The Derailment of the Trump Train?!?!

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The immediate aftermath of President Donald Trump signing the now infamous Omnibus Spending Bill seemed to be a visceral one. In fact, there were widespread reports of weeping and gnashing of teeth among some of the more hardcore followers.  To be fair, at face value, the bill does seem to be a direct affront to many of the things that the President campaigned on, but does it herald the coming of Armageddon?  The answer is a resounding: No.

I’m really not sure why people seem to be losing their minds over this, but they need to pause and take a deep breath. The reality is that you’d have to have just awoken from a coma to be shocked by any of this. Perhaps it has been the continuous chanting of drain the swamp, which led many folks to view things with rose-colored glasses, but the reality is draining a swamp as big as Washington D.C. is not going to happen for a LONG time.

To put it in terms everyone can understand, it is like adding 30lbs over the winter and then thinking you can lose it all in a few days before the start of the Memorial Day weekend. It just ain’t happening, sport.

It’s also not Trump’s job to drain it, but we the voters. We elected them, now we have to eject them!

Actually, if you take a moment to really read and digest the bill, something which 99% of lawmakers didn’t do before they voted on it, you’d get an interesting look into how your representatives view you.

The Omnibus Bill isn’t a budget, but a well contrived spending spree that was most likely drafted and voted on quickly to prove a point. Call it: The Swamp Strikes Back. Folks seem to forget that Congress was around long before Trump and will be there long after he is gone. The swamp didn’t form overnight and if you think they are just going to just roll onto their backs, and be submissive, you’re insane. Trump has been hammering them at every turn and they just did a push-back, showing him they aren’t quite as dysfunctional as many believe them to be.

The reality is that they KNOW what they are doing. The T.V. theatrics are just that, well-rehearsed theatrics. It is a spectacle, played by political parties, to appeal to their individual bases.  Republicans blame democrats, who in turn blame republicans, nothing gets done and they all get rich without having to actually accomplish anything.  Trump threatens that status quo and they are doing their best to push back.

Two years ago this month I wrote a post called The Curious Case of Donald Trump that questioned whether he was what we needed. Two years later I can say that I believe he is.

Congress, as a whole, believes they just played him, but I believe they actually played right into his hand. It would have been political suicide for a republican to come out and say that they were against funding the military. Likewise, democrats needed a win and they got it with Planned Parenthood. Most question why they didn’t address DACA, but to be completely honest that is an emotional issue and isn’t really a make-or-break issue for them. In fact, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer actually commented that:

“At the end of the day, as the minority party, we feel good about being able to succeed in so many ways. We don’t have the House, we don’t have the Senate, we don’t have the presidency, but we produced a darn good bill for the priorities we have believed in.” 

Think about it for a moment: “…..the priorities we have believed in.”

Translation: DACA folks, you’re not our priority right now.

Remember, if you actually solve a problem then you are no longer able to campaign on it.

I believe majority leader’s Ryan and McConnell overplayed their hand and will come out of this much weaker. Trump campaigned on rebuilding the military, and he got the money for that. I also wouldn’t be surprised to see him pull a rabbit out of the hat, in terms of funding other projects, because the devil is always in the details. Republicans on the other hand excoriated the left for reckless spending, but did just that in this bill and they even managed to get democrats to praise it.

Personally, I think we need to hold a Roll Call of our elected reps and ask three fundamental questions:

1.       Did you draft any of the provisions in the bill and if you did which ones?

2.       Did you read the 2,232 page bill?

3.       If you didn’t, why did you vote the way you did?

In the end, I think many will look back at this bill as potentially a new Ides of March moment leading to the downfall of some in Congress.  

Universal Background Checks – Again

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I tend to be a bit long winded when it comes to certain topics; I’m a writer, it’s what I do. But I decided to take a new approach and take a closer look at individual aspects of an issue. Today’s topic is: Universal Firearm Background Checks.

Sadly, this seems to be an issue that many people just do not understand. It goes hand-in-hand with the dreaded: Gun Show Loophole. If you want to read more on the Gun Control Issue, then check out this longer article I wrote: A closer look at 'Common Sense' gun laws.

What most folks do not seem to understand is that when you purchase a firearm a National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) background check is done. Federal law mandates that anyone who sells guns for a living, that would be a Federal Firearms License holder, has to perform this background check to sell anyone a gun. This also applies to guns purchased at those scary gun shows.

The confusion seems to occur when people assume you can just walk into a gun show and walkout with a gun. That’s not true. This ‘loop-hole’ exists for a very small group of sales known as private sales. A number that is so small that an NIJ study once concluded that these were such a minor source of criminal gun acquisition that they were not worth reporting as a separate statistical figure. As a gun owner, who has attended my fair share of gun shows, I can tell you that 99% of all the firearms sellers I have encountered are in fact FFL dealers.

“But, but, I’ve heard that 25-50 percent of the vendors at most gun shows are unlicensed dealers.”

Uh huh, and I would go so far as to say that those numbers are probably low, but the devil is in the details. This is one of those ‘apples and oranges’ moments. It sounds horrible, unless you have actually attended a gun show. Then you would know that a large majority of ‘vendors’ are unlicensed simply because they don’t sell guns. Yep, that’s right. It is more often than not that you have to wade through table after table of ‘vendors’ selling:  Candles, Cookies, Jerky, Books, Knives, Lights, Coins, Stamps, Surplus Military Gear, and an assortment of other crap that makes you wonder why they just don’t call it a flea market.

So what will these expanded, universal background checks accomplish? Well, basically it would dictate that if I wanted to sell a firearm to my wife, I would have to do a background check on her. Right now nine states and D.C. have this UBC and eight other states have a de facto UBC, via state permit. At this point in the debate, I am almost willing to cry: Enough, and just agree to it, but will it change anything?

The simple answer is no. If you examine the histories of some of the most recent mass shooters, such as Jared Loughner, James Holmes, Adam Lanza, Nidal Hassan, Dylann Roof and now Nikolas Cruz, you will see a history of mental illness. The only problem is that, despite all the talk about it, mental illness never gets added to the background check process. Because of this, when the system inevitably fails to prevent these incidents, the pundits, politicians and gun control activists just continue to attack the same people who had nothing to do with the incident: Legal Gun Owners.

This is an extremely complex issue and one that is being done a distinct disservice when it is reduced to rhetoric, name calling and talking point arguments. Education is key, and an honest discussion is required, if we are to make any substantive changes.

Cold Case: The Rosary Bead Murders

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Well, I just made the final edits for the latest mystery novella Cold Case: The Rosary Bead Murders. I will be going through the E-Book submission process and hopefully it will appear on my Amazon author bookshelf before the end of the month.

This new book sees the return of NYPD Detective Angelo Antonucci who is called in to look at the murder of a young woman that was found clutching a pair of rosary beads and a tell-tale note attributed to a serial killer who terrorized NYC in the 90's. 

Of course there will be an appearance by James Maguire, and perhaps even a hint or two as to the direction where I will be taking these characters next.  

This is a perfect weekend read and one that I hope you will enjoy. When you're done, I'd kindly ask that  you please leave a review. 

IN THE BEGINNING

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Welcome to my brand new Website & Blog.

Over the years I have had a number of different homes on the web; places where I was able to share my thoughts, ideas, and opinions on juts about everything (Hey, I am a New York'er after all). Eventually, this desire to write, coupled with my wife's constant prodding, morphed into my present role as an author. 

Sometimes it is interesting to go back and look at the early days, prior to the release of my first novel, and see how things progressed. For posterity reasons I am linking the former Blog: A new York City state of mind, in the event that anyone wants to check things out. 

BLOG LINK: http://andrewgnelson.blogspot.com/