Observations of an Irishman: The Kim Summit

June 14, 2018

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Contributor

As an Irishman, I am a long-time admirer and defender of America and everything your people have achieved to make this world a better place — ranging from your founders highlighting the laws of nature to advancements in all aspects of life including medicine, standard of living, and communication to transport. I personally owe a debt to the American people that can never be repaid as I do not have to speak German.

On Tuesday, President Trump held one-on-one talks with King Jong Un in what was billed as a historic summit between the two leaders. The coverage and reaction to his summit has been stunning with both sides sharing their talking points — depending on your side in the media or social media, this meeting was either amazing or a disaster, Trump is either God or Satan and this summit will either end with a Nobel Peace Prize or war and his impeachment.

May I ask some honest questions? When did America only have two opinions and largely ignoring facts based solely on the politics of the person involved? Is it possible to both celebrate yesterday as a positive step but to also have some major concerns? Does anyone even want to have an honest conversation or do we only cheer for our team? Does anyone want to be consistent and purely call balls and strikes anymore?

President Trump

Let's start with President Trump. Does he and his administration, especially folks like Mike Pompeo, deserve credit for making this meeting happen? Yes, absolutely — and a lot of work has gone on behind the scenes to get to this point.

I believe any sane person in this world wants peace and makes it the ultimate goal in life — even if we differ in how we get there. If holding this meeting can help pave the way to end (technically) one of the longest wars in history, to bring peace and stability to the region, then we should be willing to be made uncomfortable and discuss it. The point with this discussion is to never forget your foundational principles, never surrender or be desperate for a deal at any cost and yes be willing to walk away if the deal is not positive.

King Jong UN

No matter how bad you want to celebrate yesterday as a victory, it is not. Let us not forget that yesterday changed absolutely nothing. King Jong UN is still the same evil despotic dictator as he was last week and has been since he took power in 2011. He is still the dictator of a country that the U.N. has called "one of the most repressive authoritarian states in the world". He is still the dictator of a country that has gross human rights violations committed by the government including, "murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, forced abortion, and other sexual violence". If that is what the UN is willing to say about them, can you imagine what the reality actually is? This meeting has not changed this and there is no evidence to suggest it will change going forward.

King Jong UN is still the same evil despotic dictator as he was last week and has been since he took power in 2011.

The second reason yesterday was not a victory, is because King Jong Un is a dictator. History is filled with dictators who are great at lying, having ulterior motives to hold meetings without telling anyone and also changing their minds. If you need reminding of this, perhaps do some research on Neville Chamberlain meeting with Hitler?

If you love Donald Trump please take this warning very seriously — do not put all your eggs in the basket of peace with North Korea. It is like gambling in Vegas, yes you might get lucky but there is also a major chance things go horribly wrong.

American Flag

I am not an American so I probably have no right to say this, but it troubled me greatly and made me sick to see the flag of the evil oppressive North Korea on the same stage as the American Flag. When I think of your flag, I think of it being raised at Iwo Jima, being planted on the Moon, being lifted up after 9/11, Betsy Ross stitching each star and being draped over heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice. Is it perfect? No, and nothing on this earth ever will be. The American flag represents man at its finest and a constant struggle to be better, to have more opportunities to pursue your happiness and to always stand against tyranny. The fact it shared a platform with a flag that stands for the exact opposite of America is something I wish had been given more discussion.

False Praise/Rhetoric

I will openly admit I do not understand part of the appeal of some of Donald Trump behavior and why so many justify it as rhetoric. Maybe it's why I would suck at politics. I speak very plainly, consistently and will never say things I do not believe. Yesterday President Trump called King Jong Un "very talented" and said he trusted him.

I understand the need for the President to build a foundation, but should it not be built on something more solid than either false praise (which I believe it is) or glancing over history? Would we be okay with schools calling Hitler, Stalin or Mao very talented? No, we would rightly be horrified and it would start a discussion online. We must be consistent, even when so many of our liberal friends are not.

Liberal Main Stream Media

There is a famous saying, "history does not repeat itself, but it sure does rhyme". I won't go down to the media's level or the lowest level known to man — the Robert De Niro level and insult you or your profession. I won't even call you #FakeNews.

I will, however, point out how sad it is that you are continuing your long legacy of being on the wrong side of history. After all, your profession does have the legacy of being silent of the horrors during World War 2, hailed Neville Chamberlain as a real leader, grabbed defeat from the jaws of victory in Vietnam and loves to write puff pieces about Castro, Che and lately Karl Marx.

If Trumps motto is America first, what is yours? Is it ratings first? Is it whoever hates Trump the Most First?

Watching your coverage of this summit has been truly unbelievable and sickening. If Trump's motto is America first, what is yours? Is it ratings first? Is it whoever hates Trump the most first? Is it lies and deceit lives here? All you are short of doing during this coverage is writing a puff piece on King Jong Un and highlight how he really is misunderstood, or how he had daddy issues, or how he just wants to be accepted for who he really is.

Devil Is In The Details

The last reason you cannot call this a victory for anyone, is due to the lack of real details of exactly what was discussed on Tuesday morning. We currently have been given four very broad bullet points of what they hope to happen, but no real substance, deadlines, how it will be verified or enforced.

While it is still early, it seems there have been very few concessions made by North Korea and some pretty big ones made by America including ending War Games in South Korea.

Missing Piece?

The other critical missing piece of the jigsaw that I have heard very few are discussing is the U.S Senate — have they been briefed on exactly what happened? Have they been given the full details of what was discussed and proposed? What is their opinion on that? Have they discussed a plan of when a treaty would be drawn up and will the Senate ratify it? Or is this another unconstitutional deal done by executive order?

Conclusion

I really hope we will be able to look back in history on highlight June 12th as a pivotal day where President Trump started a long process of bringing an official end to the Korean War, with an official treaty ratified by the U.S. Senate which results in peace for all involved and where the people of North Korea gain more liberty and freedoms. However, until we have more details and start to see results we cannot offer a conclusion either positive or negative.

I really hope we will be able to look back in history on highlight June 12th as a pivotal day.

This journey will be a very long one, but it has the potential to be historic and if this happens President Trump will be written about and have a legacy that people will still be discussing and analyzing one hundred years from now.

Trump's education secretary has BIG plans for the DoE

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Our education system is broken, and the Department of Education is a massive failure. But that all ends now.

It's no secret that America's school system is seriously lacking in many ways. President Trump pointed out that despite our massive spending per pupil, we are behind most of the developed world in most metrics. Our scores continue to plummet while our student debt and spending skyrocket—it's utterly unacceptable performance and America's students deserve better.

That's where Linda McMahon, Trump's pick for Secretary of Education comes in.

The former WWE CEO and leader of the U.S. Small Business Administration during Trump's first term, McMahon laid out her harsh criticisms of the DoE during a confirmation hearing on the 13th and revealed her promising plans to turn things around. McMahon described the public education system as "in decline" and promised that under her authority, the DoE would be reoriented towards student success.

Here are the top three changes to the Department of Education:

1. Dismantling the Department of Education

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From the beginning Trump's orders for McMahon were clear: oversee the end of the Department of Education.

During her Thursday hearing, McMahon clarified what dismantling the DoE would entail. As Democrats have repeatedly pointed out, Trump does not have the authority to destroy the DoE without Congressional consent, as an act of Congress created it. That is why Trump and McMahon's plan is to start by shutting down programs that can be stopped by executive action, then approach Congress with a plan to dismantle the Department for good. The executive orders have already begun to take effect, and once McMahon is confirmed she will author a plan for Congress to close the Department.

McMahon also promised that the end of the Department of Education does not mean an end to all the programs currently undertaken by the doomed department. Programs that are deemed beneficial will be transferred (along with their funding) to departments that are more suited to the task. The example given by McMahon was IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) funding, which instead of being cut would be transferred to the Department of Health and Human Services.

2. School Choice

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In a huge win for parents across the country, McMahon pledged her support for School Choice. School Choice is the idea of allowing parents to enroll their student in any school of their choice, including religious schools and private schools. It would also mean that part or all of the funding that would have gone to a relocated child would follow them and continue to pay for their education.

This gives parents the ability to remove their children from failing schools and seek a better education for them elsewhere. A growing body of evidence suggests that the way we run our schools isn't working, and it is time to try something new. School Choice opens up education to the free market and will allow for competition.

Our children deserve better than what we can currently offer them.

3. COVID and DEI

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Trump's government-wide crackdown on DEI will ironically serve to increase inclusion in many American schools.

McMahon said as much during her Senate hearing: “It was put in place ostensibly for more diversity, for equity and inclusion. And I think what we’re seeing is, it is having an opposite effect. We are getting back to more segregating of our schools instead of having more inclusion in our schools.” She also spoke in support of Title IX, and the push to remove biological males from women's and girl's sports. In the same vein, McMahon pledged to push back against the rise of antisemitism on college campuses, which many Universities have failed to adequately address.

On Friday, February 14th, President Trump signed an executive order barring any school or university with COVID-19 vaccine mandates from receiving federal money. This only applies to the COVID-19 vaccine, and other vaccine mandates are still standing.

POLL: What DARK government secrets will Trump uncover?

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Will the dark secrets of the Deep State finally see the light of day? Or will they slip back into darkness, as they have many times before?

The Trump administration is gearing up to fulfill one of Trump's most anticipated campaign promises: to make the contents of the JFK files, along with other Deep State secrets, available to the public. Kash Patel, who has promised to publicize the highly anticipated files, is expected to be confirmed next week as Trump's director of the FBI. Moreover, the House Oversight Committee created a new task force headed by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna called "Task Force on Declassification of Federal Secrets," which is tasked with investigating and declassifying information on the JFK, RFK, and MLK assassinations, UFOs, the Epstein list, COVID's origins, and 9/11. This all comes after the FBI found 2,400 "new" records relating to the assassination of President Kennedy following Trump's executive order to release the files.

Glenn discussed this topic with the cast of the Patrick Bet David podcast. Glenn expressed his confidence in Trump's radical transparency—on the condition that Kash Patel is confirmed. The cast was not as optimistic, expressing some doubt about whether Trump will actually unveil all that he has promised. But what do you think? What files are likely to see the light of day? And what files will continue to linger in the dark? Let us know in the poll below

Do you think the JFK, RFK, and MLK files will be unveiled?

Do you think the 9/11 files will be unveiled?

Do you think the COVID files will be unveiled?

Do you think the UFO files will be unveiled?

Do you think the Epstein list will be unveiled?

Transgender opera in Colombia? 10 SHOCKING ways USAID spent your tax dollars.

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The government has been doing what with our tax money!?

Under the determined eye of Elon Musk, DOGE has rooted out the corruption that permeates USAID, and it turns out that it's worse than we thought. Glenn recently read a list of atrocious causes that were funded by USAID, and the list was as long as it was shocking.

Since the January consumer index report was published today, one thing is clear: eggs are bearing the brunt of inflation. That's why we illustrated the extent of USAID's wasteful spending of YOUR taxpayer dollars by comparing it to the price of eggs. How many eggs could the American people have bought with their tax dollars that were given to a "transgender opera" in Colombia or indoctrinating Sri Lankans with woke gender ideology? The truth will shock you:

1. A “transgender opera” in Colombia

USAID spent $47,000 on a transgender opera in Colombia. That's over 135,000 eggs.

2. Sex changes and "LGBT activism" in Guatemala

$2 million was spent funding sex changes along with whatever "LGBT activism" means. That equates to over 5.7 million eggs!

3. Teaching Sri Lankan journalists how to avoid binary-gendered language

USAID forked over $7.9 million to combat the "gender binary" in Sri Lankan journalism. That could have bought nearly 23 million eggs.

4. Tourism in Egypt

$6 million (or just over 17 million eggs) was spent to fund tourism in Egypt. If only someone had thought to build some impressive landmarks...

5. A new "Sesame Street" show in Iraq

USAID spent $20 million to create a new Sesame Street show in Iraq. That's just short of 58 million eggs...

6. Helping the BBC value the diversity of Libyan society

$2.1 million was sent to the BBC (the British Broadcasting Corporation) to help them value the diversity of Libyan society (whatever that means). That could have bought over 6 million eggs.

7. Meals for a terrorist group linked to Al-Qaeda

$10 million worth of USAID-funded meals went to an Al-Qaeda linked terrorist group. That comes up to be just shy of 29 million eggs.

8. Promoting inclusion in Vietnam

A combined $19.3 million was sent to two separate inclusion groups in Vietnam inclusion groups in Vietnam (why where they separated? Not very inclusive of them). That's over 55 million eggs.

9. Promoting DEI in Serbia's workplaces

USAID sent $1.5 million (4.3 million eggs) to “advance diversity equity and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities.”

10. Funding EcoHealth Alliance, tied to the Wuhan Institute of Virology's "bat research"

EcoHealth Alliance, one of the key NGOs that funded the Wuhan lab's bat virus research, received $5 million from USAID, which is equivalent to 14.5 million eggs.

The bottom line...

So, how much damage was done?

In total, approximately $73.8 million was wasted on the items on this list. That comes out to be 213 million eggs. Keep in mind that these are just the items on this list, there are many, many more that DOGE has uncovered and will uncover in the coming days. Case in point: that's a lot of eggs.

POLL: Should Trump stop producing pennies?

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On Sunday, February 9th, President Trump ordered the U.S. Mint to halt the production of pennies. It costs the mint three cents to produce every penny, which Trump deemed wasteful. However, critics argue that axing the pennies will be compensated by ramping up nickel production, which costs 13 cents per coin.

In other news, President Trump promised on Truth Social that he would be reversing a Biden-era policy that mandated the use of paper straws throughout the federal government. From potentially slashing entire agencies to saying farewell to pennies and paper straws, Trump is hounding after wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars.

But what do you think? Was Trump right to put an end to pennies? And should plastic straws make a comeback? Let us know in the poll below:

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