Iraqi Government Protests President Trump’s Visit to U.S. Troops in Western Iraq as a Violation of Their National Sovereignty: The Iraqis Are Right—We’d Be Hollering if Another Nation’s Leader Showed Up Here Without Going Through Proper Diplomatic Channels

President Trump went over to Iraq a few days ago and visited U.S. troops stationed in Western Iraq for Christmas; by all accounts the visit was successful, though the liberal press attacked the troops and the President for staging a campaign-style stop, which has started another cycle of viciousness between the President and the press.  

That’s one part of the story.

The other part of the story was that the Iraqi government wasn’t told President Trump was coming, and did not have the opportunity to tell him “no” like any other sovereign nation would have the opportunity to do, including our nation if a foreign leader turned up here without permission.

There’s a big difference in President Trump turning up in Iraq three days ago, and when President George W. Bush turned up in Iraq in November 2003.   The difference was that the U.S. had just overthrown Iraq’s dictator, and the President of the United States, for all intents and purposes, owned Iraq and all of it’s problems as there was no effective Iraqi government, just an international authority.

Times have changed.   I think that our leaders should respect the sovereignty of Iraq and other nations as we expect the same of them.  That door needs to swing both ways in order for the system to work.

And if the Iraqi government votes to demand that U.S. troops are withdrawn, our government should do so.    The U.S. has plenty of bases in the region to hit ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria should the need arise.

Former Secretary of State Tillerson and President Trump Exchange Fire: I Believe Tillerson’s Version of Events

I was a longtime critic of Rex Tillerson before and during his tenure as the Secretary of State under President Trump, and I’m still not fond of him, but in a recent interview he made several revelations about his professional relationship with President Trump.

He described Trump as “undisciplined” and as getting tired of being told “no” by Tillerson because the President’s proposals would be illegal or would violate various treaties.    This has the ring of truth to it as Trump’s behavior in public has been highly impulsive and destructive.

He also said that the President doesn’t like to read reports that were being submitted to him.   Trump fired back on Twitter (of course) by calling Tillerson as “dumb as a rock”, “lazy,” and a mental case.   That’s rich, coming from a President who is an egotistical maniac.

I’m inclined to believe Rex Tillerson’s version.    The revolving door of people coming and going in the White House, President Trump’s 3am Twitter rants and hypocrisy on saying that he couldn’t get rid of Tillerson fast enough (yes, he could have—that’s on President Trump alone) is all the proof I need to believe Tillerson.  

I’m not one to read books from disgruntled employees of the various Presidents, but if Tillerson writes one, I think I’d read it.

If Whitaker Recuses Himself From Handling the Russia Probe, He Might As Well Resign Too: This Issue Crippled the Entire Sessions Tenure at the Department of Justice and Trump Doesn’t Need a Continuation of What He’s Already Had for Two Years

To the surprise of no one, President Trump asked for and got Jeff Session’s resignation as the Attorney General today.   His deputy, Matthew Whitaker, was sworn in as the Acting Attorney General not long after, and the Democrats began demanding that Whitaker recuse himself from running the Russia probe.

If he does, he may as well submit his resignation at the same time.   Trump’s already had a crippled Attorney General for two years; why should that situation continue, now that Sessions has resigned?

We need an Attorney General in charge of the entire Justice Department, not a portion of it.

Feinstein Shouldn’t Be Writing to FBI and White House for Clarification About FBI Investigation of Supreme Court Nominee: She Should Be Writing to the FBI Explaining Her Role in Suppressing Knowledge of Possible Sexual Assault Since Late July and Why She Revealed the Information the Way She Did

Dianne Feinstein received Mrs. Ford’s letter on July 30th that accused Judge Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault and suppressed it until it was most useful to the Democrats.   This just reeks of criminal conspiracy.   To make matters worse, she originally said she gave the letter to the FBI after she received it, but in reality, she didn’t refer it to the FBI until mid-September. 

Then she had the audacity to throw Mrs. Ford under the bus to save her own neck.   If I was Mrs. Ford, I’d be feeling awfully disrespected by those who took up her mantle.

This confirmation process has been botched from day one, and the Democrats are to blame for it.   The FBI should have been contacted the next day, and the information investigated fully.  It would have been over and done with over a month ago.   But that’s not what we have.

Do the Democrats recall what happens when they pull stunts like this?   The Republicans do the same thing down the road when the Democrats least need or want it.   This vicious cycle needs to come to an end.

And who are the Democrats to claim moral authority on sex crimes?   There’s a list of accused Democrats as long as my arm; the Republicans are equally as guilty.    

They need to stick to their agreement about the FBI investigation, read the report and vote up or down based on what they read without further delay.   If enough Republicans don’t like what they read in the FBI report, Kavanaugh will be voted down, and the Democratic criminal “resistance” rendered moot.

Unlike the Democrats, if they see something morally reprehensible in the FBI report, they’ll vote against the nominee because it’s the right thing to do.  If it was a DEMOCRATIC nominee, the Dems would be doing their best to overlook it; see the Bill Clinton and Al Franken matters respectively.  

Feinstein needs her own FBI investigation.  If an ordinary Jane or John were to suppress evidence of a sex crime, or any kind of crime for that matter,  how much trouble would that Jane or John be in if they were discovered as Feinstein has been?   Criminal charges against Feinstein are in order here.   And the sooner, the better.  

Congress cannot act like this without consequences.   Examples need to be set.   Revolting!

Pope Francis, DO SOMETHING! Your Church is Drowning and You’re Standing on the Shore With Rescue Gear and Doing Nothing!

I’m very frustrated with the Pope.  

I can live with his liberal theology, as misdirected as it is, but what I can’t stand is his deafening silence on the scandal that’s enveloping his Church worldwide.  He’s like a lifeguard standing on the shore with rescue gear IN HIS HANDS and watching as someone drowns.   How long are you going to stand there and do nothing, Pope Francis?

If he can’t do the job, he should follow Pope Benedict’s example and step down.

If this scandal goes unaddressed for much longer, his abdication of his papal responsibilities will make it impossible for him to govern the church.   He’s nearly in an untenable situation right now,  with half the church wanting to show him the door over his ineffective crisis leadership.

Pope Francis also needs to understand that not everyone is out to create scandal.   Many want to put a stop to it, and these are the last people that Pope Francis should be telling to “shut up.”   He needs their help quite badly, and they need him to get his act together, and show some spine. 

Do it!

McCain Loses His Fight Against Brain Cancer: The Country Has Lost an Island of Calm in a Sea of Chaos

Senator McCain lost his battle against his cancer this morning, and the country has lost a voice of reason.

I agreed with him on various issues over the years, and disagreed with him over others, but time may well prove that he was correct on the vast majority of his stands.

We need more like him in Congress; he was one of the few who could actually negotiate with his opponents across the aisle and express the feelings of conservatives who were/are being increasingly targeted by liberal hate groups and companies.

I think the country was a lot safer with John McCain around than it is without.   He will be missed.

Russia: Staged Chemical Attack Being Prepared in Syria That Will Trigger U.S. Missile Attack on Syria….Translation: Russian Spetznatz Are Assisting Iranian and Syrian Forces With Chemical Attack Preparation and They’re Going to Blame the UK and US When It Happens

Russia’s preparing the world for another scene of carnage in Syria by announcing through the media that another chemical weapons attack is going to take place before it happens, and that UK special forces are helping anti-Syrian rebels to do it, which, Russia predicts, will cause Western military action in Syria again.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure this out.   Russia’s chafing over accusations that it tried to assassinate a former Russian spy and his daughter in the U.K. using Soviet-era chemical agents and wants to put the UK government in the same position, while dragging in the U.S. at the same time.  Sanctions against Russia over the UK attack go into effect on Monday.

I have no doubt that a chemical weapons attack will happen, except it’s Russia, Syria and Iran who will be behind it, not the U.S. or United Kingdom.  

This is a Russian false flag operation, not an American or British one.   So why doesn’t Russia do something to stop it, since they’ve already announced how much chemical agent will be used in this Russian false flag operation?

This is an obvious Russian trap for President Trump, who may well attack Syrian and Iranian positions in Syria in response, which will lead the Russians to launch a media blitz stating that President Trump is “wagging the dog” to throw attention off his domestic legal problems, which will trigger a liberal response.   The Russians want to massively destabilize the U.S. political system by any means, so this kind of operation would fit right into their anti-American (and anti-British) agenda.

The Russians have proven to be highly effective at firing up liberals in this country and know exactly which buttons to push to get a response, since they’re already unhinged by everything Trump.

Trump is Right; Sessions is Wrong: He Never Had Complete Control Over the Justice Department or It’s Operations: After All, Didn’t He Recuse Himself From All Things Russian and Turn It Over to Someone Else?

There have been some interesting Twitter volleys and media comments between Attorney General Sessions and President Trump in recent days.  

Trump said that Sessions doesn’t have control over the DOJ (and never did) and wanted to know why Sessions didn’t tell him that he was going to recuse himself from all things Russian before he was confirmed.

Sessions fired back that he had complete control over the DOJ and that it wouldn’t be improperly influenced by politics.

Sessions seems to be the one out of touch in this conversation.  

He surrendered control of the Russia investigation to his deputy attorney general, and the FBI and DOJ have both been improperly influenced by politics already.  The Clinton emails are all the evidence needed.  And Sessions hasn’t done enough to root “Never Trumpers” out of the FBI or DOJ.

In this instance, Trump is right to criticize the Attorney General.   I don’t think the AG is going to last much longer.

Why Do Retired Feds Get to Keep Their High Security Clearances? These Should Be Subject to Yearly Reviews and Revoked if the People Involve Start Working for the Media

I was surprised to hear that President Trump had revoked the security clearance of former CIA Director John Brennan, but not because I’m against Trump or in the Democratic “resistance.”   I’m just surprised that he had a clearance, given his new job.

No wonder we have so many security leaks coming out of Washington.  

According to the Washington Post, lifelong security clearances have been informally granted for a long time, especially in the intelligence agencies.  This practice should be ended for those who join the media, or become politicians (and should have to go through background checks again).  This would apply to John Brennan, who works for ABC News and MSNBC as a security consultant and analyst.

I do think it’s important for CIA Directors and other heads of agencies to be able to consult with their predecessors for advice, but if those predecessors work for the media, they shouldn’t have the same clearance as in their working days.

The security classification system needs a major overhaul, and a clearer understanding of what the expectations are need to be explained to classification-holders.

Trump Holds Summit With Kim Jong-Un: Promises Were Made, But North Korea’s Track Record is One of Broken Promises

President Trump met with Kim Jong-Un in Singapore after Trump cancelled the summit, but what I’m getting out of it is that it was a face-saving summit, with not much more.

President Trump needs to keep up the pressure on Kim Jong-Un and his military regime and hold North Korea to all of its promises.

I don’t have a lot of hope that North Korea will disarm, especially if the Chinese are egging them on to keep antagonizing the West.

Kim Jong-Un needs to stay out of Washington and President Trump needs to stay out of Pyongyang.    I don’t like the idea of making nice with this dictator while his slave labor camps are still full of people he doesn’t like.  

This was enough of a propaganda victory for North Korea as it was, and I hope President Trump isn’t being suckered.

Kim Jong Un Was Looking for Wiggle Room and a Weak Response from President Trump and Didn’t Find Either: Trump SLAMMED the Door in North Korea’s Face and Cancelled the Summit

Kim Jong Un got owned by President Trump yesterday, and it was a great surprise.   The North Korean dictator was looking for some wiggle room and a weak American response to North Korea’s recent saber rattling and appeared shocked when there was no American weakness on display, as with previous Administrations.

It was a great power-slam that took everybody by surprise.   I noted today that North Korea sounded conciliatory, so we’ll see what’s going on soon enough. 

Why is everybody acting surprised?  President Trump announced that he’d get up from the table and walk away if North Korea screwed around again, and that’s exactly what he’s done.    I’m enjoying the global and American liberal reactions.

Not Sure Why McCain is Having Buyer’s Regret Now: He Should Have Chosen a Different Running Mate When It Mattered in 2008

I’m having trouble following what John McCain is talking about when he says that he should have chosen his friend, Joe Lieberman, in 2008 and not Sarah Palin.   It’s a little late for that. 

Disrespecting his running mate ten years after the fact?    I am disappointed with the comments, even though I’m not a Palin fan and not a particular McCain fan either.   I greatly respect what he’s done for our country and for his clear-cut stands against torture.

But Palin has a right to feel like she’s been “gut-punched.”

Mental Illness on Display at Smut-Fest (aka Washington Correspondents Dinner) and on “The View”: Liberals are Unhinging Faster and Faster and Not Getting Any Better

The Washington Correspondents Dinner happened over the weekend and it was a mean-spirited smut-fest.   Normal people don’t talk like that.

And the “Beheading Trump” lady was on “The View” in the last day or so, withdrawing her apology to President Trump, while going on an F-bomb laced anti-Trump tirade.   They had to shut her microphone off.    She’s clearly not well.   Again, normal people get the hint and stop talking when they’re being shushed by their co-hosts.

Quite a few in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party need to have their steak knives taken away.  They’re going to hurt themselves, especially the smashed-looking Kathy Griffin.   No one accepted her apology anyways.

As for the Dinner, they are raising money for various causes, but they presented the appearance of being smut peddlers, if the opening act was any indicator.   I turned it off after the first smut joke.   I’m not the least bit interested in watching that kind of trash TV from a supposedly respectable organization.   Shame on the organizers for not showing her the door on-camera.

With Kelly Griffin, they should put a mental wellness clause into her appearance contracts.  If she’s smashed or on a tear, she doesn’t go on the air.   I’m not the least bit interested in her kind of useless rhetoric either.

Kim Jong Un Appears to Be on a Path to Peace, But Previous North Korean Promises Have Been Broken Time and Time Again; Will History Repeat Itself?

North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un had a very interesting summit with South Korean President Moon a few days ago, in which a couple of interesting tidbits emerged: North and South Korean are moving toward ending the state of war that has existed between them since 1953, and both countries have said that they want a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula.

Those are very positive developments, but North Korea, under the previous two Kim regimes, broke every promise that they made in order to gain concessions from South Korea or the U.S.

Kim Jong Un has stated that he wants the U.S. to promise not to attack his country in exchange for giving up his nuclear weapons.  And he’s promised to close down his severely damaged nuclear testing site under international observation. 

That might be one of the reasons for his being summoned to Beijing on an unofficial state visit last month.  

Chinese scientists have recently confirmed that the last nuclear test caused Mount Mantap to start fracturing (“tired mountain syndrome”) and may be causing radioactive materials to be released into the atmosphere.   The released materials may be making their way toward northeastern China, which has gotten Beijing’s immediate ire and attention.

Why should China have to pay the price for North Korea’s carelessness with their nuclear tests?

Things should be made clearer in the coming weeks, as President Trump and Kim Jong Un prepare to meet.   I hope the two Koreas step back from the brink and make peace along with the U.N. Command.

But if they do, what will happen next?   

Kim Jong Un needs to be under international indictment for awful human rights abuses against his own people.   

No matter what steps he takes to make himself more statesman-like, that’s the huge elephant sitting in the room that cannot be ignored.  He’s no statesman, he’s a bloodthirsty dictator.   And President Trump needs to keep that in mind in his dealings with Kim Jong Un.

Parkland Students Seem to Be Ignoring the Issue That Sparked the Shooting at Their School: They Could Be Leading the Charge Against Bullying, Which Takes Place at All Schools and in All Settings, But They’re Focused on One Aspect of a Larger Problem

I remain deeply troubled over the gun control debate that has taken up all the air in the room and left little energy to address a much more serious problem that affects far more students than gun violence has.   The issue is bullying, which has sparked the much-talked about attacks on schools.

By all means, ban the AR-15 and other military-grade assault rifles.  There.  Done.

Now, what about the bullying?   I have yet to hear a single word from these student groups doing all the yammering about the NRA and the evil guns.   But what about the evil actions of others that affect 1 in 3 students in the form of bullying?

The exact number of suicides that are directly attributable to bullying is unknown, but it’s in the thousands per year.   One statistic said that there were over 4,000 student-aged suicides in 2014 that were directly attributed to bullying.    If this boils down to sheer numbers, far more students die from bullying than from gun violence in the schools.   When will we start discussing that as a society and quit blaming the NRA for everything in sight?

If A Caravan of Illegals is on the Way to Our Border to Cross Into the U.S., It’s Time to Move the Army to the Border to Put a Stop to It:

If there’s a thousand people coming up to cross the border any way they can, it’s time to put a dozen Army and Marine divisions onto the border to put a stop to it.

Enough of the foreign adventures: bring those troops home and use them here to protect their country.   I’d be willing to bet those troops would like to protect their own people a lot better than trying to start democracies in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.   And it won’t cost as much to operate bases in the American Southwest than it does to operate bases in Afghanistan.

If this first assault on our border is successful, it’ll happen again and again.  And if there’s to be no wall, we need another option.   ICE and Customs and Border Protection will be spread to thin, and they’re likely to be outnumbered and outgunned.

Time to take border protection to a new level, and quickly.  The caravan that’s traveling through Mexico (the Mexicans are doing nothing to stop it) is said to be made up of people from Central America—Honduras in particular.  

The law says that troops cannot be used to assist local law enforcement, but border protection is a federal matter, which makes it federal jurisdiction.   The military can be used to protect the United States.   Before control of the border is lost, those troops need to be in place.

Make haste.

President Trump is Still Looking for a Way to Get Out of the White House Without Waiting for an Election or Resigning the Office: He’s Going to Fire Mueller and Then Dare Congress to Do Something About It

Last year, I commented here that President Trump hates the job he’s in and looked like he was looking for a reason to have Congress impeach him, as his pride won’t allow him to resign the office an be criticized as being too weak to handle it.   Impeachment is what he wants.

I have seen nothing in the last year to change my mind about that.  I also still don’t care if he stays in office or not. 

A Pence Administration would be far more stable prospect than a President who is running his White House from the perspective of a reality show producer.

The thing that has me talking about this again is that President Trump’s recent statements that he’d consider Robert Mueller looking into his businesses and family as crossing a “red line.”  Under Obama, a red line was meaningless, but with President Trump, when he talks about a red line, he’s serious.   People get fired if a red line is crossed in his White House; if it’s in a war zone like Syria, the missiles start to fly.

I think he’s angling toward pressuring Robert Mueller to announce that President Trump has been cleared of wrongdoing in the Russia probe, but when Mueller announces that he’s looking into other stuff, Trump will say “no you’re not” and fire him at that point.

I think Trump’s ultimate goal is to get back into his businesses and rebuild his fortune while avoiding the possibility of jail. 

It is my opinion that he’s going to fire Mueller sooner rather than later and dare Congress to do something about it.   And I think Congress will oblige him.   I think the sooner that this happens, the better it will be for the country.

On a side note, let both parties be warned: this is what happens when you have candidates like Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton headlining your presidential tickets.  Give us some better choices!  

Trump Fires Tillerson: About Time

I’ve been pretty outspoken about my opposition to Rex Tillerson being the Secretary of State since he was nominated, and now that he’s gone, I say the following: good.  It’s about time.

Now the Senate should exercise more caution in putting the next candidate up to a vote.  They didn’t do their jobs with Tillerson and we had an oil executive with basically no diplomatic service who caused 60% of the foreign service agents to resign or retire in his first year, and has left dozens of ambassadorships unfilled.

The new Secretary of State needs to have foreign diplomatic experience, can recruit foreign policy people and can talk to all the departments in his building without playing favorites with political appointees at the expense of his career diplomats. 

And he needs to be on the same exact page as President Trump with regards to foreign policy.  Tillerson was part of the time.   That wasn’t good enough.

It sounds like President Trump is nominating his CIA Director to be the new Secretary of State.  Don’t know much about him as much as I knew about Tillerson prior to his being nominated as our top diplomat.   Hopefully this nomination will be what the State Department needs.

Democratic Memo Released: Now That It Has Been, House Intelligence Committee Should Stop Releasing Any More Memos and Return to the Shadows Where They Belong

First it was the Nunes memo, now it’s the Democratic “rebuttal” memo.

Now it should be….nothing.  No more releases of classified memos for the purpose of furthering a political agenda, no more releases of ANY classified information.  Instead of providing clarity, both memos served to muddy the waters even more.

On the Democratic rebuttal memo, they overloaded their memo with fluff, or unneeded sentences that restate the point that they’ve already made in earlier parts of the memo.   It’s made the memo nearly unreadable.  

The Republicans have pointed out on page 5 that the Democrats finally admitted that they didn’t tell the court everything explicitly when the Obama DOJ filed the original FISA request against Trump advisor Page.   Instead, they dropped hints an then assumed that the court would be able to connect the dots.  Sorry, but that’s not how the FISA court works.   Everything needs to be out in the open for the judges to consider, without needing to connect any dots.   We have elementary kids connect the dots, not FISA court judges.

The Democrats have pointed out that they’ve successfully countered the Republican arguments in the Nunes memo.   I’m not sure they have; they’ve certainly muddied the waters but not much else.   There was nothing new or spectacular and was a let-down.

I also didn’t like the fact that the Democratic memo wasn’t numerated, and didn’t appear to be in any kind of chronological order.   I think it follows the pattern that the Nunes memo followed, but the GOP memo was much easier to read. 

I think the lesson here is that whoever releases a memo first, has the bigger splash.   Hopefully there will be no further memos on this subject.  

What Really Happened With the Broward County Deputies Who Didn’t Rush in to Stop the Shooter? We’re Only Getting One Side of the Story!

I’ve been following the story of the deputy Sheriff who didn’t enter the Florida school and stop the shooter from murdering more people.

So far, the school guard has received severe criticism for not rushing in and shooting it out with the attacker.   His boss, the Broward County Sheriff, jumped all over him and called him a coward.   So have many others, including President Trump.  Most of the media outlets have joined the narrative, and so have many of the victims.

And now we’ve heard that other deputies didn’t go in either, and that it was the Coral City Police Department that went in.

Why didn’t the Sheriff’s Department go in first, since they were the first on the scene, and why did they hang back when the Coral City PD entered the building?

I’m not going to criticize the school officer until he’s heard from and explains his side of the story.

I think a lot of departments across the country have a policy to have officers go into an active shooter situation in force.   In Michigan, a minimum of three officers go in.  Two facing forward, the third covering behind them.  That’s what I saw during active shooter training in one of our local schools last year.    What is the Broward County Sheriff’ Department’s policy?

There’s more to this story, and I think people have been hasty in criticizing former Officer Peterson.   I look forward to hearing his side of things, and it may redirect attention back to the top levels of the Sheriff’s Department.   Then we’ll see if he’s provided the “excellent leadership” that he claims to have provided up to and during the February 14th attack on the school, or if the deputies were following established policy.   

There’s much more to the story than what has been revealed.

News Media Needs to Stop Publicizing the Names of Shooters Who Attack Schools: They Don’t Deserve the Attention

I’m stunned at the commission of another massacre in a school, this time in Florida.

The media should cover the tragic events in Florida without using the name or photos of the killer.  He doesn’t deserve the notoriety that the media is obsessed in awarding to him for his blaze of hatred and acts of pure evil.

All the attention should be on the victims and survivors of this disaster, not their killer.  He’s probably getting a thrill out of having his name in papers not just in Florida, but across the U.S. and around the world.    He needs to be denied that pleasure. 

He’s done nothing to earn it.

Amtrak Owns 5% of the Tracks It Runs On, Yet Pays 100% of the Bills Resulting from Accidents, Even If the Accident is the Fault of the Railroad That Owns the Tracks

No wonder Amtrak has been hemorrhaging money.  They own 5% of the tracks that they run on while the other 95% is owned by private railroads.  But if there’s an accident, whether Amtrak is at fault or not, Amtrak pays the bills.

This isn’t right.

If it’s a defective track that causes an Amtrak to derail, the owner of the line needs to help foot the bill, instead of having the American taxpayer foot the entire bill for their defective line.

A lot of attention has been paid to the problems that Amtrak has been having, with regards to excessive speed, the lack of the Positive Train Control system in critical areas, and the cars breaking apart at high speed.

The PTC has train-based and track-based technology that work together to prevent trains from colliding, or going too fast around curves, and so forth.  Amtrak has updated 71% of it’s locomotives, while the railroads have roughly 25% of their tracks equipped with the PTC.

Amtrak needs to own their own lines, and if they can’t, then perhaps they should shut it down.   This gravy train (forgive the pun) needs to come to an end.

The fact that the contracts between the railroads and Amtrak are covered by non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) is also troubling.   Those should be invalidated and the contents of the agreements made public, so we can see how badly the American public is being swindled.

President Wants to Display Might of U.S. Military: It Could Be Done on the June 30th Armed Forces Day Under Certain Conditions

The United States celebrates Armed Forces Day on June 30th, so it could be modified to do a large-scale military parade in Washington.   One question, though: can the streets of Washington support 52 ton tanks without getting torn up, and can it be done without spending tons of money?

The President is big on the idea as he was in France during Bastille Day, when the French military was on display.   He apparently liked what he saw.

I’m kind of indifferent to the idea, as we haven’t really put tanks, missiles, attack helicopters, fighters, bombers and other military hardware on display for a spectacle.   We’re accustomed to two-bit dictators putting on large military displays with goose-stepping troops to support their bombast.

If it is something that highlights the military, that’s one thing. 

If it’s to support the President’s ego, that’s a totally different thing, and one I will not support.   This president’s ego is easily bruised, and inflating it to a new level and run the risk of having someone bring him crashing to earth from new heights isn’t something we should spend millions on as a nation.    President Trump can pay for his parade out of his own pocket.  

Besides, the Congress is incapable of producing a budget, so I think those millions should be put into dealing with supply and readiness issues that the military is currently confronting.  The U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet’s problems with readiness is the tip of the iceberg.  Sequestration has had a devastating effect on the military.  A parade won’t change that.   Proper funding will.

Stone Faced Democrats at the 2018 State of the Union? No, They Were STONED! And Something…Else…Too!

Someone had better cut this guy off of whatever he’s on.  He presents the appearance of a serial….something.   Looks like he’s undressing somebody with his eyes.   Yuck!

And to contrast the Republicans to the Democrats:

If one was going to hang around with a group of people based on facial expressions alone, with no knowledge of their political affillation or background, which would you choose?  

Democrats, don’t show up stoned to official events.  It makes you look as bad as you actually are.

The Stock of Several Members of the House and Senate Have Gone Up With Me: They’ve Refused Their Pay During the Shutdown

I’m appreciative of the members of Congress who have decided to forego their pay while the government was shut down.  Here’s the list if anyone is interested. 

Some are sponsoring legislation to deny lawmakers any pay during government shutdowns.   This is a positive move forward and one that may help to restore some (currently non-existent) credibility to a Congress in need of favorable optics with the public.

If it comes up for a vote, we’ll see their true colors with their votes.

Congress is Still Getting Paid While Rank and File is Not, and Vice President is Traveling to Middle East While Government is Out of Money: This Isn’t Right

I see that Congress is still getting paid during the shutdown, while everybody down the federal food chain is not.   Major irritant….

Before the next government shutdown, Congress needs to pass a law that says that government shutdown policies also apply to Congress and the President.  Perhaps then they’ll keep this from happening again.  And they shouldn’t be allowed to override the law either once they cross the point of no return.   

Congress getting paid while everyone else does not isn’t right.  They helped to cause this mess, so they should be up to their eyeballs in the stew too.

The other thing that’s annoying me is that the Vice-President is going to the Middle East while the government is out of money.  It costs roughly $206,337 an hour to operate Air Force 2.  How is Air Force 2 to be refueled?   Full faith and credit?  Prepaid fuel?   Do they have a gas card for  Air Force 2?  What?  This trip should be rescheduled, as embarrassing a step as that is.  

Until the upper echelons of the federal government join the others in not getting paid, I don’t want to hear a single word of who’s to blame.   It doesn’t mean a thing.  They’re all responsible for failing to pass a budget that reduces the $20 trillion debt.

Turnabout: Republicans Focused on Hillary’s Health During the Campaign, Now the Liberals Are Focused on Trump’s Physical and Mental Health

This is too delicious to ignore.

The GOP focused on Hillary Clinton’s health during the 2016 Elections, for very good reasons.  She was having coughing fits, fainting spells and seemed to be out of it at times, which caused many to question her fitness for the highest office in the land.  There were photographs of security people carrying around auto-injectors to treat various maladies and the cover-up theorists (including this one) were in full swing, to the point that even the liberal press had to start asking questions.  Even then, they were handling the Clinton camp with kid gloves. 

Fast forward to this morning.   President Trump’s mental health has been openly questioned by many on the liberal side of the equation, and his physical has been an obsession of the liberal press for many days.  In the most ridiculous press conference ever seen, the liberal press hounded the President’s personal physician for anything that they could attach to with regards to his physical results, and the results of a cognitive thinking test that was unexpectedly requested by the President to put the media in its place.

The press is definitely making fools out of themselves.  They’re coming up shorthanded on this fishing expedition and not finding the narrative that they’re desperately looking for.   This is a dead-end story, libs.

Weighing In: Trump’s Wince-Causing Language Aside, the President Had a Reason for Calling Them What He Did (If He Did at All)

I’ve been watching the ongoing debate over President Trump’s un-diplomatic language that he is famous for.  Is there a reason that he might think that the nations involved aren’t so good?

Oh, yes.

Africa has many military and paramilitary situations going on.  The Armed Conflict Location and Data Event Project (ACLED) is an excellent source on the various kinds of violence that have taken place in Africa since 1997.  It isn’t pretty.

How many Africans have been displaced by violence in their countries?   At least 2.4 million by violence or by internal strife, making it second only to the Middle East, with a million more displaced by natural disasters in 2015 alone.  The total is somewhere in the neighborhood of 12.4 million people for the years studied in the above link.

How many failed or near-failing states in Africa?  Quite a few.

The above links are data-heavy, but they all paint a not-so-nice picture of some of President Trump’s targets.

So does President Trump have a point, referring to Haiti and African countries as s-hole nations (if he did at all)?   Yes, he definitely does, given the information contained in the links above.  

Should he have used better language?  Yes, he definitely should have.  Is he a racist?  I don’t know; that remains to be seen.  The term “racist” is so politicized that I’m not sure what it means anymore.

Should some of the African nations he referred to be quite as indignant as they have been in the last 24 hours?  Given their (proven) ATROCIOUS track record on human rights, military conflicts within their own borders and failed political and economic systems, they should be criticizing their OWN leaders for screwing up their countries beyond belief instead of calling the ONLY Western leader who calls a spade a spade a “racist.”. 

Their countries suck, plain and simple!    So President Trump definitely has a point.

Human rights are not optional, as some of these failed states have treated them. 

The exact moment that someone in these African countries can say “screw the security forces and the ruling idiot in the palace” or “screw the government” without fear of being disappeared, tortured, having their families threatened or murdered, the sooner they can be considered a successful nation, and not failed ones as they currently are.

Until that time, they have no leg to stand on when someone criticizes their nations, no matter how plain-spoken or offensive it is.  

12.4 million refugees?  If that was a nation’s population, it would be larger than 158 countries with lesser populations.  That is DISGRACEFUL!

Democrats Boycotting State of the Union Address: Good, Fewer Windbags in the Room Taking Up Oxygen

Do the Democrats really think that their boycotting the State of the Union address will make any difference at all?

Fewer windbags in the room?  Sounds great to me, since there are plenty of other windbags in there.   Is Cowboy Congress-lady boycotting it too?  We’ll miss her ridiculous hat and oversized color-clashing fake rose.

In fact, there’s nothing in the Constitution that says the President has to do a State of the Union in person.  It says that the President  "shall from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.” (Article II, Section 3, Clause 1).

My interpretation is that the statement means that if he chooses to, he could send Congress a letter, send them a postcard from time to time, send them a fax, send them an email, do his State of the Union from the Oval Office, or post it to Twitter or YouTube.   Who cares?

He still has time to cancel the affair and deliver his State of the Union message in another format.  

I’m in favor of the YouTube format.  It would honk off the news networks to no end.   Given the treatment they’ve been giving him since Day 1, that reaction would probably please the President greatly. 

Potty Mouth Liberal Networks Put Swears All Over Their Pages, While Fox Least Follows Journalistic Standards; So Does CBS News and ABC News

Oh, we shouldn’t forget our friend Drudge, where we expect this kind of language.  He didn’t disappoint:

I’d just like to point out that those networks that don’t bother with journalistic ethics on their web sites anymore with regards to President Trump are extensions of the Democratic Party, and they’ve proven it with their headlines.  They went for the shock value.    And they wonder why the Trump Administration is so hostile toward them.  Duh!

Hey, Academy Awards!! Your Response to the Weinstein Problem is of Your Making, So Don’t You Dare Regret What You’ve Done Now, Plus Oscar Notes

There was a huge push in liberal Hollywood to excommunicate Harvey Weinstein from everything related to the moviemaking industry, including the Academy Awards, the Screen Actors Guild, the organization behind the Oscars, his own Weinstein Company, and tons of others.

I do not disagree with the decisions to do so, though it’d be better if he was charged with a crime or sued for damages and had his day in court, as well as his victims.  Innocent until proven guilty…does that ring a bell, Hollywood?  Over the last few days, some in the Academy Awards have been quoted as regretting their decision to ban Weinstein so hastily.   Oh, really?

The reason behind the heartburn is that now they have others that they have to deal with, including some of Hollywood’s elite names.

I don’t feel too sorry for their problem.  They made the correct decision, now it’s time to chuck some others out and clean up their act.   I think they’re going to screw things up and not use the same standards that they used against Weinstein.

On a side note related to Weinstein, the Oscars are coming up soon, and there were Twitter rumors going around that Harvey Weinstein was at the hotel that the Oscars were being held at.  His spokesperson denied it.   In any case, there was a huge freak-out in Hollywood.   I wonder what would happen if he did show up.  Would he be allowed in, and how much screaming would be going on?   And would he be wearing black like everybody else?

I will be skipping the Oscars; it’s just another liberal Democratic rally with a different theme this year.  I anticipate lots of potshots at the White House again.