THE JERUSALEM CONNECTION .......

Most Israeli Zionists and American Zionists and pro Zionists choose to totally ignore, and in some instances harshly accuse progressive Jewish anti Zionists voices with the worst names and adjectives,  thinkers like Alfred Lilienthal , rabbi Elmer Berger, and in our actual times, great minds like Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein and Ilan Pappe, or the columnist Gideon Levy, Uri Avneri and many others in Israel, America and the Western world. They are all accused widely of being self hating Jews, traitors to the cause .

Even passionate about justice and morality Jews, tend to forget and ignore the gross injustices perpetrated by Israeli Zionists, winning the well deserved nick-name of "Progressive except Palestine and Palestinians."

Israeli Zionism loves to advocate itself as a paragon of fairness and justice, as the former Israeli supreme court president Aharon Barak used to put it ; "Democracy has its own internal morality, based on the dignity and equality of all human beings .... Most central of all human rights is the right to dignity." How correct and nicely put, and how hypocrite,  as in Israel's reality it's only meant to be applied and applicable between Jews, and strictly Jews, Arabs, Palestinians, Musslems or Christians, kids, adults or old have no place in this equation. They are all inferior and third class, with no rights or dignity.

Palestinians Only deserve to be despised and loathed by the Israeli people, and a full apartheid treatment is only adequate, leading eventually to a whole population transfer and easy annexation of their lands, waters and wealth. Again and again all in the name of the same divine almighty, or is it really ??

Modern Israel, was created through deceit and cruel brutality, falsification and ethnic cleansing, it is maintained and still aggressively expanding through illegal occupation and blockades , through sheer force and deceit, and it wants to convince itself and the world that when Palestinians legally resist the brutal and cruel occupation and theft of their lands and properties, when they exercise their rights to resist apartheid and total beastly and barbaric militaristic tactics , they are looked at and labeled as "TERRORISTS".

Israel denounced Thursday's U.N. vote about Jerusalem, likening it to the 1975 resolution equating Zionism with racism , a decision that was repealed 17 years later because of intensive American pressure on the world body of nations, including withholding American dues payments to the U.N. and aid money to poorer countries .

" It's shameful that this meeting is even taking place." Declared Israel's envoy to the United-Nation addressing the entirety of the world , " It's null and void, no vote of the U.N. will make any difference on the U.S." " We will take names", said the U.S. representative Nikki Haley . The US president Mr. Trump  threatened to withhold American foreign aid from countries that didn't abide and follow American directives, is it history repeating itself 25 years later ??

Let's see if Mr. Trump's naivety will further drag the US into more ridicule and isolation in the entire  world contrary to any of our vital interests or our basic common sense . " We'll save a lot , I don't care " against any and all countries that voted their conscience, we are again facing the world with the old mentality of "with us or against us"  and turning our foreign policies and diplomacy into the perfect bully against all .

Most political analysts, American or international firmly believe , that the whole unfortunate affair was a significantly self-inflicting wound, and a major blunder . This faux-pas, totally unnecessary , simply clumsy diplomacy on the part of the US and its immature leadership .

It is the optimal hypocrisy when Nikki Halley and her boss see a wonderful world condemnation to North Korea's nuclear actions, but totally fail to see the same toward Israel's continual occupation and treatment of its under occupation territories , its theft and hegemonic policies .

As always , my absolute gratitude to all my readers , happy holidays .     
  

OUR TIMES , OUR WORLD .....

Theocracy, apartheid, and authoritarian neo-colonial regimes are now thriving, and are not anymore condemnable or challenged . As a result of our actions and reactions, real meaningful democracies are definitely regressing and in retreat, whether in the Western world in general, America,  around all of the Middle-East or in any other spot of the world .

Where are all these modern leaders, in the US and abroad, our so called allies or enemies, from theocracies to dictators, neocons authoritarian or neocolonialists and fascists,  where are all from the words of Isaiah ; " Doom to you who legislate evil, who make laws that make victims, laws that make misery for the poor, that rob the destitute of their dignity, exploiting defenseless widows, taking advantage of homeless children". (IS-10:1-4), what is happening right now in many spots of the world at the hands of cruel and selfish leaders, bloody leaders, matters for the soul of the entire world , and for many years to come .

As has been made clear by his actions repeatedly, whether internally or in foreign policies, our current president lately proves more than ever, that he believes he is special, he is free to obstruct justice when he deems it necessary, he can lie without consequences, he does not need to worry about potential controversial consequences .

In medicine, as in real life, mental impairment, is considered as serious as physical impairment . Simply put, as a president Mr. Trump shows all the signs that raise red flags ; Verbal aggressiveness, boasting about sexual assaults, accusing others of cheap sexual behaviors, inciting violence in others, a clear attraction to violence and weapons, he is impulsive, he wouldn't hesitate using nuclear power or pushing doomsday buttons in many hostile or not so hostile instances .

He is reckless, paranoiac, he has poor understanding of consequences and looses grip on reality, he lacks empathy and compassion toward others, individuals or human groups, he is constantly in a rage mood and needs to demonstrate power constantly. He lives in his own world of apartheid, and tries to implement it and encourage it with sick allies who still listen to him or feel he's doing them favors .

One way or another, the consequences of Mr. Trump's presidency are affecting pretty much all of us, Americans and from across the world, it will take many years to erase these, and recover from his acts of folly . If the aberration of the past 70 years of hegemony, colonialism, apartheid and vulgar open theft, are to be stopped anytime through this century, the whole world and its political leadership will have to exercise a lot more compassion, care and attention, so as to curb the arrogance and falsehood and abhorrent aberrant distortions of many political claims .

My, as always, profound thanks for your time .                                 

SOME PERSONAL REFLECTIONS ......

Usually I'm very interested in other's  thoughts and writings, it surely helps my mind form itself, and my ideas develop, I like to read philosophy and learned a lot from philosophers, I take advantages of the vocabulary of other writers and thinkers, as they all invariably do, words developed for the discussion of ideas, their ideas as well as mine .

Religions and divine powers and creations, surely play a very primarily role in human activity , at least for the past few thousands of years, and up to present times . They still interfere heavily and take a major role in human development, progress and thinking . Unfortunately so because both, divinity and religions are works of fiction, with not so good influence on Sapiens .

Religions are mostly and primarily an evasion, emanating and engulfed in mystery and fable . They will always be part of the unknown and remain unknown and enigmatic to clear minds and real analytical thinking and analysis .

Consequently , and since my early youth, I have never found myself able to believe in the existence of a god, or in any divine based religion, though I could never scientifically or rationally prove his or its non-existence , but no one could prove his existence as well .

Just to like believing in something, or because you're brought-up to believe in an idea or a way, or as Pascal  wager puts it ; that it is safer and a better bet to believe in god than not to . All these do not constitute enough good reasons and justifications to blind faith and automatic servitude .

Morality, good judgment, the respect of the others, their rights and dignities, equality between people and more so between genders, are all human attributes and not godly ones, on the contrary prophets mimicking the words of divine powers were always controversial and contradictory, subject to historic times and location .

Thus the huge misfortunes on humanity from religions and their interests, the worst culminating in our actual times are the politico/religious tragedies and injustices we are witnessing all around us . injustices, brutality, apartheid, and all again to glorify some godly concept and prove itself more superior, obstinate, intransigent, and inflexible .

Finally, let's make sure we understand the clear concept Sapiens created on this earth of ours, Divine powers and manipulations, and magic are all us-dependent, in themselves they are figments of our mental faculties and imagination, without us to nurture them, they would be unintelligible and practically non existent . Our power of inventing and putting together a whole fiction-like imagery,  stories and miracles, all non verifiable nor checkable, based totally on blind belief and faith, has been an amazing achievement of our imagination throughout Sapien's evolution .

Throughout our adventures which led to the inventions and implementations of our imagination, we've created realms and concepts that are in themselves incomprehensible to our own minds and very difficult to grasp, where only speculative imagination would work to elucidate the self contradictions of religions, their thinking and reasoning .  The existence of God cannot in any way be explained or justified by simply assuming the existence of God, nor by an act of blind faith .

It is important to stress that these conclusions have been reached entirely through rational thinking and sober pragmatic and logical considerations . As always my deep gratitude for your time .                            

ON LEADERS AND SANE LEADERSHIP ......

Striking a fair balance between genuine national security and expansionism, hegemony, neocolonialism and supremacy, as well as respecting the rights and dignities of others, ought to be carefully thought and considered by any person claiming to be a leader of any state or entity.

Clearly times of terror and chaos are a clear danger to democracies, and to regional and international stability, but leaders all through times had the strong tendencies to go overboard in their determination to enforce their own dreams and visions of hegemony and grandiose schemes . Even if often camouflaged under big words of protecting national security and/or the prosperity of their people.

Always at whatever the cost to others and even their own people . Resulting more often than not , in curtailing and terminating freedoms and instituting semi and quasi fascist regimes in their own sides. When leaders lose their heads, and start envisioning bigger than realistic dreams, ordinary people, as well as intelligentsia and the media, must keep their clear minds and their commonsense , must be able to perceive and express what is ridiculous, dangerous or even comical in a situation or character.

All have a clear duty , to make sure others see and feel the truth of the matter , to clarify the discrepancies between appearances and realities, between the evil that's meant, and what is nicely and eloquently expressed.

Leaders who engage in evil, generally to promote their fortunes or powers at the expense of others, or to prove their superiority and vain, only do so because they want to and because they can, and not as it's always claimed that they were pushed or cornered, or even in defense of their countries and people.

To use recent America as an example of leadership gone astray, leadership that only very few likewise adventurer leaders around the world have welcomed. "The end of history" never came nor materialized as the world order of Mr. Bush the father hardly lasted a half decade. The promised democracy of Mr Bush the son and his brilliant VP Cheney and their advisers, their attempts to end tyranny throughout the world ended with disastrous results for the U.S and the world, from Libya to Iraq and Syria all the way to Afghanistan, and the drive is still on .

I'm going to repeat the words of Jonathan Freedland, from a recent article of his, "Until a year ago, the US was setting a lead of a very different sort, America's first black president seemed about to make way for the first woman president, (both fairly smart and cultured ), italics mine. Once again the US was offering an example to the world, affording a glimpse of what 21st century democracy might look like, instead, Trump has provided a glimpse into gloomier future, one of lies, ethnic divisions, authoritarianism, and the ever looming prospect of war. It's fair to say that most within and outside the US are counting the days, like a prisoner scratching marks onto the wall".

Waiting for Trump to be gone, so that the world might feel steadier and safer again. Recently the favorability rating of the US had fallen by a third, only Russia's top leadership , Israeli neocons and neocolonialists and lately possibly Saudi Arabia ruling King and son, still look approvingly to Mr. Trump and his oligarchic leadership . 

In fact , practically all aggressive and brutal leaders share one thing, they all claim to know what they know or think they know, and they all seal themselves off against any evidence or opinions that might or could change or challenge their basic obstinacy and beliefs . I for one , strongly believe, that ruling in general should not be a single job for any one person anymore in our times , it has to become a collective democratic sharing office .

My as always many thanks for your time ...                         

SAVE LEBANON FROM ITS OWN POLITICIANS .....

This article was written couple weeks ago, while on a private visit to Lebanon, since, some major political/ economical events took place, and are still taking Lebanese and regional  political classes by surprise and puzzlement, fearing a grave war or at least some devastating economical repercussions to the Saudi threats. But Lebanon was always unkind to its own fate , and its politicians classically and more so presently were always and continue to be as careless and selfish, with various loyalties to variable foreign powers, rather than Lebanese interests .

While Lebanon may avoid a crash, or keep on creeping toward an uncertain future, an opaque one at best, politicians and policy makers, war lords and militia leaders, will continue their policies of temporary measures, and personal excessive spending and dept refinancing. Accompanied of course with and equally excessive rate of corruption all through the government hierarchy from the very top to the bottom .

All still hoping and betting on a surely fading Arab and international interest in financing some of Lebanon's needs or even just coming to its rescue when in deep crisis. Lebanon indeed appears to be headed toward some social and existential extreme difficulty, but the most inflicting to its survival would be an economic and monetary collapse and bankruptcy. Maybe that's exactly what some internal and external powers want and look for, for a permanent change of the country's geography and mapping.The past history of attracting quick financial aid and ample capital, whether Arab or international  to address various crisis, is surely coming to an end .

Relying on temporary tactics, like the appreciation of the Euro bonds market, or a surge in the gold prices, have been so far helpful and favorable to the Lebanese currency stability and the central bank. But the strategic economic challenges are as grave and persistent, and more so with a looming Saudi and Arab monetary boycott .

Yet the political elite and the power princes , do not seem willing to actually reform the system or their visions of the country, though it is serving their own interests in clear and obvious ways, they are all satisfied buying time, through little temporary economical tactical gimmicks, and profiting and making use of some regional crisis, like the Syrian refugee exodus, or an eventual Syrian reconstruction opportunity, or playing some divides like the Saudi/Iranian/Israeli/American differences of political views and interests .

While Lebanon may avoid a total crash as a result of this reliance on temporary measures, and by eventually exploring and sharing some of its natural gases and oil reserves in the Mediterranean sea, equitably over all its citizenry. One thing remains a constant, the country's policy makers and war lords are morally and intellectually bankrupt, no sincere interest what so ever in any social development, nor saving the economic system, or getting out of a feudal religious sectarian mentality and application.

All my thanks as always for your continuing persistence in reading the blog .                                            

BADLY WRONG BACK THEN ...TERRIBLY WRONG TODAY ...

Yesterday the 2 of Oct. 2017, coincided with the Balfour declaration's centenary , when colonial Britain offered Palestine to a third foreign party, in order to attract Jewish people from across the world, and probably get rid of some of its own Jews in Britain, They were invited to create a "Jewish home-land" on Palestinian lands. applying the saying ;"He who doesn't own, gave to who is unwarranted."

Hannah Arendt, in her famous book ,"Eichmann in Jerusalem", tackled the hardly ever mentioned problem, of Jewish leadership collaboration in facilitating the prosecuting and bringing many Jews to death camps, the fact that she being one of very few who recognized and criticized the Jewish leadership and counsels, was shocking to many Jewish thinkers and observers, as she wrote ; "Wherever Jews lived, there were recognized Jewish leaders, and this leadership, almost without exception, cooperated in one way or another, for one reason or another, with the Nazis."

She couldn't accept this behavior or hush it in the name of  the greater tragedy and misfortune of the general Jewish community at the hands of the Nazi regime. Insisting on the darkness of such behavior of the Jewish own leadership, she says ;" To a Jew , this role of the Jewish leaders in the destruction of their own people is undoubtedly the darkest chapter of the whole dark story."

Arendt's remarks about the Jewish leaders councils, managed only to raise the most furious reactions among Jewish intelligentsia and media commentators, "Self hating Jewess" the NewYorker magazine's  headlines screamed, in yet another commentary " In place of the Jew as virtuous martyr, she gives us, the Jew as accomplice in evil." And in another "In place of the confrontation between  guilt and innocence, she gives us the collaboration of criminal and victim." She was often accused of being malicious, impertinent and frivolous .Though most of the book later, was subsided , forgotten and forgiven .

Many books or publications, in our times, criticizing any aspect of Israeli, Zionist, or even Jewish political or criminal acts, had the same harsh fate and criticism and absolute condemnation. Today Israeli behavior toward the whole issue of occupation, the treatment of the under occupation , apartheid, the hegemony  and the theft of land and wealth, and the legal status of Israel, the messing up of all their neighbors in the occupied territories or neighboring sovereign countries, follows the same pattern, of harsh shutting up anyone who dare mention the truth under any form, being a Jew or not , they are all muted, insulted , hushed and punished . And brought to silence under different forms and headings .

If we are to argue and combat evil, we ought to do it wherever it occurs, and whenever we find it, and see it. We cannot allow ourselves to be selective in choosing only certain aspects of evil behavior or only condemn specific acts of terrorism, and overlook other acts of equal terrorism . A crazy religious fanatic animal, driving his truck through innocent bikers, or strollers, is as bad and condemnable , as the alt-right zealot who drove his car into a peaceful marching crowd in Charlottesville , and equally as bad as a soldier shooting an unarmed kid at a military checkpoint in occupied Palestine, as well as delaying an ambulance deliberately for hours with dying injured people on board .

The political philosopher Hanna Arendt was one of few courageous pioneer thinkers, to critique this behavior in her book "Eichmann in Jerusalem" and even she,  paid a price for her critique and opinions . The world has to come to its senses , especially the Western world , they have to help  save Israel from itself , as all fanatics .

As always , all my thanks for your time .
    

              

THE WAY IT IS ....

For thousands of years, various thinkers, philosophers, religious or non religious, all questioned the nature of reality, human related reality, questions of how should people lead their lives and what ethics should reign among different groups of people. All religions were an attempt at telling people to obey certain laws or face consequences, they were called  "godly inspired and spread laws" Simply for more weight, but most humans kept asking, what constituted the best way to live !!!

Some of our later worldly religions, such as Judaism and to a fair extend its offshoots, Christianity and more so Islam, take a different look and approach to these laws, ways and applications. A legalistic and pseudo moralistic God ordered approach, and less of a philosophical one, accompanied always with a firm threatening tone generally from God himself, and always implying that disobeying or infringing on his laws would bring about and entail the harshest of punishments, often imaginative involving various forms of cruel tortures with fires and skewers et all, and in both lives, the here in this world and in the next one !! God for some reason , never proved himself very philosophically empowered .

From the oldest commandments handed to Moses, to proliferate among his people , to all other prophets of the old Bible, to modern Greek influenced Bibles, to Mohammad and his follower's versions of an Aramaic/Judaeo/Arabian Islam , they all stressed on not committing basic sins, faithfully and blindly obeying god's laws and rituals, and a total feverish devotion and loyalty to him. the religious institutions and hierarchies there after, inherited these divination, obedience, and devotions and turned them into a full school.

Even early Hinduism was very similar in those aspects and approaches, whereby performing the right religious rituals , showing piety during one's life, and he's assured an incarnation of a better and higher quality, and eventually after death one would dwell with the Gods. Later Buddhist concepts mixed with Chinese and Japanese religions, turned more philosophical and addressed human well- being and nature more directly , and less godly and threatening .

Lately , many people all over the world are more than ever shifting emphasis , asking and rationing in the lines of ; " How should a virtuous person act, and under what rules of civility should we conduct ourselves toward others, rather than " how to serve God and live happily ever after" . The positioning of human affairs and persona, rather than God as a central goal in life, is becoming the norm in many civilized societies .

It is accepted nowadays that any authority, including god's and his religious hierarchies, is only legitimate, where it has the consent of the governed . Humans historically surrendered some of their rights to some absolute authorities and to religions and religious institutions only and mostly when life was very poor, nasty, brutal and short. in modern times all theocracies are a perfect example .

When the Rwandan genocide took place in the 90s, the majority extremists Hutus began originally to refer to the Tutsis as cockroaches, the characterization of intended victims as low insects or animals are common phenomena in or before any genocide, the Nazis frequently depicted Jews as rats, and all their victims as Untermenschen, (Sub-humans), Americans labeled native red Indians as savages, and black slaves were always less than humans.

Israeli Zionists, are often referring to Palestinians as animals or even less than animals, many still use the old demeaning adage against Palestinians of "a cancer" , obviously it says and implies that most people can be persuaded to participate in , and condone and justify large scale killings, annihilation, theft and apartheid, only after they begin to think of their victims as completely alien and lowly , that  they are indeed sub-human .

" Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities, has the power to make you commit atrocities." said Voltaire back in 1765.

My thanks as always ...

                                   

AMERICAN NEW FOREIGN INCLINATIONS .....

Indeed it is the first time ever, for a Saudi monarch to visit Russia, The king of Saudi Arabia and Mr. Putin in Moscow had many meetings , many exchanges, and signed deals that are very significant to both , the world geopolitics and the U.S.  The Saudi side will pump many billions of Dollars, into the Russian economy, a first by all aspects, and the Russian counterpart will send some considerable and advanced military hardware, including the famed S-400 anti aircraft missile system.

To look at it strategically, as the Saudi side historically got its military hardware, and more from the U.S. turned it into a significant development, for the area, Saudi itself, and some other allies like Pakistan and others .

The U.S. has been a trusted ally and protector of Saudi, and many other Arab entities, as well as Pakistan, since their inceptions and founding, the U.S. replaced the hegemony and colonialism of classical Europe , plus the implanting of Israel in the M-E, by a pseudo relation of friendship and trust. They all faced a rising Soviet Union , and went into a cold war instigated mostly by the U.S.

The United States confronted a new enemy, and needed some new allies across the glob, to help contain the spread of Soviet influence, Saudi and Pakistan were such exemplary allies. Somehow this whole scene is over, and the logic behind it no longer interest the U.S. and many of our older allies are drifting away , looking and searching for new partners and different alliances, leaving us stuck with some alienating relationships, with entities like Israel that do not help nor advance our position, or our interests in the world or the Middle East. Making it increasingly difficult to manage the entire area of the M-E, as well as  South and East Asia.

The U.S. lately became the hegemonic par excellence we know today , with our unchecked adventures and political weird decisions like the latest pulling off UNESCO, and threatening the United nations, strictly for the sake of Israel's Netanyahu and his alt right partners . Our policies are uncertain to say the least, our unconditional support of a colonial , apartheid state like Israel, is becoming blind and unquestioned and puts us in the follower position that we should not be in, isolating us from a whole Arab and Islamic world, throwing us into a stupid cosines with a very costly recipient of 3 to 4 Billion Dollars yearly of tax payer's money. All dating back to at least 50 years now, and still going like no other time, with no questioning what so ever.

The U.S. of today has clearly moved even closer to Israel in all policies, for no clear Trumpist reasons and his administration's political immaturity. Back up, financial and armament unchecked support, we have reached a total accommodation with Israeli rhetoric and hegemony, even theft and apartheid , Drifting away from our other allies , while toppling some potential allies, pushing everyone to start crafting new national security  policies, and addressing several regional security issues in different frame minds. Rather than letting the U.S implement these plans for them. Reaching out to Russia and China, and some European countries, is becoming the norm of the new strategies and securities.

The problem for the U.S. strategically is that while its relations and influence over the entire M-E, are changing , improving or deteriorating , America and its politicians are not realizing that they still need to work and coordinate with all sides, including maybe saving the Iranian nuclear deal, and not to succumb to only one side and one narrow hegemonic vision.

As we need to make sure Iran doesn't grow too powerful in the Middle East , we  need to make sure Israel Neocons and religious ultra right, don't step too much their presumed security needs and turn them into destructive hegemony and colonialism, dragging us and the world with them . America as the supper power it is ,  needs all sides, and has to maintain a power leverage over all sides, regardless of our petty elections and monetary local election needs and lobbying influences.

It's a crazy enough world as it is , and recent history proved it several times during the last century, and through this one , do we need more moron politicians and crazy leaders all over to restart and jump start new world adventures, conflicts and hellish experiences ???

My as always, many thanks for everything .     

          

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN FARMER ......

J.Hector St. John de Creveceur  (1735-1813) was a surveyor with the French army during the Indian wars (1754-63) After the war, Creveceur purchased a farm in NY, and prospered, the following excerpts are from his published ; "Letters from an American farmer", published in (1782).

A new continent, a modern society, different from what we have seen. It is not composed as in Europe, of great lords who possess everything, and of a herd of people who have nothing, here are no aristocratically families, no high courts, no kings, no bishops, no ecclesiastical dominion, no invisible power giving  to a few very visible ones, no great manufacturers employing tens of thousands, no great refinements of luxury . The rich and the poor are not so far removed from each other as they are in Europe. Some few towns excepted .

We are all tillers of the earth, from Nova Scotia to West Florida, we are a people of cultivators scattered over an immense territory, communicating with each other by means of good roads and navigable rivers, united by the silken bands of mild government, all respecting the laws , without dreading their power, or sudden change of mood, Because they are equitable.

We are all animated with the spirit of an industry which is unfettered and unrestrained, because each person works for himself. If he travels through our rural districts , he views not the hostile castle, and the haughty mansions, contrasted with the clay-built hut and miserable cabins, where cattle and men help to keep each other warm, and dwell in meanness, smoke, and indigence.

A pleasing uniformity of decent competence appears throughout our habitation, a civilized conformity , the meanest of our long-houses is a dry and comfortable habitation. Lawyers or merchants are some of the fairest titles our towns afford, that of a farmer is the only appellation of the rural inhabitants of our country side .... we have no princes, for whom we toil, starve, and bleed, we are the most perfect society now existing in the world. Here man is free as he ought to be .

WOW !!!! That was 1782 and for 234 years, we've been trying to add to the beauty and betterness and fairness of these lands and this scene, more or less of course depending on who's governing, but at least surely, most of the times. So why is it Mr. president that you and your very, very rich oligarchy, family, and entourage, and administration, your palaces, private clubs and habitat, and private golf courses , your private jets and yakhts  , and filthy  rich friends from all over the civilized and not so civilized  world are working so hard to topple it all !!!

What the American dream have achieved during 250 years , and managed to redistribute over the whole population, you're all trying and working hard to reverse, recreating the opposite , the exact opposite to be honest of what the good gentlemen farmer and many generations later were so proud of , and happy to live within.

Why are you all creating so much havoc and enmity in the land ?? all over the country literally ??  So much division and hatred between its people ?? Europe nowadays is the envy of the world with its fairness to its people , its fair social programs, its medical to all, and social securities to its elderly, even its treatment of immigrants and political asylum seekers , its free superior education at all levels, and they'r not bankrupt by any means.

While we, who had it all here, at least we could see it all coming with the light at the end of our tunnels , are reversing it all, and walking back , with sure steps to feudal days of greed , brutality, and hatred, and unfairness, why is it so Mr. Trump  ??? under your reign . Americans of all walks of life are bewildered , so are the world populations . But of course America comes first .
As always, my very sincere thanks for your time and help, from the la la lands (The lovely Lebanon)  I right to all of you with love .           

      

INDIVIDUALITY ......

What crushes individuality the most in life is despotism, by whatever name it may be called, and whether it's enforced by the will of god, through his religions, or the will of men, they all use the same brutal ways and fear tactics and strategies, to suppress people and individuals and individuality.

It is obvious that the Western and modern view of the value of individuality, took some serious efforts and long sacrifices, extending from the fall of the western Roman empire to the 1300 and 1400 years of the Christian era . Whereby the different primitive societies of Europe started slowly an age of emancipation, and the church was slowed down and became more of a silent witness to a more European influenced progress at the hands of individuality, and enlightened individuals all through the old continent .

Even classical Papal power got diminished with many kings and princes rebelling, and after the Protestant upheaval and its migration to America . Classically , Greeks, Romans, and later European middle-ages encouraged individualism and personal achievement and creativity, rivalry and enlightenment, free thinking and liberalism, until it almost became the reigning trait of modern life in the West. While the other two Monotheistic cousins, Judaism and Islam suppressed it for the benefit of God and the entire religious hierarchy and flock of believers .

This aspect of European and later Western history led to more liberty and freedom and diversity, to more individualistic creativity within their societies than the others, where they led invariably to more oppression , closure of the minds and the imposition of more restrictive rules and religious laws upon  individuals and society .

The firm belief that justice, dignity and basic human rights, mean conformity and total obedience to religion, was enforced by all religious institutions, and generally only intoxicated with power tyrants dared to outmaneuver religious powers to their benefit. Otherwise everyone must dress like all others, and every woman is ordained to her role of house-wife and mother .

Religious principles and ideas of improvement basically consist in persuading or literally forcing all others to be as good as ourselves, individuality has no place in our sphere and societies, and every believer has to keep fighting it . Every religion and every religious group, historically or presently   aspire to bring about obedience and a general similarity among mankind, and surely at least among their compatriots . All and any deviation is contrary to the nature of the divine and is considered impious, immoral, even monstrous .

My, as always many thanks to all , for their time and help spreading the blog by any means possible.        

        

ORTHODOX RELIGIOSITY ......

Two days ago ,Israel's high court reversed and rescinded an old law of their military draft, normally all 18 years old have to serve their military for almost 3 years for the males and 2 for females, only orthodox Jews were exempt for religious reasons, the court considered it unfair to other and all the young people and idol-worshipers , some resistance to the measure is surely to be expected .

For all religions and religious systems, faith and the love of god and his laws , are not good in themselves, they're only good when they are part of virtue, bad when part of vice. Pretending and the continuous declaration of absolute faith, like other emotions must be disciplined, if it is not to collapse and be dominated by cruelty and savagery .

Gone are the days when Musslems , Jews or others can fool the world by scenes of piety , repeated prayers and physical rituals whether in front of walls or mass prayers on bear streets and open public spaces . convincing themselves and younger adepts that the love of god is strictly reserved for them the lucky and chosen ones, allowing them all sorts of privileges in this life and the next one .

Wearing shorter dresses or longer ones for both men and women, with specific long beards and peyot and side locks , while savagely killing innocent kids at concerts or at a military check point or driving a vehicle into a crowd , are not compatible with godly philosophy no matter what side you're on and do not convince anyone nowadays . Modern Israelis as historic Jews in Europe who for centuries isolated themselves in ghettos, trying to preserve a way of life and philosophy were leading the way for modern Musslem salafis  mostly immigrants to Europe and the Western hemisphere, both groups were and continue to be persecuted , isolated and loathed .

Rebellion against religious governed societies, their logic and policies, is clearly justified, when their laws are seen as usurping the sovereignty of other people, this is what made it possible, more or less, for the privatization of religion in Western and some Eastern developed societies, and the development of political orders in which the rights and duties of the citizens take precedence over religious orders , religious hierarchies and their needs .

We should not be intimidated at all or subdued into feeling guilty, or at fault toward religious fervor, as their resentment will only intensify . The Judeo/Islamic inheritance versus modernity and post modernity . Both committing tragedies in the name of their faith and gods, only to prove themselves against any triumph of dignity over destruction, and compassion over despair, people in our times who loudly claim that their religion supersedes the legal worldly constitution and judiciary laws of their countries of residence should have no place in the mentioned countries .

My usual thanks to all my readers, and welcoming new readers from India, Russia, South Africa, Kenya, Australia, the Middle-East and most of Europe including from the east Romania and Poland. Ireland, Canada and of course the U.S.  Lebanon and Syria  readers are always steady , as Indonesia and Malaysia, and lately and less frequently from China , Thanks to all for your time and help spreading the blog .                  

THE PLAN .....

The old religion of the ancients, is being used, exploited and adapted to modern purposes, politics and ways of life. To small spheres of local interests which is exerting their theft, their brutality and their hold on the lands.

Unlike the later Christianity or even at certain stages Islam, the Jewish peoples considered the relation between their god and themselves founded on a well drawn and binding covenant, in which the allegiance and obedience to YHWH only comes after he fulfills certain obligations toward the Jews, and only Jews, an exchange of promises if you like , exactly like any modern contract, and this contract is based primarily on a promise of land, land that was captured savagely from different indigent native populations throughout history, by slaughter, annihilation and deportation, brutality and deceit . Be it the Canaanites or the Palestinians .

The Jewish peoples and their leaders always regarded these promised lands not as independent or inhabited lands, but as inherited lands, to be passed on from generation to generation, whenever available and convenient, and this is exactly how they justify the cruelty and barbarism historically or in our own times, god lives among them, he maintains a real presence among them and he is bound by his promises, mainly the gift of land, hence it's theirs in its entirety eternally, it makes no difference if they left it even for periods exceeding 15 centuries, who's to argue the will of god .

To justify all of this very convenient strategy and its governing covenant, in modern times, facing a more defiant world to their schemes, a rigorous reinstatement and reinforcement of religiosity was and continues to be necessary, thus the unconditional and unrestricted backing of ultra orthodox Jewish different madrasas, their Hakhams and rabbis, the explicit encouragement of all colors of religious folklore, dresses and religious hair styles, enforcing Sabbaths to the letter, all combined to fulfill their part of the contract toward Elohim, and proving to the world that it is a godly affair, never to be questioned or doubted .

Unfortunately in our modern times, Israel and its Zionist leadership and population are becoming a beacon , a model to many entities, trying to copy their Western backed tactics, Saudi Arabia and Iran are two clear examples, thus the love/hate relationship, the rivalry in excessive religiosity and its folklore, to pass and realize otherwise unacceptable agendas of hegemonic and expansionist policies and dreams. The alt right in the West is keeping an open eye for sure, hoping for their own agendas.

The plan ;  I believe we will witness in my life time, the creation of three major areas governing the totality of the Middle-East , one Israeli consisting of actual Israel plus all presently occupied territories, a chunk of Lebanon and Syria, most of Jordan and Sinai. The second one is Saudi engulfing all of its Arab neighbors plus a total hold over Egypt, Yemen and Sudan. The third is Iranian extending its crescent over Iraq, Syria and the rest of Lebanon.

Only then real peace could be negotiated and possibly realized. The Western super powers could share their influence and interests by extending their wings over the Israeli and Saudi sides, while Russia and to a lesser extend China could have the Iranian side. Turkey will go back to its normal size including or bordering some of the Kurdish lands and populations. All based on the will of God of course, his religions and ethnic divides .  

As always, all my thanks to all .                       

FUTURE OPTIONS AND POSSIBILITIES ........

Steve Bannon is officially out of the White House and back to Breitbart news, with fairly a good image and pride. He vows to "crush the opposition"!!  One would have a major question or comment, who is the opposition according to Mr. Bannon ?? would you please define the opposition as you see it . Mr. Trump has already clearly identified who is to blame, a wide array of non compatible elite, including among others liberals judges, the media, all progressive academia, Muslims, Jews, Latinos, the general immigrant population, and of course any source of criticism locally or internationally .

Actually , just by observing the man, Mr. Trump considers himself already a full winner. Indeed he made it all the way to the highest post in the world, and proved himself a relatively brilliant manager tactician during the whole campaign and the first few months of his presidency.

So why continue this hassle of being president with its risks and possible failures, where he can return to his private glorified life and his multi business affairs with an even more glorified image and name. And all the Trumps can claim to belong to the highest presidency club. A long presidency with all its restrictions, investigations, faux pas, and controversies is not a goal , at least not a winning goal nor a profitable one. Not for him not to his immediate family, they all had enough actually of silly officialdom, its responsibilities and protocols .

Few good deals with whoever pays the most, and gets into the partnership seat with president Trump, will generate enough millions and billions to make all the presidency small ship and futile, at least economically, as the fame and name have been reached already.

accordingly I believe, and I'm not surely the only one, that the Trump clan will rather sooner than later resign their responsibilities of running the politics of the country, its peoples' interests and the world. They will do it themselves and not by being forced by any outside force as many believe. Yes they will all resign with the president himself as the leading conductor.

The president believes that he's above it all, above all the politicians and the rich manipulators, he believes a Mr. Pence is just the right level of person to assume a good and a better presidency that serves the elite's interests and leads America to wherever it should head. Mr. Trump will declare himself an absolute winner, and stage a glorified departure with the highest esteem and pomp ever given to a departing president.

 What a nice win-win situation for him, his family, the GOP embarrassed top tier and elite, his naive    voters who genuinely believed he will fix all their problems in life, the other side will be euphoric for the few days and duration of the ceremonies, stupidly believing they forced him out, only to relive a worse nightmare with less show , under a Mr. Pence presidency flanked by Mr McConnell and Ryan and the usual GOP oligarchy, and the show will go on ....

There is of course the other option, some people take it very seriously, whereby the president could stage and undertake, with the help of many sides from his entourage, some type of a take-over, some sort of a coup d'etat if you will, it could be under many forms and scenarios, a combination of some congressional vote, coupled with some legal constitutional loopholes, possibly involving some of the armed forces, where if the army wouldn't go with it , the police forces might .

We could immerse ourselves in some war with somebody or all, some serious and bloody terrorist attack, all these could come up very timely with the previous scenarios . But I personally believe Mr. Trump would opt for the pull-out and resignation option, trying some variations of the later scenarios could prove very dangerous, and not sure to catch American spirit, it could lead to some very serious consequences for many Americans as well as the presidency itself, the president , his family and his entire oligarchy .

Mr. Trump is for sure not of the style or type of  "win or die", he's by far more lily-livered , he's a survivor, a calculative and possibly a little too pragmatic to undergo such a risky scheme, so winning his situation by smartly pulling out, would present itself like a real winner route for him and his family, proving and insuring his unique ways in further glorifying himself, his ego and clan .

My usual many thanks to all .                              

BROKERS OF DECEIT .......

Remember when the senior president Bush said : "Read my lips, no new taxes" and then there were new taxes anyways , it was later called Bush-lips, as it somehow rimes with bullshit . I believe many Americans are coining a newer version nowadays called Trump-shit !! better riming and closer in meaning , and all in a relative short time,  7 months, whether it comes as tweeting or statements or insane press conferences, that stuns everyone including his immediate entourage and staff .

Especially these days after the blunt hate carnage in Charlottesville, Virginia, few days back and the  presidential practically open support of white supremacists, homophobic, ultra right racists. Mr Trump and some blindly supportive voters and fewer each day GOP politicians who insist on smearing , defaming and denigrating every non white supremacist American, every liberal or progressive and every criticizing soul locally or internationally, making them all a fifth column , traitors or endangering  America .

White supremacist terrorists in America are protected more or less from the laws affecting same minded Islamic terrorists. Same in Israel with Israeli brutality. They don't let go of their arrogant rhetoric, only Israel comes near or equal. In most people's books , it's called literally bullshit or crap, donkey dust or as expressed in Australia ; cow confetti .

In the old Bible it says in Ether 3: 15-16 ; All  men were created after the Lord's image, remember how merciful the Lord has been from creation of Adam to present . Now if it all meant to say that : Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot, Bashar Assad , Netanyahu and Trump are all created in the image of God,  I wouldn't know exactly how and where to place God !! Unless we have different classes of creation some Godly and some not , go figure which is which .  

The idea of self preservation and supremacy played by many Republicans and white alt right is destroying them more than helping at all levels. Spending all their times nowadays with the administration's help in systematically killing and destroying every rule and law of the previous administration , instead of creating their own or the country's good laws, benefiting all Americans on the long run . It's more demolishing than building , Everyone will end up paying for it in time .

Unfortunately, we have a troubled president and administration that surely have no strategy or a minimum of a vision nor any strategic foreign policy, it's all about his and their look and image, who ever doesn't fit with this picture have to go, I suspect Sec. of State  Tillerson  to be from the next badge . No matter how Mr. Trump ends up he considers himself a winner, unfortunately America is the looser, we're delaying saving the soul of the country and its vital interests . Israel comes as a perfect second, now if Mr. Netanyahu is impeached or goes to prison for abusing state funds and personal presents and gifts , would Mr Trump follow ???  

Many GOP legislators are extremely frustrated at a president who's unpredictability and his single minded focus on a Russian profiteering relationship, with its problems and investigations, fearing an erosion of the general public weaker than stronger trust and confidence in the president and his administration. Turmoil at the White House is dominant, so are the frequent changes firings and resignations, including today's dissolving of the business council after multiple CEOs quit.

All are only adding to the distraction of the administration , allowing our closest allies to continue their hegemony and apartheid policies and creating more instability all over the world, and worrying its own local bases , turning us into a huge mockery world wide .

My usual thanks for listening and helping expanding the blog .    

POLITICS AS USUAL..... ?!?!?!

In 2002 we declared total war against  Alqaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan, it's still raging till today with no sign of any near ending or any clear victory. In 2003 we invaded Iraq, overthrew Saddam and the Baath regime and sent their army home, the war is still going with American troops acting as advisers, the only practical result we've achieved is to hand Iraq to Iran on a golden plate .

In 2012 we bombarded Libya and brilliantly managed to rid the country from the brutal Gadhafi, it's still is a lawless and totally fragmented ungovernable country that harbor more terrorists and refugees than anywhere else. We meddled in Sudan and gave carte-blanche to our dearest ally, Israel, to play the different factions to its interests, the situation in South Sudan is catastrophic and beyond repair. Standing with our other dear ally, the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where they rely on American logistical, air superiority, and extensive intelligence is bringing the numbers of killed and injured Yemenis to over 75.000 , more than a million displaced, and the whole population famished and hit by an untouched cholera epidemic .

Of course our great assistance to topple the Syrian regime only strengthened ISIS originally, with our and our allies consent and money. Then fighting them and abandoning all relatively moderate factions only managed to further empower Iran, its allies and their militias and grandly reward Mr. Assad and his oligarchy and regime, and of course Mr. Putin and his ambitions. All after destroying more than half the country , close to 1 million killed or injured, 6 million refugees all over the area and the world, plus some few millions internally displaced, jailed and tortured, we still talk about coalitions, Russian agreements, Israeli plans for steeling the Golan and the south Syrian parts, safe zones, no flying zones , and division of the country , etc... etc...

Historically , we used to fund ravaged places by our interventions, we created words like the "Marshal plan" and other to revamp some of these miserable nations. Unfortunately now we can not fix our health care system , neither reform our tax codes and reach some fair distribution of wealth, we're unable to fund an adequate infrastructure program, neither a descent education for all, while Syrians, Iraqis, Yemenis and many more are desperately looking for help, looking mostly for Chinese rebuilding money and technologies, the new benevolent super power after our and our allies devastating destruction power .

The only positive aspect of this administration , could have evolved from a genuine rapprochement with Russia, resulting in a more peaceful world, but both leaders and their oligarchies and families totally condemned and crushed the possibility by strictly looking for selfish profits to their pockets, and ambitions, as in winning an election or meddling in it for a multitude of reasons . The White-House's credibility is eroding fast and getting worse, surely not any better .

While many Americans and American politicians, truly believe that things and people are somewhat better after our great interventions, well !!  they're not . The pleasure of grandiose and extinct imperialism is over. As we and our closest allies , continue proudly to think, behave and operate like "tercer mundistas", Third worlders arrogant nouveaux riches.      

Are these clear signs of political, emotional and moral immaturity, or is it pure and simple decline. unless we call it politics as usual . One has to seriously ponder upon it .

All my thanks , while asking for your help to spread the word, by any means available, again thanks.       

SHUTTING DOWN THE UNITED NATIONS ....

In the last century , and in the wake of two major world wars, a body of almost two hundred member states, was formed to preserve peace throughout , and insure human rights and justice across the glob. At least in theory and principal , as these basic modern requirements were and still are solidly violated periodically by many super powers and lesser powers internationally and regionally .

With at least 16 specialized agencies operating across the world and a substantial peacekeeping force, the U.N. generally was a successful , productive and helpful international agency through most of its operations and endeavors , a good tool to help engaging states in dialogue , and handling refugees from many countries and continents ravaged by conflicts and cruel wars and invasions, by colonialism and apartheid, extermination and blatant theft .

Many of these cruel and unjust acts, whether 70 years old or very recent left millions in camps for years and years most till today. The U.N. agencies somehow managed to help eradicate famine, and deceases from these camps, and play some helpful role in many unfortunate spots of the under developed world .

Ending conflicts and preserving peace in fragile areas of the world, as well as striving to put limits or ends to nuclear proliferation and possible conflicts were fairly successful in most cases, rendering the absolute support of the U.N. both a moral imperative and an international security requirement and necessity .

Except that some powers and I'm mostly concerned  about the U.S. and its close ally Israel, with their periodical reckless rhetoric and threats of  abstinence from paying their financial dues and meeting their share, making it a real alarming situation to say the least. All for political obedience and coercing the world countries to abide by our views and interests, or even worse by Israeli narrow expansionist and illegal agendas.

During her confirmation hearings, ambassador Nikki Haley insisted that theses slashes were important " To build up our military" We are talking here of a 27% cut to the U.S contribution to the U.N. regular budget , a 37% cut to peacekeeping operations, and a proposed zeroing of funds for UNICEF the children's agency, UN DP the women agency, OCHA the humanitarian affairs agency, UNFPA the population fund, the UNHCR the human rights agency, and the U.N agencies working on climate change, Israel's first move in retaliation of naming Hebron a Palestinian national heritage was to cut a million plus dollars from UNESCO's budget, and threatening for more .

All of course to reinforce building their armed forces and militaries, and punishing the world wide agencies. Even programs like children's vaccination around the world have to wait for further building of our militaries.  Our and Israel's ugly adventures in the world cost us many trillions of dollars literally in the past few years, way, way more than the costs of having U.N. peacekeeping forces in all places of conflicts we're trying to solve on our own. Instead of besieging Gaza or fighting in Iraq,and Afghanistan or Yemen for decades, or terrorizing and applying the worse forms of apartheid over the Palestinian population of the West-Bank, stealing their lands, wealth and waters.

A unilateral retreat from our obligations and responsibilities suggested by the administration's budget, would neither improve the U.N. nor make the world including America and Israel or similar aggressors any safer, more secure or better off. Nor send the world a message that the U.S. leadership is firm and essential in the world, as Ambassador Haley vowed to do in her confirmation hearing. It would only remind us and the world of George Orwell's demagoguery and fake utopias .


As always my thanks to all, and if you like what you're reading, would you please share it and express your like on FaceBook and/or  other media outlets, again my many thanks .           

SURELY, AN AMERICAN DILEMMA .......

Nobody in his right mind could accuse or state that any past American president up to and  including president Obama, of being anything but full capitalists in all aspects of the word . Except that modern capitalist societies have nowadays accepted and adopted more social steps and programs all over the world. Mostly upholding and maintaining the various practices and institutions needed in every society .

Practices and institutions for almost every normal citizen to enjoy, things like real freedom , real opportunities, and a healthy distribution of wealth and the general prosperity of any nation . Plus of course the basics of modern life in a modern world, like a full right to a universal health care system for all to enjoy, affordable education possibilities and opportunities for all aspiring youths at all levels, and of course the most essential, a decent retirement for all seniors .

These essential needs are and should supersede any militaristic reasoning or wars , whether wars of aggression or what we term as defense, or bureaucratic luxuries and ideological expenses.

Many Americans, possibly half the general population if not more confuse willingly or not the notions of upholding and improving the various practices and institutions needed for almost everyone to enjoy modern decency and civility in a country like America, they confuse by being brain-washed with old adages that were for decades  ushered into the general psych as well as the minds of the most needy and simpler population, that capitalist social promises and programs are equivalent to communism or socialism, in their 20th century applications and models. Well !!  they're not .

American citizenry should be informed and asked to realize that social programs at all levels are not necessarily against family values or religious conservative beliefs . Americans should realize that they are systematically breaking down all these social promises and all previous hard gained meager social start-ups. by increasingly compromising our previous laws, and capturing our political system for the sake of pure demagoguery.

To use Aaron James words ;"We should really worry about whether our societies are already or might soon become asshole capitalist systems, set on a potentially irreversible path of degradation and decline". Many capitalist countries and societies, in Europe and the far east achieved high degrees of social collectivist culture, and a high cooperative social systems, and fairer distribution of their general wealth, and managed simultaneously to be happier and more satisfied conservatives and even religious peoples .

while here in the U.S. we are slowly and surely shifting our tipping point while standing by the  precipice, irreversible decline seems to be our newest accepted motto. Was it Marx who said "Capitalism is generally unstable, but it inevitably gives way to something better", Are we            systematically and deliberately reversing it and turning things to the worst, just for the hate of Marx or is it strictly the love of the filthy rich??

My as always, many thanks to all , all over the world, for your time and help spreading the blog . 

THE EVOLUTION OF FAITH ....

All religions are based more or less on some degree of faith. The three Abrahamic monotheistic religions ; Judeo-Christian-Islamic, more so than any other, especially the other major ; Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism, and of course the more than a billion openly declared or not, non believers, secular or atheist, throughout the world . Faith which is in fact a sort of belief without any supportive evidence or scientific proof, blind and absolute faith that has always been, and lately more than ever foolish, naive and dangerous, and only can lead to many of the evils in any society .

In our modern times, we do not consider or see morality as a god given affair, but rather as a result of humanity's own social development and evolution.

Societies where God plays an active role in their daily universe and in their people's lives, such as the Arab and Iranian and most of the Islamic world, Israel and its increasingly Zionist fervor, especially among the younger generations, and lately a new emerging Christianity in places like Russia, Serbia and of course the Bible belt of Protestant America and its reemerging white/Christian fanaticism , are all but modern examples of a blind and absolute pseudo faith in their gods, prophets and books .

Historically, between 900 and 200 BCE many attempts by many enlightened  individuals, throughout the glob were initiated, all trying to come up with some solutions to old questions of how it all started and where is it all leading us to, and what forces, if any, play any role governing it all. But around the 500 BCE centuries, the greatest and most revolutionary ideas were produced, almost simultaneously in India, China, Japan, Greece, Persia and the Middle-East .

An objective look at these ideas and philosophies show that almost all focused and were dominated by a return to the self, and reaching internal peace and harmony with ourselves and our surroundings, Buddhists, Taoists, Confucians and Greek philosophers were leading in those trends, they largely disregarded any ideas or talk of cosmic powers and external divine handling of human affairs, they all focused on the inner powers of each individual to replace the archaic god centered religions that humanity inherited from its childhood. Pharaonic , Abrahamic and old Hebraic monotheism .

Later came the newer Jewish prophets,after the Babylonian exiles, the Christian creators and later theologians and Islam with its late interpreters to reverse the whole previous inward trend and promise some form of eternal life next to an external God, and of course eternal hell for all others, all three religions came with promises and forceful brutality and cruelty for all non compliant,With imposed codes of how to dress, and what not to eat or drink, and classified and assigned genders and casts. All modern religions with no exception categorized gender so as to enforce patriarchy . And they all had to follow the adage of ; "God told us to do so."

 The Bible proposes that suffering and death will only end when Jesus returns for the last judgment . Jesus promised it would take place within a generation, and all his disciples believed they would live to see it, it didn't happen yet, but this logic states and proves by itself that Divine powers have the power and will to stop suffering on earth, but refuses to do so until certain more convenient dates .

After many centuries of theological imperialism , we find ourselves back into a world where there are too many gods, and when typical gods fight among themselves, men have to die . Gods have to compete with each other and invariably claim first place, thus societies pay the price and slowly drift into chaos . We have reached a point in time where pure intellect and rational thinking is not enough to govern and decide our worldly moral realities .

Any group in this world of ours, be it a rich oligarchy as we have achieved lately in the United States or in Russia, or the Israeli Zionism in its almost majority, or the Islamic world , these are assuredly not going to make our heads and minds believe in the betterness of the human kind .

My usual multitude of thanks for your times and help engaging ...                 

AN AMERICAN SAGA .........

For the past few months, and more so the past few days , America is watching the ongoing saga of health care, and repealing with an unprecedented hate and vengeance of what became known as the Obamacare, maybe the name does something to the attitude. The proposed replacement, the second attempt already, has almost the same name and intonations, they call it the healthcare bill .

Even though it promises to throw out approx. 23 million people from being insured, cuts 850 billion from Medicaid and Medicare, and defunds many many already proven programs, including planned parenthood, people with chronic illnesses, and makes it harder and more expensive for elderly to continue as well as to obtain fair priced medicine.

The proposed very secretive bill will impact a sixth of the American economy and will touch every single family, the president and his Republican followers have said more than once that their healthcare plan is good for business and good for America, but in fact it's not, and most medical associations and hospitals expressed their deep concerns of its implications and jobs effects .

According to a George Washington university recent study, in a state like Florida alone, the proposed healthcare plan would result in 83,000 fewer jobs, and 8.6 billion in lost revenue. Services for seniors, persons with disabilities, and those in need of in-home care would be jeopardized, the uninsured rate amongst children would skyrocket, premiums would increase and millions across the nation will lose their jobs.

And all for what ?? to give more tax breaks to the wealthiest individuals and corporations, in plane words, it could be summed up ; we lose jobs, we lose money, and we lose coverage . From coast to coast it is estimated that nearly one million jobs could be lost as a direct result of the new plan, with millions of families paying more in premiums for less care.

A bill that was kept secret, kept hidden, and in the last possible minute will be rushed before a divided and very partisan Senate for a quick vote. One should only ask; Why is it that the United States is the only major country on earth that does not guarantee healthcare to all of its citizens as a right. And why do Americans pay more per capita than any other nation for basic healthcare, with no better outcome than most. Plus the highest prices for prescription drugs even for American manufactured drugs that are sold cheaper in many parts of the world than America itself .

Obamacare was bitterly attacked by Republicans for spiking insurance premiums, but those costs could go up even more under the proposed alternative health plan, to most middle-classes. Billions of Dollars in federal subsidies that have reduced out of pockets expenses for more than 6 or 7 million patient would now be replaced by 2019 under the Senate health plan, and all for what ??  To further enrich a very rich minority .

In fact and in all honesty this proposed healthcare bill, is nothing but a massive transfer of wealth from the middle-classes and the poorer families to the richest people, drug manufacturers and insurance conglomerates in America . I believe Mr. Obama said it and he was right , maybe we ought to call it our new wealthcare bill .

We should start swinging the nation's pendulum back towards sanity, decency and civility, and the kind of future that America must never give up on , America is not all about a one percent rich and greedy bunch, it's way more than that , at least in my opinion .

My as always many thanks for your time and help .                

RELIGIOUS VERSUS RELIGIOUS ....

This past Saturday, June 10th, many small marches took place in many U.S. cities, mostly organized by a group called ACT, and some alt. right backed organizations. Demanding that Islamic shariia laws be banned from U.S. civil laws and insinuating that Islamic shariia is gaining ground and influencing many law makers and localities to adjust and possibly accommodate certain Islamic ways. In fact ACT's sole purpose of existence is to limit and ban Islamic laws and codes from America.

I've mentioned it before in a previous blog, that criticizing and banning the specific laws, codes and acts of any one religion, while forgetting and ignoring some other religions of more or less similar ways and laws is a wrong approach , ineffective and inefficient , it only leads to xenophobia, apartheid and hate .

In fact Islam's many aspects and codes of dress in our case here, resemble in their essence and were inherited from Jewish and many conservative Christian ways . All Abrahamic sects  and many other religions, as well as other Semitic tribes share these same Conservative dress and behavior codes, especially concerning women, and all three monotheistic religions maintain an attitude of denigration , vilifying the female hair and physical parts . Islam is simply nowadays more  a la mode , than its other two sisters .

And let's not kid ourselves with modern rhetoric , all three religions are equally violent and bloody,  "There is more violence in both the Hebrew Bible and the new testament than there is in the Koran." .  According to Karen Armstrong .

The only effective method is to really separate religion, all religions, from state and civil laws, and if need be condemn all religious aspects, behaviors and folklore outside of certain confined worship centers, no other way will work , and let's not succumb to the initiators and promoters of such movements and their hate of one particular faith or sect , leading us all into their ugly games of dividing similar communities .

As a matter of fact , we aught to keep reminding ourselves that since we invented our YHWH , Gods and Allahs, and their teachings and their prophets and messengers , we established as well hegemony, apartheid, cruelty , we legalized and legitimized annihilation of the others .

Technically , only atheists are allowed to address, criticize or forbid certain aspects of religious nature, only atheists are free enough to have the better judgment toward other religious acts and fervor , that do not correspond or blend with our civilization .

We are still living under the same rules and influences of archaic times, albeit in a reasonably more scientific and technologically advanced world, but the deadly combination of religion and scientific advancement makes it all very lethal and dangerous for the survival of Sapiens on this particular globe .

My usual appreciation for your times and help engaging the blog .  

MORE OF THE SAME ........

Mr.  Trump chose the Middle-East for his foreign debut. A strange choice for achieving nothing, not now, not in the foreseeable future . Unless we consider receiving gifts , huge and expensive personal gifts an achievement by itself .

Consequently American foreign policy nowadays is shifting rapidly , changing the focus of our alliances, as we are satisfied with having as our top allies the kingdom of Saudi Arabia and some of its minor vassals , and Israel, both considered some of the most repressive regimes in the world, both exemplary in their behavior, hegemony, barbaric brutality toward others and neighbors . Apartheid is only one of the policy aspects both entities respect and adhere to .

At a second level comes the greatly illuminated leaders and their oligarchies and bankers. Mr. Putin, Erdogan, and Duterte of the Philippines come immediately to mind . The rest of the world pivot between ex-allies to cold relationship, to enemies of America, even the very popular Catholic Pope is now somewhere on the same scale .

The new motto for our foreign policy is now " Screw them all , we come first." As a State department official told the satirical Daily Beast, "When it comes to diplomacy, president Trump is a drunk tourist, loud and tacky, shoving his way around the dance floor, he steps on others without realizing it, it's utterly ineffectual."

According to an unofficial Saudi report, after the famous visit to the kingdom of S-A. the jewels and other personal gifts, including apparently a full blown huge yacht, plus the money transferred to Ivanka's international funds from the royals, gets into some considerable amounts, 600 to 800 millions of Dollars. Not bad for couple days of family diplomacy .

A carte-blanche for many years to come to all their policies and adventures. Did the Israeli lobbyists and rich enthusiasts in the U.S. match those figures ?? We might never know for sure . We know though that Russian investors and bankers did , thus the quick shifts toward Russia and its leader.

And Mr. Trump latest brilliant move to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate accords puts the country in league with only 2 other regimes globally ; Syria and Nicaragua, that are not participating in the agreement, versus 200 world nations, maybe we ought to add these two to our list of best allies and friends .

For the past 15 years G. W. Bush invaded and destroyed Afghanistan and Iraq, Obama's undecidedness further destroyed Libya, Syria and Iraq, now we have Mr. Trump to complete the task, for his Allies the Israelis and Saudis, and kill whatever little chances the area has to a fair future .

The president will be judged in 2020, and surely in every election in between , as all GOP candidates will be judged in 2018 on his behalf , I hope Americans will think and act bypartisanly , and choose the country first and not the party, and that money will not be the decisive factor in every election. As it will be very, very disappointing for America, and American already bruised image throughout the world .

My usual thanks to all , for reading, participating and spreading the blog .        

TRUMPOPHOBIA ........

Mr. Trump is away this week , selling American weaponry to the envy of the watching industrial world, maybe America should have elected him to the post of head arms salesman of the United States of America. Instead of president, one should wonder if these deals will stick if he leaves office or looses the confidence of the American people .

As Aristotle believed ; that watching tragedy we ought to feel pity and fear at the same time.  Mr. Trump is striving to convince the Arab and Musslem world to unify and combat terrorism, forgetting that terrorism has a momentum of its own now after initially being funded by mostly Arab Musslems . And humiliating the Middle-East populations year after year with our policies, helped create and nourish such organizations, and made it far more difficult to combat or defeat .

Ignoring and not solving the Israeli/Palestinian problem, or any other situation in which Musslems and Arabs nowadays feel abused and humiliated would turn the war against terrorism practically to a stand still.  Continually vilifying Iran, even after the moderate election win , is a continuation of blind and naive policies, very short sighted strategy indeed. And only serving Saudi and Israeli narrow interests over solving the real issues, and serving our long terms interests .

The American administration  is playing the local sentiments of the M-E, tribes against each other, forgetting it could be playing with fire, destroying all fantasies of omnipotence and supremacy, and plunging it to its ruin . We are, by watching Mr. Trump's tactics, proving that he is an author of nothing and only an architect of empty spaces .

In America as it is in many spots of the world today, fascism must be resisted, the real question would come to be, are conventional liberalism, humanism, and rational maturity really up to the task ?? As our president elect and his entire team are proving to only believe in power, appetite, self interests,  immediate and quick winning calculations, they are proving to be angelic and demonic at the same time. Putin, Erdogan, Netanyahu, the royal Saudi monarchy and Trump all belong to the same league and follow the same school of thought.

The demonic alliance between a very rich manipulative minority and ultra conservative elite, and the  white rural lower middle classes, whereby the role of the later is to provide some legitimization to the former. Are we in all sincerity creating or recreating a system of the mad, absurd, monstrous, traumatic, surreal and disgusting ?? A regime of status obsessed individuals, a regime that goes in circles rather than moves forward in straight lines, a regime whereby being elected means, the future has already happened .

Mr. Trump and his entire entourage is proving to resemble God, who if he does turn out to exist had absolutely no reason for doing or creating anything , he is his own reason for being or doing, he also created the universe just for fun, and not for some purpose . Mr. Trump is not out there to achieve anything, as achievement belongs to a realm of means and ends, causes and effects, rational calculations and sane behavior, and not his world of deals, greed and benefits and high gambles, as T. Eagleton very well expressed it in his Evil book .

Mr. president, your trip, the multi tens of millions of Dollars as personal presents and even the billions in arms sales you've achieved will not make the American people forget or let go of what you and/or your entire entourage are entangled in or planning to implement in America . Not very good news for our leadership .

My usual many thanks to all .....          

CHANGING THE RULES .....

" Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty "  This idiom was said, used and repeated since the days of the founding fathers of the republic. American democracy must be defended from Americans who could exploit its freedoms to bring about undesirable changes and possibly its end . The mistake is to assume that rulers who won power through democratic institutions cannot alter or destroy those very same institutions .

Any single party, oligarchy, theocracy or even a family, could seize power in some combination of an election joined by a coup-d'etat and a high-jack of power motivated by ideology, profit, and love of supremacy. It could change the system from within totally to suit their longer terms purposes.

The party that exercises such control, generally comes up with very few policies and legislation that are really popular, but always the contrary, that is why they fear the same democracy that brought them initially, and invariably work on weakening it.

1920 Italian fascism, 1930 Nazis, 1937 Stalinist communism, later all theocracies, and in our times Islamic modern caliphates, plus lately many European attempts, Israeli continual playing on all these chords, and of course our famous American 2016 elections, all share something in common.

The Russian oligarchy established after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the ascent to absolute power by Mr. Putin in the aftermath of 1998, continues to function on these basis, promoting foreign policies destined to destroy democracies elsewhere.  Turkey's last events are shaping its leader as an absolute dictator, eliminating and impoverishing whole segments of the opposing population.

The present American administration, backed by the traditional GOP leadership are mostly focusing  on producing more often than not, less popular legislation and policies, avoiding more democracy and voting, GOP town halls meetings are slowly becoming a thing of the past.

When Western and Eastern Europe in the last century turned in many instances and against every logic into a one sided party system with dictatorial applications, propaganda and policies, everyone thought it's temporary and going to fade soon. But soon didn't materialize, on the contrary the systems became stronger and more entrenched in their positions, and its grip over every aspect of life became stronger, demanding blind loyalty from all. Only tragic horrors followed in every instance. They all managed to create obedient and loyal civil servants and an obedient war machine and populace.

Legislating laws that meant to secure and serve the ruling class, the affluent elite, and of course what was good for them became the law of the land. To serve their purposes, they wouldn't hesitate saying and doing things that they could have thought unimaginable previously. The Nazis, their SS and multi organizations started within the law, then transcended the law, and ended up undoing the law.

Abandoning democracy for some form of authoritarianism happened in many parts of Europe last century, some of them are still attempting it. While in America a growing tendency for the same under the guise of depraved white rural America and greedy big money.

Hanna Arendt, explained that totalitarianism removes the difference between the private and public, not just to make individuals less free, but to draw whole societies away from rational politics, and toward conspiracy theories, and fall victims of hidden realities, fake news and dark conspiracies . Arab populations and Semites are especially prone to these .

Most new appointees of the new present administration in the U.S. are playing within the norms and limits of destroying all rules, a known Nazi policy, and invoking danger and terrorism and fear . But surrendering freedom and good judgment in the name of safety should not be an option, there shouldn't be necessarily a trade off between the two side .

Democracy failed big times in Europe of the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, it is failing in parts of modern Europe, and in many parts of the world, Syria, Turkey and Russia are only some typical examples, it is surely possible to fail in Israel, the whole Middle-East, and sadly the U.S. " Let's not say it cannot happen here, because it can." 

This blog was inspired by alarming events all over the 21st century world, and by a recent booklet by T. Snider, called Tyranny, all my thanks to the author and to my good readers .                   

ADVOCATES, DENIERS, AND THE IN BETWEEN .....

The strong belief of many or most Zionists zealots of the coming of " Malkuta de-Adonai" or the kingdom of God, is only matched in our modern times by Musslem zealots, expressed by jihadies and terrorists, reenacting their caliphate. Both sides are enthusiastically willing to commit the worst atrocities to attain their thousands of years old godly inspired aspirations . Against each other, their neighbors, their compatriots and all of humanity if and when divinely ordered .

It's common knowledge that Israeli foreign and military policies going back to the days of Ben Gorion, have been exceedingly opportunistic, brutal and immoral, as his old and infamous saying proves it amply; " Were I to know that all German Jewish children could be rescued by transferring them to England, and only half of them by transfer to Palestine, I would opt for the later, because our real concern is not the personal interest of these children, but the historic interest of the Jewish people and its dreams."

It's so brutal and calculative when considering Israel's or the Islamists cynical motives and choices, in addressing their interests, their military adventures, their apartheid and population transfer policies, all minutely executed under an extremely well used shield of "Anti Islam, or anti Semitism." All rhetorical and physical manifestations of anti-semitism are allegedly against Jewish groups, but obviously not exclusively, as non Jewish individuals and populations, their properties, community institutions, villages and towns and religious facilities are as threatened daily by Israeli Jews .

A clear definition of "Semite" by Merriam Webster  A; a member of any of a number of peoples of ancient south-western Asia including the Akkadians, Phoenicians, Hebrews and Arabs. B; a descendant of these people. 2, A member of a modern people speaking a Semitic language. It goes without saying that ; A Semite is a member of a group of people originally of South-Western Asia,that include Jews and Arabs."

President Trump, few days ago in a speech addressed to Holocaust survivors, strongly condemned those who deny the holocaust, and pledged to confront anti-Semitism . The president added , we must never, ever shrink away from  telling the truth in our time. He also pledged that as a president of the U.S. will always stand with the Jewish people, but not the Semitic people. I wonder what is he telling the Palestinian president today at the White house !!!

All very well, very noble and worthy words and sentiments, expressed by the American president, in the name of America and Americans, the problem we find in these words is clearly in the correct definition of words, or the not so clear definitions in the president's and many Americans minds .

The numbers of hate crimes recorded in the past year, in Trump America, Brexit Britain, and Europe in general, exceeds 11 or 12 % from the previous years. Efforts are being systematically conducted, at least in Europe, to separate and clarify the difference between speech and criticism against the state  of Israel, and hate speech labeled as Anti Semite. It is important in the whole discussion of not conflating or mixing the totality of the Jewish people  with Israel, nor the totality of the Arab peoples or Musslems with ISIS or the Islamic Theocracies.

With humanity still scarred by wars, genocide, ethnic cleansing, refugees, racism, anti-Semitism, apartheid and xenophobia. The international community and the advanced powers share a clear responsibility to fight those evils, wherever they exist and are found. Together we must all rid the world of these sick ticking bombs threatening the world's well fare, peace and continuity .

Generally speaking , our lives may only form a tiny flash of our collective existence on earth and in the universe, but thanks to our brainpower, we at least have the power and opportunity to redefine and correct our place within it all, and to find and point the absurd from the normal path of life .

My as always many thanks for your time and help spread the blog.         

BLATANT SIMILARITIES .....

First let me say that I will not apologize for telling what I think is the truth about the three main Abrahamic religions , their main entities and adherents, Islam, both Sunni and Shiia, represented here by Arabia,Saudi Arabia, Iran , Isis and other offshoots, Judaism represented by Israel and its increasingly Zionist population, and to a lesser extend Christianity, especially in its Jewish-Christian periods dating from St. James through the third and fourth centuries of our era and before Pauline philosophy's total influence and take over of Christianity in the Roman and modern world.

In their modern versions, they all come from and adapted to a Western world, business like, cold and pragmatist. They all send their kids to the best private schools and learning establishments.Mostly they live comfortably in posh newly created neighborhoods like Tel Aviv, Jeddah, Riad or some parts of the occupied West Bank. These people in their majority excel in shielding their young children from unpleasant and cruel truths, indoctrinating their young ones within their shielded environments, with false morals, deceptive values, negating any tolerance, coexistence, or healthy common life with any other form of humanity. Only preaching superiority, arrogance and apartheid.

Of course it's always the others fault , whether an infidel a goyim, Saracen or a minority member, for not openly admitting inferiority and submissiveness to the model in force, Musslem, Hebrew and  Christians all treated each other on the ground and others at large as belonging to diabolical forces. Better to eliminate those others than to have to coexist in some form of collaborative democracy. Yemen, Israel, Syria and Iraq are only a few live examples.

The wider entities of non Arab Musslems, Arab Christians,different sects and minorities, secular people, atheists and others, are different from Sunni, Jewish or Shiia pure blooded. they were born in lower stratus and inferior, and are to be treated as such. Both these pseudo religious entities, heavily related to each other in many aspects, are indeed a veritable time bomb, inserted into the heart of a historically more diverse, secular and gradually evolving democratic Middle-East, both started gathering influence by the early 1900, the Saudi Wahhabi started its statehood by 1920, while the Israeli Zionist started in 1948. the new off shoots of Shiite Iran in 1979, and later ISIS, and all others.

Both of these heinous entities adhere to philosophies masked by religious fervor, whereby anyone who would not conform to their rules, laws and views should be killed, humiliated, their wives and daughters violated, their men exiled and their lands and possessions confiscated. Total blind conformity is required . ISIS, Israel, and Saudi strategies and tactics are about bringing the people whom they conquer into total submission, and only instill fear, terror and absolute surrender .

Both entities developed the strongest existential dependence on the West, especially America, and it goes on, while the killings, the seizure of towns and villages, the harshest of justice, and the apartheid mentality and applications, terrible and destructive as they are, while indoctrinating their own youths, and our general population through media, lobbyism and political influence. And the rest of us are pushed to the back and left to sit and watch.

The general populations of the M-E, are treated like human animals, born to be excluded and killed. But they all fight for their freedom, even violently in some instances of down to earth survival, in fact historically there's practically no nation on earth or population who haven't done exactly the same, to liberate itself and its children.

Under the false auspices of archaic religious dogmas, Musslems and Hebraics are striving to eliminate the fair notions and balances of theft and its victims, murder and murdered, occupation, occupier and occupied, arrogance, apartheid and oppressed, and destitute.

Some of us, big mouths, are probably ruining the party, and the precious Western interests behind it, by making the truth loud and clear for people who don't want to hear or read the truth. And that applies over there in the lands of bigotry, and here within our self blinded Western world with its selfish interests. Truly I tell you; Religion has no business what so ever governing people's bodies and social/political lives.

To sum it up, the world should not be governed nor subjected forever and kept captive to those who have so little understanding of what is at stake, nor the ones continually living in their past .

My usual appreciations for you times and help spreading the blog.             

MY UTOPIA OR BUST ....

Our civilization is defined in part by the logical disciplines, sciences, laws, and objective journalism, that have developed systematic methods to arrive at the truth. Citizenship brings with it the obligation to engage in a similar process. Good citizens test assumptions, question leaders, argue details, research claims .

Investigate, read, write, listen, speak and think. Be wary of those who slander the investigators, the readers, the writers and speakers and belittle them. Be suspicious of those who confuse reality with reality TV , and those who repeat falsehoods while insisting against all evidence, demand facts.

We are rapidly and systematically, reaching the point, that American political system can not be reformed. The dual party total partisanship is here to stay, and govern our daily lives internally and externally, blindly increasing in power, influence and obedience, and is becoming the only norm to govern, vote , judge and legislate.

The very needed good old principles of regulating the banks, Wall str. and corporations, controlling financial excesses and aberrations. insuring some forms of fair equitable distribution of wealth, guaranteeing free universal health care and education, taking care of our seniors and veterans through reformed and better social security, and rehabilitating and renovating our very needed and essential infrastructures. They are all being sacrificed for the partisan rivalry and contest to win the deep pockets of super rich individuals and entities.

Most of our elected representatives are living and behaving as if in the end of times, and are turning into looters and profiteers, relying on special interests and total lobby guidance, relying politically on huge campaign moneys , while grabbing what they could.

The end result of these chaotic irresponsible situations , is that religion and anarchy and some accelerated forms of fascism will come to fill the ever growing void, and attempt to restore some meaning . Historically , this is precisely what happened during the first half of 20th century Europe , the rise and fall of state communism , and what is happening now in the Arab and Musslem world .

All my thanks for a great list of readers and friends, and your help spreading the blog .