AN UGLY AFFAIR ... AND AN UGLIER COVER-UP ....

The lies, and later the cover-up of the ugly killing of Jamal Khashoggi by the Saudi regime , backed by some Arab pseudo allies, and Western economical special interests, especially the American president and his close people, proves how much the man in his life, and more in his death is achieving in showing the entire world the duplicity and hypocrisy of certain regimes .

The very recent incident, involving the horrendous and grizzly murder of the Saudi reporter, columnist for the Washington Post, and openly critical of his country's royal politics and regime,  took a squad of professionals, highly trained liquidators, at the open site of the Saudi consulate in Istanbul , instead of a more discrete job by a paid hitman, leaving behind them a complete trail of blood and human remains and ugly torture screams and noises . One would wonder why !!!

The entire civilised world and its press roared with loud indignation, and supposed anger, even the US was partially forced to voice some concerns and regrets, till of course Mr. Trump started his pacifying campaign , followed by theatrical Saudi muscle flexing, and economical pressures .

Till today the matter is surprisingly not closed, and more investigations are called for by many sides, a matter of increasing the cash price of punishment and embarrassment  to many interested parties. I have no shadow of doubt in my mind , that the whole affair would be deliberately closed and forgotten soon , and life will go on as normally as it is , even if the price is suddenly creating a new scene to divert everyone's attention from this embarrassing affair , both America and Israel have great interests in the  Saudi king to be, to avoid further embarrassing him publically .

It was interesting though, to observe the reactions of the main stream pro-Israeli voices in the US. and their affiliated press corps, they were not speaking against the murderers, or joining the world's indignation, but against Khashoggi himself, the victim, pro Israel groups like the American Israel Public Affairs, the anti-Defamation league, were literally attacking the man himself, Israeli officials were silent or joining these groups as well.


 Both the Israeli mossad and the American CIA, as well  as all special forces of any rogue regime, be it Russia , Turkey or Syria, even the shah of Iran, have had tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, single individuals, tortured and eliminated, as well as mass killings scenes, total annihilations of entire populations of entire villages and towns, do we honestly believe that these regimes will question one stupid case that went a little wrong in its details, by their secret service compadres ???

No one ever questioned similar cases, or the intentions or the tactics leading to them, so no real reason to question Saudi criminality, especially after reparation payments are made .  George Orwell made in his time, the distinction between ; "People and unpeople, people are those who count, unpeople don't, You can do anything you like to them ." Yemenis, Palestinians, non Zionist Jews within Israel or outside it, Middle-Easterners, Arabs, Musslems, people of colour, Latinos, are all unpeople, the rich ones of course are somewhat people . Trump's America, Neocons extreme right Israel, the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and others as well, perfectly fit those methodologies, in all their wars, adventures and imperialistic elimination campaigns across the globe.

The moral bankruptcy of all new Neocons , extreme right fascists, religious fanatics, be it in America, Israel or Turkey, Saudi Arabia and/or many others, will lead automatically to similar acts of brutality and bestiality , all in the name of protection of the patrimoine, and the glorious pasts. Crimes like flogging to death bloggers for expressing their opinion  like Raef Badawi in Saudia, or imprisoning and torturing young kids for shouting at aggressive and brutal soldiers, or firing half the official state employees for alleged conspiracies, exercising white male supremacy, are all clear symptoms of what is coming. 

My usual many thanks to all my good followers and readers .          

        

CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER .......

The US president , Mr. Trump, is proving to be the macho figure par excellence, anything and everything created by any previous administration or other politicians, is deemed and considered effeminate, week and anti American, he never really explained when was America great, and worthy of returning to its glorious previous model .

Mr. Trump, his oligarchy, and appointed administration, are active tearing up every treaty with all others, be them allies or foes, burning up alliances, and trampling all over the constitution, appointing new people in all positions, of judiciary, foreign affairs, security, health and education, wealth distribution and taxation, climate concerns, as if all ex-appointees were starch enemies of the country. This will insure for decades to come a certain pattern, ideological and political where no one else has a word to say, a disapproval or a concern to voice .

Mr. Trump's admiration for every other comical macho politician across the globe , from Mr. Putin to Netanyahu, Duterte of the Philippines to the north Korean leader Kim, and Victor Orban of Hungary to Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage of Brexit, even the leaders of the extreme right all over Europe, only shows a sense of cultural displacement and weakness by those who fear ethnic and racial diversity .

A return to times, when men were men, and considered themselves Superior to all others, men beating their wives, men enslaving other men, for their skin colours or not, men savagely taking advantages of other weaker men , economically or politically, socially or imperialistically, men who's unabashed masculinity, no longer feel weak or even real, men who's actions are driven by instincts, from their gut rather than their brains or intellect, regardless of the rules or consequences. Men who can show the entire world their middle fingers and believe they can get away with it defiantly .

The usual American new line nowadays, is ;  Mr. Trump is targeted at only conservatives and rich audiences, the Faith communities of the Bible belt if you will . Still every American who loves his country should appreciate Trump and his legacy, and be inspired by it . As he (Trump) has received prophecies directly from God, even if they do not align necessarily with the Bible's message . They know in the bottom of their harts that Trump is God's will, that God raised him up for these times in America, he is an instrument of God .

They all firmly believe, that America's leadership in the world, the strong economy, military prowess, blind and absolute defense of Israel, and a certain special Godliness, that only corresponds to their interests, are all Trump's attributes. God is definitely using Trump to restore America, he stands for the common man and protects his freedoms. And he is a good man himself -- Not perfect, but who is, non of us are .

All Evangelicals believe firmly that Trump's election, was God's Divine will, that God was involved in the election process. Yet most, if not all of the self-claimed Evangelicals, Christian patriots, even poorer people of colour, and some ethnic minorities, are all drawn to different styles of populist patriotism, the kind that Trump and his close oligarchy and advisers, who advocate and promotes a specific nostalgia for a past that never really existed not in America nor anywhere else in the world.

American greatness as imagined by these people , never really existed, not in our older days nor newer times, and our history is very explicit about it. Our greatness could lie in our future, if properly conducted , if administered with justice, compassion, and fairness, not hatred, fascism, apartheid, colonialism under all its forms. And sheer brutality, just because we can do it , all across the glob.

Our ideals and application of them , our greatness, is a matter of future doing and proving, not a past we're trying to recreate and go back to . Surely, We are not on our way to greatness with our present ideologies, tactics and politics. Certain Americans, who cheer nowadays Trump and his oligarchy, and their slogans, are only repeating the fake views of the pseudo glorious past, when we ruled over the world, according strictly to our narrow interests, exploiting the world resources with no check, when our Hollywood culture dominated, and later our boots, secret services, arms and money, destroyed complete nations and populations.

Our economical greed, and political fascism, combined their efforts to take a firm grip on most of the world, recreating always the fake view of the glorious past, always to the service of our supremacy,  hegemony, and unconditional wealth. No wonder our greatest raw model in governance nowadays and greatest political influencers, is apartheid, colonial and brutal Israel, its perpetual enmity to all its neighbours , and its isolation walls.

Liberalism  and social programs are the enemy, fascism and isolation are the new norms. As Mr. Obama correctly said ; That Trump is a symptom, he is building on a hysteria, and most of it is about non-problems, at least not real essential problems to most Americans, they are invented and conveniently conceived problems for a special political, economical, and social audience, for a specific goal .

My usual gratitude for all my readers, all over ....                                      

THE STAKES TODAY ARE IMMENSE , THE PREDICTABLE CONSEQUENCES OF THE SUPREME COURT ......

                                                                                              September 24, 2018

Mr. Omar Dabbagh
 Chapel Hill. Ter.

Dear Mr. Dabbagh:

Thank you for contacting me about the Supreme Court.  I appreciate hearing from you.

On July 9th, 2018, President Trump nominated Judge Brett Kavanaugh of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to be the next Supreme Court Justice.  Dr. Christine Blasey Ford has come forward with a serious charge that Judge Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her during their high school years, providing notes from therapy sessions in 2012 to corroborate her claim, which Judge Kavanaugh denies.  The Senate owes it to Dr. Ford, sexual assault survivors, and the entire nation to dutifully examine her charge.  I have publicly called for the FBI to investigate these charges, and for the Judiciary Committee to hold hearings where Dr. Ford, Judge Kavanaugh, and other relevant witnesses may testify.  The Judiciary Committee is currently scheduled to hear from Dr. Ford and Judge Kavanaugh on September 27th.

In addition, others have come forward with allegations about Judge Kavanaugh that must be fully investigated.  I continue to call for the FBI to examine all such allegations, and the Judiciary Committee should delay voting on Judge Kavanaugh until that investigation is complete.

Prior to these allegations, I had announced that I will oppose Judge Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court.  I have diligently studied his record of academic writings and judicial opinions.  I have read the limited documents made available from his time working for Mr. Starr and President Bush.  I have interviewed him face-to-face in my office.  And I have observed his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee.  All of this has led me to the conclusion that he lacks the independence to decide the most important issues facing our country and that he could upend settled law in several different areas without sufficient basis.

We are in a pivotal time in our nation's history.  Our current President continues to disrupt our democratic norms and institutions; his actions have and will continue to create an avalanche of litigation, much of which will be decided by the Supreme Court.  Judge Kavanaugh has failed to show he'll be an independent check against unlawful action by the President.  Among other things, he has said that a 1988 Supreme Court opinion upholding, by a 7-1 vote, an independent counsel to investigate the President was wrongly decided.  He has suggested that the unanimous Supreme Court opinion forcing President Nixon to comply with a subpoena and turn over secret tapes was wrongly decided.  He refused to say in his confirmation hearing whether a President must comply with a lawfully issued subpoena.  He would not say whether a President could pardon himself.  He has written that a President may refuse to enforce a law validly passed by Congress even if that law has been upheld as Constitutional by the Supreme Court.  And he refuses to criticize this President's attacks on Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation and our nation's law enforcement officials.  His pattern of excessive deference to the executive is not characteristic of the independence that the Framers sought when they designed our government.

Judge Kavanaugh's views about Supreme Court precedent also do not inspire confidence.  He has stated in his hearings that he views Roe v. Wade as "settled law."  But in a 2003 email while working for the Bush Administration he resisted characterizing Roe as "settled law" since the "Court can always overrule its precedent and three current Justices on the Court would do so."  This candid admission raises a whole series of questions about what other "settled" areas of law-in an era of 5-4 Supreme Court decisions-might suddenly be unsettled by this nominee.  The constitutionality of women's reproductive rights, the Affordable Care Act, the right of same-sex couples to marry, key immigration issues, the acceptability of reasonable rules to reduce gun violence, the ability to detain U.S. citizens as enemy combatants, and so many other issues currently under discussion could shift dramatically if he is confirmed.  Judge Kavanaugh's selective refusal in hearings to answer questions about issues deeply important to millions of Americans did nothing to allay these fears. And these concerns are magnified by the Administration's unwillingness to produce over 100,000 pages of his written records, material that would likely shed additional light on his views.

I was a civil rights lawyer for 17 years, with cases in state and federal trial and appellate courts, including the United States Supreme Court.  As a Governor, I appointed two Virginia Supreme Court Justices.  I've taught constitutional law and legal ethics at the University of Richmond Law School, and my wife, Anne, served as a Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court Judge for many years.  I have thought long and hard about the mixture of skills required to be a good judge.  I acknowledge that Judge Kavanaugh is a hard-working public servant who has won the admiration of many.  But in these troubling times, I fear his confirmation to the Supreme Court would compromise judicial independence and threaten critical precedents.

Thank you again for contacting me.

Sincerely,



Tim Kaine                                     
                                                      _________________________

In this comical charade of confirming Judge Kavanaugh for a life-time position to the Supreme Court, and whatever the outcome of it, even if the approval of his nomination might be somehow considered a win to the Democratic electoral machine, as it is to Republicans, if used wisely by Democrats, to energize their own constituency and probably win some undecided independent voices, especially women , but at the end the real looser will be the American people as a whole. They will be the real payers for stupid partisan politics and fanaticism, ultra right thinking versus liberal and social thinking , the man and especially now after his public humiliation, would be the most vengeful, stupid and harmful choice for decades to come, to Americans and the world that is still somehow looking for American guidance . 

All my thanks for the senator and his clear letter, and to all my good readers all over .