Category Archives: President Trump

Bribery Laws Bad for Business

31 Monday Dec 2018

Posted by in Business, President Trump

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It’s very easy to connect these dots. Remember during the campaign Trump talked about how the Dodd-Frank Act was bad for business? One of the first things he got Congress to change and quietly signed was a bill eliminating fines for bribing officials of other countries. That was one dot.

The other dot was telling Putin he could have the top floor of the Trump-Moscow Hotel if Putin could push it through all the regulations and restrictions. Remember he dropped the project without saying why? Want to bet somebody said it would cost millions in fines or maybe put him in jail!

Now I wonder how he got the Scotland golf course through the environmental regulations. The local officials were against it along with hundreds of locals protesting the damage to the protected area. Suddenly the commission chair pushed it through and it was built. The BBC says it is losing money in spite of his two visits to advertise it. If he bribed any of the commissioners with free memberships, that would be actionable.

Don’t you wonder who got what to get Trump-Chicago, Trump-New York, and especially Trump-Washington D.C. opened?

Respect the Office

19 Wednesday Dec 2018

Posted by in History, Politics, President Trump

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In the early 1960s, I watched a BBC News article showing Prime Minister Harold Macmillan addressing about forty people at some festival. They showed him no respect and I thought that could never happen here because American could always find enough things we like about a President. People still supported Nixon as he got on the helicopter for the last time. Those people who didn’t still appreciated many of “Tricky Dick’s” accomplishments.

I cannot remember, either through my readings or memory, a President who has been so disrespected as Donald Trump. The late night shows make a nightly comedy of the lies and ideas he has said that day. Their audiences roar with applause and cheers. The Democrats have pilloried him and now the Republicans, sensing weakness, have started to publicly turn against him. The Mueller investigation has exposed the corruption in the Trump administration, friends, family, business dealings, and in the President himself.

One independent organization tracks the number of lies, fabrications, and misrepresentations. They have listed almost 7,000 instances as of December 1. President Trump cannot resist being in front of cameras and telling a string of lies or putting out lies on social media.

Americans are supposed to separate the office of the President from the person in the Oval Office. How does one respect the office when the most incompetent, egotistical, narcissistic person imaginable is sitting behind the Resolute Desk? Most of the secretaries are just as unsuited for their positions.

A Prime Minister is out when the majority of the House of Commons loses confidence in their leader. I doubt Trump ever had it. How can we respect the office and not the man?

The Future of the Auto Industry

19 Wednesday Dec 2018

Posted by in Politics, President Trump, Tariffs

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                I don’t blame President Trump for his tantrum about General Motors closing four assembly plants. They are in states he barely won by saying he would bring more and better jobs into the areas. The tariffs he put on vehicle steel and aluminum cost GM over a billion dollars. It has cost all the auto companies billions.

                If all the companies are losing or passing on the costs of tariffs, why is GM closing the plants? Anyone who has been noticing traffic for as long as I have or just for the last few years has seen the decline of the sedan. We aren’t buying sedans. We are buying pick-ups, SUVs, and some cross-overs. Ford and Chrysler have already announced their closures for 2020 to 2022. What upsets Trump is the GM closures are before the 2020 elections. Remember it’s all about him and his image, not the people.

                CEO Barra, who is a generational GM employee, is putting the company into artificial intelligence and electric vehicles. Shutting those plants saves money for GM’s future. Building cars nobody wants is irresponsible and having to sell them at a loss is stupid and she isn’t.

                So let Trump and others rant and rave but shutting those plants to meet demand is necessary. Some of those cars were being shipped to China before the Chinese put tariffs on them in response to
Trump’s tariffs on imports. Small parts suppliers around the country will be affected also. One automotive engineer said an electric car has half as many parts.

                These closings are the future of the auto industry.

Repeating History

19 Wednesday Dec 2018

Posted by in History, Politics, President Trump

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Many of us remember these words were said by a paranoid President. “I am not a crook! American deserves to know I am not a crook!” Richard Nixon was surrounded by loyal, decent people who committed crimes at his request or at the direction of his campaign or administration. A saying that must have been forgotten by some people today is: “It isn’t the crime it’s the cover-up that will get you.” Nixon and his immediate underlings had nothing to do with the Watergate break-in but the cover-up and investigations brought them all down. Most went to jail and Nixon resigned.

“There was no collusion,” and “I have done nothing wrong.” sounds a lot like President Nixon’s protests. Those statements come from a President who has no clue as to what is legal and may truly believe he can do nothing wrong, his family can do nothing wrong, and his friends can do nothing wrong as long as they are loyal to him. Unlike Nixon, Trump will viciously attack any former friend or associate if he thinks their loyalty is questionable. Like Nixon, Trump has a loyal following that will go over the cliff with him. They refuse to see the truth about a huckster.

Like Nixon, I suspect Trump may either resign or be kicked out of office. More likely he will announce in 2019 he has done all as promised and decline to run again. The latter is to stop congressional investigations before they get to him and his questionable finances.

What Is Happening To Morality?

11 Tuesday Dec 2018

Posted by in Morality, President Trump, Religion

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W. Durant said “A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within.” Many times I have heard the religious right talk and write about how our morals are declining. I bet it started before Rock and Roll and Elvis Presley but I am not that old. The 1960s, drugs, and protests were given as examples of our decline.

There will always be individual examples of depravity and immorality. As our population grows and the reporting increases we will see and hear more evil things. Unsocial media makes the impression of our total decline worse. We have always put some people on a pillar as a moral example only to pillorise’ them when we found they had feet in the mud. Prime examples are JFK and a host of evangelists. Political people are seldom good examples.

Today we have a President who has never risen to the level of even a poor example. He is proud of the fact that he has lied, cheated, conned, and assaulted women all his life. Every day he bullies his staff, appointees, opponents, allies, and people he doesn’t know just because he can and enjoys it. He has proclaimed his ability to assault women because he is entitled and rich.

How do the moral and religious people of this country support such an immoral person? How do his supporters tell their children to act morally and talk about how great the President is? How can a religious leader tell his flock to support someone who is the antitheses of everything they are supposed to believe? Why did they pass on other nominees who have far better morals and principles?

Would people please answer these questions?

Another Game of Sticks

08 Saturday Dec 2018

Posted by in International, Politics, President Trump, Trade Agreements

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The Middle East is always complicated but the death and reaction to Jamel Khoshoggi’s murder has further complicated a geo-political game of sticks. We had helped the Saudi’s in their war with the Yemen’s Houthis by selling the planes, bombs, and rockets and refueling their planes so they bomb the southeastern cities. We provide intelligence through drones, satellites, and electronic monitoring so they know what to bomb. The bus full of kids was probably our intelligence error.

The President says we can’t cut relations or sanction Saudi Arabia for killing Khoshoggi because they are our partners in the region and they are buying over $100 billion in military equipment from us. The President hasn’t stated to the world what another country can do before he will react. The question is where is the line and how will he react.

NATO and the European countries say our President is Putin’s boy. He hasn’t implemented all the sanctions Congress mandated for interfering in our election. President Trump has repeatedly said he sees no purpose in antiquated organizations like NATO, SEATO and OAS. The destruction of NATO benefits only one country – Russia.

The destruction of the trade pacts and tariffs has upset world’s trade routes, supply lines, and multi-national companies. The new NAFTA is the old NAFTA with the changes that had been planned for years. The agreements being worked on with the Asian countries is the old TPP. Without the TPP agreement China has been able to make huge inroads into Vietnam, Philippines, and Indonesia.

Geo-politics is not a game of sticks for beginners.

Tariffs Hit Homeowners

20 Monday Aug 2018

Posted by in President Trump, Tariffs

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I built my house thirty years ago and it is worth much more than I paid for the materials. As long as I don’t buy any appliances I couldn’t believe Trump’s tariff fights would affect my finances. I had to connect the dots to see how I have just got dinged.

A few weeks ago I read where home builders were expecting to pay $4,000 to $6,000 or more for the lumber to build homes. Since I am not building a new one, it is not my problem. Yesterday I got my house insurance bill. It had gone up because the cost to rebuild my house had risen.

So we have to pay more so his billionaire friends can raise the price of wood from American trees and override the Wildlife Preservation restrictions to cut in protected areas. Note his comment on the need to cut more trees to reduce fires. That’s another dot to connect.

It’s costing me another few percent. As new houses are built and sold I bet our real estate tax will rise too!

Sleight of Hand

20 Monday Aug 2018

Posted by in Politics, President Trump

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I don’t know if the President is coordinating the news releases or some incompetent staffers who are well over their head. When the administration does something stupid they try to get the public to look at something less stupid or inane. Today they revoked former CIA Director John Brennan’s security clearance. The notification was dated over two weeks previously. This release which was pulled back so today’s date could be shown on the text (another screw-up).

Was this done because they wanted to change the public’s attention from the media’s editorial on Trump’s attack on the media , his self-inflicted wounds, the Manafort trial, the negative impact of tariffs, and/or the Mueller investigation? Has the wounds become so massive that it is impossible to keep diverting attention from one screw-up by creating another one (a sleight of hand).

These self-inflicted wounds occur almost every day and often several times in the same day. Since the President wants to be in the spotlight, he is the cause of almost all the wounds himself. Some current and past White House staffers have commented on his mental capacity and stability. His tweets have given mental professionals cause to publicly question his condition. His staff tries to control and moderate his constant need for attention and admiration. His demand for the Senate Majority Leader, the Speaker of the House, and several cabinet members to “Tell you how great I am” while he sat like a king near the lectern indicates a 26th amendment possibility.

He once said “I could kill somebody on Madison Avenue and still get elected”, or his statement “you knew I was a snake before you elected me.” Perhaps his 30% base is ignorant of his screw-ups or are just stupid.

Do Unto Others

14 Tuesday Aug 2018

Posted by in Politics, President Trump, Religion

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I do not believe one’s religion should consider itself better than any other because their belief should be their own. If someone doesn’t believe in any God then it is their right, too. If a person believes Jesus is the son of a God or a prophet or even the second to last prophet, then it is their right. If they believe in a multi-armed woman or an elephant God, it is their right. If their God is the emperor or some very fat guy, it is their right. My mother told me to treat everyone the same because it is their right to believe what they want.

Now the Attorney General has decided to put together a task force to ensure we have a Christian country. This country was founded on not being a Christian or Catholic or Jewish because the reason for most discrimination and wars were religious. They wanted a country with the morals of religion but not a mandatory religion. This task force smack of a state supported and protected belief. Turkey’s President Erdoğan has changed the secular constitution to a state supported Islamic one. He has locked thousands up and fired tens of thousands more for disagreeing with his changes. Other countries have become a one religion nation.

Could it happen here? I would have doubted it a couple of years ago. Now we have an administration that is against Muslims. The alt-right devotees are anti-Jewish and they are supporters of the administration. Could they become like Hitler’s brown shirts and harass everyone that doesn’t share their particular faith? History gives many examples of what happens when the camel gets its nose under the tent. The religious right would love to have a government with Christian laws against what they perceive as immoral and doesn’t fit within their narrow views.

Conspiracy Believers Abound

14 Tuesday Aug 2018

Posted by in Militias, President Trump

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I really hope history is not repeating itself with all the conspiracy groups and militias which believe President Trump is their leader. The Ku Klux Klan is resurgent and marching along with new white nationalist groups. The Patriot Prayer in Oregon and the wide assortment of groups in Charlottesville, Washington D.C. and other places believe President Trump is one of them. The conspiracy group Q Anon is openly showing itself at Trump rallies. Showing themselves in such numbers tends to give others the confidence to join in their lunacy.

The Q believes Trump is directing an overthrow of the deep state or shadow government. His demeaning statements of people and the media are a rallying cry for these conspiracy whackos. They believe Trump is sending them messages when he misspells a word or makes a new one. I think he knows this and does so to encourage their devotion. Hopefully his nonsense hasn’t yet caused them to act with violence.

Old groups are reforming and new groups are forming with two goals. The white nationalists want to put all non-Europeans in their place, or kill them, or deport them no matter how many generations they have lived here. The second goal is to overthrow the existing government by force, if needed, and replace it with a populist one.

Years ago the FBI broke up and drove underground the Idaho militia groups. One of the leaders said they were part of an association overseen by a committee. What if all these white nationalist and conspiracy groups fall under the control of a committee controlled by one person? Could it become like Poland’s Law and Justice Party or Turkey’s Justice and Development Party or Hitler’s Brown Shirts of his nascent Nazi Party? American’s have shown a proclivity to believe in conspiracies. Let’s hope they never really get organized!