Recent Deaths of Trump Associates

Adnan Khashoggi was a long-time hustler of the highest-order and was a friend of Donald Trump. In the article here it is pointed out that he was alleged to have hidden at Mar A Lago one time. His death is not considered suspicious since he had Parkinson's Disease, but he died recently.

Trump, Khashoggi, & Germany's Criminal Deutsche Bank

Peter W. Smith was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal about his efforts to get Hillary Clinton's e-mails and his possible contacts to both General Flynn and Russian hackers. He died at the age of 81, ten days after the interview with WSJ.

Who Was Peter W Smith? GOP Operative Implied Michael Flynn Tie To Seek Clinton Emails From Russian Hackers | International Business Times

While these deaths may be entirely normal, it is surprising when there are several in a short time frame when Donald Trump is beginning to see "the writing on the wall".

In Russia and Ukraine there are individuals who have been very close to Vladimir Putin, but also died recently. One investigator suggested "following the dead Russians" as a trail of breadcrumbs to sources of evil-doing. Perhaps there are friends of Donald Trump who should hire bodyguards to stay safe.

Health Care Reform: The Democratic Party Position

ObamaCare with improvements. Period.

Would Trump Endanger Coalition Forces in the Syrian Fight?

I fear Donald Trump intends to cooperate with Vladimir Putin to draw coalition forces into unsafe situations where they may be harmed. Do coalition nations trust us enough to follow our direction or lead into harms way?

If I were advising a coalition nation I would tell them to be wary of plans which might place their forces in danger. They should be concerned American forces would suddenly leave them without support. Our military leaders wouldn't do that, but under orders from Pres. Trump anything is possible.

If Pres. Trump does something despicable which leads to deaths or other harm to our coalition partners, then he must be impeached immediately.

Shooting Where Republican Representatives Were Targeted

This would not have happened if there were no guns.

This might not have happened if people with a record of violence couldn't have guns.

This might not have happened if people with mental problems couldn't have guns.

This might not have happened if the Republicans hadn't made America a divided nation.

This might not have happened if Trump had not incited violence for the last two years.

This might not have happened if the Republicans had not decided to hand America to Putin.

This wouldn't be so bad if Republicans would take responsibility for their own actions instead of blaming Liberals.

This didn't have to happen, but if Republicans don't change quickly it is almost guaranteed to happen again.

Creeping Putinism, in Russia and Perhaps in America

I just read a VOX.com article about the way things looked in Russia as Putin took over. It is remarkably similar to what we are seeing in America today.

https://www.vox.com/first-person/2017/4/12/15210732/putin-russia-protests

Read it. Think of what we are seeing in America today. Replace the name "Putin" with "Trump", or "Republican".

Does Donald Trump Think He Is A Dictator?

Today I heard that Donald Trump's lawyer Jay Sekulow said the president was a "unitary Executive". This language was used a time or two during the presidency of George W. Bush and it always seemd to indicate that Bush could do anything without Congress stopping him and perhaps without laws restraining him. Does Trump think he is beyond check, beyond restraint?

It is important to know because there is possibly no law against killing someone who tries to overthrow our government and Constitution to institute a dictatorship. It would certainly indicate that now is the time to impeach him and toss him out of office.

Comey's Counterintelligence Plan

https://patribotics.blog/2017/06/08/comey-day-meticulously-executed-testimony-was-counterintelligence-plan/

The hypotheses in this article are explosive. It argues that James Comey, as FBI Director, knew he would be fired and that he set in place a counter-intelligence operation to catch any (expected) attempts by Trump people in the  administration to steal FBI data and give it to the Russians.

According to the article this is precisely what happened and the plan worked to  catch it.

If it is true...

South Korean Policy with regard to Americans and North Korea

I read today that after the scandal in South Korea, they elected a "Liberal" to lead them. I don't know anything about him except that he has announced America will not be allowed to install more THAAD missile defense systems in South Korea until an environmental report is done.

On the face this seems insane. Wouldn't the environmental impact of a North Korean missile be worse than a THAAD system?

They don't want China angry and China seems to be worried that our THAAD systems (with radar) can 'spy' on Chinese military forces. I don't know if this is technically true, but it really doesn't matter when the existence of the South Koreans, the Japanese, and even Americans is at issue. America has the right to defend itself.

But, if South Korea isn't appeased they may tell us to leave altogether. That would change the picture of that area in a major way. On the one hand we would no longer have to expend effort to defend South Korea and the North may bomb them at will. Good luck with that! On the other hand, we would have much more difficulty without military forces near North Korea. Basing our defence from an ocean-based platform could not be better than having a land-based defence.

Is it possible Putin has been involved in Korean politics and had a hand in the big turn of events there? It is possible I suppose, but it doesn't seem likely. I think Putin has had most of his attention on America and Europe.

So, in the end, what does this mean for events in that region? It might not have much effect. But, if they ask us to leave altogether or to remove the THAAD systems (there are two already installed) it would have a big impact. It's their nation and if they don't want more of our help they have the right to order that. It's a free world, right?

This doesn't mean we will leave the region since our own national defence is involved.

Neanderthal Love

I have read a few interesting articles today about the long-running effort to discover the roots of humankind. In the stories there is some discussion of Neanderthals and then there was a link to another kind of article. I found them very interesting and so did an author who wrote a trilogy about humans and Neanderthals in a "worlds that collide" story-line.

First, a link to a new-ish discovery which is being debated.

The story of human evolution in Africa is undergoing a major rewrite - Vox

Second, an earlier story about humans and Neanderthals in Europe: their meeting and interactions.

Humans and Neanderthals had sex. But was it for love? - Vox

Third, an Amazon.com link about the books.

Amazon.com: Hominids: Volume One of The Neanderthal Parallax eBook: Robert J. Sawyer: Kindle Store

For anyone interested in the roots of humanity or possibly science fiction about this curious topic, these are articles worth reading.