American Politics, Current events, Epstein files, Trump

The New McCarthyism

December 19, 2025 pleasethink1 Leave a comment

In 1905 George Santayana wrote “Those who cannot remember history are condemned to repeat it.” Today western society is on the verge of imploding because we cannot remember the past. Politicians and news outlets, on both sides of the aisle, have reverted to using supposition and innuendo to libel anyone who does not agree with their political ideology.

While there are many examples in history that should tell us of the danger the most effective is to go back to the McCarthy era. While McCarthy used the red scare tactic, calling out people as Communist the new McCarthy’s are calling out those who disagree with them Nazis or Homophobes or Islamophobes etc. The reason is the same and the results are the same. Paint your opposition as dangerous and then ruin them personally.

In the past, the House Committee on Un-American Activities was responsible for promoting witch hunts, but now similar behaviors are seen in various Congressional hearings and through political influence over government departments such as the Justice Department and the FBI. The press has also joined in with inuendo and sometimes outright lies.

We can go back and look at the January 6 committee that had already concluded its findings before even the first hearings. Some will say there is no proof of this and that it was a fair hearing that collected strong evidence. However, the committee destroyed the evidence. The constant calling Trump a liar and a pedophile with noting to back it up. Although efforts are being made to release the Epstein files—whatever they may contain—Trump faces allegations of being associated with Epstein, despite substantial evidence suggesting otherwise. A recent photo dump from Democrat lawmakers from the House Oversight Committee show one of Trump surrounded by women with there faces redacted implying, as the photo was from the Epstein estate, that Trump was in fact part of the trafficking. Although the photo was revealed to be an old image of adult models at Mar-a-Lago, it continued to circulate online as supposed evidence. Even though similar photos have been exposed as photoshopped, they continue to surface as alleged evidence.

Representative Jasmine Crockett did a deep dive on contribution by Jeffery Eptsein to prove he was still part of the Trump team. She showed money coming from Epstein to republican candidate such as Lee Zelden, only it was the wrong Epstein. When confronted she said that her staff did quick research, and they never said it was that Epstein but an Epstein.

This all tracks with the concept of “McCarthyism”, the truth does not matter just the accusation.

McCarthyism and the Red Scare put the country in a dark place and runed lives. We appear to be returning to this time with the left using anything to attack the right. This has once again put the country in a dark place. There is no true governance that does not include an attack on the other side. Effecting politicians ignore any positive coming from the right and in fact will automatically reject any proposals that do not meet their agenda. This needs to stop quickly or we will lose our society.

Russia, Trump, Ukraine, Uncategorized

What the Hell is Going on with Ukraine

December 2, 2025 pleasethink1 Leave a comment

Last month the Trump administration put forth a 28-point plan to end the war in Ukraine. The plan at first glance looked like a complete capitulation to Russia. A second and third glance does not make the plan look any better. It calls for a reduction of the Ukraine military, a promise to not attack Russia or try to reclaim lost territory and blocking Ukraine from ever becoming a NATO member. The rest of the plan is much the same, Ukraine gives and Russia takes. While Ukraine was not a party to this they have agreed to the concept. Trump being more of a businessman then a politician sees this plan as an opening of a negotiation and has said it is not his final offer. What does that mean?

While any analysis must begin with the assumption that it means exactly what it says and that it must be taken as a final offer. As a former intelligence analyst I must assume at some point the position of a red team or devil’s advocate. In this position I will look at as many alternative reasons as possible.

From the beginning it had to have been known that this proposal was totally unacceptable to Ukraine. It gives Russia everything it wanted with nothing in return for Ukraine. But what about the other parties that must be considered, especially Europe.

Trump for years has chastised Europe for its lack of decisive action on anything. The EU and its member nations have supported Ukraine by backing the U.S. and suppling arms. With this proposal European security is threatened as this gives yet another win to Russia along with its victory over Georgia and the recognition of independent Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which are in fact vassal states to Russia. Then there was the Russia annexation of Crimea, support to Syria and interference in Africa, among others.

The first alternative analysis therefore is that the proposal was designed to force Europe to step up and be more committed to the defense of Ukraine and to take responsibility for its neighborhood.

While it was assumed that Ukraine would outright reject the proposal there appears to be some backdoor negotiations that have allowed them to accept with the provision it was not final as Trump had said. While Russia should have accepted without hesitation there appear to be some aspects that have made them hesitate to accept. It maybe that while it calls for provisions in Ukrainian law that they will never join NATO there is an opening for them to become full members of the European Union which does carry some mutual defense provisions. The true aim of the Russian invasion was to take full control of Ukraine membership in the EU would be a strong block.

The second alternative analysis is that it would be rejected by Russia and therefore open the door for a stronger U.S. and European presence in Ukraine and block Russia both militarily and economically. It would also allow Europe to release frozen Russian assets to Ukraine.

To make it clear I have no direct knowledge of these negotiations and the observations are made based on years of analysis and a study of history. I also read art of the deal and the follow on books that give me some insight into Trumps thinking.

Afghanistan, Current events, Uncategorized

Why Did He Do It?

December 1, 2025 pleasethink1 Leave a comment

After Rahmanullah Lakanwal shot two National Guard troops, killing one the press and others are on the usual trail of looking for a motive. Many are asking why he was allowed into the country without being vetted, others say he was vetted and worked for the CIA. How could a person who was supposedly an ally and who worked closely with Americans in Afghanistan have suddenly become a cold-blooded killer?

There has been much speculation on this with law enforcement saying they are still looking into a motive. So let me throw in my two cents worth.

America is a very open and welcoming country, but it does have its own culture similar to many western countries but distinct. While it is similar enough to many other cultures it is also different from others. The difference is enough to cause culture shock to those who have not been prepared.

We should concentrate on preparing new immigrants beforehand. Smauel Huntington in The Clash of Civilizations spoke of this with the story of the country boy who went to the city and found the only thing familiar was the Mosque. Without any contact with his old life, he was easily radicalized. This or something similar is likely what happened to Lakanwal.

There is nothing racist or nationalistic about observing the difference in culture, but it is necessary to ensure safety for all concerned. There was an article out today about an honor killing in the Netherlands in 2022, were a father and brothers killed an 18 year old for becoming too western. A final sentence will be issued in January 2026.

It was not until 2021 that female genital mutilation was made a federal crime and to date only 41 states have outlawed the practice. Supporters of the practice claimed it to be a religious/cultural practice.

There is nothing wrong with protecting you culture and insisting that new comers assimilate into your society. In the past refugees coming into the U.S. were given support and there was a process that allowed them ease of entry into our society.

We need to ensure that those who have been allowed entry are assimilated. You do not have to give up ethnic or cultural identity but we must return to the days when immigrants became American.

American Politics, American Politics, Current events, Military

To Six Members of Congress (you know who you are) Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, Over

November 25, 2025 pleasethink1 Leave a comment

“Are you Really going to do That? Why is it wrong? Just asking a question.”

every Solder, Sailor, Marine, and Airman knows they do not have to follow an illegal order. The statement that you were just reminding the troops of their legal obligations is just so much hot air. Everyone with a brain knows what you were doing and the intended message of your double speak. By attempting to sow doubt into the minds of those who are defending your right to say such nonsense is despicable. Your lawyers of course were smart enough to have you to include the term “Illegal” order, but the intent is not lost.

The rest of their backers then come out with reminders of the Nurenberg trials and the establishment of the fact that just following orders is not a legal defense. This again warps intent. The bulk of the defendants at Nurenberg were senior political and military leaders. Should POTUS or any senior military leader give an American service member an illegal order then they should face the consequence.

Your video, however, seemed aimed at private Joe Snuffy who would never be able to understand the nuances of an order being legal or not. If you are on duty guarding a federal building in some city when you see a large crowd screaming and running at you waving foreign flags, what do you do? You have been told that the use of deadly force in authorized and your officers order you to open fire as this crowd is a group of terrorist intent on killing the people inside, yet someone says don’t shoot as this is a peaceful group of innocent protestors, now what.

On the one hand you are obligated to obey the orders of the officers in charge and yet some politicians reminded you that you are obligated to disobey an illegal order. Do you all get together and discuss it? This is the problem with the kind of dangerous rhetoric that comes from that video. Your video has all the earmarks of an old Soviet stile disinformation campaign. The first and foremost aspect is that it contains a kernel of truth, that you do not have to obey an illegal order.

This video was not directed at the troops as a reminder but rather to the public to say the President and the rest of the senior chain of command are breaking the law because they do not agree with his politics. If you want to say that you disagree with the policies and direction of the President, fine. Just do not hide behind a false moral stand.

American Politics, Current events, Epstein files, Maxwell, Trump, Uncategorized

What is the Future of the Epstein Files?

November 19, 2025 pleasethink1 Leave a comment

What is next, now that Congress has passed legislation demanding the Justice Department release the #Epstein Files? To begin Jeffrey Epstein was a degenerate creep that prayed on young girls and developed a sex trafficking network that is reported to have many rich and important clientele. #Epstein began his professional life as a stock trader and then a financial consultant. In this portion of his life, he became affiliated with many rich and powerful men both in business and government. He will however only be remembered for being a sexual predator and procurer. This is how it should be. Unfortunately, his criminal activities have become politicized to the point that the crimes have become secondary to the political circus that it has evolved into.

It is highly unlikely that there is a “list” as most people understand the term. There are, however, tens of thousands of pages of evidence. Do these tens of thousands of pages directly link people to actions, probably not.

To begin with Epstein was not stupid. He was a creep, a degenerate and a narcissist, but not stupid. Epstein was arrested and jailed in July of 2006 and went to jail in June of 2008. If there was extensive evidence against him it was likely destroyed years ago. It is interesting to note that in this case, attorney Brad Edwards who represented many of Epstein’s victims said that Trump was the “only person that helped in the persecution of Epstein.” Which brings us to the brouhaha that is the political circus we see today.

In the world of business and politics most of the rich and powerful knew each other. #Trump knew Epstein. Trump Knew Sen. #Shumer, Trump knew the #Clintons, they all knew each other. They meet each other at diner parties and other events. While Trump was one of many that knew Epstein, he is one of few who took action against him. He removed Epstein from membership in Mar-a-Lago and as stated provided information against.

This brings us to the last chapters of the case. Epstein was arrested in July 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges. This was in the last months of Trumps first administration. Epstein shortly thereafter committed suicide or was murdered, subject for another time. This then ended any formal investigation into him. The investigations continued into his associate #Ghislaine Maxwell who was arrested in July of 2020, during Trumps first term, and then convicted.

Her conviction came in January of 2021 at the beginning of the Biden administration. Since Epstein was dead and the Judge in the case closed it there apparently was no further investigation other than into Maxwell. For four years the files sat undisturbed, until Trump was elected for a second term.

Trump made the mistake of promising to release the files when he got to the White House then it was compounded by the Attorney General Pam Bondi saying the list was on her desk. If there is no list why promise. Because there were files but not what anyone would consider a list. Trump should have explained this even knowing the left would attack him for lying. All this has done is opened up the door for the lefts propaganda campaign of “Release the Epstein Files.” Democrat politicians pound the desk and say if he has nothing to hide why not release the files. While others rightly say if there is anything in those files why didn’t Biden release them in the four years, he was president.

There are two possibilities for the delay. First there are things in the files that could compromise national security or other ongoing investigations. Second the files are so large and extensive that Trump knows that the left can take them apart and release out of contexts sections. An example is the recent email the Dems release from Epstein that proports to show Trumps collusion. By redacting the name of the “victim” it indicates Trump was involved. When the actual email was shown the “victim was #Virginia Giuffre who has repeatedly said Trump was never involved in any thing to do with the sex trafficking. What makes it worse is since the Democrats on the committee had this email for years they did not release it until Giuffre was dead and could not rebut it.

There is a third possibility, Trump knows exactly what is going to be released and that it is going to cause a lot of trouble for the left. It is now a waiting game and there will be no end. The most important information may also be in the grand jury testimony which release has been blocked by three left wing judges.

Stay tuned…

American Politics, American Politics, Current events, Uncategorized

Is the Signal Chat leak the End of Civilization As We Know it or a Nothing burger?

March 26, 2025 pleasethink1 Leave a comment

OK a group chat included the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine, Jeffrey Goldberg. The chat discussed the political implications of an attack by the United States on the terrorist group known as the Houthis and was designed to be between high level government officials. The Houthis are a radical Islamic terrorist group They started out rebelling against the government in Yemen and have been for years attacking shipping entering or exiting the Red Sea from the Suez Canal. Houthis use weapons supplied by Iran to disrupt commercial traffic that supplies a large percentage of good to the world.

So why has the United States only now acted? This was not the first strike by the U.S. just the latest. What is the problem with the leak from the Atlantic and why was Goldberg even on the chat.

The questions that must be answered are whether Goldbergs’ inclusion was a mistake or intentional? How much of what was in the chat classified?

To answer the last question from Waltz’s text on March 14, per the New York Times, he advised the group that the Presidents guidance would be in their high side inboxes. High side is government speak for classified, and reading through the rest of the messages there was nothing that could be called classified. What was released would at best been noted as sensitive but not classified, yes there is a classification for things that are not classified. So, what do we know? There was classified material provided between the principals but not in the signal text. So, to that point there were no war plans or other secrets discussed on signal.

Now to the inclusion of Goldberg. It was either intentional or unintentional, so which was it? We do not know and may never know so the following is speculation based on a lifetime of being in the IC and studying history.

It may have been unintentional but how? Why would Goldberg even be on Waltz’s contact list? If he was on the contact list, which would have allowed for his inclusion in the group, or the list of some staffer who added him to Waltz’s contact list by mistake. To accept this scenario requires the belief that a number of mistakes were made within the confines of the NSC and no one caught it in time. I would say the odds of this are less than 10%.

The more likely scenario is that Goldberg was added intentionally for an unknown reason. The first and most likely reason is that someone wanted to embarrass Waltz or cause harm. It must be remembered that this administration has only been in office for a little over two months. There is likely many in holdovers that are not happy. If this is the case, they will be found. A second but less likely scenario is that for some reason the administration wanted the information to leak or for it to find its way to allies or enemies. A similar use of a journalist was during the Cuban missile crises when both the U.S. and the Soviet Union used ABC News correspondent John Scali to pass backdoor messages. This is unlikely as Scali was an ally of Kennedy and Goldberg is an enemy of Trump. Be more interested in

In any case we need to wait and see what facts come out as there has been nothing to date other than the Signal Chat was passed to Goldberg, and the Houthis were hit. We should in fairness to all parties since nothing classified was passed and lesions learned we need to all just sit back and Pleasethink.

American Politics, International Politics, Russia, Ukraine

In Defense of Ukraine

March 18, 2025 pleasethink1 Leave a comment

The Trump administration is moving to end a war that should never have started. The weakness of the last administration and a generation’s long loss of military credibility are a main source of the problem. Working to restore the deterrence that was a hallmark of American strength will be required to achieve peace; the actions being taken now are heading in the wrong direction and they may end in ways we do not wish to imagine.

We must first get past the hyperbole and Trumpisms that are going to be misrepresented by both sides. To arrive were we want to we must first acknowledge facts, Russia is the bad guy in this scenario and there is no way around that. To say the war was started by Ukraine and that they could have ended it is a total mischaracterization of historic facts. All of this is a repeat of history. When the secret pacts of Europe led to the First World War. When the League if Nations failed to contain the imperial ambitions of Japan and Italy. The failure of the Munich Agreement that was to guarantee peace in our time but led to the Second World War. The attempt by the west to appease Stalin that brought enforced dictatorship to half of Europe for half a century.

Recent events have shown the true nature and intent of Putin to reestablish the Soviet Union. While Trump and the rest in the administration believe they can negotiate with Putin his response to the ceasefire agreement recently presented shows he has no intention of negotiating.

The 20^th century should be a map of what not to do in regard to world politics. World War One started because of power grabs by major European powers. At the end those European powers were drained of capitol and will. This allowed the rise of extremism, communism, fascism and imperialism. Attempts to appease dictators brought war. Following war we got more war. This brought attempts to contain war to small regions. Now we have come full circle back to attempts to appease dictators. These attempts will fail as have those in the past. The truth is Putin started the war after the west did nothing to curb his past aggressions. Saying NATO is the root cause rejects his invasions of Georgia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia to start, then the annexation of Crimea and then Donetsk and Luhansk. Failure to show strength against Italy and Japan gave Hitler the courage to attack Poland. Will failure to show strength against Russia give China the courage to attack Taiwan?

While Biden did all he could to blame Trump for all the ills in the world, conservatives point to the Biden’s involvement with criminal activities in Ukraine. This last overshadows all discussions about Ukraine. Biden and the Dems poured billions into Ukraine therefore any attempt to help Ukraine must be wrong. Since we have sent 300 billion plus dollars into the war with no end in sight there must be a problem with Ukraine. Given the fact that Ukraine with a much smaller army has been able to fight Russia to a stalemate is evidence that the money is not wasted. The fact that the U.S. along with the west has openly said it will not introduce ground forces into the war allows the much larger Russia to continue with a war of attrition that they will likely win if nothing changes. Trump is attempting to move negotiations forward when in fact Russia is not negotiating. Their main demands remain unchanged, they pick the government and leaders of Ukraine and Ukraine can never become part of NATO. We are then only negotiating the timeline of when Russia wins.

Putin has made no attempt to hide his ambition and desire to reestablish the Soviet Union. And history has shown us that the only way to stop him is through force or a credible threat of force. This is not Europe’s problem this is the world’s problem.

Domestic policy and foreign policy may follow different roads but need to lead to the same destination. America First does not exclude what happens in the rest of the world. To ensure the future of the American dream America First must include America Leads. And America leads best when sticking to the principles of our founding. We must protect the innocents from the bullie

American Politics, Current events

The Ministry of Truth

February 19, 2025 pleasethink1 Leave a comment

Orwell lives. Recently a CBS News journalist, Margaret Brennen, made the claim on air that weaponization of freedom of speech in NAZI Germany was the cause of the holocaust. The push back was immediate, and the statement was slammed for its absurdity. The push back came mostly from the right with little response from mainstream media. This was followed by a CBS “60 Minutes” segment that praised German law and police actions that suppress freedom of speech both in person and on the internet.

The German laws come as a surprise even too many Germans. When their homes are raided and their electronics sized, they argue it is their right under the freedom of speech laws. They are informed that while they have freedom of speech there are limits. If there are limits to freedom of speech, is there in fact no freedom of speech.

Many will cite 1984 and Orwellian concepts as a warning to the future and that we need to be careful in the present. While knowing the book 1984 and its concepts few understand what has in fact crept into today’s thinking. A philosophy known as post-modernism or Woke as most people understand it today. The fictional Ministry of Truth in Orwell book declared “WAR IS PEACE’, “FREEDOM IS SLAVERY”, and “IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.” People today look at this and understand that this is propaganda and was fictional. Yet, these people are willing to accept concepts such as “Math is Racist” or “Gender is a Social Construct.” The founding fathers knew the importance of freedom of speech. Madison, Jefferson and others maintained that freedom of speech is necessary for the establishment of self-government and to encourage the exchange of ideas.

Today those who benefit most from these freedoms are the ones who most often oppose them. Knowingly or not the first reaction to reports that may bring an opposing point of view is denied or belittled. The Russia Hoax, Hunters laptop, etc. are reported only to expand or deny their existence.

We are seeing now how what our founders knew to be true, the harder you push the harder the harder the push back is. The more the people are denied the ability to speak and present their side the more they gather together. When one side tries so hard to repress facts the more people will band together, even those who would not normally. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. People like Robert Kennedy and Tulsi Gabbard are now working with Trump and the Republicans, not because they have become conservative but because they were denied a seat at the table of those, they once called friend.

Vice-Presidents Vance’s recent speech to the Munich Security Conference must be a call to all about the evils of censorship and denial of Freedoms. While directed at Europe the United States is not far behind. We do not yet have the draconian laws that many European countries do, we have been on the brink. Pleasethink about were we came from and were we may be headed.

American Politics, Current events

Our Election and Democracy

July 24, 2024 pleasethink1 Leave a comment

It has now been three days since the democrat party initiated a #coup and removed the president. While technically still in office. it is apparent that he is not in charge. He has not been in charge for some time, but now it’s out in the open. The Democrats like to say they are saving democracy, yet #Biden won his primaries because the party would not allow anyone to run against him and now Harris has been anointed without a primary.

The left is now touting Biden as the best president that has ever been while building up #Harris as the second coming of #Obama. This last comes from the Wisconsin rally that the organizers said had the energy level they have not seen since Obama. We all remember when Biden in the last election said if you don’t vote for him you ain’t black. Now MSNBCs Joy Reid posted “”Given just the stratospheric entrance of Vice President Kamala Harris into the presidential campaign, and she has now secured enough delegates to become the nominee, you’re going to look real crazy being on the other side of that line, particularly as a person of color, but really as anyone who claims to have any connection to the culture, You’re going to look real weird and real lonely on that side,” she added. “You’re really going to look crazy being on that side given the cultural phenomenon of Vice President Kamala Devi Harris. She’s about to make history. She’s about to become the first woman president.”

We now know that she will run on the platform that Trump is a convicted felon and a sex offender, both of which were shown not to be true, and the felony conviction will likely be overturned. To this point she says she knows his type and she is likely right as she is the same type of prosecutor that has gone after #Trump. Does not care about the facts, the law, and will intimidate witnesses.

I hope this time around the Republicans can run a campaign that just deals with the issues and ignores the lefts taunts. While the left has lived off ideological statements and feel-good legislation, the people have had to face reduced standards of living. We need to demand a government that will be responsive to the people and not the party. We will hear about the threats MAGA and Project 2025 pose to democracy without hearing about how and why. MAGA has become a pejorative and Project 2025 a term that no one on the left or right understands or has read. At the end of the day Project 2025 has been rejected by Trump yet the left started a misinformation campaign including setting up a Trump Project 2025 web site. I will not tell anyone how to vote only to PLEASETHINK and research issues and candidates

American Politics, American Politics, Current events

Project 2025

July 9, 2024 pleasethink1 Leave a comment

Recently there has been a lot of talk from the left regarding a think piece from the Heritage Foundaton known to the left as Project 2025, the title is actually “Mandate for Leadership 2025: The Conservative Promise.” According to the left this is a handbook that will allow Donald Trump to become a dictator and destroy democracy. I will admit to not having read the full 920 pages I did skim most of it and drilled into the parts the left continues to point out as draconian.

What I discovered is that it is a think piece from a conservative think tank that pushes conservative values. While the left claims it will make the President all powerful, it calls for a reduction of the bureaucracy and for the President to be more directly accountable to the people. In other words it calls for a smaller government. It also calls for more power to be returned to the people.

None of this is new or revolutionary. It is a basic conservative manifesto that pushes conservative ideology. This is no different from the left using post-modern/woke/CRT ideals to run the government. The difference is it is upfront and in writing rather than hidden behind a bunch of buzz words.

If you don’t believe me I suggest you read it for yourself instead of having it spoon feed to you with all the bias.