[December 28, 2019] For those new to my leadership blog, this ‘clearing the spindle’ on-going series is about ideas that I haven’t developed into articles. I wanted to provide a little bit of feedback to my readers on things that senior leaders are talking about – often among themselves – and highlight a few that seem to get to the core of what leadership is about. Today, I draw attention to lies and deceit, a grave sin of leadership.
Fired FBI Director James Comey lied to the U.S. President. Sadly, James Comey (who I wrote about having moral courage a few years ago) lied to and attempted to deceive the President of the United States, Donald Trump. Comey said that the FBI did everything “by the book” and that his critics were dishonest partisan hacks. His self-righteous stance went up in smoke with IG Horowitz issued a devastating report on the misinformation, distortions, and attacks on a sitting U.S. President by the FBI and Comey. At any other time, this would be called treason. Comey signed off on surveillance of Trump warrants as “truthful and verified” when he knew they were neither. Comey blames underlings. This is a gross failure of leadership at its most basic level.
Fake Religion from Cardinal Timothy Dolan. In his Christmas Eve New York Post column, Cardinal Dolan writes, “The Son of God was homeless; his earthly parents were immigrants and refugees.” Dolan was referring to the trip by Jesus’ parents who were traveling back to Joseph’s hometown because the Romans required people to do so for purposes of a census. They weren’t fleeing anyone, nor were they homeless, nor were they refugees. My question is, What is the goal Dolan thinks his fake religious history serves? He is not bridging any religious or cultural divide, as some claim, he is trying to do. If anything, he’s deceiving Christians through his attempt to put the Christmas story to left-liberal use. Just like my grandmother used to say, “A lie is a lie, no matter how much goodness you try to put on it.”
https://nypost.com/2019/12/24/a-christmas-lesson-on-housing-the-poor/
Senior U.S. Official lying about the War in Afghanistan. A secret trove of U.S. government documents obtained by the Washington Post (an anti-military publication) reveals that senior U.S. officials failed to tell the truth about the war in Afghanistan throughout the 18-year campaign, making rosy comments they knew were false and hiding evidence the war was ‘unwinnable.’ The interviews of those on the ground in Afghanistan laid out the unrestrained criticism of what went wrong in Afghanistan and how the U.S. became mired in nearly two decades of warfare. Let’s remember that President Obama said this was the war to win. General Douglas Lute, who served as Obama’s war czar, told government interviewers in 2015, “We didn’t have the foggiest notion of what we were undertaking,” and “we didn’t know what we were doing.” Public statements by officials assured the American public that they were making progress in Afghanistan and the war was worth fighting.
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- Clearing the Spindle: Leader Un-Commonsense – https://www.theleadermaker.com/clearing-the-spindle-leader-un-commonsense/
- Clearing the Spindle: Foreign Affairs – https://www.theleadermaker.com/clearing-the-spindle-foreign-affairs/
- Clearing the Spindle: a Year of Insults – https://www.theleadermaker.com/clearing-the-spindle-a-year-of-insults/
- Clearing the Spindle: Leader Morality – https://www.theleadermaker.com/clearing-the-spindle-leader-morality/
- Clearing the Spindle: the Leaders – https://www.theleadermaker.com/clearing-spindle-leaders/
- Clearing the Spindle: Politics – https://www.theleadermaker.com/clearing-spindle-politics/
- Clearing the Spindle: Morality – https://www.theleadermaker.com/clearing-spindle-morality/
General Satterfield, wonderful mini-series. I’m not sure why you don’t make it a regular series on a weekly or monthly basis. Thanks however for bringing up the fact that our leaders don’t always follow the path of telling the truth but are deceitful just like all of us fallen people.
Excellent thinking, Mark. Yes, I too like it but I don’t think Gen. Satterfield wants to go there. Too many other appropriate leader topics to discuss.
I don’t see ‘socialism’ creeping into our daily lives everywhere but it is an insidious ideology that flavors much of what we do or don’t do. I see that Cardinal Dolan has fallen under its spell. Unfortunately, no one is questioning his statements. Maybe we should write back to him and crush his thinking like the cockroach it is.
Ha Ha… thanks old warrior for writing what I was thinking.
Great article today, thanks. ?
Yes, made my day! I also like several of the series that reinforce major leader topics. Makes me think. That is one of the many reasons I keep coming back here. You, Harry, are once again on top of what most of us are thinking. Great article, indeed.
Yep, Harry, it is indeed.
Gen. Satterfield you had written about the Afghanistan war info before and I was shocked to hear that so many US officials (including military generals) were telling lies. They certainly were not trying to be “brutally honest” like all leaders should be. They were not misleading the enemy (and that sometimes happens) but misleading the American people. Sad sad sad.
I don’t know which of these upsets me the most. Maybe its Cardinal Dolan purposely using his opinion (and deceiving us about the Bible) to push a liberal ideology. Christianity is not about political ideologies. Here is Cardinal Dolan’s website. I let him know how disappointed I am – especially as a Catholic.
http://cardinaldolan.org/
He is such a smart man, why would he lie like that? Shameful is all I have to say.
That’s what happens when you exist in an echo chamber of neo-Marxism….it feels so good.
Cardinal Dolan is also insightful. Read his books, articles, blog, etc. and you get a good sense of what Christianity is all about. Fortunately he is excellent at getting us to better understand the key concepts behind being a good person and helping our fellow man. But his influence should never extend to distorting religious teachings to align with his progressive, socialist values.
Excellent blog post, Gen. Satterfield. I do like your mini-series on “Clearing the Spindle.” Maybe you could make this a regular series on a recurring basis, like every Friday or something like that. Great choice of subjects.
Wow, loved your article this morning. Puts the weakness of humans in perspective when our leaders are the ones who are misleading, lying, and deceiving us.
Good point, Janna. I too like it. Especially the fact that hits home.
Yep, a great article for this Saturday. Keep up the great works, Gen. Satterfield. I count on you for timely, appropriate comments on key topics of the day. This mini series of articles is very very helpful. So thanks. Just don’t forget about it.