My observations on items in the news.
TRUMP ISN’T FLIP-FLOPPING as the media would have you believe. His positions on NATO, Middle East spending, and China lead the criticism barrage. While campaigning, Donald Trump did indeed call NATO “obsolete,” saying they needed to concentrate more on confronting ISIS and members needed to pay their fair share. With positive movements made by NATO, he dispatched Vice President Pence to Europe in February to assure them that the U.S. would be unwavering in its commitment to the alliance. And, last week, the president reinforced that position with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg during his visit to Washington. NATO listened, redirected its efforts and prodded members to pay their fair share. Trump’s resultant support is not a flip-flop.
During the campaign, Trump often criticized the Obama Administration’s lack of a strategy in the Middle East, Obama’s red line misstep, and the $6 trillion spent there that could have been directed to U.S. needs. So, when 60 Tomahawk missiles were launched against the Syrian airport where chemical attacks originated, and the so-called “Mother of All Bombs” was dropped on an ISIS hangout in Afghanistan, the media claimed another flip-flop, and claimed Trump was abandoning his “America First” position. The two actions were ordered in America’s interest, necessary to support his goal of America First. Not to be forgotten is the president’s frequent campaign pledge to “bomb the s – – t out of ISIS.” Fifty-seven percent of Americans approve of Trump’s strike against Syria, according to the liberal CBS.
And, yes, Trump sounded off frequently about China manipulating the Yuan, “raping” the U.S. in trade deals, and those man-made militarized islands in the South China Sea. It’s too early to learn the outcome of Trump’s recent talks with Xi Jinping, but by the same token it’s too early to claim Trump has flip-flopped. It is believed that Xi has agreed to act as an intermediary with North Korea, and stop buying North Korean coal.
“Mr. Trump may have been dealt a stronger hand than he could have asked for on trade with China,” reports The Wall Street Journal, “he should walk away with a better deal with Beijing than any of his predecessors were able to extract. If he plays his cards right.”
TWO TAX PREPARERS WHO SUBSCRIBE TO THIS BLOG will be happy to learn that tax preparers top the list of professions with the highest rate of workers older than 66, with 14.2 percent of preparers past retirement age. Next in order, as reported by The Week, are clergy (13.6), farmers and ranchers (12.7), bus and ambulance drivers (12.6), and real estate brokers (11.7).
MURDERED BORDER AGENT TERRY GETS A LITTLE JUSTICE – The Mexican suspect who allegedly killed Border Agent Brian Terry seven years ago, allegedly using one of the guns lost in the Obama administration’s gun-running scheme – Operation Fast and Furious – set up under Attorney General Eric Holder, has been arrested in Mexico and will be sent to the U.S. for trial. Meanwhile, there is no punishment for Holder, who was held in contempt of Congress over Fast and Furious.
SINCE MY EARLIER POST ON THE TEXAS VOTER-ID LAW, Fox News Channel’s Tucker Carlson exposed flawed statistics during an interview with one of the attorneys representing the so-called “disenfranchised” minority voters in the Texas Voter-ID case. Tucker challenges how some 600,000 can live a normal life without an ID to hold a job, have a checking account, own a credit card, stay in a hotel, get on an airplane, rent a car, or enter a government building. Click here to see the interview.
TRUMP’S FIRST 100 DAYS – As we approach the end of President Trump’s first 100 days in office, you’ll have to “cut through the fog of misinformation, disinformation, media propaganda, ideological bias and the outright hostility toward the president” to learn how he really did, according to Michael Walsh in PJ Media.
The so-called mainstream media will zero in on his inability to repeal and replace ObamaCare, and his stalled program to temporarily restrict immigration from a number of Middle East countries, but we know he has already done more than most past presidents. He has rolled-back more regulations than any president in history. His selection to the Supreme Court was confirmed. And, he has already shown that his foreign policy will not be weak-kneed.
Gallup reports that Republicans (92 percent) and Independents (73 percent) feel “extremely” or “very” proud to be American, while Democrats came in at 67 percent.
WHILE GE BOASTS ITS FOUNDING by Thomas Edison, the inventor of the first commercially viable incandescent light bulb on the occasion of its 125th Anniversary, don’t forget that it was GE that caved to environmentalists and Congress seven years ago when it sold its last incandescent bulb factory. GE is expected to sell its consumer lighting business.
