Anonymous Sources- the Modus Operandi of Fake News

It has become all too common, all too familiar in today’s news- the use of anonymous, or unnamed sources to put forth misinformation under the guise of objective reporting, such as…

“According to anonymous sources…”

or

“Unnamed sources have confirmed that…”

There are two types of “anonymous sources,” vastly different from one another:

The first type, all-too-rare by the way, is when an anonymous source is used because the legitimate source of a story would be in serious peril if his/her identity were revealed- loss of income, personal safety, employment status, etc.

The second type, all-too-frequently used, is a contrivance to substantiate specious claims by a supposed journalist whose “reports” are based on nothing more than personal bias and/or wishful thinking.

In an age where “facts” are in the eyes of the purveyor and “objectivity” becomes a matter of opinion, it has become increasingly difficult for a consumer of news to determine which type of anonymous or unnamed source is being used. Sadly, such ambiguity has become the source of cynicism and doubt, and why journalism has now become such a lowly-regarded profession- even lower than that of a politician.

There was a time, a generation ago, when there was a marked difference between news reporting and editorial commentary- the first based upon empirical evidence and multiple sourcing, and the latter based upon reasoned observation. In newspapers, actual news reporting appeared on the front pages while editorial commentary was relegated to the back two pages of a newspaper’s first section. In television and radio, the distinction between the two was clearly defined and delineated.

Sadly, in the age of 24/7 news coverage, that ship sailed a long time ago.

The most egregious example of this reality is best revealed in the CNN reporting that then-candidate Donald Trump knew in advance about the subject of a meeting between his son, Donald Trump, Jr. and Russian nationals, who supposedly had dirt on Hillary Clinton. The story is that CNN and others, including the New York Times and the Washington Post, was based upon supposed anonymous “sources” indicating that former Trump attorney Michael Cohen told the Mueller investigative team that the president knew about the meeting before it actually took place on June 26, 2016.

Never mind the fact that Mr. Cohen vehemently denied this allegation before a congressional committee in sworn testimony, earlier this year. Despite CNN’s insistence that Cohen’s attorney, Lanny Davis, was not the anonymous source to the story, Mr. Davis revealed this week that he was indeed the source CNN used, and has since claimed that the assertion of prior knowledge on the part of President Trump has no basis in fact. Even in this denial, CNN insists that the story is still true, based on “numerous unnamed sources.”

The problem is that the “unnamed sources” to the story could only be Mr. Davis, who has indicated that the story is untrue, or Mr. Cohen, who has sworn under oath that there was no prior knowledge. Rather than admit the error in the report, which has now been recanted by the Washington Post, CNN is stubbornly sticking to their guns all in an effort to save the reputation of its own disreputable reporters, most notably Carl Bernstein. It was Bernstein who “made his bones” taking down former President Richard Nixon during the Watergate Scandal, and it is Bernstein who has since become nothing more than a partisan hack, bound and determined to do and say whatever it takes to take down the current President of the United States, Donald Trump.

When journalists leave the realm of objective news reporting and enter the realm of partisan propaganda, freedom of the press becomes irrelevant and its responsibility to keep the public properly informed is marginalized to the point of extinction.

Collectively, the entire array of the mainstream media regularly excoriates the President for lambasting “fake news” in his use of tweets. They even claim that his calling out “fake news” threatens freedom of the press, as provided for in the Constitution’s Bill of Rights.

Yet, such claims are in and of themselves, more “fake news” because it is the media itself that imperils its own existence, with unbridled fiction based upon the dubious use of anonymous and/or unnamed sources when, in actuality, there are no such sources to begin with.

-Drew Nickell, 30 August 2018

© 2018 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.

author of “Bending Your Ear- a Collection of Essays on the Issues of Our Times”

now available at Amazon

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(author’s note- this is a story I wrote almost a quarter-century ago for young boys and their dads who were participating in an overnight “long-house” camping trip with the Tuckahoe (Virginia) Y-Indian Guides, explaining the change in the seasons. It is also a parable about race, diversity and acceptance…)

The Many-Colored Headdress

Many, many years ago, before man understood the passage of the seasons, there were four great chiefs in the sky. Each of these chiefs wore a headdress that was made of feathers having only a single color, and this color was different from those of the other chiefs. During the passage of the year, each chief would boast that it was his headdress that was more beautiful than that of the others.

In the spring, Chief Green Feather would begin his dance, saying, “Look at my beautiful green feathers and how they shine in the warming sun. All of the earth below is awash in the beautiful green of my feathers. All of the flowers, which only bloom for me, are supported by the stems and stalks that are green. Surely, my green feathers are the most beautiful.”

In summer, when the sun was high, Chief Yellow Feather would begin his dance and say, “Look at my beautiful yellow feathers. They are the color of the blazing sun which warms the sky and the earth, below. All life seeks the warmth that only my feathers can bring. Surely it is my feathers which are the most beautiful.”

In autumn, Chief Red Feather would begin his dance and say, “Look at my feathers, and how they adorn the trees in such beautiful shades of red. Only when I dance, do the trees and mountains show such beauty, and even the sky is red as it follows the setting sun. Surely, my red feathers are the most beautiful.”

In the cold of winter, Chief White Feather would begin his dance and say, “Look at my white feathers and how they cover the earth, below. Only when I dance, is the earth below as pure and clean, and even the full moon, above, is colored with my feathers. Surely, my white feathers, are the most beautiful of all.”

When he had heard enough, the Great Spirit which ruled the four chiefs, gathered them together and said, “How foolish you are to argue over which of you wears the most beautiful headdress. Because you have been so foolish, I will take half of the feathers from each of your headdresses, and from these I will make my own headdress. Then you will see the most beautiful headdress of all.”

When the Great Spirit had assembled his own headdress, using the green, yellow, red and white feathers, the four chiefs agreed that this was the most beautiful headdress they had ever seen. By alternating the four colors, over and over, the headdress of the Great Spirit was, indeed, magnificent.

The Great Spirit then said to the four chiefs, “Because you have learned that the most beautiful headdress is one that has each of the colors you wear, each of you will have your own time, in every year that comes. And I will teach man to mark the passage of the years as when you come and go, until you come and go no more.”

This might explain why we have the seasons of the year, but it also might explain that, although our skin may be black, brown, yellow, red or white- all are beautiful in their own way, and all are even more beautiful when taken together.

-Drew Nickell, 25 August 2018

© 1995, 2018 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.

author of “Bending Your Ear- a Collection of Essays on the Issues of Our Times”

now available at Amazon

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Drew Nickell was on the Radio Thursday, August 23rd at 1:00 PM, EDT

On Thursday, the 23^rd of August at 1:00 PM, EDT, I was sitting in for Nora on the Nora Firestone Show, on WKQA-AM Freedom 1110 in Hampton Roads, where I discussed the “nanny state” and its encroachment on our freedoms, national security clearance, the problem with the so-called “RINOs”, looking ahead to the fall elections, as well as the possibility of Trump’s second term and whether or not America is as great as he says it is.

This show also appeared as a “Facebook live” broadcast and here is a link to the replay of that broadcast:

https://www.facebook.com/drew.nickell.7/videos/10209961619077095/?comment_id=10209962502659184&notif_id=1535053432509441&notif_t=video_comment

-Drew Nickell, 23 August 2018

© 2018 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.

author of “Bending Your Ear- a Collection of Essays on the Issues of Our Times”

now available at Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/Bending-Your-Ear-Collection-Essays/dp/1633932907?ie=UTF8&ref_=asap_bc

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National Security Clearance

On August 15, 2018, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced that the national security clearance for former CIA Director John Brennan was being revoked by President Donald Trump. During that announcement, it was also indicated that several other former officials would also be subject to a review of their own respective clearances, to determine whether or not such revocation would also be in order. These include:

• Former CIA and NSA Director Michael Hayden
• Former FBI Director James Comey
• Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe
• Former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates
• Former U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice
• Former FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok
• Former FBI Attorney Lisa Page
• Former National Intelligence Director James Clapper
• Former Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr

Almost immediately, the predictable and selective outrage at Trump’s decision to revoke Brennan’s clearance, and review that of the others, hit the airwaves prompting a plethora of complaints from former officials, politicians from both parties and the chattering classes from all sectors of the media saying that President Trump was playing politics with our nation’s security. They allege that by revoking such clearance, and even threatening to do so, is nothing more than an attempt by the president to quash free speech and other such rot.

If that were indeed the only reason President Trump decided to do so, then it might be safely assumed that the decision to do so has proved to be an abject failure, especially in the case of Brennan who has been on the airwaves ever since, with ever-more increasing diatribes levied at the President.

True enough, all of the ten thus listed vehemently oppose the President and, with the possible exception of General Hayden, have actively participated in an effort to both prevent his election and sabotage his presidency, by using the powers of government to act on their hatred of the current president. While that may well be the motivation behind the president’s decision to do so, it also is certain that it is well within the rights of a sitting president to remove such clearance for any and every reason as he deems fit. Brennan’s publicly discussed musings about possibly seeking an injunction against the President, through a lawsuit filed in federal court, are about as likely to succeed as his being appointed to a top level within the Trump cabinet.

It won’t happen.

Yet, despite all this falderal about Trump’s decision, the larger issue of national security clearances for all former officials who have since left government (Bruce Ohr being the exception) comes to bear.

It is argued, for instance, that the retention of such clearance enables those currently in government service to seek counsel from former officials when needed, tapping into the formers’ experience and expertise as such situations that might arise. That said, it is highly doubtful that any such scenario would arise which would prompt current officials in the Trump administration to seek help from Brennan or, for that matter, any of the others listed. After all, who could reasonably be certain that any such advice would be altruistic and in the interests of national security when it would come from those so set against the current president?

It is also argued that as many as five million of our citizens currently have national security clearance, so why single out Brennan, but this number is misleading because most all of these five million have lower levels of national security clearance. In fact, there are actually three levels of national security clearance- confidential, secret and top-secret, and it is only the latter and most stringent level of clearance that is at issue when it comes to President Trump’s decision.

The larger issue of national security clearance, especially the relevant top-secret national security clearance, is whether or not such a clearance should be retained, and it is indeed a reasonable position that once people leave government service, at any level, they should have their clearance automatically revoked. Five million people walking around with varying levels of national security clearance is, after all, unsettling when we don’t know how many of these people still actively need to retain such clearance. The number of five million seems pretty high and, since we don’t know just how many people at each level have such clearance, then the time has long passed for Congress to review the policies regarding the retention of national security clearance at all levels.

In the meantime, we have no choice but to leave it to a sitting President of the United States to make such decisions on a person-by-person basis, and all of the moaning and groaning by John Brennan and others doesn’t justify otherwise, no matter how much they hate President Donald Trump.

But don’t expect to hear that argument from anyone in the media. After all, this is just another opportunity in an ongoing quest to bring down the President. As long as it remains so, we won’t hear the end of this anytime soon, sorry to say.

-Drew Nickell, 21 August 2018

© 2018 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.

author of “Bending Your Ear- a Collection of Essays on the Issues of Our Times”

now available at Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/Bending-Your-Ear-Collection-Essays/dp/1633932907?ie=UTF8&ref_=asap_bc

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The Nanny State- the Slow and Steady Creep to the Loss of Individual Freedom

Perhaps the most dangerous, yet oft-used two-word phrase in the English language is “meant well.”

Ah…those “good intentions.” They’ll get you every time. As an old priest once told me in parochial school, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions,” and never were truer words spoken, as evidenced in contemporary society.

The creeping nanny state, and its attendant loss of individual freedom, is a phenomenon whose roots go back well into the decades of our collective past. When government- federal, state, local and, for that matter, homeowners’ associations- find too much time on their hands, the desire to protect us from ourselves becomes all-too-tempting, all-too-encroaching and all-too-infuriating to anyone who cherishes individual liberty and personal freedom. For instance:

• Just this past week, the State of California passed an ordinance that only milk or water may be served to children in a restaurant or other such dining establishment, all in the name of combating childhood obesity. Heaven help the adult who orders a Coca-Cola and then allows a child to have a sip;

• While mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg pushed through local ordinance that limits the serving size of soda pop to 16 ounces, sounding the death knell for the “Big Gulp” and other such larger servings- all, again, in an effort to combat childhood and adult obesity. So, instead of buying a larger serving of soda pop, are we to understand that the public interest is better served by forcing people to instead purchase multiple smaller servings?

• In San Francisco, where strolling the streets in the nude and where defecating, urinating, smoking marijuana and shooting up heroin on the sidewalk are all within the purview of protected individual rights, an adult smoking tobacco in his or her home, where children reside, can be cause for arrest and children may be forcibly removed from such a home and placed into foster care by complete strangers;

• In many states, it has become illegal to smoke while driving an automobile with kids inside, and can result in arrest and/or traffic citation and referrals to juvenile and domestic relations courts;

• In Seattle, Washington, where smoking marijuana and shooting up heroin is perfectly legal in public spaces, and where (like many cities) syringes are distributed any and all comers, restaurants and other dining establishments are prohibited from dispensing plastic straws and utensils as a means to combat littering and so-called threats to the environment- no mention of the used syringes and needles which prevent families from otherwise enjoying city parks with their children;

• All over America, homeowners’ associations have become the new and local gestapos, ready to pounce on, fine and even cause mortgage foreclosure and imprisonment for anyone daring to display an American flag, for planting azaleas or for having any non-uniform holiday decoration of any kind. They even impose restrictive start and end dates for having a wreath on the door at Christmastime, or electric candles (only the ones with clear bulbs are allowed, of course).

Such instances in the preponderance of over-bearing restrictions on individual liberties, and where cultural appropriation of traditional American expression is rife with frequency, are sadly too many to enumerate. Worse, they are the inevitable outgrowth of liberalism and state-ism run amok- the message being only those activities of which they (the ones in charge) may grant approval and permission, are allowed.

So, while our governments at all levels, as well as homeowners’ associations throughout the United States, seek to impose regulations and restrictions- all with the so-called “good intentions” of protecting ourselves from, well, ourselves, it cannot be over-stated as to the ill-effects of such imposition on the freedoms we cherish and the attendant incremental loss of individual liberty, but then again…

…they mean well, after all…

Sod that!

-Drew Nickell, 19 August 2018

© 2018 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.

author of “Bending Your Ear- a Collection of Essays on the Issues of Our Times”

now available at Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/Bending-Your-Ear-Collection-Essays/dp/1633932907?ie=UTF8&ref_=asap_bc

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“Not Great?” Andrew Cuomo and his Unintended Confession

“We’re not going to make America great again; it was never that great. We have not reached greatness. We will reach greatness when every American is fully engaged…”

-New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, 15 August 2018

Not great?

Really?

While at once signing a bill into New York state law, and attempting to stick his thumb into Donald Trump’s eye by making a snide reference to the President’s campaign slogan “Make America Great Again,” New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) put his sizable foot into his sizable mouth on Wednesday, August 15, 2018. In doing so, he unwittingly and unintentionally revealed the deep contempt he, and other so-called “progressives” have towards their own country, the United States of America.

Cuomo is not the first, and by no means is he the only, liberal Democrat to voice his disdain for the United States. Sentiments blaming America first and calling into question America’s greatness have been, and still are, a mainstay of leftist thought throughout the world, so it is no surprise that the New York governor should question America’s greatness- it’s what liberals really think.

Take for instance what Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) said about the entire American justice system, following a Q & A session at Dillard University in New Orleans, earlier this month:

“The hard truth about our criminal justice system: It’s racist…I mean front to back…”

The entire criminal justice system, and all who are part of that justice system- law enforcement, attorneys, judges, the courts, corrections, constitutional protections favoring the accused, “front to back” as she says, “racist.”

It’s all just enough to make us puke, truth be told.

Whether they be liberals, leftists or, as they call themselves “progressives,” politicians (and also pundits, by the way) like Cuomo and Warren basically hate America, though they would never come out and say so outright. Instead, they pursue their nefarious goals of socialism and one-world government by attacking the institutions of our democracy, our founding principles and the history of a country that has done more- far more- to promote and secure the blessings of liberty and equality across the entire world, than any nation or empire ever has before.

The history of American greatness is without question, despite attempts from academics and scholars to erase this history from our children’s textbooks, and call into question this greatness in our classrooms.

Twice in the 20^th century Americans sacrificed hundreds of thousands of lives to save the world from totalitarian aggression on lands far away from their own shores. Many tens of thousands more Americans sacrificed their lives attempting to save the world from communist hegemony- again in other lands, far away from the United States.  Thousands more Americans have sacrificed their lives in opposition to Islamic extremism, which seeks to bring the world under its domination through global jihad, all in an effort to bring about the final apocalypse.

So much sacrifice, so little respect.

There are countless other examples of American greatness- leading the world during an industrial revolution that created out of nothing, a middle class which bridged the gap between the poverty of many and the wealth of a relative few. Leading the world through technological innovation, the United States enabled the human species to fly in the air, land on the moon, explore the far reaches of the universe, and create the means for instantaneous global communications. No nation in the history of the world has been more generous in its largesse, particularly when it comes to post-war assistance America has given to its erstwhile enemies time and time again, and no nation has done more than America to combat the world’s common maladies- poverty, disease, hunger and yes, oppression.

But that’s not good enough for a New York Governor, a Massachusetts senator and many others from their own Democrat party and persuasion, who see nothing good in America’s past and present because, as they see it, Americans are not “fully engaged,” whatever the hell that means.

As Eric “Otter” Stratton (played by Tim Matheson) incredulously asked his former paramour, Mandy Pepperidge (played by Mary Louise Weller) in the 1978 blockbuster motion picture Animal House, the same question should be asked of all liberals who call into question America’s greatness…

“Not great?”

Think again, Governor.

-Drew Nickell, 17 August 2018

© 2018 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.

author of “Bending Your Ear- a Collection of Essays on the Issues of Our Times”

now available at Amazon

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The Dirty Dozen of the G.O.P.

Take a good look at the men in this photo.

They are the “Dirty Dozen” of the G.O.P., so-called and self-described Republicans who, to a man, oppose Republican President Donald Trump at every opportunity, and would much have preferred Hillary Clinton to have been elected in 2016.

Their names- former President George Bush, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Senator Bob Corker (R-TN), Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ), National Review’s Senior Editor Jonah Goldberg, Weekly Standard’s Editor-in-Chief Steven Hayes, Ohio Governor John Kasich, Weekly Standard’s Founder and Editor-at-Large Bill Kristol, Senator John McCain (R-AZ), former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, and Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE) read like a Rogues Gallery of Republican rattlesnakes, coiled and ready to inject their politically-deadly venom into Donald Trump and his presidency.

Besides the fact that they all claim to be Republicans, and claim to be conservatives, they share but two things in common- their hatred of the current President and their opposition to all he does for the simple sake of opposition, itself.

Let’s face it. These guys seldom, if ever, voiced any real opposition to former Democrat Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, and yet try to outdo one another in criticizing President Donald Trump.

Why?

Well, that’s the tough question, but odds are that it is largely because their bitter egos and their lofty senses of self-esteem could not and would not support a Republican nominee who basically failed to kiss their asses and seek their support of his candidacy. Sure, they object to the President’s style, the fact that he tweets and a myriad of other petty complaints they have about this, that and the other. Yet, despite the fact that Donald Trump is pursuing a solidly-conservative agenda and, in doing so, is keeping the promises he made during the 2016 campaign, these twelve- and a host of others- would sooner see the current President hang from the gallows than to see Hillary Clinton imprisoned for the very real crimes she committed before and during her own runs for the White House…

…and therein lies the problem.

When Donald Trump faces opposition from Democrats, such opposition is, on one level, to be expected. After all, partisan opposition is the hallmark of any self-respecting two-party system, be it Tory vs Labour or Democrat vs Republican. The fact that Democrats have crossed the line of sanity in their opposition of Trump is besides the point. They are the opposition. Enough said.

Yet, when a sitting Republican U.S. President faces such vehement opposition from the politicos and pundits within his own party, it bespeaks of their hypocrisy and treachery to a level not seen in the political history of either party. How can a Republican President succeed when influential members of his own party seek to destroy him and his presidency at every turn?

Ask Tim Pawlenty.

Last night, the former Governor of Minnesota lost in his bid to gain that state’s Republican nomination to a man backed by President Trump, one Jeff Johnson, a relatively unknown county commissioner and former state assemblyman who had the sense to embrace the Trump presidency and garner Trump’s endorsement. Pawlenty’s disdain for the President is well-known, having once called Trump “unsound, uninformed, unhinged and unfit (to be president).” Such posturing rendered the one-time popular Pawlenty unelectable in a state where Republicans have a reasonable chance of taking back a governorship once held by the G.O.P.

The lesson is simple- oppose the Republican president and you oppose the Republican electorate, thus finding yourself minimized and teetering on the precipice of political extinction. The fact that Senators Corker, Flake and McCain are not going to seek re-election, and the fact that Sasse’s re-election in 2020 is in peril in a year where the President will be seeking his own re-election, speaks loud and clear with regards to who holds the trust and support of the Republican electorate- and it isn’t them. Rapidly declining subscriptions to the Weekly Standard and National Review, once mainstays of conservative political thought, shows what the reading public thinks of Messrs. Goldberg, Hayes and Kristol, and it isn’t much.

Oddly enough, Mitt Romney has received the endorsement of President Trump for his run for the Senate, but that is only because he is the Republican nominee for Utah, and for no other reason. Trump would have rather endorsed any other Republican, but it was Romney who got his party’s nomination in that state. Suffice to say that the political careers of the Bush brothers have come to a close, and their influence on Republican voters, if they ever really had such, is rapidly becoming a thing of the past. The same holds true for Ohio Governor John Kasich, whose endorsement of state Senator Troy Balderson to the Ohio 12^th Congressional seat wasn’t enough to push him over the top- Balderson needed the President’s endorsement to win a narrow victory last week over an up-and-coming Democrat, Danny O’Connor.

A look into the Kansas Governor’s race, one in which Kris Kobach narrowly defeated incumbent Governor Jeff Colyer for the Republican nomination, shows the power of a Presidential endorsement in the age of Trump, and other recent elections reveal a Republican electorate migrating away from the aging relics of mainstream/milquetoast Republicans who stand for nothing except their own precious power and influence. Kobach embraced the President, gained his endorsement and won in a tight race against a Republican incumbent governor who sought to distance himself from the President. So much for seeking to be all things to all people, right Governor Colyer?

While there are others, like Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Susan Collins (R-ME) who might well have been included in the G.O.P. “Dirty Dozen,” it also seems that these longtime Republican stalwarts are beginning to see the light that is the Trump presidency. Their well-known pro-abortion bona fides won’t keep them from voting to support Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, just as they voted to confirm Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch. These women are just smart enough to know where their bread is buttered, even if they remain “un-plussed” with the current President.

Republicans who fail to support their President imperil the power that their party holds in both houses of Congress. If the House (and much less likely the Senate) flips to the Democrats, the big lie will be proffered by the media that it is Donald Trump’s fault, and no one else’s.

Truth be told, though, it will be the fault of the G.O.P. “Dirty Dozen” and other so-called Republicans who, like their Democrat counterparts, cannot and will not accept the reality of the Trump presidency. With such “Republicans,” who in the hell needs Democrats, anyway?

-Drew Nickell, 15 August 2018

© 2018 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.

author of “Bending Your Ear- a Collection of Essays on the Issues of Our Times”

now available at Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/Bending-Your-Ear-Collection-Essays/dp/1633932907?ie=UTF8&ref_=asap_bc

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The Trouble Awaiting Trump’s Second Term

Someday, in the not-so-very-distant future, Robert Mueller’s probe into allegations that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government to disrupt the 2016 presidential election will come to an end, and with it will go the attendant allegations that President Donald Trump obstructed justice when he fired FBI Director James Comey in May of 2016.

Eventually, time and circumstance will run out on Mueller, primarily because there was, is and never will be any “there” there. The costly investigation (approaching $20 million as of mid-August, 2018) has substantiated neither collusion nor obstruction, primarily because the former was based upon a bogus dossier paid for by Trump’s opponent and the latter is based on the erroneous precept that a president hasn’t the power to fire an FBI Director.

Setting aside a possible, but not probable Democrat takeover of the House of Representatives, President Trump will not be impeached for the simple lack of an impeachable offense. Try as they might, bad actors from both political parties will find that they cannot impeach a president merely because they find that president detestable, and there is not even a mathematical chance of Republicans losing enough seats in the Senate to enable 67 votes to convict the President in the event he is impeached.

So, moving beyond the juvenile fantasies of Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) to “impeach 45,” the United States of America will emerge from the 2018 mid-term election with a Trump presidency intact, and the next political struggle will be the 2020 presidential election with a whole new set of challenges facing our sorely divided nation.

If the last nineteen months are any indication, the President will continue to check off the many promises he made during his election campaign while his opponents within and outside government will do all they can to besmirch his good name, obstruct his initiatives and oppose his every move in an effort to bring him down. That said, the American people will tire of the libelous and slanderous news coverage he has been getting from across the media, and easily reelect him by once again defying all of the pundits and pollsters who will attempt to convince them that his reelection is impossible, based on polling not worth spit in the wind.

Beyond 2020, the President will face the enormous burden of re-uniting a divided country in a way that no president has ever had to do, since the end of the American Civil War. It will be no small task considering the venom and animus that has filled our airwaves and internet with a level of visceral hatred unseen at any time in the lifetime of anyone living, today.  Since the media gave his predecessor a pass on the divisiveness concocted by Barack Obama, President Trump will have the dual duties of piecing back together an American society divided by identity in the wake of the last three presidencies, along with a polarized political polemic made possible by a media fixation on a scandal that, in the end, wasn’t (Trump/Russia).  Never mind the fact that real criminal activities perpetrated by Hillary Clinton and her campaign, those of the Obama administration, and a cross-current of governmental departments during Obama’s presidency will largely go unpunished for the time being, thanks to the recusal of Attorney General Jeff Sessions. If he is not replaced early next year, the President will continue to find no friends in a Justice Department opposed to his very presidency.

However, none of that inside-the-beltway blather will mean much to the American people who are quietly coming to the regrettable conclusion that peaceful political discourse, in the cities and towns where they live, is going the way of the telegraph. In short, when the people become so divided on intractable issues that are at once irreconcilable, and yet fundamental in their scope and substance, the desire to seek compromise and consensus becomes impossible. When that happens, conflict in all its ugly forms becomes inevitable.

President Trump will likely cruise to re-election on the strength of the American economy, and the fact that no Democrat can prevail against him- that’s the good news. However, the America that will follow his re-election will be an America that no president would ever wish to govern, given the stridency of a people so divided in party and purpose that interpersonal communication can no longer fix what ails it. While it is possible that a President Trump- unfettered by the distraction attendant to the Mueller investigation- can find a way to bring his country together, doing so would require the Congress, the Senate, the “deep state” and the media to give him the benefit of doubt- something that won’t happen as long as their hatred of a president transcends their presumed love of a country.

God help him…and us.

-Drew Nickell, 13 August 2018

© 2018 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.

author of “Bending Your Ear- a Collection of Essays on the Issues of Our Times”

now available at Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/Bending-Your-Ear-Collection-Essays/dp/1633932907?ie=UTF8&ref_=asap_bc

Signed and personalized editions now available at my website:

http://www.drewnickell.com

Follow my postings on the RSS feed: http://www.drewnickell.com/?feed=rss2

Wishful Thinking in the August of a Mid-Term  Election Year

In every August of any given mid-term election year, the most overrated, yet subsequently under-accounted for occupations are those of pundits who, based on nothing more than their own wishful thinking, pretend to have insight into the election taking place that November. Such prognosticators often cite selective polling, essentially using the polling source(s) which bears closest resemblance to their own biases. With a look into just how keen an insight into actual election results they really have, consider 2016 when they got it all wrong- practically to a pundit.

So, it is with such grains of salt that we take reports from our selective news sources regarding yesterday’s special elections in Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio and Washington. The actual voting results in most all of these contests have little or nothing to do with the commentary proffered to explain what the results mean with regards to November. Nevertheless, pundits having little or nothing to otherwise occupy their itching and self-absorbed little minds will all queue up at the “group-think grill” to get their slices of tasty talking points, and make predictions that are conveniently forgotten when the votes are counted in November.

In this mid-term election year of 2018, the group-think commentary of pundits explaining yesterday’s votes already had the “story” written, offering to explain the voting and what it means for November. Whether specific candidates endorsed by President Trump won or lost their respective elections are beside the point. Either way, the narrative coming from all sectors of the mainstream media is that Donald Trump is putting a drag on his fellow Republican candidates…now, get this- based on his tweeting, no less, or so they say…and that’s their explanation as to why either the Democrat would win by any margin, or why a Republican would win by a slim margin. Any Republican winning by a large margin is said to have won…again, get this- in spite of Trump.

There’s nothing like taking on the two things the media hates most about the President- the fact that he delivers his messaging in a way that completely bypasses the press by his tweeting, and the fact that he has become quite adept at manipulating what he knows to be adverse coverage, much as one with a laser pointer can tease and misdirect a pursuant cat. Then, while the media falls over themselves in frantic pursuit of damaging information (select the topic), Trump goes about his business of fulfilling his campaign promises like checking off a list of completed tasks- and this is the guy that all of the “experts” say is about to be crushed under the onslaught of a giant blue wave?

Well, let’s look at that blue wave. It is made up from false and irrelevant assumptions, gained from some (but not all) past mid-term elections, where the party in power loses enough seats to flip one or both houses of Congress. Such a flip coming from a fractured Democrat Party united solely in their hatred of, and impeachment fantasies towards, Donald Trump and one that meanders close to the precipice of oblivion in their party’s creeping embrace of socialism and open borders.

Half of the Democrats, including most of their party’s leadership like minority leaders Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), are the Democrats of old…voted in from the same old diverse array of aggrieved and targeted special interest groups, based on race and other such identities, and who were all in for Hillary Clinton’s nomination and election. When the latter didn’t happen, they refused to acknowledge Trump’s victory and instead went about “resisting” the new President on the orders of outgoing President Barack Obama (who created the resistance movement the day after Trump was elected) and Hillary Clinton, whose coronation was thwarted by a first-time candidate who she despises.

The other half of Democrats are those who have embraced the socialism offered by Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.  These charlatans are supported heavily by young liberals who have not been educated in the sad history of the hundred million plus lives lost, in the last century’s struggle with socialism in all its many forms. Their pursuit of open borders, voting rights for illegals and free everything- housing, higher education, and health care for all- is fiscally impossible, but nevertheless represents the shiny new toy to the children of the left, prompting DNC Chairman Tom Perez to identify Ocasio-Cortez the future of his party.

What the pundits would have us believe is that the majority of the American electorate, whose wages have become a little higher, whose jobs have become much more plentiful, and whose overall economy has taken off like a rocket in the wake of the Trump presidency, are going to cast all of that aside and support instead the impeachment of a president and/or the insanity that is emblematic of the socialist movement in America, today.

Yeah…about that ! 

-Drew Nickell, 8 August 2018

© 2018 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.

author of “Bending Your Ear- a Collection of Essays on the Issues of Our Times”

now available at Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/Bending-Your-Ear-Collection-Essays/dp/1633932907?ie=UTF8&ref_=asap_bc

Signed and personalized editions now available at my website:

http://www.drewnickell.com

Follow my postings on the RSS feed: http://www.drewnickell.com/?feed=rss2

Drew Nickell was back on the Radio,  Thursday, August 2nd at 1:00 PM, EDT

I was back on the radio Thursday, August 2nd, sitting in for Nora Firestone on her show on WKQA-AM, Freedom 1110 in Hampton Roads, VA. On the show, I was discussing the reaction to President Trump’s nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, the “Deep State,” the fallout from Trump’s meeting with Vladimir Putin, the #WalkAway movement and predictions about the 2018 mid-term elections.

This was also presented as a Facebook live broadcast, and here is the link to the replay of that broadcast:

-Drew Nickell, 2 August 2018

© 2018 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.

author of “Bending Your Ear- a Collection of Essays on the Issues of Our Times”

now available at Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/Bending-Your-Ear-Collection-Essays/dp/1633932907?ie=UTF8&ref_=asap_bc

Signed and personalized editions now available at my website:

http://www.drewnickell.com

Follow my postings on the RSS feed: http://www.drewnickell.com/?feed=rss2