The EU's Actual Problem is Not Google, but the EU Itself

Margrethe Vestager, an unelected bureaucrat, in her capacity as Commissioner for Competition of the European Union in Brussels, and formerly a career politician in Denmark, announced a €2.4b fine against Google for alleged antitrust violations in the EU. She said Google abused its power by providing its own companies’ companion services at the top of search results. She found Google “has denied other companies the chance to compete on their merits and to innovate, and most importantly, it has denied European consumers the benefits of competition, genuine choice, and innovation.” Its conduct distorted the market. Thus Google’s conduct was illegal under EU antitrust rules. As I understand it, Google is accused of abusing the market it pioneered. Consumers have choices. They choose Google out of their own free will. Significantly, Margrethe Vestager made no showing consumers were injured by Google’s conduct. Nothing prevents consumers from scrolling down the page and flipping pages. Nothing prevents consumers from using alternate sites, such as Bing or Safari. Nothing prevents consumers from going to Amazon. Nothing prevents consumers from checking out EBAY. Nothing prevents consumers from going directly to company sites. Google has 92% of the global search market and 90% of the European market. The complaint against Google was actually initiated by Microsoft, the arch-monopolist in U.S. computer software. Microsoft has failed and flailed against Google with Bing, eventhough it attached Bing to its operating system found on most personal computers. She’s not through with Google. She’s also looking at Google’s Android platform for cell phones, map app, flight pricing, and local business listings. Google is in a bad legal position with its search engine in Europe because of the choice Commissioner Vestager gave it: Change practices within 90 days or pay a daily fine of 5% of Alphabet Company’s (Google’s corporate parent) daily worldwide earnings. The real problem with Google from European eyes is that it’s an American company. She and her agency have animus against American success. A tentative settlement was reached with Google a few years ago, but the EU rejected it. The story is that France and Germany wanted strong sanctions imposed. Europe is scared of the GAFA companies: Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon. She is seeking $14.5 billion from Apple in tax penalties for complying with Ireland’s tax laws. Investigations are also proceeding against Amazon and Qualcomm, not to mention McDonalds’s and Starbucks. Google is not the first United States technology company to feel the wrath of the EU. Now will it be the last. 2008 Microsoft €899m 2009 Intel €1.06b 2017 Facebook €110m The problem is the lack of innovation in Europe. About 7 decades of social democracy has rained most Western European countries of entrepreneurism. The disease is Eurosclerosis, a hardening of the economic arteries. France is a classic example. Squeezed by a monolithic bureaucracy, rigid work rules, and powerful labor unions, the economy has stagnated for decades. France’s GDP growth has averaged .79% from1949 to 2017. France’s population is growing an average .6% annually. The French people know it. They elected the conservative Nicolas Sarkozy President in May 2007. He failed. They elected the socialist Francois Hollande President in May 2012. He failed. They just elected Emmanuel Macron, a neophyte politician, President and gave his new party an overwhelming majority in Parliament. The European ethos and Brussels bureaucracy have deadened business initiative. The European countries have missed out on the high tech revolution, the greatest economic boom of recent decades, except for illegal drugs. Presence in mainframe computers 0 Presence in PC’s 0 Presence in software Minimal Presence in social me Essentially 0 Presence in smart phones Nokia was once big in cell phones, now 0 Europe has no Silicon Valley or Route 128 - not even a Research Triangle Square Europe has the brain power, but suffers a brain drain. Where are the European: Paul Allen Marc Andreessen Jeff Bezos Amar Bose Steve Case Michal Dell Larry Ellison Bill Gates Andy Grove William Hewlett Steve Jobs Alan Kay Gordon Moore Robert Noyes Adam Osborne David Packard An Wang Thomas Watson Sr. and Jr. Steve Wozniak Mark Zuckerberg, And a host of others? Margrethe Vestager and the EU bureaucracy are engaged in extortion and thuggery under the guise of law.

The Republicans Are Not in a Lose Lose Situation With ObamaCare

If ObamaCare goes under during the Republican Administration and Congress, they will be blamed for it by the Democrats and media If Medicaid fails under the Trump Administration and Republican Congress, they will be blamed by the Democrats and Media for the failure If they repeal ObamaCare or tinker with it, they will be roundly condemned. No matter what they do, they will face opposition in the primaries or general election So just do the right thing – whatever you believe is the right approach. Americans are divided on ObamaCare. Polls, often wrong these days, consistently showed Americans opposed to it, but a recent poll shows only 16% favor the Congressional proposals. Americans did not want it in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. I doubt the majority of Americans want it in 2017. Some Republican members of Congress don’t think the House or Senate Bills go far enough in repealing ObamaCare. They call it ObamaLight. Senator Rand Paul will apparently be satisfied with nothing less than total repeal of Obamacare. That will not happen. Of course the republican proposals are ObamaLight; the Republicans face two major quandaries in “repealing” ObamaCare. The first is keeping the current provision on pre-existing conditions, probably the biggest source of economic distress in Obamcare and healthcare in general. Insurers did not cover pre-existing conditions in individual policies for economic reasons. That limitation, along with lifetime coverage limits and pre approvals were the major problems with existing health insurance. ObamaCare eliminates the pre-existing condition requirement. Many of the people rushing into the exchanges are those with expensive pre-existing conditions, which makes eminent sense and is highly foreseeable. It’s politically impossible to terminate an entitlement program upon which millions have become dependent. Pre-existing coverage is a political given, but expensive. The second issue is the expansion of Medicaid. ObamaCare greatly expanded Medicaid by raising the eligibility limit to 400% of the poverty level. Medicaid is an example of a politically popular program headed to economic disaster. It covers about half of all births and nursing home admissions in the United States and is the primary source of coverage of those with disabilities. States control costs by squeezing providers, such that an ever shrinking number of healthcare providers accept Medicaid patients. Escalating demand while restricting supply is a disaster. The only question is when it will implode. Millions of Americans enrolled in Medicaid pursuant to ObamaCare. Once again, these Americans cannot be thrown out of Medicaid without health coverage. Both the House and Senate bills will retain pre-existing conditions coverage and reduce Medicaid over a number of years, but not immediately. In other words, the Republicans are kicking Medicaid down the road. Critical provisions that will provide a boost to the American economy are the elimination of the individual mandate, the repeal of the scores of Obamacare tax increases, and the relaxation of coverage mandates. Medicaid is a drain on state budgets, often the largest expenditure and growing. The initial increase in Medicaid enrollment was covered 100% by the federal government, but it's share is dropping, placing a greater financial burden on the states. The Republican proposals will convert Medicaid into block grants with great discretion in the states in deciding how to allocate the funds. States currently have little discretion, except in squeezing providers. Of course, the demagogues in the Democratic Party are attacking the Republican proposals, echoed by the media. House Minority Leady Nancy Pelosi, with her usual hyperbole, said “We do know that many more people – millions, hundreds of thousands – of people will die if this bill passes.” ‘Millions, if not hundreds of thousands,” of America died before ObamaCare was enacted, during the past 8 years of ObamaCare, and in the future with or without ObamaCare. She also called it “mean and heartless.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said it was “heartless” and a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.” “Heartless” must be the focus group word of the week. California State Treasurer and aspirant Governor John Chiang said the Senate bill will result in 200,000 in California losing their jobs. Hillary Clinton asserted the Republicans will become the “Death Party” if they enact the Senate bill. Senator Elizabeth Warren called the Senate proposal “Blood money.” She claimed we would pay for the tax cuts with human lives. Her soulmate, Senator Bernie Sanders, called it a “barbaric and immoral piece of legislation.” He was more restrained than Representative Pelosi in estimating the casualty rate from the republican proposals, only asserting “thousands will die.” They are calling the proposals a tax break for the wealthy, such that the sick will subsidize the rich, such that Senator Richard Durbin labeled it a “tax cut for the wealthy.” He compared the Senate draft to the previous House proposal: “Put a lace collar on a pit bull and it’s still a mean dog.” Senator Sanders said the Republican proposals constitute a “massive transfer of wealth from working families to the very rich.” The reality, of course, is that the young and workers are subsidizing the ill and elderly. It’s called the individual mandate. The unsubsidized insured under ObamaCare face escalating premiums, high deductibles, and a limited pool of doctors. The Republicans need to understand that these are dangerous times for politicians; it is not politics as normal. The Republican landslides of 2010, 2014 and 2016 were caused by popular opposition to ObamaCare. Brexit and the election of President Trump further illustrate the vagaries of today’s body politic. 2017 is their chance to slow down, if not prevent, the collapse of the current American medical system. The voters who elected them can just as easily vote them out of office. ObamaCare is the defining legacy of President Obama and the Democratic Congress of 2008-2010. The act was viewed as a step on the path to single payer. The Democratic presumption was that if ObamaCare failed, which it would, then the next step would be single payer. ObamaCare is in a death spiral. The Republicans have two choices: 1) They can suck it up and vote for an ObamaCare replacement; or 2) Be voted out of office in 2018 and await the enactment of a single payer plan, in which case President Obama has won and the American people have lost.

President Trump Signed the Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblowers Protection Act Last Friday

The Veterans Administration in recent years became a national disgrace: poor, non-existent or delayed medical treatment, bonuses and promotions to non-performing administrators and staffer, falsified reports, decrepit facilities, old technology. Veterans died while waiting for medical care. President Obama appointed General Eric Shinseki, former Army Chief of Staff, Secretary of the Veterans Administration on January 20, 2009. President Trump fired General Shinseki on May 30, 2014. General Shinseki failed to solve the VA’s problems and institutional morass, which existed before the Obama Administration. General Shinseki understood the bureaucratic obstacles when he assumed office. He did not resolve them. He couldn’t get past the civil service protections for most of the VA employees. For example, the independent Merit Systems Protection Board recently overturned the punishment meted out to three senior VA executives. Members of Congress, both Democratic and Republican, were outraged by the VA. They considered an accountability act for the VA last year. President Obama threatened to veto it. He was responding to the pressure of the American Federation of Government Employees, the VA employees union, rather than the veterans. He placed public employee unions above the needs of their charges. Donald Trump made a major campaign pledge to reform the VA. That became true last Friday in a signing ceremony in the East Room of the White House. The House of Representatives approved the bill 368-55 on June 13, 2017. The Senate had unanimously approved it on June 6. President Trump signed it on June 23 with very little press coverage. President Trump expressed the sentiments that President Obama could have said: “Our veterans have fulfilled their duty to this nation, and now we must fulfill our duty to them.” Some of the provisions include removing the appeals process for senior executives from the Merit Systems Protection Board and transferring it to the VA Secretary. . Staffers would have only 180 days to appeal their punishment. They will stay off the payroll during the appeals process if they were dismissed from their positions. The grievance procedure has been cut to 21 days. The notice period for removal has been cut to 10 days from 30 days. The standard to remove an employee has been lowered. No bonuses or relocation expenses could be made to staffers found guilty of wrongdoing or abuse. Managers should address poor performance and mismanagement by staffers since this requirement will now be a factor in the VA’s Secretary annual performance plan. The Act will hopefully improve the medical care we provide our veterans. A larger appropriation for medical providers will also help. The Act should also be a warning to the public sector employee unions that they may be losing their power to protect incompetent and venal workers.

Steve Jobs, The IPhone, and the Creative Destruction of Capitalism

Steve Jobs unleashed the IPhone3 on the world ten years ago. Great success in the marketplace can create new industries and opportunities. Capital flows to the winners and away from the failing and flailing companies. Success can also leave in its wake the detritus of failed companies. Civilization improves through the adoption of new technology and ideas. Henry Ford neither invented the automobile nor the assembly line, mass production of cars, but his Model T revolutionized America. It also put the carriage makers and buggy whip manufacturers out of business. It led to highways and suburbs and the demise of downtowns. Walmart’s success has put many retailers out of business. Kmart and Sears did not adapt and are headed into economic oblivion. Thousands more will lose their jobs. Google has shattered traditional advertising. Amazon is hurting traditional retail. Steve Jobs has been one of the greatest innovators of our generation. He and Steve Wozniak in a garage created the Apple computer, which led to the collapse of the large minicomputer manufacturers, Digital (DEC), Data General, Prime, Wang and others, after they in turn took substantial business away from the mainframe computer companies, IBM and the Bunch. Who remembers Burroughs, Univac, NCR, Control Data, and Honeywell? GE and RCA earlier failed in mainframe computers. After the Apple desktops and laptops in their various iterations survived the brutal Microsoft-Pc competition, Apple introduced in 2001 the IPod, a sophisticated MP3 Player. The SONY Walkman became history. Apple’s ITunes allowed the downloading of songs for $.99. The App store allowed independent software programmers to provide apps for downloading onto the Apple devices. The IPod led to the ITouch, a miniature computer with internet capability, including wifi capability and email, a great tool while traveling. The IPhone3, released on June 29, 2007, built on the ITouch, adding the phone service to the pre-existing ITouch features. The days of the dumb phone were numbered, while land lines are disappearing. In addition, pay phones are increasingly hard to find. The IPhone 3 was primitive compared to today’s IPhones, but it took off like Henry Ford’s Model T. Telecommunications will never be the same. Say goodbye to Nokia, Motorola, Siemens, SONY Ericsson, and a host of others, and soon Palm Pilot and Blackberry. Amazon and Microsoft failed in cell phones. The IPhone also included a mapping source and a camera. Future IPhone models substantially improved upon the camera quality and GPS capabilities of the map services. The digital camera on the phone and subsequently IPads shattered the 35mm SLR markets. I still love my digital Nikon phones, but that’s unusual these days. Digital photography sent the once great photo giant Kodak into bankruptcy. The map apps include voice directions. Drivers no longer need separate Garmin or Tom Toms in their cars. (Tom Tom is the basis of the Apple Map app). Traditional map sales are in the tank. The IPhone followed by Google Android phones are miniature computers absent a DVD drive. Apple did not stop with the IPhone. It released the IPad, a tablet, opening up yet another market. The mini computer lacks some of the features of the larger PC’s, but has caused a substantial drop in PC sales. Tablets have become ubiquitous in many commercial operations. All the while during the past decade Apple PC sales continue to grow while the sales of the other manufacturers have dropped. All the while Apple draws upon its cachet to price its products higher than competitors. Consumers, myself included, are willing to pay more for more. Apple hands-on service is outstanding, especially when you have an Apple Store nearby. We have three in Orange County, and have been quite satisfied when we’ve had to use their services. Apple’s products and competitors have revolutionized American society, but have left a trial of failed companies behind. That’s destructive capitalism! Those that couldn’t successfully innovate or respond to competition fell by the wayside. Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google, or Microsoft could also fail someday.

Dump Trump! Wait! No! No! No! Dump Pelosi: More Lessons from Georgia 6

How fast perceptions can change in Politics. Just two days ago President Trump was an albatross wrapped around the Republican Party: Russian hacking of the Presidential Election; the Russian Connection; Obstruction of Justice; the constant attacks by late night shows, celebrities, and the media. His polls, already low, were in the tank. Time to impeach or dump the President. The Democrats had high hopes of winning the special election in Georgia 6. They wrapped the President around Karen Hander, the Republican candidate. The Republicans wrapped House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi around Jon Ossoff, as they have in other elections. The Republicans won. Congresswoman Pelosi is toxic in much of the country. Residents of red America don’t like Nancy Pelosi or her San Francisco Values. The young Ossofff was portrayed as Nancy Pelosi’s pupett. A classic republican ad (available on You tube) for Hander had San Francisco “residents” praising their next Congressman, Jon Ossoff, ending with a san Francisco cable car with a big “ad” for Jon Ossoff, next to a peace symbol, and above “San Francisco Congressman.” San Francisco Values don’t play well between the coasts. They also don’t like her. She comes across as arrogant, contemptuous, shrill and snarky. Congresswoman Pelosi has led the Democrats in the House for almost 15 years. She led them to victory and recontrol of the House in 2006. She gleefully pushed through ObamaCare (“We have to pass the Bill to know what’s in it”), and led the House Democrats to defeat in 2010, 2012, 2014, and 2016, four losses in a row. Yet, she has retained her position as leader of the House Democrats. How? Money. Jesse Unruh, the great California politician, said “Money is the mother’s milk of politics.” Nancy Pelosi is a consummate fundraiser, raining money on her Democratic colleagues, $568 million. Just as money can’t always but love or an election, it also doesn’t always buy loyalty. Democrats don’t like losing, having controlled Congress for much of the past eight decades. They don’t like losing when they believed they would win, and she played a major role in the loss. The knifes are out with several Congressional Democrats meeting behind closed doors to discuss her future. Her days are numbered. The Democrats thought they had a real chance of winning because Georgia 6 contains a high percent of college educated graduates. They believe that educated Americans prefer Democrats to Republicans. The elitists believe the uneducated, hayseed, gun-clinging “deplorables” support President Trump and Republicans. President Trump barely carried District 6 in 2016. National surveys showed that voters with a college degree voted 52-43% for Clinton in 2016. Roughly 60% of District 6’s registered voters have college degrees. Ergo, 6 would turn blue from red, in their dreams. They forgot the great Speaker Tip O’Neill’s adage “All politics is local.” They ran a national campaign against President Trump for a carpetbagger in a local Congressional District. They continue to misunderstand “Flyover Country.” Even if the highly educated District 6 voters were lukewarm on President Trump, they did not want to go back to Nancy Pelosi and her Democrats. They don’t share the same values. Then we have the Hollywood celebrities. They were out in force in the primary and general election supporting Jon Ossoff. Campaign contributions rained in from Rosie O’Donnell, Jane Fonda, Jessica Lange, Sean Daniel, Connie Britton, Sam Waterson, Kyra Sedgwick, Samuel L. Jackson (also did radio ads), Jon Cryer, Rhea Perlman, Lynda Carter, Sarah Silverman, George Takai and John Leguizamo. Tweets came from Chelsea Handler, Debra Messing, Mark Ruffalo, Kerry Washington, Billy Baldwin, and others. Alyssa Milano even drove Ossoff voters to the polls in the primary. The American people may watch their movies and TV shows, but they don’t like Hollywood values. Nor do they think Hollywood understands Americans who reside outside the Beverly Hills/Brentwood/Malibu cocoon. 7,218 contributions of $200 or more were recorded from California for the Ossoff Campaign. From March 29 through May 31 almost as much came from the San Francisco Bay Area ($220,532.10) as from all of Georgia ($228,474.44). Only 14% of his roughly $24 million campaign funding came from Georgia residents. Even his contributions were carpetbagged into the District. Voters don’t like incessant robocalls, which are political spam. The Ossoff Campaign engaged in a multitude of robocalls. (Side Bar – Congress has exempted political campaigns from the Do-Not Call List). Academicians also contributed to his campaign with month coming from each of the top 15 highly ranked universities, and public universities, such as Michigan. The Georgia 6 voters resented the external elitists trying to buy their seat. The Democratic “Get Out the Vote” effort encountered an obstacle in attempting to contact many Millennials, who were living in their parent’s homes because they either were unemployed or underemployed. If President Obama had spent more effort in growing the economy rather than in a policy redistribution, they might have homes of their own. One mother, in answering a Democratic call for her son, told her son that if he answered the call or voted for Ossoff, then he would immediately be cast out of the house on his own. The Democrats need a new message. Anti-Trump failed nationally in 2016. It failed locally in 2017.

Georgia 6 Shows Once Again that Money (and Democrats) Don't Always Win Elections

The Hillary Clinton campaign collectively spent $1.4 billion dollars to lose to Donald Trump’s $958 million. These sums include individual PAC campaigns. Money doesn’t always buy love or elections. An unpopular candidate with a poor message, campaigning skills, and strategy can still lose to a better candidate. She did not lose because of Russian hacking, Russian collusion, the FBI, James Comey, sexism, WikiLeaks, fake news, right wing media, mainstream media, Netflix, the Democratic National Committee, Vladimir Putin, voter suppression in Wisconsin, and Macedonia. She lost because she was the wrong candidate at the wrong time. Jon Ossoff lost Georgia 6 because he was the wrong candidate in the wrong district at the wrong time. About 40 years too late. Georgia 6 has been a strong Republican district since Newt Gingrich first won it in 1979. The Democrats have been seeking a special Congressional election to swing a Republican District to the Democrats. It would be a large morale booster to the dispirited Democrats. It would be a momentum builder. It would provide the game plan first to win back the House of Representatives in 2018 and then the Presidency in 2020 on an anti-Trump platform. It would show a way to divide President Trump from his base. Not Trump! Not Trump! Not Trump! That’s the campaign strategy. The media’s hammering President Trump non-stop. The accusations are relentless. Yet the President keeps coming, just like the Energizer Bunny. Ossoff young, 30, a fresh face, telegenic, an earnest campaigner. He grew up in the district, but now lives outside of it with his fiancé, which makes him a carperbagger. Jon Ossoff – the new face of the Democratic Party – earnest, enthusiastic, energetic! A Bernie Sanders acolyte as the Democrats move to the left. He lost 53%-47%, a wider margin than expected. The polls were wrong again. First Kansas. The Republicans won. Second Montana. A pugilistic Republican won. Today, Georgia and South Carolina. Both Republicans won. The Democrats thought, or hoped, that the moderate, highly educated Republicans in Georgia 6 would reject the Republicans. Donald Trump, the presidential candidate, barely carried Georgia 6 in 2016. Many even believed Ossoff would win. They poured money into his campaign. Total estimated expenditures of the two campaigns are between 54 and $60 million, the most expensive Congressional campaign to date. The Ossoff campaign raised $23.6 million compared to $4.5 for the handel campaign. Outside spending by the Democratic Party and PACs added another $7.6 million to his campaign. However, the Republicans poured another $18.2 million into the Handel campaign. Add them up, the Ossoff campaigners spent about $31.2 million and the Handel campaigners $22.7 million. As with the 2016 Presidential Election, money did not decide the election, notwithstanding the Democratic hysteria over Citizens United. The Georgia campaign on the issues was interesting. Ossoff was stridently anti-trump during the primary, but toned it down during the general election. Karen Handel had the support of President Trump, but did not run with him or against him. Her campaign focused on House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who is still a negative figure in Red America. Other issues were tax reform, ObamaCare, and terrorism. The shooting House Republican Steve Scalise also played a factor in the outcome. The Republicans claim a real victory. The Democrats claim a moral victory. Which do you want in politics?

Memo to Democrats and the Media: President Trump is Implementing His Agenda

Memo to Democrats and the Media: President Trump and the Republicans’ Accomplishments Over the Past Two Weeks The Russian Connection, Obstruction of Justice, Comey, Mueller, and the tragic shooting of the Republicans in Alexandria have sucked the oxygen out of the air. It’s as though nothing else occurred in D.C. this past week. Yet some pundits can’t understand how the President can be so sanguine during this period. He seems unfazed in public despite the relentless academic, media, political, and legal attacks, How can he withstand the massive Trump Derangement attacks, the never ending negative news and blistering media attacks? Why won’t President Trump simply give up and resign? The answer is simple. His Administration, the Republican Congress, and administrative agencies are implementing his campaign promises. One by one, step by step, the Obama Legacy is becoming history. One of the most significant acts was taken by Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Wednesday, June 5 was to end the diversion of federal settlement funds to private liberal, progressive groups favored by the Obama Administration. For example, the settlements with BP and Transocean over the Macano Blowout sent $2.3 billion to organizations, such as the American Lung Association, Ducks Unlimited, and the National Fish and Wildlife Federation. The defendants have been wiling to enter into these “contributions” to NGO’s because they are deductible as charitable contributions whereas government fines are not. These recipients are not victims of the alleged wrongdoing, but they get to benefit from it. The funds not going to the government should go to the victims, not government favored organizations. I have seen an argument that these settlements violate federal law. AG Sessions’ memo prohibits settlement provisions “that directs or provides for a payment or loan to any non-governmental person or entity that is not a party to the dispute.” Another significant step to protect America was done by the State Department. The Obama Administration kept seeing a rigorous processing procedure was used in vetting refugees into the United States. However, it barred the use of a major measure that could uncover some potential terrorists or criminal’ the use of social media. The Trump Administration approved a new questionnaire for visa applicants. It will ask for social media accounts used over the preceding five years and travel history over the previous 15 years. The Obama Administration through the Department of Education went on a Jihad over the past couple of years against for-profit higher education institutions, putting some out of business. The Administration issued rule making it easier for students at these institutions to write off their student loans. These new regulations were due to go into effect July 1. The Trump Department of Education suspended these rules a few days ago. The Department will now restudy and situation and adopt new rules, which will also be directed at reducing the fraudulent practices of which some of the schools were accused. The House approved 368-55 “The Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act of 2017.” The Senate approved it June 6. The bill will make it easier to fire VA managers and employees for cause. The Senate approved 97-2 on Wednesday a bill that will toughen sanctions against the Russians. Wednesday was a big day. The Department of Labor rescinded a controversial Obama Administration standard defining when companies, such as fast food chains, can be held as a “joint employer” with a franchisee. The Democrats as fellow travelers who previously had no problem with Secretary Clinton’s Russian reset, and President Obama’s statement that he could do more after reelection, now had no problem now acting against Russia, since it is the lynchpin of their delegitimizing of President Trump. (I hate writing sentences this long and convoluted). Just today, in Little Miami, Florida, he rescinded much of the Obama pact with Cuba. A little over two weeks ago on Thursday, June 1 President Obama announced “We’re getting out “of the Paris Accords. Why is President Trump hanging in there against a veritable tsunami? He is succeeding with his agenda.