Category: 2016 Presidential Election

RUSSIA’S BELLIGERENCE AND ITS IMPLICATION FOR OUR NATIONAL SECURITY

A Russian Su-24 buzzes the USS Donald Cook in the Baltic Sea on April 12, 2016. (U.S. Navy)

CNN reported the other day that Homeland Security officials said that Russia tried to penetrate the US energy power grid, and left tracks to show its hackers had the ability to shut down the grid, but didn’t. That is to say that Russia literally have the ability to shut down our power grid, and by implication, our economy, and by implication, our defense infrastructure, and by implication, our way of life. But chooses not to do so.

Why?

Because this is not the right time for Vladimir Putin to do so? Maybe he’s preserving his cyberweapon for a time when his adventure in global disorder will be at crossroads with our core national interests. And when that time come and if the administration in power do not kowtow to his ambitions he will then deploy his weapon and cripple us. Could that be it? Just a maybe.

This is not the first time that Russia has so affronted us and got away with it. The history has existed of Russian aircrafts buzzing US spy plane in international airspace, buzzing our destroyer many times in the Black sea, and buzzing our warship in the Baltic sea. Early this year, a Russian spy ship was spotted 100 miles off the coast of North Carolina and based on historical precedents was predicted to be on a four-to-six-months deployment off the East Coast where it will be conducting intelligence operations near Cape Canaveral, King’s Bay, Norfolk and New London. Locations that are home to US naval installations.

These incidents do not seem to rattle our leaders in Washington and there has been no occasion where it was shown that any of these incidents have provoked President Obama and now President Trump to communicate to Russia in unequivocal terms that these sorts of behaviors will not be tolerated and cannot be allowed to repeat themselves without serious consequences or injury to the Russian federation.

Why?

I was not around during the Cold War but from literature that I have read and from movies that I have watched, our presidents during those trying times were clear in their message to Russia. President Kennedy couldn’t be more clear and direct with Chairman Khrushchev with the paragraphs below in his address to the nation during the Cuban missile crisis:

 

It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union. . . .

I call upon Chairman Khrushchev to halt and eliminate this clandestine, reckless and provocative threat to world peace and to stable relations between our two nations. . . . He has an opportunity now to move the world back from the abyss of destruction. . .

 

Those were strong words coming from our Commander-in-Chief. And there was no doubt in the Kremlin that those words were gonna be matched with actions if need be. Eyeball to eyeball, the Russians blinked and we won the Cold War.

Since the days of Barack Obama however, courage has given way to appeasement. From President Obama asking Medvedev during the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit in Korea to communicate to Putin that his tough talk on Russia were just mere talk, solely for the purpose of winning a second term, to President Trump idolizing the same Putin, one is led to wonder what hold, if any, that Putin have on the national security of the United States. Since the days of Obama. Such that whenever the occupant of the Oval Office becomes privy to that information will have no choice than to defer to Putin? Or did the election of Barack Obama usher America into the era of electing to power our own Neville Chamberlains?

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THE PARADOX OF AMERICA. THE SMARTEST NATION ON EARTH, YET THE DUMBEST

Upworthy-AR-15-500For anyone watching the developing story about the shooting in Orlando, it is clear that Omar the shooter is driven by both hate and religious extremism. He targeted a club that is patronized by the gay community. And according to authorities, he placed a 911 call to the police declaring his allegiance to the leader of ISIS in the course of the carnage. There you have it.

In an initial statement released by the father of the shooter on the day of the shooting, the father said his son was not driven by religion. But by a loathe for gay guys which took a significant turn the day father, son, and Omar’s son went to Miami and a gay couple were kissing not too far away from where they were. The father said Omar was outraged by the couple kissing in front of his male child.

Of course as a father I can understand his anger at the gay couple. I assume his reasoning might be that his young boy seeing the gay couple make out in public may perceive it a norm, especially since him the father, being a religious man, does not want the son whose faculties are yet to be fully developed, to imbibe such values. But whatever his grievances were, that does not warrant mass murder. It does not warrant any murder at all. His atrocious behavior is unacceptable. Especially to every man of conscience. He lived in a secular society that accepted and tolerated his ways of live and his own religious believes and practices. Omar by his actions is simply am embodiment of hatred and intolerance.

Now, Omar is a man filled with hate. He’s a man that was poised to let out his hatred in the most barbaric way. But does the U.S. Congress have to make it soooo freaking easy for him to carry out his hateful acts to such a magnitude?

AR-15 assault weapon is a weapon of war and have no place in a civilian’s life. Why is the U.S. Congress so cool with individuals having possession of this kind of weapon? A mass murder weapon that allows the shooter to kill many with ease and in a short period of time?

In a country of smarts like Bill Gates, Zuckerbergs, and Pages, why can’t our politicians muster the courage to work for the American people and say fuck you to the NRA and their crazy obsession of arming every Tom, Dick and Harry with guns?

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Weeping for America

LGBT is not a race or a people. It is simply a human behavioral preference. Saying no to it is not discrimination. It is simply a human preference as well.

choiceOur dear leader Donald Trump is a white supremacist. He has nothing in his character that is presidential. Ted Cruz is a charlatan. Hillary Clinton is as uninspiring as she is a liar. She will deceive and manipulate in order to occupy the Oval. And Bernie Sanders; poor Bernie, a true man of the people. If Bernie gets elected, the powers that be, unfortunately, will not allow him to serve his 4 years’ term fully and carry through with his promises to the people. They will gun him down. The same way they gunned down Kennedy. That is a given.

Vice President Joe Biden, the best man for the job, chose not to step up to the plate and continue his service to his country. He said it was due to the loss of his son. Since Biden took himself out of the picture, the next best person to occupy the Oval Office in this present time with its challenges could have been Speaker Paul Ryan. He is the most rational and the most electable Republican to the office of the President and Commander-In-Chief. He is young, smart, charismatic, and a policy wonk. In a time of surging national debt and budget deficit, America needed someone in the person of Paul Ryan who is well grounded in fiscal policies to lead the country. And he could’ve easily defeated Hillary Clinton. He, also took himself out of the picture.

The good guys are being besought to take the most significant job in the world, albeit on a platter, and save their country and the world. The good guys in an unprecedented fashion are refusing the higher calling in their numbers, rather retiring themselves into inconsequential roles, while crazy people run amok, preaching hatred, divisiveness, and intolerance. Seems like whatever is bent on tearing America apart has a supernatural and vehement fierceness about it. It stymied men of reason who aspired for the office. It harasses proven men from aspiring for the job despite an easy path for them into the office. But it keeps making clear and smooth the pathway for clowns, charlatans, and liars into the office. Time will tell.

One more thing.

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender – LGBT

Some people find themselves naturally born into one of these classes of sexual orientation. Some others morph into it because of past unpleasant experiences with their heterosexual partners. Whether folks in the LGBT community are born naturally into it or they morphed into it, that is their choice. They have the right to practice whatever their sexual preferences are and everyone has to respect their rights of choice as far as those rights to practice their sexual preferences does not meddle with another person’s right.

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MY MANIFESTO (3)

BY

A REPUBLICAN PARTY CONTENDER FOR THE WHITE HOUSE

subversiveAs your President and Commander-In-Chief, my solemn duty to America and to the American people would be to protect and defend the integrity of this great nation from both external aggression and internal uprisings.

On the count of external aggression, the prescriptions of our constitution and the prescriptions of the laws of the land are there to guide me on how to war against our enemies, defeat them, and return glory and spoils of war to the land. But when the aggression is coming from within, sometimes the laws are not clear-cut on how to address threats that seek to undermine our national security.

In recent times, it has been reported widely that citizens of this great nation have traveled overseas to fight for ISIS, a terrorist organization that is at war with the United States. And some of them after fighting for ISIS in Syria and Iraq have returned home to this country.

When our citizens go abroad to fight for an entity that is at war with us, they are denouncing their own country and taking sides with our enemies. Ipso facto, they declare themselves enemies of this great land. Subversives. And by every parameter should be considered as such.

Of course they were already radicalized and have no more allegiance to the United States. Hence their resolve to travel abroad to fight on the side of our enemies. Of course while they were abroad fighting for the haters of civilization, they would be indoctrinated further that America is the enemy and needs to be brought to its knees. And of course their indoctrinators after indoctrinating them are somehow convinced that they have secured for their evil agenda some devout disciples in these American citizens  – who by the way have unfettered access to every nook and cranny of our country   – who would do their bidding whenever they bid them to and whatever they bid them to. Hence ISIS’s promise to us that they ‘Will Raise the Flag of Allah in the White House.’

This is not an empty threat. That is why I called it a promise even though the caption on the newspaper where I culled it from captioned it a threat.

With their pedigree and the rate at which they have grown over the years, it would be remiss on our part to ever again underestimate ISIS and their threats. Our president was wrong when he referred to them as a JV team and they have repeatedly embarrassed him for such underestimation.

Never again.

Continue reading “MY MANIFESTO (3)”

MY MANIFESTO

BY

A REPUBLICAN PARTY CONTENDER FOR THE WHITE HOUSE

My opponent, Donald Trump has always talked about making America great again. Of course America is great. A country that consumes 80% of its domestic product is great. But I have no doubt that America can be greater than it already is. I also have no doubt that the glory days of this great nation still lies ahead. Therefore I will not promise you that I will make America great when it already is. Rather I want to promise you that if I am elected your president, that I will partner with you and your elected representative in Congress to make America greater and reclaim its promise.

As your president, I will not seek to deport the 11million illegal immigrants in this country.

Let me digress a bit.

I call them illegal immigrants because they entered this country illegally, and unlike Mrs. Clinton who has no conviction but goes wherever the wind blows, I will call them what they are –  illegal immigrants.

Mrs. Clinton was at a campaign event recently and during her speech, she referred to the illegals as illegal immigrants and that did not sit well with Hispanics in the crowd. And they booed at the remark.  And she changed her position there and then and said they are no longer illegal immigrants but undocumented workers.

That is not the kind of person you want in the White House. Mrs. Clinton is a person who will say whatever you wanna hear in order to get your vote even when her original thought is right and what you wanted to hear from her is wrong. She is also a person who does not have the courage to say to a supporter ‘hey, you and I see eyeball to eyeball on most issues but on this one, I respectfully disagree with you because you are wrong.’  She is not seeking to ride to the White House on the wings of her invariable policy positions upon which voters can vote her in as their president. She has no set of convictions or concrete position on issues.  She just wants to be president as an end in itself and not as a means to an end.

I on the other hand am seeking to be your president as a means to an end. And that end is to make your life better than it already is, to invest in educating our posterity, to create an enabling environment for businesses to create rewarding  jobs, to fund research and developments, to rebuild and modernize our infrastructure, to return our economy to its prior and enviable position as the largest of all economies, to restore our military to its prideful place as the unrivaled global force for good, and to lead the coalition of progressives who are passionate about solving our most challenging problems in contemporary times. Problems such as our broken immigration system, our dysfunctional and unfair tax code, and our biased criminal justice system.

Back to the issue of illegal immigrants.

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THE DILEMMA OF AN EVENTUAL CLINTON NOMINATION TO THE REPUBLICANS AND THE CHANGE THE REPUBLICAN PARTY MUST MAKE TO PRECLUDE A CLINTON PRESIDENCY

Donald Trump is a .22 caliber mind in a .357 Magnum world.

blogBy announcing that he won’t be seeking his party’s nomination for the Office of the President of the United States come next general election, Vice President Joe Biden has literally handed the Democratic Party’s nomination to Hillary Clinton. Former first lady, former U.S.Senator, and former Secretary of State.

Hillary’s two out of four opponents in the first Democratic Party debate held earlier this month has withdrawn from the race for their party’s nomination. Only Hillary Clinton, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and former Governor Martin O’Malley of Maryland are remaining on the Democratic Party field. But you can bet your money that the Clinton tide will easily sweep Senator Sanders and Governor O’Malley away once the primary season kicks in. You can bet your tuition money on that. Her campaign is poised to never repeat the mistakes and indiscipline they characterized their 2008 run. They are ready this time around. Suffice it to say then that Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic Party nominee for the 2016 presidential election and a breathe away from the Oval Office in 1/17.

A Hillary Clinton’s presidency has been trumpeted by Republicans as a third term for President Obama. As an opposition party, the Republicans see Obama’s presidency, irrespective of the progressive policies and programs the Obama Administration has put in place for the past 7 years, as a disaster. Hence a Clinton’s presidency will be a continuation of that disaster.

So assuming for a moment that Republicans are right, then who among their candidates or a combination of their candidates will be their weapon to prevent an almost palpable Clinton presidency from happening?

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OPEN LETTER TO THE NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

I know I said I did not care whether it is a Democrat or a Republican that wins the 2016 presidential election. Of course I do not care. I am not a political party freak. But I know a man who I know will continue to build on the enormous gains the Obama administration has made on the economy.

By Amanda Zheranova

Updated 07:43 AM CT, Monday March 23, 2015

Joe

Editor’s Note: Amanda is a Grade 12 high school student from Houston, Texas.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

(EP) — Hello, Mr. or Madam President-Elect, my name is Amanda, a 17-year old high school kid from Houston, Texas. As a citizen interested in public policies and how they affect the lives of the common man, there are certain things that I will need you to do for us before your first 100-days in office runs through.

I do not know whether you will be a Democrat or a Republican. I do not really care. I only want the best man or woman for our country. And since the American people have chosen you, I accept that you are the best we have to lead our nation for the next four year.

If you are a Republican, please do not repeal Obamacare. Since it was passed into law and became operational, my mother, who is a single parent has been able to afford health insurance for our household. I am the oldest in a family of four including my mom. As we are all under the age 26, my brothers and I are covered under our mom’s insurance. And that is a good thing. Of course I watch television and I listen to political debates. From my analysis, there are some good prescriptions in the law and there are also some prescription in it that are not well thought-out. Rather than repeal the law, please work with Congress to review some of those aspects of the law that adversely affects small businesses and the little man and then pass a compromise appendage healthcare law to complement the already good things in Obamacare. If you repeal the law and we return to the status quo before the law was passed, we will lose our health insurance and you would lose your legitimacy as the president of all Americans.

If you are a Democrat, please do something about welfare. It is a good thing that we have programs such as food stamps to help people who are going through some hard times in their life until they find their feet. But what is not fair to taxpayers and hardworking people like my mom is when other adults make a career of living off of food stamps and refuse to better themselves. I will want you to reform the food stamp program and put a cap on the number of months a person can be on the program. It is also necessary to require people who are on the program to do some community service work at least once every week for the duration of time they are receiving the benefits. And finally on this issue, I will want you to make it difficult for someone who have already received the benefit to be able to receive it again without a proof to show that she had made an attempt to get a job, go to school, or improve her life in one way or the other. When people have a sense that government will always hand out benefits to them to subsidize the irresponsible lifestyle they choose to live, the incentive to work to supplement the life they are living zeroes out.

If you are a Republican, it is likely that you are a man. A white man. And being a man, I know you are a father. As a father, you are enthused at the idea that your son will one day grow up to walk on your footsteps and hopefully succeed where you have failed in life. Through your guidance, of course. That feeling is not native to you or white men alone. That is every father’s desire including African-American fathers. So I implore you that you work with Congress to pass a law to outlaw the killings of African-American men and teenagers all over the country by police officers. To us whites, they are just another data. But a time will come when it will blow up on the face of this country and undermine our greatness if nothing drastic is done about it. Segregation was outlawed. It was done while a white man was in the White House. Civil Rights Act was passed into law. A son of the south for that matter signed it into law. Outlawing extrajudicial killings of African-American men in this 21st century jet age is far easier to do. You have your precedents. Do it!!!

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