Sic Semper Tyrannis

Analytic piece on staged chemical attacks

" ... weaponized disinformation campaigns, staged videos and fake news are common approaches used by the US military and special services to promote their own agenda around the world. The US was actively using these tools during its intervention in Iraq and after it.

According to the later revelations, the employed programs were varying from placing Pentagon-provided articles in Iraqi newspapers as “unbiased news” to producing footage, which were made to look as if they had been “created by Arabic TV,” and CDs with fake al-Qaeda videos, which then distributed through various channels.

The employed propaganda approaches are constantly evolving. Therefore, propaganda coverage of the conflict in Syria has some differences with those which were observed in Iraq. Now, mainstream media, the Pentagon, the intelligence services and diplomats are actively using Hollywood-style approaches. This style of the coverage is based on providing catchy, even if horrible, pictures and videos influencing the emotions of the audience rather than convincing it with logical conclusions.

Just like with Hollywood movies, the mainstream news has increasingly been turning away from the logical narration of stories with realistic motivations to emotional judgements based on anonymous sources, non-verified images, pocket citizen journalists and even open speculation. The content developed within the framework of this approach is usually based on the results of social and psychological research. This allows results to be maximised by the targetted development of content and appropriate segmentation of the audience. An interesting and successful example of this audience reaction modelling can be seen in the mainstream media coverage of the Salisbury incident, which gave rise to large-scale hysteria in Western countries about Russian spies."  SF

-------------

Well, pilgrims,  you heard it first here and often over the last years.  This piece speaks for itself.  pl

https://southfront.org/staged-chemical-attack-videos-and-other-trends-in-modern-propaganda/

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

The Wall case looks like a "slam-dunk" for Trump

"So what will the Supreme Court do when confronted by (1) the president’s invocation of a broadly worded statute, (2) to enact a scattershot, arguably racialized form of border control, (3) where there are colorable arguments that the president has not satisfied the statute’s triggers for extraordinary action, and (4) in any case, the executive’s own words and data show that the policy is unwarranted?

Here’s an answer using only a few choice quotes from the Supreme Court’s decision upholding the revised and slightly narrowed travel ban: It would start by observing that the statutory basis for the wall “exudes deference to the president in every clause.” It would build on this by asserting that “the admission and exclusion of foreign nationals” is a “fundamental sovereign attribute exercised by the Government’s political departments largely immune from judicial control.”

Then the kicker: If the policy’s challengers point to the president’s own statements on Friday, or his own past conduct in the context of budget negotiations to show that there is no border emergency, or that the real motive at work is to fulfill a campaign promise with 2020 in mind, the court would then remind them, again quoting the travel ban decision, that it is not “the statements of a particular president,” but rather “the authority of the presidency itself” that is at issue. In effect, the court here said that it would refuse to take Trump at his word, and instead ignore evidence of either flawed motive or insufficient justifications. English law had a Latin maxim that nicely captures the court’s thought here: “rex non potest peccare,” or the king can do no wrong.

Under this doctrine, the fact that the president’s aim of circumventing Congress’ control of appropriations is arguably unconstitutional matters no more than the president’s expressions of animus mattered in the travel ban case." Politico

www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/02/19/trump-national-emergency-border-wall-225164

-----------

The author, a law professor, argues against his own inclination that the case has already been decided in favor of the legal and constitutional authority of the presidency.  IMO he is right.

Xavier (Zorro) Becerra, the Attorney General of California ought to know that is true.  He is a highly educated (scholarships for excellence) lawyer trained in the best of schools, to understand that one must know "when to hold'em, and when to fold'em, know when to walk away, know when to run."

What the Trump haters are doing with their lawsuit in this matter is to build Trump up as a winner, a winner who can beat them at their own game in the courts.  The Deplorables want them beaten, beaten and humiliated.  Politically uncommitted Deplorables will rally to his side to participate in that humiliation.

Trump will be looking for other legal fields on which to fight them.  The issue of California's failed high speed rail from San Francisco to Los Angeles and massive funding that the federal government provided for that will be another chance to bludgeon Newsom and Becerra.  pl

"So what will the Supreme Court do when confronted by (1) the president’s invocation of a broadly worded statute, (2) to enact a scattershot, arguably racialized form of border control, (3) where there are colorable arguments that the president has not satisfied the statute’s triggers for extraordinary action, and (4) in any case, the executive’s own words and data show that the policy is unwarranted?

Here’s an answer using only a few choice quotes from the Supreme Court’s decision upholding the revised and slightly narrowed travel ban: It would start by observing that the statutory basis for the wall “exudes deference to the president in every clause.” It would build on this by asserting that “the admission and exclusion of foreign nationals” is a “fundamental sovereign attribute exercised by the Government’s political departments largely immune from judicial control.”

Then the kicker: If the policy’s challengers point to the president’s own statements on Friday, or his own past conduct in the context of budget negotiations to show that there is no border emergency, or that the real motive at work is to fulfill a campaign promise with 2020 in mind, the court would then remind them, again quoting the travel ban decision, that it is not “the statements of a particular president,” but rather “the authority of the presidency itself” that is at issue. In effect, the court here said that it would refuse to take Trump at his word, and instead ignore evidence of either flawed motive or insufficient justifications. English law had a Latin maxim that nicely captures the court’s thought here: “rex non potest peccare,” or the king can do no wrong.

Under this doctrine, the fact that the president’s aim of circumventing Congress’ control of appropriations is arguably unconstitutional matters no more than the president’s expressions of animus mattered in the travel ban case." Politico

www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/02/19/trump-national-emergency-border-wall-225164

-----------

The author, a law professor, argues against his own inclination that the case has already been decided in favor of the legal and constitutional authority of the presidency.  IMO he is right.

Xavier (Zorro) Becerra, the Attorney General of California ought to know that is true.  He is a highly educated (scholarships for excellence) lawyer trained in the best of schools, to understand that one must know "when to hold'em, and when to fold'em, know when to walk away, know when to run."

What the Trump haters are doing with their lawsuit in this matter is to build Trump up as a winner, a winner who can beat them at their own game in the courts.  The Deplorables want them beaten, beaten and humiliated.  Politically uncommitted Deplorables will rally to his side to participate in that humiliation.

Trump will be looking for other legal fields on which to fight them.  The issue of California's failed high speed rail from San Francisco to Los Angeles and massive funding that the federal government provided for that will be another chance to bludgeon Newsom and Becerra.  pl

Mike Pence made Ellen Page cry ...

OK.  You can watch it yourself.  Ellen Page, the Nova Scotian lesbian hobbit, appeared on Colbert's anti-Trump show and wept because of the cruelty and indifference to suffering that she said Mike Pence's whole career epitomizes.  She said Pence would prevent her from being at the "side" of her beloved wife if he could manage it.  Whether Pence (the self-described Evangelical Catholic) knows that about himself is unclear.

Having been accused a number of times of possessing a heart of stone in matters of  war, peace and policy, (although not about Sapphic marriage), I feel his possible pain at the condemnation she flung at him.

Hey folks, Pence and I like dogs.

I used to think Ellen was kinda cute, although I would have been fearful of suspicions of child molestation ... 

She was adorable in "Inception." Unfortunately, in the scene in which the team attacked the winter castle wearing snow camouflage, she looked like a ten year old in a white snowsuit,  But, she was still very cute.

Mike Pence could make a statement, something addressed to her, stating that he really does not mean to be cruel to people in general and she in particular in spite of her life of sin in the eyes of the Great Jehovah.

Perhaps he and Karen, could invite the happy couple over for dinner.  pl

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=ellen+page&view=detail&mid=C73314E6C2BBD79B2F09C73314E6C2BBD79B2F09&FORM=VIRE

A seditious conspiracy ...

"McCabe blithely went about meeting with the president, continued to do his normal work, and said nothing about it publicly. Is it reasonable to believe a career law officer wouldn’t shout from the rooftops, and even risk his job, to blow the whistle on such a catastrophic potential national security risk? McCabe and his cabal knew that the entire Russia collusion narrative was bought and paid for by the Clinton campaign. We know McCabe knew this from the congressional testimony of former associate deputy attorney general Bruce Ohr, who swore under oath (and he, unlike McCabe, was not fired for lying) that he told McCabe and others at the FBI that the Steele dossier was being pushed by a Trump-hater and should be relied upon with caution.

By May 2017, McCabe implies he was in a state of panic on behalf of the gullible nation led by a Russian asset — but as Ohr said, McCabe and his cronies were aware that the explosive claims in the dossier were unverified. How could there be panic about unverified allegations? "  The Hill

*********

"If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.

For a seditious conspiracy charge to be effected, a crime need only be planned, it need not be actually attempted."  wiki on seditious conspiracy.

---------------

20 years, pilgrims, 20 years AND a fine perhaps.  McCabe is an interesting case, a senior civil servant who believes that he and his fellow mandarins ARE the government of the United States in much the same way that many Catholic clergy believe that THEY are the church rather than the people in the pews, the actual People of God.

Club Fed won't be all that bad. There are lots of opportunities for self-improvement.  McCabe and Rosenstein could study American Government in a seminar made up of their fellow conspirators with a few Bubbas and Bros thrown in for "seasoning."  That would be a good way to meet new friends to help pass the time in jail.

If McCabe is truthful in this the studied arrogance involved is memorable, but .. I remember much the same kind of attitude, the "Yes Minister" mindset from the time when I was an SES.

The former priest Theodore McCarrick has been laicized (de-frocked) by Pope Francis.  What took so long?  It has been widely known for a long time among the clergy, hierarchy, and lay hangers-on of the RC church apparat that Teddy was madly, wildly gay.  I sat in a number of meetings that he chaired and must say that it was a very creepy experience. The leprechaun act was painful to watch.

Let's see if the new AG has as much, or hopefully more guts about this as Francis.  pl

https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/430318-mccabes-shocking-claims-prove-the-bloodless-coup-rolls-on

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

Persuading the king ...

I watched Trump's Rose Garden session in which he announced that he would sign the appropriation bill and also declare a national emergency under the National Emergencies Act.  IMO he will win whatever court challenges are made because his authority to do this is clear in "black letter" law and the opposition will have to base their plaints on a judgment as to whether or not there is an emergency.  IMO there is nothing in the constitution or law that makes the judgment or the courts competent to overrule his judgment in this case.  If they don't like the National Emergencies Law, let the Congress repeal it. 

On the other hand, Trump also told the world that because of a personal appeal by a woman from Idlib Province in Syria who came to see him in the Oval Office, he called Putin and argued him into calling off the preparations for a massive Russo/Syrian/Iranian offensive that would IMO have recovered Idlib for the SAG.

I am recalling here roughly what he said.

The lady's argument was that she believed that the millions who lived in the province would be killed or maimed in the process and all the towns destroyed.  Her parents lived in the province.  And, after all, she said, there are only 45,000 jihadis in the province.  I was not in the room, but would be willing to bet that she was; well spoken, well dressed, and reasonably attractive.  Trump was persuaded and Idlib remains a cancer in the side of the Syrian state, the Russians, having listened to Trump, attempted to create a de-militarized zone around Idlib Province within which the jihadis have consolidated power.

Some years ago I was asked to speak at a two or three day discussion of the Middle East at Mississippi State University.  This is a big school.  Attendance was in the thousands. On the program with me (or I with him) was, then TV personality, (later governor of Ohio) John Kasich.  At a pre-conference dinner, Kasich sought to dominate the table talk and me (his principal competition) at this conference.  There were numerous senior faculty present at table.  Kasich sought to belittle whatever knowledge I might have of the MENA region and of the peoples and cultures there.  In particular he said that I did not understand Islam at all because I said that the jihadis were among the various forms of Islam, a religion which I foolishly claimed had no central authority structure and in which the "true Islam" was not to be known except in the consensus (ijma') of various groups of Muslims.

Having heard him out, I explained to him my background and experience.  He grew more and more sober, clearly unused to opposition.  I asked him what the basis was for his opinion that the various jihadis were not real Muslims at all.

He told us that a number of beauteous Muslim ladies had been brought to see him.  He said they were well spoken, well dressed (some in French couture clothing) and that they smelled good.  This last was said after I asked him about it having run into this phenomenon before. 

These ladies were all at pains to explain to him that the jihadis were outside Islam because they did not accept the ijma' of the scholars of whatever "school" (mathab) of Sunni Sharia these ladies adhered to.

The lesson - Beware of well dressed ladies who smell of Chanel #5.  pl

Open Thread 16 February 2019

pl

Trump is playing the Dems about the wall. - Republished 16 Feb 2019

"§2808. Construction authority in the event of a declaration of war or national emergency (a) In the event of a declaration of war or the declaration by the President of a national emergency in accordance with the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) that requires use of the armed forces, the Secretary of Defense, without regard to any other provision of law, may undertake military construction projects, and may authorize the Secretaries of the military departments to undertake military construction projects, not otherwise authorized by law that are necessary to support such use of the armed forces. Such projects may be undertaken only within the total amount of funds that have been appropriated for military construction, including funds appropriated for family housing, that have not been obligated. (b) When a decision is made to undertake military construction projects authorized by this section, the Secretary of Defense shall notify, in an electronic medium pursuant to section 480 of this title, the appropriate committees of Congress of the decision and of the estimated cost of the construction projects, including the cost of any real estate action pertaining to those construction projects. (c) The authority described in subsection (a) shall terminate with respect to any war or national emergency at the end of the war or national emergency."

******

"After saying that the federal government could use eminent domain to secure the land for the wall, Trump responded to a question about using his emergency powers to build the wall with a definitive "yes."

"Absolutely, we can call a national emergency. I haven’t done it. I may do it. I may do it. We can call a national emergency and build it very quickly."

"It’s another way of doing it. If we can do it through a negotiated process, we’re giving that a shot.""  DJT

------------

I am not a lawyer but this section of the Emergencies Act seems very clear to me.   The authority does not seem to be limited to land already owned by the federal government.  How much money that is in the DoD accounts for construction in this fiscal year is "unobligated?"  This is probably a large number.

So, what is really occurring in this food fight?  IMO Trump is positioning the Democrats so that that they will be completely uncooperative about the border barriers and then he will declare a national emergency in defense of what is so far an unarmed invasion by inundation and employ this section of the Emergencies Act to build out a large piece of the barrier system.

The Democrats and their marchers will scream and curse but what could they actually do to stop him?  They would undoubtedly obtain an injunction from a federal district court judge, probably in the 9th Circuit's area, but this injunction would probably be based on questioning the President/CinC's judgment concerning national defense, which IMO is outside the competence or power of the Article 3 courts.  IMO he would be justified in simply ignoring such an injunction.  The Dems would then try to impeach him.  Good luck on that one!

Having dealt with this issue, Trump would then be free to re-open the closed parts of the government.  pl

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-01-04/trump-could-declare-national-emergency-bypass-congress-and-build-wall

Who IS Juan Williams?

"Williams was born in Colón, Panama, to parents Akin Jules Williams and Sharon Williams, who were both Panamanian. He graduated in 1972 from Oakwood Friends School in Poughkeepsie, New York where he became clerk of the student body, editor of the student paper and was captain of the baseball, cross-country and championship basketball team. He attended Haverford College, from which he graduated with a baccalaureate in philosophy in 1976." wiki

---------------

I am curious as to how JW got from Colon in the Republic of Panama where he was a son of the generally oppressed and typically impoverished class of  West Indian people settled in the Republic of Panama to the Oakwood Friends School and then graduated from Haverford College.  Both of these are private Quaker schools and not cheap.  I do not know the answer to my question.

I was stationed in the Canal Zone 1965 and 1965 as a member of the "8th Special Forces Group" at Ft. Gulick.  I was in the intelligence staff section of the Group Headquarters.  Because of that I spent a lot of time with the operatives of Army Intelligence and the CIA, both of whom were engaged among other things in Force Protection activities designed to make safe the Canal Zone and US forces stationed therein.

The Partido del Pueblo was the Cuban and Soviet aligned Communist Party.  The national government of Panama treated it as a deadly enemy and a conduit for Cuban subversion.  The Panamanian government encouraged the US to keep the Partido del Pueblo as weak as possible.  This party led street riots, bank robberies and looting of stores in Colon in 1964 and 1965.  Half a dozen US solders were killed by snipers in these fandangos, shot in the Canal Zone from across the border.

To get a grip on this situation the CIA and Army Intelligence recruited as assets most of the senior members of the party and the politburo of the Partido del Pueblo.  We had so many that if USI told the politburo to not attend a meeting and stay home, they lacked a quorum.  To achieve these recruitments,  the standard lures were; US money, assistance for relatives to move to the States and scholarships (full ride) for their children at good US private schools and colleges whose benevolent leaders could be persuaded to help (fully funded) 3rd world kids.

Is there a connection?  I have no idea.  pl

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Party_of_Panama

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

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

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

Remember. Members of Congress are not cleared for secrets

I have written on this often.  Members of the US Congress do not have vetted information security clearances.  They have access to government secrets because of their constitutional office as elected representatives of the citizens of the US.  This is true in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.  This is true because they are members of a part of government co-equal with the Executive Branch.  The Executive Branch controls the clearance process created by presidential executive order and the co-equal congress cannot in our system be denied information by the executive.  Congressional staffs, however, ARE required to submit themselves to the executive branch clearance process.

What brings this to mind is are the statements and behavior of Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota's 5th Congressional district, a jurisdiction wedged in between Minneapolis and St. Paul and probably not very typical of Minnesota. 

Members of Congress are immune from restrictions on their speech in Congress and generally during the sessions of their term in office.  "Treason, felony and breach of the peace" are exceptions to that immunity.

Ilhan Omar's statements and attitude in her interrogation of the execrable Elliott Abrams yesterday raise the question for me of whether or not she can be trusted with US government secrets.  She spent four years of her childhood in a Somali refugee camp in Kenya.  She seems to have acquired there a deep antipathy to the US as a country.  She seems to regard herself as a Muslim penetrant in the US government, a penetrnt who will automatically, as a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, have a great deal of access to US Government secrets.  She is openly supportive of various jihadi movements and the Maduro government of Venezuela.  How can we know what she will communicate outside the government and to whom?

It is impossible know the exact motivations of anyone, but I will hazard a guess that Omar is falsely sworn as a member of Congress.  What did she think these words meant?

"I, (name), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. [So help me God."   wiki

Was there a certain irony in yesterday's confrontation between the arch neocon and the Muslim activist?  Of course there was, and it was on many levels.

Nevertheless, you can be sure that the FBI will be watching and listening closely.  pl

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

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

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

A senate vote on the "Green New Deal." Yes!

"It also immediately provoked controversy. While some environmental advocates applauded the plan's grand scope, experts said the plan's aim to get to net-zero carbon emissions in 10 years seemed unrealistic.

Critics also pounced on a blog post from Ocasio-Cortez's office — now taken down — that said the policy assures "economic security to all who are unable or unwilling to work."

In addition, the bill lays out some lofty goals that could require massive, difficult-to-administer new programs, like a job guarantee and a plan to upgrade every building in the country for energy efficiency."  NPR

--------------

You gotta love this!  Senate Majority Leader McConnell plans to call the Green New Deal Resolution sponsored by the Democrat Left to the floor of the senate for a debate in detail and a vote.  This resolution which, as Trumps said, reads like an ignorant and naive high school term paper, deserves the close examination that a senate debate would provide.

Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts doesn't like that.  Of course he does not.  He is a co-sponsor of this foolishness, a foolishness that envisions a Brave New World in which the use of fossil fuels is banned, people are told what to eat, air travel is abolished except for a Nomenklatura approved by the FAA, ownership of property is taxed by measures amounting to confiscation and enactment of Medicare for all costing 32 trillion in the first 10 years.

A debate and vote in the senate would be almighty clarifying for the voting public as to what they/we would lose or gain from enactment of the provisions of the resolution.  pl

https://www.npr.org/2019/02/12/694060405/mcconnell-plans-to-bring-green-new-deal-to-senate-vote

"Anse aux Meadows" was a truck stop?

My interest in present politics, international relations and military affairs is waning.  There is such a terrible sameness about it all.  The differences in technology are really fun for the feeble minded.  War remains what it always has been, a process of human social interaction.  Someone asked me once what Bonaparte would have done if confronted by; the telegraph, canned food and railroads.  Clearly he would have integrated these things into his way of war and then would have moved on.

More interesting to me are such subjects as pre-Columbian European penetration of North America.

The Oak Island phenomenon is fascinating.  The government of Nova Scotia is heavily invested in the present digging and significant evidence has been found that indicates several medieval and pre-medieval periods on the island,  What kept people coming to this little island in Mahone Bay?

In the linked program below, two archaeologists, explore the possibility that the Viking settlement at Anse aux Meadows was not intended to be a true settlement.  Rather they think that this place devoid of agricultural potential was a re-fit center for ships transiting to Vinland from Iceland and Greenland, a center where ships could be repaired, salted fish taken on as stores and a chance was available to sleep ashore in the long houses.  The inhabitants of Anse aux Meadows had; fish in abundance, then prolific forests in Newfoundland and bog ore.  This was, and is, iron ore present in large quantities in the bogs of northern Newfoundland.  From these ores smelted into iron a very large number of nails were made, nails for the hulls of ships?

If Anse aux Meadows was a truck stop, then the case for further Norse penetration to the south and even to the mid-west is strengthened.  pl

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27Anse_aux_Meadows

https://www.monstersandcritics.com/smallscreen/americas-lost-vikings-digs-deep-into-norse-clues-left-across-north-america-exclusive/

Today's press flaps

-  Ilhan Omar tweeted that AIPAC plays a role in encouraging a lot of Jewish Americans to contribute campaign funds to congressional candidates?  Is that a serious question?  AIPAC is not a PAC in American law and thus cannot make political contributions, but it illegally controls a lot of real PACs and has a lot of political influence in the Jewish community.

- Ralph Northam said on TeeVee that the very first blacks brought to Virginia were initially considered to be "indentured servants" in English law?  He is correct although within a few decades the colonists realized that it would be more profitable to keep them permanently as slaves.  One must remember that Northam is only now learning some actual Virginia history

- Lindsey Graham is IMO correct in suggesting that Trump should "pocket" the barrier money in the negotiated bill, keep the government fully open, and then proceed to used additional funds available to him as CinC  to continue to build the barrier system.

- The National Guard of several states is probably serving on the border with federal funding support although still under state control.  There is a law which provides for that. If the governors order a withdrawal from the border, Trump should IMO call these National Guard forces into federal service.  The governors would then have no control over this matter at all.  pl

Mining an asteroid?

"Why would we attempt such a bizarre feat of astro-engineering? Because the spin of the asteroid would create enough gravity for mining equipment to be effectively used, giving us a way to tap into the rich minerals and deposits inside these celestial rocks.

In addition, researchers suggest the asteroid's rocky hull could also help keep the mining station safe from the dangers of being out in space – cosmic ray radiation and all.

This crazy idea might just be possible, according to a new study from astrophysicists at the University of Vienna in Austria, who applied some advanced gravity models to a hypothetical asteroid measuring 500 metres by 390 metres (1,640 feet by 1,280 feet).

"Loads resulting from centrifugal forces... [make] a space station in the cavern of a mined asteroid feasible," write the researchers, though there are a lot of unknowns here – the right dimensions and materials would need to be chosen, and the asteroid would need to be strong enough to support a station."  Sciencealert

-------------

Ah!  This is a blessed opportunity to escape the tedium of Virginia politics and the attendant plotting and scheming that is normally and decently hidden from pubic view.

This is intriguing.  Imagine a sizable living  space built INSIDE an asteroid big enough to have significant gravity.  I hope the pay is good.  An occasional stroll in a pressure suit on the surface would need to be well padded with good old money to make living in the rock worthwhile.  pl

https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-are-investigating-how-to-fit-a-space-station-inside-a-giant-asteroid

Did Justin Fairfax rape Vanessa Tyson?

"Criminal Statutes of Limitation in Massachusetts

Learn about Massachusetts' criminal statute of limitation laws and related matters in the sections below.

Code Section	Ch. 277§63
Felonies	Murder: none; robbery, intent to rob or murder with dangerous weapon: 10 yrs; rape, assault with intent to rape, rape/abuse/assault of child: 15 yrs.;

"

*******

""As I have stated previously, fifteen years ago, when I was an unmarried law student, I had a consensual encounter with the woman who made the allegation," he said of Tyson. "At no time did she express to me any discomfort or concern about our interactions, neither during that encounter, nor during the months following it, when she stayed in touch with me."

Tyson has accused Fairfax of sexually assaulting her at the 2004 Democratic Convention, saying that Fairfax forced her to perform fellatio on him.

In a tweet posted by NBC News, it is alleged that Fairfax used profanity and insulted Tyson in a private meeting. Fairfax addressed that claim in the statement Wednesday.

"I would like to encourage the media, my supporters, and others to treat both the woman who made this allegation and my family with respect for how painful this situation can be for everyone involved. I wish her no harm or humiliation, nor do I seek to denigrate her or diminish her voice," Fairfax said."

--------------

By my "back of the envelope" figuring, the statute of limitations in Massachusetts has not run its course as yet for this accusation of rape made by Vanessa Tyson against Justin Fairfax, the Lieutenant Governor of Virginia.

The event occurred by mutual admission during the Democratic National Convention 28-29 July 2004 at a hotel in Boston, Massachusetts.  The statute of limitations in Massachusetts as quoted above, is 15 years.  Five months remain before the statute of limitations expires.

Will Lieutenant Governor Fairfax be extradited to Massachusetts to face this felony charge?  I doubt it.  Massachusetts is perhaps the bluest, most Democratic Party dominated state in the Union.

IMO Fairfax will not be prosecuted for this putative crime.

It should be noted that Tyson is a tenured Associate Professor of Politics at Scripps College, a private women's liberal arts school that is a member of the Claremont consortium of colleges, an elite collection of schools. She is also a liberal Democrat.  IOW, she is fireproof.

https://www.wdbj7.com/content/news/Fairfax-denies-charges-says-accusers-must-be-given-voice-505420841.html

https://statelaws.findlaw.com/massachusetts-law/massachusetts-criminal-statute-of-limitations-laws.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/06/us/politics/vanessa-tyson-statement.html

A slide to nuclear war?

"For more than 30 years, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) has been one of the cornerstones of the international security system. This ended on February 2, 2019 when the US officially suspended its participation in the Treaty. Washington said that it will fully terminate the treaty in 6 months if Russia does not comply with its ultimatum – the “verifiable” destruction of what Secretary of State Mike Pompeo described as “INF-violating missiles, their launchers and associated equipment”. US President Donald Trump said in an official statement that the US “will move forward with developing” its “own military response options” and will work with NATO members and other allies “to deny Russia any military advantage from its unlawful conduct.” By this statement, Trump in fact announced that the US is restoring production and deployment of INF-banned weapons.

On the same day, Russia also halted participation in the Treaty. President Vladimir Putin said that Russia will no more initiate talks to try and save the deal and publicly gave a green light to development of a mid-range hypersonic missile and a ground-based model of the sea-launched cruise missile Kalibr."  SF

------------

This SF report effectively states the Russian analysis of the likely result of INF cancellation.  pl

https://southfront.org/inf-is-dead-nuclear-war-in-europe-is-one-step-closer/

76% liked the speech last night

"Seventy-six percent of Americans who tuned in to President Trump's State of the Union address Tuesday night approved of the speech he gave. Just 24 percent disapproved."  CBS NEWS

-----------

The results of this poll must have caused a lot of heartburn at CBS.  I watched most of the show, lured away from "The Curse of Oak Island," (really want to know what else they find in Smith's Cove) and "Project Blue Book." (both recorded)

Actually SWMBO ordered me to watch the speech.

IMO the Democrat women in their white Vestal attire looked like a flock of Harpies gathered for the kill.

I noticed that Gillibrand, one of the leading Harpies, did not wear white, seeking perhaps to distinguish herself from the rest of the flock.

It was quite a good speech, carefully crafted to force the very visible Demos to identify themselves as a bloc on issues like; late term abortion, border security and socialism. They fell into all three traps by sitting on their hands or claws, depending on how you see them. 

All in all a good night for Trump.  pl

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/state-of-the-union-2019-most-viewers-approved-of-trumps-sotu-address-cbs-news-poll/

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

Taking a break

Not feeling well, maybe too much winter.   pl

Northam must go ...

I am deeply ashamed that Ralph Northam is an alumnus of my alma mater.  His callous endorsement of post delivery infanticide is not representative of what he and I learned at VMI where we were taught to revere Western Civilization's values as expressed in the history of the school.  Many people will reject the record of our alumni in having fought for the Confederacy with the cost of the death of 50 % among our people, but the record of us all over a long time should stand for something whether you like that history or not.

Northam is an opportunist.  He rode scholarships given by the US Army to his bachelor's degree, a medical degree, a residency in pediatrics of all things and minimal army service to satisfy his contract with the army.  Now, he endorses the murder of children for the purpose of riding the Democratic Party's race to the left and advancing his national political ambitions.  He must go.  pl

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/conservatives-rip-washington-posts-take-on-virginia-abortion-bill-controversy

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

Open Thread 31 January 2019

pl

Trump and the Spookery.

"Trump and his top aides have taken a hard line on Iran, implying that the Islamist-led country still poses a nuclear threat despite its adherence to a 2015 accord that put curbs on its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. Trump withdrew the U.S. from that nuclear deal, and has reimposed sanctions, although other international allies have stayed committed to the pact.

During the hearing, Coats said Iran isn't taking any steps to make a nuclear weapon. “We do not believe Iran is currently undertaking the key activities we judge necessary to produce a nuclear device," he said.

CIA Director Gina Haspel, who also spoke at the hearing, said Tehran, "at the moment, technically they're in compliance" with the deal.

But Coats also noted that Iranian officials have “publicly threatened to push the boundaries” of the nuclear deal if it did not see any benefits from it."  politico

------------

Well, pilgrims, I have resolutely maintained on SST that Iran has not had a nuclear WEAPONS program since 2003, having cancelled their research program then with the disappearance of the Iraqi threat.  The 2007 NIE on Iran stated that explicitly but the Zionist lobby has blocked publication of an unclassified summary of subsequent judgments on this subject.  Why?  It is Israel's policy that Iran must be prevented from becoming strong enough to become the major hegemonic power in the ME. Trump's ignorance of realities in the region has enabled The Lobby to distort US policy to serve its purposes.  To my surprise the IC chiefs had the guts to tell the world what is true about Iran and to point out other areas in which their agencies differ in judgment from the administration, but the Iran judgement is IMO the most important.  Neocons like Pompeo, Bolton and E. Abrams do not reason from evidence.  They reason from ideology and their shared hostility to anyone who does not bow down to the US.  They and The Lobby currently control Trump's foreign policy especially in the ME.

At the same time we must remember that these agencies are "mature bureaucracies."  That means they have existed long enough to have become "self licking ice cream cones."  These are organizations for which institutional survival and the welfare of the all important leader of each agency are primary interests.  You don't think so?  Just remember that the grandees at the top of these agencies are totally dependent on their directors for success in the their careers.

That is what makes the performance of Coats and Haspel so impressive.  Bravo!  pl

See my essay linked below on "Artists and Bureaucrats."

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/29/dan-coats-north-korea-nuclear-weapons-1133969

https://turcopolier.typepad.com/files/artists-versus-bureaucrats...-1.pdf

A fearless forecast - 29 January, 2019

1.  The Democrats are looking for an "off-ramp" in their conflict with DJT over southern border defense.  They are now saying that they must hear the opinion of "experts" before deciding what would constitute adequate border defense.  This is of course political theater.  Every CBP agent worth listening to has already said that hard barriers must be part of comprehensive border defense.  But, if this fig leaf enables a deal over the issue, so be it.  I am not sure this will suffice for the hard left in the Democratic Party coalition.  They do not want anything other than an open border and an effective end to US sovereignty.  Pelosi is a vindictive old woman and Schumer, well, he is Schumer so I am not sure that a compromise is possible.  If that doesn't happen, then IMO Trump will declare a National Emergency and use monies available to him under several laws to build out more border barrier.  He would probably put Northcom in charge of the project with the Army Corps of Engineers supervising the work, design, contracts, etc.  Judge Napolitano, the Foxnews legal guru says that Trump could not do this because the courts blocked Harry Truman's seizure of the steel companies during the Korean War in 1952 (?).  What he never mentions is that the National Emergencies Act was passed after that incident to correct the problem

2.  The minor gods of the Neocon faith are now seething with desire over the prospect of intervention in Venezuela.  All, I can say is DON'T DO IT!!  I paraphrase someone who commented on SST saying that this would be "a jungle war against a leader figure viewed by some locally as legitimate who is supported by Russia and China."  Does this sound familiar?  And, don't kid yourself, there would be plenty of Venezuelans who would fight us, plenty.  pl

22 million lifetime page views now

pl

Bishop Foys says he was "bullied."

"The bishop of the Covington Diocese in Kentucky claimed that he and Covington Catholic High School were “bullied” into condemning the behavior of students engaged in a controversial encounter with a Native American elder.

In a letter to parents, the Most Reverend Roger Foys said that he apologized to high school junior Nick Sandmann, who was filmed in a face-to-face-encounter with Native American elder Nathan Phillips near the Lincoln Memorial.

"We should not have allowed ourselves to be bullied and pressured into making a statement prematurely, and we take full responsibility for it," Foys wrote in the letter cited by news outlets. "I especially apologize to Nicholas Sandmann and his family, as well as to all CovCath families who have felt abandoned during this ordeal."  Newsweek

---------------

I had a friend once who in spite of being an Opus Dei type still had his head screwed on right most of the time.  I remember him saying that "when they send the trucks to take people to the camps for being Catholic, you should hope that your name is on the list ..."  It doesn't appear from his behavior that Foys is someone who would seek martyrdom for the faith and/or his integrity.

There are, unfortunately, far too many Catholic clergy and bishops in the US who are mere careerists, sure that THEY are the church rather than The People of God whom they seem to think of as an enormous cash cow there to be milked regularly in service of the clergy's protected lifestyle.

Foys was not alone in condemning Sandmann and the other Covington Catholic High School Students.  It seems that several other Kentucky bishops joined early in excoriating members of their flocks apparently inspired by media attacks by enemies of the Catholic Church.  For shame!

The Catholic Church in America suffers from an infestation of men who should never have been priests.  Foys seems to be an example.  pl

https://www.newsweek.com/bishop-claims-he-was-bullied-apologising-maga-teens-involved-encounter-native-1306516

" for whatever they eat, I eat" Washpost

" ... ibn Said soon fled and made his way to North Carolina, where he was captured around Fayetteville. He was jailed, then handed over to plantation owner and future congressman James Owen, the brother of John Owen, a future governor of North Carolina.

One old account states that authorities took notice when ibn Said scrawled “piteous petitions” in Arabic on the walls of the jail.

Ibn Said then spent the rest of his life with the Owen family in Bladen County, N.C., at their plantations on the Cape Fear River.

He soon became a celebrity.

People were struck by his dignity and bearing, Deeb said. He was the subject of newspaper articles and visits by “scholars.” Some were eager to claim that he was an Arab, whose people were “not Negroes,” according to historian Ala Alryyes, an expert on ibn Said’s life.

“Let not the humanizing influence of the Koran upon ... pagan, homicidal Africa be depreciated,” one Southern diplomat wrote.

Ibn Said embraced Christianity to a degree, and reportedly read an Arabic version of the Bible his owner acquired for him.

He praised James Owen, his owner, and Owen’s bother, John, as “good men, for whatever they eat, I eat, and whatever they wear they give me to wear.”   Washpost

-----------

This doesn't seem to fit the present general narrative which envisions the antebellum South as a vast Gulag in which Black and semi-Black people were beaten daily, or at least regularly, for minor infractions of plantation discipline or ... just for the fun of it.  pl

https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/01/20/when-few-enslaved-people-could-write-one-man-wrote-his-memoirs-arabic/?utm_term=.0b5311a3df53

In praise of "popular" books

In response to K. Harbaugh's inquiry I re-state my opinion that old, readable books written for us average folk can often be more valuable than books written for specialists in a given field:

Some books:

"The Story of Civilization" by Will and Ariel Durant (eight volumes)

All the books on Arab and Islamic history by Sir John Bagot Glubb

"The Crusades" by Sir Steven Runciman

"Caravan, the Story of the Middle East" by Carlton Coon

"Captain Sam Grant." (Loyd Lewis) "Grant tales Command." and "Grant Moves South" (Bruce Catton)

"The Second World War" by Winston Churchill

"A History of the English Speaking Peoples" by Winston Churchill

"The Civil War, a Narrative" by Shelby Foote

Suggestions and comments are welcome.  pl

Give the SOU speech in Covington, Kentucky.

Pelosi's studied insults to the president extend to refusing him access to the House of Representative.  In this she reflects the attitude of the Marxist mess that has become the Democratic Party.  John Kerry, the scumbag who lied about American conduct in Vietnam, now says on British TV that he would tell the president to resign.  What a joke!  This is like having the traitor Jane Fonda tell Trump to resign. 

Go to Covington to give the speech.  pl

 

Michelle Alexander on Israel and the Palestinians

"Our elected representatives, who operate in a political environment where Israel's political lobby holds well-documented power, have consistently minimized and deflected criticism of the State of Israel, even as it has grown more emboldened in its occupation of Palestinian territory and adopted some practices reminiscent of apartheid in South Africa and Jim Crow segregation in the United States.

Many civil rights activists and organizations have remained silent as well, not because they lack concern or sympathy for the Palestinian people, but because they fear loss of funding from foundations, and false charges of anti-Semitism. They worry, as I once did, that their important social justice work will be compromised or discredited by smear campaigns.

Similarly, many students are fearful of expressing support for Palestinian rights because of the McCarthyite tactics of secret organizations like Canary Mission, which blacklists those who publicly dare to support boycotts against Israel, jeopardizing their employment prospects and future careers."  Michelle Alexander

------------

What on earth is happening at the New York Times?  The intimidation of critics of Israel that Alexander writes of has had a bastion of support at the Times for a long time. 

I don't write much about the plight of the Palestinians.  I gave up on that a long time ago.  I have other concerns.  The murderous hatred of the Israeli Jews toward the Palestinians is acted out just about every day.  Actual violence, demeaning insult, seizure of private property are all the lot of the Palestinians both in the occupied territories and also in Israel proper.  "Arab Israelis?  Don't make me laugh!  No one in Israel believes that Arab citizens of Israel are anything like first class citizens.

Are the Palestinians born without Original Sin?  Not at all, not at all, they fight back with knives, stones and in the past with large scale and terrible attacks on Jewish civilians.  Before Israeli independence they repeatedly attacked Jewish settlements and fought a three year rebellion in Palestine in attempting to roll back the Jewish tide of immigration.  Did the Mufti of Jerusalem side with the Nazis in the hope of exterminating the Jews in Palestine if Germany won the world war.  Yes!  He did!

I stopped going to Israel some time ago because I was beginning to dislike both groups.  The Jews treat the Palestinians like pariah dogs, and the Palestinians are not capable of dealing with their situation at any level beyond whining menace.

A pox on both their houses, but something very odd is happening at the New York Times.  pl

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/19/opinion/sunday/martin-luther-king-palestine-israel.html

Concerning the partial shutdown and and the border barriers

1 - The banks, credit unions and any other financial institutions that can lend money are missing a chance to build a lot of good will in this situation.  Good will is an item that any good business plan must take into account even of it is impossible to quantify on paper.  Good will leads to more customers.  Businesses want to acquire more customers.  The 800k federal employees now on furlough have legislated assurance that their back pay will be quickly forthcoming when the pause ends.  Sooo!  Make them no interest loans in the amount of their postponed pay.  You will not be sorry if you do that.  I don't know if that could be extended to contract employees since the contract that includes their services may not insure back pay.

2 - The wall, barrier system or whatever you want to call it presently exists on a number of sections of the border.  Pelosi, Schumer and the other Democrats who prattle about the "immorality" and uselessness of physical border defenses should be asked each and every day if they want the present border barriers demolished so that anyone can cross the border whenever they want and anywhere they want.  California is the destination of choice of these economic migrants.   If the border barriers are taken down, there will be IMO a mass migration into what is now the United States and especially into California from Latin American and then inevitably from all over the world.  Ask the Democrats, every day if they want the existing border barriers taken down,  Ask them!  pl

Open Thread 21 January 2019

pl

The H-4 airbase in Jordan

"This airfield was built to support the H4 oil pumping station of the Mosul–Haifa oil pipeline built by the Iraq Petroleum Company between 1932 and 1934 in the Emirate of Transjordan at that time a protectorate of the British Empire. The airfield was used by the RAF during World War Two as the Advanced Headquarters for operations against the rebels in Iraq during the Anglo-Iraqi War. The Airbase is now operated by the Royal Jordanian Air Force.^[1]

Between November 2014 and January 2015, the United States began positioning MQ-9 Reaper UAVs at the base.^[1]

The base also houses AH-1F Cobras, believed to be from the 10th and 12th Squadrons of the Royal Jordanian Air Force, and a Cessna 208B Caravan from the 15th Squadron.  wiki

-------------

As air bases go in the ME this is an old one.  It was probably originally a highway landing strip built by the RAF during the British mandates in Palestine, Transjordan and Iraq.  It was built along the line of the Iraq Petroleum Company pipeline and road from Kirkuk to Haifa.  The town is a few kilometers south of the air base.  It has an official name but in my time out there the Jordanian beduin just called it "ashfour,"  (H4). 

This base has been much improved and expanded since 9/11 with American money.  IMO this is probably the base that Trump referred to last week when he said he would move a lot of the SOF people to an airbase outside Syria.  It is a good operating location, protected by the excellent Jordanian military and within easy operating range of Syria 80 kilometers away.

Combined with the US forces at al-asad airbase in Iraq (where Trump visited) and the artillery and road blocking positions that I posted on as linked,  this would IMO constitute a viable base situation in that part of the ME for continued CT operations rather than the Neo-imperialism of the neocons both in and out of uniform.

I took a delegation of West Point cadets to Jordan during the time I taught there.  We visited Qasr Burqa , a Roman Army auxiliary cohort fort about 20 kilometers NW of "ashfour."  We had a Jordanian Badia (desert) policeman with us and a sergeant from the USDAO in Amman.  It is a lovely place with a little lake that is a stop on the Russia to Africa flyway for migratory birds.  They come there in millions, ducks, ducks everywhere.  Sir John Bagot Glubb told me (RIP) that he spent many happy times at Qasr Burqa.  pl

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-4_Air_Base

https://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2018/12/httpswwwalmasdarnewscomarticleus-builds-two-military-bases-along-syrian-border-map.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirkuk%E2%80%93Haifa_oil_pipeline

SDF proposal to Damascus

"The Hawar News Agency released a detailed report that highlighted all of the topics that are going to be discussed with the Syrian government.

According to the report, the following is the Syrian Democratic Council’s (SDF) roadmap to peace:

1.Unity of the Syrian land

2 The system in Syria is a democratic republic, and Autonomous Administration is part of this system.

3 Autonomous Administrations have representatives in parliament in the center of Damascus, through their representatives.

4 Along with the Syrian flag, there should be flags representing Autonomous Administrations.

5. Diplomacy in the areas of Autonomous Administrations does not go contrary to the interests of the Syrian people and constitution.

6 Syrian Democratic Forces are part of the Syrian army, which is responsible for protecting the Syrian border.

7. The Internal Security Forces in the areas of Autonomous Administration operate according to the local councils in a manner that does not contradict with the Syrian constitution.

8. Learning in the mother tongue is the basis of education in the areas of Autonomous Administration, and Arabic is the official language throughout Syria.

9. In Autonomous Administration areas, education in local languages is taught in faculties of history, culture, languages, literature and the like.

10. Distributing the Syrian wealth to the Syrian regions in a fair manner.

Earlier this week, Al-Masdar reported that the Syrian Kurds and Damascus have restarted peace talks in order to achieve a peaceful settlement before the Turkish regime attempts to implement their safe zone."  AMN

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/breaking-kurdish-roadmap-to-peace-presented-to-damascus-sdf-to-become-border-guards/

------------

Arabs and indeed Muslims generally have an aversion to federal or confederated systems of governmental organization.  They have an instinctive desire to see unitary states, rather than these other systems which they see as disunity leading to weakness.

There have been attempts to create such federated governments; the Federation of South Arabia, the United Arab Republic (variously configured over time), a union of Iraq and Jordan was attempted, etc.  The only country so organized that has succeeded is The United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the Gulf.  IMO that works because it is a VERY loose association of princely states, each of which runs its own affairs to a large extent.  The UAE is a very unusual place.  In Dubai where I resided for a while, the police stop people driving under the influence, and drive them home with the patrol car following along behind.  And, I remember a hotel where I sometimes ate brunch including Smithfield ham cut from a ham in a brace on the buffet and a pint of bitter.  Different, the ME as it should be, something like the American Colony Hotel in Jerusalem.

Well, pilgrims, based on long and often unhappy experience I think that the Kurds will not get anything from the SAG that looks or smells like federalism but they might get a lot of this if they get a move on and submit to the national government before the Turks start to move south.  pl

BTW, the DIA civilian killed in Manbij was a member of a unit I created.  TTG may know him.

The BFR?

"SpaceX’s second Falcon Heavy side booster has made its way from Texas to Florida after completing a successful static fire acceptance test at the company’s McGregor complex, paving the way for the third and final booster – currently vertical on McGregor’s test stand – to complete its own round of tests and head East.

Once the third and most important booster – known as the center core – arrives at SpaceX’s Florida launch facilities, all three of the next Falcon Heavy’s boosters will be ready to head into the integration stage, culminating in an integrated static fire prior to the second launch ever of SpaceX’s flagship super-heavy-lift rocket."  teslarati

-----------

Anybody working on the Alderson Drive or the flaws in the General Theory of Relativity? No?  How about something interesting in String or Membrane Theory relating to wormholes?  No?  Well, get busy.  I can't wait around forever.  pl

https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-falcon-heavy-second-launch-second-booster-florida-arrival/

The Fortunes of War - four killed in Manbij

(a Templar - We had ours too)

"Two U.S. service members, one Department of Defense (DoD) civilian and one contractor supporting DoD were killed and three service members were injured in the recent attack in the northern Syrian city of Manbij, the U.S. Army Central Command (CENTCOM) announced at the late hours of January 16.

“Initial reports indicate an explosion caused the casualties, and the incident is under investigation,” CENCTOM said in a short press release.

Earlier, ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack and revealed that it was carried out by a suicide bomber named “Abu Yasin al-Shami.” According to local sources, al-Shami blew himself up in a patrol of the US-led coalition in front of the Prince Restaurant in the center of Manbij.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that the attack could be meant to dissuade the U.S. from leaving Syria. However, he stressed that he believes in President Donald Trump’s determination to withdraw troops from Syria.

This was the bloodiest attack against US-led coalition troops in Syria since the beginning of the war on ISIS in 2014. Prior to it, the terrorist group’s cells targeted Kurdish fighters and prominent local figures mostly."  SF

------------

Sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you.

Senator Rand Paul tried to explain to the Fox and Friends people today that, as George Carlin used to say, "These are ancient feuds, now fought with better weapons."  Well, maybe a suicide belt is not all that much better a weapon but you get the idea.  Senator Paul attempted to make the point that the peoples of the region however divided tribally, religiously, politically, have a strong inclination to fight each other on a zero sum game basis.  Where this is not true that change is usually the result of foreign influences that have altered the pattern.  Brian Kilmeade the loudest and most simian of the morning crew on Fox attempted to shout down the senator with the usual hyper-aggressive drivel about fighting in Manbij rather than Bayonne, but Paul persisted and Kilmeade finally shut up, probably after a producer spoke to him.  Some of these men on Fox need a white plastic pocket protector to complete their costuming as tribunes of the Deplorables.

Paul's essential point was correct.  This was the simple fact that there will always be Islamic extremists of various sectarian allegiance in the ME.  Should we be surprised that there are IS stay behinds in northern Syria?  We should not be. 

Trump is correct.  Get the hell out and let the Russians try to make peace in Syria.  pl

https://southfront.org/u-s-army-central-command-reveals-details-of-manbij-attack/

It is worse than a crime. It is a blunder."

"On January 16, Turkey’s Anadolu Agency released a map of the alleged safe zone in the area east of the Euphrates in northern Syria, which had been recently discussed between the US and Turkey. According to the Turkish side, this zone would include the entire area from  the town of Jarabulus to the town of al-Malikiyah.

Ankara has been for a long time demanding to force Kurdish armed groups [YPG and Kurdish SDF units] out of the border area with Turkey. However, Washington, which uses these groups as its main proxy force, has been against this plan.

It seems that this situation may have changed."  SF

-----------

If this "deal" is really the product of a "gut" level conversation between Trump and Erdogan (presumably through translators?), then it is an argument against the personal conduct of diplomacy by heads of state.  There is no doubt that the president of the United States has the power and right to conduct such diplomacy.  That being the case, the results of such personal effort must be examined.

I, personally, share the view of William Barr that Article 2 of the US Constitution establishes that the President of the US IS the Executive Branch and that all authority within the Executive Branch derives from that of the president.  His or her power is limited by the requirement in Article 2 that he or she should cause the laws to be faithfully be executed.  The president cannot make law.  Only the Congress can legislate.

In this case what was evidently agreed to by the duopoly of Trump/Erdogan was the effective extension of Turkish authority into a wide band of Syrian sovereign territory.  Turkey has sought this as a minimum requirement for its security for a long time.  IMO Turkey has even greater actual ambitions in Syria than this, but Trump's simplistic understanding of the ME, dividing the players up into good guys and bad guys, supporters and non-supporters has, IMO, led him to think that there are certain good guys; Israel-Turkey-Saudi Arabia-Egypt-Jordan-Iraq- the Kurds and then there are bad guys; ISIS-AQ-the SAG-Iran, etc.  In that context, anything that favors the good guys must be good and vice versa.

To give Turkey a license to take Syria one bite a time based on a lack of sophistication in understanding the true nature of the countries and peoples of the region is a terrible mistake.

"C'est pire qu'un crime, c'est une faute."  pl

https://southfront.org/map-turkish-proposed-safe-zone-east-of-euphrates-in-northern-syria/

Alms?

The last request for crowd funding did not yield much.  Rattle.  Rattle.  That's my bowl rattling.

I think that is Belisarius begging for alms after being blinded by his government.  Talk about an ego! (me)  pl

Apparently, the FBI, and not the CIA, are the real government.

Just to review the situation:

1.  The president of the US was made head of the Executive Branch (EC) of the federal government by Article 2 of the present constitution of the US.  He is also Commander in Chief of the armed forces of the federal government.  As head of the EC, he is head of all the parts of the government excepting the Congress and the Federal courts which are co-equal branches of the federal government.  The Department of Justice is just another Executive Branch Department subordinate in all things to the president.  The FBI is a federal police force and counter-intelligence agency subordinate to the Department of Justice and DNI and therefore to the president in all things.  The FBI actually IMO has no legal right whatever to investigate the president.  He is the constitutionally elected commander of the FBI.  Does one investigate one's commander?  No.  The procedures for legally and constitutionally removing a president from office for malfeasance are clear.  He must be impeached by the House of Representatives for "High Crimes and Misdemeanors" and then tried by the US Senate on the charges.  Conviction results in removal from office. 

2.  According to these transcripts of congressional testimony by some of the participants, the FBI decided all by itself after Comey was fired to consider acting against Trump by pursuing him for suspicion of conspiracy with Russia to give the Russians the president of the US that they supposedly wanted.  Part of the discussions among senior FBI people had to do with whether or not the president had the legal authority to remove from office an FBI Director.  Say what?  Where have these dummies been all their careers? Do they not teach anything about this at the FBI Academy?  The US Army lectures its officers at every level of schooling on the subject of the constitutional and legal basis and limits of their authority.

3.  Following these seditious and IMO illegal discussions the FBI and Sessions/Rosenstein's Justice Department sought FISA Court warrants for surveillance against associates of Trump and members of his campaign for president.  Their application for warrants were largely based on unsubstantiated "opposition research" funded by the Democratic Party and the Clinton campaign.  The judge who approved the warrants was not informed of the nature of the evidence.  These warrants provided an authority for surveillance of the Trump campaign.

4.  IMO this collection of actions when added to whatever Clapper, Brennan and "the lads" of the Deep State were doing with the British intelligence services amount to an attempted "soft coup" against the constitution and from the continued stonewalling of the FBI and DoJ the coup is ongoing.  pl

https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/14/politics/trump-fbi-debate-investigation/index.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_Two_of_the_United_States_Constitution#Clause_4:_Receiving_foreign_representatives

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Bureau_of_Investigation#Organization

"We have rejected false overtures from our enemies." Pompeo in Cairo

"Today it felt that the US is bent on empowering tyrants in pursuit of its animosity towards Iran, no matter what the cost. Sadly, the cost we pay here is US sanctioned injustice and loss of our freedom."  cnn

-----------

His speech at AUC (a community college level school in Cairo) was unimpressive.  Pilgrims, a background in Mechanical Engineering at a military school and Harvard Law School (Law Review, etc.) may not have created a mind accessible to open ended questions with many facets, most of which are shrouded in esoteric knowledge.  The big wide world is sooo much easier to deal with if you just agree with your audience (Orange County, WP, Kansas, the Borg, Trump - another ignoramus) rather than than thinking through the complexities present everywhere in the ME

So now, The Pomp has read his 15 minutes speech in various places in the ME.  It is a pastiche of Borgist memes informed throughout by the wisdom of advice from Bolton and his NSC staff.   "We have rejected false overtures from our enemies."  We have enemies?  I would accept that concerning the jihadis.  They really are committed enemies, but, who else?  Russia, Hamas, Iran, the Syrian government?  Who?  If parties like these are thought of in advance as "enemies" then how can statecraft improve the international situation?  Is the opposite thought true?  Are Saudi Arabia, Israel, Turkey, Egypt and AIPAC thought automatically to be friends who must be believed?  It seems that the answer is yes.

We are informed by the NY Times and CNN, (friends of Trump?) that in November parties unknown fired three mortar rounds into a parking lot in the former Green Zone in Baghdad.  There was some scorched pavement, three small holes in the surface, perhaps some tail fins sticking up like flowers and NO casualties.  Pilgrims, the soldiers here will tell you that this is a "what was that?" nothingburger.  The US Embassy occupies a portion of the Green Zone.  This parking lot was not in the embassy. Nevertheless, Bolton's hypertensive staff asked DoD to write some retaliatory options against Iran professing to believe that a.  the identity of the shooters was known (not true) b.  that Iran was obviously the controlling force in this bad deed.  Neither thing was true.  Understand.  The "options" asked for were alternative attack plans for retaliation against Iran.  The Pentagon/Joint Staff does not generate option papers for the use of "soft power."  They generate attack options to be presented to the president/commander in chief once the NSC staff has mulled them over.   They would be presented for a possible presidential decision on an Execute Order for one of them.  Understand?

Someone in the Pentagon (perhaps Mattis?) was understandably horrified at the "cavalier manner" in which the Boltonistas made such a request .  That is why this was leaked.  pl

https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/10/politics/pompeo-speech-cairo-intl/index.html

What is wrong with Trump?

"The U.S. is trying to sabotage the ongoing talks between Kurdish-forces and the Damascus government, Rezan Hido, a Kurdish politician and a former media consult of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) revealed in an interview with RIA Novosti on January 12.

According to Hido, Washington’s Special Representative for Syria, James Jeffrey, delivered several messages to the leadership of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) demanding them to slow down the negotiations with Damascus and promising to discuss the idea of establishing a no-fly zone over northeastern Syria.

The Kurdish political described Jeffery’s messages as “disturbing” and called on the Kurdish leadership to deal with them in careful manner.

Furthermore, Hido stressed that the SDF should take a decision on the talks with the Damascus government as soon as possible and regretted that some Kurdish officials are still pinning their hopes on a possible change in the U.S. decision to withdraw from Syria.

“Talks with the Syrian government are still ongoing in a positive atmosphere,” RT quoted Hido as saying.

Jeffrey made a visit to Turkey recently, where he tried to strike a deal with Ankara over northeastern Syria. However, Turkey’s plans to attack US-backed Kurdish forces and invade the region hindered his efforts.

It appears to be that the SDF’s only real option is the deal with Damascus as any U.S. solution would likely involve Turkey, which has demonstrated its agressive attitude towards Syrian Kurdish groups during its operation in Afrin in 2018."  SF

------------

The struggle between the neocons and Trump over control of foreign policy has become ridiculous.  One must remember that he can dismiss them all with the stroke of a pen, just he can dismiss his non civil service tormentors in the justice department and the FBI.  Bolton has tried to countermand Trump's decision in Syria.  His attempt and that of Jeffrey were rebuked in Ankara and DoD then announced an immediate commencement of the withdrawal.  What could that have been other than a renewed presidential order to the Defense Department?  And yet the unholy trio of Pompeo (first in the hearts of his USMA class), Jeffrey, a career neocon hack at State, and Bolton (the mustachioed menace) are still in their jobs?  Say what?

And then there is the Great Southern Border Crisis.  The Democrats have repeatedly voted for a great deal of money for barrier systems on the border.  Chancy (Chuck and Nancy) were in the lead in such votes over the years.  Now Nancy (who may not remember her votes) is denying Trump "a single dollar" for border barriers.  BTW, any soldier will tell you that the purpose of barriers IS NOT to stop all movement.  No, it is to slow up movement and canalize it so that Quick Reaction Forces (QRF) can get there first with the most.  To say that barriers are ineffective is dishonest.  By now Trump knows that he can declare a national emergency and fund the barriers after however much litigation the Dems can arrange.  There is ample money available for the purpose.  So, why does he not do it?

On Smerconish's show today, Bob Baer, spy extraordinaire, (read his books) asserted that the various bits and pieces of circumstantial "evidence" about Trump's contacts with and attitude toward Russia, as well as those of his flunkies and relatives amount to a "good enough" case for Trump being a Russian agent of influence.  That is how a HUMINT spook judges such things.  It is a matter of probabilities, not hard evidence.  Assets of an alien government are not always witting (understanding) of their status from the POV of the foreign government, but that does not necessarily make other than agents.  Sometimes they think they are merely cooperating in a good and normal way when, in fact, the relationship is much deeper.  Jane Fonda in North Vietnam would be an example. 

OTOH the president is responsible for the conduct of US foreign policy and is not under an obligation to accept the perhaps hackneyed views of his subordinates.  Perhaps his world view is quite different and he is not mesmerized by the group think of the Borg.  If that is so ...

But, how does one explain his lack of action on the border?  Does someone or some thing in Russia, Israel, the UK, his former business associates, have something really juicy on Trump, something that he fears to unleash through decisive action?  pl

https://southfront.org/kurdish-politician-washington-trying-to-sabotage-talks-between-sdf-and-damascus/

It appears that Trump has rejected neocon opinion on Syria

"The U.S. military began the process of withdrawing its troops from Syria following a drawdown ordered by President Donald Trump, a military official said Friday.

Col. Sean Ryan, a spokesman for the U.S.-coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq, declined to discuss specific operational details of the pullout such as timings and troop movements, but said in an email the withdrawal was underway. 

About 2,000 U.S. troops are in Syria. 

The development comes as White House national security adviser John Bolton appeared to contradict Trump's order when he said the withdrawal would not be immediate, it would not happen before ISIS is fully defeated and it would be contingent on a pledge by Turkey not to attack the U.S.'s Kurdish military allies in Syria.

None of Bolton's conditions have been met."     usatoday

-----------

My guess is that Erdogan called Trump and asked him if he or Bolton is running US foreign policy.

Bolton, Pompeo (first in his class), and Jeffrey are still running around sounding off in pursuit of their neocon dream of a world run by the US, but it seems likely that Trump has abandoned them.  Pompeo said in Cairo that the US is a force for good in the ME?  How?  Where?  I have dealt with the ME in government and business for 45 years and I have to delve deeply in my memories to find instance in which our well-meaning but clumsy efforts have not damaged the ME and the people who live there.  USAID comes to mind.  I remember the great re-build of the Alexandria, Egypt sewer and water system.  That was a very good thing.  On the other hand, think of the damage caused endlessly by the US's unquestioning support for Israel's aggressive policies and unwillingness to make any deal that is not completely weighted in their favor.  Think of the death and destruction we have wrought in Iraq.

Trump is busy just now with the questions of the the US southern border and his political survival.  The neocons may have thought that in this circumstance  he would not interfere with their attempt to thwart his policy in Syria.

I wonder how he will deal with Kushner over this.  pl

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2019/01/11/u-s-syria-troop-withdrawal/2545735002/

Chickens coming home to roost for Trump

Foreign Affairs.  

Middle East.  Bolton had his ass kicked on this trip.  The Turks made it clear that my view of them as neo-Ottomans unwilling to kow-tow to the US or anyone else is correct.  The manner of Turkish dismissal of Bolton's neocon decrees was wonderfully reminiscent of an Ottoman sultan leaving envoys waiting for weeks for an audience.  Now Dunford has run off to Ankara to try his luck.  IMO he will not do much better.  The Turks have rejected US pressure to cancel the S-400 deal with Russia and make it clear that they are going to butcher the SDF people as soon as we get out of the way.  At the same time Bolton, Pompeo and Jeffrey are telling the SDF that they better not make a deal with Damascus!  They better not!  This behavior is like children forming cliques in a school yard.  The mere fact that only the Syrian government and its allies can save the SDF from the Turks evidently means nothing to the neocons.  And, the Jordanian foreign minister made an unequivocal statement, presumably on behalf of his sovereign that under no circumstance would Jordan accept Israeli annexation of the Golan Heights, a territory undoubtedly a de jure territory of Syria.  Iraq and Egypt have made similar statements.  The neocons have always made a great show of respect for a world order based on post Westphalia conceptions of state sovereignty.  Their willingness to accept Israeli piracy and theft of other peoples'  territory makes a mockery of that.  IMO neocon policy in the ME is collapsing under its own weight of delusion.  That Trump allows this indicates to me that he is compromised to some special interest and that the depth of his ignorance of the region remains appalling.

China.  It is said that progress is being made in the trade talks, but thus far it is invisible.  On the other hand the Chinese Navy is becoming more and more belligerent in challenging what they see as intrusions into their zone of influence in the South China Sea.  A senior Chinese naval personage last week made a statement to the effect that what China needs to do is sink two US aircraft carriers and kill 10,000 sailors to confirm to the US that this sea is closed to us.  Adversaries have repeatedly made the mistake of thinking that because a lot of Americans are sybarites who care for nothing but themselves, that this degenerated stock determines what the "Great Republic" will do in a clash.  What they miss in this thinking is that there is a separate "nation" within the US made up of the Deplorables and the children of the Deplorables and these will always fight.  I know Muslims who thought after 9/11  that the US had been taught a lesson and would henceforth be humbled and passive.  How many Muslims died for that mistake?

The internal political war.

Chancy (Chuck and Nancy) as well as the idiots in the senate from New Jersey are having a great time mocking Trump.  They are gambling all on their ability to use their servant media to depict everything he does as evil and stupid.  They are hoping to force him to accept their will and thus castrate himself politically.  If he does that, IMO he a will be mere figurehead for the rest of his term.  I continue to think that when he has sufficiently positioned the Democrats, he will declare a national emergency, put Northcom in charge of the barriers project in order to fulfill the terms of the Emergencies Act and then have the Army Corps of Engineers let a lot of contracts to build out what the Border Patrol recommends.  pl

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/08/turkeys-erdogan-shuts-down-white-houses-bolton-on-syria.html

IMO Senate anti-BDS bill is an Israeli effort to kill free speech in the US

"Pro-Israel lawmakers in Washington, undeterred by the partial shutdown of the United States government, are pursuing their agenda full speed with the introduction of the first piece of legislation before the 116th Senate — a bill that aims to stifle the free-speech rights of American critics of apartheid Israel.

The Republican-controlled Senate’s first bill (S.1) would enact penalties on entities that engage in boycotts of Israel — one of many measures in the United States intended to push back on the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

BDS seeks to place economic pressure on companies and institutions that support Israeli ones operating in illegally occupied areas in Palestine, in order to pressure the Israeli government into compliance with international law and to cease its practices of apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and the ongoing encroachment of Israeli settlements."  Alexander Rubenstein

------------

Even as this travesty of law is driven forward in the senate, US senators Cruz and Cotton are in Israel supporting Israeli annexation of the Syrian Golan Heights and official American recognition of the annexation.  These Syrian lands were seized in war by Israel in 1967 and occupied ever since.

IMO this bill, if it became law, would be struck down by the courts as unconstitutional.

 pl

https://www.mintpressnews.com/new-senate-anti-bds-bill-unconstitutional-and-ineffective-at-curbing-israel-boycotts/253598/

AOC and the Donald - New Yorkers

"Although it is usually just conservatives getting in on the fun of correcting Ocasio-Cortez, the Washington Post fact-checkers also issued a blistering review of her comments, calling it a “swing and a miss.”

In its fact check, the Post noted that the very article Ocasio-Cortez used to slam those opposed to “Medicare-for-all” explained the accounting.

“This key distinction was duly noted in the Nation article that Ocasio-Cortez referenced on Twitter,” it stated.

Although the Post admitted that factual inaccuracies are common on Twitter, it also expressed frustration with Ocasio-Cortez because she made no effort to correct her misleading statements.

The Post wrote:

Ocasio-Cortez is not the first Twitter user to mangle information from a news report. But it’s unconvincing to try to pass this off as a rhetorical point being misread. She cited the $21 trillion figure and said “66% of Medicare for All could have been funded already by the Pentagon.”

That’s a direct comparison. It’s badly flawed. The same article she referenced on Twitter would have set her straight. The tweet is still up, probably causing confusion. So we will award Four Pinocchios to Ocasio-Cortez.

Although this fact check of Ocasio-Cortez was brutal, it likely won’t impact anything she does or says.

If joining a protest in the office of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on her first day at the Capitol didn’t make it clear that Ocasio-Cortez doesn’t care about criticism, then her Twitter feed certainly will.

Please note: This is a commentary piece. The views and opinions expressed within it are those of the author only and do not necessarily reflect the editorial opinion of IJR."  Washpost

-----------

Is there something in the water in New York City?  Is there a fault in the earth's crust that leaks noxious gases that stunt brain maturation? 

Neither of these people seem capable of objective thought.

This woman was raised in prosperous circumstance, went to college and then was a waitress in the Bronx.  She is now a member of Congress from a district that IMO  would have elected Fidel Castro or Karl Marx if it had the chance.  She seems incapable of speaking truth.  Cillizza, the leftist columnist at Bezos blog (washpost) agrees and the left is dumbfounded at this momentary defection.

Trump, as I have often written is a pitchman and bully negotiator.  He will say anything necessary to make a deal that he likes.  IMO he is completely in thrall to various Zionist interests but much of the rest of his policies I favor.

pl

https://ijr.com/washington-post-ocasio-cotez/

We haven't shot anyone lately for treason ...

"Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) personnel captured five foreign fighters of ISIS who were trying to target the civilians fleeing the terrorist group’s territory in the Middle Euphrates River Valley, the US-backed group announced in an official statement on January 6.

The foreign terrorists were identified as:

-34-year old Warren Christopher Clark, known as Abu Mohammad al-Ameriki, from Houston, U.S.;
-35-year old Zaid Abed al-Hamid, known as Abu Zaid al-Ameriki, from the U.S."  SF

https://southfront.org/syrian-democratic-forces-captures-five-foreign-terrorist-including-two-americans-in-euphrates-valley/

**********

"Definition: In Article III, Section 3 of the United States Constitution, treason is specifically limited to levying war against the US, or adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. Conviction requires two witnesses or a confession in open court.

Penalty: U.S. Code Title 18: Death, or not less than 5 years' imprisonment and not more than life imprisonment without the possibility of parole (minimum fine of $10,000, if not sentenced to death). Any person convicted of treason against the United States will permanently lose the right to ever hold or run for public office anywhere in any capacity within the United States."   wiki

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

------------

These two men should be made an example of.

They should be transferred to US custody AFTER BEING MIRANDIZED.   Do not interrogate them for intelligence in the field.  If you do, you will risk invalidating evidence that can be admitted in an Article 3 US court.  In the early post 9/11 confusion John Lindh was captured while incapacitated at mazar-i-sharif .  He was eventually charged with a mish-mash of offenses and tried with evidence that had been contaminated by non judicial system contact with him when first captured.  He is presently in federal prison but declares that he will return to the fight when released.

Let us not make the mistake again of making that possible.  pl

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Walker_Lindh#Trial

Elon Musk and Isaac Asimov

"Last year, Elon Musk's personal Tesla might have gotten all the headlines during SpaceX's historic rocket launch back back in February, but the Falcon Heavy also carried a second, secret payload almost nobody knew about.

Stashed inside the midnight-cherry Roadster was a mysterious, small object designed to last for millions (perhaps billions) of years – even in extreme environments like space, or on the distant surfaces of far-flung planetary bodies.

Called an Arch (pronounced 'Ark'), this tiny storage device is built for long-term data archiving, holding libraries of information encoded on a small disc of quartz crystal, not much larger than a coin."  sciencealert

----------

So, this particular pilgrim is in solar orbit carrying with him a tiny device that contains the entire text of Isaac Asimov's great science fiction trilogy - "Foundation," "Foundation and Empire" and "Second Foundation."  This is a wonderful, thought provoking work that I relished as a teenager.  Asimov was a polymath genius; biologist, man of letters and theater critic among other things.  I have a copy of his commentary on the entire oeuvre of Gilbert and Sullivan.

Musk is a man like unto him.  pl

https://www.sciencealert.com/spacex-hid-a-second-hidden-payload-aboard-falcon-heavy-and-it-sounds-amazing

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

Iraq is proposing Re-admittance of Syria to the Arab League

"Iraqi top diplomat Mohamed Alhakim has confirmed the country’s support for Syria’s return to the Arab League, in a statement quoted by the Foreign Ministry.

“Iraq supports the unity of Syria and its return to its normal position in the Arab world and the region and the restoration of its position in the Arab League,” the Twitter post read.

The Iraqi foreign minister added that Baghdad wanted to see border crossings reopened between the two neighbors to stimulate trade.

The statement comes after Saudi Arabia, seen as Syria’s rival in the group, said last week it did not mind the Middle-Eastern state’s return." AMN

 

--------

 

You may be of the opinion that the the Arab League, now headquartered in Cairo, is among the more useless organizations in the world.  If that is your view, you are also among the more perceptive observers of the ME.  The organization is the product of the insatiable Arab desire for meetings, endless speeches and inability to agree on anything that could actually be accomplished.  

 

On the other hand, re-admission of Syria to the Arab League is a mighty symbol for the collective political mind of the Arab World.  This factoid plus resumption of scheduled air transport from Arab countries and the likelihood of the re-opening of Arab embassies in Damascus all point to the simple truth that the Syrian Arab Government has won the civil war.  Even the UK government is now admitting that "Assad will be around for a while."

 

The Turks appear to be transfixed by the prospect of Russian favor and are less likely with every day that passes to try to gobble up northern Syria.

 

A new day, the SDF will make its peace with Damascus.  pl

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/iraq-backs-syrias-return-to-the-arab-league/

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

Chinese naval rail guns.

"A railgun is a device that uses electromagnetic force to launch high velocity projectiles, by means of a sliding armature that is accelerated along a pair of conductive rails.^[2] It is typically constructed as a weapon, and the projectile normally does not contain explosives, relying on the projectile's high speed to inflict damage. The railgun uses a pair of parallel conductors, or rails, along which a sliding armature is accelerated by the electromagnetic effects of a current that flows down one rail, into the armature and then back along the other rail. It is based on principles similar to those of the homopolar motor."  SF

-------------

Now this has little to do with Mu Gu Gai Pan. 

I have long been interested in these gadgets.  I remember a NOVA feature that looked at what they called "mass drivers."  This is the same thing I suppose.  The device was also featured in Heinlein's novel "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" in which big ones were used to fire loads of rare earths and the like at target ocean areas on the earth for retrieval.  How well that would work is beyond my ability to judge.

These things typically will fire metal bolts at hyper-velocities at maritime targets.  Cool.  pl

https://southfront.org/chinese-ship-with-electromagnetic-railgun-starts-sea-trials-reports/

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

150 Central Americans tried by force this week to enter the US illegally en masse

"US agents have fired tear gas over the border into Mexico at migrants trying to enter the country illegally.

Around 150 Central Americans tried to make the crossing near the town of Tijuana to the south of California on New Year's Day.

One US official described the migrants as a "violent mob".

It comes as the US federal government remains shut down as President Donald Trump and Congress argue over funding for his proposed border wall."  BBC

------------

The BBC does not seem to know that the US voluntarily admits over one million legal IMMIGRANTS per year.  These people are automatically on a track to full citizenship after five years residence if they behave themselves, pay their taxes, do not commit criminal acts, etc.  They can accelerate that process if they join the US armed forces and serve honorably. 

The people now seeking to force their way across the border seem to think that they are justified in crashing across the US border with Mexico without regard to US law.  To willingly cross the US border illegally is a misdemeanor crime.  The US government has a duty under the constitution to defend the borders of the US against foreign invasion.  How are foreign people trying to crash through the border not an invasion?  Tear gas?  Yes, it makes you cry and choke.  The alternative is force escalating to deadly force. 

The US listens to petitions for asylum from conditions that threaten life.  The US does not recognize petitions for asylum based on poor conditions of local economy or crime in countries of origin.  If the US did accept such petitions, most of the population of the planet would be eligible for asylum in the US.

The argument is raised that the US should make Central America an earthly paradise, a veritable Nebraska in which Hondurans, Guatemalans and Salvadorans would be content to abide.  Well, pilgrims, as I have explained here several times, the US has been trying to do that in Latin America ever since the Kennedy Administration with minimal success.  Do these little countries wish to surrender their sovereignty to the US so that we might perform our magic of enrichment and creation of actual democracy upon them?  I think they do not.  They approach our borders waving the various flags of their wretched countries even while asking for ASYLUM from those countries, countries that cannot run their own affairs well enough to make people want to stay home and live the good life Latino style.

Make no mistake.  If these migrants, who think nothing of using little children as human shields, force surrender of control of immigration, there will be a tidal wave coming behind them.  pl

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46739126

Comments

If you want your comments posted on SST they have to be more than :( or :) or "Already." or some such brief message.  pl

Happy New Year - 2019

And now- an Old Army party.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=utube+Ft+Apache+grand+march&qpvt=utube+Ft+Apache+grand+march&view=detail&mid=72279436875C47E8D2BC72279436875C47E8D2BC&&FORM=VRDGAR

And now the US Army has returned to wearing its traditional dark blue when not in the field.  Thank God!  The Grand March was always a feature of unit balls until "modernity" killed it off.

A New Year's Day reception in quarters given by commanders of battalions and regiments was a feature of regimental life until well into my time as a subaltern.  Attendance was not compulsory but expected.  My first assignment was to the Second Battalion, Second Infantry Regiment then stationed at Ft. Devens, Massachusetts, coincidentally the post at which I had been born.  One Year a few bachelor lieutenants preferred to go skiing and agreed that one of their number would attend the CO's reception and leave all their calling cards in the silver tray on a table near the front door to show they had been there.  Unfortunately the designated deliverer had a few two many eggnogs and dropped the cards in the tray with a rubber band still around them.  When asked to explain, they sensibly threw themselves on the mercy of the CO's wife, a lovely Puerto Rican lady who graciously forgave them all.  pl

"Whither the Kurds?" Dorsey

"Kurdish hopes are often vested in predictions articulated by former CIA and National Security Agency director Michael Hayden that “Iraq no longer exists, Syria no longer exists”[v][5] as well as the disintegration of Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia in the wake of the demise of communist rule. That remains a possibility but more realistic is the fact, at least in the immediate future, the Syrian and Iraqi states as they existed in the past are more likely to change rather than dissolve. The lesson of the 2017 Iraqi Kurdish referendum and the fact that the Iraqi state has already demonstrated resilience in surviving and its Syrian counterpart may well do so too, means that Kurds will have to strive for some autonomous accommodation within a federal structure."  Dorsey

------------

Dorsey's main points are that the Kurds of Iraq and Syria have been taught valuable even if painful lessons:

1.  The United States has been and remains committed to the existence of the post World War One geographical constructs that are the Iraqi and Syrian states.  In the heady atmosphere that accompanied the "Arab Spring," revolts which were largely supported by the Obama Administration, and the decades long flirtation of the US Borg (foreign policy establishment) with the Kurds, the Kurdish people conceived the idea after 9/11 that the US would support them in resistance to non-Kurdish governments in Iraq and Syria even unto support for Kurdish independence and full Kurdish control of petroleum resources in their parts of these countries. 

2.  They have been shown to be wrong in that hope.  The devotion and reverence of the US Borg for the supposed sanctity of international borders and the existence of what is conceived by the Borg to be to an international order in which those borders cannot ever be changed has proven to be much stronger than any other factors including the lure of concessionary contracts in oil and gas from new Kurdish states.

3.  The United States is not a reliable ally in any cause not generally thought to be a struggle against a possibly fatal threat to the US as a country.  The citizenry of the US simply have no interest in less than total wars waged against what is conceived of as great evil.  The Borg understands this disinterest by the public in what the Borg thinks of as a desirable set of tools in the "game of nations." Because of that phenomenon great efforts have been made in IO to sell the Borg Wars as existential for the US.  The American people now see through that deception and Trump has acted on this conviction that he shares with the people.  In that context betrayal of the Kurds has become a necessary evil.

4.  Neither the Kurds not any other hapless minority people will ever have the grip on the collective imagination of the American People and the Congress that Israel has.  pl

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/whither-the-kurds/