Joe Biden has been soundly attacked by the GOP for planning a meeting with Saudi leader Mohammad Bin Salman. This isn’t surprising considering where MBS sits on the shit scale, but those who are censuring Biden have to realize that there is a lot more at stake here than the death of Washington Post reporter Jamal Khashoggi. The Saudis may be an uncivilized bunch of sand rats but they happen to be sitting on a hell of a lot of oil. That alone makes them a real player and that’s how they must be treated.
That doesn’t mean that Biden should back up at all. Mohammad bin Salman is basically a Seventh Century barbarian with a few modern leanings.
Biden must find a subtle but firm way to let MBS know that we know his country is the real reason that 911 happened, and that we now understand that Bush/Cheney should have invaded Saudi Arabia not Iraq or Afghanistan. Then he must assure MBS that we can still make that war happen if we don’t get the oil we need from the Saudi’s to supplement the oil the world is about to leave in the ground in Russia.
MBS may be a little out of control but he is no fool and his modernization policies are definitely viewed kindly by the US.
For the last 80 years or so we have had the dumbest and least effective foreign policy of any world power since Genghis Khan. It has always been based on fear of someone else usually Communists. We destroyed Central and South America because we were always worried about Communist influence, so we usually picked the wrong leader or insurrectionist to support. We did the same thing in the Far East where we backed Chiang Kai- shek, a would-be dictator, in his battle with the Chi-coms and we blew a war in Vietnam for the same reason.
This time we have to make sure that we give Ukraine everything they need to kick the crap out of Russia and then make sure that we keep the new regime, that will take over in Moscow, in a place where they can function as a nation but not as a world power.
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California voters sent a clear message to progressives at this week’s election. They fired the San Francisco DA while going for a conservative Democrat as mayor of LA. What does this mean? How about, people are sick of fear and chaos. People are done with dumb reforms that don’t do the job and they want some order in the chaos of their lives. It doesn’t mean they think the cops are perfect or that police around the nation don’t need reforms, but they are sick of the stupidity of WOKE reform. When DA’s refuse to prosecute they send the message to crooks that it’s okay to rob and rape. No one with any sense wants that.
And if anything can make the January 6thhearings successful it will be the recognition of that concept. The acceptance of crime, as “something we have to learn to live with,” will be the end of civilization, as we know it. Throughout the history of civilized man we have had instituted laws so that we can live in peace with each other. Laws have always been necessary because it seems the human race is plagued by the presence of those who are all too ready to place their needs and wants ahead of others and are prepared to achieve them regardless of effect.
A New York DA has decided not to prosecute minor crimes leading to unsafe streets and chaos. A DA in San Francisco had, it appears to have decided not to prosecute any crime at all, leading to a terrorized city and his removal by the voters. Around the rest of the country the national affection for guns has led to increased murders. This has to stop. Now!
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It should be obvious by now that if our election process didn’t include the Electoral College, Trump’s false narrative of winning the election would have been much harder to sell. After all, the popular vote was decisively against him, even in the election he won. The vote of the American public trounced Trump. Twice! It’s only in the Electoral College that Trump won the first time. And it was only through the existence of that failed institution that Trump almost stole the election in 2020.
In the 21st Century, with its accumulation of modern technology there is only one reason for the Electoral College to exist. It is the enhancement of the chances of minority candidates. That’s why the GOP loves it. They are now a minority party and they will remain so, as long as they refuse to accept every citizen’s right to live a fruitful life.
Sure, they have a majority in some rural states, and everyone loves to root for the underdog, but the concept of how this country is ruled is one man, one vote, majority rules. We’ve already violated that egregiously in how we stock our Senate. The fact that North and South Dakota, Idaho, Montana, Utah and Wyoming have 12 senators while California with more people than all those states combined has 2, should make it clear what a farcical situation we already have in our government, but allowing the Electoral College to continue to exist just to give the GOP a shot is nothing short of national suicide.
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How will people vote in November? Well, 83% of voters see the economy as the biggest consideration in their vote/ 81% see inflation as just as important.
But the economy is booming; there are two job vacancies for every unemployed worker. Manufacturers can’t find enough people to work. Wages have risen to an all time high. Oil companies seeing the end of their control of the energy field, have jacked up prices to unconscionable levels while the above-mentioned labor shortages have caused shortages in goods and services.
The $2.3 trillion in excess savings, accumulated during the last couple of years and then added to by the government giveaways that were horded during the pandemic are building buying power and adding to the inflation bubble None of of this was caused by Joe Biden and there is very little he can do to assuage it. Yes, he can try to cut gas prices but that will only last until the first court case against it is lost. The only way to break the fossil fuel companies grip on the industry is to release reserves and pressure the Saudi’s to pump up production, thereby flooding the market and forcing prices down. *******
This Week did a very short piece on the musician Prince and his battle over control of his “masters,” the original copies of his music. It seems he had signed a contract with Warner Music in which he gave up control of how those masters were used in exchange for a lot of money. He fought back after he realized that in signing the contract, he had given up control of how and when his music was to be released. Part of his side of the battle was to write the word “slave” on his face at his concerts. It may have been effective PR from his POV, but no slave ever got paid what Prince did for his work. Maybe he should have written “greedy malcontent” instead. Prince eventually won his battle with Warner’s, took control of his masters and then turned around and sold them back to Warner’s a few days later, revealing his whole battle to have been pure bullshit, a simple grab for more dough.