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.