The Russians are Cunning, the Russians are Cunning

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The resignation of National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn, after less than a month in office may just be the tip of the giant Russian iceberg looming in front of the Trumpian ship of state.  Flynn had to go after having lied to Vice President Mike Pence about discussing sanctions with the Russian Ambassador before Trump took office.   Flynn apparently relayed the message from Trump that Putin need not worry about Obama’s latest round of sanctions and that everyone would kiss and make up when Trump took over.  Only that seems to explain the lack of Russian retaliation.  Putin had always taken strong action in response to sanctions – until he didn’t – which alerted anyone who was paying attention that something was going down.

Clearly, Trump was behind the attempt to undermine the authority of the sitting President and conduct unauthorized diplomatic negotiations with a hostile foreign power in violation of the Logan Act.  Flynn was not flying solo on this mission.  He thought the President had his back – a perhaps fatal miscalculation in this case.

Flynn’s connections to Putin and his Kakistocracy  go much further back.  Flynn was an early Trump devotee and rah-rah man and had his own connections with the Kremlin.  Was he the main bag man between Trump and Putin?  It seems very plausible that Flynn knows more than anyone about what happened with the Russians during the campaign.  In all likelihood, Flynn was in charge of managing the  apparent quid pro quo between Putin and Trump.  If elected, Trump would kowtow to most of Putin’s demands and make kissy-face; in return Putin would not expose Trump’s Russian peccadillos and possible criminal connections.  And to sweeten the deal, Putin would unleash his squads of hackers and undermine Hillary’s campaign.  It was a win-win deal for both autocrats – the real one and the would-be one.

As it now looks more and more like Putin has the goods on Trump (the Moscow Hotel videos are probably just a teaser – the real question is whether Trump is in deep with the Russian Mob), Flynn likely had the unenviable task of selling out his country after Trump’s election.  Someone had to seal the deal made with the Russian strongman during the campaign.

Trump’s big mistake may have been not tossing Flynn overboard before taking office. But perhaps he was afraid that Flynn knew too much.  The problem is compounded now and the vultures are circling the White House already.  Look for Trump to arrange for the Russians to either pay off or otherwise take care of Flynn before he spills the borscht.  The price of treachery is always dear.

 

 

Today in Texas History – February 14

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From the Annals of Coincidence –  In 1882, the town of Valentine in Jeff Davis County was founded when crews building the Southern Pacific Railway reached the outpost on St. Valentine’s Day.  Valentine is the only incorporated municipality in Jeff Davis County.  The town capitalizes on its name every year with the West Texas Valentine’s Day Celebration hosted by the Big Bend Brewing Company which draws upward of 1000 lovers some years.  The headliner this year will be Tejano legend Little Joe y la Familia.  The U.S. Post Office also does a landmark business cancelling letters and cards.

Photo of Valentine’s Day celebration in Valentine from thefusionmag.com

 

One Down – 4,999,999 to go!

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Donald Trump’s claim that he would have won the popular vote but for the millions of people who voted illegally finally got some legs last week.  Yep, Texas found someone who voted illegally – but not in 2016. Rosa Maria Ortega was convicted in Fort Worth last week on two felony counts of illegal voting over allegations that she improperly cast a ballot five times between 2005 and 2014. Ortega was a legal permanent resident who was brought to the U.S. as a baby and mistakenly thought she was eligible to vote.  And she foolishly voted Republican, including for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, whose office helped prosecute her.  That’s gratitude for you.

Ortega received a harsh sentence of 8 years – likely due to the hubbub caused by Trump with his claims of widespread voter fraud.  Ortega has been in the U.S. since infancy and has four teenage children.  Since this is a felony conviction, Ortega will likely be deported after serving her sentence.  Another example of the pro-family policies of the GOP.

Red is just waiting for the 4,999,999 other cases of illegal voting that would establish Trump could have easily won the popular vote – but he is not holding his breath.

Today in Texas History – February 13

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From the Annals of Aviation –   In 1943, the first class of military aerial navigators arrived at San Marcos Army Air Field.  Texas bases were widely used to train aviators during World War II.  More than 10,000 navigators were trained in San Marcos and elsewhere in Texas.  During the Korean War, SMAAF was the largest helicopter training base in the U.S. In 1953 the field was renamed Gary Air Force Base, in honor of 2d Lt. Arthur Edward Gary, the first San Marcos resident killed in World War II. The base was transferred to the army in 1956 and renamed Camp Gary. It was closed in 1963. The site is now used as the Gary Job Corps Center and San Marcos airport.

Today in Texas History – February 9

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From the Annals of Warmongering –  In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson sent a Marine Corps Hawk air defense missile battalion to Da Nang, South Vietnam.  The troops were deployed to provide protection for the key U.S. airbase there.  This was the first deployment of U.S. combat troops to South Vietnam.  The move provoked strong reactions to an apparent new level of involvement in the Vietnamese conflict.  Communist China and the Soviet Union threatened to intervene if the U.S. continued military support of the South Vietnamese regime.  The U.S. Embassy in Moscow was attacked by demonstrators (including Vietnamese and Chinese students) in a move orchestrated by the Kremlin.  Britain and Australia supported the U.S. action, but France called for negotiations.  But the escalation of U.S. involvement in what was essentially a civil war had begun and would not end until more than 58,000 U.S. servicemen and women had lost their lives in the futile struggle.

Today in Texas History – February 8

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From the Annals of Cowtown –  In 1887, Luke Short killed former Fort Worth town marshal, Timothy Isaiah “Longhair Jim” Courtright, in a gunfight.  This was likely one of the few gunfights that more or less  lived up to the Hollywood version of an actual face-to-face shootout witnessed by others.  Luke Short was a notorious figure of the old west having been a friend of Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson and others and involved in deadly gunfights in Leadville, Colorado and Tombstone, Arizona. He was also a part owner of the legendary Long Branch  Saloon in Dodge City, Kansas.  His travels ultimately took him to Fort Worth where he acquired an interest in the White Elephant Saloon which claimed to be the “largest and most magnificent establishment in the state.”

The dispute arose when Courtright proposed that his help was needed  his “protection.”  Short was attempting to sell his interest in the White Elephant to raised money for the defense of his brother who had killed a man in San Angelo and to deal with his other legal problems.  Courtright’s interference was complicating the sale.  Short was not a man to be intimidated and rejected Courtright’s proposal claiming that he would provide any protection that his saloon needed. Courtright decided it was necessary to show Short what could happen if his services were declined.  The dispute boiled over early on the evening of February 8 when Courtright again confronted Short.  Short’s version of the events was succinct.

“Early in the evening I was getting my shoes blackened at the White Elephant, when a friend of mine asked me if there was any trouble between Courtright and myself, and I told him there was nothing. A few minutes later I was at the bar with a couple of friends when some one called me. I went out into the vestibule and saw Jim Courtright and Jake Johnson. Jake and I had talked for a little while that evening on a subject in which Jim’s name was mentioned, but no idea of a difficulty was entertained. I walked out with them upon the sidewalk, and we had some quiet talk on private affairs. I reminded him of some past transactions, not in an abusive or reproachful manner, to which he assented, but not in a very cordial way. I was standing with my thumbs in the armholes of vest and had dropped them in front of me to adjust my clothing, when he remarked ‘Well, you needn’t reach for your gun,’ and immediately put his hand in his hip-pocket and pulled his. When I saw him do that, I pulled my pistol and began shooting, for I knew that his action meant death. He must have misconstrued my intention in dropping my hands before me. I was merely adjusting my clothing, and never carry a pistol in that part of my dress.”

Before the encounter was over, Short had shot Courtright five times.  Bat Masterson who witnessed the shootout recounted the action.

“No time was wasted in the exchange of words once the men faced each other. Both drew their pistols at the same time, but, as usual, Short’s spoke first and a bullet from a Colt’s 45-calibre pistol went crashing through Courtright’s body. The shock caused him to reel backward; then he got another and still another, and by the time his lifeless form had reached the floor, Luke had succeeded in shooting him five times.”

Photo of Luke Short.

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The Coming War with Iran

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It is becoming very clear that Trump wants a war.  As he said during the campaign, “I love war, in a certain way” and clearly pointed out that nuclear weapons were “very important to me.” Red takes Trump at his word.  His already flagging approval rating is merely the latest warning sign.

There are two sure ways to temporarily boost your popularity in the White House – 1) do things that are actually popular and improve the country, or 2) start a war.  The first way is hard and Trump seems incapable of doing anything likely to get a majority of the country behind him (and remember readers – Red fully supports complete implementation of the Trump/GOP agenda starting with locking up Hillary and deporting 12 million illegal aliens and building a wall at Mexico’s expense).  But all he has been able to do so far is make some weak moves on immigration that are getting tied up in the courts and pay some lip service to unleashing Wall Street to deservedly feast on the unwary – yet again.  It isn’t working.  We are only 2.5 weeks in and Trump is already  stalking the corridors of the White House late at night when the cable news outlets go into repeat mode.  That usually doesn’t happen until deep in a second term.

So what’s a poor billionaire to do when faced with an increasingly disapproving public and the “dishonest media.”

Red has an idea! Drum up a war.  And who can most of America agree to hate – that’s right IRAN.  It’s only been 36 years since the hostage crisis and the aged clerics are bound to screw something up that will provide at least a thin veneer of an excuse for unleashing hell.  And a thin veneer will suffice for Trump and likely for a good number of Americans.

Which brings us to the coddling of Russia.  Trump is smart enough to know that a war against Iran will be much easier if Putin throws in with us.  They are right there after all and we can stage operations from Mother Russia much more easily than from say – Iraq.  The question is – what is the price of Russian cooperation.  Is it the Ukraine?  The Baltics?  All of Central Europe?  Whatever it is, Trump may be willing to pay if he thinks that a US-Iran conflict will deliver him the ratings and favorable poll numbers that he so greatly desires.  And if we have to lose a few thousand men and women and spend trillions of dollars, well that is a small price to pay to have your ego stroked.

Yes, there is that small problem of  the Constitution and Congress and a declaration of war, but that hasn’t really stopped any president in a long time.  If war is what Trump wants, Congress is likely to give him one.

So those of you out there with teenage boys and girls, like Red, take heed.  Do you want your son or daughter sacrificed on the altar of Trump’s vanity?  We fought a failed war in Iraq without a draft, but  a war against a much larger, much richer opponent may just require reinstitution of compulsory service.  No more fighting wars on the cheap.  The price is blood and Red thinks there will be many payments made before Trump is sated.

 

 

 

Today in Texas History – February 7

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From the Annals of Stupidity –  In 1837, Brigadier General Felix Huston wounded his superior officer General Albert Sidney Johnston in a duel.  President Sam Houston had sent Johnston to replace Huston as commander of the Texas army.  Huston considered Houston’s rebuke to impugn his honor such that, despite his respect for Johnston, he made a challenge.  Even though Johnston was in charge of enforcing the strict no dueling policy of the Texas Army, he accepted the challenge.

The two Fighting Kentuckians met near the Lavaca River in Jackson County under a large oak tree that has become known as Dueling Oak.  Huston was an expert marksman which prompted Johnston’s second to propose that the duelists agree to shoot from the hip to lessen the chances that ASJ would be seriously injured.

Johnston waited until Huston took aim before firing his own pistol, hoping to distract the excellent shot.  The ploy failed and each man fired three times.  The affair ended when ASJ was shot through the hip on the third volley. The attending physician told ASJ that he was going to die as the ball had hit the sciatic nerve.

Magnanimous in victory, Huston offered condolences and pledged to serve under ASJ’s command.  For his part, Johnston is reputed to have never held the foolish duel against Huston even though his recovery took several months and temporarily prevented him from assuming command according to Sam Houston’s wishes.  Perhaps admonished by his actions, Huston left the Army shortly afterwards and returned to the United States.

Photo of the Dueling Oak from http://www.texasforestservice.tamu.edu.

 

Today in Texas History – February 6

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From the Annals of Journalism –  In 1879, the  Texan,  was first published in La Grange by E. J. Glueckman.  The paper was first Czech newspaper in Texas.  The short-lived paper was renamed Slovan in  July 1879 after Frank Lidiak bought the paper. In 1885, Lidiak sold the paper to Joseph Cada, who moved it to Bryan.  The operation was completely out of business by 1889.