It appears that, on the horizon, as a way to get the topic changed, for at least a few days, the topic coming from the “White House” is going to be how Michael Flynn was treated so “unfairly” by the FBI. If individual 1 gets away with this – and, likely, he will – at least in regard to our so-called “liberal media” – it will be due to the predictable issue with amnesia which permeates America. And, this is understandable because we’re all witnessing an administration which has “provided” us with a “scandal a day.” So, the issue with Flynn seems to be a “lifetime” ago. There was much more to all this – Flynn’s GUILTY plea – than we’re likely to remember. But, I’ll try to help. (And, I’ve got the memory of an old person so I probably will miss some of it)
Flynn was working with his SON in a business which was ILLEGALLY lobbying for the government of Turkey. In addition, he had some kind of questionable arrangement with Vladimir Putin resulting in him accepting around $50,000 from the Russian government – which, I believe, was in violation of his status as a retired Army general. If you remember (and, if you don’t, I’ll remind you) Flynn was also involved in a scheme to kidnap a Turkish religious leader who lives in Pennsylvania and gets under the “skin” of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s dictator er president. Flynn’s son was involved in all of this – they had accepted half a MILLION dollars from Turkey without registering as foreign agents – all while working on individual 1’s campaign. Flynn was writing op-eds in support of Turkey.
It’s a bit curious why individual 1 would feel such an obligation to Flynn simply because the fact is he was doing these things while taking the job of National Security Adviser to the (now IMPEACHED so-called) president. Certainly, a retired Army general SHOULD have understood what he was doing was illegal. And, his son was right in the middle of it all based on all the reports I read at the time – so, I believed he got a “good deal” from the FBI with his plea arrangement because there were NO charges for anything other than his LYING to the FBI which would have ended up with possibly NO jail time had he followed through on his original agreement with Mueller. And, NO charges for his son! The judge in his case reminded him of some of the things he was doing aside from the LYING and he (the judge) considered it almost treasonous. All of this will be revisited, at least publicly, if individual 1 does what it appears he’s setting up to do – and that’s to give a pardon to Mr. Flynn. (And, once Flynn accepts the pardon he MUST testify with no “taking the 5th” privilege – for example, in the case there was a different Attorney General)
My guess is the pardon will be for the LYING and I’m not sure if that means he’s still liable for the other issues which were the ones the judge suggested might be treasonous. Additionally, I have to wonder if Flynn’s pardon leaves his son with nothing to worry about – I’m reasonably certain his original GUILTY plea was negotiated so his son was not charged with anything. Remember, there’s a pretty good chance individual 1 WON’T be in office past next January and, therefore, William Barr won’t be the head of the Justice Department. Admittedly, there will be a HUGE challenge to restore credibility to one of the foundational parts of our republic (The Justice Department), so the question of liability for crimes committed by individual 1 and his sycophants is up in the air.
When President Obama said we need to “look forward instead of back” as he, in essence, was enabling the lawbreaking of the Bush/Cheney administration I pointed out that was a monumentally BAD decision. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and others in their administration had authorized TORTURE (and, in the case of Bush and Cheney they both said they’d “do it again” – in interviews on national TV no less) plus other crimes and allowing that to “stand” was a terrible suggestion that those at the “top” are above the law. Additionally, virtually no one was charged with a crime in the financial disaster of 2008 despite Wall Street bankers (and banks) recklessly using other people’s money to make HUGE gains which were “ill-gotten” and then getting bailed out by the “we the people” who provided them the money they squandered in the first place. As many others beside myself predicted, this would enable a future president to feel comfortable violating our laws. Well, here we are again! We GET to choose if we want to continue on this present course – come November.
I feel as if this pandemic is likely to prevent much of a campaign (other than digitally) based on how we’re dealing with it right now – much of the country is in “re-open” mode as I’m writing this and, it appears, in most instances it’s too soon – at least based on the guidelines which came from the “White House task force” which was laid out just over a week ago. Of course, as I predicted, individual 1 would be unable to stick to his own “plan” and it only took about half of one day before he was “tweeting” LIBERATE – followed by a list of three states which had a group of white nationalists armed to the hilt “protesting” at their state capital while, in each instance, the state was following individual 1’s guidelines – the white nationalists were carrying an array of assault weapons, racist and Nazi signs, confederate flags, swastikas, and “MAGA” hats connecting them to individual 1. He, of course, reminded us they’re “very good people.”
Here’s what I hope DOESN’T happen should Joe Biden (or whoever the democrats nominate) become our 46th president: “Looking forward instead of back.” Not only are individual 1 and many of his sycophants – including William Barr – appearing to think the laws don’t apply to them, but they appear to be arrogantly believing democrats would never hold them accountable for their misdeeds. And, that would include the groups who are invading our state capitals carrying assault weapons – pseudo terrorists. For example, there is clear video evidence of the thugs, who they are, the ones who forced their way into Michigan’s capitol building yesterday and were yelling in the faces of the capitol police. I hope there will be a time when these people are forced to realize they live in a country which is a “country of laws and not men.” I have to wonder if they believe their actions are helping individual 1?
Along that line, the reason I’m becoming more confident individual 1 is going to LOSE in November is I believe he’s finally got the attention of all of us and his decisionmaking is being exposed to a wide array of Americans who don’t watch Fox “news” and the other right wing outlets which act as sycophants. Just yesterday Mike Pense suggested the virus will be in the rear view mirror by Memorial day (That’s 30 days from now) and Jared Kushner, who claims the administration’s actions regarding this crisis have been a “great success,” also is claiming America will be “rocking” by this summer. Well, I’m a baseball fan, so I hope he’s correct. But, here’s the reality, several states are “re-opening” as I’m writing this and, as I’ve predicted in the “you heard it here first” section in one of my recent posts (OK, that was sarcastic) several of the states are CHEATING with their statistics to make themselves look better. The statistics would suggest it’s too soon to start going back to “normal” so they’ll just LIE about what happens going forward. Many reports are now suggesting the number of “covid” related deaths are maybe as much as 20% higher than what has been reported.
I had mentioned South Dakota, Florida, and Georgia as the first three states which, I felt, the statistics on “Worldometer.info” didn’t make sense. Well, now we know (somebody “blew the whistle”) that Florida’s Health department has been ordered by their (really bad) governor Ron DeSantis to cover up the cause of many of the deaths in that state. I had written the data suggests the same thing is happening in South Dakota and Georgia – but, so far, no one has blown the whistle there. However, if you live in those states, the likelihood you’re going to be exposed to the virus is much higher than if you lived in my state, Washington – which is also opening some venues (golf!!!) – but, in my state the numbers of infections have been going down for quite some time – I think a couple of weeks. (Well, it’s another day, and wouldn’t you know, Washington’s “numbers” went up yesterday – so we’re still in phase one)
I’m watching the statistics as close as I can and the deaths are still averaging OVER 2000 per day and newly infected Americans totaling over 30,000 per day of late. As New York is going down, the “rust belt” seems to be going up – in relation to the number of cases and deaths. By “re-opening” too soon, according to Dr. Fauci, there’s going to be another “spike” upward in cases and deaths. Picture yourself as a doctor or nurse thinking maybe there will be a time to take a deep breath and, in stead, bracing for another surge of very sick patients. My daughter is an RN and I pray for her daily – fortunately, the leadership where I live is listening and being guided by the scientists so things have been, as I said above, getting better.
The problem with a bunch of “red states” in America’s heartland opening up too soon – (for heavens sake, like in the case of Florida and Georgia where they instigated “shelter in place” orders way too late and didn’t leave them in tact for even two weeks – and, in states like South Dakota they still haven’t put stay at home orders in place at all) – is that it will make things worst for the rest of us. People in America travel all over the place and the places where the infections are going up can have an influence on places where the crisis is more under control. I’m like, presumably, everyone I know – I want this to be over with, but we have to persevere to get through this sooner rather than later. As the saying goes: “patience is a virtue.” That would suggest, a lack of patience is a problem!
What that means is re-opening too soon could mean this is going to be a problem much longer. I know you can’t expect people to stay in their homes for 2 years so “we the people” are going to need to learn how to deal with this. I think MOST of us just assume our federal government would have a “plan” to help get “we the people” through this, but what seems apparent is there is NO “plan” coming from the “White House” – other than to say, “We’re leaving it to the governors.” And, I keep seeing the pictures in my head of those “home grown terrorists” being called “very good people” by individual 1 as they were pushing their way into Michigan’s capitol building carrying AR 15’s (or some other form of assault weapon). I guess those “very good people” need their guns to make sure we know they’re bullies. Do they really think the rest of us should be listening to them? In a word: PREPOSTEROUS!
So, not only are we living in a time when Michael Flynn is able to shamelessly push for a pardon after committing some, according to the judge, near treasonous offenses – and, likely will get what he wants but, additionally, these right wing white nationalists are feeling enabled to bring their “deplorable” fascist philosophy out into the open with no fear of any push-back coming from the “government.” It is the “government” they seem to “fear” yet they drive up with a large flatbed truck with TRUMP UNITY emblazoned in large letters on the side of the truck’s bed, bully their way into Michigan’s capitol building and get a “very good people” response from our IMPEACHED so-called president. Yikes!!!
Final Thought(s): It appears to me what is really bothering these “home grown terrorists” is the reality their furor is being exposed during this pandemic and, somehow, they think by making the damage of the virus worse it will help him. You think that comment is too harsh? Then you haven’t seen the signs etc. referencing Nazi’s in their protests. It’s hard for me to look at this any other way than they’re seeing the same statistics the rest of us are seeing and that is first, individual 1’s INCOMPETENCE has been exposed – you actually need a competent leader in a situation as this (maybe they think making it worse will be better for him) – and, second the statistics are clear, most of the people who are dying from this virus are old people in nursing homes and people of color. So why not just re-open everything?
Well, aside from how bad that makes me feel that we have so many people in our nation who might even be thinking like that, as I’ve said here many times, you can open all kinds of businesses but they’re not going to flourish with no customers. Here’s my thinking: People will NOT by rushing to the airport to take trips, people are NOT going to be going to restaurants in large numbers, I don’t see people rushing back to the Movie theaters, I don’t see people rushing to take their kids to Disneyland anytime soon, as I’ve said here many times I’m really “longing” for Major League Baseball but if they have any season at all it’s likely with no fans, and I could go on, but I hope you get my point.
We’re in a severe recession and it’s going to get worse without strong national leadership and individual 1 has already abdicated his “throne.” He’s “giving it up” to all the governors – which, in effect, is NO plan at all. Some governors are attempting to coordinate but that is more like an act of desperation because they can’t control what’s NOT coming from the “White House.” I believe MOST of the American people realize what is happening (those not in the cult) and they will do their patriotic duty this November and vote to remove individual 1 from office – and, hopefully a “gaggle” of his republican sycophants in the Senate.
I’ve been correct in many of my predictions (guesses) on what was going to happen, although my predictions had nothing to do with the possibility of a pandemic – I’ve been hoping we could get through the four years of individual 1 without a major crisis – but, the republican party is where I was terribly wrong in my “guessing.” Right from the start I felt once the republicans realized individual 1 (I was still using his surname at that point) was threatening their own job security they would vote to remove him from office. Obviously, that was a foolish (naive) thought on my part. I miscalculated the power of the cult – which I didn’t understand was a cult following back then. I’ve been reading up on the white nationalist movement lately and that’s another part I was totally missing.
I’d heard the term “alt right” and I had a rough idea on where Steve Bannon was coming from when he took over individual 1’s campaign, I just had no idea how deep the thinking was in the white nationalist “world” and how much they were “connected” to individual 1. I honestly had no idea where his support was coming from – I certainly, even to this day, have been at a loss to understand his support with the so-called “Christian right.” I did “notice” the parallels with 1930’s Germany early on, including people giving the “heil” salute at his rallies, and the base comprised of “Christians” not to mention the same campaign slogan as Hitler – “Make Germany Great Again.” I also noticed David Duke was an eager supporter of individual 1. It took a while for much of this to sink in to me – but, each day it’s becoming clearer and causing me to realize the importance of this November’s election. I’ve been saying for years, this is a WAR for the heart and soul of this nation and that has never been clearer to me!
I’ll end this by reminding anyone who’s reading my posts for the first time I’ve been saying individual 1 is incapable of “shutting up” as his various advisers have futilely, and without success, have been encouraging him – almost from day one – and he keeps making campaign commercials for Joe Biden. Apparently it still hasn’t sunk in to our IMPEACHED so-called president what a “bad look” it was calling the white nationalists who converged on Charlottesville a couple years ago carrying Nazi flags, Confederate flags, holding Tiki Torches and chanting “Jews will not replace us” “very fine people.” So, with some variation of the white nationalist “crew” from Charlottesville protesting in Michigan, brandishing clothing with swastikas, signs in German with Nazi slogans, flying Confederate flags, armed with AR 15’s, and “storming” the capitol building – demanding Michigan make this virus worse – I guess it should surprise no one when individual 1 calls them “very good people.” There’s another commercial!