Hope you had an enjoyable Easter. Passover still ongoing.
And:
Old Guy In Convertible
Just returned from Florida.
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Gov. Perry, Energy Secretary, reportedly is leaving to enhance his net worth. He and Trump get along fine and a rumor is he was offered the Cabinet Position of Homeland Security recently but turned it down.
Frankly, I do not understand why we have an energy department. It was Carter's idea. If it accomplishes anything of merit it could be reduced and transferred to The Dept. of Commerce or some other bloated bureaucracy.
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Trump will never be allowed to win. (See 1 below.)
And:
What about Patton? (See 1a below.)
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A series of op eds for any political taste - you decide:
Dick
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++1) Democrats Move the Goalposts (Again)
The ridiculously long, drawn out, overdone "Trump colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 election" investigation proves an ages-old political maxim: the benchmark of proof that a political accusation has to satisfy in order to be considered true will constantly change as the needs of the accuser shift in response to new information.
In other words, if the original charge proves to be baseless, the complainants will invariably lower the threshold of guilt so that even a lesser transgression will be sufficient to condemn the accused.
President Trump is the latest example of that. Let's be candid here — everything about President Trump is anathema to the Democrats.
- He beat Hillary Clinton, depriving the Democrats of boasting how they elected the country's first female president.
- He is direct, unequivocal, and absolute in his policy pronouncements, eschewing the usual "nod-nod, wink-wink" of Washington speak. What makes it even worse is that President Trump's policy pronouncements are conservative, and his direct, clear-meaning speech rips the cover off years of oh, so carefully developed liberal deceptions.
- President Trump calls out the Democrat-sympathetic liberal media for who they are, enraging his enemies for not rolling over and meekly accepting mistreatment at the hands of his liberal opponents the way his milquetoast Republican predecessors did.
- His policies — the withdrawal from the Paris Accords, his dismissal of the Iranian nuclear agreements, his tough stance regarding NATO paying its fair share, his position on border security and illegal immigration, his desire for greater domestic American energy production, the re-negotiation of international trade agreements to be more advantageous to this country, and many others — are so blatantly pro-American and popular with the average voter that the supposedly sophisticated liberal Democratic intelligentsia are infuriated over the way his approach resonates in such a positive, commonsense manner with so many people.
Therefore, with Democrats unable to accept Trump's 2016 victory (no surprise, really, in light of how they and the liberal media refused to accept George W. Bush's election victory over Gore in 2000 or Bush's defeat of John Kerry in 2004, blaming that on Ohio voting irregularities and unscrupulous, deceptive "Swiftboating" attacks), the Democratic Party desperately searched for a reason to explain Hillary's defeat, a reason they could take to the general public and convince them that Trump's election win was illegitimate. At the best, the Democrats hoped to somehow delegitimize his victory, and have it voided (by some vague, never explained, nonexistent legal mechanism); at the very least, they hoped to sully him so badly that they'd force a disgraced resignation or completely torpedo any possibility of his re-election in 2020.
Hence, the Mueller investigation was born. It's not necessary to recount here the questionable basis on which the investigation was founded, the highly partisan make-up of the roster of "impartial" investigators, or the blatantly improper legal procedures that were swept under the rug by both the Mueller panel and the liberal media (such as the erroneously granted, baseless FISA warrants). These are all well known and have been documented before in great detail.
But what is fascinating is that now that the Mueller report has come to the conclusion that there is no justification for any further indictments of anyone (including President Trump) for reasons of Russia collusion or obstruction of justice, the Democrats are rewriting the rules of the game as to what they can sell as "guilt" to the public.
Their first move is to discredit Attorney General William Barr as some unreliable agent of President Trump, appointed simply to do Trump's political bidding. CNN, a reliable Democratic media ally, was quick to label Barr's summation of the Mueller Report as "Barr's version," dripping with the implication that it was not to be believed, that the "real truth" lies elsewhere.
Next, the Democrats have demanded the release of the full, unredacted report. Buried in its dense, legal meanderings, the Democrats hope to find several "aha!" passages that they hope will confirm beyond question President Trump's absolute, undeniable guilt of impeachment-worthy crimes.
There are likely none, and the Democrats undoubtedly know that. But they will lower the bar of what constitutes an inexcusable crime (at least to them) and will trumpet their "discovery" to the public — via the ever helpful liberal media — in their vain, pitiable hopes to keep the Trump-collusion matter alive and thus boost the Democrats' presidential electoral prospects in 2020.
The Adam Schiff's and Jerrold Nadler's of the world — reflecting the emotionally unhinged, almost maniacally obsessed refusal of their hardest-core constituents to accept President Trump as the legitimately elected president of the country—will never let the matter go and accept that the facts of the so-called Russia collusion incident point only to its nonexistence.
Instead, cheered on and encouraged by CNN, MSNBC, the N.Y. Times and WaPo, NPR, and all their obedient foot soldiers like Jim Acosta, Rachel Maddow, and Chris Cuomo, the Democrats will continue to shift and adjust downward the standards needed to cry "Guilty!" in the Russia matter.
The goalposts are being moved closer and closer. At some point, the most rank amateur kicker — even an 11-year-old Pee Wee league player — can make a 3-yard field goal. However, a Pee Wee–league field goal doesn't count in the NFL. That's where we are now.
1a) Foul Play to Silence Patton
U.S. Army general George S. Patton, renowned for strategic military prowess and leadership, led World War II troops into Casablanca, Sicily, and France; relieved Allied forces at the Battle of the Bulge; and drove deep into Nazi Germany. Patton was equally renowned for his no-holds-barred opinions, colorful attire, profanity-laced speeches, and disregard for orders he thought ineffective, all of which did not sit well with the Allied high command.
The new "must see" film, Silence Patton, suggests that the general's premature death in a mysterious auto accident may have been orchestrated to silence this oversized, historic personality. Written and directed by Robert Orlando, the film uses documentary footage, direct quotes, and interviews with historians to ask whether Patton's forthrightness, outspoken judgments, and criticism of battlefield leadership may have led to assassination. Robert Wilcox, an investigative and military reporter, voiced the same theory in this 2008 book, Target Patton: The Plot to Assassinate General George S. Patton.
In Silence Patton, Orlando presents a non-lionized, realistic portrayal of a consummate yet flawed warrior, whose personal qualities often hindered him from obtaining the necessary orders to execute his desired military strategies. The film opens with a re-enactment of the accident in which an Army truck struck the car Patton was riding in, leaving him paralyzed and near death. The image of a dying Patton looms large throughout the film, which examines his impressive yet controversial military career and the suspicions surrounding his end.
General Dwight D. Eisenhower, supreme allied commander during WWII, recognized Patton's battlefield skills but considered the outspoken general a political and diplomatic nuisance. Patton proclaimed that the U.S. made serious mistakes in war negotiations, especially in misjudging Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Patton also asserted that the U.S. would pay a steep future price for partnering with Stalin.
In Silence Patton, Orlando — using his team of historians, battlefield graphics, and revealing quotes – portrays Patton overwrought by the way his immediate superiors conducted much of the war and openly bemoaning their strategic decisions. Patton also saw through Stalin's collaborative posturing and repeatedly warned about allying with a communist commander whom he characterized as a duplicitous, brutal leader ambitious to capture much of war-torn Europe for the Soviet Union.
The film's context for Patton's concerns includes revelations that before the war, Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration was filled with Soviet spies and progressives who visited the Soviet Union and viewed communism as far less ominous than Nazism and fascism, perhaps even a "new way" ideology with a possible American future. Further, Patton though Roosevelt was seduced by Stalin and disturbingly trusting and attentive to the communist leader's ideas for negotiating the war and dividing the war effort among the Allies.
In 1943, Roosevelt called for the Third Reich's unconditional surrender, an idea supported by Stalin but considered a tactical mistake by Patton and Britain's prime minister, Winston Churchill. With Germany eliminated as a buffer between Russia and Western Europe, Churchill and Patton believed that realigning postwar Europe would be difficult and lead to significant Russian domination. Patton proclaimed, "Stalin is not to be trusted."
Silence Patton recounts the 1945 Yalta Conference, during which FDR, Churchill, and Stalin determined Europe's new boundaries. Roosevelt naïvely assumed that conceding to Stalin would bring his cooperation for postwar democracy and peace. In reality, Germany would have preferred surrender to the Americans. That's because under Russian captivity, 75% of German prisoners survived, compared to 98% under British and American troops.
When Roosevelt died and Truman became president, the Russians continued their European westward push. Patton sought Eisenhower's approval to contain the Russians by advancing to eastern European capitals, but Eisenhower deferred to Stalin and ordered Patton to retreat from Berlin. When the Russians began to loot and pillage German towns, stripping them of industrial machinery, and Stalin ordered his men to kill Germans and rape women, a horrified Patton saw his worst nightmare realized.
At war's end, a nervous Europe welcomed its American liberators but was filled with trepidation about advancing Russians. American troops could have driven past Prague deep into Eastern Europe, but Eisenhower, after consulting with the Russians, dismissed Patton's and Churchill's opinions and ordered the general to stand down. The Russians entered Prague. Although the Czechs requested aid from the British and Americans, eagerly anticipated their arrival, and even appealed directly to Patton, they were told that the Allies had stopped their advance at the Red Army's request. Appeals for help should be directed to the Russians, they were told. Patton complained to Churchill, "Russia is the real problem. I can't get the Americans to see it."
Both were frustrated that the Red Army killed people who could have been saved by Anglo-American intervention. Thus, the Cold War began as Eastern Europeans, subjugated previously by the Nazis, suffered more than four decades of totalitarian rule under the Soviets.
During his postwar position as governor of Bavaria to conduct denazification there, Patton continued warning about Stalin and communism. He recognized that, although Nazism was horrific, not all Germans had been true Nazis, that many good people had joined the Nazi Party to survive, and that they could be helpful in postwar rebuilding. He was certain that German soldiers could have served as allies in a fight against the Red Army. Instead, Patton watched the Russian bombing and brutality in German cities and the ethnic cleansing of several million Germans fleeing the Red Army.
His pragmatic views about dire conditions in postwar Europe were characterized in the press as pro-Nazi, yet Patton made German citizens walk through the death camps and witness the atrocities that had taken place. Patton planned to return to Washington as a conquering hero and expose the wartime missteps and miscalculations of American military leadership. He was determined that the American public would know the truth and be alerted to the lurking communist threat.
But Patton's superiors, aspiring presidential candidate Eisenhower and General Omar Bradley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were concerned about political fallout, viewing Patton as a threat to their careers and reputations. Earlier, perhaps as a precaution, the politically ambitious Eisenhower had called on his men to present a united front to investigators and the American public.
In October of 1945, Patton was removed as governor of Bavaria. In December, he was silenced for good when an oncoming army truck crushed his car. Paralyzed with life-threatening injuries, he died 12 days later. During his 90-minute documentary, Orlando explores this untimely, suspicious car accident that occurred just prior to Patton's scheduled return to the U.S. The film asks: was Patton silenced to obfuscate the war's missteps and shield those responsible for the aftermath with Stalin in Eastern Europe? How did a renowned and decorated four-star general die after an alleged army truck accident absent any investigation, court martial, or further action by the military?
The film concludes with the haunting possibility that Eastern Europe was unnecessarily stuck behind the Iron Curtain from 1945 to 1989. If Patton's words had been heeded, could the Cold War have been prevented? Instead, his warnings were ignored, his actions constrained, and his sanity questioned while a communist dictator was free to act. From this beginning, the Soviet Union was strengthened and anchored to spread communism in the years ahead, when it could have been stopped in Berlin as Patton had urged. Tragically, the liberated lands of post–World War II Europe were turned over to a Russian tyrant and forced to endure an even greater and longer lasting subjugation.
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