The War

Vladimir Putin has found he cannot defeat Ukraine, and now there are attacks within Russia which show he has great difficulty defending the people there. The conclusion that he "might do anything" is manifest in the Middle-East. His friends, the Iranians, and their friends, Hamas, IS, and others, are acting as powerfully as they can to distract America.

We know Putin and Iran prefer to act through intermediaries, but Donald Trump and Hamas have been defanged, so they moved on to other ways of attacking America (or our ally Israel). Sadly, we must also consider the U.S. politics involved.

As long as Donald Trump is destroyed politically and financially, the threat within America is muted. Even the craziness in Texas is not a huge problem. In Ukraine, the Russian military has been pushed back and is hardly a roaring fire. In Israel, Hamas has been severely damaged, perhaps (and hopefully) permanently. Iran remains Putin's last obvious chance to hurt America.

Today, they attacked a base and killed several soldiers, with others injured. A key question is whether we focus on the militia groups or on Iran proper. It's a military question in part. Can our military find and deal with the militia groups which have been using drones to attack us? If they can do that, then action against Iran can be delayed. We can give our military a period of time to prove their abilities vis-à-vis the militia groups. If that isn't sufficient, then Iran awaits. Assessments and plans should already exist in some part, and they should be completed. We need to be ready to act at a moment's notice.

One caveat or reminder: we need to be goal-based, and not focused on any particular technique(s). It may be lawyers in court or financial sanctions or support for Israel and Ukraine or strong political speech or direct attacks on Iran. Those choices are all subservient to the goals.

Harvard university fired their president. Why?

The Right has been arguing that organized Diversity in universities is bad. Recently they managed to oust the president of Harvard, their first black woman who had been in the job about 6 months. Why did this happen? And, why is it important?

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/1/3/2215326/-Chris-Rufo-who-toppled-Claudine-Gay-is-a-racist-fraud-who-faked-his-Harvard-degree?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web

Small passage from the article:

Rufo's campaign against Gay was made far more relevant by an alliance with billionaire donors who became obsessed with removing her long before the plagiarism was discovered. They promised to withhold hundreds of millions of dollars in donations unless she was fired, threats that continued to add up through the end of the year.

Ken Griffin, one of the most actively outraged Harvard donors, is one of the biggest donors to the Republican Party.

Les Wexner, another conservative donor, disgraced founder of Victoria Secret, and a close friend of Jeffrey Epstein, also pulled his checkbook.

Len Blavatnik, a close associate of Vladimir Putin, did so just before Christmas. Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman was among the most vocal in calling for Gay's ouster, and even though he's a registered Democrat, he also took up Rufo's charge against DEI.

End of passage.

When they say it isn't about money, it's about money. When they say it's about eliminating "diversity", it's about money.

When the supporters of the South's rebellion said it wasn't about "slavery" it was about "slavery" and the money made from it.

Now that the Right has this "taste of blood" they know they can succeed, and they will do it again.

I have to add a couple of details which are not in the article, but which relate.

1. Ken Griffin is of one of the very most important hedge funds on Wall St. and is a huge criminal. Republican, hating regulation.

2. Les Wexner is key to revealing the full story of Jeffrey Epstein. Republican, hating revelations.

3. Blavatnik, close associate of Putin, probably wants to hurt the Democrats a lot.

The Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy of which Hillary warned us is about MONEY.