The Things I Did Not Know At The Time

When I was a kid and my Dad used to tune in that awful Irish music on the AM radio on Saturday morning rides, I did not know that I would learn to really appreciate this music as an adult.

When the Beatles disbanded in 1970, I did not know that lovable Paul McCartney was actually the most disliked by the other band members and that George Harrison would blossom into the best song writer of the Fab Four.

When Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 due to the Watergate scandal, I did not know he had previously been Vice President under President Dwight Eisenhower from 1953-1961 and a staunch anti-Communist.

As I grew up in the 1970’s and read about Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella of the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers, I did not know that the team name was due to their original fans having to “dodge” trolleys on the way to games in Brooklyn, NY.

When Ted Kennedy drove his car off of the Chappaquiddick Bridge in 1969 resulting in the death of Mary Jo Kopechne, I did not know that this was not a mythical extension of the Kennedy curse, but was the result of the actions of a reckless, soulless and unrepentant drunk.

While enjoying the band, the Eagles, in the mid-1970’s, I did not know that members Glen Frey and Don Henley were previously part of Linda Ronstadt’s backing band.

When Bill Cosby was welcomed into 1980’s living rooms as the fun loving and charming Dr. Cliff Huxtable, I did not know he was a serial rapist in real life.

When the Beach Boys reappeared on the music charts in 1988 with the #1 hit single, “Kokomo”, I did not know that the song was co-written by John Phillips of the “Mamas and the Papas” and Scott McKenzie who gained fame with the 1967 hit “San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in your Hair)”.

When reading up on one of my favorite actors, Jack Nicholson, I did not know he was raised by his grandmother, but was told she was his mother when his actual mother was who he had been led to believe was his older sister.

When watching the 1990 movie, “Blow”, starring Johnny Depp and then researching the true story, I did not know that the main character, George Jung, grew up a mile away from where I grew up.

When watching Mariska Hargitay of “Law and Order: SVU” fame on TV for years, I did not know that she is the daughter of famous Hollywood actress, Jayne Mansfield (photo above).

When I voted for Meg Whitman (R) for CA Governor instead of Jerry Brown (D) in 2010, I did not know that I would be accused of being anti-women for not voting for Hillary Clinton for President in 2016 by people who had voted for Brown instead of Whitman.

Why do I bring up all of these examples of my innocent ignorance?

We travel through life with the facts – as we know them.  As we continue the journey, we get to become more enlightened if we keep our eyes - and mind - open and read a little more.  It is interesting to learn that some things were not as initially thought and others are provided with some fantastic context.

For people who were born after 1975, they probably are not very aware of all of the political shenanigans of the 1990’s. I hope for those of you who fit this category, you read up a little bit on the Clinton machine.  There are plenty of things that you may not know. There is soon to be a lot of new dirt to hit the airwaves over the coming weeks and months. My hope is that younger people will study and recognize the defensive modus operandi which has been utilized by the Clinton machine for almost 30 years and will be resurrected, yet, again.  Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice.........

The players will include the Clintons, their political flunkies from the DNC, members of the Obama administration, shills in the media and, of course, the “useful idiots” who will share all of their bullshit stories without investigating the veracity of their claims.  We are going to have dueling scandals: a) the payment for and use of the Trump dossier during the election and b) Uranium One.

Here are the steps for which one should be aware.  Watch carefully to determine if you recognize them as they are employed by the Clinton operatives:

1. Denial – initially deny everything (Sgt Shulz: “I know nothing”)
2. Obfuscate – indignantly go on the record denying something which is not relevant to the accusation (Kevin Spacey just failed spectacularly trying to use a version of this one) 
3. Shift – shift back and forth between a standard of what is morally ethical to a standard of what is legal
4. Old News – claim that the offense is old news and we should just “move on” (from where do you think MoveOn.org was spawned?)
5. Repetitive talking points – “opposition research” substituted for “Russian sourced information” will be a big one.  After all, using Russian sourced info to sway an election would be - COLLUSION !!
6. Everybody Does It – they will equate buying yard signs with breaking national security laws
7. Incompetence – this is where they claim ignorance, BUT they are smart about everything else
8. I Don’t Recall – when completely trapped, this is a golden oldie
9. Partisan Witch Hunt – blame the accusers when all else fails

There are more, but these are the main ones employed since the 90’s.

The reason 63 million voters chose not to vote for Hillary was not based upon her gender.  Many voted for a flawed candidate, Donald Trump, because they knew Hillary to be dishonest and corrupt.

The Clinton machine is SO good at what they do that their corruption may not lead to a conviction, but convictions are difficult when the FBI, CIA and DOJ are part of the machine and complicit in destroying evidence.  Nixon was a piker compared to this crew.  Watch as this scandal unfolds and it will become even more amazing that Trump was able to triumph with all of this power aligned against him.

Try to follow the facts and not the smokescreens thrown up on the television.  I highly recommend you watch and read both sides of the partisan divide to try to determine the truth. If you have no problem with the executives of a Russian state run company (Uranium One) donating $145M to the Clinton Foundation when the decision required to transfer 20% of the US uranium supply to that company was sitting on Hillary Clinton’s desk, then you are beyond help – forever lost.  We’ve seen it all before when Bill Clinton’s administration sold missile technology to the Chinese in the 90’s.

Be prepared for the media onslaught as the Clintons, once again, try to escape the charge of selling out the US national defense to pad their own pockets.

Soon, even the Bernie Bros will be chanting: “Lock her up!”