Since the 7th Century AD, Saudis and Iranians have hated each other over religious differences.
After World War Two, the US becomes an ally of Saudi Arabia, sometimes ally of Iran as well, until hostage situation under President Jimmy Carter.
Under President Ronald Reagan, the US supplied arms to BOTH Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Both Saudi Arabia and Iran want to be top dog in the Middle East.
Donald Trump goes into huge debt to Saudi Arabia going back years.
The US with many other countries signs a treaty with Iran to halt their advance toward nuclear weapons.
Republicans oppose the deal because President Obama negotiated it, and Saudis are against it.
Obama unfreezes Iranian assets because deal is working.
Republicans scream about Obama giving our tax dollars to Iran, but it wasn't ours in the first place..
Donald Trump is elected president, and pulls the US out of the deal.
Trump's debt to Saudis increases.
Every other country, including Russia and China, says the deal was still working, and Iran was complying.
With the US out of the deal, Iran no longer feels it has to comply.with deal.
The Saudis want war with Iran, but can't pull it off on their own.
The Saudis put pressure on Trump for war; Bolton and Pompeo begin cheering in Washington and Netanyahu jumps for joy in Jerusalem..
This is where we are.
This is where we MAY be going...
Trump increases sanctions on Iran; rest of the world (except Saudis) say WTH?
The US and the Saudis start war with Iran over US provocations that had Iran responding.
Russia and China side with Iran.
Europe stays out of it because US has pissed them off so badly.
US, Russia and China have nuclear weapons.
"Christians" jump with joy because Armageddon will bring on the Second Coming and the Rapture, sure that THEY are going to Heaven..
Somehow, Trump will make money from whole scenario.
Monday, June 24, 2019
Thursday, June 20, 2019
Another day of totally random thoughts...
1. Researching businesses in the African-American business district of Danville from 1897 to 1976, I'm struck by several things.
First, in 1897, the area was almost totally residential. By 1942, until the early 60s, the street was humming with businesses, as many as five restaurants in a two-block area, with barber shops, cab companies, civic organizations. Then the decline began. By 1960, there were only as many businesses as there were in 1909. And by the late 1960s, almost all were gone.
My thought has always been that urban renewal destroyed the business district. But not so, apparently. By the time renewal came along, most of the buildings were empty anyway, with only a few businesses left. As one local amateur historian noted to me, the businesses were gone but the owners remained, and urban renewal was one way of getting rid of them.
End result -- I now have a fairly complete list of businesses up and down both sides of South Second Street from Main to Green (now MLK Blvd), so I can "see" the changes over the years.
2. I'm upset at people criticizing Rachel Maddow for giving all the facts, and reading all the quotations she reads.
One woman said, let US read them, you don't have to go point by point explaining everything. Well, yes, Rachel DOES need to go point by point, because a good story connects ALL the facts together, and the only way she can do that is to go point by point. If people don't want to see good teaching, let them watch FOX. Besides, I don't have the time or the access to read all the newspapers she quotes, so I appreciate her doing it for me.
3. I'm upset at the new round of the Democratic Party's circular firing squad.
Biden (I LOVE Joe, but just not this time for president) is being criticized for actually -- get this now -- working with segregationists and racists in the Senate 30 years ago. I thought the idea of representation was to reach consensus, and to compromise, and to do that, one MUST work with others whom one may personally detest. If what the "purists" expect of Biden is an apology, they're in for a surprise.
I'm also wondering where this demand for an apology is coming from. If it's from the Bernie supporters (I LOVE Bernie, but just not this time for president), they're just setting us up for another 2016. Bernie can take the "high ground" while his supporters cut the ground out from other Dems, so that if Bernie does not get the nomination (which he won't), they can say they supported him, but they can also avoid voting for whomever does get the nomination. Result? Four more years of Trump.
4. Speaking of Trump, how about this? You're sinking in the polls, Congress and the courts are after you and your family, you're totally incompetent as a leader because you know everything but you know nothing, you don't listen to those who DO, and your cabinet is a revolving door. You distrust all your advisors including the CIA and the FBI, but you think Putin is the cat's meow. So what do you do? Of course, you fake a war with Iran -- something you said repeatedly that Obama would do. 58,000 dead in Vietnam over a lie, and 5,000+ dead in Iraq over a lie weren't enough apparently.
5. And now, the latest controversy is over what to call the "detention centers" where thousands of people are being held. To me, if people are kept behind fences and barbed wire and not allowed to leave, it's a concentration camp. Just because "illegals" aren't being gassed and burned doesn't make it any less. We didn't murder Japanese internees in the 1940s, but they were still concentration camps.
6. The decision by the city of Portland, Maine, to accept several hundred asylum seekers from Africa is a wonderful decision made by a city that is caring and compassionate.
The reaction of many Mainers, however, is straight out of Mississippi in 1950. I am totally ashamed that so many of my former statees are so openly racist and bigoted.
7. Why are we helping illegals when we aren't caring for our own veterans?
Too many assume that "illegals" get all the benefits of citizens. They do NOT, but these troglodytes don't let facts get in the way of their racist opinions. I'd ask just what have Republicans done to help veterans? And I've been told that Trump is the best friend veterans ever had -- by MAGA-hat-wearing cultists.
We CAN do both, as a compassionate nation, we MUST do both. And if we just taxed the 0.01% of the richest multi-billionaires just 0.01%, we could pay for it, too. I mean, does idiot Betsy DeVos REALLY need a 10th yacht?
First, in 1897, the area was almost totally residential. By 1942, until the early 60s, the street was humming with businesses, as many as five restaurants in a two-block area, with barber shops, cab companies, civic organizations. Then the decline began. By 1960, there were only as many businesses as there were in 1909. And by the late 1960s, almost all were gone.
My thought has always been that urban renewal destroyed the business district. But not so, apparently. By the time renewal came along, most of the buildings were empty anyway, with only a few businesses left. As one local amateur historian noted to me, the businesses were gone but the owners remained, and urban renewal was one way of getting rid of them.
End result -- I now have a fairly complete list of businesses up and down both sides of South Second Street from Main to Green (now MLK Blvd), so I can "see" the changes over the years.
2. I'm upset at people criticizing Rachel Maddow for giving all the facts, and reading all the quotations she reads.
One woman said, let US read them, you don't have to go point by point explaining everything. Well, yes, Rachel DOES need to go point by point, because a good story connects ALL the facts together, and the only way she can do that is to go point by point. If people don't want to see good teaching, let them watch FOX. Besides, I don't have the time or the access to read all the newspapers she quotes, so I appreciate her doing it for me.
3. I'm upset at the new round of the Democratic Party's circular firing squad.
Biden (I LOVE Joe, but just not this time for president) is being criticized for actually -- get this now -- working with segregationists and racists in the Senate 30 years ago. I thought the idea of representation was to reach consensus, and to compromise, and to do that, one MUST work with others whom one may personally detest. If what the "purists" expect of Biden is an apology, they're in for a surprise.
I'm also wondering where this demand for an apology is coming from. If it's from the Bernie supporters (I LOVE Bernie, but just not this time for president), they're just setting us up for another 2016. Bernie can take the "high ground" while his supporters cut the ground out from other Dems, so that if Bernie does not get the nomination (which he won't), they can say they supported him, but they can also avoid voting for whomever does get the nomination. Result? Four more years of Trump.
4. Speaking of Trump, how about this? You're sinking in the polls, Congress and the courts are after you and your family, you're totally incompetent as a leader because you know everything but you know nothing, you don't listen to those who DO, and your cabinet is a revolving door. You distrust all your advisors including the CIA and the FBI, but you think Putin is the cat's meow. So what do you do? Of course, you fake a war with Iran -- something you said repeatedly that Obama would do. 58,000 dead in Vietnam over a lie, and 5,000+ dead in Iraq over a lie weren't enough apparently.
5. And now, the latest controversy is over what to call the "detention centers" where thousands of people are being held. To me, if people are kept behind fences and barbed wire and not allowed to leave, it's a concentration camp. Just because "illegals" aren't being gassed and burned doesn't make it any less. We didn't murder Japanese internees in the 1940s, but they were still concentration camps.
6. The decision by the city of Portland, Maine, to accept several hundred asylum seekers from Africa is a wonderful decision made by a city that is caring and compassionate.
The reaction of many Mainers, however, is straight out of Mississippi in 1950. I am totally ashamed that so many of my former statees are so openly racist and bigoted.
7. Why are we helping illegals when we aren't caring for our own veterans?
Too many assume that "illegals" get all the benefits of citizens. They do NOT, but these troglodytes don't let facts get in the way of their racist opinions. I'd ask just what have Republicans done to help veterans? And I've been told that Trump is the best friend veterans ever had -- by MAGA-hat-wearing cultists.
We CAN do both, as a compassionate nation, we MUST do both. And if we just taxed the 0.01% of the richest multi-billionaires just 0.01%, we could pay for it, too. I mean, does idiot Betsy DeVos REALLY need a 10th yacht?
Sunday, June 9, 2019
If it's so much better there, move there...
When I write that another country does something better than we do, I usually get the "If it's so good there, move there" response, like when I pointed out a few years ago, that Denmark had a highly developed network of wind turbines -- a Norwegian company was considering investing in an offshore wind farm in Maine until the then right-wing conservative governor screwed the deal -- he noted that the turbines were actually powered by small electric motors, not the wind.
Hey, at least he didn't say that turbines cause brain cancer. But I got the "if it's so good there" response from a Mainer who didn't believe in climate change, and LOVED that governor because he "told it like it is" including offensive language and crude comments and threats.
The backstory --
Back in the 1600s, China was the most advanced civilization on earth. The very name for the country in Mandarin, was "Chung Kuo", 中国, the "middle kingdom" the gateway between earth and Heaven.
They knew they were the best, so they stopped innovating. The rest of the world (the barbarians) would never match China.
Other countries caught up and eventually surpassed China.
The Chinese did not forget that. They did not forget that for over a hundred years, western powers that became more advanced, like hyenas, gradually picked off pieces of China -- like Mongolia, Manchuria, Macau and Hong Kong.
In the past generation, everything has changed. China is again on the upswing. They are innovative, they invest in that innovation, and it shows.
We were the most advanced civilization a generation ago, and knew it. But then we stopped innovating.
We began to criticize anyone who did anything better than we did.
We created the myth of "American exceptionalism" which allowed us to continue to backslide.
Now, with disrespect toward science and facts, and reactionary religious groups, and right-wing nationalists and white supremacists taking over, I'm not sure we can ever get back to where we were.
We need a national plan, wherein we look all around the world to find out what other countries do better than we do.
We need to fund research (and believe in that research as well) into innovative ideas and products, like green energy.
We need to get over the "we're better than you" mindset that keeps us from discovering new ideas and implementing new techniques.
We need to get off our asses and fund research and development.
And to do that, we need to guarantee that EVERY SINGLE BUSINESS in the US pays at least a bare minimum in income taxes.
We won't rescue this country by continually giving tax breaks to the rich, who don't bother re-investing it. "Trickle down economics" is really "Pee on everyone else".
I mean, does anyone REALLY need a tenth yacht -- and don't tell me they worked hard to earn all those millions to buy it -- most simply inherited their wealth.
A tax break for the rich -- deductions for every job created; for every dollar invested in R&D and education, deductions for every "green" innovation -- THAT I could go along with. A tax cut so they can simply send more money to offshore secret banks? NO!
Will we actually DO any of this? Frankly, the pessimistic side of me says, no. Julius Caesar destroyed the Roman Republic and gave people "bread and circuses" so they wouldn't care about things like government. Later emperors ignored the "barbarians at the gate" until it was too late.
So we'll just cash in our lottery tickets, watch football, have a Bud Light, and forget anything to do with the rest of the world.
As long as we can text on our Chinese-made smart phone and watch that game on our Chinese-made smart TV...
Hey, at least he didn't say that turbines cause brain cancer. But I got the "if it's so good there" response from a Mainer who didn't believe in climate change, and LOVED that governor because he "told it like it is" including offensive language and crude comments and threats.
The backstory --
Back in the 1600s, China was the most advanced civilization on earth. The very name for the country in Mandarin, was "Chung Kuo", 中国, the "middle kingdom" the gateway between earth and Heaven.
They knew they were the best, so they stopped innovating. The rest of the world (the barbarians) would never match China.
Other countries caught up and eventually surpassed China.
The Chinese did not forget that. They did not forget that for over a hundred years, western powers that became more advanced, like hyenas, gradually picked off pieces of China -- like Mongolia, Manchuria, Macau and Hong Kong.
In the past generation, everything has changed. China is again on the upswing. They are innovative, they invest in that innovation, and it shows.
We were the most advanced civilization a generation ago, and knew it. But then we stopped innovating.
We began to criticize anyone who did anything better than we did.
We created the myth of "American exceptionalism" which allowed us to continue to backslide.
Now, with disrespect toward science and facts, and reactionary religious groups, and right-wing nationalists and white supremacists taking over, I'm not sure we can ever get back to where we were.
We need a national plan, wherein we look all around the world to find out what other countries do better than we do.
- National health care in most of Western Europe
- Solar power in France
- Wind power in Denmark
- High speed rail in Japan
- Highways that glow at night in Poland
- Trees that glow at night along highways in the Netherlands
- Or maybe trees that glow at night along highways that glow at night in the US? YES, we could do that...
We need to fund research (and believe in that research as well) into innovative ideas and products, like green energy.
We need to get over the "we're better than you" mindset that keeps us from discovering new ideas and implementing new techniques.
We need to get off our asses and fund research and development.
And to do that, we need to guarantee that EVERY SINGLE BUSINESS in the US pays at least a bare minimum in income taxes.
We won't rescue this country by continually giving tax breaks to the rich, who don't bother re-investing it. "Trickle down economics" is really "Pee on everyone else".
I mean, does anyone REALLY need a tenth yacht -- and don't tell me they worked hard to earn all those millions to buy it -- most simply inherited their wealth.
A tax break for the rich -- deductions for every job created; for every dollar invested in R&D and education, deductions for every "green" innovation -- THAT I could go along with. A tax cut so they can simply send more money to offshore secret banks? NO!
Will we actually DO any of this? Frankly, the pessimistic side of me says, no. Julius Caesar destroyed the Roman Republic and gave people "bread and circuses" so they wouldn't care about things like government. Later emperors ignored the "barbarians at the gate" until it was too late.
So we'll just cash in our lottery tickets, watch football, have a Bud Light, and forget anything to do with the rest of the world.
As long as we can text on our Chinese-made smart phone and watch that game on our Chinese-made smart TV...
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