Trump smart at playing dumb

Sarah Kendzior has an interesting view of Trump’s actions.  Among other things, she writes that he has wanted to be President for 30 years.

See https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/trump-is-no-genius-but-hes-smart-at-playing-dumb/article37518954/.

One thing leads to another

I received an email from the Toronto Globe and Mail offering an introductory $1.99/week offer.  This is because I am a casual non-paying user.  I sent the following to feedback:

Thanks for your persistence in trying to get me to subscribe, but I am "overwhelmed" by the New York Times and two Minnesota dailies.

I only went to the Globe and Mail to point out to some relatives in Bradford how much news they were missing by watching TV news.

I learned about the Muslim father who didn't want his children in music classes because music was "haram".  Then I saw Zarqa Nawaz's commentary.

Oh, she's the creator of "Little Mosque on the Prairie".  I saw some episodes long ago.  Now we have watched five seasons and will watch the final season in a few weeks.

I also looked up military bands in Islamic countries.  The Saudi Arabian band played "The Star Spangled Banner" for Pres. Obama.  I also found a picture of Iranian trombonists marching past Pres. Ahmadinejad.  If music was haram these countries would be the first to abolish military bands.

Thanks for publishing the Globe and Mail.  I just wish I had the time to read it as much as I do the New York Times.
End of Globe and Mail letter

That led me to look up Ahmadinejad, former president of Iran, and I found that he wrote a letter to Donald Trump.  See http://www.politico.eu/article/iran-former-president-mahmoud-ahmadinejad-donald-trump/

That in turn led me to
http://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trump-bans-iran-profits-migration-muslim-ban-isil-terrorism-foreign-policy-middle-east/

When will we ever learn?  It seems OK for the U.S. to meddle in other countries and have military operations wherever we please, but if other countries have military exercises in the seas near their border, the U.S. howls aggression.

Poor George Washington, spinning in his grave whenever his “Farewell Address” is read in the U.S. Senate, and then the Senate and others do exactly the opposite of his advice.

"Excessive partiality for one foreign nation and excessive dislike of another cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on one side, and serve to veil and even second the arts of influence on the other."

Some sane advice from one pair of communication directors to another.

"Here’s the first rule: Your job is not to suck up to your boss. We know he probably gave you marching orders to go out there on Saturday and say stuff you (and everyone else) knew was not only false, or even demonstrably false, but jarringly, alarmingly, monumentally false.”

"Dear Sean Spicer: A few tips to maker your job easier",  Peter Donolo and Jason MacDonald, former communication directors to Prime Ministers of Canada, to Sean Spicer, Donald Trump’s Press Secretary, The Globe and Mail, 24 January 2017.

Thanks to U.S. readers (and others)

The readership of this blog from the United States is increasing, and it is often exceeding views from Russia.  Many have said that Russian views are targeting low-readership blogs like this one.  They hope that the blog writers will click on the links which often are to sites that will corrupt the target site.  You can often tell some of these when the link has a long string of characters after “.com” or whatever.  This devious trick is called “reverse spam”.

I don’t know what has caused this increase.  My complaints about Trump?  But other articles get as many view or more.  Is it the cards that I’ve left in a Perk Place in Duluth?  Is it the readers of my former column in the Reader Weekly of Duluth, “Party of One”?  Is it more frequent posts?  Could be!  Though as the name of this blog states, they are still irregular.

BTW, I would have called this blog “Party of One”, but somebody else had already taken it.

If you do correspond with me or see me, please let me know how often you read this blog and what you think.

Another country whose readership has increased is France.  I only have three correspondents in France, and I’ve lost contact with two of them.  To the one left, “Merci encore pour ‘Astérix’!”  What am I writing that gets so much interest from France?

One surprise is that I get practically no readers from Canada.  Canadian readership once was second to U.S. readership.  And my wife has several relatives in Canada.

BTW, to them I say don’t watch TV, read the Globe and Mail.  You’ll get more information per minute.  This advice holds for anybody who has access to free and independent newspapers (printed or online).