My jumbled thoughts about the upcoming election

By Pogo, a Trail Mix Contributor

The colloquy yesterday between Bink and Craig got me to thinking, as they say in these parts. So below are my jumbled and disjointed thoughts about the choice we face 40 days or so from now.

I view this election as a binary election – it’s Clinton or Trump.  If that is establishment versus change, with the type of change drumpf foreshadows, I’ll take establishment any day and every day for a myriad of reasons, including her roots in and support for the middle class.

supreme1Clinton is an easy choice for me. Even putting that aside, the folks Hillary will put into the federal courts from bottom to top make the decision very easy for me as a lawyer who believes the Constitution is not embodied in one amendment (a point on which Craig and I agree).

Whether I, Craig, or anyone is in the top or bottom 1, 5, or 10 percent, or somewhere in the middle, so long as they vote for the one candidate IMHO who gives a crap about and represents any hope for the middle class I don’t care how many cars, homes, dollars, eyes or whatever they have or whether they are low, middle or high income, or are unemployed, working or living off dividends and trust funds, and I count among my friends folks who fall into all of those baskets and who support Hillary — and none are deplorable.

I reject the “change” meme in this election as illegitimate and not in the best interests of the country. Large scale change in the past 100 years or so has been a result of catastrophic events, and I don’t see that underlying cause now — eight years ago, yes, but the responses to the 2008 crash have stabilized the economy (hopefully) even if the middle class has not recovered to its pre-crash level, although I am somewhat skeptical of that. Manufacturing has been leaving the country since the 70s at least, long before Obama’s birthplace was questioned. That’s when Japan moved from trinkets and began competing with us in the steel and electronics industries. It could ship US scrap to Japan, manufacture steel products and ship them back to the US at prices below what we could produce the same products for using the same scrap without the transportation costs. It built better TVs and stereos we could afford (remember them?) and we bought them.

manufacturingChina’s inroads into our manufacturing economy have been dramatic, but we buy their crap at Walmart and everywhere else, and other countries including Honduras, Indonesia, Korea and India just to name a few have followed suit.  NAFTA didn’t do that.  I haven’t seen the US be overwhelmed by Mexican and Canadian goods, and there are competing studies that have reached conflicting results. (See this Politifact article).  Ironically, one of the major employers in our area is a Canadian company (Bombardiere) and the largest office building in our “downtown” area (I use the term advisedly) — which was effectively abandoned by Chase Bank is now Canadian owned (Olymbec). Americans provide the labor in both.

OK, to support US manufacturers and bakers I won’t eat Oreos any longer and any Fender guitar I buy will be made in the US – and I’ll pay double for it, but it will be 20% better made.  Have there been job losses as a result of emerging economic powers south of our border and across the Pacific?  You betcha.  Are Americans willing to compete with those markets?  Yes and no.  But regardless, if you think change as offered by the Cheeto Bandito (apologies to Frito Lay) will improve that, well, I’ve got a bridge to Queens to sell you.

Would bringing back the Glass-Steagall reforms help?  Probably.  Will they come back with an orange idiot repug in the white house and a repug congress?  Not in a million years.  Could Dodd-Frank be made stronger instead?  See my Glass-Steagall comment.

Will trump bring back coal?  Doubtful so long as natural gas is cheap.  Will Hillary kill coal?  With a repug congress and coal lobbying money to keep idiots like McConnell in Congress and in line?  No damn way. (Natural gas will do that if it happens).

But the most compelling reason to reject trump change (chump change is more like it) is what I can foresee 4-8 years from now.  With drumpf at the helm I cannot imagine what this country and the world will look like, but I can’t see it looking better for most Americans, or for the world as a whole for that matter.  Putin might disagree with me here.  But I can see drumpf and his brood carefully studying and analyzing moves for the US while profiting nicely and counting their money as it grows – they think a blind trust is having his 3 spawn run his companies. With Hillary at the helm I similarly can’t see where we go, but I know it will be through careful study and analysis and right or wrong, decisions based upon that. So in the end, I’ll be voting for Hillary, like I did 8 years ago, and again I’ll be doing it for what I see as the best choice for the country.

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98 thoughts on “My jumbled thoughts about the upcoming election”

  1. for those who have nothing better to do (like count your unmatched socks) here’s last night’s interview on pbs newshour: Maureen Dowd on why politics in 2016 sounds like a ‘primal scream and death rattle’

    Why does the presidential political landscape look like it’s been ripped from the ‘90s? And will Donald Trump inspire more celebrities to run for the highest office? New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd sits down with Gwen Ifill to discuss her new book, “The Year of Voting Dangerously,” and what she thinks of politics today.

  2. Steve Case, AOL founder, has a not so jumbled explanation of his reasons to get actime in the political game this year and support Hillary Clinton.   Worth the read. (And there’s a reason he’s a billionaire and I’ll be working into my 70s)

  3. int’l business times: Over Elizabeth Warren’s Objections, Republicans Move To Help Corporations Hide Their Political Spending

    “The American people want to know if giant corporations are buying politicians,” Massachusetts’ Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren said on the Senate floor Wednesday. “The Republicans don’t want you to know. They are saying they will shut down this government before they will let the SEC make corporations tell about the secret money they are pushing into political campaigns.”

  4. Pogo, thanks for making a clearing through the election jungle overgrowth.   I have been waiting along the banks of the now flowing Rio Grande (Rio Bravo in Mexico) for the swiftboaters and very few this election…however, when I return to the internet streams?  Shitposting…shitposting and more shitposting memes.   Anything to take the gray lady down.

    Maybe it is time for term limits on the media.  It is they who set loose this illegitimate, unqualified man upon the landscape via publicity of all stupid venues.  Fools on smartphones.

    As for Bink…please do not abandon us…I really need my humor fix…fill my veins with your reasonable humor, honest fun.  More than ever I am clinging to my science and humor…now this, Bink?  Craig?  When I turn to science? hawking is at it again…putting the’ no soliciting sign’ out and shaming fellow scientists for even bothering to send out the Voyagers…he wants the stage…like trump…build a wall around the globe..isolate the earth.   I doubt there is as much life out there at any given time in the space that would be able to communicate, let alone travel to see us fellow beings.  I am a sun worshipper and firm believer in the fermi paradox.  We here on earth are stuck with putie running the global show via trump and crappy repugs.  It is ‘why’ so many quality repugs are voting for Clinton.

  5. http://crooksandliars.com/cltv/2016/09/samantha-bee-analyzes-first

    She set the stage right off the top.

    “Kellyanne Conway’s control collar worked for about twenty minutes. Unfortunately, it popped off once Trump tried to wedge his monstrous apricot bulk into the narrow spaces of Clinton’s facts.”

    That more or less sums up the whole debate, doesn’t it?

    My favorite parts are when she burns him like a half-used charcoal briquet for being such an ignorant stupid, misogynist jerk.

    Here’s a taste:

    Donald: I said she doesn’t have the look, the stamina. To be President of this country you need tremendous stamina.

    Samantha: Oh, just say penis, Don. Three-syllable words don’t suit you.

  6. POGO

    Excellent post. Voting for Hillary is just such a rational choice it’s a no brainer for me. I ask my nieces aunt, a woman on SS and food stamps who lives in Flint, Michigan why you’re voting for Trump, “I want things blown up, a revolution, people in the streets”! I said, what do you hope that will accomplish? “It will get America back on track she says”. OMG, wtf, irrational, he has no plans, no model to make anything great again. All these angry white people, especially white males, it’s hard to have sympathy for them because they’re losing their grip.

    Coming from Flint like i do and having worked for GM most of my life, i do have empathy over the job loses. Oh Flint is  so disgusting what’s happened there, my home town, i could cry.

    Can’t let emotion rule in these matters. One must demand fixes from politicians but they need to offer a practical (plans) way to make their promises happen.

    It’s why i was critical of Obama, no rational way (plans) to make “hope and change” happen..

  7. patd, I think the reference to the 20 minutes is more puffing of the time that trump had his soft, teleprompter voice working.  It was more like ten minutes, snort.  He actually has a ear piece up his nose.

  8. Trump’s Debate Flameout
    By Charles Blow

    Trump completely bombed in that debate and it’s his own fault. His staggering arrogance and breathtaking incompetence were laid bare, as he had no prepared remarks from which to read and no gaggle of other candidates behind whom he could hide.
    He stood there, combative but hardly cogent, revealing to the whole country and the world that the man who promises to lift America from the ashes is himself going down in flames.

  9. Many of us feel abandoned here…Craig, I implore you to quit feeding on the sour candies with all this time your are spending in your grief spiral’s food court…many of us simply do want to be fed to putie.   Whatever Clinton has done and is capable of doing is so much less harm to our skin.  It is not the millennials, but the some of the older, dem men who have abandoned us…now they have the cramps and the headaches.  I know for certain, most Moms know this is not correct how we are treating Clinton and your loathing of her allows us to be fed to putie.  It is that serious for us.  It also makes me appreciate Pogo and many males here on the trail.  Solid men.

    If you do not want to vote?  Okay, but quit dragging down the gray lady’s ass.   To get a woman elected is harder than a Black man.  Building walls?  Don’t become a master.

  10. tony, patd, on the debate stage, trump looked like that naked statue of him…the full nixon.

  11. BW

    If you are looking for Swift Boaters this year, just go to You Tube for the Future45 commercials.  They are pretty disgusting.

  12. “Whatever Clinton has done and is capable of doing is so much less harm to our skin……your loathing of her allows us to be fed to putie.”

    bw, perhaps fearless leader should tell us in detail just exactly (specific words and actions) what evil thing Hillary herself did to him or to a person he knows that credibly retold him the deplorable incident.  it would do 2 things: 1. make him feel better to get the secret off his chest and 2. let us see the monster he sees.

    sunshine and transparency rather than innuendo…. clear the air, free the soul.

  13. cnn: Trump jokes: ‘Raise your hand if you’re not a Christian conservative’

    Donald Trump, touting the support he’s received from evangelicals in this battleground state, called on his supporters at a rally here to identify themselves as “Christian conservatives.”
    Then, he asked those who aren’t to raise their hands and jokingly questioned whether he should “keep them in the room.”
    “Raise your hand, Christian conservatives everybody,” Trump said, drawing a smattering of cheers and raised arms.

    And then, he added: “Raise your hand if you’re not a Christian conservative, I want to see this, right. That’s — oh, there’s a couple, but that’s all right. I think we’ll keep then right? Should we keep them in the room, yes? I think so.”
    Trump’s comment raised some eyebrows given that his rhetoric on the campaign trail is frequently nationalistic, and his policies have emphasized giving a more powerful voice to Christian Americans while railing against illegal immigrants and calling for banning individuals from many Muslim countries.

    next, he will be suggesting or “joking about” lgtbq leave the room?  then ms. piggies?  the “loser” press? oh right he’s already banned some of the “disgusting” media so they’re not there to begin with.

  14. I ask my nieces aunt, a woman on SS and food stamps who lives in Flint, Michigan why you’re voting for Trump, “I want things blown up, a revolution, people in the streets”! I said, what do you hope that will accomplish? “It will get America back on track she says”.

    tony, I bet that’s exactly what some folks said back in austria and Germany in the ’30s

  15. Pat

    I think your right. It’s so simple really. Trump is taking advantage of people’s insecurities, pain and suffering. Explains why Craig and others find him so fascinating. People always need a bogey man it seems.. Trump has many to chose from, Mexicans, latinos, African Americans, women, trade, Hillary/establishment and so on. Won’t help any of them in the end.

  16. “solid men”…  thanks BW.  Like I said, for me it boils down to a binary choice.

    Ao looking at Achilles heels, do I know Clinton screwed up with the emails and server? Well, duh.  Of course she did.  That’s a drum that has been beaten into submission IMHO.  Let it die a quicker death.

    Did Bill screw up with his pecadilloes? Well, duh.  Of course he did.  Do I fault Hillary for remaining with him, buying his denial and even supporting him?  NO although I wondered during the Monica episode why she did.  Considering drumpf’s serial infidelities and marriages, I don’t think this issue would play well for him id Hillary comes back with something like “Apparently you have no idea what love and commitment is in a marriage.  Unlike you, neither Bill nor I bail on the marriage when the next pretty face comes into our lives. If you have a problem with Bill, I’d suggest you talk with him about it.”

    With the Foundation – her response should be “show me”  followed with “Unlike your foundation, the Clinton foundation has followed the law applicable to charities.  Unlike you we haven’t used the charity of others to settle lawsuits against us, buy things for ourselves or bribe prosecutors to drop cases against us. And unlike you, we donate to our foundation.  Let’s see those tax returns and see if you do.”

    There of course are other topics that will emerge in the next couple of debates – Benghazi, Syria, Iraq – what do you guys think they will be and how they should be played?

  17. Where be your gibes now? Your gambols? Your songs? Your flashes of merriment that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one now to mock your own grinning? Quite chapfallen? 

    Post debate rhetoric for Trumplestiltskin

    Rapunzel: Let down your OWN hair, Freak.

  18. No torches & pitchforks here, I’m more interested in the Vice Presidential Candidates. That’s my focus because either of those two men could be my future. Taking seriously the fact both Presidential Candidates are older & being practical about all that means. Mike Pence or Tim Kaine? Phew. That was easy.

    Sidenote: Zephyr Teachout is tied in the polls for her Congressional race against an Albany insider biggy-wiggy. I’m for her because she embodies what I want in Congress. A whole lotta Zephyrs would help clear out what our friend patd calls “the critters.” I think we can agree that you need a strong, sane foundation on which to build a strong, sane government.

  19. SJWNY

    As an ardent Hillary acolyte, I did still take a close look at the VP nominees.  Kaine may be as exciting as oatmeal, but he is solid, knowledgable and experienced.  Pence OTOH is a troglodyte from some glorified patriarchal era that no sane female would want to see return unless she just loves pushing the vacuum while wearing high heels and pearls.

     

  20. I enjoyed reading the posts this morning…thanks!

    Gary Johnson seems like a pleasant sort, but is not ready for prime time.

  21. Would Johnson be ‘better’ if he resumed his normal level of cannabis usage? I speak from total ignorance having never experimented.

    Pogo, I think you post this morning is really first-class. Thank you.

     

  22. Renee, My thoughts will be with you and your hubby as you attend the rites for your much loved family member.

    Flatus

  23. There are two books out this year that purport to explain why people vote for Trump.  They are nothing but excuses for racism and all the other ism.  There is no excuse for racial bias and it’s a pile of poop to say there is

  24. Thanks for the kind words, all.

    Jamie, as much as I love Dylan, I think my wallet will not be slimmed by this box set.  I’m betting there will be 36 iterations of Mr. Tamberine Man, and I just couldn’t.

     

     

  25. Very nice essay, Pogo,i love a good ramble, like sitting on the porch letting the topics pick themselves. More truth comes out that way. Got me thinking about something I’ve noticed lately at my Safeway meat counter: all the pork products are exclusively Smithfield, now a Chinese company. Used to be more variety, but even the Safeway brand is gone.

  26. whoa, bw, there’s nothing deep and dark going on that needs exorcising, I don’t loathe her, just not worshipful

  27. Excellent post, Pogo…

    IMO…  some people expect too much from a president.  They are our leaders…  but are also only one part of government.  Sometimes it’s as if some forget about Congress, the Senate, and the SC.  That’s why I don’t give any president (Republican or Democrat) all the praise for something good or all the blame for something bad.  In our government’s case, it takes all 3 branches to tango.

    I see all over the net that the polls are showing a big bump for Clinton after the debate.  Guess she knew what she was doing all along.

  28. Craig…   I fully support Clinton…  but worship…  I gave up worshipping politicians sometime in my late 20s.  It’s called growing up.

    I’m not so sure that some of your anger isn’t because you really believe that Jim Webb would have been our savior and you think so many of us just weren’t smart enough to see it.

  29. Flatus

    Thanks for asking.  Sort of.  It’s still puffy and everyone says it takes a while to heal — a great excuse to read an lounge

  30. Pogo

    There will be a two disc version of the Appearance in England.  The link on the article sound great.

     

  31. Arlie Russell Hochschild on “Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning  the America”
    So this book is listed for a national book award.  I call bull-shit.  She has a form of Stockholm syndrome.  If racist (and all the other ists) are having trouble in an America they don’t recognize – whose fault is that?  She told a story she met a woman who listened to Russ Limbaugh and didn’t like feminazis because they were hard and mean  So Arlie thought well I’m like that I don’t like hard and mean people either.  Except hard and mean is code for any woman who wants equal rights and the right to privacy.

    And she had the nerve to use this as an opportunity to slam Clinton for the deplorables line.  Well more than ever I think Clinton was right and this woman is making excuses for racists.

  32. Maybe Dr. Dean’s comments about Trump’s cocaine use were just like something Trump might say.  But worse was Ms. Greenspan’s defense of Trump.  She said because of his brother Fred who was an alcoholic Trump is a non-user but Trump is also a big liar.  How does she know sniff sniff  that he is telling the truth.  She needs to retire but then she’d be home with her hubs. Retire before you become Liz Trotta

    Gary Johnson appears to be an idiot or playing one on tv – if this is him not on drugs – what is his excuse?

  33. Pogo: Love your jumbled thoughts 😉 I agree the “establishment vs change” idea is just an old, worn out mantra. Reminds me of the old hippy days “We say “Down with the establishment”, man!” Truth is, the establishment has always been there and so has change. You can’t really have one without the other in a forward moving society.

    Renee: Good to remind people that our government is composed of three branches. So many people act as if there’s only one. They were created by the founding fathers to ensure checks & balances and an even distribution of power. Problems occur when one party strives to take over all three branches, as the repugs have been working so hard to do for the last several years. They’ve nearly brought our government to a stand still of late by neglecting their responsibilities in Congress and by leaving an empty seat on the Court. I, for one, hope for a much more balanced Legislative branch in the future. I long for the days when one or two members from either party would vote for a bill favored by the other party. We may not have always gotten the exact results we wanted, but at least we thought we had a fair shot at it. Certainly not a perfect system, but when it works it’s wonderful! In more recent years it’s seemed like votes on bills were an all or nothing shoot out! Our way or the highway baby, and if you don’t like it we’ll just go on vacation! A government of petulant children and now they want a juvenile delinquent to lead them. That would make a mockery out of the founding father’s ideas of government.

    Tony: re people/conversations like you mentioned (“I want things blown up, a revolution, people in the streets”! I said, what do you hope that will accomplish? “It will get America back on track she says”)

    When we’re confronted by this type of exchange we have to drill down further. Them: It will get America back on track Us: What does that mean? Them: America will be great again Us: How will that happen? Them: We’ll have better laws Us: Who will make those laws? Them: The President Us: Isn’t it the Legislative branch that passes laws? Them: blank stare! This is just an example, of course, but I saw a local TV reporter interviewing a Trump supporter and by drilling down on her reasons for thinking Hillary shouldn’t be President, he got down to the fact that it was because Hillary was a woman. I’ve seen interviews that would have ended up like that if the reporter had just asked 1 or 2 more questions. I’ve done it with people I know who said they preferred Trump over Hillary. By drilling down you will usually find that there is either nothing at the bottom (blank stare) or you discover the real bias (sex, race, etc)

  34. The PPP poll results (Dem polling so subject to claims of bias) released today are pretty consistent with their polling since May – each of their national polls have shown her with a 4-6 point lead over the past 6 months.  Biased or not – it hasn’t shown her losing any ground to trump over that period.  And her numbers at 538.com are rising – 60-61 in the polls, polls plus numbers and 79% in the now cast.  That’s a 10 point polls improvement in the last week and a 20 point nowcast improvement.  I like the trend.

    Poobah, thanks – I wasn’t on the porch, but my mind was definitely drifting as if I were.

  35. granny & tony,  most of these folks who want to blow things up and bring on the revolution even if it does mean voting against their best interest are more in it for the attention that comes from saying something outrageous (the drama queens like susan sarandon come to mind).  like scratching an itch even tho you know it will get infected, some just need to blow off steam at the changing world.  raging and threating revolution makes them feel better.

  36. mother jones:

    These days, veteran GOP dirty trickster Roger Stone and longtime Hillary Clinton foe David Bossie are on the same side, helping GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump. Bossie was recently named deputy campaign manager for the Trump campaign, and Stone, who used to be a paid adviser to the celebrity mogul, is a fierce surrogate for Trump in the media. But the two have not always been allies. Several years ago, they battled in court over a misogynistic political group Stone had formed to bash Clinton.

    At one point in 2008, while Hillary Clinton was first running for president, Stone was sitting in a bar conducting an informal focus group about the former first lady and hatched a toxic and offensive idea for thwarting her. He filed some paperwork with the IRS and created an independent political group called Citizens United Not Timid—also known as CUNT. He recruited a DJ-bartender from Miami who went by the name of Noodles to serve as its chairman. Stone’s group set up a couple of websites, including WhatIsHillary.com, which featured a logo designed to look like a woman’s crotch. Its main mission was to sell T-shirts with this image and the words, “To educate the public about what Hillary Clinton really is.”
     
    The group’s work is one example in a long list of misogynistic attacks on Clinton, dating back to Bill Clinton’s first campaign for the presidency in 1992. And in the current presidential campaign, Trump has suggested Clinton doesn’t have “a presidential look,” claimed she lacks “stamina,” and accused her of “shouting” when she speaks forcefully (apparently with encouragement from Stone himself). Citizens United Not Timid’s brashness now seems like a warm-up for the 2016 campaign

    Not long after its unveiling, the organization heard from another anti-Clinton outfit that might normally be an ally: Citizens United, the conservative advocacy group that was then run by Bossie. The group was annoyed that Stone’s organization had copied the name of the long-established organization. While Citizens United had spent years attacking Hillary, often hitting similarly misogynistic notes, Stone’s work apparently crossed the line.

    Citizens United sent Stone a letter, accusing him of deliberately appropriating its name and trying to capitalize on the publicity surrounding Citizen United’s forthcoming release of the Hillary: The Movie, the histrionic anti-Clinton docudrama that led to the landmark Supreme Court case opening the floodgates to money in politics. Citizens United demanded that Stone give up the group’s name immediately and take down CUNT’s websites. Stone refused, so Citizen Union sued him, DJ Noodles, and CUNT in federal court in Florida, accusing them of deceptive trade practices, unfair competition, and trademark infringement. The complaint alleged that the group’s “sole business appears to be to use its trade name—and specifically the vulgar acronym formed from its trade name—to slur Hillary Clinton, to sell and distribute T -shirts bearing a vulgar and obscene logo and to collect names of those who are similarly inclined to characterize Ms. Clinton.” Citizens United complained that Stone’s appropriation of its name would confuse potential donors and tarnish its reputation.

    In response, Stone—who recently published a book accusing the Clintons of waging a “war on women”—argued that CUNT was a constitutionally protected expression of free speech. He argued in a court filing that his group was created to educate the public about a “well known public figure,” not to make money or to sell stuff for traditional commercial purposes. He said the name was chosen after “conducting a survey of like-minded people regarding what they thought of a certain public figure. Specifically, we asked a significant number of people to describe the particular public figure in one word. While the word ‘bitch’ came up most often, we were unable to come up with a name for the organization based thereon.”

    After a brief flurry of legal filings, Stone capitulated two months after the suit was filed and agreed to change the name. He came up with a new one that all parties could accept. CUNT, the acronym, would live on, so long as Stone dropped the “United” and the full name of his group would be Citizens Uniformly Not Timid. With all that behind them, Bossie and Stone are now both important foot soldiers in Trump’s sometimes misogynistic crusade against Hillary Clinton.

  37. wapo: Trump ‘is opposed to the idea of America’: Jerry Springer blasts Donald Trump

    Jerry Springer

    @jerryspringer

    Hillary Clinton belongs in the White House. Donald Trump belongs on my show.

    [….]

    The tweet also caused some outlets, including BuzzFeed and the Hollywood Reporter, to probe Springer’s brain on the Republican nominee for president. The Sultan of Salaciousness did not disappoint.

    “He’s the only person who’s ever run who is opposed to the idea of America,” Springer told the Hollywood Reporter.

    At one point, Springer claimed that Trump might have a “personality issue,” specifically citing egomania and narcissism.

    “The mean-spiritedness of what he says is horrible,” Springer said. “Anyone who has a daughter should be horrified. He calls women pigs, fat — not even in the darkest humor do you say that to women.”[….]

    In speaking with BuzzFeed, Springer was quick to point out that he did not actually consider Trump to be like the guests on his show. Those folks want a better life, he said, while Trump just wants power.

    “The people on our show aren’t making up lies. They’re upset. They’re angry. That’s totally different than Trump,” Springer said. “He just wants to be the leader of the world. He’s not unhappy with his life. All he does is brag about how rich he is and how many hotels and golf courses he has. This is not a guy who’s trying to fix his life. He obviously doesn’t particularly care about other people.”

    As of early Thursday morning, the Trump campaign has not responded to Springer’s statements.

     

  38. Here’s a pretty harsh assessment of drumpf as unfit, unserious and unprepared on national security – from two national security insiders – one appointed by Shrub and one by Obama.

    As bad as he was on the issues, Trump was even worse on temperament and style. He was clearly not prepared for the debate, rambling through answers with many digressions that had nothing to do with what he was asked or even the point he was trying to make. A commander in chief needs many qualities, and one of them is being prepared. If Donald Trump thinks preparation is overrated and that a seat-of-the-pants approach makes sense for the most important debate of his life, why do we think he would treat meetings in the White House Situation Room any differently?

  39. Trump’s theme song:  Nobody likes a fat girl she’s a truck on the highway of love

  40. pogo, but those 2 guys who said

     If Donald Trump thinks preparation is overrated and that a seat-of-the-pants approach makes sense for the most important debate of his life, why do we think he would treat meetings in the White House Situation Room any differently?

    are the dreaded evil establishment with old-fashioned establishment type rules like be prepared. guess that’s one of those nasty orderly things that needs to be revolted against… right along with the truth, compromise for public good and civility.

  41. kgc, that was suggested as a ploy for drumpf to use…helps him, gives him a foil jto score points off since he couldn’t get to Hillary, takes up time otherwise he might have to really answer something and basically Johnson would be a handy distraction from substance.  media would eat it up especially if gary wears his dopey hat that night.

  42. more establishment uppity stuff that seems not to matter to the upset-the-applecart revolutionists. so who cares if he plays loose with other people’s money…  heaven forbid we play by rules.

    politico:

    The New York attorney general is probing Donald Trump’s reported use of money from his charitable foundation to settle a private legal dispute, a lawyer for the town of Palm Beach, Florida, confirmed.

     

    The lawyer, John Randolph, said that the attorney general’s office contacted him to request documents related to a settlement Trump made with the town of Palm Beach in 2007 over unpaid fines. Last week, the Washington Post reported that Trump settled the dispute by paying $100,000 from the Donald J. Trump Foundation, an apparent violation of self-dealing rules that prevent officers of charitable organizations from using funds for their personal benefit.

  43. I think given Trump she is better off with Johnson there and he is such a dip it could only help her

    I think given what is happening in the race and the expectation of where it will be right before the debate I think he will be unhinged

     

  44. slate: Looks Like Trump Secretly Violated the Cuba Embargo While Backing It in Public

    Surprise! Donald Trump may have been secretly—and illegally—conducting business in Cuba in the late 1990s at around the same time he was promising Cuban Americans at home that he would never spend a dime there as long as Fidel Castro’s murderous regime was still in power. Newsweek reports that a Trump-owned company appears to have violated the U.S. embargo by paying an American consulting firm tens of thousands of dollars to make inroads in the communist country at a time when Washington was considering loosening or lifting the trade restrictions against it:

    Documents show that the Trump company spent a minimum of $68,000 for its 1998 foray into Cuba at a time when the corporate expenditure of even a penny in the Caribbean country was prohibited without U.S. government approval. But the company did not spend the money directly. Instead, with Trump’s knowledge, executives funneled the cash for the Cuba trip through an American consulting firm called Seven Arrows Investment and Development Corporation. Once the business consultants traveled to the island and incurred the expenses for the venture, Seven Arrows instructed senior officers with Trump’s company—then called Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts—how to make it appear legal by linking it after-the-fact to a charitable effort.

  45. POGO – wonderful and excellent post.  HRC has a lot of flaws, but she is not trying to cover those up.

    I am waiting for the floater to bring up all he knows about Bill’s (no last name needed) straying.  There is a lot going on in the family and I am not one to charge in and place judgement. I do say that staying with her man means a lot.  It is their issue and resolution, not the bloated, fried chicken orange skin, orange rat on his head, floater’s.  Whatever arrangement they have it is their’s and their’s alone.

    I am mostly listening to 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and Willy’s Roadhouse on Sirius during the time I listen to any radio.  I do not care to hear, Hillary said  something with a six second soundbite, and “Trump said. . .” followed by thirty seconds of the floaters voice.

    One of the ironies is that in many locales around our  nation the white males are experiencing what our Black Americans have been experiencing for decades.  Unemployment and under employment.

  46. RR: “I’m not so sure that some of your anger isn’t because you really believe that Jim Webb would have been our savior and you think so many of us just weren’t smart enough to see it.”

    Huh? What’s with all this head shrinking just because I don’t tow the party line around here? I just don’t think corporate Democrats like the Clintons will make a difference. Its not complicated. I’m not angry depressed, or sad, just resigned that we’re getting the same old same old

  47. Huh? What’s with all this head shrinking just because I don’t tow the party line around here? I just don’t think corporate Democrats Luke the Clintons will make a difference. Its not complicated.

    Sounds like classic denial to me with a BIG typo…sturge…loved your short story of the month.

    Gary Johnson is pro-citizens united…the media needs to get that out.

  48. sorry for joking about the head shrinking…back to more serious stuff…I understand Miss Piggy is suing.  Everyone is suing…expect the price of gasoline to go up and up.  Everyone is suing!

  49. Thanks, Pogo.

    I think breaking the glass ceiling, affirming all human (religious, racial, and gender) equality, committing to taking big money out of electioneering, backing carbon neutral energy (and actual science), promoting job retraining in the coal & oil belts, pushing prison and drug law reform, and tightening regulations on Big Finance, all together will kick the wheels off the old dung cart. Then, we can argue about single payor healthcare coverage and lethal injections.

  50. If you have to explain a joke…I was talking about the original, feminist pig!  The one who dated Kermit and did some bad things.

  51. Ms Wino, You’re right. The price of oil went way up the last couple of days. I hope you filled up yesterday. I expect the market to make another run at the $52/bbl mark before election day. A BIG OIL  co-incidence ?

    Full disclosure : I put all of my liquid assets in a couple of small oil companies. Fortunately, Sweetie’s money is in the care of the trained professionals at Symphonic.

  52. saudi payback…thus, my reference to suing…a handful of citizens free to head to court.  melania is suing.  trump is suing.  Sue me if you don’t like what I type.  Everyone is suing and it costs.

  53. yes, Mister Xrep…I filled-up…on food instead.  Fuel is fuel, for some, but I hate the taste of gasoline.

  54. “They don’t like immigrants & they don’t like anybody who’s not white & they don’t like facts & they don’t like things they don’t understand & they don’t like Hillary Clinton & that’s why he’s still in the race. He is indeed their ideal President ….

    But between now & November 8th do not count them or him out … Trump & his idiot supporters do not know the meaning of the word beaten.”   – Keith Olbermann, GQ’s The Closer, September 29,2016.

    ‘But between now & November 8th do not count them or him out’ : Wise words. In this Year of Voting Dangerously, up is down, down is up & overconfidence should be avoided like the plague.

  55. What is Senator Webb doing currently? I enjoyed the show he did about the Scots-Irish & their influence in America. It’s wasn’t just a regurgitating of facts, it was telling the story of a people. Big difference. He did it well, respectfully.

  56. It strikes me as pretty stupid for a serial adulterer to throw stones at a wronged woman foolish enough to believe her husband until he admitted his indiscretions.   Word is he’ll go there. Dumb as shit to do that. I heard a great analogy – it’s like a fighter with a glass jaw leading with his chin.

  57. Trump is a desperate man – his choices are moon the audience or attack Clinton for enabling her husband’s bad behavior

    given his enormous fat butt – mooning was out

    The Trumpettes have already gone there Giuliani said Clinton was too stupid to be president if she didn’t know what a cheat bill was
    Guiliani broke up with his 2nd wife in a press conference Trudy is truly disgusting

  58. Trump should go on Jerry Springer’s show…….he’d run into a bunch of his supporters…….

  59. SJ, Jim is quite content at home cleaning his pool, mowing his lawn, taking out the garbage and telling his daughter stories every night before sleep. And of course his daily walks through Arlington Cemetery to visit his family and friends there.

  60. Mr Crawford,

    I hope Senator Webb will continue to write about history, especially that which concerns Appalachia. Today I visited where I grew up, Allegany County, New York which is part of the Appalachians. If I could find a way to support myself there I would return permanently, but the economic situation is dismal. The main ‘industries’ are health care & social services. I was appalled at how expensive groceries were but it dawned on me a majority of customers are on public assistance, so … gouge away. Did stop at a Farmer’s Market on the way home; bought some Concord & Niagara grapes from a local grower, bread & cookies from a Mom & her daughter. Tried to help where I could. Breaks my heart.

  61. Was just thinking about Jim, what’s a guy who’s written 10 books, narrated and produced a Smithsonian Channel documentary, won an Emmy for a PBS documentary about Lebanon, wrote a top-grossing movie (“Rules of Engagement”), earned two Purple Hearts, a Navy Cross and a Bronze Star for service in Viet Nam, served as Secretary of the Navy and in the US Senate supposed to do with himself these days?

  62. Craig, run for potus….if all things bad about Hillary can be forgiven….why is there so much animosity toward Webb?  The question should be……what would be his personal gains, while being in office, or after his term……….nada…he is not owned by the world largest corps……we would have been the winners imo….

    Im glad that there is going to be the first women president….just not so glad its going to be Hillary….should be….Warren…..she, she would be the one to bring the country together…..cant see that happening with Hillary…..she will save the supreme court…so thats ok…..but nothing else……..i see that the same excuses that were used for Obama …..are already primed and ready to go…….

     

    Im with you on all things that you said about having a default choice….nothing we can do about it…..thats why i made up my mind to be in peace with that a few months ago……anyone but trump for me………its taken about 40 years to get to this point that the two party system is responsible for…..both parties designed the making of someone like trump………now they dont know what to do about it….and so they keep on doing the same things……blame each other for the failings of our government…..helps me not one iota….that one is more at fault than the other…….

    Been on my motor home for the last few weeks and will post a couple of pics…..absolutely nothing to do with politics……but now back in the real world….

    Ping….after reading your bullshit about people like me…..hang around a little……have a cpl of things to say to you…….

  63. Champ,

    I felt the same way a cpl of times….but there isnt a better place than this…..plus i like the way that you sometimes bust some chops….and keep people on their toes….i for one watch what i say cuz i know that you will not hesitate to bust mine……..later

  64. Some great stuff in the posts that i scanned for a cpl of days……..thanks to all for a lot of good reading and some great links….

  65. Solar

    Very good post and i certainly appreciate your voting choice. Elizabeth Warren is terrific but we have the BEST candidate In HRC. Default choice that’s bullshit, you must not have seen the debate. Give it a look, default who?? Hillary appreciates your vote, i’m sure. Glad you been motor homing, how nice… Looking forward to the pics.✌

  66. roy moore, the ayatollah of Alabama was ousted as Justice of the state high court. Suspended w/o pay for the rest of his term.

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