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It is also true that the first day the indictments against certain persons regarding Uranium One was to be announced was the day after the “S_H_” nations comment was reported on. Whether the vulgarity was a true or false narrative is not even the point. The point is that every American who is more than eight years old has heard about the “S_H_” nations comment, and that this necessary DISTRACTION is allowing the Dems the necessary cover.
Amen
Any talk of assimilation brings us to the most critical and disturbing part of modern culture — the dwindling view that the idea of assimilation has either substance or merit. It is no longer fashionable, nor even tolerated in many environments, to suggest that there is such a thing as an “American culture,” much less “American Exceptionalism.” In effect, we have a growing population of unassimilated native-born Americans, people who reject the idea that America is distinctive in a good way.
Assimilating immigrants is particularly challenging when we know less and less who we are.
What this is all about, really, is every Western central bank and Western government has done every single thing wrong in the face of NAFTA, China opening up, and the advent of robots. We are going top keep having low, poorly disbursed GDP and sociological problems until something really bad happens in the financial markets.
Then we will go back to a pre Fed, deflationary economy the hard way. A Ron Paul economy.
One thing people need to realize is that in order to keep MediCare afloat, we need to change the basic dynamics. As MediCare law now stands, an individual only needs to be in this nation five years before they can obtain full Medicare benefits.
With one of the two major parties really frothing at the bit to have rampant immigration as the law of the land, it is important to consider this provision and whether we have the political will to change it.
Dr. Harald Malmgren would be another great interview. Great credentials. Worked for many POTUS’s since Kennedy. Not an Austrian / libertarian kook either. Wonderful twitter feed.
Speaking of returning to home country, I had an American born Sikh boss who sent his sons to India for traditional English boarding school. I heard from him and have since read that infrastructure improvement in India has led to some professionals getting training here and then enjoying higher purchasing power on a lower dollar figure salary in Indian cities.
@cliffordbrown
If the GOP would concentrate on ***purchasing power***, getting rid of the economic, health, and education cartels and wiping out the Fed dual mandate, a million things would take care of themselves.
Reps Scalise, Emmer, and Lewis are quietly working on this. Jason Lewis is a wonderful interview.
IMO, this is the whole ball game going forward. The whole planet. Statist inflationism is toast.
Just as you ignored the domestic electoral agenda context (African-American unemployment down, MLK “site” upgraded by DJT to “park,” immigration legislation positions laid out on camera, MLK Day ceremony) you ignored the Norwegian PM meeting with the President on 10 January in which both praised Norwegian contributions to America (as is customary for all such visits). But “racist.” Except even the Washington Post admitted the President also advocated more Asian immigration — so still “racist” because Asians are no longer designated victims? See alleged university admissions bias against Asians.
As a bonus, Democrats and #NeverTrump are slowing DJT’s foreign policy advances by airing their spin on a closed meeting to get international leaders against the U.S. as the President and his team show progress undoing the damage of the past 16 years or more.
It is refreshing. A joke during Barry’s reign was that his father dreamed that his son would become president of a third world nation and Barry worked his hardest to make that dream come true.
As much I respect what you are saying here, Arahant, I am not giving up. His supporters want a fighter? Well, I am going to keep fighting until they plant me for the type of POTUS we had when Reagan, and Yes, Both Bushes held the job. These three gentleman were men of quality. Everyone who defends Trump points to the things he’s done. Fine. Granted, he has done many things that people who think and dream the way I do can applaud. I keep on saying how transitory many of his accomplishments will be if we get a government filled with the “Bernie Bros”. If people don’t want to think in terms of morality (and I will be planted not understanding why the one group who should care about morality – conservatives – gave up on it) think of it in practical terms: If Trump’s why of doing things was so good, why are his poll numbers in the commode? Why are we in danger of losing Congress? When I say that Reagan managed to be a gentleman while winning two landslides, the best I get is that those were different times. Granted. And they were better times. But going downhill in terms morality has only made our chances of “winning” even worse!
1840’s Rural Ireland is ****hole.
1880’s Rural Russia is a ****hole.
1900’s Rural Poland is ****hole.
I’ve been thinking of the U.S.presidency lately, and the deference we give it. I’m starting to think of the Oval Office as a kind of equivalent to a throne room. I don’t think modern Prime Ministers have such an equivalent symbol of individual power. Even the UK Prime Minister, who is associated with 10 Downing Street, doesn’t have an Oval Office equivalent.
Most (all?) democratic countries with presidents, don’t do that either.
Ironically, the small government Republicans treat it with more respect than the Democrats. Since Ronald Reagan, Republican presidents have not been pictured there without a coat and tie. It’s not unusual, on the other hand, to see Democrat presidents with their shoes on the desk, with tie askew, and coat off.
By the way, I’m wondering if Trump has continued the higher standard of dress in the Oval Office. Are there any pictures of him without the coat and tie there?
Maybe the Brits have it right. Grow your own head of state who is above the dirty business of politics and whose primary job is to promote the country and entertain heads of state from around the world. Treat him/her with all the deference and pomp given to royalty, and elect a politician to take care of politics. We try to combine both roles in one.
As I said, other nations have presidents in lieue of a monarchy, and they don’t get treated like our president.
I’m not sure the Brits do have it right anymore. Queen Elizabeth has been a rock, as was her father, but the rest of the family look pretty bad by comparison. I include her sister, Princess Margaret, Princess Diana and Charles, and even her husband, Phillip in his younger years, but after his World War II service, doesn’t look that good
I’ve developed a mild contempt for their monarchy, when you include the whole family. After all, their job is to go to event after event (usually charities) and make pleasent conversation. It’s a waste of (mostly) middling talent.
Well…. I appreciate the thought, but, rather than dreaming of reintroducing a titular monarchy for the purposes of maintaining a bit of decorum in our leadership, might we simply ask for … a little decorum in our leadership?
I mean, how hard is it to keep your pants on (Clinton), your feet off the desk (Obama), and your language free of obscenity (Trump, others) — or, at least, to avoid letting any of it become visible to the public?
We pay these guys pretty well, after all.
Trump hasn’t accomplished anything. Pence, some in the Cabinet and Congress have accomplished all of it. All Trump does is cause stupid distractions that get in the way. He can’t even talk to Code Talkers without messing it up. He didn’t think he’d win and he has no clue so he outsources serious policy (that he doesn’t understand) to Pence and McMasters etc., and thank God for that. Trump just bumbles around and speaks to his thoroughly conned and besotted base. And I am also tired of the endless searching through offal for little pieces of wheat! I also agree he is a great big beast that needs to be cattle prodded into doing the right thing! I see no value in believing or trying to convince anyone otherwise. In fact, I wish that Trump would just shut up for a while and all the media would have is a good economy and some good judges and foreign policy without the great big fool saying the first stupid thing that pops into his head in front of Dick Durbin for crying out loud! Yes they’d make stuff up but at least they wouldn’t have Trump’s antics supplying them with endless fodder. Then he might get more than the 35% of emotionally invested fools to like him. He better because he won’t have Hillary to run against next time!
Well, in fairness, he has nominated quite a few really good justices. He could have easily done the opposite, but he listened to the right people on that.
And, again in fairness, he’s appointed some really good people to top-level executive positions. He could have done a lot worse (and, occasionally, did).
And, just to be fair, he did campaign on a promise of deregulation and then pretty aggressively push for exactly that. So it’s hard not to give him credit for that as well.
I mean, there’s good and there’s bad. Right?
I think Henry is closer to the truth that Julia. I hate disagreeing with Julia, even more than I hate disagreeing with Gary. She seems to be fine, thoughtful lady, and I certainly agree that not enough credit is given to Pence and all the people and organizations (like Heritage) around Trump. But, to be fair (and that is what we need to be in this trying time for our Republic), Trump did appoint these people. And he listens to them. He need not. He has shelved a lot of the ananities he campaigned on, for the wisdom of McMaster, Kelly, and some of the others.
I wish Trump would resign. I shake my head at his antics, and am embarrassed for my country every day at the things he says and Tweets. But he isn’t going to resign. Charlie is right that we have to put up with this shame. To take him forcefully would affect the nation badly, in my judgement. So we have to wait him out. But it will never stop me from voicing my pain and disgust that he is there.
Past performance is not indicative of future results.
[duplicate comment]
DACA was an unconstitutional executive order. Obama publicly said this. The ACA was just a bunch of lies to force single payer. It also had unconstitutional features. Now the GOP powers are quietly telling Trump the GOP is toast in the midterms.
The Left’s grand strategy to seize power is unstoppable under statist, inflationist Keynesianism. So many RINOs and anti-Trumpers are unwitting facilitators, too.
It makes me so angry that the GOP didn’t do more to fix the ACA when they had the opportunity.
I think the issue is, you have to look at the dynamics of the day. We had a very lean, mean libertarian economy back then. No Pill, no abortion. No baby bust. No Medicare to fund. Etc. etc. The social and economic problems are very different, now.
We need to let a lot more in, but not in the way the left and the RINOs think about it.
These are both fair points.
This reminds me of the alleged conversation during the primaries between a Trump staffer and a Kasich staffer. Supposedly Trump was offering the VP slot to Kasich and Kasich was to perform the heavy policy lifting and Trump’s role was to “Make America Great Again.” I’m glad the “deal” (if it actually occurred) didn’t work out .
We had better hope this is the operational plan of Pres. Trump, if there is a plan at all. If only he could exert some self-control…
Then again, I expect to wake up tomorrow to see flying monkeys circling our house.
It could be arranged.
Moderator Note:
It's noon on Jan 16, and the mods have now read through every single comment on this thread. While the level of disagreement is high, overall the thread has been remarkably civil up to your comment. Nobody deserved to be called "deranged" or "spittle spewing".TDS is strong in this thread. The level of spittle spewing hatred is amazing.The President is neither as good as his ardent supporters say, or as bad as Julia and George think.Trump is a symptom of a system that is collapsing on it’s self. The GOP is mostly too stupid to use him as a tool to slow down socialism and Cultural Marxism.
IMO, the only way the GOP can deal with the Trump factor etc. and keep everyone satisfied is to go to a two-step primary. Seventeen candidates turn into Trump vs. Cruz or whatever, nationally. Then we collectively decide if we want a fascist thug or someone that is “serious” (Aren’t 80% of them RINOs anyway?) and has the idealized character and civics knowledge everyone is whining about. I think I heard Michael Medved say we need to do that because the 527s have wiped out the power of the “smoke filled room”. Something like that.
Woodrow Wilson wiped out the Founder’s system and now we are paying for it, big time. Ugh.
Very well said. Thank you.
There is also no acknowledgement of how he stages various “media brouhaha’s” to allow something he needs to have happen come about. For instance, he is the first President who got his National Security adviser, Gen Flynn, a place inside the National Security Council. Quite a feat. To get that to happen, he utilized the whole diversion of what the press ran with as “White Supremacist bans the little immigrants from six war torn nations.” Women marches, complete with females dressed as vaginas took to the streets. How dare he? they shouted.
Where these women had been when Obama and Hillary had been bombing the same group of people back to the Stone Age, I don’t know. But boy they didn’t like that ban on immigration.
He also has been the recipient of more media misdeeds than any other modern official. He has been hit with more lies, more innuendoes and even a bloody effigy of his decapitated head held by Kathy Griffith and featured on TV. That effigy caused his son Barron, who had been channel surfing with the mute function on, to go off to find household staff to tell him when his daddy had been killed.