Open Thread - 04-16-2015

Good Morning, Everybody. What's going on in your minds today? I hope it's not something as nonsensical as what is rumbling around in mine. May I just dump this first? And then at the end I add some links to more serious articles that caught my eye.

Have you ever asked yourself this nagging question:

What is your favorite P-Word ? Yes, P-Word, not N-word, okay?

One of the things I learned from reading at the gos over the years was that you never, ever use the N-word. Multiple reasons were given. As a sensible person I could understand them well and embraced the ruling warmly, even enthusiastically.
Yes 3 Good
But then the unimaginable happened. Meaty discussions popped up in the back alleys of the gos. Of course you could use the N-word, if its used by those who feel special affiliation and favorable to all that is N. They can use it and joke along with it. Fair, I thought, they had a point, and I kinda lurked from behind the bushes and enjoyed watching the N joking around with the N-word as privileged insiders.
Mosking
By now you would have thought with all that, all things are clear and okey, dokey in N land. Ah, not so. Wishful thinking. Did they talk about the same N word I was thinking about?
Scratch one-s head
Oh horror, it dawned on me, I am affiliated to the N. Holy, Moly. "Trouble on the horizon, captain," I shouted. "I don't see nothin'", captain piped back. Deep thoughts crawled through my nerve pipes, even sliding along logic (-oh well... I know what you think...-) as I am an N in their minds, I can use the N-word as well, because... it's their logic, so I can't be wrong. No luck. Nobody liked me for my usage of the N word, despite the fact that the privileged non N-affiliated used to joke and snark around with the N-word. My wounded soul cried out in silence. Unfair!!
Aggressive
I crawled back into embryonic position longing for my mom's womb. "Mutti (that's German, heh), they don't like me. I am N affiliated and I can't even use the N-word," I sobbed. My mom had another N-word for me (don't worry it's in German and in English it translate to an f-word ... nah, not that one, the other one of course, d'uh). It kinda calmed me down. And courageously I peaked out of the womb and lurked into the world again, carefully tip-toeing around the N mess.
Ok

And then tragedy struck. I detected the p-word. OMG !.

Oh my golly, a whole bunch of them. And one of them you never, ever use. Even if you are P related or a P. Did I really understand it correctly this time around?
Help
So, here I dare to offer you all the P-words, including the one you never, ever use.
Stop
1. productivity
2. perfekt
3. psychiatric
4. paraskevidekatriaphobia Wacko
5. procrastination
6. plagiarism
7. putzhead
8. paskudnyak Diablo
9. Prostaches Bomb
10. Pustonpasnik Blum 3
11. Pishers
12. secret P-word Secret Blush Kiss 3

The trouble with the P-words is that some should never be used, especially if you are not a P and not affiliated to the P, even worse if you may be related to the N. So to me it's a huge problema! What is YOUR frigging favorite P-word?

Who is P and who is not P, that's the question. And about that secret P-word, if that is your favorite, well, I'll give you some slack, sometimes it must be a favorite, just some times. So, with that, if you got angry, lost or all p***, I leave you behind with my most favorite p-words, wishing you all a pleasant and peaceful day.
Give rose

Ok, some more serious stuff:

The US Military's Battlefield of Tomorrow
2044 or Bust: Military missions reach record levels after US inks deal to remain in Africa for decades - by Nick Turse

I can't even read this through to the end, as it makes me sick.

During an interview, an AFRICOM spokesman once expressed his worry to me that even tabulating how many deployments the command has in Africa would offer a “skewed image” of U.S. efforts. Behind closed doors, however, AFRICOM’s officers speak quite a different language. They have repeatedly asserted that the continent is an American “battlefield” and that -- make no bones about it -- they are already embroiled in an actual “war.” ...

In May 2014, the U.S. reached an agreement -- it’s called an “implementing arrangement” -- with the government of Djibouti “that secures [its] presence” in that country “through 2044.” In addition, AFRICOM officers are now talking about the possibility of building a string of surveillance outposts along the northern tier of the continent. And don’t forget how, over the past few years, U.S. staging areas, mini-bases, and airfields have popped up in the contiguous nations of Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and -- skipping Chad (where AFRICOM recently built temporary facilities for a special ops exercise) -- the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, and Ethiopia. All of this suggests that the U.S. military is digging in for the long haul in Africa.

Silent Quest 15-1 was designed as a model to demonstrate just how Washington will conduct “Special Operations-centric” coalition warfare in Africa.

Meanwhile we have German citizens joining IS as jihadist, who are invovled apparently as prison guards torturing IS hostages, Guantanamo Bay- and Boko Haram style. It's all over the German newspapers, but no English version yet and the investigations are ongoing.

We have German Asylum: Attacks on Refugee Hostels a Growing Problem.

We have a mixed-raced African-German failed gangsta-rapping jihadists threatening
Famous German rapper turned jihadist 'threatens Charlie-Hebdo-style attacks - The voice in one propaganda video is reportedly that of Dennis Cuspert, better known by his former stage name of Deso Dogg"
with
German ISIS rapper threatens his home nation with a Charlie Hebdo-like attack in music video filled with horrific footage of beheadings and executions
All stuff staged.

Oh, well, fine, that will help to increase racism against mixed-raced people in Germany. Here we go again.

I am also fed up reading and writing about it. I am not made for that stuff. Sorry for letting you down with it in the future.

PS. hmm, this looks somewhat bipolar, I guess. Try to enjoy the OT anyway. Thanks.

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gulfgal98's picture

You write so well, mimi and I love your sense of humor. Good

Now, I must wrack my brain trying to figure out the P word. Damn acronyms! Wacko I was never very good with the pesky little things which is amazing since no group of people use acronyms more than planners. I was and am constantly trying to translate the durn things. Dash 1

Edit: I got the P word. It is the worst word in politics (which is another P word). My P word is "pragmatism." Bomb

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

mimi's picture

I listed are acronyms. I hate acronyms. Never can remember what they mean. Hate to look them up. That's why I like Amy Goodman from Democracy NOW. She is very nice and never forgets to explain the meaning of an acronym, when some of her guests use them. She is my role model when it comes to interviews and research and delivery of stories.

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mimi's picture

I guess it's not easy to follow my thinking in the OT ( I guess I found it necessary to say what I wanted to say "in a round about way"). If it's unclear then just leave it behind as it is.

This is the place where you should talk about anything that comes to your mind during the day. Please don't hesitate. Thanks.

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Big Al's picture

I wrote about AFRICOM years ago, warning the Daily Kos partisans about it. But alas, to no avail.
Most people don't know diddly about it of course, not that it was established under Bush or why it
was established.
Fun fact Mimi, the HQ for AFRICOM has been (temporarily) in Stuttgart, Germany where the European Command
(EUCOM) is also headquartered. That's where I worked and who I worked for while I lived in West Germany.

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mimi's picture

Smile
If people hadn't such a deep urge and need to survive in their lives and make sure their kids do as well, there would be a different sandbpx for most of us to play in ... but what it always comes down to is ... that you have to live with the fact the Americans go everywhere in the world and tell people how they should think and behave ... and most people then are "smart" enough to ... do just that.

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link

Military officials and residents say Al Qaeda has taken control of a major airport, a seaport and an oil terminal in southern Yemen after brief clashes with troops.

The officials said Al Qaeda fighters clashed Thursday with members of one of Yemen's largest infantry brigades outside Mukalla, a city the militants overran earlier this month. The officials, speaking from Sanaa on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the press, said the leaders of the brigade fled.

The brigade is in charge of securing the coast of Mukalla, the provincial capital of Yemen's largest province, Hadramawt. After seizing the airport, the militants easily captured the sea port and oil terminal.

So how is bombing the Houthis in our best interests again?

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