Category: Trump

ICE is out of Control

On By Norbert HauptIn Atrocities, Police Brutality, Political, TrumpLeave a comment

ICE  agent body slammed a 79-year-old US citizen and arrested him.

I have been very concerned about the methods ICE  uses in our country to come after American citizens without apparent due process.

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out– Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out– Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out– Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me–and there was no one left to speak for me.

— Martin Niemöller, a Nazi dissident

Now they are coming for the immigrants.

I am speaking out, because I am an immigrant.

ICE apparently attacks as groups, masked, unidentified, only with uniforms and vests labeled as ICE or Police, and armed. They take people off the streets, out of offices and factories, and throw them into unmarked vans. How do we know they are legitimate? How can any individual person defend himself? How do I know they are real? How do I call my lawyer when I am pinned to the ground by three goons with a knee on my throat?

According to the article above, when the man tried to talk with them and provide documentation, while he was pinned to the ground, they said:

“You don’t fuck with ICE. We are here.”

Suppose someone who is part of some organized crime gang (mafia, latino gang, whatever) would just buy some combat uniforms for themselves, including bulletproof vests, helmets, masks, slap ICE labels on the backs, and maraud the streets? They could pick off anyone by force. No bystander would help. We all have learned that you don’t fuck with ICE. The potential for lawlessness is vast.

The Brownshirts are already here.

Now they are coming for all of us.

I am speaking out because I am one of us.

Are we great yet?

Government Shutdown – Whose Fault is it?

On By Norbert HauptIn Political, TrumpLeave a comment

I just went to the public website of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) (hud.gov) and this is what I got:

The current government controls the presidency and both houses of Congress, as well as the majority of the Supreme Court. How is it possible that a few people (the supposed radial left) in Congress can shut down the government? Who is in charge?

I am dismayed that we now have a country where we can’t trust our own government to represent reality as it really is. Instead, our public information websites feed us propaganda.

Are we great yet?

Trump Taking Credit for the Stock Market – or NOT

On By Norbert HauptIn Economy, TrumpLeave a comment

In January 2024, Donald Trump posted on Truth Social, attributing the stock market’s record highs to his favorable polling against President Joe Biden. He claimed that investors were optimistic about his potential return to the White House, stating:

THIS IS THE TRUMP STOCK MARKET BECAUSE MY POLLS AGAINST BIDEN ARE SO GOOD THAT INVESTORS ARE PROJECTING THAT I WILL WIN, AND THAT WILL DRIVE THE MARKET UP.

Trump also remarked that “everything else is terrible,” referencing inflation and geopolitical concerns. He suggested that the market’s performance was driven by expectations of his victory, despite not providing evidence to support this claim.

During a Fox News town hall on January 10, 2024, Trump asserted that the stock market was rising due to his lead in the polls and warning of a potential crash if he did not win the upcoming election.

Now, in April 2025, following a significant stock market downturn attributed to his administration’s aggressive tariff policies, Donald Trump shifted responsibility again to Joe Biden.  Trump now referred to the declining market as the result of a “Biden Overhang,” suggesting that the economic challenges were inherited from the previous administration.

What a bunch of nonsense coming out of our president’s mouth. Let me get this straight. When the market was great, it was his win, even though Biden had been president for over 3 years then. When the market is terrible now, it’s Biden’s fault, even though Trump has been president for more than 3 months, and the DJIA was at 43,487 on January 20, 2025, when Biden’s term ended.

Joe Biden built a great economy. He brought us out of the Covid pandemic, lowered the Trump inflation, his policies brought manufacturing back to America, brought unemployment to historic lows, increased GDP every quarter, created 17 million new jobs and had the stock market at record highs. It took Donald Trump just three months to destroy all of that. And he has the gall to blame Biden for it.

Remember when Trump kept complaining that the economic disaster of 2020, following the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak, was Biden’s fault, even though he was president then?

How stupid does he think we are?

“Nobody Knows the Impact of the Tariffs” – Bullshit

On By Norbert HauptIn Economy, Political, TrumpLeave a comment
GOP Senator Kennedy said that nobody knows what the impact of these tariffs is going to be on the economy.

​Several economic studies conducted by distinguished economists and prestigious institutions have analyzed the impact of tariffs on the economy, consistently finding that tariffs tend to have negative effects. Here is a list of 10 notable studies that ChatGPT pulled for me in 3 seconds:

  1. “Are Tariffs Bad for Growth? Yes, Say Five Decades of Data from 150 Countries”: Authored by Davide Furceri, Swarnali A. Hannan, Jonathan D. Ostry, and Andrew K. Rose, this study analyzed data from 151 countries over the period 1963–2014. The researchers found that increases in import tariffs are associated with significant and persistent declines in output growth. Specifically, a one standard deviation increase in the tariff rate (approximately 3.6 percentage points) leads to about a 0.4% decline in output five years later. The study attributes this decline to reduced labor efficiency, real exchange rate appreciation, and higher production costs due to increased prices of imported inputs. ​

  2. “Macroeconomic Consequences of Tariffs”: In this working paper, Davide Furceri, Swarnali A. Hannan, Jonathan D. Ostry, and Andrew K. Rose expanded on their previous research to explore the broader macroeconomic effects of tariffs. They found that higher tariffs lead to declines in output, productivity, and employment, as well as increases in inequality. The study underscores that the negative effects of tariffs are both economically and statistically significant. ​

  3. “International Trade, Distortions and Long-Run Economic Growth”: Jong-Wha Lee examined how trade distortions, such as tariffs, impact long-term economic growth. The study concluded that tariffs and exchange controls generate cross-country divergences in growth rates and per capita income over extended periods, highlighting the detrimental effects of trade barriers on economic development. ​IMF

  4. “The Effects of Tariffs and Trade Barriers in CBO’s Projections”: The Congressional Budget Office analyzed the impact of tariffs implemented since January 2018, finding that these trade barriers reduced the level of real U.S. GDP by roughly 0.3 percent by 2020. The study highlighted that tariffs raise domestic prices, thereby reducing consumers’ purchasing power and increasing business investment costs. ​Congressional Budget Office

  5. “The Macroeconomic Consequences of Import Tariffs and Trade Policy Uncertainty”: Lukas Boer and Malte Rieth estimated the macroeconomic effects of import tariffs and trade policy uncertainty in the United States. Their findings indicate that tariff shocks depress trade, investment, and output persistently, suggesting that protectionist measures have adverse economic consequences. ​IMF

  6. “Tariffs Do More Harm Than Good at Home”: Maurice Obstfeld discussed how tariffs, while intended to protect domestic industries, can be broadly contractionary, reducing output, investment, and employment in the economy. The study emphasized that such negative effects occur even if trade partners do not retaliate with tariffs of their own. ​IMF

  7. “Macroeconomic Consequences of Tariffs”: The Cato Institute reviewed empirical studies and found that tariff increases lead to declines in output and productivity in the medium term, as well as increases in unemployment and inequality. The study highlighted that tariffs do not improve the trade balance and often result in real exchange rate appreciation. ​IMF eLibrary+2Cato Institute+2IMF+2

  8. “The Return to Protectionism”: Economists Pablo D. Fajgelbaum, Pinelopi K. Goldberg, Patrick J. Kennedy, and Amit K. Khandelwal examined the effects of the 2018 trade war on the U.S. economy. Their analysis revealed that the tariffs led to higher import prices, resulting in increased costs for consumers and businesses. The study concluded that the tariffs imposed during this period caused substantial welfare losses for the U.S. economy.​

  9. “The Impact of the 2018 Trade War on U.S. Prices and Welfare”: Researchers Mary Amiti, Stephen J. Redding, and David E. Weinstein analyzed the price effects of the 2018 tariffs. They found that the full incidence of the tariffs was passed on to U.S. importers and consumers, leading to higher prices and reduced welfare. The study emphasizes that the tariffs did not lead to a reduction in foreign export prices, meaning U.S. entities bore the entire cost.​

  10. “Macroeconomic Consequences of Tariffs”: In this working paper, Davide Furceri, Swarnali A. Hannan, Jonathan D. Ostry, and Andrew K. Rose expanded on their previous research to explore the broader macroeconomic effects of tariffs. They found that higher tariffs lead to declines in output, productivity, and employment, as well as increases in inequality. The study underscores that the negative effects of tariffs are both economically and statistically significant.​

These studies collectively provide robust evidence that tariffs tend to have adverse effects on economic growth, productivity, employment, and consumer welfare.

Do you want me to cite not 10 but 200? I can keep going. It’ll just take a few more seconds.

Senator Kennedy – are your staffers asleep?

The State or Fate of Tourism in the United States

On By Norbert HauptIn Bad Product, Commentaries, Travels, TrumpLeave a comment

We have a lot of overseas friends in all five continents.

Here is a message we received today from a friend in Europe that we have traveled with quite a few times before:

As regards to travel to the U.S., this administration makes us feel unwelcome with a hostile undertone. I’ve canceled my upcoming Florida trip. Let me say that I am a big fan of transatlantic cooperation. I love the America I used to know, and I am aware that many/most Americans didn’t vote for this shit show, but until decency, truthfulness, reliability and democracy is restored, I’ll be on the fence watching.

This is not the only person I have received such comments from. We were both in Asia and Europe within the last six weeks, and everyone talks this way. On top of all that, the draconian cuts inflicted on the U.S. Park Service, causing uncertainty and lack of control at America’s National Parks, will result in massive lack of tourism this year. Our National Parks are one of the world’s most attractive sets of destinations, and people save for many years for a trip to Yellowstone, Yosemite or the Grand Canyon. Our National Park System is the best in the world. It brings in $55 billion in revenue a year and costs only $3 billion. The whole thing makes no sense to me. The only person who would order such a thing is someone who manages a casino, basically a money machine, to bankruptcy. Tourists right now don’t even know if they will be able to get into the park when they arrive. It’s just not worth it to a lot of foreigners.

The problem is that stability is not restored by rescinding an Executive Order. Decency is earned over years, or even decades. You don’t get a reputation of decency back just because you had an election. And reliability is destroyed for a generation, at least. The word of the United States mattered. Now, you cannot trust that word. Ask the Afghan interpreters who were abandoned or deported. Ask the foreign students with the wrong skin color who disappeared from their colleges this spring.

The summer tourist season will be adversely affected, and everyone and every company that feeds it will suffer this year.

 

And Then They Came for Me…

On By Norbert HauptIn Atrocities, TrumpLeave a comment

I lifted the post below from the Facebook feed of Matt Mikalados:

This is Rumeysa Ozturk, a Fulbright scholar from Turkey who is studying for her doctorate at Tufts University.
Last night, six masked men walked up to her in a residential neighborhood, grabbed her, and whisked her away in unmarked cars. Bystanders asked the men who they were and why they wore masks and they said “We’re the police.”
One of the neighbors caught it on his security camera and has shared truly chilling photos of a young woman being surrounded and bundled off into a car.
Like previous illegal ICE arrests of recent days there have been no charges filed. Her lawyer quickly filed with a judge to prevent her being moved out of state, which the judge approved, but as of today the ICE tracking tool shows her at a privately run prison in Louisiana, not in Massachusetts where she was taken. Her lawyers have not been allowed to speak to her.
Unlike other recent arrests, Ozturk was NOT heavily involved in protest actions on her campus or elsewhere.
I’ve been told that in some of the other egregious ICE actions of recent weeks that it’s “not a free speech issue” because these people are “terrorists” and “supporters of Hamas” (NONE of which has been proven *or even charged* by the US government) AND YET… the best guess right now as to why this woman’s visa was revoked and she was arrested is that she put her name on an op-ed in her school paper.
The op-ed had controversial statements like “We, as graduate students, affirm the equal dignity and humanity of all people.”
So, to recap:
– A young, intelligent woman who is studying in the US legally
– Wrote an op-ed
– Got arrested by masked men and had her visa revoked
– Was removed from the state despite a court order saying she was not to be removed
– Has not been allowed to contact her lawyers
One of Rumeysa’s friends, a professor at Northeastern, describes her as a “soft spoken, kind, and gentle soul.” He said that not only was she not antisemitic, and not racist, he said that in the ten years he’s known her she’s not spoken badly to anyone at all.
It seems like in every way, Rumeysa Ozturk is the kind of person we should want in the United States. Kind, intelligent, law-abiding. Instead we’ve violated her rights and our own values, abducted her with masked secret police, incarcerated her without any charges, kept her from her lawyers, and disobeyed court orders about where she’s to be kept.
I’ve heard some people saying lately that there’s no reason to be concerned, because immigrants don’t have the same rights as citizens, and honestly I find this more stomach-churning than some of the directly racist or xenophobic things I’ve seen people say. Why on earth are people defending the government that’s harming people instead of the vulnerable people being harmed?
I will promise you this: when a government starts violating rights of the vulnerable, it doesn’t stop with a single population of people.
This is another truly disturbing action by the US government and by ICE. If you’re an American citizen, please make some noise about this to your reps, and check in on your friends who are vulnerable to this same kind of xenophobic totalitarian rights violations.

This whole episode reminds me of a post I wrote in 2017.

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out– Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out– Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out– Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me–and there was no one left to speak for me.

— Martin Niemöller, a Nazi dissident

Today in the United States, we apparently have men in black uniforms, claiming to be police, wearing masks, arresting people and hauling them off with no due process. The victims are not allowed to talk to their lawyers, they are not charged with any crime, they are removed.

Rumeysa Ozturk may be a scholar from Turkey. She may or may not have proper papers to be here. But she does not get a chance to prove that if she is not allowed to work with her lawyer.

It does not matter what you look like, what your reality is, what your rights are, if you are a citizen or not.

I happen to be a citizen. But I don’t carry proof of that with me when I go to the grocery store. If men in black masks can grab me on the street and haul me away and send me to some prison in Louisiana because they don’t like a post I wrote on this blog, and don’t allow me to talk to my lawyer, I am toast. You might never see me again.

Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.

That started happening in Nazi Germany within just a couple of months of Hitler taking power in January 1933. It did not end well.

Apparently it started happening in the United States in January 2025.

Will they come for me?

Trump is the Mule

On By Norbert HauptIn Political, Trump2 Comments

I recently re-read Isaac Asimov’s  Foundation Trilogy. Here is my review.

There is a key character that appears in book 2 of the trilogy, called “the Mule.”

This is a mutant human, who has the ability to control other people’s emotions. He can inflict joy, pleasure, but also grief, sadness and pain. By influencing people’s emotional lives, he controls them. Within just a few years of discovering his power, he becomes the master of the universe. He conquers fleets, planets, and eventually becomes the ruler of the entire Empire, all within a span of just about 10 years.

The Mule is so successful because he is unique  (a mutant) and unlike anyone else. Nobody saw him coming, nobody predicted him, and there were no defenses against him. When humanity figured out what was going on, it was too late. They were all under his control.

Eventually, the Mule died and there was no successor. Nobody like him was around, and gradually the world regained its former balance – politics as usual.

Donald Trump is the Mule.

If you have read the Foundation Trilogy, you will know what I mean.

Trump Pardons Ross Ulbricht

On By Norbert HauptIn Books, Need to Know, Political, TrumpLeave a comment

In the first few days of his second presidency, Trump pardoned Ross Ulbricht. This created a news media frenzy. Ross Ulbricht was arguably one of the most successful American drug dealers of all time. He was serving a life sentence after he was convicted and had been in prison for 11 years.

It reminded me of the book, American Kingpin, by Nick Bilton, which I read and reviewed here in 2018. I thought you might be interested in Ulbricht’s story. Click on the link below for my review:

American Kingpin – by Nick Bilton

It is a very readable book, a page-turner, and more relevant today now that we know that one of the most successful drug dealers of all time is back out on the street, thanks to the Law-and-Order-President.

Post Election Ruminations

On By Norbert HauptIn Political, TrumpLeave a comment

Biden received 81 million votes in 2020. Harris only 68 in 2024. She was 13 million votes short of Biden.

Trump received about 74 million votes in 2020 and 73 million (so far) in 2024.

This means that Trump kept his votes and his base. The Republicans did what they did in the last election, just a bit short of those numbers.

Harris was a whopping 13 million votes short, which is a 16% drop.

Trump didn’t win this election, the Democrats lost it because they didn’t care enough to bother to go out and vote.

For some reason Democrats didn’t vote for Harris. Did they not vote because they didn’t like her stance on Palestine? Or that she was a woman? Was that enough of a reason to put a convicted felon with a long list of offensive behaviors in office? We will all feel the effects of this decision for years, possibly decades to come. Long after I am gone, my grandchildren will be affected by the results of yesterday’s election.

Again, Trump did not win this election, but the 13 million Democrats who didn’t bother to show up lost it for all of us. I can’t reconcile this. It was not necessary. It made no sense. It should not have happened.

But it did.

And – read my lips – we will all be paying for it.

Grift in the Open

On By Norbert HauptIn Political, TrumpLeave a comment

A few days ago I received this text message:

I am not aware of having done anything for the Trump family, but obviously, they think so.

It is beyond my comprehension that they can get away with this. Here is a family that is making themselves out to be billionaires, but then they ask strangers to “dig deep one more time.” And unfortunately, many will do just that.

This is almost like Europe in the early 1800s, when Bonaparte brothers and relatives all of a sudden started becoming kings and marrying into foreign royal families. One ruthless guy had figured out to bleed a country dry, and then he usurped the right for his family to do it all over Europe.

This is going on in the United States of America in 2024. One family thinks it has the right and authority to enrich itself at the cost of our institutions, our country’s future, our health and our world reputation.

I am not digging deep.

If Trump Does Not Get Convicted…

On By Norbert HauptIn Political, TrumpLeave a comment

…Who Ever Will?

Does a president have to go on Fifth Avenue in New York and shoot a random stranger to get impeached and convicted?

 

Some Things You Can’t Unsee

On By Norbert HauptIn Atrocities, TrumpLeave a comment

Watching the inauguration ceremonies on Wednesday, we kept seeing dignitaries come out the gate of the Capitol, walking down the stairs and to their seats. I have watched these ceremonies all my life.

Here is President Biden getting sworn in, and behind him you can see the door they came through.

Here is a view of the riots at the Capitol exactly two weeks before, showing, as far as I can tell, the same door.

This is where the mob dragged police officers out of the door and down the steps. They were beating them with flagpoles of the American flag.

These are the same people that complained when Kaepernick took a knee at a football game that he was dishonoring the American flag. Apparently there is nothing wrong with using a flag to beat up a police officer, but kneeling during the anthem is dishonoring the flag.

The desecration of the symbols of the oldest democracy in the world, and the very building from which it comes, is being called “patriotic” by this band of thugs. These are the people who say they want to make America great again, with Trump’s name right there.

Some pictures cannot be unseen.

I will always see this in front of me when I see the dignitaries exit this door of the Capitol in the future. It’s as burned into my memory as the twin towers in New York, smoking black into the blue morning sky of September 11, 2001.

Despicable.

Trump’s America – Are We Great Again Yet

On By Norbert HauptIn Pandemic, Trump1 Comment

Right now, every minute, THREE Americans die of Covid-19. 

Every minute, day, night, 24/7. 

Are we great again yet? 

Where the Terrorists Are

On By Norbert HauptIn Atrocities, Political, TrumpLeave a comment

 

We need more troops at our own Capitol, the head of our own government, to protect the inauguration of our new administration from domestic terrorists. Four years ago domestic terrorist attacks were rare. Now pretty much every member of Congress in our “homeland” fears for their lives, both in Washington and at home.

Is America great again yet?