January Iowa Democratic Party Debate

The question for this debate was who should I vote for in the Iowa Caucus on February who can win the election in November?

The second question is who would be the best choice to lead the country in the 21st century?

Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders were the clear winners in the debate. They impressed me with their knowledge on every subject. Tom Steyer was the big loser. Biden with the exception of his closing statement, Buttigieg, and Klobuchar were all mildly impressive but offered little in the way of a reason to gain my support.

I was happy that this debate was focused on foreign affairs. Arguing who voted in support of the invasion of Iraq gave us no idea of when and why we would become involved in another war. Buttigieg’s proposal that all authorizations should include a sunset provision is a wise idea. Warren pointed out that the generals have been saying for years that the war in Afghanistan is about to conclude.

Joe Biden’s closing statement is worth repeating here because it sums up my opinion about the Trump presidency.
“Character is on the ballot this time around. The American character is on the ballot. Not what Donald Trump is spewing out, the hate, the xenophobia, the racism. That’s not who we are as a nation. Everyone in this country is entitled to be treated with respect and dignity. Every single solitary person has to have in a position that may in fact we treat them with decency. It’s about fundamental, basic decency. We in the United States of America can put up with …
we can overcome four years of Donald Trump, but eight years of Donald Trump will be an absolute disaster and fundamentally change this nation. We have to restore America’s soul. As I’ve said from the moment I announced, it is in jeopardy under this President of the United States. We lead the world when we lead by example, not by our power.”

Sadly Joe Biden is too old to lead this nation in this century. Frankly, Warren and Sanders are also too old for this very difficult job. That puts Michael Bloomberg and me in the too old category as well. My reason is the stress is too high. Death of a senior citizen president puts the country in the hands of a vice president who is usually chosen for political reasons rather than capability.

My attention will now be on Buttigieg, Klobuchar, former tech executive Andrew Yang, and Former Mass. Gov. Duval Patriick.

In my opinion if Joe Biden is the Democratic Party nominee Donald Trump will be elected to a second term and then try to find a way to obtain a third term.

McDonald’s enters Chicken Sandwich War

Chick-fil-A is a fabulously successful fast food drive through sensation that has become a burr in the side of McDonald’s. The boneless breast of chicken sandwich seasoned, hand-breaded, pressure cooked in 100% in refined peanut oil and served on a toasted, buttered bun offered by Chick-fil-A seems to be the challenge for all other fast food providers.

This past spring while walking through the airport in Detroit I saw a line of people trying to buy a Chick-fil-A sandwich. There was no line at the McDonald’s unit. McDonald’s is determined not to lose its number one position in the fast food market. They are testing two new sandwiches in Houston and Knoxville.

You can be sure that McDonald’s will conduct an advertising campaign to stay number one in the fast food market place.

Chick-fil-A on the left.                    McDonald’s on the right.

America Never did Obtain Total Independence from England

The proof of America’s undying connection with England is the non-stop reporting in American media of English royalty. When I say “the queen” everyone knows who I am talking about. When Princess Di was killed in a car accident America wept. Megan Markle’s marriage to Prince Harry reinforces that connection.

Markle grew up in Leimert Park. That is a mostly black community in Los Angeles. She attended Immaculate Heart High, an all-girls school in the Hollywood Hills, and worked her way up the Hollywood acting ladder, becoming a regular on the TV show “Suits.” In 2003 she graduated from Northwestern University with a double major in theatre and international relations.

Meghan made Canada her home after landing her role on Suits in 2011, staying in the Seaton Village neighbourhood of Toronto, where the show is filmed. She moved out in late November 2017 when her work on the show was complete.

Markle was previously married to TV producer Trevor Engelson in a ceremony in Jamaica in 2011. The couple divorced two years later.

Is Megan Markle the 21st century version of Wallis Simpson?

I Fear

 I fear we are about to go to war all because of a president who never reads intelligence reports or any other briefing documents but prefers making decisions based on his gut.

First the United States killed Iranian general Qassem Suleimani using a drone. Then Iran attacked Americans in a military base in Iraq. Next the United States responds with an attack on sites in Iran. Then counter attacks by Iran and we are in a war that was not authorized by congress and will solve nothing. This could be avoided by an experienced leader in the White House but we have a fool leading the most powerful country in the world who claims he is smarter than everyone else. We elected Donald Trump. Americans have no one to blame but themselves.

U.S. in War with Iran

Clearly Iran could not win a shooting war with the United States. The physical destruction would be horrifying. Thus Iran will not attempt to confront the U.S. in that kind of war. Instead, I predict Iran will conduct a cyber war on the United States.

In fact Iran has already taken the first shots. In October 2013, Sheldon Adelson, the casino magnate and prominent supporter of conservative politicians and Israel, appeared on a panel in New York in which he suggested that the U.S. could send a message to Iran, regarding its nuclear ambitions, by detonating an American warhead in the middle of the Iranian desert.

Just four months later, in February 2014, hackers inserted malware into the computer networks of Adelson’s Las Vegas casino (Sands Hotel and Convention Center). The withering cyber-attack laid waste to about three quarters of the company’s Las Vegas servers; the cost of recovering data and building new systems was $40 million or more. A year after the attack, the top U.S. intelligence official confirmed that Iran was behind it. Bloomberg reported this on their website and it was repeated on Yahoo.

It is not unlikely that Iran would conduct attacks on America’s banks, electrical grid and other parts of America with attacks similar to what they did to the Sands facility to obtain revenge for the killing of Iranian general Qassem Suleimani.

What kinds of retaliation would President Donald Trump direct? Iran has a population of about 82 million people and so it is unlikely the United States would invade. More likely is a cyber attack on Iran. The winner of such a war is unpredictable.

U.S. manufacturing activity hits worst level since 2009

This may be boring but it matters: The Institute of Supply Management‘s index of manufacturing activity released Friday hit its lowest level since the end of the Great Recession in December.  47.2 is their measurment. A number below 50 indicates a shrinking condition. It shows worsening conditions for the U.S. manufacturing sector, which has been in contraction for five straight months, and reignites concerns about the trade war’s impact on the economy.

The declining manufacturing sector is impacting states that helped Donald Trump win the presidency.

Nine states’ economies are expected to slide into contraction within six months — the most since the financial crisis ended more than a decade ago, according to the latest projections from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.

West Virginia’s economy is forecast to shrink the most, while a decline in neighboring Pennsylvania is anticipated to be the most severe since May 2009. Add to that list of shrinking states are Delaware, Montana and Oklahoma Vermont, New Jersey, Kentucky and Connecticut.

Democrats will be praying that things get worse. Republicans will be saying we are only going through a soft patch and better days are ahead.

On the way to war?

This is a sad way to start the year 2020. Let me make one thing clear about me.  I am so opposed to the military that at the age of 12 I refused to join the Boy Scouts (too much marching and saluting).  The last thing we should want is a war. Sadly Donald Trump may have put America on a path to war.  I suspect his intention is to divert our attention from his impending impeachment trial. 

Trump says Iranian military leader was killed by drone strike ‘to stop a war,’ and warns Iran not to retaliate.  Where is the proof?

The United States killed a major Iranian general. Iranian general Soleimani was an Iranian general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and from 1998 until his death. He was a commander of its Quds Force, a division primarily responsible for extraterritorial military and clandestine operations. The Quds are reportedly known to spread terrorism throughout the Middle East.

America’s killing of Soleimani, it looks like an assassination, may have been a good thing if he was about to lead his forces in an attack on American soldiers stationed in Iraq. But why does the United States have a military force in Iraq?

The answer is oil. Iraq’s proven oil reserves are estimated at least 112.5 billion barrels, equivalent to 12 percent of the world’s total reserves. Some sources say those oil reserves are 140 billion barrels. CNBC reported in September 2019 that “OPEC’s second-largest oil producer hit record production figures in August with an output of 4.88 million barrels per day.”

The assassination of Soleimani also sends a message to others around the world that the United States is not above assassinating your leaders. Kim Jun Un, this is a message to you.

The United States military and all of America is on alert.

Was it worth it? Military enlistments will go up and the war materials manufacturers couldn’t be happier (Lockheed-Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, United Techonolgies, General Dynamics).

And finally Donald Trump hopes to make his tough guy approach part of his re-election campaign.

Are Dogs really getting smarter?

My dogs, I have two, seem to know when it’s time for their walk.  They walk away from some of the of the food I feed them.  Sometimes they pick through the food and spit out what they don’t like. They seem to understand that they can’t go out after dark because of coyotes.  And now they can even use a computer or was this just a photoshop creation?