Stand With the Women

The GOP's 2015 "Hill Billy Vagina Police"

Okay. REALLY?

MeanMesa received this email from DailyKOS this morning. It is an invitation to add your name to the petition sponsored by the Democratic Governors Association informing these Stone Age throwbacks that Americans are TOTALLY OVER their phony "religious purity" shenanigans. These shills know that their highly edited version of "something or other" that their Super PAC think tanks have snatched from the prevailing religion will reach the information challenged "religious misogynists" in the Republican base. All of them are desperately dreaming that this will inspire [incite] a nice collection of sanctimonious, hateful losers to vote for a GOP candidate in the upcoming primaries.

Of course we all know by now that the billionaires are -- officially -- turning on each other politically. Trump's wild success with the disgruntled party loyalists has left these plutocrats staring blankly at their "wounded" check books as they watch the sold out candidates they have financed so generously going down in flames. Most visitors to this blog are also quite hopeful that the well orchestrated strangle hold these same miscreants have constructed in state governments is scheduled to be broken -- possibly permanently -- in the 2016 balloting.

So, what this is all about is the effort to, somehow, stop the damage they are now preparing to inflict on their own populations in the states they control. Even though they fully realize that this brutality will not serve them well in a national election, they don't care a whit about anything beyond surviving the primary. Lost in this frantic electoral frenzy, they are poised to do substantial, durable injury to the women trapped inside the red state boundaries.

We don't really expect that this petition will significantly alter the behavior of these ALEC infested political monstrosities, but this is one we should sign anyway. The men in this picture [below] are wild eyed political extremists, and maybe the petition will communicate to them that they are...

alone.

Here is the link: DailyKOS CAMPAIGN

Seriously "fixed up" Bibles in one hand and Billionaire Owners of the GOP in the other. [DailyKOS]

The GOP lost big with women in 2012 but they still haven’t learned their lesson. With 2016 around the corner, Democrats are committed to moving America forward while Republicans are focused on continuing their outdated war on women.

Conservative Governors across the country are pushing for laws that would in some cases TRIPLE the waiting time for a woman to receive the health care she needs. Republicans are sending the message that women can’t be trusted to make their own health decisions.

Join Daily Kos and the Democratic Governors Association by adding your name to tell GOP Governors: your attempts to impose women’s health restrictions are disgusting.

Year Three of the Trump Presidency

Future History - In Search of the
 Trump Presidency [MeanMesa]

Fire Up the Short Current Essays

"Future History" Machine!

It's not at all too early in the 2016 campaign

 season to juice things up a bit with a very

 tasteful little episode of MeanMesa fiction...

Granted, given the already stark lack of any particular details concerning the Trump Campaign, it is actually quite difficult to visualize what conditions might prevail in the nation should the reality show host ever get close to the Oval Office. Yet, in hopes of being prepared for all eventualities, MeanMesa has, once again, "fired up the Short Current Essays 'Future History' machine" so we all might have a glimpse of exactly what this would look like.

Well, as the extremely wise Mullah Nassr Edin might have once said "every fiction needs at the very least a token, flimsy, literary foundation," and an ambitious effort such as this one is certainly no exception! Consequently, we'll have to "just throw together something or other" to ground this modest little blog fiction with some sort of plausible setting to allow visitors to "suspend disbelief" long enough to enjoy it, so here it comes.

MeanMesa promises. It will be just as entertaining as...uh...television.

MeanMesa's Interview With the

 Speaker of the House of Representatives

Julian Paul Buttford, Capital Hill Correspondent

August 22, 2020, Washington, D.C.

[Excerpts of the live interview available on MeanMesa network streaming podcast.]

Naturally, everyone at Galactic Headquarters was quite excited when we received the invitation to interview Speaker Farber McMurkly in his office at the Capital. There had been the usual blather about "increased transparency" when McMurkly was elected Speaker by the new Democratic House majority in the 2018 election Congressional Session, and since then a series of in depth interview "media availabilities" had become a regular part of the Speaker's weekly schedule.

When, during this newly adopted House policy, it became MeanMesa's turn to interview Speaker McMurkly, we immediately dispatched MeanMesa's young Washington Bureau correspondent, Julian P. Buttford, to meet with the Speaker in his Capital Hill office. Buttford filed this full transcript for immediate release to Short Current Essay affiliates nationwide via the MeanMesa Network's standard AP download.

Speaker McMurkly: "Welcome to Capital Hill. The House Democratic Caucus is always anxious for the opportunity to keep voters informed about what's going on in Washington."

Correspondent Buttford: "Thank you Mr. Speaker. Everyone at MeanMesa is very grateful for this chance to speak with you about our government. I brought along a few questions, so let's get started."

Let's begin with an update about Congressional efforts to re-establish diplomatic relations with Mexico and Canada -- and, now, also with Cuba. Has there been any progress with Congressional attempts to influence the State Department toward a more conciliatory tone?"

Speaker McMurkly: "Well, we have had a little success in some areas, but the continuing resolutions passed while President Trump and the Republicans still controlled the House and Senate before last year's election continue to present major obstacles. Even after I took the Speaker's chair, the remnants of the tea party faction of the Republican caucus continued to act as if they were 'calling all the shots.'

"The constant threats that they were going to 'unleash the billionaires' on Democratic House members in primary campaigns are quieting down now that public polling has begun to straighten out the perception that they were speaking for some sort of conservative majority. Most of them are still relying on FOX for all their news, so it's not surprising that they are still clinging to that network's 'explanations' about why they lost the election.

"All those, frankly, hateful comments about our national neighbors made right after the President was inaugurated have cut deeply into the possibilities for starting good relations again -- especially with Mexico. We could definitely use a few friends in Europe and the UN, but we'll just have to wait and see.

Correspondent Buttford: Speaking of international relations, I realize that the 'Trump Doctrine" with respect to ISIL turned out to be disappointing, but is there any talk in the House about sending military aid to Iran and Turkey?  Now that the 'caliphate' has taken control of Iraq and most of Syria, Iran and Turkey represent the main effort to keep them out of Europe.

Speaker McMurkly:"Well, I'm sure you know that after what President Trump ordered the military to do in Syria and Iraq, most of the other NATO members and a large majority in the UN General Assembly made it clear in no uncertain terms that US involvement was not welcome in the region. You probably heard the "trigger happy lunatic" crack. That attitude has penetrated deeper than just NATO --  clearly into most of the EU, now.

Correspondent Buttford: "On a domestic note, has anyone in the Congress come up with any ideas for a solution to the Supreme Court problem?

Speaker McMurkly: "Not really. The five Justices who remain on the Court are still making rulings on cases, but it's clear that the Court, itself, is beginning to lose the confidence of the citizens. 

"Speaking of this, I have no problem with the Senate's refusal to approve any of the five Trump Administration's nominations sent to Capital Hill so far. Two of them hadn't even ever gone to law school, and no one was ready for a self-proclaimed Klansman in a lifetime judicial appointment, either. The other two were some Wall Street characters that the President owed favors for some reason.

"Going ahead with the five that are left on the Court is probably better than the alternative.

Correspondent Buttford: "The President doesn't seem to particularly mind the 27 VETO overrides that have come from the Congress so far.

Speaker McMurkly: "Actually, this is getting worse, not better. There is absolutely no communication between the President and the House and Senate majorities. I've heard that he's still talking to the tea party reactionaries and a few 'deep South' Senators and convincing them to keep proposing one weird bill after another. The Congressional majorities work on this legislation, and we try to change it so that it might pass. But pretty much everything not coming directly -- word for word -- from this bunch gets VETOed by him, and then the VETO gets overridden when it comes back up here.

"There are just enough of these reactionaries still surviving in the Congress to keep this up, repeating the same process time after time. Everyone knows that the whole works is standing still.

Correspondent Buttford: "But hasn't the President gotten the message, yet? Surely there must be something that the White House and the Congress could agree on and get passed into law. Have you noticed any improvement in the quality of legislative proposals from the White House? Are Administration sponsored bills growing any more palatable or changing tone in ways making it so that some of them are more likely to be able to withstand these VETO overrides?

Speaker McMurkly: "These VETO override votes are not just coming from Democrats. The President's bills are so bad that these VETO overrides have been getting a majority of Republican votes here in the House, too. I think he might be even more out of touch now than what we saw during the campaign.

"I'd like to be passing some legislation, but we simply can't pass this stuff. At this point I have no idea what his agenda might be.

Correspondent Buttford: "Have White House relations with the Pentagon improved any now that some time has passed after he fired all those Generals? 

Speaker McMurkly: "Well, theoretically it was Secretary of Defense Rubio who actually did the firing, but you can be sure that the word originally came from the Oval Office. I was relieved when the Chiefs of Staff refused the attack orders and walked out on him. Again, not even many of the Senate Republicans would vote in favor of the nominees he was sending, let alone support his war making binge.

"I think that this actually scared him a little. Since then, the White House rhetoric has calmed down a bit. This may have been a result of Secretary of State Cruz simply telling him to 'tone it down.'

Correspondent Buttford: "Was this a result of the Chinese reaction to the proposed 30% import tariff?

Speaker McMurkly: "I think so, but there were a number of other factors as well. Still, the Chinese were 'quite upset' when the President proposed this. Their economy started to tank the next day, and after they pulled every loose investment out of here, of course, our economy took a hit, too. That hurt us because no one else was interested in having any assets here. Most of them didn't even want US dollars.

When the world reserve currency officially changed to the yuan, it was clear that the US was in for a hard time. Still, how could anyone blame them? The diplomatic impact hit the Western Hemisphere hard, too.

Remember, by this time most of his Ambassador appointments to South and Central America had already been sent home. It's not surprising that Putin is more respected down there than he is now. Cuba put an open war crimes indictment on Cruz after what happened in the Middle East.

"I've heard that no one in the EU is even taking his calls any more. US exports are at the lowest level since Treasury began keeping records. Most of the world doesn't seem to want anything to do with us. These days, our largest export markets are Israel and England.

Correspondent Buttford: "Speaking of the economy, does the CBO have any idea how bad the economy got hit during those first years of the Trump Administration"

Liquidating America - Losers have
 to be liquid to trickle down. [image source]

Speaker McMurkly: "Of course no one in the Congress has access to the economic data being held by the Executive branch. The President isn't releasing much of that at all. However, we do know that the National Debt went up by around $3 Tn during those first couple of years. When Trump was campaigning, no one even imagined how obsessed he was going to be with the old 'trickle down' model, but now that we can see the impact, it's pretty clear that he has been hollowing out the General Fund and handing the take over to the 'job creators.'

Correspondent Buttford: "That sounds more like George W. Bush.

Speaker McMurkly: "Actually it looks even worse, but no one can stop him.

Correspondent Buttford: "Is there talk of impeachment?

Speaker McMurkly: "Of course there is, but the man hasn't really committed any high crimes or misdemeanors that anyone knows about. There would be enough votes to do that if the case could be made.

Correspondent Buttford: "Before we finish, I'd like to ask you about race relations and all the riots.

Speaker McMurkly: "I'm sorry, there's a floor vote in a few minutes. Maybe we can discuss that next time.

One thing is for sure, though. Donald Trump has accomplished something that no one else seemed able to accomplish. He changed the political atmosphere in the country and especially the level of voter turnout. 81% of eligible voters cast ballots in the last election.

A NATO and Russian Federation War Primer

A Not Very Pleasant Memory

 [MAD] A Few Gut Wrenching Decades

 of Mutually Assured Destruction Is Still Not Enough?

Dr. Strangelove, 1963 [image]

MeanMesa became one of many watching in stark terror as the US and the old Soviet Union -- each one bristling with literally thousands of quite credible intercontinental H-Bomb delivery systems -- scratched and clawed their way through the "Great Cold War Showdown." The reach of the grisly pogrom would not have been limited to the fictional "OK Corral," either. Those weapons [from both sides] were targeting population centers right along with military assets, and the estimates at the time predicted 350,000,000 [350 Mn] casualties in the first few hours after the ICBM first stage lift engines were ignited.

MeanMesa's experience was similar to most everyone else's -- even the prospect of such a general thermonuclear exchange transformed anyone paying attention into a raging psychopath during the 24 hour a day, decades long US-NATO-Soviet-Warsaw Pact nightmare. Only a very special, certain kind of human would have any appetite for returning to anything like this.

Meet Vladimir Putin.

Just a happy-go-lucky, Russian boy [image]
Some of us "got over" what we became during the M.A.D.'s Psycho Years 

Conversations during this Cold War period were marked by an almost universal concern that the two great ideological blocs would actually do it at some point, but in more modern times one of the irritating "quips" MeanMesa encounters concerning this is that "they would never have ever actually done it." Such Pollyannism [defined more politely as an "indulgent positivity bias..."] reveals evidence of a either a seriously depressing educational failure or a gravely dangerous "re-writing" of history.

This "indulgent positivity" is "back on the geopolitical front burner" when we consider the possibilities of a 2015-2016 version of the old anguish. Two revealing examples of Russian intransigence in dealing with the possibility of ever quietly accepting the fact that they have been bested can be seen in the North Sea Fleet supply depot incident of 1964 and the ultimate "blink" when confronted with Ronnie Raygun's Star Wars propaganda. Without burdening this post with too much history, a short review of each case remains germane to understanding this topic.

Example One: In July of 1964 the Soviet North Sea Fleet's main supply depot at Severomorsk, on the Barents Sea north of Murmansk, suffered a tremendous fire. The emergency continued for several days, leaving several hundred dead and perhaps several thousand injured. When the fire had finally been extinguished, US experts were speculating that the loss in stockpiled military armament had been so large that it had reduced the Soviet Union's capacity to conduct a conventional war to around 10 days -- total.

Faced with this sudden loss of military readiness for conventional [non-nuclear] war, more than a few of the Generals in the Soviet High Command recommended that Premier Khruschev immediately initiate a first strike against the US and NATO. Thankfully, the Premier declined this advice, although the incident almost certainly led to his retirement from the Kremlin [departure from office] in October of that year. [Read more 1964 Soviet Naval Blast Called Crippling - NYTIMES]

Example Two: Reagan's ambitious Cold War gambit, called the Strategic Defense Initiative, under development in the 1980's produced a marginally credible possibility that it could effectively degrade the Soviet ICBM deterrent force by protecting parts of the Continental US from attack. The cost to the US economy was in the trillions, but the Soviets were facing a comparable expenditure to counter SDI -- if it could really function as advertised. The components of the SDI system were never particularly successful in tests, but the US Administration prepared a series of "cartoons" depicting a very successful system which would be able to counter a Soviet ICBM attack.

Faced with the "lethal PR combination" of the cartoons plus the utterly flummoxing estimates for the cost of counter measures, the Kremlin "blinked." However, this "blinking" represented an even more serious PR problem for the Soviet leadership. The vast investment already made in the Soviet ICBM fleet had been justified by the claim that being armed this way amounted to a, well, "no blinking" capability to the Soviet Union's citizens. For this reason [along with a large collection of other geo-economic reasons, as well] the old Soviet Union finally "gave up the ghost" officially in December or 1991. [Read more Did Star Wars Help End the Cold War? - RussianForces]

The point here deals much more with the psychology of Russians in general than with the nuanced behavior of the Soviet Union. [Most of the background history concerning Russia held by Americans is based on experience with the Soviets more than with the "post Soviet" leadership of the Russian Federation.] Nonetheless, we may assume that this apparent inability to accept "being bested" internationally runs with the innate Russian bloodline just as much as with the nationalist ambitions of someone like Vladimir Putin. Vlad knows all about this, and he uses it as a principle technique in his propaganda.

We must also not disregard the same type of Russian "sensitivity" in matters of what Russian citizens perceive as international respect.

Deja Vu: Crimea as Vlad Putin's Sudetenland?

Wait! Haven't we been here before?

All this would be a bit academic except that it illustrates a specific combination of "motivations" which have influenced Russian behavior in the past. The first "motivation" deals with the total inability to countenance even minor setbacks in international relations -- including a full spectrum of diplomatic, geopolitical and military affairs. The second "motivation" is a question of respect which arises from a national outlook constructed from years of having the self-perceived view of being the "second class" laughing stock of more developed countries.

MeanMesa suspects that this outlook may have begun during Czarist times, perhaps even as early as when Czar Peter invited the French to introduce "European influences" into the Russian culture. The days of the brutal Revolution, the extreme difficulties faced by the new Communist state and the disastrous and embarrassing military bumbling at the beginning of WWII have all contributed "fuel to the fire" to produce this national appetite for recognition as a "great and powerful state."

The nationalist vent of the current propaganda stream issuing forth from Moscow has taken the expected course in faux priorities such a re-establishing a Russian "sphere of influence" comparable to those of the over-extended hegemony of the Soviets and the "repatriation" of theoretically Russian ex-patriots stranded in regions which have now extricated themselves from such suffocating Kremlin ambitions.

Sudetenland - 1938 [map source]

Predictably, the "pressing urgency" for this "repatriation" can be embellished with propaganda tales of oppression and discrimination, and Moscow has lived up to its Soviet reputation by taking on this PR assault "whole hog plus the postage." Ironically, the tactics and strategy so far have a chilling similarity to those of Germany at the beginning of its WWII expansion in Europe.

One of the Third Reich's first "cross border" adventures dealt with a similar scheme to repatriate the "oppressed Germans" living just outside the nation's border in Sudetenland. When this German incursion is compared to the recent Russian incursion -- and annexation -- of Crimea, the similarities yield an unsettling prescience.

Soviet Annexation of Romania 1945 [ MoldovanView]

The Soviets took their turn at this "repatriation and annexation" tactic as they patiently began to

 expand that "sphere of influence" to encompass post-war Eastern Europe. The example of their advances into Romania illustrates this. The same approach continued to be repeated until the cold, grey bastion of the Warsaw Pact had been created.

Now, we see yet another case of the same expansionist thrust, one still based on the "tried and true" model established in the 1940's. Vladimir Putin has prepared the stage for a significant number of additional, "absolutely necessary" repatriation and annexation adventures all across the region temporarily -- at least in Vladimir's view -- excluded from Russian influence after the fall of the Soviets.

Russian "Populations" Currently Outside the Russian Federation

"Russian speaking" or "Russian People?" [WorldBulletin]

These regional concentrations of "Russians" requiring Vladimir Putin's "repatriation efforts" [Particularly the ones located in the Baltic States, Belarus and Ukraine] organize the basic map of what he hopes will become "contested regions" in his contest with NATO and the West. However, the "fly in the ointment" turns out to be a pretty good sized fly.

Putin's validation for this potential "land grab" rests on shaky logical premises. One way to express this "shakiness" is to pose the questions: 

"Are these Russians?"

"Would they even like to be Russians?" 

"Is there some empirical means to determine if a person is really a 'Russian' by these criteria?" 

"Or, does the fact that a person was once a citizen of the old Soviet Union -- willingly or not -- legitimately establish that the same person should now [and always in the future] be a citizen of the Russian Federation?"

Of course Vladimir could not, in reality, care less about all these "repatriation" priorities. All the incendiary rhetoric is nothing more than fodder for his domestic political machinations.

Mapping Out the Coming War:

The Crimea Technique

Pay attention to the details;

we should expect to see them again.

As a means to stay abreast of this developing conflict, US conventional media coverage is useless. Reporting on this has, as usual, drawn corporate war lobbyists from every smelly little rats' nest, and these types enjoy full access to the network editorial boards which will, in turn, determine what corporate media content will be provided to the domestic audience. To date this has amounted to little more than an "American version" expressing the diametric opposites of the same propaganda "talking points" being broadcast by the Russian Federation media. If there were not a calendar marked clearly with the year "2015" here in the Galactic Headquarters office, MeanMesa could easily imagine that this was actually "news content" from the depths of the old Cold War in 1975.

Still, the blog must go ahead, so MeanMesa has reviewed a comprehensive collection of net-based analyses concerning the prospects of this developing conflict. It would be far too dramatic, at least at this point, to discuss this "interest conflict" as if it were at some intermediate step in an inexorable march to a full spectrum of direct combat in a European war. There are reasonable "odds" that no combat at all will result as the inevitable resolution of these competing ambitions "play out." On the other hand there are also reasonable "odds" for the converse outcome, and these "odds" reflect probabilities strong enough to merit, if not outright concern, at least heightened diligence. [If you happen to be a blog visitor with an appetite for prophecy, all that appears in the later stages of the post, but, happily, only one will be a MeanMesa prophecy.]

Not every war in history has been finally ignited by the "yellow press," but our record of recent exceptions to this rule is not reassuring, and in this case there happen to be at least two -- and possibly more -- "state supported," institutional, "yellow presses" each one with its respective speed controls locked firmly at "frantic."

The products of all these efforts -- both Russian and Western -- are ironically similar. Both are deeply complicit in two distinctly different, national apparitions of the same jingoistic war frenzy. Both represent evidence of the worst possible actors gleefully engaging in irresponsible war promotion, dutifully serving as sold out corporate media whores while masquerading as the equivalent of expert "pleasure girls" tempting the well known fears and desires of unwary national audiences.

A much more balanced overview of this is available from NATO, itself. Please take five minutes to view this video produced by NATO REVIEW Magazine in 2014:

NATO-Russia: Uneasy Partners - NATO.int.

After watching the video, reconsider the model portrayed in the media rhetoric.

War: Everybody Wins, Right?

Pulling the lobbyist strings to keep the puppets dancing.

The US billionaires, confronted with the real possibilities of what a "shooting war" with the Russian Federation might ultimately "deliver," face a heart wrenching dichotomy. Will they profit more by selling the arms which would be required -- and consumed -- by such a conflict, or will they profit more from a new wave of "cooperative" corporate involvement in the Federation's natural resource business -- especially crude oil and natural gas, and especially crude oil  and natural gas reserves to be "developed" by the Federation's Arctic exploration program.

This is an invitation to a waltz, one to be attended by three oligarchies, one controlling the EU, one controlling the US and one controlling the Russian Federation, but there are even more "similar souls" -- hopeful spinsters and aging bachelors -- desperately smiling as they wait impatiently along the ball room's mirrors.

This slow train wreck becomes even more "testy" when one considers that US and European billionaires are tempted to use US and NATO military muscle to extort Russian Federation acquiescence to "stabilize" the distribution of fossil fuel profits currently flowing to Russia from European and Chinese energy clients. When the voices of the eager bullet and missile salesmen are added to this bellicose chorus, only the arrival of the Mad Hatter remains to complete the attendee guest list so the banquet's meal can begin.

[MeanMesa has posted about this. The Dark Side: American Billionaires and American H-Bombs - MeanMesa]

Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank - UK [image]

All the parties have been very busily arming themselves with the most lethal kinds of new weapons for decades. Remember -- even in times of relative peace and stability, weapons manufacturers have been constantly insisting on inventing and adding one new device after another to these national armories.

In the US we understand the magnitude of the cash flowing from the General Fund to these Pentagon "procurement contractors," but we are inclined to think that we are the only one of the "war players" doing this. Not the case -- the European and Russian Federation equivalents of these US war based, political power brokers are just as busy.

Sometimes this illicit ambition to influence national military policy is shockingly transparent. For example, while working very diligently to frame themselves as hapless, nuclear armed, "victims" surrounded by belligerent, ambitious neighbors, the Israelis sell 3 combat versions of their SPIKE anti- tank armament [i.e. anti-tank ordinance SPIKE anti-tank] to most of the military interests on the European "side" of this conflict.

The French raised Russian "hackles" when that government declined to sell the Russians new Mistral assault ships as previously agreed because of Crimea [Russia Pitch Poles French for Mistral Sale Renunciation- MoscowTimes and French Need Russian Approval to Sell Mistrals Elsewhere-RT], and the Russians have responded that, based on the original sales agreement, France now cannot sell the ships, already constructed, to Brazil without Russian approval of the deal.

MeanMesa's GOOGLE provides thousands of sites analyzing the likely outcome of this potential military confrontation should it materialize. A few fairly rational ones are provided here for blog visitors interested in such details.

Euro and Russia Preparing for War- TELEGRAPH

NATO Weapons Analysis-NationalInterest

[includes relevant and accurate links to analysis of other specific types military hardware]

How would a NATO Russia war play out - QUORA

There's Still Room for Some Old Time Religion

As if the cash side of this can't produce enough blood on its own.

The dirty shirt preachers of the US televangelist world will find the move from demanding war with Iran to demanding war with the Russian Federation a simple step. The burping and bellowing "GOP-Christians" in the Congress will, inevitably, fall in line to join the chorus once the "pastors" start with their explanations concerning how all of this was already foretold by St. John the Divine in his Revelations.

After all, St. John "revealed" that military forces from all the world must ultimately congeal around Israel to initiate the violent conflagration required to initiate the Second Coming, and the perfect way to energize the players for that rodeo can be a violent, bloody war all along the Russian Federation's Western border. [Interested in exploring an account of what the Second Coming might be like if it were to happen now? MeanMesa wrote an entertaining fiction dealing with this subject which is available FOR FREE as a Short Current Essays "e-book:" Secret of Paraneho Just link and enjoy!]

However, the "biblical imperative" to "justify" and "sanctify" this war is found in numerous places in the Bible's content, and -- assuredly, soon enough -- it will also be streaming forth from the myriad of domestic, tax exempt, war mongering, domestic televangelist franchises.  For example, [Ezekiel ch 38,39] 

GOD warns Iran (Persia), with Russia (Magog), and a coalition of allies (including Turkey, Libya, Sudan)will go to war and will invade Israel.  In Ezekiel 38-39 the Bible warns this coming war between Iran (Persia) and Israel will take place sometime after Israel has been re-gathered into Her land as a nation (which was fulfilled on May 14, 1948), [source]

and,

Rosh as Russia itself, Meshech as Moscow, and Tubal equated with Tobolsk in Siberia, are relatively modern interpretations, as found in the Scofield Reference Bible and some 19th and 20th century interpreters. Many recent prophetic web sites still hold to the Russia theory and presumably await a re-ascendant Russia. [source]

Additionally, of course, there is the general reference to "world ending" combat sprinkled generously through other Biblical sections -- all, no doubt, will also be added to further embellish the "deified inevitability" of this looming, modern foreign relations disaster.

Matthew 24:6 You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end.

Mark 13:7 When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be frightened; those things must take place; but that is not yet the end.

Ezekiel 13:10 It is definitely because they have misled My people by saying, 'Peace!' when there is no peace. And when anyone builds a wall, behold, they plaster it over with whitewash;

Jeremiah 8:11 They heal the brokenness of the daughter of My people superficially, Saying, 'Peace, peace,' But there is no peace.

A single MeanMesa prophecy was promised, so here it is:

"If and when this war draws closer, we will be hearing every one of the biblical warnings and more on two hundred tax free, religious television channels and in the Congress."

And, by the way, it will probably all occur in the most frenetic days of the 2016 election.

Euro and Russia Preparing for War- TELEGRAPH

NATO Weapons Analysis-NationalInterest

includes relevant and accurate links to analysis of other specific military

How would a NATO Russia war play out - QUORA

Kiev fascist propaganda

irony

world political response

US biblically political policy for second coming

Secret of Paraneho

If Iran and Russia continue to import nationals to Syria, that country could also become included. Collapse of the Assad regime would enhance the temptation.

Doing Without California

The Pains and Perils of Ignoring Predictions

Especially screamingly, crushingly, inescapably obvious, NASA predictions.

[Note from MeanMesa: Although this post is primarily directed at this blog's visitors from New Mexico, visitors from other parts of the country should explore some of these same ideas for the regions where you live -- especially if your area doesn't have long term drought forecast for its future.]

Thinking ahead about practically anything seems to go directly against the common practice of the Republican controlled Congress these days. MeanMesa wouldn't be particularly shocked if the bunch currently running Washington actually passed a law that planning for such scientific or statistical "prophecies" a statutory crime, and, in fact -- a crime in its "aggravated state" if planning for one of those "prophecies" might conceivably benefit anyone without a lobbyist.

Yet, here we are. We haven't crashed headlong into the consequences of this specific "prophecy" yet, but, armed with the science and the statistics, we can see this "brick wall" roaring towards us at a truly unsettling pace.

We need to start planning exactly what we intend to do without the 9% of the food we consume nationally which has traditionally come to us from California.

MeanMesa has posted about NASA's Earth Science predictions concerning the California "mega-drought" and even a few possibilities to mitigate the severity of the drought's impact.

MeanMesa Ignoring NASA

MeanMesa Infrastructure and Megadrought-Moving the Water

MeanMesa Competing With San Diego's De$sal Plant

Unhappily, thanks to the Republican "death grip" on the Congress, we presently live in a nation utterly unable to commit resources to solving even the most minor, most obvious challenges. None of the extremely odorous politics sustaining that disaster needs to be addressed here. This post is about food.

California Agriculture REALLY IS Shutting Down.

California REALLY IS Entering Into a Mega-Drought.

California Food Exports REALLY ARE Going To Decline.

We're not talking inconvenienced butterfly migrations, polar bears without ice floes

 or fishing villages going under water due to sea level rises.

Further, "When it rains, it pours." Too much of the domestic population of the US is already facing some degree of a food crisis. One in six US children live in families with incomes below the poverty level, and that means that these children are living in what is statistically termed to be "food uncertainty." [Washington Post - US Child Poverty Worst in Developed World,  ThinkProgress - GOP Cuts School Lunch Programs and CommonDreams - GOP Congress Cuts $8.7 Bn From Food Stamps]

Meanwhile, the Republican Congress is indulging in Ayn Randian, Libertarian "wet dreams" of cutting food stamp programs, obliterating health care and vaporizing subsidies for school lunches, and every other extraction scheme their owners have commanded. The reason for mentioning this here is simple.

These "food uncertainties" have everything to do with money. However, the particular money which is the first, most visible cause of the problem is not found in the cynical depths of the Draconian Republican Federal budget -- it is in the pockets of the parents who are charged with the responsibility of feeding these children. They simply don't have enough income to provide adequate food, and, thanks to conditions now prevailing in the tatters of the hollowed out economy remaining after the GOP's 2008 "looting frenzy," these parents now have steadily decreasing chances of remedying their family food situation anytime in the near future.

Add to this the sheer scope of the approaching troubles with the "California contribution" to the US "grocery cart." For decades literally thousands of trucks and trains have been exiting the Golden State daily with shipping containers absolutely packed with fresh food from the State's gigantic agricultural economy. The nature of that "food machine" is not a mystery. It is driven by corporate farm industries representing some of the largest capital reservoirs in the economy, and the food is harvested and processed by a huge army of laborers representing some of the most exploited workers in the country.

But, if we were to stop our description of what goes on in the California agricultural economy at this point, we would be omitting a critical element: 

water. 

[Naturally, California's rich agricultural soils and abundant sun shine are also essential ingredients, too, but neither of these is currently in jeopardy.] Let's review some research statistics about how critical this has already become.

Definitely time to defund NASA's Earth Science Budget [TechnologyReview -Desalination-out-of-Desperation]

Keep in mind the area shown in the 2014 map [above] -- it encompasses California's Central Valley

Locating California Crops [FARMLAND]

from which most of the State's agricultural exports originate. And, to drive this situation home, this map [right] shows where in the state the most productive agriculture for specific crops is located. Although the seasonal rains [still significantly less than usual...] have returned to California in recent days, the drought is so severe that this precipitation will not be able to help that much.

If there were good prospects for this drought to follow a "more traditional" type of meteorological pattern, we could anticipate that conditions would return to normal in the matter of a year or two, but, that happy outcome is almost exactly what the NASA scientists have not predicted. Bloomberg sums up the prospects: [Excerpted here. The title will link you to the original article. Emphasis added - MeanMesa.]

California Drought Transforms Global Food Markets-BLOOMBERG

In the long term, California will probably move away from commodity crops produced in bulk elsewhere to high-value products that make more money for the water used, said Richard Howitt, a farm economist at the University of California at Davis. The state still has advantages in almonds, pistachios and wine grapes, and its location means it will always be well-situated to export what can be profitably grown.

The success of California agriculture was built in large part on advances in irrigation that allowed the state to expand beyond wheat, which flourishes in dry climates. It’s now the U.S.’s top dairy producer and grows half the country’s fruits, vegetables and nuts.

“Water has allowed us to grow more valuable crops,” Sumner said. “Now, we have fruits and vegetables and North Dakota grows our wheat. Without irrigation, we’d be North Dakota.”

Bloomberg is generally considered to be a source for fairly accurate and objective "business reporting," and the focus of this article is about the "business" impact of the drought, that is, agricultural production levels, market trends, transportation costs, commodity prices and so forth. However, when the question is about families being able to provide nutritious food for their children, all these issues land squarely on the "kitchen table." [And now, in public school lunch rooms, too.]

Not only will the readily available variety of choices diminish, but prices will also inevitably rise, and overall nutrition -- already a "basket case" issue for most families with tight budgets -- will also suffer.

If you are an "experienced visitor" to MeanMesa's little blog, you know that depressing tales such as the one behind this post are very seldom simply abandoned and left as the "last word." So, let's now have a quick look at two possible solutions.

The First Possible Solution:
Following the Rain

Bring your seed -- and your mule.

New Mexico is more modern than this. [EXAMINER]

It turns out that the same large scale weather pattern which has wreaked havoc on California's annual rainfall has now apparently taken up residence over New Mexico. The late summer monsoon plumes which have always deposited New Mexico's treasured share of precipitation have grown "deliciously robust" this year and are showing very promising [meteorological] signs of remaining that way for some time.

Unlike our giant neighbor to the west, New Mexico has grown accustomed to "making do" with substantially less annual rain and snow fall. While New Mexico has a few exceptionally high quality, high market "cash crops" [MeanMesa - New Mexico Embraces the Unthinkable], the state's main agricultural export is livestock feed. This is very much a reflection of what have been the typical agricultural realities of the state's high desert climate, and especially the availability of irrigation water.

Land of Enchantment -- and water!

[NM:DroughtMonitor]

The map [right] shows what the "non-drought" in New Mexico looks like right now -- in 2015. The extremely  favorable monsoon plume mentioned above has literally transformed the State from having a "not particularly interesting" agricultural potential to one offering a "remarkably favorable" condition.

Only last year [2014] the "drought map" of the Western US looked quite different [below], but since then, California's drought conditions have grown far more severe while precipitation conditions in the states East of California has improved.

February 2014, Western Region

 [map data]

Probably, no matter how much New Mexico's agricultural possibilities were developed, this state could never produce enough to replace what traditionally has come from California, but with some infrastructure and economic development, New Mexico could become a prime agricultural producer for the nation. When neighboring states Arizona, Utah and potentially, Nevada -- all now experiencing increased precipitation for the same reason that New Mexico is -- are included in the "new national food production model," a newly formed equivalent to the soon drought defunct Central Valley begins to take shape.

Supply and Demand:

The demand for food grown in California will not change noticeably, but the supply will, most likely, continue to dwindle. Predictably, prices will begin to rise, and availability will begin to suffer. Not only is the long term weather energizing this suggestion, the market is also poised to advance such a plan, too. The market currently being filled with California produce will transform into a "market vacuum" as conditions in the Central Valley get worse. Rapidly increasing agricultural production in states which have been heretofore essentially left out of the picture is a proposal which comes directly from imagination to fruition already enjoying both "supply" and "demand" attributes.

MeanMesa, blogging this post from the Short Current Essays Galactic Headquarters in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is acutely aware of the very difficult political and social obstacles this proposal would encounter in the state. Democratic New Mexico, thanks to monumental local political bumbling, has a Republican Governor and State House of Representatives under Republican control -- all factors producing the now well known descent into the Republican austerity and economic paralysis found in other "red" states. Most of the remainder of the State's business is heavily infested with a particularly rancid gang of ALEC raiders.

Nonetheless, true potential in mankind's realm has a tendency to always find a way to ultimately emerge, and this is the picture of such a potential, although a potential buried below all sorts of difficulties. Still, making this change in this ancient land of the "Patrona" and  the "Bishops" will represent a political "challenge of vision," indeed.

The Second Possible Solution:
Build an International Rail Road
 to Where the Rain -- and Food -- Is.

Central and South American agriculture remains largely intact. 

Now, of course, while there is little prospect that the billionaires in charge of this country would ever allow us to have a high speed train inside the domestic US, there remains the possibility that more "forward thinking," populist governments to the South might turn out to be quite interested in such a proposal. The idea brings with it plenty of economic and agricultural market advantages to Central and South American nations still enjoying more or less normal precipitation as the climate changes.

[Graphics MeanMesa]

The proposed high speed rail line can be constructed with the latest, modern technology available. In almost all developed nations besides the US, these trains are no longer an "oddity" or an industrial "phenomenon." All across the globe from Taiwan to Italy, they are providing rail service -- usually passenger service -- with the levels of speed and convenience which compete with jet air liners.

Designing such a rail road designed to move freight rather than passengers would not present too much difficulty. Much of the produce originating in Central and South American fields is currently transported to US grocery distributors by air, and a well designed high speed rail system could compete with that expensive transportation scheme very well.

Once such a modern transportation system were in place, all manner of economic opportunities beyond the "food business" would enjoy the fast and dependable shipping possibilities, also.

The Central and South American continental regions could definitely produce agricultural exports at a rate and quality which would be able to replace the decline in supply originating in California's mega-drought impacted Central Valley, and they could replace those commodities at a very competitive price. In many cases they already are -- even when shipping is done by shipping on freight jet planes. The real transportation problem would be located north of the New Mexico entry point where trains transporting this produce across the country to US markets run at an average of 68 MPH.

Very Fast Train International Politics,

 Trade Agreements, Inspections and Contraband

If any of this is too tough for Congress, we can always just starve to death.

MeanMesa can almost already hear the shrill voices of US "hate radio" screeching about importing trainloads of ISIS fighters, tons of cocaine and bus loads of girls tragically kidnapped and forced into the "pleasure trades" for US consumption. Although the xenophobic televangelists and sold out, dirty shirt Confederate political hacks in Congress will immediately begin with every talking point in their closet -- "Death to America," "End of the Free Market" or "War on Christmas" [all while quickly pocketing their checks from trucking companies, private prison corporations, beef and chicken dynasties and jet freight airline corporations...], the "common sense counter weight" might, actually, carry the day at some point.

With respect to the almost certain problem of drugs and other contraband hidden among the Argentine oranges, MeanMesa has a suggestion. Whenever any of these illegal "imports" is discovered in one of the new train's shipping containers at the border crossing inspection station, the sender of that container load is immediately denied access to the train -- and the US market -- for one year.

This will provide an incentive for the corporatists and industrialist agriculturalists counting on the use of this new train to police their own loading docks. Such a policy might well prove more effective -- and much cheaper -- than the present $10 Bn per year "War on Drugs" scam which is funneling mountains of US tax dollars into the pockets of all sort of "less than desirable" players while producing very "patchy" results.

The design technology of the train system could include new types of shipping containers to aid in the inspection process and shipping after arrival to US domestic destinations. Nations in Central and South America would find a new incentive for constructive relations and cooperation, too. Even laying out the initial right of way for the rail lines might offer an unexpected "break through" in national cooperation in the region.

Finally, once all this began to really work well, its success might persuade those in the Congress to consider having modern railroads in the US, too.

Additional Reading on this topic:

http://westernfarmpress.com/tree-nuts/what-happens-if-us-loses-california-food-production?page=2
http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/statistics/