Meta-Bug readers like cute doggie stories, less motivated by calls for the Trumplets (Ivanky, Ericky, and Donny Jry) to join the military.
So few people read this virtual rag that statistics are probably useless. However, we did go over 100 views for ENTIRE WEEK! I realize that more millions more people than that will watch a cute cat video in the time it takes to read this paragraph. I can live with that.
And I’m glad that you’re interested in the thrilling story about Genius Mutt defying death after eating a chocolate cake.
But people! In all of this political talk flying around, NO ONE is talking about the proper use of the military. It would be nice to have this discussion before we get stuck in another stupid quagmire that costs the lives and health of those willing to sign on that line.
It is the unanimous view of the Meta-Bug editorial staff that the draft needs to be reinstated. We don’t like the draft. We don’t like the fact that having a large standing army tends to get overused. We wouldn’t like the increased military spending that would accompany a universal draft. We don’t like the possible militarization of society that could occur with a universal draft. We don’t like having permanent military bases in places where they are not wanted or not necessary. We think that young Americans should be supported in becoming the adults they want to be, and that it should be done through education, that the money would be better used paying for universities and trade schools rather than uniforms, food supplied by contractors, and weapons.
Above all, I don’t want my children in the military.
But we are in love with our military might. For a large number of Americans, being big and powerful is part and parcel of our patriotism. We stand astride the globe, ready to go anywhere at a moment’s notice (damn the exit strategies!).
If that is going to be the case, everyone needs to take part. Senators’ sons. Kids of Congressmen. The President’s Progeny. Especially the President’s Progeny. And they shouldn’t be dragged off to the draft board kicking and screaming. They should be at the recruiter’s office, waiting at the door ten minutes before opening time. (On time in the military is 10 minutes early.)
Will they answer the call?
Netanyahu: Where was he on Holocaust Remembrance Day?
For a man who has made a career out of reminding the world that Jews are victims, he was unconscionably silent on the Trump Holocaust Remembrance Day statement.
Remember that statement? The one that didn’t mention the 6 million Jews that were systematically murdered by the Third Reich? The one that dog-whistled to neonazis, white supremacists, and anti-Semites all over the nation? The one that Weasel Kushner was also unimaginably mute about?
I’m not sure Netanyahu has taken it to heart that most American Jews can’t stand Trump. That 76% of professed Jews, including Zionist Jews such as myself, voted against the nascent dictator.
I wonder how Bibi’s feeling today, now that, seemingly on whim, Trump has reversed himself on the matter of Israeli settlements.Maybe Trump’s getting back at the American Jewish community for opposing him.
I hope that the hawkish Jews who voted for Trump finally realize that they can’t count on his support of Israel’s right. After the events of recent days, I can’t see why any of our allies would feel that they can count on Der GropenFuehrer. He has no core principles, other than his narcissism, and toadying to that is not even a guarantee of a good outcome. Just ask Chris Christie.
Feeling betrayed, Mr. Prime Minister?
Trump’s remarks on Black History Month
Official transcript of remarks:
“I’d like to think about some black people that were very, very important in my life.
“Michael Jackson, maybe my favorite black person, he was a big, big fan of Trump and the Trump empire, we were going to work on some projects when he was tragically killed by his doctor. His doctor, do you know, graduated magna cum laude and was the son of poor farmers? You see what black people can do when they’re not getting handouts from lying Hillary and her friends?
“Then there’s Sheriff David Clarke, who predicted I would get more of the black vote than Romney, he was right, I got 8% while loser Romney only got 6%. That’s a 33% increase! He’s not politically correct. We’re tired of politically correct. David, great guy, he says things not politically correct about the black community, which in Wisconsin, let me tell you, takes a tremendous amount of guts. Tremendous amount. Clarke likes me, a terrific guy. I wanted to make him National Sheriff. I might still.
“But, hey, this is about history.
“Who can remember childhood without Aunt Jemima? I can’t! Best pancakes, teriffic syrup, ever. Bigly . I was so happy to have those pancakes in the morning. I even called the black women who served me “Aunt Jemima”. It also made it easy because I could use one name for all of them. Those ladies were terrific, they really loved me.
“And entertainment? When Americans started having talking movies, what was the first one? The Jazz Singer. We had Al Jolson, who by the way was Caucasian and Jewish, I also like Jews, I hired my Jewish son-in-law Jared to be an advisor, I really wanted him for treasurer, but .. Anyway, when Al Jolson sang in the movies what did he do? That’s right, he put on blackface. That’s how much we admire black people, that when the first person sings in movies, that person should be black, even if they’re not.
“Bill Cosby. Who has done more to make Black people look like real Americans than the Huxtables? Except for Omorosa who I think actually had more TV viewers than Cosby, I know I read that somewhere.
“Look around. There are African-Americans everywhere. They have been at the forefront of sports. They have worked for Trump organizations. They even worked at my casinos, which means I was able to teach them to count money almost as well as Jews, as well as helping them not be lazy, and it’s really sad that they’re born with that laziness trait, but I’m willing to help them with this disability and do I ever get credit? No, the fake news stations just try to make it look like I have a bad relationship with the blacks.
“And peanuts! Would peanuts exist if George Washington Carver hadn’t invented them? What would American kids eat for lunch ? He does great work, that Professor Carver. Lots of people say so. I think we will be seeing more and more of him. And it shows that Black people can overcome their laziness and make something of themselves. Entertainers, sports figures. Boxers. But not tenants. They don’t make good tenants. Don’t rent to them. Unless the court forces you to. Then do it. But don’t admit wrongdoing.
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tRump Makes Good on Campaign Promise to Commit War Crimes
“The other thing with the terrorists is you have to take out their families, when you get these terrorists, you have to take out their families.They care about their lives, don’t kid yourself. When they say they don’t care about their lives, you have to take out their families.”
— Drumpf on Fox and Friends on Dec. 2, 2015.
In his first military action, Twittler managed to both keep his promise to violate the Geneva Convention and to screw up bigly. According to a senior military source in contact with NBC, “almost everything went wrong.”
Once again, our new president was firing from the hip, shooting without thinking first. Only this time, they were real guns, and at least two Americans were killed, one sailor and one 8-year old child. William Owens will be mourned and honored, as he should be. However, as the daughter of a American-borne, radicalized jihadist, there may be few in this country that mourn the death of Nawar al-Awlaki. I hope that we, with all of our power, remember that no child chooses the circumstances of his or her birth.
Article 51.2 of the Geneva Convention states: “The civilian population as such, as well as individual civilians, shall not be the object of attack. Acts or threats of violence the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the civilian population are prohibited.” The article does not say that collateral deaths are a war crime. It says that you can’t target civilians. Reasonable precautions have to be taken, and a small, even important target cannot justify, purposeful slaughter of non-combatants.
The Founding Fathers were against having a standing army, in the belief that its existence encourages its use. I think we no longer have the luxury of not having one, but if we are going to follow the intent of the Framers, as many suggest we do, we’d be far more in tune with their vision by being substantially less bellicose. And until the burden currently borne by military families is spread evenly among the population, the desire to flex our muscle should be tempered with much greater empathy and foresight than have been shown in the last 16 years
I confess without shame that I am tired & sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. Even success, the most brilliant is over dead and mangled bodies […] It is only those who have not heard a shot, nor heard the shrills & groans of the wounded & lacerated (friend or foe) that cry aloud for more blood & more vengeance, more desolation & so help me God as a man & soldier I will not strike a foe who stands unarmed & submissive before me but will say ‘Go sin no more.’
–William Tecumseh Sherman
If You’re Jewish and Voted for Trump, I’d like to hear from you
I find it sad (among other emotions) that anyone who professes to be Jewish would actually vote for someone who embodies authoritarianism, xenophobia, racism, lack of empathy, etc, but I suppose you have your reasons.
After the president’s careful avoidance of mentioning Jews as victims of the Holocaust (don’t wanna offend those Holocaust deniers who voted for me, after all, loving me is the minimum and sufficient requirement of being a tremendous person), and
After Reince Priebus’s disgusting excuse when confronted on the matter, I’m wondering if any of my coreligionists (those of the measly-but-way-too-large 24% that actually voted for him) have flipped from pro-Drumpf to anti-Drumpf.
Maybe that was worded a bit harshly.
OK. Why did you vote for Drumpf, and have you changed your mind?
(the cartoon bubble/comment sign is, for some strange reason, at the top of this post)
POSSIBLE DNC HACKER DETAINED IN PRAGUE: WHY ISN’T THIS STORY GETTING MORE PRESS IN THE US?
An cyber attacker wanted by both the FBI and the Kremlin: Is it the Cold War all over again? Will Drumpf do his good friend Vlad a solid and let Yevgeny Nikulin escape the American justice system?
A casual reader of La Repubblica, one of Italy’s biggest newspapers, might have come across this article,
imagining that the possible DNC Election Hacker would be of great interest in the US. However, I wasn’t able to find much at all, just a scattering of articles around the globe. The only news items an American would have been likely to find were from the Washington Times (NOT the Washington Post, but the much smaller and definitely right-leaning newspaper that was founded in the 80s by Reverend Sun Myung Moon) and from the Guardian. The story broke in October, that is, before the election, and has remained more or less out of the news until yesterday’s article in La Repubblica.
But while Nikulin is suspected in major cyber attacks in the US, Russia says that he is also wanted there for cyber theft of about 1500 Euros. There is clearly a great difference in the severity of the crimes. The article in La Repubblica hints that the crime in Russia is so insignificant in comparison with the one in the US, that one can’t help but wonder if the Russian claim is real, or merely a bogus claim from his employers or enablers, charged to keep him from falling into American hands. The Czechs are puzzling over a charge would give Nikulin a slap on the wrist versus a possible 30-year jail sentence in the US: are Putin’s efforts to draw Hungary away from Europe and towards Moscow are being duplicated in Prague? (Both the Czech Republic and Hungary are former Warsaw Pact nations that have since joined NATO.)
We probably won’t know how forcefully Drumpf will try and prevail in this case, or if he’ll even try at all. Pray for some reliable leaks to major US newspapers. Without them we won’t know how much the FBI and CIA were willing to go along with the new president, should he decide to let the Russians have Mr Nikulin. I imagine, James Comey’s perfidious actions notwithstanding, that there are many in our own intelligence community that would like to see him brought to court in the US.
Stay tuned, stay vigilant.
The Meta-Bug 