Last Call For Deadlines In Ukraine

Meanwhile in Ukraine, things aren't going really well and we've reached the point where things may actually take a major turn into open conflict in a matter of hours.

Ukraine has given pro-Russian separatists a Monday morning deadline to disarm or face a "full-scale anti-terrorist operation" by its armed forces, raising the risk of a military confrontation with Moscow.

Angered by the death of a state security officer and the wounding of two comrades near the flashpoint eastern city of Slaviansk, acting president Oleksander Turchinov gave rebels occupying state buildings until 0600 GMT to lay down their weapons.

"The National Security and Defense Council has decided to launch a full-scale anti-terrorist operation involving the armed forces of Ukraine," Turchinov said in an address to the nation.

He blamed Russia, which annexed Ukraine's Crimea region when Moscow-backed former president Viktor Yanukovich fled after months of pro-Western protests, for being behind the rash of rebellions across Russian-speaking towns in eastern Ukraine.

"We will not allow Russia to repeat the Crimean scenario in the eastern regions of Ukraine," Turchinov said.

Of course the only ones left at this point who believe that Russia will somehow not be able to repeat the Crimean scenario in eastern Ukraine is the government in Kiev.  Turchinov seems to think Putin is bluffing with those tens of thousands of massed troops on the border.  If this turns into a shooting war and that bluff is called, a whole lot of people are going to die.

Meanwhile, the "spontaneous" pro-Russian protests in half a dozen eastern Ukrainian cities continue.  And of course, Russia will have to step in and "secure the interests of the Russian minority in the region".

A NATO source told the BBC the organisation believed that "Russian forces have been involved in the seizure of some of the buildings".

And the US ambassador to the UN said the attacks on police and other buildings in eastern Ukraine had "telltale signs of Moscow's involvement".

"It's professional, co-ordinated. Nothing grass-roots about it," ambassador Samantha Power told ABC News.

"The forces are doing in each of the six or seven cities they have been active in exactly the same thing."

A senior Ukrainian intelligence official said his country's special services had evidence proving Russia's direct involvement in the events in eastern Ukraine.

"We have not only evidence, we have 18 detainees, we have career officers of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces, we have arrested agents complete with instructions, arms and explosives," Security Service head Valentyn Nalyvaychenko said in a live TV discussion programme.

Our UN ambassador is saying that of course this is all Russia's doing in order to create a pretext for Russian invasion.  The problem is, Turchinov is playing directly into that.

Monday is going to be a bad day in Ukraine.

America's Conversation On Race Is Apparently Now Over

So declares Brit Hume and George F. Will of FOX, who are tired of black people being black and just want them to be American, because as white men they're sick of hearing about racism.  And by "black people", they mean liberals.

Fox News Senior Political Analyst Brit Hume asserted on Sunday that both Obama and Holder had “benefited politically enormously from the fact that they are African-American, and the first to hold the jobs that they hold.”

“To those two men, race has been both a shield and a sword that they have used effectively to defend themselves, and to attack others,” Hume said, adding that he found the behavior “depressing.”

A Fox News viewer on Twitter complained to the panel that the president and attorney general “race bait,” and wanted to know why it was acceptable to call white people “racists.”

“Look, liberalism has a kind of Tourette’s syndrome these days,” Will opined. “Just constantly saying the word ‘racism’ and ‘racist.’”

“Liberalism hasn’t had a new idea since the 1960s — except Obamacare — and the country doesn’t like it,” he continued. “Foreign policy is a shambles, from Russia to Iran to Syria to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And the recovery is unprecedentedly bad.”

“So, what do you do? You say, ‘Anyone who criticizes us is a racist.’”

And thus the conversation about race in America is now over because if you're black, Hume and Will don't want to hear about it.  You need to be American instead and just get over it.  Besides, being black is a huge advantage, because look at all the black US Presidents and US Attorneys General we've had in America's history.

Should you still have a problem with this or the way President Obama or AG Holder have been treated, well, the statute of limitations is up and now "racist" and "racism" are meaningless terms because they don't exist.  How can they with a black president and black AG?

And with that, FOX has resolved the national conversation on race.  The rest of us who might feel the need to continue it (or apparently start it) need to shut the hell up apparently and are simply being dismissed because hey, a couple of white guys are sick of talking about it.

And on we go.

Bundy Ranch, Privilege, And Cattle

If you want to know what I mean by privilege, take a look at the Bundy Ranch incident in Nevada this weekend.

A Nevada cattle rancher appears to have won his week-long battle with the federal government over a controversial cattle roundup that had led to the arrest of several protesters.

Cliven Bundy went head to head with the Bureau of Land Management over the removal of hundreds of his cattle from federal land, where the government said they were grazing illegally.

Bundy claims his herd of roughly 900 cattle have grazed on the land along the riverbed near Bunkerville, 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas, since 1870 and threatened a "range war" against the BLM on the Bundy Ranch website after one of his sons was arrested while protesting the removal of the cattle.

"I have no contract with the United States government," Bundy said. "I was paying grazing fees for management and that's what BLM was supposed to be, land managers and they were managing my ranch out of business, so I refused to pay."

The federal government had countered that Bundy "owes the American people in excess of $1 million " in unpaid grazing fees and "refuses to abide by the law of land, despite many opportunities over the last 20 years to do so."

However, today the BLM said it would not enforce a court order to remove the cattle and was pulling out of the area.

"Based on information about conditions on the ground, and in consultation with law enforcement, we have made a decision to conclude the cattle gather because of our serious concern about the safety of employees and members of the public," BLM Director Neil Kornze said.

"We ask that all parties in the area remain peaceful and law-abiding as the Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service work to end the operation in an orderly manner," he said.

Guy grazes his herd on federal land for 20 years, doesn't pay a dime.  Feds show up to actually do something about the guy squatting on federal land for two decades, it triggers a showdown with dozens of armed militia types ready to put a few holes in some feds and start another Ruby Ridge.  Feds wisely figure this is exactly what these assholes want and leave for now.

Here's where the privilege comes in. 

Can you imagine what the reaction of America would be to a black cattle rancher grazing cattle on federal land, without paying the feds, for 20 years? Think about how that would be reported.  Cliven Bundy is considered a patriot and hero for resisting the awful mean ol' federal government, despite breaking the law for two decades plus.  If he was black, the calls from the same exact people now hailing him as a hero would be far, far different.

Furthermore,look who showed up to help Bundy.  What do you think FOX News's reaction of an armed group of black men showing up to defend that cattle rancher from the feds?  You'd be hearing about race wars and all kinds of crazy shit.  Worse, the white militia guys showing up now to defend Bundy would absolutely be on the scene hunting down the black ranchers.

It would be chaos.  And it sure wouldn't have ended peacefully, that's for damn sure.

ABC News calls Bundy a "defiant cattleman".  If he was black, he would be a "militant thug."

And then he'd be dead.