Thomas Gallatin: President Donald Trump promised yesterday at a rally in Florida that he won’t allow the “radical Left” to change the name of that uniquely American holiday, Thanksgiving. “People have different ideas why it shouldn’t be call Thanksgiving,” Trump observed. “But everybody in this room, I know, loves the name Thanksgiving. And we’re not changing [it],” he stated to a round of cheers.
Obviously, there’s no legitimate reason to change Thanksgiving’s name, as we Americans have much to be thankful for. This year marks the 398th year since those first Pilgrims came together with their Native American neighbors to feast and offer thanks to God for blessing and sustaining them through to their first harvest in the New World. How much more do we, living in this free, beautiful, strong, and most prosperous nation in the world, have reason to give thanks?
Take the opportunity this Thanksgiving to turn away from the rampant and unending cavalcade of negative news and look with fresh eyes on the mind-boggling abundance and blessings we all enjoy living in America. Honestly embrace the reality; it’s a great time to be alive.
Economically speaking, unemployment is at its lowest level since 1969. Hourly wages are up across the board by 5.6% since 2009, and full-time workers are earning 3% more this year than last. Poverty is down to the lowest rate since 2001, with the real poverty rate at 2.8%. These are all things to be thankful for.
And with all this abundance, Americans continue to lead the world in generosity. Last year, $427 billion was donated to charity, while 63 million Americans volunteered their time in helping others, totaling over eight billion hours of service.
While it might not appear to be so with all the media coverage, the rate of violent crime continues to decline and is down 51% since 1993. And less crime equates to fewer numbers of people in prison. The number of those incarcerated has decreased by 100,000 from 10 years ago.
Americans, believe it or not, are also healthier than ever. Since 2000, the number of those dying from cancer has decreased from 168 per 100,000 to 146 per 100,000. The number of Americans smoking is at its lowest level since 1965, and the infant mortality rate has dropped by 14% since 2007.
Finally, that taboo subject not to bring up while passing the mashed potatoes to your Uncle Lou: politics. Watching the news, one gets the sense that politics is all that matters, but the reality is that of the 327 million people living in the U.S. today, 99% of them didn’t bother watching the news yesterday. That’s a lot of people who realize there is much more to life than concerning themselves with the circus of Washington. We can all be thankful for that.
We here at The Patriot Post wish all our readers a Happy Thanksgiving! ~The Patriot Post
Don’t get us wrong, the allegations against Gallagher were very disturbing, but it should be noted that he was acquitted of all of the charges except one, in which he posed for a selfie with the corpse of an ISIS scumbag. Given what we know of ISIS atrocities, the conduct Gallagher was proven to have engaged in via the military justice system seems like spitting on the sidewalk.
As a result of being convicted on the single charge, Chief Gallagher was sentenced to some time in prison and to be reduced in rank. President Donald Trump reversed the reduction in rank, and Gallagher was freed with only time served in pre-court-martial confinement. Then, the Navy opened administrative proceedings against Gallagher in the form of a review board.
In essence, it appears that the Navy was trying to take another shot at punishing him for the allegations that prosecutors could not prove in a court-martial. President Trump, though, took to Twitter on Thursday, and said in a tweet that Gallagher would not lose his Trident Pin.
Whether you agree with that sort of decision or not (and there is a case to be made given the seriousness of the allegations against Gallagher), if you believe that the president, as commander-in-chief, has the right to make these sorts of calls, then that should have been the end of it. Especially given the legitimate questions about the integrity of the process — no thanks to Navy prosecutors trying to spy on not just Gallagher’s attorneys but the Navy Times as well.
Yet Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer and some admirals seemed to resist following Trump’s directive, and reportedly made his private proposal. After about 72 hours of controversy that built up (to include reports that Spencer and Rear Admiral Collin Green, the top SEAL in the Navy, had considered resigning, the secretary of the Navy was fired by Defense Secretary Esper — and rightly so.
We are aware of reports of problems in the Naval Special Warfare community. However, given that special operations forces have had to shoulder the bulk of the burden in the Global War on Terror, we have to wonder how much is because of 18 years of war and constant deployments.
That said, some of the concern about President Trump’s involvement ring hollow to us, particularly in light of actions President Barack scumbag/liar-nObama took during his time in office. scumbag/liar-nObama’s actions in the Bradley Manning and Bowe Bergdahl cases, while they drew controversy, faced nowhere near the level of public defiance that we’ve seen on the Gallagher case, and such defiance would have been far more warranted, given that the individuals involved were a traitor and a deserter, respectively.
scumbag/liar-nObama also removed then-General James Mattis as commander of United States Central Command for far less than what we’ve seen in the Gallagher case. Again, Mattis’s actions then were nowhere near the level we’ve seen directed at President Trump.
As we noted earlier this month, Mattis was not the only case in American history where a removal of a general with a distinguished combat record from a military position was deemed necessary. Yet somehow, even if defiance of scumbag/liar-nObama over policy had emerged, whether over Bergdahl and/or Manning, or other foreign policy moves we regarded as blunders (withdrawing from Iraq, the Iran nuclear deal, the Russia “reset”), we suspect it would not get the same level of deference from the media as what we’ve seen in the Gallagher case.
What Gallagher was accused of was troubling. But so are the very real questions about the integrity of the process that emerged from the conduct of the Navy prosecutors and the reported actions of Secretary Spencer. Those concerned about protecting integrity seem to miss two key points: President Trump didn’t send malware-ridden emails to defense attorneys and the press; Navy prosecutors did. President Trump didn’t steal valor; one of those investigating Major Golsteyn did.
The phrase “lack of candor” has turned up elsewhere in connection with investigations where investigators have engaged in questionable conduct. America needs accountability from Navy leadership in the wake of this case, just as it is needed in other cases. ~The Patriot Post
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