Deportation of illegals, who have criminal records, protects society, which is the first responsibility of government, and helps save money to build and fund various subsequent restraint efforts. (See 1 below.)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
You have heard me harangue about bureaucratic growth and how fiefdoms are created in order to justify increased funding of their amoebic growth.
This is as true for local and state governments as in the federal government. It is the consequence of administrator's need/desire for power. The more bodies one administers the more important. and powerful is the person in charge.
Georgia's Investment Office was an institutional client of mine and while I served them they grew from a staff around nine to a staff around 50 - [http://open.ga.gov/]. The department went from relying upon external investment advisers to bringing the investment function in house. I seriously doubt investment performance changed radically but the person in charge certainly increased his power and authority
I do not deny growth in population also demands some comparable growth in select government agencies but growth in government employment and pay structure has become unsupportable to the point of taxpayer theft.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Missiles more effective and intimidating than tweets. (See 2 below.)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I did some nibbling on the open this morning. I continue to believe there will be no trade war but I do expect politics and The Fed will tend to restrain the second half of the year and do not expect market results will match those of the last years and do expect more volatility.
That said, I continue to like the long term prospects of CVS, MERCK, SOUTHERN Co. for income and OPK, CRSP and AIG. for speculative appreciation.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I learned two Israel F-15's attacked Syria. The U.S. were notified but not Russia. I am speculating, Israel was asked by America to test Russia's increased air defense located in Syria. I would expect some kind of response by America. If Trump fails to do so he will regret this omission because it will send a signal he , like his predecessor, is verba no acta, ie all talk no action.
The only thing renegade Arabs understand is force!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Finally off to sit Dagny and Dagny while Abby and Brian go on their first real anniversary after 10 years of marriage.
No memos for quite a while. My fellow memo readers deserve a reprieve.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
DickMissiles more effective and intimidating than tweets. (See 2 below.)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I did some nibbling on the open this morning. I continue to believe there will be no trade war but I do expect politics and The Fed will tend to restrain the second half of the year and do not expect market results will match those of the last years and do expect more volatility.
That said, I continue to like the long term prospects of CVS, MERCK, SOUTHERN Co. for income and OPK, CRSP and AIG. for speculative appreciation.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I learned two Israel F-15's attacked Syria. The U.S. were notified but not Russia. I am speculating, Israel was asked by America to test Russia's increased air defense located in Syria. I would expect some kind of response by America. If Trump fails to do so he will regret this omission because it will send a signal he , like his predecessor, is verba no acta, ie all talk no action.
The only thing renegade Arabs understand is force!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Finally off to sit Dagny and Dagny while Abby and Brian go on their first real anniversary after 10 years of marriage.
No memos for quite a while. My fellow memo readers deserve a reprieve.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
1)Trump's Deportation Squad Carries Out One of the Largest Raids EVER
Almost 100 people were arrested Thursday after federal authorities raided a Tennessee meat processing plant, The Washington Post reported.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials arrested 10 people on federal immigration charges and one person on state charges, said ICE spokeswoman Tammy Spicer. She said 86 immigrants were held on suspicion of being in the U.S. illegally.
Of the 86 detained, 32 were released after deportation proceedings while 54 were kept in detention, Spicer said, according to ABC.
The National Immigration Law Center claimed the raid was the largest single raid since the administration of former President George W. Bush. ICE officials would not confirm that statement.
But social media won’t stop the use of chemical weapons in Syria.
By The Editorial Board
President Trump on Sunday joined those denouncing Saturday’s chemical gas attack in Syria against an opposition stronghold that included civilians. The question is whether Mr. Trump is now going to settle for the outrage-by- Twitter that defined the Obama Administration’s security strategy. Remember Michelle Obama’s #BringBackOurGirls tweet about Boko Haram in Nigeria?
“Many dead, including women and children, in mindless CHEMICAL attack in Syria. Area of atrocity is in lockdown and encircled by Syrian Army, making it completely inaccessible to outside world. President Putin, Russia and Iran are responsible for backing Animal Assad. Big price . . . to pay,” Mr. Trump said in back-to-back tweets on Sunday. “Open area immediately for medical help and verification.”
His rhetorical bombs are correct, but the battle-damage assessment around Bashar Assad’s presidential compound in Damascus is: negligible. Why should Assad think he’ll “pay” any price, much less a big one?
Mr. Trump did launch a cruise-missile attack on a Syrian air base last April after Assad’s forces used sarin gas against the opposition in Idlib Province. That was a welcome change from the Barack Obama-Ben Rhodes passivity. But it was a limited and one-time response, as Assad and his patrons have apparently recognized. A serious response would have taken out Assad’s entire air force.
In the last year Assad has turned to using chlorine gas, which appears to be the agent that was used Saturday. Relief forces said they found families suffocated in their homes with foam around their mouths in the town of Douma, and the Syrian American Medical Society told the Associated Press that survivors treated at clinics smelled strongly of chlorine. The attack is believed to have killed at least 40.
In January a chlorine gas attack in East Ghouta, another opposition area, killed more than 20, mostly children. The U.S. State Department denounced that attack and blamed Moscow for violating its 2013 agreement with Mr. Obama at the United Nations to eliminate chemical weapons from Syria.
“There is simply no denying that Russia, by shielding its Syrian ally, has breached its commitments to the United States as a framework guarantor,” said then Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. But no enforcement followed, and Assad got the message that he would pay no price.
He may also have got Mr. Trump’s recent message that the U.S. President wants nothing more than to withdraw all U.S. forces from Syria as soon as possible now that Islamic State is dispersed from its Raqqa stronghold. “I want to get out. I want to bring our troops back home,” Mr. Trump said last week at a White House news conference with leaders of the Baltic nations. He added on a recent trip to Ohio: “We’ll be coming out of Syria, like, very soon. Let the other people take care of it now.”
Those “other people” include Assad, backed by Vladimir Putin and Qasem Soleimani, head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. When they hear Mr. Trump say he can’t wait to get out of Syria, why shouldn’t they conclude that they can get away with anything, including the use of chlorine gas?
The chemical weapons episode is typical of the contradiction between Mr. Trump’s rhetorical foreign-policy goals and the means he’s willing to employ to achieve them. He delivered a fine speech last year promising to deter Iran’s ambitions to dominate the Middle East, but he’s doing nothing to stop Iran from establishing a new military presence in Syria on Israel’s border. He wants to be seen as stronger than Mr. Obama in punishing the use of chemical weapons, but he has tolerated Assad’s use of chlorine gas without consequence for months.
Mr. Trump seems to understand the point, at least when it comes to Mr. Obama. “If President Obama had crossed his stated Red Line In The Sand, the Syrian disaster would have ended long ago! Animal Assad would have been history!” he tweeted on Sunday. But Mr. Trump is the President now.
The hard truth is that only hard power can prevent dictators like Assad from using WMD against their citizens. If Mr. Trump doesn’t want to be dismissed as easily as Mr. Obama was, he’ll have to do more than tweet.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
