January 5, 2018
MY CORNER by Boyd Cathey
The Bannon Statements, the Media Hysteria, and A Word about Nikki Haley
Friends,
This
is one of those days I had planned to take a brief respite—a day off, a break.
Indeed, a recurrence of painful shingles (yes, they DO come back after the
first attack as something called “post-herpetic neuralgia”), plus my elderly
14-year old cocker spaniel experiencing nocturnal bouts of what I would call
canine dementia (wandering around making weird noises at 3 a.m.), and the young
2-year old spaniel, having gobbled up a portion of a wash cloth, getting sick
on my bed (again around 3 a.m.)—with all this, plus an appointment today at
11:30, temperatures hovering around 10 degrees F and a snow pack, well, all I
wanted to do this morning was return, shivering, to my covers!
But
after a chilly dog walk, a cup of strong coffee and a bowl of nourishing oatmeal,
there is already too much in the news to remain silent….
First,
a few brief words about the apparent conflict between President Trump and Steve
Bannon. I think most of us were shocked by the news that in a new “tell-all”
book by Michael Wolf [Fire and Fury],
Bannon offers some criticisms, mostly of Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner,
but also of the president (mostly about his financial dealings). As with all
“tell-all” books, much of what is conveyed is certainly “massaged,” based on rumor
and not fact-based. That shouldn’t be surprising, indeed, with this author who
is widely known as what we would call a “hack journalist.”
But
what about Bannon? Why his broadsides? Did author Wolf quote him correctly? Is
he just expressing his disappointment that the “Trump Revolution” hasn’t gone
far enough to please him? Is it sour grapes, or…what?
At
this point, no clear explanation seems to answer all those questions.
Nevertheless, as commentaries continue, one thing is evident: Bannon’s strategy
here was badly focused and way off target.
To
quote Napoleon’s wily Minister of Police, Joseph Fouche’ (although attributed
also to Talleyrand), about the horribly-contrived assassination (1804) of the
Bourbon Prince de Conde (on foreign soil and thus setting off war), Bannon’s
ill-contrived strategy “is worse than a crime; it is a political blunder.” For
whatever gain, personal or otherwise, that might accrue, his loose comments do
nothing to enhance his position or supposed cause, while providing additional
kernels of grist for the president’s legion of enemies….
Nevertheless,
the various revelations have incited, anew, a whole slew of Mainstream Media
speculation that “the president is unbalanced and unfit” for office. This isn’t
the first time that media such as CNN and MSNBC have raised such a specter, nor
is it the first time that media celebrities (e.g., Joe Scarborough and his
honey, Mika Brzezinski, on MSNBC) have made that suggestion. Which only goes to
prove that, with their Establishment along-the-Potomac “swamp mind set,” they
do not comprehend the “Trump template” that came marching into Washington last
winter. As bona fide cardholding
members of the Deep State they look upon any politician—indeed, anyone—who does not see like they see or
act like they act, as “mentally unfit.” And they would simply love to use this
argument to set in motion the process of the 25th amendment allowing
the removal of an incapacitated president. But, on the contrary, in this they
resemble much more the political pseudo-psychiatrists in the old Soviet Union
who condemned dissenting (read=non-Communist) Russians to “thought/mental
re-habilitation centers” to be “re-educated” in the glories and benefits of the
Soviet system and workers’ paradise.
Rather,
it is they, the denizens of the
Mainstream Media newsrooms in Manhattan and Washington DC, the Democrat (and some
Republican) politicians clustered along “K Street,” the academics and Hollywood
literati, that are the ones who are certifiably insane and “unfit,” who have
inverted the natural order of things and created a cocooned “counter-reality”
that exists only in their unhinged and exploding brains, a sure sign of their
raging lunacy.
Professor
Robert Weissberg, emeritus professor at the University of Illinois, has written
a scathingly witty—at times profoundly critical—on the mark description of
these “establishmentarians,” in particular, of the overpaid and puffed-up
elites who run today’s “conservative movement,” which he calls “conservative
inc.” It is too good to pass up, and I urge you to read it. [“The Wimps of
Conservative Inc. and the Donald,” https://www.unz.com/article/the-wimps-of-conservative-inc-versus-the-donald/ ]
In 1,300 words he sums up what some
of us have been saying, what we have noticed to be true about the doddering
“conservative movement,” now “possessed” by the Young Turks of Neoconservatism,
who have denatured it, prostituted it, and hitched it to the egalitarian racial
and sexual wagon of cultural Marxism—even if most of its luminaries would haughtily
reject that genealogy.
And
then there is a piece of news that for some reason hasn’t made it to this side
of the Atlantic, at least not into any “reputable” media outlet, and certainly
not onto Fox News. Apparently—I have seen no contradiction of it as of yet—two
Russian hackers managed to contact UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, pretending to be
Polish government leaders. There followed a twenty-two minute conversation,
which was recorded, in which Haley appears to have been, as they say down in
Johnston County, “hornswoggled”—tricked—into talking about the new nation of “Binomo”
in the South China Sea…the only problem is that there is no nation of “Binomo,” it was made up!
The
whole story seems hard to accept as real—is this just more “fake news”? Yet it
has been reported by one of the world’s major newspapers as fact, The Independent of London (UK) [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/nikki-haley-russia-binomo-prank-us-ambassador-election-hacking-interfere-putin-a8133041.html] and an audio recording has been made available.
Arguably Nikki Haley has been the worst appointment
made by President Trump; every time she speaks it is as if a deer was caught in
the headlights of a semi, with her speechwriters wondering, on edge, if she
would get the capital of Germany right or the prime minister of Australia’s
name correct. Some theorize that her appointment to the UN post was made to
placate and neutralize the opposition of Senator Lindsey Graham to the
president, as she is Graham’s protégé. But for whatever reason, for her to be
seated in the position once held by Adlai Stevenson (and even Jeane
Kirkpatrick) is an incredible insult to genuine and thoughtful diplomacy. Not to mention her disastrous political
career as South Carolina’s governor (and, yes, her utterly loathsome cowardice
in removing the Confederate Battle Flag from the state capitol and her mouthing
of the worst of politically correct blabbering in her own defense).
But this incident, if true, certainly takes the
cake:
Two Russian comedians apparently managed to get our UN Ambassador,
Nikki Haley, on the phone after the UN vote on the Jerusalem issue. Vladimir
Kuznetsov and Alexei Stolyarov connected with her by impersonating the Prime
Minister of Poland. Sure, we already knew she was an imbecile. However, the audio
from this 22-minute conversation reveals the dark depths of her stupidity. At
11:22 into the call, the pranksters decided to sink the knife in. They brought
up the issue of a fictional locale of “Binomo” in the South China Sea, which
had just taken a vote for independence. The comedian implied that Russian
“intervention” was to blame, and Haley assured him, “Yes, of course they did.
Absolutely,” because the US has been “watching very closely”….
[followed with an audio recording of the conversation] [“The U.S. Ambassador to the UN claimed the Kremlin influenced a vote in
a fictional country, as the Russia narrative continues to collapse,” by Tom
Shakleford, December 29, 2017, at http://fashthenation.com/2017/12/nikki-haley-gets-hacked-by-russia/]
And more details have surfaced:
“…A Russian comedy
duo has apparently pranked US envoy to the UN Nikki Haley, who assured them the
US is closely following the situation on the fictional island of Binomo and
will “continue to remind” Russia “what their place is.”
“Famous Russian pranksters Vovan and Lexus (Vladimir Kuznetsov and
Alexey Stolyarov) released the recording of yet another one of their prank
calls, in which they allegedly tricked Nikki Haley into believing she was
speaking with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
“During the 22-minute conversation with their interlocutor, whose voice
and tone strikingly resembled that of the UN envoy, the pranksters raised
concerns over Russian interference in the political affairs of an imaginary
South China Sea island – Binomo – which does not exist on the world map. Haley,
however, seemed to be on top of things, claiming the US is watching the
situation there very carefully.
“Do you know Binomo?” the impersonator asked. “They have declared independence. They had
elections, and we suppose Russians had its intervention.”
“Yes, of course they did,
absolutely,” Haley confidently replied.
“And now this Binomo land makes the situation
in the South China Sea even more tense,” the pranksters said, posing as the Polish PM.
“And we’re aware of that. We've been watching that very closely. And I
think we will continue to watch as we deal with the issues that keep coming up
about the South China Sea,” Haley replied.
Continuing with the issue of alleged Russian interference in the
world’s political affairs, the Polish PM-imposter asked Haley whether or not “Putin
[will] be aggressive regarding Europe next year?”
“It is hard to know what Russia is
doing right now. I think what we have seen in the Security Council and
otherwise is they are trying to be relevant in every region and they are trying
to have some sort of say in every region,” she replied. “In some cases, it has worked for them and
in some cases, it hasn’t. So they don't have the influence that I think they
would like to have but they are certainly trying to get that.”
“I think that many of the other
countries, whether it is the Security Council or otherwise, are watching it
very cautiously and carefully to make sure that they don't get too much of a
foothold where they can cause chaos,” she continued.
“They are aggressive
and they can be difficult to work in the Council... And they do try to cause
some disruption, but we manage them and we continue to remind them what their
place is,” Haley told the
‘Polish PM,’ just days before Poland begins a two-year term as a non-permanent
member of the UN Security Council (UNSC). [https://www.rt.com/news/414086-prank-nikki-haley-russia-place/]
As
the saying goes, you can’t make this sort of thing up.
Dr.
Boyd D. Cathey
Where is Sarah Palin when her country needs her? And, stay warm, Dr. Cathey.
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