Courtesy nytimes.com, below is all business-related content of Trump's press conference speech of last week. Pay particular attention to the last paragraph, which specifically mentions jobs in Michigan, Michael Moore's home state, which he supposedly has been so concerned about. It even mentions General Motors, the company that "Roger & Me" was centered on, Roger Smith being the CEO. It even mentions Ford abandoning plans for Mexico, which was the issue which "Roger & Me" focused on...jobs moving from Michigan to Mexico. Trump is moving jobs from Mexico to Michigan and still Mr. Moore is unhappy with him!
What "Roger & Me," really is, and what all Moore's films really are, is a diatribe against capitalism. He is an admitted socialist. Yes, he wants jobs, but he wants the government to provide them....and everything else apparently. The same people who scream "Freedom! Freedom!," don't seem to realize (perhaps the intellectuals do, but not the average college kid holding a placard) that with EVERY government regulation, comes one LESS freedom. When the state gives, it is in control. Let us remember the words at every traditional Catholic Mass, during the Washing of the Hands, from Psalm 25: "In whose hands are iniquities, their right hand is filled with gifts." In one line, we have our description and indictment of socialism. Oh, the genius of God's word!
President Trump is Moore's latest male obsession of hatred. I'm no psychologist, but this guy sure seems to have Daddy issues. He has a habit of focusing on male figures to an irrational, obsessive degree. He did it to Roger Smith, to Charlton Heston in "Bowling for Columbine," and now his latest Dark Lord of All Evil is Donald Trump. He seeks power over these individuals, even to the point of lies and distortions. Its sad, really, because Moore is quite talented, perhaps a genius. His films are riveting, he re-created the documentary genre, everyone copies him...if he put his talents to some good use, he could actually make the world a better place. I do have to give him credit for shedding light on some very real problems but at the end of the day, he is a socialist propagandist, waving his flag at just the right time...when Americans have become terribly vulnerable to it. It is a war we are fighting and Moore knows this. He is waging it and we must also. Remember the words of Saint Paul:
"Put you on the armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places. Therefore take unto you the armour of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and to stand in all things perfect. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of justice, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace: In all things taking the shield of faith, wherewith you may be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked one. And take unto you the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit (which is the word of God)." Ephesians 6:11
Mr. Moore came out with a film entitled "Michael Moore in Trumpland," just a few weeks before the election. This film followed Moore interviewing Trump supporters (not very articulate ones) and performing a one-man anti-Trump show. Didn't swing the election, did it? Moore's latest fun is, "Do these 10 things and Trump will be toast." After Trump's pronouncement that jobs will now be coming in droves to Moore's beloved home state, it took the filmmaker all of 5 days to publish his oh so shiny & streamlined set of directives, apparently to make sure these jobs get immediately directed back to Mexico. Has he turned his back on Flint after all these years? He and his friends have also come out with something called "The Resistance Calendar," which provides local event info for those who oppose Trump. How about a Catholic response to Moore's "10 Things?" He was actually raised Catholic, once considered becoming a priest and used Christianity to attack capitalism in his film "Capitalism: A Love Story," complete with several interviews of Catholic priests. But we know the truth: the state is no friend of the Church. So what 10 things can we do this coming Lent for the good of souls and the good of our country? I can certainly come up with a few....and you'll have to stay tuned for Part III to see some of my ideas!
"No one can be at the same time a sincere Catholic and a true socialist." Pope Pius XI
Business-Related Content of President Trump's Press Conference Address, February 16, 2017:
"The stock market has hit record numbers, as you know. And there has been a tremendous surge of optimism in the business world, which is — to me means something much different than it used to. It used to mean, 'Oh, that’s good.' Now it means, 'That’s good for jobs.' Very different. Plants and factories are already starting to move back into the United States, and big league — Ford, General Motors, so many of them...
We’ve withdrawn from the job-killing disaster known as Trans Pacific Partnership. We’re going to make trade deals but we’re going to have one on one deals, bilateral. We’re going to have one on one deals. We’ve directed the elimination of regulations that undermine manufacturing and call for expedited approval of the permits needed for America and American infrastructure and that means plant, equipment, roads, bridges, factories. People take 10, 15, 20 years to get disapproved for a factory. They go in for a permit, it’s many, many years. And then at the end of the process — they spend 10s of millions of dollars on nonsense and at the end of the process, they get rejected...
Now, they may be rejected with me but it’s going to be a quick rejection. Not going to take years. But mostly it’s going to be an acceptance. We want plants built and we want factories built and we want the jobs. We don’t want the jobs going to other countries. We’ve imposed a hiring freeze on nonessential federal workers. We’ve imposed a temporary moratorium on new federal regulations. We’ve issued a game-changing new rule that says for each one new regulation, two old regulations must be eliminated. Makes sense. Nobody’s ever seen regulations like we have. You go to other countries and you look at indexes (ph) they have and you say 'let me see your regulations' and they’re a fraction, just a tiny fraction of what we have. And I want regulations because I want safety, I want environmental — all environmental situations to be taken properly care of. It’s very important to me. But you don’t need four or five or six regulations to take care of the same thing....
We have also taken steps to begin construction of the Keystone Pipeline and Dakota Access Pipelines. Thousands and thousands of jobs, and put new buy American measures in place to require American steel for American pipelines. In other words, they build a pipeline in this country, and we use the powers of government to make that pipeline happen, we want them to use American steel. And they are willing to do that, but nobody ever asked before I came along. Even when this order was drawn and they didn’t say that. And I’m reading the order, I’m saying, why aren’t we using American steel? And they said, that’s a good idea, we put it in....
So we’ve begun preparing to repeal and replace Obamacare, and are deep in the midst of negotiations on a very historic tax reform to bring our jobs back, to bring our jobs back to this country. Big league. It’s already happening. But big league...
Jobs have already started to surge. Since my election, Ford announced it will abandon its plans to build a new factory in Mexico, and will instead invest $700 million in Michigan, creating many, many jobs. Fiat Chrysler announced it will invest $1 billion in Ohio and Michigan, creating 2,000 new American jobs. They were with me a week ago....General Motors likewise committed to invest billions of dollars in its American manufacturing operation, keeping many jobs here that were going to leave. And if I didn’t get elected, believe me, they would have left. And these jobs and these things that I’m announcing would never have come here. Intel just announced that it will move ahead with a new plant in Arizona that it probably was never going to move ahead with. And that will result in at least 10,000 American jobs. Walmart announced it will create 10,000 jobs in the United States just this year because of our various plans and initiatives. There will be many, many more, many more, these are a few that we’re naming."