Abby and her group off to Israel
++++
Merry Christmas to all my Christian friends !!
+++
Donald Trump was asked by Bill O'Reilly on Fox News if he could quote any bible verses.
He answered: "Yep, I sure can"....."Trump 20:16"
"What's that?" asked Bill.
+++ E mail from very long time, dear friend and fellow memo reader: "Dick,
"Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Deport the son-of-a-bitch, and you'll never have to feed him again.
Your most recent post was one again chock full of your rapier opinions yet more touching more issues than usual. As always, I loved it. I was reading along as always with my usual tickled enjoyment as you lobbed round after round of conservative truths in your unique editorial style when I got to:
Trump has done something the Chinese do not like and we attack Trump because our diplomatic initiatives are determined by a hostile nation?
And then realized this email was hitting more issues than average. In this email you articulated numerous, consequential points of triumphant conservative new directions for our nation as embodied by Trump from those of prior social democrats as embodied by Obama and Clinton. After years of angst about national decline, what pleasure to hope that we are now headed towards a greater America!
With best regards,
S------"++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ One argument against Trump was he did not possess the temperament to be president. So far he has disproved all the critics. I have no doubt they will continue to find a host of other things to attack him like his real estate enterprise.
His approach to the selection of his Sec, of State is an example of how careful he is approaching this meaningful position and how wide he is casting his net regarding meeting with and learning about available diverse talent.
I find it interesting Obama's ego will not permit him to go quietly and he is planning a multi-city farewell tour.
If I have any concerns, at this point, it is Trump's desire to speak out about everything. In time, I hope, he will learn, as president, his comments have impact and it would be wise to check with various and pertinent White House sources before he speaks or tweets.
My second concern relates to Trump's desire to heal our divided nation. He received a left hand compliment from Time Magazine honoring him as "The Man of The Year" and obliquely associating him with being responsible for our divided nation.
It is one thing to please a conservative and another doing so to a liberal. You can sate a conservative but with most liberals it is like feeding a starving man. The more you feed them the hungrier they seem to become.
In his desire to bring us together, if Donald goes to far, he will lose his own and the Democrats and liberals will still play him like a violin and still will never give him his due.
Tread softly on how far you extend yourself!!
Meanwhile, who, outside of family, has Trump's ear from the business community? (See 1 below.)
On another matter, Democrats have a knee jerk tendency to attack anything and anyone that challenges their thinking and they employ character assassination as one of their tools. I happen to know Rep. Price and he is the right doctor at the right time with the right prescription to alter Obamacare and make health care more affordable, more efficient without destroying the current system more than Obamacare already has. (See 1a below.)
====
Will Sen. Graham actually accomplish this? (See 2 below.)
+++
I have served on The Board of Advisors of The State Museum (GMOA) for decades and am proud to share this with you, The museum is located on the Univ. of Ga. Campus, in Athens. If you have never been to one of the nation's finest teaching museums I urge you do so and I will happily arrange a nice tour. (See 3 below.)
===
Obama again rubs in a former insult to Britain accordingly: "Obama Sent Top Official to Castro’s Funeral, but Not Thatcher’s." (See 4 below.)
++++
SOME DEMWITS WHO VOTED FOR OBAMA'S IRAN DEAL ARE BEGINNING TO GET NERVOUS AND NOW ARE ASKING ALL DOCUMENTS BEING KEPT UNDER WRAP BE MADE PUBLIC. (SEE 5 BELOW.)
===
The true story about what is happening in France. (See 6 below.)
Merkel is probably going to lose her bid for re-election. Her latest move to avoid this, and I believe will simply add a nail to her coffin, is seeking to ban burkas.
She allowed Germany to be overrun by Muslims who are not integrating Furthermore, many are causing harm to German citizens, some have engaged in raping German women etc. It is beginning to dawn on Merkel this is the price she is paying, as well as her citizens, for embracing Obama's advice.
===
For those who read these memos they know I did not predict Trump would win but I did lean in the direction of a Truman-Dewey possibility.
I then wrote, if Trump won, the market would initially sink, because of uncertainty, but then recover. The market did drop sharply but only for a day and when it re-opened it began to move upward and has continued along at a Merry Christmas pace.
I also stated, I liked BAC, MFC, KKR (financial related) MRK and, for speculation OPK, and more recently TEVA and well selected energy stocks - KMI. I also suggested the basic industry and defense sectors would probably do well. Most of what I thought has come to pass except Trump's comments about health care pricing has sent the drug stocks tumbling.
I believe the health care sector will recover for several reasons:
a) Repatriation of funds should benefit this sector and could lead to further consolidations.
b) As I reported in a recent memo, some favorable healthcare legislation is likely to pass which should accelerate drug approval, thereby, reducing development costs.
c) Trump has acknowledged America leads in health care and drug development. Companies that are engaged in coming up with new drugs should continue to do well, over time, and those that are simply improving their earnings, by raising prices, should not do as well. I believe the industry may bifurcate, ie/developers versus price raisers. Thus, I continue to favor Merck, Bristol on reaction and speculatively TEVA. With respect to the latter a key executive resigned and that adds some near term uncertainty. OPKO, technically speaking, was doing well until today (Dec. 7.)
Financials have advanced and BAC is probably up 50% from the 15 level and I continue to favor the energy sector for the long term and many of these stocks have responded to OPEC's decision to reduce production.
As for the market, current enthusiasm is probably overdone but there are still many individual stocks that have not participated and/or have just begun to such as KMI, BX and KKR for income and steady but modest appreciation. As inflation kicks in, world economies begin to stabilize and tilt up, depressed raw material stocks should also do better. Silver Wheaton could be an interesting speculative idea.
Defense and construction related stocks should also outperform. I am intrigued by Chicago Bridge (CBI) prospects longer term.
+++
Newt on Ben Carson and why Carson matters. (See 7 below.)
+++
I take no credit for these. They came from a dear neighbor and fellow memo reader and, though a bit lame, it is time for humor even if corny. (See 8 below.)
+++
Off to Orlando. Have a great weekend.
+++
Dick
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
1)Here are the CEOs and other business leaders who will have Trump's ear
By Eliza Collins
The full list is below, from the Trump transition team:
Stephen A. Schwarzman (Forum Chairman), Chairman, CEO, and Co-Founder of Blackstone;
Paul Atkins, CEO, Patomak Global Partners, LLC, Former Commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission;
Mary Barra, Chairman and CEO, General Motors;
Toby Cosgrove, CEO, Cleveland Clinic;
Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO, JPMorgan Chase & Co;
Larry Fink, Chairman and CEO, BlackRock;
Bob Iger, Chairman and CEO, The Walt Disney Company;
Rich Lesser, President and CEO, Boston Consulting Group;
Doug McMillon, President and CEO, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.;
Jim McNerney, Former Chairman, President, and CEO, Boeing;
Adebayo “Bayo” Ogunlesi, Chairman and Managing Partner, Global Infrastructure Partners;
Ginni Rometty, Chairman, President, and CEO, IBM;
Kevin Warsh, Shepard Family Distinguished Visiting Fellow in Economics, Hoover Institute, Former Member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System;
Mark Weinberger, Global Chairman and CEO, EY;
Jack Welch, Former Chairman and CEO, General Electric;
Daniel Yergin, Pulitzer Prize-winner, Vice Chairman of IHS Markit
1a) Washington Price Choppers
Liberals melt down over Trump’s anti-ObamaCare nominee for HHS.
The belief among Democrat that a Republican could never win another presidential election was apparently so firm that they’re still in a state of shock. They’re even more stunned that Donald Trump has dared to name an ObamaCare critic as his health-care point man—which makes for an instructive moment.
Tom Price, a six-term Georgia Congressman and mild-mannered orthopedic surgeon, is an unlikely villain. But liberals are already saying the Health and Human Services nominee will shred the social contract, leave poor people and cancer patients panhandling for care, and jail women for their reproductive decisions. Cecile Richards of Planned Parenthood claims that Mr. Price “poses a grave threat to women’s health in this country.” Earth to the abortion lobby: Declining to mandate and federally subsidize birth control coverage is not the same as “banning” it.
Meanwhile, the American Medical Association is facing an internal and social-media revolt over an anodyne statement that called Mr. Price “a leader in the development of health policies to advance patient choice and market-based solutions as well as reduce excessive regulatory burdens.” Supposedly this was a betrayal of doctors and patients, or something, but the big health-care societies always cater to power. They do so because so much of medicine is decided by government.
Mr. Price’s nomination is a refreshing signal that such state control isn’t an inevitability or necessity, starting with replacing ObamaCare. Most liberals are getting the bends coming up from their false triumphalism. They’ve spent years claiming the center-right vision for health care isn’t worth serious study while mocking Republicans for supposedly futile repeal votes. Maybe Republicans meant what they said.
You’d think that the people who designed and enforced a failed program might show more humility, or at least stop lecturing others. Even Hillary Clinton’s staff recognized the law is imploding. In a private Nov. 23, 2015 memo published by WikiLeaks, Chris Jennings, a former Obama aide who joined the campaign, wrote that the law’s performance is “at best, disconcerting” and identified other “troubling” signs.
One of them is that only about eight million people have paid the tax penalty for violating the individual mandate to buy insurance, and another 12 million have received regulatory exemptions. In other words, more people who were supposed to benefit from ObamaCare have opted out than have enrolled.
Now Democrats are assailing Mr. Price for proposing alternatives to the mess they created. The Republican, who took over the House Budget Committee from Paul Ryan, is a thoughtful and well-informed problem solver. Unlike many of his colleagues, Mr. Price hasn’t dodged details and specifics. He proposed an alternative to ObamaCare during the 2009-10 debate and in the years since he’s put flesh on the bones, including with legislative language.
Mr. Price’s Empowering Patients First Act relies on fixed-value tax credits to stabilize the insurance markets outside of employer-sponsored coverage. The switch to a defined contribution from a defined-benefit model is based on the transition to 401(k)s from pensions.
The American Medical Association is also right about Mr. Price’s opposition to central health-care planning. ObamaCare says the HHS Secretary “shall” write more than 1,800 regulations, and HHS has put out tens of thousands of pages of rule-makings. The Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that employment among “medical and health services managers” has increased by 31.5% since 2011. These are administrative workers who don’t treat patients but merely ensure compliance with federal and state mandates, and they help explain why U.S. health care is so expensive.
On that score, Mr. Trump also excelled by making Seema Verma his director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, with its trillion-dollar budget. She’s an architect of the Health Indiana Plan under former Governor Mitch Daniels and then Mike Pence that makes Medicaid more like private insurance and encourages beneficiaries to contribute to their own care. Ms. Verma even got a waiver from the Obama HHS, which in general has tried to suppress state innovation.
Republicans will have challenges as they attempt to transcend their own divisions and take responsibility for health-care policy for the first time in a decade. But sending Mr. Price over to HHS is one of Mr. Trump’s better personnel decisions.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++2) US Senator pledges to cut all aid to PA,
in response to PMW findings
Itamar Marcus
US Senator Lindsey Graham (Chairman Senate's Foreign Operations Subcommittee), has introduced legislation to cut all funding to the Palestinian Authority, according to yesterday's Jerusalem Post. This action follows other international outrage in response to PMW's report The PA's Billion Dollar Fraud, released earlier this year. PMW exposed that the PA tried to deceive international donors by making public statements that it had stopped paying salaries to terrorist prisoners, whereas in fact the PA continues to do so through the PLO.
Jerusalem Post:
"The United States Senate will aggressively promote legislation next month aimed at cutting funding... [Sen. Lindsey] Graham told the Jerusalem Post that as chairman of the Senate's Foreign Operations Subcommittee, he will work to cut US aid to the PA for continuing to pay
stipends to imprisoned Palestinian terrorists." (Click to view PMW Report exposing this)
"Under PA law, if you get convicted in Israeli court of being a terrorist, they give you a military rank based on how long you've been in jail," Graham said. "The longer you're in jail, the higher rank you get." (Click to view PMW bulletin exposing this)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
3) Dear Board of Advisors,
The Henry Luce Foundation recently awarded the Georgia Museum of Art with a $75,000 grant to finance Vernacular Modernism: The Photography of Doris Ullman, which will open in August 2018.
The Luce Fund in American Art supports exhibitions that will both engage the public and contribute meaningful and substantive scholarship to the field of American Art.
We are quite proud to find ourselves amid a group of distinguished institutions and fellow recipients of Luce grants, including: Art Institute of Chicago, Hammer Museum, Harvard Art Museums, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Morgan Library and Art Museum, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Tate Modern.
A link to the webpage with the full list of winners in all areas can be found here: http://www.hluce.org/
As always, you are welcome to contact us at any time.
Regards, William Eiland , Director
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
4)
Obama Era is Over
Obama and his supporters loved talking about history. His victory was historic. They were on the right side of history.
History was an inevitable arc that bent their way.
The tidal force of demographics had made the old America irrelevant. Any progressive policy agenda was now possible because we were no longer America. We Were Obamerica. A hip, happening place full of smiling gay couples, Muslim women in hijabs and transgender actors. We were all going to live in a New York City coffee house and work at Green Jobs and live in the post-national future.
The past was gone. We were falling into the gorgeous wonderful future of dot com instant deliveries and outsourced everything.
We would become more tolerant and guilty. The future was Amazon and Disney. It was hot and cold running social justice.
The Bill of Rights was done. Ending the First and Second Amendments was just a clever campaign away.
Narratives on news sites drove everything.
Presidents were elected by Saturday Night Live skits. John Oliver, John Stewart, Stephen Colbert and Samantha Bee were our journalists. Safe spaces were everywhere and you better watch your microaggressions, buddy. No more coal would be mined.
No more anything would be made. The end of men was here. The end of the dead white men of the literary canon. The end of white people. The end of binary gender and marriage. The end of reason. The end of art. The end of 2 + 2 equaling 4. This was Common Core time.
It was time to pardon an endless line of drug dealers. To kill cops and praise criminals. To be forced to buy worthless health insurance for wealth redistribution to those who voted their way to wealth.
This was Obama's America. And there was no going back. We were rushing through endless goal posts of social transformation.
The military fell. Then the police. Now it looks as quaint as anything from the 50s, the 70s or the 80s. A brief moment of foolishness that already appears odd and awkward. And then one day nostalgic. It wasn't the future. It's already the past. It's history
Scalia died. Hillary Clinton was bound to win. And she would define the Supreme Court. Downticket races would give her a friendly Senate. And then perhaps the House.
But there is no right side of history. There is only the side we choose.
The Obama era was permanent. It was history. Now it is history.
Its shocking ascendancy has been paired with an equally shocking descent. The Obama era is done. It's gone. It's over.
It was wiped from the pages of history in one night that left Congress and the White House in Republican hands.
It would have been bad enough if Jeb Bush had succeeded Obama. That would have been inconvenient, but not a repudiation.
Instead Obama's legacy was dashed to pieces. His frantic efforts to campaign for Hillary did no good. The public did not vocally reject him. What they did was in its own way even worse. They brushed past him. They sidelined him. They gave him passable approval ratings while dismissing his biggest accomplishments. They forgot him. They made it clear that he did not matter.
And that is in its own way far more brutal and wounding. They didn't just destroy the Obama era.
Instead they dismissed it as if it never existed.
Obama didn't make history after all. He wasn't a teleprompter demi-god standing athwart of history. He was Carter and Ford. He was there to be forgotten. He didn't change the world. He wasn't the messiah. He was merely mortal. Just another politician who will sag and age.
Who will, in the end, be photographed like Bill Clinton, lonely and lost in a world that has passed him by.
The Obama era ends not with a bang, but with a whimper. With a national consensus that maybe he didn't really matter so much after all.
And those to whom he mattered the most were his enemies determined to undo everything he did.
Obama once thought that he belonged to the ages. Now he belongs in the rubbish bin.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
5)
6) YES, France has become a "no go" zone for Jews
Once again, the real news in France is conveniently not being reported as it should.
To give you and idea of what's going on in that country where there are now between 5 and 6 million Muslims and about 600,000 Jews, here is an e-mail that came from a Jew living in France. "Will the world say nothing - again - as it did in Hitler's time?"
1. In Lyon , a car was rammed into a synagogue and set on fire.
2. In Montpellier , the Jewish religious center was firebombed;
3. So were synagogues in Strasbourg and Marseilles ;
4. And a Jewish school in Creteil.
5. A Jewish sports club in Toulouse was attacked with Molotov cocktails
6. On the statue of Alfred Dreyfus, in Paris , the words 'Dirty Jew' were painted.
7. In Bondy, 15 men beat up members of a Jewish football team with sticks and metal bars.
8. The bus that takes Jewish children to school in Aubervilliers has been attacked three times in the last 14 months.
9. According to the Police, metropolitan Paris has seen 10 to 12 anti-Jewish incidents PER DAY in the past 30 days.
10. Walls in Jewish neighborhoods have been defaced with slogans proclaiming 'Jews to the gas chambers' and 'Death to the Jews.'
11. A gunman opened fire on a kosher butcher's shop (and, of course,the butcher) in Toulouse, France
12. A Jewish couple in their 20's were beaten up by five men in Villeurbanne (the woman was pregnant).
13. A Jewish school was broken into and vandalized in Sarcelles , France ..
This was just in the past week.
As a.person with the capacity and desire to distinguish decency from depravity, I ask you to do at least - these three simple things:
1. First, care enough to stay informed. Don't ever let yourself become deluded into thinking that this is not your fight. I remind you of what Pastor Neimoller said in World War II: First they came for the Communists, and I didn't speak up, because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up, because I wasn't a Jew.Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up, because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me.'
2. Second, boycott France and French products. Only the Arab countries are more toxically anti-Semitic and, unlike them, France exports more than just oil and hatred. So boycott their wines and their perfumes Boycott their clothes and their foodstuffs. Boycott their movies. Definitely boycott their shores. If we are resolved we can exert amazing pressure and, whatever else we may know about the French, we most certainly know that they are like a cobweb in a hurricane in the face of well-directed pressure.
3. Third, send this along to your family, your friends, and your co-workers. Think of all of the people of good conscience that you know and let them know that you - and the people that you care - about need their help.
The number one bestselling book in France is.... 'September 11: The Frightening Fraud' which argues that no plane ever hit the Pentagon!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
7) Why Ben Carson Matters
Dick:
The appointment of Dr. Ben Carson to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development may be one of the most important things President-Elect Donald Trump has done so far to Make America Great Again.
How does Moses make tea? Hebrews it.
Venison for dinner again? Oh deer!
A cartoonist was found dead in his home. Details are sketchy.
I used to be a banker, but then I lost interest.
Haunted French pancakes give me the crêpes.
England has no kidney bank, but it does have a Liverpool.
I tried to catch some fog, but I mist.
They told me I had type-A blood, but it was a Typo.
I changed my iPod's name to Titanic. It's syncing now.
Jokes about German sausage are the wurst.
I know a guy who's addicted to brake fluid, but he says he can stop any time.
I stayed up all night to see where the sun went, and then it dawned on me.
This girl said she recognized me from the vegetarian club, but I'd never met herbivore.
When chemists die, they barium.
I'm reading a book about anti-gravity. I just can't put it down.
I did a theatrical performance about puns. It was a play on words.
Why were the Indians here first? They had reservations.
I didn't like my beard at first. Then it grew on me.
Did you hear about the cross-eyed teacher who lost her job because she couldn't control her pupils?
When you get a bladder infection, urine trouble.
Broken pencils are pointless.
What do you call a dinosaur with an extensive vocabulary? A thesaurus.
I dropped out of communism class because of lousy Marx.
All the toilets in New York's police stations have been stolen. The police have nothing to go on.
I got a job at a bakery because I kneaded dough.
Velcro - what a rip off.
Don’t worry about old age; it doesn’t last.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
5)
Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) told The Weekly Standard, “Unless there’s a damn good reason to keep them out of the public eye, turn them over…I’m more on the side of transparency than not, that is for sure.” Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) said, “If they’re unclassified, what are they doing in a SCIF?...The entire purpose of a SCIF is to be a place where you can read classified documents.” Both Tester and Coons supported the Iran deal.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
6) YES, France has become a "no go" zone for Jews
Once again, the real news in France is conveniently not being reported as it should.
To give you and idea of what's going on in that country where there are now between 5 and 6 million Muslims and about 600,000 Jews, here is an e-mail that came from a Jew living in France. "Will the world say nothing - again - as it did in Hitler's time?"
1. In Lyon , a car was rammed into a synagogue and set on fire.
2. In Montpellier , the Jewish religious center was firebombed;
3. So were synagogues in Strasbourg and Marseilles ;
4. And a Jewish school in Creteil.
5. A Jewish sports club in Toulouse was attacked with Molotov cocktails
6. On the statue of Alfred Dreyfus, in Paris , the words 'Dirty Jew' were painted.
7. In Bondy, 15 men beat up members of a Jewish football team with sticks and metal bars.
8. The bus that takes Jewish children to school in Aubervilliers has been attacked three times in the last 14 months.
9. According to the Police, metropolitan Paris has seen 10 to 12 anti-Jewish incidents PER DAY in the past 30 days.
10. Walls in Jewish neighborhoods have been defaced with slogans proclaiming 'Jews to the gas chambers' and 'Death to the Jews.'
11. A gunman opened fire on a kosher butcher's shop (and, of course,the butcher) in Toulouse, France
12. A Jewish couple in their 20's were beaten up by five men in Villeurbanne (the woman was pregnant).
13. A Jewish school was broken into and vandalized in Sarcelles , France ..
This was just in the past week.
As a.person with the capacity and desire to distinguish decency from depravity, I ask you to do at least - these three simple things:
1. First, care enough to stay informed. Don't ever let yourself become deluded into thinking that this is not your fight. I remind you of what Pastor Neimoller said in World War II: First they came for the Communists, and I didn't speak up, because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up, because I wasn't a Jew.Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up, because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me.'
2. Second, boycott France and French products. Only the Arab countries are more toxically anti-Semitic and, unlike them, France exports more than just oil and hatred. So boycott their wines and their perfumes Boycott their clothes and their foodstuffs. Boycott their movies. Definitely boycott their shores. If we are resolved we can exert amazing pressure and, whatever else we may know about the French, we most certainly know that they are like a cobweb in a hurricane in the face of well-directed pressure.
3. Third, send this along to your family, your friends, and your co-workers. Think of all of the people of good conscience that you know and let them know that you - and the people that you care - about need their help.
The number one bestselling book in France is.... 'September 11: The Frightening Fraud' which argues that no plane ever hit the Pentagon!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
7) Why Ben Carson Matters
Dick:
The appointment of Dr. Ben Carson to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development may be one of the most important things President-Elect Donald Trump has done so far to Make America Great Again.
Dr. Carson's greatest strength is not his sheer intelligence (which is very formidable), his standing as a world-class pediatric neurosurgeon (a field in which his pioneering efforts are legendary), his deep popularity with home schoolers, or his political appeal (at one point he was tied with Donald Trump as the frontrunner).
What makes Dr. Carson uniquely important is his moral authority as someone who has risen from poverty to enormous success and carried his mother's basic conservatism and belief in religion and morality with him his entire life. He has lived his mother's dream that hard work, a willingness to learn, and honesty can carry you to great heights.
I first heard of Dr. Carson when he spoke to the National Prayer Breakfast in 1997. His religious faith, solid conservative values, and ability to learn was astonishing. In 2013, he spoke a second time at a prayer breakfast and confronted President Obama in a manner which aroused conservative admiration and support.
Last summer, Callista and I had the good fortune to spend a week floating down the Danube with Ben and his wife Candy. They are friendly, deeply committed to each other, and interested in everything and everyone around them. They both have delightful senses of humor.
It was an extraordinary experience to sit with the Carson’s and watch the movie Gifted Hands in which Cuba Gooding, Jr. played Dr. Carson and Aunjanue Ellis played Candy Carson. Candy's positive impact on Ben comes through in the movie.
The story of Ben Carson's rise from Detroit to national fame and the moral influence of his mother has the potential to transform the poorest neighborhoods in America.
It is this moral force by example, by speech and by writing that could be Dr. Carson's greatest contribution to America.
We cannot Make America Great Again if millions of Americans are trapped in neighborhoods without jobs, without education, without safety, and without hope.
Reaching out to the millions of inner-city African Americans who despair of a better future will be Dr. Carson's greatest challenge.
By accepting the HUD Secretary position, Dr. Carson has positioned himself to lead an interdepartmental effort focused directly on helping the poorest Americans.
The Trump transition announcement made it clear that Carson would be much more than Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. It said:
Dr. Carson will be on the front lines of implementing President-elect Trump’s Plan for Urban Renewal, which includes:
- Great education through school choice.
- Safe communities through investments in training and funding for law enforcement operations to remove gang members, drug dealers, and criminal cartels from our neighborhoods.
- Equal justice under the law.
- Tax reforms to create jobs and lift up people and communities.
- Financial reforms to expand credit to support new job creation.
- Trade that works for American workers.
- Protection from illegal immigration.
- New infrastructure investment.
- Protecting the African-American church, defending religious liberty and promoting strong families."
This is a mandate from President-elect Trump for Dr. Carson to have a vital role across all aspects of helping urban communities break out and become prosperous, safe and upwardly mobile.
This commitment follows on Donald Trump's proposal in Charlotte on October 26, 2016, for a “New Deal for Black America”.
In fact, every element of that proposed New Deal is in the list of assignments the transition team has given to Secretary-designate Carson.
Beginning with President Lyndon Johnson's declaration of a War on Poverty in 1964, the federal government has spent trillions trying to help our poorest citizens and our poorest neighborhoods. As Paul Ryan pointed out in a 2014 report The War on Poverty: 50 Years Later there were some 90 uncoordinated federal anti-poverty bureaucracies.
This lack of coordination and proliferation of random efforts was noticed as soon as three years after the program began. Yet the essential problem has never been money or bureaucracy. The central problem, as Charles Murray pointed out in his classic study “Losing Ground”, has been moral and cultural.
Dr. Carson is precisely the leader to lead the poorest neighborhoods in America to a moral, cultural, and economic revival and then to reinforce and deepen that revival by establishing the right programs and eliminating the destructive ones.
If Dr. Carson can truly help millions of Americans leave poverty for a better future, he will be among the most consequential appointees of the entire Trump presidency.
Your Friend,
Newt
Newt
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
8)LEXOPHILIA -How does Moses make tea? Hebrews it.
Venison for dinner again? Oh deer!
A cartoonist was found dead in his home. Details are sketchy.
I used to be a banker, but then I lost interest.
Haunted French pancakes give me the crêpes.
England has no kidney bank, but it does have a Liverpool.
I tried to catch some fog, but I mist.
They told me I had type-A blood, but it was a Typo.
I changed my iPod's name to Titanic. It's syncing now.
Jokes about German sausage are the wurst.
I know a guy who's addicted to brake fluid, but he says he can stop any time.
I stayed up all night to see where the sun went, and then it dawned on me.
This girl said she recognized me from the vegetarian club, but I'd never met herbivore.
When chemists die, they barium.
I'm reading a book about anti-gravity. I just can't put it down.
I did a theatrical performance about puns. It was a play on words.
Why were the Indians here first? They had reservations.
I didn't like my beard at first. Then it grew on me.
Did you hear about the cross-eyed teacher who lost her job because she couldn't control her pupils?
When you get a bladder infection, urine trouble.
Broken pencils are pointless.
What do you call a dinosaur with an extensive vocabulary? A thesaurus.
I dropped out of communism class because of lousy Marx.
All the toilets in New York's police stations have been stolen. The police have nothing to go on.
I got a job at a bakery because I kneaded dough.
Velcro - what a rip off.
Don’t worry about old age; it doesn’t last.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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