Opuscula Netanyahu And Trump: Mental twins

ISRAEL’S PRIME MINISTER Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump are two of a kind.
They surround themselves with, take your choice, sycophants, toadies, lackeys, flunkies, minions, stooges, kowtowers, grovellers and other synonyms for “yes men” (and women).

IT A CABINET MEMBER disagrees with Trump, that Cabinet member is either allowed to resign or, as was the case of National Security Advisor John Bolton, is fired. (How Bolton left is open to debate.).

If a minister disagrees with Netanyahu, the prime minister removes the person from the post and assumes the ministry for himself.

Never mind the individual’s popularity and never mind that in some cases, the dismissal will come back to haunt the chief executive.

Netanyahu would be king, but he may be deposed by a woman, Ayelet Shaked (right), who was given short shrift by the PM. Shaked left the ruling Likud party and, with others, formed a new party that might end Netanyahu’s reign as PM. (It is unlikely it would keep him out of the Knesset.)

I do not expect John Bolton to form a new political party and a jump to the liberal Democrats is not going to happen — I suspect neither wants the other — but he could throw his support to one of the few brave Republicans willing to run against the incumbent, normally as foolish a thing to do as spitting into the wind. Still, with Trump’s knee-jerk tweets and what appears to be an “I’m ALWAYS right” attitude, there may be hope for challengers.

Netanyahu whines that anyone who is not with him must be against him, suggesting that Shaked and other right-wing politicians are liberals who want to surrender Israel to the PLO.

Trump is proving something similar.

Bolton (right) was a hawk who recommended that Trump act forcefully against America’s real or perceived enemies. Trump, who apparently sees himself as King of Negotiators — and he might be — took exception to the advice Bolton is said to have offered.

By the way, Bolton is — was — Trump’s third national security advisor.

My Way or the Highway

More and more we are seeing leaders around the world who operate with the “My way or the highway” mentality.

In the U.S. this seems relatively new.

President Harry S Truman (right) fired Gem. Geo Patton for in­su­bor­din­a­tion.¹ He had strong disagreements with his first Secretary of State, James Francis Byrnes, but kept him on. Byrnes resigned² and Truman appointed Gen. Geo. C. Marshall whom he later named Secretary of Defense, replacing Marshall with Dean Acheson.

Both Marshall and Acheson were against U.S. recognition of Israel but Truman prevailed. Neither man was dismissed by Truman.³

Before Bolton’s resignation/dismissal, Trump had replaced⁴

* Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen
* FBI Director James Comey
* Secretary of State Rex Tillerson
* Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin
* White House counsel Don McGahn

In the case of the VA boss, the dismissal came after multiple reports of mismanagement at VA facilities. While Shulkin may not have been responsible, as President Truman noted: “The buck stops here.”

Apropos of nothing

An amusing side note to the Bolton exit is a headline from Fox News.⁵

Tucker hails firing of John Bolton: He was 'fundamentally a man of the left'

Left? LEFT?

The Fox News report opened with:

Tucker Carlson hailed the firing Tuesday of White House National Security Adviser John Bolton, calling him a "man of the left" whose exit should be celebrated by young service members.

“It is great news for America. Especially for the large number of young people who would have been killed in pointless wars if Bolton had stayed on the job. They may not be celebrating tonight, but they should be," said Carlson, noting that oil prices dropped on the news of Bolton's firing, since global investors "knew for certain that Bolton planned on launching another Middle Eastern conflict that would inevitably spike energy prices."

Will Fox soon declare that Trump is a “man of the left” joining the likes to Pelosi, Tlaib, Omar, et al?

The Fox piece is worth a read, regardless of left, right, or in between.

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Sources

1. http://tinyurl.com/y4tm6z9d

2. http://tinyurl.com/y4p7w7yp

3. http://tinyurl.com/yyecshef

4. http://tinyurl.com/y6n8hked

5. http://tinyurl.com/y4efjhbl

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

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OpusculaWhy don’t Dems Attack Trump For Clinton’s crimes

I HAVE TO WONDER ABOUT Democrat mentality.

When Trump took office he did two things:

One, he told the fibbies to lay off Hillary and her illegal email servers

Two, he fired Obama appointee flip-flopping fibbie director James Comey

Actually, there was one other “first days” action that riled the Democrats: Trump fired U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. Bharara, thumbing his nose at long-established protocol, refused to submit his resignation when the new president took office as all presidential appointees who serve at the president’s pleasure are expected to do. (This rolls downhill all the way to the municipal level. Usually the resignations are refused, but the formality remains.)

Now, whatever Trump – or his supporters – do is a grievous sin to be headlined in the media. Good grief, if Ivanka Trump stands in the same way the former first lady stood, that’s worthy of media contempt.

I’m not a “Trump can do no wrong” person; he can, and has, and assuredly will do things to which I take exception.

His knee-jerk reaction tweets (that seem to be more thoughtful lately)

His push to replace the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act without input from (a) Democrats who might have some good ideas – assuming they can actually think without attacking, and (b) the people who use the Affordable Care Act: patients and practitioners. I suppose he also must kowtow to the courts that seem to be making America’s laws.

The PROBLEM with replacing the Affordable Care Act is that Americans quickly became accustomed to the benefits. Once a benefit program is in place, it is very hard to cancel or modify.

Social Security, which the former president raped along with Medicare, was supposed to be “phased out” and replaced with – what?

We did not always have Social Security, the Railroad Retirement, of even the Federal employees’ retirement plan, (FERS) and when it was instituted – when Eleanor Roosevelt was first lady – it was not intended as a retirement fund. It became a retirement fund – for which I am grateful – but that was not its intent. Still, akin to Medicare, every working American paid into Social Security, sometimes willingly, sometimes not. How much depended on how much the covered American made; how much a covered American receives in his or her dotage depends on what they paid in. (There was a period when employers rewarded their loyal employees with pensions, but most pensions are gone now.)

There also was a time when employers funded the majority of the employees’ health and medical insurance – that was a time when insurance was more reasonably priced. Insurance is a business, lest we forget, and the cost of getting sick has risen greatly – faster than inflation.

I am not writing that “all Democrats are dummies and all Republicans are brilliant.” That is absurd. There ARE Democrats who should be tossed out on their ears and there are Republicans who should end up with them.

Trump and the GOP in congress should write off the “media” and focus on the jobs at hand – and that means working with the Democrats who use their brains. A better-than-Obamacare plan is possible, but it must be crafted with input from the Democrats and the end users – both patients and practitioners. A good start would be to force all those in government — elected and appointed — to depend on Obamacare and its replacement; THEN improvements would be made in short order.

While they are at it, those in Congress should vote to convert their Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) to Social Security.

Back to Hillary and her illegal server

When, shortly after Mrs. Clinton conceded the election, Trump said he would, as president, order the Justice Department not to pursue allegations that Mrs. Clinton violated a number of Federal laws when, as Secretary of State, she sent and received emails – some at least “sensitive” and bearing on national security – via her personal and private server, and there was no farther discussion of her role in the deaths of four Americans at the Benghazi consulate in Libya during a well-planned “spontaneous” uprising. Nor did Trump ask the fibbies to investigate the defeated candidate over her incendiary post-election comments that urged her followers to hit the streets; some of her fans making their point by destroying their own neighborhoods in Hillary’s name.

Interestingly, no Democrats objected to Trump’s decisions regarding Mrs. Clinton and there were no riots in the streets.

The media made little mention of Mrs. Clinton’s illegal and improper behavior, and quickly moved onto “Dump Trump” news as soon as the pressure on Mrs. Clinton was removed.

Almost everything the president or his associates – or even his family – do is scrutinized by the media in an effort to find fault. When there is no fault to be found, the media invents it – hence “fake news.”

TO BE FAIR, lately some “journalists” have been caught writing news they want to be heard/read, regardless of its veracity. A few have been fired. More interesting, some cartoonists – editorial and otherwise – are, it seems, trying to be more balanced; to admit maybe Trump has his moments. (I have no problems with editorials and cartoons that attack issues regardless of the party behind the issue.)

President Trump and his associates are fair game for criticism, but the media should treat all politicians – regardless of party – equally. So far, the media has been strictly in “Attack the President” mode.

Mrs. Clinton lost the election. Although Obama assured Americans that he could win, like FDR, a third and maybe a fourth term in the White House, the country was spared that threat.

The U.S. suffered through eight years of Obama; it can suffer through 4 to 8 years of Trump. Perhaps by then, the pendulum swinging from far left to far right will have settled someplace near the middle and we can elect people who will listen to the opposition and make – or unmake – laws that benefit all Americans, laws that won’t automatically be struck down by the courts.

Or perhaps that’s just wishful thinking.

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

 

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