Trump's Constitutional America under the Rule of Law vs. a Progressive America Ruled by Elites and Their Fascist Mobs

Nothing President Barack Obama has done better epitomizes his disregard for the rule of law and his contempt for America and its military more than his commuting the prison sentence of Chelsea Manning on Tuesday, allowing the Army intelligence officer who leaked hundreds of thousands of classified documents to go free nearly three decades early. Manning, who will now leave prison in May, was one of 209 inmates whose sentences Obama shortened. White House counsel Neil Eggleston said : "These 273 individuals learned that our nation is a forgiving nation, where hard work and a commitment to rehabilitation can lead to a second chance, and where wrongs from the past will not deprive an individual of the opportunity to move forward." • We might with good reason ask if Barack Obama equates treason with minor drug-related crimes. Bradley/Chelsea Manning's treasonous acts surely do not leave room for "the opportunity to move forward," as Obama put it. • • • THE MANNING COMMUTATION. President Obama's commutation of the sentence of Chelsea Manning, born Bradley Manning, are permanent. It can't be undone by President-Elect Donald Trump • A former Army intelligence analyst, Manning has been serving a 35-year sentence for leaking more than 700,000 classified government and military documents to WikiLeaks, along with some battlefield video. He/she was convicted in military court in 2013 of six violations of the Espionage Act and 14 other offenses, has spent more than six years in prison, and asked Obama last November to commute her sentence to time served. White House officials said the President was inclined to grant clemency to Manning because she had expressed remorse for her crimes and had served several years of her sentence. The officials briefed reporters on a conference call on condition of anonymity. Chase Strangio, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney representing Manning said of the commutation : "We are all better off knowing that Chelsea Manning will walk out of prison a free woman, dedicated to making the world a better place and fighting for justice for so many" [presumably while avoiding further treasonous acts]. Strangio said Obama's action could "quite literally save Chelsea's life." • Known as Bradley Manning at the time of her 2010 arrest, Manning came out as transgender after being sentenced, and LGBT rights groups took up her cause and lobbied the President to grant her clemency. She was held at a men's prison in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and filed a transgender prisoner rights lawsuit, although the military did approve gender-reassignment hormone therapy. She attempted suicide twice last year, according to her lawyers, citing her treatment in prison. Manning has acknowledged leaking the documents, but has she did it to raise public awareness about the effects of war on civilians. Manning has also said she was confronting gender dysphoria at the time of the leaks while deployed in Iraq. • Again, we need to ask whether faking a transgender "dysphoria" will save a future traitor from the full measure of his/her punishment for betraying America and jeopardizing the military who defend her citizens. • • • REACTION TO OBAMA'S MANNING COMMUTATION. Top congressional Republicans condemned President Obama's decision to commute the 35-year sentence of former Army intelligence analyst Manning, convicted of leaking classified documents. Senator Tom Cotton says President Obama treated "a traitor like a martyr" in commuting former soldier Chelsea Manning's prison sentence. Cotton noted : "When I was leading soldiers in Afghanistan, Private Manning was undermining us by leaking hundreds of thousands classified documents to WikiLeaks. I don't understand why the President would feel special compassion for someone who endangered the lives of our troops, diplomats, intelligence officers, and allies. We ought not treat a traitor like a martyr." House Speaker Paul Ryan blasted the decision, calling it “just outrageous," adding : "Chelsea Manning’s treachery put American lives at risk and exposed some of our nation’s most sensitive secrets. President Obama now leaves in place a dangerous precedent that those who compromise our national security won’t be held accountable for their crimes." Senator John McCain said the decision was a “grave mistake” : "It is a sad, yet perhaps fitting commentary on President Obama’s failed national security policies that he would commute the sentence of an individual that endangered the lives of American troops, diplomats, and intelligence sources by leaking hundreds of thousands of sensitive government documents to Wikileaks, a virulently anti-American organization that was a tool of Russia’s recent interference in our elections." Senator Marco Rubio said : “It is shameful that President Obama is siding with lawbreakers and the ACLU against the men and women who work every day to defend our nation and safeguard US government secrets.” Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn told Fox News that while pardons are a Constitutional tool in the President's repertoire : "Obama is...granting clemency at an alarming rate." According to ABC News, Defense Secretary Ash Carter was one of the US officials opposed to the White House’s decision to commute Manning’s sentence. In his plea for a pardon, Manning’s lawyer characterized his client’s crimes as having little real effect on the men and women working with US intelligence : “None of the disclosed documents caused any real damage to the United States,” he wrote. “Instead, these documents simply embarrassed our country by revealing misconduct by the Department of Defense and unethical practices by the Department of State.” Defense officials do not agree. One source told Fox News that Manning’s revelations reverberated throughout the Middle East : “Ambassadors were forced to resign, [CIA] station chiefs had to be recalled, secret diplomatic cables were revealed.” • There was scant approval for Obama's commutation. Standing almost alone was another American who leaked classified documents and then sought protection in Russia -- former NSA contractor Edward Snowden praised the decision : "In five more months, you will be free. Thank you for what you did for everyone, Chelsea. Stay strong a while longer." • It isn't yet clear what Obama's commutation for Manning would mean for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who earlier pledged that he would agree to US extradition if Obama granted clemency to Manning. Protected in the Ecuadorean embassy in London, Assange has expressed concern that if he left he would be extradited to the US to face espionage charges. But the Justice Department has never publicly announced any indictment against Assange, who is also being investigated by Sweden for a possible sex crime. White House officials wouldn't say Tuesday whether there were sealed charges against Assange, but said his pledge to surrender to the US didn't figure in Obama's decision to commute Manning's sentence. Melinda Taylor, who serves on Assange's legal team, said he would not go back on his word, but she didn't elaborate about possible extradition. • • • WASHINGTON PREPARES FOR THE INAUGURATION. In the most virulent atmosphere ever seen -- at least since the inauguration of President Lincoln in 1861 -- US security authorities organizing Donald Trump's inauguration as President on Friday have said they plan tough barriers against the kinds of jihadist-inspired truck attacks that left dozens dead last year in France and Germany. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said last week that the government sees no immediate threats for the January 20 inauguration, during which close to a million people could amass in downtown Washington. Johnson said US authorities have ramped up security preparations in light of the rise of "lone wolf" type attacks, including recent atrocities in Nice, France, and Berlin, Germany, in which attackers drove trucks into large crowds. But he stressed: "We know of no specific credible threat" to the Trump inauguration. When he spoke to reporters, Secretary Johnson was at a secure communications facility west of the capital where dozens of US agencies will coordinate security for the inauguration at which 700,000-900,000 people are expected, including 99 different protest groups. Johnson said 28,000 security officials will be deployed, but added that "The global terrorist environment is very different even from 2013" when President Barack Obama was inaugurated for his second term : "We have to be concerned about home-grown violent extremism, home-born violent extremism, acts of self-radicalization. Aside from that, there is the larger picture of just general public safety when you have a large public gathering such as this." Johnson said that with the two truck attacks in Europe in mind, the area for the inauguration ceremony and parade will be even more heavily cordoned off than four years ago and heavily fortified against unauthorized vehicles by the use of heavy trucks, dump trucks and trucks with cement. • Secret Service Director Joseph Clancy said the threat environment for this inauguration is "different" from previous ones : "I think people today are willing to do things they may not have been willing to do in the past. Every night I wake up and I wonder do we have some issue covered." Secret Service agents have conducted nonstop training exercises designed to counter any attacks during the inaugural, according to WTOP radio reports. • Paul Abbate, FBI executive assistant director for the Criminal, Cyber, Response and Services Branch, is also concerned : "We know that this (Washington region) is a high-profile [terror] target. It's been attacked in the past, historically." • INAUGURATION PROTESTS. Meanwhile, in addition to the hundreds of protests being planned on-site at the inauguration, a group of protestors are reportedly plotting to "take down" the White House website on Friday. The plan was announced through PR Newswire, quoting organizers : "On January 20, hundreds of thousands of Americans are going to Washington DC to march in protest of the inauguration of Donald Trump. Millions more around the country will be joining the cause from home....by occupying [the White House website]." • One of the larger protest is being organized and supported by former Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, who recently announced her support for the Occupy Inauguration protests organized for January 20 and 21. The initiative, which has received support from Progressive groups and movements, including Occupy Wall Street and Veterans For Peace, urges Americans to stand united “against the oligarch [there is a new epithet for Trump -- Progressives have called him many things, but never an oligarch à la the Russian oligarchs of the 1990s] and demand representation for the people.” In a statement on Stein’s campaign website, the Green Party wrote : “On January 20th, we will join thousands of people and organizations from around the country in Washington DC to Occupy Inauguration -- sending a message to Trump that we reject his illegitimate presidency from the very start." The Occupy Inauguration movement, a mass rally and protest scheduled to take place in Washington, said on its website its members opposed Wall Street’s dominance and a “rigged political and economic system. We stand against both the danger Trump represents and the corruption that backed [Hillary] Clinton. Neither party represents the interests of the 99%. The goal of this action is to build a new independent coalition movement for the 99% that stands outside the stranglehold duopoly of the GOP and DNC [Democratic National Committee]. We recognize the establishments of the Republican and Democratic parties to be part of the problem, so we will not be inviting leadership from, or endorsement by them.” • Trump’s inauguration is also the target of Black lawmakers, who have announced that they've planned for protests ahead of January 20, adding that Trump is “not a normal incoming President.” Representative Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat, told Politico : “The stakes are incredibly high and our community is counting on us as the last line of defense between Donald Trump and the worst of what America could offer” [but with two days left until Inauguration Day, we have yet to see any of the Black congressional protests materialize]. • The DC Counter-Inaugural Welcoming Committee, also called DisruptJ20, has also planned for “a series of massive direct actions that will shut down the inauguration ceremonies and any related celebrations, issuing a statement that said : ”We fully support the massive and spontaneous eruption of resistance across the United States that’s happened since the election. We’re hoping that #DisruptJ20 can help people find each other, connect issues, and be a part of building a movement for a better world. Beyond that, the DC Welcoming Committee doesn’t feel the need to speak on anyone’s behalf. The anger on the streets speaks loudly enough." • • • "FASCISM." The real danger is not President Trump, it is the non-democratic Progressive Democrat Left that will not accept the constitutional process for electing a US President. They lost and so they are willing -- as they have alway been willing on other issues -- to throw away the Constitution, the rule of law, and the tradition of peaceful transfer of power in America. New Democratic Facebook groups targeting Trump and the Trump agenda appear on Facebook every day. Last week, a full-page ad by a new group, called refusefascism, appeared in the New York Times. Branding its opponents as "fascists" has been a standard tactic of the global Left since the 1980s. So, on one level, nothing is new in the Trump protests. But, while conservative, Republican and other Americans can laugh at the label "deplorables" and make it an honor to be one, it is not true when the Progressive Democrat Left machine labels them "fascists." Conservatives and Republicans don't try to poke fun at the label because it is difficult to know exactly what "fascist" means today. • In 2009, the BBC wrote an article that tried to define "fascism" -- not an easy task when every non-Progressive person or entity is mindlessly labeled "fascist." The BB noted that : "Both Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolin are often categorised as fascists. 'Fascist' and 'fascism' are terms that one might suppose to be simple badges, but dig beneath the surface and there are myriad complexities and a morass of academic debate. It is more than six decades since the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany, but those events are the prism through which the word 'fascism' is still viewed. The first 'fascist' movement to gain power was Mussolini's Blackshirts in Italy in 1922. Their movement could certainly be said to be nationalist and authoritarian, as well as accepting of violence in the struggle for political power, but much of the rest of its characteristics have been subject to academic dispute. 'Frustratingly, I can't give a simple definition,' says Kevin Passmore, reader in history at Cardiff University and author of Fascism: A Very Short Introduction. 'It depends on definitions.' " • The BBC concludes that there isn't an answer to the question, "what is fascism." • But, several elements apply. "Fascists" are authoritarian and nationalist, relegating the individual to a lower position, while the State is glorified. Racism, that is, favoring one race or ethnic group above others, is part of the definition. Thus, we can think of fascism as a blend of the common attributes of Italian Fascism and German Nazism. German Nazism and Italian Fascism share the common threads of authoritarian government, bound together by subjugation of the individual to the State, through racial or ethnic identities, in a centrally planned economy that is independent of international markets. Stalinist Communism would fit this definition, except for its dependence on the Marxist strategy of "class" rather than "race." • Fascism today is often taken as synonymous with the Far Right, but in fact it is now, and always has been, a Socialist movement. Both the Italian Fascist and the German Nazi parties advocated a State-controlled and planned economy, centralized authority and collectivism (sacrificing individual liberty to the ends of society). • So, today, when the Progressive Left applies the word "fascist" as a stain on anyone who disagrees with their political and economic views, those labeled should recognize that the Progressives themselves are "fascist" and not their conservative and GOP targets. The smear should be turned back on the Progressive Democrat Left who are in reality the centrally-planned, authoritarian, racially-or-class-driven subjugators of the individual in favor of the Deep State. • • • And that, DEAR READERS, brings us to January 20 -- Inauguration Day in what will be the single greatest change in the governing principles of the United States since Franklin Roosevelt imposed the New Deal on America in 1932. The attacks of the Progressive Democrat Left are sobering. They represent the most serious attacks on American constitutional democracy since the 1970s assault on Republicans after the trouncing of Democrat Leftist George McGovern by Republican Richard Nixon in 1972. The American Thinker wrote recently : "Nixon's resignation happened within 21 months of the greatest presidential landslide in American history. As Hillary Clinton in 2016, George McGovern lost the presidential election of 1972. But the Nixon administration's overreaction from 1969-1972 to the Left's unending assault on the presidency, our national security, and our institutions ultimately succeeded in handing the American Left its goal. America and the world paid for it for years." The American Thinker concludes by saying that the current protesters, the anti-Trump Progressives "are not, most of them, America's enemies. So we should use laughter rather than vitriol to defeat them. But defeat them we must. The one thing the Devil cannot stand is laughter." • But, even though it wrought a particular havoc on the United States that still defines the political agenda, Watergate and the Nixon impeachment were of another time -- an epoch when most Americans still played by two common rules : the rule of law, and a constitutional playbook looking to Congress to solve a conflict between branches of government. Today, there is no acceptance by the Progressive Democrat Left of constitutional authority -- they have shredded the Constitution in the years since Watergate and now see it as a book of meaningless aphorisms that point to whatever end they seek. They do not believe in any rules, let alone the constitutional rule of law -- that would be inconvenient because they would lose their unconstitutionally taken grip on America's future. And, that is the reason they attack police so frontally. Police represent the rule of law. They support the Constitution. They defend individual freedom and fight those who want to relegate law to whatever the Progressive Democrat Left says it is at any moment to justify their goal of destroying constitutional America. • So, while we do not seek armed conflict or street fights as the solution, it is important to realize who the enemy is and to stiffen our determination to match theirs. It is not 1972. It is 2017. Donald Trump is the duly elected, soon to be sworn in, President of the United States. It is our last, best chance to save ourselves from the Progressive destroyers of America, the fascists who believe they can beat us because we play by rules while they do not, having no rule but 'victory' by whatever means available. And that includes Obama's commutation of a traitor's prison sentence. In these times so perilous for America, it would be wise to think of President Lincoln's desire in an even more troubled time : "My dream is of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of earth." That is the victory sought by President Trump and those who support his vision of a constitutional America under the rule of law.