2016 Dec 6^th

New and troubling information surfaces about Lt. General Mike Flynn, Trump’s National Security Advisor. This position needs no senate confirmation; Trump gets whomever he wants.

Here are a few gems about this fine Trump selection: Days before the election, Flynn tweeted a story claiming the NYPD had found evidence on Anthony Weiner's laptop "to put Hillary (Clinton) and her crew away for life;" it was false!

In late October, Flynn retweeted another false story that United Nations Agenda 21, a sustainable development program, would create a one world church where Christianity was prohibited and that choosing nationalism was the only way to stop Clinton.

In July, Flynn linked to a tweet that falsely claimed Clinton was "wearing hijab in solidarity with islamic terrorists." The picture was from a 2009 trip Clinton took to Pakistan as secretary of state, in which she donned a head covering during a visit to a mosque as a diplomatic courtesy.

A day or so ago we had a “self-investigator” armed with an assault rifle fire a round into a pizza parlor that had been mentioned in a fake news story as a child porn hangout; that story was supported by Michael Flynn’s son Michael Flynn Jr. who had served as an assistant to his father.

Fake news stories are not new; We had the “swift boating” of Senator Kerry. This consisted of a tissue of lies about his Viet Nam war record. Then we had the absurdity of Trump’s accusation that President Obama was not born in this country. He has not retracted that and now just says that he doesn’t want to talk about it anymore.

Polls have shown that a significant proportion of Republicans believe President Obama is a Muslim. The proportion depends on how the question is asked but it is not less than a third. I would guess that after Trump and party move into the White House, the esteemed General Flynn, the National Security Advisor, will announce that he has found a collection of prayer rugs hidden under the mattress in the Lincoln Bedroom.

Fake news is a problem but so is simple ignorance. Here is a glaring example:  Trump is busy braying about how he will put a 35 percent tariff on any goods brought back into this country by American plants relocating their manufacturing overseas. He has been elected president on the Republican ticket but the Republican Party platform has been for free and open trade; it still is. Moreover, as I wrote in a previous blog, tariffs are not set by the president but by congress. If Trump tries to push against congress’ prerogatives, he will get his fingers slapped quite smartly. He was not elected King and he will find that out!