Day: November 16, 2016

Closing Thought–16Nov16

This is a moot point because we already have a new prez….but at least give me this…..I am gloating a bit at those dyed in the wool establishment Dems.

You guys lost not because of some superior message by another candidate…you lost because you hand picked the worst candidate possible.

Just to rub your noses in the pile here……

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) would have beaten Donald Trump by a historic margin if he had been the Democratic nominee, according to a private pre-election poll provided to The Huffington Post.

The national survey of more than 1,600 registered voters, conducted by Gravis Marketing two days before the general election, found that Sanders would have received 56 percent of the vote while Trump would have won 44 percent

Crucially, independent voters, who made up nearly one-third of the general election voters this year, favored Sanders over Trump, 55 percent to 45 percent, the poll found. Hillary Clinton, by contrast, lost independents 48 percent to 42 percent, according to exitpolls.

I know polls are notoriously wrong….but I still like the sound of this one…..because, and please check my archives to confirm, I was dead set against this Clinton from the start and I never wavered from that stand…..unlike so many others……

The Dems did this to themselves….all the back stabbing, underhanded tactics and the lies gave you a candidate that had NO chance of winning……

Congrats!  You f*cked yourselves….

Like I said at the start….this is a moot point but it felt good to tell the dumbass Dems…”I TOLD YOU SO”!

Back Away Slowly

Do you know how many Trump supporters gave me grief over my opinion that the rhetoric will not match the candidate if he were to win the big enchilada?

Many!  They told me that everything would change when was elected…..but will it?

His biggest draw was that he was an outsider and that is what is needed to break the strangle hold of the “elitist” the DC insiders on the levers of power.,….

Well that is a lie….why?  Look who is his chief of staff……one of the biggest insiders……

President-elect Trump has named Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus as his chief of staff, NBC reports. The choice was widely believed to be between Priebus and Steve Bannon, Trump’s campaign CEO and executive chairman of Breitbart News. In the end, both will stay on board. While Priebus won the big job, Politico reports that Bannon will be Trump’s chief strategist. “I am thrilled to have my very successful team continue with me in leading our country,” Trump said in a statement. “Steve and Reince are highly qualified leaders who worked well together on our campaign and led us to a historic victory.”

Bannon and Priebus represent two camps expected to be fighting for influence over the Trump presidency: Priebus is an establishment Republican with years of experience in politics, while Bannon is a fiery ideologue whose conservative media powerhouse, Breitbart News, is described as a “must-read for antiestablishment conservatives” by the Wall Street Journal. Other establishment Republicans may find some comfort knowing Priebus will play such a central role in the Trump White House, CNN reports. Priebus, who has led the Republican Party since 2011, is widely viewed as a moderating influence who may be able to forge alliances with Republicans like Paul Ryan.

Word is that it will NOT stop there…….

Donald Trump has only been president-elect of the United States for a few days but some of his biggest campaign promises are already looking shaky—including his promise to repeal ObamaCare. Failure to deliver on pledges like the border wall could alienate some of his “most fervent supporters,” though Trump has previously backed away from hardline positions only to return to them later, the Washington Post reports. A round-up of coverage:

  • Prominent Trump aide Newt Gingrich told reporters Thursday Trump’s promise to have Mexico pay for a border wall may have been just a “campaign talk.” “He’ll spend a lot of time controlling the border,” said Gingrich, who is expected to have a senior role in Trump’s White House. “He may not spend very much time trying to get Mexico to pay for it, but it was a great campaign device.”
  • Trump, whose supporters chanted “Lock her up” at campaign rallies, has softened his tone on Hillary Clinton considerably, the Guardian reports. In a 60 Minutes interview that will air Sunday, he described his former rival as a “very strong and very smart” woman who conceded in a “lovely” phone call. “She couldn’t have been nicer. She just said ‘congratulations Donald, well done,'” said Trump. He said Bill Clinton also called, and he “couldn’t have been more gracious.” In a Wall Street Journal interview, Trump said he hadn’t given a lot of thought to his promise to have a special prosecutor investigate Hillary Clinton.
  • The Times of Israel reports that Trump foreign policy adviser Walid Phares cast doubt on several Trump policies in an interview with BBC radio, saying that Trump might not move the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem without “consensus,” and that “ripping it up” might be too strong a term for what Trump plans to do with the Iran nuclear deal. He “will take the agreement, review it, send it to Congress, demand from the Iranians to restore a few issues or change a few issues, and there will be a discussion,” Phares said.
  • Politico looks at the Trump team’s efforts to vet Cabinet nominees and plan for his first 100 days, and finds that the man who pledged to “drain the swamp” is assembling a team full of GOP insiders, lobbyists, and people with close ties to Wall Street. Some top members of the Trump transition team served in both Bush administrations.
  • CNN notes that Trump’s suggestion that he will keep parts of ObamaCare goes against his pledge to immediately repeal and replace the law, but much earlier in the campaign, he expressed support for keeping popular parts of the law—and even suggested he would be open to universal health care. “Everybody’s got to be covered. This is an un-Republican thing for me to say,” he told CBS last year. “I am going to take care of everybody. I don’t care if it costs me votes or not. Everybody’s going to be taken care of much better than they’re taken care of now.”
  • Trump hasn’t provided many concrete policy details since his win, but he’s still promising great things. “This will prove to be a great time in the lives of ALL Americans. We will unite and we will win, win, win!” he tweeted Saturday.

So far the appointees that are being named right now is terrible for an “outsider”….Trump is wading into the stagnant water of Washington…and few seem to care….funny that is not what they said during the process….but I guess when you have NO principles a lot of things are acceptable.

It will be some enjoyment to watch all those rabid, insulting supporters trying to justify being lied to in the process….

Let me say again….a LIE is still a LIE no matter what you try to do to justify…..but I guess some people like being lied to…..

It is fascinating to see everyone furiously attempt to read the tea leaves to try figure out what is inside the mysterious early Christmas present (that over half of American voters didn’t want) which we were all given last Tuesday. I think we have it narrowed down to Donald Trump as president will be most like… Ronald Reagan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Barack Obama, Jessie Ventura, or Adolf Hitler.  (Personally, I do not like using the AH reference and that makes me better than about half of the Trump supporters who do not hesitate to make such analogies)

Regardless, it will be so exciting to find out what we got in exchange for debasing our entire political process for at least the next generation!

Source: Trump’s Base of Supporters Clearly Doesn’t Care That He’s Already Broken Campaign Promises | Mediaite

How the U.S. Military Can Save $1 Trillion

On January 20th Trump will be sworn in as the 45th president of these United States….and shortly after that he will face the yearly challenge of the budget….there ought to be lots of back and forth and accusations will fly…..

Only days left before the best comedy in town….the budget debate……

Our biggest budget will be that of the Pentagon with all its glory and secrets

The National Interest magazine has a suggestion for the Trump-ites and others to consider when decided what will be best for the Pentagon…..

Cut the U.S. military’s size, but retain its technical edge.

The United States could reduce Pentagon spending by over a trillion dollars in the next decade—spending $5.2 trillion rather than the currently planned $6.3 trillion— by adopting strategy of military restraint. That’s the bottom line of a study I produced along with several colleagues as part of “Developing Alternative Defense Strategies 2016,” an exercise organized by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, where groups from five think tanks used CSBA’s “Strategic Choices” software to reimagine the U.S. military budget.

The others all increased military spending. The teams from the Center for New American Security and the Center for Strategic and International Studies added a few percent—tens of billions a year for the decade. CSBA’s team added about ten percent, and the American Enterprise Institute’s twenty.

Source: How the U.S. Military Can Save $1 Trillion | The National Interest

But then I am NOT sure that the country wants to save money…they prefer to reduce tax revenue and then spend their asses off so they can piss and moan about the deficit next election……so they can cut revenue…..it is all so predictable.

My suggestion is crap on the F-35 and that worthless ship that the Navy cannot afford the ammo for its guns….this would be a good start…..then proceed from there….

Secede and Decentralize: An Open Letter to Clinton Supporters

Some think the Dems are in total denial and in a state of confusion on what they need to do to repair their reputation from the caning they took in the last election…..

It is humorous since they have been taking the same caning since 2010 and they did not pay attention……so will they this time?

But since that Clinton supporters are all butt hurt by the results of 2016 they need consoling….

This is an open letter to Clinton supporters from the Mises Institute…..a Libertarian group from the ground up…..

Dear Clinton Voters:

I know this election has been painful for you. Many feel betrayed and even believe yourselves no longer living in the country you thought you were. Reflect on that pain and frustration for a moment. Now recognize how you feel now is how an equally large, possibly larger, number felt for the past eight years. Those who are of a liberty bent feel it all the time, no matter who ends up in office. Reflect on it, feel it, understand it, own it.

Before you get the wrong idea, this is not my attempt at rubbing in your face the loss of your candidate or an endorsement of President-elect Donald Trump. If anything, I share your pain and frustration, just for an entirely different reason. What you’re feeling, this hopelessness, this feeling that you’re no longer represented, this feeling that people other than you are now able to dictate your way of life, this is all a result of the massive expansion of the Federal government. Elections have long ceased being voting for someone you think represents the lifestyle you want to live and are, in practice, an exercise on determining whether or not you get to impose your preferred lifestyle on someone else.

Source: Secede and Decentralize: An Open Letter to Clinton Supporters | Mises Wire

There will be many such “suggestions” in the next couple of years…..but the question really is….will Dems try to change their direction or will they just pray for rain…..the Dems will be as always…they will gloat when they win and whine when they lose…..same as Repubs.

But there is a few suggestions that the Dems should consider……

1. Federal Government, please get your act together. Come up with a plan to reduce the national debt. Enforce the law or make new ones but do not willfully disrespect our laws. Re-engineer your vast array of laws, regulations and bureaucracies to try and deliver efficient accountable government services.

2. Back off in attacking who I am and my family’s values. Get off this social justice, ethnic group obsession. We are all Americans. Please treat us equally and speak to us as one class of people with the same aspirations.

3. Supreme Court, interpret our existing laws. Do not usurp the role of the State legislatures by creating new laws.

There is only so much you can do…..but that is considering if you really want to find a way to regain your standing among the people……

Your idiocracy in this last election made me think of a quote by H.L. Mencken……”On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”

Or possibly “you reap what you sow”……”you asked for it….you got it”!

I am sorry….but so far I see nothing that would give me any confidence for the future.

ISIS: Will The Song Remain The Same?

Once again my friends at Ace News Room have shown confidence in my writings and published another of my op-eds…I will be eternally grateful to them for their support in my analyses…..

I feel remiss in my duty to help keep the public informed….this past election and its results have kept my attentions elsewhere…..slowly but slowly I will return to where I belong….analysis of international situations….

The election was all consuming for some and it kept the subject of ISIS off the front pages except when one candidate mentioned it in passing….but now that the election is in the history books maybe it is time to once again think about the terrorist group…..

The push to Mosul has begun and the battle for the caliphate capital Raqaa is about to commence….but there are several questions that everyone has been ignoring for about a year……

Source: ISIS: Will The Song Remain The Same?

There is much to be done on the world stage….I just hope that Trump and his picks are up to the challenge of keeping America safe…….