The Peanut Gallery

Statements, comments and forecasts that have no substance, but just might turn out to be relevant.

1.When James Comey stated before congress that there was a criminal investigation into co-operation between the Trump camp and the Russians, he put the cat amongst the pigeons...deliberately. All the leaks emanating from the intelligence services are designed to sow panic amongst potential targets. It works....and sooner rather than later it will be every man for himself. General Michael Flynn has probably been offered a deal and is chirping to whomever will listen. Note that he is the only target that has not volunteered to testify before the intelligence committee. The plot thickens! 

2.The IDF is preparing contingency plans for a post ISIS era. ISIS will eventually be crushed  as a militarily power (although I suspect they will continue to live on in the minds of potential terrorists). Other groups will replace them on the ground...Al Qaeda and Hezbollah jump to mind. With one potential caliphate weakened, the Shiite caliphate, Iran and its satellites Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and others will try and seize the advantage. COMMENT: Israel and its new coalition partners in the Sunni world are readying for this new threat and we can expect to see more activity, especially on the Golan, in Syria and Lebanon.

3.TOI: "The head of a Lebanon-based United Nations agency that promotes development in Arab countries resigned Friday, after the body she led was ordered by the UN secretary-general to remove from its website a controversial report that charged Israel has established an “apartheid regime” guilty of “racial domination” over the Palestinians." The report was compiled by Richard Falk, a Princeton professor with a history of Israel demonization. COMMENT: The Trump administration is finally starting to function. Go Nikki Haley! A victory for truth!

4 Amos Gilad, the former head of the Defense Ministry’s political affairs bureau, credits Israel’s security with its relationship with its Arab neighbors. “All our security services have great relationships with Arab countries. That’s an incredible asset for Israel,” he says, referring to Egypt and Jordan, as well as “other” unnamed Arab nations. COMMENT: This also includes the relationships with Arab communities in Judea and Samaria. "Tough" guys like Trump would do well to take note of this.

5.Foreign ministers from 68 countries are convening in Washington on March 22 to discuss the fight against the Islamic State, Reuters reported. The meeting of the U.S.-led coalition against the group – the first since President Donald Trump's election – will focus on Mosul, where Iraqi security forces are locked in a major battle against the Islamic State, and the upcoming fight for the group's de facto capital of Raqqa. COMMENT: Another indication that despite the noise, Trump's national security team is operational quietly "oblivious"  of the fact that they are implementing the Obama plan. 

6.During a 2012 election debate with Republican nominee Mitt Romney, President Barack Obama laughed at the idea Russia posed any threat to the United States. “Not Al Qaeda, you said Russia,” Obama continued. “The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because you know, the Cold War has been over for 20 years.” COMMENT: Now who's laughing? Words matter...the truth matters even more...but misguided intellectual arrogance in a US president can be deadly!

7.The State of Texas and the Samaria Regional Council signed a cooperation agreement Wednesday to share information and expertise on agriculture and water technology. The head of the Samaria Regional Council Yossi Dagan said, "This is a significant move that sends an unequivocal message to those attempting to boycott Israel. COMMENT: The Trump footprint is definitely having a positive effect in Israel.

8.There are more millionaires than ever in the United States. As of the end of 2016, there were a record 10.8 million millionaires nationwide, according to a new study from Spectrem Group's Market Insights Report 2017. That's more than ever before and marks a 400,000 person increase from the previous year. COMMENT: The new American middle class and the American dream compliments of debt and a devalued dollar!

9. No Peanut Gallery would be complete without a comment on the healthcare debacle. Its time for Trump and his supporters to sober up and reach out to democrats in order to repair Obamacare. The ACA is here to stay and regardless of the hogwash and tweets emanating from the White House, Trump now owns Obamacare. He would do well to understand that when it comes to healthcare there are no Republicans or Democrats. 

As every scuba diver knows, panic is your worst enemy: when it hits, your mind starts to thrash and you are likely to do something really stupid and self-destructive -  Daniel Dennett

Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves; vanity, to what we would have others think of us - Jane Austen

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt - Abraham Lincoln

The Age of Transformation

Believe it or not, we are only at the very dawn of a new hi-tech revolution...a period in which change will continue to accelerate until it comes at us blazingly fast. This change will have both political and individual consequences that will range from the positive potential betterment of humankind to a situation of extreme danger to society as we know it today.

When world population jumped from two billion souls in the 1950's to about 7 billion today, the powers that be realized that the only way for the US to survive this throng of humanity, was to compete with them. They also understood that the US advantage lay in the fact that they were were the masters of innovation but were unable to compete with the cheap labour in poorer developing countries. Thus globalization was born under the heading of "our technology and know-how for your cheaper goods". On the surface this sounded pretty good. At the end of the day, though, technology is replacing jobs...and not only manufacturing jobs!

Employment and job creation are also changing extraordinarily quickly. Lets take a look at the impact of driverless cars. Estimates are that by 2030, 25% of vehicles will be autonomous. I happen to believe that percentage will be much higher. John Mauldin: There are 250 million cars and trucks on US roads today. there are 3.5 million truck drivers, 75% of whose jobs (at least) will be replaced. Ditto for the 250,000 taxi drivers and 160,000 Uber drivers, not to mention the 100,000 Lyft drivers. 

Mauldin continues - "Estimates are that automated driving will reduce accidents by 90%. That will obviously reduce insurance costs but will also decimate the ranks of auto insurance agents. Each year 1.3 million people are injured in vehicle accidents, that’s a lot of hospital visits. Eventually, 90% of those injuries will go away, reducing demand on hospitals and eliminating jobs. We won’t need as many policeman, firemen, and ambulance drivers at accident scenes, either. The total job loss just in the United States might approach 10 million."  And that folks is just one industry! The Bank of England: The adoption of driverless cars will leave a massive dent in the car insurance market, forcing insurers to team up with car firms as they transform their business.

The Guardian: "New technology is revolutionising modern farming, but this brave new world of robot farms and hi-tech sensors could have consequences for rural livelihoods. Around the world, but especially in the developing world, food and farming systems continue to rely on 20th century technology. But this is changing. The same information technologies that brought us the internet and transformations in medicine are now revolutionising farming." It’s a new era for agriculture and one that does not bode well for middle America. For example, Japanese company Spread has recently announced that robots will carry out all but one of the tasks required to grow tens of thousands of lettuces each day in its indoor automated farm. Hopefully the talking heads and decision making bigwigs are aware of the breathtaking transformation we are facing.

In simple language, billions of people are going to be left behind when this transformation arrives. We either find a way to move forward together or humanity will be draining a different swamp.

I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination - Jimmy Dean


Let us remember: One book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world - Malala Yousafzai

Without a struggle, there can be no progress - Frederick Douglass

“It just doesn’t matter”

Author: Mark Diamond

 I don’t disagree with many of the thoughts and essays we are so fortunate to receive from you such as the most current piece  regarding the “Great Anti-Semitism Panic” (which you just sent to me) but my concern is everyone is missing the most important point. Trump should not be in power and the damage he is doing will be felt for years to come and therefore he must be stopped with every legal means possible using the checks and balances in the U.S. system which for once is there to help rather than hurt a challenging situation. The issue is not if Trump has directly caused more anti-Semitism or not, the issue is what does his approach do to the state of the world order for all races and for the safety of person kind and does he perpetuate hatred. 

I think Liberals, Conservatives, left wingers and right wingers, so all of us, always look to the answers which are most consistent with our world view because we are busy and want to believe our views make sense as we do not have the necessary time to do the complete research required to challenge our basic assumptions.  So instead of being critical and questioning of our assumptions, we look for information to support them. But are we not better off to read articles and books that counter our viewpoints?  It’s time for left wingers and right wingers to be open to each other’s ideas because ultimately this makes us a stronger society where we can apply real facts rather than emotions to the world issues.

 So, let us do this now with respect to Trump and let’s not deal in ideology but with facts:

As someone that is just a basic camp director I can tell you that after speaking to 30 families in Mexico in a country that since WW2 has been as good to the Jews as any country worldwide, Netanyahu’s statements about the wall put the Jewish community 50 years back. This community had to take out full page ads indicating they do not support the Israeli Prime Minister in any way since for understandable reasons anti-Semitism spiked because of such comments. This is not helpful to Israel or to the Jewish People nor to the Mexicans. Without Trump in power this clearly would not have occurred. Some of you may feel that this is not a cause of Trump but this is where I feel the biggest point is being missed. As the President of the United States, Trump’s actions affect every other politician worldwide which creates a domino effect. We see this in Europe now where racist politicians are using Trump’s name to garner power as well.  

Closer to home, professionals and experts in Canada and the U.S who work in the Canadian Jewish community say that antecdotal evidence shows an increase in anti-Semitism since the election but the facts will not be available for six more months. But this is a red herring as the only thing that matters is that one of the reasons (not the only reason) that Trump was elected was a result of his intolerant views. The facts do show that the year before Trump was elected there was a spike in racism in North America.  It’s a chicken and egg thing- is Trump increasing racism or was he elected because of it. WHO CARES- IT JUST DOESN’T MATTER!  

For my American friends in New York, I have had three families in New York tell me that for the first time in their lives they are scared and that there is a permissiveness now that makes it acceptable  to be racist, against Jews and against anyone that is different.   They feel that their children have been impacted to a degree that is unprecedented.   

When you see the anti-Islam sentiment taking hold, and where for the first time ever Muslims are murdered in their place of worship in Quebec city (ironically those killed were members of a very tolerant and progressive community ), again this would not have occurred if not for the Trump Era. Those same murderers and racists and anti-semites previously would have talked quietly about their views but in the past would have  decided not to act, but now our world leader is empowering them to act. It seems like Trump is allowing not only the worst of American society to lead us but that it’s empowering the worst of all the world to do the same.

When you see the riots in Montreal and the three bomb threats at Concordia against Muslims, the cemetery desecration, the bomb threats across North America, all since Trump took office, I think this is no coincidence. Whether Trump inherited this situation, or is creating it, we need a leader that will not encourage and exacerbate this horrific situation  When Jewish Community Centers around the world, including in Toronto, have bomb threats it’s easy to say there was no bomb but I cannot imagine the pain and horror in the hearts of mothers and fathers right now wanting to instill in their children the value of a Jewish education but wondering if doing so could put their lives in jeopardy. It doesn’t matter whether a bomb goes off and it doesn’t matter if there have been other years where such threats occurred. Can we dismiss the 120 threats against Jewish Organizations since Trump took office, or we can admit the obvious?   

The issue at hand is not that Trump is anti-Semitic or racist; we can argue that point. It’s the fact that he is a narcissistic and illiterate bully who encourages worst in all of us to come out. It’s the fact that he is ill and says things that are so outrageous that is makes it acceptable for everyday people to act in even more outrageous ways. It’s the fact that he limits freedom of expression and demonizes anyone that does not agree with him. Every dime he made was by not paying his trades, or his taxes and by destroying everyone in his path. Having someone in office with such a weak moral code allows everyone else to rationalize their behaviour. By setting a lower standard, given his position, he empowers behaviour which would otherwise be seen as inappropriate. If there is one key role for a president, it is to maintain the tenuous balance in the world, as there will never be world peace; the goal is to hold that balance in check by acting with intelligence, and a high moral code that the rest of us can try to live up to.  

Thank goodness, we see the money raised by Muslims for the desecrated cemeteries in the U.S.A. and as usual we see the Jewish Community reaching out in Montreal, Quebec and Toronto to show as much support as possible. Maybe that will be the good that will come of this horrific situation. Even the Iman of the Quebec City mosque which was the site of the killings reminded us of the humanity of the alleged killer, noting that this murderer also had ruined the lives of his own family. Trump’s fear and all our fears of terror attacks are grounded in fact but the approach in dealing with those facts whether you agree or disagree must be done in a way that promotes tolerance and is grounded in effective strategies not just angry outbursts (or tweets).

 If you read an excellent book called “The Muslim Tide” you will learn that Canada is a model for the world in terms of how we deal with immigrants and our approach to religious tolerance. This book challenges some basic assumptions on terrorism that are often based on emotion and assumption rather than fact.  And while I don’t have any issue with anyone saying that Trump has some good ideas,  any President must articulate his approach with substance, facts and a proper moral code.   If it comes to pass that there is someone from one of the banned countries who perpetrates a terrorist act, we will hear Trump say “  told you so”, without recognizing that he is in the process of creating a self-fulfilling prophecy by giving excuses for the polarized, and sick segments of society to act out.   In fact, by putting overt bans on immigrants from certain countries, he helps ISIS and Al Qaeda recruit new members, thereby making them stronger!   

Every day we hear of acts that fan the flames of xenophobia such as when a man kicked and assaulted an airline worker for wearing a jihad saying “Trump is here now” and “he will get rid of you”.  Maybe those things were already happening but when you can quote the President whether you are Conservative or Liberal you can easily see the concern. We used to say when Islamic extremists go after the Jews the Christians will be attacked next. Well when every day Americans go after Muslims or Mexicans, and paint any group with one brush then any possible minority is next, whether it be the LGBTQ community or others.

It doesn’t matter if the racism is the same or worse since Trump took office. It matters that the most influential leader of the western world is both explicitly and implicitly endorsing these new behavioural norms.   

The only point that matters is that Trump needs to be limited in every way so that these four years he does as little damage as possible. It is our responsibility to help guide the discourse so that we can limit his ability to effect negative change as a result of his mental disorder that has been described by many professionals as Narcissistic Personality Disorder. (definition attached). 

(note- since writing this article, Trump has accused the former President of wire tapping his phones without having any evidence of it having taken place, and as this situation has unfolded, he has turned to blaming Fox News as the source instead of taking responsibility for his actions.  It only gets worse).  
Note: For a definition and characteristics of Narcissitic Personality Disorder please read http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/narcissistic-personality-disorder/basics/definition/con-20025568

When Polarization gets Dangerous

The Roman Empire probably believed that they had invented the wheel when they increased the money supply by removing the silver content in their coins and replacing it with copper.  When the silver content of the coins reached zero, the Roman Empire collapsed in 476 a.d. The elitist Romans were invaded by hoardes of barbarians in search of a better life. These days we just vote.

In 1971 an event known as the "Nixon shock" took place. The famous (or infamous) Nixon shock was a series of economic measures undertaken by United States President Richard Nixon, the most significant of which was the unilateral cancellation of the direct international convertibility of the United States dollar to gold. Simply put, the politicians removed the disciplinary shackle of gold from our coins (notes) and placed themselves in charge of the money supply. At the time US national debt was $398 billion, the Dow was about 1000, the money supply was $658 billion and being a millionaire was the American dream. Today the national debt is $20 trillion, the Dow is at 21000, the money supply is $14 trillion and being just a millionaire is a nightmare. Removing the gold from our currencies has made the rich...stinking rich, the middle class is in tatters and the poor live in "inner cities" and rural America. More polarized than this picture is difficult to imagine.

With this in mind in January I wrote "Hillary Clinton declared "We are stronger together!" Donald Trump stated “People talk about how we’re living in a globalized world, but the relationships people value most are local—family, city, state and country." Those two sentences elegantly describe the fault line that is splitting entire nations and continents right now." Polarization is an exclusively man made peculiarity conceived by human nature in the form of greed, arrogance, lust, fear and temptation amongst other excesses. 

The fault lines have been exacerbated by a high tech and medical revolution that, believe it or not, is only in its infancy (I will be writing about some of the ramifications next week). The name of the game for our kids and their kids.... is a good education. The educated and street smart are pulling away from the majority of folks. The Trump plan to create more debt will only emphasize the pain. Multiply that by the planned deficits in Europe and other countries, and we have a prescription for troublesome times.

Its a fact that at least 80% of the US budget goes to social security (25%), Medical benefits (25%), Safety net programs for the poor (10%), Defence (16%) and interest on the debt (7%). What does that leave for discretionary spending, tax cuts and infrastructure? Not much. Acclaimed analyst Richard Russel provided a no-option "quick fix" twenty years ago by saying "The creation of debt with expensive dollars and repayment of that debt with devalued dollars is an easy and temporary political solution to the problem." Another way of phrasing the above so that we all understand is -  "Kick the can down the road". The politicians have devalued our buying power and the barbarians are cloaked in a Trojan horse awaiting the right polarizing moment. This is an perhaps a reality for some of us to contemplate in more sober moments.


“Sometimes we want what we want even if we know it’s going to kill us.” 
― Donna Tartt

“Sometimes you hit a point where you either change or self destruct.” 

― Sam Stevens

Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction - Erich Fromm

And I know I'm paranoid and neurotic, I've made a career out of it - Thom Yorke

The Peanut Gallery

Statements, comments and forecasts that have no substance, but just might turn out to be relevant.

1.While CNN and others are obsessing about Trump, top military officers of the United States, Russia and Turkey. U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford, Russian Armed Forces General Staff Chief and First Deputy Defense Minister Gen. Valery Gerasimov and Turkish General Staff Chief Gen. Hulusi Akar held a tripartite meeting in the Turkish city of Antalya. Meetings like this only take place after months of preparation. Kamran Bhokari: A meeting of the most senior generals is not about discussing tactical details. This meeting in Turkey – like all similar meetings – involves strategic-level discussions. Another critical thing to bear in mind is that heads of different countries’ military establishments meet after their respective political bosses already have made a decision on joint action. COMMENT: The anti-ISIS strategy is moving forward with US and Russian co-operation taking centre stage.

2. John Mauldin: The problem is that at least 80% of manufacturing jobs were lost not to companies moving factories to China or Mexico but to increased automation. Some estimates run as high as 90%. Those jobs are never “coming back.” They are gone. And that trend is going to continue and accelerate. I fully understand that if we do get corporate tax reform, along with some other reforms, it is quite possible that Apple, for example, would move its iPhone 10 factory to the US. But iPhones are increasingly assembled by robots, and in a few years those and other such products will mostly be made on largely automated production lines, whether in China or the US. COMMENT: Trump's speech to congress hit the ball out of the park. Even a sceptic like myself was impressed. Again...its not what you say that matters....

3.TIP: Inspired by the United Nation’s proposed blacklist of companies that “profit from the occupation” and upset by a delay, the Palestinian Authority’s Fatah party decided to release its own list of companies which should be boycotted. A surprise appearance on the list? Cosmetics giant Revlon. Revlon made the cut because its head, Ronald Perelman, gives money to the “Zionist” Chabad and the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Other household names on the blacklist include Volvo (for Israel’s use of its heavy machinery) and ReMax (which sells real estate over the Green Line.) COMMENT: Anyone remember the Arab boycott of Israel? How did that work out for them....

4.Fox News: President Trump made a startling claim Saturday that former President Barack Obama had Trump Tower phones tapped in the weeks before the November 2016 election.
In early Saturday morning tweets that began at 6:35 a.m., the president said the alleged wiretapping was “McCarthyism” and “Nixon/Watergate.”“Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism,” Trump wrote. COMMENT: Sorry folks....but there is nothing funnier than an arrogant dumb guy who thinks he is a genius...LOL. Of course, on a more serious note, Trump is doing exactly what Putin expects of him. He is using the office of president to delegitimize America's democratic institutions. (and now wikileaks is back at the party).

5.GPF Deep dive: China’s economic miracle, like that of Japan before it, is over. Its resurrection simply isn’t working, which shouldn’t surprise anyone. Sustained double-digit economic growth is possible when you begin with a wrecked economy. China’s dilemma, like Japan’s, is that it built much of its growth on exports. Both China and Japan were poor countries, and demand for goods was low. They jump-started their economies by taking advantage of low wages to sell products they could produce themselves to advanced economies. The result was that those engaged in exporting enjoyed increasing prosperity, but those who were farther from East China ports, where export industries clustered, did not. COMMENT: Bottom line....the Chinese slowdown is continuing. (The Chinese govt has predicted a slowing down in 2017).  This has important consequences for the real estate bubbles in Canada and Australia. China is desperately trying to prevent funds from escaping the mainland.

6.Daily Mail: Rotating Dubai skyscraper to be built in 2020 allows guests to swivel their rooms 360 degrees. Residents at Dubai's new hotel with be able to watch the sunrise and sunset in the city's rotating hotel. The Dynamic Tower was proposed nine years ago by Israeli-Italian architect David Fisher. Fisher created the design with the idea that 'the motionless state of today's houses does not reflect people's actual lives, where everything is constantly changing'. COMMENT: Israel and Israeli's continue to change the world! Read more:  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4231698/Rotating-Dubai-skyscraper-built-2020.html#ixzz4aZ580zON

7.Israeli scientist Alan Bodner has created Like-a-Fish, a breathing device that can literally spin oxygen out of water. Not only is it great for divers, but its technology can also be applied to submarines and in underwater habitats. COMMENT: WOW! Read more http://www.israelisonit.com/inventions#/how-to-breathe-like-a-fish/

“The trick is this: keep your eye on the ball. Even when you can't see the ball.”― Tom Robbins

I told my psychiatrist that everyone hates me. He said I was being ridiculous - everyone hasn't met me yet - Rodney Dangerfield

On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron - H. L. Mencken