Once again we were made aware of the chilling disconnect between President Trump and his intelligence chiefs when, after their annual briefing to the Senate Intelligence Committee of the threats we face around the world, he tweeted the
Senate Intelligence Committee hearing: L. to R.: Christopher Wray, head of the F.B.I.; Gina Haspel, C.I.A. director; Dan Coats, Director of National Intelligence                

next morning that the chiefs were “passive and naïve” and suggested they “should go back to school”.

The disconnect was simultaneously borne out by a Time magazine article citing officials who witnessed "multiple, in-person" instances of the president exhibiting "willful ignorance" at his daily intelligence briefings, and by a leak to online news site Axios of the most recent three months of the president's schedule showing that he sees no urgency in those briefings.

Time reported that intelligence officials are breaking their accustomed silence to warn the public that the president is endangering American security with what they say is an obstinate disregard of their assessments.

The leak by a White House source to Axios of Donald Trump's schedule shows that the president spent fully 60% of of those three months in the undefined category of
A charted excerpt of the president's schedule. Orange represents
"executive time"
"executive time". The term was hit upon by former Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly to cover the president's unaccounted-for time. Critics say that the released schedules prove that Trump spends most of his time tweeting, watching television, and calling friends. His supporters say that he simply prefers an unstructured schedule. Press Secretary Sarah… Read More »

The tax cuts enacted a year ago by the Republican-controlled Congress and signed by President Trump have inspired a growing realization that America's tax system is a shambles. That verdict goes beyond the uproar over the new tax law handing corporations a 40% rate reduction and the uncalled-for tax cut benefiting the rich. The dog's breakfast resulting from what politicians and special interests have dumped into the tax code across decades with no sense of a master plan has led to a growing consensus that we are doing it all wrong.

In the United States, unlike several European countries, assets are not taxed, no matter how much they may have gained in value, until sold. Most of the wealth the richest Americans have acquired is not taxed, even as it has grown in value from year to year. On the other hand, Congress sees fit in the laws… Read More »

In its reporting of the year's first cabinet meeting, The New York Times made
The cabinet meets at the White House, January 2nd.
no mention of it. Neither did The Wall Street Journal in its short write-up of the January 2nd meeting. It did run a short mid-page editorial, though, titled "Trump's Cracked Afghan History". What caused this from the normally friendly to Trump Journal? These remarks by the president:

"The reason Russia was in Afghanistan was because terrorists were going into Russia. They [the Soviets] were right to be there. The problem was,… Read More »