Dick Bishirjian

Let’s be quite clear: President Donald Trump was a political novice and mistakenly ran for President not expecting he would win. His campaign, he thought, would be “good for business” by advertising the Trump Organization’s enterprises.

Much to everyone’s surprise, including Donald Trump, Trump won the 2016 election by doing what he does in business–marketing Donald Trump.

That was an insult to the political Establishment of Federal government career civil servants who understood that Trump was their enemy, including the top leadership of the FBI and CIA, Progressive intellectuals including journalists, hundreds of thousands of half-educated attorneys and Leftist college and university professors.

Trump himself was his own worst enemy due to inexperience in government and what appears to be illegal activity conducted by the Trump Organization that, when exposed, is likely to reveal laundering of Russian oligarch money, violation of regulations governing political campaigns, violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, and outright lying about his plans to build a Trump Hotel in Moscow that, apparently, left a soft spot in his heart for Vladimir Putin.

The Trump Foundation has already been forced to shut down due to violation of regulations governing charitable foundations. One of the Foundation’s acts included the commissioning of a portrait of Donald Trump which was displayed in the clubhouse of one of Trump’s golf courses.

Add to that Trump’s sexual promiscuity, and one wonders how the special counsel could not prove that Trump had been compromised by Putin agents during his Moscow “Miss Universe” pageant in 2013. Or that Mueller’s investigators could not find evidence that  Trump’s campaign for President of the United States had colluded with Russia by encouraging the release of hacked e-mail by Trump’s opponent–Hillary Clinton.

All that Robert Mueller has is a case of “obstruction of justice.” Obstruction of justice is “inside baseball” for failure to confess. Everyone and anyone subjected to federal investigation and prosecution can be charged with “Obstruction.”

That brings me to the dangers inherent in our powerful class of “Attorneys at Law.”

We are a litigious people and there is good business to be made in litigating complaints. That is why the framers of the Constitution at Philadelphia in 1787 refused to grant to the Judicial Branch powers to contravene acts of Congress. The Federalists were persistent, however, and established the principle of judicial review in the first legal action that provided that opportunity in 1801 (Marbury vs. Madison). At least Mr. Justice John Marshall understood what was at issue and was supported by James Madison who advocated a role for the judiciary far in excess of what the Framers intended.

At least he knew what he was doing.

Our contemporary class of attorneys are far less knowledgeable than those early Federalists and have to make up ways to nail those that offend them–men like Donald Trump.

That reminds me, what did William Shakespeare write in Henry VI, Part 2, Act IV, Scene 2?

This is the age of TV–soon to become the age of Streaming Media–so I listened to radio when in my car. Yes, I had a radio at home, but the alarm clock on the radio was used more than for listening to radio broadcasts. From December 1999 to June 2012, I spent a great many hours in my car or rental cars as I traveled to meet with potential investors in a for-profit university founded in 2000.

My car plays CDs and, as I drove, I listened to NPR classical music and NPR news broadcasts. On one trip in 2007, I took a set of Bob Dylan’s “Bootleg” series of CDs. I concluded that Dylan was a loner and that I preferred Dolly Parton.

Still there were no commercials on NPR, so I ignored the Progressive  bias of NPR until I traveled with my Admissions Director on visits to military bases. He shamed me into listening to Rush Limbaugh. So, for the past 12 years my car radio is set to listen to Rush.

Rush Limbaugh is a real hoot, but his substitute when Rush is not in his studio is Mark Steyn.

Steyn was born in Canada of a family with roots in Belgium, a Catholic who now worships in the Anglican Church.  He left the equivalent of high school in England at age 16 and has been a disc jockey, music historian, author and opinion journalist. Believe me, you must be intelligent and extremely gifted to pull that off!  He is the equal of many critics who stayed the course and were graduated from Oxford, Harvard or Yale.

I like Steyn because his style, unlike British conservatives, is exuberant and loud. Steyn wanted to break off Britian’s connections to the EU before there was a Brexit.

Yesterday he criticized the Federal Bureau of Investigation, suggesting that its reputation is over-blown and was controlled by Progressives until they took on Donald Trump. This is refreshing because American political conservatives still reserve a warm spot in their hearts for the FBI and even the CIA.

Maybe Steyn will disabuse them of that illusion.

The United States is in need of infrastructure improvements, but we cannot afford to finance them from tax revenue or borrowing.

Today President Trump declared in the White House “Rose Garden” that he will not negotiate with Democrats to do infrastructure “deals” until the Democrats back off or finish their many investigations leading to his Impeachment?

Nancy Pelosi’s willingness to work with the extreme Left of the Democrat Party to build a case for Impeachment has saved the United States from public expenditures on infrastructure improvements.

Neither President Trump nor the Democrats and Republicans in Congress and the States appreciate efficiencies that can be accomplished by privatization. For example, sell our major highways and bridges to private companies who agree to service them in exchange for Tolls.

Or, privatize the FAA’s Air Traffic Control system by selling it to a private corporation controlled by the major commercial airlines.

Companies in Western Europe and Australia would love to get a piece of the privatization of Americans airports, roads and bridges and thus relieve American taxpayers from bearing the burden of an orgy of bi-partisan spending on infrastructure.

Privatization is a solution, but the process of approving privatization projects involves corrupt public office holders.

When the Daley Administration in Chicago privatized the Dan Ryan Expressway, did anyone account where income from that transaction went and whom it benefited?

Several years ago Republicans in Pennsylvania voted against privatization of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Why? I’m pretty sure they voted against that because they understood that privatization would entail corrupt practices. Some one or many  Pennsylvania Democrats would receive significant bribes.

There is a reason that only one airport in the United States was once privatized: Teterboro Airport  is in “Joisy.”

Thank you, Nancy Pelosi, you saved us from a carnival of corrupt infrastructure improvements.

On Sunday evening, May 20, FoxNews premiered a TownHall with Democrat Party candidate for President, Pete Buttigieg.

Chris Wallace conducted the interviews by introducing members of the audience with questions for Mayor Pete.

I’m certain that Fox Corp’s management wants to do more TownHalls with Democrat Party candidates and wanted this very first TownHall to be “respectable.” But what transpired was a tragedy for Fox Corp and its traditional audience.

Observant voters of both Parties are aware of Pete’s credentials: Mayor of South Bend, Indiana, son of a Notre Dame University Professor, service with the National Guard in Afghanistan and Iraq, Harvard grad and Rhodes Scholar and linguist.

All that is well known but of little interest to the FoxNews audience of cultural conservatives who are, at minimum, curious about Pete’s homosexuality and “husband.”

This troubling aspect of Pete Buttigieg’s TownHall appearance on FoxNews was not scrutinized, as if homosexual practices are commonly accepted. All the questions were “softballs” thrown as if to entertain members of Mayor Pete’s family and supporters.

Chris Wallace gave no indication that he understood the importance of this event for loyal FoxNews viewers and stayed on script with “don’t offend” softball questioning of a very controversial politician.

Frankly, we deserve better.

Was this a pep rally or a means to ask questions of the first candidate for President of the United States who is homosexual?

It may well be that 50% of Americans approve or do not care about Pete’s homosexual relationship with his legal mate. But, FoxNews viewers do,  and were offended that the new FoxNews under Rupert Murdoch’s sons are taking FoxNews to the political and cultural Progressive Left.

Roger Ailes gave “us” the one vehicle in mainline media that did not reflect the Left-wing character of American “journalism” and now that is being taken away from us.

FoxNews is not merely a business, it is an aspect of America’s resolve to remain free of Progressive domination of every aspect of culture. That two heirs to a media empire who were not educated in that understanding are taking this from us is a tragedy for Fox and its faithful viewers.

On Sunday, May 17, 2019, CNN’s Jake Tapper conducted an eleven minute interview with Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) that will raise the hackles of Trump supporters and even traditional Republican voters.

Candidate Donald Trump, for reasons not clearly expressed, did not attract the endorsement of Republican voters who are members of the Church of Latter Day Saints. “Mormons” are very serious about saintliness and the evidence is clear:  Donald Trump did not live a saintly life and exhibited serious character flaws.

What was unusual, however, was Mormon rejection of this particular Republican once Donald Trump was nominated.

After all, Mormons and traditional Republicans had nowhere to go, but vote for Donald Trump.  Most Republicans voted for Trump reluctantly. Reasoning that President Trump would nominate conservative jurists to the Supreme Court of the United States and protect American culture from Godlessness, Fundamentalist Protestant Christians unanimously supported Donald Trump.

The interview that Sen. Romney gave today signified that Willard Mitt Romney may challenge Donald Trump in 2020 and that, most certainly, he will be a candidate for President of the United States in 2024.

Underlying this decision are some geological faults in American politics. The largest broken aspect of our politics is the unwillingness of qualified persons to seek public office.  Our media is designed by training to expose the faults of Republicans and especially conservative Republicans. Who needs that?

None but the morally callused, power hungry, or ignorant office seekers are willing to endure this gauntlet. In Mitt’s interview with Jake Tapper, he placed Donald Trump in the category of the morally callused, power hungry, and ignorant.

The U.S. military services–Navy, Army and Air Force–are as good as the current war. After hostilities end, the skills learned tend to lead to planning to fight the last war. The recent death of Andrew Marshall, director of the Defense Department’s Office of Net Assessment from 1973 until he retired in 2015, informs us about why strategic thinking about national defense cannot be left to the Generals and Admirals.

After all, if you’re a career officer in the U.S. Navy, you want as many naval weapons as the President and Congress will give you. President Trump wants to add a 12th aircraft carrier to the fleet.

If you’re in the U.S. Army you want tanks, infantry and whatever else it takes to win land battles. And, of course, Generals in the Air Force want ballistic missiles and welcome President Trump’s call for a “Space Command.”

Once all those toys are accumulated, they require a national strategy designed to deter our enemies from gaining advantage.

For that type of thinking, for forty-two years, we had Andy Marshall.

One of the strategic tools for fighting wars developed effectively in WW II was the aircraft  carrier. That is no longer the case.

Today, all Naval warships, including aircraft carriers, are vulnerable to attacks from missiles. Here is a link to the People’s Republic of China’s anti-ship missile capabilities.

Russia has them, too, and Iran, in response  to the repositioning of the USS Abraham Lincoln has deployed small boats armed with missiles in advance of that aircraft carrier’s arrival.

The Mullahs in Iran are aware that during the Falkland war in 1982, Argentina used French “Exocet” missiles to destroy Britain’s HMS Sheffield, a 4,100 ton destroyer.

As far back as 1982, Andy Marshall understood that carriers potentially are “floating coffins.”

A little more than a month ago, AT&T’s purchase of TimeWarner was finalized. That acquisition gives a telephone company access to big bucks in entertainment, streaming media and news and information.

One of the businesses that AT&T acquired was Left-of-center CNN. CNN is for Progressive “journalists” what Liberty University is for political conservatives–“Home.”

Unfortunately, the telephone executives in charge of WarnerMedia are from the American Southwest and MidWest, not the Left coast, and they feel in their bones that the tilt at CNN needs balance.

So, John Stankey, the Midwestern fella in charge of WarnerMedia, has made some changes that are visible to some viewers of CNN. Nothing dramatic, but there are subtle differences, namely Republican officeholders are interviewed.

Balance is good, but there is balance and the appearance of balance. Witness yesterday’s interview of Florida Congressman Ted Yoho by weekend anchor at CNN, Christi Paul.

Christi Paul is a contender for the Tokyo Rose award that I began to give to Leftist female “journalists” in February of last year. The current “Winner,” Mika Emilie Leonia Brzezinski, a shrill voice heard too often on MSNBC”s “Morning Joe,” may now be displaced by Christi Paul.

Apparently, Ms. Paul got the news from Mr. Stankey that CNN needs balance, so she interviewed Ted Yoho about critical national security issues.

My former office in Gainesville, Florida was just down the street from Cong. Yoho’s constituent office, so I got to know this Ocala veterinarian. When you were concerned that your horse might go lame, Ted Yoho was the man to see. He was good with sick and hurt animals, and everyone liked him.

If your boss tells you to introduce balance at CNN, Ted Yoho is the perfect person to put on camera and interview him about the Mullahs in Teheran, Vladimir Putin and trade with Communist China.  As intended, Ted looked like a dummy and Christi Paul looked as good as ever as she sent AT&T a message: “Don’t screw with CNN’s crowd of Leftists.”