TRUMP IS NO MYSTERY

Some folks seem to think Trump’s popularity is a mystery. They even question if he is a “true” Republican. The affinity is no mystery; it is based on the same old common principle that holds the GOP together, which is good old fashion greed, which makes him more of a Republican than most Republican are. In addition, his thinly veiled strong-arm rhetoric strengthens, his affinity with that Party. For an example of this examine his build a wall battle cry and make Mexico pay for it. We are then richest nation in the world and Mexico is one of the poorest. There is no reason why we should not use our economic might to force Mexico to not only build the wall but to pay for it as well. This was the kind of strong arm American foreign policy that made us into what the world sees as the “ugly Americans”. Under the able leadership of President Obama and the liberal philosophy, we have matured and are moving away from this kind of diplomacy. We as a nation are still the world leader but have that position out of respect and not fear. There is a big difference. The Trump political campaign has opened up this ugly argument again about this blind spot. Why is it that Republicans as a political party cannot see the difference between respect and fear? In the past I have written about a bullied teenager dressed in a black trench coat carrying an assault rifle and wearing a back pack full of ammunition standing in a door of a school demanding the “respect” of his teachers and fellow students. Few among us fail to see the difference, yet we listen to Donald J. Trump stand at a microphone and receive round after round of applause for demanding we use our economic might to force Mexico to build a wall and pay for it. His weapon of choice is not an assault rifle but rather our balance of trade with that country. This is the same as what he is saying about trade with China or Japan. Rather than building walls and menacing countries with our economic might, how about regaining respect us because we build better products, cars for example, or educating our young people to a higher standard, or offering better and more affordable health care, or eliminating poverty and for having a fairer society. URL: firetreepub.blogspot.com Comments Invited and not moderated

TRUMP IS A REPUBLICAN AT HIS CORE

As a teacher, I told my students the only stupid question is one to which you already know the answer. When I hear media talking heads ask, is there a racist component in Republican Party politics is a stupid question. Simple look at a map of red versus blue states. I am acquainted with many diverse societies and have observed one thing, when there is an organized minority the Republican party is at the center of those who shun that minority, whatever it might be. Latino, native American, black, Asian, and Muslims are included as well, which clearly indicates it is not all racism, but is based on someone somehow being different. This current uproar about Donald J. Trump being a “closet” racist is not a new thing with high profile people in politics. He disavowed the support of white supremacist groups in a way that clear indicated he does not disavow white supremacist groups. We just went through this with Representative Stephen Scalise as Majority Whip in the current United States House of Representatives Majority Whip. He is a member of the Republican Party and the chairman of the 170-member conservative House Republican Study Committee. The point is for those who it matters, he is a known racist like them. In the case of Trump, he has put a number of marks on his wall related to this: deport Latinos, build a wall between the Unties States and Mexico, prevent Muslims from coming into the United States. It should be noted that he does not disavow Zionists, who just happen to be a minority but one with a powerful lobby group, which clearly indicates his propensity to allow his politics to guide his hate. The tragedy is that he has added to his support from the American people because of this. When we add this to the problems in our economy caused by the Republican Congresses down through the last thirty years and their recent prevention of President Obama from correcting what they have done with Reaganomics, a tragedy looms, which would be the election of Trump. It seems ironic they campaign on the success of their obstructionism and racism. Donald Trump has been able to garner the votes of enough decent people to make the Republican Party seem irrelevant, but it is not. Strange as it may seem, the Republican Party is now trying to disavow him by claiming he is not one of them. Sorry Reince Priebus, Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, and Steve Scalise; he is very much one of yours URL: firetreepub.blogspot.com Comments Invited and not moderated

OBAMA SUCCEEDS WHILE MEDIA FAILS

The big question is President Obama’s complex strategy in the Middle East working. Of course, we cannot go to the news media to find out because of the terribly slanted Republican bias facilitated by the Supreme Courts Citizens United Decision. In fact, the people of the world know this so well this is so well, they accept it as the “new normal”. In fact, for the same reason, it is even difficult for us to figure out if the President even has a policy in the Middle East, let alone what that policy might be. The news media interviews Politician after politician and political operative after political operative who will say the president does not have a policy or if he does, it is so weak it is meaningless. Talking heads have interviewed John McCain and Lindsey Graham so often they have become household names. TV and talk radio personalities, such as Rush Limbaugh and Joe Scarborough and Chuck Todd have an indoctrinated flowing who turn a deaf ear to all reason. Look at the low level of rhetoric about the Middle East espoused by the current presidential candidates. I was going to write even a junior high school student should now better, but they don’t; they listen to their parent who listens to the biased junk. The only way to figure things out is to listen to or read the actual text of the Presidents speeches, and filter through the documentable facts in the headlines and judge for yourselves what is happening. Google ABC News or NBC News for example and skim through the headlines for the past several years looking for facts, for example the number and size of attacks, number of people killed or wounded per attack, and the number of casualties in the Middle East and who those casualties were. In addition, I found that tracking the waxing and waning attention given to the part Israel plays in the news. I find that the number of attacks has fallen, and the number of casualties per attack has decreased. I also find that the attacks have a wider and wider geological distribution. Although there is an overall decrease in casualties, the protagonists are still fighting Muslims against Muslim, but more and more the fighting is within sects and not according to country. In this regard, the sects have been isolated in two groups of countries; Shia and Sunnis. In other words, more and more attention paid to who is and who is not ISIS. Thus, ISIS is being isolated as a terrorist organization by both sects, which I want to point out, is what Obama said he wanted to accomplish with his policies. He has isolated two big problem areas. The first and most trying was the Israeli drive to dominate the Middle East by might alone. Most of us felt this was an insolvable problem. However, our president saw the value in a nuclear disarmament treaty with Iran in a different light from most. By signing a treaty with Iran, especially one vehemently opposed by the leading right-wing party in Israel, would force both Iran and Israel to the negotiating table and do this with the grudging support of our European allies. Of course, the Israeli propaganda machine was working in full force to prevent that from happening. President Obama was not only able to do that, but he also exposed the corrupt nature of the Netanyahu government, which had the good effect of decreasing the building anti-Antisemitism momentum around the world. Now, the bitter dispute between Palestine and a defanged Israel has to negotiate over a diplomatic table and not in a carpet-bombed field of battle. The way is open to understanding the religious and political disputes throughout the region, including Turkey and Kurds, and Persians, as well as the turmoil in Syria where a dictator is fighting the Arab Spring surge. All of this is there in the headlines if you care to read them rather then listen to Sheldon Adelson and the Koch Brothers puppets telling you to hate your president and government. URL: firetreepub.blogspot.com Comments Invited and not moderated

OBAMA EARNS NOBEL PRIZE

How many remember the outcry raised by certain people on October 9, 2009, after the Nobel Prize Committee announced they were giving the prize to President Barrack Obama? As the reason for the award, they cited his promotion of nuclear non-proliferation and a new climate in international relations. Obama accepted the prize in Oslo on December 10, 2009. At the time, he was commander in chief of the most powerful military in the midst of two active wars. At the time, I was living in another country. There was an interesting split between what the expatriates living in that country were saying and what the American press was broadcasting. At the time, the only channel I could get on my solar panel powered satellite TV was Fox News, so that was what I mean by American Press. I know that is degusting, but there were many, many advantages in compensation by living n a sheep ranch in the Mayan Mountains. The point is, almost all expatriates were thrilled with the idea but almost uniformly felt it was too early for them to award the prize while Fox News commentator was horrified. In other words, neither side knew what Obama presidency would bring. Now, seven years later we know. Fox News is still horrified and do everything they can to disparage the man as a leader and even go so far as to treat him as a non-citizen and even treat him as a non-human. They have done everything they possibly could to cause him to fail; yet, he not only succeeded, but also succeeded no only as a world leader, but also as a man well beyond what even the prescient Nobel Prize Committee had expected. My hope is that Rodger Ales and Fox News will rot away and decay as it should. The reason my hopes are so high is the success of Obama's new America in the world order compared to the past failures of American administrations. As Obama has implied to world leaders, if you extend a closed fist to us, we will extend an open hand. It is not just the news makers such as Israel and Cuba but country after country has opened their fists. Also, the people have rejected American politician after American politicians who want confrontation has been rejected by the American people, which indicates to me they are rejecting Fox News hate machine. The Fox News recoil they exemplify by now hating Trump; who had been their purveyor of hate immigrants, hate blacks, hate Latinos, hate Muslims, hate, hate, hate, which is a dog chasing tail exercise that can only end badly for the dog. URL: firetreepub.blogspot.com Comments Invited and not moderated

BEHIND THE OBAMA STOU SPEECH HEADLINES

The President’s speech made Paul Ryan’s demeanor during the delivery to be just what it was; it was insulting to the American People. It clearly demonstrated the Ryan had no idea that the President’s STOU speech was trashing his entire Republican political philosophy. In its entirety, it was one of the greatest speeches I have heard, and I have listened to many great many over my long life. Yes, I listened but did not find a single dramatic quote in the entire speech such as Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s famous ” freedom from fear” and Winston Churchill’s blood curling “blood, sweat, and tears”. The entire speech, from beginning to end, was a classic example of positivity coming from an outstanding leaders. He didn’t say McCain and Lindsey Graham attempts to strike fear by calling for an enlargement of the military. He dismissed all of their military industrial complex lust for taxpayer money by sampling pointing out that we have the largest and most powerful military in the world. He didn’t feed into anti-Muslim fears but rather explained the power of diplomacy in defeating ISIS. He made it clear that, for the first time in the history of our nation, the world comes to us to provide leadership out of respect for our integrity and not their fear of us carpet-bombing them. He created the structure of the five plus one coalition, something that the world considered impossible to do and was able to draft the Iran nuclear limitation treaty. He has positioned Israel into the fabric of the middle east without having it be the dominating power, thus defuse one of the principle sources of tensions in that region. He pointed out that he was able to position Russia in the new world order not only with dignity but also without firing a shot. I am very proud to say it was Barrack Obama, our President, who did all of this and that he was able to tell us all of this in a humble way. The entire speech is worthy of consideration as a dramatic quote. URL: firetreepub.blogspot.com Comments Invited and not moderated

REPUBLICANS ACCEPT ISRAELI BRIBE

It is just as wrong to offer a bribe as to accept one. Multiple news sources are claiming Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu paid Senator Tom Cotton one million dollars to oppose Iran treaty. If true and I believe, it is true, for Cotton to accept that money was treasonous. It doe not fit the strict definition of treason as written in the Constitution, Article III section 3. However, in my book it is plain and simple, treason for an elected individual to attempt to undercut the President’s Constitutional authority to negotiate with foreign powers. Tom Cotton is a junior senator, a member of the Republican Party only recently elected. Validated news reports claim Israeli Prime Minister and other officials of the Israeli governments attempted to and most likely succeeded, to bribe American legislators in exchange for their support against the deal, and it appears Cotton was one of them. Forty-seven Republicans sent a letter without consulting the administration to the Iranian government to undercut the negotiations. In my mind, all of the 47 are guilty of accepting the bribe. URL: firetreepub.blogspot.com Comments Invited and not moderated

OBAMA AND GUNS

The word on the street is that President Obama is going to issue an executive order today to initial gun control. This is sure to ignite a firestorm started and fueled by the irrational radical right. Along with abortion, gun control is a signature issue of this group. The missing element in all of their arguments is ‘rationality’. Many of my relatives are among this group. Some of them have college degrees. Somehow, they seem to feel that the Constitution gives them the right to have guns. In addition, they seem to think there is no difference between guns. To think a punk walking the streets in the inner city with a snub nose 38 is the same as a kid carrying a 22 rifle while hunting rabbits. They seem to think no one can tell the difference between an assault rifle and a 12-gage shotgun. In their mind, it is rational to have an assault rifle under you pillow. I support President Obama, and say to you gun nuts; go to hell. URL: firetreepub.blogspot.com Comments Invited and not moderated

RAISE THE CURTAIN ON ECONOMIC SUCCESS IN AMERICA

President Obama has set the stage for the greatest economic recovery in history. He has dug us out of a disastrous austerity economy initiated by Ronald Reagan all those years go and brought to a head by George W. Bush. They and the current Republican Party continue to focus on reducing regulations on business and in advancing laissez faire competition according to the formulations of Milton Friedman. President Obama has changed all of this. The problem is that small-minded men like Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan refuse to raise the curtain on what could be out of fear that Obama will get credit for doing that. In other words, they put their party before Country. Republicans refuse to pass the needed legislation even though we all know that the country needs is obvious. All the legislation does is support rebuilding our Nations failing infrastructure and includes high-speed rail, etc. It would open a plethora of jobs and remove the cork Friedman put on the economy. President Obama knows he can do nothing but that does not stop him from unselfishly setting the stage for the next president. He is truly a great President, perhaps the greatest ever. Of course, we all hope the voters will elect Hillary Clinton, but Republicans politicians know what is going on and may take advantage of the situation unless the radical Republicans keep control of the party. The radicals are a different breed. Adelson and Koch brothers keep control of the radical wing of the Party. The “good” Republicans hope to get credit for all the hard work Obama is doing while all the radicals want is to destroy democracy and replace it with a plutocracy, which is already well advanced. URL: firetreepub.blogspot.com Comments Invited and not moderated

NO LONGER A BULLY NATION

Nations around the world look to us, as a powerful country, to do the right thing because they know we have a big heart, and they will be treated fairly. There is huge news that is not making the newspaper headlines nor is on TV. I hear it all the time. This or that bellicose Republican politician, especially the presidential candidates, says Obama should do this or that in the Middle East. They invariably use an accusing tone of voice as if they found some big lack in the President foreign policy. The truth is that everything they come up with he has done or is doing. The President is doing things right. In contrast to Congress, the huge news is that everything the President is responsible for he is doing and doing it correctly. In the entire history of our nation, we have never, had as good a foreign policy as we now have. That is the good news, and the media do no sell papers with good news. What is true about our foreign policy is that other nations do not respect us out of fear, but they is respect for who we are. People come to us because they know under President Obama, we are powerful but have a big heart and not because we are bristling with guns, ships, and armies. Our Republican friends seem incapable of understanding this. We all know from the earliest playgrounds to everyday give and take, of the adult world what a bully is and do not like it; we want to stop it. However, when it comes to our nation, there are those who think that is what we should do in the world. They best of them see it as a “walk softly and carry a big stick” but it is still a bully policy. URL: firetreepub.blogspot.com Comments Invited and not moderated

NO QUESTION THAT OBAMA CONTAINED ISIS

The media treatment of President Obama over his statement concerning the current state of ISIS being contained has been deplorable. Once again, all I ask is that you think for yourself and don’t let some reporter think for you. Reporters have an agenda, which is to sell newspapers or increase viewers. What has been happening over the past few years is the ISIS went from acquiring land and dominating cities with sympathetic Islamist populations, which means they were dominating cities with Shia sect propensities. The people in these cities were not radical, but the invaders were. ISIS reflected the overall religious struggle between Sunnis and Shia sects. In the eyes of the sect-blind western journalist; hence, in the eyes of those who follow them, they interpreted to mean ISIS was dominating all Muslim. When our President says he has contained ISIS, he means he has stopped this territorial spread of ISIS, which is a huge victory against great odds. He has done that with the introduction of a coalition of Saudi, Egypt, and other Sunni nations balanced by a now cooperating but admittedly not very friendly Iran, Syria and Iraqi governments; the Iraq government is the one Bush installed. Israel is a burr under his saddle. The President achieving the nuclear no proliferation treaty with Iran was a great victory in as much as it allows the collation to form but at the same time sent a message to Israel, we not them are in charge of affairs the Middle East. When the newspapers and TV talking heads mention a coalition, they are talking about a grouping of western nations friendly to the United States and United in their opposition to ISIS. The entry of Russia into the fray was tedious but was an indication that Russia was part of that coalition. They wanted a seaport in the Mediterranean and supported Assad to do that. However, the anti-Assad forces in Syria were not interested in fighting ISIS; they were fighting Assad’s Syrian army. This left a vacuum in Syria filled by ISIS. Putin put Russia in a knot tied between ISIS and anti-Assad forces. President Obama was clever enough to avoid that dilemma, although McCain wanted to arm the anti-Assad forces, thinking that arms designed to kill people would be like candy and flowers and would convince the Syrians we were their friends and then the would join us in fighting ISIS. By the way, he had no idea of who they were. As I keep saying, McCain is far from being the sharpest tack in the box. President Obama won a great victory in containing ISIS in Syria when he managed to allow Russia in the fight but on our side. The Kurds are an ethnic group whose tribal beliefs have nothing to do with the territory they occupy, which involves parts of Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. Their aim, as a group, is to arm themselves and create and independent country, which they would rule by force. They are fighting all three governments, including Assad as well as fighting the anti-Assad elements in Syria. National allegiance plays no part in their struggle. Western journalists, led by nationalist Politicians such as Sen. John McCain, divide them up as pro-United States and anti-United States. In his simplistic mind, he can only see the Kurds as fighting ISIS; thus, he is strongly for sending arms, training troops for them, and giving them air support. Consequently, both he and the media completely ignore the effect of our supporting the Kurds, who as just explained are fighting the Turks. President Obama needs a friendly Turkey if he is to stop the flow of ISIS fighters into and out of the territory, which he is the goal toward which he is working. The people who read the media and listen to their reports do not understand what a tremendous victory it is for the administration to maintain that friendship. President Obama can truly claim he has contained ISIS. They are no longer expanding territorial conquest. They are no longer a merging state capable of expanding to the control of the entire Middle East. He has reduced them to committing acts of terror like the gang of thugs that they are. I wonder if the media will ever catch up to reality. URL: firetreepub.blogspot.com Comments Invited and not moderated

CALL TO REPEAT THE BUSH MISTAKE

Most Americans know that the decision to invade Iraq and involve us in the Middle East was a grievous error. Although, we tend to credit what happened to George W. Bush, a small group of people tightly associated with but still outside of the Presidency wrote the Wolfowitz doctrine, which is what the president followed. This “doctrine” is a painfully imperialistic document. It had nothing to do with what most of us consider as American values. No one questions the fact that our invasion of Iraq was what resulted in the mess we have in the Middle East. ISIS is a direct result of that invasion. If people said, they believed we should repeat the mistake, no American, Canadian, European, or Russian would agree with them. To agree with what Bush did would be to say they not only want ISIS to form, but also they would want ISIS to achieve their goal, which is to create a massive Islamic State to counter the western world. The truth is there is a growing group, not only in the United States, but also in the world, who want to do exactly that. I listened to the critics of Presidents Obama’s speech, in fact, some are longtime critics of him, and what I hear is a call to repeat the terrible error we made in the Middle East during the Bush years. The recent bombing in Paris returned the call to do that back to the headlines. To make my point, restate that in this way, the media headlines are stimulating us to do what ISIS wants us the to do. It is more than Wolfowitz. Senators Lindsey Graham and John McCain are influential people who are calling on us to invade the Middle East. The Republican presidential candidates dutifully line up behind them. I was shocked to hear the presidential candidates, including Hillary Clinton, say essentially the same thing. They are the new Wolfowitz. Our president has worked hard to develop and is following a winning strategy. The same policy he defended in his recent speech against an onslaught of reporter “got you” questions. The conflict is between his intellectual approach and a bestial approach, which is instinctual and not well thought-out; if someone hits you, you strike back. The old trope, “an eye for an eye leaves everyone blind”. ISIS drew our blood; therefore, we need to spill their blood. The Obama approach is a slow methodical long lasting solution. Obama’s policy involves a wide coalition of nations as put together by Sec. Kerry. The aim of his policy is to have the populations in the Muslim Middle East slowly fold ISIS back into Islam and all indications are that his policy is working. The only thing wrong with his strategy is that it isn’t instantaneous like a big military attack that lasts as long at the attacks lasts. It does not leave a trail of dead and mutilated bodies in its wake as bomb, bomb, McCain followers would like to see or as my tough sounding animal like friend wants to do, gather them up and kill them all because eight of them killed people in Paris. Of course, they are talking about 1.7 billion Muslims; “Kill them all and let God sort them out”. Obama wants us all to live in peace; there is a big difference. URL: firetreepub.blogspot.com Comments Invited and not moderated

AMANPOUR EXPANDS PARIS CRISIS ON CNN

Christiane Amanpour is the Chief International Correspondent for CNN and host of CNN. She is usually able to give in-depth analysis of international situations in the Middle East; however, when it comes to analysis of what President Obama said in his speech this morning she fell flat on her face. She failed her followers, including me. What she said about his speech and his approach to the crisis in the Middle East makes me wonder what her motive is. I suspect the excitement surrounding the attack in Paris is what is driving her and not the overall facts of the situation. After all, she is a British-Iranian journalist and television host; therefore, her profession drives her to seek headlines, which is her motive and not thoughtful analysis. President Obama has to step back and analyze the roots of these problems from a pragmatic point of view. For example, he has declared and rightfully so, that ISIS is contained. She cited the Russian plane disaster, the bombing of Beirut, Lebanon, and the horrific attacks in Paris as evidence that ISIS is not contained as a means of ridiculing the President’s assessment. They are talking about two entirely different things. For example, what military action can the President take to defend the people around the world from terrorist attacks? What targets do we bomb in Paris or Lebanon as opposed to what targets do we bomb in Syria and in Iraq, where US policy has “contained” them in shrinking territories. As Obama points out, we also have to defeat them politically. He is doing that by turning what they claim as their religion against them. Islamists have to clean their house. Rather than trying to explain the situation, Amanpour feeds into the hysteria built around the Paris killings. Reporters fill the media with this ridiculousness; as a friend summed up the sentiment; he said we should “round them up and kill them all”. The President has carefully explained the problem is with a group of radical people who claim they gather under the banner of Islam. They seek political power, and the media response is giving it to them. The very fact that the leader of the major country in the world has to spend a TV interview discussing a small group of dissidents and explaining their objectives is disturbing. That is what they wanted. That is the power of terrorism, which Amanpour and other like her are exponentially expanding with their exaggerated analyses. They turn a small group of people into a world driving force. A few people put a bomb on plane or eight people stimulated to kill large numbers of people. In France, these eight men terrorize 65 million people, and we hear Amanpour by speculation expand that to include many countries in the world”. According to her and reporters like her, there is a terrorist hiding behind every rock and every backpack has a bomb. URL: firetreepub.blogspot.com Comments Invited and not moderated

TWO FACES OF NETANYAHU

Netanyahu is the Janus of Israel. He shows up in Washington showing a different face from the one he had a few short months ago. This time, with hat in hand and oozing contrition, he is begging for the continuation of billions of dollars of U.S. aid to Israel. In a classic move, Netanyahu is asking for an increase in aid in exchange for his agreement on the Iranian nuclear accord, which benefits Israel tremendously in security. In other words, he is asking for our taxpayer’s dollars for his support of an agreement that increases Isreali security. Now is time for President Obama to tell him to go to hell publically and openly push for his removal from that office. He has created untenable belligerent conditions in the Middle East and fostered hate for his nation from all around the world. Among other things, he said he supports a two-state solution, which will not happen as long as he is Prime Minister of Israel. The conditions Israel offers for a two state, no sane Palestinian would accept any more than they would accept the original 1947 United Nations partition agreement if the United Nations were to open up that question again. Israel should be a Vatican-like spiritual home for Judaism and not a nuclear-armed military bastion of power driven by hate for Palestinians. Making it a refuge home for “all” Jews around the world, as has happened, forces the need for more land, thus drives the situation and will continue to make it worse. Israel was on a course moving it toward stability when a series of unfortunate mishaps in their government gave Netanyahu minority leadership. A right-wing political faction, that resembles the Tea Party in the United States, supported him. He used that power to reverse the trend toward peaceful coexistence and put Israel on the course it is on today, which is to dominate the entire Middle East as a raw military and economic power. Obama opposes him and is winning in spite of the right-wing Republican extreme, which big money under the name of APAC, has bought and paid. In this case, it is our own taxpayer’s money coming back to haunt us. Americans should support the existence of Israel, but not Netanyahu’s Israel. URL: firetreepub.blogspot.com Comments Invited and not moderated

JOIN THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX

The only person I know of in Washington, who can handle the delicate situation in the Middle East, is our current President. When I look at the candidates for president, both Republican and Democrats, I see no one capable of doing the job without blowing it up into massive Muslim versus Christian war. Hillary Clinton is philosophically the closest one to Obama. Also, I see the White House door open to having Obama act as an advisor. I look at Trump and Carson as politically and diplomatically incapable of handling that balance between the diverse powers at play in that region. What this means, if the people elect them, they will turn over diplomatic relations to so-called “experts” who represent two major factions in the United States society. The first is the powerful military-industrial complex Eisenhower warned us about, but that advice we did not heed. We know the results of that by examining the tumultuous aftermath of the George W. Bush administration. Not only did they leave the Middle East in a mess but also they left the American economy in shambles. The second faction is the Zionist faction, which appears larger and more powerful than it is because of one billionaire who stepped into the door opened by the corrupt Supreme Court. That billionaire is the greediest of the greedy billionaires is Sheldon Adelson. He is the same man who publishes a newspaper in Israel and held illegal fund raises for people like Romney to funnel illegal sized donations of both foreign and American money into his campaign. Much to the shame of our system of government, Adelson is actively engaged in buying presidential candidates. Most of us think of him regarding his be that Marko Rubio will win the election because campaign financing. The sad truth is if the people elect any Republican, Adelson will have bought and paid for a huge share of influence. Adelson will hedge his bet. I heard the unbelievable the other day; someone said that Putin would not be in Kosovo if Reagan had been president. We all remember Reagan as the demented looking man wearing a baseball cap at the helm of the battleship Missouri. Or, we will remember the tough Commander in Chief of the most powerful army in the world who invaded the friendly Caribbean island nation, Granada. Perhaps we should remember the rough guy president who got 241 of our military killed in Lebanon so he could look tough in the fight against terrorism. I won’t mention the fact that Reagan was the president who pull up stakes and ran after that happened. Perhaps we should remember war hero Olli North with his chocolate cake diplomacy in Teheran. By the way, he also took a bible. The point is Reagan was all bluster and show but had no substance—my God, a cake and a bible. Bush was at the other extreme; lash out at someone as long as someone made money. The conclusion is if you elect a Republican because of your belief in marriage, or abortion, guns, or do not like government, you will have voted for the war. Puff out your chest like the tough American you are and then sell your house and buy stock in Halliburton, Lockheed Martin, or other military supply manufacturers. It makes sense. Why not join the military industrial complex and get rich. URL: firetreepub.blogspot.com Comments Invited and not moderated

OBAMA SUPPORTS HIS AFGHAN POLICY

The situation in Afghanistan presents a challenge to the Obama policy of, “no boots on the ground” in the Middle East. Republican Party spokespersons go apoplectic at every decision our President makes, and the decision to maintain troops in Afghanistan is no different. As is usual, their criticisms they voice often are counter to previous criticisms. One of the major themes is that he is going against his word; therefore, he is a lair. His policy is complex, which is true; it involves more than they can explain on a bumper sticker: therefore, that crowd cannot understand it. His policy is that the Afghanistan people should defend their own government. If a coalition of nations does that, those nations become the enemy and not the radical Taliban, which are at the heart of the problem. Religious fervor enters the picture because the Taliban uses their Islamic ties to justify their radical extremist positions. There is no easier or cheaper way to convince people into killing other people than claiming they are doing it in God or Allah’s name with the promise of heaven as a reward, which has been a theme embedded in the man over the entire history of humankind. The result is that the Taliban immediately makes their drive for power into a Christians, which is us, into a Muslim war, which for them is the definition of a crusade. The president has seen through all of this and aims to direct the Taliban struggle for power as a war between the Afghanistan government and a small faction of Taliban. Of course, the Taliban claim allegiance to ISIS, which is a widespread and radical religious group whose objective is to spread the unrest across the entire Middle East. ISIS wants to establish as a ruling Caliphate as the power in that entire region. The Obama policy is clearly to limit the conflicts as separate conflicts by avoiding putting “boot on the ground” to serve as the focus of hate, which would as I just explained have a uniting effect on the individual radical groups. We all know about the Pentagons failed attempt to train fighting men. The reference here is to my October 16 blog post on, firetreepub.blogspot. com, “Why our military training has failed”. The president has to combat both this failure along and the lack of Afghanistan peoples’ nationalism. Now he has to combat the radical elements of the Republican Party in this country, namely the Freedom Coalition. Of course, the aim of the Freedom Coalition does not have anything to do with the Middle East; all they want is to hurt the President. In my eyes, this makes them as despicable as the Taliban. By avoiding the publicity associated with sending additional troops and by cleaning up the mess made by the Pentagon with training fighters, he will redirect the fighting in Afghanistan to their government fighting the radical Taliban. His decision to maintain the troop in that country is a phase of his long-standing policy of no boots on the ground. The objective is let the Muslims fight among themselves over the good old lust for power while biasing the outcome in favor of a good government in not only that country but all countries in the Middle East. In case you forgot that is the objective of the Arab spring. URL: firetreepub.blogspot.com Comments Invited and not moderated

BIG OBAMA MISTAKE

Rachael Maddow made a significant point about President Obama on her TRM Show, on MSNBC show last night in comments about the Democratic debates. Hillary Clinton listed the enemies she is most proud to have, “in addition to the NRA, the health insurance companies, the drug companies, the Iranians; probably the Republicans”. Rachael made the pointed out that this will be one of the biggest differences between her and the Obama administration. I was startled by her remarks until she explained, then what she said made perfect sense. In my opinion, President Obama has made fewer mistakes than any president we have ever had. However, Rachael pointed out his one big fault has been his unrelenting obsession with trying to compromise with congressional Republicans. Not only have they refused to compromise but also they have used his obsession with him. She listed several instances substantiated with video tapes where this has been the case. Even when he promoted their ideas, they turned their backs on him. There can be no question that I am an unabashed supporter of this president and his policies. I had supported his efforts to compromise without questioning as to why he kept trying when they clearly refused to cooperate. Call it a flip-flop on my part if you like, but I agree with Rachael Maddow, the President made a mistake. Not only was it a mistake, but it was a costly one. The only people a person can compromise with are reasonable people. I don’t think any thinking person in the United States thinks the Republicans elected to Congress, reasonable people. I would like to see the results of a poll of Republicans asking them if they are the ones that voted for their member of Congress. I am sure a great majority would deny the fact that they voted. The Tea Party is a destructive element in government and will continue to be as we heard said by the political pundits who analyzed the difference between the Republican candidates and the Democratic debates. Of course, the tragedy is that the Republican has been able to corrupt our electoral system as much as they have been able to do even with the checks and balances we have in place. They include the Supreme Court, the Federal Government, states governments, and even local governments done to an including school boards. The major motive is power for the sake of power but relates to all the evils counter to society. One of my favorite stories is the liberal who walks into a bar and becomes more and more conservatives with the more and more he drinks until he reduces himself to bestial instincts related to eating, fighting, and sex. The Republican Party is heading in that direction at least they always seem to want to fight a war somewhere and is constantly screwing everyone. URL: firetreepub.blogspot.com Comments Invited and not moderated

COMMENTS ABOUT OUR POLITICAL SYSTEM

The terrible state of politics in the United States should concern everyone. Of coursed, as a liberal, the Republican Party is at the center of my concerns. Nevertheless, the Congressional leadership affronted everyone in the country by swearing to do everything possible to cause the newly elected president to fail. What was surprising is that it worked. The people elected a Republican majority in Congress and state governments as well. It is a bit disingenuous to think that the people voted for Republicans because the United States Congress did nothing and prevented the President from doing anything as well. Their inaction is true, but it is also true that they used the power of the majority to corrupt the electoral system, which is especially true in the individual states. However, they are still corrupting the system at the federal level in a very dishonest way. The big money people are filling their media; they own the media monopolies, with stories of how they are going to force the President to veto bad legislation. We should examine what this means. They insert a very undesirable section into critical legislation. The insert is usually about something that has nothing to do with the main purpose of the legislation. For example, a bill to fund the military contains an unexpected insert about abortion. Of course, the president will and should veto it. In their minds, it makes the president bad for not passing the needed funding. Their nefariousness comes full circle when they use the power of “their” media to condemn the president for not signing “their” legislation; of course, without mentioning the insert. The tragedy is it seems you the voter buy it, to use and old trope, “hook line and sinker”. It is even worse in the states. I live in North Carolina, which is one of the worst of the worst. Some might say that Kansas deserves that title. I would counter that argument by saying Kansas is a red state and as such, they deserve it. By the way, Kansas is the home of the Koch Brothers. It matters that North Carolina is the home of the infamous Jessie Helms. The old white man Cabal serves as the radical element or swing vote in the Republican Party. They have control of both houses of the legislature and the governorship. There is nothing in North Carolina that the Republican government has not corrupted or at least attempted to corrupt. Our public schools are plunging to the bottom of all school in the nation. My grandchildren and their parents are fighting to pay for their college education, but the tuition is skyrocketing because the legislature is not supporting the universities. The universities administrators pressure professors to support themselves with grants to do patentable research rather than teach. The Republicans in control to every electoral board in the states is preventing minority votes with voter ID laws and making it difficult for college students to vote. The state Department of Commence is in control of a corporation run by the people who elected the Governor. The Governor is an employee of Duke Energy, the worst environmental contaminator in the state. Fossil fuel companies drill for oil and frack for natural gas with impunity even though there is very little natural gas. Also, the State Legislature is passing nonsense laws. We will soon have a law that says no one can sell body parts. In North Carolina, it is unlawful to use Sharia law as if the United States Constitution has not meaning. In other words, the people set back and watch all of this deterioration of our political system as if it is not happening, in fact, they do not even talk about it. URL: firetreepub.blogspot.com Comments Invited and not moderated

PUTIN BLUNDERS IN MIDDLE EAST

Putin put Russia in the middle of a religious quagmire in a way the entire world can see. In doing so, he has created a situation that exposes allegiances most people would never have expected. For example, Benjamin Netanyahu and Putin are suddenly bedfellows. Also, by treating Assad’s enemies as Russia’s enemy, he allies himself with all of those fighting this tyrant, which puts the Syria rebels in the same camp as ISIS. The list of Assad’s enemies includes the United States and most of the 194 nations who belong to the United Nations. More import and enlightening, the list of his friends includes Iran, Iraq, and Syria thus includes all countries dominated by the Shia sect and opposed by the Sunni sect. Everyone should know by now that Saudi Arabia and its allies are the Sunnis Nations; thus, we have all Sunni nations fighting Russia. The situation becomes even more complicated when we look at how Muslims as a group see what Russia is doing. Both Sunni and Shia, and other lesser sects, now see Russia as an enemy of Islam. President Obama has been walking this razors edge so very carefully. He has tried to keep United States support equal across the Islamic world. The Iran nuclear treaty is an example. Our President was central to creating and maintaining the trade embargo of Iran, a Shia caliphate. He was the driving force for withdrawal of nuclear weapon, which was in opposition to the regime while allowing the use of nuclear energy, which was favorable to that regime. Similarly, when the Sunni nations were confronting the Shia coalition in Yemen, the United States fleet avoided becoming involved. Because of his action, President Obama has caused a great shift in attitude in the Islamic world. He has turned them inward; Muslims are fighting each other’s radical sects and not Christians. He has done this even with the massive spending campaign by Zionists to poison the well with Palestinian hate we see in the form of ban the burkas etcetera in the western world. This morning on MSNBC-TV, Nina Khrushchev carefully explained that Putin, and not Obama, was now the leader of the Christian world’s fight against Muslims. Nina Khrushchev gained her celebrity as the granddaughter of Nikita Khrushchev, who led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. I would reminder her, avoiding being the leader fighting all of Islam this is what Obama wanted to avoid. The entire Muslim world will now focus their hate on Putin. I am not saying I think Russian intervention in the Middle East is good, but it is worth noting that Putin is intervening out of desperation. Assad, his ally, is losing. His intervention by treating Assad’s enemies and ISIS as being the same will delay the inevitable but Assad will be deposed, and the Arab spring will defeat ISIS and win in Syria, as they will in the entire Middle East, but a note of caution. It will not be easy as we found out in Egypt. The road to democracy is a rocky road. URL: firetreepub.blogspot.com Comments Invited and not moderated

ISREAL, RUSSIA, GOP SYNCHRONIZED IS BAD NEWS

Vladimir Putin, Prime Minster of Russia and Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel joins hands in condemning the United States in the Middle East but they do so for entirely different reasons but has one far-reaching effect in American politics. These two evil doers have a common goal, which is to gain power over people, which they have, no business dominating. The Middle East is a hotbed of discontent because of religiously inspired sect dominance within the Muslim community. The United States is fighting to maintain hegemony over the entire area in the interest of lofty goal of world peace. Russia wants to displace us as the major military influence in the area, which is the old out dated Kissinger forte of power politick. Might is right. President Obama has been able to manipulate the situation to cause the Muslim sects to fight each other and thus avoid the massive Christian fighting Muslims, which has been the curse of religions since the beginning of humankind. Out President has caused a coalition of Sunni countries to form to oppose a group of Shia countries. Admittedly, these coalitions are tenuous. The recent nuclear disarmament treaty with Iran is a stroke of a genus in as much as it created a balance between the Muslim sects. Over the long term, by preventing one group from being obviously more powerful than the other because of a nuclear weapon will prevent a major confrontation between the two groups of countries. I am sure that Netanyahu sees this as an opportunity to use the area strife to his advantage, which relaters to his and his political faction’s greed for more land and power. In light of the influence he has with the Jewish community in America through his propaganda network, it is a highly significant move. When he joins Russia in condemning the Untied States, it is time for good people to take note. He joined the cabal of Russia, Zionists, and the extreme right wing of the Republican Party, that wing of the party, which they base solely on their hate for all the success of the Obama administration. They clearly focused their hate on President Obama and his family as we see on Facebook; they say they I hate Obama but never give a reason because they don’t have one. The hate Obama group is composed of a minority of one issue voters, but when added to the other one issue idiots such as anti-abortion; against same-sex marriage; always want to bomb someone; guns, guns, and more guns; etc. I put Vladimir Putin, Prime Minster of Russia, Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister, and the extreme right wing Republican Party in the same basket. They are the bottom of humankind. URL: firetreepub.blogspot.com Comments Invited and not moderated

GOVERNMENT GOES IN WRONG DIRECTION

The message we read about in the media is clear. First, the majority of people in dislike Congress. Second, a firm majority of the same people believe the country is on the wrong track. Logically and correctly, in most organization, we blame the leader when any organization is failing. Therefore, President Obama is at fault for the direction the country is taking. It all sounds logical and factual, but it is not. I remember a football player who caught he ball and ran the wrong way for a touchdown. The rich in this country are asking you to be that football player. The founding fathers created a government of the people. That is they created a socialistic government, a government with the people in charge. For over 239 years, people have been trying to figure out how to get the power that is more power that is power for themselves and their group, including the President. The framers of the Constitution knew this and built in the famous system of checks and balances to counter this tendency. Each of the three branches of government has a check on the other branches. As it turns out, what the created was good but not perfect. The error appears to have been in the way they formulated the Supreme Court. Apparently, the system they created relates to their perception of justice. Our system of jurisprudence relies heavily on the integrity of judges. The check is simple and honest, the president appoints justices, and Congress approves of their judicial nominations. It is a rigorous and onerous process. What went wrong is obvious. The president and Congress, rather than serve as a check on one another, served as collaborators under the influence of money. The Koch brothers and other rich individuals, with the aid of several presidents including President George W. Bush, undermined the system. People have written multiple books about the nefarious doings of various parties involved in the Citizens United Supreme Court decision. What is remarkable, there is not one book written in support of that decision. That decision by four corrupt Supreme Court justices plus one has created a situation where the checks and balance system is no longer works. I have blogged several times, about how corporate money has bought congressional representatives, which in effect has put hem in charge of the legislative branch. We see a great shift in emphasis from fiscal responsibility of government to minority issue legislation. It should be obvious to all that we have a great national debt that we have to pay. For years, we have seen Congress fail to act on foreign policy issues requested by the president. We have government oversight committees in Congress that are a joke. They Benghazi investigation, the Planned Parenthood investigations, the Hillary Clinton e-mail issues under the leadership of Jason Chaffetz and Trey Gowdy are obvious partisan in nature and abject failures. The point of this blog is that Republican media is shifting the blame for a fail government onto the back of a Democratic President for the failure of a Republican Congress. The super rich have bought and paid for the media. They have bought and paid for Congress. Also, they bought the Supreme Court. They have bought and paid for your vote but only if you let them do it. The President of the United States if not responsible for the failure of “our” government, Republicans are, and it is time for every Democrat to recognize that fact. The message should go viral; the GOP, not President Obama, is where the blame belongs. URL: firetreepub.blogspot.com Comments Invited and not moderated