Brett Stevens: Horror, Gale. ¿
Gale Collins: Hey, Brett, it's great to have a conversation. And in Spanish, I have learned the language I once tried – and failed. That was my second effort to become bilingual. At the university, I took a Russian course in hopes that I would eventually be able to read “War and Peace” in the original. I was not even able to achieve that through Chapter 1 of the textbook, “A Visit to Grandmother.”
Brett: It's good that Trump didn't make Russian the official language. It will be Tvalich next week.
Gale: It must be said that it never happened to demand that everything else abandon their native language.
So the bottom line: we don't make English official. It's not a problem-solving proposal. It's just a loopy, nasty Trump appeals to the crowd.
Brett: There is no problem. French is the official language of France, Spanish in Spain, Danish in Denmark and Swedes in Sweden. Democrats should not allow themselves to oppose it by Trump, who only serves their political purposes. In fact, Democrats should argue They demand that English be made the official language and then Trump learns to speak and write it properly.
Gale: Hehe. Ok, it beat me.
Brett: Another idea I offer to Democrats is not to create my own pathetic glasses. That reminds me: What did you think of Trump's speech to Congress last week?
Gale: Now let's start with Representative Al Green's attempt to take the president. It mainly distracts attention from an incredibly long, boring performance by Trump.
Brett: I was at least visible to Democrats who liked his heckling, brave and principled, and kept a small placard of protest. It looked like the kindergarten brigade was fighting Godzilla.
Gale: Let's talk about Trump's spending tax plan itself.
Brett: Hang On: Another point about speech. The various truths, faithful redundancy, the lesser threat to Panama and Denmark, the combination of self-compassion and self-conditioning trademarks made me think it was a very effective political speech. It had energy and confidence, and a promise of behavior and change. At that time, roughness spoke to ordinary Americans, especially when he lived on the cultural issues of hot buttons where there were only two genders. And it was a moment of real human connection, a boy who won the secret service badge of brain cancer – deserved a standing ovation from everyone, not a grumpy, heart-warming, politically ridiculous response from most Democrats in the room.
Democrats need to appreciate Trump's great political gifts and find ways to make them better.
About taxes: Cut, baby, cut.
Gale: I was looking forward to the tax discussion. And while I know that many average Americans are interrupted by the entire discussion of trans rights, the answer is not just to hate, but to focus the conversation seriously. For example, anyone worried about having female athletes converted to males compete in female sports seems perfectly reasonable to me. But those who centered around a significant portion of the presidential election deserved to be feared and hatred, feared and hatred.
Brett: I fully agree with serious and unhealthy conversations. This is not just about biological men who unfairly compete against biological women in female sports. It is also about respecting the right to make deep, personal decisions about gender identity and protecting minors from irreversible medical interventions.
Gale: About taxes: Trump Mask's plan to significantly reduce income taxes is merely a prerequisite for the dreams of stranglehold programs like Medicaid and kindergarten education. Are you anticipating or enthusiastically?
Brett: My objection to the tax system is that they have not gone far enough. If the government jacks prices through tariffs, one form of tax, it will need to compensate for other types of tax cuts by extending current tax rates or reducing taxes on tips and Social Security benefits. How about a deeper reduction in capital gains?
Gale: Sorry, but I'm giving a thumbs up. Every time the capital gains tax goes up, it brings out a knee-leaning left-handed person inside me.
Brett: OK, increase capital gains and reward diligence, compensate for 15% income tax rates for all incomes, regardless of wealth. When it comes to Medicaid, Trump will be a fool who tries to destroy the program. Much of his base relies on it.
Education is a different story.
Gale: What do you think about that?
Brett: Personally? I'm for education in case you have questions including pre-K. If your question is about the Ministry of Education, I would not oppose removing it.
Gale: Education, of course, is a major focus of national concern. Mainly, of course, it's a state and local issue. However, the nation as a whole has the right to seek basic standards of quality. And in addition to its role, the Ministry of Education is also a key oversight of the student loan program.
Brett: If the department monitors standards of quality standards after years of decline in literacy and mathematics, I definitely support removing the department.
Gale: Meanwhile, Trump's Education Secretary is Linda McMahon of World Wrestling Entertainment. Therefore, at this point, I have not been very harboring any hopes for quality control.
Brett: Gale sticks to general topics: The Trump administration has announced it will cancel $400 million in grants and contracts to Columbia University, as it says Columbia has not protected Jewish students from discrimination. Your thoughts?
Gale: In my opinion, this simply means Trumpians enjoy the opportunity to save money and attack quality universities that have never trained many of their Donald-enveloped graduates.
We have a very serious problem with anti-Semitic discrimination in this country, and when this administration uses it like this, it hurts the cause of justice.
you?
Brett: Imagine a famous university with the help of a prominent member of faculty, where the very vocal conditions of white students have the effect of creating something tense and horrifying for black students, formed a club with the ostensibly political purpose. Imagine a white student wearing an intimidating mask, usually. While illegally seizing campus buildings, many chant the slogans that are justified as thinly veiled threats of violence. Imagine that university administrators have expressed their punishments, regrets and lightly punished them, at least until they began to fear government actions. Imagine that whenever these administrators opposed anti-black hatred, they added that they continue to oppose anti-white hatred as well. Imagine that she refused an invitation to teach at university because she didn't trust the university and didn't want to be treated as a token.
If Columbia has to withdraw taxpayer funds and begs a disgusting graduate – many of them won't give schools cents until they cleanse the act – I don't care. Colombia is a private university. It can sink or swim on its own dime.
Gale: I went to school during my anti-war era, so I am well versed in the incompetence of universities when it comes to handling political demonstrations. And of course, there is absolutely no excuse to allow anti-Semitic expressions. However, students should have the right to protest actions by the Israeli government.
Brett: If the protesters are simply opposed to the policies of the Israeli government, then I have no problem with my right to do so. Protesting Israel's rights to exist or those who support Israel's existence and having a place on campus meets the accepted definition of anti-Semitism by the US government and violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. If people who consider themselves anti-racist also oppose this form of racism, that's great.
Gale hopes that before we sign off, our readers will not miss Fred Bernstein's great obituary/Riccardo Scofidio's great exile/thank you. Success has emerged despite their company's tendency to treat committees not as an opportunity to bid for clients but as an opportunity to question their clients' goals,” writes Bernstein.
If only we could all have courage and vision.
