Border kids

There are marches taking place across the country because 2,000 children were separated from their families. These people are upset because Trump said he was doing this to deter others from coming across the border In 2014 70,000 unaccompanied children crossed the border and immediately sought out border patrol agents so the could get the care they needed. In June the federal government began cracking down on children and families who'd arrived in the United States. It instituted mandatory detention for families, and sped up the process for evaluating whether children and families could stay in the US — with the explicit aim of deporting most of them as quickly as possible. The reasoning behind this, officials said at the time, was to deter children and families still in Central America from coming to the US in future

Supreme court

Justice Kennedy announced today that he will retire effective July 31st. There are many important issues on which his replacement will be pivotal. One pertains to the power currently held by unelected officials in the bureaucracy. The court in the past has refused to review regulations proposed by these various agencies but that could change. The seemingly unlimited power that these agencies have over the lives of the citizens may be challenged. These bureaucrats who are sometimes referred to as a fourth branch of government have grown in size and power to the point where they effect the daily lives of people in profound ways with very little oversight and that just might change with the right judge on the court.

Regulations

The founding fathers wisely set up a government with three separate but equal branches to keep any one group from becoming too powerful but over the past half century their plan has been thwarted by a new branch called the bureaucracy. The congress passes the laws, the executor signs and the courts approve and there is nothing in the constitution about the bureaucrats. These are the people who set up the regulations and it is the regs that most closely effect the everyday lives of the citizens. Obamacare was a 2,900 page bill passed by congress but the regulations have exceeded 20,000 pages. When income tax was approved in 1913 it was 400 pages and today it is over 77,000. During the Obama years 33,000 pages were added just to the EPA which is only one of 443 agencies.

Drugs by sea

One of my friends sent me a email saying that 95% of the drugs coming into the US come by sea and he is correct. They go by sea from South America to Mexico and then across the southern border into the US. Here is map showing the drug traffic. http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-how-drugs-are-getting-smuggled-from-south-america-to-the-us-2017-9 This is an example of using honest data in a dishonest way and this happens all too often.

Path to citizenship

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: “Real reform means strong border security, and we can build on the progress my administration has already made -- putting more boots on the Southern border than at any time in our history and reducing illegal crossings to their lowest levels in 40 years. Real reform means establishing a responsible pathway to earned citizenship -- a path that includes passing a background check, paying taxes and a meaningful penalty, learning English, and going to the back of the line behind the folks trying to come here legally. And real reform means fixing the legal immigration system to cut waiting periods and attract the highly-skilled entrepreneurs and engineers that will help create jobs and grow our economy.” (President Barack Obama, Remarks At State Of The Union, Washington, D.C., 2/12/13 According to polls this is what most Americans want. Secure the border and then provide a merit based path way to citizenship.

Border

On public radio this AM they interviewed a retired immigration judge. He said when he left in 2016 his docket was filled until 2021. He said the problem can be traced back through three administrations starting with Clinton. He said there are currently 700,000 illegal aliens waiting for hearings and unless something is changed this number will continue to grow. He pointed out that as soon as you set foot in the US the supreme court says you have the right to due process. Trump would have been smart to just push this problem down the road like his predecessors did but instead he made a fatal attempt to try and do something. The logical way to slow down this process is to keep people from entering the country illegally but the politics has made that almost impossible.

Dangerous trip

The distance from Guatemala to the USA is 1,200 to 2,900 miles depending on whether you arrive in Texas or California. In either case the journey is across mostly deserted desert and very dangerous. This is from the Huffinton Post a mostly liberal site. As the number of Central American women and girls crossing into the U.S. continues to spike, so is the staggering amount of sexual violence waged against these migrants who are in search of a better life. According to a stunning Fusion investigation, 80 percent of women and girls crossing into the U.S. by way of Mexico are raped during their journey. That’s up from a previous estimate of 60 percent, according to an Amnesty International report. If this is true then of the 35,000 unaccompanied young women who will show up at the border this that 28,000 of them will have been raped along the way. If the US has a catch and release program this will encourage more people from Central America to make this journey.

Fed up

Something happened this week that explains why people are fed up with congress. Trump said all week he did not have the power to deal with the immigrant crisis and then he did it and the democrats castigated him for it. When Obama was president he said he didn't have the power to change the DACA rules and then he did and the republicans railed at him. This just illustrates that these congressmen don't look for solutions to problems they just look for reasons to blame the other side. A pox on both houses.

Lottery

When I lived in Naples, FL my neighbor was a young engineer who came to the US from Germany by way of winning the immigration lottery, the program that is in the news these days. Rather than continue to work as an engineer he started his own business which consisted of helping people fill out the paper work to enter the lottery. It was quite complex and he would charge $75 to properly fill out the forms and submit them. He put ads in magazines around the world mostly in Africa and he would get letters requesting his help. He went on vacation and asked me to go to the post office each day and collect his mail. On average he would receive 10 letters per day and each contained $75. It would take him only ten minutes to fill out the forms so he had a nice income. He told me that in some small African communities the whole clan would donate to come up with the $75 so that one person might have a chance to win. Each year he would have a number of winners and he would use that in his ads. The lottery system is the only way that most people have a chance to get to America. Yes, by the way, that is $750 per day for six days a week or over $200,000 per year.

Welfare cost

It is difficult to find the cost associated with illegal immigrants as the data is skewed by the politics of those doing the reporting. Estimate range from $19 billion to $300 billion. One way to estimate the cost is to look at the overall cost of welfare programs and then figure the cost per person and apply that to the estimated 11 million illegals. In FY 2018 total US government spending on welfare — federal, state, and local — is “guesstimated” to be $1,137 billion, including $688 billion for Medicaid, and $449 billion in other welfare If you divide the total spent by 330 million Americans you get $3,445 per person and then multiply that by the 11 million illegals the total cost is $38 billion. This does not include things like housing cost and cost to schools. It does not include the cost of rounding up, processing and deporting illegals that are caught entering the country.

Power

The citizenry is dependent on the free press to keep the government honest and they are doing a good job of checking on the president. Trump dominates the news across the national press. Power corrupts is not a new idea and one of the best examples was J. Edgar Hoover who founded the FBI and headed it for almost 40 years. Later in life and after his death, Hoover became a controversial figure as evidence of his secretive abuses of power began to surface. He was found to have exceeded the jurisdiction of the FBI,[2] and to have used the FBI to harass political dissenters and activists, to amass secret files on political leaders,[3] and to collect evidence using illegal methods.[4] Hoover consequently amassed a great deal of power and was in a position to intimidate and threaten sitting presidents. Recently a number of FBI agents have come under scrutiny as well as some others in the State Department and each day additional troubling information is revealed as documents are released. During the cold war the CIA fell victim to the power corrupt syndrome and the press uncovered what turned out to be illegal activities.

The Wall

In 2006 the Secure Fence Act was passed with a senate vote of 80 to 19. Voting for it were 26 democrats including Hilary Clinton, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi. The act authorized 700 miles of fence along the Mexican border and it was built.

Border crossings

Here is a report from 2014. More than 50,000 unaccompanied migrant kids have been detained in the past eight months — an almost 100 percent increase from the previous fiscal year. At the central bus station in McAllen, Tx, the Border Patrol finished processing Sandoval and dropped her and her child off at the bus terminal. She says agents kept 50 to 60 people in a single holding room for four days. She said it was so crowded they stood most of the time, with their children in their arms. She says there was scarcely room to sit or sleep. "We're a short-term hold [facility]. We're not looking to hold anything more than one to two days, preferably 12 hours," says Cabrera. "And in some cases we're hitting about seven, eight to 10 days holding some people." Unless some significant changes are made this sort of thing will continue.

FBI and DOJ

As the hearings involving Hilary's use of private email continue a major question comes to the forefront. What happens if an FBI or a Justice Department does something illegal. The congress is supposed to have oversight responsibility to make sure that if this were to happen those responsible would be brought to justice. In order to carry out their responsibility the congress must have access to information collected by and from the FBI and the DOJ. However these two agencies can refuse to give congress the asked for information by saying it is part of an ongoing investigation and they can keep this investigation going on indefinitely. This poses a conundrum which appears to have no solution. Whether there is any illegal activity going on in the present situation has been resolved by an FBI investigation and by another investigation by the inspector generals office and normally this would be the end of it but that assumes that these two departments are not compromised. If they are not, all is well but if they are, then we have a situation where the guilty can be sheltered by law since information about an ongoing investigation cannot be revealed to congress. Regardless of the present situation, steps should be taken to resolve this in case it happens in the future.

Taxes on imports

The money from import taxes goes to the government and is paid for by consumers by way of higher prices. From the government standpoint whats not to love about that. Income tax is money taken from individuals and companies and the money goes to the government. Once again what's not to love. If Germany charges 10% tax on auto imports from the US and the US charges 2.5% on autos imported from Germany is Germany happy with that arrangement. At the G 7 meeting in Toronto Trump suggested that all countries get rid of import taxes so we could have free trade. His suggestion was met with stunned silence. Wonder why?

Census

In the abortion issue, Roe v Wade, the key word was person. Here is the constitution. The 14th Amendment prohibits states from depriving a person of liberty without due process of law.   In Roe v. Wade all nine justices agreed that the use of “person” in the Constitution always assumed a born person, and therefore that the 14th Amendment’s mention of person did not confer constitutional rights until after a live birth. Here is the quote regarding the census. Note the word person. "Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed." The current government is arguing over whether illegal aliens should be counted. If the law says to count all persons this group would be included as would all people here from other countries who are here on vacation, here as part time workers, and here as students. These are after all considered people. It would seem that the obvious answer to the question should be to count citizens and that would end the discussion but in today's political environment the obvious does not prevail.

Border families

Most people are busy trying to pay the light bill and do not have the time to research current issues. The result is that spinmeisters can mislead. This is done most often by combining some truth in with some miss truth. A current example is families coming to the border from Mexico. If a family approached the border entrance and asks for political asylum they can enter the country and be kept together. On the other hand if they cross the border illegally they will be arrested and separated from their children. The result is that one commentator will say children are being separated because it is the law and others say they have the right to remain as a family. The federal government has been aware of this problem since Clinton was president and each president since has realized the negative optics and chose to ignore the problem. Trump has taken on the issue and is paying the cost in the form of negative publicity. Pro immigration lawyers have gone into Mexico to explain to families how to approach the legal entry points and claim political asylum and this is increasing the number of those doing so.

Discrimination

It is well known that Asian American students out perform other groups on college admission test as well as overall academic achievement. The result is that 25% of students at MIT are Asian Americans even though they only represent 5% of the population. This has now affected other universities. Harvard has now chosen to place personality above academics and is turning away Asian Americans in favor of other minorities on the basis of their personalities. This is done in order to circumvent current laws which prohibit discrimination based on race. This is what can be expected when you start down this road. Imagine if the NBA started using that approach to bring in more white players. Yes Michael Jordan your basketball skills are terrific but you are not very sociable.

Bad law

The latest controversy surrounding immigration involves breaking up families. The law says the when a family is arrested for entering the country illegally the children must be separated from the parents. During the Obama years this law was ignored and these families were released in tact back into the community. This was called catch and release. Trump is now following the law and that will lead to changes as the best way to get rid of a bad law is to enforce it.

Tevye

One of my favorite shows is, "Fiddler On The Roof" and one of my favorite scenes was when the star of the show Tevye is talking with a group of men and one makes a point and Tevye says "yes" and the another makes just the opposite point and Tevye says "yes" and then the groups points that out and Tevye says "yes" I can listen to a logically presented argument and agree and then I can hear the opposite presented in a logical manner and agree and I find I am just like Tevye. This is one of the downfalls for a person who listens with his head and not with his heart. There is tendency to become too tolerant. Do not make a virtue of tolerance lest you end up standing for nothing. I envy those who react emotionally since they always no where they stand on a complex issue. They may not be able to offer legitimate reasons why they believe as they do but in their hearts they know where they stand.

Jobs and workers

On the news this week it was announced that for the first time in history there are more jobs available than workers to fill those jobs. There are 6.7 million job openings and just 6.4 million available workers to fill them, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. They obviously are not counting the estimate 10 million men between ages of 25 to 56 who are not in the work force and not looking for work. The question arises as to how these men are paying for their expenses and just as important what do they do all day.

Border children

Children who cross the border alone are considered unaccompanied minors. Under U.S. law, they cannot be deported right away. They are placed with sponsors, who are typically close relatives such as parents, siblings or aunts and uncles that live in the USA. About 10% of the time, the minors are placed with people who aren't related to them. 70,000 Kids Will Show Up Alone at Our Border This Year. What Happens to Them? Those coming from Mexico are taken straight back across. The rest are referred to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement (rather than being put in immigration detention with adults) and placed in temporary shelters while their deportation proceedings get under way. Child Poverty Affects almost 81 Million Children in Latin America and the Caribbean so it behooves congress to do something to deal with this problem. Allowing any child at the border to come in will encourage many more from Central America to head this way.

Crony capitalism

Billionaire businessman Elon Musk made his money the old fashion way, he earned it. Through innovative ideas like Pay Pal he made billions but then he turned to crony capitalism. This means using government money to finance ideas. Tesla Motors, SolarCity, and SpaceX—a few of his highest-profile projects—have relied heavily on government subsidies. According to a 2015 article in the Los Angeles Times, these three companies "together have benefited from an estimated $4.9 billion in government support." And though none of these projects is profitable on its own, Musk is making a mint. How this works is complicated but the results are clear. Tesla stock values the company at $50 billion compared to Ford which is valued at $45 billion. At first glance, that doesn't make any sense. Ford sold 2.6 million vehicles in 2016 and earned $4.6 billion for the year. Tesla shipped a comparatively tiny 76,000 vehicles and recorded a loss of $675 million.

NK TV

On CNN this AM they were talking about Government TV reporting in North Korea and they pointed out that normally they only cover events after they occur but today they mentioned that Kim was on the way to negotiate nuclear disarmament which means they expect something of importance to happen. All well and good up to that point but then they said, that this must be music to Donald Trump's ears. I would think it would be good news for everyone not just Trump

Stalin and the USA

As the meeting between Trump and Kim comes under scrutiny it is time for a little historical perspective. A Soviet weekly newspaper today published the most detailed accounting of Stalin's victims yet presented to a mass audience here, indicating that about 20 million died in labor camps, forced collectivization, famine and executions. After their initial meeting, according to the presidential diary, Truman, Stalin and their accompanying advisers “had lunch, talked socially [and] put on a real show, drinking toasts to everyone” while posing for photographs. Truman closed his entry for the day on a confident note. “I can deal with Stalin,” he wrote. “He is honest but smart as hell.”  Even Stalin made mistakes at the 1945 Yalta Conference (for example, in subscribing to a Declaration on Liberated Europe) , and Roosevelt was to come under severe criticism for what was viewed as excessive leniency or naïveté in his dealings with the Soviet leader.

Exceptional USA

Saying that America is exceptional caused a stir a few months back but recent facts have tended to confirm just how generous Americans are when compared to other countries. In my life time it started with the end of WW 2 when Russia took over half of Europe and the US took a few acres of land to bury 130,000 soldiers who died in the war. Then the US sent billions of dollars to rebuild Europe and Japan. The US gives more in foreign aid and in charity than any country. There are 193 countries in the United Nations and the US pays for 25% of the expenses. There are 29 countries in NATO and the US pays 22% of the cost plus providing most of the troops. The US has 200,000 troops stationed in 177 countries around the world. The US trade deficit sends $500 billion dollars per year to other countries. Then add to that the medical miracles the US has provided, things like the polio vaccine and drugs for AIDS victims. Add all of the technology that the US developed and gave to the world and more that was stolen by countries like China. And finally the US was able to end the cold war without getting into a hot war. In the history of the world there has never been a country that has done more than the US and yes exceptional is the right word.

Import tax

The experts around the globe say that if you increase the taxes on imports this will cause consumer prices to rise and that is why they are against the increases. If their first concern is consumer prices then they should get rid of all existing import taxes and this would lower prices to the consumer. The concern for the consumer is not real. What they are most concerned about is the fact that import taxes are money that goes directly to the government and they can then redistribute it in the manner they feel is most appropriate.

Korea

It is often times difficult to get apples to apples comparisons in real world situations but North and South Korea gives a very accurate example of the difference between a free market capitalist society verses a communist government. These people are the same, culturally, ethnically, racially and with the same history and religion. At the end of the war in 1953 both countries were reduced to rubble and then they chose different pathways to government. The North went with the communist system and today the people are starving. The South went for capitalism and they are thriving. The GDP of North Korea is $12 billion and the GDP of South Korea is $1,400 billion. On a per person basis the North is $480 and the South is $28,000.

Free trade

The meeting of the G-7 countries was mostly about trade and Trumps answer is that all import taxes and subsidies be removed and we will then have true free trade. Germany for example has a $300 billion dollar trade surplus and they are not interested in free trade. Understand that this money goes to the government. It is a tax on imports (goods and services) and that raises the prices that consumers pay and that money goes to the federal government. Germany has a budget surplus of $60 billion but without their trade surplus they would have a budget deficit of $240 billion. They want to maintain the status quo because that puts Germany first. Trump wants free trade because that would put America first. Getting rid of subsidies is also part of Trumps plan. The Chinese government subsidizes their steel industry and they can dump steel on the world market which puts competitors out of business.

Investigating campaigns

Because Trump and members of his campaign had business dealings with Russia starting many years ago, the FBI began an investigation to determine if these relationships later referred to as collusion affected the election. They hired a professor named Stefan Halper to contact three people in the Trump campaign and gather information from them. He’s been identified by The Washington Post as the ‘informant’ who contacted three Trump campaign officials in 2016 before “he began providing information to the FBI.” Since the FBI did not inform Trump of this, it is alleged by some that they were in fact considering Trump as a suspect in this collusion not just someone on his staff and therein lies the concern. Can an outgoing president use the power of the FBI to investigate the campaign of the incoming president?

US exports

There are a number of reasons why the USA trade deficit with The EU is out of balance and one of those is import taxes which are much higher in the EU than in the USA. The result is that the EU exports $192 billion in cars and imports $75 billion resulting in a $117 billion dollar surplus whereas the US exports $115 billion and imports $250 billion resulting in a $135 billion dollar deficit.

School awards

Yesterday I attended my grandson's 8th grade graduation ceremony and the top 25 students out of about 300 were brought up on the stage for special recognition. I immediately noticed that 19 of the 25 were young ladies. I think this is representative of what is happening around the country. In the many classrooms I work in including 5 high schools and 6 middle schools, it is the norm for the female students to be more serious about their studies. Both their demeanor and their deportment are more mature. They are more likely to stay on task and ask questions. All of this is paying off in big ways as they work their way through the educational system. The young men are falling behind and it does not seem to be of much concern to those in charge.

Unions

In the news today is a potential strike by UPS employees. I am for private unions and opposed to public unions. Private unions did the hard work in the late 1880’s and early 1900’s. My dad who was born in 1900 was a teamster for his entire working life. These unions brought the many benefits we enjoy today, things like safer working conditions, elimination of child labor and shorter work weeks. Public unions just started after WW II and have not provided the same benefits to the general population and I will use the MPLS school district to illustrate my point. There are about 3500 teachers and about 3200 staff and some of the staff belongs to the union so there are about 4000 union members. Data shows that to be elected to the school board you need between 55000 and 60000 votes. The teachers union can select someone they feel is pro-teacher and they can elect that person. They and their spouses vote along with the parents and then they have coffee parties, knock on doors and donate funds. Over the past 20 years no teacher endorsed candidate has lost. Now they sit down across the table to negotiate with this elected official with the inference that we elected you and we can re-elect you. The official tells the teachers that the city is short on funds so there won’t be much of a raise but what they can do is increase legacy benefits, things like pensions and insurance after retirement. This is the pattern followed by city, county and state employees and most of these areas now have pension benefits that they cannot afford to pay. While there are problems around the country the most serious are in states that are strongly democratic and have good union leadership, States like New York, Illinois and California. These union negotiators did nothing wrong and were very successful but now many states are unable to meet their commitments. My sister is a retired school teacher in Illinois and she is in particular jeopardy since Illinois teachers opted out of social security and must rely heavily on their pensions. SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Illinois taxpayers realize the state is buried in debt.Illinois’ worst-in-the-nation pension systems alone owe at least $130 billion, but now comes a new warning about the high cost of simply managing that debt.In her latest fiscal report, Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka warns that Illinois will see billion dollar payments in interest on the state’s exploding debt.These people are concerned about interest on their debt when interest rates are at historic lows. When interest rates rise the problem will worsen. I am not alone in the belief that Public sector unions are not a good idea. “It is impossible to bargain collectively with the government.” This is a quote from George Meany former president of the AFL-CIO. Here is a quote from FDR. "... Meticulous attention should be paid to the special relationships and obligations of public servants to the public itself and to the government. All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations ... The very nature and purposes of Government make it impossible for ... officials ... to bind the employer ... The employer is the whole people, who speak by means of laws enacted by their representatives . In private unions the employer is negotiating with private money from stockholders but in public unions the money comes from the taxpayers.

G-7

United States trading partners are upset with Trump starting a trade war because he feels the current trade is not fair to the US and he will meet with 6 of those partners in the coming weeks. 2017 US trade deficits with the G-7 countries United Kingdom $3 billion France $15 billion Canada $18 billion Italy $31 billion Germany $65 billion Mexico $71 billion These countries want to leave things as they are.

Cocaine

President Trump today commuted the life sentence of Alice Marie Johnson a women who had spent 20 years in prison for cocaine trafficking. I have no objection to that but I do object to the phase non-violent drug charge. She may not have been violent or directly hurt or injured anyone but she was part of a group that sold cocaine. Many of the murders in big cities like Chicago are the result of drug wars and there is a lot of violence associated with cocaine.

Social security

Social security was in the news today showing that it will run out of money in 2035 but something will be done to avoid this. When FDR introduced social security it was the beginning of a long road that democrats would travel for the next 70 plus years. This program became the most popular and most expensive of all government plans. Thirty years later LBJ followed up with Medicare and Medicaid and this garnered even more votes. The result was control of the congress for 60 years. While the overt purpose was to help people, especially low income people, the underlying premise was that these people needed help. This is a fine line that democrats have had to walk over these many years. It occasionally manifests itself with the passage of various laws the most recent of which is in New York City. The former Mayor Bloomberg wants to tax sugar drinks in order to discourage young people from gaining unwanted weight. Other laws against things like tobacco and liquor are designed to alter behavior and adversely effect low income consumers. Many of these elected officials feel it is their responsibility to make sure these people take proper care of themselves which indirectly can be interpreted as their believing these people are not capable of caring for themselves without government encouragement. If people feel that government believes that they are incapable of caring for themselves they are likely to object. It is therefor necessary that the government not be seen as interfering in private decisions, thus the fine line.

WTO

In 2000 the US trade deficit with China was $80 billion and last year it was $375 billion. The deficit has risen dramatically since China was allowed to join the World Trade Organization in 2001. This is a world wide group that sets the rules for international trade and is an example of how the US fairs under international agreements. Due to the trade deficit with China 3.4 million jobs were lost between 2001 and 2015, including 1.3 million jobs lost since the first year of the Great Recession in 2008. Nearly three-fourths (74.3 percent) of the jobs lost between 2001 and 2015 were in manufacturing (2.6 million manufacturing jobs displaced). How does this help the United States. Here is one answer. Author Robert Z. Lawrence of Harvard University says that the United States benefits from the WTO dispute settlement mechanism, which has “reduced the need for the United States to resort to unilateral retaliatory measures, limiting an important source of tension between the United States and its partners.” President Clinton was initially opposed to China's entry to the WTO but after consulting with Chinese and American business interest he changed his mind. China's GDP was $1 trillion or less for many years but beginning in 2001 it started up and today is at $12 trillion. China likes the WTO because it puts China first.

FISA

The Magnitsky act of 2012 put financial and travel restrictions on 18 Russian oligarchs and this severely limited their access to billions of dollars they stole from the Russian people after the collapse of the Soviet Union. A Russian lawyer approached members of the Trump campaign using dirt on Hillary Clinton as bait. During the meeting it was uncovered that they had no dirt but what they wanted was leverage from Trump to repeal the Magnitsky Act. While this was going on another completely separate scheme was underway where The Republican National Committee hired the firm of Fusion GPS to do negative research on Hillary. They did not find anything of value but later The Democratic National Committee along with the Clinton campaigned hired them to investigate Trump. Here they found a former British intelligence agent named Christopher Steele who offered a dossier filled with negatives about Trump. Steele offered this information to a number of sources but all refused to publish because it was unsubstantiated and bordered on outright lies. This is factual and now for what is alleged. The FBI under Obama wanted to find out about the Trump/Russian collusion so they introduced an agent into the campaign and this led to the need to tap phones and emails. They went to get a FIAS warrant but it was denied. Then a magazine called Buzzfeed published the Steele dossier and the FBI used that as further proof to get a FISA warrant. Rules are very detailed concerning these warrants and the information presented to the judge must be validated and the Steele dossier was not. Those who believe this to be the case say the warrant and all information related to it are null and void. Republicans on the congressional investigating committee have been asking to see the information given to the FISA court but they are unable to get it. If the FISA judge was not informed that this information was gathered by the democrats the warrant was improperly issued.

Gut feelings

One of the books that I read during the 50's was called,"The Organization Man". It laid out the protocols for those who wanted to climb the ladder of success in both business and government and I quickly realized that I was different. I was more like an entrepreneur than a company man and didn't quite fit into the organizational structure. If you work for a big company and you are in a responsible position you must make decisions in a very methodical manner and follow laid out procedures. You can say for example that I approved this new product because engineering said it was possible, production said they could meet our time line, market test said it would sell and sales said they could sell it. Unfortunately it did not work out. If on the other hand you said you had a gut feeling that it would work and it didn't then you would be called on the carpet and possible loose your job. When individual business owners are asked how they make major decisions they say the check out all the data but in the end they go with their gut. When people say that Trump is not presidential they are saying he doesn't act like a politician and that is because his background is business not politics and more importantly he is an entrepreneur and not a corporation man. He tends to evaluate situations and then make decisions based on instinct or what some call intuition. The organization man was taught to go by his intellect and disregard his intuition in order to cover himself when things go wrong. In doing so he loses one of man's greatest assets in order to be safe. People who are more in tune with their instincts are often made to look foolish by those who choose the safe way. Most innovators follow their intuition. These are the people who think outside the box and they are roundly criticized by the conformist. To expect Trump to act presidential would be to ask him to become someone he is not.