RED TAPE

Recently Trump purged senior management at the U.S. State Department, presumably at the behest of Vladimir Putin, who assured him that he could supply capable replacement personnel.  It may turn out that Trump fired them prematurely as they may be finding it difficult to find people, at the State Department, to issue the necessary visa waivers for the incoming Russians. 

INCONSISTENCIES ARE IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER

Some people have labeled Trump's recent Executive Order affecting travel, to the U.S., for citizens of certain countries as being inconsistent.  None of the citizens of the affected countries have ever been involved in terrorism in the U.S., whereas Muslim countries, whose citizens  have been involved, remain unaffected by the Order.  

What people fail to realize is that those countries that have been exempted from the executive action are doing business with the Trump family.  The other countries are just going to have to get with the drill or suffer the consequences.

EXTORTING MONEY FROM MEXICO

I really can't understand why Mexico doesn't agree to let Trump extort some $20 billion to build his wall.  After all the value of the American-owned factories, in Mexico, that they can confiscate, surely can cover the cost of the wall.  In any event, monetary loss if Trump imposes a 20% tax on Mexican imports, will be borne by those same American companies, since the tax will be upon their own goods, for the most part.

THE GREAT DEPRESSION

In October of 1929, the financial markets crashed, but many economists attribute the cause of the Great Depression that ensued, not to that crash but to an incorrect remedy, namely the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930.  That piece of legislation, which imposed a penalty on imported goods, led to a very temporary increase in production, in the U.S., but which so disturbed the global market that had been built up that both the economies of Europe and the U.S. went from a recession into a depression which lasted a decade and was a factor in causing WW II.   

While the U.S. economy is in much better shape than it was in 1930, our web of interconnection with the global economy is so complicated and complex, now, that we just don't know the effect of imposing a tariff on a trading partner's goods in order to force a unilateral acceptance of a decision in an unrelated matter.  

EXECUTIVE ORDERS

Despite having issued the least number of Executive Orders in 120 years, Obama was excoriated for having usurped powers in an unconstitutional manner.  Now it is easy for Congress to nullify any Executive Order by passing a law.  It was Congress' failure to bring up laws, for a vote, that lead a frustrated Obama to issue his controversial Orders to begin with.  

Again, although a new Congress was in session before Trump was sworn in, and Republicans had a majority in both Houses of Congress, they took no steps to  change any of Obama's Executive Orders.  They waited until Trump  was sworn in, in what appears to be a permanent ceding of Congressional powers to the Executive Branch, to issue Executive Orders.  So much for criticisms of Obama's unconstitutional behavior.

THE TRUMP FAMILY REPOSITORY

There exists, somewhere in space and/or time a special repository for Trump family investigations.  A place where investigations ordered by Donald Trump go never to be seen or heard from forevermore.  The investigation into Obama's birth certificate was never heard from again, after that one announcement, in 2011, that his investigators had come up with unbelievably amazing information, which, however, apparently was consigned to the Trump Family Repository.

So too, the promised investigation into the Russian hacking of the 2016 election seems to have disappeared.

Now, once again, we can look forward to the disappearance of another promised Trump investigation, this one into the 2 to 5 million illegals voting in the 2016 election.

If the Repository were converted from just being able to process a type of solid waste to say, nuclear waste, think what a boon to mankind that would be.

THE NARCISSIST'S HOLD ON REALITY

Excerpt from a book by Dr. Sam Vaknin   Samvak,tripod.com/journal91.html

Granted, the narcissist's hold on reality is tenuous (narcissists sometimes fail the reality test). Admittedly, narcissists often seem to believe in their own confabulations. They are unaware of the pathological nature and origin of their self-delusions and are, thus, technically delusional (though they rarely suffer from hallucinations, disorganised speech, or disorganised or catatonic behaviour). In the strictest sense of the word, narcissists appear to be psychotic.

But, actually, they are not. There is a qualitative difference between benign (though well-entrenched) self-deception or even malignant con-artistry – and "losing it".

Pathological narcissism should not be construed as a form of psychosis because:

1. The narcissists is usually fully aware of the difference between true and false, real and make-belief, the invented and the extant, right and wrong. The narcissist consciously chooses to adopt one version of the events, an aggrandising narrative, a fairy-tale existence, a "what-if" counterfactual life. He is emotionally invested in his personal myth. The narcissist feels better as fiction than as fact – but he never loses sight of the fact that it is all just fiction.

2. Throughout, the narcissist is in full control of his faculties, cognisant of his choices, and goal-orientated. His behaviour is intentional and directional. He is a manipulator and his delusions are in the service of his stratagems. Hence his chameleon-like ability to change guises, his conduct, and his convictions on a dime.

3. Narcissistic delusions rarely persist in the face of blanket opposition and reams of evidence to the contrary. The narcissist usually tries to convert his social milieu to his point of view. He attempts to condition his nearest and dearest to positively reinforce his delusional False Self. But, if he fails, he modifies his profile on the fly. He "plays it by ear". His False Self is extemporaneous – a perpetual work of art, permanently reconstructed in a reiterative process designed around intricate and complex feedback loops.

Though the narcissistic personality is rigid – its content is always in flux. Narcissists forever re-invent themselves, adapt their consumption of Narcissistic Supply to the "marketplace", attuned to the needs of their "suppliers". Like the performers that they are, they resonate with their "audience", giving it what it expects and wants. They are efficient instruments for the extraction and consumption of human reactions.

As a result of this interminable process of fine tuning, narcissists have no loyalties, no values, no doctrines, no beliefs, no affiliations, and no convictions. Their only constraint is their addiction to human attention, positive or negative.

Psychotics, by comparison, are fixated on a certain view of the world and of their place in it. They ignore any and all information that might challenge their delusions. Gradually, they retreat into the inner recesses of their tormented mind and become dysfunctional.

Narcissists can't afford to shut out the world because they so heavily depend on it for the regulation of their labile sense of self-worth. Owing to this dependence, they are hypersensitive and hypervigilant, alert to every bit of new data. They are continuously busy rearranging their self-delusions to incorporate new information in an ego-syntonic manner.

This is why the Narcissistic Personality Disorder is insufficient grounds for claiming a "diminished capacity" (insanity) defence. Narcissists are never divorced from reality – they crave it, and need it, and consume it in order to maintain the precarious balance of their disorganised, borderline-psychotic personality. All narcissists, even the freakiest ones, can tell right from wrong, act with intent, and are in full control of their faculties and actions.

THE FINAL ELECTION

A recent Trump tweet sounded ominous, to me, even if the words are not.  Referring to the recent, perhaps largest ever in the world, protest march, Trump asked, "Where were all these women on election day?'

The march took place three (3) months after the election, so the question is what period of time between the election and the protest would Trump consider reasonable?  Perhaps, never?  Does Trump consider that the 2016 election ended reasonable protests for the duration of his term in office?

ALTERNATE FACTS

Everyone knows not to judge a book by its cover for the cover is perception while the contents of the book is reality.  Most know at an early an early age, the distinction between perception and reality. But for some people perception is reality,  The dust cover on the book is what counts while the contents of the book is subject to negotiation.

In their world, the term "alternate facts" have s special meaning and, as such, make great sense to residents of an alternate universe.

DEMONSTRATIONS COME, DEMONSTRATIONS GO

Marches come, marches go.  Demonstrations come, demonstrations go but rarely do they morph into movements.  The outlook for the recent Women's March may, however, be much better because of a single factor:  Donald Trump.  Trump, unfazed by 3 million women marches, may continue his offensive ways and really stimulate a permanent demonstration against him.

NEW TROIKA

An interesting tension is developing, with this new administration.  Both the President and Congress have have different agendas, which can be handled, easily, by our Constitution which works by tension of competing interests.  What differs,this year, is the existence of another party, not contemplated by our Constitution, at all, and that is Vladimir Putin, who has is own agenda, and who through a combination of  money, flattery and fear can influence the office of the President to act in Putin's interest even against Trump's own interests.

ABBREVIATED HISTORY OF THE HEALTHCARE DILEMMA

During the Administration of Barack Obama, Democrats passed a bill called the Affordable Care Act or ACA. Republicans are working on their version called Conservative Affordable Care Act or CACA.  Republicans, however, cannot get their CACA together despite being deeply into CACA after years of trying.   

IRONY

It would be ironic, indeed, if Republican rejection of their own idea for a compromise solution to a single, payer system, for health care, would lead to the very system they were trying to avoid.

As an answer to "Hillarycare", a Republican think tank came up with an idea that would modify health insurance coverage but not medical coverage.  The idea was tried in the State of Massachusetts, and called Romneycare.  It worked fairly well and was offered as the ACA by the Obama Administration as a proven Republican idea that, while not perfect, could work and could improve the situation of millions of Americans.  It was the Republicans who met their own idea with derision and started calling it Obamacare.  Faced with mounting protests over the repeal of the ACA, the head of the Republican Party, Donald Trump, almost in desperation, promised, as a substitute for the ACA, Universal Coverage, a Democratic ideal for which  the ACA  was a compromise substitute. 

How much more ironic can one get?

GUEST POST

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New post on The Octogenarians Punching Down An Aspect Of “The New Abnormal” by daedal2207 On the weekend of Martin Luther King day,John Lewis expressed openly his disbelief in the validity of the Trump victory.Trump's disbelief in the Russian hacking,Trump's advocacy of Putin and Wikileaks,Trumps condemnation of NATO,Trump's attacks on the intelligence community etc.lend increasing concern and credibility to the possibility that he is blackmailable by Putin and his cyber spies.Much as we would not want to believe in this degree of U.S. vulnerability it all makes a horrid kind of sense.Trumps behavior in trying to encapsulate himself by distancing from the establishment press figuratively and literally ,continuing to use his old twitter account to punch down at the likes of John Lewis and to presage foreign policy decisions rather than to use POTUS accounts is ominous.The use of Trump Towers and Trump International Hotel as well as Florida sites,indicates a serious lack of veneration for the office and it's symbols.Obama may have displayed too much veneration and humility and not taken enough victory laps for considerable accomplishment,but the Trolling Trumpeter takes credit for anticipated victories often unrelated and unrelatable to his efforts. Americans may have elected Trump anyway,voting on bits and bytes where disinformation ,information,and outright lies were equally used to support a position already taken.Thsi parenthetically is one of the huge disadvantages of social media compared to traditional media.Which,when added to the lack of validation of sources by the bits and bytes folks,adds to the danger in the world of "new abnormals".( A phrase attributable to the editor in chief of The National Review.)

BUM RAP

Congressional Republican, both Senators, and Congressmen. feel that their constituents are being criticized, unfairly for taking an average $200,000,00 in tax refund at the expense of repealing Obamacare.  After all, that money will have to cover contributions to finance campaign expenses for said Congressional Republicans and is not really going into their pockets. 

SHOULD COMEY RESIGN?

Should Comey resign?  In my opinion, and in a word, No.  At least not at this time.  I offer two (2) reasons.

Firstly, as a practical matter, "better the devil one knows..." especially when his successor will be chosen by a man who may, himself, be the target of an F.B.I. investigation.

Secondly I can envision a scenario where Comey made a mistake in judgement, very much like Hillary, without criminal intent.  He spoke publicly about finding a new source of emails, admittedly a big, big mistake but which, in his mind, was a minor matter since he had already declared her as not having committed any prosecutable offense.  On the other hand, he may have been aware of a really big matter shaping up with possible "high crimes and treason" on the part of the Republican candidate and members of his staff, which would have made the email matter really inconsequential.

We know Comey was wrong in his judgement but we have no choice but to wait to see what the F.B.I. does about Trump before we start clamoring for Comey's resignation.  

CREDIBLE REPORT?

In a morning tweet, Trump still seething about the Russian hacking allegations. has promised a "hacking report, of its own, within 90 days".  This time, despite his poor record in ever delivering promised reports, Trump may be quite serious.  Putin promises 24/7 work on it.

WHY TRUMP APPEARS MORE CANTANKEROUS

Does Donald appear more combative and aggressive as the Inauguration approaches?  He has cause as he contemplates what he considers unfair and unequal working conditions.  He will be taking the reins of the most powerful country in the world, yet he will have less power than his buddy, Vladimir Putin, has in his. Nobody stops Vlad from making big money on the side, while he, Donald J. Trump, the most powerful man in the world, is being asked to divest himself  of stuff he already has.  In addition, he, the world's leader has to put up with little people sassing him while Vladimir can just send out for their heads.  Can anyone blame Donald for feeling a bit grumpy?

TRUMP'S NO. 2 GOLDEN RULE

The more gold, the more I rule in your favor.

TRUMP'S NO. 1 GOLDEN RULE

The first and paramount of Trump's Golden Rules is "Thou shalt not do unto me as I do unto others"

HUSH Y'ALL, I'M LISTENING

I'm listening for a single peep, from any of you, so-called fiscal conservatives, objecting to the fact that all of you Republicans, except Rand Paul, have just passed a budget with a $10 trillion deficit.  The action merited congratulations from Donald Trump, your head honcho.

In the immortal words of Ronal Reagan, "Here you go again" making another fiscal mess that you will expect Democrats to clean up, even as you berate them while they are, once again, mopping it up.

Perhaps this time, Democrats will get lucky and the Republicans have to live with another one of their Recessions so the American people get their fill of the Republican brand and banish the whole lot, forever.  

SHARE THE BLAME

Democrats have been approached by Republicans to help replace Obamacare, undoubtedly to help them out by sharing the blame for the deed.  I hope that they can find the guts to stand firm, without wavering, and only proffer a single payer solution.  If even one Democrat wavers and joins them, the Republicans will label  any abortion of a bill as "bi-partisan".

POOR BABY

Earlier this week, a low blow, most foul, was landed on Donald Trump. when he was the victim of a salacious report alleging that the Kremlin had compromising material, including photos of perverse sex acts with Russian prostitutes, with which Trump could be blackmailed.  The allegations were in hands of the  F.B.I. being investigated had not been confirmed.  

The moaning and wailing that ensued because the of raw allegations having been leaked, surely the most tragic event to afflict Western Civilization since the sacking of Rome by Attila the Hun.  

Think of the damage to the reputation of a self-confessed pussy grabber that this has caused.  Here is a man whose sterling attributes include calling every single one of his opponents, during the recent campaign, with an insulting and/or defamatory and/or libelous name, who has been the victim of an unconfirmed hatchet job.  Poor baby.

THE WICKED FLEE WHEN NO WOMAN PURSUETH

Meryl Streep, in her Golden Globes speech, made not a single mention of Donald Trump's name, used no personal attack, but only called attention to a type of activity that she disapproved of.  Donald immediately took offense, treating it as  personal attack since by describing the activity without ascribing it to anyone, he knew that he owned it.

Of course, the video evidence notwithstanding, Donald denied ever having  bullied anyone or mocked the disability of a reporter. 

GUEST POST

New post on The Octogenarians

Countdown by daedal2207 On reading a throwaway segment of the LA times I found that many people have been overtaken by a form of psychic paralysis in anticipation of the Trump inauguration.I was not alone.The advice given was to realize the transience of the process and to concentrate on accomplishing things bit by bit, planning ahead for a diffferent day but resuming the necessary functioning 0f a day to day existence.The percussive aspect of the piano was available to me but the fiddle demanded  inner peace.This blog required something to respond to.I found it in my resumption of my retirement review of material from The Great Courses.The technology has altered but my old equipment groans and shudders but works.A review of economics produced the familiar lack of economic motivation beyond survival until the 13th-16th centuries.With this time period and the permissibility of the accumulation of wealth came mercantilism and the importance of gold currency to the nation state.The decline of the importance of a universal church with its stranglehold on wealth and military power was the result of the great trading companies and the production of wealth from trading(mostly export} but necessarily the development of trading blocs backed by military power.A surprising warning from the past came too by courtesy of John Maynard Keynes.To paraphrase' Do not trust the businessman who claims to be a politician.He cannot see beyond the trade and his true concern is for personal or group profit.He may pretend to support the nation state but in reality he does not.' On to the next economic period in my reading for survival! daedal2207 | January 9, 2017 at 9:04 pm | Categories: Uncategorized | URL: http://wp.me/p4Gt4f-xc

ALL THE TRICKS OF THE TRADE

One of the ploys, used by Donald Trump, to convince his supporters, to vote for him, was that, because he was, himself, guilty of gaming the system, he would be the ideal person to be able to use his skills to benefit his supporters. 

One of his skills has been to use other people's money to build things to his benefit and then to manipulate circumstances so as to avoid paying for them either partially or in full.  That is why it seemed perfectly feasible, to some, that he could build a multi-billion dollar wall, which could accrue to the benefit of America, without having to pay for it.  Now it appears that the American taxpayer is to advance the funds and Trump will somehow have a 3d party reimburse us by an undisclosed method, just "trust him".

In the past, it has been the people who have advanced the funds, or in some cases,the goods and services, that have been left holding the bag.  Trump has a lot of experience in that sort of a scenario; not so much in paying funds back.

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

Early in the first term of the Obama Presidency, Republicans began to, derisively, refer to the Affordable Care Act, as "Obamacare".  I stated, at the time, in a letter to the editor of the Miami Herald, that they, the Republicans, would come to rue the day they coined the expression. 

When one thinks about it, the ACA is the only sensible compromise as opposed to a single payer system, and was devised by the Republicans, as such, and to repeal it is opposed by organizations, nominally part of the Republican constituency, such as the AMA and the Health Insurance industry, it may be that the greatest, single problem Republicans have is how to get people to stop calling it "Obamacare".  They may be wanting to repeal it so they can bring it back under a different name, without the Public just keeping the old label.

PRECIDENTIAL AMNESIA

The election of the next Democratic President will immediately bring on an epidemic which will obliterate the memory, of all Trump supporters, of the precedents that the Donald has set.

Cries of righteous indignation will fill the land as Democrats request the immediate resignation of all of Trump's diplomatic appointees; hearings on the nomination of all Cabinet appointees before completion of the vetting process; waiver of requirements for presentation of tax returns, etc.

Only the election of another "Conservative" President will cure them of their situational amnesia.

PUTIN'S PROTEGE

Donald Trump, who has already been the beneficiary of Putin's renowned skills in intervening in the elections of other countries, is due to receive even more largesse from Maestro Putin. Immediately after his inauguration, Trump will be tutored in another of Putin's skills, namely, how to become President-for-Life.

A WIN-WIN SITUATION FOR THE DEMOCRATS?

If one considers the slim margin by which Trump won the key states, which gave him the Electoral College victory, and the fact that a large number of those votes came from people who were of relatively poor circumstances, and who are benefitting, many for the first time in their lives by having medical insurance, through Obamacare, it is possible that the repeal of the ACA, by Republicans,  will be advantageous to the Democrats, if these voters will have  learned their lesson.  If not, perhaps the loss of medical attention will have lowered the number of this voting bloc, still capable of voting at all.