West Point and the Army taught me a lot about leadership. Good leaders are concerned about their organization and its members. Good leaders listen. Good leaders are up front and of solid character. Which of these two scenarios is an example of good leadership? #1 Chairman Tony Krvaric calls me and says he notices that I’ve missed a few central …
The Democrats’ Veteran Gambit
Let’s connect the dots. Just last month NPR discussed the Democrat plan to use Veterans to take the House and now our social media feed is jammed with “Trump disrespects fallen soldiers” posts. Are the Democrats politicizing this? Absolutely. We’re the democrats waiting for a pre-text to jump on? Likely. From NPR: “The recruitment effort, designed to …
A few points on Medicare For All
“Today, the Medicare Tax rate is 1.45% for individuals with earned income up to $200,000. Employees and employers each pay 1.45%, for a total of 2.9%. Unlike with Social Security taxes, there is no limit on the income subject to Medicare taxes.” – Medicare only covers 50m people. So it would cost 6 times current rate to cover everyone – …
Trump and the California GOP
I’d be lying if I wasn’t happy seeing the end of Clintonism. As Trump’s victory rolled in, his strategy became apparent. Energize the rust belt filled with blue collar workers who have been abandoned by the Democrats in both social policies and, with Clinton, economic ones. Trump recognized that the Blue Collar Reagan Democrats, with its wide presence in several …
The Disgusted Middle Strategy
Karl Rove engineered George W Bush’s wins by turning out the base. A lot of this was accomplished using “wedge” issues. This approach became the hallmark of GOP strategy even though candidates like Sen. McCain and Gov. Romney failed to excite the base. But now we have a candidate, not issues, that have excited the base. This served Donald Trump …
170 years ago, California was Independent
June 14th – the U.S. Army’s Birthday (1775), Flag Day (1776) . Few know it’s also California’s Birthday. 170 years ago, a few American settlers with whiskey approached the Mexican Governor, Vallejo, and told them they were declaring an independent California Republic. Vallejo agreed and so they spent the night designing the flag. That’s a brief summary, Bear Flag Rising …
Who will be Trump’s VP?
What calculations go into a Vice President pick? Ben Carson, may have weighed in during his short time on the vetting team. Over the past few campaigns, VPs weren’t picked on their ability to succeed the Presidential candidate but to add credibility to the ticket. Here are a few reasons why VPs were picked in past elections: The Uniter. Ronald …
Trump Fights like ISIS
If you’re looking for an article calling Trump a terrorist, look elsewhere. This is a quick analysis of how Trump’s political campaign echoes a lot of the “guerrilla” asymmetric tactics ISIS has had in its own conflict. Their ideologies are vastly different, but in the information age there appears to be successful strategies people can employ. Here are just two: …
We’re All RINOs Now
Cruz is out, Kasich is far behind. Trump is the presumptive nominee. Love him or hate him, one thing is for sure he’s not the Republican of the past. He’s never held office. He’s the most “outsider” of any candidate since Wendell Willkie. Either in the primary or in the past he has been all over on the GOP platform …
Yahoo’s missed opportunity
Yahoo is dying. The Sunnyvale, CA company is being approached by buy out suitors. It has long been the forgotten search site, mail site, news site, and whatever other site. It’s been crowded out by Google and Facebook as the place people go online. They had a chance to reinvent themselves years ago. But because it lives in the …
Personality trumps Policy
With Trump heavily favored to be the GOP nominee, how will he be in the general? Most pundits assume the rhetoric we’ve heard in the primary will continue. By then Trump would know that he already won the GOP primary, he needs to get Independents and Democrats. Trump will change tone and focus on other issues. Supporters would argue that …
San Diegans Feel the Bern
Bernie Sanders campaigned in San Diego yesterday (March 22). This is his only official stop in California on this trip. The event was free and open to the public, but admission was first come, first served. By mid-morning Monday his website had stopped accepting reservations. Unfortunately, for Bernie fans who missed it, I sense that the irony was missed. What …
California – Make or Break for Trump?
New York Times is speculating on scenarios. Based on how the voters have been split over the variety of state contests, Trump has been winning but not enough. That may make our June 7th primary worthwhile. “Mr. Trump will probably need to win California, which has 172 delegates. California is winnable for Mr. Trump, but it could be a difficult …
Finally, the Populists get their chance
With results showing Trump dominating Super Tuesday, the populists finally get their chance to put before the American people what they want. Trump’s positions on immigration, Muslims, and trade is something we have not seen from any general election presidential candidate in decades. Populists contend that the establishment wouldn’t let it happen because they were worried about ‘electability.’ Now we’ll …
Drop that Aloe Vera
Surprise! That natural treatment for sunburns gives you cancer. The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) is putting Aloe vera, whole leave extract, to the Proposition 65 list of chemicals known to the state of California to cause cancer. Despite the widely accepted extensive health benefits of Aloe vera, an unelected regulator in Sacramento can now tell you and …
UCSD absurd claims on Voter ID Fraud
UCSD Researchers are making the case that voter ID laws suppress minority votes. California is one of a few states that have no voter ID laws. Liberals maintain that requiring ID is discriminatory and disenfranchises voters. Several studies make the ludicrous claim that there is no significant voting fraud in the US due to a low turn out. Though there …
The 25+ year Mideast War
January 17 marks the 25th year since the United States began direct military action in the Islamic World. It started off easy enough with the opening air campaign of the Gulf War in 1991. But every year since then we have either bombed or had troops engaged in combat there with little to show for it. As we roll into …
Obama’s EO is about politics not gun violence
CNN had a big staged town hall last night. The Executive Order has a number of provisions that try to make selling harder and expands background checks. San Diego politicians posted their reactions. The thing is, none of these measures will likely have an impact. Of course, there is no objective and success criteria to evaluate the executive order either. …
Yes, Research Gun Data
Recently, shocking events morph into some unrelated actions. A shooting in a black church turned into taking down confederate monuments. Mass shootings are turning into a debate on the CDC not being allowed to research gun deaths. Truth is the CDC has never been stopped from researching, it just got its funding cut and for good reason. Several CDC Senior …
VA the 9/11 First Responders
A $7.4 Billion bill died in the Senate. Democrats are saying the GOP doesn’t want to help the 9/11 responders who suffer a variety of health ailments. The GOP says the price tag is too high. Of course, the devil is in the details and it’s murky at best where the $7.4 Billion figure came from. But here is a …
Recent Comments