A Bunch of Aimless, Miandering News Stories

This is Thursday February 2, 2017, Groundhog Day.  The political weather is adverse.  The democrats are like people who knew there was a storm coming but did not take the necessary precautions to guard against it.  Now they’re in the unenviable position of just having to face the full brunt of it not knowing how long it would last.  They would be knowing that they could expect some major disaster but barely wanting to even think about it because as of now there is no light at the end of the tunnel.  Those on the right are loaded for bear.  Ted Cruz spoke of “obstructionist policies” after one day of not approving Justice Gorsuch after they themselves sat on the Democratic justice nominee for nearly a year and did nothing.  Their whole avowed goal under Obama from day one was obstructionist against Obama and if Obama was less than a completely successful president, they only have themselves to blame for that.  Thom Hartman had that congressman on for an hour and that conversation was completely inconsequential.

Was the riot at Berkley a false flag operation?   I just lost the rest of this paragraph.  There were protests against a Britebart speaker and I think they should have gone on and let him speak, for what it’s worth.  Because right now it really makes the progressive protest movement look bad.  One can only imagine how FOX news will cover the thing.   False flag looks like the most logical thing because the political right is the one that most profits from this coverage. 

WASHINGTON — A day after the Trump administration put Iran on noticefor its launch of a ballistic missile, a war of words erupted between the American president and the Iranian government, with President Trump insulting Tehran on Twitter and the Iranians responding in kind.  A top adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Thursday that Iran would not be intimidated by threats from “an inexperienced person.” Mr. Trump’s national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, had warned Iran that it faced unspecified reprisals from the United States if it did not cease aggressive behavior toward its neighbors.  Mr. Trump echoed Mr. Flynn’s threat with a pair of early morning Twitter posts, in which he accused the Iranians of ingratitude for the nuclear deal negotiated with the West, which he asserted had rescued Iran from collapse.   The hostile statements have raised tensions between Iran and the United States to their highest levels since the signing of the nuclear deal in 2015. Some analysts said they worried that the harsh words could further escalate hostilities, and even precipitate a military confrontation, if Iran tests America with another missile launch.  My only comment here is that it’s better they let off tensions with a war of words rather than a missile launching contest. 

Now the republicans aren’t “repealing and replacing” Obama Care.  Instead there is talk about “Repairing Obama Care”.  That one is a first.  They have voted over fifty times to repeal the Affordable Care Act but now that they have the power to actually do it they are declining.  In other silly news Arnold Swartzenegger talked to Trump after Trump’s remark at the monthly prayer breakfast about “Praying for Swartzenegger’s ratings on his pathetic TV show” so Arnold responds to that “If you want we could switch jobs.  You take over my TV program and I’ll take over your job so we can all rest easy”.   President Arnold would be an improvement.  Then there was a phone call to Austrailia about accepting all of these Iranian refugees that the Obama administration had agreed to accept.  The question is whether or not they have been vetted. 

Even some Democrats are looking for a fight with Iran.  Here is the front page of the resolution introduced into the House of Representatives by Democrat Alcee L Hastings, an extremely close ally of Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who had to resign in disgrace as chair of the Democratic National Committee after WikiLeaks published emails establishing her corrupt endeavours to fix the primary elections for Hillary against Bernie Sanders.  The Resolution reads “To authorize the use of the United States Armed Forces to achieve the goal of preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.”   There is in fact no evidence that Iran is continuing a covert programme to produce nuclear weapons. British, French and Russian intelligence all assess that Iran is sticking to its agreements and – here is a key point – so do the CIA. But when did politicians ever let facts stand in their way?  Trump’s mad visa ban, which excludes Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States which are the main financiers, armers, ideologues and exporters of Salafist terrorism, turns out to be imposed on the countries which were on Obama’s watchlist. As the Hastings resolution shows, the anti-Iranian and pro-Saudi madness is bipartisan. To include Iran but exclude Saudi Arabia is further evidence of the twisting of US foreign policyto serve the interests of Saudi Arabia and its ally Israel.