What is being Hidden?

Something odd is happening. I have no idea what, but some odd thing is being hidden.
The news is weird. Nothing of import comes out. Just the same old thing, day after day, but there is an incredible tension in the air. Trump's legal woes, possible peace in Korea, the start of the mid-term elections are all issues, bit the fact that they are all that is talked about on the news is a sign that something else is afoot. The way that these issues are pushed and the entire rest of the World pushed aside means that something big is being buried.
Add to that the now steady stream of multiple shootings.  Here in N. Georgia we wake up each morning to tales of folks rinning amoj and shooting up homes, bars and the streets and I am given to understand that this is going in all over the Nation. The economy gas picked up, but still, people are working multiple jobs to get by and, face it, prices are rising.
The big news today is the we have moved our embassy is Israel to Jerusaem. Why do I care? This does not affect my life one iota. I am neither for or against it, but it is being hailed as the greatest diplomatic triumph since  the end of WW2..
Stage magicians perform their craft by misdirecting your attention. That is what is happening now.
So, what is happening? One of 2 things. The impending blow up of Kilauea is one possibility. It, now that it is more than just pretty streams of red rock flowing, is a possible alert to the fact that the Earth's crust is now very unsteady. Major earthquake and volcanic activity are not something anyone is ready to deal with and I am sure that Government agencies have some clue about  what is happening. But, they are conspicuously silent.
Another contender is the constant Mid-East problem. The populations of both Iran and Saudi Arabia are about fed up with their rulers and thise 2 significant powers are fighting proci wars in Syria and Yemen and, like idiots, the USA and Rissia gave taken sides and, of course, Israel is using all of this as an excuse to start lobbing missiles into Iran's bases in Syria. The whole region is set to blow and no one will win, Still, we hear little detail about this. Oh, we hear of minor victories and heart warming tales of heroism. but little of what is really going on
Other possibilities? Sure. We here few detailed reports about the wide spread and deplorable human trafficking problem. Fentanyl is being distributed in vast quantities and placed in a variety of goods, causing death to many who would not think if touching any drug. How about the ties of the NXIVM cult to those financing and participating in the highest level if politics and business in thus Nation. Don't hear news about any of that.
Folks, we are being played by the media and their puppet masters. Something huge is about to hit the fan. Be ready to duck.

The Syrian Question

Let's look at Syria. First, I trust we all agree that Assad is a despicable monster. Second, chemical weapons are horrible. Agreed? Okay.
Now, monster does not mean stupid. Every time a President wants to  pull out of Syria, we have one of the arracks.  Once is an aberration. Twice is coincidence. The third tine, we have a plot.
Now, chemicals in WW1, were very effective because that war was fought in trenches. Fired into a trench, a  shell released  gas, which settled and lingered. causing horrible suffering. The Syrian war is fought in open air. Gas dissipates  and, unless you are right where the shell hits, you likely will be okay. Scared, but okay. Chemical weapons are awful, but mostly as terror agents. All countries ban the, and all have them.
Now, we bomb chemical factories and claim we have crippled the Syrian chemical warfare program/ We should have learned from the 1st Gulf war that missiles are not as accurate as the military c laims. Do not believe Trump's claim of 100 out of 100 hits. Trust me, we hit civilians, those we claim to be protecting. Already. reports are out from reporters on the ground saying we hit very little  and fired few missiles Second, simple physics shows that if you blow up a gas plant, gas will be released, which sort of defeats the whole point.
The truth? Any person my age should get it because we all, mostly, had to read 1984. In Orwell's classic, Winston Smith is shown  that all the constant wars are meaningless, fought over a few feet of useless ground and fueled by lying propaganda.  The reasom? To keep the masses under control. The ultimate goal? None. Just for the sake of power.
Take a hard honest look at the World and that is what you see. A bunch of sick, criminally insane monsters fighting for power..
This is madness and must stop. The first step in solving a problem is recognizing it. Take a hard, hard look. Tomorrow, ISIS, who we definitely have not defeated..

America - Madness

We have become a Nation gone completely mad. Clinton, the failed candidate, seemed hell bent on starting a conflict with Russia. She was defeated. Now, we see Trump about to, yes, pick a fight with Russia. This came as a shock, nit only to me, but to the Pentagon. The big Generals seem to have been blindsided by out newest batch of threats against Assad. Assad is a monster, no doubt, and his use of chlorine gas is monstrous, but lets review some history.

Saddam Hussein used chemicals against the Iranians; we gave those weapons to him and scarcely uttered a condemning world when he used them. Thus, we have no room for any holier than thou attitudes.

Second, throughout our sorry excuse for a Presidental campaign, Trump repeatedly said that he had no interest in seeking regime change in any other Nation. Now, we are after Assad and Secretary of State Tillersin has saud that we need such change in Iran.

Throughout the last 100 years or so, we have set up the fall of several regimes. Without going over the whole long list again, let me point out that every single time it has been disastrous. We just don't seem to get it and thus, by definition, this is madness.

Worse still, anyone who can think knows that this is just a proxy war in Syria. We are fighting there as a way of fighting Iran and Russia without actually declaring war . We can fight without a lot of risk, is the thinking. The problem is, sooner or later, someone will get really pissed and then we have a massive problem. It is a really, really bad idea to play a nuclear game of chicken. No one wins.

America - Watch the Pea

I imagine most folks have seen the shell game. You know, the one where the con man put a pea under a walnut shell, flanked by 2 empty shells, shuffles them around and the poor idiot who bet with him has to pick the one with the pea under it. The con man always wins. Americans are being conned.

We are being urged to be concerned about wiretapping. Look, everyone spies on everyone. Every nation with any sort of power tries to influence other nations and everyone in any country's political system spies on every other politician. That is just the way things are and no amount of investigating is going to change a bit of it.

We are told that we should be vitally concerned about the Supreme Court Nominee's hearing. Why? It's a done deal. When Trump was elected, he got to make his pick and while you may not be happy about it, that is the way Government works, The Nominee is qualified and, thanks to he Democrat's own parliamentary manipulations, the work of Harry Reid, they cannot even filibuster the matter. Truth be told, with the exception of abortion rights and, maybe gay rights, their is little that the appointment is likely to change. Even in those cases, the issues will likely go back to the States, where they always belonged, and if you are not happy with your State, you have the right to move.

What is being hidden? Two things. First, real climate change. I do not believe humans are destroying the environment with fossil fuels, but we have done plenty of damage by dumping toxic wastes in an indiscriminant manner and by attempting to hide nuclear waste in old mines instead of spending the money to learn how to recycle fuel rods. I might also add our seeming obsession with growing useless grass by wasting vast amounts of good water. But. all that aside, the climate is changing, likely due to natural cycles of change. Geologist know that the climate just sometimes changes, radically and we are at one of those times. No need to panic, we can adapt, but not if we don't get busy. We don't get busy because a great deal if the problem is happening around coastal areas and there is no good solution except moving people out. But, they are important business and resort areas, so we don't want to do that. Atlantic City, NJ and Miami Beach, Fl are subjected to regular flooding these days, but we don't want to deal with it.

The other issue being hidden is the fact that the World has seemingly gone quite insane. Russia is now saying that, if confronted by a threatening conventional army, it would consider using nukes to 'de-escalate' the crisis. This would be like putting a fox in a henhouse to de-escalate a squabble between 2 chickens and it is madness. But, there is more. Israel is now flying bombing raids and lobbing missiles in Syria. The pretext is to prevent arms shipments to Lebanon; the reality is to put pressure on Iran to stay out of Syria, Iran is going to do no such thing, so the tension will rise. Add to this China's reluctance to rein in the fat Korean kid (or maybe they just can't do it) and war of some sort is becoming a real possibility. US officials don't want you thinking about this because they would have to admit that they cannot do much about any of this. Contrary to what we have been taught, we do not rule the World.

So don't sweat all of these Senate investigations. Don't get yourself in an uproar over the Health Care bill (yeah, it's bad deal. Don't fret, it won't pass). Relax, enjoy your time while you can because it is going to get rough soon.

America - The Fun is Just Getting Started

This is getting to be fun. Over the weekend, our President stunned the Swedish people when he spoke of their recent terrorist event. There wasn't one. True, violent crime has increased in that frozen country, but no bombs, no shootings, not even a knife attack.

We seem to have an ever expanding list of potential National Security Advisors, now that Flynn has left. We still are short a few Cabinet members. Somewhere, at someone's hands, sensitive documents are being leaked. The Russians are dominating discussions. And the fat Korean kid is growing a wee bit more dangerous every day.

The Iranians are paying zero attention to our demands that they stop testing missiles. Syria is a complete disaster and Iraq is not far behind. Afghanistan is a mystery; we seem to no longer have any say in the events there, yet we still have troops present.

We have an unthinkable opiate addiction problem yet, the Afghani government, who are supposed to be at least somewhat friendly, is doing nothing to stop the growing of poppies. I guess that money beats morality. If we want to keep the heroin out, and we have troops and equipment in place, why have we not simply burned those fields. Again, I guess money wins no matter which side you're on.

More time is being wasted on various immigration orders when, in early summer, the Supreme Court is already set to rule on cases brought during Obama's term and these will say what will and won't happen.

Today, I saw a feature on folks perusing literature with an eye on banning offensive works. They are not just talking about pornography. Remember, there have long been those wanting to ban anything not politically correct. Read Ray Bradbury's masterpiece, Fahrenheit 451. In the meantime, I guess I should hide my copies of Huckleberry Finn and Heart of Darkness, after all, they contain the dreaded 'n' word.

We have vast amounts of hard drugs pouring into the Nation by way of Mexico. We have an infrastructure that is collapsing (look at the California dam issue and the massive sinkholes in LA). We have a complete lunatic in Korea merrily building nukes and testing missiles and a barely saner group in Iran doing the same (remember, that branch of Islam is obsessed with their version of the Apocalypse. We have a President who cannot keep his foot out of his mouth and an opposition party who would attack Jesus if he returned and wasn't a Democrat.

Trump is saying that the White House has never run smoother. If you believe that, I want to again remind you that I am the only licensed realtor handling those Moon colonies Newt Gingrich wants to build.

You might as well laugh at the whole idiotic mess.

America - Merry Christmas

We have truck terrorism in Germany, a plane hijacking in Malta. a shooting in Switzerland, an assassination in Turkey. Russia is modernizing its nukes and Trump is insisting we do the same. Clinton supporters are still whining and a few are trying to impeach Trump before he takes office.

China is kvetching about The Donald. Obama is blaming the news media for his woes. Syria has basically been demolished, and Iraq is still fighting. ISIS  is calling for the Holiday bombings of Churches. Indonesia, Germany and Australia have just arrested several suspected terrorists and the Tampa, Fl. police have busted a guy in the process of building a bunch of bombs.

Heroin is rampant and the NY cops just busted some folks with 250 pounds of psychedelic mushrooms.  No one has a clue what we are going to do economically and Congress is ready to go after most of the Cabinet appointees, when they're not busy investigating the ubiquitous Clinton emails.

My solution? For the next few days, forget the whole mess. There is not one thing you can do about any of it. Sit back and enjoy the Holidays.

Merry Christmas to one and all, and have a Happy, prosperous New Year.

Is Paris Burning - Part 3

9/11 changed everything, but we need to remember its roots. Step back to the days of the Carter White House when the Soviet Union did something that I still don't understand, they invaded Afghanistan. The reason I always have heard is that they wished to build and control an oil pipeline across that poor country. That would make sense except that Russia has fine ports on the Black Sea and can move all the oil it wants through there. But, whether it makes sense or not, they did it. We, of course were upset, but we had no intention of starting WW3 over this so we used an old tactic. We got another group to do our fighting.

Our CIA began financing and training the Afghani Mujahedeen, which later became known as the Taliban. However, they were woefully outmanned so we got them help. Remember earlier, I mentioned Egypt's Moslem Brotherhood. After WW2, we took over the Nazi intelligence network. This is not 'conspiracy theory,' our government acknowledges this. They hated us and we hated them, but that never stopped groups from working together, so we armed and trained them and sent them to Afghanistan. One particular recruit stood out, a Saudi named Osama ben Lauden. We did get them to change their name, since the Moslem Brotherhood was not much loved. They became al-Qaida. They did the impossible, they fought and finally ousted the Soviet troops. We were thrilled with this and offered to help modernize that backward country. They said, no thanks and told us to leave and told us that while we were at it, we should just get out of every Islamic nation. It seems that while they love some modern appliances, they want to keep their people's minds back in the 10th century. We, of course disagreed and here is where things got really weird.

Kuwait owed Sadam money and Iraq was broke, so he decided to use force to get his cash, not a surprising tactic for a thug. Bush 1, himself a CIA man, invaded, showed the world our muscle, and left. I think that was the only point, a display of power. At least he then pulled out, but the damage was done.

In the meantime, Israel was still fighting with the Palestinians, Iran began working on its nuclear program, and throughout the rest of the Islamic world, leaders still lived high and seemed to delight in brutalizing their people. Libya funded some terrorist activities, as did the Saudis and the UAE. Then, while Clinton was in office, a plot to bomb the World Trade Towers was foiled. Of course the would be bombers were Islamic and tensions just kept climbing. Then, shortly after Bush 2 took over, the planes hit the Twin Towers.

We likely will never know exactly what happened on that day, but no one in their right mind buys the official story. We know that a lot of good intelligence was ignored, or at least down played. Some suggest that there was more going than this obvious incompetence. Were there US Government officials involved in this attack? I don't think so, not in the way most think of the government, but we have long known that there are people who function in a shadow world behind the Government and they believe that the ends justify the means. They will advance their agenda at any cost and they seem to be able to stop the overt government from exposing them, probably through bribes, blackmail and just plain threats. Remember, and these are things we know, not suspicions, that certain elements in the CIA ran heroin from SE Asia to fund Cuban exiles opposing Castro and we know Ollie North and his merry band flew mountains of cocaine into Mena, Arkansas to fund the Contras in Nicaragua. We also know that, in violation of International Treaties, these same folks have sponsored coups and carried out assassination's in countries such as Guatemala, the Congo, and Chile. I am not saying that all of the CIA or all of Military Intelligence are involved in black ops, but there is a certain rogue faction.

However, because we just don't know enough, let's pretend to believe the official story of 9/11.  Responsibility was claimed by al-Qaida. After a brief period of negotiation with the Taliban, who turned down our request for them to turn over ben Lauden, we invaded, and have been there ever since. We are still fighting against a determined group of Afghanis, forgetting how much these folks love to fight. So far, we have gained only one thing, cheap heroin.

When the Taliban threw out the Soviets, they destroyed the poppy fields, wanting nothing to do with the heroin trade. When we invaded, they replanted, understandable since they had to fund the fight somehow. At the same time, drug manufacturers in this country began pushing a new pain killer, OxyContin, saying that is was nor only effective, it had almost no risk of addiction. They knew that was nonsense since, in fact, it was an old drug, invented by the Germans in the 30s. It was then called Eukodol and it was known to be horribly addictive. Oddly enough, when the cheap heroin started hitting American streets, doctors suddenly realized that Oxy was awful and cut way back on prescriptions, leaving a lot of strung out citizens hunting relief. Well, there it was cheap, easily available heroin and it is a seldom mentioned, but extremely serious problem. Junkies are no longer ghetto dwellers and old hippies, Grandma and Grandpa and suburban parents are often strung out and, again, this nightmare is pretty much ignored by our news media.

At about the same time, we blamed Sadam for the attacks. This must have surprised him, since he hated ben Lauden. We also swore that he had the infamous weapons-of-mass-destruction. Setting aside the fact that we gave him those weapons, we knew that he had used up his supply in the attacks on the Iranians and the Kurds. He allowed UN inspectors in, they said that there were no such weapons present. Bush 2 said that he just didn't believe that and in we went. We seemed to have won until a strange thing happened. Our old buddies al-Qaida set up shop in Iraq and started a seemingly endless string of bombings. We finally were asked by the Iraqi government to leave and we did, sort of, and it seemed that maybe things would die down.

Across the Islamic world, things were not calm. In Africa, Boko Haram reared its head. However, this area has seen so much horrific tribal conflict, that their activities probably seemed like business as usual, and, to be blunt, Americans are not much concerned with Africa. Arab countries, oddly, all seemed to, at the same time, rose up and threw out old dictators. I am sure al-Qaida had a large hand in this, and the people were successful. However, they had not thought past revolution and these countries are all now chaotic messes. The Saudis and the UAE have held on by continuing to brutalize their population and Iran, while beset with internal conflict, has kept a lid on their simmering citizens. In Syria, however, Assad has hung tough. And then, up popped the Devil.

While al-Qaida still was effective in pulling off small actions, it was fading a bit. Since their glory days of 9/11, the Madrid train bombings and the London attacks, they had done nothing spectacular. The came ISIL, a fresh, young and, to give the Devil his due, very effective group of brutal psychopaths. They know how to use social media to recruit, how to rapidly train and deploy those recruits and they can really make videos that appeal to budding, murderous creeps. They have taken large chunks of Iraq, even larger chunks of Syria and have extended their reach into Europe. This brings us up to the current attack on Paris.

There are those who say that we control al-Qaida and ISIL, that this is all a set up by US intelligence to justify military action and foment terror in the land. I don't believe this. For sure, we created al-Qaida, just as Victor Frankenstein created his monster. Like the doctor, we have lost control of our monster, don't know how to kill it, and it wants to kill its creator. There may be, in fact it is likely that, there are a few deep black ops people who have a hand in this, but I don't think you can lay this madness at the feet of the CIA or Military Intelligence. You can however deplore their lack of any ability to get a grip on this nightmare.

We are learning that ISIL has operatives in much of the Middle East, Europe, and SW Asia. They are responsible for bringing down a Russian airliner, and there is no doubt that they are recruiting in the lands south of Russia, countries like Chechnya, where there is long standing animosity toward the Russians. There is also no doubt that they are in America and that they are coming after us.

In the next part, we will look at the deep reasons why all of this mess has gone on so long and why it keeps getting worse, but I have to make one comment first. If you look around the Internet, you will see the term 'false flag' tossed around. This means that the event in question was phony, that it was just a sham to scare people, or that the accusing party actually did the deed and is framing the other group. Do not fall for that. These attacks are real, people were slaughtered. Are there phony events? Occasionally, sure, but rarely, because if they are ever exposed, the parties responsible lose the power to shock and remember, this is all about power. Besides, it is easier to let a bunch of psychos carry out a real attack than it is to stage a fake, especially when you have no qualms about letting a bunch of folks get killed. Plus, there are plenty of murderous lunatics ready to kill.

Is Paris Burning? Part 2

Before I continue with history, I must comment on the Presidential news conference I just saw. The definition of insanity, someone once said, is to continue doing the same thing and expect different results. Yet, that is Obama's plan. I will return to this lunacy later.

After WW2, Israel was created out of Palestine and the seeds of our current series of disasters were sown. To keep things brief, just know that wars were fought with their neighbors and refugees flooded Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan. The Palestinians who did not leave were finally shoved into tiny areas and Israel has been squeezing them tighter and tighter ever since. The Palestinians live in a desperate, near hopeless situation and do what most any of us would do, they fight. There have been countless uprisings, each doomed before it started. This did, however prompt the formation of the PLO, and thus began the rise of terrorist organizations. The PLO has since given way to Hezbollah and the madness continues.

After continuous squabbling, Israel and Egypt reached an understanding and very quickly the 2 leaders who signed the treaty were shot. The Palestinians in Lebanon kept attacking Israel and, while unsuccessful, did manage to form a party, Hamas, which took  over the Lebanese government in reasonably free elections and The US has been upset about that ever since.

We have been upset before. At one time, Iran was led by a monster, the Shah. He was deposed and, again in fair elections, Iran chose a leader,  Mosaddegh. He demanded better pay from England for Iranian oil and when told no, nationalized their oil. This did not sit well with the US or Britain, so we called him a Communist and British intelligence, with the CIA, organized a coup, ousted him and put back the Shah. We didn't count on the stubbornness of the Iranians however and they again ousted the Shah and brought in the Ayatollah Khomeini, threw all Westerners out and have been a mortal enemy ever since.

We did get our way in Iraq, a state created when we broke up the Ottoman state after WW!. After a series of useless monarchs, we got our boy, Sadam Hussein, in power, and he did his job. He went to war with Iran. He didn't win, nor did he lose. The war just sort of petered out, but not before he used the chemical weapons we gave him on the Iranians killing 1000s. Just for good measure, he used them on some of his own people, the troublesome Kurds. By the way, we have admitted we gave these weapons to him, a violation of several International treaties, not to mention all standards of human decency.

As to the rest of the Middle East, things sort of drifted along. Jordan tried to be neutral, Syria's own monster, Assad, played both sides. Saudi Arabia , whose leaders had at least had sense enough to keep control of their own oil, grew rich and fat, and in support of their radically conservative Wahabbist beliefs, poured fortunes into various terrorist groups.

Of course, Libya had as its leader, one of the world's true lunatics, Moammar Gadhafi, who also supported terrorism. Yemen was little known and under the thumb of, yes, another brutal dictator. Qatar was of no importance, neither was Morocco and Algeria ( they seemingly had used all of their energy throwing the French out). The UAE, like Saudi Arabia, grew rich on oil and stayed quiet. Yes, they too have a brutally repressive regime. However, they do build awesome resorts. There has always been a Moslem presence in Africa and, slowly, it gained more and more power.

Further East, we have Afghanistan and Pakistan. Pakistan, since it was created as a place for Moslems to go when India gained independence from India, has spent most of its existence quarreling with the Hindus and oppressing its own people. In this case, that oppression may have been a good idea because their people are very hostile tribesmen who just love fighting, as do their brothers in Afghanistan. This is understandable since there isn't much to do in either country. They are so strictly Islamic that they are forbidden almost anything created after the Stone Age. Those lands are barren stretches of rock, mountains and sand and are worthless, unless you are a goat herder. Well, actually not worthless. Afghanistan, at one time, produced some very fine hashish. I have no idea if they still do that, but they definitely have one other domestic product, opium, and this, we will see in the next installment, is one of the keys to the present problems.

Thus you have a thumbnail sketch of the events leading up to our current environment of terror. Next stop, 9/11 and after.