Today’s Poser

Would all you never-Trumpers turn back the clock to 2016 ... including giving up all your IRA gains, our employment expansions, our trading policy improvements, our progress against terrorism, our energy independence, etc. ... in order to get your favorite liberal candidate elected in 2020?

President Hothead ...

... cools it down. Last night Iran launched missiles at Iraqi bases housing American soldiers which killed and injured no one. This seems a calculated charade designed to save face. Iranians are very proud people ... so prideful that they would risk destroying themselves to prove themselves manly.

One could liken this possible ruse to a participant in a duel first shooting into the ground. Once President Trump realized what Iran was doing, however risky, he proclaimed, “All is well.” In other words, you have displayed your masculinity and regained a measure of your pride ... now I will step back and see what you do next. If the ayatollah is satisfied with this charade, Trump unlikely will respond in force. He, known as an unpredictable hothead, seems satisfied with cooling things down. He has unloaded his bazooka and seems to want to see what Iran does next.

Perhaps, this bunch of testosterone-crazed mullahs will now be finally ready to sit down and negotiate a real nuclear treaty ... and stop their reign of terrorism? Wouldn’t that be nice ... and a real win for Trump’s foreign policy.

Afterward: Just read the Diplomad’s take on things. He has an even more interesting spin ... the Iranians actually gave up Soleimani  ... see: The Diplomad.

Trump’s Reality

American political divide today boils down, pretty much, to those willing to live in President Trump’s reality ... and those who refuse to do so. The dissonance often occurs in the way that Trump communicates his world view ... spiced with bravado and, sometimes, harsh invective. This style, frequently communicated via Twitter, rubs many the wrong way and, to resolve this discomfort, they reject his reality out of hand. Big mistake.

This rejection then compounds their foolishness ... because they are forced to grow more and more semantically convoluted in their inane rationales for their resistance. We are told Trump has lied 12,000 times ... so his reality must also be false. How are these many lies possible? Does he lie when he states his name or what he had for dinner? We are told he is a white supremacist when his popularity with blacks and Hispanics grows daily. We are told he is anti-semantic while his son-in-law and daughter are Orthodox Jews. We are told he is growing senile when his schedule would daunt a much younger man. All these accusations are part of the strained rejection of his reality.

Trump’s reality on immigration, world trade, American exceptionalism, Islamic terrorism, nuclear threats, global warming, race relations, etc. are a whole lot closer to middle-America’s psyche than his opposition. This is why many Democrat presidential candidates have staked out such extreme positions ... just to demonstrate how opposed they are to Trump’s views. Big mistake. They are out on a limb of their lack of policy reality ... and Trump has saw in hand.

Trump’s Legacy

I know it’s rather early to start considering what Trump’s legacy will be. But there are some rather clear things that he has changed that will live on after he has departed the White House. Here are my takes:

- The president’s “magic wand” of tax cuts and regulation reforms has kicked up the rate of economic growth to above 3% from the previous “new normal” of below 2%. And the stock market is up over 50% combined with energy independence, strong consumer confidence, employment and domestic manufacturing. And inflation has been modest to boot. Not bad!

- The U.S.’s national image will have flipped from apologizing for our success to being proud of it ... and resolving to return to our past glories. We will have recaptured our greatness ... and be proud of it.

- Like Ronald Reagan did to restore our defense dominance, so Donald Trump will be equally lauded ... but he will also be praised for his restraint in using this military might. In the process, he has put, at least for the moment, North Korea and Iran in a box. If either of these countries capitulates, it will be the first sentence in his history book write up.

- Exactly opposite to the current media narrative, NATO will have been substantially strengthened by Trump’s insistence that our European partners live up to their financial and troop obligations under this decades-old pact.

- Although Trump will not have destroyed terrorism, he likely will have partially defanged it.

- Despite enormous sticky resistance in Congress and in the courts, Trump has made some progress in securing our borders and reforming our immigration process ... less than the majority of Americans want ... but still progress.

- Trump’s agenda has pushed the Democrat party to show its colors as being far more radical left in its actions than its deceptive rhetoric.

- If nothing else, President Trump will be remembered for his focusing on how China has become a hegemonic threat to America ... and his developing strategies to counter same. So far his success here has been modest but, if re-elected, I expect much more progress.

A Is for Angst

Angst — may well be the emotion that breeds much of the Trump-derangement feelings that infects our news media and, seemingly, half of the world  ... and causes instability in otherwise stable people (Mitt Romney?) President Donald Trump is unconventional to a fair-thee-well. When expected to do “A” he does  “B” and drives observers nuts. These people experience such strong anxiety over this unconventional behavior that it makes them angry. “Why can’t this man do what he is supposed to do?”

I’m certain that this quirky behavior drove his parents to pack him off to military school when he was young. Didn’t help. He thrived there (see: Washington Post Article) and this apparently set this behavior in concrete. After college he defied his father once again when he moved his family’s real estate operations to Manhattan and was a roaring success ... with some monumental setbacks .. but, in the end, he prevailed. And this told him that he should follow his gut ... which he has ever since done ... for better or worse.

We know why and who hates The Donald, So, who likes this man? For one, they must have a high tolerance for ambiguity. For two, they must believe that Trump has their best interest at heart. And for three, they must have confidence that this man can keep pulling rabbits out of his hat. His performance on the economy so far reinforces this confidence ... as does his survival of the Mueller witch-hunt. And the more the Democrats chew on this impeachment bone, the better he looks.

I can’t really say I “love” Trump, but I have bought into his agenda and admire his spunk. I believe he has shaken this country out of its winning-the-Cold-War-stupor, our anti-terrorism frenzy ... and made us realize that we were ignoring many serious problems. For this alone he deserves a marble monument. He probably won’t win all his current battles ... after all, half the world is biting at his heels. But he is likely to prevail in enough of them that Americans can wipe that big “L” off of our foreheads and get on with rebuilding our nation into what our destiny has manifested.

Terrorism

Terrorism: Nature’s attempt to select out stupidity. — Anon.

MAGA Trump

Is Trump often childish? Sure. Does he taunt him enemies mercilessly? Of course ... often uncomfortably. Does he relate his version of the truth independent of what the media and the Left believe? Too often. Is he an orator? No, he lowers his voice when he should raise it for emphasis and his hand  gestures ate too routine. Dos he repeat himself? Like an echo chamber. Is he compulsive? Yup, yup. Does he look like a president? He has funny hair and too-long ties. Was he a sexual predator? If you take the Billy Bush tape literally, yes. Is he a narcissist and egomaniac? Yes. Has he paid his taxes over the years?  To me, this is up to the IRS to decide. Does he have most of the national media in his corner? Duh!

So why do I and millions of other Americans support this flawed man with clear eyes? Simple, because of his policies and because  his performance agrees with what we believe needs to be done. On immigration, on trade, on terrorism, on limiting government and government regulation, on national defense and hegonomy, on economic growth, on tax reform, on draining the political swamp that is Washington, on all these things and more ... most of which Democrats seem to eschew.

What's the difference between these two radically different stances? Clearly, Trump's opponents mostly dislike his superficials, whereas his supporters look beyond these flaws, believing that this man will MAGA.

BTW, Oprah has few of Trump's flaws ... but also supports few of his political mandates (at least those which we know now about), yet the Left already has her nominated for 2020. Is this the right political strategy? Well, it did work in 2008 ... but somehow I doubt it will again?

May Day

The death toll in the Grenfell Tower inferno in London has now reached 58. People there were tossing children and babies out of windows to try to save their lives. Clearly there had been serious fire safety oversight failings that led to this tragedy. Yet, as logical as the British can sometimes be, here is another instance of their loopiness.

The angry blame for these deaths seems to be directed toward the British PM Theresa May ... see: Daily Mail Article. This woman, IMHO, has many more fish and chips to fry than to worrying about how fire codes are enforced in London.

However, what about London's Lord Mayor, Sadiq Khan? One would think that such things are directly in his preview. Oh, I forgot ... he has been busying himself stopping terrorist attacks?

Poetic Jusice

No one should gloat over the six-person ISIS terrorist attack in Tehran, Iran yesterday ... where at least twelve people were killed and 46 injured ... for extensive details see; NY Times Article. Terrorism is just that ... the killing of generally innocent people to incite fear and up the cost of protecting the peace. However, Shiite Iran now has felt the consequence of what it has been fulminating around the world for many years in its manic attempt to punish Western civilization and Sunni Muslims for sins both real and imagined.

As Mark Twain once said, "History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme." Iran's past barbarism is now being treated with some rhyming poetic justice. (OK, a small gloat.)

Headlines

Another of My Entertainment Ciphers

These headlines are real ... they have all been discovered on Internet news sites.

George Michael: From closeted life to gay rights advocate ...

Norquist: Liberals see gov't the way that kids see Santa ...

Germany hunts accomplices of Berlin killer ...

Giuliani: Obama 'lackadaisical' with regards to terrorism

Obama: Would have won, if could run ...

Trump in position to reshape judiciary with 100+ vacancies ...

Berlin plans ministry of truth ...

CAIR wishes for twice the dead in Russian plane crash

Nobel economist: Robots far greater threat to jobs than globalization

[Governor Jerry] Brown grants another 112 pardons for Christmas

Turkey is asking Apple's help in unlocking IPhone of Russian Ambassador's killer

Blizzards, ice storms wreck havoc across northern plans ...

Man of Action

(Yes, a bit of hyperbole ...)

The contrast is striking. Donald Trump is still almost two months away from assuming the reins of government ... yet he is already turning things around for his country. His cabinet is taking shape with mostly high quality selections. His policies on taxes, healthcare, regulations, trade, terrorism, immigration, etc. are emerging out of the campaign fog ... and generally are solid. His potential conflicts of interest are being resolved and he seems to have had a beneficial persuasive effect on many foreign leaders. And he even has convinced some American companies to not move manufacturing out of this country. All good.

Trump's actions all seem to be directed by patriotism and for the benefit of America. The contrast is that our current president's actions ... when he got around to performing them ... seemed mostly directed by ideology and even personal benefit. Yes, he used the shibboleth "leading from behind" to justify most of his lassitude ... but the fear of the unknown kept him on vacation, on the golf course and away from real meaningful work about solving our problems that needed to be resolved.

Yes, early on Obummer frequently held show forums where photo ops seemed to be the primary objective. Remember almost a trillion dollars spent on "shovel-ready jobs" that turned out to be a sham ... which he later joked about? And he had willing allies in Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi who created a constipated legislative process and effectively blamed it on the Republicans. Their showpiece legislation, Obamacare, was passed without a trace of bipartisan support ... with predictable catastrophic results both policy-wise and operationally. The legacy of our current president is so fetid that recounting it is a dyspeptic experience. His eight years can be compared to a garbage scow constantly leaking its contents in its briny wake.

Yes, Trump will make errors during his term ... but it will be as a result of action not inaction ... and as a result of patriotism, not fuzzy-headed Alinsky dogma.

Rupee Madness

While most reporters are obsessed with Trumps latest Tweets, there are monumental things taking place elsewhere in the world. India, with the world's second largest population, has just embarked on a radical "demonetization" effort pulling 86% of its cash out of circulation. To quote from the below  CNBC article:

Three weeks ago, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi surprised his country with an announcement banning 500- and 1,000-rupee notes — worth about $7 and $15 respectively — in a bid to tackle corruption and terrorism.

Clearly this has roiled the daily lives of the 1.3 billion people there to a fair-thee-well ... and might spill over to other world economies. The poor planning of this dramatic monetary move has caused untold hardship on particularly the poorest of Indian citizens. To see the details of their anguish ... see: CNBC Story.

Headlines

These headlines are real ... they have all been discovered on Internet news sites.

Hillary Clinton: We can't end terrorism without gun control

Willey: [Bill] Clinton sex assault victims could fill the entire [debate] audience

Good chance [Seattle] mall shooting is Islamic terrorism

FBI docs: Clinton IT employee called e-mail work 'Clinton coverup operation'

Growing number of race riots leave a dark mark on Obama's legacy

Britain accuses Putin of war crimes

New York Times endorses Hillary Clinton

Leaked FBI data reveal 7,700 terrorists encounters in USA in one year

Fed's mail out postcards with peoples' SSNs on them ...

Lester Holt: The third debater

WALMART: refuses to make 'racist' cop's retirement cake

Clinton surrogate asks whether Trump uses cocaine

Headlines

These headlines are real ... they have all been discovered on Internet news sites.

Jersey Jihadi's wife fled to Pakistan before bombings

Navy requires all sailors to undergo transgender education by July, 2017

France bans plastic forks and spoons to battle 'climate change'

Venezuela: Over 15% of people eat garbage to survive

Emmys viewership hits new lows ...

Hillary: 'Remember refugees didn't do 9/11'

NYC Mayor calls for more Muslim migrants ...

Report: All three Clintons called Secret Service 'pigs'

Soros to give $500M to migrants

Establishment Dilemma: Pardon Edward Snowden or hang him

Steyn: The more Muslims, the more terrorism

[Dr.] Rand Paul: Hillary has significant health problems

Hell Year -- Month 8

In another bonehead move, Obummer is continuing his petulant final-year hazing of the American people by permitting the turning-over of control of the Internet to another assembly of boneheads, the United Nations ... see: Wall Street Journal Article.

He is also still obsessed in his backdoor attempt to permit more terrorism by releasing more Gitmo prisoners into places where many will surely rejoin their band of Muslim extremists ... killing more innocents ... see: Fox News Story.

He either is a total crazed ideologue ... or he really does hate us.

Headlines

All these headlines are from Internet news sites.

Al Qaida leader calls upon followers to reject ISIS, support Taliban

The North Atlantic: Ground Zero for Global Cooling

Parents outraged over all-nude Shakespeare performance in [Prospect] park

Huma on masthead of radical Muslim journal

Half of those meeting with Hillary at State donated to Clinton Cash

Huma e-mails reveal more 'pay for play'

Voting rights restored again for 13K felons in Virginia

Hundreds of CA kids sent home from school due to new vaccination law ...

Biden: Terrorism is 'not an existential threat' to the U.S.

UK could be covered in small modular nuclear reactors in ten years

Vince Foster files vanish from National Archives

Turkey in cross-border operation to free IS-held Syrian town

Branding

As I reluctantly hobble into my dotage, I do suffer one benefit ... realizing more clearly how cynically politicians try to brand or rebrand themselves and their opponents. We will be witnessing a perfect example of this public relations pirouette this week when we watch the Democrat convention. I think I have already discerned a major theme of this staging ... Republican = dark versus Democrat = light.

Most left-leaning major television network's talking heads and newspaper op-eds have already echoed the notion that the Republican convention and, in particular, Donald Trump's acceptance speech was "dark and foreboding." This branding idea will be to contrast this with Hellary's light and shining upbeat message. She is already wearing more white and pastel pantsuits and emphasizing a lilting optimistic message to contrast with what she describes as Trump's doom and gloom pessimism. Watch for many repeats of this attempt to rebrand Hellary from her current popular perception as Beelzebub ... into the belle of the ball.

This remake is particularly important due to Hellary's almost universal current image as being untrustworthy and self-serving. So her rebranders have the daunting challenge of turning not just a sow's ear, but all of its naughty parts ... into a silk purse. The word has probably gone out to use only rosy words and images ... a task which will be made more difficult by any more terrorism attacks or other news downers during the nominating ceremonies. If one monitors the Dem's convention from this perspective, it might get one through all those mind-numbing stem-winding speeches and other inanities

Watch and see if I am not right.

Headlines

.

These headlines are real ... they have all been discovered on Internet news sites:

Pakistani model killed [strangled by brother] after offending conservatives

Did Erdogan stage his own coup?

White House cuts economic growth forecast

Flashback Obama: 'If they bring a knife to a fight, we bring a gun'

Obama warns GOP: no inflammatory rhetoric

Remittances make up 2 percent of Mexico's GDP [equals about $23 billion]

Obama: Globalism will defeat terrorism

Iran conducts 4th missile test since signing nuke deal

Survey reveals that Germany's top companies employ just 54 refugees

U.S. navy banned from using sonar that could harm whales

Connecticut Gov: believing in two genders is 'genderism'

Judge: Instant jail time 'if you criticize migrants again'

Misdirection

The Obummer administration does one thing really very well ... changing the subject of course. This is with the sleazy cooperation of the elite media and those peevish parolees in the House of Representatives.  It was a mere ten days ago that the self-declared ISIS supporter, Omar Mateen, killed 49 patrons of the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

And how has this story been portrayed? Not as an Islamic terrorist act nor as an anti-gay hate crime by a Muslim? No, it is another random act of violence somehow perpetrated by guns alone. Our increasingly political Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, even retreated into Clintonian legalese when she said that we may never know the "precise" reason for this massacre.

And the media are co-conspirators in this political misdirection. They have been running banner headlines and op-eds blaming the guns used by Mateen, even though both were obtained legally. And a small Pack N Play group of militant Democrats staged a tantrum yesterday on the House floor to do what? To change the subject once again away from the embarrassment caused by the blatant incompetence and/or subterfuge of Obummer and his band of Muslim Brotherhood wannabes.

Common sense be damned! This misdirection is comparable to a pickpocket who elbows you in the side as he slips your wallet out of your back pocket.

Never mind that the Republicans have offered multiple fair gun laws that might help curb gun violence ... all of which were filibustered by the Democrats ... for it is not really the laws that the Democrats and elite media want. They want the issue ...  and to be able to change the subject away from radical Muslim extremism.

The reason for this misdirection is beyond adult understanding ... given that Muslim jihadism is being papered over ... putting everyone, even these truculent Democrats, in peril. Is it that winning elections is more important than our lives?

President's Report Card

Yes, here comes another list. Since Obummer is on his way out the door, it seems time to grade his performance as president. I realize that most liberals might disagree, but I am trying to be fair:

Economic Growth                    D

Employment Growth                C

Personal Income Growth          F

Tax Reform                                 F

Entitlement Reform                   F    

Regulation Reform                    F

National Security                      D

Rhetoric                                       A

Immigration Control                  F

Military Readiness                     D

Environmental Gains                  C

Terrorism Pushback                    D

International Relations                F

Race Relations                              F

Education Improvement              D

Infrastructure Rebuild.                 D

Trade Relations                            F

Debt Reduction                            F

Golf Game                                      B

March Madness Brackets             C