This display makes me so angry I have thoughts do not like to have.

I have a concern.

A majority of the mercenaries employed by these contractors are highly trained vets.

Likewise probably the largest source of police are vets.

Specifically I am not calling out vets in general.

However, our military is the source of right wing anti-patriotic violent self-identifying and supporting motherfucking racist bullies fascist authoritarians that at this point have passed being a plague on the peace of our nation to where the USA is experiencing existential crisis.

I am for the Navy guy in Portland. He could be POTUS and CIC and USSC and AG and whatever the hell Mitch McConnell is except a fuckwit.

I am so angry at the moment.

There is this prediction to consider as well.

Navy veteran hit with baton, pepper-sprayed at Portland protest

You might find the novels of Dion Fortune entertaining for something different.

Fortune was an English occultist and wrote many non-fiction books. The non-fiction books are dry and not to my interests aside from history of occultism but found her novels compelling (first read them in 1990s).

Here are links to the novels and Amazon reviews. As one can see, the books have endured in popularity but Fortune is a lesser known author perhaps to be compared to her contemporary HP Lovecraft (and in my opinion better). Easy fast reads too.

The Sea Priestess

https://www.amazon.com/Sea-Priestess-Dion-Fortune/dp/1578632900/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Goat Foot God

https://www.amazon.com/Goat-Foot-God-Dion-Fortune/dp/0877285004/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

The Winged Bull

https://www.amazon.com/Winged-Bull-Dion-Fortune-dp-0898042216/dp/0898042216/ref=mt_other?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid=

Moon Magic

https://www.amazon.com/Moon-Magic-Dion-Fortune/dp/1578632897/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Demon Lover

https://www.amazon.com/Demon-Lover-Dion-Fortune/dp/157863492X/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

National American Indian Memorial

Interesting and forgotten piece of history.

from wiki:

The National American Indian Memorial was a proposed monument to American Indians to be erected on a bluff overlooking the Narrows, the main entrance to New York Harbor. The major part of the memorial was to be a 165-foot-tall (50 m) statue of a representative American Indian warrior atop a substantial foundation building housing a museum of native cultures, similar in scale to, but higher than, the Statue of Liberty several miles to the north. Ground was broken to begin construction in 1913 but the project was never completed and no physical trace remains today.

Location

The memorial was to be erected on the site of Fort Tompkins on Staten Island, New York, United States. Fort Tompkins, a component of the larger Fort Wadsworth, is located on a bluff high above the west side of the Narrows. It was and still is owned by the federal government. For many years Fort Wadsworth, along with Fort Hamilton on the east shore of the Narrows, provided harbor defense for New York City. Virtually all ocean-going ships destined for New York pass the site, so the monument would have been highly visible to visitors, seen well before the Statue of Liberty would come into view.

History

The project was the brainchild of Rodman Wanamaker, scion of the Wanamaker department store family, and "Doctor" Joseph Kossuth Dixon, head of the retail chain's education department. In 1909 Wanamaker proposed the privately funded memorial at a banquet in New York attended by Buffalo Bill Cody among others. On April 4, 1911, Congress adopted an Act to set aside the federal land needed for the project but did not otherwise provide for any expenses.

Sculptor Daniel Chester French and architect Thomas Hastings, both already well known at the time, came up with a general concept and sketch of the memorial, which included the statue of an Indian standing on an Aztec-like pyramid base atop an Egyptian Revival complex of museums, galleries and libraries, surrounded by a stepped plaza and formal gardens with sculptures of bison and Indians on horseback.

On a rainy Washington's Birthday in 1913, President William Howard Taft broke ground with a silver spade amidst a massive ceremony that included at least two 21-gun salutes from nearby Battery Weed and a naval gunboat. Also in attendance were 32 or 33 American Indian chiefs, including Red Hawk and Two Moons.

It was soon discovered, however, that Wanamaker was not to be the donor of the cost of the project, but rather its chief fundraiser. Very little money was actually raised, and newspapers that were originally supportive now called the project "philanthropic humbug." With the advent of World War I in 1914, enthusiasm for the unfunded project on the site of a harbor defense installation waned. A bronze plaque that marked the site of the ground-breaking was gone by the 1960s at the latest.

Recently a local Native American group called The Red Storm Drum & Dance Troupe has reached out to President Donald Trump to revive the project, suggesting one on a smaller scale (the new statue, to be erected by sculptor Gregory Perillo, would be only 25 feet tall) than originally proposed.[1] !!!!!!!!!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_American_Indian_Memorial

Novartis is the producer of Cosentyx that is advertised continuously on TV

Here is the Novartis Foundation page for patients looking for financial assistance and also the drugs Novartis makes covered under their program.

Patient Assistance Foundation Enrollment

The Novartis Patient Assistance Foundation, Inc. (NPAF) is committed to providing access to Novartis medications for those most in need. If you are experiencing financial hardship and have limited or no prescription coverage, then you may be eligible to receive Novartis medications for free.

To be eligible for NPAF assistance, you must:

Be a US resident
Meet the income requirements below
Have limited or no private or public prescription coverage
Household Size Annual Household Income Threshold

1 Person < $ 75,000
2 People < $100,000
3 People < $125,000
4 People < $150,000
>5 People Add $25,000 for each additional person

To enroll, select your medication from the list below and follow the directions provided.

Here is link and list of about 60 (lost count) drugs they market under the Novartis Foundation:

https://www.novartis.us/our-products/patient-assistance/patient-assistance-foundation-enrollment

Here is the Cosentyx web site as an example that even matches doctor to patient and medication.

https://www.cosentyx.com/ankylosing-spondylitis/index

Have little doubt that there is a PDB given to Trump about Russian bounties in Afghanistan

But bounty or not, Russian bounties do not appear to have had any impact.

Isn't this (financial support to proxies) business as usual and something the USA does as well?

That said I do not dismiss Trump ignoring intelligence and sniffing Putin's anus.

But the fatality facts are:

U.S. fatalities by month in only Afghanistan according to iCasualties.org
Year J F M A M J J A S O N D Total
2001 – – – – – – – – – 2 2 3 7
2002 10 1 9 4 1 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 30
2003 4 1 8 2 1 2 1 4 1 3 6 0 33
2004 9 2 3 1 8 4 2 3 4 5 7 1 49
2005 2 1 5 18 4 26 2 15 11 4 2 3 93
2006 1 7 7 1 11 18 9 10 6 10 7 1 88
2007 0 12 3 8 11 12 13 18 8 9 11 6 111
2008 7 1 7 5 16 28 20 22 27 16 1 3 153
2009 14 15 13 6 12 24 44 51 37 59 17 18 310
2010 30 31 24 19 34 60 65 55 42 60 53 33 496
2011 24 18 29 46 35 47 37 70 42 31 18 15 412
2012 26 10 18 34 39 29 41 39 19 17 16 13 301
2013 3 1 15 13 19 17 11 11 8 9 3 10 120
2014 7 6 0 4 4 13 3 5 5 2 3 3 54
2015 0 0 0 1 1 2 0 3 1 8 0 6 22
2016 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 3 4 1 14
2017 0 0 1 3 0 3 1 3 2 1 2 1 17
2018 1 0 0 1 0 0 2 1 2 1 5 2 15
2019 2 0 2 3 2 2 3 3 2 0 2 1 22
2020 4 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_military_casualties_in_the_War_in_Afghanistan

What I suggest is permanently for everyone.

We have moved into a post-full employment economy.

The distribution of income and wealth has become so skewed that our capitalism has become unjust and unstable.

Don't think many international trips are in the plans of most Americans in the immediate future.

Maybe if too much income you should pay more taxes?

One would think a functional thriving society able to withstand down periods is a worthy national goal.

At a time when 'full employment" is no longer necessary or even workable,

establishing a permanent livable guaranteed federal income is a good thing and there is no time like the present.

In the cases of catastrophe (war, pandemic, et al), there would not be the economic disruption we now endure (and that will get worse).

Such payments would not be socialism but rather can be phrased as well-regulated and stabilized capitalism.

What if the GOP dumps Trump (and Pence) at the GOP convention?

The GOP convention is scheduled for 8/24 to 8/27/20.

Some halfway normal candidate without perceived huge Trump ties or bull goose loony craziness is selected say Nikki Haley?

Who else could be a replacement GOP candidate?

Then the Lincoln Project (who we should not trust) pivots to the new GOP candidate and the GOP takes credit for removing Trump.

Trump steps down and is pardoned by Pence who serves out the end of the Trump POTUS but also removes himself from the 2020 ticket.

Trump is blamed for mismanaging the pandemic. The Democratic Party is blamed for everything else.

I think we should be prepared for something like a replacement for Trump happening, a fresh face to most voters.

Also these never Trump GOP ala the Lincoln Project are not pals of the Democratic Party but GOP looking to position themselves for opportunity and political survival.