I’m not offended!

[David Lockmiller]

(07-10-2019 09:44 PM)AussieMick Wrote:  Is this the Michael Cohen that was found guilty of campaign-finance and financial-fraud crimes and of lying to Congress?

Why don't we compare the number of lies and misleading statements told by Michael Cohen with the number of lies and misleading statements told by President Donald Trump?

Here's an accounting of the President Donald Trump lies and misleading statements as reported by the Washington Post on April 28, 2019:

President Trump has made more than 10,000 false or misleading claims
By Glenn Kessler, Salvador Rizzo and Meg Kelly - April 29, 2019

It took President Trump 601 days to top 5,000 false and misleading claims in The Fact Checker’s database, an average of eight claims a day.

But on April 26, just 226 days later, the president crossed the 10,000 mark — an average of nearly 23 claims a day in this seven-month period, which included the many rallies he held before the midterm elections, the partial government shutdown over his promised border wall and the release of the special counsel’s report on Russian interference in the presidential election.

This milestone appeared unlikely when The Fact Checker first started this project during his first 100 days. In the first 100 days, Trump averaged less than five claims a day, which would have added up to about 7,000 claims in a four-year presidential term. But the tsunami of untruths just keeps looming larger and larger.

Oh, and by the way, is North Korea still no longer a nuclear threat to the rest of the world?

[L Verge]

Let me guess, the Fact Checker is a liberal project. And, who is checking the Fact Checker?

I'm sorry, but this constant atmosphere of negativity on both sides is not doing anything to help Make America Strong Again. It seems that anyone and everyone today can put a sentence together and it ends up being pounced on (even when it is a positive statement), debated, criticized, spread around the world, and even end up as a book.

As for North Korea - I already said that my father spent the war in Korea, but I didn't mention that he was unhappy with the way it "ended." As for making friends with the regime there, my personal opinion is, "Forget it."

However, friendship seldom has much to do with politics and diplomacy. Just like other "foes" that we deal with, once they get a taste of being a nuclear threat, I doubt they will stop producing. However, I still abide by the old phrase of "know thine enemy" and the one about "catching more flies with honey..." Maintaining at least a courteous relationship with these countries keeps us on their radar and more aware of their actions.

I am certainly not well-versed on Mr. Lincoln and his politics, but I think I'm safe in saying that he used a great deal of "friendly diplomacy" to try to ease things. In the case of Maryland, he promised a lot to keep us in the Union and delivered on virtually nothing -- but it worked long enough to get Union troops to D.C. for protection and into the Maryland countryside to enforce martial law.

Nowadays, we seldom know the whole convoluted story of what is going on behind the scenes in our politics and diplomacy related to any country, and that applies to whatever administration/party is in power as well as what gets filtered to the press or what the press makes up.

[David Lockmiller]

I thought that some people might like to read from today’s New York Times this personal story of a former young Marine lieutenant who was drafted as the Viet Nam War was winding down. I quote immediately below a couple of paragraphs from the story. Be sure to read the last full paragraph in this personal story, as accessed by the hyperlink.

The Vietnam War Was Already Lost, but I Had to Go Anyway
by By William Broyles Jr.

In the summer of 1969, the first American troops were withdrawn from Vietnam. Their war was over, but mine was just beginning. The previous November, Richard M. Nixon had been elected president with a “secret plan” to end the war. Surely peace was near. That same month I received my draft notice. About 24,000 of the more than 58,000 Americans killed in Vietnam were yet to die. I didn’t want to be one of them. No one did.

I had demonstrated against the war from the safety of my college deferment, so I thought of going to Canada. I also thought of getting a friendly doctor to say I had bone spurs or anxiety, but those choices would mean someone else from my refinery-town high school would have to go in my place.

Here’s what I wrote in a letter home back then: “I have 58 men. Only 20 have high school diplomas. Average age 19. Over and over I read: address of father: unknown; education: one or two years of high school; occupation: laborer, pecan sheller, gas station attendant, Job Corps. They had grown up in the ghetto or Appalachia or along the Rio Grande border or on a rez. Kids with no place to go. No place but here.” They were expendable, and they knew it. I was the clueless 24-year-old second lieutenant who had been put in charge of them. They couldn’t care less that I had a fancy degree from Oxford. They didn’t want to know if I would help them win the war. They knew it was already lost. They were wondering, would I get them killed, or not?

[L Verge]

(07-11-2019 02:24 PM)David Lockmiller Wrote:  I thought that some people might like to read from today’s New York Times this personal story of a former young Marine lieutenant who was drafted as the Viet Nam War was winding down. I quote immediately below a couple of paragraphs from the story. Be sure to read the last full paragraph in this personal story, as accessed by the hyperlink.

The Vietnam War Was Already Lost, but I Had to Go Anyway
by By William Broyles Jr.

In the summer of 1969, the first American troops were withdrawn from Vietnam. Their war was over, but mine was just beginning. The previous November, Richard M. Nixon had been elected president with a “secret plan” to end the war. Surely peace was near. That same month I received my draft notice. About 24,000 of the more than 58,000 Americans killed in Vietnam were yet to die. I didn’t want to be one of them. No one did.

I had demonstrated against the war from the safety of my college deferment, so I thought of going to Canada. I also thought of getting a friendly doctor to say I had bone spurs or anxiety, but those choices would mean someone else from my refinery-town high school would have to go in my place.

Here’s what I wrote in a letter home back then: “I have 58 men. Only 20 have high school diplomas. Average age 19. Over and over I read: address of father: unknown; education: one or two years of high school; occupation: laborer, pecan sheller, gas station attendant, Job Corps. They had grown up in the ghetto or Appalachia or along the Rio Grande border or on a rez. Kids with no place to go. No place but here.” They were expendable, and they knew it. I was the clueless 24-year-old second lieutenant who had been put in charge of them. They couldn’t care less that I had a fancy degree from Oxford. They didn’t want to know if I would help them win the war. They knew it was already lost. They were wondering, would I get them killed, or not?

We could debate the Viet Nam situation for decades -- have already, but hope we don't do it here. It is just a "recent" example of what has gone on throughout world history -- maybe pre-history if you start with Cain killing Abel. Time out with the cutting and pasting of the NY Times, please!

P.S. Surprised that you have not quoted their ridiculous article on Mrs. Trump's choice of dress for the July 4th festivities. At least many of the comments from readers cited the stupidity of the writer's comments.