Double Pulsar

Click here for a Bob Rankin article on Double Pulsar:

The U.S. government’s premier spy agency created a program called DoublePulsar that enables undetectable infiltration of a target computer. Then someone stole DoublePulsar and a bunch of other NSA spying tools. A hacker group known as the Shadow Brokers posted the NSA tools online, and they were immediately exploited.

GOP Health Care Plan - A Great Tax Break For Warren Buffett!

Yeah, I'm sure that's what all those millions of Trump voters wanted -- a gigantic tax break for the wealthiest Americans.

Click here for an article by Brandon Carter at The Hill entitled "Warren Buffett: ObamaCare repeal bill 'a huge tax cut for guys like me.'"

Buffett was speaking at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholders meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, on June 6, and he was talking about the House plan, not the Senate plan that was just unveiled, but the two versions are essentially the same when it comes to tax cuts.

Buffett argued that healthcare costs – rather than high taxes – were the biggest problem facing American businesses.

“Medical costs are the tapeworm of American economic competitiveness,” he said, according to The New York Times.

Buffett said his federal income taxes would have gone down 17 percent last year if the GOP bill was in effect.

"So it is a huge tax cut for guys like me," he said, according to Reuters. "And when there's a tax cut, either the deficit goes up or they get the taxes from somebody else."

"What's Wrong With the Democrats?"

Click here for an excellent (though long) article in The Atlantic, by Franklin Foer, entitled "What's Wrong With the Democrats?" It's a good explanation of how 2016 went so terribly wrong for the Democrats.

How Conservative Are Republican Senators?

Click here for an article in The New York Times by Wilson Andrews and Haeyoun Park, entitled "The Senate Is Close to a Health Care Bill, but do Republicans Have the Votes? It includes a graphic that shows how all the Republican senators rank on a scale of their conservatism (June 20, 2017). It shows the most extreme right-winger as Mike Lee (Utah), closely followed by Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Jeff Flake, and Ben Sasse. A tad less conservative, but still way off on the right, are Kennedy (Louisiana) and Strange (Alabama). Then come Scott (South Carolina) and Perdue (Georgia).Then come Toomey (Pennsylvania), Cotton (Arkansas), and Risch (Idaho). Marco Rubio (Florida) and Ron Johnson (Wisconsin) are next.

Way off on the left, all alone, is Susan Collins (Maine). Quite a bit further right is the next "lefty," Lisa Murkowski (Alaska). Capito (West Virginia) and Cochran (Mississippi) are next.

Just Some Of Trump's Lies

It would be impossible to catalog them all. Click here for an article by Digby at Hullabaloo entitled "Yes, he is a liar." It's mostly about a 2007 deposition where Trump gave sworn testimony (you can find the actual transcript online) in which he was revealed to have lied 30 times in public statements.

Digby's article links to this one, an article in The Washington Post by David Farenthold entitled "Trump: A True Story," which goes into a lot more detail about Trump's lies.

TV Theme Songs

Peter Gunn:



Rawhide:

Sopranos:

What Will It Take? Shoot Someone On 5th Avenue?

Click here for an article by Benjamin Hart at A Medium Corporation entitled "Nuclear Winter? Many Trump Fans Are Loving It."

The world recoiled in horror when President Trump launched a nuclear strike on Namibia eight days ago, reportedly provoked when he misheard President Hage Geinbob’s remark “we look forward to working with you” as “you lost the popular vote by three million people” during a 47-second phone call. North Korea took advantage of the ensuing chaos to launch its own surprise hydrogen-bomb attacks on Las Vegas and Cincinnati, leaving hundreds of thousands dead and millions wounded. The United States has sustained trillions of dollars in damage to its infrastructure, including the power grid and food supply. The globe is reeling from its worst crisis since World War II, and the fabric of society appears to be unspooling rapidly.

But to Donald Trump’s most fervent supporters, that’s precisely the point.

“Honestly, this is exactly what I expected from him,” said Steve Meissner, a 67-year-old former machinist who perched on a pile of smoldering rubble that once served as the back booth of Joey’s Classic Diner. Meissner has been a regular here for 32 years, stopping by every Friday afternoon for Joey’s signature steak and eggs (temporarily replaced by “Joey’s signature gruel,” the owner explained quietly, until cows and chickens can be deemed non-radioactive by the USDA, which hasn’t been heard from since the attacks).

White House Bust Of Churchill

Trump gazes at the White House bust of Churchill and dreams of partnering with Russia to defeat Germany.

The Marshall Plan Speech - Read Or Listen

Click here for an article at the George C. Marshall Foundation entitled "The Marshall Plan Speech." It's presented both in text and in a sound file. Here's the introduction:

When Secretary of State Marshall accepted an invitation from Harvard University to receive an honorary degree during the first week in June 1947, the State Department informed the president of the Alumni Association that Marshall would make a speech for the afternoon meeting of the Harvard Alumni Association but that Marshall did not want it to be a major speech of the occasion. There were no discussions with representatives of other governments; there were no notifications of the American press that an important speech was to be delivered, and even Harvard President James B. Conant did not expect a major address from General Marshall.

The speech was drafted by Chip Bohlen, a Russia specialist and interpreter who used memoranda from the Director of the Policy Planning Staff George F. Kennan and from Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs William Clayton. Bohlen especially benefited from Clayton’s graphic oral descriptions of Europe’s situation. In the memorandum he wrote, “Millions of people in the cities are slowly starving,” if the standard of living continued to deteriorate, “there will be revolution.”

On the day of the speech the capacity crowd of 15,000 in Harvard Yard did not expect to see history made but simply to see one of the most admired public servants in America. However when Secretary Marshall began to read his speech there was a recognition that the carefully worded remarks on the political and economic crisis in Europe marked an important event. In that speech, Marshall outlined the need for an economic aid plan to help the devastated nations of Europe and their citizens to recover from the ravages of World War II. When Marshall said, “It is logical that the United States should do whatever it is able to do to assist in the return of normal economic health in the world, without which there can be no political stability and no assured peace,” the Secretary of State committed the United States to consider a European recovery plan that would be developed by the Europeans and presented to the United States. Thus was launched The Marshall Plan for which George C. Marshall would be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

President Fredo

I can handle things! I'm smart! Not like everybody says. I'm not dumb! I'm smart, and I want respect!



Who would you want to be in charge: a tough, strong, smart, cruel Don Corleone, or Fredo?

We've got Fredo.