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News Burst: August 11, 2017 (Patreon)
Content
How’s life? Well, I hope!
So, the verdict is in. Earlier this week, I asked you guys and gals to tell me if I should keep News Bursts to twice a week, or make one, meatier post each week. The written feedback was valuable, but inconclusive, so I posted a poll, and asked the same question. 485 of you voted in it, and One Meaty News Burst A Week beat out Two Smaller News Bursts A Week, 53% to 47%. Six points is actually a pretty big spread, but I still think that’s a close call.
So, I’m going with One Meaty News Burst A Week. Let’s see how this works. If people really hate it, I’ll revert back, but I think this is a more valuable service, and will hopefully get us all talking a little bit more (though you’re obviously free to read your e-mails instead and never partake… that’s up to you). For what it's worth, the text below is six pages in Google Docs. Lots for you to read and digest!
In anycase, the schedule moving forward (for normal, non-abridged or “off” weeks) is going to be:
Monday: A Regular Colin’s Last Stand Episode (All Patrons, $5+/month get MP3)
Tuesday: Colin’s Last Stand Podcast Early Access ($5+/month, beginning September 5th)
Wednesday: News Burst ($5+/month)
Thursday: A Regular Colin’s Last Stand Episode (All Patrons, $5+/month get MP3)
Friday: Colin’s Last Stand Podcast Available to All (Beginning September 8th)
As usual, I’ll post when it makes sense with other stuff (such as my book, TV show, documentary, and movie recommendations, which are all for $5+/month subs exclusively).
Okay, so let’s get into the new, meatier, once-a-week News Burst. Lemme know what you think. Your feedback remains essential! (In case you’re curious, I’m doing the News Burst today [a Friday], but will revert to the normal schedule next week.)
5.) Russia Takes Advantage of Venezuelan Situation
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-russia-oil-specialreport-idUSKBN1AR14U?il=0
In case you missed it, this past Monday’s episode of Colin’s Last Stand revolved around the failure of Venezuela’s socialist government, and how the country is rapidly becoming a failed state before our very eyes, a remarkable fall for a country that was once the so-called poster child of western socialist movements. (The link to the video is below, in case you’d like to check it out.) While I won’t get into what’s going on here yet again (you can watch the video for more of that), there’s a rather interesting wrinkle to all of this that I stumbled upon while reading more about the situation there. I’ve really fallen down the rabbit hole with Venezuela. It's quite fascinating. Unsettling, too.
One of Venezuela’s staunchest allies is Russia, and Russia, as you may or may not know, is actually somewhat financially healthy, with liquid capital to spend, and weighed-down by little state debt. As Venezuela collapses, and as the situation becomes far more dire for the citizenry there, the government has reached a hand out to Russia, offering up state-owned assets that the country once seized from private citizens and corporations in return for cold, hard cash (as well as credit) that will allow the Venezuelan socialist government to limp along for a little longer. Remember: Everything revolves around oil in Venezuela, which is what contributed to its collapse in the first place.
At the core of this is Rosneft, a massive Russian-owned oil company that is essentially acting as proxy with Venezuelan oil interests, gaining control of increasingly large slivers of Venezuelan-owned oil in return for needed currency. But many, as the story suggests, view this move as extremely predatory. You can’t blame Russia for injecting itself into the American crude oil scene, but at what cost for an eventually-recovering Venezuela? This situation is becoming increasingly dark, dire, and dangerous as time moves on, and with Russia’s involvement in Venezuela becoming increasingly economic, it’s only a matter of time before western powers -- primarily the US -- start to really take notice.
Related Link | CLS on Venezuela: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJqa-Z9Souc
4.) Business is Booming
A week or so ago, I published a video about how chaos and ineptitude have overtaken Donald Trump’s White House. I think that’s pretty clear. But it’s seemingly being cleaned up by a new, more powerful Chief of Staff (link below), and that gives us a little time to focus on the positives, instead of on the constant barrage of negative stories, negative takes, and negative innuendo flying in and out of Washington D.C. on a regular basis. I feel like I’m pretty hard on Trump -- rightfully so -- but I also feel that it’s important to give credit where credit is due. And credit is certainly due when it comes to the American economy… or so it seems. It all depends on your point of view.
Now, from my perspective (and from the perspective of most), economic indicators are typically latent. Moves made by, say, The Federal Reserve months ago could come to fruition today. Tax policy last year could help or hinder things this year. The market largely works independently of the government in some ways, and intertwined with government in others. It’s a massive machine, one that doesn’t just turn on a dime. It rises slowly (though it often falls rapidly). One thing is clear: The market -- whether you’re talking about Wall Street, or banking institutions, or small business -- likes Donald Trump. And perhaps it’s fair to say that his administration isn’t getting credit for what’s going right in this regard, with all of the focus on what’s going so disastrously wrong.
As the story above notes, the American economy is going through a boom time right now, having its best quarter since 2004. That’s a long, long time ago. So long ago, in fact, that the economy in 2004 wasn’t yet in the shadow of the looming recession that destroyed it. While I see things to be nervous about in the economy -- namely a roaring stock market that seems to far outpace the actual value offered by some of these (mainly tech) companies -- I also see other positive indicators. Unemployment is low. Loans are relatively cheap. Inflation isn’t running amok. Whether or not you want to credit Trump for any of that -- I could personally go both ways with it -- what’s clear is that not everything is falling apart in America. And that should make us all feel good, both domestically and abroad.
Related Link | Chief of Staff Kelly Makes Changes: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/11/trump-autumn-policy-agenda-john-kelly-241536
3.) Mueller’s Investigation Continues
It seems like, after a couple of months of investigation, rumors swirling of grand juries, and lots and lots of unverified reports in many publications, that Robert Mueller -- former FBI Director now acting as US Special Counsel -- is bearing down on an actionable target: Paul Manafort. For those that don’t know, Paul Manafort was once Donald Trump’s campaign manager (before he hired Kellyanne Conway and Steve Bannon to take the reigns and, against all odds, deliver victory). So, in a normal world, Manafort would be a footnote, a curiosity remembered by political nerds. But with the “Russia! Russia! Russia!” narrative likely never going away anytime soon, the Ship of Justice has turned towards the Russia-connected Manafort as the possible smoking gun of some sort of collusion. (As usual, no one really even knows what the purported crime(s) is/are.)
To get to the bottom of everything, Mueller has been liberal with sending out grand jury-approved subpoenas to banks and other financial institutions associated with both Manafort and Russian interests. At the center of all of this seems to be how Manafort’s labyrinthine interests in Eastern Europe may have played into possible access to Trump, monies possibly traded, policy initiatives put into play, and, of course, Russia’s more direct and indiscrete interference into the American voting apparatus. The problem with the Mueller investigation is a different side of the same coin: This all seems very unfocused and sprawling, and some are wondering whether Mueller has anything at all to go on, especially since he’s been working on this since May (and especially since he didn’t go into his own investigation blind; he had tons of stuff to work with already).
What’s most interesting of all -- and part of what the story linked above focuses on -- is how Manafort’s troubles are now starting to seep into his orbit. In other words, people close to him are now starting to be fingered as being involved in some way, even cursorily, and even unwittingly. Someone may have set up a meeting here; someone might have had a transaction there. It’s all very complicated. But one thing is clear: Everything is focusing far less on Michael Flynn, Jared Kushner, and the like, and far more on Manafort himself, which could be why he’s switching legal teams (link below). But, as other news also indicates, the net is also widening. Word is coming out that Trump’s personal secretary since the ‘80s -- Rhona Graff -- is now being targeted in some way for investigation (link below). At the very least, access to her is desired by the powers that be.
Related Link | Paul Manafort Switches Legal Teams: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/10/hold-manafort-switching-legal-team-as-feds-crank-up-heat-on-him-hold-241507
Related Link | Investigators Want Access to Trump’s Secretary: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trumps-longtime-secretary-scrutinized-russia-investigators/story?id=49146540
2.) The Google Diversity Memo
This is a huge story. Linked below, you’ll find the video I did on this (just released yesterday) that will shed a little bit of light on what’s going on. For those that are just catching up, though, a brief synopsis: A 28 year old Google employee named James Damore circulated a memo about Google’s diversity initiatives, and his issues with the company’s rather unscientific and feelings-first slant in this regard. In return for that, his memo was distributed publicly, and he was ultimately fired for what he wrote. You can read the memo itself (linked above) for more information, if you’d like. And, as I already said, you could also watch my video for a little more insight (although what I have to say on the matter is pretty much purely subjective).
What’s at play here with this Google situation is simply the next chapter in a brewing culture war that I’ve long been a player in, and many of you have been, too: Authoritarianism versus Individualism. Companies like Google are on a crusade to diversify and equalize based not on merit, or skillset, or education, or anything that will actually -- in their case -- make their code better. Instead, they want to diversify based on skin color, gender, religion, and all of the rest. What makes this so unsavory to many is that they have no interest, whatsoever, in diversifying in one key way: Politics. And that, I think, is really the woefully underreported and understated aspect to the entire Google Memo Fiasco. Silicon Valley (and many other places in the progressive/regressive west) have no room for ideas that don’t fit within their neatly defined echochamber. You'd have to be willfully lying to yourself to not see that. And it’s wrong.
Simply starting a conversation got Damore fired. You can disagree with his assertions, you could take his ideas to task, and you can even tell him he’s completely wrong. But one thing I’ll never forget about all of this, long after it’s in our collective rear view mirror, is how completely and utterly innocuous that memo actually is, and how few people, I think, even bothered to read it, instead consuming catchy and biased headlines that tell the reader what to think. I went into reading that memo thinking it was going to be this awful screed of hate. It wasn’t that at all. And that’s why I think you should all read it before drawing your own conclusions, and then follow up with the links below for some more current information, if you’d like.
Related Story | CLS on the Google Memo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9OpYhPuCvU&ab_channel=Colin%27sLastStand
Related Story | Things Are Heating Up At Google: http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/08/10/542724804/google-cancels-town-hall-after-employees-controversial-diversity-memo
1.) Brinksmanship With North Korea
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/10/world/asia/north-korea-military-options-trump.html
“I can’t underscore enough how unappealing all the military options are. This wouldn’t end well. The US would win, but it would be ugly.” That quote, from Christine Wormuth, who used to be a high-ranking Pentagon official, stuck out to me as I’ve been reading about the escalating crisis between the United States (and South Korea, Japan, and our allies) and North Korea. It seems now, more than perhaps ever (or at least in the past few decades), we’re about as close to war with North Korea as ever. And the question now is, if it happens, how does it all go down. What options are in play? How could everything escalate? And how could the powers-that-be perhaps mitigate this escalation and turn it into something peaceful and productive? Everyone’s looking for what’s being referred to as "The Least-Bad Option."
There are so many factors to why this situation could easily spiral out of control, starting with who helms both countries. Kim Jong Un is a fucking nutcase, and Donald Trump is unable to back down from anything. So this really does have the danger of being quite serious. As Trump noted (link below), the US is in place and ready to go, with a ton of rather fascinating contingency plans in play (link below) that would be awesome to nerd out over if everything wasn’t so real right now. Meanwhile, North Korea also stands ready to fight (link below), while the US and North Korea apparently keep talking through back channels (link below), and while the random place being threatened most by North Korea -- the US territory of Guam -- prepares for imminent attack (link below).
I know I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating, because this situation is serious: We’re going to be fine. North Korea cannot and will not touch American soil. That’s not the danger here. The danger is what happens to South Korea and Japan, and how they are being used as leverage to keep us at bay. As war games have shown, Seoul will be decimated if the war doesn’t end quickly, and Tokyo could be in play, too. This requires a delicate hand, which sucks, because I’d love nothing more than to watch North Korea get wiped off of the map at this point. Keep an eye on this one, friends. This situation is moving fast, it’s moving erratically, and I get the strange feeling that we could all wake up one day with shit going down. Worse yet, this could bring the US on a collision course with China (link below), which won’t look pretty, and would amount to the first superpower confrontation since 1945.
Related Story | US “Locked and Loaded,” Ready to Fight: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-missiles-china-idUSKBN1AO011?il=0
Related Story | North Korea Seems Ready to Go, Too: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4780942/Military-officials.html
Related Story | China Draws Its Own Lines: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/11/will-china-help-north-korea-241524?lo=ap_d1
Related Story | These Are America’s Military Options: http://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/10/trump-north-korea-rhetoric-military-response-241510?lo=ap_c1
Related Story | US and North Korea Keeping Back Channel Open: https://www.apnews.com/686ac7c761694b28b67793a1d8297145/APNewsBreak:-Beyond-bluster,-US,-NKorea-in-regular-contact
Related Story | Guam Prepares For Attack: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-missiles-guam-idUSKBN1AR1Z3