The (Daily) Vent 2

(Mountains To Mohammud ?) There is a saying that Mohammud must go to the Mountain. Otherwise, the Mountain must go Mohammud. Although one can guess that President-Elect Donald Trump would not mind a comparison to the Prophet, nevertheless, Mountains have been going to Mohammud since Trump had been re-elected, namely the Mexican President and the Canadian Prime Minister. Also like the Prophet, Trump will have his own set of challenges to build his own "Faith." That might be excessive but principles are the same. Once the Prophet received the "Revelation," and began Islam, his followers erupted from Arabia and were a serious threat to the West. Muslim conq uests extended all the way to Spain. That Europe was not overrun altogether came down to several battles and the bulwark, at the time, of the Byzantine Empire. Donald Trump wants to close the border; He wants to deport millions of illegal aliens. Most important of all and how he wants to grow the economy, is the reg...

(CHARGE !!) The  anthem to any Black Friday. Today, millions of shoppers will venture outside and brave the traffic, both outside and inside a mall or store or whatever and play their own role in the yearly ritual of Christmas shopping. One will find a lot of so-called "big ticket" such as a new car-truck. Lots of clothes, whether or not they fit. Also, toys and electronics. For the latter, a "Made in China" That has been a feature of most mass merchandising for years. Wal Mart, Target, look down their aisles and product after product have that label. However, now that Trump is retuning to Office and tariffs being a central theme to his economic policy, It is either the threat of the application or the application itself of the levy so involved. Could that be inflationary ? China enjoys this position because it has cheap, if not slave, labor. Apple builds its iPhone in China. Nike builds its sneakers in China. The fact is that the Peoples' Republic can reduce co...

(Fifty-Eight Dollars ?) Happy Thanksgiving ! There had been a recent report that a typical Thanksgiving Dinner for s party of ten would come to a total of $58. Inflation might have cooled a but not quite sixty dollars for ten diners is nuts. Also, a billion dollars is supposed to go further for a campaign and not leave a deficit to the tune of twenty million. Donald Trump wrote The Art of the Deal . This seminal work from the President-Elect's previous life as a developer can describe in detail how the Vice President Harris effort was such a failure. There has been a relationship between politics and money. Well-funded campaigns tend to prevail as they can add exposure (yield versus accuracy). That was not the case this time because all the financing in the world cannot make up for no message. Harris was necessarily hampered because she and her team could not take advantage of the elements that could have worked to her favor. If Harris had been a failure, Trump's success is hav...

(Negotiated Settlements. . .) Tomorrow, dozens if not hundreds of conflicts will erupt. Sides will be drawn. No quarter can be given, unless it is a piece of pie. Battlelines will be defined with two irreconcilable factions: those who voted for Trump and those who voted for the other one (what was her name ?) Providing there is no food fight, one go to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and then some football. Yes, tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day and look for the open warfare to take place as described. That being said, one place that will not be as violent as a Thanksgiving Day dinner is the cease fire that was negotiated between Israel and the Lebanon-bases terror group Hezbollah . In a period of about sixty days, the Isreal Defense Force will withdraw from positions in Lebanon and allow the standing Lebanese Army to take post along the border. Hezbollah will withdraw to the interior.  In the south Hamas remains in Gaza and still has some one hundred hostages and where fight...

(Time In The Wilderness. . .) Every few cycles a Party experiences a loss so devastating that it takes years to recover. In the past, it has been both Democrats and Republicans. It has been the GOP in the past and this year it was the Democrats. Not only were Democrats unable to defeat Trump but they also lost Capitol Hill. Trump's Cabinet Nominees could all be confirmed. Trump could be getting his agenda through Congress. There is not even a real Resistance. Even if Trump only gets half of his agenda past it his new Administration will have been considered a failure. Trump will get nowhere near half. What the President has yet to realize is that the "swamp" took decades to fill and its so-called draining will be taking just as long, long after Trump will have departed. The truth is that all elements in Washington, each has its own constituency. The DOGE planning to make real reductions in spending will soon have to balance what is actually practical. Any recommendations ...

(Dance Card Days. . .) General Leslie Groves was the one who built the Pentagon. He was also the head of the Manhattan Engineering District, otherwise known as the Manhattan Project, the American effort to develop an atomic bomb. Groves oversaw work at fissile material development at Oak Ridge (enhanced uranium), Hanford (plutonium) and of course the lab at Los Alamos, headed by Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer. The latter location was primitive for the scientists who had nineteen months to develop a working nuclear weapon. General Groves made it clear to that Los Alamos was not meant to be comfortable. Another group of scientists not necessarily under Groves' jurisdiction resided at the University of Chicago (Professor Enrico Fermi conducted the first sustained atomic chain reaction under the University squash courts) were physicists who were on the theoretical side of the Project and. when efforts at Los Alamos began to results, when a practical application came to be realized, that a B...

(Last Man Standing. . .) It had to have been a coordinated effort. There are endless analogies to be applied at this moment. Much like the battle of annihilation that was being played out at Stalingrad in 1942, Donald Trump has faced the Challenge of Hercules and prevailed. His legal cases and his media relations have all been altered. Trump's most severe critics, both on air and in print, With the exceptions of The Wall Street JOURNAL and perhaps Fox News, the traditional legacy media, all in support of Vice President Harris and savaged former President Trump, calling him Hitler et al , now that he was re-elected by margin, a reckoning has begun. For the 24-Hour cable news channels, CNN and MSNBC, their futures could be problematic.  The MSNBC broadcast Morning Joe , hosts Joe Scarborough and co-host and wife Mika Brezenski, some of Trump's most vocal critics went to the President-Elect at his Palm Beach Estate and discovered he is no Hitler. That is not sitting well with oth...

(Family Histories. . .) On November 22nd, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. He was laid to rest in Armington under an "Eternal Fame,"   a fire that has been alight since the original interment, Current House and Human Services Nominee, President Kennedy's nephew, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, could take some time today to pay a visit. It is being said that things could be on the brink of a Third Worked War. The Cuban Missile Crisis was the major international crisis with which the Kennedy Administration had to contend. When American reconnaissance discovered that the Soviets were installing missiles in Cuba. President Kennedy ordered a naval blockade of the island and fended off the hawks in his White House that wanted to invade Cuba outright. Over the next thirteen days or so with some furious diplomatic activity of which then Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy (senior) held private meetings with senior Soviet diplomats where a Modus Vivendi , was concluded. The ...

(Protection Rackett. . .) Matt Gaetz has withdrawn his name for Attorney General Nominee. The decision is not fortunate as there had been a Republican Senate Majority. Trump nominees, including Gaetz, should be approved. Is this going to bode well for Pete Hegseth for the Pentagon or Robert F. Kennedy Jr at HHS ? Gaetz might have had baggage and that gave wayward GOP legislators an excuse to demure. That was their free shot. For his part, President Elect Trump, while losing out on Gaetz, will still need a Gaetz-type at the Justice Department. The Department of Treasury is the newest Nominee to be filled. As to execute Trump's own economic ideas, namely tax cuts and tariff policy. With a "friendly" Congress, he should be able to move that agenda through. There seems to be a misunderstanding, on the so-called independence pf Capitol Hill. Trump has needed team players but so far, the resistance is not only with the Democrats. House Republicans hold an enamel thin Majority a...

(Million Dollar Bananas ?) The question as whether something qualifies as "art" is as ancient as the form itself. There have been innumerable definitions over the years and there has never been a single definition that could satisfy such a range of opinion. However, one can say with some reasonable justification that a "banana duck-taped to a wall" falls short of that classic definition. Anybody could replicate the piece but who would be willing to pay up to a million bucks. One can only hope the Tape is free and will the fruit eventually be eaten ? If there are million dollar bananas, what will happen to the price of a Balance of Nature bottle ? To pay a million for something perishable, art or not, requires some eccentricity. President Biden on the other hand, might not be the type to buy said bananas (he spends on everything else and at a lot more than a million dollars) but his few weeks as President have not been good ones. He expanded the use of American munit...

(Now What ?) Donald Trump has been President-Elect for just over two weeks. That being said, the casualty list keeps growing. All those that had "getting Trump" as their main campaign point, like Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg or Prosecutor Leticia James. It had been their stated mission to keep the former President from becoming the current President, which is exactly what happened. Therefore, promises have been broken. What Bragg has yet to do is offer his sentencing recommendation to Judge Juan Marshan. What has emerged, however, is that the Manhattan litigator could accept sentencing President Trump after he leaves Office, again. Fugitives can skirt the law by fleeing the country. A less extreme method would be Elected President.  So, in 2029, President can leave the White House and take his last flight to Leavenworth ? The next time Trump will have left Office, he will be eighty something. Will the current "rage" of the likes of Bragg and James, and th...

(The Big Lie. . .) One remembers the stories. There were enough votes. Mail in ballots were still being counted. Votes had been harvested. The totals were not favorable. But he still won. He had to. That result that had been read-election night had to hold. But totals gradually shifted till the other guy prevailed. Not President-Elect Trump. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) who lost his race to Republican Dave McCormack. Like Trump in 2020, getting to the point where he was charged in Geogia by attempting to change the an Eleccion's outcome, so is the same situation with Casey. Several Democrat Counties in the Keystone State are starting their own re-count, using previously discarded ballots. The main problem is a matter of in-correctly applied signatures. Those votes could have been for Casey and in the over-all margin, McCormack's win could be reversed and that would diminish the GOP Senate Majority. McCormack had been declared Pennsylvania's new Senator by the AP. Any votes that...

(Evisceration. . .)  Before it was an Oscar-Winning feature from 1970, the film Airport had been a best-selling novel, by Alex Hailey. At a make-believe Chicago, Lincoln International Airport, under the worst snowstorm in ten years, Airport General Manager, Mel Bakersfeld, had to deal with the storm, a stuck airliner, a belligerent brother-in-law, a stowaway and one with a bomb on board one of the flights, and an un-happy wife. Bakersfeld had been a nominee to run the Federal Aviation Administration, for the Kennedy Administration. Then November 22nd happened, and President Johnson had his own ideas as to the FAA head might be, and it was not Mal Bakersfeld.  Bakersfeld' wife, Cindy, who had been looking forward to the D.C, cocktail circuit, was severely disappointed that the best that her husband could manage was a backwater like Lincoln. Like Cindy Bakersfeld, a lot of people got spooked after Trump was elected and most continue to freak out. If that is putting it mildly. S...

(Consent & Advise) To begin, much has been made of the meeting between President Biden and former President Trump. The gathering had been cordial and civil. It lasted about two hours and it was interesting that only months previously, one was incompetent and the other was Hitler and a threat to democracy. There has been some speculation that Biden, because he was smiling, he perhaps got final "revenge" for his ouster because he might have voted for Donald Trump. But the President has had recent cognitive issues so he might not have realized it. The Constitution requires that members that a President appoints to a Cabinet need the "Advise and Consent" of the Senate. North Dakota Senator John Thune has just been elected Senate Majority Leader, a Republican Majority Leader. With the GOP also in control of the House and Donald Trump will be seated again at the White House. A re-elected elected President like Trump has been assembling a Cabinet that is unlike any ev...

(The Golf, Chess, & Cheese Society. . .) What ? Try the Government Code and Cypher School (GCCS). That had been the outfit based at Bletchley Park and elsewhere that broke the German Enigma encryption and the resulting intelligence, by definition some of the most sensitive of the entire War, had its own classification: Ultra . Now, there is set to be a new agency to be headed by characters as eccentric as those at Bletchley Park. One is Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, Space X, and "X." The other is Vivek Ramaswamy, himself a businessman and also a billionaire, will unite in a new "Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)." The stated purpose of this department is to identify government waste, and one expects the total to be trillions of dollars. Musk has said he could identify some $2 trillion almost immediately. That remains to be seen. The DOGE mandate amounts to line-item vetoes. Such an action would be ideal if one wishes to cut spending, with little to no p...

(Young Turks ?) At its height, the Ottoman Empire was about the size of Rome. And, like Rome. over time internal decline and external threats whittled away Turkish territory till at the end, on the eve of the First World War, the Empire had been known as the Sick Man of Europe. That being said, there had been an effort to modernize Constantinople (Turkish Capitol) and rotate the absolute rule of the Sultan. A faction emerged called the Young Turks, a group of political insurgents that had wanted to arrest the Empire's decline. Since then, the term "Young Turk" has been used to reflect any new direction as opposed to what had been standard, President-Elect Trump has been staffing his Administration with so-called Young Turks. One can begin with Vice-President-Elect J.D. Vance23. The current Senator from Ohio. The true rags to riches story, Vance spent some time in the Marines and graduated at the top of his class from Yale. In 2023 he was elected to the Senate from Ohio. V...

(Where Supremacy Reigns Supreme !) Of all the positions that President-Elect Trump is selecting for his Cabinet. such as Senator Rubio at State, Noem at DHS, but Tom Homan as the Trump Border "Tsar," will prove to be one of the more consequential. Of the illegal aliens that have been set for deportation, it will Homem to lead the effort. For the last four years, the narrative has been that the Biden Administration opened the border and admitting millions of illegal migrants. Ostensibly it was to allow millions of new Democrat voters. Now, newly minted Border Tsar Homen will be one portion of the Trump agenda. The wall will be completed. Previous Sanctuary City protections will not be enforced.  Homen will have orders of deportation for thousands of illegal migrants. Over the last few years, the State of Texas began erecting its own "wall" and was sued by the Biden Administration. Biden DHS Secretary had been Alejano Mayorkas, the one who had been impeached by the GO...

(Command Change. . .) " Eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month ." Happy Veterans' Day ! On November 11th, 1918, Armistice Day, the horrors of the First World War were ended.  Every November date since has been observed to recognize those who served in the armed forces, and today there are active theaters in Europe and the Middle East. Also, President-Elect Trump will be (re) assuming the role of Commander in Chief.  The Ukraine War has been in progress for almost three years the Middle East just over one. However, today is less about those conflicts and more about the actual combatants. Men (and women) who answered their countries Call to the Colors and have been in sustained battle and all its privations for months. So, this Veterans' Day, remembering those who have served and those who are currently serving, under whatever Flag, is appropriate. It has been a goal of a new Trump Administration to revitalize the Defense Department that had was in an a...

(Sleeper Issue ?) One of the consequences of any Presidential Election is that the incoming Chief Executive will have the ability to shape the federal judiciary including the Supreme Court. The last time Trump had been in town, he left with three new Associate Justices on the Court. Now that he is back again, he will be in the position to do it again. With Trump back in the White House, aging Jurists, Alito and Thomas can retire and go on and write books. Their replacements will be of "textualists" demeanor that interprets the Constitution in its narrow fashion. Replacing Alito and Thomas will not affect the Court's ideological bent. Liberal Justice, Sonya Sotomayor, however, is seventy years old and is a diabetic. If her term were to somehow end but after Trump is sworn, that will be a fourth Justice that would replace a "liberal" with a "Conservative," and that would have the effect of setting the Court for Generations. The same situation was faced b...

(Behavior Modification ?) President-Elect Donald Trump had only won last Tuesday but already there have been discernable changes that will make a difference in the up-coming Administration. Trump's promises on immigration and energy, the relationship with China and so on. As the President-Elect is the opposite of President Biden, and there has been experience as to what to expect, as well as Trump's statements themselves, certain actions are being taken in anticipation as to what will happen after January 20th of next year. An image of the self-inflicted Biden border crisis were the various caravans that marched north or had been flown in from other locations, over the last few years, having deposited some several million illegal aliens across the country. Trump has said he will organize the largest deportation of these people once he is Sworn in. In that expectation, the latest caravan is dispersing, miles before the U.S. Border.  Trump has also said that the "remain in M...

(Good To Pretend. . .) Sir Laurence Olivier narrated a series on the Second World War called The World at War . One of the episodes was titled "France Falls." In Hitler's invasion of the West began on May 10th. 1940. By the first week in June, the Germans were on the English Channel, having conquered Belgium, Holland, and France. That France could have fallen in such a short time reflected the decrepit state of the French leadership, the superiority of German weapons and tactics. The list continues. However, even though the Third Republic was destroyed, there invariably who could not accept the result. The so-called French Resistance arose and played a role in the Allied cause especially after June 6th. Far from heroic roles in resisting the Nazis in World War II, Democrats which are still standing are self-consolidating as the New Resistance, pretending that the Trump win was not as profound as it was and they stand ready when the new President begins to begin to limit r...

(The End Of The Business ?) President Biden made brief remarks in the Rose Garden this morning, congratulating President-Elect Trump. Biden made clear that the people had spoken and the departing Chief Executive said he will assist in the peaceful transfer of power. To have the President make those comments adopted a gracious tone, and, truth be told, he is probably relieved. Joe Biden had wanted the White House for most of his career. When President Obama tapped Biden to be his Vice President, Biden was on his desired precipice. Obama had two terms. The anointed succession 2016 had been Secretary Clinton but Donald Trump won instead. Then in 2020 and on the timely endorsement from Congressman Clyburn (D-SC) Biden political fortunes were revived and, in collaboration with Big Media, Big Money and Big Tech, and in the midst of the covid pandemic. It was educated judgement that President Trump mis-managed the crisis and he was voted out. But Trump came back. Once again, he stands as Pres...

(What The Hell Happened ?) Where to begin ? A number of metaphors are being used to describe Donald Trump's return to the White House. Historic. Once in a lifetime. Paradigm shift. The terms are endless. That being said, for one who had been discarded four years ago, that he seemed small at the time, that he was being sent into exile. Exile was not permanent, however. Trump was supposed to go away and when he didn't, when he announced he would stand for election, again, elements rose to oppose him. Beyond Democrats, the media and certain portions of technology, those that first placed President Biden into Office, now their apparent absence has worked to the benefit of President-Elect (again) Trump. For all those who had been working to prevent this very outcome, the "lawfare" the four federal indictments, guilty verdicts on 34 counts of whatever, the documents case, the Jack Smith investigation and so on. The President-Elect is still set to be sentenced on November 26...

(Coming Attractions. . .) Two days out and one cannot say who will win, Harris or Trump. One also cannot say if the results will be known for some time. If there is to be a Trump victory, it will have to be decisive. He will be needing to sweep tough the so-called Blue Wall as well as all the Sunbelt. If the result is prompt, and the Results are known on Election Night, then the former President will have had a good night.  If on the other hand, the count extends into the evening, if polls show an un-expected surge for Harris, if Democrats see success in down-ballot theaters, then one could surmise a good night for the Vice President. It is like an expectant parent who expects a baby to be delivered on Tuesday, but not knowing the gender. No reveal parties here. As things are 50-50, all within the margin of error. So, how is one to discern all this without getting an ulcer ? There is a segment of the population that is keeping such a nervous dis-position that, if the wrong person w...

(Games' Afoot ?) One can remember the last jobs report before the Election. Only 12,000 out of an estimated 112,000, The last spasm of Bidenomics. In addition to the top line, previous reports had been overstated consistently, All told, some eight hundred thousand jobs had been over estimated over the Biden term. Which, one way or another, is coming to an end. While the end might be near, in the intervening interval, Democrats and Republicans are positioning assets to combat mutual malfeasance. Early voting, voting by mail, absentee balloting and so on, practices thar traditionally favor Democrats, this year Republicans are trying to make the same play. Their success or failure in this endeavor remains to be seen but, learning from mistakes four years ago, where in 2020, President discouraged the use of alternate voter usage, Donald Trump won on Election night but the Democrats, with thousands of votes already cast, States that had gone for Trump initially were gradually flipped fr...

(Cast Away. . .) Tom Hanks used to be funny. Bosom Buddies , Batchlor Party , Dragnet , Man With One Red Shoe , and of course, Splash . Then he did two Oscar worthy roles, Philadelphia and Forest Gump . Talented actor ? Sure, Then a few years ago, he did Cast Away , where a FedEx engineer whose plane crashed in a storm. He makes it to land. learns to survive, develops an un-healthy relationship with a volleyball. He does get rescued, eventually, but the whole thing was not very entertaining. Like Tom Hanks, being marooned on that island. Senate Republican Leader, Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who will likely not be leader, Majority or Minority when the Republican Conference re-convenes next January, possibly as a new Majority, McConnell is being cast away, the same thing had been applied to President Biden who was also a cast away. McConnell really has no right complain. He has always kept Trump at arm's length but made use of him to approve Trump's nominees. However, McConnell was ...