I played golf with three of my long time friends on Thursday. We car pooled to River Birch and on the way politics came up in as a topic. This can be an oh-shit moment among friends. I will call him Bill to protect his identity, boldly stated that he was sure he hated Trump the most and it was highly unlikely that we would be able to talk him out of that conviction. It was a good ice breaker and we were able to share a laugh along with each of our sincere concerns for the future of our country and our families. Four older gentlemen, all committed to attending the “No Kings” rally in our areas on June 14. Across the country we will see over 1800 peaceful protests in a “nationwide day of defiance”. The Orange Wanker has threatened each of us who dare speak out against him with “Very Heavy Force”. As a chant I am humming Mambo 5, “A little bit of fascist in our lives”. This is no joke, calling our Marines to protect immigration troops is unconstitutional and just plain old wrong.
I always enjoyed working with people who thought through the implications of every decision on today and tomorrow. The self proclaimed “deal” guy sucks at his speciality. After berating Zelensky for not appreciating all that the U S had done for him he shouted, “you don’t have the cards”. It made me think of Kenny Rogers iconic song, “The Gambler”; ….If you are going to play the game, boy-you gotta play it right—you’ve got to know when to hold them, know when to fold them-know when to walk away—know when to run——“ I bet you can finish the chorus. So how does the world’s greatest deal maker slap 145% Tariff’s on the only Country in the world who markets seven critical rare earth elements. In particular samarium. This chemical creates the most powerful magnets with the highest tolerance for extreme heat. There is over 50 pounds of those magnets in each F-35 fighter jet. Who has the cards now you genius.
As we think about making America Great again, we could consider why we don’t mine rare earth elements in this country any longer—no it is not Biden’s fault. In fact he authorized a $350 million dollar loan to an Australian company to build a factory in Texas. At the same time there were large sums committed to re open the bankrupt Mountain Pass mine on the California/Nevada border. In the past cases the market demand was small and the price insufficient to justify the huge sums needed to safely build and operate a plant to extract samarium and other rare earth’s. As the U S and our former allies in Europe press to restock inventories of depleted military hardware spent during the Ukrainian conflict the semarium magnets are critical. Sounds like the Chinese may offer a six month truce on the minerals—whose got the cards Donald?
As the sun rises on a glorious Boise foothill morning,I get a sense of optimism about our future. At the same time, the future cannot be left to chance, join me in taking action to protect our right to free speech. Tell your Congressional contacts to do their job!!
Mike
Hold Em
