Trump has once again gone against his intelligence team.  He said they were naive after Dan Coats said everything opposite of Trump regarding North Korea, Iran, ISIS and the southern border.  Is there anyone out there who believes that Trump is right and the intelligence community is wrong on all of these situations?  I thought Bush was out of his mind when he went into Iraq instead of finishing the job in Afghanistan.  Now Trump thinks that people coming into the country to take jobs that Americans don't want is more dangerous than ISIS and North Korea?

Thirteen year old Alysa Liu won the U.S. women figure skating championship this past week.  Problem is, she can't represent the U.S. in the world championships because she is under the minimum age of 15. 

I had complained about these type of arbitrary age requirements before.  In the Beijing Olympics it was widely believed that some of the Chinese women gymnasts were under age.  I believed that they did skirt the rules.  But those rules are stupid and I believe they are racist.  Asians tend to mature at a younger age, reaching their full height earlier on average than Westerners.  I believe that this is the reason for the age requirement since western nations, particularly Europeans, dominate the federations of figure skating and gymnastics.

It is not about protecting kids, as the sports governing bodies say.  If that is the case, then they should not have junior championships where they do the same moves.  In most cases, the older athletes are able to do difficult moves better than young ones.  But they are doing the same flip, jumps etc.  The younger ones are not being injured more than the older ones.If someone younger can do better, then she should be the world champion regardless of age.  Generally it is not an advantage to be younger.  For example, Shawn Johnson was not better at 14 than 16.

The U.S. had gone along with the Europeans in the past in setting the age requirement.  But Alysa Liu is not the first American affected by this rule.  In 2008, Mirai Nagasu won the U.S. championship but was not allowed to compete in the World championships.  She was never as good as she was in 2008 even though she competed at the Olympics last year.  I think the U.S., with more Asian ethnic athletes than other Western nations, should try to get the rule changed.

I see that the Clemson football team visited the White House and was served various fast food by Trump.  Apparently due to the government shutdown, the White House staff was short and couldn't provide food.  So Trump paid for the fast food out of his own pocket.  In the process, he blamed the Democrats for the shutdown.  People were quick to criticize and make fun of Trump for this low class food affair.  I am not going to do that, it is really too easy.

I am wondering why Chick-Fil-A wasn't on the menu?  It is a fast food chain that is known to support conservative causes.  So it would seem that Trump would want to support this chain.  I mean, how can you not feel for an executive who is anti-gay with a name like Dan Cathy?  I wonder what it does to a man who is constantly called Cathy everyday?  Of course, I think that former MLB pitcher Ron Darling was not bothered by men calling him Darling everyday!

Bit I digress.  It seems that Trump doesn't always help his supporters.  Take the farmers group he is speaking to in New Orleans.  With his trade war with China, the farmers are hurting.  He then tried to decrease the pain by giving subsidies and loans to farmers.  But then with the government shutdown, the farmers are not receiving their subsidies and can' apply for the loans.  Also since farming requires a lot of immigrant help, his stance on immigrants are also hurting farmers.  But why would anyone thinks that a real estate guy who had a rich father would actually be sympathetic to the plights of the American farmers?

There are a lot of arguments over whether the Congress should subpoena the interpreter whose notes were snatched by Trump after a one on one meeting between Trump and Putin.  Trump didn't want any of his aids to go into the meeting with Putin.  Afterward, he took away the interpreter's notes so there will never be any record of what was said.  Some called for the interpreter to testify.  Others think that while Trump was setting a bad precedent by taking the notes, it would also be bad precedent to have the interpreter testify.  Like priests and lawyers, interpreters for president should not have to testify of what was said.  Plus, it is possible the interpreter may not remember clearly what was said at the time.

But I would argue that even if the contents of the meeting should not be divulged by the interpreter, he/she  should testify if Trump actually took the notes.  I think the people have the right to know of this unusual event took place.  Why would a president do that if he had nothing to hide.  If the interpreter can testify that the president indeed did that, I think it would be another sign that Trump is beholden to the Russians.

Trump has backed himself into a corner and he came out swinging last night with the usual lies.  He doesn't care how many people he hurts by the shutdown.  He only wants to placate his base and hopes that other Americans, if they heard enough of the lies, will actually believe him.

I thought the buck is supposed to stop at the president.  Trump said as much before the shutdown when he was seen on television telling the Democrats and the nation that he will take responsibility for a shutdown.  Last night he passed the buck by saying it was the Democrats who are responsible.  Of course he had the chance to avoid the shutdown completely if he had just signed the bill that had passed both the Senate and the House with bipartisan support before the shutdown.  In fact, the Senate passed it with the assurance that Trump would sign.  He changed his mind after people like Limbaugh and Coulter complained.  I didn't know the people elected those two to be president!

Trump said we have an emergency at the border.  Illegal crossing has dropped by half in recent years.  He claimed that terrorists are streaming across the border.  There has been no terrorists coming through the border with Mexico that the government has revealed.  None of the terrorists who have harmed us has come over from Mexico.  If there is a crisis at the border it is that Trump has slowed the processing of asylum seekers.  As a result the detention centers are overwhelmed.  With the shutdown, this crisis will get worse.  So Trump is actually the one who is creating a crisis.

Trump also blamed the southern border for the opioid crisis.  Yes, there are illegal drugs carried over from the Mexican border.  But they are carried by people with legal papers hidden in cars, trucks etc.  They are not carried over by asylum seekers.  There are many other means of smuggling drugs into the country and a wall will have no impact on that.  Heck, you can get drugs from China in the mail.  A lot of addiction is the result of drug companies and doctors providing the means.  I have always say, if you have a demand, you will get the supply.  The money that goes to a wall would be better spent to prevent addiction and for treatment.

I have not heard the public reaction to Trump's speech.  I hope they are not falling any of the nonsense he spewed last night.  But then there are still a lot of people who believe that Mexico will pay for the wall!

The good news is that the Evil Empire was defeated tonight.  Not just defeated, but bullied and humiliated.  Alabama was outclassed on offense, on defense and in coaching.  It gives the rest of the college world hope.

The bad news the Evil Empire Jr. prevailed tonight.  This is looking like the Celtics and Lakers rivalry of the 1980s.  Can anyone break their stronghold?  Certainly nobody came close this year as the other 2 semi-finalists were pummeled by these two.  The only consolation is that Lakers and Celtics did fall from the top eventually.  But of course Alabama and Clemson do not have to draft last like the NBA champions had to do.  They get the top drafts (5 stars recruits) year after year.  So it maybe a few years before these two leave the top of the college football ranks.

Happy new year, everybody,  Hope 2019 is better for us domestically, internationally and economically.  It will be quite a year with the Democrats taking over the House, Mueller's investigation bound to be over and all the Democratic presidential hopefuls will be throwing their hats into the ring.

The first hat has already been thrown.  Elizabeth Warren has announced she is a candidate already.  She is already well known and yet she feels compelled to beat people like Kamala Harris, Corey Booker, Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders to the punch.   So all others may have to follow suit.  I personally don't think Warren is the best candidate.  Her heart is in the right place. Her call for regulation of Wall Street is correct, in my opinion.  But she comes across as too preachy and plays into the mid America's fear that coastal elitist are trying to tell them what to do.  She may not be able to carried swing states such as Ohio, Michigan and Florida. I also don't think that it will be good for the country if we swing to far left.  So being darling of the left like Sanders and Harris will not be ideal in the 2020 election.

My early pick is Joe Biden.  That is of course depending on his health and energy level since he is on the old side.  The left may think that he is too throw back to the past.  But I think his experience, especially in foreign affairs, is needed now.  Despite being a white male, I think he can get the black voters to come out as he was Obama's vp and good friend.  He will also be able to carry places like Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Michigan against Trump.  To balance the ticket and have a shot at Texas, I recommend that he pick Beto O'Rourke to be vp.  It also will show that the Democrats are ready for the next generation of leadership.

I don't want to write about Trump and his administration's incompetency in every blog.  So I was not even going to comment on the government shutdown that is going on.  I was trying to find something upbeat to write about.  But today's news out of Wall Street makes me angry and nervous.  The Dow lost another 650 points today.  I knew that this December was going to end up as one of the worst of all time.  But on Christmas eve, when the market is open for only half a day, a big drop in the Dow was not expected.  For someone like me who has retired and has no pension from a company, the profits I have made over the years in the stock market is what I will have  to live on for the rest of my life.  I am smart enough as an investor to know there will be bear market to suffer through.  But the drops recently, especially today, were all unforced errors on the part of the administration.

A president gets too much credit when the economy is doing well and too much blame when things are bad.  So I don't think Obama's handling of the economy is way better than that of Bush.  But you can't argue that Bush was better than Obama, that is for sure.  It is also a fact that the economy that Obama left for Trump was good and that if Trump doesn't screw it up, I think the economy will be still be good when he runs for reelection in 2020.  But he is screwing it up.  The trade war, the third government shutdown, the blaming of the Fed, the mess in his own cabinets, the numerous lies.  All these have negative effects.

So today, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin announced that he had discussed with all the major banks and he wants to assure everyone that there is liquidity in the banks to lend to consumers.  This scared the market because nobody thought there was no liquidity in the first place.  It is like telling a woman that you just met that you went to the doctor and you have no STD.  That will really make you attractive to her!  Right after that, Trump tweets that the Fed is to blame for the market crash.  So is he going to fire the chairman?  He said the Feds don't understand the value of the trade war.  Neither do most of us.  China's market is down but that won't win the trade war for us.  When China gets the flu, it will be contagious to us as well.  This is hurting the confidence of season investors like me.   Can you imagine what it does to novices in the market?  All unforced errors.

Trump said in the past that he knew more than the generals.  He then appointed four generals in his inner circle.  So we thought that at least he will get good military advice.  Then he had to get rid of Michael Flynn.  We thought that at least he got rid of a bad guy.  But now the other 3 generals are gone.  McMaster, Kelly and now Mattis.  I guess he still thinks that he knows more than the generals.

Mattis is the last one to resign because Trump abruptly announced pulling troops from Syria.  This was shocking to everyone in the military.  Even a lot of Republicans are shocked.  This will only benefit Russia, ISIS and Iran.  The proof is that Putin came out applauding the move.  You have to ask:  Do Trump and Putin know more about what is good for the U.S. than American generals?  Is Trump working for Russia?

It seems to me Trump and his administration has made a mess of the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in Canada.  Huawei is a target for the U.S. because it is believed that it was spying for the communist government of China.  It is also in violation of intellectual property theft according to the U.S.  This is not shocking as many companies in China are probably guilty of these accusations.  But spying is a two way street as Edward Snowden had revealed that the U.S. had spy on China in general and on Huawei in particular.  So why arrest Meng now?

It also curious that Meng was only charged with violation of the U.S. sanction on Iran, not spying.  How is that a crime for a foreign national?  Why would a non U.S. company be subject to a sanction that was unilaterally imposed on Iran.  The U.S. was the only country that withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal.  So Huawei was not violating international or Chinese law if it dealt with Iran.  Since Trump withdrew from the Iran treaty, it has made it clear that any company, foreign or domestic, that dealt with Iran will suffer economic consequences.  This economic pressure is legitimate use of American power.  But to arrest someone for violating a sanction that none of the other countries involved agreed to, seems to me is bullying on Trump's part.

The worst is that Trump has now said that Meng could be a chip in the trade war with China.  This legitimizes China's claim that this was all political and that Meng has not committed any real crime.  This also puts Canada in an awkward position as doing the U.S. work against China for U.S. political gain only.  In the short term, China will punish Canada even if it doesn't want to go deeper into a trade war with the U.S.  There maybe Americans and Canadians detained in China in retaliation.  In the long term, China will expedite its tech advances to decrease dependence to the U.S. in such as areas as semi-conductor.  U.S. allies in the future may not want to do the dirty work for the U.S. if they believe that they would be thrown under the bus by Trump as was Canada this time.

This is the time of the year I predict the bowl results of the Big Ten.  But before I get to that fun part of the blog, I want to make a comment of Trump's comment about Rex Tillerson.  Tillerson had some not so good things to say about the President.  As usual, Trump attacked Tillerson via twitter right away.  Trump said that Tillerson is dumb as a rock and lazy as hell.  My question is, Mr. President, why then did you pick him as Secretary of State if he is that dumb and lazy?  Tillerson was a way better businessman than Trump, given that he was head of Exxon.  Of course, people had criticized Trump for nominating a businessman with no diplomatic experience to be our top diplomat.  But Trump never listens.  If he keeps criticizing all those people who left him, what would you say about Trump's judgment of hiring them in the first place.

Okay, on to the fun part.  Here are the Big Ten teams who are going to win this bowl season:
Michigan, Ohio State, Michigan State and Penn State.  So I predict that the other 6 teams will lose.  I think it is the first time I predict the Big Ten will have a losing bowl record.  I will take Alabama and Clemson in the finals with Alabama winning.  Really going out on the limb here.

I didn't always agree with George H. W. Bush when he was president.   But I think he was fair minded and he governed with compassion.  I think he was humble and did not brag about himself, like some president I know!  The fact that Clinton and Obama became friends with him and sought his counsel says a lot about him. 

Two decisions that cost Bush politically impressed me about him.  One was ending his membership in the NRA.  He was an avid gun supporter until he realized that the NRA had gone too far.  The other was when he raised taxes after his "read my lips, no new tax" declaration.  He knew that it was going to cost him dearly in the election for raising taxes.  But he did it anyway because he thought it was the right thing to do.  How many politicians today would do that today? 

Rest in peace, Mr. President.