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The Press on Mount Rushmore
When Donald Trump is gone and forgotten, the media’s lies won’t be so easy to forget.
By Holman W. Jenkins
Every American, regardless of how he or she feels about Donald Trump, should read his July 3 speech at Mount Rushmore and then the Washington Post account of the speech by Robert Costa and Philip Rucker. The Post account begins: “President Trump’s unyielding push to preserve Confederate symbols and the legacy of white domination, crystallized by his harsh denunciation of the racial justice movement Friday night at Mount Rushmore . . .”
Except that Mr. Trump made no reference to the Confederacy or any of its symbols. His only reference to the Civil War was to Abraham Lincoln and the abolition of slavery as a fulfillment of the American Revolution.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, as many commentators on the right noted, also lied when she said Mr. Trump “spent all his time talking about dead traitors.” He mentioned not a single leader or champion of the Confederacy.
In its own account, though hardly friendly to Mr. Trump, the New York Times went out of its way to counter these rampant distortions, reporting that Mr. Trump “avoided references . . . to the symbols of the Confederacy that have been a target of many protests.”
A day later, when he unleashed his uninformed Twitter rant about Nascar’s misconstrued noose incident and an unexplained “flag” reference possibly related to its ban on Confederate symbols, the Times again noted of Mr. Trump’s holiday speech, “In that address he avoided specifically mentioning anything related to Confederate monuments.”
Which I’m guessing means that Trump-defending pundits aren’t the only ones troubled by the Rubicon we’ve crossed when mainstream press outlets and a U.S. senator flagrantly lie about the content of a presidential address.
Welcome to one of the weirdest moments I’ve witnessed in the national press business. All this comes not long after a Times profile of Post editor Marty Baron, portraying him as a fading, old-school newsman battling a “woke” newsroom.
Drucker, who died in 2005, understood the perils of groupthink and biased reasoning. He helped invent modern management education to guard against such errors. He and Mr. Baron were right: In the business of the press, it ultimately falls to management to impose standards (known as intellectual honesty) on employees, some of whom will actively work against such standards if given the chance.
My guess is the real key to the Post episode is its monotonous reference to “racial justice demonstrators” and “racial justice protesters.” Any intelligent reader, even if unfamiliar with the term, will recognize the fallacy of begging the question, or presuming that which needs to be proved. Even Mr. Trump is capable of understanding that the people in the street have multiple, discordant and not automatically creditable motives.
What we may really see in the Post’s disingenuous formulation is an attempt to appease its own newsroom, by some unnamed editor who cared less about putting a good and honest piece of writing in front of Post readers than about protecting himself from personal blowback. (I’m assuming it’s a “him”; such cowards usually are.)
So we return to a signature astonishment of our age. After almost four years in office, Mr. Trump has not managed to damage his own reputation (as any libel lawyer will tell you, he had no reputation to damage). He has done less damage to his office than you might think for the simple and obvious reason that people distinguish Mr. Trump from his office.
Seemingly effortlessly, though, he has incited people and institutions that do have something to lose to wreck their own reputations: The FBI, CNN, our universities, etc.
Tens of millions of voters who plan to vote against Mr. Trump in the fall hardly need Post lies to give them more reason to do so. But millions of others will vote for Mr. Trump, or consider voting for him, exactly because the Washington Post lies about him. Their wavering support at this point in his ill-starred presidency is sustained only by the deranged dishonesty of his opponents.
So here we are: America faces the virus, the protests, a new and dangerous tension with China, and the most tumultuous election in recent memory. And it does so without thought leadership worth the name, with only intellectual and emotional chaos, from some of our once-credible news organizations.
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What has Trump done in 3 contentious years? Because Trump Haters focused on his many dumb tweets they probably missed all of this but then Trump Hatred is nourishment for those who are unable/unwilling to reason independently and focus on what he does rather than what he says.
Dude has been in office for 3 years.... what has he done? Other than dodging the darts the media and Pelosi , Schumer, Schiff, Mueller etc.have thrown!
what have PRESIDENT TRUMP and his cabinet accomplished.....
Here you go.
* Trump recently signed 3 bills to benefit Native people. One gives compensation to the Spokane tribe for loss of their lands in the mid-1900s, one funds Native language programs, and the third gives federal recognition to the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians in Montana.
* Trump finalized the creation of Space Force as our 6th Military branch.
* Trump signed a law to make cruelty to animals a federal felony so that animal abusers face tougher consequences.
* Violent crime has fallen every year he’s been in office after rising during the 2 years before he was elected.
* Trump signed a bill making CBD and Hemp legal.
* Trump’s EPA gave $100 million to fix the water infrastructure problem in Flint, Michigan.
* Under Trump’s leadership, in 2018 the U.S. surpassed Russia and Saudi Arabia to become the world’s largest producer of crude oil.
* Trump signed a law ending the gag orders on Pharmacists that prevented them from sharing money-saving information.
* Trump signed the “Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act” (FOSTA), which includes the “Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act” (SESTA) which both give law enforcement and victims new tools to fight sex trafficking.
Trump signed a bill to require airports to provide spaces for breastfeeding Moms.
* The 25% lowest-paid Americans enjoyed a 4.5% income boost in November 2019, which outpaces a 2.9% gain in earnings for the country's highest-paid workers.
* Low-wage workers are benefiting from higher minimum wages and from corporations that are increasing entry-level pay.
* Trump signed the biggest wilderness protection & conservation bill in a decade and designated 375,000 acres as protected land.
* Trump signed the Save our Seas Act which funds $10 million per year to clean tons of plastic & garbage from the ocean.
* He signed a bill this year allowing some drug imports from Canada so that prescription prices would go down.
* Trump signed an executive order this year that forces all healthcare providers to disclose the cost of their services so that Americans can comparison shop and know how much less providers charge insurance companies.
* When signing that bill he said no American should be blindsided by bills for medical services they never agreed to in advance.
* Hospitals will now be required to post their standard charges for services, which include the discounted price a hospital is willing to accept.
* In the eight years prior to President Trump’s inauguration, prescription drug prices increased by an average of 3.6% per year. Under Trump, drug prices have seen year-over-year declines in nine of the last ten months, with a 1.1% drop as of the most recent month.
* He created a White House VA Hotline to help veterans and principally staffed it with veterans and direct family members of veterans.
* VA employees are being held accountable for poor performance, with more than 4,000 VA employees removed, demoted, and suspended so far.
* Issued an executive order requiring the Secretaries of Defense, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs to submit a joint plan to provide veterans access to access to mental health treatment as they transition to civilian life.
* Because of a bill signed and championed by Trump, In 2020, most federal employees will see their pay increase by an average of 3.1% — the largest raise in more than 10 years.
* Trump signed into a law up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave for millions of federal workers.
* Trump administration will provide HIV prevention drugs for free to 200,000 uninsured patients per year for 11 years.
* All-time record sales during the 2019 holidays.
* Trump signed an order allowing small businesses to group together when buying insurance to get a better price
* President Trump signed the Preventing Maternal Deaths Act that provides funding for states to develop maternal mortality reviews to better understand maternal complications and identify solutions & largely focuses on reducing the higher mortality rates for Black Americans.
In 2018, President Trump signed the groundbreaking First Step Act, a criminal justice bill which enacted reforms that make our justice system fairer and help former inmates successfully return to society.
* The First Step Act’s reforms addressed inequities in sentencing laws that disproportionately harmed Black Americans and reformed mandatory minimums that created unfair outcomes.
* The First Step Act expanded judicial discretion in sentencing of non-violent crimes.
* Over 90% of those benefiting from the retroactive sentencing reductions in the First Step Act are Black Americans.
* The First Step Act provides rehabilitative programs to inmates, helping them successfully rejoin society and not return to crime.
* Trump increased funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) by more than 14%.
* Trump signed legislation forgiving Hurricane Katrina debt that threatened HBCUs.
* New single-family home sales are up 31.6% in October 2019 compared to just one year ago.
* Made HBCUs a priority by creating the position of executive director of the White House Initiative on HBCUs.
* Trump received the Bipartisan Justice Award at a historically black college for his criminal justice reform accomplishments.
* The poverty rate fell to a 17-year low of 11.8% under the Trump administration as a result of a jobs-rich environment.
* Poverty rates for African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans have reached their lowest levels since the U.S. began collecting such data.
* President Trump signed a bill that creates five national monuments, expands several national parks, adds 1.3 million acres of wilderness, and permanently reauthorizes the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
* Trump’s USDA committed $124 Million to rebuild rural water infrastructure.
* Consumer confidence & small business confidence is at an all time high.
* More than 7 million jobs created since election.
* More Americans are now employed than ever recorded before in our history.
* More than 400,000 manufacturing jobs created since his election.
* Trump appointed 5 openly gay ambassadors.
* Trump ordered Ric Grenell, his openly gay ambassador to Germany, to lead a global initiative to decriminalize homosexuality across the globe.
* Through Trump’s Anti-Trafficking Coordination Team (ACTeam) initiative, Federal law enforcement more than doubled convictions of human traffickers and increased the number of defendants charged by 75% in ACTeam districts.
* In 2018, the Department of Justice (DOJ) dismantled an organization that was the internet’s leading source of prostitution-related advertisements resulting in sex trafficking.
* Trump’s OMB published new anti-trafficking guidance for government procurement officials to more effectively combat human trafficking.
* Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations arrested 1,588 criminals associated with Human Trafficking.
Trump's Department of Health and Human Services provided funding to support the National Human Trafficking Hotline to identify perpetrators and give victims the help they need.
* The hotline identified 16,862 potential human trafficking cases.
* Trump’s DOJ provided grants to organizations that support human trafficking victims – serving nearly 9,000 cases from July 1, 2017, to June 30, 2018.
* The Department of Homeland Security has hired more victim assistance specialists, helping victims get resources and support.
* President Trump has called on Congress to pass school choice legislation so that no child is trapped in a failing school because of his or her zip code.
* The President signed funding legislation in September 2018 that increased funding for school choice by $42 million.
* The tax cuts signed into law by President Trump promote school choice by allowing families to use 529 college savings plans for elementary and secondary education.
Under his leadership ISIS has lost most of their territory and been largely dismantled.
* ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi was killed.
Signed the first Perkins CTE reauthorization since 2006, authorizing more than $1 billion for states each year to fund vocational and career education programs.
* Executive order expanding apprenticeship opportunities for students and workers.
* Trump issued an Executive Order prohibiting the U.S. government from discriminating against Christians or punishing expressions of faith.
Signed an executive order that allows the government to withhold money from college campuses deemed to be anti-Semitic and who fail to combat anti-Semitism.
* President Trump ordered a halt to U.S. tax money going to international organizations that fund or perform abortions.
* Trump imposed sanctions on the socialists in Venezuela who have killed their citizens.
* Finalized new trade agreement with South Korea.
* Made a deal with the European Union to increase U.S. energy exports to Europe.
* Withdrew the U.S. from the job killing TPP deal.
* Secured $250 billion in new trade and investment deals in China and $12 billion in Vietnam.
* Okay’d up to $12 billion in aid for farmers affected by unfair trade retaliation.
* Has had over a dozen US hostages freed, including those Obama could not get freed.
* Trump signed the Music Modernization Act, the biggest change to copyright law in decades.
* Trump secured Billions that will fund the building of a wall at our southern border.
* The Trump Administration is promoting second chance hiring to give former inmates the opportunity to live crime-free lives and find meaningful employment.
* Trump’s DOJ and the Board Of Prisons launched a new “Ready to Work Initiative” to help connect employers directly with former prisoners.
* President Trump’s historic tax cut legislation included new Opportunity Zone Incentives to promote investment in low-income communities across the country.
* 8,764 communities across the country have been designated as Opportunity Zones.
* Opportunity Zones are expected to spur $100 billion in long-term private capital investment in economically distressed communities across the country.
* Trump directed the Education Secretary to end Common Core.
* Trump signed the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund into law.
* Trump signed measure funding prevention programs for Veteran suicide.
* Companies have brought back over a TRILLION dollars from overseas because of the TCJA bill that Trump signed.
* Manufacturing jobs are growing at the fastest rate in more than 30 years.
* Stock Market has reached record highs.
Median household income has hit highest level ever recorded.
* African-American unemployment is at an all time low.
* Hispanic-American unemployment is at an all time low.
* Asian-American unemployment is at an all time low.
* Women’s unemployment rate is at a 65-year low.
* Youth unemployment is at a 50-year low.
* We have the lowest unemployment rate ever recorded.
* The Pledge to America’s Workers has resulted in employers committing to train more than 4 million Americans.
* 95 percent of U.S. manufacturers are optimistic about the future— the highest ever.
* As a result of the Republican tax bill, small businesses will have the lowest top marginal tax rate in more than 80 years.
* Record number of regulations eliminated that hurt small businesses.
* Signed welfare reform requiring able-bodied adults who don’t have children to work or look for work if they’re on welfare.
* Under Trump, the FDA approved more affordable generic drugs than ever before in history.
* Reformed Medicare program to stop hospitals from overcharging low-income seniors on their drugs—saving seniors 100’s of millions of $$$ this year alone.
* Signed Right-To-Try legislation allowing terminally ill patients to try experimental treatment that wasn’t allowed before.
* Secured $6 billion in new funding to fight the opioid epidemic.
* Signed VA Choice Act and VA Accountability Act, expanded VA telehealth services, walk-in-clinics, and same-day urgent primary and mental health care.
* U.S. oil production recently reached all-time high so we are less dependent on oil from the Middle East.
* The U.S. is a net natural gas exporter for the first time since 1957.
* NATO allies increased their defense spending because of his pressure campaign.
* Withdrew the United States from the job-killing Paris Climate Accord in 2017 and that same year the U.S. still led the world by having the largest reduction in Carbon emissions.
* Has his circuit court judge nominees being confirmed faster than any other new administration.
* Had his Supreme Court Justice’s Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh confirmed.
* Moved U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
* Agreed to a new trade deal with Mexico & Canada that will increase jobs here and $$$ coming in.
* Reached a breakthrough agreement with the E.U. to increase U.S. exports.
* Imposed tariffs on China in response to China’s forced technology transfer, intellectual property theft, and their chronically abusive trade practices, has agreed to a Part One trade deal with China.
* Signed legislation to improve the National Suicide Hotline.
Signed the most comprehensive childhood cancer legislation ever into law, which will advance childhood cancer research and improve treatments.
* The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act signed into law by Trump doubled the maximum amount of the child tax credit available to parents and lifted the income limits so more people could claim it.
* It also created a new tax credit for other dependents.
* In 2018, President Trump signed into law a $2.4 billion funding increase for the Child Care and Development Fund, providing a total of $8.1 billion to States to fund child care for low-income families.
* The Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC) signed into law by Trump provides a tax credit equal to 20-35% of child care expenses, $3,000 per child & $6,000 per family + Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) allow you to set aside up to $5,000 in pre-tax $ to use for child care.
* In 2019 President Donald Trump signed the Autism Collaboration, Accountability, Research, Education and Support Act (CARES) into law which allocates $1.8 billion in funding over the next five years to help people with autism spectrum disorder and to help their families.
* In 2019 President Trump signed into law two funding packages providing nearly $19 million in new funding for Lupus specific research and education programs, as well an additional $41.7 billion in funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the most Lupus funding EVER.
* Another upcoming accomplishment to add: In the next week or two Trump will be signing the first major anti-robocall law in decades called the TRACED Act (Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence.) Once it’s thelaw, the TRACED Act will extend the period of time the FCC has to catch & punish those who intentionally break telemarketing restrictions. The bill also requires voice service providers to develop a framework to verify calls are legitimate before they reach your phone.
* US stock market continually hits all-time record highs.
* Because so many people asked for a document with all of this listed in one place, here it is. No links provided to remove bias as Google search is easy. Print this out for family, friends, neighbors, etc. I encourage you to drop this list off to voters before the 2020 election too!
*Trump did all of this while fighting flagrant abuse and impeachment charges.——-please explain to me why you have a problem with OUR president? Because he has misspoke a few times? Tell me when you find a perfect person, please....I’ll wait! I’ll tell you why, because the media has skewed him in such a negative light and unfairly report his accomplishments to undermined those achievements! Why? Because the media is complicit in every single thing this man is trying to undo! Start thinking for yourself!
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The Washington Free Beacon, which was the first outlet to report Soros’s 2020 spending, stated that Soros has poured money “into the coffers of the Democracy PAC, a super PAC that passes money to other liberal PACs working to defeat Trump and congressional Republicans.”
According to public records, the PAC has received $40 million, double the $20 million it received in 2016 throughout the presidential election.
An operative told the Washington Free Beacon:
While Democrats across the country sanctimoniously rail against the influence of dark money in politics, their party’s largest donors are bankrolling a massive web of liberal organizations to get them elected. George Soros’s unprecedented spending further highlights just how dependent Democrats are on contributions from billionaires, despite their hypocritical rhetoric.
Directly, Soros has put $5.5 million into his Super PAC. Fund for Policy Reform, a nonprofit in Soros’s Open Society Foundations network that is reported to have in the bank $750 million on its latest tax forms, also gave $35 million. In doing so, Soros’s name is kept from appearing amongst those that give millions to political committees.
Democracy PAC, known for making large donations to far-left candidates, has given more than $25 million to other PACs, including a $7 million to the Senate Majority PAC, which has close ties to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). It also gave $5 million to Priorities USA Action, a large outside PAC which supports Joe Biden, and $2.5 million to the left-wing Win Justice coalition.
Many of the groups that receive money from Soros are top spenders backing massive anti-Trump campaigns. Priorities USA is the biggest outside spender this cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, having spent more than $28 million. Its efforts include anti-Trump advertisements focused on criticizing the president’s response to the coronavirus pandemic in the swing states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
In addition to his overwhelming PAC donations. Soros has also given $2 million to committees directly without going through his PACs. Those donations include $500,000 to the Democratic Grassroots Victory Fund, a committee to raise funds between the Democratic National Committee, all 50 state Democratic parties, and the D.C. Democratic committee.
Soros has also given thousands to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) victory fund, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Similar to Soros, former presidential hopeful Tom Steyer has also poured into the 2020 election and is ranked among the highest of donors.
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As noted in a previous memo, I am reading Gen. Sterling's "Stealth War." It is the story of how China has flown under the radar and used a variety of techniques to steal technology and influence through "Unrestricted War."
The next two Chapters: "How We Got Here " and "Economy" tell an equally frightening story of how China is moving to rule the world through commerce and domination. The Chinese believe, in today's world, information helps create influence and influence is power.
China has been using their rope a dope methods to weaken our various core strengths in our economy, technology, military, and world influence. China is slowly eroding our freedom through our dependence on their manufacturing capability which has led to job loss, factory closings and increasing dependency on a nation that opposes our core beliefs.
Economic security underpins China's national security. Free trade with China does not always work as we believe. All profits earned in China stay in China. and they are predatory and destructive when it comes to their actions. Though China's economy has been built on a PONZI Pattern everything they do is linked to making them strong and dominant.
The author cited cases of theft (sabotage, usurious agreements and espionage) through cyber warfare and his efforts to make American government officials and bureaucrats aware of the dangers met with little success. China's aid money agreements are mainly freedom traps.
In Chapter Four: "The Military Crisis" can be boiled down in one sentence. America cannot fight a war without China. Why? Because most everything we need is dependent upon their being our supply chain.
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While we are refocusing The Marine Corps for war China, according to Gen Spalding, is winning with war as their last intention.
Bold New U.S. Marine Strategy to
Fight China – Questioned
By Paul Crespo.
While US forces spent the past two decades fighting terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Chinese steadily made their People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) into “the world’s premier counter-American military force.” Understanding America had grown complacent in its ability to operate in uncontested air and naval spaces, China and the PLA have been tightly focused on challenging that assumption.
Over the past decade, the Chinese military have deployed thousands of “anti-access” and “area denial” (A2/AD) weapons “whose range and precision create a death zone extending hundreds of miles from the Chinese coast,” noted Foreign Policy. All these new precision weapons “will make it impossible for traditional expeditionary forces—like the existing U.S. Marine Expeditionary Units—to get within striking range of any East Asian battlefield without risking destruction.”
In response, as I wrote about previously, the Marines’ innovative new Commandant, General David Berger, has embarked the Corps on its most sweeping transformation in decades… shedding their recent counterinsurgency and land warfare focus to become a ‘littoral warfare’ force-in-readiness — oriented specifically to fighting China in its own backyard. But what are the risks with this bold new strategy?
As noted by Foreign Policy:
Recognizing that the Marines will not be able to pierce through enemy “weapons engagement zones” once hostilities begin, Berger proposes that the United States should have Marine Corps units stationed inside these zones before war begins. He envisions turning the islands of the West Pacific into small redoubts bristling with Marines.These Marines will be armed to the teeth with long-range missiles and unmanned aircraft, each with the ability to target Chinese ships from hundreds of miles away. In Berger’s words, this “inside force” will “reverse the cost imposition that determined adversaries seek to impose” on American forces, putting the PLA Navy in the same desperate situation now faced by U.S. ships.
As I stated earlier, this radical transformation appears to be one bold solution to the growing Chinese military threat, but some wonder if the Marines may be throwing all their eggs into only one basket. While superficially attractive, these radical new concepts do not come without costs and risks (RELATED: U.S. Marine Corps Transforming to Defeat China).
To achieve Berger’s vision, by 2030 the Corps will have divested all its tank battalions, specialized law enforcement units, and combat bridge companies. Additionally, notes USNI News, the Corps will reduce the number of infantry battalions; artillery cannon batteries; amphibious vehicle companies; and reduce tilt-rotor, attack, and heavy lift squadrons.
Overall, the Corps will shrink by 12,000 personnel.
If enacted, explains Foreign Policy “the changes he proposes will drastically transform the doctrine that guides Marine Corps operations and will likely lead to permanent changes in the Marine Corps’ future force structure.” But, what if the Marine Corps’ predictions for the future are wrong? The Marine Corps is too small to get it wrong and survive.
“Why doesn’t the Marine Corps hedge?” For example, “the Corps could reduce Marine armor to one or two battalions instead of no battalions. It could keep some of this capacity in reserve just in case the international situation changes and these skills are suddenly needed.”
Questions and concerns about the new Marine strategy range from the technical and the tactical up to the strategic and geopolitical.
I will look more closely at these questions and concerns in a future piece. It is quite likely that General Berger and his staff can answer them all. But as Foreign Policy notes, ultimately it is up to the US Congress to decide. Congress has the responsibility to determine if the Marines bold new concept is the correct path forward, or if changes are needed.
Hopefully, Congress will ask the right questions. It needs to ensure that the Marine Corps is able to not only help defeat China in any conflict, but also remain America’s “force in readiness” for any needs the nation may have.
Paul Crespo is a defense and national security expert. He served as a Marine Corps officer and as a military attaché with the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) at US embassies worldwide. He holds degrees from Georgetown, London, and Cambridge Universities. Paul is also CEO of SPECTRE Global Risk, a security advisory firm, and a Contributor to American Defense News.
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