Leopards and the FBI: Candidates' Spots Make Them Unfit for Office

Political leopards do not change their spots.  Sure, they make campaign promises that they will not keep.  College won't be free and there will be no "beautiful wall."  While you can't take their promises to the bank, you can count on this: President Hillary Clinton or President Donald Trump will be the exact same person who she or he is as a candidate. 

In July, "Leopard Clinton" praised FBI Director Comey for clearing her of wrongdoing.  "Leopard Trump" said the Director was part of the rigged system.  Now Clinton is giving the Director guidance, saying it is imperative that he immediately release all details of the newly discovered evidence.  Meanwhile, Trump is praising the Director's courage for breaking away from the rigged system.  Their statements were made in furtherance of naked political ambition with disregard for the long-term good of our country.  Liberty demands that the FBI be apolitical and independent.  The Director is appointed to a 10 year term unlike Cabinet Secretaries.  This is done, in part, to ensure the independence of the FBI from the political whims of a President.

While much could be said about Director Comey's handling of the Clinton email investigation, none of it should be said by these political leopards.  The FBI must not only be independent, it must be publicly accepted as independent for the health of our democratic republic.  An FBI that is unwilling to investigate the corruption of a sitting administration or takes orders from a President to investigate political enemies hurls us toward utter political corruption and dictatorship.  The statements by Clinton and Trump about the FBI's investigation is further evidence that neither one is fit to be President.  When it comes to the importance of the independence of the FBI, one of these leopards doesn't care to know and the other leopard knows but simply doesn't care.  And this is certain, the spots of that leopard won't change when she or he becomes President.  Let's hope America is not their gazelle.  

Bond v. Bourne for President: Deception and the Presidential Campaigns

With Trump and Clinton, just like with James Bond and Jason Bourne, what you see is not real. It's a highly produced package of illusions.  But Bond and Bourne are very different.  With "Donald J. Bond" you don't know what you are going to get, but you know it will be outlandish, spectacular and frequently silly.  The hubris is readily apparent.  Women will be portrayed as sexual objects.  The rules won't apply to the high roller with all the extravagant toys.  The "bad guys" are easy to identify and the good guy promises us that he (and we) will always prevail even though there is no way he (and we) could survive if this were real.  The fakery is so apparent that at some point in the show Donald J. Bond will look in the cameras of the "biased and corrupt" media and wink to tell us that he knows that we know that this over-the-top political blockbuster is fake.   

With "Hillary Rodham Bourne" you do know what you are going to get - a thoroughly trained, highly effective operative.  She is flawed but highly capable.  She is trapped and tormented by the brainwashing of decades in the do-loop of campaigns, money, public office, money, power, and money.  She breaks a lot of rules, but in her mind it is for a "good cause."  She deceives you in order to survive.  The FBI is after Hillary Rodham Bourne and it's hard to tell if the FBI is good, bad, or some of both. But unlike Donald J. Bond, Hillary Bourne wants us to believe the show is real. Rather than wink in the camera to acknowledge the fakery, she looks through her binoculars and assesses us.  She is smarter than us, better trained than us, and she can make us believe the illusion is real.  With a not-so-subtle arrogance she calls us at the end of the movie and says, "Get some rest, America.  You look tired."

It is a sad day when the two major political parties, both of which have capable leaders who could ably serve as president, offer us over-priced popcorn and ask us whether we want to see Bond or Bourne every day for the next four years.

The "Fallen" have Names

On the this day I am remembering Holmes, Goodrich, Krause, Maupin, Lemon, DeLeon, Dimaranan, Nolan, Harlan, and Morgan - all men of the 172nd Corps Support Group who were killed by our enemy while serving their country.  IEDs, a mortar round, small arms fire, and the vicious act of an executioner who killed a POW, Matt Maupin, cut short the lives of these men who chose to serve their country.  I was fortunate to have a front row seat to witness their devotion to country.  Every day they did their duty.  It was a matter of odds as to who would be the victim of an IED, a mortar round or an ambush.  They did their duty each day until the enemy took their lives. 

I am grateful that we have a time to remember these men and many other men and women whose service to our country cost them their lives.  Along with being grateful, I am enormously sad that the cost of war -- be the war popular or unpopular -- was the lives of Jeremiah, Gregory, Elmer, Matt, James, Jeremy, Lauro, Allen, Richard, and Jerome.  The wartime commander of the 172nd, Major General Gary Bunch (Retired), is again carrying the names of these men in the "Carry the Load" march this Memorial Day.  You can contribute to General Bunch's fundraising effort here.   Keep leading, Cherokee Six.  I will follow. 

God bless the families of our fallen service members with peace, and may we remember Jeremiah, Gregory, Elmer, Matt, James, Jeremy, Lauro, Allen, Richard, and Jerome with gratitude.  The "fallen" have names.  Their fathers, mothers, spouses, children, and siblings know them by name.  We should remember them by name.  God bless the memory of Jeremiah, Gregory, Elmer, Matt, James, Jeremy, Lauro, Allen, Richard, and Jerome. 

The Death of UBL - One Perspective

Bin Laden is dead.   This is no longer news.  No longer a cause for celebration in the streets of America.  No longer a cause for mourning in some quarters.  So what does the death of Osama Bin Laden mean now that the first emotions have passed?  Is liberty more prevalent?  Is radicalism in decline?

He killed civilians. He killed athiests, agnostics, Christians, Jews, and Muslims.  He represented a wildly different brand of Islam than the Islam of my Muslim friends.   He was a father, a brother, a son.   He is gone.  Yes, a killer has gone to his grave.  A treasure of intelligence bearing on national security has gone to his grave.  A warrior, in my opinion, a sorely misguided warrior, has gone to his grave.  A father, brother, and son has gone to his grave.

Banksy, a Bristol graffiti artist, said, "...you die twice. One time when you stop breathing and a second time, a bit later on, when somebody says your name for the last time."  UBL has only died once.   I wonder when he will die for the second time.