Obama spreads chaos for Trump, Netanyahu and Putin

In this world, it is often dangerous to be an enemy of the United States, but to be a friend is fatal… Henry Kissinger 1968

Wise words indeed Mr. Kissinger and boy are they relevant today.  President Barack Obama is stirring up disruption and chaos across the globe in what appears a last ditch effort to lash out against Russian President Putin.  If anyone ever truly deserved the Nobel Peace Prize, it would be Vladimir Putin.  Putin is the only thing standing between the neocons and WWIII, the last thing on their bucket list before they go.

For the last sixteen years the same PNAC members have run the CIA and the State Department.  Hillary Clinton offered more of the same, chaos.  An exhausted American people voted for change.  From Helga Zepp-LaRouche:

Excerpt:

… there is, right now, a global revolution against the system of globalization underway…   I think the first massive manifestation was the Brexit last June in Great Britain, where the majority of the people voted to leave the European Union.

The second major manifestation of this was the rejection of Hillary Clinton, and with that, also a rejection of the policies of the 16-year U.S. Presidencies of Bush and Cheney and Obama, because Obama was really the total continuation of the previous policies of Bush and Cheney…

And then, the newest, third vector of development, which is completely undetermined yet as to where it will go—but nevertheless it is a completely new thing—is the election of Donald Trump to be the next President of the United States…  Up to the present day, the neocon-dominated media in the trans-Atlantic sector are really not grappling with the situation that there is a new U.S. President…

Now, what Trump did, which I think is the most important—the moment he got elected he got on the phone and he talked to Russian President Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, and all sides afterwards confirmed that the intention was to normalize and improve the relationship between the United States and Russia, and the United States and China… 

Because it is now Dec. 12th, and it is still five or six weeks until Trump gets into the White House, and you can see very clearly that Obama is trying to create as much chaos on the way out of the White House as he possibly can…  He just made a decree where he basically ordered the arming of the rebels in Syria, including providing them with so-called MANPADs, that is shoulder-fired missiles which can shoot down planes; which could really also shoot down American planes, or other planes, so it’s a very incredible thing.

And I think it’s very important that Trump is completely opposed to this. And so is Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who is a very young, talented congresswoman from Hawaii, who introduced a bill in reaction to this—she’s from the Democratic Party—but she introduced a bill prohibiting arms sales to such rebel groups and is leading a bipartisan effort to this effect…

There is also the effort by the neocons to ruin the relationship with Russia and China in the remaining period as much as possible. For example, the neocon Heritage Foundation in the United States sent a delegation in October to Taiwan. This was Ed Feulner and Stephen Yates, who used to be the national security aide to Dick Cheney, and Reince Priebus, the new member of the Trump team.

They went to Taiwan; and this was coordinated with the effort by the Taiwanese government to use the incoming new Presidency to change the “One China” policy…  And it was that combination of Heritage plus lobbyists, who arranged the phone call of Taiwanese President Tsai with Trump, congratulating Trump for his election. And Trump took the phone call, and this was then made a big affair by the international media, because this violated the One China policy.

Yes, Obama and his neocon cabal won’t go gently into the night.  The Bush/Obama Administrations have left rubble in their wake.  The complete demolition of Syria, reported in America as “a civil war against a brutal dictator,” is a graphic example of what Kissinger referred to as the “danger of being an enemy of the United States.”  Helga Zepp-LaRouche is absolutely correct about the current Administration, they are “trying to create as much chaos on the way out that they possibly can”. 

Think about what will happen in Syria when Obama-armed terrorists with shoulder-fired missiles shoot down a NATO plane or worse yet, an American passenger plane causing an international crises for the Trump Administration.  Thanks to Putin, the neocons suffered a major humiliation in Aleppo and they are going nuts.  From Information Clearinghouse:

Excerpt:

Liberation of Aleppo Represents US's Most Serious Setback in 15 Years

In late 2016, at the cost of many young lives, Syrian forces took back the eastern part of the city of Aleppo, occupied by NATO and Saudi backed terrorists for more than four years.

The liberation of Aleppo, Syria’s second city and an ancient marvel, represents the most serious setback for the 15-year long Washington-led aggression on the entire region. An effective re-colonization of the region has stretched from Afghanistan to Libya, under a range of false pretexts. Invasions and proxy wars have been backed by economic sanctions and wild propaganda.

But this great war of aggression – called the creation of ‘New Middle East’ by former US President George W. Bush – has hit a rock in Syria.  The massive proxy armies bought and equipped by Washington and its regional allies the Saudis, Turkey, Qatar and Israel, have been beaten back by a powerful regional alliance which supports the Syrian nation.

If you are wondering who “the massive proxy armies” are and where they come from check out this article in Southfront.org:

Excerpt:

BREAKING: 14 US-LED COALITION MILITARY ADVISERS CAPTURED BY SYRIAN SPECIAL FORCES IN ALEPPO

At least 14 US-led coalition military advisers have been captured by the Syrian Special Forces in a bunker in the city of Aleppo, according to media reports.  The event allegedly took place in the morning on December 16, 2016 (Voltaire.net)…

Fares Shehabi, a prominent Syrian Parliamentarian and head of Aleppo’s Chamber of Commerce published the names of the Coalition officers on his Facebook page on the 15th December (emphasis added):

·        Mutaz Kanoğlu – Turkey

·        David Scott Winer – USA

·        David Shlomo Aram – Israel

·        Muhamad Tamimi – Qatar

·        Muhamad Ahmad Assabian – Saudi

·        Abd-el-Menham Fahd al Harij – Saudi

·        Islam Salam Ezzahran Al Hajlan – Saudi

·        Ahmed Ben Naoufel Al Darij – Saudi

·        Muhamad Hassan Al Sabihi – Saudi

·        Hamad Fahad Al Dousri – Saudi

·        Amjad Qassem Al Tiraoui – Jordan

·        Qassem Saad Al Shamry – Saudi

·        Ayman Qassem Al Thahalbi – Saudi

·        Mohamed Ech-Chafihi El Idrissi – Moroccan…

… Considering that US-led coalition military advisers have been widely operating across Syria, training and assisting to the so-called “moderate opposition” openly linked with al-Qaeda, the recently appeared reports are likely true.

For instance, British military advisers have officially arrived to Syria to restore combat capability of the ‘moderate’ opposition, retreated from Aleppo:

Are you comfortable with the Obama Administration arming a mostly Saudi militia in Syria with shoulder fired missiles, capable of shooting down planes?  Now Obama is fighting the Trump transition into the White House.  While Obama spreads chaos and lies Trump is conveying a message of stability, “help is on the way.” 

The Obama Administration is perpetuating the myth that Vladimir Putin somehow interfered with our election, and now has imposed sanctions against Russia and expelled their diplomats.  So far Putin has said, Russia will pretty much ignore Obama’s sanctions and wait until America has an adult in the room meaning Donald Trump.  From YouTube:

Excerpt:

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday suggested that the United States should just get over Russia's hacking of DNC computers, saying, "We ought to get on with our lives." According to Reuters, two U.S. officials said the Obama administration plans to announce a series of retaliatory measures against Russia for hacking into U.S. political institutions…   Trump made his remarks at Mar-a-Lago, his seaside Florida resort. Trump explained, "I think that computers have complicated lives very greatly. The whole age of computer has made it where nobody knows exactly what's going on."

And how did Vladimir Putin react to Obama rounding up their diplomats and their families and removing them from our country?  From The Guardian:

Excerpt:

Putin says he's waiting for Trump as he opts not to expel US diplomats

Vladimir Putin has refused to engage in tit-for-tat diplomacy after the US expelled 35 Russian diplomats amid a row over cyber hacking.

Just hours after the Russian foreign minster said he was recommending a symmetrical response, Putin said his country had “every right” to make such a move but that he would not “drop to this level of irresponsible diplomacy”.

He said his government would instead wait to see how relations developed under the incoming president, Donald Trump.

“We will make further steps to help resurrect Russian-American relations based on the policies that the administration of Trump will pursue,” the Russian president said in a statement on the Kremlin’s website.

Putin, mindful that Trump will be in the White House in just three weeks went on, in an almost teasing way, to wish Barack Obama and his family, Trump and the American people a happy new year. He invited “all the children of American diplomats accredited in Russia to the New Year and Christmas celebrations in the Kremlin”.

It’s a message the people need to hear because the people have lost their faith in our intelligence operations.  It is becoming apparent that terror attacks come at some very convenient times, like the assassination of Russia’s ambassador just before a peace agreement.  From Global Research:

Excerpt:

Were “CIA Dirty Hands” Behind Assassination of Russia’s Ambassador to Turkey?

The assassination happened in the wake of Aleppo’s liberation, a major defeat for Washington, NATO, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.  It came on the eve of Russian, Turkish and Iranian foreign ministers meeting in Moscow (America, Britain and France excluded) “to discuss in trilateral format the situation in and around Syria first and foremost,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov explained…

Separately, Turkish President Erdogan said “(w)e are determined to maintain our ties with Russia.”  Karlov’s strategically timed assassination was likely aimed at undermining Russian/Turkish relations – especially after Aleppo’s liberation and US electors confirming Trump’s triumph.  The provocative scheme seems destined to fail as decisively as the campaign to deny America’s president-elect the office he won.

After the failed CIA coup against America’s friend Turkish President Erdogan, Turkey seems to be reevaluating their “friendship” with America as well as forging a new one with Russia.  It appears that America’s friends, are getting the full Obama treatment.  Obama is willing to sacrifice friend or foe to settle his petty vendetta against Putin, something Netanyahu saw firsthand.  From Lidblog:

Excerpt:

Nyet!! Russia REJECTS Kerry’s Attempt To Impose Middle East Solution

Calling it an attempt to bring the US Domestic agenda to the UN, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov rejected John Kerry’s proposal to impose a Middle East solution on Israel in a telephone conversation Tuesday, with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry…

“The two top diplomats exchanged views on the situation in the Palestinian-Israeli settlement and around it. Lavrov stressed the necessity of creating conditions for direct talks between the leaders of Israel and Palestine and warned against bringing US’ domestic agenda into the work of the Middle East Quartet and the United Nations Security Council. He stressed that attempts to use these formats in bickering between the Democrats and Republicans are harmful,” the Russian foreign ministry said.

Man, the Obama Administration has made such a mess with an unbelievable human cost.  How would Trump ever clean up this mess?  Patrick Buchanan has some suggestions.    From Lew Rockwell:

Excerpt:

Will Trump Defy McCain & Marco?

When word leaked that Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson, a holder of the Order of Friendship award in Putin’s Russia, was Donald Trump’s choice for secretary of state, John McCain had this thoughtful response:  “Vladimir Putin is a thug, a bully, and a murderer and anybody else who describes him as anything else is lying.”

Yet, Putin is something else, the leader of the largest nation on earth, a great power with enough nuclear weapons to wipe the United States off the face of the earth. And we have to deal with him…  If just three GOP senators vote no on Tillerson, and Democrats vote as a bloc against him, his nomination would go down. President Trump would sustain a major and humiliating defeat.

Who is Tillerson? A corporate titan, he has traveled the world, represented Exxon in 60 countries, is on a first-name basis with countless leaders…  Most businessmen are interested in doing deals, making money, and, if the terms are not met, walking away, not starting a war.

And here is the heart of the objection to Tillerson. He wants to end sanctions and partner with Putin’s Russia, as does Trump. But among many in the mainstream media, think tanks, websites, and on the Hill, this is craven appeasement. For such as these, the Cold War is never over.

Behind the effort to smear Tillerson and delegitimize Trump lies a larger motive. Trump has antagonists in both parties who alarmed at his triumph because it imperils the foreign policy agenda that is their raison d’etre, their reason for being…

They want to provide offensive weapons to Kiev to reignite the civil war in the Donbass and enable Ukraine to move on Crimea. This would mean a war with Russia that Ukraine would lose and we and our NATO allies would be called upon to intervene in and fight.

Their goal is to bring down Putin and bring about “regime change” in Moscow.

In the campaign, Trump said he wanted to get along with Russia, to support all the forces inside Syria and Iraq fighting to wipe out ISIS and al-Qaida and to stay out of any new Middle East wars — like the disaster in Iraq — that have cost us “six trillion dollars.”

THIS IS WHAT AMERICA VOTED FOR WHEN IT VOTED FOR TRUMP — to put America First and “make America great again.” But War Party agitators are already beating the drums for a confrontation with Iran.

Early in his presidency, if not before, Trump is going to have to impose his foreign policy upon his own party and, indeed, upon his own government…

A good place to begin is by accepting the McCain-Marco challenge and nominating Rex Tillerson for secretary of state. Let’s get it on.

Amen brother Buchanan.  But not only are the neocons interfering with the smooth transition of power in America, now they’re interfering with the election in France:  From the Telegraph:

Excerpt:

American intelligence has been asked to look into Marine Le Pen's links to Russia, following her request for a $30 million (£24.3 million) loan to help fund her French presidential campaign from a bank close to Vladimir Putin, according to reports.

Ms Le Pen's Front National party has made no secret of the fact that it has taken foreign loans to help bankroll its presidential campaigns because, it has argued, French banks refuse to stump up the funds.  But in light of allegations of Russian interference in the US election of Donald Trump, scrutiny has now turned to Ms Le Pen, who is polled to reach the final round of France's presidential elections in May…

In May, Le Pen said in an interview that she will recognise Crimea as Russian territory if she wins the French presidency…"  Earlier this month, the CIA concluded in a secret assessment that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help Mr Trump win the presidency, rather than just to undermine confidence in the US electoral system.

Sounds like the CIA and Obama’s problem with Le Pen is her attitude toward Putin and Russia.  So our CIA is getting involved with the French election, just like they did in Ukraine, Argentina and Brazil.  And it’s amazing they fail to see their own Hipocracy in accusing Russia of interfering with US elections.  From No Quarter:

Excerpt:

Obama, A Drunken Sailor Throwing Girly Man Punches at Putin?

Thank God we only have three weeks left of this cretin. Yes, I think Obama is a cretin, a fool and childish to boot. One week ago he gave the green light to betray Israel…  Now we have the latest twist in this manufactured drama–Obama is expelling Russian diplomats (some who almost certainly are intelligence officers) and imposing new sanctions on two individuals and four different entities.

This is a bizarre action given that Obama was waiting on the Intel Community to report on what actually happened. Remember this?

“The President has directed the Intelligence Community to conduct a full review of what happened during the 2016 election process. It is to capture lessons learned from that and to report to a range of stakeholders,”

Hell, why wait for a report. Let’s just go with a gut feeling. Obama is now behaving very much like a drunk who is angered after last call at a bar that he can’t get another shot of whiskey. Rather than quietly shuffle out the door and head for home, Obama has decided to throw drunken punches and smash furniture. He is leaving the bar in worst shape then when he came in the door.

These sanctions help Putin rather than hurt him. They coincide with the news that Russia and Turkey, with the cooperation of the Syrian Government, are implementing a ceasefire in Syria today. Whether connected on not, the U.S. action will be viewed in Russia as pique by a weak, frustrated foe…

But this is a dangerous action by Obama. It comes in concert with steps by NATO to put more Western troops on the border of Russia. It comes with increased bellicose calls by leading Republicans like Senators McCain and Graham for confrontation with Russia…

It is important that someone on the Trump team reach out to Putin via back channel and assure them that there is a genuine desire to restore civil relations with Russia. Obama’s real target in these sanctions is Donald Trump. He is trying to box Trump in and force him into the failed, hostile relationship that Obama produced. I am hoping that Trump stands his ground and starts dealing with Russia like an adult.

Let us remember the words of Henry Kissinger,

In this world, it is often dangerous to be an enemy of the United States, but to be a friend is fatal… Henry Kissinger 1968

Caution:  being friends with America can be fatal.  Obama and his neocons are hell bent on leaving the world in a chaotic mess that will take Trump four years to sort out.  Then, after four years of undermining the Trump Administration, America and her Treasury will be returned to the neocons.

I predict that Trump is not going to be any kind of pushover and the neocons have a rude awakening in store for them.  The world is moving on toward peace and cooperation.  The New World Order ushered in by George W. Bush is dead.  For the love of God, Obama, Biden, Dems and GOP take Donald Trump’s advice, “we need to get on with our lives, get over it.” 

By Patricia Baeten  

White House lobs allegations of Russian hacking to destroy Donald Trump’s peace mandate

America’s presidential election is over and the Obama Administration and congress needs to get over it.  While President-elect Trump is busy forming his cabinet, the White House and congress are working behind the scenes plotting with their financial backers to stop the people’s choice from assuming power.  During the election Donald Trump made it crystal clear where he stands on America’s relationship with Russia, the CIA’s overthrow of the government in Ukraine, the CIA and Pentagon funding of terrorists in Syria and a myriad of other “New World Order” fiascos.  The American people understood Donald Trump’s vision of a new relationship between the US and Russia and voted to make him president, giving him a mandate.

The American people are sick of the New World Order that has been foisted upon us by the two parties that are controlled by billionaire Zionists.  Donald Trump is the anti-establishment candidate who is a threat to the New World Order.  Earlier this year Texe Marrs laid out the threats to the NWO posed by Trump:

Excerpt:

The Establishment is frightened and are in a panic. They can’t believe it. Donald Trump is about to overturn their New World Order applecart. If he is elected President of the United States, all the carefully drafted plans of the Bilderbergers, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Council of the Americas, the World Economic Forum, the Skull & Bones Society, the Bohemian Grove and every other traitorous conspiratorial group will be smashed…

They include in their corrupt ranks both Democrats and Republicans. Any party will do, whether led by Senator Harry Reed (D-NV) and Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), or by Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI)…

New World Order Dragons to Slay

Now, it is clear to me that Donald Trump has been doing his homework. He has mentioned at least ten New World Order dragons he is pledging to destroy, or at least to severely damage. We need to examine these ten dragons, and when we do, we realize just how devastating their demise will be to the New World Order elite:

1.      Immigration: Trump wants to build a wall, a 1,000-mile long wall, and police the borders.

2.     Rule of Law: Trump demands the government actually obey the immigration laws and deport illegals.

3.     Trade: Trump calls our establishment leaders “stupid” and “incompetent.” He vows to make America great again and to shrink the trade deficit.

4.     Jobs: Trump plans to re-employ the middle class; the companies that go overseas to make their products will be forced to pay a huge tariff, or tax.

5.     Blacks and Minorities: Trump refuses to coddle the welfare class… But he will provide equal opportunity jobs for blacks and for Mexican-Americans.

6.     Interventionism: Trump intends to bring the troops home and stay out of foreign wars. He’ll let Russia and Putin take out ISIS and defend Syria.

7.      Veterans: The wicked cycle of bleeding young men and women in foreign conflicts, then treating them as pariahs back home may be over.

8.     Climate Change: It’s been proven to be a scientific fraud. Expect a President Trump to deep-six the biggest scam in history.

9.     Entitlements: The establishment is just aching to cut back on Social Security and Medicare… Trump has said he will not cut Social Security and Medicare.

10.  Christianity: The era of Christian-hating and anti-Christian rules may be ending…

Goodbye Corrupt Media

The mainstream, establishment media—that means CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, Fox, and the lying yellow rags disguised as newspapers—all got it wrong about Trump…

Goodbye Corrupt Political Establishment

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan and their ilk better say a quick goodbye because no one wants or needs those lying weasels. The Republican Party, like the Democrat Party, is a joke—a bad, bad joke…

While I don’t necessarily agree with all those points, I do agree that corrupt media tries to influence the American people’s opinion of Russia.  During the campaign, Jeff Bezos the owner of the Washington Post assigned twenty reporters to dig up dirt on Donald Trump.  Having failed to destroy the Trump campaign, Bezos’ Washington Post is now attempting to stop Donald Trump from being sworn in as president.  From Recode.net:

Excerpt:

Donald Trump said Amazon and Jeff Bezos have a ‘huge antitrust problem.’ Now they may.

Let’s state the obvious: Donald Trump and Amazon CEO, and Washington Post owner, Jeff Bezos do not see eye to eye. And that becomes a more concerning prospect for Bezos and Amazon now that Trump is president-elect.  In May, after learning of the large team of Washington Post reporters looking into his past, Trump told conservative TV commentator Sean Hannity that Bezos was using the paper to damage Trump’s chances because he feared what a President Trump would mean for Amazon.

"He thinks I'll go after him for antitrust," Trump said at the time. "Because he's got a huge antitrust problem because he's controlling so much, Amazon is controlling so much of what they are doing.  "He's using the Washington Post, which is peanuts, he's using that for political purposes to save Amazon in terms of taxes and in terms of antitrust."

Trump’s campaign later reiterated this narrative in a statement claiming that the Post was being used as political leverage so Amazon doesn’t “get sued for monopolistic tendencies that have led to the destruction of department stores and the retail industry.” 

The CIA’s allegations of Russian hacking published by the Washington Post have been debunked by numerous reliable news sources as well as other intelligence agencies. From Larry Johnson at No Quarter:

Excerpt:

Why The CIA Can’t Be Trusted

This is why the CIA is a damn joke and cannot be trusted. Just consider the latest report from the Washington Post:

The CIA briefed the administration that it thinks the Russians “breached” the RNC systems, according to a senior U.S. official, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. “Obviously there haven’t been the same sort of leaks and pilfered documents spread about from this intrusion as there were from the various DNC and related incursions…”

The stupidity of this is stunning. When I was an analyst my bosses did not care what my opinion about anything was. I was to report the intelligence and comment on what we knew…

But it gets worse. The CIA analysts predicated their goofy analysis on a false premise– they “THINK” Russia breached the RNC…

So the CIA reportedly briefed some members of Congress that Russia stole the election for Trump. Now, armed with supposedly top notch intelligence analysis, desperate Democrats are citing this nonsense as a pretext for not honoring what the voters across America decided. And we are supposed to take the CIA seriously?

This is more than an embarrassment; it is an indictment of how corrupt and inept the CIA has become over the last 20 years. It has become so thoroughly politicized that it is no more reliable then your mediocre Washington think tank. In my view the CIA should be dismantled. We need to start over. This is not an isolated error. The failures of the CIA over the years are significant. But those did not include meddling in a U.S. Presidential election. This is the ultimate irony. The CIA is accusing Russia of interfering in the Presidential election when in fact it is the CIA itself that is now crossing that line.

The White House is refusing to accommodate a smooth transition into the Trump Administration and is stooping to new lows in trying to thwart the Trump presidency.  This week Obama himself accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of personally ordering election tampering in America to elect Donald Trump.  

Now President Putin is demanding Obama put up or shut up.  From the Free Thought Project:

Excerpt:

Putin Lays Down the Gauntlet to Obama Over Hacking Claims: ‘Show Proof or Shut Up’

Washington, D.C. – After the outlandish claims made by U.S. officials, that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally “hacked the US presidential election,” Putin has had enough of the relentless barrage of unproven allegations, and laid down the gauntlet to the U.S. President Obama.

“Either stop talking about it or finally provide some evidence. Otherwise, it looks indecent,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Tokyo on Friday.

Blatantly operating as a propaganda outlet for U.S. intelligence/deep state interests, working in collusion with Democratic party elements, The Washington Post reported this week that anonymous sources claimed, “the CIA concluded in a secret assessment that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump win the presidency, rather than just to undermine confidence in the U.S. electoral system.”

Then, Barack Obama, on Thursday, announced that the United States will “take action” at the “time and place of our choosing” in response to unverified CIA claims of hacking by the Russian government – an allegation which remains unproven and extremely suspect…

The Russian government responded by warning that Obama’s threat to “retaliate” to the alleged cyber attack, without providing any evidence, would be a violation of “both American and international law.”

Putin is right to demand solid evidence of Russian hacking before the US Government retaliates against Russia for bogus claims of hacking.  Even the FBI is refuting the claims of the CIA that Putin and Russia hacked the election.  From Bizpac Review:

Excerpt:

FBI disagrees with CIA on Russian influence in the presidential election

The FBI did not corroborate the CIA’s claim that Russia had a hand in the election of President-elect Donald Trump in a meeting with lawmakers last week.  A senior FBI counterintelligence official met with Republican and Democrat members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in order to give the bureau’s view of a recent CIA report. The official did not concur with the CIA, frustrating Democrats.

The CIA believes Russia “quite” clearly intended to send Trump to the White House. The claim is a bold one and concerned Democrats and some Republicans who are worried about Trump’s desire to mend relations with an increasingly aggressive Russia. The CIA report was “direct, bold and unqualified,” one of the officials at the meeting told The Washington Post Saturday…

Congress and the White House are now plotting to persuade the Electoral College to throw the election results out the window and refuse to install Donald Trump as president.  From Global Research:

Excerpt:

While the Hillary Clinton faction supported by mainstream media propaganda is accusing Moscow of intervening in the US elections on behalf of Trump, they are also intent upon shifting the Electoral College vote in favour of Clinton with a view to blocking president-elect Trump’s accession to the White House.  If this were to succeed, the U.S. would be precipitated into a deap-seated political crisis. It should be noted that this process is also coupled with extensive anti-Trump protests across America, organized by the Clinton faction.

What is a stake: “are fundamental rivalries within the US establishment marked by the clash between competing corporate factions, each of which is intent upon exerting control over the incoming US presidency...” 

ExxonMobil Chief Rex Tillerson has been chosen by Trump to occupy the key position of US Secretary of State.  This appointment potentially points to a major shift in US foreign policy (including an openly anti-China stance by Trump).  It is also points to rising divisions within the US establishment…  In response to this controversial appointment, the Neocon faction linked both to the bi-partisan “War Party” has promised to block the confirmation of Tillerson’s candidacy in the US Senate…

Clinton (if she were to be elected, depending on the outcome of the College Electoral Vote) would “redouble efforts to punish and isolate Moscow for war crimes in Syria’s civil war and aggression toward Ukraine and other neighbors…”

Early this week (December 12) the “Shares of Lockheed Martin fell as president-elect Donald Trump tweeted that making F-35 fighter planes is too costly and that he will cut “billions” in costs for military purchases…” (CBC.ca, December 12, 2016)  Needless to say, Rex Tillerson’s candidacy is not favored by the weapons producers…

On December 12, Ten Grand College electors of whom only one is a Republican released an “open letter” to the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper requesting information about ongoing investigations on ties between Trump and “Russian government interference in the election.”  The letter (released on social media was written by Christine Pelosi, the daughter of Rep. Nancy Pelosi.

I doubt that the Electoral College will be successful in overturning the election, but they will damn well try.  As for Rex Tillerson’s nomination for Secretary of State, Gary North over at Lew Rockwell has a suggestion as to how Donald Trump should handle congress:

Excerpt:

How Trump Could Shut Down Mitch McConnell if Necessary

The media have wet their Depends over Trump’s choice for Secretary of State…  We are told that Mitch McConnell — once hated by the Left, but now seen as the Left’s last hope — may mobilize Republicans in the Senate… Here is what I would do if I were Trump. I would tweet this:

Rex Tillerson is my personal Secretary of State. If world leaders want to deal with me, they will deal with him. He does not need Senate confirmation to represent me.  In 137 characters, Trump can tell Mitch McConnell to take a flying leap at a rolling doughnut.  He would then send Tillerson’s name back to the Senate. What could McConnell do? This: reconsider.

Good advice.  The bottom line is America’s presidential election is over and the Obama Administration and congress needs to get over it.  President-elect Trump has a right to select the people he wants in his cabinet and he has a mandate to extricate America from these Wall Street profit driven wars.  The American people want to see better relations with Russia and want to see a 21^st Century of peace on earth.  That is Trump’s mandate and his mandate is supported by the American people.  Obama and Congress just need to get out of the way and get over it.

By Patricia Baeten

"Fake news stories” about “fake Russian election tampering” by Oligarch's fake news organizations

Oh what a wonderful world we had prior to November 8^th when the carefully crafted US government messaging controlled the elections.  When Twitter was created the government found a valuable propaganda tool by which to shape and direct public opinion.  From The Guardian:

Excerpt:

US military studied how to influence Twitter users in Darpa-funded research

Darpa, established in 1958, is responsible for technological research for the US military…  Unveiled in 2011, the SMISC program was regarded as a bid by the US military to become better at both detecting and conducting propaganda campaigns on social media…“Through the program, Darpa seeks to develop tools to support the efforts of human operators to counter misinformation or deception campaigns with truthful information…"

However, papers leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden indicate that US and British intelligence agencies have been deeply engaged in planning ways to covertly use social media for purposes of propaganda and deception.  Documents prepared by NSA and Britain's GCHQ (and previously published by the Intercept as well as NBC News) revealed aspects of some of these programs. They included a unit engaged in “discrediting” the agency’s enemies with false information spread online…

“Since everyone is potentially an influencer on social media and is capable of spreading information, our work aims to identify and engage the right people at the right time on social media to help propagate information when needed.”

So the U.S. Government’s aim was “to identify and engage the right people at the right time, to help propagate information when needed.”  Who would have thought they’d find those people at Jeff Bezos’ Washington Post?  On C-Span’s popular call-in show Washington Journal the discussion for the day often starts out with the moderator reading a story from the Washington Post and has viewers call in with comments. 

C-Span is funded by the cable companies and has 24-hour a day programming controlled by Washington think tanks.  In Twitter’s early days C-Span’s Washington Journal became the medium by which government propaganda was promoted.  C-Span has a policy that callers are limited to one call every thirty days, in order to allow a greater number of commenters to weigh in.  However, C-Span reads an unlimited amount of Tweets written by the same individuals during their program. 

Tweeters like “Bored File Clerk” and “Fishin’ Sam” tweet their comments six or seven times during the daily program, which the C-Span’s host dutifully reads throughout the show.  By allowing a deluge of tweets from sources like “Phishing Sam” and “Bored CIA Clerk” C-Span actually has become a conduit for government propaganda via Twitter.  From Free Thought Project:

Excerpt:

Secret CIA Assessment Story About Russia Helping Trump is the ‘Fake News’ You’ve Been Warned About

Washington, D.C. – Acting once again as the de facto public propaganda mouthpiece for U.S. intelligence/deep state interests within the U.S. government, The Washington Post reported in a scurrilous piece of yellow journalism yesterday that “the CIA concluded in a secret assessment that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump win the presidency, rather than just to undermine confidence in the U.S. electoral system.”

Make no mistake that this is the ‘Fake News’ the mainstream media has been warning the public about. Highly respected investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald labeled the Washington Post story, in an article for the Intercept, “classic American journalism of the worst sort,” highlighting that, “the key claims are based exclusively on the unverified assertions of anonymous officials, who in turn are disseminating their own claims about what the CIA purportedly believes, all based on evidence that remains completely secret.”

The impetus behind the move is almost certainly to constrain Trump’s anticipated rapprochement with Russia by further tainting public perception of a U.S.-Russia reconciliation by intimating that Trump in some way won the U.S. presidency with the assistance of Russia — a continuation of a common theme of the Clinton campaign…

Furthermore, the claims that 17 U.S. intelligence agencies confirmed that Russia was behind hacking the DNC, which was forwarded by Hillary Clinton during a presidential debate was unfounded and untrue. This claim was parroted across the mainstream media echo chamber as if it were fact. However, in reality, it was simply more anti-Russia propaganda as a means of tainting Trump…

Sensing the attempts to paint Trump into a corner with this latest bit of ‘Fake News’ from The Washington Post, the Trump transition team released a statement calling out the forces at work behind this latest attempt to stifle the planned de-escalation of U.S. hybrid warfare against Russia.

“These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction,” a statement from the Trump transition team read.

This newest piece of neo-Red Scare propaganda, being pushed by the Post, comes on the heels of them just last week publishing a journalistically inept piece of likely state-produced propaganda.

As Jeffrey St. Clair and Alexander Cockburn wrote for Counter Punch in an article titled, The CIA and the Press: When the Washington Post Ran the CIA’s Propaganda Network, which discusses the connections between The Washington Post & Operation Mockingbird – a CIA program to infiltrate journalism began in the 50’s and still in operation today:

Looks like the U.S. Government has done a pretty good job of “identifying and engaging the right people at the right time at the Washington Post to help promote the fake story” about Russia interfering in the U.S. election.  As a matter of fact, the Washington Post’s “explosive” article on the Russian hacking was tossed into the Sunday Morning talk show echo chamber for the expressed purpose of disqualifying Rex Tillerson from becoming Secretary of State under President Trump.

As was cited in the Free Thought Project article, “The impetus behind the move is almost certainly to constrain Trump’s anticipated rapprochement with Russia by further tainting public perception of a U.S.-Russia reconciliation by intimating that Trump in some way won the U.S. presidency with the assistance of Russia — a continuation of a common theme of the Clinton campaign.”  Thus the vicious attacks on Rex Tillerson by the Sunday Morning cadre of high paid media whores. 

Breaking:  Global Research is reporting Trump has named Rex Tillerson as his choice for Secretary of State

Excerpt:

Trump Picks Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson As Secretary Of State. He’s a Friend of Putin

In a move that is certain to infuriate those who see Trump as nothing more than a puppet of the Kremlin, moments ago NBC reported that Rex Tillerson, CEO of Exxon Mobil and late entrant into the SecState race after his first meeting with the president elect this past Tuesday at the Trump Tower, has been picked by Trump to serve as his next Secretary of State…

“He has had more interactive time with Vladimir Putin than probably any other American with the exception of Henry Kissinger,” said John Hamre, a former deputy defense secretary during the Clinton administration and president of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank where Mr. Tillerson is a board member…

In 2011, Mr. Tillerson struck a deal giving Exxon access to prized Arctic resources in Russia as well as allowing Russia’s state oil company, OAO Rosneft, to invest in Exxon concessions all over the world…  But it was subsequently blocked by sanctions on Russia that the U.S. and its allies imposed two years ago after the country’s invasion of Crimea and conflicts with Ukraine. Tillerson spoke against the sanctions at the company’s annual meeting in 2014.

Part of the reason the U.S. and their allies like Saudi Arabia and Turkey have put sanctions in place against Russia is because the Pentagon is funding terrorists to overthrow Assad in Syria and Russia is interfering with that.  Breaking News Israel is reporting that one brave congresswoman is trying to end that madness.  

Excerpt:

Congresswoman Introduces ‘Stop Arming Terrorists Act’

Hawaii Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard last week introduced the “Stop Arming Terrorists Act” after visiting New York’s Trump Tower and meeting President-elect Donald Trump. Gabbard, an Army veteran and a member of the House Committees on Foreign Affairs and Armed Services, wrote: “If you or I gave money, weapons or support to al-Qaeda or ISIS, we would be thrown in jail. Why does our government get a free pass on this?”

She told NPR on Friday that the US government has been “quietly supporting allies, partners, individuals and groups who are working directly with al-Qaida, ISIS, Jabhat Fateh al-Sham and other terrorist groups by providing them with money, weapons and intelligence support in their fight to overthrow the Syrian government.”

As a result, Gabbard said, “we will end up with a situation where not only will the Syrian people be under greater human suffering and an even more dire situation. We will end up with al-Qaida now having far greater military capability, far greater strength and posing a greater threat not only to the region but to the United States and the rest of the world...”

“If those who are calling for the removal of this regime are, in essence, accepting the fact that al-Qaida would take over that country, whether it’s al-Qaida or ISIS or other terrorist groups – and for people to think that that would somehow improve the lives of the people there in Syria or that it would somehow better secure the American people – I think that’s a crazy notion.”

President Trump is against removing Assad from power and opening a power vacuum to be filled by ISIS and al-Qaida.  The Pentagon is infested with neocon holdovers from George W. Bush that are making a killing financially.  One article in the Washington Post that isn’t “fake news” that Trump would be wise to read is this.

Excerpt:

Pentagon buries evidence of $125 billion in bureaucratic waste

The Pentagon has buried an internal study that exposed $125 billion in administrative waste in its business operations amid fears Congress would use the findings as an excuse to slash the defense budget, according to interviews and confidential memos obtained by The Washington Post…

The report, issued in January 2015, identified “a clear path” for the Defense Department to save $125 billion over five years. The plan would not have required layoffs of civil servants or reductions in military personnel. Instead, it would have streamlined the bureaucracy through attrition and early retirements, curtailed high-priced contractors… 

The data showed that the Defense Department was paying a staggering number of people — 1,014,000 contractors, civilians and uniformed personnel — to fill back-office jobs far from the front lines. That workforce supports 1.3 million troops on active duty, the fewest since 1940…

The Defense Business Board was ordered to conduct the study by Deputy Defense Secretary Robert O. Work, the Pentagon’s second-highest-ranking official…  Some Defense Business Board members warned that exposing the extent of the problem could have unforeseen consequences.

“You are about to turn on the light in a very dark room,” Kenneth Klepper, the former chief executive of Medco Health Solutions, told Work in the summer of 2014, according to two people familiar with the exchange. “All the crap is going to float to the surface and stink the place up…”

In an aside, he (Work) revealed that early findings had determined the AVERAGE administrative job at the Pentagon was costing taxpayers MORE THAN $200,000, including salary and benefits.

Every budget that congress passes includes almost another trillion for the Pentagon based on the “fake news” of the “fake threat” posed by Russia as reported by the Washington Post and New York Times.  The Sunday morning talk shows echoed those fake news stories using their platform to try to poison the minds of the American people about Russia.  The time for change is here, and change will come with President Trump.

Fasten your seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpy ride but fear not, our “tweeting” President has already reported for duty.  Donald Trump has launched a shot across the bow warning Democrats and Republicans that a new sheriff is in town.  The days of lyin’ media filling the airwaves and internet with “fake news” is over. The days of the White House Correspondence Dinners, rewarding the high paid whores for a job well done, are gone.  Don’t believe me, check out Donald Trump’s tweets.

By Patricia Baeten

Panicked GOP files suit to stop Michigan’s recount after massive fraud revealed

Good God, what kind of a voting system does the world’s superpower have?  If we can’t even count the votes in this country in a presidential election, what are we doing forcing “democracy” on countries around the world?  The two parties are so corrupt that any election in America should be protected from their tainted, crooked touch. 

Dr. Jill Stein’s request for a recount in the states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania is a type of “voir dire,” French for "to speak the truth."  What the recount in Michigan has revealed is that Michigan’s ballots in Democratic precincts are too corrupted to recount.  In Michigan there is a rule that says “if the seals that secure the ballot containers that were counted on election night are broken or tampered with, the ballots cannot be recounted.”  Who comes up with these ludicrous rules anyway?  That is nuts.  From Detroit Free Press:

Excerpt:

Mismatched numbers in metro Detroit mean precincts can't be recounted

A single missing ballot was enough to scuttle the recount of Rochester Hills precinct 11.  The computerized poll book listed the names of 848 voters who cast ballots there, but the ballot box contained just 847 ballots. So where is the other ballot? The poll workers' notes offered no explanation.  "It didn't match on the canvass and it doesn't match now," said Joe Rozell, Oakland County's director of elections. "This precinct is not recountable."

Under Michigan law, a precinct can't be recounted if the poll book and ballot box numbers don't match, unless there is a valid explanation. In such cases, the results from the original election night tally stand.

Let me see if I have this right.  If the ballot box seal is tampered with, the ballots in that box cannot be recounted, but if the ballot box seal is tampered with on the night of the election, the ballots can be counted.  Nutty right?

But it isn't just an issue in Oakland, the same problem is appearing in precincts in several counties.  In Wayne County, about one-third of precincts showed discrepancies during the November canvass, said Krista Haroutunian, chair of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers. Those discrepancies could make those precincts — 610, including 392 in Detroit — ineligible for recount, though a final decision has yet to be made.

“We’re seeing this issue in several instances of precincts being deemed not-recountable because the numbers don’t match,” Pontoni said. “We think that any instance where ballots are not being counted compromises the process…”  "Michigan law is stupid on this point," Grebner said. "It makes no sense, and it should be fixed. OTHER STATES DON'T DO THIS."

Why do the two parties allow this kind of bull sh*&t to occur?  Why?  Because both parties agree to it.  This is totally unacceptable, and this is just one state, what goes on in the other 49?  The elite in the two parties did not want Donald Trump to be president, they did not want Hillary Clinton to be president.  It is not Jill Stein or Hillary Clinton that is trying to cast a doubt on a Trump Presidency, it is the two parties who are owned by billionaire bankers.

How is it that in Detroit, 80,000 voters went to the polls and did not cast a vote for president?  How is that possible?  We are being told to believe that in Detroit, the voters are so pleased with the current make up of congress, that they like Oliver Twist, eagerly held up their empty gruel bowls to the duopoly and said “please sir, more.”  From Natural News:

Excerpt:

Detroit collapsing into third world status as water supply becomes too toxic to drink... America's infrastructure imploding

Already pressured by a collapsing economy and a financial state of emergency, the people of Flint, Michigan, were also deprived of clean water in 2014, when the state decided to switch the city's water source to the notoriously mucky Flint River in a bid to save money…  Although the lead-poisoned locals and children are now forced to deal with the consequences of this reckless act for the rest of their lives, the city and state officials responsible have yet to pay any noteworthy price.

Another man-made disaster quietly turns into past, the nearby rundown areas of Detroit are faced with a similar threat. Alongside miserable poverty, bad pipes and neglected water treatment systems are dragging Detroit into third-world status…  Not only are the residents of Detroit on the brink of facing the same disastrous water situation, but it seems that most of them can't afford running water to begin with.

According to Detroit census records, 60% of households with children under 18 live in poverty. Of the 200,000 water customers in Detroit, 108,000 are 60 days past due on bills, and their water has consequently been shut off, leading many to collect rainwater for daily use.

The horrible truth doesn't stop here. Darrel Earley is the emergency manager who oversaw the switch of Flint's water source. The same Darrel Earley is now in charge of Detroit's public schools.  Recently shared photos taken by teachers from Detroit are shocking, to say the least, but speak a thousand words for the current status of the city. Five days a week, children and teachers are faced with black mold, toilet water leaking through the ceiling, mushrooms growing out of the walls and extreme cold.

So do you really believe that the people of Detroit went to the polls and did not vote for President but voted for “please Democratic and Republican sirs, more of the same?”  And now those ballots cannot be reviewed to verify the intent of the voters because those ballot were tainted when they were tampered with on election night. 

Ballot tampering isn’t the only illegal activity when it comes to elections.  According to Gregory Palast, ex-judge and current Representative Alcee Hastings has lodged a lawsuit against the GOP’s "crosscheck” scam that has eliminated thousands of minority voters from voting rolls in mostly Republican states calling it “criminal.”

Excerpt:

After reading my report on the Kobach/Koch…* operation, which has removed tens of thousands of minority voters from the rolls in the swing states that surprisingly shifted to Trump, former federal judge (and now Congressman) Alcee Hastings told me Crosscheck is a criminal violation of federal law. Hastings has called for criminal indictments and written an official Congressional member letter to ask for investigation.

Hastings’ demand for justice is backed by a petition to expose and end Crosscheck’s racist attacks on voting rights. So far it's been signed by 50,000 people, including 29,507 members of 18 Million Rising, the Asian-American rights group. The group is joined by co-signers Rep. Keith Ellison, Bill Gallegos of Climate Justice, Martin Luther King III and others…

Stopping Crosscheck is the Standing Rock of racist vote suppression.  If we don’t open the investigations now, by January 21, Kris Kobach will be Homeland Security chief and Jeff Sessions Attorney General.

*Note:  I removed Trump’s name from the “Kobach/Koch/Trump” line because I have seen no evidence that Trump himself had anything to do with the creation of the Crosscheck lists.

The two parties must be removed from the redistricting process in order to preserve our form of government.  Allowing the parties to select their voters rather than allowing the voters to select their leaders is an affront to our democratic republic.  We cannot leave something as important as our voting system to remain in the hand of two parties beholding to billionaire donors that require them to put the financial interests of their donors above that of Americans and America.

A good place to start in putting America’s elections in the hands of Americans is to get rid of the Electoral College that determines who America’s president will be.  These Electors think they are some kind of Roman emperors that give a thumbs up or a thumbs down to the presidential candidates chosen by the people.  From Huffington Post:

Excerpt:

The Electors’ responses, and why we must expect better

In our article two days ago, we discussed the reasons why Trump isn’t qualified to be President and why Electors are constitutionally required to vote for Hillary Clinton, instead. Citing Constitutional scholar Lawrence Lessig, we explained that the Founders of this nation created the position of “Elector” precisely to prevent a truly dangerous and unqualified person from being elevated to the Presidency.

Really?? That horse left the barn in 2000 when that “truly dangerous and unqualified lunatic George W. Bush and his dark overlord sidekick, Dick Cheney were made President and Vice President by the Electors.  The Electors are a bunch of partisan political appointees that have no business overruling the American people.  So let’s see what other pearls of wisdom Huffington Post has to lay before us:

America is a constitutionally limited representative democratic republic. That means - we are guided by a constitution, and governed by representatives, who are chosen democratically.

Oh please, have they never been to Koch Brothers’ Wisconsin?  We are NOT “governed by representatives, who are chosen democratically” we are governed by partisan whores who sell out to the highest paying pimp.  This is made possible through voter disenfranchisement through “Jim Crowe” voter I.D. laws and partisan gerrymandered districts.  There is nothing democratic about it.

As for our Chief Executive, our Founders carefully wove protective layers into his or her selection. They made sure that the appointment of a President would be based on more than just majority opinion. That it would be based on more than just the Electoral College. They created, therefore, the position of Elector.

What a load, and what do they mean by “the appointment of a President” aren’t Presidents supposed to be elected?  Those Electors may have sounded like a good idea back when this country was started, but today our founders would be sickened to see what an Elector is.  The Electors are chosen by the two parties who are funded by billionaires to do the bidding of billionaires.  They serve only one purpose, to thwart democratic process.   What would our founders think of the “Electors” today?

“There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.”

― John Adams,

That’s right our founders believed a two party system was to be “dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.”  Donald Trump was elected President on November 8^th, 2016 fair and square after he ran a campaign that reached out to all of the American people.  Hillary Clinton ran a campaign that reached out to the Electors and lost.  Now it is the obligation of the Electors to cast their votes for Donald Trump. 

The purpose of the recount is to shed light on the corrupt process that the two parties have foisted upon the American people and hopefully correct this process before the next election.  Will Trump be a great president?  I don’t know, but he can’t be as bad as the last two Presidents that we had, who were chosen by the two parties and the Electoral College.  George W. Bush and Barack H. Obama, two of the most unqualified men to be installed as president became president because of the corrupt two party system.  Both presidents have embroiled America in wars for Wall Street profits that have devastated America.

Trump’s lack of a political background is actually a plus.  While his cabinet is being chosen by his Republican Vice President who is beholden to GOP donors, Trump himself has made a choice for Department of Defense that seems to be an American jewel.  Marine Corps General, Mad Dog Mattis seems to be what America needs at this time.  So what kind of man is General Mattis?  From Larry Johnson at No Quarter:

Excerpt:

Mad Dog Mattis and the Military Mind

I think putting a Marine in charge of DOD will be good for America if it is the right Marine and I believe that General James “Mad Dog” Mattis fits that bill…

I only know of Mattis by reputation. But I do know what it is like to work for an old school Marine, because I was mentored by one. My boss in the State Counter Terrorism shop had served in the Marine Corps for thirty years before starting his new civilian career. He had two tours in Vietnam, commanded the Fifth Marines, and served on General Al Grey’s task force that investigated the 1983 bombing of the Marine Barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. I called him Colonel Gannon.

Having previously worked at CIA, I was accustomed to working under leadership that put a high emphasis on taking care of themselves first without any regard for their subordinates… Colonel Gannon early on discussed the concept of Marine leadership as “Officers eat last.” I was skeptical given my prior experience at CIA where officers ate first and ate often.

But I was schooled by watching what he did. When there was something as simple as an office reception it was Colonel Gannon who made sure everyone had something to drink or eat before he would imbibe. He grew up in the Marine Corps being taught that, as an officer, he had the responsibility for the well being and welfare of his troops. I became his troop.

Colonel Gannon did not talk the talk, he walked it. He lived it. And fortunately, I paid attention…  Colonel Gannon showed me that the real soul of a true officer is someone reluctant to start a fight but, if a fight starts, by God you win it.

He recounted his experience during the early hours of the U.S. invasion of Grenada. He was assigned to the Political Military Bureau at State and was handling liaison with the Pentagon. Word came into the Task Force at State that four Navy SEALS, who had been dropped into the ocean off the coast of Grenada to conduct a beach survey for the subsequent landing of the Marines, had drowned. Colonel Gannon informed the State Department Task Force leaders of the tragedy and briefed them that a replacement unit would be deployed to complete the mission. He was shocked when the State Department officers told, “Never mind, we don’t need to do it.” 

Colonel Gannon seared into my soul the… principle that if you are going to put Marines (on any other military person) at risk of death you better have a good goddamn reason to do so and be prepared to back it up. As he told me this story, six years after the event, he was still angry. Rightly so.  So what does this have to do with General Mattis? General Mattis was a young captain when my boss, Colonel Gannon retired.

Mattis never served under Gannon but Gannon had heard of Mattis. When a holiday rolled around, like Thanksgiving or Christmas, Captain Mattis, who was not married, was known for going to the Marine grunt standing duty watch and inquiring about their family. If the Marine was married then Mattis would dismiss him, order him to go home to his family and would take the duty himself. That is leadership by example. He learned and lived the principle that an officer eats last…

What most civilians do not grasp about a true Marine officer is that the good ones are taught about leadership by doing. You start out as a platoon leader and are responsible for those men. You must demonstrate competence in commanding 15 before you are promoted to command 150… You learn by doing. In the process, the people you lead learn about you.

The good news here is that General Mattis … will put himself last and the country first. He will hold those he commands accountable. Donald Trump has made a great choice in my view.

During his introduction to General Mattis, Donald Trump said that there’s nothing the American people can’t achieve when we work together.  Let’s hope we can work together to ensure we have a political system that is “of, by and for the American people.” Dr. Jill Stein’s “voir dire or search for truth” should not be in vain.  Let’s hope we never have another election where the ballots are too corrupted to be counted. 

When we send our children to lay down their lives in foreign countries for our freedoms, we must ensure that the “Commander in Chief” making that decision was chosen by our citizens.  That is the very least we owe ourselves and our children.

By Patricia Baeten