Bill Owens

It has been reported that there are currently 400,000 factory jobs that are going unfilled because employers cannot recruit qualified and reliable employees. It does not appear that this issue has been considered by the Trump administration as it touts the idea of reshoring.

Jordan Klepper called out President Trump for his Irish Exit on the Daily Show. As an Irishman, I am offended that Mr. Trump would be given credit for doing anything Irish.

China and the US apparently have reached a deal although it is short-term and without much in the way of specifics other than addressing the US need for rare earth minerals and establishing a 50% Chinese tariff. It is clear that what the Chinese have done is “string it out” as they make piece meal deals and essentially slow roll it.

Mr. Trump has touted the creation of a golden dome defense similar to that which Israel uses. Unfortunately, as he was on his rampage relative to Canada, he forgot that he needed locations in Canada in order to accomplish this.

Lord Stanley is 4 games from going home to Canada.

Mr. Trump was essentially rebuffed by Mr. Putin with his refusal to enter into a cease fire in the Ukraine and apparently loading up with more demands. Obviously, Mr. Putin believes he has the upper hand, and it would appear that he does. Mr. Trump is now many months into his term after a promise to end the war on day one without any indication that the war is winding down. In fact, the Russians are pounding the Ukraine even harder, essentially thumbing their nose at Mr. Trump.

I mentioned last week the surprise events of the previous weekend when the US and China agreed to reduce tariffs for 90 days to 30% for the Chinese and 10% for Americans. This development raises a whole host of questions. First, Mr. Trump promised revenue in the $60 billion range per month from tariffs, clearly the math does not work.

Mr. Trump’s budget proposes to reduce EAS funding by 50%, which threatens the EAS programs that assist Plattsburgh Airport, as well as all the other small-town airports in northern New York. So far, silence from Ms. Stefanik as she again abandons her constituents and does nothing to thwart these cuts nor the US Canadian tariffs.

Senator Ossoff of Georgia has raised the specter of impeachment proceedings against Mr. Trump. I was against impeaching him during his first term, not necessarily because I did not think his offenses were impeachable, but that they could never result in conviction, and that all bringing impeachment proceedings did was to make him into a martyr and galvanize his support.

Mr. Trump has blinked on the China tariffs without any confirmation that China blinked before he did which it turns out was false, based upon China’s statements completely denying that any discussions were underway. Is a fake blink better or worse than a real one?