politics

THE HEALTH CARE DEBACLE

Posted on March 13, 2017 by halviv

So, a professional sky-diver is in the plane, thousands of feet in the air, and is told by the crew that it’s time for his jump. Wait a minute, he replies, where is my parachute. Oh, we’ll design that for you after you exit the plane, says the crewman. Think he would be inclined to make that jump? But that’s been pretty much the GOP position on getting rid of the despised Obamacare health insurance plan and replacing it with a Republican brand on the label. For 7 years, since passage of the Affordable Health Care legislation in Congress in 2010, Republicans have been desperately trying to repeal and supposedly “replace” it with something better. Except that for these past 7 years the GOP hasn’t been able to put forth a feasible and rational plan for replacement. Until this week, when House Speaker Paul Ryan issued something resembling replacement in his proposed legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare, that no one is happy with, including a large segment of his own Republican Party.

Just to be clear, I was never a big fan of Obamacare. The legislation was way too long, detailed and cumbersome. It consumed over 2000 pages in written length from the start, which can never be a good thing.While the intent of the Affordable Care Act was admirable, i.e., to provide universal health care so that even the poor could receive quality medical treatment when sick, the methods devised under Obamacare were just too bureaucratic and crushing to function smoothly. Too many hoops had to be jumped through to make it work. The most rational method of providing medical treatment to all Americans regardless of their financial circumstances, would have been to establish what’s called a single payer system, run by the government. A system that every first world country on the planet already employs. Except us, of course.

Under single-payer, if you get sick, you visit the doctor or hospital of your choice. Same thing if you need a medical check-up. If you have a toothache or need a cleaning you make an appointment with your dentist. No insurance to buy, no forms to fill out. The hospital, doctor or dentist would then submit the bill to the government for services rendered. The government would then turn those bills over to designated insurance organizations who would reimburse the health professionals performing the services in question. No fuss, no muss. A system, as I’ve said, used in Canada, and throughout almost all of Europe and Asia. But how would we pay for all of this without levying harsh new tax burdens, you might ask. Again, not a problem.

The way its done in those countries embracing universal health care is to establish about a 5-10% value-added tax, which is like a sales tax on manufactured goods, usually at each step of the manufacturing process. Won’t this add significantly to the cost of purchasing such products? No, not really. While the actual cost of manufacture may increase, these costs would be more than off-set by U.S. companies not being required to offer health insurance for their employees. The savings to companies in no longer providing health coverage for their workers would be dramatic and probably exceed the increased costs of manufacture. That’s why, for example, Japanese auto companies such as Toyota and Nissan can often out-compete their American counterparts such as G.M., Ford and Chrysler. They incur no health insurance costs.Today about 190 million Americans receive their health insurance from the companies they work for. That huge burden on U.S. commerce would be lifted under a single-payer system.

But, of course, legislating such a simple health care system would be far too rational for the U.S. political arena to cope with. Instead, the Ryan plan’s replace part of “repeal and replace” mumbles something about providing “tax credits” to those too poor to afford health insurance premiums. Never mind that nearly half the country pays no income tax. I suppose that some sort of negative tax system would have to be established, similar to the Earned Income Tax benefits that now go to low income wage earners. And even these would phase out in about 2 or 3 years. The very heart of Obamacare that has had the Republican establishment so upset all these years, is that it provides the poor with cash subsidies that enable them to purchase health insurance. As flawed as the law is, about 20 million people who previously had no health plan, have signed on to Obamacare since its enactment, many through Medicaid. But a large part of the GOP establishment is dead set against health care subsidies and enhanced Medicaid enrollments. A group of about 50 GOP hardcore right-wingers in the House are calling the Ryan plan “Obamacare Lite” and are refusing to support it, because it provides some minimal subsidies. Some Republicans in the Senate are also unhappy. After all, they reason, the poor are used to getting the short end of the stick anyhow. What harm would there be with another poke in the eye. The fun just never ends.

One other thing. Our esteemed President Trump, (that phrase still claws at the very fabric of the universe) made some comment the other day that he didn’t know that health care could be so complicated. Who knew? Who knew that water insists on running downhill instead of uphill? Who knew that the sky was blue instead of orange. Who knew that standing in the rain without an umbrella will get you wet? Who could know such things?

Categories: A malfunctioning psche, Brexit, Donald Trump, Alan Greenspan, Economics, ELVIS PRESLY, MARILYN MONROE, MICHAEL JACKSON, WHITNEY HOUSTON, THE STATE OF HAPPINESS VS. UNHAPPINESS, Health Care, Obamacare, human affairs, politics, Redstone Arsenal, NASA, Black Lives Matter, Recent Cop Killings | Leave a comment

WATERGATE REDUX

Posted on March 6, 2017 by halviv

Over this past weekend, Trump went on Twitter and accused the the Obama Administration of wire-tapping his phones during the 2016 election campaign. Of course, Trump didn’t offer a scintilla of fact or evidence to support this ludicrous accusation. It was obviously a ploy to deflect from the serious actuality of Russia interfering in the U.S. election on behalf of getting Trump elected to the Oval Office. Nevertheless, I’m sure that all the loyal Trumpenistas out there will take his Twitter comments at face value despite the lack of any proof. As Trump himself said during the recent campaign-he could shoot someone dead in the middle of Fifth Avenue, and there would still be no loss of support among his following. As part of his Twitter rant, Trump also likened Obama’s supposed wire-tapping to the infamous Watergate scandal of the early 1970s, and to Richard Nixon’s discredited behavior during those tumultuous times. So, since there are so many similarities between Nixon and the current White House occupant, I thought it relevant to review those dark times in American history.

In 1972, President Richard Nixon was running for re-election, and would go on to win in a massive landslide, carrying 49 states. Nevertheless, in June 1972, some criminal hacks, hired by the Committee to Re-Elect the President, (which would sardonically be referred to as CREEP) broke into Democratic Headquarters to obtain info on Democratic plans and strategy concerning the on-going presidential campaign. These Headquarters were located in the newly built and very posh Watergate Hotel and Apartment complex located on the banks of the Potomac in Washington D.C. The clumsiness of the burglars became evident as they were caught in the process of breaking and entering, and arrested by a very alert security guard for the complex. If not for this guard, the Watergate Scandal would likely never have materialized. Afterward, if Nixon had merely come forth and announced that he had no knowledge of the break-in, and that if anyone in his administration or re-election committee did sanction those criminal tactics, they would be immediately fired, there would also not have been a scandal. But Nixon suffered from a large degree of paranoia and a mis-guided sense of loyalty, which eventually led to his downfall.

Investigations into the Watergate events began to gather steam when 2 reporters for the “Washington Post” named Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, began digging deeper into what seemed like no more than a two-bit burglary gone bad. They cultivated an informant from CREEP whom they called “Deep Throat” (after a famous porno star of that era.) Political investigations of Watergate also began in February 1973, when a special committee was formed and chaired by a Democratic Senator. At that time, Democratic majorities prevailed in both houses of Congress. Today, with both houses controlled by Republican majorities, a similar investigation would likely not transpire. Between the Washington Post, and Congressional investigations, new facts related to Watergate began to dribble out on an almost daily basis. The nation collectively held its breath as each day seemingly brought forth more evidence concerning the Nixon Administration’s complicity in the break-in and the resulting cover-up.

It was the cover-up that, in the end, did the most damage. The on-going investigations revealed that Nixon’s closest aides, Bob Halderman, John Ehrilchman, and John Dean were all implicated in trying to cover-up the fact that the Committee to Re-Elect had hired these ham-fisted burglars in the first place. Nixon, much to his chagrin, was then forced to fire these men from his staff. Then it came to light that Nixon had secretly taped virtually all discussions held in the Oval Office, including conversations concerning the Watergate cover-up. On one of those tapes, where Watergate was explicitly being discussed, there existed an 18 minute gap in the conversation. It was theorized that this infamous 18 minute gap had contained conversation that would directly link Nixon to the cover-up, and that portion of the tape had, therefore, been deliberately erased. The 18 minute gap became known as the “smoking gun” that eventually would doom the Nixon presidency. The country continued to hold its breath, as if transfixed by each day’s new disclosures.

Based on this”smoking gun,” the House, in 1974, began to initiate impeachment proceedings against the president. While there were enough Republicans in the Senate to block conviction if they voted in unity, it soon became apparent that unity would not be the case. It became Sen. Barry Goldwater’s hapless task to trudge over to the White House and inform Nixon that very few Republicans in the Senate would support him if they had to vote on impeachment. Nixon no longer had a chance. His choices came down to either resignation or impeachment. On August 9, 1974, Richard Nixon became the first individual to resign the presidency. Vice-President Gerald Ford then ascended to the Oval Office, and one of his first actions was to pardon Nixon from any criminal prosecutions. It probably cost Ford the election when he ran against Jimmy Carter in 1976.

So now we have our current president accusing our just departed president of illegal wire-tapping, based on nothing but the current president’s delusional paranoia and to deflect away from a growing scandal concerning Russia’s unauthorized interference in our recently concluded election. Another Watergate in the making, perhaps? To say nothing of Trump’s increasing similarity to Nixon’s behavior. During the campaign, Trump used the phrase-“the silent majority” when referring to his supporters. Nothing new here. Nixon’s the one who came up with that slogan when he ran for president in 1968. Trump’s other famous cliche-“Make America Great Again” also lacks any originality. Ronald Reagan was the one espousing that gem of triteness when he ran in 1980.

So, will Russian involvement in 2016 result in another Watergate. It could, if we had some young reporters out there with the diligence and feistiness of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. Stay tuned.

Categories: A malfunctioning psche, Brexit, Donald Trump, Alan Greenspan, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, presidential polls,, ELVIS PRESLY, MARILYN MONROE, MICHAEL JACKSON, WHITNEY HOUSTON, THE STATE OF HAPPINESS VS. UNHAPPINESS, human affairs, Joe McCarthy, McCarthyism, World War II, Viet-Nam, Anti-Communist Witch Hunts, Army-McCarthy hearings, Islamic Jihadist terrorism, Soviet Union, Red China, politics, Ronald Reagan, the Depression | Leave a comment

THE NEVER-ENDING CAMPAIGN TRAIL

Posted on February 20, 2017 by halviv

So, did you hear the one about how Sweden suffered this violent terrorist attack this past Friday. No? Well that could possibly be because such an attack never took place, despite our president’s proclamation to the contrary. Not only did a bloody terrorist assault occur, according to Trump, but it was Sweden’s own fault for acting humanely, by allowing so many refugees fleeing for their lives, to enter Sweden in the first place. It’s alternative facts, baby, as Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway would have put it. I’ve said in the past that politics usually comes down to a matter of salesmanship, which is the one thing that Trump excels in. It’s a matter of telling people what they want to believe in, whether the described events exist in reality or not. And so with the president’s approval ratings headed in a downward spiral, Trump figured it was time to return to the campaign trail, and offer his loyal base of primarily white-supremist followers, the red-meat they hungered for. And sure enough, a crowd of supposedly 20 thousand die-hard Trumpanistas gathered in Florida to hear the latest in Trump demagoguery.

At this early stage of the game, previous presidents from Reagan thru Obama, enjoyed approval numbers from the electorate that ranged from the high 50-60 percentiles, according to polls taken during their administrations. But according to the latest Gallop poll, Trump’s approval rating is currently only about 40 percent. Could the reason be that all the blustering, bullying, belligerent, and angry Twitter offerings issued on virtually a daily basis really don’t sell all that well outside of Trump’s hardcore base. Or the fact that, despite all the threats, promises, and grand designs offered up by the president and his Republican Congress, very little has been accomplished in actuality thus far. Trump did roll back some of Obama’s executive orders, including one that barred coal companies from dumping mining refuse and waste into local rivers and streams. I’m sure that the residents that receive their drinking water from such canals will be more than delighted.

The one notable action the Trump administration did proclaim was an executive order barring people from seven Muslim countries from entering the U.S. on the pretext that this would make America safer. But the rollout might as well have been orchestrated by the Marx Brothers (Groucho and Harpo, not Karl.) With no advanced warning, it caught people who were already in flight, in its ridiculous net. When their planes landed in the U.S. people from these seven countries were informed that they couldn’t leave the airport; but instead had to book a flight that returned them to their countries of origin. One victim of this badly managed edict was a three-year-old Iranian girl that had a serious heart defect and was booked for a life-saving operation that could only be performed in the U.S. The parents of this “highly dangerous potential terrorist” were told that the operation would now have to be called off because Iran was one of the seven banned countries. Fortunately, the courts intervened and blocked this ill-advised executive order from being enforced, and the little Iranian girl was permitted to have her operation. But the Administration is threatening to roll-out a new edict that does essentially the same thing as the old, but is worded differently. And the beat goes on.

We now have a better understanding of how the Trump calculous works. During the campaign, the appeal was to white xenophobic, or out-right bigoted voters, primarily throughout the South and Mid-West. Yes, while the black, Hispanic, Asian, and other minority voting blocs were increasing in the U.S., there was still enough of a white majority to nudge Trump and his angry, anti-foreigner message over the finish line. Just barely, but a win nonetheless. His strategy was and currently is formulated by Steve Bannon, who if he were any further right-wing, would be wearing a Swastika arm-band. Bannon headed up the white-supremist Breitbart News site before he became Trump’s campaign manager, and now is in the White House daily as a top presidential advisor. And Trump continues to draw heavy support from all the far right fringe hate groups, that include an entire range of bigots from the KKK to the Bikers of America. He’s their kind of guy. And the message of banning Muslims from entering the U.S. to building a hideous wall to keep the Mexicans out, still resonates powerfully in those circles.

Thus, to counter media and political opposition criticism of his white supremacist agenda, Trump has devised the strategy of the perpetual campaign. When his daily Twitter thrusts that rant against perceived enemies don’t seem to be accomplishing the job, go back out on the campaign trail where he can attract thousands, or tens of thousands of hardcore followers, so as to give the appearance of massive voter support. As well as giving his ego and morale a major boost. And with the Democratic party virtually in ruins, there really is no serious political opposition to his daily shenanigans.

The moral of all this is how curious the human mind functions at our current state of evolution. A leader, or would be dictator, doesn’t actually have to accomplish anything. All he has to do is sell people on the notion that major events are moving in their direction. Create a parallel universe of delusion that satisfies and soothes the electorate’s fears, anxieties and bigotry, and all is well with the world once again. After-all, reality is often such an ugly thing, isn’t it? While delusion can cover one like a warm comforter on a cold winter’s night.

WHEN CHARACTER NO LONGER COUNTS

Posted on January 23, 2017 by halviv

One may agree or totally disagree with Barack Obama’s policies or overall politics, but one would have to admit that while he occupied the office of the presidency, he always conducted himself as a perfect gentleman. He was always cool under fire; he never went on Twitter rants against perceived opponents; he never engaged in long, on-running battles or feuds against those whom he felt were out to “get him;” and he certainly never engaged in vile, crude or lewd language when verbalizing in public media. He always displayed the proper decorum befitting someone that occupies the highest office in the land. One, of course, cannot say that of the current occupant of the White House, who just moved into the Oval Office a few days ago. Donald Trump’s politics are not only the polar opposite of Obama’s, but so is his persona. Because of his deep-seated narcissism, Trump feels compelled to rather viscously strike back at those that bruise his ego. For example, Meryl Streep, perhaps the finest Hollywood actress since the end of WWII, becomes a second-rate loser via a Trump tweet, because she dared to criticize him at the academy awards.

We have thus entered an era of right-wing politics where character, obviously, no longer counts. Where statements such as, “she had blood coming out of her whatever,” or expressing a fondness on tape for “grabbing women by the pussy” becomes the new norm. Where even an innocuous statement by the media that the crowd at Trump’s inauguration was smaller than the one at Obama’s first inauguration in 2009 has to be attacked with what a Trump spokesperson described as “alternative facts.” A fascinating concept in itself. If existing reality is too harsh to tolerate, just create your own parallel universe of delusion and “alternative facts.” Some turn to drugs or alcohol to drown out the reality of how miserable their lives have become. But why bother? Heavy drug or alcohol dependency will only lead to early death. Instead, just create a parallel universe of alternate facts where you can live as a king, or queen, as the case may be. Problem solved. Fascinating that in a country that has become the most prosperous and economically viable in the history of this planet, so many people felt it necessary to choose a candidate that could only offer trite platitudes to soothe their concerns. Just print “Make America Great Again” on a baseball cap and all of the issues facing this nation will dissolve like an ice cube left outside in the hot sun.

Thus the Trump presidency has begun in predictable fashion. Among Trump’s appointees are an Attorney-General who couldn’t be less interested in civil rights issues, an Environmental Protection Agency administrator that has spent his career battling EPA initiatives in the courts with one suit after another, and a Department of Education secretary who has made a career out of attempting to destroy the public education system in this country, in favor of private schooling. The same public schools attended by at least 90% of the nation’s school children. And yet, the Trumpanistas are puzzled by and taking umbrage at the massive protest demonstrations occurring not only in Washington D.C., but in cities throughout not only the nation, but throughout the world as well. It seems that a trite cliche written on a baseball cap might not sell all that well after all , at least not in some quarters. Trump enters office with the lowest approval ratings of any president in the modern era. Something below 40 percent. In comparison, Obama’s approval when he first entered office in 2009 was up near 70 percent. And the roller-coaster ride is just beginning.

Of course, a decent opposition party might put the brakes on some of the current administration’s more radical initiatives. The trouble is, the Democrats are in a state of shambles. Hillary Clinton ran about the worst campaign in the history of politics. She lost Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin by a combined total of 100 thousand votes. States that any Democrat would normally win with just minimal effort, and that would have given her the presidency. She never even visited Wisconsin, made relatively few campaign appearances in general, and ran boring and mundane campaign ads on TV. For example, she didn’t run a single ad highlighting Trump’s business failures such as his 4 casino ventures in Atlantic City that went belly-up. Or the “Trump University” sham that also had to shutter down. Or the Trump line of vodka that also went out of business. I mean, how hard is it to sell vodka once the business is up and running. Instead her ads seemed to focus solely on some unhinged comments Trump made while on the campaign trail. Such ads were minimally okay for openers, but they were run incessantly, to the point that they eventually became boring. Bad television ads, a lack of campaign appearances, minimal effort to get Democratic voters to the polls-a sure recipe for defeat.

The Democrats need a young Lochinvar to come riding in on his magnificent steed and save the Party, but none appear to be in sight. A Bernie Sanders type but much younger. Without such a hero, Trump is almost guaranteed a full eight years in the Oval Office. Assuming, of course, that he wises up and learns to stay off Twitter, and otherwise not respond to every perceived slight or offensive comment. If he can keep his narcissism under control, he could have rather smooth sailing during his administration. If not, the U.S. is in for a very rocky and tumultuous four years.

After all, we do live in an age when character doesn’t matter anymore. Don’t we?

Categories: A malfunctioning psche, Brexit, Donald Trump, Alan Greenspan, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, presidential polls,, Economics, ELVIS PRESLY, MARILYN MONROE, MICHAEL JACKSON, WHITNEY HOUSTON, THE STATE OF HAPPINESS VS. UNHAPPINESS, human affairs, Isis terrorist attack in Paris,, Joe McCarthy, McCarthyism, World War II, Viet-Nam, Anti-Communist Witch Hunts, Army-McCarthy hearings, Islamic Jihadist terrorism, Soviet Union, Red China, John Kennedy, foreign policy,terrorism, lack of U.S. response to terrorism,, politics, Ronald Reagan | 1 Comment

FROM CIVIL RIGHTS TO THE ALT-RIGHT: A NATION’S MORAL DECLINE

Posted on January 2, 2017 by halviv

It took less than 60 years, 56 to be precise, for the United States to go from electing a president that would champion the cause of civil rights for blacks and other minorities, to electing a president that intends to further the cause of white supremacy and privilege. In 1960, a young John F. Kennedy would squeak out a narrow win for the presidency over Richard Nixon. With brother Bobby as attorney-general, JFK set out to tear down the walls of Jim Crow segregation that had permeated throughout the entire South. A system whereby blacks had to attend separate schools from whites, drink from separate water fountains, sit at separate lunch counters, sit in segregated sections when attending sports events or movies, and on and on. Of course, blacks were strictly forbidden from living or buying property in white neighborhoods. And black people usually found it all but impossible to vote in public elections in virtually every district throughout the South. But the early 1960s were also a time when a young black minister named Martin Luther King Jr., with the backing of the president and the attorney-general, began organizing huge protest marches and civil-disobedience throughout the South to attack this system of second-class citizenry. A system of semi-slavery that had lasted 100 years after Lincoln had ended the existing system of formal slavery.

The peaceful protests and civil-rights marches of those days eventually achieved their desired results as the walls of Jim Crow semi-slavery began to crumble into dust. But not before a slew of both black and white civil-rights workers were murdered along the way by the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacists. And tragically, by 1968, both Kennedy brothers and Martin Luther King were all dead at the hands of different assassins. And to be clear, racial hatred and discrimination didn’t exist only in the South. There was plenty of that in the North as well, minus a formalized legal system of Jim Crow segregation. But when Lyndon Johnson took over the presidency after JFK’s murder, and signed the civil rights act of 1964, black people were at least free to participate in U.S. elections without fear of reprisal. The tumultuous 1960s were also a time of massive protests and civil disobedience against America’s ill-fated entry into the Viet-Nam war. When that debacle ended in the early 1970s, and with the successes of the civil-rights movement, it seemed as if America’s worst days were behind it. Sadly, this was not to be.

Now fast-forward to 2016 where the winning presidential candidate, also by the narrowest of margins, is definitely not a civil-rights proponent. Instead he is praised by the KKK and other white-supremist groups as being their kind of guy. One of these hate groups is oddly referred to as the Alt-Right, presumably meaning alternative right wing. A rather benign sounding term to cover up its underlying racist intentions. A former leader of the Alt-Right, a man named Stephen Bannon, eventually became Donald Trump’s campaign manager, and will now sit in the White House on a daily basis as Trump’s co-chief of staff. A rather comforting vision to start off the new year of 2017, wouldn’t you say? So who, or what is the Alt-Right. Well, according to one of its current leaders named Jeff Schoep, their decision to dispense with using the swastika as its symbol was “an attempt to become more integrated and more mainstream.” An attempt to make racial hatred seem more like the norm. Their central belief is that white identity has become endangered by what they deride as this era of dangerous diversity and political correctness. But though they may no longer use the Nazi swastika as their symbol, the name of their game is still white supremacy over blacks and virulent anti-semitism.

When Trump, early in the campaign, promised to build a wall to keep out Mexican immigrants, whom he described as murderers and rapists, the Alt-Right raised its collective head to listen. One movement leader, a retired school teacher from Dallas, who grew up in a family opposed to desegregation, stated: “I’ve been waiting to hear those words from a mainstream political leader all my life. We don’t have any power, – but now we’re suddenly close enough to smell it.” After Trump’s victory, the Alt-Right held a conference in Washington under the leadership of its president, a 38 year-old man named Richard Spencer, who fashions himself as the coming American Il Duce. He wears his hair in an undercut style called a “fashy” as in fascist. “Race is real” he said “Race matters. Race is the foundation of identity.” Of course, this Alt-Right movement is supposedly distinct from old-line white supremacist fascists, bigots, race-haters and Jew-haters such as the KKK. But early in the election campaign, when David Duke, former grand dragon of the KKK enthusiastically endorsed the Trump candidacy, it took The Donald two days to eventually choke out an-“okay, I disavow the endorsement,” after repeated grilling by the media.

So, welcome to the world, circa 2017. The year 1961 stared off with a new president in the White House committed to achieving racial equality for minorities that were afflicted by Jim Crow prejudice, bigotry and segregation. The new president in 2017, about to enter the Oval Office, is a man seemingly adored by those very same bigots and haters. But that’s not even the most disturbing part about all of this. Even more upsetting is the fact that candidate Trump figured out that there there was all this bigotry still in existence among the white population. Enough so that he could win by achieving such an overwhelming portion of the white vote, that it was more than sufficient enough to offset the minority voters opposition to him. And he was right. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

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DRINKING FROM THE POISONED WELL

Posted on December 5, 2016 by halviv

One of the acknowledged foreign policy failures of the out-going Obama Administration was its inability bring peace between the Israelis and Palestinians, and with it, an independent, self-governing Palestinian homeland. It wasn’t for lack of trying, however. Early-on, Obama designated former senator and foreign-policy mediator George Mitchell to negotiate with both parties toward achieving that goal. But after nearly 8 years of fruitless negotiations, both sides are as far apart as they ever were. Which is primarily due to the continued unquenched thirst and resultant gulping of liquid from the poisoned well of bitterness, hatred, and acrimony by both Arab and Jew. And with virtually no prospects of any improvement in the foreseeable future. Thus, one of the hottest zones of instability and chaos on the surface of what we call Planet Earth, continues unabated.

One could go back thousands of years to the early biblical times of Abraham, who supposedly sired the beginners of both the Jewish and Arab nations, to search for the root causes of all this vitriol. Or, perhaps, a better starting point would be at the time when a Hebrew rabbi named Jesus walked the Earth, and Israel existed as a Jewish homeland, about 2000 years ago. That was also a time when Rome had conquered and occupied most of the western world, including Israel and the Mid-East. Which, in short order, caused the Israelites to become highly rebellious of living under the tyranny of a Roman dictatorship. Which, further caused the Roman Army to drive most of these rebellious Israelis out of their homeland, with the preponderance of Jews resettling in Europe. This, in turn, led to thousands of years of anti-semitic hatred and discrimination against European Jews, culminating with the Holocaust of the 20th century. It also resulted in the collapse of the State of Israel as a homeland for Jews. The void was filled by Arab Moslems who moved onto land formerly occupied by displaced Israelites.

After the horrors of WWII, including the slaughter of 6 million Jews during the Holocaust, the United Nations, with the United States and Russia, who were still allies, leading the way, agreed that Jews world-wide, deserved to be given back their homeland, as a refuge from further atrocities. The U.N. voted to recreate the State of Israel on its historic lands where world-wide Jews could migrate to if they so desired. Most European Jews, who, somehow, miraculously survived the Holocaust, did immigrate to the new State of Israel. The problem was, however, that over centuries of the Jewish Diaspora, Arab Moslems had moved onto lands previously occupied by displaced Jews. Creating a homeland for the Jews meant displacing most Arabs that had lived on Israeli land for centuries. Most went to neighboring Arab states such as Lebanon where they were forced to live in poverty-stricken camps, mostly in tents, with the barest essentials of food and water provided to them. It seemed that most Arab countries, for all their outrage over Palestinian displacement, were not eager to allow these same Palestinians to assimilate into their general populations.

Anger and outrage ran rampant among surrounding Arab nations to the point that they decided to immediately go to war with the new infant state of Israel. Crush the baby in its cradle before it could grow. But again, another miracle. The infant survived and defeated its Arab neighbors. The hostility among Arab countries only continued to become more virulent, however. A second war broke out in the 1960s, and again Israel defeated its opponents which consisted of Egypt, Syria, and Jordan. This time, however, Israel had captured the Arab occupied West Bank, which in the 1960s belonged to Jordan, and which had been discussed by world powers as becoming a separate Palestinian state, existing side-by-side with Israel. Yet a third Israeli-Arab war war was initiated in the 1970s, and for a third time the Arabs failed to crush the Jewish state. Finally, the Egyptian president at the time, Anwar Sadat, realized that enough was enough. Courageously, he made an historic trip to Israel, signed a peace treaty, and established diplomatic relations with the Jewish state. For his courageous peace initiative, however, he was soon assassinated by Islamic terrorists. Jordan, some time later, also made peace with Israel.

But peace within Israel was not to be. Palestinians sadly turned to terrorism in an attempt to drive the Jews out of Israel. The large number of serious attacks by Islamic terrorists against Israel and the resultant Israeli retaliations that have killed thousands and thousands of Jews and Arabs alike, are too numerous to mention here. They could fill an encyclopedia. Some of the more shocking ones were the murder of 11 Israeli athletes attending the Olympics being held in Germany in the 1970s, the murder of more than 30 school children in Northern Israel, the shelling of Israeli civilian population centers by the Hamas terror organization that controls the Palestinian Gaza strip, and quite recently, the murder of a 13 year-old Israeli girl by a young Palestinian that sneaked into her bedroom at night, and slit her throat while she was sleeping. The list goes on and on.

The Obama Administration’s diplomatic thrust for these 2 warring parties, has come to be known as the two-state solution. Establish an independent Palestinian state on the Israeli-occupied West Bank that would supposedly live in peace with Israel. But the reasons that just wouldn’t work could also fill an encyclopedia. First, Israel has established numerous settlements on the West Bank that house hundreds of thousands of Jews. They are protected by the Israeli Army. The Palestinians are never going to tolerate the existence of these Jewish encampments in their midst, and the Israeli government is disinclined to remove these settlers. Next, the Palestinians are insisting on the so-called right of return-the right of those Palestinians or their heirs, that were displaced in 1948 to return to their lands in Israel. That, of course, is also never going to happen. And so the beat goes on, as the stalemate based on out-right hate continues to dominate.

There is only one sane answer: a one-state solution combining Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza into one united country comprised of Moslems, Jews, and Christians. But, of course, that would require all parties to stop quenching their thirsts by drinking from the poisoned well of vitriol. To stop hating one another and start respecting the dignity of each others religious choices. A willingness to live in peace and harmony, instead of hate, fear, and violence. Not likely to happen in the next succeeding generations. But perhaps through a process of evolution, it could occur over the next several hundred years. Or not.

Categories: Brexit, Donald Trump, Alan Greenspan, Economics, Israeli-Palestinan Relations, politics | Leave a comment

KING DONALD I

Posted on November 28, 2016 by halviv

“Off with their heads” roared King Donald the dragon-lady slayer, his face flushed red with anger. Standing nearby was his most trusted aide, Sir Stephen from the House of Bannon, also known as the Dark Knight. “Pray tell, what has so vexed thee Sire. Is it the rabble marching through our cities that doth protest your ascendency to the throne? For if this is so, I shall, forthwith, dispatch a cadre of our finest archers to sling quivers of arrows into their midst. They will then surely disburse and flee with fear and terror, as their blood darkens our fair streets.”

“They do cause me much concern, but that is not the reason for my present wrath” replied the king. “Rather it’s certain mayors in our fair land that dare to defy the edicts of their benevolent monarch by declaring that their domains will provide sanctuary to the filth entering our country without proper authorization from the king’s authorities. In open defiance of my wishes and declarations, these mayors insist on protecting this filth from my sheriffs that seek their ouster from our provinces to which they have illegally entered.” “Ahh, a most grievous act of treason to be sure” answered Sir Stephen. “Such defiance of the monarchy surely would warrant that the guillotine be sent hurling upon their necks. But I fear that if we do undertake such action, it would only cause additional rabble to rise up in protestation. But I may have a better solution that would surely curb their treasonous behavior.”

“And what might that be,” asked King Donald impatiently. ” A very simple action” replied Sir Stephen. “Simply instruct your Chancellor of the Exchequer to cut off any further disbursement of coin of the realm to these cities. Without any additional largesse from your most benevolent majesty, these mayors will soon enough come groveling on bended knee, pleading for mercy before the throne. The protection they provide these foreigners who who so blatantly and illegally invade our fair land will evaporate like the morning mist. We can then return these hordes to whence they came, and whatever hellish fate might await them.” “Yes, I truly relish this concept,” stated the king. “Draw up the papers for my signature immediately. There will be great merriment and celebration in the royal ballroom tonight.”

Thus begins another Shakespearian tragedy, one that Shakespeare is, unfortunately, not around to finish. But the matter of the coming Trump administration’s reaction to so-called sanctuary cities is still a matter of deep concern that is not going away. There are currently about 10 sanctuary cities, including San Francisco, Los Angles, New York, Chicago, and Washington D.C. that provide protection to undocumented immigrants from federal authorities seeking their ouster from the U.S. The mayors and administrators in these cities have all stated that such protections will continue despite the ascendency of president-elect Trump to the Oval Office. In response, Trump has stated that the federal government will cut off all financial aid disbursed to these cities. That would constitute an enormous loss of revenue, a loss that would seriously impair the current level of services provided by our largest metropolitan governments. And as usual for a Republican administration, this loss of revenue will fall most heavily on the poor, the sick, the poor elderly, and minorities. It will be fascinating to see which side blinks first.

As I write this, there is currently a large kerfuffle underway about whether to appoint Mitt Romney as Secretary of State. Thus far, most of Trump’s selections have been off-the-charts right-wing extremists, so the appointment of Romney to one of most important posts in the administration would almost provide a touch of sanity and reasonableness. That’s why I don’t believe it’s going to happen. For example, Trump has appointed an arch-typical Southern racist bigot to be his Attorney-General. Good luck with any further civil rights actions being initiated. Also nominated as Secretary of Education is a women known to be a huge foe of teachers unions and public schools in general. In her world-view the responsibility for educating our children should be wholly turned over to charter schools. And the supposedly leading figure to be Secretary of Defense is a retired Admiral which, for the first time, would, in-effect, end the practice of civilian control over the military. A practice, I might add, that has been in effect since the founding of the republic. And the beat goes on as the voters, in their infinite wisdom, have put an American-style fascist regime into control of our government. With the Democratic Party basically in shambles, there will be little opposition to Trump as he evolves our democracy into a Putin-style despotic tyranny. All because about 110,000 normally Democratic voters in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan failed to show up at the polls.

Here in Las Vegas where I live, summer temperatures often are in the neighborhood of 110-115 degrees or even higher. Being in an affluent seniors community, virtually every home owner hires gardeners to maintain their landscaping. Without exception, virtually every gardening company utilizes undocumented Mexicans to perform this yard work in the blazing summer sun. After all, no one born in the U.S. will toil in that kind of backbreaking heat. You can tell these workers are not American citizens, because except for the boss, none of them speak English. I was just wondering who these affluent seniors in my community, most of whom voted for Trump, will hire to perform their landscaping once Trump boots all these illegals out of the country. Who will pick the summer fruit off the trees in California once the illegals are gone. Who will make the beds and clean the rooms in hotels across the country without illegal chamber maids. Something all the Trumpenistas might want to consider when they start wondering what they have wrought.

Categories: Brexit, Donald Trump, Alan Greenspan, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, presidential polls,, Economics, human affairs, politics | Leave a comment

AMERICA’S LONG-LASTING NIGHTMARE

Posted on November 7, 2016 by halviv

When David Letterman retired not long ago from almost 30 years of late night television, I thought the opening scene on his final show was especially unique. It featured ex-presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, and current president Barack Obama all repeating the same statement-“America’s long-lasting national nightmare is finally over”. It was obviously made in reference to the fact that Letterman was retiring from television broadcasting. Letterman then looked at Obama, the last president to make this pronouncement and said-“Come on, you guys are just kidding, right?” Obama then stared back at him with a harsh, stern look on his face, as if to indicate that this was no laughing matter. Letterman then had a look of shock and dismay on his face, as if he’s suddenly wondering if he was, indeed, America’s long national nightmare. It was a subtle but funny bit, well played by all participants. And while David Letterman was not, of course, America’s long, national nightmare, the election of 2016, which ends tomorrow, would certainly qualify for that title.

The election from Hell, as it has been defined in many circles, wound up being a contest between the two most despised figures on the current election scene. The invective and quality of meanness hurled at each other by the two participants, was virtually unprecedented. Today, finally, is the last day that we, the public, will have to endure such mean-spirited TV ad mudslinging, as well as serial mendacity. But the worst possible scenario for tomorrow’s balloting would be if the election results were not conclusive. With the polls showing that the contest is tightening, a clear winner might not be determined by tomorrow night. If there are narrow margins in key states, recounts will be demanded and charges of a “rigged election” will almost certainly emanate from the Trump camp. Court fights will ensue and threats of violence will almost certainly be heard. It could be a replay of the 2000 presidential election, which Al Gore actually won, but which victory was handed to George W. Bush by the Supreme Court, who decided in December, that Bush had won the state of Florida’s 29 electoral college votes. This decision was based on a vote tally by Florida’s Republican Secretary of State, who claimed that Bush was ahead in that state by a couple of hundred votes out of millions cast. The Supreme Court, by a vote of 5 to 4 backed her decision not to allow a state-wide recount. Bush was then declared president even though Al Gore had won the popular vote by several millions.

The current election polls have been narrowing since James Comey, FBI director, announced on day 11 before the election, that the FBI was reopening what was thought to be a closed case regarding Clinton’s email debacle. It seemed to be the last straw against voting for Clinton by the undecideds. (Still hard to believe that people could remain undecided, after all that has ensued since more than a year ago.) Then, yesterday Comey once again reversed course, and stated that no new evidence was found that would warrant a criminal indictment of Hillary. But this latter statement may have come too late to save Clinton’s candidacy. If anything, Clinton should have been taken to task for felony stupidity. Knowing that she had presidential aspirations, she recklessly established servers in her home to send and receive emails, including work related email, some of which contained classified government information. A clear violation of State Department protocols. But worse still, it gave her Republican opposition a club to batter her over the head with. This is why Democrats lose elections-breathtakingly gross political incompetence.

So tomorrow may finally end America’s long-suffering nightmare, or it might just get worse. If Hillary wins, as damaged as she is, the country and its democratic processes will nevertheless survive. But if Trump edges out a victory, the republic that Ben Franklin gave us 240 years ago, with the proviso that “if we can keep it,” will likely be extinguished. Trump will rule the U.S. as his buddy, Vladimir Putin rules Russia. Which is Mafia-style, with Putin being the boss of bosses, or the godfather, reigning over a system of crony capitalism, whereby his cronies get all the capital and the rest of the Russian populace is left to drown their sorrows in cheap Russian vodka. Russia does go through the motions of having national elections, but the outcomes are always predetermined in Putin’s favor. Talk about “rigged” voting. There is a congress, but it acts as a rubber stamp for Putin’s initiatives. Court decisions, also, always go in Putin’s favor. To take the Russian populace’s mind off how bad their economy and standard of living are, Putin initiates wars in the Crimea, in the Ukraine, (which have now cost thousands of lives), and more recently in Syria where the death toll at Russian hands is also in the thousands. I might add that, like Trump, Putin is also a pathological narcissist, that doesn’t take too kindly to criticism or opposition.

If Trump is allowed to enter the White House come January, look for him to rule, initially, through a series of “executive orders.” Congressional or court opposition will grow more and more meaningless and remote as time passes on. Eventually those executive orders will turn to edicts, and, as in Russia, both congress and the courts will become rubber stamps to the will of the dictator. If a sham presidential election is allowed in 2020, it will just become a reaffirmation of how wonderful of our “dear leader” is. Eventually, the task of ruling the U.S. with an iron fist will be handed over to sons Eric and Donald Jr., when the old man decides to retire. And remember, above all else, that pathological narcissists never like to get their egos bruised, and never take kindly to those that would dare such foolish behavior.

Categories: A malfunctioning psche, Brexit, Donald Trump, Alan Greenspan, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, presidential polls,, Joe McCarthy, McCarthyism, World War II, Viet-Nam, Anti-Communist Witch Hunts, Army-McCarthy hearings, Islamic Jihadist terrorism, Soviet Union, Red China, politics, Ronald Reagan | Leave a comment

POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS AS THEATER OF THE ABSURD

Posted on October 3, 2016 by halviv

In “Macbeth” Shakespeare wrote that: “Life is a tale told by an idiot…full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” Now, centuries later, the 2016 political campaign for the presidency of the U.S. is unfolding with the same absurdity as Shakespeare had described in his theater production of “Macbeth.” It has degenerated into a low art form of theater with various characters, besides the two main actors, playing out their various and highly predictable roles on center stage. For example, you have characters such as Rudy Giuliani and Chris Christie, who heretofore had fairly decent political reputations, but are now forced to pick up Trump’s dry-cleaning by twisting themselves into pretzels in trying to explain away each of Trumps incredibly moronic statements, uttered every time his ego becomes abused. Other players include the political pundits on the various TV news stations who analyze to death, every meaningless piece of drivel uttered by the theater production’s two main actors.

Of course, the highlight of this theater of the absurd is the debate performances between the two staring candidates. The first presidential debates go back to to the campaign of 1860 between Republican nominee Abraham Lincoln and Democrat Stephan Douglass. The primary topic of the day at that time was slavery. Presidential debates then fell out of favor for a century, until the advent of a television set being common in almost everyone’s home resurrected them in 1960. Now, everyone could watch the candidates perform from the comfort of their living rooms, and theater of the absurd was thus born. In 1960 the contest was between Richard Nixon and John Kennedy. Interestingly, those that watched the debate on TV felt that Kennedy had given the stronger performance; while those that listened on the radio believed that Nixon had prevailed. The reason- Kennedy’s handsome, charismatic persona had won out over Nixon’s rather drab looking appearance, while on the radio Nixon’s delivery appeared so much more reasonable than Kennedy’s. Since more people watched the debate on TV than listened to it on the radio, Kennedy won the election by the narrowest of margins. After he was sworn in Kennedy stated that if he accomplished nothing else, he had saved the country from a Richard Nixon. As it turned out, however, he had merely delayed it.

So last week we had the first of three presidential debates, with a mind-boggling 84 million people tuning in to watch this theater performance. As if they would learn anything new that hadn’t been repeated hundreds of previous times. But it was showtime, and the show must go on. Trump started off predictably strong, hurling every malady the Universe has ever known as being caused by the Obama Administration, and Hillary Clinton in particular. But somewhere during Clinton’s other wise drab performance, she managed to toss a few good zingers where it hurt Trump the most- in his ego. Being the supreme narcissist that I’ve previously written about, Trump could not let this effrontery go unanswered, and thus went off script and began to lose it. The debate then degenerated into such pressing issues as to whether Trump had called a former Miss Universe who had gotten fat, Miss Piggy. Certainly one of the most immediate and urgent problems of the day on the minds of most of the American populace. It went downhill for Trump from that point on, and Clinton was generally declared the debate winner in contest where the bar is set exceedingly low. If there is such a thing as a winner when watching the theater of the absurd.

The next day, of course, all the political pundits sallied forth to verbalize their views of what was said that shouldn’t have, and what wasn’t said that should have. There was a general consensus on the Trump side that he should have brought up Bill Clinton’s sexual proclivities, and Trump has promised to do just that for the second debate. Why bother watching when you know in advance what the main characters will pontificate on. And, as if the fact that Bill Clinton couldn’t keep his zipper shut is, in any way, germane to the world we live in in 2016. Nevertheless, the name of the game is how much mud one candidate can sling at the other, and how much of it will stick. By all means, never discuss in the theater of the absurd, the actual problems and issues affecting large numbers of people on a daily basis.

The current polls show that the election is extremely close, almost a dead heat. As I’ve written before, in such cases the outcome is usually decided by the people that don’t bother to vote versus those that do. For example, in 2008 and 2012, large numbers of Democrats were motivated to turn out to elect Barack Obama as president. But in the 2010 and 2014 congressional elections, many Democrats stayed home on election day, and Republicans overwhelmingly swept those contests. So, in the end it all comes down to who will show up at the ballot box. There is one other factor that should also be considered.

Current polls also show that about 5% of eligible voters are still undecided. Hard to believe after all the shenanigans that have already taken place. My theory is that these are the same people that wait until about 11:pm on April 15 to go rushing down to the post office to file their income tax returns. In other words, these are people who, by their very nature, hate making decisions or taking required actions until the bitter end. In the 1980 race between Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter, the polls also showed a virtual tie, until the final week when the undecideds for some inexplicable reason, broke for Reagan and he won in a landslide. A dismal viewer of the current landscape might believe the Universe has the same perverse fate in store, not only for the U.S., but the entire planet, by having the undecideds break for Trump.

Categories: A malfunctioning psche, Brexit, Donald Trump, Alan Greenspan, Economics, Huey Long, Franklin Roosevelt, Great Depression, The Kingfish,Donald Trump, human affairs, John Kennedy, politics, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

FOREIGN POLICY DISARRAY

Posted on August 8, 2016 by halviv

George Washington, the first president of the United States, was also the last president to preside over a fairly unified country. Washington ruled for two complete terms during an era of general goodwill, but when he left office fierce bickering and character assassinations began occurring among the rest of our founding fathers, such as John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and others. The attacks on John Adams, our second president, became so virulent that Adams pushed through Congress a series of anti-sedition laws that were in direct violation of the freedom of speech and press provisions of the Bill of Rights. These laws made criticism of the presidency an act of treason with severe penalties attached. Thomas Jefferson, our third president, who co-wrote the Declaration of Independence with Adams, became a fierce critic of Adams and his anti-sedition laws, and to Jefferson’s credit, he managed to have them repealed during his term in the White house. He accomplished little else after that, however. But amid all the back-biting going on among our leaders in those early days of the Republic, there was one concept that they apparently all agreed upon. And that was George Washington’s admonition that the U.S. should not become entangled in the affairs of foreign nations. In other words the U.S. should follow a policy of isolationism.

Protected by huge oceans to our east and west, and mostly friendly countries to our north and south, the U.S. with a few exceptions during the 19th and early 20th centuries adhered fairly strictly to to the Washingtonian concept of non-interference with other nations internal affairs. After all, it wasn’t as if foreign countries could launch bomber or missile attacks on U.S. soil. This policy of isolationism received a severe setback however, as the U.S. became militarily involved in WWI shortly after the election of 1916. With U.S. allies including Britain, France and Russia bogged down in a trench warfare stalemate with Germany that neither side seemed capable of breaking, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson deemed that it was necessary for U.S. intervention to break that stand-off. As a side note, more soldiers on both sides died from disease caused by the filthy, disgusting conditions of the trenches they occupied, than from the opposing side’s bullets. In any event, U.S. involvement quickly broke the stalemate, and, of course, the Allies went on to defeat Germany and end the war. To help change the American mindset from isolationism to intervention, composers such as George M. Cohan wrote patriotic songs in support of the war effort. You can still hear theses tunes, such as “Over There” on YouTube.

With WWI, “the war to end all wars” concluded, the U.S. populace believed it was safe, once again, to retreat back into a comfy, cozy state of isolationism. But the 20 year respite between the conclusion of WWI and the outbreak of WWII showed otherwise. The U.S. was so militarily unprepared for war in 1941 because of isolationist policies, that if Japan could had invaded our West Coast right after bombing Pearl Harbor, the Roosevelt Administration was prepared to cede all U.S. land west of Chicago before attempting to take a military stand. With the unbelievable horrors, atrocities and just pure evil emanating from WWII, and with new threats to world peace on the horizon from Communist Russia and China, a policy of non-intervention in world affairs seemed unthinkable to the American public. Isolationism appeared to be dead as a doornail, (as Ebenezer Scrooge might have put it.) Of course, a subsequent policy of global interventionism has not turned out to be all that terrific either.

It led to the Korean War in which we only able to save half of the Korean peninsula from tyrannical despotism, and then to that fiasco known as Viet-Nam where nearly 60 thousand American lives perished as well as hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese, in a jungle war we eventually lost anyhow. And then on to the first Gulf War which let tyrant dictator Saddam Hussein remain in power, and then to the second gulf war which removed him from power at considerable cost in lives and treasure, and which also left chaos in its place. Also along the way during the 50 years after WWII, an anti-communist, “better dead than red” mentality sprung up in the U.S which cost us needless trillions of dollars that were spent beefing up our military-industrial complex in preparation for war against the old USSR which then collapsed under the weight of its own despotism.

Hence when Barack Obama moved into the Oval office in January 2009, people were generally fed up with globalism and ready to return back to a more isolationist policy. Obama appeared to comply with these sentiments by proclaiming that “America will lead from behind” when it came to military initiatives on the world stage. In other words, the U.S. would considerably lower its profile in world events. But there were serious consequences to that position. The U.S. is apparently the one indispensable nation in world affairs, and when it retreats, evil despotism seems to move into the vacuum. And so it has, as Islamic-Jihadist barbarianism has taken hold in the Mid-East countries of Iraq, Syria, Libya, and Yemen, as well as launching terror attacks in Europe, and even in the U.S. The token bombing raids that we’ve launched against these terrorists have hardly seemed to make a dent in their operations. And let us not forget the despotic tyrant of Russia, Vladimir Putin, who has launched unprovoked military action against the Ukraine, which has led to the deaths of thousands, while we’ve stood by and again did nothing. As far as foreign policy goes, “leading from behind” seems to be pretty much failure.

To top it all off, neither of our two presidential candidates, one of which will be in the Oval Office next January, seems to be offering up any new initiatives to offset Obama’s mostly failed foreign policy. Maybe the U.S. is just too worn out, too burdened by debt and fatigue, to launch any new meaningful action on the world stage. As I’ve written many times before, perhaps it’s the inevitable destiny of powerful empires like Rome before us, to reach the zenith of its strength, and then watch that strength slowly dissipate into dust.

Categories: Ben Franklin, The Constitution, Monarchies, Brexit, Donald Trump, Alan Greenspan, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, presidential polls,, Economics, Huey Long, Franklin Roosevelt, Great Depression, The Kingfish,Donald Trump, human affairs, Isis terrorist attack in Paris,, Joe McCarthy, McCarthyism, World War II, Viet-Nam, Anti-Communist Witch Hunts, Army-McCarthy hearings, Islamic Jihadist terrorism, Soviet Union, Red China, John Kennedy, foreign policy,terrorism, lack of U.S. response to terrorism,, politics, The Monkey's Paw, Fate, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson,Megabucks,, Uncategorized | Leave a comment