“Knock-Knock, May I Come In?!

After nearly three years in office, our dear leader finally did something meaningful.  Yesterday, he announced that our military conducted a raid in Syria and killed the leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

In a normal administration, that would be something we could all hail and cheer about.  Another terrorist leader dead.  And, I give credit for this happening to the administration.  For the first time, our dear leader seems to have actually shut up and listened to his advisors and military leaders and gave the go ahead.

But, never accuse trump of letting a success get in the way of showing just how stupid he really is.  Never accuse trump of showing any normal amount of decency or solemness when making a formal announcement.

No, trump just had to blurt out anything he could think of when making his announcement.  See, instead of simply announcing the raid and the fact that al-Baghdadi was dead, he had to turn the announcement into another circus.

Then, we found out later that the very first person he called to announce the raid was none other than Putin.  Putin got the call before our own Congressional leaders.  Once again, trump has shown where his loyalties really lie.

It turns out that not only did he not call Pelosi or Schumer, he never even called McConnell to let him know about the raid until it was over.  No, but he did make sure that he notified his lap-dog Lindsey Graham.

Intelligence leaders are afraid that trump gave way too much information about the raid than he should have.  They are afraid that our enemies have learned too much about how we conduct and plan such raids.  But, this is not the first time trump has given away our secrets to our enemies.

Not many people realize this, but you may remember when he tweeted a picture of a failed Iranian missile test launch.  Or when he compromised an ally about information they gave us.

So, in normal trump fashion, in an attempt to make himself look good, he went on TV and made a complete fool of himself.  He tried to explain just how “perfect” the mission went.  Which brings us to our headline.

During his normal ramblings of stupidity, he said:  “They did a lot of shooting and blasting, even not going through the front door.  If you’re a normal person, you say knock-knock, may I come in?”  SAY WHAT???

He also explained that our soldiers entered the building through a “beautiful big hole” in order to surprise the terrorists.  I think John Oliver said it best when he asked:  “Did trump just learn how soldiers work?”

Corporal Bone Spurs showed us just how little he knows how our military works or the dangers they face in such a raid.  Those men and women who participated in this raid put their lives on the line, and he treated it like a made-for-tv show.

And, it got even better.  He described how Baghdadi ran down a tunnel with his children and were chased by a K9 member of the team before blowing himself up with a vest bomb.  Just to show he actually knows what a K9 is he said, “I call it a dog”.  Wow what genious!

He tried to give a little pat on the back to our allies, the Kurds, whom he abandoned.  He said that the Kurds “provided some information that was useful.”  Wow, what praise.  As it turn out, the Kurds gave more than “some information” and it turns out they killed Baghdadi’s top aide to boot.  Yet, trump is still determined to abandon them to the terror of the Turkish Army and the radical Arab militia who simply want to wipe them off the face of the earth.

Later in the evening, he decided to attend the World Series game.  Even with this achievement, he was not as welcomed as he thought he would be.  When he was introduced to the crowd and shown on the Jumbotron, the fans loudly booed and started a chant “lock him up”.

Additionally, there were three banners shown calling for him to be impeached.  One was a group of veterans right behind home plate with a banner saying “veterans for impeaching trump”.  Then two other “impeach trump” banners were hung from the balconies in two different places.

That is very weird behavior shown to a president who just announced a success in killing one of the most feared terrorists in the world.  Apparently, his announcement about the raid did not impress too many people.

Yesterday should have been a cause for celebration.  It should have been something that all Americans should be happy about.  And, I am sure that they are.  I know I am.  However, the normal bungling of everything trump touches took the shine off his only achievement since becoming our president.

In typical trump fashion, he was able to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.  When John Kelly said that trump should be impeached, the White House said Kelly was “intimidated by trump’s genious”.  Well, yesterday we saw just how stupid this “genious” really is.

Poor trump.  He just can’t seem to get out of the way of his own stupidity.  As he would say “SAD”.

In Just Two Short Years The “Shining City On The Hill” Has Collapsed Under The Weight Of Bigotry

Day 933.

As usual, there is a bunch of shit exploding all over Washington.  And, for the most part, most Americans are paying attention to that shit explosion but not the things that really matter.  The debacle at DHS is just a prime example of how far we have fallen as a nation.

In 1980, Ronald Reagan, the Republican Party’s hero and saint said that “America is the shining city on the hill every other nation wants to be like”.  In just two short years of this administration’s rule, that shining city has become a rust-belt type city that no one wants to be like.

The anti-immigration rage that has swept up the administration and the Republican party has tarnished that image beyond belief.  We have seen families separated at the border.  We have seen the Muslim Ban be upheld by the Supreme Court.  And, we have seen the raucous rhetoric about how we are “being invaded” by those brown people.

What we really need is to get a look at the harm that these “policies” have caused to our people.  Once in a while we hear about issues like the Yemeni woman who was refused access to the country to visit her dying son.  After lots of public outcry, she was finally able to see her son before he died.

But, there are literally thousands of people whose families have been harmed by these “policies”.  We have hundreds if not thousands of children who were separated from their parents and are still being held separated.  The Muslim Ban has had a major impact on our nation.  It has affected hundreds of U.S. citizens and their families.

These situations prove that the Courts were wrong in upholding the ban under “national security”.  This ban is nothing but a ban on Muslims simply because they are Muslims.  There is no other reason for it.  This story will shed light on that prejudiced and racist ban.

Abbas, not his real name, is an American citizen who works for the Department of Defense.  He is an Arabic instructor with the Defense Language Institute, the Defense Department’s educational arm, which provides foreign language training to various branches of the government including the Army, Navy, Air force and Marines.  Abbas is proud of the work he does for his country.

Except, thanks to his country, and even his own employer, there is a huge hole in his life.  In April of 2017, Abbas married Layla.  A Syrian woman post-graduate student.  After the ceremony, Abbas came back to the country to begin the process of requesting a visa for his wife.  The ban was not yet in full effect because it was still winding its way through the courts, so they had hope that it would be granted.

Except, it wasn’t.  Layla risked a dangerous journey from Syria to Turkey and has refugee status in Turkey.  And, two years later, she still has not received her visa to join her husband in America.

To make matters worse, After the Supreme Court upheld Trump’s travel ban last year, the government added a waiver process for families to request an exemption if they could demonstrate a proven hardship.  But critics of the ban and human rights advocates, including Samantha Power, the former U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations, called the waiver system a sham.  Not only is the waiver notoriously difficult to get, but critics say there is no actual system or clarity as to how one qualifies.

Abbas said he has reached out to his Senator, Representative, the DOD, and even the White House with no results.  They have been given no reason why his wife is being refused entry to the U.S.

This man is a U.S. Citizen.  He works for the Department of Defense in order to protect us from foreign enemies.  He is proud of his work and has never wavered in his responsibilities or duties.  Yet, just because his wife is Muslim, and so is he, she is being denied a visa to our country to join her husband to live a normal life.  There is no other reason for this denial.

Abbas said:  “I make sure that we are teaching and we are educating our service members to protect us, to protect the nation, to protect the country against any threat, and yet they say my wife is a threat.  It’s a joke.”

However, a fight is about to begin on Capitol Hill.  There is a bill being worked on to end the travel ban.  On Wednesday, Sen. Chris Coons (D-CA) and Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA) will introduce the National Origin-Based Antidiscrimination for Nonimmigrants Act.  It is also known as the No Ban Act.  This legislation would terminate trump’s travel ban and outlaw future faith-based discrimination in immigration.

In addition, the bill would require future presidents to consult with the State Department and Department of Homeland Security before implementing any similar bans.  All I can say, is it’s about time!

The Muslim Ban is just that.  It is a ban based on an individual’s religion from entering our country.  In a country where we are all supposed to be free to practice any religion we want, our current government is banning people who practice Islam from even coming here.  That is religious discrimination, and it is also unconstitutional.

Over 400 civil rights groups have signed a letter to Congress in support of the No Ban Act.  As Faharan Khera of the Muslim Advocates group said: “The Muslim ban has been one of the ugliest, most bigoted policies enacted by any president.  This bill is an opportunity for Congress to do its job and pass this law which would terminate the existing executive orders and amend the federal statutes to prevent any president from implementing any kind of discriminatory ban again.” 

Yet we know that this bill will face fierce opposition from the Republican Politburo.  They will not be happy with this bill, especially the Freedom From Poor People Caucus.  They were the driving force behind trump’s government shutdown over the Berlin Wall funding.   They absolutely hate immigrants, especially non-white, non-Christian immigrants.

In this story, we have a patriotic U.S. Citizen who works for our Department of Defense.  His work helps protect us from dangers and threats from around the world.  Neither he nor his wife has done anything wrong except get married and be Muslim.

As a result, our so-called patriotic president has determined that they have no right to live as a married couple in our (Abbas’) country and raise a family simply because she is from Syria and is a Muslim.

Yes, in two short years our dear leader has made that “shining city on the hill” that Republicans still love calling America, into a rust-belt city where factories have left and the people are suffering.  It is now a tarnished, rust filled, hate filled city that is only interested in hurting people instead of leading the free world.

It is time to stop trump and rebuild that shining city!

And, the shirts keep marching along.

Trump Announces He Will Abandon Another Ally

Day 816.  

Our dear leader has shown the world once again that the U.S. cannot be trusted as long as he is our president.  He has attacked our NATO allies instead of attacking our adversaries like Russia.  Yesterday he announced that he is going to abandon another ally.

Except, this ally has shed its blood along with ours.  They have fought alongside our soldiers in order to secure a democratic system within their territory.  They have been successful, with our support, to the point where even schools are reopening.

But this ally is being abandoned because it is considered the “enemy” by trump’s buddy Putin.  This ally has fought against the dictator of Syria for years and Putin is supporting the dictator.  So, naturally, trump is ready to leave this ally all alone in its fight for democracy and freedom.  He is pulling out all U.S. troops from Syria.

When the U.S. started putting troops into Syria to fight ISIS, the Kurds and others in the anti-Bashar coalition fought alongside our troops.  They wanted ISIS out of the region as well.  They spilled their blood helping us.  In most cases, it was these soldiers that did the actual fighting with U.S. support.

They secured an area of Syria where they could live relatively in peace.  Except, the Syrian government forces along with Putin’s help kept bombing the area because they were considered “terrorists” by the regime.

This is one area where our help actually did good.  We are hearing reports that things have quieted down and schools are actually opening again to educate the children.  But, there is a big problem.  Putin doesn’t really want our troops in Syria at all.

That was obvious when Russian soldiers attacked one of our bases in Syria about a year ago.  Putin said it wasn’t Russian soldiers but a private Russian army who attacked our base.  Yet, we asked the Russians to tell them not to attack when our troops saw them massing nearby.  The Russians refused to call off the attack.

When trump announced the pullout, he said he was pulling out of Syria because he had “defeated ISIS”.  That claim didn’t last 24 hours.  This morning he tweeted that the nations in the middle east should be the ones fighting ISIS so he was pulling out.

There are other factors involved in all of this as well.  Russia and Iran have been helping Syria fight off the rebels in the civil war.  They want to preserve the dictator in Syria.  He even said that Syria, Russia and Iran are “not happy about the U.S. leaving.”  Putin took no time to quash that idea.

Then we have Turkey involved.  Turkey has been fighting a quasi war against the Kurds for centuries.  The Kurds want their own nation.  The area where the U.S. has been helping the rebels is along the Turkish border.  And, the majority of that region is populated by Kurds.

So, Turkey is not pleased that the Kurds may have secured a part of Syria near their border.  They also have the Kurds holding a large part of Northern Iraq also along the Turkish border.

His own Defense Department said that ISIS is not “defeated”.  They say that they need to stay in Syria longer to ensure the areas already secured stay that way.  But, our dear leader, as usual, is not listening to them.

Of course the neo-cons are all up in arms over the announcement.  They are saying all kinds of bad and nasty things about this pullout.  Lindsey Graham even said this pullout was “Obama-like” referring to the withdrawal of troops from Iraq.  Except, Obama pulled back after the mutual defense treaty broke down over who would prosecute American troops in cases inside Iraq.  Obama refused to allow our troops to be prosecuted by Iraq, and Iraq basically said go home.

I am very conflicted about whether or not we should be involved in the war in Syria.  However, I am not conflicted in the idea that if our country tells someone that we “have their back” we cannot just up and leave on a whim.  That tells everyone who looks to America for help that we cannot be trusted.  We will only support them as long as political winds blow in the right direction.  Or we have a sane person in the White House.

This move has also emboldened North Korea.  They quickly announced that they will not denuclearize as long as the U.S. is “threatening” them with nuclear war.  They basically want us to pull all of our troops out of South Korea as well.  Is he going to “cut and run” there too?

Trump is losing on all fronts of foreign policy.  He has been working diligently to undermine NATO.  He is abandoning our allies all around the world.  He is running and hiding behind his “America first” theme.

Or, is it something else?  Is he running and hiding to favor curry with Putin?  Is he running and hiding because he thinks that will force internal politics to allow him to set up his own dictatorship?  Or, is he thinking he may finally get his stupid trump tower in Moscow?

Whatever his warped idea for pulling out of Syria at this time is, it is baffling and totally unexpected.  Remember, it was trump that said openly many, many times that he would “never announce troop pullouts ahead of time”.  Yet, here he goes doing exactly that.

It is estimated that we have about 2,000 troops in Syria, mostly in support of our democratic rebel friends.  We are not talking about a massive war effort.  But, the efforts we have done so far have had positive results and gained the respect of our allies in Syria.

So, now, we are going to abandon those very allies because trump says so.  There is no logic in his decision.  There is no consensus in his decision.  It is another example of trump going alone simply because he can.

Under this president we have become the laughing stock of the world.  Instead of being the leader of the free world, we have become the cowards who run away and blame everyone else.  Instead of being respected for our commitments we have become a country whose word cannot be trusted, even by our allies.

This clown who sits in the White House said he would “wipe ISIS from the face of the planet”.  Instead, he is taking his ball and going home because he can’t be trusted.

There are definite winners in this decision.  Those winners are Russia, Syria and Iran.  They are being left alone to do whatever they want to the rebels.  They use the term ISIS to define everyone who is against the regime.  And, they have already shown how merciless they will be once our protection is gone from the area.

Chalk up another “win” for Putin and another “loss” for trump.

And, the shirts keep marching along.

Usual Trick From Dear Leader – When You Screw Up – Blame The Media

Day 369.  

With things seemingly falling down around his ears, our dear leader needs someone to blame.  So, as usual, he is blaming the media.  Afterall, it was the media’s fault that he said “I don’t see why Russia would do it” when talking a press conference in Helsinki, then saying he said he meant to say “I don’t see why Russia wouldn’t do it”.

That quote and the walk back from it was all the media’s fault.  They made him do it.  They made him lose his concentration, apparently, so he made a mistake.  He claims to have had a “great meeting with Putin, but the fake news won’t cover that”.  Except, no one knows if the meeting was “great” or not because no one knows what the hell they talked about.

We have heard Russia talk about what happened, or at least their version.  We have heard them talk about the new “agreement” on military action in Syria.  They say that they and the U.S. will join forces to weed out terrorists.

Except the only people that Putin says are terrorists are every person who opposes the dictatorial rule of Syria’s ruler.  Any group who opposes him is a terrorist and now the Russians say we are going to help Russia wipe them out.  Except, no one apparently has said anything to our own military.  They have no clue what Russia is talking about.

No one else knows either, because our own government won’t even say what was discussed.  They have neither “confirmed or denied” this report from Russia.  They have kept their mouths shut on everything about Helsinki.  And, that too is apparently the media’s fault.

The lack of transparency in this administration is appalling.  We don’t know what was promised at that summit in Helsinki because the administration won’t tell us.  We don’t know which members of the cabinet are mixing work and politics because many refuse to release their schedules and when they do, they keep some meetings secret.  a.k.a. Zinke and Pruitt.

The summit with Kim from North Korea has resulted in the same thing.  Kim got what he wanted.  He was placed on the world stage standing next to our dear leader, and he had to do nothing for it.  He still has his nukes and he has no plans to give them up.  Every time someone mentions that, there is another condition from Kim before he will even consider it.

As usual, the “great negotiator” walked away from that summit with nothing.  He walked away, killing our joint exercises with South Korea and got nothing in return.  They were supposed to return the remains of missing Americans from the war there.  Then, they didn’t show up for the meeting to discuss how that would happen.  And, what did the great negotiator do?  Nothing.  I guess that is the media’s fault as well.

Our dear leader placed tariffs on billions of dollars of Chinese imports.  China retaliated against American Farmers.  Now, the Midwest is struggling because the price of their crops is decreasing because they don’t have the Chinese market anymore.

What’s worse, is that this area of the country helped put our dear leader in office on the promise that he would “save” them.  Then he turns around and “kills” them.  I guess death is a form of saving if you want to take that view.  And, that is the media’s fault as well.  They have the audacity to report on the struggling farmers because of our dear leader’s actions.

Things have gotten so bad for dear leader that even his government propaganda arm, Fox News, is split on what to say about him and his actions.  About the only one who is fully supporting everything he does is Hannity.  But, that is to be expected since he looks on himself as the Josef Goebbels for dear leader.

Now, after a week of “walk backs” about what he said and what he meant at Helsinki, the truth comes out.  He is back to “denying” or “doubting” the involvement of Russia in the election meddling.  He is openly giving our intelligence community the middle finger again.

But, as usual, the walk backs and the walk backs from the walk backs are all the fault of the media.  Let’s be honest.  If that damn free press didn’t actually report on what was going on, no one would know or care.  Therefore, it is all their fault for our dear leader looking like the idiot he is.

And, you know it is all fake news because they are not reporting on all of the actions the Republican Politburo in Congress is doing to slow things down and keep a lid on trump.  Oh yeah, they aren’t doing anything are they?

We have a president who is giving away the farm to the Chinese, literally.  Who is giving away the farm to North Korea.  Who is giving away the farm to Russia.  And, the GOP is letting him get away with it.

Of course, it isn’t their fault.  It isn’t dear leader’s fault.  No, it is the fault of the media because they dare to print what is happening.

The real problem is that about 30 percent of the American people are actually buying into this shit.  Loosing the family farm because of the tariffs?  Well, that is the media’s fault not dear leader’s.  If they hadn’t reported the tariffs in the first place, we wouldn’t have known about them.

According to our dear leader Russia is not our adversary.  North Korea is not our adversary.  Europe is our adversary.  Free democracies across the world are our adversary.  But, the biggest threat to the trump way of governance is the “free press”.  They are the real “enemy” who must be crushed.  How else can you become a dictator?

And, the shirts keep marching along.

 

Another First For Trump – The Most Un-American President In History!!!

Day 633.  

Many of us have been trying to convince Americans that our president is not in favor of America.  He wants an authoritarian government with him calling all of the shots.  He has used hate and bigotry to rile a segment of our society and to sow fear among the rest of us.  Well, if you love our country, even if you like trump, it is now time to really be afraid.

Our dear leader attended three conferences or meetings this week in Europe.  The first was the NATO summit.  The second was a visit to England.  The third was his summit with Putin.  At all three of these events, our dear leader trashed our allies, insulted the Prime Minster of our biggest ally in England, and French Kissed the Russian murderous thug.

His behavior was atrocious at best.  But, it went even further yesterday with at shameful display of total love and dare I say “loyalty” for Putin.  He acted like a spoiled brat crawling around like a dog waiting for his father to pat his head.  It was disgusting.

The last three administrations tried to “reset” our relations with Russia.  Those actions haven’t worked.  Our relations with Russia started going down the toilet in 2008.  That was the year Putin invaded Georgia.  President Bush placed sanctions on Russia for its actions.

Since then, Putin has invaded the Ukraine in order to annex the Crimea from Ukraine for Russia.  His troops shot down a commercial jet killing everyone on board.  He ordered the meddling of our 2016 Presidential elections and elections across Europe.  Finally, they used a deadly nerve agent in England on four people killing at least one of them.

That is why our relations with Russia are at the lowest its been since the Cold War.  But, not according to our dear leader.  He refused to even mention any of these actions by his daddy, and he actually blamed the U.S. for the poor relations.  He said: “I hold both countries responsible.  I think that the U.S. has been foolish.  I think we have all been foolish.”

During the presser, he was asked about the meddling and his own intelligence agencies telling him it was Russia who did the meddling and that Putin says he didn’t.  “Who do you believe?”  His answer was that he believed Putin over his own intelligence agencies.

Then, Putin decided to show who was the real boss in this scenario.  He “offered” to allow Mueller team members to “sit in” on questions that the 12 indicted members of his GRU would be asked by “his” police.  BUT, in exchange for that, he demanded that his police be allowed to sit in on questioning in America concerning the investigation.

Well, trump thought that was just a wonderful suggestion.  He declared:  “What he did is an incredible offer.  He offered to have the people working on the case come and work with their investigators with respect to the 12 people.  I think that’s an incredible offer.”  That would be like asking a burglar to help the cops investigate the burglary he is accused of doing.

Maybe John Weaver, who in 2016 ran Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s bid for the GOP Presidential nomination said it best. “Clearly, Donald Trump is so beholden to Russia and Putin that he has abdicated American authority on the world stage to a murderous thug.  It’s the most shameful day for American foreign policy since the end of World War II.”

Then, we found out yesterday that the day before, One Maria Betina was arrested acting as an unregistered Russian Agent acting on behalf of the Russian government.  This was not part of the Mueller operations.  She used her “contacts” to gain access to a “political party harsh to Russia and favorable to gun freedoms”.  That party is non other than the Republican Party.  And, one of the biggest threats was her wanting to “open back channel communications with that party and the Russian Government”.

Who were her contacts in America?  Well, for one, it was the NRA.  She was financed by a Putin associate and the head of the Russian Central Bank.  And, according to the arrest papers, she was helped by an American.  Can you say collusion?

We will get to that story another day.  But, it clearly shows that all of this is NOT a “witch hunt” as dear leader wants you to believe.  It is an open attack against our country, our way of life, and our very democracy.  And, in my opinion, our president is abetting in that crime.

It is now up to the Politburo to decide if it will be a real Congress or if it will continue to be a Politburo.  Republicans in Congress, at least some of them, have said nasty things about yesterday’s presser.  But, not one of them have said anything about what they plan to do about it.  Not one of them have suggested any action that would add to punishment measures against Russia for their meddling.

For example, Jeff Flake held up judicial nominations on the Senate floor over tariffs.  That is right, he wanted a non-binding vote on the tariffs and was willing to hold up all judicial nominations until he got it.

Yesterday, he was asked point-blank if he would consider doing the same thing over the Russia meddling in our elections and the 12 indictments handed down on Friday.  At first he refused to answer the question.  Then, he said no.  He would not hold up nominations in the name of “protecting our country”, only tariffs.

Our dear leader stood next to a murderous thug yesterday and told the entire world that he believed Putin over his own intelligence services.  He told the entire world that he is the puppet of Putin.

But, of course, his own Politburo won’t challenge him.  His own Politburo won’t dare say too much against him.  They are just as much the cowards that he is.  Or, they are in favor of destroying our democracy in favor of an autocracy based on Russia’s.

Both, McConnell and Ryan wimped out again.  Only John McCain has harsh words for the president.  His criticism was actually blistering.  But then, McCain is a true patriot not one of those armchair patriots only interested in personal power.  There are a lot of things about McCain’s policies that I don’t like, but I have never questioned his love of country over party.  He showed that courage again yesterday.

Unfortunately, John is only one of 51 members of the Senate Politburo.  He cannot stop what is going on alone.  And, when you look at the House, the Politburo is even worse.  To show their cowardice, or rather approval of trump’s actions, one member of the House said this:  “If I were him, I would have challenged him a little more”.

Wow, what courage!  What a way to protect our country!  Why didn’t I name him?  Well, he only agreed to say something if he was kept “anonymous”.  He is also known to align himself with the Freedom From Poor People Caucus which is very pro-trump.

The other problem is that dear leader met with Putin for over 2 hours alone.  There were no aides in the room.  There were no advisors in the room.  Only two translators.  We will never know what those two talked about.  We will never know what trump promised his daddy.  We will never know if “daddy” gave trump any orders on how to move forward in destroying our country.

As one headline put it, “Forced To Choose Between Putin And His Own Government, Trump Chose Putin”.  I guess that is about the best way to put it.  We now have a president who is the most anti-American president in our history.  He has decided that Putin’s form of government is what he wants here, and he seems very willing to support Putin to get his help in creating it.

America, it is time to begin to become really afraid.  Everything we have with our freedoms and liberties are on the line right now.  And, our dear leader has shown us that he wants to be “like Vlad” and not our president.  He has shown us and the world that he favors “Vlad’s” way of doing thing over our democracy and our rule of law.

For the first time in our history, we have a president who is openly and willingly supporting a murderous thug.  We have a president who has broken his oath of office and has turned his back on America.  We have a president who is uh-American!  THAT is the truth of it all.

And, the shirts keep marching along.

 

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After The New Indictments – We Get To Watch Dear Leader Kiss Putin’s Ass – Again

Day 632.  

Today, our dear leader will meet with his murderous hero Vladimir Putin.  He will have a nice sit down with him in private with only translators.  No notes will be taken, and no advisers will be allowed in the room.  What could go wrong?

There has been a lot of outcry about the meeting in light of the recent indictments of 12 Russian agents for hacking into the DNC, Hillary Clinton emails, and even state election boards.  The indictments show that as many at 500,000 people in Illinois may have had their personal information stolen in an attack on the Illinois Election computers.

The agents all work for the GRU.  The GRU is the Russian Military Intelligence Service.  Therefore, there is no way that the GRU would carry out such activity if Putin did not know about it.  Yet, our dear leader wants to ignore all of that.  His hero said he “didn’t do it and I believe him”.

The one thing about the Mueller investigation that no one can argue is that it has maintained its secrecy.  There have been no leaks from the team.  There have been no “major announcements” either.  Everything we have learned from the investigation team is from the court papers filed with indictments.  Or, it has come from witnesses who have already testified.

What we do know so far is that a total of 35 indictments have been issued by Mueller and his team.  We know that at least 5 people have already pleaded guilty to felonies.  We know that at least 26 Russian nationals and 3 Russian companies have all been indicted as a result of this investigation.

We also know that a man in California, a London-based lawyer and 4 former trump campaign officials have all been indicted so far.  Three of the four former trump campaign officials have already pleaded guilty and the London-based lawyer pleaded guilty and is currently in jail.

I found it amazing that what the White House said after the latest rounds of indictments.  They went into sudden “defense mode” without even being asked to explain the indictments.  As soon as the indictments were issued, the White House put out a statement that basically said, “there is nothing in the indictment that show anyone in the trump campaign knowingly was involved.”

Keep that in mind for a while.  The indictment was very sweeping in it accusations, and it was very interesting in the names of people not included.  For example, the indictment specifically said that a candidate running for Congress asked for “dirt” from the Russians on the opponent.  We don’t know who that is, but it is very damning.

It also talks about the Russians having continuous contact with “someone closely related to the campaign of trump”.  Again, it didn’t specify who that was but the common thinking is that it was Roger Stone.  That belief comes straight out of Stone’s own mouth over the last year and a half.

Stone has constantly bragged openly about having a relationship with Assange and Gucifer 2.0.  Gucifer 2.0 was the Russian GRU.  Now that he possibly faces the flames of hell, he claims he was just being funny.  An attack on our democracy by a foreign adversary is not “FUNNY”.

The indictment also has a nice timeline of events.  Including one very disturbing one.  Just hours after our dear leader said on the campaign trail “Russia if you are listening, I hope you find those 30,000 emails” there was, according to the indictment, a “first-time” attempt to hack into the emails of Hillary Clinton and members of her campaign team by the Russians.

Shortly after the statement from trump, one reporter at the event, Katy Turr, pushed back and asked if he really meant that Russia should hack Hillary Clinton.  She was told yes.  Which lays bare the lie he later said about he was “joking”.

But, let’s get back to that White House statement.  They claim it said nothing about “knowingly” participating.  Yet, it is also common knowledge that hacking into someone else’s emails in a felony.  Stealing people’s identity is a felony, including “getting” personal information in a hack.

So, this much is certain.  If anyone from the trump campaign asked for and received any information from hacked emails, they committed a crime.  They didn’t need to know the information was coming from the Russians.  They knew it was stolen and they wanted it and they took it.  That is a crime pure and simple.  They should at least be charged with abetting a felony and go to jail.

But our dear leader isn’t interested in facts.  He lives in his own world and doesn’t care about the rest of us, including the nation he has sworn to defend.  This was an attack on our democracy.  As many others have said, this was an “act of war” against the U.S.  And our president isn’t willing to even acknowledge it took place.

A lot of people are wondering why.  A lot of people are asking if he is totally innocent, why doesn’t he admit the hacking and the meddling and do something to prevent it from happening again.  So far, his administration hasn’t done a damn thing to stop it from happening again.

I don’t understand why people are asking those questions.  I know the answer.  Even if he is totally innocent, he is afraid that if he admits the meddling, people might think he had too much help and didn’t win the election “on his own”.  For an egomaniac like trump that is a fate worse than death.  So, he must continue to attack those trying to find the truth.  He must pretend to be the “victim” in all of this.

We will continue to see more tweets attacking Mueller and his “witch hunt” investigation.  We will continue to hear how this investigation is hurting him build a “great relationship” with Putin.  But the fact is there have been 35 indictments, including 26 Russians and 3 Russian companies that have come from this “witch hunt”.  There have been four indictments and 3 guilty pleas from trump campaign personnel.  Those are simple facts.  They cannot be argued away by the term “witch hunt”.

We don’t know the full story yet.  Mueller and his team are being very closed-mouthed about the whole matter.  He doesn’t go on the air and give out information to prove the dear leader wrong because he believes in the secrecy of his investigation and won’t try the case in public.  That is what professionals do.

At their little press gathering before dear leader and his murderous hero went in for their private meeting, you could tell by the body language that Putin was bored out of his mind with what trump was saying.  Putin knows he has the upper hand, and he will play that hand against trump whenever he wants.

The problem is that trump thinks that is a compliment to him.  He is too stupid to know he is being played for a fool.  He has decided he wants to be more “like Vlad”.  And, that is big trouble for our country.

If this is a “witch hunt” as our dear leader loves to call it, then there were sure a whole lot of witches in the woods.  But, this isn’t a “witch hunt”.  This is a very serious investigation into a foreign adversary attacking our elections to sway the vote in their favor.  It is an investigation into what happened, who was involved, and how can we stop it in the future.  It is an investigation to help defend our country.  That is what elected and government officials are supposed to do.

For once I agree with Trey Gowdy.  He said that the first question from trump to Putin is “where can we pick those 29 people who meddled in our election against our laws”?  Of course, he knows as well as I do that will never come up.

I will bet you that in the next couple of days our dear leader will announce that he “vehemently” questioned Putin about the meddling.  We will also hear that Putin “assured me that he had nothing to do with it and I believe him, he is an honorable man”.  Or words to that effect.

Isn’t it funny that we have a president who trashes our allies.  Calls them “foes” and compares them to China and Russia, and praises and believes everything dictators like Putin, Kim, and Ji tell him.  What is wrong with that picture?

And, the shirts keep marching along.

Is Trump Planning To Kill NATO And Align The U.S. With Russia Instead?

Day 627.  

Our dear leader is in Brussels this week for a NATO summit.  NATO has kept the peace in Europe for 75 years.  It is an alliance between democracies against what used to be the old Soviet Union.  Today it is an alliance between democracies and the authoritarian regime in Russia.

In reality the alliance is just as important today as it was at the end of World War II.  Russia has an authoritarian leader that wants to “restore” the greatness of Russia.  He wants to put back together the old “Russian Empire” under his control.  And, he is willing to do so even if those other countries don’t want to be part of it.

Just this century, Russia has invaded Georgia.  It has invaded Ukraine and illegally annexed the Crimea from the Ukraine.  Putin continuously threatens Poland and the Baltic States with invasion if they don’t bow to Putin and Russia.  In Estonia, the possibility of another Russian invasion there is a very real possibility to the population.

Russia has tried to meddle in our elections.  They attempted to meddle in European elections like in France and Germany.  They are hell-bent on breaking up NATO so they can have more of a free hand in their willingness to rebuild their “empire”.    About the only thing keeping Russia out of the Baltic States right now is that they are full member of NATO.

The threat from Russia is real.  That threat is on full display in the Crimea and in Syria where Putin is backing a ruthless dictator in his civil war.  He even turns a blind eye when his so-called “private citizen army” attacks a U.S. base as it has already done.

So, our dear leader has decided whose side he is on.  It isn’t NATO’s side either.  Our dear leader tells lies hand over fist about the alliance.  He makes it sound like some kind of “business deal” where the other members pay the U.S. for it’s “protection”.  He makes it sound like European countries “owe the U.S. Billions of dollars”.  He pretends that Europe is like himself in denying “payment” to his contractors.

However, that is not how this works.  There is not “pool” or “bank” of money that all nations in the alliance pay into.  The agreement only states that each member should use 2 percent of their GDP on national defense expenditures.  They do not pay that money to our country!

As a result of this lie, our dear leader uses every opportunity to make it appear that European allies are “ripping off” the U.S.  He claims they are “freeloaders” that costs the U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars.

While it is true that not all countries spend 2 percent of their GDP on national defense, Europe has never invoked article 4 of the pact.  That article is the one that says an attack on one member is an attack on all members.  The only country to invoke that article has been the U.S.

After 9/11 the U.S. invoked that article and the European alliance came to our defense.  Many countries like England, Germany, Poland and others sent troops to Afghanistan to help us fight the Taliban and locate Bin Laden.  Many of those same countries sent troops to Iraq when we invaded that country.  The European alliance stood behind us when we were attacked.  They didn’t ask how much we spend on our national defense before deciding to come to our aid.

Yet, our dear leader continues to attack our allies and says nice things about Putin.  Today he even called Germany “under the influence of Russia” because of a pipeline for natural gas from Russia.  Germany currently imports about 20 percent of their oil and gas from Russia.  But, so does a whole bunch of countries around the world.  Oil and gas is the only thing worth importing from Russia.

Our dear leader continues to refuse to call Russia our “adversary”.  He was asked directly yesterday before he left for the NATO summit if he considered Russia a friend or a foe.  He answered that he considers them a “competitor”.  He refuses to denounce the election meddling by Russia in our elections.  He claims “Putin said he didn’t do it and he is an honorable man”.  Yet, his own intelligence agencies and even the Senate Committee investigating the Russia case stated in writing that “Russia did meddle in our election under the direction of Putin in order to help trump win the election”.

When Russians attacked our base in Syria, our dear leader said nothing about it.  He acted like it never happened.  Fortunately, none of our troops were killed and they repulsed the attack, but still, not a single word of condemnation from our dear leader about the attack on our troops.

He has refused to denounce Russia’s illegal annexation of the Crimea.  He blames everyone except the invader for that action.  The only one to blame for the Crimea incident is Russia.  They are the ones who invaded and illegally took it from another country.  Yet, our dear leader doesn’t see a problem with that.

Instead, he sees “big problems” with the countries that have been loyal allies for over 75 years.  He has big problems with the very alliance that helped end the old Soviet Union by standing strong together against their aggression.  He has big problems with the very alliance that allowed America to become the world power that it is today.

After his meetings in Brussels, he heads to England for a visit, then he goes on to meet Putin.  And, according to all reports and information inside the White House, it will be a “private” meeting.  No note takers will be allowed and no one else will be in the room.  What could go wrong?

Well, Chris Stirewalt, the political editor for Fox News probably put it best.  In an interview on his own network, Stirewalt said: “Republicans in the U.S. Senate will not stop Donald Trump from undermining NATO, nor will they be able to prevent the president from realigning U.S. foreign policy to be more favorable towards Russia.  He is going to do it.”

Then in comments made on Mediate he said:

And the Republicans say, ‘well, we have a broad foreign policy apparatus and we forced him to impose these sanctions, and we forced him to do these things’.  He’s going to fly to Brussels like a seagull.  He is going to defecate all over everything, squawk and fly away is what he’s going to do in Brussels.  And the Europeans are going to continue to say to each other, ‘We don’t have a reliable partner in the U.S. government anymore’.

I don’t think that anyone can call Stirewalt a “raving liberal with opposing views towards trump’s policies”.  Yet, there he is saying the exact same thing I am.  We cannot trust our dear leader and our allies cannot trust our dear leader.  About the only person on the planet who seems to trust our dear leader is Putin.  That is as long as trump keeps going along with him.

If our dear leader does manage to disrupt NATO and maybe even cause a huge rift between Europe and the U.S. the only country that wins in Russia.  If he manages to move our policy to a policy more favorable to Russia than to Europe, the consequences could be catastrophic for both Europe and us.

He has already shown that he cannot “negotiate” with foreign governments.  Kim made a complete fool of him in Singapore and he is too stupid to even recognize that simple fact.  Now, he wants to meet “in private” with Putin.  Putin has a plan.  He knows what he is doing.  He is far smarter than the idiot-in-chief we have running our country.  He is going to make trump look like a complete fool again.

The only other answer to any questions about trump’s attitude towards Russia is that he is a “puppet of Putin”.  It would be nice if we got along with Russia.  But, getting along with Russia does not mean giving Putin what he wants.  It doesn’t mean abandoning our allies.  It was NATO that helped give the U.S. the strength needed to stave off Soviet Union aggression.

It will be NATO that will help us stave off Russian aggression in Europe and across the globe today.  So, one has to ask what the hell is trump doing?  Is he so stupid he doesn’t realize that he is placing the entire world in jeopardy?  Or, would he prefer a tri-party pact with Russia and China to “dominate” the world?  Neither is pleasant to consider.

And, the shirts keep marching along.

 

Dear Leader To The World – “You Cannot Trust Our Word”

Day 567.  

Yesterday, our dear leader told the world in no uncertain terms that the U.S. cannot be trusted to keep its word.  He stood there and said that our word is not worth the paper it is written on.  He said we cannot be trusted to stay in agreements with other countries.  He said, just like himself, we are all liars.

I don’t care if you like the Iran Nuclear Deal or not.  Taking us out of the deal is telling the world that we cannot be trusted.  That is the real thing that he said yesterday when he announced he was “withdrawing” from the deal.

And, he has done a whole lot more harm than he has done good.  He claimed that the deal did not stop Iran from supporting terrorism.  He said the deal did not stop Iran from engaging in other country’s problems, like Syria.  But, that was not the intent of the deal.

The deal was intended to keep Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.  It was intended to keep the Middle East from having an arms race.  If Iran gets nuclear weapons, other countries like Saudi Arabia will go after nuclear weapons as well.

And, the deal that was made with Iran, our allies, China and Russia was achieving what it was intended to do.  It was stopping the march towards nuclear weapons by Iran.  Everyone, all of the countries involved in the deal, including this administration, said it was working.

Still our Moron-in-Chief said it was a “lousy” deal and we are withdrawing.  The consequences of this action is still unknown, but there is no upside to pulling out of the deal.  Only down sides.  Of course, if you are Bolton, you are gleefully clapping your hands.  You might actually get the bombing of Iran that he so much wants to have.

This comes on the heels of supposedly denuclearization talks with North Korea starting soon.  Just how the hell are we to expect North Korea to actually believe they can trust us if they agree to anything dear leader wants them to.  What is to keep the next president to say “it was a rotten deal” and pull out of it as well?

The one thing that has always been constant with our policies is that one president does not kill a deal from his predecessor just because the new president hates his predecessor.  If things aren’t “good enough” they begin new talks to make them better.  Not pull out of the original deal.

But, our dear leader does not care what havoc and danger he causes with his actions.  He only knows that he hates President Obama and will do anything he can to pretend that Obama was never President.  Just like his campaign, he is showing his hate towards anyone who doesn’t look like him.  World Peace be damned.

There were signs that Iran was beginning to show cracks in the support for their government hardliners.  A moderate is the President of Iran and he was the one who agreed to the deal.  The hardliners were against the deal, but somehow he got them to go along.

The middle class in Iran was beginning to see some differences in their life which strengthened the moderates in their politics.  The poor were not so happy.  And, we saw demonstrations against the government in the past year.  There was a real chance that the moderates could wrench power away from the hardliners.

That isn’t going to happen now.  Our dear leader just told the Iranian people that they don’t count.  Their movement, however slowly it was progressing, doesn’t matter.  Before this horrible announcement, Iranians believed that direct talks with the U.S. could resolve the differences between the two countries.  Now, they say direct talks won’t matter because we cannot be trusted to keep our word.

This announcement by our Moron-in-Chief is going to fuel the fires against the U.S. in Iran.  Moderates have been put in a hard place and their voices have been muted by our Mr. Stupid.

The leader of Iran has already said that there is nothing to keep him from restarting his “enrichment” program and his march towards nuclear weapons with our pulling out of the deal.  Slimy Donny’s supporters in Congress say they all love Israel.  Yet, this stupid action could mean that within two years, Israel could face a nuclear attack from Iran if they go ahead with their nuclear program.  How is that “loving Israel”?

Since China is part of the Iran Nuclear Deal, how can we be certain that all of those “meetings” between North Korea and China in the last few days were not China telling North Korea not to trust what we say?  How can we be certain that China is not trying to influence and/or sabotage the proposed talks.  Why would China tell North Korea anything else?

Then of course we have our dear leader handing his buddy, Vladimir Putin another victory.  Yes, that is right.  Our dear leader played right into Putin’s hand again.  By pulling out of the deal, he has placed another wedge between us and our three biggest allies France, Germany and Great Britain.

All three said they would try to remain in the pact and see to its completion.  They all lobbied our stupid dear leader not to pull out and they failed.  That means Putin got another victory from our stupid dear leader.  He was able to place more uncertainty between us and our allies.  Something Putin has been working to do for a long time.

Then we have another problem.  If the U.S. places sanctions against Iran, who is going to go along with them?  How can the U.S. get the United Nations to approve anything we want against Iran?  We told the United Nations we cannot be trusted.  Iran is going to turn out to be the victim of our stupid dear leader’s stupidity.

If our allies are going to stay in the pact, they will not be so happy to join anymore economic sanctions against Iran.  They will tell the U.S. we must “go it alone” on this one.  That means the leverage that we used to get the deal in the first place will not be there.  That means we will not be able to bring Iran to the negotiating table again because neither they nor our allies will believe any deal we make.

You must also remember that the two biggest “allies” that Iran has are China and Russia.  If Iran decides to restart their nuclear program, are we going to start bombing and maybe invade the country?  If that happens, what will Russia and China do?  Will they sit by and let us destroy their ally in the region?  Or will it trigger a much bigger conflict, like World War III?

Our Moron-in-Chief ran on the promise of “no more stupid wars of regime change”.  Yet, he is setting the stage for exactly that.  He has surrounded himself with people like Bolton who got us into the Iraq war in the first place.  Bolton was one of the loudest mouthpieces for Bush to go to war against Iraq because they “had nuclear weapons”, which they did not.

It was the Iraq war that made Iran such a huge power in the region.  Before we invaded it, Iraq and Saudi Arabia were what  kept Iran in check because they were natural enemies.  With the fall of Iraq, Iran gained status in the region as one of the biggest powers.

Now our Moron-in-Chief has surrounded himself with those very people who made Iran’s rise in stature possible.  And, they have made no secret of their desire to “take out Iran” just like they did Iraq.  Except, Iran is much stronger militarily than Iraq was and has far stronger allies in Russia and China.

Because of this action, the upcoming talks with North Korea have been placed in jeopardy.  I don’t know if that jeopardy was made on purpose or just because our dear leader is just that stupid.  What is going to happen if Kim asks just how he can trust whatever our dear leader says since he can’t be trusted to keep his word?  Will our dear leader walk out in a huff?  Will that mean another war?

The talks with North Korea were going to be dicey at best.  Neither country really trusts the other.  Now, since dear leader has openly said we cannot be trusted, those talks are even more dicey.

It is going to take a few weeks to figure out just what this stupid action by our Moron-in-Chief will cause.  Things on the International Stage don’t usually move quickly.  If our allies can convince Iran that the deal doesn’t really need us, maybe they can salvage it.  However, since dear leader has given the hardliners in Iran the upper hand, don’t count on it.

Of course, even if war doesn’t break out soon, the world’s economy will suffer.  Iran is perfectly placed to disrupt the world’s oil supply.  This action will more than likely have the effect of causing oil prices to sky-rocket.  Uncertainty in the Middle East always causes oil prices to rise dramatically.  This action will prove to be no different.

The Iran Nuclear Deal probably was not perfect.  It was never intended to be perfect.  It was intended to keep Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.  And, IT WAS WORKING!  So, naturally our Moron-in-Chief had to pull out.

But then again, he wasn’t making any money off of the deal.  Nor was he making any money off of the Paris Climate Accord or the Trans Pacific Partnership.  He also pulled out of them as well.

Just like he treated his contracts with builders and other contractors in his business, he is treating our agreements with other countries.  In his businesses, he simply didn’t pay his contractors.  With the International Deals, he simply pulls out of the ones he doesn’t like.  I guess he thinks it is the same as not paying his contractors.

Except, his contractors will sue him for the money.  Other countries will get nuclear weapons and threaten our very safety.  Not quite the same thing.

And, the shirts keep marching along.

Haspel’s Confirmation Would Signal We “Have No Respect For The Law”

Day 565.  

On Wednesday we are going to go through another confirmation hearing.  This time for someone to lead the CIA.  Under normal circumstances, the nominee would not face too much of a problem.  And, since the nominee would be the first woman to head up the agency, it would also normally be a slam dunk.

However, this isn’t shaping up as a slam dunk.  This nominee is under fire.  Not because she is not qualified to lead the agency, because she is a 30 year veteran of it.  But, because of her past performance during her time at the agency.  Specifically during the time of the so-called “enhanced interrogation” that was conducted under George W. Bush.

Her name is Gina Haspel.  She was an active participant in overseeing the torture of prisoners that took place at various “prisons” we set up for suspected terrorists.  Something that both sides of the aisle condemned and help to stop.

In 2002 Haspel oversaw the interrogation of prisoners in a clandestine base in Thailand that included these “enhanced interrogations” which included “waterboarding”.  The torture sessions were videotaped.  But, in 2005, the videotapes were destroyed.

Initial reports indicated that Haspel played a part in the decision to destroy the tapes.  This was taking place around the world because these “techniques” were drawing ire from Congress and they were beginning to look into the matter.  The CIA now says that Haspel was not the final decision maker to destroy the tapes.  They say it was her boss that made that decision.

However, no matter how you look at it, Haspel was a willing participant in torturing prisoners.  It is a simple fact that she has not fully denied.  And, we must be clear, as we were when all of this came to light, torture is considered a crime in International Law.  It is a total violation of the Geneva Convention.

Knowing that this controversy could “harm the CIA” at a time it doesn’t need any more harming, Haspel actually volunteered to remove her name from nomination.  Only, this administration that has shown no respect for any laws wants her to stay on and “fight”.

To make this abundantly clear, our dear leader sent out another of his infamous tweets from under his bed covers which stated:

My highly respected nominee for CIA Director, Gina Haspel, has come under fire because she was too tough on Terrorists.  Think of that, in these very dangerous times, we have the most qualified person, a woman, who Democrats want OUT because she is too tough on terror.  Win Gina!

As usual, dear leader has no respect for the law.  He has no respect for anything but his own warped belief that torture is just fine as long as it is against our enemies.  No matter the consequences.

But, just like Cheney and Bush before him, he refuses to understand that using torture as an “interrogation technique” places our own troops in jeopardy of receiving the same treatment from our enemies.  If one of our troops falls into the hands of combatants in say Syria, they could face similar techniques from their captors.

And, since our dear leader apparently believes that torture is nothing more than “being tough on terrorists” we have no leg to stand on in protest or getting punishment if the torturers are caught.

Remember the U.S. civilian that was arrested and tortured in North Korea?  When he was finally released and sent back home, he died from his injuries from the torture he suffered at their hands.  There was huge justifiable outcry about that case.  Only, now our dear leader wants to put in charge of the CIA a person who actively participated in similar tactics.

We are currently trying to gain the release of three more prisoners of the North Koreans.  I don’t know for certain, but I am willing to bet they also faced torture while being held by the North.  What can we say about that if we continue to “justify” our own torture techniques against others?

The torture that took place under Bush and Cheney produced no tangible information that helped bring the “war on terrorism” to a swift close.  It provided no tangible information at all.  It was a violation of the Geneva Convention which lays out the rules of how to treat prisoners captured on the battlefield.

Yet, Bush, Cheney and Haspel still refuse to admit that they did anything wrong.  They refuse to admit their guilt in breaking International Law of which our country is a party.  And now, our dear leader wants to put Haspel in charge of the very organization that conducted this torture.  What does that tell the rest of the world?

It gets even crazier.  Not to be outdone by her boss, or rather on his orders, she decided to come to Haspel’s defense in a rather stupid manner.  What else is new.  In a tweet she said:

There is no one more qualified to be the first woman to lead the CIA than 30+ year CIA veteran Gina Haspel.  Any Democrat who claims to support women’s empowerment and our national security but opposes her nomination is a total hypocrite.

What makes this statement so stupid is that it is coming from the most misogynistic, anti-woman administration in history.  One of the first things this administration did was remove the order that federal contractors could not pay less to women for the same job men did under the contract.  Now, as Republicans would say, they want to “play the woman card”?

This whole mess over the confirmation of Haspel has nothing to do with her “qualifications” as a 30 year veteran of the CIA.  It has nothing to do with her being a woman.  It has to do with what kind of country are we?  Are we to be a country that respects our own laws and International Law, or are we to be a country that shows it has no respect for the law?

Gina Haspel willingly, actively, and happily participated in torture during the beginning of our “war on terrorism”.  She broke the law.  She knew she was breaking the law.  That makes her a criminal.  And, please don’t give me the argument that she “was following orders” either.  We heard that cry over and over at the Nuremberg Trials after the Second World War.

Many people in this country, including myself, believed that those responsible for the tortures at the time should have been brought up on charges.  They should have faced the criminal penalty they so richly deserved.  And, that included Haspel.

There is no excuse for torture.  There is no excuse for mistreating prisoners.  There is only consequences and our troops are the ones facing those possible consequences for our own bad behavior.

Gina Haspel said she would not allow further torture by the CIA.  Sorry, but I don’t believe her.  Especially when her potential boss is so much in love with the idea.

To some of you, it may sound like moralistic claptrap, but Gina Haspel has no right to be approved as the Director of the CIA because of her actions.  She forfeited that right when she first engaged in torture back in 2002.  We cannot have such a person in charge of our biggest intelligence agency.  Haspel, must be rejected by the Senate and sent on her way to oblivion and anonymity.

If she is approved, the Senate will be telling the world that we, as a nation, have no respect for the law.

And, the shirts keep marching along.

 

SCOTUS Hears Travel Ban Case – As Usual They Don’t Ask The Important Question In Cases Like This

Day 354.  

SCOTUS heard oral arguments over the travel ban, or Muslim Ban case.  There were a lot of questions about the ban and even whether or not campaign speeches should be used to determine the reason for the ban.  The government says that when trump said he is “calling on a complete ban of Muslims immigrating to the country”, that statement should be considered “out-of-bounds”.

However, the justices, especially the conservative justices failed to ask a simple question.  That simple question has relevance for a lot of things including the ban.  That question is simply:  “What constitutes national security and can the president make the definition of that term change with his attitudes?”

There are a lot of reasons that question is pertinent.  First of all, just what does this or any administration mean when they say they are doing something “in the name of national security”.  That term has become an all-encompassing term to mean many different things.

That is the problem with using this term for this ban or any other “Executive Order”.  The administration says that the ban is necessary to “keep dangerous people from coming to the country”.  Okay, but just what constitutes a “dangerous” person?  And, why do those “dangerous” persons come only from Muslim countries?

It has been 15 months since dear leader first initiated the ban.  He even issued three different bans trying to find one that the courts would accept.  They were all blocked by the lower courts.  And, not one terrorist attack in this country has been conducted by a single “refugee” which is who the ban is supposed to keep out.

There have been two or three failed attempts by white people in America to conduct a terrorist attack against the refugees, but no refugee has conducted a terrorist attack.  Meaning the vetting that trump claims is a sham is anything but.  It means the strong vetting that we conduct on immigrant refugees actually works.

But, even leaving that aside, what does any president mean when they use the term “national security”?  Right now they mean that we need to keep Muslims out because they “could be dangerous people” and possibly terrorists.

But, what makes someone coming from, say, Italy, who has strong fascist tendencies less dangerous than a Muslim from anywhere in the world?  Or what makes a German who has strong Nazi ties less dangerous?  Just who is a “dangerous” person and who is not?

During the Cold War, we allowed millions of people from Communist countries to enter the country.  It would have been just as easy for one of the presidents during that time to declare a travel ban on all people coming from communist countries in the name of “national security”.  But, they didn’t.  Even Cubans received “special” treatment.  The rule was if they put foot on our shores, they were given political asylum.

There was no “vetting” for those people.  Who was to say they weren’t all Cuban spies trying to start a communist revolution in our country?  Why didn’t any of the presidents say that was not going to be tolerated?  Why weren’t they “deported” back to Cuba as soon as they were caught in America?  Weren’t they what today’s administration calls “illegal immigrants”?

During the hearing one of the justices asked what about if a president decides that Jews were not allowed to enter the country.  It was declared “a ridiculous” hypothetical by the government.  Yet, that is exactly what they are trying to do to Muslims.

We have seen such behavior in the past during our history.  There was a ban on Chinese immigrating to the country.  There was a strong push to ban Catholics from immigrating to the country.  During World War II we rounded millions of Japanese Americans and put them in camps simply because they were Japanese.

Although there were Italian and German people detained during the war, none of them were detained simply because of their Italian or German ancestry.  They were all considered threats by their words or actions, and had to have a court order to be placed in the camps.  Not so with the Japanese.  If you were Japanese American, you were rounded up.

And the excuse used for these detainments?  It was all done in the name of “national security”.  Yes, we were at war.  Yes, we needed to protect our country.  But really?  Many of the boys of parents being held in those camps served during the war and fought bravely for our country.  Still, while they were fighting and dying for our country, the government kept their parents “locked up” for the duration.

I think more than anything else, that shows just how dangerous it is to allow any president to use “national security” to ban certain groups of people from our society.  It proves just how out of control actions can get in the name of “national security”.

We have a so-called “travel ban” before SCOTUS not because we are in danger of immigrants, but because those immigrants and/or refugees are fleeing war zones and discrimination by their governments and are Muslim.  Even the original ban had an exemption for “Christians” from the countries affected by the ban.  Clearly a violation of our laws and constitution.

If the courts keep refusing to ask that simple question of “what is the definition of national security and who makes that definition”, we are likely to see more actions like this ban.  Only, at some point it will affect you.

All it takes is one president to determine that he doesn’t like a certain group of people and place a ban on that group in the name of “national security”.  This president could use an approval of his ban to declare that Mexicans, who he has already called rapists and murders, should be banned as well in the name of “national security”.  He can then be free to “round up all Mexicans” in the country, citizens or not, and deport them.

What if another president decides that the LGBTQ community should all be deported or interned in the name of “national security”?  Don’t laugh.  Without a real definition of the term, anyone could find themselves victim of “national security” by whomever sits in the White House.

Conservatives would claim that would be his prerogative since it is in the name of “national security”.  He could do the same for other groups.  He could ban Catholics.  He could ban Hindus.  He could ban Dutch.  The list is endless.

The travel ban case before SCOTUS has a lot more to do with just this travel ban.  And, none of the Justices seem to consider the consequences of further actions because they are not open to questioning what is “national security”.

We are a nation of immigrants.  Every single non-native American is an immigrant to this country.  We stole the land from the original people and created a nation that is supposed to be open and free for all people.  My generation in most cases is only the second or third generation in the country from our families.

Ronald Regan said America is that “shining city on a hill” that all nations strive to become.  Part of that “shining city” is our acceptance of immigrants.  Part of that “shining city” is our ability to become better using the talents and skills of others.

This administration wants to put out the light of that “shining city”.  And because no one wants to know just what constitutes “national security”, we are doomed to further damage to the country by people who can’t stand the idea of someone “different” being given access to the greatest country on the planet.

By failing to take that question into consideration, SCOTUS is about to open the door for more abuse of power.  It is opening the door for more hatred to become our national policy.  The “programmes” of Europe against Jews and Gypsies were all in the name of “national security”.  The Holocaust was the result of “national security”.  The internment of Japanese Americans was the result of “national security”.

If this ban is allowed to go into full effect, we will be doing so in the name of “national security”.  We will be faced with the dangerous position of failing to learn from history and we will be repeating it.

Until someone tells us exactly what is and what isn’t “national security” we cannot continue to allow any president to use that term to justify an act of banning or interning people whose ancestry is from another country or from another religion.

And, the shirts keep marching along.