On Threat of Tariff

President Trump warned that he would levy tariffs, and he has done just that.  Colombia refused to accept repatriated Colombians.  Have a tariff.  Canada and Mexico aren't securing their borders with the US.  Tariff.  China is still enabling the Fentanyl trade.  Tariff.

Though Trump has claimed that these countries would be paying into the US treasury with these tariffs, that is looking at the tariff backwards.  If Canada was selling widgets in the US for $10, but now they are $12.50 thanks to the tariff, who is paying the extra $2.50?  Well, the customer.  That would be the American who chose to buy the Canadian widget despite the price increase.  So, does this just make the tariff self-defeating?  No.  Widget buyers in American will now be more likely to buy American widgets or maybe Italian or German widgets, which are now cheaper than the Canadian widget.  Overall, the number of widgets - and other products - that Canada sells in the US will drop.  The higher the tariff goes, the greater the fall in sales of Canadian goods.

Let's look at the big picture.  Canada exports approximately $500 billion in goods to the USA, while the US sends about $450 billion to Canada.  Now, that $500 billion accounts for almost one quarter of the Canadian economy.  By contrast, the $450 billion is only 2% of the US economy.  Who has leverage here?  A trade war between the US and Canada will be devastating for one and barely an inconvenience to the other.

How about Mexico?  Mexico exports $493 billion to the US while importing only $362 billion from the US.  That means 35% of the Mexican economy counts on US trade while less than 2% of the US economy depends on exports to Mexico.  Which party should be more eager to prevent an interruption in the status quo?

Many countries have based their economies on selling to the US, because the US is the biggest economy.  Being on the receiving end of a trade war with the US will be a heavy blow to their economies.  The tariff is not meant to be implemented long term.  It is a negotiation tool that encourages our trade partners to implement our preferred policies.

Secret Level

Amazon has a new original series called Secret Level.  It is an anthology of 15 stories - each about 10 to 15 minutes long - that are based on various video games.  The tone varies widely from one to another.  Some are quite dark while others are light and funny.  Arnold Schwarzeneggar has a role as a conquering king who repeatedly resurrects each time he dies.  His repeated efforts and failures are quite funny.  "And yet Aelstrom lives," he proudly states each time he finds himself alive again, always posing to display his muscular physique.  Such a great role for Arnie.  In another, Keanu Reeves is a mercenary pilot of a battlemech on a mission against a mysterious band who are almost as skilled as him, maybe even more skilled.  There is a Dungeons and Dragons story, a martial arts adventure, a modern day shoot 'em up between competing mercenary teams, a chase through space at lightspeed where the pursed and the pursuer age at different rates, a game of Go in a fantastical AI city, Warhammer 40,000, and even a bizarre take on Pac-Man.  Much of the animation was done with screen capture.  It gives the characters more vitality than typical CGI animation.  I hope some of these stories get another chapter next season.

Great popcorn fun and highly recommended.

The Paper Chase (1973)

James Hart (Timothy Bottoms) is a first-year law student on his first day at Harvard University.  He arrives in Professor Kingsfield's (John Houseman) class to learn about contract law and, to his utter surprise, is called upon to relate the details of a case.  He had expected a first-day introduction, not a leap into the material.  Utterly humiliated, he soon joins a study club with 5 other students to get up to speed.  Though he quickly discovers that law school is more work than a fulltime job, he also finds a girlfriend, Susan (Lindsay Wagner).  Where Hart is trying to organize, categorize, and otherwise dissect the world and its interactions into legalese, Susan is a free spirit who dislikes Hart's efforts to classify their relationship and apply contract law to it.  Of course, his studies suffer thanks to his involvement with Susan.  Choices must be made.  Grades are key to his future.

Though Hart is clearly taking many classes, the only one that is ever shown is that of Professor Kingsfield.  With the study club, Hart volunteered to produce a study outline for contract law - Kingsfield - while the others took property, criminal, etc.  By the end of the semester, half the study group had either abandoned the group or dropped out of Harvard entirely.  The stress is intense.

John Houseman is terrific as Kingsfield.  It is no wonder he won an academy award for this performance.  He is the best part of this movie, far outshining all the other actors.  Despite the fact that Hart was a standout student in his class, he appears to not know him at the end of the semester, asking his name.  In fact, this happened several times.  "What is your name?" was one of Kingsfield's most repeated lines.  Is this a tactic to keep students humble?  A way to maintain neutrality toward students?  An indication that he views the students as so many "skulls full of mush" that are not currently worth remembering?  Whatever the reason, it was great.

After the class is done and tests have been taken, Hart has a chance encounter with Kingsfield.  He gushes over how much he got out of the class.  Kingsfield replies by asking his name.  LOL!  "Thank you, Mr. Hart."

As for the rest of the cast, they are fine.  They get the job done but nothing special.  An entertaining movie and worth watching.  Recommended.

Birthright Citizenship

Nigel Piddlewhite arrives in the US as an exchange student from York, England, to attend the University of Nebraska.  To his great delight, he meets Fiona Feversham who happens to be from Leeds, England.  Both are freshman and quickly hit it off.  By their sophomore year, they have married and have a son, Algernon Piddlewhite.  Upon graduation, Nigel and Fiona return to England with young Algernon to begin careers and have another child.  Life is great and Algernon soon has a younger brother and sister.  On his 18th birthday, an official-looking letter arrives from America!  It is a request for him to enroll in Selective Services.  Is he legally obligated to do so?  Might an effort to extradite him be made if he failed to enroll?  Is Algernon an American citizen?  Certainly, neither of his parents are American citizens.  Nor are his siblings.

Maria Cortes is 6 months pregnant when she pays a coyote to get her across the US border into Arizona.  She has cousins in Tucson who support her until she has the baby.  Little Ximena is a healthy baby girl.  However, ICE has grabbed Maria and want to deport her.  Immigration lawyers declared that Ximena is an American citizen and the US must let her mother stay to raise her.  Is Ximena an American citizen or is she the same nationality as her mother who just happened to be born in another country?

The 14th Amendment states that:

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside

Was it the intent of the authors of this amendment to provide such a path to citizenship?  It must be remembered that this amendment was passed in the wake of the Civil War and with the intent of countering the Dred Scott Decision.  The 13th abolished slavery and the 15th provided the vote regardless of race.  The 14th granted citizenship to former slaves.  What was meant to be a one-and-done granting of citizenship has somehow morphed into birthright citizenship for the children of whomever can get across the border and give birth.

President Trump has signed an executive order that will see this issue hashed out in the courts in the near future.

The Final Pardons

With his presidency coming to a close, President Biden slipped in a few more pardons.  There is retired General Mark Milley, Dr. Anthony Fauci, all the members of Congress who served on the J6 Committee, various DC and US Capitol police, and, of course, three of his siblings and their spouses.  No, nothing to see here, move along.  Unlike his son, who was convicted of crimes and indicted for crimes, these people are not.  What is being pardoned?  The claim will be to prevent Trump from taking revenge on his enemies.  You know, we wouldn't want the president to target political rivals with the power of government, like when President Biden's DOJ went after Trump, Giuliani, Steve Bannon, etc.  This tells us more about the thinking of Biden than the thinking of Trump, because Biden already did what he thinks Trump might do.

Generally, accepting a pardon is equated with admitting guilt.  What exactly would each of these folks be admitting?  For what crimes could Trump's DOJ pursue them?  Milley should have been fired for the Afghanistan debacle, but that isn't criminal.  His backdoor chats with the Chinese during the interregnum were a sore spot with Trump, who called it treason, but is that worthy of pursuing now that tempers have calmed?  Rand Paul has been particularly active against Dr. Fauci, indicating that he lied to Congress and participated in illegal gain-of-function research.  Is he someone Trump would pursue or is Fauci being protected from Senator Paul now that the control has shifted to Republicans?  Now the J6 Committee is an interesting one.  Once the tapes were released in 2023, a different picture of the 'insurrection' was painted.  The Q-Anon Shaman was escorted to the Senate chambers by the Capitol Police!  Was the committee impartial or did it cherry pick the evidence to reveal while hiding mitigating facts?  Did it do anything criminal?  Biden must think there could be something there or why the pardons?  As far as the pardons for his family, that is doubtless for the same shenanigans that surrounded Hunter.

These create a bad precedent.  Pardons should be for specific crimes, not a shield against any future prosecution.  When Jimmy Carter issued a pardon for all the draft dodgers, it was for evading the draft.  It did not pardon them for assault, murder, fraud, etc.  A specific crime was pardoned.  The Constitution states:

 

...he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.

Providing a pardon without the crime is a case of putting the cart before the horse.

Trump Returns

Trump is back.  He is now the 2nd president to have non-consecutive terms, repeating the feat of Grover Cleveland: 1885 to 1889 and 1893 to 1897.  Trump's inaugural address was a long list of Biden policies that he will reverse or his own former policies that he will restore.  He spent a good portion of his speech decrying the damage done over the last 4 years and his intent to repair it.  Not one to shy away from hyperbole, he declared that the Golden Age of America was beginning now, and that the best four year of American history would follow.  Some of the highlights:

1. We're taking back the Panama Canal
2. Stay in Mexico policy restored
3. Gulf of Mexico is now Gulf of America
4. There are only two genders
5. Military ejected for failure to take COVID vaccine will be reinstated with back pay
6. No more wars.  He will be a peacemaker
7. Weaponization of DOJ will end
8. Denali in Alaska will once again be called Mount McKinley
9. Speaking of McKinley, he liked tariffs.  Let's do that again
10. External Revenue Service - collect taxes from other countries
11. Drill, baby, drill.  Let's get that liquid gold
12. End the electric car mandate
13. DOGE: the Department of Government Efficiency
14. Let's go to Mars!

America is the greatest country and every other country envies us.  They will envy us more now.

It was a practical speech that set out goals and expectations.  Here is the initial blueprint for America's future.  It was a call to arms against the powers that be.  It was missing the line: "There's a new sheriff in town," but it communicated that message loud and clear.  It lacked the soaring rhetoric of Reagan or Obama.  It had the subtly of a cudgel.

Black Moon Rising (1986)

In the salt flats of Utah, Earl Windom (Richard Jaeckel) tests his revolutionary hydrogen-powered car.  Not only does it run on hydrogen, but the sleek car - the Black Moon - has a rocket engine (like the Batmobile!) that gives it an extra boost of speed.  With the test successful, he sets out for Los Angeles to get additional funding.

In Las Vegas, Quint (Tommy Lee Jones) is a professional thief on a mission.  He has been contracted by the Department of Justice to recover incriminating tapes from a corporation.  No sooner has he acquired the tape than the alarm sounds, and he is on the run.  Worse, an old foe, Marvin Ringer (Lee Ving), is the chief of security who has no compuction about killing Quint to recover the tape.  Quint's vehicle is poked full of bullet holes during his flight.  As luck would have it, he encounters Earl and his crew at a gas station on the road to LA.  Seeing as they are both headed to the same spot, Quint hid the tape in the Black Moon.  Moments later, Ringer arrives and Quint is on the run again.

In Los Angeles, Nina (Linda Hamilton) sits at the bar of a high-end restaurant.  Of course, she shuts down a guy who hits on her.  However, she has a brief exchange with Quint, who is also at the bar.  Nina leaves and locks the restaurant door behind her.  A van full of men arrives in the parking lot and she instructs them which cars to steal.  She allocates the Black Moon to herself.  Despite Nina's impressive driving skills and the speed of the Black Moon, Quint follows her to Ryland Towers.  He quickly determines that it is a high-security facility.

Ed Ryland (Robert Vaughn) sells high-end stolen cars internationally.  To demonstrate just how dangerous he is, he orders the death of a foreign buyer for breach of payment while watching the killing on a closed-circuit TV.  He is unimpressed that Nina has stolen the Black Moon, which is unique and basically unsellable.  Clearly, the relationship between Ryland and Nina is on the rocks.

The pieces are now in place.  Can Quint recover the tape from the Black Moon and get it to the DOJ before it is needed in court?  Will he be able to convince Earl and his crew to help by promising to recover the Black Moon?  Can he dodge Marvin long enough to complete his plan?  Will Nina become a love interest?  Well, that one's a given.  But will she help him steal the Black Moon or remain loyal to Ryland?

For a movie that required a bunch of coincidences to tell its story, it takes that to the extreme.  At one point, Quint arrives at a location that no one could have predicted he would be and yet Marvin is waiting for him there.  Impossible!  Not only Marvin, but the DOJ is also there!  What?!  Oh, and Bubba Smith - 6'7" former NFL defensive lineman - plays the most-intimidating DOJ agent you ever saw.

There are lasers, building infiltrations, car chases, gun fights, fisticuffs, sex scenes, explosions, and even a crazy flying car stunt.  It covers all the bases.  Though evil and almost omniscient, the villain isn't all that bright.  The movie is a little uneven in pacing.  Even so, this is a fun, action-packed, heist film.

Good popcorn fun.