Politics

Further Examination of Trump

A friend of mine has expressed that President Trump’s motives were purely altruistic as he sought the presidency and that he has “looked beyond” the immature behavioural idiosyncracies of the man in lieu of the independence and platform that he brings to the White House. Much of our discussion referenced border protection and the prospect of western values and security being undermined. In spite of my assertion that his character as exhibited through behaviour could negatively impact military decision making, I was at many moments of our healthy debate transfixed by my friend’s passion and degree of confidence that the “deep state” had a lock on influence peddling through the Clintons and Obama.

Consequently, I’m compelled to further examine the purported benevolence of Donald Trump when Trump’s propensity to wield personal insults expresses otherwise.

  1. Although closed door, it’s been reported that he has directly challenged Putin (G20) on proven evidence of Russian attempts of interfering in the November general election despite my perception from reading that he’s not entirely convinced himself.
  2. Sincere testimonials of his good deeds and treatment of minorities were exhibited in his election campaign rallies.
  3. Conviction on policy platform as advertised. (Immigration, border security, trade)
  4. There’s no denying his fight and there’s no bigger battle to win than a better future for all.
  5. Donation of first quarter’s salary toward restoration of war  historical structures. Gesture should not be minimized in context of his means.
  6. Just motive can be ascribed in a yearning to apply skill set of private sector deal making toward public policy and international agreements.
  7. Despite business ties to Russia as cited by Heather Timmons of qz.com, it could be perceived that any such commercial ties to Russia by Trump do not entail any conflict in representing U.S. interests and that “trusts” administered would provide arms length comfort to U.S. citizens.
  8. I’ve not read of any account (not that there’s been none) of any domestic interest group seeking favour from Trump in exchange for political funding.
  9. No executive order within the first 100 days of office has any appearance of contributing to any Trump business gain.
  10. Men of integrity in the twilight of their careers with much to lose have aligned with Trump.
Economics, Free Enterprise

Reduced Pensions and Lost Severance At Sears

There appears to be some sorrow among the laid off Sears employees who “feel” betrayed by a company in trouble. I have news for all employees.  You have a “job” and you serve at the pleasure of your employer.  By pure definition, if you decide to take a “job” you are giving up some of your autonomy.  If you should so choose to have a portion of your pay handled by a private pension plan, what gives you the right to think that there is no “risk” in having a third party manage those funds or to think that the company will be financially fit to make ongoing company contributions on your behalf?  In socialized Canada we are fed this line that you are marginalized if “self employed”.  I have news for those who believe that your company will be there for you.  You are one bad relationship or two bad performance reviews from the exit sign and if you think you have “job security” think again in the context of a financial system teetering on the brink.  If you worked at Sears and have witnessed a steady decline in retail traffic over a period of years, you should have taken a look at the competition or at the least upgraded in the evening with some career changing course work.  Now is not the time to be looking to a bankruptcy trustee for answers or the CBC for sympathy.  There is nothing more defeatist and sad than the state of a workplace in decline with hangers on sinking with the ship believing that the company will throw a life vest last minute in the form of a “severance”.

Politics

Journalists’ Time To Shine

I’ve been blogging for a good number of years now and never in my wildest imagination did I see my blog playing any kind of a role other than the one where I simply sound off about what’s on my mind, make a movie recommendation, or espouse the benefits of exercise.  I certainly don’t consider myself a journalist and I’m not equipped with either the time or resources in order to undertake any serious investigative journalistic endeavor, however; lately there’s been an increasing propensity to provide opinion when particular current events unfold that have the potential to illicit the kind of societal change which your grand children would find discomforting.

Obviously, the elephant in the room right now is Donald Trump.  It’s become apparent now that it’s not only Democrats who find the man ill equipped mentally and emotionally to execute the power of his office but Republicans are now actually taking legislative measures in order to limit the extent of his power in international affairs.  In lieu of the FBI’s investigation of Russia’s effort to influence November’s general election, Trump’s praise of Putin during the election campaign, Michael Flynn’s (former Trump National Security Advisor) deceit with U.S. officials in response to a Russian relationship, it shouldn’t be surprising that the Senate voted 98-2 in favor of blocking any Trump authority in rolling back Russian sanctions.

Law professor Paul Schiff Berman has commented on the recent resignations of journalists Thomas Frank, Eric Lichtblau, and Lex Haris from CNN for a recent mistake in insufficiently sourcing a story.  Surprisingly, none of these men were green journalists.  In fact, Mr. Lichtblau was a pulitzer prize winner.  Schiff Berman points out that during the Watergate era, the team of Woodward and Bernstein had made “a few errors” prior to their ultimate revelation. Hence; the question becomes, why now are careers put in jeopardy in the context of a chief White House spokesman via twitter that references “fake news” more often than any policy initiative when during the natural course of discovering news and meeting tight deadlines that historically a journalistic mistake has been made without career reprisals? Perhaps, the industry is actually feeling some heat.  Perhaps, this question is best left to Morning Joe hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough.

Uncategorized

Founding Fathers Never Envisioned Trump

I suppose some people are surprised this morning upon reading news of Trump’s latest despicable tweets (referencing MSNBC Morning Joe hosts).  Frankly I’m not when one takes a hard look at the character of the man in lieu of his behavior during the presidential campaign where he mocked a disabled man, made reference reporter Megyn Kelly’s biological cycle during a verbal interlude between them, felt compelled with reactionary immaturity and obvious low self esteem to make a Phallic reference to his hands on national TV, outright insulted presidential candidate Rand Paul during debate, proudly bragged about “grabbing women’s genitals” during an apparent “locker room talk” encounter, not to mention the more innocuous yet disturbing insults obviously wielded during his storied law suit infested career.

Parents, I understand the task of isolating this anomaly as an outlier of the success formula as you go about your duty of teaching principles of success, kindness, respect, and dignity to your kids.  It’s simply too bad that this outlier happened to climb atop the highest office in the land.  Let it be a lesson to those in the positions of political power that if you ignore or marginalize a segment of society and this segment mutates aggressively, expect the unexpected and the potential for a degradation in your espoused values when they assign a leader such as Donald Trump.

Lifestyle

It’s Summer So Toplessness Hits Headlines Of Course

I quite enjoy this topic because I see it as a kind of barometer for the maturity of mankind. Chelsea Covington from Maryland has been innocently asking questions and is now making waves. In some circles, breasts are symbols of feminism, in other circles they are objects of sexual desire, and yet in others’ they nourish babies during early development. I do find it peculiar that in a more modern age that some people are still hung up about bare breasted women at the beach.  Breasts are in fact all of the above thank heavens.  They provide value to our existence in a multiple of ways and therefore should be celebrated instead of shunned. Simple common sense practices of decorum would assume breasts to be covered up in the board room, in the class room, at the dentist’s office, and shopping for milk.  Speaking of milk, if a baby needs some breast milk, logic would suggest that the baby should not be denied as a measure to protect some immature sojourner to the scene no matter where. These same places expect men also to be wearing a top. However; when it’s warm outside and women are spending their free time in leisure in nature at public parks, beaches, outdoor pools, and in the wilderness, women should have every right of a man to go topless because there is nothing innately offensive about female breasts.  I expect people to behave civilly and respectfully in the context of this part of the female form having sexual appeal because it’s simply not too much to ask of a civil society. In fact, naturists describe men as docile (not aroused) in the company of nude women as opposed to sexualized and make reference to a normalizing socialized context.  It’s archaic to resort to law in order to protect man from a perceived immaturity. The naked female breast is no more revealing that the female form on full display in every shopping mall across America by women today clothed in Lululemon tights shopping for another pair.

Religious circles of course spread their dogma regarding the fallibility of men in the context of matters of the flesh and I suggest that it is their inherent repressiveness which presents the precursor to deviance.

Summer does bring out a yearning to shed clothes because the well being mechanism compels us in such a way.  It’s not an aberrant compulsion.  It’s a fruitful expression of attaching our purist unfiltered form to nature at the right time and place.

In lieu of women’s liberty and personal privacy rights, the deviant man’s unauthorized deployment of recording equipment (camera, video recorder) should simply be sanctioned severely. Yes, doable.