here is a curious expedition thru congressional focus and where it runs into trouble, in this case with aipac and a new congressional critter;

Neocons (Israel partisans who switched from the left to the right) have come and gone and then come again. Some are part of the “Trump resistance”… their new media incarnation “The Bulwark” advises Democrats how to get rid of the freshman Congressional rep who blew the whistle on AIPAC… 

By Philip Giraldi, reposted from American Herald Tribune
It has been observed that the neoconservatives are a lot like the legendary bird the Phoenix, which burns to death and then, miraculously, rises from the ashes in new plumage. [Read about neoconservatives here.]
The neocons first rose to prominence under President Ronald Reagan, when they took over key offices in the Pentagon. They were subsequently somewhat ostracized under George H.W. Bush who did not like them, but they got their revenge by joining in the chorus that brought the incumbent elder Bush down and replaced him with Bill Clinton, who, in fact, pursued an interventionist foreign policy much more to their taste.
Again dominant in the Pentagon and White House under George W. Bush, the neocons went into exile under President Barack Obama, though they were at the same time infiltrating the foreign policy establishment of the Democratic Party. This transformation produced Hillary the Hawk and the Democrats have now become the party of war just as enthusiastically as the Republicans, with both favoring what might be described as a neocon foreign policy.

Neocons opposed Trump.............https://israelpalestinenews.org/neocons-tell-democrats-how-to-get-rid-of-ilhan-omar/

more evidence that 'our' police aren't;

JUNCTION, TX — The gunfight in Junction yesterday morning involved more than gunfire between law enforcement and the suspect running from an El Paso 7-Eleven murder during a robbery.
According to multiple sources, Kimble County Sheriff Hilario Cantu shot an innocent civilian during the gunfight. The civilian was not killed.
The Kimble County Sheriff’s Office referred us to the Texas DPS for information.
According to the Texas DPS, the shooting of the civilian bystander happened during a vehicle pursuit. DPS said an officer with the Kimble County Sheriff’s Office shot at a vehicle similar in appearance to the suspect’s vehicle.

Is that the way this works?  Shoot at all similar cars?
I have to confess that tactic had never occurred to me.  Shoot at all cars matching the description of a suspect.  They could end up with a lot of dead innocent folks, but hey, as long as they get their guy, they can call it a win, right?  As long as they get to go home safely at the end of their shift.  That’s what really matters..........http://www.captainsjournal.com/2019/02/24/kimble-county-sheriffs-office-shot-at-a-vehicle-similar-in-appearance-to-the-suspects-vehicle/

occasionally my isp causes this site to be unavailable which may well be due to their posting articles like this one which i'm sure 'our' government would find to be subversive;

On February 18^th, Gallup bannered “Record High Name Government as Most Important Problem“ and reported that, out of a list of 47 national “problems,” the top ten that were selected (and the percentage of respondents who selected each) were:

• The government/Poor leadership        35

• Immigration                           19

• Healthcare                             6

• Race relations/Racism                  5

• Unifying the country                   4

• Poverty/Hunger/Homelessness            4

• Environment/Pollution                  3

• Ethics/Moral/Religious/Family decline  3

• Federal budget deficit/Federal debt    3

• Economy in general                     3

More than a third of Americans think that “The government/Poor leadership” is the “Top Problem” in America.
That’s almost twice the percentage who listed the second-from-top option, “Immigration,” as being this..........http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/?p=184226

you can’t see what’s killing you if you’re mesmerized by whatever foolish star you've chosen to attach yourself to and how many stop to consider what has their attention so focused.

here is a reasonably concise discussion of the latest 'effort' of the empire's spreading 'democracy' and as usual causes me to wonder when the empire will give america democracy;

Are Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, National Security Adviser John Bolton and (farcically titled) Special Envoy for Restoring Democracy to Venezuela Elliott Abrams agents of influence for Russia and China? The idea has a lot more going for it than most of the ridiculous paranoia sweeping Washington over the past years.

If Russia and China really wanted to subvert the national security of the United States, they would seek to plunge Washington into a completely new, open-ended war with no practical resolution in sight on another continent far away from either of them where the United States itself had absolutely no major strategic interests at all, apart from fantasies of domination and greed.

Such a war would also serve the purpose of burning up an increasing share of the defense budget that otherwise could be spent on modernizing the US armed forces.

Repeated congressional testimony over the past two years by Service chiefs confirms that these forces remain woefully aging and out of date despite record size defense budgets. This is testimony to the incompetence, corruption and sheer wastefulness of the military-industrial-congressional-complex (MICC).

Most of all, such a war would weaken the US armed forces and distract them from what is now supposed to be their primary strategic goal, as set out by the Trump administration itself of focusing on great power competition, primarily with Russia and China........https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2019/02/24/charging-into-venezuela-disastrous-overstretch-for-us.html

this writer below explores some of the margins between those in charge and the rest of us as we deal with their failures;


It’s said that truth mirrors fiction. I’m finding this to be the case more and more these days.
Take the 1993 comedy Groundhog Day. Bill Murray wakes up each day to relieve the exact same daily circumstances and interpersonal interactions. He relives the same day, February 2, over and over again.
No matter what he does, the repetitive cycle won’t break.  He goes to sleep, wakes up to his alarm, and it’s the morning of Feb 2 again.
Likewise, in The Truman Show, Jim Carrey lives in a simulated environment where everybody’s an actor in a popular TV show except him.  For him, it’s his real life.  But although he doesn’t realise it, everything around him is completely scripted and fake.

If merge these two movies together, they perfectly describe the world in which we live today.  Welcome to Groundhog Day meets The Truman Show.   Let’s call this mash-up The Groundhog Show.........https://www.theburningplatform.com/2019/02/24/were-living-in-the-groundhog-show/

this article could be seen as text to accompany the previous illustration about the great smollett hoax and how various groups respond;

Guest Post by The Zman
Because I am not insane, I assumed the Jusse Smollett caper was a hoax as soon as it made the news. It ticked all the boxes of a hoax. The alleged victim was a black Jewish homosexual, who makes a living as a drama queen. The alleged incident happened in Chicago, where the last racist redneck was last seen in the 19th century. The incident happened in a part of town that caters to deviants like Smollett, not MAGA hat wearing Trump supporters. Again, only a nut would accept the story at face value.

Similarly, once the hoax was made plain, I knew the believers on the Left, by which I mean everyone on the Left, would go through the usual phases that they always pass through when confronting disconfirmation. Initially they would lash out at doubters, calling them blasphemers. As the truth was slowly revealed, they would search for explanations to excuse Smollett. Finally, once it was confirmed to be a hoax, they would enter the phase where they admit it was a hoax, but claim these crimes are common............https://www.theburningplatform.com/2019/02/24/smollett-thoughts/