Bobillweaver Horizons

The excerpt below from the New York Time brings out some of the kinder and more gentle instincts of President Trump – as he heaps praise on his democratic opponents and former stars of his administration. I understand that his language was harsher in describing some of his other favorite people.

As the first full month of his impeachment investigation began to wane, President Trump unleashed a rhetorical onslaught.  He announced that his Democratic rivals are “crazy,” “hate our country” and “want to destroy America.” He apparently called the House speaker [Nancy Pelosi]“a third-grade politician” to her face, labeled his GOP critics “human scum,” knocked his first defense secretary [General Mattis] as “the world’s most overrated general,” and argued that the Kurdish people of northern Syria “are no angels” as they faced Turkish invasion and a possible genocide.

While his lawyers argued presidents cannot be investigated for murder and threatened to sue CNN for claiming to produce journalism, Trump joked that he would defy the constitution’s 22nd Amendment to stay in office 20 more years, while dismissing “that phony emoluments clause” in Article I, Section 9. He repeatedly implored Americans to vote for his former press secretary [Sean Spicer]“ on Dancing with the Stars,” mistakenly called his current defense secretary “Mark Esperanto,” instead of Esper, and threatened to get involved with a murder trial in Anguilla.

I see no other way to view what President Trump has done, or not done, in response to Turkey’s invasion of northern Syria – than a cowardly betrayal of a loyal friend and ally in the fight against ISIS. I’ve heard that as many as 11,000 Kurdish fighters were killed in the bloody fight to drive ISIS forces out of Syria and now, they have been abandoned to fight a much a stronger enemy to the north. For years Kurdish forces, with the support of the United States military, led the bloody fight against ISIS. Now, it looks like in a phone call between President Trump and President Erdogan of Turkey, President Trump gave his okay for Turkey forces to invade northern Syria and attack Kurdish forces there. In further betrayal the President announced publicly that American forces would not intervene and ordered the few remaining American military personnel to abandon those areas where the Turks were expected to attack.

How far Turkey will go in its incursion into Syria to weaken the Kurds is not known at this point. President Erdogan says he merely wants to clear a neutral zone in northern Syria, but the way he goes about that will make all the difference. I expect the Kurds to mount a strong resistance against the heavily armed Turks, and that will mean heavy Kurdish losses. We know already that Kurdish women and children are on the run and that multiple Kurds have been killed. I can only hope that the horrible consequences of this betrayal of a loyal American allay will be laid where it belongs – at the feet of President Trump. Revelations in recent phone calls between President Trump and other world leaders have shown his willingness to betray his oath of office. This phone shows his willingness to betray one of our most loyal allies.

What follows is news that you’re not likely to see on any of the major news outlets: If you watch the President much on television, you know that he talks a lot, and lately you might have noticed that his voice is a little hoarse and raspy. My sources in the WH tell me that the President started complaining about tenderness in his throat several days ago. When aides suggested that he cut back on the time he spends speaking in public, the President rejected the advice, saying that he must continue to defend himself against the barrage of false accusations and threats of impeachment by democrats. Two days ago, the President asked his personal physician to look at this throat. His doctor told the President that his vocal cords appeared to be strained, and then called in an MD who specializes in the treatment of problems associated with the larynx, sometimes called the voice box. The voice box is located in the front of the neck and contains the vocal cords. The larynx is responsible for sound production and swallowing and is also the entrance to the windpipe, and therefore plays a critical role in the airway.

The specialist told the President that his voice problem likely resulted from the frequent, and often loud, repetition of certain words and phrases. He went on to explain that this condition is made worse if the specific words and phrase were made up mostly of vowel sounds, which put an extra strain on the vocal cords. The doctor told the President that besides reducing the time spent talking, the problem can be treated by voice therapy. The President asked the doctor if he could identify specific words or phrases which he might cut out that would improve the problem. The doctor suggested that among the words and phrases that the President repeats most often, he suspected, “No Quid Pro Quo.” to put the most strain on the vocal cords. The President rose from behind his desk, looked the doctor in the face and shouted, “you’re fired, you’re fired – and you’re barred from coming back on my show.”

MEMORANDUM OF TELEPHONE CONVERSATION SUBJECT:
PARTICIPANTS:
DATE, TIME AND PLACE:

Telephone Conversation with President Zelenskyy of Ukraine Pre·sident Zelensky of . Ukraine Notetakers: The White House Situation·Room July 25, 2019, 9:03 – 9:33 a.m. EDT Residence.

The President: “Congratulations on a great victory. We all watched from the United States and you did a terrific job. The way you came from behind, -somebody who wasn’t given much of a chance, and you ended up winning easily. It’s a fantastic achievement. Congratulations.”

President Zelensky: “You· are absolutely right Mr. President We did win big and we worked hard for _this. We worked a lot but I would like to confess to you that I had an opportunity to learn from you. We used quite a few of your skills· and knowledge and were able to use .it as an example for· our elections – and yes it is-true that these were unique elections. We were in a unique situation· that we· were able to achieve a unique success. I’m able to tell you the following; the first time you· called me to · congratulate .me .when I won my presidential election the second time you are now calling me when my party won the parliamentary election. I think I should run more often so you can call me more often and we can talk over the phone more often.”

The President: [laughter] “hat’s a very good idea. T · think your country is very happy about that. ”

Zelensky: “Well yes, to tell you the truth, we are trying to work hard because we wanted to drain the swamp here in our country. We brought in many, many new people. Not the old politicians, not the typical politicians, because we want to have a new format and a new type of government .. You are a great teacher for us and in that.”

The President: “Well it1s·very nice of you .to say that. I will say that we do ·a lot for Ukraine. We spend a lot of effort and a lot of time. Much more than the European countries are ·’doing and they should be helping you more than they are. Germany does almost nothing for you. All they do is talk and I think it’s something that you should really ask them about. When I was· ·speaking to Angela Merkel she talks Ukraine, but she doesn’t do· anything. A lot of the European countries are the same way· so I think it’s. something you want to look at but the United States has been very, very good to Ukraine. I wouldn’t say that it’s reciprocal necessarily because things are happening that are not good but the United States has been very, very good to Ukraine.”

President Zelensky: “Yes you are absolutely right Not .only 100%, but actually 1000% arid I can tell you the following; I did talk to Angela Merkel and I did meet with her. I also met and talked with Macron and I told them that they are not doing quite as much as they need to be doing on the issues with the sanctions. They are not enforcing the sanctions. They are not working as much as .they should work for Ukraine. It turns out that even though logically, the European Union should be our biggest· partner but technically the United States is a much bigger partner than the European Union and- I’m very grateful to you for that because the United States is doing quite a· lot for Ukraine. Much more than the European Union especially when we are talking about sanctions against the Russian Federation. I would also like to thank you for your great support in the area of defense. We. are ready to continue to cooperate for the next steps. specifically we ar·e almost. ready to buy more Javelins from ·_ the United· States for defense purposes ..”

The· President: “I would like you to do us a favor though because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it. I would like you to find out what happened with this whole situation with Ukraine, they say Crowdstrike .. I guess you have one of your weal thy people… The server, they say Ukraine has.it. There-are a lot of things that went on, the· :whole situation .. I think you’re surrounding yourself with some of the same people. I .would like to have the Attorney General call you or your people and I would like you get to the bottom of it. As you say yesterday, that whole nonsense ended with a very poor performance by a man named Robert Mueller an incompetent performance,_but they. say a lot of it started with Ukraine. Whatever you can do, it’s very important that· you. do it if that’s possible.”

President Zelensky: “Yes it is. very important for me and everything that you just mentioned earlier. For me as a President,-· it is very important and we are open for any future cooperation. We are ready to· open a new page on cooperation in relations between the United· States and Ukraine.· For that· purpose, I just recalled our ambassador from United States and he will be replaced by a very competent and very experienced ambassador who will work hard on making sure that our two nations are getting closer. I would also like and hope to see him having your trust and your confidence and _have personal relations with you so we can cooperate even more so. I· will personally tell you that one· of my assistants spoke with Mr. Giuliani just recently and we are hoping very much that Mr. Guliani will be able to travel to Ukraine and we will meet once ·he comes to Ukraine. I just wanted to assure you once again that you have nobody but friends around us. (I’ll)? make sure that I surround myself with the best and most experienced people._ I also· wanted to·tell you that we are friends. We are great· friends and you Mr. President have friends -in our country so we can continue our strategic partnership. I also plan to surround · myself with great people ·and in addition to that investigation, I guarantee as the President of Ukraine that all the investigations. will be done openly and candidly .. That I can assure you”

The President: “Good because I· heard you had a prosecutor who· was very good and he was shut down and that’s really unfair. _·A lot of people are talking about that, the way they shut your very good prosecutor down and you had some very bad people involved. Mr. Giuliani is a highly respected man. He was the_ mayor of New York City, a great mayor, and I would like him to call you. I will ask him to call you along with the Attorney·_ ··General.· :Rudy very much knows what’s happening and he is a very capable guy. If you could _speak to him that would be great. The former ambassador from the United States, the woman., was bad new and the people she was dealing with in the Ukraine were bad news so I just want to let you know that. The othr thing, There’s a lot talk about Biden’s son,. that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you ·can look into it. It sounds horrible to me.”

President Zelensky: “I wanted to tell ·you about the prosecutor/ First I understand and I’m kn6wledgeable about the situation. Since we have an absolute majority in our Parliament; the next prosecutor .general will be 100%_ my person, my candidate, who will be approved, by the parliament and will start asnew prosecutor in September. He or she will look. into the situation, specifically to the company that you -mentioned in :this issue. The issue of the investigation of the case is actually the issue of making sure to resolve (the honesty)? so we will take care of that and will· work on the investigation of the case. On top of that, I would kindly ask you if you have any additional information that you can provide to us it would_ be very helpful · for the investigation to make· sure that we administer justice (in)? our country with regard to the Ambassador to the United States from Ukraine as far as I recall her name was Ivanovicli. It was great that you were the first one who told me that she was a bad ambassador because I agree· with you 100%. Her attitude towards me was far from the best as she admired the previous President and she was on his· side. She would not accept (me)? as a new President· well enough. . . . ”

The President: “Well, she’ s going go through some things. I will have Mr. Giuliani give you a call and I _am. also going to have Attorney General Barr call and we will get to· the bottom of it. I’m sure you will figure it out. I heard the prosecutor was treated very badly and he was a very (poor)? prosecutor. so good luck with everything. Your. economy is going-· to get better and better I predict. You have a lot· of assets. It’s a great country. I have many Ukrainian friends, their incredible ·people.”

President Zelensky: “I would like to tell you that I also have quite a few·Ukrainian friends that live in the United· States. ·Actually last time I traveled to the United States, I stayed in New York near Central Park and I stayed at the Trump Tower. I will talk to them and I hope to see them· again in the future. I also wanted to thank you .for your invitation to visit the United States, specifically Washington DC. On ,the other hand, I also want to ensure you that we will  be very serious about the case and will work on the investigation. As to the economy, there is much potential for our two countries and one of the issues that is very important for Ukraine is· energy independence. I believe we can be very successful. and cooperating on energy independence with United States. We -are already working on cooperation. We are buying American oil but I am very hopeful for a future meeting. We will have more time and more opportunities to discuss these opportunities· and get to know each other better. I would like to thank you very much for your support.”

The President: “Good. Well,. thank you very much and I appreciate that. I will tell Rudy and Attorney General Barr to  call. Thank you. Whenever you would like -to come to the White House,. feel to call.  Give us a date and we’ll work that out. I 1ook forward to seeing you.”

President zelensky: Thank ·you very much. I would be very happy to come and would be happy to meet with you personally and I . . . get to know. you better. I am l.ooking forward to our meeting arid I .also would like to invite you to visit Ukraine and come to the city bf Kyiv which is a beautiful city. We have a beautiful country Which would welcome you. On the other hand, I believe that on September I we will be in Poland and we can meet in Poland hopefully. After that,· it might be a very good idea for you to.travel to Ukraine. We can either take my plane and go to Ukraine or we can take your plane, which is probably much better than mine.”

‘The President: “Okay,. ·we can work that ·out. I look forward to seeing you in Washington and maybe in· Poland because I think we are going to be there at that time .”

President · Zelensky: “Thank you very much Mr. President.”

The President:· “Congratulations on· a fantastic job you’ve done-. The whole world was watching. I’m not sure it was so much of an upset but congratulations.”

President Zelensky: “Thank you Mr. President bye-bye ..”

What follows is a list of quotes by Fox News announcers which mimics the words of President Trump in his attack on immigration at the Southern border. The quotes and the announcers who said them are listed.

We are so overwhelmed by this — it literally is an invasion of people crossing into Texas.” — Laura Ingraham on “The O’Reilly Factor,” May 29, 2014 “We are letting folks invade our home, walk into our home, and we won’t even defend it or protect it.” — Patrick Buchanan on “Hannity,” June 9, 2014 “This isn’t reunification. This is a government-sanctioned invasion of our country.” — Todd Starnes on “Fox & Friends Sunday,” July 6, 2014 “The invasion of illegal immigrants, and in particular unaccompanied children, at our southern border continues to spiral out of control.” — Sean Hannity on “Hannity,” July 12, 2014 “When the federal government is not able or is not willing to protect from an invasion, a state has the right to reach its own agreements, levy its own taxes and do whatever it has to, to secure its border from further invasion. And this is an invasion. Twice as big already than D-Day and twice as many again still coming.” — Louie Gohmert on “Justice With Judge Jeanine,” July 13, 2014 “The other top story is the fact that we’ve got this invasion across our southern border of all these illegals. Many are children.” — Steve Doocy on “Fox & Friends,” July 16, 2014 “In the Constitution, the founding fathers called it repelling invasion.” — Allen West on “On the Record With Greta Van Susteren,” Aug. 11, 2015 “Trump’s great accomplishment is to expose the fact that the establishment of this country is responsible for insecure borders, the masses coming across our borders, invading our country.” — Patrick Buchanan on “Hannity,” Oct. 21, 2016 “It’s a mass of humanity right now, just walking across the border, coming across the Rio Grande. This is a peacetime invasion of the United States.” — Laura Ingraham on “Special Report With Bret Baier,” Nov. 16, 2016 “These are illegal aliens who have invaded our country. And illegal alien equals criminal.” — Mary Ann Mendoza on “Fox & Friends,” March 29, 2017 “They used to call that an invasion. And they used to fight wars over stuff like that. But these days it’s a voter registration drive for the D.N.C.” — Todd Starnes on “Fox & Friends,” May 9, 2017 “We’re going to be confronted by even more serious invasion, in terms of those crossing the border with drugs.” — Jeanine Pirro on “Fox & Friends,” July 28, 2017 “Will anyone in power do anything to protect America this time, or will our leaders sit passively back while the invasion continues?” — Tucker Carlson on “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” April 2, 2018 “What else would you call it? It’s gotta be — it’s an invasion of our country and of our rights. It’s just — it’s despicable.” — Art Del Cueto on “The Ingraham Angle,” April 9, 2018 “You use the word ‘invasion,’ people say ‘oh, that’s so mean.’ What else do you call this?” — Laura Ingraham on “The Ingraham Angle,” April 12, 2018 “We’ll also expose the Americans aiding and abetting a mass invasion of illegal immigrants looking to exploit our laws.” — Laura Ingraham on “The Ingraham Angle,” April 26, 2018 “It doesn’t look like people seeking asylum, it looks more like an invasion of our country. And that’s sad.” — Art Del Cueto on “America’s Newsroom,” May 1, 2018 “We’re going to abolish ICE? I mean that’s the second line of defense to prevent an invasion of the United States and to kick out people who are criminals and child molesters, MS-13.” — Patrick Buchanan on “Cavuto Live,” July 7, 2018 “I don’t think we should sit back and get invaded by foreigners. I don’t. That doesn’t make me a racist, it makes me an American.” — Tucker Carlson on “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Aug. 20, 2018 “When MS-13 invades our country — 10,000 members across 40 states — Nancy Pelosi talks about the spark of divinity.” — Kayleigh McEnany on “America’s Newsroom,” Aug. 23, 2018 “The reality is, our southern border is on the verge of an invasion.” — Herman Cain on “Hannity,” Nov. 15, 2018 “This is not migrants coming into the country. This is nothing short of an invasion.” — Art Del Cueto on “America’s Newsroom,” Nov. 16, 2018 “You have our troops at the border and they are meant there for a deterrence effect, to say, don’t come here, don’t invade, you have to go to the proper channels.” — Morgan Ortagus on “Hannity,” Nov. 17, 2018 “I.C.E. are the agents — they’re just police officers — who protect this nation from invading illegal immigrants.” — Sebastian Gorka on “Justice With Judge Jeanine,” Nov. 17, 2018 “You can’t shoot Americans. You can shoot invaders.” — Ann Coulter on “Justice With Judge Jeanine,” Nov. 25, 2018 “This isn’t going to stop the flow of illegals who are invading our country.” — Mary Ann Mendoza on “Fox & Friends First,” Feb. 1, 2019 “There is an invasion going on right now.” — Jeff Crouere on “America’s News HQ,” March 10, 2019 “What about us? What about our country? We’re being invaded.” — Tucker Carlson on “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” April 9, 2019 “We are going to change the underlying broken laws to stop what I think is literally an invasion of people from Central America.” — Lindsey Graham on “Sunday Morning Futures With Maria Bartiromo,” May 12, 2019 “You guys know what it’s like. This is a walking invasion. Where’s the action?” — Brian Kilmeade on “Fox & Friends,” June 3, 2019 “Calling it anything but an invasion at this point is just not being honest with people.” — Laura Ingraham on “The Ingraham Angle,” July 10, 2019

HAPPINESS

I believe that respect for all people is an essential ingredient in a happy life. When one shares friendship and respect freely with others, I believe it makes life even happier and more rewarding. It’s no surprise that Jesus spoke of loving one’s neighbor and treating others as you would have them treat you. I believe people who consistently show respect and good will to other people, especially to strangers, are less likely to judge people on factors like religion, race, skin color, political views and place of birth. Also, that those who do are more likely to become bigots, racists and extreme nationalists, which in turn can lead to hatred of people whom they judge to be inherently different or who have different values and views. That hatred may come from fear, real or imagined, that “other people” threaten one’s culture or way of life. But one should never take lightly the temptation to hate and should consider the potential effects on one’s self as well as untended consequences.

During the first few years of my retirement I took 10 ocean cruises, and I made a point on every cruise to engage all kinds of strangers, in friendly conversation. That nearly always led to pleasant exchanges and feelings of good will. Because of those conversations and because I had a ponytail which made me easy to spot, by the end of a cruise lots of travelers would call out from somewhere across the ship with greetings like “hello pony-tail” or there goes pony-tail.” Because of those experiences, it would be difficult to hate, or even dislike any of those travelers, many of whom differ from me in significant ways.

I try to do the following at least once every few days I walk up to one , (sometimes two) strangers and say the following: “I hope you are having a good day and hope that I’m neither the first or last to tell you that today. Almost without exception frowns turn into smiles and smiles into wider smiles. What usually follows is a warm friendly exchange -maybe even a nice chat. Yesterday, I had two such encounters in a local shopping mall: the first was with an elderly gentleman who was navigating a large cart through shoppers and who appeared to be a little down on his luck. My introduction brought a wide grin, and as I walked away after our chat, he waved me good-bye and thanked me for making him feel better. The second encounter was with a couple that was relaxing in a rest area. At first the couple seemed to resist distraction or intrusion, but quickly warmed up to a 20-minute conversation during which the man and his wife competed with each other to tell me more than I needed to know about their long, loving relationships with their pets, a cat and dog.

In summary, an open-minded attitude toward everyone, including strangers, engenders friendship and respect, which in turn, makes for a happier and more rewarding life. Creating friendships with all manner of people makes it less likely that one will be become bigoted, racist or an extreme nationalist. Getting to know strangers and having a friendly and respectful relationship with them will reduce the likelihood that you ever become resentful or hate them – just because they are inherently different or have different views and values.

The tweets below which I copied directly from the President’s Twitter Feed are the only statements that I can find from the President at this time about the two tragic shootings in El Paso, TX and Dayton, OH. The tweets are presented in reverse chronological order. They are not what is expected from a President who is normally forceful and loquacious in matters of interest to him. Furthermore, during the 48-hour period during last Saturday and Sunday July 27 and 28) the President managed to whip out 35 tweets which averages 17 tweets per 24-hour period, and several of them were slams at Congressman Elijah Cummings of Maryland. However, he has managed to squeeze out a meager 5 tweets in the 27-hour period since the tragic shooting in El Paso began Saturday morning.  At this moment of tragedy, we the people of American need a leader who will appeal to our better angels and will bring us together as one nation under God.’ Please see the verse that follows the tweets. I would love to see your thoughts on the way President Trump is handing this tragedy – favorable or not so much.

“God be with you all’: Trump pledges full support for El Paso shooting victims as lawmakers also grieve

“The FBI, local and state law enforcement are working together in El Paso and in Dayton, Ohio. Information is rapidly being accumulated in Dayton. Much has already be learned in El Paso. God bless the people of El Paso Texas. God bless the people of Dayton, Ohio.”

“Law enforcement was very rapid in both instances. Updates will be given throughout the day!”

“Melania and I send our heartfelt thoughts and prayers to the great people of Texas.”

“Today’s shooting in El Paso, Texas, was not only tragic, it was an act of cowardice. I know that I stand with everyone in this Country to condemn today’s hateful act. There are no reasons or excuses that will ever justify killing There are no reasons or excuses that will ever justify killing innocent people….”

From : “Oh, Lincoln, You should be Living at This Hour. by Bobill

“Oh, Lincoln, you should be living at this hour!
As During your life, these are perilous times,
And America has need of you.!”

… to describe a specific area and group of Americans. 

“a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess” [a place] “where no human being would want to live.”

These are the loving, respectful words the president wrote in a tweet yesterday to describe a group of people (read subhuman) and where they live in The United States, which is the Maryland Congressional District represented by Congressman Elijah Cummings. No elaboration is required to describe the meaning or intent of the quote, and no apology or show of remorse could ever atone for the disgusting slur. So, I’ll go directly to the business at hand – that is to learn who will defend the president in perhaps his most despicable barrage of hatred and unseemly criticism to date.

To learn the answer, I pose two direct questions – (1) Do you believe the comment is racist? and (2) do you denounce the president for his attack? Answer in one of the following combinations where the letters in each answer are answers to questions 1 and 2, respectively. You can leave a comment in support of your answer.

YY, YN, NY, NN

Please leave your answers here, not on facebook.

Addendum To Post – July 7, 2019

The first quote below is an excerpt from an article posted by thehill.com. I don’t know much about that organization, but I know that the excerpt misrepresents how the census bureau has gathered information about a person’s citizenship over the course of American history from 1790 through 2010. The article does not dispel false narrative about this issue, but creates new ones.

“Lost in this partisan uproar is that a citizenship question has appeared in some form or another on censuses throughout our history. Indeed, it was only removed entirely in 2010 by President Obama, and its roots stretch deep into the founding era. It’s worth detailing the history to dispel all the false narratives. A question about citizenship was proposed for the first time in 1800 by Thomas Jefferson, who advocated for an inquiry into “the respective numbers of native citizens, citizens of foreign birth, and of aliens.”

Furthermore, the following excerpt leads me to believe that the writer does not know that information about citizenship cannot be used for purposes of apportionment of taxes and representatives among the several states. Article I, Section 2 of the constitution uses the word, “persons” not “citizens” in the original and amended versions of that article. Persons = citizens + non-citizens, any way you count it.

“After all, the census is used to draw congressional districts and assure the voters of each state are adequately represented in Congress. So, we are talking about information that has been collected throughout most of our history and is critical to the very core [of] democratic protections of the Constitution.”

I have done some research on how the questions on US citizenship have appeared on the census questionnaires during the entire history of the United States from 1790 through 2010. I state here my conclusions – which I believe are reasonably accurate, and I welcome comments in the way of constructive criticism – to include corrections and suggestions.

I found no mention of US citizenship on the questionnaires for the census years between 1790 and 1840. I found no direct questions about citizenship on the questionnaires for the census years between 1850 and 1980, but the questionnaires for all census years contained several differently-worded questions about the birthplace of persons and sometimes about the birthplace of the person’s parents. I found the direct question: “Is the person a citizen of the Unites States? to first appear on the questionnaire for census year 1990 and it appeared again on the 2000 questionnaire. No questions related to where a person or the person’s parents were born is found on the 2010 census questionnaire. Most questions of that type were moved to the Community Survey Questionnaire.

Original Post – July 6,  2019

President Trump seems bound and determined to get a question on the 2020 census questionnaire about whether a respondent is also a citizen. Here is what the President said Friday about the reasons why this information is needed:

“Number one, you need it for Congress — you need it for Congress for redistricting. You need it for appropriations — where are the funds going? How many people are there? Are they citizens? Are they not citizens? You need it for many reasons.”

I can say nothing kinder about the President’s scattergun statement than that it’s totally false. Article I, Section 2 of the body of the Constitution calls for the census to count the number of “persons” (not citizens) each ten years, for the purpose of apportioning representatives and taxes among the states. The XIV Amendment, Section 2 which modifies that section of the constitution retains the word “person.” Therefore, knowing how many of the persons counted are US citizens (or not) can have no bearing on that apportionment.

But if a state has a significant number of non-citizens who choose to avoid the census count for any reason, like fear of being deported, that state could lose some of its representation in congress as well as federal funds, the state deserves by law. The reason is obvious why the President wants the questionnaire in the census; it’s to discourage participation of non-citizens, which he believes will help the Republican Party gain seats in congress. The President’s base support is mostly white and any action, legal or illegal, which suppresses the vote of non-whites will help him get re-elected. Local and State politicians  particularly in the south, have always used numerous forms of discrimination and suppression to deny minorities, especially African Americans, their right to vote – and it didn’t matter what political party was in power. However, I don’t recall until now that a President ever took the lead in the suppression of  minority voting.

President Trump recently met and shook hands with Kim Jong Un in the demilitarized zone that separates the two Korean countries and then stepped into North Korea, something never done before by a US President. That happened after Trump invited Kim to meet him there – and after Kim sent Don a birthday card and a letter in an envelope bearing the four English letters, “SWAK.” President Trump wants their next meeting to be at Trump’s Mari Lago Golf Resort. He told Kim they could have official meetings between their golf matches and secret rendezvous and that he would only charge Kim half the going price for his stay and services. Kim wants the meeting to take place again in the demilitarized zone where he thinks they should begin by having tea, followed by a game of ping pong. He wants the ping-pong table to double as the official meeting table, and wants it to take the shape of the Korean Peninsula and to straddle the line that separates North Korea and South Korea. The president would like for the table to be round because he likes to cut corners, but seems agreeable to Kim’s suggestions.

If the President accepts Kim’s offer, other important issues which must be settled include who will serve first in the ping pong match and whether Don and Kim will change ends of the table at specified times, as outlined in ping pong rules. The latter comes to mind because it would seem odd for either player to defend from a position located in the other’s country. Another perplexing issue is who will be the stand in for each player to help settle disputes during the game. The same person would also replace a player in case he is injured or disqualified. Trump might be hard put to find a stand-in because he is so mistrusted, and Kim doesn’t have anyone whom he trusts. These and a multitude other issues will be debated when negotiations begin in about a month. Until then, as the President says, “we’ll have to wait and see.”