Trump in Puerto Rico: A narcissist’s tour de force (Opinion)

“I watched the other day,” said the TV-addicted President, “and she was saying such nice things about all of the people who have worked so hard. Jenniffer, do you think you can say a little bit of what you said about us today?” He quickly added, “It’s not about me,” but of course it was.

Was it?

I am not so sure. It seems like it was a lot about an extrovert Trump and an introvert Puerto Rico.

Within those context’es; Trump’s dealing with a internal mass shooting and Puerto Rico is dealing with an external natural event.

The mass shooting seems to have a lot to do with the posture of Trump’s presidency, i.e  the direction it was going. Puerto Rico’s storm seems to be all about their position on earth. Or maybe I got that backwards.

Trump just doesn’t know he is losing his position at the center of the storm.

Let’s hope that Puerto Rico’s posture is a winning one, as, from their position, they posture against the next storm.

Source: Trump in Puerto Rico: A narcissist’s tour de force (Opinion) – CNN

At U.N., Haley says U.S. is ‘prepared to do more’ in Syria

“It could be that Russia is knowingly allowing chemical weapons to remain in Syria. It could be that Russia has been incompetent in its efforts to remove the chemical weapons,” Haley said, echoing similar comments made by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson Thursday. “Or it could be that the Assad regime is playing the Russians for fools. Telling them that there are no chemical weapons, all the while stockpiling them on their bases.”

It seems to me that these are the kinds of questions Trump’s State Department should have been asking, and getting answers for, before a strike than after. If these are important questions, if they had actually asked them, why couldn’t they have waited for an answer, and would they have still bombed if these question had been answered?

Obviously, while they are asking these question, which may determine the appropriate US response, more people may have been gassed, but it might also mean there would have been a possibility that Russia would take action against Assad after realizing they have been fooled or Russia’s personnel are incompetent.

Of course if Assad’s story is correct, i.e. the sarin gas was produced by the insurgents and released when Assad bombed, there most likely would have been no more people dying from a sarin gas leak, unless there were many manufacturing areas that had remained hidden from the Russians and everyone else.

But asking these question and receiving answers to them is now pretty much a waste of time. The world now knows that the US will be willing to commit thousands of troops and trillions of dollars, without any answers to these, or perhaps any, questions.

But thanks U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley. Your questions may be  a dollar short (59 million) and a day late, but they should count for something, as Trump, although not very presidential, has shown he is a man of action, which is something.

Source: At U.N., Haley says U.S. is ‘prepared to do more’ in Syria

Hacking Structure, Culture and Ethics

Just some thoughts I had on how strategy could be used to counter hacking. These are from an edited form of a comment I made in Oliver Stone’s post on Medium https://medium.com/@TheOliverStone/the-russians-are-coming-eef3697e548b#.mde6jb8q0. I just stuck them up here so I could think about them some more.

“A hack should be considered getting inside a society’s structure, culture and ethics and letting that society see betrayal and trust where in truth there is none. There is no strategy in a hack other than that which is structural. A hack operates on the basis of observation and I would say that transparency is the key in defending and undoing a hack.”

“But transparency has to be accomplished strategically. As I said, hacking is not strategic, so those on the defence needs to act in a strategic manner. They need to release transparency through trusted sources only and, as betrayal and trust is targeted in a hack, this is not easy to accomplish, and needs much thinking in the process.”

Trump: Only ‘stupid’ people, fools oppose better Russia ties.

New York • President-elect Donald Trump said Saturday that “only ‘stupid’ people or fools” would dismiss closer ties with Russia, and he seemed unswayed after his classified briefing on an intelligence report that accused Moscow of meddling on his behalf in the election that catapulted him to power.

Trump is absolutely correct about the “stupid people or fools” thing. Our ties with Russia should be as close as our ties to China and those countries representing power in the Pacific.

On the other hand, the Atlantic isn’t really as important as the Pacific, at the moment, so screw you Putin.

So yeah. There are many people of Russian ancestry, both legal and illegal immigrants within our nation, that Trump is concentrating on, but China and countries with petrol dollars are the ones Trump  is forgetting.

It could be a Trump hotel in Russia is worth two in the bush that is China and the countries with petrol dollars.

Perhaps what Trump is not understanding. Russia, without a Military Industrial Congressional Complex (MICC) is a country of an economy of petro dollars.

Perhaps he should observe Russia leaving Syria.

Source: Trump: Only ‘stupid’ people, fools oppose better Russia ties | The Salt Lake Tribune

Trump ally Carl Paladino: I was ‘emotional’ when I wished Obama dead and insulted the first lady

His policy is to look the other way while innocent people were murdered and starved. I view Barack Obama as a traitor to American values,” said Paladino.

I don’t know. Congress has the right to declare war, and ask Obama to lead it. Did they even ask?

In other words, I am not sure Congress can actually start a war, but they could at least find the funds to fight it, then ask Obama to lead the fight into Syria.

Sounds like Congress might share the same American values as Obama.

I suppose Carl will be going after them next.

Source: Trump ally Carl Paladino: I was ‘emotional’ when I wished Obama dead and insulted the first lady

Trump drops Twitter bomb on Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter jet

“Based on the tremendous cost and cost overruns of the Lockheed Martin F-35, I have asked Boeing to price-out a comparable F-18 Super Hornet!” Trump tweeted Thursday.

There is no comparable F-18 Super Hornet to price-out. The F-35 has shown an ability to shoot down non-planer aircraft (non-airplane aircraft), which, I think, makes it a generation or two ahead of the F-18 Super Hornet. The F-35 is built to be a 5th generation fighter and the F-18 was built to be a 3rd generation fighter.

What gives the F-35 its designation as a 5th generation fighter (if developed–a big if), the F-35 doesn’t rely on a plane of air to maneuver on.

The F-35 maneuvers in  directions other than parallel to the plane it is on and without having to change the direction of that plane in flight. Most other aircraft and all airplanes are dependent on one plane of air and maneuvers by bending that plane.

In other words, the F-35’s maneuvering is not dependent on a linear plane. The F-35 flight can be considered, in that context, to be nonlinear. It is a 5th generation fighter jet. If Trump’s administration is figuring to prepare to fight a tactical (1st generation) nuclear war as stated, then probably the F-18 Super Hornet is the machine to go for. If his administration is planning to participate in the 4th generation war we have, then they should really think about getting serious about developing the F-35.

Part of this ability of nonlinear flight of the F-35 is in its structural design. The F-35 has an interior center of mass that gives it symmetry similar to that of a flying saucer. Coupled with an engine that is virtually able to move in all directions enables the aircraft and all targeting systems to revolve around the center of mass. In that sense, the F-35 should be able to target an aircraft behind, or any other direction, as easily as it is able to locked on and destroy the aircraft in front. This seems to me, if developed, to be some kind of an advantage and what, at least in part, gives the F-35 its status as a 5th generation fighter.

The other ability of the 5th generation F-35 fighter (and there may be more) that makes it a non-nonlinear fighter depends on it hooking into the virtual world of the world wide web and connecting that world to its real world in realtime, in all directions, in all environments, and all at once.

And while the F-35 has not proven itself in simulated dog fights with fighters of lesser generation, other fighters, as far as I know, haven’t proven themselves able to fight a battle waged in 5th generation  war. I think the F-35 has, at least in a small way. It was used to successfully shoot down missiles in flight.

That is the war the F-35 is created for and the war we are fighting right now today. So to me it comes down to being able to fight the war we have, or fighting the war the Trump administration apparently wants.

President-elect Donald Trump elevated his criticism of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter today, saying he’s asked Boeing to explore pricing for an alternative to the costly fighter jet.

Now “alternative” is another narrative. In warfare or in the context of a political solution, i.e. one State/ Two State solution?

 

Source: Trump drops Twitter bomb on Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter jet – POLITICO

Bruce Schneier: ‘The Internet Era of Fun and Games Is Over’

“I don’t like this,” he concluded. “I like the world where the internet can do whatever it wants, whenever it wants, at all times. It’s fun. This is a fun device. But I’m not sure we can do that anymore.”

Truer words never spoken.

Source: Bruce Schneier: ‘The Internet Era of Fun and Games Is Over’ | The Daily Dot

The first rule of Boyd: Observation.

“This is unprecedented,” said Brad Crone, a longtime Democratic consultant and North Carolina history buff. “This is new waters that we’re sailing into.”

Author’s note: I apologize for using the image of the German leader. It turns out, according to my DNA my structure is 36% Western Europe, 26% Celtic speaker, and 19% Scandinavian and I wanted you to pay attention.

Well said Brad Crone. Just like the waters Jesus walked on, new waters means it is time to bring out the Evangelicals.

Just because you are the Architect, Builder, or Carpenter, as I am trying to be, doesn’t mean you don’t need the people who will get the word out–to tell the world what your project is all about. It’s called transparency.

Like all knowledge and subsets of knowledge, transparency is inheriantly destructive. The wise Architect, Builder, or Carpenter gives the nod, to go ahead and spread the word, after all the decision making is done and it’s now time for action.

The time for action is when the Carpenter, Builder, and Architect have a position and are postured to go forward with the project. This time may be upon me.

In house building or remodeling, those “Evangelicals” are the inspectors working with the code guys. In my city they used to be in the planning department. My favorite Evangelical was named Jim Schwinof.

He turned out to be one of the good-guys who ran their departments well, at the smelter that I worked as a millwright. His time, at the position he held, could be called tumultuous times for him, but he postured through it.

Jim had to navigate the path between the working gray areas between the Union and Management.I was a part of the send-off committee, representing the Union, seeing him down the path and into that tumultuous filled void. I can tell you the send-off wasn’t pretty.

Well maybe it was beautiful, in a touchy feely way sort of way. At least it was a send-off where everyone had a red and toasty feeling afterwards.

This is the first rule of Boyd–Observation.

Source: Democrat’s lead widens in North Carolina governor’s race

Amid signs of transition trouble, Trump huddles with Pence

“After winning the presidency but losing the popular vote, President-elect Trump must try to bring Americans together — not continue to fan the flames of division and bigotry,” House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said. She called Bannon’s appointment “an alarming signal” that Trump “remains committed to the hateful and divisive vision that defined his campaign.”

For Trump to retain his base, Trump must remain committed to the hateful and divisive vision that defined his campaign. That vision represents his base and to ignore or lose that base would be like pulling the foundation out from underneath a house. The result would be a collapse of those things and ideals that Trump has, so far, built his legacy on.

In other words, to remain Trump, the base needs to remain in some shape and form. Other than hanging a white sheet on the door to the oval office and owning that vision, most likely Bannon represents the less worst choice Trump needed to make, to remain Trump, and to preserve his legacy.

Trump understands branding, and sometime that brand isn’t pretty nor sweet.

Source: Amid signs of transition trouble, Trump huddles with Pence

The verdict for those armed militants who took over a federal building is white privilege in action

The verdict is completely absurd.

Absurd, maybe. But there seems to have may been some government informants present at the stand off, and that may have been what this verdict was all about.

In that context, it may be accurate to say that the Bundys “hired’ enough informants that the government was paying for the standoff, and, in at least one case, for the repair of vehicles and body armor. So, yeah in that context, it was a militia standoff.

So while the Bundys may have been some great inspirational leaders and strategist–it is my opinon that without the help of the U.S. government, their “stand off” would have been less than successful.

Some white privilege, yes?

In this case those recieving, so called, “White privilege” may, to some degree, be called suckers, by non-whites, as their movement was not so much “white” as federal.

At least it looks to me like the government had the Bundy’s backs, and they were in no danger from the feds, unless they  tried to run road blocks and such.

Which, in itself, is a privilege, but I wonder what their father would say, if he knew?

Good help is hard to get? 🙂

Source: The verdict for those armed militants who took over a federal building is white privilege in action – Vox