Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Unprecedented Territory



Trump's cabinet picks are going to end up seriously disappointing all those moms and pops from Main Street who thought he was going to clear the swamp:
Susan Page. December 12, 2016. Analysis: Trump's Cabinet dubbed 'Goldman, generals and gazillionaires'. USA Today.http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/12/11/trumps-cabinet-goldman-generals-and-gazillionaires/95299216/

After campaigning as the least ideological presidential contender in modern times, Trump is naming a Cabinet and senior White House staff that is dominated by retired military leaders, wealthy business executives and partisan activists who oppose the historic mission of the departments they are poised to head. While the president-elect issued few policy blueprints while he was seeking the job, his nominees for key posts already have been leading the charge to dismantle President Obama's initiatives on health care and climate change.

"I call it the three 'G' Cabinet: Goldman, generals and gazillionaires," Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat, said mockingly Sunday on ABC's This Week, a reference to multiple Trump appointees who have worked at the Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs.
This hypocrisy is stark and frightening.

The state of the country is unprecedented in my lifetime.  It is bewildering to see the CIA and the FBI at odds over whether the Russians influenced the election or not. (see http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2016/12/12/cia-fbi-russian-election-hacking-trump-clinton/95329212/)

Charles Hugh-Smith, whose work I respect, asks whether the "deep state" is at war  with itself http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-12-13/deep-state-war-itself

The entire situation defies reason.

One thing is clear: the concerns/interests/needs of the "average" woman and man matter little in this game of thrones....

 

8 comments:

  1. Today Reuters reports: Exclusive: Top U.S. spy agency has not embraced CIA assessment on Russia hacking - sources
    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-intelligence-idUSKBN14204E

    he overseers of the U.S. intelligence community have not embraced a CIA assessment that Russian cyber attacks were aimed at helping Republican President-elect Donald Trump win the 2016 election, three American officials said on Monday.

    While the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) does not dispute the CIA's analysis of Russian hacking operations, it has not endorsed their assessment because of a lack of conclusive evidence that Moscow intended to boost Trump over Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton, said the officials, who declined to be named.

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  2. I do not think we know what Trump will do. Already Ryan and Graham are talking about the national debt though both participated in helping Obama double it. It would be very naive to imagine that the Congress is filled with good hearted persons. For the most part Congress has gone along with Obama and then complained. Bad faith over and over again. Likewise when it comes to the cabinet what I see is Trump loading his cabinet with strong men who will do their jobs. We have had eight years of a weak president, an incompetent cabinet and in general the project of weakening the nation. We may find that deporting illegal aliens allows the USA to avoid more of the so called humanitarian interventions. And we could use some infrastructure renewal. We may have to sacrifice a bit in order to not have nuclear power plants--using coal instead. Even an angel would not be able to walk a straight line in this nation. In short compromise. Personally I am very tired of PC. Of being told that an American flag or a nativity scene will offend someone. We as a nation do not seem to mind killing millions of Arabs--but fear offending someone? 20 to 30 million civilians killed by our military since WWII. How do we turn that off? I think Trump has an idea of how to do that. Returning to the cabinet as Paul Craig Roberts observed unless you put strong people with insider knowledge in your cabinet they will get eaten alive. Also we could do with someone that actually has fellow feeling and compassion. I do not know whether Obama is a sociopath or a psychopath; I am sure that Hillary is the latter. Just contemplate Libya and drones for a few minutes. Finally we do know that Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern nations boosted Hillary -- but that is okay? Personally I think the Russian element is a hoax. On the other hand Project Veritas gave us some good info on the Democrat party. And I trust Assange more than the CIA or Obama. Well, whether we like Trump or loathe him is largely a group matter. Group selection is at work. Who would you feel more comfortable about leaving your children with for a week or so? Trump or Hillary? [Hillary is an un-indicted felon.] I can't see Tillerman doing the sorts of things that Albright and Clinton have done. He is too human. Well, in closing I realize that anyone in Academia has to walk the straight and narrow as did Methodist ministers once. As they now must say at Oxford, the zes will reap what they have sown.

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    1. I strongly disagree with you William on the nature of Trump's appointees. He has 3 Goldman Sachs pics: Munchin, Bannon and Cohn.

      He is putting Exxon (by proxy) in charge of the state dept!

      I could go on the appointments are all so alarming.

      He is aggravating China in a public manner. Why?
      http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/12/politics/china-trump-one-china-reaction/

      What is the point of sowing havoc?

      William I know you can be well reasoned, but these choices are alarming for many reasons.

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    2. If Trump were most people,even most political people, I would disagree with me as well! It is inevitable that Trump will play chess with Lloyd Blankfein. Who will tell Trump of Blankfein's favorite moves? Perhaps these men are Trump's German Shepherds to help deal with the wolves? He made a very big point about not informing the enemy ahead of time of one's plans unlike Obama on numerous occasions. He keeps people in the dark. He kept Romney in the dark for a while. In any case Goldman Sachs is unavoidable and powerful. Tillerman knows how to deal with Putin. Each man or woman is chosen with great care for a certain role as yet unannounced. This presidency will be like a TV series where we will have to tune in each week and see what happens. No spoilers allowed. Presently Washington, D.C. should be treated as a crime scene with the yellow tape stretched all around it. No wonder Trump is leaving his wife and son in NY and even planning on staying there half the time. Would you or any other decent person want to sleep in any of the bedrooms? The White House needs a major de-ghosting among other things. I would hire some Native American shaman to come in and some Catholic priests as well. In conclusion Trump is putting together an aristocratic group of wealthy,powerful and talented people who hopefully will strike fear into the hearts of people like Ryan, Graham, Pelosi, McCain . . . they will not be looking down their noses at Tillerman or Mattis!

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  3. Check out what is happening in Europe, Australia. Guess things are so unstable nuclear will get a pass. They will just build more. I wonder when yucca will open. The ring of fire appears to be very active in industrialized-nuclear areas.

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  4. The real question: Is Trump a bogey man? If he had nominated Mitt Romney for Secretary of State I would have been surprised. And distressed as "Mitten" is not a good guy. So far Trump has not nominated any crooks. We should be grateful for that. But his nominees will have to associate with crooks and deal with them. For example, John McCain, Lindsay
    Graham, Nancy Pelosi and many others. Most of us hopefully have not had to maintain cordial relationships with crooks. Fortunately Harry Reid, one of the worst, will be gone.
    So is Trump a crook? I knew all along that he was not sold on Climate Change. I am not sure where to look to find out if he is a crook. I can just observe Hillary and know she is lying. Same with Bill and Obama.
    "Black Homeless Woman Says Trump Allowed Her to Live in Trump Tower Rent Free For 8 Years" http://www.infowars.com/black-homeless-woman-says-trump-allowed-her-to-live-in-trump-tower-rent-free-for-8-years/

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  5. Things not looking good at Fukushima daiichi.
    Reuters news from Friday had three titles about nuclear shakedowns, without calling them that, of course. Through international litigation, Russia managed to fleece Bulgaria of 620 million euros ($660 million)- forcing it to purchase unwanted nuclear reactor parts for the Belene nuclear power station project, which dates from the late 1980s when Bulgaria was a Russian-Soviet satellite-client state. Bulgaria decided that it did not want the nuclear power station, but is being forced to purchase the parts.

    Interesting that a 2009 Wikileaks cable states that NEC (Bulgaria) “has sunk approximately 700 million euros into the project, while the Russians are not out of pocket and could walk away losing nothing. Meanwhile, cost estimates for Belene continue to creep up, running as high as eight billion euros,double the original price.” (See entire cable further down.)

    Rarely reported is that Russian state owned Rosatom (including its many subsidiaries under other names, e.g. Atomstroyexport) remains one of the largest (perhaps the largest) nuclear energy companies in the world, along with French State owned Areva. Only Bellona seems to consistently report on them: “The Russian State Nuclear Energy Corporation Rosatom is one of the world’s largest nuclear companies, with operations not only in Russia, but in many countries around the world. The last years, Rosatom has been very active in trying to expand its operations, proposing and building nuclear power plants all around the world“. Read more here: http://bellona.org/news/nuclear-issues/2016-10-the-future-of-russian-nuclear-power-plants-rosatom-abroad

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for the comment anonymous.

      Rosatom Aims for 20% of U.S. Nuclear Fuel Supply After GE Deal
      by Elena Mazneva
      May 31, 2016, 12:32 AM MST
      https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-31/rosatom-aims-for-20-of-u-s-nuclear-fuel-supply-after-ge-deal

      Delete

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