RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://justthenews.com/government/congress/three-critical-questions-about-capitol-siege-remain-unanswered

One thing recent history has taught America is the first storyline of major tragedies or controversies is never the most accurate.

Americans were told by the Bush administration that they were sucker-punched by a surprise attack on 9/11 by terrorists, only to learn the CIA and FBI had significant advance evidence of the plot and its players and failed to connect the dots.

Susan Rice originally told the nation that the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi was carried out spontaneously by a mob angered by an anti-Muslim video. The attack, it turned out, was pre-planned and carried out by an al-Qaeda-aligned terror group in Libya.

The country was assured Christopher Steele’s dossier provided credible evidence of Donald Trump colluding with Russia, when in fact the CIA and FBI knew almost immediately it was uncorroborated and based in part on Russian disinformation.

And now just a week after the heinous and deadly siege of the U.S. Capitol, the final narrative of what actually happened is still being written, revised and unmasked.

Since the weekend, major bombshell revelations already have substantially revised the initial story of a spontaneous mob overrunning an unsuspecting Capitol police force.

Sadly, we have moved away from the concept of a legislature deliberating, and respectively (and reflectively) debating what is in the best interest of Americans. The metaphor of the squeaky wheel getting the grease is more fitting in an atmosphere where the disenchanted or ‘victims’ take to the streets. This past summer’s Antifa and BLM protests turned into destructive and lethal riots in cities across the country. Last week’s riot, which emanated from a giant Trump rally, reached a crescendo when dozens of Trump supporters (and perhaps others) stormed the U.S. Capitol.

Why has this happened? In August 2014, Ashley Parker, writing on the front page of the New York Times, noted: “A generation ago, here in the Senate Dining Room, Mike Mansfield, a Democrat of Montana and majority leader, and George Aiken, a Republican of Vermont, met most mornings to have breakfast together, a scene almost unimaginable in today’s polarized climate.” Now, six and a half years later, polarization has worsened into a hyper-partisanship that is probably the worse since the pre-Civil War days. It is not only politicians and extremists who face diametrical opposition, families and friends have become isolated because of political differences.

The question is why? The United States has never been wealthier or militarily more powerful. Soldiers have been brought home from, seemingly endless, overseas wars. More young people are in college than ever before and now women outnumber men on campuses. Poverty has declined. Employment and incomes for minorities reached record levels a year ago, and the segregation of the 1950s is a distant memory.  The nation has become energy independent for the first time since 1957, according to the Institute for Energy Independence. Government and industry, working together created a vaccine in record time. Why is there no effort to look at what has been done correctly, and then build on mutual successes, rather than focusing on grievances? Perhaps it is an excess of leisure time? Perhaps the ubiquity of the internet, social media, C-SPAN and 24-hour-news no longer allow time for reflection.

https://bit.ly/3nFoei2
William Burns is one of the leading veterans of the State Department, representing its deeply-rooted worldview :

*Multilateralism and coalition-building over unilateral policy;
*Military restraint and supremacy of diplomacy/coercive-diplomacy; *International law, human rights and democracy-driven policy;
*Rejection of regime-change initiatives;
*Palestinian prominence in Middle East policy;
*Viewing Islamic terrorism as despair-driven;
*Misperceiving the raging Arab Tsunami as if it were Arab Spring.

William Burns served as Deputy Secretary of State and Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs during the Obama Administration. He was part of the State Department establishment, which considered Saddam Hussein a potential ally until his August 1990 invasion of Kuwait; played a key role in the 2009 embrace of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, while abandoning President Mubarak; was a major proponent of the 2011 US-led military offensive which transformed Libya into a global platform of Islamic terrorism; and was one of the early architects of the 2015 Iran nuclear accord (JCPOA), conducting secret talks in Oman.

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/16950/erase-and-criminalize

There is a concerted effort to tar every Trump supporter with the brush of Capitol mob protester. That is a lie. It is deliberate and malicious. It is a plan to intimidate and silence.

Facebook is purging all content referencing “stop the steal” — although there is ample evidence of voting irregularities and cause for election reform. Twitter is suspending and expelling hundreds of thousands of users. President Trump is among them. Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei, who leads public cheers of “Death to America!”, is not.

Trump gave a speech stating: “if you don’t fight like hell you’re not going to have a country anymore.” That remark is supposed to qualify as “incitement to insurrection.” What a pathetic, transparent lie! Think of the number of times innumerable politicians have invoked “fight” to express encouragement for active public policy engagement. We “fight” for healthcare, justice, human rights, entitlements, civil rights — even peace.

The criminality of Hillary’s outlaw email server, the phony Russia Hoax, the fake Ukraine Impeachment, FISA Warrant abuse, the politically contaminated and compromised FBI — that all gets a “pass” — but Trump telling supporters to fight for their country — THAT is impeachable?

Biden did not win in a landslide. Many feel disenfranchised.

Welcome to America’s Cultural Revolution.

https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/qed/2021/01/wish-granted-good-and-hard/

EXCERPTS:

Finally, to perspective; a quality sadly missing from much of today’s commentary, plagued as it is by presentism. This incident does not leave Trump’s legacy in tatters. Nor does it diminish the template he created for prosperity at home and peace abroad. Strong borders, fewer regulations, lower taxes, stronger military, tough love for allies, tough measures against China, innovative and brave initiatives for peace in the Middle East. This template will not appeal to Democrats but it most definitely will inform the next Republican administration. Assuming there will be a next Republican administration.

Donald Trump, properly viewed, was (is for little while longer) a great president. He slipped up at the last; pained by his conviction that the election was stolen. I think he felt personally aggrieved and disappointed. But I also think he thought he was fighting for truth, justice and the American way. Of course, the Trump-haters will only ever point to his personal motive.

It was messy. Nonetheless, the evidence of shenanigans in compiling and counting the votes piled up. As I’ve said, some of it caught on video. Mainstream journalists lacked interest. That says it all. Political hacks to a man and woman. Me, I am with Trump. Deeply sceptical that 81 million Americans (51.4 per cent of vote) voted for a guy in the basement whose mind is failing.  Obama managed just 66 million (51.1 per cent) in 2012.

An afterword. Just exactly how much savvy do they have; these so-called conservatives dancing on Trump’s grave? What do they think is now in store for the US and for us all, having played their part in Trump’s demise by four years of merciless sniping?

https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/qed/2021/01/trump-more-sinned-against-than-sinning/

EXCERPTS

The catalyst for the protest on January 6, the day the Senate ratified the Electoral College, was the presidential election in early November, but the causes of the protest go back to the day Trump announced his candidacy to become president. From that day forward, the Establishment acted in every way to undermine, frustrate, and destroy his presidency. It’s one of the most extraordinary stories in modern American political history. And while the ‘resistance’ or the Establishment — it’s hard to tell which is which in this ill-begotten tale — performed their deeds in plain sight, they also gaslighted the whole world. Then, with the chutzpah of chutzpahs, they denied prima facie evidence of their own malfeasance and corruption, and described anyone who questioned their narrative and tactics as insane or stupid. The hypocrisy was breathtaking. Although some of their followers, to be fair, are so stupid they gaslighted themselves.

The larger question, though, is what did people expect when a democratically elected president is subject to a torrent of abuse, of unrelenting mainstream media lies, false accusations of collusion with Russia, and an impeachment based on a gossamer-thin excuse to remove him from office?  Did they expect that nobody would become enraged at what many people viewed as the Establishment thwarting a democratic mandate? Did people really believe that nobody would notice the groundbreaking hypocrisy of the elites or the fact that the establishment was closing ranks against an outsider, one who was viewed by many voters as a tribune of the people? What did people expect when they witnessed Democratic Party politicians defending Antifa and Black Lives Matter, with Joe Biden, for example, refusing to condemn the burning of American cities, saying that Antifa is just “an ‘idea”, all the while blithely ignoring the wanton destruction? What did people expect when Kamala Harris urged people to donate to the legal funds of the rioters? What should people think when Nancy Pelosi said there was ‘no question’ that the 2016 election was ‘hijacked’? Were people to take them at their word or ignore what they said because it was a ‘debate’, as Kamala Harris excused herself after calling Joe Biden a racist and then signing on as his vice-presidential pick? What did people expect when the Democrats said that the Russians had manipulated the voting machines to ensure Trump won the election? What did people expect when there is evidence that the Justice Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency, among others – the security apparatus of America, in other words – were involved in a plot to undermine Trump’s presidency, and which even Barack Obama discussed in the Oval Office?