Saturday Politics : Trump Waves the Flag and the Carrier Deal at His Hapless Detractors

Saturday Politics is sometimes about celebrating the positive changes that 18 months of hard work and the faith of millions of Americans have produced. • • • THE FLAG. Perhaps the best symbol of these changes is the fact that President-Elect Donald Trump has proposed punishments for flag burning : “Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag -- if they do, there must be consequences -- perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!” Trump's early morning tweet on Tuesday left the media speechless -- the best the MSM could manage was to wonder why Trump had brought up the subject. But, Fox News reported earlier in November that Hampshire College in Massachusetts would stop flying all flags on campus after an American flag was burned following Trump’s win. Hampshire's president, Jonathan Lash, said in a statement at the time : "We hope this will enable us to instead focus our efforts on addressing racist, misogynistic, Islamophobic, anti-immigrant, anti-Semitic and anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and behaviors." It's clear that Lash was making a negative statement about Trump and his supporters. Some in the MSM noted that burning the American flag has been ruled to be protected speech under the First Amendment. But, looking for something to say, an NBC News producer noted on Twitter that then-Senator Hillary Clinton introduced a bill in 2005 that would have outlawed burning the American flag. TheHill said : "Early in his presidential campaign, Trump said that he supported revoking the citizenship of babies born to undocumented immigrants, but this appears to be the first time since then that he’s proposed revoking citizenship as a punishment." What is going on here, we may well ask. (More later.) • • • MELANIA TAKES HEAT. Melania Trump can cross a top fashion designer off her list -- Tom Ford says he won't be dressing the future First Lady. Ford told ABC TV : "I was asked to dress her quite a few years ago and I declined...She's not necessarily my image." Ford said his decision has nothing to do with the fact he's a Democrat, adding that Hillary Clinton, had she won the presidential election, also "shouldn't be wearing my clothes." Why? Ford says : "They're too expensive, and I don't mean that in a bad way. I think to relate to everybody, you shouldn't be [seen in such costly outfits]." But the London-based American designer revealed he had once dressed first lady Michelle Obama when she visited Buckingham Palace to meet Queen Elizabeth in 2011. And, he made no mention of the attacks on Melania for wearing a $1,655 red dress for the new First Family's first TV interview -- but he might have, adding that at a state dinner at the White House, Michelle Obama once wore a $12,500 dress that brought only oohs and aahs from the MSM. Ford is the second famous designer to snub Melania. French-born Sophie Theallet is also steering clear, citing the "rhetoric of racism, sexism and xenophobia" of Trump's presidential campaign and said her fellow designers should do the same. Theallet's snub was quickly condemned by American fashion czar Tommy Hilfiger who told the fashion-industry trade journal Women's Wear Daily : "I think Melania is a very beautiful woman and I think any designer should be proud to dress her...I don't think people should become political about it." Anyone for a Tommy Hilfiger Tee and Jeans??? • • • Melania Trump is also under fire from the media for her decision to remain in New York so 10-year-old Barron Trump can remain at his private school, at least until the end of the year's term in June. But, the MSM is absolutely silent about Vice President Joe Biden spending $1 million on 225 commuting trips from Delaware to Washington over four years, author Ronald Kessler told the Daily Mail on Thursday. Kessler reports : "Between January 2009 and March 2013, Biden, who seeks to cultivate the image of a regular Joe, would take a helicopter designated as Marine Two from the vice president's residence to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland at least once a week. He then would hop on Air Force Two to jet back to his home in Delaware. He would return to Washington on Air Force Two. The cost of the flights is doubled because after dropping him off in Delaware or going back to pick him up, the Air Force has to fly the plane empty on so-called deadhead trips." The 225 trips required 400 flights and cost American taxpayers $979,680 for fuel and maintenance, based on Kessler's analysis of Air Force records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. And, says Kessler : "This figure does not include the additional costs of flying Biden on the Marine Two helicopter to and from the vice president's residence at the Naval Observatory and Andrews. Nor do they include crew costs for his frequent trips." Kessler detailed Biden's commuting habits in his August 2014 book, "The First Family Detail: Secret Service Agents Reveal the Hidden Lives of the Presidents." Kessler says that since his book's release : "Biden has cut back on the costly trips, often taking the train instead." But, according to Kessler, taxpayers are still paying rent for more than 20 condos for Secret Service agents in Greenville, Delaware, because Biden's "schedule is so fluid and never concrete enough to properly prepare for his visits to Delaware," one agent told Kessler for the report, "so, they keep a fully staffed Secret Service advance team in Delaware in condominiums that we lease -- so that when he does these things back and forth to DC, they're up there ready for him to arrive," the agent added. "Biden or his staff continually change the schedule, and that's a grueling four years for agents to be assigned to his detail because of travel back and forth to Delaware, last-minute movement, and no set schedule," according to the agent. 'Sometimes, he gives literally a few minutes' notice, 'Hey, we're going to Wilmington.' " Don't we love these Progressive Democrats who live lavishly off the poor taxpayers they say they champion. • • • AND NOW THE DEMS ARE ATTACKING 10-YEAR-OLD BARRON TRUMP. Rosie O'Donnell said she has "no ill will" toward President-Elect Donald Trump's children after the comedian shared a video that suggested that his youngest son, Barron, might be autistic. Numerous people that have engaged with his son, who attends one of Manhattan's most prestigious schools, say he does not suffer from autism. But the facts seem to matter little to the comedian who has long feuded with Trump, who has called her a "fat pig." O'Donnell explained that she had become "immersed" in researching the condition after her 3-year-old daughter, Dakota, was diagnosed with high-functioning autism in September. The controversy started last Monday, when O'Donnell shared a seven-minute video compiling clips from the Republican National Convention, the presidential debates, and Trump's acceptance speech that suggested 10-year-old Barron might be showing signs of autism [observers said that he was just tired because o f the late hours]. Critics bashed O'Donnell for placing an unnecessary spotlight on the youngest of the President-Elect's children. When O'Donnell previously met Trump's daughter, Ivanka, in October, O'Donnell wrote that Ivanka Trump was "absurdly nice." • • • DEMOCRATS ARE BESIDE THEMSELVES. Rosie's bluster reminds me of Thursday's CNN interview of Senator Elizabeth Warren. Anderson Cooper tried to get Warren to say that she agrees with ANYTHING the President-Elect does. He said she must be pleased with the Carrier job saves. Poor lost Warren had to say No No No -- these Progressives Democrats are really in a Black Hole of their own making right now. • Sour grapes poured out of most Democrats over the Carrier deal. The MSM was full of Progressive talking heads bemoaning the fact that Trump actually succeeded in saving American jobs -- give me a break !!! But, the best Progressive -- or should we say Marxist -- remark came from Bernie Sanders : "Let's be clear: It is not good enough to save some of these jobs. Trump made a promise that he would save all of these jobs, and we cannot rest until an ironclad contract is signed to ensure that all of these workers are able to continue working in Indiana without having their pay or benefits slashed." As one Commenter put it : "Bernie, you're an absolute idiot. A $700,000 a year subsidy for 1,000 workers works out to about, hmmmmm, let me see, 700,000 divided by 1,000 is, hmmmmmm, a whopping $700 per employee per year? So just how much would the State of Indiana be shelling out in eventual unemployment payments and eventual welfare payments to destitute individuals who cannot find work? Yea, Bernie Colonel Sanders, a socialist, throwing rocks in his glass house." • • • THE CARRIER DEAL. President-Elect Trump's Wednesday announcement that Carrier would keep its air-conditioning manufacturing plant in Indianapolis -- saving 1,100 jobs -- led Trump to visit the plant with Vice President-Elect Mike Pence on Thursday. Thump declared : "companies are not going to leave the United States any more without consequences. Not going to happen." Trump's statement was met with cheers by employees at the plant, which Carrier said last year would be moved to Mexico. Trump added : "It's not going to happen. We're losing so much. We like Mexico. I was there three months ago with the president of Mexico. Terrific guy, but we have to have a fair shake. We're not getting anything." Greg Hayes, chairman and CEO of United Technologies, Carrier's parent company, said at the start of Trump's announcement : "I'm pleased to announce that we have decided to keep Carrier in Indianapolis. The plant will remain open and continue manufacturing operations here." Hayes said 1,100 jobs -- more than the initial number announced -- would remain in Indiana. He added United Technologies would designate the plant a Center of Excellence for Gas-Furnace Production -- investing $16 million over two years to "ensure that it remains a world-class manufacturing facility with the ability to compete globally." Indiana Governor until January, Mike Pence declared : "it's a renewed day for manufacturing in America. Today, America won. And we have Donald Trump to thank." Seth Martin, a Carrier spokesman, said Thursday that Indiana offered the company $7 million in tax incentives after negotiations with Trump's team to keep some jobs in the state. Trump praised company officials -- saying they "stepped up" to make the effort successful. • Trump linked American consumers to Carrier's decision : "I did say one thing to the Carrier folks and the United Technologies folks. I said the good will that you have engendered by doing this all over the world, frankly, but within our country -- you watch how fast you'll make it up because so many people are going to be buying Carrier air-conditioners." He also reaffirmed campaign pledges to reduce business taxes to as low as 15% -- from the current 35% -- and roll back regulations he said have been crippling American companies. • The President-Elect also slammed NAFTA -- "and I don't have to mention who signed it anymore" -- it will be changed. We have to bring our jobs back. We have to let other companies know that we'll do great things for business. You don't have to leave anymore. Your taxes will be at the very low end -- and your unnecessary regulations will be gone. We need regulations for safety and environment and things, but most of the regulations are nonsense." During the campaign, Trump threatened to impose sharp tariffs on companies that moved factories to Mexico. His advisors also have since promoted lower corporate tax rates to keep jobs in the US. Trump repeated that pledge in Indianapolis, saying companies will be "taxed heavily at the border if they want to fire their people, leave, make their products in different countries -- and then think they'll sell that product over the border." • Trump also thanked Pence for his work on the Carrier deal and dismissed MSM criticism about negotiating directly with corporate officials to protect jobs : "I think it's very presidential -- and if it's not presidential, that's OK, because I like doing it. We're going to have a lot of phone calls made to companies when they say they're thinking about leaving this country, because they're not leaving this country. They're not going to leave -- and the workers can keep their jobs. They can leave from state to state and negotiate deals with different states, but leaving the country will be very, very difficult." • • • IT TOOK TRUMP TO PICK UP THE PHONE. There is not one reported incident where President Obama picked up his White House phone -- you know, the one he promised to use to enact unconstitutional executive orders -- to save American jobs. In fact, as conservative radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh pointed out on Thursday, President Barack Obama mocked Donald Trump's pledge to keep Carrier from moving 1,000 jobs from Indianapolis to Mexico in a town hall meeting in June. The town hall hosted by PBS Newshour in Elkhart, Indiana, and a Carrier employee, Eric Cottonham, asked Obama what he would do to keep American companies from moving manufacturing jobs to Mexico. Obama answered : "What we have to do is to make sure that folks are trained for the jobs that are coming in now, because some of those jobs of the past are just not going to come back." Obama then lambasted Trump : "When somebody says -- like the person you just mentioned [Trump], who I'm not going to advertise for -- that he's going to bring all these jobs back, well how exactly are you going to do that? What are you going to do? There's no answer to it. He just says, 'Well, I'm going to negotiate a better deal.' Well, how exactly are you going to negotiate that? What magic wand do you have? And, usually, the answer is he doesn't have an answer." • Donald Trump knew what to do and how to negotiate. And, as Mike Pence told reporters, Trump just picked up his phone and called the UT CEO -- and it worked. And, Trump doesn't even have the White House phone yet !! • Representative Peter King said the deal President-elect Donald Trump reached with Carrier signaled : "there is a new sheriff in town. It's a great step forward. What Donald Trump is doing is he's sending a signal that there is a new sheriff in town -- and that he's going to do it his way and that it's going to work. It's sending a signal to corporations, sending a signal to the American people that he will do things differently from other Presidents. And, he will get it done." • Rush Limbaugh put it all in perspective : "Obama didn't care that the jobs were leaving. Trump's not the only guy that can figure out how to make this happen. He's just the only one who tried. Obama didn't even try. It wasn't even on his radar to make the effort. He didn't think it was necessary for his political viability. He didn't think it was necessary for these people, because it doesn't matter. If you lose your job, we've got a government program for you." • And that is the sad truth about Progressive Democrats -- they think the government is the answer to all problems. Another Republican also got it right, in 1980. Ronald Reagan said : “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem, government IS the problem. It isn't so much that liberals are ignorant, it's just that they know so much that isn't so.” • • • IT IS A NEW DAY IN AMERICA. American Thinker's Fay Voshell wrote after the election : "President Obama seems to think he can jawbone his “legacy” into permanency, despite the recent election. He says the Iran nuclear deal will endure. The Paris agreement will last. Regulations cannot and will not be rolled back. Obamacare will retain its chief provisions. But the political earthquake resulting in the election of Donald Trump is but an indicator of the tsunami of change that is about to happen. The truth of the matter is that the Obama administration saw the high-water mark of progressivism. Its overwhelming power has been broken. Attempts to persuade the renegade American public and its new leaders back into the Progressive fold will not cease, but they will be largely futile because Americans have made it clear they do not want progressivism to dictate domestic and foreign policy." And, now, as Progressives, Democrats and the MSM try to insist that the Trump victory is a sideshow of hairbrained extremists and Christian zealots, we must -- all of us from Trump right down to the newest Trump voter -- close our ears to those who want to hang on to the grotesque “legacy” of the past eight years. It is time to forge ahead with the mandate American voters gave Donald Trump. • • • DEAR READERS, as promised, let's get back to the question of desecrating the American flag. It was recently, in 1989, that the Supreme Court ruled that burning the flag is protected free speech. In Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397 (1989), the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, invalidated the state laws in 48 states dealing with desecration of the flag by ruling that burning the flag is protected speech under the First Amendment. Johnson, a member of the Communist Youth Brigade, burned a US flag during the 1984 Republican National Convention in Dallas and was prosecuted under Texas law. He was represented by William Kunstler, who represented, among others, the Black Panther Party, the Weather Underground, and Joanne Chesimard, aka Assata Shakur, who killed NJ state trooper Werner Foerster and escaped to Cuba, where she lives today under the protection of the Castro regime -- with the tacit approval of President Obama who has not even asked for her to be returned ot the US to stand trial. After the Johnson decision, Congress passed the Flag Protection Act, 18 USC 700, which made it a federal crime to desecrate our flag. But, in US v. Eichman, 496 US 310 (1990), the Supreme Court, in another 5-4 decision with the same lineup, invalidated this statute as violating the First Amendment. Again, it was Johnson, with his friend Eichman, who burned an American flag in Washington DC to test the law. Following these Court decisions, the House has several times passed a constitutional amendment titled "The Flag Desecration Amendment," but it was defeated in the Senate in 2006 by one vote. The proposed amendment reads : "The Congress shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States." • The only message conveyed by burning the flag is hate and contempt for our country, stated Justice Rehnquist in his dissent in Johnson : "The American flag, then, throughout more than 200 years of our history, has come to be the visible symbol embodying our Nation. It does not represent the views of any particular political party, and it does not represent any particular political philosophy. The flag is not simply another "idea" or "point of view" competing for recognition in the marketplace of ideas. Millions and millions of Americans regard it with an almost mystical reverence regardless of what sort of social, political, or philosophical beliefs they may have. I cannot agree that the First Amendment invalidates the Act of Congress and the laws of 48 of the 50 States, which make criminal the public burning of the flag." Even Justice Stevens, a staunch liberal on the Court, dissented, stating : "The flag is more than a proud symbol of the courage, the determination, and the gifts of nature that transformed 13 fledgling Colonies into a world power. It is a symbol of freedom, of equal opportunity, of religious tolerance, and of good will for other peoples who share our aspirations....The value of the flag as a symbol cannot be measured....The case has nothing to do with 'disagreeable ideas.' It involves disagreeable conduct that, in my opinion, diminishes the value of an important national asset....Johnson was punished only for the means by which he expressed his opinion, not the opinion itself." • Donald Trump is absolutely right. We should be able to protect the flag as the one symbol of our country that was eloquently described by Justices Rehnquist and Stevens. The First Amendment works well to protect free speech without having to add burning our flag -- we can peacefully picket, write or comment on various websites, support candidates who share our views, run for office, debate, and engage in other forms of political activity. It seems that the only goal of those who resort to burning the flag is to incite or provoke those who view the flag as sacred. It is the symbol of America. It should be protected from any kind of desecration, especially burning it in public.