Vegas Conspiracy Theory

Here's what I've heard really happened in Vegas.

A group of ISIS terrorists traveled from Iraq on fake Israeli passports, brought machine guns with them through customs with help from the CIA and Facebook, walked through a casino with the guns and ammo without anyone noticing, rented a dozen rooms, blew the windows out with plastic explosives, used tracers rounds in the darkness to target country music haters, after kidnapping a real estate millionaire with huge gambling debts to the Italian mob, and after eating room service pork BBQ ribs, and having sex with under aged male prostitutes, and not tipping room service.

They all escaped by hiding behind the slot machines being operated by blue hair old ladies on fixed incomes. Sadly, the terrorists are trapped there until the ladies leave. That's when the pink elephants dance on the craps tables. As soon as that happens, the terrorists escape by walking backwards out the casino doors and into a waiting stretched Humvee limo with hot tub.

Does that pretty much cover it?

Is it time for a walk down Green Street with an AK47?

Ever get strange ideas? Of course you do. Bet you don't share them. Most of the time.

I drove past a McDonald's and I thought, 'We are what we eat.'

Then, my brain stretched that out to, 'We are what we eat and who we meet.'

A conjoined sentence which needs some clarity.

If the food which we eat determines how our body, like if we eat bacon we get pig fat, then does our human interactions determine our mental health in a same way.

Do you spend all day working in a retail store full of idiots speaking slang terms, asking half formed questions, and looking for custom fabrications?

Might make you rude, eh?

What if you never see a mass shooting? Never hear the dying screams of children? Never clean clotted blood with a garden hose?

Might make you indifferent to violence, eh?

So what IF ... I buy an assault rifle, a good pistol, and get a conceal carry permit? Then, show up at the Gainesville Christmas Parade openly packing iron?

I'd be just exercising my basic right to be confrontational, right? Sort of like Free Speech with a side order of terrorism?

I'm so thinking ... I love a parade.

Racial Assault

Wow! I had a real moment of revelation today and it must be shared.

A Facebook friend posted from the AJC about the students in Klan hoods acting out at East Coweta High School.

Here's the picture.

I think the behavior is offensive. And, I said so. Then, things got interesting.

Let me quote.

"Not being the intended target Mike, it's easy for you to dismiss this as a simple insult. An insult is telling me you don't like my hairstyle or outfit. This my friend, is not just an insult. The klan is still alive and thriving throughout the south. I have no idea what these kids parents take them to on weekends. I have no idea what they have planned next. What I do know is that as a black woman in the south, I would feel threatened if I encountered someone dressed like this."

That wasn't enough.

"Agree: I see this outfit as equivalent to a T-shirt with the words "I will cut your throat and hang you from a tree if I can find a chance to do it without getting caught." Which is pretty much the entire point of the Klan hood, right?

So that's not a specific threat, unless you happen to be near this person and alone (in which case it's a pretty violent, gruesome threat)."

After some reflection, here's my reply to my friends.

I've thought about this several times today. I'd like to put the white man spin on it. Give me time to spell it out.

I know a young man of 35 with two little children. The man loves his wife and children. Those three people are the dearest things to him on the planet. Deep, deep down ... he knows ... in some way ... he's been blessed with more than he could possibly deserve. [That's the best I can do as far as sharing how I think the man feels about his very, very good life.]

IF a 'clown,' the word I used earlier, jumped out in front of his wife and children in a parking lot like this 'clown' did, my buddy would want some pay back. To him, this is an assault. Not a threat.

It is like pointing a gun at a person then running away.

That's how I will think of it from now on. It's how I will explain it to anyone and everyone. Should be a crime.

Obama wins where Bush lost

This is a serious editorial reflecting a personal opinion.

Our country has a very mixed history of international relations. Few of use can remember when the United Fruit Company used the CIA and the American Ambassador to Guatemala to over throw a lawfully elected government. The story and the facts have been very well documented. It was called Operation Success.

The CIA exerted air power against the Árbenz Government with a "Liberation Air Force" of US military and mercenary personnel who conducted air raids against Guatemalan military targets and cities. Early in the morning of 27 June 1954, a CIA Lockheed P-38M Lightning attacked Puerto San José and dropped napalm bombs on the British cargo ship, SS Springfjord, on charter to the US company W.R. Grace and Company Line, which was being loaded with Guatemalan cotton and coffee.

So, as we bomb ISIS, reflect on several issues.

We are not above bombing our allies for a few bananas.

We have used mercenaries for the benefit of corporations.

We have toppled governments by using fake armies and fear.

Bush, and his cronies, would have bombed in Syria sooner than Obama. They would have pronounced Mission Accomplished with a shit on bread ceremony.e The survivors of the premature bombing would have gotten smarter. They would have come back just like in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Obama waited until his enemies were well organized and successful. Then, he hit a few battle field targets perhaps as a distraction. The next step was to bomb the chain of command.

Could the Bush Doctrine destroy ISIS. No. What about the resolute and deliberate method of waiting to strike? No.

We will not eliminate any enemy. We can only respond to threats, real threats not the perceived threat of 'actionable intelligence.

Reagan was a pussycat

I already called him a pussy but Lou Cannon called the would be gunslinging Ronald Reagan a pussy cat in a July 1985 Washington Post piece.

Hell, Reagan was such a wimp that his nickname was Jimmy Reagan as in Jimmy Carter who never killed anyone as President of the United States.

So in 1981, President Ronald Reagan promises the nation and the world "swift and effective retribution" to terrorist activities.

Bullshit!

Reagon's strongest moment on the world stage came in ... Grenada where he rescued some medical students from final exams while they were attending The True Blue Medical Facility.

What terrorist act prompted a war in which over 5,000 medals were issued for merit and valor?

Canada and the UK were building a commercial airport. Yes. In 1954, the Brits had recommended replacing the existing airport with a modern facility to attract more tourists to the little island. Yeah. The British were coming. One if by land. Two if by sea. Paul Revere and all that.

A congressional hearing heard testimony that,

...based on my personal observations, discussion and analysis of the new international airport under construction in Grenada, it is my conclusion that this project is specifically now and has always been for the purpose of economic development and is not for military use.... It is my thought that it is absurd, patronizing, and totally unwarranted for the United States government to charge that this airport poses a military threat to the United States’ national security.

Ouch!

What did the UN do? By a vote of 108-0, it commended the attack as a violation of international law. See General Assembly Resolution 38/7, which "deeply deplores the armed intervention in Grenada, which constitutes a flagrant violation of international law and of the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of that State."

What did Britain do? Britain already thought Reagan was an idiot. In a written communication still partly classified, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher threatened to deny the US access to cruise missile bases in the UK.

Thatcher called Reagan and told him to stop the invasion. Reagan, always the American Ideal of truth and justice, lied to Thatcher. US troops were already ashore as Reagan said, "No invasion is being contemplated."

Right. I'd bet that Reagan didn't have the guts to tell the strong woman, 'You can't stop me. It's done.'

Typical of Reagan. When Navy Diver, Robert Stethem was tortured by terrorists then executed, Reagan didn't lose any sleep.

More on Reagan the singing cowboy soon.