ANONYMOUS IS . . . .

The current news discussion is all about an op-ed column written by Anonymous "I Am Part Of The Resistance Inside The Trump Administration:" (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/05/opinion/trump-white-house-anonymous-resistance.html)  I have read the op-ed piece three times wondering what all the fuss is about.  I don't know about you, but I learned nothing new about President Trump.

Wait, perhaps I did learn one sort of thing new which is that the President actually did not want to expel so many Putin spies over the poisonings in Britain,.  Certainly doing so seemed against everything President Trump has to say about President Putin.  But I'm with Senator Corker, that there is really nothing new.

At any rate, the fun is in trying to identify who Anonymous really is.  It seems like 25 people in the Trump Administration have actually told us who Anonymous is . . . .NOT ME.  Of course, every family knows the famous NOT ME.

I'm, told that Chief Of Staff John Kelly hasn't written a letter so maybe it is he.  I am sure he is capable of it in his frustrating job of trying to get order out of chaos.  I admit I am not fond of Gen. (Rtd) Kelly who thinks it is all right to separate children from their mothers and to tweet disrespectfully to elected minority women congressmen.

There is something in the op-ed piece that did strike me, however: Although he was elected as a Republican, the president shows little affinity for ideals long espoused by conservatives: free minds, free markets and free people.   I note that the paragraph says these are ideals and I'll buy that, but I've not noticed that Republicans are for "free minds" for decades and are they really for "free people?"  They certainly aren't for women to freely decide what to do with their own bodies.  They also are for freedom for people to discriminate against other people because of religious beliefs.

And they certainly said awful things during the Bush-43 Administration about people who opposed the war in Iraq such as they are unAmerican and disloyal to America.   While it is true that Republicans in recent years have been for free trade, suddenly they switched to opposing free trade.  Though I am a social libertarian, I am for free trade.

It is recognized that there are losers as well as winners in free trade.  In fact, the Federal government has a bureau to help displaced workers to train and help find new jobs called the Trade Adjustment Assitance Act (https://www.doleta.gov/TradeAct/pdf/Factsheets-2016/NC.pdf*) that claims to have helped 74% of its effects in 2016 to find new jobs.  This way, the public can enjoy the lower prices of imported goods and displaced workers can find new jobs.  Perhaps the budget of $450 million should be increased to cover more people.

* In this blog, also see the Trans-Pacific Partnership http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2016/07/tpp.html