Friday, April 14, 2017

Saigon April 15, 2017



I hear the Last Post every night at 9:30 from a few blocks away.  I imagine a veteran from the fiasco below who stayed on.

Vietnamese government cancels 50th anniversary of battle of Long Tan 

 

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*David works in Bangkok and gave me this bag made by his girlfriend's tribe. You could slit the bottom, adjust the straps and have a girl's top. :) * Most congenial.


A list has to be sent into the police everynight of all staying at the hotel. The most in order: Australians, Chinese, New Zealanders, English, Americans and French.




This n' that.

:) 

Two peppers per meal. :)

Suits $50 to $200.

Two more weeks!










'Chinese' checkers.





The little girl on the left, top three pictures, is a natural model! :)

 Offering to Buddha outside a beauty parlor.

Reduce foreign competition to boost North Carolina wages

 Image result for Reduce foreign competition to boost North Carolina wages

For black North Carolinians, the Great Recession never ended. From 2009 to 2014, black residents’ incomes plummeted 21 percent in Winston-Salem, 17 percent in Raleigh, and 15 percent in Charlotte and Greensboro.

North Carolinians of other races aren’t faring much better. In 2015, the average North Carolina household earned $400 less than it did in 2009, after adjusting for inflation.

Wages are stagnant or declining because blue-collar North Carolinians face excessive competition from foreign labor. By striking fairer trade deals and lowering immigration, elected leaders could tighten the labor market. Employers would have to boost wages to attract workers.

Many companies have shipped jobs overseas to take advantage of cheaper labor. From 2001 to 2011, America lost 3.2 million jobs to China alone.  North Carolina – a former powerhouse in textile manufacturing – has suffered more from outsourcing than any other state, according to the Labor Department.

To add insult to injury, many employers pass over local workers in favor of cheaper immigrant laborers.

The Appalachian Messenger April 14, 2017

 https://img.evbuc.com/https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.evbuc.com%2Fimages%2F29822417%2F140127406331%2F1%2Foriginal.jpg?h=230&w=460&rect=0%2C9%2C298%2C149&s=52b9d7f12e02dd8602dee32814fafaa7

This week’s edition of the Appalachian Messenger has articles by:

Robert Gore
The Phoenix Template, Part One

Samuel Culper
Executive Intelligence Summary – 07 April 2017

T.L. Davis
This Is A War

Click here for the April 14, 2017 edition.

Intelligence and Military Sources Who Warned About WMD Lies Before Iraq War Now Say that Assad Did NOT Use Chemical Weapons

Via Wes

 https://socioecohistory.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/adolf_hitler-make_the_lie_big_n_simple_propaganda.jpg?w=387&h=473

Two dozen senior U.S. intelligence and military officers – who tried to warn George W. Bush before the Iraq war that those pushing war were lying – write:
Our U.S. Army contacts in the area have told us this is not what happened. There was no Syrian “chemical weapons attack.” Instead, a Syrian aircraft bombed an al-Qaeda-in-Syria ammunition depot that turned out to be full of noxious chemicals and a strong wind blew the chemical-laden cloud over a nearby village where many consequently died.
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Former U.N weapons inspector Scott Ritter warned before the start of the Iraq war that claims that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction were false.

Sunday, Ritter wrote that current claims that the leader of Syria launched a chemical weapons attack was false.

More @ Zero Hedge

A multi-level analysis of the US cruise missile attack on Syria and its consequences

Via Wes

 those who hated him still hate him while those who supported him now also hate him“.

The latest US cruise missile attack on the Syrian airbase is an extremely important event in so many ways that it is important to examine it in some detail.  I will try to do this today with the hope to be able to shed some light on a rather bizarre attack which will nevertheless have profound consequences.  But first, let’s begin by looking at what actually happened.

The pretext:

I don’t think that anybody seriously believes that Assad or anybody else in the Syrian government really ordered a chemical weapons attack on anybody.  To believe that it would require you to find the following sequence logical: first, Assad pretty much wins the war against Daesh which is in full retreat.  Then, the US declares that overthrowing Assad is not a priority anymore (up to here this is all factual and true).  Then, Assad decides to use weapons he does not have.  He decides to bomb a location with no military value, but with lots of kids and cameras.  Then, when the Russians demand a full investigation, the Americans strike as fast as they can before this idea gets any support.  And now the Americans are probing a possible Russian role in this so-called attack.  Frankly, if you believe any of that, you should immediately stop reading and go back to watching TV.  For the rest of us, there are three options:

More @ The Saker

What Was Lost 150 Years Ago

 

One-hundred and fifty-two years ago, April 9, 1865 was a Palm Sunday just as today, and in the central part of war-torn Virginia, a major turning point occurred in American history. General Robert E. Lee, that “chevalier sans peur“—that knight without fear—surrendered the tattered remnants of the proud Army of Northern Virginia to General Ulysses S. Grant, setting in motion the end phase of the War for Southern Independence.

That war was in reality not a “civil war,” that is, it was not a war between two aggrieved parties within the American nation. Rather, it was a war between two ideas of government, and, in reality, two ideas of history and progress.  For the North, which now controlled the Federal government, it was a war to suppress what was seen as a rebellion against constituted national authority. For the states of the Southern Confederacy, it was a defense of their inherited and inherent rights under the old Constitution of 1787, rights that had never been ceded to the Federal government. And, more, it became for them a Second War for Independence against an arbitrary and overreaching government that had gravely violated that Constitution.

China flaunts its mighty missiles on state TV as Beijing urges North Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions amid growing military tensions

Via Billy

Chinese state media showed footage of the nation's powerful missiles during a programme yesterday

China has flexed its military muscle on state television as tensions escalate between the US and North Korea.

China Central Television (CCTV) yesterday revealed footage of the country's various missiles in a daily military programme.

According to media, one of the weapons featured in the programme was DF-21 missile. The anti-ship ballistic missile boasts a firing distance of up to 1,926 miles (3,100km) and has been dubbed 'the killer of aircraft carrier'.

More @ Daily Mail

CIA Director Pompeo Attacks WikiLeaks, Wikileaks Posts Epic Response

Via Billy

In a press conference on Thursday, CIA Director Mike Pompeo denounced WikiLeaks which is a change of tune from his attitude towards Wikileaks back in July.

 

During the CIA Director’s first press conference, Mike Pompeo publicly denounced WikiLeaks calling the entity a “hostile intelligence agency”.

Without mincing words, Pompeo, a former Republican congressman, said WikiLeaks, “walks like a hostile intelligence agency and talks like a hostile intelligence agency”.


Fake? Top Clinton Aide Summoned By Congress Turns Up Dead

Via Jeffery


 

Breaking News… or ‘BROKEN’?


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Trey  Gowdy’s office had no official statement but his top aide, Mandy Gonsales, said that the committee isn’t happy with the circumstances of McGill’s death or the fact that his own doctor was summoned to pronounce. Abedin says she called the private doctor because she hoped he could save her friend.
There will be no autopsy on the body, which will be cremated before sunset in accordance with his religion. McGill is the single son of deceased parents and has no family. No services are planned.


Just days after being summoned to appear before Trey Gowdy’s congressional committee to testify about Hillary Clinton’s email server, one of her aides was found dead at home of “natural causes.”

Johnston Wilson McGill, 34, was pronounced dead on his couch by a private doctor after suffering an apparent heart attack. A spokesman for Clinton’s former campaign said that Huma Abedin, Clinton’s deputy campaign coordinator, found McGill when she stopped by for coffee to discuss Clinton’s plans for a run for Mayor of New York.

Abedin told police in a statement that McGill suffered from an abnormal heart arhythmia and that his doctor had always said a sudden and massive cardiac event was a possibility. She also told her publicist to make sure that the whole world knew that he was planning to cooperate with the congressional panel.


Trump gives states power to cut off Planned Parenthood money

Via Billy

President Donald Trump listens as NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg speaks at a news conference in the East Room at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, April 12, 2017, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

President Trump signed into law the first major national pro-life bill in more than a decade, freeing states to withhold federal family planning money from Planned Parenthood and other clinics that also perform abortions.

The Obama administration had issued a last-minute rule trying to prevent GOP-led states from discriminating against abortion providers, insisting that all women’s health clinics be treated the same. But Republicans, aided by Mr. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, have now erased that rule.

“This is a major pro-life victory,” said House Speaker Paul D. Ryan.

Cinton Era State Department Employee Arrested and Charged With Concealing Extensive Contacts With Foreign Agents

Via Billy

Image result for Marie Claiborne

A federal complaint was unsealed today charging Candace Marie Claiborne, 60, of Washington, D.C., and an employee of the U.S. Department of State, with obstructing an official proceeding and making false statements to the FBI, both felony offenses, for allegedly concealing numerous contacts that she had over a period of years with foreign intelligence agents.

The charges were announced by Acting Assistant Attorney General Mary B. McCord for National Security, U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips of the District of Columbia and Assistant Director in Charge Andrew W. Vale of the FBI’s Washington Field Office.

“Candace Marie Claiborne is a U.S. State Department employee who possesses a Top Secret security clearance and allegedly failed to report her contacts with Chinese foreign intelligence agents who provided her with thousands of dollars of gifts and benefits,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General McCord. “Claiborne used her position and her access to sensitive diplomatic data for personal profit. 

Pursuing those who imperil our national security for personal gain will remain a key priority of the National Security Division.”

House Intel Committee Member on Susan Rice Probe: ‘This Is Now a Full-Blown Investigation’

Via Billy


The House and Senate Intelligence Committees are expanding their investigations into former National Security Adviser Susan Rice's alleged "unmasking" of U.S. persons who were incidentally collected in surveillance of foreign officials.

An unnamed member of the House Intelligence Committee confirmed that Rice is now under "a full-blown investigation," Fox News reported on Wednesday.

"We will be performing an accounting of all unmasking for political purposes focused on the previous White House administration. This is now a full-blown investigation," the committee member said.

HuffPo Blogger Calls For US To Deny White Men The Right To Vote

Via Billy

 Protesters demonstrate against U.S. President Donald Trump and his plans to end Obamacare as they march to the White House in Washington, U.S., March 23, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Where do these people come from......? :)

A Huffington Post blogger proposed Thursday to deny white men the right to vote for 20 years to correct the wrongs they afflicted on the world.

Shelley Garland, a MA philosophy student, pondered taking away white men’s voting powers as punishment for their “toxic white masculinity” in an op-ed. Garland argues that if it hadn’t been for white men, President Donald Trump wouldn’t have been elected and the U.K. would still be a part of the E.U.

The only way to fix this, Garland reasons, is to take away white men’s voting rights for about twenty years.

S. Korea's new Marine Corps chief: Maintain full readiness to "mercilessly retaliate" against an enemy's provocation.

Via Billy

 Lt. Gen. Jun Jin-goo, new commander of South Korea's Marine Corps, in a photo provided by his office. (Yonhap)

The new commander of South Korea's Marine Corps took office on Thursday calling on his 30,000 troops to be ready to "mercilessly retaliate" against North Korea's provocations.

In a change-of-commander ceremony, Lt. Gen. Jun Jin-goo pointed out that the elite forces have played a key role in the front-line defense of the country.

"The Marine Corps has protected places most difficult to defend but should be done so at all costs" from Baengnyeong Island near the western sea border with North Korea to Pohang, Ullleung Island and Jeju Island, he said in his speech at the event held the headquarters of the Marine Corps in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province.

More @ Yonhap

House Republicans to Charge Lois Lerner with Criminal Activity

Via Billy


Syria Accuses US Of Hitting ISIS Chemical Weapons Depot Killing Hundreds; Russia Sends Drones

Via Frank


As SputnikNews reports, the Syrian military said that this fact proves that terrorists possess chemical weapons.
"The jets of the so-called US-led coalition launched a strike at about 17:30-17:50 [local time, 14:30-14:50 GMT] on a Daesh warehouse where many foreign fighters were present. First a white cloud and then a yellow one appeared at the site of the strike, which points at the presence of a large number of poisonous substances. A fire at the site continued until 22:30 [19:30 GMT],"
The Syrian army yet again denied possessing chemical weapons. According to the Syrian General Staff, the US-led coalition's strike killed several hundred people, including civilians. Hundreds were poisoned as a result of the strike on Daesh's headquarters and depot with chemical weapons.
"This confirms that Daesh and al-Nusra terrorists possess chemical weapons and are capable of using, obtaining and transporting it," the document said.
Furthermore, if true, the US coalition just did exactly what Russia has claimed occurred in the initial chemical attack (that prompted President Trump's "Tomahawk" torrent). The Russian Defense Ministry said the day after the initial chemical weapons release that an airstrike near Khan Shaykhun was carried out by Syrian aircraft, struck a terrorist warehouse that stored chemical weapons slated for delivery to Iraq.

Of course, the propaganda battle is not over so what we need now is some YouTube clip to 'prove' what the US coalition did.

More @ Zero Hedge

After campaigning as a disruptor, Trump shifts policies to conform to Republican establishment

Via Billy

President Trump ordered positions on missile strikes against the Syrian military, after telling voters during the campaign that the U.S. was involved in too many military operations overseas. He also pronounced that NATO is no longer obsolete and said he will not label China as a currency manipulator. (Associated Press/File)

Abandoning his tough talk on China and reversing himself on several other campaign themes, President Trump’s 12th week in office could go down as the moment he showed himself to be another establishment Republican, not the unconventional crockery-smashing raging bull he played on the stump.

In the past week, Mr. Trump ordered missile strikes against the Syrian military after telling voters during the campaign that the U.S. was involved in too many military operations overseas.
Mr. Trump proclaimed Wednesday that NATO is no longer obsolete, after questioning the U.S. commitment to the alliance on the campaign trail.

Also this week, Mr. Trump declared that he will not label China as a currency manipulator, after campaigning relentlessly on a promise to do just that.

86,000 M1 Garands Coming to CMP from Philippines

 

Ah, this is the type of news article that’s going to piss a lot of people off because of the dearth of specifics on when exactly the shoe will drop.  So, my apologies in advance.

But yes, I know, I desperately want one too — we all want one before they’re all sold out. Anyways, here’s the skinny, which basically boils down to one unhelpful sentence.

“There are 86,000 or so M1s hopefully coming back to the Army. We hope to see them in the future,” Mark Johnson, Chief Operating Officer of the Civilian Marksmanship Program, told TFB.

Great! What are we supposed to do with that information? Check the CMP website every day until the guns suddenly appear?

Maybe.  LOL.

More @ Guns America

CNN Confirms Fox's Napolitano - British Intelligence Passed On Trump Surveillance To US Spy Agency

Via Billy

`
 Now, some 30 days after Napolitano broke the story, CNN seems to have just confirmed it:
British and other European intelligence agencies intercepted communications between associates of Donald Trump and Russian officials and other Russian individuals during the campaign and passed on those communications to their US counterparts, US congressional and law enforcement and US and European intelligence sources tell CNN.

The communications were captured during routine surveillance of Russian officials and other Russians known to western intelligence. British and European intelligence agencies, including GCHQ, the British intelligence agency responsible for communications surveillance, were not proactively targeting members of the Trump team but rather picked up these communications during what's known as "incidental collection," these sources tell CNN.

The European intelligence agencies detected multiple communications over several months between the Trump associates and Russian individuals -- and passed on that intelligence to the US. The US and Britain are part of the so-called "Five Eyes" agreement (along with Canada, Australia and New Zealand), which calls for open sharing among member nations of a broad range of intelligence.
More @ Zero Hedge

Trump riles conservatives by reversing campaign stance, embracing Ex-Im Bank

Via Billy

 President Trump now is convinced that the Export-Import Bank's corporate welfare produces jobs. He said he would nominate people to fill its vacant board seats. (Associated Press)

Mr. Graham had predicted Mr. Trump’s about-face since last year, when as president-elect he intervened to save hundreds of manufacturing jobs at the Carrier air conditioning plant in Indiana. The bank said it sends any surplus from the interest and fees it assesses back to the Treasury, resulting in a $5.6 billion profit for taxpayers since fiscal 2007. That appeared to help sway the president.

President Trump’s embrace of the Export-Import Bank is a major blow to conservatives, who had been on the verge of nixing what they — and Mr. Trump, until now — called a sop to wealthy corporations.

During the election campaign, Mr. Trump dismissed the obscure lending agency as “featherbedding” for politicians and huge companies that don’t need it, enthusing opponents who had squeezed its lending powers and said it should die off.

But the president now says he is convinced that the corporate welfare produces jobs — an about-face that irked conservatives who have been fighting for years to end the loan program.

“Unless the Trump administration has reforms that can get Ex-Im out of the business of picking winners and losers with taxpayer dollars, then it will be difficult to see any upside in this,” said Doug Sachtleben, a spokesman for the Club for Growth, a conservative group that urged Congress to let the bank expire.

The frightening similarities between the US and French elections

Via Billy

 Le Pen's cynical Holocaust remarks could reopen old wounds in France

Three weeks before voters head to the polls to choose the next president of France, all 11 first-round candidates lined up in a large semicircle for a nationally televised debate that quickly dissolved into a cacophony of insults and shouts that steamed rapidly out of control.

For an American viewer, it was a Gallic clone of our own Republican primary debates a year before. 
 
A week after this televised contest, France's leading daily newspaper, Le Monde, asked, "What would the first months of an Emmanuel Macron presidency look like?" -- effectively baptizing one of the two leading candidates the winner even before the first ballot is cast.

It appeared to be a form of wishful thinking, not unlike the broad assumptions of most American newspapers in October that Hillary Clinton was the presumptive heir to the presidency of  the United States -- not Donald Trump.
 
More @ CNN