President Biden is turning out, as Politico identifies him as “not a good, bad guy: GOP rips up mid-term playbook.” The article then goes on to describe the fact that Mr. Biden does not generally create strong negative reactions from most people. Typically, the opposition party’s playbook is to attack the sitting President, and apparently polling is showing that is not the way to go which leaves the Republicans in a position of having to use other foils to go after Democrats such as Speaker Pelosi, Senator Sanders, Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and others who are further out on the left-wing branch. This will be an interesting process to watch develop, and to see how much traction this approach gets with voters, since they continue to see Joe Biden on television talking reasonably, looking calm, and succeeding at being Presidential.
Popular Mechanics recently published an article describing how the Army revealed the range of its new hypersonic weapon which is 1,725 miles. This puts Russia, as well as North Korea and China, within its range since the weapon could be placed well within that range particularly with allies such as South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, and NATO. The LRHW (long-range hypersonic weapon) is truly a game changer in terms of strategy and tactics, and alters the balance of weaponry. This weapon is similar to the Navy’s prompt strike weapon, which is going on to 69 of its guided missile cruisers. This gives great advantage to the US over Russia and China, which is always a good thing.
Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide points out that Americans are seeing a dwindling supply of cars on dealers lots. Drive by any car dealer and you will see few, if any, new vehicles. This is primarily the impact of a chip shortage, which is being predicted to last an additional 18 months. President Biden is personally involved in launching an initiative to ramp up the US chip manufacturing capacity to protect manufacturing jobs, particularly in the automobile industry. Many are blaming the chip shortage on former President Trumps reckless trade and technology war with China as one of the chief culprits behind the current chip crunch. It looks like Mr. Trump’s ill advised trade policies continue to haunt us.
Science Magazine reports that tiny traces of DNA found in a Spanish cave were left behind a hundred thousand years ago. These DNA traces will allow scientists to trace not only the DNA of Neanderthals, but also the animals that they slaughtered in a cave where, apparently, they lived for tens of thousands of years. The information extracted from the DNA indicates the length of time the cave was occupied and changes in the occupants. The article also noted that the earth experienced a significant change in climate as weather systems cooled and then a third group followed once the climate reverted back to previous climatic conditions. Obviously, this DNA is going to create a significant amount of scientific information and certainly it will remain an interesting lead for years to come.
It appears that the Trump investigation in New York City by the Manhattan DA, and the Attorney General has turned into a criminal investigation. This will raise all types of controversy and may also put Governor Desantis in a position where he may get to make the decision as to whether or not to extradite Mr. Trump from Florida if he is in Florida when the indictment is handed down. This likely creates a dilemma, both for Mr. Desantis and for Mr. Trump. If Mr. Desantis decides not to block the extradition, that may be a convenient way for him to eliminate Mr. Trump from the 2024 Presidential sweepstakes. While Mr. Trump has to decide whether to leave Florida which it appears he intends on doing. Mr. Trump continues to provide controversary and confusion.
Assemblyman Jones’ proposal for the border, as described in The Press Republican article on May 22, 2021, is supported by the North Country Chamber of Commerce, is to offer vaccinations to essential workers from Quebec is the first substantive proposal that I have seen that could lead to the reopening of the border. Canada, as noted in the article is at a much slower pace with regard to vaccines, and that is primarily due to the fact that they do not have a domestic producer of the vaccine. If this process is approved by the New York State Department of Health, and ultimately, the Governor, then this could be a monumental step forward. If we could then couple this with passports for the fully vaccinated that would be accepted by both governments, then significant traffic flow could reemerge which is in the best interest of the North Country and our neighbors in Quebec. Prior statements put forward by Congresswoman Stefanik were essentially attacks on President Biden and weak-kneed appeals to Mr. Trump, although she did not attack Mr. Trump when he was in office for essentially doing the same thing, or not doing. But no solution was ever offered.
Unfortunately, it was also announced this week that the border will stay closed until at least June 21, 2021.
Congrats to Assemblyman Jones.
An analysis by Seafood Source indicates that China is not meeting its US Seafood purchase commitments under the Phase I deal signed in early 2020, which bound China to $200 billion in purchases from the US through increasing orders of certain commodities including seafood. The fact, however, is that the shipments to China were 55% below the baseline of 2017. Further evidence that Mr. Trump’s trade policies did not work.
Early on in the pandemic Hertz was forced into bankruptcy, and apparently a significant number of small investors decided to take a chance on Hertz, purchasing shares while the company was going through the bankruptcy process, and it appears that those investors are getting a big payoff with the bankruptcy court approving a winning auction bid that will hand control of Hertz to institutional investors who won a heated competition to buy the company out of bankruptcy, as its prospects brightened. The Hertz investors will receive between $7 and $8 a share as a result of Hertz emerging from bankruptcy and the purchase of the company. It is hard to know when one looks at a bankruptcy proceeding exactly how it will play out, and obviously, these small investors took a gamble, likely with a relatively low level of investment, and therefore, low level risk and it is paying off. This is the kind of story we all like to read about.
CNN dumped Rick Santorum for his attack on Native American culture before a Conversation Youth Group. Leadership at its worst as he pandered to his audience instead of educating them.
In this month’s the American Legion Magazine, two articles appeared which are truly worthy of note. The Legion Magazine, as you might expect is a conservative, but pro-veteran entity and that philosophy is carried over to its main publication. An article entitled, “Thank you, good-bye” is a story about the deportation of veterans and reflects on the fact that this policy defies 200 years of law and practice as we deport a record number of veterans after breaking promises to make them citizens if they served. Another vestige of Trump’s crazed view of immigrants – from a man who didn’t serve.
Bill Owens is a former member of Congress representing the New York 21st, a partner in Stafford, Owens, Piller, Murnane, Kelleher and Trombley in Plattsburgh, NY and a Strategic Advisor at Dentons to Washington, DC.
The views expressed by commentators are solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this station or its management.