RedSpawn

If I were you, I would check South for a pulse, and if you don't find one, call 9-1-1. South is so asleep at the wheel. For him to ignore your 1♥ overcall is unconscionable. You need to know that he has 4 spades and at least 6 hcp. He must bid 1♠. PASS doesn't quite communicate his hand's assets. South is acting zombie-like.

Mr Ace, very nice analysis. Very well done. The Qatar diplomacy slip-up and the mixed messaging from the U.S. made me dig deeper. Qatar is so geographically small, that it didn't make sense for it to become this huge terror threat all of a sudden. The narrative the media provided had cracks especially since I had learned about the petrodollar. Qatar has the 13th largest proven oil reserves in the world. And as you mentioned they have the 3rd largest natural proven gas reserves in the world as well. The $ angle makes much more sense than the "feeling" (terror) angle. My rational mind rejects the media narrative as biased. What really resonated with me is how the Qatar gulf crisis was "back page news" to the "McCarthyism" Comey/Sessions hearings in the Senate and the Scalise shooting. Yet with all of the domestic national security chaos in Washington, the Senate passed new Iran and Russia economic sanctions the day after the shooting. Fascinating priorities. jpg

http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2017/06/15/525401/Senate-passes-new-sanctions-on-Russia-Iran Enter new sanctions on Iran & Russia with an overwhelming majority vote in the Senate (98-2). How surprising. . .

That is beyond interesting. It is more cogent and logically written than any propaganda our media has put together. I have been talking about the petrodollar with respect to our debt and foreign policy, but it's hard to convince folks of the economic/financial underpinnings if the news media bombards the airwaves with nothing but conveniently timed heinous acts of terrorism. The fourth estate (media) knows that FEAR/ENTERTAINMENT can be used as a tool to keep the populace in check and hamper its ability to really understand foreign policy. Excellent read.

It is very tragic what happened to Scalise. This is a clear reminder how intolerant, divisive, and incendiary rhetoric can incite dangerous if not lethal behavior.

I have to admit, I am torn. Should I believe the American intelligence community who covertly violated our Constitutional rights and still remain in support of mass, warrantless surveillance despite the 4th Amendment or should I believe Trump who is prone to lie by commission and omission as well. I am not liking my choices here. :( See https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/fourth_amendment (under Warrant Requirement) or https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/electronic_surveillance and http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/27/us/edward-snowden-interview/index.html

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/15/us-signs-deal-to-supply-f-15-jets-to-qatar-after-trump-terror-claims Diana, we are now selling F-15 jets to the country President Trump made terror claims about in May. ??????????? Please help me understand this complicated chess game as the US' mixed messaging is confusing.

Why does it matter? Our government deficit spends to oblivion and afterwards gives excessive tax breaks to the upper crust and legal fictions (corporations). You are implicitly asking a question about financial discipline when the last two Presidents haven't shown any. They have increased the federal debt by $13.7 trillion and our current debt is $20 trillion. Also tax receipts are essentially irrelevant when we are headstrong in following monetary hegemony over world energy purchases. Our monetary hegemony backed by our military might (when necessary) makes us an indisputable and formidable international player.

I am not suggesting that your analysis is incorrect; but the hand is question is the functional equivalent of a balanced hand of working 14 HCP. A 1NT open (promising 12-14 HCP) is the most descriptive bid of the hand and partner can decide if he needs further information about a major fit with a stayman investigation, hand values permitting. If I have a choice between 1 of a suit open and a valid snapshot 1NT opening bid ---> 1NT is the more descriptive bid.

Agreed. You have a 15 point balanced hand but you need to deduct a point for four queens and jacks OR a point for the worthless j♣ trapped in doubleton. An open of 1NT as a revalued 14 points sends your partner the message loud and clear.

Beautifully said. You can open 1♠ in 1st or 2nd seat and put your stake in the ground using a valid rule of 20 rationale, but how will your partner unpack this marginal open if he has a bad 11-12? If your partner bids a forcing 2♥ it is going to be hard to apply the brakes and put the genie back in the bottle. Also, this hand is always borderline especially since intermediates are missing in action. This hand is really a 'tweener that can be dangerous in defense or an excellent dummy for partner. PASS can work wonders, but bridge is a bidder's game.

Agreed. Mostly quacks in this hand is an instant downgrade and QT♠ rates as a dubious doubleton with a worthless ♦ doubleton. Rest at part score as game is unlikely since this hand has too many defects.

There's a lot of interference and support going on with this crisis . . .you called a good one about Qatar. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/13/qatar-plan-airlift-4000-cows-maintain-milk-supplies Who airlifts 4,000 cows to isolated Qatar to maintain milk supplies? One rich businessman does! It is very interesting to watch this cat and mouse diplomacy between the U.S., Qatar, and its Gulf neighbors.

There is no conspiracy. There is a beleaguered DHS grasping for straws after it got caught violating federal law. You provided an ex post facto explanation for DHS' alleged breach in 2016. You also tried to discredit my source and I provided a more legitimate one that said the EXACT same thing word-for-word as the allegedly disreputable source. The alleged computer hacks occurred throughout 2016 and DHS reclassified state voting systems as federal infrastructure requiring its protection in 2017. I'm not understanding why you would use their 2017 reclassification of voting systems to rationalize their 2016 trespasses? That's neither logical nor legally valid. Keep in mind that DHS has supplied Georgia with two different narratives about the source of the hack. And on the 1st narrative they qualified it and said it was "subject to change" and it did. Who waffles like that? If you want me to believe the McCarthyism computer hacking Russia is doing from their back yard, then it would be wise not to overlook the shoddy job DHS is allegedly doing in our own front yard. WE SHOULD BE ALARMED BY ALL FORMS OF HACKING IN OUR VOTING SYSTEM WHETHER THEY ORIGINATE FROM RUSSIA OR FROM THE DHS! I look forward to the DHS Inspector General report since DHS' story line is dubious and conflicting.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/06/13/tsa-airlines-test-fingerprints-facial-recognition-identify-travelers/102812802/ http://www.denverpost.com/2017/06/13/tsa-fingerprints-boarding-passes-denver-international-airport/ http://www.futuretravelexperience.com/2017/06/artificial-intelligence-robotics-and-biometrics-on-jetblues-technology-watch-list/ http://www.futuretravelexperience.com/2017/06/jetblue-and-cbp-trialling-biometric-self-boarding-at-logan-international-airport/ http://www.futuretravelexperience.com/2017/06/delta-to-trial-fingerprint-recognition-technology-at-multiple-airport-touch-points/ I don't blame this one on Trump. However, this is just more of what our Big Brother surveillance state needs--our biometric data to board a plane and fly domestically. No doubt this "pilot program" will eventually become permanent and standard operating procedure. Our biometric data will eventually be shared with the Department of Homeland Security's "intelligence" database and will be used for law enforcement and surveillance activity. I don't even need to read "1984" anymore, we are already heading there. This pilot program also appears to be a "work around" enforcement plan in case all 50 states don't comply with the REAL ID Act by the end of this year. There are A LOT of red and yellow states that are in violation of the Real ID Act. Therefore, bringing this program on board as an alternative to the traveling public caught up in this compliance maelstrom could be seen as a "blessing", but I see it as a curse. See https://www.dhs.gov/real-id compliance by state. Question: I have to give up fingerprints to board a domestic flight? No, not yet. Land of the free**, home of the brave. **Freedom is void where prohibited and good for a limited time only. The State reserves the right to limit quantities and availability is subject to change without notice. Some restrictions may apply and your identification may be valid only at participating airports. <_<

Come on! You are better than this. You wrote that awesome political magazine worthy response earlier. https://www.dhs.gov/news/2017/01/06/statement-secretary-johnson-designation-election-infrastructure-critical The DHS allegedly hacked Georgia's election voting systems throughout 2016. After the Georgia Secretary of State notified DHS in November 2016 that it was in violation of "18 U.S. Code § 1030 - Fraud and related activity in connection with computers", DHS declared election systems and all related information and communications technology as "critical infrastructure" on 01/06/17. The DHS is effectively converting the state voting systems to a federal property requiring its protection. That's noble, but it's a prospective designation that doesn't provide legal cover for the allegedly illegal and unauthorized activities it perpetrated against state property (in 2016). Therefore, DHS must still adequately explain the alleged hack of the Georgia and Indiana voting systems in 2016. See https://www.wired.com/2016/09/elections-loom-officials-debate-protect-voting-hackers/ published on 09/06/16. This means at the time of the alleged DHS breach(es) in 2016 protection of the voting systems was a state-level function. I am not falling for the tricky legal maneuvers DHS is employing to try to mitigate the offense(s) that occurred in 2016. Georgia was well within its rights to decline DHS' offer of protection of its voting systems in 2016, and it did. DHS never obtained Georgia's consent to access, scan, or invade its voting system network. Thus, DHS didn't have a sound legal basis to override the Georgia Secretary of State's wishes and allegedly hack the voting system network. The same applies to the state of Indiana. However, DHS' behavior after the alleged hack is more revealing than the hack itself. It's almost Putin-esque.

Fair enough. . . Let's try WSB-TV which was created on 09/29/1948 and is the ABC news affiliate for the Atlanta region. http://www.wsbtv.com/news/georgia/georgia-secretary-of-state-says-cyberattacks-linked-back-to-dhs/475707667 Says exact same thing (cut and paste news ;) ). Oh and let's throw the State of Indiana into the ring. :rolleyes: http://dailycaller.com/2017/02/21/exclusive-obamas-feds-tried-to-hack-indianas-election-system-while-pence-was-governor/ Curiouser and curiouser. . .

No, I didn't miss it. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-12-14/georgia-confirms-homeland-security-attempted-hack-election-database-10-separate-time. With respect to DHS responses: The DHS said the interim answer they supplied is "subject to change" which is doublespeak. This dubious answer is part of the reason the Georgia Secretary of State didn't buy their 2nd explanation and asked President-Elect Trump to further investigate this matter. The Inspector General (IG) of DHS was hauled into the fray in January 2017. The IG needed to add credibility to a national security matter where DHS is the alleged perpetrator who is doing an awful job of investigating itself. The DHS IG has not released the results of his investigation. Maybe his report will provide a definitive answer since the DHS supplied conflicting narratives about the source of the hack. Curiouser and curiouser. . .

Fair enough. Bush increased the federal debt by $5.8 TRILLION and Obama increased the debt by $7.9 TRILLION. That means their budget spending priorities exceeded anticipated revenues by a total of $13.7 trillion! Our current debt is $20 TRILLION. See http://www.usdebtclock.org/ $13.7 TRILLION in deficit spending is the functional equivalent of winning a $1,000,000 lottery --- 13,700,000 separate times! Please re-read the accuracy of that statement. There is no permanent place in this world for ugly mathematics. It is unconscionable for both Presidents to blame Congressional gridlock, mandatory entitlement spending, and extended war campaigns as excuses for not getting our financial house in better shape. As long as world oil purchases are denominated in US$ and we are the world's reserve currency, we are okay. However, if and when that economic reality changes...there is no amount of beautiful calculus to safely unwind the amount of leveraged debt we have. Trump will fare no better but he will likely be demonized for our $20 trillion debt because let's face it, he is so damn arrogant, mercurial, and unlikeable. http://www.heritage.org/sites/default/files/~/media/infographics/2015/08/sr171/sr-rise-of-renminbi-chart-3.jpg

Let's dig deeper.... http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/309530-state-of-georgia-allegedly-accusing-homeland-security-of-attempted-hack https://www.trofire.com/2016/12/12/georgia-official-says-homeland-security-tried-hack-states-voter-database Should this story have gained traction? If not, please explain why we should overlook the unauthorized Department of Homeland Security (DHS) hack of the Georgia voter database but pay attention to Russia's? In my crazy world, BOTH of these are very alarming and are too similar in nature to be dismissed as merely coincidental. And we should have an official bona fide answer from the DHS on this matter by now. We are in month seven of the alleged breach. The last I heard was that the DHS Inspector General was investigating this matter, but I haven't heard of any updates.

There is no benefit of hindsight. Almost all of the events in the bullets I mentioned occurred before the end of July 1998--before the collapse and before the IMF sent the $4.8 billion wire. The information was there but the Clinton administration chose to ignore it--even the damaging information from Russia's own Inspector General on 06/04/98. That is a month before the IMF sent the money. IMF and others such as the World Bank didn't want to write off these highly impaired loans. It would be a politically unpopular position to declare default so they chose to ignore the economic fundamentals of the situation and give the "dope addict" his "fix". Clinton chose to believe the sweet nothings that Yeltsin whispered in his ear more than the objections of the Inspector General auditing the Russian Federation's accounting books. That's rich! All things considered, the Clinton administration put the financial and political interests of a corrupt failing Russia ahead of the public's interest to protect tax funded bailout money from imprudent and highly speculative investments. He rolled the political dice with reckless abandon and hit snake eyes. So, we lose $4.8 billion which is only the functional equivalent of winning a $1,000,000 lottery 4,800 separate times. Chump change, right?

Fascinating. So is this the unavoidable collateral damage of lobbying? I don't think our judicial system will adequately address this matter since it is difficult to incarcerate a legal fiction for criminal behavior. Also, corporations are usually prepared for fines, penalties, and legal damages arising from civil suits since their accounting procedures require that they review and adjust accounting reserves (contingency funds) for pending litigation.

For the President to save the Russian economy from collapse, he needs to be confident that the $4.8 billion loan will be used for its intended purposes. Since the Russian Inspector General has concluded that the internal control structure in the Russian Federation is rife with corruption, price manipulation, and dare I say fraud, why would the IMF assume that the Russian leaders will use the $4.8 billion for its intended purposes? Yeltsin's assurances are inadequate since the accounting and budgeting process is out of control. The IMF should not wire money to the Russian Federation until it can conduct a full due diligence on the concerns the Inspector General highlighted. The Clinton administration has a higher fiduciary duty to the American public and therefore must protect and safeguard tax payer funded bailout money from unnecessary loss and waste. It can worry about saving face on the pending Russian default later. This is called putting PRINCIPLES before POLITICS.

How in the world is Qatar hiring Former Attorney General John Aschcroft to serve as Arbitrator for the Gulf crisis between President Trump and its Arab neighbors? See http://journaldumaghreb.com/2017/06/12/united-states-and-russian-federation-call-for-dialogue-over/ http://journaldumaghreb.com/2017/06/12/qatar-slams-saudi-allies-terrorism-list-as-baseless/ And the Gulf partners want to curb Al-Jazeera's freedom of the press rights since it tries to present a balanced view on issues. Wow! It just gets curiouser and curiouser.

http://www.salon.com/2017/06/12/two-states-to-sue-donald-trump-over-unprecedented-constitutional-violations/ Well the state Attorney Generals are trying to sue Trump for violation of the Emoluments clause since the sitting Attorney General (Sessions) can't prosecute a sitting President (his boss). Oh so messy!