Humint Events Online: February 2018

The 2nd Amendment Is a Silly Anachronism That Costs a Lot of American Lives

So, on the one hand, the distrust of standing armies and of an overarching federal power led to the adoption of the Second Amendment, and state militias would be remain under state control as much as possible during a federal muster. On the other hand, to make this practicable, the Congress soon concluded that every man must own a firearm. The Second Amendment only restricted what the federal legislature could prohibit, but the Militia Acts applied to the states and their citizens.

Now, consider that we have had a National Guard since 1903 and a standing army for much longer than that. I’ve never met anyone who wouldn’t move from one state to another because they didn’t want to live under a foreign religion. We haven’t had a draft since the 1970’s, and the idea that the federal government could compel you to buy a firearm seems tyrannical to every American citizen. If the government does compel us to serve, we expect them to pay for our equipment.

We got over our religious differences. We got over our fear of a standing army. We allowed the federal government to play a large role in our state’s militias when they were organized into national guards and reserves. But, somehow, we never got over our adherence to the Second Amendment. In fact, about ten years ago, the Supreme Court for the first time in our nation’s history ruled that citizens have an individual right to a firearm irrespective of their potential service in a militia.

We’re not living in a country anymore where everyone owns a gun or where every male citizen can be compelled to own a gun. We aren’t relied upon to race to the country’s defense if an emergency arises so immediate that there is no time to raise a standing army.

Almost every element that was present when the Second Amendment was enacted is absent now.

I recognize that many people still believe that an armed citizenry is a bulwark against tyranny, but it’s not much of one as the standoff at Waco made clear. The primary way that the Constitution tried to prevent tyranny was by denying the federal government a standing army. To do this, the Founding Fathers devised provisions to make a standing army unnecessary or limited in duration. The state militia system was their device for accomplishing this, but it’s a solution that predates the Napoleonic Wars. It proved itself unworkable over two hundred years ago.

The rationale for the Second Amendment is an anachronism. This is true if you look at the narrow language they used (A well regulated Militia, being necessary…), and it’s also true if you look at the wider context and purposes of the amendment. Not only is a militia no longer necessary, but the whole scheme we use for our national defense is a gigantic violation of the principles the amendment sought to preserve and protect.

When we get rid of our army, marines, and air force, and we eliminate our National Guards and Reserves, and we reapply the principle that our citizens must be ready to muster to the nation’s defense and provide their own equipment, then we can talk about how necessary it is to preserve the Second Amendment.

In the meantime, anyone who tells us that the Original Intent of the Founders requires us to consent to the easy availability of AR-15s and other like weapons, is completely misinformed.

10 comments

The Fake Moon Landing Theory is Now Being Conflated with Belief in a Flat Earth

I've looked a little bit into the "flat earth" theory. It's incredibly stupid-- it's the worst sort of conspiracy theorizing that makes conspiracy theories look bad. It's way more stupid than the 9/11 vicsims stuff. I find nothing compelling at all about the flat earth theory. It takes an incredibly misinformed idea to start with and builds and an incredibly elaborate scenario around it that doesn't make any sense at all. There's no explanatory power at all to the theory. This conspiracy theory may be fun to consider, but ultimately it raises more questions than it answers.

Any decent theory should explain an unsolved question in a logical manner, and not invent a massive scenario that completely alters our known reality. The more you can stay within logic and science, the more likely your theory will be correct and be taken seriously.

I grant that to some extent this is in the eye of the beholder and one could say this about some of the ideas I've proposed here.

But my main point is the flat-earth theory has several huge problems:
1) it is based on deeply flawed analyses of pictures of the earth and geography
2) it rejects well established science and math measuring the earth
3) it suggests aliterally a global hoax
4) it proposes a massively different reality: we live on a constructed flat plain under a unbelievably massive conspiracy to cover this fact up, all for no obvious reason!

So I see no reason to consider "flat earth" as a viable theory.

HOWEVER, all flat-earthers apparently believe the Apollo moon landings were fake.

This is a problem, since I think the moon landing hoax is a very viable theory.

It almost makes me wonder, if like some of the more stupid 9/11 stuff out there, that makes 9/11 conspiracy theories look bad, if flat earthers are a type of psy-op to make the moon landing hoax look bad.

It's quite unfortunate.

6 comments

The Most Irreversible Effect of Trump and the Modern GOP Is

the terrible damage they are doing to the planet's climate by not taking the threat seriously.

A study recently published in the journal Nature brings grim news: anthropogenic climate disruption (ACD) has officially ended the era of stable climate that has made possible the development of modern civilization.

The world we live in today, based on industrial-scale agriculture capable of feeding billions of people and sustaining these vast numbers of humans, is only possible within a stable climate paradigm.

The recent study, "Reconciling divergent trends and millennial variations in Holocene temperatures," underscores this by showing that temperatures across North America and Europe have reached levels that are unprecedented over the last 11,000 years.

(snip)

The study also found that if the planet had not already been in the midst of a natural cooling phase when humans began warming it with our emissions, Earth's atmosphere would be nearly an additional 1°F warmer now than it already is.

Global temperatures have now broken with the naturally slow-changing and relatively stable conditions that existed before ACD began.

The recent study confirmed that the average global temperature of the last decade, from 2007 to 2016, was higher than that of even the warmest centuries over the last 11,000 years by more than 0.5°F.

Given what the data of these two studies shows, it is worth remembering the results of a government ACD report that leaked last August. The product of 13 federal agencies, the National Climate Assessment showed that, via their "higher emissions" scenario, the US will experience a stunning 8°F to 10°F warming above where we are now over the interior of the country by 2100.

The projections also showed that the Arctic will experience a shocking 18°F of warming sometime between the years 2071 to 2100 and global sea levels could increase by eight feet above current levels by 2100, swamping every major coastal city on Earth.

Meanwhile, a 2009 study from MIT showed that there is a chance things could be even far worse than this: Unchecked ACD could result in more than 7°C planetary warming by 2100.

If Trump/GOP rule continues much longer and they continue their climate denial, we are surely screwed as a civilization.

1 comments

Trump Is a Bottomless Pit of Bad Faith and Stupidity

Still just so depressing this guy is our president:

Question: If all of the Russian meddling took place during the Obama Administration, right up to January 20th, why aren’t they the subject of the investigation? Why didn’t Obama do something about the meddling? Why aren’t Dem crimes under investigation? Ask Jeff Sessions!

It's hard to know what is more prominent here-- Trump's stupidity or his dishonesty.

Does he know the answer and is just lying? Or he just has no clue? Does Donald actually know that he’s president and has whole agencies that investigate these things and can give him answers???

But to address Trump's questions:

1) Obama did enact sanctions against Russia for meddling in the election, while he was still president

2) Obama wanted to make a public statement about the meddling and met with GOP leaders-- Mitch McConnell refused to present it to the public and said he would make it a partisan issue if Obama went public

3) Russia responded to Obama's sanctions by expelling US diplomats... and then Trump thanked Russia for saving US money... (typical Trumpian treasonous stupidity)

4) during the campaign, Trump publicly called on Russia to hack Hillary's emails

5) Trump has refused to enact new snactions on Russia that were passed by Congress
----

Of course, overall, Trump is guilty as shit of conspiring with Russia to get elected, and is covering his ass with this breathtaking stupidity and dishonesty.

1 comments

One Interesting/Useful Thing About Trump's Rule Is He Helps Separate Out the Greedy Elites from People Who Actually Care About America

"From the point of view of U.S. power, (Trump) is harming it, but from the point of view of U.S. elites, he's giving them everything they want," Chomsky said, describing the current administration as a "two-level wrecking ball."

The political activist and cognitive scientist went on to describe the incumbent U.S. president as a "con man." "Everyday there's one insane thing after the other... and while this show is going on in public, in the background, the wrecking crew is working.

"What they're doing is systematically dismantling every aspect of government that works for the benefit of the population. This goes from workers' rights to pollution of the environment, rules for protecting consumers, anything you can think of is being dismantled."*

Chomsky reasoned that the ultra-wealthy, Wall Street and the constituents of those in power couldn't be more pleased with efforts made to increase their fortunes.

"That's why the stock market goes up: the stock market has not much to do with the economy, but it keeps booming because that's the rich people."

Chomsky pointed out that the decline of the United States, a trend tacitly expressed whenever Trump vows to "make America great again," began not recently but back in 1949 when China became independent.**

The loss of China was followed, Chomsky said, by "McCarthyism, repression and the destruction of unions." It continued under President John F. Kennedy when he was weighing whether to escalate in Vietnam and said: "I don't want to be responsible for the loss of Indochina."

The decline of the U.S. empire further accelerated when Europe and other industrial societies reconstructed in the wake of World War II: "decolonization took place" and the empire has yet to recover, Chomsky said.

*This is exactly what I've been saying for years about the GOP in general. The current incarnation of the GOP under Trump is pushing this greedy enterprise, this outright looting of the US, to near maximum speed.

**First I've heard this but interesting.

0 comments

Anarcho-Syndicalism Now!

Or not... but this is a nice review of what exactly socialism is:

4 comments

World War Syria

Syria was already hell, and now it is even worse.

Tensions across northern Syria are escalating sharply amid a series of clashes between external and internal powers, including Israel, Iran, Turkey, Russia and the Syrian government.

On Saturday, Israel shot down what it says was an Iranian drone that had entered Israel’s airspace after being launched in Syria.

Israel then mounted an attack on an Iranian command center in Syria, from where the drone was launched. One of the Israeli F-16 military jets was then downed by a Syrian government anti-aircraft missile.

Meanwhile, also in northern Syria on Saturday, a Turkish Army helicopter was shot down by U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish YPG fighters near the Syrian Kurdish city of Afrin, where Turkey has launched a bombing and ground offensive.

All this comes as the United Nations is warning of soaring levels of civilian casualties in Syria.

And the US has at least 2,000 troops in Syria as well.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration is trying to start a war with Iran, on top of the ramped up tensions with North Korea: Lawrence Wilkerson: I Helped Sell the False Choice of War with Iraq; It’s Happening Again with Iran

1 comments

The Trump/GOP Scam Comes into Clearer Focus

Eugene Robinson lays out the big Trump lie:

The Trump administration is an aberration, an outrage, a threat to the nation’s very soul. But most of all, it’s a great big fraud.

Voters who thought President Trump would at least try to fulfill his populist, America-first campaign promises were cynically and cruelly deceived. Trump placates these supporters with rhetoric, distracts them with cultural warfare and encourages them to seek refuge in cultural chauvinism. What he doesn’t do for them is deliver. (snip)

Remember how the president promised a $1 trillion program to rebuild the nation’s roads, bridges, airports and railroads? Well, he claims to be doing even more — $1.5 trillion in infrastructure spending over the next decade. But the promise comes with little or no new federal money, which means it barely qualifies as an idle wish. Trump says he wants to spend just $200 billion over 10 years on infrastructure, with cities and states providing the rest. But mayors and governors don’t have $1.3 trillion lying around; ask them, if you don’t believe me. And since the $200 billion is supposed to come from savings elsewhere in the budget, Trump effectively plans to give with one hand and take away with the other.

Anyone who expected projects on the scale of Hoover Dam or the interstate highway system should realize that Trump will never come through, because he has no idea how. (snip)

Trump campaigned as the purported champion of a working class that was being robbed blind by dastardly elites. He has governed, however, as robber in chief. The tax bill that Republicans passed and Trump signed into law delivers the lion’s share of its benefits to corporations and the rich. The president hopes that middle-class taxpayers will be so transfixed by seeing a little more in their paychecks that they fail to notice how other costs, such as health care, are rising because of his policies.

Trump has changed GOP dogma in one regard: The party no longer even pretends to stand for fiscal responsibility. Republicans are apparently wild-eyed Keynesians now, cutting taxes and boosting spending in an attempt to stimulate the economy. Trump anticipates ballooning the national debt by $7 trillion over the next decade.

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), a supposed champion of small government and balanced budgets, goes along like a little mouse.

Trump drew loud cheers at his campaign rallies when he complained about the high cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, saying all that money would be better spent at home. But the deal he signed last week will increase defense spending by $195 billion over the next two years, and his budget director suggested the military could get even more. (snip)

The president pledged to maintain or strengthen the social safety net, but — sit down, you won’t believe this — he lied. His budget cuts $554 billion in Medicare spending over 10 years, which is of concern to anyone over 65. It cuts up to $250 billion in Medicaid spending, which has implications for anybody who has a loved one in a nursing home. Trump wants to cut $214 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as food stamps, a vital source of help for the working poor.

The idea of Donald Trump as some sort of Man of the People was laughable from the start — a boastful plutocrat who lives in a gold-plated aerie above Fifth Avenue, claiming lunch-bucket solidarity with factory workers and coal miners. He sold it, though, largely by cementing a racial and cultural kinship and shamelessly misrepresenting his intentions.

Trump tells little lies all the time. But this is the Big Lie that must be constantly exposed between now and the November election: Trump is worsening society’s bias in favor of the wealthy — and laughing at the chumps who put him in office.

The GOP is bankrupting us by driving up Federal debt and slashing away at the only decent parts of the Federal government. It's evil and sickening. They HAVE to go.

3 comments

"Love and Saucers"

I watched this movie that I mentioned in my previous post.

It was actually really good--- very well done and the overwhelming feeling I got is that Huggins would not be painting these paintings unless something very real happened to him. The paintings as a whole, are incredible, and just speak to something very real, even if they are the most wild thing imaginable.

Here are some screenshots from the movie, showing more of his paintings.

3 comments

‘I Lost My Virginity To Alien Lover’, Claims Artist David Huggins

Awesome story here.

There's also a recent movie made about him.

It might be just laughed off if not for his hundreds of detailed paintings depicting alien sexual coupling and hybrid babies and other wild stuff.