Bacon Bits for February 26, 2017

When I named this blog in November of 2016, it was with a large dose of self-mockery as, before November 8th, I was convinced that this country would see through Donald Trump and could not possibly elect him President — in other words, when pigs fly, right?

Clearly I was wrong, hence pigs can fly, and here we are today.

Yet, it is with some satisfactory irony that I find Trump and his administration to be true to form — they can’t stop floating porcine dirigibles at every opportunity.  Going forward, I will call these bacon bits — the chaff of the flying pig.

So, our blog’s weekly roundup has morphed a bit — I will still summarize what I feel is important each week, but with a focus on the bacon bits.  Let’s get started.

What Is Clear Now and Future Posts

What is the reason, the motive if you will, behind this clear connection between the Trump world and the Putin world?  I’ve been asking myself this question for a long time — at least a year — and there is no easy answer.

Liberals would love to find a smoking gun that demonstrates disloyalty to the country if not outright treason, but that does not make much sense.

Why?  Because our intelligence services know the answer to this question, and it makes no sense that they would allow a “traitor” to operate in the executive branch let alone run it.

That leaves me looking deeper, and broader, and considering the changing political landscape as a whole.

Bear with me for a moment . . .

It’s been clear for awhile that Trump-world (with its Bannon-esque strategic view) is right-wing, nationalistic, and intensely opposed to anything “other” — “other” being anything that doesn’t fit the strategic view.  Gay?  You don’t fit the view — out.  Mexican?  You don’t fit the view right now — out (maybe that changes after we sufficiently stomp on your economy and effectively colonize you).  Europe — not right-wing enough, hate the competitive nature of the Eurozone — out.  NATO — giant sucking sound from the U.S. to Europe and especially the despised Eastern Europe — out.

Russia — run by a right-wing, nationalistic authoritarian intensely opposed to anything “other” — “other” being anything that doesn’t fit the Putin-esque strategic view of the world.  Gay?  You don’t fit, in fact, you don’t fit so much, we will stomp on you — out.  Europe — hate your democratic institutions and economic power — out.  Eastern Europe — we own you, you are “Mexico” to us, we will dominate you — out (to be let back in when acquiesce to effective colonization by Russia again).

Are you starting to see how this relationship is working?  It’s really about two like-minded, bigoted, bullying, nationalistic, us vs. them strategies orbiting in some type of symbiotic relationship.  In other words, natural allies in their demented views of the world.

This, my friends, is what we need to fear — the undermining of the U.S.-led era of social, economic, and political democratization across Europe, Asia, and North America that has existed at least since the end of WWII — that’s 70 years of leadership in a direction that is purely anathema to these guys.

They don’t want to just tear down our internal social structures — ACA, Medicare, Social Security — they want to re-arrange all of the pieces in favor of their people.

This is what we need to be watching — for the motive, for the real beneficiary of these changes, and fight against that.  I do not want our country to abandon the leadership and vision it has shown in the world for the last 70 years, do you?

So, the mission of this blog going forward is to examine which pig is flying and why?  The flying pig is the distraction — what’s the real story?

For instance, take this ridiculous facade that Trump is bringing back mining jobs with his pollution-allowing, stream-poisoning executive orders.  That’s crap — mining jobs have been going down for a long time due to the relative inexpensiveness of natural gas — and it will continue to do so!

Mining jobs are not going up.  However, removing pollution regulations does mean those rich mine owners will now have more pocket money.

Flying pig in this case:  more mining jobs.  Real winner:  rich mine owners.  Real losers:  the environment, the water supply, probably for those same miners that aren’t getting more jobs.

If you see a flying pig, let me know and I will write about it.  Better yet, join me, if you would like to post, I will set you up on the blog.

 

 

 

Lets just quote it.

“Reporters will not tell you the truth.”

“Unfortunately, much of the media in Washington, D.C., along with New York and Los Angeles in particular, speaks not for the people, but for the special interests and for those profiting off a very, very obviously broken system.”

What?  Trump has appointed the rich and connected, he has promised Wall Street repeal of the Dodd-Frank regulations that are intended to prevent another Great Recession, and he says the media is for special interests?  Lie.

“I inherited a mess.”

Bullshit, the economy is thriving, our deficit is now down to 3% of GDP, incomes are finally, finally starting to go up, ISIS is losing ground through the deliberate strategy of aiding our allies rather than sending in our troops, and illegal immigration has stabilized over the last 4 years.

The mess, frankly, is his hair.  I hate to do that, but for the love of television, can’t anyone in his entourage actually do something with the outlandish piece of hair sticking up from his left side?  Its as if someone thought to say or do something and he lashed out at them — no one lets that happen on live TV.

Ugh.  More on the conference to come tomorrow . . .

Rambling and Nonsense

How can one watch the President’s press conference from today and not realize that he is unhinged?  Rambling, incoherent, wild accusations, constant complaining and listing grievances, blaming the media.  How does this man stay minimally functional let alone lead our great country?  I am boggled.

We are now at the point where every single news outlet with any sense of normalcy is calling this out.  The only places where that press conference are defended are the right-wing outlets of Breitbart, Fox News, and Rush Limbaugh.

“This was one of the most effective press conferences I’ve ever seen.”

Seriously? The most effective?

The depravity and servile reporting of right-wing media is reaching new lows. Everyone and everything else that is not toeing the Pravda line is now “fake” and “liberal”. It is laughable to think that CNN is “liberal”. CNN is liberal in the same way that horses speak English. Its garbage, its lies, and it is taken in and believed — that, friends, is the saddest part of this story.

Weekly News Roundup — Feb. 11, 2017

It was quite a tumultuous week for the new administration, culminating in the resignation of National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn.  Flynn is a crackpot, and having him out of the role is nothing but good for this country.

However, the reason for his resignation is quite troubling.  Flynn’s connections to Russia, and his conversations with the Russian ambassador before the inauguration bring back that ugly association of Trump and his campaign with a national adversary.

The question at hand is simple, what did Trump know about this and when?  It defies belief that Trump wasn’t aware of Flynn’s connections — Flynn has been officially advising Trump since April of 2016 — and our Republican congress is conveniently silent over the administrations issues.

As more intelligence is revealed, it is becoming clearer that the possibility of a Manchurian candidate is gaining credibility — remember, Trump cares about nothing unless it benefits him in some way.  Loyalty to Trump is above all else, even country.

Next:  Preparing for the mid-term elections and what you can do!

On A Personal Note

My apologies for the lack of blogging lately.  Recently, we decided to move to Nashville and have spent the last month or so selling and buying a house and finding new jobs.

The good news is that it is all complete . . . we are closing on our home in Wisconsin on March 28th and on our new home in Nashville on March 30th.  Deb has a job she starts on Monday and I’ve been verbally offered a position to start on Feb. 27!

So, you should see more posting coming up — my next post a follow-up on the Russian connection.

Weekly News Roundup – Feb. 2, 2017

A quick post today to bring your attention to a few things.

First, a recommended website from a good friend:  https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/

The site is a good, daily round-up of news from sites that I consider to be sane.  Not unbiased, necessarily, but certainly within the realm of realism that is expected in most journalism.  It is not sensationalism.  It is not ideological.  It is not Pravda trumpeting for the administration (notice what I did there?).