U.S. Presidential election discussion thread. Part VIII

Posted on May 16, 2016 | 613 Comments

by Judith Curry

Climate and energy are becoming more topical in the presidential election.

Here are a few articles that I’ve recently spotted:

Why this could finally be the election where climate change matters [link]

Remaining Contenders Differ Radically on Climate, Fuels [link] …

Hillary Clinton’s climate and energy policies explained [link]

Meet Donald Trump’s energy advisor [link]

@wrmead wrote one of the best essays about @realDonaldTrump in January: [link]…

Donald Trump reading list [link]

Taxes: one of the bright lines distinguishing Trump from Clinton [link]

Trump and the Latin-Americanization of U.S. politics [link]

JC note:  I have one more extremely busy week, then I will be able to focus on the blog and post more new material.  For the past several months, I’ve been able to do little more than keep up with current events.

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613 responses to “U.S. Presidential election discussion thread. Part VIII”

  1. Pingback: U.S. Presidential election discussion thread. Part VIII – Enjeux énergies et environnement

  2. Canman | May 16, 2016 at 1:19 pm |

    An interesting tweet:

    • David Springer | May 16, 2016 at 3:18 pm |

      Trump called her “Pocahontas”. A kill-shot. She’s out.

      • Joshua | May 16, 2016 at 4:46 pm |

        ==> “Does Warren not live in a $5.4 million mansion?”

        Yet more class warfare from rightwingers…

      • David Springer | May 17, 2016 at 4:27 pm |

        Yeah so? What exactly is wrong with class warfare?

      • lorcanbonda | May 22, 2016 at 12:02 pm |

        There is nothing wrong with class warfare. It’s an age-old American tradition that the wealthy have been winning so easily that the rest of us don’t have a chance. Nearly all of our congressmen fit that category.

        However, it is incredibly hypocritical to cry about Elizabeth Warren’s $5.4 million home while supporting Trump.

        http://www.snopes.com/politics/politicians/warren.asp

        FWIW — Warren’s home is worth less than $5.4 million and she never gained advantage from her “Native American” status. Harvard placed her name on a minority faculty list of which she was unaware.

      • David Springer | May 22, 2016 at 5:24 pm |

        The only hypocrite is Pocahontas.

        Write that down.

    • Jim D | May 16, 2016 at 3:59 pm |

      She gets all the Bernie supporters who couldn’t care less about this typical Republican dogwhistle BS.

    • James Cross | May 16, 2016 at 5:38 pm |

      Interesting that apparently Trump got a tax credit in New York that you can only get if earn less than $500,000 a year.

      • cerescokid | May 16, 2016 at 6:42 pm |

        Yes, to the tune of $302 each year. As one newspaper put it, this is how the rich get richer. OMG, I wonder if he hired a team of tax attorneys to squeeze this one out.

        Apparently the state errored in carrying over the tax credit after they changed the tax code. Do you think he was losing sleep over this problem?

  3. Canman | May 16, 2016 at 1:30 pm |

    The candidates on nuclear energy.

    Hillary:

    Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: The former Secretary of State claimed to be “agnostic about nuclear power” in the 2007 YouTube Democratic Primary debate. As a result, she rarely directly discusses nuclear energy, though one of her campaign fact sheet claims she favors “advanced nuclear,” which requires “expand[ing] successful innovation initiatives, like ARPA-e, and cut those that fail to deliver results.”

    Trump:

    Donald Trump: The real estate mogul has made strong public statements supporting nuclear power, but tends to favor further development of natural gas.

    In the aftermath of the 2011 Japan Fukushima nuclear disaster, Trump told Fox News “nuclear is a way we get what we have to get, which is energy.”

    “I’m in favor of nuclear energy, very strongly in favor of nuclear energy,” Trump said. “If a plane goes down people keep flying. If you get into an auto crash people keep driving.”

    The permitting process for nuclear power needs to be reformed, Trump explained. He qualified this statement saying “we have to be careful” because nuclear power “does have issues.” Trump specified that he favored the development of natural gas over nuclear energy in the same interview: “we’re the Saudi Arabia times 100 of natural gas, but we don’t use it.”

    http://dailycaller.com/2016/02/20/heres-where-the-2016-candidates-stand-on-nuclear-power/

    • David Springer | May 16, 2016 at 4:36 pm |

      +1

      Good information. Trump makes sense.

    • Canman | May 17, 2016 at 2:44 am |

      Under Bill Clinton’s administration (with Al Gore as VP) a fast breeder project called the Integral Fast Reactor (IFR) was shut down. James Hansen mentions this in his book, Storms of My Grandchildren. In the movie Pandora’s Promise, starting at about one hour in, they describe how they tested the IFR by actually pulling the plug on all the auxilary power and cooling pumps to make sure it couldn’t melt down:

    • David Springer | May 16, 2016 at 4:47 pm |

      +1

      Good article Rob. Trump is all about common sense. I like that. He should have a sit-down with Bjorn Lomborg they would have much in common.

  5. Glenn Stehle | May 16, 2016 at 2:08 pm |

    After spending untold barrels of ink trying to paint Donald Trump as having “authoritarian” tendencies, look who emerges as being pretty darned authoritarian themselves:

    Democratic Establishment’s Thuggish Power Grab at Nevada Convention
    http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2016/05/democratic-establishments-thuggish-power-grab-at-nevada-convention.html

    [T]he Nevada state party put through rule changes weeks before the state convention that gave the meeting chair complete and arbitrary control of the final step in the delegate certification process.

    That in turn produced a convention that was entirely undemocratic….

    In addition, the meeting was run on authoritarian lines, with party members offering pro-Sanders motions having the microphones cut off and the meeting being terminated with motions still on the floor….

    [T]he Washington Post and CNN reports were at best incomplete… [T]he Sanders supporters did an impressive job of organizing; seemingly taking lessons from both Occupy and Black Lives Matter, they streamed everything live. As a result, they were able to put events on the public record and get their story out.

    After credible allegations of election tampering and vote suppression, this all-too-heavy-handed move to block Sanders voters is guaranteed to alienate Sanders voters. Don’t expect to find much brotherly love in Philadelphia.

  6. Glenn Stehle | May 16, 2016 at 2:26 pm |

    Nevada Democratic Convention: The Videos You Need to See
    http://heavy.com/news/2016/05/nevada-democratic-convention-raw-video-videos-full-replay-sanders-delegates-election-fraud-jason-llanes-periscope-youtube/

    The Nevada Democratic Convention turned into a huge protest after Sanders’ supporters felt that their voice was denied over and over again. It all started out early in the morning, when temporary convention rules were passed despite the vote not having the required clear majority. You can see that moment in the video above. To learn about everything that happened at the Convention itself, please see our story here.

  7. Gregory Alan (@rightgreg61) | May 16, 2016 at 2:44 pm |

    As a Canadian I thought the show in the US with Trump was amusing. Then I find out my government (Ontario) wants to phase out natural gas for heating homes, and go all electric. The price of electricity has already doubled in the last few years because of feed in tarriffs for useless wind and solar projects. And they want to get rid of gas powered cars. All by 2030. I hope Trump doesn’t build a northern wall, I might need to cross over just to stay warm.

    • David Springer | May 16, 2016 at 4:52 pm |

      How much is gasoline in Toronto? Still so expensive it has to be packaged by the liter instead of the gallon I imagine. Last time I crossed the border into Canada was 1991 and I recall how expensive it was buy gas there and the novelty of buying it by the liter.

    • tumbleweedstumbling | May 16, 2016 at 7:56 pm |

      We just got Conservatives in Manitoba (Hurrah!) after multiple terms with our NDP. The throne speech included some interesting stuff about a carbon tax. Since they have to do something or the Feds (Thanks Ontario) will force it on us, they are going to have some kind of a consultative process with citizens and then come up with a carbon tax appropriate for Manitoba. Hopefully the whole process will take long enough for the Dauphin, Sir Selfies a Lot, to be gone from Ottawa by the time they finish.

    • David Springer | May 16, 2016 at 4:56 pm |

      Man-made global warming takes on a whole new meaning. This year the manufacturing of it involved redefining the temperature of the ocean which was inconveniently low before a new adjustment regime was invented and applied.

      -1

    • danialcblog | May 17, 2016 at 1:22 am |

      Jesus Christ that’s is very scary Steven. Why aren’t people here worried / terrified by this. Denialism explains Trump.

      • PA | May 17, 2016 at 9:25 am |

        Huh?

        1. There is no evidence if you use credible sources that the CO2 level will reach 500, Fuel supply based estimates predict 460 PPM. We are falling rapidly below the RCP atmospheric CO2 levels. Given the RCPs were updated in 2011 we shouldn’t have fallen from RCP8.5 to RCP4.5.

        2. The forcing estimates are converging toward 1°C.

        3. The IPCC and warmers deliberately ignore the benefits of CO2.

        4. The 1.5 and 2.0 points are lines in the sand with about as much justification. You can draw the lines anywhere you want because it is sand. Further modern crops have more heat and drought tolerance, partly by design and partly because of most CO2. A number of yield vs field condition studies have proven this.

        5. The BESTie graph is sort of a worse case that incorporates land use, instrument aging, UHI, and a number of other biases unrelated to CO2. The BESTie temperature would be going up if CO2 wasn’t a factor.

        6. Since 1960 the top 700 meters of ocean have warmed about 0.2°C.

        http://www.woodfortrees.org/plot/hadcrut4gl/from:1950/mean:12

        7. HadCrut isn’t nearly as scary. And at this time next year won’t be scary at all.

        There are some predictions out there that it is going to start cooling.

        It’s an El Nino year. If the temperatures are at record levels next May – be concerned. Otherwise it is just weather.

  10. Glenn Stehle | May 16, 2016 at 3:09 pm |

    The NY Times’ largest stockholder, and the man who threw the newspaper a financial lifeline a few years back when it got itself in financial trouble, is pictured here on the right.

    He is the Mexican oligarch Carlos Slim Helú.

    • Jim D | May 16, 2016 at 4:21 pm |

      Trump is already making enemies of both major political parties in the UK. Soon his only friends will be Putin and Kim Jong-Un, the ones he is careful not to insult.

    • David Springer | May 16, 2016 at 5:14 pm |

      Yay! One I didn’t see on CNN, MSNBC, or FOX already.

      • Daniel E Hofford | May 18, 2016 at 8:55 am |

        Many talk about Jihads being extremists, about most Muslims being moderates. But it seems incredibly bizarre to me that a person who adopts a religion based on rape, murder, pillaging, a supremacist world view, that routinely lies and treats half the population as little better than slaves and traffics in sex slavery should be considered ‘moderate.’ You might say that, ‘Well, the moderates don’t do these things.’ And you may be right. But the moderates take, within the eschatology of Islam, Muhammad’s life, to be the supreme exemplar of what it is to be a good and correct Muslim. This is a man who preached for 10 years in Mecca and had all of 150 followers. Mostly friends and family. He moved to Medina and adopted an entirely new philosophy of rape and conquer. Rape is legitimized by Muhammad. This is a man who beheaded a woman’s husband in front of her, covered her in her husband’s blood, dragged her into his tent and raped her. This is what Muslims hold up as a moral exemplar? Springer is right. Islam is a foul, filthy, vile, nasty religion. Anything good in it comes from the goodness of the person practicing it. But how does any human with any ‘goodness’ in them adopt such an authoritarian, racist, fascist, ugly, supremacist religion? These are the foundational elements of Islam. Take them away and you have nothing left over. And that very authoritarian, collectivist, fascist nature is why the Left resonates so much with it. And why Obama has such difficulty naming it. And why third wave feminists support it.

      • David Springer | May 18, 2016 at 9:07 am |

        “But the moderates take, within the eschatology scatology of Islam, Muhammad’s life, to be the supreme exemplar of what it is to be a good and correct Muslim.”

        Fixed that for ya!

    • Arch Stanton | May 18, 2016 at 10:31 am |

      Glenn, Since you have already done the ex-pat thing why do you even care about this crap? Do you still get to vote?

  13. David Springer | May 16, 2016 at 4:12 pm |

    Judith must have been looking for article in the gutter this week because the list in the OP is pretty much pure trash.

  14. timg56 | May 16, 2016 at 4:44 pm |

    Glenn,

    How about links instead of embedded video? You do slow things down after a while.

  15. David Springer | May 16, 2016 at 5:03 pm |

    He just can’t stop himself for love or money.

  17. Wagathon | May 16, 2016 at 5:33 pm |

    Another great example of erroneous conclusions reached in other disciplines — in geology (twitter link) an in economics (Paul Krugman’s article about ‘mathiness’ in previous post) — that parallel the problems we see in the science of climatology to be drawn from the problems of ‘mathiness’ are enlightening.

    A shakeup like this can serve an important role: alerting researchers to their own confirmation bias. Some scientists are jarred, realizing that clues for an older date were in front of them all along. “The data was there, we just weren’t seeing it,” says Antonelli, the evolutionary biologist who couldn’t sleep after hearing about Jaramillo’s hypothesis.

  18. Glenn Stehle | May 16, 2016 at 5:36 pm |

    Here’s a long interview with the two NY Times reporters who wrote the hit piece on Trump.

    They slapped the bear with their tabloid piece in the NY Times, but it looks like they weren’t entirely prepared for the bear’s reaction.

    So now, instead of a pattern of “unwelcome romantic advances, unending commentary on the female form, a shrewd reliance on ambitious women, and unsettling workplace conduct,” we have:

    He is a paradoxical figure. This is somebody who promoted and nurtured the careers of many women, putting some women in positions of heights in the construction industry that never happened in New York.

  19. rebelronin | May 16, 2016 at 6:28 pm |

    Donald Trump is not yet the nominee.
    Powerful forces, that lack even the slightest respect for the ordinary citizen, are dedicated to stopping him.
    That’s just the Republicans.
    The machine on the other side is little different.
    This election, is not, and will not be decided by a referendum of the people.
    One need only follow the established press and the respectable class to see that if they had to choose between Trump and the nullification of representative governance, nullification wins.
    George Clooney knows what’s best for us all.

    • justinwonder | May 16, 2016 at 8:13 pm |

      Clinton, Clooney, and Chris Mooney…

      I forget the rest…

    • jim2 | May 16, 2016 at 8:44 pm |

      U forgot the Moonies.

    • kneel63 | May 16, 2016 at 10:09 pm |

      “Donald Trump is not yet the nominee.
      Powerful forces, that lack even the slightest respect for the ordinary citizen, are dedicated to stopping him.
      That’s just the Republicans.”

      If they succeed, they may be wishing they had introduced significant gun law reform first…. It seems US citizens do NOT like being told that are not allowed to vote for someone.

    • danialcblog | May 17, 2016 at 2:58 am |

      @ rebelronin Typical conspiratorial ideation from a denier.

    • Daniel E Hofford | May 20, 2016 at 9:22 am |

      “Powerful forces, that lack even the slightest respect for the ordinary citizen, are dedicated to stopping him.”

      Much like countries voting to be in or out of the EU. Powerful forces = vested interests.

      Someone should write a play about the American Revolution, updated to be swimming in the context of the Politically Correct Left.

      “Give me Liberty or Give me Death,” could be “Give me a Safe Space or I’ll scream and shout and call you a racist.”

      “I have not yet begun to fight,” could be “I want what I want though I’m not prepared to fight for it. Perhaps tomorrow. Or the day after.”

      ““Don’t fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here,” could be “Don’t fire even if fired upon for we know we are the cause of this unpleasantness and we should try harder to all get along.”

      “Patriotism is as much a virtue as justice, and is as necessary for the support of societies as natural affection is for the support of families,” could be “Patriotism is a stain on virtue for justice is when one is lost in the mob and makes no distinctions that might offend another.”

      “Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it,” could be “Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom are racists cause freedoms just another word for oppressor.”

      And last, but not least, “A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue then will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader,” could be “A general dissolution of principles and manners will liberate us from the tyranny of moral obligation to make distinctions between that which is good and that which is evil and as any wise person knows, if you don’t make the distinction, it doesn’t exist.”

  20. mosomoso | May 16, 2016 at 8:38 pm |

    Really, I don’t get the Hillary appeal.

    I know that up to $75 million Australian tax dollars have made their way into the Clinton Foundation (for HIV in Asia or whatever, which monies must have needed to go through the Foundation because Australia can’t find Asia).

    Clearly, Mrs Clinton appeals to some. It’s not just Australian Labor governments and outfits like Boeing. Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar have all shown their appreciation. (Not that she’ll be silent on their failure to combat the naughty people…Those Boeing F-15s the Saudis bought aren’t just for looks.)

    Cranky, corrupt and a hawkish neo-neocon who loses her wars. That’s Lyndon Baines Clinton. And she’s very cashed up.

  21. jim2 | May 16, 2016 at 8:41 pm |

    From the article:
    …
    Human Rights
    FBI Reaching Out About Female Genital Mutilation

    05/13/16

    More than 500,000 women and girls across the country—most of them living in metropolitan areas—are at risk of undergoing female genital mutilation, a procedure that has long been practiced in many African and Middle Eastern countries as a cultural custom but has been illegal in the U.S. since 1996.

    A report showing the number of women at risk was published in January by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the figure was much higher than previously estimated. A separate report last year by the non-profit Population Reference Bureau (PRB) determined that women and girls most at risk were concentrated in major cities like New York, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C., where large diaspora immigrant communities have coalesced.
    …
    https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2016/may/fbi-reaching-out-about-female-genital-mutilation/fbi-reaching-out-about-female-genital-mutilation

  22. jim2 | May 16, 2016 at 8:44 pm |

    Billary is trying to invoke her husbands economic mojo based on the fact that he lucked out in the 90’s. Fat chance he can do squat to fix this hot mess we have now. Of course, she is trying to juxtapose Billious against Trumps proven ability to make billions. Fat chance that’ll work. From the article:
    …
    Campaigning at a rally ahead of the primary, Ms Clinton made her case why she thought he could help.
    “My husband I’m going to put in charge of revitalising the economy because, you know, he knows how to do it,” she told the crowd.
    “And especially in places like coal country and inner cities and other parts of our country that have really been left out.”
    She also emphasised her commitment to supporting workers in the coal industry, after comments she made in another coal state, West Virginia, went down very badly.
    Hinting at bad times ahead for the coal mines alienated many workers in that state and cost her votes in the West Virginia primary.
    …
    http://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-36300300

  23. Jim D | May 16, 2016 at 8:58 pm |

    When Trump refers to making America great again, maybe he is referring to the 90’s Clinton administration, but he hasn’t been very specific about it, so we don’t know what “again” means. Has someone asked that? Maybe he prefers the debt-ballooning and amnesty of the Reagan era. Remember he used to be lefty, so his idea of what used to be “great” may be a bit different from his supporters.

    • jim2 | May 16, 2016 at 9:11 pm |

      It was the Republican Congress responsible for the good economy, not Clinton.

      “In the 1992 presidential election, Clinton defeated incumbent Republican president George H.W. Bush to become the first Democratic president since Jimmy Carter left office in 1981. Clinton took office with Democratic majorities in both houses, and attempted to pass an ambitious health care reform bill. Republicans took control of both houses of Congress in 1994 and retained that control throughout Clinton’s presidency, but Clinton won reelection in 1996. ”

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidency_of_Bill_Clinton

      • Jim D | May 16, 2016 at 10:20 pm |

        So is Trump going to praise the 90’s as the time he wants to return to? I suspect his typical voter won’t see the subtlety that you try to suggest. But, they will also not see that both times the Republicans were in power since 1980, they tried their trickle-down economy and it failed both times.

      • David Springer | May 16, 2016 at 11:57 pm |

        Specifically it was the author of this leading a Republican congress.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contract_with_America

        He’s probably going to be Trump’s VP. Already volunteered for the job. I like Newt. A lot. He’s cerebral and knows more about US government and legislating than any two or three other people. Compliments Trump the street smart bully. A great combination.

      • James Cross | May 17, 2016 at 5:49 am |

        From the article:

        It was in the spring of 1994 that the U.S. economy finally reached “escape velocity”: GDP growth surged and the number of jobs created (3.85 million) set a record that has yet to be surpassed as of 2015. But 1995 would bring a pause in economic growth, primarily because the Federal Reserve raised interest rates from 3% to 6% beginning in late-1994 to prevent inflation from rising after such rapid growth along with two government shutdowns that slowed the economy. The pause was short-lived, however, as the economy adjusted and the surge of investment in the Dot-Com bubble would jumpstart the economy beginning in late-1995. 1996 saw a return to steady growth, and in May 1997 unemployment fell below 5% for the first time since December 1973.

        This prosperity, combined with the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 and Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 (which raised taxes and restrained spending), allowed the federal government to go from a $290 billion deficit in 1992 to a record $236.4 billion surplus in 2000. The reduction in government borrowing freed up capital in markets for businesses and consumers, causing interest rates on loans to fall creating a cycle that only reinforced growth. Government debt increased from $5.02 trillion in 1990 to $5.413 in 1997 and flatlined, barely increasing to $5.674 in 2000.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990s_United_States_boom

        It started before Republicans controlled Congress and it involved raising taxes during Bush I and the first two years of Clinton when Democrats controlled Congress.

        The Republicans crashed it all when Bush got in and they lowered taxes and decided to fight a bunch of poorly conceived and unfunded wars. The deficit rose. The economy stalled and collapsed.

      • David Springer | May 17, 2016 at 6:57 am |

        It was computers and wide area networks responsible for the good economy. Massive improvements in supply chain management made businesses more efficient. Not Clinton and not congress. They were just along for the ride. Recall the Four Horsemen of the Nasdaq that were behind it: Intel, Microsoft, Cisco, and Dell.

        You’re welcome #DaveFromDell

      • AK | May 17, 2016 at 8:17 am |

        It was computers and wide area networks responsible for the good economy. Massive improvements in supply chain management made businesses more efficient.

        IMO you’d also have to add huge valuations for a massive number of new enterprises. This substantially increased the money supply.

        The downside of that is that the real value of more traditional bricks-and-morter operations declined. But nobody noticed. They kept at least part of their (generally) high values for almost a decade before the excrement hit the ventilator.

        And by then the housing/derivatives bubble was pumping up the (illusory) money supply, till it crashed in ’08.

      • cerescokid | May 17, 2016 at 8:41 am |

        James

        The Clinton increases of the top marginal tax rates did not balance the budget.

        The Bush decreases of the top marginal tax rates did not create the massive deficits.

        Of the $925 Billion increase in tax revenue from FY92 to FY00 only $75Billion was from raising the top marginal rates. The balance was from increased revenue in Social Security taxes, Corporate Taxes, Misc Taxes, Capital Gains in the Gore Invented Internet Bubble, and the Explosion in Income Inequality with those making more than $200,000 going from 900,000 tax filers to 2.8 million tax filers and those making more than $1 million going from 68,000 tax filers to 240,000 tax filers.

        The Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) during the Clinton years increased by 75%. The Adjusted Gross Income under Bush went up by 30%.

        If AGI under Clinton went up by 30%, even with the tax increases, he would not have balanced the budget. If AGI under Bush went up by 75%, in spite of his tax cuts and the increase of $300 Billion in Defense spending, he would have balanced the budget.

        No one in the campaign is talking about the problem with the increasing Debt Held by the Public. That has gone up since 2000 from $ 3.4 Trillion to $14 Trillion at the end of this Fiscal Year. Since FY 2000, spending on Social Programs has increased by nearly $2 Trillion per year, while spending on Defense has increased only $300 Billion. Social Programs spending is anticipated to increase by $600 Billion by FY 2020 per the Obama budget. Just the increase in spending on Social Spending in 4 years is as great as the entire Defense Budget at $600 Billion.

        Let’s go back to the good old days of the 91% top marginal tax rate, some say. OK. Increasing the effective rate on the top 1% back to those good old days will only increase tax revenue by $150 Billion per year. The FY 2016 deficit is $615 Billion, which is to decrease for a couple of years and then will begin to increase. Tax increases are chump change compared to the spending increases that are going to hit by 2020.

      • David Springer | May 17, 2016 at 10:14 am |

        AK reduction in operating costs from vastly improved supply chain management applies to brick and mortar as much or more as anything else. Even brick and mortar making became more efficient. I’ll need to see a link to some data to support your contention that brick and mortar declined in the 1990’s because the data I’m looking says that didn’t happen until after the dot-com bubble had already burst.

      • Daniel E Hofford | May 22, 2016 at 9:46 am |

        “It was the Republican Congress responsible for the good economy, not Clinton.”

        +1

        Hard to know if the Left is just ignorant or willfully ignorant. That people talk about Clinton as synonymous with the 90’s economy and obliterate and obfuscate Gingrich’s Contract with America is stupefying, but ideologically par for the course.

      • Arch Stanton | May 18, 2016 at 12:03 pm |

        We were all smart enough to just have the two kids because we knew it was going to cost us $450,000 each to rear, we just were not informed that all we really would be doing is make room for illegal immigrants, even abortions did not help with congestion in the cities. Glad that we raised them when we did because today it will cost you nearly a million a head.

    • Glenn Stehle | May 17, 2016 at 11:51 am |

      Jim D,

      Reagan, Clinton and Bush II rode the wave of balooning private debt.

      Poor Bush I and Obama, who happened to be president during times of debt contraction or stagnation.

      The problem with the unprecedented debt expansion is that much of the money created by the debt was malinvested:

      Q: Why are you so down on the U.S. economy?

      A: It’s become super-saturated with debt.

      Typically the private and public sectors would borrow $1.50 or $1.60 each year for every $1 of GDP growth. That was the golden constant. It had been at that ratio for 100 years save for some minor squiggles during the bottom of the Depression. By the time we got to the mid-’90s, we were borrowing $3 for every $1 of GDP growth. And by the time we got to the peak in 2006 or 2007, we were actually taking on $6 of new debt to grind out $1 of new GDP.

      http://www.businessinsider.com/david-stockman-youd-be-a-fool-to-hold-anything-but-cash-now-2012-3

      Or, from an Australian perspective:

      Credit is not innately good or bad. Simplistically, productive Credit is constructive, while non-productive Credit is inevitably problematic….

      Only through “activist” government intervention and manipulation will protracted Bubbles reach the point of precarious systemic fragility.

      http://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2016/02/doug-noland-on-the-mining-gfc/

      Or also from the Australian perspective:

      “The rise of unproductive debt”
      http://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2012/05/the-rise-of-unproductive-debt/

      Obviously, spending 2x or 3x or 4x the amount of money to produce electricity with wind and solar, over what it could be done with fossil fuels, does not help to solve the problem of malinvestment and nonproductive debt.

      • Arch Stanton | May 17, 2016 at 11:54 am |

        Oligarchy is a form of power structure in which power effectively rests with a small number of people. These people might be distinguished by royalty, wealth, family ties, education, corporate, religious or military control.

      • Daniel E Hofford | May 18, 2016 at 11:47 am |

        Glenn,
        Here’s a favorite quote of mine: “[One] cannot help but wonder (and fear) how many more such economic disasters
        it will take before it becomes clear that socialism of all shapes, sizes, and
        degrees, is unrealizable, unbearable, and unforgivable.” Carmen Elena Dorobăț
        Yes, one wonders at the Left and it’s genuflection to the Platonists, the busy bodies, the micromanagers with a gun behind them in case you don’t like their preferences which they wish to impose. One wonders that a large portion of the world still believes that wealth is a zero sum game instead of something that is dynamically created. One wonders at the people on this list who have had all the advantages of being born in the greatest nation on earth, who live in wealth and opportunity but adopt the mental attitude of thugs, mystics and misanthropes and think ‘control’ is the magic, that a top down, command and control economy that the Clintons would work hard for, that Obama has pushed, that the EU is all about is the way to go. Empirical evidence is all around us that says Sanders is a mental midget on matters of wealth, equality, justice and prosperity but there are people who clamor for him for whom the phrase, ‘free stuff’ does as much damage to their brains as long term cocaine use. The only difference with Clinton is that she’s far more of a thug and cynical.
        The idea that Bill Clinton or anyone in the administration was responsible for the economic growth of the 90’s is absurd. The role of the government in the economy is to get the hell out of the way and guarantee the rule of law. It is not to churn out mountains of rules and regulations so that one needs an army of lawyers to move, to start a business. Post WWII England is an example of what happens when a mountain of rules and regulations are created. Post WWII Germany is an example of what happens when that same government sweeps away that same mountain.
        In the end there seems to be nothing to do about the constant tendency for oligarchies to form except eternal vigilance. In this the Conservatives have, since William F. Buckley, been asleep at the wheel. They have capitulated and appeased at every turn. The Left, with their poisonous ideology, dominates media, academia, the arts and non-elected government.
        Liberty has been betrayed by the very people who now want us to believe that they have the inside track on reality as they join the Not Trump noise. Not because they didn’t write clever and intelligent articles in the abstract but because they so egregiously misunderstood what the elements are in a society that keep it strong, prosperous and free.

        Or, there are social forces in the world that operate beyond our understanding, and we are mere pawns to these forces.

    • PA | May 17, 2016 at 11:18 pm |

      The current president who claims not to be a moslem and claims to be a US citizen has done more to destroy the US than arguably any president in history.

      All Trump has to do is go golfing to exceed the economic performance of Obama. Nothing (Eastwood’s empty chair) would have been better than Obama.

      • Jim D | May 17, 2016 at 11:22 pm |

        Perhaps they should have run Eastwood. Trump can barely run a beauty pageant.

      • PA | May 18, 2016 at 12:06 am |

        I kind of like Bernie but I disagree with his political positions.

        Trump isn’t perfect but is more of a fit for the current problems.

        If the candidates were Hillary and The Wicked Witch of the West, my choice would depend on stated positions of the wicked witch, and I would read the Wizard of Oz to get a sense of the positions of other candidate.

      • James Cross | May 18, 2016 at 9:00 am |

        This labor force participation rate is complete red herrings.

        It refers to the ratio of people working or looking for work to the whole population with some exemptions for prison populations and students.

        It was always projected to go down due to demographic shifts – people (boomers) retiring primarily. It was high during the Reagan years because the boomers were at their peak participation in the workforce and women were taking up careers. At the margin there might be some people in a bad economy who might stop looking that would lower the rate but that wouldn’t affect the overall trend that is primarily accounted for by demographics.

        It wouldn’t change fundamentally under Trump or Romney or any other Republican and the decline started under Bush.

      • jim2 | May 18, 2016 at 9:26 am |

        Cross – wages are stagnant and have been for many years.

    • edbarbar | May 19, 2016 at 3:00 am |

      Jim D Sez:
      “When Trump refers to making America great again, maybe he is referring to the 90’s Clinton administration,”

      Perhaps he is referring to the remarkable US growth due to the internet.

      Outside of NAFTA, which really didn’t do much of anything for a number of years, what did Bill Clinton actually do? Don’t ask, don’t tell? Gingrich had some luck stopping federal government growth, I suppose.

    • timg56 | May 19, 2016 at 6:04 pm |

      Jim D,

      If you are going to talk about debt ballooning there really is only contestant – the guy currently in the White House.

      Of course I’m referring to the real world. In Jim D world, who knows.

      • JCH | May 19, 2016 at 6:18 pm |

        All indications are prior Presidents would have done exactly the same things. Obama, like Bush, used Bernanke and Geithner.

      • David Springer | May 19, 2016 at 6:45 pm |

        Yes, which is why the establishment goons on both sides are being rejected by the voters. Unfortunately for the libtard the process was rigged too well to allow an anti-establishment winner to emerge. I say fortunately because otherwise Bernie might have been the next president instead of Trump. The republicans screwed up and made the primary process a tad too fair, the voters rebelled in record-smashing numbers, made the anti-establishment underdog the winner, and here we are about to dismantle the two-party system. Trump is no republican. This is simply the beginning of the end of bipartisan politics.

      • David Springer | May 19, 2016 at 6:48 pm |

        Trump might very well turn out to be a useful idi0t. The key word is useful. He’s a man on a mission. Bust up the elite establishment cartel that took over Washington, D.C. Trump’s no idi0t when it comes to stirring up sh*t and getting attention focused where he wants. That’s his super-power.

      • Jim D | May 19, 2016 at 9:08 pm |

        The recession caused a lot of debt. The trend has been deficit reduction for the last 8 years, opposite to the trend from 2000-2008, but Republicans prefer not to look at deficit trends, because they come out in a bad light the last few times they ran the economy (attempted to at least).

  24. jim2 | May 16, 2016 at 9:17 pm |

    From the article:
    …
    More details are being released about the anonymous expose of Washington D.C. corruption and largesse that confirms why Americans hate their national government and have rallied to anti-establishment presidential candidates like Donald Trump. As NYPost reports, the 65-page manifesto called ‘The Confessions of Congressman X’ is based on years of transcribed private discussions, which the congressman last November gave editor Robert Atkinson, says more time is spent fundraising than reading bills and calls Washington a “sinkhole of leeches,” where money ‘corrupts’ and House members are “puppets” to lobbyists who bankroll their campaigns.

    “Like most of my colleagues, I promise my constituents a lot of stuff I can never deliver,” he admits.

    “But what the hell? It makes them happy hearing it . . . My main job is to keep my job.”
    …
    The title of one chapter sums up his view of congressional leaders: “Harry Reid’s a Pompous Ass,” he says of the Senate Democratic leader.

    “We spend money we don’t have and blithely mortgage the future with a wink and a nod. Screw the next generation. It’s about getting credit now, lookin’ good for the upcoming election,” he says.
    He said he and his colleagues often lie to try to be all things to all people instead of tackling the nation’s problems.
    …
    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-05-16/were-running-fking-casino-congressman-admits-dc-sinkhole-leeches

  25. jim2 | May 16, 2016 at 9:23 pm |

    From the article:
    …
    In a recent fundraising strategy session with his campaign team and allied lobbyists, which was recorded, Gov. Herbert discussed meeting with rounds of lobbyists one-on-one in kind of “speed dating” to discuss policy issues.

    “However we want to do this — if we want to have multiple meetings or we sit down and talk and you give us a check later or before. However you would like to do it,” Herbert said in a recording obtained by the Salt Lake Tribune. “I’ll just say, I’m available. I’m Available Jones.”

    Herbert’s campaign finance director, Liv Moffat, laid out the basics of the fundraising strategy based on a recent event with prominent Utah lobbyist Doug Foxley.

    “We gave [Foxley] two hours, we paraded seven clients in at [Foxley’s] office, we went to [his] office, 20 minutes, collecting checks and talking specifically about their issues,” Moffat explained in the recording. “We’re not going to do that for $1,000. But that’s something. We’ll schedule it, you can come have 15 to 20 minutes with the governor.”
    …
    http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/05/16/utah-gov-speed-dates-lobbyists-will-meet-anywhere-anytime/

  26. David Springer | May 17, 2016 at 12:40 am |

    Mark Cuban…

    God please spare me from another 1990’s one-trick pony who thinks he’s a genius because he was lucky enough to start and sell ludicrously over-valued internet companies before the dot-bomb went off. Cuban is such a gaaywad…

    • Glenn Stehle | May 17, 2016 at 7:30 am |

      Will Venezuela pull through for China?
      http://dialogochino.net/will-venezuela-come-through-for-china/

      Venezuelan oil exports fell from 2.43 million barrels per day in 2013 to 2.33 million barrels a day last year. According to Venezuela’s Minister of Petroleum, Asdrubal Chavez, the government is counting on 10 joint ventures with 20 private companies to increase production in the Orinoco region, where 1.3 million barrels per day are currently produced. “We want to reach 1.37 million barrels per day by the end of 2015,” said Chavez.

      It appears that those production goals have not been met:

  29. Glenn Stehle | May 17, 2016 at 6:30 am |

    Chris Wallace to Bob Woodward: Does Wash Post Also Have 20 Reporters Investigating Hillary Clinton?
    http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/05/15/chris_wallace_to_bob_woodward_are_you_making_an_equal_effort_investigating_clinton.html

    The Fox News Sunday host asks the Washington Post associate editor Bob Woodward about the claim that the paper has twenty reporters looking into Donald Trump’s past, and whether or not the paper will be making an equal effort to investigate Hillary Clinton’s past deeds.

    Trump called out Bezos by name this week, saying that he bought the Post in order to use it as a “political tool.”

  30. Glenn Stehle | May 17, 2016 at 6:40 am |

    Burying the White Working Class
    https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/05/white-workers-bernie-sanders-clinton-primary-racism/

    The white working class is a zombie that doesn’t know it’s dead.

    Or if it’s not fully zombified yet, its members are all too busy cleaning their AR-15s and posting racist comments on YouTube to vote for a progressive. That is, if they’re not already on the Trump bandwagon, which they probably are.

    At least that’s what the Democratic Party wants you to believe….

    With Clinton’s nomination a lock, liberals have become even more furious and dismissive of white workers.

    Commenting on Sanders’s West Virginia victory…media takeaway was clear: somehow, someway, West Virginia’s vote for a Jewish socialist Brooklyn native was a vote for racism.

    • Peter Lang | May 17, 2016 at 6:50 am |

      Glenn Stehle,

      I’ve posted a comment to you here: https://judithcurry.com/2016/05/15/week-in-review-energy-and-policy-edition-25/#comment-784755

      I’d be very interested in your comments on the linked article.

      • Peter Lang | May 17, 2016 at 5:47 pm |

        Hi Glenn,

        You didn’t provide any in-depth comments on the paper “Why carbon pricing will not succeed”. I posted on the Energy Policy thread (the appropriate place for policy for discussion of this). I was hoping you might consider it in depth, perhaps even check that you can reproduce my results, consider the assumptions and what I said about the default key inputs in DICE-2013R leaning on the alarmists’ side of the ‘consensus’ central estimates.

        I’d like to see versions of my chart (20 2100) with these inputs:
        ECS = 2.5, 2. 1.75, 1.5
        RCP6 and RCP4.5
        ‘Damage Function’ run with justifiable, defensible central estimates
        Realistic, defensible Participation rates
        Discount rates (appropriate for a century and justifiable on the basis of long term historic discount rate that are actually used for infrastructure investment decisions)?

        Can you run the GAMS version of the DICE-2013R model and run optimisation http://www.econ.yale.edu/~nordhaus/homepage/ ?

    • Glenn Stehle | May 17, 2016 at 9:48 am |

      Peter Lang,

      Just as a note of personal interest, I have a twenty-something year-old second cousin who is a nuclear engineer. He was a brilliant student and won a full scholarship to Texas A&M University, where he studied nuclear engineering. I thought it to be an odd career choice since I saw it as an industry with perhaps even a bigger black eye than my industry, which is oil and natural gas. Nevertheless, he is all gung ho about nuclear energy and speaks glowingly of its future.

      Speaking of the “social cost of carbon,” I stake out a much more hard-line position than either you or Nordhaus. I believe it to be a chimera created out of whole cloth by a bunch of fanatics on a veritably messianic political mission, who are convinced they can “transform” human nature and the world. They of course dress up their stealth religion as “science.” So in dealing with these religious fanatics, my preference is to cut any talk of the “social cost of carbon” off at the knees, and to not even acknowledge it.

      Here’s my underlying belief: Without abundant and cheap energy, there is nothing.

      There indeed may be other ways of organizing a culture, society or civilization where that statement is not true, but not in the modern, industrialized, capitalist, consumerist society that we have.

      Like dispensationalist Christians waiting around for Armageddon and the second coming of Christ, Marxists have been waiting around for the demise of capitalism for 150 years. Most recently they have hitched their hopes to the belief that capitalism cannot survive the advent of expensive and scarce energy. And who knows, they may be right. But regardless of the accuracy of their prediction, Marxists of various stripes are certainly doing everything in their power to make energy as expensive and scarce as possible.

      And in this war on abundant and cheap energy, Marxists are joined by others: ascetics, animists, primitivists, nature lovers, etc.

      Global government is another perennial yearning of Marxists. But, as Robert Hughes pointed out in Culture of Complaint,

      Marxism lost its main bet at the outset. It wagered its entire claim to historical inevitablity on the idea that mankind would divide along the lines of class, not nationality. In this it was wrong. Because the bonds of nationhood were so much stronger than those of class, the Revolution could only be exported in three forms: as direct conquest by Moscow, as in Eastern Europe; by the reinvention of ancient, xenophobic, authoritarian structures with a “Marxist” veneer, as in Mao’s China; and as a handy form of rhetoric which gave “internationalist” [claims] legitimacy.

      So returning back to your article: given that the immediate ecconomic costs of putting a tax on carbon are so high, and the benefits are so iffy and so far in the future, I agree that the chances of realizing the degree of internationalist cooperation necessary for global governance — necessary “to achieving the modelled net benefits” — are slim to none. The rewards for cheating are just too great.

      For a great discussion on the difficulties and possiblities of solving collective action problems — and realizing the “very high participation rate” that “is key to achieving the modelled net benefits” — you might like this:

      The Logic of Reciprocity: Trust, Collective Action,
      and Law
      http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1007&context=lepp_papers

      Dan Kahan is the ultimate optimist, but I believe his optimism may not be very realistic. Historically speaking, man has never been able to solve his collective action problems on a scale sufficiently grand to achieve one-world government.

      Furthermore, from what I see going on around me, we seem to be going in the opposite direction. The uni-polar world the United States achieved after 1989 is fracturing into a multi-polar world with at least three major zones of influence: the United States, Russia and China.

      I see less cooperation in our future, not more.

      • Joseph | May 17, 2016 at 11:48 am |

        I believe it to be a chimera created out of whole cloth by a bunch of fanatics on a veritably messianic political mission, who are convinced they can “transform” human nature and the world.

        It’s conspiracy? What about the science that says the future impacts of climate change is a problem? That has nothing do with it? They, like you, know climate change won’t be bad?

      • Glenn Stehle | May 17, 2016 at 12:12 pm |

        Joseph,

        Did you miss the next sentence?:

        They of course dress up their stealth religion as “science.”

        Please don’t confuse CAGW with science. That dog don’t hunt.

      • justinwonder | May 17, 2016 at 12:55 pm |

        Glenn – ” … man has never been able to solve his collective action problems on a scale sufficiently grand to achieve one-world government…we seem to be going in the opposite direction.”

        You are correct. Sovereignty, both personal and national, is very important to most people. Throw in linguistic, religious, and cultural identification and it gets even more challenging.

        Management genius Peter Drucker, in his book “Management Challenges of the 21st Century”, wrote “…The world economy is increasingly becoming global…at the same time, political boundaries are not going to go away…the trend has been toward increasing splintering…there are national and local realities, which are both economic, but above all political.”

      • Joseph | May 17, 2016 at 4:43 pm |

        Glenn, you didn’t answer any of my questions.

      • Joseph | May 17, 2016 at 4:49 pm |

        Here is something to think about. I believe that climate change is serious problem and the science I have seen indicates that there are a lot of risks associated with continuing BAU. Why isn’t it possible that other people on the left believe the same thing? How do you know that they don’t? Are you a mind reader?

      • Peter Lang | May 17, 2016 at 5:53 pm |

        Glenn,

        See my comment here: https://judithcurry.com/2016/05/15/week-in-review-energy-and-policy-edition-25/#comment-784821

        I posted my comment in the wrong thread. Could you please respond on the Energy Policy thread and please respond to my comment at the top of the tree (with comment with the chart) so I am notified by WordPress of your comment and so I can respond to you below your comment.

      • Peter Lang | May 17, 2016 at 5:55 pm |

        Well done to your cousin. Wise choice. Smart guy.

      • PA | May 17, 2016 at 6:53 pm |

        Joseph | May 17, 2016 at 4:49 pm |
        Here is something to think about. I believe that climate change is serious problem and the science I have seen indicates that there are a lot of risks associated with continuing BAU.

        The problem with the left is they think their beliefs change reality.

        This belief is incorrect.

        1. Estimates of ECS are converging on 1 not 3.
        2. Estimates based on fossil fuel availability indicate a peak CO2 level of 460.PPM. The higher estimates are not reality based.
        3. Since 2011 the atmospheric CO2 level has dropped from RCP8.5 to RCP4.5. The emissions are still in the RCP8.5 range.
        4. The “riskers” discount the fact that we get 40% of our food from more CO2 and some of them claim there is no benefit from more CO2. This is a flat statement that feeding poor people is harmful.
        5. When 7 GT/Y of carbon (25GT CO2) is being absorbed by the environment and about 20% of the atmospheric CO2 is replaced every year every year, the statement that CO2 has a 100 year lifetime is a sad joke.

        Until there is a factual basis of solid evidence that some harm is outweighing the huge benefits of more CO2 and cheap energy, we should do nothing. Well, not nothing but only cheap things that increase resilience against multiple climate outcomes. The crippling costs of drastic emissions cuts now simply can’t be justified.

        To take drastic action given the current state of knowledge simply rewards the dishonest and unethical for being dishonest and unethical.

      • timg56 | May 19, 2016 at 7:08 pm |

        Joseph,

        The reason you believe it is a problem is that you lack the skill to recognize good science from poor science. Instead you rely on press releases and comments by politicians and the media.

        Yesterday’s Seattle Times had an article telling readers how climate change is going to destroy the Dungeness crab fisheries in the PNW, according to a study out of NOAA. They didn’t publish a link to the paper, but they made sure to use the right words, like ocean acidification and how CO2 concentrations are the highest in 800,000 years. Guess saying they are the highest in 80 years isn’t scary enough. Here’s the research in a nutshell. Scientists filled three tanks with seawater (technically it was water from Puget Sound), each with varying pH (8.0 , 7.5, 7.1). They then introduced crab larvae. Their results, at lower pH levels, crab larvae could experience issues with shell formation. Of course they had to run models to get pH levels down to levels low enough where the problem might start to present itself. And we will leave aside the part about scientists inability to actually determine the source of increased CO2 concentrations in the waters off the PNW.

        So there we have the sort of science that has Joseph believing the world is facing destruction.

    • Daniel E Hofford | May 20, 2016 at 10:06 am |

      “Burying the White Working Class.” Not to worry. Things are going swimmingly under Obama’s astute leadership. How do I know? Warren Buffett told me so!

      • Glenn Stehle | May 20, 2016 at 10:57 am |

        Here’s the money quote from the video:

        DONALD TRUMP: I’m all for national security, I just think we have to spend it on the right national security. When we throw it away by the hundreds of billions of dollars, just throw it away, people say “What’s going on?” And it does make it much more difficult for people to want to pay more tax.

        Look, a good economy solves all of the problems we’re talking about. Good economy solves everything, but we don’t seem to have that economy.

        A friend of mine in the enrgy business, just to get off the subject a little bit, we send so much coal to China….

        We send coal to China but we’re not allowed to use coal anymore because you can’t open up a new coal-fired plant, I mean it’s almost impossible. It probalby is impossible to get an approval. And yet China is going wild with our coal.

        You know, at what point do we get smart and say, “Hey look, we have to compete and we have to win, and we have to take it back from China and other countries”?

        It’s very, very difficult. It’s a very, very difficult place. We’ve become completely moral bound and democratic. It’s very difficult.

  31. Glenn Stehle | May 17, 2016 at 6:55 am |

    Venezuela says better oil loans deal reached with China

    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-economy-idUSKCN0Y71VB

    Venezuela has reached a deal with its main financier China to improve the conditions of an oil-for-loans deal, giving the OPEC member’s crisis-hit economy “oxygen” ahead of heavy debt payments, its top economic official said on Monday….

    Oil is trading at nearly $50, about half the levels in mid-2014, although prices have risen almost 80 percent this year. LCOc1 CLc1

    “This will give the country important oxygen to go forward,” added [Miguel] Perez, a former industry association leader who became economy czar in February, replacing a hard-line socialist who lasted only a month….

    Perez is seen as more inclined toward reform than other factions of the ruling Socialist Party. But many economists express doubt he could turn around Venezuela given the severity of its crisis.

  32. AK | May 17, 2016 at 8:25 am |

    The Hidden Workforce Expanding Tesla’s Factory

    The automaker’s urgent upgrade of its Fremont facility benefited from cheap, imported workers, but did the companies involved flout visa and labor laws?

    When Gregor Lesnik left his pregnant girlfriend in Slovenia for a job in America, his visa application described specialized skills and said he was a supervisor headed to a South Carolina auto plant.

    Turns out, that wasn’t true.

    The unemployed electrician had no qualifications to oversee American workers and spoke only a sentence or two of English. He never set foot in South Carolina. The companies that arranged his questionable visa instead sent Lesnik to a menial job in Silicon Valley. He earned the equivalent of $5 an hour to expand the plant for one of the world’s most sophisticated companies, Tesla Motors.

    Lesnik’s three-month tenure ended a year ago in a serious injury and a lawsuit that has exposed a troubling practice in the auto industry. Overseas contractors are shipping workers from impoverished countries to American factories, where they work long hours for low wages, in apparent violation of visa and labor laws.

    Let’s see if Trump jumps all over this…

    • Glenn Stehle | May 17, 2016 at 10:25 am |

      Interesting.

      My maid’s husband has been to the United States twice on temporary work visas. Before that he went mojado.

      He’s uneducated and has no trade or special skills. But if you have a corporation in the United States willing to sponsor you, it doesn’t seem to be any problem getting the temporary work visa.

      It seems to me that Trump would not object to this practice, since the immigrants go legally, and the distinction between legal and illegal seems to be one which he places a great deal of emphasis on.

      But there’s also the old notion from Adam Smith about the supply and demand of workers, and how a greater supply would drive down the price of wages.

      So is Trump going to be the champion of the working class, or the champion of the business and entrepreneural class that wants a plentiful and cheap supply of labor?

      • Arch Stanton | May 17, 2016 at 10:58 am |

        Are you worried about the cost of maids going through the roof?

      • Glenn Stehle | May 17, 2016 at 11:59 am |

        Arch Stanton,

        Well actually, with the devaluation of the Mexican peso relative to the US dollar, the price of maids’ wages here in Mexico, denominated in US dollars, has fallen drastically over the past two years:

      • justinwonder | May 17, 2016 at 12:17 pm |

        Read “Elites Support Mass Illegal Immigration While The Working Classes Suffer”:

        http://victorhanson.com/wordpress/

      • Arch Stanton | May 17, 2016 at 12:32 pm |

        The way I remember it…

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_American_debt_crisis

        We swapped them 0% 30 year Treasury Bonds and took their junk. Things are different though.

      • Glenn Stehle | May 17, 2016 at 12:48 pm |

        justinwonder,

        That’s pretty amazing. Hanson really knows his stuff. For a great read on how these class and ethnic relationships have played out over the centuries, there’s David Montejano’s Anglos and Mexicans in the Making of Texas, 1836 – 1986.

        The only point of contention I have is the following, although I believe it does not take away from the subtext of Hanson’s essay:

        At the top of the list are Mexico’s elites. Illegal immigration results in an estimated $25 billion sent back in remittances to Mexico each year. The Mexican government worries more about remittances, the country’s No. 1 source of foreign exchange, than it does about its low-paid citizens who are in the U.S., scrimping to send money back home.

        I don’t believe remittances, but proceeds from the illegal drug trade, are the No. 1 source of foreign exchange for Mexico.

        I’m taking these figures off the top of my head (I could hunt down sources and more exact figures if needed), but I think a study by the U.S. Treasury pegged the amount of dollars flowing from the U.S. to Mexico due to the drug trade at about $75 billion a year.

        Very little of this money, however, stays in Mexico. Most of it is laundered by the big money-center banks (Wells Fargo, Santander, Bank of America, HSBC, etc.) and flows back out of Mexico (to the tune of over $50 billion a year). Mexico is the third largest source of illicit money in the world, being surpassed only by China and Russia.

        The United States is the No. 1 destination for this illicit money, with an estimated 18-20% of it ending up in the United States.

      • justinwonder | May 17, 2016 at 1:03 pm |

        Glenn,

        I think you are right about the drug trade. Also, the US is the worst place to park money, except for all the other places. Chinese elites have been trying to protect their assets by investing in the US, even while the communist government tries to block such activity.

        Regarding Mexico again, another big benefit for the oligarchy in Mexico is the exportation of the poor. Instead of instituting reforms to create jobs or paying entitlements, Mexico is able to export the problem to the US and gain remittances in the process. It’s a good deal for them.

        Clarification: I actually believe that immigration from Mexico into the USA is a good thing. It used to trouble me, but not anymore.

      • Glenn Stehle | May 17, 2016 at 1:57 pm |

        justinwonder,

        Immigration is certainly a double-edged sword, and I suppose one has to examine their own situation to determine where they come down on the issue, My own self-interest dictates a more open-border immigration policy for two reasons:

        1) The demographic situation in the United States. The United States has an aging population, and there aren’t enough native-born young people entering the workforce to keep the wheels of production turning. I need more young people entering the workforce, working and producing, bringing up that workers to retired ratio, so they can produce enough to provision the retirement of an aging population, including me.

        2) As Hanson points out, immigration to the United States operates as a safety valve. A lot of ambitious and discontented Mexicans escape across the border to the north. Without this escape valve, the Mexican plutocrats may not be able to keep a lid on things. I have a very good life here in Mexico, and if things blow up I most likely would have to leave.

        I think this is the major fear the Mexican oligarchs have of Trump: his stance on immigration and other policies might so destabilize Mexico that they run the risk of losing control.

        Of course if I were still young and in the U.S, workforce, I might look at things differently.

      • David Springer | May 17, 2016 at 5:12 pm |

        Unemployment in the US is highest among the unskilled primarily because factory jobs have dried up.

        http://www.businessinsider.com/why-blue-collar-jobs-are-dissapearing-2012-1

        And Windbag Stehle in a display of pure unadulterated stupidity thinks we need to import unskilled workers from Mexico as a “safety valve”.

      • Glenn Stehle | May 17, 2016 at 6:01 pm |

        Wrong again, David.

        What are you batting now, 0 for 20? 0 for 100?

        As a nation’s population ages, more and more older people may draw from support systems such as Social Security, yet fewer workers may be around to pay into those systems. The problem is more dire than we think. The ratio of workers to retirees will drop precipitously in numerous countries worldwide this century, potentially sending nations into a financial tailspin….

        The “potential support ratio”—the number of people aged 20-64 divided by the number of people aged 65 or over— in many countries will plummet.

        The ratio, the report authors noted, “can be viewed very roughly as reflecting the number of workers per retiree.”

        http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/ratio-of-workers-to-retirees-will-plummet-worldwide1/

        Of all the countries in the world, the demographic crisis in the United States is shaping up to be one of the worst. As the Scientific American article notes: “The downward slopes” of the potential support ratios, “more like cliffs, are striking.”

      • David Springer | May 17, 2016 at 7:33 pm |

        Paul Ryan is part of the problem not the solution. This is unacceptable.

        http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/01/05/us-employers-can-now-bring-more-foreign-workers-seasonal-jobs/78258802/

        Trump hires them at his resorts. Says it’s hard to get seasonal help. Yeah? Not if you offer more money. I used to know lots of seasonal workers, US citizens, where I grew up in upstate NY that worked at the ski resorts in the winter. We should end this practice completely not expand it.

      • David Springer | May 17, 2016 at 11:13 pm |

        As it turns out Trump agrees with me on importing foreign workers – raise the prevailing wage.

        http://www.computerworld.com/article/2970928/it-outsourcing/donald-trump-zingers-and-all-emerges-as-sharp-h-1b-critic.html

      • timg56 | May 19, 2016 at 7:49 pm |

        Glenn,

        RE: “Of all the countries in the world, the demographic crisis in the United States is shaping up to be one of the worst.”

        Not even close. The fact is from a demographic standpoint the US is in far better shape than any of the competition.

        Piece of advice – don’t use Scientific American as a source. They are neither Scientific nor American these days.

    • timg56 | May 19, 2016 at 7:44 pm |

      AK,

      Slovenia is not an “improvised” country.

      • AK | May 19, 2016 at 9:30 pm |

        Slovenia is not an “improvised” country.

        You mean “impoverished”? Wiki says they’re worse off than Greece.

      • timg56 | May 20, 2016 at 12:55 pm |

        Ignoring that you are relying on wiki, exactly how do you arrive at them being worse off than Greece? Not even close.

      • AK | May 20, 2016 at 3:55 pm |

        Ignoring that you are relying on wiki, […]

        Why should I care? That’s what the person who wrote the story said. Just because I linked to it doesn’t mean I vouch for it. She probably consulted Wiki also.

        [… E]xactly how do you arrive at them being worse off than Greece?

        I went to the second table, labeled “Eurostat family”, and clicked on the column header for gross income. That sorted it into order by ascending gross income. Slovenia was right above Greece.

        If you’re not happy with her statement, why not come up with links to demonstrate it’s wrong. If I cared, I might have verified that the numbers represented the same units, but really I don’t. The question is whether it’s OK for impoverished people from other countries to come here and compete with Americans who have a higher standard of living.

  33. justinwonder | May 17, 2016 at 12:15 pm |

    Mark Steyn guest-hosting the Rush Limbaugh show again this morning. He’s worth listening to. Very funny.

  34. justinwonder | May 17, 2016 at 1:09 pm |

    A possible future for the USA – Berniezuela!!!! :)

    https://www.aei.org/publication/blog/carpe-diem/

  35. Wagathon | May 17, 2016 at 2:40 pm |

    And yet another instance — a parallel from politics this time showing it’s futile to expect the reporting of truth facts the Left’s real agenda about global warming — the NYT hit 20-page piece about gentleman Trump’s supposed mistreatment of women was ragged-on by the NYT’s supposed source: “They spun it to where it appeared negative. I did not have a negative experience with Donald Trump,” Rowanne Brewer Lane told “Fox & Friends.” Surprising? Newt Gingrich says the NYT has been steadily steering ever harder to the Left over the last 40 years. Like global warming alarmists, the NYT does nothing but engage in any hoax and scare tactic that will help prop-up the Leftist propaganda machine.

    • PA | May 17, 2016 at 3:47 pm |

      Well… yeah. This is so obvious it is sad it actually has to be stated.

      The Journolist Scandal, which featured hundreds of members of the MSM coordinating with the Obama campaign, basically signaled the end of any value that the MSM brings to any story with a political element.

      That kind of bias and unethical behavior indicated that the MSM had moved from news to being a propaganda organ of the left agenda. The Post has 20 reporters digging dirt on Trump and 0 (zero) digging dirt on Hillary.

      There is a big opening for a conservative to neutral newspaper of national interest. Nobody is filling the void and printing the accurate news the majority of Americans want.

    • Glenn Stehle | May 17, 2016 at 4:30 pm |

      Charles Krauthammer, who is about as much of an anti-Trump neocon as they come, is bemoaning the NY Times story:

      Krauthammer on NYT’s Trump Story: If This Is The Best The Media Can Do, “It’s Time To Plan For The Inauguration”

      http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/05/17/krauthammer_on_nyts_trump_story_if_this_is_the_best_the_media_can_do_its_time_to_plan_for_the_inauguration.html

    • Steven Mosher | May 17, 2016 at 9:46 pm |

      It would be hella funny to set up the NYT with some false flags.

      or just inundate them with phony trump stories..

      chaff

      • David Springer | May 17, 2016 at 11:18 pm |

        Hannity tonight had two more of the women who the NYT used in the hit piece protesting that the Times totally twisted what they said and had nothing but praise for Trump, how he treated them, and how he’s helped hundreds or thousands of women advance their careers.

      • Jim D | May 17, 2016 at 11:23 pm |

        One of the ones from last night (Res) said she would vote for Hillary.

      • miker613 | May 18, 2016 at 11:33 am |

        “One of the ones from last night (Res) said she would vote for Hillary.” Which would make her story yet more convincing.

      • timg56 | May 19, 2016 at 8:11 pm |

        Jim D,

        I see your candidacy for “most clueless” is right on track.

        Who any of the women interviewed plan on voting for is not relevant to the story. The story is about the NYT misrepresenting the facts to the point the subjects are coming out to state the misrepresentation.

      • Jim D | May 19, 2016 at 9:12 pm |

        So you don’t care if Trump misrepresents facts, but you do if newspapers do.

      • timg56 | May 20, 2016 at 12:50 pm |

        From Jim D:

        “So you don’t care if Trump misrepresents facts, but you do if newspapers do.”

        How old are you? Five? You can’t distinguish between someone running for political office and a news organization? Perhaps by the time you reach adulthood you will have learned that politicians always misrepresent things. It is their bread and butter. Particularly when they are running for office. I pretty much knew by the 6th grade that one shouldn’t get too worked up about what they say, as it’s all BS to one degree or another.

        Newspapers on the other hand are supposed to present factual information. I gave up expecting impartiality a long time ago. However willful distortion is not acceptable. Except perhaps to you.

      • Daniel E Hofford | May 26, 2016 at 6:35 pm |

        It would be hella funny….they don’t need any help.

  36. Wagathon | May 17, 2016 at 3:41 pm |

    The Clinton’s can prove how much they really loathe the military by taking on John Kerry as VP…

    • PA | May 17, 2016 at 7:57 pm |

      No their anti-military bonafides are solid, Kerry would be redundant.

      They will look for a black & mexican illegal moslem terrorist to firm up support in the rest of their base.

      Since it has already been proven that the MSM will accept a forged birth certificate he’ll pass muster.

  39. Glenn Stehle | May 17, 2016 at 4:40 pm |

    Democratic Party badly divided in the swing state of Nevada:

    Maddow on Dem Chaos in NV: “Ugly, Ugly Stuff Coming Out Of Democratic Party in Nevada”

    http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/05/17/maddow_on_dem_chaos_in_nv_ugly_ugly_stuff_coming_out_of_democratic_party_in_nevada.html

    • timg56 | May 19, 2016 at 8:15 pm |

      It is interesting to see the MSM parade the Dem Party line about “concern over violence” and how the entire affair was the fault of Saunders followers.

  40. Glenn Stehle | May 17, 2016 at 5:21 pm |

    Anti-Trump Republicans Really Want Mark Cuban to Run for President
    http://nymag.com/betamale/2016/05/mark-cuban-draft-president.html

    [Cuban’s] billionaire investor buddy (and Shark Tank semi-regular) Chris Sacca has also been pushing Cuban for president. “The minute you’re coined a billionaire in this country, everyone just takes everything you say as gospel,” the cowboy-shirt-clad venture capitalist said told Colin Cowherd last month. “You can say no wrong. And that’s why we see Trump skating in. He says asinine things and everyone says, ‘Well, he’s a successful business guy.’ Cuban has all of that, but is not an idiot.”

  41. Glenn Stehle | May 17, 2016 at 5:32 pm |

    If techno-triumphalists like Mish Shedlock are right, there won’t be any need for workers in the near future:

    Goodbye TAs: Georgia Tech Professor Reveals Online Assistant “Jill Watson” Was a Robot
    https://mishtalk.com/2016/05/16/teachers-assistants/

    Jill will not eliminate the need for all TA’s just 97% of them.

    Readers aren’t buying it though, and Shedlock gets considerable pushback in the comments.

  42. David Springer | May 17, 2016 at 7:37 pm |

    Don’t miss Megyn Kelly/Donald Trump interview coming on at 7pm central time on FOX tonight!

    Can’t wait to see what the ratings are going to be.

  43. jim2 | May 17, 2016 at 8:15 pm |

    Don’t know if anyone brought it up (this thread is HOT!) , but SHOTS FIRED at Bernie’s Nevada HQ.

    • jim2 | May 17, 2016 at 9:54 pm |

      The Weekly Standard (beware, Bill Kristol) reports some apartments where his staff are staying were ransacked. From the article:
      …
      A bullet hole was discovered in a storefront window at the Bernie Sanders campaign headquarters in northwest Las Vegas on Thursday morning, the same day the Democratic presidential candidate was on site, Metro Police said today.

      Officers responded just before noon to the campaign office at 815 South Rainbow Blvd., near Alta Drive, authorities said. Police said it appears a bullet went through the window but declined to comment on whether a shot had been fired.
      …
      http://lasvegassun.com/news/2016/jan/08/bullet-hole-found-at-sanders-campaign-hq-on-day-ca/

  44. jim2 | May 17, 2016 at 10:30 pm |

    This is why the ultra-rich fear Trump. Trump is threatening to take the punch bowel. From the article:
    …
    When Gregor Lesnik left his pregnant girlfriend in Slovenia for a job in America, his visa application described specialized skills and said he was a supervisor headed to a South Carolina auto plant.

    Turns out, that wasn’t true.

    The unemployed electrician had no qualifications to oversee American workers and spoke only a sentence or two of English. He never set foot in South Carolina. The companies that arranged his questionable visa instead sent Lesnik to a menial job in Silicon Valley. He earned the equivalent of $5 an hour to expand the plant for one of the world’s most sophisticated companies, Tesla Motors.

    Lesnik’s three-month tenure ended a year ago in a serious injury and a lawsuit that has exposed a troubling practice in the auto industry. Overseas contractors are shipping workers from impoverished countries to American factories, where they work long hours for low wages, in apparent violation of visa and labor laws.
    …
    http://extras.mercurynews.com/silicon-valley-imported-labor/

    • David Springer | May 18, 2016 at 8:12 am |

      Trump knowing about abuses and doing something about them are two different things. I believe he can effectively use the bully pulpit, like few who have gone before, to fix a lot of broken stuff in 8 years if the American people give him the opportunity. For me it’s a matter of trust. Can I trust him to do what I know needs to be done? I know I can’t trust Cr00ked Hillary and she’s a globalization fangirl anyhow so even if she was trustworthy her global village crappola is not something I’m interested in.

      What do you think about the trust issue, Jim?

      • jim2 | May 18, 2016 at 8:21 am |

        Fair question and not being a mind reader, I can’t answer with IPCC certainty. My gut tells me he has our country’s best interest at heart. If that is correct, that’s enough policy detail for me.

        He is fiercely independent and I don’t think he will bend even though he will have to take money for the general election. The Dimowits have already accumulated a billion dollars, so he has no viable alternative.

        He had a feel-good meeting with Megyn Kelly on her show last night. But even then, he said the argument they had before could happen again. He knows exactly what he is doing when it comes to intimidation. He sees it as a valid tool, and it is. It will come in handy on The Hill.

  45. jim2 | May 17, 2016 at 10:32 pm |

    From the article:
    …
    Johanna Shelton, Google’s director of public policy — in effect, the company’s top lobbyist — has visited White House officials 128 times since President Barack Obama took office in 2009.

    To put that in perspective, senior lobbyists for other companies in the telecommunications and cable industry — including Comcast, Facebook, Amazon, Oracle and Verizon — have visited the White House a combined 124 times in the same span. (That data goes through October 2015.)

    The Google Transparency Project, the work of Campaign for Accountability, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works to expose corporate influence on government, identified policy pushers for the 50 biggest lobbying spenders and counted how many times they appeared in the White House visitor logs.

    Alphabet Inc., the parent company of Google, spent $16.6 million on lobbying in 2015. That was the twelfth most of any company, and the most by a technology firm, just above AT&T’s $16.4 million and Comcast’s $15.7 million.
    …
    http://watchdog.org/265252/visitor-logs-google-white-house/

    • timg56 | May 19, 2016 at 8:25 pm |

      Google has been very savvy in how they operate. They are using political influence and the lure of billions in economic growth brought about by their plans to deploy high speed fiber to circumvent jurisdictional processes and property rights. They approach mayors, city councils, state houses and governors, sell them on Google’s view of the future and then get to run over anyone in their path. In Kansas City they got the politicians to force KCP&L to allow them on their poles on Google’s terms, not those of the pole owner. Even better, for Google, they made the utility responsible for paying for much of the cost of replacing poles and performing make-ready work in order for Google to add their fiber. In Louisville the got the city to pass an ordinance allowing automatic transfer of all parties on a pole. An action which has landed the city in court.

      In my world, Google is the 8,000 lb gorilla. One who gets invited to dinner with the Governor. And apparently the President.

  46. Glenn Stehle | May 18, 2016 at 7:27 am |

    Look! The Republican establishment knows how to do identity politics too!

    Bush on Trump’s taco tweet — ‘It’s like eating a watermelon and saying: I love African-Americans’
    http://edition.cnn.com/2016/05/17/politics/jeb-bush-donald-trump-taco-bowl/index.html

    • David Springer | May 18, 2016 at 8:25 am |

      GW Bush is rapidly rising in my sh*t list along with the rest of the neocons who took over and ruined the Republican party. At this point the neocon and neolib charade of being concerned about the vast majority in America is exposed, mortally wounded, and bleeding out as we speak.

      Y’all know I went down hard for my part, mostly because of loyalty to the team I supported in the past, but there comes a time when I have to admit that the team wasn’t loyal to me. Paraphrasing a neocon imbecile born with a silver spoon in his mouth: Scorn me once, shame on you; scorn me twice and you can’t scorn me again.

    • David Springer | May 18, 2016 at 8:27 am |

      Looks like the neocons misunderestimated Trump, eh?

  47. Glenn Stehle | May 18, 2016 at 7:37 am |

    Former Trump Employee Drops Truth Bomb About Old Boss. “I Can No Longer Remain Silent.”
    http://thoughtfulwomen.org/2016/05/03/former-executive-trump/

    Lynne Patton, a former Trump Organization executive, delivered strong words about her intimate knowledge of the Trump family.

    “As a black female executive at the Trump Organization, I can no longer remain silent about the repeated and reprehensible attempts to align my boss and his family with racist hate-mongering groups, campaigns and messaging,” Patton confessed to viewers.

    • David Springer | May 18, 2016 at 8:37 am |

      +1

    • PA | May 20, 2016 at 4:26 pm |

      Trump’s employees as far as can be determined are fiercely loyal to him.

      And everyone who knows him seems to think he loves America.

      I can’t think of better qualifications for a President.

  49. Glenn Stehle | May 18, 2016 at 7:43 am |

    And here’s a former female Trump executive who blasts Trump:

    Ex-Trump Employee Speaks Out on His Treatment of Women

    Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/ex-trump-employee-speaks-out-on-his-treatment-of-women-20160329#ixzz490UD6RkE
    Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook

    • David Springer | May 18, 2016 at 8:47 am |

      Are those eyebrows on Res or have barn swallows built nests there?

    • timg56 | May 19, 2016 at 8:30 pm |

      So Rolling Stone essentially resorts to office gossip in an attempt to tarnish the Donald.

      Guess I should be surprised that they include the line about campaign manager mistreating reporter. You know, the guy who the prosecutor dropped all charges against.

  50. Glenn Stehle | May 18, 2016 at 7:46 am |

    Establishment Republicans circle the wagons around Clinton:

    Reid blames Sanders’ ‘people’ for Nevada convention chaos
    http://edition.cnn.com/2016/05/16/politics/nevada-convention-chaos-bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton/

  51. Glenn Stehle | May 18, 2016 at 8:00 am |

    Just like as is happenng with the Republican Party, the Democratic Party is ripping itself in two with infighting between the grassroots and the party’s economic royalists, as FDR called them:

    Dems’ new fear: Sanders revolt could upend Democratic convention
    http://edition.cnn.com/2016/05/17/politics/democrat-bernie-sanders-revolt/

    • David Springer | May 18, 2016 at 8:51 am |

      The contagion is spreading. To quote an old departed buddy of mine, Dr. JA Davison, Emeritus Professor of Biology, University of Vermont: “Hard to believe, isn’t it? I love it so!”

  53. Glenn Stehle | May 18, 2016 at 8:08 am |

    The “malefactors of great wealth,” to use another phrase coined by FDR, are circling the wagons around Clinton:

    DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz: What Happened At Nevada Convention Was Unacceptable, Sanders “Added Fuel To The Fire”
    http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/05/17/debbie_wasserman_schultz_what_happened_at_nevada_convention_was_unacceptable_sanders_added_fuel_to_the_fire.html

  54. Glenn Stehle | May 18, 2016 at 8:29 am |

    More “paid liars and bumsuckers of the lords of capital” as Orwell called them, circling the wagons around Clinton:

    Joy Ann Reid on NV Dem Chaos: “Sanders Irregulars Don’t Play By The Rules”
    http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/05/17/joy_ann_reid_sanders_irregulars_dont_play_by_the_rule.html

  55. Glenn Stehle | May 18, 2016 at 8:59 am |

    The blowup at the Nevada state convention is all over the news today. But both Bernie and Hillary are doing a Seargent Schultz act:

    Back to Videos
    Sanders Dodges Question About NV Convention Disturbance
    http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/05/17/sanders_dodges_question_about_convention_disturbance.html

  56. Glenn Stehle | May 18, 2016 at 9:07 am |

    Hillary Clinton ‘Super PAC’ to Air First Attack Ads Aimed at Donald Trump
    http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/18/us/politics/ad-super-pac-clinton-trump.html?_r=0

  57. Glenn Stehle | May 18, 2016 at 9:10 am |

    Trump: I’m ‘Misquoted’ In Pro-Clinton Ad Featuring My Remarks On Women (VIDEO)
    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/trump-bashes-priorities-usa-women-comments-ad

  58. Glenn Stehle | May 18, 2016 at 9:36 am |

    Notice how the entire Obama spiel is about messaging, style and form, and nothing about content.

    Obama to Help Clinton Make Case Against Trump
    http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2016/05/18/obama_to_help_clinton_make_case_against_trump_130596.html

    Obama has said flatly that Trump will not succeed him as president…

    Democrats concede they underestimated Trump’s traction among disaffected middle-class and low-income Americans, not to mention Bernie Sanders’ magnetism among millennials, and Clinton’s vulnerabilities when it comes to measures of compassion and trustworthiness in poll after poll….

    Strategists advising Obama, supporting the Clinton campaign and working for the Democratic Party have been experimenting with anti-Trump messages they hope can hobble the shape-shifting Republican by November, even if his primary opponents failed to find a successful formula….

    Obama will do more than coax Clinton and Sanders supporters to mend fences. He’s going to try to disqualify Trump as unfit for the complex job he seeks…., assailing Trump as ill-prepared for the presidency, a danger to the country, and temperamentally erratic….

    That’s the message Clinton favored this month, hammering Trump as a “loose cannon.”…

    Obama last week used part of a commencement address at Rutgers University to warn graduates and their families about Trump, whose name he never uttered. In a sarcastic tone, Obama suggested the presumptive Republican nominee and his party sought to fool voters.

    “In politics and in life, ignorance is not a virtue,” Obama said to applause and laughter. “It’s not cool to not know what you’re talking about. That’s not keeping it real, or telling it like it is. That’s not challenging political correctness. That’s just not knowing what you’re talking about.”

    • Joshua | May 18, 2016 at 9:48 am |

      Glenn –

      ==> Notice how the entire Obama spiel is about messaging, style and form, and nothing about content.

      Confirmation bias?

      Not sure what “entire spiel” you’re referring to, but consider this:

      “In politics and in life, ignorance is not a virtue,” Obama said to applause and laughter. “It’s not cool to not know what you’re talking about. That’s not keeping it real, or telling it like it is. That’s not challenging political correctness. That’s just not knowing what you’re talking about.”

      This is not merely about style and form. In fact, it is a direct statement that style and form are not what people should be focused on – and is an appeal that people should be focused on content.

      • Glenn Stehle | May 18, 2016 at 1:53 pm |

        Joshua,

        When I talk about “content,” here’s what I’m talking about:

        Bush was a horrible president. At the time, I thought he was the worst president in American history.

        But Obama has made a lot of firsts himself …

        For example, Obama:

        • Has prosecuted more whistleblowers than all other presidents combined

        • Sentenced whistleblowers to 31 times the jail time of all prior u.s. presidents combined

        • Prosecuted fewer financial crimes than President Reagan, Clinton or either of the Bush presidents. (As bad as the Bush administration was, they at least prosecuted the heads of Enron, Worldcom and some other white collar crooks. In contrast, Obama hasn’t prosecuted even one high-level Wall Street executive.)

        • Is the most secretive president ever

        • Is more hostile to the press than any president in history

        • Claims the power to strip Americans’ liberty in a way that no other president has ever tried to claim … and that even King George of England didn’t claim. Indeed, Obama has rolled back some of our liberties to the time of the enactment of the Magna Carta in 1215

        • Has turned America into the most spied upon nation in world history (and see this and this)

        • Has arguably centralized power more than any other president
        Has granted less pardons than any president since Garfield, who served only 200 days as president before being assassinated in 1881

        • May be the only U.S. president in history who failed to deliver a single year of at least 3% economic growth (when adjusted for inflation)

        In addition, Obama has presided over:

        • The greatest inequality of any president

        • The first time in its history that America is viewed as the world’s greatest threat by the people of the world

        • One of the largest net changes in debt in American history

        • Perhaps the most corrupt government ever in the U.S.

        And as the New York Times notes this week, Obama has been at war longer than any president in history.

        http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2016/05/obama-presided-war-longer-president-history.html

      • Ragnaar | May 18, 2016 at 1:57 pm |

        He missed with the opportunity to talk about challenging ‘climate correctness’.

      • timg56 | May 19, 2016 at 8:33 pm |

        Obama should know. Ignorance may be the only virtue he has going for him.

    • PA | May 18, 2016 at 9:53 am |

      Obama is an empty suit…

      Why are you demanding content from him?

    • David Springer | May 18, 2016 at 11:01 am |

      If a first term senator whose range of experience was smoking marijuana, abuse of affirmative-action quotas, community organizing, terrorist befriending, and otherwise playing his half-black genetics to the hilt then I’m sure Trumps much broader range of real-world experience isn’t going to present a problem.

    • David Springer | May 18, 2016 at 11:05 am |

      Bucket list for USA:

      [x] black president with no CEO experience

      Been there, done that. Move along folks.

  59. David Springer | May 18, 2016 at 10:53 am |

    America loves an underdog. The more the libtards pile onto Trump the more followers he gets. This has happened over and over and over now. There’s too much of it. It looks contrived and desperate. Once again there’s a lesson from the most famous physicist in the world that describes this:

    “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” ~Albert Einstein

    • David Springer | May 18, 2016 at 11:14 am |

      A millennial slacker with a resting bitch face throwing shade. Great icon.

      What are these people thinking?

      • David Springer | May 18, 2016 at 12:44 pm |

        That’s Harlan Ellison, dimbulb and the quote you’re reaching for is “The two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity”.

        Write that down.

      • David Springer | May 18, 2016 at 12:47 pm |

        The quote you’re reaching for is

        “The two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity”. ~Harlan Ellis0n

        Write that down.

    • Arch Stanton | May 18, 2016 at 11:14 am |

      James Cross, You sir, are no Einstein, obviously.

      • James Cross | May 18, 2016 at 11:59 am |

        Is Einstein voting for Trump too?

        One of the new followers Springer thinks are flocking to Trump.

        Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.

      • David Springer | May 18, 2016 at 12:53 pm |

        Dead voters are a Democrat thing, Jimbo. You are projecting, obviously.

    • wijnand2015 | May 18, 2016 at 12:29 pm |

      Maybe that is why Trump is doing so well?

      Finally there is a guy running for office who talks like everyday normal people talk. That is, people who are not afraid to give their true opinion in life every now and then, even if that might offend somebody. A guy who calls it like he sees it and does not constantly cloak his real opinion in PC language like a politician.

      And because of that he runs the risk of sometimes saying the wrong thing or offend someone.

      To me, your video of all the wrong things he has said just reinforces that image of a man who speaks his mind. Offending sometimes yes, but honest at least.

      I like that. I think it is refreshing.

      • David Springer | May 18, 2016 at 12:59 pm |

        It’s scary. I was a city councilman in my hometown. One of my fellows on council, a dear friend and political ally who together with me did amazing things like lowering property taxes 25% in one budget meeting taking everyone by surprise as we negotiated with other council members on the fly to get a majority, with the audience looking like proverbial deer in the headlights “What just happened????”… anyhow, he’s not a Trump fan and told me months ago “Dave, making Trump president would be like making YOU president.” And I said “Exactly. What’s your point?”

      • Joshua | May 18, 2016 at 1:19 pm |

        ==> “Finally there is a guy running for office who talks like everyday normal people talk.

        This is one of the things I find so fascinating about Trump supporters – they actually think that “normal people” talk like Trump.

        You know, like calling people fat pigs, bimbos,… talking about them bleeding out of their “whatever,” mocking people’s disabilities, etc.

        Oh yeah, he talks just like “normal people.”

      • wijnand2015 | May 18, 2016 at 2:03 pm |

        Exactly what I expected from you J0shu@.
        Mrs. Holier-than-thou.
        Maybe you are one of those people who pretends never to say a bad word about anybody or anything. Ever. To anybody.
        But if someone was to put all the crappy stuff you have said in your life together in a one minute segment it would give another impression entirely. And that would be perfectly fine imo. It would show you as a human being. And that is my point. That is what makes Trump appealing imo. He says what he thinks, not what he thinks they wanna hear.

        And nice labeling and jumping-to-conclusion job by the way.
        Who says I am a “Trump supporter”?

      • captdallas2 0.8 +/- 0.3 | May 18, 2016 at 2:14 pm |

        “You know, like calling people fat pigs, bimbos..”

        Just Rosie :)

      • Joshua | May 18, 2016 at 3:17 pm |

        wijnand2015 –

        ==> “And nice labeling and jumping-to-conclusion job by the way.”

        Fair enough. Usually when people bite on the “Trump is a straight-talking truth teller saying what he thinks” public relations con job hook, line, and sinker, they’re a supporter, but I was wrong to make that assumption.

        ==> “Maybe you are one of those people who pretends never to say a bad word about anybody or anything. ”

        What? Huh? OK, let’s turn around the fallacious reasoning here. I don’t “pretend never to say a bad word about anybody or anything.” But I don’t go around calling people “fat pigs” or “bimbos” as a matter of course. I don’t mock people for their disabilities. And I don’t think that “normal people” do that, either. At least not in my experience. And when they do screw up on the rare occasion, they show some accountability rather than doubling down to explain that they only do it as a “counterpunch” because they’re tough guys.

        ==> “But if someone was to put all the crappy stuff you have said in your life together in a one minute segment it would give another impression entirely. ”

        Once again, this is a regular part of his repertoire. He flat out says that he employs that kind of rhetoric strategically. He uses it because it achieves the goals he wants: (1) intimidation and, (2) popularity – presumably with, among others, people who apparently consider that as “normal” behavior.

      • Joshua | May 18, 2016 at 3:22 pm |

        And one more point.

        I am also tired of the crafted imagery and phoniness of most politicians. I think of how smarmy Bill Clinton is with his faux “I feel your pain.”

        But there are not only two options. Just because most politicians are phony doesn’t mean that I support demagoguery and juvenile behavior as an alternative, and it certainly doesn’t mean that I am fooled into thinking that Trump’s public persona is any less crafted for his own personal/political expediency.

      • Joshua | May 18, 2016 at 3:38 pm |

        ==> “He says what he thinks, not what he thinks they wanna hear.”

        This is what I find so amusing. How do so many people, some of whom self-identify as “skeptics” (are you one of those?) actually fall for this nonsense (not to say that all “skeptics” do). They exempt Trump from the dynamics of expediency and self-interest that they’d assume in pretty much just about everyone else – and certainly to other politicians, or other members of the elite who were born with a silver spoon in their mouth.

        His rhetoric is crafted for effect. He weighs the effect and responds accordingly. A lot of people like his insults and his demagoguery, and so he continues with it because it helps him to advance towards his goal.

      • Arch Stanton | May 18, 2016 at 4:55 pm |

        Maybe he wants to be more beloved at the end of his term than George Washington ever hoped to be? It would fit his ego more terrifically too.

    • timg56 | May 19, 2016 at 8:36 pm |

      You do know these ads are targeted at the uninformed and terminally stupid.

  61. David Springer | May 18, 2016 at 11:11 am |

    “That’s the message Clinton favored this month, hammering Trump as a “loose cannon.”…”

    Yeah that’s working. Not. I *want* a loose cannon and evidently so do a great many others. A heretofore silent majority of others. People pay close attention to loose cannons. Middle class apathy is gone. An electoral rebellion is underway. Trump’s responsible for that. I want more of it.

  62. David Springer | May 18, 2016 at 11:18 am |

    James Cross has a woody for Trump. Must be the tiny hands. Isn’t that just precious? The scuttlebutt in high school was don’t bend over in the shower room to pick up soap with James in the vicinity.

  63. Arch Stanton | May 18, 2016 at 11:20 am |

    Next you might want to show us his birth certificate? It is photo shopped too.

  64. miker613 | May 18, 2016 at 11:38 am |

    The presidential race has been remarkable already, but let’s make it more interesting.
    https://www.quora.com/Can-Bill-Clinton-become-Vice-President-when-Hillary-Clinton-becomes-President-in-the-next-election
    But that’s not my suggestion, I have a different one: let Donald Trump take Bill Clinton as his running mate.

    • Arch Stanton | May 18, 2016 at 11:48 am |

      With a wink and a nod, the dream ticket today would be Donald & Bernie, balance.

      • David Springer | May 18, 2016 at 1:09 pm |

        Jimmy must be laboring under the mistaken belief that Bernie lives in NY. President and VP can’t live in the same state. He’s from Vermont, dufous. Close but no cigar. Just a cigar.

        Some other libtard dimwit (JCH?) yesterday thought Pochahontas Warren was from New York instead of Massachusetts. What’s up with that? Can we please, if such a thing exists, get some smarter libtards in here to insult?

      • timg56 | May 19, 2016 at 8:41 pm |

        Springer,

        Let’s show some understanding. When there are 53 states, it is easy to get mixed up now and then.

    • James Cross | May 18, 2016 at 11:55 am |

      Not eligible. Constitution 101.

      • David Springer | May 18, 2016 at 1:10 pm |

        Imbecile.

      • James Cross | May 18, 2016 at 1:23 pm |

        The question is Bill Clinton becoming Vice President.

        He is not eligible because he would need to be eligible to become President and he is not eligible to become President because he has already served two terms.

        There is also the State problem with Hillary and Trump.

      • David Springer | May 18, 2016 at 1:37 pm |

        Sorry, I see you were objecting to Slick Willy as VP on constitutional grounds not Bernie. But you’re still wrong. Constitution forbids electing a president to more than two terms. It is silent on whether a former two term president can be in the path of succession to the office as that is not being put there by election.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vice_President_of_the_United_States#Selection_process

        Scholars disagree whether a former president barred from election to the presidency is also ineligible to be elected or appointed vice president, as suggested by the Twelfth Amendment.

        Sounds a lot like the argument over the natural-born status of a child whose mother who is a US resident but bore the child overseas.

        See you and Trump have more in common than you thought!

        The following is a test:

        1) Where was Obama born?
        2) Was 9/11 an inside job?
        3) Was the moon landing staged?
        4) Was the Lewinsky cigar an illegal Cuban cigar?

        Enquiring minds want to know.

  65. jim2 | May 18, 2016 at 12:51 pm |

    From the article:
    …
    Following his call with Reid, Sanders released a statement regarding what happened in Nevada. However, the statement was probably not what Harry Reid was hoping for—as it revealed the gunshots and more about the infighting in Nevada, including a break-in months ago at his campaign staff’s living quarters.

    “Within the last few days there have been a number of criticisms made against my campaign organization,” Sanders said. “Party leaders in Nevada, for example, claim that the Sanders campaign has a ‘penchant for violence.’ That is nonsense.”

    Sanders went on to add, “when we speak of violence, I should add here that months ago, during the Nevada campaign, shots were fired into my campaign office in Nevada and apartment housing complex my campaign staff lived in was broken into and ransacked.”

    As the statement progressed Sanders began to lay out his argument against what happened in Nevada.
    “The chair of the convention announced that the convention rules passed on voice vote, when the vote was a clear no-vote. At the very least, the Chair should have allowed for a headcount.
    …
    http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/05/18/nevada-battle-sanders-clinton-camps-breaks-open-war-gunshots-fired-bernies-state-campaign-office/

    • Glenn Stehle | May 18, 2016 at 1:15 pm |

      Reid ‘surprised’ by ‘silly statement’ from Sanders
      http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/280259-reid-surprised-by-silly-statement-from-sanders

      Reid was expecting Sanders to condemn unruly behavior at the convention, much of which Democrats have blamed on Sanders supporters.

      Instead, the Sanders statement largely criticized the Democratic establishment….

      Reid told Sanders to take charge of his supporters during their talk Tuesday.

      He said how Sanders would respond to the violent outbursts would be “a test of leadership” and said he was “hopeful and very confident that Sen. Sanders will do the right thing.”

      Instead, Sanders turned the tables on the party establishment, accusing it in his statement of biased treatment.

      
“The Democratic Party has a choice. It can open its doors and welcome into the party people who are prepared to fight for real economic and social change – people who are willing to take on Wall Street, corporate greed and a fossil fuel industry which is destroying this planet,” he said.

      “Or the party can choose to maintain its status quo structure, remain dependent on big-money campaign contributions and be a party with limited participation and limited energy,” he added.

      The statement went on to accuse the Democratic leadership in Nevada of using “its power to prevent a fair and transparent process from taking place.”

    • Glenn Stehle | May 18, 2016 at 1:18 pm |

      Is the worm beginning to turn?

      MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski Calls For DNC Chair To Step Down Over Bias Against Sanders
      http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/05/18/msnbcs_mika_brzezinski_calls_for_dnc_chair_to_step_down_for_bias_against_sanders.html

      “Morning Joe” Panel: Appearance That Primaries Are “Rigged” Is Hurting Democratic Party
      http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/05/18/morning_joe_panel_appearance_primaries_are_rigged_hurting_democratic_party.html

    • David Springer | May 18, 2016 at 1:49 pm |

      Democrats fall in love. Republicans fall in line. Scorned, abused, mistreated Bernie voters, getting a taste of the rigged establishment system, will flock to other anti-establishment candidate who shares their concern and grief over the rigged system. Trump was a Democrat before he was a Republican anyway, and for longer. This distresses the conservative right but Cr00ked Hillary was never a Republican so Trump is still at least the lesser of two evils in their view. Cr00ked Hillary is toast. I’m just rooting for her to not die or be indicted before it’s too late to replace her. Hang in there Hilly, we luv ya hon.

    • David Springer | May 18, 2016 at 1:54 pm |

      At least she’s not a phallic symbol like missiles and beefcake that you posted today.

      The following is a test:

      1) What do the stone parrots in the picture appear to be doing?
      2) Are the parrots first cousins or closer?
      3) Are the parrots one female and one male?
      4) Can the parrots use the same bathroom regardless of the how you answer any of the above?

      Enquiring minds want to know.

      • James Cross | May 18, 2016 at 2:10 pm |

        1) They’re “fighting” as my daughter used to say about ducks at the lake when she was five years old.
        2) They’re parrots it doesn’t matter.
        3) Ditto
        $) They go wherever they like – maybe even on your head.

    • PA | May 18, 2016 at 2:32 pm |

      Odd picture to use of his daughter. Ivanka is 34.

    • David Springer | May 18, 2016 at 2:35 pm |

      “they’re fighting”

      Ah. So you have the mind of a five year old girl. That explains a few things. What do you want to be if you grow up?

      • PA | May 20, 2016 at 4:19 pm |

        If you think your daughter is hot, she has good genes and you did a good job of raising her.

      • Joseph | May 20, 2016 at 4:57 pm |

        So it’s ok for me or anyone else to say they thought their child was “hot” and wouldn’t mind dating (if not for that pesky incest taboo)? You think that is normal? Would you say it?

      • David Springer | May 22, 2016 at 10:59 am |

        Trump dates the most eligible women in the world. Ivanka knows that. It was the highest compliment Trump could give and I’m certain Ivanka understands and took it that way. He’s a very proud daddy and has an adoring daughter that anyone would be proud to have. Get your mind out of the gutter, Joseph.

      • David Springer | May 22, 2016 at 11:10 am |

        He didn’t call it “pesky”, Joseph. That’s just you wanting to make it look sick. Yes it’s perfectly normal and I’ve said it to both of my smart girls.

      • Joseph | May 22, 2016 at 2:49 pm |

        That you have said they are “hot” and that you would probably be dating her, if she weren’t your child?

      • David Springer | May 22, 2016 at 5:17 pm |

        Actually no. If I were an unrelated boy near my daughters age they’d be out of my league. But I’m sure I’d try.

      • David Springer | May 22, 2016 at 5:21 pm |

        I see you’re still putting words in the mouths of others. You’re one phucked up piece of sh*t. Of course you know that already.

        *plonk*

      • Joseph | May 19, 2016 at 5:49 pm |

        Apparently Trump is also a friend of Epstein.

      • stevenreincarnated | May 20, 2016 at 3:16 pm |

        Throw it at all of them. Anyone actually involved should be burned. International trafficking of underage girls as young as 12 for the purposes of prostitution is sick enough to where I don’t care who spends the rest of their life in prison.

      • jim2 | May 20, 2016 at 4:09 pm |

        From the link:

        Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has been accused of socializing with Epstein.

        But sources at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida said the billionaire banned him from the premises years ago after he was seen hitting on a teenage girl.

        Trump declined comment on that development when DailyMail.com asked him about it.

        But Trump’s attorney, Alan Garten, told Fox News that ‘there was no relationship between Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump.’

        ‘They were not friends and they did not socialize together.’

    • jim2 | May 20, 2016 at 3:36 pm |

      Defending him from who? The Dimowit lefties who give Billous a free pass? Right.

  67. dynam01 | May 18, 2016 at 2:07 pm |

    Gawd these politics threads are cancer…

    • PA | May 18, 2016 at 2:39 pm |

      I’m not sure they’re that good.

      Does spark interest though.

    • David Springer | May 18, 2016 at 2:40 pm |

      Only if you take them seriously and aren’t a new yawker.

      “Hard to believe, isn’t it? I love it so!” ~Prof. John A. Davison

      http://www.uvm.edu/~jdavison/

      Write that down. ~ibid

    • curryja | May 18, 2016 at 4:03 pm |

      These threads keep the ‘cancer’ away from the other threads. Next week I will have time for more substantive posts. In the midst of crazy travel.

      • David Springer | May 18, 2016 at 5:25 pm |

        Sometime in the early Jimmy Carter years circa 1978. Archie was a Republican loading dock foreman. Trump, as a hands-on NY developer whose father was the same, evidently imprinted on these people. They were the folks in the trenches. Lower management level in the construction industry in New York. Bigot that he was Archie had a heart of gold and never really meant half of what he said. You saw it here first. Archie on Democrats.

      • climatereason | May 18, 2016 at 5:30 pm |

        yes, its all been very entertaining so far, but when are the real Presidential candidates going to enter the race?

        tonyb

      • David Springer | May 18, 2016 at 5:32 pm |

        Let me be absolutely clear, Archie was a prophet.

      • David Springer | May 18, 2016 at 5:38 pm |

        What part do you not think is real? We’ve never had a billionaire or female head of state before. You’ve had nothing but that for centuries.

  68. Glenn Stehle | May 18, 2016 at 2:11 pm |

    It looks like there’s trouble in paradise.

    Wounded Hillary Limps to Kentucky Win:
    In a razor-thin victory, Clinton won the Kentucky primary. But she was handily beaten in Oregon and just can’t shake Bernie Sanders.
    http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/05/18/wounded-hillary-limps-to-kentucky-win.html

    Clinton, Democrats Confronting Dangerous Divisions Within Party
    http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-05-18/clinton-democrats-confronting-dangerous-divisions-within-party#media-1

    To Win in November, Hillary Clinton Will Need Bernie Sanders’s Voters
    http://www.thenation.com/article/to-win-in-november-hillary-clinton-will-need-bernie-sanderss-voters/

    Can Hillary Win?
    http://www.wsj.com/articles/can-hillary-win-1463511010

    Amid Democratic infighting, polls are improving for Trump
    http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/280283-amid-dem-infighting-polls-are-improving-for-trump

    “Morning Joe” Panel: Bill Clinton’s Connection To Billionaire Pedophile Jeffrey Epstein Will “Blow Up” Campaign
    http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/05/18/morning_joe_panel_clintons_connection_to_billionaire_pedophile_jeffrey_epstein_will_blow_up_campaign.html

    • cerescokid | May 19, 2016 at 3:49 am |

      I’m surprised the epstein story made it past the MSNBC censors. Talk about enabling the “war on women”. How a former President could associate with such low life is beyond me.

      I can’t imagine any Republican candidate making more graphic allusions to this despicable revelations than Trump. As for Hillary, they may come up with some new psychobabble for her obvious complicit involvement in this kiddie war on women. Maybe second degree derivative enabling enabler. But given some of the distasteful talk around the campfire on conservative blogs, it makes one wonder if she was enjoying the flights herself.

  71. David Springer | May 18, 2016 at 2:59 pm |

    James Cross is trying to out-trump Trump. I think it’s pure unadulterated jealousy. Pathetic.

    • David Springer | May 18, 2016 at 3:04 pm |

      It’s okay James. I’m a big fan of Si fueris Rōmae, Rōmānō vīvitō mōre. We just need to work on your delivery is all. It’s really hard finding a libtard that’s a good sport and you’re showing promise.

    • David Springer | May 18, 2016 at 3:05 pm |

      Y’all let me know if I’m playing too rough with our new toy. I hate when they break right away.

  72. James Cross | May 18, 2016 at 3:07 pm |

    Bomb shell lawsuit!

    Wonder how much Trump had to pay to make this go away?

    • Horst Graben (@Graben_Horst) | May 18, 2016 at 4:56 pm |

      He probably gets dozens of these every year. He can’t help it, he’s a stud and we want stud president like Putin. The more “you people” play this sort of thing up, the higher he will go in the polls. The persecution of Bill Clinton’s peccadilloes got him 70% approval ratings. I’m sure you don’t know where this will lead, but it’s not to another Clinton in the WH.

    • David Springer | May 18, 2016 at 6:12 pm |

      Wasn’t that the same year Hillary had Vince Foster snuffed because he knew too much and body dumped in Fort Marcey Park with a bad attempt to make it look like a suicide?

      And you’re going to compare that to Donald Trump getting what appears to be a frivolous lawsuit asking for $100M from a beauty contestant? A suit that was unceremoniously dismissed? Or maybe you want to compare that to the admitted and Cr00ked Hillary-forgiven action not long after that her husband was rubbing cigars in the bare bottom of a young female office intern in the oval office no less? Or the stained dress. Illegal Cuban cigar no less.

      Give me a frickin’ break. You cannot possibly come out ahead dredging up the past when the Clintons are on the block for the comparative side. I’d LOL but it isn’t really funny on the Clinton side.

      • PA | May 18, 2016 at 7:52 pm |

        If the Clinton campaign makes character the issue Trump may as well start organizing his transition team.

        Bush lost election because he didn’t engage the Clintons. As his deputy campaign manager noted, he “never called Bill Clinton a lying, skirt-chasing, tax-raising, drug-using, draft-dodger”..

        Unlike Bush Sr., Trump will engage the enemy, gleefully. And at least he hasn’t killed anyone.

        The “Trump is almost as bad as we are” theme is not a wise one for the Clinton campaign. Particularly as the current president may have to pardon Hillary so she can take office.

    • jim2 | May 18, 2016 at 6:42 pm |

      She voluntarily dropped the suit. You can speculate all you like, but you got nothin’.

  73. markbofill | May 18, 2016 at 3:49 pm |

    Does Sanders have a chance? Surely not, right?
    Right?!?
    ;)

  74. Glenn Stehle | May 18, 2016 at 6:33 pm |

    Trump’s Minority Share
    http://www.lifezette.com/polizette/trump-minority-vote/

    If one were to believe the narrative being pushed by the liberal media and Establishment Republicans horrified by Donald Trump’s brand of populist nationalism, selecting Trump as the GOP candidate will lead to a decisive and unprecedented electoral rout for the GOP among minority voters.

    Unfortunately for the anti-Trump naysayers, there’s ample evidence that suggests the GOP doomsday scenario predicted to occur among every demographic other than white men will simply not occur.

    • David Springer | May 18, 2016 at 6:35 pm |

      Nice.

      • Joshua | May 18, 2016 at 7:02 pm |

        Interesting that David was impressed, even though Trump’s numbers with Blacks are polling marginally better than McCain’s and Romney’s turnout (+3 and +1, respectively, running against a Black candidate), and worse with Hispanics (-8% and -4%, respectively).

      • cerescokid | May 18, 2016 at 8:18 pm |

        In this case May follows September and December. Recompute .

    • Joshua | May 18, 2016 at 6:49 pm |

      That’s cute… compare (putative) favorability ratings with past shares of the vote, as if the favorability is directly transferable to share of the vote.

      From the recent Fox News poll (which has Trump ahead overall, within the margin of error).

      Clinton has a commanding 83-point lead among blacks (90-7 percent), and is up by 39 among Hispanics (62-23 percent).

  75. David Springer | May 18, 2016 at 6:33 pm |

    Is Trump clever enough to hire people like James Cross to frame and enable comparisons to Clinton scandals? That’s some target rich territory in the age of information at your fingertips (you’re welcome). For any Trump scandal that can possibly be dredged up you can take that date and find something worse about the Clintons. I sh*t you not. You heard it here first.

  76. David Springer | May 18, 2016 at 6:39 pm |

    When Bill Clinton was running for president he stood with Hillary and said you get a two-for-one deal implying Hillary was co-president or some sh*t. Now they seem to be running as a couple again. I guess we need term limits for this situation. The constitution evidently has some loopholes in it.

    • thisisnotgoodtogo | May 18, 2016 at 11:27 pm |

      Did somebody ask to hear from First Ladies? Who’s asking to hear from potential First Lady Bill Clinton?

  77. Glenn Stehle | May 18, 2016 at 6:44 pm |

    Trump May Yet Claim Latinos
    His immigration rhetoric was tough, but Hispanics aren’t hostile to his ideas
    http://www.lifezette.com/polizette/trump-kids-no-kardashians/

    Polls refute some of the recent vocal messaging by Latino activists that tightening our immigration laws and cracking down on those who have broken them will push away Hispanic voters in a presidential contest….

    • 67 percent of Latino voters told Gallup in August that they’d back a candidate who didn’t share their own immigration views.

    • 18 percent of those registered voters said a candidate’s immigration platform wasn’t foremost on their minds.

    • 34 percent of Hispanics born in the U.S. and 33 percent of those born outside our borders approved increasing legal immigration

    • 64 percent of both groups want immigration to be cut back, or at least leveled off

    Just last week, a number of Hispanic groups spoke out ahead of the CNBC debate in Boulder, Colorado, to say they were putting candidates on notice that Trump’s early campaign rhetoric — seeking mass deportations and a wall to keep out illegals (as well as calling some illegal aliens criminals and rapists) — would not be tolerated.

    “We’ve called for candidates to be constructive,” said the coalition’s leader, Alfonso Aguilar….

    “Until we resolve the immigration issue, Hispanics will continue, by large numbers, to vote for the Democrats,” Aguilar said.

    But as a group, Latinos are not one-issue voters, and they have much diversity within their ranks — both culturally and intellectually.

  78. David Springer | May 18, 2016 at 7:22 pm |

    Ivanka turns 35 in time to be sworn in as VP. That would be a hoot. First woman in the white house. First Jew. Youngest ever by about a year. I’d rather her than Sarah Palin you betcha. I’m thinking it’s Newt Gingrich though. Trump makes a deal. A contract with America to make it great again. Fantastic. Better than fantastic. I’m tellin’ ya.

  79. jim2 | May 18, 2016 at 7:58 pm |

    Wednesday, May 18
    Race/Topic (Click to Sort) Poll Results Spread
    General Election: Trump vs. Clinton FOX News Clinton 42, Trump 45 Trump +3

    Race/Topic (Click to Sort) Poll Results Spread
    General Election: Trump vs. Clinton Gravis Clinton 48, Trump 46 Clinton +2

  81. Glenn Stehle | May 18, 2016 at 8:33 pm |

    Bucking Trends, Trump Sends Teams to Democrat-Leaning States
    http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2016/05/18/bucking_trends_trump_sends_teams_to_democrat-leaning_states_130600.html

    Donald Trump is rushing to install operatives in several states that traditionally favor Democrats, pointing to a general election plan consistent with the campaign he has run thus far: Defying conventional wisdom and political trends…

    “I will win states that no Republican would even run in,” Trump told The Associated Press in a recent interview….

    Collins expects Trump’s message to resonate in states like his and “traditional rust belt areas” such as Pennsylvania and Ohio, where many working-class voters usually don’t support Republicans. Among Democrats, Clinton won those three states but lost in Michigan and West Virginia to Sen. Bernie Sanders.

    “Whether you call them Reagan Democrats, blue dog Democrats, whatever, that’s what puts those areas in play and why I think he’s going to win in a landslide,” Collins said.

  82. Glenn Stehle | May 18, 2016 at 8:38 pm |

    WOW!

    Sanders is reading Clinton the riot act.

    Sanders Challenges DNC: “Open Your Doors,” “Let The People In”
    http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/05/18/sanders_challenges_dnc_open_your_doors_let_the_people_in.html

  83. Glenn Stehle | May 18, 2016 at 9:02 pm |

    Mitt Romney ends recruiting efforts for an independent candidate
    http://edition.cnn.com/2016/05/18/politics/mitt-romney-never-trump-independent-2016-campaign/index.html

    Mitt Romney won’t launch a third-party presidential campaign of his own and has stopped trying to recruit somebody else to do it….

    It’s the latest blow to the “Never Trump” movement — a group of conservatives led by Romney, blogger Erick Erickson and The Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol — to find an alternative to Trump….

    Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said Sunday that a third-party bid would be a “suicide mission.”

  84. Jim D | May 18, 2016 at 9:04 pm |

    The big difference is that Clinton has 56% of the popular vote and the majority of delegates to match, while Trump is getting the majority of the delegates with only 40% of the popular vote. Which side is rigged?

    • Ragnaar | May 18, 2016 at 9:39 pm |

      The Democrats had a 2 person race. The fact that super delegates exist is kind of is counter democratic.

      • Jim D | May 18, 2016 at 9:55 pm |

        The selection process belongs to the party. It prevents a Trump-type person taking over on the Dem side, which is a safeguard. The Republicans will probably implement this type of system in the future having learned their lesson. They allowed a celebrity candidate that does not stand for their ideals, and had no way to stop him even though he got less than half their vote. It was an extremely vulnerable system.

      • Jim D | May 18, 2016 at 10:52 pm |

        Put it this way. If Trump went into the convention with 40% of the delegates to match his popular vote, what would have happened? He lucked out precisely because the system is not proportional.

      • David Springer | May 18, 2016 at 11:02 pm |

        You’re mistaken. Trump “lucked out” because a record-smashing number of voters flocked to the Republican primary polls and he smoked 17 other candidates and will still have easily gone over 50% of the popular vote and the delegates before the convention meets. I see you’re in denial already, Jimmy D. The democratic party is the one that fractured. Split almost down the middle. The disaffected half is starting to riot and going for the other, surviving outsider who beat the rigged system.

      • Ragnaar | May 18, 2016 at 11:17 pm |

        Jim D:
        “They allowed a celebrity candidate that does not stand for their ideals, and had no way to stop him even though he got less than half their vote.”
        So when I get my say in the Republican party I will say, I will vote for the voters ideals. What does the party establishment represent if not the voters? The question was whose primary is this? The voters said it was theirs. When I get my say in the Republican party I will say, I will vote for my ideals, not the ideals of you who put me here, my ideals. Stopping him is stopping their voters. To prove what point? The same thing goes for Sanders. The fact that the super delegates are going 10 to 1 for Clinton would make me ashamed to be in the Democratic party.
        Who got a significant number of votes? Trump, Cruz, Rubio, Kasich. I find it easy to understand why he only got 40% without going down the rigged path.

      • Jim D | May 19, 2016 at 12:48 am |

        The Republican base has dwindled so much that those who only vote based on name recognition, or those who didn’t previously feel someone represented their extremist views in the Republican party, are now coming out of the woodwork for Trump. There are some people there that you would not want to share your party with.

    • David Springer | May 18, 2016 at 10:55 pm |

      Trump defeated 17 other primary candidates. How many did Hillary go up against? The super-delegates are establishment stooges. The popular race was so close if 3% of Hillary’s votes went to Bernie it would be a tie. No one is showing up at the libtard conventions while Trump broke the record for most votes ever with 25% of the ballots still left to be cast. He’s now dead even in national polls with Hilly and has the momentum. More Bernie voters are going to Trump than to Hillary so it just gets worse from here until he’s dead meat. Bernie isn’t a global village whackjob and the establishment hates him. Trump was a Democrat longer than he’s been a Republican. The general election is over before it begins.

      • Jim D | May 18, 2016 at 11:09 pm |

        The popular vote is about 56-44 for Hillary. They are running out of states. It’s done.

      • Joshua | May 18, 2016 at 11:12 pm |

        ==> “More Bernie voters are going to Trump than to Hillary..”

        Right. And non-citizens can’t serve in the military.

      • David Springer | May 19, 2016 at 5:57 am |

        It’s not a huge win in the popular vote for Hillary is the point. If one democrat out of every sixteen changed their vote to Bernie he’d be winning instead of her.

      • David Springer | May 19, 2016 at 6:06 am |

        It doesn’t work that way, Joshy. Just because permanent residents with green cards can enter military service in addition to established citizens, and I didn’t know that, doesn’t make me wrong about anything else in particular. That makes your retort lame as sh*t. A non sequitur. Feel free to try again if you can get it through moderation.

        http://www.salon.com/2016/05/13/bernie_supporters_wont_vote_hillary_a_chilling_new_development_in_the_clinton_campaign_partner/

        One of the most striking—and disturbing—takeaways from Tuesday’s West Virginia Democratic primary were exit polls that found large numbers of Bernie Sanders supporters saying if not Bernie, they would actually vote for Donald Trump next fall.

        CBS News reported 44 percent said they’d vote for Trump, 23 percent for Hillary Clinton, and 32 percent for neither. These findings—especially Sanders’ supporters shifting to Trump—seem like a stretch, but maybe they’re not.

        Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to show that Bernie voters in West Virginia are radically unlike Bernie voters elsewhere in that when Bernie gets the boot twice as many will jump ship to vote for Trump as will switch to Hillary.

        Good luck. You’ll need it.

      • Joshua | May 19, 2016 at 10:15 pm |

        David –

        What I think was informative was how absolutely certain you were about an opinion that was completely wrong. It isn’t like it’s the first time. No, I can’t therefore assume that you’re wrong about everything, but I can assume that you can be very sure of opinions that are absolutely wrong.

        The fact that you seem to think that the information you provided in your follow-up comment somehow proves your statement that “More Bernie voters are going to Trump than to Hillary..” is hilarious.

    • edbarbar | May 19, 2016 at 2:44 am |

      “The big difference is that Clinton has 56% of the popular vote and the majority of delegates to match, while Trump is getting the majority of the delegates with only 40% of the popular vote. Which side is rigged?”

      Let’s see. Clinton had essentially no competition, and she is having a hard time closing the deal. No way Clinton could have won if Biden had run.

      Trump, on the other hand, put down 17 contenders, including Jeb!, the Clinton equivalent.

      Of course, you do have the media on Hillary’s side, for all the usual reasons. But I think it is going to be a bit different this time. In terms of the negative stuff, every Trump foible is outweighed by serious stuff on Hillary’s side. NYT’s runs a hit piece against Trump, with the opening “Trump offered a woman without a bathing suit at a pool party a bathing suit.” Compare that to “Juanita Broaddrick accuses Bill Clinton of rape rape.”

      I believe you Juanita!

      It’s going to be a lot of fun. The media can’t ignore Trump. They will try to distort his message, like they did with bathing suit woman, but they will fail. At each point of attack by the MSM, Trump will point out the far worse stuff on Hillary’s side. He will do it effectively.

      I think it’s going to be very hard for the media to put Trump down.

      • Jim D | May 19, 2016 at 9:10 pm |

        Trump has a growing set of discredited things he just keeps on saying. It doesn’t make them true, but he does have believers who will blindly accept anything he utters as truth.

  85. Glenn Stehle | May 18, 2016 at 10:19 pm |

    Trump Threat to Renegotiate UN Climate Deal Causes Dismay Abroad
    http://www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas/a/144590/Trump_Threat_to_Renegotiate_UN_Climate_Deal_Causes_Dismay_Abroad/?pgNum=1#sthash.A8o3FAiI.dpuf

    Republican presidential contender Trump told Reuters on Tuesday he was “not a big fan” of the climate accord and said that countries including China, the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases ahead of the United States, would not stick to the deal.

    “I will be looking at that very, very seriously, and at a minimum I will be renegotiating those agreements, at a minimum. And at a maximum I may do something else,” the New York real estate mogul said….

    Christiana Figueres, the U.N.’s climate chief, told Reuters last month that “it seems unthinkable that, whatever political complexion is in the White House next, cannot see the self-evident economic and social benefits” of cutting emissions by sticking with the accord….

    “Any government that would want to turn its back on the Paris Agreement would be going against all commercial, economic and political trends,” said Samantha Smith of the WWF conservation group.

    “This is simply more proof that Trump’s international antics would isolate the United States around the world and only ‘negotiate’ away American leadership,” said Khalid Pitts, of the Sierra Club.

    • David Springer | May 18, 2016 at 10:45 pm |

      Isolate the United States around the world.

      And we care… why? Seems to me the world needs the US a fat f*cking lot more than the US needs the world.

      • Mike Flynn | May 19, 2016 at 2:39 am |

        Or maybe not. The US doesn’t seem to have a lot to offer the rest of the world. Lots of lawyers and hedge funds. Lots of unsolicited free advice. Lots of threats, remote controlled assassinations in foreign countries without benefit of the accused to face their accusers. Interference in the internal affairs of other countries. Winning hearts and minds by mindlessly killing anyone who disagrees.

        Yep. The rest of the world really needs the US.

        Are you dreaming?

        Cheers.

      • David Springer | May 19, 2016 at 6:16 am |

        @Flynn

        Even better if the world won’t miss our interference in their sovereign affairs. I’ll sleep better knowing that. The entire point remains; we’ll get along better without the burden of living up to “leader of the free world”. Some else’s turn. Europe – tag you’re it. Good luck. Hasta la vista, baby.

      • David Springer | May 19, 2016 at 6:17 am |

        @F1ynn

        Even better if the world won’t miss our interference in their sovereign affairs. I’ll sleep better knowing that. The entire point remains; we’ll get along better without the burden of living up to “leader of the free world”. Some else’s turn. Europe – tag you’re it. Good luck. Hasta la vista, baby.

      • timg56 | May 19, 2016 at 9:03 pm |

        Mike Flynn,

        You left out a couple of things.

        At the top of the list – opportunity

        followed by freedom of speech, freedom of association, freedom to travel, etc

        Then there is the world’s most reliable currency (though our current President is doing his best to negate that one).

        How about education? Seems like more nations send their young to the US for college and post grad than the reverse.

        I’m not saying Australia lacks these things. But in the overall scheme of things Australia is like those little birds who ride on the back of the elephant.

  86. Danley Wolfe | May 19, 2016 at 12:54 am |

    Meet Trump’s new energy advisor. Trump needs a good energy advisor and Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) will probably suffice for the campaign. Coming from N Dakota gives him a specific background on fossil fuels but he’s a “luke warmist” on climate having supported carbon taxes earlier. He doesn’t have the background or creds to be Energy Secretary. I would prefer an exceptionally strong individual to head Energy – preferably not a PhD in Physics, as Obama has done with Stephen Chu and Ernest Moniz – in part to provide “appeal to authority” (a logical fallacy) for photo ops; but a highly capable administrator with background in government and policy.

    • David Springer | May 19, 2016 at 6:26 am |

      I’m sure Senator Inhofe, the chair of the senate committee on energy and environment, will have some other choices for Trump to consider. The head of the EPA will certainly be on the receiving end of “You’re Fired!” with all due haste and the new one will have marching orders to stand down. Congress can make a finding that CO2 is plant food not a pollutant, Trump signs an executive order supporting that finding and directing agencies under his control to modify their policies accordingly, and we can all get back to the business of making America great (great for Americans) again.

      Hard to believe, isn’t it? I love it so!

      • David Springer | May 19, 2016 at 6:32 am |

        I’m thinking Rick Perry, the longest serving governor of Texas ever, would made a damn fine energy secretary. Rick knows how to make deals in gov’t bureaucracies and he knows the energy industry inside and out. Hell Rick even oversaw the largest and most successful emplacement of wind energy anywhere in the nation if not the entire world. He’s perfect. I think I hear him volunteering for the job right now – he lives just down the street from me by Dell’s new headquarters in Round Rock. Pack your bags Rick you’re going to Washington.

  87. edbarbar | May 19, 2016 at 1:41 am |

    You lost me on how good Mead’s essay is. Specifically, I lost it here:

    “Jacksonian sentiment embraces a concept of the United States as a folk community and, over time, that folk community was generally construed as whites only.”

    Perhaps some people feel this way, but I don’t. I don’t like the US immigration policy. The US should bring in highly qualified individuals into the country regardless of race. The latest policy seems to be to bring in cheap unskilled labor predominately.

    There are many problems with bringing in cheap, unskilled labor. Here are some:

    1) They compete for jobs teenagers used to do, such as fast food. I have seen many career fast food employees.
    2) What they produce in tax revenues is lower than what they consume. To wit, 50% of CA K-12 population is Hispanic. That’s over $30B right there, for state taxes alone. And, CA’s per student funding is dropping. Shared resources become more scarce when there isn’t replenishment, in this case more tax revenue. CA is now the number one state in per capita welfare.
    3) It’s bad for global warming (one of those contradictions in liberal thought: we are opposed to global warming, so let’s make more Americans who have a big carbon footprint)
    4) Cheap labor is an impediment to automation.
    5) Most are Democrats.
    6) Many do not share the US’s constitutional views on women’s rights, or other rights, and are comfortable with a large state.
    7) Most are not assimilating, and by that I mean generation to generation college matriculation, increased salaries (hence value add), and eschewing gang affiliation, dropping out of high school, etc.
    8) The wink and nod to illegal immigrants weakens the rule of law.

    As a taxpayer, illegal immigration is not in my interests. I have little interest in subsidized hamburgers. I would rather pay the price for the hamburger, or vegetables, move agriculture to Mexico, or have a better guest worker program, than subsidize big AG, and cheap fast food. Aren’t we fat enough? We do not need to subsidize our eating habits.

    Meanwhile, bring in the best and brightest. This undoubtedly has had an effect on my salary, and competitiveness, but those are the breaks. I would rather the US become a haven of highly skilled people.

    It has nothing to do with race. It has everything to do with the future culture of this nation. I like Western Civilization. It’s worth preserving, and not ruining on behalf of axiomatically inconsistent multi-culturalism, and big government and its attendant control.

    • David Springer | May 19, 2016 at 6:37 am |

      Do a little research on that $30B claim for brown kids in California public schools. Most of those students are American citizens who happen to be Hispanic. That’s purely f*cked up to single them out as scapegoats. The actual burden of undocumented kids in California schools is a small fraction of the claimed $30B.

      • David Springer | May 19, 2016 at 6:43 am |

        Keep sending libtards to Sacremento, Ed. That’ll solve all the state’s problems with unproductive residents and burdensome green energy policies. Businesses will soon be leaving Texas to take up residence in California instead of the other way around before you know it.

        Oh wait… I think I got that backward.

      • edbarbar | May 19, 2016 at 10:46 am |

        Springer:

        “That’s purely f*cked up to single them out as scapegoats.”
        1) I’m not singling out the US citizen brown kids as scapegoats. I’m pointing out the failure in our immigration policy. Those brown US citizens who consume far more in US taxes than they provide wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for US immigration policy.

        2) It’s the truth. Sometimes the truth isn’t pretty. Acknowledge the truth, and do something about it, or be its victim.

        3) Regarding demographic assimilation, there was a series of articles a number of years ago bemoaning the stubborn lack of integration at the third and fourth generation of Hispanics in the San Jose Mercury News. Readers were promised an ongoing series, but it was dropped, probably because of people who thought it was f*cked up to talk about it.

        I agree, it’s f*cked up. I don’t blame illegals for what they are doing. I blame our government officials, the ownership class donors wanting their subsidized labor, and politically correct jerks who make it so we cannot have an honest discussion about what all this illegal immigration is doing to this country.

        Fortunately, you can still speak the truth in this country. Your brand of political correctness hasn’t destroyed that, yet. But, under Obama, the attacks against free speech are mounting. Progressives and leftists have the first amendment in their sights.

  88. Glenn Stehle | May 19, 2016 at 4:36 am |

    Feminism is Bigger Than Gender: Why I’ll be Happy in Hell Without Hillary
    http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/05/16/feminism-is-bigger-than-gender-why-ill-be-happy-in-hell-without-hillary/

    In the United States as the New Left won out over the old, the New Left’s inability to organize its own working class showed itself in the gradual disappearance of social class as a categorical way to organize people’s experiences. It became a perfunctory category tacked on to where the New Left really wanted to go – to talk about race and gender….

    This argument – that we should vote for Hillary because she’s a woman – is actually anti-feminist. It means that no matter what my political beliefs are, no matter what I think about capitalism, social class, drone warfare, or the CIA, I must cast them aside and do what these “guardians” of women tell me to do….

    Hillary is a privileged, upper class white woman who is a member of the ruling class with a registered net worth of over $28 million…. Her interests serve the interests of other ruling class and upper class women… Realistically, in practice she knows or cares little for at least 85% of women in the middle and lower classes.

    When I was a single, working mother in the late 70s I was making $12 an hour – with no benefits – and I ended up piling up high interest and credit card debt that took me years to pay off. The cost of living was much lower then, yet I still struggled to keep my head above water. Does she seriously think a working single mother, making $12 an hour, often at a part time job with no benefits because that’s the only kind of work she can get, can make ends meet? Does she understand that this mother works many hours a week, then must go home and do all the housework, cooking and childcare even when she’s exhausted or sick? I don’t think so. What has she proposed to change that?….

    Hillary has already proven, over and over, that she’s a good friend to Wall Street and the capitalists and will do their bidding, whether it’s making sure no legislation is passed that will make them pay their fair share of taxes, raise the minimum wage, stop protecting the big banks and the bankers, or waging whatever war is required in order to protect the empire….

    She is a neoconservative and neoconservatives are not feminists. All of these policies, statements and actions are neoconservative. Hillary has shown us time after time that she is truly a neocon.

  89. Glenn Stehle | May 19, 2016 at 4:52 am |

    Why Trump Must Make Gains Among Women Voters to Win the White House
    http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/why-trump-must-make-gains-among-women-voters-win-white-n575456

    Women voters present a particularly difficult challenge for Trump in two ways. First, the Democratic edge with women is consistent. The party’s nominee has won women in every presidential election since 1992 – and usually by double digits. Second, women have made up more than 50 percent of the electorate in every presidential race since 1984. That’s a lot of votes.

    • David Springer | May 19, 2016 at 6:50 am |

      I’m always impressed by the sincere, helpful advice of NBC in how the GOP can start winning again.

      Oh wait… the GOP already has majorities in both houses of congress. Maybe turnout is the problem. A GOP presidential candidate that bring people out of the frickin’ woodwork to vote for him in record smashing numbers might make up for the very small disparity in gender politics. Trump has a larger lead in male voters than deficit in female voters. Males that never came out to vote before. Now they have time since so many of them are under-employed. My comeback to NBC is: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

    • David Springer | May 19, 2016 at 7:02 am |

      Relying on 2012 voting patterns to predict 2016 patterns… how’s that been working out so far?

      Here’s the untold story for 2016 according to National Review:

      http://www.nationalreview.com/article/433596/hillary-clintons-low-ratings-among-women

      Steven Shepard of Politico wrote an important article last week about Donald Trump’s “rock bottom” ratings with women. And his low standing with women has certainly become a much-discussed topic among pundits analyzing the Donald Trump candidacy. An overlooked story, however, is that Hillary Clinton, who might become the first female president in the history of the United States, isn’t far behind in her unfavorability ratings among women. Our just-released poll shows that Donald Trump has a 68 percent unfavorable rating among women. But 58 percent of women say they view Hillary Clinton unfavorably. In fact, Hillary’s unfavorable rating was two points higher among women than it was among men.

      Cr00ked Hillary has baggage. A lot more of it than Trump. Knocking her down is like shooting fish in a barrel. Establishment politicians are out of favor this election cycle. That’s really the long and short of it right there. Hillary is establishment. Trump isn’t.

      • Glenn Stehle | May 19, 2016 at 7:41 am |

        David Springer said:

        Relying on 2012 voting patterns to predict 2016 patterns… how’s that been working out so far?

        Yep.

        How Donald Trump is drawing in Democrats
        Black voters and other Democrats hurt by the Obama economy may rethink party allegiance
        http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/may/18/monica-crowley-how-donald-trump-is-drawing-in-demo/

        This election year, major cross-currents are moving within both political parties and across party lines. And no one yet has a handle on how they are reshaping the race.

        What we do know is that the usual rules no longer apply, having been blown out by unconventional candidates like presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, the weakest economic “recovery” on record, changing demographics and a populist revolt aimed directly at the bipartisan ruling class.

        In this environment, anything can — and likely will — happen, including blocs of constituencies voting in entirely unexpected ways….

        Mr. Trump has been able to speak persuasively to parts of the Democratic Party, particularly black voters. “Seventy percent of African Americans have a horrible view of Donald Trump,” he said. “In order for the Democrats to win the White House they don’t have to get 50 percent of the black vote or 60 or 70 or 80 or 90. Democrats, in order to win historically, need 90 to 92 percent of the black vote.”….

        Recent Public Policy Polling data suggests…that Mr. Trump is winning over at least part of the black vote. In Ohio, for example, Mr. Trump is earning 15 percent of the black vote against probable Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, with another 11 percent undecided. In 2012, GOP nominee Mitt Romney won just 4 percent of the black vote there. If Mr. Trump were to score 15 percent in Ohio, he’d win the state and likely the presidency….

        Mr. Trump isn’t going to win over huge numbers of black voters, but given his unconventional candidacy, he may attract enough black voters to win. Throughout the primaries, he has demonstrated substantial crossover appeal to Democrats, many of whom crossed party lines to vote for him (over 100,000 in Pennsylvania alone)….

        Further, Mr. Trump has centered his campaign on three issues that directly affect their livelihoods: a poor jobs outlook, illegal immigration and trade deals that have put American workers at significant disadvantages…. Given that the black community has suffered disproportionately in the Obama economy, some black voters may be receptive to Mr. Trump’s economic message….

        As for Mrs. Clinton, Ms. Banks tweeted, “Hillary talks to black people as if we’re children or pets.” She also pointed out that blacks have been voting Democrat for decades and “we don’t have [bleep] to show for it.”….

        Turnout will also be key. In 2008 and 2012, Mr. Obama inspired black voters in numbers Mrs. Clinton is unlikely to match. Coupled with widespread Clinton fatigue and her sky-high unfavorable numbers, a lower black (and overall Democrat) turnout scenario would prove disastrous.

        Mr. Trump doesn’t need to win the black vote. He just needs to peel enough Democrats away. With even a relatively small shift, he will win. That’s a cross-current that Mr. Jones and his fellow travelers may be powerless to stop.

      • Glenn Stehle | May 19, 2016 at 7:58 am |

        But the sensitivity Gestapo, which wants to make it all about identity politics and nothing about pocketbook issues, is striking back.

        As Yves Smith said, “Sanders was supposed to show his belly and throw his supporters under the bus. Bad Sanders!” Clinton Inc. is demanding “that he operate by the Marquis of Queensbury rules.”

        Bernie Bros out of control: Explosion of misogynist rage at Nevada’s Dem chairwoman reflects terribly on Sanders’ dwindling campaign
        Sanders backers have been flooding Roberta Lange with sexist abuse because of the loss of 4 delegates
        http://www.salon.com/2016/05/17/bernie_bros_out_of_control_explosion_of_misogynist_rage_at_nevadas_dem_chairwoman_reflects_terribly_on_sanders_dwindling_campaign/

        Sanders himself had a perfect opportunity to put a kibosh on all the craziness on Tuesday, when asked about it by NBC News. He could have played the role of the conciliator, telling his supporters they fought the good fight but you can’t win them all — Clinton’s concession speech to Barack Obama from 2008 is a good model — Sanders simply walked away.

        This is irresponsible of Sanders and his campaign. They know full well that they have lost this campaign and that Clinton has millions of more votes than he does. Sanders needs to issue a full-throated denunciation of not just the violence, but of the misogyny and the conspiracy theories. The refusal to do so, even when directly offered an opportunity, speaks volumes.

  90. Glenn Stehle | May 19, 2016 at 5:15 am |

    No end in sight for higher Obamacare premiums
    http://www.ocregister.com/articles/obamacare-716214-percent-california.html

    The Cost of Obamacare
    http://www.weeklystandard.com/the-cost-of-obamacare/article/2002427

    Obamacare has caused health insurance premiums to skyrocket. It has caused millions of Americans who liked their health plans to lose their health plans. It has caused doctor and hospital networks to narrow. Now the Wall Street Journal reports that the Obamacare exchanges in Alabama and Alaska will each have one—that’s right, one—insurer offering plans.

    • David Springer | May 19, 2016 at 7:27 am |

      I’m a statistic. My private health care premiums doubled since 2014.

      • Joseph | May 19, 2016 at 11:44 am |

        How do you know it had anything to do with Obamacare?

      • ordvic | May 19, 2016 at 1:39 pm |

        Joseph, That has to be one of the stupidest comments I’ve ever read.

      • David Springer | May 19, 2016 at 6:31 pm |

        Fair question Joseph. I don’t know it was because of Obamacare. It’s sort of like climate change. CO2 is blamed because you can’t find anything else to blame.

        Here’s what I know:

        1) nothing about me changed since 2014 except I’m two years older
        2) no benefits changed – same plan, same co-pays, same deductables
        3) the company I buy it from didn’t change
        4) I shopped around each year and couldn’t find a better deal

        But hey it’s okay. I can’t blame Obamacare for me cancelling my private health care and enrolling in VA Health Care this year. Now I don’t pay a dime the US gov’t is footing the whole bill saving me about $1000/mo. in premiums, deductables, co-pays, prescriptions, etc.

        Funny thing is this is more than the gov’t paid me per month while I was actually in the military from 1974 – 1978. Thanks buddy.

      • timg56 | May 19, 2016 at 9:10 pm |

        My brother had the same experience, with higher deductables and poorer coverage.

        As for dumbass Joe – simple. The health care insurance providers dropped their existing plans precisely because of the ACA. They are not run by people with your ability to grasp facts. They understand that if they are required to offer coverage to people without it, they are going to have to raise premiums on their existing customers.

    • Glenn Stehle | May 19, 2016 at 5:38 am |

      In the interview Trump blasts the NY Times for its dishonesty and pro-Clinton bias.

      The NY Times is the newspaper of record for liberal America, and is the voice for the .00000001% — the global plutocracy — and no one else.

      It is important to remember that the NY Times biggest stockholder and white knight, who threw the newspaper a lifeline a few years ago when it got itself in dire financial straits, is the Mexican plutocrat Carlos Slim.


      The Mexican oligarch Carlos Slim (right) with Bill Gates (left)

    • edbarbar | May 19, 2016 at 11:59 am |

      Girl without swimsuit offered one at pool party, good example of a guy’s misogyny. Now that’s front page news. Woman accuses a man of saying did someone put a pube in my coke, and try to tar and feather the guy.

      Grope a woman on the day she learned about the death of her husband, trot out “NOW.” Spin up “It’s a vast right wing conspiracy.” Talk about the “Politics of personal destruction.” Report on this in the press, widely.

      Woman credibly accuses sitting president with rape, ignore it and sweep it under the rug.

      Do not investigate or report upon current front runner’s complicity in trying to destroy women who are the object of the president’s sexual dalliances and offenses.

      I think people have stopped trusting the institutions as being in their best interests. That includes the press, the police (#blacklivesmatters), our financial institutions (thank you goldman sachs), the government, and sadly, even Universities and science is under attack.

      I suspect this has happened is the country is running in open loop since the collapse of the soviet empire, with the threats very hard to visualize and understand. So, we invent problems.

  92. Glenn Stehle | May 19, 2016 at 6:25 am |

    First look at explosive Hillary documentary, ‘Clinton Cash’
    http://nypost.com/2016/05/17/first-look-at-explosive-hillary-documentary-clinton-cash/

    Maybe, just maybe, the American people are tired of being sold out.

    Hillary Clinton says that when she and her husband moved out of the White House 15 years ago, they were “dead broke.” Today, they’re worth more than $150 million.

    In the new documentary “Clinton Cash,” it becomes all too clear how the former first couple went from rags to filthy rich — with the emphasis on filthy….

    [T]he Clintons raked in…$105 million — under the pretext of speaking fees while Hillary was in public office….

    The film whisks you around the globe, retracing how the Clintons personally pocketed six-figure speaking fees and collected billions of dollars for their family foundation.

    How? By trading on Hillary’s position as secretary of state and possible future president.

    She and her ex-president husband sold out to titans, dictators and shady characters in Nigeria, Congo, Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates, not to mention at Goldman Sachs and TD Bank.

    • Arch Stanton | May 19, 2016 at 8:53 am |

      Glenn, you have stated that your residence is now located in Mexico and if you sold your home in CA to make the transition I’m OK with that too. The question I asked yesterday was honest, do you still get to vote in US elections? Are you now able to vote in the Mexican elections, where you currently pay your state taxes?

      • David Springer | May 19, 2016 at 9:08 am |

        His home of record is in Texas. Of course he can vote – absentee ballot. Gringos can’t vote in Mexico nor can they own land within 50km of a coastline or 100km of an international border.

      • Glenn Stehle | May 19, 2016 at 9:14 am |

        Arch Stanton,

        I’m still very much a United States citizen and vote in Texas.

        In order to obtain my Mexican permanent residency visa, I had to demonstrate that I receive sufficient passive investment income from the United States to live on.

        Mexico does not issue visas for people to come in who have to work, as they don’t want foreigners competing with their domestic labor force.

        I am not a Mexican citizen, so cannot vote in Mexican elections.

        Furthermore, I cannot participate in political discourse in Mexico, much less political campaigns. I cannot donate money to any candidate running for public office, nor can I write and publish an article giving my opinions, for instance, on Mexican immigration laws, which, despite some recent changes, are still much harsher than U.S. laws dealing with immigrants.

      • Arch Stanton | May 19, 2016 at 9:23 am |

        Thank you for your response, Glenn. Everything you explained makes very good sense to me. The Mexican Government acts very responsibly to protect their people and their borders. Enjoy your weather.

      • Glenn Stehle | May 19, 2016 at 9:48 am |

        Arch Stanton,

        An outstanding movie about the plight of central American immigrants in Mexico:

        LA JAULA DE ORO (THE GOLDEN DREAM)
        http://www.roxie.com/ai1ec_event/la-jaula-de-oro-the-golden-dream/

        With over 80 awards, including for Best Film and Best Director at the Thessaloniki Film Festival, and for Best New Director at the Chicago Film Festival, La Jaula de Oro became the most internationally awarded Mexican film in history….

        Starring an impressive cast of non-professional actors, La Jaula de Oro is the story of three teenagers from the slums of Guatemala who travel to the U.S. in search of a better life. On their journey through Mexico they meet Chauk, an Indian from Chiapas who does not speak Spanish. Traveling together in cargo trains and walking on railroad tracks, they soon face a harsh reality.

  94. Glenn Stehle | May 19, 2016 at 6:55 am |

    More women come out to vouch for Donald;

    What it’s like working for Donald Trump: We talked to four of his current and former executives.
    http://edition.cnn.com/videos/politics/2016/05/18/donald-trump-employee-interviews-origwx-allee.cnn/video/playlists/donald-trump/

  95. Glenn Stehle | May 19, 2016 at 7:10 am |

    Very interesting interview:

    Inside the thinking of Trump supporters

    A group of Donald Trump supporters sat down with CNN’s Drew Griffin to give their insight into the Republican presidential candidate, and why they intend to vote for him.
    http://edition.cnn.com/videos/us/2016/05/19/inside-thinking-of-trump-supporters-pkg-griffin-ac.cnn/video/playlists/donald-trump/

    Compare what the blacks in the group had to say to the following, as pragmatism reasserts itself in American politics:

    This crypto-identity politics came to a head in 2008 when Obama won the election simply because of his form – tall, light-skinned, articulate, and well educated. He never addressed the content issues for blacks: unemployment, low wages, police brutality, and environmental racism. He floated a couple of slogans and that was it.

    http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/05/16/feminism-is-bigger-than-gender-why-ill-be-happy-in-hell-without-hillary/

  96. David Springer | May 19, 2016 at 9:02 am |

    Cr00ked Clintons

    http://nypost.com/2016/05/17/first-look-at-explosive-hillary-documentary-clinton-cash/

    The payola goes deep with these creeps.

    • Glenn Stehle | May 19, 2016 at 9:30 am |

      Clinton discloses millions in book royalties, speaking fees
      https://www.yahoo.com/news/clinton-discloses-millions-book-royalties-speaking-fees-012047278–election.html

      Hillary Clinton filed financial documents Tuesday night showing that in 2015 she earned more than $5 million in royalties from her book “Hard Choices” and about $1.5 million in speaking fees before she launched her presidential campaign.

      Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, continued his lucrative speaking tour through last November, reaping more than $5 million from banking, tech and other corporate interests….

      Clinton used the release to sting Trump for refusing to publicly release his tax returns, a theme she has repeated in recent days….

      In all, Clinton made at least 94 appearances before corporate and other special interests between 2013 and 2015, earning more than $21.6 million for her services.

      A review of federal records, regulatory filings and correspondence by The AP showed that almost all the 82 corporations, trade associations and other groups that paid for or sponsored Clinton’s speeches have actively sought to sway the government — lobbying, bidding for contracts, commenting on federal policy and in some cases contacting State Department officials or Clinton herself during her tenure as secretary of state.

  97. Glenn Stehle | May 19, 2016 at 9:20 am |

    NY Times says Bernie’s campaign workers are “disheartened” by his willingness “to Harm Hillary Clinton” and by his not being sufficiently “devoted to achieving Democratic unity,”

    “Current and former campaign workers” charge that the campaign’s message has “devolved into a near-obsession with perceived conspiracies on the part of Mrs. Clinton’s allies,” reports the NY Times:

    Bernie Sanders, Eyeing Convention, Willing to Harm Hillary Clinton in the Homestretch
    http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/19/us/politics/bernie-sanderss-campaign-accuses-head-of-dnc-of-favoritism.html?_r=0

  98. Arch Stanton | May 19, 2016 at 10:37 am |

    If someone cares to read this entire page at some point in the future. Let it be said that as the Establishment is threatened, the Press is not to be believed, the People around the world are not to be listened to; that none of the anger would have been possible without the release of the Climategate emails. That is what I think got this Ball Rolling, to get going.

  99. edbarbar | May 19, 2016 at 11:40 am |

    I was reading some journolist’s take on why the #neverTrump campaign failed. He listed as one of the reasons to oppose Trump that he is a vaccine “truther.”

    So, I thought I recalled Hillary on that side of the issue, and sure enough:

    As a U.S. senator and presidential candidate in 2008, Hillary Clinton expressed support for the theory that childhood vaccinations contribute to autism, writing in a campaign questionnaire that she was “committed” to finding the causes of autism, including “possible environmental causes like vaccines.”

    This is the problem when Science is flaky. People don’t discount positions like “Vaccines are bad”. Flaky science fuels the distrust. People do not see individual studies, they probably don’t even see “Climate Change.” They see “Scientists” and “Science.”

    Every publicized study that turns out wrong, especially those that lead to an increase in government control of our lives, weakens the public’s belief in science.

    So, better be correct when you publish. Better make certain your results are properly portrayed by the press. And better make certain your fellow scientists are publishing high quality stuff.

    Or, you will have more vaccine truthers like Trump and Hillary, which leads to more bad decisions and a weaker, more superstitious, society.

  100. Wagathon | May 19, 2016 at 11:41 am |

    John Horgan’s article about skepticism is pretty interesting, especially when applied to global warming research –e.g., when you’re losing the game because despite the elegance of AGW theory, the scientific method cannot distinguish your science from pseudo-science, you try to change the rules. Unfortunately, in the war between the Left and the right over the validity of the AGW hypothesis, global warming researchers — who essentially have become nothing more than an extension of progressive government — also have tried to change the facts.

  102. jim2 | May 19, 2016 at 7:27 pm |

    Bernie’s Ode to Billary …

  103. Glenn Stehle | May 19, 2016 at 8:42 pm |

    Matt Taibbi is already administering last rites for the GOP.

    R.I.P., GOP: How Trump Is Killing the Republican Party

    Donald Trump crushed 16 GOP opponents in one of the most appalling, vicious campaigns in history. His next victim? The entire Republican Party
    http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/r-i-p-gop-how-trump-is-killing-the-republican-party-20160518

    This isn’t, however, the first time we’ve heard this.

  105. Ragnaar | May 19, 2016 at 9:49 pm |

    What will the great and almighty Trump do for taxicab drivers? Deport them or shut down Uber. We used to be great at taxcabs. Yellow ones, various colors. Now Google is making self driving cars and has a glue patent that acts like flypaper to make hit pedistrians safer. We used to be great at driving our own cars. Kids these day aren’t so great at that. Taking buses or whatever. We used to great at air travel. Now it’s often a short or mid term hell for passangers. It’s so bad, Greyhounds are looking better. We used to be great at Greyhounds and greasy spoon diners. Where are the diners? We used to be great at non-chain food. Will Trump do anything about that? Will imigrants get to ride the Greyhounds? Will they be allowed to work as janitors at Target field? I know a white boy that could use that job. We used to be great at picking up trash. Selling popcorn and Frosty Malts too.

    • timg56 | May 20, 2016 at 12:38 pm |

      Jeez Ragnaar,

      Keep this up and you may be eligible for a stay at the Smithsonian. With the rest of the fossils.

      What’s the problem with Uber? It’s faster, more responsive and less expensive than any taxi service. That’s a problem how? And as a bonus, the driver who picked my wife and I up from SeaTac a couple weeks ago had a better grasp on why Trump is leading the ticket than any pundit or columnist I’ve read. Imagine that.

      As for air travel – sure everyone complains, but when you account for inflation, airfares haven’t changed that much. And do you really think airline food was soooo good that we should bring it back, rather than carrying on our own refreshments?

      And Greyhound is so last century. Try Bolt.

  106. Glenn Stehle | May 19, 2016 at 10:17 pm |

    Bad Bernie.

    The junkyard dog won’t abandon the junkyard to the porch-climbers.

    Liberal media turns on Sanders
    http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/280453-liberal-media-turns-on-sanders

  107. jim2 | May 19, 2016 at 10:52 pm |

    From the article:
    …
    Of course, this sort of thing is nothing new and occurs all across the web and beyond. MIT and Oxford published a study this week that revealed that Twitter location tags on only a few tweets can reveal details about the account’s owner, such as his/her real world address, hobbies and medical history. Another recently released study by Stanford shows that phone call metadata can also be used to infer personal details about a phone owner.
    …
    https://yro.slashdot.org/story/16/05/19/232216/google-is-a-serial-tracker

  108. David Springer | May 20, 2016 at 5:41 am |

    http://spectator.org/the-thinking-mans-guide-to-donald-trump/

    by Don Surber

    If a year ago someone told me I would be an advocate of Donald Trump, I would have laughed, because everyone knew he was a joke with a toupee. But on August 27, 2015, at a rally in Greenville, South Carolina, when Mary Margaret Bannister pulled his hair, we learned he does not wear a wig.

    And in researching my upcoming book, Trump The Press, I learned he is no joke. He has developed the leadership skills needed to lead the free world.

    In December 2014, Peter Economy of Inc. magazine wrote, “The Top 10 Skills Every Great Leader Needs to Succeed.” Trump has them all.

    –more at link above

  110. Glenn Stehle | May 20, 2016 at 9:16 am |

    Quelle Surprise! US Big Business Prefers Clinton to Trump by 2:1 Margin
    http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2016/05/quelle-surprise-us-big-business-prefers-clinton-to-trump-by-21-margin.html

    The Financial Times surveyed major US business groups and found they greatly prefer Clinton. Mind you, “greatly prefer” translates as “loathes Trump, deems her to be less obviously terrible.” Clinton is a status quo candidate, and as much as she would probably shake her finger at businessmen more than they’d like, she won’t break any big rice bowls….

    [D]espite regular elite warnings that Trump will usher in an era of horrors, he continues to defy the odds. And Clinton, despite having what would seem to be an eminently beatable opponent, is so deeply ensconced in her elite echo chamber that her and her allies anti-Trump messaging seems only to reach the already converted. We’ll see soon enough how well Trump contends with this apparent fundraising obstacle.

    • Ragnaar | May 20, 2016 at 12:59 pm |

      “We’ll see soon enough how well Trump contends with this apparent fundraising obstacle.”
      Money is not speech and corporations are not people. Corporate free speech favors the establishment and will try to keep Trump out.

  111. Glenn Stehle | May 20, 2016 at 9:20 am |

    Sanders and Class Struggle in the Democratic Party
    http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2016/05/sanders-and-class-struggle-in-the-democratic-party.html

    Yves here. The beginning of this Real News Network segment focuses on the floor fight in the Nevada convention and campaign tactics, but it then turns to the various factions that back each candidate and how the Clinton camp, on a very fundamental level, does not understand Sanders voters (in addition to the fact that it doesn’t think it needs to).

  112. Glenn Stehle | May 20, 2016 at 9:27 am |

    Shadow Banks Clinton Flags as Risky Put Millions Into Her Run
    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-19/shadow-banks-clinton-flags-as-risky-put-millions-into-her-run

    Hillary Clinton has vowed to be tougher on Wall Street than any other presidential candidate, but that hasn’t stopped the financial industry from sending a flood of cash to help elect her.

  113. Glenn Stehle | May 20, 2016 at 9:43 am |

    And here’s what our great champion of democracy and slayer of violence has to say to California voters. Clearly, Clinton knows that the fix is in with the Democratic Party’s super-delegates, and the people’s votes mean nothing:

    Clinton to Californians: Your Votes Will Not Affect the Democratic Primary Whatsoever

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/seth-abramson/clinton-to-californians-y_b_10053848.html

    CLINTON: I will be the nominee for my party, Chris. That is already done, in effect. There is no way that I won’t be.………..

    [I]t’s now widely accepted that Clinton can’t win the primary with pledged delegates alone. This means that the Democratic nomination will be decided by super-delegates,

  114. Glenn Stehle | May 20, 2016 at 9:54 am |

    Hillary’s Support Among Democrats Fades As Party Crisis Looms
    http://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/dont-look-now-but-the-democratic-party-is-in-the-midst-of-an-existential-crisis/

    Every day there are stories about how deeply troubled the Republican Party is with Donald Trump as its presumptive candidate. But, if anything, the Democratic Party is in far worse shape.

    And of course it’s all Bad Bernie’s fault, and has nothing to do with anything Clinton Inc. has done.

    Here’s the part that is most germane to followers of Climate Etc.:

    If that weren’t enough, a major fight has developed between two of the Democratic Party’s most important constituencies — rich environmentalists and labor unions.

    After the AFL-CIO announced that it was teaming up for a get-out-the-vote effort with billionaire climate-change fanatic Tom Steyer — who helped block the job-creating Keystone XL pipeline — several building-trade groups sent a blistering letter to Richard Trumka saying the AFL-CIO has “now officially become infiltrated by financial and political interests that work in direct conflict to many of our members’ — and yes, AFL-CIO dues paying members’ lives.”

    Terry O’Sullivan, head of the Laborers’ International Union of North America, called the partnership a “politically bankrupt betrayal” of union members.

    As a result, “Trump could well outperform Clinton with the unions that signed on to the letter, a heavily working-class and white male demographic,” the New York Times reports.

    • mosomoso | May 20, 2016 at 11:03 am |

      Tom Steyer has been a model investor. He invested in as much coal as possible for as much profit as possible…but as far from home as possible. Like Indonesia and Australia, the world’s largest exporters of the stuff, when the prices were climbing along with volume. And we didn’t even notice (or pretended not to).

      Tom’s an inspiration to all green billionaires and subsidy barons.

      • Glenn Stehle | May 20, 2016 at 11:18 am |

        mosomoso,

        I think, however, that Trump’s got Steyer’s number. H/T to Daniel E Hofford back up the thread.

        DONALD TRUMP: I’m all for national security, I just think we have to spend it on the right national security. When we throw it away by the hundreds of billions of dollars, just throw it away, people say “What’s going on?” And it does make it much more difficult for people to want to pay more tax.

        Look, a good economy solves all of the problems we’re talking about. Good economy solves everything, but we don’t seem to have that economy.

        A friend of mine in the enrgy business, just to get off the subject a little bit, we send so much coal to China….

        We send coal to China but we’re not allowed to use coal anymore because you can’t open up a new coal-fired plant, I mean it’s almost impossible. It probalby is impossible to get an approval. And yet China is going wild with our coal.

        You know, at what point do we get smart and say, “Hey look, we have to compete and we have to win, and we have to take it back from China and other countries”?

        It’s very, very difficult. It’s a very, very difficult place. We’ve become completely moral bound and democratic. It’s very difficult.

      • Joshua | May 20, 2016 at 11:22 am |

        Donald makes a good point.

        I think we should also take back using lead paint on toys from China. China does it, so we should do it too.

      • David Springer | May 22, 2016 at 5:12 pm |

        Joshy doesn’t mind children in Chinese sweat shops making his sneakers. Go Nike!

        Now watch, if the twerp responds at all, he’ll dodge the point.

  115. Glenn Stehle | May 20, 2016 at 10:06 am |

    Rift Between Labor and Environmentalists Threatens Democratic Turnout Plan
    http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/17/us/politics/democratic-turnout.html?_r=0

    [A] wealthy environmentalist, Tom Steyer, [last week committed] to help bankroll a new fund dedicated to electing Democrats….

    [W]ith blue-collar white voters shifting to the Republican Party and Democrats growing more reliant on higher-income voters and liberal donors like Mr. Steyer, environmental activists are increasingly muscling out unions….

    In a…harshly worded letter…Terry O’Sullivan called the partnership [between Steyer and the AFL-CIO] a “politically bankrupt betrayal” of union members. “We object to the political agenda of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. being sold to a job-killing hedge fund manager with a bag of cash,” he wrote.

  118. Glenn Stehle | May 20, 2016 at 10:20 am |

    Clinton’s Hawkish Admirers
    http://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/clintons-hawkish-admirers/

    Clinton promises to take most of what’s wrong with U.S. foreign policy and make it worse, and she is now winning over quite a few Republican hawks precisely because her foreign policy has been and will be reliably bad just like theirs.

  119. Glenn Stehle | May 20, 2016 at 10:25 am |

    Republicans Want Their Party to Unify Behind Donald Trump, Poll Shows
    http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/20/us/politics/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-poll.html?emc=edit_th_20160520&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=28115200&_r=0

    Eight in 10 Republican voters say their leaders should support Mr. Trump even if they disagree with him on important issues.

  120. Glenn Stehle | May 20, 2016 at 11:12 am |

    The elites have to keep up the barrage of propaganda in order to convince the serfs how good they’ve got it:

    As US politicians romanticize doomed manufacturing jobs, the new working class is suffering
    http://qz.com/687506/as-us-politicians-romanticize-doomed-manufacturing-jobs-the-new-working-class-is-suffering/

    While America’s public intellectuals wax eloquently, and even idolize, the innovation and ideation done by tech workers, the reality that most Americans actually work in a bargain-basement economy remains on the margins of contemporary political discourse.

    Many occupations that will add the most new jobs to our economy in the next decade will require little to no education beyond high school—where wages hover below $12 an hour for the most part, and the work is done disproportionately by women, Latinos, and African Americans. These are jobs such as fast food prep, retail sales, home health and personal care, secretarial positions and janitorial and cleaning services. This is the economy of today and tomorrow—and yet the presidential campaigns of both parties remain remarkably aloof to this reality….

    Today, the United States has one of the highest percentages of working people earning low-wages—one out of four employed Americans—of 26 advanced countries surveyed by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

    Here’s where Tamara Draut goes off the tracks, though:

    But to business elites, the power of labor, along with environmental and social policies, represented a direct threat to the free enterprise system.

    Labor and environmentalists are enemies, not allies.

  121. Glenn Stehle | May 20, 2016 at 11:34 am |

    Bill Nye: Why I Choose to Challenge Climate Change Deniers
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-nye/why-i-choose-to-challenge_b_10048224.html

    The science of global warming is long settled,…

    I hope people will take the facts we face into account as they head to the polls this year.

    By my reckoning, our delay, and the reluctance of conservative presidential candidates to embrace the problem and discuss it is a result of the diligent effort of a handful of climate change deniers. They have been especially successful at introducing the idea that routine predictive uncertainty, e.g. plus or minus two percent, is somehow the same as plus or minus one hundred percent. It isn’t, and the deniers are wrong.

    Since the presentation of the facts and science concerning global warming and climate change have been heretofore insufficient to motivate enough of us voters, I am now challenging the deniers directly. By showing enough people the techniques and ignorance of the deniers, I believe we can make warming and climate change a campaign issue, which will swing the upcoming U.S. presidential election in favor of a candidate who is not out of touch with our worldwide climate situation.

  122. Glenn Stehle | May 20, 2016 at 11:49 am |

    Who Are the Real Deniers of Science?

    Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/435634/global-warming-transgenders-liberals-deny-science-when-it-suits-them

    Why do liberals hate science?

    The Left has long claimed that it has something of a monopoly on scientific expertise. For instance, long before Al Gore started making millions by claiming that anyone who disagreed with his apocalyptic prophecies was “anti-science,” there were the “scientific socialists.” “Social engineer” is now rightly seen as a term of scorn and derision, but it was once a label that progressive eggheads eagerly accepted.

    Masking opinions in a white smock is a brilliant, albeit infuriating and shabby, rhetorical tactic…. [T]hey’re also insinuating that anyone who disagrees is a fool or a zealot for objecting to “settled science.”

    Put aside the fact that there is no such thing as settled science. Scientists are constantly questioning their understanding of things; that is what science does. All the great scientists of history are justly famous for overturning the assumptions of their fields.

    The real problem is that in politics, invocations of science are very often marketing techniques masquerading as appeals to irrefutable authority. In an increasingly secular society, having science on your side is better than having God on your side – at least in an argument.

    I’m not saying that you can’t have science in your corner, or that lawmakers shouldn’t look to science when making policy. (Legislation that rejects the existence of gravity makes for very silly laws indeed.) But the real intent behind so many claims to “settled science” is to avoid having to make your case. It’s an undemocratic technique for delegitimizing opposing views and saying “shut up” to dissenters.

    • jim2 | May 20, 2016 at 12:14 pm |

      From the article:
      …
      There are many reasons to vote for Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton on Election Day.

      But I believe one being missed too often is the importance of restoring and enhancing the critical relationship between the United States and Israel. If this is something you endorse, Donald Trump is the clear choice.

      There are at least five aspects of the crucial US-Israel alliance that Trump understands better than Clinton:
      …
      http://nypost.com/2016/05/19/donald-trump-is-the-clear-choice-for-pro-israel-voters/

    • John Carpenter | May 20, 2016 at 12:57 pm |

      Robert Kagen would have everyone believe we could live in a mob rule democracy form of government if Trump were elected. Well, without Trump breaking a whole bunch of laws, we can’t. Though we live by democratic principles, we live in a Republic, which was formed specifically with checks and balances to prevent exactly what Kagen scare mongers. If Trump were to make it to the white house, he would have to navigate the same checks and balances as all other presidents. Our republic was formed specifically to protect the rights of the minority within a majority run system. It has been tested over time and it has proven over that time to overcome the rule of the majority to defend the rights of the minority. It is not perfect, but womans rights, black civil rights and LGTB rights advancements are examples of our republic at work. Trump would have to totally take over the system of government and replace it with something different to achieve what Kagen fears could happen. Not likely.

      • James Cross | May 20, 2016 at 1:43 pm |

        You’re forgetting that if he wins then the Republicans probably will win big and they have already shown they are going to lay down. So many of the checks and balances of the Congress will be gone.

        From the article:

        What these people do not or will not see is that, once in power, Trump will owe them and their party nothing. He will have ridden to power despite the party, catapulted into the White House by a mass following devoted only to him. By then that following will have grown dramatically. Today, less than 5 percent of eligible voters have voted for Trump. But if he wins the election, his legions will likely comprise a majority of the nation. Imagine the power he would wield then. In addition to all that comes from being the leader of a mass following, he would also have the immense powers of the American presidency at his command: the Justice Department, the FBI, the intelligence services, the military. Who would dare to oppose him then? Certainly not a Republican Party that lay down before him even when he was comparatively weak. And is a man like Trump, with infinitely greater power in his hands, likely to become more humble, more judicious, more generous, less vengeful than he is today, than he has been his whole life? Does vast power un-corrupt?

      • John Carpenter | May 20, 2016 at 2:01 pm |

        I read that part and its BS. I’m not a Trump supporter. To be clear, I am not arguing this from the POV of wanting him in the oval office. But clearly Kagen is lost wrt how our government works and what the president can get away with. Trump would have to answer to our constitution, congress and the Judiciary. A majority led congress means nothing with regard to his or your fears. A conservative led Supreme Court either. What Kagen wrote is nothing more than scare mongering drivel. Reminds me of all the conservative talk show scare mongering about Obama turning our country into an Islamic state. You probably forgot all that.

      • jim2 | May 20, 2016 at 2:01 pm |

        Having the Redimowits “lay down” for Trump will solve the “grid lock” problem that the press and Dimowits have been whining about. As long as Trump is making government smaller, regulations less of an impediment; then a cooperative Congress is just what the Dr. ordered.

      • James Cross | May 20, 2016 at 2:38 pm |

        Thanks jim2 for making my point.

        But who said anything about making government smaller?

        Trump Wants to Make Government Huge Again

        From the artticle

        But on issue after issue, Trump vows to use government as a tool to improve the lot of his supporters, and address their anxieties. He’d interfere in free markets, imposing tariffs to punish companies that move factories offshore, and countries with abusive trade practices. He’s pledged to preserve Social Security. He’s proposed, at various times, registering Muslims and banning them from entering the country.

        http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/03/trump-government-ethnocentrism/473538/

      • jim2 | May 20, 2016 at 2:40 pm |

        He himself said he will make government smaller. Implementing fair trade in place of free trade won’t have a noticeable effect on the size of government or its interference in our lives. More jobs in the US would be a good, no not good, a GREAT thing.

      • timg56 | May 20, 2016 at 2:41 pm |

        Cross,

        So you are worried about Trump establishing some sort of dictatorship, but have no problem with the President of the “most transparent administration ever” circumventing the Constitution almost every week?

      • cerescokid | May 20, 2016 at 3:35 pm |

        “…so many of the checks and balances will be gone”

        So will the Senate abolish the filibuster? Are there going to be enough Republican votes to invoke cloture. Will there be even enough Republican votes to support Trump’s agenda?

        Those bofoes can’t even get tax reform passed and every member of Congress is in favor of changing the tax code but nothing happens. In terms of public policy proscriptions Trump is all over the board. He has taken contradictory positions on issues, sometimes in a matter of a few seconds. I have listened to many of his interviews and at times just shook my head and thought “what the …. did he just say?”

        I did not start out favoring Trump, but just the thought of all these liberal ninnies nearly driven to mass psychosis is too delicious a spectacle to pass on. If nothing else this will the most hilarious campaign ever.

      • Joshua | May 20, 2016 at 3:44 pm |

        John Carpenter –

        Consider Trump’s reaction to the situation with Eobla:

        –snip–

        The U.S. cannot allow EBOLA infected people back. People that go to far away places to help out are great-but must suffer the consequences!
        9:22 PM – 1 Aug 2014

        Follow
        Donald J. Trump ✔ ‎@realDonaldTrump
        The fact that we are taking the Ebola patients, while others from the area are fleeing to the United States, is absolutely CRAZY-Stupid pols
        6:55 PM – 2 Aug 2014

        Ebola has been confirmed in N.Y.C., with officials frantically trying to find all of the people and things he had contact with.Obama’s fault
        10:24 PM – 23 Oct 2014

        –snip–

        Now imagine him as president, leading the charge, along with Congress, to institute legislation and authoritarian government overreach because of a wild and emotion-based over-reaction (cynically exploiting fear-mongering), in opposition to the recommendations of people with expertise in the matter.

        Not to excuse fear-mongering, but there is much that could happen, short of Trump completely reorganizing our governmental structure.

      • John Carpenter | May 20, 2016 at 8:54 pm |

        Joshu-a

      • John Carpenter | May 20, 2016 at 9:00 pm |

        Joshu-a

        Pearl clutching duely noted.

    • timg56 | May 20, 2016 at 3:10 pm |

      A much more accurate assessment Jim Cross is this is how a rich guy gets to influence a wide audience with his own views on whatever subject he wants to.

      Nothing new. Been the case since they first started printing newspapers.

      What is interesting is you haven’t figured it out. Or you have and are simply trolling.

  125. jim2 | May 20, 2016 at 12:13 pm |

    From the article, what Bill Clinton said about trade with China. Keep in mind, China just physically threatened one of our spy planes and is verbally threatening our country.
    …
    And of course, it will advance our own economic interests. Economically, this agreement is the equivalent of a one-way street. It requires China to open its markets — with a fifth of the world’s population, potentially the biggest markets in the world — to both our products and services in unprecedented new ways. All we do is to agree to maintain the present access which China enjoys.

    Chinese tariffs, from telecommunications products to automobiles to agriculture, will fall by half or more over just five years.

    For the first time, our companies will be able to sell and distribute products in China made by workers here in America without being forced to relocate manufacturing to China, sell through the Chinese government, or transfer valuable technology — for the first time. We’ll be able to export products without exporting jobs.

    Meanwhile, we’ll get valuable new safeguards against any surges of imports from China. We’re already preparing for the largest enforcement effort ever given for a trade agreement.

    If Congress passes P.N.T.R., we reap these rewards. If Congress rejects it, our competitors reap these rewards. Again, we must understand the consequences of saying no. If we don’t sell our products to China, someone else will step into the breach, and we’ll spend the next 20 years wondering why in the wide world we handed over the benefits we negotiated to other people.
    …
    https://partners.nytimes.com/library/world/asia/030900clinton-china-text.html

  126. Joseph | May 20, 2016 at 12:14 pm |

    McManus says Trump takes lying to a whole new level

    http://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/opinion/guest-opinions/2016/05/19/trump-lies-brazenly/84619464/

    Trump fibs so often that the fact-checking website Politifact awarded him its 2015 “Lie of the Year” award for his entire body of work, a lifetime achievement award for prevarication.

  127. Glenn Stehle | May 20, 2016 at 12:39 pm |

    Trump Responds to Robert Gates Criticism: “Because We’re Doing So Well Under His Foreign Policy?”
    http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/05/20/trump_responds_to_robert_gates_criticism_because_were_doing_so_well_under_his_foreign_policy.html

    Yep.

    Trump’s got Gates’ number. Gate’s is a neocon war profiteer par excellence.

    Before becoming secretary of defense, Robert M. Gates was a member of SAIC’s board of directors….

    SAIC helped supply the faulty intelligence about Saddam’s WMD….

    [A]ccording to Bartlett and Steele…David Kay in 1998 told the Senate Armed Services Committee….

    9/11 was a personal tragedy for thousands of families and a national tragedy for all Americans, but it was very, very good for SAIC.

    In the aftermath of the attacks, the Bush administration launched its Global War on Terror, whose chief consequence has been to channel money by the tens of billions into companies promising they could do something — anything — to help.

    SAIC was ready….

    In October of 2006 the company told would-be investors flatly that the war on terror would continue to be a lucrative growth industry.

    Bartlett and Steele could have mentioned that SAIC senior analyst Fritz Ermarth, a longtime associate of Gates form his years at the CIA and later an official of the Nixon Center. Commenting in 2003 on Secretary of State Colin Powell’s briefing to the UN Security Council, Ermarth praised Powell for his charges (repeating one of Judith Miller’s false stories [in the NY Times]) about Saddam’s acquisition of aluminum tubing “for centrifuges and not rocketry.”….

    In Iraq as in AFghanistan and as in Vietnam and Laos a generation earlier, a sure ticket to consultations in Washington was support for interventions that ordinary people could see would be disastrous.

    — PETER DALE SCOTT, American War Machine

  128. jim2 | May 20, 2016 at 2:45 pm |

    From the article:
    …
    A strong majority, 56 percent, believe Trump is running for President to benefit himself, but even more, 57 percent believe Hillary is simply running to benefit herself. Moreover, voters say Hillary is more corrupt than Trump by a 12 point margin. Another characteristic where Trump enjoys a strong advantage over Clinton is on being a “strong leader.” A solid 59 percent of voters say trait describes Trump, but only 49 percent say the same about Clinton.
    …
    http://www.breitbart.com/2016-presidential-race/2016/05/20/donald-trump-grabs-clear-poll-edge-over-hillary-clinton-in-early-campaign/

    • Glenn Stehle | May 20, 2016 at 7:24 pm |

      Yep.

      It looks like just about anything is possible come November.

      Trump’s challenge is to make the election about economics and foreign policy, and not about identity politics and tabloid trivia. He appears to be having some limitied success.

      Latinos divided over Trump’s immigration stance
      http://edition.cnn.com/videos/politics/2016/05/01/latino-activists-divided-on-trump-nick-valencia.cnn

      How gender could win Trump the White House
      http://edition.cnn.com/2016/05/20/opinions/trump-can-win-women-martha-pease/index.html

      The latest numbers indicate that Trump’s approval among women has been climbing modestly since March, while his disapproval ratings are declining….

      If the sole question is which of them is more pro-women, of course she wins. But if one replaces the gender lens with an economic lens, the landscape of women voters takes on a completely different focus…

      [A] recent CNN poll shows that for most women, this election is about more than gender. Think back to the mantra of the first Clinton election in 1992: “It’s the economy, stupid.” Once again, this election will likely hinge on this number one issue for voters of both genders….

      Trump would be smart to target women on economic issues — not only because many of them bristle at his boorishness, but also because a majority of women voters think economic conditions right now are bad under President Obama’s leadership (compared to a minority of men). As long as Hillary Clinton pledges to continue Obama’s agenda, Trump has an opening to reinforce this negative assessment among women of Obama and the economy — and to tie Clinton to the President’s kite in the process….

      It won’t be easy for Trump to move the public debate away from how he treats women. And even if he does shift the debate, Clinton will be a formidable opponent. But if he can reframe the campaign, he has a much better chance than experts seem to think of persuading women to give him a second look….

      Facing facts, conventional wisdom has been wrong repeatedly in this race, and it could be again about women voters.

  132. jim2 | May 20, 2016 at 7:49 pm |

    Bimbo Eruptions: “Who is going to find out? These women are trash. Nobody’s going to believe them.” —Hillary Rodham Clinton (first lady, 1993–2001), during the 1992 presidential campaign, commenting on her

    http://bloodonherhands.com/quotes-by-hillary-clinton/

    • Glenn Stehle | May 21, 2016 at 8:57 am |

      This brings up an interesting question: Even if the campaign is fought out on the battleground of identity politics and tabloid trivia, can Clinton Inc. win?

      Trump is certainly no schmuck when it comes to fighting those battles, and Clinton Inc’s past gives him lots of ammunition.

  133. jim2 | May 21, 2016 at 9:44 am |

    From the article:
    …
    The rising cash holdings of U.S. corporations are increasingly in the hands of a few U.S. companies, with just five tech firms having grabbed a third of it. And nearly three-quarters of cash held by non-financial U.S. companies is stashed overseas, outside the long arm of Uncle Sam.
    …
    http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/markets/2016/05/20/third-cash-owned-5-us-companies/84640704/

    • jim2 | May 21, 2016 at 9:46 am |

      Trump should allow these companies to bring the cash back to the US tax-free. I think they’ve already paid tax in other countries, anyway. If tax law and regulations can be simplified, as in extremely simple, we could attract back a lot of businesses, rich people, and capital. Of course the left-wing-nuts would say he is kowtowing to business, but they haven’t a clue where jobs come from. They are idi0ts.

      • cerescokid | May 23, 2016 at 6:39 am |

        The idiots, AKA Economic Illiterates (EI) froth when the Bern reinforces the general perception on the left that Corporations and Businesses are evil. This dovetails nicely with the evil moniker being placed on profits, the rich, Wall Street, Big Banks, Big Insurance, Big Pharma and Big Oil.

        The Socialist stated in a speech that Corporations paid in 1953 30% of Federal tax revenue but only pay 10% now. The pitch fork armed mob growled at the evilness of it all.. Bernie was correct. But just like Paul Harvey used to say “Here is the rest of the story”.

        In 1953, besides the Corporate Income Taxes they also paid $3 Billion in Social Security payroll taxes. Today, Corporations and businesses pay over $500 Billion in Social Security payroll taxes. Also, the tax code was reformed in 1986 to allow S corporations to file under the Individual Income Tax provisions, thus those taxes that formerly showed up in the Corporate Tax column are now shown as part of the Individual Income Tax IRS reports.

        Given that some of the 30% is now shown in the Individual Income tax total and that Social Security Payroll Taxes dwarf the payment of Corporate Taxes, Sanders’ charge is misleading and comparing apples and oranges.
        But the unruly got their red meat.

  135. Glenn Stehle | May 21, 2016 at 12:10 pm |

    The NY Times is also doing hit pieces on Bernie:

    First, Do Some Harm: How to Smear a Disfavored Candidate on NYT’s Front Page
    http://fair.org/home/first-do-some-harm-how-to-smear-a-disfavored-candidate-on-nyts-front-page/

    This is Bad Journalism 101: You come up with a thesis, like “Bernie Sanders wants to hurt Hillary Clinton’s chances of beating Donald Trump.” You take your thesis to your source, and ask them to agree with it; like any sensible spokesperson, they decline to comment on it. You take their no-comment as an endorsement of your thesis—and that becomes the lead headline in the nation’s most influential newspaper:

    As a bonus, you get to make a front-page allusion to violence on the part of Senator Sanders, which bolsters the idea—advanced by phantom chair-throwing incidents—that the Sanders campaign is a dangerous menace….

    The real problem that the Times has with the Sanders campaign, I would suggest, is revealed at the end of that lead, where Healy et al. write that Sanders plans on “amassing enough leverage to advance his agenda at the convention in July—or even wrest the nomination from her.”

    Yes, the New York Times has the scoop: Bernie Sanders is secretly hoping to win the election!

  136. Glenn Stehle | May 21, 2016 at 12:43 pm |

    KING: Here’s why I’m leaving the Democratic Party after this presidential election and you should too
    http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/king-leaving-democratic-party-article-1.2644307

    In essence, Hillary Clinton and the DNC each wants us to believe that lobbyists and SuperPACs don’t expect anything from them in return for their money. This is the most basic, foolish, offensive lie they could ever tell. Of course they want something in return. That’s the business they’re in….

    The thing is, though, the Democratic Party isn’t really very democratic. It’s sincerely just a machine for Hillary Clinton.

  137. Glenn Stehle | May 21, 2016 at 12:58 pm |

    Hillary Clinton’s Neocon Resumé
    http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/05/20/hillary-clintons-neocon-resume/

    Liberal Democratic Hillary Clinton supporters get defensive when they hear that Mrs. Clinton is favored over Donald Trump by right-wing billionaires like Charles Koch and (with much more enthusiasm) by leading arch-imperial foreign policy Neoconservatives like Robert Kagan, Max Boot, and Eliot Cohen. But an honest look at Hillary’s record should make the support she is getting from such noxious, arch-authoritarian “elites” less than surprising.

  138. jim2 | May 21, 2016 at 2:31 pm |

    Feel the burn, Bernie … from the article:
    …
    Venezuela: how the socialist paradise turned into debt and hyperinflation hell
    …
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/05/21/venezuela-how-the-socialist-paradise-turned-into-debt-and-hyperi/

  139. jim2 | May 22, 2016 at 11:30 am |

    The LibTard media will go down fighting … from the article:
    …
    But instead of focusing on Trump’s surge, the Post highlighted the feeling among the unfavorable view voters have of both candidates, and that Clinton is more qualified.
    …
    http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/begrudging-wapo-poll-trump-46-clinton-44/article/2591982

    • Jim D | May 22, 2016 at 11:56 am |

      Besides being too early, you also need to factor in the Libertarians who are running in all 50 states, and polling at 10%, so head-to-head isn’t the full story. Their presumptive candidate and his running mate or both ex state governors, and in interviews they project some relative sanity compared to Trump, which is not difficult. Their main difference from Republicans is keeping the government and religion-based ideology out of individual choices.

    • jim2 | May 22, 2016 at 4:10 pm |

      Trump is more Libertarian than Dimowit or Redimowit. Noticeably lacking in him is the evangelical Christian aspect. So he is socially more liberal, but a fiscal conservative. I wouldn’t count my Libertarian chickens before they hatch, there JimD.

      • Joshua | May 22, 2016 at 4:16 pm |

        ==> “but a fiscal conservative.”

        Right. A fiscal conservative, who advocates building walls that will cost ???? Deporting 10 million that will cost ????

        A fiscal conservative who has no spending cuts in his platform.

        Yup. Now that’s a fiscal conservative

      • Jim D | May 23, 2016 at 4:49 am |

        Libertarians are like Republicans but without the bible-bashing Christian wing. This is actually more like Trump, who fails to look evangelical, try as he may, but Libertarians criticize him for his anti-Mexican and anti-Muslim stances, so they will fail to pull the “nationalist” elements from Trump. It’s an interesting triangle: Republicans, Libertarians and Trump-style Nationalists. Different overlaps on different policies.

      • Jim D | May 23, 2016 at 4:56 am |

        Yes, Trump is not a fiscal conservative. His budget is not balanced (even Fox News challenged his numbers in one of the debates) and is basically a list of talking points, as with all his policies. He admits the talking points like tax cuts are just opening bids up for negotiation, probably because they don’t hold together in any coherent way. He is making it up as he goes along, and any interview pushing on details reveals that.

      • David Springer | May 23, 2016 at 12:50 pm |

        bible thumping not bible bashing, genius

      • jim2 | May 23, 2016 at 9:19 pm |

        If Trump merely could get the debt to stabilize, that would be a major accomplishment after a series of M0r0ns-in-Cheif, certainly including the current one.

  140. Joshua | May 22, 2016 at 2:20 pm |

    How could anyone not vote for this guy:?

    –snip–

    Phoning in to “Fox & Friends” Sunday, Trump contradicted himself multiple times when asked to respond to Clinton, saying, “I don’t want to have guns in classrooms, although in some cases teachers should have guns in classrooms, frankly,” because “the things that are going on in our schools are unbelievable.” Then, he said, “I’m not advocating guns in classrooms, but remember in some cases … trained teachers should be able to have guns in classrooms.”

    –snip–

    I mean after all, the guy isn’t being politically correct when he says completely contradictory things in subsequent sentences. He’s just speaking his mind.

    Too funny.

    • jim2 | May 22, 2016 at 4:13 pm |

      He is speaking casual English, Josh. I know that’s problematic for you, so let me interpret. “Generally speaking, there shouldn’t be guns in classrooms. But in some cases, in schools with a know problem with violence, exceptions should be made.”

      • Joshua | May 22, 2016 at 4:22 pm |

        Thanks for translating for the common folks, jim.

        I mean it couldn’t be that his public relations platform is (1) incoherent, (2) contradictory, and (3) cynically intended to fear-monger for the sake of political expediency. Nope. That couldn’t be. Of course, that would be true of any other politician, but not Trump. He’s been excluded from the “skepticism” that would be applied to other candidates.

        So he says that he wouldn’t advocate for guns in classrooms, but some teachers having guns is ok. So where isn’t it OK? Oh, right, he isn’t advocating that students have guns in classrooms? Is that it? He isn’t advocating that 8 year-olds have guns in classroom? Well, that’s a relief. One thing we wouldn’t is all those other candidates who advocate that 8 year-olds have guns in the classrooms. Oh, and notice how specific he is about which teachers should be the ones who are packing. Yeah, why with such specificity about the criteria he’d use to determine which teachers should have guns in classrooms, what could possibly go wrong?

      • Joshua | May 22, 2016 at 5:28 pm |

        And by the way, Jim, maybe you could also translate for me, you know on the behalf of the common folks, what it means when he says that women who have abortions should be punished but that they shouldn’t be punished?

      • Joshua | May 22, 2016 at 6:36 pm |

        and jim…while you’re at it… I was hoping that you could translate for me how calling for a Muslim immigration ban isn’t calling for a Muslim immigration ban and saying we should have a massive tariff on Chinese goods isn’t actually saying that we should have a massive tariff on Chinese goods. Thanks in advance

      • David Springer | May 23, 2016 at 7:03 am |

        The translation is common sense (Trump) to libtard (Joshy).

        Guns in school: Local decision, not federal.

        Punishment for providing illegal abortions: provider punished

        Abortion: State matter, not federal

        Ban Muslims entering country: executive starting position for negotiation; president should not act without consent of congress

        Massive tariff on Chinese goods: I wasn’t aware he’d backed away from import tariffs and it wasn’t just China. It appears you just made that flip flop up out of thin air, Joshy. I knew you made up “massive” without needing to look it up. That’s got you building a straw man written all over it.

        http://www.ontheissues.org/2016/Donald_Trump_Free_Trade.htm

        He’d threaten them with high tariffs to leverage concessions in currency manipulation and other unfair trade practices.

        Thanks for asking!

      • David Springer | May 23, 2016 at 11:26 pm |

        Want and should are not synonyms Joshy. You’re conflating them to build a straw man. Neither you nor the times have quoted Trump saying “I want a 45% import tariff”. He said “the tariiff should be 45%”. He gave a conditional statement in context “if there was a tariff it should be 45%”. That’s not the same as wanting a 45% tariff. What he wants is China to stop manipulating their currency and other unfair trade practices.

        I know this is subtle and possibly goes over the top of your pointy little head but I keep holding out an increasingly forlorn hope that you’ll embrace honest discourse someday.

        Want and should are not synonyms. Write that down.

      • David Springer | May 23, 2016 at 11:32 pm |

        I don’t want you in moderation, Joshy. What I want is for you to stop being a nasty little troll. But you if can’t do that you should be in moderation. Get it?

      • Joshua | May 24, 2016 at 12:17 pm |

        –snip–

        And what he told the commission in early 1988 was that he wouldn’t use a type of loan called a junk bond. And a bond, of course, pays people loaning the money a certain amount of interest rate in exchange for loaning the money. Junk bonds are called junk bonds because they’re very high-risk, and, as a result, they pay a much higher interest rate than a traditional loan or, let’s say, a mortgage would pay. So junk bonds were available to a whole host of developers and entrepreneurs back in the ’80s.

        The problem, of course, is the more interest you take on, the higher the risk of the failure of the project because it means you have to make more money to pay off the loans. Now, at the time, junk bonds were very common. But Donald Trump appeared before the commission, and he made a very, very stark promise. And he did it in a way that has similarities to some of his statements today. He did it with disdain, and he did it in an unequivocal way. And he said, for example, that he would get loans from regular banks not junk bonds, and he said junk bonds are ridiculous. He said the funny thing with junk bonds is that junk bonds are what make – what made the companies junk. And he said – he just flat out said he would not use them, and that was in February of 1988.

        –snip–

        How’d that work out, David?

      • David Springer | May 25, 2016 at 7:41 am |

        We were talking about a 45% tariff Joshy. You decided to not respond to me on that point and instead changed the subject to Trump and junk bonds.

        First admit you lost the point on the 45% tariff and I’ll then engage your new attempt to make a point.

      • Joshua | May 25, 2016 at 6:20 pm |

        =>> ” Neither you nor the times have quoted Trump saying “I want a 45% import tariff”. He said “the tariiff should be 45%”

        Lol! Thanks for the laugh.

        Let’s see if you can come up with a rationalization for his claims about junk bonds that’s on a similar scale of lameness.

    • David Springer | May 22, 2016 at 5:38 pm |

      Trump has said these things should be left up to individual states, Joshy. He’s not an advocate of abortion on demand but at the same time doesn’t think it’s the business of the US government to regulate.

      Is that too complicated for you or just not something you want to accept because you can’t criticize it?

    • David Springer | May 22, 2016 at 5:42 pm |

      Like any other child Joshy shouldn’t be allowed to play with matches given all the highly combustible straw men he manufactures in pursuit of a point.

    • PA | May 22, 2016 at 5:50 pm |

      Well, about the 2nd or 3rd time a teacher is beat up or raped a reasonable person says “maybe she should have a gun”.

      The only people who don’t follow this reasoning are some left-wing anti-gun extremists and we can ignore them because they are left-wing anti-gun extremists who want to disarm everyone for no reason.

      Their rationalization, like the climate cult, is religious and not reasoned.

    • Steven Mosher | May 22, 2016 at 6:19 pm |

      ” Then, he said, “I’m.
      not advocating guns in classrooms, but remember in some cases … trained teachers should be able to have guns in classrooms.”

      Q: are you advocating, pushing for, demanding that there be guns in every classroom?
      A: No
      Q: what the?
      A) They should be allowed in some cases under some circumstances

      Not a contradiction. A fair reader can quickly see what he means.
      Good follow up questions would have clarified as well.

      That said, people dont want Trump because of his policy. They want him inspite of his policies

      • AK | May 22, 2016 at 6:26 pm |

        A fair reader can quickly see what he means.

        As usual. Including many cases where, for some reason, you don’t.

      • Ron Graf | May 22, 2016 at 6:28 pm |

        “They want him in spite of his policies”

        Yes, the want government to work, deals to be made in a constitutional ledgeslative kinda way. You know, “Yes, I’m only a bill.
        And I’m sitting here on Capitol Hill…” (Schoolhouse Rock).

      • Ron Graf | May 22, 2016 at 6:34 pm |

        BTW, Steven, a climate expert named Ken Gregory from “Friends of Science” posting on Clive Best agrees with me we should investigate UHI with DTR here

      • PA | May 22, 2016 at 6:47 pm |

        A quote from Clive hits the nail on the head:

        Numerous papers have shown that the UHIE contaminates the instrument temperature record. A study by McKitrick and Michaels 2007, summary here 6, showed that almost half of the warming over land in instrument data sets is due to the UHIE. A study by Laat and Maurellis 2006 came to identical conclusions. Note that the IPCC dismissed the overwhelming evidence of UHIE contamination by falsely claiming “the locations of greatest socioeconomic development are also those that have been most warmed by atmospheric circulation changes”. That is, our cities were built where there is the most natural warming, a nonsensical claim. Climate models do not show such correlation which refutes the claim.

        And there you go.

        If almost half the land warming is UHIE why do global warmers falsely claim it is AGW? Are they “Enemies of Science”?

      • captdallas2 0.8 +/- 0.3 | May 22, 2016 at 7:02 pm |

        PA, “If almost half the land warming is UHIE why do global warmers falsely claim it is AGW? Are they “Enemies of Science”?”

        UHIE would be part of AGW which makes it an interesting problem. If you back out city UHI, you only have about 0.05 C of adjustment. Back out land use change and you have another 0.10 to 0.20 C for land only which might be amplified by CO2 particularly in the 30N-60N range. It could be more, but land use started a long time before instrumental so you only have the the more recent screw ups to use as a baseline. In any case, the shift in DTR range and the amplification in 30N-60N aren’t part of the CO2 driven game plan.

      • PA | May 22, 2016 at 7:20 pm |

        In any case, the shift in DTR range and the amplification in 30N-60N aren’t part of the CO2 driven game plan.

        How much of the post 1900 warming is related to CO2? A third, a fourth, even less?

        Less CO2 won’t eliminate natural warming or make the cities and asphalt go away.

        Until the attribution is clarified, all global temperature trends tell you is CO2 probably has a warming effect. They don’t tell you anything useful about how strong the effect is.

      • captdallas2 0.8 +/- 0.3 | May 22, 2016 at 7:23 pm |

        PA, “How much of the post 1900 warming is related to CO2? A third, a fourth, even less?”

        I don’t believe there is any way in hell to figure that out. About have is as good a guess as any.

      • captdallas2 0.8 +/- 0.3 | May 22, 2016 at 7:31 pm |

        btw, using just the oceans, sensitivity to CO2 is about 0.8 C per doubling because latent offsets a portion of the increase. Where that energy ends up would determine what “global” sensitivity happens to be and it can have both a warming and slight cooling impact depending on where and when. Gives us another fifty years of data and we might be able to narrow things down :)

      • Steven Mosher | May 22, 2016 at 10:09 pm |

        “BTW, Steven, a climate expert named Ken Gregory from “Friends of Science” posting on Clive Best agrees with me we should investigate UHI with DTR here”

        He is wrong as you are wrong.
        See Thorne and Rohde 2016

      • Steven Mosher | May 22, 2016 at 10:10 pm |

        Ron.

        As an example DTR increases from 1850 to 1900

  141. Glenn Stehle | May 22, 2016 at 3:58 pm |

    These 3 people just tore apart the Democratic Party
    By unfairly maligning Sanders supporters, they broke open a permanent rift
    View story at Medium.com

    This past week, I watched the Democratic party crumble before my eyes….

    The straw that broke the camel’s back happened this past week, when three individuals ran roughshod over Sanders supporters to the cheers of the national media. Their actions exposed a broken system, and laid bare the dirtiest elements of the Democratic party. The center of this ugliness? The Nevada Democratic caucus, run by chairwoman Roberta Lange….

    Informed Sanders supporters, who knew the injustice that was taking place, were left feeling degraded and silenced. There is no doubt that when the general election comes by, many of them will not vote for DNC candidate Hillary Clinton.

    • AK | May 22, 2016 at 4:30 pm |

      The “Democratic Party” has clearly become a socialist snakepit. The tactics used by Clinton are typical of Lenin’s, as are those of Sanders.

      At this point they’re competing to “guilt trip” their opposition, but it’s clear that our country can only avoid descending into a Communist Hell if the “Democratic Party” goes.

      While the same can’t (quite) be said of the “Republican Party”, it has its own problems. Most likely, the 2-party system in this country is dead, just refusing to be buried.

      What do you think the chances are that Obama will suspend the elections? And proclaim himself “dictator forever” or the modern equivalent?

      • PA | May 22, 2016 at 5:15 pm |

        Obama would be perfectly happy subverting the constitution, again.

        But I think he is tired of the job.

        If Trump loosens the grip the establishment “White RINOs” have on the Republican party that would be beneficial. We don’t need two parties that mindlessly serve the interests of the rich elites.

      • AK | May 22, 2016 at 5:24 pm |

        But I think he is tired of the job.

        What makes you think he has a choice? AFAIK he’s a puppet at the mercy of his handlers.

        We don’t need two parties that mindlessly serve the interests of the rich elites.

        We don’t need even one. But what makes you think the “rich elites” are all in one group.

        My own studies of the history of the analogous times of the Roman “Imperium” would suggest to me that we’re seeing a typical division of rich “patrons” into parties with different agendas. This certainly doesn’t mean that either/any of them have any right to a voice (or to exist at all), but it also doesn’t mean that just because the people at the top of each “pyramid” are rich means they have the same agenda.

      • David Springer | May 22, 2016 at 5:46 pm |

        Commensurate with his trust in the Secret Service to keep him alive.

      • David Springer | May 22, 2016 at 5:55 pm |

        The power of POTUS is popularly blown way out of proportion. There are too many checks and balances. Obama has tested the limits with executive orders because he can’t get his libtard agenda through a Republican congress and his negotiation skills as a CEO are little to none.

        Trump will be able to get a lot done and he’s promised he won’t abuse executive orders as his predecessors have. He’s promised to do it because he’s a master at the art of making deals. In fact, 30 years ago, he literally wrote the book on it.

        http://www.amazon.com/Trump-Art-Deal-Donald-J/dp/0345479173

      • AK | May 22, 2016 at 6:01 pm |

        [… H]e’s promised he won’t abuse executive orders as his predecessors have.

        And if you believe that, I’ve got some bottom land to sell you. Just don’t ask what it’s on the bottom of!

      • David Springer | May 23, 2016 at 7:18 am |

        Trump is respected by peers as being honest. Perhaps thinking about it might help.

        http://spectator.org/the-thinking-mans-guide-to-donald-trump/

        2. Displays high integrity and honesty.

        In business, your word is your bond. Fellow billionaires T. Boone Pickens, Conrad Black, and Carl Icahn vouch for him. Businessmen seldom give a liar a second chance. Trump is tough, but respected.

  143. Glenn Stehle | May 22, 2016 at 4:30 pm |

    The Democrats’ Green/Blue Divide
    •••• Increased labor support for job-killing environmentalism is alienating blue-collar union workers—and driving some to support Donald Trump

    http://www.city-journal.org/html/democrats-greenblue-divide-14450.html

    Blue-collar unions have been fighting for decades against the anti-growth environmentalist regulatory agenda….

    Pundits are fond of pointing out how Republicans who don’t share Trump’s views face a tough choice. But blue-collar workers confront equally hard choices—and not only this year—as environmentalism begins to dominate the party that once championed the working class.

  144. jim2 | May 22, 2016 at 6:58 pm |

    From the article:
    …
    A new study documents that “regulatory drag” has eliminated about a third of economic growth in America since 1980, and explains why the top one percent’s inflation-adjusted share of income has tripled, while the middle class has lost income.
    Mercatus Center at George Mason University performs studies regarding the “drag” on economic growth from federal regulations. The center’s latest report reveals that the annual cost to United States Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of expanding regulations since 1980 has averaged a negative 0.8 percent per year. On a per capita basis, that almost equals the entire one percent slowdown of economic growth in the period since 1980.

    Income inequality shrank dramatically from 1946 to 1980, as the 60 percent of Americans who called themselves “middle class” saw wages grow by two percent faster than inflation. Poverty also fell from 19 percent to 13 percent during the period. The rich continued to get richer, but income inequality crashed, with the top one percent’s share of all income falling from 35 to 22 percent.
    …

    http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/05/22/top-1-wins-middle-class-losses-regulatory-drag/

  145. Joshua | May 22, 2016 at 8:24 pm |

    I have to say, Judith coming up with these presidential election discussion threads was a great idea.

    It’s been positively hilarious watching all these self-described “skeptics” falling for Trump’s straight-talking rebel billionaire working class hero con job.

    The awesome power of motivated reasoning exceeds even my expectations.

  146. jim2 | May 22, 2016 at 9:19 pm |

    From the article:
    …
    How the Pentagon punished NSA whistleblowers
    …
    But if you want to know why Snowden did it, and the way he did it, you have to know the stories of two other men.

    The first is Thomas Drake, who blew the whistle on the very same NSA activities 10 years before Snowden did. Drake was a much higher-ranking NSA official than Snowden, and he obeyed US whistleblower laws, raising his concerns through official channels. And he got crushed.

    Drake was fired, arrested at dawn by gun-wielding FBI agents, stripped of his security clearance, charged with crimes that could have sent him to prison for the rest of his life, and all but ruined financially and professionally. The only job he could find afterwards was working in an Apple store in suburban Washington, where he remains today. Adding insult to injury, his warnings about the dangers of the NSA’s surveillance programme were largely ignored.

    …
    http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/may/22/how-pentagon-punished-nsa-whistleblowers

  147. Glenn Stehle | May 22, 2016 at 9:43 pm |

    New polls show Clinton and Trump neck-and-neck
    http://edition.cnn.com/2016/05/22/politics/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-polls/index.html

    The horse race itself is swinging toward the billionaire businessman, who according to the Washington Post-ABC News poll has picked up 11 points since March, giving him a narrow 46%-44% lead. But the sum result in both surveys is a statistical dead heat. Clinton leads by 3 points, 46%-43%, in the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

  148. Glenn Stehle | May 22, 2016 at 9:45 pm |

    Graham privately urges Republicans to support Trump
    http://edition.cnn.com/2016/05/22/politics/donald-trump-lindsey-graham-republican-party/index.html

    Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of Donald Trump’s fiercest critics, is now calling on Republicans to support their presumptive nominee.

  149. Glenn Stehle | May 22, 2016 at 9:51 pm |

    Sorry folks, but you can’t sell ice to Eskimos by tweaking your style:

    Taking on Trump

    Jonathan Martin of The New York Times reports on Democrats’ call for Clinton to change her take-on-Trump strategy.
    http://edition.cnn.com/videos/tv/2016/05/22/ip-jmarts-notebook.cnn/video/playlists/inside-politics-highlights/

  150. Glenn Stehle | May 22, 2016 at 10:12 pm |

    • Jeff Bezos blasts Trump for his tactics.

    • Washington Post editor explains Trump investigation

    • Does The Washington Post have 20 reporters to the Trump beat? Editor Marty Baron says Clinton is being covered with an “equal sense of accountability.”

    http://edition.cnn.com/videos/tv/2016/05/22/marty-baron-on-covering-trump.cnn

    The paid liars and bumsuckers to the lords of capital — also known as the mainstream media — have no crediblity with the public, that is with anybody except Democrats:

  151. Glenn Stehle | May 22, 2016 at 10:21 pm |

    Clinton, Trump tailor messages to evangelical Christian Hispanics
    http://edition.cnn.com/2016/05/21/politics/national-hispanic-christian-leadership-conference-donald-trump-hillary-clinton/index.html

    Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump used different tactics to appeal to evangelical Christian Hispanics this weekend, with the Democratic hopeful presenting a message of policy and faith while the presumptive GOP nominee tried to explain how his platform would benefit minorities….

    Since becoming the presumptive Republican nominee earlier this month, Trump has begun reaching out to Hispanics in an effort to heal relations with a community that widely distrusts him.

  152. Glenn Stehle | May 22, 2016 at 10:29 pm |

    Trump’s casual racism toward Native Americans
    http://edition.cnn.com/2016/05/21/opinions/donald-trump-elizabeth-warren-native-american-moya-smith/index.html

    By now, I expect Donald Trump, who wants to be our president, to voice whatever acerbic thought he has.

    He has called Mexicans “rapists” and “anchor babies.”

    He has used adjectives such as “bimbo” and “fat pig” to describe women.

    So who could be surprised that he began attacking Elizabeth Warren, the Democratic senator from Massachusetts, by calling her “the Indian” and “Pocahontas.”

    Make no mistake — these jabs were racist.

    • jim2 | May 22, 2016 at 10:49 pm |

      Billary referred to some of Bill’s indiscretions as bimbos. Why can’t these people be fair and balanced? Oh wait, that’s right, Billary is a Dimowit.

    • jim2 | May 22, 2016 at 10:50 pm |

      Yep, Warren is an American Indian and I’m King of the Golden Unicorns.

  153. Glenn Stehle | May 22, 2016 at 10:35 pm |

    Democrats’ demons: reason to fear convention chaos
    http://nypost.com/2016/05/19/democrats-demons-reason-to-fear-convention-chaos/

    The Democratic warhorse Dianne Feinstein is warning that Bernie Sanders’ campaign against Hillary Clinton could turn the party’s convention in Philadelphia into the kind of disaster that erupted in Chicago in 1968….

    There are no perfect parallels between the Democratic Party today and the one that came a cropper in 1968. But the mob mentality of some of Sen. Sanders’ thugs, on display in Nevada, must make Feinstein wonder.

  154. Glenn Stehle | May 22, 2016 at 10:44 pm |

    The college debt crisis is even worse than you think
    http://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2016/05/18/hopes-dreams-debt/fR60cKakwUlGok0jTlONTN/story.html

    [T]hey are actively recruiting these low-income students….

    These students are often being loaded up with staggering debt that is completely out of whack with the earnings boost they’ll likely get from a degree at a nonselective or less selective college.

    • David Springer | May 23, 2016 at 8:01 am |

      Like so many other things (e.g. the correctional system – criminal courts, probation, and prisons) “higher” education is a self-sustaining racket. I tend to agree with Bernie that education through undergraduate school should be free. Nowadays it should also be mostly self-paced and done remotely through the internet.

      Follow the money.

      • Arch Stanton | May 23, 2016 at 2:03 pm |

        If that is what you decide to do, you will need to go to Spain, where most professors like to retire after giving their students the ‘full education’ they had been promised.

        https://www.debt.com/solutions/student-loans/top-questions/are-student-loans-forgiven-if-you-declare-bankruptcy

        Small villages in Italy, are also very popular.

      • David Springer | May 23, 2016 at 3:58 pm |

        Huh? I’m not deciding to do anything except stay retired. K-12 is no longer suffcient for the modern world and lifespans are so much longer that even if 4 more years were added to public education the length of time spent in the workforce could still be longer. In a nutshell increase public education by four years (K-16) and increase minimum retirement age by 8 years from 62.5 to 70.5. And make everything past 8th grade into home study programs to simultaneously reduce the cost of public education to society.

    • David Springer | May 23, 2016 at 12:45 pm |

      Obama agrees to sell weapons to Vietnam.

      Are you sh*tting me? Motherf*cking assh0le.

      • Horst Graben (@Graben_Horst) | May 23, 2016 at 1:53 pm |

        We sell weapons to England, Germany and Japan. It’s part of our tradition. In Viet Nam, we won all the battles, lost the war and now have won the peace. Apparently, this Marine Corp officer was prescient.

      • David Springer | May 23, 2016 at 3:38 pm |

        Horst,

        Unlike Germany or Japan, Vietnam is a communist country. Unlike Germany or Japan there are 1600 American POWs unaccounted for in Vietnam. What’s next selling weapons to Cuba? Unlike someone with a median IQ you’re an imbecile.

      • David Springer | May 23, 2016 at 3:42 pm |

        Obama just wants to put the finishing touches on the Democratic Party I guess. Put the final nails in Hillary’s coffin whose platform is continuing Obama’s policies. I can see the negative ads now. Twenty million US veterans and families, who vote in high percentage, are out the door.

        The union will survive but his party and legacy won’t.

        Hard to believe, isn’t it? I love it so!

  155. jim2 | May 22, 2016 at 10:48 pm |

    From the article:
    …
    The National Rifle Association endorsed Donald Trump for president at its convention today. Chris Cox, the executive director of the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action, made the endorsement immediately before Trump walked on stage. “Now is the time to unite. If your preferred candidate dropped out of the race, it’s time to get over it,” Cox said earlier in his remarks.
    …

    http://americanactionnews.com/articles/breaking-trump-s-biggest-endorsement-yet

    • cerescokid | May 23, 2016 at 6:01 am |

      All of the ladies in my family (wife, daughters and daughter-in-law and even the indoctrinated granddaughters) have said they are going to Canada if Trump is elected. I will join them if Gingrich is VP. Please say it ain’t so that the Newt is on the short list.

      • David Springer | May 23, 2016 at 7:29 am |

        Ladies flee. Men stay behind and fight. I guess we know which category you belong in now. Good riddance to the lot of you. Stay gone.

      • David Springer | May 23, 2016 at 7:36 am |

        Have any of the asshats who threatened to leave the United States actually done so? Many threatened if GW Bush was elected and unfortunately they’re all still here. These people just make these wonderful promises to vacate and then, unfortunately, don’t follow through. Perhaps I’m being unfair and they did try but no one else wanted them either.

      • Arch Stanton | May 23, 2016 at 9:05 am |

        Think of the ear full he will be getting once his whole extended family gathers together in Canada, to start their new life. He has got guts or he has not thought this thru.

      • Arch Stanton | May 23, 2016 at 9:16 am |

        You know Gigrich will not become the VP. Are you an attorney by any chance?

      • Arch Stanton | May 23, 2016 at 9:21 am |

        Very well written Mr. cerescokid, as you pointed out to me how wrong I could be, thank you sir.

      • cerescokid | May 23, 2016 at 9:24 am |

        Maybe I could get the ladies to move to Sault Ste Marie, Ontario and I will move to Sault Ste Marie, Michigan so I can just cross the bridge to visit them each day. Given the accents of the Yoopers and the accents of the Candadians, I wouldn’t be able to tell when I was in a foreign country either way.

      • David Springer | May 23, 2016 at 3:49 pm |

        What makes you think Canada will take any of you? Granted their standards are low but they do have some.

  158. Joshua | May 23, 2016 at 7:20 am |

    This is beautiful.

    –snip–
    Trump, May 5: Give me a little spray. … You know you’re not allowed to use hairspray anymore because it affects the ozone, you know that, right? I said, you mean to tell me, cause you know hairspray’s not like it used to be, it used to be real good. … Today you put the hairspray on, it’s good for 12 minutes, right. … So if I take hairspray and I spray it in my apartment, which is all sealed, you’re telling me that affects the ozone layer? “Yes.” I say no way folks. No way. No way. That’s like a lot of the rules and regulations you people have in the mines, right, it’s the same kind of stuff.

    –snip–

    http://www.factcheck.org/2016/05/trump-on-hairspray-and-ozone/

    • David Springer | May 24, 2016 at 12:05 am |

      Is that the best you got – that Trump said he didn’t think hair spray he uses in his sealed apartment is going to make it outside and up to the ozone layer?

      Of all problems you libtards have with Trump that one rates high enough up on the list for you to mention it speaks volumes about the quality of those complaints.

  160. Glenn Stehle | May 23, 2016 at 8:23 am |

    Poll: Election 2016 shapes up as contest of negatives
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/poll-election-2016-shapes-up-as-a-contest-of-negatives/2016/05/21/8d4ccfd6-1ed3-11e6-b6e0-c53b7ef63b45_story.html

    Buried five paragraphs down:

    At this point, the two candidates are in a statistical dead heat among registered voters, with Trump favored by 46 percent and Clinton favored by 44 percent. That represents an 11-point shift toward the presumptive Republican nominee since March.

  161. Glenn Stehle | May 23, 2016 at 8:33 am |

    California voter registration soaring as June 7 primary approaches
    http://www.mercurynews.com/politics-government/ci_29922565/california-voter-registration-soaring-june-7-primary-approaches

    • Californians are registering to vote in breathtaking numbers not seen since the Reagan Revolution.

    • More than twice as many Californians registered this year than in the same four-month period in 2012.

    • There is no precedent for this in California since 1980 in terms of the overall surge in voter registration,

    • The new voters are trending young and Democratic — two groups more inspired by Bernie Sanders than Donald Trump.

    • Arch Stanton | May 23, 2016 at 8:40 am |

      If the Rapture, took place on a Sunday, would people still feel like voting come Tuesday? I don’t know that answer I guess?

      • David Springer | May 23, 2016 at 3:31 pm |

        Arch, if the Rapture took place on a Sunday I won’t be left behind on Monday to talk about it.

    • David Springer | May 23, 2016 at 12:59 pm |

      How happy are Californians with libtards running state gov’t?

      • David Springer | May 23, 2016 at 1:02 pm |

        How happy will they be when the establishment (read HIllary) squashes their boy Bernie? Will they swing to anti-establishment rebel Donald or establishment whore Hillary? LOL

  162. Glenn Stehle | May 23, 2016 at 8:38 am |

    Bernie Sanders turns up the heat on Democratic party machine:

    Bernie Sanders Says He Supports Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s Primary Opponent
    Remarks escalate the fued between the Vermont senator and DNC chairwoman
    http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2016/05/22/sanders0522/

  163. Glenn Stehle | May 23, 2016 at 8:50 am |

    Hillary must pick Bernie for VP: She may even need him more than he needs her
    Yes, it’s time for Democrats to unite, but also for Hillary to recognize she needs help with the progressive base
    http://www.salon.com/2016/05/21/hillary_must_pick_bernie_for_vp_she_may_even_need_him_more_than_he_needs_her/?source=newsletter

    After the primary contests in Kentucky and Oregon, Clinton holds a nearly insurmountable lead in the delegate count, but perhaps not enough of one to win the nomination outright without the help of the unpledged superdelegates at the convention.

    Since Sanders has shown no willingness to suspend his campaign, and since the superdelegates Clinton will need to secure the nomination can change their votes at any time, Clinton has an incentive to work with Sanders to ensure he doesn’t attempt a last-minute coup on the convention floor….

    As it stands, if the latest kerfuffle over the party’s handling of the delegate count in Nevada is any indication, Sanders appears prepared to go to the mattresses in an all-out war for the top spot on the ticket. This is foolish….

    There is an obvious compromise that gives everyone most of what they want: Sanders, the runner-up, agrees to throw in the towel in exchange for the vice presidential nod. That way, Clinton gets the nomination without another bruising and potentially embarrassing fight….

    The last year has taught us that Americans of all stripes, but especially young people and white middle- and working-class independents, are clamoring for the kind of substantive reform Sanders has been calling for. These are voters Clinton could lose, either because they hold their noses and vote for Trump, or because they don’t vote at all. But with Sanders as her vice president, Clinton could neutralize attacks to her left while unleashing a popular attack dog to persuade all those wavering working-class white men to vote their true economic interest.

    • cerescokid | May 23, 2016 at 5:23 pm |

      The interesting thing about the top marginal tax rate may or may not be correlated with the effective tax rate (% of income paid on taxes.)
      During the 1950s, when the top marginal tax rate was 91%, the effective rate was as low as 11 to 12%. The last year of 91% top marginal rate in 1963 had an effective rate of 13.8%.

      Fast forward to 1988 when the top marginal
      rate fell all the way

      to 28%. That year had exactly the same effective rate at 13.8%.

  165. Glenn Stehle | May 23, 2016 at 10:34 am |

    Ted Weisberg, founder and president of Seaport Securities Corp., questions Cuban’s “crystal ball” and doubts if the sky will fall if Trump is electected.

    To the contrary, Weisberg says the track record of a pure diet of monetary policy to stimulate the economy has not been that good. He says changes to fiscal and regulatory policy are needed to combat the sluggish economy, changes which Trump promises to make.

    Mark Cuban: stocks would sink under Trump
    http://edition.cnn.com/videos/tv/2016/05/23/exp-quest-meanst-business-paula-newton-ted-weisberg.cnn

  166. Glenn Stehle | May 23, 2016 at 10:44 am |

    Bernie Loses His Halo
    http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/05/bernie-sanders-loses-his-halo-213911

    If there’s one thing Sanders can’t stand, it’s a media distracted by food fights and ignoring matters of substance.

    Last August he challenged a reporter asking him about his differences with Clinton, saying, “[The] corporate media talks about all kinds of issues except the most important issues. OK? And time after time I’m being asked to criticize Hillary Clinton. That’s the sport that you guys like. The reason this campaign is doing well? Because we’re talking about the issues that impact the American people.

    Hillary’s problem is that she has to make the election about the food fights. If it becomes about “matters of substance,” she loses.

  167. Glenn Stehle | May 23, 2016 at 10:49 am |

    How corporate America bought Hillary Clinton for $21M
    http://nypost.com/2016/05/22/how-corporate-america-bought-hillary-clinton-for-21m/

    Mandatory financial disclosures released this month show that, in just the two years from April 2013 to March 2015, the former first lady, senator and secretary of state collected $21,667,000 in “speaking fees,” not to mention the cool $5 mil she corralled as an advance for her 2014 flop book, “Hard Choices.”

    Throw in the additional $26,630,000 her ex-president husband hoovered up in personal-appearance “honoraria,” and the nation can breathe a collective sigh of relief that the former first couple — who, according to Hillary, were “dead broke” when they left the White House in 2001 with some of the furniture in tow — can finally make ends meet.

  168. Glenn Stehle | May 23, 2016 at 10:59 am |

    Taking Trump seriously: His jump in polls against Hillary changes the media mindset
    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/05/20/taking-trump-seriously-his-jump-in-polls-against-hillary-changes-media-mindset.html

    Suddenly, abruptly, the press is viewing Donald Trump as a potential president.

    The business that gave him no chance of winning the nomination, which remained in denial for months as he dispatched his GOP rivals, which has been operated under the assumption that Hillary Clinton will clobber him, is starting to change its tune.

  169. Glenn Stehle | May 23, 2016 at 11:39 am |

    Probably nowhere is the difference between Democrat and Republican more stark than when it comes to the nexus of energy and environmental policy, and the Democratic Party’s perennial war on cheap and abundant energy for America.

    In the war on cheap and abundant energy for America, the Democratic Party is joined at the hip with the mainstream media. Perhaps that’s one of the reasons only Democrats trust the MSM, while independents and Republicans do not:

    Oil and World Power
    http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/oil-and-world-power

    The economic base of U.S. world power has been in steep decline.

    A country’s global power is always relative to that of others, and World Bank figures show that between 2000 and 2014, China’s share of the world’s total gross domestic product (GDP) nearly quadrupled; Russia’s share tripled; India’s share almost doubled, while the U.S. share decreased by 28 percent. America is still the world’s single most powerful state, but global leadership requires both hard and soft power — and the wealth on which power is largely based. If America’s current relative economic decline continues, its ability to influence the world will also continue to fall.

    Against this dark backdrop of economic weakening, energy — specifically oil and natural gas — has been a bright spot in recent years. Improvements in horizontal drilling, hydraulic fracturing (fracking), and advanced seismology have led to a surge in the U.S. output of natural gas and oil. This growth is a dramatic turn from what had been roughly thirty years of seemingly inexorable decline in oil production….

    [F]or U.S. tight oil, public policy is a major concern. Ever since the oil and gas surge got underway, new federal, state, and local mandates have been pelting down on the industry. The storm shows no signs of abating….

    Nationally, the environmental movement, which generally opposes fossil fuel production, heavily influences both the Democratic Party and the mainstream news media. Tight oil and gas producers have no reason to expect that the policy process will grow any friendlier to their interests.

  170. Glenn Stehle | May 23, 2016 at 11:46 am |

    Hillary Clinton Is the Jeb Bush of the Left
    http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/05/23/hillary-clinton-is-the-jeb-bush-of-the-left.html

    With so many people telling them for so long that they were so awesome, it should come as no surprise that Bush and Clinton share the same sunny view of the status quo.

  171. Glenn Stehle | May 23, 2016 at 11:56 am |

    LA Times: Vote for anyone but Trump in the California primary
    http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-republican-predicament-20160517-snap-story.html

    Even more disturbing…is the fact that this year that process has resulted in the survival not of the fittest candidate but of the least fit: a blowhard businessman with little knowledge about the way government works, a fondness for crackpot ideas (a wall on the Mexican border, a ban on Muslims entering the country), a penchant for petty feuds and a habit of demeaning women….

    Earlier this week, The Times endorsed Hillary Clinton in the California Democratic primary next month. But we obviously cannot endorse Trump in his primary; we can only urge California Republicans to cast a protest vote for some other candidate….

    Democrats are still choosing between two candidates with specific, policy-heavy pitches — Sanders and his promise of sweeping, even utopian change and Hillary Clinton with her more incremental agenda of building on President Obama’s legacy. Meanwhile, millions of Republicans have fallen under the spell of a snake-oil salesman. That’s an indictment of the Republican Party….

  172. Glenn Stehle | May 23, 2016 at 12:02 pm |

    Wheels come off the Dem machine
    http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wheels-come-off-the-dem-machine/article/2591858

    Democratic voters are mounting their own insurrection against the apparatus and appatchiks. It’s not unlike the one mounted by the Republican rank and file that has handed Donald Trump his final victory.

  174. Glenn Stehle | May 23, 2016 at 12:23 pm |

    Donald Trump closing in on Hillary Clinton’s national lead, with two new polls showing him surpassing or matching her voter support
    http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/donald-trump-beats-matches-hillary-clinton-new-polls-article-1.2645768

    Trump won with independents in both polls — with a staggering 13-point lead among them in the Washington Post/ABC survey.

  175. David Springer | May 23, 2016 at 3:24 pm |

    http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/2016_presidential_race.html

    Tiny Hands Trump takes the lead against Cr00ked Hillary.

  176. David Springer | May 23, 2016 at 3:25 pm |

    P.S.

    Go Bernie!

  177. David Springer | May 23, 2016 at 5:21 pm |

    Thanks Glen for not using a million graphics. I’ve been away from home for the past few days with no WIFI so have to connect my laptop through my cell phone to get connected. Speed isn’t a problem I can stream hi-def cable TV through my cell but it’s not unlimited bandwidth so if I exceed my monthly limit I have to pay more or quit using it.

  178. David Springer | May 23, 2016 at 5:41 pm |

    http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/article79165287.html

    “Hatred for Hillary Boils Down to Misogyny”

    Many of the people who hate Hillary loved Sarah Palin. Is there a word for hatred of women who ride brooms?

    This is why people who love Hillary are called libtards, They can’t recall the right’s love affair with Palin just a few years ago. For the rest of those who hate her it’s mostly because she abandoned the Benghazi ambassador and staff to die at the hands of our enemies, purposely committing multiple felonies to hide her state department emails on an unsecured bathroom server hidden in her home, and deleting mail from same in violation of even more laws, then the Obama justice department rumored to be uninterested in pressing any charges. Can’t wait to see the FBI investigation results made public. The democrats are in deep Bandini. Get used to President Trump and the destruction of both political parties.

  179. David Springer | May 23, 2016 at 5:43 pm |

    http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/article79165287.html

    “Hatred for Hillary Boils Down to Misogyny”

    Many of the people who hate Hillary loved Sarah Palin. Is there a word for hatred of women who ride brooms?

    This is why people who love Hillary are called libtards, They can’t recall the right’s love affair with Palin just a few years ago. For the rest of those who hate her it’s mostly because she abandoned the Benghazi ambassador and staff to die at the hands of our enemies, purposely committing multiple fel0nies to hide her state department emails on an unsecured bathroom server hidden in her home, and deleting mail from same in violation of even more laws, then the Obama justice department rumored to be uninterested in pressing any charges. Can’t wait to see the FBI investigation results made public. The democrats are in deep Bandini. Get used to President Trump and the destruction of both political parties.

  180. David Springer | May 23, 2016 at 5:47 pm |

    P.S. Go Bernie! I love the guy. Don’t want him in Texas or federal gov’t but I still love what he’s doing to Cr00ked Hillary’s evil ambition. She’s melting like the Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard of Oz.

    Hard to believe, isn’t it? I love it so!

  181. Glenn Stehle | May 24, 2016 at 9:19 am |

    Who’s really winning presidential race?
    http://edition.cnn.com/2016/05/23/opinions/sanders-clinton-trump-polls-kohn/index.html

    In June 2008, it wrote, “After winning one of the most competitive nomination battles in U.S. history, Barack Obama faces what looks to be an equally tough general election for the presidency.” Gallup’s polling had Obama and John McCain neck and neck, with McCain leading by a marginal point.

    In November 2008, Barack Obama was elected president, winning 52.9% of the popular vote to McCain’s 45.7%….

    [O]ne thing polls are often not — especially months out from an election — is correct.

    Decent human beings who love their country and humanity and fear for the disastrous consequences of a Donald Trump presidency are shaken up by a series of new polls that show Trump and Clinton neck and neck in a national matchup. A Washington Post-ABC poll shows Trump leading Clinton 46% to 44%. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll has Clinton leading Trump 46% to 43%. Both gaps are within the statistical margin of error, but still, the numbers are understandably disconcerting. That is, if you believe them….

    This is horse race season, so let’s use that analogy….

    So now, imagine there are just two horses left — one who opposes everything you and your ancestors have stood for in building this great nation, and one who maybe doesn’t share all your ideas and idealism but who you know would make an excellent leader on most of the issues you believe in…. You’re going to cheer on that second horse. We all will.

    • David Springer | May 24, 2016 at 10:55 am |

      This country was built by cock-sure workaholic industrious white men who tend to shoot first and ask questions later.

      Which candidate does that best describe?

  182. Glenn Stehle | May 24, 2016 at 9:26 am |

    Why all the Hillary haters?
    http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/article79165287.html

    In this year of political rage, one aspect that baffles me somewhat is the absolute, electrified, apoplectic, blurred-vision hatred of Hillary Clinton….

    I can only ascribe this Rage Against the Clinton Machine to misogyny.

  183. Glenn Stehle | May 24, 2016 at 9:40 am |

    Still panicked about Trump? Don’t be
    http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2016/05/23/still-panicked-about-trump-don/kJuFeFnQMMPwvAGvSXwHJO/story.html

    OK, take it easy. You have to remember that the election is still 5½ months away and you can’t read too much into polls in May. If you panic over every poll that shows the race tight between now and November, you’re going to make yourself crazy….

    First of all, we shouldn’t freak out over a single poll, especially one that stands in contrast to what other polls are telling us about the race….

    I would say that a few of the polls that show a close race seem to be using some problematic methodology — and it’s always important to look closely at poll internals before jumping to conclusions.

  184. Glenn Stehle | May 24, 2016 at 9:48 am |

    Why Trump Might Win
    http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2016/05/24/why_trump_might_win_130653.html

    Since he clinched the Republican nomination two weeks ago, Trump has been the object of even more unfavorable press than he was before – about his treatment of women, his propensity to lie, his bizarre policy proposals….

    But in my travels around the country I’ve found many who support him precisely because of the qualities he’s being criticized for having….

    Political analysts have underestimated Trump from the jump because they’ve been looking through the rear-view mirror of politics as it used to be….

    That most Americans don’t particularly like Trump is irrelevant. As one Midwesterner told me a few weeks ago, “He may be a jerk, but he’s our jerk.”

    By the same token, in this era of anti-politics, any candidate who appears to be the political establishment is at a strong disadvantage. This may be Hillary Clinton’s biggest handicap.

  185. Glenn Stehle | May 24, 2016 at 9:51 am |

    Trump has somehow gotten more vile: It’s no wonder women don’t like him, and his new Hillary attack ad won’t help
    http://www.salon.com/2016/05/24/trump_has_somehow_gotten_more_vile_its_no_wonder_women_dont_like_him_and_his_new_hillary_attack_ad_wont_help/

    Roughly 70 percent of women in the United States hate Donald Trump. The reasons are too innumerable to list here, but we can begin with his flagrantly sexist zinger about Megyn Kelly’s alleged menstrual issues.

  186. Glenn Stehle | May 24, 2016 at 9:58 am |

    This Is What the Future of American Politics Looks Like —
    This year, we’re seeing the end of a partisan realignment, and the beginning of a policy one — and U.S. politics is about to change big-time.
    http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/05/2016-election-realignment-partisan-political-party-policy-democrats-republicans-politics-213909#ixzz49a6Uh8KN

    Why is this all happening now? Because the decades-long “culture war” between religious conservatives and secular liberals is largely over….

    The outlines of the two-party system of the 2020s and 2030s are dimly visible.

    The Republicans will be a party of mostly working-class whites, based in the South and West and suburbs and exurbs everywhere….

    The Democrats of the next generation will be even more of an alliance of upscale, progressive whites with blacks and Latinos, based in large and diverse cities.

    • David Springer | May 24, 2016 at 10:40 am |

      “The Democrats of the next generation will be even more of an alliance of upscale, progressive whites with blacks and Latinos, based in large and diverse cities.”

      Makes sense. The latter preying upon the guilt of the guilt of the former. Kind of a sick interdependency there, no?

  187. David Springer | May 24, 2016 at 10:45 am |

    Havana Hillary

    You heard it here first.

  188. Glenn Stehle | May 24, 2016 at 2:12 pm |

    Donald Trump is going to win: This is why Hillary Clinton can’t defeat what Trump represents.

    People are rising up against neoliberal globalization. Trump represents capital, but also understands this reality
    http://www.salon.com/2016/05/23/donald_trump_is_going_to_win_this_is_why_hillary_clinton_cant_defeat_what_trump_represents/

    Trump is a businessman, while Mitt Romney was a businessman too, yet I predict victory for the former while the latter obviously lost miserably. What is the difference? While Trump “builds” things (literal buildings), in places like Manhattan and Atlantic City, places one can recognize and identify with, and while Trump’s entire life has been orchestrated around building luxury and ostentatiousness, again things one can tangibly grasp and hold on to (the Trump steaks!), Romney is the personification of a placeless corporation, making his quarter billion dollars from consulting, i.e., representing economic abstraction at its purest, serving as a high priest of the transnational capitalist class….

    In the present election, Hillary Clinton represents precisely the same disembodiedness as Romney….

    Everything about Clinton—and this becomes all the more marked when she takes on the (false) mantle of speaking for the underclass, with whom she bears no mental or physical resemblance—reeks of the easy mobility of the global rentier class. Their efficacy cannot be accounted for, not through the kind of democratic process that is unfolding before our eyes as a remnant of the American founding imagination, her whole sphere of movement is pure abstraction.

    In this election, abstraction will clearly lose, and corporeality, even if—or particularly if—gross and vulgar and rising from the repressed, will undoubtedly win….

    I expect Trump to take a national lead shortly and never relinquish it until the end…. He only has to use one distinctively non-misogynist, concretely unifying, morose five-letter word in the debates: NAFTA. A pure market abstraction that has turned out to be not so much an abstraction.

  189. Glenn Stehle | May 24, 2016 at 2:27 pm |

    Hillary Clinton’s Energy Initiative Pressed Countries to Embrace Fracking, New Emails Reveal
    https://theintercept.com/2016/05/23/hillary-clinton-fracking/

    BACK IN APRIL, just before the New York primary, Hillary Clinton’s campaign aired a commercial on upstate television stations touting her work as secretary of state forcing “China, India, some of the world’s worst polluters” to make “real change.” She promised to “stand firm with New Yorkers opposing fracking, giving communities the right to say ‘no.’”

    The television spot, which was not announced and does not appear on the official campaign YouTube page with most of Clinton’s other ads, implied a history of opposition to fracking, here and abroad. But emails obtained by The Intercept from the Department of State reveal new details of behind-the-scenes efforts by Clinton and her close aides to export American-style hydraulic fracturing — the horizontal drilling technique best known as fracking — to countries all over the world.

    Far from challenging fossil fuel companies, the emails obtained by The Intercept show that State Department officials worked closely with private sector oil and gas companies, pressed other agencies within the Obama administration to commit federal government resources including technical assistance for locating shale reserves, and distributed agreements with partner nations pledging to help secure investments for new fracking projects….

    In 2014, Mother Jones reporter Mariah Blake used diplomatic cables disclosed by WikiLeaks and other records to uncover how Clinton “sold fracking to the world.” The emails obtained by The Intercept through a separate Freedom of Information Act request provide a new layer of detail….

    The Global Shale Gas Initiative, Clinton’s program for promoting fracking, was announced on April 7, 2010, by David Goldwyn, the State Department’s special envoy for energy affairs, at the United States Energy Association (USEA), whose members include Chevron, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, and Shell….

    Despite Goldwyn’s recent assertion that the fracking campaign was a modest effort, the emails show what Goldwyn referred to as a “whole of government” approach that included deploying assistance from a range of agencies. At least 13 different government agencies were part of the effort….

    The Global Shale Gas Initiative eventually became enveloped in the broader and still-existing Bureau of Energy Resources, a special wing within the Department of State devoted to the geopolitics of energy. “You can’t talk about our economy or foreign policy without talking about energy,” Clinton said, announcing the new bureau in 2011….

    The State Department’s shale gas initiative “was clearly driven by the promotion of Big Oil’s expansion,” Charlie Cray, senior researcher at Greenpeace USA, told The Intercept. “That it was one of State’s highest priorities undermines their credibility as leaders in the global effort to prevent the calamitous threats of climate change.”

  191. Glenn Stehle | May 24, 2016 at 2:36 pm |

    The Real Reason Neocons Are So Upset About Donald Trump.

    The armchair warriors seem to be realizing that they could be frozen out of the corridors of power for the next four years.
    http://www.thenation.com/article/the-real-reason-neocons-are-so-upset-about-donald-trump/

    The past year has been a difficult one for the leaders of the neocon right… And now, with Trump about to be crowned king of the Republican castle in Cleveland, the neocons are experiencing something of an existential meltdown over the prospect of a future Trump administration.

    Last week, a Politico piece surveyed the broken hearts among the neocon elite, in which they were described as being marooned on “The Lonely Island of Never Trump.” Just how lonely is that island, however, is open to question. If Politico is to be believed, nearly the entire GOP foreign-policy establishment is ready to bolt and join Team Hillary.

    And some already have….

    Are we really supposed to rue the possibility that the armchair warriors who’ve done the yeoman’s work of constructing an intellectual framework for endless foreign interventions and an overweening surveillance state might be excluded from the next administration?

  193. Glenn Stehle | May 24, 2016 at 2:54 pm |

    On a College Campus? Don’t Try to Tell a Joke
    http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/05/23/on-a-college-campus-don-t-try-to-tell-a-joke.html

    Tell a joke, and you might make someone laugh. But tell a joke on a college campus, and you might make someone report you to the administration’s Bias Response Team (BRT)—an Orwellian bureau that investigates students and faculty members for saying the wrong thing.

    The wrong thing could be any remark, gesture, joke, or jape that offends anyone for virtually any reason. If the university’s spies are listening, you could be ratted out to a panel of administrators who keep files on alleged perpetrators, suggest ways for offenders to be more politically correct, and even submit their names to disciplinary committees….

    And while some students doubtlessly say some awful things that merit an administrative response, others seem like clear victims of an ideologically motivated campaign of silencing. A campus where students live in constant fear of becoming the subjects of formal complaints—where everyone is encouraged to collect information on each other and turn it over to the authorities—is not a healthy community. It’s 1984.

  194. Glenn Stehle | May 25, 2016 at 1:32 pm |

    Protest Outside Trump Rally in New Mexico Turns Violent
    http://gawker.com/protest-outside-trump-rally-in-new-mexico-turns-violent-1778568147

    The scene outside a Trump rally in Albuquerque descended into chaos Tuesday night, with reports of protesters throwing bottles and rocks at police and officers firing smoke bombs to disperse the crowd.

    Authorities dismissed early reports of shots being fired, but speculated that a pellet gun have shattered a window at the Albuquerque Convention Center. Police similarly refuted accounts of tear gas and pepper spray being used, saying only smoke had been deployed so far.

  195. Glenn Stehle | May 25, 2016 at 1:38 pm |

    Trump protesters smash door, break through barriers
    http://edition.cnn.com/2016/05/24/politics/donald-trump-albuquerque-protesters-police/index.html#

    Protesters lit fires, smashed a door and threw rocks outside a Donald Trump rally Tuesday night in New Mexico — the latest scuffle to follow the presumptive Republican nominee’s campaign.

    The scene outside Albuquerque’s convention center was chaotic as police ushered protesters away from Trump’s event and into the nearby streets.
    There, anti-Trump protesters — many critical of his positions on immigration — loudly chanted, “F— Donald Trump.”
    The protesters had broken a glass door to the convention center. Some taunted police and jumped on police vehicles as officers in riot gear and on police horses moved them away from the convention center’s exits.

  196. Glenn Stehle | May 25, 2016 at 1:44 pm |

    Unstereotyped: Why this black pastor supports Donald Trump
    http://money.cnn.com/2016/05/25/news/economy/unstereotyped-black-donald-trump/index.html

    Very good video on the history of racism in both parties.

  197. Glenn Stehle | May 25, 2016 at 2:31 pm |

    Trump on the defense over Clinton’s housing market digs
    http://edition.cnn.com/2016/05/24/politics/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-housing/index.html

    This is a really strange debate, given that:

    1) It was Clinton and the Rubinite wing of the Democratic Party that, working hand-in-glove with the Republicans, ushered through the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act to repeal the Glass–Steagall Act of 1932.

    Clinton signed Gramm-Leach-Billey into law in 1999. Many consider it to the the #1 cause of the credit bubble that, when it burst, caused the Great Financial Crisis and the housing bust which began in 2007.

    2) Trump was clairvoyant enough to see the bursting of the credit and housing bubble coming, at the same time the Republicrat establishment and its mouthpiece, the Federal Reserve, were asleep at the wheel:

    The truth is that the incompetence that Bernanke has displayed over the past few years makes the Cincinnati Bengals look like a model of excellence.

    Bernanke kept insisting that the housing market was stable even while it was falling apart, he had absolutely no idea the financial crisis was coming, he declared that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were in no danger of failing just before they failed, his policies have created asset bubble after asset bubble and the world financial system is now inherently unstable.

    But even with such horrific job performance, Barack Obama and leaders of both political parties continue to publicly praise Bernanke at every opportunity. What in the world is going on here?

    http://www.businessinsider.com/bernanke-quotes-2010-12

    There are many more outrageous quotes from Bernanke in the linked article, but here is a sampling of the most germane to the housing bust: