It is clear that ISIS is an organized crime family that only pretends to be concerned with religious matters. What does ISIS do to promote Allah and Islam? Nothing. Instead they kidnap, blackmail, rape, sex traffic, steal and sell antiquities.

Putin and the current Russian leaders are in bed with the Russian mob. So, what if turning Turkey loose on the Kurds is a backhand way of liberating Russian mob associates in Syria aka ISIS ?Maybe the money made by ISIS is all being funneled into Putin's gazillion dollar secret bank account.

If you read my journals, you know that I think the reason why Trump keeps a devoted base is because he is perceived to be the "Bandit King" (think Robin Hood) an outlaw who breaks unfair laws in defense of down trodden mostly rural people. (Read Eric Hobsbawn's "Bandits" for more on the politics of banditry). This is, of course, bull shit. But that does not stop some folks from believing it. And that is why his base gives him a free pass whenever he breaks the law.

Well, don't look now, but he just broke the Bandit Law--big time. Loyalty is the most important "virtue" of a Bandit King. If you cannot trust the bandit King to be loyal, then his lawbreaking ways become a threat--to you.

Trump just betrayed a key political ally in the Middle East--the Kurds. Remember how Saddam was reviled for killing the Kurds? And they were not even Saddam's allies. Trumps has just proven what we in the opposition always knew--he is only loyal to his own financial best interest.

Expect massive defections from the up-until-now Trump alliance.

Why is Trump selling out the Kurds--over the objections of everyone including the Pentagon and members of his own party?

“I have a little conflict of interest ’cause I have a major, major building in Istanbul,” Trump told Bannon during a Breitbart radio show. “It’s a tremendously successful job. It’s called Trump Towers—two towers, instead of one, not the usual one, it’s two.”

From a 2015 interview during his campaign for president.

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/10/reminder-trump-has-a-massive-conflict-of-interest-in-turkey/

Impeachment is too good for this serial killer. He should be tried in the World Court for war crimes.

Chronologically, it seems as if Saudi oil fields were attacked by anonymous drones first and then the Trump Bribes Ukraine whistle blower scandal broke second. However if you look at the timeline, the impeachable scandal was already emerging behind the scenes when someone blew up Saudi oil fields.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/20/politics/whistleblower-timeline-ukraine-team-trump/index.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/14/world/middleeast/saudi-arabia-refineries-drone-attack.html

I have to ask--did Putin launch drones in an effort to jump start a showy war between Iran and the US that would shield his puppet?

Hi. You may or may not remember that in addition to being a primary care physician working in a not for profit publicly funded health care system (not saying which one), I also have a Master's Public Health. So, here are some talking points to help sell Medicare 4 All.

Talking Points for the General Public:

1. Number one--it will save money in the long run. How? Because once Americans have cradle to grave coverage with the same insurer, that insurer (Medicare) will have a tremendous financial incentive to invest in disease prevention. Current Medicare, which only covers you once you are old and sick, gains nothing by investing in disease prevention. Medicare is too busy scrambling like crazy to pay for the consequences of decades of health neglect to take time to invest in disease prevention. And your private insurance, which only covers you until you are old/sick (and get on Medicare), also gains nothing from disease prevention.

2. All this investment in disease prevention to save money down the road (and we are not talking next century here, we are talking in the next two to three decades) will also make Americans healthier. And healthier means less pain, more happiness, longer lives, better quality of life.

Right now the only "cradle to grave" single payer in this country is the VHA--the Veterans Health Administration. And it is not really cradle to grave. It is honorable discharge to grave. But that is close enough for the purposes of this essay. Because the VA promises to take care of veterans health forever, it invests in disease prevention. The VA studied aspirin's effects in preventing heart attack. No Big Pharm would have done that--aspirin is a cheap generic. The VA developed the shingles vaccine. It developed the new injectable alternative to statins for those who can not take statins. It supplies diabetic socks because it would rather prevent the diabetic foot ulcer than amputate your foot. It pays for vitamins and nutritional supplements, because it would rather keep you well nourished than try to put you back together once malnutrition wrecks your health. When the VA comes up with a cheap and easy way to prevent disease( and suffering), the VA reaps a direct economic benefit which allows it to stay solvent.

Ever wonder why West Europeans/Canadians pay half per year of what we do in this country for health care and yet are so much healthier? It is because their cradle to grave single payer health plans have an economic incentive to invest pennies in disease prevention now to avoid paying gazillions of dollars down the line to treat horrible disease like heart failure and cancer.

Ever wonder why the VA is under attack? Because the VA model, even more than Medicare is the winning health care model. The one that gives the greatest benefits for the least cost. But Big Pharm all over the world makes a killing in the US. The manufacturers of durable medical goods including artificial joints all over the world make a killing in the US. Hospitals make a killing in the US. Literally. They are killing us with preventable disease so they can make money.

This is the same reason that the UK's National Health is under attack. These are the world's two biggest single payer __to grave plans. Don't be fooled by Twitter trolls. People in the UK love their guaranteed health care. Veterans love their guaranteed health care. Why? If a veteran is told that he has heart disease and needs surgery or cancer and needs chemotherapy, the first words out of his mouth are not "Will I have to put a second mortgage on my house to pay for this?" For the veteran, sickness does not equal bankruptcy and poverty.

So, when talking M4A, remember these two key points 1) It will keep you healthier and 2) After an initial start up investment, it will save this country about 1-2 trillion dollars a year once it is up and running. (Based upon current annual US health care spending) And this is not even factoring in increase worker productivity.

Talking Points for Targeted Audiences:

For 20 somethings who think that they are immortal and invincible, selling disease prevention is not easy. However, there is actually an easy way to get their attention. Point out how overweight and unhealthy their parents and grandparents are. Ask them "Do you want to end up like them? Wouldn't you rather be better than your parents and grandparents?" (Young people always want to believe that they can change the world for the better) Sell the 20 somethings on better health.

For seniors who love their Medicare to death and who are afraid that if they have to share it with younger folks there will not be enough Medicare left over for them remind them that this will keep Medicare solvent. Everyone will pay (small compared to traditional insurance) premiums. People coming into the system will be healthier and stay healthier. More people in the system means that the system will be self sustaining. Old folks ought to be worried as hell that if something is not done now to increase Medicare enrollment, eventually Medicare will be so crowded with high utilizers that it will collapse. Sell the seniors on Medicare solvency.

For middle aged people who have fairly decent private insurance through their jobs or that they purchase for themselves, remind them that their out of pocket on Medicare will be lower than even the most platinum plated private insurance. Including the monthly premiums, the average Medicare patients pays around $7000 a year out of pocket (not counting medications that is a whole other issue). (For comparison, I have platinum plated federal health insurance and for two folks it averages to around $8000 per year per person out of pocket.) M4A means every American will have out of pocket that is actually less than Congressional Insurance! Yippee!

For middle aged people who do not have insurance, M4A sells itself. They are putting off their hysterectomy or mammogram or heart surgery because they cannot afford these things. They lost their jobs because they were too sick to work and now they run a cash register at 7-11 and are praying they live long enough to get Medicare.

The NRA's popularity is taking a nose dive:

https://news.gallup.com/poll/266804/americans-views-nra-become-less-positive.aspx

Americans are fed up with having to worry that they and their loved one will die if they go to school, work, shop. Walmart is scared that its shoppers will start using Amazon instead. Americans want the Democratic Party to promise to make their world safe again.

Gonna go outside the box here. Why do we have automobile safety? Airbags, seat belts, laws against DUI and shit? Because the car insurance industry demands it.

If you really want to make gun ownership safe, you should require that gun owners buy insurance policies Trust me. It would work. The insurance industry would make it work.

The only reason the GOP would do this is if they think that Trump is doomed in the general and the thought of Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders in charge is driving them bonkers.

I am betting that they try to get a retired officer to run. Someone who did not draft dodge and who has no controversial opinions. Bland, bland, bland---with lots of metals.

As long as the Kremlin does not know who the eventual Democratic nominee will be, they have less time to work on their Big Lies. Big Lies take time to develop. They cannot be launched overnight. The public has to absorb them bit by bit so that they finally develop the ring of truth simply because they have become familiar.

With so many candidates battling it out, Russia will also have to be careful about character smears in the primary---because there are candidates that it believes have less chance of winning the general than others. Right now, Joe Biden is serving a valuable role--he is the lightening rod for all of Russia's smears. Trump is in full "Anyone but Biden!" mode. That allows the other candidates to get by relatively unscathed.

Keep the opposition guessing. Give the Democratic candidates plenty of time to craft their own public images. Pick an eventual nominee known for wit and savvy rather than one known for "purity"--so the inevitable Kompromat will not matter, because the public will be rolling in the aisles at the sassy comeback its nominee will deliver. Joe Biden would actually be good at this. So would several other candidates.

Forget sex. America is bored with sex. The House needs to investigate this:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/25/us/nsa-hacking-tool-baltimore.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage#commentsContainer



How do know that one of Trump's insecure friends with a security clearance did not release this NSA property to Russia in 2017? We don't!


Congress needs to start investigating this issue yesterday! If North Korea was the first to exploit it followed by Russia, you can bet that Russia stole it, tested it in North Korea and now has access to a tool that will allow it to corrupt local computer databases in a way that may make a fair e-vote election all but impossible. Complicating the matter--if local Republicans believe that the malware will allow Russian hackers to aid them in 2020, they will be inclined to look the other way, allowing hansom hackers to prey upon US citizens.

First on the agenda--Congress must do away with e-voting and insist upon paper ballots. The Senate and Trump will stonewall, which will make it very clear to Americans that the GOP is counting on election fraud.

Then, the House must offer aid to local communities to upgrade their security. Those which decline should be named publicly and asked why they want to enable organized crime.