It Was One Year Ago This Month When !!!

Candidate Donald Trump at a campaign rally asked Russia to find Hillary Clinton's emails because he was hoping to find something damaging on her.  The news media only reported the story in general and failed to understand the significance of what Trump said as it related to hacking into an American's privacy.  However, this writer did and wrote commentary concerning it here in PolitiDose titled, A Traitor Among Us, dated July 31, 2016.

And now today, with all the new revelations concerning members of Trump's family (son and son in law) meeting with Russian agents one can see how Trump's request of Russia a year ago fits in with Russia's hacking into the election and the democratic national committee's records in order to support Trump for the Presidency.  American intelligence confirmed long ago Russia wanted Trump to become President.  In other words, Russian hacking was not a isolated act, it was carried out for a purpose and Trump's campaign was willing to cooperate.  And this writer believes Donald Trump knew what was taking place.  Members of his campaign, especially his son and son in law would have talked to Trump about the meetings.

The Trump-Russian affair even undermines the U.S. relations with our NATO allies, especially after all the negative remarks Trump has made concerning NATO.  And of course Putin and Russia would love to see a splintered and ineffective NATO led by the U.S.  Trump has put America in harms way with family advisers that do his bidding but are not professional or experienced in political matters and diplomacy.  Plus they themselves hate government and people who do have political understanding.

Hopefully, the special prosecutor can complete the investigation in a timely matter concerning the Trump-Russia affair.


This commentary written by Joe Lorio

President Obama's Policies Toward ISIS Gave The U.S. The Upper Hand On Fighting Terror

Has anyone noticed that the news media and the present administration hardly talk about ISIS any more?  Trump tried to use ISIS and Obama's policy as an issue and all the while ISIS was being ejected from every area it occupied in Iraq.  And just last week Iraq announced it ejected ISIS from Mosul, the largest city in northern Iraq where ISIS was dug in after being captured over 20 months ago.

Iraqi forces with U.S. air and ground support and other allies turned the tide in Iraq.  Numerous ISIS top leaders have been killed by U.S. air strikes, their supplies destroyed and funds that helped ISIS recruit and procure weapons have been shut down.  The ISIS threat in Iraq has been reduced to isolated bombings.  ISIS is now more pre-occupied with terror more in the European nations where the targets are easier.  But that will also change as other countries improve their security and learn more about fighting terror.

And President Obama's policies worked with out exposing large amounts of U.S. troops to terror attacks.  It was a huge turn around from what the President inherited when he took office in 2009.  The Trump administration was the beneficiary of that turn around but after almost 6 months in office, Trump still has no policy in place on the middle east or the fight against terror.  Only so called tough talk.


This commentary written by Joe Lorio

Hillary Clinton, Out Of Politics, But Not Forgotton

Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 Presidential election, won the popular vote by almost 3 million votes and now a civilian has maintained intact her character, courage, integrity and devotion to America and public service.  Her accomplishments come despite the vicious lies by her republican opponents who could not compete on the issues or articulate any policy of their own.

Her early warnings about Trump during the campaign fell on deaf ears and now the real crooked candidate is in the White House and probably on the road to impeachment.  Clinton's thoughts on the economy, Russia and how to deal with the ACA during the campaign now engulfs the Trump administration and the republican party to the point of being a non functional party and government.

While Trump and his party continue to lie and attack everyone, Hillary is satisfied being a wife, mother and grandmother and staying silent on most of the damage being done by the President.  Now it is up to the powers that be in politics to straighten out the mess.  No doubt Hillary will speak out from time to time on the major issues and rightly so, but won't allow herself to stoop to the low of the present administration.

Hillary Clinton did her best while in politics and was loyal to her country and its people.  She will be treated kindly by history when the time comes to write the final chapter.  In the mean time her leadership and knowledge is greatly missed.  And in November she won the most important aspect of politics and life, that is truth, character and courage.


This commentary written by Joe Lorio

Trump Jr. Said He Wanted To Be Transparent: Yeah, Right.

Donald Trump Jr. said he wanted to be transparent with a Russian agent and that is why he made his emails public about the matter.  His father, the President tweeted that same line of transparency to back up his son's statement.  The reality  of the story is that Trump Jr. only made his emails public after the New York Times broke the story of his meeting and was also ready to make his emails public.

Transparency concerning the Trump-Russian affair has never taken place.  Both the President and Vice President Pence are on the record as saying on numerous occasions that the Trump campaign had no contact with Russia which has proven to be out right lies.  And the New York Times just exposed the lie once again with their story of Trump Jr's meeting with a Russian agent.

The Trumps seem like they have a life living in the world of "dirt" and Trump Jr. loved the thought of Russia possessing some "dirt" on Hillary Clinton.  But in the end, it was Trump Jr. who was covered with "dirt."  Russia knew what Presidential candidate they could deal with and influence and that is why they backed Donald Trump.  They also knew Trumps' campaign would do any thing to meet with the Russians.  And sadly, Russia is still pulling Trump's strings.


This commentary written by Joe Lorio

The Trumps: We Know Where Their Loyalty Lies

Little by little America continues to discover just how deep President Trump, his campaign and his family is involved with Russia concerning the 2016 Presidential campaign and election.  The latest revelation according to the New York Times was Donald Trump Jr's meeting with a foreign agent for Russia for the purpose of finding "dirt" on Hillary Clinton.  That is called collusion with Russia and a possible violation of federal election laws.  It was later announced that Trump Jr. has hired an attorney to represent himself in the matter.  So far, President Trump, Vice President Pence, Trumps son in law Jared Kushner, Donald Trump Jr, former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and others connected to the Trump campaign have hired attorneys to represent them concerning the Russian matter.

What a sad time in America when the President, some of his top aids and family members show more loyalty to a foreign government (one that tried to influence the election in Trump's favor according to American intelligence) than the United States.  Trump's campaign and his Presidency has been one big lie, aided by some family members and others whose only interest is personal gain.  After Donald Trump Jr's meeting with the Russian agent was exposed, he tried to say all candidates try to find "dirt" on their opponents.  But caught flak for that comment from past GOP campaign managers who said such a meeting would never have taken place on their watch and that the meeting tells where Trump's loyalty lies.

PolitiDose, in past commentary pointed out months ago that the Trump-Russian affair would continue to unfold over time and that the worst has yet to come.  The next story that breaks could be the BIG ONE.  In the mean time the evidence keeps building the case for collusion and the dark side of a President unfit to be in office and tainted to the point never before seen in an American Presidency.  It truly is a sad time in America when such a person freely chooses a foreign adversary over his own country.

Former President Obama and Hillary Clinton are so much head and heels over Trump in every way possible.  Their loyalty to the United States and the positions they served in were honorable in every way.  History is proving they gave of themselves for the good of the country and its people in a positive way.  What they stood for is missed and lacking in the present administration.  What a shame and shame for America and its people.


This commentary written by Joe Lorio

North Korea: Another Big First For PolitiDose

The Times Picayune in its reflection section of July 9 carried two articles concerning the N. Korea problem and what can or can not be done about it.  The main title was, "The Threat From N. Korea."  One of the articles was written by Laura Rosenberger who was director for China and Korea at the national security council under President Obama and a member of the six party talks delegations on North Korea's nuclear program in the George W. Bush administration.   So its obvious Ms. Rosenberger is well qualified to speak on the subject matter because of her experience.

The main points of Ms. Rosenberger commentary was President Trump's sounds off with chest-thumping statements on twitter (this writer calls it Trump's so called tough talk) which is a very reckless reaction and one that risks miscalculation by adversary and ally alike.  Ms. Rosenberger explains that Trump's statements and tweets do not represent policy and therefore dangerous.  And in fact says it is not clear that Trump has any sense of what our strategy toward N. Korea is.  She goes on to detail and explains how N. Korea and our allies might mis-interpret Trump's words.

The second article was written by James Stauridis, a retired U.S. Navy Admiral and former military commander of NATO.  The Admiral explains why there are no good military options against N. Korea and says the worse option on N. Korea for the United States is striking first and he goes on to explain his reasons which have been expressed also by other military leaders.  Admiral Stauridis also noted N. Korea will present a clear and present danger to the U.S. in about 18-24 months when N. Korea is able to produce reliable nuclear weapons small enough to affix to the war heads of their ballistic missiles.

The Admiral also alluded to the fact that Trump's secretary of defense, Jim Mattis said, a war would be catastrophic.  In ending his commentary Admiral Stauridis points out, living with N. Korea's nuclear weapons maybe the least-worst option and that relying on the cold war doctrine of mutual assured destruction, N. Korea's leader Kim Jong Un would realize if he used nuclear weapons he would be signing his own death warrant.

What was surprising to this writer, none of the two articles mentioned the unification of North and South Korea as an option and this writer still believes it is the only long range solution.  A unified Korea with no outside interference and a nuclear free Korea.  Too many years have already been wasted that has yet to yield any progress on bringing N. Korea's nuclear weapons or missile production under control.

And if any thing sounds familiar in the two articles to the reader, its because you read it here first in PolitiDose, just in the last two weeks and several other times in the last seven years.  So stay tuned to PolitiDose, your daily Dose of political commentary.


This commentary written by Joe Lorio

The U.S. Economy Continues To Create Jobs

The U.S. Labor Department announced that the U.S. economy created 222,000 jobs in June and the unemployment rate came in at 4.4%, up from the 4.3% in May.  It was the 81st straight month of positive job growth after the great recession of 2008.  The economy continues its expansion with a solid foundation.

With very little legislation coming out of Washington and the republican's fiasco with health care, the long range direction of the economy is in question.  The republican party still has no jobs bill to introduce, only talk.  The democrats now say they will introduce their own jobs bill to move this important legislature forward.

Government policies and attitude are the basics of a strong economic base and when there is no direction, progress slows.  The next few months may well determine what the future may bring.


This commentary written by Joe Lorio

The U.S. Has A Traitorous President In The White House

Donald Trump, President of the United States traveled to Europe for the G-20 summit and while on foreign soil criticized former President Obama and said U.S. intelligence agencies can not be trusted.  That was a traitorous statement by a person who continues to have no respect for the office of President and what America stands for.  The President is mentally unfit to lead America and should be impeached.  The republican controlled congress needs to stop making up excuses and act on his impeachment.

Taking care of the country's business and the needs of the people are not on Trump's agenda.  His total focus is to corrupt the democratic process taking place concerning the possible collusion with Russia along with his campaign.  His meeting with Putin will only produce more fake news.  The G-20 summit always looks to America's Presidential leadership, but this year that leadership is lost because of Trumps inability to lead and think beyond himself.

Congress should put an end to this traitorous and corrupt President and start the impeachment process.  Five plus months has done enough damage to our country and its democratic system and institutions.  Trump's statement that America's intelligence agencies can not be trusted gives Putin cover to deny Russia's involvement in hacking the 2016 Presidential election in favor of Trump.  That is called collusion in any ones book.


This commentary written by Joe Lorio

North Korea Sends A Message Via Another Missile Test

Donald Trump criticized President Obama every time N. Korea test fired one of its missiles and declared it would not happen in a Trump Administration.  But it is not only taken place on Trump's watch, it is happening with more frequency.  And yesterday N. Korea test fired what it called an ICBM capable of reaching the United States.  The U.S. South Korea and other governments confirmed the test was a success.

N.Korea is sending a message it is a player who has to be dealt with in the nuclear age.  Russia and China responded immediately calling for talks between the U.S, North and South Korea and themselves to solve the problem.  N. Korea's leader is looking for attention and knows better than to attack the U.S. or South Korea which would bring about a devastating response to N. Korea's people, economy and country.

The only long term solution is for a united Korea, one nation, under one rule and one people.  Divided countries will always be a problem, that is why the U.S. still has 20,000 troops stationed in S. Korea 64 years after the Korean war ended and why N. Korea is showing off its military might.  A political solution is needed to resolve the immediate problem of a miscalculation on either side.  China will not allow N. Korea to start a war with the U.S. or S. Korea.

North Korea became a nuclear power during the George W. Bush administration while Bush was trying to talk tough.  Now Trump's tough talk has not worked and because he is so unstable the Korean situation becomes more dangerous.  The present time would be a good time to start the talk of re-uniting both North and South Korea.  It can be done with the proper negotiation and with the U.S., China, Russia stepping back from their current positions with North and South Korea.

The desire of countries to obtain nuclear weapons will not cease until the present nuclear powers attitude of "we can keep our nuclear weapons but you can't have any" and uses that to intimidate.  Pakistan, India, Israel, N. Korea have a nuclear capacity.  Iran was on the road to a nuclear capacity before the recent agreement.  It is a never ending situation that could easily erupt into a nuclear war by design or miscalculation.  The civilized world should not have to live under that cloud.


This commentary written by Joe Lorio

Carl Bernstein Said It Best Concerning President Donald Trump

Carl Bernstein, a respected journalist for many years and contributor to many media outlets concerning politics and political matters, recently remarked on CNN that Donald Trump was a "malignant" President.  Bernstein, as a political journalist knows more about politics and political figures than most because he put a considerable amount of time into investigative journalism.  He, along with Bob Woodward broke the "watergate"  story wide open as reporters for the Washington Post.

This writer believes Bernstein's description of Trump as a "malignant" President is accurate.  Websters new world dictionary describes the meaning of "malignant" as follows:  Having an evil influence;  malign;  wishing evil;  very malevolent or malicious;  very harmful;  very dangerous or virulent;  malcontent.  Those descriptions fit both Donald Trump the man and Donald Trump the President.  The problem in being President is that being "malignant" affects the moral fabric of what America is all about, what it stands for and sends the wrong message to our young people and the world.

Bernstein has come up with the easiest definition to understand and describe Trump because it can easily be seen in Trump's every day actions.  Too bad the news media has so few journalists with Bernstein's experience and credibility.  Trump will not be able to "tweet" himself out of Bernstein's assessment of Trump the "malignant" President.  And that really says it all.


This commentary written by Joe Lorio