Cartagena or Carte Blanche

By John Brentlinger

So it appears that what happens in Cartagena does not stay in Cartagena. "Now what?" says the staff at the White House? You know, the staff that knows
too much? Who will be next -- the kitchen staff? The ones who change the sheets? White House security?

Anyone who has ever served in the military, anyone who has spent a term or two in politics knows how these things work. When the emperor has no clothes, someone on the payroll always finds out he is naked.

And that someone who could really damage the emperor, has to go. In any hierarchy, here's how it works: someone writes the scenario; someone generates a mess, figures out who should be let go, creates where that should take place, then someone has to make sure the deed is carried out. And it is usually the "faithful few," the ones loyal to the death, who are tasked with the job.

And when the emperor is caught by some staffer, usually security, in something which smells to high heaven, the "faithful few" go to work. Lets see, where should we do this? Somewhere far away, how about Columbia? No one goes there. Good call,
5,000 miles away, some foreign speaking country, everything will be hard to track. Chop some heads.
Who gets chopped? Those who know too much.

Round up the usual suspects, make it look like they've done something wrong. force them to retire, or let them volunteer to retire.

Now what? Uhhh, lets see, swear them to secrecy. Let them know what will happen if they talk. Remind them that we know where their wives work and where
their kids go to school. Tell them they'll get their pension checks only if they keep their lips zipped. Remind them about Vince Foster and Ron Brown.

So the usual suspects have been rounded up, the right ones have been fired.... dilly dallying around with prostitutes, oh my, how could that have happened around this president? How terrible, why, we'll make sure this never happens again. Circle the wagons, shoot low boys, they're riding Shetland ponies. Have Carney say that the White House and staff didn't know a thing about this, make sure none of this sticks to the president,why...he's a family man.

What is that sound coming from the White House? It is the sound of an administration imploding; the sound of a regime collapsing under its own weight; it is the sound of a narcissistic leader who is succumbing under the burden of the figment of his own imagination.

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