NATO and Defense Spending

Defense spending in NATO always seems to be a touchy subject for some reason. People do not like to talk about money and people especially do not like it when they are told they are not spending enough money. People have a difficult time understanding what percentages mean. If everyone has to pay 2% of their GDP into NATO, which is what everyone agreed upon when entering the alliance, it does not mean that they are all spending the same amount of money. The United States will always put in the most amount, but it should not mean that other countries get away with adding less than the 2% that they agreed upon. ABC News has an obvious bias against the way that President Trump is running the NATO summits. They are suggesting that President Trump believes that he is owed something by all of these other nations, yet when you read what happens at these summits all he is asking for is that everyone fulfill what they agreed to when they signed the treaty. America is made to be the bad guy in this article because they expect everyone else to put in their fair share as well. They cite that in 2014 that countries finally agreed that they would start paying the 2% that they promised and that it should not be brought up again. Yet if you look at NATO's website, it is plainly obvious that most of these countries have not increased their spending since they first agreed that they would. They need to either pay what they are supposed to, call for a rewrite of the treaty, or leave. They should not just rely on other people for their protection.

Source: https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/defense-budgets-set-dominate-nato-summit-67435527?cid=clicksource_4380645_null_icymi_image

America Not Allowed in Hong Kong

This past week Congress approved and President Trump signed a bill called the "Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act" which shows America's support for Hong Kong and the people who are calling for more equality as well as representative democracy. China is very angry at the United States for doing this and has told the US Navy that they cannot go to the ports and the US military that they are not allowed to land planes in Hong Kong. The Chinese government thinks that this signing is showing that America is directly against China. However, the people in Hong Kong celebrated after this was signed.

Chinese news is not like American news. There are things in American news that are not favorable towards the government, but they are reported on anyway. This does not happen in China. If someone is against the Chinese government not only will they have their article revoked; they will most likely end up in prison as well. The Chinese take great censorship over what their people see. If it is anything remotely against the Chinese government the people will not see it. More than likely if it did get through at this point the Chinese would not believe it anyway. America has been demonized. Hong Kong has been demonized. Why would the Chinese people believe anything that comes from either of those sources when they have been told their whole lives that these places are corrupt?

Source: https://www.npr.org/2019/12/02/784093049/china-bars-u-s-military-from-hong-kong-ports-over-support-for-protesters

Catholic Church Abuse

For years now people have been coming forward citing sexual abuse from leaders of the Catholic Church. What once was a scandal that no one wanted to admit the existence of is now all over the news. These religious leaders have been abusing children and covering it up for decades. Now the state governments of the United States have grown tired of this cyclical abuse. Three states have and will offer opportunities to file lawsuits, no matter how old, to right the wrong that the Catholic Church has done to so many people. In New York they have already had hundreds of cases brought forward.



"Some lawyers believe payouts by juries will be bigger than ever because of a recent national reawakening over sex abuse, fueled by the #MeToo movement, the public shaming of accused celebrities and last year's Pennsylvania grand jury report that found 300 priests abused more than 1,000 children in that state. Since then, attorneys general in nearly 20 states have launched investigations of their own."

Now the people will just have to wait and watch how all of this unfolds. Many churches will most likely file for bankruptcy so they can minimize the damage done. In a wake of people feeling empowered there is no telling how many people will come forward and give their stories, but in light of this hopefully the Catholic Church looks at itself and expects better going forward.

Source: https://www.wsbtv.com/news/national-news/ap-top-news/key-points-from-new-wave-of-catholic-abuse-lawsuits/1014554501

Homelessness in Seattle

Tonight on 60 Minutes they had a segment on homelessness in Seattle. Many people, who were unqualified to answer, stated that the reason for homelessness is drug and alcohol addiction along with mental illness. People who were qualified to answer pointed to the rising rent prices due to the increase in tech industries in the area. This thought was overlooked as they went in depth to the drug and alcohol addiction. Many twitter users were not happy with this response as #60Minutes went viral. They were not pleased as the stereotypes were looked into and yet the obvious answer was ignored. The news show brought in these witnesses who made it seem as though rent control was not an issue. People said that they made tech moguls out as "angels" when they are a large source of the problem. This issue is not only happening in Seattle. Looking all along the west coast where the tech industry has popped up, all of the major cities are having an issue with homelessness. These are not people who just sit around with nothing to do all day. They are people who have full-time jobs and still cannot afford rent. It is a serious issue because even if these people leave the positions that they are in will need to be filled by someone else. The government has been looking more for excuses so far than solutions, but hopefully the tide will change soon.

Lisa Page Finds Empathetic Person

In the crazy world that we live in anyone, including someone who meant to commit treasonous activity, can find someone who empathizes with them. Lisa Page, who is now infamous for both trying to interfere with both the Hillary Clinton investigation and Donald Trump probe, but also for having an extramarital affair with another FBI agent, Peter Strzok, while doing this. This was all found out when her phone was taken during an investigation. Her and her "lover" had exchanged messages talking about how they needed to fix problems with Clinton's investigation because she "might be the future President" and how they also needed to insert fake information into the Trump investigation because "nothing was sticking."



This past week President Trump was talking about this at a rally. In statements that no other politician would make, yet it does not surprise us that he does, he made up a fake conversation of Lisa Page and Peter Strzok being intimate and discussing how they would make Hillary Clinton the next President. Since the remarks were crude, Lisa found this to be her opportunity to find empathy from anyone who would listen. A journalist interviewed her and let Lisa Page say anything she wanted to make it sound as though she was a victim. She did a fairly good job too because for half a second people forgot that she tried to interfere with our democratic system of government.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/lisa-page-breaks-silence-saying-trumps-fake-orgasm-forced-her-to-speak-out

Gun Control vs Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has decided to rule on a case dealing with gun control in New York. They were not allowing citizens to drive their guns outside of city limits even if it was to a gun range. In order for this case to not appear in front the Supreme Court, New York changed the law so that people are allowed to do this now as long as they do not make any stops along the way.

People believe that this is still a violation of their second amendment and multiple agencies, such as the NRA, hope that this will be changed because it would end up reversing about 300 laws in other towns when it comes to gun control. Some lawmakers fear that this will reverse a lot of progress made since 2012 when the Sandy Hook shooting happened. One Congress member even put out a semi threatening message.

"In an unusually critical friend-of-court brief, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., said if the court agreed to hear the case, even after New York repealed the law, it would look like a partisan move."

"The Supreme Court is not well," Whitehouse said in August. "And the people know it. Perhaps particularly on the urgent issue of gun control, a nation desperately needs it to heal."

Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/gun-control-advocates-nervous-supreme-court-takes-first-2nd-amendment-n1093451

The Long Standing Woman in Congress

Zoe Lofgren. While you might not have heard of her before, she know much more about the politics in this country than most people in America. She has been in Congress so long that she is currently working through her third impeachment hearing. She is saying that she believes this is the most important impeachment yet. Though Nixon covered up a crazy scandal, this involves foreign politics. 

"If you take a look at the -- what the founding fathers were concerned about, it was the interference by foreign governments in our political system that was one of the gravest concerns. Nixon's behavior didn't fall into that range. So in that way, this conduct is more serious."

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/01/politics/zoe-lofgren-trump-nixon-watergate-clinton-impeachment-cnntv/index.html

Even The Media Can Go Too Far

With all this talk about the whistleblower, all forms of media have been adding their takes on what is going to happen. Liberal media is praising it and hoping for the end of the Trump era. Conservative media is saying that the source is lacking enough evidence to convict. The Washington Post even came out with an article about how this impeachment process could actually help President Trump win the 2020 election instead of harm him.

New York Times, however, went where no one else wanted to go. They gave the information they knew on who the whistleblower is. It was previously discussed that the government was going to do everything they could to keep this person's identity a secret. They are treating this person like they are in witness protection because they could have found information that would change the direction that this country is being led. Whether you believe the whistleblower or not, it had been made clear that the identity of this person should not be looked into. No other news source put out this information. No one else can be blamed if something happens to this person. There are crazy people in this country who might want this person to be harmed, and that is something that the New York Times should have taken into consideration. Now many people could have speculated this, but they were not going to post it for the whole world to see.

Then, as if they thought they would make it better, New York Times sent a message stating that the reason they did it is because they thought that this person was not being taken seriously and that people were disregarding it as because they did not know the person that the information could not be credible. Instead of taking responsibility for what they had done, they tried to turn themselves into heroes. There are a few things wrong with this though. Donald Trump is known for making bold statements, and no one else was thinking that his one opinion meant that this whole thing was going to go away. Nancy Pelosi had shared that because of this information she was going to start the formal impeachment process. The acting Director of National Intelligence, Joseph Maguire, had been called to testify about what he had been told. This was all being handled as seriously as it could be. Now news sources are going to say what they have to say to get their audience to agree with them, but if conservative news outlets were saying that this was not serious it was not because of WHO this person is. It is because it has been stated many times that this information is not firsthand. Things can get lost in translation. Whether or not this was what happened, New York Times did not handle their information properly, and they are going to see some effects.

https://nyti.ms/2ltzVye

Welcome to my blog!

Political Guru is all about looking at the facts. Any time anyone posts something, whether it be media outlets or politicians, themselves, there is always some sort of spin on what they are saying. Rarely does the American public get told straight facts and not have to worry that there is not any kind of spin on it. This blog will sniff out the bias and show what is factual and what is not. Anyone can fall victim to being on this blog, no matter the party, anyone that has bias when posting has the potential to be on this blog.