REPUBLICAN GOP – Think! You will be responsible for American lives lost in Ukraine.

Why? Because you are not thinking Strategically for the future or Tactically for ‘RIGHT NOW!’ (Sorry, this Feb 2024 piece needed updating for a couple of typos, specifically aimed at the GOP.)

Tactically, we (NATO, including America) must help Ukraine stop Russia from advancing further into Ukraine and taking over more territory. As Russia continues pouring in more Conscripts (who do not want to be there), Russia is “ALSO” planting more land mines to

• attempt to stop/slow any Ukraine advances and
• kill any unwary Ukrainian man, woman or child (or NATO ally) who may venture into that tainted area.

If we (NATO) do not provide weapons to the country fighting Russia, it basically screws up the World’s future for MORE large conflicts down the road. Further Russian assaults against other countries. Ukraine is not just fighting this conflict for themselves, it is also for NATO.

DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT TRUMP, he has NO say, thoughts or intelligence (in his rather large head) to engage in ANY conversation or leadership regarding NATO, Ukraine and Russia (or China or N. Korea)… Besides, that non-logical, maniacal, bone-spur excuse coward wants to remove America from NATO – which is MIND-BOGGLING INSANE…!!!

Strategically, this is where you have to think very hard, more than you are used to. We can cut off future Russian advances by supplying the necessary planes, tanks and weapons that Ukraine can make BETTER advances and reclaim parts of their sovereign country that was illegally stolen by the insidious Dictator – Putin.

Republicans, here is where your brain is going to start hurting. Think. If Russia is allowed to take more and more of Ukraine, it will also start serious consideration for advancing into one or more of the smaller NATO countries near Russian borders such as Lithuania.

Note, if (or when) one NATO member is invaded/attacked (by Putin), that means NATO members will respond to protect the assaulted country. And that, Republican GOP, will mean American soldiers, Marines, sailors and Air Force troops will ‘have to’ go into the country that was invaded. The American (and NATO) troops will fight to protect the country in question – and it will ALSO mean that American troops will likely be ‘KILLED in action’ or horrifically maimed for life.

Think about it.

a) Strategically, you could have provided Ukraine with the necessary weapons to stop Russia NOW and into the future, to keep the Russian forces from advancing into any other NATO member country and quite possibly to regain the lost Crimean territory that was stolen, as well have more safety in the Black Sea. For now, Mike Johnson stepped up after seeing the light. And after he sat in on more classified, higher security meetings involving Ukraine & NATO. (Some of us know all too well what kind of information is shared in these kinds of meetings – now Johnson knows as well.)

OR you can forever

b) Live with the permanent memories of how, instead of sitting on your thumbs – YOU “could” have prevented the additional blood shed and lives lost (of Ukrainians and volunteer soldiers from other countries, i.e.: America) if you’d only allowed Ukraine to be supplied with the needed weapons as Ukraine, as a NATO proxy, fought for NATO instead of sending in American troops…

Think about it as you go to sleep, EVERY single night. Having Russia CONTINUING to be a world nuisance with Putin as a continuous Dictator (as you know he will win his upcoming election with, what, 98, 99% of the votes...). But then again, of course you want to continue playing with politics, even though most of your republican party does not know how to be a successful and productive member of the House or Senate. Instead, these individuals want to continue to be an attention getter, a power grabber – basically, ‘me, me, ME….’

China, A Dictatorial Country – Worried about National Security Threats – REALLY?

Okay, okay, maybe China is not officially a Dictatorial country – but they are very bloody close to it! Ask the democratic citizens of Hong Kong….

NOTE: For those who desire quick/fast reading – this paper will take more than a few minutes...

China threatens everyone it can to instill fear of talking about China in any non-harmonious, non-democratic or non-progressive (negative) manner.

China captures, obtains, hell fire – they arrest ANYONE who says anything negative about the country or its leaders. When the country’s leaders are the ones who should arrested and removed from society.

For example, recently (Mon. Dec 7^th), China’s authorities ‘detained’ a Beijing based Bloomberg journalist. If you are unable to do your own research to verify the results, here is a snippet from the Guardian (Dec 11, 2020) – “Haze Fan was escorted from her apartment by officials on suspicion of endangering national security”. You can also check out the Wall Street Journal if you need more information (I would mention CNN but then some of the readers might start commenting on Fake News and the other garbage/waste talk they like to use).

Here is another clip from the Guardian: “China now ranks near the[y] very bottom in the World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), above only North Korea, Turkmenistan and Eritrea.

However, here is a bit of news I was not aware of – “Chinese nationals are prohibited from working as credentialed reporters for foreign news organizations in China but are allowed to aid foreign correspondents as producers and research assistants.”

Another thing, pay no heed to Daniel Ratcliffe (current U.S. Dir. National Intelligence) or Nikki Haley (former US Ambassador to the UN) – neither one of them are credible enough.  Ratcliffe is unqualified to even be put in that position of authority and Haley, well, make your own determination about her. You, the reader, should be making your own thoughtful conclusions after reading multiple sources of information and determining what makes sense, logical sense – not conspiratorial filter bubble garbage.  Are you afraid to expand your own mind and areas of knowledge? Or do you want to stay within your own claustrophobic silos of fellow conspirators, where you ‘believe’ you are safe and everyone in that silo is right?  While the rest of the world around you moves on…

China’s governmental leadership wants the world to believe all the talk coming out of that government’s mouth pieces about being an open society and that negative talk from other countries and individuals endangers China’s national security.

What the damnation are they talking about? China has no freedom of speech! Ask anyone who spoke negatively in public or online about China and its leaders – that is, if you can find those who have not already been arrested.

There is no freedom of religion in China! Ask the Uighurs (Uyghurs) who have been collected and placed in detainment prisons – sorry, my bad, I meant re-education centers. That is where the incarcerated Uighurs are detained, damn, sorry again – are enjoying re-education to learn the Chinese Communist Party ways. Where the Uighurs are forced to:

• have their beards shaved off
• have all of their workshop / home implements that are considered as dangerous weapons
  • be engraved with that Uighur’s identification information (image, address & id #)
  • turned in at the end of the business day to the neighborhood police station and next day have it checked out again
• learn the life style and culture the Chinese government requires – damn, sorry again – what the Chinese government desires.

In the meantime, once the Uighurs, the domestic terrorists that China has labeled them, are apprehended (corralled) – the Uighurs’ neighborhood/towns are demolished!!!!  Those areas are razed to the ground, removing ALL Uighur landmarks, dwellings so that there are no more reminders of Uighurs ever being there, as well as no longer being an area for Uighurs to return to. That is, once they are released from the detainment, blast it – re-education camps with a new mindset and ALL Muslim teachings / learning’s cleansed from the Uighur soul.

As if the Chinese government can force anyone to renounce the religion the individual wants to follow.

China continues to talk about becoming a world power place of harmony. This is after China has built man-made islands in the South China Seas (SCS) to expand the Chinese hemisphere of power. This, even though the UN and the Maritime Authorities have repeatedly stated that the area China has proclaimed sovereign powers over was NOT China’s property to control. Ask Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia and others how they feel about China taking over the SCS by force (kinda like Russia taking over Crimea from Ukraine, right, right – tell me you see the similarities).

How can China be a place of harmony when their citizens cannot be honest and open in a democratic manner? When the people are forced to never talk negatively about China or else face arrests! When the Chinese government continues doing massive purges and collecting all negative newspapers (forcing the papers to close down if they do not toe the party line and become a prisoner)! When the Chinese government forces all semblances of religion to go underground in order to practice the religion in question! (I am not religious and never will be but I always say that people have a right to whatever religion they choose – as long as they do not try to force it on others.)

Do you remember when Daryl Morey (Houston Rockets basketball General Manager) was jumped on and denounced by China in Oct. 2019 for Morey’s tweet for standing with the Hong Kong protestors. China wants to control what other countries say and what the citizens of other countries say.  How can a country try to force censorship on another country? Is that democratic? Is that fair that another country can censor a citizen of another country if that citizen made an honest statement from their own individual personal belief. This is FREE SPEECH!

China wanted to cut out all American basketball activities in China (games, goods, shows) as a result of the NBA commissioner (Adam Silver) ‘not’ firing Morey. So what does China do, cancel broadcasting of American basketball games and other events.

Then, look at Hong Kong. China wants to absolutely control a formerly democratic country where the citizens were happy in going about their business of being an open, social, democratic and progressive country. Hong Kong would have worked with China if China would have allowed them to continue to be open. But now, now, China just wants to put an iron clamp over Hong Kong so that the citizens there are forced to toe the party line – where Hong Kong citizens are forced to no longer think on their own but to think like the Beijing government wants them to think. To eventually be forced to: ‘not’ have religion; ‘not’ be able to spit on the streets (I don’t do it but I am also not going to force someone not to); ‘not’ jaywalk; ‘not’ talk negatively about the government or its leaders; on and on and on……

— Now, tell me that is not scary about any kind of freedom in China.

The Chinese government is a load of bull pucky, they want to be capitalistic society while remaining a Communist Party – how do you reconcile that? How can you be both? There are a lot of good people in China – it is just the Chinese government that is the problem (just like the outgoing American president – the one with the orange skin – is a problem for progressive Americans).

People are evolving as time marches on, yet China wants to retain an iron grip on ALL of its people and all the territory it can get its hands on. And yes, the U.S. stole land nearly 200 hundred years ago and MANY of us regret that happened as we, America and other western, developed countries continue to evolve in the 21^st century and going forward.

What is the harm of allowing citizens speak up and gaining equality, better diversity and progress moving forward?

The harm is, well, against leaders who want to retain power at whatever cost! America is seeing that right now, where leaders of the wrong mindset want to de-legitimize American votes – to invalidate legal votes. Fortunately, America has a better legal system with better checks and balances than China has (for those who do not remember or did not know – China’s legal system was a bullet to the back of the head of the offender, WITH the offenders’ families paying for the bullet – and this MAY be happening still but there is no way to verify/confirm that).

America’s legal system of checks and balances, democracy for all is finally starting to show its power, when some leaders and the ill-formed followers want to do things illegally.

Who is threatening China’s national security anyway?

Where are the forces preparing to breach the shores of China? Who are the countries that want to take over Chinese territories? The U.K.? America? No one wants to march on China and take over its lands.

What people of the free world, the developed and developing countries want is harmony. We want freedom of:

• Movement
• Speech
• Religion
• Press

We want to be able to legally and democratically remove bad leaders from power before those bad leaders continue on the path of corruption, to gain more power, to force honest citizens to become disenfranchised (look at what some of the nonsensical people in America are trying to do in various states and groups). People want to be free, not to be forced to look over their shoulders all the time as to whether they crossed the line or not (ask the Blacks of America about that one – we {Americans} are still working making this something better).

China is a land of FORCED AUTHORITARIANISM! China is a land of AUTOCRATIC AUTHORITARIANISM! However, in the eyes of a great many people around the world, China is a Dictatorial country. What else do you call a country where you are required to have facial recognition and register for every single thing you do. You cannot enjoy the internet as much as you want for fear of typing in the wrong thing and the CHINESE CENSORSHIP Authorities start tracking everything you (YOU specifically) do online – because for those not aware, the Chinese Firewall (a figurative term on how China controls the Chinese internet and its citizens usage of it) was built and designed (and continues to be) to try to block/stop negative speech, non-Chinese attitudes towards the country and its leaders. The people of China do not even see the same TV shows or documentaries or books or newspapers from other open, democratic countries because China states that the shows are corrupting or ‘threatens China’s national security’.  What the restrictive Chinese government is saying is that these are items that might put bad thoughts into the heads of its citizens.  Such as freedom, honesty & truth – yeah, yeah, I know, even open countries do not always state truths but we try, do we not}. Chinese leadership wants China to retain the culture of Chinese citizens being extremely compliant to everything that comes out of the Chinese Politburo…

Do you want to go to a country like China for tourism? Why? When a country like China wants to control EVERY SINGLE THING said about the country and its leaders, no matter who says it or where it is said… Is that realistic? Is that fair?  Is that a progressive country?

Do you want to go to Hong Kong with what China is forcing on Hong Kong as China continues on with its 5-year and 10-year plans for how the government wants China and its territories to be in the present and in the future?

Do you want to do business with a country like China when you can do business with countries who are better than China (Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, S. Korea, Spain, Italy, etc., etc., etc.)?

It is just too bad that we cannot just bypass China for everything we do in the world socially and economically and let the Chinese government wall off all of its citizens from the rest of us. The ‘good‘, ‘free-thinking‘ and ‘progressive‘ people of China would suffer from not having a dynamic interaction with others who are very open-minded. But, the Chinese leadership wants to force its people to retain specific Chinese culture at all costs (i.e. blowing the Uighur culture out of the water and erasing as much of that society/culture as possible) as well as attempting to force other global citizens to “not” try to influence Chinese citizens with any Western or democratic values. 

Tell me I am wrong on that count, I dare you.

Trump = NYET!!!

For those who do not know, “Nyet” means ‘No’ in Russian.

The current president in the White House, well, not an individual a fairly large number of us would ever want to protect or give our lives for or share a fox-hole with. However, in doffing our hats to the Secret Service, in protecting the position for whichever person is serving as president – YOU DO AN OUTSTANDING JOB!!!

Now, getting back to the current American president and NYET.

• N = Not a role model any person alive on the planet would want to emulate. Who in a sane state of mind would willingly emulate a known pathological liar (there are many documented incidents out there and the reason why he is desperately striving to hide his tax and all financial records from ‘anyone’ ever seeing those documents).
• N = Narcissistic – [Okay, okay, okay… I snuck in a second ‘N’ but saying N^2YET or double N,YET does not translate well….] Need we say more – this is beyond the pale in the lengths this individual goes to, to say “Hey, look at me, I am the best there has ever been. We had the largest turnout ever for when I was sworn in. I have had more progress in the first year, no, the first six months of being in office. Everyone loves me, it does not matter that they are all dictators and authoritarian leaders who suppress their own people – why, those leaders control the voters, sorry, the votes by means of controlling the media and military and law enforcement. Those leaders are doing a wonderful job in their countries.” — In the meantime, in as many countries as possible, humanity is trying our best to remove all dictators and authoritarian leaders from office and move to a democratic process – and yes, it includes, China, Russia, Turkey, Iran, Rwanda, Chile, Brunei, Venezuela and more (do not forget N. Korea).
  
• Y = Yearning to be even more Narcissistic, to be the one in the spot light even if it means shoving a Prime Minister out of the way in a highly public venue (recall when our president did that to the Prime Minister of Montenegro back in May 2017 at that NATO meeting….?).
• E = Ethics – well, there ‘APPEARS‘ to be no ethics at all where it concerns this American president. All that ‘SEEMS‘ to matter to this person is whether he can line his pocket with more profits (allegedly of course) or not and how he can put in place more yes men/women who will kowtow to him regardless of what the subject matter is. It could be putting in place people who knowingly vote in favor of this president – without any foresight on their part as to the amount of damage, harm and financial cost will take place as a result of their caving in… Wait, it is also possible these individuals may not care about the future results and only want the instant gratification they gain right now – as willing sycophants…
• T = Transparency – Can anyone in America explicitly and without qualifiers say that this current president is transparent in all matters? In any matter? We have a president who seems to solely embrace obfuscation (i.e. excessive lying), opaqueness, deceit and ever constant misdirection (in our intelligence world, it would be considered a successful misinformation campaign…). 

What is it going to take for Americans to come to their senses and see through whatever facade this president seems to have thrown up to bedazzle (blind) people to his many negative faults.

This of course is aimed at the many people who blindly follow this president without thinking through the logic. Are these people following the president:

• through so much delusion because they cannot use logic and think about the strategic benefits of doing certain activities?
• because these followers want to return to the 1960s and back, where people of a certain ethnicity (we have faith that you can figure out what is being discussed in this bullet) and primarily male had control of everything and suppressed people of color and women and gay folks? Do these followers really want to return darker days of suppression and repression; forcing women into back alley abortions; causing disenfranchised minorities turn to violent means to get the right to vote and be put on the same playing field as others?
• because the filter bubbles they seem to have been ensnared in is so reinforcing due to its brainwashing effects – that they can no longer see the abundant truth that is out there and easily found (ask the anti-vaxxers who slowly discovered that the anti-vaxxer world is full of deceit and lies)?
• willing to forego civility and return to barbaric methods to force out people of color and immigrants from America? Originally, this land belonged to people of color (Native Americans and Mexicans) – the land was taken away from its rightful owners by force and forced those people at that time into subjugation as well as bringing over slaves to build “their empire” – please remember that

This country has spent a significant amount of money in slashing successfully working regulations and practices and reverting to older, harmful and damaging practices. We now allow the:

• oil industry to oversee their own safety program in the ocean drilling zones (think back to the massive oil leak from the ocean floor when the safety valve failed on that drilling rig).
• energy companies to dump toxic waste into rivers – if you believe this is incorrect, go check out the ‘current’ practices Duke Energy of N. Carolina is able to do now (and keep potash dumps in mind when you do your own research…).
• Dept of Education to implement programs that are geared towards private schools and vouchers – INSTEAD of focusing on ‘PUBLIC education‘ and improving it to where it should be, ACROSS the board, in all communities, in order to match other countries with better educational programs and successes.

And you know what else that is even scarier?

It is going to take America decades to recover from the wasted efforts and revenue lost in the 2016 – 2020 time frame. From:

• tracking down and proving all the illegal activities (by this individual and those that this person put in place around him) prior to getting into the White House and since getting there,
• bad social and economic programs,
• poor diplomatic relationships with other countries – explicitly our long time allies to poor economic associations with our N. American neighbors and other prospering and suffering countries around the globe.

Think about it, health care, financial reform (in the public / private sectors as well as in politics), economic growth.

And let’s not forget the amount of incivility introduced into the world of politics and public discourse as of 2016 when this president brought gutter level conversation, interaction and thinking with him to the world stage. What sane, forward thinking leader would ever utter the words “I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot someone and not lose votes“? The worse of the worse came out of the wood works across America with other bad world leaders uttering the same garbage.

It is going to take us a long time to start bringing civility, where more people care about each other instead of reverting to denying them rights and space. It will take time for growth, for all, to take off again in America.

Do we have time…?  Look at the current lack of progress and thinking on Climate Change in America…. that should be the canary in the coal mine as to the path this country is on… We have a leader that has no path forward with regards to; diplomacy, military superiority in the in the name of peace and not fear, economic prosperity for all and a strategy as to how America and the world can grow – together.

 

Oh! And yes, this is the person that others refer to as the “Orange Man” and other ignominious titles/handles…

Hmmmm, a “possible” Chinese spy caught at Mar-a-lago – really?

So, does this not sound like a diversion tactic to anyone else? Anyone? Anyone….

What spy, with the deep pockets of a nation-state who can afford to have and use highly sophisticated spy craft and all the tools that go along with that – why would one make such a loud ruckus while carting around clumsy tools?

Did anyone notice the other real spy, the quiet one that was able to slip in and out with the better tools while the loud and clumsy “possible” spy was apprehended? Anyone?  Anyone… 

Now, with some hesitation on my part, there may not have been another one (spy, saboteur, whatever…) – that day…

It is just that, the various hats I’ve worn have been making me cringe inside.

My strategic brain is screaming, really, no one is making comments about this being a diversion?

My national security intelligence brain is screaming, come on, why not use an old tried and true ruse to get the better ‘spy’ inside with. i.e.: micro-recording devices, using microwave burst technology – designed to destroy itself after a certain amount of time. And other high tech tools such as bug size recording (audio & visual) devices (not roach size but fly or flea size) at their disposal.

My cyber security brain is screaming – really, bringing in malware on a USB drive (I believe that is what it was if I’m not mistaken). As if this woman was going to get close to a computing device to plug it in – but then again, it is Mar-a-lago, where many people with money and their flock come and go.

So, if there was a spy infiltrating that resort, how do you sweep it? How much manpower do you allocate to sweep? When do you sweep it? Do you allow the president, who with a small brain overrules everyone around who would know better, to continue going to the resort?

Then there are other questions, such as, who else had legitimate access to the resort and turned by greed to perform nefarious deeds. What about individuals who for various reasons were coopted (blackmailed/threatened) to do black deeds at the resort.

There are many, many, many things wrong with this picture and we have an individual sitting in 1600 Pennsylvania Ave who seems to be oblivious to real world activities, needs and demands.

A real spy could have easily gotten access, what is a $250,000 membership to a nation-state actor with deep pockets, over the past couple of years. Hey, the president who did not give up his investments and businesses as he should have, did tell the world, his resort is open for membership and business is booming…

What do we do as a nation for security when the top individual invites the world in the front door.  It is like watching a Vampiric horror movie where the unwitting home owner tells the vampire, sure, come on in for a drink….

New U.S. Tax Plan: I’ll Be Spending My Retirement Paying Down The Increased National Deficit

Yes, you heard right. Someone had asked the question “Hey, what are you going to do in your retirement? “

Yes, now that American House and Senate passed the new “Tax Reform (Tax Plan)”, this unfortunately is going to be the fate of many, many Americans.

This is for the Electoral College and the people who voted for this current president, who is causing a ripple effect of greed, pigs feeding at that swamp trough (the so-called swamp draining that was to take place, yeah, that never took place – it expanded in a somewhat vicious and explosive manner). Folks, you sure picked a winner, one who is causing some real pain and angst to spread across the country, now and over the next decade… Lovely, isn’t it…

 

Here, let’s take a look at an example of another individual who believed a “wonderful new tax plan” would change the state. That individual is, the wonderful Kansas governor (just being facetious here), Brownback, as he tried to impress and win the hearts of all those wonderful Kansans. Brownback, back in 2012, started putting in place a massive tax cut scam, err, scheme to show the country that he could do that successfully and grow his state.

That did not happen. Many of the steep tax cuts put in place, ahhh, they were repealed already or are in the process of going the way of the DoDo bird (last seen sometime in the mid-17th century). After the tax cuts started hitting, you know (well, many of the logical and long-term thinkers knew) that school budgets were going to be cut. They were.

Also, city employee staffing (fire fighters, police and housing budgets) was also cut to help make up shortfalls. Here are a few more ‘fiscal policy’ victims that hit Kansas (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/zorn/ct-kansas-brownback-trickle-down-tax-fail-zorn-perspec-0621-md-20170620-column.html):

Public schools were planning to close early for lack of operating revenue. Kansas was shorting pension funds, skimping on road improvements, cutting Medicaid and slashing outlays for state universities.

Here is another quote from the article that is simply brilliant:

“It absolutely should put an end to the theory that tax cuts for the rich end up helping everybody, but you can’t kill it. It’s a vampire idea. No matter how many times it’s proven wrong, it keeps coming back.”

 

So, what is the lesson with these so called “tax cut plans” that will grow the economy?  And if you wish, ask the successors to Reagan and then even Bush (41) how they might feel about tax cuts. If the former was alive and the latter was allowed to answer.

The lesson is, which I am quite sure you already know the answer. When you cut taxes, the state and the nation take in less revenue. Then, how does the country or state make up for that shortfall – well, of course, you cut services everywhere. Cutting services makes for an excellent model of spending less money. However, when services are cut, the average citizens start getting hurt, big time.

• Needed services see reduced hours and/or reduced staff (which in turn puts an extreme workload on the remaining staff members).
• Fire in your neighborhood, hmmm, let’s see how many trucks are available since they took a hit in staffing (and if you need EMS, well…. they may be understaffed as well)
• Hospitals, doctors and nurses – well…. You might want to bring some aspirin with you because, as the tax cuts kick in, there is no mandate to have individuals have medical coverage – and when many of these who do not want medical coverage all of a sudden have an emergency, where do the go? Yes, they go to the emergency room. And what does that do, why, yes, the young man with the blue baseball cap, needed services get sucked into the emergency rooms along with the need for more funding and it has to come from somewhere. So be warned – do not get sick, there may not be enough regular medical coverage to handle the mundane, day to day medical issues (tax cut sucked up any extra cash lying around).
• Nice, serviceable roads to drive on, forgeddaboutit, they fall into disrepair – causing you to suffer car / truck damage. Be sure to up your vehicle insurance as you’re likely to have more bent wheel axles from bad roads (and yes, failing bridges).
• And do not forget about national and state parks and other areas – they may be closed or have reduced hours as immediate victims of revenue shortfalls due to this ‘grand tax plan’… You might have to re-think your vacation/week-end plans.

Then, what is the result of multiple services being cut, wait – why, yes, the older guy in the Hawaiian shirt – you hit it bang on, states start imposing cost hikes on many things in the state. And, oh yes, the young woman in the brilliant teal blouse, you are correct – the states start begging, dang, sorry, requesting the federal government for hand-outs, errr, more funding relief.

So, yes, again, so – what are you going to be doing over the next decade as this ‘grand’ tax cut plan starts biting while the national deficit continues to balloon with that purported $1.5 Trillion figure (which I am fairly certain it will swell far beyond that) is tacked on to the CURRENT national deficit.

It simply has not happened wherever and whenever tax cuts, to help corporations and the “middle/lower” class citizens, are put into law. Tax cuts end up being repealed with taxes going up again by another administration. Most corporations and wealthy individuals do what I (joe citizen) do, reinvest that money in myself (maybe in a savings or, gulp, a ‘401k’ account) for my own future. The majority of the companies who were “supposed” to be re-investing in its workforce to grow the company and those workers and by extension, the country – it just does not happen.

Do you think it is going to happen with this new, ‘grand’ tax plan? An expansion of growth across all American sectors…  Hmmm…. Think long and hard and most of all – do your own research (move away from the conspiracy theorists and hate mongers), then make that determination.

Your retirement may be in jeopardy because many states are going to be going hat in hand to the federal government for those hand-outs for the average citizens – us. And who will be looking out for you, guess who – it is going to be up to you to ensure you have enough salted away in your nest egg. That or continue working until you’re in your 70’s and 80’s…

 

What happened to strategic thinking in our government?  Where did it go? Where are all the forward thinkers? There are supposed to be adults in the American Congress, Senate and White House. Wait, I forgot, many of them were pushed out of many federal entities because they were smart and they used science-based as well as evidence-based data to drive new ideas and to disprove invalid/incorrect viewpoints. (Golly, I really hope I won’t get into any trouble for using words the HHS is attempting to ban from scientific and other professional use in HHS & CDC – Fetus, Transgender, Diversity, Vulnerable, Entitlement and the two I mentioned {that is, if this actually is a true situation…***}.)

We, Americans, cannot even put in place a decent equitable number of women and other ethnic groups of people in these institutions. This is because so many people are only thinking “right now, right here and for me only” – instead of what is ahead, down the road, 5, 10 or 20 years to be who we can truly be.

Leaders of the free world, hmmm, not sure about that anymore, it appears the best and brightest gave up and left a lot of the slower thinking, short-term thinkers and less savvy individuals in charge, those who appear to only want to line their pockets.

Our future of growth looks bleak, very bleak and it will take quite some time to recover to where we, Americans, are great again. It’s the people, all the people, not just any one party over the other – it is not Conservatives or Liberals or Libertarians or Green Party or Religious groups or Atheists or gays or transgender or old or young or women or men – it is the people who come together for common good.

What we have right now is: “Me, me, me – gimme, gimme – I don’t want to share. I don’t want diversity. I want people to be like me and that’s it.”  That is what is scary, the lack of diversity – those not willing to embrace diversity in all of its wonderful possibilities.

*** A Seven-Word Mystery at the CDC https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-12-19/a-seven-word-mystery-at-the-cdc

 

Decapitating ISIS & Terrorists and American & Western Interests…

Decapitating ISIS

It seems that some folks want to decapitate ISIS and that is a good thing. But doing it is going to be difficult, especially if the U.S. is going to go about it seemingly by ourselves. {UPDATE 9/6/2014: As many of you are well aware by now, there is a much broader coalition of other nations, via NATO, joining in to work on stopping ISIS, using strategic and tactical efforts…}

Leaders in other Western countries, mid-Eastern countries and their people as well, appear to not want to help quash this growth of barbaric thugs using religion as a cover.

It is quite likely a large number of Americans also do not have the heart to want to stop this group of zealots in a foreign country because it is not in the U.S. of A…

American / Western Interests

The issue of this ISIS problem and translating how it is a danger to American and/or Western interests is not one of presenting it to the large urban cities of the U.S. and Wall Street and the media.

We have to translate this issue for the folks of the mid-West, the Bible Belt, the Rust Belt – basically the people of Main Street.

Sure, talking about decapitating ISIS is one thing but we have to give more concrete examples of how purging ISIS would help American interests.

Now, I mean no disrespect to all but surely many people of Main Street understand that there are a large number of American interests to watch over in the various mid-East countries:

• Embassy/Consulate personnel (and their families) who are possible targets
• American businesses attempting to create harmonious opportunities between the country in question and the U.S. are targets
• American businesses such as FedEx, UPS and others who fly into and out of some of these countries affected by Jihadist bent individuals are targets, especially for those zealots attempting to covertly ship explosives into the U.S. and
• Peaceful American businesses attempting to expand around the globe (even oil companies)

And let’s not forget the American interests in the Homeland due to terrorist trained individuals. Those Americans and/or individuals from Western allied countries who convert to Islam in order to join the Jihad and easily (if they are not on any watch list) bring newly gained Jihadist skills back to the U.S. or throughout Europe to:

• Because of our openness, create targets out of shopping malls, banks, office complexes and other venues which have a large potential in causing massive panic and fear
• Need I go on as to what some idiot suicide bomber could do to American interests, within the U.S.? The converted Islamist zealot does not have to go to a major U.S. city to create havoc, they could go to any or several Main Street U.S.A.(‘s) to cause significant pain for our country.

Any and all conceivable American interests are in jeopardy of ISIS now that they have the funds (I talked about that in another writing), seized weaponry and it seems quite a large number of people to create massive turmoil throughout the mid-East, the E.U.

In addition, ISIS could very possibly, support/supply any American converted idiot/Islamic zealot who for whatever reason (low self-esteem, feeling slighted by some American policy or agency) wanted to create ‘pay-back’ for their individual problem(s).

The American convert does not have to carry any money with them as they return to the U.S. after being trained – Western Union is still one of many ways to transfer money to the converted Jihadist, even if it is via multiple small amount transfers (ie: $3 – 4,000 at a time).

So, do your own thinking of other American interests (in the Homeland or abroad) as to what might be a juicy target for these religious ragamuffins…

Asymmetric Warfare

In performing strategic and tactical moves against ISIS (and Boko Haram – they need some love as well) we have to consider moving to more asymmetric guerilla warfare efforts. If ISIS is doing it, we sure as, ahhh, S**T (or rain) had best be doing the same maneuvering as they are. Besides, did we NOT learn anything from Vietnam and our efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past 20+ years???

We ‘do’ need to consider more and better ways of tagging and tracking those wanna be American Jihadists before they cause death in this country. And whatever we do decide, we have to be clearly conscious of American and EU privacy issues.

We have to develop better intelligence sources to combat this scourge of evil before they go even further.

We have to develop better relations, somehow, with countries in the mid-East, better than what we have in place now.

We have to get better at communication to be sure what we are saying is coming across clearly – FROM the perspective of those in the mid-East, not through the blinding filter of our Western perception.

But, overall, if we have to fight ISIS and Boko Haram type groups without significant help from other Western or mid-Eastern countries, then we had best become even better at asymmetric guerilla warfare and wipe out these individuals.

For one, we have to cut off the flow of individuals from Syria, at the border there, into Iraq and then create a massive pincer movement (guerilla style) around those fighters within Iraq.

Because if we do not do something now, it will only become worse as time goes on.

Again, there are many who myopically do not see the danger to American interests at this time – those short-sighted individuals (American or European or mid-Eastern) want to be complacent until it is too late.

Or the complacent will decide to leave it to others to fight ISIS. But if it is not the U.S. then who else is fighting ISIS, besides the Kurds who are out-armed…???

Yes, it would be quite nice to decapitate ISIS but we need a major concerted effort to do so. The decapitation of James Foley should have been an eye-opening wake-up call for the faint at heart and weak of will.

So…. wouldn’t it be great in preventing:

• yet another genocide from occurring (the Yazidis) and/or
• the forced conversion of people to another religion or else face mass murder…?

Last of all and even more importantly – there MUST be TIMELY and equitable sharing of intelligence information between all law enforcement (LE) and intelligence agencies within the U.S., Interpol and several other Western LE and Intel organizations.

That sharing HAS to happen for any of this having any chance of working. FBI cannot stonewall DHS, nor can DEA block needed intel amongst LE agencies around the country (only two examples here).