The Invasion of the Capitol Building

On January 6, 2021 a large crowd of Trump supporters and others approached the Capitol while Congress was in joint session to certify the electors from the states. Most of the Trump supporters wanted the Congress to send the electors back to some states for investigation and recertification. There was really not much hope for that once the Vice President declined to act.

A few of the people decided to invade the Capitol, while most stayed outside. There are varying and conflicting stories about who these people were, and how many actually broke into the Capitol Building. There is even some video indicating that the Capitol Police actually let some people in.

We do not know yet just who all of those people are, but certainly at least some were Trump supporters, and some were not.

The investigation is ongoing, and one hopes there will be transparency so we can all learn the truth of what occurred. Unfortunately, politics will likely intervene, and everything will be spun against the Trump folks and the President himself. That is just the way in Washington, D.C. Truth is rarely the objective there, sadly.

One thing is perfectly clear, however. Those who entered the Capitol Building violated the law, and they should be identified and prosecuted. One has First Amendmant rights, but that does not permit what we saw on that day and evening.

Another thing that should be perfectly clear is that those who are Trump supporters that participated in the invasion betrayed their President and their fellow law abiding Trump supporters. Actions such as that can never be tolerated.

We should all pray for those who died and were injured. And pray for healing in our country, as we await the results of the investigation.

Trump, the Media and the Rest of Us

A large number of the media, the political left and a few weakling Republicans really have their drawers in a wad over Trump calling out the media. Needless to say, none of them spoke up when Obama did it on several occasions.

It seems they believe that for Trump to criticize them, such would violate their First Amendment rights to freedom of the press. Let us take a look at the First Amendment:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.^[1]

 The first thing that should stand out upon reading this is that Trump is not Congress, and is not "abridging" the freedom of the press. He is merely being very highly critical of the media, something other presidents have done throughout our history.

Another thing that should stand out is that to prevent an individual from criticizing the media, or anyone else, would certainly abridge that person's rights to freedom of speech.

So everyone needs to relax. The First Amendment is not threatened by President Trump.

We should turn our attention to why Trump is critical of the media. There are so many instances of dishonest and mistake stories in the media, that there is no space for it. The Federalist ran a story about sixteen of the false stories some time ago. One can find it here.

There are many more. The latest is the false story about Trump telling about a terror attack in Sweden that did not occur. All o f the media ran with it, although it was clear from the beginning that he just flat did not say what they reported. It did fit the anti-Trump, pro-leftwing narrative, so they pushed it as long as they could. Once the truth came out, the story was already around for long enough that it could not really be taken back. A simple reading of his speech would have made clear instantly that he was not speaking of a terror attack, but of the situation in Sweden where they have lost control of the Muslim immigrants.

A few days earlier the AP ran with a story about an unsigned memo that had been leaked from DHS. It was written by some staff member and was not adopted. AP's headlines ran alleging Trump was sending 100,000 National Guard troops to round up illegal aliens. The memo in question did not  put a number on the troops  at all, but AP invented the number. Looks like 'fake news" to anyone.

In addition, AP apparently forgot that it was OK with them when Obama sent Guard troops to the border a few years ago.

What is made clear is that the media bitterly opposes Donald Trump, and will say or do anything to embarrass him or take him down. That latter is their object. One has to read all of the news with that in mind.

The question remains: "What should Trump do about it?"

There are not many options, and really only one that can be used without infringing upon the First Amendment. That is to simply attack the media back, which is exactly what he is doing.

In the past, wimpy Republicans, afraid of the media and wanting to pander to them, would have said nothing. John McCain comes to mind. He let the media destroy his vice-presidential nominee without ever really standing up to them. He also wouldn't let her defend herself. Now, in his cowardly way, he is highly critical of Trump for fighting back.

Right now, it appears that Trump is holding his own by attacking the media for their bias and dishonesty. He needs to continue. If he doesn't, all that will be before the public is what the media fabricates, invents or misconstrues. He would shortly be finished.

That would eventually leave us with the government the media wants: a leftist, progressive, socialist government that they can inordinately influence. That would be a sad day for the United States of American.

The Boy Who Cried "Wolf!"

Over 2000 years ago, Aesop wrote a fable about a boy, who tasked with guarding some sheep, continually alarmed the citizens by crying "wolf!" when there was no wolf. After a time of this falsity, the townspeople came to disregard the boy's cries. Then the wolf really did come, nobody believed it, and the wolf ate the sheep.

Most of us heard some version of this when growing up. It is pertinent now because much the same is occurring with our media.

The First Amendment protects freedom of the press because it was believed, correctly, at the time that a free and independent press was necessary to help guard our freedoms from those in government who would infringe upon them.

Ever since Donald Trump got the Republican nomination, the mainstream media has done everything it could to discredit and destroy him.

They have exaggerated, lied, invented stories, and falsely reported other stories. There has been a constant drumbeat of this from the entire spectrum of the media. If anything could be reported that would harm Trump or his supporters it has been done.

They even invented the term "fake news" to discredit sites which favored Trump. This apparently has backfired to some extent.

One can expect this to continue as long as Trump is President..

The Federalist recently ran a story about "16 Fake News Stories Reporter Have Run Since Trump Was Elected." This story only touches upon the tip of the iceberg.

Over the years, the media has remained free, but not independent. It is almost entirely owned or controlled by left wing establishment elites who almost exclusively support the Democratic Party. The result has been a lot of fake news, and failure to cover news that might be favorable to Trump.

The people are no longer fooled. A poll by Emerson College recently found that 49% of those polled viewed Trump as truthful, while 53% find the media untruthful. Last September, the Gallup Organization reported: "Americans' Trust in Mass Media Sinks to New Low." The poll found that only 32% of Americans trust the media "to report the news fully, accurately and fairly." This was the lowest in Gallup's history, and probably explains why the media effort to defeat Trump failed.

The knowledge of the corrupt media by the public leaves us in much the same quandary as the townspeople in Aesop's Fable. There is no longer any trust.

So who is going to help guard our freedoms now?

Donald Trump was elected while violating all of the old political rules in terms of tactics and strategy. He came out of the blue with a message that resonated with a lot of people in the great center (politically and geographically) of the country and won the Electoral Vote, though not the popular vote.

Many of his proposed policies are controversial

In addition, Trump may be a successful businessman, but he has absolutely no experience in governing. Running a government is far different that running a business. It is as much about leading as demanding, and Mr. Trump is unproven to say the least.

He will certainly make mistakes.

Unfortunately, there is nobody believable to call him on it. The Democrats, of course, are rabidly partisan. And with the constant crying of "wolf" by the media, there is no one left to guard the sheep.

The Mad, Lame, Duck

About ten years ago, Barack Hussein Obama was looking like a candidate for the Democratic Party's nomination for president. For those who were interested, there was a wealth of information available about him, if one were to look carefully.

His hometown newspaper ran a series on him in 2007 which were very revealing, yet kept the data of his prior years concealed, as Obama had continually fought to do ever since.

We have not seen his real birth certificate, though he released a fake one. We know very little about his schooling since he has religiously kept those records secret as well

There was, however, plenty of information available to anyone who really looked that told enough about him to raise grave questions about his suitability. Most of what he did as president could have been predicted. For reference, see the series in the Chicago Tribune here. Unlike in 2007, most of it is now behind a paywall, but it is there.

In addition, there were his books, rumored to have been ghostwritten by Weather Underground's Bill Ayers. What was there has been pretty predictive as well.

Then there was his membership in the church of Black liberation preacher and America hater Jeremiah Wright. Any person that heard or saw Wright's "God Damn America" sermon should have seen what Obama was part of, and where he would go.

Most voters didn't read about him, or did not care, so we ended up with him as our president for eight years.

Now, looking back on those eight years, we can see how his past has predicted his presidency. He was born to a black Muslim communist African from Kenya and a white mother who was the daughter and granddaughter of communists. He spent his early years in Indonesia with his mother and an Indonesian Muslim named Soetero. He attended Muslim schools where he prayed to Allah four times a day. Approaching his teens, he went back to Hawaii to be cared for by his communist grandparents, and be mentored by a known communist. He went to college first in California, then to Columbia and on to Harvard Law School. Records from those years have been scrupulously hidden.

His presidency has been about a fundamental transformation of America, and he has pulled out all of the stops to get it done.

The America we have all known and loved had learned through long years that a strong America was necessary to peace. Obama apologized to the world for the strong America, and set out to make it weak. And he has succeeded. He has turned our military into a hollow shell, and has them engaging in social experimentation to the detriment of readiness.

He has offended our friends, and bowed and apologized to our enemies.

He left a political and military vacuum when his red line in Syria meant nothing, and paved the way for Russian and Iran to fill the vacuum.

He has enabled Iran to get nuclear weapons, and provided them the money to finance that, and terrorism, around the world. He has allowed Iran to become a regional power and a formidable enemy.

Essentially, he is leaving the United States a much weaker nation than it was when he took office. There cn be no argument that this was deliberate.

Since the election of Donald Trump, Obama has engaged in multiple acts to try to make certain that American remains weakened.

Probably the worst thing he has done is stab America's friend Israel in the back. For decades, the United States had a commitment to veto UN resolutions affecting Israel. Jimmy Carter made a commitment as part of the Oslo Accords that Israel relied upon in making concessions to the Palestinians. Every president since has honored that until December, when Obama not only failed to veto the resolution that made Judea, Samaria and East Jerusalem "occupied" (and therefore Palestinian) territory, his administration actually orchestrated it all.

The worst part is there will likely be more to come. There is strong evidence that another resolution will be rushed through before Trump takes office that would recognize the Palestinian state and give them a seat in the UN.

This is shameful to the extreme. It is also something that one would expect from a man that was raised a Muslim, who in his book said he would side with the Muslims, and who was mentored by communists.

Anybody who wanted to do the research could have seen all of this coming. What will his last fifteen days reveal? We will see him continue to do as much damage as he can.

The Trump Phenomenon------And the Winner Is.....

The winner of the election, of course, was Donald Trump and those who supported him. Whether that will result in the electorate being winners will await history. After breaking all of the "rules' of retail politics, Trump scored a rousing victory in the Electoral College, which is what has always counted.

The loser(s)? That almost has to be a tie between Hillary Clinton and her Democrat supporters, and the corporate "mainstream" media, which lost all of their power and influence in one fell swoop. Of course they did so because the public discovered that with few exceptions, the media were Hillary's Democrat supporters as well.

The Democratic Party is now in disarray, with no leadership going forward. They have even sunk so low that the leading contender for their National Democratic Committee chairman is a known associate of and sympathizer with the Nation of Islam and militant Islam.

Also losers were the Republican establishment and the "conservative" pundits who were #NeverTrumpers. The establishment, of course, still holds power with the speakership of Paul Ryan, but that power is waning. If Ryan tries to hold up the programs that got Trump elected, he will be very vulnerable when the next election cycle comes around.

"Conservative" publications like National Review have lost much of their influence. They have clearly lost contact with the people and went off on a rigidly dogmatic series of rants about Trump.

Will Trump make winners of us all? That, of course, remains to be seen, but he is off to a pretty impressive start.

He has most of his cabinet much earlier than most, and has conducted it all quite openly, which is a big change. C-Span has had cameras on the elevators at Trump Tower, and recorded all of the traffic coming in to see Trump. Other administrations have conducted the cabinet search in secret. This is a welcome change.

Trump continues to tweet, which disturbs some. He is the first to ever use this kind of social media. The one thing it does is keep him ahead of the media, which has proved itself to be totally untrustworthy. He says he would not need to do it if the media would cover him honestly. That is pretty true. It is his way of addressing the public over the heads of the media, which will often slant what he says.

Even though the Electoral College has not met to ratify his win, and he has not been sworn in, Trump is already acting to set the tone of his new administration.

He and Pence "persuaded" Carrier to remain in Indiana instead of moving to Mexico. Obama mocked him for saying he would do it, but he got it done.

Trump has also begun to set an important line in foreign policy. During Obama's term, China has been very aggressively extending their power throughout the South China Sea, which is  a very important sea lane for the US and its allies in the region. Obama has not vigorously opposed this and China has become more aggressive as time has gone by. The message from Obama has been that they need not worry about the US, that we would just back off.

Trump put a stop to that and sent a strong message to China (and to the rest of the world) that China could no longer have their way in the South China Sea without serious consequences.

That is the meaning of the telephone call with the President of Taiwan, and of Trump referring to her as the President of Taiwan. This was a break with 40 years of diplomacy with China (started by, you guessed it, Jimmy Carter).

Perhaps the most important message he is sending is with his proposed appointments.

Mattis at Defense signals a tough approach to rebuilding our military, as trump has proposed.

Tillerson at State has spent his adult life negotiating tough international trade deals, including with Putin.

Price at Health and Human Services has long been an advocate of repealing Obamacare.

Puzder at Labor has long fought labor policies of the left.

De Vos at Education is a foe of Common Core and supporter of school choice and charter schools.

Perry at Energy has proposed abolishing the department.

Pruit at EPA has a long record of fighting senseless environmental regulations.

Gen. John Kelly, appointed to Homeland Security is an expert on defending the southern border as the former head of the US Southern Command.

There are more, and the sum total of them signal the direction Trump wishes to move when he takes office.

They also are very successful people, almost all from the private sector, who have long records of accomplishment. They will need that experience in dealing with the entrenched bureaucracies, which will fight very hard to impede change.

Can Trump and his folks succeed? Let us all hope so, for if he does, we all become the winners of this election.

The losers will remain the same.

The Trump Phenomenon......The End Game

It is Sunday before the Tuesday election, and over 40 million Americans have already voted. Trump, who has violated a lot of the "rules" of running a political campaign is doing so again.

He is campaigning in the so-called "blue states" that rarely vote for  Republican candidate. He is also drawing huge crowds there. Seven different states are on his schedule today.

Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, is following the "rules" and campaigning in two of the "battleground" states.

Seven appearances for Trump and only two for Clinton with two days left.

That raises the question: does she think she is that far ahead, or can she only physically do two appearances in one day?

Since the last post, Trump has become a much better candidate. He has gotten off of Twitter, and has kept on message. His speeches are smooth and coherent. His advertising is quite well done

He has drawn huge crowds everywhere he has gone. Enthusiastic crowds.

Clinton has been Clinton, with her team only drawing small, unenthusiastic crowds, except of course, when she has an entertainer with her to draw a crowd....entertainers like the crude, vulgar and racist Jay-Z, or the fanny wagging J-LO, or even anti-cop and vulgar Beyonce.

Strange bedfellows, indeed. But they say politics makes strange bedfellows.

Her money has bought the best advertising and "ground game" money can buy. Apparently the money cannot buy love, but it can buy votes. And the Democrat ground game has always been good at stealing votes.

The FBI gave Clinton another clean bill of health for breaking the laws with her email usage. That is not surprising. Obama has totally corrupted the Department of Justice, the FBI and just about every other Federal Agency in Washington. One cannot really believe what they say or do any more.

The polls, as usual, are all over the place, with the average giving Clinton a slight lead within the margin of error. Some are outliers and give Trump a lead. The individual state polls make it a very close race.

Who will win on Tuesday? Will we even know by Wednesday? This is so hotly contested, that barring the quite unexpected landslide for one of them, one can look for lawsuits and challenges from both sides. That, of course, will only divide our population even more. And the courts are not a good place to decide elections.

We should all hope and pray for a landslide for one or the other. Our country really needs to get this election behind us.

That does not seem to be in the cards.

The Trump Phenomenon------Falling Into the Trap

After he had lost a lot of momentum after the conventions by taking on the Khans and other errors, Trump got things back together. He did very well most of August and into September, gaining momentum back and even edging past Hillary Clinton in a number of the polls.

The came the debate. It was watched by around 90 million Americans. It was Trump's opportunity to really put Hillary away.

Of course, everyone knew the debate was going to be set up for Hillary, and Trump should have known it as well, and prepared for it. Instead, he was an amateur and did not do the hours of preparation necessary.

The moderator, of course, did not ask Trump important questions. Instead Trump was asked about completely inconsequential things like birtherism and tax returns. Trumps answers were off the cuff and unprepared....just as one might expect from an amateur. There was no effort to turn the questions back on the moderator as he probably should have done.

On the other side, Hillary was asked softball questions that allowed her to give canned responses consisting of the age old Democratic gobbledygook that they have been saying for decades without there ever having been any positive change. Trump was unable to really inject himself into that side of the debate.

This gave the advantage to Hillary, and she ran with it. She clearly was the "winner" of the debate.

The most important part of the debate from her standpoint was that she was able to lay a trap for Trump by asking him about "Miss Piggy." Trump fell for it. This move got Hillary inside Trump's OODA Loop just like he got inside the loops of so many of his Republican opponents in the primaries

Not only did he fall into the trap, like with the Khans, he kept doubling down on the issue instead of moving on. It became the "news" on the mainstream media for a week or more.

Trump lost all of the momentum and gains he had made. He is now back to the post convention situation with a lost lead and lost momentum......and just a bit over a month to go.

There are two more debates. Trump has to take them seriously and prepare while still getting out and campaigning. He also needs to get off Twitter. It only makes him appear to be not serious.

Can he do it? Maybe. There will be a lot more attacks on him from all directions. Will his ego and nature allow him to respond properly, or will he over do the response?

He is doing a lot of advertising into the election as he should. Most of the ads seem effective, but will be only if they are well placed and reach enough undecided voters.

This is an election between two very flawed candidates, one a rank amateur in politics and the other an experienced, hardened politician with a very shady, perhaps even criminal, background.

Who will win?

It is pretty easy to see who will lose.