by Bill Hughes<\/p>\n
A \u201cBaltimore Sun\u201d editorial on March 14, 2016, raised its concerns about the recent confrontations between protesters and security officials at a number of campaign rallies of the GOP\u2019s presidential front runner, Donald Trump. They pointed to an outbreak of violence at campaign stops in Fayetteville, NC; Kansas City, MO; and Chicago, IL. The \u201cSun\u201d added with a tone of deep seriousness, \u201cthings are getting out of hand.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Trump, the \u201cSun\u201d continued in the same worried vein, is \u201cflirting with a kind of anarchy.\u201d If that happens the editorial scribe warned, \u201chis party (the GOP) and the country will all suffer.\u201d Oh my, we don\u2019t want that to happen.<\/span><\/p>\n All of the above sounded good to me. Trump, indeed, has an obligation to tone down his bellicose campaign \u201crhetoric,\u201d and, of course, if he doesn\u2019t, the brawling might, indeed, escalate. Time out now for a for a little perspective.<\/span><\/p>\n Just one day later after the \u201cSun\u2019s\u201d stop-the-violence-at-the rallies\u2019 editorial, a commentary by syndicated columnist, Jules Witcover, appeared in their paper. I could be wrong, but I think he\u2019s been a correspondent in Washington, D.C., since the administration of Abraham Lincoln or maybe it was later.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In his column, Witcover said that, despite Trump, he believed the \u201cGOP is sobering up.\u201d Really, that\u2019s good news. Why does the cerebral Witcover think that? Because, he wrote, three of the GOP candidates: Sens. Ted Cruz and Mario Rubio and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, have developed a strategy on \u201cfighting the Islamic State.\u201d \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Well, what exactly is that brainstorm? Why, it\u2019s putting \u201cAmerican boots on the ground\u201d in Syria, \u201c20,000 to 30,000,\u201d as suggested by American military leaders! Hey, \u201cSun\u201d editorial writer, that sounds like a hell of lot violence to me, much more than that punching and kicking will create at any future Trump rallies.<\/span><\/p>\n Keep in mind, that the all-wise Witcover thought, like so many of those Neocons backing the Bush-Cheney Gang\u2019s war, in 2003, that destroying Iraq was a good idea. The results: Try about 5,000 American troops dead; thousands more injured; cost to U.S. taxpayers, $4 to $6 trillion; about one million Iraqi deaths, including troops and innocent civilians; the birth of the evolving Islamic State; and, a refugee crisis of staggering proportions that continues to challenge the resources of the global community.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Do you notice a wee bit of inconsistency here from the deep thinkers at the \u201cSun,\u201d on the issue of violence? Some violence, local, bad; U.S. sponsored violence in the Mideast, good! Another disastrous U.S. war, this time in Syria, doesn\u2019t seem to register with the decision makers at 501 North Calvert Street. When, if ever, is the \u201cSun\u201d going to learn the painful lessons of the Iraq conflict? As for the clueless Witcover, I doubt if he ever will.<\/span><\/p>\n If all of this wasn\u2019t egregious enough, just under that \u201cSun\u2019s\u201d editorial, it ran a photo of another columnist, one Jonah Goldberg. He makes Witcover look like a passionate Peacenik!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In a January 25, 2003 rant, Goldberg said: \u201cThe French are liars.\u201d He was upset that they wanted to lift genocidal sanctions then being imposed on Iraq. He accused the French of trying to \u201cundermine them.\u201d Goldberg insisted the French cry for \u201cpeace\u201d is motivated by a desire for \u201coil.\u201d He was writing for the \u201cWashington Times\u201d at the time. In another article, Goldberg suggested the U.S. should \u201cbomb Canada.\u201d Later, he said he was \u201conly kidding.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Now, Goldberg, a hard-core Neocon, who pushed, too, for the illegal and immoral Iraq War, is a regular contributor, like Witcover to the \u201cSun.\u201d What can one say about all of this?<\/span><\/p>\n Well, I suggest that we can be grateful. It could be worse! At the moment, other flaming Neocons, like: Bill Kristol, Bill O\u2019Reilly, Sean Hannity and John Bolton, aren\u2019t also regulars dispensers of warmongering at the \u201cSun.\u201d For example, the unhinged Kristol wants to put \u201c50,000 U.S. troops\u201d on the ground in Syria.<\/span><\/p>\n Here are just three lessons that the promoters of violence in the Mideast, including the \u201cSun,\u201d need to learn, and learn quickly. First, there are limits to U.S. power. Second, the U.S. can no longer afford to play the ultra-expensive role of Global Cop. And, third, the American people are reaching a tipping point and they are angry.<\/span><\/p>\n Finally, some need to understand there are all kinds of seriously violent things going on besides the physical confrontations at the Trump rallies. I also think it would help, that if we do get involved in another bloody war in the Mideast, that we send it those Chicken Hawk Neocons – first! It would be the right thing to do.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33736\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}