RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://www.manhattancontrarian.com/blog/2020-10-23-biden-corruption-trickle-of-in

Kindly give the Manhattan Contrarian some credit for calling this one correctly at the very earliest stages. On the other hand, this was not a difficult call to make; you had to be either blind or braindead or corrupt or all three not to call it correctly. The category “all three” applies to the entirety of the progressive, Washington and mainstream media blob.

It was September 20, 2019 that the Wall Street Journal reported the existence of a so-called “whistleblower” complaint, asserting that on a telephone call in July of that year, President Trump had “pressured” the new President of Ukraine to investigate allegations of money laundering involving Joe and Hunter Biden. On September 23, 2019, as reported in the New York Post, Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani responded by asserting that some $3 million had been paid to Biden’s son Hunter from Ukraine. Over the next couple of weeks, various journalists (all from the right) put together relatively detailed timelines of the activities of Hunter Biden in Ukraine. (Here is one from Jim Geraghty of National Review on September 30, 2019.) Meanwhile, the “whistleblower” allegations turned into the impeachment inquiry, that continued until it ultimately cratered with Trump’s acquittal in the Senate on February 5, 2020.

By October 6, 2019, I was already ready to make the call, which I did in a post titled “The Bidens: ‘Stone Cold Crooked.’” That post covered in considerable detail the facts as to the Bidens and Ukraine as then known; but really, this was not complicated. Dubious Ukrainian energy companies in the crosshairs of prosecutors do not pay $1 million per year for attendance at two annual board meetings to people with Hunter Biden’s background (no experience in the energy industry) supposedly to get the benefit of their business acumen. It was screamingly obvious that this had to be payment for access or influence or both with respect to Hunter’s dad Joe. For many more Manhattan Contrarian posts on the subject of Biden corruption, particularly as regards Ukraine, go to this composite link and scroll down.

http://www.swtotd.blogspot.com

Donald Trump is not a man “for all seasons,” but he is, in my opinion, a man for this season, at this point in our history. We know his negatives: His character is faulty. He is an egoist, braggart and often vengeful. He is overly sensitive to insults and has little patience. His speech makes one wince. But Mr. Trump is an unabashed patriot who believes that, fundamentally, America is good, while his opponents are equally vocal, in emphasizing how America has been a force for evil. He, alone among Washington’s smug political class, has had the fortitude to stand up to what has become Washington’s “swamp,” a quagmire that has lured those that want the security of a federally funded job, with an income above the national average and the influence and power that accompanies such jobs. As well, too many elected officials have gone to Washington, not to serve the public’s interest but to gain the notoriety to profit from a book or to make contacts that allow them to join a lobbyist firm upon retirement – in short, to become rich. Nobody wants a system where a poor person cannot run for political office, but the pendulum has swung too far in the opposite direction. A Senator or Representative makes more than double the median household income in the Washington metropolitan area, which itself is 25% above the national average. The median net worth of a member of Congress is more than ten times the median net worth of the typical American. Healthcare and retirement benefits are substantially higher than those received by average Americans. And a compromised politician cannot serve the best interests of the American people.

Is it any wonder that Mr. Trump has raised the ire of so many whose livelihoods could be at risk? If Mr. Trump has his way some government agencies could be shut down and others moved out of the D. C. metropolitan area. Abroad, Mr. Trump achieved a rapprochement in the Middle East that had evaded professional policy experts for decades. He moved our embassy to Jerusalem, caused our NATO partners to up their share of defense spending and withdrew the U.S. from the UN Human Rights Council, which “makes a mockery of human rights,” as Ambassador Nikki Haley said. He took on China, imposed sanctions on Russian leaders, released the U.S. from the Iranian nuclear deal and removed the U.S. from the toothless and expensive Paris Accord. He came to Washington as a political outsider. Despite almost four years in the White House, he remains an outsider, which threatens those who see Washington as their own private feeding trough, a place where they can exercise political, economic and personal power. Donald Trump is like the little boy who saw that the emperor was naked, that corruption was rampant. The most recent example has been the Biden revelations – trading access for dollars. But Mr. Trump loves his country and he recognizes that its institutions of family, church, history and tradition are under attack. There are numerous issues over which reasonable people can disagree – the economy, COVID-19, the judiciary, education, taxes, regulation, national defense, healthcare, climate, the environment, immigration, foreign policy, guns, right-to-life – but we should be united on the issue of liberty, freedoms to speak, write and assemble, and of the right to live freely within the confines of a just society based on the rule of law. And, we should be able to trust those who run our government.