John S. McCain - The Last Republican Patriot?

John McCain was a genuine American Patriot. He will be sorely missed.

His life was a testament to what is meant by patriotism. It was also a testament to what it means to be a naval officer.

To some extent, the virtues John McCain displayed in his own life were not just his personal virtues, but the virtues of his chosen profession.

And any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life worth while, I think can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction: "I served in the United States Navy."

• Remarks at the U.S. Naval Academy (1 August 1963), Public Papers of the Presidents 321, p. 620

John Brennan - American Patriot

Today Donald J. Trump announced he was revoking the security clearance of John Brennan, former Director of the CIA, who tracked Osama Bin Laden down and directed his elimination.

The reason? Brennan publicly criticized Trump.

John Brennan is a private citizen and had every right to speak his mind. A right protected by the First Amendment to the US Constitution.

Some thoughts: 
1. This is not the act of a strong leader;

2.  In fact, it is the act of a craven coward; an insecure bully; a weak leader;

3.  The action weakens America;

4.  The thought keeps crossing my mind - is there such a thing as a Republican Patriot?

There is at least one. His name is John McCain.

Recently the Congress passed a defense bill named in honor of John McCain. President Trump signed the bill at a ceremony without mentioning the name of the bill or mentioning John McCain.

No class.

Wild Fires, Drought, Hurricanes, What Hath Fossil Fuels Wrought?

Tom Brokaw called the generation that brought us through the Great Depression and World War II "The Greatest Generation."

I have often worried that they spawned the worst generation. Let's hope their great grandchildren don't become the last generation.

That sounds a bit apocalyptic until you read the New York Times account of how close we came to gaining control over the looming disaster of cataclysmic climate change: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/08/01/magazine/climate-change-losing-earth.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=photo-spot-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

The generation that failed to act was arguably my generation.

Take Their Clearance Away!

Donald J. Trump is annoyed that half a dozen of our best and brightest experts in intelligence and national security take issue with his statements. His solution: Take away their security clearances.

Dumb!

The reason that former officials sometimes retain clearances to access classified information is for the convenience of the government (so they can be consulted), not for the profit of the former official. This is another case of psychological transference - that is, when a person of limited imagination attributes a motive to someone else because "that is what I would want to do."

John Brennan, James Clapper, Susan Rice, James Comey, Michael Hayden and Andrew McCabe committed the offense of speaking the truth as they see it.

I have news for the president: there is no clearance for facts.

For many years I read Pravda and Izvestia to see what the Soviets were telling each other. Some of what they were saying were facts. Some weren't. I got to be pretty good at telling the difference. I can still tell the difference, and so can the targeted officials.

Even without a security clearance.

The Brilliance Of John Bolton

The Republican cognoscenti insist that John Bolton, the president's national security adviser, is "brilliant."

I have been unable to confirm that.

Long believed to be an anti-Russia hawk, more recently he has been friendly to Putin. Why this is so, I cannot tell.

When I saw a video clip of John Bolton giving a gun-rights speech to Russians, I laughed out loud.

Can Bolton be so ignorant or so gullible that he does not understand that there is no gun rights movement in Russia?  His speech was a farce.

But it was of a piece with the insertion of Maria Butina into NRA activities to mobilize the gun rights movement on behalf of Russian goals. Maria Butina is clearly a spy.

The NRA has become a "fifth column" acting to further the objectives of a foreign government.

How do I know this?

I know a lot about foreign affairs and national security policy, especially about Russia. I have been following such matters closely since about 1956.

John Bolton knows little or nothing about it.

Occupied

Whatever else you watch on cable TV, make sure you see the drama "Occupied" on Netflix.

It takes place in the near future in Norway, and depicts the scenario of a ruthless takeover of Norway by Russia.

Be alert and pay attention to details.

There are brief scenes reminding us of Quisling.

Some scenes remind us of what must have happened in Norway during the occupation of 1942-1945.

There were degrees of resistance and degrees of courage.

The circumstances are worth thinking about.

What can patriots do when their country's leaders are loyal to another country?

House Of Cards

A year or two ago in the TV program House of Cards, one of the characters observed that "the President Is the people around him."

I thought that was pretty prescient.

Most of the time, we know who the people are who surround the president. In the case of Hillary Clinton, you could find out by looking up her web site. But none of us knew the people around Trump. Furthermore, they seemed to have no experience or interest in actually governing, but were skilled at plunder. And at showmanship.

I knew many of the skilled people around Hillary personally, and most of them at least by reputation.

Not only was Secretary Clinton herself better qualified and prepared than most of those she surrounded herself with, they themselves were among the most talented and well-prepared of her generation and of the generation before her. It was tragic that these leaders did not get to lead.

Governing is hard. It is complicated. It is not best done by amateurs.

I don't understand what happened, but the last time our national leaders were this incompetent was after World War I, otherwise known as The Great War. It was Harry Truman who observed that in a democracy, countries get the government they deserve. I think that's a bit harsh. We deserve better than what we have.

I will have some thoughts about that.

The American Quisling; The American Fifth Column; The American Terrorist

Over the weekend, Donald J. Trump did his best to dismantle the Western Alliance, to destroy democracy, and to wreak havoc on the world economy.

To what end? The truth is, no one knows for sure. But we saw it coming.

It was clear from the outset of his campaign for the presidency, that he was really running for the office of dictator.

His supporters need to open their eyes.

And yet - it is not clear to me that Trump is really driving this train. It is the leadership of the Republican Party who have mounted a prolonged, sustained attack on Democracy.

I'm not sure exactly when the attack began, but I believe it was well underway at the time of Bush v. Gore.

The U.S. Supreme Court did not have to intervene in Florida's recount of the presidential election of 2,000. There was plenty of time left to determine who won.