Of course, Omar Khadr was not directly rewarded for being a terrorist or for killing an American soldier (and wounding another) but because he was allegedly mistreated while a detainee at Guantanamo. How, you may wonder, did Canada become involved? It’s because the younger Khadr was born in Canada, and when President Obama was releasing terrorists from the Guantanamo facility, Omar Khadr was released to Canada.
By John Shaffer Every once in a while there is a news story about some person who was unjustly imprisoned and, upon his release, is given a substantial amount of money. Most people think a person unjustly jailed deserves compensation, but how about when a huge payment goes to someone who was guilty as charged, and thus deservedly punished. Well, it happened earlier this month, when the leftish Canadian government of Justin Trudeau awarded $10.5 million Canadian ($8 million in US dollars) to Omar Khadr. Now 30 years of age, Omar Khadr was 15 when in 2002 he threw a grenade that killed Sgt 1/C Christopher Speer in Afghanistan. Captured on the battlefield, he was detained in Guantanamo until 2015. Here’s an interesting piece of intergenerational trivia: Justin Trudeau is the son of the even more leftish former Canadian Prime Minister, Pierre Elliot Trudeau; and Omar Khadr is the son of Ahmad Khadr, a terrorist adherent of Osama bin Laden who was killed in 2003 by Pakistani soldiers.
Of course, Omar Khadr was not directly rewarded for being a terrorist or for killing an American soldier (and wounding another) but because he was allegedly mistreated while a detainee at Guantanamo. How, you may wonder, did Canada become involved? It’s because the younger Khadr was born in Canada, and when President Obama was releasing terrorists from the Guantanamo facility, Omar Khadr was released to Canada. BY JOHN SHAFFER On several occasions we have written that President Trump, through his tweets and comments and off-hand remarks, makes most of his own problems; and it does seem that the most vehement reactions to the President stem from something he said or texted or tweeted rather than some action he took. However, President Trump’s social media habits are not the only cause of his problems – last week we found out that he is not even the only member of his family who causes problems. Donald Trump Jr. made a generous contribution to the family stewpot with his 2016 rendezvous with some Russians, notably the mysterious Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya. Mysterious, and ubiquitous, for Ms. Veselnitskaya had other meetings during her visit to America back in 2016. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, the meeting everyone is interested in is the one in which Donald Jr. was inveigled to partake on the premise that he would be presented with some sort of dirt on Hillary Rodham Clinton. Yes, of course young Mr. Trump should have said “get thee hence, Satan” to his hostess, but he did not.
Mr. Trump Jr. should have known better, and realized that opposition research and muckraking is best left to the professionals. That way the candidate, or his immediate family, does not get his own hands dirty. You or I or anybody we know would not have engaged in a meeting to learn dirt about a political opponent, but we can be pretty sure that there are dozens of operatives in both parties who would have done so with little hesitation. (It is amusing and quaint to hear the hard-bitten veterans of many a campaign publicly declaim that they would never, never do any such thing.) Dirty tricks have been around for some time, and eleven-year old hot mike remarks by a future presidential candidate don’t harvest themselves. BY JOHN SHAFFER Finally! Here’s a story everyone can agree on. No, that’s wrong, there may be no story that everyone can agree on any more, but let’s try it anyway. How about President Trump’s speech in Poland? It was a full-throated defense of America and of "western values." The world heard his predecessor apologize for America in practically every speech he ever gave. In those years, we heard of our flaws, of our mistakes, of the things we did wrong; we heard how we were not any better (and probably a good deal worse) than most other countries. That might have been sobering, because there is nothing wrong with knowing our shortcomings, of course, or even talking about them; but one would think that a nation whose leader bad-mouths his people, his country and its history gave little regard to the good things that America and Americans have done (such as defeating Naziism and Japanese Imperialism, rescuing Europe after the Second World War, building the greatest economy the world has known, curing polio, putting men on the moon, being a leader in innovation and championing free speech and freedom of religion). After all, who can forget that President Obama’s wife, inspired by her husband’s campaign, said, “for the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country because it feels like hope is making a comeback.” One would have thought that adult life must have included a few moments of hope and pride some other time, but we guess not. She was proud for those eight years, but she isn’t anymore- and that is the problem. Patriots love their country regardless of its flaws, because its attributes are so wonderful – and America does not, contrary to Mrs. Obama’s opinion, rely on the election of any one individual to make it great or something to be proud of. President Obama may have felt pride in America, but he took pains not to show it.
But it also is refreshing to hear someone express his patriotic pride, and President Trump believes that America is a special place and he isn’t afraid to declare it, even overseas. He championed the values that have made us what we are, and made us the magnet for oppressed people all over the world. As has been said – “Without America there is no Free World.” That bears repeating. Donald Trump knows that. He also knows who the enemy is, and does not shy away from naming “radical Islam” and “Russian aggression” as major threats to world peace. President Obama still can’t utter the first and ignored the second. By John Shaffer In January we inaugurated a new President, and the country, we are told, "seems divided as never before." Well, the folks who say that usually catch themselves and add, "since the Civil War," but they could also say "since Watergate" or "since Vietnam" or "since The Red Scare" or "since before Pearl Harbor" or "since the Depression" or "since Prohibition" or "since Reconstruction"… You get the idea. America, it seems has been divided one way or another for much of the past 150 years - but at times before then it was just as divided. Considering that a large percentage of our population in 1776 - perhaps even a plurality -- opposed our separation from England, it might be fair to say we always have been divided. And that may be why we are so strong. We have the freedom to choose, and that means we can choose to have different opinions, or the same opinions. We can change our minds or shift our views. Cuba and Russia and China and Iran try to control the very thoughts of the people; in America our individual opinions are what matters.
We just concluded an eight-year Presidential administration in which the President's popularity was "under water" for seven years or so, with more people disapproving of his presidency than approving of it. In fact, his average popularity, as measured by the Gallup Poll, places President Obama at 9th out of the 12 US Presidents who served since the Second World War - his popularity exceeded that of Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Harry Truman, and trailed everyone else - including Richard Nixon! President Obama also was electoral poison to his party, as its number of seats tumbled almost everyone where, from the Congress to state legislatures to governorships, etc. Right now, President Trump, who has managed to become less popular more rapidly than most other Presidents, seems likely to come in even closer to the bottom than his predecessor. But popularity is a changeable and often fleeting thing, and often a president's rating says more about the people polled than about him. |
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