Is this level of brutality what should occur in respect to the death of Jamal Khashoggi?

As the death and dissolving of Jamal Khashoggi's body was revealed to the family and public it is safe to say people recoiled at the brutality. I am not inferring there should be forgiveness for this death, what I am saying is does the civilized world want Saudi Arabia to continue to practice these brutal killings?

In the USA, the people demand a humane death process in the name of justice. There are many that do not believe in the death sentence. Does a truly civilized country uphold life by deliberately avoiding the death sentence? There are countries in this world that view the death sentence as a form of uncivilized brutality. But, this is not about advocating for the global end of the death sentence, this is about what should be conducted for justice in the death of an endeared Washington Post journalist and man interested in the future of Saudi Arabia.

I doubt that dialogue by Jamal Khashoggi exists anywhere. No one images being murdered and what they would want for a sentence for their murderers. I think this is such a public death with intimate knowledge of the killing that the people within the profession of journalism in consultation with the family and the former fiancee' of Jamal Khashoggi should consider what is called justice.

Should the public turn a blind eye to a death sentence by beheading or does the public demand a humane change in Saudi Arabian law that carries out a death sentence that is far less brutal? I can't answer that question. I am not a fiancee', a son, a friend or a close peer to this wonderfully brave man who's sword was a newspaper. My purpose is to reflect on the moment and bring thought to actions.

16 November 2018

Saudi Arabia's public prosecutor (click here) has released the findings of a long-awaited investigation of the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, saying that a team of Saudi agents who had been dispatched to Istanbul with orders to bring him home alive had instead killed the journalist and dismembered his body.

Saudi Arabia's crown prince had no knowledge of the operation, Shaalan al-Shaalan, a spokesman for the prosecutor, said at a news conference in Riyadh, the Saudi capital.

He said that 11 suspects had been indicted and that authorities were seeking the death penalty for five of them. None of the suspects were named.

Executions in Saudi Arabia are usually carried out publicly by beheading with a sword.

The order to kill Khashoggi, who had criticised the Saudi monarchy over the past year, had come from one of the leaders of the Saudi team in Istanbul, Shaalan said.

Prosecutor Saud al-Mojeb's conclusion - that the killing was authorised by relatively low-level officials who disobeyed orders and acted on the fly - contradicted assertions by Turkish investigators, who have said it was a meticulously planned affair, with elaborate preparations to cover up the crime that included the scouting of locations where Khashoggi's body could be disposed of in secret.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the slaying was premeditated and that the orders had come from "the highest levels of the Saudi government," without specifying exactly who was responsible....

16 November 2018

North Korea's leader Kim Jong-Un (click here) guided the test of a newly-developed high-tech strategic weapon, according to reports by South Korea news agency Yonhap.

North Korea's Korea Central Broadcasting Station (KCBS) said the weapon was "researched and developed for a long time", and that the test was successful, Yonhap reported.

It didn't specify what kind of weapon had been tested or when Kim's visit took place,

This was North Korea's first public announcement of continued military advancement since a diplomatic process with the U.S. and South Korea began earlier this year, Wall St Journal reported.

The report of the weapon testing comes amid uncertainty about a nearly year-long diplomatic process that began earlier this year.

This was the North Korean leader's first reported trip to a weapons facility since he declared in April that the country's nuclear and missile program were complete and that he was shifting the country's focus entirely to economic development.

The peace process between the two Koreas is moving forward with a demolition by South Korea of a guard post. The demolition was agreed upon the end of October. There are eleven in total to be demolished.

It seems South Korea needs to reassess it's position with this continuing unification process if there is a new mass destruction weapon of war developed by North Korea. South Korea is hesitant to engage in the joint industrial zone (click here).

November 16, 2018

South Korea has blown up (click here for video) one of its frontline guard posts on the border with North Korea, sending plumes of thick, black smoke into the sky in the most dramatic scene to date in the rivals' efforts to reduce tensions that sparked last year's fears of war.

Last week, the two Koreas finished withdrawing troops and firearms from some of the guard posts along their border before dismantling them.

The steps are part of agreements signed in September during a meeting between their leaders in Pyongyang, North Korea's capital.

On Thursday, South Korea's military invited a group of journalists to watch the destruction of a guard post with dynamite in the central border area of Cheorwon....

This is the peace agreement I remember which included denuclearization by North Korea. South Korea doesn't have nuclear weapons. Kim Jong Un promised he would go forward with denuclearization and nothing short of it.

The Former Governor that decided to put his know how to work. Thank you, Ahhhnold.

November 9, 2018
By Edward-Isaac Dovere

"Voters in Colorado, Michigan, Missouri, and Utah (click here) Endorse Independent Redistricting with Big Implications for the Next Round of Redistricting"

Arnold Schwarzenegger (click here) is preparing to travel to the future of the gerrymandering war.

Tuesday brought wins for independent redistricting commissions that Schwarzenegger backed in three of the four states where they were on the ballot—Michigan, Missouri, and Colorado, with Utah still counting, but also trending toward yes. Now the former California governor has begun planning a summit for advocates, donors, and the people behind some of the successful campaigns to brainstorm and build to more wins.

It will be held at the Schwarzenegger Institute at the University of Southern California. Plans are being made to bring the group together within the next few months.

With Tuesday’s ballot questions, now nearly one-third of House districts will be drawn through independent redistricting according to a new report by the Schwarzenegger Institute, by commission or other methods. Schwarzenegger’s goal is to get that number to half by the end of 2020, and he already has his eyes on Virginia, among other states.

“My biggest complaint is always when people say, ‘This is [what’s] wrong with politics.’ Now I say, ‘What do you do about it?’” Schwarzenegger said in an interview on Thursday. He compared the effort to some of his other passions. “We’re going to make a plan, and this is going to be a new family. It’s like the environmental family or the fitness family.”...

I think doing both is prudent.

I am not going to assume to speak for or against Bob Woodward. But, he has a point about focusing on what is going on with the White House. I would think he is an expert in the area.

If journalism is attacked in a manner that removes long established credentials that needs to be addressed. Before one can know what is going on with the White House, one has to have access. The people rely on the media to bring the facts, hopefully, facts.

I find the rally of news organizations to file briefs, regardless of any odd reasons assigned to participating media, with CNN's lawsuit impressive. I think CNN needed to have peers stand with them. CNN has taken incredible heat from the Trump White House and they are among the most factual of news media. They also are global and often first to report in other places in the world. CNN is a vital news agency and sincerely needed their peers through this difficult time.

Thank you.

And, thank you, Bob Woodward, for noticing and commenting.

Just to be clear, in the video, there is a reference to "I am a constitutionalist." I sincerely believe the right-wing extremists that only take their news from the president, define constitutionalist as WITHOUT ANY AMENDMENTS, including the first ten. I believe that is Trump's point of view as well. Then there is the Federalist Society where all the conservative judges come from that want to rewrite the USA Constitution. No one can hear statements about the Constitution without delving into what and who exactly is stating it and the deeper meaning of their statements.

In the year 2018, we are in a different world when nothing stated or written is taken for granted.

November 14, 2018
By David Moye

Bob Woodward (click here) is no fan of Donald Trump, but he’s not exactly supporting CNN’s lawsuit against the president, either.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist spoke out against the lawsuit Tuesday at the Global Financial Leadership Conference in Naples, Florida. Suing to restore CNN reporter Jim Acosta’s press credentials is just playing into the spotlight-loving president’s hands, he said.

“It’s actually a negative,” Woodward said, according to the Naples Daily News. “Trump would sit around and look at this and say, ‘This is great.’”

Woodward is not impressed with other media’s reportage of the president, either, saying “too many people for Trump or against Trump have become emotionally unhinged about this,” NBC News media reporter Dylan Byers reported via Twitter....

The recount was concluded in reasonable time and it worked.

Ron DeSantis - 49.6 percent (click here)

Andrew Gillum - 49.2 percent

No surprise and why the Republicans wanted to end the LEGAL and LEGITIMATE recount in a cloud of corruption, Miami-Dade and Broward went for Andrew Gillum.

According to my math, that is a difference of 33,691 votes in an election where 8,271,787 voters participated. That means there is a difference of 0.4 percent. The hand recount was just announced. That is an extremely close margin.

I am fairly confident the margin of error of the voting machines is higher than that. There absolutely was a margin of error with the computers used in Florida. They are outdated and malfunctioned while counting.

It looks like the Senate is going to receive a hand recount as well.

November 15, 2018

Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson (click here) trailed his Republican challenger, Florida Governor Rick Scott, by about 12,600 votes, or 0.15 percent of the more than 8 million ballots cast following an electronic recount. The razor-thin margin triggers a manual recount under state law.

Elections officials were expected to inspect by hand any ballots that were designated undervotes or overvotes, cases where the machine that reviewed the ballot concluded that a voter had skipped a contest or marked more than one selection.

If the voter's intentions are clear on review by a person, the ballot could be counted....

Es’hail-2 Mission (click here for Space-X website - thank you)

It is always interesting to watch Space-X's return to Earth. No ocean pollution. That, by the way, is becoming a focus of those studying Earth ocean heating. There is a lot of metal debris in the oceans as well as plastics. It is believed the metal and debris in the seas and oceans are actually contributing to their heating. The metal and debris retain the heat that is transferred to them differently than ocean water. The metal and debris encourage the upticks in heating by maintaining those temperatures differently.

So, thank you to Space-X for being a responsible citizen to Earth's oceans.

Liz Cheney is a typical Republican.

She hails to PACs and not much else, except, some wealthy individuals. (click here)

Not much new about Cheney, she also receives donations from Halliburton. We already know where her loyalties lie and it isn't with the protections from the Climate Crisis.

Calculated tweets are more the reality than an irrational man exerting his meanness to the world.

I found the words chosen by Trump less "knee-jerk" than calculated. Aren't those words used to describe him?

November 15, 2018

"The inner workings (click here) of the Mueller investigation are a total mess. They have found no collusion and have gone absolutely nuts. They are screaming and shouting at people, horribly threatening them to come up with the answers they want. They are a disgrace to our Nation and don’t..."

The inner workings of the White House are a total mess. They have found no collusion and have gone absolutely nuts. They are screaming and shouting at people (First Lady public tantrum), horribly threatening them to come up with answers they want. They are a disgrace to our Nationa and don't..."

It is a simple exercise, but, when employed proves more than interesting.

Let me state, I am not following Trump on Twitter. The entries followed by the mainstream media are the only ones found on this blog. Of those entries, the media is picking up as significant I believe the words are chosen from descriptions of himself on social media.

In other words, Trump is attempting to divert adverse character descriptions of himself onto others he chooses to demonize. Every one of those negative characteristics he makes of the Mueller Investigation is a descriptor of Trump and his White House within social media. You have to wonder what Sarah Sanders What's Her Name is doing all day. She assigns very little time to meet with the press. I think she also makes lists of current topics in social media and the verbiage assigned to Trump by social media.

Everyone wants to assign Trump's tweets to an uncontrollable man that is irrational. While that may be true, as exampled by the trip to Europe, I think his tweets are more strategic and chosen than anyone wants to admit.

There needs to be regulation of social media and it's access by hostile elements.

But, the leadership of Facebook needs to evaluate the idea of leaving the company.

November 15, 2018

By The Forward and Alyssa Fisher

When it came out last spring (click here) that the privacy of millions of Facebook users was compromised, the company’s chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg needed a plan to shift the anger — so she threw George Soros’s name into the mix.

The New York Times reported Wednesday that while Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg was apologizing for the social media giant’s tumbles — for the compromised data, for its involvement in the 2016 presidential election, for broadcasting propaganda — Sandberg sought damage control. That, the Times found, involved attempting to discredit Facebook’s protestors by linking them to liberal financier and philanthropist Soros, who is seen as a boogeyman to the far-right....

It seems to me there is a considerable effort to cause a divide with the new US House majority.

How realistic is it to replace Minority Speaker Nancy Pelosi from another Speakership? My point of view is that it is more realistic that other leadership positions should be filled with Speaker Hopefuls before leadership is handed off to a less experienced member of the US House.

Speaker of the House or Assembly. (click here)
Speaker Pro Tem.
Majority Leader.
Majority Caucus Chair.
Majority Whip.

I think caution is necessary for realizing the propaganda arms of Republicans have been instrumental in demonizing the ICONIC image of Nancy Pelosi. They have been so successful that votes for Minority Speaker Pelosi will be sought to further demonize those House members. That is ridiculous.

Every Democratic member of the Senate or House are autonomous in representing their constituency and vote for leadership to bring legislation and discussions to the floor of these vital federal authorities. I purpose there is a logical, stable and strong method to change in leadership and it is more like passing the batton than crashing through the door.

Qualifications are important, but, experience in leading these authoritative bodies are important as well. The new members of the US House Democratic Party need to be included in at least assistant leadership positions. There is no set and fast rule to any elected position in the US House, but, MEASURED movement into leadership positions, especially the Speaker position, is prudent. 

I might add, there is no guarantee the Republican propaganda arms' harassment will end with the ousting of Nancy Pelosi, as a point of contention for elections. There is no reason for others to open themselves to such harassment in the future. I remember about three elections or so ago, Nancy Pelosi was characterized as a blown up head over the US Capitol building. She stated her own election that year required large amounts of money because of those terrible and meaningless ads. Anyone taking the Speakers' office needs to be able to handle that reality as well as Nancy Pelosi does.

I also strongly believe much of the Republican propaganda arms are using age discrimination in the attacks against the current Minority Speaker. I strongly believe that is a well placed attack on the elderly to increase hate of the old and demise of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Those in the Democratic Party need to be careful in the arguments they choose when discrimination is the basis of their arguments or backing of such arguments.

Also, Nancy Pelosi represents and has first hand knowledge of a state in the USA where the Climate Crisis has devastated an entire town with deaths still being counted. I would hope to see an invitation by Governor Brown, even after leaving office, to the US House floor to address these vitally important issues.

The Democratic Party has a distinguished history of being the place where the aggrieved and minority find a political home. This election has proven to be the pride of that history. The diversity of the newly elected Democratic Party is a point of pride they can wear proudly as a promise to the future of all Americans.

So, with all that stated, I suggest the new US House Majority, taking it's place in January, make selections in leadership that carry the pride of the party forward for everyone in the USA to see. It is important there is harmony in the party. I don't believe there needs to be cookie cutter members and differences are all legal and important. The future is not set in stone and the younger generations see the future differently. That difference was important this election and the younger voter is vital to keep interest in voting.

To the most diverse, intelligent and dedicated to honesty class of US House members, I wish you well. There is plenty of work to do on all fronts.