Another News Dump by Me

A bunch of articles worth reading. I had planned on writing about them; but, with the FISA memo coming out tomorrow, I thought I should just link them for my readers. It is all stuff I have discussed in the past.

The Mercury News - Roadshow: All Electronic tolling coming in a few years.

AZ Quotes - Zbigniew Brzezinski Quotes.

The Week - America's Constitution is terrible. Let's throw it out and start over.

The Telegraph - Spermageddon: Why the human race could be infertile in 50 years.
KQED - Stockton Gets Ready to Experiment With Universal Basic Income.

How the Powerful View You

I want you to read this article from the LA Daily News. You are one of the peasants. I am posting this word for word as it appeared in the paper.


LA Daily News - A Year Into Trump's Peasant Rebellion.

"A year into office, Donald Trump remains something of an unlikely figure: a self-promoting and well-heeled demagogue who leads a bedraggled coalition of piratical capitalists, southerners, and people from the has-been or never were towns of Middle America. His fiercest opponents largely come from the apex of our society: the tech oligarchy, a rabidly hostile press and the cultural and academic hegemons.

These sophisticated people see Trump as responding crudely to his sans-culottes base. To them, he threatens everything from the free press to the rule of law and common decency. Yet Trump as peasant leader matters more than his ego-driven persona. He and other wannabe populists in Europe represents a modern version of the kind of peasant rebellions that rocked the Europe of the Middle Ages and China, highlighted by the 1850 Taiping rebellion.

Such bottom up uprisings, usually elicit strong opposition from the established institutions. Today they span the gap from corporate liberals to establishment conservatives. For all their surface differences, these groups tend to share similar class experiences and perspectives; they both see Trump and his supporters as inveterate racists and fascist shock troops. Retiring GOP Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake even has denounced him as a new Stalin.

To be sure much of Trump’s media commentary is intemperate but its significance, to paraphrase Shakespeare, is often “a tale of an idiot, full of sound and fury signifying nothing.” In contrast many believers in a free press had little problem when President Obama threw journalists in jail and abused the surveillance instruments of the state. Real Stalinism may be less of a threat today — despite Trump’s authoritarian posturing — than under his more polished predecessor.

Similarly, across Europe, informed opinion almost universally denounces, the rise of anti-EU, anti-immigration parties, some with suspiciously fascist flavor. The Brexit movement has been widely characterized as the rude attempts of provincial rubes — “old, racist and stupid” — to undermine the cosmopolitan character of “cool Britannia.”

To be sure there is much to lament about Trump, and his European counterparts, but it’s ironic that many of those who charge him with autocracy are often themselves not great fans of democratic control. For the most part the anti-populists favor not a more vibrant democracy but, in the words of Harvard’s Yascha Mounk “rights without democracy,” dominated by bureaucracies like the EU or the EPA. Some are even open admirers of China’s authoritarian dictatorship; others swoon at French President Emmanuel Macron’s almost laughable yearning to reinvent himself as a modern day Louis XIV.

A conflict based in economics and culture

What is behind the peasant rebellions? The outbreak across most of eastern and central Europe reflects disappointment with the European Union. Rather than an expected resurgence of national fortunes, many of these countries have witnessed instead a mass movement of educated young people to “core European countries” such as Germany. Many nations — notably Bulgaria, Lithuania, Greece, Albania and Slovakia — face demographic decline on an unprecedented scale.

In their attempts to build their economy, many second-tier European countries feel vulnerable to regulatory efforts from the EU bureaucracy. Similarly, in the United States many southern and midwestern states have struggled during the last decade against regulatory edicts from Washington. There’s also a cultural aspect here as well, from people who feel threatened by both strident multiculturalism, often anti-religious sentiments among the upper classes.

But the key motivation for the return in the peasant revolt lies in economics. Like European nationalists in Poland, Trump will remain potent as long as he can continue to deliver considerably higher economic growth, particularly in the Midwest and south. Until Trump is overthrown or the economy sours, as may be likely, the peasants may enjoy something of a recovery, and likely stand by their hero.

Who’s to blame?

In the mainstream press, both in Europe and here, the peasant rebellions get poor reviews. They are painted largely as racist, reactionary and economically backward. Much of the tech oligarchy views Middle America (and its European counterparts) with open disdain. One Silicon Valley executive said “educated people” like themselves, great paragons of tolerance, would never move to rural areas that are “sh*thole filled with stupid people.”

This kind of attitude flourishes in the political monoculture of Hollywood, the mainstream media, academia as well as Silicon Valley. It also explains precisely why Trump was elected, and why his mini-mes in Europe remain broadly ascendant. It’s hard to cast stones proclaiming fascism while you are busily, at universities and companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Google, working to strangle debate.

The way to stop incipient fascism is not through social control from “the commanding heights,” as Lenin once described them. Instead it means seriously addressing the aspirations of working and middle-class populations. Respect for one’s national culture is critical as well, even it means more outside the urban “glamor zone” than within it. Until they open their ears and change their tune, the establishment leadership can expect continual peasant revolts, with consequences that could prove catastrophic for the survival of democratic institutions."

Will Write Again This Week

I know I have not been writing much lately. I have been busy following the FISA memo story and waiting for it's release. So much has happened in a week. It is announced that the House Intelligence committee has prepared a summary memo that shows illegality on the part of the FBI in obtaining FISA warrants against people on Trump's campaign during the election. The reaction has been for the corporate media to say that Russia propaganda is the reason people want the memo released. Wow, that is desperation. In addition, the FBI has said that congress releasing the memo without their permission is reckless and a Democratic congressman on the committee has said that people won't understand it. The same New York Times, Washington Post, MSNBC, ABC and CNN that release every wild rumor they hear about Trump are afraid of an actual memo being released from the House Intelligence Committee?

#ReleasetheMemo and What is Going on and Coming

It's pretty simple, this is scary. Look, politicians making these claims are risking their future. The Republican congressmen on the Intelligence committee are saying that there is a document based on identified confidential information that proves illegality in regards to the election by the Obama administration. They are asking the document to be made public and not one of the Democrats on the committee voted to release it. You haven't heard from these Democrats who voted against releasing it much.

Adam Schiff has told CNN the reason it shouldn't be released is because people won't understand it. He also said that the call to release the memo is being spearheaded by Russian bots (automated responses). I will link to his CNN interview, you will notice that he didn't talk about what is in the document at all. While you may think he is trying to block the release, he can't and he knows it. What is doing is trying to delay the release so that the Democrats can prepare for the results of the release.

Now, the Republicans could release this tomorrow; but, they will not. They have stated it will take 19 days to release it. The Democrats have said almost nothing since this has come out. Politics is part theater, this is a fact I witnessed and participated in. Years are spent preparing legislative changes; but, in the end the vote is intended to explain to the public what has already been decided. The Democrats and Republicans spent the weekend negotiating over when and how the document is released, that is just what you do. The Democrats are in a bad bargaining position and they know it because the document will come out and it will be devastating or the Republicans saying it will, will be crucified by the media and the public.

While all of this is going on, you have not heard a single word from Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, nothing. Why not? When Trump originally said he had been wiretapped they immediately came out and said it was ludicrous. Not this time. Why aren't the Republicans immediately releasing the document, it is because they are using it as a bargaining tool for everything they can think of, that is how these things work. Whatever is negotiated, it will not stop the document coming out. If you go to President Trump's twitter, he has said nothing about it. There is a reason for that.

After this comes out, some people will need Presidential pardons and that will be negotiated too. If it turns out that Obama and Hillary conspired to violate the constitution to prevent Trump from taking office, would you really want her to go to jail? Consider this, Hillary's most ardent supporters would not know what to think if it was proven she violated all constitutional and ethical standards, same goes for Obama supporters. I hate the Clintons and the Bushes, I have never hid that fact. Still, I don't want to see them in jail even if they deserve it for being crooks for political reasons. In fact, if this comes out as bad as I think it will, I will call for them to be pardoned.

I expect the following to occur. Firstly, I expect the Democrats to vote to fund the government next week. Secondly, they will take the DACA deal that Trump has offered and claim victory; but, it will not be the things they had asked for, it will be limited to "Dreamers". Thirdly, they will also fund the wall. For this they are being given 19 days or more before the document is released; but, no promise of a Presidential pardon. The president will not be involved in the negotiations and nobody can speak for him on pardons. After, we are going to see a spring from hell.

This spring will be all about senate hearings into this memo and Presidential malfeasance by Obama. The Republicans will drag it out as long as possible so they gain seats in 2018 elections. The Democrats will seek to end it as quickly as possible; but, to no avail. It will be Trump who puts an end to all of this and skyrockets in his approval rating. One person who has been oddly quiet is Drudge Report founder Matt Drudge. I would guess he is being quiet in exchange for an exclusive, look for that to come out in the next two weeks or so.

YouTube - The Nigel Farage Show (Jan 22, 2018) - Trump one year on Success or failure. Go to 14:25 into the video and you will hear Nigel Farage talk about the memo and possible British involvement.

UPDATE:

I didn't discuss this part of what is going on and I am not sure it is accurate. I will post it anyways. This has been blowing around the internet for a couple of days. Hal Turner - Proof: British Intellegence Spied on Donald Trump at the Direct Request of President Barack Obama and a later Renewed Request by Susan Rice - No Warrants. About 10 months ago Trump claimed that British Intelligence had spied on him and that he had been told that was a possibility by Tony Blair. Blair later denied it and the White House said they would not repeat the claim. This purported letter (go to the link and scroll down to see it) from their intelligence organizations states that they had put surveillance on Trump at the request of President Obama. I personally am not convinced of the document or the source and if you come across people discussing it, I want you to withhold judgement. You are going to see a lot of nonsense and lies tossed around by all sides and I say, wait to make any conclusions until the FISA memo has been released. A lot is going to happen quickly, don't jump ahead of the story. Let it flow naturally.

I cannot begin to wonder what would happen if it turned out the English had spied on Trump at the request of President Obama. I cannot imagine how much it would harm United States and British relations.

UPDATE 2:

And as I predicted, the Democrats ended the shutdown and took DACA off the table for now. Nunes also said he wasn't ready to release the memo quite yet. They traded the shutdown for a delay in the memo's release kids.

Pastor Carol Daniels, Released Evidence in Grand Jury

I do not know if her family reads me regularly, my guess is not. It just occurred to me, the county went to the grand jury to charge a dead female junky for the crime. It was untrue, she did not commit it and at a minimum, they had no evidence; but, amongst the evidence they would have had to explain was the backdoor that they kept from the church.

It has never come out what the reason was that the police took the back door into evidence. I do not know Oklahoma law; but, I am guessing that anything presented to a grand jury can be requested under the Public Records or FOIA laws. At a minimum, the grand jury members can say what they were told was on the door and what they saw.

For what it is worth, I think the family of Pastor Daniels should have their attorney ask to see the evidence that was presented to the grand jury.

FISA Memo and Beyond. Obama and Clinton.

Late yesterday, some congressman began saying how they had read a memo about FISA abuses and they allege that it is worse than Watergate. They also predicted if released the memo will lead to people being removed from office and jail for others. It is believed this memo relates to how the FISA courts used the pee pee dossier to tap the phones of Trump's people. As of yet, the memo has not even been released to all of congress, just shown to the Intelligence committee members.

I want you to watch the video, it is short. This memo is going to be bad, it is going to be real bad. The Pimpernel does not believe in being alarmist. I do not speculate without evidence and I do look up and link to source documents. The thing that bothers me is that this memo has all of Washington DC shaking in their boots. I think it is going to show that people in the Obama white house and his appointees in the FBI conspired with the Clinton campaign to tap the phones of a political opponent (Trump) with a false report and did it knowingly.

I watched as Watergate unfolded and this feels a lot like that. This memo is the point of no return and the congressmen who have seen it, know that. They had to immediately request it be released or upon it's eventual release will have to say why they tried to prevent it's release. Trump cannot release it because he very likely has not seen it. In either case, it is better to let congress see it before the public and I mean all of congress. They can then vote on releasing to the public and be seen for who they are, who votes to release and who votes against informing the public.

I wrote about where this could end up months ago. If it turns out that Hillary and Obama used the government to go after Trump so she could win, that is a constitutional crisis. There would be calls to prosecute them for treason. Democrats would turn on them so hard as to boggle the mind.

This weekend in Washington DC, there is gonna be a lot of talking. It is all going to be about this memo. If it is as bad as claimed, Obama and Hillary will be reaching out to Trump to cut a deal for his stopping it's release. I guarantee you this, Hillary and Obama both know what is in the memo and that alone is illegal. One of the Democratic congressman told Obama what is in the memo at a minimum.

Here is what I can tell you. Whatever the show is going to be, it will be decided and negotiated out by Monday. My best guess is that the Democrats will call for the ending of the Mueller investigation in exchange for not releasing the memo. That is the best they can hope to negotiate for if the memo is as damning as claimed and as I believe it to be. If that is what happens, the Democrats will henceforth have to vote with Trump because he can always declassify it later.

You can hate Trump; but, politically he makes a lot of really good moves. Trump has not made any move to fire Mueller and I have said that is the smart move. Let Mueller go on forever if there is nothing to find, there is nothing to find.

Trump's Fake News Awards

Today President Trump listed out his Fake News Awards. So many people went to the GOP website to see them that the site crashed.

GOP - The Highly-Anticipated 2017 Fake News Awards.

Here is what is really sad, the stories he picked out barely scratch the surface of how much false news the corporate mainstream media put out last year. In honor of it and in keeping with their past lies, the media is talking about how Trump is days away from having a heart attack. This latest claim is in response to the White House doctor reporting that Trump is in excellent physical condition. It should be noted that the doctor is a rear admiral and was also the doctor for Bush and Obama. They cannot stop themselves from lying.

The Guardian - Donald Trump's medical exam – full transcript.  The report was that Trump is in excellent physical condition. When asked how Trump could be in such good condition, the doctor said, "good genes".

The Boston Globe - Trump’s exam shows serious heart concerns, outside MDs say; White House rejects claim.  The fake media chose to say the exact opposite of what the doctor who examined him said. Other media chose to point out that Trump is slightly overweight. I guess the media does believe in fat shaming.

While the media may wish to blame Trump for people's attitude against them, perhaps, they should really look at themselves. Hardly a day goes by where they are not caught fabricating things to attack Trump with. They don't seem to understand the story of the boy who cried wolf.

Some Thoughts On China

I have been talking to someone who is preparing to move to China. Because of that I have been watching YouTube videos about China. While moving there certainly will be an adventure, I also started looking at long term odds for China as a nation and they are not good. That is what I want to discuss.

In the early 1970s Nixon opened China to change. By the 1980s we began sending our manufacturing over there. As a consequence of sending manufacturing to China, it has become a wealthy nation and a much more advanced place in some ways. China in the 60s and 70s was a nightmare, repressive and poor. Hunger was common. American companies were happy to go there because they could avoid taxes in the United States and more importantly, environmental laws. In the 70s, America began cracking down on pollution. In fact, President Nixon (a Republican) created the Environmental Protection Agency.

China gladly ignored all environmental protection to increase their standard of living; but, those chickens are now coming home to roost. Lets start with water. 90% of China's water is polluted to the point where it cannot be drank. 90%. In fact, you are advised not to drink tap water in China. The water is polluted because they dump raw sewage and industrial waste into their rivers to keep manufacturing costs down. Over 1/4 of their land is polluted and cannot be used for growing crops without making the crops toxic. Their air is polluted because they burn coal for energy and do not clean the smoke coming out, this has also caused acid rain to fall. When you make your air, water and land toxic, it is only a matter of time before people start dying younger and younger. That is what is happening in China, cancer is skyrocketing.

China is responsible for more pollution than any other nation. China accounts for about 1/3rd of all CO2 emissions in the world. It accounts for more CO2 than the whole of the European Union, India and the United States combined. Now, you can add to this the fact that China has a population in steady decrease. China' population rate is .59. Let me explain that, a society with a birth rate of less than 2.11 has never recovered. China is depopulating and killing it's people through pollution. It may take 10 or 20 years; but, the results are unavoidable at this point.

30 years from now, China will be a wasteland. It will not be able to feed itself because it's land will not produce edible food and heavy metals are real hard to remove from soil and water. It's infrastructure will merely crumble because they do not bother maintaining what they build. Long term, China is in a death spiral and cannot get out of it's own way. In 60 years, China's population will be reduced by 3/4s. It's current population is 1.4 billion, with it's rising cancer rate and miniscule birthrate, it will be down to 350 million people in 60 years and there is not a thing they can do to stop this long term trend.

Mostly Better and More Media Bias

I am happy to report that I am almost completely over the flu. Now, lets get to some of the news.

Huffington Post - Should White Supremecists be Allowed to Practice Law?  The Huff Post's answer is no. Now, if you asked them if Communists should be allowed to practice law, their answer would be yes. The fact is that the constitution protects people even based on their beliefs. Protected classes included religion and creed. Creed is your belief set. It should also be noted that being a white supremacist does not prevent you from becoming a legislator.

Fox - Bias alert: Newsweek mocked for misleading headline about Melania Trump’s decision to remove historic tree. The media cannot stop themselves from making silly attacks against all things Trump. A 200 year old tree that is dead was removed and the media blames Melania Trump. It was a dead tree being held together by wires and a risk to people.

MSN - CBS - Military retirement is about to get a lot more complex. Once again congress will show their true feelings about the military by giving them even less for retirement. We don't even give the same retirement benefits to the military that we give to fire and police.

Yahoo - Donald Trump wants to bring inflation back. Don't look for objectivity from Yahoo. Trump said that the post office should charge more to Amazon for making their deliveries and Yahoo says that is to create inflation. They don't even make an effort to honestly inform their readers.

A Democrats Guide to Russia - PUTIN’S ASYMMETRIC ASSAULT ON DEMOCRACY IN RUSSIA AND EUROPE: IMPLICATIONS FOR U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY.  You may have heard that some Democratic senators put out a paper outlining how Russia is bad. The link is to the actual report on the Senate's website. Of note are page 162 and 197. On page 162 it says, " social media companies should redouble efforts to prevent, detect, and delete such accounts, especially those that are primarily used to promote false news stories." Yes, congress is calling on private industry to prohibit freedom of speech. On page 197 and 198 an attachment to the report explains how propaganda works, oddly enough it outlines exactly the things that we have seen our media has done for the last two years such as misleading titles (see the Yahoo article on how Trump want's inflation). What the report doesn't do is show ANY evidence that Russia hacked the DNC or that President Trump paid them to do it or was involved in any way.

YouTube -CNN is in Lobe with Oprah 2020. So Oprah Winfrey gave a speech at the golden globes and now media types are saying she should be our next president. Wonder why? Well, watch the video, it is claimed that she is a star, has fame and wealth, she is self made and she can perform on television. She is also black and a woman. You see, your elites really think that is enough to get someone elected. They really believe that Trump was elected because you are stupid and easily swayed by fame and money. They cannot accept the fact that the majority of Americans don't like a future with no hope and no jobs and no services. A future where all wealth is held by a few they find to be a good thing. They do not like the working and middle class.

It's True, the Pimpernel is One Sick Muchacho.

I was told this flu lasted a week, I thought I might get over it quicker. I have not. Having said that, I am definitely feeling better and starting to be able to taste food again. I picked up some Louisiana hot links and am going to make a gumbo. I will attempt to jump start my tongue again. I will also try and write soon, I have been collecting articles; but, too woozy to write anything meaningful.

Still Sick

The pimpernel is still out of it. I now feel as if someone kicked me in the back for two days straight. I am starting to be able to taste things, barely. I am still dizzy and in a constant dream state. I am okay with that. It reminds me of about 40 years ago when they broke my jaw by accident and gave me Perkidan. My jaw hurt really bad. The Perkidan did not stop the pain, I just stopped caring about it. Like when you have the flu. I stopped taking and never refilled the prescription, I through out most of it. Problem was, I like it a lot and I knew. I liked it so much I could have married it. I have never taken it since. That is how the wacky head of the flu effects me and I can deal with it.

I Have the Flu

Pimpernel has the flu and it is not fun. It started with fever, feeling cold, having no tastebuds and has moved into my back hurting and be really tired. Be well.

A tone deaf establishment dies

The Hill - Lawmakers briefed by Yale psychiatrist on Trump's mental health.

So some Democrats paid a Yale psychiatry professor to write a book about how Trump is losing his mind. Forget Russiagate, we will go after his fitness for office. LOL. I will go back to the articles I previously wrote where even before he was elected they were saying we should ignore the constitution or the electoral college and even the ones that said we should impeach before he became president. I wasn't the only one to read these in the New York Times and Washington Post. Are these people insane?

Let me be crystal clear. If Trump is impeached for bs there will be dead bodies of politicians in the street and of business leaders. You cannot take away people's right to a democratic system and expect them not to respond. I am a pacifist; but, people don't listen to me now. If you want Trump removed you better prove he paid the Russian government to hack the DNC servers, nothing less will do. Get past being polite, I am talking reality.

Only one newspaper supported Trump. One. The head of every newspaper calling for Trump to be taken out for being crazy will be killed, or at least most of them. Why is anyone dumb enough to think that people will tolerate removing a sitting president for lies that they make up. That is called desperation. I will say what I have said before, they would have tried the exact same garbage if Sanders had won. The difference is, the gun owners would have stood up for Sanders.

Let me try to explain. While the establishment believes Trump supporters are all bigots and hate blacks, or at least try and make that the issue. The Trump supporters know better. They hate the establishment that has outsourced their lives to China. Impeach Trump for bull crap and people will kill people named Rockefeller, Rothschild, Astor, Bush, Clinton, Kissinger, the list goes on and on. The middle and working class hate the establishment much more than any bias they have against minorities or foreigners or trans or gays or name it. They hate the people that made our economy crash, they hate the politicians who were corporate whores, they hate the media that supported this nation outsourcing the jobs. If there is a civil war, it will not be a racial war, it will be a class war.

Again I have a decade or writing. I am not making recommendations, I am making a prediction based on fact. The same thing would have happened if the electoral college had denied Trump the election. The population wants the system to change and will accept nothing less. We are past that point, we passed it when the Occupy movement was illegally removed from public spaces and the Tea Party was coopted and destroyed. That is why we had Trump and Sanders, if this fails, we go to stage three revolt. That is just history. That is the French Revolution. It is not pretty and they sure as hell will not listen to pacifists like me. Not gonna happen, I would be more likely to be a victim than not. LOL. Rationality goes out the window when nothing can change the system and the majority are ignored for the most basic grievances.

I Love You All and Will Post Again

The holidays have gotten in the way. I have been with family and friends and now I have the flu. I will post again so, excuse me in the meantime.