What Conclusions We Can Draw!

Mary Hall-Rayford
5 min readJun 9, 2017

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Now all has been heard, here is the conclusion of the matter; Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil. Ecclesiastes 12:13,14 NIV

Amazing how for everything that happens under the sun, there is a biblical reference for which we can frame our thoughts.

Comey’s Testimony — My perspective! (published on WordPress under — Let’s Hear The Conclusion!)

Yesterday, I watched James Comey’s testimony with millions of Americans and other countries — after reading his statement because I wanted to hear what the former FBI director had to say.

After reiterating what had already been released, we get insight into Comey’s thoughts and feelings at the time of each of the meetings he had with trump. Considering he was moved, out of “gut instinct” to document the meetings, his testimony “in my mind” proved that Comey was fired because he would not: pledge loyalty to trump or drop an investigation involving Michael Flynn.

Points of contention for some (not me): Why didn’t Comey confront trump about the inappropriateness of meeting with him and his requests and Loretta Lynch wanting Comey to call the Clinton email incident — a “matter” instead of an investigation.

My take — trump’s white house counsel should have briefed trump on what was appropriate or inappropriate. When Comey informed the AG the first time there was a problem, that would have been the AG’s responsibility to speak to trump.

My Take-Aways — Comey told the truth and though he confirmed that he told trump he “was not” the target of an investigation — “while he was the FBI Director” he made it clear that trump is under investigation now — because of what he is doing — false accusations — not anyone else. trump attempted to gain a loyalty pledge from Comey and was not successful and then he attempted to influence Comey into dropping the investigation against Flynn.

Who — if anyone — is lying about the situation? Comey is considered by most to be man of integrity and honor. On the other hand, trump is known to be a pathological liar. Therefore, I conclude that trump is the liar and Comey is the victim in this situation.

The asides — Understanding Republicans would attempt to deflect the focus from trump’s possible obstruction of justice, I was not surprised by the interjections of “but Hillary and her emails.” Not surprised at all by that proclamation and knew without doubt that there would talking points created for the parrots to parrot. There were.

Today, trump’s claim of “total and complete vindication” is both misinformed and ludicrous and further exacerbated by a bumbling, inept attorney who refused to acknowledge the simple fact of what was then to what is now. Kasowitz’s further claim (I’m sure at the behest of trump) that Comey was a liar and a leaker is further confirmation of his ineptness. Enabling a person when they are clearly in the wrong is not helpful to anyone and in fact, will probably result in a greater gap of trust between the public and the WH.

Speaking of the WH — Sarah Huckabee Sander’s proclamation that trump doesn’t lie was so preposterous that I felt sorry for her. Everyone knows trump lies because his lies are so easily fact-checked. He flip-flops on a matter from day to day, if not, hour to hour. It’s a matter of “PUBLIC RECORD.”

At any rate, trump claims he taped conversations with Comey that will prove Comey a liar. Okay, so let’s hear them. Unless they have hired actors to create the tapes, once again, trump wrote a check his behind can’t cash — there were no tapes or he would have produced them by now. It’s like the proof he had that Obama had wiretapped him — non-existent. And now the claim that Comey is a leaker — is also false — because there was no “privileged communication” or “classified” information “given” to anyone. More lies from the WH.

My conclusion — trump is unfit — temperamentally and intellectually (if we believe Ryan who says, “he’s new, he didn’t know”) to serve America in the position of the Oval Office. If he doesn’t know what the job entails, he shouldn’t be in the role. There are experts around him (hopefully) that should be advising him.

Yes, I get it some voters (not the majority) wanted someone other than a politician in the WH. They got what they wanted and it’s become a nightmare for Americans. Over 20 million Americans are about to lose their healthcare, consumer protection regulations have been rolled back so corporations can pollute the water and the air, a proposal has been put before Congress to privatize Air Traffic Control — endangering lives of those who fly, and now they’re gutting the Dodd-Frank Act — allowing Wall Street to once again, put Americans in financial jeopardy.

They also got a rigidly conservative Supreme Court Justice who sides with corporations and ignores the rights of individuals, an Attorney General whose known bigoted past is now prevailing in our “so-called justice” system and who has his own problems with Russian Connections. Tax reform has resulted in massive cuts for the rich, not much for the poor and working class.

So, all those who support trump — hope you’re happy — validating the premise that ignorance is bliss. While you continue to thrive in the alt reality framed by delusion, the rest of us — the True Patriots — will continue fighting for all Americans and their constitutional rights.

Watch for all the unfolding events that will change the landscape in America forever.

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Mary Hall-Rayford

Unfolding life perspectives as an educator, wife, mother, grandmother, political activist and community advocate- mary.hallrayford@gmail.com