A new poll by the Washington Post poll reports that Clinton and Trump are in a tie, with Trump ahead by 1 point.
Prepare for a president who will name at least 2 new Supreme Court justices, dedicated to rolling back Roe v Wade, gay marriage, civil rights protections, climate change regulations, and limitations on torture. Prepare for a president who will remove all restrictions on drilling for oil anywhere, on fracking, on coal, and who supports any and every pipeline.
Prepare for a president with a foul mouth and a dark heart.
For the first time in my life, I am afraid of who will be elected.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
There is no ambiguity in this election. This is not the moment to protest the tyranny of the two entrenched political parties. This is not the time to register a protest vote for a third-party candidate who cannot win. This not the time to stay home. There is no equivalency between Trump and Clinton. This is the moment to stop a proto-fascist who will threaten democracy and dissent and unleash potentially uncontrollable hatred andviolence. Vote for Clinton, then organize.
http://www.arthurcamins.com
Agree completely, Arthur. Hillary is in a different league than the bigoted and deeply dangerous Trump.
Over the past two months I have been on campus registering young voters…and even though most were Bernie supporters, they see the danger of Trump and are voting for Hillary. Even the Young Republicans are not voting for this madman…but they are toying with voting Libertarian. Made for some fascinating conversations.
All day today I have been misspelling Paul Manafort’s name. I apologize…here is an article about the investigation of his dealings with Russia.
PlaySources: FBI Examining Ex-Trump Campaign Manager’s Ties to Russia Facebook Twitter Google PlusEmbed
Sources: FBI Examining Ex-Trump Campaign Manager’s Ties to Russia 2:20
The FBI has been conducting a preliminary inquiry into Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort’s foreign business connections, law enforcement and intelligence sources told NBC News Monday.
Word of the inquiry, which has not blossomed into a full-blown criminal investigation, comes just days after FBI Director James Comey’s disclosure that his agency is examining a new batch of emails connected to an aide to Hillary Clinton.
And it comes a day after Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid criticized Comey’s revelation and asserted that Comey possesses “explosive information about close ties and coordination between Donald Trump, his top advisors, and the Russian government.”
The FBI did not comment. Manafort told NBC News “none of it is true … There’s no investigation going on by the FBI that I’m aware of.” He said he had never had ties to Russian president Vladimir Putin, or had dealings with Putin and his government. He said any suggestion of such ties was “Democratic propaganda.”
“This is all political propaganda, meant to deflect,” he said.
NBC News reported in August that Manafort was a key player in multi-million-dollar business propositions with Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs — one of them a close Putin ally with alleged ties to organized crime — which foreign policy experts said raised questions about the pro-Russian bent of the Trump candidacy.
PlayAUG. 15: Trump Campaign Chair Faces Questions on Pro-Russia Ties Facebook Twitter Google PlusEmbed
AUG. 15: Trump Campaign Chair Faces Questions on Pro-Russia Ties 6:50
A few days later, amid other reporting on Manafort’s Ukraine ties, Manafort was ousted from the campaign.
Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, regularly receives sensitive briefings. Schiff said he could not discuss Reid’s assertions, but he said, “Americans have every right to be concerned about what they see in terms of Trump advisors and their closeness with the Kremlin, Trump’s policies vis-a-vis Russia, Trump’s potential financial interest, all of those things ought to be of deep concern to voters.”
He added, “Whether an investigation is appropriate depends on whether there’s evidence of criminal connections. Of course the intelligence community wants to know what foreign influence Russia may be looking to exert in the United States.”
Manafort was paid millions of dollars — $12.7 million in cash, according to The New York Times—representing a pro-Russian politician in the Ukraine.
Manafort’s name in an alleged payment ledger. The Times
Trump has taken a series of pro-Russian positions that experts from both parties say are far outside the mainstream, and inexplicable from a political viewpoint. He continues to cast doubt on Russian involvement in election hacking, for example, despite the intelligence community’s public assessment.
“The relationships that Trump’s advisors have had with pro-Russian forces are deeply disturbing,” David Kramer, a former senior State Department official in the George W. Bush administration and a former adviser to Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign, told NBC News in August. “Trump’s attitude on Russia is not in line with most Republican foreign-policy thinking. Trump has staked out views that are really on the fringe.”
An FBI inquiry is a preliminary examination that falls short of a criminal investigation. But in this highly charged atmosphere, it has some arguing that Comey is applying a double standard.
“Any specifics of what the FBI or intelligence agencies may be looking at are not something that the bureau should be discussing publicly,” Schiff said. “But here, where the director has discussed an investigation involving one candidate, it opens the director up to claims of bias if he doesn’t discuss other potential investigations.”
Ellen,
That may explain why the Trump campaign cared about one issue in the GOP platform: removing any condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Crimea
When I worked against David Duke in Louisiana in 1990, one of the most disheartening things was seeing Duke signs displayed proudly in yards throughout the state. It made me understand what I already knew but wouldn’t admit: many of my neighbors were driven by a deep-seeded bigotry and a belief in nonsensical solutions to imagined problems. Now that I live in Ohio, a real sense of scary deja vu has returned as I see the Trump signs sprouting up among my neighbors. David Duke’s bigotry and irrationalism has followed me here and it’s now spread across the nation. Regardless of who wins, this is what our nation has become; an ungovernable mess controlled by a slim majority or large minority of people who have no civic education or understanding of the American experiment. That experiment if failing right before our eyes. And those of us who follow this blog and know what is happening to public education understand this situation deeply.
I admit to a similar sentiment having just listened to ordinary folks’ call-ins to CSPAN’s daily Wash Journal. Some have common-sense & perspective, many have vast ignorance, parroting lies & conspiracy theories.
I don’t think this is new, nor what we ‘have become’. I grew up surrounded by such people in ’50’s/ ’60’s rural upstate-NY. Even my Dad, an open-minded soul (grew up poor on a midwestern farm in the Depression & came East to find people more like himself) would regress to this sort of thinking when feeling down & beleaguered with money worries.
For educators, the connection between poverty and lousy education/ critical thinking skills is unmistakeable. It’s really in-your-face at this time, an election season following a prolonged period of economic challenge during which poverty in distressed & high-poverty areas has sharply increased and now spreads into suburbs. ‘What we have become’ is poorer; the political ramifications of long-standing unequal support of education is clear.
This is why Lloyd often points to the history of the rise of fascism in Germany, and all over Europe and Asia.
Suggest everyone read Wm. Shirer’s book The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich which reports on this history which led to WW2, showing the same scenario bethree5 describes above in her own lifetime.
Greg’s experience with David Duke is a clear lead-in to our current election. I too am seeing neighbors proudly displaying Trump signs, but many others are fearful to put out Hillary signs considering the potential for violence of those who support Trump.
There is already social order breakdown with hidden bigots feeling empowered to express their hatred. It will not disappear if Trump loses…and he has repeatedly called for his supporters to commit violence. As Diane said, it is the first time in my long life that I fear for the future.
With all respect for Shirer’s book, there are some issues which he overlooked (sounds nicer than ignored…)
He does not go far enough into the history between Germany and some of the other European countries. There are some more understandable reasons why Germany descended into that hell, reasons that were, by then, decades old.
The U.S. is not even close, either economically or politically, to having to worry about this taking place in this country.
Of course, with the taxation plans Ms. Clinton has, no one really knows what will happen. With an ever increasing national debt, no telling where we might be 20 years from now. With an ever more lowering of educational standards, we might not have a generation that will know it’s history.
With the way history is in the process of being re-written by many of the “progressives,” we might lose sight of where we came from – 2 generations from now.
With the increased “guilting” of white Americans, we are creating an ever growing dislike between ethnic groups.
With the seemingly growing desire to jump to judgment without awareness of all the facts, we may have lost any and all reasonable discourse.
With the increasing lack of civility in public discourse…
Well, you get my drift, I guess.
Wow…that is quite a list you purport…re losing elements of white history…and blaming “progressives” for revisionist history.
The Cheney’s and Bush family have done much to revise American history…Neal Bush has his own printing press and sells his versions to public and private schools. The Cheney women have influenced the Texas text book manufacturers with their own brand of American Exceptionalism in text books. Read UCLA emeritus, Professor Nash, for an honest scholarly view on American History.
As to Shirer, he was a factual reporter of WW2 and the surrounding situations leading in to it. From your vantage point it appears you do not see the poverty that many US residents suffer, and from the Repub side it has drawn irrational support for Trump. From the Dem side we see the Latino and Black communities support the far more rational and experienced Hillary even though many understand her faults…but most of us do not expect her to set up internment camps in the US…which I could see Trump doing.
So I disagree that the US is “neither politically or economically not close” to 1928 Germany when Prescott Bush and Averill Harriman, Germanophiles both, used their bank to infuse cash into the Third Reich. With our untouchable banking system protected now by FDIC to cover all their risks, we are moments away from disaster. Now you will probably give us a lesson in economics (plus history) from your perspective.
Rudy….you and I are from different universes and your “drift” could not be clearer and not be more Right Wing White elitist.
Rudy, the pseudo-intellectual gymnastic contortions you go through, from Shirer to “the taxation plans Ms. Clinton has” to “history…rewritten…by many ‘progressives'” to “‘guilting’ of white Americans” to “judgment [sic] without awareness of all the facts,” still couldn’t be pulled together with the dismount of a “lack of civility in public discourse” no matter how hard you try. Next time start with your conclusion and go back to find out how you failed to get there in one piece. An objective reconsideration of your conclusions of “guilting” and “rewritten…history” might give you some clues about where you missed the mark.
Really? And by the way, “judgment” is spelled correctly.
Read your history (European, that is). After WWI Germany got settled with enormous debts, because of “reparations.” These were made extra hard because the allies took pretty much everything they could carry out of Germany, which took some of the tools to fabricate things – which could be sold. Check your history!
This led to several issues:
Taxation to the hilt
Devaluation of the Mark
Economi Depression which made Black Friday look like a walk in the park
Unemployment in double digits
Starvation in a grand scale
And the search for scape goats.
And that gave an Austrian corporal a great, fertile ground.
All of this started with the 1871 war, where France got humiliated.
Beginning to eerily like what’s happening, doesn’t it?
Taxes up
Poverty grows
Creditors too many to think about
An ever growing national debt
A demagogue finding just the right scape goat(s)
Rich people threatened with higher then ever taxes because the middle class is losing money every year so nothing to be gotten there.
One day the creditors will want their money back – and then what?
Rudy, you are correct, judgment is spelled correctly. It’s just that your understanding of the what the word means is way off. I was unclear in my use of irony. You kind of lose the argument and expose your prejudices and misconceptions when you use “progressives rewriting history” and “white guilting” as talking points. And “demagogue finding just the right scape goat(s)” brings to mind the lyric “Isn’t it rich?” But you’re not trying to be ironic, are you? As for German history, try reading Gordon Craig, Michael Stürmer, Hagen Schulze, Sebastian Haffner, Alfred Grosser, Joachim Fest, Christopher Clark, Peter Merseburger, and Fritz Stern while not focusing on simplistic, ideological economics.
If Trump wins, it would be like looking into an abyss of infinite darkness, doom and foreboding. Nothing good will come of a Trump presidency further “enhanced” and supported by far right wing ideology.
Well, you can just vote and hope it turns out okay. None of us are privy to the “levers of power” – I have no idea why the FBI is so involved in an election. It seems to be some inter-agency fight playing out publicly. I can’t do anything to stop that. No one seems to be in charge.
I think Trump will be a disaster for the vast majority of people but what’s the quote? “Here’s a Republic if you can keep it”?
Maybe we can’t keep it. Authoritarian leaders take over in other democratic countries. There’s no special reason we would be immune.
The FBI is also investigating Paul Manafort’s ties to Russian oligarchs and Russian mafia but they won’t talk about that until after the election, according to Senator Harry Reid.
Also there are questions raised about the Trump campaign’s ties to Russian hackers and Wikileaks.
Keith Olbermann brings up an interesting point. Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) of the House Oversight committee originally said, for the sake of his teen daughter, he could not support Trump. Now just a few weeks later, Caffetz states he is voting for Trump. How does a rational person reconcile not supporting Trump but voting for Trump? Olbermann suggests maybe, just maybe, Caffetz was tipped off about the Comey letter before it was released. Which, Olbermann asks, was the Trump campaign also tipped off? If so, some federal prosecution may be in order.
The FBI has a long history of interfering with Presidential elections. J. Edgar Hoover is one prime example, but it went on even before him.
Read: https://www.thenation.com/article/this-is-not-the-first-time-the-fbi-has-interfered-with-a-presidential-election/
Power corrupts.
It’ll surely be odd to have a US President who pays no federal income taxes while living like a King. Proudly. Brags about being a deadbeat.
It’s pretty ridiculous that I’m supporting the Trump Family lifestyle. Maybe it will end up like Greece, where ordinary people just stopped voluntarily paying because none of their leaders were.
For what it’s worth, I early voted and I did vote for Clinton. I am in a swing state and I don’t have the luxury of a protest vote, but I was tempted. I am getting tired of the doom and gloom scenarios that folks are predicting, though. I have confidence in this country to survive no matter who is elected. We’ve gone through worse, and honestly, voting for Hillary was painful. If she gets in who knows what she’ll do to public education. The thing that was the biggest factor in my decision was the VP picks. Kaine may be a good influence on HRC when it comes to public education, while we know what Pence will do.
Thanks, Liz. Hillary is not worse than Obama or any other Democrat. Hillary is a conventional Democrat. The hysteria against her was cultivated by rightwingers for 25 years. Plus, many people really don’t want a woman president.
“Hillary is a conventional Democrat.”
Yes, and therein lies the problem. How well has education fared under “conventional Democrats”? And might I, once again, list some of the things that “conventional Democrats” have accomplished? NAFTA, welfare “reform”, the repeal of Glass-Steagall, “three strikes”, the destruction of Libya, the support of a coup in Honduras, suppressing the minimum wage in Haiti, the list goes on. I don’t know if Hillary will be “worse than” Obama, but hasn’t Obama been bad enough??
Dienne,
I don’t understand your frequent posts. Are you a Trump supporter? If so, why?
Yes, Hillary is Obama 2.0 and Republican-lite. But what is the rational solution? Hillary is not perfect, but far from the fascist, racist, dangerous policies of Trump and his followers.
It is fine to criticize Hillary, but at this point, there is much at stake and some tough decisions need made.
I’m sure Diane is filtering out the more extreme posts from Trump trolls. But I can do to other sites and read very disturbing posts by Trump supporters.
MathVale, I’ve always had a lot of respect for you, but your equation of criticizing Hillary with supporting Trump is causing me to lose some of that respect. It’s just like GWB’s “You’re with us or you’re with the terrorists” line. The fact is that Hillary is the likely next president of the United States. It’s insane to pretend that she is a liberal when she has a 20+ year record of supporting the same neoliberal policies as the rest of the so-called Democrats. We had a chance to pick a candidate who would have broken that mold, but it was not to be. We still had a chance to reject both the Republicans and the Democrats, but, again, that is not to be. We have been steadily pushed down the There Is No Alternative tunnel into picking between quite possibly the worst two candidates in the history of U.S. elections and any suggestion that there were or are alternatives has been met with derision, scorn and “so, what, you support Trump?”. Very disheartening.
We can either face who and what Hillary is now or we can dance in Grant Park like we did eight years ago and then feign surprise when we get slapped in the face, again, for the next eight years. I was one of those dancing in Grant Park eight years ago who’s been rudely awakened since. I personally don’t plan to keep taking surprise hits to the face. As a recent president said, ” fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.”
Dienne, Don’t Mourn. Organize. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arthur-camins/dont-mourn-organize_b_11393230.html) In the meantime, I hope you will vote for Clinton to preserve the right to dissent and to protect your fellow citizen who may be vulnerable to the hatred and repression Trump will surely unleash.
Bernie Sanders is campaigning daily for Hillary.
Dienne,
I have not lost respect for you because we disagree. Why would you lose respect for me for expressing my views?
Dienne,
Waiting for your answer to my question.
Diane
No, I was just trying to understand your posts as they are reflective of some of the others, not suggesting you or they support Trump, but asking if you/they do. But you didn’t really answer that.
So let me explain…
Yes, I supported Bernie, but he lost. Hillary is the nominee. She is running against Trump. Trump says things that are true to many decent, hardworking Americans. But he also says things that are racist, mean, destructive, and dangerous. He is not the candidate to solve what ails America’s middle class. Yes, I do not like everything about the Clintons and did not want another Clinton presidency where the truth is shaded and squishy and words must be carefully parsed. Yes, I was disappointed in Obama and felt burned, but it is time to move on. No amount of complaining about Hillary will change the very stark, impactful decision the country must make for the future.
So I look at this election with a certain amount of pragmatism. With the electorial college gap closing and on a trajectory to a 50-50 race (ignoring the irrelevant popular vote) on Nov 8th, every vote is critical in the swing states. I am in a swing state of swing states running a statistical 50-50 split. I cannot afford the luxury of a “protest” vote for Johnson or Stein or a write-in of John McCain as our spineless governor did. Those in non-swing states can “vote their conscious” with little fear of repercussion. I wish I had that option. A third party vote, non-vote, or write-in is a vote Hillary loses. That is a gain for Trump.
Hopefully you can understand my perspective and why posts criticizing Hillary seem petulant. No insult intended or disrespect, but I grow tired of having to take a gut punch, hold my nose, and vote for Hillary while others don’t have to make that tough decision and sacrifice a bit of self-respect so a madman like Trump isn’t elected. Instead, it would be nice if those non-swing state voters give us some support.
My original response was lost somehow.
Basically, I am in a swing state of swing states. We are at a statistical 50-50 split. The electorial college is on a current trajectory for a 50-50 split after Comey’s letter. I do not have the luxury of “voting my conscious” for Johnson, Stein, or a write-in of John McCain as our spineless governor did. A third party or non-vote risks electing the madman Trump. I must take a gut punch, hold my nose, and vote for Clinton, sacrificing some self-respect as a Bernie supporter. It would be nice if those non-swing state progressives supported us rather that attack.
Dienne
I share your concern about Clinton/Obama Wall Street party. So just go vote for the party of the Koch brothers because that’s the solution ?? . I hope your not delusional enough to think, that policies like Right to Work or a National Voucher program . Nor any of the other right wing policy that will accompany a Trump /Pence ticket will be reversed in your Life Time .
Right-to-work is a democratic right. FORCING someone to become a union member reeks of communism. No one should be forced to join any group that they would have serious, conscientious problems with.
Rudy,
Would you approve a two-track system, where union members get the benefits that the union negotiated, and non-members do not?
That sounds fair to me.
Free-riders should not benefit from the work of the union they refuse to join.
I work in a mixed environment. And I can guarantee you that I have no benefit what so ever from what the union does for their members. I prefer that over FORCED membership of an organization that uses my money on political causes I cannot stand behind.
I guess you did not read the part where I mentioned that I do NOT BENEFIT from union results.
And when I see what union members do, I would not be a good union member.
When I get a promotion, it is totally based on merit. Not on seniority, years employed, education etc. none of those count.
And I am good with that.
I have health insurance – but pay a percentage out of my own pocket.
And I am good with that, too.
My pay is related to the number of hours I work. When I work more than 40, I get paid those hours at legal rates. When less, I don’t get paid.
I am good with that.
As a result, I have been able to cross many areas of expertise. I get to work in many different areas, many different experiences. And I m good with that.
About 20 years ago I was hired to repair a certain kind of product. From that I am now one of our project managers. Never had a boring day! But then, I have not had one of those for the last 47 years – with at least four more to go.
Unlike union members, I get to make a number of personal choices, the most important of which is: who do I get to support financially during elections.
But I also get to hire people for their experience and knowledge, rather than because of union rules. I can hire whatever gender, color etc I want: as long as they can handle the job they want.
I have a conscientious problem with striking or walking off a job. I made a deal with my employer, and I stick to that deal.
When funding gets cut, I know and understand my employer cannot hand me as big a raise as I would like. Rather than unions who will make unreasonable demands (seen it happen: 16% funding loss, 8% demand for pay increase).
I have seen unions tear apart friendships, families and companies. Locally union had unreasonable demands, company locked them out (financially better for the workers – get unemployment rather than strike pay). Union leadership made dumb decisions and demands. 300 people lost their job because of union leadership).
Where I lived for 20 years before moving here several companies went belly up because of union demands. Instead of agreeing to give up several hundred jobs, thousands were lost, my dad’s being one of them. Six kids, 7th on the way. No job. No insurance.
Man, Rudy, I wish it were that simple. The more experience I get in life, the more gray areas appear, and I don’t mean hair.
The fundamental question is “are unions good or bad”?
I’ve worked in private and public unions and yes there is too much deadwood that should be fired and fools that use seniority or race or gender cards to cover laziness and incompetence on the job. But there are many more good union members that pick up the slack for their useless co-workers and are exceptional. Those good workers deserve the protections of due process and collective bargaining.
I’ve worked in non-union places and they are FAR from a meritocracy. There, the incompetence tends to be in management and covered up by nepotism and cronyism. Workers, mostly older, women, or sick/injured, are abused, exploited, and treated like dirt. While the executives pay themselves exorbitant bonuses.
So what’s the solution? Certainly a middle ground. Streamline due process to get rid of the truly underperforming, maybe. Keep collective bargaining to equalize pay.
Any suggestions?
Rudy,
I have never seen a promotion based totally on merit. The reality is, there’s always someone who could do your job and do it cheaper. So there are always other factors at play. Don’t kid yourself.
You have been rather fortunate and sheltered. I’ve seen too much nepotism, cronyism, ageism, sexism, discrimination, and just plain exploitation and stupidity from executive management. I’ve seen better people let go for incompetent relatives of the CEO, older workers to save money after years of dedication, women harassed for refusing favors, employees fired for getting cancer or injured. Non-union shops can stink – badly.
I find those most enamored by “free markets”, so-called meritocracies, and right to work are the most removed and sheltered from the resulting negative effects. Maybe you need to get out more.
I love this. sheltered? Right. I think I have more work experience than many people on this list. I’m at year 47. Well, plus almost two months, but who is counting.
In locations where there is no union, merit is pretty much what counts. Sure, there can be some situations, but working life has been more fair in my experience when there are no unions telling you who and why people should advance.
Where I grew up, unions have done some of the following:
28 days paid vacation the moment you start your job
For every year over 50, an extra week leave per year
Most jobs are now 36 hours a week – supposedly to create more job openings. Did not work. You just had to work harder to get the work done in less time
Of course, you pay 52% tax on the equivalent of 40,000.00, 4$ for a gallon of fuel, 21% value added tax, tv and radio tax, road tax any where from $1000 and up. Because, after, all that free time etc has to come from somewhere, right?
O that’s right! American companies who think THAT is a tax haven, since they only get taxed 25%.
Dienne,
I haven’t seen anyone gushing over Hillary on this blog. We may not agree on exactly what kind of president she would make, but at this point your continual diatribe against her really does sound like you would rather see Trump as President. I can see no redeeming quality in that man; he is vile. I do not want my grandchildren to grow up in a world of his invention.
The more I learn about Hillary Clinton, the more I think she will be a great president. I don’t see this as the “lesser of two evils” anymore. I was for Bernie Sanders and was disappointed when he was not nominated, but Hillary Clinton is extremely capable and wise.
Hillary was a good senator in New York. She was very reasonable and always supported public education.
I am scared, too. Did You see the daily show,let night. In this satiric skit, Trevor Noah is hiding in a darkened studio, from Trump, who is running for a second term, after destroying America.
But do not believe the polls. Hillary is the next president, not that she will do a thing to stop the privatization of our schools… she is one of ‘them’, and no matter what she says, she will do nothing to stop the charters.
538 puts her odds now at around 75%. If it drops to 50% (which IS the current extrapolation to Nov 8th), I will be even more concerned. But then again, 538 got Trump completely wrong. So, hopefully, Hillary can get out the vote.
They also blew Sanders in Michigan
Are the 2 parties the same side of two different coins, whoops, I mean two sides of the same coin? Yes and no, they both suck up massive amounts of corporate/billionaire money. But one party has morphed into a radical hard right wing movement party. The GOP will not allow Obama to select a replacement for Scalia. Derrick Garland is not exactly a raving liberal/progressive though he is not a raving far right winger either. That is radical and unprecedented, I do not think that the Democrats would have done the same to the GOP; the Democrats would at least have allowed the approval or disapproval process to go forward. The GOP won’t even allow the process to happen and they threaten to do the same for a President Clinton.
Whoops, should be Merrick Brian Garland. Crazy spell check keeps replacing Merrick with Derrick. I can’t touch type, my eyes are on the keyboard as I type and thus I can miss typos.
If Trump wins, be ready for Moscow’s candidate to tear America apart and destroy the republic. When he’d done, the U.S. will no longer be the #1 world power, and the Trump brand will be worth a lot more than it was before the 2016 election.
I just wrote about this here: https://lloydlofthouse.org/2016/11/01/who-is-moscows-candidate-for-u-s-president/
Lloyd…I referred above to your well extrapolated history lesson this AM…so thanks for the link.
Agree with you about most of the history and outcomes here and now.
This scenario in the US is a mirror image to Germany in the pre-WW2 era, with the rise of the Third Reich grabbed, due to the failed economics, by the impoverished Germans as a life raft…and even now explains the rise of Russia again as a leading world power. Putin last week said Russia is once again a/the world leader…and the historians report he wants a return to the USSR. Your comments also on China are right on the mark.
Trump is either too dumb to understand this…but more likely is playing along with Putin…as is Wikileaks Assange who is leaking for Trump while massaging Putin. Watch the Blankforte investigation…he was Trump’s first choice to lead the Trump campaign…a clear comment on Trump’s association with Putin and the Russian oligarchs.
Russia has never been a world leader but has always wanted to be. In the 19th century and early in the 20th, they took a backseat to or were blocked by the British Empire (BE) and the French. After the reduction of the BE, Russia took a backseat to the United States and lost the Cold War. Russia also failed in its effort to take over and influence Korea when it supported North Korea and urged the first leader of the now third generation dynasty leadership to attack South Korea.
Russia keeps trying to be the world’s most powerful nation and has failed repeatedly. It must be all that vodka and the cold winters.
I was going back to FDR, Churchill, and Stalin at Malta. But the status of world leader, even for terror and slaughter, has been claimed their leaders all during the 70 years of the USSR.
Ellen,
Even at the time of the meeting between Churchill, FDR and Stalin, Russia wasn’t equipped to fight Germany. Russia had the people but not the tanks and aircraft. The U.S., at great risk and cost, shipped the machinery necessary for Russia to build the tank and aircraft that they used to defeat the German army with a lot of help from the Russian winter. Without help from the US and the UK, the soviets would have either starved or died as the German armies crushed or bombed them.
https://www.quora.com/How-much-did-the-United-States-supplying-the-Soviet-Union-help-the-Soviets-win-in-World-War-II
And now this today, from Comey who is all in for Trump and destroying a fair election. He has just brought up Bill Clinton’s pardon of Marc Rich 13 years ago. What a dastardly turd Comey is.
“FBI Releases Archive From Bill Clinton Pardon Case
US News and World Report – 8 minutes ago
WASHINGTON — Only days before the presidential election, the FBI released a 17-year-old archive of documents from a long-closed …
FBI Now Releasing Documents About Bill Clinton and Marc Rich
News Week – 39 minutes ago
With the election just a week away, the FBI has released a tranche of 15-year-old documents dealing with Bill Clinton’s pardon of …”
But he releases nothing about Trump’s crooked dealings for decades. Yes, this election is rigged. Trump said weeks ago there would be November surprises…guess he paid off Comey long ago.
Where are Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders? They should push for rapid indictment of Comey under the Hatch Act.
You are right, Ellen. Comey needs to be leashed, preferably with a choke chain. There is no way this man can continue to claim integrity.
He is out to destroy Hillary.
I am not only afraid but depressed. My daughter works in a parttime job as she can’t find a full time job with benefits. She is paying @ $200 a month health insurance when she should qualify for medicaid, but Virginia won’t extend those benefits. Something has to give…….
Democrats have been tone deaf to the true working Americans. In our area, an American with a tech degree and over 40 can’t get a job because of a flood of H1bs taking all the openings.
Trump strikes a chord around here. He just isn’t the right person to fix the issues.
I don’t believe the polls. Early voting reports HRC leading. Media wants a horse race and fear to create greater viewership.
The parallels between 1933 Germany and the hate-filled atmosphere in the United States today are too many. I fear for this country and the world with a Trump controlled government.
I live in Southern Tasmania, Australia. I am deeply frightened at what the American people are hoping to do – Elect Trump. The planet deserves better. What in hell has the rest of the world done to deserve this. And the few decent Americans who oppose this evil man.
We’ll know how many deplorables Trump has after the election, and how many decent, rational, difficult-to-fool American voters there are. One will be few and the other many.
Its even concerning down here on the edge of Antartica.
I have a Canadian friend who said if Trump is elected, she wants to move to New Zealand or Australia to get as far from him as possible because Canada would be too close to Trump’s U.S. empire. But if you feel the same way, where can you move, Mars? LOL
Lots of American celebrities promised to move out if the country if Bush was elected. They never left,…
Indeed.His election will affect the whole planet.Wishing you all the very best.
Then that wish should have been for everyone on the planet Earth, even the cockroaches, because Trump might kill off that species too once he gets his “pussy grabbing little hands” on the nuclear button.
Exactly my deepest fear. I love this beautiful planet but I fear for its future. My photo blog below.
https://marktravelnotesblog.com
Wishing you well the in the USA. The world has now become a terrifying place. Hard to comprehend where this will end. Stay safe.
I hope all of us stay safe. The majority of US US just turned everything over to the Republicans: the party that represents racists, bigots, the wealthiest 0.1 percent, etc.
I do not see how the republic will survive. This is the end of the Untied States. We are living through the same thing that happened to Rome and every empire in the world’s history. The haters and uneducated always signal the end of a civilization.
I am deeply sad for all of the decent good people in the USA. The uneducated white bigots just fatally wounded not only the republic but the whole world. I saw it coming 18 months ago but no one I knew thought it could ever happen. Decent good people such as you deserved so much better. You are in my thoughts. I am stunned and in genuine shock. As some have said – “the shit has now just got real” I fear for the future of my two beautiful sons. And everyone’s sons and daughters across the whole planet.
What’s interesting and tragic is that I’m reading HC is winning the popular vote by several million. She lost by a sliver in most if not all of the battle ground states where Trump won the Electoral votes needed to win the election, but HC won the popular votes by large margins in the dark blue states.
As the actual votes come in, HC is ahead by more than a million votes. Trump will rule over a country he won becasue of the flawed Electoral College system.
http://www.nytimes.com/elections/forecast/president
Yes. I noted that. HC had the majority vote. I am planning to buy a property in the remote wilderness and resign from my job. Worry I’m overreacting but something tells me I am not.I want to protect my family from what may be coming. Should I worry? Is it as dangerous as it seems?
Be careful where you buy that remote property. The white nationalist supremacist-fundamentalist Bible Thumping, women abusing Christians already bought up that land and are entrenched in their bunkers waiting for the end of the world.
Here’s a list of the 10 states with the most hate groups. Maybe if you avoid those states, you might be safe.
Louisiana
Virginia
Kentucky
Alabama
South Carolina
Tennessee
New Jersey (this helps explains how Chris Christie was elected)
Idaho (I understand that the hate groups here live in the remote, rugged corner of Idaho near Wyoming and Montana)
Arkansas
Mississippi
http://247wallst.com/special-report/2015/07/09/10-states-with-the-most-hate-groups/2/
At 2:00 AM she’s over a million behind. There is a possibility that she will get more votes but that is conjecture based on past experience with mailed ballots.
The electoral college is a problem – but that’s not trump’s doing. It’s a built-in issue, and a risk.
It’s now almost 8 a.m. the day after the election on Nov. 9, and Clinton is still winning the popular vote by 0.5 percent.
The count is currently at: (it’s changing by the second.
Clinton 59,383,245 votes
Trump 59,209,854 votes
Less than a minute later, the count is up to:
Clinton 59,384,720 votes
Trump 59,211,893 votes
The GOP has a one seat majority in the Senate. All it will take is two Republicans that don’t support Trump to help the Democrats block him in the Senate.
https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=who%20won%20the%20popular%20vote%20in%202016&eob=enn/o//////////////
In fact, if Trump screws up his first year in office, the voters have the midterms to shift the power in Congress away from the GOP to the Democrats. Historically, this has been true.
Since Truman, it is rare for a sitting president to have his party in control of both Houses of Congress at the same time. They might start out that way, but be the next election, the people usually vote the majority party out of one or both Houses of Congress.
And what will happen between Trump, who is clearly not a traditional Republican conservative, attempts to do something even the GOP majority in Congress doesn’t all like or agree with?
The nyt speaks if conjecture, forecast, not actual numbers.
It is not saying that Clinton ACTUALLY has the majority of the popular vote!!!
Unfortunately, Clinton will add justices who have little or no respect for human life, and who might broaden the way for euthanasia (a “natural” follow up to broadening measures to murdering the unborn).
Either way, justices will be appointed from the extremes. Unfortunately.
Rudy,
I groaned when I read your accusation that Hillary Clinton would usher in an era of euthanasia for the United States.
What, another conspiracy theory nut like tRUMP? I thought.
You must be voting for tRUMP too. The choice to take one’s life, called Death With Dignity, has already become an issue handled on a state-by-state basis.
Oregon 1994/1997
Washington 2008
Vermont 2013
“Death with Dignity laws, also known as physician-assisted dying or aid-in-dying laws, stem from the basic idea that it is the terminally ill people, not government and its interference, politicians and their ideology, or religious leaders and their dogma, who should make their end-of-life decisions and determine how much pain and suffering they should endure.”
https://www.deathwithdignity.org/learn/death-with-dignity-acts/
Imagine if Bill Gates (his father was/is a leader in the Eugenics movement) or tRUMP had the power to use euthanasia, or anyone on the alt-right, how many of us who stand united against both of these arrogant puddles of green vomit would be eliminated overnight.
Sorry about that. tRUMPS vomit wouldn’t be green. It would be gold.
The same thing goes for abortion. Abortion is a choice that should belong to the mother, not politicians and their ideology or religions leaders and their dogma.
Abortion is not euthanasia or murder unless a pregnant woman who wants to give birth is murdered along with her unborn child. In fact, most of the development of the brain before birth takes place during the 3rd trimester, but 92 percent of abortions take place in the 1st trimester before there’s even a brain in that developing body with a human shape.
If you doubt this, then educate yourself about fetal development week by week. At the end of the first trimester, the fetus is the size of a lime and weighs 0.49 ounce. At birth, the average baby weighs 7.5 pounds (a baby’s brain at birth weights three quarters of a pound. or 4 ounces. or more than 8 times the weight of the fetus at the end of the 1st trimester). There are 16 ounces to a pound. Do the math.
And the brain at birth is one-third the size of an adult brain.
http://www.babycenter.com/fetal-development-week-by-week
Lloyd, just ignore Rudy.
Based on history, I can pretty much predict your next twenty years. That’s about the time difference in the implementation of European ideas into American society.
Abortion, legalization of drugs, euthanasia, health insurance… its all there
Rudy the tRUMP deplorable, you mean?
Why is it that when someone disagrees with the “standards” on this list is insulted? As stated before, as a Republican, I am deeply ashamed of Trump. But that does not mean that I have to walk away from the Republican values that I respect and support.
Why is it, that (self-acclaimed) educated people, who keep making statements about the need of “critical thinking skills) show not to be in the possession of said skills?
Just because I have MY thoughts on dangers of the future of the Supreme Court differ (strongly) from the ones expressed here does not mean that my thoughts and opinions are of less worth then those anyone expressed.
You have the freedom to think water you want. Actually everyone does, and I do not agree with what the GOP represents and have little or no respect for those that support them. But you can still think what you want even though the majority allegedly will disagree with you.
I believe you just showed how discrimination works.
You condemn the whole by the actions of the few.
I condemn the GOP. If you are a follower, then I think you are guilty by association. That doesn’t mean you are a fraud and liar like Donald Trump is. You could just be a fool like most of the deplorables.
That’s not discrimination. That’s based on decades of witnessing the damage caused by the GOP’s agenda for the wealthiest Americans, and the growth of alt-right inside that party like a terminal cancer.
If you were a fascist supporter in the 1930s and I bashed the Nazi Party you’d call that discrimination too.
Wilson got the nation into WWI – democrat
FDR got the nation into WWII – democrat
Kennedy got the nation into Vietnam – democrat
400,000 soldiers died in those three wars.
On one single day, more soldiers got killed than in both gulf wars and Afghanistan.
Doing damage?
I have problems with Clinton and some of the things democrats stand for. I know democrats who do not support Clinton and/or some of the things democrats stand for. Unlike you, however, I understand that these friends are not THE Democratic Party.
Years ago I protested Phyllis schlafly calling all democrats abortionists. That is an unforgivable generalization.
And here you do the same.
I guess there are short-sighted, blinder wearing people on both sides.
Re. Nazis
Not all Germans were nazis. Just like not all American soldiers are lt. Calley. When American soldiers returned from Vietnam they were all held accountable by large crowds, with references like Baby Killer.
I guess you would not be bothered by that either.
In many nations Americans are hated for whatever reason, real or imagined. I guess you are good with that, too, since after all, you are one of those Americans
I suggest you go back and learn more history, Rudy.
You claim that “Wilson got the nation into WWI – democrat”
Wilson might have been a Democrat but he did not start World War I. That was caused by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo on 28 June 1914.
In fact, there were a series of events that led up to WWI
http://historylists.org/events/10-events-that-led-to-world-war-i.html
You also seem to be ignorant of the fact that U.S. Presidents must ask for permission from Congress to declare war on another country, and Wilson went before a joint session of Congress on April 2, 1917 to request a declaration of war against Germany, and the GOP had a one seat majorette 215 to 214. Without support from the GOP, Wilson would not have succeeded, and this was the Congress that voted yes.
The vote in the Senate to go to war was 82 to 6. The vote in the House was 373 to 50.
People who are ignorant of the way the U.S. government works always blame presidents for everything, especially the Alt-Right racists and haters, and the evangelicals that want to act like they are god..
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1914-1920/wwi
Rudy claims, “FDR got the nation into WWII – democrat”
Really, so you are claiming FDR ordered the Japanese raid on Pearl Harbor?
Actually what led up to Japan starting World War II in the Pacific was encouraged by a GOP president who was related to FDR. I suggest you educate yourself by reading “The China Mirage”.
https://www.amazon.com/China-Mirage-History-American-Disaster/dp/0316196681
Rudy claims that “Kennedy got the nation into Vietnam – democrat”
No he didn’t. Eisenhower set the stage for this war and sent in the 1st US advisors to Vietnam in the 1950s, and Kennedy was dead by the time the Tonkin Gulf Incident took place.
Educate yourself by looking at the Vietnam timeline to learn when the U.S. first sent its troops to Vietnam. It was in 1959 that the first American military advisers were killed in Vietnam. All Kennedy did in 1961 was to pledge extra support to South Vietnam and send in more advisors beyond the numbers that Eisenhower had already sent a couple of years earlier.
http://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/dwight-d-eisenhower
Who were the U.S. President during the Vietnam War? There were 5 and #1 was Dwight D. Eisenhower.
http://thevietnamwar.info/us-presidents-during-the-vietnam-war/
Lloyd,
You might have added the endless war in Iraq, which began in 2003, when George W. Bush was president.
True and G. W. Bush also botched the war in Afghanistan by focusing on his fraudulent (based on lies of WMDs) war in Iraq that he also bungled and neglecting the Afghan combat theater.
The war Bush started is mentioned (yet another reader with issues). But that war cost the lives of 4,000 or so soldiers – over a ten year period.
The three other wars cost close to 500,000 lives of Americans. Just on D-Day that any lives, and more, were lost – in a SINGLE day.
But that was not the issue. Lloyd referred to damage done by Republicans, so I thought it would be good to remind him of damage done by Democrats. Damage is an almost relative concept.
I am visiting with a good friend, and he shared with me his experience with ACA. It costs the taxpayer $ 20,000 a year to insure him and his wife. Add to that the medical care costs for knee replacement and such, multiply that by twenty million, and now you know what real damage could be done to an economy.
European countries can tell you what this will do to an economy when all the taxes have been levied that can be levied, and there is no more to be taxed. They can tell you that more and more health care choices are being made on economic viability (Who gets the new knee: The 75 yr old who is living off his state supplied pension, or the 40 year old who can work for another 25-30 years, paying in taxes)
That is what damage can and will be done with the ACA, and definitely when you go to a single payer system>..
Rudy,
Why do I get the feeling that you wish you still lived in the Netherlands. Anywhere but here.
What holds you here?
I see that you need to learn how to read.
You claim that “Wilson got the nation into WWI – democrat” = what I wrote
Wilson might have been a Democrat but he did not start World War I = what you read
Notice the difference?
And yes, I know that a declaration of war cannot be without congress – depending on the circumstance, however.
Lloyd, the more people ignore the Trump Trolls, the more they will eventually get bored and go elsewhere when they don’t get the responses they want that they can in turn respond to.
Behavioral Psychology 101. Ignore a behavior that is undesirable, and eventually that behavior becomes extinguished.
And even if it doesn’t, think of it this way. If nobody responds, the troll gets to experience “whistling in the wind.” All the time. Which will eventually become frustrating for them.
This is what I received from my local Republican County Chair…
“If you are a Republican but are not voting for Trump because of some skewed moral view or principle and Hillary gets elected, what happens to this country is on your shoulders. You and people like you are directly responsible for what we get as Supreme Court justices…”
So now both sides consider me a “deplorable…” Guess I should start shouting “Unclean, unclean!!” when I get out into the public
We could just as easily switch out the word “Republican” and substitute it with “Democrat” because if Trump is elected and fills Supreme Court vacancies, the court will do what the alt-right wants even if the majority doesn’t want it.
For instance, Gallup reports that 79 percent of American think abortion should be legal vs. 10 percent that thinks abortion should be illegal in all circumstances.
That 79 percent breaks down into two groups. 50 percent say abortion should be legal but only under certain circumstances; 29 percent think abortion should be legal under any circumstances.
The alt-right, the 19 percent don’t care of the mother dies or not as long as there is no abortion under any circumstances.
The 19 percent doesn’t want women to have a choice. The 79 percent do.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/1576/abortion.aspx
If Trump is elected, he will cut taxes for the wealthy even more while spending even more on the military, and the U.S. already spends more than any country on the planet, five or six times more than the country that spends the 2nd most.
61 percent of Americans say the upper-income pay too little in taxes, and that’s true about tRUMP. Only 15 percent think the rich pay too much.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/190775/americans-say-upper-income-pay-little-taxes.aspx
Percentages
Only THREE percent of abortions are for rape, incest or medical needs of the mother.
That means that NINETYSEVEN percent are for economic reasons or for reasons of convenience.
It is to be politically correct that the word fetus is used rather than child or baby. Medically speaking, it’s a human being developing inside the womb.
Brain size etc makes no difference – its a human. R brain. Not a fish. Not a monkey. It’s a human being.
But by depersonalizing it makes it more acceptable. By using the expression of “final solution,” Nazi germany made it more palatable to kill off those for whom they had no need.
Why is it that we use euphemisms? Could it be because using real words make us feel more guilty for what we, as a nation, are doing? Killing ONE MILLION HUMAN beings per year, on average?
Do you realize that, as a nation, we have killed almost TEN TIMES the number of human beings than the nazis killed?
When my friend asks me to kill him because he is tired of living, I get arrested for murder. No matter how well documented his request is, I will be convicted.
When I supply him the meds or a weapon, I’m still not out of trouble. Dr. kevorkian ring a bell?
So the volunteer action of the pregnant woman dies not change the fact that a human life was taken, sometimes extremely violently. Yes, babies DO get ripped apart, no matter how much ms Clinton denies that very ruthless reality.
I disagree with you and so do most Americans. Most Americans clearly do not want religious dogma turned into legislation and laws that controls all of our lives.
The Alt-Right and its fundamentalist Christian faction has no right to subvert the U.S. Constitution and manipulate the participatory democracy process with lies, fraud and dollars to serve their irrational, emotional agenda.
God gave humans free will, but the Alt-Right wants to take away that free will and replace God with their Agenda for everyone else. It is obvious that the Alt-Right wants to be God.
For instance, Matthew 7:1-5
“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
“If I could conceive that the general government might ever be so administered as to render the liberty of conscience insecure, I beg you will be persuaded, that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny, and every species of religious persecution.” — Founding Father George Washington, letter to the United Baptist Chamber of Virginia, May 1789
http://addictinginfo.org/2013/07/04/35-founding-father-quotes-conservative-christians-will-hate/
THIS is what I wrote: “Clinton will add justices who have little or no respect for human life, and who MIGHT broaden the way for euthanasia (a “natural” follow up to broadening measures to murdering the unborn)”
Allow me to share the logic, which has been used in countries where euthanasia is legalized.
A Dutch sociologist said, shortly after abortion became legal in the Netherlands, that the value you place on the beginning of life will eventually determine the value you place on the end of life.
If life in the beginning is considered a “blob of cells,” what changes that? When you listen to the reasons given for a number of abortions (especially when ailments are suspected) that the fetus (note: NOT child, but fetus) will end up needing care, special medical attention etc., therefore abortion is the only feasible solution, look at people in the end of life stages.
Hitler killed the handicapped and the elderly, those who could not make a contribution to the society, and now listen to some of the arguments used for euthanasia.
And, no, I am NOT a trumpite. I AM, however, a Republican. I am also of the opinion that human life starts at conception (should you disagree, please xplain when human life does start, if not at conception).
I value human life, new or old. I have seen the start, the increase and the excesses of abortion AND euthanasia. If you do not believe the two are closely connected…
Sorry, I made a mistake. The brain at birth weighs 12 ounces, not 4. That means the baby’s brain at birth weighs more than 24 times the weight of a fetus at the end of the 1st trimester, and it is during the 1st trimester that 92 percent of all abortions take place.