The Trump Trumpet

Well, it’s official Donald Trump is the Republican candidate for President. Like many in the Party, I’m not overjoyed at that choice. With somewhere around 300 million people in this country, I find it hard to accept that either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton could be the most qualified people to vie for the highest office in the land. But, we are a democracy and, we are told, the people have spoken.

On the bright side – if there can be one – Mr. Trump is proven to be a man who does what he says. He is decidedly not beholden to any big contributor or lobbyist. Although Trump’s demeanor is distinctly untypical of any politician I can remember campaigning for any position in government, at least he lays his cards face up on the table.

Yes, folks, Donald Trump is not my optimum choice for the office, but weighing the alternative, I am certain he will make a far better President than anyone on the other tickets. The only baggage he brings is his foot planted solidly in his mouth.

On the other hand, Mrs. Clinton has more baggage than an Arab Sheik on a world tour. Someone sent me one of those circulating emails the other day that listed all of the scandalous events surrounding Hillary Clinton. You know, the ones that would have landed any one of us in jail for a very long time but because she is a Clinton have been swept under the rug? Yeah, those actions!

I can’t remember the exact number, but it may have been somewhere in the neighborhood of around 30 items that could or should have been major scandals but were merely glossed over by the media. Again, I don’t remember all the details. Yes, the Benghazi debacle and murders were on the list along with stuff from the time she was with the Rose Law Firm. And oh, yes, the mysterious Vince Foster “suicide” was there too.

The exact details of the list are not as significant as the fact that most of them made only a few lines buried somewhere after the obituaries of the major newspapers. Even worse is the fact that these incidents are not even mentioned in any news media when presenting the voters with her qualifications for the office.

Does that mean they didn’t happen? Does that mean they were not significant? Does that mean if the Trump campaign brings them up that they will be reported? No, the media is too concerned with twisting Melania Trump’s excellent speech at the convention into resembling something Michelle Obama said once that also resembled something someone else wrote….

There may be a few reasons not to vote for Trump, but there are huge volumes of reasons not to vote for Hillary Clinton. Perhaps the biggest reason is that the next President will be immediately nominating a new Supreme Court Justice to replace the late Antonin Scalia.

The Constitution gives the President the power to appoint Justices of the Supreme Court with the advice and consent of Congress. The Supreme Court has become the arbiter and often definer of the US Constitution. There have been times when the court has gone beyond that role and acted to create laws by redefinition of the simple language of the Constitution.

We currently have essentially a three-person conservative (meaning strict construction of the wording in the Constitution) panel and four-person liberal (meaning liberal or even absurd construction of wording in the Constitution) panel with one swing vote in the justices now on the court. Scalia could usually be counted on as a conservative vote. If a liberal is appointed to the court, all decisions will automatically be shifted toward the liberal agenda. Anyone who might believe Hillary would appoint anything but a dyed-in-the-wool liberal is likely taking some high-powered hallucinogenic drugs. And remember, this is a lifetime appointment.

During his tenure, Obama managed to fill every high-ranking post in his administration with Muslims – some even committed to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. Under Obama, we have seen the slowest recovery from any recession this country has ever had. Illegal aliens have been given sanctuary in the country, and there are now an estimated 22 million here who have no worry of being deported. We have seen major manufacturers leave the country, taking thousands of jobs with them. And, yes, you were not able to keep your health plan or doctor as promised by our President. You have probably even seen your health care degrade as your premiums skyrocket.

Do you really want another four or maybe even eight more years of Obama-like administration? That is exactly what Mrs. Clinton has promised if she is elected President. But we have seen that Hillary Clinton is not a person to be trusted. Maybe she won’t continue Obama’s policies as promised. Maybe she will do even worse.

Do We Need More Gun Control?

First, are you a gun owner? According to most sources I can find, some 88.9% of the U.S. population owns one or more guns. So, statistically speaking, it may be a safe bet you have answered yes to that question.

Now for the crucial question: Are you now, or have you ever considered committing homicide with a gun? Dumb question? Well, some people seem to think that question is not so inappropriate.

What’s that? You say you are a law-abiding citizen in good standing and would never even think about shooting another human being except in self-defense? Me too! But obviously, that doesn’t hold much water with those bent on controlling our lives. To those calling for strict federal and state gun control, we are prime suspects in the next homicide or mass murder.

Apparently, those calling for stricter gun controls are lumping you and me in with the .004% of the population that have committed homicide with a firearm. Yes, folks, we are guilty until… well, until when?

Are you offended at being lumped in with the likes of Larry Darnell Gordon, Micah Johnson, Omar Saddiqui Mateen, Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, Adam Lanza, Major Nidal Hasan, and Dylan Roof among others? Well, you should be. These were some of the most heinous killers in recent history. They were psychotic murderers. But they were only a minuscule part of the gun owning population.

No one can possibly argue that gun-related carnage is not horribly despicable. It is something that should never happen to anther human. Then again, traffic deaths are no less tragic. Are homicides by knife or being bludgeoned to death with a baseball bat two-by-four, or golf club any less horrendous?

What is missing in this very loud shouting match is common sense. Whatever weapon is used in any killing is an inanimate object. Guns, knives, and baseball bats are only tools used by someone intent on committing murder. If you bash your finger with a hammer, you may curse the hammer, but is it really that tool’s fault?

We register and track possession of cars, but not drunks. When a drunk kills someone on the highway, is it the car’s fault? And there are many orders of magnitude more drunk driving deaths than gun homicides. Can we honestly say that vehicle registration has had any effect on the number of drunk driving fatalities?

Why then, could anyone ever believe that because a gun is registered that it won’t be used in a killing? And what about those black market guns. Oh yes, there are many. Just because a criminal can’t legally own a firearm does not mean they have any compunction about illegally obtaining one. It is a criminal act to murder someone; do you think that would make a killer think twice about illegally owning a gun?

Is there any logical way to define “assault weapon?” By reasonable definition, any weapon used in an assault would be considered an assault weapon. That would include any rifle, shotgun, cannon, handgun, knife, sword, baseball bat, golf club, or fork. Do the rounds of a rifle or pistol magazine make it any more of an assault weapon than, say, self-defense, hunting, or sport shooting weapon? It only takes one well-placed shot to kill. The most popular weapon carried in our Civil War was the Springfield Model 1861 single shot, rifled musket. That was considered a military assault weapon, yet no magazine or cartridge was even used.

It has been proven repeatedly that gun control does not reduce gun violence. People with violent and malevolent intent cause gun violence. Gun laws only make a new class of criminals, the formerly legal gun owners.

Gun control has nothing to do with guns or killing; it is all about control!

Does Trump Really Want to be President?

Well, you have to wonder just what Donald Trump’s strategy is for his campaign. During the primaries, he used personal attacks and insults to show he was not a typical politician. Great. Typical politicians seem to always be at the bottom of polls showing national confidence. Go for it Donald!

But now the primaries are over. It is time to begin looking Presidential. So, what does the man who would be the leader of the free world do? He shoots himself in the foot on national TV. He flip-flops on issues and swears he didn’t say things that were recorded when he said them. He insists on denigrating Mexicans and wants to ban all Muslims from entering the country.

I have to wonder just how he plans to garner enough votes to win this election. You don’t do that by alienating potential voters and huge segments of the populace. Trump’s feet have so many bullet holes in them I’m surprised he can even stand.

Uh, wait, this sounds like a pro-Hillary piece! No! Believe me, I don’t want another Clinton in the White House... ever! I especially don’t want to see Hillary Clinton as President. And although I am no Bernie Sanders fan, I believe he was shortchanged by the Democratic nomination process.

Well, it ain’t over until the fat lady sings. And that will be at each Party’s convention.

Is there any chance that the outcome of each convention will produce different nominees? Not likely. The Party rules specify the number of delegates each candidate must have to win outright and Trump and Clinton seem to have met that quota.

I am sure Bernie Sanders will protest the DNC rules that gave Hillary enough superdelegates to put her over the top. After all, it’s not very democratic to stuff the ballot with handpicked delegates.

Will Sanders bolt from the Democratic Party and make a third-Party run? I would. Bernie ran a full-on grassroots campaign and even though he promoted socialism he won a huge block of supporters, mostly young Millennials. As an Independent – he registered Independent most of his career – he could add spark to the election. With the Democrat and Republican candidates at an incredibly low confidence rating, he just might have a chance of winning.

As for Trump, and the Republican Party, they need to tie down this loose canon and put a filter on his mouth. The other day he read from the oft-maligned teleprompter… and sounded like a read candidate. Maybe that’s the answer.

But I think it is high time, the Republican leaders sit down with Trump and ask the crucial question: Do you really want to be President?

The Anti-Social Media

It’s déjà vu all over again (my apologies to the late Yogi Berra). Those of us in Southern California haven’t even heard the last of the December second terrorist attack in San Bernardino and here comes another attack in Orlando, Florida. The worst mass shooting in American history, we are told. Well, at least the worst in current memory.

Our President tells us it was “… an act of terror and an act of hate.” One of the two people who will be out next President is placing the blame on the legally obtained weapons the shooter used. The other wants to ban all Muslims from entering the country. It is obvious none of our current or future leaders have a clue about the cause of this or other “Lone Wolf” attacks.

First, let me say what it is not: It is not the easy access to firearms.

The San Bernardino shootings happened in California, a state with some of the most restrictive gun laws in the nation. The Tsarnaev brothers used common pressure cookers loaded with explosives and nails to wreak mayhem during the Boston Marathon. One of the bombers, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, told investigators that he learned the technique from an article in Inspire magazine. I will say more about Inspire later. The Fort Hood shooter, Army Major Nidal Hasan, legally purchased an FN Five-seven semi-automatic pistol to kill 13 people and wound 30 more. In London, England, British Army Fusilier Lee Rigby of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers was run down by a car and hacked to death by Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale. This happened in a country where gun ownership is extremely regulated.

The list goes on, but can you see the common denominator in every instance? Let me give you a hint. It’s not the weapons. These were all killers bent on doing the most damage in any way and with any means possible.

Now, let me tell you what it is: Every one of these incidents was perpetrated by “Lone Wolf” killers in the name of Islamic jihad. How were these people compelled to wreak this carnage? The blame goes to that grand facilitator, social media.

Twitter and the Internet are giving radical Islamic organizations the biggest soapbox possible. Through this media, they can talk directly with many followers and possible new recruits. They spew out jihadist propaganda and hate on a 24-7 basis.

In 2010, Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) published an English language on-line magazine titled Inspire. As its name suggests, it has inspired potential jihadist to travel to distant foreign lands to join in terrorist activities. It also inspires the “Lone Wolf” attacks in the jihadist’s homeland. Major Nidal Hasan was in direct email contact with Anwar al-Awlaki, a virulent mouthpiece for AQAP.

So how does a nice hometown American and devout Muslim become so radicalized that they would commit such heinous acts? Propaganda may be the most powerful weapon in any arsenal. Many aberrant governments have used propaganda to nefarious benefit. Cult leaders use propaganda to convert susceptive people into radical followers. Radical Islamic groups are using propaganda to entice Muslims to jihad.

And what better way to disseminate propaganda than through social media. The Internet provides any number of ways to get the message out to masses or individuals. And it is entirely unregulated!

The FCC in this country and governmental agencies in other countries regulate the content of television and radio, but there are absolutely no content restrictions on anything sent over the Internet. There has never been such an open and widespread forum in history. And it is free!

And here is the really, really bad news. Until we get a handle on social media content, we can look forward to even more and possibly larger “Lone Wolf” attacks. Even if through some sort of magic every gun in the country would immediately vanish, these “Lone Wolf” jihadists would find another weapon to wreak their planned havoc and mayhem. This will not stop, folks, until we cut off the dissemination of propaganda to susceptible people. Stop the anti-social media!

Remember The Last Recession?

I’m looking at a newspaper headline, “U.S. job gains are fewest in 5 years.” The Associated Press report that followed makes me wonder how anyone could believe the recession is over. In May, there were only 38,000 jobs filled in the entire country! Unemployment dropped to 4.8 percent, but only because the long-term unemployed fell off the list since they could no longer qualify for unemployment.

If we look at the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the combined national output that measures the country’s economic growth, the US Department of commerce says that in the first quarter of this year the GDP shrank from the last quarter of 2015 by 0.6 percent to a mere 0.8 percent. You can’t create jobs when production is down. And our national production isn’t just down it is in the toilet.

Right about now, you might well ask how this can be. Aren’t we living in the greatest country in the world? Didn’t our government leaders tell us the recession was over? Well yes, they also told us if you like your healthcare plan, you could keep it and that health care would cost less. I’m just saying if it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, just because the government says it’s an eagle doesn’t make it so.

The United States government has been making a concerted effort to make doing business in this country as difficult as possible. From licensing, regulating, taxation, and fees, creating a new business is an entirely unappealing prospect. Throw in the government pro-union stance and you have a distinctly hostile atmosphere toward business and job creation.

The worst state for businesses, as ranked by Chief Executive magazine, is California. That’s right, a survey of 513 CEOs across the nation ranked California dead last right below New York and Illinois. Texas ranked number one in this survey, followed by Florida. And this isn’t a new low for California it has achieved that rank for the last eleven years in a row!

Chief Executive magazine commented about the low ranking: “Despite high taxes and a non-business-friendly environment, California remains a hotbed for tech, venture capital, and entertainment. Even with a quality workforce, this west coast state has not had any success in replacing lost business.”

About the leader in job creation, the magazine said, “Since the recession began in December 2007, 1.2 million net jobs have been created in Texas, while 700,000 net jobs were created in the other 49 states combined. From climate to transportation to cost of living, Texas has proven it can’t be beat.” Texans are always bragging about their state. Maybe they have good reason to brag.

Lost business. Yes, folks, the next time you see a big rig on the freeway, it might be loaded with the next business and its jobs leaving this state, maybe headed to Texas, or even worse headed to Mexico.

The Bloomberg website lists 84 companies that have fled the US due primarily to taxation. However, taxes are merely one component of the hostile business environment our government has created. Of the businesses in the Chief Executive survey, the top ten are Right to Work (RTW) states, while the bottom ten are non-RTW states.

Now comes the real rub, the jobs leaving the state are mostly in the higher paying manufacturing sector. What are left are mostly jobs in the service sector – the minimum wage jobs. Just ask anyone who lost his or her job at the beginning of the recession if they were able to find one that equals or beats the wages at the one they lost.

The government knows this that is why they clamored to hike the minimum wage to unbelievable heights. So what is left might very likely be $15 an hour wage people supporting other $15 an hour people. No society can be sustained by a service-only economic sector. In order for an economy to be productive and advance, it must include a manufacturing sector.

No folks, the recession is decidedly not over. The truly sad part of this tale is that politicians are telling us how they can fix this problem by adding more regulations. What they don’t seem to understand is that more government is not the solution it’s what spawned the problem in the first place.

Why Bother to Vote?

Are you planning to vote June seventh? Please don’t pass up this privilege merely because you don’t like any of the candidates. And if you do like a candidate, please vote for him or her on the qualifications and not just because they seem like a nice person or because they could be the first female or political outsider in the Oval Office.

Those who have read any of my columns already know that I am no fan of either Democratic candidate or of Donald Trump. That won’t deter me from voting. There are important other races on the ballot.

If you happen to watch television, and who doesn’t, you may have seen the campaign ads for US Senator. Yes, Barbara Boxer is retiring – a fact that we conservatives can well applaud – and the media have chosen her replacement, Kamala Harris.

Right, but there are other candidates. Loretta Sanchez, another Democrat, gets airtime too, but what about the remaining 32 candidates on the ballot for that office? Are you even aware of them? The County sends out a handy guide before each election. If you haven’t thrown it in the trash along with the junk mail, you might want to check out the rest of the ticket. Harris and Sanchez aren’t the only ones vying to be our Senator.

Actually, Harris and Sanchez may not even be the best-qualified candidates on the ticket. Yes, Virginia, there are Republicans and Independents running for the office too!

For far too long our state has voted in the US Senate with one voice, a liberal voice. Isn’t it about time to give the rest of the state a voice in government? After all, we are not all liberal Democrats.

The Unites States is a Republic. Congress does not take a national poll on every issue before them. We elect representatives to speak for us in the House and Senate. For far too long only the liberals have represented California in the US Senate. We are long overdue for a change.

Looking on the ballot you will also find races for US Congress, California Assembly, County Supervisor, and Judges. Also, in this election, there is a single ballot initiative, Proposition 50.

None of these elections are worth ignoring merely because you don’t like the choices. Even if you don’t vote for a candidate, you are in effect giving your vote to someone else, someone who might vote for a candidate you really don’t like.

If you are registered Democrat or Republican, there are, in fact, other Presidential candidates on the ballot besides Clinton, Sanders, and Trump. You want a protest vote? Being mindful of the fate of lemmings, you could always pick a candidate not already anointed by Party higher-ups.

Then too, there are other Parties on the Presidential ballot besides Republican and Democrat. If you have registered as “No Party Preference” or “Nonpartisan”, you can vote for candidates in the American Independent Party or Libertarian Party.

The most important issue is that you exercise the right not afforded many people in other countries, the right to vote. This is still a country of the people, by the people and for the people. As long as you vote, you are helping to form a government in your image. Your vote puts you in charge of your government. By not voting, you abdicate your voice in government to those who do vote.

Do I care how you vote? Of course, I do. The question is do you care how I vote. If you agree with me, please help support my candidates with your vote. If you disagree with me, you could always negate my vote; otherwise, I make the selection.

Waste Not – Want Not

I wish I could count the number of times I heard this growing up. According to Dictionary.com, “This proverbial saying was first recorded in 1772 but had an earlier, even more alliterative version, willful waste makes woeful want (1576).”

All I know is that it is easy to not waste much when you don’t have much. Were we poor? Probably. I know we didn’t eat a lot and what little we had was not very nutritious (is there any nutrition in Spam?). We also made do with what we had and repaired everything. We washed old clothes and handed them down. A pair of jeans would make the neighborhood or family circuit until they could no longer be patched and even then, they would be used as cleaning rags.

I guess that is why I cringe when I see people throwing out useful items. My biggest peeve is when someone throws out food simply because they have too much – not because it has spoiled, merely because they bought too many of an item. Food seldom gets a chance to go bad in our house because we eat all of what we buy.

The waste at food businesses is appalling. Grocery stores toss perfectly good fruit and vegetables that have been on the shelf too long. And by toss, I mean they fill dumpsters that then go to the landfill.

Restaurants serve portions they know will not all be consumed. Some of the meal may go in a “doggie bag” but much heads directly to the dumpster. Bakeries sell only fresh products. You never see day-old-bread anymore. So what doesn’t sell is trashed. Is it any wonder that homeless people flock around these dumpsters?

But it doesn’t stop there. In fact, the waste begins at the farm. Misshapen and blemished fruits and veggies never even make it to the grocery stores. Farmers know they can’t get top dollar for these goods, so they trash them even before consumers get a chance to reject them.

Is this a big deal? Well, yes it is, a very big deal. According to a recent report by UNEP and the World Resources Institute (WRI), about one-third of all food produced worldwide, worth around $1 trillion, gets lost or wasted in food production and consumption systems. And here are a couple more UNEP “fun facts”:

In the USA, organic waste is the second highest component of landfills.

In the USA, 30-40% of the food supply is wasted, equaling more than 20 pounds of food per person per month.

And speaking of landfills, well, I guess you could say the waste stops here. But we are not alone in this waste. Actually, at an average of 1,014 pounds of waste per person per year, we came in at number four in 2000. Denmark got the number one spot that year with 1,234 pounds per person, followed by the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

Yes, that’s a lot of trash. Trash that we pay for twice, once to buy, then again to dispose of. Have you ever thought about what is making up your trash? Probably not. If it fits in the trash container, it’s out of sight and out of mind. But consider this. How much of your trash is merely packaging of something else?

When we buy a collection of things like fruit or vegetables it goes into those handy plastic bags the stores provide on a roll. Then again, at the checkout counter, that bag of goodies goes into yet another bag to carry home. Everything else is pre-packaged in some sort of plastic container, and often packaged again in another container, then thrown into another bag to carry out the store.

And it doesn’t end at the supermarket. Virtually everything else you buy comes in a bubble pack, plastic bag, or cardboard box – sometimes in all of these for a single item.

And what of broken or old “well used” items? We don’t repair or refurbish anything these days. And manufacturers are feeding off this fact. Nearly everything we buy, from the smallest appliance to major items are made to be disposable. In the ‘60s, televisions had vacuum tubes and cost upwards of $500. It was cost-effective to repair them. Then came semiconductors and printed circuits for televisions. It was much more difficult to repair and would become cheaper to simply dispose of and get a new one. Today, landfills are bulging with old CRT type televisions, many still functioning perfectly.

So, what’s my point? It’s simple folks. Look at your trash container and think about how much money you have paid for every single piece of trash in there. If you happen to be rich, I suppose it doesn’t really matter. Most of us aren’t in the One-percenter Club, though. That trash container is full of money – money you paid for items in there originally and money you will pay for its disposal. If you can’t use it, sell it to the recycler. Waste not; want not, and save money. What a concept!