Don't Believe Everything Trump Promises

 

The naivety of some of my fellow Louisiana friends never ceases to amaze me especially when it comes to the myth that the election of Donald Trump is somehow going to magically reduce the cost of living as it relates to the purchasing power of everyday products. Part of his plan to do this involves the proposal of a 60% or more across the board tariff on all Chinese made goods.  In reality, this approach will increase the cost of almost everything one purchases. I challenge you to formulate a list of non-food items that don’t contain Chinese parts.  One such example of this Chinese infiltration is the automobile and appliance industry.  GM, Ford, and Volvo already sell Chinese made vehicles in the U.S., while the others made in the U.S., with the exception of Tesla, all contain major Chinese parts.  Still others are manufactured in Mexico, another country touted as needing tariffs by Trump. The same can also be said for appliances.  And, sadly, the list of other classes of products with Chinese parts is too voluminous to list.

Additionally, many of the name brand and generic medications that millions of Americans rely on every day, from antibiotics and blood pressure medicines, to cancer drugs and blood thinners, are being manufactured in China, or rely on materials that come from China.

With Trump’s plan, the cost of all goods intertwined with Chinese manufacturing will dramatically increase and, contrary to what Trump would have his supporters believe, take more money from one’s paycheck, not reduce it.  Additionally, retaliatory tariffs will be imposed on American made goods sold in China, thus impacting U. S. corporations’ bottom line profits, which in turn could lead to further price increases of their U.S. sold products to maintain their profits.

In closing, one of my favorite inflationary subjects, ‘shrinkflation,’ which we all have experienced, and which Trump also proposes to solve, is the downsizing of packaged goods, still being sold at previous prices. Are you naïve enough to think that when Trump is elected, companies like Pepsi Cola, which owns Fritos, Cheetos, Doritos, Quaker Oats, Starbucks, and Lays, are now suddenly going to increase the size of their chip bags to previous levels, or roll back their prices to make less profit? When in the history of this country have corporations ever benevolently-assumed that approach?  Those prices and sizes are here to stay no matter who is elected President.

If you choose to vote for Trump, have at it, but don’t be naïve and expect prices to magically return to the prices that they were during his first term, including the price of gasoline. He has no solution or magic wand to make that happen, as evidenced by his present tariffs approach.

As the famous Bob Dylan song title puts it, “The Times They Are A-Changin.”  We are now past the point of no return on many economic fronts.

 

Landry not supportive of educational reform

In a recent story in the Advocate about Governor Landry hiring a new education policy advisor, and the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education appointing a new executive director, the following statement appeared, “Education has been a top priority for Landry since taking office.”  I find that statement somewhat farcical since Landry’s ‘Dream Package’ of education reform just passed in the most recent legislative session entailed allowing school boards to hire chaplains, requiring public schools to post a copy of the Ten Commandments in each classroom, clarifying how parents can avoid getting their children vaccinated for school, setting up Educational Saving Accounts to financially bail out private schools with taxpayers’ money, allowing home schooled students to participate in public school’s extra-curriculum activities, specifying the pronoun a child can be referred to in school,  and the lowering of teacher requirements.

Initially, he had no problems with our legislators completely eliminating pre-k education funding, which due to public outcries, at the last minute, was eventually restored to last year’s funding level to service a paltry 2000 students.

Governor Landry made no push to allocate funds for K-3 tutorial programs, the grades which are the crucial ones where Louisiana students begin to fall behind national peers in their educational skills.  And he proposed no other legislation that directly impacted learning. Additionally, he has told higher education leaders to plan for a $250 million cut in their funding next fiscal year.

So basically our esteemed governor has done very little to address the actual educational needs of our children by focusing on classroom skills learning, but instead chose to laser in on the ‘hot topics’ of the day that have little or no impact.  Hardly a governor with education as a top priority, so please stop saying so.

When will the political lies stop?

To be clear the attempted assassination of former President Trump is a tragedy that puts us in the same category as some third world country. However, it clearly illustrates the reason why both major political parties need to get a grip on what they are doing to our society. Immediately after the incident House Republicans Mike Collins of Georgia and Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert claimed in the press that President Biden should be arrested and prosecuted for inciting the assassination attempt, because he referred to Donald Trump in a recent speech that "he was a threat to democracy and we need to put him in the bulls eye and defeat him." They lifted the phrase, “Put him in the bull’s eye” as justification for their claim.  Sadly, these individuals are so ignorant that they don’t even realize that their rhetoric based on an out of context lie further contributes to the divisive hatred that now exists in this country regarding our presidential candidates, and the subsequent rise in threatened violence towards them.

Additionally, these two individuals seem to forget how 9 months ago Trump mocked Paul Pelosi, the 82 year old husband of House member Nancy Pelosi, who was violently assaulted with a hammer, and how he told jokes about the incident at a political rally to the laughter of his supporters. Trump’s son even posted on social media that the incident occurred because of a sexual encounter gone awry.  Joking about violent acts? Or Trump’s speech who some used as a battle cry to storm the Capital over displeasure with the 2020 election, accompanied with the subsequent threatening of Vice President Mike Pence and Rep. Nancy Pelosi.  Trump still refers to them as ‘patriotic heroes’ and hints at a possible pardon for some who were convicted of crimes over it.  Consequently, everyone in both parties needs to drop the blame game agenda.

However, the extent to which this lie-inspired divisiveness has exploded is most recently illustrated by left-leaning The New Republic Magazine which had as its cover an altered picture of Donald Trump resembling Hitler, accompanied by a featured story comparing Donald Trump to Hitler and Fascism.

I am reminded of the old biblical saying, “You reap what you sow.” The press continues to relish and perpetuate the lies spread by each political party about the other presidential candidate. We, as a society, now relish in these lies, use them as battle cries, and internalize them to do whatever we deem necessary to accomplish each party’s desires.

Obviously, we are at a critical point in the societal history of our country. Do we still believe in the democratic process to accomplish goals for the betterment of our society through the voting process, or do we do as third world countries do, take matters into our own hands through violent, destructive acts as we have just witnessed?

And what makes this decision even more overbearing is the continual lies, distortions, and blame games we are fed by our legislators, social media, the press and the present presidential candidates.  But, then again maybe what we are witnessing is a genuine desire to elevate political agendas over everything else, including human life.  If that is true, I truly feel sorry for my kids and grandkids.

Trump's Ten Commandments Hypocrisy

 Warning:  The following is a review questioning a prominent personality’s morality.

Let me begin with the statement that I have no love for either candidate presently running for the office of President, for both have deficiencies that make them unsuitable for the highest office of the most powerful nation in the free world. It is really a choice between which candidate will inflict the least harm on our nation for four years, sadly, a rather pathetic decision to have to make.

Politicians always amaze me about how stupid they think the general public is, and how they feel they can say anything because they will not be held accountable for those statements. However, recent statements by one such presidential candidate, to further solidify support from the Evangelical community, caught my attention because of its religious hypocrisy.

Last week, Donald Trump posted on his social media page that “I LOVE THE TEN COMMANDMENTS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS, PRIVATE SCHOOLS, AND MANY OTHER PLACES, FOR THAT MATTER. READ IT — HOW CAN WE, AS A NATION, GO WRONG???,” in response to our governor’s signing into law that a copy of the Ten Commandments must be posted in every public school classroom.  Louisiana is the first state to make this a law, and it was hyped by our governor as part of an education reform package.

If memory serves me correctly, The Seventh Commandment states, “Thou shall not commit adultery,” Trump’s alleged affair during his marriage to Melania Trump was recently aired in court. Trump has repeatedly denied that he ever met the young woman, Ms. Daniels. However, documented photographic evidence proves otherwise. Additionally, Stormy Daniels’ detailed court testimony, bordering at times on lewd descriptions of her sexual encounter with Mr. Trump, pretty much confirms to most unbiased individuals that such an adulterous interaction took place.

The Eighth Commandment states, “Thou shall not steal,” which seems to be yet another commandment that has eluded Donald Trump, and is well documented.

In 1988, Donald Trump established a non-profit organization called The Donald J. Trump Foundation. Its purpose was to direct funds from his book, The Art of the Deal to nine different charities across the U.S. These included such big names as Meals on Wheels, The United Negro College Fund, The United Way, and The U.S. Holocaust Memorial, among others. In December, 2019, Donald Trump was ordered to pay more than $2 million in court-ordered damages to eight for personal misuse (stealing?) of the funds. He was basically using (stealing from?) the charity money to pay his personal political bills.  This foundation was shut down by Trump after agreeing to 19 admissions, acknowledging the misuse of the funds.

In 2005, Trump established Trump University. Five years later, in 2010, a court case determined it was a sham resulting in monetary defrauding (stealing from?) thousands of attendees, which culminated in Trump paying over $25 million to settle the case and reimburse those duped. It was also shut down.

Donald Trump may love the Ten Commandments, but his adherence to them seems to have been a difficult journey so far, so maybe he ought to cool some of his political gamesmanship regarding that topic.

Louisiana Kids Lose Out Again

In full disclosure, I am a retired educational administrator, so my passion is focused on education reform.  Consequently, I was excited to read the local media story entitled, “Governor signs slew of education bills-Measures promise ‘drastic change’ for schools.”  Governor Landry nicknamed these bills the “Dream Package” for education in Louisiana, and stated, “Today, we fulfill our promise to bring back drastic reform to our education system and bring common sense back to our classroom.”

Since Louisiana ranks in the bottom 3 in almost every educational category surveyed, I could hardly contain myself when I set out to read this article.  Finally, the academic deficiencies of our kids were addressed. Sixteen bills were signed into law.

However, my enthusiasm plunged when I saw that only 3 even remotely addressed actual attempts at academic improvement in the classroom. The others ranged from mandating that the Ten Commandments be displayed in every classroom, the establishment of Education Savings Accounts, which is tax-payer funded financial bailout for private schools, the clarification of how parents can avoid getting their children vaccinated, the pronoun a child can be referred to in school, the lowering of teacher training requirements, to allowing school boards to appoint chaplains to serve in public schools.

Repeatedly, studies have shown the benefits of Pre-School and the successful performance in grades K-3 as the crucial determining factors for higher grades’ success. Yet, Pre-School funding, after initially being completely eliminated, was hastily restored to last year’s level, serving a paltry 2,000 children.   And, you can forget about a state-wide after school K-3 tutorial program being funded, for it wasn’t even proposed as part of Landry’s educational “Dream Package.” Also, Landry didn’t forget about our colleges and universities, which are still operating under draconian budget cuts from the Jindal years, for they were told to plan for up to a $250 million cut next year.

But I am sure Landry, and some parents are happy because they got their ways about LGBTQ+ restrictions, allowing home schooled students to participate in public school extracurricular activities, and other 'educational reform' issues having nothing to do with helping kids achieve academically.

So, congratulations to Governor Landry, our legislators, and vocal, extremist parents who have ensured once again that Louisiana will continue to rank the lowest nation-wide in academic success.  You owe all your kids and grandkids a shameful apology for failing them yet again.

Thank God for the Super Bowl

In a joint news conference this week the Mayor of New Orleans and Governor Landry talked about how they were going to “make the city shine” by tackling blighted buildings, infrastructure problems, safety issues, the homeless problem, etc. Governor Landry even made the prediction that by the time they are finished "New Orleans will be one of the safest cities in the country," a lofty prediction that I find unattainable given its present societal problems. 

What struck me as sad about all these promised improvements was that they clearly demonstrate how New Orleans leaders continual to use a ‘reactive approach’ in management of the city, rather than a ‘proactive’ one.

Apparently making the city better just for the sake of those that live there isn’t a good enough reason to tackle its pervasive problems; for the sole reason for all this laser focus attention is because of the city’s hosting of the Super Bowl. During the news event hundreds of projects were rattled off that were to be addressed. These included over 150 road, curb and sidewalk repairs, 75 upgrades to city lighting, 40 drainage problems, the removal of blighted properties, and plans to remove the homeless from downtown streets. 

Why did these problems have to wait for the Super Bowl hosting to be addressed? Certainly addressing them would have made the quality of life better for its residents and why wasn’t that a good enough reason to deal with them?  Again, it’s called ‘proactive’ city management.

And you know what the real heart-breaking part about all this excitement is? Once the Super Bowl is over, unless city leaders change their ways, the city will once again return to the where it was before the Super Bowl came to town. This has been clearly borne out by historical evidence.

Almost every time New Orleans received grant money to fund projects, as soon as that money was spent and the city had the responsibility of taking over the funding of these projects, they fell into disarray and neglect. Armstrong Park is a perfect example. How many monetary grants has the city received to continually improve it after repeatedly falling back into dilapidation?

Maybe someday the city of New Orleans will value its residents enough to proactively make their quality of life better for their sake alone, but I seriously doubt it.

Popular Vote Useless?

It’s about time the news media stops misleading folks with their relentless bombarding of National Presidential Voting Polls. They are a waste of time and really don’t estimate how the 2024 election might turn out. The reason for this is that they are based on the total voting population in the U.S., and that is not how the winner of the Presidential Election is determined. If that were the case we would have had Al Gore and Hilary Clinton as past presidents, for Gore received more total votes than Bush and Clinton more than Trump.

The President of the United States is determined by the Electoral College votes.  According to the National Archives website, “The Electoral College consists of 538 electors. A majority of 270 electoral votes is required to elect the President. Your state has the same number of electors as it does members in its Congressional delegation: one for each member in the House of Representatives plus two Senators.  Almost all states have a 'winner-take-all' system that awards all its electors to the Presidential candidate who wins that state's popular vote."

In an extreme example of just how this system renders current national presidential polls somewhat useless, suppose a candidate wins the popular vote in a particular state by a single vote. The entire number of electors in that state cast their vote for the candidate.  Below appears the electoral votes each state is allocated:

So, as you can see any national poll of voters’ choice for U. S. President is rather pointless unless it is conducted on a state by state basis.

An additional negative side effect of the present Electoral College System for electing our president is that it may actually suppress the popular vote.  In Louisiana, if you decide to vote for the Democratic presidential candidate, your vote just fades away into the sunset because historically the majority of Louisiana voters favor Republican presidential candidates. So all the electoral votes go to the Republican.

This notion might discourage some from voting, but for me it doesn’t because I always like the fact that the previous Republican President of the United States will go down in history as never being elected by the majority of the voters; kind of like our present governor who continually preaches how he is “advocating for the will of the people of this state”, and who, in fact, was elected by just slightly over 18% of the registered voters in this state.