James George
Political Science
14 November 2024
Trump’s Bet,
Congress won’t rein him in
Trump promised retribution, and that is what he is delivering with cabinet picks. However, now that elections are over, this early test could set the stage for Congress that is not beholding to Trump in the future. Congress must choose democracy and the nation over the dictator. Will they rein him in by rejecting bad choices? If they do, that will put Trump in a box.
James George
Political Science
13 November 2024
How will Trump’s Immigration Policy Work?
When I saw who President Trump appointed as director of Homeland Security, I was shocked and underwhelmed by Kristi Lynn Noem, the former Governor of the “small:” state of South Dakota. Her resume is weak and fails to match what would be expected to manage such an important department.
“Kristi Lynn Noem is an American politician who has served since 2019 as the 33rd governor of South Dakota. Wikipedia
Born: 1971 (age 52 years), Watertown, SD
Spouse: Bryon Noem (m. 1992)
Education: South Dakota State University (2011), Northern State University (1990–1992), Mount Marty University
Party: Republican Party
Children: Kassidy Noem, Kennedy Noem, Booker Noem
Previous offices: Representative, SD At-large District (2011–2019), South Dakota State Representative (2007–2011)”
Next, who is in charge of Immigration Policy?
Stephen Miller is an American political advisor who served as President Donald Trump's senior policy advisor and White House director of speechwriting. His politics have been described as far-right and anti-immigration. He was previously the communications director for then-Senator Jeff Sessions.
Born: 1985 (age 39 years), Santa Monica, CA
Spouse: Katie Miller (m. 2020)
Education: Duke University (2007), Santa Monica High School (2003)
Parents: Miriam Glosser Miller, Michael Darrow Miller
Height: 5′ 10″
Siblings: Alexis Miller, Jacob Miller
The organization founded America First Legal
Miller is purely political and has zero experience in managing immigration.
Next, Tom Homan is named as the “Immigration Czar.” Bingo, Homan is highly qualified for the job, even if you don’t agree with the task he is charged to perform under Miller’s policy direction and with help from Homeland Security.
How do I know what goes on here? I authored The Management Approach for Securing America at ManTech International for DHS Director Tom Ridge.
Thomas Douglas Homan is an American former police officer, immigration official, and political commentator who served during the Obama administration and will have served in both Trump administrations.
Born: 1961 (age 62 years), West Carthage, NY
Education: Carthage Central School (1979), SUNY Polytechnic Institute, Jefferson Community College
Parents: Frederick L. Homan, Doris Homan
Deputy: Peter T. Edge (acting)
The problem:
“Homan told Doocy that the Biden administration “has lost over 300,000 children that were smuggled in this country by criminal cartels,” a reference to a debunked campaign claim voiced both by Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance regarding a report published by the Homeland Security Office of Inspector General in August.
According to the report, 291,000 unaccompanied children had not received a notice to appear in court as of May 2024, and a further 32,000 received a notice but did not appear.
Those figures related to nearly 450,000 unaccompanied children released by ICE to the Department of Health and Human Services between October 2018 and September 2023, meaning a number of them were released by the first Trump administration.”—The Hill: https://thehill.com/latino/4984064-trump-administration-workplace-raids/
On the small scale, I heard him say there are 25,000 illegals targeted first, of which 1500 are proven criminals awaiting deportation. Alright, how will you deport 1500 criminals? That’s simple, right?
Questions:
4. Even if the original states say they will take them, how will they be transported? By plane? By boat? By ground transportation?
5. How will the prisoners be kept, cared for, and secured during transport? (Imagine they all have to use the toilet every two hours.)
6. How many law enforcement officers will it take to manage the removal process?
7. When and if they reach their destination, how will the home nations receive them? Will they use firing squads or incarceration?
In this instance, we are talking about 1,500 people. What about the 23,500 people, including children? How is that going to work under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights? Do you ignore the UDHR, which the US is a signatory of?
As part of my working career, outside of being an entrepreneur, I became a consultant to the Federal government in two ways: 1) as a contractor for a minority-owned 8 (a) business and 2) as a principal and program manager for large corporate contractors. From these vantage points, I had different perspectives on the work and how it was done.
The contracting corporations complied with laws and regulations, including requiring everyone to complete daily timesheets to record their charges against specific contracts. Government inspectors monitored and audited that copious detail.
When not working on a specific contract, I worked on business development, and that charge went to my employer. Business development included following the government's requests for proposals and the detailed process of qualifying and competing for new work. The effort was often as arduous as performing the actual work. The business development cost was integral to determining the hourly rates charged to the government if the contract was won. Otherwise, the cost was charged as the burden of doing business.
The accounting rules were different between not-for-profit small businesses and large commercial contractors.
In my experience, small and large businesses delivered quality work to the government as required. However, one might question the necessity and value of what the government requested. Elon Musk's focus on behalf of President Trump might be, “Are the requested work and purchases truly required and essential?”
For example, given other priorities, how much is space exploration needed and essential? Can Elon Musk answer that question objectively?
Here is a rapidly developing scenario with complex threads that can stop the proceedings dead.
Candidate Donald Trump’s actions, words, and deeds have accumulated, painting a clear picture of his motive to gain power from the American political system by exploiting its weaknesses, undermining the rule of law, and attacking the US Constitutional form of government.
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice, warned that a candidate who has participated in an insurrection is illegal to run for office, making Donald Trump’s candidacy illegal from the start with due process.
18 U.S. Code § 2383 - Rebellion or Insurrection
Insurrection refers to acts of violence, but it's not the only charge that could apply. Seditious conspiracy, for example, is an effort to overthrow the United States government. People can be charged with sedition and conspiracy even if they never carry out the planned violence.
Rebellion or insurrection is a federal offense that criminalizes inciting, engaging in, or giving aid and comfort to any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or its laws.
While litigation against citizen Trump continues, with some halting to allow for his campaigning, that notion of “allowance” is inappropriate and underscored by his declaration of intent to make the office of president authoritarian, following the model of Hitler. His stated intention to use the federal military against citizens is more evidence. All that piles onto his apparent participation and leadership over the January 6 insurrection.
The Republican Party is responsible for failing to vet their candidate, making the party a co-conspirator. As such, the Republican Party’s non-profit status should be subject to revocation.
Corrupted by conflicts of interest, the US Supreme Court will receive rebuke and legislative attention for failing to uphold its ethics standards. One or more justices may be asked to resign and retire or risk prosecution, which could result in the loss of their retirement benefits. (This is Speculation, though a good idea.)
The Electoral College situation is a product of gerrymandering, which must be challenged, even if Kamala Harris wins the electoral vote. What if she does not?
If the Democrats lose the electoral vote but win the national popular vote, all the flaws in letting Trump become a candidate may be litigated.
Therein, the sleeper-sitting President, Joe Biden, will have a role to play by saying, “I am not leaving until this gets sorted.”
When I suddenly went deaf, the doctor said, writing it down, “You are deaf and there is nothing more I can do. Life goes on.”
Halting my life in tracks—no more work, and I am disabled—nothing I could do—though Johns Hopkins Hospital (Dr. Matt Stewart) gave me a cochlear implant so I could hear again.
When Joe Biden stumbled last night in a debate with Donald Trump, the frail senior statesman had a weak performance against a convicted felon and fraudulent and despicable former President. A nation being without a sound and patriotic leader is like a person discovering deafness. What’s next?
Life goes on. The American Political System that is grossly flawed will self-correct. Ideally, both parties would reject their current candidates for different reasons. They probably won’t, but it is not impossible.
I don’t think Americans will tolerate an authoritarian regime. There are too many politicians in government who resist and do their jobs under oath.
I didn’t know about cochlear implants when I went deaf. I don’t know what the Democratic Party will do to improve the situation, though I am hopeful.
President Biden’s faltering through the debate with Donald Trump can’t be called a blessing; however, it is more than a wake-up call. Americans have two deficient choices—one poor and the other perilous.
Joe Biden is a frail elder statesman and incumbent whose patriotism is unfettered. Donald Trump is a fraudulent con man and convicted criminal whose defective patriotism is flaunted for all to see. The wake-up call is for both parties.
The trouble with the American Political System is systemic, and the nation needs a government performance audit, examining the need for change and improvement, new amendments, laws, and regulations. I address those topics in:
· How to Select an American President,
· Standards for American Political Parties,
· Regenerating America with Sustainable Economics
· A Presidents Manifesto
The patient has a sucking chest wound demanding emergency action. There is no time to attend to the vast troubles in our democracy all at once. However, we must save democracy from tyranny, and it requires both parties to address their candidates and their directions.
The free press is doing a good job of helping us stay informed about the situation, while the political parties are not.
Questions:
1. Is Kamala Harris prepared for the Presidency? Could she win a national election? Would she help the Democrats control Congress?
2. Who are the senior governors of significant states who could become eligible and desirable candidates?
3. Should Joe Biden step down and assist the party in redirecting the candidacy?
James George
Political Science
19 June 2024
What Fuels North Korea’s Authoritarian Economy?
Pondering how to shut them down.
When I see Russia and North Korea coming up again, it prompts the question, how do authoritarian regimes stay afloat? How can they continue to develop advanced technologies sufficient to put the free world on guard?
I looked at Wikipedia to understand more quickly.
“The economy of North Korea is a centrally planned economy, following Juche, where the role of market allocation schemes is limited, although increasing.[11][12] As of 2024, North Korea continues its basic adherence to a centralized planned economy. With a total gross domestic product of $28.500 billion as of 2016, there has been some economic liberalization, particularly after Kim Jong Un assumed the leadership in 2012, but reports conflict over particular legislation and enactment.[13][14][15][16][17][18] Since the 1990s, informal market activity has increased, which the government has tolerated.[19] These markets are referred to as 'Jangmadang', and were formed as a result of the economic collapse during the 1990s, which made the regime unable to distribute food to its people.[20]
The collapse of the Eastern Bloc from 1989 to 1992, particularly North Korea's principal source of support, the Soviet Union, forced the North Korean economy to realign its foreign economic relations, including increased economic exchanges with South Korea. China is North Korea's largest trading partner. North Korea's ideology of Juche has resulted in the country pursuing autarky in an environment of international sanctions.[21] While the current North Korean economy is still dominated by state-owned industry and collective farms, foreign investment and corporate autonomy have increased.
North Korea had a similar GDP per capita to its neighbor South Korea from the aftermath of the Korean War until the mid-1970s,[22][23] but had a GDP per capita of less than $2,000 in the late 1990s and early 21st century. For 2018, the South Korean Bank of Korea estimated the GDP growth as −4.1%.[24] For the first time, in 2021, the South Korean Ministry of Unification estimated that the North Korean private sector outgrew the public sector.[12][25][26]"
Key Points:
North Korea relies on natural resource sales to China and Russia, among others.
“According to AI Overview, North Korea's main exports include minerals, metallurgical products, textiles, agricultural and fishery products, and armaments. Some of their most recent exports include tungsten ore, refined petroleum, ferroalloys, electricity, and molybdenum ore. North Korea's most common export destinations are China, Senegal, Nigeria, Poland, and the Netherlands.
Since Poland is a NATO nation, NATO should request that Poland curtail trade with North Korea.
Nigeria: “The United States and Nigeria enjoy strong bilateral cooperation on cultural heritage protection and preservation and signed a bilateral cultural property agreement in January 2022. Nigeria is one of only two countries in sub-Saharan Africa with a similar agreement with the United States.” Can we not ask Nigeria to curtail trade with North Korea?
“The United States and the Netherlands, whose military ties were forged during the battles of World War II, cooperate closely within NATO to support stability within Europe and across the globe. As close allies and partners, the U.S. and Dutch militaries work together at all levels of command.”
Can we not request that the Netherlands curtail trade with North Korea?
https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/19/asia/north-korea-russia-putin-visit-thursday-intl-hnk/index.html
