SYDNEY WILLIAMS: MARCH 2018- THE MONTH THAT WAS
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March came in like a lion and maintained its “Big Cat” status for most of the month – four Nor’ Easters here in Connecticut! Only in its last few days did the month begin to resemble a member of the ovine race, and then more of a ram than a lamb. The month saw persistent, unprecedented attacks on Mr. Trump, like Joe Biden who threatened to beat him up (imagine two septuagenarians going at it!); andJohn Brennan who alluded to Trump’s venality and moral turpitude (talk of the pot calling the kettle black!).And then there were the gale-force winds of a morally deficient porn star “Stormy” Daniels, a temptress, certainly, but more a squall than a tempest, in her claim of being defamed.
It was not only gusty weather and blustery verbiage from Washington that made the month roar like a lion. Wall Street’s bears, who had emerged from hibernation in February, continued their selling in March. Islamic terrorists persisted in the killing and maiming of civilians in Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Pakistan, India, Yemen, Niger, Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Egypt and France. Gun violence at home and deadly fires overseas found their way into the month.
Kim Jong-un, President of North Korea announced his desire to meet with President Trump. The President accepted the invitation. An hysterical Left expressed disbelief. How could the loud-mouthed braggart in the White House succeed where pin-striped savants from “Foggy Bottom” had failed? Should the meeting come off, it would be reminiscent of the anti-Communist Richard Nixon going to China in 1972. For Trump is a hard-liner when it comes to North Korea. He believes in negotiating from strength. Keep in mind, the ironic motto of the former Strategic Air Command (SAC): “Peace is Our Profession.” Mr. Kim met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, which was likely a command performance. It is stability in the Korean peninsula that the Chinese want, and the mercurial Mr. Kim’s antics have made them nervous. The mandarins in Beijing do not want a nuclearized Korean Peninsula. Two consequences of Mr. Kim’s parley with Mr. Xi: the announced visit of Kim Jong-un to South Korea and an overture made to Japan.
Elsewhere, in the Syrian city of East Ghouta, on the outskirts of Damascus, rebels were forced out after months of combatting Assad’s troops and their Russian allies. Over a thousand civilians have become casualties in fighting that is reminiscent of Aleppo. Nerve gas was responsible for the near-deaths of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the English city of Salisbury. Without doubt, Vladimir Putin was responsible, even though he denied Russian complicity. Great Britain expelled 23 Russian diplomats. President Trump ordered the Russian consulate in Seattle closed and told 60 Russian intelligence officers they had seven days to leave the U.S. By last Monday, more than 25 countries had acted in solidarity with Great Britain, in the largest collective expulsion of Russian intelligence officers in history. Russia retaliated, expelling diplomats and shuttering the U.S. consulate in St. Petersburg.
The autocratic Mr. Putin won re-election as President of Russia. Despite his authoritarian ways (or better yet, because of them), his margin of victory keeps increasing – this time with 77% of the vote. By the end of this term (2024) he will have served as the undisputed leader of Russia longer than any man since Stalin. The Italian election was a triumph for nationalist populism, with the Five Star Movement receiving 30% of the vote. They, with the Northern League and a handful of nationalist/xenophobic parties, will control 55% of the seats in the Chamber of Deputies. The big losers were center-left and center-right parties, indicating unhappiness with Brussels and a failure of centrists to deal with the economic and immigration crises facing their country. Egypt’s election was marred by a car-bomb explosion in Alexandria, when two policemen were killed in an attempt to assassinate security chief General Mostafa el-Nemr. In a feigned democratic vote, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi won re-election with more than 90% of the vote. Facing impeachment, Peru’s President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski resigned, elevating Vice President Martin Vizcarra.
Deck chairs at the White House were rearranged. Rex Tillerson will be replaced at State with CIA Director Mike Pompeo; Larry Kudlow replaced Gary Cohn as head of the National Economic Council, and John Bolton displaced H.R. McMaster as National Security Director. Gina Haspel, Deputy Director of the CIA, will be nominated to assume the Director’s role. If approved by the Senate, she will become the first female head of that organization. In my opinion, Pompeo and Bolton have their moral compasses pointed in the right direction. Mr. Bolton, the “bête noire” of progressives, once expressed his opinion about treaties in the form of a question: “Does it solve the problem, or does it simply make the participants feel good?” Confronting Iran and going in to discussions with North Korea, the U.S., in my opinion, is best served by those who speak frankly and who believe that peace is best achieved through strength. The Roman military historian Vegetius once said (in Latin, not English): “If you want peace, prepare for war.” In terms of the economy, Mr. Kudlow has known the President for many years. He understands him, believes in free trade and is unafraid to disagree. Ms. Haspel stands accused of water-boarding, but she was abiding by rules in place at the time. David Shulkin was ousted as head of the Veteran’s Administration. As successor, President Trump will nominate White House Naval physician, Dr. Ronny Jackson.
Deputy Director of the FBI Andrew McCabe, a man who has difficulty with the truth, was fired by Attorney General Jeff Sessions two days before he would have been eligible for an “enhanced” government pension, whatever that is. He was fired based on a report from the Office of Professional Responsibility, an FBI internal committee that makes such recommendations. The reason: he lied to investigators, claiming to be “confused and distracted,” regarding the investigation into Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation. A disingenuous Mr. McCabe blamed his dismissal on President Trump – that he had been “singled out” after “unrelenting” personal attacks by the President. Advocating for Democrats, protecting their hides and looking for scapegoats is the principal activity of too many senior bureaucrats in Washington. Too often, those like Mr. McCabe – think of Lois Lerner – have escaped responsibility for nefarious acts.
The month had its share of violence. In a Maryland school, seventeen-year-old high school student Austin Rollins, armed with a hand gun, shot and killed sixteen-year-old Jaelynn Willey and wounded a fourteen-year old male student. When confronted by armed school resource officer Blaine Gaskill, the shooter turned the gun on himself. In Austin, Texas the FBI and local police caught up with Mark Conditt who had mailed five packages that exploded, killing two and wounding one. He blew himself up as officers approached his car. Three women hostages were killed at a California veteran’s facility, after a day-long siege, along with the gunman, thirty-six-year-old Albert Wong.
March for Our Lives was held in Washington, D.C. with rallies in cities around the country. Organizers claimed that 800,000 showed up in Washington to protest guns, which would make it the largest rally in the country’s history. The demonstration centered around students from Parkland, Florida where seventeen students were slain at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school on Valentine’s Day. The rally show-cased the power of youth, only marred by celebrities seeking publicity and politicians trolling for votes.
In economic and financial news, Congress passed, and the President signed, a $1.3 trillion spending bill, to take the government through the balance of its fiscal year. That’s a lot of money the country doesn’t have. “Grant’s Interest Rate Observer” reported that net borrowing in fiscal 2018 will be $955 billion and $1.083 trillion in fiscal 2019. Keep in mind, debt is increasing as interest costs are rising. This will become a ‘catch-22’ event, if not next year, at some point. The Federal Reserve raised the Fed Funds rate another twenty-five basis points, to 1.75% – still a quarter point below where it was in the third quarter of 2008. (Incredibly, the Federal Reserve kept Fed Funds in a range of zero to 25 basis points for twenty-six quarters!) They suggested there will be another two or three additional increases this year. The President spoke of placing tariffs on steel and aluminum, but later exempted all participants except for China, showing once again that it is not what Mr. Trump says that is important, but what he does. Sanctions were increased on North Korea ahead of the expected May meeting. Congress rolled back bank regulation on small banks, which have been pressured by mountains of regulation. Despite concerns ten years ago, big banks have become even bigger. Assets at the four largest banks, as a percent of national GDP, have risen from 43% in 2008 to 47% now, while small businesses have been hurt, as small and mid-size banks were unwilling, or unable, to lend. Household net worth rose to $98.4 trillion, a record. Broadcom’s bid for Qualcomm was delayed pending issues of national security. Stocks fell for the second consecutive month, down 3.7%, as measured by the DJIA. Treasury bonds rose in price and the price of Bitcoin declined 30 percent.
An Islamic attack in the small town of Trèbes, France killed five, but created a hero in Arnaud Beltrame who swapped himself for a female hostage and died as a result. Former Catalan leader Carlos Puigdemont was detained in Germany on an international arrest warrant after crossing the border from Denmark. Malala Yousafzai, who received the Nobel Peace prize in 2014, returned to Pakistan (under heavy security) for the first time since being shot in 2012 by Islamic militants. Her crime: championing education for girls. Seven U.S. soldiers died in a helicopter crash in Iraq. Sixty-four people, including 41 children, were killed in a mall fire in the Siberian city of Kemerovo. A fire in a prison in Venezuela caused the death of 68 inmates. Hillary Clinton, on her “explaining” tour, spoke in Mumbai where she referred to the 63 million people who voted for Mr. Trump as dupes, racists, misogynists and/or stupid. (I guess I know where I stand!) Qantas Airways made a “giant leap forward in long-haul travel,” as the New York Timesput it, with a non-stop, seventeen-hour flight from Sydney, Australia to London.
Cambridge Analytica was called out for providing data on 50 million Facebook users to Donald Trump’s 2016 Presidential campaign. (Of course, when the Obama campaign used similar methods in 2012 it was considered smart politics.) Consequently, Mark Zuckerberg has been asked to appear before Congress. Facebook and other tech companies may find themselves subject to more intense regulation. (I will have more say on this subject in a future TOTD.) Democrat Conor Lamb won the special election in Pennsylvania’s 18thDistrict, a traditionally Republican district, but one that is being gerrymandered out of existence. The hypocritical Senator from Massachusetts Elizabeth Warren told Mike Mulvaney, newly appointed head of the CFPB (Consumer Finance Protection Bureau) that she would give him “one last chance” to answer questions about his role at the bureau. In September 2010, Senator Warren was appointed by President Obama to establish the agency, something she had proposed three years earlier while a professor at Harvard Law School. The agency, as designed by Ms. Warren, is independent of Congress and receives its funding from the Federal Reserve, a condition she apparently now regrets or has forgotten.
Tenured Professor Amy Wax of the University of Pennsylvania Law School was dismissed from teaching a required course to first year law students, because her opinions were at odds with those of the administration and some students, students who are supposed to be there to learn, not instruct. It was announced that Netflix is in discussions with former President Obama to produce a series of “high-profile shows” that will, according to the New York Times, “provide him a global platform after his departure from the White House.” Whatever happened to the standard set by George Washington, and followed by most ex-Presidents – with the notable exception of Bill Clinton – to disappear from the limelight after they leave the Presidency? “The Shape of Water” won best picture at the Academy Awards. The story involves a young woman having sex with a sea monster, which says a lot about our culture. As an example of mindless political correctness, Mount Holyoke, an all-women’s college in Massachusetts, is asking professors and others to no longer refer to their students as women. A case before the Supreme Court, “National Institute of Family and Life advocates v. Becerra” is about compelling pro-life pregnancy centers to provide free information about abortions.
“March madness” crept into April, when Notre Dame will play Mississippi State for the women’s NCAA title, while Michigan will play Villanova for the men’s. Baseball’s opening day came at the end of the month, with 28 of the 30 major league teams in play. The newly-signed Yankee Giancarlo Stanton hit two homeruns! In Alaska, Joar Ulsom of Norway won the 1000-mile Iditarod race, from Anchorage to Nome in nine days, thirteen hours and one minute…and sixteen exhausted dogs.
Death claimed Peter G. Peterson (91) who went from the chairmanship of Bell and Howell at age 36, to White House assistant, to the chairmanship of Lehman Brothers, back to the White House, to chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations, and finally to the Peterson Institute for International Economics. His concern was Democrats habit of over spending and Republicans excessive use of tax cuts. Death took Stephen Hawking, the brilliant theoretical physicist who was Director of Research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge, and the author of A Brief History of Time. He had an early-onset of a rare motor neuron disease, which gradually paralyzed him over many decades. He once offered two pieces of advice to the young: “One, remember to look up at the stars, not down at your feet. Two, never give up work. Work gives you meaning and purpose and life is empty without it.” Professor Hawing died at 76. Linda Brown also died at 76. Her name will forever be associated with the landmark 1954 Supreme Court racial segregation case, Brown v. Board of Education. Ms. Brown was nine years old when she was barred from attending the all-white public Summer school, a few blocks from her home in Topeka Kansas. “I didn’t comprehend color. I only knew I wanted to go to Summer,” she later explained. Her death is a reminder that progress, while sometimes painfully slow, does march on. Rusty Staub, the beloved Mets icon, died on baseball’s opening day, at 73.
We move on to April, the month when taxes come due, but also a month of firsts: when turtles first appear, when song-birds first return to their summer homes, when lilacs first bloom and the month when lawns first have their seasonal haircuts. It is also the month my wife and I celebrate 54 years of marriage.
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