Tag Archives: Vox.com

International news

Is he lying or just unaware?

Vox.com, an online news and commentary service, has suggested that Donald J. Trump told another whopper when he said North Korea has committed to “denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”

Vox.com calls the president a liar on that one. Imagine that.

I’m going to give Trump a bit of the benefit of the doubt on that one. I don’t believe he knows what he and Kim Jong Un agreed to when they met earlier month in Singapore. Thus, he might not be lying purposefully; he is ignorant of the agreement.

Here is what Vox.com reported: Well, hereā€™s what the joint agreement says on that: ā€œChairman Kim Jong Un reaffirmed his firm and unwavering commitment to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.ā€ It shortly afterward adds a vital caveat: ā€œ[T]he DPRK commits to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.ā€

That is not the same as Kim agreeing to ā€œa total denuclearization of North Korea.ā€ Not at all. Not even close.

It’s seriously egregious for the president to deliberately deceive us on a statement that carries such an enormous impact on the prospect for world peace.

It also is damn grim if the president simply doesn’t understand, or grasp, or comprehend what he and a fellow head of state agreed on.

Yet there was the president at that rally this week in Duluth, Minn., declaring that he and Kim Jong Un have reached an agreement to remove the nukes from North Korea’s weapons arsenal. The crowd at the rally offered throaty cheers and an “atta boy!” at the president. Except that he didn’t tell them the truth.

Vox.com points out correctly that the two men didn’t get anywhere the finish line when they parted company in Singapore.

Donald Trump, as many of us have noted repeatedly since he became president, doesn’t know what the hell he is doing.

national news, political news

Trump saw it on Internet, which makes it true?

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Ezra Klein has hit on a matter that ought to send chills up the spines of even the most ardent of Donald J. Trump’s supporters.

Writing on Vox.com, the bright young journalist/researcher writes about something Trump said this past Sunday on “Meet the Press.”

TrumpĀ said the guy who rushed the stage in Dayton, Ohio, whereĀ he was speaking was a follower of the Islamic State. How did he know that? He saw something on the Internet, Trump said, which meant it just had to be true.

Is Trump too gullibleĀ to be president? That’s the question Klein seeks to answer. He seems to believe Trump’s gullibility disqualifies him categorically for the presidency.

As if he hasn’t disqualified himself already with all the countless earlier idiotic pronouncements he’s made.

The Internet is a valuable source for information. It’s also a source for nonsense.

For more years than I care to remember — perhaps ever since the Internet came on the scene — I’ve adhered to a certain policy: It is to believe the tiniest fraction of 1 percent of anything I read on the Internet. You cannot take seemingly anything at face value if you read it “on the Internet.”

I actually have spoken with people who submitted letters and essays to the newspaper where I worked with information that looked patently absurd, but who swore to me that it was true “because I saw it on the Internet.”

Trump’s assertion on national television Sunday morning that the stage rusher was an ISIS supporter based on Internet chatter demonstrates way beyond the shadow of any doubt of Trump’s unfitness for the office he is seeking.

The guy who rushed the stage? He’s an Italian-American named Thomas DiMassimo, a Christian … who denied immediately any ISIS allegiance. He said he was was just trying to make a scene.

Mission accomplished, dude.

 

entertainment news, military news

'Sniper' wasn't about reasons for war

Zack Beauchamp has written onĀ Vox.comĀ that the film “American Sniper” whitewashes the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March 2003, suggesting that it was in response to the 9/11 attacks.

Well …

http://www.vox.com/2015/1/21/7641189/american-sniper-history

I think I’ll chime in with one more comment about the film. Then I’ll let it rest.

“American Sniper” is the story of one young man, Chris Kyle, and deployment through four tours of duty during the Iraq War. He was a Navy SEAL sniper, and he reportedly set some kind of kill record for U.S. military personnel while doing his duty.

The film tells the most riveting story possible about Kyle’s emotional struggles with being away from his young family, the post-traumatic stress he suffered and the extreme danger to which he was exposed during all those tours of duty.

I sat through the film and never once considered whether it told the complete story of the Iraq War and put the policy decisions under any kind of microscope. I do not believe that was director/producer Clint Eastwood’s intention. I believe Eastwood wanted to tell Chris Kyle’s story as accurately and completely as possible and from what I’ve read from those who knew Kyle the best — including his wife Taya — Eastwood accomplished his goal.

Zack Beauchamp’s assertion about the historical inaccuracy of “American Sniper” misses the essential point of the film.

One young man did his duty, placed himself in harm’s way, came home, and sought to return to a normal life as a husband and father.

Then his life ended in tragedy.

That was the story I saw.