GET THE FACTS!

     ... Mark Twain said that. Actually, I lie. What Mark Twain said was, "There are three kinds of lies: Lies, damned lies and statistics," and he attributed that to Disraeli. His real name wasn't even Mark Twain.
     In my opinion, there is far too much damned lying going on in politics these days. Of course there was in Twain's time too, and long before that, probably to the dawn of history. But then they didn't have multibillionaires backing their news sources and politicians, all to keep the voters ignorant enough to vote against their own best interests. They didn't have the Internet and the mindset that says, "They couldn't put it on the Internet unless it was true".
     People, you have got to stop getting all your news from Fox TV and Tea Party websites  They are not reporting news. They are feeding you a paranoid party line that they expect that you will swallow, because they think you are sheep. Frightened sheep at that --- and they'll do their best to keep you frightened and hating, because the people who back them want an uneducated public, the better to vote in politicians and policies that will keep them in power. These stories are seldom followed up on, and even when the truth comes out, you almost never hear about it.  It's the original buzz words and images that stick in people's minds.
        Do you know whatever happened to Bowe Bergdahl? Andrew Tahmooressi? The Taliban members Obama released from Gitmo? Why didn't Obama return his Marine guard's salute? Why was Michelle Obama texting during the Presentation of Colors at the White House? Why are the stories behind these things seldom followed up on or explained?

      Let's look at  some criticisms brought against President Obama and run a fact check.
      First, the woman texting in the infamous photo? Not Michelle Obama. She was a woman in the crowd who bore a superficial resemblance to Mrs Obama (especially to people who think all black people look alike). CNN ran the picture and chose to ignore the close-up pictures that would have made it clear that it was not Michelle Obama in the photo. The First Lady was not in the crowd. She was at the head table, where she belonged, and wearing a completely different gown and hairstyle than the texter. The photographer would have had to have known that. The editor at CNN would have known it too, because he saw the close-ups that would have given up the game.
      Marine Sgt Andrew Tahmooressi was held on criminal charges in Mexico. He had brought illegal (in Mexico) and loaded guns across the border. He wasn't a political prisoner.The President of the United States does not demand the release of a criminal who committed a crime against a foreign country. He sent John Kerry and congressmen to ensure that Tahmooressi was treated fairly. Also, his detractors do not mention that the president was briefed by Democrats and Republicans on the Foreign Affairs committee that they expected Tahmooressi to be released shortly. Why should Mr Obama demand something that was going to happen anyway? He was released, when his lawyer presented videotape evidence that he had crossed the border accidentally with guns legally purchased in the US.
       Mr Obama was guilty of one lesser sin. He praised Mexico for "assisting the efforts of my negotiating team"; as far as I can tell, there was no negotiating team. His people only provided the Consular service,  human rights, emotional and medical support due any American: in a foreign jail. Obama took credit for something he didn't do.
        Sgt Bergdahl was a POW. He was not looked on as a deserter at the time of his captivity; in fact he was promoted to Sergeant in absentia.  It is military policy to never leave a man in enemy hands, no matter what he has done. It was not only appropriate for Obama to negotiate his release, it was required. It was military protocol.
         Fox News, on the O'Reilly Factor, reported in January that Bergdahl's lawyer had received a "charge sheet"  for desertion, according to a retired Lieutenant Colonel guest. There was no charge sheet. The Army Times ran a rebuttal the next day. The military had not yet decided whether they would charge Bergdahl. They did not do so until March. And then Fox reported the story as "Bill O'Reilly Vindicated"! How does a lie that he promoted vindicate him because it came true two months later?

         The men released from Gitmo were evil men, no question. But they were not terrorists. They were war criminals arrested for war crimes and atrocities in the Afghan war against the Shi'ites --- not terrorism. The conservative press didn't care. They labeled them terrorists and reported with no evidence that three of them were now high ranking ISIL leaders. A photo was circulated showing one of the detainees, Mohammed Fasl, holding a bloody knife over five severed heads. But again, they knowingly misnamed the person in the photo as Fasl. They had to know it wasn't him, because that picture had appeared several times in the years before Fasl's release but with the real person's name attached, Islamic jihadist Khalid Abudhuraman. Again they preyed on people's ignorance; don't all muslims look alike?
         Obama saw this deal as saving an American soldier's life and as a tentative first step in opening negotiations, and eventually peace talks, with the Afghan Taliban. But he hedged his bet. The detainees were released under condition that they stay in Qatar and were barred from foreign travel for a year, under strict Qatari and American monitoring. He extended that ban in 2014 indefinitely.
          Did Obama release the prisoners illegally? Well yes. The law he broke required him to notify Congress 30 days in advance of any Gitmo releases. He had called a highly classified meeting with the Speaker of the House, the chairs of the Armed Services, Foreign Affairs and Intelligence committees and others in November 2012 and told them of his plans, followed by an update meeting in January 2013. The law did not require him to get Congress's approval.  At the meetings, Obama notified them of his negotiations for the exchange but did not inform them once the deal was solid. Intelligence told him that Bergdahl was ill and that the Taliban was backing away; he was losing his leverage. Fast action and security were necessary to save an American soldier's life.
         It's getting late. I'll go over how Obama did not fail to return a salute in my next entry.
         Think about it. How many of your guns has Obama taken away? Do you know anybody who knows anybody who knows anybody who is facing a "death panel"? How many times do you have to see the birth certificate? Are you living under Sharia law? These things are not misunderstandings, they are lies.
         This is a free country --- anybody is free to spout any crazy conspiracy theory, partisan propaganda or unreasoning hatred they want. Just make sure it has some relation to the truth. I have a relative whom I love dearly, who thinks President Obama is a thug and a bum. I don't care what he thinks of the man personally, but his dislike should be based on facts, not lies and distortions.
         Beware of news reports that do not give sources ("an unnamed official"). Stay away from blogs that are only feeding back what you want to hear. Don't trust liberals --- or conservatives. Research all of them, left, right and apolitical. Snopes.com is an excellent rumor-checking site, one I've used since my days as a UFO buster, but don't trust them alone either. 
         Robert A Heinlein wrote, "What are the facts? Again and again and again --- what are the facts? Shun wishful thinking, ignore divine revelation, forget 'what the stars foretell', avoid opinion, care not what the neighbors think, never mind the unguessable 'verdict of history' --- What are the facts, and to how many decimal places? You pilot always into an unknown future; facts are your only chance. Get the facts!"