Happy New Year b!
I don’t know how you do it all.
Personally, my typing ability is super slow due to motor dyspraxia. I actually flunked typing in school.
Nevertheless, I have just started a new blog, ostensibly about election systems, but also covering kind-of theoretical (but not too hard to understand) material I have been working over for years. It will also cover ‘social machine theories’. And will hopefully be utterly unlike anything anyone has ever seen before. Due to my slow typing, progress will be slow, however.
The blog is:
RANKED CHOICE VOTING IS A FRAUD
‘Shameless self-promotion’ perhaps. But there was a ton of work in the background.
When the weather gets warmer I intend to hit the street to protest ranked choice voting (which is a fraud).
Best of luck and joy to everybody here. This new year feels like it’s going to be quite pivotal. We may be needing that luck!

Posted by: blues | Dec 31 2019 16:22 utc | 4

Jay #5
You may be right, but I just can’t see either one of your three choices beating Trump.
biden has huge vulnerabilities, quite apart from being sleazier (plus there are more videos of him doing it) than Trump in Groping 101.
Warren does not appeal.
Buttigieg does not appeal.
The only Dem with a chance is Sanders. If they nominate a Sanders-Warren ticket that could well beat Trump.

Posted by: Really?? | Dec 31 2019 16:34 utc | 6

Based on a hunch, I’ll go out on a limb and say Warren will be the Dem nominee. Her fake-“progressiveness” is enough to satisfy most Sanders fans while being demonstrably fake enough to reassure enough Dem Party funders. And the Party could have a do-over on the whole “time for a woman president, any woman no matter what her record” thing.
From there I agree with b, Trump will win “unless something unforeseeable happens.” I expect Trump handily to beat any opponent but Sanders, but the Dems will certainly do all they can to prevent his candidacy.
A Trump-Sanders contest would be interesting, though, if only to see how the media, the political class, the well-heeled cultural elites of both parties, the Democrat Party as a whole handle their extreme conflict: Who do they hate more, Trump or Sanders?

Posted by: Russ | Dec 31 2019 16:50 utc | 8

b, Wish you a Happy & Healthy 3rd decade of 21st century.
Thank you. Great analysis of events.
Pompous doing Bibi’s work without asking how deep is the pool of water, will I bust my head?
Fire works in Iraq and not in celebrating 2020. A Vietnam moment.
The tensions reportedly resulted in the evacuation of the US diplomatic staff from the embassy.

Numerous protesters who gathered in the fortified Green Zone of the Iraqi capital stormed the US Embassy in the country.
According to journalist Babak Taghvaee, who posted videos of the besieged facility set on fire, thousands of people were holding a rally outside the embassy, and Iraqi special forces were ready to open fire on them if the crowd attempted to break into the diplomatic facility again. Sputniknews

Posted by: Likklemore | Dec 31 2019 17:09 utc | 10

Happy New Year everyone!
Isn’t it strange to be in 2020?

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Dec 31 2019 17:13 utc | 12

2020 looks like the year for the neocons at the helm to do whatever they must to get the hot war going with Iran, hell or high water. They’re truly deranged psychopaths, they have a weak befuddled president who at least for the most part agrees with them, the balance of power in the Mideast can only get worse for the US and the Zionists, the KSA could collapse or be overthrown any time, the financial markets and dollar as well can’t keep running in mid-air forever nor continue much longer to command global hegemony, the American people are narcoticized, neither China nor Russia seems ready to do anything significant about it (short of Russia’s warning about nukes), Europe is still compliant or at least not resistant.
They’re as dead set on war as Hitler was by 1939, and they have the same sense that time is running out and the situation is not going to get better with age.

Posted by: Russ | Dec 31 2019 17:14 utc | 14

Posted by: Passer by | Dec 31 2019 17:00 utc | 9

2. The U.S. will pull its troops out of Iraq and Syria.
Nope, geopolitical changes will not happen right in election year.

This seems to be a typical US centric view, disregarding anything that happens in Iraq or Syria. I think the future is much less predictable than what you indicate.

Posted by: Norwegian | Dec 31 2019 17:19 utc | 16

You guys, give so much credit to US population. Bernie Sanders would be destroyed by media like Corbyn in UK. Unfortunately the only way for Democrats to beat Trump in 2020 is with Joe Biden because of the electoral college in 5 key states. Trump would lose part of his racist base to Biden in those areas.

Posted by: Nick | Dec 31 2019 17:26 utc | 18

My predictions on these issue for next year are:
…
Mainstream media have suppressed all news about the OPCW scandal. This will only change if major new evidence comes to light.
That is if the MSM get their way! Maybe I am being overoptimistic, but Russia – as a permanent member of the UNSC and a member of the OPCW – will do everything in it’s powers to pursue this matter, and it seems quite possible they will be able to force it onto the main agenda within 2020. If that happens it will be impossible for the MSM to push it under the rug.
The other aspect it is that the MSM ability to suppress this news is dependent on behaviour of the MSM community in its totality, and the relationship to reader plausibility. There are a few factors that could influence this independently of major new evidence, such as the behaviour of a few outlier MSM’s that decide to release information (and whether or not that information then takes off in the public consciousness); pressure that could build up in social media calling for the MSM to respond and attacking MSM credibility; or other forms of pressure from the public calling on the MSM to respond. It is therefore a dynamic that is not entirely predictable.
Both of the above are distinct from the emergence of new major evidence, although both cases would seem likely to provoke new revelations in turn.
What determines whether one MSM decides to break the pack and publish news on OPCW? Well, for one thing, MoA articles can influence individual journalists and individual editors!

Posted by: BM | Dec 31 2019 17:36 utc | 20

Optimistic words can change the world:

A very merry Christmas … And a happy New Year
Lets hope it’s a good one … Without any fear
And so this is Christmas, For weak and for strong
For rich and the poor ones, The road is so long!
And so happy Christmas, For black and for white
For yellow and red ones, Let’s stop all the fight
“war is over, if you want it — war is over now!”
Happy Xmas (War Is Over)
John Lennon/Yoko Ono, the Plastic Ono Band, and the Harlem Community Choir 1971

This song has always been a favorite of mine.
Lennon and Ono harnessed his fame to protest the Vietnam War from 1969 through 1971, with media coverage of their “bed-ins for Peace” and other events including billboards worldwide reading “WAR IS OVER IF YOU WANT IT”.
Lennon: “Now I understand what you have to do: Put your political message across with a little honey.”
I’m forwarding this simple, hopeful message to you all: War is over, if you want it.

Posted by: jonku | Dec 31 2019 17:43 utc | 22

– Happy New Year everyone.
– Trump will have a much better chance of being re-elected in 2020 than many people believe.
– If there is another financial crisis then and only then the Democrats will have a much better chance of winning the presidency.
– Matthew Goodwin explains in these 2 videos on why Labour lost in the december 2019 elections and why the Democrats (still) have no clue why they lost.
Each video is about 1 hour long:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kf1YKeq7lA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwO_cPULaBg

Posted by: Willy2 | Dec 31 2019 18:00 utc | 24

One should definitely be wary of confirmation bias, particularly when making unfounded assertions about demographic changes favoring Democrats. To be certain, among middle class liberal arts college students studying underwater basket weaving (or journalism, same thing) there is a tendency to view themselves and their peers as representative of the population as a whole. Their disgust with Trump seems so self-evident to them that rationally explaining it seems unnecessary. They are certain that the people who vote for Trump are just mean-spirited and bad people. Obviously, given time, more people will come to understand the “Truth” in that, right?
But people’s perspectives sometimes grow when they leave the security of the padded cradle of the university campus. Not so much the ones who are recruited by the big business mass media and transition from the university cradle to the corporate office cradle, but the ones who end up directly confronting the viciousness of the “gig economy” sometimes discover that there really are things in the world more important than public recognition of the idiosyncratic minutiae of their personal “identities”. Things like where they will sleep that night or where their next meal is coming from. That’s when people start to realize that the Democrats are not really offering them anything.
The most profound demographic change happening in the United States has been the declining quality off life for wage earners in America over the last few decades. Given that the Democrats have abandoned all but the most cursory platitudes about economic justice, this demographic shift does not favor them. What’s more, the cheer squads for the Democrats citing demographic shifts in their favor by pointing out that older people tend to support Republicans and that they will eventually die fail to realize that people have not stopped growing old. Sure, old people die, but then young people grow old and become Republicans. That is a process that has not changed, and not likely to change so long as we remain trapped in the two party political paradigm.
The only demographic that remains solidly Democrat these days is people living sheltered lives in which it is possible for them to selfishly maintain the delusion that their personal identity trivia is of paramount importance in all the world. Economic decline and the employment insecurity of the “gig economy” removes the sheltering environments that allow people to live in that fantasy world, so this is a demographic that is in even steeper decline than “old deplorable folks”.
Believing that demographics favored them and thus they didn’t have to sell themselves on policy is a big part of what sunk the Dems in 2016. “We don’t need no economic justice policy! Who else can those people vote for but us?” was a massive strategic error that the Dems made in 2016 that they clearly have not yet come to terms with. You treat the voters that way and they voted for Trump just to spite you… and they will do it again in 2020 as well.

Posted by: William Gruff | Dec 31 2019 18:11 utc | 26

Merry Christmas and a happy new year to you all. (Orthodox Christmas)
A lurking
Per
Norway

Posted by: Per/Norway | Dec 31 2019 18:32 utc | 28

On Trump being slam dunk re-elected!!!? Some are not so sure. Although a day in politics could be a very long year—Hold all forecasts including this one. Mish Shedlock has a knack of discerning/disecting polls: Btw, he voted for Trump and writes.
Do not skip the comments:
Trump Will Easily Be Defeated in 2020, Perhaps a Landslide

Trump will go down in flames in 2020. Let’s discuss why, along with my one caveat.
Before going into my rationale, please note that I voted for Trump against Hillary in 2016 and would do so again.
This call is based on my analysis of the setup, not political wishes.
I cannot recall the last time I voted for a Democrat for president, but I did not vote for Bush in either 2000 or 2004. I voted Libertarian.
This Is Not 2016
It’s important to note that this is not 2016. Trump was never well liked, but Hillary was despised.
Yet, despite the fact that Hillary was despised, Trump barely won. [.]
What got Trump elected is not what will get him re-elected.
Face the facts: Trump is an arrogant bully, one of the biggest narcissist political leaders the world has ever seen, and a complete jackass to alleged allies.[.]
Independents could possibly overlook that vs Warren, but not against Joe Biden, Michael Bloomberg, or Pete Buttigieg.
Strongest Economy Ever?
Simply put, this isn’t the strongest economy ever. And wage growth in particular has been abysmal.

Posted by: Likklemore | Dec 31 2019 18:36 utc | 30

Here’s another evidence capitalism has reached a stagnant level of both technological progress and birth rates:
Over-65s to account for over half of employment growth in next 10 years

Workers aged 65 and older will be responsible for more than half of all UK employment growth over the next 10 years and almost two-thirds of employment growth by 2060, according to new figures.

Since 2008, we’ve been witnessing a “reverse stagflation”, i.e. low unemployment with low wages (a phenomenon which is impossible according to modern bourgeois economic theory).
The reason for this is what I mentioned earlier: no more technological progress and negative birth rates. The USA is still benefitting from mass immigration from Central America, but this demographic bonus won’t last for much: now even the Third World countries are barely above the minimum 2 children per woman (including most of Latin American nations). Only a bunch of African nations (which have high mortality rates either way, so it doesn’t matter) and India still have the “demographic bonus” in a level such as to be capitalistically viable.
This problem is not new in cotemporary history. It happened once: in the USSR.
In the 1970s, only 6% of the Soviet population was necessary to produce everything the USSR needed, so the only solution available was to expand the economy extensively, i.e. by reproducing the same infrastructure more times over.
The problem with that is that the USSR had reached its limits demographically. Its population growth entered into stagnant to negative territory. Decades passed until the point where it didn’t even matter if they came up with a revolutionary technology, since there were simply not enough children to teach and train to such new tech. Add to that the pressure from the Cold War (which drained its R&D to the military sector), and it begun to wither away.
Now we can predict the same thing is happening to capitalism. Contrary to the USSR, the capitalist nations had the advantage of having available the demographic bonuses of the Third World – specially China – to maintain their dynamism even when some countries like Japan and Germany reached negative birth rates. Now China’s demographic bonus is over and also much of Latin America. To make things even worse for the capitalists, China managed to scape the “middle income trap” and go to the route of becoming a superpower, thus adding to the demographic strains of the capitalist center.
The solution, it seems, is to do pension reforms and force the old people back to work. France is going to destroy its pension system; Brazil already did that; the USA was a pioneer in forcing its old population to work to the death; Italy destroyed its pension system after 2008; the UK is preparing the terrain now that its social-democracy is definitely destroyed.

Posted by: vk | Dec 31 2019 18:38 utc | 32

My silly question is why is the election going to boil down to candidates in their 70’s. Late 70’s. I am in 50’s but this seems strange. No younger candidates? I am all for a much younger candidate/government. Maybe its the baby boomers or corporations but it is a bit ridicullous.

Posted by: Storm | Dec 31 2019 18:44 utc | 34

@Passer By #9
Confirmation bias is assuming minorities and the young will keep voting Democrat despite a multi decade selling out of progressive interests.
Confirmation bias is also the failure to understand why so many counties that voted for Obama, voted for Trump.
Confirmation bias is the belief that picayune minority triumphalism can replace economic policy.
And the worst confirmation bias is that limp political dishrags like HRC or Biden can beat Trump.

Posted by: c1ue | Dec 31 2019 19:43 utc | 36

Oh yes and HAPPY NEW YEAR to B and all here at the MoA bar! 🙂

Posted by: Jen | Dec 31 2019 19:50 utc | 38

I don’t know why my name just appeared as Lydia. I am lysias.

Posted by: lysias | Dec 31 2019 19:59 utc | 40

Posted by: William Gruff | Dec 31 2019 18:11 utc | 26
>>making unfounded assertions about demographic changes favoring Democrats
They do actually, minorities vote strongly democrat. Around 70 – 80 %. Even the despised H. Clinton won the popular vote. The Republican Party is being annihilated in California and in most minority – majority areas.
At some point even lower vote turnout will not stop these processes.

Posted by: Passer by | Dec 31 2019 20:03 utc | 42

Posted by: c1ue | Dec 31 2019 19:43 utc | 36
>>Do not assume minorities and the young will keep voting Democrat
No data from previous US or European elections confirms this, minorities vote strongly against the right. So it is a good assumption with extremely strong long term historical backing.
What will happen is something else. The Republican Party will be marginalised. A one party state (Democrat run) will follow. After that happens, divisions within the Democrat Party will allow for the creation of a third party.

Posted by: Passer by | Dec 31 2019 20:19 utc | 44

I dunno if it is anger or alcohol clouding silly Circe tonight. I can see no one has deleted anything despite her claim to the contrary. Her first worthless missive is contained in the ‘MOA Week in Review” her 2nd where she claims b censored her is in the ‘MOA Year in Review’ thread
So f++king boring when dingbats who have been here too long accuse b of censorship despite the fact he doesn’t indulge in that. It’s bad enough when a neophyte who doesn’t understand how the site works does it, but when an old if ignorant & overly emotive hand does it, maybe b should suspend the miscreant.
Its not as if anyone is gonna miss irrational assertions about the worthiness of the dem portion of the amerikan empire party anyway.

Posted by: A User | Dec 31 2019 20:42 utc | 46

psychohistorian, hope I am not interrupting your oncoming NY celebration, but a question from the previous “US Strike” thread, your reply to me at 85:
“…The issue I have with Eliot’s characterization of Science is that he compares it to the “answer” of monotheistic religion rather than as the human process of exploring the unknown unknowns…..and revising theory accordingly…”
Could you give a quote on that? Do you mean he posits ‘pro and contra’ on the two instead of ‘side by side’ explorations? I would have thought he didn’t, especially as he brings in so many ‘outsiders’ to Christianity within the poems themselves.
On your issue with the Crab Nebula – would that be with respect to the nonscientific approach of Catholicism at that stage – 11th century would be after the Great Schism, when, according to historical record, popes and western Christianity in general deviated from Eastern Orthodoxy. (I can’t really say what happened as per science in the latter but in general it wasn’t till Peter the Great got a bit back on track that science became europeanly important again.)
But now, with Russian Christianity one of the norms in that country,it does not seem science is taking a back seat…

Posted by: juliania | Dec 31 2019 21:34 utc | 48

@ Posted by: juliania | Dec 31 2019 21:34 utc | 48 with the response to our OT US Strike thread communication attempt
To the Elliot God versus science discussion, I would refer you. as I had to do given my memory holes, to Wikipedia for the refresh to me on T.S. Elliot’s God part. My point is that if you believe in a monotheistic God then you “restrict” your understanding of us in the Cosmos to that meme. Science, on the other hand, continues to expand on our understanding of the unknown unknowns without monotheistic God constraints….it is more of a process rather than a cultural anthropological stick in the ground.
The Crab Nebula that went supernova in 1054 was written about everywhere in our world but Europe, center of monotheism of the day. Have you read about the scientists back then that were tortured and put to death for their science because it contradicted monotheism “faith understanding of the world”. We are in that same place today. Is Pompeo a monotheist, etc.? The US is killing people in a country they invaded and are calling it self defense….not science, nor logic and reason rationalized…..
I call many of the wars we know about, to be, or have been, religious wars, with the unspoken God of Mammon behind most of them in the West.
I think all religions have moral beliefs of value to contribute to our species commons but I am against any of faith in one to be part of secular government by and for all the people…..they would have a conflict of interest and hence faith over logic and reason inclined.
That is why we are in a civilization war between China, that is running a very secular government and, I linked to recently, outlaws usury in their management of public finance, and the West, with God of Mammon usury and non secular forms of social aggression social contract of increasing debt to a cult of humans.
Monotheistic religion is a societal stick in the ground that has show itself to be hard to move relative to science and non-accepting of others ways of living/culture…..Science is an ongoing secular process that provides spirituality for many, like me.
Happy New Year!

Posted by: psychohistorian | Dec 31 2019 22:14 utc | 50

In 2020 we will all be taking more notice of what is said by ‘Q’.
Q posts on: https://8kun.top/qresearch/res/7653467.html#7654139
All Q posts (currently 3774 over a 3 year, 2 month period) collated at: https://www.qmap.pub/
Whether agree or not with Q’s views, this is definitely and redundantly proven to be closely related to Trump himself and military intelligence. Thus far more to this than some amateur conspiracy theory as reiterated by MSM articles that are filled with inaccuracies about the Q phenomenon and clearly designed to ward people off looking at it to make up their own minds.

Posted by: PJB | Dec 31 2019 22:51 utc | 52

Xi Jinping’s New Years speech is motivational as one would expect. His closing exhortations:
“2020 will be a year of milestone significance. We will finish building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and realize the first centenary goal. 2020 will also be a year of decisive victory for the elimination of poverty….
“Human history, like a river, runs forever, witnessing both peaceful moments and great disturbances. We are not afraid of storms and dangers and barriers. China is determined to walk along the road of peaceful development and will resolutely safeguard world peace and promote common development. We are willing to join hands with people of all countries in the world to build together the Belt and Road Initiative, and push forward the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, and make unremitting efforts for the creation of a beautiful future for mankind.” [My Emphasis]
Clearly, China has grasped the leadership role abandoned by the Outlaw US Empire for promoting humanity, Trump and Pompeo’s daily actions giving China’s position a continual boost.
Putin’s New Year speech is short but emphasizes his key points. Do note that for Russians the New Year celebration is akin to the West’s Christmas (or perhaps was is the better verb):
“Friends, we always prepare for the New Year in advance and, despite being busy, we believe that the warmth of human relations and companionship are the most important thing. We strive to do something important and useful for other people and to help those who require our support, to make them happy by giving them presents and our attention.
“Such sincere impulses, pure thoughts and selfless generosity are the true magic of the New Year holiday. It brings out the best in people and transforms the world filling it with joy and smiles.
“Uplifting New Year’s feelings and wonderful impressions have been living in us since childhood and come back every New Year, when we hug our loved ones, our parents, prepare surprises for our children and grandchildren, decorate the New Year tree with them and unpack once again paper cut-outs, baubles and glass garlands. These, sometimes ancient, but beloved family trinkets give their warmth to the younger generations.”
His preamble is nationalist; his message paternalistic and humanist.
IMO, the Scrooges of the Outlaw US Empire’s Current Oligarchy haven’t a chance versus the likes of Putin, Xi and their likeminded allies.
I’ll leave my fellow barflies with this 32 year-old music video that IMO well expresses the heart sets of Putin, Xi, and those of us who want to share the world they’re trying to build instead of what the Outlaw US Empire’s trying to pull down and destroy.
Happy New Year!

Posted by: karlof1 | Dec 31 2019 23:28 utc | 54

Thank you so much, psychohistorian @ 50, for responding so carefully to my query. I will see what I can find on Eliot as far as his views on science – my quest at duck duck go for ‘monotheism’ and ‘crab nebula’ sent me right here to your post! (They are on the ball there.)
I’d like to focus on the following statement:
“…My point is that if you believe in a monotheistic God then you “restrict” your understanding of us in the Cosmos to that meme…”
Here’s why I don’t think that’s true. First, I agree that it was wrong for western Christianity to abhor science, whether from the point of view of condemning scientists like Galileo or refusing to accept Darwin’s theories of evolution or whatever. Science isn’t religion! At least, it isn’t Christianity. I’ll try to explain a bit better.
We all have relationships with our family members – close or distant, warm or cold. You could say those are different ways of ‘knowing’ them. So it also is for Christianity with respect to God. That is different from a scientific understanding of those relationships or, shall we say of the relationship to God. If you want to describe the latter scientifically (as you do) you would say ‘monotheistic’. That’s fine, but it isn’t what a Christian would say, because a Christian is not being scientific – he is being ‘in’ the relationship.
When I was in Catholic high school (and I am not Catholic, but I was there) the prayer that was sung during Communion in our chapel was: “Ubi caritas et amore, Deus ibi est.” (Where care and love are, God is there.) So I think your spiritual feeling in contemplating the cosmos is like that – you have a relationship to it that isn’t explainable in scientific terms.
Well, Deus ibi est.
Have a warm and happy New Year’s Eve! (Now I’m going to see what duck duck go says about ‘Eliot’ and ‘Science’ – wish me luck!)

Posted by: juliania | Dec 31 2019 23:40 utc | 56

happy new year b and to everyone here at moa.. you’re all a great bunch of people!
regarding b’s 2020 prognosis…
trump came into the picture in an unexpected, and unpredictable manner.. he’ll go out in a similar manner… IF all continues as is, i agree with b..
the odds of the usa pulling out of syria and iraq are extremely low as i see it.. if this was not the case, we would not be seeing the long term presence in a number of places around the globe… exporting war is one of the usa’s main exports.. i can’t see that changing, in spite of wanting it to change..
about the MAX – i am not following it closely, but b’s thinking would suggest some accountability on the part of boeing and wall st.. why would that happen? it has never happened before and obama said we have to move on and skip any accountability!
i agree with b on the OPCW topic.. msm are for the most part in full control of the narrative.. same deal with those pesky iranians doing all that bad shit to usa in iraq.. the bullshit and lies will continue on with all support from the msm.. that ain’t gonna change, short of ww3 which could change all of this..

Posted by: james | Jan 1 2020 0:00 utc | 58

Why would anyone think Trump wants an excuse to leave Iraq. Boy oh boy, his apologists sure have short memories.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2019/10/26/us/politics/trump-syria-oil-fields.amp.html
Consider what was reported in October
“Pentagon officials said on Friday that the United States would deploy several hundred troops to guard oil fields in eastern Syria, despite Mr. Trump’s repeated boasts that he is bringing American soldiers home from Syria. Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper said that the United States would “maintain a reduced presence in Syria to deny ISIS access to oil revenue,” leaving what military officials said would be about 500 troops in the country, down from about 2,000 a year ago…..
Senator Graham (R), too, contends that American control of the oil fields would “deny Iran and Assad a monetary windfall,” as he put it in a statement last week. But Mr. Graham has taken the argument a step further, to suggest that Syrian oil could go into American coffers, as Mr. Trump once implied for Iraq. “We can also use some of the revenue from oil sales to pay for our military commitment in Syria,” Mr. Graham added.
Last week, Mr. Trump offered a variation on that idea “we’ll work something out with the Kurds so that they have some money, they have some cash flow.” He added that he might “get one of our big oil companies to go in and do it properly.”
And look back to his comments on Iraqs oil before taking office
“He has a short notebook of old pledges, and this was one of the most frequently repeated pledges during the campaign: that we were going to take the oil,” said Bruce Riedel, a former C.I.A. official who served as a Middle East adviser to several presidents. “And now he actually is in a position where he can quote, take some oil.”
Mr. Trump first spoke approvingly about the United States seizing foreign oil in April 2011, when he complained about President Barack Obama’s troop withdrawal from Iraq. “I would take the oil,” Mr. Trump told The Wall Street Journal. “I would not leave Iraq and let Iran take the oil.”
He elaborated in an interview with ABC News a few days later. “In the old days, you know, when you had a war, to the victor belong the spoils.” he said. “You go in. You win the war and you take it.”
That year, Mr. Trump endorsed the United States seizing oil reserves not only in Iraq, but also in Libya, where Mr. Obama had recently intervened in the country’s civil war. “I would just go in and take the oil,” he told Fox News. “We’re a bunch of babies. We have wars and we leave. We go in, we have wars, we lose lives, we lose money, and we leave.”

Posted by: Pft | Jan 1 2020 0:13 utc | 60

Surely that should be, “Ubi caritas et amor”.

Posted by: lysias | Jan 1 2020 1:07 utc | 62

PJB #52
Re Qu, can you say anymore about Qanon?
Are there speculations out there as to who/what Q is? The source of the intelligence he/she/it shares?
I don’t “get” the Q thing and wonder whether you can provide Qanon 101.
At first I thought it was something occult. Now I have read a few things that suggest that Q is giving indirect hints as to what is going down behind the scenes?
Any further info would be appreciated. As soon as I hear the words “conspiracy theory” my antennae start to twitch and I wonder who is trying to devalidate Q by means of a rhetorical device (“conspiracy theory”) instead of providing an argument of some kind.

Posted by: Really?? | Jan 1 2020 2:41 utc | 64

Best political site on the Internet! Happy New Year:)
I predict a Bernie Sanders win in 2020(even though a part of me feels there was a deal made between the Democrats and Republicans when George Bush senior was President, where each party will have two terms alternating every eight years)
Lebanon will be the targeted by the allies in terror
Greta Thunberg will have an extremely difficult time with fame

Posted by: SharonM | Jan 1 2020 2:55 utc | 66

Shine a light on my life
Shine a light on my future
Shine a light on every creature
Shine a light on tomorrow for all

Those are the four last lines of lyrics as they translate them from Japanese. A video, music, and sentiment too good not to share at this time, an eight and a half minutes long metal blessing to all for the future. The full lyrics are available both as captions and in the comments.

Countless stars are twinkling in the sky
Every one of us is under them
with a thousand wishes in each heart
Lululu Lululu…

🙂

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Jan 1 2020 3:29 utc | 68

@@@@
You are correct, Lysias @ 62, sorry. Long time since Latin.
Posted by: juliania | Jan 1 2020 3:31 utc | 69
That’s why, despite my 12 years of Catholic education, 4 years with Jesuits/Latin and being an altar boy who memorized my parts of the Mass in Latin, at age 71, I just consistently try and get E Pluribus Unum correct….grin
The first line of one of the Mass prayers just came back to me and furthers my point about words like “omnipotent” which has that god’s rules according to some interpreter of the moment comes before logic and reason…..
Confiteor dei, omnipotent = I thank god, omnipotent
I will support commenter Really?? a #178 of the After the US Strike….” thread who wrote
”
Monotheism is no fun.
Polytheism is fun.
It’s that simple.
”

Posted by: psychohistorian | Jan 1 2020 4:17 utc | 70

Ha! I’ll beg to differ on the fun thing, though I’ll grant you it for western (Latin) theology – no fun at all, even though I only had two years of it. But the sung mass IS beautiful, and that’s why I put an extra syllable on ‘amor’ – the chant uses four syllables. I never wanted to be Catholic but that beauty…and then much later I was in a Russian church and that was where I wanted to be. (Must be because Latin left me cold but I loved Greek.)
But back to Eliot – I’ve hunted and hunted and not found science in particular, but this quote is good, rather very good:
“We are being made aware that the organization of society on the principle of private profit, as well as public destruction, is leading both to the deformation of humanity by unregulated industrialism, and to the exhaustion of natural resources, and that a good deal of our material progress is a progress for which succeeding generations may have to pay dearly.”
I did follow up on several science related links, including one about the acidity of the ocean,written back in 2016 – and note that often scientific analysis uses a quote from Eliot to buttress the argument. Hope that helps restore him to your good graces, psychohistorian!

Posted by: juliania | Jan 1 2020 4:41 utc | 72

happy new decade b et al – wish we were starting 2020 with better vision from most of the bastards still holding onto power ‘round the planet – and that substantial correction for that begins sooner than later

Posted by: b real | Jan 1 2020 6:18 utc | 74

Trump does not like endless wars but that does not mean he is adverse to war. Far from pulling the US out of the middle east, Trump is engaging in a constant creeping build up of forces. Every incident, more US forces are moved in.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iraq-security-usa/protesters-burn-security-post-at-u-s-embassy-in-iraq-pentagon-sending-more-troops-to-region-idUSKBN1YZ1D7?il=0
“BAGHDAD/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Protesters angry about U.S. air strikes on Iraq hurled stones and torched a security post at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad on Tuesday, setting off a confrontation with guards and prompting the United States to send additional troops to the Middle East.”

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Jan 1 2020 9:20 utc | 76

Really?? @ #64,
Your antennae are in working order. The MSM articles are in unison in decrying the ‘Q anon’ phenomenon as a “rabid, far right wing racist pro-Trump nutty ridiculous conspiracy theory you’d be mad and unethical to even have a glance at” – always words to that effect. Having read most of the 3,774 Q posts since they first appeared on 29 October 2017 (sorry – not 2016 as I said in error in #52), it is quite clear that ‘Q’ is proTrump and constitutionalist conservative Christian orientation – but neither rabid, far right-wing nor racist – in fact the opposite of all those.
I became aware of Q via some other independent media I was following in late 2017. I read that Q was the moniker of a poster on ‘4Chan’ – a no-holds barred online forum, and emerged posting on the politics board, claiming to be an insider with high-level intelligence clearance. Initially Q got attention by predicting that Hillary Clinton would be charged and arrested the next day, 30 Oct 2017 – that did not eventuate and many mocked Q as a ‘LARP’ (live action role play – in other words a hoax). Q then stated in his/her/their second post that Hillary was “detained not arrested (yet)”.
However, Q caught the attention of many by predicting (Q posts 326 & 327 on 11 & 12 Dec 2017) that there would be a “false flag” terrorist attack – but it would be “thwarted” and involve just “fireworks” and Q used the acronym “BDT” and said “think currency”. All this unfolded within days with a Bangladeshi national setting off a suicide bomb in Times Square but it was literally just fireworks. Anons on the 4Chan board researched BDT and it is the acronym for the Bangladeshi Taka currency!
This means of communicating in clues characterises Q posts. Q indicated on several occasions that such means of communication allow for communicating sensitive material to the public without breaching national security laws. Taking down the ‘Deep State’ must be done with strictly legal means and maintaining the high moral and constitutional ground.
Q has been prescient of events on numerous occasions. Q uses military style abbreviations. Numerous posts by Q strongly indicate Q to likely be high-level Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) and possibly NSA officers.
Also, later Q posts would indicate that some posts are deliberate dis-information to spook the other side in what Q’s latest post (3774 on 30 Dec 2019 – 4:06:19 AM) describes as a “silent war” within the US (and other countries) between forces loyal to constitutional law and an international criminal (at its peak – banking oligarchies and secret societies) ‘Cabal’ or ‘Deep State’ that controls much of the political establishment and some intelligence agencies – or at least compartmentalised parts thereof.
As Q frequently says of those working for the Cabal/Deep State who include networks such as Jeffrey Epstein, NXIUM and other sex-trafficking cults, particularly of children, as well as supporting terrorism and false flag attacks – “these people are sick”.
Q began soon after Trump’s odd brief press conference with the MSM when surrounded by a mass of senior military officers in the White House he said the phrase and repeated it: “this is the calm before the storm”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mY_cQo0NQPg
Q has since confirmed that the ‘storm’ will be the take down of the ‘Deep State’.
Q listed how the ‘Russiagate’ conspiracy to prevent, then impeach and unseat, or at least damage and impede Trump’s presidency was concocted – long before the recent revelations of IG Horowitz or AG Bill Bar, or The Hill journalist John Solomon, or ‘b’ here at Moonofalabama for that matter. See Q post 3773 which reposts a Q post from 22 Dec 2017 – way before the sequence of events now unfolding was public knowledge.
Also Q post 3764 – that the DNC server emails sent to Wikileaks were from a local download to something like a thumb drive or external hard drive and were not an online hack. In other words Russia didn’t do it. Q gives the initials of the leaker – SR. The army of Q researchers presume that is Seth Rich, a DNC intern and Bernie supporter who was murdered in Washington DC in 2016 not long after Wikileaks posted the DNC emails.
There is more, much more. Q keeps hinting the “rabbit holes go deep”. Suppressed technologies that could help humanity etc.
Q gives enormous hope. But is it all justified? Q describes themselves (by now it is obvious it is a team working closely with President Trump) as “patriots”. Q promised world peace early on – rapprochement with North Korea when at the time it looked like war. Q said the Deep State tried to trigger the major war with the missile attack on Hawaii being real (not a hoax) but shot from a rogue Deep State submarine off the Korean Peninsula and shot down by the good guys now having control over Reagan’s SDI Star Wars platforms. Later Trump and Kim had their meetings, which almost no-one but Q predicted.
Q predicted peace in the Middle East – at this stage as all MoA readers know – that is still far from the case and Trump keeps warlike talk and actions against Iran and its proxies going. Nonetheless Q indicated Saudi Arabia as a hotbed of terrorism and human trafficking and part of the international Deep State. The world is complex and the war is less between nations as between factions within nations if one reads the Q narrative in depth.
However, I am disgusted with the coup in Bolivia which Trump supported, if Q is fully advising Trump – then is taking control of the lithium worth such destruction of democracy and human rights?
Perhaps it is more realistic to see Q as reprenting a conservative and far more moral but still nationalist and exceptionalist side of the US elite versus an evil corporatist, criminal syndicate of the super rich that has evolved a vast ‘Deep State’ based on bribery and blackmail including child sex trafficking and drugs trafficking and networked by as Q calls them the “Clowns In America” (note the acronym of that) and some other intel agencies (or compartmentalised factions thereof).
Q asked early on that anons/researchers on 4Chan collate a searchable archive of Q posts. The most useful of these is: https://www.qmap.pub
Q said to take note of the number of ‘sealed indictments’ in the US, the number of CEO and politician and senior officials resigning or suiciding (as tapped on the shoulder about being indicted perhaps), and of arrests of human traffickers, particularly child sex traffickers. On https://www.qmap.pub there are tabs down the left side listing these – and the numbers have indeed escalated well beyond statistical chance since the Trump Administration came to power.
There are now 100s of ‘Q proofs’ involving Trump tweeting identical themes and phrases, sometimes with the same (deliberate) spelling errors, as Q posts – often within seconds or minutes of Q posting. Also, photos from within the White House or Air Force One that have no copies online, indicating members of the Q team are there.
Some of the better video summaries of what Q appears to encompass are available at: https://www.qmap.pub/videos
Apparently the best book on the subject (yet to have read but have read some of his online material) is by a Hollywood screenwriter who goes by the moniker of ‘NeonRevolt’ The book is called “Revolution Q” and available at Amazon (Bezos hasn’t deleted it!): https://www.amazon.com/Revolution-Q-Neon-Revolt/dp/1949709590/
4Chan lacked security and Q moved to ‘8Chan’ which was later taken offline by its owner Jim Watkins following mass shootings attributed to the shooters posting manifestos on 8Chan – under intense media and political pressure. Q predicted this would happen shortly beforehand. Later Q re-emerged after Watkins started a new forum called ‘8kun’ after Watkins testified before a Congressional Committee and promised that any posts that broke US law would be deleted. 8kun came under cyberattacks and had to be routed through some US Dept of Defence servers – allegedly according to people far more internet savvy than me.
Q is really worth everyone’s attention. 2020 promises to be quite a year according to the Q team.

Posted by: PJB | Jan 1 2020 11:02 utc | 78

To Bernhard and all good MoA readers/commentators (not the enemies): A Healthy, Happy and better year 2020.

Posted by: Ralph | Jan 1 2020 12:55 utc | 80

Confiteor Deo omnipotenti. I confess to almighty God. Dative case.

Posted by: lysias | Jan 1 2020 13:28 utc | 82

@vk #32
Can you clarify what you mean by China’s contribution to the West, demographically?
China’s population has been basically flat since the Mao inspired bulge – which is of working age now. These men (the China bulge generation is disproportionately male, although it isn’t nearly as bad as what’s happening in the India upper classes) didn’t emigrate to the US.
Perhaps you mean the (partial) beneficiary of their labor, even if their actual domicile and/or income didn’t divert to the US?

Posted by: c1ue | Jan 1 2020 13:57 utc | 84

Putie Bravo! Zelensky Bravo!

Posted by: Miss Lacy | Jan 1 2020 14:26 utc | 86

VK @ 2
“The middle class is the battering ram of the capitalists”. I would guess some level of prosperity would tend to make people happy. The middle class in the US is a self absorbed lot focused on whatever the media serves up. Battering ram would be far from what I am seeing. South Korea is no different. They are struggling to soak up as much of Western cancel culture as they can. Where are they planning to flee too? Russia? China? North Korea? Cuba? That is omitted in the survey.
Whom was the battering ram of the Marxists in China, The Soviet Union, Cuba, and North Korea?” The state I presume. In other words, create a super class of state employees, give them some power, and they will do anything for you. They are the battering ram of Marxism. It may have not been intended but it is.
2020 is here and I wish it was over already.
That being said I am always amazed at how well hardcore Marxists can analyze political and economic situations yet put the human spirit to the sword at the same time.

Posted by: dltravers | Jan 1 2020 14:47 utc | 88

@ Posted by: c1ue | Jan 1 2020 13:57 utc | 84
Yes, China as the world’s workshop.
That’s why the Central American nations can only contribute to the American economy by immigrating there: they don’t have the infrastructure at home.
That’s also why Merkel advocated for mass immigration of Syrian refugees to Germany instead of advocating for the end of the war and rebuild Syria. The first is much better for capitalist accumulation than the latter.
What Merkel didn’t forsee was that a new immigrant population can only be absorbed by the reserve industrial army if they are culturally capitalist (ie if they want to integrate and begin to serach for work) and the fact that the middle classes of the First World tend to fascism, so there would be a revolt.

Posted by: vk | Jan 1 2020 15:23 utc | 90

Happy New Year!
While in years past, I might have heard one set of gun shots amid the fireworks, last night (this morning) I heard more gun shots than fireworks. (Huntsville, AL, USA)

Posted by: Curtis | Jan 1 2020 16:36 utc | 92

Re Jen @37 “With Nordstream II becoming operational, Russia can bypass Ukraine completely in supplying gas to EU countries and Ukraine will only receive enough gas for its own needs.”
Zerohedge reports Ukraine & Russia Ink Landmark Gas Transit Deal Hammering European Gas Prices
I am hoping this is a bad joke, but perhaps not. I suppose, if true, it will prevent a lot of Ukrainians from freezing to death this winter. But considering the benefits it will provide to the Ukro-nazis who hate Russia, I have to wonder about the decision-making process in Moscow.

Posted by: Perimetr | Jan 1 2020 16:42 utc | 94

@02 Curtis:
Excellent quote:)

Posted by: SharonM | Jan 1 2020 17:11 utc | 96

>> 100s of ‘Q proofs’ involving Trump tweeting identical themes and
>> phrases, sometimes with the same (deliberate) spelling errors
I see that as proof that Q test-markets and disseminates ministry propaganda, as though it were some kind of inside scoop. Compare with Richard Milhaus Cheney and Judith Miller.
>> proTrump and constitutionalist conservative Christian orientation –
>> but neither rabid, far right-wing nor racist – in fact the opposite of all those.
Yes, I can infer that from all the bombing and starvation campaigns, in violation of the ratified UN treaty and Christian teaching, just what a “constitutionalist conservative Christian” Trump and Q both are. /s
So nauseating.

Posted by: oglalla | Jan 1 2020 17:28 utc | 98

Posted by: Sunny Runny Burger | Jan 1 2020 3:29 utc | 68
i liked the vid you posted, GREAT music!! thnx:)
Per

Posted by: Per/Norway | Jan 1 2020 18:01 utc | 100