The Peanut Gallery

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

1.Taku Tamaki: The US’s commitment to protecting Japan is currently based on the idea that the American mainland remains safe from North Korean retaliation. But faced with the reality that North Korea could soon be able to strike American soil, there is now a serious question mark over how willing the US will be to come to Japan’s aid while its own security is at risk. COMMENT: Kim Jong Un definitely has Trump"s number. Imagine that...Trump being conned by a better con man. 

2. And now Trump has fired Tillerson  The announcement of the firing was made a day after Mr. Tillerson said: "we have full confidence" in the UK's assessment that Russia was likely responsible for a nerve agent attack against a former Russian spy in Salisbury last week. The WH refused to point a finger at Russia. COMMENT: Man, It is so obvious that there is a Manchurian candidate in the WH, It's embarrassing watching while the president "re-arranges the deck chairs on the Titanic" to accommodate the incomparable puppet master, Vlad Putin.

3.TED Talk: According to Pink, monetary incentives work best for repetitive, rules-based jobs. Yet those same contingent motivators (“If you do this, then you get that”) often reduce productivity in cognitive and creative jobs. People take longer and achieve inferior results.
The reason, Pink says, is that bonuses, commissions, and the like make you narrow your focus. You concentrate on delivering the results that will give you the reward. That’s fine in jobs like manual labor, certain kinds of accounting, some computer programming, and financial analysis. But those jobs are also the ones being most rapidly automated. COMMENT: Good jobs today will be the creative roles. Thinking out of the box and succeeding should be rewarded on an equity basis.

4.Mauldin Economics: Karen Bain thinks automation will eliminate up to 25% of US jobs by 2030, with the lower-wage tiers getting hit the hardest and soonest. That will be devastating, and it’s not that far away. Remember 2006? In theory, automation will enable lower prices, which will raise demand and create more jobs. Bain does not think it will happen that way. They foresee up to 40 million permanent job losses in the US, even accounting for higher demand. COMMENT: Scary stuff

5.Connor Lamb! America is rising up on its feet and roaring a message to what is left of the Trump base. It's not about the issues of Democrat vs Republican. It's about simple human decency. Ivanka, Don Jnr, Trump himself all visited Pennsylvania and campaigned for the Republican candidate. They invested a record amount of 10 million dollars in an area Trump won by 20 points in the election. This is a gas and steel area. The Dems didn't even run a candidate in this seat in the last two elections. Ninety-six (96%) of the population are whites. They lost. COMMENT: Picture sitting on a Trump beach and a Tsunami is rushing towards you. Weigh the choices.

6. Andrew McCabe - Republican

James Comey- Republican

Robert Mueller - Republican

Rod Rosenstein - Republican

All of these Republicans are not part of some secret liberal FBI scheme. This ridiculous Fox News fairy tale needs to be put to bed.

7.What would you do if you and your coworkers were getting raises totaling $700 million? If you're like a group of doctors in Canada, you'd fight it. Some general practitioners and medical specialists in Quebec have signed a petition saying they don't want the hundreds of millions in raises they got after negotiations with the provincial government last month.
Instead, they say the money should be redistributed -- to fund more nurses and other health-care professions, and to make care more affordable for their patients. COMMENT: Only in Canada!

Armchair-general
Noun. An outspoken warmonger, and/or a self-appointed strategist, who normally lacks actual military experience, and probably has no intention to get any in the near future.

The coward only threatens when he is safe - von Goethe


Actors are con men and con men are actors - Edward Burns