Some uncomfortable facts...but only if you're a liberal

Listen, I hate the President with all of my heart.  Why?  Probably because of his disdain of science and facts.  It's no secret that the President has alluded that climate change, which is very, very real, is a global hoax perpetuated by the Chinese.  His administration is hell-bent on rolling back decades of environmental policy and protections. His shrinking of my/our public lands is not only environmentally unethical, but also a slight against the American tax-paying public who, you would think, should have a say in reclaimed public assets.

But, that's not everything.  Several websites track his misrepresentations of the truth, and, since taking office, we've cleared the 3,000 mark on lies or mischaracterizations that have come from his mouth.  However, this man's administration successfully bartered the release of 3 political prisoners that were being held in North Korea, and you can take that fact to the bank.

Being fond of the New York Times and NPR, I find it alarming that, when they speak of these three hostages and their release, they give nearly zero credit to the White House.  That's just flat out wrong.  In a political atmosphere where so many half-truths are flying around, this one seems plains-as-day apparent: the President, and his foreign policies with North Korea yielded the release of prisoners who had been incarcerated for as long as two years.  Who were they?  The BBC describes them this way:

• Kim Hak-song was held on suspicion of "hostile acts" in May 2017. He had previously described himself as a Christian missionary who intended to start an experimental farm at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST)

• Tony Kim, also known as Kim Sang-duk, also worked at PUST. He was detained in April 2017 on espionage charges. According to South Korean media, he had been involved in humanitarian work in the North.

• Kim Dong-chul, a pastor in his early 60s, was detained in 2015 on spying charges, and was then sentenced to 10 years hard labour

Forget waterboarding, the North Koreans typically subject their prisoners to hard labor (read: mining, logging) for long hours, and isolated in the state's attempt to break them down.  North Korean prisoners can be arrested and jailed for everything from speaking ill of the regime to watching an "illicit" South Korean DVD, to stealing a North Korean propaganda poster.  These releases are of no small value from a nation that treats its citizenry worse than most western nations treat their most notorious criminals. 

So, before we brush this huge accomplishment under the rug, take a minute to acknowledge that this administration under this President, actually did something fantastic where other administrations in the past had failed.  That's a cold-hard fact.

Also: stop getting so excited that major corporations would have paid a low-level aide hundreds of thousands of dollars for perceived access to the President.  It wasn't the first time and it won't be the last...and the Russian connection is thin at best.  My 2 cents.