Trump's Nominee To Be CIA Director Can Not Answer A Simple Question

Like Trump's decision not to release his tax returns, a simple decision by political standards, his appointee to be CIA director Gena Haspel could not answer a simple question before the U.S. Senate hearing for her confirmation.  The question she was asked before the senate hearing:  "Do you believe torture is immoral?  Haspel would not answer and danced around the subject.  It was truly a simple question and Haspel was and is very familiar with torture.

Haspel's lack of an answer to a simple but important question led Senator John McCain, a victim of torture himself during the Viet Nam war to say he could not support or vote for her confirmation.  Our adversaries would take Haspel's non answer to mean she would not take their torture of Americans as immoral.  And of course, President Trump's position is he would not rule out torture  Just another reason to put Americans a risk.

Trump's 15 months in office reflects actions that continue to disrespect our institutions and those things that have made America great.  The Bush administration took a step backwards when torture was allowed during the war on terror and Haspel was involved with that program.  And John Bolton, President Trump' new national security adviser was one of Bush's neocon supporters of the war and occupation of Iraq over WMD that did not exist.

Everything is coming full circle with Trump's appointee John Bolton and his nomination of Haspel for Director of CIA.  President Obama's policies changed our country's course in Iraq, kept America safe, brought Bin Laden to justice, defeated ISIS and did not appoint people with extreme ideologies and still did his job without damaging our institutions.  President Obama knew the awesome responsibility of the Presidency and what the office and America stood for.  But now, America has Trump, a malignant President whose ditto heads are willing to allow themselves to be pushed as low as the President stoops.

Fifty four percent of the voting public who voted against Donald Trump in the 2016 election understood Trump was the least qualified to lead America.  They also knew from the campaign, Trump was a perpetual  liar and his corrupted attitude would infect America's political process.  The 54% also understood who was the real crooked candidate.


This  commentary written by Joe Lorio

Trump's Malignancy Continues To Poison The Presidency and Every Thing He Touches, Especially His Own Appointees

PolitiDose called the shots on Trump way back during the campaign concerning his un-American behavior, lack of character, corruptive attitude and his traitorous acts.  Carl Bernstein a respected journalist said Trump' Presidency was malignant.  And as President Trump continues to operate in the gutter, his appointees are happy to follow Trump's lead with their support and related rhetoric.

This week the malignancy reached a new low at a White House meeting where the subject of Senator John McCain's opposition to Gene Haspel's nomination to be director of the CIA came up and one of Trump's aides Kelly Sadler remarked, "he's dying anyway."  The disgraceful remark made the head lines all day in the news media and former V.P Joe Biden and others rightfully let their feelings be known.  President Trump was silent, never apologized and the republican party in general had nothing to say.  Sadler's disrespect of Senator McCain fits in with Trump's own disgraceful remark during the campaign when he said he did not like people who were captured in reference to McCain.

Candidate Trump and President Trump are no friend of Veterans.  There were thousands of American POW's during America's wars who suffered greatly and many who died in captivity. The nation and especially the commander in chief should acknowledge and honor their service instead of being told they were not liked by the commander in chief because they were captured.

Trump and his ditto heads have stooped so low,, there is no bottom.  He and his party  do not belong any where near America's table and as time goes on it gets worse.  Trump has infected everyone in his cabinet all his appointments and the republican party in congress.  The infection travels from the top down and no one infected has the character, courage or the American spirit to stand up to the trumpet man and be counted.


This commentary written by Joe Lorio

Trump Trys To Act Tough On Iran

The President of the United States, Donald Trump, better known as the trumpet man walked the U.S. away from the nuclear agreement with Iran that was signed by the U.S.  with American allies in 2015.  And in his announcement tried to talk tough but failed the test of being Presidential.  Iran has not only complied with the provisions of the treaty, the inspectors who have to certify such compliance reported no violations and that Iran was living up to its obligations under the treaty since the very beginning.

Trump's excuse was that he wanted to link the treaty to other issues related to Iran and that Israel's leader Netanyahu told him Iran attempted to produce a nuclear bomb prior to 2003.  Netanyahu, like Trump     is a creator of fake news and said years ago that Iran was within 6 months of acquiring a nuclear bomb.  Of course it never happened.  The U.S. is a friend of Israel but Israel is no friend of the United States and Trump has become Netanyahu yes man.  Because of Trump's corrupt nature, he can not accept any treaty or agreement that works and does what it is meant to do.

So now U.S. sanctions will go into effect against Iran.  However, that is a Trump ploy as he also announced that the big money sanctions against Iran will not become effective until 90-160 days depending on the sanction.  In other words if Iran and the other parties to the agreement stay with the agreement, the sanctions will have a minor affect on Iran.

The Iran agreement allowed the U.S., its allies and the world the opportunity to learn about Iran's nuclear capabilities thanks to the inspection requirements in the agreement and that is huge.  Yet, the U.S., its allies and the world know nothing about Israel, India or Pakistan's nuclear operations because their facilities are closed to the outside world.  Is it not ironic that it was Israel who introduced nuclear weapons to the middle east many, many years ago and not Iraq, Iran or Syria.

Trump's decision and action will not make the U.S. any safer than it was under former President Obama.  And his tough talk against domestic gun violence has not made America safer.  In fact we now know 2017 was the worst year of such violence and it happened on Trump's watch as previously reported in PolitiDose.  Israel and the United States both have the creators of fake news and it will only become worse.


This commentary written by Joe Lorio

Job Creation: President Trump and President Obama

The major news media, Television, Printing and Radio have lost sight of political accomplishments and or failure to produce and in the case of President Trump, they are occupied by Trump's scandals and lies.  In the case of President Obama, they never acknowledged his success on the economy, job creation, lowering the unemployment rate, reducing deficit spending or keeping America safe.  They really did not want to talk about the terrible economic recession that he inherited.

The media does not even care about an informed public but PolitiDose does and has written commentary since 2008 concerning the records of democratic and republican administrations.  President Trump is still trying to convince everyone how good he is at creating jobs and of course the news media just accepts his hype.  They are too tied up reporting on Trump's lies.  So PolitiDose will offer its readers the following information on job creation.  From February 2017 through April of 2018, a period of 15 months, 2,704,000 jobs were created on Trump's watch which averages 180,000 jobs per month.

In President Obama's last 15 months in office from November 2015 through January 2017, 2,983,000 jobs were created on Obama's watch which averaged 198,000 jobs per month.  So for all the bragging Trump has done concerning creating jobs he lags behind President Obama's record of job creation.  That information is nothing new to those who read and follow PolitiDose even though President Trump inherited an economy in its 9th year of expansion and April 2018 marked the 91st straight month of positive job growth.

And to think Trump criticized job creation under the Obama administration as anemic.  The news media in general does not believe the people should be informed of the failure of republican claims of being the best at everything.   As Trump's Presidency continues along more problems will be exposed, the real problem will be that the people will be the ones that will be hurt.

NOTE:  Job numbers taken from U.S. Labor Department job numbers they release every month.


This commentary written by Joe Lorio

Domestic Shootings: Trump's So Called Tough Talk Backfires Again.

The FBI has been keeping records on active shootings in America since 2010 according to a report by USA Today and released its latest report for the years 2016 and 2017.  An active shooter is defined by the FBI as follows:  Someone actively killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area.  This data is not just mass shootings, which is the killing of three or more people.  The data also doesn't include drug and gang-related shootings that appeared targeted.

The report tell us in 2017 there were a record 30 active shooting incidents throughout the nation resulting in the killing of a record 138 people.  It was the first time the death toll rose above 90 for a single year (2012) and the worst year since 2010 when the FBI started the record keeping.

The report also stated in 2016 there were 20 active shootings that killed 83 people.  In the shootings of 2016 and 2017 all the shooters were men.  The attacks for both years were stopped in a variety of ways;  13 of the gunmen committed suicide;  11 were killed by police;  8 were stopped by citizens and 18 were taken into custody by police officers.

President Trump tried to talk tough on domestic shootings during the 2016 campaign and blamed President Obama for the shootings.  Trump said he would stop those killings and would not happen on his watch.  But the number of shootings and killings did not stop  on Trump's watch in 2017  and in fact the FBI report tells us they increased and hit a record level.

So called tough talk is "show off" and unfortunately other people pay the price for a failed leader.  PolitiDose has made past commentary about the so called tough talk of Presidents Reagan and Bush 43 and how their tough talk failed.


This commentary written by Joe Lorio

A New Attorney For Trump But The Scandals Continue To Grow

Rudy Giuliani, Trumps latest addition to his attorney's list says a lot about the type of people Trump aligns himself with.  Rudy's long time personal attacks against Hillary Clinton makes he and Trump soul brothers and both bring out the worst in each other's corrupt mentality.  Attorney's are generally  ethical people and that is why Trump has a hard time hiring respectable attorneys to represent him.

Nothing good can come out of the Trump-Giuliani relationship because neither can be trusted.  That showed up this week when Giuliani appeared on Fox News, his and Trump's favorite cable network for lies.  Rudy disclosed that President Trump indeed knew about his pay off hush money to Stormy Daniels through his attorney Michael Cohen prior to the 2016 Presidential election, something Trump always denied.  Rudy's bomb shell was quickly addressed by the news media in general and the very next day and all this week Rudy has tried to change his story and so did Trump.  All of Trump's lies as a candidate and President are being acted out non-stop and when one has to deal with people like Trump and Giuliani, lies are their method of operation and it becomes obvious.

In order to distract the news media from Giuliani's statement Trump proclaimed he would "love to talk with Robert Mueller only if he is treated fairly."  Well Mr. President what is stopping you?  Mr. Mueller has not said one negative word about you, but of course, every one knows how unfair you have been to his investigation and that you still call it a witch hunt even though people in your campaign have already pleaded guilty of committing crimes.

Lies, falsehoods and leaks are the corner stone of the Trump administration and all the while the American people are being exposed to a President and republican controlled congress that has been regressive and non-productive.  No action on any immigration policy or debate, health care is unspoken, gun control is off the agenda, tax fairness no where to found, looming record deficit spending off the agenda, infrastructure repairs and rebuilding bill only a memory.  The list goes on and on but the GOP controlled congress is in their do nothing mode and Trump has no plans to change the inaction.

Scandal, born of this President's lies continue unabated and America's character continues  to diminish with the malignant actions of this President.  America can not afford to allow this President to establish such a precedent for its future.  And that really says it all.


This commentary written by Joe Lorio

In New Orleans, Lee Circle Should Be Renamed

The statue of Robert E. Lee is no longer there at Lee Circle but the mound is still there and can become a beautiful circle and should be renamed, but not in honor of any individual.  It is a great location, heavily traveled, even by street car and a new name should be found.

The removal of Lee's statue like so many civil war monuments brought about division from many factions and a lot of ugly words.  So renaming the circle should be one that respects and indicates togetherness.  A name that has nothing to do with politics, war or any individual.  It should be a name that binds the whole community, one that everyone can be proud of and understand.

This writer believes Lee Circle should be renamed UNITY CIRCLE.  It is a name everyone can understand about a community that has survived many distractions but knows it is UNITY and not division that will move New Orleans forward to a better place for our citizens and our children to progress.


This commentary written by Joe Lorio

Arizona School Teachers: The Latest To Protest Stagnant Wages and Reduced Spending on Education.

Public school teachers in Arizona are the latest to follow W. Virginia, Oklahoma and Kentucky in their protest and walk out over stagnant wages and cuts to school spending.  Their complaint:  Have had no increase in wages since the great republican recession of 2008 and per student spending is below what it was 10 years ago.

But in that same period of time, personal and corporate state tax income taxes were cut causing a loss of state revenue with little left to pump into schools or salaries.  It represents the failed republican policy of trickle down economics.  The same basic problem was the reason for the teacher's strike and walk out in the three states mentioned above.  My state, Louisiana, has the same problem.

In the 21st. century, one would think we should have learned how important education is and what it means for our children and their progress.  The same thing applies to proper financing for our schools and good quality teachers with quality pay.  Those elected officials who try and talk tough by cutting spending care nothing about good government and education.

The current teacher's movement will continue to be ongoing because they have right on their side and it is now clear to America since Trump's election that he and republican administrations are at the extreme end of everything they touch and their financial commitment is to the wealthy and corporate America.  And to top it off, Trump and some republican state legislatures still want to arm our teachers and place them in harms way.  It is obvious many of our political leaders lack moral and political courage.

This writer supports the teachers and those who support them and believes the teachers should keep the pressure on our elected officials until they answer the call.


This commentary written by Joe Lorio

Another Trump Nominee Bites The Dust

Ronny Jackson, President Trump's nominee withdrew his nomination to be Secretary of Veterans Affairs.  It follows the pattern of a long list of Trump appointments who were either fired, quit or withdrew from the appointment or nomination process.  Recent disclosures about Jackson's past behavior was behind the move and once again this administration's vetting process was non-existent.  To make matters worse, Jackson lacked the experience to manage one of the largest federal departments, but Trump still nominated him.

It is one more sad chapter in the trumpet man's fifteen months tenure and lack of respect for our institutions as there are many qualified people out there to manage the department.  The ego driven President has no time to surround himself with qualified people.  Little by little, the President and his party who hate government are the ones who are stooping so low to destroy those things that really matter and make a difference for America and its people.

Note:  About the same time the Jackson thing took place, another Trump appointee announced his departure.  Bryan Rice resigned as Director, Bureau of Indian Affairs.


This commentary written by Joe Lorio

Megyn Kelly: A Drag on NBC.

The Megyn Kelly Today show is losing audience at a rapid rate which is having an affect on other NBC shows according to the latest reports.  Kelly, the former host at the Fox News Network came to NBC two years ago and is working under a $69 million contract.  This writer is no fan of Kelly and questions her so called journalistic experience.

At Fox, Kelly had a simple job like the other Fox hosts.  Promote the republican party and their candidates no matter what and bad mouth the democratic party and its candidates.  Just be a pretty face and promote Fox's lies, no talent needed.  NBC made a bad choice when they hired Kelly and are now paying the price.  A pretty face is no substitute for knowledge and Kelly lacks the fundamentals of being a journalist.  There is no substance so there is no believability.


This commentary written by Joe Lorio