Plausible Accountability

I have been musing a bit over the McCain-Graham axis and the Putin Collaboration Theme versus the Trump Administration. McCain  is the head of the Senate Armed Services Committee and has a long tenure in the DC morass to accumulate opposition troops in the bureaucracy.

With the selection of McMaster for National Security Advisor it is pretty clear that Trump’s intent is to amass between Mattis, Kelly and now McMaster a phalanx of proven honor, skill and courage to offset both McCain and Graham’s expertise, especially in a Senate hearing.

(I found the following Instapundit link on McMaster to be quite illuminating

https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/257917/)

So far , the media has not tried any character assassination on Kelly for the immigration moves and enforcement, they are content to let Trump be … Continue reading

Fat tails and risk

I’ve read Nassim Taleb’s work on and off over the years. If you’re not familiar with Taleb, he is the author of The Black Swan, which got noticed after the economic crisis of 2008. I took a quick glance through his twitter feed today and found this video that might be of interest. I’ve gotten tired of the argument that there’s a greater risk of being struck by lightning than being a victim of terrorism. He explains why it is wrong to make comparisons of risks from terrorism to risks from more commonplace hazards.

In general, Taleb is quite sound. Taleb understands the president and why he has been so effective:

I was expecting that Trump would reset the tax code, foreign relations, etc. But I … Continue reading

The Cannonball Rally Strategy

On 11/16/2016 I posted a Ricochet piece on how Trump might run his Administration. I watched the press conference and today I saw the Florida rally. It looks like I might have stumbled into something. Let me know if this resonates:

Writing about the War on Trump- Post Election, Pre Inaugural Phase has made my mind spin a few ways to put this into a mental model.

The attacks, like they were on Reagan and Bush, will be relentless and pretty much from at least three sides. The Media, The DNC and allies, and the #ProNevers, with funding from the usual globalist donors.

One thing that worked for Trump during the election was he comes at the problem from outside the normal political frame. He came at this … Continue reading

Shades of Teddy

As I watch DT move in the political sea, I am struck by what seem to be parallels.

DT is an outsider. He is disliked by many, if not most, politicians. He’s a populist. He is a strong supporter of America, wants a strong military. He believes America should be at the forefront of nations. He believes inthe 2nd Amendment. He wants to build, or rebuild, the national infrastructure.

?Does not all this remind one of Teddy Roosevelt. Neither were really “conservatives”. Both were America First. Remember who came up with, “Speak softly and carry a big stick.”

Bet if you looked more carefully you’d find lots of parallels.

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One Country, Five Tribes

People often talk about other countries  governance in terms of their tribal compositions. As this Presidential term unfolds, keep in mind the tribes scrambling for the turf on the homeland.

So we have five tribes stuck on the same continent.

We have the working class producers, fixers, maintainers , and cleaner uppers

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We have the knowledge and service workers who write the code, enforce the process and move the payments and sales, count it, categorize it and send a cut to Uncle Sam. They also produce reports to provide evidence of wrongdoing by their companies if the government decides to demand payment beyond taxes.

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