{"id":291,"date":"2018-07-12T14:31:17","date_gmt":"2018-07-12T21:31:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thebigweasel.wordpress.com\/?p=291"},"modified":"2018-07-12T14:31:17","modified_gmt":"2018-07-12T21:31:17","slug":"crunch-point","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zeppscommentaries.online\/?p=291","title":{"rendered":"Crunch Point"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-header\">\n<div class=\"entry-meta\"><span class=\"entry-author\">By <a title=\"Posts by Zepp\" href=\"http:\/\/www.zeppjamiesonfiction.com\/author\/zepptheweaselgmail-com\/\" rel=\"author\">Zepp<\/a> <\/span> <span class=\"entry-date\">on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.zeppjamiesonfiction.com\/2018\/04\/\">Monday, April 9, 2018<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p align=\"center\"><b>Crunch Point<\/b><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\">\u2018<b>Will Putin and Trump Save Us?\u2019 He Asked Sardonically<\/b><\/p>\n<p align=\"right\">By Bryan Zepp Jamieson<\/p>\n<p>Well, folks, we\u2019re at the Crunch Point, I think.<\/p>\n<p>If in the next few days, we have an electronic meltdown in which the Internet, power grid, and banking system all shut down, then it\u2019s safe to assume that Vladimir Putin just declared\u2014and probably won\u2014World War III against the United States.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, I\u2019m absolutely serious. The events of the past 48 hours have convinced me that we are right at the edge of a major war (e-W 1?), a domestic <i>coup d\u2019<\/i><i>\u00e9<\/i><i>tat<\/i>, or just a general swirling chaos that might be the worst option of the three.<\/p>\n<p>Obviously, I hope to hell I\u2019m wrong. Maybe by next week I\u2019ll be saying, \u201cWell, saner heads prevailed\u201d, or perhaps we\u2019ll still be in a period of tense crisis and we\u2019re all still waiting for the hammer to fall.<\/p>\n<p>If you haven\u2019t heard, several things occurred all at once, and that leaves me gravely concerned.<\/p>\n<p>Israel has been slaughtering Palestinian protesters along their Green Wall, and as is usually the case, Israel is deploying first-world military weaponry against people armed with rocks and knives. Israel is also believed to have conducted a bombing raid in Syria. They claim they are stopping Iranian encroachment. In the meantime, the Russian-backed Assad regime conducted a gas attack that killed at least 40 and injured dozens more, mostly women and children. The attack was so vicious, and such an egregious violation of international law, that Trump actually criticized Vladimir Putin by name for his complicity in the gas attack. This is about like Pinnochio biting Giuseppe. Trump went on to promise a strong reaction within 48 hours, and Putin, in turn, promised \u2018grave repercussions\u2019 should Trump bomb Syria.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s only two reasons Putin would piss on Trump\u2019s head like this. Either he has decided his puppet has so marginalized himself that he\u2019s of no particular use any more, or he\u2019s prepared for war with the US, and thinks he can win it. Since he can\u2019t win a conventional military war, it means he has something else in mind.<\/p>\n<p>And Netanyahu is behaving like a mad dog who has slipped his leash. He\u2019s behaving like he thinks neither of the superpowers can rein him in.<\/p>\n<p>The other crisis erupted today. The FBI raided the offices and domicile of Michael Cohen, Trump\u2019s personal lawyer, and seized his records relating to Trump and the Russians. This wasn\u2019t done by Mueller\u2019s office; according to the Guardian, \u201cStephen Ryan, a lawyer for Cohen, released a statement that said: \u2018Today the US Attorney\u2019s Office for the Southern District of New York executed a series of search warrants and seized the privileged communications between my client, Michael Cohen, and his clients.\u2019 He did not name Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s very rare for police to seize client\u2019s records from his lawyer. Usually attorney-client privilege invalidates the legal standing of any such records, making them inadmissible. The only exception is if there is <i>prima facie<\/i> evidence of conspiracy between the lawyer and client; in this case, that would be Cohen and the President of the United States. The materials seized include documents relating to Trump\u2019s relationship with the Russians, and the Stormy Daniels thing, although the latter is just a side show.<\/p>\n<p>Trump called it \u201can attack on our country in a true sense. It\u2019s an attack on what we all stand for.\u201d In effect, he has declared a state of war between the US and the FBI, and presumably the Southern District of New York.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s scary. Trump usually engages in hyperbole, and usually doesn\u2019t mean most of the shit he says anyway, but in this case his back is obviously against the wall. The offices of the probes, both at the state and federal level, have strong evidence of conspiracy involving a nation America may be at war with next week. Trump maybe be facing more than conspiracy, RICO charges, fraud and emoluments clause violations; he may be facing charges of sedition, and even treason.<\/p>\n<p>We have a dangerous cowardly sociopath who has his back against the wall, which makes him extremely dangerous.<\/p>\n<p>We have a dangerous determined sociopath who clearly thinks he has us by the balls and is ready to make his move. That makes him extremely dangerous.<\/p>\n<p>And we\u2019re caught between the two.<\/p>\n<p>We <i>may<\/i> get through this OK, but I doubt that after this week, the world will ever be the same again.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Zepp on Monday, April 9, 2018 Crunch Point \u2018Will Putin and Trump Save Us?\u2019 He Asked Sardonically By Bryan Zepp Jamieson Well, folks, we\u2019re at the Crunch Point, I think. If in the next few days, we have an electronic meltdown in which the Internet, power grid, and banking system all shut down, then &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/zeppscommentaries.online\/?p=291\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Crunch Point&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[345,346,242,347,348,349,350,351],"class_list":["post-291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-foreign-affairs","tag-cohen","tag-fbi","tag-israel","tag-mueller","tag-netanyahu","tag-putin","tag-raid","tag-trump"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Crunch Point &#183; Zepp&#039;s Commentaries<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/zeppscommentaries.online\/?p=291\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Crunch Point &#183; Zepp&#039;s Commentaries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Zepp on Monday, April 9, 2018 Crunch Point \u2018Will Putin and Trump Save Us?\u2019 He Asked Sardonically By Bryan Zepp Jamieson Well, folks, we\u2019re at the Crunch Point, I think. If in the next few days, we have an electronic meltdown in which the Internet, power grid, and banking system all shut down, then &hellip; Continue reading &quot;Crunch Point&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/zeppscommentaries.online\/?p=291\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Zepp&#039;s Commentaries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/zepp.jamieson\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-07-12T21:31:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"zeppjamieson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@zeppjamieson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@zeppjamieson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"zeppjamieson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zeppscommentaries.online\\\/?p=291#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zeppscommentaries.online\\\/?p=291\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"zeppjamieson\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zeppscommentaries.online\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3fb34fecb9ef3dcfda9cca949be94d94\"},\"headline\":\"Crunch Point\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-07-12T21:31:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zeppscommentaries.online\\\/?p=291\"},\"wordCount\":776,\"commentCount\":0,\"keywords\":[\"Cohen\",\"FBI\",\"Israel\",\"Mueller\",\"Netanyahu\",\"Putin\",\"raid\",\"Trump\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Foreign Affairs\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/zeppscommentaries.online\\\/?p=291#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zeppscommentaries.online\\\/?p=291\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zeppscommentaries.online\\\/?p=291\",\"name\":\"Crunch Point &#183; Zepp&#039;s Commentaries\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zeppscommentaries.online\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-07-12T21:31:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zeppscommentaries.online\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3fb34fecb9ef3dcfda9cca949be94d94\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zeppscommentaries.online\\\/?p=291#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/zeppscommentaries.online\\\/?p=291\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zeppscommentaries.online\\\/?p=291#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zeppscommentaries.online\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Crunch Point\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zeppscommentaries.online\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zeppscommentaries.online\\\/\",\"name\":\"Zepp&#039;s Commentaries\",\"description\":\"Opinions from a liberal\\\/leftist perspective\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zeppscommentaries.online\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/zeppscommentaries.online\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3fb34fecb9ef3dcfda9cca949be94d94\",\"name\":\"zeppjamieson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/769e3df482cc849a6cea52069f6da8fe200551b922190cafd5af414dc0713143?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/769e3df482cc849a6cea52069f6da8fe200551b922190cafd5af414dc0713143?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/769e3df482cc849a6cea52069f6da8fe200551b922190cafd5af414dc0713143?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"zeppjamieson\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Crunch Point &#183; Zepp&#039;s Commentaries","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/zeppscommentaries.online\/?p=291","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Crunch Point &#183; Zepp&#039;s Commentaries","og_description":"By Zepp on Monday, April 9, 2018 Crunch Point \u2018Will Putin and Trump Save Us?\u2019 He Asked Sardonically By Bryan Zepp Jamieson Well, folks, we\u2019re at the Crunch Point, I think. If in the next few days, we have an electronic meltdown in which the Internet, power grid, and banking system all shut down, then &hellip; Continue reading \"Crunch Point\"","og_url":"https:\/\/zeppscommentaries.online\/?p=291","og_site_name":"Zepp&#039;s Commentaries","article_publisher":"http:\/\/facebook.com\/zepp.jamieson","article_published_time":"2018-07-12T21:31:17+00:00","author":"zeppjamieson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@zeppjamieson","twitter_site":"@zeppjamieson","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"zeppjamieson","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/zeppscommentaries.online\/?p=291#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/zeppscommentaries.online\/?p=291"},"author":{"name":"zeppjamieson","@id":"https:\/\/zeppscommentaries.online\/#\/schema\/person\/3fb34fecb9ef3dcfda9cca949be94d94"},"headline":"Crunch Point","datePublished":"2018-07-12T21:31:17+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/zeppscommentaries.online\/?p=291"},"wordCount":776,"commentCount":0,"keywords":["Cohen","FBI","Israel","Mueller","Netanyahu","Putin","raid","Trump"],"articleSection":["Foreign Affairs"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/zeppscommentaries.online\/?p=291#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/zeppscommentaries.online\/?p=291","url":"https:\/\/zeppscommentaries.online\/?p=291","name":"Crunch Point &#183; Zepp&#039;s Commentaries","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/zeppscommentaries.online\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-07-12T21:31:17+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/zeppscommentaries.online\/#\/schema\/person\/3fb34fecb9ef3dcfda9cca949be94d94"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/zeppscommentaries.online\/?p=291#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/zeppscommentaries.online\/?p=291"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/zeppscommentaries.online\/?p=291#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/zeppscommentaries.online\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Crunch Point"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/zeppscommentaries.online\/#website","url":"https:\/\/zeppscommentaries.online\/","name":"Zepp&#039;s Commentaries","description":"Opinions from a liberal\/leftist perspective","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/zeppscommentaries.online\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/zeppscommentaries.online\/#\/schema\/person\/3fb34fecb9ef3dcfda9cca949be94d94","name":"zeppjamieson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/769e3df482cc849a6cea52069f6da8fe200551b922190cafd5af414dc0713143?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/769e3df482cc849a6cea52069f6da8fe200551b922190cafd5af414dc0713143?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/769e3df482cc849a6cea52069f6da8fe200551b922190cafd5af414dc0713143?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"zeppjamieson"}}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa7aNw-4H","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeppscommentaries.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeppscommentaries.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeppscommentaries.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeppscommentaries.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeppscommentaries.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/zeppscommentaries.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeppscommentaries.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeppscommentaries.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeppscommentaries.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}