Why drain the swamp if you’re going to replace it with it a cesspool?

Flynn’s loyalty towards Russia wasn’t a surprise to anyone; not Donald Trump, not his jolly sidekick Preacher Pence, not our Congress, not even the American public. If you honestly believe Flynn was forced to hand in his resignation because he misled VP Pence then I need you to know that I’m a Private Investigator handling the estate of your Great Uncle. He was a widowed Nigerian Prince with no heirs and a large inheritance. If you will just overnight me a money order I’ll wire transfer it right over to you.Seriously, if Pence was misled it’s ‘s only because he wished to be. It’s called willful ignorance or plausible deniability.

Here’s what was widely known about Flynn before he was offered the opportunity to lead our National Security Agency. In 2012 he was fired from his job as head of Defense Intelligence Agency by then POTUS Obama. Scuttlebutt is he was a terrible manager who left chaos in his wake. He went on to become a Trump surrogate and twitter conspiracy theorist. Leading chants of “lock her up” in what is described by former colleagues as unusual behavior. As recently as 2015 Flynn was a paid contributor by Russia’s state broadcaster, Russia Today, for appearing on its air. In December of that year he attended a Moscow dinner and sat as a guest of honor next to Puppetmaster Putin himself. I could go into his relations with Erdogan or quote his Islamaphobic opinions but you get the picture.

Does that sounds like an ideal candidate to you? Like someone a CEO President, whose number one priority is keeping this nation safe, would select to fill one of the most critical roles in our collective security? Flynn raised so many red flags he may as well have had a sickle and hammer tattooed into his forehead. It is one thing to be qualified for a job and a whole other thing to be fit for it.

If a refugee applied for entry into this country and their application was dependent on alternative facts, slogan and propaganda we’d send him straight to Guantanamo! We certainly would not hand him the keys to the Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall White House and access to our nation’s most sensitive secrets. That is not normal.

So I’m going to suggest something a little radical. Why don’t all of us, Democrat, Republican and Independent start holding our leaders accountable. Let’s start by demanding they conduct “routine vetting” of each and every Cabinet nominee, judicial appointee, and White House advisor from this day forward.

Heck our so called President should sign an EO tomorrow insisting upon it. After all our national security is his number one priority!

This Is Us

We never learn, we been here before. Why are we always stuck and running from the bullets, the bullets? Just stop your crying it’s a sign of the times. We gotta get away from here. We gotta get away from here. Just stop your crying it’ll be alright. They told me that the end is near. We gotta get away from here” – Harry Styles

A modern day Bob Dylan he’s not, but the man who my five year old daughter described as having “the most beautiful lips,” perfectly captures Trump’s America.

Stop your crying. Hold your faux thoughts and prayers. Raise those flags back to full mast.

This is us.

So long as we continue to dehumanize minorities, outsiders and those who look different. So long as we characterize them as “rapists,” “shithole countries,” “animals,” “enemies,” and worse,

This is us.

So long as we allow those in power to divide our nation into two camps. Secure a status quo long past the point demographics would allow, to erect a permanent caste system. So long as we are “haves and have nots” and are labeled as an “us”or “them,”

This is us.

So long as the leaders of our nation think it acceptable to bully, threaten, tweet racist dog whistles, and challenge one another to school yard brawls. So long as we elect those who deride a Civil Rights icon on social media but silently accept the endorsement of hatemongers, white supremacists and nationalists,

This is us.

So long as we falsely equate the child in the hoodie, hijab, yarmulke or Che tee with the one in the white hood, sweater vest, Confederate flag, or swastika tattoo. So long as we rip child from parent at our borders in the name of law and order,

This is us.

So long as we build walls instead of bridges. Invest in war instead of education and research grants. So long as we celebrate “American exceptionalism” but oppose student loan reform,

This is us.

So long as “we, the people” includes Goldman Sachs, Halliburton, Monsanto and Boeing and not every Trayvon, Fatima, Ellen, Matthew, and Mohammed,

This is us.

So long as we rely on the sources that broke the Bowling Green Massacre, but dub the ones that broke Watergate as “fake news,”

This is us.

So long as we are persuaded by “alternative facts,” slogans, and double speak but tune out science, photographic evidence, and statistics,

This is us.

So long as we buy the empty promises about the wonders of trickle down economics and reject efforts to raise the minimum wage,

This is us.

So long as we profess that Earth and all its things were created by God but deny global warming, pollute our rivers and drill baby drill,

This is us.

So long as we debate whether gun lockers have a greater right to privacy than our daughter’s privates. So long as we lobby that the 2nd Amendment is absolute and unequivocable, but tweet against and act to curtail the 1st and 4th,

This is us.

So long as we offer thoughts and prayers for all of God’s children, but sit nearly silent as antisemitism, Islamaphobia, and hate crimes are committed in her name,

This is us.

So long as we declare “Mission Accomplished” all while knowing it has hardly begun,

This is us.

So long as we’re more offended by the black athlete who uses his celebrity to kneel in silent protest for equality than we are the white Christian billionaire who use his bully pulpit to disparage an immigrant nation,

This is us.

https://www.newsandguts.com/link/nation-senator-jeff-merkley-saw-immigrant-detention-center-children/