Musings of a minor megalomaniac
“Within hours of Bezos’ receipt of the video, the analysis found, “a massive and unauthorized exfiltration of data from Bezos’ phone began, continuing and escalating for months,”
If it looks like a duck… I imagine the call with Saudi Prince Salman went something like this: “Yes Mohammed, the Aramco deal is going to be amazing! But I need you to do us a favor…”
I knew it right away – just like when Malaysian flight 17 was shot down over the same AOR 6 years ago. It doesn’t take a veteran space cadet to know it was bad actors any time an airliner goes down in flames. The good thing out of this mess is SBIRS early warning keeps our troops safer. I was working in the Block 10 control room when the Malaysian plane went down. The big difference this time is the government was quick to say how we knew those missiles were coming. Six years ago it was hush-hush for months. SBIRS is the real deal. Our adversaries have no corresponding capability and no answer for it.
Working with the Russians is tricky, huh Donnie? We’ll expect to hear about upcoming negotiations on a new Russian missile warning treaty.
Dr. Martin Luther King was perhaps the greatest civil rights leader of all time. One thing that set him apart was his focus on economic inequality. This concept is deeply ingrained in current western economic dogma.
“The trouble is that we live in a failed system. Capitalism does not permit an even flow of economic resources. With this system, a small privileged few are rich beyond conscience and almost all others are doomed to be poor at some level…That’s the way the system works. And since we know that the system will not change the rules, we’re going to have to change the system.”
The unconditional support of government and industry is enshrined in money’s ability to quash all comers. Witness the ability of the GOP to literally attempt re-defining reality in the third U.S. Presidential impeachment. Fairness equates to people’s ability to compete. History has shown capitalistic success to often equate with people’s ability to quash fair competition.
Don’t let the robber-barons convince you to be a bigot on their behalf.
Am I too melodramatic? The death spiral has begun:
“20 JAN 20: Worsening symptoms now include the left leg and right shoulder. I suspect the present shoulder portion may be related more to the preexisting cervical condition itself being somehow aggravated by the worsening lumbar, due to lack of therapy(?). Re-started cervical spine decompression last week, but staying away from inversion on the lumbar for now. Radiculopathy is forcing me into a state of complete immobility. Glutes, erectors, obliques and thighs totally exhausted, stiff and sore 24×7. Any ambulatory activity at all is a difficult, painful struggle. Fusion surgery scheduled for Feb 11th.”
In addition to a cane, on-and-off over the past year I’ve simultaneously used a combination of two assistive devices, a kidney belt and sacrum support belt, to stabilize the lumbar whenever I expect to be leaving the house or doing anything on my feet for more than a few minutes at a time. They helped extend up-time quite a bit on numerous occasions, but have little effect now.
The big tank looks pretty cool when the sun hits it early in the winter mornings.
Maybe good for not just Corporate Culture?
“Senators are not the only jurors in the president’s trial. History will deliver its own verdict. So will the American people. Regardless of how the Senate votes, Americans will make up their own minds about the trial process and the president’s guilt or innocence. Their verdict will profoundly affect the outcome of this year’s presidential election.”
Now the shameless twits are simply denying media access. “Nearly 60 news organizations including NPR signed a letter organized by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press on Thursday urging Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to relax the new restrictions on reporters.”
You can run, but you can’t hide.
The Founding Fathers didn’t, nor shall We, the People assign any definition. The term was purposely left ill-defined for various reasons. The judicial system as t’were, barely existed at the time. The “Term” ≠ criminal act(s). Despite the fact that Trump and co-conspirators have clearly broken MANY laws, that is not the issue. The issue to me is now simply, how low can politics go, before politics itself becomes equated with crime?
But think about exactly what they did say – particularly you literal-leaning conservatives: “High” crimes and misdemeanors. Perhaps in their well-considered opinion, the Term should be expected to include a wide range of activities from high to low on the criminal terminology scale. Now watch McConnell and his gang of hate mongers interpret that exactly ass-backwards, with literally nothing “rising” to the level of an impeachable offense.
Must be a long way to rise from the bottom of that cesspool.
Upon learning Mr. Jason Crowe was named to the prosecution team yesterday, he got a copy of my impeachment hearing rants. I’m sure the staffers have a handle on all the details, so I figured maybe a little help with some flagrant perspective wouldn’t hurt:
“Congratulations on being selected to carry one of the heaviest responsibilities to fall on a congressman’s shoulder’s in this generation. My outrage towards the present administration during the hearings was shared only with the Republicans involved, for obvious reasons. Now I’ll share it with you – just a few ideas of mine.”
Intel Portion Complete
Judiciary Phase in the Can
“There are a few other related, targeted posts, but these 2 covered the hearings specifically.
Good luck.
v/r”
These cocksuckers cannot keep their filthy mits off anything.
Right. Keep your repulsive gawd worship to yourselves. People like me are fed up with the nonsense.
One of the many church-oriented benefits you may partake. Then you have these nutbags to deal with.
Better get your ducks in a row, Mr. Mike. Everybody works for somebody, and I’m working my way up the chain. We will get action on your ECHCS attitude problem, sooner or later. Might want to show this one to Tommy, see if I’m on the right track…
“When the most powerful members of the so-called royal “Firm’ meet at the queen’s Georgian mansion, Elizabeth, 93, and her son Charles, 71, will have to grapple with much more than family issues: their decisions could shape the monarchy’s future.”
People in England have been wondering about the monarchy’s future for decades. The only question was if and when some unmitigated backlash would take root. Enter Meghan Markle. Did anybody really think this medieval holdover from the days when serfs really serf’d and rulers ran roughshod over the populace at will would last through an American celebrity? Sheesh. C’mon people – dump this huge waste of resources and encourage the royals to go retire somewhere in anonymity.
This is what they are afraid of “Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are considering sitting down for a “no-holds-barred’ television interview about their decision to step back from their royal duties.”
The Ravens getting trounced by the Titans was a real surprise. But the only important news from yesterday was “Former Pittsburgh Steelers Coach Bill Cowher being elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame for the Class of 2020 Centennial Slate.”
Watching the young phenom Ben Rothlisberger take over to defeat the Seahawks in Super Bowl XL on February 5th, 2006 at Ford Field under Bill Cowher’s tutelage was certainly one of the most memorable games ever for me. Counted out weeks before the season ended, Steelers were only the 4th wild card team, and 1st sixth seed to ever win a Super Bowl that season. My money’s on Tennessee to do it again this year.
And you gotta love the way spittle flew when he got fired up. Like I said in my last Steeler post: Players are fun to watch, but winning games is all about the coaching.
Here’s your next example of just what type idiots these people are – Religious fundamentalist, zealot idiots – who apparently didn’t receive enough training on their Russian SAM systems. Trump is provoking them, and Russia is arming them. Anyone who has not connected the dots on this yet is simply not paying attention, doesn’t care or is in cahoots to leverage the conflict for economic and political purposes. Like I said in the last Mideast Mania post, it’s far too late to salvage any of this.
Imagine the chatter in that control room when somebody yelled “Aw crap – that was not an American warplane.” We REALLY need to just get completely, totally entirely the fuck out of that region. The peeps are not happy, and the U.S. is just one of their many problems. What more do we need to see for this foreign policy to be put to rest, once and for all?
Considering the lead time and difficulty getting this scheduled, orthopedic surgery seems to have become a scarce commodity. Too bad it took over eleven months just to get somebody to diagnose the damn thing. But our new spine guy Dr. Donner, comes highly recommended, pumping them out on a weekly basis. Next up: Hip Replacement Recovery and Repair, aka Lumbar Spinal Fusion.
I’ll be going to the UC Medical Center of the Rockies for the procedure. The short video linked below illustrates what will be happening. What do you call a combination of terror and anxiety? Mine is a single-level, so I suppose fairly straightforward in general back surgery terms. This condition is relatively common and benign compared to some of the stuff they see from car crashes, sports injuries and whatnot.
Every back injury starts with an annular tear. My heart goes out to Ryan Shazier – he got a really bad one. If a small one is all you have, good luck getting a doctor to diagnose it unless you are either paralyzed or screaming in pain.
Courtesy Mr. George Conway.