Al's Blog - Putin, the Chess Master

I believe that there is ample evidence that Vladimir Putin is destroying all the countries that have held Russia at bay in its quest to gain world domination.  Please consider one point, and I'll share more.

Putin has promised to make Russia great again.  1. He has reformed and greatly empowered the KGB to include foreign agents, 2. A string of right wing parties have been successful in elections across Europe, now including France, and possibly the Brexit election all of the focus is on Muslims and ISIS and ignores any mention of the Russian threat.   3. After you look into his European moves, consider his courting of Donald Trump and Mike Flynn.  Once he called Trump a genius (according to Trump), he had a friend for life - and we don't know what financial advantages he has dangled before him. Nor do we know how he may have used Assange in our election (but I'm sure that he did). Once Trump takes office and Putin moves against the Baltic States, will Trump risk a war with Russia?  Will anybody ever trust the USA again?

4.  Look at General Mike Flynn once a hero in Afghanistan and a key leader in our military intelligence who was suddenly "allowed" to resign. 

Has his anger weakened his patriotism? Could General Flynn allow his family's record of service to be forever linked to Benedict Arnold?

Why is he a darling of the Russian military?  I don't suspect him of giving away or selling military secrets, but I suspect that he is being prepared to see Russia as a great friend and ally - but Putin has no allies or friends, only puppets or enemies.  Is Flynn the one who will identify which generals to keep and which to "let retire?" 5.  What will Russia's ascendance in Europe and the Middle East do to America's world leadership?  Many European Right wing parties are looking at Russia for leadership, not the United States! This is only one piece of our foreign policy.  But since Putin has local right wing parties as his foot soldiers elsewhere, has he supported our own right wing?

Read more about this topic:

http://www.vox.com/world/2016/ 11/1/13487322/donald-trump-rus sia-agent-hack

Al

"The federal week in review: January 10, 2017

Following was written by friend who invited her friends to copy and paste. Read it and weep: 
"The federal week in review: 
1. Trump fires all Ambassadors and Special Envoys, ordering them out by inauguration day. 
2. House brings back the Holman rule allowing them to reduce an individual civil service, SES positions, or political appointee's salary to $1, effectively firing them by amendment to any piece of legislation. We now know why they wanted names and positions of people in Energy and State. 
3. Senate schedules 6 simultaneous hearings on cabinet nominees and triple-books those hearings with Trump's first press conference in months and an ACA budget vote, effectively preventing any concentrated coverage or protest. 
4. House GOP expressly forbids the Congressional Budget Office from reporting or tracking ANY costs related to the repeal of the ACA. 
5. Trump continues to throw the intelligence community under the bus to protect Putin, despite the growing mountain of evidence that the Russians deliberately interfered in our election. 
6. Trump breaks a central campaign promise to make Mexico pay for the wall by asking Congress (in other words, us, the taxpayers) to pay for it. 
7. Trump threatens Toyota over a new plant that was never coming to the US nor will take jobs out of the US. 
8. House passes the REINS act, giving them veto power over any rules enacted by any federal agency or department--for example, FDA or EPA bans a drug or pesticide, Congress can overrule based on lobbyists not science. Don't like that endangered species designation, Congress kills it. 
We - progressive, liberal, libertarian and conservative - need to all wake up to what is actually happening to our beloved country. 
#UnitedWeStand

HOW THE TRUMP STOLE AMERICA

In a land where the states are united, they claim,
in a sky-scraping tower adorned with his name,
lived a horrible, terrible, devious chump,
the bright orange miscreant known as the Trump.

This Trump he was mean, such a mean little man,
with the tiniest heart and two tinier hands,
and a thin set of lips etched in permanent curl,
and a sneer and a scowl and contempt for the world.

He looked down from his perch and he grinned ear to ear,
and he thought, “I could steal the election this year!
It’d be rather simple, so easily won,
I’ll just make them believe that their best days are done!
Yes, I’ll make them believe that it’s all gone to Hell,
I’ll be Jerk Messiah -- their souls they will sell.

And I’ll use lots of words disconnected from truth,
but I’ll say them with style so they won’t ask for proof.
I’ll toss random platitudes, phrases, and such,
They’re so raised on fake news that it won’t matter much!
They won’t question the how to, the what, why, or when,
”I will make their America great once again!”

The Trump told them “Fear! Here they come,” he would say,
“They’ve all come for your jobs, they will take them away.
You should fear every Muslim and Mexican too,
every brown, black, and tan one, everyone who votes blue.”

And he fooled all the Christians, he fooled them indeed,
He just trotted out Jesus -- all Jesus folk need.
And celebrity preachers, they crowned him as king,
Tripping over themselves just to kiss the Trump’s ring.

And he spoke those old lies just as if they were true,
Until they believed his new lies were true too.
He repeated and Tweeted and blustered and spit,
And he misled and fibbed—and he just made up sh*t.

And the media laughed but they printed each line,
thinking “He’ll never win, in the end we’ll be fine.”
So they chased every headline, bold-typed every claim,
‘Till the fake news and real news they looked just the same.

And the scared folk who listened devoured each word,
Yes, they ate it all up -- every word that they heard,
petrified that their freedom was under attack,
trusting Donald to take their America back.
From the gays and from ISIS, he’d take it all back,
Take it back from the Democrats, fat cats, and blacks.
And so hook, line, and sinker they all took the bait,
thinking “We’re making America great.”

Now the Pant-suited One she was smart and prepared,
she was brilliant and steady but none of them cared,
no they cared not to see all the work that she’d done,
or the fact that the Trump had not yet done Thing One.
They could only shout “Emails!”, yes “Emails!” they’d shout,
‘cause Fox News had told them—and Fox News had clout.
And the Pant-suited One she was slandered no end,
as a lie became truth she could never defend.
And the Trump watched it all go according to plan—
a woman eclipsed by an insecure man.

And November the 8th arrived, finally it came,
like a slow-moving storm but it came just the same.
And Tuesday was Doomsday before it was through,
And when night turned to morning the nightmare’d come true,
With millions of non-voters still in their beds,
The Donald had done it, just like he had said.

And the Trumpers they trumped, how they trumped when he won,
All the racists and bigots; deplorable ones,
they crawled out from the woodwork, came out to raise Hell,
came out to be hateful and hurtful as well.
With slurs and with road signs, with spray paint and Tweets,
with death threats to neighbors and taunts on the street.
And the grossest of grossness they hurled on their peers,
while the Trump he said zilch—for the first time in years.

But he Tweeted at Hamilton, Tweeted the Times,
And he trolled Alec Baldwin a few hundred times,
and he pouted a pout like a petulant kid,
thinking that was what Presidents actually did,
thinking he could still be a perpetual jerk,
scared to learn he’d have to actually work
for every American, not just a few,
not just for the white ones—there was much more to do.
He now worked for the Muslims and Mexicans too,
for the brown, black, and tan ones, and those who vote blue.
They were all now his bosses, now all had a say,
and those nasty pant-suited ones were here to stay.
And the Donald soon realized he didn’t win,
He had gotten the thing—and the thing now had him.

And it turned out the Trump was a little too late,
for America was already quite great,
not because of the sameness -- the opposite’s true,
It’s greatness far more than just red, white, and blue,
It’s straight, gay, and female—it’s Gentile and Jew,
It’s Transgender, Christian, and Atheist too.
It’s Asians, Caucasians of every kind,
Disabled and abled, the deaf and the blind,
It’s immigrants, Muslims, and brave refugees,
It’s Liberals with bleeding hearts fixed to their sleeves.

And we are all staying, we’re staying right here,
we’ll be the great bane of the Trump for four years.
And we’ll be twice as loud as the loudness of hate,
be the greatness that makes our America great.
And the Trump’s loudest boasts they won’t ever obscure,
Almost three million more of us—voted for her.

By John Pavlovitz