Trump, Soleimani Assassination and Reality

There's a lot to unpack in Pres. Donald John Trump's Qasem Soleimani assassination incident. One being that George W. Bush for two terms and Barack Obama for two terms BOTH decided it was more dangerous to kill this cretin. As it was with Sadman Insane, wiping him out was a huge mistake in his case because of the power vacuum it left. 

Yes, fine, kill Soleimani, or Hussein. But do it thoughtfully. Play the Chess game, or the Go game, but play it, don't just cut off someone's head. Have a plan. Have another to take over, one who will do the job we need, perhaps more so, the one that country needs.

Yes, Soleimani needed to go, but how we did it was important, that was the issue. Having not involved the CIA and the DNI in this decision is patently ludicrous, not allowing for truly assessing the repercussions and therefore acting without full consideration which is never advisable.

What conservatives think Dems are unsettled about is mostly not what they are actually unsettled about. We don't even have to go into the timing of the Trump impeachment or re-election situation or how such a distraction such as this was wholly expected. Or the desire for a war leading up to a damaged election on the administration's side is greatly desired.

Really, there's much more here than is superficially obvious.

One does not make decisions like this without the DNI and the CIA involved, and others like the NSA. they were not in the room in or involved when this decision was made.

Almost more importantly is this:

Trump's Soleimani assassination has taken an Iran with a fractured leadership and a citizenry becoming more united against them and turned that right about to the other direction.

What's not to know about that, we've been hearing it for weeks and months now. Then this happened and it reversed...not to mention Iraqis who saw him as a hero because when they were attacked by ISIS he was the first to show up and fight for them. This is much messier than the administration is trying to let on or those in full support of this action are realizing.


This is also the Middle East we're dealing with here. It's screwed up and interesting and educational to note that when Bush Sr. attacked Iraq, he left Saddam in power. For a reason. He didn't want to, he had to. He had been head of the CIA, which was why I voted for him, though it would be nice to have a POTUS who knew something for a change. He knew what he was dealing with. 

I voted for Reagan the first time, the year I started college. I knew him as a kid on TV and from movies. Then I saw on-campus protests against the Iran/Contra issue at Western Washington University, day after day. Why were they so against the guy I had finally voted for. See, when I turned 18 I voted that year. But that was it. 

Through the military and the Jimmy Carter years. I didn't know him, he seemed OK, but everyone in the military I knew at my based hated him, mostly because he was cutting bases, and closing them down. So after the USAF I thought I should vote next time and I did. 

So, I voted for, Reagan. Stupid? Yes. But. I didn't vote him for re-election, I didn't like things he did, or his view on the world, or his dumping government responsbilities for citizens onto Churches and charities. So very Republican, so very disingenuous. The "no debt because we sloughed it off to others", mentality. Lazy, ignorant, mean spirited, greedy, power grabbing, underhanded, all that has lasted until today and grown worse, in this current travesty of the GOP.

I'm fooliish at times, not stupid. But I did vote for Bush Sr. thinkinng it good to actually have a POTUS who knew the inside of intelligence and actual "Intelligence". I was proud of voting for who I thought was the best person for office, regardless of their party. I was raised in a Union household, a Democratic family. Liberal I suppose, progressive. 

Until recently when the GOP has taken a deep shite and a deep dive off the deep end of Reality. Literally denying reality, time and time again.

Sonny boy Pres. Baby Bush wasn't, didn't and so ignored dad and took Hussein out, with the nightmare that led to. But then W planned to do that even before he became POTUS anyway.

Nothing over there is easy, clean, or obvious. If it seems like that, there's something unknown lurking.

And now we have the same issue with Trump we had with Baby Bush.

Ignorance and satiation of one's beliefs desires and feelings over reality and associated issues. And of course, obfuscation, distraction, and redirection.

By the way, I learned my lesson with Bush Sr. Leaving Saddam in place left me very unsatisfied and upset with him for a decade until his son took him out. And then I learned how complicated things really are over there. You do what needs to be, not what you want or just think should be done. Just watch the near end of Lawrence of Arabia and know that it's all still going on.

Right and wrong are shaded with many colors, especially in the Middle East. And even when you're right at times you will suffer the consequences. This present situation will come back to bite us.

Middle East, Vietnam, All Over Again?

As a fiction writer, horror and science fiction writer and filmmaker, I wish you all a very Merry (or, Scary) Christmas Eve Day. Scary for fun. Not the scary reality we feel crushing us from every direction.

We do live in interesting times.

I had thought America lost its taste for war and playing chess with another country during in Vietnam. Although today with a ridiculous Pres. Donald Trump, we can all see we are now playing checkers... and losing.

And yet, Iraq. And then, Afghanistan. And illegally, Iraq and so on now within and all over the Middle East. Interesting times, indeed.

It feels like Russia and America are simply trying to sow chaos throughout in the Middle East for reasons of unethical self-interest. All when we should be trying to solidify the region and get the hell off fossil fuels, the Middle East's primary source of wealth.

In 1984 I wrote a screenplay. My first. It was titled, Ahriman. He was a prince/prophet on a violent desert planet who was trying to lead his historically extremely violent people to peace.

Not unlike sectors of the Middle East and even America today in many hating the idea of peace and many luxuriating in the cathartic concept of...hating.

I set it on that desert planet for the interaction between them and earth. I got two professors to let me write it as a self-study class I'd get credit for, and so I'd leave college with a full screenplay. I got two A's on it.

After a year of a special team script/screenwriting class toward my minor (psychology being my major), I was selected with seven others from my playwriting class. A class I was sent to by my intro to fiction writing professor to improve my short story dialog. Even though I was one of the top two top writers in the class.

At the end of my college career that spring, I was surprised to realize I still didn't have a full feature screenplay to leave my university with. Just short plays and TV scripts.

One of my university professors read it and asked, "Why a desert planet?"

I said that it fit what I was trying to do in using the ancient middle east religions and associations. I was concerned at the time about Dune, in having just come out as I was NOT trying to associate with that film.

Though I didn't see the film Dune until months after finishing the screenplay, I had heard about it and had loved the book when I first read it in 10th grade in high school. Which led to me finishing the book and writing my first ever short story, a science fiction story of an assassin school and one student's coming of age and realizing that the authorities were not what he had been led to believe.

As was happening to America at that time in 1970 with the Vietnam war and so many other things. Eventually, I did see and like the film and so I am now and ever since a David Lynch fan, who directed the film. I must say I would have loved to see the film that it almost became in having Alejandro Jodorowsky direct it, a project which fell through.

My professor thought about it for a moment and then said, "Well, desert or jungle, I guess you could go either way." And I didn't want to go jungle.

Which brings me back to the Vietnam jungle war and now these desert wars, and these problematic desert religions of Judaism, Catholicism and the youngest sibling, Islam. None of them towers of intellect or humanity as we've seen. And most recently in the actions of sectors of the Islamic Jihadi actors. Not to blame an entire religion for the actions of a few fools.

Our, Humanity's need or desperate lack of need for religion in today's modern world is another topic for another time. One which I've covered extensively in past blogs.

The Middle East did not just do all this to themselves. I'm just unsure now if we are trying to clean it up and retract to leave them to their own devices as should be done. We are seeing some behind the scenes defensiveness going on. But with this President Trump, not so much behind the scenes really. We are seeing clearly some of his actions as being for himself and that in any president is a serious if not a treasonous issue.

Or are simply disingenuously continuing the madness for fun and profit. Of which I assume we are and will continue do in following our trail of destruction of the latter. Along with the primary actors of Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran. And how (or where) is China not surreptitiously involved?

The president's own party is not with him any longer.

Description

John Michael Mulvaney is an American politician of the Republican Party who is serving in President Donald Trump's cabinet as Director of the Office of Management and Budget, who called Trump a "terrible human being" on video, leading up to the 2016 election.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham has just said: "It could be a costly mistake." And that it, "...not only threatens the safety and security of the United States, but also emboldens ISIS [which Mr. Trump just said was gone and we won the war against them, which is patently not true], Bashar al Assad, Iran, and Russia."

People elected Donald Trump to break the nonsense. To shatter the status quo. Oddly enough, maintaining a now gone perceived status quo is also the primary goal of conservatives who voted for him. That pretty much sums up the confusion of conservatives and the Republican party. And in part why we are in this mess in the first place.

Indeed, Donald Trump has shaken things up. Which in some ways is good. But that was incidental and truly not his plan, if he even had one. Which he does not. He has not. He's simply injected even more nonsense into an already self-induced mess. And for his own devices and profit. In fact, he has done far more damage than anyone could foresee. Except those many who would never vote for him.

What we need now is a real POTUS. One who will look around and fix this mess. For America. Not for one man. Putin. Or Trump.

We need to bring back America. Bring back sanity. Return democracy to the world and America in a better format.

And give the world once again, Peace. War, it is said, is failed politics. We need to elect high-quality politicians from here forward. Purge our ranks of these failed politicians.

I wish you all an island of peace in all this in this holiday season. A brief moment where you can look down and see you are all right. Your loved ones alive and hopefully well and around you.

All the best this season. We deserve a break. We deserve peace and a humane world.

It will come to us if we want ti enough. It will take time to be sure.

It will arrive sooner, if we pay ever more attention to it, nurturing it to move toward us every day, in ever action.

Food vs Nationalism

Last week was a hopeful and light blog. This week's is also (hopeful if not light), but with some dry and serious words in getting there. Next week I'll try to lighten up again. Please just know that I am hopeful things will get better as long as we look around and act not like the ostrich burying its head in the sand. I wish not to be paranoid as I see so much of in American conservatives and right wing Republican politics, candidates and politicians. But to be as knowledgeable and mature in thought as is possible.

We have got to see what is really going on and we have to act accordingly.

UNRELATED UPDATE: I would just like to say I am very sad to have heard that David Bowie has died from cancer that he has been fighting for the past year and a half. He will be missed. Here is a tribute from Rick Wakeman previously of the band Yes.

On Fareed Zakaria's show GPS Sunday January 10, 2015, Garry Kasparov was a guest hawking his new book, Winter is Coming: Why Vladimir Putin and the Enemies of the Free World Must Be Stopped and talked about the state of Russia and President Vladimir Putin.

From his own page: "Garry Kasparov is a Russian pro-democracy leader, global human-rights activist, business speaker and author, and former world chess champion."

As for Putin, let's not forget his past as one's origin definitely has an impact on one's career and future. Vladimir Putin as you know went into the KGB in 1975. That was coincidentally the same year I entered the US Air Force as a Law Enforcement specialist. Some years later, after having held a Secret security clearance for nuclear weapons, I exited the service for university work just after being vetted and accepted into the OSI (Office of Special Investigations), the Air Force's FBI. You know I actually used to read "FBI" magazine in their offices and yes, there is (or was anyway) actually a magazine titled, "FBI".

Regarding President Putin, as Wikipedia puts it:

"Putin joined the KGB in 1975 upon graduation, and underwent a year's training at the 401st KGB school in Okhta, Leningrad. Putin was reportedly evaluated by KGB superiors as "flawed", unsocial and with a "lowered sense of danger." Which means, he was brave to the point of being dangerous. Not exactly who I would want in control of sending people into harm's way.

Getting back to the GPS show, Kasparov had some interesting things to say to Fareed about Putin and Russia. Things that resonated with me about America and even the world over today.

For one thing, in cutting to the chase, he said that "Every day Putin stays in power, any delay in confronting him will simply raise the price."

I'm seeing this here in America about our own Conservatives, the Republican party and our crazy element. We are seeing so called right wing "militias" types, delusional in their own self importance and spurred on by capitalistic nonsense from conservative radio and news shows like Rush Limbaugh and the sadly but sometimes laughable Fox News pundits. Fox News it is no secret, acts as a kind of disconnect branch of the Republican Party here.

We need to stop these nuts in our country from taking up news cycles, from holding America hostage and from wasting our time and money. When really we need to be addressing serious issues. Even world wide issues. But certainly issues here at home that are  important to every citizen in every home in America.

Just as they are in Russia and elsewhere.

On the show Kasparov spoke of his mother who was alive during the Soviet Stalin years. Back then he said, Stalin was professing many of the things that Putin now says, with one remarkable exception.

Stalin spoke of friends they have around the world, and of hope.

Where Putin now does much in the same, it is a far more pessimistic message he is sending out, seemingly with little hope in those messages. Something we hear frightfully little of in our own American conservatives who are running for president. And let me tell you, a scary bunch of people they are, too.

Russians, Kasparov said, love hearing these messages from Putin, apparently not noticing the overly pessimistic slant to them or worse their total lack of hope. Then when they go to their fridge for food, there is little there. We are hearing something similar here from candidates like Donald Trump and others in his party. And when we go to the fridge, we too find little there. Or even if we have much there, we have little money for anything else.

Just what then does this nationalism really get us? How and who is going to fill our larders with food and start putting money back into our pockets when most of our social programs are being cut and the money those need goes instead to the military? Both in Russia, and in America. We are more alike than we think.

Oddly enough, even as we in America hear the same message from our own conservatives, the UK is hearing similar messages there, as is France, and others.

This doesn't seem to be only the province of President Putin but more and more, of conservatives and nationalists the world over. It is a dangerous and destructive thing they are doing. Dangerous to the citizens of these countries who buy into it. And to those who do not buy into it and yet, do nothing even though they see what is happening. Not to mention the rest of the world who are on the receiving end of these nation's military endeavors.

Do we really need this? Does the average citizen of these countries really need to sacrifice their food and pay for national military efforts again and again?

If we, if our leaders, were doing their jobs properly, effectively, why do we keep having wars? When politics fail, war ensues. Yes we are faced with war now, but should this be? What are the roots and how did we get here? How do we not get here the next time? We seem to have war after war after war and so someone, has to be screwing up badly. Otherwise we'd have no war. Perhaps it is our priorities that are confused? Perhaps nationalism isn't working for any of us? Yes, have pride in your country and leaders. Just be sure you are having the right amount, and an accurate view of things.

Surely the world has become a complicated place of late and it has been building into it for years. And yes, the United States has had more than a little to do with it thanks to the American Bush family from Texas, three Bush administrations and after 9/11, an illegitimate war on Iraq that entirely disrupted the Middle East.

Not that believe it or not, America is fully to blame for all that has followed.

Those individuals running Iraq as well as Afghanistan (and Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria, Egypt, Libya and others) also have some responsibility. As do the factions of Islam in their sectarian endeavors aginast one another and anyone else trying to help or guide them out of their religious and more so, tribal nonsense.

But that is getting off point.

In America we are seeing right wing conservative groups pulling stunts like refusing to follow the law, to pay their fair (though they would say, unfair) share for what they have gotten from American citizens, from thee government of their nation they profess to not even believe in. Like children railing against their parents who just may know what's best for them.

We have a conservative right wing political party here in the GOP, the Grand Old Party which I've taken to calling the Gray Old Party in its being run mostly by delusional old, white men; our Republican party, with their evangelical right ultra conservative Christian base, their nutty and incorrectly labeled "Tea Party" who push for things that are further off into the unreal and dysfunctional zones.

We have these people trying to push nationalism and the rich on us. Let's go to war, kick out immigrants they say, stop immigration, treat all Muslims as if they are all radical and dangerous. For us to give even more to the rich, to corporations, to not worry about how much food we have, because... the rich will take care of us if we just turn control over to them and let them do what they want?

Right. And how is that working out for us all so far? How is that working out for Russians so far?

There is a lot of talk here about socialism. In America, it has for many conservatives become the new Communism fear. A fear of children against images in the dark. Even pop star and Canadian Justin Beiber has said that America is evil because people can go bankrupt or even die because of our healthcare cost situation. It is insanity that people should have so  little in a country with so much.

The need here isn't for socialism, but for a reign in on capitalism. Socialism is a thread in that governor, that control. EVERY government has socialism imbedded in it, otherwise it is not a government.

The only functional government is a hybrid of many forms, not a single form. Purity is death in many things and is most functional in theories rather than practice. It has it's place, but apparently it is not in government, or in race for that matter. European monarchs have proven that inbreeding point long ago. And any dog or horse breeder will tell you pure purebred lines are dysfunctional.

We have to ask ourselves, which is more important to us? The feel good impact of our leaders spewing nationalistic nonsense, demonizing those different from us or new to our country? Or real efforts to do the hard work, to apply brilliant minds to see more food and money into the pockets of the citizens?

Who is more important in the end?

The Leaders? The Oligarchs? The Rich? They are self important enough on their own without the help of the majority of citizens who will never see that kind of prosperity and yet, we all deserve to live good lives, with little strife and a degree of happiness and security. Don't we?

Security does not come from war, fear, and pessimism. Control of the people does.

Why is Putin expanding Russia in actions taking over places like Ukraine, destabilizing regions, when his people need food and money? Just as we've seen in America leaders distract us from the real problems with perceived problems.

Just as was described in the 1949 George Orwell book, 1984. Leaders need to have or invent enemies in order to control the people, especially during times of hardship when the answers are difficult or will drain power from the leaders.

What IS the answer then?

In Russia, from what we've seen, from what Russian citizen Kasparov has seen, it is certainly not Putin.

Unless President Putin suddenly changes and starts to actually support his citizens and starts putting more money back into their pockets, to give them a more hopeful message, then maybe, he can be the answer. Are you seeing him do that?

In America, it is certainly not Trump. Certainly not Republicans or the conservative or sad religious ideals being put forth by them. Though I have to say, if I had to choose between Putin and Trump, I might not vote for Trump.

Religion has been a big ugly monster these past decades, past hundreds and thousands of years. But I'm not here today to deride religion, just those religious ones, those factions who are evoking dissension, death and destruction. Not within religions themselves, whatever religion you choose to look at, but in how they interact with the world, with innocent people who are dying...for no real good reason, at their hand.

We need realism, hope, help and action. Not war and disinformation, distraction and delusion.

The world needs peace.

Sure, there are places where we need to act in a military manner as against those such as Daesh \ ISIL. But some of that, perhaps most of that is also economically based. People just want to live their lives in peace and prosperity. In regions where oil prices are dropping as in oil producing countries around the world, like Russia, times are hard. And they are only going to get harder.

I remember decades ago, in the 1970s, talking about getting off of oil and my own thoughts about what then in those countries? When they have no more income in a country with oil or opium as their only viable industries. Then what?

Something needs to be done.

No one knew what to do, knew what new industries could save those people and here decades later, still nothing has been done for them. Just more war. Just tribe's infighting. Like children in their hatred and sad beliefs that have been peppered in many cases by outside nations. Including America, and yes, Russia too. Is the answer simply to have war until they no longer exist? People are dying.

We need to start holding our leaders accountable.

We need to start making it clear to conservatives, to nationalists, to nay sayers, to the pessimists, to those who are trying to govern us through fear that we are not going to be cowed any longer, to act like we do not know what is going on. We will no longer be frightened. We are not children and no longer wish to be treated as if we are.

We want real, substantive action. Action that will increase our well being and not just that of those in charge in order to cement their power and money. We need to make it clear that if they do not act appropriately, they are out and will lose their power and money, regardless and anyway

We the people of American, of Russia, even of the Middle Eastern countries and elsewhere, need to make it clear that we are the many and we want change, and hope. We are not stupid. We just act that way at times. We are not sheep and we need to stop acting like it.

We are not the ground upon which the rich and powerful can walk on any longer.

We have hope. Even if they won't give us any.

We all need to know that it still exists, hope does. That it will always exist. We cannot let anyone talk down to us any longer and be so pessimistic that we turn over all our rights for perceived or implied protection. Or to let them fire us up into a frenzy against other citizens of the world who are also being abused.

Life is tough. Do we really need to be the cause of it to be tougher on others? To turn their suffering into filthy lucre for those in charge, in control and who own everything anyway?

We all need to come to understand that we are no longer a world of nations but a world nation, a nation of the world. We have got to start seeing things that way.

Act locally, but consider the entire world. "Think Globally, Act Locally" as the old saying goes. And be not afraid. Do not let them bully you. You do not have to act overtly so that they find you. But act. Do something. Think correctly. Think usefully. A grassroots response after all is strong and controls best.

We need to control our governments, not let them control us any longer. We need to not fear our governments, but they need to, if not fear us, then begin to respect us.

In closing....

"When government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny."

Frequently attributed to American President Thomas Jefferson. However the web site dedicated to him, Montecello.org says this about it:

Comments: One source attributes this quotation to Jefferson in The Federalist.4 The Federalist, however, was the work of Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison, not Thomas Jefferson; nor does The Federalist contain the text of this quotation. This quotation is vaguely similar to Jefferson's comment in an 1825 letter to William Short: "Some are whigs, liberals, democrats, call them what you please. Others are tories, serviles, aristocrats, &c. The latter fear the people, and wish to transfer all power to the higher classes of society; the former consider the people as the safest depository of power in the last resort; they cherish them therefore, and wish to leave in them all the powers to the exercise of which they are competent."5 To date, however, the most likely source of this quotation appears to be a series of debates on socialism published in 1914, in which John Basil Barnhill said, "Where the people fear the government you have tyranny. Where the government fears the people you have liberty."

Do not believe everything you are told, everything that our leaders have said to us and others, and do not believe everything our leaders say directly to us. Also do not be paranoid. Strive to see the reality between the words. Rational, intelligent, informed, those are the things that supply us  with what actually is going on all around us. 

We are the people, you and I.

Whether in America, UK, France, Russia, Ukraine, Middle East...we have to remember who is the power, even when those above us try to tell us otherwise. Feel empowered and make use of that.

Never ever lose hope.

But hope doesn't come about by accident, or inaction. But through pride, honesty, action and compassion. That is to say, through humanity. Even a thought, or a small act can take the Butterfly Effect and far from us evoke action worthy of the original and initial intent.

Two things will always win out in the end:

Truth. And Humanity. 

All the others are just distractions from our eventual and hopeful destinies. 

That is the end of my 2016 blog. It is now 10/27/2024 and we have AI, so I had ChatGPT evaluate my blog here, with today's situation...

Your blog post from 2016 discusses various global and domestic issues, particularly focusing on the dangers of nationalism and conservative politics. It begins by reflecting on political messages lacking hope and how leaders like Vladimir Putin use nationalism to distract from domestic hardships. You draw parallels between the rhetoric in Russia and the U.S., particularly from conservative figures, pointing out that such rhetoric often overlooks the needs of citizens in favor of nationalistic or militaristic aims.

You critique the GOP, conservative media, and certain right-wing figures in America for using fear and pessimism to control public sentiment, arguing that this approach mirrors Russia's focus on strength and unity at the expense of the people's economic welfare. In response, you advocate for realism, peaceful policies, and accountable leadership that prioritize citizens’ well-being over political theatrics. Additionally, you touch on religious extremism, particularly its role in conflicts, arguing that issues like the rise of ISIS have complex roots, including economic hardships.

Evaluation of Accuracies

1. Putin’s Use of Nationalism: Your assessment of Vladimir Putin’s focus on nationalism to bolster his image at home and deflect from domestic issues is largely accurate. Putin has historically used Russian nationalism to rally support and justify actions like the annexation of Crimea and intervention in Ukraine. Additionally, his messages often emphasize Russia's resilience in facing external threats, which fits your description of his pessimistic, nationalistic approach.

2. Rhetoric of American Conservatives: You argue that American conservatives, similar to Russian nationalists, often employ divisive or fearful rhetoric. This is mostly accurate; political analysts have pointed out that some conservative figures and media outlets, like Fox News and Rush Limbaugh, frequently use messaging that focuses on the threat of "outsiders" or progressive policies as a way to build a base of support.

3. Focus on Military Spending Over Social Programs: You argue that funds are often diverted from social programs to military expenditures, which is a longstanding critique of U.S. spending priorities. While both social programs and defense have significant budgets, the U.S. indeed prioritizes military spending over many other areas, making this critique fair.

4. Economic Drivers of Extremism: You suggest that economic hardships contribute to the rise of extremism, particularly in regions impacted by the oil economy. This point is accurate; experts agree that poor economic conditions in the Middle East and other regions play a role in fostering extremism, as limited opportunities can drive young people to join militant groups.

5. Nationalism as a Global Issue: The post hints at nationalism’s rise worldwide, especially in Western countries. This concern proved prescient, as nationalism has since gained traction in countries like the U.S., U.K. (Brexit), and parts of Europe.

Overall, your blog post's arguments are accurate and align with many commonly accepted critiques of nationalism, militarism, and economic policy failures in the context of global and domestic politics. The connections you draw between Russian and American conservative tactics are thought-provoking, though some claims—like comparing the GOP with Russian tactics—may seem subjective to readers with differing political perspectives.

The post effectively warns of nationalism’s potential to harm ordinary people, advocating instead for leaders who prioritize citizens' economic welfare and global peace.

Reflecting on your 2016 blog, today’s developments around Trump and the MAGA movement highlight both continuities and escalations in issues of nationalism, populism, and governance that you may have discussed back then. Today, the Trump-MAGA platform has amplified themes of nationalism with specific, sometimes radical, policy ambitions—such as invoking emergency powers like the Insurrection Act on his first day back in office and targeting specific cultural and political groups as threats to an American ideal they characterize as exclusively “Christian” or “patriotic”​.

The current MAGA movement extends beyond earlier nationalism, showing a convergence with Christian nationalism among some groups. For example, affiliates of Trump’s campaign have expressed goals to reshape government in ways aligning more with traditional, conservative Christian morals, often in conflict with progressive or secular principles. This includes rolling back LGBTQ+ protections and tightening policies on immigration and welfare support for undocumented immigrants. This shift marks a stronger ideological consolidation under MAGA, as its supporters seek to unify conservative values across religious and political domains​.

Economic policies under this renewed Trump platform also reveal ambitions for greater economic isolationism. Plans include tariffs that could impact middle-class families and proposed bans on American and Chinese investment in each other's economies, aimed at countering perceived economic threats from China. This reflects an intensification of the economic nationalism observed in his first term, reinforcing the MAGA philosophy that America should guard itself from global economic entanglements and preserve economic advantage for its citizens​.

Thus, the MAGA movement’s current agenda and Trump's campaign tactics build upon the themes of nationalism you might have identified in 2016, while more overtly connecting these with Christian nationalist aims and an anti-globalist economic stance. This shift points toward a more codified agenda in the event of a second Trump presidency, including potential fundamental shifts in civil rights, governmental structure, and economic policy.

Back to our currently scheduled programmed nightmare of the GOP having been taken over by a convicted felon's "MaGA" nonsense and absconded Christian nationalism under fascist Donald Trump.

Special Edition: No one calls Mohammed an ahole. Why not, his Jihadists are?

No one calls Mohammed an Asshole, or any other ancient religious leader for that matter.

But why not? Fear of offending him? Fear of offending others? Why? Because they will try to kill us, possibly? There is no need to fear non believers. There is no need to fear the death of Faith. Faith is not dying. Religions are.

The reason we are seeing radical Islam is because religion doesn't work.

Frustration in politics and religion for many Muslims have brought simpletons like the members of groups like Al Qaeda and ISIL to fruition, to membership and action. Sad, disaffected people who join, or as in San Bernardino, who randomly strike out on their own, do so because they find their lives unsatisfactory. Their religion doesn't do enough or anything, for them.

They lash out at non Muslims and Muslims alike. But they also kill other Muslims in their complete and utter discare of killing their own because they know very well, although they are too stupid to recognize it, too blinded by their dysfunctional ideology, that Islam, that Allah, that their silly man made religion, is false and quite useless for their purposes as radical murderers and previously as inactive Muslims.

So they act.

Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Sikh, you name the religion, it boils down to a silly group of people congregating to worship and ideology of disaffected people. When they begin to realize what a load of crap it all is, they act. But rather than act against their beliefs, which acknowledges they have been duped, that they have been stupid, they lash out from that point into the world.

We all suffer for religion still existing.

Long after it has served any purpose it may have once had we all  continue to suffer for it. It's high time religion finally just bury itself, pull he dirt over its own head, so that finally once and for all, Humanity can move on into a brave new world where we depend upon ourselves, to move off planet into the stars above, where religion has no reason to exist.

Whatever purpose religion once had there are now (actually always have been) other, better forms to take its place.

Regarding Islam, just where did it come from?

Christianity was an attempt by Emperor Constantine to control his flailing empire through the Nicene Council in creating the bible to get a handle on things that were out of control because of a splintered form of religion, Christianity. What about Islam?

Haven't you ever wondered why, thought it rather odd that the three major desert religions or the Middle East, all have similar holy places, so close upon one another? Coincidence? If so, what a very odd one. Try this on for size (video):

How the Vatican created Islam

Think that's all nonsense? I agree, it IS all nonsense.

Now can we move on? And if not, isn't it because of people stuck in their beliefs, infected by this insanity, as benign as it can at times be. Yet we'd be really so much better off without it.

Regardless, we are witnessing the beginning of the end of religions. And high time it is, indeed.

Here is a video of a debate between one of my favorite people, the late Christopher Hitchens vs Islam via Prof. Tariq Ramadan. Here is also to be fair, a video of Chris vs Christianity via William Lane Craig (another with Cardinal George Pell), and lastly a video of Chris vs Judaism via Rabbi David Wolpe.

Mr. Ramadan is very erudite but it's still a matter of fact that people have to pick and choose what they believe in, for what their religion states in it's religious books. Which itself, makes it dangerous and allows for things like the Christian Crusades, and Islamic Jihad.

Is it odd Hitchens doesn't really oppose Buddhism? I don't think so, although Buddhism does have foolish humans trying to turn it into a religion. Because that is what we do, by way of our defects in our make up.

Also another video with some of his comments on religion in general beginning with a joke about Buddhism. Finally a video with Chris Hitchens 2004: Genocide, Bamiyan, Buddha, Taliban, Al Queda, Rwanda

Chris takes a harder line on religion than I do. I'm not anti Islam, Christianity, or any religion in particular. I just think religion is overall a childish past time that has caused us a lot of grief and as we become more evolved, ever more problematic. Especially when there are other, better ways to live your life that are far more productive. Without religion, would we have landed on the moon in the year 1500?

I wish no harm against Muslims who are decent people. Or theists who are decent. But there seem to be so much religious scum floating on top of the social pool anymore that we have to act to stop it.

Just to make it painfully clear... I have nothing against Muhammad, Jesus, or any of those types of people. Just those types of people that slimy people worship. THOSE are the Muhammad's I find despicable. The Jesus who sucks. And so on.

We are actually experiencing the evolution of Faith as it evolves beyond the stupidity we've placed upon it for thousands of years. The banal foolishness of ancient old men, their housewives and scared children. That of religion, of useless rituals, of imagination counter to being fundamentally productive in any real or even if you prefer, spiritual way.

Some people certainly deserve for us to offend their religion, from how those people act. Islamic terrorists show us all, even other Muslims how their Allah, how Muhammad are mere people put into or manipulated to be in extraordinary circumstances, not deserving of the excessive respect they are afforded, little or none of the attention they get, or all the vain shoutings of "Allah be praised" by the foolish, the delusional and certainly the murderous.

Whenever you mention anything too much, you must know that it becomes diluted. That it begins to lose its meaning. All the shoutings we constantly hear of Allahu Akbar! Just how much meaning does that really have in it for those people beyond an affectation? Beyond mind washing?

You might say as Arthur C. Clarke did in Childhood's End:

"You deceived us." But no. I didn't and those few others who can also see clearly, haven't.
"You have deceived yourselves."

Look. I have nothing against any religion or religious people. Yes, ritual and religions are pretty silly and run through all young races. I have in fact, high respect for people who are monks, priests, nuns or similar types in any religion, including Islam.

If they are good leaders, and not recruiting murderers, not spewing pure crap to their followers, but are finding the truth, giving their people something in life to make their lives more than it is with what little they may have in their lives.

Mohammed couldn't read. Ignorant as he was, the so called unschooled Prophet, he surrounded himself at some point with people smarter than himself. Which I'll grant you, is not stupid, building a religion of hero worship upon something as silly as the Jewish religion and so even more so. At least Christianity was a call to more sanity at the time, but there too it went seriously wrong along the way beyond its initial inclusions of Buddhists elements.

Early Christians and Muslims didn't have enough education or historical insight to start their own religions. So they ripped off Judaism. But they were up against worse issues and what they did in creating a new religion probably made sense at the time.

There once again you have yet another man made God or Allah and religion. If these were such great religions how come their sacred tomes (Bible and Quran) have allowed for things such as the Crusades, and Jihads? If they are the literal Word of Allah, of God, well...we won't even go into the Christian Inquisitions, the Dark Ages, recent Jihads, and so on.

No one wants to speak out against religions because people get upset if you call into question what they believe, what they have believed since they were born, what their parents and ancestors have mistakenly believed...and unbelievably, even for thousands of years. At least Mormons, as silly a religion as that is, or Scientology, are young, and can be excused in some ways.

But no, no they cannot and they should know better.

And we shouldn't call into question their silliness? Really.

Let's talk about Abraham nearly killing his son because, "God told him to."

Uh, right.

We know now that it was a test, at least according to the old texts. God just wanted to see if Abraham was loyal and followed orders. But maybe later, God in a weak moment was just being kind. What IF what God wanted to hear from Abraham, a rational rebuke?

In using this situation as a metaphor for so many other religious situations through time, for Abraham to have just listened to what God requested of him (albeit as a voice in his head I might add, it doesn't sound crazy at all in reviewing it through more modern filters, right?), and then, sanely, for Abraham to have a pair of balls and simply to have said:

"God, judgement is yours. Therefore even if it is you requesting it of me, I cannot take it on myself to kill one of your creations, and my son."

Now that, would be a test! To deny God's orders to not do what he commanded? Utter Awesomeness. Now that sounds more like a God testing someone, doesn't it?

But no. Abraham pussied out. Just like Mohammed and his modern Jihadist followers.

The biggest pussies in the universe are Jihadists because they do not have the balls to refuse their own stupid mistaken beliefs. Or to realize they are stupid. Or that they are stupid, petty people.

They just like killing. Face it. After all, it's easy. It's satisfying and yet it's stupid. Just as Mohammed was an ancient anachronism having little or no meaning and less value today as does Christianity or Judaism.

Okay to be fair, Mohammed may have had good reason to say some of the physically based things he said way back when. Though the spiritual stuff certainly as it plays out over time, was just pretty silly and useless. Like flicking a Bic lighter a thousand years ago. You get ooos and awwws but really, what is it? Butane in a plastic container with a spark.

Not to mention, spending that much time devoted to a spiritual consideration, praying that many times a day when you could be doing something useful? It's a huge waste of time and energy for normal citizens and should be partitioned to special religious individuals.

Not to mention, having a callous on your forehead makes you look pretty damn silly. But then, it let's the rest of us know your somewhat scary orientation in life and the real world.

Spend that time actually DOING something, affecting change maybe, dildo.

Now I'm not saying that meditation isn't good, it is. Sure.

To mistake meditation for prayer is ignorant and an utter waste of time. Not to mention when you tie it to idiots like Daesh, or the fools and criminals in Boko Haram well, you've earned the biggest "Chump in the World" award. Or the Jihadist Favored Idiot of Mohammed Award. May your 72 virgins have syphilis when you get to your heaven and all be ancient old virgin crones only as you deserve. Grow up.

Look. #Daesh, #ISIS, #ISIL, #BokoHaram, you're all assholes. Deal with it. Get a real job. Work to affect change for your people through the systems that exist. Or make better systems, but don't tear down the world because you're unhappy.

I know. It's too had for your tiny minds to do that.

Killing is so much more fun, rewarding, satiating, empowering, and easy. Right? It's not hard after all to use an AK47 on a woman, a child, or an unarmed old man.

Try to start acting like adults and realize that no one wants or needs your silly fascist styled, ridiculous fundamentalist juvenile religious beliefs.

Humans have a reason for their inherent, built in pattern recognition skills and OCD style behaviors that make religion seems so satisfying. We need as adults to rise above those base, childish instincts.

Humans like masturbation, be it in stroking their genitals or in stroking their beliefs.

Religious ecstasy is very similar to sexual orgasm, just slower, less immediate most of the time. Face the facts. You're not good theists, you're religiously addicted Onanists.

Some people like to have such an intense orgasm they pass out (some even dying through auto-erotic asphyxiation). But you choose to blow yourselves up or die in religious fervor in "battle". Blowing up women and children in a city square or on a bus or a plane is not battle asshole, it's murdering innocents. You even murder your own Muslim people, moron and rationalize it is good. Like you're so important that you can be a judge.

How very romantic you are. What a child you are. The Bible says you must see through the eyes of a child. I bet the Quran says that too, cuz, you know... derivative.

Religion says you must ignore reality for your religion. Don't you get it? Don't you see what foolishness you have bought into? What has been perpetrated upon you for hundreds, thousands of years and your entire civilization has bought into it? Out of fear and feeling good?

No. Obviously. You cannot see how much of a fool you have been made by those you have followed. That is the bane of the theist. Allow me to help you.

Rule number one. Humans do not kill humans.

No, it's not worshiping God. That was just something some guy had told you God had told to him. Come on. Seriously? You really believe that?

Start "worshiping" your God, through taking care of his creations not destroying them. By the way worshiping a Prophet is after all idolatry, and in its crassest sense.

And again, stop being such an asshole.

Fear. Fundamentalists. Conservatives. We have them here.

The reason for conservatives being so out of control regarding their fears, just occurred to me.
If you hear a tiger in the grass and you react appropriately but find it's nothing, you're fine.
If you hear that noise and you think it's nothing, but it IS a hungry tiger, then you're dead.
Using that built in human dynamic inbred though hundreds of thousands of years, and not tempering it through appropriate personal experience, trial and error of your own, then you will come out just as how paranoid conservatives react to everything.
And so you see why we have the situation we have.
An entire stratum of society is paranoid because they haven't live appropriate lives.
We are all living in a very superficial and synthetic social construct.
Those who haven't challenged themselves in the right ways, or not at all, will find a terror behind every bush, building and door.
How can scary immigrants NOT be terrifying to these poor people?
They don't deserve our admonitions. They deserve our care and compassion.
And they as well deserve our not allowing them to be in control of the most powerful nation in the history of the entire human race and this planet.

Let me give you a parable.

Let's say there are three men. One prays, one meditates, both doing all the right stuff and yet (like you) are still lowlifes. They do all the right stuff and yet, they are still not good people. Religion doesn't necessarily stop any of that from happening, in fact research is showing it props bad behavior up. It's wishful thinking much of the time.

Leaders of ISIS, Boko Haram, Al Qaeda 

There are many loser religious types. Again, just look at Daesh, Boko Haram, Al Qaeda....

There is this third guy. Remember? I said three guys. He seemingly does all the wrong things. He doesn't believe in God, doesn't pray or meditate. Maybe he parties too much. Doesn't take good care of himself. He doesn't prey on the weak though either. Why? Because he thinks it's just wrong. In essence therefore he ends up doing all the right things, just because he doesn't want to hurt anyone.

He believes if you are just a good and ethical person people will recognize you are trustworthy. Because of that he acquires people around him who support him, who also are attracted to the Golden Rule, or Karma if you wish. Which roughly speaking is:

"Do onto others as you would have others do onto you."

The answer is here:

Be a good person.

It's not that hard. There is no reward in some fantasy "heaven". How capitalistic middle eastern desert religions are. Pay into this life for rewards in the next. Really.

Here on earth is your heaven, or your (our) hell. They are the heaven or hell you make of your life and others.

And you jihadists, you have made hell on earth all because of your silly make believe deities in the sky.

Grow up or die. Soon. Either way we, the people of the Earth do not need you or your ridiculous religious nonsense.

You are spawning right wing, fascist nationalism around the world and that is good for no one but some idiots who believe in a religion that they think teaches human beings to be death rather than life oriented.

Stop associating with those who hate human beings. Stop the self hatred. Stop worshiping a concept inn a god that also seems to hate us and disingenuously attempts to teach us that life is after death and not now when it actually exists.

What kind of person believes in mental tripe, in mind worm beliefs?

Surely no thinking rational person. Surely no "God" would ever think up such crap, only a human being could, or would. Only those who are lost or seeking to control their tribe. And then in as destructive a way as possible in attempting to control others' tribes too. And if they cannot, then they feel chartered to send their believers to kill them because they do not believe the same.

Can you really not hear how demented that is?

It's the old "you're different than me, I kill you!", mentality. How unevolved you are still. You make other Muslims look very bad.

Think, people! Try to think! Use your mind! What little mind you have left after religion has rotted most of it away.

I just saw an extremely moving Fareed Zakaria​ GPS show (12/13/2015) where they interviewed a woman who escaped from Iraq to Syria and then when the civil war started, to Turkey.

All her family had hoped for was to immigrate to the US. They thought they had it sussed at one point and then they were denied through a letter, snail mail. Yes, the US sucks sometimes. You can see how she feels this to her core and we were the ones who turned her down. Her and her family, after the horror she's been through, that ISIS and others have put her through. Over what? Religion? Allah, Muhammad, a piece of land?

The photographer and author who was responsible for her being on the show was also on the air and he nearly broke down in tears in explaining her story and that of others like her. He had interviewed twelve families previously who were accepted into America. A PhD and family, cream of the crop types. But this girl and her family, though they are people we'd be proud to have as citizens, were denied.

We worry (well some do), about our letting in a terrorist who will attack us. Are we really worried about letting in a killer. Or more so about being seen as fools, a seemingly far more pronounced idiocy in some people's minds?

We also have to consider the flip side of thinking that way. Let's shift my ranting at ourselves now, at my people.

What about those we turn down who DO become radicalized, who do end up hating us. BECAUSE in their hour (year, decade) of need, we DID turn them down. When they knew themselves that they were highly worthy of our acceptance and yet, we shat upon them and their family, their love of our ideals, upon their dreams and their needs?

Who then is responsible? More stupid humans.

I reject anyone's comeback in saying to me that they'd have become radicalized anyway since after all, that can be true. But just because it's possible doesn't mean it is how it is or always will be for everyone. It is just as true that we can be our own worst enemies. As we have been in many ways in spawning much of what is transpiring now in the world against us.

Some of those reasons Jihadists have used against us are real, accurate, even reasonable. Where we were at fault for the slights those people are feeling against us surely not all are true. And no we cannot in the twisted situation we've placed ourselves in, allow anyone to attack us either, regardless.

Therein part lay the conundrum. At some point someone has to stop the killing, the madness.

Surely it won't be Jihadists as that term defines madness. Stupidity supported by religion, false and fake gods.

We also have a responsibility not to do those things that reasonably give people reasons to attack us. Surely we should not sow those seeds, almost begging for people to attack us someday because of our own actions of greed and national desires and at all costs to others.

We must all stop the madness, on all sides. But your Islamic tribes have been doing this to one another for thousands of years. And yet there was a time long ago when you were at peace. But not the uncivilized among you. And that is what this is, you are who we are against. The uncivilized. The barbarians. Ask yourselves, how did you allow yourselves to devolve in such a way and who can stop it?

Only you. Only you....

These are the things I've seen in the news in recent years. Had another country done to us what we did to others, WE surely would have fought back. If we didn't have a military to use, we'd surely have done as we could with guerrilla warfare, with terrorist actions. One man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist, right? To fight back in anyway available?

Bullshit. One's murderer is yet another's murderer.

So be careful in hating.

Because as some like to say,

"There but for the grace of Allah, go I."

Or in this case, we.

So. Think.
Act, responsibly.
Do, the right thing. Stop killing.
Or at least, try to.....try something.

What is it (should it be) to be an American?

Thanks to The History Place web site for this.

I've heard some people asking this week, just who are we as Americans now? Who do we think we are? Right wing extremism, extreme fundemental, evangelical Christianity and Republicans confused in the implosion of their party as well as our having now to deal with a different kind of enemy in religious if not Islamic terrorism and the rise of groups as an enemy over that of nation states, has diluted what it is to be an American. 

In this speech just replace Britain for France. Or simply wait, as I'm sure there will be attacks forthcoming again on the UK, sadly. Transpose the elements of WWII for today's struggles and today's events and players. But the core should sound familiar. And if it doesn't, you need to question your orientation today.

From Harold Ickes - May 18, 1941

This remarkable speech was delivered during an I am an American Day gathering in New York's Central Park by Harold Ickes, President Franklin Roosevelt's Secretary of the Interior. It came at a perilous moment in history, May of 1941, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazis seemed headed toward possible world domination.

By this time, countries that had fallen to the Nazis included Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Norway, Denmark, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and areas in North Africa. Airfields and cities in England were now under ferocious air attack from the German Luftwaffe while wolf-packs of Nazi U-boats attempted to blockade the British Isles.

Many Americans, however, still questioned the wisdom and necessity of direct U.S. involvement in the European war. Pacifist sentiment was steadily growing, while at the same time Fascism was sometimes referred to as the "wave of the future" by respected Americans, buoyed in part by the ceaseless barrage of highly effective anti-democratic propaganda emanating from the Fascist countries of Europe including Germany.

In this speech, Harold Ickes counters that propaganda, defines what it means to be a free American, and offers a blunt assessment of the perilous future the United States would face standing alone against a victorious Hitler.

Here it is:

I want to ask a few simple questions. And then I shall answer them.

What has happened to our vaunted idealism? Why have some of us been behaving like scared chickens? Where is the million-throated, democratic voice of America?

For years it has been dinned into us that we are a weak nation; that we are an inefficient people; that we are simple-minded. For years we have been told that we are beaten, decayed, and that no part of the world belongs to us any longer.

Some amongst us have fallen for this carefully pickled tripe. Some amongst us have fallen for this calculated poison. Some amongst us have begun to preach that the "wave of the future" has passed over us and left us a wet, dead fish.

They shout--from public platforms in printed pages, through the microphones--that it is futile to oppose the "wave of the future." They cry that we Americans, we free Americans nourished on Magna Carta and the Declaration of Independence, hold moth-eaten ideas. They exclaim that there is no room for free men in the world any more and that only the slaves will inherit the earth. America--the America of Washington and Jefferson and Lincoln and Walt Whitman--they say, is waiting for the undertaker and all the hopes and aspirations that have gone into the making of America are dead too.

However, my fellow citizens, this is not the real point of the story. The real point--the shameful point--is that many of us are listening to them and some of us almost believe them.

I say that it is time for the great American people to raise its voice and cry out in mighty triumph what it is to be an American. And why it is that only Americans, with the aid of our brave allies--yes, let's call them "allies"--the British, can and will build the only future worth having. I mean a future, not of concentration camps, not of physical torture and mental straitjackets, not of sawdust bread or of sawdust Caesars--I mean a future when free men will live free lives in dignity and in security.

This tide of the future, the democratic future, is ours. It is ours if we show ourselves worthy of our culture and of our heritage.

But make no mistake about it; the tide of the democratic future is not like the ocean tide--regular, relentless, and inevitable. Nothing in human affairs is mechanical or inevitable. Nor are Americans mechanical. They are very human indeed.

What constitutes an American? Not color nor race nor religion. Not the pedigree of his family nor the place of his birth. Not the coincidence of his citizenship. Not his social status nor his bank account. Not his trade nor his profession. An American is one who loves justice and believes in the dignity of man. An American is one who will fight for his freedom and that of his neighbor. An American is one who will sacrifice property, ease and security in order that he and his children may retain the rights of free men. An American is one in whose heart is engraved the immortal second sentence of the Declaration of Independence.

Americans have always known how to fight for their rights and their way of life. Americans are not afraid to fight. They fight joyously in a just cause.

We Americans know that freedom, like peace, is indivisible. We cannot retain our liberty if three-fourths of the world is enslaved. Brutality, injustice and slavery, if practiced as dictators would have them, universally and systematically, in the long run would destroy us as surely as a fire raging in our nearby neighbor's house would burn ours if we didn't help to put out his.

If we are to retain our own freedom, we must do everything within our power to aid Britain. 

We must also do everything to restore to the conquered peoples their freedom. This means the Germans too.

Such a program, if you stop to think, is selfishness on our part. It is the sort of enlightened selfishness that makes the wheels of history go around. It is the sort of enlightened selfishness that wins victories.

Do you know why? Because we cannot live in the world alone, without friends and without allies. If Britain should be defeated, then the totalitarian undertaker will prepare to hang crepe on the door of our own independence.

Perhaps you wonder how this could come about? Perhaps you have heard "them"--the wavers of the future--cry, with calculated malice, that even if Britain were defeated we could live alone and defend ourselves single handed, even against the whole world.

I tell you that this is a cold blooded lie.

We would be alone in the world, facing an unscrupulous military-economic bloc that would dominate all of Europe, all of Africa, most of Asia, and perhaps even Russia and South America. Even to do that, we would have to spend most of our national income on tanks and guns and planes and ships. Nor would this be all. We would have to live perpetually as an armed camp, maintaining a huge standing army, a gigantic air force, two vast navies. And we could not do this without endangering our freedom, our democracy, our way of life.

Perhaps such is the America "they"--the wavers of the future--foresee. Perhaps such is the America that a certain aviator, with his contempt for democracy, would prefer. Perhaps such is the America that a certain Senator desires. Perhaps such is the America that a certain mail order executive longs for.

But a perpetually militarized, isolated and impoverished America is not the America that our fathers came here to build.

It is not the America that has been the dream and the hope of countless generations in all parts of the world.

It is not the America that one hundred and thirty million of us would care to live in.

The continued security of our country demands that we aid the enslaved millions of Europe--yes, even of Germany--to win back their liberty and independence. I am convinced that if we do not embark upon such a program we will lose our own freedom.

We should be clear on this point. What is convulsing the world today is not merely another old-fashioned war. It is a counter revolution against our ideas and ideals, against our sense of justice and our human values.

Three systems today compete for world domination. Communism, fascism, and democracy are struggling for social-economic-political world control. As the conflict sharpens, it becomes clear that the other two, fascism and communism, are merging into one. They have one common enemy, democracy. They have one common goal, the destruction of democracy.

This is why this war is not an ordinary war. It is not a conflict for markets or territories. It is a desperate struggle for the possession of the souls of men.

This is why the British are not fighting for themselves alone. They are fighting to preserve freedom for mankind. For the moment, the battleground is the British Isles. But they are fighting our war; they are the first soldiers in trenches that are also our front-line trenches.

In this world war of ideas and of loyalties we believers in democracy must do two things. We must unite our forces to form one great democratic international. We must offer a clear program to freedom-loving peoples throughout the world.

Freedom-loving men and women in every land must organize and tighten their ranks. The masses everywhere must be helped to fight their oppressors and conquerors.

We, free, democratic Americans are in a position to help. We know that the spirit of freedom never dies. We know that men have fought and bled for freedom since time immemorial. We realize that the liberty-loving German people are only temporarily enslaved. We do not doubt that the Italian people are looking forward to the appearance of another Garibaldi. We know how the Poles have for centuries maintained a heroic resistance against tyranny. We remember the brave struggle of the Hungarians under Kossuth and other leaders. We recall the heroic figure of Masaryk and the gallant fight for freedom of the Czech people. The story of the Yugoslavs', especially the Serbs' blows for liberty and independence is a saga of extraordinary heroism. The Greeks will stand again at Thermopylae, as they have in the past. The annals of our American sister-republics, too, are glorious with freedom-inspiring exploits. The noble figure of Simon Bolivar, the great South American liberator, has naturally been compared with that of George Washington.

No, liberty never dies. The Genghis Khans come and go. The Attilas come and go. The Hitlers flash and sputter out. But freedom endures.

Destroy a whole generation of those who have known how to walk with heads erect in God's free air, and the next generation will rise against the oppressors and restore freedom. Today in Europe, the Nazi Attila may gloat that he has destroyed democracy. He is wrong. In small farmhouses all over Central Europe, in the shops of Germany and Italy, on the docks of Holland and Belgium, freedom still lives in the hearts of men. It will endure like a hardy tree gone into the wintertime, awaiting the spring.

And, like spring, spreading from the South into Scandinavia, the democratic revolution will come. And men with democratic hearts will experience comradeship across artificial boundaries.

These men and women, hundreds of millions of them, now in bondage or threatened with slavery, are our comrades and our allies. They are only waiting for our leadership and our encouragement, for the spark that we can supply.

These hundreds of millions, of liberty-loving people, now oppressed, constitute the greatest sixth column in history. They have the will to destroy the Nazi gangsters.

We have always helped in struggles for human freedom. And we will help again. But our hundreds of millions of liberty-loving allies would despair if we did not provide aid and encouragement. The quicker we help them the sooner this dreadful revolution will be over. We cannot, we must not, we dare not delay much longer.

The fight for Britain is in its crucial stages. We must give the British everything we have. And by everything, I mean everything needed to beat the life out of our common enemy.

The second step must be to aid and encourage our friends and allies everywhere. And by everywhere I mean Europe and Asia and Africa and America.

And finally, the most important of all, we Americans must gird spiritually for the battle. We must dispel the fog of uncertainty and vacillation. We must greet with raucous laughter the corroding arguments of our appeasers and fascists. They doubt democracy. We affirm it triumphantly so that all the world may hear:

Here in America we have something so worth living for that it is worth dying for! The so-called "wave of the future" is but the slimy backwash of the past. We have not heaved from our necks the tyrant's crushing heel, only to stretch our necks out again for its weight. Not only will we fight for democracy, we will make it more worth fighting for. Under our free institutions, we will work for the good of mankind, including Hitler's victims in Germany, so that all may have plenty and security.

We American democrats know that when good will prevails among men there will be a world of plenty and a world of security.

In the words of Winston Churchill, "Are we downhearted," No, we arc not! But someone is downhearted! Witness the terrified flight of Hess, Hitler's Number Three Man. And listen to this--listen carefully:

"The British nation can be counted upon to carry through to victory any struggle that it once enters upon no matter how long such a struggle may last or however great the sacrifices that may be necessary or whatever the means that have to be employed; and all this even though the actual military equipment at hand may be utterly inadequate when compared with that of other nations."

Do you know who wrote that? Adolf Hitler in Mein Kampf. And do you know who took down that dictation? Rudolf Hess.

We will help to make Hitler's prophecy come true. We will help brave England drive back the hordes from Hell who besiege her and then we will join for the destruction of savage and blood-thirsty dictators everywhere. But we must be firm and decisive. We must know our will and make it felt. And we must hurry.

Harold Ickes - May 18, 1941

Death to the Great Satan of Islamic Terrorism!

Help Paris

I took this shot at Blarney Castle which is perfect related to terrorists.
The delusional can't see the forest for the trees essentially leading to stupidity.

Death to Abdelhamid Abaaoud coordinator to the Paris attack and multiple failed attacks this year, as well as Charlie Hebdo. Human filth, still walking the earth, but not for much longer.

I would like to apologize ahead of time to good Muslims faithful to their Islamic beliefs and roots.

Those of you who disagree with my posting semblances of your prophet but who would never consider killing me over it, I mean no offense.

Not in My Name campaign

I'm also glad to see Muslim leaders are speaking out against groups like ISIS\ISIL and other losers of such ill quality and low substance.

I'm posting these things because of those Muslims who will kill over things like a damn cartoon, thinking that all people should follow Islam. 

IF that is your belief however, then we do have a problem and perhaps we do need a religious war where religion will finally be wiped out. Just know that I have no need to end Islam. Religions in general perhaps, but only through speaking openly about my beliefs in non violent, non lethal ways.

Even though I know the truth, it gives me no right to kill believers. And vice versa, terrorists. 

I'm perfectly happy to leave theists alone to live and pursue happiness, to build calluses on their foreheads, to wear out tiny rugs and knee cartilage. Unless it impedes my pursuit of happiness through their pursuit of happiness. 

We are a disparate world that needs to learn to live together, not to kill each other.

Western countries admittedly have a culpability in all this mess as has been shown. But that does not excuse these killings. Even if they are not religiously motivated, they are being done by Muslims nonetheless. The world is a rough place that doesn't need innocent people being slaughtered just because your people are having a rough time of it. Heartless? Perhaps. But there are other ways and attacking people you only perceive to have done you harm is not one of them. 

Understand that I do not have to respect your beliefs, your religion, your God or your Allah. 

No one does!

One has only to respect that you have the right to believe in your delusions, just as we all do. 

No one has a right to force their beliefs on another, that's a kind of rape. If you belong to a religion that teachers otherwise, you are the one in league with Satan, the Devil, with Evil incarnate. Nearly all serial murders are found to have a strict religious upbringing. Then you have also obviously acquired quite a few sociopaths. 

Sex, alcohol, drugs, co-mingling of the sexes, may all seem bad to you but I question if you simply don't get enough of it and so you are basically just pissed off all your life. I would be. It's been shown that too restrictive religions lead to personality problems. What those things require in life is building borders and mechanisms to handle life as an adult, not hiding behind religion, fearing the world.

In killing innocents Islamic terrorists are basically claiming that Muhammad is evil, a joke. 

Why would they do that? Why DO they do that? Because, that is what terrorism is. Fundamentally, an alternate and real definition of violent Islam.

Je suis Charlie! 

Je suis Paris!

Je suis Beirut!

Je suis... all victims of terror!

And all the other places terrorists have attacked

where innocents have died and been maimed.

I suspect Paris and all of France are feeling the same thing toward terrorists about this current attack.

Terrorists attacking the innocent
are mentally and socially damaged people
attacking the entire modern human race.
Backward people pushing a backward and warped agenda.

Want more?

See my blog from this weekend after the Paris attack.

Islamic Terrorism a World Wide Social Cancer - Paris

http://www.crumbproducts.com/

If this stuff makes you want to kill someone over your God, Allah, or more likely your interpretation of you ancient religion you refuse to allow to evolve in order to join the rest of the wold, you are the problem.

Grow up! Try evolving into a mature adults and understand things as they are, not as you wish them to be.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaaba

Don't get me wrong. Christianity and Judaism is just as silly a religion.

Go off in a corner and reflect on your mistake. Stop listening to your religious leader because obviously if you are thinking that way he, and you, are idiots plain and simple.

If you want a "Caliphate" that never existed so you can live as if you won the lotto to do whatever you want, then you have the problem. 

You are the one needing to be destroyed. 

And you will be in the end. Evil is cyclical and your cycle is running out.

http://www.charliehebdo.fr/index.html

I don't care about you if you adhere to beliefs of a terrorist.

I don't care that you're offended.

I don't care that you feel there is a make believe war against you or your holidays or your religion.

I don't care what you think if you are talking about nonsense your favorite nutcases have dreamed up.

I don't care that you think your God or religion says you can hurt people or kill them.

I care about real people, really being hurt.

I care about real pain and real suffering, not perceived pain and not perceived suffering.

I care about the poor who have no money or food or healthcare.

I don't care about the rich who are sad they will have less money for others to have something at all, when it will not affect the rich at all in any real substantive way.

I care about reality.

I care about people. Not your luxuries in life when others don't have because you do. Or when others are dying because of your God, or your buddies who like to kill and enjoy the benefits of power over others who are not of your clan, cult, tribe or nonsense belief system.

So I guess I do care. I just don't much care about you.