Whstleblowing, Locking and Loading plus a Paul Krugman Column

Watch Out Iran, He’s Locked and Loaded

Sadly, the pathetic man in the White House, unable to grasp the difference between reality and a reality show on TV, is at a point where he can do our country great harm.  Russia, China, North Korea, Iran and other “players” are for real, and playing for keeps.  It’s not a TV show, movie or video game where someone who gets shot, riddled with bullets, gets up afterwards and walks away, because that’s not for real, although it purports to be.  Without a TV script in his hand, he lacks the knowledge and skills to deal with problems. The intelligence needed to acquire them, if it is not too late, does not seem to be there either.  He holds the real resources of the nation in his hands but doesn’t know what to do with them. 

*Mike Pence, former Governor of Indiana, cannot be worse.

“Locked and Loaded,” that’s what he said the other day in commenting on the attack, either Iranian or Iranian-manipulated, on the Saudi oil industry.  To him they are just words, perhaps a great name for a video game. 

I recall these words from my days in the Army.  While I never was in combat, I well recall lying prone on more than one sandy rifle range, poised with my M-1, as the Sergeant in charge called out, “Lock and load, one round ball ammunition.”  The rifle’s bolt was then pulled back and the ammunition was loaded and locked into the weapon.  In combat, a clip of bullets, more than one round, would be loaded and locked into the rifle.  And then came the order to fire, and what were fired at the targets were for real, capable of killing people. It wasn’t part of a reality show, followed by a commercial.  I am sure Donald Trump never experienced that feeling. 

Our presidency is like a reality show, complete with the commercials, in this case for the President’s overpriced hotels and golf courses.  That is not reality.

*Mike Pence cannot be worse.

  

*Even though he is a homophobe  ... so long as he is one just for religious, not social, reasons.  At least that won’t blow the planet to smithereens

Jack Lippman

                                 

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The Whistleblower

And from what I see, hear and read in the media, it looks like the President apparently attempted to play political hardball with a foreign head of state, saying things more appropriate for a mafia capo or a crooked cigar smoking local ward politician, in order to get things done his way.  

Well, someone out of a little league bullpen shouldn’t be playing hardball in the major leagues.  That’s what we have in the White House.  So dumb (there’s no other word to describe him) was he that he got caught by someone in intelligence operations who risked their career and blew the whistle on him.  By the time you’re reading this, more of the truth about this story is probably available in the papers and on TV, unless of course, you watch Fox exclusively, where it already is being blamed on operatives of the “deep state.”  The blog cannot keep pace with this fast breaking story so it’s up to you to “stay tuned.”

Casinos usually make money unless they're run by dummies.

It amazes me that throughout his career in the business world, Donald Trump, with all of his questionable enterprises (failed casinos, a failed winery, a failed ‘university,’ a failed airline and numerous real estate ‘deals’ which only benefited himself and foreign investors … not the other buyers) never ended up in jail like his son-in-law’s dad did. This time, he may have gone a bit too far, thinking he could get away in government with the same stuff he pulled in the business world where top lawyers saved his butt repeatedly.  (Right now, it looks like Attorney General Barr and Company are trying very hard to do that same thing for him.) Were the late Jimmy Breslin still around, he would be busy writing a book right now to be titled, “The President Who Couldn’t Shoot Straight.”  

Yes, stay tuned.

JL 

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Why Americans Dislike Regulations

Paul Krugman

New York Times columnist Paul Krugman started off a recent column with these words:

“Modern conservatives hate regulation, and the Trump administration has channeled that hatred into policy. It has scrapped or emasculated rules designed to limit everything from predatory lending to exploitative for-profit education, and has moved on multiple fronts to undo environmental protection.”  

Read his entire column to see how the Republicans have capitalized on Americans’ resistance to being “told what they can and cannot do” and turned it into a vote-getting tool. 

I suppose "independent" Americans would rather borrow money from payday advance lenders at exorbitant rates than let these lenders be more tightly regulated or be fleeced by unscrupulous financial advisors whose interest is directed at their own well-being rather than that of their clients.  Yeah, regulations are bad.  Like "socialism," ya know.   Next thing you know, they’ll be trying to take away Americans’ personal assault weapons which they’ve been conditioned to cherish since their first experience with the violence of a video game.  Read this great column by CLICKING HERE.

(A Question:  Since the beginning of this century, can you name any one thing that the Republican Party has done that was in the interest of the American people and not basically evil?  Think hard … and let me know what you come up with.  I’ll include a list on the next blog posting.)

 

JL