I have lived through President Richard Nixon being elected twice (1968 and 1972). I suffered through Mr. Nixon's cover-up of Watergate...and the embarrassment he caused our nation on August 9th, 1974 - the resignation of the 37th President of the United States.
I agonized through two terms of President George W. Bush (2001 to 2009)...and his fingerprints that destroyed America's economy...as our nation struggled through the worst financial disaster since "The Great Depression." And I cried - along with millions of other Americans - when...on Mr. Bush's watch...our red, white and blue soil was blackened by terrorism on September 11th, 2001...killing nearly 3-thousand innocent souls and injuring more than 6-thousand others - a day of tragedy that might have been avoided if President Bush had listened to certain advisers prior to the 9/11 attacks.
But despite all of the above...I have never, ever seen or heard...any Americans...threaten a revolution...because his or her Presidential candidate...didn't win The White House on election day. That is...until now. More and more supporters of Donald Trump...are promoting acts of hostile violence...if the Republican nominee is not victorious on November 8th.
At a town hall meeting in Newton, Iowa - on Tuesday, October 11th - a woman identified only as "Rhonda"...told GOP Vice Presidential candidate, Governor Mike Pence..."If Hillary Clinton gets in, I myself, I'm ready for a revolution because we can't have her in."Worse than a revolution...is the treacherous talk of assassination. The Boston Globe says that at a rally in Cincinnati, Ohio - on Thursday, October 13th - Trump voter, Dan Bowman made known that "If (Hillary Clinton's) in office, I hope we can start a coup. She should be in prison or shot. We're going to have a revolution and take them out of office, if that's what it takes. There's going to be a lot of bloodshed."
And on Tuesday, October 18th...NBC News Correspondent Jacob Rascon interviewed Trump backers in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Rascon asked..."What do you think will happen if Hillary Clinton wins?" One man answered, "I believe there'll be a civil unrest. And I believe there should be."
This is dangerous conversation that needs to stop. A Bloomberg News poll says 56% of Donald Trump supporters feel the election is "rigged." And it is the fault of Trump himself...that voters are threatening to incite violence if Mrs. Clinton is triumphant.
As we get closer
We - as a country - are entering hazardous territory... should certain supporters of Donald Trump - or Trump himself - spearhead riots in the streets on November 9th. But I cannot believe...if the real estate mogul is defeated by Secretary Clinton...that there would be rebellious marches with nationwide lawlessness...to protest the election. Oh there might be "the lunatic fringe"...but I would be shocked...and stunned...if all - or even most - of those who pull the lever for Trump...decide to declare war on the current Commander-In-Chief (President Obama)...and she who would take office on January 20th, 2017.Some of you may accuse me of being naive...but my faith in human decency... goes far beyond the possibility of riots and revolution.
Hillary Clinton is the most prepared person to run for President in decades. She has admitted to making mistakes...but so have we all. And so has every single President in our nation's 240-year history. Donald Trump never acknowledges making a mistake.
Anyone who casts their ballot for Trump...is foolish to think...that doomsday will be upon them...if in 11 days...Hillary Clinton is pronounced President-elect. The world will not come to an end with Mrs. Clinton as our President. In fact...if Secretary Clinton is elected...Republicans need only to give her the chance she deserves. They will then discover...that a President Hillary Clinton...will move the United States in a forward direction...that will benefit all Americans...especially the middle-class and the poor. And women...well, that goes without saying. But because of Trump's rude and disrespectful behavior toward the females of our species...Mrs. Clinton is - without question - your only logical choice for President. There will be no Armageddon during the four years...or the eight years...of a President Hillary Clinton Administration. Americans overall...are too smart to think differently. What most of our country also realizes...is that Donald Trump is unfit to be handed the nuclear codes...and the keys to The White House. If voters did allow the billionaire businessman to take a seat behind The Oval Office desk...the chances are likely...that he would provoke and trigger a military conflict overseas. And based on the demented thinking that I have observed over the course of the last sixteen or so months...Trump could easily take America...to DEFCON 1. And then...God help us all.
And that's The Controversy for today.
I'm Gary B. Duglin.
"We'll talk again."
The Controversy is a publication of GBD Productions. Founder and Editor-In-Chief of The Controversy is Gary B. Duglin.
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GBD, this will be a two part reply. Part one: Let’s start with a basic question, why must you tell lies about President Bush? You try to tell everyone that President Bush was solely responsible for the “great recession”, not true! The recession was cause by many factors, the largest being the sub-prime mortgage crisis, this practice started under the Clinton Administration, when the housing bubble burst people could not pay the mortgage and the banks had sold the loans in packages and guaranteed their value. 9/11 caused great damage to our economy along with other items. Did President Bush make all the right decisions, no he didn’t but is anyone perfect; don’t blame it all on him. Next your lie about 9/11, you continue to tell this one, I guess you think the more you tell it maybe it will become truth. The facts are that the Bush Administration took the intel very seriously before 9/11 and took many steps to protect us as seen in the 9/11 report. I will list much of that here: Richard Clarke, his and other intelligence was acted on: July 5, 2001 - The FAA issues warning, specifically the threat of "using explosives in an airport terminal." July 5, 2001 - President George W. Bush requests more information about the recent upswing in terrorist threats and "chatter" from National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. July 10, 2001 - The CIA warns the White House of possible attacks against President George W. Bush during the July G8 Summit in Genoa, Italy. July 18, 2001 - The FAA issues another warning to airlines concerning possible terrorist attacks. July 31, 2001 - The FAA issues another warning to airlines advising that "terror groups are known to be planning and training for hijackings." August 6, 2001 - President George W. Bush receives a CIA report about al Qaeda and the possibility of airline hijackings. The warning is passed on to embassies and other overseas facilities. August 16, 2001 - The FAA issues an alert about "disguised weapons." Airlines are alerted the terrorists might use common objects such as cell phones or clothespins as weapons. August 23, 2001 - CIA director George Tenet, concerned that an al Qaeda attack is imminent, orders the CIA to search their files for leads. An urgent cable is sent to the FBI, State Department, Customs and INS, alerting them to the CIA's concerns about Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid Almihdhar. After the INS reports that Almihdhar re-entered the country on July 4, the FBI begins searching for them. September 4, 2001 - The national security advisers to President George W. Bush approve a draft version of a plan to combat al Qaeda. It includes provisions for $200 million to arm the enemies of the Taliban. The advisers plan to present the draft to President Bush on September 10, however the president is traveling and does not see it. September 10, 2001 - The National Security Agency intercepts two communications from Afghanistan to Saudi Arabia. One says, "Tomorrow is zero hour," and the other says "The match begins tomorrow." The messages are not translated until September 12. GBD, please stop telling your 9/11 lies, please don’t say these FACTS are lies because they are the FACTS.
ReplyDeleteThe following response will be in more than one part. Believe what you want about "The Great Recession," but facts remain facts that under President Bill Clinton our economy was near perfect and Mr. Clinton left office with a surplus. As for 9/11 - you can rattle off all your "facts," but the bottom line is that Richard Clarke (who I have quoted in several other columns over the last four years of The Controversy) specifically advised the George W. Bush Administration - and the President - of a pending attack by al-Qaeda. I will explain in part 2. END OF PART 1. GBD
DeletePART 2 - The following is a report that was published in The New York Times and written by reporters ERIC LICHTBLAU and DAVID E. SANGER on April 10, 2004. AUGUST '01 BRIEF IS SAID TO WARN OF ATTACK PLANS - "President Bush was told more than a month before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, that supporters of Osama bin Laden planned an attack within the United States with explosives and wanted to hijack airplanes, a government official said Friday.
DeleteThe warning came in a secret briefing that Mr. Bush received at his ranch in Crawford, Tex., on Aug. 6, 2001. A report by a joint Congressional committee last year alluded to a ''closely held intelligence report'' that month about the threat of an attack by Al Qaeda, and the official confirmed an account by The Associated Press on Friday saying that the report was in fact part of the president's briefing in Crawford.
The disclosure appears to contradict the White House's repeated assertions that the briefing the president received about the Qaeda threat was ''historical'' in nature and that the White House had little reason to suspect a Qaeda attack within American borders.
Members of the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks have asked the White House to make the Aug. 6 briefing memorandum public. The A.P. account of it was attributed to ''several people who have seen the memo.'' The White House has said that nothing in it pointed specifically to the kind of attacks that actually took place a month later.
The Congressional report last year, citing efforts by Al Qaeda operatives beginning in 1997 to attack American soil, said that operatives appeared to have a support structure in the United States and that intelligence officials had ''uncorroborated information'' that Mr. bin Laden ''wanted to hijack airplanes'' to gain the release of imprisoned extremists. It also said that intelligence officials received information in May 2001, three months earlier, that indicated ''a group of bin Laden supporters was planning attacks in the United States with explosives.''
Also on Friday, the White House offered evidence that the Federal Bureau of Investigation received instructions more than two months before the Sept. 11 attacks to increase its scrutiny of terrorist suspects inside the United States. But it is unclear what action, if any, the bureau took in response.
The disclosure appeared to signal an effort by the White House to distance itself from the F.B.I. in the debate over whether the Bush administration did enough in the summer of 2001 to deter a possible terrorist attack in the United States in the face of increased warnings.
A classified memorandum, sent around July 4, 2001, to Condoleezza Rice, the president's national security adviser, from the counterterrorism group run by Richard A. Clarke, described a series of steps it said the White House had taken to put the nation on heightened terrorist alert. Among the steps, the memorandum said, ''all 56 F.B.I. field offices were also tasked in late June to go to increased surveillance and contact with informants related to known or suspected terrorists in the United States.''"
I think The New York Times explains my point. Furthermore, I have never said that President Bush caused or was solely responsible for 9/11. All I have ever stated is that 9/11 is "a day of tragedy that might have been avoided if President Bush had listened to certain advisers prior to the 9/11 attacks." The operative words are "might"...and "listened." My facts...facts that have been checked and probably triple-checked by The New York Times - are not lies. I cannot spend any more time on this issue. I will read your next part and respond to it, but then enough already. GBD
If you read what I sent you you would see many of the steps the Bush administration took, CIA, FBI and FAA all warned and to be looking for attempting to hijack planes, the airlines were all notified they were told to look out for "disguised weapons." The FAA was put on alert as were all airports, much more as stated above. This NYT backs up that the administration did do it's job as does the 9/11 report and you just want to continue with your lie. You are truly a Bush hater to the highest level.
DeleteThink what you want. We're done here. GBD
DeleteAs usual you prefer your lies to the truth. One day you and other democrat will stand-up and be Americans first instead of Democrats first and Americans last.
DeleteAfter you make a remark like the 2-line comment above...you have the nerve to say that you're not a "hater." Democrats are Americans first. I certainly don't lie...and I don't believe President Obama or Hillary Clinton do either. We are done here, so if you care to respond to other columns in the future, I ask that you please wait until then, as we are through discussing the issues of my October 28th column. GBD
DeletePart two: I condemn any call for violence by anyone, we should remember the only violence so far has be caused by surrogates of the Clinton campaign hiring people to incite violence at Trump events. If anyone were to “spearhead riots in the streets on November 9th” it is the mainstream media which is in the tank for Clinton and the Clinton campaign itself. Why can’t you understand that we don’t think she is the “most prepared person to run for President in decades” . Her 30 years of experience has been proven to be bad and shown her bad judgment with Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Libya and of course Russia. Much of this country believes, correctly in my opinion that she is a serial liar and broken many laws, to paraphrase Mayor Giuliani and Speaker Gingrich the whole group of them should be brought up on RICO charges, Hillary, Bill, Chelsea and the gang. You must understand we don’t want to go where she and people like you want our Country to go. We don’t want our federal government to control our healthcare, our free speech, our religious rights, our schools, our guns the list goes on and on. We want the Federal government to protect our boarders (which she won’t do), keep us safe from terrorist (which she won’t do), maintain a strong military (which she won’t do), make good trade deals (which she won’t do), help out in times of natural disaster (which she probably would do) and the big one lower taxes for everyone, maybe a few other things for them to do but mainly stay the hell out of our lives. She talks about the top 20% paying more and paying their fair share, what is their fair share, right now the top 20% pays 84% of the federal income tax while earning less than 51% of the income. So what is their fair share? Clinton will ruin our Federal Courts for a generation going against what we believe the Constitution says and stand for, which is the rights of the people, limited government, and States Rights! You can claim all you want that you believe Trump will get us into a war but remember Hillary and Obama gave us ISIS and the problems in Libya and the conflicts with Russia! In closing I believe the one who is unfit is Hillary, she is corrupt, she cares only about her getting power and wealth, I am not a big fan of Trump but believe we can survive 4 years even 8 years of Trump better then we can of Hillary and what she will do to the country and the courts!
ReplyDeleteI am glad to hear that you are not one of the Trump supporters who is promoting violence if Hillary Clinton wins the election. However, that being said, your assertion - "the mainstream media, which is in the tank for Clinton and the Clinton campaign itself" - is ludicrous. It is totally untrue and there is no substantiated proof that the media is "in the tank" with "(Mrs.) Clinton and the Clinton campaign." I can understand a Republican not agreeing with Hillary Clinton and the Democrats on policies and political matters. But by virtue of her experience and all of her accomplishments as First Lady, as a United States Senator and as Secretary of State - I find it difficult to understand why you can't agree that Secretary Clinton is "prepared" to be President. Obviously, I disagree with your thinking with regards to "bad judgment" by Mrs. Clinton. Furthermore, your statement is untrue that "Much of this country believes that she is a serial liar and broken many laws." And your statement will be proven untrue on November 8th when Secretary Clinton is elected the 45th President of the United States. And for you to quote Rudy Giuliani and Newt Gingrich is laughable. Also, you state that I "must understand we don't want to go where she (Hillary Clinton) and people like you want our country to go." If Mrs. Clinton is elected then the majority of people in our country DO WANT TO GO where Hillary Clinton wants our country to go - which is forward. The rest of your comments are merely the same ridiculous rhetoric that you and other Republicans spew time and time again. Democrats are not against free speech (I'm a journalist - why would I be against the First Amendment and free speech?) Democrats are not against religious rights. And, as far as guns, Mrs. Clinton, President Obama, Democrats in general, simply want commonsense gun control laws. Your comment about taxes is flatly untrue. Mrs. Clinton insists that nobody who earns $250,000 or less will have an increase in taxes. If you make more than that...well...your taxes may go up some. And if you're in the "super-rich" category...or part of a corporate giant...then your taxes will increase. That is what America has always been about and that is what Mrs. Clinton will do. As for the U.S. Supreme Court...I have been over this 'til I'm blue in the face. The high court cannot remain as conservative as you and the Republicans want. We are a country that lives in 2016 not in 1789. Certain parts of the U.S. Constitution are interpreted differently in 2016 than they might have been more than 200 years ago. And you and other Republicans need to stop saying that President Obama and Secretary Clinton are responsible for ISIS and all your other allegations. In short, the terrorist group, ISIS, emerged from an extremist faction that gained traction after the 2003 Iraqi invastion that was led by the United States while President George W. Bush was Commander-In-Chief. That is a fact. Do your own research and you will find out that what I am stating is correct. Hillary Clinton is not at all unfit to be President, but Donald Trump is unfit and dangerous. Hillary Clinton is not corrupt and there is no proof or evidence whatsoever that can prove your false statement. You can believe what you want, but Hillary Clinton does not care about her own "power and wealth" but she wants to - and has done whatever she can - to help families, women, childen, the poor and the middle class plus all Americans who are trying to make a life for themselves in the 21st Century. Four years - and hopefully eight years - will be outstanding years with Hillary Clinton as our President. She is the best choice for our country. And the voters will show they agree with me on November 8th when Hillary Clinton becomes President-elect Hillary Clinton. GBD
DeleteOnce again you don't answer the questions, what is their fair share? You want facts, the top 20% pay 84% of federal income taxes while making 51% of the income, how much should they pay 90-95 maybe 100% of the taxes.As for ISIS the facts are that ISIS was a small band of radicals that Obama called the JV team until he with the advise of Hillary pulled all our troops out leaving a vacuum and letting ISIS grow from a few hundred to some estimates as many as 80,000 in 32 countries. As I said above I and many others honor the Constitution that calls for LIMITED GOVERNMENT, not a government that runs your life. Please answer the questions and stop with your lies!
ReplyDeleteI'll leave the answer to your first question to Hillary Clinton, when she is President...and to President Bill Clinton, who Mrs. Clinton will be putting in charge of the economy...plus economic and tax experts. President Obama never called ISIS "the JV team." Republicans have misquoted the President for 4 years. Politifact has the proof. President Obama was interviewed in 2012 by David Remnick of New Yorker magazine. The following is from Politifact. In the article, Remnick wrote, "In the 2012 campaign, Obama spoke not only of killing Osama bin Laden; he also said that Al Qaeda had been ‘decimated.’ I pointed out that the flag of Al Qaeda is now flying in Fallujah, in Iraq, and among various rebel factions in Syria; Al Qaeda has asserted a presence in parts of Africa, too." Obama responded: "The analogy we use around here sometimes, and I think is accurate, is if a JV team puts on Lakers uniforms that doesn’t make them Kobe Bryant." Remnick confirmed to PolitiFact that the interview took place on Jan. 7 and he was referencing a specific event that had happened just days before: the overtaking of the Iraq city of Fallujah on Jan. 3. Now...this is from me (GBD) - So the President never called ISIS..."the JV team." That is something Republicans need to stop saying. Now I have answered your questions - where you have lied and made up stories - so I suggest you wait until my next column before commenting again. GBD
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