The Basics

Although I was quite young, I think living today is becoming a lot like it was during World War II. And, by that, I mean that life then was just getting through the day without screwing anything up badly ... keeping body and soul together..

During those tough times we struggled to keep our houses warm in the winter without too much concern about all that coal smoke we produced. In the summer, air conditioning was accomplished with lots of ice and a fan. Movies were simpler yet more wistful. Racial tensions and gender politics were not top of mind. Life was just the basics ... food, clothing, shelter, religion.

Oh yes, we now have the internet to replace the morning paper ... and can watch Joe Scarborough froth at the mouth while we sip our coffee. But lots of diversions have now disappeared out of our lives ... at least for a while. No sports ... no going to the movies ... or out to dinner ... more complications in grocery shopping.

I have a feeling that, once this Wuhan virus thing has gone away, our lives will be completely different. We will be far less dependent on China for our manufacturing. Much more of our lives will be on-line. We will have a closer relation with Canada, Mexico, Great Britain ... maybe even Russia. We will have much more effective virus treatments. Unfortunately, many businesses will have disappeared. A lot of people will have new jobs. Carbon dioxide won’t be quite the bugaboo it recently was ... even if our climate actually changes a bit.

We, as a nation, might even start getting behind our president.

Unreal Realities

This blog has pointed out that America has been living with unreal realities ... see: Reality Check. Pre-Trump, the United States was embracing many media- and politician-inspired “truths” that the Orangeman is attempting to kick into a cocked hat. They include:

- We can trust Iran to give up its nuclear ambitions and stop its sponsorship of terrorism

- Once China embraced capitalism, its 1.3 billion people would become huge customers for U.S. companies

- The Chinese model of totalitarian capitalism is superior to free-market capitalism

- Abortion, even right before birth, is moral and a woman’s legal right

- The European model of democratic socialism is superior to the U.S.’s free-market capitalism

- Large numbers of unscreened immigrants (even illegals) enhance American diversity and makes us stronger and safer

- Anti-ballistic missile defense and atomic weapons upgrades were a waste of money

- The Second Amendment is causing mass shootings

- The US. needs to continue to be the major financial supporter of NATO and the UN

- America’s middle working class is a basket of deplorables

- The United States needs to continue to insure peace in the the world ... and even nation-build where necessary

- High taxes and more government regulation is necessary and good for a strong America

- The checkered history of the United States makes it a flawed country not to be revered

- Carbon dioxide emissions from burning hydrocarbons are creating climate havoc that will shortly destroy mankind

- Israel and Great Britain are not America's friends

- Russia is our mortal enemy

- North Korea, even with its nuclear weapons and missiles, can be appeased and safely ignored

- Islam is a religion of peace

- America cannot be and will never be again another manufacturing powerhouse


If you agree with pushing back against even half of these reality illusions, you might ignore his sandpaper personality and reconsider your adversity to the Orangeman.

The Truth

President Trump has been very effectively painted by the media as a serial liar (something like 13,000 lies since he took office) ... when, in fact, he is possibly the greatest truth-telling politician of our lifetimes. That is why he is president and has such adoring crowds. It is the media liars who refuse to recognize this truth (and his truths.)

Here are a few of Trump’s truths:

- American leaders have allowed China to steal us blind over the last 30 years

- The American economy could be a lot better

- The US needs to have the best military in the world

- Our judicial system too often creates laws, does not interpret laws

- Many European allies have stepped back and let the U.S. carry the majority of the responsibility for keeping the world safe

- The United States will never be a Socialist country

- Spending our treasure and the lives of our youth to “fix” other nations is foolish

- Global warming is a gigantic scam

- Washington is a swamp filled with too many self-serving and often dishonest bureaucrats

- Republican campaign colluding with Russia was a media/Deep State attempted cabal

- Russia under Putin is a bad actor ... but it can be useful in countering China and the radical Muslim threats

- Nations without borders are not nations

- Patriotism and respect for our flag is not a sin

- Much of our media dispenses “fake news” shaped by Liberal politics

- Immigration, even large immigration, is good only if controlled and selective

- Iran and North Korea are dangerous enemies and need to be put in a box

- There are a number of other despotic nation’s around the world which are not our friends but, nonetheless, need to be dealt with so that they don’t become our enemies

- Israel and Great Britain are our closest natural friends and need to be treated as such

- The UN is a very expensive, yet ineffective “world government”

- Liberal-run cities ate generally failing their citizens

- Blacks and Latinos have been ill-served by their Democrat masters

ENOUGH?

Burning Bridges

The growing revelations surrounding our intelligence agencies’ apparent conspiring with foreign spooks to spy on the Trump campaign and then trying to bring down his presidency ... very likely will cast a pall over future cooperation involving legitimate security threats. It looks like those agencies in Great Britain, Australia and Italy ... at least ... will end up with egg on their faces after this chicanery is fully revealed in AG Barr’s investigation of the investigation.

These governments seem to have been up to their eyeballs ... involved into US political intrigue ... and Italy is already cleaning house ... calling for resignations from the involved parties ... see: Citizens Free Press Story. These countries may now be reluctant to cooperate again under actual intrusion threats. Have Obama’s bumbling Keystone Kops, Brennan, Comey and Clapper, burned down our bridges with foreign intelligence agencies?

Quite likely ... at least for the nonce.

Redundancy

Redundancy is the redundant repetition or backup of something over and over again and again.

However, in Great Britain, it means, "You're fired!"

The 2% Solution

Yesterday, President Donald Trump chastised the many members of the NATO alliance for not living up to their commitment to spend 2% of their GNP n defense. Of NATO's 28 members only Great Britain, Estonia, Greece, Poland and the United States are meeting or exceeding this commitment. For decades the other 23 countries, including France and Germany, have shirked this commitment without recourse ... relying on the United States to pick up the slack. And when Trump reminded those slackers of their deficiencies, the representative from Luxembourg turned the Macron, the President of France, with a hand-covered snide remark and a snicker ... see: Fox News Video. To me, this is the height of sophomoric haughtiness. Perhaps Trump will find a way to remind this Euro-jerk of America's part in the history of  20th Century Europe.

And I have a prediction ... yes, some of these countries now in default (I'm thinking France and Germany) will find a way of meeting this NATO treaty obligation ... but do it with accounting tricks and not with genuine military buildups. Wait and see.

Boiling the Ocean

There is little doubt that Elon Musk of Tesla Motors, SpaceX and now possibly SolarCity is a technical genius, a brilliant manager and a true visionary.  He has just released his newest Master Plan that outlines what he wants his companies to become ... the leaders in sustainable energy production and Earth/space transportation innovation. He has a very clear and, in many ways, appealing notion of what the world should be like ... see: CNBC Story. Read this hyperlink ... it is fascinating.

However there might be some downsides to this vision. Please don't call me a Luddite, but I have the following reservations regarding Musk's manifesto:

1) Musk has a very full plate now for his ideological ambitions. I worry that he is trying to boil the ocean and this will eventually overwhelm him. Building the next major car, truck and bus company, an important space exploration company, and a major sustainable energy provider ... all at the same time, although admirable objectives, seem a little overly ambitious.

2) I have, in the past, shown some skepticism about the probable pace of self-driving car technology. Tesla, Google and the other pioneers in this arena, IMHO, are ignoring a basic fact of human nature ... and that is to be in control of things. Yes, some will wish to turn their driving over to a computer, but I doubt that we will ever see the Indianapolis 500 comprised of any autonomous race cars.

3) His devotion to sustainable energy has been rewarded so far by the current administration's green agenda. Recently Spain, Great Britain and Germany all have backed away from their commitments to killing carbon. If Trump wins in November, it is likely that the U.S. government's subsidy largess may begin to dry up. This largess has been a key ingredient in Musk's marketing success.

I do hope I am wrong ... but I am not a buyer of Tesla's stock.

Sovereignty

There is a classic battle in governance between the amount of sovereign power that resides at each level of government ... local, state, national and on up to the ultimate, world government. The United States went through paroxysms during its founding regarding how to allocate powers between the states and the federal government. The solution was resolved in the Tenth Amendment stating that "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." What complicates this power give and take is how this sovereign power is achieved ... by a democratic process, by subterfuge, by the sword, or by the claim that God/Allah/etc. bestowed it.

Enter Brexit, this Thursday's vote in Great Britain as to whether this country will exit the European Union, an unelected quasi-government that has usurped many of the sovereign prerogatives that were once reserved for the British people. All sorts of liberals in the U.S. including Obummer and Hellery ... and even members of the Conservative party in Britain, including the Prime Minister, David Cameron, are urging that the Thursday vote results be "stay."

What insanity would cause peoples to give up rights and powers to a bunch of bloated bureaucrats in Brussels who are constantly trying to force immigrants upon them and onto their welfare roles? And for that matter, why would the American people allow any of our rights to be transferred to those truculant tsars on the East River in New York City, the United Nations? This failed attempt at world government has, as far as I can determine, done nothing significant for the betterment of mankind other than spending mountains of (mostly U.S.) money on five-star hotels and expensive meals.

This gives me an idea. Can we, here in America, have a vote to exit the U.N. which, after a little research, I find was not mentioned in our Constitution? It would seem to me that the surrender of any of our inalienable rights to these mostly third-world hangers-on should have required a democratic process ... namely an amendment to our Constitution ... which I don't recall happening.back in October of 1945. Maybe we should have this seemingly Constitution-required  vote now?

More Silliness

This photograph of a potato has sold for 750 thousand pounds ... probably in Great Britain ... see: Sydney Morning Herald Article for the details of this transaction. This inanity reminds me of a similar arty-farty purchase of a unmade bed for 2.54 million pounds ... also in England ... see: Silly Brits.

If you wish to display this photo on your IPhone, it should be for the donut ...

Shrinking Violets

President Obama has finally shown a bit of a backbone in his "limited" air strikes against ISIS artillery pieces and mortar positions in Northern Iraq. I say a "bit of backbone" for he still believes that he is reflecting America's reluctance to engage in any significant show of air power after Libya has blown up in his face. 

Not only is Obama still a shrinking violet but he resides in a field of such flowers. No country in Western Europe ... save Great Britain ... has shown the slightest inclination to deal with the spread of ISIS and its brutality. This group of about 10,000 jihadists just killed at least 500 Yazidis ... many buried alive ... see: Huffington Post Story (Huffington Post editors ... I think you are playing into ISIS’s barbarous hands by calling them the "Islamic State") ... and the world yawns.

And this field of posies is not limited to Western Europe. Where is Saudi Arabia? (Oops, I forgot, Saudi Arabia, like ISIS, is Sunni also.) Where is Iran? (Oops, I forgot, Iran, even though Shi’ite, does not mind seeing mass executions … particularly in Iraq.) Why is Catholic Latin America not rising in humanitarian outrage to save other Christians from being crucified? (Oops, I forgot, they’re all on trains to the Texas border.) The African nations, Eastern Europe, Egypt, Israel. Jordan and Lebanon have their own problems. But what about Russia (here I’m a little surprised at Putin’s wallfloweredness.) And the rest of the world is apparently not paying attention.

So President Obama must feel vindicated to lead from behind once again. “If the rest of the world wants me to fix this mess again, I’ll not be dragged into another war by you folks. I’ll make like I’m appalled and do a few token things, but the American people (me) don’t want any more involvement in this Mideast swamp. I think I’ll just take a couple of weeks off in Martha’s Vineyard, I’ll play some golf, I’ll eat some ice cream, and see if things aren’t better when I (lots of first person references here) get back.”

“I'll keep talking about not puttin' boots on the ground [in my opinion an over-used red herring] and then maybe I’ll pick some violets …”

U-turn

Supposedly Obamacare has now hit it’s initial target of 7 million enrollees … and according to its namesake … in a snarky Rose Garden address this afternoon … it now is the eternal law of the land and cannot be repealed … see: Powerline Comments.

Even if one is gullible enough to believe such Orwellian newspeak, I sincerely doubt that this law and all the damage it has done and will do … cannot be transmogrified or even rolled back entirely. I seem to remember that Great Britain nationalized its railroads, electricity generation, coal, and steel industries after the Second World War. And when Margaret Thatcher came into power in 1979 all this socialist malarkey was knocked into a cocked hat … as Maggie did a u-turn with her nation’s economy … fervently privatizing everything she could find.

And is not the current administration doing its level best to roll back an even bigger law of the land ...  our Constitution? 

So President Obama, I know that it may be difficult for you to digest or even understand … but you do not get to write your own short paragraph in the history books.

I wonder from what Nirvana well ... politicians, such as our current toddler-President, drink to get their over-sized egos?

Maggie

Margaret Thatcher, the Iron Lady of Great Britain, died today from a stroke at the age of 87.  I hope she doesn't need any further introduction since her great deeds have been all over the media today.  But I would like to relate one vignette that I heard about her this morning.  It seems that, toward the end of her tenure as the British Prime Minister, she and her Cabinet Ministers were a bit at odds.  (They eventually turned against her and brought her down.) Anyway they were all having dinner together one night at a London restaurant and the waiter asked Mrs. Thatcher what she wanted.  She replied, "I'll have steak."  The waiter then asked, "What about the vegetables?"  With that, she waved the back of her hand toward the other Cabinet diners and said, "They'll have steak too."

Afterward: Mark Steyn has a tribute to the Maggie HERE.  It is really worth a read.

Race to the Bottom

The world is taking a dangerous and rocky path to universal monetary collapse.  Japan is now following the United States's Federal Reserve in devaluing its currency ... in order to give its economy a shot in the arm, see: CNBC Story.  The U.S. Fed’s Chairman, Ben Bernanke, has been pushing “quantitative easing” (QE) for the last three years in order to sop up all the debt that this country is forced to issue to cover it’s fire-hose federal spending … to the point where it has expanded our money supply (and its balance sheet) by $3 trillion.  And, in order to keep this crushing debt burden from sinking things further, it has kept generic interest rates artificially low with its banking muscle.  It has been able to run the monetary printing presses night and day without setting off crushing inflation because our economy is still so weak …  reflected in our poor employment and wage-increase statistics.

But one economic “benefit” of this monetary expansion is a weak U.S. dollar which tends to help export markets and crimp importers.  Given how poor the U.S. balance of payments actually is … image what a disaster it would be without the Fed’s dollar deflationary measures?  However, our trading partners are losing patience with us and, as indicated in the referenced article, are now mimicking Bernanke’s strategy.  The European Central Bank (ECB), China, Great Britain, Japan, and even Switzerland (for heaven’s sake) are falling over one another to try to devalue their currencies with their own QEs.  A U.S. Dollar slide begets a Chinese Yuan slide which begets an Euro slide which begets a Japanese Yen slide which begets a British Pound slide which begets a Swiss Pound slide.  This is all a very dangerous race to the bottom.

How will this end?  With all this quantitative easing, the world will be, in short order, awash in money.  The balance sheets of the central banks will have reached unsustainable levels … probably the ECB first; and the only way out will be for them to let the dogs out … allow inflation to reduce the carrying-cost pain of their excessive debts.  And, this time, run-away inflation will not be as localized as it was in Germany in the 1920s.  It will be world-wide and will engender political upheavals that are likely to be quite painful.  (At this point Bernanke will not look quite so angelic.)  So be forewarned and be prepared … own real hard assets (not cash) and owe lots of money … and live in an area of relative political sanity.