Six Unrelated Thoughts to Share
First, the Conspiracies
We live in an era of unbridled conspiracy theories. Fanned by alienation, fed and spread by social media, they are like barnacles on the ship of society. They make it ever harder to unite as a people or to find common ground, even in finding truth.
But hey, it seems everyone has one and they have fun with them, so today – my turn. Here are three conspiracy theories that occur to me as entirely logical and at least somewhat likely. See what you think. I know, this is tame stuff as conspiracy theories go, but I am a novice at this. Hopefully, I will not get any better at it.
Conspiracy Number 1
The Leak of Classified Information on the war in Ukraine was Russian Orchestrated
We are slowly – painfully – finding out the intelligence leak by the young airman is deeper and ran longer/wider than originally thought. There is a ton of damaging information in there, and some inaccuracies.
What if the Russians picked up on the early releases, doctored some of it, and had something to do with it being widely discovered? There is a lot of data showing how bad the Russian forces perform, but they might be willing to accept that (since everyone already knows this) in the tradeoff of making our allies angry and distrustful of sharing intelligence with us.
Could be the case. In any case, the guy who did this deserves serious prison time and, once again, we find our classification system is full of security holes. Unlikely we could ever fix it all, but this level of shoddiness should be unacceptable to everyone.
Conspiracy Number 2
The Threat of US Default on its Debt is Chinese Led
There is a genuine risk that we will default on our national debt. Hope springs eternal that common sense and a dash of responsibility (talking to you, “Speaker” McCarthy) will come through, but it may well not. The implications for the country and for the global economy are massive. So, one wonders who wins in all this.
The Republican extremists win after a fashion, since several of them really would like to see government fail and chaos reign. But that would be a hollow victory.
In the big scheme of things, China wins the most in such an outcome. They could loose a lot of money, considering the amount of US debt they hold. But if we defaulted and the US currency was no longer globally seen as the world’s fundamental currency, China advances immeasurably toward diminishing US power and influence. Given all that, and the willingness of some in Congress to bring down the government, is it not at least possible that Chinese agents have been funding some of these folks, known by said folks or not? They certainly have a lot in common.
Conspiracy Number 3
Fox Canned Tucker Carlson Because of the Next Trail Coming Up
Not exactly a novel idea this one; it does seem likely. Carlson got fired (sweet karma, baby) in part because he more than anyone else on air cost his boss $780 million. But perhaps more importantly, there is another case coming at an even higher potential cost. Firing Carlson gives Fox some margin of progress, saying they have moved to clean up their act.
I doubt if that will really help them, but at least that guy is off the air. Hard to describe how much damage he did to this country. No doubt it is possible that another outlet will pick him up, given his following, but he now carries a reputation as an expensive risk. Hope he fades into obscurity.
And Now for Something Completely Different
No stories, just some simple observations to share.
Speaking of the Chinese
Their foreign policy is on a roll. Their Middle East peace efforts with Iran and Saudi Arabia is a smooth piece of work on several levels. It seems a war over Taiwan is slightly, but ever more likely. Congress might be making it more so. I get supporting Taiwan, but the continuing parade of high level visits seems a high provocation with minimum return for us or Taiwan.
The Courts Run Amok
Tough month for the judicial system. Judge Kacsmaryk’s decision on abortion medication sure seems like more mythology than legal reasoning. That’s not me talking – its most of the legal community. The term “embarrassing” has been bandied about. Hard to imagine even this Supreme Court would let much of this stand. But, who knows? Interesting footnotes that Kacsmaryk appears to have lied in his application for the judgeship and has a most unusual and obscure financial background. Nice if it turns out to be short duration judge. Hey, one can dream.
I was going to write about Supreme Court Justice Thomas, ethics, and the lack of leadership by Roberts on the court, but that would be a book, wouldn’t it? Difficult to imagine how the court, especially its current composition, regains its standing in our lifetime.
Bonus
Look at these spectacular views of Earth from afar from deep below in the ocean and far above from space. Damn nice little planet we have here. As the recently passed Earth Day reminds us, we should cherish it.
Bill Clontz
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