NATO is a defensive alliance. Article 5 of its Charter declares, in essence, that an attack upon one NATO country is an attack upon them all.

It does not state that if one NATO country launches an unprovoked war, all the other NATO countries must pile in on genocide.

President Schlumpf has threatened to pull the United States out of NATO because, he says, the other 31 members nations have not helped him commit massive war crimes in Iran. (Israel is not a member of NATO.)

By their inaction, Schlumpf claims, the European nations violated Article 5 of the NATO Charter.

This is unadulterated bullshit.

Here is Article 5 of the NATO Charter in its entirety.

Article 5

The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defense recognized by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.

Any such armed attack and all measures taken as a result thereof shall immediately be reported to the Security Council. Such measures shall be terminated when the Security Council has taken the measures necessary to restore and maintain international peace and security.

Seems clear enough: 145 words - 14 verbs - three sentences.

But Iran had not launched an attack upon America, nor upon our NATO allies, before Feb. 28 this year, when Trump and Netanyahu launched their war of aggression against Iran. Nor has Iran attacked any country in "the North Atlantic area."

This is clear enough.

What is not clear, to me, is why none of our major newspapers - the ones with Times, Post, Journal and Tribune in their names - do not make this simple clarification in every story they run about Schlump attacking NATO and its constituent countries, calling them "cowards."

It seems to me that is dereliction of newspapers' duty.

When a mass murderer is caught red-handed over a corpse, bone saw in hand, photos and bragging emails all over the internet, any responsible newspaper will report the guy - call him Benny John - as an "alleged" murderer. Because he hasn't been convicted yet.

This word, alleged, is all but mandatory in the news biz - in which I have worked for more than 40 years.

So why haven't all our Times and Journals and Posts and Tribunes included this "clarification" about the meaning of Article 5 in every story they print about Schlumpf's dishonest and deluded attacks upon NATO countries?

Such a "clarification" should be - pardon my French - de rigueur, in every story they publish about that lying bastard's smears against NATO.

And why must I have to be the first one - to my knowledge - to mention this?

Haven't the reporters and editors and publishers of all our Times, Posts, Journals and Tribunes bothered to read Article 5 of the NATO Charter? Don't they feel an obligation to report it?

Article 5 lays out the terms of a defensive alliance against military aggression. It does not require that anyone aid and abet war crimes and genocide.

Meanwhile, here at home: The Schlumpf administration continues to direct vicious attacks at a tiny percentage of people who pose no harm to others, for instance, transgender girls who want to play high school sports.

Is this really a problem? And if it is, how big a problem is it?

One study of athletes in Washington state found that about one in 10,000 would-be athletes were transgender: about 0.01% of the state's 8.1 million people.

By comparison, when Adolf Hitler took power in January 1933, about 500,000 Jews lived in Germany, less than 0.01% of Germany's population of 67 million.

The lesson: When fascists seek absolute power, they start with the most defenseless people. Then move on to their next victims.

Source: Courthouse News Service