Headlines

Ginsberg’s death just blew up the 2020 campaign

Trump wants to move ‘without delay’ to replace Ginsburg, setting up epic fight over Supreme Court

The left threatens violence, rioting if SCOTUS vacancy if filled before election

Biden’s reluctance to release SCOTUS shortlist complicates fight over RBG seat

Trump hits FBI Director again over testimony on Antifa, Russia

Ginsburg’s dying wish was not to be ‘replaced’ until there is a new president

Biden calls for SCOTUS vote to wait until next year

Cruz: ‘We risk a Constitutional crisis’ if  Ginsburg successor not confirmed before election

House Dems call for an ‘emergency’ DOJ watchdog review of Durham probe

CDC reverses controversial coronavirus guidance that said people without symptoms may not need a test

U.S. to send more troops to Syria amid withdrawals from Iraq and Afghanistan

Pew: 77 percent of Catholic Democrats support legal abortions


STAND UP FOR AMERICA!

Headlines

The resurrection of Joe Biden

Coronavirus live updates: Pence says markets will recover, WHO chief warns of more European outbrakes

Local spread of virus marks turning point in USA ...

Steyer burns $252M on failed campaign

Pence: 15,000 Coronavirus testing kits released over the weekend

Bernie Sanders leads in Texas, a pivotal Super Tuesday primary, NBC/Marist poll says

Pence: More [virus] deaths coming ...

Thousands of migrants mass on Turkey’s border with Europe

Syria says 2 warplanes downed by Turkey as tensions mount

Silicon Valley has emerged as a battle of Bernie vs. Bloomberg ahead of Super Tuesday

New international travel restrictions ...

Iran raises coronavirus death toll to 54

Headlines

Biden claims comeback despite distant second finish to Sanders

Sanders wins Nevada caucuses, takes National Democratic lead

Undocumented immigrants helped him [Sanders] win [in Nevada] ...

Bernie Sanders says U.S. is worse than Communist China in jailing people

Trump loves a big crowd, he’ll get one of his biggest in India.

Economic impact of coronavirus will be clearer in ‘three or four weeks, ‘ Mnuchin says

It’s the Socialist Democrats now ... Trump congratulates ‘crazy Bernie’

Three migrants from Yemen apprehended in human smuggling in CA

Erdogan says he will meet Putin, Merkel and Macron to discuss Syria

Coronavirus Live updates: South Korea alert level on max, Italy and Iran cases spie

Can’t [Eastwood] for Mike [Bloomberg] ...

[Susan] Rice: Acting DNI Grenell a ‘hack and a shill’

Imminent

Schimminent! Whether any “imminent” Irani-sponsored attack was to be forthcoming is irrelevant in America’s decision to take out Qasem Soleimani. This Irani terrorist deserved to die for his decades of killing our soldiers and sailors in the Mideast ... including the Lebanon Marine barracks bombing, the Saudi Khobar Towers explosion, the USS Cole attack, hundreds of Iraqi, Syrian and Afghanistan killings of Americans by Iran-supplied IEDs ... capped by many tens of thousands of innocent Muslims murdered for sport.

Our only regret should be that his death was instantaneous and not lingering ... as occurred in many of his killings. Good riddance! And those who question his demise are overcome by Trump hatred to the point of irrationality. Damn them too!

Ping Pong

Most of our problems in the Middle East have to do with our inserting ourselves in the middle of the centuries-long conflict between the Shia and Sunni Muslims. Our overturning of Saddam Hussein, a Sunni, made the Iraqi Shia believe we were on their side ... and Obama’s sucking up to Iran (Shia) reinforced this notion.

But Trump’s dumping of the Iran nuclear deal seemed to indicate we favored the Sunnis. However, the ISIS caliphate was Sunni-based ... and Hillary, with Obama’s permission, seemed to favor these butchers.Then Trump destroyed this caliphate ... with some help from Iran.

And the Shia-Sunni blood feud is also being replicated elsewhere throughout the Middle East ... Saudi Arabia. Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Oman, Turkey, Yemen, Pakistan, Egypt, Gaza ... all but Pakistan predominately Sunni ... where America has difficult problems ... making things even more complex.

And so it goes, back and forth between these Muslim sects (and other offspring sub-sects) like a ping pong match on an Islam table covered in blood. Unfortunately, our troops represent the ping pong ball ... batted back and forth at the cost of U.S. soldiers’ lives and limbs.

Praying Mantis

Was the US’s killing of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard General Soleimani in Iraq justified? The Smerconish program on CNN this morning asked this question of its viewers. Surprisingly, 72% of respondents said it was NOT justified. This suggests that Liberals in general do not approve of this Trump decision ... not a surprise. But, was this a never-Trump knee-jerk or, perhaps, an indication of fear of Iranian retaliation?

Probably a bit of both. And yes, Iran might respond in kind. But the repercussions of Trump’s boldness will likely be felt in other spheres: North Korea, China, Syria, Venezuela ... maybe even Russia. And remember that Iran went quiescent for a number of years after President Reagan destroyed half its navy in 1988 after it had mined the Persian Gulf ... see: Operation Praying Mantis.

Maybe Reagan’s boldness was a template for Trump’s decision?

Headlines

Trump warns Syria , Russia,  and Iran against killing ‘innocent civilians’ in Idtib Provence

New rule would make it possible to track and identify nearly all drones flying in the U.S.

ChinaRussinIran navy drills ... Growing alliance

IG Report shock: Steele funneled claims through John McCain after FBI dropped him as source

Democrats seize on anti-Obamacare ruling to steamroll GOP 2020

Trump stock market  rally is far outpacing past US presidents

Trump already searching for his next Secretary of State

Lisa Murkowski ‘disturbed’ by coordination vow between Senate and White House

Democrat insiders: Bernie could win the nomination

China races to build its own Tesla as economy slows and subsidies dry up

Americans retiring to Vietnam, for cheap healthcare and decent living standard.... Monthly expenses rarely exceed $2,000

Michael Moore: Trump will not debate Democrat candidate

War is Hell

The son-in-law of a fraternity brother is an Iranian Kurd and a corespondent for the BBC. He recently reported on the brutal killing of a female Kurdish soldier by the Syrian militia under Turkish control. Read the whole narrative here: BBC Story.  Jiyar Gol is his name and he chronicles the roadside murder of Amara Ramas, a member of a ferocious all-female Kurdish brigade. Her fate is an emotion grabber.

It evokes all kinds of thoughts about the horrors of war ... one of which we learned from Stephen Crane in “The Red Badge of Courage” — if you don’t kill the enemy first, they will likely kill you. However, it is how you kill the enemy that makes the difference. Humiliating your enemies before or after dispatching them is what we are dealing with here ... aptly, but ironically, labeled war crimes.

Such war crimes unfortunately too often happen in the heat of battle. Emotions run wild when soldiers see comrades cut down or when the enemy performs heinous acts ... to the point where soldiers often lose control. American soldiers have been known to urinate on Afghan enemy corpses and, after World War 2 ended, German soldiers who refused to surrender (wolverines) were summarily executed by American soldiers.

Does this excuse these Syrian army atrocities? Of course not! But will my feeble words stop such horror. You know that answer. It is quite likely that Kurdish emotions will be inflamed by this incident and revenge will be sought. And on and on. These battles have been going on for hundreds of years and are unlikely to be resolved soon.

I am convinced that revenge and war might be encoded as a sequence in the DNA of most humans. And the only time the world will find John Lennon’s imagined peace might be at some distant time when science can identify this sequence and repair it. In the meantime there will be lots of senseless killings such as Amara’s.

Headlines

ISIS leader killed in daring U.S. raid in Syria, Trump says

Trump confirms ISIS Baghdadi is dead after US raid in Syria — ‘He died like a coward’

No U.S. troops killed ... Pelosi, Congress not told over leak fears ...

Trump: [Baghdadi] ‘Died whimpering, crying, screaming’

Brussels fears accidental Brexit crash-out

Trump wants to make a deal with Exxon and others to tap Syrian oil: ‘We should be able to take some’

New York magazine: Biden — least formidable front-runner ever ...

Media Meltdown ... Clapper: Region now *more* dangerous ...

Ousted Republicans plot rematches with Trump back on the ballot

Trump told Mattis to screw Amazon out of $10 billion cloud contract

41% of the world’s people are under 24. And they’re angry ...

British police foil 24 terror plots since 2017

Headlines

Warren and Sanders race to out-left each other, and moderates are terrified

Federal deficit increases 26% to $984 billion for fiscal 2019, highest in 7 years

Trump accuses Obama of treason ...

Democrats have to watch Trump get justice award from black organization

Trump organization considers selling Washington hotel

Trump advisor Peter Navarro fighting ‘Phase One’ of China trade deal, sources say

Soros: Tide turning back to globalists ...

Michael Moore floats possibility of President Pelosi

U.S. sending armored vehicles into Syria to defend oil fields, Pentagon chief confirms

US and China are close to finalizing some sections of the trade deal, US trade representative says

Court documents: FBI ambushed Michael Flynn, then celebrated ...

Fling: Flynn’s lawyers claim proof that Lisa Page altered FBI interview record to frame him

Headlines

Senate Republicans duck for cover after explosive Taylor testimony

Federal Reserve economist says growth would have been better with negative interest rates

POLL: Approval of [impeachment] inquiry hits new high; 55% ...

Impeachment star witness has long history with Burisma-backed think tank

Maxine Waters slams Zuckerberg, raises specter of breaking up Facebook

Trump says ceasefire in Syria is ‘permanent’ and he will lift sanctions

Judge Judy endorses Bloomberg for president

Military leader of Syrian Kurds thanks Trump

Biden way ahead of the pack in new national poll

IBM and Google disagree on quantum computing achievement

Google computer beats 10,000-year task in mins!

Adam Schiff desperate to hide inconvenient William Taylor testimony

Headlines

Trump dives into red-state races to reverse impeachment slump

SoftBank to take control of WeWork: Sources

President’s cabinet meeting devolves into 71 minutes of grievances ...

Pompeo warns Turkey: Trump ‘fully prepared’ to take military action over Syria

Jimmy Carter hospitalized after fall in Georgia home

Negative rates have consequences we don’t fully understand, Jamie Dimon says

Trudeau wins second term but loses majority ...

Transgender cyclist Rachel McKinnon keeps smashing women’s records

Drug pricing proposal could result in loss of 700k American jobs

Biogen to seek US approval for Alzheimer’s drug, sending shares soaring 37%

US may now keep some troops in Syria — to guard oil fields ...

Persecuted Turkish journalist: ‘Turkey has been hosting ISIS for years’

Headlines

After backlash, Trump says his Doral resort won’t host G-7 summit

Amazon is shipping expired baby formula and granola, putting customers and food brands at risk

Hong Kong descends into chaos again as rioters defy ban ...

Canadian oil, gas workers protest Greta Thunberg: Don't kill our jobs

‘It’s not like she hates lobbyists’: Warren’s Senate record doesn’t match her campaign rhetoric

Brexit could cause a broad ‘investor strike.’ UBS chairman warns

Romney downloads on Trump again: May vote to remove

173 House Republicans back move to condemn Adam Schiff

Defense chief: Troops leaving Syria going to western Iraq

Stocks will likely hit new records in the week ahead if earnings keep bearing expectations

Australian papers unite in protest against media restrictions ...

Study Latino-owned businesses growing at record pace in Trump economy

Headlines

DeFazio threatens to subpoena GSA for Trump Hotel documents

NBA salary caps could feel pressure from China rift

Trump campaign threatens to sue CNN ... Demands substantial damages from bias ...

Democrat-controlled House passes bill with Russia ‘quid pro quo’

Syria Kurds accuse Turkey of violating cease-fire terms

Grocery sales are rising but so is the pressure on profits, analyst says

Pew: 54% approve Trump impeachment ...

Mick  Mulvaney: ‘We held up the money’ for Ukraine investigation

‘I guess I’m the Meryl Streep of generals’: Mattis jokes about Trump calling him overrated

Turkish President Erdogan says he ‘cannot forget’ Trump’s letter

Chris Wallace new face I’d resistance ...

Pew: US Christian population in free fall, down 12% in ten years

The Hammer

Turkey’s Erdogan has backtracked  from his defiance of Trump and the US over his invasion of Syria. First, he claimed that he wouldn’t meet with VP Pence and SecState Pompeo. Then he caved in that defiance and met with them ... the result of which was an announced ceasefire with the Kurds in Syria ... see: Yahoo News Story and Video. The terms of this deal, at first blush, seem a win for Trump and our allies, the Kurds. Maybe so ... we will see how well the Turkish follow-through is.

But, if Erdogan does live up to this capitulation, it would seem Trump and company had a pretty big hammer in these discussions ... for Erdogan is a very proud and powerful man. I would love to know exactly what this hammer was. Were US economic  sanctions enough? Or did Putin or Xi come charging over the hill to Trump’s rescue?

On Wednesday, 129 House Republicans voted for a Democrat-sponsored resolution condemning Trump’s decision to pull our troops out of Syria after Turkey invaded. Only 60 GOPers voted against this premature resolution. I suspect that, given a re-vote, things would come out differently today.

Headlines

Warren bashes 2020 rivals for ‘hobnobbing with the rich and powerful’

Earnings season gets off to a great start with only two misses

LaBron bows to Communists ... Paper: most disgraceful moment of his career ...

Warren has received money fro 30+ billionaires

Ronan Farrow: National Enquirer shredded secret Trump documents

Lower mortgage rates are causing an epic housing shortage

Update: More than a dozen police killed in ambush in Mexico ...

China warns Erdogan to halt invasion against Kurds ...

Trump gambles voters will reward him for his to-hell-with-this-Syria moves

Trump is on his way to an easy 2020 win, according to Moody’s accurate election model

Russian forces sweep into U.S. abandoned base in Syria ...

Here’s Hunter: Would ‘probably not’ get Ukrainian gig without my last name ...

Headlines

EU countries agree to suspend arms shipments to Turkey

Bloomberg is talking about running for president as Bernie struggles with Warren

Warren flaunts fitness as candidates’ health becomes an issue ...

Tabbi: Impeaching Trump would establish ‘intelligence community veto over elections’

Syrian army moves to confront Turkish forces as U.S. withdraws

Larry Summers: US economy is just one bad recession away from zero rates or worse

Chelsea emphatically states that person with beard and penis can identify as woman ...

ABC News airs gun range video, calling it a Syrian war zone — twice

Lindsey Graham: Trump’s vow to sanction Turkey ‘a game changer’

‘Hold the champagne’ : What the Chinese state media is saying about the trade talks

Republican kicked out of impeachment inquiry hearing ...

Ohio swing voters: Impeachment a distraction from what they care about

Headlines

Cruz denounces Trump’s call for China to probe Bidens

Hunter Biden resigns from Chinese board following Trump attacks

Dems discuss detaining White House  official who don’t testify ...

New York Post: Fox News ‘misrepresented’ impeachment poll

Germany’s Merkel tells Erdogan to halt Syrian offensive

Superstar German DJ ‘permanently banned’ from China after liking a ‘South Park’ tweet

Envoy who denied quid pro quo now says he isn’t certain ...

It’s on: Bernie breaks truce with Warren

ISIS supporters escape amid Turkish attack

Boeing CEO loses chairman role to focus on 737 Max crisis

Turkey deliberately ‘bracketing’ US forces with artillery fire in Syria ...

Schiff: Don’t need ‘quid pro quo’ to get impeach

Ready, Shoot, Aim

Many politicians have waded in on the Turkey invasion of Syria. I’ve even put my toe in the water ... see: Tough One. The vast majority of politicians have thumped Trump for his tough decision ... often without knowing all the give-and-take behind Trump’s stance. Maybe some circumspection is called for.

Somehow it appears to this observer that there is more to Trump’s move than is immediately apparent ... since abandoning previous allies comes with a large potential cost. When he ran for president, Trump had pledged to remove US troops from foreign entanglements ... and this is part of his rational for stepping aside during Turkey’s rash move.

But this, as Treasury Secretary Mnuchin says, is obviously a very complex situation. Recently there is some friction between the Kurds and American forces ... see: Breitbart Story, Turkey’s membership in NATO makes things more difficult (is Trump setting it up for expulsion?), Trump has been trying to force countries in the region to step up to their responsibilities, etc. And I’m sure that there are many sub rosa issues which few politicians understand.

Therefore, it would seem to me that a little time should be invested in fully understanding things before stepping in front of the national media and saying words that might have to be eaten later.

Headlines

‘Stop talking’: Trump advisers want Giuliani dumped

Wall Street has doubts after partial trade deal: ‘I don’t hunk this get us to Christmas’

American forces come under Turkish artillery fire in Syria ...

Appeals court rules House should get Trump’s financial records

Trump allows Little League baseball champions tag along on Air Force One

Investors are flocking to money markets at the highest rate since the financial crisis

A relationship with Jeffery Epstein that Bill Gates now ‘regrets’ ...

Trump: Dems encouraging foreign interference by opposing voter ID

Facebook’s Libra project suffers major blow as Visa, MasterCard drop out

Tokyo area closes down as powerful typhoon lashes Japan

Rudy said to be under investigation for Ukraine work ...

Left-wing rioters attack Trump supporters leaving Minneapolis rally