Here are my observations and opinions on my selected news items of the day.

MORE ABOUT THAT FAUX HYSTERIA over Defense Secretary James Mattis’ resignation that I wrote about here on December 21, 2018.

As I have written many times over the years, when an administration official cannot support the president, he should privately tell him why and submit his resignation.

Contrary to the Wall Street Journal, that stated, “It should be said that the former Marine General resigned in honorable fashion,” Mattis didn’t do that. He calculated his decision to make the most impact possible, knowing that the anti-Trump media would leap on it to damage his presidency.

Before leaving his office to meet with the president, he left 50 copies of his resignation letter to be distributed upon his order. Mattis’ letter was three pages in length and should have been brief and more professional.

Surely, Mattis recognized that this sentence alone would stir the Washington Magpies:

“Because you have the right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with yours on these and other subjects, I believe it is right for me to step down from my position.

It didn’t take long for the CNN and MSNBC talking heads to whip this up into a crisis to which we cannot survive. The Atlantic, on the left, asked Congress: “Klaxon is sounding. The system is failing. What will you do?” and even to the right, National Review stated, “We should be deeply troubled.”

A few hours after Mattis news emerged, CNN’s Don Lemon “appeared to be on the verge of panic,” wrote Randy Hall in Newsbusters. Sounding like World War III was breaking out, Lemon said, “Whatever you’re doing, please just sit down and watch. If you’re worried tonight, you should be,” he said as he told of Mattis’ pending departure.

“So tonight, a political earthquake is rolling through Washington as the Trump administration sinks further into chaos,” Lemon adds breathlessly.

Without a doubt, we can expect a Mattis memoir, with a critical review of President Trump, to be published in time for the 2020 election.

Take a deep breath folks. Mattis isn’t the first Defense Secretary, or storied general for that matter, to fall out of favor; some while serving and others after leaving office. Who can forget the micro-managing of Robert McNamara during the Vietnam War. And Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld, who had mixed success in that role, depending on your opinion.

In recent times, Ash Carter and Chuck Hagel, departed after just two years with little success. Carter opened service to transgenders.

While our experience with civilians in the secretarial position has been mixed, I’m not sure a retired general can be objective in that position. One thing is for sure; when President Trump begins interviewing people, he must have assurances that his pick is on the same page with him, not only on the well-being of the troops and military strategy, but foreign policy.

We can look back at President Truman’s firing of Gen. Douglas MacArthur. New York City honored him with a ticker-tape parade and he was permitted to speak to a joint session of Congress. Many people asked, how was our nation to survive without his military advice?” We did.

Let’s not forget Gen. George S. Patton, who also had an illustrious career before falling into disfavor for being outspoken.

More recently, Generals Stanley McChrystal and Pete Pace served honorably, but left after airing minor disagreements with the administration they served.  And let’s not forget what the Obama administration did to a dissenting Lt. Gen Michael Flynn.

“Old soldiers never die, they just fade away.” – General MacArthur

We expect the Washington establishment to continue the pile-on over Trump’s decision to bring troops home and Mattis’ resignation on the Sunday talk shows, but this too will pass.

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN seems to be doing everything right to kill her chances of winning the Democrat nomination in 2020.

With her foray into her Indian ancestry and her recent statement that she is not a person of color, she now plans to introduce a bill that would establish an Office of Drug Manufacturing that would be responsible for the manufacture of at least 15 different generic drugs.

While she may be doing this to gain favor with the public, who generally object to the high cost of pharmaceuticals, she’s forgetting that the public isn’t stupid; they know what happens when the government is in charge of doing anything.

FAKE NEWS IN GERMANY – The German magazine, Der Spiegel, recently revealed that one if its star reporters, Claas Relotious, had fabricated coverage for years, including critical dispatches about Trump voters in rural America. You know ­– the “deplorables.”

While reporting from Fergus Falls, Minnesota, Relotious made up people who don’t exist, invented quotes nobody said, and concocted numerous other details out of thin air,” according to Jim Treacher, PJ Journal.

Der Spiegel also made it known that Relotious, an award-winning writer, had been making up much of his reporting around the world. He left the publication last week.

Our ambassador, Richard Grenell, requested the publication’s editor-in-chief to have an external audit into how the magazine failed to detect the fraud for years.

ELVIA DAIZ, the lightweight columnist for the left-leaning Arizona Republic, has again attacked President Trump for his actions to preserve the sovereignty of the United States by taking action to protect our southern border.

She refers to the president and his supporters as anti-immigrants. Most thinking Americans, including many Latinos, know that’s simply not true. He opposes illegal immigration and prefers legal immigration based on merit.

“Stunningly and over the outcry of immigrant rights activists and legal experts,” she writes, “the Trump administration unilaterally decided to dump the asylum seekers into Mexican territory while U.S. authorities process their requests.”

While reminding her readers that until recently people were allowed to remain in the United States until judges decide their fates, she fails to admit that the majority of them fail to report back for their hearings.

IF YOU’VE NEVER SEEN STEPHEN MILLER, President Trump’s senior advisor on policy, being interviewed on television you missed something special. Miller recently appeared on CNN’s Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, and to say it was a bit adversarial, that would be putting it mildly. You may recall Miller’s press conference confrontation with CNN’s Jim Acosta earlier this year.

Blitzer moved from one subject to another – the shutdown threat, border security, the wall, deportations – all while acting like “a shill for Congressional Democrats,” wrote Shreiff in Red State.

Miller doesn’t suffer fools. “Are you talking to Democrats right now to come up with a compromise before midnight tomorrow night?” Blitzer asked.

“All they need to do is support border security and the government will be funded,” Miller responded.

“The Democrats … Stephen, the Democrats support border security. They don’t support $5 billion for a wall,” Blitzer pressed.

“Could you identify, Wolf, for me some of the border security they support?” asked Miller.

“They all support border security,” Bitzer meekly answered.

That opened the door for Miller, who adroitly rattled off, “Like what. They voted against Kate’s law. They voted against ending sanctuary cities. They voted against (arresting) MS-13 gang members, violent criminals. They voted time and time again against a physical border wall to stop illegal entry. Where is the evidence that you keep asserting that they’re for border security? They haven’t been. They oppose closing loopholes for asylum.”

Blitzer’s response? Stephen, I want to move on to another issue.

Blitzer asked Miller if the administration was “open to compromise (surrender) that doesn’t include the $5 billion,” stressing that a million federal workers would not be paid in a shutdown. “Why not have a temporary measure? Keep the government going, begin to negotiate, try to work out a compromise.”

“Bitzer drops any pretense of trying define the administration’s point of view and focuses on hammering Miller with Democrat talking points,“ commented Red State.

Democrats clearly do not want border security and they don’t want immigration laws enforced. They want to keep the issue unresolved for use in future political debates.

            May God bless the United States of America.