Newest Politics Blogs (943)

...in line with other nervous, VERY nervous, neighbors of the Chinese bully hegemon. Just what seems to be behind it?
Well, listening to radio Oz, it would seem that Chinese interference in Aussie government affairs has been going on for at least two decades. The usual shtick,--- bribing of pols, other officials, academics, etc. Africans will know. They've been taking belt and road up the hind side for decades as well.
But apparently, it goes much deeper, as do all such stateshuperson decisions. It would seem that a number of factors in the personal civil and political freedom democracy that is the PRC, are converging on the one party state.
China has a gaggle of strong winds on her nose. Water, food, other resources-including non -oil/coal energy, health care, jobs, minority dissent, and so on. Neo Han Imperialism in Darker Africa has helped a bit, but is also beginning to backfire, as people and some governments there wake to to smell the tea and won-ton soup..
Combine this with the above worried neighbors, including others, such as the USA and the West, all joining to stand up to the many now clear sins of high Party rulers' dictates, and these dictators also are more and more nervous. Worrisome indeed.
It seems a stretch to me, but then such levels of politics often plum evade me. But I'm reading in many sources, hearing in international radio and TV, from other ham radio operators, and Asians (wealthy Han Chinese), who visit this popular tourist trap on the ocean, alarming talk..
Combined with the major screw ups/cover ups, of the most recent gift to the world, the Wuhan Virus, and the pushes backs from neighbors, we now hear pleas to stop treating the PRC as an enemy. Right, AS IF, quite.
The responses of increased military spending, including a good deal for IT defenses, and huperson intelligence, are mostly allegedly based on fears of a popular melt down in China! Hard for me to fathom. But as always, don't take my words for it.
But can the world afford such military spending?

Taiwan is situated in the vicinity of China, just about 130 kms. away. She is not even the member of the WHO. But her performance in tackling the COVID-19 excels the whole world.
Just 449 infected cases and only 7 casualties.

Now the question arises as to why the media not highlighting the success story of Taiwan ? Why are they hiding it ?

The one and only inference can be drawn that they don't want the exposure of the failures of the political dispensations of the current regimes running the countries.

2:27 pm today in New York Magazine;



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From the Huffington Post today;



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Well, it looks like something has taken the "Mickey" out of the former tough guy from the 2016 campaign. You can see the look on his face. "Aww, nobody loves me, My wittle feelings are hurt."
There, there Donnie, don't be sad, you did the best you could, Not everybody is qualified for this job, maybe you were just aiming too high. I mean , after all, you're running against a guy with 8 years of experience as a Vice President who knows how the job should be done. I mean, what are you? a failed real estate and casino manager and a talk show host. Let's face it, that background doesn't exactly prepare a person to run a whole country. Especially one as big as the USA. Look on the bright side, I bet you can even get your old job back as the star of "The Apprentice". You seemed a lot happier back then when you were firing everybody on a weekly basis.

From The New Yorker;

On Wednesday, news broke that was so big that (at least as of this writing) both the New York Times and the Washington Post ignored it: Barr’s DOJ finally forced the FBI to release Comey’s debriefing of the January 5, 2017 meeting that led to the General Flynn persecution.

The notes, which Peter Strzok wrote based on a conversation with Comey, show Obama directing the FBI to investigate General Flynn using “the right people,” while Biden came up with the idea that Flynn should be prosecuted under the Logan Act, an old, unconstitutional law that is inapplicable to a national security advisor. As well as showing a White House conspiracy against the incoming administration, the notes also reveal that Susan Rice’s bizarre inauguration email to herself was false and that Biden lied to Americans about his involvement.

Although heavily redacted, the portion of the notes that the DOJ released to the public is unambiguous. In the Scribd document embedded below, the title that The Federalist gave to the one page document tells the whole story: “Peter Strzok’s Notes Confirm Obama Personally Ordered Hit on Michael Flynn.”

Strzok’s cramped, chaotic handwriting sets out the following:
NSA-D-DAG = [Flynn cuts?]. Other countries
D-DAG: lean forward on

VP : “Logan Act”

P : These are unusual times

VP : I’ve been on the intel cmte for ten years and I never

P : Make sure you look at things + have the right people on it

P : Is there anything I shouldn’t be telling transition team?

D [Director Comey]: Flynn –> Kislyak calls but appear legit

Happy New Year. Yeah right

On the day Trump was inaugurated Susan Rice sent an email to herself purportedly documenting the same meeting. She claimed that Obama wanted to do everything “by the book,” and that he “stressed that he is not asking about, initiating or instructing anything from a law enforcement perspective.” Rice also wrote that Comey stated he had some concerns about Flynn’s conversation with former Russian Ambassador Kislyak.

Rice’s CYA email clashes with Strzok’s notes. First, Obama was not concerned with doing things by the book. Instead, he was telling Comey that, in “unusual times” he should “look at things” and have “the right people on it.” Those are marching orders.

The phrase “the right people” also raises the possibility that Obama was not merely ensuring that a delicate project got proper staffing. Instead, it suggests he was making sure that a conspiracy stayed within a small group of trusted Deep State operatives.

Finally, contrary to Rice’s claim that Comey was concerned about the Flynn-Kislyak calls, Comey told Strzok that he had advised those present at the meeting that Flynn’s calls with Kislyak “appear legit.” If the calls appeared legitimate, on what authority did anyone, whether Obama, Comey, or Strzok, conclude that it would be appropriate to keep Flynn’s case open when the case officer wanted to close it? Unethical does not begin to describe this.

On top of all that, there’s also the fact that the Democrats’ presidential nominee – Joe Biden – played an active, if idiotic, role in what looks remarkably like a seditious conspiracy.

Read more:

Part 1

What to rename the Army bases
Ty Seidule is a retired U.S. Army brigadier general and professor emeritus of history at West Point. He is the author of the forthcoming book “Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner’s Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause.”

Ten Army posts named during World Wars I and II honor men who fought for the Confederate States of America against the United States of America. These men committed treason to create a country dedicated to human enslavement. The posts must be renamed — as should another, in Virginia, given what its name honors.

But whom should the Army honor?

The number of Army heroes over the course of the service’s 245-year existence is enormous. Here are just a few suggestions, drawing on soldiers who represent the strength, values and diversity of the Army’s storied history.

These 11 individuals displayed extraordinary courage, competence and commitment. There are hundreds and hundreds of other worthy soldiers who could be honored. Our nation would not miss the names currently on these installations — and the Army has so many heroes to choose from.

Trump Rally Fizzles as Attendance Falls Short of Campaign’s Expectations
President Trump’s attempt to revive his re-election bid sputtered badly as he traveled to Tulsa for his first mass rally in months but found a small crowd and delivered a disjointed speech.

TULSA, Okla. — President Trump’s attempt to revive his re-election campaign sputtered badly on Saturday night as he traveled to Tulsa for his first mass rally in months and found a far smaller crowd than his aides had promised him, then delivered a disjointed speech that did not address the multiple crises facing the nation or scandals battering him in Washington.

The weakness of Mr. Trump’s drawing power and political skills, in a state that voted for him overwhelmingly and in a format that he favors, raised new questions about his electoral prospects for a second term at a time when his poll numbers were already falling. And rather than speak to the wide cross-section of Americans who say they are concerned about police violence and systemic racism, he continued to use racist language, describing the coronavirus as “Kung Flu.”

While the president’s campaign had claimed that more than a million people had sought tickets for the rally, the 19,000-seat BOK Center was at least one-third empty during the rally. A second, outdoor venue was so sparsely attended that he and Vice President Mike Pence both canceled appearances there.