"Imagine this scenario: Hillary Clinton is president. It's learned that she has deep ties to Putin and the Russian spy agency. She puts utterly unqualified billionaires in cabinet posts. She pursues public policies that benefit her and her billionaire friends. She puts her daughter Chelsea in a position of influence in the West Wing, gives her her own office and allows her to use that position to forward her own business interests. And Chelsea's husband is her chief advisor. The private business trips taken by Chelsea and her husband are paid for by the taxpayers."
"She refuses to release any tax returns, she blocks access to the visitor logs in the White House and Bill refuses to live in the White House so our tax dollars are spent keeping him safe in Chappaqua. Hillary spends almost every weekend lounging in her own, privately-held resort. Her private resort gets reimbursed for any and all "official" government functions (including security) because she chooses to conduct all her "business" and personal functions there. She and her family live in three White Houses at the same time."
"In an interview, she names the wrong country she bombed while bragging about the chocolate cake she was eating while she ordered said bombing. I could go on and on. The point is that the outrage, the outcries, the screaming by Republicans would be heard around the world and impeachment proceedings would already be underway."
"By the way, this is not about political party affiliation. Let's face it, if Hillary - or any woman or minority candidate - had five children from three partners s/he would never have survived the primary."
"THIS IS WHAT WHITE, MALE, RICH, PRIVILEGE LOOKS LIKE IN THE USA.
COPY and PASTE if you want all your friends to see this."
Sunday, April 30, 2017
My 100 Day Analysis of King Donald
I'm making this up as I write so the overall Grade will have to be at the bottom as I have no method to weighting the grades either.
1st, Being an effective leader D
For leading the legislative effort, King Donald gets an F. He has passed nothing. For executive orders, he gets a D as only some have passed Judicial review and as we know from President Obama this is not an effective way to lead as the next President can simply issue another executive order undoing this one. Of course, that can be undone by the next President, and what we then have is a very inefficient way of governing as nothing is permanent. On the international front, I will give him a C and that is why this is a D overall.
2nd, on being an inspirational leader C
Well King Donald doesn't give a rat's ass about anyone other than himself, his voting base and his billionaire buddies. That is why his tax reform outline looks like it does. He doesn't have an iota of curiosity about the points of view of his opponents. So on this front, he gets an F. On the other hand, this has motivated the Democratic base in myriad ways, and that deserves an A+. So overall this is a C.
3rd, on being a leader for all people F
see the 2nd comment and add to it his war on women who want to have control over their bodies. I guess you could throw in his cabinet and his war on immigrants, the environment, and those who want affordable health insurance for everyone. This is a clear F.
4th, is he growing into the job? No Grade, Incomplete.
Well, a NY Times reporter tried to make that case today, but I think it is clearly too early for that as most of the examples for that are in the area of Global Trade and International Relations. So I think the best score here is an incomplete.
5h, Transparency and Setting an Example for Good Clean Government F
King Donald is as corrupt as they come. His failure to release his tax returns prohibits us from a complete understanding of all the conflicts of interest in this administration. We know from the one tax return released that the only reason Trump pays tax is the AMT tax which he wants to end in his tax reform. And we don't know the complete interaction between his people and the Russians. And we don't know the ways in which his ownership of properties allows him to profit from his being President. Does the government pay a nightly rate when he stays at Mar del Lago? Does it pay his Greens Fees at the local golf course? We know it pays for the airplane that takes him to Florida. The only question is what will it take for the GOP to adhere to the principals they said they believed in when they tried to impeach President Clinton. If they don't impeach King Donald on violations of the Emoluments Clause they are showing themselves to be purely partisan with no desires to be part of good clean government. Through his ownership of Hotels, where foreign governments can channel money in any number of ways from staying rooms to renting them for meetings, conferences, dinners, golf outings, lobbying and any number of other ways, they can bribe King Donald. As the Heritage Foundation writes, this was the express reason The Founding Father's put the Clause into the constitution.
Link to the Heritage Foundation Discussion of the Emolument's Clause
Furthermore, King Donald is staffing his administration with lobbyist's, people from the industry they will now regulate, and other types with obvious conflicts of interest. Since Trump has not forbidden these people from returning to their prior lives, they will be able to profit from all this. This is not draining the swamp of dark money, this is inviting Dark Money right into the game. And this is the only good reason the Democrats had for opposing Judge Gorsuch. He is a regular speaker at some rich man's club that I am sure can bend his ear and channel financial opportunities his way. Whether that is illegal or not is beyond my comprehension on where such lines are properly drawn, but it is an example of how the rich control policies in an non-transparent manner. If there were a Grade lower than F, Trump would deserve it.
Overall, I want to give King Donald an F because I truly believe he is an incompetent leader and a danger in many ways to this country and the world. He will not leave either in a better place when he is finished. But I guess I have to give him a D overall because the world continues to move on and most of us have yet to be effected by his worst desires for political direction.
1st, Being an effective leader D
For leading the legislative effort, King Donald gets an F. He has passed nothing. For executive orders, he gets a D as only some have passed Judicial review and as we know from President Obama this is not an effective way to lead as the next President can simply issue another executive order undoing this one. Of course, that can be undone by the next President, and what we then have is a very inefficient way of governing as nothing is permanent. On the international front, I will give him a C and that is why this is a D overall.
2nd, on being an inspirational leader C
Well King Donald doesn't give a rat's ass about anyone other than himself, his voting base and his billionaire buddies. That is why his tax reform outline looks like it does. He doesn't have an iota of curiosity about the points of view of his opponents. So on this front, he gets an F. On the other hand, this has motivated the Democratic base in myriad ways, and that deserves an A+. So overall this is a C.
3rd, on being a leader for all people F
see the 2nd comment and add to it his war on women who want to have control over their bodies. I guess you could throw in his cabinet and his war on immigrants, the environment, and those who want affordable health insurance for everyone. This is a clear F.
4th, is he growing into the job? No Grade, Incomplete.
Well, a NY Times reporter tried to make that case today, but I think it is clearly too early for that as most of the examples for that are in the area of Global Trade and International Relations. So I think the best score here is an incomplete.
5h, Transparency and Setting an Example for Good Clean Government F
King Donald is as corrupt as they come. His failure to release his tax returns prohibits us from a complete understanding of all the conflicts of interest in this administration. We know from the one tax return released that the only reason Trump pays tax is the AMT tax which he wants to end in his tax reform. And we don't know the complete interaction between his people and the Russians. And we don't know the ways in which his ownership of properties allows him to profit from his being President. Does the government pay a nightly rate when he stays at Mar del Lago? Does it pay his Greens Fees at the local golf course? We know it pays for the airplane that takes him to Florida. The only question is what will it take for the GOP to adhere to the principals they said they believed in when they tried to impeach President Clinton. If they don't impeach King Donald on violations of the Emoluments Clause they are showing themselves to be purely partisan with no desires to be part of good clean government. Through his ownership of Hotels, where foreign governments can channel money in any number of ways from staying rooms to renting them for meetings, conferences, dinners, golf outings, lobbying and any number of other ways, they can bribe King Donald. As the Heritage Foundation writes, this was the express reason The Founding Father's put the Clause into the constitution.
Link to the Heritage Foundation Discussion of the Emolument's Clause
Furthermore, King Donald is staffing his administration with lobbyist's, people from the industry they will now regulate, and other types with obvious conflicts of interest. Since Trump has not forbidden these people from returning to their prior lives, they will be able to profit from all this. This is not draining the swamp of dark money, this is inviting Dark Money right into the game. And this is the only good reason the Democrats had for opposing Judge Gorsuch. He is a regular speaker at some rich man's club that I am sure can bend his ear and channel financial opportunities his way. Whether that is illegal or not is beyond my comprehension on where such lines are properly drawn, but it is an example of how the rich control policies in an non-transparent manner. If there were a Grade lower than F, Trump would deserve it.
Overall, I want to give King Donald an F because I truly believe he is an incompetent leader and a danger in many ways to this country and the world. He will not leave either in a better place when he is finished. But I guess I have to give him a D overall because the world continues to move on and most of us have yet to be effected by his worst desires for political direction.
Tuesday, April 25, 2017
The Environment Cost Hillary the Election
And I don't mean the political environment. I looked at the initial election results a day or two after the election to see if Jill Stein had cost Hillary any states, and while at that time it was close, it was not sufficient.
But today I saw a column that said otherwise and I went looking for the final state results. I discovered that Jill Stein, who ran on the Green Party ticket, received a sufficient number of votes, that if they had been cast for Hillary, she would have won Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania by small margins.
So to any of my readers who cast such a vote, look at what your purity has done. Hillary might not have done everything you wish, but she does care about the environment. You wouldn't have climate deniers in the White House rolling back Obama's executive orders while working to curb the government's scientific research and you wouldn't have a climate denier in charge of the EPA working to dismantle the organization.
If you think any of that makes your vote worthwhile, please explain why to me.
But today I saw a column that said otherwise and I went looking for the final state results. I discovered that Jill Stein, who ran on the Green Party ticket, received a sufficient number of votes, that if they had been cast for Hillary, she would have won Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania by small margins.
So to any of my readers who cast such a vote, look at what your purity has done. Hillary might not have done everything you wish, but she does care about the environment. You wouldn't have climate deniers in the White House rolling back Obama's executive orders while working to curb the government's scientific research and you wouldn't have a climate denier in charge of the EPA working to dismantle the organization.
If you think any of that makes your vote worthwhile, please explain why to me.
Thursday, April 20, 2017
This is worth Reading: Trump's Horrible Foreign Policy Themes
I am working my way up to a 100 day Report Card, but there are still 10 days to go.
Anyway, this piece on how Trump's foreign policy themes are so far from both where American foreign policy has been and where a reality based assessment would have us be, that I thought my local readers should have the opportunity to read it.
Link to column
And to my loyal readers in France, I say to your political candidates who oppose Le Pen, remember an economic message to those who have lost opportunity and hope because of globalization. They need policies that they believe will provide them a path to opportunity. In other words, they need hope in their brain or they will vote for anger.
That is what the Hillary campaign forgot and she lost by 77,000 votes across 4 states. And look at the F***ing mess we are in now.
And I am putting in this link so I can refer to it when I get to my 100 day Report Card.
Link to just some of the Bad things about King Donald
Anyway, this piece on how Trump's foreign policy themes are so far from both where American foreign policy has been and where a reality based assessment would have us be, that I thought my local readers should have the opportunity to read it.
Link to column
And to my loyal readers in France, I say to your political candidates who oppose Le Pen, remember an economic message to those who have lost opportunity and hope because of globalization. They need policies that they believe will provide them a path to opportunity. In other words, they need hope in their brain or they will vote for anger.
That is what the Hillary campaign forgot and she lost by 77,000 votes across 4 states. And look at the F***ing mess we are in now.
And I am putting in this link so I can refer to it when I get to my 100 day Report Card.
Link to just some of the Bad things about King Donald
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
Why I Haven't Been Posting As Much
1st, I have been busy. 2nd, insights or the anger necessary to rant about politics sometimes takes a break for refreshing and other obligations.
But this morning we are back and wondering why the NY Times would write an article about Trump supporters on the Internet protesting his Syria actions. How do we know they are Americans? How do we know they are not Russian's? The internet is a wonderful thing, but it is also a mechanism that allows nefarious types to commit fraud, lie, obscure, and create chaos. And the NYT has no way to check the people who post on these websites.
Now I know of course that Steve Bannon and Breibart News do all these nefarious things and look where he is. But I also know the Russians do all this and I hold the NY Times to a higher standard. They should not be using these websites as a reason to write a story. There are no confirmable facts available as to the motivation of the information on the blog.
And they should not use me as a reason to write anything for the same reason. I am not newsworthy.
David Brooks has a view on how intellectualism has changed over the last 100 years. I read Herman Hesse, but I guess a predominance of America has given up trying to form an intellectual basis.
Link to Brook's column today
Oh, P.S. Hillary still doesn't understand why she lost. Rather than admit she ran an awful campaign without an economic message, she focused on anti-feminism and Russian hacking. People who voted for Obama and then for Trump did not decide on the basis of the latter, they wanted an economic message they could believe in. And she didn't give them one.
But this morning we are back and wondering why the NY Times would write an article about Trump supporters on the Internet protesting his Syria actions. How do we know they are Americans? How do we know they are not Russian's? The internet is a wonderful thing, but it is also a mechanism that allows nefarious types to commit fraud, lie, obscure, and create chaos. And the NYT has no way to check the people who post on these websites.
Now I know of course that Steve Bannon and Breibart News do all these nefarious things and look where he is. But I also know the Russians do all this and I hold the NY Times to a higher standard. They should not be using these websites as a reason to write a story. There are no confirmable facts available as to the motivation of the information on the blog.
And they should not use me as a reason to write anything for the same reason. I am not newsworthy.
David Brooks has a view on how intellectualism has changed over the last 100 years. I read Herman Hesse, but I guess a predominance of America has given up trying to form an intellectual basis.
Link to Brook's column today
Oh, P.S. Hillary still doesn't understand why she lost. Rather than admit she ran an awful campaign without an economic message, she focused on anti-feminism and Russian hacking. People who voted for Obama and then for Trump did not decide on the basis of the latter, they wanted an economic message they could believe in. And she didn't give them one.
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