Monday, July 30, 2018

Heading Back . . . if the World Doesn't End, That is . . .

Almost finished with my current stay in California. Tomorrow we head back to civilization, AKA North Carolina. Gotta see my dogs, Jeeps, and guns, and not to mention get some real BBQ. Today, however,  is another long marathon of lawyers, brokers, etc.

OK. No more whining. I am starting to sound like the editor of the New York Times.

Can you believe that guy? Please, Mr. President, stop calling us names and telling people we are promoters of the Fake. Please. Maybe you should stop being promoters of the Fake? How about that for a thought? The NYT and its cohorts have accused this President, on the basis of no evidence, of being a racist, xenophobe, anti-Semite, who has sold out the country to Russia, pushing us to the verge of a nuclear war with North Korea and Iran, and embroiling us in a "trade war" we cannot win--note to NYT, et al, up to now it's been a one-way "war" against us. They have derided his economic policies, refusing to recognize what is actually happening out in the real world of real Americans, to wit, jobs, rising wages, lower taxes, fewer regulations, industries being reborn, etc.

OK, off to see a man about a (tax) plan.

16 comments:

  1. What's funny, is Trump may have gotten recordings from Cohen, of Cohen speaking to reporters about Trump...

    Hat tip Conservative Treehouse.

    ReplyDelete
  2. All with ya.. but I don't know about this latest Iran thing... the concept of Trump sitting down with Rouhani is just anathema to me.... if Trump's going to meet with Iran, it's Khamenei or nothing.... what's the point in meeting with someone with no real power? What's he going to do, offer a deal to Rouhani where the US off's khamenei? Nothing about this makes sense.
    I don't get it, I'm pretty sure Bolton is either going to nix this or leave.

    - reader #1482

    ReplyDelete
  3. I believe that Andrew Klavan has pretty well captured the Trump presidential "style."

    "Negotiation is movement. The truth is not in any given moment, it's in the whole process, beginning to end."

    Read the whole thing:

    https://pjmedia.com/andrewklavan/trump-negotiates-the-press-lies/

    ReplyDelete
  4. Why no, I'm not sick of winning!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I am reasonably sure that our Founding Fathers did not mean that Freedom of the Press equated to Supremency of the Press ...

    ReplyDelete
  6. I just don't get what has happened in America.... when our clandestine services say they've found evidence of 'russians hacking the elections', their response is to go public with that information? How does anybody justify that?
    I mean... the absolutely most basic application of operational security would mandate no disclosure of even any suspicions of such a thing happening.

    One lefty friend was trying to explain it all to me: "If you knew your neighbor broke into your house while you were away, would it not matter which neighbor it was?" well.. if it *mattered*, I certainly wouldn't go about telling everybody that I thought my neighbor broke into my house. I wouldn't say anything to anybody, and I'd pretend nothing had happened, or nothing that I'd noticed.
    Of course.... that's not what happened.. because people had money to lose on that election... so into the media it goes.

    - reader #1482

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not so sure I agree with you on this, 1482. How are we to secure our elections if nobody will let on that they might have been hacked?
      Still, this whole Russia thing is a tempest in an espressocup, because there is zero evidence that the Russkies managed to change or falsify even a single vote. The Democrats rigged or bought thousands of votes and no lefties seem to care one bit.

      Delete
    2. The goal is to establish the definition of a rigged election:
      meaning, one that Democrats lost.

      Delete
    3. If goons and script kiddies are trying to mess with our elections, there should be mysterious deaths getting reported here and there, and no mass hysteria.
      I'd also move that budget over to converting everybody back to manual voting.
      At least, I'd suspect that's how I'd deal with it.

      - reader #1482

      Delete
  7. And Trump's reply:
    https://youtu.be/O8RhZDGLEXM

    ReplyDelete
  8. If the elections need better security (according to the left) let them keep arguing against voter IDs.

    ReplyDelete
  9. While we wait for our proprietor to return to duty, I am wondering if anyone watched (or has any comments on) the Channel 4 (UK) show "Inside the American Embassy."

    Before I go into it, for those who want to watch, a vpn with a UK exit point will allow one to watch the last couple of shows (either online or with their app). To find the earlier ones online search for the title along with "s01e01" and "gti" (the uploader). I don't claim that obtaining videos of the show is legal. :)

    I would not call the show a hit piece (although they do refer to President Trump as "controversial" and "divisive"). The show does have an "inside the sausage factory" feel, and I did find it quite interesting.

    The first episode (about the ambassador) includes plenty of scenes discussing the hiring of pollsters to survey attitudes toward the United States, and prepping the Ambassador for questions from the press.

    The second episode covers Consular Services, and of course there are stories of an Iranian grandmother who has visited her children in the U.S. every year, but is now out of luck with the new visa policy. I was a bit surprised about a couple of people with criminal records who obtained visas, and also one person who didn't (he claimed he wanted to go to Las Vegas with his brother to celebrate his bitcoin profits, leaving his wife and child in the U.K., but he didn't have a regular job, and was declined for inadequate ties). They also cover a renunciation (a woman apparently doing it simply as a protest against Trump).

    The third episode covers the promotion of American businesses (including arms sales, and in particular a late and over budget aircraft), and the fourth (only a half-hour, and apparently not part of the original plan and added at the last minute) details the preparations for Trump's visit last month.

    Any insights on the show or the people (maybe readers know some of the personnel shown) are welcome.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Forgot to mention that one of the most interesting (to me) revelations was that there was an in-house psychiatrist to support the staff (he seemed to have the highest level of concern about the Consular Officers).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm a former consular officer and would love to see this series but alas, only the last episode is available for me to play. Interestingly, at none of my posts did we have a staff psychiatrist. At times, we could have used one in Manila! I was there 92-94 and it was then the largest US embassy in the world, with the largest consular operation.

      Delete
    2. Manila was stressful in a number of ways. The Philippines, a former US colony, did have a veneer of "westernism", but it truly wasn't western in any way, shape or form. Very fatalistic, very reactive, not much planning for the future -- having a population that is overwhelmingly poor with a relatively small upper crust (the morally repugnant elite or MRE) and a slightly larger middle class. We got used to being lied to every day, all day. Some lies were little and insignificant, others were bigger and very significant. You did have to get yourself into the mind set of "ok, I am going to refuse most of the people who apply for non-immigrant visas today." regardless of personal feelings.

      Delete
  11. As mentioned before here.. they first come for the words:
    http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-chicago-shootings-violence-20180804-story.html

    Note, *no* mention of gangs or organized crime in the entire article.
    It's just "a bunch of people shooting a bunch of other people, who may or may not have any knowledge of themselves or each other.

    - reader #1482

    ReplyDelete