New this week, America has a new superhero. A Washington career politician becomes the soul reaver of America. And, Elon Musk has just been hired by the Pentagon to build missile-tracking satellites for the US Space Development Agency (SDA). Oh, and in other news, Pope Francis has joined billionaire Warren Buffett in blaming inequality on the market instead of a diabolical plan by the elites.
The scene, take one: President Donald Trump emerges from Marine One as if he’s escaped an ISIS prison camp after assisting Navy Seals in his rescue. He ascends the stairs to the seat of American power, snatches the mask from his face, and waves triumphantly to cameras. Later, the narcissist in chief Tweets to his followers proclaiming himself an invincible hero of the war on COVID-19. I must take note here, that the coronavirus has killed more Americans than the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Spanish American War, World War I, the Korean War, Vietnam, the War in Afghanistan, and the Iraq War combined. And it’s fair to say that the cavalier attitude of leaders like Mr. Trump, has caused more death than was necessary. I guess this is how superheroes are made.
On the Democratic Party side of the nightmare we are living, Senator Joe Biden is now accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of “not having a soul”. The UK’s Daily Express story on this reflects on Biden’s comments made when President Putin was Prime Minister of Russia, but the allegations that the Kremlin favors Trump in this election are current. Somehow, in some distorted alternative reality, the world is being led to believe that if Biden wins the election he will try to “punish Putin” for imaginary Russian aggression and election meddling. LIberal experts are saying Biden would put in place “a much more principled and coherent strategy for containing Russia’s aggression.” And we are supposed to forget that Joe Biden’s son Hunter sought billions in Ukraine after Washington tried to push NATO down Putin’s and Russia’s throat there? A little research on Joe Biden’s bouncing boy (US Senate Ukraine report) reveals that he’s been taking money from anybody offering it by capitalizing on his father’s role in government. I’ve no space here to get into Ukraine usurper Petro Poroshenko, the illegal dealings of Hunter Biden’s pal, Ukraine oligarch Mykola Zlochevsky (who has disappeared) or the rest of the Euromaidan messiness. What I will leave off with is the fact that if Joe Biden has a soul, it is as black as the ace of spades.
Elon Musk just inked a lucrative deal with the Pentagon to build missile-tracking satellites for the DoD. In a move Musk says he hopes will generate enough revenue to help fund SpaceX’s interplanetary goals, the legendary innovator who created Tesla cars will now tap the public treasury to fund his outer space dreams. According to this news, SpaceX will use its Starlink assembly plant in Redmond, Washington, to build four satellites fitted with wide-angle infrared missile-tracking sensors. Starlink, which could be compared to the horrific sci-fi movie version called “Skynet” – from the Arnold Schwarzenegger hit Terminator, already has almost 500 satellites orbiting Earth. Your guess is as good as mine as to whether or not the Pentagon has more up its sleeve than missile sensing capabilities. I’m thinking of global cyber and electronic warfare capabilities.
Finally, when I read that the Pope and one of the world’s evil billionaires agree on what to do about social and financial inequality, a foghorn of an alarm signal went off in my head. The pontiff wrote a letter to the Catholic Church’s bishops recently saying “magic theories” like trickle-down economics wouldn’t solve all society’s problems. Meanwhile, Buffett told the media; “It isn’t some diabolical plot or anything. It’s because of the market system.” My question is, “Why did the billionaire feel the need to say that?” The letter to the bishops entitled “Fratelli Tutti” blames unbridled capitalism for the world’s ills. Does this mean something else is on the horizon? Is the COVID-19 pandemic the catalyst for a switchover? Buffett suggested earlier this year that the government is going to have to step in to “create” some new economic reality.
At the end of every news cycle these days, I am left wondering when the “big hit” will come. When will the announcement arrive that the big “switcheroo” has taken place? Trump the “invincible hero” may be the final test to see if humanity will fall for it. Or, future President Joe Biden (have we ever had a “Joe” as president?) may that test, a litmus to see whether or not America has gone stark raving mad. Then again, Elon Musk’s new “Skynet” could be the light switch that just snaps it all up, the freedom, the idealism, and the future we were all taught to wish for? And if none of that happens, or if all of it does, we will probably see uniformity and cohesiveness between the Vatican and Wall Street! Be honest now, would any of it surprise you at this point?
No, I didn’t think so.
Phil Butler, is a policy investigator and analyst, a political scientist and expert on Eastern Europe, he’s an author of the recent bestseller “Putin’s Praetorians” and other books. He writes exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook.”
