Update no.910

Update from the Sunland

No.910

17.6.19 – 23.6.19

Blog version:  http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/

            To all,

            The follow-up news items:

-- After the recent attacks on commercial shipping [909], the IRI decided to shoot down a high-flying U.S. RQ-4 Global Hawk surveillance drone.  Then, the BIC made a big public to-do about pulling back a retaliatory strike on the radar and missile battery that shot down the drone 10 minutes before Time of Target (TOT) in a series of his infamous tweets.  

President Obama made a desperate and terrible deal with Iran - Gave them 150 Billion Dollars plus I.8 Billion Dollars in CASH! Iran was in big trouble and he bailed them out. Gave them a free path to Nuclear Weapons, and SOON. Instead of saying thank you, Iran yelled.....

6:03 AM - 21 Jun 2019

....Death to America. I terminated deal, which was not even ratified by Congress, and imposed strong sanctions. They are a much weakened nation today than at the beginning of my Presidency, when they were causing major problems throughout the Middle East. Now they are Bust!....

6:03 AM - 21 Jun 2019

....On Monday they shot down an unmanned drone flying in International Waters. We were cocked & loaded to retaliate last night on 3 different sights when I asked, how many will die. 150 people, sir, was the answer from a General. 10 minutes before the strike I stopped it, not....

6:03 AM - 21 Jun 2019

....proportionate to shooting down an unmanned drone. I am in no hurry, our Military is rebuilt, new, and ready to go, by far the best in the world. Sanctions are biting & more added last night. Iran can NEVER have Nuclear Weapons, not against the USA, and not against the WORLD!

6:03 AM - 21 Jun 2019

There are many aspects of this episode that simply do not track or make sense, but it is not worth my precious time to debunk the OSGOO’s foolish, self-serving words.  He wants us to believe he is a magnanimous, deliberate dictator.  Well Mr. BIC, your ploy does not work with me, since we cannot trust a single word that spews forth from your piehole.  Despite my inherent distrust of the BIC, I must acknowledge that proportionate response is warranted and appropriate in such circumstances. I want to think his concern for humanity is real and genuine; however, he has so spoiled his credibility that we cannot believe him, period, full stop!

            Then, as if the BIC’s shenanigans are not enough, we have this little jewel from the Wall Street Journal:

“The Case for Restraint in the Gulf -- So long as U.S. ships aren’t struck, Trump should stick with his current Iran strategy.”

by Walter Russell Mead

Wall Street Journal

Published: June 17, 2019; 7:15 p.m. ET

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-case-for-restraint-in-the-gulf-11560813331?mod=MorningEditorialReport&mod=&mod=djemMER_h

He stated:

Attacks on ships engaged in peaceful commerce in international waters are immoral and illegal and threaten the web of commerce on which the U.S. and its allies depend. But as long as no Americans are killed and no American-flagged carriers are struck, it will not be immediately clear to much of Mr. Trump’s base why the U.S. should retaliate militarily for attacks on Norwegian and Japanese ships—particularly since those nations are not clamoring for a response.

To be blunt, I am gobsmacked, as our British cousins say in such circumstances.  This not-my-problem thinking reminds me of Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous quote:

Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.  I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be.  This is the interrelated structure of reality.

Few countries hold the capacity to exact the price of transgressions by another nation-state.  The reasoning in Mead’s opinion is more like rationalization than substantive logic.  To think that attacks on commercial shipping do not affect us is simply narrow, myopic and unsupportable.  Such attacks on commercial shipping affect us all regardless of the flag the ship is under.  The same is true for a surveillance drone.  Mead is simply wrong, and the BIC remains an egocentric, self-serving liar.

            Lastly, my historical bent must note here that the U.S. imposed an absolute oil embargo of Japan on 31.July.1941.  That economic reality was the last straw for the Japanese, and they acted militarily four months later.  I want the IRI to be a peaceful, prosperous, law-abiding member of the community of nations, but driving them to war is not the answer.  I have been and remain more than a little concerned about the IRI and how this tragedy will play out. The BIC likes to say our military is ready to go, but unfortunately this Grand Republic is NOT ready.  I truly fear another war-on-the-cheap attempt like Bush 43 did in Iraq.  If the BIC wants to go to war, or stumbles blindly into war, I want the nation mobilized to do the job correctly and properly, not carry on some half-assed military demonstration that will only make matters worse.

-- A top UN investigator reported “credible evidence” that warranted further investigation of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s responsibility in the murder of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi [876] in October.  Perhaps naïvely, I have confidence the perpetrators of Khashoggi’s murder will be brought to justice someday.

-- As is the penchant of the OSGOO, he creates crises so that he can demonstrate his greatness in solving or alleviating the tension.

Next week ICE will begin the process of removing the millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the United States. They will be removed as fast as they come in. Mexico, using their strong immigration laws, is doing a very good job of stopping people.......

6:20 PM - 17 Jun 2019

....long before they get to our Southern Border. Guatemala is getting ready to sign a Safe-Third Agreement. The only ones who won’t do anything are the Democrats in Congress. They must vote to get rid of the loopholes, and fix asylum! If so, Border Crisis will end quickly!

6:20 PM - 17 Jun 2019

I was amazed when the Press reported the pending ICE raids and deportations.  I asked, why would low enforcement broadcast their actions days in advance?  Then, we got the answer.

I want to give the Democrats every last chance to quickly negotiate simple changes to Asylum and Loopholes. This will fix the Southern Border, together with the help that Mexico is now giving us. Probably won’t happen, but worth a try. Two weeks and big Deportation begins!

5:13 AM - 23 Jun 2019

The BIC wanted his own inverse version of “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.” (Job 1:21).  This nonsense has got to stop.  I understand the BIC’s desire to demonstrate his ability to act, but this create-and-fix foolishness is not how normal, respectful, human beings deal with each other to solve problems.

            Various Press sources reported the U.S. Soccer Federation and the 28 players in the U.S. women’s soccer team player pool suing the governing body for pay discrimination have tentatively agreed to pursue mediation after the World Cup ends.  The timing is not great with the women’s national team in the middle of their World Cup campaign, but only the powers that be know if there was an ulterior motive.  Nonetheless, I absolutely support the women players’ efforts to achieve equality.  In fact, for many years now, the American women have performed much better than the men’s national team and by performance standards should be paid more than the men. I wish the women every success in their match play on the pitch and in their pending mediation.  The day is long overdue that gender (or any of the other social factors) should be expunged from work performance compensation.  Equal is equal, period, full stop, drop the mic.

            Comments and contributions from Update no.909:

Comment to the Blog:

“As I understand it, the immigration agreement with Mexico was mostly in place prior to Chump's tariff threats.  (Yawns)  It's just more ‘meat’ for the base.

“The impeachment process wends its slow way.  Incidentally, those delay tactics work well against private parties such as the many contractors Chump has stiffed as a developer.  They add great legal expense for the little guy as well as slowing the process.  That ties up the amount due for a long period even if the plaintiff eventually wins.  The victim spends years and (for example) $50,000 trying to collect $20,000 or less.  Then the actual collection process begins.

“I'd gladly take Kellyanne Conway up on her challenge to ‘let me know when the jail sentence starts’ but I'd settle for sending her back to private corruption.

“With some reluctance, I'll point out that the attacks in the Strait of Hormuz have some of the traits of a rather amateurish ‘false flag’ operation.  I'm not much of a conspiracy person, but it smells exactly like something Chump would originate.

“Hong Kong seeks independence, as do all colonies.

“Thirty hours of Chump ought to carry a warning message.  That would induce nausea in me.  There's little to no news in that, except for Chump advocating for international conspiracy by candidates.

“I just now re-read one of your responses from last week.  This is it verbatim.  ‘I think the likelihood of the BIC going to prison, as he should, is remote, verging upon impossible.  In this instance, I am also with the Speaker; I would rather see him in prison than impeached.’  Do you see a problem with this?  I do.”

My response to the Blog:

            Oh my, you got that right . . . just his style—not illegal, just wholly unethical.  I might also add a related observation: capitalists a century ago viewed employees as consumable resources like water or wood—use them until they are no longer productive, throw them away, and hire new ones; there was always a ready supply of manual labor.  The BIC has displayed many of the traits common to those archaic capitalists.  He could not care less about those he ruins to stoke his supposed wealth.

            Conway deserves prison, but arrogance is not a crime and the Hatch Act has no penalties.

            Yes, you are of course correct—a false-flag operation is certainly plausible.  We do not know beyond a reasonable doubt.

            Hong Kong . . . independence . . . quite so.

            I recorded the program on the BIC, but I’ve not watched it, as yet.  I will.

            OK.  I’ll bite.  What’s the problem with my statement?

. . . Round two:

“The problem with your statement is that you think Chump going to prison is ‘verging on impossible’ but then you turn around and say you'd rather see him go to prison than be impeached.  By your own statement, he's not going to prison.  What alternative to impeachment remains?”

 . . . my response to round two:

            Ahso!  I did not see the two sentences as dependent.  They are related, but they are two different facets, i.e., Republicans will likely defend their leader at all costs; and as you observed, if Pence succeeded the BIC, he would likely pardon him (and thus render him un-prosecutable) . . . at least at the federal level.  The Speaker’s statement was an observation rather than a legal opinion.  I still have not seen enough hard evidence for a reasonable shot at conviction given the current Senate.  Impeachment without conviction falls short on the cost-benefit assessment, IMHO.  The only thing I can see that will turn Republican senators is their constituents who have been convinced by the evidence that the BIC committed multiple high crimes and misdemeanors as POTUS.  We are not there yet, and time’s a-wastin’, IMHO.  To that end, I believe the Special Counsel’s Report provides the roadmap as an accurate assessment of the evidence, but only substantial hard evidence will break the grip of the BIC’s faithful.  I trust the Special Counsel’s Report; other citizens do not; therein lies the problem.

 . . . Round three:

“I see it as the House's duty to impeach as soon as the process formally uncovers appropriate evidence.  That's because (A) impeachment without conviction has historically hobbled Presidents and (B) the Constitution says that's their duty.  We can concern ourselves with the Senate when the trial reaches that body during or after the election year.  (Let's not fool ourselves again about the Democratic National Committee's willingness and ability to win the election.)”

 . . . my response to round three:

            On this point, we shall respectfully disagree.  What you are suggesting is quite akin to a prosecutor charging to trial without regard to the likelihood of conviction by rationalization that he will worry about the jury when it comes time for a verdict.  I fully understand your desire to at least hobble the BIC, if we cannot terminate his constitutional authority.  However, I still see a trial without conviction as an extraordinarily wasteful and divisive action.  After all, we are talking about negating the will of 62M American citizens; that is not a trivial action.

 . . . Round four:

“As we saw with Nixon, Senators often change their minds during the airing of evidence. We're not talking about specious charges here. The ‘will of 62 million American citizens’ is still not a majority and in any case, the issue focuses on whether they were deceived by Russian interference.”

 . . . my response to round four:

            Those 62M citizens elected 53 Republican senators, and 67 senators are required for conviction under articles of impeachment and the Constitution.  Substantial hard evidence is required to shake them from their loyalty for the BIC; that evidence must be placed before all of We, the People.  The Special Counsel’s Report roadmap was not sufficient to do that.  Yes, indeed, senators can and will change their mind when sufficient hard evidence generates overwhelming calls for impeachment by their constituents. We are a long way from that point. However, I think we can say we have seen a softening in the BIC’s support.

Another contribution:

“Yes, the leading contender is a major ‘break with Europe now man’ called Boris Johnson.  He does appear to have considerable support from his fellow party members.  It is interesting to note that a ‘top runner’ has never aspired successfully to the post of Prime Minister.  However in this case he may break with this tradition.  So far he hasn’t appeared on any of the televised gatherings of the conservative MPs striving for this post. This situation is reaching a climax this week I feel.  And then Cap, we battle on with the Brexit struggle, which is boring the entire nation like a drill looking for absent oil.  We have, I believe, lost most of the respect and confidence in our Members of Parliament that includes both major parties.  They all have much work to do to restore their trusted position in society.

“Whoever takes up the challenge he will have a massively difficult task with Europe.  I say ‘he’ because the ladies who wished to succeed Mrs. May have regrettably all stood down.”

My reply:

            I have never been impressed by Boris Johnson, but it is not my choice either.  I hope the Conservatives can make quick work of their selection.  We need someone’s hand on the tiller. Although given our current situation, steering toward the rocks & shoals is not particularly reassuring either.  I can imagine Brexit is exhausting the Motherland, just as the BIC and his divisiveness are tiring this Grand Republic.  We need to be done with these issues and recover our strength.

            My very best wishes to all.  Take care of yourselves and each other.

Cheers,

Cap                        :-)