A DEADLOCKED MALE SUPREMACY ......

Obviously the last 5000 to 6000 years of Sapiens civilization , men reigning , and striving continually to  practically overpower every other live species , as well as nature , didn't do very well . Wars , biased male created religions , with Gods fully in the image and personality of male humans , and mostly aggressive, brutal and homophobic political and social leaders, who were the leading major force in the formulating and  running of global civilization , and its advancement .

Scientific advancements in Artificial intelligence and biochemistry , robotics and genome  fast emergent advancement are clearly taking over in many fields, and many areas of human life on earth, that on its own will be for sure governing many aspects of our lives and future existence and social habits and behavior . Plus the very rapid proliferation of our wars and very sophisticated armament arsenals .

More than anytime in history are scientific explorations and advancements affecting our social behavior and future well being . Leaving it all to the male specie, to coordinate future life and harmony with Scientology, and avoiding future total destruction, could prove very dangerous and volatile, at least from past, present and future historical perspective and application.

Men are temperamental and aggressive at best , men are impulsive and instantaneous , most of the time, preferring seemingly successful quick tactics rather than solid safer strategies , rendering them unfit in encountering the very serious futuristic huge changes and challenges , in all aspects of our lives , at all levels and strata of our complex modern societies .

Is the answer , at least partially , to give more power , for the tactically and transitionally coordination, of our future , to women and entrust the female specie with such efforts !!! Would it lead and frighten men into a partly loss of their historical lead-on , their continuous dictatorship of all major aspects of life on earth , their affairs and world affairs ?? Maybe it is high time to entrust the world future to female power and judgment , maybe their motherhood survivalist genes and  feelings are safer after all , more compatible to earth's existence, continuity  and survivability , than men's sheer muscles and brutality , and short sighted impulses. Maybe, maybe and maybe , but it surely is worth considering  and discussing seriously .

I know it's not a very pleasant prospect to many of us, men , representing the male homo side of Sapiens , but let's contemplate the fact that historically even major religions denigrated and belittled men and Gods , when Eve could fool both , and oust us out from God's Paradise, contrary to God's wishes , so maybe it's time for humanity to entrust  eve with its future , instead of Adam and his ruining and brutal chauvinistic plans for better survival .

In the hope , to save humanity from annihilation , as it is increasingly looming in our future , especially if we men continue to play with it all , the same way we've been at it for the past few thousands years , the future might surely not be as forgiving as the past .

My as always many thanks to all .....                   

THE MUST HAVE LEGISLATION ....

In times like what we're living nowadays, times where unusual and serious crises, wars, brutality and other clear features of our modern political behaviour, and constant hegemony. When We all have to rely and count on political leaders directing the executive branches of their respective countries, to be patriots but not partisans, sane enough to look for their countries and citizens interests, and not their own or their oligarchies interests, or a special segment of the population .

It is becoming grossly irresponsible to allow deranged or unstable leaders to continue sitting on top of their constituencies and governments, with a free hand and a full manipulative power, joggling poisonous demagogic ideas, laws, tactics and adventures . 

We all know that some of our world wide leaders are not mentally fit , enough to serve their countries and peace and progress in their regions and the world. Generally many people close to them know it well enough, but keep silent for many reasons.

In the American case, our own Mr. Trump is a good example, he was openly described by prominent psychiatrists as a mentally ill and unfit and suffering from at least one serious personality disorder, typically called severe narcissism. One even called him a "Sadist, the essence of evil."

Now to be realistic, Mr. Trump isn't alone or unique in his dangerous thinking and behavior, to name some, I'm going to cite Mr. Putin, Mohammad Bin Salman, Netanyahu, Erdogan, Assad and Kim Jong-Un . They all and always share the same tactics, blaming the world for all their wrongs, and all their brutality, and insane acts. Always denying and accusing everyone else and never themselves for all very vicious acts, wars, killings, apartheid, homophobia and vain brutality . Of course it's a race between civilian politicians, elected legally or not, and military dictators, and religious oligarchies reigning openly or under disguise .

They should all be demoted, depresidented and dethroned. And for that the US constitutional amendment known as "the 25th amendment" is a good start, it was ratified back in 1965, following the Kennedy assassination, and was created to provide a mechanism for replacing a political president, or a prime-minister for that matter, who has become incapacitated physically or as is more often the case mentally. In America the 25th amendment's section 4 stipulates that when the vice president and a simple majority of a body of Congress, declares in writing to the leader of Senate, and the speaker of the house, that the president is unable to perform the duties of the office, the vice president immediately becomes acting president .

This type of law exist in various parts of the world, but unfortunately rarely exercised if at all. The entire body of the UN. should legislate a specific mechanism to implement firmer and more applicable rules to enforce a peaceful transition and change of leadership where needed and in blatant cases.

The world cannot and should not be at the mercy of such adventurers, dragging their countries, their populations, their immediate neighbors and regions, and the entire world into their adventures, that could obviously lead to total annihilation of life as we know it. Such discussions are urgently and desperately needed to save many a region under threat of very dangerous conflicts.

Why do some nations produce willingly the worst of what these nations could offer ?? I guess only the future can answer that .   
My usual many thanks to all, for your time .                

FAILED SUMMITS......FAILED WORLD....

Few days after the G20 summit in Buenos Aires , a meeting of roughly 30 of the planet's strongest and richest leaders tried for two days to mellow down some of their huge differences and trade disagreements. Unfortunately no great results or successes were achieved, and the world is still as separated, divided and far from some needed peace and harmony...

Confronting the challenges of the modern world in its entirety, has to go through a liberal way and liberal thinking, contrary to what we are witnessing nowadays in many if not all spots of the world. As a wave of conservative and racist populism is rapidly spreading, only equal to 20th century fascism, whereby both systems, past and present, constitute a clear threat to world stability and endangered future. By encouraging nostalgic fantasies of a gone-by past that is embellished purposely, it ignites nationalist separatism, and is against any real international cooperation and integration, which are vital for humanity's survival on planet earth. Populism is deliberately creating a kind of panic, leading to political and social paralysis .

Economic inequality, social insecurity and human suffering, could only be addressed properly and efficiently, only after a period of adoption of those problems by liberalism and liberal philosophies and liberal political strategies and ideas. Reenacting economic, social, political and cultural means, and reaching a general world-wide consensus and acceptance of these accepted universal norms. Thus ensuring a proper blue-print for humanity and its future existence .

For thousands of years, humanity as a whole, lived and faced continually major existential destructive problems, namely brutal wars, hegemony, famine, spread of deadly diseases. We all believe that all these catastrophic dangers in our day and age could be easily prevented, conquered and forgotten, on the contrary we can add to them a sense of social justice and a fair global wealth distribution.

Historically, humanity in general prayed for gods, prophets and saints, as well as to local tribal, religious or political leaders and kings for help. We now have the ability to succeed in preventing and eliminating these deadly challenges on our own, we don't need to pray to gods and their earthly representatives for help, we only have to be vigilant in choosing and stopping some of our existing crazy impostor leaders, hijacking humanity's well being and security, for their own personal ego and pretentious dreams.

There cannot be any strong-man ruler in the world who fails to see the pattern and opportunities, from Syria's leader, to Mr. Erdogan, Putin or the new European ultra right, or the Iranian and Saudi religious oligarchies,  and of course our great friend Netanyahu applying the same Trump adage, of Israel comes first and only Israel's interests and imperialism count. All Middle-East, Europe, Africa and Latin America, as before them it was the entire South East Asia, are looking for more solid friendships and partnerships, and better support from America and the Western world, from Mr. Trump and other world leaders, but alas nothing serious was achieved in Buenos Aires, not even a common climate change strategy,  only marginalities, and theatrical acts, and leaders dragging their people and countries to doomsday scenarios with them .

 My many thanks to all .                             

THE PERSISTENT FORESEEABLE FUTURE .....

Less than two weeks ago , the world and some of its leaders were commemorating in France the 100 hundreds anniversary of the end of  WW1, with its many millions of victims, military and civilians, innocent bystanders or fighting soldiers, why does it seem today as if the world didn't learn anything at all from this episode or other similar brutal barbaric wars, before and after .

Meanwhile in Europe , the latest calls of president Macron of France and chancellor Merkel of Germany, for a unified European army and a European security council, are clear indications of  the general worldwide insecurity, panic and highly contagious aggressivity, contrary to the unified European message of tolerance and acceptance, and cooperation in fairness in an open world. It's mostly addressed to Superpowers, their leaders, and their future plans and strategies .

Inspired by few words of the brilliant Yuval Harari ; We need a global identity , as national institutions are obviously incapable of handling global predicaments and challenges. Looking at most of our actual political leaders throughout the world, will confirm this idea. We must globalize our minds and politics. The same when most people are loyal simultaneously to their immediate families, tribes, to their neighborhoods and their professions, to their countries and nations, and their skin colours , we need to add loyalty to humankind and planet earth to the list. It surely complicates a little our life and obligations, but it's a necessary price for the survival of the planet and its speeches .

Some political acts, even intentions, are punishable as crimes under international law.  Planning, preparation, initiation, or waging of a war of aggression, or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances, are crimes. As well as murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation and other inhuman acts like unmeasured brutality, torture or flagrant apartheid, perpetrated against any civilian population, or persecutions on political, racial, or religious grounds. All of the above, are defined and listed as crimes against humanity, and are punishable by international law and standards.

Meanwhile, and in a bitter and sarcastic irony, several world leaders, were commemorating in Paris France, the 100th anniversary of the end of  WW1, including Mr. Trump, Netanyahu, Macron, Putin and May. These same leaders are responsible directly or by continuity of atrocious wars, in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Libya, Yemen and several other spots. They and their predecessors, are considered war criminals under international laws !!!  All have blood on their hands, they all have future plans of wars, and are actively preparing for it.  Iran, North Korea, Palestine, South Sudan, and several other unfinished and unsettled conflicts, like Lebanon, Syria, Libya, Ukraine, Africa and South America.

What on earth were they commemorating ??? All of these leaders are guilty of preparing and embarking upon perpetual and ultimate worldwide adventures, and horrific weaponry for it. Dragging the entire world into unpredictable destruction which threatens the future of humanity. What on earth were they commemorating in Paris ??? 

My as always, many thanks to all ....                 

ACCELERATE PERFORMANCE .....

Most of my writings, come as a conversation, a talk, a simple discussion from one Sapien to another, for as long as we can talk, and freely express our ideas and aspirations, before the curtains go down on humanity .

As humans and humanity, will eventually have to, and rather sooner than later, decide on the real meanings of life, where are we heading , as historical events and traditional religious stories and myths, only answer in parts old life questions and dilemmas, and are not valid to our modern life's problems and questions. Nor to our technological achievements, and our philosophical inquiries.

Today's major problems of global wars, and mutual destructions and deliberate annihilation, terrorism, imperialism and land grabbing, global and national wealth distribution, universal social benefits by governments and organizations,  colonialism, apartheid and brutality, all existential problems for the continuity of the globe and its inhabitants .

The biases and hatreds that spark such conflicts, need some different levels of cognitive resolutions , where Sapiens are required to keep their fear a little more under control, and keep more humble about their views, opinions and acts. Simply to make better sense of the world they have created, and live in. Given everything they know nowadays, and don't know, about Gods, religions, politics and social achievements, Sapiens have to be clearer on the various options for survival of the species .

Our days are running out of time, with our present threats of mass destruction, ecological deep crisis, threatening technological advancement resulting in mass employment or rather unemployment, generally speaking our philosophers and intellectuals are patient enough about finding and creating solutions to our environment, our scientific experts and engineers are less so, and more pressed for quick advancement of any kind, and the worst are always our investors who will not give anyone any chance of waiting for intelligent solutions to existing problems, but keep pressuring always for more.

Dealing with our modern world challenges, requires Homo Sapiens to adopt new methods, and improve its current levels of thinking and strategising, of governing and pursuing power and wealth, changing its focus from thousands years old ideas and dogmas, to different perspectives of finding solutions, if they want to secure and insure their survivability and future existence.

Our world is changing rapidly, requiring less dominant powers, and less domineering countries and leaders, we are surely headed into the era of global thinking and global strategizing, unfortunately they will always be some setbacks, where rogue politicians will attempt to drive their countries to pre-modern ideas and tactics, to archaic forms of imperialism and domination of others.

Imperialism takes many forms, it could be in a form of forceful and brutal settlers, manifesting itself by an overt rule over natives of a country or continent, or colonialism and apartheid, driving the natives out in despair, and replacing them by their own. Sometimes it's purely economic domination, directly by governments or through specific conglomerates, mostly armaments cartels that only strive for perpetual wars.

The world today, and its population's survivability requires serious rethinking of these archaic methods of creating more wealth and power, masking it all with needed employment and phony and arrogant notions of nationalism. We simply cannot afford it anymore, time is running out .

My deep gratitude for your time and patience.                         

OUT TO DESTROY .......

A good and deeper look at Mr. Trump's supporters, and his electorate bodies, will show a very distinct and close correlation with strong authoritarian personalities, like those representing cults of all types and kinds, or religious ritualistic entities, patriarchal, authoritarian, racist, ultra nationalist, with strong rhetoric and less fundamentals, and so on and so forth ....

The large white working class, the angry class one would call it nowadays, and rightly so, as they've been dumped by practically all politicians, excluded from both parties interests, for the sake of rich donors and election contributors, whereby their salaries and real wages have stagnated for decades, and more so lately after the 2008 depression, where they have been declining, vis-a vis the huge and extravagant buildup in wealth in very concentrated few winning and influential and very arrogant hands.

Indeed, they thought that turning to Trump, would answer their concerns, but unfortunately Trump's solutions, and proposed wealth distributions, and his social offerings, are totally off the mark, and will only aggravate and make problems worse, people of all walks of life, all over America are starting to realize that. Only certain fascistic norms and slogans are in the air for now, and for the foreseeable future .

For decades now, Republicans, and lately headed by Trump and his close oligarchic machine, and Paul Ryan, and their like, have been working scrupulously and meticulously, at scaring the general American population, not segments of it, but all of it . All ages, all wealth strata, they have used terrorists, gays, transgenders, immigrants, drug cartels and gangs, even new born on American soil babies, and every shade of darker colored skins, of course it's strictly to prevent them all from destroying our wealth, well being, liberties and our glorious pasts.  But enough to  Make us all fear  fear itself . 

It was implicated like many other political instances, that the pipe bombs addressed to prominent opposition figures, were a Democratic setup, to deflect Republican midterm brilliant agendas, it turned totally different.  Even the Anti-Semitic Pittsburgh attacks, proved not to be a Democratic plot, but an extreme right-winger full of hate. The new presidential and Republican motto is now ;      "Republicans will totally protect innocent Americans, with our old and past glorious preexisting traditions, Democrats will destroy it all, So vote Republican."

Unfortunately , all these comments and facts, are generally being ignored in the main-stream media, while it should be the head-lines, as it clearly illustrate the real dilemmas the country's political system is going through. Take the newly created immigration and refugees problem and crisis all over the world, and mostly from countries directly affected by our adventurism, and our allies imperialism.

Take a country like Lebanon, harboring over 40% of its population as refugees, on top of hundreds of thousands from the 1948 Israeli Nakba and transfers. Jordan, Turkey, and others, all suffer similar fates. As N. Chomsky puts it ; "I'm not a fan of Mr. Erdogan, and he is not my favorite person, but when he refers to American, European and Western hypocrisy, it's hard to argue with him, or even disagree."

Latin American refugees into American borders, are as well a direct result of our past adventures, in subduing and destroying these countries, and rendering them failed and unlivable. Yet we pay all of our attention to Mr. Trump tweets, and hardly a factual word on our medias. We are turning nowadays into a frightened, intimidated, inactive and fearing society.

Let's not kid ourselves, It's all about power, wealth, money, and more money.   All my thanks to my good readers . 
         

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

        

CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER .......

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

                                                                                              September 24, 2018

Mr. Omar Dabbagh
 Chapel Hill. Ter.

Dear Mr. Dabbagh:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thank you again for contacting me.

Sincerely,



Tim Kaine                                     
                                                      _________________________

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

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

THE INVISIBLE HAND BEHIND .....

No matter how many American citizens object or call their political representatives, certain policies will invariably continue to sail through Congress, the State Department, and the administration, on the federal level and state levels .

The main principle behind it all, governing our political minds are based principally on certain old rules dictating ; that the public must be put in its place, marginalized and controlled, of course for its own benefit and interests. People are too stupid and ignorant, to be allowed to know and understand all matters of politics, and more so foreign affairs. So these difficult tasks should be left to the intelligent specialized experts, who generally must be shielded and sheltered from the ignorant masses.

The role of the general population is to be transient spectators, approving, but surely not participants or advisers, and that applies to all strong and authoritarian regimes, as well as functioning democratic societies. These state policies could be very regressive, serving very limited special interests and select individuals. even if at the cost of social inequalities and abusive wealth distribution, and totally against the interests of the majority, still , spectators must not be allowed to see nor understand too much, and whistle-blowers are consequently always harshly punished and exiled .

The theatrical proceedings of the Supreme Court nominee, his accusation and the quiet denial of the Senate majority to a fair investigation , the security surveillance on too many Americans, the immigration total rage and inhuman proceedings , are all examples of what I'm talking about. Not long ago the NY Times reported that two thirds of Americans support the US joins a binding international agreement to curb green house gas emissions, and by a 5 to 3 margin, Americans regard the climate as more urgent than the economy, but it doesn't matter, public opinion is dismissed.

But I'm going to cite few other examples of policies being pushed through our system presently, without American public attention or interference . One is the huge aid package of almost 40 billion Dollars, or the equivalent of 11 million tax payer Dollars per day for the next 10 years to Israel. It was initiated during the Obama administration, and scrumptiously followed by the Trump administration, and the GOP led house. With intelligent twists and amendments, such as it was to be a ceiling when originally conceived, and now it's called a floor, opening the door widely to future increases as Israel might arrogantly dictate.

And requiring the full cooperation of NASA, with Israel's space agency, even after it was caught and openly admitted of Israel's spying on all vital and highly classified pertinent technologies. The package is considered the largest military package in US history. America could cover all universal health care costs, and education shortages, which by the way are presented free to all Israelis .

Another concern of these hidden forces, are to always introduce better controls over the institutions responsible for the indoctrination of our youths. Schools, universities and churches are the focus of these procedures, where the Texas State Board of education, voted lately to amend high school textbooks ; to read that Arab rejection of Israel has led to the conflict perpetuation, requiring schools to blame Israeli/Arab conflict on Arabs. The board also voted to remove certain previous political figures from the teaching syllabus, pertaining to previous democrats, top politicians and administration officials, while all students are now required to study and learn about the current president and the Texas governor. The Dallas morning news reported .

Another unmentioned topic in its full details , are the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on many of our trading partners, the biggest of course being China, increasing by 10% charges on hundreds of billions of Dollars. While it sounds like fair punishment to unfair trading practises on their parts, the real looser and payer will be the American consumer. A very nice Chinese made wall-hanging clock, bought at a Walmart store for $3.50 , it might now be priced at $3.85 , all consumers will still find it a steal, and buy it, American clock makers cannot compete with both prices anyway, the same applies to most goods imported from China, American consumer will pay the difference .

The Trump administration will pocket tens of billions in added tariffs , and guess what , not spend a dime of it all on health care, social security, education, student loans or even basic infrastructure. And of course not a dime to the needy or poorer social benefits. It will further cut taxes for the richest half percent and keep feeding the armament industries through the Pentagon and its affiliates corporations. Wall Str. will get its share of course. They are enforcing the invisible hand anyhow . 

The role of the general population is to be kept strictly as innocent spectators, and never as participants in action or decision advisers . N.Chomsky through his recent writings was an inspiration to the logic behind the article .   all my thanks to all as always .   

                 

SUICIDE .... A SYMPTOM OF OUR TIMES

September 10, few days back, was the world suicide prevention Day, a first to me , addressing the grave ever growing epidemic world wide. claiming over a million lives each year globally , causing untold grief and tremendous losses. It is world wide and increasing in alarming numbers, and being classified now as one of the leading causes of death .

Depressed people in general, and youths more particularly are very vulnerable nowadays to lack of opportunities , secure futures and huge wealth discrepancies and incomes, discrimination and a culture of bullying against all forms of nonconformity are becoming the norms in our schools, universities and work places, especially in more advanced societies.

An estimated 1.3 millions per year die by suicide, and there are approximately 20 attempts for each actual successful suicide. According to WHO, the suicide rates (per 100,000) of world population, goes as follows ; Europe 13%, South Eastern Asia 26%, Western Pacific 25%, Americas 14.5%, Africa 13%, Eastern Mediterranean 8.5% . Suicides have a number of complex, interrelated and underlying contributing factors, that adds to the feelings of pain and hopelessness, having access to means of killing oneself, most typically are firearms, medicine and poisons, they are all risk factors.

Stress in our lives and work, is becoming very common, we live in a culture where many if not most of us , want continuously only the best for ourselves and our dependents, and to be at all times very distinguished, different and superior, but we all fail to realize that specifically this pattern of reasoning is the source of our stresses and depressions in life, leading eventually to serious crises .

To be a happy person, we don't necessarily have to have the best of everything , nor be the best always. Reflecting on our present situations, world wide, 21st century Sapiens are facing a deteriorating resiliency of its youth, their desperation of modern times and conditions, makes it some of our darkest times historically, Sapiens were never through history more depressed, more anxious, more worried about economical and living standards and continuity, more desperate about their image in life among their peers.

The more our societies are advanced at least economically and technologically, the more disparity of wealth distribution, and more brutality in all aspects of life, and tighter controls on behavior from institutions, manufacturers, and big conglomerates and corporations, the more we observe desperation, depressions and rebellions.

Not all suicides are just simple individual acts as it appears though, I consider collective injustices, economical or political, an important factor in the general suicidal trends, Palestinian youths committing different acts of resistance, with bare hands against their occupiers' brutality, hegemony,  and their willful and determined dehumanization, are sort of simple and different suicide forms . Or escaping extreme dangerous places, and riding the high seas on dinghies with a 50/50 chance of survival are another form of suicides by desperate fugitive individuals.

Wars, and civil wars and mass deportations, are of course further reasons for total desperation and suicidal tendencies. US veterans of adventurous wars , were in an alarming upward spike of suicides, as the death toll from suicides in the US is approx. 50,000, per year. of all ages . globally, rates by age are around 55% for the 15 to 44 years of age, and 45% for the 45 and older .

Still in much of the world, suicide is much stigmatized , ignored and condemned, mostly for religious, social and cultural reasons, rendering suicides often a secretive act, surrounded by taboo. Preventing serious help, or adequate open discussions to alleviate the seriousness and gravity of the high numbers of futile deaths.

As always my many thanks to all, all over the world.                                     

UNRWAying .....

The United Nations agency (UNRWA) for Palestinian refugees, few days ago criticized the United States decision to cut their funding , saying the agency has a proven record of providing high quality essential services to those in need .

The US administration's top senior representatives, including Nikki Haley at the UN , Mike Pompeo at the State Department , the spokes person at the White House as well as the president himself and his Israeli chief strategists Kushner, Bolton, our ambassador to Israel and others, none of them had the spine or the decency to speak the truth of what's behind the cuts to UNRWA .

They all invariably came-up with different excuses and explanations and contradicting statements, camouflaging the real motives of the sudden move, and against 6 decades of established Us policy, ranging from the interests of America and Americans, the saving of money for other different elsewhere causes, to ideological statements about the perpetuation of the status of Palestinian refugees and their descendants, no mention at all though of a final solution to this terrible tragedy.

No one had the spine, from the normally very talkative president, all the way down to mention the deliberate and calculated pressure behind the move on the remaining Palestinian leadership in the occupied territories, to unconditionally accept the coming US proposal for its non practical deal of the century.

A deal that entirely eliminates the right of Palestinian refugees to return to any part of a future settlement, and or their original lands. Pressure on neighboring host countries, Jordan Lebanon and Syria is going in line with the same policies. I have serious doubts that the sudden recent US interest in reshaping the Syrian picture has something to do with relocating the majority of Palestinian refugees under a Syrian citizenship and permanent future residency .

These policies, tactics and financial cuts to the international agency and the mentioned countries, to pressure them to naturalize the refugees, possibly against a meagre compensation, paid by Golf Arab Kingdoms and Emirates. Meanwhile young children schooling, desperate hospitals for staff, equipment and medicine, plus the many other humanitarian essentials insuring the survival of the refugees, are all being deliberately and willingly cancelled. Even Israel's hawkish and blood thirsty rulers and top military are timidly cautioning the administration of possible reversals of stability due to humanitarian consequences, But Mr. Kushner and his father in law are a deaf wall.

Of course all have deaf ears , as why should we care about Palestinian kids schooling and sick children, and elders miseries, when we here in the States deliberately and in the most willful and calculated steps, are killing our own public schooling system, social welfare as well as our health care and seniors benefits.

We not only refuse to come-up with improving suggestions and long-term solutions and strategies for all our social services, but we're striving to kill every past achievement toward the betterment of the general population. Should we care then for others around the world ?? Or show compassion to grave injustices of our own doing ??  Of course not . 

This disruption will further disrupt and condemn the lives of 5.5 million Palestinian, who are totally dependent for their vital services on UNRWA. It will as well directly affect countries like Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank. Where in all these countries the unemployment rates among Palestinian youth is nearly 70% .

Finally, to add a little personal political American factual note, whereby Mr. Trump, his family and his oligarchy, are without any doubt, willingly and deliberately ushering all Americans into a constant battle, having to choose between people who refuse to accept domination, dehumanization and total injustices, versus those who are trying to force people to accept them .

All my thanks to all , as usual .                                   

THE UGLY FACE OF DEATH ......

I guess you can attribute most of it to our advancing age, surely, as we grow older we face, see and hear around us more deaths, and people disappearing into the great unknown . Lucky them if something exist and now they know for sure ... Ahead of all of us stuck here.

Lately, and within couple weeks, I've heard of the death of three good friends, all within few days of each other, unexpectedly, no early warning, Sam , Oussama and Jean-Pierre, and the decades long wife of a dear friend, Abdullah,  you'd have to get used to thinking of him alone now . Then came the news of the departure of Hanna Meineh, a Syrian novelist, poet and thinker, whom I met more than once and had few shots of cognac together while exchanging quick philosophical ideas and concepts.

Couple days ago, it was the turn of Uri Avnery, an Israeli peace activist, and an excellent and courageous columnist, famous, appreciated and hated simultaneously in his home country and abroad . For his unbiased reporting , his clear opinions and visions, his humor daring and condemning the very quick metamorphosis of Israelis and the transformation of their State into a very oppressive and closed State and society.

His courage defying his zealot compatriots, and the new reigning settlers mentality and narrow fascist fanatic visions, were astonishing to say the least. I for one, on several occasions while reading his articles, couldn't but smile sadly predicting his possible violent death . Luckily he crossed peacefully at almost 95 years of age .

Another Israeli of the same caliber and courage, and one of not too many , is Gideon Levy, who declared openly to Haaretz, a leading publication in Israel, "Let's admit it, the settlers have won, we have lost."Again daring the entire political/religious institution of nowadays Israel.

Many Jews all over the Western world, and other parts as well, were deeply convinced for the last few decades, that Israel has been called by God to be the Messiah of the nations, that will invariably spread truth, virtue and compassion on earth, a concept that will elevate and reform Judaism. A country whose duty was to participate in the great task of modern times, to solve on the basis of justice and righteousness the problems of modern societies and their contradictions. And by proclaiming justice, set an example for a world in need of repair. 

Unfortunately the Zionist movement, the Orthodox Jewry and the ultra right Neocons in Israel, totally deviated and veered way into a different path. Stepping on every principle of fairness, goodness or compassion, all for hegemony, greed and arrogant supremacy, perpetuating a form of hateful apartheid and animal brutality, all leading to a total annihilation of all other non Jewish minorities, natives of the land .

Surely, every Israeli family has an immigration story of its own, based on flight from war, persecution, Holocaust, poverty or fear of hopelessness. What is happening in Israel nowadays reminds us of an incident that took place lately here in the US. Whereby a senior White-House staffer, Stephen Miller, was publicly shamed by his uncle, David Glosser, a retired clinical neuroscientist for his part in shaping Trump's immigration policies, against Musslems and later Latin Americans at the Mexican borders. While forgetting himself the flight of his mother, a Jewess herself, and others from his family from pogroms ravaged areas between Belarus and Russia .

Israeli Zionists today are behaving themselves in exactly the same ways of ignoring their past while reenacting it on others. Where in the US. actually more than 500 seized children, are being orphaned at the different military camps, an article in Politico, the uncle David Glosser, wrote; "I have watched with dismay and increasing horror as my nephew who is an educated man and well aware of his heritage , has become the architect of immigration policies that repudiate the very foundations of our family's life in this country." What would Mr. Glosser comment on how Israel's policies and tactics are being shaped and applied,  I wonder.

My usual thanks to all my readers all over the world .                              

BULLSHITTING OURSELVES AND OUR TIMES .....

Or maybe I should title my blog today " The culture of bullshit ".
A main feature of our times, very noticeable and striking, is the new power of bullshit in practically every aspect of our lives, but most damaging of all, is politics and governance. We all contribute our shares, no doubt about it, but when politicians in charge of destinies and entire states and populations, strive and rule by bullshit, it becomes very ugly and dangerous.

Although most people are fairly confident that they can easily recognize bullshit, facts prove the contrary, whereby many or most are continually deceived by professional bullshitter politicians and propagandists .

Bullshit surround us, says Harry Frankfurt, an American thinker/philosopher, describing the launch of the second Iraq war, by America and Britain. Frankfurt asks whether bullshit is simply the same as "Humbug" an expression defined as; Deceptive misrepresentation, short of lying, especially by pretentious words or deeds, of some body's own thoughts, feelings, and attitudes.

Bullshit like humbug or lie is an attempt to deliberately mislead, and a conscious misrepresentation of the way one really sees a situation, aiming to create a false impression for certain situations, developing a mistrust . Bullshit main aim is not only to create a different kind of reality through changing the facts, but rather for the speaker himself or herself to be seen in a certain way.

A political speech for instance, does not necessarily aim to prove some actuality, or facts of a certain situation, its purpose is to make the speaker sound like a patriot, a spiritual person, or a protector of morals and public interests . Everything is about a hoped-for short term effect, that will benefit the leader speaker, while all other stuff are irrelevant, and of no concern as to whether statements are true or not .

The problem with many new-wave politicians, is their total lack of concern with truth, it's becoming their whole way of being, of behaving, in private life and in public politics and governance. These politicians have in most cases mastered the art of running stories and statements, and lately Tweeting, that do not even relate to truth or untruth, they do not have to misrepresent or change the facts, they just spin them in devious ways that support and justify what they are up to, and how they need to manipulate their audiences, so bullshit is the way rather than blatant lies are .

Frankfurt admits that one cannot say whether there is more bullshit now than in previous times, only that the volume is now undeniably great . One reason is that many actual leaders/politicians are called on to talk about matters of which they know little about, so they use all sorts of bullshit tactics, and rhetorics instead of saying "I don't know."

T. Butler-Bowdon, comments intelligently on the subject ; " A lie can shock or startle, but we accept it as being, after all, consistent with human nature. Bullshitting however, particularly when it extends beyond individuals to organizations and governments , is perverse, a corruption of humanity.

A Rejection of the " Authority of truth," in favor of selling or telling various stories . That led to the rise of Hitlers, Stalins, Pol Pots, and Assads. And now in our times Trumps and Netanyahus ,  Erdogans,  and MBS of Saudi Arabia. Bullshit is becoming the accepted norm, even in certain well established mature democracies .

The quotes given here, are mostly from an excellent short study by T.Butler- Bowdon on Harry Frankfurt . My many thanks to them as well as all my readers .                       

PART TWO OF THE SAME OLD STORY .....

The book of numbers in the Bible, among many other similar horror stories in several books, all adopted by the Bible as the ancient testament, it says ;
"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites .... And Moses spake unto the people, saying, Arm some of yourselves unto the war, and let them go against the Midianites and avenge the Lord Midian . Of every tribe a thousand, throughout all the tribes of Israel, shall ye send to the war . So there were delivered out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand of every tribe . Twelve thousands armed for war ... And they warred against the Midianites , as the Lord commanded Moses, and they slew all males .... And the children of Israel took all the women of Midian captives, and their little ones, and took the spoils of all their cattle, and all of their flocks, and all their goods. And they burnt all their cities wherein they dwelt, and all their goodly castles, with fires . And they took all the spoil, and all the prey, both of men and beasts. And they brought the captives, and the prey, and the spoil, unto Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and unto the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by the Jordan near Jericho. And Moses and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, went forth to meet them without the camp. And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, with the captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, which came from the battle. And Moses said unto them, have ye saved all the women alive ? Behold, these caused the children of Israel ... to commit trepath against the Lord, and there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord . Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman children, that hath known man by lying with him. But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves ."

Is it history repeating itself almost verbatim in Palestinian territories and lands,  or part two of the same horror movie , with Mr. Netanyahu and his guards of religious turned politicians, and generals, and the whole Israeli brain washed youths going after every Palestinian .... ???  And a very flagrant and gross back-up, by a hypocritical American political/religious system and lobbies.

Some in America, true Christians they call themselves, took to criticizing Musslems, their faith and their holly books, for its brutality and calls for jihad, for the glory of their God. While passages like the previous in the Bible are totally ignored and do not shake their Judeo-Christian faith. Nor its frequent repetitions in our own times. If this is not hypocrisy pushed to its extreme, I don't know what else to call it .

The charter of the International Military Tribunal , set up by the allies to try and condemn the leading war Nazi criminals at Nuremberg, came up with different crimes titles, all still applicable today in similar situations. Crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. In enforcing those rules, the tribunal declared it a crime against peace, to initiate a war of aggression , a war crime, to murder, ill-treat, or deport either civilians or prisoners of war. And a crime against humanity, to murder, exterminate, deport any civilian population, or to persecute them on political, racial, or religious grounds. These crimes, the tribunal clearly stated, are crimes whether or not in violation of the domestic law of the country where perpetrated .

But it seems that what the allies ruled by and the world charter for condemning the fascists and Nazi regimes, and later the Serbian leaders, and eventually some rogue dictators around the world, are not in consideration nor in any use for cases like Israel, or even Syria and other African crazy spots. All acting in the same path of Israeli behaviour, arrogance and ill-wishes of total hegemony .

Official America, and its politicians, turning the blind eye, and the media following suit and ignoring the whole modern re-enactment and application of Old Bible tactics and brutality, wether in Israel or elsewhere , is nothing short of total hypocrisy , we are all too ignorant, or pretending to be of both history and present day realities .

My usual many thanks to all listening .                      

EXCEEDING THE THRESHOLD .....

A democracy, any democracy is in very serious trouble when opportunistic political opinions and tactics replace facts, and plain evidence as the basis for political debate, influencing policy making and opinions of its populations. Both Israel and America , and of course some other totalitarian regimes are quickly drifting in those directions .

Israel is a minor player in itself, albeit very dangerous to all its neighbors and the entirety of the Middle-East, but who cares. But America drifting in this direction is a major concern to itself and the world. Yes America is surely moving toward a populist, Orwellian type of totalitarian state. With its very distinctive populist narratives of exclusion and polarization and a fixed structure of  us-versus- them . 

According to politifact, 70% of Mr. Trump's statements during the election campaign were false, versus 26% for Hillary Clinton, for the same period. In Britain in 2016, a claim that 350 million pounds dispatched weekly from the U.K. to the EU, would be reversed and redirected to the national health service when Britain leaves the EU. Nigel Farage used this slogan practically on every campaigning occasion to topple the union. He later backed down on his promise the very night of the Brexit victory calling it "A mistake". 

In today's world,  America is still called upon to lead the world in championing Democracy, and global governance, and fairly solving the pressing problems the world faces. And I stress on solving the problems and not coming up with dubious and suspicious deals.

Our elected oligarchy, guided or misguided, by couple examples of world manipulators, ie. Israel and Russia, are manipulating and systematically brain-washing a certain disheartened portion of the simpler American electorate into a certain path of orthodoxy and fixed ideas and slogans, resulting in a not thinking group. And a no need to think independently mentality, we're being told and tweeted daily of what to accept and what to refuse, in total unconsciousness, ignoring sane reasoning on our own, and creating continuously some other side, just to demonstrate how awful people on the other side really are . 

Now tens of millions of people can be classified and labeled as good or bad, all over the world. Placing the faithful followers and new allies beyond good and evil. To advance the oligarchy's interests they are using Jewry, Islam, and Christendom, the white race versus all other shades and colors, it is becoming the norm of our policies and tactics.

Turning the masses against each other, to prevent them from recognizing their common conditions,    changing positions and words every day and on every meeting, I call this, Orwellian fascism and totalitarianism, worthy of a 1984 utopia , and not our 250 years old Democracy .

My very thanks to all my faithful readers.          

WHY SHOULD WE ALL WORRY ........

We should worry because the American president is slowly and surely being cornered in his failures, and he is the type of person who can easily turn very ugly, nasty and irrational, instead of reflective and smarter . He could invent any excuse to create a big mess, even if it turns stupid and destructive later, just to cover-up his isolation and policy failures .

Meanwhile it's the entire world stability, security and economic constancy and soundness that could be paying a heavy toll for more major failed adventures by the US. and all only to benefit very few war industries and entities basically .

The Korean supper advertised deal seems to falter, and is already almost a fiasco. The great wall and the whole immigration theatrical scene is embarrassing and coming to ridicule. The relations with traditional allies, neighbors or close to home or across the oceans, is at a historic low, and not improving. All our trading partners in the world are retaliating big time, and together they could be a major damaging force to our economy, manufacturing sector and workers employment .

On the domestic levels, tax cuts practically only benefited a rich class, corporations and Wall Street . And didn't trickle down as promised and publicised, adding to the general malaise. Not to mention the blind hatred of any and all previously instated social benefits, as in medical and social security, student's loans, housing and public schooling and many others.

The president's most loyal appointees in all political domains are nowhere near successful in their creative destruction of the past, be it Obama or even previous administrations . I could say it could all lead to some sort of fascistic reign, as our greatest ally Mr. Netanyahu is ready to declare for Israel, but even that is failing here, and not so original anymore. Most aids are resigning, running away and abandoning ship and its skipper. The investigation into corruption and collusion with Russia is slowly advancing, and it seems they do have things under their sleeve after all .

All this and other failures are very worrisome as the man is not used to acknowledge failure, his temper plus the few hawks around him suggest more defiance against all odds. But what worries many, more than all the preceding is the bad fix America pushed itself in the Middle-East.

We went half way already with Israel's Neo-Cons and extreme right adventurers, we are facing now a serious possibility of total refusal of the Kushner/Netanyahu engineered deal by all Palestinians. we have absolutely lost all positions on the grounds and political credibility,  in Syria, Iraq, Libya and we declared bankruptcy.

We did pull out of the Iranian nuclear deal, against the wishes and requests of the entire world, except  Israel of course, and now that the world is acting to preserve the deal and keep lifting the sanctions, our Mr. Trump is further badly cornered, his and Netanyahu's only escape against the world seems to be to bomb and start a war with Iran, with all the risks it entails to the region and the world. And that's the seriously worrying part.

Previous dictators throughout history found themselves in similar corners, very few knew how to retreat honorably, and save their people and countries, most went on with suicidal endeavor, burning everything with them .             

My usual many thanks to all .              

THE STATE OF THE UNION .....

Generally speaking, the U.S. economy has improved greatly, at least since the great depression of the last century, but it's not resulting in good or better situation for everyone. As and for many decades now, household incomes have stagnated, for a very considerable segment of the American population. Slogans of the present administration and Mr. Trump himself are playing big time over these and similar facts .

For a while now, and more so under the actual administration, the concentration of wealth at the top is becoming a clear feature of our society. Whereby most Americans keep struggling to get by . The bottom 90% of the population own 22% of the nation's wealth, while the top 1% own approximately 40% according to the Federal Reserve Bulletin, and while wages stagnate for most, most CEOs and presidents of all corporations are now earning in brackets of thousands times their employees salaries .

Even health care, education and basic social services and securities, as well as infrastructure maintenance are all inferior to those available in most first world nations. And things are not improving with the Trump reign. Not to most ordinary Americans including his own base and supporters, things are regressing rapidly.

Mr. Trump exposes Americans to only one side of reality, his side. And it's frequently based on lies and or false information, but it becomes people's realities. And the more we see the concentration of the media in the hands of a few rich men, the easier it is for the Trump oligarchy to market its ideas  and policies .

Our foreign policies, and dealings with the world is slowly crumbling, as we are conducting a total war of hate and isolation against the entire globe, and more so our allies, whereby 3 veteran ambassadors and many senior State Department diplomats resigned lately, amid frustrations with Mr. Trump and his policies . We are reversing every policy the US. has adopted for the past 70 years, befriending our standing enemies and angering our traditional allies. 

The Trump machine is simply a version of our human tendency to ignore reasoning pragmatically when it leads us to conclusions we dislike. Our history has always been and more so nowadays, a story of privileged exploiters, rather than exploited victims . except for Mr. Trump, whereby all our trade partners, be them allies or enemies the world over, they are all exploiting us in terrible ways. And Mr. Trump is in to fix 100 years of American victimization versus the world. We are starting measures to destroy it all, and create worldwide economical chaos, and totally isolate ourselves economically and physically .

 My thanks to all .                      

A DEAL IS COMING SOON TO A SCREEN NEAR YOU ....

No one knows for sure yet what the particulars of the so called "Deal of the century" are all about!!  but the word deal itself as opposed to solution has enough insinuations. As long as it's not totally supporting the Israeli colonial hegemony at the expense of the Palestinian obliteration and annihilation.

A society dominated by runaway hegemony, brutality and perpetual arrogant theft, using any means possible to thrive including murder, apartheid, imprisonment and torture, is a sick and inhuman society, living strictly within their own little dreams and barbaric fantasies. Humans after all, are distinguished from other animals by the capacity for some morality, compassion and an acceptance of the other as part of a common human race.

To subordinate others by conceited superiority, and arrogant savage brutality, and live a continual dream of hegemony and imperialism linking them all to daily political and economical fascist tactics is therefore an abdication of humanity. Reducing humanity as far as its collective being is concerned to pure bestiality.

Israel, blindly backed by the actual American administration, its politicians and lobbyists is on a sure path of totally dehumanizing its local Palestinian population in its entirety, and kicking them out of their remaining bits of land in the West-Bank, Gaza and the Israeli interior. If they resist they simply would be eliminated ...  Mr. Trump is calling it the "deal of the century." The whole world is watching, and whole populations are indignant, but tragically it all stops there.

A day, and sooner than later, will come when humanity will realize its complicity in this new holocaust, a by far worse holocaust than all its predecessors, as the last one was perpetuated by a party of brainwashed fanatics in Germany, calling themselves Aryan Nazis, and the whole population later regretted their actions.

But here we have a complete country belonging strictly to one religion, and backed up by the most powerful modern super-power on earth, with its crazy notions of justice and injustice. We will all be accomplices to a first degree deliberate, willful and premeditated murder, of a whole population that committed no crime of their own except being born and raised in those lands.

The Nazi Holocaust will be a decimal affair compared to our actual heinous complicity in the modern and cold blooded extermination of an entire population. No matter to what ideology we belong , no matter to what political camp or side we adhere, we all have to realize and admit in our 21st century historical moments, that Palestinians are human beings after all, and not sub-humans, animals or even some sort of cancerous decease, as they're constantly being referred to in Israel.

It is sad to have to say this in our day and age, the entire world has not yet reacted in any comprehensive way to the dehumanizing of all Palestinians. To the brutality and mass killings of Palestinians, to the full apartheid treatment of Palestinians, to the systemic imprisonment and torture of Palestinian youths. Worse than any genocide perpetrated throughout history .

As always my thanks to all .                                 

COMMON SENSE .... AN APPROACH TO SURVIVAL

Over the past few days, Mr. Trump alienated allies and cut a deal with a brutal dictator, calling our closest allies "dishonest and liars" and the dictator "Honest, direct and productive" even a great friend. Mr. Trump's story and patterns in life, and more so his election campaign and presidency, all revolve around these principles.

At the news conference in Singapore he was asked ;"What do you say to America's allies that worry you are jeopardizing our long time alliances and worry you are treating our historic friends as enemies and our enemies as friends ??  "That's a very fair question." was his answer .

In the past, crusading, exhibiting and demanding Democracy as we understand it in the West, and more particularly in America, was totally failing common sense, free elections as we so often demanded have produced groups and regimes that did not necessarily suit our agendas and are not to our liking. Iran and Israel two extremes, both very dangerous to world stability and the M-E region, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Muslim brotherhood in Egypt, lately Muqtada Al-Sadr in Iraq, and many other nationalists and populists from Asia to the Mediterranean to Europe not to forget our own bizarre turn of political event with our last election .

Patrick Buchanan asks a very valid question, "Defeating fascism and Nazism was a cause for America, defending the West against communism was a cause, but what cause now unites Americans". Is it ushering all Jews in Israel, as the Christian Evangelists want to enhance their Armageddon, it's certainly not Christianizing the world, as Russia and the East Europeans are beating us into the Christian mood. The Israeli Neocons and Orthodox fanatics have their own hegemonic and imperialist political agendas, and defeating Islam is not really a priority for most Americans.

Finally we seem to be more at ease with dictators and oligarchs than traditional allies, so what is our real cause nowadays ?? and what unite Americans for the coming years ??  Many people in today's world call for a new moral based society, a new foundation of ethics, more social and equitable distributions, they don't mean new inventions or higher technologies, but for the development of man's higher faculties and their application in our daily lives.

We humans should at all cost keep striving to rise continually to our higher potentialities, or risk falling away from them as is clearly the case all over the Middle-East and many parts of the world, our self-awareness of our higher faculties and the cultivating of them is primordial to our survival as humans in this more complex material world of our creation .

" What kind of a nation wants to be associated with mass murder of innocent men and women and children ?" The US president asked during one of his political rallies, he did not specify which country he meant exactly, Syria or Israel or both, he left it to us to deduce .

We have to stop collective barbarism in all its forms, be it in Syria, Iraq, Libya, Yemen or Israel, just to name a few, can we rely on the hope that a turning around will be accomplished by enough people, and quick enough to save the modern world and humanity itself !!!

My usual many thanks for every one's time .              

THE NOTORIOUS NRA ....

It's another week and yet another school shooting, the National Rifle Association (NRA) an association or grouping of different individuals, with the principal cause of defending their rights to bear arms , any kind of arms . They have with time evolved into high degrees of efficiency in lobbying and perfecting the art of buying politicians from both parties, albeit more so from Republicans lately .

They have gained with time more power, and their ideas have spread, manipulating the rights of owning defence guns, into owning any piece or arsenal of weaponry, including powerful warlike machine-guns equipped with powerful gadgets. They have penetrated the psych of its members, even the ordinary and non aggressive ones, who are being brainwashed to adopt the more persuasive argumentation and turning them more fanatical about the whole issue of simply owning a defensive gun.

So it's really, the association that evolved with time, and not necessarily the individual member/owner, creating a super charged individuality against any type of defenseless moral community or societal well-being. In a nutshell this organisation has turned itself into an existence of primarily achieving together what its individual members cannot achieve, it is nowadays binding and blinding its members and the population at large.

Approximately 10,000 people are killed yearly from guns in the US, mass shootings have exceeded 22 shootings in schools for the 2018 year alone. And we're not at half year yet, no one can deny the reality that we're living an epidemic of slain students and civilians and traumatized survivors . The NRA still finds excuses and old rhetoric to influence and maintain their legitimacy in the God given right to own and use a gun country.

Any other country in the world with such a record of violence, and loose gun control would be labeled and declared dangerous, crazy and terrorist, invoking travel bans, advisories and heavy warnings, from our own State Department .       

Despite all gun violence and the epidemic of school shootings around the country at an alarming rate and although two thirds of Americans want stricter gun control, knowing very well that only two major sides or groups are to blame, the NRA, and the politicians caught in its thrall.

My usual appreciation for your time spreading the blog .         

AN ONGOING AMERICAN SAGA .......

No doubt about it , there is a serious gun violence epidemic going on at more regular and shorter intervals than ever before in the US . The country with its abundance of arms of all types resemble more small third world countries armed to their teeth that invariably leads to civil disturbances, riots ethnic and religious bloody conflicts, horrible dictatorships and selfish oligarchies, colonialism , apartheid and police, special agencies and militia supremacy and brutality .

Few days back, in Texas 8 innocent high school teens, and 2 teachers, were murdered, plus scores of wounded, at a high school in a small typical town called Santa Fe, by a fellow student with some grievances against other students, teachers and society . This scene comes after many similar in the past few months, Sandy Hook, Puls, Vegas, Parkland and many others, almost to the tone of one a month lately .

The intelligent compromise between some gun control measures and gun lovers and worshipers are readily available, and every lobbyist, politician, legislator, judiciary or member of the National Rifle Association (NRA) has them on his or her desk. They're all scared of enacting them. It's not a strictly men's affair as it sounds or the media and organizations try to show it, both genders and both parents are as responsible, and should have a clear say in the fate of our youth and students and innocent victims in the streets .

Legislation's are urgently needed with no feeling of shame, guilt or weakness by any partisan group or member. Legislation against the manufacturing and selling of assault weaponry, against all types of militaristic machine guns, high capacity magazines should be illegal and totally banned from the hands of civilians, mandating back ground checks for anyone looking to purchase a gun or an arsenal . Plus a country wide survey of gun ownership and the registering of actual existing guns of different sort and origins .

These little and necessary measures are not an assault on our liberties, they're not belittling our supposedly love and adoration of our sacred Second Amendment, they are not more restrictive than many or most civil regulations enforced by our laws and judiciary system. We have to register and pay taxes on our homes, cars, motorbikes, we have limitations on speed limits, we have mandatory census every few years, we have security requirements at government and civil buildings, at airports etc...etc..., so why the exception only with guns, that are far more dangerous and lethal than all the previous.

If it's only a sign, a symbol of resistance against authority and government, against civility, then I think it's high time we reflect on that, and start behaving more according to our common intellect rather than our instincts and gut feelings. We're only managing to kill and terrorize our own kids and citizens, as we're not allowed to carry our beloved arms anywhere else in the world .

If Mr. Trump and Congress and others want to keep it free, then I would suggest they make it free to carry open guns in all their quarters, the White House , Congress, all official offices in Washington and all States. There should be no discrimination between a school, church or a Capitol Hill . 

Our prayers and sympathy, our inaction in legislating are no more good enough, our pathetic words are becoming offensive to hundreds and thousands of innocent victims and their loved ones, from all walks of life. They are not good enough for our twenty first century life, and definitely not good at all for the future of our country, society and youths. Every elected or appointee to an official office or judiciary post should be held responsible for his or her opinions on these common-sense reforms .

All my usual gratitude for your time and attention .

                                           

A FINAL WORD .....

To conclude this tragic episode in the Palestinian unending saga, I'd like to remind my fellow Americans of some facts ;  American tax payers give Israel roughly 10 to 12 million Dollars per day, I'm not going into what can America do with this money internally, instead of cutting on every social program locally, as we're seeing with this inspired administration .

What I'm really questioning ; What is one of the most powerful and wealthiest countries in the world, a country with social programs way ahead of ours here in the US, what do they do with the money except kill, torture, dehumanize and use barbaric colonial apartheid methods and policies against its own population , especially the ones, unlike Zionist immigrants and all settlers, the ones who have been living on those lands for thousands of years .

It's all making us full partners in their heinous plans of extermination of a whole population , in their theft of land and resources, an accomplice in crimes perpetrated on daily basis by Israeli Zionists .

Hamas, PLO, Islam, Iran and Syria's Assad, Arabs, terrorism are only a small part of insignificant  excuses for the grand scheme of things to be. While, sadly the world is abandoning its conscience .

     

SHAMEFUL DOUBLE STANDARD ......

The fact that the Israeli military's  killing of Palestinian protesters isn't considered terrorism or genocide, betrays the vicious double standard used by those shaping the policies and formulating the narratives, be it politicians , media or religious clergy .

In the Palestinian case, the Israelis and Americans are the major and practically the sole players, and depict themselves as civilized human beings, and citizens of the world, while Palestinians are not . On the contrary, they are practically shown almost as animals deserving to be squashed, and the rest of the world has to accept this as a fact .

There's always some official justification , in the case of Gaza it's the word Hamas, terrible word indeed, even our Trumpistas official choir to the ceremony, used the same exact refrain and stanzas, trying to blame the victims of cruel sniping and brutal killings on everyone being Hamas .

If it's not a deliberate and calculated policy to try and save both Trump and Netanyahu from their many internal scandals and problems, I don't know what is !!! 

         

THE DAY AFTER , SMELL OF DEATH .....

The ceremony for the US Embassy's relocation in Israel, was going on with pomp , pride , and flush while simultaneously tens of Palestinians were sniped and butchered per hour , and hundreds of injured were sent to barely equipped and hardly surviving hospitals, all due to a harsh total isolation and the forbidding of any humanitarian products or medicine entry into the biggest concentration camp , for more than ten years .

Gaza is a bleeding wound , and no amount of Israeli or American PR, can mend it .

I wonder what kind of  person can look away , proudly smile with satisfaction, and declare the infant victims, and the desperate youth, to be the cause and reason for the brutality and barbarism .

Are we not , all, so proud of it ???


 

    

NAKBA DAY ......

It's not a Hamas march in Gaza as claimed by Mr. Trump and Netanyahu and their people, but tens of thousands of Palestinians, more young than old who are desperate and willing to die .

In Jerusalem, US dignitaries, Trumpistas and evangelical pastors were blessing the transfer of Trump's embassy as " God's work"  So are we to assume and conclude that the cold blooded killing of couple hundred Palestinians and injuring thousands more is God's work as well !!!!

"Traditionally we've tried to play a role of fireman in the M-E. Now we're playing the role of arsonists", said I. Goldenberg, a former State Department and Pentagon official. America should start officially questioning its blind alliance with Zionist Israel and its settlers, and demand instead a foreign policy that serves America's interests .

       

THE GAZA PRISONERS !!!!

With the Gaza massacres taking place simultaneously with the inauguration of the US embassy in Jerusalem, where the death toll has reached over 40, 50, 60, and way over a thousand injured , all within one hour of the ceremony, I would call on our President , his advisers , and the State Department, plus the US Congress and Senate , to immediately put a freeze on the whole embassy affair and demand an immediate stop of the ongoing carnage , and futile massacre of innocent young protesters.

All imprisoned in the largest open air detention camp, since the Nazi Holocaust , all under the worse possible living conditions , and all dehumanized and criminalized for protesting their living conditions, and rights to go back to their original homes. What God would demand such actions ???

Mr. Trump we implore you in the name of decency , to investigate and judge this whole matter, at least take some time to investigate the barbaric mass killings of the innocent kids ! Or is it not in you.

SOUNDS FAMILIAR ???

All parties internationally and domestically are saying in blunt language that Iran is complying with the nuclear program, even our security agencies, they all maintain that thorough inspections by the International Atomic Agency are being regularly conducted . All except Mr. Trump, Mr. Netanyahu, and their immediate oligarchies . So what is the real reason these two men want to go to war with Iran and fuel further destruction of the whole area over a clearly blatant lie and false excuses .

The Neocons and lobbyists for different interests who were interested in invading and destroying Iraq, blamed the whole 9/11 attacks, allegedly executed by Al Qaeda, blamed it all on the secular, socialist leaning and strongly anti-fundamentalist regime and Baath party in Iraq. They managed to convince most Americans and a good chunk of the Western world of the totally ridiculous charges only backed up by lies and intentionally falsified evidences .

These groups designed a complete plan of invasion, regime change and elimination of the whole leadership and the Iraqi army. And later used Iraq's human rights record, its never found arsenal of WMD, to dehumanize the entire population of Iraq and its leadership, while other neighboring countries such as Israel, Saudi Arabia and others had worse profiles and arsenals, and continue to attack and aggress barbarically their own people and their neighbors, while still enjoying a total exemption from any type of condemnation or even simple scrutiny .

Does it all remind us of a deja vu and lived situation that is repeating itself nowadays, almost to the letter in every detail. The Bush entire top oligarchy and administration tried and succeeded in scaring Americans and the world, that Saddam Hussein was only a short time away from having his WMD and nuclear bombs, thus threatening America itself, Europe and his neighbors, all later proven false .

Exactly and to the letter what is being staged in our actual times with Iran and its vassals. Neocons, war machine lobbyists, and others of our never questioned allies lobbyists, didn't learn any lesson of our failure in Iraq, our losses of thousands upon thousands of men and women in uniform, and trillions upon trillions of tax payer's money. What is even more enerving is the fact that the American population or at least some major segments of it are totally taken by the new Israelo/Saudi/Trumpian scheme, repeating verbatim the events of 2002, in Iraq and elsewhere .

The problem with the Trump decision, is not only that he pulled out of a deal that was working, according to everyone except Netanyahu, but having no better alternative or any other realistic policy to replace the existing deal . 

Makers and sellers of different types of missiles, grades of weapons and munitions, bombs and carriers, they never tire from new war games and aggressions, from destructions and invasions, from brutality and death . It's becoming the backbone of many economies, America, Israel and Russia are only few examples from many .

Let's not engage our young boys and girls in a new adventurous and bloody war, for the sake of Mr. Netanyahu, Mr. Trump or a Mr. Bolton, or their oligarchies. Nelson Mandela once said ;"May your Choices reflect your hopes not your fears" Why do we insist on sending our kids to sacrifice their lives for special interests, and later wish they rest in peace, why don't we try to live in peace too .....

My many thanks to all .