I can’t contain my loathing for Donald Trump. I wish I could ignore him. But I can’t. We can’t. Why was he sniffing through both debates? He looked and sounded like a coke head. Why did he lurk and loom over Clinton as she spoke? He excused his disgusting behavior by repeated reference to Bill Clinton’s abhorrent behavior. That’s the “everybody does it” excuse. He described his revolting remarks about sexual assault as “locker room banter,” which means “boys will be boys” and it’s okay as long as it’s not on tape. He claimed that Michelle Obama made videos about Hillary that were worse than anything he said; Obama’s 2008 campaign manager David Axelrod tweeted that Michelle Obama NEVER made a video about Hillary. He is repugnant and loathsome.
The New York Times’s editorial board summarizes its reaction:
“Donald Trump boiled his decadent campaign down to one theme during the presidential debate on Sunday night: hatred of Hillary and Bill Clinton.
“With knock-kneed Republican officeholders showing signs of summoning the nerve to desert him, Mr. Trump labored to demonize Hillary Clinton — blaming her even for his own failure to pay taxes — and to remind his core supporters that he is all that stands between her and the presidency.
“If he were in charge, Mr. Trump told Secretary Clinton at one point, “You’d be in jail.”
“When Mrs. Clinton called Mr. Trump out for his failure to apologize to the minorities, immigrants and women he’s offended, he responded by promising vengeance. Should he win, he said, he would unleash a special prosecutor to investigate her.
“Sniffing and glowering, Mr. Trump prowled behind Mrs. Clinton as she presented herself again as the only adult on stage, the only one seeking to persuade the great majority of Americans that she shares their values and aspirations. Mr. Trump, by contrast, fell back on the tricks he has learned from his years in pro wrestling and reality television, making clear how deep his cynicism goes.
“Just before the debate, desperate to shift attention from his pattern of harassment, Mr. Trump sat hunched over a blank notepad in a hotel meeting room, encouraging four women to face the cameras and tell their stories of sexual victimization. “You went through a lot,” Mr. Trump coaxed one of the women flanking him, as he bent their allegations against Bill and Hillary Clinton to serve himself. The women’s claims deserved to be investigated and aired, and they have been, repeatedly.
“During the debate, Mr. Trump struggled once again to coherently explain his policies, instead wandering down twisting, shadowy alleyways in muttering pursuit of his various claims about Mrs. Clinton, including that she, not he, was responsible for his birther lie about President Obama. He complained that the moderators were ganging up on him and failing to question Mrs. Clinton about her private email server — immediately after they had done just that.
“Mr. Trump probably performed well enough to silence the 11-hour whispering campaign among Republicans about somehow ejecting him from the ticket. That means the G.O.P. will continue asking Americans to vote for a candidate who is debasing and trivializing our politics. During the debate, it seemed somewhere between poignant and futile to hear the moderators invite undecided voters to ask about his plans for the nation.
“When Mr. Trump so grandly accepted the Republican nomination in July, he said, “I have joined the political arena so that the powerful can no longer beat up on people that cannot defend themselves.” By then, though, he had already campaigned for months by beating up on vulnerable Americans, including minorities and the disabled. Only in recent days has the Republican establishment started to acknowledge the magnitude of his hypocrisy.
“The videotape disclosed Friday provided gruesome evidence that the Republican standard-bearer has for years used his powerful status to prey on women. Other revelations followed, including that in 2005 he told Howard Stern on his radio show that, when he owned the Miss Universe pageant, he made a practice of “inspecting” naked contestants backstage. “You know, they’re standing there with no clothes. … And you see these incredible-looking women, and so, I sort of get away with things like that.”
“Now, as he struggles to close the biggest deal of his lifetime, a woman is getting the better of him. That’s not surprising, but it is apt.”
If Mr. Trump is looking for a ‘special prosecutor,’ Ken Starr is available, again.
Giuliani or Christie would mud wrestle for the chance to be Trump’s special prosecutor.
I hate Trump and Christie and Giuliani, and I think Trump’s idea to essentially lock up Hillary Clinton for daring to oppose him is horrifying, but I WOULD love to see Giuliani and Christie mud wrestling!!!
What would she do for education? Nothing.
What would Trump do for education? Worse than nothing. He would eliminate public schools and send federal money for vouchers and for-profit charters.
The republican 2016 platform makes their stance on education issues quite clear, after you get through the ideological boilerplate. Trump has no clue about anything concerning education policy, he is just a pass through for the work and ideas of others. Don’t waste your time trying to interpret Trump, read the platform instead.
Trump is far beyond despicable, and unacceptable as dog catcher, let alone as U.S. president. He is the most unqualified candidate ever, far surpassing George W. Bush.
But Hillary Clinton has said she will intervene in Syria, and that may well lead to war with Russia, an existential threat to all life on earth given the more than 14,000 nuclear warheads possessed by the U.S. and Russia.
Even if such a world war is avoided, she will escalate U.S. military spending, taking more funds away from our schools, infrastructure, and other neglected parts of our society.
Her neocon advisers will make sure that the war profiteers continue to get wealthier off the victims of endless U.S. wars in the Middle East, Africa, and Central Asia as these dangerously deluded neocons pursue their demented dream of U.S. global dominance, while inequality increases here at home and the Climate Crisis accelerates to levels preventing human sustainability.
I know Jill Stein cannot win, but, as a NY voter, I will cast my vote for her because she is the only candidate with sane, progressive policies.
Ed,
I didn’t hear her say what you did. I heard her say no ground troops in Syria. The US could impose a no-fly zone with UN support to stop the massacre of civilians in Syria. I would support that. Would you? Right now, the Russians and Assad are mercilessly bombing the civilian population of Syria. Should we ignore it? What do we do when Putin invades the Baltic nations, thenPoland, then Hungary? Real world problems. Walk away?
Diane…I heard exactly what you heard.
And also agree with Jon Lubar about Russian direction re nuclear war. They are still suffering from the Chernobyl effects…and high rate of cancers and other health issues so many decades later.
Often think of Teddy Roosevelt saying “walk softly and carry a big stick”…so we seem to be in the bind of maintaining our nuclear arsenal, but must support agreements with other nations to limit and control nuclear proliferation.
Our hands are hardly clean. We’re complicit in Saudi war crimes in Yemen because we’re the ones supplying the weapons, knowing full well how they’re being used (including to destroy MSF hospitals). http://www.salon.com/2016/10/10/state-dept-lawyers-warned-that-u-s-might-be-complicit-in-saudi-war-crimes-in-yemen-but-arms-deals-continued/ As far as Syria, we’re supporting the rebels, but just like in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, we have no idea who they are or what they’re doing to the civilian population. We have a reverse Midas touch in the Middle East and a lot of people have suffered and died for it. Hillary will do more of the same, if not worse.
Dienne, there is an election in November. Either Clinton or Trump will be elected President of the United States. You will vote or not vote as you see fit.
No, she didn’t say those things last night. But she has said them. Ed’s not making it up. Ditto the stuff from her advisors.
I’m more skeptical about who exactly is doing what to whom in Syria and Eastern Europe. I don’t trust the NY TIMES reportage on any of that. Other sources suggest we aren’t the good guys in either region, and I’m not talking about the right-wing media. But then, Ruth Ginsburg called the protests by various athletes “dumb and disrespectful.”
Not trying to convince you or anyone else to vote for Trump or to not vote for Clinton. Most minds are made up. If I were betting, I’d lay money that HRC wins easily. Maybe not FDR vs. Landon territory (and that was only the 3rd biggest landslide), but certainly not Kennedy vs. Nixon or something like that. I don’t think we’ll be up all night. And Trump still has a few more weeks to announce that the Manson Family was framed, that he’s going to build a wall around New Jersey and make Chris Christie pay for it, and that he’s found an elementary proof of the Riemann Hypothesis.
None of those claims would surprise me at this point. Indeed, there’s really no bottom here. It’s not just Trump (or Clinton) that seem to be hitting new depths: Justice Ginsburg called the protests by various athletes “dumb and disrespectful.” She’s not going to jail anyone for exercising their First Amendment rights, I’m glad to hear, but I find her comments disturbing. And I wonder how they might contribute to the tenor of our national struggle with racism and social injustice.
Talk about living in interesting times.
Michael, you don’t have to believe The NY Times to know that Russia and Syria are cooperating in massacring civilians in Aleppo and other parts of Syria.
For anyone who would like to read a different view of Syrian conflict, suggest
British Independent journalist Venessa Beeley.
Russia knows full well that a nuclear war, even a limited one would make the planet uninhabitable. They have lived through and are still dealing with Chernobyl and other unpublicized nuclear waste issues. Any war with them will be both conventional and cyber/infiltration based. They will attack our IT and other basic infrastructure that depends on it and then sit back and watch the chaos unfold as a panicked nation consumes itself. The ignorance and internal, factional divisions of our nation is one of their best weapons, one we ourselves made available to them. It’s cheap, easy and already in place. They’re bound to use it.
Also, since very many of us are unaware of it, both nations have been developing assorted EMP weapons which can wipe out IT and other electricity based systems including the electric grid. Russia has started civil defense drills, and it is not just posturing. There are significant advantages to using “analog” and human technologies to operate infrastructure in this day and age when the nature and effects of high tech warfare among first world nations is considered. America’s logistics systems (moving food, goods and providing services, etc.) are almost entirely dependent on tech, and we have no overall backup plan for when that goes down. Sleep well.
Jon…read Ted Koppel’s book on the potential decimation of our grids by terrorists. Would take us back to the Dark Ages…literally. He is proposing that this is the most likely scenario we in the US face.
Thanks Ellen, I know far more than I want to, far more than anyone should need to about the assorted vulnerabilities and fragility of “the grid” overall. In too many ways it’s all a house of cards, there are numerous places where one thing going wrong has great potential to produce cascade effects with alarming alacrity.
Jon…please contact me at
joiningforces4ed@aol.com
I have some questions about the book and his assertions that I would like to run by you.
Ellen
https://theintercept.com/2016/10/09/exclusive-new-email-leak-reveals-clinton-campaigns-cozy-press-relationship/?comments=1#comments
Trump was sniffing through BOTH debates?!? Why I thought he had another faulty microphone, you know, as part of the plot by the moderators who were ganging up on him. Seriously.
You said exactly what I feel – I cannot contain my loathing for Trump. He confessed to sexual assault. He demeans everyone and has respect for no one. Only, this is the first time I also feel loathing for the opponent’s supporters as well. How any woman, or man for that matter, can justify his behavior is beyond me. Yes, sexual assault is the real issue, along with many. We have worked too hard fighting for women’s rights to go back 100 + years on progress. And I will not tolerate, minimize, or look the other way on this. Thanks for the great post.
Yes, women’s rights to destroy evidence after it has been subpoenaed.
Oh, another Trump supporter who deflects the issue. Haven’t met one who doesn’t yet! Not One!
You mean the way Bush/Cheney destroyed 22 million emails? Like that?
Harlan,
Do you condone grabbing women by their p—y?
Harlan is consistent…always a troll.
The news today that another Gawker troll raised the cash to send the long ago, ostensible 12 year old rape victim, to be with tRump at the table is too ridiculous. Our laws say everyone deserves a defense, and thus provides defense attorneys for defendants…and Hillary did her job as a young lawyer defending her client. This new stupidly to paint her as bad for doing her defense job well, is twisted and pathetic.
These women who spend their lives as Bill’s accusers, and somehow blame Hillary for turning on them, even those who knew well that they were flirting with a married man, seem now to want to be lifetime heroines.
If they knew he was a womanizer, why did they go into his room as did Paula Jones, or seek out other nefarious interludes as did Monica and Jennifer, etc.? I don’t blame victims, but it would seem 35 years later, they would be playing with their children and grand children, and not be shills for the worst of womanizers and crooks, Donald Trump, for another chance for 15 minutes of fame. Bet they all got paid well for being his shills.
tRump looked absolutely menacing as he stood behind Hillary as she spoke, and as he walked within a few feet of her, fiercely growling. After seeing his boxing episode attack on a man, it seemed that he might well smash Hillary. For a moment, a look of horror came over her, but she went on speaking. This man belongs in a facility for the mentally unbalanced, not in the WH.
It would be helpful for her campaign if the entire George Bush family would make a video in her support. So far only George HW Bush has said he is voting for her.
How much cash did tRump pay those pathetic women (who have made it their life’s work to accuse Bill) for their disgusting performance?
DEPLORABLES indeed….
Says a lot that there’s demand for the Bushes, of all people, to come out and endorse Hillary.
Agree…but for the Right, they still wield power. HW has been outspoken on his disgust with tRump. And George Jr. daughter Barbara is actively working for Hillary. The media should be emphasizing the Bush Family fleeing from tRump.
The Bushes and the Cintons are good friends (have been for many years).Judi
In an earlier post, 2old2teac–& several others–brought up the idea that Trump impresses debacle (my new name for so-called “debates”) viewers as behaving as would an elementary school-aged child. Interestingly enough, on a recent documentary (it might have been the excellent 2-hour one just shown on Frontline, about both candidates, or it was the one, yesterday night, on CNN–or perhaps both of them), a former classmate of Trump stated that he believes that D.T. doesn’t act much different than when he knew him as a fellow student in school.
Also, there’s an interesting parallel, I believe, in the Koch bros.’ childhood & that of the Trumps–both assuredly paternally-led families, with both fathers wanting their boys to be competitive, particularly in knowing how to fight (in the Koch biography, Sons of Wichita, Koch Sr. went so far as to purchase boxing gloves for his children–a manservant would take them out to box pummel each other). Koch mother was a socialite who was described as being too busy w/her life to have anything much to do w/her children.
This despicable state of affairs has been building for a long time and finally resulted in the candidacy of this sociopath, Donald Trump. With the rise of right-wing demagogues on the radio and television, along with their broadcasts of hatred, lies, and half-truths, I fear the Republican party has become the party of fear, hatred, and bigotry. What’s even more appalling and horrifying than Trump’s nomination and candidacy, are those people who support him, including the leadership of the Republican Party. Many of these people say they’re religious and righteous, but are quite the opposite. They hide behind religion to spew their hate. What will become of this country, the land of the free and the home of the brave, if these hate-filled and hateful people succeed? Will we become the next Nazi Germany?
Agree…but it started in the late 1960s with the John Birch Society, and has morphed into increasingly crazed tyrannical figures like Rush Limbaugh becoming the voice of the Rep Party. Glenn Beck has actually resonated lately with a new found understanding of demagoguery and finally verbalizing a revulsion for what is going on in America. The Tea Party emergence and the wildly off beat religious Evangelicals calling for an ‘off with their heads’ kind of society, caused the election of their equally ignorant and violent cohorts, so that we now have legislators who cannot even understand our system of government.
With bigots like Mitch McConnell and his ilk only behaving to stifle our Congress to stand against a Black President, and surely to do the same with a Woman President, how can we even function as a democratic republic?
His many absurd statements about the military culminated with his ridiculous claim that telling ISIS that they were going to be bombed was letting them run away, as if they had no clue they were in a war against a nation that has surveillance and armed attack drones, among other deadly things. As if anyone in a war who knows they were a high value target would just wait around to be killed. Trump isn’t qualified to command a shoebox full of green plastic army men.
I like your last sentence, Jon–in fact, it gave me quite a laugh (perhaps because it’s 1:00 AM here, & way past tonight’s bedtime).
That having been said, back to my earlier comments about his/Koch bros.’ upbringing, & T’s classmate describing him as much the schoolboy he knew as a child. T probably looks at the U.S. Armed Forces much as “a shoebox full of green plastic army men.” In fact, he’s stated–more than once–that he “knows more than the generals.”
In Toy Story, Andy’s Green Army Men were stored in a bucket labeled, Bucket O’ Soldiers. But those soldiers were not deplorable, as they were described by Woody as “professionals”.
So maybe this whole campaign has been a enactment of Toy Story 4.
While Mr Trump may represent many of the things we find offensive and repulsive, he represents an historical discontent, and even anger, that was born out of the dissatisfaction and loathing that the people of the United States feel for those who swear to protect and defend the poeple and our Constitution in words, but whose actions benefit the plutocracy and the upper class.
Mrs Clinton represents the face of what the American people cannot stand…she is the face of the 1%, the face of Wall Street, the face of the status quo, the face of the Arab Spring, the face tied to Obama regarding an Iranian ascendency in the Middle East, the face of NAFTA, and the face of the pending TOP, and by her political sidestepping and avoiding the issues confronting the attacks on public education, she then also becomes the face of the privatization movement.
She speaks about streamlining adoption proceedings, but the children in our cities languish day to day. She speaks about women’s rights, but makes no mention of women suffering under authoritarian regimes in nations that bankroll the Clinton Slush Fund.
She is a savvy enough politician to see what is going on in America, yet uses her political expertise to maneuver around facing the issues.
In the United States, we do not elect our representatives on the basis of whether or not they are saintly, but in the hopes that they will defend issues that are important to the American people. If we were looking for someone divine, we would probably not find him or her.
I always felt that Bill Clinton’s extramarital affairs and rendezvous’ were between he and his wife. And I feel that Donald Trump’s immature and irresponsible actions are between him and his family.
Many years ago, I knew a young couple that had the opportunity to meet Bill Clinton when he was running for president. While they both cordially tried to engage Mr Clinton in brief conversation, Mr Clinton’s eyes were disrespectfully roaming.
Mr Trump’s candidacy is the regurgitation of all that sicken the American people. We have rejected Scott Walker, Chris Christie, John Kasich, Jeb Bush, and Marco Rubio…all of whom have pledged their allegiance to the 1%. And Hillary Clinton has gamed the system to reject Bernie Sanders, the logical choice for the majority of the American people.
The American people are not stupid…they saw the Bill Clinton/Loretta Lynch secret meeting on the tarrnac in Denver, they saw the FBI find her at fault in numerous ways, except for finding criminality…they also witnessed how the moderators in each of the two debates held Clinton and Trump to different standards. Why did we need 21 minutes to discuss Trump’s locker room “banter”? (And likewise, why did we need to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on Kenneth Starr’s investigation of her husband) while it may well be healthy to discuss, the time (and money) could have been spent more productively.
Anderson Cooper would have demonstrated more professionalism by throwing it to the candidates, and then moving on to other issues like public education, the Clinton Foundation, secretive speeches made to Goldman Sachs, and equally hidden e-mails, and their visions for our country for the next four years.
We may not like Trump the person, and actually despise him as a human being (a gentler and more subdued candidate may have been swept under the rug, as is what happened to Sanders)…but the hatred that many have for the Clinton’s and all they represent may, or may not be stronger come this November.
If Mrs Clinton had done the right thing by the American people, Mr Trump would have been defeated by her record. The fact that Trump is still standing is a testimony, albeit a painful one. But what she says, and what she does, often giving mixed messages, are two sides to the same coin…and Donald Trump has simply filled a vacuum that Hillary Clinton unknowingly at best, or irresponsibly at worse, left open.
Personally, I am saddened by the direction that this election has taken. And I, like most Americans, would gladly embrace someone, anyone…from either side of the political aisle..,who would actually stand up for all the American people and our great nation.
But now…we, the American people, are left with two choices, Clinton or Trump.
Each is a creation of the other.
Bravo!
Long story short: Trump is a demagogue, sociopath and ultimately is for policies that will almost exclusively help the one percent.
Hillary is not a demented demagogue and she will not appoint right wing ideologues to the supreme court. I will vote for her. She will not start WWIII, that’s just fear mongering.
She will not start WWIII? The way she’s saber-rattling with Russia and demanding a no-fly zone in Syria? Don’t be so sure about that. As any WWE wrestler can tell you, you don’t talk trash unless you’re willing to meet in the ring.
WWIII has already started in Syria; we’re just waiting for the media to throttle up the anti-Assad/Putin horror stories after the election.
Michael,
It seems clear there won’t be anything left of Syria by January.
Diane, if that’s the case, then why has Hillary called for a no-fly zone, tantamount to a declaration of war, there?
Michael,
A no-fly zone prevents airplanes from bombing civilians.
Are you glad we did nothing to stop the carnage in Rwanda where 800,000 people were butchered? The UN with our support should have stopped it.
According to a classified Defense Intelligence Agency report dated 8/12/12, and publicly unearthed in 2015, “The West, Gulf countries and Turkey support the (Syrian) opposition… There is the possibility of establishing a declared or undeclared Salafist principality in eastern Syria, and this is exactly what the supporting powers to the opposition want, in order to isolate the Syrain regime…”
No one should be surprised about this, since the US national security state has, surreptitiously and otherwise, supported Salafist jihadis since at least the Soviet invasion of Afganistan in the 1980’s, and has done everything in its power to support Wahabist/Salafist movements in opposition Arab/Persian nationalists and socialists for over half a century. The attacks on 9/11/01 were a direct outgrowth of that, as we are now finding out.
It’s a little bit late for the US, which is largely responsible for the rise and expansion of ISIS, and the near total destruction of that ancient country, to now be complaining about Russian behavior in Syria. The Russians, unlike the US, actually seem to want to eliminate this scourge, rather than use it for its own ends, not the least of which is controlling political activity and debate in this country.
And, by the way, as long as we’re busy expressing outrage at Russian “massacres” in Syria, where’s the equivalent outrage over US complicity/material aid in Saudi attacks on civilians and hospitals taking place simultaneously in Yemen?
Or is that news not fit to print, since it gums up the anti-Russian, need-an-enemy-at-all-costs narrative?
Michael,
The news of the Saudi bombing of a funeral in Yemen was on the front page of The NY Times, so I suppose you could say it was “fit to print.”
Great review of history, Steve. You must be a teacher of government.
In addition to your comparison, there is the other rarely discussed issue of religion and we cannot forget that Hillary and Bill are Born Again…and that, when she was 1st Lady, (and perhaps even when she was a Senator and Sect. of State though I do not know of this as a fact) it is reported widely that she attended prayer meetings daily with the Right Wingers who subscribed to running America as a White CHRISTIAN Nation…and still do.
This is a dangerous view of democracy.
But too many have forgotten that tRump bragged only a few months ago that “he had given so much cash to the Clintons” and they were friends of his, that “they had to come to his wedding when he demanded/invited them to attend”..That was all over the news…for a moment. BTW, Eli Broad still says much the same thing.
This whole election is a conundrum of addressing the bad from the deplorable. Backwards and forwards, We the People, seem to be the big losers.
But, YES, I am still voting for Hillary. There are NO viable alternatives IMO.
Thanks Ellen for your kind words.
I’m just someone who cares about the sad direction of politics in our country, and against the attacks on our public education system.
Someone once told me that things run in cycles…I certainly hope this is true.
Imagine the day when public education in our nation is valued, is respected, is properly funded, and treated as a meaningful and essential part of our democracy.
And imagine the day when we have two candidates for president…from two political parties that address the issues that are important for our citizens, whereby each candidate offers a vision that makes people think…
1) Two wonderful human beings worthy of being role models for our children.
2) Two politicians that actually stand with the people and not only offer words, but demonstrate with action.
3) Two leaders that the American people hold highly in their hearts and minds.
4) Two individuals that respect and follow a fair legal and ethical system, and value the lives of fellow Americans, rather than engaged thievery for their own profits.
We have truly reached the bottom in Clinton and Trump.
“This too, shall pass”….
…but at what cost to our society?
I like your take on the situation, Stephen B. It’s called backlash and so President Obama can’t be exonerated for his role in creating that backlash to his style of ‘governing.’ One must vote for Trump to register one’s push back. Too bad Bernie wasn’t the nominee. One could vote for him with a clean conscience. Of the Republicans, only Dr. Carson was non-sleaze. He has made the difficult choice to support Trump, but has said he will work outside a Trump administration, not within. More evidence of his integrity, in my opinion.
Harlan,
If Bernie were the nominee, I feel certain you would be ranting now about his socialist ideas.
It has been amusing to see the Trump trolls on Twitter and even this blog crying crocodile tears for Bernie, as a way of trying to divide Democrats and help their sociopathic candidate.
Is this the same Hillary that supported NCLB, charter schools, Common Core, testing, etc? She lies to all of us and we merely let her get away with it because the alternative is even worse. I am sick of this charade. Hillary is an awful human being and will be a terrible president. Yes, Trump is despicable, too. He would be an incredible embarrassment to all Americans and a legitimate security risk, too. But, let’s stop the cheerleading for Hillary. She is done nothing for any teacher and she never will. She sickens me.
Agree with you!
Dito
Trump is not the disease, just a symptom. He is not only a twisted sleazebag, but a truly dangerous one. And proud of it.
It took millions of Americans to buy what he was selling or he would just be another reality show has been. And they continue to stand by their man(iac).
And that, Raging One, is the scariest part of this whole political disaster.
Pogo: “We have seen the enemy and he is us.” The lame stream media certainly doesn’t help, journalism in America is also a victim of evaluation via irrational ratings systems as well as the influence of money on both themselves and on the political sphere. S.N.A.F.U.
330 million people and these two were the best we could come up with? Our system needs an overhaul – its broken.
/ not a fan of either candidate.
// seriously considering Johnson
Johnson is an idiot. He would abolish public schools altogether.
Johnson seems to have totally lost it. Never heard of Aleppo, and could not come up with the name a single world leader he would like to meet with…shocking and pathetic display. Weld was sent out on Sunday to speak for him.
At least Hillary still has an active brain, and is surrounded by knowledgeable advisors.
What is with all the comments about how we should not stand up to Russia? I do not get it. One of the prime reasons to vote for Hillary Clinton is that she will oppose tyranny instead of embracing it like Donald Trump.
Hillary smart. Trump not smart.
Putin is one of those types that will test you for weakness. Hillary knows not to show Putin weakness. If we elect a buffoon like Trump, Putin will have a field day playing Trump as the fool he is. That is what is dangerous. Trump has already demonstrated weakness by telegraphing to Putin he would not oppose Russian aggression. Putin sees that as a green light to not only interfere with our election, but confront our military planes and ships.
Hillary is not the best candidate. But a vote for Stein or Johnson risks electing Trump. Then you get a mentally disturbed man as president.
Folks on this site need to bone up on Russian history, which includes over a thousand years of invasions, often by way of what is now Ukraine, before they insist on being conduits for Pentagon/State Department propaganda.
George H.W. Bush promised Mikhail Gorbachev that, if Soviet troops withdrew from eastern Europe, the US would not surround the Soviet Union with Nato-affiliated countries. Well, guess what happened? And, for Putin and the Russian people, the US-backed, neo-Nazi Banderist infested coup in Ukraine, was the line in the sand.
Even President Obama has been reality-based enough to acknowledge that Ukraine is deemed by Russia to be integral to its national security, and marginal, if that, to ours.
Putin, with his dead, reptilian eyes, makes an easy target, but the fact remains that Russia, like the US (believe it or not), has geo-political interests, too. Those geo-political interests include maintaining security and sovereignty in areas that are within its traditional sphere of influence (Ukraine) or that are traditionally part of Russia proper (Crimea).
Or is it only the US that is unquestioningly allowed to have geo-political interests and spheres of influence, and act on them?
To insist that Russia unilaterally disarm, which is what losing its Black Sea (via Sepastopol in Crimea) and Mediterranean access (via Latakia in Syria) entails, shows a truly unrealistic and easily-manipulated view of global politics, especially coming from people in the country that set that region on fire thirteen years ago. Remember that the US does not have clean hands here, and its a gross deflection to suddenly be blaming Putin for the horrors in Syria.
I’d also like to remind the readership of this blog that, evil as Assad is, Syria represented the last secular, quasi-pluralistic country in the Middle East, and that the armed opposition to him is under the direct control the Wahabist/Salafist wing of Islam (via Saudi Arabia, Qatar, et. al) that attacked us fifteen years ago, the same political elements that the US national security state has supported over the past half-century in its efforts to neutralize secular, nationalistic regimes that were deemed to be “bad for business.”
Blowback is a bitch, especially when it causes otherwise intelligent, thoughtful people to mouth government press releases.
Oh, and before anyone tries to accuse me of supporting Donnie, I will be voting for Hillary on November 8th. And opposing her on November 9th.
And this just in from The Patch….
Gloria Allred announced today that she represents women who were harassed by Donald Trump…and she says they started contacting her when the first Billy Bush video appeared.
Article also says…..
“The tweet set off a firestorm with wealthy Clinton backer Mark Cuban tweeting he would be willing to pay the legal fees and fines of anyone willing to leak the rumored tapes. Last week the Associated Press ran a story in which “The Apprentice” crew members claimed Trump harassed and demeaned cast and crew, rating women by their looks and openly discussing which ones he’d have sex with.
The rampant speculation prompted MGM, which owns all “The Apprentice” footage, to issue a statement to Variety Monday declaring that it would not be releasing any tapes due to contractual obligations.”
Doncha love Mark Cuban???
Paul Ryan and his Rep muskateers had to know this was coming…rodents are now fleeing the sinking ship of tRump.
When the story broke about the video, Kelly Oxford tweeted, “Women: tweet me your first assaults.” Less than half an hour later, she was receiving 2 responses per second. For hours afterwards, she was getting more than 50 responses a minute. #NotOkay
This is what that “locker room talk” was about. Any man that talks like that, and he has for decades, does not deserve the opportunity to do public service. The White House is not a locker room.
Diane, I just cannot contain myself any longer. I have tried to remain quiet because I have cousins who love this monster. However, Trump has done us a public service. I now know who are the real enemies of equal rights, civil discourse and freedom in this country. Hillary has many flaws, but he is a danger to the foundation that holds up our democratic institutions. He is an expert in the big lie theory promulgated by Hitler and Goebbels. Hopefully, it is not working in this country because we have not only a free press (which he would love to stifle), but also the Internet. I have a gay married son with two wonderful grandchildren. To me, anyone who votes for Trump wants to hurt them. They want to take away their right to be a loving family and want a society in which my grandchildren will not be bullied and harassed because they have a different type of family. Funny, one cousin on Facebook wrote that Obama and Clinton are the two most immoral people on earth. All I know is that Obama has been married to one woman and has raised two spectacular daughters in what looks to me as a very loving family. Bill Clinton may have been a womanizer, but at least his ideas and policies as president were rational. Those who denounce him forget that he left this country with a booming economy and a budget surplus. And right now, the Clinton Foundation is saving lives in countries throughout the world. The money the foundation raises is not for them, but for others. The charity is one of the highest rated in the world. The Clintons have and are now helping others. On the other hand, here is Trump who by his very words is the epidomy of greed, selfishness, narcissism and bigotry. His promises are empty shells. No wall can protect you from danger. You may keep out that Mexican,but there is always a home grown criminal waiting up the street. Jobs in manufacturing, steel, oil, and coal are never coming back in a post industrial international economy. One has to encourage new types of jobs and supply training in those jobs. And no, you do not have the right to call someone by a bigoted expression. History proves that words always leads to action. The gas chambers are the result of using words of hate. Feel free to never associate with a gay, black, Hispanic or handicapped person, but outside your home, you better allow them in your stores and serve them in your restaurants in a cordial if not friendly manner. Everything Trump says and stands for disgusts me. Whatever Bill and Hillary has done in the past pails in comparison to what this man is doing right now. His rallies are equivalent to Nazi rallies. Because of this man, hate crimes are on the rise in this country. To his supporters, freedom means the freedom to hate and hurt those who are different. I pray that when this is over and he is relegated to the dustbin of history, this country can find the courage to heal itself. This country is bleeding and wounded. I pray we can come back and become one country again.
Liberal teacher: Bravo!