Amusing and Informative, Your Lil' Sister Loves to Get the 'Scoop' on the Mainstream Media and To Present a Variety of Obscure, Under-Reported and Decidedly-More Newsworthy Items From Around The Globe; You'll Also Be Privy To Pieces of My Own Personal Paranormal Phenomena; and Frequently Hear of Things Your Parents, Clergy, Society and Uncle Sam didn't bother to tell you. But, I will...
In Other Words:
The Way This Grrrl Sees It!
Re: The unjustified shooting death of 26 y.o. EMT, Breonna Taylor (a civilian), in her home by three plainclothes, unannounced, "no-knock" warrant-using, Louisville Metro Police Department officers in Kentucky, 3 - 4 months ago: I'm not suggesting there's an official cover-up going on. Nor am I suggesting any conspiracy theories, whatsoever... But, the official LMPD incident report released to the public consisted of four, mostly-blank pages and, it "... lists her injuries as "none," even though she was shot at least eight times and died on her hallway floor in a pool of blood, according to attorneys for her family." Does that make any sort of sense to you?
Former MI6 (Military Intelligence) agent Christopher "Steele said that he had handed over a dossier on Trump’s links to Russia in 2016, but that “no inquiries were made or actions taken thereafter.”(!) Of course they weren't (*sigh). *Thank you, ever so much: Theresa May and Boris Johnson! Can you say, "Russian Asset"?* I knew you could! * IF you simply and objectively look at the accumulated evidence (even just the evidence that's been public-knowledge) Donald Trump's public statements, official decisions and actual actions all manage to serve Putin's and/or the Kremlin's interests: 1.) NATIONAL DESTABILIZATION/GLOBAL WEAKENING of these United States (Trump gleefully engages in throwing gasoline on- and/or fanning the flames of- division (racial, political, educational, economic, etc.) between Americans (textbook methods to "Divide and Conquer"); Trump's support of BREXIT; vocal and public support of RW/extremist/racist/xenophobic/repressive/anti-democratic politicians/governments in European countries and other ally nations. 2.) WEAKENING of the European Union (supporting BREXIT; supporting/promoting RW/extremist/racist/xenophobic/repressive/anti-democratic politicians/governments; threatening to pull out of NATO; pulling American security troops out/ opening the door for Turkish troops to pour into previously-peaceful, Kurdish rebel-held territories, facilitating the Turks' taking over and freeing ISIS terrorist prisoners, attacking/killing of our historic allies in the region - the Kurdish rebels - whom the Turks openly villainize and encourage violence towards; withdrawing American troops from Germany, etc.). 3.) WEAKENING of- and/or abolishment of NATO ("North Atlantic Treaty Organization") (by threatening to pull America completely out of NATO; pulling troops out of Germany - actions which actively-remove significant amounts of historically-successful deterrence - as well as layers of security - that have kept Putin and the Kremlin from carrying out it's historic and decades' long love of military aggression and geographic expansion; et. al.). Regardless of whether Trump's gratuitous (Trump is a fanboy of- and is submissive to- Vladimir Putin and a number of other violent, anti-Democratic, journalist-assassinating, whistle-blower-assassinating , authoritarian dictators; he took Putin's cat-that-ate-the-canary-smiling denial of Russian 2016 election interference over the entire U.S. Intelligence Community's evidence-based findings that Russia had definitely interfered in the 2016 election - in order to get Trump into the White House, where he could proceed to do/has actually done Putin's bidding), embarrassing (see: 2016 election interference, et. al.) and national security-damaging (see: revealing confidential, national-security information to Russians in the Oval Office (which endangered the lives of American and Israeli intelligence agents and assets), 2016 election interference, et. al.), servitude to Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin is voluntary (i.e. Trump's is neck-deep in numerous, documented, multi-million dollar, Putin- and Russian oligarch-related interests like his long-held desire to erect a "Trump Tower" in Moscow - a project which he denied and lied to Americans about prior to the 2016 election) or involuntary (extortion: video, audio, photographic)... It's still... well... Treason.* (*The "Cold War" with Russia continues, so, yes, it does meet the requirement for legal use of "treason".) So, please, take a deep, cleansing breath - or several... wake-up, and smell the Reality. IF ONLY FOR the sake of the continued existence of these United States of America and for the re-ignition of our once globally-gleaming beacon of Democracy. This link will open a new tab with the original article from businessinsider.com.au :
Yesterday, at his disappointingly-attended inaugural campaign rally in Tulsa, OK, Trump promoted his (it-would-be-funny-in-a-Saturday-Night-Live-skit-but-it's-deadly-in-a-President) common-senseless plan to "slow the testing down" (national COVID-19 testing), because, apparently, in his Adderall-addled mind, doing so would reduce the number of COVID-19 cases.* (*This is the same person who, initially, refused to let a cruise ship dock in Oakland, CA, and let passengers disembark because it had been reported that some of them had COVID-19. And, Trump objected to letting those American citizens set foot on American soil and, thereby, raise the number of American COVID-19 cases. Cases which Trump has viewed and continues to view through his malignantly-narcissistic lens as "his" cases - not America's or Americans' - and, therefore, he considers them to be demerits against him). Almost immediately afterward, Trump campaign spokespeople, his administration, Congressional Republicans and other Trump loyalists were all hurriedly backpedaling and downplaying Trump's ignorant statements. They all repeated their worn-out and broken-record explanation that: "He was just being 'tongue-in-cheek'". Those Trump-apologists are shameless and dishonest. To date, at least 120,000 Americans (and counting) have died from COVID-19. If we continue on our current path of viral-denial, then, the number of Americans killed by COVID-19 is expected to reach 200,000 by September. So, making such remarks - even if intended to be "tongue-in-cheek" - isn't even the slightest bit funny. It's callous, insensitive and utterly out-of-touch with the clear, present, highly-contagious and very deadly threat that the Trump administration - through their slow response, inadequate actions, and continuing inaction (not empowering the Defense Production Act to force U.S. companies to manufacture still scarce and desperately-needed PPE for front-line workers. He did it for meat-production, but refuses to do it for Personal Protective Equipment production) allowed to infiltrate and decimate so many of our fellow Americans (particularly in under-served communities of color). In our current, collective, connected reality, the number of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have been on the rise in many U,S. states. Despite this worrisome fact, VP Mike Pence just penned an op-ed in which he declared that there's "no second wave" of COVID-19 in America. Well, he's absolutely right (I know. I can't believe I'm saying that, either). But, it's true. There is no second wave in America, at present. But, the reason for that is because America hasn't made it through the first wave... not yet. And, as this May 15, 2020 article (below) proves, Trump's rally, yesterday, wasn't the first time that Trump has put his science-challenged thought processes on display and declared that, "if there was no testing, there would be no cases". Hospitals, ICUs, and funeral-homes across the country would collectively and vociferously-refute such demonstrably-false claims. Trump Seems To Think There’d Be No Coronavirus If There Was No Testing...
(I wrote the following blog entry exactly one week ago, as I walked my dog along empty streets framed with boarded up storefronts, the rare passerby (most wearing a mask and social-distancing, nervously). I had finished it before I'd made it back home... Every single person/entity that voted for the utterly incompetent and unqualified Donald Trump for President in 2016...
Every single person/entity who donated to Trump’s 2016 campaign...
Every single person/entity who supported Trump in any way/shape/form...
Every single member of the U.S. Representatives and every single U.S. Senator who ever turned a blind eye/acted as if they possessed deaf ears/refused to fulfill their Oath of Office ("Protect and Defend the U.S. Constitution from all enemies - foreign and domestic") and/or voted to install incompetent and/or unqualified people as agency heads or as federal judges and/or voted for that $2 trillion tax break for millionaires, billionaires, and big corporations and/or voted to give away billions of dollars in "small business loans" to wealthy corporations and/or refused to vote to impeach Trump and/or refused to remove the justifiably impeached Trump from office...
Each and every single one of YOU has contributed to and/or played a part in making this ongoing, completely-avoidable, national public health and economic disaster possible.
Each and every single one of YOU has enabled and encouraged the malignantly-narcissistic, sociopathic, fantasist that is Donald J. Trump to continue to occupy the most powerful position in the country and in the entire world... even though this full-grown man continues to whine and complain about and attack those who criticize his unconscionable inaction/callous indifference/endless self-praising... as he continues take actions that only benefit his wealthy donors, big corporations, himself and his family... as he plays golf and holds campaign rallies while this far-from-"invisible" enemy continues to spread out - unabated and unmitigated - across the United States... despite the fact that Donald Trump empowered the Defense Production Act to force COVID-19-riddled meat-packing facilities to keep producing meat products... while our heroic, and essential front-line medical and other workers continue to fulfill their job duties despite experiencing a continuing lack of desperately needed and, yet, inexcusably rare PPE (Personal Protective Equipment), which Donald J. Trump could empower the DPA to manufacture in the U.S. - right now ... YOU have all had a hand in creating the circumstances that allowed these once-avoidable and, now, excruciatingly painful (in loss of human lives) and massively damaging (economically) events to take their shocking toll on all of US.
There are, now, well over 1.5 million cases of COVID-19 and counting in the United States of America. There are, now, at least 98,000+ and counting COVID-19-related dead Americans in the United States of America.
A mourner at a funeral home in NY took this photo of room overflowing w/ bodies.
And, ICYMI ~ ALL of this very real, human loss and pain and all of the long-term economic suffering that has/is resulted/resulting because YOU have allowed Donald Trump to continue to corruptly-occupy the Office of the President of these United States of America... ALL of the unnecessary and utterly avoidable death and destruction wrought by Donald J. Trump's abysmal response to a viral threat that the entire world saw coming in January and February... the responsiblity for all of it falls on - not only him, but - ALL of YOU, too (regardless of whether or not you accept that responsibility - it's still YOURS).
President Obama at the Vietnam War. Memorial (58,000+ American casulaties)
Around April 29, 2029..."a devastating statistic emerged from the coronavirus crisis: in a matter of months, more Americans have died from the virus than in the Vietnam War." (a death toll which culminated over 20 (twenty!) years across a theatre of battle and which also resulted in anti-war protests and murdered anti-war protesters back home).
One of four unarmed Kent University student shot to death by Ohio National Guard at a Peace Rally on campus.
And, yes, we know that Trump & his administration didn't cause the pandemic... Still, it's still common knowledge that Trump's "shambolic response to COVID-19—from ignoring the early, dire warnings, to declaring them fake news, to putting a dog-breeder (Alex Azar) in charge of the Health and Human Services task force, to listening to literally anything the first son-in-law (Jared Kushner) had to say on the matter— allowed the deadly disease to gain a foothold in the United States, where, to date, more than one million people have tested positive and more than 58,000 have died." That was just a month ago. May 29, 2020 Update: Since this article was published in Vanity Fair, an additional 40,000 Americans have been killed by this highly-contagious, still-out-of-control, and deadly virus... 40,000+ dead more Americans (and counting) ago... And, Donald J. Trump's most-trusted advisor, Jared Kushner (who is not an epidemiologist), called Trump's COVID-19 response 'a great success story'...
"Gaslighting": A tactic in which a person or entity, in order to gain more power, makes a person(s) question their reality. Gaslight, much?
President Harry S. Truman: "The Buck Stops Here." "President" Donald J. Trump:"I Don't Take Responsibility At All"... for the criminally-negligent federal response to the global COVID-19 pandemic that continues to savage America and which has already killed over 73,000 (and counting) of our fellow Americans. Wait a minute (Cue record back-scratch)! Is he not "The President"? Is he not the President who wields - according to him - Absolute Power? Wait! "If he’s not ultimately responsible, who is?" "Who runs the country?"* *Answer:Donald J. Trump is ultimately responsible. Regardless of his cherry-picked denials. He's the "Chief Executive" of these United States. He's running the country. And, the terrifying thing is: He's running our country just like one of his businesses. Exactly like one of the various businesses he destroyed / ran right into the ground / ran into bankruptcy... and then, he just walked away. Danger! Danger Will Robinson! This is an Emergency! The Big Bad Wolf is in the Hen House and He's Slaughtering all of the Hens!
5G (for the 1st time) employs millimeter waves as well as microwaves.
Do you remember when the cell phone industry was declaring cell phones were absolutely harmless (because they were making $$$ hand-over-fist)?
Now... All cell phone manufacturers advise customers to NOT keep their cell phones in their pockets/on their person due to the increased risk of cellular damage/cancer.
(A "no-brainer" to me as the technology is microwave-based. i.e. Close proximity to cell phone boosters causes my skin to feel like I'm under an intense heat lamp)
From Scientific American: "... Short-term exposure (to 5G) can have adverse physiological effects in the peripheral nervous system; immune system and cardiovascular system. The research suggests that long-term exposure may pose health risks to the skin (e.g., melanoma), the eyes (e.g., ocular melanoma) and the testes (e.g., sterility)."
So, contrary to widely-held, yet, untested belief... From: Scientific American...
"The Trump administration came into office pledging to “deconstruct the administrative state.” This manifested itself in attempting to hollow out the capacity of government. It is this mentality that led to the dismissal of a pandemic response team. It is this mentality that leads to a reliance on people such as the president’s son-in-law with no government experience to manage government response during a crisis (think back to “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job”). It is this mentality that makes responding to a crisis so much harder."
Remember when - a few days before the the expected peak of the COVID-19 crisis - the Trump administration was going full-steam ahead with their plans to end federal support for COVID-19 testing, and transferring the responsibility for managing and funding the sites to states? Thankfully, the backlash was strong enough to force them to reconsider their plans.
"The Trump administration badly undermined the effort to contain the coronavirus outbreak by getting rid of most staff tasked with identifying global health problems in China while repeatedly attempting to slash funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), according to a new report by an environmental watchdog.
Over the past three years, the Trump administration has drastically reduced a team working in China to identify global health threats like Covid-19, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year. The initiative’s 11 CDC staffers have been cut to three people, while 39 workers classed as “local employees” have been reduced to 11 people."
Back in May of 2018, the Trump Administration pushed out the White House official "responsible for leading the U.S. response in the event of a deadly pandemic...", Rear Adm. Timothy Ziemer from the National Security Council. Ziemer was not alone. The global health security team overseen by him was also disbanded. The Trump Administration called it a "reorganization". But, none of these extremely important positions were ever re-staffed. Around that time, "... Luciana Borio, director of medical and biodefense preparedness at the NSC (National Security Council), spoke at a symposium at Emory University to mark the 100th anniversary of the 1918 influenza pandemic. That event killed an estimated 50 million to 100 million people worldwide: “The threat of pandemic flu is the number one health security concern,” she told the audience. “Are we ready to respond? I fear the answer is no.”" Not surprisingly, Director Borio was correct. Think of the federal government as an octopus. It has numerous tentacles (agencies/departments). Each tentacle functions independently of the others, but all of them are working for the common good. By removing Adm. Ziemer and disbanding his team, the Trump administration completely and abruptly amputated the tentacle that that was in charge of monitoring, identifying, responding to, and preventing the outbreak of global pandemics. This was a National Security level team. Disbanding it was myopic, irresponsible, and put national security and public health under immediate threat. The global COVID-19 pandemic sweeping across the world, spreading across the USA, and touching virtually every American's life are the fatal fruits of the Trump Administration's labors. Epidemiologists and other medical experts saw this situation coming. They warned the Trump administration, repeatedly. Their words fell on deaf ears, repeatedly. And, just like Nero in Rome, Trump fiddled while America burned.
And Now... In Honor of America's Pastime and the 2019 World Series... Let's have a Sing-A-Long! The Tune - of course - is: "Take Me Out To The Ball Game": "Take him out of the Office... Drag him out if you must. Go back to Trump Steaks and Lousy Hotels... Please take Eric and Junior as well. We all Root Root Root for Impeachment... If Trump's not removed, it's insane. For it's One Term Is More Than Enough... You're a Shame Shame Shame!"* (*Credit: The Late Show With Stephen Colbert)
I think I'll file this post under the category of "Zeros and (S)Heroes"... In the wake of Donald Trump‘s stupidly unsupervised phone call with Turkish President Erdoğan (in which the former was, obviously, rolled by the latter), immediately followed by Trump’s announcement of the strategically-ignorant withdrawal/retreat of about 1000 spec ops troops and the unconscionable, callous, and deadly abandonment of the United States’ only allies in the region - the ISIS-crushing Kurds...
I urge everyone to, please, acquaint themselves with (and/or remember) the truly inspiring life, utterly fearless work, and tragic, premature, and suspicious death of American journalist, Serena Shim:
America’s greatest national treasures - our priceless and irreplaceable national parks and (at one time) protected lands - have remained open during the current Trump government shutdown - something this administration intentionally chose to do, and which previous administrations did not do out of concern for public safety and for the protection of our precious national parks. Sometimes, the best way to get a clearer understanding of a situation is to look at it from the perspective of an outside, third-party, observer... Observers such as the journalists who contributed to this article (see Guardian UK link, below), who deftly explain the significance of and the ramifications of that decision. Enjoy... er, well... no, perhaps not that. Expand your worldview a wee bit, then?
Oh, and... Happy New Year!!!* (*If you're into that quaint, linear time thing.)
It appears that Alexander Bortnikov, the head of the FSB (former KGB), Igor Korobov, the head of the GRU (Russian Military Intelligence), and the Sanctioned/Banned SVR (the Russian Foreign Intelligence Agency that hacked our 2016 elections) chief, Sergey Naryshkin, were-secretly - ushered into the U.S. to meet with CIA chief, Mike Pompeo, NRI chief Dan Coats (among other high-level U.S. Intelligence officials) at the end of January 2018. What A Coincidence -this secret meeting took place just days before Donald Trump decided to - unilaterally eliminate the Russian sanctions that the U.S. Congress had approved (with bipartisan support) in response to Russia"s interfering with our 2016 elections. Please Note: For that last person, Sergey Naryshkin - who has been banned since 2014 - to set foot on American soil would have required "special dispensation" from the U.S. Secy of State, Rex Tillerson. Also worth noting: This highly-unusual meeting wasn't even mentioned or acknowledged by the White House. We only learned of it because Reuters picked up on the story while translating Russian state-run press coverage in which the Kremlin was boasting.
FACT: The NRA spent between $30 Million and $55 Million in 2016 to get Donald Trump elected President. That's three times more than they invested in Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. What I want to know is this: *Where the hell did the NRA get such huge sums of money to throw around so carelessly?! Surely not just from NRA membership dues and hat/t-shirt/bumper sticker sales... Aren't you Curious?
(Unofficial) PRESS RELEASE:
My Open Letter to U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein...
Dear Honorable Senator Dianne Feinstein:
I’m writing to you as a longtime resident of San Francisco, California and one of your constituents.
Although I’ve disagreed with a number of positions you’ve held in the past in the U.S. Senate, I felt it was very important to let you know that I fully support your decision - as ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee - to release the documentation of the Fusion GPS testimony given during the ongoing Mueller investigation of Russian influence on the presidential election of 2016 and the unlawful involvement of.certain members of the Trump campaign in same.
Therefore, I urge you, please, don’t succumb to pressure from any individual or group who tries to get you to backpedal, back down or to make you feel that you have to come up with an excuse for having taken the extremely important and unquestionably patriotic action of releasing that documentation to the American people.
For America's Democracy, for our Great Republic to not only survive but to thrive, we must have transparency throughout our branches of government and trust and faith in the integrity of our elected officials must be maintained.
But, in order to be able to maintain that all-important trust in our elected officials, the American people must always be provided with truthful, accurate, complete and timely information so that they may make informed decisions.
And, I think I speak for all Americans who are paying attention when I say that, if the decision were left solely up to the Trump administration, the Republican Party and the GOP members of Congress, then the American people would be kept in absolute darkness for perpetuity.
To be honest, I was surprised when learned of your releasing the Fusion GPS testimony documents and I believe many others were as well. But, with that said, we were and we are so very glad and so very thankful that you did so.
You’re actions were courageous, patriotic and - bottom line - they were the right thing to do for the American people and for American democracy.
Putting aside anything Trump-related for a moment, the bottom line is this: we must understand Russia's tactics and methodologies so that we can take effective, swift actions to prevent such interference and influence in the future.
One thing we can do, now, is teach Americans how to make informed choices regarding news consumption and recognizing the weaponization of social media posts by special.and foreign interests.
Senator Chuck Grassley’s decision to continue to withhold the Fusion GPS documents from the American people proves that he is yet another tool of the dangerously incompetent and shamefully corrupt Trump administration and - for his choosing (Republican) party over (American) people - (imho) nothing more than a traitor.
So, thank you, honorable Senator Dianne Feinstein. It's good to know that some members of Congress still have spines.
May 2018 be a much better year - for all of us - than 2017. I believe it will be. And, your recent actions have contributed to this being realized.
In closing, please allow me to share a favorite quote from George Orwell, one I feel is supremely apropos at this time:
“During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.”
Viva la Revolution.
On March 25, 2013 The Mexican Held A Press Conference During Which They Released Ancient Mayan Artifacts - Previously Withheld For 80 or So Years - That Proved Knowledge of ET, Space Travel, UFOs
And, The Entirety of Western News/Media Completely Ignored It
Thankfully, NUFORC didn't. Here's their post. Please see the Video included in the post. And, Enjoy Being Amazed!:
"On Wednesday, the Trump administration launched a new office called the Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement Office(VOICE)..." "... To Assist Victims Of Crimes Committed By Undocumented Immigrants." Is That So?! Then, surely, their purview includes all of the now-living descendants of all of the pale-skinned, European invaders who sailed here a few centuries ago, stuck their homelands' flags in the soil and (irrationally) claimed ownership... despite the fact that there were already thousands of peoples living here when they arrived?! Because- Let's Be Honest - I'm sure that the (Surviving) Descendants of the First Peoples/Native Americans Want THEIR Country Back, Even More!
ICYMI: It's become quite apparent that - following the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole and, after Alec (CIA) Station's infiltration of a "Terror Summit" held in Malaysia (sometime around 1998-99 and prior to 9/11) that...
Then-CIA Director George Tenet, two of his closest allies (Cofer Black, Richard Blee) and around 50 to 60 other CIA officials knowingly withheld urgent intelligence information from both the (G.W.) Bush and the Clinton White Houses, the FBI, as well as Immigration, the State and the Defense Departments on two known Al-Qaeda operatives (and, later, 9/11 hijackers) - named al-hazmi and al-mihdhar - both of whom who had entered the United States a year and a half before the attacks and were living in San Diego under their real names. (Source: Fmr. White House Counter-Terrorism chief,Richard Clarke) There was one honest FBI agent (on loan to CIA) with integrity (Doug Miller) who had learned of the CIA's knowledge of the two Al-Qaeda men's presence on American soil and who had, immediately, drafted a cable with the reasonable intention of informing the FBI of this dangerous situation. Tragically, delivery of that cable was intentionally stopped by another CIA official (identified as Tom Wilshire). Supposedly, this was done because the CIA was hoping to recruit them (Fail.). * (*In other words: Had the CIA actually shared intelligence (Gasp!) with the FBI in a timely manner... then, the FBI possibly could have prevented 9/11... and all of the chaos, mayhem, loss of rights & privacy, loss of life (mind you, there were massive losses of life in Afghanistan and Iraq) and the enormous debt. Oh, wait... AND, the (previously non-existent) spread of Al-Qaeda. ("Mission Accomplished!", huh?)
Oh yeah... and, later, that same cable was 'accidentally' withheld from the 9/11 Commission's investigations. Go figure! Fast forward to 2004: President George W. Bush awards George Tenet the U.S. Medal of Freedom...(sigh).
So...YES! Without a doubt - No Matter How Painful They May Be To Learn - History and The Truth DO Matter!
And, I - for one -firmly believe You CAN Handle The TRUTH.
