Nancy to Donald: Not in my House!

Nancy Pelosi didn't request a RSVP from  President Trump to the State of the Union address; in fact she uninvited him.

But Nancy Pelosi seems to have flummoxed Donald Trump. She brought something new to the table. Some call it "legislative experience" and others just pure confidence and toughness that brings her to confront the President on equal terms. Trump, not one who likes equal terms, looks around for leverage and instead takes a whipping from right-wingers Ann Coulter and Lou Dobbs. Those pundits, Ann the author and Lou the broadcaster, hurl insults at Trump-- "wimpiest President" ever or "Cave Man" as the New York Post dubbed Trump for caving to the Democrats no-wall position.

Details never trouble Donald Trump. He must be given credit for flexibility. The guy assumes more shapes than Hermes the god of speed, businessmen and thieves. He has had trouble transacting to the Pelosi refusal to invite him to her house, the House of Representatives, to give the State of the Union speech.

Pelosi's strategic response to the government shutdown was to disinvite Trump for the big State of the Union speech on supposed security concerns. Her move has been acknowledged as political genius. We've never seen it before so let's give the Lady Speaker credit.

Pelosi denied Trump a megaphone. Trump likes giving speeches more than just about anything else. He likes being the center of attention and feeling respected by important people. The environment for the State of the Union provides all those things but Donald got denied. Seemed to throw him off his game.

Maybe concerns about the Mueller investigation setting sights on Trump pals like longtime political crony Roger Stone made him more vulnerable. Trump has handled immense amount of pressure but does not age from  pressures of the presidency in the usual manner. Everything about the guy is unprecedented.

Watching the Democratic presidential candidate hopefuls step to the fore.

Older generation-- Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, and did I hear Hillary Clinton's name mentioned...?

* Bernie-- a socialist at heart, set the progressive agenda now reflected by Democratic left-wing
* Joe-- has the "centrist" touch the Democrats need
* Hillary-- OMG

3 Female competitors-- Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand and Kamala Harris have all formally announced:

* Elizabeth-- a numbers person, shows an accountant instincts for rich people's thievery
* Kirsten-- may be a Republican in sheep's clothing, make that donkey's clothing
* Kamala-- smiles nicely with impeccable grooming, a tough DA type, somewhat intimidating

2 Billionaire independents-- Michael Bloomberg and Howard Schultz

* Michael-- capitalist but also Mayor of New York City, fights large soft-drinks and pollution
* Howard-- the former Starbucks CEO, business savvy, invented $5 coffee

The question for everybody considering the Democratic nomination. Can you beat Trump?

One candidate I've never heard mentioned-- Nancy Pelosi.

Trump Goes to the Mattresses

Donald Trump came into office just like a Mafia Don. Don Donald. Michael Flynn, the guy who led chants of “Lock her up,” and Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal lawyer, began selling favors before the inauguration. Flynn could be seen making deals on his cellphone from the White House lawn. Cohen sought out multi-national companies and advertised his strong access to the President of the United States as a strong selling point.

No hesitation in these gangster types. They get a foot in the door and you have to pay them protection…. Or else. 

Trump took the same approach as his associates. Emoluments clause? Hell with it. I can run a business and the USA at the same time. He did not want to divest his business holdings and never did.

Trump has “played” politics just the way the recently risen Mafia Don works his crew, the streets and the civilians. Everything’s for me. Everybody sends a cut of their earnings  to the top. 

Donald Trump will steal your lunch money until you fight back. America has not fought back and he keeps gouging until the final dollar is pressed into his personal coffers. Don’t like it and you can try your best to get him out of office.

Office never mattered to much to Donald Trump. He loves the theater and confrontation of electoral politics and loves watching television. But a certain movie captures the Trump phenomenon, even better than Celebrity Apprentice.

In Casino, the 1995 Martin Scorsese film starring Joe Pesci, Sharon Stone and Robert De Niro, we get an insight into Donald Trump. 

Robert De Niro as Ace Rothstein is quietly running a casino in Vegas. The De Niro character translates to Barack Obama, a capable man doing an honest day’s work. Joe Pesci is Donald Trump—the guy who shows up like a tornado, kills the game for everybody else. 

The Joe Pesci character, based on Anthony Spilotro, a real life mob enforcer and hit man, arrives and things spiral downward and end with a thud. Joe’s character lacks self-control. He is programmed to hurt others. He lives only for himself. The Joe Pesci  character adds insult to injury by stealing and banging De Niro’s wife—Sharon Stone as Ginger McKenna.

Okay, so Donald Trump never made a play for Michelle Obama. I’m sure she’s not his type. He likes tall women but prefers Eastern European and Russian woman. That’s how you end up with a daughter named Ivanka.

Trump’s daughter’s name does not imply he’s colluded or conspired with Russians. Trump’s most obvious trait—acquisitiveness—includes the element of bringing everybody else down. It’s not enough for him to win. The others, (i.e. the American citizenry) can fend for themselves. 

We must protect ourselves from Donald Trump’s habit of playing the game so hard, working the casino till every nickel has dropped out of the slot machine and then declaring bankruptcy. 

After 5 bankruptcies, including Atlantic City casinos, Trump moved to the next hustle. Bankers lost confidence in his Midas touch and Donald Trump went east to Moscow to find new bankers. 

Russia, as the banker of last resort, may prove to be the end of Trump. Putin is a better gangster, probably more cruel and efficient than the garrulous Donald Trump. Putin is more the Carlo Gambino style mob boss. He keeps quiet and motivates associates—called Russian oligarchs—to do his bidding. Putin is said to be the richest man in the world.

The Mueller probe gets closer to President Trump and Don Donald hires an army of lawyers. I heard 40 lawyers hired—but maybe 17, the more conservative number is accurate? In either case, that’s a lot of lawyers. 

Trump hiring an army of lawyers is a presidential version of the old Mafia term “going to the mattresses.” Mob wars required the Mafia soldiers to move into apartments and sleep on mattresses on the floor—until matters were settled. 

Trump’s two greatest assets are:

1)   His base of loyal voters

2)  His mastery of media communication

Like a good gangster movie, the two sides are lined against each other and ready to do battle. Carlo Gambino survived by following the traditional Mafia rule of omerta—silence when questioned by police and total loyalty to the mob family. But that is more Putin. Trump plays more like John Gotti—very fond of the spotlight and his notoriety.

Gotti flamed out quickly as “boss of all bosses” precisely because he was too loud, too flamboyant and overly narcissistic. 

Sound familiar?

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Yellow Vests: fighting Society's Reboot

The Yellow Vests, Gilets Jaunes, have taken Paris by storm. Yellow protective vests, mandated by the French government for all drivers, have become the symbol of dissatisfied French citizens. The protesters, many of them from rural areas or districts far removed from the central city, feel abandoned by President Emmanuel Macron and the ruling elites. 

Macron has goals to protect the environment and imposed a gasoline tax. That decision stirred Yellow Vest protests and rioting in the streets of Paris. The workers cannot afford to live in central Paris where mass transit is easily available. They drive cars, burn gas and feel the pain of a fuel tax hike imposed by Macron. The Yellow Vests took to the streets and the fuel tax quickly disappeared.

The consistent theme is that people outside the urban centers are taking action to be included in the new social contract.

Sound familiar? Look at England. Britain had their Brexit partisans, those determined to remove England from the European Union. The Brits outside of London got Brexit passed and they too seemed to feel they were getting shafted by the new social contract.

In the USA we have the Trump base who shocked the world by getting Donald Trump elected. They express a desire to return America to its days of heavy manufacturing. That day seems to have passed. Industry has moved to the Third World and may soon move entirely to AI, artificial intelligence… the dreaded robot society.

The new social contract is an elusive concept. The consistencies between these movements is twofold:

1)  A nostalgic longing for past conditions. 

Belgium protestors were heard chanting something like “We don’t want to change.” Perhaps this was a longing for the days before the big demographic change. Immigration to European countries from Third World countries threatens the status quo. The vaunted charms of the European lifestyle seem under assault.

2)  A desire to survive the technological revolution and the resulting society re-boot. 

The rich get richer. The educated have enough computer mastery to sustain themselves and even flourish with their programming skills. The robots get jobs once held by the blue collar folks. 

Protestors realize there is a re-organization of society taking place. They don’t want to be left broke, cold and devoid of the wine, cheese and pub life that makes for an enjoyable life, European style. 

Can’t say that I blame them.

Learn from Superman: stay away from the Kryptonite

quick read, friend of mine wrote....

There are likely many things we can learn from Superman, such as: how to fool everyone by disguising yourself with a simple pair of nerdy glasses: how to change quickly in confined spaces, and: how to utilize xray vision in a mature and appropriate manner.  

Additionally, Superman could teach us how to be sensible.  His keen awareness of his vulnerability to Kryptonite ensured he would never tote around a piece of Kryptonite in his back pocket and pull it out at regular intervals throughout the day to determine if it maintains its life and energy sucking properties. He only seemed to happened upon it if he'd been tricked or trapped while trying to save the world.

Next time you pull out your smartphone or scoot up to your computer or cozy up with your laptop, ask yourself, "Am I trying to improve myself; better those around me, or am I testing my strength to see if today at this particular time I can beat the Kryptonite?" There is no building up a tolerance to Kryptonite!

It's been said that nobody on their deathbed has ever stated they wish they'd worked just a little longer. Likewise, I don't think anyone would say they wished they'd spent just another hour or two on their smartphones! At that time you might ask yourself, what if I didn't have my phone in my hand? I could've seen my son make that great play in the game, or really been all present for my friend during that difficult day, or answered a question my child or a friend was leaning on me for my advice, but I hadn't heard them because my focus was on my device.

Go to bed late or miss an event because you had to sift through all the crap to get the creamy pics of how ugly a child tv star is all grown up or how plastic surgery went totally wrong for your favorite sexy idol.

-it's like a dispenser and you keep pushing the button to have it feed you more. It's a buffet of all desserts and the next day all you have to show for it is a sagging brain and black bags under your eyes.

It's like that holiday box of chocolates sitting on the counter that you justify consuming just because they're there.

So just because there might be a YouTube video about how to pluck a pit bull's whisker without getting bitten, doesn't mean that you should spend time watching it (please resist the strong urge to satisfy your curiosity as to whether such a video exists!).  Life is too short to be sucked into the highly addictive trap of what useless nonsense awaits you on your Smartphone.

We may just need an alarm like that on our smartphones since a modern day Superman couldn't come to the aid of the millions of people tightly clutching their Kryptonite...but perhaps there's an app for that! In the meantime, beware of the Kryptonite! 

Trump Tower for All

Imagine a Trump Tower standing tall at the heart American capital cities. The Trump Tower deal  for Moscow reportedly included a gift to Vladimir Putin of a $40 million dollar penthouse apartment at the top of the building.

The recipients, like Putin, should have no real need for the gift—but demonstrate a good dose of chutzpah, the Yiddish word that best captures the Trump personality.

·      Atlanta, Georgia—

o  Ted Turner, media mogul, “Mouth from the South, ounder on CNN and revolutionized mass media on a global scale.

·      Austin, Texas—

o  Willie Nelson, country music star with IRS issues

·      Birmingham, Alabama—

o  George Wallace heirs, Alabama governor, ran for President despite reputation as racist

·      Boston, Massachusetts—

o  Big Papi David Ortiz, a “disruptor” who changed baseball by overcoming the Boston Red Sox curse with a 2004 World Series victory—an “unprecedented” achievement

·      Cambridge, Massachusetts—

o  Elizabeth Warren, Senator from Massachusetts, an Oklahoma native she claimed Native American ancestry and got branded as “Pocahontas” by Trump—himself an individual known to stretch the truth on occasion.

·      Chicago, Illinois—

o  Rod Blagojevich, 40^thGovernor of Illinois until his impeachment and removal from office, contestant on 9^thseason of Celebrity Apprentice in 2010, good TV hair

·      Cincinnati, Ohio—

o  Pete Rose, star baseball player for Cincinnati Red Sox, Hall of Fame entry has been denied due to gambling habit

·      Dallas, Texas—

o  Ross Perot, the feisty billionaire, made a 1992 run as an independent Presidential candidate

·      Detroit, Michigan—

o  Henry Ford heirs, created Ford Motor company, used assembly line to produce cars for middle class

·      Houston, Texas—

o  Roy Hofheinz heirs, developer with vision, create the Houston Colt .45s (AKA Houston Astros) baseball team and developed the Astrodome (Eighth Wonder of the World), the first domed stadium.

·      Miami, Florida—

o  Meyer Lansky heirs, Jewish mobster who reached across the aisle to the Italian Mob to build Las Vegas in the middle of Nevada desert

·      Minneapolis, Minnesota—

o  Al Franken, former Minnesota Senator and SNL comedy performer, the penthouse apartment is consolation for Al being kicked to the curb by #metoo movement

·      Montpelier, Vermont—

o  Bernie Sanders, the independent Senator from Vermont, like Trump recognized the frustration of working class Americansrecognized the frustration of working class Americans

·      New Orleans, Louisiana—

o  Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong, trumpet player extraordinaire with gravel-toned voice and great phraseology

·      Portland, Oregon—

o  Phil Knight founder of Nike, advertising phrase “Just Do It” defines the Trump improvisational or “transactional” style of doing business

·      Los Angeles, California—

o  Arnold Schwarzenegger, bod builder and movie star turned an unlikely, unexpected, inexperienced politician who got elected despite the odds, failed host of The Celebrity Apprentice

·      San Francisco, California—

o  Stewart Brand, editor of the who anticipated Internet with Whole Earth Catalog, Brand insisted the Earth photo take from satellite in 1967 should be available to all

·      Seattle, Washington—

o  two penthouse apartments for: 1) Bill Gates (Microsoft), 2) Jeff Bezos (Amazon) real billionaires

SUVs, Scooters and Survival

GM cut 15,000 jobs this week. Said nobody wants to buy sedans any more. That’s why they’re closing factories in Michigan and Ohio and Ontario, Canada. They have no market for their Impalas, Volt, etc..

Ford Motor Company is also getting out of the sedan business. They have no market for the Taurus, etc.. 

People want to drive big SUVs, built on truck chassis, and pickup trucks have always been a staple down here in Texas. 

I see a lot of super-clean pickup trucks—Ford F-150, Chevy pickups and Dodge Ram pickup trucks. These pickups with not a single scratch in the bed and a pristine paint job indicate a lot of white collar guys with no calluses on their hands buy pickups. Many of these wannabe cowboy wish to stay connected to their salt-of-the-earth roots. Just an observation…

But, now it seems soccer Moms need to a SUV to ride high and have enough steel to make mom feel safe. Kind of like the Cold War weapons escalation from the 1960s. Soviet Union has 50 nukes, we Americans need 100 nukes. 

Translate the Cold War to the Car War escalations of today’s consumer. You get a big car, I need a bigger car, now I need a truck (SUV).

However, I do seen sedans on the road—and most seem to be either European of Japanese. Toyota sells tons of cameras. High end sedans still have appeal. Look at all those Audi and Lexus sedans zipping down the highway. GM and Ford do not bother to address this side of the equation. Their strength is building pickup trucks and SUVs and they are sticking to it.

The scooter phenomenon is a counter-weight to the rise in truck popularity. The city streets are now littered with scooters—magically arrived from some corporate source—ad placed on the sidewalks for all to consider. A credit card app gets the scooter moving. The brave then stand astride the scooter and take their chances on transportation sans protection. 

This very interesting scooter development parallels the increased use of bikes, also a risky pursuit, on our fast-moving public streets. Bikers mostly feature helmets and some use proper illumination at night. 

Scooter and bike people may be making a grand effort to save the planet. They will give you alternative explanations but I think the core idea, “let’s pollute less,” exists behind their transportation choices.

The New York Times has been tackling global climate change as a major target of their publication. I immersed myself in the recent article, “The Insect Apocalypse Is Here.” 

Here is the link:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/27/magazine/insect-apocalypse.html

Do not let the title fool you—this is a human apocalypse, generated by mankind and foisted on all living things. The numbers of insects has declined significantly. Many other species have declined also.

The decreased insect population saddened me. We have all experienced the plenitude of nature. Maybe you have been in an apple orchard at harvest time? I have seen massive pecan crops on good years in Central Texas. 

Nature is no respecter of modest bounds. The California wildfires show us Nature’s limitless strength. Yet we have managed to throttle nature and toss it into an emergency state, a state with the intensity of cars racing headlong down the freeway, hell bent to get to work on time.

Mankind’s ambitious, restless personality, set on survival and prosperity and domination, has dwarfed even the Eden we were born into it. Look at Mars for alternate housing. Not good!

If you love the planet and share even a modicum of goodwill for all the other species, the Times article should get your attention.

Trump versus The Great War (1914-18)

Donald Trump has conveyed a great respect for military men, except John McCain, and stressed the importance of a strong military to maintaining American hegemony. He speaks proudly of a bigger button and America’s unfathomed ability to strike our enemies.

Trump attended New York Military Academy and graduated in 1964.  His record with the draft board is well documented:

While in college from 1964 to 1968, Trump obtained four student deferments from serving in the military…. In October 1968, he was given a medical deferment which he later attributed to spurs in both heels and classified as 1-Y, "unqualified for duty except in the case of a national emergency."

Trump seemed inspired by the thought of surrounding himself with generals—savored the nickname “Mad Dog” applied to Marine General James  Mattis and made him Secretary of Defense.

Trump made John Kelly, another retired Marine general, the White House Chief of Staff. Kelly, reportedly, has reached the end of the line. Soon he will move through the spinning revolving door for cabinet members. Kelly seems rock-ribbed and stone jawed and had some success in reining in the President. 

Maybe military generals are not so much fun when you have to work with them in real life. 

Piers Morgan appeared on Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski’s daybreak television program on MSNBC. Piers was a winner on Celebrity Apprentice and claimed to spend upwards of 100 hours around the conference table with Donald Trump. Piers observed that demonstrating respect for “Mr. Trump” was essential to succeeding as a contestant on the show. Trump looked favorably on those who accorded him a measure of success. That need may have been intensified by Trump’s reputation as hustler as much as a businessman. Respect matters more to the insecure more than anything else.

The question remains why did Trump falter in Europe at the Centennial celebration for the ending of World War, fought between 1914-1918. Emmanuel Macron represented France honorably at the dais. Angela Merkel joined them, though German soldiers fought against the Allies from the other side of No Man’s Land. Vladimir Putin represented Russia and Canada’s Justin Trudeau made the important gathering.

One pundit suggested Trump didn’t like going where he is not liked—Macron, Merkel and Trudeau have also suffered the slings and arrows of the mighty Donald.

But Donald Trump looked to be in a daze. Maybe the military gravesite and rainy conditions did not suit his preferences. The decision to no-go the ceremony caused shockwaves. The image of innocent lives cut short, infantrymen ordered to head out of the trenches through the razor wire and directly into enemy fire has been burned in our psyches. Mustard gas maimed and killed in a manner we seem unable to exorcize. Like now, technology leapfrogged ahead of man’s consciousness. We were unable to control the demons we had created from steel and chemicals, hot flying lead bringing down good men and ending lives before their human potential could barely be tapped.

Trump has been criticized for a lack of intellectual curiosity. He took a misstep this time—underestimating the world’s fascination for a war mainly recalled for the unusual outbreak with the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and its terrible toll. Just the name, World War I, evokes thoughts of cannon fodder and human folly. By acknowledging this past, even 100 years later, we acknowledge the existence of our sins. In this battle The Great War (1914-1918) defeated Donald Trump’s political and public relations talents.

Piers Morgan made another observation on Morning Joe,commenting on Emmanuel Macron’s relative success in dealing with Donald Trump. Macron, said Morgan, shows respect for the office of President of the United States but does not hesitate to criticize policy. Macron stated that nationalism was the opposite of patriotism during the ceremonies, drawing Trump’s ire no doubt. But Macron gave Trump credit and that is always a smart policy, with friends and foes alike.