Opinion : Letter to the Editor: Rebuttal

Editor:

A rebuttal to a comment by Darrin Linsey.

Spin – A+ Narrative A+ - substance F-

How can you call Paul Manafort incarceration in Solitary Confinement a “fairy tale”?  You make it seem like it is a “walk in the Park”.  I hardly think Manafort thinks that way even if he has the amenities you spoke of.  How do you know this—didn’t think this was common knowledge?  Anyway, he has been sentenced to 71/2 years in Federal Prison.  There is no parole in the Federal system at age 70 he may die there.  If he is as bad as Andrew Weissman says so be it, but still, I think solitary is cruel and inhuman a violation of the 8^th Amendment…..”Excessive bail shall not be imposed nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted”.  Solitary confinement before trial and after sentencing is not cruel and unusual?   From Wikipedia: --- “Rikers Island has a reputation for abuse and neglect of inmates, attracting increased media and judicial scrutiny that has resulted in numerous rulings against the New York City government. It is also notorious for numerous assaults by inmates on uniformed and civilian staff, resulting in often serious injuries. In May 2013, Rikers Island ranked as one of the ten worst correctional facilities in the United States, based on reporting in Mother Jones magazine.  Violence on Rikers Island has been increasing in recent years. In 2015 there were 9,424 assaults, the highest number in 5 years."

The above and the statement from my first post were based on the best information I had at the time.  This just in from Fox and Friends Judge Andrew Napolitano:  Paul Manafort was jailed in a Federal Facility in Pennsylvania and will be moved to a Federal Facility in New York pending trial in state court.  The comment about Rikers Island stands.  As an added note The Judge noted --- On Monday, the Supreme Court ruled that a person can be charged and tried in state and federal court for the same crime.  This on the face of it appears to be a violation of the 5^th Amendment…..” nor shall any person be subject to the same offense be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb….”  What New York legal is doing is on it face a violation of “Double Jeopardy”  and is not justice, but vengeance.  I have no doubt he will be found guilty and the sentence will be longer and will be served after the Federal one; which means effectively a death sentence.

Next item:  I did not say I read the Mueller report I said a careful reading did not sustain “collusion”.  I took the word of Senator Lindsey Graham that “obstruction of Justice” would not be prosecuted.  He as a Reserve Air Force Officer has served on the Air Force JAG Corps for many years and as a lawyer, I trusted his judgment.   As a matter of record, the reason for the Mueller investigation was Collusion, but as has happened they went to other avenues as well which to me looks like a witch hunt for anyone on  President Trump’s staff for even a short time.  Why go after Corsi or Papadopoulos or General Flynn?  They were indeed harassed to the point of coping a plea.  It is hard to stand up to a corrupt government inquiry which has unlimited funding.

Next item:  Concerning Impeachment by the House of Representatives.  Maxine Waters and other Democrats have spoken of Impeaching Present Trump from the very day of his election.  She and others have continued to bray on and on.  I would have expected that they would have done their own investigation and brought up the articles by now.  But, no- now they will do further investigation beyond the Mueller two year investigation with millions spent and no definitive conclusion.

Next item:  Iran --- Dropping out of the deal by President Trump was the correct thing to do.  President Obama with Sec State Kerry drew up the flawed deal to prevent nuclear expansion and prevent further development of long-range missiles with inspections to concur compliance.  Neither has happened.  If the two were so positive about the deal’s success why did they not present it to the Senate to confirm as a treaty?  Obviously, it would not pass, so it really wasn’t a deal at all.  Good grief the billions are given and seized property returned because to not do so would violate International law  --- Let these International lawyers enforce it if they can.  They have used that money to further harm and kill allied soldiers and finance Hezbollah, Hamas and other terrorist groups attacking Saudi Arabia, and Israel and others in the process.  It was one of the dumbest things President Obama has done during his Presidency.  I stand by what I have written. 

Next item:  President Carter.  With the taking of hostages from our Iranian Embassy the U.S. and Iran have been in a low-grade War since then.  There is no reason what so ever that the U.S. should ever be reasonable to that terrorist government.

Next item:  Benghazi:  Naval Air Base Sigonella, Italy (Sicily, Italy), on an island close to Libya.  I received many emails authored by retired senior military officers that were incensed that no rescue action was taken.   We had fast reaction teams made up of Special Forces that could have been deployed.  Also, there were assets located at Tripoli.  Also, these officers stated, knowing the region well, that there were American Fighter aircraft based further North in Italy.  As they described these aircraft could have been flown to Sigonella fast fueled and flew to Benghazi in a short time.  Flying at point nine Mach number is damn fast – I know I’ve done so.  Even if they had no weapons loaded a buzz job at supersonic speed would have done physical damage to the terrorist ears and scared the hell out of them.  There was plenty of time as this attack lasted some 13 hours.  The real problem was inaction in the White House and State Department.  President Obama did not give “cross border authority” to our assets there to attempt a rescue.  These Officers also stated that a fast group was alerted, but were ordered do doff their uniforms.  Good Grief – a real genius ordered that.  These uniforms are specially designed to carry all kinds of equipment these soldiers would need for armed combat.   Get the point – “Cross Border Authority” not given!!!  The four soldiers on the scene fought well and with great courage and distinction bringing great credit upon themselves and all Americans.

Next item:   Our Southern border.  Good grief.  If what you say President Obama did was so credible – why is our border still open.  It seems that each Democrat vying for the Presidential Nomination wants open borders.  Not good policy and really dumb in my opinion 

Next item:  Newt Gingrich – you say run out by his own party.  Does that make him wrong in his actions and assessments?  Not hardly!  In any event, he resigned the speakership and his seat.  Joe Biden is still a doofus and wrong on everything especially foreign policy.

One more item:  You say I am a science denier.  Hardly.  Science is never settled.  Innovation and new technologies advance science.  I believe the “new green deal” to be pure folly.   There is no question the U. S. is right to get out of the Paris Accords.  The United States has done well in efforts to reduce greenhouse emissions.  The advent of “fracking” bringing more and more Natural Gas online is a big part of the effort.  Looking at the big polluters they are the Socialist/Communist Countries of Russia and China.  The U. S. is doing a great job in comparison.  As a pilot and farmer, I have been an amateur weather observer for many years.  I know the most correct forecast or observation is what I see out of my windscreen.  Weather forecasters can predict reasonably well out to three days, but out to five days, the accuracy goes down appreciably.  All of the climate change models are computer generated, how can it be possible to predict weather decades out with any degree of accuracy?  I am suggesting our local weather is influenced by the location of the Jet Stream as it passes over the Midwest.  Our weather does change – no day is exactly like the day before no year is exactly like the year before.  We have had wet years (one that sticks in my memory is 1992 – rain, rain, rain and little sunlight.  It takes the sun to give the necessary heat units to grow our crops.  My corn yields were down 30 bushels per acre from years of averages.  We will see those events again as well as droughts like ’77, ’83 and others.

Just in:  The Department of State is investigating 30 Security Violations perhaps committed by 15 named people.  I will certainly be following this story.

Still Deplorable and irreconcilable -  Yours in standing up to the Looney Left.

John Stiegelmeyer

Vinton