One Year of President Trump

President Trump has just completed his first year in office. On January 30 he’ll be giving his State of the Union Address. If you’ve been watching ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, MSNBC, you would think that this country is  coming  to an end by Feb. 15 and that Trump will be going to jail for dealing with Russians. Proof doesn’t matter. The truth doesn’t matter. If it did, Hillary would not have been able to run for President (inmates are not permitted to hold office in most states), let alone take her excuse laden losers tour of the world last year.

Those so called news networks listed above have spent over 90% of the last year guessing about who in Trumps campaign or administration plotted with the Russians and ignored when evidence started showing Hillary might be involved.

Rather than look strictly at the negative, let’s look at some of the positive things.

Think back to election day. Nobody gave Trump a chance. The only question in the media was what time the election would be called. All the polls had Hillary winning the election. Around 9:00 that night, the southeast was coming in. Florida, the Carolinas, went for Trump. Georgia came in later, also for Trump. Hillary was expected to take Virginia but it remained too close to call for a very long time.

The talk became about how Hillary had her wall built up. It was expected she’d take the Northeast (although New Hampshire surprised by being so close) and she’d have her wall of protection with Pennsylvania, probably Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. The only one Trump didn’t get was Minnesota.

If you look at the completed map, everything was blue in the Northeast and the west. The exceptions were one half of Maine and Alaska. Between the two coasts, everything is red. There are four exceptions to this. Illinois, Minnesota, Colorado, and New Mexico. A total of 44 Electoral votes. The bulk of the population is in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and their suburbs. New York has 29 Electoral votes. California has 55. Florida has 29 but their population is spread throughout the state and Texas has 38 votes. So, Hillary getting more votes than Trump means nothing under our system. It only means that those on the coasts where the bulk of the population is crammed together in tight areas she has their support but the rest of the country doesn’t and didn’t trust nor support her.

If you look up the interactive maps online, you can place your mouse over a state and it will show you a breakdown by county. The big cities in the states are pretty much owned by the liberals but each state in the heart of the country supports trump outside the big cities.

Just a bit after 2:00 it was only a matter of them calling one more state for Trump. They had the stock futures (since the market was closed at 2:00 am). It was up about 150 points. Then it was announced Trump had won. The market took an immediate dive and by 2:30 the market was down 600 points. Then President-Elect Trump and VP Elect Pence came out. By 2:45 am the market was back up over 200 points and still climbing. On election day the dow was at 18,332.74. Today it’s at 26,071.72. That’s 8,000 in just over a year! A week or so ago it grew by 1,000 in one week! Now we’re starting to hear questions about whether it’s sustainable or if a correction or crash is coming.

The economy has not reached 2% growth in any of the last eight years of Obama. In the first year of Trump, it’s already grown by more than 3.2%!

So what caused the markets to increase? Trump is very positive when talking about Americans going back to work. Companies started changing their plans about leaving the country and those that had left are making plans for a return. Trump also scaled back on unnecessary and/or redundant regulations. He made the work environment in this country more palatable for companies to hire. This makes businesses want to do more in this country. To invest more. To hire more. That makes Wall Street happy because they will make money as well. All make the economy grow.

There are some things that I believe President Trump has made a few mistakes, but the press and the Congress have been mistaken about Trump, in my opinion.

Trump has always been a businessman and took that to DC with him. But the way the Senate and House work with their traditions, it’s hard to break some of those traditions. The most obvious being the 60 votes for cloture.

Congress and the press don’t like change. They want Trump to be a clone of Bush (both father and son) and Reagan. They don’t want someone making waves. Congress has learned to say the right things when they are campaigning but once elected, they go back to the same old ways. Trump hasn’t figured out how to get those changes using the traditions against the Congress.

After failing at repealing health care, Trump learned what Congress hasn’t. There is more than one way to get things done. They could make changes to their bill and try to pass those. When Congress couldn’t get those done, Trump began working on putting out his tax plan. The tax plan ran through the Congress quickly. Very quickly for them. Included in the tax cut was a repeal of the mandate (elimination of the requirement to pay a penalty if you don’t buy Obamacare) and also included in the tax bill was  the opening of ANWAR for oil drilling.

They’ve been trying to get ANWAR opened since Reagan was President. He hasn’t been President since 1988. 30 years ago!

Those tax cuts are going to start being noticed in pay checks in the next week or two. You will have more money in your hands. More to spend on food, clothes or savings. Or a little towards all three. Oh, and by the way, TAX CUTS DO NOT NEED TO BE PAID FOR!!!!  The government will have more revenue due to the tax cuts and they should decrease their spending and paying down the debt and deficits. However,if the Democrats takebac the House this year, they won’t be paying down the debt.

Notice what the Democrats said. “It’s a giveaway to the rich”, “the corporations”.”Businesses won’t give it to the people.” But guess what actually happened. Before even seeing one dime from the tax cuts, several companies gave out $1,000 bonuses to their employees.

The business tax has been reduced from 35% to 21%. This has the effect of more businesses that left here in recent years, now wanting to come home. The rich getting a tax cut. If you make $1,000,000 and you pay 10% tax, you’ll pay $100,000. If you make $50,000 and pay 10% you’ll pay $5,000. Who pays more? Both are paying 10% so while the dollar amounts are different the percentage paid is the same. The only difference is that the rich will pay a higher percentage (meaning higher dollar amount as well) than the middle class man/woman.

The people complaining about the rich getting tax cuts never seem to answer the question “when have you ever gotten a job from a poor person?”

Tonight is President Trumps first State of the Union speech. I anticipate an upbeat speech with a look back at his successes this past year and his positive vision for the next year. The press will be negative once the speech is over.

You’re welcome to comment,

Brett

Impeachment again?

We probably shouldn’t be surprised that impeachment is being brought up. The hatred for President Trump from the media and from the liberals is unmistakable. However, the lack of sense coming from the liberals, the media and even many of the GOP is mind boggling.

By the way, impeachment is for high crimes and misdemeanors. But misdemeanors does not mean a law is broken. Misdemeanors also means lack of morality among other things. More on this another time. 

James Comey Fired

Let’s start with the firing of James Comey. The only surprise is that it took so long to get rid of him. James Comey has been the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Notice the title. Especially the last word in that title. “Investigation”. It is not the Federal Bureau of Prosecution.

Last July, Comey held a press conference. He spent approximately 15 minutes laying out what they had discovered about Hillary Clinton’s E-mails and server. He listed all of the things that she’d said to the American people over the months leading up to that day  that weren’t true. By the end of his comments, many were certain that he was going to recommend prosecution. But then he said he knew of nobody that would prosecute this case. It didn’t meet the level for prosecution, according to him.

Remember why he put himself in the position of laying that out publicly. Attorney General Loretta Lynch had recently met with former President Bill Clinton, husband of Hillary Clinton candidate for President, on a plane privately. This caused a serious lack of trust that Lynch would prosecute from her own party.

This was not what he should have done,. He should have turned it over to a Senate Committee, or a House Committee, and to the Deputy Attorney General, which is the person he is supposed to report.

Due to his deciding whether or not to recommend whether or not to prosecute, he should have been terminated at that time. When he brought it back on October 28, 2016 saying that agents had found more E-mails from the Clinton server that were on Anthony Weiners (husband to Huma Abidin, assistant to Hillary Clinton ) computer, and announced it, he should have been fired again.

The Tape Comment

In an  interview with Lester Holt, President Trump said that Comey asked for a dinner and then there were two phone conversations. During one of the phone conversations, Trump said “I don’t know if you can even tell me, but if you can, am I under investigation?” Comey, according to Trump, said no.

Comey denied that later. To which Trump responded, “Comey should hope that there isn’t a tape of their conversation. This set off a fire storm and congress started saying they wanted those tapes.

Let’s think back to what the media had reported. Supposedly, Trump was upset with Comey because when Comey was asked about Trump saying he had been wire tapped, and Comey said he didn’t see it as viable.

Maybe I’m the only one that saw the correlation here, but when Trump said “better hope there isn’t a tape” of he and Comey, I saw it as a comment about Comey not taking Trumps wiretap comment seriously earlier this year. Meaning that whomever was taping Trump at Trump Tower might be taping phone conversations at the White House.

The media

The media never hesitates to question President Trump. But they never question Comey’s veracity. They never question the Democrats on their positions. But they have no problem changing the quotes from Trump.

They also claim to have “sources” but nobody is ever named as that source. One of their favorite comments are “according to my reporting”. Lately, they come out with comments that they say comes from a source, but never identify their sources. This is convenient.  They can claim anything they choose and attribute it to a “source” but never name the source.

They also claim that there is no and was no chaos at the FBI. However, last July there were many reports about FBI agents that were very upset that Comey decided not to prosecute Hillary.

The GOP

The GOP is the most disappointing group of people. They have gone silent in these latest attacks on President Trump. They don’t follow through on their promises about Health Care nor on Tax reform. They make excuses for why it can’t be done or that it can’t be done before the end of summer. The GOP is in charge of the House, the Senate and the White House. Not getting this done only shows they are impotent!

Think back to when Obamacare passed. The Democrats, and Obama shut the GOP out. They didn’t need them. The rammed it through. But then, Senator Kennedy died before the vote. So they had to vote on the House bill without any changes, or the new Senator, Scott Brown, would be the vote to end Obamacare in it’s tracks.

The GOP couldn’t even get Obamacare repealed and had to work deals to get it finally done in April and sent to the Senate. But the Senate isn’t even looking at it. They decided to create their own. The GOP can’t get along with themselves!

Everyone was saying that the Democrats were set way back following the election and didn’t have much hope for the 2018 elections let alone 2020. The GOP should have put them away with their health care repeal (that they haven’t yet done) and with tax reform ( also not yet done). The Democrats are still up and kicking because of some members of the GOP. Such as Senator John McCain from Arizona who is constantly going on the news programs and saying how Trump is always wrong, incoherent, or inexperienced. Such as Representative Justin Amash from Michigan who is now calling for a special prosecutor and even said he believes Trumps latest are enough to impeach him.

For Amash to call for a special prosecutor and bring up impeachment, he might as well have told the Democrats, you’re back on the playing field. Not because of their policies or beliefs but because Amash has legitimized them.

Special Prosecutor

If a special prosecutor is named to investigate, we’re in for years of investigations that may or may not have to do with Russia, Comey, or Trumps people. If you’re a Democrat, do you want Kenneth Starr investigating you? Clinton wouldn’t want that again. He started off with  Whitewater and ended up involved in Vince Fosters death, travelgate, Paula Jones and discovered the Monica Lewinsky situation.

Or let’s go back a bit further. Lawrence Walsh investigating George H. W. Bush, He brought indictments of some of Bush’s people but was told the indictments weren’t legitimate. So he waited until 5 days before the election and re-indicted them. Those too were also thrown out but the damage was done and Clinton was elected.

It’s not an independent investigator as the Democrats claim. It’s the salvation of the Democrat party. Is there anything else the GOP would like to do to help the Democrats?

What should President Trump do?

First thing is that there are a tremendous number of leaks. Trump should fire any remaining Democrat. He’s fired Sally Yates, and even fired the White House usher (a Hillary supporter). He ought to fire the rest of them in his administration. Including deputy attorney general McCabe.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions should stop recusing himself from different investigations. If he can’t do the job, resign. Otherwise, do the job you were chosen to do.

President Trump also needs to work on getting the Republicans to pass these initiatives of his and once they have gone through one house or the other, he should hit the road, hold his rallies and sell what he’s just fought for. The people are behind him and he excels at talking with the people. He should use that.

Trump also should know that the press is not his friend. Cut out the daily press conferences. Let them earn their living rather than handing them news. Do not respond to anonymous source stories. Don’t give them any credence at all.

Might as well start up the legal defense fund for all of those that will be investigated. The Clintons did it and they are the masters of raising money for illegal activities.

I don’t think President Trump needs my suggestions, nor any one elses other than those he hires for that purpose, but if the media can say how Trump doesn’t know how to run the government because it’s different than Obama did, then I think your advice, my advice and even advice from people that can’t read is just as viable as the media.

You’re welcome to comment.

Brett

US Senate is an Embarrassment

The United States Senate created negative history and reduced the prestige of the Senate forever by filibustering the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch over partisan politics.

This has been building for a few years. Originally, when the Congress was created, the founding fathers decided on a House of Representatives which is determined by population of each state. A state is divided into districts and each district has a representative. There are 435 seats. States with a higher population have more representatives and those with lesser populations have fewer representatives. They are elected to two year terms.

The Senate was created for equal representation for the states. So each state was given two Senate seats. So while the House of Representatives is supposed to represent the people based on districts in each state, the Senate is supposed to represent their state with two senators. They are elected to six year terms and the terms are staggered. So one state will not have both senators up for election at the same time. This was to produce continuity in the Senate.

The Senate has been considered a more deliberative body. It was to be prestigious. It has longer terms, it’s a smaller group and it’s constituency is an entire state. This has been considered historically to have led to a less partisan tone. It’s also thought to have been more collegial despite the differences. While the House can be thoughtful, it operates almost as a free for all because there are so many members and therefore must be limited in speech time on the floor of the house, the Senate having less members have the ability to speak for longer periods, and in a more organized as well as friendly manner even in disagreements.

One of the responsibilities of the Senate is to have the responsibility of advice and consent to appointees of the President. This stands out more when it concerns the Supreme Court of the United States.

Since 1789, there have been 161 Supreme Court nominations. 124 have been confirmed. Of the 37 not confirmed, 11 were rejected in roll call votes. The rest have been withdrawn by the President, tabled, postponed or never voted on by the Senate, including current nominee, Judge Neil Gorsuch.

There is a sequence of events that set off this round that began in 1992. Vice President Joe Biden as a Senator in June 1992, and Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, got on the Senate floor and gave a 90 minute address. In that speech he said that there should be no action on Supreme Court vacancies in an election year. Biden said President Bush “should not name a nominee until after the election in November.” He said  “the Senate Judiciary Committee should seriously consider not scheduling confirmation hearings on the nomination until after the political campaign season is over.”

“Senate consideration of a nominee under these circumstances is not fair to the president, to the nominee, or to the Senate itself, where the nation should be treated to a consideration of constitutional philosophy, all it will get in such circumstances is partisan bickering and political posturing from both parties and from both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.” Notice he mentions the President, the nominee and the Senate, but does not mention the people.

Twenty four years later there is a vacancy not only in the year of an election but in the final 11 months of a presidency, of which Biden is the Vice President, Justice Antonin Scalia died on February 13, 2016 leaving a vacancy on the court.

In November 2013 the Democrats, who were losing seats in the House, the Senate and across country in state and local elections, were facing judicial appointments below the Supreme Court level that they couldn’t get past the Republicans due the filibuster rule. This has been a problem for many years. The party out of power holds up judicial appointments. So the Democrats answer was to eliminate the filibuster for judicial appointments but did not include the Supreme Court. Despite excluding the Supreme Court it was still a drastic change from history.

 The Republicans, in the majority in the Senate said that they would not take up a Supreme Court nominee before the election citing Joe Biden from that 1992 statement on the floor of the Senate. On March 16, 2016 Merrick Garland was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Obama. Vice President Biden chose to change his position from 1992 now that the situation he talked about twenty four years earlier now came to pass while his party would be on the other side.

The Republicans did exactly as they said they would do. They did not hold hearings in the Judiciary committee and naturally, it didn’t reach the full Senate for a vote. This is part of giving advice and consent on a nominee. They followed the advice of Joe Biden from 1992 when he was a Senator. Less than 8 months after Obama nominated Garland, we had an election.

Garland was considered a moderate. It was also speculated that Garland was chosen to make it harder for Republicans to reject him. So even the nomination would be political to make delaying it difficult for the Republicans. Imagine if Hillary would have won the election. The Republicans could then start the hearings on November 9 after the election. The Democrats would likely say that they should wait until after the inauguration and let Hillary choose her nominee. If the Republicans refused, which they likely would, Obama could then remove Garland’s nomination and not nominate another leaving it to Hillary to nominate someone.

All of these possible scenarios and then Trump won the election. Now the Democrats, for the first time in history filibustered a nominee to the Supreme Court. So the Republicans did as Harry Reid did and removed the filibuster from Supreme Court nominees also known as the nuclear option.

All of these games don’t sound like a house of congress that is supposed to a more deliberate body that is less contentious. These games, and you can choose which to blame, or blame both, make the Senate look like a play pen full of toddlers. The United States Senate has become an embarrassment.

You’re welcome to comment.

Brett

GOP Health Care Debacle

The GOP worked on a plan for health insurance to replace the Affordable Care Act known as Obamacare. They didn’t repeal Obamacare and they didn’t replace it with anything new.

There are reasons why they’ve been promising to repeal Obamacare. The first reason was because it was the government requiring American’s to buy a product that they may not need. For instance, when Obamacare came into existence, I was 53 years old. It required that I have coverage for having a baby. I am unaware of any man in history being pregnant. I’m not married so there is no fertile wife to cover and I’m not going to get pregnant, but even if I did I wouldn’t need the pregnancy coverage because I’d make so much money being a male that gets pregnant that I could pay cash for anything I did.

I’m sure you also all remember that Jonathan Gruber who is the architect of Obamacare was caught on tape about the entire thing being a lie that they’d get away with because the American people were basically stupid. Of course, there’s the ones we always hear about. If you like your doctor you can keep your doctor, or if you like your plan, you can keep your plan. Both proven untrue.

The reason that more people have coverage now that didn’t have it before is because the government requires all to buy insurance or pay a penalty. Since the government pays for the bulk of the premiums for those that could never afford it before, it’s easy for them to have coverage. Of course, the premiums are paid from taxes collected which means we’re all buying their coverage.

However, just because they have the coverage, doesn’t mean they get care. Their deductibles are $6,000, or $8,000 or $10,000 before their coverage kicks in. So their premiums are paid by us and they can’t afford the deductible so while they have the coverage, they can’t use it because they can’t afford the deductible. Remember the report that came out recently saying that most barely had $1,000 saved? If you don't have the amount needed to pay the deductible, what good does it do to have the health care? You have a policy but you can't do anything with it. Of course, since others are paying for it, it doesn't hurt them at all. 

The Obamacare plan had obstacles mentioned here before. The passing of Senator Kennedy and subsequent election of Scott Brown to that seat, but also a group of pro-life Democrats led by Michigan Congressman Bart Stupak who didn’t want Obamacare funding abortion. An executive order signed by Obama removed that obstacle and the law was passed and signed.

If the GOP really wants to repeal Obamacare, they need to first lay out their objectives. If I were a Congressman, I would not agree to sign any bill that requires Americans to buy anything, nor to pay a penalty for not buying. That only removes freedoms. They should also allow companies to sell across state lines. Remove the restrictions on borders and competition will be opened up which will lower costs.

They can repeal Obamacare effective by a certain date. For instance, they could say that nobody loses coverage for one year. They have one year to get coverage somewhere else and they are guaranteed to get the coverage if they have coverage now.

That would give the insurance companies one year to create plans. If they create plans within 6 months, you could change your plan to a new one as soon as it’s made available or you can take until that last minute to change if you like. But Obamacare would end on a certain date and it’s up to the people to get their coverage in the time frame given.

Once they’ve laid out their plan, make it public so that we can see it before they vote on it. We can then give our feedback and they can make any adjustments if needed.

There is one other thing that the Republicans need to learn and learn fast. While these things are in the planning stage, they should shut up. Senator Rand Paul, Senator John McCain and Representative Justin Amash have not been an asset to the GOP nor themselves. Rand Paul has been claiming he’d not vote for it before it even got on paper. McCain is a special case. He mouths off on anything and everything without knowing everything there is to know. Justin Amash has nothing to say except being negative. You only hear his name when he’s complaining. The GOP doesn’t need these bad apples mouthing off to the press each time the media turns the lights anywhere near them.

McCain in particular is acting like he did when Bush was President. I wonder how long before people start wondering if he’s going to change parties as he nearly did when Bush was President.

The GOP needs to get its act together and start taking charge and quit worrying about the media. The media will never be a friend to them. They should quit hoping and take charge of their message that they want to get out and not allow the media to talk over them.

They seem to have just given up on health care now. If they think that giving up is going to help them, they’re very wrong. They made a promise to repeal Obamacare, they’d better do it. It’s not going to get any easier with them moving as they say to tax reform. I guarantee you that the press is going to be badgering them about how they will “pay for the tax cuts”. Tax cuts don’t need to be paid for. Tax cuts create more economic activity which increases income to the various entities and people, which will increase the taxes coming in even at the lower rates. But they’ll likely get sucked into that because they aren’t taking charge of the issue.

You’re welcome to comment.

Brett

President Trumps First Week

President Donald Trump came to Washington to work and he’s done just that. It’s been said that he doesn’t sleep much or that he doesn’t need much sleep. It’s appearing to be true. He promised to undo President Obama’s executive orders and he seems to be doing so. Trump has seemingly done more work in the first week than any other president has done.

The press looked at each thing he’s done and said and tried to find something wrong with everything. A common phrase is that he’s not learned to govern yet. Following is a list of executive orders he’s signed in the first week.

1.    Multi-pronged orders on border security and immigration enforcement including: the authorization of a U.S.-Mexico border wall; the stripping of federal grant money to sanctuary cities; hiring 5,000 more Border Patrol agents; ending “catch-and-release” policies for illegal immigrants; and reinstating local and state immigration enforcement partnerships.

2.    Two orders reviving the Keystone XL pipeline and Dakota Access pipelines. He also signed three other related orders that would: expedite the environmental permitting process for infrastructure projects related to the pipelines; direct the Commerce Department to streamline the manufacturing permitting process; and give the Commerce Department 180 days to maximize the use of U.S. steel in the pipeline.

  

3.    An order to reinstate the so-called "Mexico City Policy" – a ban on federal funds to international groups that perform abortions or lobby to legalize or promote abortion. The policy was instituted in 1984 by President Reagan, but has gone into and out of effect depending on the party in power in the White House.

4.    He signed a notice that the U.S. will begin withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. Trump called the order "a great thing for the American worker."

5.    An order imposing a hiring freeze for some federal government workers as a way to shrink the size of government. This excludes the military, as Trump noted at the signing.

6.    An order that directs federal agencies to ease the “regulatory burdens” of ObamaCare. It orders agencies to “waive, defer, grant exemptions from, or delay the implementation of any provision or requirement” of ObamaCare that imposes a “fiscal burden on any State or a cost, fee, tax, penalty, or regulatory burden on individuals, families, healthcare providers, health insurers, patients, recipients of healthcare services, purchasers of health insurance, or makers of medical devices, products, or medications.”

The governments primary responsibility is the protection of our shores. The first executive order goes exactly to that. For the past eight years coming to this country especially across the southern border has been easy. Terrorists could have, and likely may have, walked across the border into this country. So it’s good to see the first one being about our national security. In addition stripping money from cities that are sanctuary cities, which protects illegal aliens.

If you come to this country, you are leaving your country. Many do come here for a better life. To enjoy the freedoms this country affords it’s inhabitants. But we have laws. If you’re coming here to try to make America into the country you just left, you’re coming here for the wrong reason. Why would you want to turn this country into the one you just left? 

We were once a country of immigrants. People fled their countries for the freedoms gained here. Those immigrants came here to create a better life and better form of governing than they had where they came from. They created that government and it’s been working for 241 years. We are no longer a country of immigrants. We are now a free people in the greatest country on earth. We’re no longer a country of immigrants. We are now a country that welcomes immigrants that want to enjoy freedom, and opportunity. You’re welcome to worship in the faith of your choice, and believe as you choose but under the laws that we have in this country. If you’re coming here to try to destroy this country, we have the right and responsibility to block you from coming here and to throw you out if you can’t obey our laws.

Drawing away from the TPP was another promise kept. Stripping the regulatory burdens from ObamaCare was another he’d promised and taking away the penalties and taxes on businesses and families.

Our Constitution provides for a way for laws to be passed in this country. They go through the House, the Senate and once the two houses agree on a plan it then goes to the President for signature or veto. If the President veto’s, the Congress can then try to override the veto. That is the proper way to pass laws or not pass laws. But when a President writes up executive orders that are not run through Congress, he’s leading as a dictator, not as a President of the United States. By Trump signing executive orders to eliminate Obama’s executive orders, he’s allowing the Congress to write and pass or deny laws that Obama had done over his eight years in office.

A few comments about the future. There has been some talk that the Democrats are reeling and becoming insignificant.  In the short term that’s very real. However, think back to 2008. The year before the Democrats took over the House and the Senate. In 2008, Obama won the Presidency and the Democrats increased their seats in Congress. It was said that it would take decades if not longer for the Republicans to recover. Democrats were extremely close to having a filibuster proof majority in the Senate. The stimulus was passed in the first weeks and that created the Tea Party. Shortly after, Senator Arlen Specter changed parties giving the Democrats that 60^th seat making the Senate filibuster proof. The passage of Obamacare turned things around for the Republicans. So much so that Scott Brown, a Republican, won the seat emptied by the passing of Senator Ted Kennedy eliminating the filibuster proof Senate.

The Republicans took over the House in 2010, added to it in 2012 and took the majority in the Senate in 2014. This was accomplished by the Democrats by going too far and not working with Republicans.

The Republicans are now in much the same boat, although their majority in the Senate is not close to filibuster proof. It can be if the Republicans do things properly. If Trump does things properly and if the Democrats continue to look at their own interests rather than the people’s interests, the Republicans should increase rather than decrease.

The Democrats have a monumental task ahead of them. But not insurmountable. If the Republicans don’t stay true to their word, they’ll begin losing. If the Democrats don’t change their positions and get less liberal, they will continue to lose. But if the Republicans continue to work for the people, and not for themselves, in local, state and federal levels they’ll increase their positions.

This can only be done by the ultimate watchdog, the American voter. If you disagree with a policy or a proposal, let your representative know and let your two Senators know. Google US House and US Senate and you’ll find your representatives and Senators. Their mail, phone, fax and E-mail are all listed there. Send a quick note to them about your thoughts. Keep it clean and civil. Tell them your topic, and tell them what you believe and why.  It doesn’t have to be a ten page letter. It’s better if it’s one page and directly to the point. They won’t care about one letter or E-mail, but they will care when they see dozens.

President Trump has been in office for one week and he has been very busy. Each time the media tells us that he can’t do something, Trump turns around and does it. His first week has been a successful and busy week.

You’re welcome to comment.

Brett

Ahead of Schedule and Under Budget

At a press conference Thursday morning, Vice President Elect Mike Pence announced that the transition team had finished it’s business “Ahead of schedule and under budget”.

While “Make America Great Again” has been the motto of the Trump campaign, and y, the theme of the new administration, it would be a new experience hearing “ahead of schedule and under budget” even once, let alone consistently.

Pence said they were returning 20% of their funding to the treasury because it was unused! That’s $1.2 million! This is not normal for government. How many agencies have we heard were holding conferences in Las Vegas spending millions of dollars and the conferences are not something needed. Or bonuses paid out to agencies that have cost overruns and didn’t accomplish the jobs they were supposed to do? Or ask yourself how much the Obama’s spend on their vacations. Remember the dog having his own flight to Martha’s Vineyard a couple of years ago?

So far, the Trump/Pence administration is living up to their word. Will this continue? There’s good news in this answer. At noon Friday it begins as the titles are changed to “Former” President Barack Hussein Obama and from “President-Elect” to “President” Donald J. Trump.

Following is a portion of a speech given by a former President that took over with similar problems. Hopefully, the Trump administration will believe and act as that president did. I’m sure you’ll recognize who it is quickly.

“The business of our nation goes forward. These United States are confronted with an economic affliction of great proportions. We suffer from the longest and one of the worst sustained inflations in our national history. It distorts our economic decisions, penalizes thrift, and crushes the struggling young and the fixed-income elderly alike. It threatens to shatter the lives of millions of our people.

Idle industries have cast workers into unemployment, human misery, and personal indignity. Those who do work are denied a fair return for their labor by a tax system which penalizes successful achievement and keeps us from maintaining full productivity.

But great as our tax burden is, it has not kept pace with public spending. For decades we have piled deficit upon deficit, mortgaging our future and our children's future for the temporary convenience of the present. To continue this long trend is to guarantee tremendous social, cultural, political, and economic upheavals.

You and I, as individuals, can, by borrowing, live beyond our means, but for only a limited period of time. Why, then, should we think that collectively, as a nation, we're not bound by that same limitation? We must act today in order to preserve tomorrow. And let there be no misunderstanding: We are going to begin to act, beginning today.

The economic ills we suffer have come upon us over several decades. They will not go away in days, weeks, or months, but they will go away. They will go away because we as Americans have the capacity now, as we've had in the past, to do whatever needs to be done to preserve this last and greatest bastion of freedom.

In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. From time to time we've been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. Well, if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? All of us together, in and out of government, must bear the burden. The solutions we seek must be equitable, with no one group singled out to pay a higher price.”

If you don’t recognize it, that was President Reagan from his inaugural address in 1981. Trump will have to do better because while tax cuts were passed spending was not reigned in.

It’s finally time to find out because  at noon on Friday, Trump will be sworn in as the 45^th President and Obama finally will be gone.

Trump has his work cut out for him, but he has a habit of “ahead of schedule and under budget”. If he continues that America will be great again.

You’re welcome to comment.

Brett

Democrats Think We're Stupid

Democrats think you can’t think for yourself. This came out clearly in Representative John Lewis’ comments about Donald Trumps election not being legitimate. Also in Senator Diane Feinstein’s comments regarding the election when she said that the Russians took sides by unfairly putting out false information about Hillary to get Trump elected.

There is no doubt that hacking went on during the campaign. There is no doubt that the Russians attempted to hack the Democrat National Committee (DNC), the Republican National Committee (RNC) as well as state election boards around the country. This was known before the election took place in November. In fact, President Obama told the Russians to “knock it off” in October before the election.

The RNC chairman, Reince Preibus even admitted that someone tried to hack their computers during the election campaign but they were unsuccessful. A couple of states admitted that someone tried to hack their systems but they were unsuccessful. The DNC was hacked successfully.

The FBI  warned both the DNC and the RNC that they were in danger of being hacked. The RNC cooperated with the FBI to prevent the hacking. The DNC did not cooperate with the FBI. The RNC was not successfully hacked, the DNC was successfully hacked as was John Podesta’s E-mail.

Let’s take a look at these things. During the final debate, Trump was asked if he’d accept the results of the election and Trumps answer was that he’d keep them in suspense. Hillary’s response was that his answer was horrific that anyone would doubt the results of our election. Yet, now the Clinton campaign, as well as the Democrats (most recently John Lewis) and the press have done just that. How could they be so wrong? It must have been illegitimate. Why is that not horrific?

The Democrats, and most recently Feinstein, have said that the Russians have unfairly attacked Hillary for the purpose of her defeat and if she were to win the election, to weaken her Presidency. What would be fair? Would it be fair for them to release information on Trump as well as HIllary? I’m sure they would have had they been able to hack into the RNC as they did the DNC. But then again, the Russians don’t play fair in warfare, including cyber warfare. Do the Democrats really think that the Russians or any other country is worried about being fair? It’s a major coup for them to hack into any part of America, be it a political party, the power grid, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) or our election process. Remember the OPM was hacked and 22 million Americans personal information was stolen and put out there. Why weren’t they as upset about that as they are about Hillary’s loss in an election?

The hacking of the DNC is not fully decided as to the culprit. At least not publicly. Wikileaks has said that they did not receive the hacked E-mails from Russia or any other state. The Democrats want everyone to believe it was Russia and maybe it was, but Wikileaks claims they didn’t get it directly from Russia. Gee, which do we trust? Wikileaks who is run by a guy living in an embassy to avoid being tried for crimes, or Russia who do try to hack our systems, as well as attack our friends, while being run by a former KGB agent?

The information the hacks produced has not been denied as being real. In fact, the Chairman of the DNC, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz lost her job because of what was put out from those-mails. Do the Democrats fire people for false activity? Donna Brazille, the new Chair of the DNC lost her job with CNN (at least for the time being) because she gave debate questions to Hillary’s campaign before the debates, and she is not going to be back as the chair of the DNC. Nobody has denied that the E-mails were real.

Remember when your kids played baseball at 8 or 9 years old and the leagues said they wouldn’t keep score so that kids would not have a bad experience? Kids didn’t get the chance to learn sportsmanship. Not to be boastful when they’ve won and not to get angry when they don’t. They must be today’s Democrats.

The information that was gleaned from the E-mails only confirmed what people have thought about the Clintons. It gave some proof of the truth that was obvious about Benghazi, and that Wasserman-Shultz was in league with Hillary to help her get the nomination rather than allowing the primary process, meaning the voters, select the nominee.

The Democrats claiming that the Russians caused the election to go against Hillary only shows that they think the American people are stupid and can’t think for themselves.

Representative John Lewis, during his interview on Meet the Press said that he’d not attend the inauguration, the first one he’s missed since he’s been in the Congress. This is a lie. He also boycotted the inauguration in 2001 of George W. Bush. You can see it on the link below. He says it at the 45 second mark on the link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6J7weQG_CI

If Democrats want to start gaining ground instead of the constant losing they’ve been doing the past four elections, they might start with actually telling the truth for a change and  understanding that the American people are not stupid.

You’re welcome to comment.

Brett

Seamless Transition of Power

In 19 days, Donald Trump will become the 45^th President of the United States. For the most part in our history, we have a smooth transition from one president to the next. There have been only three times in our history where an outgoing president does not attend the incoming president’s  swearing in and subsequent address.

The first was John Adams. He did not attend the inauguration of his successor, Thomas Jefferson. The second time was his son, John Quincy Adams who did not attend the inauguration of his successor, Andrew Jackson, and the third was Andrew Johnson who did not attend Ulysses S. Grants inauguration.

 Most don’t comment publicly about their successors once they’re out of office. Jimmy Carter is an exception to this. He’s criticized several presidents, including Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. George W. Bush has refrained from saying anything during Obama’s presidency.

Usually, the president that is leaving is respectful of the incoming president. When George H. W. Bush lost to Bill Clinton in 1992, he not only helped provide a smooth transition to Clinton but left him a note in the desk offering encouragement and offering his counsel if wanted and needed. Clinton had beaten Bush in the election.

In 2000 it was a different story. George W. Bush beat Al Gore in the election but it wasn’t decided until 35 days after the election. If ever a smooth transition was needed this would be it. However, when the Bush Administration took over on January 20, 2001 what they found was graffiti on bathroom walls. Signs defaced calling Bush a thief for stealing the election since the election was so close. The W’s on the keyboards were removed. Glue was smeared over desks and drawers. The presidential seal was stolen from several locations in the White House.

The Clintons themselves took items from the White House that they weren’t entitled to, including furniture. They had to return numerous items they weren’t entitled.

When Bush left office, he was very accommodating for the incoming Obama. Even Obama commented on how well he and his family were treated by the Bush’s. Even the Bush daughters were helpful to the young Obama daughters.

While Bush wouldn’t criticize Obama during Obama’s presidency, Obama still continues to blame Bush even though he’s just days away from the end of his eight years.

Even now, prior to Obama leaving office, he’s adding on more executive orders, speeding up and increasing the number of illegal aliens entering the U. S., blaming the Russians for Hillary losing the election and now refusing to veto a resolution against Israel.

Will Obama follow the previous presidents and not be commenting on Trump’s policies and decisions?  Presidents have left notes for their successors as well, which may have started with President Reagan although there seem to be no record of Clinton leaving a note for George W. Bush.

Since 1993, each President has dealt with a terrorist attack very early on in their presidency. The first World Trade Center bombing happened February 26 just over a month after Clinton’s inauguration. In 2001, the World Trade Center was again attacked along with the Pentagon and a fourth plane went down in Pennsylvania when passengers took the plane back from hijackers, saving either the White House or the Capitol building. This happened just over 7 months after Bush took office.

In 2009, after Obama took  office, on June 1, a recruiting office was shot at by a terrorist killing one and injuring one and on November 5, 13 were shot and killed at Fort Hood Texas.

It’s not unreasonable to think that another terrorist attack will be attempted once Trump becomes president. It would not be  beneficial for a former president to be attacking the current president over other differences when there are current problems to consider and deal with.

Hopefully, it will be a seamless transition from Obama to Trump, for the good of the country. In 19 days, we’ll start finding out.

You’re welcome to comment.

Brett

President-Elect Trump vs the media

On June 16, 2015 Donald J. Trump rode his escalator down in Trump Tower and announced he was running for the President of the United States. Leading up to that announcement, he talked about several reasons why he had decided to run. The most controversial of which was illegal immigration.

His announcement was pretty much considered a novelty by the media. Much like George Perot was back in 1992. The difference is that Trump was running as a Republican and Perot ran as an independent. Trump said he wouldn’t take money from donors. That he’d not owe anyone any favors because he would self fund saying “I’m really rich.”

Trump got a lot of free press coverage. He was bombastic, and not afraid to call out politicians, including Republicans, for saying things to get elected  but not following through. He said politicians would not do what’s needed to “make America great again.”

While talking about immigration, he said that Mexico was not sending their best and brightest but instead sending murderers, rapists, and some were good. He was talking about the videos we saw in 2014 of people riding on top of trains, and walking from Mexico to the United States and crossing the border illegally. The media turned it into Trump being biased against Mexicans.

The media never believed that Trump could have a chance. First, he’s a businessman and never been in politics before. Second, there were twelve other candidates announced and more coming totaling 17.

By the time of the first debate, the question was, if Trump doesn’t win the Republican nomination, will he pledge to support whoever the nominee is or become an independent. He didn’t commit until a week or so later.

Trump proved he could make news. This saved him from spending millions of dollars in advertising. In addition, Hillary had several problems. Over 60% of Americans felt she was not honest. She was considered a flawed candidate and about the only thing going for her was that she was a female. Trump being in the race and leading, caused less discussion of Hillary’s flaws to devote time to the news Trump was making. At one point, with the E-mail scandal and the personal server, the press spent less than one minute talking about that but spent 29 minutes talking about Trumps comments on Access Hollywood in 2005, 11 years ago.

There just wasn’t enough time on the news for much discussion of Jeb Bush, who was the presumed to be candidate against Hillary prior to Trump getting much of the news coverage.

Bush’s poor showing in the beginning caused him to spend millions of dollars to get his message but he couldn’t break through the news that Trump was getting. Carly Fiorina’s showing in the first debate at the secondary table took away more news from Bush and Dr. Ben Carson’s rise in the polls took even more away. Three non politicians were getting more coverage than Bush despite the dollars he was paying in advertising.

The predictions of the pundits were all about someone else winning the nomination. When Bush dropped out, it became about Senator Rubio or Senator Cruz. Then Rubio dropped out and the personal attacks by Cruz on Trump and by Trump on Cruz lead the news until Trump won it outright.

With the convention coming, the talk in the media was all about a brokered convention and keeping Trump from the nomination. From the day that Trump got in nobody in the media gave him a chance. Once he secured the nomination, it was how to grab the nomination through the brokered convention. The press had been proven wrong each time.

The main story once the nomination was secured was how evil the supporters were for chanting “lock her up”.  But then the Democrat convention started and the Kahn controversy started up. Night after night and week after week, the media hammered Trump on the Kahn family and had nearly zero focus on Hillary’s legal problems.

Leading up to the election, the media spent most of their time criticizing Trump for holding rallies but not having a ground game. He was running a campaign that was not the standard campaign as it’s always been done. They focused on White Women with a college education, white women without college educations. Blacks, Hispanics, white men both college educated and non college educated white men and told us how each group would vote.

They criticized him for going to Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, three traditionally Democrat states. They said he should have been spending his time in places that he had a chance to win.

They criticized him for pointing out the press at his rallies and saying how dishonest they are. They claimed they were afraid that it would lead to people attacking the press corps at his rallies but said next to nothing when it was found that Hillary was paying someone to have people come to Trump rallies and start the very problems they were criticizing Trump for.  

On Election Day, they predicted that it would be an early night with some predicting what time they’d be calling the election for Hillary. When it got to be 2:00 in the morning and it was almost a certainty that Trump was going to win, they were trying to figure out how the polls could have gotten it so wrong. Rarely have we heard about how the media had it wrong except to say that it was a huge upset.

Since the election they constantly remind everyone they interview (usually each other) that Hillary won the popular vote. Until the past couple of days they’ve talked about the reasons why Hillary may have lost but haven’t. They really spoken to the people. Reince Preibus, the former RNC chair and now Trump said they’d be looking at re-arranging the press briefings and the media now is concerned about their seating arrangements.

There should be a separation in the media. Reporters should be giving unbiased reports while the television shows don’t need to hide their bias. That bias has led to Fox News being number one for better than ten years. Fox News is more conservative but bring in a balance of the two sides while the others, such as CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS will have liberals outnumbering conservatives on their panels. MSNBC doesn’t even pretend. They don’t bring very many conservatives on. When they don’t put liberals on, they bring in Moderate Republicans.

Apparently, the media has misinterpreted the First Amendment where it says Freedom of the Press. Freedom of the press was to allow for the press to report events and not have a government telling them what to report and what not to report. However, they have created their own problems by not being honest and reporting to the people.

How many times have we heard the press misinterpret (purposely or not) what newsmakers say. How many times have we seen the media cozy up to the leaders of this country? In many cases, it’s too cozy of a relationship and the people suffer due to the lack of accurate news. That’s been very apparent in this election and since.

You’re welcome to comment.

Brett

Should the Electoral College be Eliminated?

There has been a lot of talk lately about the Electoral College in Presidential elections. Naturally, some of this is sour grapes because for the second time in 5 elections, the candidate with the most votes did not win the election. First in 2000 when Al Gore got more of the popular vote but lost the electoral vote, and again this  year when Hillary Clinton got nearly 2.5 million more votes than Donald Trump but lost the electoral vote.

This years election has been very charged up with protests all across the country, and even some celebrities put out an ad telling Republican electors to be “heroes” by not voting for Trump. The press, naturally, has been calling it a non story but reporting it every day for the past two weeks and the pundits have included it  in their nightly programs and the Sunday news shows. The results ended up with Hillary losing  four votes and Trump gaining two votes.

The electoral college is made up of 538 votes. These are real people. They are chosen in both parties in the election. The 538 are the total of the numbers in the House (438) and the numbers in the Senate (100).

Those electors are supposed to vote the will of the people but they are not required to by federal law. The group that is chosen is based on who won the state in the election. For example. Michigan has 16 electoral votes. Trump had roughly 10,000 more votes in Michigan than Hillary, so he won the state. The electors chosen to vote came from the Republican side. However, in California, Hillary got more of the popular vote so she won the 55 electoral votes for that state. California then sent the 55 electors from the Democrat party to do the voting. There are two states that divide up their electoral votes. Maine and Nebraska, which divide their votes by congressional district.

The Electoral College was created at the Constitutional Convention and has had several changes since. There were problems that the Electoral college were supposed to solve. First they wanted the President to be chosen by the Congress. They backed off on that because the Congress could be made up of a class or select group of people. If we look at how hard it is to remove incumbents from office it made sense not to have the President chosen by Congress.

Then it was suggested that he be chosen by the citizens. This became a problem because heavy populated areas would be choosing the President and the smaller states or sporadically populated would be left out. The southern states didn’t have the population that the northern states had. They wanted their slaves counted for their population, despite them claiming that slaves were property rather than people.

Even in the north, small states such as Delaware and Rhode Island have small populations and wouldn’t have the same weight in a Presidential election. Then Roger Sherman of Connecticut came up with a compromise called the Connecticut Compromise. The Electoral College was born.

There could also be a problem if a person were elected but died before taking office or a person with bad character. As an example, Alexander Hamilton was killed in a duel with Aaron Burr. At the time Burr was the sitting Vice President. But imagine if he had just been chosen the new Vice President, but not yet in office at the time of the duel. Had Burr been charged and convicted of murder, he’d be the incoming Vice President as a murderer.

While the electors are supposed to vote based on the will of the voters and how they voted in their state, they are not required to by federal law. However, the states have enacted laws that make it nearly impossible for them to vote any other way.

This is in direct contrast to the purpose of the electors. While they are supposed to vote for their candidate, there are legitimate reasons for them to have that ability to choose someone else. Imagine if Hillary had been elected this year. Also imagine that a day or two after the election the Justice Department indicted her for the personal server and subsequent loss of state secrets, which many thought she should have been. This would be a reason to not put her in office. While not convicted, this could be reason to prevent her from becoming President.

The protests this year are due to people’s impression of Trump that is mainly press driven (more to be written on this at a later date) among other things. We have had Presidents and candidates that have used drugs (Obama admitted it), alcohol (Bush admitted to it), sexual assault (Clinton didn’t admit to it, but settled the lawsuit for $850,000 and loss of his license to practice law), and others.

Maine and Nebraska may have the best plan for the electoral voting by having them count according to how each congressional district votes with the additional two awarded to the winner of the state. That would not have gotten Hillary to the needed 270 though.

Another way may be to apportion the electoral votes based on the popular vote in each state. Michigan was won by Trump by just 10,000 votes. Had they given out the votes based on popular vote, Michigan’s 16 votes would have been split 8 for Hillary, 8 for Trump.

Going through each state and dividing up the electoral votes by percentages received of the popular vote, Hillary still doesn’t win. It would be closer, but she still doesn’t win. The count would be 272-266 in favor of Trump. It would only be worse for Hillary using the Maine/Nebraska method of districts and the winner gaining the extra two votes.

The difficult part of any system is to find people that will honor their word and their reason for what they are doing. Think about it. There were 19 Republicans that started this process and in the first debate, Bret Baier asked the candidates to raise their hands if they were not committing to back the eventual winner of the Republican nomination. There was one person in mind that it was asked for. Donald Trump. There was one person that raised his hand. Donald Trump. Every other Republican pledged to back the eventual nominee regardless of whom it would be. A week or so later Trump made the pledge too. Ted Cruz wouldn’t honor his pledge. Even at the convention, he was booed off the stage for not backing Trump. Carly Fiorina never publicly backed Trump. Jeb Bush didn’t until very late. John Kasich never backed him and stayed in the race up to the convention despite being mathematically eliminated and then wouldn’t attend the convention even though it’s in his home state.

This only proves that the founding fathers at the Constitutional Convention were right. Trump is not one of the good old boys of government so he wouldn’t have been elected if Congress was to choose. Yet, on the matter of the honoring his word, Trump did. He didn’t commit to something at first. But he did later when he was reasonably sure. He’s also proven it after the election.  He said he’d save the jobs at Carrier or they’d pay a tax. Before even being inaugurated, he saved nearly 1,000 jobs at Carrier by getting them to change their mind about moving their operation to Mexico.

States punish electors if they don’t vote the way that they are supposed to vote. Yet, the voter’s job is to do just that under extraordinary circumstances. This election though, should not have had the electors changing their votes. The surprise is that while the media was playing up that protestors were protesting Trump, four of them switched from Hillary.

The left is calling for the end of the Electors. Electors are called for in the Constitution. The one thing that that shows is that the second amendment was in danger from Hillary Clinton. To the liberals, the Constitution is only worthwhile when it benefits them. In reality the Constitution is a document that puts restrictions on government and protects the people. The left exists to put restrictions on the people. Most certainly in the case of eliminating the second amendment and the Electoral College. 

You’re welcome to comment.

Brett