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Middle View – Not the Left, nor the Right, but in the middle, ideally with Common Sense and Fairness

Category: Politics

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Globalization News – 2019-04

North Korea Joins Trade Initiative

China's One Belt One Road (OBOR) Initiative allows countries to address their Infrastructure Gaps with loans and technical assistance. (MERICS)

190418 – China recently announced North Korea would be joining it’s Belt and Road initiative. Trade Embargo? Not!! Italy also signed on as the first G7 member. Being part of the initiative gives countries access to loans and Chinese exports. The goal is infrastructure driven growth versus consumer spending growth. The United States has been left out of the initiative.

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Pelosi fights to protect Bay Area Tech Offshore Tax Havens

Pelosi speaking in Dublin Ireland seized control of American International and Trade Policy and stated that if the UK reinstated border controls with Ireland under Brexit, “there would be no chance of a U.S.-U.K. trade agreement.” Nancy Pelosi is an ardent open border advocate. Ireland is a key US tax haven. US corporations, such as Apple, maintain headquarters there for tax purposes. Ireland maintains a 12% tax rate, almost half of the US's reduced 21% rate.

190417 – Nancy Pelosi(D-CA), Speaker of the House, speaking in Dublin, spoke out against border controls betwen the UK and Ireland. Nancy Pelosi is an ardent open border advocate. US corporations, such as Apple, maintain headquarters there for tax havem purposes. Other California tech companies from her district use the Double Irish with a Dutch Sandwich strategy, such as Pinterest, Airbnb, and Twitter, with primary/secondary offices in her district utilize Ireland’s Silicon Docks area for tax reduction purposes.

A Large number of american companies with primary, or secondary headquarters in Nancy Pelosi's 12 district utilize the Double Irish scheme to reduce Federal and State tax in the US (https://www.offshorecompany.com/)

China prohibits the word-"Taiwan" for airlines

190425 – China sent a letter to 36 foreign airlines on 4/25 demanding changes in the way Hong Kong, Macau, and even Taiwan are referenced. China does not consider Taiwan a separate country. The letter stated the airlines must complete a “self-rectification” report once the issue is resolved. This has been an ongoing issue that even involves auto companies such as Audi.

China is changing Extradition Laws for Hong Kong

190403-Mainland China published a new law which will make it much easier to expedite Hong Kong Citizens, (who have been Chinese Citizens since 1997), to mainland China for a trial. (wikipedia)

We first saw this story in the print edition of the Economist.  The Extradition Laws for Hong Kong residents were basically changed to allow criminal trials to be conducted in mainland China, rather then in Hong Kong.   Some have thought the mainland courts would be somewhat harsher then the traditional, British oriented Hong Kong courts.

Wikipedia has an interesting ongoing, updating article on this issue which is sure to cause demonstrations.

 

China's re-education camps for Muslim minority's could be phased out

190317 – Chinese re-education camps in Xinjiang will “gradually disappear“. Xinjiang, which shares a border with several countries including Pakistan and Afghanistan, has long suffered from violent unrest and Chinese have called the camps job-education camps to help these people assimilate properly into Chinese society.

EU and Arab League hold first ever talks

190225 – Angel Merkel and Theresa May in the Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh, for a first ever two days of talks between the European Union and the Arab League. The leaders pledged on the 24th to boost cooperation in the fight against terrorism and to tackle unauthorized migration. Merkel also urged the Arab states to respect human rights.

Trump Blinks, on Tariffs for China

190224 – Donald Trump blinks, and lifts the Mar 1st deadline on which he planned to increase tariffs from 10% to 25% for Chinese exports.

EU countries find a way to funnel money to Iran

190201 – Britain, Germany, and France establish INSTEX, a trade mechanism, to enable them to bypass US sanctions on trade with Iran. US sanctions on Iran target Tehran’s trade in precious metals, block the sales of passenger jets and restrict Iran’s purchase of US dollars.

Xi Jinping states Taiwan be brought back

190102 – China’s leader Xi Jinping stated of Taiwan ‘ “China must and will be united, which is an inevitable requirement for the historical rejuvenation of the Chinese nation in the new era”. He also added: “We do not promise to renounce the use of force and reserve the option to use all necessary measures” to achieve this goal and prevent Taiwan independence.

France to give up it's UN Sec Council seat to EU?

181126 – Olaf Scholz, German Finance Minister, called on France to give up its permanent seat on the UN Security Council and turn it into a EU (European Union) seat. Germany was left out of a security council seat in 1945, most likely because of bad behavior in World War-2.

Hillary & Trump in alignment on Immigration?

181123 – Hillary Clinton – In an interview with the Guardian, “I admire the very generous and compassionate approaches that were taken, particularly by leaders like Angela Merkel,” said Clinton, “but I think it is fair to say Europe has done its part, and must send a very clear message—’we are not going to be able to continue [to] provide refuge and support’—because if we don’t deal with the migration issue, it will continue to roil the body politic.” She was criticized by globalists for making these comments.

Merkel wants the US to give up it's sovereignty?

181121 – German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, at a Konrad Adenauer Foundation event in Berlin: “Nation states must today be prepared to give up their sovereignty”. She also stated, “Ceding power to a superstate is a better form of patriotism.” For Germany this is the EU & UN, for America, the UN.

Nationalism vs Patriotism

181111 – French President Emmanuel Macron states – “Patriotism is the exact opposite of nationalism. Nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism. By putting our own interests first, with no regard for others, we erase the very thing that a nation holds dearest, and the thing that keeps it alive: its moral values.” The distinction between patriotism and nationalism has a Goldilocks quality. It suggests that nationalists have too much devotion to their nation, while patriots have just the right amount.

EU punishes Hungary for 'bad' behavior

180912 – The EU votes to punish Hungary over ‘breaches’ of EU core values. More than two-thirds of MEPs backed the censure motion – the first such vote against a member state under EU rules. The issue has been Mr Orban’s government has taken a hardline stance against immigration. Most British Conservative MEPs supported the Hungarian government, arguing that the EU had intruded into purely national matters. Poland is also facing disciplinary proceedings.

Facebook starts a "Social Credit Score" for users

180821 – Facebook begins assigning a “Reputation Score” to all users, similar to China’s SCS (Social Credit Score). In 2018 the China’s SCS helped prevent, 17 million flights and 5.4 million high-speed rail trips to travelers with low scores.

Phillippines wins case against China, but?

160712 – The Philippines wins an international arbitration court case in the Hague. It ruled China has no legal basis for its historical claim to the South China Sea. China stated it would ignore the ruling. Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Taiwan are countries that have also been affected by China’s claim.

China's 9-10 dash, since expanded to surround Taiwan. Parcels were Vietnams. The Phillippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and others were thought to have controlled the Spratly's. (Harvard Law)

Britain votes to begin BREXIT

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160623 – Britain votes, with a 71.8% turnout, with a 51.8% majority vote, to leave the European Economic Union. The original target date for leaving was March 30, 2019. Britain has been in the EU since 1973. Their original application, in 1963, was vetoed by French President Charles de Gaulle. They had a referendum in 1975 to leave, but voted to stay in. In 1984 Margaret Thatcher re-negotiated UK payments to the EU from 20% of the total to 12%. Primary reasons given were immigration-no control over the border, economics-the EU has been a dysfunctional economic entity, and Sovereignty-the inability of the citizens to control what happens to their country.

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Free College for all, well most

mike.editor@midpush.com, originally published 190427, updated 190427

In the 2016 presidential race Bernie Sanders announced that he thought a college education should be free. This is in keeping with his leadership via compassion and emotion viewpoint.

In the 2020 presidential campaign, Elizabeth Warren, in her race to best Bernie regarding compassion and emotion, has one upped Bernie and come up with a platform that emphasizes throwing out a students prior loan commitments and going forward to make college as free as possible.

Sticking my neck out, if I was a candidate here is what I would do:

  • Make High School Graduation contingent on understanding how Interest accrues and why you need to make more then the interest payment to pay the loan off in a timely manner. Too many students are clueless here….
  • Demand that colleges, public, private, & for profit, publish statistics on graduate employment statistics and income received by graduates of each of their degree programs. Students need this data to make informed decisions. Doing this would also help colleges offer more pertinent degree programs based on the economy.
  • Change the interest rate charged for these loans to be indexed slightly, say 2.5 points, above the 10 year treasury yield. Today, April 26, 2019, that would be 5%. The key point is given these loans are so hard to get rid of, a higher interest rate should be un-necessary.
  • Push community colleges more by lowering their costs. In a number of states they are virtually free, (except for books). Two years at a community college with a transfer to a 4 year degree lowers the overall cost.
  • Schools that accept federal student loan monies should publish statistics on teacher, maintenance, and administrator cost ratios. Too many state public schools started with good intentions, but now pay very high salaries for administrative work. The students and the taxpayer foot the bill.

Students need to understand that if they want to get an Art History major, and a number of the recent year graduates from their prospective college are working Docent jobs paying $28K a year. They most likely should not borrow $100K to fund their education. Conversely if the recent graduates from an engineering degree are making 120K after two years, borrowing $100K might be a sound investment.

Students over the age of 18 are adults, they need to be provided information to make informed decisions.

Not an ad, but presents the case well that most students are graduating high school without a basic understanding of interests and loans. One reason we need more H1B visa holders. (prudential)
Not an ad, but presents the case well that most students are graduating high school without a basic understanding of interests and loans. One reason we need more H1B visa holders. (prudential)

Elizabeth Warren’s Plan Highlights

  • Estimated cost of her plan over 10 years, $1.25T, T=trillion
  • Wipe out, ie pay off, existing loans for up to $50K. Up to 42 million citizens could benefit from this proposal. The pay offs would phase out for higher earners.
  • Expand Pell-Grants for non-tuition expenses.
  • Assist historically black colleges.
  • Questions that are unanswered are:
    • Effectively debt relief is income, would these payoffs be taxable by the IRS and states?
    • How are students debts handled going forward?
    • What about students who didn’t finish college?
    • This plan would likely increase the number of students attending college, either more colleges are needed, or higher prices will result from increased competition.

Down the road, with an increased student loans and or grants, colleges would be freeer to raise prices higher allowing them to pay more and hire additional staff. This behavior is explained by the fundamental economic demand curve.

What prompted me to write this was listening to a KQED radio program, Forum. ANatalia Abrams from an organization studentdebtcrisis.org was on. Her key points are:

  • Student Loan Debt is not the students fault.
  • Education used to be free, and still should be. She believes free education will “collectively” help everyone.
  • She is excited about Elizabeth Warren changing the world.
  • She describes a number of stories, documented here. A number of these cases appear to be people who have not made interest payments, and yet seem puzzled their loan balance has gone up. Education loans and yet they don’t seem to understand credit, loans, and such. They need more education….
  • Students and their parents are not responsible for choosing colleges with tuition way beyond their means or ability to afford. Buying college is like buying a car or a house — you do the research and purchase what you can afford.
  • She believes people should go to the school of their choice. Regardless of cost. And the public should pay for it.
  • She does not believe there should be a ROI (Return On Investment) regarding their choice of study.
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Would Migrants Fare Better in Sanctuary Cities?

mike.editor@midpush.com, updated 190417

Recently the number of migrants attempting to come across the border has increased greatly. The official number for March 2019 was 103,492 people. The largest number in many years. With the holding camps full. And rulings that state, families with children can only be held for 20 days. The US Border Patrol is in a legal bind. Where do you put the people? Most every key democrat has stated the border crisis is not a crisis. Both Nancy Pelosi(Speaker of the House), Chuck Schummer(Senate Minority Leader have stated that this is a “Manufactured Crisis” by Trump.

Chuck Schummer(D-NY), Senate Minority Leader and Nancy Pelosi(D-CA), Speaker of the House speaking as to the “manufactured crisis” at the border on January 8, 2019. Ms Pelosi has accused the President Trump of “malice” and “misinformation” regarding the border problems. (AP)

Previously they were just dropping migrants off at the nearest Greyhound stations via their Catch and Release program. But after crowding became too great in the Greyhound stations, Greyhound stated, on March 15, 2019, they could not stay in the station unless they had a ticket go somewhere on Greyhound. So now they wait outside until an advocacy group buys them a ticket. But the advocacy groups, in certain areas have been strained and migrants end up waiting a long time outside, or go elsewhere.

So what is the Border Patrol to do? Dropping them off in the middle of the desert would be considered inhumane. What town really wants them? The camps are full? What is the best option?

Ah, California, New York, Washington. They have a stated desire to protect immigrants. California for sure has a large budget surplus, $20B+, that it could surely find it within its heart to spend a token amount of funds assisting and placing these travelers. California in addition has a mild climate that is easier on travelers. California has many older National Guard facilities such as Camp Roberts where many thousands can find a home while they wait for their hearings. California needs to find it in its heart to assist and place these migrants somewhere.

A number of cities have stated publicly that they have open arms in accepting all. Who are these jurisdictions? A number of them have a stated, “Welcoming City Ordinance” which in general means they are open to all. But are these cities and politicians willing to “walk their talk“?

A few key democrats are starting to change their minds regarding the existence of a crisis, they are:

  • Mark Morgan, US Border Control Chief under the Obama administration stated, “this isn’t just a crisis, this is a crisis like we’ve never experienced in the history of this country since we started tracking numbers”. He also supports the idea of sending migrants to sanctuary cities.
  • Senator Corey Booker (democrat, candidate for president), on April 16, 2019, appeared to have changed his position. He actually made a trip to a border town to survey the situation. He stated that “we do have a problem at the border and democrats should not deny this”. He also stated, ” there is no need for a wall coast to coast”. (Trump has proposed an additional 260 miles. Coast to coast, the border length is 1,954 miles.) So, given mincing of words, do Trump and Corey agree?
  • Jeh Johnson, former Obama Homeland Security Secretary stated in an interview with MSNBC, “On Tuesday there were 4,000 apprehensions. I know that 1,000 overwhelms the system. I can’t imagine what 4,000 a day looks like. So, we are truly in a crisis”.
Gavin Newsom and his aunt-in-law, by his previous marriage, Nancy Pelosi, Speaker Of the House. Nancy was a believer in post funding of the “Wall”, until it became apparent supporting it would help Trump too much. It’s now immoral. (AP

Ideally Congress and the President would get together and set some numbers, targets, and limits, and update the country’s immigration policy.

Until then California can probably improve on the care presently provided by the Federal government. Californians as a rule, have a better heart, and better funding, than the other states. Gavin has already promised to expand MediCal to include free medical care to minors living in the country illegally. So he is willing to dig deep into the California’s taxpayers pockets to fund part of this. But is he limited this funding to new arrivals? Which states does he want them to go to instead?

Migrants waiting in line in San Diego. Does Gavin Newsom want to bus these migrants to another state? If so which one? (kpbs)

A number of key Californians have stepped up to plate and announced they are ready to welcome, accept, assist, and help place migrants.

  • Libby Schaaf, Mayor of Oakland, stated, “I’ve been consistent and clear: #Oakland welcomes all, no matter where you came from or how you got here.” https://t.co/KWl2P9ps3k. Libby Schaaf achieved some notoriety when she issued a public statement that an ICE raid was imminent.
  • Sam Liccardo, Mayor of San Jose, stated, “We welcome any families to the city of San Jose who have endured such incredible hardships and have endeavored to make a better life for themselves and their families and want to be a part of our great country.”
  • Jenny Durkan, Mayor of Seattle, stated, “isn’t afraid of immigrants.”
  • Jim Kenney, Mayor of Philadelphia, also known as the city of brotherly love, stated, that his city “would be prepared to welcome these immigrants just as we have embraced our immigrant communities for decades.”

Instead of of helping to welcome, assist and place asylum seekers in safer and more-welcome locales, the following politicians have threatened legal action against Trump. Once again, none of the following have stated nor offered any counter proposals on where these people should go. Where should we place them??

  • Gavin Newson, the Governor of California, stated, on the idea of assisting and placing asylum seekers in California as “unserious,” “illegal,” “asinine” and “sophomoric,” among other things.  Gavin should remember open borders on the national front mean open borders for the states also. California is one of the best states to live in for migrants because of the benefits.
  • Bill de Blasio, Mayor of New York City, threatened to sue the Trump administration if it sends illegal immigrants to New York City, a “sanctuary city.” He stated, “It’s illegal. It is just plain illegal. We will meet him in court. We will beat him in court,” de Blasio said, according to the New York Post. In typical New Yorker fashion, the courts are the answer.
  • Eric Garcetti, Mayor of Los Angeles, on twitter he stated, “The Trump Administration’s latest hateful idea is nothing more than a needless distraction and a waste of time. We need real solutions that uphold our values — not disgraceful policies that demonize immigrants and will never become reality.”
  • Rahm Emanual, ex Mayor of Chicago, stated, cities have been designating themselves as sanctuary cities “because of the abandonment of Americans values, ideals and cultural destiny” under Trump. Trump has only been president since 2017, but Chicago has been a sanctuary city since 2012? When he announced Chicago has a “Welcoming City Ordinance”.

Democrats in general have used the migrants as pawns in their war on Trump. Yet they have not been willing to deal with him on this issue. On the other side, Trump has been combative on the issue, alienating people who respect political gentility. He could probably be more successful if he was a kinder and gentler president.

Basically, America today has an open border policy. By answering a few question correctly, regarding asylum, you’re in. And it may be years before you get your NTA (Notice To Appear). Switching lawyers a few times also helps extend the time.

With an open border policy Medicare for All, free college education for all starts becoming an expensive endeavor. Under the UN rules, migrants should be requesting Asylum in the first country they come to. That would be Mexico, not the US.

Trump has cut off aid from Honduras as he believes they have wasted the US Taxpayers money. It would be more effective, if he took half that money, bought food with it, and used the US Peace Corps to distribute it. Too much of America’s foreign aid is wasted on, …., does anybody know?? For FY2019, the aid budget for the Northern Triangle was slated to be, $45.7 million for El Salvador, $69.4 million for Guatemala and $65.8 million for Honduras. You could buy a lot of basic commodities for this amount of money, with the Peace Corps distributing. People need to see the face of helpful Americans in other countries. Not news media reports twisted in a 100 different ways by self-serving media organizations.

In March of 2018, there was a backlog of 690,000 open deportation cases with an average wait time of 1,000 days. New Jersey and California had the longest wait times, averaging 1,300 days (3 1/2 years).

This chart shows the total asylum grants by country In FY 2016 (american immigration council)

Where should we release migrants while they wait for their cases to be heard?

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Pelosi wants Trump’s Taxes – But a firestorm if he goes nuclear

Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House

mike.editor@midpush.com, updated 190409

For the past 30 years or so it has been a “custom”, not a requirement, for presidential candidates to release their tax returns. Presidential candidates are however required to file a “Personal Financial Disclosure” with the Federal Election Commission. Donald Trump has filed a Personal Financial Disclosure , but so far he has refused to reveal his tax returns that contain more detailed information.

House democrats, led by Nancy Pelosi, have stated they plan to request Trumps tax returns. One method is to use a little known section of the IRS, specifically IRS Section 6103(f)(1).

If you wanted to play tit-for-tat, on June 26, 2017, only 12 out of 530 senators and representatives had released their tax returns. But, you can’t fault the others, they are not required to. And neither is Trump.

For some, tax returns are a private matter.

Section 6103(f)(1) reads in part.

The section of the IRS code that congress would use if they go forward on their promise to review President Trump’s tax returns over the years. One, while he was a private citizen. Two, while he has been President. The IRS has audited his returns over the years but this is thought not to be sufficient.

Nominally this is an underutilized section of the IRS. It has never been used against a President and the Separation of Powers would certainly come into play. Meaning the Supreme Court might be asked to intervene. This could take a few years. And this provision provides some anonymity for the tax payer being reviewed.

What could Trump do? Well, reading past 6103 (f), try IRS Section 6103 (g)…. It gives the President much broader powers than congress to pull anybody’s tax return.

The main portion of IRS Section I.R.C § 6103(g), which follows I.R.C § 6103(f). This subsection gives the President of the United States very broad powers to request and receive any US taxpayers tax returns. This would include congress members and members of the press.

This section gives the president very broad powers. He does not need a reason for these requests. He does have to eventually disclose who he has made requests for. But this would be after the fact.

Could Trump pull Nancy Pelosi and her husband, Paul Pelosi’s tax returns? And leak them, accidentally of course? Did AOC, working as a waitress disclose all of her tips? How many waiters have you known that disclose all of their tips? Did Dianne Feinstein and her husband, Richard Blum pay all their taxes? Or, George Sorros, who gave $400K to Kim Fox, might be interesting.

Where would it stop?

Public confidence in the tax system depends and relies on the belief that the IRS will protect taxpayers’ privacy. Most people have accepted Trump as not as clean as a whistle. His tax returns, have been reviewed and audited by the IRS for many years now. He probably attempts to make optimal use of the Tax Code, in his favor, as any smart American could do, and should.

Ideally, there should be a law that all candidates for public office should release their tax returns. But today, there is no such law.

In a letter to the Treasury Department’s legal office, one of Trump Attorneys wrote:

  • If the IRS acquiesces to Chairman Neal’s request, it would set a dangerous precedent. As Secretary Mnuchin recently told Congress, he is “not aware that there has ever been a request for an elected official’s tax returns.” For good reason. It would be a gross abuse of power for the majority party to use tax returns as a weapon to attack, harass, and intimidate their political opponents. Once this Pandora’s box is opened, the ensuing tit-for-tat will do lasting damage to our nation.
  • Can the Chairman request the returns of his primary opponents? His general-election opponents? Judges who are hearing his case? The potential abuses would not be limited to Congress, as the President has even greater authority than Congress to obtain individuals’ tax returns. 26 U.S.C. §6103(g). Congressional Democrats would surely balk if the shoe was on the other foot and the President was requesting their tax returns. After all, nearly 90% of them have insisted on keeping their tax returns private, including Speaker Pelosi, Senator Schumer, Representative Nadler, Representative Schiff, and Representative Neal himself.

In November 2013, Senate Democrats led by Harry Reid used the nuclear option to eliminate the 60-vote rule on executive branch nominations and federal judicial appointments. This opened a new frontier in politics.

Will Nancy Pelosi begin a new era herself?

Trump on leaving office, may, just leak tax returns, by accident. I wouldn’t put it past him.

Democrats should concentrate on legislation. Of course they have to work with the president. What have they passed in the last 3 months, that is now law?

Or we can wait another 21 months to see if this scenario changes. Remember the house must pass a bill, then the senate must also pass it, and unless they have veto proof majority in both the house and senate, the presidents signature is required.

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Trump/Comey Timeline-Obstruction of Justice

mike.editor@midpush.com, updated 190418

James B. Comey was Director of the FBI from 2013 until being fired May 9th, 2017. FBI Directors serve nominally under a 10 year term and his term was due to be up in 2023. The decade-long tenure was introduced to shield FBI directors from being drawn into politics, but the position is still subject to dismissal at the pleasure of the President.

In other words, he serves at the “pleasure” of the president.

Given the statement above, and a reading of the timeline below. You can say Trump is a shady New York real estate dealer, but, he never obstructed justice in regards to James B. Comey.

Russian hacking. Of course they meddled with the election. And guess what, they are going to do it again. Was this the first time? I think not! But next time they won’t pay Facebook with rubles.

James B. Comey Pre-election Timeline

  • 2016/07/05 – Comey, on television, in a 15:38 speech, describes Hillary Clinton’s lying, spinning, and evasion regarding her misuse of classified information regarding her private email server. 7 Emails were above Top Secret, into the Special Compartmented realm. He then declared that “no reasonable prosecutor” would prosecute Hillary for her obvious and manifest crimes. This was an eye opening discussion. It puzzled a lot of people. He then referred it to Obama’s Justice Department for a decision on whether to prosecute. He passed the buck. Any other citizen, would have at least lost their clearance. 12 minutes in he lays into her, but at 13 minutes, he goes political. Hillary has no intent to be disloyal, she just didn’t care about the rules?
  • 2016/10/28 – Comey sends a letter to congress stating, ” In connection with an unrelated case, the FBI has learned of the existence of emails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation. I am writing to inform you that the investigative team briefed me on this yesterday, and I agreed that the FBI should take appropriate investigative steps designed to allow investigators to review these emails to determine whether they contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to our investigation.” Comey added that the agency couldn’t yet determine “whether or not this material may be significant or not,” or “how long it will take us to complete this additional work.” This was just 11 days before the election. And it rocked political establishment.
  • In hindsight for Comey. As the head of the FBI, he had to report it. If he didn’t and it came out later that he snuffed it. It would look very bad. And reporting it would be very bad. This is where he is the Fall Guy. Not good, not bad. Just how it is. Life at the top. If he was second in command, he would still have his job.
  • The emails it turns out came from Anthony Weiners laptop. Anthony was/is married to Huma Abedin, who was the vice chair of Hillary’s 2016 campaign.
  • Democrats who had high praise in July for letting Hillary off the hook, were upset. Among the notables, Dianne Feinstein, Elijah Cummings . Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers were making it clear that he would be facing tough questioning about whether he’s fit to lead the agency after Election Day.
  • 2016/11/05 – Comey clears Hillary a second time. He says the new emails do not point to any wrongdoing by Clinton. But many articles pop up about the Clinton Foundation and the issues between the Obama justice department and the FBI.
  • 2018/11/08 – Donald Trump wins the election.

January 6th, 2017 Meeting – Trump meets Comey, 1st time

the source for this section is the book; Fear-(chapter 8) by Bob Woodward.

The intelligence chiefs came to Trump tower to meet with Trump. In attendance, James B. Comey, James Clapper(Director of National Intelligence), John Brennan(CIA) , and Reince Priebus, Trumps future Chief of Staff.

Clapper in talking to Trump, outlines three “Key Judgements.” They are:

  • Russia has a long desire “to undermine the US led liberal democratic order”.
  • Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 to undermine public faith in the US democratic process and denigrate Secretary Clinton, and show a clear preference for Trump.
  • When it appeared to Moscow that Clinton was likely to win, the Russian influence campaign began to focus on undermining her future presidency. Russia has been against Hillary since the Ukraine invasion. Anything they could do to hurt her they would do. Blindly, Trump, as her adversary, benefits.

As the meeting was winding down Trump asked if there was anything more? “Well yes, there is some additional sensitive material,”-Clapper stated. “Do you want us to stay or do this alone?-Preibus asked Trump. Comey suggested-“I was thinking the two of us.” Trump agreed-“Just the two of us”.

Comey and Trump’s private meeting last 5 minutes. In a Higher Loyalty, Comey wrote, “The FBI was not currently investigating him. This was literally true. We did not have a counterintelligence case file open on him. We really didn’t care if had cavorted with hookers in Moscow, so long as the Russians weren’t trying to coerce him in any way.”

As Comey continued, “Still, the plan left me deeply uncomfortable…. There was a real chance that Donald Trump, politician and hardball deal-maker would assume I was dangling the prostitute thing over him to jam him, to gain leverage. He might well assume I was pulling a J. Edgar Hoover, because that’s what Hoover would do in my shoes. An eyebrow raise didn’t do this situation justice; it was really going to suck.

If I was Trump, and had these three guys come in and accuse me of things, I thought not to be right. It would not be a good first impression. Would I want to work with these characters?

WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 10: FBI Director James Comey, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan (L-R) testify before the Senate (Select) Intelligence Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill January 10, 2017 in Washington, DC. The intelligence heads testified to the committee about cyber threats to the United States and fielded questions about effects of Russian government hacking on the 2016 presidential election. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

2017/01/11 – Buzz Feed leaks the “Steele” dossier described above online. Our FBI and/or our CIA has trouble keeping secrets. Trump must really mistrust the characters from the January 6th meeting. Hmm, I would have fired their asses if I had the chance! But he’s not sworn in as president for 10 more days.

Post Inauguration Timeline

  • 2017/05/03 – Comey testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee. He states he has no regrets about how he investigated Hillary.
  • 2017/05/09 – James B. Comey is fired by Donald Trump. Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein cited at least two key items; 1) he accused Comey of attempting to “usurp the attorney general’s authority” by publicly announcing why he felt the case should be closed without prosecution. 2) “Compounding the error, the director ignored another longstanding principle: We do not hold press conferences to release derogatory information about the subject of a declined criminal investigation,”.

Post Firing Timeline

  • 2017/05/17 – Rod Rosenstein signs an authorizing document to begin what became known as the Mueller Special Counsel investigation. The investigation’s scope included allegations that there were links or coordination between Donald Trump‘s presidential campaign and the Russian government  as well as “any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation”. The scope of the investigation also included potential obstruction of justice charges against Trump and others within the campaign and administration.
  • During the Mueller investigation, Trump throws several tissy fits on what he believes to be an unjust investigation. But he never stop the investigation. He is entitled to his opinion on the investigation.
  • 2018/04/17 – Comey’s book comes out, “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Loyalty”.
  • 2018/04/19 – Comey’s book becomes the top-selling book on Amazon.
  • 2019/03/22 – Robert Mueller sends his report on Collusion and Obstruction of Justice to Attorney General Barr.
  • 2019/03/24 – Barr summarizes the report saying no collusion but declines to be specific on obstruction of justice. He promises a report, redacted, for congress by April 15th.
  • To be continued.

In the end, the Democratically controlled congress, with the number one mission to make the presidents miserable. Can hold him to the fire for just about anything, just as long as they get 51% of the vote in the house. But then they need 67 votes in the Senate to make it stick. It’s certainly more fun to listen to this stuff in the news rather then new laws. Right?

President Trump, coming into office, being a political neophyte, who can’t keep his mouth shut, took a bit to learn, and still has a way to go. If I were the president, I would have fired, Brennan, Clapper, and Comey on day one of the presidency just from the early January meetings. Back in November 2016, half the democratic congressional members wanted him out.

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The 2020 List of Presidential Candidates

mike.editor@midpush.com, originally published 190325, updated 190427

November 3rd, 2020 is looming fast, who will sleeping here after January 20th, 2021? (wikiCommons-a)

 

November 3rd, 2020 is looming fast, who will sleeping here after January 20th, 2021? (wikiCommons-c)

Hmm, 19 months to go to the November 2020 election.  Things are heating up in the announcement of
contenders for the office.

I plan to work this article and try and keep up.  But it’s tough.  It’s only partially filled out now.  It will get more detailed, and even more boring as time goes on. Lots of candidates!

The common themes of the 2020 candidates is just a few paragraphs down. The candidates are listed below. Their names provide a hyperlink to a page with more detail. In general there seems to be a lot of emotion and compassion in their platforms, but somebody still needs to pay for it all.

Let’s get started, the candidates in first name alphabetical order.

Democratic Contenders Favorite Topics:

  • Health Care – Medicare for all is a dominant theme. Medicare today is for over 65 year old residents. Today, care providers are reimbursed less for these patients than younger patients. So this could be more expensive than first meets the eyes. Reimbursement rates may have to go up across the board to keep hospitals from closing.
  • Immigration Compassion – People who manage to make it to the border deserve Asylum, especially if they are woman with children. But not the men? Or do we want more Tech H1’s?
  • Environmental policy – With climate change on everyone’s mind, the classic American lifestyle is being reviewed. Do we all need gas cars, air-conditioned homes, and lots of Chinese products? Of course we can do better… Is Coal still being used too much?
  • Reparations for Black Americans impacted by slavery – One candidate wants to allocated $100B for this. Yikes, that’s a lot of money!! Another wants to also include American Indians.
  • Free College – Presently students in the past few years have taken out massive loans in order to attend college. Getting a job after college, starting a family, buying a house have all been complicated by having to pay their student loans off. Should people pick colleges that are easier to afford? Should people pick majors that enable them to
  • Universal Income – Everyone needs money, and some have stated that with automation, artificial intelligence, that jobs will be fewer. So just guarantee everyone who is inside our borders, free everything!!
  • Abortion – Ouch, a hot topic. Basically it boils down to the following categories. 1) The Never Camp, 2) The 3 month/first trimester Roe v. Wade camp, 3) the second trimester camp, 4) the third trimester camp. A controversial subject most politicians shy away from. The political battle wages on in the above 1) and 4).
  • Rule Changes – Like a six year old, playing Go-Fish, it’s easier to change the rules then have a tantrum.
    • Supreme Court – Let’s just increase the number of judges, to 11. Problem, on party change, does it go to 13?
    • Ditch the Electoral College – Minor problem it’s burned into the Constitution. 3/4 of the states would have to approve. California, New York, and others don’t make it to 38 states.
    • Lower the voting age to 16 – Hmm, then bring back Joe Camel style ads for sophomores that can’t read.
    • Social Security for illegal immigrants.
    • Tear Down the Border Wall – Hmm, should we also get rid of all air port security? Why check passports and luggage?

As you review all of the items above I think we can agree that they all sound great! But, can we provide all of this to all people who happen to exist within our borders? Where will the money come for all of this? Our national debt is already high. Some of this is just selective pandering for votes, with a goal to increase the dependency on the government.

Key Issues Missing from the Dem's platforms

But what is seriously missing from these candidates are what there views on the items that follow. Most of the candidates appear to be running for a local district and pandering to their constituents.

  • Defense –
  • International Affairs – Is Germany funding Russia’s military buildup with it’s reliance on the North Sea gas pipeline?
    • North Korea – Is Obama’s strategy of “Strategic Patience” the way to go?
    • Iran – Obama’s nice guy approach, shipping them a $1.7B, some in various currencies, then watching Syria implode as Tehran spends the funds the best strategy?
    • China –
    • Russia – Trump’s view of Russia as a friend has not worked. But with a triad of the US, Russia, and China, who becomes buddies with each other and beats the other up?
    • Saudi Arabia – Over the past 40 years they have helped keep Oil prices stable, the press is pushing for abandonment since we don’t need them anymore, will the middle east get more volatile.
  • South China Sea Nine or Ten Dash line – China has been increasingly sought to annex more and more area from Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Taiwan, and even Japan. Under the Obama administration, nothing much was done.
  • Tariffs Agreements – Has America been too nice over the years? Everyone else charges tariffs for our products, but if we do the same, they threaten us. Past presidents have not cared. Are American’s funding China’s military buildup with iPhone’s and other products?
  • Budget – All of these candidates should be required to show a sample budget on how they would pay for their largess.
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2019/12 Whiner of the Week – Denisse Moreno Melchor

Denisse Moreno Melchor's Facebook photo at the time. Her handle is "DenisseIsDead".
Denisse Moreno Melchor's Facebook photo at the time. Her handle is "DenisseIsDead".
Denisse Moreno Melchor's Facebook photo at the time. Her handle is "DenisseIsDead".

It was Career Day on March 19, 2019 at the University of Arizona and one of the departments, the Criminal Justice Association, had invited some local Border Patrol Agents to speak to their group. As the agents were giving their talk, Denisse Moreno Melchor started using her smart phone to capture live video and stand in the doorway and chant at the officers and other students in the class room. Eventually it would appear, the Border Patrol agents decided to leave and walked out of the classroom. Denisse videoed, live-streamed, their progress as they made their way to their car.

She accused the Criminal Justice club of violating her safe space. Yet it appears she is also guilty of this type of action. She also used a number of “Trigger Words” in her dialogue.

It will be interesting to follow her life over the next few years to see how she changes with hopefully, growing maturity.

The following video, taken by Denisse, is pretty graphic. A timeline of the video follows:

  • 0:05 – She describes seeing the Murder Patrol
  • 0:13 – She states she pays to be here, at the university.
  • 0:27 – One of the Agents glances at her
  • 0:32 – She states this is supposed to be a “Safe Place” for students.
  • 0:35 – She basically calls the agents and/or students, an extension of the KKK.
  • 1:40 – One student offers to let her sit in.
  • 2:05 – She taunts the student by caller her a white woman. Can you imagine if it was an Asian student calling a Black person calling the police.
  • 2:29 – The agents start to leave and Denisse starts chanting “Murder Patrol” hundreds of times.
  • 3:09 – Denisse friends chime in with “Murder Patrol” chants.
  • 3:57 – Denisse switches to Spanish and gets very emotional.
  • 4:04 – The agents get in their car and begin to leave.

The video on the left is what was Live streamed as she walked the halls and courtyard of the schools.

Thank goodness she lives in America.  Try this in China.

According to an article in the Arizona Daily Independent, her Twitter Feed has disdain for “white people,” “white people who use their LGBTQ+ identities to overstep,” “cops,” “ICE,” and the “government.”

It’s common for some folks to dislike “cops”, “ICE”, and the “government”, but taking on the LGBTQ community is not going to get her far.

A photo from Dennisse's, at the time, public Facebook page.

Clearly Denisse is violating the rights of the member of the Criminal Justice Association here. But what, if anything, will the University do about this? The student body, all of whose members have very temporary positions, they graduate, hopefully, have stated the Border Patrol should avoid the campus.

American University's losing their Free Speech Mantra?

On Thursday, March 21st, a few days later, President Donald Trump signed an executive order stating that Universities, in order to receive Federal research funds, needed to protect free speech. “Under the guise of speech codes, and safe spaces, and trigger warnings, these universities have tried to restrict free thought, impose total conformity and shut down the voices of great young Americans,” Trump said at the signing ceremony.

Somehow I think the University of Arizona needs to review their policy on 1st Amendment rights, for everybody.

Other schools such as UC Berkely have also had free speech issues.

Border Patrol Interview by KFYI's James T. Harris

In the Arizona Daily Report article described above, Art del Cueto, vice president of the National Border Patrol Council and President of Local 2544 said he “was pretty upset when I saw the video myself. I have learned that these agents were invited to help explain things about the criminal justice system. People need to understand that they were invited there,” said del Cueto with emphasis. “It was an actual invitation”.

When asked by Harris, the interviewer, if DACA students should fear Border Patrol, del Cueto responded, “That is what is the funniest thing. Perhaps if these individuals, who wrote this letter, would have allowed Border Patrol agents to remain there and talk to the class and answer questions – their fears would have subsided. They might have learned something instead of writing an ignorant letter where it says that they fear for the DACA students. Well we can’t arrest the DACA students as agents. We can’t send them back unless obviously they commit some kind of crime other than being here illegally. They are a protected class right now so it is ridiculous.”

University if Arizona Discussions

Abra McAndrew, Assistant Vice Provost with Student Engagement, in an article from the school newspaper, said the career days Border Patrol attended are open to any employer in Tucson.  McAndrew also stated all students can look at who is attending the Career Fair on the Handshake website.

However, At-Large Senator Rocque Perez said Associated Students of Univ of Arizona (ASUA) today is a completely different administration from 2017 and this issue has been considered multiple times. Perez intends to introduce new legislation to ASUA next week. The ASUA changes yearly as students move thru in 4 or more years.

On Thursday, March 21, ASUA Student Body President Natalynn Masters issued a statement stressing “the importance of notifying students … in advance of visits by USBP” and stating that ASUA has an responsibility to “protect, support and speak out for all Wildcats” including DACA students and undocumented students.

A letter produced by the University of Arizona student body stressing the importance of notifying DACA and undocumented students of visits by the US Border Patrol (ASUA)

An article appearing in the school newspaper, on April 5, 2018, described the regents as getting officially named as a Hispanic Serving Institution. The article stated with this new, the UA will now have access to a plethora of new government grants and funding opportunities.

Safe Places, Trigger Warnings, & Racism

College campuses have been in a tussle over the past few years as they have created segregated “safe spaces” to allow like people to quarantine themselves. Denisse, in this case, didn’t consider the notion that the room was the Criminal Justice majors “safe space”. She considers the Border Patrol visit to her University, that she paid for, a “Trigger Warning“. Traditionally the goal of a University is to provide a place for collaborative engagement. The University of Arizona does not meet this standard.

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2019/02 Whiner of the Week – Donald Trump(Calif Fires)

Donald Trump - wikiCommons

mike.editor@midpush.com, updated 190409

Since the original date of publishing, 190116. Gavin Newsom has become Governor of California. He seems to agree with Trump that Calif needs to begin managing it’s forests better. He declared a “State-of-Emergency” on March 22, 2019. This action by the Democratic governor follows President Donald Trump’s repeated criticism of California’s wildfire prevention efforts. California’s esteemed legal community, still looks to PG&E as the fall guy however.

This week’s, 2019-Week-02, Weekly Whiner is none other than Donald Trump.  On Jan 9th, 2019 Trump warned he would cut off federal funds to fight California fires.  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif immediately took the emotional ground and responded that Trump’s threat, “insults the memory of scores of Americans who perished in wildfires last year & thousands more who lost their homes.“

The California and the Federal government both need to take a
non-emotional
look at how they want to handle fire prevention and fire fighting in the future.

The last two years, 2018(8,527 fires burning 1.893 million acres) and 2017(9,133 fires burning 1.381 million acres), have seen California have a number of deadly fires.  The biggest of which are:

Camp Fire 2019 – The nation’s deadliest fire in a century.  153,336 acres, at least 85 people dead, 19,000 buildings destroyed.  Nov 8-25.

Mendocino Fire 2019 – The largest California fire at 459,123 acres, 157 residences destroyed, 1 fire-fighter killed

California on August 1st, 2018. Clouds along the coast. But fires in the heartland. wikipedia

Donald Trump has stated that California mismanages its forests.  And Governor Brown and now newly elected Gavin Newsom have stated that California is a victim of climate change.  They both have stated that Trump is wrong.

When I was a small boy, as a Boy Scout, I used to watch out the window as we drove off to go camping thru out the state.  I used to see fire breaks everywhere to help prevent and fight, the fires that start easily in California forests as California does not receive any rain at all from May to sometimes November/December.   Driving these same roads I no longer see these breaks, but I can still see where they were as the trees are smaller.

Where did these fire breaks go?

A Fire Break in the California chaparral. As long as it’s not windy, fire-breaks work great. It is easier to create them as needed in this type of terrain. But with big trees, they have to be there already. wikiCommons

In the years of 1960-1990 foresters used to harvest 10-12 billion board feet from its national forest’s.  Given California’s growth and housing need this should be a much larger figure 28 years later.

Then as the Sierra Club and other environmental groups started gaining more control, this harvest reached a low of 2.5 billion board feet in 2013.   California became an mass importer of lumber.  Effectively moving perceived environmental damage to another location, a common California tactic. Not to mention the extra trucking environmental costs to bring this imported lumber across the continent.

People had complained the loggers damaged the forest floor and harmed wildlife. The Spotted Owl was a poster child for the environment. California, to build the homes needed by its burgeoning population, switched to Canada as a provider of choice to build its homes.  In addition, prescribed burns for Southern California’s chaparral and grasslands, done in the semi-moist period of March-May, were stymied by environmental lawsuits and air quality concerns.

If you go back a few hundred years, large portions of California would burn until the winter rains came.  The Indian tribes have stories and legends of these fires.  There was nothing anybody could do about it except stay out of the way. And it will continue.

California’s oak and redwood trees adapted to these fires that occurred every 15-20 years. California has a stated 3.5-million-person housing shortage.   The homeless count is large and growing, the sanctuary state and city policies create a magnet, and a healthy economy has real workers wanting to move to California. 

Existing business and old time residents have Proposition 13 to assist them in staying in the state as new businesses and residents shoulder the costs. In addition in 1986 and 1996 respectively, California voters passed Propositions 58 and 193, which extended Prop 13 to exclude from reassessment property transfers between parents and children (58) and grandparents and grandchildren (193). So California has really pushed immigration in order to obtain funds to expand government services. This has created a quasi-feudal system taxes between old and new neighbors for a similar abode which are taxed differently. The new owner may pay taxes 10 times more than their next door neighbor, an old resident. Not quite “Equal Protection” under the law.

Under Prop-193, a grandparent can pass multiple rental properties to their heirs without a step up in basis. In a few more decades, this will become a much larger issue

California has a choice.  They can balk and complain about paying Tariffs for Canadian lumber to build houses, yet they don’t seem willing to gently and wisely harvest their own forests.

If they did build the number of houses needed, house values would fall, and impact the value of the higher priced houses, possibly causing California to have a tax shortage. But more houses would make up the lower house prices as demand would ease.

You can harvest the lumber wisely.  Or let it all eventually burn.

California might look at their new houses being built by California harvested wood as Carbon Banking.  In 2018 alone, it is estimated just California’s wild fires caused 50 million metric tons of CO2 into the atmosphere.  California’s environmentalist need to look at the macro-environment picture rather than the pretty forest floor in their backyard.

California’s present population is ~40 million.  In 2030 it is estimated to be ~44.1 million.  These new people and a lot of existing people will need a few million new homes.  Other materials than wood can and should be looked at.  But California needs to use some of its own wood.  It should try and avoid it being used up in fires.

California is ranked 49th out of 50, per capita in building homes. California is short 3.5 million houses. California politicians love to talk about high house prices. But, building material costs are high, (we can’t use Calif wood). And permit and other building fees are near the highest in the nation. They really try and import people.

The earth’s population at about 7 billion now, is expected to grow to 9.6 billion by 2050. California is a magnet for a lot of these people because of the jobs and great weather.

I live here because of the weather.

Last August the California legislature authorized $200m for more firefighting related expenditures. On Jan 8th, 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom had added an additional $170m for similar expenditures to his proposed budget.

But as of yet nobody in the state government is talking about managing the fuel load with fire breaks, forest floor management, and thinning of the trees.

A fire break in a forest. Although this is narrow and the tree’s are recovering. All is well. California could use more of these. What do you do with the wood, hmm, houses?? wikiCommons

PG&E today is being blamed for the Camp Fire. Their liability is being estimated at $30B which will bankrupt the company. Nobody is talking about the homeowners and business owners that created unsafe conditions that encouraged the fire to spread. Wood roofs, dense brush around homes, dry wood around the buildings. It’s easier to blame PG&E rather than your neighbor.

Some might say that PG&E is a victim of climate change. There has been discussion of burying power lines. Some have estimated this would cost $100B to do this. A lot of money. This would save money in the long run. But the rate payers would pay.

Many homes survived the Camp Fire. The factors they had in common were:

  • Having a fuel break around the house. No over-hanging trees, tree’s set back. No firewood storage near the house. Dry brush cleared away, 50-75 feet plus. Fuel breaks can be thinning of the brush under the trees as a secondary break.
  • Being built of combustion resistant materials. Non-wood roofing. Stucco outsides or cement based products
  • Fences or Walls made out of non-combustible materials. Californians seem to love walls or fences around their houses. Privacy breaks, walls, forests or fences should be combustible resistant.
  • Limited dry landscape material around the house. A good fire break, but with dry material around the house does not help if it’s windy on fire day!
  • Not being near a neighbor who didn’t follow the above practices.  This is key.  If PG&E had a fire start, the forest will burn, yes.  But in a town, it highly likely your neighbors and your fire prevention techniques will determine your outcome.
A home that survived a fire in a forest. Note the building materials. Non-combustible roof. Stucco walls. Lot’s of space around the house. The trees are set back. Green lawns, hmm, that suck water, also don’t burn. USDA photo

Hmm, this weeks Weekly Whiner is Donald Trump and we’ve barely mentioned him here.  He is what I would call a Butt-Head for his comments to withhold FEMA funds.    He is correct California should do more. 

Ask a Californian politician if they could manage the forest better, they will say, of course. But you will never get a California politician to admit blame for our past forest practices.

But FEMA is set up to assist people in these types of situations.  He shouldn’t withhold funds. Donald Trump would get more done if he was a kinder and gentler president.

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2019/01 Whiner of the Week – Chuck Schummer

This week’s Whiner of the Week is none other than Chuck Schumer.  At this time, January 11th, 2019, parts of the Federal government are in a partial shutdown condition because of a lack of the House, the Senate, and the President from coming to terms on a budget.

President Trump in his campaign speeches promised to build a wall for $25 billion dollars and have Mexico pay for this wall.  The $25B was an extraordinary amount as there is probably no need to stretch a wall from the Pacific to the Gulf of Mexico, a total of 1,954 miles.  And having Mexico pay for it was probably not going to happen. 

The Democrats have jumped on these two talking points with glee.  After all the President said he would, right?

Trump’s campaign promises to have Mexico pay for the wall, were really just campaign promises.  How many politicians have made campaign promises that they did not keep?  Surely the Democrats understand that what you promise in a campaign does not mean you need to keep your word… Trump is new this political game. He is still a Greenhorn.

Since then Trump has reduced the request to $5.6B dollars while the Dems are only offering $1.3B in “Border Security,” but not to be used on the fence or wall. $5.6B will only build about 200 miles of border. But the idea is to place this new wall in strategic locations to buttress the existing barriers.

Some have called the non-walled high-tech border security just “bells and whistles”.  Border Patrol would still have to respond to alarms and some have said it would be easy to keep the Boarder Patrol occupied with false alarms.  While one can joke about lasers zapping moving objects coming over the fence, no one is talking about this kind of high-tech security.

Small walls don’t seem to pose a challenge for these two ladies.

Trump is up against Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, both highly seasoned and partisan politicians each with a long history of “kicking the can down the road”.  They are ready to wait it out and have nothing to lose.   They are content with the Status Quo. Nancy has plans to step down and Chuck is from a non-border state that benefits greatly from under-the-table labor. They both have voted for border walls in the past and understand that in politics, being a Hypocrite is not always held against you.

Nancy Pelosi

Nancy Pelosi, now Speaker of the House, and representing California’s 12th district.  The 12th district, geographically, is the City of San Francisco.  San Francisco, basically her district, was called out by the United Nations on Oct 18th 2018, and Oakland, as the only two cities in the US that are part of a “global scandal”, that contain homeless encampments that are “cruel and inhumane”. 

Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House
Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House

San Francisco is a Sanctuary City that provides a number of measures to prevent illegal aliens from being reported to Immigration.  This allows them to compete with the homeless for housing, in effect, enlarging the homeless population. California’s state government has stated that California needs 3.5 million new housing units. Given the shortage of housing rents and costs are near the highest in the nation. More immigrants means more money for housing. If Nancy’s district is the one of the two worst areas in the US for taking care of people, how can she state, “Come one, come all, we shall shelter you from all of the cruelty in this world?”.

Chuck Schumer – A Weekly Whiner

Chuck Schumer, Senator from the State of New York and minority leader of the Senate, has also refused to budge.  Considerations upon solving DACA and reopening the government have not swayed him in his resolve against Trump.  Trump has been a controversial figure on the New York scene for years and support for Trump would cause him to lose tremendous face.  Recently Leticia James was elected to Attorney General for NYC. She is part of the hard left attempting to get rid of Trump thru any means. Her campaign video is brutal. This is what Trump faces every hour, of every day.

New York is not a border state, but it does receive an large influx of visitors thru its airports.  Travelers coming thru have been checked at their point of departures, and they are checked again at the airport by Pass Port Screeners.  The southern border states have no luxury of congenial official airport Pass Port Screeners along the border.  If we are to have open borders, do we still need Pass Port Screeners?

With the government shutdown numerous agencies are being shutdown.  TSA, which provides security for Airports, including New York’s La Guardia, have been reportedly experiencing a Blue Fever which is a large number of employees calling in sick, because of lack of pay. 

New York City, in 2007, was estimated to have over a half a million illegal and undocumented immigrants.  40 percent of these immigrants came from south of the US/Mexican border.  For example, 54% of the dishwashers in New York City are said to be illegally in the country.  The numbers, 12 years later, must be higher now.  Half of the carpenters also have the same status.   If they were all to pick up and leave, wages would have to rise a substantial amount in order to entice locals to pick up the slack.   And it is generally thought locals might not work as hard either.

Chuck Schumer has tremendous pressure from his constituents to keep things the way they are.  New York is already an expensive place to eat out and New Yorkers love their restaurants.   They also love their Nannies, Maids, Day Laborers, and Landscapers. Cost is one factor in a number of cases. No Social Security tax, no Medicare tax, no health insurance, and no minimum wage. Working conditions in a number of the jobs are more than the average American would tolerate. Chuck is reluctant to rock this boat.

Trumps campaign promise of a $25B Wall has now shrunk to a $5.6B fence constructed in strategic places, buttressing the existing fence or barrier.  You don’t hear Chuck arguing for tearing down existing portions of the “Immoral” fence.   Once again, whatever is the “Status Quo” is just fine.

Trump has also not done well in his presentation of the need.  On January 4th he held a press conference where he almost looked presidential.  ICE and Border Security were present and stated a fence was necessary and would help.  

Some have questioned how a more secure fence would help.  It certainly did not stop the recent caravans coming to seek asylum. The caravans are in a sense an answer to safety, as making your way across the desert to border entry points that have sparse patrols with minimal fencing.  A desert crossing can be unsafe for men and women. Because of the ease of entry at the points represents what might be termed an, “Attractive Nuisance“, which is a legal term that states maybe it’s too easy to cross the border. In 2014 National Geographic published an article about the “Busy Pipeline” of illegals . This article describes the “Rape Trees” where migrant girls are raped and killed by their coyotes. It also describes a Rancher, Hollek, who says, “He won’t eat hog caught south of Highway 285 because the chances of it having fed on a dead human being are too high”.

On the southern border, there have been many reported sightings of these Rape Trees.
On the southern border, there have been many reported sightings of these Rape Trees.

Trump needs to be a kinder and gentler president.   He still thinks he is in campaign mode, rather than executive mode.  He might find that if he were kinder, and did more explaining, he might make more headway.

If Barack Obama had wanted $5B for an additional 200 miles of partial fence, buttressing strategic areas of the borders, both Chuck and Nancy would most likely have bent over backwards to help.  They might have even helped Barack legalize the DACA issue.

Some of the non leadership Democrats, Jackie Speier’s for instance, have stated they would trade DACA for the border wall money. But the Democratic leadership team of Chuck and Nancy, and the far left of the party are not ready to budge.

Since the Democrats have taken over the house just recently, it looks like they are not in the mood to deal.   We may be headed for a news heavy next two years.   Trump needs to find a way to make Nancy and Chuck look like winners.

The Immigration problem is not going to go away. With free healthcare for all being discussed, a new magnet to America will soon be added as folks with health issues cross the border. It can be expensive to provide full healthcare for anyone who finds themselves within the US border but some think the US is ready for it.

But on the other hand, America needs the appropriate workers to succeed in the global marketplace. Our educational system does not produce the type of workers we need, hence, we look offshore for legal immigration thru the H1B visa program. Trump has talked about a path to citizenship for them.

California’s Imperial Beach
Border Guard guarding California’s Imperial Beach
Jim Acosta safely behind an Obama era wall.
Jim Acosta huddling behind a wall, reporting ironically there is no border emergency where he is standing. But, is that because a wall constructed during the Obama administration is protecting him?

Famous Quotes:

Chuck view today, and in 2009.
Chuck Schumer has changed his tune. He and New York do not get along with Trump. But in the past, under a different President. He had a different viewpoint. Nancy has also “Immorally” voted for a Wall in the Past.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, 2009: “People who enter the United States without our permission are illegal aliens and illegal aliens should not be treated the same as people who enter the U.S. legally. The American people will never accept immigration reform unless they truly believe that their government is committed to ending future illegal immigration.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 2008: “We do need to address the issue of immigration and the challenge we have of undocumented people in our country. We certainly do not want any more coming in.”

Barack Obama, 2005: “We simply cannot allow people to pour into the U.S. undocumented, undetected, unchecked, circumventing the people who are waiting patiently, diligently, lawfully to become immigrants in this country.”

Barack Obama, 2014: This short video shows him describing a “Border Crisis” regarding children being brought in. One must admit, he does look more presidential than Donald Trump.

Hillary Clinton, 2014: “I voted numerous times when I was a senator to spend money to build a barrier to try to prevent illegal immigrants from coming in and I do think you have to control your borders.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders, 2007: “I don’t know why we need millions of people to be coming into the country who will work for lower wages than American workers and drives wages down even lower than they are right now.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell: “The only things that have changed between then and now are the political winds, and of course, the occupant of the White House. So this is no newfound principled objection; it’s just political spite. A partisan tantrum being prioritized over the public interest.”

The last quote, when viewing the quotes preceding it, sums things up nicely.

German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, 2018-Nov-21 at a Konrad Adenauer Foundation event in Berlin: “Nation states must today be prepared to give up their sovereignty”. She also stated, “Ceding power to a superstate is a better form of patriotism.” For Germany this is the EU, for America, the UN.

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2018/43 Whiner of the Week – Donald Trump

Donald Trump - wikiCommons
2018-Week 43 - Donald Trump - FBI Headquarters needs to stay put?

This weeks Weekly Whiner is none other than Donald Trump. The FBI has been trying to get a new headquarters to replace the aging (J Edgar) Hoover Building, built in 1971, on Pennsylvania Avenue. About four blocks east of the White House. And about a block away, across the street, kitty-korner, from the Trump International Hotel which is located in the Old Post Office building.

A lot of good controversy in the total story here for folks with ATDS (Acquired Trump Derangement Syndrome).  But, my main issue is the following.

What is the Big Deal?

Having so many FBI members in one place, and in DC is akin to US Navy on Dec 7, 1941 having just about every battle ship in port.  Lined up in a nice pretty row and just waiting to be sunk.

USS Virgina burns on Dec 7, 1941 in Pearl Harbor. It would be bad to see 80% of the FBI assets taken out in one juicy strike at the heart of DC.

 

Pearl Harbor, Dec 7, 1941, USS Virginia burning along “Battleship Row”. Clustering all your assets in one place is DUMB. (Photo Courtesy of WikiCommons)

Our premier police agency deserves and needs to be more geographically distributed.   One cheap and easy to smuggle in Nuclear Device. As in the style of one of my favorite movies, True Lies, encased in lead, in the back of a rental truck, is all it would take to bring DC down.  And with it our cadre of well trained and experienced FBI agents.

Something also tells me it would also be cheaper in other parts of the country to pay and house these agents.  And have them be quickly available when issues pop up around the country.   With modern technology, they could still easily communicate and work as a team. The total team, their data centers, and their equipment, needs to be distributed.

I always look at fondness at the US Government Printing
Office in Pueblo, Colorado. 

Would Trump, if he knew about this Printing Office, want to
give them a central office building in DC to consolidate all in one location? 

More of the US government should be scattered about the
country as both a cost saving measure, to spread the wealth and knowledge of
the Federal Workers across the land, and to prevent one singular terrorist
disaster from taking out our FBI, and other key government agencies.

Of course, the FBI should maintain a presence in DC, but 11,000 agents?  If they must fly to San Francisco, California they need five hours of air time.  Why not put some of them in Kansas?

As discussions and funding to replace the building have occurred, there have been calls to distribute the FBI employee load to multiple locations.  This is one way to drain the swamp.  But Trump has acted like the little Dutch Boy using his finger in the dike to plug the leak.

Little Dutch Boy Plugging a Dike. Trump does not want any workers to work other then in DC? The Education Dept can live in DC. But, why put almost all of our experienced workers there?

 

The Little Dutch Boy, true or not, a good analogy for someone trying to boost DC employment rather then distributing workers around the country spreading the pie. (Photo Courtesy of wikiCommons)

The Story: 

An easy to read timeline exists below in this article.  But in Nov/2011, the GSA started a study to find a way to replace the Hoover Building.  After millions of dollars and hours of research they came up with three other places, in the suburbs.  Meanwhile, Trump, before he announced his candidacy, expressed interest in the site for a hotel, and acquired the Old Post Office across the street from the Hoover Building.  Donald Trump becomes president, dismisses Comey, the head of the FBI, and starts to take a bit too much interest in the study.  The study gets cancelled in Jul/2017.

Old Post Office Building in Washington DC, 2012. In this year the GSA stated it would entertain 3rd party proposals for the property. 2013/Aug - A Trump LLC leased the property. 22 Months later in 2015/Jun, Trump announced his candidacy for the presidency. He was swore in in 2017/Jan. Making the lease validity open to interpretation.

 

The Old Post Office Building in Washing DC, in 2012, before it became the Trump International Hotel – Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net)

Trump appears to favor instead replacing the existing
building with a new building and moving some of the agents to Quantico,
Virginia where the FBI has an existing training facility.

FBI Headquarters, built in 1971. The GSA in their first plan wanted to demo the building, offer it to another developer, and re-create a monolithic FBI HQ in a nearnby suburb. Some have said Trump is afraid of a competitor to his Trump International Hotel across the street.

 

FBI Headquarters, built in 1971, the controversy is to build on this site, or in 3 other locations the GSA determined are best. WikiCommons

Critics of Trump have these issues (related to the Hoover Building):

  1. The lease of the Old Post Office could be illegal as he is now an elected official. However the GSA ruled in Mar/2017, with the new legal setup, the lease is still valid.   Trump doesn’t benefit as today, legally, he is not the owner, but after he leaves office, he could.
  2. Some have said his hotel would get more valuable business if the building was replaced rather then picking another location per the original studies recommendations.
  3. Some have also said Trump fears another Hotel chain may acquire the Hoover building and present competition to his “Trump International Hotel”
  4. The swamp was going to be partially drained, as some 2300 FBI agents would have transferred to other parts of the country.  But, Trump in his zeal, is preventing a distributed deployment of agents across the country.  More agents should be distributed across the country.  Even in what [tooltips keyword=”Blue Coasters” content=”Blue Coasters are the culturally elite members of the Illuminati that regard middle America as flyover states.”] call the flyover states.

Ideally the FBI could have a small office in DC, where the center of government presently is.  But, could more of the FBI be more evenly distributed about the country?   If Trump really wanted to drain the swamp he could have asked that the FBI Headquarters be distributed and, located in another area of the country.

Trump instead appears to favor instead replacing the existing building with a new building, protecting his existing hotel from competition?, and moving some of the agents to Quantico, Virginia where the FBI has an existing training facility.

For years the GSA had told both the Bush and Obama administrations that the Edgar J. Hoover building needed to be replaced and a new secure site was required in suburban DC to consolidate 11,000 FBI employees on one site.

Trump has failed to even try and drain the swamp in this
case.  Here he has an opportunity.  And instead he wants to fertilize the swamp.

His naysayers are crying over spilt-milk regarding his lease as it occurred long before his candidacy.  They do have a case if he is trying to prevent another hotel chain from competing with his hotel in the old post office.

FBI
Headquarters Timeline

2018-Dec-04 – With the House in Democratic hands, the new head of the House Oversight Committee US Representative Gerald Connolly announced he would lead an inquiry into the cancellation of the original study recommendations.

2018-Feb-12 – Asst Attorney General Lee Lofthus announces a plan to build a modern and secure building across the street from the (J. Edgar) Hoover Building.  Instead of 11,000 agents on this site.  2,300 to be split out to Huntsville, Alabama for explosive analysis  Pocotel, Idaho would receive the a data center,  Clarksburg, West Virginia, would receive Criminal Justice, data center, and Biometrics.  Leaving 10,000 at the original site.

2018-Aug-27 – An Inspector
General report shows Donald Trump was more involved in the decisions to
scrap plans to move to either Maryland or Virginia.

2018-Jan-24 – Two meetings are held about the FBI
project.  The first in Chief of Staff
John Kelly’s office.  The second in the
Oval Office confirming an Inspector General report about Trump’s intervention.   Trump appears to care about the FBI
headquarter location.

2017-Jul-10 – The FBI Headquarters search is cancelled.  It had started in Nov of 2011.  Prior to the cancellation the locations under
consideration were; Greenbelt Maryland, Landover Maryland, or Springfield
Virginia.

2017-May-19 – FBI Director, James Comey is dismissed.

2017-Mar-23 – The GSA issues a report stating the President’s Lease is legal.  The lease does contain a clause; “No member or delegate to Congress, or elected official of the Government of the United States … shall be admitted to any share or part of this Lease.”

2015-Jun-16 – Donald Trump Announces his campaign for
President

2014-Jul-23 – Groundbreaking of the Trump International
Hotel occurs.

2014-Mar-03 – The “Trump Old Post Office Building LLC”,
consumates a Lease
with the GSA to lease the space at

2013-Aug-05 – The “Trump Old Post Office LLC”, creates the first
ground lease with the GSA.   This is
22 months before Trump’s announcement to run as a candidate for the Presidency.

2012-Dec-03 – GSA states it would entertain proposals to
swap the Hoover building for larger parcel outside of the city.

2011-Nov – GSA Starts a study to find a new location to
replace the (J. Edgar) Hoover FBI building.

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