Tag Archives: News

American Politics, Current events, Epstein files, Trump

The New McCarthyism

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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.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Afghanistan, Current events, Uncategorized

Why Did He Do It?

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

What is the Future of the Epstein Files?

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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?

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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, Current events

The Ministry of Truth

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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

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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, Current events

If No One is Above the Law…

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Once again, the left is truing to extract a pound of flesh from Donald Trump. The special prosecutor for DoJ has indicted Trump on seven counts of something, we do not know what yet. The powers that be do not yet understand that every time they do this they boost Trumps numbers and drive more independent voters towards him. The problem many have is trying to figure out why there is a double standard for left and right. The incident that drove this indictment began in August of 2022 with a raid on Trumps Mar-a-Lago compound by the FBI. In that raid it is alluded that a number of classified documents were discovered that should have been given to the national archives for storage. Trump has argued that the documents were declassified when he was POTUS and therefore did not need to be transferred out. This is an important point to keep in mind.

Without deciding on Trumps guilt, we have to ask a few questions. Why was Hillary Clinton not indicted for keeping classified documents on her private laptop and further had transferred documents to her aid which she kept on a laptop she shared with her husband who was a convicted felon? What is the status of any investigation into Joe Biden keeping classified documents in his garage and other locations FOR YEARS.            Why did the FBI have evidence that Joe Biden may have been involved in criminal activity as VP up to and including taking bribes and did nothing until a whistleblower told congress and then tried to stone wall any investigation? Why did the FBI hold onto a laptop that may have incriminating evidence on Hunter Biden and refused to even acknowledge its existence until forced to. Why did high ranking members of the intelligence community declare that the laptop was fake and/or a disinformation campaign from the Russians when they knew the opposite was true?  These and many other examples are indicative of selective prosecution and investigations, which have caused the people to lose faith in the government.

Now back to the part that Trump felt he had declassified the documents which is way when asked if he had any he said no. Hillary was excused for her mishandling classified documents through a legal concept of “Mens Rea.’ This is a principle used when a person breaks the law but did not understand that they broke the law.

The selective prosecution of Trump is making the U.S. look like a third world nation. As some may argue that no one is above the law, that means .no one. DoJ must answer way the above and other cases are being ignored.

American Politics, Current events

Public Accommodation

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There has been much discussion recently over Public Accommodation. The news has been filled with the story of a website designer who refused to accept a job from LGBTQ+ customers, citing religious objections. This is the most recent cause célèbre that found its way onto the supreme court docket and was argued yesterday. Dec 5th. At the center of the debate is whether a business can refuse service or is bound to provide service based on the public accommodation law.

This case follows a similar one in 2018, which also argued against the Colorado public accommodation law,that found for a baker who refused to use his talents to bake a cake for a same sex couple based on religious belief. The opinion of this last case was a narrow one based on the hostility shown during legal proceedings to the baker’s religious views.

The question to answer is. What is Public Accommodation. Under federal law it is:

 42 U.S.C. §2000a (a)All persons shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any place of public accommodation, as defined in this section, without discrimination on the ground of race, color, religion, or national origin. 42 U.S.C.

The Colorado law does go deeper into the class of persons, to include:

CO Rev Stat § 24-34-601 (2016) “An individual or a group, because of disability, race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, or ancestry.”

I do believe in enforcing public accommodation laws. The concept of public accommodation lives deep in the heart of America. But there are limits when it comes to individual talent. I was against the Colorado baker feeling it was a violation of public accommodation until I found out the couple was asking for him to design a unique cake using his individual talents. This changed the tenor of the argument to forcing someone to sell not just a product but part of themselves. Had the couple asked for the Number “9” cake that would have fallen under public accommodation but when it went to asking the individual to provide his expertise which violated his individual belief, that went too far.

The same argument applies to the web designer. If she had standard templates and just added names, then she could not refuse service. To design an individual and unique web page requires her to apply her own talents and imagination. This should not be under public accommodation.

So, since I said I agree with the concept of public accommodation then let’s discuss how it should be applied.

In June of 2018, President Trumps Press Secretary, Sara Huckabee Sanders was refused service and asked to leave the Red Hen restaurant in Lexington, Va. because she worked for Trump. This week a restaurant in Richmond Va. canceled a reserved party less then two hours before the start because the group, the Family Foundation, was perceived as anti-LGBTQ and staff said they felt uncomfortable and unsafe serving them. Neither Sanders nor the Family Foundation asked for any special accommodation and ordered off the menu. The refusal to serve these groups is in direct confrontation to the sprit of public accommodation. In theory this does not violate the Virginia law – § 2.2-3904. Nondiscrimination in places of public accommodation – since there is nothing in the law that mentions political affiliation – other then sexual orientation and gender identity.

These last two however do violate the sprit of the law and flies in the face of American culture. There has been a long hard fight over the last 50 years to ensure anyone, who is not breaking the law, can go to any business and get what the business offers. The history of America also fights for the individual. You cannot discriminate just because you do not like someone, but the government cannot force you to perform a unique function against your wishes.

American Politics, Current events

Roe V Wade

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To begin, I believe life begins at conception. I believe that there are circumstances where pregnancies can and should be aborted such as rape, incest or for medical reasons. I have never been sure of Roe v. Wade as the correct way to handle the abortion issue or should it reside in the states. I am sure however that the response we are seeing to a leaked preliminary report is a further indication of how far we as a nation have fallen

The most troubling response has come from our political leaders. Raising up and declaring SCOTUS is not properly responding to the wishes of the people and using the time worn attack that this is going to bring democracy down. Courts have never and should never be conduits of popular opinion. Yes laws change over time, responding to changing social conditions, but this is evolutionary. By saying that once the Supreme Court rules that is the end of all further discussions. The court has overturned past rulings and likely will continue to do so. Plessy v. Ferguson found that separate but equal education was constitutional upholding the concept of segregation and Jim Crow laws. This was then settled law from 1896 until 1954 when segregation was ruled unconstitutional in the Brown v. The Board of Education ruling.

Before Roe v. Wade abortion was not a “constitutional right” nor was it universally illegal. Until then it was up to individual states to determine, as well as individual choice in states where it was legal. Roe v. Wade determined the constitutionality based on the 9th amendment arguing that if it not a right denied in the constitution it is the peoples right. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg while supporting the spirit of Roe said it was founded on the wrong argument. When it is reargued, and it will be, it will be under the 14th amendment’s equal protection clause.

Why has this situation engendered such passion? To put abortion in perspective about .009% of woman between 15 and 49 get abortions on average per year. However both sides of the argument have taken it to extremes. On one side we say that any abortion is murder and have gone to the extreme of some now saying they wish to ban contraceptives and things like Plan B. On the other side we say, “My Body, My Choice.” This argument goes all the way up to the concept of partial birth abortions.

Both extremes are unworkable and will do nothing but continue to wreak havoc on America. Both side have to learn the art of compromise and understand that they will not get everything they want.   

American Politics, Current events, Russia

When Does Freedom of Press Become Propaganda

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I want to give you my thoughts on the current crisis gripping Washington. It is not the fact that a war in Europe is raging and could potentially expand into a nuclear conflict, but a purported seven-hour gap in phone logs of President Trump on Jan 6th. These logs have been turned over to the House JAN 6TH committee and were reported by none other than Bob Woodward. This revelation comes soon after President Biden called for the removal of Russian Putin, suggested the 82d Airborne would be in Ukraine soon and suggests a possible US chemical weapons attack in response to Russia using chemicals in Ukraine, all which Biden denies but is on tape saying.

We are also in the midst of learning that Hunter Biden’s lap top is in fact real and the information that has been reported is in fact correct. All of this despite the fact that a number of Intelligence Professionals had claimed to be Russian misinformation.

But the big news is that a federal judge said Trump “probably” committed a crime. Not to forget that a Supreme Court Justices wife exchanged tweets with the WH CoS. This last has been followed by calls for his impeachment or at the least his resignation.

We are also recipients of reports from the confirmation hearings for a new Supreme Court Justise, that has not discussed her qualifications but centers on the “fact” that all the white republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee are nothing more than racist for actually asking questions. As an aside I do not like the politics of this nominee but see no reason to deny confirmation.

In the end it would be remiss of me not to mention the biggest national news story, Will Smith Slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars. Which has people talking about violence and racial stereotypes. Oh, and in case you missed it the Federal Election Commission has fined both Hilary Clintons campaign and the DNC for its part in the Steele Dossier. You remember the t.hing that started the whole Trump-Russia collusion hoax.

The news industry keeps asking why they are losing readers/viewers? Perhaps if they went back to reporting the new instead of pushing a narrative people would begin to trust them again. My blog is PleaseThink1.com and all I ask of people id to please think. Look at the facts and see if it meets the criteria of news. News organizations are always going to take a side and have an opinion but leave that on the OpEd page. Opinions and personal agendas have no place in a front-page news story