MAGA voters had plenty of warning about Trump's intention to model authoritarians

Although it is heartbreaking to realize how voters chose to ignore the horrible danger waarnings about a second Trump administrtion, the fact is, many did not hear General John Kelly's interview in The New York Times. Among the people I spoke with, many were unfortunately unaware of his first hand experience working in the first failed Trump administration.

Donald Trump  and Russia's President Vladimir Putin on July 16, 2018

This opinion letter publishd in The New York Times is a retrospective about what General Kelly said because, given the reality of a second Trump administraation, we must remember how we were forewarned.

Dear Editor: America, please listen ⚠ to and heed the warnings of John Kelly. This is real, Donald Trump is not bluffing — he will rule like a dictator.

Some of the many examples that back this up: Look at how Trump so viciously treated John McCain and Mark Milley, showing how he has no respect for our military. Look at how Mr. Trump demands absolute loyalty to him.

Remember when he stood with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki and believed Mr. Putin over our own intelligence and security services. Recall the articles we have read about Mr. Trump’s advisers continuing to look for ways to expand presidential powers.

And perhaps most dangerous of all, look at all the Republicans in Congress who continue to remain silent as Mr. Trump takes even more actions and makes statements that indicate his favoring an authoritarian regime. These Republicans will play a giant role in ushering in such a regime.

The writing is on the wall; General John Kelly* has put it there. Believe him.

From Howard Herman in Skokie, Illinois

*General Kelly was born and raised in Boston, MA. He enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1970, and was discharged as a sergeant in 1972, after serving in an infantry company with the 2nd Marine Division, Camp Lejeune, NC. Following graduation from the University of Massachusetts in 1976, he was commissioned and returned to the 2nd Marine Division where he served as a rifle and weapons platoon commander, company executive officer, assistant operations officer, and infantry company commander. 

John Francis Kelly (born May 11, 1950) is an American former political advisor and retired U.S. Marine Corps general who was White House chief of staff for President Donald Trump from 2017 to 2019. He had previously been Secretary of Homeland Security in the Trump administration and was commander of United States Southern Command. 

Drone attack on the Kremlin in Moscow

So, Who Was Behind That Drone Attack on Putin?

It might remain a mystery, but let’s review all the theories.

Echo essay published in SLATE by Fred Kaplan.

A still image taken from video shows a flying object exploding near the dome of the Kremlin on May 2. 

So, who fired two drones at the Kremlin in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, and what does the act say about the course of the war in Ukraine?

The whole business is a mystery, and may remain so forever, except to those who did the deed. The two questions are, of course, related; the intended impact on the war depends on who launched the weapons. But, there might also be separate impacts, depending on who the combatants think fired the shots. So, it may be worth scurrying down the rabbit holes of straight or madcap logic to examine the possibilities.

Russian officials point their fingers at Ukraine and say the attack was an attempted assassination of President Vladimir Putin—thus giving Moscow leave to respond in kind, i.e., to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Some observers see the claim (which Ukrainian officials deny) as evidence that the drones may have been a “false flag operation”—an attack concocted by Putin and his cronies in a way that would miss Putin (or any other Russian) but give them an excuse to kill Zelensky.

Putin has some history with false flags. In 1999, just after President Boris Yeltsin appointed Putin prime minister, several buildings were bombed in Moscow and other Russian cities. 

As was later learned, the culprits were Russian state secret police officers trying to whip up popular frenzy against Muslim terrorists—which is exactly what Putin proceeded to do, using the attacks as an excuse to step up the war in Chechnya. The operation, often likened to the Nazis’ Reichstag fire, propelled Putin’s ascension to the Kremlin’s helm after Yeltsin stepped down.

For this week’s drones, though, the false flag theory seems a stretch. Putin has already tried to kill Zelensky several times; he needs no contrived rationalization to try again, or to escalate his violence against any other target in Ukraine. He has managed to escalate plenty on his own.

Drones over the Kremlin also create the impression that the war has made all Russians everywhere, even the Russian state’s top leaders, vulnerable—and that can’t be a good feeling for people who look to their leader to keep them, at the very least, secure.

It’s possible that Putin’s megalomania has reached such heights that he thinks his own endangerment at the hands of Ukrainian murderers would whip the Russian people into a frenzy of patriotism and renewed support of the war. Perhaps, but there’s no sign the war is in need of such renewal; his absolute rule, control of national media, suppression of all critics, and ability to mobilize an endless stream of new recruits seem to be giving him all the support he needs.

Still, who knows how Putin’s mind works? In the realm of that dark catacomb, the craziest schemes might be mistaken for masterstrokes.

Another possibility is that the drones were fired by Russian rebels—either ordinary citizens critical of the war or dissident military officers. Most citizens opposed to the war, and to Putin, have either gone into exile or been locked up in jails, but a few adventurous saboteurs may well have stayed behind to wreak what havoc they can manage. It has long been reported that many career officers are leery of the war—some from its beginning, more as its disastrous course has killed or maimed so many of their brightest soldiers and spoiled the fruits of two decades of military reform. 

If either of these groups is keen to weaken Putin, it wouldn’t hurt to expose the skies over the Kremlin as porous.

Republicans must wake up and smell the odor of corruption

An echo opinion letter published in the Utah newspaper The Septrum, located in Saint George, Utah.

Trump is Unfit for Office

Republicans must wake up and smell the odor of Trumpzi corruption

All roads lead to Putin. Everything that Donald Trump does benefits Vladimir Putin of Russia. Consider the situation in Ukraine. Trump withheld aid to Ukraine until they agreed to dig up dirt on his leading political opponent, Joe Biden. Not only was he encouraging a foreign country to interfere in our 2020, elections, what he did ultimately benefits Russia because he withheld aid from a weak and needy ally at war with Russia.

It is past time for elected Republicans to wake up and smell the odor of Trumpzi corruption! 

From Scott Florence, in Dammeron Valley, Utah

How's all that "fire and fury" working out?

No 'fire and fury' as Trump team talks North Korea with Congress

There's a lot more "fire and fury" in the 2017 dangerous hurricane season than in the anticipated US response to North Korea's potential deployment of nuclear weapons, via a missile attack.

North Korea's President Kim Jong-un, continues to threaten aggression. Apparently, he isn't deterred and has not responded to the proposed reciprocity laid out by Donald Trump, who described the US reaction as being "fire and fury".

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson seems intent to keep his diplomatic cool, in the face of North Korean military aggression.

Donald Trump obviously needs a mentor to help him respond to the evil threats of Kim Jong-un, who demonstrates an obsession for launching a nuclear weapon. My suggestion? Check out the stoic attitude of his Trump's idol, Vladimir Putin. Although I have no use for Russia's President Putin, because he's a 100 percent Cold War veteran who served in the clandestine KGB, the fact is, he knows how to respond to an international crises.  Putin has no flair for bellicose rhetoric.  Rather, his style is to be cool, albeit knowing how his brain is calculating a strategy to design winning moves.

Thankfully, Donald Trump's advisers are more "Putin-esque" in their response to North Korea's danger, than is their "bellicose" boss. 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s top national security advisers stressed efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the North Korea crisis to Congress on Wednesday, staying far from Trump’s tough talk of potential “fire and fury” military responses to Pyongyang’s missile program.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Joseph Dunford held classified briefings on North Korea and Afghanistan for the entire House of Representatives and Senate.

Lawmakers said the officials discussed efforts including consultations with allies, sanctions, pushing for action at the United Nations and military options.

But they said the briefings’ tone was sharply different from some of Trump’s recent public statements. After recent missile launches and nuclear tests by North Korea, the president has vowed to stop the weapons program and said he would unleash “fire and fury” if Pyongyang threatened U.S. territory. (MaineWriter: HELLO?- how many threats does it take to constitute a "threat to US territory"?)

Mattis also warned of a “massive” military response if the United States or its allies were threatened.

“Each of them was very professional, very measured in what they were saying, and understand the stakes that are in play here. So there’s nothing over-the-top, no over-the-top rhetoric, just a layout of where they are in trying to deal with this issue,” Senator Bob Corker, Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told reporters.

Representative Eliot Engel, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee said after the briefing it was clear that the administration would like to negotiate an agreement with North Korea. “There was really no bluster whatsoever,” Engel said.

Members of Congress from both parties called for stricter sanctions against North Korea, and said the United States should seek to work closely with allies like South Korea, push China to do more and see action at the United Nations.
“The best strategy would be deploying sanctions... sustained financial pressure in which we do not let up on those financial institutions that are assisting North Korea,” said Republican Representative Ed Royce, chairman of the House committee, who just returned from a trip to South Korea.

Republican Representative Mac Thornberry, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said there had been more members of the House at the briefing than he could remember at similar sessions.

“There was a tremendous amount of interest,” he said.

Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Lisa Shumaker

MaineWriter- Diplomacy may be a temporary band-aid to bridge North Korea's aggression, while diplomats attempt to bring the rogue nuclear nation to the peace table. Nevertheless, the fact is, when Donald Trump jumped to a "fire and fury" response, to threaten Kim Jong-un, it was a hallow and bellicose response that failed to deter North Korean aggression.

The Real John McCain Stands Up - Writes to President Vladimir Putin in Pravda.ru: Try At Home Too?

“I am pro-Russian, more pro-Russian than the regime that misrules you today," Senator John McCain.  

(There are many comments posted to Senator McCain's commentary at www.russia.ru but I'm unable to read the Cyrillic). 

President Vladimir Putin will certainly have a lot of explaining to do after reading Senator John McCain's on line opinion article to the Russian people.  "Pravda" means "truth" in Russian.  Senator McCain's "truth" article shines a "truth" mirror on Russian President Putin. Truthfully, McCain has stripped the narcissistic egotism from Putin's self glowing reflection.  Putin deserves every word McCain wrote about him, especially following the Russian leader's self righteous lecture to the American people, published last week in The New York Times.

McCain writes: "President Putin claims his purpose is to restore Russia to greatness at home and among the nations of the world. But by what measure has he restored your greatness?" (ouch!)

In this opinion article to the Russian people, the real Senator John McCain has finally stood up.  I wonder if  he  would stand up to the extreme right wing of his own Grand Old Party with the same courage.

CNN reports - Senator John McCain has a message for the Russian people; “I am pro-Russian, more pro-Russian than the regime that misrules you today”.

In an opinion piece titled “Russians Deserve Better That Putin,” published by the Russian news website Pravda, Senator McCain took aim at the current Russian leadership, including Vladimir Putin.

“They punish dissent and imprison opponents. They rig your elections. They control your media,” the senator said in his piece.

The Arizona Republican, who does not support same sex marriage in the U.S., also criticized Russia’s recently passed anti-gay legislations, saying Russian lawmakers “codify bigotry against people whose sexual orientation they condemn.”

In his Pravda piece, McCain also cited Putin’s support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as well as Russia’s recent actions in the United Nations as an example of failed foreign policies, saying, “He is not enhancing Russia's global reputation. He is destroying it.”

McCain said Putin claims he is restoring Russia's greatness but that Putin has given Russians "an economy based almost entirely on a few natural resources that will rise and fall with those commodities.
McCain also justifiably accused Putin of allowing for the wealth of the Russians to be controlled by a handful of elite.

"He also criticized Putin's support for "some of the world's most offensive and threatening tyrannies," such as Syria. 

Perhaps the real Senator John McCain, the brave man who withstood torture in a horrible North  Vietnam prison camp, can turn his own Republicans around to the truth as well.  

It's time the real Senator John McCain also stands up against Republicans in his own party. Please, Senator, write another, equally excellent opinion, to fight those opposing reasonable gun control regulations, to curb the growing violence in America and to tell Tea Party extremists to dunk right wing oppression activism.

Dear Senator McCain, please continue standing up to finish your excellent dialogue at home in the USA. Thank you for your service.

Who is Paying for Edward Snowden's Treason?

Former National Security Agency whistle blower Edward Snowden didn't just pack up and leave Hawaii for Hong Kong without having inside help in the form of money.  Strict visa rules are necessary to comply with before entering China, but at the end of the process, the fact remains, it takes money to pull off Snowden's entry and exit from Hong Kong.

Likewise, it surely took lots of money for Snowden to enter and remain in Russia.  His exile with political asylum approved by Russian President Vladimir Putin must have been paid for by somebody. Possibly, the Wikileaks organization is funding this skulduggery to keep a runaway traitor on the lamb, but money can't be endless. Snowden has to be worried about what happens to him when his sugar daddy runs out of patience, cash or both.  

So, now Snowden has abandoned his American home country because he claims it is running amok with surveillance on citizens. Instead, he will now live in exile in Russia, where people are monitored by video cameras and thrown into Siberian prisons whenever sedition by its citizens is even suspected. Does Snowden know how many millions of people Russian dictators like Joseph Stalin and his successors killed to excercise totalitarianism over its people? In fact, nobody knows the accurate number of millions who have been murdered by oppressive Russian leaders.

Regardless of whether or not Snowden knows how oppressive Russian leaders can be, whenever they feel like it, he must have money to pull off his asylum, beginning with a one year entry permit and, probably, followed by whatever additional time he's willing to pay for.  Money is the mother's milk of Russian asylum. Snowden is likely to find Russian refuge for as long as his money holds out and while extradition is denied to him by other nations. Meanwhile, it's impossible for Snowden to live in Russia without a quid pro quo.  What's more, he can't speak Russian and, let's face it, nobody trusts a traitor.  Treason is never rewarded.

Attorney Anatoly Kucherena appeared on Russian television and said Snowden had been granted asylum in Russia for one year, showing a scanned copy of an official document approving his asylum request. Snowden was in a safe place, according to Kucherena, who said he would not reveal the location for security reasons.  (And who is paying Attorney Anatoly Kucherena?)

What does Russian President Vladimir Putin gain by granting Snowden asylum?  Obviously, Putin thrives on publicity.  He enjoys showing off his body, his ability to fly airplanes (with a co-pilot), his ability to catch as well as kiss big fish and cunningly steal a super bowl ring from New England Patriot owner Robert Kraft.  Not surprisingly, Putin recently lied about even taking the ring:

"The Russian president was responding to a surprise question about the controversy at the St Petersburg Economic Forum, where he was on a panel with German chancellor Angela Merkel.  In response, Mr Putin said he had no recollection of the ring or Robert Kraft, 72, the billionaire owner of the Patriots American football team and one of the biggest US sports tycoons."

There you have it.  Putin craves publicity and he'll lie to get it.  I suspect he didn't really catch the big fish he kissed for a publicity photo-op and he probably can't fly an airplane without a ghost pilot holding the controls, either.  

Nevertheless, this imagery makes excellent publicity for Putin, who clearly thrives on creating news about himself.  

Yet, publicity for Putin can't be the primary reason why Snowden was given asylum in Russia.  After all, Snowden clearly tried reaching out to other countries before he was likely forced to settle on finally leaving the Russian airport and accepting the one year asylum.  Putin must have more to gain than loose by embarrassing the United States with this Snowden incident.  

In other words, a lot of money must have changed hands during the asylum negotiations.

When Putin finally gets whatever it is he wants from the US, he'll find a reason to expel Snowden like a batch of tainted vodka.  

Therefore, Edward Snowden has reason to be worried - very worried.  He's now living in exile in a nation where surveillance is commonplace and on borrowed time, paid on the clock, by unreliable sources.  He would clearly be better off throwing himself on the mercy of the US justice system, than allow himself to live like a man without a country in a nation where justice is arbitrary.  

Meanwhile, Snowden must pay rent, bribes, lawyers and living expenses while in Russia.

So who pays the ransom for Edward Snowden's treason?  Whoever or whatever entity is forking up the ransom money, the cash can't last forever. Russian people surely know how Snowden's asylum comes with a big price tag. These people know how to live by paying bribes, dealing in black market businesses, with government graft and corruption.  Consequently, they'll follow Snowden like birds seeking bread crumbs.  He'll be stalked by the Russian government and those who want to share in his ransom.

Snowden will eventually return to the US, but those funding his treason will be flat broke whenever he is forced to return.  

When Snowden eventually returns to the US, he'll be treated like a traitor. In the event he happens to die before returning, he'll still be considered a traitor.  Be it in Russia, the US or wherever, treason is a cross cultural label.