TRUMP- PUTIN AND THE DEEP STATE

TRUMP TOUCHES THIRD RAIL OF DEEP STATE —GETS BURNED

July 17, 2018

President Trump is on his way back from Helsinki and his “one on one” with President Putin of the Russia Confederation.  His meeting went well on its critical elements:  attempting to reduce world tensions, limit conflict in Syria,  and to control the proliferation of nuclear weapons .  But at home, he is facing a firestorm of hyperbolic accusations based on his refusal to publicly blame the Russian leader for meddling in 2016 elections and casting doubt on the findings of his own intelligence agencies ( see below).   Former Obama-appointed CIA chief John Brennan, a frequent and regular Trump hater and critic, confirmed his diagnosis of “Trump derangement syndrome” by  characterizing the President’s remarks as “treasonous” (how this guy was ever appointed head of the CIA baffles me) , while Sen. John McCain claimed they were a “tragic mistake”.  

The President did make a “mistake”.  He was not aware (or purposely ignored) the deep state’s primary dictum—the USA’s political “third rail”—which is that there can be no questioning the  existential threat and evil nature of our national enemies of the moment our “enemy list”.  Everyone in politics must toe to the infantile propaganda line that we are the “good guys” and those others out there are the “bad guys”.  As a nation,  we have always had some “established” enemy.  Early in our history the British wore that epithet, then the French, then the Native Americans, when they were subdued— the Spanish too on that mantle, later on when I was a boy, we had the “Japs and the Nazis”, then the Koreans (we had certain names for them too) —now it is the—“the Castro bothers”,  Iranian mullahs, ISIS and Russia, and anyone who might favor “socialism” for their nation, like perhaps President Maduro of Venezuela.  We seem to have a desperate need for “enemies”.  Without a permanent enemy list how could we justify the  close to a trillion dollars removed annually from our tax revenues to devote to military funding, our unending wars, our world-girdling military bases,  and our “defense”—out of a $3.6 trillion (2018)  dollar tax-revenue stream?  

The Deep State

According to author Mike Lofgren’s book “The Deep State,” (2016, Penguin) the deep state is a web of entrenched  interests in the US government ( add in Wall Street and Silicon Valley) which acts as a “shadow government and attempts to control America’s defense decisions, trade, and foreign policy with no regard to the actual interests and wishes of the American voting public or for that matter elected officials.

If anyone ever doubted the existence of an American “deep state” recent events should have evaporated those doubts like morning dew on a hot summer day.  The ugly facts which emerged in the aftermath of the 2016 election like slime oozing out of a rusted garbage dumpster reveal the evil existence of—the deep state—and the sad facts that the national-scurity-military-industrial complex- whatever you want to call it is calling the shots against Trump.

The term “Deep State” is often applied to third world nations like Egypt and Turkey. The US media (an arm of the deep state itself) are loathe to use the term to describe such  circumstances in the USA .   But the differences between America and that of the nations where the term was coined are only of the extent of activity and the level of violence.  One has only to read the Strzok and Paige email streams to understand that in the USA there is a corps of government employees in an intercommunicative network (which includes the media and the elements of Wall Street and Silicon Valley)  who see themselves as the “last defense” against actions of an elected official that they view as a threat to (not the state0 but to their power, wealth-networks, access to nepotism, income, and job-security.  They see themselves as the “guardians” against change to a system that many have spent a lifetime adapting to.  They ignore the fact that in a democracy the power to make policy and decisions rests only with the voters and the ELECTED GOVERNMENT.  

Way back in February 20, 2017 David Graham wrote a piece in the “ Atlantic” entitled: “There is No American Deep State”.  Graham’s argument was mostly a semantic one, attempting to persuade the reader that the term “deep state” as used to define that condition in Turkey—did not accurately fit the American situation.  But since then, in the last year and a half of the Trump Presidency the evidence for a (Turkey-like) deep state has mounted up in giant steaming piles, manifesting itself in the form of politically motivated investigations of “collusion”, evidence of domestic political spying, politicization of intelligence agencies and the FBI, of bureaucrats slow-walking the President’s agenda, of leaks from the government to a compliant and in-collusion-media, as well as in every way possible the deep state pursuing efforts to undermine the voter’s choice and the legitimately elected official’s agenda.  

As if to underscore and expose the existence and power of the Deep State, just a few days before President Trump’s well-publicized Helsinki meeting, the Department of Justice Deputy-AG, Rod Rosenstein, held a news conference revealing (for no apparent reason of timeliness)  the indictment of 12 Russian hackers  who were allegedly responsible for “meddling” in the 2016 election.  The announcement came just a few days prior to the President’s long-awaited meeting with President Putin.  It was seen as an obvious shot across the bow of the President— as a warning.  Here was the actual deep state exposing itself and its power—in  action—attempting to control what Mr. Trump would or could say at the Putin meeting.  President Trump was not cowed by Rosenstein.   He ignored the AG’s briefing—but perhaps to with the firestorm of complaints—to his sorrow.   

In the USA it is clear we have a permanent powerful and invasive bureaucracy, a compliant media in league with the establishment, and a military captive of the industry which supports it.   We have a powerful financial sector, an invasive and pervasive technology sector and a state of perpetual war.  All of these elements are poised in potential opposition to the elected branch of government.  They are opposed to the American voter who they see as “ignorant”, “smelly” and “irredeemable”.   If, as in the case of Helsinki, the President undermines or calls into question  basic tenets of the unelected establishment -such as the validity or character of our “enemies” list—the deep state rises up to sanction, silence—- or to eliminate him or her.  .  

That dangerous development —the denouement of a “Etat profond” is more of a threat to our nation and its democracy than anything that Mr. Trump’s detractors worry that he is liable to  do.  He is an elected official who will be gone after a term of 4 or 8 years.  But the hidden, unelected, powerful deep state will remain to control our elections, to undermine the power of  officials they do not approve of and control the levers of state that they have no right to manipulate. You get the picture.  

If we do not resist the real threat we are faced with now, (it is not Trump) our future as a democratic nation is bleak.  The next step is a nation with meaningless trappings of democracy with empty elections and office holders taking orders from the man behind the green curtain.  

It is time to call out the Deep State for what it is— an existential threat to our democracy. 

  

MICROSOFT CHUTZPAH: THREATEN TRUMP OVER VISAS FOR FOREIGN WORKERS

Talk about chutzpah, nerve, and hypocrisy...and think Microsoft.  

Microsoft is threatening President Trump!  They claim they will move their operations out of the country if he doesn’t  ease up on his “hire American “ policy and allow them to (continue) to hire cheap foreign graduate-labor for US based jobs.  

What is Microsoft’s gripe?  

“ We don’t want to move jobs out of the United States...—-so we hope that decisions in Washington don’t make us do that “...threatened Microsoft company president Brad Smith, on July 12, 2018.  

 The Allen—Gates  Microsoft company was started in Albuquerque New Mexico in 1975 and in the 80s hit the market with the hugely popular “Windows and Office” software.  They now produce hardware, computers and cloud computing services among many other things.  Their main “campus” is in Redmond Washington.  Today they hire 124,000 employees.  They have total assets of over $240 billion dollars and revenue of about $90 billion annually.  

Microsoft already employs thousands  of foreign college graduate via a special temporary worker visa program—initiated by President Barak Obama—-which permits companies like Microsoft to hire recent foreign graduates to work in the USA at the rate of pay they would receive in their native country.    It’s a great deal for the American companies.  But it screws the young American graduate out of a job and also keeps starting wages low in a critical area of expertise.  

This program, according to Brietbart: See “Microsoft threatens President Trump....on Visa Outsourcing by Neil Munro (July 13, 2018).   “These foreign graduate visa programs already keep a shifting population which some estimate to be as much as 1.5 million foreign graduates in US jobs” according the Breitbart (above cit.).  The program now permits companies like Microsoft to hire as many as 85,000 foreign graduates annually. But the numbers are difficult to pin down since the individuals may rotate back into their native lands. But it is estimated that at any one time there are as many as 450,000 recent graduates working at low (or no pay) for firms in the USA and taking American jobs.  .  That is an awful plot of jobs...that could go to young deserving American graduates.  President Obama also initiated a visa work program for the spouses of these foreign graduate students to the tune of another 100,000 work visas.  That is another poke in the eye to young Americans seeking jobs.  

So its what they are saying is Microsoft doesn’t give a rat’s tail about America and the deserving young graduates of our nation.   

Since the election of President Trump in 2016 their stock has risen from the mid $60 dollar range up to well over $100 dollars. 

Microsoft has some nerve threatening the President.  

We should all be supporting our own young graduates.  President Trump’s program is right for America.

TRUMP SPEAKS HIS MIND IN BRUSSELS—THAT’S GOOD FOR USA

TRUMP TELLS IT LIKE IT IS AT THE NATO MEETING. 

President Trump didn't mince words with the sharp-tongued PM, Ms Angela Merkel, at the NATO meeting in Brussels today. (July 11, 2018).  It is refreshing to hear our chief executive speak plainly and forcefully.   

We all know that Germany has the top health care system, the best roads and infrastructure, the most inclusive and fulsome social services and the prime educational system in Europe.  Why?  

The answer is that Germany can devote 98.6 % of its GDP to keeping their infrastructure and services top-notch.  We Americans do not have even a shadow of those benefits.  As the largest economy in the world, we should have the best too.  But we don’t.  

The Germans live the “Life of Riley” at our expense.   They can devote themselves to the pursuit of the good life because they are carefree in their defense posture.   The good natured middle class American-worker-taxpayer is footing the bill for them—even as they look down their noses at us—as uneducated and  uncultured clods— so they could live so well. 

As a consequence of our post-WWII-history of defending the Germans (French, Italians, Spanish and Greeks, etc.etc.) Americans can not hope to realize the joy of German longevity, the well-paying manufacturing jobs, the rich social services and fine transport and infrastructure that the Germans enjoy.  Sadly, (too) much of our nation’s wealth is devoted to supporting our military establishment which is spent (in part) defending the Germans and others.  

President Trump would like to change all that.  Perhaps his straight talk can shame the snooty-uppity  Germans to pony up more for their own defense.  That would help.  

Trump wants to encourage them to step up to the payment plate, on their default NATO assessments..and he insists that they should do it now—-not in ten years as they “promise”.  To achieve that they will have to cut back on some of those traditional German long vacations, exorbitant social services and even possibly restrict the inflow of a million economic migrants they have unwisely permitted to flood through their borders looking for an easy life and a hand out. 

Oh yes... and it would be nice too, if they opened their domestic markets to OUR manufactured goods— as we do to theirs.  They protect their workers and are hesitant to buy our products.  Perhaps more of a level playing field in our trade relations would assuage the pain of the American taxpayer having to pay for German defense.  Altering the trade imbalance would be a step forward  to providing  our hard-working American middle class more well-paying jobs.   

Oh yes, and that deal that Mrs Merkel made with Mr. Putin to purchase cheap Russian gas via pipeline is the  height of hypocrisy.  The multi-billion dollar deal the Germans made to pay for Russian gas, while expecting us to  defend them from their gas-supplier-partners with our high NATO assessments and American troop deployments in Germany is a poke in the eye to American taxpayers. 

Trump tells it like it is.  

AMESBURY UK POISONING: NO TO “RUSSIANS DID IT”

SECOND NOVICHOK POISONING IN SAME PLACE—“?THE RUSSIANS DID IT?” NOT LIKELY

Four months ago in early March, immediately following the “attempted assination” of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia by the Soviet produced nerve poison novichok,  the British Thatcher Government quickly blamed the Russians.  The attack took place in the quiet cathedral town of Salisbury.  The lack of evidence, motive and vociferous denials from Russia had little effect in altering the decision to angrily blame Mr. Putin.  The near hysteria in the USA regarding anything Russian and the post-Ukraine imbroglio made the facile decision to point the finger of blame at the Russians a good fit into the on going media narrative of Russian evil doing.  A narrative that the western government’s preferred and have kept prevalent since the at least the 1950s Cold War. 

But the recent events in Amesbury, a quiet village only about ten miles north of the location of the supposed Russian attack,  seems to have the Brits stuttering and groping for a reasonable and logical explanation.

In this latest incident, a local couple: Dawn Sturgess and Charles Rowley, both about 40 years of age, and both residents of Amesbury were found collapsed in their home eliciting signs of nerve agent poisoning (foaming saliva, unconscious, pupils dilated, body tremors) a day after they had made a visit to Salisbury.  Both were transported to hospital where they are listed in critical condition. The backgrounds of the two individuals suggest nothing that would indicate that they had associations with Russia or that they were “targeted”.  

The UK government response to the early March, Skripal poisoning was reminiscent of the  “George Bush rush to war in Iraq” with the media, and public aroused into a hyperhysteria to be satisfied only with some Elizabethan-era style public lynching.  In the end, hundreds of Russian diplomats were expelled from nations across the western world with the USA sending an unprecedented 60 Russians from DC home to Moscow after the Skripal incident.  

The known facts about this new poisoning seems to suggest that this was a not the result of “haphazard disposal” of the earlier  Novichok poison as some UK supporters would have it.  According to the Soviet chemist (Vil S. Mirzayanov) who originally designed the poison— after four months of exposure to air and moisture in the English climate—the compound was not likely to maintain its potency.  Furthermore, the British government had spent millions of pounds on a thorough clean up of the cordoned off areas in Salisbury after the Skripal poisoning.  It is not likely that the typically thorough Brits were likely to do a sloppy job in that critical regard.  

It is noteworthy that both of these “attacks” were on couples.  Both incidents were located only a short few miles from the boundary fence of  Porton Down a “science park”  located on 7000 acres surrounded by a high fence wit “danger area” signs.  The “park” is  situated equidistant from the two villages of Amesbury and Salisbury in the county of Wiltshire.   Porton Down is the site of the Ministry of Defense and its Science and Technology Laboratory. The latter is the UK’s most secretive and highly controversial military research facility.  

Porton Down was first developed to prepare and test chemical weapons during WWI. During WWII both chemical and biological weapons were tested and developed there. During the Cold War years its focus was on developing modern nerve poisons and the chemical means for prophylaxis and therapy of these agents.  In the years after the collapse of the Soviet Union Porton Down became one of the west’s repositories of the deadly nerve agent Novichok.  This gruesome poison had been produced in Russian and in Belarus during the height of the Cold War. When the Soviet Union collapsed, and these facilities lost their security and fell into disuse  UK scientists from Porton Down were dispatched to those sites to  help secure and clean up those sites.  Samples of the up-until-then-unknown new nerve agent Novichok were carried back to Porton Down for testing and “other” purposes.  Other nations including the USA have samples as well.  The sample from the Sturgess-Rowley poisoning was sent to Porton Down for testing to determine if this new sample came from the same “batch” as the Skripal poisoning.   We will see. 

Over its time in operation it is probably understandable that Porton Down has a long history of “controversial” operations such as “open air trials with anthrax”, military deaths related to “human testing”,  civilian litigation regarding misuse of testing, and inhumane use of animals in chemical experiments.  

The “Russians did it” explanation sees a bit shop worn now. 

Perhaps the British government should consider another “explanation” for the strange coincident dual “poisoning” so close to the boundary fence of the Porton Down facility.  

But it is much easier to blame the Russians. Expect that.  

JULY 4–“RESISTORS” DENY FOUNDER’S MOST BASIC PRINCIPLE

OUR MOST BASIC PRINCIPLE OF GOVERNMENT:

...”to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed...”

Declaration of Independence July 4, 1776

This is the underlying government concept IGNORED by those in the “resist” movement— those intent on trying to overturn the Trump Presidency.  These folks are attempting to undo the will of the people. They have forgotten the underlying principle of our democracy— stated above so clearly and eloquently in our own Declaration of Independence—that the right to govern comes (only) from the consent of the governed.  

That right—to govern—comes not from the FBI top-echelon clowns and bigwigs,  or the State Department pointy heads and smart asses, or those of the CIA, NSA—- or even past presidents.  The right to sit in the Oval Office comes only from the voters.  They spoke out loud and clear in November of 2016.  (NB:  Mr. Trump would have won the popular vote too—had we had better control of voting by illegal immigrants in so called “sanctuary” cities.)

The citizens of this wide nation made their decision legitimately. Those who are resisting that decision should go back and read our founding documents and especially on this day— read the Declaration of July 4 1776.  

To resist the decision of the people’s choice is to deny our Founder’s efforts and sacrifice, to ignore our unique heritage and deny allegiance to our most basic founding principle.  

How would we characterize these “resistors”?  Ignorant? Misled? Uninformed?........or worse? 

NUNES: ON WAY TO EXPOSES MALFEASANCE OF OFFICIALS IN TRUMP COLLUSION INVESTIGATION

If you thought that the FBI was the only “deep state” player that was involved in the disgraceful scheme to undermine a political opponent during the 2016 election campaign and then to persist in an attempt to reverse an election after the people made thier choice on November 8, 2016  working  from within the powerful halls of government——you were wrong.   They were not acting alone!!!

Thankfully Congressman Devin Nunes, like mythical Hercules is attempting to clean up a smelly mess in Washington-all that animal waste is clogging up the DC “Augean stables”.  The job  can get the investigator dirty and smelly too—and some of that odor has  descended  unfairly upon  Mr. Nunes.  The Democrats  would like to keep the old stinky stables in thier parlous state of corruption and ignore the abuses of those who compromised ethics and law in an attempted to slime a political opponent using the existing government’s vast resources,  and then —in an act we can only describe as treason—to attempt to unseat the legitimately elected President.

As a result of Mr. Nunes’ Herculean tasks we now  know that infamous Mueller Investigation was and remains the product of the machinations and malfeasance of a whole host of actors in the Obama Administartion (and very likely Mr. Obama himself).

In an attempt to clean the musty stable air in DC and expose the acts of these individuals to the American people Congressman Nunes Chair of the House Intelligence Committee has sent an entreaty-letter— he wrote to fellow GOP chairmen  (Gowdy and Goddlatte etcetera) and the other members of the Congressional Joint Task Force (CJTF) to alert them to the need to interview ten people who he has decided may fall undet the purview of the CJTF and who served in the White House or State Department during the Obama Administartion and who may have been involved in surveillance abuse during the 2016 election.

The letter is a who’s who of the anti-Trump cabal in the Obama Administration who were intent on undermining the candidacy of Trump and then after the election smearing the People’s Choice for the White House.

The people have a right to know.  And if crimes were committed —Justice should be served.