Day: June 14, 2016

by William Skink

The politics of tragedy are moving quick as partisans seek to take advantage of the carnage to attack their political opponents. At Intelligent Discontent, Pete Talbot intertwines comments from the great boogeyman, Donald Trump, with a statement from Ryan Zinke in a post titled Zinke and Trump and AR-15’s. Here is the quote from Trump that Talbot uses:

When it comes to Radical Islamic terrorism, ignorance is not bliss – it’s deadly. We need to tell the truth, also, about how Radical Islam is coming to our shores. We are importing Radical Islamic Terrorism into the West through a failed immigration system — and through an intelligence community held back by our president … I don’t want them in our country.

The problem with calling out Trump when he erroneously conflates a failed immigration system (with which Obama has deported more illegals than even Bush) with Radical Islamic Terrorism is that, with Hillary as their nominee, Democrats have zero credibility. And that will make attacks like this one from Trump quite effective:

Donald Trump on Monday demanded that Hillary Clinton return $25 million the Clinton Foundation reportedly received from Saudi Arabia.

“Crooked Hillary says we must call on Saudi Arabia and other countries to stop funding hate,” Trump posted to Facebook. “I am calling on her to immediately return the $25 million plus she got from them for the Clinton Foundation!”
…
“Saudi Arabia and many of the countries that gave vast amounts of money to the Clinton Foundation want women as slaves and to kill gays,” Trump wrote in a separate post. “Hillary must return all money from such countries!”

Democrats can mock and ridicule and shame Trump supporters till they turn blue in the face, trying desperately to smear local Republicans with his words, but because Democrats don’t have the courage to oppose “Crooked Hillary”, too many of Trumps attacks will be both accurate, and effective.

Lost in all this is the actual truth behind America’s special relationship with Saudi Arabia. To get that truth a great place to start is Bitter Lake, a fascinating documentary by Adam Curtis.

America has been entangled with the Saudis for over half a century, especially the Bush family. And that relationship will continue to thrive under the coming Clinton regime.

Pete Talbot concluded his post by linking to a little pep-talk from a former CIA officer suggesting it’s critical to listen to one’s enemies. I know, I puked in my mouth a little bit to. From the link:

“If I learned one lesson from my time with the CIA, it is this: Everybody believes they are the good guy,” Fox said in a video shared by AJ+ on Facebook Monday.

When it comes to the Islamic State militant group, Fox says the public conversation is “more oversimplified than ever” and encompasses stories “manufactured” by a small minority of powerful people who remain in power by “convincing the rest of us to keep killing each other.”

She believes understanding comes with listening.

“The only real way to disarm your enemy is to listen to them,” she said. “If you hear them out, if you’re brave enough to really listen to their story, you can see that more often than not you might’ve made some of the same choices if you’d lived their life instead of yours.”

I don’t disagree with the sentiment, but honestly, fuck the CIA. If one were to read just Russ Baker’s Family of Secrets and David Talbot’s The Devil’s Chessboard one would understand that much of the global carnage that has killed millions and put us on the precipice of another world war stems from what the CIA has done under monsters like Allen Dulles and George Bush, Sr.

Because too many Americans–Democrats and Republicans alike–are blinded by American Exceptionalism and ignorant of this dark history, that small minority of powerful people will continue manufacturing oversimplified stories (read: propaganda) to keep the rest of us killing each other.

And to show how little difference there truly is between The Donald and Killery, they’re both getting a big hard on for bombing ISIS:

HILLARY CLINTON AND Donald Trump reacted to the Orlando shooting with evidence that they can agree on at least one thing: bombing people. Both candidates called for an escalation of the U.S.-led bombing campaign against ISIS in Syria and Iraq.

“We have generals that feel we can win this thing so fast and so strong, but we have to be furious for a short period of time, and we’re not doing it!” Trump complained on Fox & Friends Monday morning.

“Are you saying hit Raqqa right now?” asked host Brian Kilmeade. “We’re going to have to start thinking about something,” Trump replied.

Along the same lines, Clinton suggested during her post-Orlando speech Monday afternoon that “We should keep the pressure on ramping up the air campaign.”

by William Skink

The politics of tragedy are moving quick as partisans seek to take advantage of the carnage to attack their political opponents. At Intelligent Discontent, Pete Talbot intertwines comments from the great boogeyman, Donald Trump, with a statement from Ryan Zinke in a post titled Zinke and Trump and AR-15’s. Here is the quote from Trump that Talbot uses:

When it comes to Radical Islamic terrorism, ignorance is not bliss – it’s deadly. We need to tell the truth, also, about how Radical Islam is coming to our shores. We are importing Radical Islamic Terrorism into the West through a failed immigration system — and through an intelligence community held back by our president … I don’t want them in our country.

The problem with calling out Trump when he erroneously conflates a failed immigration system (with which Obama has deported more illegals than even Bush) with Radical Islamic Terrorism is that, with Hillary as their nominee, Democrats have zero credibility. And that will make attacks like this one from Trump quite effective:

Donald Trump on Monday demanded that Hillary Clinton return $25 million the Clinton Foundation reportedly received from Saudi Arabia.

“Crooked Hillary says we must call on Saudi Arabia and other countries to stop funding hate,” Trump posted to Facebook. “I am calling on her to immediately return the $25 million plus she got from them for the Clinton Foundation!”
…
“Saudi Arabia and many of the countries that gave vast amounts of money to the Clinton Foundation want women as slaves and to kill gays,” Trump wrote in a separate post. “Hillary must return all money from such countries!”

Democrats can mock and ridicule and shame Trump supporters till they turn blue in the face, trying desperately to smear local Republicans with his words, but because Democrats don’t have the courage to oppose “Crooked Hillary”, too many of Trumps attacks will be both accurate, and effective.

Lost in all this is the actual truth behind America’s special relationship with Saudi Arabia. To get that truth a great place to start is Bitter Lake, a fascinating documentary by Adam Curtis.

America has been entangled with the Saudis for over half a century, especially the the Bush family. And that relationship will continue to thrive under the coming Clinton regime.

Pete Talbot concluded his post by linking to a little pep-talk from a former CIA officer suggesting it’s critical to listen to one’s enemies. I know, I puked in my mouth a little bit to. From the link:

“If I learned one lesson from my time with the CIA, it is this: Everybody believes they are the good guy,” Fox said in a video shared by AJ+ on Facebook Monday.

When it comes to the Islamic State militant group, Fox says the public conversation is “more oversimplified than ever” and encompasses stories “manufactured” by a small minority of powerful people who remain in power by “convincing the rest of us to keep killing each other.”

She believes understanding comes with listening.

“The only real way to disarm your enemy is to listen to them,” she said. “If you hear them out, if you’re brave enough to really listen to their story, you can see that more often than not you might’ve made some of the same choices if you’d lived their life instead of yours.”

I don’t disagree with the sentiment, but honestly, fuck the CIA. If one were to read just Russ Baker’s Family of Secrets and David Talbot’s The Devil’s Chessboard one would understand that much of the global carnage that has killed millions and put us on the precipice of another world war stems from what the CIA has done under monsters like Allen Dulles and George Bush, Sr.

Because too many Americans–Democrats and Republicans alike–are blinded by American Exceptionalism and ignorant of this dark history, that small minority of powerful people will continue manufacturing oversimplified stories (read: propaganda) to keep the rest of us killing each other.

And to show how little difference there truly is between The Donald and Killery, they’re both getting a big hard on for bombing ISIS:

HILLARY CLINTON AND Donald Trump reacted to the Orlando shooting with evidence that they can agree on at least one thing: bombing people. Both candidates called for an escalation of the U.S.-led bombing campaign against ISIS in Syria and Iraq.

“We have generals that feel we can win this thing so fast and so strong, but we have to be furious for a short period of time, and we’re not doing it!” Trump complained on Fox & Friends Monday morning.

“Are you saying hit Raqqa right now?” asked host Brian Kilmeade. “We’re going to have to start thinking about something,” Trump replied.

Along the same lines, Clinton suggested during her post-Orlando speech Monday afternoon that “We should keep the pressure on ramping up the air campaign.”

by William Skink

For those in the LGBT community rallying against hate and intolerance, I’m sure it’s tempting to see the Democratic party as the political party that has your back. But the awkward truth of the matter is you are merely pawns in a larger political game.

Domestically, sure, Democrats have your back because it’s politically advantageous to do so. Religious fundamentalism is the purview of conservatives, after all.

Or is it?

Things get a little more complicated when one moves beyond the borders of this exceptional country because a different sort of calculus is required to maintain global hegemony. LGBT rights in this context only matter if they can be used against a global adversary, like we saw with Russia during the Olympic games:

Gay rights activists across the world have been holding a day of protests against the Russian government, just two days before the Winter Olympics begin in the southern resort of Sochi.

The protests seek to persuade sponsors of the event to speak out over Russia’s controversial laws on homosexuality.

The gay rights protests were organised in 19 cities around the globe.

The issue of gay rights was cynically exploited by western nations to embarrass Russia during the Olympic games. If gay rights were actually supported by western nations, then why the selective outrage against Russia and not, say, Islamic fundamentalists in countries like Qatar and Saudi Arabia, 2 of the 10 countries were being gay is punishable by death?

Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia declared it wanted to execute gay people who showed their sexuality in public or online:

The government in the Sunni Kingdom is reportedly demanding tougher punishments on those found guilty and claimed social media has caused a boom in homosexuality.

According to Okaz newspaper, the last six months has seen 35 cases of homosexuality and 50 cases of cross-dressers as well as cases of “sexual perversion” in Saudi Arabia.

The judiciary reportedly also claimed there has been a large rise in “perverts” displaying “sins and obscenities” on social media in the Sunni Kingdom.

It comes after a Saudi man was arrested this week when he raised the rainbow flag outside his home in Jeddah.

In the wake of the Orlando massacre, some confusing information is coming out about the shooter that indicates he suffered not just from a mental illness, but very possibly was a conflicted gay man caught between his sexual orientation and his parents intolerance.

Omar Mateen had been a patron of the gay bar, Pulse, ‘for years’ according to a witness.  Mateen also went on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia fives years ago, before he got on the radar of the FBI.

While this complicates matters, for a presidential candidate like Hillary Clinton, it’s pretty simple: say anything to get elected, even if it’s a problematic term like radical Islamism:

Hillary Clinton used the term “radical Islamism” on Monday, marking the first time she has used the controversial phrase and signaling a break from President Barack Obama’s stance on it. She went on to stress that using the much-debated term for terrorism isn’t the point.

“Look, I think Trump, as usual is obsessed with name calling and from my perspective, it matters what we do, not what we say. It mattered that we got bin Laden, not the name we called him,” she said on TODAY on Monday.

“But if he is somehow suggesting I don’t call this for what it is, he hasn’t been listening. I have clearly said that we face terrorist enemies who use Islam to justify slaughtering innocent people. And, to me, radical jihadism, radical Islamism, I think they mean the same thing. I’m happy to say either, but that’s not the point.”

Luckily for Hillary, her supporters are brainwashed cult followers incapable of seeing the reality that terrorists and jihadists are great tools for neoliberal hawks like Hillary Clinton when they are slaughtering innocent people in non-aligned countries, like Libya and Syria.

Also, radical Islamism is just fine when it’s funding a significant part of her campaign for president.

Radical Islamic regimes like Saudi Arabia should remember that Hillary is a serial liar, so they shouldn’t be too upset when she shovels a pile of bullshit like this:

The third area that demands attention is preventing radicalization and countering efforts by ISIS and other international terrorist networks to recruit in the United States and Europe. For starters, it is long past time for the Saudis, the Qataris and the Kuwaitis and others to stop their citizens from funding extremist organizations. And they should stop supporting radical schools and mosques around the world that have set too many young people on a path towards extremism. We also have to use all our capabilities to counter jihadist propaganda online. This is something that I spend a lot of time on at the State Department.

In a response that quickly got deleted and has been disavowed as a hack, the crown prince allegedly stated the Saudis have funded 20% of Hillary’s campaign:

Jordan’s official news agency said on Tuesday that it was hacked when, over the weekend, a story briefly appeared on its website that said Saudi Arabia is a major funder of Hillary Clinton’s campaign to become the next president of the United States.

On Sunday a report appeared on the Petra News Agency website that included what were described as exclusive comments from Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The comments included a claim that Riyadh has provided 20 percent of the total funding to the prospective Democratic candidate’s campaign.

The report did not remain on the website for long, although the Washington-based Institute for Gulf Affairs later re-published an Arabic version of it, which quoted Prince Mohammed as having said Saudi Arabia had provided with “full enthusiasm” an undisclosed amount of money to Clinton.

“Saudi Arabia always has sponsored both Republican and Democratic Party of America and in America current election also provide with full enthusiasm 20 percent of the cost of Hillary Clinton’s election even though some events in the country don’t have a positive look to support the king of a woman (sic) for presidency,” the report quoted Prince Mohammed as having said.

On Monday a spokesperson for American public relations firm the Podesta Group contacted MEE to say that they work with the Saudi Royal Court and to request a correction to our earlier story that said the Jordanian news agency had deleted the quotes from Prince Mohammed.

Hillary should be careful not to bite the jihadist hand that feeds her and her sycophants like Tony Podesta, brother to John Podesta, who is paid to do damage control for the Saudis. This article is from last year, but is very relevant to current events:

New evidence shows that wealthy Saudi Arabian interests continue to invest heavily in getting former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton elected president. And Clinton’s ties with one of the world’s most brutal regimes may run deeper than anyone had imagined.

According to a new report from award-winning investigative journalist Michael Isikoff, the Saudi government has quietly handed a lucrative new “public relations” contract to Washington, DC lobbying outfit the Podesta Group. At least $200,000 has already changed hands.

The problem? The company is owned by top Clinton fundraiser Tony Podesta and the contract comes at a time when the Saudi government is facing international scrutiny over airstrikes in Yemen and a crackdown on Saudi political opponents.

When Hillary tries to talk tough on radical Islam, those who haven’t been lobotomized into supporting her should know she is full of shit. Hillary Clinton is fucking bankrolled by these murderous bastards who use undue pressure to get the UN to drop them from the murderous bastard list they deserve to be on:

The United Nations Secretary General excised the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen from an annual UN register of children’s rights violators, after the middle-eastern country and its coalition partners threatened to cut off crucial funding to the world body.

Ban Ki-Moon said the removal of Saudi Arabia from the list was “one of the most painful and difficult decisions” he has had to make as Secretary General, describing the pressure the Arab nation had exerted on the UN as “unacceptable”.

His admission came after the coalition – which comprises the Saudis, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Senegal and Sudan – was cut from the appendix of the UN’s annual Children and Armed Conflict report, to the dismay of human rights groups.

The appendix lists those countries that have violated children’s rights over the preceding 12 months. UN Investigators found that the Saudi coalition was to blame for the deaths of more than half of the 510 children killed in the conflict in Yemen last year.

So Democrats, before attending the next vigil, consider that in a few months you will be voting for a lying sociopath funded by jihadist child killers who sponsor terrorists like the ones who attacked us on 9/11, yet still are protected from exposure by powerful, treasonous forces within our own government.