As Anticipated, Trump Calls Air Force One a Step Down From His Own Aircraft; Calls on Boeing to Cancel Air Force One Order Over Potential Costs

I saw this one coming.

Trump doesn’t like the idea of flying in Air Force One, with all of its advanced communications and on-board defense technology and considers it a step-down.

It’s easy to see why:

The above photo is one section of Air Force One.  That’s pretty much the motif throughout the aircraft in terms of design and comfort.

The photo below is a shot from Trump One, or whatever he’s calling his personal aircraft.   It’s gorgeous.     

 

The President-elect fired off a Tweet yesterday citing the potential $4 billion development cost for a new-generation Air Force One currently under design over at Boeing and calling for the order to be canceled.   That caused a stir.

Just wait until then-President Trump has to fly aboard a no-bells-or-whistles Air Force transport into a conflict zone.  The Air Force may get some nice upgrades afterwards.

In any case, I don’t like the idea of putting military tech onto a civilian aircraft.  He should bite the bullet, and get used to flying on Air Force One.  

The development cost should be looked at.   Is it better to upgrade a 25 year old airframe, or buy a new one? 

What’s the Media Doing, Pointing Out Giuliani Conflicts of Interest, While Sticking Their Head in the Sand When SecState/Clinton Foundation Problems Were Made Public? Hypocrites!

The media shouldn’t give Giuliani a hard time about conflict of interests; they didn’t even bat an eye when Clinton’s pay-to-play affair was going on with the Clinton Foundation and gave her a virtual pass during the campaign.  A few papers pointed out the problems, but most didn’t.

The press has no leg to stand on.  Attacking Giuliani for doing a good job for his company as a private citizen, while ignoring Clinton violations of the law that gets other public officials into serious trouble is among the worst kinds of journalism out there.  There are literally dozens of stories on lesser (than Secretary of State) public officials being shown the door because they broke the law.   Do a Google search on “conflict of interest resigns” and see what happens.  Hit the News tab.

The media’s ploy to get their candidate into the White House failed, and now they’re doing their best to disparage everybody who is being looked at for a possible position in the Trump  Administration.  Tabloid journalists.

Romney Would Do a Better Job as Administrator for the Small Business Administration or Postmaster General than as Secretary of State: Trump Needs Someone as SecState Who Has a Similar Worldview as He Does

I’m concerned about a possible Mitt Romney nomination as Secretary of State.   He and President-elect Trump do not share a similar worldview, which is vital for the President and Secretary of State to have.

The last thing we need is a SecState making deals overseas and then having President Trump override him, which would severely undermine Romney’s credibility.  That’s the very last thing we need after all the damage that Clinton and Kerry did during their times as Secretary of State.

I think Romney would be better in the Small Business Administration or even as Postmaster General.

Rudy Giuliani seems to share a similar worldview and could represent President-elect Trump very efficiently.  

As far as Giuliani’s conflict of interests goes, the media seems to be overlooking the fact that his overseas deals were as a private citizen on behalf of his company, not as any kind of a government official.  There can be no talk of conflict of interest at this stage of the game because the conditions for it to exist didn’t.  The media’s putting the wagon before the horse.   

The Secretary of State is required to comply with conflict-of-interest laws and he would have to separate from his business interests, unlike the President.  I think he’d put  his business affairs in order before taking office, if President-elect Trump chose him and he agreed to do it.

A decision should be made soon.

Castro’s Finally Gone? Too Bad His Entire Government Didn’t Go With Him

Castro’s finally gone?  Meh. 

Nothing’s changed for the everyday Cuban.  His government is still in place with his brother running things.  It’s too soon to tell if the passing of Fidel Castro is a turning point, or a moot point for Cuba.

We’ll see what the Cubans do next.

Electoral College is the Whipping Boy of the Left Again: Founders Knew What They Were Doing When They Wrote It Into the Constitution

There’s been a lot of talk about blocking the election of Donald Trump in the Electoral College, but it will not happen.  And it shouldn’t.   The Founders knew what they were doing when they designed it.  First, let’s look at a map of the United States as it is today:

The blue-shaded areas are the counties where fully half of the population of the United States lives.   There are roughly 3,000 counties in the U.S. and half the population lives in 146 of them.  Everybody else lives in the remaining 2,854 counties across the country. 

If it was pure democracy as some have suggested, and the Electoral College was no more, the 146 counties above would dominate American politics and elections, leaving the remaining 2,854 counties in the dust and potentially voiceless.  I don’t want to be disrespectful to anyone in these 146 counties, but those are typically Democratic strongholds.

The Founders were so concerned that smaller states would be dominated by bigger ones that they created two houses of Congress: one based on population and one based on equal representation.  They also made the population-based house the “lower” house while the two-per-state Senate is the “upper” house.

I do not live in one of the blue-shaded counties, nor would I want to.  But I do want an equal say in who represents me in Congress, and in the White House.  The Electoral College guarantees it.

Currently we have a part of our population so concerned that President-elect Trump will destroy the country that they’ve taken it upon themselves to destroy the country themselves.  I find it very interesting that the majority of the riots are in the larger blue-shaded areas.  Some aren’t, but many of them are.

Compare the 146 county map with the map where the riots and protests are taking place:

Credit for riot map: Fox News

I’ll take the Electoral College over mob rule every time, thank you very much.

Liberals Should Quit the “Petulant Child” Routine, Act Their Age and Help Fix This Country’s Problems: Saving America By Burning Parts of It Down That You Don’t Like Isn’t the Way!

------NOTE: this applies to the protesters out in the streets, not the people who woke up the next day, went to work and carried on with their lives like normal people do.-----

It’s funny how hypocritical the Dems and Libs street-protesting Donald Trump’s victory are. 

They condemn hate groups and “alt-right” (I had to look up the term as the liberal media has been going on and on about it) fringe elements, but it’s OK for them to go out and burn down buildings, riot, pull people with different skin colors out of their cars and screaming “YOU VOTED FOR TRUMP!” and savagely beating them.  

They should really stop with the “petulant child” routine, act their age and help fix the problem, not contribute to it and then throw blame on everybody else, or the Electoral College, or whatever the scapegoat of the day happens to be.

The ones moaning and bellyaching on Facebook and issuing death threats to this person and that person really need to be locked up for a while, including this fool, although he’s already paid a steep price. 

Street protesters from either side need to practice restraint and respect their fellow Americans.  And take the time to VOTE, not sit home and expect your side to win when not enough voters turn out.

Hate groups can go crawl back under their rotten logs and stay there.

Trump Wins, But He’s Got a Lot to Prove: He Needs to Start by Acting Presidential

Hillary Clinton lost her second bid to become President, and I’m grateful for that.   She can get back to making $100,000 a speech on the lecture circuit. 

But Donald Trump as the next President will be a challenge in itself.  Since he’s been on both sides of just about every issue, I’m more than a little concerned about his positions.  Let’s get out and say it…he’s not an experienced politician.  He’s an entertainer.  I’d feel better if he had at least one other elected position under his belt, like Ronald Reagan did.  Reagan was an actor, but he had been governor of California (twice) before taking office as President in 1981. 

As Trump’s real positions develop, my support or opposition will develop accordingly.

I am enjoying how much the press is wailing and how bad the pollsters look after royally screwing up their numbers.   This isn’t the first time that the polls got it wrong.   Some people are squirming and I’m enjoying every moment of it.

Trump needs to hire some wise and experienced advisors and listen to what they’re telling him.   And he needs to make nice with the other 48% that didn’t support him.  He also needs to limit his Twitter time and stop feuding with people.   It’s un-presidential to do that kind of stuff and we really need him to be presidential.

It’s Become Clear That the American Voter Will Have to Deliver the Justice That the FBI Won’t or Can’t: Vote Your Conscience, America

I do believe that the FBI Director has been overthrown, possibly from within his own agency in a worst-case scenario, or by the Department of Justice, which has become a personal shield for Democratic Presidents and their appointees.  He was trying to do the right thing and appeared to backtrack when he said that there was nothing new in the emails on Anthony Weiner’s computer.  I think he will be sacked before President Obama leaves office.

I’m also wondering where the number 600,000 came from with references to the number of emails found on he-who-will-not-be-named from this point forward’s laptop.   Was that his own personal emails mixed in with the Clinton emails, or were these 600,000+ emails from the Clinton campaign?  That’s pretty unclear.  In their prior statements, the FBI referenced some 33,000 emails that they were looking at from Mrs. Clinton’s private server, plus an unknown(?) number of emails that were deleted. 

Now, since the FBI isn’t going to move forward on delivering justice in this case, the American voter has the opportunity to do the same thing tomorrow.  Do not elect Hillary Clinton.  There are plenty of other candidates who aren’t criminals who would do a acceptable job as President, whether they have an (R) after their name, or an (I).  Whether they would be able to get anything done with a deeply polarized Congress is an open question, but they’d be confronting the same issues as a Clinton or Trump Administration.

We will see what happens, but all I’m going to say is this: vote your conscience, America.    I’ll have a lot to say about the celebrities who have vowed to leave this country if Trump wins. 

No Clowns Got Shot on Halloween: A Bit of Rationality Takes Hold in Crazy Times

There have been no reports of any costumed clowns getting shot by armed parents over Halloween, but several incidents from before Halloween remain under investigation.

Hopefully this is the end of this particular phenomenon. 

Trouble-Making Clowns, Beware: People Aren’t Acting Rationally and May Be Armed on Halloween..Do Us All a Favor and Stay Home

I am predicting that nationally, at least two costume-wearing clowns will be shot and killed on Halloween by people who will be very quick on the trigger.

Some people are using the fear inspired by horror movies involving killer clowns to dress up and scare the living daylights out of other people.  It isn’t funny.  There are tons of videos on YouTube of various pranks, with clowns jumping out of bushes, brandishing weapons, laughing crazily and chasing their frightened victims down the streets.  This has been going on for a while, but it really picked up this year on social media.

People are not acting rationally—both the clowns and the victims are prone to miscalculate and someone may die.   It’s not just a U.S. thing either—it’s going on internationally too.  I just watched a video of a man going berserk after being ambushed by a clown in broad daylight and breaking a bottle over the clown’s head in London.  If someone tells you to “wait here!”, RUN!!

Everyone needs to settle down and think about what’s happening.

Trump Suckered Everyone Again With Comments on Accepting Results of Election: This is a Ploy to Generate Media Attention

Politician after politician and media outlets have piled onto Donald Trump’s comments that he will only accept the results if he wins the election.

Trump is an entertainer and he knows how to entertain people.  In that area, he’s a genius and no one in the entertainment industry can match him for the publicity he can generate, almost at the drop of a hat.  Politicians and the media (who are supposed to be experts on entertainment reporting) have played right into it.

I think he’ll challenge only if something looks fishy, or if Hillary’s campaign sues first.

Anybody But Trump, Glenn Beck? Darrell Castle, Then, Not Hillary Clinton!

Glenn Beck seems to have started back up on his “Anybody but Trump” motif again and seems to be indicating that conservatives should vote for Hillary Clinton to stop Trump.

Bad move.

If conservatives don’t want to vote for Trump, then they should vote for the Constitution Party.  Darrell Castle is the candidate for the Constitution Party, which used to be called the U.S. Taxpayer Party.

He’s pro-life and pro-gun, which are big sellers for me.  He’s also in favor of the U.S. getting out of the United Nations, getting rid of the Federal Reserve (not sure about that move) and other conservative initiatives.

I’d rather see Beck supporting someone like Castle and drawing attention to his platform, rather than fall into the trap of “anyone but Trump.”

Another Example of Global Warming Hubris and Their Settled Science: “All the Arctic Sea Ice Will Be Gone by September 2016!”

If global warming is “settled science,” then why do they keep getting stuff wrong? 

And their unwillingness to accept that the scientific method is the only sure way to properly vet out fact from fiction is playing out again.  How embarrassing for them.

In 2012, certain climate change scientists predicted that the Arctic would be entirely ice-free by September 2016.  Yet there’s currently 21% more ice than in 2012 when the prediction was made.  This prediction was flat-out wrong.

Any responsible and reputable scientist wouldn’t be as inflexible as this in their climate model predictions.  But because there’s a political aspect to the science now, and it’s “settled,” they can’t deviate from the global warming alarmist position, which is in itself flawed by the political narrative.

Climate change scientists need to be more independent and report on what they find, regardless of the established political narrative. 

Russia Deploys Advanced Anti-Aircraft Missile Batteries to Syria: If a Single Shot is Taken at a U.S. Aircraft, U.S. Should Immediately Provide Stinger Missiles to Rebels Being Bombed By Russia and Syria

Russia continued its humiliation of the U.S. by deploying anti-aircraft missile systems in Syria to protect Syrian government facilities.

Enough!

It’s time to give Stinger missiles to the rebels and train them as U.S. forces trained Afghan fighters in Afghanistan in the 1980s during the Soviet invasion.

Russia didn’t deploy those weapons to fight the ISIS Air Force.   They’re there to shoot down coalition aircraft, inbound cruise missiles and anything that goes against their stated support of Assad.

I think a limited war with Russia is possible, now that they’re engaged in a full-court press to humiliate the current Administration.  I think Russia will pull the trigger to make a point because they don’t think we’ll respond in kind.  We must.

Better to turn all of Syria’s airspace into a total no-fly zone than to allow Syria and Russia to keep bombing civilians with impunity.

Global Warming Alarmists Are Trumpeting Their Hot Air Again: CO2 Levels Hit 400ppm and They’re Saying That Levels Will “Never Return to Environmentally-Friendly Levels for the Indefinite Future”; Who Wrote This Piece of Crap?

The hubris is getting mighty deep over at Climate Central.

They’ve gone out on a limb with a sophomoric piece entitled “Enjoy Earth While It Lasts: Atmospheric Carbon Levels Reach Point of No Return.”  It looks like it was written by a high school English student who has just been handed a major science article and skipped to the last page without reading the rest of it.

First of all, legitimate scientists avoid absolutes like the plague, and this article is full of them.   The reason why is that if they’re using the scientific method, they realize that a hypothesis may have to be changed once the hypothesis is tested.

But global warming alarmists don’t use a recognizable version of the scientific method, and if research emerges that disproves their hypothesis (which they label “settled science”, the offending research is suppressed, the authors demonized and then marginalized. 

I also found it interesting that they mentioned a little tidbit near the end of this high school writing assignment that the Arctic “…hasn’t reached the 400ppm level in millions of years.”  What?  You mean it’s been above 400ppm before?  Why of course it has.   It’s been up to over 5,000ppm before.  And human industry wasn't around in those days either (during the Ordovician Era, some 440 million years ago).

They’ve also conveniently failed to define what “environmentally friendly” levels of CO2 are.

By all means, slow down the production of CO2 and quit destroying the rain forests, but don’t try shoveling this “ever” and “permanent” business down our throats.  There’s no such thing.

The planet doesn’t need saving.   It’s survived everything up to planetary impacts and is still here.   It’s our struggling civilization that needs saving, and the sooner global warming alarmists get with the program, the faster that can happen.

I’m not going to get worked up over the CO2 levels reaching the 400ppm -level.  The planet will take care of that too, and if we’re not careful, it’ll take care of us at the same time.

Manhattan Bomber Uses Pressure Cooker Bombs: This Has the Look of Another Chechen Terror Attack

I hope the Manhattan bombings were not carried out by another person from Chechnya.  But explosive experts are pointing out “shocking” similarities between the pressure cooker bombs used during the Boston Marathon bombings and the recent attacks in New York.

Hope they catch this scumbag real soon.

Airstrike Coordination with Russia on ISIS Targets in Syria is Not Practical Without U.S. & Russian Agreement on What Syrian Leadership Will Look Like After End of War: Without That Common Goal, Efforts to Jointly Fight ISIS Will Fail

Coordinated airstrikes with Russia in Syria against ISIS?  Not likely.  Russia will stab us in the back at the drop of a hat, and I’m not sure if the current U.S. leadership will have the backbone to do anything about it.

The problem will be in defining where ISIS is.  Russia thinks they’re in rebel-controlled areas who are actually rebelling against Syrian President Assad and also fighting ISIS themselves.  The U.S. is actually bombing ISIS in Syria and in Iraq.

In order for the U.S. and Russia to be effective with their airstrikes, they have to have common cause.  And that includes who will be running Syria after this civil war draws to a close, which it eventually will.  The U.S. wants the rebel opposition running the country, while Russia has been bombing them to support the existing Syrian leadership, who is a friend of Russia’s. 

It doesn’t bode well that the first joint airstrike managed to bomb a Syrian army unit, and that the U.S. coalition dropped the bombs.  I think this will happen again since Russia is involved in the targeting.   I also think Russia will refuse to bomb U.S.-suggested targets.

I doubt this alliance will last, unless there’s a shared vision between America and Russia of what post-civil war Syria will look like first.

If National Anthem is Going to Be Used to Further a Paid Athlete’s Political Agenda, Stop Playing It at Sporting Events

I’m not a fan of people abusing the national anthem to further their own political agenda, nor am I a fan of the news media even bothering to cover the story.

It occurs to me that if the media had covered the original protest once, then let it fade that this “protest” would have also faded, like most of the others do.  But the media became part of the story, again, which they’re not supposed to do on purpose and hit the “zoom” button on the cameras to focus attention on one or two players and away from the rest of their fellow players, teams and games.

They did the same thing when Tim Tebow was praying during football games.  The media hit the zoom button and focused in on one player for the sole purpose of ridiculing Tim for his religious belief and practices.   The media coverage was very offensive, especially when Tebow’s team lost a game here or there. 

I don’t watch sports to get my politics.  I watch sports to take a break from all the political garbage that’s on TV and prefer not to see politics during a sporting event.  I would imagine that if I had paid for expensive seats to an NFL game that I wouldn’t be happy to have politics turn up there.

If the National Anthem is not going to be done respectfully, don’t play it at all.   Keep the political garbage out of pro sports too.  We get enough of that already without having to pay for it too.

If Hillary Has a Coughing Fit During a Debate With Donald Trump, She’s Going to Get Annihilated: Trump Will Zero Right in on Her Health and So Will the Press

Hillary Clinton may need to disclose what’s really going on with her health prior to her first debate with Donald Trump.  The reason why is that if she has a coughing fit during the debate with Trump standing right there, he’s not going to show any mercy.    He’ll be all over that situation, and demanding that she come clean in the presence of everybody.

I’d rather she have the coughing fit during the debate.  That’ll make for some excellent viewing and drama on TV.

Fox & Friends Stars Contributed to $60 Million Payout Over Sexual Harassment Lawsuit: Doocy & Kilmeade Have to Go

I’m a fan of Fox & Friends, but Gretchen Carlson’s lawsuit put the show into a different light, and not in a good way.  And I’m having a very hard time watching it now.

Fox recently settled the lawsuit that Carlson filed with a $20 million payout plus a public apology to her.  This is in addition to the $40 million severance paycheck that Fox gave to outgoing chair Roger Ailes, who was the target of the lawsuit.  He did a tremendous amount of damage to the company.

Ailes wasn’t alone in his sexual harassment of Gretchen Carlson.  Fox & Friends co-stars Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade contributed to the hostile work environment that Carlson and other female employees experienced and were stupid enough to express their sexist comments on-the-air.

I can’t see how they’re going to be able to hold onto their jobs.  They contributed to this public relations disaster, and if they keep degrading their female co-workers on the air as they already have, they run the risk of another high-profile lawsuit. 

Sexual harassment is ILLEGAL.

Doocy and Kilmeade need to be publicly taken out to the woodshed, or fired.   It’s very unfortunate, but they brought this down on themselves.   Doocy was named in the lawsuit.

I’m very sad that it’s come down to this.  Fox needs to fix this problem.