Hitler This and That

If you Google up the word "Hitler".....just on web activity.....there's not much being reported over the internet.  If you Google against new items?  Oh, there's probably 500 Hitler mentions in the past month....all leading back to Trump.

I sat and looked at one news report....trying to tie enthusiasm at some Trump rally into a Hitler moment.  It was the same enthusiasm that I noted in 2008 during the Obama build-up and it's odd that no one want to observe Hitler-like enthusiasm in 2008's campaign.

At some point near the 2008 election point, someone wrote a major piece comparing the Obama period to likely be like Nazi 1930's-like government.  Some journalists got hostile about that accusation and defended the incoming government.

At some point in the 2004 election period, between Bush and John Kerry.....I can recall one significant usage of the Hitler accusation on Bush.

The thing is....if you go and list the thirty-odd platform positions of the Nazi Party in 1932 in simple English today.....without attributing them to the Party, then over sixty-percent of society today would readily advocate their enthusiasm for the platform, and that would come from both Republicans and Democrats.

Some people think that once you mention the Hitler-word, then folks freak out.  That comical way of thinking probably disappeared in the 1990s.  If you asked a hundred people under the age of 25 of Hitler today.....fewer than a quarter of them would be able to identify him to Germany.  World War II is almost forgotten, and even the Vietnam War would be identified as an ancient war.  If you asked most people to identify the last eight Presidents....most would gaze at you and probably get through Bush, Obama, and Clinton.  Half of them might remember Reagan, and maybe ten percent might be able to include Carter (only because he seems to still write books).

So, it's nifty trick to write up critical commentary and slant it with the Hitler-word.  Hitler this, and Hitler-that.....then pat yourself on the back.  Even I might have read into the commentary back eight years ago and at least noted it.  But I've tired of the Hitler comparison enough.....that it really doesn't work anymore.

If you have some idiot talking up the Hitler business.....stop him in mid-sentence and ask him how many voters (percentage-wise) stood up in November of 1932 and voted for Hitler.  Note, the answer is 37-percent.  Yeah, that's all it took because you see.....so many people were frustrated and angry with German politics.  They'd spent three years working through a massive economic stumble and the two major political parties simply stood around to blame each other and play out theater-like antics, so from the other parties available......they found another option.  So if some Hitler-game was to be played out today.....I'd sit and blame both the Republicans and Democrats for creating the atmosphere and making the public so hostile.....they'd ask for something a bit unusual.  That's the sad analysis to this whole thing.

Aussie Warning Sign

One of the more interesting tours I took in Sydney....was the Sydney Opera House.

It was kinda a surprise to me that they run five or six different shows each night, with different rooms or halls available in the building.  Most of my life, I always had this impression that the Sydney Opera House was just one big hall.

So, in the hallway leading up to one of the 300-person rooms....was this sign, and the Aussies were kind enough to warn you ahead of time.

The tour guide noted that a number of people....including Americans....show up in Sydney for a performance at the hall, and some folks get a bit disturbed over Aussie views....which naturally include references to alcohol and includes some boobs being shown.  So.....they warn you ahead of time.

I thought it was nice of them....at least giving some folks a last chance to avoid something that would get them all hyped up or disturbed.

Clothing

Two weeks ago, I stood for a brief minute in the Melbourne, Australia railway station, and here was this guy.  Naturally, being from Alabama....I noted his style of clothing and colors.

It's not something you could buy off the rack at Sears or JC Pennys.....but to be honest, it's the kind of thing that I would have liked to have bought and worn on my last day at work (when I was retiring).

It would have said something.

Trump in the End

Someone conducted a poll on Super-Tuesday, and came to this odd fact with what people said.  Ninety-five percent of Republicans voting.....said that they were angry and frustrated with the federal government (the whole government).  Sixty-five percent of Democrats said the same thing.  Basically, they want it to function....to revolve around like some theater operation for public entertainment.

What this means?  If both groups are serious.....it'll be a massive vote in November for Trump, and some enthusiasm for Trump to start firing people or putting some people into difficult positions.

If this were smaller group....say forty-percent Republican and ten-percent Democrat.....then I'd say it'd just blow over and the news media could still play out the regular games.  But this is a massive number of negative voters.

So, I'll make five predictions:

1.  Obama-Care rapidly is challenged and the Republicans and Democrats will be forced into a legislative corner to probably accept Trump's vision for health care.  It might be a bitter thing for the Republicans to accept his plan, and some Democrats will have problems.....but the present system isn't made for permanent usage.

2.  US troop strengths in Europe will be downsized.  I'll take a guess that half the troops will be removed by the end of 2018.  Trump will declare the cold war over, and keep the troops active....on US soil....and start to envision some different version of NATO in the future.  If France or Germany is worried about the less troops.....they will have to find money in their budget to expand their own military.

3.  Trump will ask budget questions about where money is going with Homeland Security.  Their bottomless pit....will be exposed.  Some people will be asked to leave, and I suspect their budget will be cut over four years by ten-percent.

4.  The business plan for the National Park system will be questioned.  All the services and support personnel of the park system will be brought up for review and I would take a guess that ten to twenty percent of the force will be dismissed over a four-year period.

5.  Whether Congress likes it or not.....there's going to be a massive tax revision somewhere between 2017 and 2020.  It might be a flat tax....it might be a different way of handling capital gains....but there's some changes coming which will make people happy about.

In the end, as angry as people are and desiring of change....we may all reach a point by 2020....where we've had enough and want to return to the plain old fake politics.  Well.....maybe. Maybe not.

One Thing About Mitt's Phony Talk

Over the last dozen hours, I've sat and pondered upon this one comment by Mitt Romney.....over phony political figures.

Maybe I'm showing my age.....but I really can't think of a single politician today......local, state, or national.....who isn't phony in some way.  I'm sure Mitt thinks that there are fine, honest, humble and genuine people out there, but frankly.....I don't see any of them.

You have the fake guys who pretend to be religious, and then turn around to demonstrate they just aren't religious.

You have the fake politicians who claim to be decent, and then they do something stupid like skim funds off the office credit card, cheat on their spouse, or get caught with two grams of some nifty new drug.

You have the fake politicians who claim to be impartial, but then around to show how stupid they are or how easily they can be bought off.

You have the fake guys who get some weekend trip to a Arizona resort.....to help rig up a deal for some land developer.

You have some guys who walk around and pretend to be a Republican.....when they really are a fairly decent Democrat.  Go figure that one.

Three decades ago.....I would have been considered one of a small group of people who believed in the massive phony problem.  Today?  I'm of the opinion that roughly one-quarter of society believes in a massive phoniness that exist with political figures.

Was Mitt a phony?  When you start looking at his business background.....some things fit well, and some things just don't come across as genuine. Was Mitt a real conservative or just a fake conservative?  Some people go back to examine his years as a Mass governor, and discuss various examples where he was more or less a hybrid conservative....to survive within a fairly liberal state.

Is Trump a phony?  Probably so.  He's probably like the other 100-percent of political figures out there today.  But at least he pretty much says what comes to his mind....something that you haven't seen in decades with most political figures you encounter.

Trump, Romney, and the Fake GOP

I sat yesterday and watched the seventeen minute piece of Romney blasting away at Trump.  It's an odd piece because it might have meant something back in December.  But now....early March?  It's worthless.

I'm not much of a Romney fan.  I look back at the 2012 election and generally regard his attempt as marginal at best.  His staff, his theme, his sales-job to the public.....just weren't going to work.

Why stand there now and do some tough piece on Trump?  It's hard to say who begged him to make the statement or the logic behind it.

So, this morning....I got up and watched thirty minutes of the Trump response.  Basically, he drilled into Romney and made the Romney speech a one-star episode.

Here's my three observations of where we are today.

First, the general Republican public, and roughly a quarter of all Democrats....are fed and frustrated.  They hate DC politics in general, and think most of the guys in DC are actors....more than actual politicians.  This has reached such a stage.....that they even are willing to consider some guy like Trump as the only one who might go in and fire people left and right.

Second, for two decades.....most Republicans have continued the trend of identifying their leadership as simply fake.  If you asked most what the difference was between the Republicans and Democrats in terms of success (what the House and Senate has achieved in the past two years for example).....they'd look at you and start laughing.  There's nothing worth discussing.

Third, there's some belief that the Republicans are more of a lobbyist agenda association....than an actual political party.  You'd like to laugh over that suggestion.....but it's not really a joke anymore.

Two years ago, I would have likely said that Scott Walker would be the person in the lead at this point, and Jeb Bush second.  Well.....something has happened.  A new reality of sorts.  People fed up on fake politics, total distrust of the news media, and frustration that goes across both parties.  November will be an interesting period in American history.

Breakfast Talk

When you go to Australia.....you kinda have to meet them halfway on the breakfast menu.

So, as you look at this poster at the local pub of the breakfast menu....you might note the sausage (extra large), the bacon, the two eggs over easy, the toast below the eggs, and.....the mushrooms.

Yeah.....mushrooms.

Some places even went a step more....offering a baked tomato as well.

The grease content?  Well....that sausage is loaded....to the maximum extent possible.

The alternate deal?  You could ask for cereal or oatmeal.  Or you could walk two doors down to the donut shop and get some Krispy Kreme options.  Yeah....that's about it.

The coffee?  Aussies don't expect much on coffee.....so you end up with one-star coffee.