With the appointments of RFK Jr to Health and Human Services and Matt Gaetz as attorney general, President-elect Trump is sending a message of vengeance to the American public. Neither man is qualified for his position and both are considered dangerous.  Their only virtue in Trump’s eyes are loyalty to him.  Why would anyone endanger his position even before he started serving in it?  Trump is thinking narcissistically — getting even with those who opposed him.  That’s a poor way to run a country but we face four years of it.   

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President Biden welcomed President-elect Trump to the White House yesterday and spent two hours with him discussing national and international issues.  Biden wants to ensure a smooth transition to a man he intensely dislikes.  While the visit was in the tradition of the peaceful transfer of power, Biden might be whistling in the dark over the outcome, especially if Trump is seeking vengeance for his loss to the president in 2020.  Trump’s radical appointments point in that direction.  There is little Biden can do unless he takes similar illegal steps that Trump used on Jan.6, 2021.  And, he won’t do that.  Biden is a study in tragedy — a competent president who is too old to remain in office.  It’s clear now that he would have lost to Trump even if he did run and did not turn the campaign over to Harris.  Now in his declining years, he will have to watch Trump undo much of what he has accomplished.  Sad.

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A prize for loyalty.  Is it sending a message to the armed forces?

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The Army’s response to a lack of recruits has been to establish a preparation program for individuals who would otherwise wash out intellectually and/or physically.  So far it seems to be working but it is too early to tell how these soldiers will act in the field once out of training.  i recall during my Vietnam days the Army was drafting unfit individuals because it was scraping the bottom of the barrel to find soldiers.  Basic training was difficult for the recruits as well as the drill sergeants who had to boot them through.  It was unclear how they responded once they reached the front, but the morale of the Army was rock-bottom low then and far from the all-volunteer professionalism of today. If the recruits of today work out, kudos to the army.  If not, the it is risking its preparedness. 

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The analysis is in.  Trump won more voters without college degrees than Harris.  These are the very people whom inflation has devastated over the last four years and whose income has not kept up.  They were sending a message to Democrats.  You have forgotten us in your coalition of well educated citizens. Have the Democrats heard it?

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This is the concession speech that former President Trump should have given four years ago, but didn’t.  Now Americans will have to endure triumphalism and boasting for four more years.  It could be worse and it still might be.

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Time for Republican celebration.  Time for Democratic reflection.  One can only hope the violent rhetoric of the election cycle doesn’t come to fruition.  We will know in four years.  We will be living in a different country until that time and taking minority positions much of the period.  It will be hard but it must be done. The voters have spoken:  It’s time to get on with it.  

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One can rarely know if a leaked document was the result of an individual or a government strategy.  Thus, in the case of US intelligence focused on Israel’s preparation to counterattack Iran, one must ask who did the leaking?  No one seems to know at this time and there is no corroboration of the information.  Hence, news organizations need to handle the documents carefully.  Is the leak a protest?  Are the news media a pawn for the government?  Were the documents hacked by Iran?  Are the documents phony?  Until a source is verified, the information is suspect.   

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GM’s CEO, Mary Barra, is all-in for the production of electric vehicles.  She says GM will make a profit on EVs by the end of the year and she hasn’t changed the target for an all-electric vehicle line-up by 2035.  Should GM meet its goal, it will be a marketing and PR coup,  There are plenty of challenges on the way, notably a need for thousands more of charging stations across the US and Canada.  It will be a profound change at its dealerships where new methods of service will be needed and a new economic model.  

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Catching the booster was amazing, but now SpaceX engineers will work to catch the spacecraft too.  This puts SpaceX at the leading edge of rocket companies in the world.  If it succeeds, it will be a technological and PR coup. 

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