'Government shall make no laws regarding the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof'...But even eminently sane law cannot account for, much less make allowance for, the rule of the insane, a day and age when the (oughta be inmates) have the lock and key to the asylum

If ever a perfect illustration of utter lunacy, of the sheer, unadulterated application of the strict letter of the law with no due, sensible reference to its heart and spirit - and indeed actual, original, bleedingly obvious intent and purpose - were desired/required/sought for...

...one could do far worse than look to the case of the Seattle (Washington State) coach, Joe Kennedy, fired recently for engaging in a group/team prayer at the commencement of a game there...

Without entering into a discussion of the efficacy of such prayer - except to say (and thereby leave readers in no doubt whatsoever) that this punter, anyhow, like any reputable preacher I've ever happened to hear preach thereupon, considers such prayer to be the sort of (utterly trivial request) that the Deity does not deign to dignify with a (positive - or, for that matter, negative) response...

...with the possible exception of those - extremely few and far between - instances whereby much greater issues are 'in play'(no pun intended) and/or personal destinies are at stake, etcetera...

That being said - yes, as advised above, my 'briefest' discussion thereabouts! - said scenario, by no means the *sole, solitary instance thereof in (especially) the U S of A of recent times...

...leaves most of us either scratching our heads or pulling our (remaining, upper) hair out...and/or in utter **conniptions at how daft our present crop of 'up-and-coming' Western 'leadership' would appear to be proving... 

Hey, back up a moment, you're thinking, in just what does the crime of said individual consist?

I'm glad you asked. Let me sum it up - to the best of my understanding - as best I can...

Joe Kennedy, coach of some sports-team, I believe (American) football (or baseball?) - you can see I'm no sportsperson, much less one of the multitudes of vicarious acolytes thereof - being dismissed from his job...

...for having the sheer effrontery, the arrogance and the gall - the sheer, unadulterated nerve! - to...
guess what, folks? Kneel down with arms outstretched in blessing upon his team...

and...pray!

Yes, you heard it - first - here, folks, and yes, you heard me aright, (assorted) sirs and madam(e)s...-yep, he actually had the ************ to pray!

No, I for once am left almost speechless...but not wordless (as is obvious)...

*Just as the case - I personally was, however inadvertently, alerted/'privy' to - of a piece of (not necessarily 'prime') real estate no longer in public hands in the great city of San Diego (California) ...because it was considered - doubtless by the American Centre for Civil Liberties - a transgression of the aforementioned amendment to the United States Constitution, to have - guess what? -a cross! - displayed publicly up/on public land...

**Apologies if no such word exists, I've heard it mentioned a few times over the years and was even almost dead certain it did indeed truly exist (though my ever trusty Chambers Concise Dictionary advises otherwise)...

Andrew Little Shedding Crocodile Tears Over Upcoming Referenda - especially Euthanasia: If he is really, truly concerned about 'misinformation' (and fake news) thereabouts, he and the Government ought to have done the decent - open, honest and transparent - thing, and called it (the latter) Just What it is: a referendum on termination of life and assisted suicide

Even the ever liberal as Dutch (in the Netherlands) have not been/were not as - patently - disingenuous in so (mis)naming their own referendum on the same, apparently, but (en)titled it just what it indeed was, i.e. a referendum on termination of life and assisting suicide.  

So let's be done with this renewed attempt to stack the deck in favour of the *Government's - and more specifically Justice Minister Andrew Little's own - preferred option/s thereabouts, dressing it up in garments of fancy, highminded, self-conscious superiority, as in self-evident truth, in contrast to his/their ideological opponents' supposed status as/of Ignominious Ignoramuses Incorporated...

And as for the likelihood of such arguments advanced in such highly contested, controversial and contentious as referenda engendering strong emotions -'arguments' which may well be somewhat difficult for the ***misnamed 'snowflake generation' so obsessed with their perceived need for ****'safe spaces' in every conceivable nook and cranny of the public space to stomach let alone face and confront? Well, get real Mr Little, life-and-death matters have ever engendered just such passion ...

...and ever will, as long as those proposing/advancing/discussing and debating them remain human...

Or are you (and yours) envisaging (however subconsciously) a brave new world of robotic beings, as seems fast approaching and is increasingly being presented us from pretty well every direction these days?

So just who is really effectively screwing the scrum, obscuring the real issue/s, creating a cute diversionary smokescreen, fudging the facts and disseminating fake news, Minister Little?

*Generally-speaking, and certainly the case insofar as both the (recently revisited) abortion (and legalization of marijuana) issues are concerned, though there have ever and always been Labour members of Parliament - interestingly, the vast majority of whom over many years (on such contentious 'moral'/social issues) being their Maori and Pacific Island (Pasifika) MPs - who have bucked the general trend (of social liberalism) and voted, on what were traditionally considered and been (non-party whipped) 'conscience' issues, **against liberalization.

**Be the issue this latest one on euthanasia, abortion, prostitution, civil unions, same sex marriage, smacking etcetera...

***In (my own) deference to the snowflake, every one of which is beautiful and unique (and not mass-produced).

****For a fascinating and revealing insight into, I stumbled across an interview with a Dennis Prager the other day on Shine TV's '700 Club' evening news vis-a-vis his best-selling 'No Safe Spaces' (cinematic) production. 

Slip, Slip, Slippin' Away...the Chances of scuppering Brexit, stymieing Boris and saving one's own (political) Bacon: As First (Successful) Proposal to Secure Commons' Assent Passes (Handily) Minutes Ago, Parliamentary Machinations Move into High Gear...

Afterthought:
Little did I realize, when 'arriving at' my (subconsciously-suggested) blogpost title - which title ought rather to have been, I suppose, *'Slip Slidin' Away', from the one-time hit...

that said title (whether mine or the original basis) could hardly be more apt vis-a-vis the entire long- and-drawn-out (to the nth degree) saga of Brexit...

For as the songster's **refrain points out, ***/****the nearer my destination the more I'm slip, sliding away...

*By one of, if not my favourite (secular) singer/s Paul Simon (as it transpired), though unbeknownst to me when this song sprang to mind/while writing this blogpost...

**The actual lyrics, as in (those within a) refrain/chorus, evidently being pretty well the selfsame thing, though a case seems makeable for a refrain actually constituting a subset of a chorus (technically-speaking), according to my Chambers Concise Dictionary, representing 'a line or phrase recurring, esp. at the end of a stanza'.

***Best I can recall the words, that is. ****But in point of fact the words should be/are: You know the nearer your destination the more you're slip slidin' away.

Hey, even again today, following the unprecedented - and really quite sizable - victory secured for the newfangled Brexit deal, that is *****precisely what we're seeing in Westminster's unhallowed halls...

*****And how about the following - taken similarly from this selfsame Paul Simon song, verse four in fact:

God only knows
God makes [H]is plan
The information's unavailable
To the mortal man.

Nuff Said!

Britain's Brexit But a Bare Breath Away...But Will the Professed Lovers of Democracy Actually Allow it?

That, my dear Watson, remains the only pertinent question...when all is finally said and done...

Yes, will the supposed, so-called 'democrats' (liberal, Scottish, *Ulster, Labour et al - they really do come in all shapes and sizes, flavours and complexions), in the final analysis, actually allow it?

But I'm sad to burst your bubble, to shatter your illusions and naivete, folks, the simple answer is:
not on your nelly! They're - pretty well, one and all - 'democrats' with a small 'd' (or more aptly 'c': clayton's democrats, supporting a clayton's democracy, i.e. the democracy you get when you ain't really getting a democracy)...

Welcome to 21st Century tribal politics, UK-style, people...and get set for - much - more from where this came from; I'm sorry to inform you, their joy-ride is just beginning...and boy, is it ever...

*Although, whatever one might think of them or however one might happen to regard them, strictly speaking the 'DUP' (i.e. Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland) is in a completely, an altogether different situation from the rest of these, having some really rather problematic issues to work through and come to a satisfactory conclusion over, I'll readily grant...

Back Up A Little, Dude: What About All the Arguments for Bremaining? I'm Glad you asked...

Yes, I'll freely concede, there are at least a few pro-Bremain arguments which seem eminently plausible, even somewhat reasonable...

...yet in the final analysis - in my (un)esteemed view - there's only really one, when it all comes down to it...

And N.B. moreover, it's only just been advanced - far as this geographically way removed kiwi punter, and even media reportage (both here and on the omnipresent, omniscient BBC) is concerned -
by none other than, would you believe it...

...Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Yes, you heard me correct: the British politician of recent times in whom I've been most disappointed has nevertheless put his finger upon a concern that all folk of the (economic) Left anyhow doubtless share in common: the possibility that a Brexiting, supposedly 'friendless' and *thus newly Trump-friendly United Kingdom, will, to curry favour with a person **adept at the art of making deals, do whatever it takes to clinch/cinch that.

Yes, a Trumpesque free trade deal - providing Brexit, in some shape or form, is ultimately enacted - is now well and truly on the cards, for all manner of reasons, thus leading inevitably - it'd be awfully hard to argue (provided Trump himself remains in office) - to such a deal (and hence a Brexit) allowing for deeply diminished, woefully watered down environmental standards and/or workers' rights/labour laws...'stuff' that America has, under presidents as diverse and spread out as Abe Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, his cousin FDR and latterly LBJ - and even, truth be told, 'Tricky Dick' Nixon himself - upheld and/or championed or progressed...

In other words, all the stuff for which the once great nation of America was once so justly famous; things long since jettisoned as the market deregulations under 1980s' Reaganomics got well underway, especially under the likes of President Reagan's Treasury Secretary David Stockman and Economist Milton Friedman et al...-though Indiana Senator/Congressman (and one-time presidential hopeful, at least Bob Dole's running mate in 1996) ****David Kemp was in another class altogether.

Yes, there it is, in black and white: the one and only true dinkum argument I can come up with - that gives one a decent reason to pause and take in one's breath...before consenting holus-bolus to Brexit going full steam ahead, no ifs, buts or maybes considered...

This, I humbly and oh so respectfully submit, is the only real downside to any Brexit - and sadly, under a Johnson/Conservative Party Government, a really scary and even fairly feasible prospect even...but otherwise there are very few really good anti-Brexit arguments in my own humble opinion.

And yet, 'in the final analysis', there's also one - and only one - 'rejoinder' that I feel deals ably with this genuinely held misgiving and cause for due concern. It's the selfsame one that none other than JFK himself so ably laid down as a gauntlet-style challenge to critics of his own seemingly rash rush to judgment and even precipitous placement of the world upon not only a (major world) war footing - and that clearly of the most devastating variety, a nuclear one - with the then Soviet Union in those two *****almost back-to-back global crises, the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Though some see his declaration that it would be "better [to be] dead than red (i.e. communist, or, more precisely, under communist subjugation, and therefore forced/coerced to be 'communist')" as the height, or rather depth, of utter folly, taking humanity to the verge of potential all-out nuclear war and thus the very real risk of Armageddon - and only in retrospect/with the benefit of hindsight quite acceptable, seeing as it never actually came to pass and thus the justified fear/dread/terror of humankind was effectively averted/quelled/quashed - ******let's shelve that question for the present.

My reason for citing the aforementioned? My own paraphrase for present purposes, my 'takeaway' to apply to the current scenario is this: there are some things in life more important than life itself.

No, I don't consider Brexit as such to be so all-important, so earth-shattering in its ramifications...

...except in what it signifies, which, as I see it anyhow, is this: the privilege and indeed right of every sovereign people upon this planet to ultimately govern their own affairs - free from the meddling interference of officious folk in white coats sitting in distant offices and stewing up all manner of schemes and things to keep them ever and always under their proverbial thumb...

...in other words, in perpetual obligation to and subservience under them, come what may...
The sort of stuff we're 'all' now so glad that the nations throughout Africa have *****broken free of...

*Seeing as the USA under President Trump is busily jockeying not only for favour with Prime Minister Boris Johnson but moreover for a special free trade deal with the UK - something obviously far more in the United Kingdom's interests than America's.

**It was a real piece of serendipity chancing to pick up (at our local, ongoing public library booksale) a copy of Dim Wit: The funniest, stupidest things ever said just around (a couple months prior to) American Presidential Election 2016. With photoshopped cover pics of two people, including (then London Mayor) Boris Johnson, it comprised amongst its innumerable treasures the following quote - perfectly summing up the entire Brexit situation - with which most readers would be sure to concur; from none other than 'the Deal-Maker', ***Donald J Trump himself:

Deals work best when each side gets something it wants from the other.

Sure, as clear as daylight and obvious as the proverbial. But it says it all, doesn't it? What else could one possibly, conceivably add?

***To balance things up (politically 'partisanwise'), however, Dim Wits also includes the following entry: 'I misspoke.  Hillary Clinton, on claiming that she was under sniper fire in Bosnia.'

****As I detail in a belated obituary to him posted on Nuff Said a couple years back.

*****Coinciding pretty closely with the permanent move of my own parents from the US to God's Own.

******Though, suffice to say, readers would be relieved to know that this selfsame aforementioned perspective is actually my own, and here 'articulated' without reference to anyone else's I've ever come across...-no, I'm as far as they come from being a precipitate warmonger as you're likely to find.

*******Though sadly many if not the vast majority have long since entered into a ********type of slavery/ subjugation even worse than ye ole *********colonialism aka the Brits/Dutch/Portuguese/ French/Spanish (et al).

********From my general knowledge of life on the continent from the 1980s on; but also prior to this (in the first few decades post-independence throughout Africa), especially as carefully and thoughtfully chronicled in Brother Andrew's (and Charles Paul Conn's) Battle for Africa.

*********A topical matter at present in view of the 250th anniversary 'celebrations'-commemorations- 'commiserations'! - of good ole Captain James Cook's arrival upon our hallowed shores. And note well my own discussion thereof (still to be fully posted) but scribbled out (as is my wont) way back when (i.e several months ago) vis-a-vis the situation re-appertaining in Zimbabwe at present (and elsewhere throughout that ever fraught African continent) in view of the seemingly never-ending 'dissing' of the British in regards to their colonial enterprise of previous centuries...

To Be Continued Once Again...

Boris' own Brexit Deal Goes Down to Defeat like all its Predecessors...at the Hands of the (Self-righteous) 'Champions of Democracy' -not! Whilst Ms May's Say-so in the Matter is Right on the Money (and the side of the true democrats)

And even seasoned political commentators/pundits are now envisaging the likelihood it'll go through...

88 days into office, and, as Prime Minister Johnson suggests, still going all-out for a no further delay Brexit...though not necessarily (or even likely) a 'no deal' one anymore...

Whilst the grounds surrounding 10 Downing Street swarm daily (and especially upon their relatively rare Saturday Commons' sitting overnight) with ardent, determined, passionate if arguably (occasionally) extremely misguided protestors (on the *Bremain side, that is!) Those whose idea of democracy is evidently one in which it's either their own chosen way or the highway, never mind, even **'bugger the people'.

But interestingly upon this rather 'deja vu' occasion it was none other than the ever eminently dignified and respectable Teresa May, (now ordinary) M.P., who rose most powerfully to the occasion and delivered the sternest rebuke to the aforementioned, in the person of their parliamentary standard-bearers...

For as the former British (herself constantly 'Brexit thwarted') Prime Minister has summed up in a pretty neat little nutshell (and herein my own doubtless poor paraphrase thereof): Is it in fact the case that [the assembled] U K parliamentarians really had no intention whatsoever of following through upon, of delivering on the outcome that people would indicate they wanted at the 2016 referendum?

Her words carried a gravitas and stern solemnity which seemed to not only beautifully sum up the situation in its entirety, but to point out the ***realpolitik at play since the start, whilst exposing to public gaze (and doubtless well-befitting opprobrium) the kinds of sordid, self-serving motivations - and moreover double-dealing/duplicity - ever lurking in the dark and dirty corners of political life.

To Be Continued (upon retrieving said classic speech (quote) and sufficient shuteye)...

*Which isn't to deny that no-one on the opposing (i.e.pro-Brexit) side may not be altogether unhinged as well... -yes, please forgive the quadruple negative in this case, but though I've studiously tried every which way to rework that into some semblance of sentence sanity, I just can't do it, folks...

**I.e. those who were in the majority in the June 23rd (2016) referendum; but of course not the (suggested majority of) people in the polls pretty well ever since said referendum whose revamped views (if only barely so, almost to the percentage point reversing the result upon that fateful day) are much more palatable and acceptable to their particular political tastes and sensibilities; delivering a(n) (suggested) outcome - were there indeed to be a second referendum - which, wonder of wonders, just so happens to coincide with their own (anti-Brexit) prejudices. Funny that, eh!

***'practical politics based on the realities and necessities of life, rather than moral or ethical ideas' (according to my ever trusty 'ole Chambers Concise Dictionary (Cambridge, 1988).

The Brexit Stands Upon a Knife-Edge...as European Union leaders/negotiators frustrate the nay-sayers no end by negotiating an eminently feasible new deal for the United Kingdom's orderly exit from the EU...

And though it (generally) ill-betides/beho(o)ves one to make predictions about historical events, I for one am hoping and praying (and moreover */**fasting, as I did prior to the June 23rd referendum itself) that this - something that such biblical scholars as the eminent Herbert Armstrong in his time have long since suggested, even ***/****'prophesied' would one day occur, *****does indeed occur, according to the omniscient will and purposes of God...

*Well aware (both in writing (much of) this, and especially thereafter) how very pretentious it might very well seem, I've (clearly) chosen to do so anyway, for the accompanying/interspersed reasons...

**Which spiritual practice, although Jesus admonished believers ******to do and keep secret, I believe upon this occasion *******necessitates some sort of mention. Not that I have any sort of high-falutin' notion that my doing so is likely to somehow 'pull God's arm' and change His mind thereabouts, but because as the respected (deceased) author and preacher/evangelist (and prayer warrior) Derek Prince so well outlines in one of his various book(let)s upon the same - Changing History through Prayer and Fasting - believers are occasionally privileged, indeed even strongly admonished, to engage and ally themselves with their Divine Head in helping see His omniscient ********purposes established upon this earth...

***Understanding that insofar as he accurately predicted what would ultimately take place he was only echoing and seconding providential circumstances in the divine ordering of events...

****As outlined in a wonderful little book entitled America and Britain in Bible Prophecy.

*****But certainly not for the sheer sake of its occurring, but because - to be as succinct as possible - I believe it is not the will of God for the United Kingdom to be a part of the rapidly-coming United States of Europe, headed by the biblical Antichrist of the Last Days of human history; for no other reason that whichsoever nations ultimately form a part of 'his' jurisdiction will, let's simply say, not be in an especially enviable situation...

******And certainly there is no spiritual 'kudos' or glory in so doing, as if such an act could possibly add even an iota of merit to one's own standing before God, or give some reason for boasting in His presence...

*******If for no other reason - certainly not any personal credit (much less glory); it'd doubtless rather earn me sheer ignominy and many peoples' undying contempt! - than to place this on the record as it were (for future reference) to the power of 'importunate' prayer (and fasting)...

...not that I'm somehow claiming that my personal prayers et al secured any such visible result; but what I genuinely do believe is that - as I realized myself on Saturday whilst absorbed in this matter - insofar as I'd made (an admittedly minor as in the overall scheme of things) personal sacrifice thereabouts (on various such occasions over especially recent months, in fact), God would honour that...

...using my own prayers et al to help move British Christians concerned about what was happening in their own midst to earnest, prevailing prayer themselves thereabouts...thus 'prompting'/stirring them to pray for God's own resolution of this seemingly interminable, intractable dilemma/situation to occur...

...assisted (and 'prayerfully' motivated) - if however feebly - by my own (admittedly minorly) sacrificial efforts on their behalf... 

********When they're dead certain that they indeed know and understand what those selfsame purposes are (which of course may not ever and always be so very evident!)

Postscript (after first parliamentary win for Brexit, early morning, October 23rd, NZ time):

It's truly an answer to personal prayer while atop Moeraki through Saturday that the pivotal votes securing this first legislative success for Brexit were from 19-odd Labour Party MPs...- probably twice as many as I'd dared to hope for...

Doubtless by-and-large from the places backing Brexit, almost invariably Labour strongholds (I'd assume) especially in Britain's midwest/northern industrial heartland...and probably the southwest - and Wales, also a strongly pro-Brexit 'area'... 

For whom (such highly sought after Labour MPs) I'd specifically prayed that certain (strategic(ally placed)) *'Tory' MPs with a gift of/for cross-party relations might somehow successfully prevail upon them (in the nicest of ways, you understand!) to 'cross the floor' thereupon...

*Generally disliking this generally pejorative term, but for the sake of brevity - not that that has ever been a very real consideration of mine...

In the Final Analysis, Honesty Is the Most Important Thing: Reflections Upon America's Democratic Presidential Contest - in light of a letter to the editor that not only went unpublished, but even lacked the most basic courtesy of a simple acknowledgement

Honesty seems to be the hardest word, for everyone is so untrue.

However much the Hollywood and associated set - and avantgarde, 'alternative' types - *diss him, I've ever had - much more than - a soft spot for Billy Joel (the writer of those memorable words in his similarly titled song 'Honesty').

*Far as I can work out, simply because he wasn't into the drug scene like so many, and so - I can only assume - his 'integrity' in that crucial respect was a standing rebuke, even a threat (of sorts) to those who felt such was simply a sign of sophistication. I reckon it's probably the selfsame folk who found (former American President) Bill Clinton's various 'indiscretions' so 'funny ha-ha'...

...whether his swearing black and blue he'd tried marijuana on one occasion but never actually inhaled, or his ingenious - but ultimately wholly unavailing - efforts to dance upon the proverbial head of a pin to avoid taking personal responsibility for his inability to control his baser urges, lusts and other sexual proclivities; whilst using sheer pedantic technicalities - doubtless well befitting a **constitutional lawyer - to likewise get around the impeachment (***process) for allegedly perjuring himself he experienced back in 1998.

**A position I believe Barak Hussein Obama also held prior to his own presidential tenure.

***Because Clinton was of course only 'impeached' by the House (of Representatives), and ****not the (then Democratic Party-controlled) Senate, and so his impeachment was insufficient to see him removed from office. As most would be well aware, the tables (as in respective majorities of Republicans vis-a-vis Democrats and vica-versa) are reversed at present, and so President Trump could well end up in the same sort of position, e.g, being formally impeached by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives while being effectively 'exonerated' thereabouts by the Senate.
And therefore - like Clinton - not ultimately forced to resign from office.

****I admire the likes of Joe Lieberman, the former long-serving Democratic congressman (or senator) from Connecticut who served as Al Gore's running mate back in Presidential Election 2000, because unlike his Democratic colleagues - and like the Republicans by-and-large during Richard Nixon's own (presidential) last days - he was prepared to eschew partisan party allegiance to stand on the side of the American Constitution...

...and against a President, even though from his own side of politics, who ever played fast and loose with the truth...perhaps not so unlike his wife who is on the record as having "misspoken" not only vis-a-vis being "shot at by a sniper in [Yugoslavia]" but being named after New Zealand's own favourite son Sir Edmund Hillary, who of course climbed Everest five or so years after Hillary was born...

Epilogue: Next Time (I return to this topic, hopefully a few days) - the letter in question...and accompanying that (or in a subsequent installment), just why it might be that that well-written 'commentary' went unpublished...

A Cowardly World Turns the Other Way: How All the Global 'Good Actors' have Shamefully Abandoned the Kurdish people in their Hour of Greatest Need

To Be Continued (pretty well) 'forthwith'...

Well, almost ten-and-a-half hours on...

They say a friend is someone who comes in when all the world has gone out...

So how can the Kurds/Kurdish people (of Syria,*in this instance) possibly feel after being so basely betrayed by their biggest (**human) benefactor, left as veritable '***lambs for the slaughter' for the Turkish forces to mercilessly 'pick off' and 'take out'? It goes without saying, and simply beggars belief...

But if America and Trump are the *****bad guys, pray tell me where are all the good guys? They're effectively all missing in inaction...except the usual good samaritans, as in the likes of UNICEF, the Red Cross/Crescent, World Vision, etcetera etcetera etcetera...

And so, yes, all power to the likes of South Carolina's Lindsey Graham in advancing tough *********new sanctions regimes against the Turkish Government (and doubtless principally its despotic leadership) - whilst letting Trump know in no uncertain terms he's skating upon increasingly thin and evaporating ice - but are we to take it that the rest of the world shares no guilt or responsibility in letting events unfold as they have?

Yes, yet again the ever sanctimonious and talkfest United Nations has condemned itself by its effective silence and inaction...but then, what would one expect from that particular outfit...?

*But as anyone following things (in the Middle East) well knows, the present scenario has been playing out - in various and sundry permutations - for some considerable time now, although ****once again, in the most flagrant and blatant breach of good faith, stands the good ole U S of A...

**For were it not for a Divine One, they'd surely long since have quite literally bitten the dust.

***A common metaphor these days, but taken in this case from the scriptural base from which it doubtless originated, i.e. Psalm 44:22 (requoted in Romans 8:36, amidst the victory pantheon).

****Can anyone alive at the time possibly forget how President George Herbert Bush, at/after the conclusion of the first Iraq War - Operation Desert Storm - articulated a fancy piece of 'apologetics' (not) in explaining how it was illegal for another nation (like the United States) to get rid of (as in assassinate) Saddam Hussein, and thus attempted to justify leaving the Iraqi Kurds to be gassed?

*****Sure, Turkey and its despot, Erdogan, are the chief culprits, but they'd hardly have moved a finger had not the United States of America ******inexplicably withdrawn its military protection at the worst possible moment...

******Yes, as I conceded in my first (prefatory) piece prior to this present 'triad' of blogposts, entitled 'Global Cop No Longer? (etc)', exiting America's decades-long and seemingly endless succession of Middle East military 'adventures' is far from a bad thing...but it's *******all in/about the way it's been done/engineered and the timing thereof, and the particular allies effectively abandoned to a death sentence as an immediate and utterly avoidable consequence thereof...

*******Indeed, it's apparently far worse than that, as it grows more and more apparent everyday that President Trump did so in the most duplicitous, double-dealing fashion imaginable...and for the ********most sordid of motivations...

********To wit, his ongoing business interests in Turkey; and to top it all off (as I said in one of my preceding two blogposts), without hardly a breath in-between Trump forthwith proceeded to reassign the no longer necessary/now unnecessary troop deployment to a neighbouring conflict in which the USA has also been engaged, to wit militarily assisting an equally despotic regime (i.e. Saudi Arabia) in its own equally problematic campaign of - yes, once again - the effective ethnic cleansing of Yemen's Hutti people...

*********Indeed, 'overnight' (NZ time) the U S Congress voted 356 or so to around 60 to impose a first raft of sanctions against Turkey...

America's Modern-Day Pilate tries - in vain - to wash his hands of the noble Kurds, his/their erstwhile most loyal of (Middle East) allies...and in the process gives Unmistakable Evidence of his utter unfitness for any position of leadership, much less that of the world's most powerful political office...-but pray tell me, where are *all the others coming in to fill the vacuum? Indeed, Nowhere to be Seen!

Part Two:

Rarely is a political decision as obviously fraught with such a combo of unenviable characteristics. Indeed it would be rather hard for anyone to argue that President Trump's latest 'move' - to precipitately remove all remaining U S troops from Syria asap - is not one of those decisions, and does not contain pretty well all the elements of such seriously questionable decision-making, i.e.

#sickening shamefulness in unusual unison with sheer shamelessness

#treasonous treatment of those deserving quite the reverse, worthy of the uttermost loyalty and support

#short-sighted, short term-oriented 'action' with deeply disturbing long-range repercussions

#effective acquiescence in the ethnic cleansing of a people who have already suffered far more than **their share of systemic, systematic suffering at the hands of genocidal madmen

#and, moreover, then as now effectively aided and abetted by a nation whose solemnly proffered word and commitment has been regularly violated and impeached

#whilst the particular 'actor' involved simultaneously, immediately moves to bolster military support to its reprehensible Saudi ally, itself engaged - again, alongside the selfsame United States - in perpetrating war crimes upon and against a relatively helpless little nation and one of its ethnicities in particular

#while being exposed as all bluff and bluster in threatening virtual Armaggeddon against the Turks should they go ahead and commit the very thing it is presently going all out to undertake

*now belatedly - as the storm of international outrage and indignation grows apace - offering piecemeal, belated, halfhearted and wholly inadequate measures (sanctions etc) to seek to somehow ameliorate the same

#whilst having the unbelievable nerve and 'credulousness' to then claim it hadn't effectively given the 'green light' to Turkey to go ahead with exactly the sort of military adventure they've been in all too eager haste to undertake

#as well as having the sheer gall to suggest that their belated and tame gesture of reimposing stricter sanctions upon Turkey could somehow help the Kurds in defending themselves from their aggression

Sheer stupidity - senselessness - surrealism - shamefulness - shamelessness - treason/treachery - collusion with evil - callousness, cruelty - aiding and abetting evil, and that of the most reprehensible variety, effective ethnic cleansing/genocide...

these are just a sample of the sorts of things Trump has implicated himself in with this injudicious act of sabotage and of stabbing America's most valiant and courageous Middle Eastern ally in the back... 

For the very person who has made his global debut and cut his political teeth in accusing foreign (Middle-Eastern) nationals of bringing terrorism to America's shores...

...to thereby effectively enable a multitude of Sissii Internationale captives to holus-bolus go free... and even enable them - as he himself has openly admitted - to thereby return to and terrorize Europe

...is utterly beyond words - or even contemplation...

Move aside 'Dubya' -and indeed his much-ignored Dad, President George Bush Senior- Donald is busily vying to join you as a war criminal of the very first - I mean, worst - order...

...and may he reap precisely what he is now busily sowing...but sadly, so will his/our world!

*Such as, just for starters, the likes of the (usually loquacious) United Nations, the **European Union etcetera etcetera etcetera

**Though admittedly apparently ***"all 27" members thereof have unsparingly condemned Turkey's aggression...

***Except, of course, newbie European nation Turkey, although the BBC report I heard did indeed specify all the 27 members thereof...

Donald J Trump Plumbs A New, Almost Unfathomable Low...Below Which It Would Indeed Be Hard To Go......

Sometimes like the rest - if not necessarily the best - 'of us', one impulsively reacts/responds to some newscast/'breaking news' (item) in a way that initially seems 'right'/to gel with one's gut feelings, but which upon further, even reasonably quick reflection, seems not to do real, true justice to the matter at hand. The story continuing to (virtually, singlehandedly) head most world headlines is just such.

And so, though I'll desist from withdrawing my blogpost upon October 8th - in view of my conviction that it does serve to make a salient and rather important point, vis-a-vis the long-demanded withdrawal of American troops from their seeming never-ending engagement and entanglement in foreign 'adventures', particularly of the Middle Eastern variety - can I at least *'add' to that now by giving voice to my, if not sheer disbelief over (in view of the particular 'actor' involved), at the very least my sense of utter disgust and indignation (would not be too strong a term) over President Trump's apparent decision to jettison America's and the free world's staunchest, most loyal and noble Middle Eastern allies (in the global war against Sissii Internationale) as so much unwanted baggage, in the process effectively breaking a solemn covenant with the same...whilst doing so despite only days previously promising virtual Armaggeddon upon Turkey did they dare to intervene in Syria (against the Kurds) and then - but a day or two later - offering additional active military power and assistance to a nearby despotic regime presently engaged - with America's shameful help (though that despite strong and consistent congressional - including, admirably, general Republican Party - opposition) - in itself committing war atrocities upon the little nation of Yemen...while thereby evidently keeping alive his own sordid (in the circumstances) business interests in - yes, you guessed it - the nation of Turkey...

Hey, the length of the foregoing breathless sentence/paragraph perhaps is perfectly understandable in the (seemingly hopeless) attempt to react in any proportionate way or manner to what is presently unfolding in the Middle East...under the auspices of America's 'foreign policy' to boot...

Nuff said for now...

Part Two (to come very soon):

Where I will restate - and pad out/expand upon the above - yet withal in more succinct, bullet-point fashion; to leave no-one reading in no doubt whatsoever as to just why the aforementioned proves beyond any argument whatsoever Trump's absolute unfitness: to hold the office he currently resides in; to wield the authority and power its possession carries in its train; to thus maintain the global jurisdiction which he does nevertheless happen to ipso facto possess...

...for if any single act proved Donald Trump's utter unfitness to remain in the position he does, this would undoubtedly be that act...

...and it's by no means overstating the case to declare that - far from, as CNN's '700 Club' weeknight news programme with **one-time Republican Party presidential hopeful Pat Robertson put things the other night, this one [gross error/mistake/misstep] being akin to the ***'little folly' the great King Solomon lamented in one otherwise accustomed to 'wisdom and honour' - this latest, abjectly contemptible and hideous, awful, treasonous, base, and above all inhuman and inhumane decision effectively and conclusively 'seals the sum'...

...as a rather 'fitting' if exceedingly perverse 'proof' of all the accumulated 'stuff' with which Donald Trump has heretofore been associated, as to why he ought not to ****remain in the position he does...

*As in round out, supplement, fill out in greater, more precise detail...

*In 1988.

***In his own Older Testament book of Ecclesiastes as a matter of fact, 10:1 to be precise.

****Which isn't to say he ought ever to have assumed that office in the first place. Whilst not getting caught up in the seemingly never-ending relitigation of the Muller Inquiry and associated allegations/ accusations about Trump's supposed usurpation of the 2016 Presidential Election - suffice to say that I, much like such respected commentators thereupon as Glenn Greenwald(sp?) and Noam Chomsky, don't happen to believe the case is really all that conclusive - that doesn't mean I likewise consider  there to be no minimum standards or threshold for anyone assuming the most powerful position in the world...which, without elaborating any further, let's just say I assume you can 'catch my drift'... 

Je Suis Jude aus Deutschland

...und die Kurde aus Syrien (und Turkei)...und Irak, Persien etcetera...

Global Events Send a Shiver down the Spine...of anyone paying proper attention, anyhow...

A(n) admittedly) poorly-coordinated trio of attacks overnight (NZ time) upon Jewish Germans/German Jews cannot but evoke painful and hauntingly disturbing emotions amongst the successors of that once terrorized population...and upon the holiest day in the Jewish calendar to boot: Yom Kippur.

What can one possibly say/add, except this: "Je Suis [all Jewish Germans]"...

So you're telling me - and all the rest of us - that a billion dollar beneficiary blowout 'bests' simple, respectful reportage of an incident eerily reminiscent of 1930s' Nazi Germany?

You (Newstalk ZB) must be, seeing as the latter received stuff-all coverage upon your early morning 'Mike Hosking' show today - in either news bulletins or in-between backgrounders and on-the-ground coverage/interviews...whereas the former headed both hourly bulletins and all the rest...

Shame upon you, supposedly Aotearoa-New Zealand's 'foremost' listened to radio broadcaster...

But what did sheer popularity ever count for, anyway - and indeed as the outworking of Hitler's diabolical schemes in Germany will ever stand as a perpetual testament to (the danger thereof)?

Vis-a-vis Mike Hosking's (and National Party's) Latest Beneficiary-Bashing Episode:

No, I'm hardly surprised, nor especially outraged/aggrieved...though I've every (conceivable) reason to be...

For, sure, beneficiaries may well be being 'regularly' overpaid...and more than ever even of recent times, giving you people the benefit of the doubt...

But that's just the one side of the equation, as

the more honest and up-front one inevitably is with the likes of WINZ, the more one is subjected to petty penny-pinching pettifoggery...

...and, more's to the point, how about all the supposed 'entitlements' beneficiaries (such as Yours Truly, incidentally) are not told about - that meet their own particular situation to the letter - till it's way too late...and 'of course' there's never any back-dating with that particular governmental outfit...

Global Cop No Longer? America At Last Exiting its Middle East Entanglements - & Under a 'Stale, Pale, Male' President to Boot! -But At What Ultimate Cost...?

Though the one-time strongly isolationist tendency within America has only again latterly found a championing voice under the unlikely Administration of Donald J Trump, and a 'Republican' President to boot, it's a problematic conundrum now facing the *Yanks, presenting no easy answers or readymade solution, that's for sure...

...although as folk will have heard, if Turkey's dictatorial strongman Erdogan proceeds to take it to the (Syrian) Kurds, he'll quickly receive a short, sharp response from you know who...

But who would have thought or imagined it'd be 'the Donald' who'd - and not before time - decide to summarily remove American troops from their decades-old, seeming never-ending engagement in the ever-fraught, war-torn and misery-ravaged Middle East?

Yes, who'd have thought...it wouldn't be one of the United States' budding radical, 'progressive' Democratic contenders...but a 'reactionary' such as President Trump?

Yes, who'd have thought?

But if it's at the cost/expense of the lives of Kurdish freedom fighters valiantly holding the Islamist fascists at bay throughout that problematic region...

...then it's a step too far...or rather, rashly, even recklessly premature...

All power to the Kurds: let's support 'em while we can...-the alternative, folks, is too scary to contemplate...truly, seriously... 

*Used entirely tongue-in-cheek, not to give a subtle dig at 'em...