Showing posts with label presidential election 2016. Show all posts
Showing posts with label presidential election 2016. Show all posts

Saturday, September 24, 2016

The Presidential Election - Clinton or Trump - The World Watches in Fascination

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As we countdown to the day of reckoning when half of the voters in America will be squealing for joy while the other half prepare to move to Canada, or perhaps Newfoundland, where will you be?

Down to forty-five days and counting and by anyone's measure once you toss out the radical right and radical left predictions, the election is still too close to call.  No matter how hard the desperate liberal media try to stack the polls and purloin the Trump, it matters not.

You may have noticed how NBC and other leading liberal networks are using the 2012 election results for the demographic distribution of the 2016 polls.  The conservatives have their own distorted results to offset the liberals, proof intellectual constipation is rampant.

For the record, there is no possible way the 2016 carnage will resemble the 2012 results.  Just the obvious would tell you so since no matter how hard they try to make us believe it, Hillary Clinton is not and never will be Barack Obama and she really is white.  For that matter, there is no way an entire generation of millennial who backed Bernie Sanders will transfer their vote to the Queen of the Establishment.


Barack Obama was off the charts with his support from Blacks and youth in 2008 and 2012, as much as 25-30% higher than Hillary's support.  Hello political pundits, that means, overall, there may well be a twenty-five percent lower turnout of Blacks and youth for Hillary.

Trump, on the other hand, has a huge advantage in enthusiasm.  Where Clinton is a practicing member of the establishment since she married Bill in 1975 and his election as state attorney general of Arkansas in 1976, Trump has never been involved in holding political office.

That makes her a card-carrying establishment leader for forty-one years, longer than the oldest millennial alive.  It makes Trump about the second oldest revolutionary in our history next to the ageless Benjamin Franklin.

As for her agenda, Hillary offers the most aggressive progressive liberal platform since George McGovern in 1972 and he lost 49 out of 50 states.  In world politics, the pendulum is swinging conservative so she must also buck the trends.

This year The Federalist, a wholly independent division of FDRLST Media, reported the following.

"But any intelligent discussion of 2016 must begin with the fact that history is very strongly against the Democrats in 2016.  In the modern two-party era (beginning with the first Republican Party presidential campaign in 1856), there have been 16 elections following the re-election of an incumbent president; in 11 of those races, there was no incumbent on the ballot.  An analysis of those elections shows a startlingly uniform pattern over time: the incumbent party (i.e., the party that won the last election) consistently lost ground relative to the challenger party (the party out of power), especially when running without an incumbent on the ballot.  And in nearly every such election, that loss of popular support was evident in closely divided battleground states, rather than confined to uncompetitive states.  The trend has persisted in winning and losing elections, in elections with and without third-party challengers, in times of war and peace, booms and depressions.  It has become more, rather than less, pronounced in the years since World War II, and at all times has been more pronounced when the incumbent party is the Democrats."

Thus, Hillary is also battling history.


Trump, the political neophyte, has no history, no record of accomplishment, and no one really cares what he had to say back when he was a talk show host and not a political candidate.  To his supporters and right now he has the same level of support as Hillary, Trump is their champion.

He is the Chosen One to lead America out of the dark and out of the control of the dastardly establishment.  If it is determined if he is a billionaire, he will be the first to be president if elected.  If not he will rank among the richest ever.  Yet he is the voice of the silent majority, the Independent, the forgotten, the disappearing Middle Class, and the one trusted to bring about radical change to our system.

Hillary and her minions believe he is a Demon determined to undermine our way of life but a whole lot of voters believe he is the crusader to bring back the life our politicians sold out to the rich and powerful.

Has there ever been a more divisive election in our history, of course if you know history, which has seemed to escape the minds of most political reporters in America.  Reporters of today think the 1990's the most important decade the last century but our political history transcends not just decades, but centuries.


In 1788, George Washington became our first president in history.  That was 228 years ago not two decades ago.  This year marks the 58th quadrennial presidential election in America and we will be electing the 45th person to serve as president.  Of course, neither Blacks nor women could vote in George's election, very different from today.

Many times over the past two centuries the polarization was worse, the language was more vulgar, the animosity more intense, the attacks more personal, the deplorable nature more severe, the lies more extreme, yet somehow, our nation survived.

Therein lays the miracle of our nation and the wisdom of our Founding Fathers.  Our Constitution and Bill of Rights has endured the test of time, the treachery of politicians, the greed of capitalists, the distortion of the news media, and the suffocation of special interests.

This year the news media, politicians, political pundits, and even the historians seem to be suffering from collective brain-dead syndrome.  The partisanship, the intolerance of the opinion of others, and the downright bias of the media has fed an enormous appetite of polarizing mania.


At first, I thought it was the result of nearly eight years of the Obama Administration failure to deliver on many of the key promises of 2008 and 2012.  When Trump struck a responsive chord with far more of the public than the so-called experts expected, it was clear there was much more to his campaign.

The media, politicians, and political pundits first ridiculed, then gave extraordinary attention to the neophyte they knew never had a chance to be elected.  In time this free media coverage became obsessive and helped Trump drown out all the highly regarded competition.

When he stunned the experts and emerged as winner of the GOP primary campaign, they made light of the stupidity of the Republicans in nominating Trump.  However, as the Democrats finished their convention and as the Clinton campaign outspent Trump five to ten to one depending on television and the Internet, a strange result started to emerge.

Hillary could not put Trump away as expected.


Now here we are, just 45 days from the end, and nothing seems settled like expected.  The bombastic billionaire will not go away.  No matter what he says or does, no matter how juvenile or odd his perspective on the world, he is headed for a photo finish with Clinton.

No matter what happens on Election Day, over 50% of the voters will disagree with the choice.  That is because both candidates have the worst favorable rating in history, with each hovering around 60% unfavorable.

Forgotten in the race to capture the hearts of America were the Independents and once again due to the lack of due diligence by the news media, there could be a tsunami building across the land.  People have had it with both political parties.  Both parties are beholden to big money.  No matter who wins, the rich keep getting richer at the expense of the people.

Not even the election of Barack Obama in 2008, the first Black president in our history, could break the stranglehold of big money control of our government.  Members of the two parties might not have noticed, but the Independents did as well as seniors and the millennial youth.


When you consider a significant number of party members are fed up with the lack of progress, along with a lack of interest in the election by both Black and Hispanic voters, you have a groundswell of dissention.

Add to that the astonishing fact that for the first time in our nation's history there are more registered Independents than members of either political party and you have the ingredients of that elusive tsunami.

Eight years ago, in the last great recession brought about by the greed of big money, financial, banking, political, and government officials assured us all was well.  Financial rating services said things were fine and major financial institutions were too busy preparing for a financial meltdown to warn us of impending doom.

Nearly every expert from finance, banks, political polls, and rating agencies were wrong and the result was the near destruction of the American economy.  The lives, jobs, and retirement assets of the public were left shattered.


No matter what anyone says, we have not recovered from that unnecessary tragedy and not a single major executive of any of the financial institutions that raped and pillaged our economy is in jail.  The result is the slowest recovery in history with the vast economic benefits going to less than one percent of the rich.  That is the memory of the public.

Add to this condition a sinking feeling in the public regarding their safety from racial strife, an understandable fear of terrorist attacks, awareness that American foreign policy is a disaster, and a huge increase in the distrust of the establishment, and logic would dictate the results fail to conform to any past elections in the modern era.

My sense is the polls are 5-7% wrong, they under-represent the potential for new voters for Trump, and misrepresent the number and distribution of Independent votes.  If the polls remain within the margin of error like today through Election Day, Trump could most likely triumph.


The next election article will be life under a Clinton versus a Trump presidency.  Stay tuned.

     
Riots with most property damage in America                

1. LA Riots, 1992: $1.268 billion

2. The Los Angeles Watts Riots, 1965: $321 million

3. 12th Street Riot, Detroit 1967: $289 million

4. Miami Riots, 1980: $181 million

5. 1968 Holy Week Uprising—WashingtonD.C.: $158 million


6. New York City Blackout of 1977: $106 million

7. Newark Riots, 1967: $103 million

8. 1968 Holy Week Uprising, Baltimore: $92 million

9. 1968 Holy Week Uprising, Chicago: $86 million

10. 1968 Holy Week Uprising, New York City: $26 million


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Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Obamaville May 25 - Hillary and her Emails - Where do we go from here?

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Are government officials lying about the Clinton email controversy?

For the first time since the Hillary email affair broke last year a government official appointed by President Barack Obama, the Inspector General of the State Department, has confirmed Clinton violated the rules of the government by refusing to turn over emails when she left office, and by maintaining her own private server independent of the secured government system.

How convenient that the President is in Japan when the report was released today.


Immediately after the release, the Hillary defenders took to the airways to attempt to mitigate the impact on her already swollen unfavorable and non-trustworthy poll numbers.  Sadly, the mouthpieces continue to say anything to divert attention from the truth.  I wonder if proven wrong by an upcoming FBI report if they will resign from office for lying to the public.

The attempted cover up of what took place on that server could be the lead story of the 2016 election and has the potential of overshadowing whatever Donald Trump has and will accomplish during the long and painful campaign.


The sharp intensity of the Clinton surrogates attack on the Inspector General's report was breathtaking and is a good clue as to whether her server outcome is going to be bad or good.  The determined effort by the surrogates to say Hillary was doing nothing more than previous Secretaries of State like those of Bush and Bill Clinton, was a clever tactic but has little to do with what Hillary did.

Each presidential administration issues their own rules and regulations guiding appointees like Clinton on how to handle emails.  The Obama administration, to their credit, had far more detailed rules than previous administrations.  According to Obama's Inspector General for the State Department, Hillary broke the rules.


Also according to the IG report, she knowingly violated the rules by never seeking approval for a private email server from the State Department, or the White House, a serious charge since she has repeatedly denied violating any rules.  The fact Hillary and her staff refused to meet with the Inspector General during the investigation, while all previous Secretaries of State did meet with the IG, is highly suspicious.

Far more ominous was another related news story that broke today about the Romanian hacker recently extradited to the USA at the request of the FBI, who did a plea bargain with the FBI and pleaded guilty of hacking the private emails of several top ranking government officials.


Among the claims of this convicted hacker was his admitted hacking into Secretary Clinton's private email server.  Could that be why they extradited him?  Was it ironic or just a coincidence both stories broke today?

As stunning as today's revelations may be, they could pale in comparison to the FBI investigation still underway.  As far as we can tell, the FBI still must interview the Romanian hacker and Secretary Clinton before they issue findings.  Unlike the Inspector General report, the FBI investigation can lead to criminal charges.


Here are potential major actions that could result from the ongoing FBI investigation.

  • Indictments of Clinton staff members for jeopardizing national security.

  • Confirmation that foreign entities hacked Clinton's server.

  • Confirmation that classified national security memos were hacked.

  • Proof of a deliberate effort by Clinton staff to keep the server from government oversight.

  • Proof that classified memos were deliberately transferred from the classified server to the private Clinton server.

  • Proof that the same server was used for Clinton Foundation activity with foreign entities or State Department waivers.
 
Now before the liberals of the nation start popping pain relievers just thinking of the consequences of any one or all of these potential outcomes, let it be said NONE of them suggest, imply, or otherwise say Hillary Clinton is guilty of anything as President Obama so aptly put it as reported in the liberal friendly The New York Times.

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Obama Says Hillary Clinton Wouldn’t Intentionally Endanger U.S. With Emails

WASHINGTON — President Obama said in an interview broadcast on Sunday that while Hillary Clinton had been careless in managing her emails as secretary of state, she would never intentionally do anything to endanger the country.

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Ever the clever lawyer, he specifically said "Intentionally" which suggests there might have been "unintentional" endangering of the country.  Of course, he failed to mention the national security of the nation is compromised no matter whether it was intentional or unintentional.


Now, the extreme outcome of this investigation may be:

  • She lied to authorities by failing to disclose or get approval for her private system.

  • She compromised national security

  • There were blatant conflicts of interest when the Clinton Foundation sought waivers from the State Department to accept money (millions of dollars) from foreign nations on "restricted" lists and she granted the waivers.

If any of these come true suffice it to say her campaign may well be over.  There are those of us who long held the belief the only reason Bernie Sanders remained in the campaign when the outcome was never in doubt was because he thought one of these potential results from the FBI investigation would give him the nomination.

However, because the FBI has just entered a plea agreement with the Romanian hacker who claimed to have hacked her emails, much investigation work remains.  In addition, the FBI has not called Hillary in to testify yet but has indicated it will happen.


There is a good reason to delay the FBI results until after the Democratic National Convention in sixty days. As it now stands, Hillary will be declared the nominee at the convention, as there is no hope Bernie can overcome her Super Delegate stockpile.

If the FBI releases their report before that moment, it could derail her presidential bid and Bernie would most likely be the nominee by finishing second.


However, if she wins the nomination at the convention and then a devastating FBI report comes out forcing her to withdraw as the nominee, what happens?

Both the Republican and the Democratic parties have rules in their bylaws governing how to fill the vacancy. The Party Chair calls a meeting of the National Committee, and the Committee members at the meeting vote to fill the vacancy on the ticket. A candidate must receive a majority of the votes to win the party's nod.


There are 447 members of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) including 75 at-large members nominated by the Chairman (Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz) and approved by the full DNC.  The DNC is composed of the chairs and vice-chairs of each state Democratic Party Committee and over 200 members elected by Democrats in all 50 states and the territories.

The DNC is the epitome of the political party establishment and only two people rank higher than Debbie Wasserman Schultz, President Barack Obama, and Vice President Joe Biden.


Now think of the consequences if Hillary resigns from the ticket after winning the nomination, and remember there is nothing normal about this 2016 election process, so anything is possible.

Since it is after the convention, it matters not that Bernie Sanders finished second.  The matter of selecting a replacement candidate for president falls into the hands of the Democratic establishment.

Barack Obama will have the most to say about the replacement, and his loyal second in command Joe Biden is the most likely choice to replace Clinton.  Why Biden, because the whole world knows a socialist like Bernie can never win election in America, nor will he ever get the chance.


Once Hillary gets the nomination, his hope is gone because the establishment will not pick someone who spent the last year bashing them.  Besides, many Democrats regretted that Joe Biden passed up his chance to get in the race and believe if Hillary stumbled, then Biden would be the nominee.

Call it fate, call it coincidental, call it Divine Providence, Joe Biden would finally get his chance to be president and he did not even have to run in the primary.  Biden may be the only Democrat capable of battling Trump head-to-head.


Besides, who better to defend the Obama legacy than Obama's right hand man in building it?

Sorry Bernie, you are out.


As Lewis Carroll so aptly put it in Alice in Wonderland, "Nothing is as it seems."
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