The General Flynn Matter: I find it difficult to listen to Fox News talking heads coming to the defense of General Flynn. They paint him as a “true patriot” who was “set up” by Jim Comey and the FBI plan to derail the Trump presidency. The General was indeed set up by FBI Director Comey and should have all charges dropped. No question….he was illegally targeted by the FBI. The problem I have, though, has to do with the “patriot” part that keeps being attached to General Flynn.
General Flynn ran his own private Lobby Company that represented the interests of a select few Turkish businesses and the Turkish government. He was paid over $500,000 dollars through a Dutch subsidiary to a Turkish firm run by a political person closely associated with President Erdogon. When General Flynn came on with the administration he reported two of his business connections worked for the Turkish government. He just failed to mention one was the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the other Minister of Energy. General Flynn is not a lone ranger in the dirty business of Washington lobbying. He is one of many who sell their connections after retiring from either government or the military. It is a dirty business that makes many of these former “public servants” filthy rich as they sell their connections and secure contracts, jobs, and privilege to those willing to pay.
A Retired Three Star General should have no business at all in the lobby system. However given the laws that permit and even perpetuate these activities he should at least have some dignity about who he selects as a client. Representing, and profiting from, one of the most repressive and evil governments on the planet should be an out of bounds no brainer. General Flynn marketed his Pentagon and Washington connections for personal gain to the government of Turkey! This is as close to treasonous one can get and short of that…. it reeks of stark naked greediness. At the very least it is certainly very unbecoming of a Retired Three Star. The question I leave for General Flynn is this….do those “Army Values” all soldiers memorize and live by apply to Army General Officers??
Oh, and a PS to Mark Levin….Stop with your patronizing, exaggerated sainthood proclamation of General Flynn. He is no saint and his after career actions certainly do not reflect those of a true patriot either.
Perpetual Saturday: I was in my car driving home from an “essential” trip to the supermarket. I was initially headed to Costco but their line redirected me to Sprouts. I had my dog, Abenidgo, (Belgian Malinois) with me for company. I wore my face mask but she kept pulling hers off and chewing on it. I finally stopped trying to keep it on her. What can you do when driving and listening to the radio while caught in traffic. Yep….caught in ” Saturday Traffic ” on a Thursday afternoon. I mean who knows what day it is anymore? As one newscaster recently commented Joe Biden’s “forgetting what day it is” problem is now the norm for all of us. The people in the Costco line….it ran around the entire side of the store and halfway down the back side were all dutifully spaced six feet apart….you know science tells us no way to catch a virus when properly spaced while waiting in a long line….for an hour or more. I said to Abendigo…” it feels like a Satrurday”. She just eyed me and kept on chewing her bandanna.
Governors Killing By Their Orders: Yes I said killing by their “lock-down orders”. I write this report from my home in Southern California. I live in the French Valley and if one has to live in California I am at least stuck in a semi-rural, beautiful, valley. Still, being only 60 miles North of San Diego, I am well aware after this Friday if I am in San Diego County not wearing a face mask I can be fined $1,000.00 or six months in jail! No shock right….from the State that is all about three things when it comes to its citizens….”Fees, Fines, and Taxes” !
Governor Newsome aka “Governor Bothersome” opened the beaches for one day last weekend. So many people flocked to the beaches it looked like a Memorial Day weekend. The good Gov. then withdrew his “permission” for the people to go on the beach saying “it was just too dangerous”. Now he has doubled down and is talking like maybe the phase I might take longer to get to here in California. If we are good boys and girls, and follow the rules, we will be safe and the Gov might let us go outside to play again real soon.
The Statistics: The stats show us that continuing to keep the society closed down will only lengthen the time we have this problem and it will weaken the development of “herd anti bodies”. The virus is a deadly one if you are in a high risk population. The high risk population is the same one for the seasonal flu. Every year in the US 5% to 20% of the population gets the flu with more than 200,000 hospitalized and deaths from 12,000-60,000.
The truth is this is not the plague. It is not arbitrarily killing any and all who come in contact with it. It is a bad virus and if it attacks your lungs can lead to death. It can be extremely deadly if you have pre-existing medical conditions, weakened immune system, or are over 65. The flu is also deadly for these groups. The death rate will ultimately end up being about the same as that of the seasonal flu. In the mean time we have panicked and shut down the entire American and World economy. Earlier this week the United Nations announced that as many as 90,000 people per day were starving to death in poor nations around the world due to the supply chain interruptions. The stress deaths in America alone due to the financial crash for most households has yet to be tallied. Meanwhile the science and models used for this shutdown are now proving to be wrong. As Dr. Birkx said…”our models are only as good as our data”. Well well well…meanwhile the Governors, or I should say most Governors, keep the doors shut tight. I refer you to Dr. John Ioamidis of MIT, Dr. Joel Kettner, Stanford, and Dr. Wolfgang and Dr. Shiva ( running for the Senate in MA ) for more detailed information.
Other Yearly Death Stats: Cardio Vascular: 800,000 ( leading cause of death in America).