caucus99percent

free-range politics, organic community

The Mafia Model

Sanctions, tariffs, threats, bribes, coups, and out right war are US strategies used to make other nations comply with our demands. Like a mafia protection racket we offered the GCC countries protection, but failed to deliver. In the late 40's and 50's the newly formed CIA was mentored by the mafia, and maintains relations even today. Trump's mentor Roy Cohn was allegedly a member of the mafia. Perhaps the most ironic mafia link was with J. Edgar Hoover. Hoover was photographed in compromised positions while dressed in drag and was threatened with the release of them if he went after the mob. He denied the mafia's existence. What do you think, is the US a nation modeled on the mafia?

Afternoon folks!

This week, we have the Blues Variety Pack, with a compilation from jump blues artist Wynonie Harris, followed by country blues harmonica player Dr. Ross and finishing up with some modern blues from The Mighty Flyers featuring harmonica player Rod Piazza. After all that, we're on to some blues rock with live albums from Free and The Guess Who.

Enjoy the tunes and have a great weekend!

Good morning, good people! Hope you are all in fine fettle!

I watched this from the stands. This was the crowd favorite.

The situation in and along the DMZ between North and South Korea is more serious than I previously described.

The UNC is facing criticism for seeking to expand its authority over the DMZ while shirking its responsibilities.

https://t.co/X0fgsbLhZ5 https://t.co/VztrdDmShM

Happy Friday everyone. You know the drill. Photos, memes, music, or whatever else you find of interest. Post em if you got em.

As most of you know I was in Oregon for a few days last week for the annual family get together to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving. Between family and friends there were 12 people there. Everyone had a great time. The weather was nice. Cloudy skies in the morning with temps in the high 40s and mostly sunny skies by noon, and temps warming up to the low to mid 60s in the afternoon.

The vrbo house we rented was right on the beach in Netarts. Question for our Oregon members. Is Netarts pronounced knee tarts or net arts? Inquiring minds want to know. How ever you pronounce it, Nertarts and near by Tillamook was a great place to spend a few days.

This farm and barn was on the drive from Portland to Netarts.

Lately I find myself wandering a desert of creativity. I keep drawing a blank when it comes to writing. So I took a look at my drafts and found this that I wrote right after the last election. I originally titled it Leap Frogging the Abyss, but I changed it to Free Will, which seems more apropos with the events that have happened since the election. I also added a few paragraphs at the end to make it seem more contemporaneous. I don't know why I didn't publish it back then, but here it is anyway.

I've always been a big picture kind of guy in the sense that I don't delve too deeply in the red meat issues that have a tendency to alienate folks from one another and to entrench them in partisan party politics. When the political mind is corralled so is the vote, and subsequently another foot soldier is created in this march to sustained control. It's the free thinkers that scare them. Thus the march to censorship in this once thought as bastion of free thought, the West, and the pinnacle of the Enlightenment, the United States, exemplified by that most significant of charters, the Constitution. The Constitution that is currently beset upon by both major political parties.