Symphony

Encore of Revival: America, December 10, 2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHQ-tTArRUE

The theory presented on September 10 and November 19 proved useful enough to predict White House Chief of Staff John Kelly's departure. No one announces in advance that someone is leaving—before the departure, without also announcing a replacement. Nobody cares about a boss whose boss already announced would be leaving. That's how to cripple any malevolent powers of an administrator that can't be quickly unplugged, but needs to go—and do so without raising suspicion that the administrator did anything wrong. Even in his dismissal—not a "retirement"—Kelly fits the bill as the author of the "New York Times essay", right down to getting tossed out in a way that no one would suspect a darned thing.

France is in trouble. The president who snubbed Trump has fallen into disfavor with his own people. This largely comes down to grandiose promises made by socialist agendas that everyone should have known could not deliver because of foresight rooted in hindsight. Socialism never delivers anything but what we see in France now. As for ado about Brexit, there's no point in worrying so much since the queen can decide anyway, if she wants to. That's what the British always tell Americans is so wonderful about the UK's constitutional monarchy. But, acting like this is a problem helps keep the British press afloat.

A Trump campaign payment is now being compared to a situation with 2004 Democratic candidate John Edwards. But, that has three major holes in its boat: 1. The accusation encircles alleged campaign finance violations surrounding the Trump organization's lawyer, Cohen, whose job it was to give legal advice; Trump is not a lawyer, Edwards was. Can a lawyer be witness against the client he advised, or secretly recorded? 2. The Mueller investigation sought to understand whether there was wrongful involvement with Russia and Trump. The Fourth Amendment limits the scope of search and seizure to a probable cause and any seized items must be specified by the warrant in advance. By starting with an investigation between Trump and Russia, but ending with a campaign finance accusation against a candidate accused by the lawyer who advised him, this has gone well beyond the scope that the Fourth Amendment was intended to limit. If courts allow this, it shows how much our legal justice system has wandered from the Constitution. 3. The electorate will want a good explanation for why Hillary wasn't treated this way. The best reason so far would be that the courts have been usurped as a cudgel for political rivals. It's not Trump who needs to be worried about an indictment; it's the legal justice system itself that is about to go on trial.

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Symphony

Encore of Revival: America, September 10, 2018

Assuming Jeff Sessions does not recuse himself again, if and when he investigates the mole undermining the will of the people now elected to the White House, he should look for someone akin to a spotless East Coast grad with a sense of personal duty, a history of "high grad" military status over real life, reverence for sailors like John McCain, little time in life to have acquired entrepreneurial startup bearings, and knowing how to correctly use the word "lodestar" along with a proper em dash—. In other words, they should look for someone similar to John Kelley.

As for the economy, it's the economy stupid. Republicans should win the midterm. Everything else is just excitement about excitement. Blue collar union workers usually vote blue, but don't count on it with them getting higher pay. As if that wasn't enough, this little maritime-savvy maverick hero from the White House just might bring out the vote enough to boost the republican electorate participation. Then, we also have all those #walkaway peeps, who are snowballing against the snowflakes.

The biggest mistake in Woodward's book was spelling Trump's name correctly. All press is good press, especially when the economy is clipping along.

As for Elon Musk's fall in stock prices, that sure does fit with his goal of making the company private again. If prices fall below his promised $420/share, his offer would seem attractive.

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