Monthly Archives: March 2017

WWJS

Politics, Religion

 

This is going to be short and sweet.

This morning’s post is triggered by Donald J. Trump’s 5:23 a.m. tweet directed at the Freedom Caucus (conservative Republicans who came into office on the Tea Party wave).  The tweet reads:

The irony is that the Freedom Caucus, which is very pro-life and against Planned Parenthood, allows P.P. to continue if they stop this plan!

So just to be perfectly clear, Comrade Trump is trying to cajole recalcitrant Republicans to pass a draconian health care bill on the backs of vulnerable women who depend on Planned Parenthood for basic medical care.

Thus, the title, WWJS or “What would Jesus say?”  By now, you know I am a non-believer, but let’s assume for argument sake Jesus chose today as the moment of the second coming.  Would there be the Sermon on the Mount 2.0?  Or a plea for divine forgiveness?

I think not.  This week I was in the company of a friend who is as calm and mild-mannered as they come.  Even when you know she is irritated, she responds with a gentle suggestion and a smile.  Until Tuesday, when she felt she had been wronged.  She let forth a volley of F-bombs which would make any sailor proud.  I was stunned.  But I understood.

Back to Trump and this morning’s tweet.  I imagine Jesus would have replied as followed:

5:24 am
@ TheRealJesusChrist

WTF!!!

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP

MacTrump/Act V

Politics

 

Act V/Return of the Jeb-i

Scene I: Queen’s Anteroom

Gentlewoman (Megan Kelly) [to doctor (Ben Carson)]

Lo you, here she comes.  This her very guise; and, upon my life, fast asleep.  Observe her, stand close.

Lady MacTrump (Steve Bannon)

In, damned Spot!  In, I say! What becometh of the King’s loyal canine.  Has he too abandoned his master?  Damned Spot, is the scent of coming disaster so strong as to poison the allegiance between man and his hound?

Doctor [to gentlewoman]

Foul whisp’rings are abroad.  Unnatural deeds.  More needs she the divine than the physician.  God, God forgive us all!

Scene II: Reflecting Pool on the Dunsinane Mall

Soldier I (General Mattis)

The exiled leaders are near, led on by Malcolm (George W. Bush) and the good Macduff (John McCain).

Soldier II (Evan McMullen)

Shall we well meet them?  Who knows if Donalbain (Jeb Bush) be with his brother?

Soldier I

The King cannot buckle his distempered cause within the belt of rule.  His secret dealings stick on his tiny hands.  Now minutely revolts upbraid his faith-breach.  Now does his title hang loose about him, like a giant’s robe upon a dwarfish thief.

Soldier II

Well, march we on with Malcolm and Macduff.  And with them pour we in our country’s purge each drop of us.

Scene III: MacTrump’s Camp at Dunsinane

MacTrump

Bring me no more reports. Let them fly all.  False thanes, mingle with the exiled epicures if you must.  The heart I bear shall never sag with doubt.

Thus arrives my lady’s physician.  How does your patient doctor?

Doctor

She is troubled with thick-coming fancies that keep her from her rest.

MacTrump

Cure her of that.  Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased?  Raze out the written troubles of the brain with some sweet, oblivious antidote.

Doctor

Therein the patient must minister to himself.

MacTrump

Throw physic to the dogs; I’ll none of it.  The exiles approach with requests to view the royal treasury records.  We must prepare.  Bring me my robe of royal privilege by which I shall deflect such entreaties.

Scene IV: Mar-a-Elsinore

MacTrump

What is that noise?

Doctor

The queen, my lord, is dead.

MacTrump

She should have died hereafter.  There would have been a time for such a word.  More urgent matters call. Behold, Malcolm and Macduff approach!  

Yet I am confident of victory.  Remember the prophecies.  The witches foresaw my ascension to the throne…and yada, yada…King I did become.  They next foretold I would have no heirs and with my lady’s demise, that be also true.  So, fear not. The witches, whom I gave a 2 at best, proclaimed only a man of unnatural birth could bring me harm.  Doth there exist such a fellow?

Royal Counsel (Jared Cushner)

It doth depend on what the meaning of natural is, my lord.  Therefore, I did peruse the royal documents.  Natural requires the future monarch be sired and delivered on native soil.  If that be true, beware of Macduff for he was born in the distant fief of Panama.

[Enter Macduff]

MacTrump

Of all men else I have avoided thee.  Why come thee now?

Macduff

I have no words.  My voice is these articles drafted by the royal council to relieve you of your duties.

MacTrump

Accursèd be that tongue that tells me so, yet I’ll not fight with thee.

Macduff

Then yield thee, coward, and live to be the show and gaze o’ th’ time.
We’ll have thee, as our rarer monsters are, painted on a pole, and underwrit, “Here may you see the tyrant.”

[Enter Donalbain]

Hail, king! For so thou art.

Donalbain

We shall not spend a large expense of time dwelling on the past.  Our long national nightmare be over.  So thanks to all at once and to each one, whom we invite to see us crowned.

A Matter of Timing

Politics

 

realdjtBetween November 2, 2012 and July 10, 2016, Donald J. Trump posted a total of 64 tweets expressing his opinion of the person who occupied the oval office at the time.  Considering Barack Obama left office with an approval rating of 55 percent (now 60 percent in hindsight), it’s clear a majority of Americans did not share His Orangeness’ assessment.

Here are just a few.

  • …has no idea what he is doing – incompetent. (February 23, 2015)
  • …along with almost everyone else, I have so little confidence in (the president.) He has a horrible attitude. (November 17, 2015)
  • …it is apparent (the president) has no problem lying to the American public… (October 24, 2012)
  • (The president) has been a total disaster.  (January 9, 2012)
  • He is truly a pathetic excuse of a president, can’t get any worse. (October 20, 2014)
  • He is a delusional failure. (October 9, 2014)
  • I believe that (the president) is so overwhelmed by what is happening in the U.S. and through the World that he has totally given up.  (July 21, 2014)
  • (The president) thinks the nation is not as divided as people think.  He is living in a world of the make believe! (July 10, 2016)
  • (The president) is losing on so many fronts, in fact all fronts, that I am concerned he will do something totally irrational.  (April 25, 2014)
  • (The president) looks exhausted and beaten.  He was never made or prepared for the job.  Like it or not, he doesn’t have “it”.  (July 9, 2014)
  • (The president) loves wasting our money.  (October 2, 2012)
  • …how much can one man lie about even the most obvious things?  (April 21, 2014)
  • The United States, under (this president) has truly become the  “gang that couldn’t shoot straight.”  Everything he touches turns to garbage! (October 21, 2014)
  • Is he delusional? (September 24, 2013)

Now, just imagine Trump posted these same tweets during the first two months of his administration.  I’m willing to bet at least 60 percent of Americans would say, “You know, he’s absolutely right.”  And for once, I’d have to agree.

For What It’s Worth.
Dr. ESP

 

Wag the iPad

Politics

 

If nothing else, the Trump campaign organization and White House have proven to be a masters of misdirection.  And unfortunately, for the most part, they have been successful in setting the narrative.  But that may have changed on Monday, when the liar-in-chief was exposed as a hack conspiracy theorist by FBI Director James Comey and NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers. Now, everything the administrations says or does is suspect, as well it should be.

And it did not take 24 hours for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to shatter its credibility by issuing a nonsensical restriction on the on-board use of laptops, tablets, DVD players, cameras and video games.  And of course, the ban applies only to foreign carriers flying out of eight airports in Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East and North Africa. The directive is based on an unspecified threat that “militant groups want to smuggle explosive devices in electronic gadgets.” (Source, CNBC, March 21, 2017)

I know.  By calling the restriction “nonsensical,” it appears that I am not concerned about airline safety.   Just the opposite.  As I hope to prove, this poorly conceived and hastily issued (does that sound familiar?) DHS directive actually puts Americans in greater peril.  Consider the following.

Since, September 11, 2001, there have been two attempts by militant terrorists to take down U.S. airliners.  On December 22, 2001, Richard Reid, an Islamic Fundamentalist from (this is important) Great Britain tried to detonate plastic explosives concealed in his shoes.  The flight originated from (now pay attention Secretary Kelly) Charles de Gaulle Airport in (still listening?) Paris, France.

The second attempt was made on December 25, 2009 by Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who concealed plastic explosives in his underwear.  Adulmutallab, boarded Northwest Airlines Flight 253 which originated at (still there Secretary Kelly?) Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in Haarlemmermeer, Netherlands.*

Perhaps the most devastating example of a terrorist bomb bringing down an airplane is Pan Am Flight 103 on December 21, 1988, resulting in the death 259  passengers and 11 people on the ground.  The flight originated in London and the explosives were smuggled on board in a cassette player which was then hidden in a checked suitcase.

The DHS explanation of the ban stated that it would not affect any U.S. based carriers as none had direct flights from the eight targeted airports to the United States.  This defies logic.  If the terrorists’ prime objective is to unsettle Americans, the most appropriate bombing target is a U.S. carrier on which the majority of passengers are likely American citizens.  Even in the case of Metrojet Flight 9268 on October 31, 2015, for which ISIS claimed responsibility, the chosen target which crashed after take-off from Sharm El Sheikh International Airport  on the Sinai Peninsula was a Russian carrier because (Secretary Kelly?) there were 219 Russians, mostly tourists, on board.  If you want to terrorize Russians, and you have a choice of a Russian or Egyptian carrier, which do you choose?  This is not rocket science.

Virtually every electronic device has an internal clock.  Therefore, it makes no difference if an explosive device is smuggled on board in checked luggage or is carried on board.  By their very nature, any electronic device can be a ticking time bomb.

Finally, weren’t we just recently warned about the fire risk from lithium-ion batteries, especially those stored in cargo bays?  Who needs terrorists when DHS is increasing the fire hazard by mandating devices, most of which run on lithium-ion batteries, be transported (you guessed it) in cargo bays?

So let me get this straight.  DHS is increasing surveillance at airports which are unlikely points of origin for flights any terrorist might target to disrupt international travel by U.S. citizens.  The ban applies only to carriers which have not been terrorist targets. Persons wishing to do harm to Americans will continue to do what they have always done, focus on U.S. carriers with flights from international hubs from which those carriers fly.  And while thousands of air travelers will be inconvenienced, the terrorist need only check their destructive device rather than carry it on board.

Assuming the unspecified threat which triggered the DHS ban is real, there has to be a better way.  And the sad thing is, it already exists.  Earlier this year my wife and I traveled to Israel, a destination for which air travel safety is a constant concern.  Two things I observed suggest why travel to and from Tel Aviv is among the safest international routes.  Prior to boarding our outbound flight from Liberty International Airport (Newark) all carry-on bags were placed on a table and scanned for explosives.  This was done in groups of perhaps 20 passengers at a time.  It took less than five minutes.

Our experience at Ben Gurion Airport (Tel Aviv) was less intrusive than at any major airport in the U.S.  We did not have to take off our shoes or remove electronic devices from our carry-on bags.  There was one difference.  At the security checkpoint we were asked a number of questions by courteous and professional security officers.  Although I do not know this for a fact, I suspect our responses were monitored using voice stress analysis (VSA).  We saw no indication of profiling as EVERY passenger was treated identically.

If a country which is a figurative bulls eye for most of the world’s major terrorist organizations can figure this out, why can’t we?  Yes, militants will develop more sophisticated weapons, but pretending to make us safer with the new DHS directive is symbolic at best. Time and effort would be better spent on technologies and airport security personnel training and deployment.

For What It’s Worth.
Dr. ESP

*Historical Footnote:  According to TSA officials,  the explosive carried by Abdulmutallab on Flight 253 “failed to detonate because the bomber wore the same underwear for two weeks straight and soiled the device.”  (Source, NY Daily News, July 25, 2014)  You just cannot make this stuff up.

 

Good Days, Bad Days

Media, Politics

 

Does the name Alfred E. Lewis ring a bell?  Probably not.  Yet it was under his by-line the Washington Post reported the June 17, 1972 arrest of five individuals at the Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate office complex.  The opening paragraph stated:

Five men, one of whom said he is a former employee of the Central Intelligence Agency, were arrested at 2:30 a.m. yesterday in what authorities described as an elaborate plot to bug the offices of the Democratic National Committee here. Three of the men were native-born Cubans and another was said to have trained Cuban exiles for guerrilla activity after the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion. (Washington Post, June 18, 1972)

The following day, the Post publishes the first story written by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein which made the initial connection between the burglars and the Committee to Reelect the President (CREEP).

One of the five men arrested early Saturday in the attempt to bug the Democratic National Committee headquarters is the salaried security coordinator for President Nixon’s reelection committee. (Washington Post, June 19, 1972)

Between June 19 and Nixon’s reelection on November 7, just three more Woodward/Bernstein articles made it into the Post.  With Nixon having garnered 60 percent of the popular vote and 508 electoral votes, Watergate appeared to be a footnote in American history.  It was not until May 19, 1973 that the Senate Watergate Committee began its nationally televised hearings.

I share this historical record as context for the coming days.  Yesterday was just the beginning of the saga to determine whether Donald J. Trump is guilty of treason (the only logical conclusion if, in fact, there was collusion between his campaign and Russian operatives) or whether the as yet unconnected dots are a series of possible, but highly improbable, unrelated coincidences.  (NOTE:  Nance’s Law, named after its originator former Navy intelligence officer Malcolm Nance, states, “Coincidence takes a lot of planning.”)

Yesterday was a good day for the resistance.  FBI Director James Comey, in what might be viewed as his mea culpa, first confirmed Trump and his campaign were under criminal investigation for their ties to and possible coordination with Russian government officials and operatives during the 2016 presidential campaign. Second, Comey and NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers confirmed His Orangeness is better suited to be a radio talk show purveyor of conspiracy hogwash than president of the United States.

There will also be bad days.  The White House will continue to feed its base false narratives.  The former president wiretapped Trump Tower (Trump Tweet, March 4, 2017). Paul Manafort played “only a very limited role on the campaign” (Sean Spicer Press Briefing, March 20, 2017).  Executive privilege will be invoked.  Trump will challenge the FBI’s or any congressional committee’s request to see his tax returns, an issue that is more than likely to end up in the Supreme Court as did access to the Watergate tapes.

And Comey is right when he says this may take a long time.  Human error is not an option.  Any inaccuracy, as evidenced by the White House’s vitriolic response to the New York Times use of the term “intelligence officers” instead of the more accurate “Russian operatives,” gives undeserved credence to the “fake news” meme spouted daily by Trump and his surrogates.

There will be bad days when the media takes it eye off the ball to report on some other story they believe is equally important.  (Is it time to re-watch the Dustin Hoffman/Robert de Niro film Wag the Dog?)There will be bad days when progress on the investigation seems non-existent.  And there will be days when Trump’s ardent supporters will remind us there is no “smoking gun,” only circumstantial evidence.  That was the same defense Nixon supporters used in 1972 and 1973.

Last night, John Dean, legal council to Richard Nixon during Watergate and who’s damning testimony before the Senate Watergate Committee on June 2,  1972  was a pivotal event in unveiling the cover-up, was asked by MSNBC host Chris Hayes for his take on House Intelligence Committee hearing.

They’re just starting to unravel things that were rumbling in the press.  So, it is not a pinnacle moment. It’s just a preliminary moment.  I was more stunned by the reaction of the White House.and their handling of it, which seemed to be over the top.

They are in a cover-up mode.  There is absolutely no question about that.

And John Dean should know. As he told Chris Hayes:

I’ve been inside a cover-up.  I know how they look and feel.  Every signal they’re sending is ‘we’re covering this up.’  Experienced investigators know this.  They know how people react when they’re being pursued.  This White House is not showing its innocence; they’re showing how damn guilty they are.

There is a certain irony that this first official notification of the FBI investigation came one day after the death of New York Daily News journalist and author Jimmy Breslin.  In his book How the Good Guys Finally Won, Breslin chronicles the process by which members of Congress, at great risk to their careers and reputations, opted to challenge a sitting president.  Ronald Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan wrote in her Wall Street Journal review, “A spirited recounting of how people better than Richard Nixon brought him down.”

American’s soul has been tested recently, but the final accounting, as always, will depend on individuals of conscience who courageously and meticulously approach the task before them.  And, if and when, the evidence requires judicial or congressional action, I believe these individuals (people better than Donald J. Trump) will heed their better angels as when the Supreme Count unanimously rejected Nixon’s claim of executive privilege and ordered the White House to turn over the oval office tapes?

So, if you believe in America and the principle of law, that belief must be unconditional.  There are days when it will be tested.  But it should never be abandoned.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP