Hillbilly wisdom: We are a country of rules. The thing about rules is not everyone obeys them. The United States has one of the highest incarceration rates of industrialized countries. The obvious conclusion is we have a lot of criminals who do not follow the rules. Some may be unintentional, some through ignorance, and some with deliberate forethought.

Once again, this must be fake news or at least a very bad joke. Some lady, Kristi Noem says we believe in the law. She has a government job. She works in the president’s branch of government.

Trump, her boss, supposedly asked the ICC (International Criminal Court) for a preemptive pardon for his actions. Evidently, he would like to have immunity for his current or upcoming actions. The ICC is noted for bringing war criminals to trial including heads of state.

Trump’s request is troubling. The United States is not one of the 125 members of the ICC. Yet president Trump is threatening sanctions against the ICC if they do not grant him immunity. Is this a deal?

Lately there is a lot of talk about strikes in the Caribbean and now the United States has taken control of a sanctioned vessel filled with oil. “We will keep the oil”. Two questions will demonstrate my confusion. If we can take a vessel carrying 2 million barrels of crude without killing anyone, why have we destroyed twenty plus boats supposedly carrying drugs. Guess we don’t need the evidence ?

The oil seized is vital to the economy of Venezuela. If we get to keep the oil coming from Venezuela, does this mean we can stop the Chevron ships coming from Venezuela and keep the oil? We can’t do that because Chevron has a pass. Chevron can deal with Venezuela because Venezuela owes the United States money. The rules are different.

Terrorist use or advocates violence and intimidation to achieve political, religious, or ideological goals, creating fear (terror) to coerce governments or societies- the Oxford dictionary. Taking this definition and applying it to the fake news situation, Maybe the mud is not as unclear as I thought. A preemptive pardon might be a good thing.