Day: July 12, 2016

Can Donald Trump Actually Lose the 2016 Election?

2016 has been a great election process so far…..it has all the earmarks of a Greek tragedy…..we have had 3 candidates that have made history….a woman, a Democratic Socialist and a complete outsider……

Many think that Trump does not have a snowball’s chance in Hell of winning the election…..basically because the “fix” is in for Hillary….some are even calling it a coronation…..

I know I have not been kind to Mr. Trump or his supporters….however I have written numerous post on where I agree with some of his ideas….granted not many but there are a few.

And unlike so many others I think he does have a chance at winning the 2016 general election….personally I think he has a better than 50/50 chance of a victory.  Yes he can win…..but he must make sure that he does not step in a large pile of manure.

I read a great analysis recently in the “Leftist” publication The Nation……and wanted to press it and see what types of responses I get on the analysis…..

“Establishment: A group in a society exercising power and influence over matters of policy, opinion, or taste, and seen as resisting change.” —Oxford Dictionary Early on in his presidential bid, Donald Trump began touting his anti-establishment credentials. When it worked, he ran with it.

It was a posture that proved pure gold in the Republican primaries, and was even, in one sense, true. After all, he’d never been part of the political establishment nor held public office, nor had any of his family members or wives.

Source: Can Donald Trump Actually Lose the 2016 Election? Probably Not. | The Nation

People get ready…there’s a change a coming…..

Peace out!

Sad Day At Black Rock

The run for the Democratic nomination is officially over……and the person that was saying all the right stuff for us peasants has just sold out…

Bernie has made it official….he will support Hillary…..

With Hillary Clinton enthusiastically nodding and clapping by his side, Bernie Sanders appeared Tuesday at a high school in Portsmouth, NH, and finally offered what many Democrats have been waiting for: an endorsement, USA Today reports. “Secretary Clinton … will be the Democratic nominee for president and I intend to do everything I can to make certain she will be the next president of the United States,” he asserted, going on to “make it as clear as possible as to why I am endorsing Hillary Clinton and why she must become our next president.” He detailed some of those bullet points (also on his website), including that Clinton is the best candidate to take on an “economy … that is rigged”; appoint Supreme Court justices who will fight for women, minorities, and the LGBT community; address mental health treatment and climate change; and work toward universal health care, among others.

Sanders also blasted Donald Trump for his vocal opposition to raising the minimum wage, his eagerness to “abolish the Affordable Care Act,” and his decision to “reject science” on climate issues. He also addressed Trump’s insults against “Mexicans, Muslims, women, African-Americans, and veterans,” noting that Clinton “understands that our diversity is one of our greatest strengths.” “Hillary Clinton will make an outstanding president and I am proud to stand with her today,” he concluded, hugging Clinton before she took the podium to speak. Trump, meanwhile, wasn’t as impressed with the endorsement, tweeting Tuesday that he was “surprised that Bernie Sanders was not true to himself and his supporters ” and that Sanders, “who has lost most of his leverage, has totally sold out to Crooked Hillary Clinton.”

Bernie has stabbed all the true progressives in the back…..his message was still a good one….but when he cops out and plays the game he has lost my respect….he will be marginalized now…just what Clinton was hoping for….she can run amok now with NO interference.

A truly sad day.

Signs Of US War “Success”

I have been a critic of the plans that the US is employing to fight ISIS…..for one the moronic attempt to vet and train Syrian rebels…this one has been a flop which means more of a failure than just saying failure…..or the weapons that we deliver to the rebels that wind up in the hands of ISIS…..you get the idea…..nothing that the US is doing in the fight against ISIS could be termed “a success”……

With all the crap going wrong in the fight against ISIS the Obama Admin has found something that they will count as a “success”……

Over the weekend, the Obama Administration presented the massive Saturday night ISIS attack in Baghdad as something that only “bolstered” America’s resolve to win the war militarily. Today, Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken insisted that it wasn’t just about resolve, that the bombings themselves were a sign of America’s military success.

The Baghdad bombings killed 215 people and wounded 175 others. A number of children were among the slain. The largest attack was a suicide bombing against a major Shi’ite shopping district, which was crowded because of the breaking of the Ramadan fast.

Blinken argued that the US war is going so well, with the US beating them by “every single measure,” that ISIS is launching even more attacks than ever, saying the attacks too are “a measure of the success we’re having” in defeating them militarily.

This is a reoccurring theme in the Obama admin…..like the civilian deaths from drones is proof that the program is working against ISIS.

This sports fans is how propaganda is used effectively…..turn bullsh*t into a military victory……

Even though it has been pointed out just how bad their plan against ISIS is…they refuse to alter it and search for a better way to fight this barbaric group…..

Their lame attempts to convince the public that this battle is being won and is all but over is just a pathetic attempt to convince the public….divert their attention and keep what little support they have from deteriorating….

So far that plan is meeting with limited success…..for now!

Confessions of a War Propagandist

I wish I had one of my clever intros for this press….but alas after I read it I could not do any better than the author of the piece…..

In explaining Donald Trump and the train wreck of the Republican Party, neoconservative contempt has targeted cultural rot, immigrant haters, and according to the the National Review, prescription drug addicted hillbillies. These poor, dumb racists have latched on to a celebrity shyster who has no conservative principles and worst of all, no understanding of international affairs.

No self-reflection is even considered by neoconservatives or their strongest pro-war allies, evangelical Christians. In 2002-2003 I was in the center of both groups during the buildup to the Iraq War, as the media relations director for the Committee of the Liberation of Iraq (CLI) and as an evangelical Christian active in small groups, community outreach, and engagement with other “gospel-centered” evangelicals who were earnestly seeking to share the gospel with a world that desperately needed to know God’s love and mercy.

Source: Confessions of a War Propagandist – Antiwar.com Original by — Antiwar.com

One More Vietnam Problem

The veterans from the Vietnam War have suffered on so many levels and most of society could care less……many suffered from PTSD….some from Agent Orange…..many fro night sweats….and from memories that will not die……but they are having to deal with one more situation……SUICIDES!

On July 7, the Veterans Health Administration released new data about veterans’ suicides, based upon examination of over 55 million veteran records from 1979 to 2014 from every state in the nation and U.S. territories. While much of the buzz around veteran suicide has focused on veterans emerging out of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, this new report showed that 65% of all veterans who died from suicide in 2014 were 50 years of age or older. In fact, 45% of veteran suicides in 2014 were aged 60 and older.

These are deeply disturbing statistics, especially for those of us in the Vietnam cohort. As the executive director of the Veterans Health Council at Vietnam Veterans of America, veteran suicide is one of my professional and personal interests ever since losing a team member to suicide while on a mission together in northern I Corps Vietnam.

Source: Majority Of Veteran Suicides Are 50 And Older And We Don’t Know Why

Believe me…..Vietnam vets have suffered enough…..it is time for this country to actually care about these people and give them the help they richly deserve.

In closing….the VA has its problems also….

More than 70,000 veterans disability claims are currently backlogged in Veterans Affairs processing centers, seven months after department officials missed their public goal of getting the number down to zero.

VA Acting Under Secretary for Benefits Thomas Murphy said that figure includes a substantial number of claims left open longer than four months intentionally to ensure veterans are receiving all of the payouts they deserve. But he acknowledged his agency needs to drive that number down further.

Source: VA disability backlog tops 70,000 — 7 months after it was supposed to be zero

The news seldom improves…and that is truly sad.