Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘Hillary Clinton’

Monday Pre-Election Caution

Posted in Philosophy, Politics, Quotes, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on November 4, 2024| Leave a Comment »

People often say that in a democracy, decisions are made by a majority of the people. Of course, this is not true. Decisions are made by a majority of those who make themselves heard and who vote – a very different thing.
      —     Walter H. Judd
If you have not yet voted, do NOT become complacent by news that Kamala Harris is ahead in polls – particularly if you live in a “swing-State”.  Remember, Hillary Clinton got 1 Million(!) actual votes more than Donald Trump in 2016 but still lost the election by fewer than 200,000 votes in three key states (Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania).
Contrary to popular belief, we do not have a “nation-wide” Presidential election.  We have 50 “State-wide” Presidential elections and the candidate who wins the most States (weighted for the largest populations), wins the election.  The Electoral College is (more or less) population based.  The states with the greatest populations have the larger number of votes.  BUT, if the Electoral College ends in a tie, the vote goes to the House of Representatives and each State gets ONE vote each.  At this point, there is no recognition of the population size of any State.
Former President Trump could again lose the popular vote by millions, but if he can get a tie in the Electoral College count, the Republican Party has control of a greater number of small population States and he would “probably” be re-elected by the House.  From the Democratic perspective, it could be even worse as there is no requirement for the House to vote for either of the two main candidates.  The House could very well decide to dump Trump and vote to make J. D. Vance the President!!
There is only one way to avoid either of these scenarios:  Get out to your polling place and VOTE!!!  The election is not determined in any State until the vote count differential between the two main candidates is greater than the number of uncounted outstanding registered voters in the State.  VOTE!!  And, call all of your friends and family to make sure they have voted.  If necessary, offer to drive them to their polling location.  Every vote counts and every vote will be needed!!!
.
Click here (4 November) to see the posts of prior years.  I started this blog in late 2009.  Daily posting began in late January 2011.  Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

Read Full Post »

How To Prevent The “Purge” – Verify Your Voter Registration

Posted in General Comments, Politics, tagged , , , , , , , , , on September 21, 2024| 4 Comments »

A while back I posted the list of States with their “Early Voting” dates.  Yesterday, I posted the States which have already opened their early voting (or will open early voting this up-coming week).  What I failed to mention was the requirement to register to vote in your county and State…
If you can’t win an election honestly (by getting more votes), the next best thing is to “win” by cheating (by removing some of the opposition’s voters).  Hence, in a number of Republican controlled states, the Secretaries of State or the Supervisors of Elections have been conducting maintenance purges of voters from the rolls of registered voters in their areas (counties and statewide).
This was done quite effectively in Wisconsin in 2016 and it cost Hilary Clinton the state.  The Republicans removed over 200,000 voters from their registered voters lists and Hilary came up just under 23,000 votes behind Trump.
Now, there are always legitimate reasons to remove voters from registration – typically, death and relocation out of state are the two biggies;  and, I don’t claim that ALL of the voters removed were Democrats or that they were certain votes for Clinton.
What needs to be mentioned is that prior to 2013, States were required to obtain Federal approval of voter registration “maintenance” before they were allowed to conduct mass de-registrations (purges).  This was because there was a Federal law (the Voting Rights Act) which required pre-approval (that states and counties with a history of racially discriminatory voting laws needed to get permission from the federal government before passing new voting laws).  This provision was set aside by the U.S. Supreme Court in “Shelby County vs. Holder” which allowed the removal of voters from areas previously deemed discriminatory.
Since the decision (and mainly in Republican controlled States,) millions of voters have been removed from the registered voter lists.  This means States are free to set their own requirements for remaining on the voter lists AND we (the individual voter) MUST verify we are still on the list for our county / State.  Most voters vote during Presidential cycles or when there is a “special” issue election (abortion rights, property taxes, etc).  Other than death and out of county moves, the most common reason for removing a voter from the list is failure to vote in the “last election”.  Another common reason is name match error.  In this case, you renew your driver’s license or register a property or vehicle with a “subset” of your name (Bill instead of William, or dropping the Jr. because your father has passed away) and now your name no longer matches the prior registered voter list record at your recorded address.  Consequently, the county / state can drop you from the voter registration list until they can establish which is the “correct” you.
The bottom line is registering to vote is generally limited to some period prior to an election.  Some states allow registration to occur the same day as (concurrent with) voting.  MOST DO NOT ALLOW THIS!!  Therefore, it behooves everyone to verify (AS SOON AS POSSIBLE) you are currently eligible to vote so you are not prevented from voting on election day.
Failure to verify your registration or failure to re-register before your State’s deadline may result in your not being able to vote in the up-coming Presidential election.  Please pass this warning on to all of your friends and family members!!
.
Click here (21 September) to see the posts of prior years.  I started this blog in late 2009.  Daily posting began in late January 2011.  Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

Read Full Post »

Giant Imagination

Posted in Movie Review, Movies, Reviews, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 3, 2023| Leave a Comment »

I Kill Giants  (2018 US release)  —  movie review
Today’s review is for the fantasy / drama “I Kill Giants” which is a live action adaptation of a graphic novel with the same title.  The film stars Madison Wolfe as Barbara Thorson (the protagonist), Zoe Saldaña as Mrs. Mollé (the school psychologist), Imogen Poots as Karen Thorson (Barbara’s older sister), Art Parkinson as Dave Thorson (older, middle child, brother), Sydney Wade as Sophia (Barbara’s friend), Jennifer Ehle as Mrs. Thorson (Barbara’s mother), and Rory Jackson as Taylor (the school’s female bully).
The basic plot is there is a pre-teen girl (Barbara) who believes she is using runes (Germanic / Norse letters / symbols) and magic to slay giants which are living around her home town.  Barbara lives in her house basement, in a little tent shelter she has built.  Barbara is bullied in school (by Taylor) but makes friends with a new girl (Sophia) who has recently relocated from England.  Despite Taylor’s harassment at school, Barbara explains her “life” to Sophia and the two become friends.
The bullying continues to escalate and Barbara tries (and fails) to use her magic “warhammer” to defend herself against Taylor and her two cronies.  When it turns out the weapon is merely a small (palm-sized)  jawbone tied to a stick, the bullies hit and kick Barbara into unconsciousness.  Barbara blames herself for the magic failing, because she was going to use the weapon on a human and not on a giant.  Hence, she is unworthy of its power.  When Barbara wakes up, she finds Sydney has moved her into her upstairs bedroom.  Barbara panics because this is where the giants can reach her.  Blah, blah, blah…  Barbara “fights” off a giant in an abandoned railroad yard.  Blah, blah, blah…  A big storm hits the coast where Barbara’s house is located on a cliff above the sea.  Barbara emerges to fight the monster giant coming ashore with the storm.  This time, “warhammer” emerges from Barbara’s magic bag and she defeats the giant, but he tells her he is only there to prove to her that she can face her monsters and she is stronger than she knows.  (Spoiler ALERT!!!)  With the storm dying down, Barbara goes up to her home and goes upstairs where her mother is dying from some illness.  They reconcile.  The mother dies and Barbara is at peace with her passing.
So, it turns out the “giant” Barbara is fighting is her fear of death, and, more specifically, the death of her mother.
There is much to-do made about Barbara’s purse being inscribed “Coveleski” and the meaning is ultimately explained, but (IMHO) it’s done rushed and poorly at that.  Basically, she’s named the purse / sheath for a baseball player who, as a rookie, pitched three winning games in a five consecutive days time span against the New York Giants (now the San Francisco Giants) and gained the nick-name of the “Giant Killer“.  The wins, bumped the Giants from first place and the Philadelphia “Phillies” moved up.  It’s not clear to me if the name is referring to the hammer or to the sheath containing the hammer.  Typically, “named” weapons have the name inscribed on them, not on their sheath.  It may also be that (like in Harry Potter films), the name is the invocation word which “summons” the warhammer.  Maybe this is better explained in the book than it was here in the film.
Is this movie any good?  How is the acting?  The drama?  The special effects?  And, do I recommend it?  Yes.  Ok, particularly for such young actors.  The drama / action is confusing and the story is slow, but it is mostly just a ratcheting up of tension.  The special effect are okay, to good.  Yes, well, so-so.
Any good?  Judging from audience reviews (read after viewing), the movie almost needs you to have read the graphic novel before viewing or you will miss many of the nuances.  I missed them…  Having said that, there are two points:  1)  the film poster advertises as “from the producers of Harry Potter” and shows a girl facing a giant;  so,  2)  I expected to see and “ACTION” movie with “Harry Potter” type magic and multiple fights and battles leading up to a climatic final battle / fight scene.  It never really happened that way (which was disappointing), but after the “twist” becomes obvious, the film makes sense (even if it’s not satisfying to the ol’ action gene).
Acting:  I thought all of the acting was very strong, particularly by Wolfe, Poots, and Wade.  Jackson is probably the best (as the bully), but doesn’t get much time in the movie and never gets her comeuppance at the end.  Parkinson gets to establish he’s a lazy, self-obsessed older brother (male, middle-child syndrome) and that’s about it.  Ehle gets a pre-death scene, so she gets less film time than Parkinson and much less than Jackson.  Call me crazy, but I had two thoughts running through my head every time there was a scene with Poots:  1)  she’s GOOD!, and  2)  she’s the spitting image of a young Hillary Clinton!  LoL!!!
Drama:  I found the movie to be exceedingly slow until I realized this was a psychological thriller / drama and not an “action” movie.  By then, thirty minutes into the film, I’d missed most of the clues to the film twist.  The movie then spent ANOTHER third trying to escalate the “horror” / action.  It doesn’t really work.  I guess everyone wants to make another “Jaws“, where the baddie isn’t in a scene until over half way through the movie.  It’s all shadows and spooky music…  Reaction:  nope, it didn’t work.
Special effects:  I thought the “props” were great – quirky and “child / pre-teen-ish”.  I thought the monsters were surprisingly well filmed – even though I NEVER felt they were scary.  Visually, everything worked towards a life-affirming message.  Was ANY of it “Harry Potter” level work.  Yes!  When looking back after the film ends, I felt:  “Yes.  It was Potter-ish.  And the the story was significantly tighter.  They didn’t need eight movies to finally get to a – it’s-not-over – conclusion.“
Final recommendation:  Moderate to good.  It’s too slow to be an action movie.  It’s too complicated to be a youth movie.  There’s not enough narrative exposition to quickly “catch and hold” an adult audience.  Honestly, I believe this movie is targeted at the folks who’ve already bought and read the graphic novel.  Which cannot possibly be that big of a market.  I stuck with it (the film), and although it didn’t (still doesn’t) hold up to 20-20 thought – it doesn’t have too.  The performances were better than the film script and sometimes (for me) that’s enough.  I don’t know how many times I’d go back to view this film again, though.  I guess that will depend on the longer term careers of the child actors in the film.
Final thought:  Jennifer Ehle played “Elizabeth Bennet” in the 1995 BBC version of “Pride & Prejudice“.  She was COMPLETELY unrecognizable to me in this role.  I thought she was more Meryl Streep in P&P and more Jodie Foster in this film.  …Thinking about it, I guess if you are mentioned in that company, you’re doing okay as an actress.  LoL
.
Click here (3 July) to see the posts of prior years.  I started this blog in late 2009.  Daily posting began in late January 2011.  Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

Read Full Post »

It’s Not Like (Some) Republicans Didn’t Warn Us

Posted in Philosophy, Politics, Quotes, tagged , , , , , , , , on June 12, 2023| Leave a Comment »

The following is a link to a PDF (and then following text of the PDF) of an open letter to The New York Times from over 50 former (Republican) national security advisors regarding their concerns about (2016) Republican candidate Donald Trump and their statement of why they (the security experts) would not vote for him (then candidate Trump) back in November 2016…
Link to document:
Nationalsecurityletter_OpenLetter2NYTimesWarningAboutDonaldTrump
Text:
STATEMENT BY FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY OFFICIALS
The undersigned individuals have all served in senior national security and/or foreign policy positions in Republican Administrations, from Richard Nixon to George W. Bush.  We have worked directly on national security issues with these Republican Presidents and/or their principal advisers during wartime and other periods of crisis, through successes and failures.  We know the personal qualities required of a President of the United States.
None of us will vote for Donald Trump.
From a foreign policy perspective, Donald Trump is not qualified to be President and Commander-in-Chief.  Indeed, we are convinced that he would be a dangerous President and would put at risk our country’s national security and well-being.
Most fundamentally, Mr. Trump lacks the character, values, and experience to be President.  He weakens U.S. moral authority as the leader of the free world.  He appears to lack basic knowledge about and belief in the U.S. Constitution, U.S. laws, and U.S. institutions, including religious tolerance, freedom of the press, and an independent judiciary.
In addition, Mr. Trump has demonstrated repeatedly that he has little understanding of America’s vital national interests, its complex diplomatic challenges, its indispensable alliances, and the democratic values on which U.S. foreign policy must be based.  At the same time, he persistently compliments our adversaries and threatens our allies and friends.  Unlike previous Presidents who had limited experience in foreign affairs, Mr. Trump has shown no interest in educating himself.  He continues to display an alarming ignorance of basic facts of contemporary international politics.  Despite his lack of knowledge, Mr. Trump claims that he understands foreign affairs and “knows more about ISIS than the generals do.”
Mr. Trump lacks the temperament to be President.  In our experience, a President must be willing to listen to his advisers and department heads;  must encourage consideration of conflicting views;  and must acknowledge errors and learn from them.  A President must be disciplined, control emotions, and act only after reflection and careful deliberation.  A President must maintain cordial relationships with leaders of countries of different backgrounds and must have their respect and trust.
In our judgment, Mr. Trump has none of these critical qualities.  He is unable or unwilling to separate truth from falsehood.  He does not encourage conflicting views.  He lacks self-control and acts impetuously.  He cannot tolerate personal criticism.  He has alarmed our closest allies with his erratic behavior.  All of these are dangerous qualities in an individual who aspires to be President and Commanderin-Chief, with command of the U.S. nuclear arsenal.
We understand that many Americans are profoundly frustrated with the federal government and its inability to solve pressing domestic and international problems.  We also know that many have doubts about Hillary Clinton, as do many of us.  But Donald Trump is not the answer to America’s daunting challenges and to this crucial election.  We are convinced that in the Oval Office, he would be the most reckless President in American history.
List of signatories and their former positions:
Donald B. Ayer
Former Deputy Attorney General
John B. Bellinger III
Former Legal Adviser to the Department of State;
former Legal Adviser to the National Security Council, The White House
Robert Blackwill
Former Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Planning, The White House
Michael Chertoff
Former Secretary of Homeland Security;
former Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division, Department of Justice
Eliot A. Cohen
Former Counselor of the Department of State
Eric Edelman
Former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy;
former National Security Advisor to the Vice President, The White House
Gary Edson
Former Deputy National Security Advisor, The White House
Richard Falkenrath
Former Deputy Homeland Security Advisor, The White House
Peter Feaver
Former Senior Director for Strategic Planning, National Security Council, The White House
Richard Fontaine
Former Associate Director for Near East Affairs, National Security Council, The White House
Jendayi Frazer
Former Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs;
former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs
Aaron Friedberg
Former Deputy National Security Advisor to the Vice President, The White House
David Gordon
Former Director of Policy Planning, Department of State
Michael Green
Former Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Asia, National Security Council, The White House
Brian Gunderson
Former Chief of Staff, Department of State
Paul Haenle
Former Director for China and Taiwan, National Security Council, The White House
Michael Hayden
Former Director, Central Intelligence Agency;
former Director, National Security Agency
Carla A. Hills
Former U.S. Trade Representative
John Hillen
Former Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs
William Inboden
Former Senior Director for Strategic Planning, National Security Council, The White House
Reuben Jeffery III
Former Under Secretary of State for Economic Energy and Agricultural Affairs;
former Special Assistant to the President for International Economic Affairs, National Security Council, The White House
James Jeffrey
Former Deputy National Security Advisor, The White House
Ted Kassinger
Former Deputy Secretary of Commerce
David Kramer
Former Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
James Langdon
Former Chairman, President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, The White House
Peter Lichtenbaum
Former Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration
Mary Beth Long
Former Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs
Clay Lowery
Former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs;
former Director for International Finance, National Security Council, The White House
Robert McCallum
Former Associate Attorney General; former Ambassador to Australia
Richard Miles
Former Director for North America, National Security Council, The White House
Andrew Natsios
Former Administrator, U.S. Agency for International Development
John Negroponte
Former Director of National Intelligence;
former Deputy Secretary of State;
former Deputy National Security Advisor
Meghan O’Sullivan
Former Deputy National Security Advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan
Dan Price
Former Deputy National Security Advisor
Tom Ridge
Former Secretary of Homeland Security;
former Assistant to the President for Homeland Security, The White House; former Governor of Pennsylvania
Nicholas Rostow
Former Legal Adviser to the National Security Council, The White House
Kori Schake
Former Director for Defense Strategy, National Security Council, The White House
Kristen Silverberg
Former Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizations
Stephen Slick
Former Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Intelligence Programs, National Security Council, The White House
Shirin R. Tahir-Kheli
Former Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Democracy, Human Rights and International Operations, National Security Council, The White House;
former Ambassador and Senior Advisor for Women’s Empowerment, Department of State
William H. Taft IV
Former Deputy Secretary of Defense;
former Ambassador to NATO
Larry D. Thompson
Former Deputy Attorney General
William Tobey
Former Deputy Administrator, National Nuclear Security Administration, Department of Energy;
former Director for CounterProliferation Strategy, National Security Council, The White House
John Veroneau
Former Deputy U.S. Trade Representative<
Kenneth Wainstein
Former Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, The White House;
former Assistant Attorney General for National Security, Department of Justice
Matthew Waxman
Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense;
former Director for Contingency Planning and International Justice, National Security Council, The White House
Dov Zakheim
Former Under Secretary of Defense
Roger Zakheim
Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense
Philip Zelikow
Former Counselor of the Department of State
Robert Zoellick
Former U.S. Trade Representative;
former Deputy Secretary of State
.
Click here (12 June) to see the posts of prior years.  I started this blog in late 2009.  Daily posting began in late January 2011.  Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

Read Full Post »

Rising Danger

Posted in Politics, Quotes, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 16, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Stochastic Terrorism
n.  Acts of violence by random extremists, triggered by political demagoguery.
When President Trump tweeted a video of himself body-slamming the CNN logo in 2017, most ­people took it as a stupid joke.  For Cesar Sayoc, it may have been a call to arms:  Last October the avowed Trump fan allegedly mailed a pipe bomb to CNN headquarters.
No one told Sayoc to do it, but the fact that it happened was really no surprise.  In 2011, after the shooting of US representative Gabby Giffords, a Daily Kos blog warned of a new threat the writer called stochastic terrorism:  the use of mass media to incite attacks by random nut jobs — acts that are “statistically predictable but individually unpredictable.”  The writer had in mind right-wing radio and TV agitators, but in 2016, Rolling Stone accused then-candidate Trump of using the same playbook when he joked that “Second Amendment people” might “do” something if Hillary Clinton won the election.
Of course, Trump’s people later said he meant they might … “vote.”  That’s how it works:  Stochastic terrorism lets bullies operate in the open with full deniability, since the random element erases any provable causation.
Tellingly, the word stochastic comes from the Greek stochastikos, meaning “proceeding by guesswork” and “skillful in aiming.”  Both are apt here.  It takes a master demagogue to weaponize unstable individuals and aim them at political enemies.
    —    Jonathon Keats
From his article:  “Jargon Watch: The Rising Danger of Stochastic Terrorism“
Appearing in:  Wired Magazine;  dtd:  Feb. 2019
The article also appears online at:  https://www.wired.com/story/jargon-watch-rising-danger-stochastic-terrorism/
.
Click here (16 April) to see the posts of prior years.  I started this blog in late 2009.  Daily posting began in late January 2011.  Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

Read Full Post »

And Now Joe

Posted in Politics, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 5, 2020| 2 Comments »

Chronology:
2016:  In the 2016 California primary I supported (and voted for) Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton.  After almost 30-plus years of poisonous lies, I just didn’t believe Hillary (a conservative and imminently qualified Democrat) could defeat a Republican.  And, in all honesty, I also felt there would be a large anti-“female for President” vote.  I was surprised to see Hilary win the popular vote outright, but I knew she would not be President when she lost Florida (6:00pm PST).  The bottom line was Hillary would simply not have sufficient votes in the Electoral College to win.  This meant the election would go to the House of Representatives, which (at that time) was controlled by the Republicans.  This meant (to me) House Speaker (Paul Ryan) who was the Vice-Presidential Republican candidate in the 2012 election, would be elected president.  As it turned out, the “Rust Belt” Democrat fire-wall collapsed and Trump won the electoral count outright and became President despite losing the popular vote by over 3 million votes.  I thought, and still believe, Hillary was the better candidate, but Bernie had the policies I was more aligned with.  So I bought the t-shirt and voted for him.  When Hillary eventually became the candidate, I bought the t-shirt and supported / voted for her.
April 2019:  I hear Mayor Pete get interviewed.  While I still agree with all of Bernie’s policies, I continue to feel he is not electable and more importantly – he is NOT a Democrat.  The lesson of 2008 to 2010, is if you take the eye off the ball, the party will lose local and state elections and the country’s progress will slow (or stop).  The bottom line is (was) while I agree with almost all of Bernie’s policies, I don’t like him as a “Democrat” candidate.  So, I bought the t-shirt and have supported him (Pete) with small donations when possible.  I told my daughter who objects I can’t support him because Pete is un-electable.  I asked why and she replied, “because he’s openly gay!”  I had to search my soul, but in the end I decided that didn’t matter to me.
Saturday:  29 February 2020:  former Vice-President Joe Biden rode overwhelming African-American support to a dominant win in South Carolina.
Sunday:  1 March 2020:  I go on the ActBlue website to donate to Senator Warren and Mayor Pete’s campaigns.  Pete because I intend to vote for him in the primary and Warren, because she more closely aligns with my personal policies.  I STILL don’t believe Bernie or Biden can carry the country.  I don’t want to out vote Trump and have him win the Electoral College again.
Monday:  2 March 2020:  My favored candidate (“Mayor Pete”) did badly in South Carolina and then he flies to Texas to throw his support behind Biden.  Amy Klobuchar, who also did badly in South Carolina, drops out of the race and throws her support behind Biden.
Tuesday:  3 March 2020:  I vote for Warren.  Maybe she can slow the Bernie train…  Bernie is NOT a Democrat and South Carolina is a blip – until it isn’t.  And then, it isn’t.  Joe steamrolls Bernie!
Wednesday:  4 March 2020:  I am thrilled Bernie has been stopped, but Warren has policies which are closer to my own, so I go to ActBlue and make another (small) donation to the Warren campaign.
Thursday:  5 March 2020:  Senator Warren throws in the towel.
I know I’m being a bit repetitive:  I am still more closely aligned with Bernie’s policies, but (again) I’m still not supporting Bernie…  I will be supporting Joe AND I will be buying a t-shirt AND voting in November!
The Future:
And now, my hope is that Biden can wrap the nomination process up quickly and we can get on with defeating Trump, holding on to the House and flipping the Senate.  Then, we will finally be able to make some progress in improving the United States for the working class and the middle class  —  and not just for the 1%.
My prediction is that the Democrats will win the Presidency and keep the House.  The Senate is a long shot, but possible.  I also predict which ever candidate we put forward, it will only be a one term Presidency.  This is due to the age of both of the Democratic finalists.  Which in turn means Joe (or Bernie) REALLY needs to select a woman to fill out the ticket.  For my 2 cents:  I would propose either Governor Gretchen Whitmer or Representative Katie Porter.  Of the two, Whitmer is the safest because we desperately need to flip Michigan back to blue in November.  (Remember the Electoral College…)  Porter is less “significant” for political reasons, but my casual observations of her have been her absolute brilliance in her job in the House.  The down side for Porter (of course) is that she would have to give up her position as the incumbent in her district and put her seat at risk.  I do not feel other Democratic Senators should be considered for the same reason as Porter – we can’t afford to lose them from their current positions (or they are too old to head the ticket in 2024).  Frankly, I am not impressed by either of the two most likely candidates:  Klobuchar or Harris.  I’m just not a fan of Klobuchar and I don’t think four years as VP will make Harris ready for the big chair – and, yes, I did vote for Harris for the Senate.
So, that’s where I stand for now…  Go Joe!!!
.
Click here (5 March) to see the posts of prior years.  I started this blog in late 2009.  Daily posting began in late January 2011.  Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

Read Full Post »

Show Righteousness, Not Fear

Posted in Faith, Philosophy, Politics, Quotes, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 25, 2019| Leave a Comment »

On June 21, the writer E. Jean Carroll came forward with a vivid and disturbing claim that Donald Trump raped her in a department store in the 1990s.  She is the 22nd woman to allege that Trump committed acts of sexual misconduct.  These claims are more extensive and more corroborated than the accusations against Bill Clinton.
It’s worth contrasting Trump, who denied Carroll’s claim (as well as his other accusers’), with Clinton because his scandals helped spur the Southern Baptist Convention in 1998 to issue its seminal “Resolution on Moral Character of Public Officials.”  That document’s key statement was ominous and unequivocal:  “Tolerance of serious wrong by leaders sears the conscience of the culture, spawns unrestrained immorality and lawlessness in the society, and surely results in God’s judgment.”
The relentless drumbeat of claims against Trump – combined with the clear moral declarations of the past – have caused millions of Americans to look at their evangelical fellow citizens and ask, simply:  Why?  Why have you abandoned your previous commitment to political character to embrace Donald Trump?
Part of the explanation is undeniably basic partisanship and ambition.  White evangelicals are largely Republican, and they’re generally going to vote for Republicans.  And proximity to power has always had its attractions for religious charlatans of all stripes.  But I’d suggest the real reason for the breadth and depth of evangelical support is deeper and – perversely – even more destructive to its religious witness.
That reason is fear.
Talk to engaged evangelicals, and fear is all too often a dominant theme of their political life.  The church is under siege from a hostile culture.  Religious institutions are under legal attack from progressives.  The left wants nuns to facilitate access to abortifacients and contraceptives, it wants Christian adoption agencies to compromise their conscience or close, and it even casts into doubt the tax exemptions of religious education institutions if they adhere to traditional Christian sexual ethics.
These issues are legally important, and there are reasons for evangelicals to be concerned.  But there is no reason for evangelicals to abandon long-held principles to behave like any other political-interest group.
Instead, the evangelical church is called to be a source of light in a darkening world.  It is not given the luxury of fear-based decision making.  Indeed, of all the groups in American life who believe they have the least to fear from American politics, Christians should top the list.  The faithful should reject fear.
This is made plain to young Christians from the early days of Sunday school.  There, many millions of young believers are taught the biblical verse:  “For God gave us not a spirit of fear but of power and love and self-control.”
But in 2016, something snapped.  I saw Christian men and women whom I’ve known and respected for years respond with raw fear at the very idea of a Hillary Clinton presidency.  They believed she was going to place the church in mortal danger.  The Christian writer Eric Metaxas wrote that if Hillary won, America’s chance to have a “Supreme Court that values the Constitution” will be “gone.”  “Not for four years, not for eight,” he said, “but forever.”
That wasn’t faith speaking.  They were the words of fearful men grasping at fading influence by clinging to a man whose daily life mocks the very values that Christians seek to advance.
But why?  The American evangelical church isn’t so weak that it needs Trump’s version of secular salvation.  The early persecuted church would be stunned at the modern American church’s immense political strength.  It has become so strong that it exercises veto power over the political prospects of any Republican nominee.
Yet the church is acting as if it needs Trump to protect it.  That’s not courageous.  It’s repulsive.  And so long as this fear continues, expect the church’s witness to degrade further.  In seeking protection from its perceived enemies, the church has lost its way.
It’s time for evangelicals to exercise their political veto power.  America’s conservative people of faith should seek a primary challenger to Trump and send a message to the GOP that it will not compromise any longer.  And it should do so from a position of confidence – and faith.
    —    David French
From his opinion / editorial:  “The Evangelical Republic of Fear“
Appearing in:  Time Magazine, dtd:  8 July 2019
Also, found online at:  https://time.com/5615617/why-evangelicals-support-trump/
[I make no claim to ownership of this editorial.  It belongs to either Time or to the author.  I normally only present excerpts from articles / editorials because I am trying to exercise “fair use”  while giving full credit to the owner and / or original source.  In this (rare) case, the editorial is presented in its entirety because the whole is FAR greater than any of its parts.  As always, I encourage readers to visit the original source.  I subscribe to the “hard-copy” version of Time.   —    kmab]
.
Click here (25 October) to see the posts of prior years.  I started this blog in late 2009.  Daily posting began in late January 2011.  Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

Read Full Post »

Drip, Drip, Drip

Posted in Politics, Quotes, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 9, 2018| Leave a Comment »

The following is a partial transcript of President’s press rant (dtd: 9 April 2018) about the execution of a multiple location search warrant on Attorney Michael Cohen (Trump Organization attorney) in a start of the day “raid”.  You can find a full copy of the statement on multiple internet news sites.  The statements were made by the President at a special meeting of the President’s National Security Team where he was surrounded by the Joint Chiefs of the military and they were supposedly there to discuss the proper response to the Syrian government’s use of chemical weapons against their own people.  [All comments (which appear in italics) are my own.  —    kmab]:
President Trump:  So I just heard that they broke into the office of one of my personal attorneys — a good man.  And it’s a disgraceful situation.  It’s a total witch hunt.  I’ve been saying it for a long time.  I’ve wanted to keep it down.  We’ve given, I believe, over a million pages’ worth of documents to the Special Counsel.
[The FBI did NOT “break” into the office / residence of the attorney.  They “executed” a legally authorized search warrant.  The situation does not appear to be either disgraceful or a witch hunt.  President Trump has indeed been stating both “for a long time”.  That doesn’t make the statement that “it’s” a witch hunt factually accurate / true.  The volume of documents given over to the Special Counsel is irrelevant and another attempt by President Trump to misdirect / mislead his supporters.  The vast majority of documents have been conveyed voluntarily, rather than under seizure.  This means, there “may” be some unknown volume of documents (it could be one or it could be ten million) which were not conveyed.  Without seizure, there is no way to verify the number which should have been conveyed.]
They continue to just go forward.  And here we are talking about Syria and we’re talking about a lot of serious things.  We’re the greatest fighting force ever.  [“Wag the Dog“, Donald.  “Wag the Dog.“]  And I have this witch hunt constantly going on for over 12 months now — and actually, much more than that.  You could say it was right after I won the nomination, it started.
[Actually, the FBI investigation may have begun before his announcement to run for the nomination and that as the investigation of George Papadopoulos certainly pre-dates Trump’s campaign.]
And it’s a disgrace.  It’s, frankly, a real disgrace.  It’s an attack on our country, in a true sense.  It’s an attack on what we all stand for.
[Like many of President Trump’s comments, this is completely incorrect.  The investigation is “exactly” what is supposed to be happening.  The lawful tools of government are being used to prosecute a response to the Russian interference in our democratic election process for the purpose of ensuring it does not happen again.]
So when I saw this and when I heard it — I heard it like you did — I said, that is really now on a whole new level of unfairness.
So this has been going on — I saw one of the reporters, who is not necessarily a fan of mine, not necessarily very good to me.  He said, in effect, that this is ridiculous; this is now getting ridiculous.  They found no collusion whatsoever with Russia.  The reason they found it is there was no collusion at all.  No collusion.  This is the most biased group of people.  These people have the biggest conflicts of interest I’ve ever seen.
[When you know you are guilty and before the evidence can become public knowledge, attack the potential accusers with a claim of bias.]
Democrats all — or just about all — either Democrats or a couple of Republicans that worked for President Obama, they’re not looking at the other side;  they’re not looking at the Hillary Clinton — the horrible things that she did and all of the crimes that were committed.  They’re not looking at all of the things that happened that everybody is very angry about, I can tell you, from the Republican side, and I think even the independent side.  They only keep looking at us.
[There is no need to “look” at Hillary Clinton.  Clinton has been under a Republican microscope for almost a quarter century and they have not been able to offer proof of a single crime.  Questions of judgement, yes, but not evidence of criminality.  And Republicans have spent millions of dollars trying to find proof – and haven’t been able to.]
So they find no collusion, and then they go from there and they say, “Well, let’s keep going.” And they raid an office of a personal attorney early in the morning.  And I think it’s a disgrace.
So we’ll be talking about it more.  But this is the most conflicted group of people I’ve ever seen.  The Attorney General made a terrible mistake when he did this, and when he recused himself.  Or he should have certainly let us know if he was going to recuse himself, and we would have used a — put a different Attorney General in.  So he made what I consider to be a very terrible mistake for the country.  But you’ll figure that out.
All I can say is, after looking for a long period of time — and even before the Special Counsel — because it really started just about from the time I won the nomination.  And you look at what took place and what happened, and it’s a disgrace.  It’s a disgrace.
I’ve been President now for what seems like a lengthy period of time.  We’ve done a fantastic job.  We’ve beaten ISIS.  We have just about 100 percent of the caliphate or the land.  Our economy is incredible.  The stock market dropped a lot today as soon as they heard the noise of this nonsense that’s going on.  It dropped a lot.  It was up — way up, and then it dropped quite a bit at the end.  A lot.
[No.  Trump’s Administration has not done a “fantastic job” – except in his own mind.  They have not “beaten ISIS”.  ISIS – in Iraq – is being eliminated, but they (or whatever they evolve into) remain a worldwide threat.  The caliphate in Iraq has certainly been beaten down.  But, we should not imagine it has been defeated – once and forever.  Also, the American “economy” is not doing well.  The stock market is still doing well – a carry on from the Obama Administration – despite multiple days this year with massive losses, but main street and Joe Citizen (the “99%”) are both still doing poorly.]
But that we have to go through that — we’ve had that hanging over us now from the very, very beginning.  And yet the other side, they don’t even bother looking.  And the other side is where there are crimes, and those crimes are obvious.  Lies, under oath, all over the place.  Emails that are knocked out, that are acid-washed and deleted.  Nobody has ever seen — 33,000 emails are deleted after getting a subpoena for Congress, and nobody bothers looking at that.  And many, many other things.
[Again, #IncompetentDonald with the specious attacks on Clinton.  Hey, Donald.  News flash…  She lost the election in 2016 and you’ve been President for almost 15 months.  In another tiresome display of public relations / attempted manipulation we once again see President Trump acting as if he can “Wag the Dog” and at the same time drip, drip, drip his lies in a torturous attempt to discredit the rule of law and its enforcement via the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.]
.
Click here (9 April) to see the posts of prior years.  I started this blog in late 2009.  Daily posting began in late January 2011.  Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

Read Full Post »

Why Don’t You Tell Us What You Really Think?

Posted in Politics, Quotes, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 7, 2017| Leave a Comment »

Trump Is Woody Allen Without the Humor
Half his tweets show utter weakness.  They are plaintive, shrill little cries, usually just after dawn.
By Peggy Noonan
(Former speechwriter for President Ronald Reagan)
July 27, 2017 6:06 p.m. ET
This opinion piece originally appeared in:  The Wall Street Journal
The president’s primary problem as a leader is not that he is impetuous, brash or naive.  It’s not that he is inexperienced, crude, an outsider.  It is that he is weak and sniveling.  It is that he undermines himself almost daily by ignoring traditional norms and forms of American masculinity.
He’s not strong and self-controlled, not cool and tough, not low-key and determined;  he’s whiny, weepy and self-pitying.  He throws himself, sobbing, on the body politic.  He’s a drama queen.  It was once said, sarcastically, of George H.W. Bush that he reminded everyone of her first husband.  Trump must remind people of their first wife.  Actually his wife, Melania, is tougher than he is with her stoicism and grace, her self-discipline and desire to show the world respect by presenting herself with dignity.
Half the president’s tweets show utter weakness.  They are plaintive, shrill little cries, usually just after dawn.  “It’s very sad that Republicans, even some that were carried over the line on my back, do very little to protect their president.”  The brutes.  Actually they’ve been laboring to be loyal to him since Inauguration Day.  “The Republicans never discuss how good their health care bill is.”  True, but neither does Mr. Trump, who seems unsure of its content.  In just the past two weeks, of the press, he complained:  “Every story / opinion, even if should be positive, is bad!”  Journalists produce “highly slanted & even fraudulent reporting.”  They are “DISTORTING DEMOCRACY.”  They “fabricate the facts.”
It’s all whimpering accusation and finger-pointing:  Nobody’s nice to me.  Why don’t they appreciate me?
His public brutalizing of Attorney General Jeff Sessions isn’t strong, cool and deadly;  it’s limp, lame and blubbery.  “Sessions has taken a VERY weak position on Hillary Clinton crimes,” he tweeted this week.  Talk about projection.
He told the Journal’s Michael C. Bender he is disappointed in Mr. Sessions and doesn’t feel any particular loyalty toward him.  “He was a senator, he looks at 40,000 people and he probably says, ‘What do I have to lose?’  And he endorsed me.  So it’s not like a great loyal thing about the endorsement.”  Actually, Mr. Sessions supported him early and put his personal credibility on the line.  In Politico, John J. Pitney Jr. of Claremont McKenna College writes:  “Loyalty is about strength.  It is about sticking with a person, a cause, an idea or a country even when it is costly, difficult or unpopular.”  A strong man does that.  A weak one would unleash his resentments and derive sadistic pleasure from their unleashing.
The way American men used to like seeing themselves, the template they most admired, was the strong silent type celebrated in classic mid-20th century films — Gary Cooper, John Wayne, Henry Fonda.  In time the style shifted, and we wound up with the nervous and chattery.  More than a decade ago the producer and writer David Chase had his Tony Soprano mourn the disappearance of the old style:  “What they didn’t know is once they got Gary Cooper in touch with his feelings they wouldn’t be able to shut him up!”  The new style was more like that of Woody Allen.  His characters couldn’t stop talking about their emotions, their resentments and needs.  They were self-justifying as they acted out their cowardice and anger.
But he was a comic.  It was funny.  He wasn’t putting it out as a new template for maleness.  Donald Trump now is like an unfunny Woody Allen.
Who needs a template for how to be a man?  A lot of boys and young men, who’ve grown up in a culture confused about what men are and do.  Who teaches them the real dignity and meaning of being a man?  Mostly good fathers and teachers.  Luckily Mr. Trump this week addressed the Boy Scout Jamboree in West Virginia, where he represented to them masculinity and the moral life.
“Who the hell wants to speak about politics when I’m in front of the Boy Scouts, right?”  But he overcame his natural reticence.  We should change how we refer to Washington, he said:  “We ought to change it from the word ‘swamp’ to perhaps ‘cesspool’ or perhaps to the word ‘sewer.’ ”  Washington is not nice to him and is full of bad people.  “As the Scout Law says, ‘A Scout is trustworthy, loyal — we could use some more loyalty, I will tell you that.”  He then told them the apparently tragic story of a man who was once successful.  “And in the end he failed, and he failed badly.”
Why should he inspire them, show personal height, weight and dignity, support our frail institutions?  He has needs and wants — he is angry! — which supersede pesky, long-term objectives.  Why put the amorphous hopes of the audience ahead of his own, more urgent needs?
His inability — not his refusal, but his inability — to embrace the public and rhetorical role of the presidency consistently and constructively is weak.
“It’s so easy to act presidential but that’s not gonna get it done,” Mr. Trump said the other night at a rally in Youngstown, Ohio.  That is the opposite of the truth.  The truth, six months in, is that he is not presidential and is not getting it done.  His mad, blubbery petulance isn’t working for him but against him.  If he were presidential he’d be getting it done — building momentum, gaining support.  He’d be over 50%, not under 40%.  He’d have health care, and more.
We close with the observation that it’s all nonstop drama and queen-for-a-day inside this hothouse of a White House.  Staffers speak in their common yet somehow colorful language of their wants, their complaints.  The new communications chief, Anthony Scaramucci, who in his debut came across as affable and in control of himself, went on CNN Thursday to show he’ll fit right in.  He’s surrounded by “nefarious, backstabbing” leakers.  “The fish stinks from the head down.  But I can tell you two fish that don’t stink, and that’s me and the president.”  He’s strong and well connected:  “I’ve got buddies of mine in the FBI”;  “Sean Hannity is one of my closest friends.”  He is constantly with the president, at dinner, on the phone, in the sauna snapping towels.  I made that up.  “The president and I would like to tell everybody we have a very, very good idea of who the leakers are.”  Chief of Staff Reince Priebus better watch it.  There are people in the White House who “think it is their job to save America from this president, okay?”  So they leak.  But we know who they are.
He seemed to think this diarrheic diatribe was professional, the kind of thing the big boys do with their media bros.  But he came across as just another drama queen for this warring, riven, incontinent White House.  As Scaramucci spoke, the historian Joshua Zeitz observed wonderingly, on Twitter:  “It’s Team of Rivals but for morons.”
It is.  And it stinks from the top.
Meanwhile the whole world is watching, a world that contains predators.  How could they not be seeing this weakness, confusion and chaos and thinking it’s a good time to cause some trouble?
[I found this on her site at:  http://www.peggynoonan.com/trump-is-woody-allen-without-the-humor/
I apologize to any who are offended by my posting this editorial without prior permission.  Hopefully my full attribution to both Ms. Noonan and the WSJ mollifies you somewhat…    —     kmab]
.
Click here (7 August) to see the posts of prior years.  I started this blog in late 2009.  Daily posting began in late January 2011.  Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

Read Full Post »

Timely Opinions On “The Donald”

Posted in Leadership, Politics, Quotes, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 8, 2016| Leave a Comment »

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., calling Trump’s judicial attacks “the most un-American thing from a politician since Joe McCarthy,” told The New York Times: “If anybody was looking for an off-ramp, this is probably it …  There’ll come a time when the love of country will trump hatred of Hillary.”
Speaking of Donald Trump…
“He and I have both been incredibly blessed to have our opportunities in this country, and if you ask me, after military service, the most patriotic thing you can do is pay your taxes,” Cuban said.  “I have gotten a lot from this country and feel like I owe back something.  That’s not his feeling, and that’s his choice.”
    —    Mark Cuban
[As an admitted life-long Democrat (social liberal / fiscal conservative), I’d have to ask Senator Graham:  “What time does your conscience say it is, now?”
I’d like to ask Mr. Cuban:  “What is your opinion of any ‘America loving’, self-anointed patriot who is actually a chicken-hawk (a person who speaks out in support of war, yet has avoided active military service) and who also doesn’t want to pay his taxes in peace time or in war time?”
And I’d like to ask Mr. Trump:  “We know you dodged the draft (four student deferments and one medical deferment) when it was your opportunity to serve, so where are the tax returns?”    —    kmab]
.
Click here (8 June) to see the posts of prior years.  I started this blog in late 2009.  Daily posting began in late January 2011.  Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

Read Full Post »

Poetry Isn’t Going To Work

Posted in Politics, Quotes, tagged , , , , , , on May 17, 2016| Leave a Comment »

In the end, I’m not at all certain that Clinton can beat Trump.  He is free-form and anarchic and silly and devastating.  She is rote.  The answer to Dr. Majmudar’s question may involve a simplicity that eludes her.  To Beat Trump, she is going to have to be patient, dignified, self-deprecating, utterly factual and brutally honest (about herself).  Poetry isn’t going to work this year.
    —    Joe Klein
From his opinion piece:  “To take out Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton must first stop acting like a politician“
Appearing in:  Time Magazine;  dtd:  March 28, 2016
[Dr. Majmudar’s question was:  “Leaving aside the negative rhetoric and attack ads, none of which have worked so far, can you share with us three specific points of your anti-Trump game plan?”   Just in case you were wondering…    —    kmab]
.
Click here (17 May) to see the posts of prior years.  I started this blog in late 2009.  Daily posting began in late January 2011.  Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

Read Full Post »

Ignore The Man Behind The Curtain

Posted in Included Video, Politics, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 3, 2013| 31 Comments »

Let me see if I’ve got this straight:  Back in the 1990’s a Republican came up with an alternative to “Hillary Health Care” (aka:  “Socialized Medicine“), which was promoted by a conservative think tank (the Heritage Foundation), and which was tested in the real world by a Republican Governor (Mitt Romney in Massachusetts).  This same health plan was adopted by a Democratic Presidential candidate, who was elected.  The health care law was passed by both houses of Congress in March of 2010 (over three and a half years ago), with a phased implementation so the market place (and States) would have time to set it up in an orderly fashion.  The law was signed by the President and later approved by the Supreme Court (as Constitutional).
In 2010, Republicans took advantage of an off-year election (that is, no President running for office) to use (normally) low turnout to take over some state houses, most governorships and the House of Representatives.  Locally, they ran the advertised message as “Jobs, jobs, jobs!” and Republicans know how to “put people back to work”;  their real promise was to make “this” President a failure and defeat him in his re-election.
Since 2010, the House has made NO effort to introduce ANY jobs bills, but has voted over 40 times to repeal “Obamacare”.  The Affordable Care Act, also known as “Obamacare” is the signature piece of legislation to come out of President Obama’s first term in office.
In 2012, the sitting President was re-elected specifically running a pro-health care campaign with a five million vote majority (5,000,000) against an opponent who pledged to introduce a bill to overturn Obamacare his first day in office.  The House was retained by the Republicans by virtue of controlling a majority of state houses and thereby “gerrymandering” their districts so traditionally Republican districts were even more biased, yet if you totaled all the votes for all seats for the House, they “lost” the popular vote by over five hundred thousand (500,000) votes.  The Republicans DID lose seats, just not enough to lose the majority.  The Democrats picked up seven (7) seats, but they needed twenty-five to turn over control of the House.  By the way, the Democrats also picked up two (2) seats in the Senate.  Statewide voting for Senators is not subject to gerrymandering by the state legislatures and governors because each state is only allowed two seats.
Please watch the following opinion piece on what is happening regarding the current government shutdown and what it means to be a “conservative” in today’s Republican party…
— The video is from YouTube, but originally appeared on:  “The Cycle” on MSNBC with Krystral Ball, who is one of the four hosts.
Romney / Ryan ran on a budget proposal which would have “slashed” the budget to a level ($967 Billion) which the nation soundly rejected.  “Soundly” here refers to the Electoral College landslide (332 vs 206), not the actual popular vote which was “only” 3% (five million votes) in favor of President Obama.
The column on the far left ($1203) is what the President’s budget asked for.  The column on the far right is the “Ryan Budget” proposal ($967).  The column next to it, second from the right, is the amount the Democratically controlled Senate is willing to pass as part of a “clean” Continuing Resolution (CR, $986).  Now, seriously, does this look like the Democrats are unwilling to negotiate?  Or, does it look like the Democrats have already capitulated and are willing to accept that even when you win an election, you still don’t get to run the country the way the people voted?
    —    Image is from the MSNBC show:  “Chris Hayes, All In“
The next time you hear the “the American people” have spoken and we don’t want Obamacare or the Democrats don’t want to negotiate or that elections have consequences, understand the truth.  We The People have already decided in two Presidential elections and two of three House elections that we DO want the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and as far as the budget goes, there’s not much more to negotiate because we’ve already surrendered the whole pie to the Republicans.  Don’t look behind the curtain because the powers that be are getting what they want regardless of how We The People voted.
.
Click here (3 October) to see the posts of prior years.  I started this blog in late 2009.  Daily posting began in late January 2011.  Not all of the days in the early years (2009-2010) will have posts.

Read Full Post »

Design a site like this with WordPress.com
Get started