Thought for the Day

[broncofan]

https://twitter.com/RP_Newsletter

I found this twitter account which posts the most inflammatory lines from Ron Paul's old newsletter. I suppose I am posting this so I remember where it is when Ron Paul acolytes pop up. Paul claimed he was unaware of all of these comments going out under his name...I found it an interesting read anyway.

[broncofan]

https://twitter.com/RP_Newsletter

I found this twitter account which posts the most inflammatory lines from Ron Paul's old newsletter. I suppose I am posting this so I remember where it is when Ron Paul acolytes pop up. Paul claimed he was unaware of all of these comments going out under his name...I found it an interesting read anyway.

I also am posting it because I think both Pauls hold very dangerous views which they've tried to present as palatable...I was also shocked by how extremely racist some of the rhetoric was (though I generally knew about the type of content he published) from this link so I apologize if anyone finds it upsetting.

[trish]

I knew that man was disgusting, but his Newsletter makes my skin crawl.

[Stavros]

I found this twitter account which posts the most inflammatory lines from Ron Paul's old newsletter. I suppose I am posting this so I remember where it is when Ron Paul acolytes pop up. Paul claimed he was unaware of all of these comments going out under his name...I found it an interesting read anyway.

I find it hard to believe someone like this can be nominated let alone elected to public office, I suspect on the hustings and on tv he has focused more on his libertarian economic ideas rather than the conspiracy theories he seems addicted to. Or it could be that there a lot of Americans who do believe this rubbish just as they believe American is 'broken' and u-no-who is going to fix it.

I was intrigued by the concept of a 'witch-lesbo-feminists' to look at Texe Marrs contributions to history on Amazon, where he has multiple books, two of which stand out: Mystery Babylon: New World Order Unveiled (2010) where the product description includes-
What if Jesus was absolutely accurate when he said,"I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.

Indeed, there is another book, written by an English 'Christian' called Hitchcock (!) called The Synagogue of Satan: the Secret History of Jewish World Domination (2015) which includes facts you never knew about, such as that Stalin and Rupert Murdoch were/are Jewish, and I bet you never heard of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, or the German Jews who transformed themselves into Christian Illuminati, and bet you never heard the name Rothschild before. One wonders what purpose this drivel serves when it repeats age old lies that bear no relation to the world we live in, unless you think there really is secret world government and that Chinese Communists are part of it and, wait for it, also Jews. See how cunning they are? Sweet and sour pork with fried rice...the devil's own dish.

As for the 'Synagogue of Satan' if synagogue is the correct translation for the reference in the book of Revelation (itself a mish-mash of threats and warnings rather than actual revelations, or maybe just the revelations of a mad man called John) it refers to the complex relationship early Christians had with the Jews of Palestine and the Eastern Mediterranean as the 'fake' Christian Paul embarked on his mission to unify Christians under his perverted interpretation of the Gospels. There is a complex history and theology involved here, but not as a stick with which to beat the Jews and their comrades in arms, which appear to be Communists, and those 'witch-lesbo-feminists' who are known as you see them: they wear trouser suits, have short hair, and are interested in politics.

But if I were to call this 'fake history' someone not far from you may pluck this rubbish from obscurity and present the American public with his list of True Books to Read. But then I take the dim view that the only person who could create 'Fake News Awards' is a fake President, who hasn't read the Constitution, doesn't know the words of the National Anthem whether standing up or bent on one knee; who heaps insults and abuse on the families of service men and women who have died for their country; who has dismissed everyone in the armed forces before his reign as 'failures'; who has no humility, no grace, no sense of humour, no policies but does have three marriages, five legitimate children that we know about, a long history of sexual misconduct and a curious fascination with Shark Week on the Discovery Channel.

[buttslinger]

Mueller training his team for the upcoming chat.

[broncofan]

The FISA program has always been controversial because initially it was unclear whether its procedures in general violate the fourth amendment. The court's proceedings are ex parte, in secret, and if never used in a criminal prosecution the subject of surveillance never knows about it. Early on it was thought that if there was a firewall between national security operations and eventual criminal prosecutions, there might not be a fourth amendment issue. When the fourth amendment is violated, the remedy in criminal trials is that the evidence obtained can't be used. If the surveillance is done in order to prevent attacks or prevent active espionage operations and not to gather evidence for criminal trial, then perhaps the fourth amendment concerns aren't as great.

But the concerns about the fisa courts are inherent in the program which has been repeatedly approved and re-approved, and in times of emergency expanded.

To give you a sense of how easy it has been historically to get a fisa warrant against a subject thought to be an agent of a foreign power, there is a chart in the wikipedia link. Out of more than 35,000 requests, only 12 denials of applications. Does anyone think the surveillance of Carter Page would be anywhere close to the most egregious, given his extensive contacts with Russian diplomats and spies?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United...eillance_Court

And for those concerned about wikipedia's reliability, here's a useful article discussing it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia

[Stavros]

As a thought for today, imagine someone comes fresh to this and asks the question: why Russia?

The Chinese, on the basis of campaign speeches could reasonably prefer Mrs Clinton to someone who abuses them in public and threatens their trade with the US -but there is no evidence the Chinese interfered with the election on her behalf, ditto the Iranians who would also have preferred Mrs Clinton as someone supporting the Nuclear Deal. So if major states are taking sides, why would Russia be working on behalf of the Republicans, or, at least, manipulating the election to defeat the chances of Mrs Clinton?

The answer lies with the money, the money train from Moscow to New York, the historic purchase of apartments and condos in Manhattan and Florida. It lies in the men around the man, from Felix Sater to Carter Page, from Roger Stone to Michael Flynn, from Paul Manafort to George Papadopoulos -the links to Russia being laid out like bear shit in the woods. Again and again, the links are solid, established over time, above all, special, in a way links to other countries are not, with one exception, namely the links to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

I find it hard to believe a huge arms deal with Saudi Arabia was signed without a single bribe being paid. This, to me, is one relationship that needs forensic examination, as the direct attack on US citizens by Saudi Arabians, with or without the full knowledge or approval of the Saudi government must open a new window onto the power of money to corrupt politics to the extent that dead Americans are the price that is paid for the imaginary prize of stability in the Middle East.

[broncofan]

Anyone who knows how the stock market works would know that Trump was not responsible for the stock market rising in the past year. Stocks represent only those companies that are publicly traded and they don't trade on fundamentals like earnings in the short term but rather expectations as well as the opportunity cost of other investments. People whose behavior buoys or depresses stock prices are paying attention to things like interest rates, market volatility, and their own personal planning which includes the time horizon of their investments and their spending needs.

In the past five days the s & P dropped 7%. Today alone it dipped 4%. The point is that the President does not have full control over the short term direction that the market goes in. His policies may affect employment and possibly earnings growth, though the latter has as much to do with monetary policy, and is also controlled by many factors not sensitive to either fiscal or monetary policy.

The only thing this establishes is that our country is currently led by a moron. A moron. He doesn't know what drives the economy. He doesn't know how our government works or is supposed to work. He doesn't know how the stock market operates. A moron.

[trish]

He (Trump) doesn't know what drives the economy. He doesn't know how our government works or is supposed to work. He doesn't know how the stock market operates.

But...but...but he's a business man!

[buttslinger]

One of the commentators on "the shows" said that Trump is like Mr. Burns on The Simpsons.
His doctor examined him and found that his had practically every ailment known to man......but they kind of balanced or cancelled each other out so he could function in spite of all the faults.
If it weren't for the Russian Sword of Damocles hanging over his head, Trump would be a lot like BUSH II point II 1/2, feeding the rich and starving the poor, while the World frowns in disapproval.
On TV and Radio this morning, The Republicans are just flat out lying now. Business as usual.
When I worked in the Library of Congress, all kinds of stuff used to roll through there. I once read an original script for That Girl with Marlo Thomas. All the sentences were about five words long and written on a fifth grade level. This is how the Republicans talk to their Audience. The simpler the better. Say what you will, it works well enough to fill the pockets of Politicians and their Sponsors. This Market Crash will make Insiders a ton of money in the end. It's good to be King, isn't it Donald? You Lying Sack o' Shit. I want to see the downfall of Trump set up the big move, the downfall of Putin. Followed by the landslide election of Mark Warner. But I'm a Dreamer.