Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Geopolitical News

Trump's budget is blatantly draconian and extremist. It has sweeping cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and food stamps. It also has huge boosts to military spending. It is no question that the Trump regime's proposal is an attack on domestic programs that men and women fought and died for. Budget Director Mick Mulvaney said that the $63 billion increase in non-defense domestic spending was not mandatory. He wants them to be spending caps. The bill wants $6 billion spent on the opoid crisis. The proposal benefits the financial oligarchy especially relating to fiscal and social matters. Trump believes in dramatic cuts to social programs and more spending on the military. Social programs have been demonized for years and decades by the far right as "entitlements" when people work to gain benefits form many of these programs. The far right extremists do want to eliminate the blessings from the New Deal and the Great Society. The Trump administration's plan includes more than $1 trillion in cuts to social programs over 10 years like $554 billion from Medicare, $250 billion from Medicaid, and $214 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the formal name of the food stamp benefits. Medicare deals with health insurance for the elderly. The cuts in Medicare includes $47 billion form reduction in subsidies for prescription drugs and $34 billion in banning facility fees for some hospital owned medical practices. This will cause some hospitals to turn away from Medicare recipients in favor of more wealthier patients. Food stamp recipients will increasingly experience harsher eligibility and work requirements. Poor people will drive into more poverty. Trump wants a 6 percent cut in the State Department and a 34 percent cut in the Environmental Protection Agency (which is an organization used to improve our waters, our air, and our trees).

Mulvaney is sick and he has admitted to FOX News (which is a propaganda news network for Trump) that he wants to take money from social programs. The budget wants $18 billion to build a xenophobic wall on the U.S.-Mexican border. He wants more funds for Border Patrol and ICE officers (many of whom have deported people, even those who came into America in their youth causing hurtful family disruptions). Trump wants to cut the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and eliminate the tiny federal subsidies for the arts and humanities. Trump is an enemy of democratic freedom. This plan won't cut the federal budget deficit massively and he passed a recent tax cut bill for the wealthy during December of 2017. Trump wants an infrastructure bill, but the American Society of Civil Engineers estimates that $4.59 trillion is needed through 2025 merely to repair existing infrastructure. Trump wants $200 billion over 10 years in public-private partnerships. Also, he wants cuts to existing federal aid to mass transit, which is ludicrous. His infrastructure plan desires waiving environmental and safety regulations, privatizing many means of construction, supporting more tolls on roads plus bridges, and other reactionary actions. His budget will curtail income based loan repayment plans, end the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program which will harm many students in colleges nationwide. He even wants to cut funding for federal work study in half. Now, we know the truth. Anyone supporting Trump now is anti-democratic freedom and anti-justice period. We will fight. We have to vote, make our voices heard, and work in our communities just like our forebears did. Like always, justice is our quintessential aim.

The Syrian Civil War is far from over. The Trump administration is talking about new developments about it in public, because they want to omit this growing crisis over there. Right now, U.S. forces have used airstrikes against targets that they deem as a threat. Many people have been killed by them including Russian contractors. Turkey have used incursions in Syria in order to stop Kurdish troops. The YPG Kurds are in alliance with America. Iran is in alliance with Syrian leader Assad. Plus, Russia has an alliance with Assad. Israel of course is in opposition to Syria's Assad too and is in an alliance with America. Israel has recently attacked military locations in Syria. Israel claimed that Iran sent a drone into Israeli airspace. Iran denies this. In response to the Israeli strikes, the Syrian army brought down an Israeli F-16 jet after firing more than 20 antiaircraft missiles. The pilots bailed out. This complex war is going on. Also, American forces want certain oil fields in Syria, which is one reason why the U.S. strikes commenced in the first place. America wants Israel and the Gulf States to be in an alliance in Iran in the Middle East in order to counter the Russia/Iran alliance. Also, the U.S. doesn't want Turkey to cozy up to Iran or Russia either. Russia wants an alliance with Iran, but Russia doesn't want Iran to have carte blance control over Syria completely. Now, for the first time in modern history, Israel and Iran are in full military style confrontation on Syrian territory.

Putin talked recently with Netanyahu (who has a financial scandal now. He has reaped what he has sown. He could face indictment on corruption charges). Wars, on many occasions, exist, because of the desire to gain economic, material, and political power. In both cases, US military spokesmen asserted that American forces used “deconfliction lines” to inform the Russian military about the strikes before and during their execution. The location of the two attacks reveals the real motives underlying the military confrontations. Both took place near the Omar oil field, the Hashim gas field and the former Conoco gas refinery.As we see, this is one more example of the covert political tensions between Russia and America.In the final analysis, Syria should not be governed by U.S. imperialism or by Putin (who is an authoritarian nationalist capitalist), but by the Syrian people in an independent fashion.


Yesterday was the Birthday of Randy Moss. He is one of the greatest NFL players in history. He caught the ball from many directions when he was in many NFL Teams. He is now 41 years old. He was born in Rand, West Virginia. When he was in high school, he played football, baseball, basketball, and track. Marshall was the college where he played football too. He came into the Vikings when he first came into the NFL. He represented a new generation of wide receivers who loved to catch the ball from many angles. Cris Carter mentored him during his early professional football career. He holds the NFL single-season touchdown reception record (23 in 2007), the NFL single-season touchdown reception record for a rookie (17 in 1998), and is second on the NFL all-time regular season touchdown reception list with 156. Six-time Pro-Bowler is part of his life as well. Also, he is a family man who loves his family. He is now in the NFL Hall of Fame. He shed tears and his wife cheered him on in a touching moment. He's a legend. I wish Brother Randy Moss more blessings.

By Timothy


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