Trump Announces Ban of Boeing 737 Max Flights

Trump Announces Ban of Boeing 737 Max Flights  NY TIMES

BOEING  fire lobbying firm S-3 Group-- a firm “specializing in representation of key defense contractors.”

Spokesman Sarah  Huckabee Sanders denied that the W.H. decision was influenced by the cancellation of 600,000 US flight bookings in last two days

The anticipated appointment of Elaine Chow  to the Boeing board when she leaves government is said to now be in question.

Chow is married to Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell

She previously served on the board of Enron leading up to and through its bankruptcy.

She is the Secretary of Transportation which did NOT ground the 737 8/9 X.

Trump acted AFTER safety regulators in over 40 countries had banned flights by the jets.    

When it comes to clearing the swamp Trump is gender neutral

No Deal No Tariffs

   UK Treasury has announced a new tariff regime in the event of a"no deal" Brexit.

This is designed "designed to minimise costs to business and consumers while protecting vulnerable industries."

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/temporary-tariff-regime-for-no-deal-brexit-published?utm_source=ff424005-3430-4a72-acf5-118e54d6683c&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=govuk-notifications&utm_content=immediate 
 
 Possibly this was done to scare Tory MPs into supporting Mays deal on the next vote but three.

It is  a stroke of negotiating genius.

A minister is quoted

" If we leave without a deal, we will set the majority of our import tariffs to zero, whilst maintaining tariffs for the most sensitive industries......It represents a modest {Cyclops emphasis added-87%?} liberalisation of tariffs"

No doubt the Treasury and Downing Street are briefing furiously in order to get the credit for this wondrous new negotiating tactic.

The gist is :

•                       Tariffs removed from 87% of goods by value.
•                       Leaving 13%,including
•                       Pork,beef,lamb and dairy
•                       "Finished" vehicles  but not parts from the EU
•                       Ceramics
•                       Fertiliser and fuel

At the same time 

   There will not be a customs land border on the Island of Ireland

 I ask my Irish readers to get in touch asap.We see a business opportunity.

 It may not last forever and you have the contacts for labour and equipment.

Perhaps our first convoy could consist of  50 new  Renault Trucks made in Lyon

We could pack them with Italian ceramics,tiles,toilet basins ,bidets etc

  With perhaps the beef,pork and lamb carcasses in 5 or six freezer trucks

                     and the bovine excreta [fertiliser]carried separately                                                                                         

I leave the selection of the port of entry into Ireland to you and then the 50 drivers up to Belfast for on shipping to Liverpool                                                                                                                       

We could  transship the trucks with Bovine excreta directly to Downing street but we fear they may already have a surplus                                                                                                                Our reading of the press release and soundings taken at Her Majesty's Custom indicate that there is no need  to supply bandanas or eye patches as there will be no border checks.  

  Please ask the drivers NOT to fly flags or banners on the trucks, no matter how tempting that would be.                                                                                                                                                           

                                           

PS  to UK trade negotiators                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         This policy should really help in your future negotiations on bilateral trade deals

                                                    

Massage Parlours

                                                          The Trumpfski Clan    
The gift that keeps on giving


  The  founder of seedy South Florida massage parlors chain where Robert Kraft was serviced and then arrested for solicitation attended President Trump’s Super Bowl party and was substantial donor to his campaign.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6786845/Founder-massage-parlor-Robert-Kraft-arrested-Trump-donor-frequent-Mar-Lago-guest.html

     

• Orchids of Asia Day Spa founder Li Yang, 45, posted a photo of herself watching the Patriots win the Super Bowl with President Trump at Mar-a-Lago                                                                                                                                                
  

• Yang, 45, is a frequent guest at Mar-a-Lago and has also visited The White House and Trump Tower multiple times since President Trump took office  
•   'Leaders like you are the key to fulfilling our bold agenda to Make America Great Again,' wrote Trump in a note to Yang signed by himself and the First Lady 
• Yang donated $81,00 to the Trump Victory Fund in 2018

Madame Yang apparently posted on her facebook page her cell phone video of the Mar-a-Lago party

                                                                                                                                                               

  ED: I thought the secret service had to vet anybody who could regularly get so close to                Trumpfski.      

CYCLOPS: I am assured that the secret service regularly vet massage parlours.                                    There is no evidence that Madame Yang has any ties to the Chinese security services

 Nor is there evidence she has any tapes of Trumpfski,Kraft and Epstein partying together.

And certainly not with Labor Secretary and ex Miami prosecutor Alexander Acosta.

.                                                   The Tres Amigos Billionaires

              

  No "golden shower" services are offered at Yang's "spa "chain        

                                          

Those Jews Again

              "Lord Falconer reopens Labour anti-semitic hate cases"

                        Sorry I just saw this  in the Times and could not resist a response.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/lord-falconer-reopens-labour-anti-semitic-hate-cases-wr6wgdl

Nothing like bringing in an old lawyer to sort the problem.

He has already established his independence and clear thinking.

   Falconer said he does not believe Corbyn is “personally anti-semitic” 

Given how intimately these two must have worked together over the years such a wholehearted endorsement of innocence comes as a great comfort.

The faith of convenience must be a wonderful thing. 

Good chap that Falconer, Nothing platitudinous or patronising about this man.

• “We have totally lost the confidence of the Jewish community and we have to get it back,”
•  “They feel they are not safe . . .
•   That is terrifying and it is existential to the Jewish community. "
• "Jeremy is the leader of the Labour Party. I want him to be prime minister." 
•  "This [the perception of antisemitism] is preventing it."

 General Secretary Jenny Formby asked him to take on this role AFTER Tom Watson--deputy leader--had demanded to see all the files himself.

It seems Formby and Watson do not play well together.

ANYWAY  Cyclops could not resist appending his comments to the Article.

The times elfs' decision is "pending approval".  

You dear readers  get to see it anyway:

"What a disgrace!! This is a clear misogynistic put down of ALL Women.So patronising!! Why bring in an elderly male Blairite,Baron to oversee a dedicated female General Secretary,with years of dedicated service to democratic Trades Unionism? There is a much younger lawyer who could have served. I speak of Baroness Chakrabati. A Lady of great experience in these matters . I would see the choice of Falconer as extremely Ironic,but I am Jewish."

Tootle Pip

RE FORM the LABOUR PARTY

                          The Labour party is Dead     💀

                           Long live the Labour party   ✊🌹

If we cannot save and reform Corbyn's Labour party then let us
                        Re  Form the Real Labour Party.

Back to its roots,

The party grew out of the Trades Union Movement and was founded in 1900 as the Labour Representation Committee.
Seeking a democratic,parliamentary route to power and reform.

The party throughout its history believed in Representative Parliamentary Democracy and eschewed revolutionary Marxism;particularly Bolshevism.

The two great pillars :

• Elected control of Parliament   allied to a
• Free and independent Trades Union Movement.

In the intra party battles through the 20th  century.

• Individual Freedom always triumphed over Crude Collectivism
• Reform over Revolution
• Equality of opportunity over equality of outcome.
• Independent thought over vanguard dictat
• Regulated Capitalism and a mixed economy over Directed Choice
• Open,rules based trade over autarky
• Social democracy over Soviet,Cuban or Venezuelan  Authoritarianism 

In the immortal phrasing of Harold Wilson: Labour party philosophy owed 
                      "More to Methodism than to Marxism".

He also noted  

And        A week is along time in politics
              My friend, we don't support savages, we just allow them to come to our meetings,


The early 21st Century has  a different reality due to:

• radical changes in the work place
• instant mass communication                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Both the Party and the Unions hollowed out .

• This,catalysed by the financial crisis of 2008,the incompetence and infighting  of Labour moderates,and the foolishness of Ed Miliband; has led to the Corbynistas take over. 
• They have control of.the leader,the NEC ,many local branches and the party bureaucracy.
• This will NOT now be reversed.😖
• They will continue to drive out sane and traditional Labour parliamentarians and members.
• The war has been lost --and remarkably swiftly.
• So be it.                                                                                                                                 The Way Forward
•  Tom Watson,Yvette Cooper,Hilary Benn and Keir Starmer must lead 50-100 current   members of the Parliamentary Party into a new Grouping--The Real Labour Party.
• Condemn the Corbyn party's antisemitism.  
• Hammer their intolerance and sectarianism.
• Call out Corbyn's and McCluskey's bullying and misogyny.
• Hand the keys to Party HQ and its bank accounts to the Bolsheviki👺
•  Demand a Peoples Poll on Brexit as a first unifying Parliamentary policy.
• Organise a mass campaign around the poll,tolerance,individual freedom and opportunity.
• Put a marker down against future referendum and for a restoration of Representative Parliamentary Democracy.
• Pledge to reform the first past the voting system and
• To replace the house of Lords with a democratic second chamber

• Create a party structure  that includes the paying of membership fees,commitment to party principles and 
• Which bans Bolsheviks,Trots,George Galloway and other non democratic entryists.
• Seek affiliation from Trades Unions,environmentalist and other civil organisations on the basis that these organisations meet announced democratic criteria
• That excludes Unite under McCluskey

Ed: Cyclops do you really expect a trades union to affiliate with such such a breakaway REAL LABOUR party?

Cyclops:  McClusky stole his election

                He is despised by most other Union Leaders

                The tradition of British Trades Unionism is Democratic.

Step 1     Unions call for reconciliation and unity

Step 2     They sit on the sidelines,withholding money from both Labour parties

Step 3     They push back against McCluskey's increasingly frantic hectoring

Step 4     They call on Corbyn  McDonnell    Abbott   or whoever leads the rump to "stand down"                      in  the interest of unity

Step 5     The first union leader decides it it safe to back REAL LABOUR

Step 6      Others follow

Step 7     Money and foot soldiers follow   

                

• Decline membership from Ed Milliband but welcome all other former Labour leaders.
• Eschew faux democracy in leadership and national posts.
• Alright let Miliband in,provided he apologises for what he has wrought.😧
• Only paid up,authenticated members get to vote on Anything 🙋
• Anywhere

Once established under these parameters,we can squabble amongst ourselves in a democratic and respectful way.

ED: Setting up this new party will very likely allow for another Tory government.😟

That is a less awful outcome than a government of anti semitic,infantile Bolsheviks.

Given that the Tories will also tear them selves apart in the next referendum campaign           who knows......😉

Also please note Ed:

• The rules for precipitating an election have been changed.
• Arcane for most of us ordinary punters but 
• In 2011 the UK established fixed term parliaments
• The next election is due in May 2022
• Not now possible for the Prime Minister simply to pick a time convenient for her.
• Needs a two thirds majority to dissolve parliament [that's what they call it in Uk--don't ask] 
• Or a vote of no confidence.

• Currently the Tories plus the Ulstermen have a narrow majority
• Therefore can see off vote of no confidence.
• An early election after the formation of Real Labour [or even a simple independent faction seated in the Commons] would destroy them,the Bolsheviks and probably the LDP.
• They comprise about forty five per cent of the votes
• To vote to dissolve would be suicide.
• So they will not do it😁

That means there could be three years for Real Labour to 
                                      Organise,Agitate and Educate
A lot longer than Momentum needed to take over. .
There will be no shortage of donors or local foot soldiers to finance and organise the new party.

        

Tommy[Watson] me boyo lets do it  ✊🌹

Rest In Peace--Maybe

  HRH has finally summoned the energy and calm to comment on the three existential threats         facing the land of his birth.

•                  The death of the Labour Party
•                  The end of Tottenham's dream of winning its first  senior league title in                             nearly sixty years
•                   The collapse of Brexit and the birth of the "Peoples' Poll II". 

Labour
This will not be a maudlin post about Cyclops 55+ years in the party; nor a tear shed to the       memory of my fathers life long commitment to DEMOCRATIC socialism and the BUND.
A commitment for which he served prison time in Fascist Poland and Bolshevic Russia.
Cyclops never paid a tiny fraction of such a price.

Readers may remember vintage posts extolling The British Labour Party as the natural home of the immigrant Jewish proletariat since its 1900 foundation  as the Labour Representation Committee. 
Throughout its history a decent,democratic and Anti Bolshevic party.

No longer; the infantile Leninists have taken over.There are no "Revolutionary Conditions" and their fantasies will not triumph.
But they have killed the Labour Party leaving Britain bereft of a credible progressive political force.

If Luciana Berger and the gang of seven,eight,nine   or whatever by the time you read this see no way to save the party;and have been driven out by the bullies,zealots and anti Semites,then who is Cyclops to argue.

HRH laughed at friends who  proudly or reluctantly announced they were voting for Corbyn at least once " because the Blairites needed to put in their place or somehow admonished for  not being 'radical enough' ". Some,but not all ,were fashionably and shallowly  virtue signalling.

Cyclops gets no satisfaction in being right about Corbyn and his coterie and is certainly not laughing now.


Tottenham Hotspur
    What a week end. Tottenham get Harry Kane back he scores and they lose to B😒rnley!!
    The Palace was of course dreaming at the thought that Pochetino could finally get his first trophy---the Big One.
    Cyclop's pro Argentine football bias has been in full flow😍.
    The Argies do lousy governance but great football  😘

   To add salt to the wound Liverpool drop two points at Man U and Arsenal win 😒 at Soton.
   A win at Burnley would have left Spurs 3 points behind Liverpool,2 behind Man,city and 10 ahead     of Arsenal.
  They are scheduled to play all THREE in the run in.
   Win those and they were in with more than a shout.
   Losing to Burnley screws that---probably😈

For the record Poch old chap,what have we been repeatedly telling you about Aurier--he cannot defend.and can barely cross a ball.
And 20 year old Foyth may a world class centre back of the future ---but not yet.
He is regularly out of position and gets muscled by the big boys.

Looks like we need to be lucky and City very unlucky.Liverpool will come second👽
That just leaves the Champions League for Spurs to win this season.✌

Brexit
Have not written much about the Brexit fiasco in recent weeks despite all the parliamentary Sturm undt Drung.
Because that's what it is.💥
Cyclops has consistently predicted that the FAT LADY will not sing  and the furthest the UK will go is to BRINO.
And BRINO ,only if Parliament fails to find its courage to vote for a second referendum.

See no reason to alter that prediction.
The total failure of the Brexiteers to show a convincing path to a workable trade regime allied to no sign of a"return of sovereignty" of the British parliament points to a second referendum as the only way out of the mess.

The "people" got Britain into this ,they will now be given the task of getting us out---that is in the EU
How confusing😖

• The so called May deal is simply worse than the situation ex ante.
• On Trade:all the EU regs and constraints but 
• no say in reforming them or 
• the common agriculture policy etc etc.
• No more regional development grants 
• back of the queue for science money etc
• As to immigration -in or out -UK policy is more open to immigration of one kind or another than much of the EU.
• Very hard to ignore history or reality.

Never mind the people will set us straight.
Funny how both Rees Mogg and Jezza believe in the total wisdom of the masses--as interpreted by them of course.
Rees Mogg as one born to rule and the other as the vanguard ...

Almost wrote intellectual vanguard 😄😄😄😄😄😄 LOL

Wealth Tax is Road to Venezuelan Socialism

Howard Schultz[STARBUCKS]rips Warren's 'ridiculous' plan to tax the super wealthy                                        Politico 30 Jan 2019

"taxing wealthy people a surtax of 2 percent because it makes a good headline ... You cannot just attack these things in a punitive way by punishing people.”

He also attacked the tax  proposal of AOC and for Universal Health Care by Sen.Kemala Harris as "un American". 

Cyclops believes that Howie[$3billion] is peeked and has peaked.

In NH, Bloomberg compares Warren's 'ultra millionaire tax' with chaos in Venezuela...

                                                                                                       The Boston Globe-Jan 29, 2019

If you think Schultz was a little over the top,it was nothing compared to the even richer Mayor Bloomberg.

In his New Hampshire speech "he blasted the Massachusetts Democrat’s “ultra-millionaire tax” as “probably unconstitutional.”  and compared it to socialism. "It's called Venezuela,".

Well,well,well 😈    Sure does not sound like the Marxist classes of Cyclop's youth.

According to NBC News :Recent polling showed 61% support for Warren proposal                                      

•   Sixty-one percent of respondents said they supported the proposal, 
•   with 46 percent “strongly” supporting it. 
•   Twenty-one percent opposed the idea, with 15 percent doing so “strongly.” 
•    The rest were unsure or neutral.
•    Notably, a plurality of Republicans supported Warren’s wealth tax by a 44-37 margin   
•   Independents supported it by a 61-23 margin while Democrats went for it 76-6.most Americans favor raising taxes on the rich.                                                                       Cyclops faith in humanity is restored.                                                                            It seems it is always popular to tax other people

HRH had intended an extensive  nerdy review of the various proposals on taxes and health care but we have been distracted by the over the top reaction from right and left.

                                     Still some more analysis on wealth tax is below 

Instead we must share some pearls we came across as we began our work

1.  In 1999,one Donald Trump,developer of New York City  proposed a one off 14.25% wealth tax on the net worth of individuals and trusts worth $10 million or more. Trump claimed that this  could be used to eliminate the national debt. Makes Warren look like a piker.It was 20 years ago and of course before,as President,his tax cuts were estimated to increased that debt by its original amount within five years.

      2.Contrary to Bloomberg's apparent belief,Venezuela does not have,

              never has had, a wealth tax.
              Chavez managed to destroy the economy without one,

        Neither do the other two socialist paradises in Latin America--Bolivia or Cuba.
        The only country in the Western Hemisphere with a wealth tax  is..........

                        YOU GUESSED IT                     THE US of A

      3. It's called "property tax" .It is levied at the local level on real               property-residences and vehicles etc -but NOT on stocks and bonds.

 It is levied on 84 million home owners.

 This locally levied tax was at least deductible as an expense on federal tax returns.

 That "tax break" has been deleted under Trumpfski's tax "reforms/cuts" for the rich   and large corporations.

  That it is It is no longer deductible will be discovered by about 20 million filers in the course of the next two months.

 It's very substantial on the middle class and almost meaningless for the very wealthy.

That is VERY regressive.

There is no similar tax elsewhere in the Western Hemisphere

and in the few cases where it is levied in Asia and Europe it is much less than in the US of A.

The country with the highest proportion of taxes collected this way is the USA. 

In other words.The US already has a wealth tax.

It just does not affect the wealthy nearly as much as the middle class.

A summary of Cyclops simple analysis is below.The detail can be found under 

Warren Wealth Tax below.

                                                      Warren Proposal                   Currently

 Multi Millionaire Wealth Tax           = 0.1  %                                0.1  %          

 Middle Class Couple Wealth Tax     = 4.54%                                4.54 %

 Billionaire Wealth Tax                     = 1.92%                                0.02 %

                                           As proportion of  Wealth

MCC currently pays almost 250 times that of a Billionaire and 45 times that of a MM

                           This is crazy you say.

                           It cannot be true you say. 

                           Cyclops has gone bonkers you say.

                           Cyclops cannot do arithmetic you say.

                            He cheated you yell--moi? never.

                            He has invented skewed and artificial comparators.

      Please review the calculations under Warren Wealth Tax   below and let me know😃

       4.    ONE LAST FUN FACT FOR NOW

  A half dozen European countries have property or wealth taxes.

 These are typically lower than the rates in the USA,are limited to a proportion of current income or   levied on overseas assets,

One though has a progressive tax which begins at asset value of about $150,000 and is levied on all assets  including stocks and bonds etc.Including overseas assets.

It is more substantial than anything being proposed by Senator Warren.

Which European country is this bastion of confiscatory socialism heading for the Bloomberg Venezuelan fate ?

You got it in ONE 

                                    Yodel aye ee oh

                                               Wicked Swiss Commies

The proposals to date:

• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez [AOC]proposes top  marginal income tax rate of 70 percent on income over $10 million. 
• Affecting less than 1% of taxpayers
• Senator Elizabeth proposes annual wealth tax: 
• 2 per cent on wealth above $50 million 
• Rising to 3 percent on fortunes over $1 billion.
• This proposal would affect about 75,000 of the country’s wealthiest people.
• About the crowd at a Wembley football match.
• Senator Kamala Harris makes Universal Health Care pledge but unfortuneatly implies all would lose their current employer provided health care.The only political misstep of a very impressive campaign launch                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Then that old "Independent" spoiler Sanders tries to Trump his rivals with  a plan to reduce the threshold for estate tax from $12 to $3 million.

• $3.5 million to $10 million: 45 percent ta
• $10 million to $50 million: 50 percent tax
• $50 million to $1 billion: 55 percent tax
• More than $1 billion: 77 percent tax
• This proposal would affect far more household than those of his rivals 

As with many Sanders' proposals it appears attractively radical but is politically harmful.

• It gives back to the Publicans the issue of "the government punishing small business owners and the family farm" BS.
• The Democrats managed to blunt that rhetoric by agreeing a threshold above  the estate of the affluent upper middle class.A status to which most Democratic voters aspire.               
•  The Publicans have not run on the issue since.                                                                                                       Chaver Bernie:Your time has Passed.                                                                                                        Do not be spoiler.                                                                                                             Join the Democratic Party already

Warren Wealth Tax

•  Revenue raised from the Warren tax could be substantial —$275 billion a year.
•  An 8.1 percent increase in federal revenues.  
•  Not enough to pay for universal health care, but more than enough she claims to pay for programs like universal child care, a Green New Deal and student-debt forgiveness
• The revenue estimate is four times as much as the most optimistic estimates for Ocasio- Cortez’s income tax.          
• Lowering the starting threshold to $20 million would increase revenues to over a $trillion.
• A third of current federal tax revenues.
• That's more than enough to wipe out the deficit created by the Trumpfski tax cuts for the rich and corporations

 Politically Wealth Taxes ["taxes on other people"] may seem fairer and more palatable than increased income taxes. 

• They tax the accumulated income of the past — the existing rich.  
• A substantial fraction of the wealthiest  Americans inherited their money                      
• Not by creating a business or                                                                                 
• Continuously making a  high salary

Voters are unlikely to shed a tear for heirs and heiresses forced to give up a larger slice of their unearned fortunes. 

•  Most voters already pay wealth taxes, in the form of property taxes on their homes. 
• This form of wealth tax is extremely regressive [see below]
•  The very rich hold most of their wealth in stocks and bonds rather than in real estate,
•  Taxing those assets seems fair. 
• Wealth taxes are likely to be a political hit. 

                                              CALCULATIONS

1. Multi Millionaire[MM]: $50 mm      Annual income $2 million

             Main  residence $5 million. No mortgage.  Bond Portfolio, $45 million.

            \ Net Worth $50 million

            Assume: 2% marginal wealth tax for net worth ≥ $50 million.  Tax= 0  

                           1% property tax=$50,000 \ Total Wealth Tax =$50,000 or 0.01% of wealth  

                                             [n.b.avg ntl property tax rate is 1.15%]   

                           

2. Middle class Couple[MMC], Teacher and Office Worker:  Annual Joint Income $100,000

Main residence $500,000 less Mortgage $400,000 plus Saving of $10,000                                  \Net worth=$110, 00

             Property tax on main residence @ 1% =$5,000 or 4.6% of Net Worth aka Wealth

      3. Billionaire:    Annual income   $80 million.

          Main residence $20 million. No mortgage .Investments $980 million

                      \ Net Worth $1 billion

                       Assume: 2% Marginal Wealth Tax for net worth ≥ $50 million. Tax= $19 million  

                                        1% Property Tax on $20 mm=$200,000 \ Total Wealth Tax =$19,20

                                        or 1.92% of Wealth  

Summary :      Warren Proposal                                                 Currently

 Multi Millionaire Wealth Tax           = 0.1  %                                0.1  %          

 Middle Class Couple Wealth Tax    = 4.54%                                4.54 %

 Billionaire Wealth Tax                     = 1.92%                                 0.02 %

As proportion of  Wealth

MCC currently pays almost 250 times that of a Billionaire and 45 times that of a MM

FOOTNOTE

Major tax rates in Fairfax County include:

Corporate Income	6 percent
Personal Property	$4.57 per $100 of assessed value
Real Property (commercial)	$1.275 per $100 of assessed value
Real Property (residential)	$1.150 per $100 of assessed value
Sales and Use	6 percent (5 percent state + 1 percent local)
Sales and Use (food for home consumption)	2.5 percent (1.5 percent state + 1 percent local)
Personal Income	5.75 percent (top rate)