COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Saturday, October 01, 2016

THE US WAR STATE IS A RACKET - Gareth Porter: Corporate News Media and The US Permanent War State

Target and Eliminate the Vast Part of Our Military Budget

Refine the Communications to Delegitimize the Supporters of The War Party

Link Those of Like Minds to Fight The War Party Duopoly

Expose the Bastards Who Have Blown Trillions of Dollars, Killed Hundreds of Thousands and Destroyed the Lives of Millions




Editor’s note: This is a partial transcript of the remarks made by Gareth Porter at this year’s #NoWar2016 conference. Porter spoke on the panel “Remaking the Mass Media for Peace.” 
My remarks are related to the problem of media as a factor in the war system but not focused primarily on that.  I have experienced first hand as a journalist and as an author how the corporate news media hews to a set of well-delineated lines in the coverage of issues of war and peace that systematically block out all data that conflict with those lines.  I’d be glad to talk about my experiences especially in covering ran and Syria in Q and A.
But I am here to talk about the larger problem of the war system and what is to be done about it.
I want to present a vision of something that has not been discussed seriously in many, many years: a national strategy to mobilize a very large segment of the population of this country to participate in a movement to force the retreat of the permanent war state.
I know that many of you must be thinking: that is a great idea for 1970 or even 1975 but its no longer relevant to the conditions we face in this society today.
It’s true that this is an idea that seems, on first thought to harken back to the days of the Vietnam War, when anti-war sentiment was so strong that even Congress and the news media was powerfully influenced by it.
We all know what has transpired over the past few decades to made make permanent war “the new normal”, as Andrew Bacevich as so aptly put it.  But let me tick off five of them that are obvious:
  • The draft has was replaced by a professional army, taking away a dominant factor in the surge of anti-sentiment during the Vietnam era.
  • The political parties and Congress has been taken over completely and corrupted by the military-industrial complex.
  • The war state exploited 9/11 to accumulate enormous new powers and appropriate far more of the federal budget than before.
  • The news media are more warlike than ever before.
  • The powerful anti-war that was mobilized in this country and around the world in response to the U.S. invasion of Iraq was demobilized over a few years by the inability of activists to have any impact on either Bush or Obama.
You all can probably add even more items to this list, but all of these are interrelated and interactive, and each of them which helps explain why the landscape of anti-war activism has seemed so bleak for the past decade.  It is pretty obvious that the permanent war state has achieved what Gramsci called “ideological hegemony” to such a degree that the first expression of radical politics in generations – the Sanders campaign – did not make it an issue.
Nevertheless I am here to suggest to you that, despite the fact that the war state with all its private allies appear to be riding as high as ever, the historical circumstances may now be favorable to a frontal challenge to the war state for the first time in many years.
First: the Sanders campaign has shown that a very large proportion of the millennial generations do not trust those who hold power in the society, because they have rigged the economic and social arrangements to benefit a tiny minority while screwing the vast majority – and especially the young.  Obviously the permanent war state’s operations can be convincingly analyzed as fitting that model, and that opens up a new opportunity to take on the permanent war state.
Second: U.S. military interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan have been such obvious disastrous failures that the present historical juncture is marked by a low-point in support for interventionism reminiscent of the late Vietnam War and post-war period (late 1960s to early 1980s).  Most Americans turned against Iraq and Afghanistan about as fast as they had against the Vietnam War. And the opposition to military intervention in Syria, even in the face of overwhelming media coverage that encouraged support for such a war was overwhelming.  A Gallup poll in September 2013 showed that the level of support for the proposed use of force in Syria – 36 percent – was lower than that for any of the five wars proposed since the end of the Cold War.
Third, the very obvious bankruptcy of the two parties in this election have made tens of millions in this country – especially young people, blacks and independents – open to a movement that connects the dots that need to be connected.

With those favorable strategic conditions in mind, I suggest that it is time for a newly invigorated national movement to come together around a concrete strategy for accomplishing the goal of ending the permanent war state by taking away its means of intervening in foreign conflicts.

What would that mean? The following are the four key elements that we would need to include ins such a strategy:

(1) A clear, concrete vision of what eliminating the permanent war state would mean in practice to provide a meaningful target for people to support
(2) A new and compelling way of educating and mobilizing people to action against the permanent war state.
(3) A strategy for reaching specific segments society on the issue, and
(4)A plan for bringing political pressure to bear with the aim of ending the permanent war state within ten years.
Now I want to focus primarily on shaping a campaign message on the importance of ending the permanent war state.

I suggest that the way to mobilize large numbers of people on the issue of ending permanent war is to take our cue from the Sanders campaign, which appealed to the widespread sense that the political and economic systems have been rigged in favor of the super-rich.  We must make a parallel appeal in regard to the permanent war state.

Such an appeal would characterize the entire system that makes and implements U.S. war policies as a racket.  To put it another way, the permanent war state – the state institutions and individuals who push for policies and programs to carry out perpetual war —  must be delegitimized in the same way that the financial elite dominating the economy has been delegitimized for a large segment of the U.S. population. The campaign should exploit the politically potent parallel between Wall Street and the national security state in terms of both siphoning off trillions of dollars from the American people.  For Wall Street the ill-gotten gains took the form of excessive profits from a rigged economy; for the national security state and its contractor allies, they took the form of seizing control over money appropriated from U.S. taxpayers to enhance their personal and institutional power.

And in both the financial-economic policy sector and the war sector, the elites have taken advantage of a rigged policymaking process.

So we should update General Smedley Butler’s memorable slogan from the 1930s, “War is a Racket” to reflect the fact that the benefits that now accrue to the national security establishment make those of war profiteers in the 1930s seem like child’s play.  I suggest the slogan such as “permanent war is a racket” or the “the war state is a racket”.

This approach to educating and mobilizing people to oppose the war state not only appears to be most effective way to break down the ideological hegemony of the national security state; it also reflects the truth about virtually every historical case of U.S. interventionism.  I have seen the truth of it confirmed over and over again from my own historical research and reporting on national security issues.

It is an invariable rule that these bureaucracies – both military and civilian — always push for policies and programs that coincide with the interests of the bureaucratic entity and its leaders – even though they always harm the interests of the American people.

It explains the wars in Vietnam and Iraq, the escalation of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, and the U.S. sponsorship of the war in Syria.

It explains the huge expansion of the CIA into drone wars and the expansion of Special Operations Forces into 120 countries.

And it explains why the American people were saddled for so many decades with tens of thousands of nuclear weapons could only destroy this this country and civilization as a whole—and why the war state is now pushing to keep them as a central part of American policy for decades to come.

A final point:  I think it is terribly important to have the endpoint of a national campaign spelled out clearly and in enough detail to give it credibility.  And that endpoint should be in a form that activists can point to as something to support—specifically in the form of a piece of proposed legislation.  Having something that people can support is a key to gaining momentum.  This vision of the endpoint could be called the “End Permanent War Act of 2018”.

79 comments:

  1. Here's The Vital US Security Interest In Syria


    http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2016/10/heres_the_vital_us_security_interest_in_syria.html

    "A hard rain is coming"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 'What has happened in Syria, as Glick demonstrates, is that Mr. Obama has enabled Putin to reverse one of the three great foreign policy accomplishments of the Nixon Administration: the ejection of the Soviet Union from the Middle East.

      This is what this president has done to the U.S. defense posture in Europe and the Middle East. Meanwhile, in the Far East, the Chinese are trying to flip the new Philippine government into the anti-American column.

      If they pull that off, Beijing will have successfully broken out of the nine-dash island chain and penetrated the U.S. defense perimeter which contained China since the end of the Korean War.

      As Victor Davis Hansen wrote this week, "a hard rain is coming." '


      It's a descriptive article that doesn't recommend a particular action.

      Delete
  2. RUBBISH The hard rain has been falling for 15 years and the erosion and flood damage is obvious and appalling.

    ReplyDelete
  3. What sort of questions should an aspiring president be expected to answer? These, for example:

    • What lessons have you drawn from America’s post-9/11 wars and how would those lessons affect your approach to policy?

    • Defeating ISIS is an imperative. Then what? What is your strategy for addressing the larger phenomenon of violent radical Islamism?

    • Explain the Syrian civil war and describe the US interests at stake there.

    • Compare the costs and benefits of employing missile-firing drones as instruments of assassination.

    • China has emerged as a power of the first rank. To what degree do Chinese aspirations collide with US interests? What will your administration do to protect those interests?

    • A growing gap exists between the one percent of Americans who serve in the military and the 99 percent who don’t. Is this as a problem? How will you remedy it?

    • The United States is embarking upon a trillion dollar effort to modernize its nuclear strike force. What is your view of this program? How does it square with promises by presidents from both parties to seek a nuclear weapons-free world?

    • Where does climate change fit in your hierarchy of national security priorities?

    • What are the limits on the president’s war making authority? Describe the role Congress should play in deciding when and where US forces fight.

    How might Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have handled such questions? We don’t know because they weren’t even asked. And that’s a problem.

    Andrew J. Bacevich is the author most recently of “America’s War for the Greater Middle East.’’

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. . What is your opinion of the treatment of Miss Machado ?

      :(

      Delete
    2. Both our candidates would answer such questions as above with mostly platitudes, with Hillary in a defensive posture as concerns her behavior and Trump attacking her for her part in the mid east chaos.

      Hillary might pivot to free college for everyone.

      Trump might say we need to rebuild our country and not do nation building abroad.

      Delete
    3. Gary Johnson would not know where Syria and China are located.

      Delete
  4. In Baltimore, the Mayor finally throws Marilyn Mosby under the bus

    posted at 11:31 am on October 1, 2016 by Jazz Shaw

    http://hotair.com/archives/2016/10/01/baltimore-mayor-finally-throws-marilyn-mosby-bus/


    The End.

    ReplyDelete
  5. If Trump could drop the narcissistic front and come across as a President that will listen to his advisors, he would do much better.

    I hate this choice. :/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Defending Donald is the first order of business.

      Might be his last in this endeavor if no one can penetrate his highly visible shield.

      Delete
    2. I'm voting Trump.
      That's the only logical choice.
      We, the People, need a rational third party choice, dammit.

      Delete
  6. Model Citizen:

    A woman who knocked down two sheriff's deputies and smashed a squad car as she fled from a traffic stop was sentenced Friday to seven years in prison.

    The sentence prompted one of Kevina Freeman's many supporters to scream an obscenity and rush from the courtroom.

    Freeman, 23, pleaded no contest last month to two counts of recklessly endangering safety and eluding an officer-causing damage in the May 15 incident.

    In court Friday, she begged for a second chance, citing her three young sons — one with a father who died and two with a father in prison for nearly killing someone.

    Video
    http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/09/30/woman-who-dragged-deputies-gets-7-years-prison/91353018/

    ReplyDelete
  7. I can't get this out of my head. Hillary blasted Trump for supporting the Iraq War.

    He was asked before it began by a radio jock in NYC 'do you support going to war with Iraq ?'

    "Yeah....well, I guess so"

    Not long after he began to oppose it and never switched.

    Hillary......voted For the Iraq War when she was in the Senate.

    Trump's been slow on his responses.

    When she was criticizing his taxes, he should have mentioned the pardon given by BillyGoat to Marc Rich, one of the biggest evaders of them all.

    Marc Rich (born Marcell David Reich; December 18, 1934 – June 26, 2013) was an international commodities trader, hedge fund manager, financier and businessman.[1] He was best known for founding the commodities company Glencore and for being indicted in the United States on federal charges of tax evasion and illegally making oil deals with Iran during the Iran hostage crisis. He was in Switzerland at the time of the indictment and never returned to the United States.[2] He received a controversial presidential pardon from U.S. President Bill Clinton on January 20, 2001, Clinton's last day in office.[3] wiki

    Many other such openings abound for The Donald....

    ReplyDelete
  8. MENAs

    New Racial Category


    http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2016/09/30/white-house-wants-add-new-racial-category-middle-eastern-people/91322064/

    Why not just get rid of racial classifications altogher ?

    I always answer:

    Other.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Quirk once told me he always answers:

      None of the Above, including Other

      Delete
    2. (Quirk hasn't really taken his marbles home to Detroit until after the election. He's really on a short trip home to Earth Proxima to see the relatives)

      Delete
  9. Inside Science: New findings suggest dark matter might not exist after all

    Hmmm....just when I was getting comfortable with the idea.

    ReplyDelete
  10. September 30, 2016, 12:09 am


    Certainly she knows: It never goes away.


    “Donald, she has a name,” Hillary Clinton announced at Monday’s presidential debate. “Her name is Alicia Machado. And she has become a U.S. citizen and you can bet she is going to vote this November.”

    Hillary, they have many names. Their names are Juanita Broaddrick, Gennifer Flowers, Paula Jones, Kathleen Willey, Eileen Wellstone, Sally Perdue, Elizabeth Gracen, Carolyn Moffet, Monica Lewinsky, and others too numerous to list. And although I can’t confirm if the foreign-born among them all hold citizenship, one bets that few cast votes for his enabler this November.

    Bill Clinton merely harassed, assaulted, and raped numerous women over the years. Donald Trump allegedly called a beauty pageant winner who misinterpreted her Miss Universe title as a license to eat it “Miss Piggy.”

    Fat shamer! Unclean! Unclean!

    The pot calling the kettle black. People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. Before you look at the splinter in your neighbor’s eye, take out the log in your own eye. Choose your cliché. I’ll pick mine: The emperor has no clothes.

    Bill Clinton certainly lacked garments, save for an undershirt, when he allegedly pointed to his pointing member, instructed Ms. Moffet to pleasure it, and, after his guest refused to follow instructions, encouraged her to that end by attempting to shove her face into his crotch. Of course, this offense against Ms. Moffet (and Miss Manners) hardly qualifies as a sin against feminism. When a “D” follows your name and you follow the party line on abortion, immunity follows.


    Though Mrs. Clinton appears more sinned against than sinning in Mr. Clinton’s extracurricular and, at times, extralegal escapades, she repeatedly attacked the victims as liars and worse. Monday’s shamer of the fat-shamer slut-shamed, and did so when the victims acted like ladies instead sluts.

    Mrs. Clinton called Ms. Flowers “some failed cabaret singer who doesn’t even have much of a résumé to fall back on,” once promising to “crucify her” on the witness stand if ever the chance to cross-examine arose. “We have to destroy her story,” she told White House aides of Paula Jones. After the case of Ms. Lewinsky hit the Drudge Report, she famously blamed the allegations on the “vast right-wing conspiracy.”

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Washington Post revisited this unsavory history in the wake of Monday’s debate charges against Trump. But the media’s abdication of their investigative duties regarding the powerful generally allows Hillary Clinton to hubristically lob such bombs against Mr. Trump about his behavior in the 1990s on the debate stage without fear of repercussions regarding her conduct in the 1990s.

      Did Lester Holt sleep through the decade?

      She got it wrong about Flowers, Jones, Lewinsky, and so many others. But she righteously feigns indignation because the proprietor of a beauty contest hired a trainer to help the winner shed the nearly 60 pounds that CNN back then reported that she had gained. Rather than publicly disparage Machado, Trump went after the press going after her. “A lot of you folks have weight problems,” he told journalists standing in front of him and Machado at a press conference in 1997. “I hate to tell you.”

      They hated him telling them, too. Hell hath no fury like a Fourth Estate scorned.

      A Bill Cosby quality colors the allegations against Bill Clinton. Contrary to the feminist mantra, a woman does occasionally lie about rape. But women? Multiple women accuse Bill Clinton of forcing himself upon them. The public can dismiss one “bimbo eruption.” But despite the former First Lady’s best efforts, scores of such sordid stories make it terribly difficult to brush them all under the rug.

      On Monday night, the Donald did worst when he took Hillary’s bait. He didn’t here, and people who second guess him for taking the bait second guess him for refraining. He can’t win, only in this instance he does. Just because the obvious rejoinder to Mrs. Clinton’s broadside didn’t cross his lips does not mean it was not on the tip of everybody else’s tongue. In music as in rhetoric, the unheard note sometimes rings louder than those struck.

      Donald Trump wisely, and uncharacteristically, held his tongue. He didn’t need to tell Americans what they already knew. The House of Representatives impeaching a president over perjuring himself in a sexual harassment case does not normally occur even once in a lifetime. So that occurred to Americans. One of his victims responding to his daughter’s defense of him forced voters to contemplate again putting such a crowd in the White House. “I was 35 when Bill Clinton raped me,” Juanita Broaddrick tweeted, “and Hillary tried to silence me. I am now 73. It never goes away.”


      http://spectator.org/hillary-they-have-names/

      Delete
  11. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  12. FRESNO, Calif. (KMPH) —
    A Fresno man believes he was the victim of a terrorist attack, right here on the roadways in California.

    Witnesses say a car going extremely fast swerved into Alcala, causing him to fish tail and cross into oncoming traffic.

    Alcala said, “I saw the suburban coming right at me about to T-bone right into the driver door and I thought that was it. A second later I turned my head and just smashed into the barrier.”

    Alcala says he and the other driver were miraculously able to get out of their cars without hitting anyone else.

    Alcala said, “The off-duty police officer went to talk to the other driver in his vehicle and he said, 'Are you alright? That was way too fast,' and (the driver) said 'I did it on purpose. It was in the name of Allah.'"

    The police report says driver Ameer Abbaf Fakhraldin told police the collision was caused by Donald Trump's improper treatment of minorities, and by Allah and other people's lack of faith in him. Fakhraldin estimated his speed was 200 miles per hour.

    He also told police he caused the crash by using psychic / telekinetic powers to control the steering. The officer at the scene said the driver showed apathy and neglected interest.

    Alcala said, “There was no remorse. He just went back to his car nonchalant, pulled out a water bottle and just posted up."


    Police haven't specified if this was an act of terrorism but Alcala thinks it was.

    http://kmph-kfre.com/news/local/fresno-veteran-says-terrorists-crashed-into-him-at-100-mph

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anything over 150mph is, per definition, Islamic Terrorism.

      Particularly when the T-Bone Attack is the method of attack.

      Delete
    2. I put my order in for one of those Suburbans upon reading this.

      Delete
    3. I hope Trump doesn't stir up another tweet-storm over it.

      Delete
    4. Make sure you get one with the big bumper and the reinforced cattle guard in front of the radiator and headlights.

      Delete
    5. pics of trucks with cattle guards


      First one, top row, left, that will do you. You will be the terror of the highways.


      https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=pics+of+pickups+with+front+end+cattle+guards&id=C8ADD68DF9AF5A1CB85748F3CA5192F7C719E4B6&FORM=IQFRBA

      Delete
  13. Bizarre:

    Two sisters found dead in their Seychelles, Africa luxury hotel room suffered from an accumulation of fluid in the lungs and brain according to an autopsy report released Friday.

    Robin Korkki, 42, and Anne Korkki, 37, were found by staff members on Sept. 22.

    Toxicology reports are pending.

    Their family members are making the 9,000 mile trek to the island for more answers.

    The hotel costs around $2,000-a-night.

    Robin was a financial trader in Chicago, her sister Anne worked at JPMorgan Chase in Denver.

    http://kmph-kfre.com/news/nation-world/american-sisters-found-dead-at-east-africa-resort-autopsies-released

    ReplyDelete

  14. TENS OF THOUSANDS OF FRAUDULANT CLINTON VOTES FOUND IN OHIO WAREHOUSE

    http://pamelageller.com/2016/10/tens-of-thousands-of-fraudulent-clinton-votes-found-in-ohio-warehouse.html/

    ReplyDelete
  15. 'Hillary is finished by Wednesday'

    WikiLeaks

    j

    Pass it along.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Rasmussen

    White House Watch

    Friday, September 30, 2016

    Is third party support melting away?

    Rasmussen Reports’ latest daily White House Watch survey of Likely U.S. Voters shows Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton with 43% of the vote and Republican candidate Donald Trump at 42%. But Libertarian Gary Johnson earns just six percent (6%), his lowest level of support since early August. Green Party candidate Jill Stein remains at two percent (2%).

    Just two percent (2%) now like some other candidate in the race, while six percent (6%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, go here.)

    http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections/election_2016/white_house_watch_sep30
    *************************

    Troy (4-1) - 34
    Idaho (2-3) - 13

    ReplyDelete
  17. I am going to post the speech P.M Theresa May just concluded to Parliament about her plans to lead Britain out of the EU.

    Why can't we have leaders like her? It should be up within the hour.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/02/theresa-may-brexit-boris-johnson-david-davis-liam-fox-live/

      Delete
    2. Yeah, but Hillary's more of a looker.

      Delete
    3. Plus, Theresa doesn't do Clown Tricks and fall down jokes.

      Delete
  18. This election is not about HRC and Trump. It is about a totally corrupt and inbred government that has grown over the generations like a metastasized cancer cell, pushing idealogies that have been absolutely disastrous to the USA.

    This election is about those inbreds wanting to continue down this perverted path of destruction, growing their voter base thru massive give away programs and preying on liberal white guilt. Pandering to the perversion of the left, i. e., LGBTBFSCP (add your own letters), and vilifying anyone who disagrees with them.

    This election is about a silent but growing louder majority who would like the US to for once drop the silly inane ideologies, put the US first, for a change, and elect an outsider who can right the ship. The unfortunate piece to all of this is the outsider happens to be Trump.

    HRC, her puppet masters, the NYT and its ilk want you to focus on Trump taxes, his debate skills, and his catty remarks made about other individuals (something every single one of us does on a daily basis), instead of the sorry state of jobs in the US, the massive deficit, and out of control immigration. What a sorry state of affairs.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Democrats and the Press are doing a good job of keeping Trump's 'sins' as the topic of discussion rather than Hillary's corruption.


      NYT PAID NO TAXES IN 2014....DRUDGE HEADLINE

      I hope the NYT goes broke.

      When I first started farming long ago, we could carry over loses to future years....I did it three or four times.....Standard Operating Procedure for the farmers.....don't know if that is still the case.....

      I imagine Trump might have been doing that, perfectly legal.

      In fact, if one has stockholders, you are bound to do it, maximizing earnings being your duty to the stockholders.....

      Then there is Hillary getting rich by selling her signature as Secretary of State....

      Vote Trump !

      Delete

    2. Christie, Giuliani on tax bombshell: Trump a 'genius'

      By Zachary Warmbrodt
      | 10/02/16 09:51 AM EDT

      Donald Trump's top surrogates on Sunday tried to spin a report suggesting the GOP presidential nominee could have avoided paying federal taxes for almost two decades as evidence why he would be the best candidate to overhaul the tax system.

      "There's no one who's shown more genius in their way to maneuver around the tax code," New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said in an interview on "Fox News Sunday."

      Trump's campaign was playing defense after a New York Times story on Saturday revealed that Trump reported a $916 million loss on his 1995 income tax returns, allowing him to avoid paying federal income taxes for as long as 18 years. Trump has refused to release his tax returns.

      "The headline should have been, 'Donald Trump takes advantage of legal provisions in tax code,'" former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said on CNN's "State of the Union."

      Christie, who is running Trump's presidential transition, said the story showed "what an absolute mess the federal tax code is, and that's why Donald Trump is the person best positioned to fix it."

      "This is a perfectly legal application of the tax code," Giuliani said on ABC's "This Week." "And he would’ve been a fool not to take advantage of it. Not only that, he would’ve probably breached his fiduciary duty to his investors, to his business."


      Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/donald-trump-taxes-chris-christie-rudy-giuliani-229013#ixzz4LxZRCUMv
      Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook


      Trump's got competent tax lawyers, that's all.

      Delete
  19. I erred in leaving out "Q" in my letter barrage. Sorry about that, all you "Q" types.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Don't you mean His Majesty Q ?

      Our Royalty in Michigan

      'His Majesty': Student single-handedly defeats an army of gender neutral activists

      When future generations read about the “Great Gender Pronoun Wars” of the early twenty-first century, they will most certainly learn of Grant Strobl – a noble and mighty king.

      “His Majesty” is an unlikely title for a 21-year-old political science major from Grosse Pointe, Michigan.

      Click here to join Todd’s American Dispatch: a must-read for Conservatives!

      “It was definitely activism by accident,” he told me.

      In less than 24-hours, the brave conservative single-handedly defeated an army of gender neutral activists at the University of Michigan.

      Think David versus a gender confused Goliath.

      The University of Michigan recently announced a new initiative to allow students to select their preferred gender pronouns through an online service.

      It was designed as a way to help professors tell the difference between the guys and the gals and the zi’s and the zir’s.

      “Asking about and correctly using someone’s designated pronoun is one of the most basic ways to show your respect for their identity and to cultivate an environment that respects all gender identities,” wrote Provost Martha Pollack in an email to students and faculty....

      http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2016/09/30/his-majesty-student-single-handedly-defeats-army-gender-neutral-activists.html

      Delete
    2. Martha demonstrates the limits of today's AI:
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_E._Pollack
      Pollack was the winner of the 1991 IJCAI Computers and Thought Award.
      ===
      Should be:
      Computers and "Thought" Award.

      Delete

  20. ‘October Surprise’ Thwarted? Wikileaks Cancels Highly Anticipated Tuesday Announcement Due to ‘Security Concerns’

    By Heat Street Staff

    12:56 pm, October 2, 2016

    Wikileaks has abruptly canceled a much-anticipated announcement on Tuesday, according to NBC News. The announcement had been expected to be founder Julian Assange’s long-promised document dump on Hillary Clinton.

    NBC’s Jesse Rodriguez reported that the Tuesday announcement — which was to come from the balcony of London’s Ecuadorian Embassy, where Assange has sought sanctuary for years – was canceled due to “security concerns”.

    Wikileaks has not said when it will now make its “announcement”.

    Assange appeared on Fox News last month, repeating his assertion that Wikileaks has damaging documents on Clinton and suggested WikiLeaks may soon release “teasers”. More than three weeks later, that release has yet to take place.

    Clinton’s more fervent opponents have hoped for weeks that the promised document dump would be an “October surprise” – damaging and revelatory emails or the like — and inflict a mortal wound on her campaign. There’s no evidence however that such damaging information even exists.

    It was only this summer that Assange’s group leaked thousands of embarrassing emails from the Democratic National Committee which showed their disdain for Bernie Sanders’ insurgent campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. The uproar over the disclosures forced DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz to resign in disgrace on the eve of the Democratic National Convention.

    The political provocateur and bomb-thrower Roger Stone, a fervent Donald Trump supporter, predicted Sunday morning that Wikileaks’ revelations would doom Clinton’s campaign.

    It’s unclear if Stone was aware that Wikileaks, according to NBC News, has canceled their Tuesday announcement.

    Assange and his supporters have long claimed that his personal safety is at risk due to the danger he (supposedly) represents to Clinton’s presidential ambitions. In August, liberal commentator Bob Beckel suggested in a TV appearance that Assange be murdered, proclaiming that someone should “shoot the son of a bitch!”

    Assange himself has also recently hinted publicly that low-level DNC staffer Seth Rich, who was murdered this summer in Washington DC, had been the source for Wikileaks’ document dump on the DNC. And that Rich’s alleged role in the leaks was linked to his death.

    There has been no evidence linking Rich to the leak and no evidence that his murder was anything more than a botched robbery.

    Nonetheless, the cancellation of Tuesday’s Wikileaks announcement already has anti-Clinton conspiracy theorists working up a frantic stew of speculation.

    http://heatst.com/politics/october-surprise-thwarted-wikileaks-cancels-highly-anticipated-tuesday-announcement-due-to-security-concerns/


    It's odd how many people that cross the Clinton's end up fearing for their lives.....Juanita Broaddrick, for instance...


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Drudge's "link" didn't work when you wrote this, did it Bob?

      Still doesn't for me. (no link)

      Delete
    2. Sometimes on Drudge if it's in RED it's 'developing' -

      http://heatst.com/politics/october-surprise-thwarted-wikileaks-cancels-highly-anticipated-tuesday-announcement-due-to-security-concerns/

      Delete
    3. Yeah, his new trick, just wondered if others were getting a link.

      He's trying to turn all of us into sleuths like him.

      ...and increase clicks.

      Delete
  21. Headline Version:
    WikiLeaks cancels highly anticipated Tuesday announcement due to 'security concerns'

    Assange and his supporters have long claimed that his personal safety is at risk due to the danger he (supposedly) represents to Clinton’s presidential ambitions. In August, liberal commentator Bob Beckel suggested in a TV appearance that Assange be murdered, proclaiming that someone should “shoot the son of a bitch!”

    http://heatst.com/politics/october-surprise-thwarted-wikileaks-cancels-highly-anticipated-tuesday-announcement-due-to-security-concerns/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Why shouldn't Beckel be arrested?

      I'll bet Hannity would pay a price if he called for shooting Beckel.

      Delete
  22. Onlooker repeatedly yells 'Bill Clinton is a rapist' live on FOXNEWS...

    WILLEY: Hillary was complicit in his sexual misconduct...

    WASHPOST covers up smear of Bill's victims....DRUDGE


    I've thought for a long time that Bill/Hill didn't have a 'normal' marriage. And not just on BillyGoat's part, but on NannyDoeGoat's part as well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How do they do it?

      https://weather.com/photos/news/mountain-goats-how-do-they-do-it

      Did you every live around a Billygoat?

      Delete
    2. GREAT PICS !

      6, 9, 10, 15.....wow

      And like squirrels in the trees.....jump straight up 12 FEET ????!!!!....wow

      We have Big Horn Sheep in the Snake River Canyon and the Grande Rhonde Canyon.

      I've seen them perched on some very risky ledges....risky to us, not them....

      Never seen goats except domestics, though.

      Delete
    3. Never had any farm animals, myself.

      Delete
    4. Pic #23...#25....#34....Good Grief !

      Delete
  23. See: "His Majesty" above:

    It’s all part of the university’s effort to foster an “environment of inclusiveness.”

    The university actually created a “pronoun committee” to ensure that faculty members “play a vital role in ensuring all of our community feels valued, respected and included.”

    It was in that spirit of inclusivity that Grant, a Fox News Campus Associate, decided to have a bit of fun.

    He logged into the university’s computer system, clicked on the “Gender Identity Tab” and promptly declared his new designated pronoun.

    “You could put anything you wanted into the system,” Grant told me. “So I did.”

    And so it was in the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Sixteen that Grant Strobl came to be known as “His Majesty” – Noble Ruler of the Wolverines.

    Yes, good readers – Grant Strobl changed his designated pronoun to “His Majesty.”

    “’His Majesty’ is not a pronoun, but neither is zir or zi,” His Majesty told me. “None of them are recognized in the English language. Everything is completely arbitrary now. You can identify as anything you want.”

    Want to be a shrubbery? What about a sloth? Well, you can be anything you want to be at the University of Michigan.

    “I thought it was definitely fitting to point out how absurd this new policy is by choosing ‘His Majesty,’” His Majesty said. “It’s a recognized honorific and it is definitely absurd for anybody to be called ‘His Majesty’ in America.”

    His Majesty, who is also the founding chairman of the Young Americans for Freedom chapter at the University of Michigan, has already generated a bit of outrage.

    “Plenty of students have been saying that I’m not supportive of LGBT rights or LGBT students on campus,” he said. “They say I’m disrespectful.”

    But His Majesty said that’s just not true. He doesn’t even expect his subjects to bow or curtsy.

    “As a Christian, I believe that all lives are valuable,” he told me. “I love all people. And I have no problem with people choosing a designated pronoun.”

    But the university’s young ruler is concerned that professors might be punished if they refuse to identify a student by their preferred gender pronoun.

    “Once we go down that road, it’s very dangerous for our society and our democracy,” he said.

    Quite frankly, I’m taken aback by the lack of tolerance from the university’s LGBT community. If His Majesty wants to identify himself as royalty – who are they to object?

    “If they want me to be tolerant of their pronouns, they have to be tolerant to my new title,” His Majesty said. “Many of the students on campus who call for diversity – they only want diversity for ideas they agree with.”

    I hope His Majesty King Grant has a long and prosperous reign at the University of Michigan. Let’s pray he can fight off the invading horde of leftwing intolerants.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. :)

      Heh

      I want to be referred to as THE Prince of Idaho.

      Perhaps "Q" has been bullshitting us all this time, is artfully hiding/revealing his/her/its true identity, and is really a 'Queen'.

      Her Royal Majesty Q, Queen of Detroit Suburbia....




      Delete

  24. In Heavily Democratic New Jersey Latest Poll Shows Trump Within 6 Pts


    AlbqJrnl: Tight Race in New Mexico


    RealClearPolitics

    ReplyDelete

  25. Bill Clinton accuser Kathleen Willey: Hillary was complicit in his sexual misconduct

    One of several women who have accused former President Bill Clinton of sexual misconduct is speaking out, saying Hillary Clinton shouldn't be exempt from criticism over her handling of the affairs that nearly ended her husband's presidency in the 1990s.

    Kathleen Willey — a former volunteer White House aide who accused Bill Clinton of making aggressive, unwanted advances during a private meeting in 1993 — said she holds Hillary Clinton responsible for smearing her and the many other women who have come forward with stories about their treatment at the hands of her husband.

    "This no longer about Bill Clinton's transgressions or his infidelities or girlfriends or sex ... it's not about that anymore," Willey told the Washington Examiner. "What it's about is the actions that his wife has taken against the women that he has raped and assaulted."....

    video

    http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/bill-clinton-accuser-kathleen-willey-hillary-was-complicit-in-his-sexual-misconduct/article/2603352

    ReplyDelete
  26. I find it disgusting and an insult to anyone's intelligence that HRC is considered by some as brave or stalwart by "standing by" her rapist husband. THE reason and the ONLY reason they are still married is so they won't have to testify against each other in a court of law. She for his crimes, he for hers. What a toxic and nauseous way to live.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Never had thought of the testifying angle....makes great criminal sense.....they both ought to be in prison.

      Delete
    2. With the added benefit of spending 16 years in The Whitehouse rather than 8.

      ...although HRC likely won't see 8 more years.

      Certainly not in a vertical position.

      Delete
  27. When a person is asked to appear in court to testify against their spouse, they by law do not have to. If a person wishes to testify against their spouse, they are free to do as they please. The marital confidence privilege however, is a privilege which can be used when they are asked to undergo in testifying against their spouse. The marital confidence privilege can be used in civil and criminal court cases.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Does anyone believe Hillary wasn't aware of Today's NY Times article on Monday at the debate?

    ReplyDelete
  29. The Greatest Reality Show On Earth

    ReplyDelete
  30. Death Wish:

    http://kmph-kfre.com/news/nation-world/east-tennessee-state-student-wears-gorilla-mask-carries-rope-during-blm-event-on-campus

    ReplyDelete
  31. BEACH HAVEN, N.J. (AP) — Police say a 59-year-old man who wore a bikini fashioned out of see-through plastic wrap on a New Jersey beach is facing a criminal charge.

    They say Stephen Wojciehowski spent two days on a Long Beach Island beach wearing a homemade bikini in which his genitals were clearly exposed and was charged with lewdness.

    NJ.com reports the Stafford Township man was arrested Monday and was released pending further court proceedings.

    http://kmph-kfre.com/news/offbeat/man-charged-with-wearing-clear-plastic-wrap-bikini-on-new-jersey-beach

    ReplyDelete
  32. Clinton Campaign Admits Hillary Used Same Tax Avoidance "Scheme" As Trump

    Tyler Durden's picture

    by Tyler Durden

    Oct 2, 2016 4:45 PM

    Well this is a little awkward. With the leaked 1995 Trump tax returns 'scandal' focused on the billionaire's yuuge "net operating loss" and how it might have 'legally' enabled him to pay no taxes for years, we now discover none other than Hillary Rodham Clinton utilized a $700,000 "loss" to avoid paying some taxes in 2015.

    The Clinton Campaign was quick to jump on the leaked Trump tax filing with Robby Mook tweeting...

    Tweet

    ....And Hillary following up, adding Trump "apparently got to avoid paying taxes for nearly two decades—while tens of millions of working families paid theirs."

    However, a look back at Hillary Clinton's tax returns from 2015 (here), proudly displayed by the campaign proving she has nothing to hide - shows something awkward on page 17...


    Hillary's Tax Return, page 17


    ....While not on the scale of Trump's business "operating loss", Hillary Clinton - like many 'wealthy' individuals is taking advantage of a legal scheme to use historical losses to avoid paying current taxes.

    As Bloomberg notes, this federal tax break is among the wealthy's most used avoidance schemes...

    -$699,420

    ....Those 1.1 million folks in the 1 percent, as measured by the TPC, have annual income that averages a little less than $700,000. The top one-tenth of that group, some 110,000 households, average about $3.6 million, according to Howard Gleckman, a senior fellow at the TPC.2


    The middle of the pack, some 33 million people, have pretax income ranging from $45,000 to $80,000. The lowest one-fifth of taxpayers, a universe of about 47 million Americans, have income up to about $24,000.



    Among the biggest of these givebacks, courtesy of the Internal Revenue Service (well, really Congress), are capital gains and dividends—these are the biggest way the wealthiest benefit.

    In the words of Hillary Clinton's campaign manager, "this bombshell report reveals [Hillary Clinton's] past business failures... and may show just how long [Hillary Clinton] may have avoided paying taxes."

    * * *

    Finally, as we noted previously, the NYT itself is also perfectly happy to take advantage of the US tax to minimize the amount of money it pays to the government: in 2014 the company got a tax refund of $3.6 million despite having a $29.9 million pretax profit, an effective negative tax rate for 2014, which it explained was favorably affected by approximately $21.1 million for the reversal of reserves for uncertain tax positions due to the lapse of applicable statutes of limitations.

    Simply put - pot, kettle, black

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-02/


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. :):):):):):):):):)

      'Poor' Hillary....

      :):):):):):):):):)

      Delete
  33. Kathleen Willey: ‘Hillary Clinton’s been calling me a bimbo for 19 years’


    posted at 8:01 pm on October 2, 2016 by John Sexton

    Former White House volunteer Kathleen Willey gave an interview to the Examiner which was published Sunday. In the interview Willey says the sexual harassment accusations by women like herself also involve Hillary because she has been defending Bill:


    “This no longer about Bill Clinton’s transgressions or his infidelities or girlfriends or sex … it’s not about that anymore,” Willey told theWashington Examiner. “What it’s about is the actions that his wife has taken against the women that he has raped and assaulted.”…

    Willey said she has bristled at Hillary Clinton’s attempts to convince voters of her commitment to protecting women.

    “Hillary Clinton’s been calling me a bimbo for 19 years, as well as Paula [Jones] and Juanita [Broaddrick] and Gennifer,” Willey said.

    Willey claims she was groped during a meeting with the President in 1993. She had arranged the meeting because she needed money and wanted to ask the president if she could be hired to work at the White House rather than working as a volunteer. During the meeting she claimed Clinton kissed her on the mouth, grabbed her breast and told her, “I’ve wanted to do this ever since I laid eyes on you.” Clinton claimed that he might have kissed on the forehead but denied all of the other accusations. From a Washington Post story published in 1998:


    On March 15, Willey made her allegation public with a splash. During an interview on “60 Minutes” she described in detail the crude sexual advance allegedly made by the president and said that when he denied groping her under oath, he committed perjury.

    Clinton continues to insist that he told the truth in his deposition, in which he denied having any form of sexual relations with Willey. After Willey’s TV interview, the White House made public copies of several letters showing that Willey sought Clinton’s attention even after their purported encounter.

    Willey would later file a lawsuit against the Clintons for the release of those letters without her permission.

    After the alleged encounter in the White House and the suicide of her husband (which coincidentally happened on the same day) Willey later had a sexual relationship with a younger man which she lied about when questioned by the FBI. Willey later admitted to the affair when confronted with evidence. The FBI did not charge her for making the false statement but her credibility was damaged.

    In 2007 Willey published a book, Target, about her experiences including the accusation that her home was broken into and a pre-publication copy of the book stolen. Here’s an interview she did with Neil Cavuto in 2007:

    VIDEO WITH KATHLEEN WILLEY


    http://hotair.com/archives/2016/10/02/kathleen-willey-hillary-clintons-calling-bimbo-19-years/

    ReplyDelete
  34. And no one makes fun of Chris Christie.

    ...because he's a man.

    ReplyDelete
  35. How would YOU like to be called a BIMBO, and for 19 NINETEEN YEARS straight, too ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You could call The Donald a pig, and he'd agree with you.

      He admits he needs to lose some weight.

      Delete
  36. Judge Jeanine certainly put things in perspective in he 'Opening Statement' today.

    Catch it later if you can....

    ReplyDelete
  37. The way Hillary has criticized all Bill's women over the years gives one the feeling Bill doesn't have a very good taste in women.

    ReplyDelete