Showing posts with label Made in America. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Made in America. Show all posts

Monday, January 18, 2021

Opuscula

Mike Pence
Let me down

I VOTED FOR DONALD TRUMP BECAUSE I trusted VP Mike Pence to control Trump’s mouth and twitter finger.

He failed me.

 

PENCE (right), former governor of the Hoosier State, should have had a “calming” effect on Donald Trump.

We — voters — knew that The Donald was a loose cannon with his mouth and tweeter fingers.

Trump, to his credit, tried to fulfill his campaign promises. He was stymied by the same Democrats that allowed Trump’s predecessor to

    Fund security on Mexico’s SOUTHERN border to reduce illegal entry from Guatemala
    Build detention centers for illegal aliens’ children

The Democrats prevented him from improving the 2,700 page federal health care program his predecessor snuck through Congress by not allowing time for it to be properly reviewed.

UNLIKE his predecessor who gave millions to the terrorist PFLP on his last day in office, Trump

    Cut off funds to the PFLP and other terrorists
    Managed to achieve “normalization” agreements between Israel and at least four Muslim countries in the region (and arrange a peace agreement between Serbia and Kosovo in Europe)
    Got the U.S. out of an Iran deal that was blatantly violated by the Iranians
    Drew down troops in foreign wars
    Returned jobs exported during the predecessor’s administration back to the U.S. and reduced unemployment to levels unheard of since World War 2
    among other things.

Also unlike his predecessor, Trump — despite his accomplishments ! — he was denied the Nobel Peace Prize that his predecessor got for winning an election a few days after the results were counted.

BUT Trump responded badly to continuing attacks from the Democrats — even though he foolishly elected not to allow the Democrat presidential candidate to be prosecuted for her illegal server or her role in the “spontaneous” attack on the American consulate in Benghazi Libya in which four Americans were murdered.

Results of “spontaneous” attack on U.S. facility in Benghazi
(WashPost https://tinyurl.com/yxnb3df3)

Unlike almost all previous elections, the Democrats continued to demonize Trump at every turn.

Trump, unfortunately for American conservatives, responded with multiple unscripted talks and with non-thought-out tweets that offended not only the “progressives,” but many Republicans as well.

Trump may be a negotiator — a skill he proved many times over — but he is not a diplomat.

He did deal with North Korea’s despot and managed, for awhile it seemed, to lower the caustic rhetoric from that source.

He did not get the U.S. involved in any new foreign escapades that put American lives in danger.

But his words and his tweets.

Trump in Chinese finger cuffs (Bruce Plante, tulsaworld.com)

I really don’t care WHAT the Europeans think about his personality. Europe is a has been.

Of course, the leaders of the NATO nations are unhappy with Trump; he insisted that they start paying their fair share of the costs. Imagine!

Still, he is perceived as a buffoon, and Pence should have used whatever powers of persuasion he had with Trump and Trump’s family to moderate the president’s off-the-cuff remarks and his embarrassing tweets. For Trump, Twitter was “UNsocial” media.

    Social media proved it and its “progressive” controllers were more powerful than the President of the United States by banning him from their services.

Trump is a racist. That’s obvious since he canceled a plan by the newly named POTUS to incarcerate black criminals, a plan that its originator now admits was a mistake. He also lowered minority unemployment and had more minorities in government that presidents before him. But he’s a racist; the Democrats say so. Truth is not allowed to get in the way of fabrication.

Trump is xenophobic. That’s why he allowed passengers from Asia and Europe into the U.S. even when there was strong evidence they carried the Chinese virus. The Democrats pilloried him for daring to demand that citizens of 11 predominately Muslim countries — out of 49 countries with a Muslim population of 50 percent or more (https://tinyurl.com/yam352ly) — be carefully vetted. Imagine, trying to protect American citizens. (https://tinyurl.com/yam352ly)

Islamic States

Even after moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem — approved by Congress on October 23, 1995 (https://tinyurl.com/y8wpy7ff) Trump managed to arrange “normalization” between Israel and several Muslim countries; it remains to be seen if, under the new administration in Washington, the trend will continue.

Trump was slow to get on the Chinese virus — oops, that’s not “politically correct” in “progressive speech” — bandwagon, but he did mobilize U.S. pharmaceuticals to develop, manufacture, and distribute vaccine. In a “damned if he does and damned if he does not” action, he allowed the U.S. firms to sell vaccine to foreign nations. Great foreign policy, lousy domestic policy and many seniors — this scrivener included — still are waiting to get on a list to be vaccinated! Not enough vaccine.

Meanwhile, the governor of my state is allowing snowbirds to be vaccinated in front of full-time residents who are 65 and more.

The incoming administration promised to do exactly what Trump already did — but that surely will earn the incoming president a Nobel Peace Price.

MEANWHILE the Democrats — with less than a week left in his administration — are trying to convict him of something, anything.

Trump’s main crime is being impolitic, of failing to be a gentleman and allowing the Democrats to railroad him with unfounded and, indeed proven to be sans value claims. Meanwhile, there are allegations that the new president (and his son) has committed felony-level crimes, crimes that likely will cause him to resign before his first year in office ends. Harris-Emhoff is waiting — impatiently? — for her chance.

If only Pence had reined in the president the Democrats undoubtedly would put aside their anger at losing in 2016.

Bottom line: It is all Mike Pence’s fault.


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.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on Blame It on Mike

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

Opuscula

Trashing
Trump —
Revisited



THE NEW YORK TIMES (NYT) under the headline Companies Falsely Labeled Products ‘Made in U.S.A.’ Their Financial Penalty? $0 (see http://tinyurl.com/y6ha7sol) rightly rails against U.S. companies that buy from China (where else?) and label the products “Made in America” or “Made in USA.”

How could this be when President Trump has made such a “big deal” of making American manufacturers great again?

 

Made in the USA logos

 

TO BE FAIR, the NYT article DID admit that

    The FTC has a long history of weak enforcement in “Made in America” cases that preceded Mr. Trump’s tenure. The commission lists on its website 26 “Made in America” cases it has reviewed since 1999. In some of those cases, companies have agreed to a monetary settlement. In 2016, for instance, Chemence, a specialty chemical company, agreed to pay $220,000 to resolve an agency lawsuit. But in many other cases, the settlements required only record-keeping and reporting requirements to make sure companies did not violate the law again.
The NYT continues
    Democrats are questioning why the agency is not being more aggressive in going after American companies that manufacture their goods in China.

    “Many companies that manufacture at home are already treading water,” Rohit Chopra, a Democrat FTC commissioner who disagreed with the decision, said in an interview. “American companies shouldn’t lose out to corporate cheaters who lie on their labels.

    Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) a Democrat presidential hopeful, complained that “If companies that break our laws do not face financial penalties, then our American manufacturers are severely undermined, We need stronger enforcement by the FTC and greater transparency when it comes to the commission’s actions to crack down on these violators.”

Why no penalties? According to “agency officials,” the threat of future penalties was a strong deterrent..

The Democrat “bottom line” seems to be that the president should micro-manage every Federal function.

There is no indication in the NYT article that the complaining Democrats, Sen Chris Murphy (D-CT), Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), complained to the White House before heading to the NYT.

Granted, something seems amiss at the FTC and, granted, President Trump should use whatever power he has to rectify the situation, but micro-manage?

Can he fire the commissioners?

Can he nominate replacement commissioners, and does the Congress need to approve his nominees?

Or, would it be sufficient to remove Trump appointee Jos. Simons, currently chairman of the FTC. That might delight Democrats since Simons is a Republican confirmed by a Republican Congress. (See http://tinyurl.com/yxggj6z6 )

As a consumer I make every effort to first buy products made in the USA; then products assembled in the USA; then products made almost anyplace but China.

    I have nothing against Chinese people but I do have a problem with Chinese practices, e.g., feeding feces to fish to be exported to U.S. tables and using lead-based paint on children’s toys, and the almost total lack of quality control.
Admittedly, there is very little on the market that is “100% American.” We live in a global economy after all.

I’m left wondering if the Democrats are really concerned about false “Made in America” labeling or if their only point is to “trash Trump.”

In an earlier time, when the distance across the aisle was a crack that has become a chasm, I would give the senators a gold star for their awareness. Today? Sadly, I now always first suspect the only purpose is political gain at the president’s expense.

 

AN ASIDE

After WW 2 American’s were buying products stamped Made in USA.

The problem was, the products were made in a town named “USA” . . . in Japan!


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.

Comments on Made in USA

Monday, November 10, 2014

Made in China

One cup coffee maker
With 30-cup capacity

 

Our aging West Bend 36-cup coffee maker that we used as a hot water urn finally gave out.

The Spouse went on-line and found a 30-cup replacement unit apparently is

  * Imported by Buffalo Tools for its AmeriHome brand

  * Sold by Wayfair

  * Ordered via Walmart

The Spouse made the selection based solely on price - it was cheap.

It turns out that the 30-cup coffee maker was able to produce only one-cup.

After the first cup, the spigot handle broke and no more water could be released. I suppose that's better than having the spigot stuck OPEN, dumping 85o F water on my feet and the floor.


Broken spigot handle - failed after one use

A coffee urn has a hard life at our home. It sometimes runs 72 hours at a stretch.

The made-in-America West Bend not only survived the extended use, but was quiet about it. The replacement made-in-China unit not only failed at first use, but it also was noisy. The Spouse likes quiet.

An equivalent capacity West Bend unit costs roughly $12-$15 more than the Chinese urn. Target is listing a West Bend 30-Cup Polished Aluminum Urn - 58030 for $32 plus tax but with free shipping. Walmart is advertising the same unit, sold by one of its partners, for $43.30 plus tax and plus shipping. A West Bend 42-Cup Polished Aluminum Urn - 58002 at Target is $46 plus tax.

Somewhere along the line the made-in-China urn allegedly went through "QC" - Quality Control - there's a sticker on the bottom of the unit that says so.

What the bottom of the unit omits are

  * Name of manufacturer

  * Name of importer

  *  Underwriters Laboratories (UL) approval


Underside of failed urn

Back in the day, Japanese products had the same reputation that Chinese products have today - shoddy workmanship using shoddy parts to sell cheap and still make a good markup for the owners.

In 1970 I bought, for a $125 advance from my employer, a Honeywell Pentax H3v 35mm SLR. The camera was manufactured in Japan and imported by Honeywell. Because Honeywell's association was advertised, Honeywell inspected each Asahi Pentax camera before it was released to the retail market. The bare-bones camera served me well for many years; I gave it to a friend who used it for years than gave it to his son-in-law. No problems were ever encountered with the camera. (I later [c 1972] bought a brass Canon F-1 - with Speed Finder - and a used Canon FtB, both of which served me well until I reluctantly went digital due to the cost and environmental impact of buying and processing film.)

This is NOT to say that everything that comes from Japan today has the QC of my cameras, just as there are made-in-America products that are less than they could/should be (auto recalls for example), but China's reputation is well-deserved: dry wall, tires, and toys to name just three imports.

The next coffee urn we buy will be a West Bend; it's one of very few brands still made in the USA. Others include Colony Coffee Urn, and at least some Focus Regalware urns.