Tag: EU

2022 or NEVER!! Part 2: Republican Party

Ok, so the Republican Party apparatus in many states & even nationally has been hijacked by a bunch of loonies, but the Trump lunacy is actually on the decline. And the remaining loonies are starting to make an impact: ironically, showing undecided people exactly how crazy & chaotic things can become if these loonies are not stopped. That’s not to say it won’t be a major effort necessary to get the vote mobilized. Now that people are starting to realize we are at war with Russia, the mid-terms should be about loyalty. It is much more serious than people generally recognize! Any U-tuber should be able to notice a markedly more Soviet-style propaganda campaign. Supposedly economic sites now screaming The END!!, pouring pessimism on any & all things. Some we speculate are even sleepers: first gather users with a lot of click-bait & regurgitated news and waiting…until called.

(Note: Facebook we never even started. In their blind quest for profits, they’ve long ago crawled in the hind crevace of Putin’s propaganda machine. Along with other hate, trash & porn, just not worth it.)

Of course, this loud, total, public adoration of Czar Putin by Fox News et al & of course the Orange Glob brings a whole new element into play. Will all the conspiracy madness, massive misinformation, support of anti-democratic violent-ready pockets of individuals be enough to paralyze America going into a crucial, if not existential national midterm vote? Much of this Qanon-type crap comes from Putin’s Fucking Sinister Bastards & it looks to us he has pulled the trigger. That is, he wants others to know he will escalate. WW3 is just getting started. Putin’s blah blah about nukes simply reflects his KGB past: act big, bring in all tools available to make citizens unsure. But whether military intrusions or Internet attacks or social media hate campaigns by Putin, we are just in the beginning of drawing the “frontlines”. They will be (already are, looks like) international, they will disrupt trade, they will feed the new inflation, they  will   be   problematic. BUT, we did not start this war, nevertheless must defend ourselves – everything that we have or enjoy! If that sounds a bit strong, this author remembers East-European (In Poland, in Hungary, in Czechoslovakia) demonstrators being mowed down by Soviet tank machine guns in the days of the ‘great’ post-WW2 Soviet Union. This is the great plan Czar Putin has (again) as he lists country after country in his dream speeches of a Soviet Union of the Past.

Yes, the election image Republicans make will be strongly flavored by their support for Russia in this growing conflict. Just saw an investing video (creeps don’t get no plug !=} where a whole panel talks about how great Russian oil stocks look. Has their greed just turned their brain to mush? This was after 1 guest talks about starving Americans! First, it’s disgusting. On further reflection, probably wrong as well: in an at least “more active” war (Which one hears definitely in Czar Putin’s speeches!=[) everything will be in play except nukes (though he threatens that too!!). After “consolidation”, drawing front lines…, Russia will sell gas/oil to China (China is on the same debt trap as the West, but the 2 giant dictatorships together will make a formidable foe – in the end, after being consumers, we’re all just Uighurs to the China commies ); the “rest” of the world will buy from Western energy producers. Really will come down to which side you want to win (or be more profitable).

We really don’t know the allocation of this Russia support. How much of it comes from the vast, malign Internet hate & fear channels the Russians are shooting out & how much is residual love of Putin by Orange Slob because the Russians have dirt on him & subsequently carried over to his followers. The latter is ebbing; the former is just getting started.

Actually it’s NOT the Republican candidates & their positions that worry us – the more extreme idiots the better. No, it is the supporters who will volunteer to “monitor” voting lines with their AR-15s. It is the Republican incumbents who will see their only future in massive vote manipulations! The continuing misinformation about voter fraud is exactly what you want to confuse the populace with if you are going to then actually do it yourself. First accuse the enemy of any outrage that you want to commit yourself.(That you CAN read in any old KGB handbook!=). It radically reduces the sting – and holds many at bay – when one can say ‘It happened last time too! The others did it’.

And most worrying are the nazi laws now being passed in many Republican state legislatures. They really make no bones about it: restrict black voting at all costs; control voter registration data to manipulate or use to advantage; and even laws making partisan officials to be “in charge” of election processes. This will be the most contentious midterm for a long time. Republican officials everywhere are doing what they can to manipulate the system, actively & cognizantly corrupting the election process completely.

We use that word “nazi” a lot talking about Republicans, but think about it: wasn’t the Jan.6 riot just an unsuccessful version of the Nazies burning down their Reichtag (congress building) in 30’s? If you want the village to depend on your (inferior) mojo, you necessarily have to poisen or cover or destroy the mojo well of the existing popular Witch Doctor to avoid open comparison! Again, different words, but same idea you find in Mein Kampf & also FSB handbooks. When local school boards taken over by extremist political fervor start banning books, reminding you of Fahrenheit 451, is that not also reminiscent of the public book burnings in 1930’s Germany? And please spare the silly comparison of TrumpChump & Adolf. Nothing like it, not even close. Hitler was a consummate evil person & also capable political intriguist. TrumpChump is a narcissistic career criminal who – for $$$ & applause – fell into Putin’s palm to be made a Manchurian Candidate. We really think people are starting to wake up to that!

As an aside, Goering appeals to us as an appropriate comparison to TrumpChump. Goering was actually an ace pilot in WW1 and – true to Peter Principle (the original was that people get promoted to their level of incompetence) – he was not up to administrative tasks of air force head for the Nazies in WW2. Instead he had pompous uniforms designed for his large & overweight body to make him look like something out of some Imperial Past, all the while robbing art works – from Jewish families, but also straight from museums all over Europe. Literally the man used his power to steal trainloads upon trainloads of artwork. So you see a pretty straight comparison: just two fat-ass, loud-mouth, deplorable crooks, elevated to positions of responsibility they could never handle.

The real running for Führer of this racist, undemocratic attack on American freedom & democracy by the Republican Party would be someone in power orchestrating openly racist laws, voiding national health mandates for zealot dogma, thereby causing actual deaths of fellow Americans. When one is willing to see people die – the same people one has taken an oath to defend – to follow political zealotry & opportunist dogma, then they become eligible for Führer. The current candidates are the Governors of Texas & Florida. For hypocrites like Senators Cruz, Rubio, Hawley et al who went to elite universaties, the German word “Mitlaüfer” is apropo. Mit=>with & laüfer=> walker –> simply walking along with. These creeps know better but for personal gain or quest for power simply go along (& cheer on too) this anti-democratic grab for power, much like many opportunists “walked along” with the Nazies in Germany. Again simply for personal gain or quest for power, but no real convictions for anything. Pimple-assed opportunists, stoking the fire, thinking they can bail out of this like changing bowling shoes…. No- all will have to own their actions in this conflict.

We conclude to say we welcome this national contest against fanatics in 2024, but only if we can have a fair election in 2022. Should the Republicans steal enough of these 2022 midterm state elections, a fair vote in 2024 will become impossible. In fact, if Democrats are not able to make ground in 2022, to have enough support for national voting rights law, for national standards for fair elections processes, this fight for fair elections will escalate & continue to harm America’ image.

Brexit….. please!!!

Well, it’s really a good time for people like me who watch the news as entertainment. The Brexit fiasco is in full swing as of this writing: Boris has just (partially) sidelined Parliament to keep them from effectively blocking. (<< Yes, that’s a period. Normally a noun comes after an active verb. But Parliament has blocked everything coming their way, simultaneously offering no ideas of their (aggregate) own!)

So, is this a good thing that Boris is trying? Well, think of it this way: is the glass half-full or half-empty. For three (count them: 1 year, 2 years, 3 years!!!) Parliament has come up in total with 1 conundrum – rejected everything coming their way and offering no new ideas. They are mostly and adamantly in favor of “Brexit Only With a Deal”, but repeatedly reject the only deal the EU will give them! One can easily see that getting Parley-mess out of the way can clear the path to some resolution, some action. On the other hand, if you’re hung up on the machinations of democracy, an extended suspension of Parley-mess for political expediency reeks of demagoguery.

My point here is that time is running out for the EU itself!! It needs to deal with corrupt and undemocratic heads of state in Slovakia and Poland, and has formally recognized corruption running flagrant in several member countries – at all levels. Its agricultural policy machinery is infested with dirty money from chemical firms. The list goes on and as long as Britain sends so many overt, active anti-EU representatives to Brussels to strengthen the ranks of the existing anti-EU forces, no progress will ever be made. What doesn’t grow, stagnates. So, I favor what the majority of Brits voted for: an exit from the EU; for the sake of the EU! Whatever form that takes …. who cares on this side of the Channel (After 3 years, yes, a bit of indifference.)

One of the things that irks me are the standardized story-line that Brexit without a deal will leave gaps in Britain’s supply chains. And the news channels dramatically make it worse by erroneously stating that Britain will no longer find certain articles. Britain can buy anything in Europe, the same things they bought before, they simply need to follow WTO regulations. That is what they voted for: the ability to choose for themselves from whom they buy & to whom they sell. And who knows, maybe that pompous loudmouth in the White House #10 will be right: it will turn out better for Britain. But the longer it takes (my bet is Britain will still be in the EU in 2020) the worse – maybe even deadly – it will be for the future of a true European Union!

Brexit Schmexit

Probably everybody not living in England is pretty weary of Brexit news… if “nothing accomplished” can be made into news. Don’t get me wrong, I love the English and I especially feel for those that voted for Brexit. They are actually the ones at the end of the line in this sham.

First, lets look at 2 possibilities:

  1.   PM May is ambitious (maybe power-hungry) enough to want to be PM even when the government’s current primary mission –  Brexit –  is something she didn’t vote for nor support earlier.
  2. PM May is diabolically, purposely making a mess of Brexit, after wasting almost the whole 2-year transition period by allowing useless, irrelevant arguments to prevail; and culminating in a half-baked plan guaranteed to satisfy very few on either side.

 If it’s #1,then history will not be kind to her for taking on and botching something she did not believe in. England will face the “hard Brexit” as the EU is keen to reinforce the advantages of being “IN” the EU. Possibly a clean break could have worked, England may even make something of it after a botched EU-Exit, bu it will all be much worse than if someone who supported Brexit from the beginning and could give the British people a sense of hope and spirit had taken the reigns early and prepared for a real, an honest, a complete &ambitious Brexit.

Now #2 is much more intriguing! And I dare say some of the facts on the ground support the thesis of a saboteur PM May. Have you noticed how so many voices  in English Parliament suddenly equate the ever-delayed (endlessly delayed just like the original Brexit referendum) vote on PM May’s deal as a referendum itself? What I mean is, the choices presented or insinuated – as if already somehow hard-coded into the whole process – seem to be: Vote for this deal or there will be no Brexit. The deal is being slowly e.g. the delays, presented as the Brexit itself. It is being substituted for the actual embodiment of the Brexit concept (“the best deal possible”, “no time for anything else”…) Result: If you don’t vote for this deal, you’re voting against Brexit itself.

Another scenario supporting #2 is to simply waste the whole transition period (already done!); continue to sow fear of the great Brexit “UNKNOWN” (continually done!);establish a EU court ruling that Brexit can be simply cancelled (with conveniently no mention by whom specifically); and March next year simply let PM May declare we “can’t do it – not enough time…”; make an endless transition period out with the EU; wait for a more politically propitious time.

The EU and Germany I will leave for separate articles, only to say that there has been nothing surprising or out of the ordinary for the EU’s response to Brexit. It was decided by the British people, after they finally got a say in the matter.Unfortunately all the Brexiteers were forced to quit or have resigned from their government posts. Can anyone thereafter expect a successful, popular-supported Brexit?

One aside about Germany and their Political Correctness. We have an old politician from Bavaria where his CSU party is very strong but who’s time (his) has come and gone. I think he’s interior minister, but mostly spends his time peeing in Angela Merkel’s lunchbox. He’s sour ‘cause he never made it on the national stage and few in the rest of Germany have any use for the old fart. But the point is: All he said was “Immigration is the mother-of-all political issues.”[My translation!].That’s all he said – no more, no less. Boy, did he get hell in the press. There was no end to the lambasting him of being bigoted, illiberal, intolerant, narrow, narrow-minded, small-minded – all of the terms were used in one or the other broadcast. But here we are in the same time-frame and 160+ countries are represented by heads-of-state or close, to sign a UN mutual agreement about… migration. Look at the elections in Italy, Hungary, rest of East Europe, etc.

Q: What was the deciding factor in the Brexit referendum?

A: Immigration was the kicker in the Brexit vote!

Anybody think the main factor was fishing rights? .. the status of Gibraltar? Just look at the mainstream news channels – on any continent. The only country in the whole world with no immigration issues is China! Uiguirans raise their voices for freedom, just put their whole country in “re-education” camps! Africans bitch about lost land,just send a few thousand Chinese laborers for the fields and few thousand Chinese soldiers to keep the piece (of land).

So, my point here is that maybe Britain is a little ahead of us all on this important issue! I’m not taking sides, I’m simply saying that they discussed it on a national basis with the referendum. More laudable than the chaos here in this EU.

If I have endeared myself with too many Britons, allow me another observation that may or may not please. The US encouraged England to join the EU, a competitor to the US on the world commerce stage, because as a closest ally, England could hold the EU back and prevent anything too drastic, too optimistic. All one has to do is read the venomous US business press about the Euro to recognize the adversarial stance – from the very beginning. Now powers in the US are chuckling over how Brexit is tying up EU energies that could be better spent on progressive issues, large and small.

Before going further,let me say I am a proponent of EU 2.0, a restart with an emphasis on the common human values and the mutual respect of European cultural & political values.I am a critic of a current EU: led by the influence of monopolistic conglomerates; producing a hundreds of pages of dilettante, sometimes asinine regulations – per day! An EU with leaders so enamoured by their might that they could never envisage shrinking the EU by throwing un-democratic countries of East-Europe out. Instead they are eager to expand at any cost, to include countries plagued by corruption and embroiled in cold war politics. All in the interest of monopolistic business interests.

Speaking of corruption and getting back to Brexit: All efforts by the EU to tackle the billions of Euros being stolen by agrarian mafias has been steadily blocked by the British elite through the House of Lords & their representatives to the European Parliament. They collect billions also, as they own most of the farmland in England and the EU agricultural subsidies are a real boon for them. Money from EU taxpayers – including British taxpayers – all going into the pockets of the aristocracy.

Brexit is a chance for Britain to move forward on its own path and an opportunity for the EU to start tackling its own major issues. But this current Brexit will never be allowed to succeed by British bureaucrats with different agendas and the EU will address problems by adding some more bureaucracy on top of what it already has and call it a solution.