-HMO era. Therefore, they are the best programs to base the new health care paradigm under. MEDICARE FOR ALL is the ONLY solution because health care will be restored to its rightful place as a dividend of modern society. Health care is what’s delivered; not profits for private cartels.

   Medicare For All can be initially funded by removing the FICA income ceiling. With some pressure, Congress can then levy a full 1% Wall Street Sales Tax on all trades of securities and derivatives. This will subsidize MFA and enable people to buy in at $100/month and affordable deductibles. Deductibles that can be adjusted via means testing. Unlike Obamacare, Medicare For All is not compulsory but is there if you want it. But, MFA is so superior that most people will dump their private insurer and sign up.

   Everybody talks trash about Britain’s NHS but, we must remember that Maggy Thatcher wrecked it along with everything else that used to make Britain great.
   • Dumbedup March 3, 2017 at 2:39 pm #

     I’m not disagreeing with you but rather revealing my ignorance. Do you mean HMOs as the precursor or example of health insurance in general, or was there something specific about HMOs?

     I like your idea of MFA, but it will never happen. Too many people people cast about the word socialism to describe it and the listeners usually have a visceral reaction which blinds them to the fact that the present system is a form of socialism.

     It is a fact that health care as it exists now is a racket. A few years ago I had to have some outpatient surgery for which I self-paid. I had to have some blood work done and an EKG prior to surgery. No one could tell me exactly how much those tests would cost. I was given a ballpark figure of “about $500” which turned out to be too low, and the surgeon told me his fee was $1,000, but no one could tell me the cost of the lab work, anesthesia or the surgery center. They either claimed they didn’t know or refused to say.

     No one can pay for healthcare without some form of pooling. Whether that program is government run or privately run is really irrelevant unless you are one of those who believes that the government is the most inefficient manager of resources. Funny that it seems to work in Canada.

     Maybe we should privatize our military too.

     Can we privatize Congress? The White House?
     • JimInFlorida March 3, 2017 at 4:39 pm #

       Nothing wrong with asking. I’ll share my two cents with you. Elrond Hubbard (about 20 comments down) has an excellent take on the problem.

       Your uses of the words, socialism, privatize, etc. is disturbing because it reflects the perversity of Political English, where everything is labeled wrong yet taken at face value. There’s nothing “conservative” about Conservatives. Conservatives are cucks for Israel and whores for Wall Street. Liberals used to be about Labor Rights and Economic Rights. Liberals are now SJW’s and they are for anything EXCEPT White Males, true Christianity, and the King’s English.

       What we are suffering from is NOT SOCIALISM!!! Look at the root of the word. Social. The dividends of the nation’s output must be used to promote the General Welfare and ensure Domestic Tranquility. The Preamble to the U.S. Constitution is LOADED with so-called “socialist” language.

       But, because “Socialism” has been perverted, the more accurate label is POPULISM. I would call it “Socialism-turned-right-side-up.”

       HMO’s turned health care into a Business instead of the Public Benefit it used to be. In the Business Model, the assets of health care are used to leverage credit for lots of things not related to health care i.e. “investments,” CEO swag, shareholder profits, political payola, and other rackets. That drives the price of health care far beyond what can be paid for out of pocket, as it used to be.

       Therefore, it is impossible to get health care from the hyper-privatized Medical-Industrial Complex without health insurance. When I was growing up (pre-HMO), my Dad simply paid the doctor’s fee out of pocket for my checkups. When I broke my arm at age 10, the hospital was clean, had nurses in their formal starched white uniforms, were attentive, and Dad paid out of pocket. Health care costs were reasonable because the fees paid for the delivery of health care. NOT for CEO bonuses, fancy equipment, financial paper, and payola!

       The military is already semi-privatized and their primary goal in the world is to protect foreign assets held in Trust for the Federal Reserve. Our Armed Forces haven’t fought a legitimate war since 1812.

       Congress is already privatized. All that’s left is to plaster Corporate Logos all in the House and Senate chambers. Same thing for the White House.

       The American Tradition is POPULISM and the nation was at its best when POPULISM held sway. All most people have ever known is Reaganomics and that is ANTI-AMERICAN. Red, White, and Blue propaganda and Plastic Patriotism notwithstanding.
       • outsider March 3, 2017 at 5:43 pm #

         Agreed on populism, Jim. You explained it well. To that end, I’d label Trump a fake populist. A good example of a real populist would be Pat Buchanan. The nation missed its last chance to right itself when Buchanan was rejected for the GOP nomination in ’92 in favor of lame incumbent GHWB. Once Trump fails, and he will, we could wind up with someone to the Right of Buchanan. The alt-right is growing.
         • Janos Skorenzy March 3, 2017 at 7:32 pm #

           And Buchanan cucked when he chose a Black for his Vice President in a desperate attempt to show he wasn’t a “racist”. Such things never work but always alienate the base.
       • Dumbedup March 3, 2017 at 9:20 pm #

         While I agree with almost everything you said I don’t think you gave me enough credit in your response with regard to socialism.

         Would you agree that the practical definition of “socialism” is any government benefit that is, at least in part, paid for by tax receipts paid by someone other than the recipient? Medicare, Medicaid, social security, food stamps, SNAP, and other programs fit that definition do they not?

         Speaking the words “Universal Healthcare” (MFA by another name) will cause almost every person on the right to have an aneurysm because they have been programmed to believe that it is synonymous with communism and antithetical to capitalism and America. Yet, as you say, the “general welfare clause” (the meaning of which has been debated since before it was drafted – see, “The Federalist Papers”) clearly provides for our government to do more than just raise an army to defend itself.

         As for privatization, I would say that as long as the paycheck comes from the treasury it isn’t privatized. At least ostensibly.

         Everything which has a value which can be denominated in dollars has in some sense been financialized, so I think I understand what you mean about healthcare. What most people don’t understand is that the financialization of our economy has reached its limits. That is the driving force behind our foreign policy. We want to export the financialization and Russia and China do not want Wall Street to run their economies. But back to healthcare, I don’t know enough about the history but were HMOs the first iteration of health insurance?

         Like you, I can remember my father paying $750 for my mother to have a hysterectomy in 1971. That included everything. Not long after that my father bought a health insurance policy.
         • outsider March 4, 2017 at 11:49 am #

           The Tea Party, in large part, consisted of tens of thousands of older whites upset with the advent of Obamacare. They had a large part in the GOP wresting control of Congress from the Democrats in 2010, who proceeded to gerrymander the House to their advantage, and the rest is history. At the time, many town halls were being shown on cable news. I recall one senior citizen ranting that Obamacare was socialized medicine. In the same breadth it was “Hands Off my Medicare.” How many were blind that Medicare IS socialized medicine?

           As a conservative populist who despises both political parties, I find it appalling that health care for the over 65 crowd is viewed as a right by some greedy seniors, but that everyone else must fend for themselves if they don’t have coverage thru their job. I’m convinced that, if it is structured correctly, has reasonable co-pays, and doesn’t pay for ridiculous things like sex change operations and male genital mutilation, national health care will be cheaper, and certainly more fair, than what we have now, or anything currently being proposed by either party. (Full disclosure: I’m a Senior and like my Medicare.)
         • Dumbedup March 5, 2017 at 8:58 pm #

           @outsider. Agree 100% with everything you said. I am more of a libertarian except I think there are some things which have to be run and/or regulated by the government.
   • ozone March 3, 2017 at 6:17 pm #

     “Health care” and the insurance companies dictating what health providers are going charge for their services– and on down the middleman food-chain– are two entirely different kettles of fish, or apples priced into the orange market (take your pick).
     I’m sure you’re aware of this, and thanks for the Maggy the Minion reference. 😉
3. davidreese2 March 3, 2017 at 10:04 am #

   Everything on the mark, especially your comments on the healthcare system.

   David Reese, MD
   • routersurfer March 3, 2017 at 5:35 pm #

     Thank you for your post Dr.
4. Dumbedup March 3, 2017 at 10:07 am #

   I agree with you about everything except immigration. (But we probably agree about illegal immigration – except I oppose building a wall)

   More generally, Americans (not just Donald Trump) don’t seem to be able to be able to articulate coherent and reasonable arguments in public discussions. And when logic and debate does produce a reasonable answer no one with an opposing view seems willing to concede as if it is an unmitigated disgrace to admit error or even to agree. We don’t govern by compromise and consensus; we govern by conflict and bitterness. In modern discourse, positions harden instead of soften no matter how compelling and convincing the arguments. That is the real undoing of America because it is paralyzing.
   • cbeard March 3, 2017 at 12:42 pm #

     I think everything jiminflorida said was spot on. Concerning immigration, I believe we do need a wall, and better still use E Verify. Mandatory prison time for anyone hiring illegal aliens would solve the problem even quicker. Let some CEO management types spend a year in a federal pen and they may start to obey laws.
     • malthuss March 3, 2017 at 2:30 pm #

       Population of third worlders will continue.
       Immigration, refugees, anchors.
     • Dumbedup March 3, 2017 at 2:50 pm #

       My objection to a wall hearkens to post WWII. It is also an issue of efficiency. The border is almost 2,000 miles. The border runs through lakes and rivers and across mountain peaks as high as 7,000 feet. The answer is much more simple: change and/or enforce existing laws.

       1) only US citizens can obtain a social security card. (existing law allows non-citizens to apply for and receive a social security number so it would require a change in the law)
       2) hiring anyone without a social security card (use eVerify) is illegal and would subject the owners of privately held companies, and the directors of publicly held companies, to criminal prosecution and imprisonment.
       • Janos Skorenzy March 3, 2017 at 4:20 pm #

         Trump is a builder and knows the complexities. In some places, the Wall will be fence, or in extreme cases, just rely on the natural barriers.

         I agree that I wish he would talk about the cyber border such a e-verify. That is just as important or more important.

         You are growing. A short time ago you didn’t believe in any border at all. Do you even remember? Most people can’t see themselves changing and thus never become masters of the art of changing. One must observe before one can know, and know before one can fine tune. If it’s always just something one recognizes after the fact, one remains a stick in the torrent rather than a kayaker in control.
         • JimInFlorida March 3, 2017 at 8:29 pm #

           I have a far better solution than a Wall. But, for Trump to do it would cause The Establishment to have an apoplectic crisis and call for another JFK event. But, I digress….

           Price immigrant labor so high that it becomes insane to keep hiring them! This can be done by repealing Taft-Hartley, double the budget of the Department of Labor and energize the moribund NLRB, have the DOL send out roving bands of field staff going from farms to factories offering Card Check, and expanding Davis-Bacon.

           Once Jose, Mola Ram, and Muhammad cost every bit as much as a White Anglo Male to hire, then the economics will force employers to reconsider their hiring practices.

           To keep unethical companies from running to the Corporate Promised Land, a minimum 15% import tariff against low-wage countries will mitigate the labor arbitrage advantage. A Robot Labor Tax (60% domestic and 80% import) on the value created by the robot will arrest the trend of unemployment due to that self-destroying demigod, “High Tech.”.

           Where will the difference be made up? The Top 1% will have to simultaneously take LESS and pay MORE in taxes! They’ve enjoyed a 36-year windfall from Reaganomics and it’s time to claw it back. They could all take a major hit and still live large. But, it would also cut deeply into their ability to distort the political process via bribes and favors. Boo Hoo….

           If McDonalds and BK start automating their restaurants, TAX THE DOGSHIT out of those stores! Tie ANY tax relief to hiring and wages. The stores that pay $12-15/hr for non-management workers will receive generous tax breaks on profits; provided they keep food prices in line with historic trends. Those corporations make enough profits to pay everybody well; not just the fat cats.

           Anyway, the Wall by itself won’t get it done. The body-politic itself needs a massive reorientation of priorities.
         • Janos Skorenzy March 4, 2017 at 1:47 am #

           I agree. Automation is a terrible threat to human life and most people have no idea. And of course Economists love it, their intellectual capacity being at the service of the Elite, not their Nation or humanity as a whole. And of course our Libertarian friends would be satisfied to see people dying on the street, it being their fault they didn’t open their own business and get their own robots.

           Oregon won’t allow people to pump their own gas – a desperate and pathetic acknowledgment of a very real problem, but probably a solution guaranteed to annoy people. Ditto raising the minimum wage – in state border areas people fear business will go over the state line. These changes have to come from the Federal Level and be for all.
         • Dumbedup March 4, 2017 at 10:10 am #

           Trump is a populist who stumbled into the Presidency. He hired Steve Bannon to direct policies which will appeal to the redneck base which elected him. Besides, hotels and casinos have absolutely nothing to do with federal policies in general or walls in particular.
       • michics March 3, 2017 at 4:21 pm #

         I agree 100%. But watch the Ag lobby and the hotel/restaurant lobbies ramp up to fight this. Currently ICE is not touching either of these two groups. Wonder why ???
         • outsider March 4, 2017 at 12:01 pm #

           @ Dumbedup:

           Steven Bannon has been catching so much flack that it convinced me he must be one smart, tough cookie. I saw his excellent film “Generation Zero” and have listened to a few of his speeches on YouTube. I’m convinced he’s the brain of Trump’s operation, although many of his less intelligent opponents have the long knives out for him. Far from just appealing to the “redneck base” Bannon is the smartest guy in the room. If he leaves Trump is finished.
         • Dumbedup March 5, 2017 at 9:02 pm #

           He’s also a white supremacist and a flagrant racist. That discredits anything else he may have to say. He and Trump have the same temperament which bends towards paranoia and conspiracy. They are drawn together by those shared delusions.
       • mdl17576 March 6, 2017 at 2:39 pm #

         Make illegal immigration a capital offense. Mine the border and supplement with snipers and drones. Make hiring illegals a capital offense as well. The problem will go away quick.

         We should legalize all drugs and produce them domestically if possible. Regulate for purity and concentration to cut down on OD. Tax sales and lockbox proceeds to help addict s who want to recover get help, and let the rest kill themselves off. Take the cartels out of the business.
   • aNanyMouse March 3, 2017 at 9:02 pm #

     Dumbedup, spot on about bitterness/ paralysis. If you depart from CW on almost any key issue, expect to be called a Red, a Racist, or a Kremlin Agent.

     It’s been getting esp. brutal since the MSM started, en masse, to rub our noses in their capacity to get away with hurling straw men at even famous guys like Gore and Trump.
5. Elrond Hubbard March 3, 2017 at 10:08 am #

   Re: the standing ovation for the widow, JHK isn’t the only person with this opinion.

   ‘The sickness of this man’: Michael Moore blasts Trump for ‘record applause’ boast as grieving widow wept

   http://www.rawstory.com/2017/03/the-sickness-of-this-man-michael-moore-blasts-trump-for-record-applause-boast-as-grieving-widow-wept/

   “Appearing on a special post-speech edition of Hardball, filmmaker Michael Moore lambasted President Donald Trump for standing at the podium before Congress and boasting about getting a crowd to applaud long and hard for the widow of Navy seal as if he was going to win an Emmy for it.

   “In one of the most memorable moments in an otherwise highly scripted speech, Trump introduced the widow of Navy Seal William ‘Ryan’ Owens who died during an mission in Yemen that Trump ordered.

   “Guest Moore was asked by host Chris Matthews, ‘What do you think about his counting the applause minutes that passed over a very poignant moment with the widow, who looked like a wonderful person, in love with her husband? Then he said “He’ll be happy up there in heaven with how many minutes of applause he got.” Isn’t that strange?’

   “‘Ryan Owens, his death came as a result of a dinner Trump had with his son-in-law,’ Moore replied. ‘The widow, that’s why she’s there as sort of an F-you to the people who are criticizing him for this. And this poor wom[a]n, this widow who has lost her husband is in desperate grief right now.’

   “‘And to use that to put another notch on his belt and what is he thinking about?’ Moore continued. ‘”My ratings, my record applause. I’m going to get an Emmy for this, most applause for a dead soldier on my watch.” That is the sickness of this man.'”

   

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   • Paulo March 3, 2017 at 10:43 am #

     Great post and comments by readers. Thank you.

     My wife and I have been two of the many Canadians following the last 6 months of Trump. My God, when the widow applause started off I felt so uncomfortable I went outside for an arm load of firewood (and a leak). When I came back in and dropped the wood into the box it was still going on. Back for another load and a return to see it was intensifying. Then I started to swear and exclaim the Country was so screwed up in glorifying war and warriors the People have lost all common sense. My Dad was in on the Normandy invasions. He didn’t even talk about the war. My Mom was an army nurse and when she talked about it it was full of tears about ‘boys’ with their face shot off or burnt….the burns. Then, I watch these fat suited up blobs with their frantic applause and I felt sick. This is one fucked up Country, my friends. It is scary, scary, scary for many of us outsiders.

     Bread and circuses.

     The next day I watched a few interviews about the Repeal, and how anything less than people paying for their insurance (or access) was just, “Plain old socialism, and we can’t have that, can we”? An aside, my sister-in-law just had two new hips put in last year up in Canada. This ex US army nurse captain didn’t pay a damn thing for it, much less receive a $23,000 bill for 3 hots and a cot. Last month my nephew had a ruptured appendix, big strong healthy bugger that he might be. Guess what? No bill, either. And on and on and on.

     And now, the old USA is so broke funding perpetual war and a soon to be rebuilt military that there isn’t enough money for anything to change. Well…..except for those new 3P infrastructure (toll roads and bridges) to be built by Trump’s construction bum boys buddy buddies. Hell, anything less would be commie socialism, and we can’t have that, “Can we”?

     regards
     • Janos Skorenzy March 3, 2017 at 2:45 pm #

       And with every 3rd World Immigrant you take in, the pie gets smaller and Canada get poorer. Face it, you have the European disease. You hate yourselves as Whites and worship Non-Whites as your moral superiors. The Destiny of White Canadians is as outcastes in their own former country. Why? Because the Non-Whites will accept what you’re offering. And when you despise yourself, they will agree with you: yes, you are despicable.

       What other outcome can there be? Healthy people don’t give away their country. You expect gratitude? Did we feel gratitude to the Indians? Or respect them? Some did – since the Indians fought back. We won’t even have that though.
       • islander800 March 3, 2017 at 6:52 pm #

         All right Janos, I’ve had about enough of your non-stop bile and hatred.

         Have you ever been to Canada? Because from your comments you don’t have a clue about my country, Canada. However, we have more than enough knowledge about America and I can tell you the vast majority up here are watching the horror show unfolding down south with disgust. The greatest nation on earth? For a brief moment after WWII when America, along with Canada, Britain and the other Allies, put the rabid German Nazi beast down, perhaps. But now, we have to watch and listen to people like Trump, Bannon – and you – full-blown neo-fascists (you, my friend, go right over the line to out-and-out Nazi) and think, Good Lord, here we go again.

         I little bit of information for you – in Canada, we don’t view our society as a zero-sum game, as you obviously do. Our experience with immigrants has made us much wealthier and stronger. In fact, our last federal election booted the Christian fundamentalist populists that tried to use the fear and hate card from American politics to get re-elected to the curb. You see, we have no stomach for your brand of vileness up here. You, based on the sum of your postings, would love to see the gas chambers fired up once more for every non-white that you hate.

         I pity America for what its become, and I pity you for your non-ending diatribes of hate.

         By the way, I’m a white senior.
         • JimInFlorida March 3, 2017 at 7:20 pm #

           Canada lost its credibility by two self-inflicted wounds:

           1. When Canada threw away its greatest achievement, the Avro Arrow interceptor. All for tawdry political reasons that nobody knows to this day. The manufacturing jigs, Arrows in production, and know-how, were all destroyed and buried. To destroy the countless hours and skill expended to make the Arrow is unforgivable. It’s the national version of cutting and burning oneself.

           2. When Canada surrendered to Reaganomics, NAFTA, and the Washington Consensus. Canada went from cutting itself to snorting Globalism and huffing White Amnesia.

           It’s a crying shame that you’ve made it this far in life and still have NO IDEA of what USED to make Canada such a great place to live. Sorry, Tim Horton’s cannot save Canada all by itself.
         • Janos Skorenzy March 3, 2017 at 7:36 pm #

           Canada is a Nation of Immigrants – White immigrants. In the early 20thh Century, Asians were already rioting along the West Coast. If they are their big business backers weren’t quashed, Canada would have gone down the tubes in a few short decades with a glut of millions of Chinese and Indian providing coolie labor.
         • thwack March 3, 2017 at 8:17 pm #

           I would like to thank all Canadians for letting my ancestors escape during slavery in the U.S.
         • Dumbedup March 4, 2017 at 10:29 am #

           Jim, to be fair to the Canadians, the reasons for the cancellation of the Avro Arrow were more than political. They were also practical reasons falling into the realm of financial and military. The US canceled several interceptor programs during this time as well. (XF-103 and XF-108) The Russians were moving from long range bombers to ICBMs against which an interceptor was useless. As a nation of a little more than 20 million people (at the time) they could not afford defense programs to protect themselves against missiles and bombers and the latter was becoming obsolete. They also signed an agreement with the US (NORAD) which provided some shared defense. The US could afford both.
         • malthuss March 4, 2017 at 10:47 am #

           I was in Canada in 2003.
           I regret going.

           All those towelheads.
     • Frankiti March 3, 2017 at 5:14 pm #

       Why are any of you imbeciles surprised by this behavior, in modern day America no less?

       Being surprised by Americans behaving badly is more stupid than Americans behaving badly.

       This is your world, your environment. Now immerse, become it, integrate, assimilate. America has been changed, now retrogress accordingly.
   • daveed March 3, 2017 at 2:02 pm #

     The President was so buoyed by his applause spectacle that he plans to resurrect the “Clap-o-Meter”, used famously in 1950’s game shows (“Queen For a Day”, “Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts”) to ‘measure’ applause. It will be a standard feature in his press conferences and campaign appearances from this day forth (let the word go out to the people).
     • Janos Skorenzy March 3, 2017 at 2:47 pm #

       And it will be calibrated with the heavenly clapometer from those looking down on us from above.
   • michics March 3, 2017 at 4:25 pm #

     I couldn’t watch this ongoing applause event and turned to another channel. It was so sad to see her have stand there and endure it.
     • outsider March 3, 2017 at 6:12 pm #

       Michics – Not too sad for her I’d say. She volunteered to come to Trump’s speech to be fawned over and knew what she was getting into. Her commando husband, as did she, knew that death was a possibility of his job. If she hasn’t already, I expect her to be making the talk show rounds shortly. I hope she doesn’t cry so much then. Those I really feel sorry for are the 20 Yemeni civilians, 9 of them children, who were needlessly killed in just another illegal US raid of a third world country. Is anyone clapping for them?
       • elysianfield March 3, 2017 at 6:49 pm #

         Outsider,
         Not a very sympathetic response…her husband knew the risks… she presented herself of her own free will? Yes, they knew what they were getting into, maybe even deserved what they got?

         Where do you live, Outsider? If you are met at your door, in the dark of night, by a group of fine Mandinko warriors, and you come to ill, what should we say about your choice of location?

         Who will clap for you?

         I have only a bad attitude.

         Your attitude and comments, however, lack humanity.
6. robert magill March 3, 2017 at 10:10 am #

   Credit President Trump, am I the only one who calls him that?, as the most disturbing force in the White House since TR. For better or ?, he has started conversations at the Executive level not experienced in the lifetime of any of us. If it comes across as chaos, discord and shock; it is. His lack of ass-covering instinct, unique among the professional office seeking clique, in no way diminishes his gut instinct for the American state of affairs. It’s been spot on! He’s the President and nobody else is! Tweet all the Democrat brass you can conjure up and plead for a public White House visit with President Trump to help dampen the insanity all around these days.

   http://robertmagill.wordpress.com
   • DA March 3, 2017 at 11:40 am #

     Tweet all the Democrat brass you can conjure up and plead for a public White House visit with President Trump to help dampen the insanity all around these days.

     Nice sentiment, but you have to know that it will NEVER happen. Opposition is the only role the Dems were ever (marginally) effective at, so what you see is what you’ll get until “we the sheeple” wise up and vote every last one of them out – which will never happen either. I honestly believe that Americans are hooked on the drama.
7. Neon Vincent March 3, 2017 at 10:16 am #

   A fellow blogger didn’t know whether Trump’s treatment of the Widow Owens was more worthy of Caligula or Joffrey. I responded that Caligula would have slept with her afterwards, if his sister weren’t available. I don’t know if Joffrey would have done that — too much like his parents. Substitute daughter for sister, and Trump might have acted like Caligula if he could have gotten away with it. However, the question was about his treatment, not his desires. So, I’ll stick with Joffrey, who I’ve compared Trump to elsewhere.
   • thwack March 3, 2017 at 2:38 pm #

     I don’t have a tee-vee; was the widow hot?
     • JimInFlorida March 3, 2017 at 4:46 pm #

       No excuse to not have a TV now..
       It’s easier to run through the ‘hood with a small flatscreen than the old bulky TV’s, back in the day.
     • elysianfield March 3, 2017 at 6:50 pm #

       Thwack,
       Yes, and above your pay grade….
       • thwack March 3, 2017 at 8:02 pm #

         what color is she?
         • elysianfield March 4, 2017 at 10:08 am #

           “what color is she?

           Thwack,
           Same as you….
         • thwack March 5, 2017 at 1:52 pm #

           The reason Elysianfield wants me to be white is because the thought of “a black” kicking his ass all across a blog with words is too painful for him to deal with.

           It destroys his safe white world of bunny rabbits,dolphins and unicorns…

           He and Hillary should get a room.
8. venuspluto67 March 3, 2017 at 10:31 am #

   It looks as though the Republicans are gearing up to institute a Republicanized version of Obamacare, though they certainly won’t call it that. The only good thing I see coming of that is more people willing finally wake the fuck up and realize that both major parties are part of the same radioactive dumpster-fire.

   Also, “Extend And Pretend” has been going on for such a long time now (it would have fizzled in early 2016 were it not for the Japanese and European central banks pumping the equivalent of 180 billion dollars into the global economy every freaking month since January 2016), it’s starting to have an “Energizer Bunny” sort of quality. But eventually I suppose we will run out of new batteries to put into the metaphoric toy-bunny, won’t we?
   • venuspluto67 March 3, 2017 at 10:41 am #

     Though I probably should have said “the global financial economy”, because, as we all know, Main Street in the countries that engage in these “QE” sort of programs sees very little of that frantically-printed funny-money.
9. messianicdruid March 3, 2017 at 10:39 am #

   Dieing to protect some Bankster’s investment does not make you a hero. Applauding victims of self-oppression, in reality, provides no existential relief. Buyers remorse ? Nope, we’re still driving…
   • routersurfer March 3, 2017 at 5:40 pm #

     He followed his orders and stood by his brothers. He is a Hero. We as a nation wasted him, for nothing. His death is on all of our hands.
     • outsider March 3, 2017 at 6:26 pm #

       Speak for yourself, surfer. I didn’t send him there. He is a hero to you, not to me. There’s no blood on my hands other than the tax dollars forced out of my pocket at the point of a gun.
10. Elrond Hubbard March 3, 2017 at 10:40 am #

    Re: “Maybe the congresswomen haven’t heard, but that battle is over. Many women actually voted in the recent election, some even for these female office-holders.”

    The battle is not over. Vote suppression has been and remains a crucial element of the Republican strategy. It’s mainly targeted racially, but with the Trump administration representing a new wave of right-wing reaction, I don’t blame women for taking the opportunity to remind their country that they’ve been counted as full citizens for rather less than half of its history.

    

    Support this blog via Patreon or Substack
    • Janos Skorenzy March 3, 2017 at 1:56 pm #

      No Ron, just the opposite. Project Veritas has DNC hombres on tape boasting about perpetrating voter fraud for decades. I mean these people are even against having to show an ID! You can’t even get a library card without showing a picture ID. Obviously they are corrupt and corrupting.

      And if someone doesn’t know how to get an ID or is too lazy to do so, they obviously shouldn’t be voting either.

      In all probability, Trump won the popular vote too if the illegals voting in California are subtracted.
      • Frankiti March 3, 2017 at 5:28 pm #

        The left has made their bed with the stupid, lazy, and uniformed voter… they just don’t want to lie in it, or with them.
      • outsider March 3, 2017 at 6:32 pm #

        Hillary won California by 4 million votes and had 70% of the vote (an almost unheard of margin in such a large state). Take that away and Trump won by 1.5 mil. To me, something smells rotten in California.
        • ffkling March 6, 2017 at 12:48 am #

          PROOF. Your olfactory glands prove nothing. So pathetic.
11. edr March 3, 2017 at 10:48 am #

    Well, the stock markets continue to levitate. I’ve been reading professional investors have been getting out and retail investors are getting in “BIG TIME.” The game of musical chairs has begun and the usual customers are lining up for a haircut.
12. Elrond Hubbard March 3, 2017 at 11:08 am #

    Re: Health care. It’s not just that there is no such thing as price transparency in U.S. health care, as JHK correclty notes. But even if there were, it wouldn’t help that much because of the much bigger point: Health care is not a consumer good.

    Health care is not the equivalent of a dishwasher or a piping hot pizza delivered to your door. It’s not even the equivalent of something you invest in that pays dividends. Free-market catechism tells us that pricing is the single, all-purpose means to distribute resources as efficiently as possible. But pricing works by balancing resources against motivations. Which would you rather have: That five hundred bucks in your pocket, or an iPad? Would you rather have 25 cents, or a gumball from this machine? If you’re buying bonds, would you rather have ten thousand dollars now, or that much plus X percent interest over the next five years? Borrowing to buy a car or a house reverses the proposition, but the logic is the same.

    By way of contrast, ask yourself: Would you rather die, or spend $100,000? What if it’s your daughter who needs the treatment instead? Would you spend $200,000 then? How about $500,000? A million? The answer is obvious in every case. Market theory depends on there being a number, but in some situations, there just isn’t one — and insisting that there must be is both stupid and cruel.
    • laceration March 3, 2017 at 12:31 pm #

      We are nothing else but “rational actors” in the neo-liberal marketplace. I suppose it works for some things, maybe coffee and computers? It is not only healthcare that fails in this scheme because of unforeseen costs and “externalities”. Human Beings are fundamentally not rational actors. Those that do fit in to it are not human beings! That means they cannot plan their societies too. Capitalism doesn’t work for the same reason socialism doesn’t.
      • Janos Skorenzy March 3, 2017 at 2:03 pm #

        Exactly. There must be higher ideals or even the lower stuff falls apart. But the Marxists don’t believe in anything beyond matter and the Capitalists just pay it lip service for the most part.

        Western Europe had good systems, but they’ve gone crazy in other ways. They don’t love themselves enough to want to survive. Virtue signaling to the point of suicide via mass Muslim immigration is not sane.

        It’s not enough to have ideals – they must be sane ideals. Worshiping non-Whites because they’re not Whites is self hatred. And those who hate themselves are not long for this world.
        • laceration March 3, 2017 at 3:37 pm #

          yes, post-enlightenment liberal values are hollow. Most, like in the song have lost their religion. Those with traditional values are not as tied in to all of that and have a better shot into the future. They are generally much nicer people too. Kunstler covered these issues in his novels.
    • Dumbedup March 4, 2017 at 10:41 am #

      @Elrond. I see why Jim mentioned your post. Well done sir!!

      But let me argue the contrary point. By making healthcare a commodity (same thing has happened in the legal profession by the way) we have pumped trillions of dollars into development of drugs and treatment and we have advanced the science of healthcare have we not? Absent that we would still live in an era where people were allowed to die from appendicitis, pneumonia or sepsis; albeit, in a clean room with compassionate nurses in starched white uniforms. All the low hanging fruit has been picked. It takes money to advance science.
13. volodya March 3, 2017 at 11:13 am #

    What’s taken root in the USA is an attitude of the devil take the hindmost.

    You see this in people that tout open immigration. These people don’t see themselves as among the hindmost of society. The people who would open immigration floodgates (preferably illegal immigration) are people who are college educated and wealthy, who live in wealthy neighborhoods, who employ cheap immigrant-non-white-hispanic handymen, gardeners, nannies, but most particularly, they are people whose personal income isn’t threatened by a flood of impoverished competitors who work for peanuts. The people that push for opening the borders don’t see themselves as among the hindmost. They think their position in society and in the economic food-chain is safe and secure.

    When people (especially politicians) tout entitlement reform they don’t mean “reform”. They mean elimination. They mean privatizing various government-run programs so that Wall Street can steal the money. They are people that don’t see themselves as ever having to depend on entitlements, who don’t see themselves as among the hindmost. Like the people that push for open borders they can’t conceive of their lives taking twists and turns like long spells of unemployment or marginal employment or chronic bad health. They think they’ll never have to apply for low-wage jobs among throngs of desperate competitors or work off-the-clock to stay in the good grace of their boss.

    It’s the same with people that insist that any element of socialized medicine is unAmerican and immoral. They would let medical racketeers run rampant. See, it’s the free market and if America isn’t about free markets then what is it about? These people aren’t worried about their own medical bills and have got zero regard for people who are, these hindmost. And, again, the devil take these people. Why? Because, that’s why. Because life isn’t always fair but mainly because people make their own bed and deserve to be where they are. If you’re wealthy it’s because you deserve to be and if you’re poor, likewise. In this world-view chance and blind luck has no part. Nope, a resolute blindness exists to common events like your business getting run over in a financial crisis, having a stroke, getting t-boned by a drunk driver, a diagnosis of cancer, these are all off the conceptual map, these will never happen to them, it’s always the other guy. A five thousand dollar deductible? Boo-hoo, cry me a river. Arrange your affairs so it’s not a problem. This is America.

    There’s an intersection among the proponents of open immigration, entitlement “reform” and the abolition of any notion of socialized medicine. If they’re not the same people and even if they’re not in the same political party, their socio-economic status is more than similar. They’re wealthy, they’re part of the perfumed and preening Oligarch clerisy.
    • DA March 3, 2017 at 12:12 pm #

      If only all Americans could just see this. It’s not politics or economics; it’s class warfare stupid!
    • Dumbedup March 6, 2017 at 9:15 am #

      “When people (especially politicians) tout entitlement reform they don’t mean “reform”. They mean elimination. They mean privatizing various government-run programs so that Wall Street can steal the money.”

      **************

      That is exactly what they will do. Profit is the highest moral good. All government programs paid for by tax dollars should go through Wall Street. Public money becomes private. Private losses become public obligations. Not a t thing has changed since 2007-2009.
14. SunnyJohn45 March 3, 2017 at 11:20 am #

    A knee replacement in Thailand costs about $7,000. Even with air fare and a stay in a good hotel it would be far less than what Jim got billed for his day and a half stay. The Thai medical system is first rate and state of the art. Many drugs requiring a prescription in the US are available over the counter. Other countries in the developing world offer excellent health care at a reasonable price. The American system is one enormous scam. Americans are too isolated and xenophobic to have a clue that they’re being ripped off.
15. Buck Stud March 3, 2017 at 11:21 am #

    The medical racket has become so bad that greedy doctors may not be the main, diabolical culprits.

    And what about all those medical students burdened out of the career starting gate with student loan debt to the tune of six figures: Do you really think they want the gravy train ladder pulled up on them before they are able to service their debt?

    It truly is a clusterfuck of competing interests.

    

    Support this blog via Patreon or Substack
    • volodya March 3, 2017 at 11:39 am #

      Good point. Maybe to attract the problem at its root, you first attack the massive cost of a medical education.

      But maybe JHK has a point, the system is so large and so broken as to be unfixable. So, what’s the alternative? Collapse, in whole or in part, maybe by geography, maybe by social or economic strata.

      Maybe, in some parts of the country, hospitals shut the doors, clinics likewise, specialists find they can no longer make ends meet, surgeries go un-done, sick people die untreated.

      Maybe in other sections of the country it’s not a complete shut-down but rather a matter of cold, hard cash. Think NYC and Washington or San Fran. Show up with money. No money, no talk. No money, no treatment. Pay first. IOW the poorest 80% goes without, the next 19% just above them goes partially without, the top 1% have no worries.
    • DA March 3, 2017 at 12:18 pm #

      That’s not the main problem, but it’s certainly one of the reinforcing features, much the way that insurance (a scam in its own right) drives costs for everything up in it’s wake. If we did nothing but go back to 100% cash and carry healthcare we’d reduce health care costs tremendously, although admittedly it would take quite some time for them to catch up. Single payer for everyone for the catastrophic stuff with a healthy pay as you go market tacked on for those with the ability to pay would be the ideal.
    • malthuss March 3, 2017 at 2:36 pm #

      ECFMG, Incorporated.

      There may be one in your state.
      there is one in California. Planeloads of Indian doctors flown in.
      According to one ex employee, ‘all the MDs pass the test.’

      ECFMG gets Asian MDs to pass the USA Med Boards.

      Competition. As well as having X Rays read there, taken here.
    • tahoe1780 March 4, 2017 at 2:04 pm #

      Why single out medical students? What’s an M.D. without prescription pad (pharmaceutical chemists, research biologists, etc.) and MRI (physicists, mechanical engineers, etc.)???
16. Walter B March 3, 2017 at 11:35 am #

    “Not only have we allowed ourselves to be carried away by emotion, but we don’t even know which emotion to attach to which event anymore”.

    Add to that the fact that we cannot even looking into our own underwear anymore and figure our what, if any, sex we happen to be. Or who we care to share the bathroom with while we take a dump. Or what is the difference between entering this country through the facilities and system of whatever the new Ellis Island now is, rather than simply walking across the border to the Welfare Office. Or knowing or even caring when you are being blatantly lied to by a thieving scum bag in a fancy suit and then systematically robbed of not only all of your wealth, but your future as well.

    All of these inabilities are symptomatic of not only the stupefying of the public in general, but of the onslaught of Chaos. Do you recall who The Master of Chaos is and always was? If you do it will shine an entirely different light on the recent publicity surrounding the child and human sex slave issue.

    Thank you James for trashing the corrupt bullshit “system” that is referred to as “healthcare”. It is indeed too corrupt to fix. Thirteen years ago, my daughter was delivered via Caesarean Section at the local hospital. The bill came to $105K, and the insurance covered $6K. The rest of the balance magically disappeared. When I discussed the subject with a friend of mine who was the Direction of another local hospital at the time, he filled me in on some of the details on how this all works. Bills like these are inflated to the level of the ridiculous. The insurance paid portions are then deducted and the “unpaid balances” are then assembled and utilized as write offs for profit, “uncollected” assets for accounting purposes, and submitted to the appropriate authorities and operations that can procure subsidies and funds to make up the “losses” to keep the hospitals profitable and open. It is a form of extortion and if you pay attention to the photo ops that ensure, you will note that these pictures are loaded with politicals, wealthy “philanthropists”, and “special” people at the tops of business and industries. Everybody get paid either by hook or by crook as it were.

    It is not a system where we pay so that if anything happens to us we can get fixed as much as it is a system where we pay for others to get taken care of both medically and financially. It will certainly collapse. The only question is when.
17. janet March 3, 2017 at 11:40 am #

    “and a soon to be rebuilt military” –paulo

    The Pentagon is the only federal agency unable to provide accounting for its budget. Billions of dollars have diappeared with no accounting for their whereabouts. It is madness to reward such fiscal irresponsability with a budget increase.
    • JimInFlorida March 3, 2017 at 12:09 pm #

      The Pentagon is the biggest SINGLE user of fossil fuels in the world! It takes an enormous amount of energy to secure the foreign assets held captive for the Federal Reserve. There is where a big chunk of the money went. But wait! There’s still more!

      You must use cause and effect to trace the movement of all that stolen money, rather than accounting forensics. Look for chicken hawk politicians running for office, unusual construction projects, massive movement of narcotics, or foreign aid rackets.

      The path from the budget to the boondoggle may be obscure but, the end result is all the proof you need to know where the money went.
      • AKlein March 3, 2017 at 6:44 pm #

        Hmmm… Maybe the Pentagon is operating on the “Toll Road Model”. That’s where tolls are collected to pay for the salaries and benefits of the toll-takers. The Pentagon is the biggest user of fossil fuels. No wonder we “need” all that Pentagonian “full-spectrum dominance” to protect our access to oil.
        • outsider March 3, 2017 at 9:52 pm #

          In my home state of PA they’ve automated all the toll roads and fired all the toll takers (and there were thousands). Yet the tolls continue to rise much faster than inflation. The wages the toll takers used to receive are now used to bail out the bankrupt Philly rapid transit system. The toll roads are certainly in no better shape. I’d rather have the toll takers back. At least they’d have jobs and we’d be back to the status quo ante.
          • AKlein March 4, 2017 at 1:52 pm #

            Good point, outsider. The “Toll Road Model” has been superseded by the “Administration Model.” That’s where staff actually delivering or manufacturing a product or service is reduced, but the administrative staff is increased dramatically. I’ll bet the administrative staff at the PA Turnpike is doing quite well, for example. Health care and education are also loaded with administrative staff. Again, the people actually delivering the services are overworked and often underpaid.
18. Buck Stud March 3, 2017 at 11:43 am #

    To my mind socialized medicine is economically incompatible with “open borders”. Yes newly arrived “Juan” is a hard worker and a decent human being trying to support his family but the new host society is somehow supposed to finance the multiple births of Juan’s children along with the societal cost of educating them?

    And when Juan’s construction job slows down and Juan’s children are in need of public assistance, the cost is somehow magically absorbed by the host society with no deleterious impact?

    In America socialized medicine is an ideological no go for the pre-medicare age group, never mind illegal immigration. But with open borders the idea is economic madness.

    Unfortunately the Democratic Party is like a bouncing pinball unable to prioritize issues.
19. volodya March 3, 2017 at 11:47 am #

    There’s more than one incompatibility. How many people have you heard say they’re fiscally conservative and socially liberal?
    • volodya March 3, 2017 at 12:09 pm #

      “I have a LOT more respect for the old New Dealers who were fiscal welfare statists etc etc…”

      Same here.
20. K-Dog March 3, 2017 at 12:13 pm #

    His speech reminded me of Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini. I need to check Trumps birthday and the date of the photo showing Il Duce hanging upside down with his ‘Melania’ from that Italian gas station. I need to see if reincarnation was possible. They both have that same face of arrogance turned up 17 degrees from the horizontal.

    

    Support this blog via Patreon or Substack
21. tucsonspur March 3, 2017 at 12:20 pm #

    You’re right, JIF. Medicare for all, single payer system. Your funding proposals are more than plausible.

    Somehow we have to rise up and make it happen. The ten million man (woman) march with pitchforks? Why the hell isn’t this movement already well under way? No leadership other than ol’ Bernie?
    • ozone March 3, 2017 at 8:10 pm #

      On single-payer, Medicare non-stupidity:
      ” Why the hell isn’t this movement already well under way?”

      tucson of the unspurred and wilfully uninformed,
      If you can’t figure this question out (in the form of: “Who’s preventing this??”), then you remain unaware of who your enemies really are. Change that or be puzzled til the end.
      • tucsonspur March 4, 2017 at 2:46 am #

        Bozone, I think I know who the “enemies” are. You sound like you’re the Great Wise One, the one who has all the answers, but most of us know that you’re far from it.

        Your response already admits defeat, and indicates a lack of awareness regarding great movements and great changes made throughout history. Is your mind that small? Have you no vision?

        Did not Ralph Nader change the giant auto industry with a single book, his “Unsafe at Any Speed”? A year later Congress created the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, saving thousands and thousands of lives.

        I won’t even mention any of the magnificent political and social gains of the last century. Much has been fought for and much has been won. We can do more. Even with healthcare.

        No Bozone, I think you have failed yourself. You get an A for attack, but an F, only one, for both foolish and fainthearted. Next time, I’ll try and remember my spurs.
        • ozone March 4, 2017 at 11:44 am #

          Get into the shade for a bit (while waiting for a savior); you’re sounding overheated.
        • Q. Shtik March 4, 2017 at 12:05 pm #

          Did not Ralph Nader change the giant auto industry with a single book, – tucson

          ===========

          Tuc, please do not get into this Janos-like annoying habit of using Biblical sounding language (i.e. “did not”) to give extra heft to your point. “Didn’t” would sound less preachy.

          A note to the commentariat (sp)

          I am, once again, on the cusp of being banned by our host for the usual reasons so if he takes my comment above the wrong way this could be one of my final appearances on this blog site.

          Virulent anti-semitism is okay but remarks about grammar, spelling and usage are verboten. Go figure.

          And so, if I suddenly disappear, you will know the reason why.
          • elysianfield March 4, 2017 at 6:32 pm #

            Go Not, Shtick!
          • Janos Skorenzy March 5, 2017 at 1:22 am #

            Ideas matter Q. Form must take a backseat. I don’t want to see you go, btw. Just saying.

            The Bible has some of the most beautiful language of all. So what if I adopt the Heroic Old Testament mode? Would you prefer the sniveling “can’t even capitalize one own’s name” modern college mode?

            And YES! sometimes I do it because I know it drives my enemies to madness. I didn’t know you were on such though….
22. bobwise32952 March 3, 2017 at 12:29 pm #

    So damned right about the poor widow. Everyone with any degree of empathy must have felt sorry for her. She seemed to be praying, maybe for the nonsense to end.
    • Janos Skorenzy March 3, 2017 at 2:16 pm #

      She was in an altered state. At that moment she was the bridge between heaven and earth. This is how a Nation is preserved – not thru financial reports alone.

      I grant you she didn’t ask for the job of Vestal Virgin. But Trump, the Pontifex Maximus just put it on her. She want with it but it did go on too long and she became uncomfortable.

      Back in Stalin’s Russia, applause would go one even longer, each afraid to be the first one to stop. People were watching to see who stopped. Not that bad here of course.

      Mr Kunstler’s point is valid of course. But we do need public rituals and civil religion that bring us together, rather than foisting it on grieving individuals. The mother of the woman who was killed by an illegal in San Francisco met with President Trump is apparently very grateful for his work in seeking justice for Katie. But she chose not to go to the rallies be a figure head for this.
      • malthuss March 4, 2017 at 10:56 am #

        Automation is a terrible threat to human life and most people have no idea.

        Yet you ‘type’ at a computer and use the Internet. Is the Internet a threat?
        Yes, I see it as a way to make the Police-Nanny State ‘less work for nanny.’– It is a big net we fish are caught in.

        Define ‘automation’—Is a refrigerator ‘automated?’.

        B Gates wants to tax robots. What about taxing lamps?
        What does the future look like?
        A cashless society–made possible by computers.
        Depopulation—you know about ‘The Guidestones.’
        War, ongoing.
        More government, less freedom.
        Laws against ‘hate crimes’–heck, that guy got 20 years for waving a gun and using ‘hate speech’ against Blacks.
      • Q. Shtik March 4, 2017 at 12:12 pm #

        I grant you she didn’t ask for the job of Vestal Virgin. – Janos

        ==========

        She allowed herself to be used as a pawn. If she couldn’t see that coming she is dumber than she looks.

        And shame on Trump for taking the low road.
        • elysianfield March 4, 2017 at 6:36 pm #

          Q,
          Would being a guest at that event be not unlike an E-ride ticket at Disneyland? They make every effort to deny the riff-raff admittance. Would you not like to attend such a spectacle? Would you not yourself accept such an offer…Yay, and Verily?
23. budizwiser March 3, 2017 at 12:32 pm #

    Geez – talk about “outrage” fatigue – JK you may so many salient points in this week’s essay that my trump-o-tolerance meter has buried the needle.

    Yes indeed – watching Pence and Ryan sit behind the buffoon-in-chief as he kept “making rain” for the entire “the trouble with Kansas crowd” – left me with a feeling that America no longer has any grownups running things.

    An an aside – just want everyone to know that the ACA sort of saved my life. I needed considerable heart repair – some how I racked up over $200,000 in charges.

    The feds supplied $8,500 toward premiums, for 2016 – my out of pocket was almost $5,000.

    This god send allowed me to go to one of the better hospitals with top performing surgeons.

    Otherwise -I’d been at a clinic with students probably doing the job. In addition – I would have been dunned for the thousands I never would have been able to pay.
    • nsa March 3, 2017 at 1:32 pm #

      Budzie,
      The bill was $200k. You ponied up (or more likely still owe) $5k. So who do you think provided the missing $195k to preserve your valued existence?
      • budizwiser March 3, 2017 at 4:52 pm #

        Your math reflects your personality. (lacking acuity)

        My comments were not intended to support nor detract from any given insurance or medical billing systems.

        However, my comments reflect my exasperation with a nation led by politicians that have no clue as to how to reckon with an electorate so ignorant that they believe everybody can have everything no matter the realities of a finite world.
24. volodya March 3, 2017 at 12:41 pm #

    DA,

    Up to the present day, the billionaire Oligarchs and their supporting bureaucratic clerisy have been winning. They’ve been winning the propaganda and the ideological war, they’ve appropriated government assets and personnel (like intelligence and military) for their own use, you even see their trolls on websites like this.

    And they’ve emptied out the pockets and bank accounts of the great mass of American people which is what all this was and is about.

    We’ll see where it goes from here. There was a time in 1942 where it looked hopeless, where it looked like Hitler might win, and then after that, where even if Hitler lost, an even more formidable adversary would take his place.

    But times change. “Events, dear boy, events” as a Brit Prime Minister said. They have a way of intervening. Or, as the Greeks said, those whom the Gods would destroy, they first make proud. And you see a whole lot of that. The Davos set is too self-satisfied and smug by half, similarly their supporters in the Democratic Party who, being totally in love with themselves, think that the impoverishment of Fly-Over America was over-due and a much needed re-set. Same thing in the abhorrent Republican Principled Conservatism gang.

    What all-of-the-above don’t get is that they’re outnumbered. History is instructive but they pay no attention. It’s different this time supposedly and besides, as Henry Ford said, history is bunk. We’ll see.
    • Janos Skorenzy March 3, 2017 at 2:19 pm #

      Exactly. Trump is a Man of Destiny. An instrument of retribution sent by Heaven. Those who oppose him are simply blind to the need of the hour.
    • DA March 3, 2017 at 9:23 pm #

      V,

      Unfortunately, traditional historical analyses no longer apply. Humanity’s now firmly in the ‘hockey stick’ portion of not one, but at least FOUR exponential curves, all of which are interlinked and synergistic: peak population, peak environmental degradation, peak climate change, and peak finance (borrowing human defined economic units (at interest!) from the future to pay for the exponentially mounting needs of now). From these follow such things as peak dissatisfaction, peak meaninglessness, peak resentment, peak hatred, peak warfare (regardless of the alleged “economic benefits”), and many others.

      In short, unbridled American style capitalism, which was NEVER anything more than an attempt to intellectually and philosophically justify the rape of everyone and everything it sees in the name of profits for the individual, seems to have won out. Can that be reversed on our lifetimes? In mine, it seems certainly not. In anyone currently alive’s. I doubt it very much.

      I will say this: I seriously doubt the 21st century is going to be anything like the 20th, especially for the USA.
25. johngalt March 3, 2017 at 1:06 pm #

    liberty to dance.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o156WMv-AZg
    Long live Sweden!

    In the New Republic, members enjoy resuming the restoration of the Constitutional republic from JFK’s point of interruption, can see for miles and miles, and enjoy Liberty in building out properties and the local means of production, with the capability to sow, nurture, grow, harvest, store, cook, engineer, design, program, automate, construct, process, raise, teach, counsel, hunt, defend, provide, debate, organize, compose, worship, dance, laugh, love, celebrate, and sustain.

    We are the sheepdogs.
    And we are old fashioned and sentimental.
    And we belong to the longest serving Civil Rights organization in the Republic.
    And we don’t require others for border protection or building bridges.
    And we have undying love, devotion, and loyalty to the Constitution.
    And we are happy to participate in the proper pursuit and offering of due process under the Constitution to the NETWORK globalist class charlatans who sold out the old republic in their lust for power and the love of money.
    And we are ready for what’s next.
    Sent from the New Republic.

    http://www.got-truth.com

    

    Support this blog via Patreon or Substack
    • Janos Skorenzy March 3, 2017 at 2:22 pm #

      And you charge people to pay a toll when they walk down your streets. Each street corner has a guard shack, gate, and armed guard.

      No public property! Freedom to pay tolls and watch commercials!
      • malthuss March 3, 2017 at 2:39 pm #

        Long live Sweden!

        Guess he doesnt know Sweden is now 20% non White.
        And Swedes have 1.9? child families?
        And non White Swedes have how many?
      • johngalt March 3, 2017 at 7:30 pm #

        Got love?
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th_LUmwjVMQ

        Sent from the New Republic.
        http://www.got-truth.com
26. PeteAtomic March 3, 2017 at 1:40 pm #

    Technically I believe it was a “Speech to the Joint Session of Congress” and not his State of the Union address… but whatever, it sure sounded like a State of the Union.
27. malthuss March 3, 2017 at 2:44 pm #

    Diversity is our strength [cough]

    blacks are stealing guns from check-in luggage in ABIA –

    http://www.khou.com/news/local/texas/abia-baggage-handler-charged-stealing-weapons/418375005
    • thwack March 3, 2017 at 7:58 pm #

      Why are White people are smuggling guns in their luggage?
      • Alan March 3, 2017 at 8:39 pm #

        Because it is legal.
      • Alan March 3, 2017 at 8:40 pm #

        And you can’t carry them on as hand baggage.
    • outsider March 3, 2017 at 10:17 pm #

      Well, diversity must be our strength. Warren Beatty said so before he & Faye (“Bonnie & Clyde”) were given the wrong card and proceeded to name the wrong picture as the Oscar winner. “Moon light,” a film few had even heard of and even fewer had seen, was the politically correct choice. An all-black cast about a gay male growing up. You can’t get much more PC than that. I became curious so checked with Rotten Tomatoes. The professional paid reviewers claimed to love it, while the amateur reviewers thought it was terrible. There’s a lesson there. If you want honest opinions before plunking down your ten dollars, read what the amateurs have to say and ignore the pros.
      • thwack March 5, 2017 at 1:42 pm #

        “Boys In The Hood” faggot edition.

        Move along… nothing to see here…
28. tucsonspur March 3, 2017 at 2:49 pm #

    The Dems and the Left are still awash in defeat, still soaking wet from the unexpected tsunami that all but drowned them. As they slosh about, they ask themselves, “what can we do to this basket of deplorables and their Republican masters, how can we get these fuckers”?

    Bereft of anything imaginative that would considerably help our or their current state of affairs, and upon seeing that there was nothing left at the bottom of the barrel, they decided to take up animal training, went to the cage and released the Big Russian Bear.

    They quickly mastered this skill, and soon the Big Russian Bear was shitting all over the Republican woods, so much so that it must have had an insufferable case of diarrhea.

    As the saying goes, “some days you get the Bear, some days the Bear gets you”. What day will it be, for the Big Russian Bear?
29. cable guy March 3, 2017 at 3:08 pm #

    Health insurance is worse than you think. They won’t even tell you if something is covered. For example, I went in for yearly blood tests, and they told me it would be $180 if I paid up front, $0 IF the insurance covered it, and $420 if the insurance didn’t cover it. Better still, I could pay for it online for $120.

    I was stupid enough to send my findings to my congressman, and I received the canned response about his “fight against Obamacare.”

    I truly hope Trump pulls a Thelma and Louise and drives America over a cliff.
30. mow March 3, 2017 at 3:28 pm #

    I wonder if everyone on the democratic side of the aisle would have been a lot more satisfied if the president had spat in her face and called her husband a baby killer ?

    

    Support this blog via Patreon or Substack
31. San Jose March 3, 2017 at 3:42 pm #

    Our family has Obamacare (Covered California’s Anthem Blue Cross). Our doctor choices are limited. We are eligible for Intel’s medical insurance for retirees, but at $2,500 a month, we cannot afford it.

    I skip a lot of so-called “preventative care.” I haven’t had a mammography in 10 years because it hurts too much.

    Not gonna sign up for a colonoscopy either.

    Don’t give a crap about my cholesterol numbers. Don’t believe in statins.

    A drug I do need is not covered at ALL by Obamacare, so I get it thru a Canadian company and it costs just $100/month rather than the $500 a month CVS would charge me.

    The good news is that cancer doesn’t run in the family. I eat well because I cook almost every night for my family and I always include fresh vegetables. I exercise 4 times a week and have an amazing standing heart rate, and am a normal weight.

    As far as I can tell Covered California generates a lot of paperwork that tells us they aren’t going to cover anything. In addition to our monthly medical insurance, last year we spent $18,000 out of pocket on medical care.

    Medical care has sadly become a racket.

    Jen in San Jose
    • AKlein March 3, 2017 at 6:59 pm #

      Jen, you are doing what we all must do – look after our own health. Not only are the costs of the current medical system outrageous, many of the treatments and drugs are unnecessary and/or downright dangerous. The plain fact is that Type 2 diabetes, for example, is almost always the result of a bad diet. It is also generally curable with a change in diet. Read up on high cholesterol; it is not the cause of heart disease nor does it have a high correlation to heart attacks. Furthermore, statins are dangerous. My point is that the medical care racket is a lot more extensive than simply excessive charging. Another point is that the best advice is to take care of yourself and hope for the best. Furthermore, just remember that no one gets out alive, so don’t allow yourself to be scared silly.
      • San Jose March 3, 2017 at 8:20 pm #

        Exactly AKlein….I think a lot of stuff–especially mammograms–are marketed using fear.

        A while back I mentioned that my neighbor went to the fancy local hospital, Good Samaritan, (where I used to go and had both of my babies) for an emergency appendectomy. She was in and out the same day. No nurses checking her temp/blood pressure during the night. The bill was $90,000. She worked for Broadcom, so insurance covered it all–at a negotiated lower rate.

        Since then, she had a heart attack (at work!). Three weeks later she got laid off.

        Jen
      • DA March 3, 2017 at 9:27 pm #

        Read up on high cholesterol; it is not the cause of heart disease nor does it have a high correlation to heart attacks. Furthermore, statins are dangerous. My point is that the medical care racket is a lot more extensive than simply excessive charging. Another point is that the best advice is to take care of yourself and hope for the best. Furthermore, just remember that no one gets out alive, so don’t allow yourself to be scared silly.

        Thanks AKlein! Second this. This should be spread far and wide.
32. hmuller March 3, 2017 at 4:08 pm #

    I also thought it was odd the way Nancy Pelosi dressed her team of Capital Hill Vestal Virgins all in white. Head to toe vagina costumes would have made a bigger statement. Maybe they can do that for their Beltane Wiccan celebrations!
    • AKlein March 3, 2017 at 7:03 pm #

      A factoid of Roman history – if a Vestal Virgin broke her vows of chastity, the punishment was to be buried alive. There should be some sort of simile that could be applied in this case.
    • Janos Skorenzy March 4, 2017 at 1:52 am #

      And women still insist of wearing White Wedding dresses – even though they aren’t virgins. As Bhagavad Gita says, from the corruption of women comes all other corruption.
      • AKlein March 4, 2017 at 7:36 am #

        Janos, I forget which anthropologist or sociologist wrote this, but culture is passed on to the progeny primarily though the mother, not the father. I believe this was stated to be true even (or perhaps especially) for Western patriarchal civilizations. Thus, the corollary would be corrupt the women to corrupt the society.A parallel observation was made bu Solzhenitsyn, who wrote “To destroy a people, you must first sever their roots.”
      • Q. Shtik March 4, 2017 at 11:21 am #

        As Bhagavad Gita says, from the corruption of women comes all other corruption. – Janos

        ============

        Still at it with the Myths*, I see. The same idea is hinted at in the first few pages of Genesis.

        *1. a traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining some natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events.
        synonyms: folk tale, folk story, legend, tale, story, fable, saga, mythos, lore, folklore, mythology

        2. a widely held but false belief or idea. an exaggerated or idealized conception of a person or thing. synonyms: misconception, fallacy, false notion, old wives’ tale, fairy tale/story, fiction; More

        Do you know that Adam lived 930 years and had no government sponsored health care?
        • Janos Skorenzy March 5, 2017 at 1:28 am #

          Female chastity is a myth? So you wouldn’t mind raising another man’s child? Are you sure the kids you raised are yours?

          I didn’t know you were such a hater of God and of his devotees. I am recalibrating my memory banks with the new information. Update complete. On with the show, parry and thrust! I know you hate the heroic mode and exclamation marks. Consider this a counter-attack.
33. Frankiti March 3, 2017 at 4:37 pm #

    Great stuff, but I’m afraid what most people find worrisome is the display, in the upper echelons, of the same behavior and presentation one finds any day and anywhere in this so-called “great country.” Wal-Martians are not just at Walmart anymore, they are in the media, in big-journo, on TV, at the tawdry and endless award shows, in elected politics. Perhaps, a few members of the judiciary still demonstrate some class.

    America, in its outreach to the lowest, in its patronization of the lowest, in its embrace of the lowest, in its universal acceptance of the lowest, has become low.

    America sees itself reflected back… the overgrown teens, the blowhards, the crybabies, the haters, pretentious, the vile; and they resent it.

    “They” are supposed to know better. “They” are supposed to act better. “They” are supposed to be better. They have become me, as I could not become them. We pull down, all of it down.
34. janet March 3, 2017 at 4:48 pm #

    Jen, it sounds like you just need major medical catastrophic coverage since you don’t use preventative services.

    Obamacare provides a plan in San Jose, California for $220 a month (Anthem Blue Cross – Minimum Coverage EPO). That is ten times cheaper than the private plan from Intel at $2,500 per month. Obamacare is working for you.
    • chipshot March 3, 2017 at 6:31 pm #

      Thought you had to be under 35 to get catastrophic care only.
    • San Jose March 3, 2017 at 6:54 pm #

      $220 for a family of four? 🙂
      • Frankiti March 3, 2017 at 8:40 pm #

        WPAsshole never knows what shehe’s talking about…
35. FincaInTheMountains March 3, 2017 at 6:23 pm #

    Today ends the yearly “dark season”. Now there will be two opposing echoes, first by March 20 – Spring Equinox – light echo, and then for just 18 days darkness will come back. But it is unlikely to affect the situation.

    According to what we have witnessed in the past six months, we can say that the Black Project lost with a crushing score of 6:2. Three points for the Trump’s victory, another two – the taking of Aleppo and one for overall ISIS defeat in Syria, which is already evident.

    Two points for the Black Project are resignation of Flynn and taking of Palmyra by ISIS, which they have already given back today.

    The agenda for the coming “light season” is as follows:

    1. Trump will prepare and begin to carry out his revenge to Clintonoids. His memory is excellent, and revenge will not be light.

    2. Syria will gradually go away from the headlines as the finishing off ISIS will continue. Finally they’ll start the constructive dialogue between all parties.

    3. Abandoned by all sponsors Ukraine will start to boil in its own juice, finally bringing the country to a complete social degradation.

    4. Europe will be mired in its own schizophrenia, torn between the construction of the Fourth Reich and the utter collapse of the EU.

    5. Russia also will go into the shadow of the world politics and focus on its domestic issues.

    

    Support this blog via Patreon or Substack
36. chipshot March 3, 2017 at 6:29 pm #

    Nothing about the proposed increase in military spending? Surprised. This seems to be one of the most heinous ideas from a guy who has taken the definition of heinous to a new level.
    • FincaInTheMountains March 3, 2017 at 6:44 pm #

      Under the circumstances, increase in military spending should be a good thing, if Trump will manage to reduce rampant corruption in US Military Industrial (or rather Military Financial) complex. After all, US probably spend a dollar for every unit of fire power where Russia spends 10 cents.

      But corruption aside, Military Industrial Complex is the only hi-tech manufacturing base left in United States.
      • JimInFlorida March 3, 2017 at 9:10 pm #

        I’m sure it’s an open secret that the majority of U.S. defense spending goes for everything BUT weapons and end-strength.

        The Imperial War Machine carries a LOT of dead-weight i.e. women in non-traditional roles, women who get pregnant on purpose to avoid sea duty or hazardous duty, and forcing its members to accommodate LGBTQ demands.

        In the late 1980’s, I remember when a prospective C.O. was being interviewed before his first command of a warship. The board didn’t ask very many questions of Maritime Law, use of the Panama Canal, rules of engagement, crisis situations, aspects of his future command, knowledge of the ship’s weapons, etc.

        Instead, they concentrated on his knowledge of EEOC diktats!!! How will he implement crew training on homosexual tolerance and integration of women into the ship’s operations? Has he counseled crew members with serious marriage problems?

        God only knows what things are like TODAY in the military!

        THAT is why the Pentagon is sparing no expense to automate our Imperial War Machine and minimize the human element. If we tried to invade North Korea, the old-fashioned way, they’d chew us up and make sushi out of our PC Army.
    • Frankiti March 3, 2017 at 8:49 pm #

      Y’see Chip, simple folks like you don’t get it. China went out and made your cheap TVs that you gave them cash for. Lots of cash. They took that cash and bought American businesses, factories, land and HARD assets. That’s always been China’s way, everywhere… imperialism through hard assets. The US is still dependent on their post-WWII stratagem, peace through firepower, Pax-Americana by way of gun. It’s too late now, y’see Chip, having the bigger gun is the only thing that lets us keep this act up. No big gun, and China collects, more and more and more.
      • chipshot March 4, 2017 at 10:21 am #

        Obviously I don’t have the brainpower or critical thinking skills you possess, Frank. So it is difficult for me to understand how when we already outspend China 3:1 militarily, spending even more will help.

        BTW, you sound an awful lot like george bush–both in diction and content–a guy renowned for his high intellect. So great to have your insight to keep us simpletons enlightened.
        • Frankiti March 4, 2017 at 9:31 pm #

          No problem Chip, moms always said, “best help a dummy”
37. JimInFlorida March 3, 2017 at 6:57 pm #

    When any of you think of a doctor, what comes to mind?

    Typically, a man in a white coat who is either part of a vast medical center or in a hospital. Somebody who has been vetted and carries all of the Sacred Credentials we think he has to have. He can only be seen within the AMA-approved temples, many papers have to be signed to see him, and insurance is required.

    What would it take to bring back the New Deal-era Country Doctor? The kind of doc who you could look up in the phone book and call his nurse or even him directly. The kind of doc who will come to your door, examine you, prescribe the kind of medicine commonly available before WW2, and you pay him in CASH or CHECK (if he trusts your credit). A very reasonable fee that makes you feel like you got your money’s worth. Heck, even the kind of doc who can sew up a big cut or set a simple fracture in your home!

    What would it take to get the old-fashioned medicine that our Country Doctor would prescribe? Not the New Age hippie stuff but, the medicine that a REAL pharmacist used to make from herbs, roots, silver water, witch hazel, creams, salves, oils, tinctures, teas, etc. Some modern OTC meds can be prescribed but, outside of aspirin or Geritol, many problems once had an organic preparation to treat them.

    Such health care is ILLEGAL and would bring down a SWAT team down on both doctor and patient! Again, what would it take to bring back an alternative to the current Medical-Industrial Complex?
    • AKlein March 3, 2017 at 7:05 pm #

      An utter collapse of the current system.
    • thwack March 3, 2017 at 7:51 pm #

      Such health care is ILLEGAL and would bring down a SWAT team down on both doctor and patient!

      *****************

      Not if you’re mexican
    • Frankiti March 3, 2017 at 8:51 pm #

      Y’mean all the stuff that won’t cure that ass cancer you got from eating sausages outside of Lowe’s and Costco before sitting and watching 4 hours of truck commercials disguised as football? Have at it
      • AKlein March 4, 2017 at 7:44 am #

        No Frankiti, alas, it won’t. But in some cases such behavior can marginally help with that oh-so-important self-esteem. Those with “packages” or pecs they feel are too small can sometimes raise their self-esteem by purchasing one of those snazzy, large and subliminally aggressive trucks they see on the commercials. Giving verity to one of my favorite epithets, “Small dick, big truck.”
        • Q. Shtik March 4, 2017 at 2:21 pm #

          “Small dick, big truck.” – AKlein

          =========

          I love that and will use it when the occasion arises. Reminds me of “all hat, no cattle.”
          • AKlein March 4, 2017 at 5:20 pm #

            “all hat, no cattle” – Q.Shtik

            ———–

            Wonderful, wonderful. Will be pressed into service immediately!
            Thanks
        • Frankiti March 4, 2017 at 9:33 pm #

          Y’mean a Ford Compensator?
          • AKlein March 5, 2017 at 7:12 am #

            Close, Frank. But something more like the Dildozer from Mike Judge’s Idiocracy might do the trick better. It has that phallic inference and certainly the look, which conjures up the right image in the observer’s mind – oops, sorry, I mean the owner’s mind.
      • elysianfield March 4, 2017 at 10:26 am #

        “ass cancer you got from eating sausages”

        Frank,
        I read somewhere that you lose 15 minutes of life for every sausage you eat…if that be the case, I should have been dead years ago.
        • AKlein March 4, 2017 at 5:25 pm #

          EF, Not to get surreal on yo ass, as Thwack or Marcellus Wallace might say, may yo’ already be dead and yo dreamin’!
          • elysianfield March 4, 2017 at 6:42 pm #

            Al,
            You’ve “blown my mind”!
38. trolleybill March 3, 2017 at 8:55 pm #

    As a Vietnam veteran who participated in the most dangerous game as a Army infantry grunt and who was spit on returning in the SFO airport as a draftee returning home. I’ve seen leftist madness just as I’m seeing out there today. In May of 1970 after returning from Cambodia were we confiscated and destroyed so many arms and resupply depots that the communist never rebuilt there. Upon returning I picked up a Stars & Stripes newspaper and saw Kent State episode having just been there drinking beer 5 mo before home on leave with orders for Nam. I knew they hadn’t a clue how we were devastating the communist because of news not reporting it. I wonder if a moment of silence for the Navy Seal would of been misconstrued as some religious symbol the left would of ranted about they have gotten that crazed. Applause for him Hell! ask how many will remember his name by next week. (Seven Samurai) I think it’s about time we get mass transit because were only there for oil which has bloodied all our hands. This is my 20th year without a motor vehicle because of oil and I do fine and have lived in 3 states now retired in Florida.
    • thwack March 3, 2017 at 9:17 pm #

      Hey man, were you drafted?

      Did you kill anybody?

      What was that like?

      Ive seen a guy freshly killed in a “civilian setting” and it was disturbing. I guess if I saw enough killing it wouldn’t bother me much?

      Is that how it works?
      • DA March 3, 2017 at 9:55 pm #

        You’re voyeuristic outlook struck me as naive, funny, realistic, and profound all at once, just like it is for most people. Humans are nothing more than animals at the physical level, so you might as well ask anyone who’s seen animals die at their hand what their opinions are.

        Suffice it to say, humans killing other humans whom they don’t even know (which is for the most part a prerequisite to some extent or another) is an acquired taste, but one quickly acquired for some (at least).

        That said, for the industrial model to work, killing has to be almost entirely dispassionate, and thus, truly psychotic.

        I worked in a cattle slaughterhouse for a few days at the age of 19. I also witnessed slaughter on my grandparents farm growing up and on the sidewalks in front of Turkish restaurants when I was stationed in the mid-east on behalf of the great Satan.

        On the whole, I’d say our current great ease with killing mentally directly coincides with our ease in killing physically. It’s easy, it’s out of mind, and it’s out of place. Why not? Let’s do it!
        • AKlein March 4, 2017 at 7:49 am #

          Whence killing poor slobs in Chaostan by drone is done from the comfort of an air-conditioned command center on the Florida Gulf coast. Heck, it’s even better than playing geetar on the MTV, for some, at least. Take a swim in the Gulf after a hard day playing a video game with real victims. Don’t get much better”n that.
    • JimInFlorida March 3, 2017 at 9:27 pm #

      We weren’t in Vietnam for oil. We were there to restore – not just the supply of heroin and opium but – the narcotics-fueled money laundering that Hong Kong, Singapore, and Wall Street depended on!

      It’s the same reason that Poppy Bush Sr. wanted “W” to invade Afghanistan. The Taliban totally shut down the poppy fields, narcotics manufacturing, and the billions being laundered through Wall Street. We went in TO RESTORE THE DRUGS AND THE MONEY LAUNDERING. C-130’s flew over with pallets of cash and flew out with drugs made from the poppy plants.

      The U.S. economy and Wall Street MUST have that river of stolen and tainted money to skim as it comes and goes. We would have collapsed back in the 1980’s if Bill Clinton didn’t make Mena, Arkansas, available for CIA drug running.

      Sorry trolleybill but, you risked your life on behalf of a criminal cartel.
      • thwack March 3, 2017 at 9:53 pm #

        Not necessarily, he probably has a greater understanding of what life is due to his experiences in Vietnam.

        years ago when I went to a family reunion the guy my sister was dating in the 70s said the reason He didn’t marry her was because if he got drafted he was going to Canada.

        His job made him drive by the airport in Houston everyday and he would see the flag draped coffins lined up every few days.

        That scared the shit out of him.

        My sister ended up marrying some simp lawyer scum she couldn’t stand.
        • DA March 3, 2017 at 10:01 pm #

          thwack,

          You’re onto something. The rivers of our lives are more varied and complicated than we know. Good stuff!

          DA
        • AKlein March 4, 2017 at 5:28 pm #

          Thwack, isn’t “lawyer scum” redundant?
    • elysianfield March 4, 2017 at 10:32 am #

      “Hey man, were you drafted?

      Did you kill anybody?

      What was that like?

      What are you wearing?

      Oh, Oh, Oh….”

      What is the sound of one hand typing?
39. pequiste March 3, 2017 at 8:56 pm #

    When did medical treatment become “health care,” does anyone know?

    The why is easy: rather than have a physician come to one’s home, as everyone used to know was the best, most humane way for a doctor to see a sick person; instead, with today’s model, one gets the full Dizknee travel experience

    . Starts with the visit from the 911 paramedic crew; followed by a trip in an ambulance to the ER of a corporate hospital or “medical” center. Now you and all the other poor unfortunates are tout-fuqay – wanting and waiting to be seen at the Emergency. Where is my doctor who can admit me? Oh in the DOminican Republic playing some golf and engaging in some, ahem, refresher research in Sosua. OHHHHHHHH.

    But wait, firstly: are your papers (insurance documents) in order?
    (Ehre papieren ist nicht in ordnung schwein!)

    Then the wait. And wait. And wait some more. Both Beckett and Kafka know nothing of the 21st century anomie and suffering involved. I do think that Mike Judge has insight into the matter.

    Then to be seen by some Dr Mohammed from Pakistan (who can’t stand infidels but loves his $300K/yr) cause we cannot seem to school enough doctors in the USA. (Why is that?)

    Then, finally, the sick bastard gets admitted for the cost-centered, revenue-enhanced , high-tech gadget filled, bad food and all, merrily going down the hospital-stay lane.
    ( I’m thinkin’ I would rather go to Tahiti or Thailand and take my chances.)

    Recently saw a $400K bill for two stays of three weeks each, one surgery, plus two rehabs for good measure.
    The outcome: guy died five months later of the very thing that put him in the hospital.

    Jim gave you his example and other ones exceed his by 10-fold for some pretty non-life threatening situations. But the stockholders are anticipating a banner year and that is what important in the world of American “health care.”

    A God-damned mess if ever there was one.

    Should the system collapse (under its own weight and stupidity) there will be a yuge requirement for shovels and lime.
    • JimInFlorida March 3, 2017 at 9:52 pm #

      Elrond and I already covered your question further up the page.

      In short, medical care was privatized and commodified in 1973. Profits and insurance payouts drive the Business Model of health care. Not the needs of the patient or for the cause of public health.

      The historic purpose of health care (before HMO’s) was to deliver health care and it was regulated to that end. People mostly paid cash and that kept costs down. People also had realistic expectations of what medicine and doctors could do. Doctors were mostly White Men of good character and made good faith efforts to treat their patients with the medicines and techniques available back then.

      As for Dr. Mohammad MD or Mola Ram, P.A, we can thank the blood-sucking lawyers who sued and sued until the White Doctors gave up and went into cosmetic surgery. Thus, leaving primary care in the hands of 3rd Worlders who will work a bit cheaper and leave more profits for the Medical-Industrial Complex.

      IMO, the best way to break the system is to allow the return of the New Deal-era country doctor that made house calls. Including the old-school apothecary that will fill the prescriptions of the doctor. Details already covered in previous posts.
      • janet March 4, 2017 at 2:21 am #

        “lawyers who sued and sued until the White Doctors gave up and went into cosmetic surgery. Thus, leaving primary care in the hands of 3rd Worlders” –JiminFlorida

        And why would white doctors be sued? Because white doctors have higher rates of malpractice (iatrogenesis)… because whites score lower than Asians and Hispanics on the MCAT exams… because Asian and Hispanics are more studious, hard-working, and apt than whites to practice medicine.

        Primary care physicians (PCP) from the 3rd world have superior education (as evidenced by superior MCAT scores). PCPs from the 3rd world have superior clinical and diagnostic skills (as evidenced by superior clinical diagnosis skills and less need to request unnecessary laboratory tests). PCPs from the 3rd world have a lower rate of iatrogenesis (physician-induced disease due to physician ignorance or physician error) than white doctors.

        In other words, consider yourself lucky if your PCP is non-white. I love America. I love its diversity, its acceptance of other cultures, and how that multiculturalism improves the quality of medical care.

        White doctors deserve to be sued for their malpractice. They are now the third leading cause of death in the United States.

        https://www.justice.org/what-we-do/advocate-civil-justice-system/issue-advocacy/medical-errors
        • JimInFlorida March 4, 2017 at 8:50 am #

          For the sake of our benevolent host, and to keep from being banned, I will not explore the demographic changes of White doctors in the U.S. during the 20th century and how it coincided with the rise of malpractice.

          By pointing out the deficiencies of modern White doctors, you are guilty of anti-Semitism!!! HA! Shame on you, janet-wpa.
40. K-Dog March 4, 2017 at 1:46 am #

    It can be difficult to understand what Trump is saying when he uses words.

    

    Support this blog via Patreon or Substack
    • Janos Skorenzy March 4, 2017 at 2:15 am #

      We know that Schumer and Pelosi met with Russians – even though Pelosi lied about it. How many more Democrats will the investigation, only in its preliminary stages, net? Many, I warrant. And OF COURSE we know Obama was selling us out to Putin. Who can forget his hot mike, “Tell Vladimir I’ll have more freedom after the election” statement about disarming the United States?

      Trump has to go on the attack. Not only with the comical Russian stuff but with the real Clinton Foundation and Pizzagate investigations. The Dems are playing for keeps. American Patriots have to bring these people down, by any means necessary up to and including the RICO Act, Patriot Act, and outright martial law.
41. Buck Stud March 4, 2017 at 2:11 am #

    After reading the outrage of some of the Canadians up above concerning misperceptions regarding their country, let me offer up an honest assessment of America, and in particular, white liberal America as I believe I have witnessed it.

    Bottom line: For all the talk of embracing multi-culturalism and the championing of ethnic pluralism, when the rubber meets the road and said white liberals enroll their own precious flesh and blood into the educational system you can be sure the vast majority of them do NOT enroll their children in majority African American or Latino school districts. In fact, they go OUT OF THEIR WAY to avoid doing so.

    It’s really a sort of ‘hush-hush’ phenomena–hypocrisy actually. Oh, they will pretentiously posture their love of ethnic pluralism at the weekend reggae festival, donning their favorite Bob Marley shirt and maybe even weaving some dreadlocks into their hair. And they will vigorously thump chests of outrage on FB/ social media, vitriolically denouncing the racial xenophobia of others and then pat themselves on their cyber ass for all the “likes” and “loves” they get.

    But what they will not do when rubber meets road is send their own children to school districts primarily populated by blacks and Mexicans. Indeed, entire school districts across the American Southwest have been transformed into majority Latino(a) populations for the same old reason as always: White Flight. And white flight among “liberals” and conservatives alike.

    This is a truth down here in the lower 48 that I’ve witnessed time and time again.

    A lot of people don’t want to admit that there are ‘limitations’ to their professed support of ethnic pluralism but the fact remains there are limitations and it starts right around the time of elementary school enrollment–again, as I have witnessed it.
    • Janos Skorenzy March 4, 2017 at 2:30 am #

      A People come into being when they become a “We”. From then on, nationhood is entirely possible though it may not actually come into being, at least not for a long time. Thus the German elements, Nordic, Alpine, and Mediterranean (Roman), were melded together into a We that eventually became a State. Luther’s Bible helped to fix the language into a standard Germany which enabled the process.

      America? We also managed to bring the different European groups together – and it was not easy. But the Blacks? The Mexicans? These are a bridge too far. The Blacks are just too different. And the Mexicans are closer to us, but their nation is right next door. It’s a big one, one that has historical grievances with us. For these reasons alone it’s doubtful that it’s going to work out as Samuel Huntington pointed out.

      Cultural integration in the higher sense is rare. Usually one dominates. In Black Africa, it’s usually Islam wiping out the earlier culture. Does it sometimes work the other way, like Black Culture taking on the trappings of Islam but really staying Black – like Santeria or Voodoo with Christianity? Don’t know. But even that isn’t really integration, right? Rather they remained separate in essence, the trappings used as a cover.

      I heard these was one culture on the East Coast of Africa that showed evidence of a real integration between the Black African and Islamic Arab elements. It’s rare. Why? Because they are so different for one thing. And let’s face it, Islam doesn’t like being watered down and will resist any such thing. And being far stronger, their say goes. But if the Negro element predominates and accepts willingly, something more may have been possible.

      Something similar happened, apparently, in Indonesia. It was converted peacefully by charismatic Sufi Saints. The peaceful conversion allowed for a more graceful integration of the native animism and the newer Islam.
      • Buck Stud March 4, 2017 at 2:51 am #

        Yes sometimes assimilation happens peacefully and even eagerly. And sometimes so eagerly that people will deny their own ethnic origins.

        For example, a lot of northern New Mexico latinos (Texans too)–especially ranch owner types– will go out of their way to highlight their European heritage aspect. One dude in particular who looked to my eyes to be clearly mestizo, defiantly claimed otherwise, that he was of French heritage. I sort of laughed when he said that and quipped, ‘ yeah and I’m Charles DeGaulle’. That statement really irked him and his New Mexico accent started turning a bit angry and I certainly didn’t feel all that safe in his neck of the woods so I said I was just kidding even though I wasn’t.

        All that aside, what great people he and his family were/are, real salt of the earth types…hard, hard working and very industrious and thrifty with their money–they own a lot of ranch land after all.. And conservative too. In fact this guy was a Trump voter.
        • Janos Skorenzy March 4, 2017 at 4:15 am #

          Yes, when we had pride, people wanted to be White. Now they want to be anything else as we lose our country.

          Too many of these off Whites, even if well integrated, with change our culture. They aren’t White after all – and they lack the Promethean Fire the best of us have. Most our people don’t have it either, but they are the good material that supports the Elite or Cap Stone. The Mexicans are poor brick that will never make for the building of a Cathedral. And their Elite would not even care to try – as they lack the Fire.

          I corresponded with a Costa Rican who sent me a picture of himself and asked if I though he looked White. I said no. He was crushed and said that it may be because of Arabic ancestors (as if that would make it alright!). I mercifully said that indeed it might be so. He kept sending pictures of himself. Gay? I didn’t know how to respond so I didn’t. Foreigners (as if they’re all the same! They are to me in this! Wogs begin at Calais!) often seem to show pictures of their family but of themselves? Shirtless? It cannot stand. I will not have it so.
        • malthuss March 4, 2017 at 11:01 am #

          school districts across the American Southwest [and elsewhere] have been transformed into majority Latino(a) populations for the same old reason as always: White Flight.

          You ignore the obvious.Sea change.
          USA was 90% White in 1970.
          Soon Whites will be a minority in USA.
          How soon, I do not know.
          • Buck Stud March 4, 2017 at 11:22 am #

            I was not ignoring the destiny of demographics just trying to illustrate what I view is the hypocrisy in the here and now of those who champion multi-culturalism on one hand, while not allowing their children to attend integrated schools on the other.

            “Black” Thack in his perpetual Flippancy Wilson quest completely missed the point and deliberately so.

            And I’m not really surprised that you did as well, verified by your “soon” declaration. In fact it will not be that soon and furthermore has nothing to do with the hypocrisy I was trying to highlight.
        • SouthwestObserver March 6, 2017 at 12:33 am #

          The solution is to ask people to prove it when they say they have European heritage. I’m from Northern New Mexico and I always figured that I probably had more Native American DNA based on my appearance. In fact, like you, I regularly ridiculed Northern New Mexicans who claimed to have roots in Spain. And so just to prove my point I had my DNA analyzed by 23andme and then Ancestry.com.

          Boy was I surprised. Turns out 51% of my DNA is European and even peninsular as in Iberian. 42% was Native American and East Asian. So I started doing some genealogical research because my last name is not typically New Mexican. Turns out I can trace it back to Galicia–in Spain.

          So you just never know.
      • thwack March 4, 2017 at 6:36 am #

        “But the Blacks? The Mexicans? These are a bridge too far. The Blacks are just too different.”

        **********************

        But without us, you couldn’t be white; then you would start slaughtering each other over some BS like you used to do in Europe.

        Here, let my favorite Canadian explain it too you:

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oy3MDByBJS4
        • JimInFlorida March 4, 2017 at 9:09 am #

          Precisely why the semi-apartheid conditions in the U.S. (1953 and back) made the best social order.

          Minorities were around to remind Whites to hold fast to their best attributes. A Great White Wall of Colored-Only water fountains protected us from the pollution. But, political malfeasance overpowered the Walls put up by wise ancestors. And thus, America’s Golden Age of great achievement and social harmony ended in 1965.

          Of course, when there is disruption of a stable social order, it always involves an interloper. A third party that wishes to foment trouble and leverage those manufactured grievances for their benefit.
          • malthuss March 4, 2017 at 11:04 am #

            But Thwack points to an obvious fact.
            The ‘inequality of small differences.’

            Whites in Europe were at constant war.
            Over territory [resources] and Religion.
            JHK point out how WW1 was started for some minor-dumb reason.

            I doubt Whites in Europe will unite to fight Africans and towelheads who are taking over Europe, so Europe is lost.
            Let it be like Congo, if its not worth defending.
    • janet March 4, 2017 at 2:43 am #

      Middle-class Millennials say they find suburban life sterile and prefer walkable communities. One poll, the authors note, found that 77 percent of Millennials expressed a preference for urban life.

      Urban settings make school integration easier. For example, in Louisville, Kentucky in the early 1970s, compulsory busing for racial desegregation was opposed by 98 percent of parent. By 2011, a choice-based system emphasizing socioeconomic alongside racial integration was supported by 89 percent of parents. When 9 out of 10 parents (in a southern state!) put their kids into integrated schools voluntarily, your claim of “professed support” is not supported by the data, especially among the Millennial parents.

      I’m not just talking about Black/white differences… consider also the Asian experience:

      • Immigrant Asian parents value racially integrated schools because they will prepare all children including Asian American children to succeed in a diverse society and global economy.

      • A diverse learning environment decreases incidents of harassment and violence against Asian American students, which can contribute to poor attendance and hampers educational attainment.

      • Racially segregated schools impede the social and educational attainment of all students, in particular vulnerable groups like linguistically isolated Asian Americans.

      http://www.caasf.org/wp-content/uploads/PDFs/AALDEF_CAA_School_Integration_Fact_Sheets_090607.pdf
      • Buck Stud March 4, 2017 at 3:12 am #

        I get what you’re claiming but like I said, a lot of former predominantly white school districts are now almost entirely latino, and truth be told, “underperforming”,i.e., facing state school board sanctions.

        One time I was sitting in a bar in Sausalito having a beer with a cop and I muttered that I didn’t know if I wanted to send my son to an Asian populated school in San Francisco. He told me that’s exactly where I should send him because Asians emphasize academics.( He also made a strong point of stating don’t drink and drive in those parts; that drunken drivers pay a steep steep price. I assured him that I wasn’t driving that indeed I could walk back to the workshop where I sleep and live, 10 Liberty Shipway in Sausalito at the time–an old WW2 ship building site turned artisan community.. He also told me San Francisco cops are pretty low key, they don’t get worked up about much of anything except murder.)

        The ugly truth you don’t mention in terms of “urban walkway lifestyle’ is that of gentrification and the tremendous sense of anger and bitterness felt by former African American/Latino residents displaced by young white urban professionals and not a small amount of them liberal.

        But the handwriting is on the wall at the end of the day, etched in stone if you will. Many high school districts are now formally lauding multilingualism on high school diplomas. And there is no doubt that speaking more than one language is a huge boost to one’s future economic prospects in the U.S..
        • Janos Skorenzy March 4, 2017 at 4:20 am #

          Most of the SF cops got pushed out to I hear.

          But what language to teach them? Mandarin? Spanish? But for Whiskey, the Irish would rule the world. They already control the streets with their so called “Irish cops”. Who do you think those cops are loyal to? So Irish or Erse might be the best language to teach children if indeed the coup is coming under Herr Bannon.
          • malthuss March 4, 2017 at 10:40 am #

            Many high school districts are now formally lauding multilingualism on high school diplomas.

            —Only as a mask for Multi Multiculturalism, ergo ‘let in the 3rd world.’
        • malthuss March 4, 2017 at 10:42 am #

          San Fran is a Sanctuary Shitty.

          Ask the Bolognas.

          Thjs grisly killing didnt happen in SF, but its an indication of not where we are heading, but where USA already is;

          http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/missing-texas-girl-victim-ms-13-satanic-killing-article-1.2987948
    • thwack March 4, 2017 at 6:44 am #

      But what they will not do when rubber meets road is send their own children to school districts primarily populated by blacks and Mexicans. Indeed, entire school districts across the American Southwest have been transformed into majority Latino(a) populations for the same old reason as always: White Flight. And white flight among “liberals” and conservatives alike.

      **********************

      Well duh?

      If you were a prison guard would you send your children to school with the children of the inmates?

      Inmates are NOT a community, or an organization…

      why would any sane person do that?

      What country you from?
      • SouthwestObserver March 6, 2017 at 12:37 am #

        I live in one of those places where the majority is Latino. It didn’t become that way because of white flight. It kind of always was that way. However, there has been some white flight amongst those who have been here. Couple that with an endless influx of Mexicans, Cubans and Central Americans and it becomes even more Latino.
    • Q. Shtik March 4, 2017 at 1:51 pm #

      It’s really a sort of ‘hush-hush’ phenomena–hypocrisy actually. Oh, they will pretentiously posture their love of ethnic pluralism at the weekend reggae festival, donning their favorite Bob Marley shirt and maybe even weaving some dreadlocks into their hair. And they will vigorously thump chests of outrage on FB/ social media, vitriolically denouncing the racial xenophobia of others and then pat themselves on their cyber ass for all the “likes” and “loves” they get. – Buck Stud

      =========

      Oh so true, and beautifully expressed.

      I live on the other side of the river from New Brunswick, NJ, home of Rutgers Univ, Johnson and Johnson and the huge Robert Wood Johnson Medical complex. In other words the city and area in general has more than its fair share of white educated residents.

      New Bruns built a new high school about 10 years ago. See the link below for the ethnic breakdown of the student body. 98.5% are Latino and Black (more than 80% Latino). .7% are said to be White. They aren’t. There are zero whites (I know several people who teach there who have told me so.) The small handful of so-called Whites are White in the same sense that Caitlyn Jenner is a woman. They identify as White for whatever their reasons.

      So here is this spanking new high school sitting there with not one White student. They (and their Asian counterparts) fled the place as fast as their pasty white (and yellow) legs would carry them. Read, also, in the link about the shitty academic standing vs all other schools in the State.

      Now come back across to my side of the river where the town is very white and Jewish and where every third house on the block is occupied by a Rutgers professor. To a man they will defend the ridiculous proposition that “diversity is our strength.” But, walk in the local high school cafeteria and observe the self segregation.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Brunswick_High_School
42. KL Cooke March 4, 2017 at 2:40 am #

    You were firing on all cylinders to day, Jim.
43. KL Cooke March 4, 2017 at 3:02 am #

    When my kids were born, in the late 60s, the cost at UC Medical Center in San Francisco, was a flat fee, around $300, payable in advance. It included the doctors, the delivery room, staff, meds and the hospital stay.

    In those days, $300 was a fair amount of money to me. The better part of a month’s pay. But it was certainly managable.
44. janet March 4, 2017 at 3:07 am #

    A People come into being when they become a “We”. –janos

    Yes. We are people of the Earth. We are global citizens. We are homo sapiens. Skin color got nothin’ to do with it.
    • thwack March 4, 2017 at 6:27 am #

      “We are homo sapiens.”

      ****************

      we are “wise men?”

      really?

      you gotta be kidding me.

      wake me up when you stop shooting hairon cause that narcotic done made you null and void.
      • JimInFlorida March 4, 2017 at 9:26 am #

        janet teaches Women’s Studies in some gynocentric hellhole of a college. She often hangs out with her students at the one sorority where armpit hair is a fashion requirement.

        janet is a New Left 3rd-Wave feminist. She only buys a special strain of ganga and shares with her students. She only buys organically grown Mary Jane from women farmers and no men are allowed near the plants!

        Toke a lid of that estrogen-laced weed in the environment of that hairy sorority and you’ll be singing Kumbaya, “We Are The World,” and “Kill The White Man” (by NOFX).
        • HaresOnTheMountain March 5, 2017 at 8:21 pm #

          Ganga as something culturally pegged aside, have you ever heard of Henry Ford’s 1941 hemp plastic car?

          Industrial hemp (and a serious break-up of monopolies) might be thee most important pathway to saving this world.

          http://www.collective-evolution.com/2013/02/25/henry-ford-hemp-plastic-car-stronger/
45. FincaInTheMountains March 4, 2017 at 3:38 am #

    Good news, there will be NO financial collapse similar to the one happened in 2008, when Hillary organized the crush by torpedoing the bailout of the Lehman Brothers, partially to revenge for Lehman financing of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, partially to organize wealth redistribution.

    Not in small part we should be thankful for that to President Obama and his newly installed levers of Financial Control over inflated dollar system.

    Now the deflation of the dollar bubble, mostly created in the 90s by Clinton “Super Bowl” through “Informational Superhighway Project” and long-overdue reset of the world financial system could proceed in more or less manageable and planned way.

    

    Support this blog via Patreon or Substack
46. FincaInTheMountains March 4, 2017 at 4:45 am #

    Mikhail Gorbachev was an agent of influence of the British intelligence recruited in his youth with the help of his wife, Raisa, and was promoted to the highest positions of power with the help of other agents of influence. Besides, he was probably recruited later by other intelligence after he became a member of the Central Committee.

    But the task of promotion of Gorbachev to the post of General Secretary to destroy the Soviet Union was set forward by Alexander Zinoviev with the plan presented in his book “The Yawning Heights” and in the article “How to kill an elephant with a needle”.

    In addition it should be noted that Zinoviev, being an agnostic-atheist, did not know what he was doing and did not understand what kind of geopolitical, meta-historical and even apocalyptic process he launched with his logical and literary exercises.

    The fact is that the Soviet Union was a brainchild of the Russian Orthodoxy, Stalin and World Jewry of the Third Communist International.

    And the collapse of the USSR was caused by the “Doctors Plot” that destroyed the Union of historical Russia and the world Jewry, as a result of which Stalin was left with no qualified medical care.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctors'_plot

    Apparently Stalin was going instead of Third Communist International create some Orthodox International, but since he died, leaving no heir to these plans, and Nikita Khrushchev understood Communism as an opportunity to consume without limits, after a coup d’etat organized by him in 1953 the Soviet Union turned out to be the body without a head.

    And one of the main points of Khrushchev’s “de-Stalinization and the exposure of the personality cult” was criticism of the support of the Orthodox Church by Stalin.

    Khrushchev’s persecution of the Church was not allowed to articulate Orthodox historiosophy, corresponding to the position of the late Soviet Union, which could have served as a plan of removing Russia from the Historic Dead End of Ideological Nihilism, in which it found itself after the death of Stalin.

    When Boris Yeltsin on Brezhnev’s recommendations became the head of the Moscow Communist Party organization and it became clear to him that there was a whole cohort of traitors at the helm of the USSR, he refused to participate with this gang in destroying the country, and began to intercept Russian levers of power from Politburo that have betrayed its Party and the country.

    At the time when Yeltsin became the President of the Russian Federation, Yeltsin’s influence has grown so much that the implementation of Gorbachev’s plan for the breakup of USSR and Russian Federation according to Yugoslav scenario became unlikely, and the revolt of Russian citizens against the traitors became very likely, Gorbachev decided to deal a pre-emptive strike and take a lead over the process he could not prevent.

    On the eve of the signing of the Novo-Ogarevo agreements equalizing Autonomous and Union republics, he went on to organize the coup in Moscow of 1991, the purpose of which was the elimination of the Russian Federation’s government, which inevitably would refuse to sign such a contract, inevitably meaning the disintegration of the Russian Federation.

    As the President of Russia and the Russian government has already existed, the physical elimination of Boris Yeltsin would have definitely provoked a revolt against the treacherous gang and oust Gorbachev and most of the putchists from their positions and, therefore, the purpose of the Emergency Committee was to frighten the Government of Russia and force them to either flee from Moscow, or to ask for asylum in one of the foreign embassies.

    And in this situation, Boris Yeltsin, apparently at the inspiration from Above, dared to challenge the combined forces of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the West, which loved Gorbachev dearly.

    And he won!!!

    As a result historical Russia still exists and there is very good reason to believe that it will continue to exist.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_Soviet_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat_attempt
    • FincaInTheMountains March 4, 2017 at 5:21 am #

      Obviously, I am publishing that to counter well known by the readers of this blog popular, but completely false and dangerous theories about the reasons of the Collapse of the USSR propagated by some well-known authors and help Americans to appreciate the effort of President Trump and his team to take the US out of Historic Dead End of Ideological Nihilism.
47. johngalt March 4, 2017 at 7:26 am #

    Exhuming McCarthy.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJ-goz4q1qo

    In the old republic, the unelected entrenched shadow Deep State, publicly led by Chuck, Nancy, and the gang, enjoy exhuming Joseph McCarthy in the attempt to cling to power.

    Sent from the New Republic.
    http://www.got-truth.com
    • malthuss March 4, 2017 at 10:38 am #

      Go Joe. Let NP fade into a much deserved obscurity.
48. wm5135 March 4, 2017 at 8:12 am #

    The following are three ideas my father made sure were imprinted on my consciousness by the age of 5 years.
    1. A man’s word is his bond.
    2. There are three sides to every story: Your side, my side and the TRUTH. Always seek the truth.
    3. There ain’t no free lunch.

    Contrast this with a man who seeks unfair advantage in every transaction while hiding behind a fraudulent facade of integrity and respectability.

    When you encounter a man of honor do you perceive him as:

    A naive fool and an easy mark.
    A keystone of the community.

    Most know there is a path of honor, there just ain’t no money in it. There is no shortage of comments this week that we cannot even discuss some options for the health our nation because those options fall outside of the narrative that was carefully crafted for the demographic that comments here. How is it that most here can see the bullshit of the narrative that was crafted as a siren’s song for those who lean left and be completely committed to and willing to do violence in support of a narrative crafted for their demographic?

    A man without honor complaining that another man has no honor. A man with no moral compass complaining of another man’s lack of morals. A bunch of Dr. Spock babies casting stones at the youth of our nation and derisively calling them “snowflakes”. A group of citizens believing that everyone on the left is unarmed and unwilling. A population that eschews symbiosis and comprise because “I’m RIGHT”.

    We built this current current state of affairs whether through sins of commision or omission, most participated, willingly. The theme seems to be, “Let us drag injustice from the rubble of our collapsing society and build a new society using injustice as the foundation.” My view is that we better hope Mr. Jefferson was wrong and that God’s Justice will sleep forever.
    • Last Wah March 4, 2017 at 12:38 pm #

      a most wise comment wm5135.

      I have lived in many places. Have been to every Continent except Antarctica. In this life, so far, the realization that we are the arbiters of our own personal lives is the only constant I have been able to always depend upon.

      How many of the posters here have truly admitted that they are at the mercy of their own reality.

      It is obvious that MOST of the posters here are North American residents or currently reside on this part of the planet.

      This is the most “free” mass area on the planet that allows the mixing of the races. We also have the ability to complain about it.

      Here is my question to all of us who have taken the time to discuss the hear and now. Are you ready to survive in what Kunster has described in his work “A world made by hand”?

      I mention this because if we/you are not, none of our discussions here will matter much.

      Take advantage of all our situations now as they exist. The wheel of time is speeding along at a pace I never thought possible, and we may be facing that future during this lifetime.

      I feel blessed to be on this continent at this time. Believe it or not we live in the most diverse area of the planet right now. No matter what race you descend from or political situation we are in right now we are the most co-mingle mass of humanity on earth. As such we will be able to take the combined strengths and weaknesses of these to make the next reality.

      Take advantage now to be able to survive with little to no Government except what we will combine to become in this near future.
      • Janos Skorenzy March 5, 2017 at 1:36 am #

        Homogeneity is strength and Diversity is weakness. Japan has lasted thousands of years because of its homogeneity. And they know it! – and thus have a chance to survive. As for us, we’re done. When we fall, we’ll never rise again.

        Because we didn’t fall immediately, somehow you get confused and think Blacks and Browns don’t threaten White Western American Culture. But if you lived in areas dominated by them, you would have no such illusions – unless you were a complete fool and invincibly ignorant.
        • thwack March 5, 2017 at 1:37 pm #

          Blacks and browns don’t dominate two feet of anything.
49. wm5135 March 4, 2017 at 8:34 am #

    The word of course is – compromise.
50. the camels bell March 4, 2017 at 10:22 am #

    “When I look back over so many years and try to judge the results of that experience I find two very significant facts standing out clearly before my mind.

    First, I became a nationalist.”

    excerpt, chapter one, In the home of my parents, Mein Kampf
    Adolf Hitler

    

    Support this blog via Patreon or Substack
    • Buck Stud March 4, 2017 at 11:44 am #

      I’m not sure what your point is–that “nationalist” is inherently bad?

      I don’t believe Adolph was the only nationalist. For instance check out “Nationalist” Ruskin (p.35 is a good place to start [and he was, IMO, not a communist]):

      https://archive.org/details/communismofjohnr00ruskiala
    • FincaInTheMountains March 4, 2017 at 11:49 am #

      Adolf was not a Nationalist. He was a National-Socialist, huge difference.

      He believed that the Social Prosperity of his Nation must be achieved at the expense of the lesser Nations.
      • FincaInTheMountains March 4, 2017 at 11:55 am #

        That is why I maintain that the Social Program of Bernie Sanders + foreign policy of Hillary Clinton = National Socialism of Adolf Hitler.
        • Janos Skorenzy March 5, 2017 at 1:38 am #

          Marxist Socialism is Globalist in nature and will destroy any nation that adopts it. And of course, Corporate Capitalism loves the newer forms of it. They work together very well.

          You have outed yourself once again.
      • elysianfield March 4, 2017 at 6:46 pm #

        “He believed that the Social Prosperity of his Nation must be achieved at the expense of the lesser Nations.”

        Finc,
        Worked for us….
51. Q. Shtik March 4, 2017 at 10:37 am #

    If McDonalds and BK start automating their restaurants, TAX THE DOGSHIT out of those stores! – JimIn FL

    ===========

    Jim, you are CFN’s own Ned Ludd (see below):

    http://www.history.com/news/ask-history/who-were-the-luddites

    I completely understand your frustration – automation upsetting the livelihoods and thus the lives of so many people – but trying to hold back the tide of invention is not the way to go. I don’t have an answer to the problem but Luddite-ism ain’t it.
    • FincaInTheMountains March 4, 2017 at 10:45 am #

      Heavy, and I mean heavy taxation on robot labor is not the same as luddism. Probably will have to go through a Congress.
    • FincaInTheMountains March 4, 2017 at 10:46 am #

      The problem is really grave and does not have a solution under any existing economic model.
    • FincaInTheMountains March 4, 2017 at 10:52 am #

      If you remember the “I, Robot” series by A.Azimov, the only solution that the “future” humanity found to that problem was a strict ban on any robots – and that is only was possible under a single Galactic Empire power structure.
      • JimInFlorida March 4, 2017 at 11:19 am #

        I have a better alternative to the NWO and singular global authority figure.

        When nation-states are forbidden to protect themselves, then an autocratic power structure is necessary to maintain order. When nation-states are allowed to vigorously discriminate and protect themselves, then there is order and all parties must negotiate as sovereigns and carry out equitable exchanges. There are other conditions but, you get the idea.

        Powerful TARIFFS allow nation-states to either stop or punish robot-made and slave-made products. As for domestic use of robots, they can be heavily taxed in-house. Thus making human labor an attractive alternative. ROBUST BORDERS are the only way to ensure that domestic labor power is not undermined from without.

        The ONLY reason robotics should not be heavily taxed is if they DO NOT DISPLACE a human worker but, to aid the worker in his manufacture i.e. moving heavy stuff into place. Also, in the manufacture of certain materials, where risk of death and injury is high. One can imagine the mass production of caustic chemicals as an example.
        • FincaInTheMountains March 4, 2017 at 11:29 am #

          Jim, what if one Nation State would want to get a competitive advantage of the other Nation States by NOT taxing the robot labor?

          You go to war? Or kill all the “billionaires” of the “rogue” state?
          • JimInFlorida March 4, 2017 at 12:56 pm #

            The “Kill The Billionaires…” thing is to deter WW3, since they ALONE have the desire and means to push for it.

            As for robots and comparative advantage, if a U.S. manufacturer moves to a nation that does not tax robot labor, then a Robot Tax (tariff) is levied AT THE POINT OF ENTRY to negate the economic advantage. By whatever means it gets into the U.S. market, it WILL BE TAXED at the dock to protect the American Work Force and domestic manufacturing.

            Thus, the imported part will cost the same as the domestic part. It is then up to the buyer whether the imported part is better or not.

            Regardless, governments are OBLIGATED and REQUIRED to protect their citizens and their well-being first. REGARDLESS of any academic froth about comparative advantage or labor arbitrage.
    • volodya March 4, 2017 at 11:10 am #

      Q, when I started working a long time ago, there were old-timers that worked at that same company in the 1930s that used to get 2 Sundays off each month. That was it. Pay was low, the workweek was long.

      In the intervening years a lot of automation was brought in. Work-weeks decreased generally, not just at that company and two days off per week became the norm.

      Pay and purchasing power went up. Each of those working stiffs, none of whom had more than about a tenth grade education, now could support a family and could buy a car and a house, afford a telephone, a radio and most had a TV. The betterment in their well-being was enormous.

      See, the problem before then was widespread poverty. Automation didn’t make the problem worse. Automation was the solution. Or, at least, a part of it.

      What’s missing in these discussions is that somebody has to build and service and operate the machines. Building machines that replace drudge labor – like what happened in the last two hundred years – created jobs by developing new supply chains of raw materials and component parts.

      As long as the work involved in automation happens domestically things should work out. And, as the machines wear out and break down, someone has to service them. And eventually they have got to be replaced.

      Just to press home the point, it will be ok as long as the work involved in automation isn’t offshored to China. Because if all this is offshored to China, then automation will create more unemployment.

      And, if you think that Trump is a problem now, with even more unemployment and impoverishment, well, problems will multiply like rabbits, and Trump will look like the voice of calm and reason compared to what’s coming after him.
      • FincaInTheMountains March 4, 2017 at 11:24 am #

        somebody has to build and service and operate the machines

        mmmmm…. maintenance robots? 3-D printing? Aside for few designers, who’d be eventually too replaced by AI, you won’t need any humans. Human under all existing socio-economic models are doomed.

        We need a paradigm shift.
        • volodya March 4, 2017 at 11:48 am #

          AI needs a physical machine to sit inside. That machine needs to be built and serviced and a huge infrastructure of physical assets around it to enable it to work. None of this creates itself, it all requires work ie people.
          • Buck Stud March 4, 2017 at 12:18 pm #

            One man can service a hundred robots and one robot can assemble a hundred other robots–or so I will assume for the sake of argument.

            I agree with Fincal we need a paradigm shift, although I have no idea what he has in mind.
        • JimInFlorida March 4, 2017 at 12:12 pm #

          Ayn Rand’s novel, “Anthem,” is rapidly approaching. An epiphany made me realize that the protagonist, Equality 7-2521 is NOT the hero. The HERO is Collective 0-0009!

          Equality 7-2521 was a young fool who was tampering with vintage relics of a nation that had gone insane. Collective 0-0009 LIVED THROUGH THE INSANITY AND SAW THE COLLAPSE THAT WE ARE NOW ENTERING INTO! He remembered why it was necessary to put Society into a straight-jacket to keep it from committing suicide.

          It wasn’t the primitive battery and light bulb that frightened the Council but, the horrible memories of greed and willful ignorance that almost destroyed the Old World. They saw in the character, “Prometheus” the same excuses that encouraged human beings into destructive competition and the Race to the Bottom.

          As long as we are under the tyranny of Reaganomics, automation will fulfill the Libertarians’ wet-dream of making us all slaves while telling us were are perfectly FREE to start garage enterprises to compete with Wal-Mart, Lowes, McDonalds, or Microsoft.
          • Janos Skorenzy March 4, 2017 at 2:13 pm #

            One point I always try to make: I don’t say that automation is the best path forward, but it is the only path forward from here, the path we did take. If we really cared about people and quality of life, then things would look very, very different even now.

            So yes, automation and guaranteed income will produce social problems of leisure exactly as the Sociologists say. But the alternative is a soft genocide at best. Or a 3rd World War to lower the population by 90% or more.

            So since we’re going down This road and not another, we have to be sure that we are in control of it and not the very few and selfish. Yes, it is natural to work, but when did they about what was good for people?
      • JimInFlorida March 4, 2017 at 11:46 am #

        The automation that helped workers in the 1930’s were AIDS to help them produce more. For the most part, they did not displace workers!

        What also helped was that the Robber Barons did not have a Corporate Promised Land to run to. The rising tide of the Common Man was in play and the New Deal ensured a better distribution of the dividends.

        As for drudge labor, those jobs absorbed a LOT of unskilled workers and kept many off welfare. Sweeping floors, digging ditches, cleaning off grease from the machines, repetitive assembly line stuff, … millions of men found stability in them and gave them enough money to buy their liquor, cigs, and shoot dice. Drifters found work in “drudge jobs.” Come into town, work in a sawmill for a week, get paid, and then move on. Nowadays, you can’t even VOLUNTEER in most places without going through an anal cavity search of your life!

        What we’ve suffered from over the past 36 years has been Reaganomics. In other words, the open war of finance capital and managerial class against domestic labor.

        Automation no longer helps increase production but, is deliberately created to DISPLACE domestic U.S. workers. Wealth continues to be created but, the wealth is NO LONGER BEING DISTRIBUTED. By design, the wealth is piled up into a few hands. That way the wealth is outside the scrutiny of the political process and spent on things near and dear to the Top 1%. Like imperial wars, Israel, political payola, offshoring, orchestrated miscegenation, blowing bubbles on Wall Street, and other moral crimes.

        Henry Kissinger is THE ORIGINAL CRIMINAL who heeded the cries of Corporate America and sought a Corporate Promised Land for them. GHW Bush opened the floodgates to start the New Exodus but Bill Clinton blew up the dam!

        The things you worry about have already come to pass!
        • volodya March 4, 2017 at 12:09 pm #

          You have a point about how work was done back in the day. My dad and other relatives were of that number and so was I for a time before I got big ideas about edumacation.

          You have a point also about wealth getting hogged by the top one or point one percent. But I think it’s happening more easily because so much work has been exported overseas. And when that happened, it depleted the ranks of the union movement. The ability to negotiate with business for a share was gone and so was the political clout that industrial union organizations had.

          I think that the process of automation, whether we’re talking AI or whether we’re talking relatively brute-force type machines, is also being done overseas. And so any benefit from this process accrues to foreign workers, not American workers.

          You hear among the justifiers and paid propagandists for globalism that the loss of work is mythology, that the work is actually there and everything is just fine thanks. You hear from others that the golden past of good jobs and stable families and communities is myth, that it never happened. Well, all of this is deliberate disinformation, a re-writing of economic history. Fake news, in modern parlance.

          But I think also that Trump and his sympathizers and fellow travelers like Bernie underestimate the amount of industrial work shipped overseas. You hear numbers like one quarter or one third of the nation’s industrial base. To my eyes it looks like a lot more and accordingly the damage done a lot worse.
    • Janos Skorenzy March 4, 2017 at 2:02 pm #

      No, the tide can’t be kept back. People will always value profit and power over what’s right. So Jim isn’t trying to stop it – just divert it and make it work for us. But even this you won’t have! Think, man: you’re choosing machines over people quite literally. And when the Elite don’t need humans any more, what do you think the next tide will be? Hint: it will be red.

      I remember reading Mumford as a young man. He could see us going wrong. Right thru the book I could see him banging his head against the wall in despair as he said, Why do you think that if something can be done, it must be done? The Machine is to serve Man yet you would have us serve It.

      The Luddites were right, Q. No ifs, ands. or buts. Technology is only good insofar as it serves man, that is to say, is Made to serve man. In itself it is neutral. Making a few people a profit is not serving man.
      • HaresOnTheMountain March 5, 2017 at 9:50 pm #

        “No, the tide can’t be kept back. People will always value profit and power over what’s right. ” – Janos

        You’re right. It occurred to me recently why Trump’s base was not incensed by the “grab em by the puss” recordings and the coastal elites were fumed.

        “Grab em’ by the puss” is a truism. It basically amounts to saying wealth + (perceived) power is valued and rewarded over character and morality centered honest hard work.

        This touched on the unconscious of the coastal elites in their understanding that in reality they’ve stolen and forsaken the hard working, formerly tight knit and righteous people of flyover country.
52. FincaInTheMountains March 4, 2017 at 11:16 am #

    Counter Watergate? Have the Trump people finally found a smoking gun on Hillary’s interference into election?

    Trump claims Obama ‘wiretapped’ Trump Tower before election

    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/03/04/trump-accuses-obama-administration-wiretapping-trump-tower-phones.html

    Trump is perfectly aware that Obama has not ran the White House since June 10, 2016.
53. volodya March 4, 2017 at 11:21 am #

    The other question is wtf are US forces doing in Yemen? If the Saudis have an issue with what gang of cut-throats is running Yemen, then let the Saudis deal with it. There’s more than enough local Arab manpower to get it done. There’s no reason on god’s green earth for Americans to be involved.
54. malthuss March 4, 2017 at 11:27 am #

    Chris Martenson,

    cash can be outlawed. (This is what the “war on cash” and the talk of moving to a “cashless society” is really about)

    Sit back and watch with glee as everyone with savings silently and steadily has their purchasing power transferred to the debtors, be those public or private entities.

    You see, lower real interest rates not only reduce the government’s costs of servicing its debts, but they erode the real value the debts themselves.

    The government is deliberately killing the value of the money we’ve worked hard to earn and save, for the sole purpose of avoiding the consequences of its reckless borrowing.
    • FincaInTheMountains March 4, 2017 at 11:44 am #

      Welcome to the Club!

      Any Haitian around here works 3 times harder and makes 20 times less.
      • JimInFlorida March 4, 2017 at 1:10 pm #

        A moral failure and Mortal Sin of the highest order.

        That Haitian’s poverty corrupts the moral exchange of labor value for monetary compensation. Are the products of his labor 20x cheaper in the U.S? Not a bit.

        The difference between what a shirt made in Haiti sells for and what it costs to produce in Haiti, can support a lot of shady middlemen and their economic rents.

        That same shirt, made in the U.S, by Union Labor, can be sold for about the same price in the store. The difference being that there won’t be any skimmers between the factory and the consumer!
55. volodya March 4, 2017 at 11:44 am #

    wm5135, yeah, there’s more than enough hypocrisy to go around. And, as for the Boomer generation ridiculing the “snowflakes”, well, who raised ’em? Haven’t Boomers got enough to be ashamed about?

    OK, I’ll just say this about these “snowflakes”, they are for the time being the future. But only for the time being. The world outside the confines of the cozy college campus doesn’t afford “safe spaces”. And if the “snowflakes” don’t take it on but rather retreat from it on the basis that it makes them “uncomfortable”, well, there’s a multitude of tougher more aggressive people that will rip this future out from under them and start calling the shots. It’s a crowded world with more than 7 billion people, a lot of them in dire condition, and a lot of them wanting to encroach on US borders.

    Displacement and killing and marginalization of pre-existing inhabitants by outsiders has been going on since the inception of sapiens and even before. Happens over and over. Just ask Native Americans. There’s nothing in the historical record that sez any people is exempt, and no, not even Americans and not even “snowflakes”.

    The “snowflakes” seem to take their well being for granted. But the only relatively “safe-space” they have is within those US borders, those lines drawn on land and sea that a lot of them sneer at as outmoded relics.

    Well, we’ll see. Reality is an uncompromising bitch and they might want to take it into account now and again.

    

    Support this blog via Patreon or Substack
    • JimInFlorida March 4, 2017 at 12:41 pm #

      “… those lines drawn on land and sea that a lot of them sneer at as outmoded relics. ”

      Reminds me of a brilliant illustration by JANOS regarding those imaginary lines: (JANOS, please check in and refresh my memory)

      As I vaguely remember, he mentioned a very old picture of a pretty White French lady enjoying the day, somewhere along the French Riviera.

      THE REASON she could do that in perfect safety is because, between the coast of France and the black hordes of Africa, stood the French Navy. Willing and able to turn back or sink any boat carrying those beasts if they tried to enter into France without permission.

      Contrast that to today, where the E.U. is enslaved to the Coudenhove-Kalergi Plan. The E.U’s Armed Forces are forbidden to stop (better yet mow down) the Muslim invaders. No White Woman is safe anywhere now.

      Even worse, the White Men will have to fight their own cucked police departments before they can even protect their women. And yet, we have an even bigger dilemma… The race treason of White European Women is also causing White European Men to wonder whether it’s worth fighting a civil war to save them!
      • Janos Skorenzy March 4, 2017 at 2:44 pm #

        Yes, JANOS (TM) said just that. Thanks for reminding me. I like your morality reversal in Anthem. Thought provoking. The combination of the Prometheus and Epimetheus is a deadly one. The former brought the power of the gods to man. The latter leads us to use these gifts without thinking first but only after the fact, in many cases just justifying what should never have been done in the first place. From Wikipedia:

        According to Plato’s use of the old myth in his Protagoras (320d–322a), the twin Titans were entrusted with distributing the traits among the newly created animals. Epimetheus was responsible for giving a positive trait to every animal, but when it was time to give man a positive trait, lacking foresight he found that there was nothing left.[2]

        Prometheus decided that humankind’s attributes would be the civilizing arts and fire, which he stole from Zeus. Prometheus later stood trial for his crime. In the context of Plato’s dialogue, “Epimetheus, the being in whom thought follows production, represents nature in the sense of materialism, according to which thought comes later than thoughtless bodies and their thoughtless motions.”[3]

        According to Hesiod, who related the tale twice (Theogony, 527ff; Works and Days 57ff), Epimetheus was the one who accepted the gift of Pandora from the gods. Their marriage may be inferred (and was by later authors), but it is not made explicit in either text.

        In later myths, the daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora was Pyrrha, who married Deucalion, a descendant of Prometheus. Together they are the only two humans who survived the deluge.[4]
56. johngalt March 4, 2017 at 11:46 am #

    Thus spoke Billy Jack to Chuck Schumer:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVX-voqWuwY

    Sent from the New Republic.
    http://www.got-truth.com
57. Being There March 4, 2017 at 12:01 pm #

    Yes, JHK

    We are now living in the Theater of Cruelty and let the show commence.
    I can hardly believe the theatrics I see which really symbolizes our total inability to govern the already destroyed nation state, now just a colony of Global banking and Corporations.
    This is all we have left of a national political scene and it is one gaudy critter.

    Here is something I wrote today and I think it applies to this post today.

    Supply Chain and who won the Cold War?

    Last night on Bill Maher Bill McKibben was the last guest. They were discussing the anti-environmental policies of the Trump administration using the fossil fuel industry as the raison d’être to build on the illusion that Trump is the Republican FDR. What that means on the surface is that the Republican party is masquerading as the Republican model of the New Deal——as privatized, globalized model. Same as the Dem globalists…..only different playas.

    Going back to the future. So let’s all pretend that there’s no understanding that there is a climate change taking place, because, you know you have to stimulate the economy as if we were back in the 1930’s, only this time, govt is more obviously enriching the private sector.

    So back in the day we had a steel industry second to none. BUT today?

    Well, now here’s where the real tie-in with Russia is all about. The Russian oligarchs who buy property from Trump are going to produce a hefty percentage of the steel being used on the XL project.

    That’s all you need to understand. If we aren’t making the steel, then the supply chain which is the real strength behind the economy doesn’t exist.
    If it’s being made abroad, why this is another way of keeping Project globalism alive. We are now using Russia instead of China….what’s the dif, alt righties?

    The real issue here is that while the Republicans are so hell-bent on destroying the public sector, what they’re really saying is that the too want to destroy the nation state. The idea is that the commons is the people and the people are the government. They don’t want you to understand this, because they, the media and the whole national apparatus now only wants to serve banking and global corporate interests and not the nation.

    While we argue about Russia et al. in the manner in which the media wants you to focus on, we are in fact selling our overpriced real estate to the the wealthy around the world even as real estate companies make sweetheart deals with the airline industry to get those would-be international real estate buyers here to take a looks at the McMansions going for hefty prices that the average American can’t afford. There goes the neighborhood. We are being priced out of our own market and cannot build wealth because the supply chains are broken.

    So this is just a privatized billionaires game, now. And who’d going to lose? THE US MILITARY…..the public side of the military is losing to the private contracting side….and foreign nations make the steel. GET IT?
    • malthuss March 4, 2017 at 2:29 pm #

      Bill McKibben was the last guest.

      BMK is a fool and a liar.

      If you believe him, what does that make you?

      ] https://amren.com/news/2013/03/la-times-illegal-immigration…
      LA Times: Illegal Immigration Can Reduce Global Warming …

      The Los Angeles Times ran a Thursday editorial by Middlebury College Professor Bill McKibben arguing that allowing … Illegal Immigration Can Reduce Global Warming.

      [Search domain http://www.breitbart.com] breitbart.com/big-journalism/2013/03/14/lat-increased-i…
      LA Times: Illegal Immigration Can Reduce Global Warming …
      LA Times: Illegal Immigration Can Reduce … Bill McKibben arguing that allowing millions of illegal immigrants into America will reduce global warming. …
      [Search domain conservativebyte.com] conservativebyte.com/2013/03/la-times-illegal-immigration-can-…
      LA TIMES: Illegal Immigration Can Reduce Global Warming
      LA TIMES: Illegal Immigration Can … College Professor Bill McKibben arguing that … to argue for mass immigration and to keep the global warming …
      • Being There March 4, 2017 at 3:00 pm #

        So because McKibben says that we will be buying a large percentage of steel from Russia is false because everything he utters is false?
        Can you prove that we aren’t buying steel from Russia for the XL Pipeline….
        • Being There March 4, 2017 at 3:09 pm #

          please read this article if you don’t like McKibben and btw there are plenty of other articles about this.

          From t his article:

          https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/02/28/trump-american-steel-russia-putin-fracking

          …….[But while the pipe may be made in the U.S., as DeSmog has shown in previous investigations, ownership tells a different story. Enter: TMK IPSCO, a massive producer of steel for U.S. oil country tubular goods (OCTG) and line pipe, and a subsidiary of TMK Group. A DeSmog investigation has found ties between TMK Group’s Board of Directors and Russian President Vladimir Putin.]……
58. johngalt March 4, 2017 at 12:27 pm #

    THIS IS NOT A DRILL.
    http://www.infowars.com/red-alert-democratic-party-colluding-with-deep-state-they-must-resign/

    Sent from the New Republic.
    http://www.got-truth.com
    • Being There March 4, 2017 at 12:59 pm #

      Alex Jones is way too one-sided to listen to.

      Ha, both parties are being run by the CIA for the oligarchs.

      The Pheonix Progam developed during Vietnam is here under the guise of Homeland Security.

      Trump is being listened to like all of us. Why didn’t he know that?

      See Guns and Butter….
      The CIA as organized crime.

      https://kpfa.org/episode/guns-and-butter-march-1-2017/
      • malthuss March 4, 2017 at 2:30 pm #

        And who controls the CIA?

        The Masons?
        The bIllionaires?
        Mossad?

        Surely not USA citizens.
        I dont want to say ‘voters’ as so many are illegals.
        • Being There March 4, 2017 at 2:57 pm #

          Yeah. Oligarchs in the CEO class and bankers. mhmm. They protect their interests most. Media reflects as much.
59. janet March 4, 2017 at 1:14 pm #

    “we are wise men?” –Thwack

    HOMO SAPIENS
    bipedal primate having language and ability to make and use complex tools; brain volume at least 1400 cc

    Yep, that is us, all of us, everywhere, on all continents, using our tools.
60. janet March 4, 2017 at 1:17 pm #

    “OK, I’ll just say this about these “snowflakes”, they are for the time being the future.” –volodya

    Right on!

    We snowflakes are also the majority and delicate snowflakes, united, make for an avalanche that is unstoppable!

    

    Support this blog via Patreon or Substack
    • Last Wah March 4, 2017 at 1:30 pm #

      until the temperature for snowflakes gets to hot to exist……
61. Last Wah March 4, 2017 at 1:19 pm #

    wm, just remember when you say compromise, make sure you are fully armored up as compromise to one is take over to another!

    The Founders KNEW that to continue this experiment called the United States that “WE THE PEOPLE” were of many stripes and as such could easily be taken over by an overpowering group! SO self defense at all times without exceptions was/is the only way to survive. Especially if you want to allow someone else on his/her domicile to be able to live as he/she may wish as long as they do not stop you from same.

    Being armed to defend you and yours and making sure all know you will defend is the BEST COMPROMISE.
62. janet March 4, 2017 at 1:26 pm #

    “where armpit hair is a fashion requirement.” –JiminFlorida

    Actually armpit hair is optional. There is nothing wrong with being natural. There is nothing wrong with shaving.

    “janet is a New Left 3rd-Wave feminist” –JiminFlorida

    Close. I am a fourth-wave feminist.

    https://www.pacificu.edu/about-us/news-events/four-waves-feminism

    More and more white men are coming over to our side, learning how to love and respect women. With or without armpit hair we are beautiful.

    We snowflakes are becoming an unstoppable avalanche… as the completely peaceful million women march illustrated.

    We have been warned, we have been given an explanation, and still we persist. Feminism is the future.
    • Last Wah March 4, 2017 at 1:46 pm #

      That is good. My “snowflake” of 41 years has had hairy pits, shaved ones too. She has delivered babies (ours and I was assisting) in a school bus that was our home at the time. She has lived totally off grid and now enjoys her grandchildren in a home that she has been part of as an equal the entire time!

      She does not tell other people of any race or gender how or where to live. BUT DO NOT try to destroy her property or hurt her family because as one of the first wave of feminist when she had hair in the pits she learned how to also be a PIONEER WOMAN in all respects of the meaning.

      wish you nothing but the best
      • Duncan Idaho March 4, 2017 at 7:45 pm #

        Feminism is

        • a narcissistic reflexive thought process: I define myself as feminist and so everything I do is a feminist act, no matter how banal or regressive—i.e., no matter what I do, I am a hero.

        • a fight to allow women to participate equally in the oppression of the powerless and the poor.

        • a belief that disagreement or conflict is abuse.

        • a protective system utilizing trigger warnings, politically correct language, mob rule, and strawmen arguments to allow a person never to feel uncomfortable or challenged.

        • an attack dog posing as a kitten with a droplet of fresh milk on her nose.

        • a decade-long conversation about which television show is a good television show and which television show is a bad television show.

        • a bland reworked brand of soda, focus group tested for universal palatability and inoffensiveness, scientifically proven to leach calcium from your bones, with an enormous marketing budget; tagline: “Go ahead, be a monster. You deserve it.”

        • aspiration: Those below you may be pitiable, but not really your concern. Those above you are modes of behavior for attaining the best life. The best life is defined as a life of wealth, comfort, and firm buttocks.

        • all about you.

        For those reasons and more, I am not a feminist.
        • JimInFlorida March 4, 2017 at 8:54 pm #

          Duncan, you are now ready for The Red Pill of MGTOW (Men Going Their Own Way).

          If you’re interested, I’ll offer recommendations to the best YouTube channels on the subject.
          • HaresOnTheMountain March 5, 2017 at 10:52 pm #

            ‘had a snowflake land on the lid of my hot cup of coffee this winter when I was headed out the door. It was the damnedest thing…it was in the shape of a swastika.

            Now at the head of my third decade on earth, I can tell whoever will lend their ear…I’ve grown up with these third generation feminists…and they keep growing more and more unhappy and bitter. I’ve “known” some beautiful women and let me tell you…they are running themselves into the spinster dyke game. It’s too bad…I keep growing happier and happier. Life’s a dream.
63. FincaInTheMountains March 4, 2017 at 2:03 pm #

    “By whatever means it gets into the U.S. market, it WILL BE TAXED at the dock to protect the American Work Force and domestic manufacturing” == Jim

    You’re missing the point, Jim. As natural-born American, you’re measuring everything by money, The part made 100% by robotic labor will use much less resources (special rare alloys, for instance) and will be of much higher quality and reliability.

    You’ll be simply non-competitive.
64. FincaInTheMountains March 4, 2017 at 2:15 pm #

    I agree with Fincal we need a paradigm shift, although I have no idea what he has in mind Buck

    Nobody does. And it will be not a problem of feeding, housing or getting everybody clothed and entertained.

    How would you keep billions of happy well-fed idiots from going berserk?

    A rat’s paradise:

    How Mice Turned Their Private Paradise Into A Terrifying Dystopia

    http://io9.gizmodo.com/how-rats-turned-their-private-paradise-into-a-terrifyin-1687584457
    • FincaInTheMountains March 4, 2017 at 2:33 pm #

      Right now, the only way out I personally could see, is a mass Space colonization as outlined by A. Azimov in his Foundation Series.

      But first, we need to solve some pressing morality issues.
      • JimInFlorida March 4, 2017 at 6:57 pm #

        Space colonization will never be self-sustaining in any way, form, or fashion. The upfront costs to send a few up will never be recouped.

        Don’t forget, Isaac Azimov was writing to an audience that is NOTHING like today’s decrepit barbarians. The outlook of space travel was riding on a heady wave of optimism i.e. Atoms For Peace, development of German rockets, Sputnik, Apollo, exploration of nearby planets with robots, comic book heroes on TV, etc. If Mr. Azimov were alive and cognizant of recent development over the past 25 years, he would be very pessimistic and flat-out dismiss his own Foundation Series.

        People need to be more closely tied to the supply chain that feeds and clothes them. Labor needs to become a dear and precious asset. The shame, harassment, and degrading experience of looking for work has to stop!

        Manufacturing, agriculture, extraction (mining), maintenance, and public infrastructure are the best ways to absorb excess labor and also improves the moral climate. It will take political decrees to limit robot labor and automation. Restoration of national boundaries, equalizing tariffs, and elimination of free trade treaties will make local supply more feasible. Trade can be done but, never in a way that causes harm to the nation’s labor force.
        • thwack March 4, 2017 at 10:13 pm #

          The outlook of space travel was riding on a heady wave of optimism

          ************

          and it still is. There is near constant chatter about a manned mission to Mars; yet they never even landed on the moon?

          *in 1969*

          Kneel Armstrong made sure to have himself buried at sea so there would be no gravestone to desecrate when the masses of asses find out it was all a lie.
          • JimInFlorida March 5, 2017 at 9:25 am #

            With modern CGI, the propaganda to make us believe we went to Mars can be pulled off.

            I remember, watching on TV, when the discussion of sending the Apollo astronauts through the Van Allen belt was a big concern! They even mentioned, on TV, that the Russians had already gone through the Van Allen belt and the cosmonaut came back with radiation burns all over his body.

            The Apollo capsule was just a metal can with thermal insulation. The astronauts had no protection. YET, I remember hearing, almost word for word, when they said we would go through the Van Allen belt at sufficiently high speed and in a place where the belt was allegedly “thin” to minimize the radiation exposure!

            WTF! I heard it, as a KID, and couldn’t believe it!!!!!

            Yet, they supposedly went through and into the cosmic radiation that awaited them as well. A metal can (good trap for all that energy) supposedly protected them all the way to the Moon and back.

            But hell, it WAS a heady time to live in and we believed it. The Russians disregarded it as a hoax but, nobody cared what they said.
          • elysianfield March 5, 2017 at 10:56 am #

            “Kneel Armstrong made sure to have himself buried at sea so there would be no gravestone to desecrate ”

            Yeah, Thwack, the fact that he was a naval officer had nothing to do with it….
          • thwack March 5, 2017 at 1:34 pm #

            You be the judge

            Who you gonna believe?

            Lance “live wrong” Armstrong or your lyin eyes?

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifx0Yx8vlrY
          • JimInFlorida March 5, 2017 at 2:17 pm #

            Maybe we can ask Louis Farrakhan about what Elijah Muhammad said regarding Black people in Egypt flying to the Heavens and back.
            Forget NASA. Nation of Islam will get us to Mars! No problem!
          • thwack March 5, 2017 at 5:15 pm #

            You mad bro?

            Maybe you should watch a Rambo movie?

            Or Rocky 17?
65. volodya March 4, 2017 at 2:30 pm #

    Janos, not sure who you were addressing, but assuming it was me, there’s a lot of ways for the future to unfold, one of which is to make the question of automation entirely irrelevant as energy and resource shortages render the question of automation irrelevant as in not happenin’.

    But, assuming some of this automation DOES happen, you’ve got things backward, I want machines to work FOR us not the other way around. “For us” as in working for the general well being of the general population and not just a handful of Oligarchs.

    

    Support this blog via Patreon or Substack
    • Janos Skorenzy March 4, 2017 at 2:56 pm #

      Oh I was raving at Q I believe. Though I have made Jim’s point to you many times and you don’t seem to get it or accept it. Probably because you don’t want to? It’s harder to change as one get older. As usual Dale Carnegie has the last word:

      A man convinced against his will,
      Is of the same opinion still.

      Yes, you are right: it may be a moot point long term in any case.

      Finc’s point is the one that really frosts me: OBVIOUSLY technology puts people out of work. That’s what it’s meant for in our Capitalist/Communist system. It bugs me when people won’t look and see the obvious. And it’s accelerating: one person will soon run a whole factory.
66. FincaInTheMountains March 4, 2017 at 2:41 pm #

    Ask yourself, could you do this:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7xvqQeoA8c
    • Q. Shtik March 4, 2017 at 4:42 pm #

      Holy Shit!! That is so cool!!
    • JimInFlorida March 4, 2017 at 8:49 pm #

      Pure evil. I can see A LOT of Police State mischief in this machine. The factory should be blown up before it can spawn off more of these vile things.
      • Janos Skorenzy March 5, 2017 at 1:49 am #

        What does the Celtic/Egyptian Bible predict about the future? Isn’t there supposed to be a Destroyer coming?

        The Locusts of Revelation, in suits of armor and with the long hair of women, may be mini drones.
67. volodya March 4, 2017 at 3:14 pm #

    Being There, even if their intention isn’t to destroy the nation state, all their efforts are bent to that end. Their masters, the Oligarchs, are the ones calling the shots. The Oligarchs don’t want to pay tax to sustain the nation state. Well, the nation state has benefited them so disproportionately, they have a hugely disproportionate share of the wealth, so if not them, then who ought to pay?

    Oligarchs don’t want to enforce national borders. But those boundaries give physical definition to a nation. You don’t live in an electronic virtual reality, you live in three dimensional space. These Oligarchs – and their Republican puppets – own houses, they live in them, they have right of sole use and possession, which are defined by laws and legal processes which are given force by the nation state and its institutions. In not enforcing borders they undermine the basis for the nation state and for their ownership.

    In undermining the idea of a nation state they’re undermining the basis for their own financial wealth and physical security. Without the institutional safeguards provided by the nation state, the basis of their wealth vanishes as so much of it depends on contracts, enforceable by courts, which depend on the nation state to exist. Ditto for their physical security as the nation state raises armies which safeguard borders and police forces which maintain public safety and order.

    I could go on and on. In short, what Republicans are doing are cutting their own throats and the Oligarch masters’ too. So, for that matter, are Democrats. For different ideological reasons, they too act to undermine the nation state. I could go on and on about that too. In sum, these people are not your friends.
    • Being There March 5, 2017 at 11:10 am #

      Agreed. Also they have children so why on earth are they heading for destruction. I don’t have a dog in this race and I care more about future generations than these morons stuck in the global Neoliberal ideology.
      They are hell bent on destroying the biosphere.

      My joke is they are trying to turn the Earth into Mars and Mars into the Earth. Monoculturism is their greatest demise.
68. twomartinilunch March 4, 2017 at 3:38 pm #

    I did not watch, nor listen. But now that this shit is all behind us, I personally wonder why his widow even agreed to attend.
    • K-Dog March 4, 2017 at 8:36 pm #

      You would expect her to be in her right mind why? If your world were turned upside down would you be?
69. FincaInTheMountains March 4, 2017 at 3:50 pm #

    I deliberately do not write about what is happening on the 7th floor of the State Department, as all write about it, and I have nothing to add to this. Personally, I believe that from a spiritual point of view, Trump has already won and what we are seeing is the twists and turns of the asp, genie, genius of Hillary Clinton, whose head was already pinned to the ground by a fork.

    Of course, these twists could still cause a lot of troubles, right up to a nuclear war, but this are details, but the fundamental, essential things start again taking place in Israel, where the bones of Adam are, which absorbed the blood of crucified Christ and the stone from which creation of Firmament has begun separating the waters from the waters, the Firmament which God later called Heaven.

    At the same time we should not forget that Ivan the Terrible, who not only inherited, but also read the library of his grandmother – the Princess of Byzantium Sophia Palaiologina, the library is still lying somewhere in Moscow catacombs, claimed that Russia is the New Israel.

    It is no coincidence that the TV show “Catherine” was released on the blue screens of Russian television along with Donald Trump appointment of a new US ambassador to Israel.

    This ambassador began by saying that the State Department was a nest of anti-Semitism for the last 70 years

    http://edition.cnn.com/2017/02/28/politics/kfile-friedman/

    70 years ago, the State of Israel was not yet even in UN plans to partition Palestine and create two states – it was proclaimed only on 29 of November. But on March 12, 1947, US President Harry Truman proclaimed the doctrine of containment of the Soviet Union which received the name “Truman Doctrine” and on March 22 started checking of the loyalty of US government employees.

    But the end of Roosevelt’s State Department, according to Senator McCarthy, “the Jewish State Department, that sold out to communists” really began on March 1, 1947.

    Well, meanime in the “New Israel” everything’s going to shit: Medvedev has begun the second stage of privatization, Putin has begun to talk some nonsense about the Russian athletes sitting on dope, it is more like a raving Akhedzhakova than a Munich speech, the Russian Church got involved in a dispute about St. Isaac’s Cathedral, that belongs to it by right, but now this fight for Cathedral prevents the Church to have its say at the critical moment of History, especially in the question of determining reparations to Russia for the Cold War.

    At that moment Marina Aleksandrova who plays Catherine The Second in the TV series appealed to Metropolitan of Moscow Timothy blaming the Church for its refusal to condemn such feudal sadists as Saltychikha thus refusing its social responsibility and such Church could not be the pillar of the Empire at the time of War.
    • Duncan Idaho March 4, 2017 at 7:57 pm #

      Reformist politics at this point is almost meaningless.
      The Austrians in 1913 arguing who their next Habsburg Ruler was going to be was more realistic.
70. FincaInTheMountains March 4, 2017 at 6:32 pm #

    How low has President Obama gone to tap my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!

    https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/837996746236182529

    It turns out that the electoral process we have in America is of a sacred character, especially when you consider that this tweet comes with tweets in which the US President demands to investigate Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer – the leaders of the Democratic Party, close to Hillary – for their meetings with Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev.

    A week ago, these figures were trying to start an impeachment process against US Attorney General Jeff Sessions for his meetings with the Russian ambassador, and now seems to have succeeded.

    As the saying goes do not dig the hole for the other guy, you may end there yourself.

    

    Support this blog via Patreon or Substack
71. badberries March 4, 2017 at 7:52 pm #

    I recently had to have some script refilled, minor stuff, Thyroid, blood pressure etc. My Family Doc. told me I’d have to come in for a physical and have the tests performed before he’d refill. So being budget-minded, I asked how much it all would cost. They did NOT have the prices ready-at-hand and they’d have to call me back!

    So anyway, in total, with the three blood tests and him holding my hand and telling me I’m not dead yet, would cost $861.00.

    So I conveyed this quote to the Mrs. and she tells me about this new facility in town called “Reformedicine” (I know it’s spelled wrong but it’s just one M) it’s a direct bill, direct pay clinic.
    So, I called ’em up and told them what I needed, their quote was $235.00. Apparently the difference between their quote and the Family Doc. quote is what gets siphoned-off by the insurance company.

    I was so pissed-off I haven’t told my Family Doc. why I dumped them.

    I’d advise everybody who sees this to look-up “Reformedicine” and see if they have clinics available to them nearby.
    • JimInFlorida March 4, 2017 at 8:42 pm #

      Wow! Great info!

      While Reformedicine isn’t the quaint Country Doctor of the mid-20th century that can make house calls, at least it seems to be a great alternative!
      • thwack March 4, 2017 at 10:35 pm #

        At what point can they charge you with “practicing medicine without a license?”

        Im thinking about starting a youtube channel called “surgery made by hand.”

        If we could land a man on the moon in 1969; surely I could perform most of the basic surgical procedures using Google and off the shelf 2017 technology?
        • Janos Skorenzy March 5, 2017 at 1:46 am #

          Indeed. Get the old Red Chinese, Barefoot Doctor’s Guide. Armed with a few rusty scapels, acupuncture needles, and herbs, they performed miracles. You just need the balls to be able to cut someone open. You have no problem with that I assume.
          • JimInFlorida March 5, 2017 at 8:43 am #

            Do you have a URL or exact keywords? All I’m getting is some very recent publication by a Stephan Russell.

            If this is Chairman Mao-era stuff, I can’t find it.
        • JimInFlorida March 5, 2017 at 9:09 am #

          Practicing medicine without a license has to be decriminalized.

          There can still be “branding” of AMA-approved doctors to distinguish them from the new breed of cash/check-only Country Doctors. Reputation and successes will have to be earned by the new breed of doctors. There should be alternative colleges where the new doctors can learn the old ways of treatment and the old medicines that worked very well.

          For most people, whatever was available before WW2 would be sufficient. Those doctors often had to visit farmers in remote areas and set broken bones, sew up deep cuts, and other field fixes.

          It will also require the revival of pre-WW2 apothecary medicine. Not the New Age hippie bullshit (crystals, aromas, harmonics, high colonics, etc.) but, the kind of meds that the old-school pharmacist made for his customers and for the house call doctors. There will have to be a campaign to educate the public about the benefits of reintroducing the old system of medical care.

          The costs of such treatment would be 10% or less of what an AMA doctor and hospital would charge and the outcomes would be better.
          • malthuss March 5, 2017 at 10:30 am #

            https://www.amazon.com/Barefoot-Doctors-Manual-Translation-Paramedical/dp/089471810X
          • JimInFlorida March 5, 2017 at 2:04 pm #

            Excellent! Thanks for the URL. abebooks.com has a bigger and more affordable variety but, at least I can get started!

            Combine this book with the pre-WW2 medical knowledge that’s still around somewhere and I’m convinced that an underground network of paramedics and “country doctors” can happen.
    • thwack March 5, 2017 at 5:01 pm #

      Years ago I had Tinea Versacola; and as some of you know, on a black person its very visible. I had it on the tops of my forearms. shoulder and back (but thats only where I could see it; there was probably more)

      The doc prescribed some expensive prescription coal tar soap, which did work, but I had to keep on buying it, and its somewhat toxic.

      Later I found out it grows from yeast and sugar, so I stopped buying/eating pasta and sugar and it disappeared on its own.
      • elysianfield March 6, 2017 at 1:16 am #

        “Years ago I had Tinea Versacola”

        Thwack,
        Sounds like a Puerto Rican hooker….
72. janet March 4, 2017 at 9:20 pm #

    Canada: No Plans To Clamp Down At Border To Deter Migrants

    The numbers are not big enough to cause alarm, said Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale.
73. Buck Stud March 4, 2017 at 10:20 pm #

    When Trump and Bannon speak of economic nationalism and making America great again, I would like to think they’re harkening back to a time like great men in the below clip: The Ironworkers on the Golden Gate Bridge.

    And I do mean GREAT men! Far greater than any celebrating/ dancing clown on the professional gridiron of 2017–these duded were true Superstars:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CbpyS631xs
    • thwack March 4, 2017 at 10:42 pm #

      Donald Trump could sell water to a whale; by the quart.

      He is the ultimate Grifter In Chief.

      (and his wife sounds like Dracula; but has a black girls name; wtf?)
      • Janos Skorenzy March 5, 2017 at 2:18 am #

        Harada Roshi quipped:

        For forty years I’ve been selling water by the riverside,
        My efforts are wholly without merit.

        In other words, to see no beings in need of saving is to truly save all beings. One who has such vision does not need merit. Indeed to whom would such merit accrue? On what mirror would the dust alight?!
      • elysianfield March 5, 2017 at 11:10 am #

        “(and his wife sounds like Dracula; but has a black girls name; wtf?)”

        Thwack,
        Don’t be “hatin'”…she can fellate you in six languages….
        • thwack March 5, 2017 at 12:23 pm #

          No hate in my game; especially for a woman that old and that hot despite her fuck trophy.

          Russian/German girls have trouble with the “TH” diphthong/digraph; thats why they sometimes sound black. If anyone has been “compromised” its NOT Trump, its Melania; Im sure there are photos out there of her engaged in some sexual hijinks…?

          Tied up

          Air tightened

          BBC

          Lesbian

          Masturbation

          In the world of “modeling” the quickest way to the top is from the bottom.
    • janet March 5, 2017 at 12:24 am #

      Why is somebody “GREAT” just because they “make” something?

      Sure creativity is important, but those ironworkers are not “making” anything. They are not creative. They did not design the bridge. They are just assembling the parts… all they do is follow instructions which came out of someone else’s mind.

      Without some college-educated brain creating the design with their knowledge of materials science and their prodigious mental activity, the ironworkers would be helpless. Brain precedes and directs brawn.
      • cbeard March 5, 2017 at 7:52 am #

        You underestimate the creativity and skills of the workers. We need the college educated, but the workers and grunts are just as valuable and important to the task. Manual labor, especially the more skilled trades, take a lot more intellect than you imagine. Its a different kind of intelligence no less valuable maybe even more so in the long run. Your college educated elites would have been just as helpless without the ironworkers. There is a lot of creativity going on in the minds of people who work with their hands. Your arrogant post is an insult to all working class people.
      • JimInFlorida March 5, 2017 at 9:34 am #

        Obviously, you’ve never done blue collar work in your life. Your trade is to brainwash your students with gynocentric propaganda.

        There’s a LOT between the design on paper and the labor skill involved in building it.

        A good tradesman of any stripe can fabricate things without any blueprints or direction. He can INDEPENDENTLY create because he knows the purpose of what has to be made and knows the techniques of making it.
    • thwack March 5, 2017 at 5:09 pm #

      And I do mean GREAT men! Far greater than any celebrating/ dancing clown on the professional gridiron of 2017–these duded were true Superstars:

      *********************

      Why?

      Because they were white?

      Stop hating on the black man for exercising his spirit you jealous imp.
74. tucsonspur March 5, 2017 at 1:56 am #

    Q, I didn’t realize my use of “did not” was biblical in any way. I really don’t mind your criticism, but you mentioned possibly being banned, so I ask you kindly to be careful. Wouldn’t want that to happen, not over something so trivial. Otherwise, fire away!
    • Janos Skorenzy March 5, 2017 at 2:27 am #

      My boyhood priest used to ask rhetorical question in the “is it not” or “Do you not”. I’ve been addicted ever since my quest brought back those memories.

      Old Testament Heroic is a desperately need mode – and one that is agony to the Liberal Demons to hear, even in their mind’s ear. Refrain from using it? No, use it constantly both as an inspiration and as a weapon.

      Would you shrink from your duty and such battle? (seventy percent here) Would you not rather die on the field of battle and be bourn away by the Valkyries than die on a stinking hospital bed attended by skraelings? (100 percent, full on)
      • tucsonspur March 5, 2017 at 3:17 am #

        Is it not every man’s wish to not die in vain, and then be chosen by a chooser of the slain?
75. KesaAnna March 5, 2017 at 2:08 am #

    but one part of the proceedings sure made my skin crawl: the two minutes of applause for Carryn Owens, widow of William “Ryan” Owens, the Navy SEAL recently killed in action in Yemen.

    Well, in 18th century western armies, almost all of which were mercenary armies , it was understood that marriage and soldiering was a bad combination anyway because the discipline often involves trading life for mere time or position , or to cover someone else’s, ” Oops! ”

    That the job is about equally intelligent human beings trying their best to kill you , no less than your trying to do the same to them.

    Soldiers THEMSELVES in those days commonly said things like, ” The paths of glory lead but to the grave ” , and, ” Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel” ,
    or even , ” Your average soldier is a low, marginal, and questionable type. ”

    Certainly I don’t recall anyone ever describing camp followers as respectable or wholesome , but the opposite.

    But then mass conscription began, and entire populations got dragged into war, and somehow nuclear weapons don’t communicate by their very possession an intent to commit mass suicide and genocide, though that is precisely the message, and so on, and so on.

    Honestly, if you could somehow resurrect the armies of the Landgraviate of Hesse-kassel and march them past I would cheer that .

    Not because I think the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel was in any way a Holy Land, or Hessian troops somehow particularly saintly,

    But simply because the narrative has gotten ever less and less coherent since then.

    Clap or cry when one of your heroes earns his reward?

    I don’t know which, and apparently neither do you.

    

    Support this blog via Patreon or Substack
    • Janos Skorenzy March 5, 2017 at 2:39 am #

      They might say the first, but I doubt they’d say the third. The second comes from some Liberal Marxist scoundrel in the 20th century.
      • KesaAnna March 5, 2017 at 3:13 am #

        Said for the benefit of some ignorant other I suppose?

        As I’m inclined to doubt that you assumed I pulled the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel out of thin air, which, of course, I did not.
        • Janos Skorenzy March 5, 2017 at 4:35 pm #

          Wow, what did you eat for breakfast? Read your 2nd sentence – it makes little or no sense. You think I think you pulled it out of your ass or you doubt that I think you did? Can you try and get a bit more convoluted and confused?
76. KesaAnna March 5, 2017 at 2:24 am #

    ” Without some college-educated brain creating the design with their knowledge of materials science and their prodigious mental activity, the ironworkers would be helpless. Brain precedes and directs brawn. ”

    Speaking of the 18th century, that is, a time , generally, before the full-time occupation of the aristocracy became that of propagandist,

    I miss the days when it was commonly acknowledged that merit is an argument you can twist to serve whatever purpose you like.
    • Janos Skorenzy March 5, 2017 at 2:51 am #

      Merit is an argument? I don’t follow. Do you meant an argument that has merit? If the latter, well yes. White Americans think the conquest and dispossession of the Indians is a crime for which other Whites deserve death. Some Jews have acknowledged the fact that they did the same thing to the Palestinians and think it’s great and that we can’t say boo about it since we did the same.

      They’re correct of course. Hard Core White self haters don’t let that stop them though. People will respond to Truth in many different ways. Using it as a weapon (selectively in other words) is certainly one of them.

      I sometimes attack the Jews about this even though I know better. Why? Because they know better and attack us all the time. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. And unless Whites start playing hardball, we’re through. We didn’t take America by playing nice, nor will we keep it – or any part of it – by playing nice. Of the three great divisions of the psyche: cognitive, affective, and conative, Whites need to start focusing on the cognitive/conative nexus. Like the Jews? Like the Jews. They are Masters of Survival. Is not imitation the sincerest form of flattery? It is, but they much prefer we just remain their fans or worshipers rather than become like them, knowing good and evil.
      • KesaAnna March 5, 2017 at 3:45 am #

        The meritocracy argument can be twisted to serve whatever agenda that suits you.

        I was thinking again of the ruminations of 18th century denizens , and especially 18th century soldiers .

        In the 18th century the officer corps was the near exclusive prerogative of the aristocracy , so there was precious little promotion in any case.

        But what little there was, the consensus opinion was that seniority was the best rule.
        there is not much to argue in the fact that a guy put his time in.

        Why not merit as the best rule for promotion ? I just stated why. Or, rather, they stated, repeatedly, why.
        You can , invariably, cook up some rationale for preferring your favorites.
        Meritocracy is invariably a mask for a popularity contest.
        there are exceptions?
        Pfft, there always are exceptions.
        But the commonplace rule is some rationale cooked up to prefer a favorite.

        ” but I doubt they’d say the third. ”

        Frederick the so-called Great must have called his own troops the scum of the earth a couple of thousand noted times if he ever said it once.
        So did Maurice de Saxe, Marlborough , Cuthbertson, Wolfe , and on and on .

        That virtually none of this agrees with your 19th -20th century nation-state narratives, I don’t give a damn.
        • Q. Shtik March 5, 2017 at 12:40 pm #

          So did Maurice de Saxe, Marlborough , Cuthbertson, Wolfe , and on and on . – Kesa

          =========

          It’s neither here nor there relative to your discussion with Janos But, for the first 21 years of my life I lived on Merrick Ave. Merrick Ave emptied onto Cuthbert Rd on its easterly end. Even as a child, if someone pulled to the curb to ask me directions, and those directions involved the mention of Cuthbert Rd, I would always be sure to tell them that I did NOT have a lisp, that the name was NOT Cusbert but rather was, indeed, spelled with a th, not an s.

          How’s that for obsessive compulsive?
        • Janos Skorenzy March 5, 2017 at 4:37 pm #

          Aristocratic Officers saying that about their own troops? Fair enough, I believe you. How unfortunate though. Then they wondered about how and why Democracy arose.
      • KesaAnna March 5, 2017 at 4:50 am #

        Valhalla might be some sort of incentive.

        But if my fate is to become dust I’m not going to care if I won the Iron Cross .

        I’m inclined to think that losing their country was the best thing that ever happened to the Jews,

        And if I had to bet money on it, I would bet that the State of Israel will prove as great a curse to them, as the Kingdoms of Jerusalem and Antioch proved to be for us.
77. janet March 5, 2017 at 2:51 am #

    The Trump team met with Russians. The meeting was very brief:

    45:
    Thank you for stealing the elections.

    Russians;
    You’re welcome. Don’t forget we still have pee tapes.
    • Janos Skorenzy March 5, 2017 at 2:59 am #

      Do you still beat your wife? We don’t have proof that you do, but we don’t have proof that you don’t. The investigation is ongoing and will remain ongoing. After all, you can’t prove that you don’t.

      Can you prove the money in your wallet is yours? Or the clothes you’re wearing? Where’s your receipts? Don’t have any? Hand over the cash and strip. Any weapons? Bend over. This is statue of the Universal Man outside the UN: naked, brown, with his hands over his buttocks.

      Trump is beginning to fight back, but he has not yet really begun to fight. It’s hard for people to believe the Democrats are such utter scumbags, but oh, they are. They are.
    • thwack March 5, 2017 at 11:03 am #

      Why are so many people unable to accept the fact Hillary lost the election all by herself?

      She was not a very attractive candidate and all the Clinton “baggage” didn’t help either. Is blaming the Russians gonna be the new universal excuse people use anytime they are unsuccessful?

      Donald Trump came up with a formula for winning the presidency and it worked. It wasn’t secret or complex… matter of fact, its simplicity is what made it effective.

      The Russians didn’t hafta hack anything because the Clintons have, over a lifetime,created a trail of enemies and victims many miles long; anyone of which could have sank her campaign from the inside with very little effort.

      Hillary got beat fair and square by a guy who fought “his fight” instead of going toe to toe with her and getting ground down by her “machine.”

      There is a lesson here.

      When you step into the ring you gotta fight “your fight”, and ignore everything else; the crowd, the bookies in Vegas, Howard Cosell…

      And if you get knocked out, don’t make up a ridiculous excuse like the Russians did it…

      That just makes you look like a sad bitter loser. Hillary should hold a press conference and put an end to this “Russian hacking” nonsense. Its the only way she can salvage some kind of respectable legacy and look like an authentic “stateswoman.”

      Right now she just looks like a sad, embarrassing, vinegar filled, miserable cunt with a face that belongs on an iodine bottle.
    • BackRowHeckler March 5, 2017 at 8:09 pm #

      Did the MSM look into Obamas links to the Muslim Brotherhood? Or did they have their heads stuck so far up his ass they didn’t get around to asking.
78. FincaInTheMountains March 5, 2017 at 4:43 am #

    Sean Hannity:

    June 2016: FISA request. The Obama administration files a request with the FISA court to monitor communications involving Donald Trump– Y?

    https://twitter.com/seanhannity/status/838099465298931713?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

    Starting in June, 2016 the Obama administration filed requests with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court to monitor communications involving Donald Trump and several advisers.

    Please note the coincidence of the dates with Finca’s assertion of coup d’etat by Hillary taken place on June 10, 2016 – when President Barack Obama endorsed presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in a web video that appeared on Hillary’s (not White House) web site.
    • FincaInTheMountains March 5, 2017 at 4:46 am #

      Trump will prepare and begin to carry out his revenge to Clintonoids. His memory is excellent, and revenge will not be light. == me

      http://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/potus-at-sotus/#comment-295802
79. FincaInTheMountains March 5, 2017 at 7:20 am #

    Demonstration in support of Trump was held in New York

    They genuinely do not understand why, if Trump won the election, every Clinton bastard prevents him from doing his job.

    A demonstration in support of the White House is unprecedented in America since the time of Abraham Lincoln and the American Civil War.

    You can not imagine what kind of hatred invokes in them all that Clinton’s hangout, headed by Schumer, who have entrenched themselves in New York City Hall. Even memories of the primaries and the election campaign have faded.

    In general, in country is a revolutionary situation ala St. Bartholomew Night – the Christian people and the King together against the Protestant aristocracy.

    Only Maria de Medici is on the side of the anti-Christian Huguenots.
    • pequiste March 5, 2017 at 7:13 pm #

      View the sumptuous and tastefully bloody film, Queen Margot ( La Reine Margot) from 1994, with the ravishing Isabelle Adjani and the excellent Virna Lisi as the scheming Catherine de’ Medicis.
80. malthuss March 5, 2017 at 10:33 am #

    In the Horror Department, Real Life, 900 corpses of babies and children have been found in a nunneries SEPTIC TANK.

    Were they murder victims?
    Why were they not given a normal burial?

    

    Support this blog via Patreon or Substack
81. Ishabaka March 5, 2017 at 11:49 am #

    This was a huge missed opportunity for the Democratic Congresswomen, who COULD have worn white clothes – WITH pink pussy hats. Someone really dropped the ball…..
82. johngalt March 5, 2017 at 12:16 pm #

    “…..for the taking of offense is what rests in the bosom of the stupid ones.” – Ecclesiastes 7:9, – Solomon 400 B.C.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8yer7IXNIE&list=PLl55Zh3U2VW7YD-JKHT0vYIk1ZCrK7c4-&index=2

    Sent from the New Republic.
    http://www.got-truth.com
83. Buck Stud March 5, 2017 at 2:59 pm #

    “Why is somebody “GREAT” just because they “make” something?

    Sure creativity is important, but those ironworkers are not “making” anything. They are not creative. They did not design the bridge. They are just assembling the parts… all they do is follow instructions which came out of someone else’s mind.

    Without some college-educated brain creating the design with their knowledge of materials science and their prodigious mental activity, the ironworkers would be helpless. Brain precedes and directs brawn.” –Paul K. Rugman

    Yes I agree that ironworkers do not create their wonders in isolation but you’re also the one who argued in the past for various types of intelligence when attempting to marginalize the standard IQ test.

    When joining multiple beams high above the water and one unintelligent misstep can result in death, I would say we are witnessing something great and not unlike the “brilliance” that you have equated to academically ignorant jazz musicians in the past.

    You have also cited “emotional intelligence” in the past and it takes a certain type of mental capacity to not let the reptilian brain/ adrenal,fear based body rush –fear of heights and falling for example–completely overwhelm one’s sense of rational reasoning capacity than empowers the body to walk the same beam far above safe heights with the same ease they could safely walk that same beam on their living room floor. And not only that, do it for long hours day after day. It’s a “Yang” endeavor extraordinaire, which is why, based upon comments in the clip, that these workers sought “balance” via Yin activites such as excessive drinking, fornicating etc.

    IOW, these workers had to be operating in a sweet spot of sorts: Not to careless and not to cautious/fearful.

    I’m shocked, Paul, that you contradicted your earlier assertions concerning the myriad aspects of human intelligence.
    • Janos Skorenzy March 5, 2017 at 4:25 pm #

      Great comeback. He/She is laying on the ground with little birds flying around the head. So smooth that he/she has no memory of it and will deny it ever happened – like so many of the knockouts I’ve delivered to you.
    • thwack March 5, 2017 at 4:51 pm #

      “but those ironworkers are not “making” anything. They are not creative.”

      ************************

      They are creative.

      They created a way to do something dangerous without getting killed.

      In other words, they created a CULTURE.

      Is that good enough?
      • elysianfield March 6, 2017 at 1:26 am #

        “They created a way to do something dangerous without getting killed.

        In other words, they created a CULTURE.”

        Would that the black drug dealers in Chicago do the same….
84. Janos Skorenzy March 5, 2017 at 4:26 pm #

    http://www.dailystormer.com/president-trump-opening-investigation-into-obama-wiretapping-scandal/

    Trump card played. We’ve got him now – Big League. Or Bigly as Q likes to say. Rally round the flag boys, things gonna get interesting now.
    • FincaInTheMountains March 5, 2017 at 6:39 pm #

      I don’t think that it is directed against Obama. Congressional investigation may reveal the real chain of command in place in June, 2016 and who was actually behind the FISA order.

      Hillary’s old political tricks are coming back to bite her – first Ross Perot, now Watergate. Speaking of Poetic Justice.
    • Q. Shtik March 5, 2017 at 11:18 pm #

      Or Bigly as Q likes to say. – Janos

      ===========

      I don’t think I have ever written or said the word Bigly. Prove me wrong.
      • BackRowHeckler March 5, 2017 at 11:34 pm #

        ‘Bigly’, that’s a word from ‘The Simpsons’

        brh
      • Janos Skorenzy March 5, 2017 at 11:45 pm #

        You still don’t know when I’m joking. But I’ll leave you alone more now that I know the depth of your enmity. The War between the Sons of the Light and the Sons of Belial is eternal.
    • janet March 6, 2017 at 4:18 am #

      elysianfield (December 13, 2016 at 11:11 am)

      It wasn’t Q, it was another Trump apologist, elysianfield. Keep up with the program, janos.

      Trump was saying “Big League”…I miss-understood him the first time he said it also…sounded like “Bigly”…Big League.
85. BackRowHeckler March 5, 2017 at 8:04 pm #

    I was thinking about this new independent California Republic … is it still in the works? There was more fighting this weekend in Berkeley, similar to the early battles around DC and Annapolis in April-May 1861. The constitution for this 21st century Bear Republic, the first 2 tenets will be, will have to be, unlimited welfare and open borders. Tens of millions of poverty stricken 3rd worlders pouring in from Africa, Asia, Latin America, camped in the hills around LA in San Francisco, cooking fires burning as far as the eye can see, inundating San Diego, swarming thru the Central Valley. And amidst this roiling mass a few rich, white MFers in Hollywood and Silicon Valley, living opulent lives in glittering palaces, surrounded by high walls topped with barbed wire. Resentments will build, questions will be asked (why do they have so much, and we have so little?), a leader will emerge and he will say “Let’s take what they’ve got”. What’s to stop ’em?

    brh

    

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86. BackRowHeckler March 5, 2017 at 9:50 pm #

    That’s of course if Chinese Elite Marines and the 200,000 strong NKSF don’t land on the beaches of a weakly defended Malibu, Monterey and Sausilito. Or maybe as special guests of the Mexican govt, in Baja California! Mexican Army divisions — in joint operations with the Chinese — move north into S Cal citing the salient fact that New California is mostly Mexicans anyway. Then you’ll see Barbara Streisand, , Ed Begley Jr and Jimmy Kimmel hauling ass out of a burnt out smoldering LA in their 40 ft long limos, headed east. And a similar exodus out of Silicon Valley. Do you think many will make it out alive?

    Anyway, what a plum an independent California would be.

    brh
87. janet March 5, 2017 at 9:55 pm #

    “is it still in the works?”

    No. And it will never happen. It would require a vote of 2/3 of the states… and that will never happen.
88. br March 5, 2017 at 10:58 pm #

    All Trump has to do to stop the medical racket and quickly, is to enforce Title 15 of the US Code, also known as the Sherman and Clayton anti trust acts and even more important, Patman-Robinson. Patman-Robinson outlaws price discrimination. Anyone selling a product or service must charge all buyers the same price for like kind and quantity.

    Trump does not have to get congressional approval to do this as Title 15 has been the law of the land for over 100 years, and it’s the executive branch that enforces laws.

    Once a few drug company executives and hospital administrators are facing felony indictments, you will see drug and hospital prices fall in a hurry!

    Trump hinted at “price transparency” during the primary campaign, but not one word after he won the nomination, nor one word during the transition period.

    The only hope is one paragraph in the speech. “…. and work to bring down the artificially high price of drugs and bring them down immediately.” He has the tool in hand now Title 15 Chapter 1 USC
89. KesaAnna March 6, 2017 at 2:01 am #

    ” The healthcare system probably will not be reformed, but rather will collapse, and when it does, it will reorganize itself in a way that barely resembles current practice. For one thing, citizens will have to gain control over their own disastrous behavior, especially their eating, or else suffer the consequences, namely an early death. ”

    I dare say that, even now, one-third ( ? ) of the worlds population never lives to see its 35th birthday.
    Though they never saw a cheeseburger, and never smoked a cigarette.

    But, never fear, if you do live to see your 35th birthday, but do not live to see your 200th birthday , because you ate too many cheeseburgers or smoked too many cigarettes , you will still be labelled some sort of jerk.

    You will be condemned for over-populating the planet, or you will be condemned for not over-populating the planet.

    “Condemned ” is the right word.

    The following isn’t really any different , it is part and parcel of the same religious insanity ;

    ” …..It has already turned millions of small-timers into felon pariahs who can’t find any other employment when they get out of jail even if they want to try. ”

    In the decade leading up to Obamacare, at least one-third of those in the working class I knew were opting-out of health coverage when it was offered as a benefit , because if they took the benefit it would gut their paycheck.
    Well , if you are going to work you have to get paid something . You can’t fill your gas tank to go to work with good intentions.

    But such blatant flaunting of our sacred system cannot be tolerated !
    So, with the stroke of a pen, now you MUST be insured.

    And never mind that the math simply doesn’t work here.

    No, this isn’t criminalizing poverty. We have gone far beyond that.
    This is criminalizing breathing. ( and even not breathing . )

    The talk is always about murderers and rapists, but this has nothing to do with rape and murder, we have gone far beyond rape and murder.

    You might object to my calling it a religious insanity, and you would be correct , in that what is really insane is that there is, in fact , no religion in any of this.

    No coherent dogma what so ever , no point to any of it.

    There is only a staggeringly spoiled brat who recognizes no limit on its own authority and scope.
    Nothing more.
90. FincaInTheMountains March 6, 2017 at 6:13 am #

    Trump tweeted about a new Watergate scandal, and he is absolutely right, but it is a Human comedy in a pure Balzac sense.

    For example on channel 7 – the main democratic USA channel – host asks Trump’s representative if there is any actual basis for such serious accusations, and she replied that this question should be answered by a special prosecutor investigating the allegations, i.e. repeats word for word answer of the host to Trump’s representative a week ago is there any actual basis to suspect Trump employees in relations with Russia.

    And at first they barely constrain laughter, and finally begin to laughing out loud.

    

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91. FincaInTheMountains March 6, 2017 at 6:15 am #

    You have to give it to the Donald – absolutely brilliant political move!
92. sprezzatura March 7, 2017 at 6:50 pm #

    Health care is expensive, there’s no doubt about it. Here in Canada, we probably pay as much in indirect taxes for health care, as American families pay in direct insurance premiums. The only difference is that in Canada, it’s more hidden.

    The thing about National Health Care is that everybody has to participate. Everybody has to pay, nobody can opt out.

    The problem that America faces is that its citizens don’t trust the people in government. That’s also why they cling to their guns. You’ll never have national health care until you can overcome this hostility.

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