President Donald Trump: “What Do You Think Of Me So Far?

Well, to be perfectly honest sir, some things could have gone better.  Your recent trip of foreign diplomacy has had mixed reviews.  Saudi Arabia and Israel seemed happy to see you, the rest of Europe, not so much.  The British, Germans, and French don’t seem to be your biggest fans.  Even the pope looked like he would rather be sitting on a prayer rug in a mosque in Kabul, than to be standing next to you.

Smiling Trump----------------------------The Pope       

On a brighter note, I can’t think of another time in history when almost half of all Americans could name the presidential line of succession down to its fifth layer.  Trump, Pence, Ryan, Hatch, and Tillerson are the current line-up.  Your guess is as good as mine as to why they would know this.

Line of Succession as of June 1, 2017, subject to change.

I’m sure this knowledge comes partly from television shows like Designated Survivor, House of Cards, The West Wing, Scandal, and Madam Secretary.  However, yours is the biggest reality show on TV and naturally gets only the highest of ratings.  This is perhaps because it is carried by CNN, Fox, and MSNBC 24/7 ad-nauseam.  That show is the Donald Trump Breaking News Show.  These three networks hang on your every tweet.  Everyone tunes in.  Half of the audience is hoping you have screwed up something that will get you impeached but without the world imploding.  The other half of the country is hoping you prove they were right in voting for you by actually bringing back their jobs without cutting their benefits.

Most of us now have Breaking News numbness.  It was rumored that for a short while the CNN Breaking News graphic had to be taken off line to cool down.  Wolf Blitzer was forced to temporarily use the old, “This Just In” phrase that doesn’t really have the same impact.

I’m sure most would agree that your firing of James Comey, while he was in the midst of investigating you and your associates, could have been handled better.  You will probably survive the independent counsel investigation, but some of your friends may not fare so well.  Just a point here, when they talk about Russian ties, they are not talking about the silk things you wear eight inches past your belt line.  Although, to be fair, your ties are not made in Russia.  They are made in China, Bangladesh, Honduras, and Vietnam, along with your Trump shirts and suits.

The Borscht Thickens  

Again, on a positive note, you have managed to confuse folks with your seemingly random position changes.  We hope that your “rope-a-dope” antics are really a tactic and not just general confusion.  We are all waiting for you to come off the ropes and say something eloquent and meaningful.  The rope-a-dope only works if you eventually stop the beating and go on to win the fight.  On a personal note, both you and Ali are from the same area of the world.  You are of German/Scottish ancestry (mother was a Scottish immigrant seeking a better life in America) and Ali was Irish.  Ali’s great-grandfather emigrated from Ennis, County Clare, Ireland in the 1860’s.

The Rope-A-Dope          

So far, your presidency has parallels with another of America’s great presidents.  Richard M. Nixon.  Both you and President Nixon were maligned by the press.  You both made inroads with China.  You both fired people who were investigating your offices.  (Nixon ordered the firing of Archibald Cox and you fired James Comey.)  Both of your White House press secretaries (Ron Ziegler and Sean Spicer) struggled to explain a White House with more positions than the Kamasutra. 

Kamasutra Positions

Nixon hired young political operatives to disrupt the campaigns of Democratic candidates.  You only encouraged the Russian government to hack Hillary Clinton’s emails.  I’m sure you had nothing to do with the hacking of the Democratic National Committee and the subsequent release of damaging information to WikiLeaks.

Another similarity, both of you know how to use your thumbs.

Thumb Use, Nixon's Looks Bigger

You won the presidential election by letting Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee know that there are no rules in a knife fight.  Harvey Logan learned this bitter lesson from Butch Cassidy in the movie that bears his name.

Rules?  In a knife fight?

You seemed surprised when, after you promised to fix Obamacare in a matter of weeks, you found it to be “complicated.”  Who could have seen that coming?  It could be simple.  You might just copy the highly successful health care plan worked out for members of Congress.  They have unlimited coverage for life.  They all seem happy.  Why not just give that same plan to the rest of us?  Upon closer examination, by a local class of third graders, it would seem that plan would bankrupt the nation. 

Perhaps you should look internationally and pay a visit to Singapore.  According to Bloomberg Financial, the Singapore system is the world's most efficient.  By contrast, the US spends over 17% of its GDP on healthcare (2014 numbers).  This is higher than any other nation in the world.  Singapore comes in at 4.9% of GDP spent on healthcare.

We spend more of our GDP on healthcare than anyone else, and yet we rank 37^th in the world in quality.  This is according to World Health Organization statistics.  Singapore BTW, ranks 6^th.  You could also look to Physicians for a National Health Program which has done a good job evaluating the Single Payer system.  I will agree Obamacare looks like a thoroughbred designed by a committee.  That’s because it was designed by a committee.  We can certainly do better. You have the House, the Senate, the Supreme Court, and half a dozen family members supporting you.  What are you waiting for?

Thoroughbred Designed By A Committee

Well, between:

• that annoying little North Korean munchkin launching missiles every other day;
• repealing and replacing Obamacare;
• trying to build a gazillion peso wall on the southern border;
• several investigations into you, your staff, your family, and your advisors with regard to their ties to Russia;
• the persistent laughter of Vladimir Putin ringing in your ears;
• a war with the media;
• insomnia (assumed by your tweeting schedule);
• constipation (assumed because much of the time you seem full of ....);
• destroying our environment  *1
  
• deporting and blocking immigrants (what would your immigrant mother have said?)
• creating thousands of manufacturing and mining jobs in areas without factories or mines; and
• problems with ISIS, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Russia, Germany, England, Canada, Australia, France and NATO;

you would seem to have your little hands full.

Nuke the Chinese

Remember, it’s not called paranoia if they really are out to get you.

Background Music Playing Fail To The Chief

*1   The destruction of our environment (you just pulled the US out of the Paris climate agreement) could just be a clever tactic on your part to solve all of the problems in the Middle East.  Just make the whole place too damned hot for anyone to live and, problem solved.  Are you that clever?   Hmmm! 

Wait, I just remembered.  You don't believe in climate change.  Just when I think you've done something clever I realize my mistake.  No one should assume you are clever.  Dumb luck at times perhaps, but never clever.

-------------------------------
FOOTNOTE

You claimed that you pulled out of the Paris climate agreement because you were elected by the people of Pittsburgh and not the people of Paris.  I'm sure you didn't realize it when you spoke but the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania voted overwhelmingly for Hillary Clinton (by a margin of over 108,000).  When you go to spin this later on you can probably get Sean Spicer to say you were talking about Pittsburgh, Oklahoma (in corn country) and not the one in Pennsylvania's coal country.  The Oklahoma folks aren't too concerned about climate change.  But, if they ever figure out that their recent droughts and wildfires are connected to the weather, they might have a change of heart.

Identity Theft Made Easy by the USPS

Did you know that your US mail may be diverted by anyone at any time to any location of their choosing?  A child can do it.

The United States Postal Service was created in 1971 by the Postal Reorganization Act.  This change eliminated the old Post Office Department.  While the act was meant to improve the postal service so that it would function more like a business, the USPS is still a government organization.  As such, it suffers much from the same bureaucratic ills of any government entity.

While much of their business functions with relative efficiency, i.e., the mail gets delivered, there is at least one area that is in serious need of overhaul.  That area of concern is the Official Mail Forwarding Change of Address Order, or PS Form 3575 to be more precise.  This simple form measures roughly 5” X 7” and has 10 basic line items.  It shouldn’t take more than a couple of minutes to complete by any legitimate citizen or thief.  The postage is prepaid by the Post Office.

Change of Address Post Card

While the USPS requires validation in the form of a minimal bank charge for an online address change, the paper post card version has no verification process.  Therein lies the problem, anyone can complete the form.  There is no verification of the signature placed on the form.  No identification is required.  Any individual can divert your mail to any location of their choosing with barely two minutes of effort.  Think about that.  Your credit cards, financial statements, bills, investment information, social security correspondence, banking information, tax returns, personal correspondence, personal information, medical information, medications, and packages can all be sent to anyone anywhere with the stroke of a pen, or pencil for that matter.

This can be done by anyone to anyone.  You just need the name and address of a person and you can send their mail anywhere you want.  Scammers don’t have to risk showing up at a post office and the change is almost immediate.

The USPS does mail a form letter to your address notifying you of the address change.  This may arrive after your mail has been diverted.  If you do receive this notification, and realize it is an important document, you are directed to call 1-800-ASK-USPS if you didn’t authorize the redirection of your mail.

It's Comforting to Know That the Postal Inspectors Still Ride Horses

There are two problems with this.  That notification phone number, when I called, estimated my wait time to be just over an hour.  The second more serious problem is that the notice looks like junk mail.  Mine was literally stuffed with advertising much of which was related to my “recent move.”  There were fliers for hauling services, car insurance, life insurance, DirctTV, Lowe’s, and Xfinity.  With so much crap stuffed in one envelope, it would be easy to miss the “flier” from the USPS Change of Address Security Division.  I'm sure the USPS makes a few advertising dollars with this part of the venture, but is it worth the risk?

Junk Mail, Your Change of Address Notification May Be In Here

Identity theft is one of the fastest growing crimes in America and the USPS is still using a 1950’s mentality with the Honor System.  In 2016, the cost of identity theft has been estimated at 16 billion dollars and it affected over 15 million people.

Simple changes in USPS policies and procedures would go a long way to either solving the problem or at least make life more difficult for thieves.  My recommendations for change are as follows:

• Eliminate the post card Change of Address Order.  Keep the form but require that it be hand delivered to a postal facility where identification must be provided and recorded.

•  Modify the form so that the signature line clearly states that fraudulent filings are subject to fines and up to 5 years imprisonment.  The current “see conditions on reverse” statement is not sufficient.

•  Modify the form to require a telephone number or an email address.  Individuals who have neither would delay the activation of the change until a notification letter has been mailed to the original address.

• The Postal Service should allow anyone to "lock down" their mailing address with personal information like a copy of authorized signatures, passwords or pin numbers, verifying phone numbers and/or email addresses.  Requests for change of locked accounts would require validation of the request using the provided information. 

•  Remove all advertising fliers and clutter from the Change of Address notification.  Mark it clearly as An Important Document from the United States Postal Service.

•  When evidence of a fraudulent Change of Address is discovered, both the legitimate and the bogus address postal carriers and annexes should be notified immediately.  The illegitimate location should take steps to prevent errant delivery.

In the 1950’s there were but a few credit cards in use, the Internet had not been invented, and home computers did not exist.  Identity theft was not the epidemic it is today.  In the 1950’s a post card change of address form made sense.  In the 21^st Century however, the Honor System represented by the USPS’ use of an unverified process for redirecting critical personal information, is an abhorrent decision.

While the above listed recommendations for change may involve a level of inconvenience for a few, a loss of advertising revenue for the USPS, and bit of extra work, the alternative is the continued exploitation of vulnerable individuals by criminals.  The grief and consternation caused by the theft of your personal information is reason enough to put up with the minor inconvenience of these recommended changes.  It is high time to correct this flaw in the system.

America, Land of the Free; Not So Much

Our founding fathers had a good idea and put together a set of documents outlining our new government.  They did however make a few mistakes.  If for a moment we can put aside the fact that a group of men decided that all men were free, while many of these men were slaveholders, we can address another of their grievous errors.  That mistake deals with freedom of religion.

The United States Constitution is mostly devoid of references to religion.  It merely touches on religion in Article VI where it prohibits religious scrutiny in order to hold public office.  Nice in theory but in modern practice professed atheists or others with less than mainstream religious backgrounds (read, Christian) need not apply.  Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and William Taft were accused of being atheists.  Dwight D. Eisenhower was raised as a Mennonite but abandoned that religion and was baptized as a Presbyterian prior to his first term.  John F. Kennedy was challenged for his Catholic faith.  Barack Obama, a Christian, was accused of being a Muslim and an atheist.

Freedom of religion was not seriously addressed until the 1789 adoption of the First Amendment to the Constitution (actually this was the third amendment proposed but One and Two were not adopted so number Three moved to the head of the class), which reads:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

We would have been better served by a policy of freedom FROM religion, not freedom OF religion.  Such an edict would have allowed individuals and groups to practice and believe anything they wanted so long as those beliefs were not imposed, in any form or fashion, on others.  Reasonable interpretations of such a written policy would have made it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to force prayer into schools, government assemblies, and other policy decisions.  President Eisenhower would have found it difficult to adopt “In God We Trust” as the nation’s official motto and dictate that it be printed on all US paper currency.  It should be noted here that this phrase had been on US coinage since the Civil War.

If you think all of these issues were settled by the Supreme Court ages ago, think again.  As this is being written in April of 2017, the State of Florida legislature is again considering legislation (SB 436) to bring prayer back to schools.  The bill is titled, "Florida Student and School Personnel Religious Liberties Act."  Even in the title, the writers are attempting to hide their intent with wording that would lead you to believe it is merely a reinforcement of established freedoms.  

The drafters of this bill are meticulously trying to structure a new law to avoid conflicts with the Constitution and previous Supreme Court decisions.  Their motivation is clear, they want religion and prayer back in our schools and government, even if they have to “tolerate” other beliefs.  What they fail to address is the fact that no person or student should be held in a place or forced to even hear the expression of the religious beliefs of others.  If I have a right to an education, and elect to attend a public school, I should not be forcibly subjected to the influences of any person's religious beliefs.

We already have parochial schools, private schools, and school vouchers that would allow students to attend an institution catering to their religious wants and needs.  While I object to the use of tax dollars to support religious schools, the mere fact that they currently exist would question the need for a further erosion of our supposed separation of church and state.  I have no problem with free speech when it is truly free.  By this I mean, anyone should be entitled to express an opinion in a forum where that opinion can be challenged and debated.  Such is the foundation of higher learning.

It should not be governmental policy however, that a student body be forcibly subjected to religious indoctrination, by way of the expression of the religious beliefs of others, in a school setting.  Even the process where religious opinions are proffered as subjects for debate, such debates would have no place in our lower grade levels.  Elementary school children are not yet well equipped to challenge these opinions.  These children would be subjected to adult belief systems if this legislation were to pass.

In our current fact challenged society, we do not need a furtherance of unchallengeable opinions, expressed as religious beliefs, to confuse our impressionable students.  Facts such as evolution should be taught as science where the proof can be shown.  The scientifically provable fact that the earth is well beyond the Bible’s 6,000 years in age, is established.  Anyone who wishes to challenge such facts needs to express more than mere opinion.  It is not sufficient to state, I read it in the Bible, or the Talmud states, or the Koran says, or I heard on Fox News that something is true.  Come up with your scientific proof or be able to admit yours is just an opinion and that it may not be true.


Wording in the Florida bill states that it is, "authorizing a student to pray or engage in religious activities or expression; authorizing a student to organize prayer groups, religious clubs, and other religious gatherings" and it further prevents school personnel from preventing such activities.

These “good Florida Christians” in public office should weigh the potential for disruption that would be inherent in their proposed legislation.  Do they plan to halt all school activities so devout Muslims can break out their prayer rugs at the appointed times?  Will teachers of varying beliefs be forced to monitor and supervise religious activities of all faiths?  Will atheists be allowed to counter others with their “heresy”?

Keep religion the Hell out of our public schools, if you believe in such a place (Hell, not public schools).

For more on my opinions on religion you may read my blog entry that directly deals with the topic of  religion.