Month: April 2017

Booman recently posted a sort of short non-post apology about not posting recently because he was busy writing for non-blog media.

In it he asked:

Anything interesting going on?

Several of the initial responses used the term “kayfabe.” Now…I’m usually conversant with street terms, but this one was totally foreign to me. Hadn’t heard it or read it. So I looked it up. It’s associated with fake events like WWE wrestling…the necessary suspension of disbelief that willing audiences perform when they are paying to be fooled and know it — casinos, WWE, carny games and the like. Of course…there is some percentage of the population that is simply too stupid to understand that they are being taken for a ride, but not large enough to be a working majority and usually too poor to be good for much profit, either.

But the more I though about it, the better the concept seemed as a picture of what has progessively happened to the U.S since the assassination years. Most people were totally taken in by the Lee Harvey Oswald bullshit the CIA spouted, but over the past 50+ years fewer and fewer people actually believe much of anything that the PermaGov newsmedia spouts. I remember realizing this quite clearly while hanging out with several tough, working class white guys in Maine over 20 years ago. They had no use for any newsmedia. “All lyin’, all the time” one of them said. They were perfect candidates for the “deplorable” class as far as people like HRC would have been able to see, but they were far from “deplorable.” They were way ahead of the wave. So many people just make believe that they believe the news in order to continue with their lives. They even fool themselves, sometimes.

Many of them.

The result?

Kayfabe nation!!!

Whadda concept!!!

KayFabe preznit and all!!!

Read on for my response to Booman’s request.
Anything “interesting” going on!!!???

Whaddayou, kiddin’ me or what, Booman?

We are in the middle of the height of the kayfabe era!!!

Like our recent “Peace President” and his various violences.

Like Bill Clinton saying “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.”

And not getting called on it.

       Yup. Guess so, Myrna…yaaawn…

Like Bush II sitting there with his Pet Goat book as the Twin Towers burned.

                 What? Who, me!!!??? Naaaaahhh…

Like Lee Harvey Oswald being killed by a low-level mafia sex bar owner.

Like Sirhan Sirhan not being able to remember what he had done or even if he had actually done it.

And thousands more pieces of publicly…and largely consciously on some level…swallowed bullshit.

What?

You think it started with Trump?

It started out in a way that most people did believe. After all…it was “The News,” right?

Riiiiiiiiiight…

And then it escalated.

It escalated so far that almost an entire generation of our best and brightest youth rebelled.

And eventually got their asses handed to them for their trouble.

And then came the yuppies.

The beginning of of the real “kayfabe.”

They knew it was all bullshit. They just made believe they didn’t in order to get over.

If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em!!!

And now?

Now almost the entire corporate-owned government is kayfabe.

Everybody knows it’s not really working…certainly not in the way it says it’s working. People are just going along to get along.

Now we even have a Gordon Gekko wannabe as our president.

               The kayfabe (starts)…errr, ahhh, I mean stops…here!!!

Nice work, America.

Nice work.

Going to war with North Korea?

Bombing Syria?

Deporting millions in the name of “security?”

Oh.

Okay.

Fabulous!!!

YUUUUUGE!!!

Whatever…

The real America, circa 2017?

Okay. Fabulous, even!!!

The contraction?

Kayfabe.

The United States of KayFabia.

                                                U.S.K.!!!

                                                 U.S.K.!!!

                                         U.S.K.K.K.K.K.!!!

Get used to it.

or…

Do something about it. Something other than supporting the DemoKayFabeatic Party, that is.

Please!!!

AG

Last year wasn’t my best for predictions. I understood when the primary contest was over before many others who harbored unrealistic hopes, but that’s not really a prediction. It’s just knowing something. Of course, with no help from the polls, I didn’t see Trump winning.

One thing I predicted though was that Paul Ryan would not last long, especially working with a Trump presidency. I think I was right, but we’ll have to see how he comes out of the next week.

If he survives it, he may be weakened enough that the next gale will take him out. For example, the debt ceiling debate at the end of the summer…

I’m busy this week writing something that isn’t intended for any blog. I apologize for the interruption.

Anything interesting going on?

South Korea is in a political crisis after the recent impeachment of president Park Geun-hye …

China warns DPRK another weapons test would take relations beyond ‘point of no return’ | The Independent |

North Korea [DPRK] has been warned not to go past the “point of no return” with another nuclear test by China, as the US and South Korea carry out high-profile military exercises.

An editorial in the Global Times, regarded as a mouthpiece for the ruling Communist Party, said Beijing was hoping for a peaceful outcome but had “very limited influence on the entire situation”.

“The game of chicken between Washington and Pyongyang has come to a breaking point,” it added, saying that if North Korea followed through on vows to carry out a sixth nuclear test, “it is more likely than ever that the situation will cross the point of no return.

…
As North Korea’s chief source of trade, food and fuel aid, Beijing has come under increasing pressure to use its influence to dissuade Kim Jong-un from continuing weapons development that has generated international alarm.

But the Chinese government is wary of any measures that could threaten the North Korean regime’s existence, and provoke a potential nuclear war or a new government in Pyongyang beholden to Washington and Seoul.

A spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, Lu Kang, said diplomatic channels remained “smooth [with] normal exchanges,” amid fears of a new test to coincide with the 85th anniversary of the Korean People’s Army. He added:

“The current situation on the Korean Peninsula is complicated and sensitive and the tension is high. We urge all sides concerned to keep restrained and calm and refrain from taking actions that could escalate tensions.”

 « click for more info
2017 Military Parade was a big deal, here are the major takeaways. (The Diplomat)

North Korea is reportedly engaged in a large-scale live-fire artillery exercise, in what is apparently intended to signal to a hostile United States that Pyongyang is combat-ready.

North Korea conducting live-fire drill amid tensions with US

South Korea: Protesters Clash With Police As US Installs THAAD Missile System

Clashes with local villagers, who have been protesting against THAAD deployment for months, erupted when six trailers carrying the radar and other hardware equipment for the American missile defense system entered the installation site at the golf course in South Korea, Yonhap reports.

Scuffles erupted when police tried to stop some 200 residents at the entrance to the golf course. Police had to mobilize additional forces to control some 8,000 people in the area and the traffic on the provincial roads leading to the Seongju Golf Course.

THAAD Deployment in South Korea

The U.S. has been proposing the deployment of THAAD in the Korean Peninsula since 2014, but it was only in early February 2016 that official discussions started. This was largely a result of North Korea’s fourth nuclear test that was conducted in January 2016. After a series of consultations, the decision to deploy THAAD was made public by the Park Geun-hye administration on July 7th, 2016. The decision was seemingly made overnight and did not go through a ratification process which is required for treaties that would “significantly transform the security environment of South Korea.”

South Korea’s impeached president Park Geun-hye – SC unanimous decision

More below the fold …

Global Times warns of Beijing ‘taking revenge’ if Trump ditches one-China policy | SCMP – Jan. 2017 |

“Sticking to (the one China) principle is not a capricious request by China upon U.S. presidents, but an obligation of U.S. presidents to maintain China-U.S. relations and respect the existing order of the Asia-Pacific,” said the Global Times editorial.

The influential tabloid is published by the ruling Communist Party’s official People’s Daily. Trump triggered protests from Beijing last month by accepting a congratulatory telephone call from Tsai and questioning Washington’s commitment to China’s position that Taiwan is part of one China. “If Trump reneges on the one-China policy after taking office, the Chinese people will demand the government to take revenge. There is no room for bargaining,” said the Global Times.

China says can resolve trade disputes with new US government

China and the United States can resolve any trade disputes through talks, the government said on Thursday, as a Chinese newspaper warned U.S. business could be targets for retaliation in any trade war ushered in by President-elect Donald Trump.

Trump has criticised China’s trade practices and threatened to impose punitive tariffs on Chinese imports. Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross, Trump’s choice for commerce secretary, voiced sharp criticism of China’s trade practices, telling senators he would seek new ways of combating them.

Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman Sun Jiwen said the government was willing to work with the new U.S. administration to promote the healthy development of commercial ties.

Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Path to Free Trade w/o the U.S.

○ White House readies order to quit NAFTA: administration official

○ Trump to renegotiate NAFTA with Canada, Mexico after considering withdrawal | DW – Apr. 27, 2017 |

How…convenient!!!

As I recently stated said in another post here, I refuse to pay more than one national media site to lie to me on a daily basis, and since I live in NYC I choose the Lying Grey Lady, a.k.a. the New York Times. But…I regularly go to Google News to get the lowdown on the latest centrist lines, and I often click on WAPO headlines out of either curiosity and/or sheer hurry.

What I have noticed quite consistently since the birth of the whole RussiaGate thing is that whenever the PermaGov is ready to push the next load of junk on the American people, as soon as that new load is about to be dumped the WAPO paywall magically disappears for that particular set of articles.

Hmmmm…

Time for the PermOctopus to start dropping new shoes, I guess. Trump’s Macho Mad Bomber spike is sliding backwards again as false news-exhausted Americans start yawning, yearning for some more excitement to take their minds off of the awful reality regarding the way things stand here today.

New news cycles, new bullshit on every side.

Yay!!!

WAPO, 4/25/17:

Flynn probably broke the law by failing to disclose foreign payments, House Oversight leaders say

Former national security adviser Michael Flynn probably broke the law by failing to disclose foreign income he earned from Russia and Turkey, the heads of the House Oversight Committee said Tuesday.
[Flynn did not initially reveal income from Russia-related entities in financial disclosure]
Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and the panel’s ranking Democrat, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), said they believe Flynn neither received permission nor fully disclosed income he earned for a speaking engagement in Russia and lobbying activities on behalf of Turkey when he applied to reinstate his security clearance. They reached this conclusion after viewing two classified memos and a financial disclosure form in a private briefing Tuesday morning.

“Personally I see no evidence or no data to support the notion that General Flynn complied with the law,” Chaffetz told reporters after the briefing.

Said Cummings: “He was supposed to get permission, he was supposed to report it, and he didn’t. This is a major problem.”

–snip–

Kindly notice…those of you who still aren’t wise to the PermaGame…that both parties (!!!) are again in total agreement here.

Quel surprise!!!

Not much more to say…”Drip, drip, drip” from the PermaGov vs. “Smack, bam, blam!!!” from the Trump forces.

Which one will win?

Is there a real “winning” side from either of the competitors in this lying, murderous charade?

i don’t think so, myself.

If anything “wins,” it will be that portion of the American public that becomes disenchanted with the constant bullshit from both sides.

The “Wake the fuck up!!!” folks.

Let us pray that said portion grows rapidly.

2018?

2020?

THROW THE BUMS OUT!!!

Let us pray.

AG

Julian Borger, The Guadian: Trump Summons Entire Senate to White House Briefing

Senators are to be briefed by the defence secretary, James Mattis, and Tillerson on Wednesday. Such briefings for the entire senate are not unprecedented but it is very rare for them to take place in the White House, which does not have large secure facilities for such classified sessions as Congress.

Officials said the briefing would take place in the auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, which can be adapted for such an event.

Boy-oh do the questions roll out.

Why just the Senate?  What does Trump see as their role in his North Korea policy and actions?

The symbolism of being commanded to come to the President’s support is all over McConnell’s and Trump’s maneuver here.  But we should have expected that, right?

One carrier group in the area and not completely positioned yet is less than most analysts think required to actually conduct military action.  So, this has the air of a relaxed pitch for support, right?  Except for the strange venue.

The state department appeared unaware on Monday that Tillerson would be delivering the briefing.

Mattis will also be briefing the Senators.

Other questions:

Can this auditorium be fitted out as situation room for Senators to watch a fait accompli?

We know Trump’s preference for show-and-tell setting the framework of discussions.  The Chinese leader enjoyed his Mar a Lago meal while 59 cruise missiles created an object lesson (drama, drama) for him to talk to North Korea.

Why the long section of atta-boys to Xi Jinping in Borger’s article?

In recent days Haley and other US officials have underlined China’s helpfulness in seeking to increase pressure on the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un.

“Working with China for the first time — they have really been our partner in trying to make sure that we hold him at bay, and I think it’s a new day when you’ve got China and the United States working together on a statement to condemn North Korea,” Haley said.

“They put pressure on him. He feels it. That’s why he’s responding this way. And I think it is a different day.”

My guess is that this “briefing” will be huge media bait tomorrow, distracting from whether the government will be shut down shortly.

When internal migration favors red states, that helps Republicans in the short term even if the people who are moving are more progressive in their personal politics than the communities they’ll be entering. Most obviously, red states will gain Electoral College votes and extra congressional seats after the next census, and blue states will potentially lose them.

But, over time, it can change our politics profoundly. We’ve seen growth in northern Virginia turn that state from red to purple to blue. North Carolina is a swing state now. Georgia is getting close to that point. And, Texas will be purple by 2028 at the latest. In fact, the Democrats are already targeting Texas congressional districts, the state was closer than Iowa (previously a swing state) in the last election, and polls have come out showing that Sen. Ted Cruz may be an underdog in his reelection effort.

Needless to say, if Texas turns purple it will sap the Republicans of funds. And if it turns blue, they’ll need to capture the whole Upper Midwest to compensate or they’ll be out of luck in presidential contests.

Will the Kremlin lose Le Pen without intervening? Surely not … or a leftist complot theory? | Atlantic France |

Quand l’Obs s’inquiète d’une intervention de Poutine contre Emmanuel Macron : inquiétude sérieuse, ou pulsion de complotisme à gauche ?

Entre intérêts non déguisés du Kremlin pour certaines candidatures et réalisme politique de Vladimir Poutine, il est aisé d’imaginer une intrusion russe dans la campagne présidentielle française. Mais parce qu’il est réaliste, le soutien de Vladimir Poutine n’ira jamais aussi loin que d’autres soutiens plus visibles du monde économique français qui se pressent derrière Emmanuel Macron.

Dans un article publié par l’Obs [h/t EuroTrib?!],  l’hebdomadaire indique “Le Kremlin va-t-il laisser perdre Le Pen sans intervenir ? Sûrement pas”. En laissant croire que Vladimir Poutine chercherait à favoriser Marine Le Pen au détriment d’Emmanuel Macron, une telle vision ne tombe-t-elle pas dans une forme de piège complotiste ? Comment expliquer cette facilité à faire un tel lien ?

Laurent Leylekian : Pas nécessairement. Cette vision des choses est attestée par des faits et notamment par des prises de positions du Kremlin qui a réellement exprimé directement ou indirectement sa préférence pour certains candidats à la présidentielle française dont, évidemment, Marine Le Pen. Ce qui est problématique en revanche, c’est la paresse intellectuelle qui accompagne souvent ce genre de commentaires. Il est d’une part proprement ridicule de vouloir tout expliquer par, ou tout réduire à, la préférence de la Russie pour tel ou tel candidat.

Laurent Leylekian : Not necessarily. This view is attested by facts and notably by the positions taken by the Kremlin, which has expressed directly or indirectly its preference for certain candidates for the French presidential election, including, of course, Marine Le Pen. What is problematic, on the other hand, is the intellectual laziness that often accompanies this kind of comment. On the one hand, it is ridiculous to try to explain everything by, or to reduce everything to, Russia’s preference for this or that candidate.

Obviously, there are national dynamics on which the Kremlin has no control.

Moreover, it is worrying that many media reports this fact without trying to give an explanation but only for the purposes of mutual demonization between Le Pen and Putin. The dominant systems are so made that they do not look at themselves critically. The system of values proposed by Russia or the National Front – within the framework of the present Philippot doctrine – founded on sovereignty, identity or national preference is certainly not devoid of purpose. But ecological aberration and “economic horror” – to use the title of a book – both induced by the unrestrained circulation of men, goods and capital are certainly not so. See Putin behind Le Pen is less worrying than not seeing the big capitalist interests behind Macron.

Evidemment, il y a des dynamiques nationales sur lesquelles le Kremlin n’a aucune prise.

D’autre part et surtout, il est préoccupant que beaucoup de médias rapportent ce fait sans chercher à lui donner une explication mais uniquement à des fins de diabolisation mutuelle entre Le Pen et Poutine. Les systèmes dominants sont ainsi faits qu’ils ne portent sur eux-mêmes aucun regard critique. Le système de valeurs que proposent la Russie ou le Front national – dans le cadre de l’actuelle doctrine Philippot – fondé sur la souveraineté, l’identité ou la préférence nationale n’est certainement pas exempt de travers. Mais l’aberration écologique et “l’horreur économique” – pour reprendre le titre d’un ouvrage – toutes deux induites par la circulation débridée des hommes, des marchandises et des capitaux ne le sont certainement pas non plus. Voir Poutine derrière Le Pen est moins préoccupant que de ne pas voir les grands intérêts capitalistiques derrière Macron.

Cet aveuglement procède d’un immense et long travail de fascination face auquel les réseaux d’influence de Poutine sont des jouets d’enfants. Quand on lit le programme lepéniste de 2017, on pourrait croire qu’il est issu d’une vision dirigiste et souverainiste de la société telle qu’elle était conçue par les gaullistes ou les communistes de l’après-guerre. Mais beaucoup l’ont oublié et semblent considérer qu’une telle vision, qui a pourtant prévalu jusque dans les années 1980, relève de l’utopie.

Emmanuel Macron incarnerait-il réellement une opposition à Vladimir Poutine ? N’y a-t-il pas une forme d’excès dans ces propos quant aux intentions réelles du Kremlin ?

Will Emmanuel Macron really incarnate an opposition to Vladimir Putin? Is there not a form of excess in these remarks about the real intentions of the Kremlin?

The first two maps tell the story.  The remaining maps show where the two candidates must assemble their winning margin.

Le Monde: Présidentielle 2017 : où les candidats du premier tour ont-ils fait leurs meilleurs scores ?

Yes, francophones will get more out of this, but the maps communicate a lot of information.

Use the comments for translation or paraphrase of any significant text in the article.

I have reviewed Trump’s application for the 25th Amendment treatment and I think it is well done and thorough. His cabinet should convene immediately and give it the most serious consideration.