Trump Parade

Letters to the Editor (Published February 20, 2018)

The Post & Courier

Charleston SC

Dear Editor

We can assume that somewhere in the Pentagon some field grade officers are hard at work on “the parade” President Trump said he wanted.

This is not a good idea for the United States.  We do not need a parade to entertain or convince our citizens, or the world, we are the most powerful nation on earth. 

Consider also, for example, how unlikely we would compare to India’s celebration of Republic Day on January 26. According to one account, Prime Minister Modi and his 10 chief guests, the leaders of the Association of Southeast Asia Nations, watched an hourlong parade of a “mishmash of tanks, marching sailors in spats, kilted bagpipers, female motorcycle daredevils, camels, ballistic missiles, dancing school children, and a tableaux representing such abstract concepts as ethical taxpaying.”

Sincerely

/s/ Francis X Archibald

Welcome to the NewYear

Fireworks have been fired off for about 15 minutes somewhere near my apartment in midtown Mt. Pleasant, S.C. I suspect from the brilliant flashes in the sky and the noise this is an organized event by the government or some organization. In any event, it is a celebratory prelude to the coming of the New Year.

I wish 2018 is an even better year than 2017; that as a Nation we enjoy peace, prosperity, and mutual respect for one another; that as persons we will live in good health, and enjoy the benefits and pleasures offered by families, friends, jobs, schools, and fresh opportunities. 

Welcome, 2018!

 

Terror Suspects

Published Friday, Nov. 10, 2017

Letters to the Editor

The Post & Courier

Charleston, SC

Dear Editor

Marc A. Thiessen’s column (Nov 6) criticizing President Trump for treating terrorists like former President Obama, is truly off the mark and implies the United States would do better to treat these terrorists as “enemy combatants” and send them to Guantanamo, rather than read them their Miranda rights and try them in civilian courts  He wrote this would assist intelligence agencies in gathering data. 

The organization Human Rights First provides reliable information more likely to make Americans sleep better at night. For example, consider just these four points they make: 

(1) Federal civilian criminal courts have convicted more than 620 individuals on terrorism-related charges since 9/11. Military commissions have convicted only eight, three of which have been overturned completely and one partially.

(2) Federal prisons hold hundreds of individuals convicted of terrorism-related offenses. None have ever escaped.

(3) Prosecuting terror suspects before military commissions makes them look like warriors rather than the criminals that they are. As Judge William Young said when sentencing Shoe Bomber Richard Reid, “You’re no warrior….You are a terrorist. A species of criminal guilty of multiple attempted murders.”

(4) Miranda is an effective law enforcement tool that provides valuable information. Phil Mudd, former deputy director of the CIA's Counterterrorist Center and a senior intelligence adviser to the FBI, wrote that he “sat at hundreds of briefing tables for nine years after Sept. 11, 2001, and I can't remember a time when Miranda impeded a decision on whether to pursue an intelligence interview.” 

"Tote that barge"

Published August 20, 2017

August 15, 2017

Letters to the Editor

The Post and Courier

Charleston, SC

Dear Editor,

The Aug. 15 story about the State Ports Authority steaming ahead with new cargo records is a wakeup call to the S.C. congressional delegation to get behind the request of the SPA to federal officials for authority to run a barge capable of moving 1000 freight containers from Wando Terminal across the Cooper River to a rail facility for further transport across America. The P&C reported on this request a couple of weeks ago. 

As the SPA volume increases the risks to all motorists also goes up. Three recent experiences bear this out. I entered I-526 at Hungryneck Boulevard in Mt. Pleasant and headed west. At the next entry point, Long Point Road, six tractor- trailers with containers were coming up the access ramp and entering the westbound traffic on I-526. Three similar containers had just hit their stride on the Interstate.

A day later, I was on I-526 late in the afternoon heading east toward Mt. Pleasant. From the Don Holt bridge onward it looked like every five or six personal vehicles were bracketed by tractor-trailers carrying containers in both west bound lanes. 

Recently, I was on Long Point Road and needed to make a left hand turn. Eleven tractor-trailers carrying cargo containers came from Wando Terminal and blocked my turn before a traffic light further down the road interrupted the flow of traffic and I (and others) could proceed. 

These examples illustrate how the problem of tractor-trailers carry containers will only grow and seriously impact the traffic and vehicular safety in the Mt. Pleasant area. 

Kudos to the SPA for the effort to increase their operations. The SPA brings in money to the state and provides good jobs. 

It is time, however, to start a modern day version of “tote that barge.”

Sincerely

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Failing as President and Father

Subsequent to the events in Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend of August 12-13, President Trump failed in the moral leadership Americans have the right to expect from their President. 

His failure to outright positively condemn the outrageous behavior of the Nazis, Kluxers, and white supremacists, at Charlottesville which among other tragedies cost the life of an innocent woman and two police officers, has brought criticism from responsible political, business, cultural, and religious leaders, and men and women on the streets across America. And he deserves all of it. 

On top of that he failed as a father and a father-in-law to his daughter Ivanka, who converted to Judaism nine years ago, and her husband Jared Kushner. A Nazi thug was seen in a video criticizing the President for giving “ his beautiful daughter to that Jew.” Mr. Kushner is the son of Holocaust survivors. 

And he failed the memory of Americans who fought and died to rid the world of Nazis. 

President Trump has said frequently how much he admires ‘his Generals'. And he should, the generals serving in his administration have rendered outstanding service to the country, some over 40 years.  

At the same time, he ought to remember the 177,100 Americans who died from battle casualties fighting the Nazis in Africa, the Middle East, the Caribbean, the South Atlantic and Europe. These Americans gave their lives so we who live today in this great Nation can enjoy our freedom and liberties, and don’t have to learn German. 

James Murdoch, the Chief Executive of 21st Century Fox and the son of Rupert Murdoch, a frequent ally of President Trump, summed it up most eloquently in an email sent Thursday, August 17, 2017, to “Friends.” He wrote:

“These events remind us all why vigilance against hate and bigotry is an eternal obligation — a necessary discipline for the preservation of our way of life and our ideals. The presence of hate in our society was appallingly laid bare as we watched swastikas brandished on the streets of Charlottesville and acts of brutal terrorism and violence perpetrated by a racist mob. I can’t even believe I have to write this: standing up to Nazis is essential; there are no good Nazis. Or Klansmen, or terrorists. Democrats, Republicans, and others must all agree on this, and it compromises nothing for them to do so.” (My emphasis.)

Mr. Murdoch in the same email said he and his wife were donating a $1,000.000 to the Anti-Defamation League. (Correction: An early edition said the gift was to the ACLU.)

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"Ta Ra Ra BOOM dee-ay"

I got mine yesterday, did you get yours today?

I got this letter yesterday in my email thanking me for taking the time "to express my views regarding our country's domestic policy." The problem is I did not write to the President, nor anyone else at the White House expressing my views on President Trump's domestic policy. (Much of it, in my opinion, is not in the best interests of all the people in America.) Sending out this form letter with a facsimile signature is proof of how our email addresses are so vulnerable to capture and misuse that it makes one wonder if we should go back to writing each other with pen or pencil, (depending on your grade school skills), licking the envelope and increasing the workload of the USPS. 

And another thing. How dare someone at the White House address me by my first name? We are not on a first name basis. I don't know the President, nor any of his staff, and if they want to write to me they should stick to "Dear Mr. Archibald," until, in the unlikely event, we become pen pals. In the past, I made exceptions for President George Bush the First when he penned in his own hand a personal note thanking me for a newspaper column I wrote about him. I also made an exception for President Clinton who sent a 8 X 10 photo inscribed "To Francis." 

I believe emails like this sent out by staff with access to the presidential signature signing machine  give the Commander-in-Chief his daily happy ego massage when staffers report X number of people have been sent "thank you letters." So, if it makes him happy it is harmless unless he (and the staff) begin to believe their own bulls**t. 

Dear Francis: Thank you for taking the time to express your views regarding our country’s domestic policy. I am committed to unleashing America’s full potential through domestic policies that drive opportunity and economic growth, while ensuring the safety and security of the American people. My Administration will work each day to advance an America First agenda, and we will do it while remaining committed to a responsible fiscal policy that addresses our Nation’s mounting deficit and debt. My 2018 Budget, A New Foundation for American Greatness, will eliminate job-killing regulations, drastically shrink the size of the Federal bureaucracy, prioritize the safety and security of American citizens, and reduce our unsustainable $20 trillion debt, while protecting programs that our senior citizens depend on, like Social Security. My budget puts America first by investing in a stronger, safer America. That means making our communities great again by supporting law enforcement, rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges, fixing our education system so that workers can get good jobs, and fighting to eradicate the scourge of drugs that is spoiling the promise of our youth. We must also return to the values and protect the Constitutional freedoms that made America a beacon of hope and opportunity to the world, including the right to keep and bear arms. My America First policies will bring a new wave of opportunity to this great land. You can learn more about my budget by visiting www.WhiteHouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/03/13/president-donald-j-trump-protecting-taxpayer-money. For more information about the steps my Administration is taking to keep America safe, visit www.WhiteHouse.gov/law-enforcement-community. Thank you again for your suggestions. Your voice, your hopes, and your dreams will define the next generation of American greatness. Your courage, goodness, and love will guide us along the way. As we look to the future, we know that no challenge will outmatch the resolve of the American people to overcome. Sincerely, Click to see complete blog.  Send comments here.

Voter Data

Letters to the Editor (Published July 6, 2017)

The Post & Courier

Charleston, SC

Dear Editor,

I am 110% opposed to South Carolina sending any voter information to the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, beyond what is available to any South Carolinian and only if the Commission pays for it like a citizen would have to do.  

There are approximately 175,000 voting precincts in America. No one knows the exact number, as it may vary from year to year. But every one of these is usually staffed by good, local people volunteering to oversee the most important act of citizenship. 

To allege, as President Trump does, that widespread fraud in voting across America deprived him of a plurality in the popular vote, is nonsense. It is not supported by any facts from any state, or by anyone or any organization who conducts legitimate poll watching. 

The President’s comments are a vicious, undeserved slander on the good, hard-working, women and men who voluntarily staff the polls.

I have run for local and state office and won and lost. I never questioned the integrity of the process or the counting of the votes.

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Send comments to:  arch@archibald99.com

Those who need Driver Training

Normally young people are the most logical candidates for driving lessons from a driver’s school. An older friend taught me how to drive when I was coming out of high school, but when he thought I was ready for my driver’s test he recommended I take some commercial driver school training. I took three hours, went for the test and aced it. 

There are exceptions. My mother and an uncle learned to drive when they were in their fifties and each learned under the guidance of driver’s school instructors.  My mother got her license but never drove. My uncle got his, bought a car and enjoyed the experience which came to him late in life.  

There is another identifiable group of people who will undoubtedly benefit from a licensed driver’s school - government executives at all levels who enjoy the luxury of chauffeurs and government cars during their service. For many years in some cases, they are ferried everywhere and then one day they are on their own. 

A reliable and knowledgeable source told me Mrs. Robert Mueller said when her husband left the FBI after 12 years, “The first thing we are going to do is get him some driving lessons. I’m not riding with him and the grandkids aren’t either.”

In 1975, Joseph L. Schott, a former FBI agent, wrote “No Left Turns” in which he told the story of J. Edgar Hoover riding in a chauffeured bureau car in Texas, and while making a left turn the car was almost hit by an oncoming vehicle. After Hoover returned to Washington, the Bureau sent out a notice to all Field Offices that when chauffeuring the director there was to be “no left turns.” 

Hoover served for 42 years. Would you have ridden in a car driven by a man who wouldn't make a left turn?

Think of presidents, vice-presidents, cabinet officials, agency heads, leaders of Congress, senior military officers, and who knows who else, who haven’t been behind the wheel for years and one day they are out of office, back in private life, and the wife says, “Honey, drive down to the drug store and get a bottle of aspirin.”

Government officials worldwide are just like Americans. They could use refresher driver training. In Nixon’s memoirs, he told the story about Soviet President Brezhnev driving at Camp David.

"He got behind the wheel and motioned me into the passenger seat. The head of my Secret Service detail went pale as I climbed in and we took off down one of the narrow roads that run around the perimeter of Camp David….

At one point there is a very steep slope with a sign at the top reading, 'Slow, dangerous curve'….

Brezhnev was driving more than 50 miles an hour as we approached the slope. I reached over and said, 'Slow down, slow down,' but he paid no attention. When we reached the bottom there was a squeal of rubber as he slammed on the brakes and made the turn….

'You are an excellent driver,' I replied. 'I would never have been able to make that turn at the speed at which we were traveling.'

Diplomacy is not always an easy art.”

At the state level, there are officials starting with the governor and the lieutenant governor and other state office holders who serve for years and ride in chauffeured cars. One day they will find themselves on their own. 

In the private sector, there are also thousands of executives - men and women - who would benefit from driver’s training after they leave the company and no longer have the privileged perk of being chauffeured. 

The late William F. Buckley, founder, and editor of National Review rode to work daily from his home in Connecticut to his office in Manhattan in the back seat of a chauffeured stretch limousine so he could work en route. If Buckley had decided to drive one day, would Mrs. Buckley have ridden with him?

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Leaking sensitive government information

President Trump has pledged his administration will get to the bottom of alleged leaks of information coming out of the government and put stop to this practice. He is not the first president to stake out this position, particularly when it puts him in a bad light.  Not only presidents but cabinet officers, senior government officials, Generals, and Admirals, also have made the promise to “get to the bottom of this” and send someone to prison. Much of this is bombast to placate the public. 

Many leaks from the government are planned, well-thought out, desirable, and often serve an official purpose. An official can leak something and if the public outcry is against it, the official’s identity, reputation, sanity, and job are not at stake. Masters of the convenient leak are found in the executive branch of government and the Congress. Supporting all these officials are thousands of workers from attorneys to file clerks who may also leak information for various reasons. Leaks have occurred since the Founding Fathers gathered in Philadelphia in 1787 to form a more perfect union. 

In 1953, I was a young airman in the USAF and assigned as the senior clerk in the Sabotage & Espionage Branch, Counterintelligence Division, HQ, USAF Office of Special Investigations, (OSI). There were six officers serving under the Branch Chief, a Lt. Col. We had two civilian secretaries. We all shared a rectangular office with four desks lined up on one side and five on the other side. Conversations among the officers were open affairs. 

These were the days when hardly a week went by that muckraking columnist Drew Pearson didn’t publish something that someone in the government fed him. Whether it was true, accurate or fair, did not matter to Pearson.

One day a particularly inaccurate and offensive Drew Pearson column dealing with Air Force business appeared in print and the matter came to the attention of OSI. Senior Air Force officials were furious and characterized the story as a mixture of bad information, half truths, and blatant inaccuracies. Three officials in the Air Force were suspected of being the source who leaked to Pearson. 

A plan was hatched by the officers in the S&E Branch. It called for putting together a classified report to be circulated to the three suspects with minor variations in each suspect’s copy. The fabricated report would be close to reality and the type of story Pearson would jump at. Based upon what Pearson published it would be highly possible to identify the source based on the variation revealed.

The plan was worked and re-worked and ready to be put in play. Appropriate officials in the hierarchy of OSI and the Pentagon were briefed. Then the word came down from on high. Scuttle the operation. No one wanted to learn the identity of the leaker.  

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The President's First Trip Abroad

President Trump is on track to make the first foreign trip of his presidency. “Aides said he would leave Washington on May 19 and stop first in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, before moving on to Jerusalem and then Rome. He will attend a NATO meeting in Brussels that opens on May 24 and then fly to Sicily, where the leaders of the Group of 7 will meet starting May 26.”

The New York Times reports President Trump, who is somewhat of a homebody, would like the trip shortened to five days instead of the nine planned. Obviously, this would require massive re-scheduling on the part of foreign nations and would send the wrong signal to foreign leaders, diplomats and the common people who would perceive it as a slight or lack of interest in them by the leader of the free world. 

From John Kennedy on, Presidents have been aware of the impact their visit overseas has on the world. Practically everyone wants to see the American President up close. To say that the red carpet is laid out for the President wherever he goes is an understatement. Nothing is left to chance and no expense is spared. 

The eyes of the entire free world will be on President Trump, and here at home, we can only hope he stays on script and surprises us with a successful nine-day first foreign venture. The prestige of the United States is at stake. 

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The next FBI Director

Back in the day, Boston bus tour guides would ride tourists from the Dakotas, Kansas and other parts of middle America past the Boston Shipyard and tell them that during the war the Shipyard was guarded by the FBI. Then with a chortle, he would explain, “Foreign Born Italians.” Jokes aside, a new FBI Director is to be appointed.  

In days to come, President Trump will nominate a person to be FBI Director for the statutory term of ten years. The President begins the appointment process by selecting and vetting his preferred candidate for the position. The vetting process for presidential appointments includes an FBI background check and financial disclosure. 

The nomination will be forwarded to the Senate and then to the Judiciary Committee. The Judiciary Committee usually holds hearings regarding nominations to be FBI director. The committee may then vote to report the nomination back to the Senate favorably, unfavorably, or without recommendation. Once reported, the nomination is available for Senate consideration. If the Senate confirms the nomination, the individual is formally appointed to the position by the President.

At this point, only the President knows who his nominee will be. It is worth considering, however, what the initials F.B.I. represent and what the country has a right to expect from the nominee and should settle for nothing less.

Fidelity: faithfulness to a cause, or belief, demonstrated by continuing loyalty and support: he sought only the strictest fidelity to justice.

Bravery: courageous behavior or character.

Integrity: the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness: he is known to be a man of integrity.

Let the process go forward. 

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Trump 's Very Strange World

The firing of FBI Director James B. Comey via President Trump's letter on May 9 is the latest craziness to come out of President Donald Trump’s administration in recent days. Does the President really believe we need a daily shock or surprise to get through each day, as he seems to?  

Or, is the FBI getting too close to uncovering collusion between Russian President Putin’s government and the Trump campaign team during the 2016 Presidential election? 

Never mind that in the firing letter, President Trump thanked Comey for telling him on three separate occasions he (President Trump) was not under investigation. What the devil does that have to do with “You’re fired?”

Does President Trump believe he is going to get an FBI Director who will do his bidding like the White House butler who brings him coke whoever he presses a red Coca Cola button on the Presidential desk?  Go back and read the fate of L. Patrick Gray who tried hard to please President Nixon, 

Another piece of weirdness the administration sent to congress would butcher the federal tax code to obscenely benefit the rich and cut the corporate rate from 35 to 15 percent. The Alternative Minimum Tax and the Estate Tax would also be scrapped. All of this will enrich the Trump family, if he is as rich as he claims to be. 

More importantly, it will stick working people in America with an additional $7 Trillion in national debt over the next ten years. 

Treasury Secretary Steven Munchin, a well-educated and successful businessman, stepped forward with a straight face, looked right into the cameras and said President Trump’s tax cutting proposal will promote extraordinary growth and “pay for itself.” This bit of pie-in-the-sky wishful thinking has never happened in the history of this country. It is a carryover from the days of Ronald Reagan. (Probably something that card reader in California told Nancy Reagan.)

Of course, by the time the national debt goes up another $7 Trillion, President Trump and the millionaires and billionaires in his administration will be long gone from office and probably sitting around in some country club smoking cigars and drinking 40-year old Scotch while enjoying their windfall gains.

Hooting and hollering galore broke out when House Speaker Paul Ryan said Republicans were keeping their promise when the administration on its second try successfully twisted the arms of enough Republican Congressmen and women to pass a measure to replace the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. Never mind it will likely cost 14 million Americans their health insurance and screw over those with cancer, physical and mental disabilities, or other pre-existing conditions. 

And that wall that is supposed to be built between Mexico and the United States, well forget it. The latest spending bill did not include any money for the wall. Add to this “minor detail,” Mexico says it will not pony up a dime and then there are pending lawsuits filed by Texans to protect private lands, disruption of wildlife issues which will probably also wind up in court, a 1970 treaty prohibiting blocking a river, erosion and drainage issues, etc. etc.ad Infinitum. 

Harper's Review of the Week

I am tweeting this for the record in the sure and certain knowledge that even the smallest detail of our American experience should be recorded and remembered. 

Hope you enjoy. 

A special offer for Weekly Review subscribers: Click here to get 12 issues of Harper's Magazine for only $21.97! PUBLISHED BY HARPER’S MAGAZINE (EST. 1850)

May 2, 2017 By Joe Kloc          U.S. president Donald Trump, who once hosted a radio show on which he discussed how there was "no question about it" that Britney Spears had "gone down" in sexiness because she got married, gave himself an "A" for his performance in his first 100 days in office, a time period during which he implied Frederick Douglass was still alive at a breakfast celebrating the start of Black History Month; said on the eve of Martin Luther King, Jr., Day that Georgia representative and Freedom Rider John Lewis was "all talk"; commented at the National Prayer Breakfast that he wanted to "pray for" Arnold Schwarzenegger's "poor ratings" on The Celebrity Apprentice; accused former president Barack Obama of "wiretapping" Trump Tower in Manhattan, which the FBI had legally surveilled for two years as part of an investigation into the money-laundering ring of a Russian mafia boss known as "Little Taiwanese"; ordered the launching of 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles valued at $60 million at an airfield in Syria, which he described as an attack on Iraq that he carried out while eating "the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake" and which his secretary of commerce, Wilbur Ross, referred to as "after-dinner entertainment" that "didn't cost the president anything"; and played golf more than twice as often as the previous three presidents combined, despite having once criticizing Obama for golfing "while America goes down the drain." "I don't stand by anything," Trump said. Trump told interviewers that he thought being president "would be easier," and that the constitutional system of checks and balances is "a really bad thing for the country." Reince Priebus, Trump's chief of staff, said that Trump, who has tweeted that the media is "the enemy of the American people," was considering abolishing the First Amendment. Trump, a former casino owner who once paid $1 million for an ad campaign alleging that the Mohawk people were cocaine traffickers and on another occasion claimed he "might have more Indian blood than a lot of the so-called Indians," said that his campaign for president was "most like" the "very mean and nasty campaign" of former president Andrew Jackson, a slave owner and frequent cockfighting gambler who signed legislation that forcibly removed indigenous tribes from the southeastern United States. Trump praised as a "smart cookie" North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who has executed hundreds of people for offenses such as slouching and having a bad attitude, and invited to the White House Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte, who has been accused of ordering the extrajudicial killings of 8,000 people. "I am tied up," responded Duterte, who added that he had already made plans to visit Russia, the government of which the FBI and both houses of Congress are currently investigating for interfering in the 2016 presidential race in order to elect Trump, whose Las Vegas steakhouse was once shut down for serving customers two-week-old tomato sauce and a five-month-old duck. "We," said Press Secretary Sean Spicer, "want to start talking about the next 100 days."  Sources are footnoted at the permanent URL  for this Weekly Review. Comments, clarifications, and corrections are always welcome at harpers-weekly@harpers.org. Please note that your letter may be included in next week's mailing and on Harpers.org. © 2017 Harper's Magazine Foundation

After the first 100 days

The first 100 days of the President Trump administration has gone by. Nothing spectacular has been accomplished, although much was promised. The Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare as its detractors like to call it, is still with us. 

Tax reform is promised for this week, although many in Congress are skeptical until President Trump releases his earlier tax returns and legislators can see how and if he will benefit from proposed tax code changes. And, everyone should be concerned about who will benefit from proposed changes - the top 1 or 2 percent, the middle class or even those lower on the economic ladder.

I had a discussion last week with a lady who is a Trump supporter and who believes the news media has been too critical of the new president. There is no doubt the media has been robust and reporting on the flaws and goofs coming out of the administration. But better a free and reliable media with its criticisms than a cheering section for ignorance and stupidity. 

One action, in particular, disturbs me: the Attorney General’s decision to stop looking at police departments across the country when citizens and groups file protests. AG Sessions tried to delay implementation of a continuing review of the Baltimore police but a court ordered it to go forward. The majority of American police departments are stacked with good men and women and conduct themselves in the ritual of Preserve and Protect. But when citizen complaints are made they need to be looked into, and this has been the responsibility of the Justice Department. This must continue.

It appears that Steve Bannon’s role as chief strategist to President Trump is a thing of the past. His “America first” ideas are ill-advised and out of touch with reality. Since World War II, America and the American President have been at the forefront of world leadership and we cannot neglect, ignore or discard that duty. The world is too big and volatile for the number one super power to step aside and let things sort themselves out. I told a friend a couple of weeks ago that Bannon will be gone by Labor Day. I stand by that statement. 

Global warming, terrorism around the world, security of nuclear weapons, world trade and finance, poverty, refugees, roads and bridges in America, are all calling for leadership and action. 

New jobs must be created and an aging workforce assisted with training to fill those jobs. Opening up the mines and other industries will not automatically result in more jobs. Robots and automation are always going to cut into what were once good jobs for men (and women). 

There is not much to show for the first 100 days of this Presidency, but we can hope that the administration ship will be righted to an even keel and sail on to better days for the U.S. and the world. 

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Irritants

The one continuing thing that absolutely PMO is Donald Trump’s ignorance about how to carry out his role as President of the United States and leader of the free world. 

Then there are lesser, but still mind-warping, irritants - and this weekend I had two on the same day within hours of each other.

Mind you, these occurred while Trump is consistently PMO.

Driving from North Carolina to my home in South Carolina on a nice Sunday morning I  stopped for gas at a name brand station. The first pump had an out of order sign on it.  OK. No big deal. I pulled around to a second pump. I put my brand loyalty card in the slot. Did I want the cash reduction? Of course. I followed with a credit card and went through the usual litany of questions. Each one requiring me to punch an answer on the display panel, which, by the by, was almost too dirty to read, Is this a debit or credit card? Credit was the answer. So then I had to enter my ZIP code and did I want  a receipt. Yes, I want a receipt.

After all the bookkeeping was done I lifted the handle, pushed my choice and proceeded to fill up. When it finished, I put the pump back, screwed my gas cap on tight and closed the side panel. I turned for my receipt and instead got a message telling me to see the clerk. 

Irritant #1. No receipt paper in the pump is becoming an all too frequent occurrence. It happens at brand name stations, and the “Have a happy Trump day” gas station I used - out of necessity - in Florida a couple of weeks ago. The operator there gave me this greeting when I walked in to pay. (His pumps didn’t take credit cards.) He gave me the same greeting when I went back in to use the men’s room and when I (thank God) finally got out of there. 

Back to North Carolina. I walked to the store and opened the door. Eight people were standing in the one open line. At the head of the line, a customer was buying a candy bar and a soda pop with a debit card and having difficulty working the credit card machine. Smoke was coming out of the ears of the seven people behind him. I left. Eff the receipt.

Since this see the clerk is happening all too often, I believe failure to keep receipt paper in the pumps is a gimmick to lure customers into the store hoping they will make an impulse purchase. They must be some automatic way of knowing when a pump is out of receipt paper, or the first time someone walks in to ask for receipt ought to be enough of a clue. 

Number Two. I went back on the road and got home. No Sunday morning paper at my door. This is the fourth or fifth time since I subscribed in late January that my paper has not been delivered. I called the newspaper and was greeted, as on all other occasions, with recorded messages on about how important my call is to someone who is never available to answer the phone. I will spare the reader further details, but on Monday I canceled my subscription via email. A woman from the paper called and left a message, so I decided to be friendly and return her call. She was not available and her message box was full.

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Trump Needs Blind Trust

Letters to the Editor

The Post & Courier

Charleston, Sc 29401

Dear Sirs:

I don't begrudge President-elect Trump his holdings, reportedly an interest in some 500 enterprises all over the world. I am, however, in that part of the citizenry that says Mr. Trump ought to put these holdings into a blind trust, not have them continue to be actively managed by his children. I am talking about a trust so opaque sixty forensics scientists with magnifying glasses could not figure out where anything is.

Mr. Trump cancelled a news conference scheduled for December 15 to discuss this issue but promised to do so before he is sworn in on January 20th.  If this is like making his tax returns transparent I won’t hold my breath. 

It doesn’t matter how smart Mr. Trump is, when he is President Trump he is going to get new information and fresh news every waking moment of his life. This knowledge is going to impact his decision making - whether on behalf of the country or himself - particularly if he remains conversant with his holdings as “managed” by his children. It will be supremely impossible to do otherwise.

What does a conflicted President of the United States do if the leader of country X threatens to wipe out the President’s holdings in X unless the United States does what X wants? Knuckle under? Sacrifice a pile of wealth? Go to war?

Published December 23, 2016

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"Workers on routine" - an appreciation

From 1962 to 2016, the population of the United States increased to 322 million, up from 186.5 million, an increase of more than 72 percent. This remarkable growth went unnoticed on a daily basis by most Americans, until, like drivers on the LA freeways, they began to suspect all the growth was in their backyard. 

One part of the American scene that did not keep pace with this bursting through the seams growth was the federal workforce. Every two years, however, politicians rant about the size of government and promise to cut back the number of federal employees. 

Over the last fifty years or so, the federal civil service grew at a slower rate than the population it serves despite the needs and demands for services which became more complex and diversified with the increasing population. (Fair Disclosure: I worked federal civil service from 1960 to 1979 in national security management positions.)

There are 2.663 million federal civil service workers and more than half of these  are employed in three agencies: Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security and the Veterans Administration. The man on the street would probably agree these workers are essential to security and safety and the care of those who bore arms for America.

President Lyndon Johnson referred to federal employees “as workers on routine.” This “routine” has become more complex and the skills and competence required more demanding as the years have passed. Analytical ability, judgment, discretion and personal responsibility are the norms today, a far cry from the mostly clerical workers of the 1950s.

Cabinet head appointments are all the news right now with a new administration being formed. But it is the “workers on routine” who will continue to explore the universe, hunt for criminals, attend to the public health, send out the Social Security checks, and backstop the servicemen and women who defend the shores. 

(The statistics in this overview came from the January 2017 issue of narfe, publication of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association.) 

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