Category Archives: Patriotism

The 2021 Tragedy @ Abbey Gate

Nebraska Representative Don Bacon has posted four times today on Facebook – blaming Biden for the tragedy at Abbey Gate in Afghanistan.

Senator Fischer has posted once.

Here is my response to both of them:

You really have no personal sense of honor, do you? You prioritize personal and party politics over personal ethics, morals and honor.

So sad for a vet (and a former officer to boot) to do that….. (this sentence left off of reply to Fischer, for obvious reasons)

Yet again, you seek to mislead and obfuscate. The absolute worst of a politician is to lie and purposefully mislead.

It is VERY CLEAR that Trump & Biden share the responsibility for the tragedy at Abbey Gate.

Trump signed a 4 page agreement directly with the Taliban in Feb 2020. Trump did not include the Afghan government in the negotiations – he just negotiated directly with the terrorist Taliban.

Click to access Agreement-For-Bringing-Peace-to-Afghanistan-02.29.20.pdf

He gave away – a lot. He got nothing in return.

As part of that agreement, Trump forced the Afghan government to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners.
Trump agreed to draw our forces down to 2,500 when he left office. Trump committed that the USA would exit Afghanistan completely by May 1, 2021.

So, Trump left Biden with 2,500 troops in country – far short of the number required to control what was happening across the country.

As soon as Trump abandoned and betrayed the Afghan government in Feb 2020, the Taliban began to infiltrate and corrupt the Afghan security services across almost the entire country. In fact, that is how the Taliban took over most of the equipment we had provided – we provided it to the Afghan security services – who folded across most of the country – and gave the equipment to the Taliban. During our rushed and chaotic exit, the Taliban did not take control over important equipment that we were using – we destroyed it before we left.

Now, what did Trump get back? No security guarantee for Americans spread out across the country, no security guarantee for Afghani’s who had helped our troops for decades, no security guarantee for Afghan women, no security guarantee for our troops and personnel as we exited the country, etc. etc.

Trump set the stage.

I agree that Biden could have taken action to counter all the weaknesses that Trump created and passed on to Biden. Biden did delay the withdrawal date – but could have done more – surged troops to greatly increase the odds of our successful withdrawal, for example.

It is VERY CLEAR that Trump & Biden share the responsibility for the tragedy at Abbey Gate.

Abuse of the National Guard

Adam Kinzinger discusses the National Guard:

“At any moment, the president can grab control of the guard, even over the objections of the governor. And if that sounds strange, it kind of is. It’s not just strange. It might actually break the spirit of the Second Amendment. Because remember the Second Amendment, it’s not just about your right to keep and bear arms. It actually starts with this line. A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state. A militia by definition was supposed to be independent of federal power. But if the president can just federalize the guard at any time he wants, especially for domestic use, can we honestly call it a state militia?”

“The founders did not put militias in the Constitution so that they could just be turned into a second standing army. They put them in there as a check on federal power. Joseph Story was an early Supreme Court justice. He said that militias were quote the natural defense of a free country and a protection against the usurppation of rulers. By the way, that only works if states actually have a militia that the president can’t just commandeer.”

“But now in an era where executive powers stretched and abused, where Donald Trump openly talks about and uses the military against American citizens, it’s not just a dusty legal question anymore. It’s actually urgent. So I want you to think about it. If your state’s guard, the force that you think of as yours, can be grabbed by Washington at any time and turned against you, then what’s left of the militia of the Second Amendment promise. You know that safeguard against tyranny, it’s gone.”

“And if the guard isn’t really a state militia anymore, then one of the pillars of the Second Amendment that the right loves so much has already crumbled without us even noticing. This isn’t about right or left. It’s about balance of power.”

“Governors should have more authority over their guards.”

“And if we care about the Constitution, not just the slogans, but if we care about the real thing, then we need to recognize that a militia controlled by the president isn’t a militia at all. It’s just another arm of the federal government.”

“So ask yourselves, if the founders wrote the Second Amendment to make sure militias could act as a check on federal overreach, what happens to our freedoms when that militia no longer exists in any real sense or when it’s turned against its own people?”

“Maybe it’s time to fight for the independence of the Guard again, particularly for domestic use before the Guard is continuing to be used against us in more states, in more communities.”

4 ¼ minute video:
https://youtu.be/AHNPxMSj6qA?si=CL78rhjHrGEfPch9

Mr. Trump and the Russian Investigation

Why would an innocent person fight an Investigation when it will logically find that innocence?

If innocent, why not simply cooperate fully and responsively – to reach that conclusion of innocence as quickly as is possible?

To me, Mr. Trump’s actions seem more like what I might expect from a guilty person than what I might expect from an innocent person.

That fact alone informs me that there may be something “there” there – and thus, Mueller’s Investigation needs to continue to its conclusion. America will then know the truth and the truth will influence the future of our country.

What do you think – and why?

The Russian Investigation and Patriotism

America is quite divided about the Russian Investigation into alleged improper connections between the Trump campaign and the Russians. There are strong and passionate feelings for and against continuing Mueller’s work through to its conclusion.

The division about the Investigation largely follows the division in the country about Donald J. Trump.

For the good of our country, should be unbundle our feelings about the Russian Investigation from our feelings about Mr. Trump?

What is best for our country?

What going forward approach should a patriotic citizen support?

How can we separate our passion about Mr. Trump and our passion for the best outcome for our country?

A patriot does not want our nation to be nefariously influenced by a foreign enemy.

If our Executive Branch is indeed subject to possible nefarious influence by Russia, that is bad for our country.

A patriot would want to KNOW whether this is or is not the case.

A patriot will support the conclusion of Mueller’s Investigation., regardless of their passion for or against Mr. Trump.

If there is nothing “there” there, the cloud of this Investigation will be lifted and our country can move forward with confidence

If there is something “there” there, actions can be taken to insulate our country from the effects of the Russians influencing our country’s policies and actions in ways that would hurt America.

A patriot will want to KNOW the truth, whichever way that falls – for the good of our country.

…. thinking about the Grover Norquist Pledge …. is it actually unpatriotic???

Almost everyone believes that to fix the deficit will take a balanced approach – combining decreases in spending with increases in revenue. EVERYONE is going to need to sacrifice some in order to give our country a chance at maintaining our historical preeminence in the world. Our country’s future is NOT GUARANTEED – we need to find ways to work together as a patriotic team rather than as two competing parties and a bunch of self-interested individual politicians.

While it sounds so good, easy and painless when politicians and other special interests say “We can fix our deficit issues by cutting spending without raising taxes.”, it just “ain’t” so !!! DO NOT FALL FOR MESSAGES THAT SOUND TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE !!!! You know the old saying …. !!! It probably is !!!

So many of us are so cynical about government (and for very legitimate reasons) – but then we turn around and support people who mislead us and tell us what we want to hear, regardless of whether it is feasible.

BOTH parties are going to have to come to the middle, work together and compromise to solve our country’s fiscal woes.

The Norquist Pledge embeds hard and fast ideology into the political process and keeps it from working the way our founding fathers carefully and thoughtfully designed it.

Any politician that signs that Pledge is, IMO, either naive or disingenuous. Because “the Pledge” so impedes our nation’s law making process, one might even think it unpatriotic !!!

I admire Jeff Fortenberry, my Representative in the House, for withdrawing his support for the Norquist Pledge. Unfortunately, too many others assume that ideological stance – and thus refuse to become a member of a larger team, focusing on solving the nation’s problems first and their political self-interest second.

Former Governor and US Senator Bob Kerrey repeatedly told the truth during last Saturday’s one and only debate (his opponent has so far not agreed to additional and televised debates) and his opponent repeatedly refused to acknowledge that a balanced approach is needed. Over and over we heard those tempting words “I am against cutting benefits and against raising taxes.” Open minded Nebraskans will recognize that position as political pandering and realize that sacrifice by all is needed – and will support Mr. Kerrey’s campaign to return to the Senate. You can watch an archived copy of the debate @ omaha.com.

Tell your Congressman to put aside their ideology and withdraw their support of the pledge – and be open minded about how BOTH parties need to work together, compromising to actually solve our big problems and our current/future challenges.

I do not want our country to become a 2nd class or 2nd tier nation. Yet one has to wonder that, if by putting their party and personal self-interest ahead of country, many of our current set of politicians aren’t taking us down that road !!!!