Taiwan Calling
The pundits, as usual were up in arms because Donald Trump had accepted a congratulatory call from the president of Taiwan. They weren’t alone. The bureaucrats who take up far too much space at the State Department were also having conniptions. So was China.
The pundits, as usual were up in arms because Donald Trump had accepted a congratulatory call from the president of Taiwan. They weren’t alone. The bureaucrats who take up far too much space at the State Department were also having conniptions. So was China.
For my part, I am greatly encouraged by Trump’s reaction to all this. He’s seemingly oblivious to it.
China, a despicable nation that we used to refer to as Red China until Richard Nixon famously and fatuously decided to throw in with the Communists. His was a decision we have been paying for ever since, thanks to staggering trade deficits, their encroachment into the South China Sea and their encouraging North Korea to become the loosest of loose cannons among the anti-American nuclear powers.
Sarah Palin got on Trump’s case over his keeping a campaign promise by getting Carrier to cave in by offering tax advantages. Frankly, I don’t know why she or anyone else thinks it’s a big deal or a bad one. For one thing, the same sort of inducements are used every day to get companies or even film productions to move from one state to another. So, how is it suddenly a sin to employ the same technique to keep a company from setting up shop in a foreign country?
Besides, the tax advantage will only add up to $7 million over 10 years. The salary Carrier will be paying those employees over the same time frame will be in excess of $65 million. I’m not a CPA and I don’t even play one on TV, but that seems like a pretty good deal to me. Plus, it’s not as if the deal frees Carrier from paying taxes in Indiana. It merely provides some relief. But as Trump has already vowed to cut corporate taxes, every company is going to profit from his plan.
I figure that Mrs. Palin, who has cashed in very nicely from being on a losing ticket in 2008, hasn’t spent too much time worrying about where her next meal is coming from. But inasmuch as Alaska has the worst unemployment rate in America, I suspect there are a lot of people up there who wish Trump would bring his magic act north.
If America keeps its jobs at home, maybe it’s not as terrible as some Republicans are pretending. After all, if being the centerpiece of the global economy means having an annual $40 billion trade deficit and winding up with crappy products from India and Mexico, and pet food from Red China that poisons our dogs, perhaps a change in the way we do business is long overdue.
I’m well-aware that a lot of folks will be against anything Trump does, but what is so wonderful about the current system run by and for Wall Street that places more importance on corporate earnings than about what is best for America? Why should anyone shower a chorus of boos and humbugs on Trump when we have a labor force that involves barely 60% of able-bodied men and women, along with wages that have been static or worse for the past two decades?
In response to the continued demonstrations against Trump, one reader asked me what you’d call a basement full of liberals. Answer: a whine cellar.
Some of us assumed that San Francisco 49er quarterback Colin Kaepernick, the pinhead who has made a point of displaying his contempt for the nation, would quickly fade from sight in the wake of a season that has seen his team go 1-12 so far. But we were sadly mistaken. He has launched a free camp for black and Latino kids in Oakland that he hopes to spread nationwide.
To begin with, the kids are presented black t-shirts stating “I Know My Rights.” After that, things only get worse.
The purpose of the enterprise is to indoctrinate these impressionable kids to recognize their victimhood. In his mission statement, Kaepernick states: “We’re here today to fight back and to give you all lessons to combat the oppressive issues that our people face on a daily basis. We’re going to give you knowledge on policing history, what the system of policing in America was based on, and we’re going to teach you the skills to make sure you always get home safely.”
Kaepernick, who’s not even qualified to teach the kids to toss a perfect spiral, is obviously not offering the kids a curriculum that tells them that the best way to stay safe is to avoid taking drugs and joining a gang, and, instead, get an education, learn a trade, get a job, get married and raise a family.
What I’d really like to know is whether the first time one of his young charges ambushes and kills a cop, Kaepernick can be tried as an accessory before the fact.
When you see how hard several million Americans are taking Trump’s victory, I can’t help wishing that the United States could be partitioned into three parts. One nation would consist of the west coast, Washington, Oregon and California. A second nation would be carved out of the Northeast and would include Maryland, New York, New Jersey and New England.
Everything else, previously known as flyover country, would belong to the rest of us. Liberals finding themselves in Illinois would have to move east or west, as would conservatives finding themselves in those first two countries. I, who live in Southern California, understand better than most that it would be inconvenient, but the Founders pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor, for the sake of the Republic. We would only be pledging to pack and call Bekin’s.
Which reminds me that in one way at least, most people are extremely generous, for they would much prefer giving advice than taking it.
Because even in liberal circles, anti-Semitism is regarded as a no-no, their way around the charge is to insist, as Vanessa Redgrave used to, that they have nothing against Jews, but, as compassionate human beings, they have no choice but to oppose Israeli policies when it comes to Arabs, Muslims and, especially, the Palestinians in their midst.
So, they would have us believe that they simply prefer to side with those who oppose freedom of speech and religion, deny women their rights, kill homosexuals, engage in honor killings and female mutilation, and who, for good measure, refer to America as “The Big Satan.”
What they never bother explaining is why it is exactly they seem to prefer these villains to those people who not only don’t engage in such atrocities, but who allow Arabs and Islamists to serve in their legislative body, if it isn’t because those in the Middle East who live in a post-medieval world just happen to be Jewish.
Or as Brendan Mahoney recently tweeted: “Liberals act like Trump is going to kill the gays, make slavery legal again and take away women’s rights. Like he’s a Muslim or something.”
It occurs to me that it’s not just certain groups of people, including Muslims, inner-city blacks and illegal aliens, who have sacred cow status in America. There are also certain works of art and any number of individuals that I deem highly-overrated. Among them are “Alice in Wonderland,” Ernest Hemingway, Amadeus Mozart, Quentin Tarantino, “Moby Dick.” Marlon Brando, Pablo Picasso, James Dean, the Mona Lisa and Laurence Olivier.
If you wish to take me to task, please fight the urge. I know all the arguments you’re likely to make. My only purpose in sharing such a list is to let those people who share my bias know that they’re not alone and shouldn’t allow the artsy-fartsy critics and elitists cow them into submission.
There are a handful of certainties in life, such as death, taxes and that liberals will make fools of themselves after losing elections by bawling and kicking their little feet, but there is one that might be even more predictable. I refer to the fact that I have never yet had a person pull up beside me at a stop light that was playing decent music on his car radio. Usually, the stuff is loud enough to make my car shimmy and my ears cry “Uncle!” but even when it isn’t blaring forth at 140 decibels, it constitutes an assault on the environment. Maybe it’s different in other parts of America, but here in Southern California, it seems that nobody but yours truly ever drives around listening to Rachmaninoff, Bach, Gershwin or Copland.
My friend Orson Bean has passed along a wonderful line he attributes to former V.P. Dick Chaney: “I’d like to say a few words about global warming, or as I like to call it, Spring.”
