With the Democrat Party Fully Captured by the Foreign Policy “Blob,” Populist Republicans Lose a Key Battle on FISA

I have increasingly turned to Mike Benz to help make sense of America's obsessive and unnecessary warmongering. Joe Biden, his neocon cabinet and the DNC have already capitulated to the war state. Among the Democrats, there's no need any more to discuss whether a war is truly necessary. No need to weight the pro's and con's. No need to concern ourselves with the possibility of nuclear war. No need to ask whether the American treasury should be allocated to (massive) domestic needs. We always need more war. Full stop. But why? What is the end game? How does this pro-war ideology benefit ordinary Americans? It doesn't. As George Carlin stated so succinctly,

In this video, Mike Benz explains the big picture. I have created a transcript of Mike's comments at Real America's Voice. On a daily basis, I fear that his assessment is accurate.

Note 1:  When Mike is using the term "the Blob," (as set forth in the third paragraph) he is referring to the internationalist side of the U.S. government associated with big international businesses associated with the energy market associated with the military. .

Note 2: "The Atlantic Council has seven CIA directors on its board. A lot of people don't even know that seven CIA directors are still alive, let alone all concentrated on the board of a single organization. That's kind of the heavyweight in the censorship industry." - Mike Benz

Natalie Winters:

On this as of course, Mike Benz who I'm so honored that last minute he was able to come on, Mike, I honestly just want to toss it to you your kind of thoughts on this whole FISA debacle. If you want to start with the press conference that we just saw, or even just the forthcoming Monday vote, what you think's gonna happen?

Mike Benz:

I share an identical rage that I feel that emanating from you here for him to take to the press conference like that and and pivot to the border reciting all of the principles, "If we don't have a border, we don't have a country." Well, you know, what if we don't have a secret police in this country, a political police in this country, we don't have a country? You know, this idea that "Oh, don't worry about it. There's checks and balances on it now."

No, there's not. It's an empty check. It's a blank check for the FBI to do whatever it wants and it's bluster instead of balances. FISA is as a Senator Mike Lee said it best federal investigators stalking Americans, and there's something very sick and twisted about what's happening right now with the FISA fight. visa vie, the Republican Party. The Republican Party is in the middle of a civil war between the internationalist sect of the GOP, the Blob side of it, versus the nationalist wing of the GOP, the populist faction, and Pfizer will not be used on the blob side, the internationalist side of the GOP, that side of the GOP associated with big international businesses associated with the energy market associated with the military. In that empire managerial class of the GOP, FISA is not an issue to them. It won't be used on them, but it will be used on their opposition in the GOP Civil War. Every single right-wing populist nationalist Republican is a target of FISA. FISA is this idea that you can get around the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, and use the Department of dirty tricks powers that our foreign policy establishment has to spy on foreigners, to spy on Americans if you simply use the word counter intelligence instead of intelligence. "We're not doing intelligence spying on our own people. We're doing counter intelligence spying on our people, because they might be being spied on by Russia."

Continue ReadingWith the Democrat Party Fully Captured by the Foreign Policy “Blob,” Populist Republicans Lose a Key Battle on FISA

Biden’s Ukraine War Judgment: Fool You Twice, Shame on You

With the track record he earned throughout the Iraq debacle, Biden should never have been trusted with regard to Ukraine. And now the Ukraine self-inflicted adventure is clearly and predictably turning into a debacle that risks nuclear war. The video in the Tweet (below) is a stunning reminder of how Biden shut down debate on Iraq, just as he has now done on Ukraine.

Biden had no end game in mind on either of these imperialist oil-driven excursions. And BTW, still no mention of Biden's culpability (based on Sy Hersh's article) regarding the Nord Stream pipeline in NYT, WaPo, CNN, NPR or MSNBC. Biden is as good at shutting down the corporate left-leaning "news" media as he is in shutting down the Nord Stream Pipeline. He bragged that he was going to shut down the Nord Stream. There is evidence that he gave the order to blow it up and then the news media became clueless about who did it, lacking even a drop of curiosity once Biden ludicrously blamed Russia for blowing up its own pipe line. That nonsensical claim was code for the corporate media to get in line and take orders from the White House. That's what goes for journalism these days.

Continue ReadingBiden’s Ukraine War Judgment: Fool You Twice, Shame on You

Memories of Istanbul

Until COVID struck, I was traveling once or twice per year to Istanbul, Turkey, to teach law school (week-long courses). I look forward to the day when I can again travel to Istanbul. I truly miss the visiting in person with students and friends. The Turks are awesome! I keep in touch with several of them. But I also miss the many astounding images one sees everywhere in Istanbul. I took the top photo in 2017. I reworked it tonight. This is an image of the Blue Mosque that I took from the Hagia Sofia (which was built in the year 532). The photo below is the interior of the Blue Mosque (built in 1609). Seeing these ancient buildings in person gives rise to deep emotions of admiration for the architects and builders. Seeing them with your own eyes caused me to think of the multitudes of people who have visited these structures at so many key points in their lives.

This final photo is one I took while riding one of the many ferries that plow the Bosphorus day and night.  The city of Istanbul is partly in Europe and partly in Asia, and the waters of the Bosphorus Strait mark the boundary.

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About Calls to Prayer

For several years I have taught week-long courses at law schools in Istanbul, Turkey. Those visits have been put on pause due to COVID. I was a couple weeks from traveling to Istanbul once again in early March, 2020, but I reluctantly cancelled that.

I often think of the many people I repeatedly visit when I'm in Turkey. Like most of my friends in the U.S., digital technologies have made it possible to keep in touch, but I look forward to the day when I can once again take it all in through all five senses.

Back here in St. Louis, Missouri, I tend to my ordinary life. Every week or so, however, I fondly think of something that I couldn't have predicted before I first visited the Middle East. I often think of the call to prayer.

In the Middle East, the muezzin calls out from the top of nearby minarets five times each day (sometimes more than one at the same time if you are between minarets). It's a call, for sure, and almost seems like a song, but I've been told that it is not singing. The calls seemed like intrusions on my ears until I heard many of them. Gradually, over my repeated visits, the call to prayer became an exceptionally beautiful moment for me. I write this as an atheist who doesn't understand any of the words of the call to prayer. For me, its beauty is about the sounds and the moment, coupled with images of the venerable mosques I visited (I took these photos in Turkey and Egypt). Also coupled with the second-to-none hospitality of the people I met in the Middle East. It's different than church bells, because it's only five times each day and because you are not hearing a mechanical bell--you are hearing a human being earnestly calling out to you.

As I repeatedly visited Turkey, I started looking forward to the calls as opportunities to stop and think about life and my place in the world. I also took it as a reminder to always be tending to things that really matter because the day is always slipping away. It is also a reminder that you are part of a much bigger community because that call is to everyone in hearing distance, not just you.

There are many reasons for craving an effective vaccine for COVID. For me, this is a reason that I didn't anticipate. This is a good example of a reason that you should travel to new places: If you travel with the right state of mind, you will be changed by what you encounter.

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Magic Places: Cappadocia, Turkey

I'm starting to plan my next trip to Istanbul Turkey in the spring (I teach law school there periodically). I'm so looking forward to seeing friends who live there. That led me to look at some of my photos from my trip in 2017. One of the highlights was driving to Pigeon Valley in Cappadocia with good friends. What a magical place, and it actually has lots of pigeons! The top photo is the iconic photo of the valley that I took in 2017. The lower photos is also from Cappadocia, from the city of Goreme.

There are certain places in the world to which I have said "good-bye" out loud, hoping that someday, somehow, it would not be the last time I would visit. Cappadocia is one of those places.



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