The (Daily) Vent 2

(Over The Bridge ?) In the Allied advance across Europe during the Second World War, the Rhine River would prove the most difficult physical barrier that would have to be negotiated any drive into Germany. In the north British General Montgomery and his meticulous Operation PLUNDER was designed to put the British on the far side of the river. Further south, on March 7th, 1945, the U.S. 9th Armored entered the town of Remagen and saw that there was an intact Ludendorff Railway Bridge that spanned the Rhine. With expectation at Eisenhower's Headquarters that the crossing would not be practical for some weeks or until Montgomery was ready, a bridge would considerably accelerate the Campaign. On this March 7th, the Remagen there are two span ends. On the west bank is what is left of the Biden Administration. The Friday jobs report while not stellar did come in below expectations. The reason President Trump is so aggressive with tariffs is that the offending countries had free rides un...

(Prelude & Prologue) When Ferris Bueller took his "day off," the history teacher, Ben Stein, was giving a lecture on the Smoot Hawley Tariff. It was imposed in 1930, causing the collapse of the international trading system and possibly accelerated the Great Depression. The American economy at the time was contracting as the Roaring 20's came to a crash in the 1929 Wall Street sell-off. The addition of the Tariff only exacerbated the situation and all but guaranteed the election of Franklin Roosevelt. He of course instituted the New Deal that in the end proved less affective in its assigned role. It was only after the American entry into the Second World War that economic growth recovered. President Trump has been initiated tariffs of his own that as this stage could prove as problematic as Smoot-Hawley. The economy today is still the Biden economy and while Biden-omics is persisting, inflation is still elevated, the trade deficit is at $150 billion and with new Trump ...

(Talk & Tariff) True to his word, President Trump announced the imposition of 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, and 10% on China. Reciprocal retaliation is being promised. As policy, imposing levies runs the risk that the longer the stoppage persists, conditions invariably worsen. Unless some accommodation is discovered, a change in behavior is elicited. The main complaint President Trump has with the two North American neighbors has been immigration and fentanyl. However., there have been immediate, and indeed negative, results by the adding of these tariffs. Wall Street has sold off across all Indexes for the past two days and prices have increased in some sectors. The Trump theory has been that the American economy is so much larger than its competitors that any levy against any other nation and its diminished GDP, terms will be rapidly arrived. Therefore, in what could be called a form of extortion, in the end, Trump's terms will be met. And, truth be told, despite in place...

(Political Officers) This entry will be composed in English. A constant component in the Red and then Soviet Army was the presence of a Commissar, a political officer in other words. They were the eyes and ears and mouthpiece of the Communist Party. These officers are the equivalent of Internal Affairs in most municipal police departments, not even a necessary evil. Elon Musk is employing DOGE "representatives" across the government. Like political officers and they will answer to Musk and by extension President Trump. The "what have you done lately and name five items." That is meant to identify those who are still on the payroll and those that might be no-shows.  This measure is deemed necessary because government employees is such a monolithic edifice and who is who and who gets paid and who shouldn't. As it happens, Russian President Vladimir Putin, previously a KGB case officer, would be familiar with political officers. The 5th Directorate of the agency sp...

(Hands Dealt) On March 1st, 1942, in the Battle of the Sunda Strait, the cruiser USS Houston was sunk along with Australian destroyer, the HMAS  Perth . This action effectively ended Allied attempts to prevent Japan from seizing the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia). There were numerous factors involved, not the least of which was Japanese control of the air but beyond that, the Japanese at the time has superior doctrines, equipment and tactics. The Japanese march through the Indies were like the tentacles of an octopus. It had been bad strategy that hindered the efforts of the initial Allied confrontation with the Japanese. But it was a strategy imposed by Japan and all the American, British, Dutch. and Australian navies could do was suffer defeat. In other words. the Allies were dealt a bad hand. In the heated conversation President Trump had with Ukrainian President Zelenski, Trump that the Ukrainian leader had no cards. Which was true. Ukraine was never going to prevail over Russi...

(Those Close To The President) President Trump convened his first full Cabinet meeting but the "Chair," so to speak. was DOGE Director, Elon Musk. As he was standing before the assembled Secretaries and other explaining to the audience and Agency heads, as well as President Trump and Vice President Vance, that each Department would need to "cut the fat," so to speak. Musk's role in the government is unique. He is a personal assistant to Trump and his is the specific role  Harry Hopkins had a specific role with the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Administration. He was the most visible member of a Presidency and a close advisor that President Roosevelt used as a special envoy when British Prime Minister Churchill opened discussions in the wake of Pearl Harbor and American entry into the War. However, in constructing the New Dea, there were a series of left-wing technocrats like Alger Hiss and Harry Dexter White who were in fact Soviet agents. Elon Musk is no Soviet or ...