Democrats need political oxygen to rapid fire fake GOP investigations

Echo opinion by Jennifer Rubin published in The Washington Post:

The GOP’s conspiracy theories and unhinged accusations work best when Republicans are in the minority, when they can throw out half-baked accusations and make leaps of logic with little consequence.

When they are in the majority, however, they must show their cards about supposed Democratic scandals. And that is already proving to be a problem for right-wing performance politicians for four reasons.

First, most voters don’t want lawmakers to spend time spinning scandals. A recent CNN poll found that 67 percent of voters (including 74 percent of independents) don’t like the way Republicans are handling their job. Seventy-three percent (including 48 percent of Republicans and 76 percent of independents) say Republicans aren’t paying enough attention to the country’s real issues. Likewise, a CBS poll earlier this month found that less than one-third of Americans want Republicans to spend time investigating President Biden. Every hearing that Republicans devote to distractions highlights their failure to tackle real issues.

Second, it is hard for Republicans to explain to an audience not already seeped in right-wing conspiracy theories what they heck they are talking about. At least the Benghazi matter and the bollixed Fast and Furious program were events worthy of oversight. The cockamamie Hunter Biden “scandal,” by contrast, is a mix of convoluted, illogical accusations, as former FBI special agent Asha Rangappa explains in a Substack post.

In an actual hearing, unlike an interview with a captive right-wing media host, one has to explain the alleged scandal in a way that is comprehensible to those who haven’t spent hours soaking up bogus talking points. Democratic committee members will be able to channel what average voters are thinking: “What in the world are you talking about?”

Third, Republicans have a problem with evidence — or the lack thereof. The administration has already told Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the Oversight Committee, that it would not provide documents from the ongoing investigation of classified materials found at Biden’s home and office. 

Likewise, the Justice Department told Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who is leading the House Judiciary Committee, that it would follow long-standing practice and not turn over information about ongoing criminal probes. So what now?

Republicans can grouse all they like and even send subpoenas, but they will have difficulty getting their slim House majority to find any Biden official in contempt of Congress. Beyond holding a hearing complaining about not being allowed to muck around in pending criminal cases, there is not much Republicans can do.

Moreover, in a revealing interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Jordan couldn’t exactly explain how Democrats have “weaponized” the federal government. Consider this exchange about Jordan’s claim that the FBI has “targeted” parents:—

NBC News host Chuck Todd: Well, I want to unpack a little bit. You talk about the FBI abusing powers when it comes to parents and school boards. School board members were getting death threats. These weren’t idle things. These weren’t parents just yelling and screaming. These were actual —

Jordan babble: Do you know how many parents —

Todd: — death threats to elected officials. And the FBI got a tip. Should they not look into a death threat when an elected official gets a death threat?

Jordan babble: School board writes a letter on September 29th, five days later, the Attorney General of the United States issues a memorandum to 101 U.S. attorneys offices around the country saying, “Set up this line that they can report on.” Sixteen days later, Chuck, the FBI sends out an email to agents all across the country saying, “Put this designation on parents. Report it on the snitch line that the attorney general set up.” So all that happens. Think about it, Sept. 29, Oct. 4, Oct. 20. That all happens in 22 days. When have you ever seen the federal government move that fast?

Todd: There were actual death threats. Congressman, literally —

(Maine Writer: Good job Chuck Todd!)

Jordan babble: I understand.
Todd: — this is —
Jordan babble: Chuck, but let me just finish this. Twenty-five parents get reported on that snitch line. They all get investigated. FBI shows up to their door and guess how many have been charged. How many have been charged? Zero.
Todd: Then the FBI did its job.
Jordan babble: Zero.
Todd: Did the FBI not do its job?

As Todd pointed out, it’s not much of a scandal for the FBI to investigate tips and not arrest anyone. 

Even worse for Republicans, the videos of MAGA true-believers threatening public officials are a vivid demonstration of how conspiracy theories can whip up violent rhetoric. Democrats should be happy to discuss the subject.

Fourth, there are rakes aplenty for Republicans to step on. 

Each time a Republican screams that the government has been “weaponized,” Democrats should be prepared to go through the litany of real GOP abuses and outrages while in power: the failure to audit Trump’s taxes, the Justice Department’s pointless John Durham investigations, GOP governors transporting of unwary asylum seekers out of state and the abusive arrests of African American voters in Florida, to name a few. Simply because these issues are not the majority’s designated topics does not prevent Democrats from talking about them in hearings.

It seems Republicans imagine their hearings will be some sort of payback for the revealing, substantive and gripping investigation conducted by the House January 6th committee. But a major reason those hearings were so effective was the personnel. There were no disruptive Republicans on the panel, and there were plenty of whip-smart Democrats. 

Those same Democrats will be present on Republican-led committees. Rep. Jamie B. Raskin (Md.), for example, will be the ranking member on Comer’s Oversight Committee. Even the Democrats’ far-left flank should prove useful. 

Whatever one thinks of her politics, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), the No. 2 Democrat on the panel, has ably demonstrated her proficiency in hearings.

In addition, Democrats have set up a rapid response group, the Congressional Integrity Project, to fire back at Republicans. The group will point out which Republican officials participated in the 2020 coup attempt and which refused to testify before the January 6th hearing. Knowing the media will likely give equal time to critics of the hearings, Democrats might receive plenty of oxygen to air Republicans’ dirty laundry.

Echo opinion - Trumpziism: intensity of the anger, fear and disaffection Americans feel

This echo opinion by columnist Leonard Pitts was published in the Southern Illinoisan newspaper. 

Leonard Pitts: Donald Trump got what he deserved

Those Trumpzi bubbles were popped at the Nationals' World Series Game!

By the way- the Nationals won but DJtRump lost his cool!*

Oh My God! Somebody in the White House let Donald Trump out of his bubble on Sunday. As expected, it did not go well.

Granted, every president lives in a bubble, due to security concerns. But Trump lives in a bubble within a bubble, one that has less to do with protecting him from assassins than with protecting him from reality. That's why his public appearances are largely confined to friendly rallies with true believers where nary a word of dissent is heard. And his handlers go to remarkable lengths to keep that bubble intact.

Take last week's speech at historically black Benedict College in South Carolina; Trump is about as popular as polka music with African Americans, so it might have seemed a brave outreach on the surface. But students were reportedly asked to stay in their dorms during the speech. Thus, Trump's appearance at a "black college" was actually an appearance before an audience of political allies with maybe seven actual students.

All this, to protect him from the fact that he is widely despised. Well, Sunday night during Game 5, of the World Series, the bubble popped. When Trump was introduced, the crowd at Nationals Park in Washington erupted in thunderous boos, followed by a chant: "Lock him up! Lock him up! Lock him up!" His grin shrank to a grimace as the magnitude of this public rejection sank in.

It was an immensely cathartic moment. For some of us, at least.

Dana Perino of Fox "News" (yuk!) was simply shocked. "I never thought he would get booed," she said, adding that she had thought "Americans would cheer." Apparently, Trump is not the only one living in a bubble.

Joe Scarborough of MSNBC took exception to the chant. "We are Americans and we do not do that," he lectured, a claim that neatly refutes itself. We do not do that? Sorry, but those weren't Ukrainians in that stadium.

Meantime, Democratic Senator Chris Coons was also troubled. "I frankly think the office of the president deserves respect," he said. Which it does. Maybe someday, we'll have a president who understands that. (Maine Writer- IMO, the office of the potus deserves respect when the person in that position shows respect for others!)

Those who are wringing their hands over this fail to appreciate — or respect — the intensity of the anger, fear and disaffection Americans feel at what is happening to this country. They know that this is less a presidency than a crime wave. And in demanding quiet forbearance in the face of that, critics seek what free people cannot, ought not — and better not — give.

Trump is not the first president booed at a sporting event. It happened to the Bushes, Obama, Truman, Hoover. Nor is he the first to face a rude chant. In the depths of the Vietnam War, Lyndon Johnson was routinely serenaded with, "Hey, hey, LBJ! How many kids did you kill today?"

No, what happened Sunday only felt revolutionary because it broke the bubble, allowed reality into the reality show that is the Trump presidency. It forced him to face, if only for a few fleeting moments, the fact that most Americans — Gallup says Trump has a 39 percent approval rating — regard him with scorn. That's a truth he's been able to dodge in that bubble, where "many people are saying" counts as a factual basis, delusion and fraud are political strategy and storm tracks can be changed with a Sharpie.

Now some of us think he should be spared the consequences of an accidental brush with reality? No. When you have endured the frustration of seeing that reality daily mutilated, you have the right — indeed, the obligation — to vindicate it at the top of your lungs.

Sunday night, Donald Trump got what he deserved.

And some of us got what we needed.

Leonard Pitts is a columnist for The Miami Herald. 

*Washington Nationals fan Chuck Todd closes ‘Meet The Press’ with World Series trophy

My opinion published in the Maine Forecaster- Senator Susan Collins alert

By Juliana L'Heureux published in The Forecaster

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, deflected a question from “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd on Sunday when he asked “when is enough, enough?” In other words, when will Collin’s frustrations with the Trump administration be enough to cause her to stand against policies with which she claims to disagree?

For example, the unnecessary government shutdown. She is opposed to shutdowns. But, she defended Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky. In the past, Collins believed her Republican colleagues, when they assured her that support for “tax cuts for the rich” would not increase beneficiaries’ costs for Medicare. But, co-pays increased. Moreover, Republicans are even talking about entitlement reform as their draconian remedy to pay for those terrible tax cuts. After the contentious Kavanaugh nomination hearing, Collins went against the majority of Maine people, who have remained opposed to her wrong-minded vote. Former Maine Chief Justice Dan Wathen, wrote an op-ed asking Collins to support the Mueller Special Counsel and his investigation. Yet, she has not supported legislation to assure that Mueller completes his job.

On “Meet the Press,” she did not answer the question: “When is enough, enough?”

Juliana L’Heureux, from Topsham, Maine

Christian Vice-President Mike Pence lies again on Meet the Press

Sunday April 30, 2017 was a missed opportunity for Vice-President Mike Pence during his appearance with moderator Chuck Todd, on Meet the Press. Rather than show executive leadership, the Christian Vice-President, instead, supported the serial of lies about the failed Donald Trump administration's 100 days of double zero accomplishments.  At least, Mr. Vice-President didn't mention the appointment of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch in his litany, because that might have been one nugget of truth in the otherwise propaganda riddled interview. Nevertheless, the Gorsuch appointment was hardly a successful effort, considering how the Senate had to collapse decades of protocol to force the simple majority vote.  

Too bad Mr. (Christian) Vice-President Mike Pence can't show independent leadership

Here are the Christian Vice-President's litany of lies on Meet the Press:

Lie #1- Donald Trump is working hard to help middle class Americans.  This is difficult to believe when Donald Trump's first 100 days, saw 31 of those spent playing golf at his palatial luxury Section 8 Housing estate in Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach Fl.  Of course, that's where hard working Americans must pay to play. In truth, middle class people can't afford to go to Mar-a-Lago, but we're paying for the place, nonetheless.  

Lie#2- Donald Trump has signed legislation during the 100 minus 31 days of his administration. Not true. Rather, executive orders have been his only cruel achievements.  In fact, the "Muslim Travel Ban" executive order (EO) has thus far failed in the courts, as being unconstitutional. Another example of a lie is that the stupid anti immigration wall will be paid for by Mexico. Wrong! In truth, the wall is entirely too expensive to build and Mexico won't pay for it.
(How could Christian Vice-President Mike Pence so egregiously lie?) 

Lie #3- Donald Trump's health care plan will reduce insurance premiums, while providing access to coverage for pre-existing conditions.  Oh, paaaaleeeze!  Christian Vice-President Mike Pence used the state of Maine, as an example, of how to make this impossible equation work. Well, HELLO?  I'm a "Maine Writer" and the way it was supposed to work (and did work for a period of time) was that people who pay private insurance premiums were "assessed" a fee that went into a special fund, where pre-existing conditions were covered.  In other words, the cost of covering pre-existing conditions was shifted to the beneficiaries who paid private premiums. Senator Susan Collins, in a subsequent Q&A with Todd, responded to the Vice -President by explaining how this "assessment" was dropped, as a result of Obamacare. In other words, the private pay beneficiaries, who had been assessed, saw the "assessment" reduced off of their insurance bills as a result of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).   

On my Twitter feed, I was able to respond to most of the Christian Vice-President Mike Pence's litany of lies on Meet the Press. Nevertheless, my reality checks were not as rapid paced as the serial lies Christian Vice-President Mike Pence spewed like verbal volcanic ash. Dear Christian Vice-President Mike Pence, have you checked Exodus 31:18.
Unfortunately, Christian Vice-President Mike Pence missed an opportunity on Meet the Press to show independent thinking and progressive leadership.  Mr. Pence is part of the failed 100 (double zero) days of the Donald Trump administration. Moreover, he should be ashamed of himself for telling so many lies.

Donald Trump train headed to Bridge on the River Kwai

A CIA expert Jeremy Bash (?wonder if that's an operative name?) says Trump team is a "runaway train". One rail further- in my opinion, the Trump Train is in rehersal for a remake of Bridge on the River Kwai. 

"The brakes are out ... that is how much trouble we're in."- Jeremy Bash

Bridge on the River Kwai - a sabattoge against the Japanese in Burma

Ex-CIA Chief of Staff Jeremy Bash Says White House Is ‘Runaway Train’  - by Alexander Smith

A former top government official said the White House reminds him of a "runaway train" following the latest revelations about President Donald Trump's ex-national security adviser- Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn.

Mike Flynn, who served as the president's national security adviser for three weeks, says he is willing to be interviewed about the Trump campaign's possible ties to Russia in return for immunity from prosecution.

"The image I have in my head of the White House is a runaway train," Jeremy Bash, chief of staff at the CIA and then the Department of Defense under former President Barack Obama, said on MSNBC late Thursday. "The brakes are out ... that is how much trouble we're in."

Bash told The 11th Hour with Brian Williams that authorities would only grant Flynn immunity in exceptional circumstances. The Harvard Law School graduate pointed to the Iran-Contra affair under the administration of President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s as an example of how hard this process can be.

Authorities "would have to want to make a deal" with Flynn, Bash said. "You can only give somebody immunity, full immunity, if it's worth it. They have to believe it's worth it in this case."

He also noted that granting immunity would involve the Justice Department.
"And for the Justice Department to agree to give somebody like him immunity, it means they want him to turn and testify against someone higher up in the food chain," Bash said. "Who is higher up in the food chain, higher than the national security adviser? There's really only one person. And so this shows that the jeopardy of criminal liability actually extends all the way to the top."

Flynn, a retired US ArmyLt. Gen. who headed the Defense Intelligence Agency before being pushed out by the Obama administration, advised the Trump campaign beginning in 2015.

He served as President Trump's national security advisor for a few weeks before resigning for what the Trump administration said was misleading Vice President Mike Pence about his contacts with Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak.

In September, Flynn told Chuck Todd on Meet the Press: "When you are given immunity that means you've probably committed a crime." He was talking about aides to Trump's opponent in the general election, Hillary Clinton.

A Congressional official told NBC News on Thursday that Flynn is willing to be interviewed by the Senate Intelligence Committee about the Trump campaign's possible ties to Russia, in return for immunity. In a statement, Flynn's lawyer, Robert Kelner, confirmed that discussions had taken place with the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, and said "General Flynn certainly has a story to tell, and he very much wants to tell it."

Trump around the world - Down Under news perspective

"Trump himself was barking at the moon at the CIA's Langley headquarters on Saturday."- George McGeough in Syndey

Donald Trump tried in vain to upstage the highly successful Womens March imagery when he spoke at the "staged for TV photo op" in the CIA's sacred foyer in Langley VA

Repubicans don't realize how America's international reputation is tarnished by the buffoonery of Donald Trump's incompetent leadership.  Well, that's probably "alternative fact", like Kelly Anne Conway is fond of saying.  In fact, Republicans do realize how their unhinged leader is a buffoon but they obviously don't care. Rather, it's power first, political ambition second and "they don't care" third.

Here's what The Sydney Morning Herald reported by George McGeough

WashingtonDC: Donald Trump's ego might dwarf Uluru, a national park in the Australian Outback, but he's exceedingly thin-skinned.

However, Trump's bludgeoning of the news media is (revenge) for their accurate reporting on the puny crowd that turned out for his inauguration - the small crowd was may be just a third of those who poured into the streets of the capital for Saturday's women's protest against his election.

We're familiar with the new President's obsession about any numbers that speak to his sense of his own greatness - rally crowds, polling and TV ratings. And his bilious contempt for those that don't. Trump does not respond well to the words "smaller than" and "Trump" appearing in the same sentence.

Here are some interesting international media links:
Lower turnout and protests usher in Trump's divided state of America

Sean Spicer's denial of the truth gives birth to #SpicerFacts meme

But there's enough data now to state unambiguously that his inauguration crowd was markedly smaller than either of those for Barack Obama - in 2009 and in 2013.

Photographs and video analysis by crowd size experts, reported by The New York Times, suggests Trump's inauguration crowd was 160,000 - just a fraction of Trump's estimate of up to 1.5 million.
The experts estimate the 470,000 participated in the women's march in DC. And when attendance at similar marches in other US states are thrown in, the total protest is estimated to have included from one million to 2.6 million people.

That makes them the biggest protests since the Vietnam War; and in anyone's language, a passionate pushback to a new presidency.

The DC metro service said on Sunday that Saturday's women's march was the second busiest day in its history - more than 1 million passenger trips. It fell just short of the 1.1 million trips taken on the day of Obama's first inauguration in 2009.

Figures reported by Politifact make the Trump inauguration the most poorly attended in more than 20 years. Here are the figures:

• Obama 2009 - 1.8 million
• Obama 2013 - 1 million
• Bush 2001 - 300,000
• Bush 2005 - 400,000
• Clinton 1993 - 800,000
• Clinton 1997 - 250,000.

Trump can't pretend to be surprised. 

In fact, he knew that he lost the popular vote by a good 3 million votes; that he squeaked through the Electoral College thanks to just a handful of votes in three states; and that, historically, he's the least popular incoming president ever. (Maine Writer- the Electorals did not do their job as envisioned by the writers of the US Constitution they should have voted for the qualified candidate Hillary Clinton, but they, sadly, did not.)

And he can't erase the facts that the Russian hacking and the FBI's weird intervention late in the campaign took some of the wind out of Hillary Clinton's campaign sails, thereby leaving many questioning the legitimacy of his "greatest win ever".

A smart man, after the inauguration, might have sucked it all up and rolled up his sleeves to get to work making America great again. For months, Trump has been belting us around the ears with his Day One "to-do" list and his First 100 Days agenda; and, last week, aides claimed breathlessly that he had stockpiled 200 executive orders that were good to go - all they needed was Trump's signature.

It was a given that he would be peeved about the crowd reports. But instead of Trump getting it out of his system with an early hours Twitterstorm, the manner in which key members of his team jumped into the trenches to maul the media suggests a pre-planned barrage intended to damage media integrity.

Trump himself was barking at the moon at the CIA's Langley headquarters on Saturday.

Utterly insensitive to the fact that his backdrop was a memorial to CIA agents who had died in the line of duty, he rambled, from assuring his audience their new commander-in-chief was the full quid: "Trust me, I'm, like, a smart person"; to his fame - he had made the cover of Time magazine 15 times, but football star Tom Brady had made it just once.

Openly stating that he was "at war" with the media, he gave his take on Friday's crowd: "We had a massive field of people. You saw that. Packed.

"I get up this morning. I turn on one of the networks and they show an empty field. I say: 'Wait a minute. I made a speech. I looked out. The field was ... It looked like a million, a million and a half people.' … And they said: 'Donald Trump did not draw well.' "

That's what you'd expect from Trump. But later his newly minted presidential spokesman Sean Spicer harangued reporters in a briefing. It's worth recalling here that, on being appointed earlier this month, Spicer assured reporters: "I've never lied … if you lose the respect and trust of the press corps, you've got nothing."

Spicer told the briefing: "Yesterday, at a time when our nation and the world was watching the peaceful transition of power and, as the President said, the transition and the balance of power from Washington to the citizens of the United States, some members of the media were engaged in deliberately false reporting.

"This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration - period - both in person and around the globe. These attempts to lessen the enthusiasm for the inauguration are shameful and wrong."

It brought to mind Saddam Hussein's hapless spokesman Comical Ali, who bizarrely insisted to reporters that Baghdad was safely in the hands of the dictator in 2003 - even as live TV pictures showed that the city had been captured.

Spicer lied demonstrably about the size of the crowd; the numbers that rode the DC metro; the use of magnetometers in security checks which he claimed had stopped people getting in; in claiming that this was the first time that floor covering had been used, which he said accentuated empty space (the coverings were used at Obama's 2013 inauguration).

It was an inauspicious start for a spokesman who claims to not lie and it earned him four Pinocchios from Glenn Kessler, The Washington Post's fact checker.

Next into the fray was Trump's White House chief of staff, Reince Priebus, who accused the press of attempting to delegitimise Trump. "It's really not about crowd size. It's really about honesty in the media," he told Fox News.

But what Priebus really meant became clear when Trump's former campaign manager and White House counsellor Kellyanne Conway was interviewed on NBC on Sunday morning.

Tackling her on Spicer's loony performance the previous day, host Chuck Todd wanted her to explain the absurdity of Spicer being sent before the cameras to argue what Todd said were "provable falsehoods".

At first Conway deflected: "I don't think presidents are judged by crowd sizes, they're judged by accomplishments."

Todd: "Fair enough, so why lie?"

Conway: "You're saying it's a falsehood, and Sean Spicer, our press secretary, gave alternative facts."

Todd, clearly flabbergasted: "Alternative fact are not facts. They're falsehoods."

So on top of fake news, we now have alternative facts.

George Orwell didn't know the half of it, did he? But with Obama and Clinton off his radar, Trump is making very clear that the media is his next biggest enemy - and it must be discredited, if not destroyed.

Conway was on the same page as Trump surrogate Scottie Nell Hughes who, during the campaign, made this breathtaking statement on National Public Radio: "One thing that's been interesting this campaign season to watch is that people that say facts are facts — they're not really facts. Everybody has a way - it's kind of like looking at ratings or looking at a glass of half-full water. Everybody has a way of interpreting them to be the truth or not true. There's no such thing, unfortunately anymore, of facts."

Evan McMullin, who ran for the presidency as a conservative candidate, put it this way: "[Trump's attacks are] intended to destroy the media's ability to hold him accountable."

These are dangerous days for the mainstream media. Many have struggled since the advent of the internet, which wrecked their traditional business model, and to the extent that they survive financially, budgets are hopelessly tight. Now there is a new existential crisis as the integrity of their reporting comes under a new and relentless attack from social media, led by the President of the United States.

Yes, Trump won the election (i.e. the Electors votes). But if a million or more Americans took to the streets of cities across the country on Saturday, it might mean that he has a bigger fight on his hands - especially if he does want to destroy the American news media.

President Obama Leadership - walk softly but carry a big stick said Sir Winston

President Obama:
“We have made clear to successive Libyan governments our intention to bring to justice the perpetrators of the attack on our facilities in Benghazi,” one official said. “So it should come as no surprise to the Libyan government that we would take advantage of an opportunity to bring Abu Khattala to face justice.”

While Chuck Todd on NBC reports poll numbers sinking for President Obama's leadership, I'm reminded of Sir Winston Churchill's quote about walking softly but using a big stick. 

How much bigger a "stick" can President Obama swing than taking on the challenge of ordering American special operations troops to exercise commando raids in sovereign countries, for the purpose of bringing terrorists to justice?  I can't thank of one.  

What the American people probably need to see are a line up of Nuremberg type of criminals, all of them tried, convicted and hung at the end of a rope.  

It's coming.

Warfare tactics and strategies are clearly clandistine in our age when terrorists blend with local populations. Men like Ahmed Abu Khattala, quickly stir up violence like tornadoes in the night.   Ahmed Abu Khattala is the ringleader of the September 11, 2012, mortally deadly Benghazi, Libya attacks on Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others in the American security detail. They all will eventually be caught and held accountable for their henious crimes, just like their nefarious colleague Osama Bin Laden.

The Washington Post reports:

Ahmed Abu Khattala had returned home Sunday night after a day of militia skirmishes in Benghazi when U.S. military commandos swarmed his residence south of the waterfront city and took him captive, quickly moving him out of Libya to a U.S. warship.

“He was isolated,” a U.S. official said. “It was pretty clean.”

One of the suspected ringleaders of the 2012 terrorist attacks in Benghazi that killed four Americans, Abu Khattala, is the first of the alleged perpetrators to be apprehended. He now awaits a transfer to the United States and a federal trial in the District.

U.S. officials said the joint Special Operations, & FBI mission was planned for months and approved by President Obama on Friday.

Republicans are wasting their time demanding for Khattala to be detained in the terrorist black hole in Guantanamo. 

Fortunately, however, President Obama is using another "big stick" leadership option by having this murderer tried in the light of justice in an American court.

It makes no sense for Republicans to pretend they know how to solve all the worlds' acute problems by just declaring something to be done, without thinking through the consequences of their reactionary ideas.  For one thing, keeping prisioners in Guantanamo is very expensive.  Secondly, keeping these murderer prisioners in Guantanamo creates even more incendiary emotions among their terrorist colleagues to enact revenge. Perhaps, it's even a badge of courage for terrorists to claim they were incarcerated in Guantanamo, at American tax payers expense. Obviously, it's in the best interest of National Security to bring these men to trial so the world can see who they are and what diabolical acts they've commited to be found guilty.  

Like the Nuremberg trials after the Nazi's were defeated in Europe, the al-Qaeda group of terrorists must be shown hanging by ropes so their colleagues know what's inevitably in the wings for each of them.  

Meanwhile, President Obama continues to walk softly but carry a burdensome "big stick". Sometimes, unfortunately, President Obama speaks defensively about his decisions. He shouldn't.  Instead, every time he faces a media interview where he's asked about his leadership poll numbers, he must repeat the outcomes of his decisions, rather than defend them.  

Perhaps, rather than a pretty White House scene in the background of these interviews, the President's public relations counsels should have a litany of terrorists mug shots in the shadows as evidence of the outcomes of his soft spoken but big stick successes.