Confused Pictures

(Confused Pictures)

At this point in 1945, the European War was about to come to a close, with the German surrender on May 7th, V-E Day on May 8th. The War in the Pacific still had some three and a half months to run and there was still fighting on Okinawa. The situation in Tokyo was necessarily different from Berlin. For the Japanese with the warrior tradition of bushido, surrender was anathema, but at the same time, defeat was inevitable. If capitulation had to come, the Japanese War Cabinet wished to create their own terms. It began that the prerogatives of the Emperor would not be infringed. Japan would dis-mantle its own armed forces and conduct its own trials for any so-called "criminals." The Allies. led by General of the Army, Douglas MacArthur, rejected those terms but Japan would be allowed to keep His Majesty, Emperor Hirohito, provided he answered to MacArthur. As one put it, it was one Divinity over another !

The college protests have been making their own demands that are as absurd as those offered by the Japanese. Unlike the Japanese, however, many of these anti-Israel rioters are having their demands largely met. At such institutions like Northwestern, a larger Palestinian presence is being sought. Palestinian students are being given free tuition. At Columbia, at the Law School of all places, those that compile the Journal have pleaded that final exams should be cancelled and all students should be moved to a "pass-fail" situation. Of course, there is nothing to say about the "requirements" of the ones that were actually protesting. Like Vegan meals, no sun cream, and various other activities required for protests in the field. Of course, now that the demonstrations have been cleared and some of the organizers could soon face civil and legal action. The ironic thing will be the lack of job opportunities that will be available to all those who took a bull horn or stood in a tent.

In another vein, the unemployment numbers were released this morning, and they were a disappointment. Only some 176,000 out of an estimated 243,000. The unemployment rate ticked up to 3.9%. In another example of effect not necessarily following cause because Wall Street is quite pleased with employment slowing, a rally over all three indices. The hope is that with this new "weakness," the Fed might be more inclined to cut interest rates. However, it is this very weakness that resulted in the jobs report. Couple that with a GDP at only 1.6%, and one sees the full range of Bidenomics. On top of all of that, Biden still wants to raise taxes and continue his green social spending. And all the regulation that Biden is advocating.

Donald Trump, for his part, is in court for most of the day but he also takes time to deliver pizza to a fire house. In a contrast to President Biden and the activities of his elite, Trump can deliver pizza. Or burgers to any group. One would need to watch New York because the actions of the former President. The current President, however, can barely give a concise statement on Israel. But he might be willing to take Palestinian refugees. No word on what he might be willing to do to retrieve American hostages ?

Confused ?