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Political Analysis of Today's Events

Donald Trump Might Not Be Racist, But As a Birther, He Loves And Uses Them

September 18, 2016
2016 Election, Opinion
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People accuse Trump of being racist, and I don’t know if that’s true or not. But what I do know is that he manipulates people using racial issues and he does this for personal gain. So whether or not he himself is actually racist is the lesser of evils. When Trump accuses President Obama of not being born in the United States he is willfully manipulating the racist element in society who would believe such a lie. In fact, he’s speaking directly to this group.

This tactic is insidious, one might say evil, even. To the fringe element, it is a call to violence. So, Trump openly, nakedly aspires to use the fear and hatred of others for his own personal gain. If that is not evil, then I do not know what evil is.

People accuse President Obama playing the race card. We have all heard it at one time or another. That President Obama would address racial issues as a black president seems like it would be a foregone conclusion. Some may call that ‘playing the race card’ but we know better. I would defy the detractors to find an example where President Obama has used race in such a blatant way as Trump, who for nearly 5 years perpetuated a known, outrageous and race-based lie.

Trump has used race as a cornerstone of his political rise. He built his foundation on racism and exploiting the racist fears of the under educated who form a large segment of his base. His recent ‘admission’ (if you can call it that) that President Obama was born in the US rings hollow. His followers don’t believe him, and neither do the rest of us. Instead, we all the see the truth of his statement on the subject for exactly what it is, regardless of our political affiliation: It’s just another cynical attempt to win the election. The difference is that the racist elements of his base doesn’t care.

Hillary isn’t feeling well? Who cares?

September 12, 2016
2016 Election, Opinion
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Listen, the idea that somehow Donald Trump would become a palatable candidate over Hillary Clinton simply because she’s not as healthy as a 40 year old is laughable. First of all, isn’t that the purpose of having  a running mate?

Frankly, Hillary Clinton could have 2 broken legs, gout, tuberculosis, lockjaw, be wheelchair-bound, oxygen dependent and aggressive brain cancer and I’d still cast my vote in her direction to keep Donald Trump from winning the election. Is that clear enough? She could be half digested by fungus, gutted and have her head placed on a stick in front of the castle and I’d still vote for her over Trump.

I wonder if I’m making my point clear enough?

Who cares if she coughs? It’s completely irrelevant. We have processes, stand-ins and everything else we need to keep the government running smoothly should something terrible happen. None of it is a reason to consider voting for the conman in chief wanna-be Trump. Somehow this has become an election issue. I say confront it head on: Oh, she’s not feeling good? I could give a rat’s ass. My ballot was cast months ago.

 

Why, Evan McMullin?

August 22, 2016
2016 Election, Opinion
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Evan McMullin doesn’t have a chance at winning the presidential election. He’s banking on a strategy that no neither Clinton or Trump can get a majority of the electoral college needed to win. Then the race would be decided by the house of representatives. This is why he’s running. He wants to be elected by 435 people who have heard of him, not 300 million who haven’t.

But who is Evan McMullin? No one really knows, and given his near complete obscurity, no one is going to know, probably ever. Personally I think it’s presumptuous to assume you could handle the mantle of the presidency just because you’re an adult and have a clever way to snake yourself into office.

He’s not running for country. He’s just another person on an ego trip. Anyone crazy enough to mount an unwinnable campaign (no, he won’t win) is probably pretty extreme in one way or another. Any rational, main-stream person would know enough not to try. So as a politician suddenly under the scrutiny of the presidential press corp, he’s likely to obliterate himself much like so many others before him who weren’t ready for the limelight. And that’s to say nothing of his actual views. Like about, well, everything.

I’m not saying he wouldn’t make a good president. I’m saying it’s extremely unlikely he’d make even a D level president given his lack of hands-on political experience in front of a microphone held by an adversarial press.

I don’t think I’m doing anything but stating the obvious here, but someone needs to take the time to say it. Go home Evan. You don’t deserve to be president – on so many levels – so if not for ego, then why are you running?

Trump Tax Returns

July 27, 2016
Opinion
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Hey you, Trump supporter. Yeah, you. Trump wants you to trust him. But he won’t release his tax returns, the final arbiter of how much he pays in taxes, account of his investments, his actual net worth, and his charitable contributions. As a business person, EVERYTHING you need to know about him is in there.

But guess what? He doesn’t trust you with the information. You aren’t worthy. You are simply the dust mites he’s manipulating and using with his demagoguery to get elected.

You’re mad about Hillary’s email server? Well, how mad would you be to find out your candidate never donated to charity during times when he pledged he did? Didn’t help veterans when he said he would? Or about what are probably hundreds or thousands of shady business deals? We’re talking everything from inflated concrete prices paid to the mob in NY, and who knows what else?

Trump says he’s not releasing them because he’s being audited. So what? There’s no law against it. It’s just a convenient excuse. If they made some mistake or another, the audit finds it and it’s resolved like any other accounting mistake. Who cares? But it would be naive to assume that’s the real reason. So if you choose to believe it, you probably hit yourself on the rim of hole you’re sticking your head into.

Just remember, you’re not worthy of seeing his tax returns. You should trust Trump, but Trump doesn’t trust you.

Trump Threatens Us Again With Another Recession By Rolling Back Dodd-Frank

May 19, 2016
Opinion
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Today I read in the news that Donald Trump wants to dismantle Dodd-Frank. He apparently said it was impossible for bankers to function.

That quote caught my attention immediately. It’s obviously campaign rhetoric, not the actual situation. Frankly the banks seem to functioning just fine. There’s scant threat of a recession. The bank closures we saw after the bubble popped in 2008 have all but abated and jobs have been added every month for years. I guess I’m having trouble seeing what the problem is from my layman’s perspective.

If Trump starts monkeying around with Dodd-Frank, doesn’t that mean he’s playing with the status quo, which in this case seems to be working just fine? What ever happened to the ideology of not fixing something that doesn’t seem to be broken?

And why does Trump suddenly love bankers? I thought he always says that Hillary is in the pocket for Wall Street and that he didn’t need them or their money. Suddenly they are deserving souls in dire need and he’s the knight in shining armor riding in with his executive pen to save the day? None of this passes the smell test, but hey – Trump knows best, at least according to the typical Trump voter. Whatever he says is truth, no matter how ridiculous.

And why do Trump voters support giving the keys to the regulatory kingdom to a guy who has been most able to manipulate his own finances using loopholes and courts and every other tool at his disposal? In other words, Trump is a guy who’s made himself filthy rich whilst running many businesses into the ground. And yet the Trump voter is ready to trust the guy with the economy while he disables the very safeguards that were put in place to stop banks from abusing the system? None of the geniuses who want to vote for this guy are taking him seriously. He’s telling them exactly what he’ll probably do and they’re all fine with it. The very same people who stand to be laid off in a Trump economy are ready to vote for him because he’s going to fix things. Whelp, he’s going to fix things for them alright.

First, he’s going to take away their health care. Then he’s going to allow banks to write shady mortgages that endanger the economy and finally, he’s promises to roll back libel laws so he can more easily sue and intimidate anyone who dares to print criticisms of him or his policies. And STILL, the Trump voter is perfectly okay with all of this.

They want the insane running the asylum. They want the fox guarding the hen house. I’m sure there are more analogies I could remember to quote, but you get the idea. Thinking that Trump is out for the country is a joke at best and self-delusion at worst. He’s out for himself just like he’s always been out for himself. Pure and simple. And he’s not even bothering to hide his intentions. Instead, he’s simply going to smile and tell the typical Trump voter that, hey, it’s really a good idea if we abolish Dodd-Frank, because, you know, he said so. And the Trump voter, well, they’ll love him for it.

Oy vey.

Talking Heads

April 18, 2016
2016 Election, Talking Heads
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Today, Donald re-learns about hot mics.

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Talking Heads

April 11, 2016
2016 Election, Talking Heads
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Today, our intrepid politicians figure out that party unity isn’t always a good thing, but who’s to say that should stop one’s ambition? After all, when your campaign is built on clever marketing, the sky is the limit!

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Money isn’t Speech

April 2, 2016
Opinion, Uncategorized
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Why is giving money to a candidate considered free speech? Free speech means you can say or write whatever you want without fear of imprisonment or worse. That’s free SPEECH. It doesn’t mean you can DO whatever you want. You can’t rob a bank, for instance. Why does donating to a politician somehow qualify as ‘speech’? This isn’t speech. This is clearly a financial transaction. Giving money to politicians isn’t necessarily saying anything at all. It might be a kickback, bribe, or just a donation with no particular issue in mind. Making donations a first amendment issue is like making sales a first amendment issue. Both are financial transactions. One says you support a candidate, the other says you support a product. Why is one speech and the other not? You could then argue, for instance, that the government must allow me to purchase C4 explosives or that fully automatic rifle with extended clip and silencer – you know, because of free speech.

This is absurd for a number of reasons. First of all, if donations are a form of free speech, then wouldn’t rich people have more of a ‘voice’ than the poor? Would that not give the rich more opportunities to ‘speak’ than the poor? I’m not sure that’s what the framers of the constitution had in mind. But in practice, this is what happens. The rich spends millions while the average person can’t afford to donate anything substantial to politicians in the first place. I think everyone can understand speech isn’t something that you should need to be able to afford. The rich shouldn’t have a larger voice with which to speak.

Financial transactions are not ‘speech’ and should not protected by the constitution like actual speech is. What we’re really protecting here is the ‘right’ of the rich to have more influence on our politicians and our lives than the majority of citizens. We’ve handed them the keys to the kingdom and called it a ‘right’. Good work, all you idiots who made this happen. When the ‘wrong’ people have all the money to spend, then what will you think of your success?

Leading from Behind

March 30, 2016
2016 Election, Opinion, Supreme Court
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Today news broke that the Democrats have a nuclear option when it comes to the supreme court nomination of Mr. Garland. 
Evidently the Democrats only need to offer up a rare procedural trick which would essentially cause a simple majority vote to take place leading to the eventually up or down vote on the judge. Senator Grassley, the Republican in charge of the process reportedly said, “There’s nothing we can do about it” when asked about whether he could prevent the eventual vote.
So, while Republicans in congress constantly accuse the president being an amateur, of not leading, or of leading from behind,  these same people continuously lead their flock into fights they can’t possibly win. Each time they end up being out-maneuvered by the president whether it’s the budget, debt ceiling, foreign policy, or, well, you name it.
 
  • Ted Cruz led a useless attempt to defund the ACA and ended up shutting down the government for nothing. Beyond that, the Republicans have voted dozens of times to defund or repeal the law.
  • The Republicans led an effort to reign in Obama’s climate policy.
  • The Republicans and Tom Cotton led an effort to reign in Obama’s Iran initiative.
  • Now the Republicans have picked a fight they seem to be unable to win with the Supreme Court pick. They lose no matter what happens.
Meanwhile, President Obama must be scratching his head. Why would the Republicans continue to take public positions when they can’t possible previal?
He must wonder if losing over and over (and over) is considered great leadership by the Republican base. In the end, our President Obama usually gets whatever he wants. Perhaps this so-called ‘amateur’ isn’t so dumb after all, eh my Republican friends?

Talking Heads

March 30, 2016
2016 Election, Talking Heads
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Today a prominent member of our intrepid cast, Senator Paul Ryan, came to the realization that the entire crop of 2016 presidential candidates is bat-shit crazy. Donald Trump reportedly bit the head off a Mexican immigrant during a rally in Tempe and spit it out into the eager hands of a waiting Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Ted Cruz issued a statement calling Trump a ‘stupid-pants’ for stealing his idea.

Senator Ryan’s next move was one of desperation….

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