Tag Archives: Trump

The Importance of Perception

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I think most of us understand the value of perception, the act of perceiving.  This is much more than just the application of the physical senses, it also involves a long chain of rulings or judgments about the WHAT that is being seen, heard and so on.  So perception involves both physical senses and mental activity, including memory.  It is during this process that value is assigned to the thing, place or person that is being observed.

Familiarity is key here, for instance we assign value differently to things places and people that we know, followed by people that seem in some gross way to belong to our group, whatever that may be followed by groups, things, places and people we have some contact with even though the individual at time we are currently observing may not be known they may resemble a thing place or person that is known.  Those judgements of places things and people that we are the most intently skewed are the judgements or rulings made internally, in our minds about places, people and things for which we have no experience.  This is not to say that these judgements are necessarily skewed negatively as they could be skewed positively as well, neither extreme matters, what is important is that the perception is off because we are making assumptions about an object or person we know nothing about.

This is the curse of being human, the less we know the more we assume, but we are often incapable of differentiating between what we know and what we assume.  This also applies to world view.

There is world view, the view of ourselves in the world, the type of people we are in the world of nations, what are role is, and what the world is really like.  I grew up back in the 70s after the Vietnam War when the debated would on occasion rage about that war and they inevitably became debates about tactics and commitment of forces.  That was my experience.

We then, and I think now,  see ourselves as a force for good in the world, bringing freedom and democracy and wealth to all.  I am not being sarcastic here, there are many people who feel this way.  The last election illustrated it nicely.  “We should fix our own house first”  many said.  “We should stop paying for the world.”  There is plenty of footage on the web to sift through.  We see ourselves in the mirror of our minds eye.  There reflected back at us is a great and noble being only trying to do right, sure we made mistakes, misjudgments but we are making the effort to make it right.

This was most evident to me during the last campaign, especially in the area of foreign policy but also around the edges of domestic policy.  It was a debate over word choice.  Islamic Terrorist was one or those phrases.  Trump made the greatest blow to that image in the looking glass by simply stating policy when it came to the world.  He didn’t speak in glowing terms about our role in the world and then carry out acts of violence after the fact as had been the case in the years past.  The now President Trump stated ideas that were already being kicked around in the policy arena.  The border wall is not a new idea at the federal level, neither is bombing terrorists families or forcing allied states and protectorates to pay for U.S. protection.  Some of these concepts go backs to the 80s.

Our mirror is cracking and we can catch a glimpse of the beast through it.  Don’t close your eyes.

We as a people and possibly the world are entering a strange time.  We have yet to discard the factory model of living and move on to the next incarnation of our civilization.  It could be that this transition will not happen at all or that we will destroy ourselves before we can make the leap.  We can study history, but we should be careful not to live in it.  It can help us, serve as a guide, lend clues to understand the world as it is but it can also be a trap.  We can not count on governments or corporations to be our guide in our daily activities and in our daily interactions.  When it comes to how we see the world we can only count on ourselves.

What is done is done.  It can not be undone.  All that is left is to figure out what to do.

Deep State Clues (2/3)

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Before I continue I need to acknowledge that not every thing mentioned here is my own idea.  I mean I’d like to think it was my own thinking but I am not entirely sure that this is true.  At the end of the final installment I will include a list of references for your perusal.  I encourage everyone to think this through, it may help them maintain some form of sanity and assist in any effort to make a better life out of what ever is leftover.

So what is setting of my psycho vibe?  It seems to me that the last election might be something that Scott has labeled a Deep Event.  That’s not to say that Peter Dale Scott himself has called the election a Deep Event, just that he coined the term.  A Deep Event is a event that for just a moment reveals the existence of the Deep State.  It allows the citizenry to get a glimpse at something that is normally hidden from view.  Either that or it was an amazing piece of choreography put on with precise and flawless perfection by all whom were involved, which I find highly unlikely.

What I am referring to here is the election of Donald Trump.  Now take a breath, I am not now nor have I ever been a Trump supporter but I admit that he is our President and I try to show him some respect.  To put it mildly this was a major surprise to Both the Trump Campaign and the Clinton Campaign, it was an even bigger shock to the media and the Congress.  I guess there was a far larger population of deplorables and conspiracy theorists out there than previously indicated in the polls.  What?  You didn’t poll any one on those topics?  Oooops. These statements were incredibly divisive and if the population were a regular minority group all the bitching and whining would have stopped by now.  Instead we have developed an extremely polarized electorate and I suspect you all ready know about that.

Believe it or not this is going to take us into the Russia Hack Ordeal primarily because Congress was equally freaked out, temporarily.  The reason The election freaked congress and the media out was because they didn’t think it could happen.  It indicates a shift in the electorate’s voting habits, luckily it wasn’t severe.  I know that there has been a serious feeding frenzy around the Trump Presidency but realistically the shock could have been much worse.  The electorate stayed with in the republican/Democrat dynamic so as unsettling as it was the electorate hadn’t jumped ship on either of the two parties.  If the Greens or the Libertarians had gobbled up all those pissed off voters shit really would have gotten unhinged in the media.  The fact that Trump was a Republican means the current two parties jobs and income are safe so realistically much of what is happening is nothing more than  pot stirring and ratings creation after all its all about the money, that is the heart and soul of Capitalism.  There is nothing humanitarian about it, I’m not knocking it but I feel that we should be honest with ourselves.

I personally don’t see much of a difference between the two parties when you look closely.  There is an exaggeration of the differences at the presidential level simply to keep it interesting but once you remove the politics of identity and religion you quickly find that they both suddenly sound a lot a like.  I prefer to refer to the two as Republicrats. Think of a two headed coin.  Every presidential election we flip it again and again and it never comes up tails.  Members of the house are far more sensitive to the constituents than senators.  The President, on the other hand has an entirely different set of difficulties.  I am trying to be polite because there is a dehumanizing quality to political rhetoric which is not new, but it has been intensifying since the late 1990s.  The population is broken down into four basic groups, the most politically active that we tend to refer to as left and right although realistically, in my eyes, they both currently seem to be from right to far right and wildly mixed are the first two groups.  You can find plenty of footage of them on the net fighting each other which is entirely pointless but we just don’t seem to be able to help ourselves.  A third group of dissidents and activists from the old right and left.  Basically pre-fall of the wall on the side lines, some old and some new, some speakers, some organizing, some on campuses and some in the press mostly online who are producing some useful perspective and when it comes down to it I tend to agree with both sides more often than not.  When Louis Farrakhan suddenly sounds like a leftist it is simply a sign of how far to the right the political spectrum in my homeland has slid.  Most interesting is the fourth group, by far the largest, the depoliticized.  These have been giving up in droves over the years, more apathetic then ever they have reached a state of anti politic and have settled into a calm do your own thing state.  They make up, it seems to me, more than half of the population that are of voting age.

There would be a tendency for anyone to wax conspiratorial at this point and although I find this perfectly understandable for every conspiracy you can think of there are two other sets of arguments that can just as easily explain the phenomena.  I don’t really want to get into this here, suffice it to say that however the American population got here, the political class is not the least bit interested in changing anything.  Especially at the Federal Level.  I think the reasons are pretty obvious as the only thing that can force a change in the system through legal means is an organized electorate.  Members of congress, the president and his or her cabinet along with the bulk of bureaucrats understand where their interests lay.  They want to keep there careers and improve their conditions just like the rest of us.  One of the signs of organized resistance is in the way voting habits change.  If we look back to the last Great Depression and check what parties are represented in the house and the senate we can understand better why the New Deal happened.

These Statistics are from the 2005 Time Almanac, yes, I know its not a primary source.

70th Congress 1927 – 1929

Senate: 94 Dem/Rep  1 independent.    House:  432 Dem/Rep.  3 independent

71st Congress  1929 – 1931

Senate:  94 Dem/Rep.  1 independent    House:   430 Dem/Rep.  1 independent  4 vacant

72 Congress  1931 – 1933

Senate:  94 Dem/Rep.  1 independent    House:  434 Dem/Rep.  1 independent

73 Congress  1933 – 1935

Senate:  94 Dem/Rep.  1 independent    House:  430 Dem/Rep.  5 independent

74th Congress  1935 – 1937

Senate:  94 Dem/Rep.  2 independents    House:  425  Dem/Rep.  10 independent

75th Congress  1937 – 1939

Senate:  92 Dem/Rep.  4 Independents   House:  422 Dem/ Rep.  13 Independents

76th Congress  1939 – 1941

Senate:  92  Dem/ Rep.  4 Independents    House:  431 Dem/Rep.  4 Independents

77th Congress  1941 – 1943

Senate:  94 Dem/Rep.  2 Independents    House:  429 Dem/Rep.  6 Independents

The same period looking at the ratio of Democrats versus Republicans in Senate and the House from the same source

CONGRESS      YEARS    SENATE:  DEM/ REP          HOUSE:  DEM/REP      PRESIDENT (D/R)

70th               1927 – 29                       47/48                                  195/237             Coolidge (R)

71st                1929 – 31                       39/56                                  163/267             Hoover (R)

72nd              1931 – 33                       47/48                                   216/218             Hoover (R)

73rd               1933 – 35                       59/36                                   313/117             Roosevelt (D)

74th               1935 – 37                       69/25                                    322/103             Roosevelt (D)

75th               1937 – 39                       75/17                                    333/89               Roosevelt (D)

76th               1939 – 41                        69/23                                   262/169             Roosevelt (D)

77th               1941-43                          66/28                                   267/162              Roosevelt (D)

As far as the Russian Hack Ordeal, I can’t say definitely that there wasn’t Russian interference in the 2016 election but the reality is that thia type of behavior is standard for great powers especially when they feel threatened.  I have no doubt that somebody had candidate Trump under surveillance.  When Barack Obama became the president the Secret Service made him give up his personal Black Berry and replaced it with a Secret Service approved Black Berry.  It seems that the president doesn’t have the right to that level of privacy.  If that is so then why would candidate Trump expect anything different.  It can always be argued that this protocol is simply an extra safe guard for the president, but it all struck me as a bit suspicious.   The other thing that I found fascinating was how the debate broke down over whom was surveilling whom.  It seems the debate in the on line community was between the Russian’s or our own set Intelligence agencies.  There was little or no debate over the role of private or corporate intelligence firms.  This also struck me as interesting.  Congress has been getting pretty squirrelly over the whole thing so I have no doubt that the Trump Candidacy was under Surveillance.  The question is, by whom?

More importantly the members of both houses are worried about their jobs.  Politics is a career like any other profession the point of said career is to succeed and climb the tree, reach so apex in your chosen career path.  Any Member of the house or the Senate that is there for more than two years wants the power and the comfort that comes with their prospective office.  To put in the simplest language, they want to get paid and try to reach some apex of power just like the rest of us.

Politicians haven’t been upset by low voter turn out yet, it just makes it easier for them to keep their jobs or get a job.  What does freak them out is unpredictability in the electorate.  What this means is that one or both parties may be out of work, a whole party out.  Think about that.  Imagine that a whole group could no longer find any work in a profession that they mastered a decade ago.  It is the big screw.

There are three forces acting on the electorate right now.  The first is the economy which is tied directly to Neo-liberal corporate favoritism.  The second is the unresponsiveness on the part of congress to their constituents tied with growing isolation between various identity groups and growing inequality.  The third and most stressed is the lack of transparency.

Back in the late 70s and 80s they referred to economic stressors as pocket book issues and I am sure that some still use this term.  One of the keys here is health care.  The health care program we have is not run by the government, is paid for by the government.  It is run by insurance companies.  In essence it is an insurance subsidy wrapped in a healthcare plan.  As Health care reform attempts to move forward just remember that its not the expense that worries either party, it is who pays for it.  Serious healthcare reform is unlikely since both parties, remember there is always at least one exception to every rule, see that cutting off that subsidy would cause a major crisis in the insurance industry (Bankruptcy anyone?) and a massive lapse in healthcare for most every one.  Imagine if you all in the middle class had to put out collection jars at convenience stores and gas stations or beg at your churches for the funds needed to get a loved one vitally needed health care?  If you haven’t seen anything like that then you’ve led a sheltered life.  This is besides the issue of dwindling buying power.  Wages have been flat or declining since the middle seventies for the bulk of the working people in our fair society.  This growing inequality is irritating the bulk of the lower classes and stifling both innovation and growth in our economic sector.

The second issue is congressional deadlock which is the worst I have ever seen it, not that I am that old.  This is frustrating for the voters and fuels the tribal elements to grow with in our current political tone.  While on one hand this is a huge driver of De-politicization it also creates an environment that serves the political class without the risks associated with legislation.  Redistricting is creating more and more seats in the house where it is only the party identity that matters.  This is allowing a stagnation to occur in the legislative process which eliminates risk.  Put on as nice show at these Russia Hack hearings and when your constituents get upset because they live in an economic waste land with dwindling opportunity you can simply state, I tried but such and so or the other party blocked me.  You know I wouldn’t let you down.

Finally there is a lack of transparency.  This feeds into the fear that an autocratic system might be on the rise in the United States of America.  The Kook Conspiracy Theory grows best in am information vacuum and nothing creates a more powerful or profound information vacuum that the national security state.  Kook Conspiracy theories are like weeds in a garden that has long been left unattended.  National security is secrecy and secrecy, especially among powerful, people and organizations breeds suspicion.  Add to that the rising awareness of these otherwise hidden organization, if not hidden then not advertised as such in the very least and you have rising levels of suspicion and tension.

Considering all of this and assuming that politicians at the federal level are not brick dumb then you can begin to understand the importance of the idea of the Russian Hack and the Russian interference probe.  These guys are worried about keeping their jobs and the pensions like many other Americans.  As long as enough of the electorate buys this idea and the butt backwards lack of issues anti Trump boondoggle keeps rolling then both houses of congress have that sense of job security that so many others crave.  The only thing they truly fear is an organized and motivated electorate ready to vote for a third party, it has happened before.

It has been said that there is a war in the deep state.  I have heard it said to be clear, I am not saying that it is definitely so but I can understand why it would be.  If this war exists then what is it like and what is it over.  First the wars fought between major corporations and other massive entities along with their billionaire comrades aren’t like the wars we fight.  They don’t generally shoot each other and kill each other in droves, that is just for us regular everyday citizens.   In the deep sate there is jockeying for position and power and merging and acquiring a larger market share.  There is another problem with growing wage inequality and that is an absence of cash in the economy.  Credit will only get you so far.  The wealthiest of us and their various entities are fighting over crumbs and so are we the people.

So in the end The Russian Hack Ordeal is an attempt to blame shift and and move the focus of the electorate of the house and the senate.  The Same thing can be said of the media’s handling of the coverage of the Trump Administration.  Both houses and the Traditional media are in mortal fear of poverty, you know poverty don’t you?  Well they don’t and they find it terrifying.  They want the population looking somewhere else for the source of their troubles, that is the purpose of the Russian Hack and when it finally fails you can expect to hear the sabre start rattling.

Try and have a better than average day,

Be blessed,

Deep State Blues (1/3)

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I guess, in my own way, I’ve been aware of something odd about our government here in the United States of America,  I don’t mean to single the U.S. as somehow unique in this way, it is simply the only country with which I am familiar.  The perspective of those that think of the United States as some how exceptional and indispensable seem as though they have fallen into some kind of a trap that has effectively blinded them.  Throughout my few years at the university I had always had a sense that there was something more to the way we were ruled other than the obvious visible government.  You can use what ever term you like, Illuminati, Shadow Government, Deep State  or maybe the Lizard Banksters from Draco.  Many of us have always had that sense that there is something we are missing, not detecting, something obvious.

My Mother, whether she meant to or not, added to this sense, for her the thing that really tripped her trigger was the Kennedy assassination followed by the gulf of Ton kin incident.  For her father it was remember the Maine.  For me it was Iran Contra.  College and I had parted ways and I was out in the world working as a Grease Scraper and a Shit Shoveler.  I would not have minded either job with full time employment if I made enough for Rent, food and utilities.  That means no automobile and no medical and I didn’t have a television or a telephone so I was pretty far out of the loop.  No cable meant no C-span and no newspaper meant no regular coverage yet I still managed to pick up bits and pieces here and there.  Over the years I have stumbled back into the topic with fair regularity.  I would become familiar with the term Deep State some years later.  In this case I am referring to Peter Dale Scott and although I haven’t read his books I have listened to several lectures and interviews and have found myself perplexed.  What is the Deep State and what purpose does it serve?

Generally, when ever I hear some one speak of the Deep State it is always with respect to the elected Federal Government, bureaucratic aspects of said government, Intelligence Agencies with a focus on CIA and NSA and finally the Military Industrial Complex.  The purpose these agencies serve is always nefarious if not out right malevolent.  I feel that this is only a partial description and I need a better model if I want to get any kind of real use out of the concept.

There are a couple of criteria a social structure must meet before it can be considered a part of the Deep State.  Firstly it must fall into one of these categories:  Public Governance (Federal, State and some large cities or densely populated counties), Corporate Governance ( Corporations are anti democratic institutions, national or international in nature and bureaucratic),   Large religious organizations (national or international), Centers of Economic, Military, Spiritual, Legal or Cultural importance not previously mentioned, along with organized movements (Labor, Anti War, Civil Liberties, Human rights and other community organizations), and finally organized Crime (national or international).  The second Criteria is that these organizations need physical structures such as buildings, by laws, guidelines, legal paper work or mission statements and complex bureaucracies. It can be quickly noted that some institutions fulfill several elements of the first set of criteria for example the Federal Government is also a center of Military, Economic and Legal importance.  The larger and more complex these social structures appear is directly proportional to the age of the institution in question.  A Good example of this would be the Catholic Church which is a vast bureaucracy involving well over a billion people at some level in and organization that has interests in centers of Spiritual, Economic and cultural.influence.

The larger and largest of these entities has a public face.  This public face maybe an individual or a group of individuals who are known by name or this face could be something imagined, sort of a abstracted blank even including something as simple as a logo in which can be seen any given spectators particular view of this entity.  All things that we perceive in the world around us are always colored by our individual world view.  This public face, whether it belongs to a real person or some abstracted blank is a mental substitute for the organization or institution they/it represents.  The reality is that these various entities that have been previously mentioned are actually populated by hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands and in some cases hundreds of thousands individuals operating at various levels and in various capacities.  They are like a human body where the individual cells are replaced by individual people.  Each of these people have their own world view.  It can be said that there is a basic world view that the bulk of a stable culture largely hold in common though any given individual may shift to one side of the other as our world view is colored by our assumptions about the world and our role in it both as individuals as well as a company or a nation and it is also colored by our experiences.  With in these entities or institutions the various individuals at various levels align with each other along a  shared point of view and shared interests so that it could be said that there is a realm of internal politics that most of us are completely unaware of, this is just the beginning of understanding the deep state.

It is much easier to imagine an old forest with its tall trees both great and small.  Most of us live on the forest floor and our perception of these vast institutions is limited to the stretch of trunk that we can see.  If we tip our gaze skyward we can see the canopy where each tree occupies a space, a sphere of influence or interest, and that many trees overlap each other here or there, none-the-less our view is from the bottom and we cannot see the entirety of the canopy though we understand that it is there and sometimes can even see the interrelationships.  Beneath our feet are the roots of the various trees.  These roots are beyond our ability to sense, it is under our feet where these roots tangle and compete for resources.  This is the best way I can illustrate what I mean by the term Deep State.

I’ve been watching the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence investigation into the Russian Hack Ordeal.  Specifically the testimony of Attorney General Comey and Admiral Rogers director of NSA.  Its quite fascinating and if you are wide awake and have about four hours to burn you might want to check it out.  I find the language usage intriguing as there is lots of talk of National Security, Classified Documents, Protecting the American Citizenry along with a healthy dollop of conspiracy theories and righteous outrage.  Apparently Russia is our sworn enemy, just hates us and wants to destroy our Democracy, take away our freedom, if you will.  I would like to believe that we really are a free people but I am a bit confused.  How can a free person be charged with treason?  Just curious, not that it was talked about during the testimony, the thought just kept popping into my head.  I am I not free to believe as I see fit, to have the politics I choose, to work where I want, to form friendships and alliances as I see fit, I mean if I am truly free?  We throw that word around a lot, freedom, liberty, rights and just plain free.

I understand a criminal act like assault or murder, burglary or fraud for example but these are acts against another person.  By exercising my right to speak freely what person am I harming.  By smoking a cigarette or taking a shot of vodka or discussing politics with a friend from a foreign land what person am I harming?  Is it the other citizens or our fair country?  Could it be our own Government?  Is the Government here to protect us and our rights?  How can my exercising my rights be treason in any form?  Maybe it is because the government is also a person and the government has rights too.  We all already known this is true of The Corporation both for and not for profit as well as Religions.  There are a bunch of large powerful paper people out there among us mere mortals.  This brings me back to the hearing and the testimony concerning classified information or secrets.

As far as Director Comey (FBI) and Director Rogers (NSA) attitudes towards the Representatives present, they were friendly.  What was interesting was what they were prepared to answer such as how an individual could be unmasked, the protocols concerning such, and how many people each were aware of that had the ability to reveal the identity of a masked subject of surveillance and general questions about the processes.  It was the scope of such questions directed at Comey (FBI) that bled over into his knowledge of the Justice department of which he was uncertain.  From my point of view Justice falls under the auspices of the Attorney general so his (Comey’s) lack of knowledge wasn’t particularly surprising.  What I found most interesting was the non-answers or the diplomatic way of saying no comment.  Neither Comey (FBI) nor Rogers (NSA) would respond to hypothetical questions.  This quickly became abbreviated to “I won’t answer hypos.  The next “No Comment” was “I can’t comment on actual people,” or “Real names.”  I thought that was understandable, I could also understand the “I can’t comment on hypos as well.  Finally, the last “No Comment” Response was, and I am paraphrasing here, with respect to the release of classified documents through leaks, printed in newspapers particularly the New York Times was, “I can’t comment on the quality of classified leaks as to whether they are true or not because by doing such I would reveal which pieces of information were actually classified and that would violate my confidentiality oath.”  This was also understandable.  The “No Comment answers made a great deal of sense but that left me slightly unsettled.  In a time of Fake News and Alternative facts it quickly became apparent that I could not count on anyone with a security clearance to be honest with me or the public as it were about the quality of the information.  In essence, whether either director meant to of not, they said to me, us, in no uncertain terms that any time any expert with those clearances speaks they should be automatically suspected of bullshitting us.

How are we as American’s suppose to know what is true and what is not?  It gave me the strange sense that I, us or we were the enemy not Russia or China or Islamic Extremism.  This is an uncomfortable feeling.  Call me paranoid if you must.  How are we to know and trust our government if it is so easy for them to deny we concerned citizens the facts.  During a time when trust in our government is fading I think this is an important issue.

Opposite the Directors FBI and NSA was a surprising number of the membership of the House Permanent Select Committee on intelligence (HPSI) and they were far more interesting in their statements and questions.

The first Two that stand out to me are Representative Sewel and Representative Gowdy.  I have no idea which district either of the two represents and from my point of view it doesn’t matter.  Representative Sewel articulated clearly, point by point, each statement in the form of a question.  These were Rhetorical Questions which is a way of saying a statement that the listener is supposed to agree with or should be persuaded by.  In the case of Sewel these statements sounded like articles of impeachment.  I assume that she is a democrat but I don’t know if that is true.  I don’t feel the need to research it any further.  Both directors answered “No Comment,” To each statement.  She seemed young to me though again I could be mistaken, but her Rhetorical approach was impressive and I look forward to listening to her in the future as she gains experience and polish.  None the less Rep. Sewel was clearly partisan and obvious.

Representative Gowdy on the other hand took a more technical approach to the argument concentrating on the legal/bureaucratic side of the issue. lawyer to lawyer as it were.  He was in the form of and told in a mildly scolding tone insisting diplomatically that Comey resolve this issue with all haste.  The issue itself was becoming a problem and impeding the day to day running of the government.  I assume that Gowdy is a republican though I don’t know that to be true, not that it matters.  I am beginning to think that Gowdy is a politician to watch.  He is clever and tactically sophisticated.  First of all he took the Republican side or the argument but did so in such a way as to make it sound like the issue was something other than the administration.  That means that he supports the party and the President without attaching his person to the person of the President.  As any one can see President Trump is getting off to a pretty rocky start.

Finally there are two other representatives I feel that are worthy of mention, They are Mr. Turner and Dr. Wenstrup.  I surely hope I am spelling their names correctly.  Representative Turner opened his questions and slowly moved into the question of under what circumstances can a counter intelligence case be opened.  Translation:  When can the FBI or other intelligence agency begin secretly spying on me?

The exchange was frustrating for the Representative as Comey was unwilling to answer Hypos.  Representative Turner insisted that these weren’t hypos.  Comey gave in and answered a few and his responses weren’t the least bit alarming.  James Comey went along way to creating a feeling that the FBI, at least, still had some morals and ethics in the day to day running of their organization,  None-the-less Representative Turner slipped and poorly worded a question I think and his time ran out.  By the time he reclaimed some time he had lost his momentum.

It was shortly after this that Doctor Wenstrup picked up the same line of questioning and even gave an example of a meeting he had attended, where he met the Iraqi Ambassador.  Again there was some contention but I wouldn’t say it was heated, not even for pretend.  Eventually Comey came to the point in the Representatives questioning where he simply replied, “The FBI doesn’t give advisory opinions.”  I’m not sure that quote is exact.  Representative Wenstrup responded, “Then I’ll find out about it afterwards?”  again I am not sure that is a solid quote so consider it a paraphrase.

Comey Stated simply, “You’ll never find out about it.”  That I feel pretty sure is an actual quote, according to my notes.

Rep.  Wenstrup responded, “Unless I find out about it in the newspaper.”

And there it is, the issue that was pestering these two representatives enough that they felt the need to bring it up and/or they were sure that this bothered their constituents enough to discuss it.

This is an open Hearing, so everything here is for public consumption.  Every time you hear something like, “I don’t want to get into that here,” or “I’d like to save that for the closed session,” or “I’d like to wait for classified session before we get into that,” and so on that is a comment on content that isn’t for your ears or mine for that matter.  So what was the purpose of this thing and the other things like it?

Largely it gives the members of the committee an opportunity to speak directly to their constituents, the larger population who might be interested and to get their views into the congressional record so that when that big ball of shit rolls around, you know the one, we call them elections here, they can insist they did this or that, show the voters their speeches and other proof of their effort as a tool of persuasion.  What are they trying to tell the voters watching?  Where on the spectrum of the debate around President Trump and the issue of personal privacy as well as Security issues, they stand.  This message is for a particular group of people, those who are interested, generally, but not always, they are politically active, better than average in education, higher then average in income and in surprisingly influential positions especially once you get out of the big cities.

The real purpose of these inquiries was nicely stated when discussing the Russia Hack Ordeal and all though I don’t remember who said it I did write it down.  The purpose of the hack was “to create discord and division among the American People and to undermine our wonderful American Democracy.”  One member of the committee stated that the purpose was to put a cloud over the administration.  If you do decide to listen to this thing you will notice some distinct militaristic language.  The idea that the Russian Hack, if it happened, was an act of war.  This was in its own right quiet fascinating.  War is a powerful concept.  It is a word that evokes a strong range of emotions.  If you should watch this thing just keep in mind that what they are doing is Framing the Debate.

The Frame is the field in which the conversation can exist, it sets the terms the potential outcomes, who is good who is evil is both reductionist and dualistic in nature.  That is not to say this is some kind of a conspiracy, that the committee sat down in a smoke filled room(?)  or maybe at an organic Juice bar (?) and figured all this shit out, scripted the whole deal.  This arises from the individual members interests, one of which will be the 2018 election.  Regardless of their party the interests between one representative and another aren’t really that different.  There are some noteworthy exceptions but they are far and few between and don’t have much hope for a stellar career in politics.  For the most part the belt way people swim in the same water, breathe the same air eat from the same supply of food.  Believe me when I say they know what their interests are, do you?”

The purpose pf the Frame is to limit the debate, sort of like the climate debate frame.  You either believe that CO2 produced by humanity causes global warming or you are a climate change denier.  There is no real middle ground and no room for debate beyond those previous agreed conclusions.

In the Case of the Russian Hack Ordeal the frame is that Trump won because of outside interference not because of a change in the voting habits of the citizenry.  If this particular Frame takes then you are either a patriotic American who Believes that Trump won the election with the Help of an  enemy nation or you are a Russian Sympathizer and again there will be no middle ground.  This is the kind of frame that serves as a get out of jail free card for both houses of congress if the Frame takes and that remains to be seen.

Of course, it goes with out sating that I very well could be completely full of shit.  If someone were to accuse me of such I would be forced to admit no contest.

In any case have a better than average day.

Human Inspired Catastrophe Outlook

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Region:  Global

Date(s) :  Tuesday June 13th to Wednesday September 13th, 2017

Deck:  Hermetic Tarot

Cards Drawn:  6 of Pentacles (inverse), The Hierophant (V major Arcana, inverse) and 8 of Pentacles.

Outlook for July 13 through September 13:

I know, what do I think I’m doing, But what can I do?  War, war and more war, the ever perennial world war III has started again.  Then of course there is the coming economic crash, collapse imminent, any day now, really!  I spend almost no time watching the traditional media institutions in the United States so maybe it just some of the weirder stuff I have fallen into the habit of viewing.  I have no idea how many of our fair citizen’s watch this stuff but I ma driven to consult the cards and see what they tell me.

Having little idea how to proceed I simply pulled three cards and they are above.

First a quick review,  There are three regions that are of interest to me.  Firstly is Eastern Europe, primarily the Baltic’s and Ukraine.  Secondarily the immigration issue and how it appears to be dealt with by countries like Poland, the Check Republic and Romania or is it Hungry? It seems to me that these countries are being unfairly singled out.  This is one of the reasons why the Russian Hack is so important to the congress.  It forces our attention to this region.  The Second Region lays between Egypt and Somalia to the south, Saudi Arabia Yemen and the gulf region front and center and Turkey and Iran to the north.  This one is more difficult for me to grasp being that the United States appears to have the bulk of the region peppered with Military bases.  Third and final is the south China sea.  Are you hearing much about this right now.  I picked up a story either on Algazeera or French 24 last night (Eastern Standard Time) about the Philippines recently joined a growing group of countries that are ending diplomatic relations with Taiwan.  France and Qatar might cause more than a shadow of a doubt about the veracity of the statement and there was no hard number given.

What do my Cards tell me?

World war 3 with biologic and Nukes abounding?  No.

Increased weapon sales? An attempt to put upward pressure in the oil market?  Trying to isolate Iran?  Yes to all three.  Chance of a scuffle, some blood shed, yes, escalating?  NO.   Not through the period of this reading.

Remember the Pentacles or Coins, a symbol concerned with the material and that includes wealth.

What about Eastern Europe?  No, neither the United States, at this time nor Russia want war, but the Rhetoric suits both administrations as the struggle to overcome growing electoral instability.  Watch for growing use of jingoistic language.  But I would expect the possibility of terror being quiet high for the the three month period ahead.  If you are planning to travel to the region I would make new plans.

What about China and the South China Sea?  Unless President Trump and Mad Dog Mike Mattis (Sp?) have some kind of a dumb ass attack, The cards say No.  Not profitable at this time.  It is possible that an incident could take place but it will be settled quickly and with little violence.

As far as the economy goes, The hierophant indicates an element of control form the top but that element of control can’t stop volatility from growing, what they can do is stop a slide once it starts by simple re positioning.  The will be bumps and scares but no collapse through the three month period, but it is a good time to reappraise any investments you might have.  There is a huge amount of leverage in both the bond market and the stock market,  Remember, fear traditionally sells.  It can provoke spending.  The problem right now is dwindling consumer confidence as well as diminished real capital in the hands of the average citizen as reflected in the current oil price.  Also expect the fed to raises rate at least one time this summer by 15 to 25 basis points.  This is an attempt to prepare if the situation worsens this winter.

Stay cool and have a better than average day.

The Trump Revolution?

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I hesitate to use the word Revolution under most circumstances simply because of it mechanistic implications.  For example, if you mark a single tooth of a gear, like on a bicycle, let’s say, with a bit of bright yellow paint.  The gear has made one revolution when that bright yellow mark returns to its starting position.  This is what I mean when I use the term Mechanistic Implications.  In this context, nothing really changes after a revolution other than the names of the members of the ruling class and I believe there is some truth to this when we even just glance at the Trump administration.  On the other hand re could mean revolution as in the idea of re-evolving or re-imagining or world, human society and how it behaves or functions.  What’s weird to me about this is that I can hear both points of view represented in the two sides of the Trump Debate.   For those who believe he is some kind of a Fascist you should try and keep in mind that Corporations seriously usurped state power back in the late 90s and they had been working in that direction since before the Kennedy assassination.  I know how crazy this sounds and I need to state again for the record that I am a paranoid Schizophrenic or Schizoaffective depending on what decade and which of my various doctors you ask.  I know how crazy it sounds to me too.  I’ve been watching and mostly thinking about what I’ve been seeing and I just what to try to make it clear.

The big question is how did this guy get elected?

I’d like to brag and say that I knew he would be elected before super Tuesday but I suffered an intense fit of malaise and found myself occupied and mystified by the spectacle.  It doesn’t matter as I didn’t post on this then, but what is important is that it was my wife Meta who taught me the trick years ago.  It is nothing more then  a simple analyses of the media coverage including, now, the internet.  Whose face do you see the most often, whose voice do you hear the most often, how much live coverage does a candidate get and how many times is said candidate quoted.  This was true in the eighties for  the same reason that it is today but I fear I am about to derail my train of thought.

Did the Russian’s do it?  The Russian’s could be in serious trouble with in the next year or two as they may not be able to met their pension and subsidy obligations (Caspian Report YouTube) so I am unsure how many resources they can spare.  To be as Honest as I can be I believe that it would be in Russia’s interest to have a friendly administration so I don’t think the idea is that far fetched.  But before we start ginning up Anti-Russian sentiment we might want to look closer to home.

The first place to look would be the media itself, whether internet or cable/corporate (MSM) because it surely seemed to me, remember, I’m crazy, that Donald J. Trump was being pushed by them.  I just couldn’t shake the feeling.  Why didn’t they split the coverage evenly between the Republicans (Trump) and Clinton?  The argument was that the people running the media, line producers or what ever just couldn’t resist those add dollars.  It was Trump Mania, the money was too good.  Let me get this straight, management, CEO, COO, CFO, just haven’t noticed over the past three decades that the person they cover the most wins.  Is that what passes for genius these days?  It was so fucking obvious that the Weekly World News predicted both Clinton I and Baby Bush.  Why is it that whenever anything crazy happens that the defense on behalf of the corporate perpetrators is always, we were too stupid to know any better?  It well could have been that the talking heads on the screen and the producers managing their programs just thought a Trump victory impossible.  A college education doesn’t amount to much anymore that’s for sure.

Ask yourself a question and think about it, who was the media, especially the corporate media, really scared off?

Guess?

Based on coverage and on air attitude alone, in descending order, Jill Stein firstly, then Gary Johnson and finally Bernie Sanders.

There is no doubt in my mind that the media played a major role in getting Trump elected whether they as individuals, recognize that fact or not.  That’s only part of the equation though because I had the hardest time figuring out why anybody would vote for him, much less Hillary Clinton, even though I was certain he would win.  This state of mental information and prespective was a bit mind bending but I want to try and write my way through it.

20% of voters poled stated that they felt voting for Donald Trump would by like throwing a Molotov cocktail into the government (Storm Clouds Gathering/You Tube).  I can only think of one word to describe this emotional state and that is rage. There was an element of Donald Trump’s rhetoric, especially during the run up to the convention, that seemed to be pandering to certain elements of the far right.  If you have an opportunity check out his comments about the nature and type of people that illegally immigrate from the south and compare it to the rhetoric used by certain far right groups, the Neo Nazi’s. Aryan’s.  This is definitely race language with in that stance it just doesn’t sound like the race language from the 50s, 60s or even the 80s.  Immigrants, especially illegal immigrants are an easy target, most people won’t recognize the language as loaded and racist.  Most people don’t understand Northern Speak.  The Language of Political incorrectness had layers to it and different people hear different things  This stance along with Trump’s physical antics appeared to fall with in the lines of a certain style of liberty/nationalist political rhetoric if you are a member of some of the less savory elements from the hyper far right.  That still doesn’t account for the bulk of the people who voted for him.  Outside of Immigration where the candidate in question had fairly consist views even if his understanding of the cost and methods for execution appeared sketchy at times, he took every imaginable position.  It seemed that he spoke plainly and specifically to each audience and said basically, what he thought they wanted to hear.  NERD WRITER on You tube did an excellent dissection of the level of education or reading level exhibited by Trump through the text of his speeches which, it seems, was at about a fourth grade level.  It is a mistake to think that Donald Trump is some kind of a moron.  He is a promoter, promoting real estate projects, his brand or himself, that is how he makes his living.  Another word for promoter is Salesman.  A good sales man always knows his audience and in this case his audience lacked a college education.  KISS, a phrase I heard through out my youth when trying to communicate an idea, especially in high school.  Keep It Simple Stupid so that every one can understand it.  These supporters come from what we use to call in the old days the White Working class, largely lower working class.  The 2010 Census revealed that for the first time in U.S history more people lived in Urban areas than in Rural.  51% of the population are now living in the top twenty metropolitan areas.

The neo liberal evolution left a surprisingly large number of people behind, ruined many and left the rest without hope and for three or four decades now that there is a building resentment or resignation in the population.  But even this does account for his victory.  I got the impression that Trump didn’t expect to win, he seemed surprised to me.  In the end I think people voted for him, for the most part, not because they necessarily agreed with any particular part of his rhetoric but simply because he wasn’t a politician.  He was rich too, we American’s worship rich folks, I’m sure that didn’t hurt him either.

Donald Trump is like an empty glass, any given individual sees what they want in him.  If they want to see job creation and a better life then that is what they see.  If what they want to see comes from fear then it is fascism, racism, sexism, violent repressive state violence and oppression then that is what they see.  Trump is a spokesperson, a mouth piece, a show man and a distraction, what Lionel Nation on You Tube would call a rodeo clown except nobody is calling Trump that.  Instead they label him Crazy, stupid, incapable, narcissistic authoritarian or on the other hand a genius, a nationalist, anti globalist which, some , either positive of negative, maybe true.

Between Secretary Clinton and Donald Trump there wasn’t much of a choice.  60% of voters didn’t like either candidate (Redacted Tonight/You Tube)).  The election was a real shit storm, it was extremely divisive.  In my experience it isn’t unusual for a sizable portion of the population to dislike or hate the person of the president.  I became aware of this when I listened to people older than me talking about the Kennedy Assassination.  In their experience as many people cheered as those that cried.  So the idea that the population being split is some how novel is incorrect.  From where I sit it appears that both the administration and the corporate/citizen media are trying to agitate this situation.

“People are Dangerous” Noam Chomsky

Although this may not be conspiracy it very well could be a case of collusion.  A large portion of the population fighting among themselves, especially in large easily identified groups suits anyone looking to profit.  Fear Sells.  Fear confuses.  In these states obfuscation is simple to accomplish.  Don’t underestimate this, the crack down will come only if these groups interfere with the daily activities of large businesses.  This doesn’t change the fact that the administration is standing on shaky ground.  If Trump cannot deliver on key promises to his supporters, especially the economic ones, he’s got a problem.  He managed to pull off the immigrant ban and even if this next one is contested he’ll just try again.  Taking an anti illegal immigrant stance, or anti legal immigrant stance for that matter is like shooting fish in a bucket.  It works here, it works in Europe and pretty much everywhere else.  The concept is easy, whether it is simple like different is bad or slightly more complex like, if the economy doesn’t improve their will be no work for the new grown incoming people and of course there is fear of too mach competition or favoritism, fear never loses when it comes to influencing the population.  At this point I am indifferent about the illegal/refugee/new immigrant issue an largely see it as a Red Herring.  I felt at the time that if anyone really wanted to stop illegals they would simply prosecute the businesses that employ them, I mean this in the criminal sense.  Start throwing the individuals at the top these businesses in prison and watch the illegal flow cease.

I know that this will never happen.

It also appears that The Affordable Healthcare act isn’t being repealed at all, instead they are just amending the legislation (readthebill.gop).  So they are taking an insurance subsidy wrapped in a healthcare plan and removing the healthcare plan, it seems.  I could simply be incapable of comprehending the bill and they way it is written makes understanding it clearly difficult even though it is only 28 pages long.  It appears that this could affect a large portion of people, especially the 55 to 64 demographic, negatively, but I am prepared to wait and see.  There is a real anti-war attitude developing so we shall see if Trump’s Administration can reduce our exposure in foreign lands though we already have more boots on the ground in Syria.  The question is the cause, is it something that was already underway under The Obama Administration or was it something the Trump administration decided to do?  If it appears that Donald Trump is more of the same, just another deceitful politician who lacks the will or the intention to follow through on key issues, the population that voted for him will eventually begin to loose faith, example, pocket book issues/jobs/foreign policy/healthcare, things could get a bit shaky.  I don’t know how long his supporters will be able to keep the faith but the screaming mass of anti Trump people definitely create a feeling of conflict, the in sense of War, psychologically, as long as that atmosphere holds it will energize the Trump supporters to redouble their efforts.

If the economy should take a hard downward turn or some other catalyst occur, this tense situation has the potential for a serious spat of civil unrest/violence.  The Democrats need to rethink their platform, they need issues to support that appeal to a broader spectrum of people positively if they wish to have any opportunity to mount a serious challenge to the republican’s control of Congress.  I, personally, wouldn’t expect any serious introspection or refocusing of strategy from the Democrats until 2020 at the very earliest.

We have been suckered into a game of stick the prick and the question is who’s the prick?  We shall see because interest rates, the prime lending rate specifically, are going to start to rise.  The Trump Candidacy is the perfect environment for this move.  I would not expect the first increase to be any more that 25 points, (.25%) probably less.  With his rhetoric and his administrative style (Donald Trump) and the intense volatile division in the population some one other than the Federal Reserve or even the banking system will be blamed if the economy should sputter.  I don’t think an increase in interest rates alone will seriously harm what’s left of the economy, something else significant and unexpected has to happen about the same time.

That’s when things will get interesting.

Unlike so many others I still have faith in regular people.  A series of events, another dishonest/corrupt politician, a declining economy can either produce catastrophe or a unified movement.

Maybe we all get lucky and nothing will happen at all, maybe things will even improve, what do you think the odds of that are?