Running off at the Android....
***It's hot, super hot, as we conclude the month of July and as I have begun my daily walks for better health once more, the smell of fresh cut grass and extreme heat serve to remind me of one crucial truth:
It's beginning to look alot like football season!
Photo from FAMU's Bragg Memorial Stadium earlier today!
Per usual, I will make my pre-season predictions in a few weeks for all of the teams that I follow, but suffice it to say that I got excited after seeing some of the first photos from the Florida A&M University football camp today as Coach Willie Simmons and staff begin their quest to win the SWAC Championship and the Celebration Bowl!
Stay tuned...
***My very first boss after law school, Second Judicial Circuit State Attorney Willie Meggs, was fond of saying that "if you have nothing to hide, why fear cooperating with law enforcement?"
Those words echo in my brain each time I read a news story about how the Secret Service officers that were working for former President Donald Trump on January 5th and January 6th of 2021 seem to have deleted, lost, or misplaced ALL of their text messages from that 48-hour period.
Secret Service agents comb the Capitol late in the day on January 6th.
The following excerpt from today's Washington Post made me burst out in “I can't breathe” laughter about the missing messages: "Cybersecurity experts and former government leaders are stunned by how poorly the Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security handled the preservation of officials’ text messages and other data from around Jan. 6, 2021, saying the top agencies entrusted with fighting cybercrime should never have bungled the simple task of backing up agents’ phones."
😆
Folks, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that these were no inadvertent acts or mistakes by Trump’s Secret Service detail, but a series of conscious and deliberate efforts to eliminate the text messages flying between the former president, his aides and family members that were under Secret Service protection—and the agents themselves.
Seriously, in a nation in which FBI and DEA agents can find text messages and e-mails of just about every other citizen accused of a federal crime, but not the "deleted" messages of the Secret Service, who are we kidding here about the deletions that were going on that infamous day?
In fact, Hobbs the Historian can comfortably opine that the number of overall deaths (five) and millions in property damage that resulted from Trump’s MAGA rebellion make former President Richard Nixon's Watergate scandal to steal Democratic campaign documents look like relative child’s play…
I also opine that if you ever criticized Hillary Clinton for "deleting e-mails," but you are not calling out Trump's Secret Service agents for deleting text messages from a day of death and destruction in our nation's Capitol Complex with the same contempt, then you are a hypocrite and a tacit or active supporter of anarchy!
***Staying in Washington, during the same week that I lauded President Joe Biden for finding something positive to say about the former president's efforts to expedite approval of Covid vaccines, Biden was back on the warpath in calling Trump “the defeated former president of the United States,” adding, "You can’t be pro-insurrection and pro-cop. You can’t be pro-insurrection and pro-democracy. You can’t be pro-insurrection and pro-American."
While I fully agree with the substance of Mr. Biden's message, there's a part of me that still is tired of the “look at me acting all tough” rhetoric from politicians. Yes, I know that Trump was the original offender, one who routinely cursed out political opponents and used derogatory language and racist images to cast aspersions at those who weren't in step with his agenda in a way never before seen by any president, well, at least not in public.
But still, I think it's wrong for Biden to try to "out-Trump" Trump, because many other Americans share my fatigue of seeing men who should be at their wisest points (nearing 80-years old) trading insults like they are at an elementary school recess.
***As House Speaker Nancy Pelosi prepares to head to Taiwan 🇹🇼 over China's 🇨🇳 predictably strong objection, Mr. Trump couldn't help but weigh in via his personal social media platform, saying: “Everything (Pelosi) touches turns to Chaos, Disruption, and ‘Crap.'”
Gee, is that the zenith of your eloquence, Donald?
I have always thought that former VP Mike Pence (center) looks like a mediator watching a divorcing couple (Pelosi/Trump) fussin’ and fightin’ at the mediation proceedings. 😆
Nevermind the fact that China was Trump's constant whipping post during his one term, the fact that a former president would make comments that run contrary to the current administration's continuing push to recognize an autonomous Taiwan—as America has for decades (including Trump's own term)—shows him not to be a statesman, but a contrarian who is clamoring for attention.
***Back to the Biden administration, I don't know why there's so much stalling, but it is long past time for the president, through his Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, to declare Russia a state sponsor of terror.
Almost six months into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and it is clear that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi supports such terror designation, that Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky and the Ukrainian Parliament support such designation, and the ENTIRE U.S. Senate displayed a rare moment of bipartisanship in calling for such designation earlier this week!
Seriously, if North Korea, Syria, Cuba, and Iran can be on the terror list, so should Russia and with it, deeper sanctions can be imposed that could cripple the Putin regime.
Lest we forget that Mr. Biden promised to be tougher on Russia than his predecessor Trump, but 18-months in, I can't tell much difference; it's time to go deeper than bombast and put Putin on the diplomatic hot seat!
***Listen, there will NEVER be a perfect political candidate for any office—each person that takes the risk of running brings some type of baggage along with them.
Despite this known truth, I have read quite a few extreme positions on social media that leave me scratching my head and asking who, other than Jesus Christ and maybe Muhammad and the Buddha, could qualify for office?
A few examples from the 2020 election cycle that I observed included:
"If Kamala Harris is the Democratic presidential nominee, I could never vote for her because she prosecuted Black people, did not marry a Black man, and just rubs me the wrong way..."
"If Bernie Sanders is the Democratic presidentisl nominee, I could never vote for him because he voted for the 1994 Crime Bill and is a socialist..."
"If Joe Biden is the Democratic presidential nominee, I could never vote for him because he was against busing, persecuted Anita Hill, and supported the 1994 Crime Bill..."
While these feelings, from Democrats and Democratic leaning independents, were valid opinions to hold, the conclusion leads to nihilism in that those were the three best situated Democrats—and the holder of such opinions clearly was seeking someone who was "practically perfect in every way," which was only true for the fictional character Mary Poppins.
Seriously, as we move closer to the 2022 mid-term elections and set a course toward 2024, I encourage my readers to find the good in the candidates who most align with your core values instead of constantly focusing on the negative and if you have to, hold your nose and vote for the platform—not just the man or woman.