Trump's America versus Old America and the Establishment

Trump's America is all about American First, about shutting off illegal immigrants and about terrorists arriving in America to turn America into turmoil. The initial impression of Trump is that he is the 'Just do it' man, the man that fixed things. And the banning of 7 Arab Muslim countries is just the right thing to do, the right solution to protect and save America and American lives.

The commentators in mysingaporenews have rightly pointed out that Trump is missing the target by a mile and looking a bit silly, or did not know what he is doing. This is a very fundamental problem, to identify the problem, I mean the real problem, not wishy washy fabricated or self deluded problems like setting up your own strawman for target practice. If one does not want to look at the real problems, if one is silly not to know the real problem, and identify fake problems, then the solutions would be farcical and laughable to be kind. Can apply this to the CFE context. Ok, what are the real issues on terrorists attacking America? The guys here have rightly pointed out that the real terrorists or at least proven during the 911 bombing of WTO towers did not come from the 7 countries or at least the majority were confirmed to be from Saudi Arabia or Egypt. And the immigrants from these two countries were not banned! What is happening? Is Trump dumb, wayanging and not really wanting to solve the terrorist problem? Why the 7 countries and not those countries that are producing the terrorists? Not knowing the real problem means not knowing the real solution.

Then there is this US$21.6 billion wall to be built along the borders of Mexico. Can the wall really keep the illegals out? Can they come in by air or by sea? How deep is the wall to prevent them from tunnelling along the 2000 mile border? The relatively short border around Israel is already a huge hole to plug. Would Trump be building a Trump shield over the air and a marine net in the seas and hardening the grounds to prevent tunnelling? And the very open and big holes in the immigration check points, how to plaster them? The consolation is that building the wall is another way of creating jobs for the Americans.

Another big issue raised is the real ruler of the US. Who is running the country, the elected President Trump with executive authority or the judges in the judiciary? It is looking like the judges are running the country or at least ruling over Trump the President. Yes, should not the judges be dealing with legal and constitutional issues, on whether what Trump did were legal or constitutional and not about morally right or wrong. These are beyond the courts of law.

Trump was elected by the majority of the Americans just to do what he promised to do. That is democracy, the will of the people, but the judges are saying no to the American people. This is a strange development in democratic America. The judges are acting against the wishes of the people vested upon the president they elected. And it was rightly pointed out that the judges are not going to be responsible or to answer should terrorists blow up America. Trump will be held responsible. What an irony!

Another strange contradiction raised in the discussion is that the Americans voted for a President that wanted to champion American First. In Singapore, the people voted out a politician that wanted to champion Singaporean First. A logical conclusion is that a politician that contested on a platform calling for Foreigners First would likely to have a higher chance of winning an election in Singapore than one calling for Singaporean First.

This is turning into a mad mad world, or mad America and mad Singapore.

The Great Wall of Trump

I am wondering if this is something clever for Trump to do or something silly that only a dumb Trump could come up with. How much money is going to be wasted on this flimsy piece of scrap iron given today’s technology and destructive power of gunpowder. You only need a few pieces of dynamite or TNT to bring a part of the wall down. Even a bulldozer or tractor could do the job of pulling a section down or to create a big hole in it. Or is this Trump’s way of creating jobs for the Americans, to revive the long dead steel industry and other security industries?
 
Whose is going to benefit from this Simple Simon project? Who is making the steel, who are the contractors? How much steel and energy are going to be spent on this 2,000 mile wall? Or is Donald Trump out to build a monument to remember him when he is gone? It is now reported that a sum of US$21.6 billion will be needed for the Great Wall of Trump! Maybe Trump should consult the Chinese’s ancient technology they used to build the indestructible Great Wall of China.
 
Does any American out there smart enough to advise Trump about using cheaper modern technology to seal his border instead of wasting away resources on an ancient idea of erecting walls to guard the borders between states reinforced with electronics and cameras?
 
Dumb Trump or dumb Americans? China is building roads and rails to link the whole world and Trump is building walls to keep the modern day barbarians out of America?  China is building trade ties with the world, connecting with the world, and the Americans are isolating themselves behind a new Great Wall of Trump that is full of holes.

Who is the first elected President of Singapore?

WP raised this question in Parliament and if I am not mistaken the question was turned into an attack on Hsien Loong’s integrity for using Wee Kim Wee as the first elected President to compute when a minority president should take his place in the Istana. Correct me if I am wrong.  I think the formula used to calculate the time qualification for a minority president is quite interesting for discussion. I must say the govt is right and I am not questioning anyone’s integrity, not Hsien Loong’s for sure.

Let me just put down some facts here, copied from the Istana website and wikipedia.

Mr C V Devan Nair was elected President of the Republic of Singapore by Parliament on 23 October 1981.

Dr Wee Kim Wee was elected the President of the Republic of Singapore by Parliament on 30 August 1985.

Mr Ong Teng Cheong became the fifth President of the Republic of Singapore and the first President to be popularly elected by the people on 1 September 1993.

Below paragraphs are from wikipedia.

The Singaporean presidential election of 1993 was the first presidential election held in Singapore. Polling day was 28 August 1993. Former Deputy Prime Minister Ong Teng Cheong became Singapore's first directly elected President.

In January 1991, the Constitution of Singapore^[1] was amended to provide for the popular election of the President. The creation of the elected presidency was a major constitutional and political change in Singapore's history as, under the revision, the President is empowered to veto the use of government reserves and appointments to key civil service appointments. He or she can also examine the administration's enforcement of the Internal Security Act^[2] and Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act,^[3] and look into investigations of corruption.

By virtue of transitional provisions in the Singapore Constitution,^[4] Ong's predecessor Wee Kim Wee exercised, performed and discharged all the functions, powers and duties of an elected president as if he had been elected to the office of President by the citizens of Singapore, until Ong took office.

The govt is taking the position that Wee Kim Wee is the first elected president, ah, yes and no if you understand the above facts. Wee Kim Wee exercised, performed and discharged the duties of an elected president once the Act was passed though he was not an elected president elected by the people but elected by parliament in 1985. This is a legal point only the court can make an authoritative interpretation. He did exercise and perform the duties of an elected president but not an elected president elected by the people, only as if he was elected by the people. This could be a point of contention even if he is legally and constitutionally accorded the status of being the first elected president.

The other point is that when did he exercise and perform the duties of an elected president? I think it should be sometime in 1991 or 1992 after the Act was passed in parliament. It must be as the constitution does not have a people’s elected president before this date. Before this date he was not an elected president elected by the people but elected by parliament.

The amendments for a minority president election have a qualification time of 30 years for a minority president election to be called. This 30 year time frame should start from when, 1985 when Wee Kim Wee became president or when he exercised and performed the duties of an elected president in 1991 or 1992? Or should it start from the year the Elected President Act came into force in 1991?  If 1985 is the commencement date, then by 2015 a minority president election is due. If the commencement date is 1991/2, then the next minority president election should be due in 2021/2.  Correct or not, this is simple arithmetic.

So the big question is which year should be used to compute when the next minority president is due, 2015 or 2021? I think this merits some discussion and clarification. Would WP take this up to the court for a legal interpretation? If there is any doubt or ambiguity, the High Court should be the authority to make the clarification and interpretation. Seeking a court interpretation on this matter cannot be an attack or questioning anyone’s integrity, I think.

97 marks out of 100 not good enough

A student scoring 97/100 for Chinese is considered not good enough, not qualified to take Higher Chinese? This was what happened in St Hilda Primary School.  Remember the media report, 99% passed O level with 1 pass?

Let me quote a few paragraphs posted in an article in the statestimesreview.

Speaking in Parliament today (Feb 6) representing the Ministry of Education, PAP MP Low Yen Ling defended a primary school that deemed students scoring 97/100 for Chinese language not qualified enough for Higher Chinese.

“We acknowledge St. Hilda’s good intentions in making sure students who want to take Higher Chinese are well-suited and also ready to take on the subject because it also entails extra curricular time and a heavier study load for the child.”

...Some of the students scored a near-perfect score of 97 out of 100 marks for the Chinese language but were still rejected nonetheless.

However, the primary school succumbed to public criticisms and opened an additional class to accommodate students who wish to take up Higher Chinese. PAP MP Low Yen Ling confirmed the knee-jerk reaction in Parliament:”

Why 97 marks not good enough? Then what is good enough? 100 marks? If 97 marks are not good enough, I think anyone getting 97 marks will get a A*,  what are the implications on the marking system? Are they saying that A* are not really good enough when everyone has the impression that A* is like distinction? How are the teachers going to tell parents that their children with 97 marks are NOT GOOD enough? How are the children going to face their parents and how are parents going to receive this ‘bad’ news, that their children scoring 97 marks, good enough for a celebration to most parents but really not good enough?

If all the students scoring 97 marks in their subjects are not good enough, what about those scoring 70 marks, 50 marks? Is this a way to tell the parents and children that the 97 marks are a farce, that the grading system is a farce? How on earth could anyone tell a child that 97 marks are not good enough?

What is going on? Is this an indication of something not very right in our education system or in the grading system? Is this the reason why our Singaporean graduates with their straight As are not wanted, not really good, not good enough because.....?

Is there something seriously wrong being revealed unintentionally by this case? What is the truth? Is this the reason why third world students and their funny grades are preferred to be better than the grades obtained in our supposedly world class schools and education system? Is this the reason why third world degrees are better than our degrees? The implications are very serious.   

   

The Mad men and women in Washington

They are going to install the THAAD anti missile system on the pretext that the North Koreans are mad and waiting eagerly to pull the trigger to shoot its missiles all over the world. And there are equally mad believing this is the truth and it is going to happen, especially those in the little red dot. They are cowering in fear that Kim Jong Un is aiming his missiles with nuclear warheads at Singapore to kill them. For what reasons I dunno but these mad cocks are so convinced by the mad men and women in Washington that Kim Jong Un has a grudge against them and wanting to destroy them.

Who are the really mad men? Who is talking peace and arming themselves with 7000 nuclear warheads, 10 carrier groups filled with offensive aircraft and weapons, including nuclear warheads and screaming that the North Koreans are the bad ones trying to build one nuclear bomb or trying to test fly one ICBM?

Why would these mad men and women want to spend trillions of dollars and say not enough, must upgrade the weapons further and spend more billions or trillions when no one country, definitely not North Korea would dare to pull the trigger to fire a shot at them or at their allies? North Koreans really mad, or the really mad ones are in the White House, in Washington?

The North Koreans are dangerous but not the mad men and women conducting wars all over the world? Why would a sane people want to possess 7000 nuclear warheads, to sleep in peace, for peace?

In the Year of the Cock, many cocks, mad cocks will be in the spot light for being cocks, mad cocks and silly cocks.

Die ah, the North Koreans are coming, hide, hide, hide! Or should it be the Americans are coming? The South China Sea is now very calm and peaceful. Just wait for the Americans to come and stir shit in the region and little USAs will be jumping and shouting again, happily calling out, papa is here again.

Doesn’t the world get unnerved by this huge destructive arsenal that could turn the earth back to the Stone Age? Doesn’t the world get nervous with the assertiveness of the Americans flouting their military might, threatening and bullying every country that could not see eye to eye with them? And now with so many mad men and mad women in Washington and the White House, war is over the horizon and the cocks are still saying the Americans are peace loving people? Who is going to start World War 3? Definitely not the North Koreans. Who has soldiers and military bases all over the world and fighting wars non stop every where?

The Americans are calling everyone as villains but the real and one and only villain is the Americans, the biggest villain of the 21st Century, the belligerent war maker.