Times they are a changin'

Bloomberg is reporting that Ford has decided to give up on sedans, except it is keeping the Mustang. It is apparently ceding the sedan market to Honda Civic and Toyota Camry. Instead, Ford is going strong on SUVs, pickup trucks and commercial vehicles. Read the story here.

Henry Ford and the Model T Source: Hulton Archive via Getty Images

Chriss Street writes at Breitbart that

President-elect Donald Trump said Ford had called to reassure him that the company has decided not to move its Lincoln assembly operations from Louisville, Kentucky to Mexico.

The news was shocking to local residents, since Ford had never announced any intention of moving Kentucky jobs to Mexico. Ford operates two plants in the Louisville community, with their truck plant producing the full-size Lincoln Navigator.

Ford announced in a formal statement, “Today, we confirmed with the President-elect that our small Lincoln utility vehicle made at the Louisville Assembly Plant will stay in Kentucky.” The company added, “We are encouraged that President-elect Trump and the new Congress will pursue policies that will improve U.S. competitiveness and make it possible to keep production of this vehicle here in the United States.”

Ford has claimed that the company needed to relocate small car production to Mexico, which has 80 percent lower wages, in order to be viable against competitors that have relocated south of the border.

Mexico factories currently make the Cadillac Escalade EXT and SRX, Chevrolet Avalanche, Chevrolet Aveo, Chevrolet HHR, Chevrolet Silverado and Silverado Hybrid, Dodge Journey, Dodge Ram 2500, Dodge Ram 3500, Dodge Ram 4500, Dodge Ram 5500, Ford Fiesta, Ford Fusion and Fusion Hybrid, GMC Sierra and Sierra Hybrid, GMC Sierra Crew Cab, Honda CR-V, Lincoln MKZ and MKZ Hybrid, Nissan Sentra, Nissan Versa, Volkswagen Jetta, and Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen.

This reminds me of when Reagan defeated Carter, and Iran immediately released all the American hostages.
Read more here.

Ford moving more production to Mexico

Warner Todd Huston reports at Breitbart,

Ford Motors has now announced it intends to move all its small car manufacturing lines out of Detroit and the U.S. and into its Mexico-based plants.

In a September 14 statement, Ford CEO Mark Fields insisted that in the “next two to three years, we will have migrated all of our small car production to Mexico and out of the United States.”

Fields added that Ford is investing an additional $4.5 billion to develop electric vehicles by 2020, most of which will be spent in its Mexico facilities. The company also said all emerging small car models will be made south of the border.

...Ford is hardly alone in the stampede to foreign nations. Chevy recently debuted its first Chinese-made SUV it intends to import into the U.S. But GM is already importing cars from a list of foreign countries. Buick, for instance, is importing from South Korea, Europe, and Poland, USA Today reports.

Ford is also joining the headlong rush to develop and manufacture driverless cars, and its Mexico facilities will be the locus for that advance, as well.

“We see huge social, economic and environmental benefits. We’re focused on usage where miles traveled be,” Fields said. “Autonomous vehicles will account for one of every 10 miles traveled by 2025, and will grow from 5% of all vehicles sold in U.S. in 2025 to 30% in 2030.”

Read more here.

When principles mattered

Did Reagan endorse Ford in 1976? No, says Reagan biographer Craig Shirley.

In Kansas City, by every estimate, Reagan was finished politically. The only thing he could control was how he said goodbye. He was comfortable leaving quietly but Ford pushed him into a spotlight he never sought. In that moment he chose to go out, not publicly bitter, defeated, or angry but hopeful. He went out affirming “a platform of bold unmistakable colors with no pastel shades.” He chose to leave the stage, not a supplicant to a party line or to an accidental president, but as a principled man affirming a party that had chosen someone else. He knew there was no limit to what this movement could do or where it could go, and it didn’t matter who got the credit. The principle mattered most and the Party and conservatism mattered, not the person.

Read more here.

The President's Secret Service

Here are some excerpts from Ronald Kessler's book In the President's Secret Service. Thanks to The Conservative Angle blog and Before Its News.

JOHN & JACQUELINE KENNEDY
*A philanderer of the highest order. *
*She ordered the kitchen help to save all the left-over wine during a State dinner, mixed it with fresh wine and served again during the next White House occasion.*

LYNDON & LADYBIRD JOHNSON
*Another philanderer of the highest order. In addition, LBJ was as crude as the day is long. Both JFK and LBJ kept a lot of women in the White House for extramarital affairs and both had set up early warning systems to alert them if/when their wives were nearby. Both were promiscuous and oversexed men.*
*She was either naive or just pretended to not know about her husband’s many liaisons.*

RICHARD & PAT NIXON
*A “moral” man but very odd, weird, paranoid. He had a horrible relationship with his family and was almost a recluse.*
*She was quiet most of the time.*

GERALD & BETTY FORD
*A true gentlemen who treated the Secret Service with respect and dignity. He had a great sense of humor. *
*She drank a lot!*

JIMMY & ROSALYN CARTER
*A complete phony who would portray one picture of himself to public and very different in private e.g. would be shown carrying his own luggage but the suitcases were always empty. He kept empty ones just for photo ops. He wanted people to see him as pious and a non-drinker but he and his family drank alcohol a lot! He had disdain for the Secret Service and was very irresponsible with the “football” with nuclear codes. He didn’t think it was a big deal and would keep military aides at a great distance. Often did not acknowledge the presence of Secret Service personnel assigned to serve him.*
*She mostly did her own thing.*

RONALD & NANCY REAGAN
*The real deal, moral, honest, respectful and dignified. They treated Secret Service and everyone else with respect and honor, thanked everyone all the time. He took the time to know everyone on a personal level. One favorite story was early in his Presidency when he came out of his room with a pistol tucked on his hip. The agent in charge asked: “Why the pistol, Mr. President?” He replied, “In case you boys can’t get the job done, I can help.” It was common for him to carry a pistol. When he met with Gorbachev, he had a pistol in his briefcase.
*She was very nice but very protective of the President and the Secret Service was often caught in the middle. She tried hard to control what he ate. He would say to the agent, “Come on, you gotta help me out.” The Reagans drank wine during State dinners and special occasions only otherwise they shunned alcohol. The Secret Service could count on one hand the times they were served wine during family dinner. For all the fake bluster of the Carters, the Reagans were the ones who lived life as genuinely moral people.*

GEORGE H. & BARBARA BUSH
*Extremely kind and considerate, always respectful. Took great care in making sure the agents’ comforts were taken care of. They even brought them meals. One time she brought warm clothes to agents standing outside at Kennebunkport. One was given a warm hat and, when he tried to say “no thanks” even though he was obviously freezing, the President said “Son, don’t argue with the First Lady. Put the hat on.” He was the most prompt of the Presidents. He ran the White House like a well-oiled machine.*
*She ruled the house and spoke her mind.*

BILL & HILLARY CLINTON
*Presidency was one giant party. Not trustworthy. He was nice mainly because he wanted everyone to like him but to him life is just one big game and party. Everyone knows about his sexuality.*
*She is another phony. Her personality would change the instant cameras were near. She hated with open disdain the military and Secret Service. She was another who felt people were there to serve her. She was always trying to keep tabs on Bill Clinton.*

ALBERT GORE
* An egotistical ass who was once overheard by his Secret Service detail lecturing his son that he needed to do better in school or he would end up like these guys, pointing to the agents.*

GEORGE W. & LAURA BUSH
*The Secret Service loved him and Laura Bush. He was also the most physically in shape who had a very strict workout regimen. The Bushes made sure their entire administrative and household staff understood that they were to respect and be considerate of the Secret Service.*
*She was one of the nicest First Ladies, if not the nicest. She never had any harsh word to say about anyone.*

*BARACK & MICHELLE OBAMA
*Clinton all over again – hates the military and looks down on the Secret Service. He is egotistical and cunning. He looks you in the eye and appears to agree with you but turns around and does the opposite. He has temper tantrums.*
*She is a complete bitch who basically hates anybody who is not black, hates the military and looks at the Secret Service as servants.