does this thing still work?

 

Howdy from Estonia

 I am  in the wonderful medieval city of Tallinn , Estonia; And traveling via ferry to Helsinki Finland later today. this is a great part of Europe.

Sorry, I have been missing in action,; I will add more detail to this post in the near future and will otherwise be visible!

This small country is, of course close to Russia, maybe a little bit too close. There are many signs of solidarity with Ukraine.

Kevin Myers is still with us! / Gript

 Over  the years, I’ve read a number of Kevin Myers’ column in the “ An Irishman’s Diary “ of The Irish Times. 

In my opinion, he is gifted observer of Irish and world events.

He reported from Northern Ireland during the  bad days. He’s been a harsh critic  of physical force republicanism, of Loyalist terrorism, and of foreign aid to Africa. There  have been many  other controversies.

In 2017, he was let go by the Irish Times, amidst a controversy where he was falsely accused of antisemitism by some RTE talking head. Mr. Myers won a defamation lawsuit against RTE after that.

 I don’t believe that he has been seen in Irish major media since 2017.

In  a self published article, Myers claims that RTE played dirty tricks on him - he says that on two different occasions, RTE scheduled broadcast interviews with him, only to cancel the interviews abruptly. this was after Myers  had given the RTE exclusive interviews.

Myers Official Ireland criticism

It’s clear that major Irish media don’t  want to have anything to do with Mr. Myers, despite his prominence. What to do?

Well, I’ve just learned that Myers is a writer on what appears to be a New subscription based website called Gript. . I don’t know if I will become a subscriber, but I’m happy that Mr. Myers has a platform again. 

If the Irish Times, Irish Independent, and taxpayer funded RTE don’t want to give the man a platform, these  entities should not be surprised when new media arises.

Trump attacks the world economy

 it would be good to be writing about other things. In the near future, I will be writing about other things. But how can you not write about Donald Trump in these times?

I’ve been an observer  of Donald Trump since the 1980s. If you lived in New York In the 80s or 90s, you couldn’t get away from him. He was on the front page of the New York Post seemingly every day. The good looking man about town, the guy who got things done.

To use a baseball metaphor, he was always one who swung for the fences. 

In the early 1980s, New York City was in bad financial straits, at a time when Manny thought that cities were over, that everyone wanted to move to the suburbs. Trump made two brilliant decisions In this era- He built the beautiful Trump tower in 1983, And he was a major partner in the rebuilding of the old Commodore hotel,  next to Grand Central terminal. Trump made an awful lot of money with these two Ventures, Which were very positive For New York City.

But no great batter swings  for the fences every time. Trump did.

In the 1980s, Atlantic City arose as a center for legalize gambling. A number of gambling hotels were doing well there. In 1990, Trump, who already owned two casinos in Atlantic City, Swung for the fences and built Trump Taj Mahal, With an astonishing 2248  rooms, at a cost of $1 billion, financed by junk bonds. Many at the time thought that this hotel was way too big for Atlantic City. It was – Trump Taj Mahal went bankrupt. Then, after the creditors got screwed, Trump made it go of it again. It went bankrupt for a second time. The bondholder got four cents on the dollar. Trump’s fellow investors got less than that if anything.

Trump‘s swing for the fences led to many other bad decisions, including an airline that went out of business pretty quick, and his ill-fated purchase of the plaza hotel, which he sold at a loss. There were other bankruptcies. Trump somehow always did better off than the people who invested with him.

Now, the guy who swings for the fences every time is the president of the United States.

He’s done  one very good thing – he has broken the back of the illegal alien trade on the Mexican border. unauthorized crossings are down well over 90%.

But he has also ruined our friendly relationship with Canada and with Western Europe. it was under Trump that trade  deals with Canada and Mexico were struck in 2018; now Trump says that those 2018 Trump  deals are no good. 

Trump‘s mocking of Canada‘s Right to exist  is even worse than his reneging on his trade deal with them. Many Canadians will never trust the US again. Canadians  used to travel in huge numbers to New York City and Florida every year – not anymore. 

Trump has long Said that our treaty allies don’t pay enough for their own defense. He’s been correct in that. Obama and Biden said the same thing. Some progress was made in this direction By some of the European countries, especially after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Trump deserves some of the credit for that Increased defense spending.

I think that NATO has been a huge American asset, and that it was always a huge Extension of American power, even when the Europeans were unwisely Skimping on their own defense costs. 

Trump has repeatedly hinted at taking America out of NATO, or not defending NATO allies who didn’t spend enough. These comments have weakened American credibility.

The Imposition of huge tariffs by the US , against friend and foe,after a Bewildering, couple of months of threats, Are likely to damage  not just the US economy, but the world economy. Many Average Americans own stock, either outright or via 401(k) pension plans - The value of these have gone down since Trump took office,  They are likely to go down much further today.

The US has legitimate complaints against some of his trading partners,  But I don’t see the EU or UK as particularly bad actors, and I don’t see Canada as being a bad actor at all.

The late Charlie Munger, who worked  closely with Warren Buffett for many years at Berkshire Hathaway, Is regarded as one of the more astute and thoughtful investors in modern history. In 2011, before  Trump ran for office the first time, Munger  said that Trump was temperamentally unsuited for the office of the presidency. 

The guy whose Taj Bondholders got four cents on the dollar is now driving the world economy into the rocks. He doesn’t know what he is doing.

hi guys

 i’m having some minor technical problems, I will sort it out and will be posting again before too long

Man of the Year - Volodmyr Zelensky

 I will soon be off to Fraunces Tavern in lower Manhattan. It is an old pub and restaurant, where George Washington said farewell to his troops. 

While I visit a place made famous by our  greatest president, it is impossible to tune out the noise coming from the worst. Every five minutes he or the Bearded Poodle is insulting one of America’s friends, or is acting to sell them out. 

Leadership is always in short supply. We can all agree that the brave President Zelenskyy is the most admirable leader that the world has today. He has led his people against a savage invader for more than three years now. He has certainly made his mistakes, he remains outgunned, But there is no quit in this guy, or in his nation. 

Trump and Vance Gang up on an Ally

In my last post, I wrote that American power, and our alliances, were being dismantled before our very eyes. This is what we saw, today, on live television.

President Trump, and VP Vance, met with Ukrainian president Zelenskyy, to do a photo op in advance of the parties, signing a deal, giving the US mineral rights in Ukraine, and exchange for our aid to that country. That’s fine.

Zelensky Spoke in front of The president About his need for security, guarantees, etc., which were comments best made behind closed doors. 

But what happened after that was astonishing. Trump, Who today didn’t know when the Ukraine war started, and Also, did not know how much aid we had given Ukraine, treated Zelensky with great disrespect in a series of comments. 

The bearded sneak JD Vance, then sucker punched Zelensky Questioning his gratitude for the aid already given by the US. ( Zaleski has publicly thanked the US countless times for aid given, including before both sessions of the US Congress ) 

A few interrelated things are  clear now.

One, For the first time in American history, We have a president who does not believe in our military alliances.

Two, We have a president who has no respect for our allies ( Canada, Ukraine, The NATO countries ) But who Has respect for dictators 

Three,  Our allies cannot count on the United States anymore. At this point, if Russian forces crossed into Estonia, To “liberate “the Russian speakers of Varna, do you think that Trump would do anything about it?

Friedrich  Merz, Who will likely soon become the new head of the German government, Said this week that Europe must become independent of the USA, Because, under Trump, the US is “ Largely indifferent to the fate of Europe “. 

You can’t really count Any checks and balances to come in to play here within the US system, Because the US Congress is controlled by the Republicans, And almost every Republican congressman and senator is either a Trump supporter or is it afraid of the Trumper  mob. Witness how Lindsey Graham turned against Zalensky  today.

Trump isn’t wrong on everything, but he is dead wrong on this important thing. He is a danger to the security of the United States, and to that of our friends. God knows what we will see in the next days and weeks.