Donald John Trump is without a conscience…
…or, an ounce of empathy and compassion.
Evil sounds much, much more appropriate.
Month: July 2016
“THE” NETWORK
This weekend, in beautiful Colorado Springs, a little over 400 donors of “the” network of the Brothers Koch have been meeting.
“The” network backed by billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch gathered to hear from an array of Republican lawmakers and governors—but NOT from presidential nominee Donald John Trump.
The Weave, who held a campaign rally here on Friday, was NOT invited to the Koch seminar, and “the” network said it won’t spend money on the presidential race, focusing instead on the U.S. Senate. Groups financed by the Kochs, and their alliance, spent more than $400 million in 2012, according to tax returns, although much of that money went to ventures NOT overtly political.
Network officials also appeared to reject Trump’s assertion on Saturday that he had “turned down” a meeting with the Kochs [why does Carrot Top have such a tough time with the truth?], saying that they had met with top Trump advisers in June, and had, at that time, decided to focus their efforts on keeping Republican control of the Senate.
Here’s Tweetie Bird’s response…
I turned down a meeting with Charles and David Koch. Much better for them to meet with the puppets of politics, they will do much better!
In addition, billionaire Charles Koch called the notion that he would support Democrat Grandma Hillary in the general election “blood libel,” while doubling down on his assertion that he would NOT support Republican Trump.
“The first thing I want to do is correct a rumor that the media keeps stimulating, and that is that I’m probably going to support Hillary,” Koch told the donors, to a round of cheers.
“…Blood libel,” is an extremely strong term that refers to the anti-Semitic belief that Jews used the blood of Christian children to make ritual bread called matzo. Whoa!!!
Mr. Koch went on to say: “At this point, I can’t support either candidate, but I’m certainly not going to support Hillary.”
He continued, “neither presidential candidate is likely” to advocate for “the” network’s agenda, such as overhauling corporate welfare laws. Mr. Koch also added the group would focus instead on “maximizing the number of principled leaders in the House and Senate who will.”
MAYOR MIKEY’S REALITY
One of the key moments, during last week’s Democratic National Convention, that ALL of us will be experiencing – over and over again – in the next 99 days in many pro-Grandma Hillary political ads will be from former New York mayor, Michael Bloomberg‘s comments…
Donald John Trump is 100 percent a con man, and he’s succeeded in bamboozling a large segment of the American population. Set aside, for a moment, his diatribes against women, Mexicans, Muslims, African-Americans, the handicapped, the media, and anyone else who doesn’t fall in line. And, set aside his inane tweets at all hours of the day or night (scary lack of maturity).
The Weave has gotten away with bashing the “other” (that is, ALL but white uneducated American men) because he thinks voters want a “strong leader” who doesn’t worry about being politically correct. Say something loud enough and often enough and people will believe it. Lost in the petulant bravado is Carrot Top’s total lack of ethics in business dealings and personal relationships. The guy is out for only himself. Period. End of discussion.
Consider the evidence, of just what we know already..
Why won’t Trump share his tax returns? Even Richard Milhous Nixon did. Do you really believe he isn’t trying to hide something? Come on; don’t be gullible!
Trump pretends that he’s a generous donor to charitable causes, but he’s NOT. Last month, in their June 20th edition, New York Magazine called him out on that claim. “Trump boasts about giving $102 million to charitable donations over the last five years. But when the Washington Post examined the candidate’s 96-page list of charitable contributions, they couldn’t find a single cash gift taken from Trump’s own pocket.”
Key phrase:…“taken from Trump’s own pocket.”
Don’t forget the thousands of poor souls, mainly senior citizens, and the uneducated, duped in the scam of Trump University. The highest legal officer in New York state has described Trump University as a classic bait-and-switch scheme.
The class action lawsuit filed by people who have been swindled by Trump University is standard operating procedure for this incorrigible con man. USA Today’s analysis of legal filings across the U.S. finds that the Republican presidential candidate and his businesses have been involved in as many as 3,500 legal action cases in federal and state courts during the last three decades. The USA Today analysis revealed that Trump has been involved in more legal actions than five other major real-estate executives — combined.
What experienced lawyer – NO matter the political persuasion – would ever be comfortable working for Trump as his Attorney General? Can you imagine that fiasco?
Trump, who bills himself as a successful business executive, has filed for bankruptcy protection on six separate occasions: Trump Taj Mahal, Trump Castle, Trump Castle and Casino, Plaza Hotel, Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts and Trump Entertainment Resort.
Now ask yourself this question: Can you imagine a female candidate for president who has been married three times?; declared bankruptcy six times?; trashes everyone but white uneducated females?; refuses to release her tax returns?; lies about her charitable contributions?; sends obnoxious tweets day and night?; and brags about her breast size being a serious candidate for the presidency of the United States? While we’re at it, can you imagine an African-American with the same list of drawbacks being a viable candidate?
Of course NOT!
Then why hasn’t the press, the media-in-general, and, especially, the cable networks really gone after the candidacy of this charlatan? I mean relentlessly honed in on these above matters. Forcing him to release his tax returns, because you know they are dirty, sleazy and loaded with borderline corruption (questionable, at the very least, to an expert eye!).
Why?
FROM the EMBASSY of ECUADOR…
London, England.
Julian The Great Assange.
The Embassy of Ecuador has never had the kind of activity it is now having to deal with these days.
Remember, they were the ones that offered “a cot” to the techno-renegade, Assange, as the world authorities were closing in on him for NOT only his hacking prowess, but his alleged sexual impurities as well. Assange has been camped out at the Ecuadorean embassy since November 2010.
Well, my advice for lads and lassies at the embassy, sign a contract with a food truck, because the fun has just begun…
ALWAYS a KGB “operative”
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.
Formerly, a KGB intelligence officer for more than 16 years.
He, probably more than any other world leader, knows the game of espionage, and how best to play it.
For decades, Russian intelligence agencies have used what they call “active measures” to destabilize their rivals. Now, they seem to be turning those tools on the American political system, though in the process they appear to have violated Rule No. 1 of the spy business: Don’t get caught.
U.S. officials say they have strong evidence that Russian intelligence agencies hacked the Democratic National Committee (DNC) over the past nine to twelve months. Could Debbie Wasserman Schultz be a double agent? What’s less certain is whether they deliberately leaked some of those files to Wikileaks, with the aim of disrupting Hillary Clinton’s election campaign, though some intelligence experts think this attack of/on information was most likely. Or, Bernie Sanders?
The scope of possible Russian political hacking widened yesterday with reports that the computer systems of the Clinton campaign, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee had been breached.
Russian President Vladimir Putin grew up in a KGB culture in which such use of measures was a standard tool of the Cold War. He seems to have carried this tradecraft into the Kremlin, employing hacking, black propaganda and other covert tools.
U.S. officials say that Russian intelligence in recent years has secretly funded right-wing political parties in Europe, sponsored covert propaganda channels, hacked the electrical grid of Ukraine and cyber-sabotaged other neighboring states, and created networks of “trolls” to attack enemies online.
Why does Putin use these active measures to destabilize his rivals? Because they work! They’re invisible and deniable and, for the most part, the targets don’t fight back.
When the United States discovers evidence of foreign hacking, it should “be public about it,” urged John Carlin, the assistant attorney general for national security. “Take it out of the intelligence channel . . . that’s the only way to change behavior,” he said. James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, said that he wasn’t yet ready to identify the perpetrator of the DNC hack, but that from an intelligence standpoint, the United States is already “at war” with Russia.
What worries U.S. officials most is that given Russia’s demonstrated willingness to use covert action against its adversaries, it might secretly intervene just before the November election. That might mean releasing embarrassing Clinton emails, as GOP nominee Carrot Top has urged Moscow to do [claiming sarcasm now]. It might mean leaking phony news stories, or finding ways to upset financial markets. It would appear, based on ALL we are lead to believe, since Eddie Snowden, and his flight to the “other side” on May 20, 2013, the American political system is an open, and incredibly vulnerable target.
Why would Russia target the DNC?
Putin may have had a special animus toward Grandma Hillary. When she was Secretary of State, she endorsed Russian dissenters in the 2011 and 2012 elections. A furious Putin charged that she “gave them a signal” and that the dissidents, “with the support of the U.S. State Department, began active work.” In other words, Putin thinks Clinton shot first.
Grandma H got her gun, y’all!
The DNC noticed a problem in its computer system in April, and hired a forensics firm called Crowdstrike to analyze the evidence. The firm concluded that two Internet addresses linked to Russian intelligence had been inside the DNC systems.
How did the DNC information get to WikiLeaks? A supposed Romanian hacker who calls himself Guccifer 2.0 [I love the ‘handle!]claimed credit. But, some intel experts believe this is what’s known in intelligence parlance as a “false flag” aimed at masking the Russian hand.
And, what about Donald John Trump? The alleged partner-in-crime of Vlad Putin? Well, and this is where it really gets good, it seems most likely that The Weave is what Russian intelligence officers sometimes describe as “a useful idiot,” a person who unintentionally fosters Moscow’s campaign of instability.
The Russians are so much more penetrating in their description of our politicians that we, as citizens, are.
LADY MACBETH’S BIGGEST SUPPORTER
Wild Bill Maher was “on fire” last night…
The “Notorious H.R.C.”
NO need for it be stated, aunts and uncles. Right?
Anything and any one on the way to claiming the throne…
The unsettling consequences of unethical behavior – past, present and future – well, the line starts in the back.
IT’S STILL THE ECONOMY
It’s a subject that’s ALWAYS somewhat “in the shadows.”
Our economy.
Both the 2016 candidates for residency at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue have had very little, of substance, to wet our appetites about thus far regarding the issue.
Yet…
Declining business investment is hobbling an already sluggish U.S. expansion, raising concerns about the economy’s durability as the presidential campaign heads into its final stretch.
Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of goods and services produced across the U.S., grew at a seasonally and inflation adjusted annual rate of just 1.2 % in the second quarter, the Commerce Department said yesterday, well below the pace economists expected.
Economic growth is now tracking at a 1% rate in 2016—the weakest start to a year since 2011—when combined with a downwardly revised reading for the first quarter. That makes for an annual average rate of 2.1% growth since the end of the recession, the weakest pace of any expansion since at least 1949.
Lackluster growth could spill into in a presidential campaign that is revolving around starkly different portrayals of the U.S. economy and the well-being of average workers.
Friday’s figures could also raise new concerns to Federal Reserve officials who said this week near-term risks had diminished, signaling they might move to raise interest rates later this year, and possibly as early as September.
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan said yesterday that the Fed has to be cautious about raising rates at a time when growth is still sluggish.
“We now need structural reforms and other fiscal policy,” Mr. Kaplan said. “Then we will have more operating room where we can normalize rates.”
In contrast, San Francisco Fed President John Williams said Friday underlying figures in the GDP report were encouraging. “We’ll be raising rates, not lowering them, over the next several years,” he said. He did NOT offer specific timing.
In typical fashion, fed officials present contrasting comments/opinions to John Q. Citizen, NEVER helpful in the short term.
Manufacturers especially have been challenged by a strong dollar, which boosts the price of U.S.-made goods overseas. The energy industry has also been constrained, with relatively low oil and natural gas prices curtailing investments in mining and wells.
In some cases businesses may be substituting labor for capital, given depressed wage growth around the globe.
If the nine-month long slowdown in output growth extends further, the U.S. could join Europe and Japan as economies struggling to achieve anything more than the most modest growth. On an annualized basis, second-quarter growth in the eurozone was also 1.2%, a slowdown from 2.2% the prior period, Eurostat said yesterday.
The latest U.S. figures don’t capture much, if any, effect from the U.K. BREXIT decision because the vote took place during the final days of the quarter, which ended June 30. But, uncertainty in Europe could add to caution among companies around the world.
As the Ragin’ Cajun, James Carville, always likes to remind us, especially during an election year, “It’s still the economy, stupid.”
NOW WHAT?
The ground didn’t shake.
NO bolts of lighting awoke me, throughout the night.
Absolutely, NO fireworks, at ALL.
And, when I went out in the driveway to pickup the paper this morning, there was NO demonstration within sight that I was aware of proclaiming today as a day of celebratory excitement, and recognition.
Yes, Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton, 68, was nominated as the first female presidential candidate in the history of America.
To the millions of people (probably the largest audience she will have, other than the upcoming debates) that watched her acceptance speech last night, it was a big deal.
I get it. I really do. Having gone through the nonsense of ALL the liberation movements of the ’60s and ’70s, the true blue intellectual females that I know, last night barely moved their emotional needles.
Why?
Because like my wife, they were/are extremely successful on their own merit, NOT because of some band of obnoxious “want-to-bes” looking/using crutches to pave the way for themselves.
Did the feminist movement make contributions along the way? Absolutely!
How? NOT with phony marches, I can tell you that much. They, real activist women, did it intellectually.
My wife personifies the best of this attribute.
Organizing conferences/seminars, on ALL matter of issues, while welcoming ALL forms of “open discussions.” Committing to resolve community issues, by actually going into such ‘troubled’ communities [men have ALWAYS talked a good game, but rarely do they do it in these communities]. And, by getting elected to local level positions of authority; state positions with even greater authority; and, lastly, accepting the nomination of the party of her choice to become – possibly – the next president of this country.
Wonderful, the United States has finally nominated a women to possibly be our 45th president. Was it overdue? Of course, it was!
So, let’s move on…
Now it’s going to be Hillary vs Hillary, when it ALL comes down to it. This November is about whether Americans can look at 40 years of Clinton chicanery, and nearly a decade of broken promises by our current president, and still pull the lever for Grandma H. NOT that Donald John Trump doesn’t matter. He does, in that he can help sharpen those concerns. But, Grandma Hillary, herself, is the main event.
It’s worthy of Pay-For-View television over the next three plus months.
A CNN survey this week showed 68% of voters say she isn’t honest and trustworthy—an all-time high. Additionally, CBS found practically the same number: 67%. In the CNN poll, meanwhile, only 39% of voters said they held a favorable view of Mrs. Clinton. This is lower than any time CNN has polled Clinton since the spring of 1992, before she was First Lady.
Mrs. Clinton’s problem is Mrs. Clinton. She is running against her own ethical quagmire. Already she was asking voters to forget about her cattle futures fiasco [from her Arkansas days], and the fake sniper fire [Bosnia], and, Whitewater and Travelgate. Then, she chose to vividly revive the public nausea with her self-serving email stunt [her private server is a massive issue that Trump will continue to club her in next 100 days], and her Clinton Foundation money grubbing [here is where I, personally, think there are multiples snakes to be found!!!].
It is important to keep in mind, that Grandma Hillary is running against the reality of President Obama policies, which she promises NOT only to continue [what does that mean?], but to build on [as of now, like Trump, NO specifics]. The president’s glowing appraisal Wednesday night of his time in office bore NO relation to the country most Americans see – one in which health care costs more than ever [an issue that is one of many dirty little secrets of our current administration – it’s a known disaster – talk to any honest person within the medical profession], citizens – north, east, south, and west – struggle to pay their bills, and worldwide terror attacks on Western democracies are a weekly event. The state of the country might NOT be quite so grim as Trump [it isn’t!] painted it in Cleveland, but the mood is much closer to that grimness than to Obama’s forced optimism.
Also, Grandma Hillary is running against her own party, which has moved left without her. She has chased after progressives [why don’t we use the word liberal any more?], adopting one position after another from Bernie Sanders; dancing with Elizabeth Warren; and she works her now favorite word “progressive” into almost every sentence. But, this week showed that her party’s liberal wing is unconvinced, still feeling The Bern [it will be telling how the Clinton folks use Sanders over the next 100 days]. Yes, she has done some uniting in Philadelphia, and will likely get her own bump in the polls over this weekend. But, 45% of Democrats who voted in the primary told CNN pollsters they still wish Sanders were the nominee [I see that element of the campaign as a high hurdle for Grandma H to clear].
The Weave can help his own numbers, and campaign, by focusing precisely on her vulnerabilities, and by presenting a stronger policy agenda of his own [which plays against his strengths – Trump doesn’t deal with laying out specifics that make any sense at ALL to any one!].
Grandma H is ultimately banking that a significant number of Americans will NOT be able to vote for Carrot Top. Certainly some won’t. But, and this is a gigantic but, a dislike of Mr. Trump does NOT imply a comfort of Grandma H. Translation: NOT enough to pull that lever for the first female candidate for the presidency of the United States of America…
Yet, there are many roads yet traveled.
When it’s ALL said and done on Tuesday, November 8th, I think the “great lady” will be squarely on target…
DON’T LET THE BED BUGS BITE
Guess what?
The bed bugs did bite!
So says a Mr. Eric Linder, from Ft. Lee, New Jersey.
According to a lawsuit, reported in yesterday’s edition of the Palm Beach Post, Mr. Linder is asking for $15,000 in damages from bites/welts he received on his face, neck, both arms, and upper torso, while staying, get this, aunts and uncles, at Donald John Trump‘s luxurious (?) resort, Trump National Doral Miami, this past March.
In his lawsuit, Mr. Linder is claiming that the property had a “history” of bedbug problems, going back to January of this year.
To my way of thinking, Grandma Hillary should demand the release of the Board of Health Inspection Reports on ALL of the properties owned by The Trump Organization, for the last 10 years.
COME CLEAN, both of you…
It’s been a constant of every presidential election since the Watergate era: serious candidates releasing their tax returns. President Richard Nixon, himself, publicly released his returns while they were being audited in 1973, a controversy that led famously to Nixon telling reporters that year, “People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I am not a crook.”
Even so, Donald John Trump now says he won’t release his tax returns because of an audit, despite saying a year and a half ago he “certainly” would.
Should NOT be a surprise to any follower of this 2016 election, since June 16th of last year, when The Weave announced his candidacy.
Trump, clearly, doesn’t stand on tradition; he torches it. That’s part of his appeal to supporters, who see him as a guy who tells it like it is, who upsets the establishment, who will win others over by the sheer force of his will.
Carrot Top might even think this plays to an anti-establishment advantage; he has become more steadfast in his refusal since Mitt Romney, the 2012 GOP nominee, called Trump’s failure to release his tax returns “disqualifying” in May of this year.
It should be pointed out that Grandma Hillary has eight years of her tax returns on her campaign website, which notes the Clintons have made their tax returns public, since 1977.
Releasing returns is NOT required of presidential candidates, of course. But it’s something Americans should demand. Failure to do so would set a bad precedent while releasing them, as Romney said, can confirm “the veracity of a candidate’s representations regarding charities, priorities, wealth, tax conformance, and conflicts of interest.”
The operative term here, aunts and uncles, being ‘conflicts of interest.’
In other words, it erases doubts, such as those sown by Washington Post columnist George Will [also a FOX contributor] , who said perhaps Trump isn’t releasing his returns because they may show “he is deeply involved in dealing with Russian oligarchs.” That’s “probably the reasonable surmise,” Will said.
Uh, oh…
Wednesday, a Trump aide said he “will not be releasing” his returns, and emphasized it has “nothing to do with Russia.” Later, in a news conference, Trump tried to deflect attention to something of Clinton’s he would like to see: some 33,000 plus emails that Grandma Hillary deleted, claiming they were personal, during a State Department investigation into a private email server she used as Secretary of State.
Remember, Trump is running for the highest office in America, to be the leader of the free world. If he is elected, which is, incredibly, entirely possible, shouldn’t he set a better example? Instead of the narcissistic boorish bully he displays on a daily basis.
Which brings me back to Trump’s tax returns, and my suggestion: Trump and Clinton should agree that he will release his tax returns, and she will release the transcripts of ALL her paid speeches that she has given to big banks, over-sea donors to the Clinton Foundation and other financial institutions – foreign and domestic. Clinton has already said she would “look into” making those remarks public.
What does the term ‘look into’ mean, literally?
Lastly, in February of this year, CNN found that Grandma Hillary earned more than $21 million from 92 paid speeches from 2001 until Clinton launched her campaign last year, including at least $1.8 million from at least eight speeches to big banks.
Holy crap, Batman!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lobster on the Prairie 