by Barry Hastings
“Another mangled operation” is the only way to judge the roll-out of Trump’s ‘immigration plan earlier this month. A pretty poorly vetted special ops attack (claimed successful) met more resistance than expected, and heavier loss than they want to talk about.
Everything is hurry, hurry, hurry with Trump, and he spends far more time revising (back-pedaling), reviling federal judges, and getting a member of his Cabinet suckup the blame, than in creating a competent plan. He pouts, he jump’s into things without serious thought to tomorrow. When forced to change course, he doesn’t announce change, he assumes it, and expects everyone to act as though it’s always’ been his position. Momentary improvisation is not the “name of the game” in running a nation in this world.
This is going to become a much-litigated administration — more so than Nixon’s, I’d bet. I’d also bet they’ll lose far more than they’ll gain, “by a ‘fur’ piece.” The U.S. Courts saved the nation from Neo-Nazis in the Watergate Scandal. A beleaguered Nixon caved to advice from right-wing nuts he’d brought into his administration, then lied about it. Had he immediately faced the country, and just said, “I did it, I’m sorry, I won’t do it again,” and, “Haldeman and Erlichman are toast,” he’d have been in trouble for a bit, but probably would have completed his second term. (What tangled webs we weave/when first we labor to deceive.)
As a matter of fact, I told the publisher of these pages a few weeks ago, I believed the federal courts would play, “As big a role in Trump’s administration as in Nixon’s.”
Yankee-Doodle keep it up!
Former General Mike Flynn — Trump’s ‘Putin Messenger’
Flynn, disgraced and asked (read ‘told’) to resign his last army command, has been caught red-handed nosing into the nation’s foreign relations field. He’s been accused of telling Russians not to worry about President Obama’s sanctions for hacking the Democrats and trying to help Trump win election in November, before his boss was actually sworn into office. This former general is a real loose cannon. He and his son spread a ‘fake news’ story of a child sex ring operating out of a North Carolina restaurant, that let to a shooting attack on the enterprise. Worse, they said Mrs. Clinton ran the operation. The son is gone, and Flynn’s a liar. He knew he was breaking the law when he met with the Russians, “git ‘im outta here!”
On the other hand...
The administration has placed several good military men in critical positions within the Cabinet. (But he’s also given a true Hitlerian figure more power than he should have — the near, or neo-Nazi, Steve Bannon.)
Learn something new
I’d bet few of you know the Canadian, Alexander McKenzie (A Scots-born fur trader and explorer, b.1755, d.1820), was knighted in 1807, for being the first white person to trek across North America, beating William Clark and Meriwether Lewis to the Pacific coast, by eleven (11) full years. McKenzie came in view of the great Pacific Ocean on July 3, 1793. Lewis and Clark found the goal in 1804. Lewis carried a book by McKenzie all the way, explaining exactly how the Canadian party made the journey. McKenzie’s party consisted of seven Canadians and Americans, two indigenous guides, and a dog named, “Our Dog.” Each group made its way by different routes, McKenzie and his company sailing on Canadian rivers a good deal of the distance, then crossing the Rocky Mountains into British Columbia.
Within a few years of being rewarded for his epic journey by President Thomas Jefferson with the governor’s chair in Louisiana, Meriwether Lewis died. His death has long been generally believed to have been by suicide, but many historians now believe he was murdered (no suspect, or suspects, ever charged). Truth is, Jefferson got his idea for the trip west to the Pacific from the book McKenzie wrote. It’s a fact, though seldom mentioned by biographers of Jefferson, Lewis, or Clark.
Cat notes
In 1894, Thomas Edison filmed the first cat video.
Since the reign of Henry VIII (500+ years), the British government has employed a “Chief Mouser.” The feline currently holding the job, is named, “Larry.”
In 1947, Edward Lowe gave a neighbor who owned cats (if anyone really does own a cat) a bag of granulated clay, and kick-started a two billion dollar a year kitty-litter industry.
Snow-ball was the name of Ernest Hemingway’s first six-toed cat. Over the years, dozens more were adopted, and later still, he owned more than 50 big-footed cats.
Fishy communications
Herrings communicate with farts.
Putin and Russia, work hard to destroy NATO
Donald Trump’s word games are muddying the waters in which the NATO alliance floats. As most Americans know (instinctively), Vladimir Putin and the Russian government are not interested in friendly, cooperative relations with the U.S. At least half of all Americans regard Trump’s suckingup to Putin as a bit “too friendly.” In fact, a decade-long Pew Research Center study reveals Americans who regard Russia as a ‘major threat’ has reached 54 percent. Seventy percent want the U.S. to defend all of America’s NATO allies. Seventy-five percent of Americans, including 60 percent of Trump’s base supporters, want America to maintain, or increase, current levels of support for the NATO alliance.
“Only ignorance or myopia can explain a policy of weakening ties with our European allies,” wrote William Galston in the Wall Street Journal last week, “Nothing can justify it.” Galston was writing of an interview Trump gave the Times of London Jan. 15
Galston took Trump to task for saying (more than once) NATO is “obsolete,” and “not taking care of terror,” then added, “most NATO members are not paying their fair share.” Galston said the charge of obsolescence is false, and that after 9/11, fighting terrorism in Afghanistan, “became NATO’s principal military activity.” He also observed, “NATO is now helping train Middle East military forces to fight terrorism in their own neighborhoods.”
As for their fair share, Galston wrote, “this too, is a false charge.” He said a formula based on per capita income, and other factors determines members contributions to collectively conducted NATO activities. “Of the current year’s NATO budget, the U.S. pays 22.1 per cent, compared with Germany’s 14.7 per cent, France’s 10.6 per cent, and Britain’s 9.8 per cent. “If the formula were based on gross domestic product, the U.S. would carry just over half of the economic burden.” (It’s as I’ve said more than once in these pages, “Most of the time, the Donald knows nothing of what he tweets and preaches.”
Galston noted retired Marine general, now Secretary of Defense (and a hell of a soldier) Mattis believes Vladimir Putin’s primary strategy for years has been to break up the European Union and NATO. He quoted Mattis as having said often, “NATO is the most successful military alliance in modern world history, and probably ever.” Mattis has also noted, “NATO’s core mission of unifying Europe against the Russian threat (to the West) is anything but obsolete.” The general’s appraisal of relations with Russia is succinct, “There’s a decreasing number of areas where we can engage cooperatively, and an increasing number of areas where we’re going to have to confront Russia.” Gabon’s advice for Trump was that he, ” listen to General Mattis regarding NATO.”
It seems Trump doesn’t know his arse from a hole in the ground about anything.
Late-breaking Flynn headline
Late in the evening of Monday, Feb. 13, the troublesome (many believe half-nuts) General Mike Flynn, was asked for his resignation by our half-nuts Chief Executive. His troubles have only just begun. He’s likely to be grilled like fish by other intel officers from across the government over “what he told the Russians” in a meeting he should never have attended. He could face felony charges. He was a bad apple in a barrel of rotten ones. The fallout may bring worse. Former general, David Petraeous, is a named candidate for Flynn’s niche. Remember him for the failed surge in Iraq. It added over 4,000 dead American soldiers to the long list of casualties in the failed Bush/Cheney military and oil prospecting adventure. He was also involved in original invasion plans for Iraq. He’s a convicted felon, and a twice jailed strategist. Republicans keep trying to rehabilitate the bum, and foist him off on a nation that wants nothing to do with him. They’d hoped, before his felony conviction, he’d make a good residential candidate in 2016. (The guy looks like and is a rat.)