Category Archives: Intelligence & Politics

by Barry Kelly | August 11, 2015 · 6:59 am

INSIGHTS 223 — THE DONALD AND THE GOP

***A brief timeout from the Advisor series to write about the Republican Party elite and the primary process.***

The Republican establishment made up of self-appointed pundits and Republican professional politicians are the elite of the Republican Party. They believe it is their right to nominate and support only candidates they find acceptable.

That is not their right.

It is the people’s right to select the nominee in the primary process. Normally called voting.

The elite on the right is just as dangerous to individual freedom as is the elite on the left, generally called the Progressive wing of the Democratic party. Neither elite recognizes how far out of step they are with the people they claim to represent.

I don’t agree with Mr. Trump’s refusal to rule out running as the candidate of a third-party. But it is his choice. His refusal is because he feels he needs leverage to get a fair break. And he is probably right. In retrospect, my disappointment with the Republican debate among very qualified candidates is that none of them stepped up and said, “If Mr. Trump wins the nomination, I will support him.” A principled statement and a winning political position.

The silence from the stage was greatly magnified when the Republican elite in Georgia withdrew their invitation to Mr. Trump to participate in the conservative function they were sponsoring. How bad is that? They are preventing a candidate for the Republican nominee for president from speaking in a national forum with other candidates. Who gave them that right? Not the people. The sponsors and organizers of this Georgian conservative forum are acting like an elite group that is afraid of letting the people judge.

We the people have let the Republican self-appointed establishment select the last two national candidates. What did that get us? Primary voters determine who wins and who loses, not an elite group of professional politicians and talking heads. Mr. Trump is not my candidate of choice. But if he wins the primary national vote, I will support him. His entry into the race has been good for the Republican Party. A party now led by by frightened career politicians who suffer from a near terminal stage of political correctness. It would have been good to see all the Republicans seeking the nomination refusing to attend a conference that excluded a candidate.

“ISIS Quiet Justice,” a new Jack Brandon novel dealing with ISIS in America, is now available from your local bookstore and Amazon and Barnes and Noble in nook and kindle formats. Sign up for a serialized version of “Run to Freedom” at www.factsandfictions80.wordpress.com.

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by Barry Kelly | August 7, 2015 · 10:59 pm

INSIGHTS 221 — THE ADVISOR ASKS WHAT MADE YOU DO IT.

The Advisor thought finally the President and I are getting comfortable talking about real issues. He has loosened up in the last few sessions. He knows I’m no threat and I won’t betray his candid responses to my questions. Hope he is in a talkative mood tonight. He should be here in another few minutes. I think he makes a real effort to be more or less on time and I appreciated it. He glanced up at the passageway monitor and saw the President and Chris approaching his door. Funny he has never commented on the wording on the old brass plaque. Even I don’t know its background. Maybe it is contained somewhere in the early journals. The only was to search them is to go thru them one by one. I just don’t have the time for that.

“Welcome Mr. President. Have you had a good day?”

“Can’t remember when. Everyday I get several problems that should never reach the Oval Office. I don’t know if some of my staff are afraid or just too limited to handle the problems on their own. The problems, or rather issues, that I handle always get some bad press. Fortunately I have very few consistent critics in the media. Some of them have gone out of their way to be supportive. Okay, you have some questions for me?”

“Yes I do Mr. President. Some of them are not important in the writing of history but I want to ask you why you did certain things that even your supporters do not seem to understand. My first questions is, why have you spent so much energy and time on closing Guantanamo Bay?”

“Well, the first thing is that I made a campaign promise to close this sore spot on our international record as a freedom loving nation. Gitmo is a prison and a place of torture. Students of international law believe it is a place that has no place in the twenty-first century. We can detain criminals in prisons in the Continental United States where my Attorney-General can protect their rights, examine the evidence, and bring them to trial under the American system of justice.”

“But, surely, there are cases when it would be appropriate to detain and try terrorist prisoners captured on the field of battle?”

“I just don’t trust the military to run trials of our enemies. Their rules of evidence, procedure, and concern for the rights of the accused do not meet my standards. I want America to look toward my leadership in prosecuting criminals, not the Pentagon.”

“We have both studied the law, both constitutional and international. Don’t you see the impossibility of collecting evidence, taking statements from witnesses and yet following the strict rules required by our courts regarding the chain of accountability and custody of evidence from the crime scene to the court room?”

“If we can’t get a conviction on the main charges, we’ll have to settle for prosecuting them for lesser crimes. If the military can’t or won’t meet the standards of American justice, they shouldn’t be conducting trials or detaining prisoners for years without charging and trying them.”

“Mr. President, there must be more than that.”

“Yes, in this room there is one more big one. Gitmo is a wonderful issue for me to use campaigning to attack conservatives. My base loves this issue. Elections are not won on facts. They are won by picking good issues and building them into major points. The time the conservatives spend defending Gitmo means they are playing by my rules and they can’t win. Take the Bergdorf guy who deserted his post and was held by the Taliban for years. He wasn’t important to anything, but he gave me a perfect opportunity to get five more top terrorists out of Gitmo. There was no other way I could justify their release. Who could argue sending those five criminals to one of the Gulf States for safe keeping. Who cares where they end up? Sorry I can’t continue but I must go. Thank you for the coffee and conversation. They were both good.”

As the steel door closed, the Advisor thought if you don’t want the answer, don’t ask the question. This may have been one of those times. Absolutely scary. No one would believe what I just heard. Especially since his words had the ring of truth. Get ready for an Executive Order to give Guantanamo Bay to the Castro’s.

The above is a fictional account of a meeting that never took place, but it could have.

The author’s latest Jack Brandon novel, ISIS Quiet Justice, is available at your local book store and in ebook format from Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. Follow the author on Twitter at @factsfictions80.

INSIGHTS 220 The Advisor and the President discuss the civil service

The President was back just two days after he had to leave in the middle of The Advisor’s question about the politicization of the Civil Service. The President lit his secret cigarette and said, “This is the only place in the White House I can smoke without getting hard looks or worse. And this is so far underground I’m not sure I’m still in the White House. Okay, you were asking me about my use of the Civil Service. Right?”

“Yes. I was wondering if you see how much you have politicized the Civil Service?”

“Of course. It is my Civil Service. Why should they not do what I want them to do? Notice I said want them to do, not what I tell them to do. That is the difference.”

“You make it sound as if by some magic all members of the service know what you would like them to do and they do it.”

“No magic involved. All Civil Service members take direction from appointed officials. I appoint them and I only appoint those who I know will follow my progressive ideology. Most Civil Service employees like their jobs and want to keep them. They also work hard to get good evaluations, earn promotions and bonuses, and to justify the size and scope of their unit. Their loyalty is to their units and to the Civil Service Union. No one has to tell them to follow the president’s lead. They have always acted the same way. I just have been more careful to make sure the leaders I appointed are doing their jobs.”

“You sound as if you have studied organizational structure and the behavior of workers in large organizations.”

“What’s to study? That’s the way I think. For example, I don’t have to tell civil employees to grow their organizations or to expand. The government doesn’t grow because some president wants it to. It grows unless some president works hard to control or stop the growth. In my case, I want the government to continue to grow. I need it to really transform the country.”

“Why then are you cutting the size of our military forces?”

“Even as the commander-in-chief, I don’t have the same power over the military as I do over the civilian workforce. I cannot put my people all through the uniformed military. Also their command structure is very tight. I have strategic influence but people loyal to me and my transformation goals are not in the day-to-day operational decision making. The military forces are not supporting my progressive goals. I am growing the power of the Civil Service for they are a willing ally in transforming America. I am cutting the size and power of the military because they are and have been an evil force used to project American power into less fortunate and smaller nations. To bring the military under control, I must reduce their size.”

“Then you say you are not breaking any laws by the way the IRS, the EPA, Justice, HHS, Veterans Affairs or Homeland Security have conducted their activities?”

“Right. There is no evidence of any wrongdoing; therefore, no crime.”

“What about the failure or unwillingness of the FBI to investigate the wrongdoing of the IRS and the failure of the Immigration Service to enforce the law?”

“You don’t seem to understand. The FBI has no charter or legal standing to investigate when there is no evidence a crime has been committed. Under my Justice Department, the FBI is not going out looking for things to investigate. They do work for the attorney general, and she works for the president.”

“What about the precedent of the Watergate affair and the erased tapes in the Nixon administration that led to his resignation?”

“Wouldn’t have happened under me. Nixon failed to understand how to use the law without being directly involved and the media did the investigating, not the FBI. Nixon and most Republicans have never understood how to use the media.”

Mr. President, I’m afraid I have exceeded my time.”

“No problem. I’m enjoying these sessions and I really think you are trying to understand me. Also, I want my record in your journal to be clear. See you next week but I don’t know when.”

With that, the President left with Chris who was patiently waiting in the dim passageway, and they retraced his steps to the above ground White House.

The Advisor opened his journal and began to record the last session. As he was writing in his journal, he thought, this man is delusional but very clever and dangerous.

The above is a fictional account of a meeting that never took place, but it could have.

INSIGHTS 219 — The Advisor and the President debate the rule of law

The Advisor was pacing in his underground suite, waiting for the President. He knew these sessions were becoming more critical. He simply had to get the President to tell future readers of the Advisor journals not so much what he did, but why. History was nearly always based on what was done. Seldom did any writer of history really know why and how the whats of history were accomplished. He wasn’t exactly setting a trap for the President but, rather, giving him an opportunity to explain himself.

The fragrance of the dark roast Sumatra coffee filled the room. He and the President were both addicted to the flavor of strong coffee. Both took it black. The Advisor never objected to the President lighting up during his meetings. He had once been an addicted smoker himself and still enjoyed the smell of good tobacco with his coffee or single malt scotch. He was alone, and lonely too much, to have the temptation of a bottle or two within reach.

The phone buzzed. It was Chris, the President’s Secret Service escort alerting him President was on his way down. The room was perfectly arranged the President liked, as the Advisor had gotten into the habit of leaving it in the hopes the President would visit. The Advisor poured two cups of coffee and walked to the door to greet the President.

As he walked down the dimly lit short underground passageway to the steel vault door with 150 years of a dark green patina surrounding the even older brass plaque on the door inscribed with the words, “EIGHT DECADES OF INSIGHTS,” the President thought, I must be almost as nutty as that old black man inside. When I miss a couple of weeks, I miss the conversation. It is damned near like being on a couch with some learned nerd telling me what is wrong with me. Hell, I know what’s wrong with me. I’m a president trying to take a nation where it doesn’t want to go. I don’t have time to convince or educate them. I just have to drag them kicking and screaming into the world of the future where there is no inequality in nations or among nations. Call it socialism or communism or progressivism. I just don’t care. It is where we are going. Talking with this old man, who is smart as hell, helps me stay on course. I do wonder how he managed to fit this old steel door with the modern sensors that read my palm print on the brass plaque.

The Advisor greeted the President and led him over to the conference table. Once seated and the settled in with coffee and the President’s cigarette, the Advisor said, “Is it still my turn?”

“It’s a go. This maybe a short meeting. I may get called out.”

“You are trained in the law, but seemed not to have a reverence for the rule of law. It is more like you approach each problem in a very pragmatic way. Whatever works to help you get your way goes. You seem to have a distinct aversion to both the judicial and legislative branches. Is that right?”

“Close. I don’t follow the law. I use the law.”

“Mr. President, no offense, but do you realize some of your predecessors were impeached or threatened with impeachment? For example, the use of the IRS to discriminate against conservative groups applying for a tax-free status during an election period.”

“For a crime, especially an impeachable one, you must have evidence that can be presented in a court of law,” the President said, blowing out a puff of smoke. “No evidence, no crime, no attempts at impeachment. I don’t write things down or talk in front of my staff, except for a very few loyal and trusted ones, about what I want done if it is at all questionable in the law. If the Congressional Republicans can’t collect evidence, there is no crime. I don’t help or hinder their efforts to get emails or other information for their own political objectives. I can’t help what department heads do. The Civil Service is required to support the president. After all, they serve as my staff. I don’t need to tell them what to do, they know or they would not be employed.”

“What you are describing is unique in American history and ….” the Advisor started.

The phone buzzed and Chris said, “Mr. President, you are needed upstairs.” The President said, “This was getting interesting. Let’s continue the next time.” He smiled, pushed his cup away and put out his cigarette before walking to the door. Over his shoulder, he said, “How do you stand it down here? You must have committed some awful crime.”

The Advisor thought, sometimes I wonder.

The above is a fictional account of a meeting that never took place, but it could have.

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Filed under Eight Decades of Insights, Intelligence & Politics, management theory

by Barry Kelly | July 21, 2015 · 7:14 am

INSIGHTS 218 THE ADVISOR’S TURN

The Advisor thought back to the last time the ancient vault door had opened to the president’s touch. I was very hard on the president, he thought. I’m supposed to be his confidant and even his helper. I’ve failed in those regards. Perhaps more than any of my esteemed predecessors. They all had problems. Presidents are not easy to work with. But how can I help him if he listens but never takes my advice? I swear at times I think he comes here as if he was a Catholic going to confessional. It’s not something he likes but he believes he must do it. I feel for his above-ground advisors. He is not a happy president. I’ll step back today if I get the right opening.

The Advisor glanced up at one of his many screens and saw the President was approaching his door. He checked to make sure the coffee was ready and the ashtray was on the table, then walked over to the door as Chris, the President’s constant Secret Service companion, swung open the door for his commander-in-chief.

“Mr. President, come in please,” the Advisor said, smiling. “I look forward to your visits. I seldom get a chance to talk about important issues. When you’re here, that’s my only chance.” The two men sat down in their usual seats and the President lit a cigarette. “If you don’t mind, Mr. President, I’d like to ask you why you come to see me.”

The President smiled and took a drag. “Sometimes I ask myself the same question.” He blew out a puff of smoke before answering. “I come down here because among all the people I meet with, you’re the only one who tells me exactly what you believe. You have no political or personal agenda and frankly you are much smarter than the others and you never leak information that either helps or hurts me. So the time I spend with you is like playing political chess. You give me a safe opportunity to sharpen my messaging skills. Now please, continue with your stream of criticism. I’m ready.” The President sat back in his chair, a sly grin on his face, and took another drag from his cigarette.

“Well, you must be feeling good. You’ve had a number of victories recently. So let me begin with you successful negotiations with Iran. Your citizens are nearly all bewildered. Some of the political lemmings take the sound bites and pass them on. I found it interesting that the conservative wing of America is comfortable debating substance while the further left you go, the less willing people are to debate issues. Instead, they attack the messengers and not the message they carry. So your Congressional power base, with a few exceptions, will not argue with the tenets of the Iranian agreement. They will focus on attacking the debaters. You have brilliantly given them the ideal message: ‘There was no other option. Either this agreement or war.’ As simplistic as that defense is, it is working and will continue to work. You know, as the intellectual you can be, that there were and are scores of different approaches. By going to the United Nations with the lifting of sanctions on nuclear activity as well as lifting embargoes on conventional weapons, you have made Congress irrelevant. Your progressive message in the election period can now paint the Republicans as being anxious to go to war with Iran rather than giving diplomacy a chance.

“Here again the left will be attacking the anti-Iran agreement people and not debating the agreement issues. Therefore you have already used the issue and now have a winning strategy.”

The President smiled, ground out his cigarette and said, ” You are too smart. I’m thankful you’re buried in this underground chamber with your unique political insights. I don’t mind this. I’ll give you more time. It’s like being in a safe time warp.”

The above is a fictional account of a meeting that never took place, but it could have.

The author’s latest Jack Brandon novel, ISIS Quiet Justice, is available at your local book store and in ebook format from Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. Follow the author on Twitter at @factsfictions80.