January 31, 2017

Trump could and should double down on SCOTUS nominee

Donald Trump has been president for less than two weeks and the opposition - the media and the Democrats - have tried every way to gin up opposition to every single thing he has done. For the most part he has been immune to the pushback.  He wants to be president for all Americans, whether they are political opposition or not.  But with the Obama-administration-driven partial, temporary immigration ban he is facing a mock firestorm of opposition.

This is a fire that is easily put out by a factual rebuttal of the histrionics involved.  Yes, this was done far less smoothly than other president Trump executive orders and it is definitely a learning opportunity for the neophyte administration (not a teachable moment - a phrase I detest and thankfully one that will slowly fade with it's principal, former president Obama).  President Trump wants progress and he wants it quickly.  There's a happy medium to be found between speed and forethought.  That balance has yet to be fully realized. 

Nevertheless, there is another learning opportunity at work here that president Trump has already realized - he is going to shift the conversation quickly away from the awkwardness to which the media is now bitterly clinging and towards his next action - his SCOTUS nominee.  The immigration firestorm will fade as the facts about the Obama actions that led to this limited ban become more and more of the conversation.  Shifting the conversation to new ground is an quick win, and president Trump knows it.

What is less clear is whether president is going to double down by selecting Neil Gorsuch over Thomas Hardiman as his first nominee. Gorsuch is better nominee as a rock solid conservative.  Hardiman is likely a good choice but less so.  The advantage towards Hardiman is he is likely to be more easily confirmed than Gorsuch, less likely to face a filibuster.

Indications are that Trump is leaning towards Hardiman.

But here's the thing - if Trump does appoint the less conservative nominee it will look to supporters and foes alike that he's buckled.  That will embolden his political enemies that he was able to crack so easily and disenfranchise his supporters that he isn't going to drain the swamp and instead caved at the first sign of trouble.

You can't drain the swamp without facing stiff resistance.  Fierce resistance is to be expected throughout the Trump presidency regardless of what he does right now.  So why buckle? Instead president Trump should continue to be bold, very bold.  Maybe even bolder than Gorsuch like surprising everyone by pivoting back to William H Pryor. 

Why?  In addition to agitating his political foes to the point of apoplexia, heartening his supporters, he will be sending a signal that he's made of sterner stuff than his predecessor - domestically as well as abroad.  And that's an important point to establish early.  If the president is the dealmaker-in-chief the last thing he needs to do is inform those he will be dealing with that he's sitting at the table in a position of weakness (i.e. that he can be pushed around).  If Mexico or Russia or China see president Trump as negotiator Obama 2.0 this is going to be a slow, painful and unproductive four years for the president.

Furthermore, president Trump would avoid the nepotistic charges that he's listening to his sister on Hardiman.  Fiercely independent and not willing to give the media the ammunition to strike at his nominee on the grounds of their choosing. 

And should a Trump nominee face a filibuster, let's get that done now rather than wait and face a more fierce, organized opposition from Democrats in a few years with a second nominee that might not even come during president Trump's first term.

President Trump was elected to clean up Washington.  Now is the time to go big or go home - literally - because tomorrow will be too late when all the momentum is gone.  It's the reason the left is trying so hard with the fierce urgency of now to stop Trump in his tracks before he even gets started.  Hopefully president Trump sees that and acts accordingly.

Sally Yates, you're fired.

Sally Yates, (former) acting Attorney General and president Obama appointee refused to enforce president Trump's immigration ban order.  And for that, she was, rightly, fired.

As the editors of National Review (themselves no fans of Donald Trump) noted;
Our Constitution vests all executive power — not some of it, all of it — in the president of the United States. Executive-branch officials do not have their own power. They are delegated by the president to execute his power. If they object to the president’s policies, their choice is clear: salute and enforce the president’s directives, or honorably resign. There is no third way. No one knows this better than high-ranking officials of the Department of Justice. That is why President Trump was right to fire Acting Attorney General Sally Yates.
It's that simple. Instead, knowing her days were numbered she decided deliberately to turn herself into a martyr in the face of a hyped-up outrage against the ban. The very outrage by the way, that will help convince Trump supporters they were right to support him and will help galvanize their support of what they see as a return to common sense from a president who wouldn't even say the words "extremist Islamic terrorism" to a president who wants to do his job and put Americans' safety first. 

Getting back to Yates, her actions were poorly conceived.  Not only did she get herself fired but she's not going to be made a martyr.  No one outside of her immediate family and circle of friends cares about Sally Yates. Liberals will use her as the flavor of the week cause celebre until Trump's next move which as it turns out, is happening tonight.  And once Trump's ban on former government employees working for lobbyists kicks in, perhaps prior to her next role, she'll potentially be challenged in finding her next obvious role.  perhaps she'll take a speaking-engagement tour or go out touting her eventual book about how she was treated so unfairly by president Trump just because she stood up for her (politically driven) principles.  I'm sure she'll draw huge crowds at Snowflake University.

But her problems don't end there.  Her actions were those of insubordination. 
To make an analogy, there are many federal judges who oppose abortion. They apply Roe v. Wade even though they disagree with it intensely, because their duty is to obey superior courts. As every official in the Justice Department knows, if one disagrees with the law one is called upon to apply, or the policy one is bound to enforce, one is free to resign. Staying on while undermining government policy is not an act of courage. It is an act of sabotage.
Is it indictable? Maybe.
Furthermore, the very thing Ms. Yates turned up her legal nose at -- a president placing restrictions on immigration from terror-infused countries -- was done in 2011 by Barack Obama, the man responsible for her appointment.

That Trump fired her only minutes after she opened her mouth was predictable and necessary -- and not just to provoke the inevitable jokes about his television show. The president was acting within the law. She wasn't.

...She deserves to be indicted and have her license to practice law yanked. But no, she shouldn't go to jail. She should get a job and do something useful -- far from the law. On the weekends, she can go protest all she wants.
To use a military analogy it's a court marshallable offense. To view it as an act of heroism is to ignore the reality of how the government or any business works - like it or not you do as your boss says or you find another job. Do otherwise and you're fired.

January 29, 2017

January 28, 2017

Why Trump argued the inaugural attendance count

Watch this video to see why Donald Trump disputed the inaugural attendance count - pictures in this video show the crowd size without the media edits. Sure the pictures the media propagated as facts were real, but they were not taken at the height of the attendance. Facts matter.

Saturday Learning Series - History of the Conservative Movement, William F. Buckley, Jr.

History of the Conservative Movement: Politics in America - William F. Buckley, Jr. an interview.

January 27, 2017

Friday Musical Interlude - a downtempo jazz version

Downtempo version of Coldplay's The Scientist by Wen featuring Querubyna. Perfect for your lounge.

January 26, 2017

Bloomberg won't credit Trump for DOW rise

A Bloomberg article tells us not to thanks president Trump for the Dow Jones rise above 20,000 to a historic high. That's after saying this:
The Dow has gained about 10 percent since Trump was elected, and for good reason: His proposed policies would augment the stream of cash flowing to investors. Reduced corporate tax rates, for example, would leave more money to pass on to shareholders, while cuts in capital-gains rates would allow them to keep more for themselves. The mere possibility of such a windfall offers investors ample motivation to bid up stocks.
The policies are something that will help the Dow,  but it's not a recipe for economic success relative to GDP growth the editorial argues, loath to credit president Trump with anything despite the obvious Dow success.  The following several paragraphs outline why it won't necessarily translate into success for middle America.  There are arguments to be made (and also refuted) because we're only a week into the new presidency and the extension of the Dow success has yet to happen - it's too early.

But that does not take away from the editorial's title: "Dow 20,000 Is No Vote of Confidence".

Wrong. That's exactly what it is. A Dow at 20,000 is not a report card on success; after one week as president that would be akin to giving president Obama a Nobel Peace Prize based on his potential to ferment global peace after 8 months in office and no concrete accomplishments tied to it. For those of you unable to catch that, I mean that it would be crazy. No, a soaring Dow indicates precisely a vote of confidence in the potential of Trump (perhaps that was the Nobel committee's misguided intention with Obama in 2009, conflating aspiration with success). Bloomberg makes the reverse mistake from the Nobel cabal here - conflating success with aspiration. The Dow is driven in large part by aspiration because trying to divine the future of stock performance depends on where you see the economy and business environment heading. This is exactly what the market is doing - it's confident that business will operate in a more business-friendly environment and therefore perform better.

Is there a vote of confidence in Trump's stated policies? Well, anecdotally it's not just the Dow's rise that indicates this is the case. Consumer confidence has soared since the election of Trump as seen below:



That sure looks like a surge of confidence to me.  Maybe Bloomberg is seeing something else that I'm missing.  But probably not.  What they are seemingly arguing is that it's not going to translate to GDP growth and ultimately the little guy  by way of jobs and purchasing power.
More money for investors, though, doesn’t automatically translate into more prosperity for everyone. Economic growth has been weak since the recession of 2007 to 2009, in part because of very low levels of capital investment. Companies would be more likely to increase this spending if Trump offered some specific enticements, or if they saw more demand for their goods and services.

On those fronts, the future is less clear. Stock investors tend to be relatively wealthy and hence less likely to spend each added dollar they make, so their gains probably won’t do much for demand. Companies, for their part, are getting conflicting signals: Lower taxes would of course be attractive, but Trump’s public meddling in hiring and investment decisions might push in the other direction.
They're using a microscope to look at a macroscopic situation. Trump's 'meddling' is window dressing for public consumption. Yes it's made a difference in terms of specific jobs. But Trump understands that he cannot spend the next 8 years sitting down with every company and tell them to hire American, buy American and build American. He's merely setting a tone with that. More importantly however, is the idea that a better business climate via his policy agenda, will invite capital investment and inflows (repatriation of capital) and that will necessitate hiring and therefore jobs. Trump and a lot of others are betting on that and it looks like it's going to be a pretty safe bet.

From most partisan Obama to post-partisan Trump

There's an article on Roll Call today about president Trump's charm offensive and how it contrasts with Obama's style. Obama was distant with Congress and in fact, often hostile.  There are differences of course that facilitate the difference.  Obama had a mostly opposition Congress (i.e. during most of his tenure as president) whereas Trump starts with a Republican majority.  However, Trump has already reached across the aisle (much to the chagrin of a lot of his supporters) whereas Obama treated them like some sort of disease.
Over the last eight years, Obama and his aides hosted private-sector officials and stakeholders from the nonprofit world regularly. But the 44th president was often criticized for not socializing more with lawmakers, though his top aides near the end essentially argued a president should not have to — and expressed their belief that Republicans poisoned the relationship from the start.
Oh really? Try another excuse.

President Trump's obviously a dealmaker and you can't make deals with hostile intent. You can bargain from a position of strength and you can be a tough negotiator, but more people at the table is being more inclusive. In that respect so far, president Trump has been much more inclusive and post-partisan than his predecessor who claimed he would be the first post-partisan president and as it turned instead he was the most partisan president.

Trump's moves are shrewd. First engaging union leaders he has stolen (or at least started on stealing) a once rock-solid constituency from the Democrats - labor. In fact he did that before the election, but he's working to consolidate it now. By reaching across the aisle, he's started working on stealing the narrative from the media. It's hard to convince the public that president Trump is being a partisan president when he's spending so much time with Chuck Schumer.

Meanwhile Democrats have held up his nominees, and the media is busy fighting battles with Trump on the terms he's laid out, for example inauguration crowd sizes. All of this serves as a means of keeping the media running in circles while his agenda moves forward - energy, jobs, a wall, SCOTUS nominee etc. are all playing second fiddle to "Trump said something stupid again". The media just doesn't get that voters have discounted Trump's seemingly ill-advised tweets and focused on what's actually getting done. It's only the media who are fixated on tweets and by doing so they are missing the Trump agenda to a large extent. I'm confident that it's exactly what Trump is hoping would happen.

January 24, 2017

Please let her win!


DNC Chair candidate Sally Boynton Brown really needs counselling, not a job as the chair of the Democratic National Committee.  Nevertheless, let her win.  This cross-eyed view of society embedded in Democratic politics will ensure ongoing GOP wins during whatever her future tenure in the DNC role turns out to be, should she win. Please DNC, let her win.  Pull a Debbie Wasserman Schultz for her.

Just. Wow.

Planned Parenthood Decepticons

Regardless of your position on abortion, Planned Parenthood has been lying to the public and to the government (I'm sure for a lot of Democrats it's a nudge, nudge, wink, wink  sort of lie) and for that, they should have their funding stripped.

Honesty matters, even if your opinion on life regards life as not mattering.  If your side can't win by being honest, you deserve to lose.

Hat tip Hot Air.

Fake news will ensure a Trump re-election in 2020

Fake news is going to get Donald Trump reelected in 2020. There will be no 2 a.m. "we still can't make a call on who will win Wisconsin" on election night 2020.  Fake news is not the fake news they are telling you about either.  It's not Alt-Right driven lies that got Trump elected.  But lies about the Alt-Right probably helped Trump a little bit.  No the fake news is the lies coming from the mainstream media about conservatives, about the right, about Trump and about the GOP.  Remember this blatant propaganda outright lie from CNN?



Either CNN was deliberate in its malfeasance on that one or else they are still happy to have Democrat partisan hacks (not just Chris Cuomo, but others like Donna Brazile or mini-Van Jones for example) on its roster. Either way, that's extremely shameful. Regardless of the fact that this egregiously noisome canard was allowed on the air during the election, the problem remains, unabated. The same applies to George (Clinton mini-me) Stephanopoulos on ABC's Sunday morning news discussion show.  Let's not ignore the fact that liberals have entire shows of fake news (like Colbert's erstwhile show for example).

The problem is, people believe him.
And right now fake news seems to be running amok among the mainstream media.  It's already started  ramping up even (follow the link and take a read - the litany of fake news from 'credible' media after only 3 days since the Trump inauguration is eye opening). The only fake news that matters as far as the mainstream media are concerned, is the fake news they want to tell you.  

That's actually good news for Donald Trump because as the media disappears down the rabbit hole of their own confirmation bias coupled with an apparent lack of fact checking that goes all the way back to Dan Rather's memogate, people are turning away.

The reason Trump is on Twitter tweeting his own opinion is because people don't expect the media to report it fairly.  Only 8% of Americans trust the media, a historic low.  The media by their own hyper-partisanism are making themselves more and more irrelevant by the day, and also in many circles, making themselves less and less able to see that fact.  Any level of Trump success, coupled with this media bias, virtually ensures Trump and the Republicans in Congress a historic set of wins in 2018 and 2020.

And make no mistake, Trump has set himself up for a historic level of success should he deliver on his agenda - lower taxes, smarter healthcare, better immigration management, leaner government, an originalist Supreme Court. Growth. Jobs. Of course he's also set himself up for a historical level of failure too should he deliver on none of it.  

With the media hoping for that and Democrats impending obstructionism (yeah, Republicans did it to Obama too when they could; that's politics), clearly liberals think that Trump will fail.  They're counting on it in fact because with a super thin bench for upcoming election candidates, they don't have a Plan B.  Plan A is demonize Trump so he, like most every Republican before him (post-Reagan at least), he'll cave and become timid.  That's their Plan A?

The Democrats are in disarray and they don't seem to realize it yet.  The longer they fail to realize that they are essentially in freefall in terms of legislative power, the better it is for Trump and for Republicans.  After 2018 Trump may end up getting even more of his agenda moved forward than between now and then.  And that bodes exceptionally well for 2020 for Trump and the GOP. The only thing that can stop Trump, is Trump.  For liberals that isn't much of a Plan B.

January 22, 2017

January 21, 2017

Saturday Learning Series - Physics (motion)

More on physics this week, because physics is moving.



January 20, 2017

Swamp Drainage in progress

Picture of the day.


2009-2016 I'm glad that's over


Anyone thinking the next 4 or 8 years are going to be hell, I refer you to the last 8 years. I say that because so many people, including some of my family members feel that way and are morose over the fact that Obama is over.  Really?  Do you not realize what happened under the previous president?  I'm guessing not, so allow me yo enlighten those of you who pay attention to politics at the periphery.

Food stamps have increased exponentially over the last 8 years under Obama in a way that is entirely out of line with history.



The labor participation rate, an indicator of what percentage of the eligible work force is either actively employed or looking for work is at a multi-decade low - the worst since Jimmy Carter's malaise days of the 1970s. Addendum: This is no small factor in assessing the economy a labor force participation rate change of 1% could equate to millions of jobs.


Average economic growth also fared poorly and 2009 is no excuse:


The worst since at least the 1970's, pre-Reagan - another multi-decade worst. Just like the national debt and deficits are all-time historical worsts under president Obama. And it's not just in total dollars, it's as a percentage of GDP that proves his reckless spending has been historically abysmal.



American military strength has been set perilously low:
While “resetting” with Russia and “engaging” with Iran, Obama has presided over a tremendous down-sizing of U.S. military strength. The Army’s manpower is down 10 percent since President Obama took office. Our naval capabilities are aging and inadequate to meet our national security demands. The Air Force fields the smallest and oldest force of combat aircraft in its history. The Marines are running only about two-thirds the number of battalions they have historically needed to meet day-to-day operational demands.

Most neglected of all U.S. national security elements are our strategic forces. Here, President Obama has reined in development and deployment of ballistic missile defenses. The president cut all advanced missile defense programs designed to keep the United States ahead of the ballistic missile threat in the future. The president also delayed and underfunded existing programs, most notably the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense system. Meanwhile, to curry favor with Russia, he pulled the plug on planned missile defense installations in Poland and the Czech Republic, simultaneously alienating those allies while displaying weakness to Moscow.

So yeah, if you like your America weak and effete then Obama had a good run in that regard.

His inclusivity started with "I won" and he ran a bitterly partisan administration at the exclusion and demonization of his political opponents.  He fuelled racial divide and masked it as healing.  And all of that is just scratching the surface of his weak and ineffective and hostile presidency.

I'm glad it's over - worst president ever. Trump has nowhere to go but up.

Friday Musical Interlude - We Are the Champions

...because Trump.

January 19, 2017

Franken, Perry find common ground in comedy

This common ground of levity from two very different political views; Al Franken and Rick Perry at Perry's confirmation hearing. If these two can find laughter in this particular moment, there's hope for America's political divide. Well done on both sides gentlemen.

Quick Hit - Trump inauguration

Trump's inauguration is tomorrow.  It hasn't come soon enough.

President Obama has been an abysmal leader for America.  Trump will make a difference.  He has to do so, not just for personal political success but because he comes into office in what is a dark time for America.  President Obama has presided over the increasingly rapid decline of America and slow boiling frog that are half or more of America's voters. America has been bleeding money, losing jobs and eroding the middle class since the 1990s.  President Obama replaced George W Bush as the poster child for globalism and Hillary Clinton would have put both of them to shame.  While Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren focus on the minutia of the minimum wage (of which only 3% of Americans are faced with), real economic change is at a macro level and requires fundamental change in how America operates.  America first is a good thing when globalists put the wealth of the wealth ahead of legitimate free trade and ahead of the well being (not welfare) of the American people.

 If Hillary Clinton had won, that trend would have continued and the frog would have died.  Frog?  For those of you unfamiliar with the analogy, watch the video below.   Don't worry - the frog in the video below is not harmed:



Something has to change and Donald Trump election proves enough Americans have realized it.  God bless America and the recovery that begins tomorrow.

Democrats not attending Trump inauguration - don't expect you'll be included in legislative process

CNN has a list of Democrats who won't attend Trump's inauguration.  You don't want to participate in the inauguration, you're self-excluding? Fine.  Don't expect to have much of a voice after tomorrow. Disrespect will likely be met with disrespect in return.  You'll have brought it on yourself, and your constituents. Way to abdicate your responsibilities.

You'll be the one stuck dealing with it. So enjoy that.

January 18, 2017

Quick Hits - Obama on his way out the door

President Obama has unfortunately not taken his lame duck status seriously and has had a flurry of activity and possible activity set to cripple the incoming president Trump.  His legacy needs to be erased because despite his apparent emotional or personal appeal to the public, his policies have been extremely detrimental to the country.

Obama unfortunately has pardoned people, grabbed land, betrayed immigrants and signed or avoided international deals in an effort to ensure his continued aggrandization and self-serving efforts to a level that rises to that of the Clintons.

Don't let the door hit you on the way out Obama, your policies have lost and America will be great again, despite your best efforts.  So long, not gonna miss you one iota.

Sour grapes Democrats

Why now?

Yesterday I was watching a replay of the election night coverage and something struck me that I think needs to be addressed.  Everyone at  the time was talking about the possibility of Trump not accepting the results of the election because he had been complaining that there were problems with the election being conducted properly.

Not a word from Democrats about the Russians hacking the election and Democrats complaining about it.  Granted they thought they were winning and handily.  But they do not have any significant additional information now that they didn't have back then.  The DNC had already been hacked by what WikiLeaks claims was NOT the Russians.  And if there was such a concern about the legitimacy of the results (as some seem to complain loudly now), why didn't they say anything before the election?

Why now? Because what they are doing is entirely political.


January 17, 2017

Quick Hits - African American hate crime


Another Quick Hit. Web celebrities and Trump supporters Diamond and Silk discuss racist black teens torturing a mentally handicapped white teenager.


Common sense is not confined to a single ethnic group.  These ladies clearly have their thoughts and ideas martialled and just make a lot of sense.

Quick Hits - F-35s

Trump, F35s and jobs - Donald Trump hasn't even been sworn in and he's saving jobs and money for the American people. Once he's been inaugurated that's when things will matter.  When Obama was president, I objected to the government picking winners and losers.  This is clearly not that.  However it is small ball - the president cannot fix the economy by using the bully pulpit as a strong arm tactic against individual companies.  Nor should he.  When the government tells or pressures companies into doing or not doing things, liberty is in jeopardy.  But Donald Trump is not yet president.  As I said, what matters is what he does as president - tax codes, regulation and creating an environment where business can thrive, that is what will matter.

Nevertheless, this is good news:
The CEO of the aerospace defense company Lockheed Martin, Marillyn Hewson, pledges to create an additional 1,800 jobs and significantly reduce the high cost of F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program previously criticized by President-elect Donald Trump.

“We are going to increase our jobs in Fort Worth by 1,800 jobs and when you think about the [F-35] supply chain across 45 states in the U.S. it’s going to be thousands and thousands of jobs,” Hewson said outside Trump Tower following a meeting with the president-elect.

“I also had the opportunity to give him some ideas on things we think we can do to continue to drive the cost down on the F-35 program, so it was a great meeting,” she continued.
This  involves national security, government contracts as well as jobs. This does matter, just like the Boeing Air Force One contract.

January 16, 2017

Quick Hits - Streep Sweep

Meryl Streep - I never liked her acting.  She always seems to be on the verge of tears. Her film choices seem pretentious and self-important.  They are generally not entertaining, certainly not as entertaining as the NFL.

I could care less what she has to say about politics because she is vapid, self-involved and smarmy.  Doctors don't tell astronauts how to do their job, and actors don't understand economics. She took the opportunity of her speech at the GOLDen GLOBeto slam Donald Trump.  A bunch of rich, primarily white out of touch Hollywood type applauded her because they feel like they are the most hated group of people in America, along with immigrants and the press and that Trump is Darth vader incarnate.

It's stupid to care.  Rush Limbaugh broke it down quite well nevertheless, last week.



January 15, 2017

Sunday charity

Faith in humanity restored.

Anyone who wants to outsource their kindness to government welfare programs is abdicating their responsibility as a human being.  These are things we should all be doing in our everyday lives individually and in community groups. Sending money to a government bureaucracy for things like HUD or welfare or Obamacare not only adds layers of inefficiency as money gets eaten up for salaries and government buildings etc., it also removes your own personal responsibility to other people and to yourself.

Quick Hits - Trump vs Buzzfeed

I'm playing catch up on my posts because 2017 has started out for me unusually busy.  Consequently my coming posts will be shorter than normal.  Who knows, maybe that is a good thing.

Here's my first catch up post: Trump vs Buzzfeed and CNN. Liberals clearly want to delegitimize Trump's presidency and they don't care how they do it.  After weeks of decrying fake news, an ultra-liberal media outlet, released fake news and it was quickly picked up by CNN, an ultra-liberal now pseudo-news organization.  They fail to realize they continue to de-legitimize themselves instead and are growing the chasm between the public and themselves.


Sunday verse


January 14, 2017

Saturday Learning Series - Physics 101.

I'm enjoying the Geography Now series on countries but I spent all of 2016 pretty much on geography, so I'll be including them as ad hoc bonus items this year and be moving on to new topics in 2017.

Here's a map explaining all of the different areas of physics that we have today. It's a good starting point in understanding what physics does for us.

January 8, 2017

January 6, 2017

Friday Musical Interlude - Thievery Corporation

A live in studio performance of several songs by Thievery Corporation.

January 2, 2017

Welcome to 2017

It used to be that the dog days of summer were the hardest time to blog about anything because less was happening.  In 2016 it was an election year and with the flurry of headline activity, that norm was tossed on its head. 2017 is going to start slowly for me, again departing from the norm.  That despite all of the last minute efforts of Obama not to be a lame duck but rather to hobble Trump and the country with ill-conceived last minute actions that go well beyond the scope of his non-mandate.

The real important stuff will happen after Obama is gone.  How quickly can Trump erase Obama's horrible 8 year record?  How well can Trump deliver on his promises?  How quickly?  How well will Trump do in the approval ratings?  Will he work effectively with Republicans?  Will he govern in a conservative manner?  Will he drain the swamp?

That's the stuff that matters.  That's when my blogging will kick back into full swing.  Meanwhile I will bite my lip on my contempt for the current Commander in Chief and his self-aggrandizing, socialist and foolish acts and pronouncements unless they become so over the top I can't hold back.

Meanwhile I'll continue with the Saturday Learning Series and Friday Musical Interlude posts and try to keep from going radio-silent on politics completely for the first few weeks.
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