... Great Grandfather figure for President. Say you have a child at age 24 and that child has a child at 24 and that child has a child at 24. Well, 3X24 is 72. That makes you a Great Grandfather. Donald Trump will be 73 next month and Joe Biden will be 77 in November. President of the United States seems to be the only job where a geriatric person is preferred.
It wasn't always so. How did this happen?
The first person to be 70 before retirement of the second term was Dwight D. Eisenhower who was 98 days past his 70th birthday. The oldest person to be president past 70 was, of course, Ronald Reagan who was within a week of being 78 by the end of his second term. The present president, Donald Trump, will be 73 next month and counting. Note: all of these are post-WW-II.
I find this trend toward older presidents to be scary.
...............................................................
For the sake of completeness, I'll list the former presidents who lived to be at least 90 yrs old.
The oldest former president, Jimmy Carter, has yet to die and is over 94 and counting. He beats out George H.W. Bush who died at 94+. Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan had topped 93 when they died. John Adams and Herber Hoover both lived past their 90th birthdays.
Showing posts with label Donald Trump. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Donald Trump. Show all posts
Monday, May 13, 2019
Tuesday, December 4, 2018
TRUMP'S CONTEMPT FOR GOVERNMENT
Increasingly, I am getting the idea that Trump is going out of his way to pick weird candidates for office. For example, he chose Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court even though McConnell told him Kavanaugh would be the hardest choice to confirm. He chose Matthew Whitaker for Acting Attorney General even though he is wildly unqualified and maybe even a crook.
Then there is Alex Acosta who is Secretary of Labor who seems like a crook when he got off a billionaire who was raping teenage girls. No, he wasn't the defense attorney, he was the Prosecutor! Of course, we shouldn't overlook Ryan Zinke, Secretary of Interior, who seems to think working for the Federal Government is like a child locked in a candy store.
Administrator of EPA Scott Pruitt is so bad he had to resign and so did the Secretary of HHS Tom Price. Did I mention Michael Flynn?
There is more: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/15/trump-cabinet-officials-in-ethics-scandals.html
Trump's choices certainly show a contempt for government: https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2017/01/19/donald-trump-has-assembled-the-worst-cabinet-in-american-history/?utm_term=.5ab6e88c80c0
Then there is Alex Acosta who is Secretary of Labor who seems like a crook when he got off a billionaire who was raping teenage girls. No, he wasn't the defense attorney, he was the Prosecutor! Of course, we shouldn't overlook Ryan Zinke, Secretary of Interior, who seems to think working for the Federal Government is like a child locked in a candy store.
Administrator of EPA Scott Pruitt is so bad he had to resign and so did the Secretary of HHS Tom Price. Did I mention Michael Flynn?
There is more: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/15/trump-cabinet-officials-in-ethics-scandals.html
Trump's choices certainly show a contempt for government: https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2017/01/19/donald-trump-has-assembled-the-worst-cabinet-in-american-history/?utm_term=.5ab6e88c80c0
Sunday, July 22, 2018
WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR ALPHA-MALE PRESIDENT?
At first, I wondered what all the fuss was about President's regarding Donald Trump's obsequious behavior toward President Putin because I thought he only said things he had been saying for some time.
I guess the reason was that people were expecting someone who pretends to be an alpha-male around women - like Theresa May and Angela Merkel (who lived in East Germany during the Soviet occupation) - to put up a strong front with Putin at Helsinki on an international stage.
Those who admire Trump will say, I suppose, that he is only trying to make friends with Putin and point to some strong stances he has taken against Russia like arms for Ukraine and expelling a lot of Russian employees from the U.S. They also give him credit for a number of sanctions; however, these were passed by Congress, and he was slow to apply the round since he became president. At any rate, Trump cannot repeal Congressionally passed sanctions by himself.
I don't know what is the proper thing to do in Ukraine. Obama didn't want to arm them because he thought that Russia could escalate the war to match them. So this war has dragged on. I don't know if arming the Ukrainians changes things much. I guess the idea is that if the Ukrainians are armed more, Russia will not want to pay the price. We will see. The politics of Ukraine is so corrupt, that I doubt they deserve to remain a nation.*
At any rate, I have nothing against President Trump trying to have friendly relations with Putin. After all, others have tried (such as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Obama administration) to do so. I don't know how you can go about this after so many failures (Most of the 1970s were called a detente with the Soviet Union. They even awarded me a science prize.). My own impression is that the Russians and particularly Putin admire strength. A trick might be for our president to show strength in a friendly way. It doesn't seem like our President Trump can find the way.
* http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2014/03/ukraine-failed-state.html
http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2014/03/ukraine-politics.html
http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-breadbasket-of-europe-is-now-basket.html
I guess the reason was that people were expecting someone who pretends to be an alpha-male around women - like Theresa May and Angela Merkel (who lived in East Germany during the Soviet occupation) - to put up a strong front with Putin at Helsinki on an international stage.
Those who admire Trump will say, I suppose, that he is only trying to make friends with Putin and point to some strong stances he has taken against Russia like arms for Ukraine and expelling a lot of Russian employees from the U.S. They also give him credit for a number of sanctions; however, these were passed by Congress, and he was slow to apply the round since he became president. At any rate, Trump cannot repeal Congressionally passed sanctions by himself.
I don't know what is the proper thing to do in Ukraine. Obama didn't want to arm them because he thought that Russia could escalate the war to match them. So this war has dragged on. I don't know if arming the Ukrainians changes things much. I guess the idea is that if the Ukrainians are armed more, Russia will not want to pay the price. We will see. The politics of Ukraine is so corrupt, that I doubt they deserve to remain a nation.*
At any rate, I have nothing against President Trump trying to have friendly relations with Putin. After all, others have tried (such as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Obama administration) to do so. I don't know how you can go about this after so many failures (Most of the 1970s were called a detente with the Soviet Union. They even awarded me a science prize.). My own impression is that the Russians and particularly Putin admire strength. A trick might be for our president to show strength in a friendly way. It doesn't seem like our President Trump can find the way.
* http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2014/03/ukraine-failed-state.html
http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2014/03/ukraine-politics.html
http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-breadbasket-of-europe-is-now-basket.html
Monday, June 25, 2018
I REALLY DON'T CARE DO YOU?
Why Melania Trump wore the Army green jacket on her trip to see children who were locked up away from their parents is a mystery. My first thought when I saw it was, "If you don't care, why did you go?"
Her husband, the president, says it was a comment on the FAKE news press, but what was Melania thinking? Maybe she was thinking, "I don't care what your political base thinks, but I do." It would be nice to think that she does care for the immigrant children.
Apparently, she is not going to say, but I'm afraid it stepped on her mission - the children. And I can't believe it was a fashion mistake because, after all, she was a fashion model. Surely she knows all about fashion.
I think this locking up children away from their parents is Trump's Katrina, although a lot of people agree with it. If you look at the letters to the Editor in a sophisticated newspaper such as the WSJ, you would think that anyone thinks to do what Trump/Sessions have done is fine and is just following the law.
After Katrina, I had a friend who said that she thought that the people killed were the "scum of the Earth." There was no reasoning with her that these were the working poor. The indigents lived in buildings on higher ground.
Sometimes I wonder if "humanity" is worth it (http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2017/06/what-is-meaning-of-life.html). Clearly, the greatest enemy of man is man.
Incidentally, Melania does her own thing more than other recent president's wives so it is said she has a much smaller staff than recent president's wives. We need to remember, however, that she spent several months living in New York until her sons' school year was over so she got a late start..
Her husband, the president, says it was a comment on the FAKE news press, but what was Melania thinking? Maybe she was thinking, "I don't care what your political base thinks, but I do." It would be nice to think that she does care for the immigrant children.
Apparently, she is not going to say, but I'm afraid it stepped on her mission - the children. And I can't believe it was a fashion mistake because, after all, she was a fashion model. Surely she knows all about fashion.
I think this locking up children away from their parents is Trump's Katrina, although a lot of people agree with it. If you look at the letters to the Editor in a sophisticated newspaper such as the WSJ, you would think that anyone thinks to do what Trump/Sessions have done is fine and is just following the law.
After Katrina, I had a friend who said that she thought that the people killed were the "scum of the Earth." There was no reasoning with her that these were the working poor. The indigents lived in buildings on higher ground.
Sometimes I wonder if "humanity" is worth it (http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2017/06/what-is-meaning-of-life.html). Clearly, the greatest enemy of man is man.
Incidentally, Melania does her own thing more than other recent president's wives so it is said she has a much smaller staff than recent president's wives. We need to remember, however, that she spent several months living in New York until her sons' school year was over so she got a late start..
Friday, March 2, 2018
HOW MANY TIMES CAN YOU BULLY FRIENDS BEFORE YOU LOSE THEM?
I suppose it depends on the person. Well, President Trump continues to bully his Attorney General. I think he has gone too far, and I suspect that the Attorney General isn't going to give him any breaks.
What a choice to make between Trump and Sessions! With sarcasm, I say that it couldn't have happened to two nicer guys. They deserve each other, but I don't blame Sessions for "losing the faith." People are begging Sessions to hang in there because they are worried that his replacement would be even worse.
Tuesday, November 7, 2017
WHY DOES HE DO IT?
I am trying very hard not to comment on President Trump. I have said what I have to say, except something new occurred to me. Why did Donald Trump say that Japan should produce cars in the U.S. when he almost certainly knows they did. Trump watches a lot of news, after all, so he had to know. Certainly I did, though I wasn't sure if they produced the Prius in America (As nearly as I can tell, they are still all made in Japan in spite of announced plans to make some in the U.S..*):
Toyota Motor TM will start producing the hybrid Prius in the U.S. for the first time as the Japanese automaker adjusts its U.S. manufacturing operations to meet customer demands for smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles.*
.....................................................................
Toyota has 13 North American plants and two under construction in Mississippi and Ontario. The automaker has more than 43,000 workers in North America.*
Well either he lied to appease his base that feels countries like Japan are taking lots of American jobs, OR he is having trouble with his memory. He says he has one of the greatest memories ever. Maybe he did but no longer. This would mean that he honestly doesn't remember, showing first signs of senility. At age 71, it could well be the latter.
* http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=5353375
Toyota Motor TM will start producing the hybrid Prius in the U.S. for the first time as the Japanese automaker adjusts its U.S. manufacturing operations to meet customer demands for smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles.*
.....................................................................
Toyota has 13 North American plants and two under construction in Mississippi and Ontario. The automaker has more than 43,000 workers in North America.*
Well either he lied to appease his base that feels countries like Japan are taking lots of American jobs, OR he is having trouble with his memory. He says he has one of the greatest memories ever. Maybe he did but no longer. This would mean that he honestly doesn't remember, showing first signs of senility. At age 71, it could well be the latter.
* http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=5353375
Monday, October 9, 2017
SEX AND POWERFUL MEN
Do you get the impression that we have entered a new age? It seems like the days are gone when powerful men , ah, "ask" women for favors to achieve something.
Think of what has gone on even this year. There has been the ascension of a sexual predator to the Presidency,* Bill Cosby, the male Venture Capital sex scandal,** the sex scandals at Fox News (esp. Roger Ailes and Bill O'Reilly),*** the Harvey Weinstein sex scandal**** and we are only in October. Of course these are only the most lurid cases, and there are many others. We are only seeing the tip of the iceberg.In the past, there are also our presidents like Roosevelt who had a mistress while he was president, plus womanizers who have "IT" like Kennedy, and, of course, Bill Clinton. We didn't know about Roosevelt and Kennedy until after they were dead.
One of scandal of note is the anti-abortion Repub. congressman Tim Murphy case who urged his mistress to get an abortion (http://nypost.com/2017/10/05/anti-abortion-congressman-caught-in-sex-scandal-wont-seek-reelection/). This is more funny than anything because there is no indication the mistress was forced to be a mistress.
The idea is going around that that men knowing to be womanizers should have their political donations returned. What they don't seem to realize is that most large political donations by men would have to be returned.
Some men run scared of being accused of a sexual harassment (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/09/upshot/as-sexual-harassment-scandals-spook-men-it-can-backfire-for-women.html). I know because when I was in a stage of my career and was the first- or second-line supervisor of 120 to 140 people (depending on the number of temps), I ran scared. I used to have my administrative assistant (a woman) in the office when I was interviewing or having to discipline a woman employee. As it was three times in five years I was accused of sex discrimination (but not harassment). I managed to survive these. Of a different note, I was accused of "gross misuse of trust" by the safety officer for not shown monthly safety movies to my employees. This was right after I had received the Safety Manager Of The Year Award! I won't go into the details because this is a side issue of this post, but I began to feel like big Julie, the guy in Guys and Dolls, who said he was a law abiding citizen, "... as has been proved by my record: Thirty-three arrests and no convictions!."
Sexual harassment is something I never approved of because in my youth I had a very tight moral code; still, I can think of incidents where I might have been accused of sexual harassment. I write some more about this in my piece "Some Men Have It, Most Don't" (http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2016/10/some-men-have-it-most-dont.html). Women never seemed to have any qualms about telling me to get lost. But then I not only did not have ""IT" but was not a powerful man.
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump_sexual_misconduct_allegations
** https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2017/06/30/venture-capital-sexual-harassment-scandal/103336512/
*** http://www.newsweek.com/new-allegations-emerge-heres-rundown-fox-news-sex-and-harassment-scandals-646950
**** https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/08/harvey-weinstein-fired-by-weinstein-company-board.html
Think of what has gone on even this year. There has been the ascension of a sexual predator to the Presidency,* Bill Cosby, the male Venture Capital sex scandal,** the sex scandals at Fox News (esp. Roger Ailes and Bill O'Reilly),*** the Harvey Weinstein sex scandal**** and we are only in October. Of course these are only the most lurid cases, and there are many others. We are only seeing the tip of the iceberg.In the past, there are also our presidents like Roosevelt who had a mistress while he was president, plus womanizers who have "IT" like Kennedy, and, of course, Bill Clinton. We didn't know about Roosevelt and Kennedy until after they were dead.
One of scandal of note is the anti-abortion Repub. congressman Tim Murphy case who urged his mistress to get an abortion (http://nypost.com/2017/10/05/anti-abortion-congressman-caught-in-sex-scandal-wont-seek-reelection/). This is more funny than anything because there is no indication the mistress was forced to be a mistress.
The idea is going around that that men knowing to be womanizers should have their political donations returned. What they don't seem to realize is that most large political donations by men would have to be returned.
Some men run scared of being accused of a sexual harassment (https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/09/upshot/as-sexual-harassment-scandals-spook-men-it-can-backfire-for-women.html). I know because when I was in a stage of my career and was the first- or second-line supervisor of 120 to 140 people (depending on the number of temps), I ran scared. I used to have my administrative assistant (a woman) in the office when I was interviewing or having to discipline a woman employee. As it was three times in five years I was accused of sex discrimination (but not harassment). I managed to survive these. Of a different note, I was accused of "gross misuse of trust" by the safety officer for not shown monthly safety movies to my employees. This was right after I had received the Safety Manager Of The Year Award! I won't go into the details because this is a side issue of this post, but I began to feel like big Julie, the guy in Guys and Dolls, who said he was a law abiding citizen, "... as has been proved by my record: Thirty-three arrests and no convictions!."
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump_sexual_misconduct_allegations
** https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2017/06/30/venture-capital-sexual-harassment-scandal/103336512/
*** http://www.newsweek.com/new-allegations-emerge-heres-rundown-fox-news-sex-and-harassment-scandals-646950
**** https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/08/harvey-weinstein-fired-by-weinstein-company-board.html
Saturday, May 20, 2017
SYMPATHY FOR COMEY
Though I think it was proper to fire Comey, I have sympathy for him because he got into situations he didn't know how to handle and didn't handle them well. Overall, I guess he well as Deputy Attorney General of the Justice Department although he seemed confused about whether waterboarding was torture that showed he could become rattled.
After getting Trump elected, Comey did seem to pursue the Russian election scandal seriously; however, it was too late.
Comey's replacement might be a matter of concern. Rumors are the favorite is Joe Lieberman.
Now with a special prosecutor, things might progress even better. Mueller seems to be a popular choice and bipartisan choice; however, it seems like the White House will attempt to muddy the waters.*
I'm not sure about Joe Lieberman as a replacement. Lieberman is also senior counsel at Kasowitz, Benson, Torres, and Friedman, a law firm that has frequently represented Trump ...** It would seem that conflicts with Lieberman are even more severe than for Mueller. As far as I am concerned, Lieberman also got kind of weird late in his career and was very critical of President Obama. I think that the acting FBI director might be the best choice.
* http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/05/reuters-trump-mueller.
** http://theweek.com/speedreads/700053/trump-says-joe-lieberman-leading-candidate-replace-comey-fbi-director
After getting Trump elected, Comey did seem to pursue the Russian election scandal seriously; however, it was too late.
Comey's replacement might be a matter of concern. Rumors are the favorite is Joe Lieberman.
Now with a special prosecutor, things might progress even better. Mueller seems to be a popular choice and bipartisan choice; however, it seems like the White House will attempt to muddy the waters.*
I'm not sure about Joe Lieberman as a replacement. Lieberman is also senior counsel at Kasowitz, Benson, Torres, and Friedman, a law firm that has frequently represented Trump ...** It would seem that conflicts with Lieberman are even more severe than for Mueller. As far as I am concerned, Lieberman also got kind of weird late in his career and was very critical of President Obama. I think that the acting FBI director might be the best choice.
* http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/05/reuters-trump-mueller.
** http://theweek.com/speedreads/700053/trump-says-joe-lieberman-leading-candidate-replace-comey-fbi-director
Friday, February 10, 2017
THE MASSACRE THAT NEVER WAS
As for college riots over conservative speakers.
I don't need to listen to conservatives dreaming up excuses for discrimination against Muslims (Trump), making up massacres for Bowling Green (Kellyanne Conway*), letting people pick and chose which parts of a law they don't want to follow because of religious reasons (contraceptives and abortion), and trying to find legal reasons to prevent certain people from voting (voter ID laws).
There are conservatives, however, that I love to hear talk or read such as David Brooks, Arthur Brooks, Robert Gates, and Condoleezza Rice. I've read Gate's whole book "Duty." I also like to listen to Ohio Gov. John Kasich. At least he says things like we need to help those less fortunate than us. He is not mean spirited though he is a strong opponent of abortion and contraception, but you can't be a Republican politician these days without opposing them.
Here is Kasich's view against abortion and even contraception:
The ruse that the anti-choice movement is about "life" has been harder to maintain in recent years, as lawmakers have starting attacking contraception access (which reduces the need for abortion, duh). Gov. John Kasich of Ohio took it a step further Sunday night and signed a bill that merges his party's anti-contraception and anti-abortion agendas into one. The budget bill (of course!) packs a one-two-three punch of making it harder for women to prevent pregnancies, harder for women to terminate pregnancies, and harder for low-income women to keep their babies. ****
* http://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/02/trump-travel-ban-kellyanne-conway-made-up-a-fake-terrorist-attack-by-iraqi-refugees-to-justify-presidents-move.html
**http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2013/07/01/john_kasich_of_ohio_signs_hb59_the_bill_cuts_contraception_funding_restricts.html
I don't need to listen to conservatives dreaming up excuses for discrimination against Muslims (Trump), making up massacres for Bowling Green (Kellyanne Conway*), letting people pick and chose which parts of a law they don't want to follow because of religious reasons (contraceptives and abortion), and trying to find legal reasons to prevent certain people from voting (voter ID laws).
There are conservatives, however, that I love to hear talk or read such as David Brooks, Arthur Brooks, Robert Gates, and Condoleezza Rice. I've read Gate's whole book "Duty." I also like to listen to Ohio Gov. John Kasich. At least he says things like we need to help those less fortunate than us. He is not mean spirited though he is a strong opponent of abortion and contraception, but you can't be a Republican politician these days without opposing them.
Here is Kasich's view against abortion and even contraception:
The ruse that the anti-choice movement is about "life" has been harder to maintain in recent years, as lawmakers have starting attacking contraception access (which reduces the need for abortion, duh). Gov. John Kasich of Ohio took it a step further Sunday night and signed a bill that merges his party's anti-contraception and anti-abortion agendas into one. The budget bill (of course!) packs a one-two-three punch of making it harder for women to prevent pregnancies, harder for women to terminate pregnancies, and harder for low-income women to keep their babies. ****
* http://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/02/trump-travel-ban-kellyanne-conway-made-up-a-fake-terrorist-attack-by-iraqi-refugees-to-justify-presidents-move.html
**http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2013/07/01/john_kasich_of_ohio_signs_hb59_the_bill_cuts_contraception_funding_restricts.html
Saturday, January 28, 2017
PRESIDENT TRUMP'S FIRST WEEK
Well, how did President Donald (the Bully) Trumps' first week go? As for me, at best it was embarrassing and at worst it was a disaster. Admittedly my view is not held by all. I heard a group of three Trump supporters who viewed his first week as a grade of A by two and A- by the third.
Trump tried to bully the president of Mexico, Enrique Pena Nieto, about paying for The Great Wall of Trump and the Mexican President said NO and canceled a meeting with our president. This prompted a long telephone call between the two presidents to sort of patch things up, after which they issued joint messages. It turns out that Nieto is unpopular with the people of Mexico, and Trump probably inadvertently raised Nieto's pole standings by Nieto's standing up to bullying. Trump seemed genuinely surprised by Nieto's response. Not surprisingly, President Trump has continued his campaign of trying to the American media into submission.
Other countries are advising Trump not to build the wall, such as the Mayor of Berlin.
There is the temporary 4 mo. ban (possibly to be extended) on Muslim refugees from seven Arab countries from coming to the U.S. to "protect" us from terrorists (Christians and other minority religions are excluded from the ban). It turns out, however, that none of the terrorist attacks in the U.S. , including 9/11, involved citizens from these seven countries! Still this view of terrorists coming to the U.S. from these seven countries in spite of the facts is also held by some other Republicans. There is resistance by Republicans to the fact that the current vetting process has been pretty good. At any rate, this has prompted law suits from people who have valid visas to come to America and a big reaction from countries like Germany. This one is yet to be settled though some damage has been already done in any event.**
Then there are a group of gag orders for scientists in EPA, Agriculture,* and other agencies doing research. The gag order in Agriculture has now been rescinded. Though the gag order for EPA remains in place, the freeze on grants has been lifted. I presume the gag order on EPA will also soon be rescinded. I don't recall any instance of gag orders on my science during my 34 yrs as a Federal government researcher but some others report having experienced it before.
There seems to be a general resistance to facts by Republicans whom seem to prefer to rely on feelings, not facts. Kellyanne Conway once even claimed there are no such things as facts. This was also seen in the Bush-43 White House that politicized scientific committees by insisting that a representative be included who followed the biblical origin of life (Creationism).
Perhaps the worst orders during the first week involved the firing of four senior officials of the State Department before there is even a Secretary of State (who is expected to be approved next week); however, Rex Tillerson at least knew about the request for resignations and maybe has some ideas for replacement.
They [fired] include Patrick Kennedy, who had been the undersecretary of management since the George W. Bush administration, as well as Assistant Secretary of State for Administration Joyce Anne Barr, Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Michele Bond, and Gentry Smith, who directed the Office of Foreign Missions.***
These people were fired without replacements, presumably to be replaced eventually with neophytes. While these members are so-called Schedule C appointments, who serve at the pleasure of the President, one would expect an orderly transition, but that is not to be.
Note one of the dismissed is Patrick Kennedy, 63, who was a Bush-43 appointee. He has 43 yrs of government experience in a variety of positions,***
Ambassador Joyce Anne Barr, 66, has 38 years of experience in the government in a variety of positions.***
Ambassador Michele Thoren Bond, 63, with 39 yrs of experience in various position beginning with the foreign service. She has been in her current position for only about a year.***
Gentry Smith, 58, may be the most serious loss as he had 39 yrs in the State Department so a lot of institutional knowledge is being lost. He was appointed to his present position by President Obama.***
All these are eligible for retirement so the loss is ours and not theirs. Long ago, I too was "invited" to retire from the government. In time I have grown to feel it was all for the best as I was no longer a political football.
Perhaps you recall the hullabaloo when the Clinton Administration fired the Schedule C travel office for the White House, a far, far less serious matter, but at least they had a replacement in mind.
I can't see how all this ends well.
* https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/01/24/usda-science-researchers-ordered-to-stop-publishing-news-releases-other-documents/?utm_term=.d68618fd176d
** http://thefederalist.com/2015/11/18/the-obama-administration-stopped-processing-iraq-refugee-requests-for-6-months-in-2011/ Reince Priebus has said that President Obama did a 6 mo. pause on people coming from Iraq; however, that pause was quite different in that the fingerprints of some terrorists who came to the U.S. were found on devices in Iraq. The pause was to allow a stiffening of the immigration policy
*** https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/01/state-department-resignations/514550/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_F._Kennedy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyce_Anne_Barr
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michele_Thoren_Bond
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentry_O._Smith
Trump tried to bully the president of Mexico, Enrique Pena Nieto, about paying for The Great Wall of Trump and the Mexican President said NO and canceled a meeting with our president. This prompted a long telephone call between the two presidents to sort of patch things up, after which they issued joint messages. It turns out that Nieto is unpopular with the people of Mexico, and Trump probably inadvertently raised Nieto's pole standings by Nieto's standing up to bullying. Trump seemed genuinely surprised by Nieto's response. Not surprisingly, President Trump has continued his campaign of trying to the American media into submission.
Other countries are advising Trump not to build the wall, such as the Mayor of Berlin.
There is the temporary 4 mo. ban (possibly to be extended) on Muslim refugees from seven Arab countries from coming to the U.S. to "protect" us from terrorists (Christians and other minority religions are excluded from the ban). It turns out, however, that none of the terrorist attacks in the U.S. , including 9/11, involved citizens from these seven countries! Still this view of terrorists coming to the U.S. from these seven countries in spite of the facts is also held by some other Republicans. There is resistance by Republicans to the fact that the current vetting process has been pretty good. At any rate, this has prompted law suits from people who have valid visas to come to America and a big reaction from countries like Germany. This one is yet to be settled though some damage has been already done in any event.**
Then there are a group of gag orders for scientists in EPA, Agriculture,* and other agencies doing research. The gag order in Agriculture has now been rescinded. Though the gag order for EPA remains in place, the freeze on grants has been lifted. I presume the gag order on EPA will also soon be rescinded. I don't recall any instance of gag orders on my science during my 34 yrs as a Federal government researcher but some others report having experienced it before.
There seems to be a general resistance to facts by Republicans whom seem to prefer to rely on feelings, not facts. Kellyanne Conway once even claimed there are no such things as facts. This was also seen in the Bush-43 White House that politicized scientific committees by insisting that a representative be included who followed the biblical origin of life (Creationism).
Perhaps the worst orders during the first week involved the firing of four senior officials of the State Department before there is even a Secretary of State (who is expected to be approved next week); however, Rex Tillerson at least knew about the request for resignations and maybe has some ideas for replacement.
They [fired] include Patrick Kennedy, who had been the undersecretary of management since the George W. Bush administration, as well as Assistant Secretary of State for Administration Joyce Anne Barr, Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Michele Bond, and Gentry Smith, who directed the Office of Foreign Missions.***
These people were fired without replacements, presumably to be replaced eventually with neophytes. While these members are so-called Schedule C appointments, who serve at the pleasure of the President, one would expect an orderly transition, but that is not to be.
Note one of the dismissed is Patrick Kennedy, 63, who was a Bush-43 appointee. He has 43 yrs of government experience in a variety of positions,***
Ambassador Joyce Anne Barr, 66, has 38 years of experience in the government in a variety of positions.***
Ambassador Michele Thoren Bond, 63, with 39 yrs of experience in various position beginning with the foreign service. She has been in her current position for only about a year.***
Gentry Smith, 58, may be the most serious loss as he had 39 yrs in the State Department so a lot of institutional knowledge is being lost. He was appointed to his present position by President Obama.***
All these are eligible for retirement so the loss is ours and not theirs. Long ago, I too was "invited" to retire from the government. In time I have grown to feel it was all for the best as I was no longer a political football.
Perhaps you recall the hullabaloo when the Clinton Administration fired the Schedule C travel office for the White House, a far, far less serious matter, but at least they had a replacement in mind.
I can't see how all this ends well.
* https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/01/24/usda-science-researchers-ordered-to-stop-publishing-news-releases-other-documents/?utm_term=.d68618fd176d
** http://thefederalist.com/2015/11/18/the-obama-administration-stopped-processing-iraq-refugee-requests-for-6-months-in-2011/ Reince Priebus has said that President Obama did a 6 mo. pause on people coming from Iraq; however, that pause was quite different in that the fingerprints of some terrorists who came to the U.S. were found on devices in Iraq. The pause was to allow a stiffening of the immigration policy
*** https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/01/state-department-resignations/514550/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_F._Kennedy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyce_Anne_Barr
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michele_Thoren_Bond
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentry_O._Smith
Tuesday, January 17, 2017
DONALD TRUMP AND RUSSIA
President-Elect Donald Trump is full of praise for Vladimir Putin and trying to destroy our intelligence agencies, especially the CIA, to say nothing of NATO. Putin is slamming those who criticize Trump. Clearly, Trump is some sort of asset of Russia, perhaps unwittingly, but an asset none the less. Putin has Trump all covered with syrup without Trump noticing he has tipped the pitcher. Putin could hardly contain himself in his actions to maneuver Trump. Many have noted that Putin is the one person whom Trump never criticizes..Putin must be laughing wildly at his luck, This is far more than just trying a reset with Russia and very, very scary.
Should Trump succeed in his attempt to destroy the CIA and many veteran agents leave the organization, we will be, in a manner, defenseless while new hires get experience. We are depending now on veteran employees of the CIA to be so patriotic that they will stay. I'm not sure what the outgoing Director of the CIA (John Brennan) means when he says that Trump has crossed a line, but it doesn't sound good.
If a number of the nominated cabinet members mean what they are saying in their nomination hearings, we will heavily depend on them to preserve the nation.
I also am wondering if the Republican's and Trump's attack on health care, among other things, will revitalize something like the demonstrations against the Vietnam War. The Women's March is expecting more than 200,000 demonstrators on Saturday though well short of the million that was their original target.
Building the wall on our Southern Border has become a trivial issue. To paraphrase what Sen. McCain said years ago about the border fence," build the dang wall." At least it will provide temporary work for a lot of employees in the construction industry, except we are told there is not much slack there.
Should Trump succeed in his attempt to destroy the CIA and many veteran agents leave the organization, we will be, in a manner, defenseless while new hires get experience. We are depending now on veteran employees of the CIA to be so patriotic that they will stay. I'm not sure what the outgoing Director of the CIA (John Brennan) means when he says that Trump has crossed a line, but it doesn't sound good.
If a number of the nominated cabinet members mean what they are saying in their nomination hearings, we will heavily depend on them to preserve the nation.
I also am wondering if the Republican's and Trump's attack on health care, among other things, will revitalize something like the demonstrations against the Vietnam War. The Women's March is expecting more than 200,000 demonstrators on Saturday though well short of the million that was their original target.
Building the wall on our Southern Border has become a trivial issue. To paraphrase what Sen. McCain said years ago about the border fence," build the dang wall." At least it will provide temporary work for a lot of employees in the construction industry, except we are told there is not much slack there.
Friday, January 13, 2017
FATHER-IN LAW -- SON-IN-LAW
I find it endearing that Donald Trump seems to have such high regard for his son-in-law Jared Kushner.* I agree that he should be allowed to be an official adviser to President Donald Trump and have an office next door. Heck, let him have a desk in the Oval Office.
I don't know much about Jared Kushner, so in a way I'm flying blind, but I presume he is more rational than his father-in-law. He seems to want to pursue a political career. I have to wonder if Trump's sons are a bit jealous of Kushner's closeness to their father. Trump also seems to favor Ivanka, his daughter. Perhaps letting the sons run the Trump empire will make up for it somewhat. Of course they are not supposed to talk to their father about the business. Ha, ha!
Kushner's brother Joshua** runs a health care business in New York called Oscar. This may help Kusher moderate Trump's view on Obamacare. Trump has said he wants the replacement to come shortly after the repeal, essentially simultaneously. Joshua is said to have not voted for Trump.
Republicans want to get Obama's name off the health care law very much which after all has the acronym of ACA (for Affordable Care Act). Obama is willing to have his name removed, but the media won't let it happen. After all, the ACA IS largely the conservatives health plan which is why they are having such a problem coming up with a replacement.*** They didn't vote for it out of spite as a part of their political scorched Earth policy.
The ACA was supposed to get insurance companies to compete with each other; however, they have avoided this by backing out of the plan so that there is only one company to choose from in most places. Various Republicans have wanted health insurance to be national where it is now run by each state. This presumably would make health insurance companies compete. This suggestion is interesting because it goes against state's rights. But I'm for it. In fact I am in a national plan that is voluntary and covers preexisting conditions.
Kushner may help Trump from being impeached. What for? Well, it could be a lot of things, but his too, too friendliness with Putin may eventually do it. In fact one comedian asked if one could impeach a President-Elect before he gets into office.
Frankly, I think Trump is safe at least until he names a Supreme Court Justice, where the Republican establishment dearly wants input more than anything. So far they have gotten their way on the cabinet appointments.
In addition to his over friendliness with Putin, Trump seems on a track to destroy the U.S. intelligence agencies, especially the CIA. This makes me very nervous if a large number of the veteran CIA agents leave. It is rumored that many are getting their resume's ready.
There is a lot of attention being made of the Russians having a dossier on Trump that includes unverified accusations of Trump being attended to by some "ladies" while he was in Russia. I'm sure that the Russians have a dossier on Trump but not sure about the "ladies." The trouble is that we know Trump is a womanizer and that he talks big on his sexual possibilities from the tape on the bus, so the accusations are not too wild. But who knows for sure? I also wouldn't put it past Putin to have pictures rigged.
It is hard for me to see this ending well.
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jared_Kushner
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Kushner
*** Mitt Romney's in Massachusetts was slightly more conservative than a plan put forth by Richard Nixon. The ACA is slightly more conservative than the Massachusetts plan.
I don't know much about Jared Kushner, so in a way I'm flying blind, but I presume he is more rational than his father-in-law. He seems to want to pursue a political career. I have to wonder if Trump's sons are a bit jealous of Kushner's closeness to their father. Trump also seems to favor Ivanka, his daughter. Perhaps letting the sons run the Trump empire will make up for it somewhat. Of course they are not supposed to talk to their father about the business. Ha, ha!
Kushner's brother Joshua** runs a health care business in New York called Oscar. This may help Kusher moderate Trump's view on Obamacare. Trump has said he wants the replacement to come shortly after the repeal, essentially simultaneously. Joshua is said to have not voted for Trump.
Republicans want to get Obama's name off the health care law very much which after all has the acronym of ACA (for Affordable Care Act). Obama is willing to have his name removed, but the media won't let it happen. After all, the ACA IS largely the conservatives health plan which is why they are having such a problem coming up with a replacement.*** They didn't vote for it out of spite as a part of their political scorched Earth policy.
The ACA was supposed to get insurance companies to compete with each other; however, they have avoided this by backing out of the plan so that there is only one company to choose from in most places. Various Republicans have wanted health insurance to be national where it is now run by each state. This presumably would make health insurance companies compete. This suggestion is interesting because it goes against state's rights. But I'm for it. In fact I am in a national plan that is voluntary and covers preexisting conditions.
Kushner may help Trump from being impeached. What for? Well, it could be a lot of things, but his too, too friendliness with Putin may eventually do it. In fact one comedian asked if one could impeach a President-Elect before he gets into office.
Frankly, I think Trump is safe at least until he names a Supreme Court Justice, where the Republican establishment dearly wants input more than anything. So far they have gotten their way on the cabinet appointments.
In addition to his over friendliness with Putin, Trump seems on a track to destroy the U.S. intelligence agencies, especially the CIA. This makes me very nervous if a large number of the veteran CIA agents leave. It is rumored that many are getting their resume's ready.
There is a lot of attention being made of the Russians having a dossier on Trump that includes unverified accusations of Trump being attended to by some "ladies" while he was in Russia. I'm sure that the Russians have a dossier on Trump but not sure about the "ladies." The trouble is that we know Trump is a womanizer and that he talks big on his sexual possibilities from the tape on the bus, so the accusations are not too wild. But who knows for sure? I also wouldn't put it past Putin to have pictures rigged.
It is hard for me to see this ending well.
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jared_Kushner
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Kushner
*** Mitt Romney's in Massachusetts was slightly more conservative than a plan put forth by Richard Nixon. The ACA is slightly more conservative than the Massachusetts plan.
Friday, December 30, 2016
I'M BEGINNING TO FEEL SORRY FOR .....(3)
I'm beginning to feel sorry for Barack Obama. Not only has he been mauled by Republicans for nearly 8 yrs, but he is bullied by Netanyahu and Donald Trump. Well only 3 wks to go.
Sunday, December 25, 2016
DONALD TRUMP, THE PRE-PRESIDENT
I have restrained myself from commenting on the results of the recent election while sausage is being made in forming the next administration. It is not completely made (No Secretary of Agriculture has been named, for example.). But we are far enough along to make some comments on things like defense contractors defense contractors. It is that he is not president yet. He is making top-of-the-head comments about policies that have been in force by Republican and Democratic administrations alike for decades.
President Trump is like a 3 yr old who can't wait until Christmas but starts whining a month before, a week before, a day before. And he is very impulsive writing those tweets before he becomes president.
Everything about him proves to be an exception. He won't reveal his taxes. He is not going to pay any attention to conflict-of-interest rules and plans to monetize his term of president. He is to some extent taking over the presidency before he is president.. If you don't like it, impeach him. It seems the same will go for his appointees, unless they voluntarily comply. I'm sure there are those who love these sorts of heavy-handed things.
At least we know that Trump doesn't have any stock in Boeing or Lockheed since he bad mouths both. Apparently he used to have stock in Boeing but we are told he sold all his stock last June, although there is no proof of this. It is not that I think it is undeserved that Trump comment on these companies, but he is not president yet.
Please recall that Trump did not have even a Board of Directors, although many CEOs are also Chairman of the Board. So he has had no restraining matters in his life,. This is why CEO's seem to make bad politicians. There are used to being little Golds (and many they don't recognize the word "little").
Consider Paul H. O'Neill who was president Bush's (43) Secretary of the Treasury. He had to be let go because he kept telling the truth and wasn't diplomatic. And then there was Donald Rumsfeld, Bush's Secretary of Defense who finally resigned under fire. I loved to hear him speak and so did the press. He had to be changed in 2006 because of the "Generals Revolt." Both these men were successful CEOs and both had previous government experience, but they had to go
Now we are to have CEOs all over the government and generals too. A proposed Secretary of Labor who is anti-labor. A Director of EPA who is anti-environment. A secretary of Education who is opposed to public education. They won't be able to shut the Departments down* but can do a lot of damage. I'll accept the Secretary of State being Rex Tillerson,CEO of Exxon-Mobile, because he is recommended by Bob Gates (whom I greatly admire), but the guy has had no public experience and may find it even harder to convert than those CEO's who had previous government experience.
And the new administration seems to be very vindictive (Nixonian). The names of all who worked on Global Warming in EPA were asked for, and I doubt it was to give them a medal. Fortunately some backbone was shown and there was refusal to give the names. George W. Bush was somewhat the same though he wanted to pack the scientific committees with Creationists (give them equal time). It is "Don't bother me with the facts, this is what I believe."
It is hard to see how this ends well.
* http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2016/12/eliminating-federal-government.html
President Trump is like a 3 yr old who can't wait until Christmas but starts whining a month before, a week before, a day before. And he is very impulsive writing those tweets before he becomes president.
Everything about him proves to be an exception. He won't reveal his taxes. He is not going to pay any attention to conflict-of-interest rules and plans to monetize his term of president. He is to some extent taking over the presidency before he is president.. If you don't like it, impeach him. It seems the same will go for his appointees, unless they voluntarily comply. I'm sure there are those who love these sorts of heavy-handed things.
At least we know that Trump doesn't have any stock in Boeing or Lockheed since he bad mouths both. Apparently he used to have stock in Boeing but we are told he sold all his stock last June, although there is no proof of this. It is not that I think it is undeserved that Trump comment on these companies, but he is not president yet.
Please recall that Trump did not have even a Board of Directors, although many CEOs are also Chairman of the Board. So he has had no restraining matters in his life,. This is why CEO's seem to make bad politicians. There are used to being little Golds (and many they don't recognize the word "little").
Consider Paul H. O'Neill who was president Bush's (43) Secretary of the Treasury. He had to be let go because he kept telling the truth and wasn't diplomatic. And then there was Donald Rumsfeld, Bush's Secretary of Defense who finally resigned under fire. I loved to hear him speak and so did the press. He had to be changed in 2006 because of the "Generals Revolt." Both these men were successful CEOs and both had previous government experience, but they had to go
Now we are to have CEOs all over the government and generals too. A proposed Secretary of Labor who is anti-labor. A Director of EPA who is anti-environment. A secretary of Education who is opposed to public education. They won't be able to shut the Departments down* but can do a lot of damage. I'll accept the Secretary of State being Rex Tillerson,CEO of Exxon-Mobile, because he is recommended by Bob Gates (whom I greatly admire), but the guy has had no public experience and may find it even harder to convert than those CEO's who had previous government experience.
And the new administration seems to be very vindictive (Nixonian). The names of all who worked on Global Warming in EPA were asked for, and I doubt it was to give them a medal. Fortunately some backbone was shown and there was refusal to give the names. George W. Bush was somewhat the same though he wanted to pack the scientific committees with Creationists (give them equal time). It is "Don't bother me with the facts, this is what I believe."
It is hard to see how this ends well.
* http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2016/12/eliminating-federal-government.html
Tuesday, December 20, 2016
MODERN DAY LUDDITES
Luddite, Original: A member of any of the bands of English workers who destroyed machinery, especially in cotton and woolen mills, that they believed was threatening their jobs (1811–16).*
Luddite Modern: A person opposed to increased industrialization or new technology."a small-minded Luddite resisting progress*
A serious problem for our age is how many jobs should we maintain that are not needed any more?
Coal is gradually being replaced by natural gas in production of energy, and the price of coal is dropping putting many coal miners out of work. In fact, Coal-mining employment increased rapidly in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and peaked in 1923 at 798,000. Since then, the number of miners has fallen considerably due to mechanization.** See in the figure below, the sharp fall-off in total mining employment even since 2014. President-elect Trump of the United States may have won the election, in part, by promising to reopen coal mines in West Virginia that are not needed. Is this wise?
An article in Forbes Magazine says it ain't a goin' ta happen.**** We're not going to use as much coal in the future and the coal that we will use isn't going to come from the Appalachian mines. Trump simply isn't going to bring back all those mining jobs. They're gone, gone forever. Just like those assembly line jobs in electronics. And pining for the lost blue collar jobs isn't going to help in the slightest. The thing to do now is to work out what other task that same labor can do.****
(Click on figure** to enlarge)
Another case is steel production. Should we increase production of steel and dump it on the market to maintain jobs?:
The high point came in 1973, when the United States produced 137 million metric tons of raw steel. By 2013, the most recent year available, that had fallen to 87 million metric tons -- a decline of more than one-third from 1973.***
..............................................................................
Other current economic trends have also had an impact. For instance, the ongoing decline in oil and gas drilling due to low prices is driving companies to cut back on tubing orders, contributing to a slowdown in steel production, said Jeff Manuel, an associate professor of historical studies at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. ***
..............................................................................
In addition, much steel formerly used to build automobiles has been replaced by aluminum and plastics.
...............................................................................
Data from the American Iron and Steel Institute pegged the all-time employment high at 650,000 employees in 1953. More recent data from the institute, for 2015, shows that the steel industry directly employs about 142,000 people in the United States. **
...............................................................................
According to the American Iron and Steel Institute, "labor productivity has seen a fivefold increase since the early 1980s, going from an average of 10.1 man-hours per finished ton to an average of 1.9 man-hours per finished ton of steel in 2014."***
American steel production has increasingly shifted away from the extraction of ore for raw material and towards the recycling of scrap metal, which typically requires fewer workers. "Now, more than 50 percent of all steel produced in the United States is from a process that recycles scrap metal," Giarratani said.***
(Click on figure to enlarge) USGS Minerals Yearbook (By Plazak - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=42008699)
Vaudeville Isn't Coming Back There is a drift away from manufacturing things no longer used and jobs that require handwork towards more cerebral jobs Many cannot make this transition. Maintaining jobs not needed is the same as the old ploy of having one group of workers dig a hole during the day and another group filling in the holes at night.
Think of the industries that no longer exist. For example, U.S. Leather was the second largest industry after U.S. Steel at the turn of the 19th Century to the 20th Century. Should we still be maintaining it? What would we do with all the leather? Though U.S. Steel is still in business, it no longer has the power it used to have, even after WW-II for 20 yrs or more.
Think of all the jobs that either no longer exist or are greatly reduced in number: gas station attendants washing wind shields and pumping gas, telephone operators, clerk typists, These jobs have essentially been turned over to the consumer: you pump your own gas and wash your own windshield, you let your fingers do the numbers in trying to telephone a business or government office, and you type your own stuff. I've also noticed robots delivering medications in hospitals and some restaurants have computerized ordering. We are told that the higher the minimum wage, the more restaurants will be automated (but I presume upscale restaurants will always have a wait staff). This is true in spite of a minimum wage creating a level playing field that businesses say they want.
And a BIG disruption is coming in the automated vehicle (currently being tested in New Zealand) that will greatly reduce or eliminate taxi and truck drivers plus the part-time drivers like Uber (that is testing "nearly' self-driving cars in Pittsburgh) and Lyft. Should we delay vehicle automation to maintain these jobs, even though many lives will be saved and serious injuries prevented in their coming. Just think, fewer accidents will occur where alcohol is involved and the elderly will become more mobile.
* https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=luddites%20definition
** http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-jeffrey/us-has-lost-191000-mining-jobs-september-2014
*** http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/jul/05/barack-obama/barack-obama-wrong-about-size-us-steel-production-/
**** http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2016/05/05/like-manufacturing-jobs-to-china-whatever-trump-says-mining-jobs-are-not-returning-to-w-virginia/#5eb5c0bf6f48
http://www.nwitimes.com/business/steel/usw-furious-after-report-trump-bought-chinese-steel/article_8dd3f432-34e7-5feb-bf0f-15d33d4e72b5.html
Luddite Modern: A person opposed to increased industrialization or new technology."a small-minded Luddite resisting progress*
A serious problem for our age is how many jobs should we maintain that are not needed any more?
Coal is gradually being replaced by natural gas in production of energy, and the price of coal is dropping putting many coal miners out of work. In fact, Coal-mining employment increased rapidly in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and peaked in 1923 at 798,000. Since then, the number of miners has fallen considerably due to mechanization.** See in the figure below, the sharp fall-off in total mining employment even since 2014. President-elect Trump of the United States may have won the election, in part, by promising to reopen coal mines in West Virginia that are not needed. Is this wise?
An article in Forbes Magazine says it ain't a goin' ta happen.**** We're not going to use as much coal in the future and the coal that we will use isn't going to come from the Appalachian mines. Trump simply isn't going to bring back all those mining jobs. They're gone, gone forever. Just like those assembly line jobs in electronics. And pining for the lost blue collar jobs isn't going to help in the slightest. The thing to do now is to work out what other task that same labor can do.****
Another case is steel production. Should we increase production of steel and dump it on the market to maintain jobs?:
The high point came in 1973, when the United States produced 137 million metric tons of raw steel. By 2013, the most recent year available, that had fallen to 87 million metric tons -- a decline of more than one-third from 1973.***
..............................................................................
Other current economic trends have also had an impact. For instance, the ongoing decline in oil and gas drilling due to low prices is driving companies to cut back on tubing orders, contributing to a slowdown in steel production, said Jeff Manuel, an associate professor of historical studies at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. ***
..............................................................................
In addition, much steel formerly used to build automobiles has been replaced by aluminum and plastics.
...............................................................................
Data from the American Iron and Steel Institute pegged the all-time employment high at 650,000 employees in 1953. More recent data from the institute, for 2015, shows that the steel industry directly employs about 142,000 people in the United States. **
...............................................................................
According to the American Iron and Steel Institute, "labor productivity has seen a fivefold increase since the early 1980s, going from an average of 10.1 man-hours per finished ton to an average of 1.9 man-hours per finished ton of steel in 2014."***
American steel production has increasingly shifted away from the extraction of ore for raw material and towards the recycling of scrap metal, which typically requires fewer workers. "Now, more than 50 percent of all steel produced in the United States is from a process that recycles scrap metal," Giarratani said.***
But President-elect Trump himself has departed from using US. steel and aluminum in his own buildings: The report by investigative journalist Kurt Eichenwald found that Trump used Chinese-made steel for the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas that was purchased through a holding company registered in the British Virgin Islands and that he bought Chinese aluminum for the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago.****
Vaudeville Isn't Coming Back There is a drift away from manufacturing things no longer used and jobs that require handwork towards more cerebral jobs Many cannot make this transition. Maintaining jobs not needed is the same as the old ploy of having one group of workers dig a hole during the day and another group filling in the holes at night.
Think of the industries that no longer exist. For example, U.S. Leather was the second largest industry after U.S. Steel at the turn of the 19th Century to the 20th Century. Should we still be maintaining it? What would we do with all the leather? Though U.S. Steel is still in business, it no longer has the power it used to have, even after WW-II for 20 yrs or more.
Think of all the jobs that either no longer exist or are greatly reduced in number: gas station attendants washing wind shields and pumping gas, telephone operators, clerk typists, These jobs have essentially been turned over to the consumer: you pump your own gas and wash your own windshield, you let your fingers do the numbers in trying to telephone a business or government office, and you type your own stuff. I've also noticed robots delivering medications in hospitals and some restaurants have computerized ordering. We are told that the higher the minimum wage, the more restaurants will be automated (but I presume upscale restaurants will always have a wait staff). This is true in spite of a minimum wage creating a level playing field that businesses say they want.
And a BIG disruption is coming in the automated vehicle (currently being tested in New Zealand) that will greatly reduce or eliminate taxi and truck drivers plus the part-time drivers like Uber (that is testing "nearly' self-driving cars in Pittsburgh) and Lyft. Should we delay vehicle automation to maintain these jobs, even though many lives will be saved and serious injuries prevented in their coming. Just think, fewer accidents will occur where alcohol is involved and the elderly will become more mobile.
* https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=luddites%20definition
** http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-jeffrey/us-has-lost-191000-mining-jobs-september-2014
*** http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/jul/05/barack-obama/barack-obama-wrong-about-size-us-steel-production-/
**** http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2016/05/05/like-manufacturing-jobs-to-china-whatever-trump-says-mining-jobs-are-not-returning-to-w-virginia/#5eb5c0bf6f48
http://www.nwitimes.com/business/steel/usw-furious-after-report-trump-bought-chinese-steel/article_8dd3f432-34e7-5feb-bf0f-15d33d4e72b5.html
Sunday, December 11, 2016
FRIENDS AGAIN !
So we are going to be friends with the Soviet Union/Russia again. Of course, Obama and Hillary Clinton had there reset with Putin for which Hillary was roundly criticized by the Republicans. Now they seem to be all right with it. I guess it matters who does it. But it confuses me.
Prior to WW-II a lot of people in the U.S. turned to Soviet-style Communism in a hangover from the Great Depression (or were we still in it?). Then in WW-II they were our friends that seemed a bit strange, but I understand that the enemy of our enemy is our friend so it was OK. Also they took the brunt of WW-II as the main front though it was difficult enough what we and our allies did.
But shortly after armistice of WW-II the Soviets/Russians became our enemies again. Remember the "Cold War?" then in the early 1970s, President Nixon started a "Détente" and the Soviets/Russians were our friends again. I was confused by this but "what the 'hey " I was offered a science prize and went over to give a couple of lectures during a "hard" freeze on foreign travel by the U.S. government. I had to get myself to London and they did the rest (see "You couldn't Have Been On That Plane - Parts I- III:" http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2013/04/you-couldnt-have-been-on-that-plane.html). Everything was very nice and I had to spend all the prize money in the Soviet Union/Russia so I went first class on everything that, was none too good in some cases.
Then came along President Reagan and the Soviet Union/Russia became the "Evil Empire," in 1983 - remember? This felt better to me.
Reagan was followed by President George H.W. Bush who negotiated the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of Communism in the Soviet Union/Russia. Under these conditions, it was not surprising that we became friendly with the Soviet Union/Russia again as they tried to convert to Capitalism. Give them a chance, so to speak.
This friendly relationship extended into President Clinton's* years, although he took several Eastern European counties into NATO that created a stir, but
Clinton also supported the besieged leadership of Russian president Boris Yeltsin as well as the funneling of billions of dollars in loans to Russia from the International Monetary Fund.In 1999, Clinton's support for financial aid to Russia came under attack in the face of mounting evidence that much of the borrowed money may have been stolen by an organized criminal syndicate which included members of Yeltsin's own family. However, supporters of Clinton's pro-Yeltsin policies credit his administration with an important achievement not easily measured in dollars or in the short run: the security of the Russian nuclear arsenal. Working through the provisions of the Nunn-Lugar Act, the administration provided extensive technical assistance and funding to the former Soviet states in the safeguarding of nuclear power plants and dismantling of nuclear weapons—an astounding achievement in view of the animosity that once existed between the United States and the Soviet Union. By the end of the Clinton presidency, the likelihood of a nuclear exchange between the superpowers was almost nonexistent.
However, the failed "reset" in the Obama/Hillary Clinton period sort of drifted back to hostility to the Soviet Union/Russia which is where we are now with about a month to go in the Obama Administration tour. There seems little reason for a change in attitude. The Soviet Union/Russia is still occupying parts of the Ukraine and has taken over the Crimea. The Soviet Union/Russia still supports the leader of Syria and won't agree to a cease fire in Aleppo. What's changed ?
Nonetheless, President-Elect Trump will try his own reset. He has been very friendly to Putin and gives every indication of continuing that friendship into his administration. After all why not ? Putin has said nice things about him, and helped Trump win the election by leaking things about his opponent through WikiLeaks. His National Security Adviser, Gen. Flynn, is also is cozy with Putin.** He is considering a candidate for Secretary of State who is also friendly with Putin and has done business with him (Rex Tillerson, CEO of Exxon Mobil). Even the leader of the Senate Mitch McConnell has gotten onboard.
[Note added December 13: It appears thaMcConnel has had a change of heart and now supports an investigation into the the Soviet Union/Russian hacking and says that the Soviet Union/Russia is not a firend of ours.***].
So it looks like "Here We Go Again" regarding friendship with the Soviet Union/Russia. Perhaps Trump at least can build a hotel in Moscow (and maybe one in St. Petersburg as a bonus) and Tillerson can get his deep drilling contract for oil in Siberia out of it.
* http://millercenter.org/president/biography/clinton-foreign-affairs
** https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/08/15/trump-adviser-michael-t-flynn-on-his-dinner-with-putin-and-why-russia-today-is-just-like-cnn/?utm_term=.4f2c30d0cedd
*** https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/12/12/schumer-on-congressional-probe-of-russia-i-dont-want-this-to-turn-into-a-benghazi-investigation/?utm_term=.53cc9b92e806
Prior to WW-II a lot of people in the U.S. turned to Soviet-style Communism in a hangover from the Great Depression (or were we still in it?). Then in WW-II they were our friends that seemed a bit strange, but I understand that the enemy of our enemy is our friend so it was OK. Also they took the brunt of WW-II as the main front though it was difficult enough what we and our allies did.
But shortly after armistice of WW-II the Soviets/Russians became our enemies again. Remember the "Cold War?" then in the early 1970s, President Nixon started a "Détente" and the Soviets/Russians were our friends again. I was confused by this but "what the 'hey " I was offered a science prize and went over to give a couple of lectures during a "hard" freeze on foreign travel by the U.S. government. I had to get myself to London and they did the rest (see "You couldn't Have Been On That Plane - Parts I- III:" http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2013/04/you-couldnt-have-been-on-that-plane.html). Everything was very nice and I had to spend all the prize money in the Soviet Union/Russia so I went first class on everything that, was none too good in some cases.
Then came along President Reagan and the Soviet Union/Russia became the "Evil Empire," in 1983 - remember? This felt better to me.
Reagan was followed by President George H.W. Bush who negotiated the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of Communism in the Soviet Union/Russia. Under these conditions, it was not surprising that we became friendly with the Soviet Union/Russia again as they tried to convert to Capitalism. Give them a chance, so to speak.
This friendly relationship extended into President Clinton's* years, although he took several Eastern European counties into NATO that created a stir, but
Clinton also supported the besieged leadership of Russian president Boris Yeltsin as well as the funneling of billions of dollars in loans to Russia from the International Monetary Fund.In 1999, Clinton's support for financial aid to Russia came under attack in the face of mounting evidence that much of the borrowed money may have been stolen by an organized criminal syndicate which included members of Yeltsin's own family. However, supporters of Clinton's pro-Yeltsin policies credit his administration with an important achievement not easily measured in dollars or in the short run: the security of the Russian nuclear arsenal. Working through the provisions of the Nunn-Lugar Act, the administration provided extensive technical assistance and funding to the former Soviet states in the safeguarding of nuclear power plants and dismantling of nuclear weapons—an astounding achievement in view of the animosity that once existed between the United States and the Soviet Union. By the end of the Clinton presidency, the likelihood of a nuclear exchange between the superpowers was almost nonexistent.
However, the failed "reset" in the Obama/Hillary Clinton period sort of drifted back to hostility to the Soviet Union/Russia which is where we are now with about a month to go in the Obama Administration tour. There seems little reason for a change in attitude. The Soviet Union/Russia is still occupying parts of the Ukraine and has taken over the Crimea. The Soviet Union/Russia still supports the leader of Syria and won't agree to a cease fire in Aleppo. What's changed ?
Nonetheless, President-Elect Trump will try his own reset. He has been very friendly to Putin and gives every indication of continuing that friendship into his administration. After all why not ? Putin has said nice things about him, and helped Trump win the election by leaking things about his opponent through WikiLeaks. His National Security Adviser, Gen. Flynn, is also is cozy with Putin.** He is considering a candidate for Secretary of State who is also friendly with Putin and has done business with him (Rex Tillerson, CEO of Exxon Mobil). Even the leader of the Senate Mitch McConnell has gotten onboard.
[Note added December 13: It appears thaMcConnel has had a change of heart and now supports an investigation into the the Soviet Union/Russian hacking and says that the Soviet Union/Russia is not a firend of ours.***].
So it looks like "Here We Go Again" regarding friendship with the Soviet Union/Russia. Perhaps Trump at least can build a hotel in Moscow (and maybe one in St. Petersburg as a bonus) and Tillerson can get his deep drilling contract for oil in Siberia out of it.
* http://millercenter.org/president/biography/clinton-foreign-affairs
** https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/08/15/trump-adviser-michael-t-flynn-on-his-dinner-with-putin-and-why-russia-today-is-just-like-cnn/?utm_term=.4f2c30d0cedd
*** https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/12/12/schumer-on-congressional-probe-of-russia-i-dont-want-this-to-turn-into-a-benghazi-investigation/?utm_term=.53cc9b92e806
Sunday, November 20, 2016
ECONOMY IS GOOD
President Obama will turn over to President-elect a good economy* with prospects of getting even better if Trump doesn't screw it up with a big personal tax cut as he threatens. (See my 2010 piece on the Effectiveness Of Taxes)**
Nor is the economy struggling much, based on last week’s reported data. October housing starts jumped 25% from September, with help from a big rise in single-family homes; jobless claims for the week ended Nov. 12 dropped to 235,000, the fewest since 1973; and retail sales had their best two-month stretch in at least two years. Combined with Trump’s stimulus plan, there is the potential to drive economic growth toward 3% or more, says Jefferies economist Thomas Simons. “The fourth quarter is starting to show what the real strength of the economy is,” he says.*
I am in favor of Trump's infrastructure plan, but doubt he will get anywhere near the trillion dollars he asks for. A problem with the government programs is that the biggest amount of money is in the first year and then there are complaints that the Civil Service is dragging their feet, but it takes some time to ramp up (You can't issue contracts over night, for example). As President Obama said, there is no such thing as a shovel ready program. Then the program is over in three years when the program is finally ramped up and in high gear. Then it is time for a new program much different so everyone has to reshift grears and start over. Wash, rinse, repeat. No drying. If you are going to work for the Federal government, you have to accept you are a political football.
* http://www.barrons.com/articles/stocks-rise-almost-1-on-solid-economic-growth-1479537677?mod=BOL_hp_we_columns
** http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2010/05/effectiveness-of-taxes.html
Nor is the economy struggling much, based on last week’s reported data. October housing starts jumped 25% from September, with help from a big rise in single-family homes; jobless claims for the week ended Nov. 12 dropped to 235,000, the fewest since 1973; and retail sales had their best two-month stretch in at least two years. Combined with Trump’s stimulus plan, there is the potential to drive economic growth toward 3% or more, says Jefferies economist Thomas Simons. “The fourth quarter is starting to show what the real strength of the economy is,” he says.*
I am in favor of Trump's infrastructure plan, but doubt he will get anywhere near the trillion dollars he asks for. A problem with the government programs is that the biggest amount of money is in the first year and then there are complaints that the Civil Service is dragging their feet, but it takes some time to ramp up (You can't issue contracts over night, for example). As President Obama said, there is no such thing as a shovel ready program. Then the program is over in three years when the program is finally ramped up and in high gear. Then it is time for a new program much different so everyone has to reshift grears and start over. Wash, rinse, repeat. No drying. If you are going to work for the Federal government, you have to accept you are a political football.
* http://www.barrons.com/articles/stocks-rise-almost-1-on-solid-economic-growth-1479537677?mod=BOL_hp_we_columns
** http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2010/05/effectiveness-of-taxes.html
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
AMERICA NOT READY FOR A WOMAN PRESIDENT
So the first woman candidate for president by a major party loses to a con man.* As I wrote in August of 2016:
There is nothing quite like trying to con the public into voting for you for president when you have no qualifications. Even Obama had a few. What is the old saying: You can fool all of the people some of the time., you can fool some of the people all of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time. Well Donald Trump is trying.
Look on the bright side. It could have been Ted Cruz.
I realized even in 2015 that Donald Trump tailored his campaign to appeal to the Deplorables. and it worked. Here is what I wrote in December of 2015:
ALL his comments are carefully crafted to appeal to this large group of people who believe Obama was born outside the U.S., that he is a secret Muslim, that all Hispanic illegals should be deported, that we should build a wall on our southern border, that Muslims should not be allowed to enter America (I suspect many would find the idea appealing that all Muslims should be deported or placed in detention camps.), etc., etc. It isn't pretty folks but there it is. You aren't going to solve this hate by getting rid of Trump. It will still be out there, as Trump is following these people, not leading them.**
Well we will find out just how much Trump believed in his message.
I do have big worries about Trump's love affair with Putin.*** I'm surprised people went along with this, And twice he said that American labor is paid too much, but the Deplorables ignored this.
In the end, all sorts of people voted for Trump including college educated women. Yes, Hillary got a larger vote from them, but not nearly as big as expected. Frankly, I don't know how any woman could vote for Trump, but I conclude that being a womanizer is now off the table as an issue in running for president, just as being divorced is. This opens the door to a lot of men for the future.
I think that Hillary ran as fine a campaign as possible. I don't know what she could have done better. She did loads of appearances. She raised loads of money. She had a great ground game. I don't know what she could have done better. She had a popular president behind her, she had celebrities for her, and she had a fine crew of surrogates, including Michelle Obama, Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Bill Clinton, and Tim Kaine (her running mate), among others . She spoke well. She had an upbeat message until she felt it necessary to get down in the mud with Trump.
My take away form this is that we have found that it is very difficult to beat a well known entertainer. At least Ronald Reagan knew how to act presidential.
* http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2016/08/donald-trumps-biggest-con.html
** http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2015/12/donald-trump-final-comments-i-hope.html
*** http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2016/08/trump-putin-love-affair.html
There is nothing quite like trying to con the public into voting for you for president when you have no qualifications. Even Obama had a few. What is the old saying: You can fool all of the people some of the time., you can fool some of the people all of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time. Well Donald Trump is trying.
Look on the bright side. It could have been Ted Cruz.
I realized even in 2015 that Donald Trump tailored his campaign to appeal to the Deplorables. and it worked. Here is what I wrote in December of 2015:
ALL his comments are carefully crafted to appeal to this large group of people who believe Obama was born outside the U.S., that he is a secret Muslim, that all Hispanic illegals should be deported, that we should build a wall on our southern border, that Muslims should not be allowed to enter America (I suspect many would find the idea appealing that all Muslims should be deported or placed in detention camps.), etc., etc. It isn't pretty folks but there it is. You aren't going to solve this hate by getting rid of Trump. It will still be out there, as Trump is following these people, not leading them.**
Well we will find out just how much Trump believed in his message.
I do have big worries about Trump's love affair with Putin.*** I'm surprised people went along with this, And twice he said that American labor is paid too much, but the Deplorables ignored this.
In the end, all sorts of people voted for Trump including college educated women. Yes, Hillary got a larger vote from them, but not nearly as big as expected. Frankly, I don't know how any woman could vote for Trump, but I conclude that being a womanizer is now off the table as an issue in running for president, just as being divorced is. This opens the door to a lot of men for the future.
I think that Hillary ran as fine a campaign as possible. I don't know what she could have done better. She did loads of appearances. She raised loads of money. She had a great ground game. I don't know what she could have done better. She had a popular president behind her, she had celebrities for her, and she had a fine crew of surrogates, including Michelle Obama, Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Bill Clinton, and Tim Kaine (her running mate), among others . She spoke well. She had an upbeat message until she felt it necessary to get down in the mud with Trump.
My take away form this is that we have found that it is very difficult to beat a well known entertainer. At least Ronald Reagan knew how to act presidential.
* http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2016/08/donald-trumps-biggest-con.html
** http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2015/12/donald-trump-final-comments-i-hope.html
*** http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2016/08/trump-putin-love-affair.html
Monday, November 7, 2016
I'M ALSO BEGINNING TO FEEL SORRY FOR ....
Melania Trump. It is clear that she doesn't want an active role in this election process, but they got her to give a speech at the Republican Convention. It was a nice speech, I thought, and wondered how much of it she wrote herself. Of course, it turned out that not only did someone else write a part of it, but it was a part of the speech given by Michelle Obama. Oops!
After that she was pretty quiet. But with only a few days to go, they got her to give another speech trying to lure women voters to Trump, I guess. In this one she said that if she became First Lady, she would focus on cyber bullying! I suspect she actually wrote this. Problem is that her husband, Donald, who is the Republican nominee for president, is one of the worst cyber bullies around.* Oops!! Can it be that she is unaware of this? I think it is possible that she can be in denial about unpleasant things (Donald too?). Somehow, his campaign managed to take away Trump's Twitter account for the rest of the campaign.
She, of course, has tried to get her husband, Donald, to be more presidential. It didn't work. I hope Donald is nice to her. After all, he considers women to be ornaments and vessels for sex. They have been married since January 22, 2005 or 11+ years (He was married to Ivana for 15 yrs and Marla Maples for six years including two years of separation.).
I don't want to know about Melania's early life before Donald. Models in particular tend to lead lives messier than most, I think. I think what she is today is what counts. Whether she entered the U.S. illegally or worked illegally when she came to the U.S. is long ago and I am willing to forget it. There was a Democratic lawyer on the Lawrence O'Donnell TV program The Last Word who went through in detail Melania's records and concluded she was OK.
* http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/melania-trump-our-culture-is-too-mean-800701507833
After that she was pretty quiet. But with only a few days to go, they got her to give another speech trying to lure women voters to Trump, I guess. In this one she said that if she became First Lady, she would focus on cyber bullying! I suspect she actually wrote this. Problem is that her husband, Donald, who is the Republican nominee for president, is one of the worst cyber bullies around.* Oops!! Can it be that she is unaware of this? I think it is possible that she can be in denial about unpleasant things (Donald too?). Somehow, his campaign managed to take away Trump's Twitter account for the rest of the campaign.
She, of course, has tried to get her husband, Donald, to be more presidential. It didn't work. I hope Donald is nice to her. After all, he considers women to be ornaments and vessels for sex. They have been married since January 22, 2005 or 11+ years (He was married to Ivana for 15 yrs and Marla Maples for six years including two years of separation.).
I don't want to know about Melania's early life before Donald. Models in particular tend to lead lives messier than most, I think. I think what she is today is what counts. Whether she entered the U.S. illegally or worked illegally when she came to the U.S. is long ago and I am willing to forget it. There was a Democratic lawyer on the Lawrence O'Donnell TV program The Last Word who went through in detail Melania's records and concluded she was OK.
* http://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/melania-trump-our-culture-is-too-mean-800701507833
Wednesday, October 12, 2016
TRUMP STALKING HILLARY
What Donald Trump fails to realize is that Hillary Clinton is tough, really tough. Perhaps what I most admire about her is that she just keeps coming even though the Republican Party has viciously tried to destroy her for 25 yrs through lies and overemphasizing some faults. To a great extent, the media has gone along - she doesn't smile enough, her big laugh sounds phony, she doesn't sound genuine, etc etc etc. Personally I think her smile and laugh are just fine. That is what you need in a glass ceiling breaker: Damn the torpedoes. Full speed ahead.
You don't hear Hillary getting much credit for her life-long effort in providing for the betterment of children. How can you say this is not genuine?. She has even been criticized for writing a book titled, "It takes a Village To Raise A Child." (https://www.amazon.com/Takes-Village-Tenth-Anniversary/dp/1416540644) Well, negatives are more news worthy and Clinton's message is basically optimistic and upbeat.
Trump was stalking Hillary at the debate on Sunday night (October 10th). Women found him "scary." She should have called 911.
"If a man did that to me on the street ... I'd call 911, political commentator and former Republican strategist Nicolle Wallace said."*
And then there were the interruptions, something he was criticized for in the first debate. In the second debate he managed to interrupt Clinton six times in one Clinton answer.** This may be some sort of a record. Not only that, but he interrupted the moderator.**
Among other things, Trump says he will lock her up if he wins the presidency. In fact the TV media has frequently shown the clip of Trump saying he will conduct an independent council to look at Hillary if he is elected. I think they are supposed to spend roughly equal time on each candidate but they aren't. All along, Trump has been getting free advertising worth millions of dollars.
Yet, Republicans seem to be reassured by Trump's belligerence. "Morning Joe" Scarborough seems to be ecstatic over Trump's brawl Sunday night. Early polls seem to show that Trump has recovered from the tape where he talks about his sexual exploits. It is at times like this that I doubt the wisdom of the American voter, but as Winston Churchill said, " Indeed it has been said "...that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.…"***
To me, Trump sounds like he is giving the dying gasps of the bull in the bullring. Time will tell how much sympathy the voterrs have for the bull. Whatever the outcome, I think the long friendship that used to be between The Donald and the Clintons is over for good.
* http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/2016-presidential-debates/presidential-debate-trump-accused-stalking-clinton-stage-n663516
** http://fusion.net/story/355799/times-trump-interrupt-hillary-debate/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/in-debate-trump-takes-on-moderators-almost-as-much-as-clinton/2016/10/09/b668c192-8e7f-11e6-a6a3-d50061aa9fae_story.html
*** https://richardlangworth.com/worst-form-of-government
You don't hear Hillary getting much credit for her life-long effort in providing for the betterment of children. How can you say this is not genuine?. She has even been criticized for writing a book titled, "It takes a Village To Raise A Child." (https://www.amazon.com/Takes-Village-Tenth-Anniversary/dp/1416540644) Well, negatives are more news worthy and Clinton's message is basically optimistic and upbeat.
Trump was stalking Hillary at the debate on Sunday night (October 10th). Women found him "scary." She should have called 911.
"If a man did that to me on the street ... I'd call 911, political commentator and former Republican strategist Nicolle Wallace said."*
And then there were the interruptions, something he was criticized for in the first debate. In the second debate he managed to interrupt Clinton six times in one Clinton answer.** This may be some sort of a record. Not only that, but he interrupted the moderator.**
Among other things, Trump says he will lock her up if he wins the presidency. In fact the TV media has frequently shown the clip of Trump saying he will conduct an independent council to look at Hillary if he is elected. I think they are supposed to spend roughly equal time on each candidate but they aren't. All along, Trump has been getting free advertising worth millions of dollars.
Yet, Republicans seem to be reassured by Trump's belligerence. "Morning Joe" Scarborough seems to be ecstatic over Trump's brawl Sunday night. Early polls seem to show that Trump has recovered from the tape where he talks about his sexual exploits. It is at times like this that I doubt the wisdom of the American voter, but as Winston Churchill said, " Indeed it has been said "...that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.…"***
To me, Trump sounds like he is giving the dying gasps of the bull in the bullring. Time will tell how much sympathy the voterrs have for the bull. Whatever the outcome, I think the long friendship that used to be between The Donald and the Clintons is over for good.
* http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/2016-presidential-debates/presidential-debate-trump-accused-stalking-clinton-stage-n663516
** http://fusion.net/story/355799/times-trump-interrupt-hillary-debate/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/in-debate-trump-takes-on-moderators-almost-as-much-as-clinton/2016/10/09/b668c192-8e7f-11e6-a6a3-d50061aa9fae_story.html
*** https://richardlangworth.com/worst-form-of-government
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