Beltway Insider: Trump Begins 2020 Stump; Korean War Vets; Bali; Osama bin Laden; Ebola; Turkey; Wildfires; WH Cuts Access

President Trump took to the campaign trail this week stumping through Ohio and Pennsylvania, bringing his usual, Make America Great Again battle cry as the mid-term elections have the ability to shut down any effectiveness of the current Administration.

According to Gallup, President Trump job approval, over the past week, decreased by two percentage points to 40% of those polled who approve of his effectiveness as President and those who disapprove of his effectiveness as President increased by one percentage point to 55%.

Trump Begins 2020 Stump; Promises Made; Promises Kept

President Trump did what he does best this weekend and held rallies in Ohio and Pennsylvania rally the people to remain loyal to his vision of America and keep the GOP in power as the mid-term elections quickly approach.

As he did during the 2016 campaign season, Trump strikes every note as he feeds those in attendance a slated belief of governing. Has Ohio is set to elect a Senator with incumbent Sherrod Brown holding a lead, Trump supporters are stumping to have him upset.


Beltway Insider: Trump’s Troubled Presidency; Mid-Terms; Greece/CA Wild Fires; Julian Assange; Orca Whale


Using every strategy and tactic, invoking God, country, the spirit of a bygone era, a time when manufacturing was the strength of the region,and can be again, when poverty was not a thought, government subsidy unheard of, when every home had more than enough, and simply by reelecting him and those who declare loyalty to the cause these times can be realized again.

For those of us who live and work in reality we known government does not work under the guise of pixie dust politics which blinds and deafens to the real issues. There are real issues and governing that calls for checks and balances.

Trump puts on a real show, he is the headliner and all the applause is his. In his mind he is a triumphant leader who best days are yet to come.

Korean War Veteran Remains Returned

With the historic Singapore Summit continuing to bring about unprecedented changes from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, no essential development could have spoken to the American people than the return of the remains of Korean War Veterans.

On June 12th, President Trump secured a commitment for the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, he also secured a promise from Chairman Kim to return the remains of all fallen U.S. service members lost in North Korea.

Less than two months later, in a ceremony heavy with tradition and custom, 55 Korean War veterans were return home to a nation forever indebted, to families who never gave up hope. More than 8,000 remain missing.

"Some have called the Korean War the "forgotten war."  But today, we prove these heroes were never forgotten.  Today, our boys are coming home," Vice President Mike Pence said as he presided over the ceremony as the request of President Donald Trump. "But today is just a beginning," he continued.  "Our work will not be complete until all our fallen heroes are accounted for and home.  We will see to it, in the days ahead, that these heroes will be the heroes who led the way to many more homecomings in the future. Etched upon the wall of the Korean War Memorial is a tribute to the brave Americans who fought there.  It reads, "Our nation honors her sons and daughters who answered the call to defend a country they never knew and a people they never met."

Terror Organization United in Marriage

The son of Osama bin Laden, Hamza bin Laden, and the daughter of lead 9/11 hijacker Mohammad Atta were married over the weekend according to an exclusive interview with  The Guardian newspaper.

"Western intelligence agencies have been increasingly focusing on the whereabouts of Hamza bin Laden over the past two years, seeing him as more likely than anyone else to galvanise followers. His marriage to the daughter of Atta, an Egyptian national, appears to confirm that the 9/11 alumni remains a central hub of al-Qaida and that the organisation itself continues to be organised around Osama bin Laden's legacy," The Guardian reported.

No information was available on the nuptials said to have occurred in Afghanistan or if a drone strike interrupted the happy day reducing the compound to ash and ruins. Once again the State Department as let the American people down by not stopping the union of two terror organizations before they birth another attack on the United States.

Bali Earthquake Causes Widespread Damage, Death

A 7.0 shallow earthquake has struck the Indonesian island of Lombok killing 82 and injuring thousands, as the second major quake in two weeks struck the archipelago rattling across the chain of islands striking the tourist mecca of Bali with severe shaking and aftershocks.

The damage and death has been concentrated on the less stable region of Lombok with reports and images coming out of Bali from many including Celebrity Model Chrissy Teigan and her husband singer John Legend who were vacationing with family who have reported via twitter to being shaken, and scared by the experience. Both are safe.

The area sits in what is considered the Ring of Fire which travels around the globe effecting the coastlines of Pacific Rim nations and near the area where a devastating 9.1 magnitude earthquake struck off Sumatra, in 2004 sending a tsunami, a wall of water, at least 15 foot high, into the resort areas of the Indonesian nations killing more than 230,000 people.

Congo Reports Ebola Outbreak Resurfaces

The Centers for Disease Control has announced, days after the Ebola crisis was contained on the western half of the nations, an outbreak which has killed 33 people has been reported on the eastern side of the nation.

The last substantial outbreak of the deadly virus resulted in travel bans from individual's within the Western African nations including Libera. The outbreak was declared recently as 100% contained with no new active cases reported over a 90 day period reduces the threat level and the lethal disease is no longer considered a plague.

Within ten days after the announcement by the World Health Organization, new cases in Liberia were reported and members of the CDC were dispatched to Monrovia, a metropolitan city on Liberia's Atlantic coast and began the arduous task of tracing the cases to ground zero, which in this case was an infected teenager, who lost his mother to the disease.

Traveling alone he returned to his village and subsequently died. He was buried by two villagers in private and they also died. Who they had contact with during the time of the burial and their deaths are still under investigation.

The deadly disease, with all the medical advances, still strikes fear in the people who refuse to seek treatment believing treatment will ultimately lead to their death. The Treatment centers are designed to assistant and educate. The education aspect is a slow process and medically, the drugs needed to combat the disease which has yet to cure one individual infected within Africa's northwestern region of Ghana, Libera, Sierra Leone, Cote d'lvoire and Guinea.

One patient, a nurse infected in an American hospital, after a infected passenger entered the hospital was cured.

Turkey Holds American Hostage

Pastor Andrew Brunson, 50, an American National living in Turkey for 23 years was arrested in the aftermath of the failed 2016 government coup and charged with "committing crimes on behalf of terror groups without being a member and espionage."

President Trump, who has been following this situation with keen interest decided to initiate sanctions against the Turkish government. An unusual hardball strategy which many on the international front believe was an effort to destabilize the already faltering Turkish economy driving the recently reelected President Tayyip Erdogan to the table when diplomatic conditions present.

Erdogan, whose administration was the target of failed coup, held onto his government then and was overwhelmingly reelected in June 2018.

"We've seen no evidence that Pastor Brunson has done anything wrong, and we believe he is a victim of unfair and unjust detention by the government of Turkey. At the President's direction, the Department of Treasury is sanctioning Turkey's Minister of Justice and Minister of Interior, both of whom played leading roles in the arrest and detention of Pastor Brunson. As a result, any property, or interest in property, of both ministers within U.S. jurisdiction is blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them," Sanders said.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said: "The Turkish government refused to release Pastor Brunson after numerous conversations between President Trump and President [Tayyip] Erdogan, and my conversations with Foreign Minister [Mevlut] Cavusoglu. President Trump concluded that these sanctions are the appropriate action." [NBC]

California Wildfire Worst On Record

As family after family returns to the scorched, unrecognizable neighborhoods that they once called home, officials are warning that the Shasta/Redding fire already the worst in the states history, is still less than 50% contained.

Fire officials have traced origin of the deadly blaze to sparks emitted when a big rig blew a tire on a highway in northern California, near Redding in Shasta County. The sparks generated by the friction blasted out into the extreme dry conditions and in an instant more than 1400 acres were ignited.

Over the course of two weeks, coupled with extremely high winds that uprooted trees, and caused what is being called a firenado which spread debris, flames and sparks, the inferno moved Northwest consuming everything in its path. By August 1, at 41% containment, the Carr Fire had grown to 145,000 acres.

"We're in a new normal," Governor Jerry Brown said during a recent press conference. "We're obviously expect more fires to come over this season and in subsequent seasons until the weather patterns return to condition normal for this area."

"On Saturday, the President declared that an emergency exists for the California wildfires.  As a result, FEMA has placed resources from eight different federal departments and agencies to support the efforts of local firefighters and relief organizations. The President will continue to monitor this ongoing emergency and make sure the people of California receive the assistance they need to keep them safe and recover.  Our prayers are with the firefighters who recently lost their lives battling these fires and their grieving families," Sanders said.

Heartbreaking stories of death, complete loss and devastation, of which many have yet to be told will hopefully act as a warning to residents to heed the evacuation orders, be prepared, areas under evacuation warnings need to prepare to be leave in minutes.

Fire official stress the importance of heeding watch and warnings. They are not issued without cause. Residents in the Shasta County area should be prepared, vehicles packed, all items considered necessary, personal needs, medicines, pets, special need items, photos, important papers, laptops, disc drives, also a filled gas tank, money, a cooler filled with towels, ice and bottled water, and surgical face masks.


Op/Ed: The REAL Fake News


The fire to date has claimed the lives of seven, including a grandmother and her two young grandchildren, who were on the phone with their grandfather begging for him to "come and get them" as the flames, in less than 15 minutes, engulfed their home.

White House Cuts Access to Media

The Trump Administration, who has been known to bully, ban and ostracize members of media organizations whom they consider representatives from "fake news agencies" have continued a strategy to reduce transparency.

In July 2018, the White House held only three press briefings led by White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders totaling under one hour in total for the entire month. The refusal of the White House to disseminate information on topics that inform the American public borders on a state controlled released of information and could be considered bordering on the edges of fascism.

The White House has left the media up to their own devices, expecting with the limited release the possibility of internal policing, media policing each other, or with no news to print no news will be printed.

Attempting to shut down the freedom of the press has been a tactic in many a White House including The Nixon Administration when faced with the release of the Pentagon papers. The landmark ruling of the Supreme Court held up the rights of the New York Times and The Washington Post to publish without risk on censorship. the is for the governed not the governors. The only way to asset the right to publish is to publish.

"[E]very moment's continuance of the injunctions...amounts to a flagrant, indefensible, and continuing violation of the First Amendment. ... The Government's power to censor the press was abolished so that the press would remain forever free to censure the Government. The press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of government and inform the people. Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government," as stated in Wikipedia. 

President Trump has made his position on the media abundantly clear throughout his 2016 Campaign and his first two years as president. Unless the organization prints, broadcasts or releases news attesting to the effectiveness of the current administration than the media in question shall have no "rights" in the current White House Press Corp structure.

For more information on President Donald Trump: www.whitehouse.gov

Sources: Whitehouse.gov, Wikipedia.com

Haute Tease