Are We Already in a Cyberwar? What the Government Isn’t Saying Out Loud

When most people hear the word war, they picture bombs, tanks, and soldiers on the ground. But in 2025, war has many fronts — and one of the most active, contested, and hidden is in cyberspace. The United States and its adversaries are locked in a persistent struggle that looks a lot like war, even if officials carefully avoid the word.

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 5 Takeaways in 30 Seconds

• America is already in a continuous cyber conflict with China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea.
• Salt Typhoon, Volt Typhoon, and Iranian groups are embedded in U.S. critical infrastructure.
• Disinformation is as much a weapon as malware — and domestic politics amplify it.
• Trump’s attacks on DOJ, FBI, and the military have weakened America’s defenses from within.

The best defenses are often invisible: hardening infrastructure, disrupting adversaries upstream, and preparing for the day of crisis.

Why Washington Won’t Call It a War

• Diplomatic stakes: Declaring cyberwar could trigger treaties or escalate conflicts.
• Secrecy: Revealing full details risks exposing intelligence methods.
• Panic control: Downplaying keeps markets steady and prevents public fear.

So officials talk about threats and espionage. But the effects — compromised systems, disrupted services, disinformation — look exactly like warfare.

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A Timeline of Escalation

• 2024–2025: Salt Typhoon — Chinese hackers infiltrated telecom networks and even the U.S. Army National Guard.
• March 2025: ODNI Threat Assessment — China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea flagged as the top cyber threats to U.S. critical infrastructure.
• May 2025: Supply-Chain Espionage — Long-term campaigns stealing intellectual property and embedding malware in suppliers.
• July 2025: Iran’s Cyber Ops — Targeted utilities, transport, and defense contractors.
• August 2025: NSA Advisory — Exposed Chinese APTs targeting telecom, government, and hospitality sectors.

This isn’t an occasional hack. It’s a drumbeat of nation-state campaigns against America’s backbone.

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Disinformation as a Weapon

The fight isn’t just in servers. It’s in our feeds. Russia, China, Iran, and others amplify divisive content. At the same time, domestic actors weaponize lies to split Americans apart.

The result: chaos, mistrust, and polarization — the perfect conditions for adversaries to exploit.

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The Internal Threat: Undermining Our Own Defenses

It isn’t only foreign adversaries who make America vulnerable.

• Donald Trump’s treatment of our institutions — from the Department of Justice to the FBI, the military, and intelligence services — has actively weakened the nation’s ability to respond to cyberwar and disinformation.
• Eroding trust in institutions: By attacking the FBI, DOJ, and military leadership, Trump encouraged Americans to doubt the very people tasked with defending them.
• Disabling counterterror and counterinsurgency work: His rhetoric and decisions have hollowed out the departments built after 9/11 to track extremist threats.
• Encouraging disinformation: By labeling facts as “fake news” while promoting conspiracy outlets, he blurred the line between reality and propaganda — exactly the condition adversaries like Russia and China exploit.
• Weaponizing government against critics: His efforts to punish opponents and shield loyalists stripped away the neutrality law enforcement and intelligence depend on.

Foreign adversaries don’t have to invent ways to divide us when one of our own leaders does it for them. America cannot defend itself against external cyberwar if it tolerates internal sabotage of its defenses.

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What America Should Do (Even If We Never Hear About It)

The U.S. can’t afford to wait for a crisis. Even if the public doesn’t always see it, there are concrete steps that should be happening quietly behind the scenes:

• Harden what matters most: Require strict baseline protections for energy grids, telecom, hospitals, and water systems. No more insecure defaults.
• Shift software responsibility: Push vendors to design secure systems from the start, and fund safer coding practices like Rust and Go for critical components.
• See faster, share faster: Make incident reporting usable and rapid, with feedback loops from CISA back to victims. Expand joint hunt teams inside critical networks.
• Disrupt adversaries upstream: Take down command-and-control servers, burn botnets, and sanction front companies — without always making headlines.
• Fortify the information space: Counter disinformation with prebunking, rapid advisories, and media literacy. Treat information like infrastructure.
• Prepare for the bad day: Run drills simulating simultaneous attacks on power, water, and 911 systems, and maintain tested backups in the cloud.
• Build the bench: Grow the cyber workforce through scholarships and fast-track clearances, moving talent between government and industry.

The best cyber victories are the ones the public never sees — because the disaster never happens.

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Why It Matters

We are in a continuous, low-level cyber conflict. The signs are clear:

• State actors embedded inside our infrastructure.
• Persistent espionage campaigns.
• Readiness to disrupt utilities and transport in a crisis.
• Disinformation aimed directly at our cohesion.
• Internal political sabotage of the very defenses meant to protect us.

Call it what you want — conflict, competition, or hybrid warfare. But the truth is simple: we are already living in a cyberwar.

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What You Can Do

• Watch CISA and NSA alerts.
• Use multi-factor authentication, strong passwords, and updates.
• Verify before sharing content online — disinformation thrives on speed.

The battle is here, whether we name it or not. The sooner we acknowledge it, the stronger we’ll be.

Cheers! Sláinte! Na zdravie!

Compiled with aid of ChatGPT

The World’s Most Dangerous Countries to America and Why Venezuela Matters

When Americans think of the most dangerous countries to our national security, four names dominate the conversation. China is the strategic rival of the century, with unmatched economic scale and rapidly advancing military power. Russia remains a reckless nuclear actor, disrupting Europe and cyberspace alike. Iran destabilizes the Middle East through proxy wars and nuclear ambitions. North Korea is unpredictable, brandishing missiles and warheads as bargaining chips.

These are the top-tier threats: nations capable of projecting force across the globe and directly challenging U.S. influence.

Yet not all danger comes from global powers. Some comes from unstable neighbors whose alliances with hostile states put them right on America’s doorstep. That is where Venezuela looms larger than many realize.

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Venezuela: A Resource-Rich Crisis

Venezuela possesses the world’s largest proven oil reserves and vast deposits of gold, coltan, and diamonds. Its position on the Caribbean makes it strategically vital, with shipping routes that connect directly to U.S. trade and energy security.

But instead of prosperity, Venezuela has descended into collapse under Nicolás Maduro. The country has suffered hyperinflation, repression, and humanitarian breakdown. More than seven million people have fled, destabilizing neighbors and fueling migration toward the U.S.

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A Proxy for Adversaries

Venezuela is not simply a failed state. It is a proxy for America’s most determined rivals.

• Russia provides weapons, training, and diplomatic protection.

• China has sunk billions into oil projects and infrastructure, ensuring long-term influence.

• Iran supplies fuel and covert networks that allow Caracas to survive sanctions.

Together, these ties create a beachhead for U.S. adversaries in the Western Hemisphere — a replay of Cold War dynamics in our own backyard.

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Crime, Chaos, and Militias

Venezuela is also a hub for illicit activity. Its military is accused of running cocaine trafficking networks under the “Cartel of the Suns.” Armed groups control illegal gold mines. Maduro has empowered militias loyal only to him, creating a parallel security structure.

This is not just internal dysfunction. It spills into regional instability and directly impacts U.S. security through trafficking, migration, and organized crime.

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Flashpoints and the Hidden War

The situation is no longer theoretical. It has already turned violent.

• Earlier this year, the United States carried out a “kinetic strike” on a suspected Venezuelan-linked drug trafficking boat, killing 11. The Trump administration framed it as counternarcotics, but the scale of the action suggests more may be going on than has been admitted. Was it only a drug interdiction, or was it a signal to adversaries using Venezuela as cover? The lack of transparency raises questions about whether we are already sliding into a shadow war in the Caribbean.

• Venezuelan F-16s buzzed a U.S. destroyer in a dangerous aerial confrontation, showing Caracas is willing to escalate.

• Maduro mobilized militias and declared Venezuela on a war footing, framing U.S. actions as preparation for regime change.

These incidents hint at a wider game — one where drug interdiction may mask deeper operations against adversary influence in the hemisphere.

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Policy and the Hard Choices Ahead

Venezuela is not the most dangerous country in the world to America. That title belongs to China under Xi Jinping, whose decisions shape the only true peer competitor to the U.S. But Venezuela may be the most dangerous close to home.

Sanctions and diplomacy remain necessary tools, but they cannot stand alone. Washington must be prepared for covert measures to undermine criminal and foreign-backed networks inside Venezuela. It must also be willing to use precise kinetic actions when adversary infrastructure threatens U.S. security. The strike on the drug boat shows that this may already be happening, even if the official story downplays its true purpose. But is Trump handling this in a sane and effective way? Because he's not very good at taking in the whole picture.

In truth, America may already be in a low-grade covert conflict with Venezuela and its backers. The drug boat strike that killed eleven is not just counternarcotics; it signals that U.S. forces are willing to act decisively in contested waters. 

With Russia, China, and Iran using Caracas as a foothold, the risk is not only Venezuelan instability but an expanding shadow war in the hemisphere. The question is not whether conflict will come, but whether Washington will acknowledge it and prepare for the fight already underway.

Cheers! Sláinte! Na zdravie!

Compiled with aid of ChatGPT

Why Did North Korea Build the Wonsan‑Kalma Beach Resort"

North Korea just opened a beach resort for 20,000 people. But who will visit?

🌊 Why North Korea Built the Wonsan‑Kalma Beach Resort

1. Economic shortfall meets foreign currency hunger

• Tourism as one of few UN‑sanction‑compliant cash streams
  With most sectors crippled by sanctions on weapons and finance, tourism offers one of the limited ways North Korea can earn foreign currency legally.

• Domestic spending & elite rewards
  The resort can absorb local leisure demand and serve as a luxury reward site for regime loyalists or officials—effectively diverting money within the system while projecting prestige

2. Leadership propaganda and legacy building

• “Kim’s greatest feat” narrative
  Kim Jong‑un lauded the resort as one of the year’s greatest achievements, shifting the spotlight from military to modern infrastructure and tourism ambitions 

• Dynastic symbolism & image staging
  Kim’s wife and daughter prominently attended the inauguration—blurring lines between family image, succession messaging, and national symbolism 

3. Strategic deepening of relations with Russia

• Exclusive early access for Russian tourists
  Russian tour groups are expected to be among the first allowed guests—reflecting close bilateral ties, tourism diplomacy, and possible reciprocal aid during the Ukraine war 

• Transport links reopening
  The reopening of a passenger rail connection hints at economic cooperation and a controlled route for tourism flows from Russia

4. Prestige shock value & global ambition

• North Korea’s answer to Western beach destinations
  Branded by South Korean press as “North Korea’s Waikiki,” the resort is clearly intended to impress both foreign and domestic observers 

• Grandiose scale confirming regime power
  A decade in the making, the scale and ambition echo past prestige builds like the Ryugyong tower—intended to show resilience despite isolation 

5. Control and social engineering

• Tourism strictly managed
  North Korea tightly regulates tourism—tourists travel only via state‐approved guides and routes. This ensures no cultural infiltration but also limits appeal to serious leisure travelers 

• Prestige over actual utility
  Massive investments go into these resorts, but infrastructure, staffing, and accessibility may be insufficient to sustain 20,000 guests consistently 

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🧳 Who Might Actually Visit—and Why

Domestically: North Korean citizens (limited elite and loyalty-based access)

• Starting July 1, 2025, North Koreans are allowed to visit in theory—but usually, only approved citizens or local elites are permitted. Images show happy locals splashing in slides and pools—but this scene is tightly engineered and only within state media frameworks 

Russian tourists (limited group tours)

• The first Russian packages are scheduled around July 7, 2025, under close state supervision. Only select regions in Russia, like Primorsky Krai, are funneling in tourists.

• These visits serve propaganda and diplomatic purposes more than genuine tourism exchange.

Occasional Western or Chinese visitors (uncertain and rare)

• While North Korea has gradually eased border closures since 2023, access for Western or general Chinese tourists remains tightly restricted. Only guided tours approved through state agencies are permitted.

• There's skepticism about mass appeal: high cost, limited itinerary variability, visa restrictions, and a controlled experience dissuade most serious tourists.

💼 Non‑tourist uses

• Elite getaways for officials and propaganda events, delegation visits from allied regimes, or military cultural shows may dominate usage over genuine leisure tourism.

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⚠️ Dark Realities Behind the Glamour

1. Human rights and coerced labor concerns
   Some reports suggest the resort’s infrastructure might involve forced labor, raising moral and physical exploitation concerns.

2. Regime preservation through spectacle
   The spectacle masks systemic issues: poverty, repression, and lack of basic rights. Tourism funds may reinforce elite privilege instead of public welfare.

3. Fragile financial viability
   A resort built for tens of thousands but likely serving dozens per day (e.g. state media estimates 170 daily crowd despite 20,000 capacity) suggests unsustainable empty infrastructure 

   • If only domestic elites and a trickle of Russians visit, the payoff may be marginal relative to construction cost.

4. Geopolitical signal more than tourism ambition
   The real utility may be signaling to allies, projecting internal unity, and demonstrating development despite sanctions—but not necessarily opening to meaningful travel flows.

Also, while the resort isn’t built for Trump, its existence can:

• Reinforce his image as a "negotiator"

• Contrast his diplomacy with Biden’s hawkishness

• Echo his use of spectacle to sell success

• Boost his base’s admiration for authoritarian “efficiency”

Even propaganda in Pyongyang can ripple into Trumpworld.

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✍️ Final Thoughts

North Korea’s Wonsan‑Kalma beach resort is as much a political and propagandistic trophy as it is a tourism venture. While the resort is officially built for up to 20,000 visitors, reality suggests that:

• Domestic visits will be tightly controlled, elite‑centric, and symbolic.

• Foreign tourists are limited to sanctioned Russian groups.

• Mass tourism is unrealistic until broader liberalization occurs.

Yet every splash, every photo-op, every guided group at the beach serves multiple regime aims: currency gain, global prestige, internal propaganda, elite reinforcement, and diplomatic signaling.

The resort will likely remain more a stage for performance than a genuine beach holiday destination—for now, at least.

Compiled with aid of ChatGPT

Walkabout Thoughts #63

My thoughts, Stream of consciousness, rough and ready, while walking off long Covid and listening to podcasts…August 22, 2023, Tuesday

Weather for the day… 59° starting out, 72° when I got home overcast

Podcast Janes podcast about North Korea
Then, when that was over, I switch to Pod Save America

Short YouTube "She sold her 'tears' "

I don’t have an Instagram post today but I do have an interesting post about AI now being used to generate conspiracy theories like we needed that bullshit

https://youtube.com/shorts/KAkHn9cJnEM?feature=share

Well, we’ve had a few days of unhealthy air, from the Canadian wildfires, I believe. The first night it really hit a few nights ago I went to sleep and woke up with a high blood pressure issue, took a half of Benadryl, which didn’t seem to help so I put on a Covid mask and it seemed to make issues better, so it might be from the air. Even though I have a HEPA air cleaner going and had set it on high and put it in my bedroom doorway. Woke up with mask still on feeling fine. Today air quality is very good. what’s interesting about this is the first night it felt like my immune system was acclimating to the bad air. And it makes you wonder if this morning with the air being better, if it doesn’t take my body a bit to readjust to not having to adjust. It feels like it needs to fight off something in my immune system. Where most of my life, other than with allergies, seasonal allergies, I had something similar but since long Covid magnifies everything, or certain things, that could all be what’s going on. When I was younger, my doctor had told me the problem I had with allergies was my immune system worked too well, too quickly, too much, and immediately over attacks allergens when they would crop up through the seasons. So if I take that explanation, in long Covid, that could explain what I’m dealing with.

Getting momentarily back to the entertainment industry, in this case, the academic companion book I’ve been working on...I'm now on the Joseph Maurice Ravel biography chapter in this companion to my documentary “Pvt. Ravel‘s Bolero“. I came up with the idea of extracting Ravel's biographical information from the texts of the film, then including that in the chapter. Which means I may be done with the chapter, or it’s first draft anyway. Now I just need to move on to a couple other chapters the AI suggested I include my book. A couple more overall drafts, then I can submit it and be done with it and move onto my next project. The next project being...and I have to clean and digitize our old family 8mm films going back to the 1940s. I’m not looking forward to the process but once I get used to doing the first one or two, I’ll probably do what I always do in getting into the swing of things and end up getting through it faster than I'd expected. I expect some very good results in this after having bought a $400 Wolverine machine to digitize movie film with. I got it like a year ago when the new model came out and still haven’t used it, but I’m ready to go.

"Threat = capability + intent."

That film “Pvt. Ravel’s Bolero”, just won another festival at the Druk International Film Festival for Best Experimental Film. I never know what to submit it as. Because I think it depends on the festival whether or not it would have a better chance of winning as experimental or documentary film category. So... you take your best guess... sometimes submit both. At times I’ve won both categories of a film festival. But having founded a film festival myself with Kelly Hughes, our "Gorst Underground Film Festival" here in Bremerton, Gorst being a suburban small town right next door, I have some understanding of how film festivals work. Just like with the Oscars, or anything else, you may deserve an award but if a more popular or better film is there that year, you don’t win. And it’s sad but that’s how it is. That’s why you enter multiple festivals. And maybe submit to the same festival again next season.

Why do good people support bad people? Why do some countries support Russia or North Korea now? Why do some people support Donald Trump? When these are obviously bad agents, it would seem that we are what we do. So are you actually good? If ignorance is no excuse in breaking the law, is that really any excuse in THIS kind of thing?

Interesting morning... when I woke up with a tachycardia issue. My heart was beating really fast and that’s not good. I lied there and concentrated on relaxing and calming down, my heartbeat went down to normal. This is something I’ve never had until I first acquired Covid in early February 2020. It didn’t really start until the last time though when I acquired Covid again in March 2022.

What exactly are we gonna do about imperialist Russia and imperialist China because you know it’s going to end up with imperialist North Korea. And if they do it, they’ll be yet  others.

I’m not walking much for a while now (weeks, a month?), and so my left ankle seems to be doing much better. It’s amazing how much simply applying heat and cold, especially heat, can do. Apparently you wanna apply cold to reduce swelling and then the heat helps the circulation and enhances the healing.

Podcast: Intelligence plus verification equals information. Verification means other reliable sources. In this case to factor in intelligence from those escaping North Korea is valuable, but one has to consider their biases.

HumInt (Human Intelligence "Spies") is either what a person wants to believe, or to message to others.

Here’s the problem with much of MAGA in their beliefs. They don’t vet or triangulate their information, certainly not properly, rationally, reasonably. I should say intelligence rather than information. But there’s very little of that involved. They’re much like the Christian who supports their beliefs by pointing to the Bible, and thinks that proves itself. They point within their bubble, as examples of how correct they are. But you can’t know something from one article. You have to read several, or many. But you have to read from ones not what you think as reliable sources, but from what actually ARE reliable sources. Used to be, you can go to conservative media and use them as a reliable source to at least counter or shifting to better accuracy, with what intelligence you have. But now it’s so full of disinformation and propaganda you can’t trust it. That being said, in the field of espionage and intelligence, you can very much read lies, and therein find truth. But it's a skill, most don't have. But think they do. Confused because they know they are smart people, they just haven't bee educated or trained in what they think they know how to do. Which isn’t to say those lies/liars you read offer truth, but that one can look among the wicket of lies and see what’s real. Or not.

For instance, years ago, I read a book by someone who was head of the KGB, had retired and left Russia. Then I read a book by a Japanese intelligence officer, and then I read a book by an MI6 officer. All of them had been at a meeting years before in Hong Kong (I think it was). What was interesting was the differences in what they saw at that meeting but more so, what was reported by all three describing the same exact thing. Things they agreed happened in their disparate views and ideologies. I’ve written about that at length elsewhere. You can take all that and accept that as something that did happen, and you can take the disparities, factor in their bias and positions, and coalesce all that into a statement of possible intelligence, but more so, information.

I look forward to an AI that can take a large amount of information, analyze it and summarize it. Or maybe that’s available to the public at this time. With the amount of information I’m referring to though, it isn’t as far as I know. Maybe it is if you installed it yourself like a friend of mine did who is in a similar IT field as I was, but he’s a little younger, and still working in it and he indeed came up with some pretty amazing things. Not however, in digesting vast sums of text. Yet.

Nice walk today. NO one is on the street. It is a Tuesday morning. Overcast. It was a little cool out, but now it’s warming up. Just a touch. Cool is nice and I’ve always enjoyed a brisk hike. In the mountains or anywhere. When it gets warm, it gets too warm, too easily. Still has been weeks since I had a good walk, and beside the fact, that this first 2 miles is kicking my ass, it feels great to get out and get some exercise! Bad weather is one thing, but bad air is an entirely an other monster.

I should probably recognize the horror going on in many places due to wildfires and especially in Hawaii. I’ve vacationed there twice, decades ago. Such a beautiful place. It saddens me to see it damaged and losing so much cultural heritage so quickly. Not to mention the loss of life and those who have lost everything, personally.

And my book is still in the little free library today.

If you want a free signed copy of my book one's at Lafayette Street in West Bremerton in Washington. Can’t guarantee it’ll be there by time I get this posted but... who knows?

Seriously, you just have to look up the reviews on Amazon for “Death of Heaven“ JZ Murdock. But then it's for the more advanced intense sci fi reader.

Starting mile three. So? 2 miles down, 3 to go? Or 3 miles to go, 2 down? I'll side with whenever makes you look the most hopeful in the moment toward getting it done..

I learned to use tricks in my life of dealing with ADHD. To trick myself into doing what I want, even though I consciously know I’m doing it...it does work. Or delayed gratification in holding off on a reward. What I want to do now, wait until after I’ve done something to do it. Sounds like something you do with a child. But let’s face it. What else is our Id? Than a child?

Can you do Socratic method by yourself? Yes. Can you stare at a blank wall learning something, answering a question by talking to yourself? Yes.

"The Socratic method (also known as method of Elenchus, elenctic method, or Socratic debate) is a form of argumentative dialogue between individuals, based on asking and answering questions.

"Aristotle 's philosophy involved both inductive and deductive reasoning. Aristotle's inductive-deductive method used inductions from observations to infer general principles, deductions from those principles to check against further observations, and more cycles of induction and deduction to continue the advance of knowledge."

Moving on...why have defectors from DKRP, that is North Korea, gone from almost 3000 a year a few years ago, to now under 100? Some of that had to do with Covid. But the numbers are already decreasing before Covid.

Took a steak out of the freezer yesterday. Time for a nice lunch with some steak and vegetables and wine. I miss the days of being able to have alcohol with meal, before meal, alcohol during and then after with dessert and finally after the meal. I think I’ve only done that once, and I was surprised how buzzed you get. While it was pretty standard operating procedure for the rich in the old, and certainly in Britain.

DKRP may be going into another famine. Which may be good for humanity, but not so good for a citizens of North Korea. It will make their government more conciliatory. But to whom and for how long? We need to break the ideological back of these people. DKRP. China. North Russia. We don’t need to break them as a country per se, but we need to get them to a position of wanting to work with the rest of humanity in humane ways and not just as authoritarians stuck in the past, where those at the top are most important. That being said, the west is going to need to Rethink how we do business internationally. Which we're already doing. Some. But we need to come up with a way for earth to come together. Soon. I’m not talking about a one world government which freaks the shit out of conservatives because they do so love fetishizing paranoia, which makes them so vulnerable to people like the GOP, and foolish criminals like Trump. But let’s face it, this SOP ain’t working.

The problem with government is an inevitably for them to come to see themselves as more important than the people, all so they can “protect the people.“ Authoritarian regimes are even worse because they’re kind of designed for that. The strongman leader seems palatable to some, especially in times they feel are of great need, or where they are made to believe they are in great need anyway. Forever demonizing “the other”. Conflating and inflating issues. It’s been the Republican playbook for years now. Especially when they’re trying to break our institutions of education or build education up in a way that supports their beliefs and denies American history.

When your national history gets to a point where learning about it makes you feel really good with no downsides, as our authoritarian Republicans want to do, as is exemplified in Florida by governor DeSantis, warning sirens should Blare because that easily sounds like a fictionalized version of history, for any country in the world.

Switching podcast now to Pod Save America. They have Republican strategist and The Bulkwark's Tim Miller on to talk about this week's Republican debate which Trump won’t show up at. Tim says he knows two or three Republican donors who also listen to Pod Save America.

One thing he said, or actually didn’t say, was that he agreed with what was said to him about it, that the persuadables who vote for Trump are going with other Republican losers this time around, who will be in the debate this week.

Tim said about those running against Trump on the Republican side, they’re just burning their money.

Damn, sometimes I do miss my Harley. (just walked by a bike, not a Harley). I got rid of it because of vision issues, with the kicker being, when my pretty much shot left ankle won’t let me shift gears. So that pretty much wrapped it up and I’m not gonna get a goddamn tricycle with an engine.

Tim Miller: Trump wants to be seen as the strong guy but he’s actually weak and screws over citizens in his business life.

Ron DeSantis... a beta male cuckk extraordinaire, yes with two k’s. Always thought that right wingnut term (cuck) was stupid. Did you know... ""Cuckservative" is a pejorative formed as a portmanteau of "cuck", an abbreviation of the word "cuckold", and the political designation "conservative"^] It has become a derogatory label used by white nationalists and the alt-right in the United States to denigrate other conservatives."

I know Trump's ability to sell MAGA on anything doesn’t seem like a big deal but it’s far worse than that and he’s convinced them that white is black and black is white and to be evermore binary in their thinking, to eliminate the "other" of the two elements of binary thinking, for whichever sides with Trump. And what that has done for the more difficult MAGA types is to turn black or white into a morass of gray in the sense that it equals chaos and... chaos is the icing on the authoritarian's cake. Trump loves it, Putin loves it. It's a messy, sloppy, easy way to sow discord amidst your enemies, but also your followers. To confuse and control them. 

OK I’ve made it to 4 1/2 miles. I was gonna quit at 4 because of my left ankle but decided to give it a shot. I think last time I tried this I got half a block turned around and came home ending that day with just over 4 miles. Once I make it a half mile out, I’m guaranteed that next half mile if I ever want to return home. So at 4 1/2 miles I’m guaranteed 5 miles plus completed for the day. And I feel good, in finally getting to that 5th mile. Even if I am limping a little on my left.

Campaign finance laws. We can’t fix that? Why are Florida campaign finance laws so nonexistent? We have so much to fix in our elections and none of it is the stuff that MAGA is bothered by. Doesn't make one wonder, because what's happening is so damn obvious. Or should be. And if it's not, time to become aware, I suppose.

Maybe we just need to make political propaganda in elections illegal.

I agree with Tim about Chris Christie. He’s a likable guy but a complete asshole for what he’s done in relation to Trump. All he’s done in tearing down other candidates in the past who ran against Trump is help Trump. And he well may do this Wednesday night again. Do the work for Trump in eliminating people on the debate platform, so Trump doesn’t have to deal with them. How does that help America against the guy who caused an insurrection and fomented a coup?

Tim just invoked the name of RFK Jr, as a massive loser, who still did better than Pence in a poll recently. All of these clowns are dangerous to America and our democracy.

Interesting the Rand corporation did a study on extremism which they've been studying for a while and looked at the ebb and flow of the different types domestically and internationally and they said that the hottest extremism is on the ebb. Just as left-wing extremism and bombings and such that happened in the 60s/70s was replaced by animal and ecological terrorism, but now it's right wing extremism overtaking Islamic terrorism and domestically growing right wing violence. What we're seeing, if I understand correctly, is a diffusion from those who would've gotten into drugs, joined gangs, or been criminals who instead are joining what seems to be more coherent to them, or more legitimate. Joining a militia, seeming more legitimate to them than joining a criminal gang, or being addicted to drugs, so better...political violence.

The good thing about that diffusion is that eventually they too will dissipate to be absorbed by society, and basically go away, obviously to be replaced by...God knows... something else. Hang in there!

Cheers! Sláinte!

American Military Parades Are Redundant in Exhibiting Our Power

I wanted to know more about the concept of military parades before #realDonadlTrump got involved and found an article from Australia from 2015.

At the rate Donald Trump as president is losing ground in his self righteousness, I'm not sure how much this will remain relevant or for how long. Still it's good to know, to be aware.

Why DON'T we have dictator style military parades like in China, North Korea, Russia, etc.?

Maybe that question answers itself. We don't want to be perceived as tyrants, dictators, bullies. Donald Trump does. And so, who wants a military parade in America now? Well, DT obviously.

Military parades display for the world to see, not just one's citizen's, our weapons in a way that is impressive and exploits considerations of dominance and power.

America...doesn't need to do that. It diminishes our dominance and power in displaying it. In part why Teddy Roosevelt said, "Speak softly and CARRY (not display) a big stick." Speak with authority, while knowing you have in your arsenal the power to back it up. Minor dictators show off (including China) because they feel they need to, or to inspire their citizens because they need that.

America simply doesn't need that for any of these reasons.

According to an article in the Atlantic:

"Despite the popular image of Roosevelt as a swashbuckling uber-American, his words have, over time, been cast and recast incorrectly as an endorsement of bellicosity. In fact, the president who stormed Kettle Hill as a younger man generally preferred letting the military's mere existence speak for itself. Historian Edmund Morris writes that the night Roosevelt first gave his big-stick speech, the then-vice president's words were rather misconstrued:

"This generated such loud applause as to suggest the audience took his 'adage' as aggressive, rather than cautionary. Actually, Roosevelt was trying to say that soft-spoken (even secret) diplomacy should be the priority of a civilization, as long as hardness -- of moral resolve, of military might -- lay back of it."

That, pretty much says it all.

Donald Trump in being Trump, and in wanting a military parade, is exhibiting exactly what and who he is and using America to back up simply being a petty bully. Such as he is. And an immature actor. One with plenty of signs of being a sociopath, such as many CEOs are reported to be. Some with criminal tendencies, such as Mr. Trump certainly appears to be.

Either way, THAT is not America. Yet that sadly is some people's perception of us. Our "weight" and power and money alone, are our bully tools. To do anything bully-like is to be redundant, petty, and much less than we are, and should be.


#GOP #realDonaldTrump #POTUS #Republican #conservative

Trump vs Kim Jong Un and his North Korean Nukes

Would you stand between two gunslingers in a showdown where you can't tell, you can't be sure what they will do? Standing there between two narcissists who think they are the great one while they are unpredictable if not outright unstable?

Okay now think of Trump as POTUS on the east coast of the US and North Korea just uh, north, of South Korea. 

Even if NK can launch a nuke at the US, it's Alaska, maybe Hawaii, perhaps more so Guam, or at some point, possibly Seattle who is going to get it, not the east coast, not Trump. So effectively we also have two gunslingers where one can't even be hit. As we've seen, Trump is real brave, until he is actually in danger. Then he tends to run like a little girl. And not a beautiful one. 

Now consider... I live in Bremerton, a navy town near Seattle, just across the Puget Sound. But I've lived in the PNW all my life mostly, born in Tacoma, WA. I've grown up through the cold war, with threat of nuclear annihilation and only the apparently highly effective program and theory of MAD protecting us. Just up the road a little way from my house is Nuclear Sub Base Bangor. As a kid I lived near McChord MAC AF Base and Ft. Lewis Army Training Base, now both JBLM (Joint Base Lewis -McChord). 

1962 Soviet Nuke Strike radius, line to my elementary school then.

You can use NukeMap to detail your own home town strike. Or more quickly, here is a US Nuclear Strike map.

Washington has always been a target for nuclear missile strikes. Lot of bomb shelters around here when I was a kid and missile bases. You learn to live with it. In second grade during a nuclear attack drill when we were ordered to get under our desks, I had to ask our teacher why? She asked why I asked and I said because in a real attack the nukes blow sideways. 

She gave me a look that said, "shut up, you're scaring the other kids." It didn't make me feel any better and I saw the scared looks from the other second graders, but I shut up and did the ridiculous drill anyway. Basically it was for an attack that happened a long way off. Except, my grade school, and you can look it up, James Sales Elementary School, is about a half of a mile away. A nuke's strike diameter at that time was 

If you live elsewhere than the west coast consider this. NK is trying to build nuclear missiles on subs. The long term concern for America for many years has not even been a missile, but a briefcase nuke. Not even a full blown nuke but a dirty bomb of conventional explosives wrapped in nuclear material. 

On Nuclear Bombs vs Dirty Bombs vs Suitcase Bombs vs EMP Bombs.

A study showed that if one were delivered downtown Seattle, it could render many square blocks of the downtown district uninhabitable for many, many years. Not so much a devastating blow (other than to those citizens who died from it) but surely one economically speaking.

Feel any better now? 

No. Me either.

Maybe Trump will be to North Korea, what Richard Nixon was to China and bring them into the world.

Here's hoping. 

#Trump

North Korea's Fat Bastard Regime Whine Over Comedy Satire in, The Interview

UPDATE 12/23/2014: I'm happy to report that as of this time, the film "The Interview" will be released on Christmas day across the nation, after all. I have to wonder if this wasn't the plan after all. Sony spoke with the  White House. Did they come up with plan like this? Say you won't release it, give no time for action by North Korea (even if they could) to put a plan into motion, and then release it nearly at the last minute. I'd argue even if NK attacked, it would merely give us reason to finally pay attention to NK like we have parts of the Middle East and put an end to the pudgy little dictator's family line regime.

Can you imagine if NK fell under the Obama Administration, Republicans' and Conservatives' heads would explode.

Is there anything more offensive that the leader or regime of a nation or group who misuses their authority or uses their powers to abuse their citizens or to invade another country? Yes, I get the irony but I see Iraq or Afghanistan as quite different than say Crimea or Chechnya. But this isn't about that.

Nor is it about one whom I've been picking on for a while, Putin. A lot recently because of Crimea, but there is a far bigger national pansy on the world stage. By the way, what IS my beef with Putin? I know his kind. His old cold war mentality, his KGB indoctrinated mind, his Soviet attitude, when Russians should be enjoying prosperity, rather there has been finger pointing away from the reality of Putin that has led to, among other things, this:

From AddictingInfo.org

So it is now sounding like Putin is becoming more conciliatory all of a sudden. I hope so. I want to see Russia become successful. And regardless of his background, if he becomes a good leader for his nation, which so far he hasn't, I could change my attitude about him. Here's hoping.

But like I said, there is another far worse, outclassing Putin and making him look like a pussycat and not just Pussy Riot fodder.

There is the hermit kingdom of North Korea and their grandson of their ridiculous God King, son to another of their fools in wool, the tiny soul of, Kim Jong Un.

Dictators and especially so called, "God Kings", don't do so well with satire. Especially when it's aimed at them. Too bad. Because I've always thought that the sign of a highly intelligent being was a thorough understanding of humor. That always made me wonder about the concept of God in general. How can He not have a sense of humor if He's so all powerful and smart?

Kim Jong Un

Anyway, the chubby kid who went to school in Europe and now runs North Korea under the behest of the military, is no God and certain not much of a king. Un's recent debacle is this Sony company hack and whining on a State level about a mere comedy film.

I mean, seriously? If you want proof that someone, some group or State is a wimpy, whinny cheesy cretin, it's whining about comedy or satire. Cracked has some interesting details about this regime.

Like the uproar over the Muslim satire of Mohammed, The Innocence of Muslims, that allegedly had to do with (shhhh I'm gonna say it...) Benghazi. (Wonder how many conservatives just had orgasms in the US reading this...pretty sure none because they wouldn't read this in the first place because I have repeatedly over the years called them out with reason and rational, two things diametrically opposed to their posturing and lies, ignoring American citizens needs of them for their sad political dreams of domination).

There is nothing wrong with satire. Get a life you little porker.

Screw him. Here's some funny, satiric or weird examples of videos about ol' Un baby:

• "Kim Jong Un narrating" his videos.and narrating his videos II.At least somebody has a sense of humor.
• Here's a Chinese video that went viral that Un hates.
• Here's five weird facts about Un
• Finally, 25 reasons NK is the most ridiculous Dictatorship ever
• And then there is this, not funny video - A North Korean's girls comments

There are also interviews done with Un's ex classmates in Switzerland where as one article indicated, "We went to great pains to interview almost everyone – classmates, others – to try to get a sense of what his character was like," Campbell said. "The general recounting of those experiences led us to believe that he was dangerous, unpredictable, prone to violence and with delusions of grandeur." Though there are other articles claiming he was a good time Charlie. Guess it depends on how you ask.

As for that Muslim video, and I've said this many times before, get over it! Maybe Muslim's can't show images of Mohammed or make fun of him, but Muslim's have no right to bother others who do. Religion is based in ridiculousness, some more than others, with the most ridiculous of all religions being the God King's as they have in North Korea. Finally, to the point....

"Kim Jong Un" as portrayed in The Interview (2014)

The Interview, a film about two guys going to North Korea to interview their leader, the fat and pompous Kim Jong Un, who like his father and grandfather is essentially a buffoon propped up by the military. In fact, that family line is possibly no more than just a mere puppet of the NK military regime.

Look, North Korea needs to be dealt with. Their people need to be freed, but the world shies away from it because of their military. Apparently, we got our asses handed to us in the Korean war and so we tread carefully around those ignoramuses. But we're rapidly approaching a time in the history of the world where enough is enough.

Punks with nuclear weapons and missiles? Seriously, we'll be dealing with them one way or another sooner or later. Better sooner, of course, timing is everything. That being said, waiting forever, most likely isn't the answer either. It's like the school yard bully. You want to put it off but eventually if you need to kick his ass or he will yours. Repeatedly. Now they are trying to bully Hollywood and Americans, especially Texans, and the world lovers of Hollywood films, simply won't have it. Not for long.

The world really doesn't need to suffer a Fat Bastard regime like NK who grossly abuses their people and forces things upon them to the point that many of them, after generations of this kind of abuse, support and wish for continuation of their ridiculous nation's leadership. Mostly because they don't know any better because of all the mind washing and ignorance, and lack of the internet. The abuse there is rampant in so many ways, God King worship not being the least of them.

The full note (initially and incorrectly thought to be from the hacker group, Anonymous, which made no sense) is from the NK State hackers, and reads:

"Warning
We will clearly show it to you at the very time and places "The Interview" be shown, including the premiere, how bitter fate those who seek fun in terror should be doomed to.
Soon all the world will see what an awful movie Sony Pictures Entertainment has made.
The world will be full of fear.
Remember the 11th of September 2001.
We recommend you to keep yourself distant from the places at that time.
(If your house is nearby, you’d better leave.)
Whatever comes in the coming days is called by the greed of Sony Pictures Entertainment.
All the world will denounce the SONY."

Homeland Security says that it has no real evidence to suggest that these threats will be carried out.

Seriously? Get a grammar dictionary. Good grief. We're supposed to fear this guys? Well yeah. They've brought down airliners in the past. They are in many ways, nuts.

Their rantings have led to this film, The Interview being pulled from screens nationwide. What better free marketing for them, right? DVD and streaming sales should go through the roof. So I'm not sure how badly I feel for them. It will just take a little longer to recoup their investment.

Kim Jong Il puppet from Team America

Well, a theater in Texas (Of all places right? But then again, who better to stand up to a punk like Un and NK?), have come up with an alternative. Rather than playing The Interview, they will be playing, Team America, the film where the actors are puppets and they make great fun of Kim Jong Un's papa, Kim Jong Il. Where's their World Police when you need them?

"I'm so ronrey" video from Team America.

UPDATE: This is just sad and pathetic. Word now is Paramount is pulling screenings of Team America and won't be releasing The Interview at the same time that it would have appeared on screens nation wide, as well as now cancelling other films that might offend our fat friend in his NK fantasy land kingdom. So sad, so pathetic, so not freedom of speech being affected by a punk minor kingdom north of the very cool South Korea.

On that thread, Nerdist, one of my favorite people \ groups (Chris Hardwick and friends) and in this case, the awesome Jessica Chobot reporting, who asks in the video this week, SONY: Is the response worse than the hack?

I would say, yes. Aside from their being money grubbing wimps of a bigger dimension than even the subject of the film, they are missing a bet on a few things as Jessica denotes.

From Kim Jong Il's funeral procession, who died at 69 so not so much a God

According to the article in the Hollywood Reporter about the Texas Team America screening:

"American flags and other patriotic items will be given out by theater employees, Wallace says.
The plot of Team America, co-written by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, revolves around Kim Jong Il, the father of current North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. The posters promoting the R-rated movie in 2004 included the tagline, "Putting the 'F' Back in Freedom."

One of the Kim Jong Il puppet scenes in Team America.

Some may see this caving as lame. But in my view, agreeing to not screen The Interview and instead simply put up another film that makes fun of the Kim Jongs anyway, is even better and a big poke in their lazy eyes with a hot, sharp stick to the big Fat Bastard regime of a No Knowledge leadership who seriously abuses their country's citizens, people who deserve far better than what they have been getting for decades.

Sony says they did not pull the film, but no one would distribute the film for them and they are still looking into it. The President said Sony should have talked to him first but CEO of Sony Lynton said he had talked to the White House. What will happen is still up in the air.

Journalist Fareed Zakaria has published an article about about why Sony shouldn't have caved in by way of his article in the New York Times, "Caving to North Korea on ‘The Interview’ sends the wrong message to terrorists."

Fun stuff, right? What's that? More? You ask, you shall receive....

Well played sir! But then, hermit kingdom "god king' Puppethead Pansy going up against Corporate Dweeb type pansies....meh.

Oh what the heck, you can look up your own and see what's new here.

Then there is the activist who may drop DVDs and thumb\flashdrives of The Interview by way of balloons. 

North Korea isn't what you think anymore

I just finished watching a Frontline episode titled, "Secret State of North Korea (2014). What a report!

North Korea's government's iron grip on its people is crumbing. Slowly. But it's beginning to happen, mostly because media creeping into the country. And we all know how hard it is to stop something like that, once it starts. However since like previous rulers, the current regime of Kim John Un is quite willing to indiscriminately kill people to maintain its grip, it may still survive for a long time.

Without help from outside. And there is outside help.

There is a South Korean TV show of North Korean defectors. There are people smuggling in media. It's reported there may be a million people there watching these smuggled in shows, films and radio shows available on wind up powered radios. Children of the top leaders even have seen these shows and many desire to defect.

All the current regime need do is to open up the country and give their people their freedom. If Kim Jong Un would only steal millions of dollars to guarantee he would live his life out in comfort, he could allow his country to open up to the world. He could even do it "legally". He would lose his power, but he could also live a very comfortable life until he dies. Is it ethical? No. But wouldn't it be worth it to his country for them to pay him off to give them the lives they deserve? Yes, quite so.

If he played his cards right he could end up being beloved by his people even more than his recent ancestors in giving his people their freedom. He could be viewed in the future as the new "founder" of North Korea. But he's been brainwashed himself and I don't have high hopes for this. People there believe that Kim Il-Song (Kim Jong Un's Grandfather) was much more compassionate a leader than either of his two descendants following him as North Korean leaders.

The NK people are starting to know about the world at large and actually are beginning to question their authorities. Even their authorities are questioning the authorities. Kim Jong Un has most likely been so cruel and iron-fisted because it's quite obvious to the regime they are losing control. Whenever that happens regimes tend to crack down, not realize the progression as it moves along, until finally there is a revolution, or other countries step in. Or millions may die, as in Cambodia with the Khmer Rouge where four million were lost overall.

One of the North Korean leaders who was under the previous regime and also a revisionist, and perhaps the West's best hope in positive change coming about, Jang Song Thaek, was the current leader's caretaker and guardian, and was executed recently on 12 December 2013. He was also Kim Jong Un's uncle.

The UK paper, "The Telegraph" has reported that the Kim family's former sushi chef has said that the uncle was executed over the 'pleasure brigade'. Kenji Fujimoto, a sushi chef who worked for the Kim family between 1989 and 2001, said that Jang Song Thaek was tasked with procuring young women for late dictator.

The UK newspaper also reported: “[Kim Jong Un] hates that kind of thing the most. His grandfather Kim Il Sung did similar things. His father also had quite a history with women. So having seen them, he wanted to prove that he’s different and that he would eradicate such practices,” Mr Fujimoto said.

It's questionable how wonderful a thing this is. So he may have some morals, but his own actions have made this questionable. When a rumor went around about his ex-girlfriend and a sex tape, she was among a dozen well-known North Korean performers who were executed by firing squad. 

From the Telegraph once again: "The 12 who were executed were singers, musicians or dancers with the Hyon's band, the Unhasu Orchestra or the Wanghaesan Light Music Band and were accused of making videos of themselves performing sex acts and then selling the recordings. All 12 were machine-gunned three days later, with other members of North Korea's most famous pop groups and their immediate families forced to watch. The onlookers were then sent to prison camps, victims of the regime's assumption of guilt by association, the reports stated.

On another who was executed: "Kim Chol, vice minister of the army, was executed with a mortar round in October 2012. On the explicit orders of Kim Jong-un to leave "no trace of him behind, down to his hair," according to South Korean media, Kim Chol was forced to stand on a spot that had been zeroed in for a mortar round and "obliterated.""

Kim Jong Un, is not a nice guy. But he is feeling the strain of losing control and things may only get worse. And since he's not that old, he's not that knowledgeable about being a leader. And he's failing. But before the regime falls, many more will die.

What can we do?

Others are doing their best in China and South Korea. the ex-patriots of North Korea have a definite iron in the fire in that they grew up in North Korea and still have relatives there, unless they have been imprisoned or killed already since committing a crime such as being related to a defector, which can lead to your family also being imprisoned up to three generations. In one example, family were rounded up who didn't even know they were related to a "state criminal" as he was only a "9th cousin" to them, and yet, they all went to prison camps. One of these many prison camps that echoes back to the old gulag style Soviet camps days is fairly new since Kim Jong Un took over and three times the size of Washington DC.

I think it's time we helped. It's not that I don't think we already are, I just think we need to step up our game.

There is already a radio station (so no need for a "Radio Free Europe" program) , TV show and locals doing what they can to open the minds of the North Koreans by smuggling in cell phones, laptops and thumb-drives with media on them. How about if the CIA started sending in cell phones with twitter capability hidden within them. The CIA itself has been bastardized these past ten years or so since 9/11 and it's gone from an intelligence gathering and subversion organization to pretty much an active paramilitary group. Recently this was attempted to be rectified by a bill submitted in Congress to give the drone program to the Pentagon, yet the Republican Congress blocked the move. Well, they are broken too.

We do have our own problems.

Some of the things they don't have in NK is social networking like Facebook and Twitter. The latter of which was so important recently in evoking serious change in other countries like Egypt, Libya and elsewhere. Already North Koreans have found through the availability of cell phones, that even though they can only make calls internal to the country, with changes made to the SIM cards, they can call out, instantly getting information and sending it out of country. There are high punishments for this and still, some of them keep trying. When cell phone first became available in North Korea it took two years for a million people to have one, the next year it took a year for another million and it's projected next there will be another million in six months time. It's not going to stop. So let's use it.

If the CIA were to start giving local ex-patriot North Korean black marketers to smuggle into the internal North Korean black marketers, supplying them with these altered cell phones, they could then wait until after enough of them have made it into the country. Flood the country with them. They could then "leak" information on how to enable an "Easter egg" in the phones, allowing a new capability suddenly available on any of these phones so that there would be millions of North Koreans who would have access to Twitter, or something like it.

It's really something to think about. And if Twitter isn't workable, I'm sure something could be set up to make this function available in the closed off country.

The biggest weapon against the North Korean child despot and his repressive regime is information and the active coordination of its citizenry, by themselves.

Think outside the box. Make it happen.