The legal costs in the South Bend police wiretapping case are now approaching $2 million. And the case still doesn’t have an end in sight five years after the legal proceedings started.
Two powerful groups whose past disagreements have blocked attempts to legalize carryout Sunday alcohol sales in Indiana say they have reached an agreement.
NBC Universal fired Senior Vice President for Booking, News & Entertainment Matt Zimmerman, following accusations of sexual misconduct, the company announced Tuesday.
The North Korean soldier who escaped into South Korea at the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) Monday is in critical condition at a South Korean hospital after suffering multiple gun shot wounds by his comrades.
Willeford told KHBS, “I was scared to death. I was. I was scared for me, and I was scared for every one of them, and I was scared for my own family that just lived less than a block away.” Yet Willeford put his fears behind him and went to the church, took cover behind a vehicle, and waited for Kelley to come outside. Once Kelley emerged, Willeford took a shot. “He saw me, and I saw him. I was standing behind a pickup truck for cover. I know I hit him. He got into his vehicle, and he fired another couple rounds through his side window. When the window dropped, I fired another round at him again.”
“My first encounter was basically being hit in the back,” he told the Examiner. “We’ve never had words over anything, we’ve never had a dispute or discussion or words.”
The Green Beret sergeant’s dry day became a key to unraveling the narrative spun by the elite Navy commandos whom military investigators now suspect killed him, officials familiar with the case said.
“We don’t know how far that goes. He called it the investigation a matter, not an investigation. Prior to interviewing Secretary Clinton before the investigation is over. He should have been fired a long time ago, but what did he do? He leaks a government documented to a friend, to the near times, and what was his goal? To create momentum for a special counsel? And who does that happen to be? His best friend, his predecessor, his mentor, Robert muller. And not to mention the dossier. If this doesn’t warrant a special counsel, what’s the heck does? That is all we said, and there is an op-ed today, they said maybe we better answer Congress.”
“What’s it going to take to get special counsel?” Jordan implored. “We know that former F.B.I. director, James Comey, misled the American people in the summer of 2016 when he called the Clinton Administration a ‘matter.’ Obviously it was an investigation. We know F.B.I. Director Comey was drafting an exoneration letter before the investigation was complete. We know Loretta Lynch, one day before the Benghazi report came out, five days before Clinton was scheduled to be interviewed with the F.B.I., met with former President Clinton in Phoenix.”
Honestly, no commentary is needed, but here we go …
This stems from President Trump‘s campaign promises to end unfair trade deals and renegotiate for more fair terms for the United States. South Korea doesn’t pay for the THAAD missile defense system shielding it from North Korean attacks. In April, President Trump made it known he believes the South Koreans should pay for it.
I should point out that withdrawing from the trade deal is not popular among military brass. They see the THAAD defense system as a way to protect the US west coast and Hawaii. I should also point out that it’s a well-known strategy of Trump’s to threaten withdrawal of trade deals, only to pull back after renegotiations start.
The CNN piece is arguing that pulling out of the South Korean trade deal will weaken their economy, and undermine them in the face of a growing North Korean threat. Thus, emboldening North Korean aggression. This logic, however, is flawed.
The constant flow of US arms, training, support, and manpower to prop up South Korean defenses has not kept North Korea in check. They’ve been conducting nuclear tests since 2006. Their provocative missile launches have become a common occurrence in the past decade. Furthermore, in November 2010, a nuclear armed North Korea fired around 170 artillery shells and rockets at the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong. They hit both civilian and military targets, killed four and injured 19. All because they claimed South Korean artillery landed in North Korean waters. Next month is the seventh anniversary of that attack. There were no CNN pieces on how Obama’s base was risking nuclear war with North Korea at the time. It’s the closest to full-scale war we’ve been since the Korean War, and it happened under the policies Trump is vowing to change. The same policies others want to leave in place. That is one of the hundreds of incidents of provocation by North Korea. Yet, somehow, President Trump is the reason we face war with North Korean? The assertion isn’t just intellectually dishonest, it’s flat-out preposterous and laughable.
North Korea, and many in the West, have said that the U.S. and South Korea’s defensive posture is antagonizing to the North. North Korea claims it’s only acting the way it is because it’s surrounded by enemies, and they need to defend themselves. While I, and most, don’t believe that to be true, it is worth pointing out that both sides of the argument are claiming the other’s actions will lead to war.
The one thing everyone should understand is that it isn’t President Trump causing this. It isn’t his supporters demanding he keeps his campaign promises causing this. It’s North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un who’s causing this escalation. It’s Kim Jong Un who’s putting us on the path to war, even nuclear war. No one else is responsible for the current tensions … period. Any assertion otherwise is wrong.
