Tuesday, November 20, 2018

The country is floundering.

Ever since Trump took the election, the country has been running aground. It isn't running like it did. That includes Wall Street. The glut of money and the lower tax rate is a waste, because if the customers aren't there to buy the merchandise what good does a low tax rate do any of them.

If the Middle Class isn't humming along, and it isn't, Washington can lower the tax rate all they want and it isn't going to make a darn bit of difference. Either the Middle Class has disposable income or it doesn't and it cannot support the country with their hard work while spending to purchase a higher quality of life.

The reality served up to the media today with the death of Jamal Khashoggi should have been expected. I mean we know this president fairly well by now. It should not have been a surprise. If it were me working for any American media service anywhere, I would expect a detailed report from the CIA in regard to the safety of countries where American media is dispatched by their main offices. Today, what is mandated is the cooperation of the intelligence agencies in securing the journalists stationed abroad.

Things aren't going well internationally. Trump continues to shine on Russia while the actual relationship is deteriorating at every turn. I don't know if the USA has many diplomats in Russia since the May 2018 expelling (click here). Other than the success of the South Korean President in moving toward with reunification, there isn't much optimism in the world. Even allies are disgusted with Trump, especially after the weekend WWI 100 year commemoration in France.

Since the death of Jamal Khashoggi and heinous handling of his body by Saudi Arabia, I am very worried about journalists globally, but, American journalists in particular. I hate the idea that some views of the world through the eyes of journalists that believe in freedom and love democracy, might close to the USA. I am afraid for the countries where leaders are mimicking the idea of "Fake News." Their interpretation of that is very dangerous and not just to the idea of democracy and freedom.

So, the leaders of the best news media of the USA need to decide about the importance of journalists abroad. 

The fact Trump is disinterested in putting Saudi Arabia on notice about this death is not a surprise to me. I think when the so called peace plan for Israel is revealed to the public and other countries involved in the so called peace plan the current status of Saudi Arabia will be clear. That is a dangerous precedent for freedom abroad and within the USA. How can a so called peace plan justify the death and heinous handling of Jamal Khashoggi, journalist at one of the most prestigious news media services in this country?

I strongly believe the President uses the Oval Office for his purposes and he will not accept the responsibility of the presidency based in reality. He speaks to people as an authority and it's laced with lies and false reality. Donald Trump decided today that the CIA was insignificant to his so called peace plan. Isn't the CIA supposed to be involved in securing a peace plan?

The USA is at a very precarious place. I think Trump is a self-serving traitor and lacks any sincere morality. Everyone in the USA has to measure their priorities, that is especially true in supporting freedom and democracy. There should be no doubt an intricate part of democracy is a strong press. Americans need to embrace the media that brings the truth to them and participate in the freedom that brings.
November 20, 2018
By Lauren Debter

The world’s richest man, Jeff Bezos, (click here) is giving nearly $100 million to address homelessness in America in what amounts to his biggest publicly-announced charitable donation yet.

On Tuesday, the Amazon founder ands CEO outlined his plans to give $97.5 million to two dozen nonprofits around the country that are providing services to the homeless. This is the first round of giving that Bezos will conduct as part of his Day One Fund, announced in September, in which he pledged $2 billion to help homeless families and create Montessori-inspired preschools. (Bezos himself attended a Montessori school.)

The nonprofits that will receive funding are located in places like San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Omaha, where they operate emergency and short-term shelters and also help families move into permanent housing. Each organization will receive $2.5 million or $5 million from the Day 1 Families Fund. The money will be used to help the organizations “expand the scope and impact of their efforts,” according to a statement.
“Congrats to the recipients—we know you’ll spend the money wisely and with heart,” wrote Bezos in a tweet....

"...ordered..."

When President Obama wanted to order anything, he and Vice President Biden walked to the local hamburger joint.

Corruption in The West's intelligence agency.

I understand that President Trump does not accept the CIA's conclusion regarding the death of a Washington Post journalist, Jamal Khashoggi. There are a lot of questions to ask about that, including, the fact Trump was instrumental in placing the Crowned Prince into his position of power. I want to know how much the Crowned Prince was mentored by the Trump family, including the President.

There is also another issue, Interpol. I don't see the USA cooperating with Interpol going forward. I don't see any funding heading the way of the agency Interpol going forward either.

This is outrageous. NATO will have to contain their information internally without sharing it with outside countries, including the obviously infiltrated Interpol. While on the subject, the USA has another lousy traitor from Alpha Bank in the justice department and I MIGHT ADD, he was placed there by Trump and his Republican puppet Senate.

Russia and China can have Interpol all to themselves. There needs to be a purging of the records ASAP.


November 18, 2018
By Adveith Nair

Maj. Gen. Alexander Prokopchuk

British officials expect Maj. Gen. Alexander Prokopchuk, (click here) a former major-general at the Russian Interior Ministry, to be elected as Interpol president as soon as Wednesday, The Times reported, without saying where it got the information.

The election would follow the resignation of former President Meng Hongwei, who is now being investigated by Chinese authorities under suspicion of accepting bribes and violating other state laws.

Meng’s election during a closed-door vote in 2016, seen as a coup for the Communist Party, was criticized by human rights groups who warned China might use the perch to facilitate the use of extrajudicial practice -- such as detention without charge....

Or, dissolving journalists in acid.

Recovery from PTSD has a path and it isn't accomplished alone.

Veterans with PTSD need their hotlines staffed with good listeners. BUT, they also need medication and therapy and not just group therapy to help them find their way out of the woods.

PTSD is at the very least debilitating and it is definitely deadly. PART of what is going on is a brain chemistry imbalance. Those deadly thoughts are all effected by brain chemistry. In order to diminish the deadly thoughts is to change the brain chemistry. The brain chemistry surrounding PTSD is NO ONE'S FAULT. It exists and it needs treatment and that treatment has no alternative.

Medication is frequently not enough. When brain chemistry shifts, the person may feel better, but, until their LIFE EXPERIENCE changes for the better their thoughts will be somewhat stuck. So, the person surviving PTSD needs to speak to a therapist one on one in order to move forward. Group therapy can be an added enhancement, however, identifying with the PTSD rather than the movement forward among group members is not where recovery lies. Recovery lies along the future and a better life.

Celebrations of birthdays, as well as religious holidays and traditional military holidays, are very important. Simple things that say "thank you" to veterans struggling with life can make a huge difference. Homelessness is not acceptable for any veteran. Homelessness is survival and locks them into their disorder. They need treatment and they need to be rescued from their past, especially if they are stuck in a thought pattern that doesn't SERVE THEM. That means removing drug addiction and alcoholism, which is a method of SELF-MEDICATING.

The recovery of veterans with PTSD is very complicated when one realizes what is going on with their mind. BUT, the American people are up to this and it is possible. Rescuing the men AND WOMEN suffering from PTSD is important and should not be shunned. Their lives are why the USA is and always has been the greatest country in the world. We have a debt to them and it doesn't stop at making sure they return to their families and lives at home. The debt to our military is a lifetime commitment and one the country needs to take seriously.

When a veteran is down on his luck there is usually a good reason and it simply is not acceptable.

Osama bin Laden and Pakistan

No one will ever convince me the Pakistan ISI never knew bin Laden was housed near the military academy. End of discussion.

This article is according to the Brookings Institute which relays the movements of Osama bin Laden after the USA entered Afghanistan.

...High value target number one, bin Laden, (click here) was surrounded by his family in the Abbottabad villa he was hiding in for six years. Three of his wives, eight of his children and five of his grandchildren were with him. According to the report, he fled Afghanistan’s Tora Bora in late 2001 and moved to the Pakistani city of Kohat, near Peshawar, where his family joined him. They had hidden in Karachi after 9/11, and then moved to the Swat Valley, where bin Laden met with Khalid Sheikh Muhammad (KSM), the tactical mastermind of the 9/11 plot, at least once. KSM was captured by CIA in Pakistan’s military capital Rawalpindi on March 1, 2003, inside a closed military zone, less than a mile from the Army General Headquarters. They had not told ISI they were looking for KSM when they staged the raid. The capture prompted bin Laden to move to Haripur for two years while a special hideout was built for him in Abbottabad. Other bin Laden family members joined him there over time....

No one in the ISI ever questioned the building of a brand new compound near a military institute?  Give me a break. The compound was destroyed by the Pakistani government after the bin Laden raid.

Now that I know Admiral McRaven organized the Seal mission, I apologize for the failure of an entire helicopter. The American people should provide foolproof equipment, especially when considering the lives on the line of some of the most valuable Americans in our military. As a country, our military hardware needs to do better and don't say "Oh, we manage just fine." There have been plenty of failures in the contracts with very wealthy CEOs of our military industrial complex.