ofthisandthat Weekly Letter to President Obama |
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Copyright © 2010
ofthisandthat.org. All rights
reserved.
ofthisandthat.org. All rights
reserved.
| Questions and Comments backfire@ofthisandthat.org |
INAUGURATION, January 20, 2009
Drunk in its stale air
For two hundred years.
Fettered in mind and body,
The soul, the safe escape
To let me breathe the cries
Of my heart singing
Tears of mel-an-choly.
Drunk in its stale air
For two hundred years.
Fettered in mind and body,
The soul, the safe escape
To let me breathe the cries
Of my heart singing
Tears of mel-an-choly.
The tears flow free today
Washing the stains of blood
And sweat in brotherhood.
Raise the curtain then an'
Let the world look in
On this promised land --
We breathe free today.... almost.
--- Arshad M. Khan
We will be known forever by the tracks we leave.
--- Native American proverb
--- Native American proverb
December 16, 2016 (posted December 20, 2016)
Mr. President: Stealing elections is not new. Most observers can recite examples. It
was also clear something was wrong. The size of Bernie Sanders rallies for one in
comparison with Hillary Clinton's even when exaggerated by the main stream press
(MSP). It tuns out the MSP had been bought in other ways also, printing positive
op-eds for Hillary and vice versa for Bernie before primary voting.
How do we know all this? Thanks to the hacking of the Democratic National
Committee and other emails. Informing the public of high level corruption is a
grievous sin in the Obama administration. So it was that a jaunty President Obama
appeared for his final news conference -- just before setting off for a Christmas
vacation to Hawaii costing millions and paid for by the taxpayer. The Russians
hacked the emails; the Russians influenced the election; this has to stop; we'll
consider a measured response.
Forget the corrupt DNC chair (at the time), Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who resigned
in disgrace and disappeared from the Democratic Convention as Bernie Sanders
delegates booed. Forget John Podesta; forget the Clintons, clearly not unknowing
beneficiaries; forget the crooks. Blame the Russians.
It is a many-months old story from summer suddenly given new legs. At the time,
President-elect Donald Trump encouraged the Russians, if they were responsible, to
hack more! So why is the MSM pushing it again led by The Washington Post (current
owner Jeff Bezos) now notorious for a dubious, unsourced McCarthyism story
impugning alternative media in a black list published by the heretofore almost
unknown group PropOrNot?
Surely the CIA has better things to do than pursue an old hack that informed voters of
a corrupted Democratic party. No wonder Trump has stopped taking intelligence
briefings from the CIA. That alone is a first time ever for a newly elected president.
One supposes he will wait until his selected CIA nominee Congressman Mike Pompeo
of Kansas takes control.
Well, the answer to these questions lies in one simple fact: the selection of Rex
Tillerson as the nominee for Secretary of State. He has cordial relations with Russian
business leaders and knows Vladimir Putin. Here's what's happened.
Candidate Trump's two foreign policy initiatives were to get tough with China on trade
and to improve relations with Russia. He tried and failed to get someone to do both;
hence the repeated meetings with Mitt Romney.
So it was that he decided to focus on one or the other. He met with a former
ambassador to China, John Huntsman, a moderate Republican who was appointed by
Obama. And he interviewed Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson, a man who clearly knows his
way around the Russian oligarchy.
The Chinese enterprise is fraught with pitfalls, a principal one being the WTO which
would in all probability negate a unilateral tariff. Moreover, the Chinese have already
fired a small warning shot in the air, if not across the bow: they sold $45 billion of US
government securities this week.
So it had to be Tillerson -- a tilt to better relations with Russia. Couple this with the
announcement to review the bloated and troubled F-35 multi-role fighter program,
and one can easily discern how Trump has sent tremors, if not an earthquake,
through the unholy neocon and military industrial complex alliance. Their minions are
responding.
Tellingly, improving relations with Russia seems the only saving grace of the incoming
Trump administration. The other selected nominees portend a dismal future for
government departments and services, as the individuals supposed to lead them
either disavow their need to exist or do not believe in their remit. It is going to be an
horrendous four years.
Mr. President: Stealing elections is not new. Most observers can recite examples. It
was also clear something was wrong. The size of Bernie Sanders rallies for one in
comparison with Hillary Clinton's even when exaggerated by the main stream press
(MSP). It tuns out the MSP had been bought in other ways also, printing positive
op-eds for Hillary and vice versa for Bernie before primary voting.
How do we know all this? Thanks to the hacking of the Democratic National
Committee and other emails. Informing the public of high level corruption is a
grievous sin in the Obama administration. So it was that a jaunty President Obama
appeared for his final news conference -- just before setting off for a Christmas
vacation to Hawaii costing millions and paid for by the taxpayer. The Russians
hacked the emails; the Russians influenced the election; this has to stop; we'll
consider a measured response.
Forget the corrupt DNC chair (at the time), Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who resigned
in disgrace and disappeared from the Democratic Convention as Bernie Sanders
delegates booed. Forget John Podesta; forget the Clintons, clearly not unknowing
beneficiaries; forget the crooks. Blame the Russians.
It is a many-months old story from summer suddenly given new legs. At the time,
President-elect Donald Trump encouraged the Russians, if they were responsible, to
hack more! So why is the MSM pushing it again led by The Washington Post (current
owner Jeff Bezos) now notorious for a dubious, unsourced McCarthyism story
impugning alternative media in a black list published by the heretofore almost
unknown group PropOrNot?
Surely the CIA has better things to do than pursue an old hack that informed voters of
a corrupted Democratic party. No wonder Trump has stopped taking intelligence
briefings from the CIA. That alone is a first time ever for a newly elected president.
One supposes he will wait until his selected CIA nominee Congressman Mike Pompeo
of Kansas takes control.
Well, the answer to these questions lies in one simple fact: the selection of Rex
Tillerson as the nominee for Secretary of State. He has cordial relations with Russian
business leaders and knows Vladimir Putin. Here's what's happened.
Candidate Trump's two foreign policy initiatives were to get tough with China on trade
and to improve relations with Russia. He tried and failed to get someone to do both;
hence the repeated meetings with Mitt Romney.
So it was that he decided to focus on one or the other. He met with a former
ambassador to China, John Huntsman, a moderate Republican who was appointed by
Obama. And he interviewed Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson, a man who clearly knows his
way around the Russian oligarchy.
The Chinese enterprise is fraught with pitfalls, a principal one being the WTO which
would in all probability negate a unilateral tariff. Moreover, the Chinese have already
fired a small warning shot in the air, if not across the bow: they sold $45 billion of US
government securities this week.
So it had to be Tillerson -- a tilt to better relations with Russia. Couple this with the
announcement to review the bloated and troubled F-35 multi-role fighter program,
and one can easily discern how Trump has sent tremors, if not an earthquake,
through the unholy neocon and military industrial complex alliance. Their minions are
responding.
Tellingly, improving relations with Russia seems the only saving grace of the incoming
Trump administration. The other selected nominees portend a dismal future for
government departments and services, as the individuals supposed to lead them
either disavow their need to exist or do not believe in their remit. It is going to be an
horrendous four years.