Putin is giving aid and comfort to Trump. Today we found out why.

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The big news today is that Trump explicitly urged Russia to hack Hillary Clinton’s e-mail — i.e., to commit an act of espionage and cyberwar against the former Secretary of State and the current nominee for one of America’s major political parties.  It goes without saying that this is shocking, unprecedented, and beyond the pale.
But it’s not inexplicable.  Trump’s coziness with Russia in general and Putin in particular has become a feature of this campaign.  We know that his campaign manager, Manafort, has disturbingly close ties to Russian interests.  We know that Trump never fails to praise Putin, an autocrat, at every given turn.  And we know that Russia reciprocates the love.  There is a growing consensus in the intelligence community that Russia was behind the DNC hack, which shows that Russia and Putin believe that a Trump victory is in their best interests.
All of the above has been discussed at length in the media in recent days.  One question that has gotten less attention is why.  Why does Putin want Trump to win so badly?  What is it about Trump that is so appealing to the Kremlin?
Trump answered that today.  This aspect of his disastrous press conference has gotten less attention than his call for a foreign power to spy on his political adversaries, but it explains why he has Putin’s support:

Donald Trump said Wednesday that, if he is elected president, he would consider recognizing Crimea as Russian territory and lifting the sanctions against Russia.
At a wide-ranging news conference, Trump said he “would be looking into that” when asked about his stance on Crimea and Russia. The Crimean Peninsula has been part of Ukraine for decades, but Russian President Vladimir Putin annexed the territory in March 2014 after a popular revolt toppled Kiev's pro-Russian government.

www.politico.com/…

This is jaw dropping.  The annexation of Crimea violated international law and sparked a prolonged and bloody conflict in the Ukraine.  It was an unacceptable act of aggression that has no place in a post-WWII world.  But here Trump is, ready to “look into” giving it his official stamp of approval.

We knew Putin wanted Trump to win.  Now we know why.  Trump will not only turn a blind eye towards Russian aggression in Eastern Europe.  He will excuse, allow, and enable it.

The stakes of this election are unfathomable.  Trump must be stopped at all costs. 

Update:   Timaeus makes a great point.  Trump has been bleating for months that he’s interested in reducing American support to NATO.  What he said today is simply a more explicit version of what he’s been saying along.  Trump is just fine letting our European allies fend for themselves.

Expensive Shoes--Russia's hacking of Democratic emails and Donald Trump

Trump thinks he is oh so smart but I think he really is rather stupid no matter how much money he has made stiffing those gullible enough to fall for his Trump University and Trump Institute schemes.  Stiffing the middle class from money they rightfully earned building Trump edifices is not only stupid but unethical.  This unethical Cretan decides to run for the presidency and thinks his life will not be opened like a Pandora's Box.  Despite a less than inquisitive press and a press which loves making money when Trump dribbles some drool from his uncensored mouth, things do manage to be revealed. Either Trump has an incurable mental illness having its origins in a black hole of self aggrandizement, perhaps even a massive inferiority complex disguised as superiority or that dementia may be setting in sooner than one might think.
Trump is in trouble.  Why do I say this?  Answer: Taxes.  Trump refuses to reveal his taxes thinking that saying they are being audited is an excuse most will not challenge.  In fact, however, auditing matters not.  He still could revel his taxes to an American public from whom he wants the most  consequential job on the planet.  Why will he not reveal his taxes when all modern candidates for the presidency have done so?

Trump is really, in the final analysis, a dope for overtly and verbally challenging Russia's Putin to hack into Democratic email. He has advised a foreign power -- an enemy --  to influence the results of an American election.  He cannot walk these egregious statements back although he has tried.  If this not be treason it is damn close.  He has given the Democrats now a gift that will keep on giving much like Nixon's Watergate did.  One can only imagine if it were Hillary Clinton who said what Trump did to Putin against Republicans she would be skewered as she has been for infinitely less. 

The issue of Trump's tax returns, of course, has to do with his fear of what the electorate may find out. We could find out he paid NO income taxes; we could find out he lied on his submissions BUT more importantly we could find out how much money he is borrowing in loans from Russia if any. Follow the money the old Watergate adage tell us. See links below.

If Russia loans Trump money because no one will loan him it here as he has a habit of not paying it back or declaring bankruptcy what will that mean? Maybe Russia even forgives a debt then what would Putin possibly want from a Trump presidency for that act of kindness? Try on the Baltic states and Eastern Europe for size. Putin wants to get back for his nation the empire it lost after the cold war. The Russian people would place him on a historical pedestal for life. He knows he could possibly get that from a Trump presidency because Trump says NATO can be abandoned if those nations do not pay their "fair share" and we also know Putin would be happy to fill the vacuum of power the abandonment of NATO would mean. Eastern Europe should tremble at a Trump presidency.  Trump has committed a near treasonous if not wholly treasonous act suggesting Putin, a foreign enemy power, hack into Democratic emails and skew an American election toward Trump and he waxes effusive in his warm feelings for the autocrat as well.

Trump is SO stupid that he just gave the Democratic Party a gift. This issue will not die.  His actions and his financial ties to Russia are now subject to investigation. Just what could Trump get from Putin?  This begs investigation and the American electorate should demand nothing less than the submission of Trump's tax returns for public scrutiny.  I would not want to be in Donald Trump's shoes as he steps into a black hole he has dug for himself no matter how expensive his shoes are.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/inside-trumps-financial-ties-to-russia-and-his-unusual-flattery-of-vladimir-putin/2016/06/17/dbdcaac8-31a6-11e6-8ff7-7b6c1998b7a0_story.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/07/27/the-trump-russia-money-question-in-24-steps/#comments

The DNC Convention--Morning in America again

A few thoughts: The DNC Convention was one of the GREATEST political events I have ever witnessed in my entire watching-of-political-conventions life. IT WAS FLAWLESS AND WONDERFUL beyond measure! It was like watching the perfection of a Fred Astaire/Ginger Rodgers dance -- well choreographed, so moving, and so beautiful. It was humanitarian principled like a Steinbeck novel and I cried though a lot of it.

I love the Democratic Party and I love Hillary Clinton. I look forward to the debates of Clinton v. Trump. Did you ever see a professional football team play the Pop Warner League youth football? Of course, not. Neither, thankfully, have I. I suspect it would be like a fight between Mike Tyson and me. One could only imagine what the gruesome result would be. I would NOT want to be in Drumpf's shoes when he debates Hillary Clinton. It will be, for Democrats, I hope, a fun spectator sport where the intellectually uber qualified Goliath beats the pitifully mentally and academically unqualified Trump.

There were no bases left untouched. The speakers -- ALL of them -- were not only perfect but heart warming and moving. From Michelle Obama, Michael Bloomberg, the Reverend William Barber, all the victims of violence, the 9/11 people that Senator Hillary Clinton helped, the disabled, the Republicans for Hillary, the Military for Hillary, the police for Hillary to Tim Kaine, Vice President Biden, President Barack Obama and finally the star -- Hillary Rodham Clinton herself. I have missed naming many more stars as time does not permit. All were stunning in their excellence. If one watched it throughout the week and last evening or will be watching reruns this weekend you have seen or will be seeing the perfection of, hopefully, the first woman President of the United States.

Welcome to the White House, soon-to-be Madam President. Forty years of political presidential practice is a long time to wait. There is no one on earth who deserves the presidency more or is more qualified than she to win it.

For me, at this moment, it's morning in America again.

GET OUT THE VOTE AROUND THE NATION FOR HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON AND FOR DEMOCRATS DOWN TICKET TO GIVE HER THE ABILITY TO RECTIFY THE MANY PROBLEMS OUR NATION NEEDS SOLVED.

LAST NIGHT

A quick note as I have no time to write more, however, if you did not see the DNC last night you must see a replay of it by any means necessary!

The president's speech was nothing short of MAGNIFICENT as he made the case for Hillary and against the loathsome Trump and more. (Trump stood on the edge of treason with his Putin statements yesterday but that's another story.) The president spoke great oratory in the mode of FDR, Teddy Roosevelt and Lincoln. I heard it all but It went on so late I could not listen to all of the MSNBC commentary of Rachel, Larry O'Donnell, Steve Schmidt, Joy Reed and others (who were wonderful.) Even Schmidt the conservative commentator was overwhelmed the speech was that good.

Moreover, if you get a chance to hear the two others before the president, Michael Bloomberg the former mayor of New York who spoke in support of and why Hillary do see it. And Leon Panetta the former CIA head too gave a wonderful speech making the case for Hillary and against Trump. It was a little marred by a few rude anti-war protestors in the back. These people who do that are insane, rude and UNNECESSARY. We are in the company of allies! Enough criticism, that was minimal compared to the rest.

GREATEST broadcasting event I have ever heard and seen in my life. There is a surprise at the end which I won't spoil if you have not seen it. How Hillary is going to exceed that tonight I do not know. She will do the best she can as no one has the oratory skills of the president. I LOVE the president more than I can say. I wish he were in four more years!!! If I am blessed with nothing else in life I am blessed experiencing that age of Obama! There will never be another one like it.

A PLACE CALLED HOPE

I came from a staunch Republican father. I sported Nixon/Agnew stickers on my 1960 school binder and I was, then as a 12 year old, disappointed when our guy Nixon lost. Yes, now as the cigarette told me then, I've come a long way baby. My politics was transformed by the late 1960's. Soon my father and I would have political Ali/Frazier angry confrontations as I was sure I was on the side of the angels. Guess what? I was. Government, as FDR decades before me showed, had a place at the table of survival and still does helping those who cannot help themselves. Government can work as it worked for me, a polio survivor. It helped me with rides to school before even the American With Disabilities Act was reality. It helped me with other things my small business family could not afford. I am forever grateful. It cemented my philosophy that we must all be in this together or face the vicissitudes of life alone.

I love the Democratic Party, I love everything for which it stands, I love the myriad of skin colors and variety of human beings of all types it reflects. It tells me that this is the nation I thought it was rather than looking at a Republican opposition drowning in a sea of white. Because our demographics are changing it will reflect that change when Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Democratic first-woman presidential nominee, wins the White House. She will, in November, kick her odious, malodorous and mendacious Republican opposition, Trump, to the curb on his way to the ash bin of history to reside with the other ugly merchants of hate in our nation.

The Democratic National Convention was fabulous despite its division or maybe even because of it. I loved it and could not stop watching. I loved the speakers -- all of them -- including former president Clinton. I loved the testimonies and the killer damage blows to the body of Trump. If you did not think him noxious before you watched the convention you must now. Testimony by a 9/11 survivor with 82% of her body burned whom Hillary visited and never forgot as she never forgot a seven year old now an adult afflicted with severe dwarfism deformity. She has a special place in her heart for the disabled, a far cry from Trump who mocks the disabled as he mocked Senator McCain's military capture. Shame on Trump!
 
New York Senator Hillary Clinton came though for the 9/11 survivors and their families to help with their long-term survival. Almost worse than all of Trump's faux business ventures was the devastating story of the 9/11 first responder who told of Trump's naked greed. He asked where was Trump on 9/11? He was making up dastardly lies of Muslims cheering as the towers fell and of Trump taking money ear-marked for 9/11 small business reconstruction. Trump took funds he never should have ethically received; funds that should have gone to the little guy trying to recoup his small business after the devastating 9/11 ruination of it. Trump did not need the money but took it anyway because he could and because that is who Trump is.

Along with Trump fraud University and Trump fake Institute comes a story through conservative columnist George Will which speculates that Trump's refusal to release his tax returns may be linked to business ties with Russia and a possible connection to Russia hacking of the DNC email. We cannot know if this is true because we cannot see the evidence for it as Trump will not release his tax returns. Does Trump have business ties to Putin? We do not know but would surely like to. Trump is about one thing -- Trump. His children are window dressing glitter on his suit. Trump is unfit for the office of President. Hillary Clinton is infinitely more experienced and more qualified than he. One must simply look at how much experience she has gleaned over decades for its proof and one will know Trump must be roundly defeated in November.

One of President William Jefferson Clinton's most famous remarks is "I still believe in a place called Hope." Now his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, poised to become the next and first female president of the United States is saying the same thing.

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ TO RESIGN! Kudos to Secretary Clinton, the president and the DNC.

I do NOT have delusions of grandeur. This a.m., though, I put my money where my mouth is and called the Hillary campaign expressing vociferously my anger at the email someone at the DNC sent to try to make hay out of Bernie's religion or lack of it to try to win the primaries in W. VA and Kentucky. I do not let things go that I think are important and this leaked email trying to find out about Bernie's religion or lack of it to get W. VA or Kentucky for Hillary in the primaries made me see RED. I was furious. Maybe someone heard.

It played into just what the Bernie people were saying that the game was rigged in favor of Clinton. It should NEVER EVER EVER have been written by anyone connected with the DNC. If you are vying for high office hackers in our age pose a risk and will nail you on it if they get the chance. You NEVER EVER if you are running especially for high office send an email you would not want seen on the front page of a newspaper.

KUDOS to Secretary Clinton and to the president if Wasserman Schultz resigns. The bull was immediately taken by the horns and SWIFTLY taken down. NOTHING but NOTHING can give Trump even one smidgen more of a possibility that he will win in November!! Tip of the hat to the Dems if in fact Schultz resigns!

Daily Kos does it again. They won me with this article!

VERY convincing Article in the Daily Kos! I was going to protest to Hillary a bit because of Kaine's deregulation bank leanings. Now I'm not. I get it. Read the article above to get it too!  Trump off the tracks train MUST be stopped!!

http://www.dailykos.com/…/-Kaine-Is-Not-Safe-Pick-Hillary-I…

Kaine Is Not "Safe" Pick - Hillary Is Going For A Rout

The auto-correct on every article/post/tweet on the choice by Next President Hillary Clinton of Senator Tim Kaine to be her Veep has been “safe choice who will work well with her”… BALDERDASH !! (said with a “harrumph”) Sen. Kaine was…

New Republic: Ignore the Polls. Trump’s Campaign Is a Hot Mess, and That’s All That Matters.

Here or below

https://newrepublic.com/article/135114/ignore-polls-trumps-campaign-hot-mess-thats-matters

Donald Trump is a Sociopath--Article New Yorker Magazine by Jane Mayer

Read and Heed the "New Yorker Magazine" article by respected author Jane Mayer


http://www.ibtimes.com/donald-trump-sociopath-art-deal-book-ghostwriter-says-new-yorker-feature-2392338

An EXPLOSIVE interview about the ghost writer of the Art of the Deal Tony Schwartzl!!! Chilling

Interview with Rachel Maddow about Jane Mayer's article in the "New Yorker Magazine" I would love to get that article. You're jaw will drop.    OMG!!!

http://www.msnbc.com/…/art-of-the-deal-ghostwriter-speaks-o…

'Art of the Deal' ghostwriter speaks out

Tony Schwartz, the ghostwriter for Donald Trump's book

msnbc.com

A first and last time kudo -- the Republican Party in Chaos!

I, no surprise, ABSOLUTELY LOATHE MOST EVERY CANDIDATE in the Republicon Party with the exception MAYBE of John Kasich and even he I find little about which to support. I will say one thing about him, though, he stayed away from the Asylum Party's unconventional convention ... so far. Kudos at least for that.

I, NEVER support anything Ted Cruz says, does or about which he is BUT this one time I will say the man had the courage of his convictions, in his address to the convention, to NOT support Trump! I applaud him for that.

Good for you, Ted Cruz, after what that orange faced hairless nincompoop gorilla (apologies to gorillas) along with all of Trump's frauds, lies, cruelty and psycho pathology, adding the terrible insulting things he said about you, your wife, as well as having the temerity to say your father was involved with Lee Harvey Oswald in the assassination of JFK, I congratulate you for upholding at least their honor by not endorsing the most DESPICABLE candidate, a dangerous candidate and a worse man that ever existed on the US historical landscape.

The fact that Cruz had the fortitude to stand up to this little man Trump, a man of NO ethical worth, a man of fraud, tax evasion and Machiavellian cruelty makes me think Cruz may be a smidgen better than that which I always thought he was. So, Ted Cruz, kudos are in order. Cruz did the right thing by not being a lap dog for the worst most embarrassing candidate for the presidency in the history of this nation, Donald J. Trump.

May Trump lose an embarrassing and utterly CRUSHING loss landslide I suspect (or at least HOPE) he now will to the MOST qualified and unfairly (to say the least) maligned candidate in US history, Hillary Rodham Clinton and may the Republicon Party of racist and misogynist white supremacy be ultimately relegated to the ash heap of history.

TAKE NOTHING FOR GRANTED -- ON TO PHILADELPHIA NEXT WEEK AND LET'S WIN IT FOR THE DEMOCRAT HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON!!

For those of you who have

Netflix I recommend a WONDERFUL documentary entitled "Citizen Koch."  Yes, it is the same film the Koch Brothers allegedly were successful in squashing when PBS, once a great public education network but now Koch Brothers and their minions controlled, did NOT want to air it.  PBS caved and never did show the film BUT Netflix is carrying it. 

If you want to know just how big the corporatist agenda is and how they hoodwinked middle and working class white America watch this film.  The majority of the tea baggers that are screaming in the insanity to elect Donald Trump have fallen for the effort of the 1%.  Why?  I have my opinions. 

After the election of Barack Obama, the first black president, the Republican Party in their voracious zeal for wealth and power co-opted these millions of middle and working class white voters into supporting them because they knew those voters could not stand our first black president.  Yes, in my opinion, it is all about race and the desire, by any means necessary, to deny the person of color power by super paks financing elections to elect Republicans, gerrymandering districts to ensure Republicans are elected, controlling state legislatures, cutting voting areas in Democratically minority districts, cutting the times and days one can vote, requiring Voter IDs thereby denying minorities the RIGHT to vote by making it harder TO vote for mainly persons of color and Democrats. 

Moreover, Governor Scott Walker's cutting of public unions through Right to Work legislation eviscerated the Democratic vote further.  He gave tax cuts to the wealthy, cut jobs and pensions from public workers and drove the state into debt.  His Right to Work affinity is in truth the right of state workers to be unemployed!  So called "right to work" is camouflage for anti Union.  Unions protect the rights of workers, their salaries and benefits through collective bargaining.  It is an old story and one with historical legs.

Republican goals now are to scathingly and vituperatively demonize Hillary Clinton so that the keys to the Supreme Court kingdom will be handed to a court FILLED with those of a right wing ideological bent of the deceased Anton Scalia, and NOT in the interests of the middle class, the working classes and the poor.  It will be slanted rightwing extremist for generations.  And there are the social issues too.

If you have Netflix or can find this documentary film in other venues watch it and see how the Koch Brothers, their supporters and political operatives control the reins of power by manipulating those who either do not know any better or who are dedicated to the elimination of all minority influence thereby usurping power.  Do NOT be deceived.  The 1% wealthiest like Donald Trump are NOT in  any way about any of us!

GET OUT THE TRUTH AND THE VOTE FOR HILLARY CLINTON!

State Department Declares FBI Director Was WRONG About Clinton’s Emails, They Were NOT Marked

Again, just how rancid can the GOP be and just how destructive and erroneous was Comey's assessment of Hillary Clinton? If I were Hillary I would ask for a public hearing with both Comey and her in attendance. Get the truth out and restore Hillary Clinton's name to its rightful truthful place of honor. Or better still she should sue the bastards!


http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/7/19/1549705/-State-Department-Declares-FBI-Director-Was-WRONG-About-Clinton-s-Emails-They-Were-NOT-Marked

Melania's Plagiarized Speech

Why should Melania's plagiarism surprise us? I am sure Trump had control over every word she spoke and lifted those parts from Michelle's Obama's DNC speech without Melania's knowledge -- just a hunch. That would be no surprise, indeed. In fact, Trump lifted paragraphs of the book on his Trump Institute alleged corporate fraud business venture from "Real Estate Mastery System" published by Success Magazine linked here from which he bilked millions of bucks from unsuspecting eyes of those who would read about his "course" and sign up. Moreover, I will not go into the infamous detail of Trump University now under investigation for fraud by the New York Attorney General's office. Google it and read about that.

The nearly entire first night of the the Republican National Convention was FILLED with discord, spectacle and lies. Fact check every single speaker ESPECIALLY the famous like the histrionic explosive Rudy Giuliani and even those not famous who tragically suffered loss of their loved ones in Benghazi like Pat Smith. Her speech eviscerated Hillary unjustifiably. As much as I sympathize with Pat Smith's heartache it does NOT give her the right to tell untruths about Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton was NOT I repeat NOT responsible for her son's death. How much will these appellations of "Crooked Hillary" that are FALSE stick in the minds of those who question nothing? We are talking about the American presidency and the nominee of one major Party, a man who will control all the weapons of annihilation. I suggest one question everything spewed from the filled-with-mendacity speakers at the Republican Convention who utter at best half truths at worst downright lies of nearly all they say especially about Hillary Clinton and the president. Question the content of all those who will speak in the days to come.

The Republican Legislative Committee for the Investigation of Benghazi did multiple investigations of Secretary Clinton on Benghazi and found NOTHING on which to indict her. As much as we sympathize with Pat Smith's loss of her son it cannot be a justification to erroneously place the blame on an individual who was not at fault for her son's death simply because one cannot accept his fate fighting in a violent nation at secular war as the cause of his death.

In addition, I also link below the story of Melania's plagiarized speech from Huffington Post. Read it and know. Then pass this on to whomever you want. Get the word out that the Republican National Convention speakers fill their verbiage with half baked truths and lies especially about Hillary Clinton and the president! I list one Fact Check example below along with another link about Melania Trump's plagiarism.

The spectacle after Melania's introduction of Trump of his emerging from the mist of white clouds like who? God? This was preposterously staged theater of what should be thought a serious event by the nominee. If a Democrat did that they would be pilloried.

And one more thing illuminated by a blogger: "Jail time for Hillary Clinton?" How about the entire Bush Administration for starting the Iraqi War under the false pretense of WMD that were never found. How many investigations were conducted and how many lives were lost? Feb 2003 I was at Ft Lewis Washington training to go to Iraq." I rest, for now, my case.

Fact-Checking the First Night of the Republican National Convention

by Mark Murray , Alexandra Jaffe, Carrie Dann and Jane C. Timm

CLAIM (Rudy Giuliani): "Hillary Clinton's answer to Congress about the death of these four brave Americans [in Benghazi] because of her failures as Secretary of State was 'what difference at this point does it make?' Watch the video for yourself and see the arrogant disregard for American lives lost unnecessarily. Make up your own mind."

THE FACTS: According to the video of Clinton's congressional testimony, Clinton's "what difference at this point does it make" was over whether the violence in Benghazi was inspired by anti-Islam video or not. "With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead Americans. Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided that they'd they go kill some Americans? What difference at this point does it make? It is our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again, senator."

To quote a relative: "The majority of November voters are going to see this fiasco for what it is: a cheap, name-calling, undemocratic melodrama, tawdry and sullied as is the clown with the "Big Brain" that orchestrated it. I am encouraged that the GOP is giving us a huge boost. And unless there is some horrific violence that will get Trump the sympathy vote for a short while, I predict there will be no bump from this charade."


http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/fact-checking-first-night-republican-national-convention-n612081

Plagiarized Melania speech.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/melania-trump-speech-plagiarized_us_578da752e4b0a0ae97c33675

Fiddler on the Roof

Some black nationalists and mostly white Republicans, of course, are blaming our current social discord on President Obama and, naturally, his ally and Democratic presumptive presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton. I think the blamers insulting and wrong.
 
Obama tried to legislate with an obstructionist Republican majority Congress in both Houses. He is NOT a monarch. He needed the acquiescence of our first Constitutional branch, the Legislature. It is not that he did not want to pass, for example, the Dream Act. HE DID but could not get it passed so he resorted to Executive Orders and did the best he could. He saved SCOTUS which if Trump is elected will wax conservative for generations eradicating progress in race relations achieved over centuries. Obama took insult after insult he did not deserve. He did, I WHOLLY believe, NOT mean this discord to be so. In response to the Dallas and Baton Rouge killings of police Obama was at his finest. His addresses to the nation after these ugly tragedies were magnificently and eloquently written into history among the presidential best.

In my opinion, the one thing the president did in error that brought him an utterly disloyal obstructionist Republican Congressional majority is he did not sell his Affordable Care Act well enough. Republicans poisoned the well and then in 2010/2012 took back the Congress. The Financial collapse, the rescuing of the big banks and CEO’s handing themselves bonuses while the middle class died created anger and resentment that, in truth, belonged in Republican laps as the collapse did not happen on Obama’s watch. I will not countenance eviscerating this president without objection because he saved the nation against incredible odds!

We now, it seems, know the hater and killer of the Baton Rouge police had a Sovereign Citizen government loathing philosophy but, in fact, rare for that usually white right wing extremist group, he was a person of color. Trump will and is indicting both Obama and Hillary as responsible for the discord that hovers over our nation like a shroud. Again, Trump and his minions lie, lie, and lie some more trying to appeal to the lesser angels of our nation’s nature. The president has tried to unite. His voice of unification is magnificent.

The words that initially brought him into the national vision were unforgettable. He said at the 2004 Democratic convention in Obamian cadence: "This is not a white America. This is not a black America. This is the UNITED STATES of America!" Obama is the uniter-in-chief. I do not know what these Republican merchants of hate want from this man or, for that matter, Hillary but I HOPE their mendacity will not be a poison pill swallowed by the nation. Trump, if elected, will be the DIVIDER in chief.

I believe President Obama has been one of our greatest presidents who was placed in untenable situations not of his making. Despite this, he saved our nation from total collapse, rescued the auto industry, reduced unemployment, improved the economy and tried to end the war in Iraq. If he did not perfect his entire agenda successfully, as the psychiatrist, Robin Williams, said to Matt Damon, his patient for suppressed hauntings of an abusive father in the film Good Will Hunting, it was “NOT your [his] fault.”

Our nation stands by a single thread – the consent of the governed – but it is NOT an indestructible tie. Our democracy, imperfect but free, stands like the proverbial fiddler on the roof balancing his safety while playing a fiddle on top of a slanted roof. He risks his life if a wind blows, his balance compromised, and he falls. This is a metaphor for our nation in our time. If the precarious balance of this huge nation is destroyed by the true forces of division, perhaps then, we will realize just how much we have lost. 

REDUNDANTLY I KNOW: GET OUT TO VOTE DEMOCRATIC UP AND DOWN TICKET.  TELL YOUR FRIENDS TO DO THE SAME.  YOU MAY SEND THIS OPINION TO ANYONE YOU CHOOSE!

Mike Pence doesn’t believe smoking causes deaths?

FROM HILLARY CLINTON

Trump’s new running mate, Mike Pence, has an atrocious record of anti-woman, homophobic, extreme conservative governance.

He also has some absolutely absurd ideas that make him a natural partner for the Trump ticket. To wit:

Mike Pence doesn’t believe smoking causes deaths. He wrote on his website, “smoking doesn't kill. In fact, two out of every three smokers does not die from a smoking related illness.” … last time I checked, that means one out of every three smokers DOES die from a smoking-related illness, right?


Mike Pence thinks climate change is a hoax. Again, in his own words: "Global warming is a myth. The global warming treaty is a disaster. There, I said it."

Mike Pence shut down the only HIV testing center in Scott County, Indiana -- in the name of preventing HIV/AIDS. In a huge surprise, that county later experienced what the press called “an exploding HIV outbreak.”

Mike Pence might not think smoking, climate change, or HIV pose serious threats -- but one thing is absolutely clear:

Mike Pence himself is a pretty serious threat to the American people.

Between the two of them, Trump and Pence could well be the most extreme right-wing ticket in the modern history of American politics -- and they’re just days away from accepting the Republican nominations.

The Tsunami Trump

http://www.nytimes.com/…/…/opinion/the-gop-partys-over.html…

The (G.O.P.) Party’s Over

The Republican Party hasn’t been a productive part in a two-party democracy for a long time, but a crushing loss this fall could force it to change.

nytimes.com|By Thomas L. Friedman

I am praying for and writing about the same things Tom Friedman states in his wonderfully written editorial linked above. Until this very moment I thought what he said and its reality would prevail. The networks cannot, however, stop their blather talking Trump 24/7. They say the polls in swing states are drawing closer. If God forbid this monstrosity Trump who loves uneducated people and white supremacists wins I will be, unusual for me, at a loss for words to describe the disastrous and monumental tsunami that will befall our nation. 

Benjamin Franklin said after the Constitution was formed and he was asked what type of government they had created. He answered famously "A Republic IF you can keep it." This is the most profound question of our time to see if in fact in an age of Trump we can. Our Republic with a Donald Trump at the helm is clearly is at risk. Will we keep it? Of that I am not so sure!

MAGNIFICANCE

If you did not hear the president's speech do so if you can.  It was in the magnificence of Abraham Lincoln and FDR.  Give yourself the pleasure of listening, emphasizing, and walk in the shoes he gives you to make thing better in this nation!

READY, AIM ... PEACE

Gunman Opens Fire At Candlelight Vigil For Baltimore Shooting Victim.  The story is linked below

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox?compose=155def7eb83fd205

A blogger's response: We have a culture of violence in this country and we need brave politicians who won't be afraid to use some truths about ourselves. We are a violent nation a violent people who have a callous disregard for life. We need to promote a culture that respects life.

My Response: I have been saying that for years. Yet, there is another humane side to our country. One cannot deny that. To assess it, generally -- since the dawn of notated history we are no different than other nations that have usurped power.  In modernity Europe, of course, in the 20th century millions, perhaps even hundreds of millions were killed. Germans of WWII fame on their way to world conquest killed many millions of innocents. Vietnam killed a million Vietnamese and 50,000 US soldiers wounding tens of thousands.  The War in Iraq needs no statistical analysis.  One word sums it up: AWFUL.

Our nation, I think, is no exception to the general rule. The difference is that most of the electorate THINKS we are the most exceptional nation and those who hold power dupe others through a nationalist "conservative" fantasy land trying to sell that "exceptionalism" not only to those here who buy it but to the world many of whom do not. There is, too, the ever-present money that is made from war at the expense of middle and lower class bodies who share only in the wounds and death it bestows.  The media and social media peddles it.

The mayhem in the Middle East is a direct result of the US Iraq invasion based on lies for power's own nefarious, mendacious and self-aggrandizing reasons. Our nation dismembered a Middle East tinderbox placing sects who were once at a strong-arm controlled peace with each other now in torturous never-ending eternal sectarian war.

We can choose to emphasize the better angels of our nature, eschew eternal war, stop the murder of each other and concentrate on those things that really DO advance mankind. Human beings do better when they work with one another and care about each other. No one can live in constant mayhem.  Death and destruction will be its legacy.  Let us emphasize that which can advance humankind and NOT destroy it!

IF THERE IS A FALSE PROPHET TRUMP IS HE.  IF HE IS ELECTED END TIMES CHAOS IS WITHIN SIGHT, THE GIFT OF THIS UGLY TROJAN HORSE.  CLIMATE CHANGE DESTRUCTION WILL BE HIS BESTOWAL.  HIS WORDS ENGENDER NOTHING BUT HATE AND CONFLICT PITTING ONE TRIBE AGAINST THE OTHER TO ACHIEVE THE NARCISSISTIC POWER FOR WHICH HE THIRSTS. HIS THIRST WILL NEVER BE QUENCHED.  HE NEEDS TO BE RELEGATED TO THE ASH BIN OF HISTORY AND HILLARY CLINTON NEEDS TO BE ELECTED TO THE APEX OF THE AMERICAN PRESIDENCY!  THERE IS NO OTHER CHOICE.

IF I COULD TALK / BEST DOG FILM SHORT Director

This is a gorgeous short film about a man and his rescue of a blond lab puppy that had been placed in a garbage bag and thrown into the water. He keeps the dog and the short film is about the dog's lifelong relationship with that man and ultimately his family. It's

called "If I Could Talk" and shows what the dog would say to the man if he could.

The thoughts the dog has not only are applicable to dogs and animals we love but really to anyone we love. It is beautiful in its simplicity and emphasizes why we need to love those we love and say so as much as we can as time goes by and our lives together grow short.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuOCeJSQCTs

Thank You!

I wrote a note to my police chief yesterday thanking him for those first responders who helped me when I needed them and thought of my beloved town that educated me for free, that provided for me, who needed it then, transportation to school. I wished I could thank the many teachers who educated me and provided inspiration for higher education.  I wished I could thank, too, all those persons of color, Hispanics and other immigrants who helped me when hospitalized not once, not twice but three times after post polio issues presented life as a climb up Everest. They carried my food to me, they carried other things for me that are part of life and I thanked God or fate that they were there for me. Yes, it takes a village to help all of us survive.

 

We do not know the day nor the hour that all of us will, at some time, need the help of a stranger who may have come from a strange land.  We need both the doctor and the custodian, the teacher and the sanitation worker, the physics professor and the carpenter necessary to keep the wheels of life turning.

We must appreciate all those who may not be famous but are the necessities of our lives. The great sages teach us love and not hate.  We are in this together and we MUST learn to live together or we shall all die separately and alone.

IF THE UNIMAGINABLE VIOLENT EVENTS OF THE PAST FEW DAYS IN OUR NATION TELL US WHY THE ELECTION OF HILLARY CLINTON IS SO MANDATORY AND THE RESOUNDING DEFEAT OF A DONALD TRUMP, THE ESSENCE OF HATE, IS SO NECESSARY THEN NOTHING CAN.  PLEASE, PLEASE GET OUT THE VOTE FOR THE ONLY ONE FOR PRESIDENT CAPABLE IN OUR VIOLENT TIMES, HILLARY CLINTON AND ALL DOWN TICKET DEMOCRATS.  THE ELECTION OF THE MESSENGER OF DIVISION AND HATE, TRUMP, TO THE PRESIDENCY IS POURING SALT INTO OUR MOST LIFE-THREATENING WOUND. 

The True Face of Terror.

http://www.dailykos.com/…/-Ex-Congressman-calls-for-revenge…

Ex Congressman calls for revenge against President Obama and Black Lives Matter for Dallas shooting

 
Former Tea Party congressman, Joe Walsh has been pretty actively a terrible person for many years now. He’s a deadbeat dad, and a racist, and everything you expect from the extreme right. Tonight with the horrible events in Dallas unfolding, Walsh...
dailykos.com

The TRUE face of terror. Rightwingnuts are mean, they are violent and are simply dying to create a race war. Does he even realize there are whites who mourn both the black people shot for nothing and the officers deaths as well. His verbiage is meant to inflame and incite what they really want is race war. Do not give it to them. Turn your other cheek and be kind to one another. That is the BEST offense we can present!

If Trump becomes president -- listen and heed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVqO3r3ugVo

IT IS QUITE OBVIOUS WHAT IT WOULD BE LIKE IF THE DISASTROUS TRUMP ASSUMES THE PRESIDENCY. YOUR CHILDREN, YOUR GRANDCHILDREN AND EVEN POSSIBLY OUR GENERATION WILL NOT LIVE TO HAVE OUR LIVES COME TO A NATURAL END. SPECIES ARE ALREADY DYING FROM CLIMATE CHANGE AND THERE IS MORE THAT IS DEVASTATING ABOUT A TRUMP PRESIDENCY. LISTEN TO THIS YOUTUBE AND KNOW HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO SEE THAT TRUMP NEVER GETS NEAR THE OVAL OFFICE!

FEEL FREE TO SEND THIS TO WHOMEVER YOU CHOOSE.

An Excerpt

Trump thinks Sadam Hussein was a cool guy because he could control his opposition. I thought we fought a war killing thousands to rid the planet of Sadam Hussein. See Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-saddam-hussein_us_577c626ae4b09b4c43c18be2

Perhaps he would not think Hussein was so cool if he were at the other end of Sadam's lovely torturous tactics and chemical weapons on the innocent Kurds' men women and children as the site linked below says. An excerpt from this site is as follows:


Chemical Weapons Against Kurds --

As early as April 1987, the Iraqis used chemical weapons to remove Kurds from their villages in northern Iraq during the Anfal campaign. It is estimated that chemical weapons were used on approximately 40 Kurdish villages, with the largest of these attacks occurring on March 16, 1988 against the Kurdish town of Halabja.

Beginning in the morning on March 16, 1988 and continuing all night, the Iraqis rained down volley after volley of bombs filled with a deadly mixture of mustard gas and nerve agents on Halabja. Immediate effects of the chemicals included blindness, vomiting, blisters, convulsions, and asphyxiation." See link below.


It is no wonder Trump will not disavow the KKK, anti-Semitic noxious sites, anti-immigrants and racist white supremacists who think Trump is their glorious leader. Those psychopaths are his base. If this guy gets within one foot of the oval office this nation is in DEEP DEEP trouble that will make present history look tame by comparison!

http://history1900s.about.com/od/saddamhussein/a/husseincrimes.htm

TRUMP MUST BE DEFEATED. THERE IS NO OTHER CHOICE AND THERE IS NO QUESTION HILLARY'S EMAILS, AN EXAMPLE OF MEDIA OVERREACTION TO ANYTHING HILLARY, PALE IN COMPARISON TO TRUMP'S UGLINESS AND THE HORROR HE WOULD VISIT UPON OUR NATION AND THE WORLD IF GOD FORBID A TRILLION TIMES HE STEPPED ONE FOOT NEAR THE OVAL OFFICE. HILLARY IS THE MOST QUALIFIED CANDIDATE TO EVER VIE FOR THE PRESIDENCY. ELECT HER AND PUT AN END TO TRUMPIAN TOXICITY. IF WE LOSE THE CONSTITUTIONAL CIVIL LIBERTARIAN ESSENCE OF WHAT MADE THIS NATION GREAT THEN WE LOSE THE NATION. Pass this to anyone you choose.

HRC Is Getting Gore'd By An Incompetent Media.

By Poll Watcher

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/7/5/1545287/-HRC-Is-Getting-Gore-d-By-An-Incompetent-Media?detail=email&link_id=2&can_id=ea7a82e12e8e6d519ea471f1107c4381&source=email-if-you-believed-the-lies-about-the-fbi-investigation-you-owe-it-to-yourself-to-find-better-sources&email_referrer=if-you-believed-the-lies-about-the-fbi-investigation-you-owe-it-to-yourself-to-find-better-sources&email_subject=if-you-believed-the-lies-about-the-fbi-investigation-you-owe-it-to-yourself-to-find-better-sources

If you believed the lies about the FBI investigation, you owe it to yourself to find better sources

From the Daily Kos -- By Ollie Garkey

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/7/5/1545264/-If-you-believed-the-lies-about-the-FBI-investigation-you-owe-it-to-yourself-to-find-better-sources?detail=email&link_id=1&can_id=ea7a82e12e8e6d519ea471f1107c4381&source=email-if-you-believed-the-lies-about-the-fbi-investigation-you-owe-it-to-yourself-to-find-better-sources&email_referrer=if-you-believed-the-lies-about-the-fbi-investigation-you-owe-it-to-yourself-to-find-better-sources&email_subject=if-you-believed-the-lies-about-the-fbi-investigation-you-owe-it-to-yourself-to-find-better-sources

CONTINUE TO SUPPORT HILLARY CLINTON NOW MORE THAN EVER!!!

Putin's Puppet by Franklin Soer of Slate

Read and heed!

THEN WORK YOUR POSTERIOR OFF FOR HILLARY!
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/cover_story/2016/07/vladimir_putin_has_a_plan_for_destroying_the_west_and_it_looks_a_lot_like.html

A Review by David Shribman of "Bush" by Jean Edward Smith

David Shribman: "Bush" A harsh critique of the presidency of George W. Bush There can be no mystery where the distinguished biographer Jean Edward Smith stands on the 43rd president, the subject of his latest work (link below.) “Rarely in the history of the United States,’’ he writes in the first sentence of his preface, “has the nation been so ill-served as during the presidency of George W. Bush.’’ The more than 800 pages that follow are devoted to showing why that first page provides evidence enough. The budget went from surplus to deficit; the country went from peace to war; military spending went from 3 percent of GDP to seven times that much. The man in charge was, Smith says, “[u]nprepared for the complexities of governing, with little executive experience and a glaring deficit in his attention span, untutored, untraveled, and unversed in the ways of the world.’’ And he left behind a country, Smith argues, “impoverished by debt, besieged by doubt, struggling with the aftereffects of the worst recession since the Great Depression, and deeply engaged in military conflicts of our own choosing.’’ The review is an interesting read.  Pass this on if you choose.   https://www.bostonglobe.com/…/rXXuwsDRSX1ozb9FyT…/story.html DO NOT PLACE ANOTHER INCOMPETENT -- A DONALD TRUMP -- IN THE MOST POWERFUL POSITION IN THE WORLD -- THE US PRESIDENCY.  YOU WILL, I AM CONFIDENT, WORK FOR AND ELECT THE MOST QUALIFIED CANDIDATE IN THE HISTORY OF THIS NATION -- HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON!

TRUMP ECONOMICS A JOKE -- JOKE IS ON US -- READ AND HEED

You should read Krugman, know he is 100% correct and pass this around.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/04/opinion/trump-trade-and-workers.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region&region=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region&_r=0

It is now being reported by multiple sources including Chuck Todd, CNN, and MSNBC that Hillary Clinton will face no charges and no indictment

May I finally say AMEN!!!!!!? I hope the story true. If so you are looking at the first woman president in US history AND her running mate I predict will be Corey Booker!!!!! He is whom I wanted months ago but no one floated his name so I thought of those they were suspecting Julian Castro was my choice. I did not want the uninspiring Tim Kaine who had some okay in VA pay to play politics surrounding him. Corey Booker is personality and intellect plus and his enthusiasm for Hillary showed when he was interviewed. A light bulb went off in my head. Can I let out a YEEEEEEEHAAAA!?    Read the story at the link below.


 









http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/7/3/1544765/-Better-anyone-than-me-better-me-than-no-one-Hillary-Clinton-will-not-be-indicted

The Prince of Light

The survivor of the darkest night -- the Holocaust and Auschwitz -- Elie Wiesel is dead.  He was our worldly conscience and the prince of light illuminating the Nazi darkness for all the world's eyes to see. As the Jew often says, may his memory be a blessing.  He voyages ironically now into the darkness of the earth and he will become intermingled with it as dust. This time he goes naturally and as nature intended at age 87.  It is the eighth wonder of the world and is its miracle that he actually lived through the horrors his eyes saw.  I quote from his world famous book "Night" as he so eloquently and with deep emotion conveys to us the living who never experienced what it meant to live through the Holocaust in Auschwitz even for one night.  He said:

“Never shall I forget that night, the first night in the camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed....Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never.”

“Then came the march past the victims. The two men were no longer alive. Their tongues were hanging out,
swollen and bluish. But the third rope was still moving: the child, too light, was still breathing...
And so he remained for more than half an hour, lingering between life and death, writhing before our eyes.
And we were forced to look at him at close range. He was still alive when I passed him. His tongue was still
red, his eyes not yet extinguished.

Behind me, I heard the same man asking:
"For God's sake, where is God?"
And from within me, I heard a voice answer:
"Where He is? This is where--hanging here from this gallows..."

That night, the soup tasted of corpses.” 

We, the living, are the lucky ones by an accident of timely birth and our gift of geographical removal never saw the unspeakable that his words convey to our minds eye.  Man's capability of madness is, truly, incomprehensible.

In Daniel Goldhagen's book "Hitler's Willing Executioners -- Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust" he describes the ordinary German, the everyday folk who were needed to make the functioning of the Holocaust work.  They simply were doing the job assigned removing its goal of genocide from the forefront of their minds.  What can we learn when man is reduced to untermenschen (subhuman) which make the bestial slaughter of innocent men, women and children palatable for other men to perpetrate.  Hannah Ardent in her book "The Banality of Evil" (A description of Adolf Eichmann the designer of what to do about the "Jewish Question") says profundities.  Eichmann was not a monster.  He was an ordinary being and describes the perverse actions of normal human beings that become easy for them to do as they incorporate its nationalist rationalizations into every day life.  He was doing it for his country.  He was only following orders.

The profound question, of course, is what can we learn from this bastardization of human behavior?  Never Again rings in my ears always as I look out on a world that seemingly has learned little from the monstrosity of its historically collective malevolent experience.  Again and again we see actions of our own government and actions of those in the eternal civil wars of Middle East religious and tribal hatred which allow them do unspeakable things no one should have the right to do.  Throwing bodies from buildings, placing human cargo in iron carts sunk into the depth of the sea to drown in a horrific death; heads lopped off simply because they are from another group or tribe as if they were trees cut to build a house.  What can we do to stem the tide both at home and abroad to save ourselves from ourselves?

The first and, perhaps, the only step is for the individual we to choose life over death, light over the darkness of our most ugly inclinations and say NO; simply NO.  I will not do this; I will not hate; and I will not perpetrate violence on other innocent beings.  Every one of the living has the right to its life.  What else can we do since obviously never again becomes always again.  The Prince of Light, Elie Wiesel's life counted for something but it is up to us, the living, now to understand and enforce his message.

LET IT BE DONE QUICKLY

Re: Clinton's emails: Naturally the Republicans are trying to pillory Hillary over the plane encounter of Bill Clinton with Attorney General Lynch. So what else is new? They've been pillorying her for 35 years. Having said that I suggest Bill take a vacation and NOT subvert his wife's life. He has done so many things without thought of his own wife and family. He's smart, yes, of course, he is, but sometimes he is stupid and this is one of those times.

Attorney Lynch with Bill on a plane creates profoundly rotten optics I will admit BUT in reality it is as it always has been. Attorney General Lynch has said all along that she would take the recommendation of the career prosecutors and not intervene like Eric Holder did with General Petraeus. Loretta Lynch is the epitome of ethics. I would NEVER think she would twist the process. For her and everyone else it would be prudent to let the process play out. I am, as Bernie Sanders was, SICK TO DEATH of her gd emails.

In my opinion, as I have listened to expert counsel on the issue, what she did with her personal server did not, I repeat NOT arise to the level of "INTENT" to hurt the nation. I-N-T-E-N-T is the operative word. I am angry that it is even an issue and that seasoned, experienced, professional lawyers and politicians would not know to scrupulously monitor what they do or even appear to do. Then again the Bush administration committed all kinds of acts that should have been determined illegal such as torture and taking a nation to an entire war based on lies creating a volcanic eruption in the Middle East. We pay for those damnable choices every day to this very day. Even I was for the Iraq War because 9/11 was overwhelming and I thought -- yes I did think -- that George W. Bush/Cheney knew something we did not. HOW ADMITTEDLY STUPID I was. Politicians ruin their own career legacies with their own hands and have no one to blame but themselves BUT we the people pay for it.

I continue to believe Hillary Clinton used a personal server for the same reasons General and Secretary Powell did -- to protect and control information they had from getting into hands they did not trust . We KNOW the State Department's email policy was no policy at all. Please, FBI for my own sanity and those who KNOW Hillary Rodham Clinton would make a GREAT president -- as said in Scene I of Macbeth -- IF THE DEED BE DONE LET IT BE DONE QUICKLY!

I CONTINUE TO ASK YOU TO WORK YOUR HEART OUT FOR THE ELECTION TO THE PRESIDENCY OF THE UNITED STATES OF HILLARY CLINTON!