Author Archives: Barry Kelly

 A  fictional discourse between a political science Professor and his students.

The Professor greeted his Seminar students and said, “You all are doing well.
Some of you need to work on your personal confidence factor. The people you will be working for will be constantly assessing you. You will be playing in the biggest game of all.

“For example, right now this Nation is involved in a great crisis. Yes, I’m speaking about the Nunes Document and the various reactions to it. You all know that I worked in the Reagan White House the last two years of his second term. I had several routine duties. One that took very little time and was always approved, was the Intelligence Community requests to the FISC, The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. They were all relatively brief, clearly written and highly classified. They had to be handled quickly due to the nature of the collection target.

“There was great trust between the Court and the intelligence collectors. I never saw or even suspicioned that any deception was involved. All the FISC requests that came through the Reagan White House were approved quickly by the a FISC judge. None were controversial. The Judges, then and now, would have been astounded and outraged by the process exposed by Rep. Nunes.

“The Rule of Law is, perhaps, the single most important pillar of  American Democracy. Using evidence provided by sources paid for by the Clinton Campaign, the Democratic National Committee and rogue elements of the FBI and Department of Justice to secure a warrant to surveil American citizens who happen to represent an opposing political party presents a very serious crisis to our entire legal system. The elements of the Intelligence Community, the Justice Department and the FBI who knowingly participated in this illegal process must be held accountable through the Grand Jury process and a Special Counsel who was not part of this illegal process or a confident of those who did.

“The current Special Counsel, Robert Mueller’s highly partisan investigation must be ended or put on hold until the men and women of the FBI and Justice Department who were knowingly involved in this illegal activity are, at least, removed from office and put on administrative leave. Mueller has found absolutely no evidence of collusion which is not a crime. His now illegal search for “obstruction of justice” actions on the part of the President are nothing short of a continuation of the discredited FISC warrant. I believe Mr. Mueller’s activities under this illegal warrant should be one of the subjects for investigation by a legitimate appointed authority. As part of the clean up process, Attorney-General Sessions and several others should be given a chance to step down or be fired. Compared to the activities laid out in the Nunes memo, Watergate looks like a minor event that received appropriate responses.”

A  fictional discourse between a political science Professor and his students.

As soon as the Professor took his place at the head of the table, Robert said, “With everything going on why is so much coverage and attention being given to the NFL players taking a knee during the pre-game national anthem? Is it really that important?”

The professor looked down the table at the ten students in his political science honors seminar and asked, “How many of you think the issue Robert raised is important enough for us to devote class time to discussing it?”

Four of the ten students raised their hand. “Alice, your hand was up. Why is this issue important?”

“I think the behavior of the NFL players who take a knee are disrespecting sacred parts of our heritage and national culture. How we respond will say a lot about how we feel about our national history and beliefs. What does being an American mean?”

“Anyone else care to comment? Edward said, “This is simply a case of Americans exercising their Constitutional rights to protest parts of our history and culture that they believe need to be discussed and changed.”

“Okay. You are interested and so am I. As you have learned it is important to understand not only the issue but to have some understanding of the biases, agenda and experiences of the speaker. I may be an open book to those who have taken a previous course from me of read some of my publications. But for the rest of you, I am a Korean War Vet from the coal mining and steel mills of western Pennsylvania; studied at Pitt, Duke and other places here and abroad in the fields of politics and national security; briefly participated in the civil rights sit in movement in North Caroline and met Martin Luther King in the process; served 21 years in the CIA with several foreign assignments including two years in Vietnam and Moscow; my last government job was as a special assistant to President Reagan for national security affairs. Politically I’m a Republican with strong leanings toward populism and nationalism. With that background it must be clear that I am not a liberal.

“I don’t believe the Government should punish people for disrespecting the flag or the national anthem and the thousands of veterans whose sacrifices made it possible for them to have the right to protest. But I have no respect for those who do, especially when they are men being highly paid to play a game. They are incredible athletes, but first and foremost they are entertainers working for people who make fortunes from ticket sales, TV rights, NFL apparel  stores and stadiums paid for by tax payers.  I don’t even think they all know what they are protesting.

“This is no place for government intervention. It is up to the owners and the fans. I am no longer a fan. I no longer watch the games or talk about them. Weak NFL management, greedy owners and pampered athletes have made their bed and are totally responsible for diminishing viewers and sales.

“Rather than being dismayed by the actions and greed of the NFL, I am heartened by the response of the people where our true strength lies.”