Happy Tuesday everyone,
Over the past 4 days, I’ve given your email boxes a break while, we were out of town spending time with kids and grandkids. All were appropriately spoiled. Thanks for your patience and I’ll make up the articles over the next few days.
Today’s piece is a combo of sorts. First, a piece I penned in January 2020, “Patriot or Partisan,” How voters sort information, largely determines whether they are patriots or partisans.
Secondly, there is a link in the article to a list of some of my favorite, user-friendly, online tools to decide how accurate an article is. I use all of these regularly and then some. The article includes tools that I have verified over the years and can personally vouch for.
Third, the point of this article, published by dear friends and patriots at Homeland Security Today Magazine, where I am honored to contribute articles occasionally, is to assist voters in being what our founders expected of future voters; to be accurately and well-informed.
Our founders, particularly Washington, Madison, Jefferson and Adams, understood how important it was to educate and accurately inform our new nation’s citizens. If democracy were to work and sustain our fledgling democratic republic, it would require an informed citizenry, in order to produce voters of quality. In fact, they also were clear-eyed about the danger of allowing “factions,” (political parties) to manipulate voters with dishonesty and what today we call, “fake news.” This danger of dishonesty and conspiracy theories producing dishonest politicians and policy that supports the power-hungry rather than the greater good, is still as much of a threat as in 1776. With the Trump era still haunting us, we may even be at more of a threat.
We are now on the threshold of another critical election that pits politicians pursuing policy, against a party of conspiracy theory spewing opposition, exclusively pursuing corruption and power while attempting to pass it off as American values. This doesn’t make one party right, but it does represent only their perspective regarding what’s best for the nation. Trump’s faction represents nothing of patriotism, simply because the extremists, control the party.
America was founded on the premise that informed debate from a variety of perspectives, produces the best way forward for our nation. The dominant forces of today’s conspiracy theory party have marginalized their “principled-conservatives.” By marginalizing those with principles, this leaves but one perspective about American policy and security.
If you remember nothing else from today’s article, remember that policy vs. conspiracy theories is NOT informed debate. There is only one ethical choice come November and for honest Americans, the party of anti-American values, sustained exclusively by conspiracy theories must not be considered. Worst of all, is that these conspirators, deny all Americans the informed debate that makes our nation all that it is capable of. Truth is the pursuit of patriots who love their country. Partisanship, based on dishonesty and conspiracy, are nothing more than the landmines, intended to derail democracy.
If you glance at the three news links below from today’s news, you will find 3 stories that illustrate the difference as well.
1st, Sheriff Salazar, demonstrating integrity by investigating the abuse of the immigration system by Greg Abbott and Ron DeSantis. Sheriff Salazar, of the county that I live in, following through with integrity despite the hazards of taking on our extremist Governor, Greg Abbott. This is a judicious use of our Sheriff’s appointed powers.
2nd, You’ll find a story of how the former POTUS and his legal team are abusing the justice system in hopes of delaying both the legal process and the investigation into the felony possession of classified materials by the former CIC, commander in chief. For the record, the delays only greatly exacerbate the harm he has already imposed on the US national security community and by extension, the American people.
Finally, is the video evidence supporting the felonious violation of federal election laws by Georgians during the 2020 election.
For the record, all three of these stories come to us via two of the most credible and least biased news agencies available to us, the Associated Press and Reuters.
If you would like to try out your new media vetting skills from the Patriot vs. Partisan article, these make excellent candidates.
We all have a choice to make come November. It’s not R vs. D but patriot vs. partisan. With a small amount of effort, and with the skills and tools from the Homeland Security Today article, you’ll find the decision is as simple as honorable vs. disgraceful.
Texas sheriff investigating flights to Martha's Vineyard | AP News
Trump lawyers don't want to say if he declassified documents in FBI search | Reuters
Video shows 'unauthorized access' to Ga. election equipment | AP News
National Security Council, The White House U.S. Department of State Office of the Secretary of Defense Office of the Director of National Intelligence U.S. Department of Homeland Security Homeland Security Today Magazine United States Department of Defense Asia-Pacific Security Innovation Forum and COE NATO NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCI Agency) UK Ministry of Defence The Associated Press Reuters BBC News The New York Times The Wall Street Journal The Washington Post San Antonio Express-News Houston Chronicle The Dallas Morning News Austin American-Statesman
El Paso Times
Columbus Dispatch The Kansas City Star
Chicago Tribune Media Group
The Denver Post
The Seattle Times
Los Angeles Times
The San Diego Union-Tribune
Narrative Strategies
Information Professionals Association
Doowan Lee USSOCOM Joint Special Operations University Alan Malcher MA The Texas Tribune