Category: Opinion

The Lincoln Project After The Fall

Closing Thought–05Aug20

Many of us have been exposed the the ads of the Lincoln Project. It is true Repubs and conservs that are not down with the silliness of the RNC and its defense of the toad Trump.

Their anti-Trump ads have become the stuff of legends.

The Lincoln Project?

President Abraham Lincoln led the United States through its bloodiest, most divisive and most decisive period of our history. He fought not because he wanted to, but because he knew the dual goals of preserving the Union and the end of slavery would be achieved only through armed conflict. Lincoln always kept the enormous human cost of the struggle in the front of his mind. At Gettysburg, he implored us not to forget those that had given “their last full measure of devotion” to preserving the American experiment. As it became clear that the Union would be victorious, Lincoln’s thoughts turned to how the nation would “bind up its wounds” and move forward together.

Today, we find ourselves divided again – sectionalism in the country and factionalism in government has led to ever uglier examples of how our political system is failing. President Donald Trump and those who sign onto Trumpism are a clear and present danger to the Constitution and our Republic. Only defeating so polarizing a character as Trump will allow the country to heal its political and psychological wounds and allow for a new, better path forward for all Americans.

https://lincolnproject.us/

A couple of the political ads from the Lincoln Project…..

These are excellent ads with a strong message.

Everyone is talking about the effect that the Lincoln Project is having on the GOP.

They may well be the best thing to happen to Joe Biden and they could be the very thing he needs to get himself elected in 2020.

Amid all the noise of an election involving Donald Trump – all the inflammatory tweets and shadowy Facebook posts – one set of ads has somehow managed to break through.

There’s the one of the US president shuffling down a ramp that declares that the president “is not well”. There’s the whispering one about Trump’s “loyalty problem” inside his White House, campaign and family.

There’s the epic Mourning in America that remakes Reagan’s election-defining 1984 ad, turning the sun-bathed suburbs into a dark national portrait of pandemic and recession. On Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, those three ads alone have racked up more than 35m views.

The Lincoln Project, run by a group of renegade Republican political consultants, has crystallized one of the core narratives of the 2020 campaign in ways that few other political commercials have in past cycles.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/01/lincoln-project-donald-trump-republicans-campaign-ads

We can enjoy the fact that Trump may well be gone from the White House in January 2021…..and the Lincoln Project will be the real cause that Trump was defeated.

And the peasants danced!

Please do not rejoice to soon.

WHY?

After Trump loses these people will revert back to the GOP and the Dems will be their targets….the very effective ad process will have a new foe and that foe is the Democrats.

All those creative juices that help defeat Trump will now be there to help Repubs regain their former glory.

Be warned and start NOW looking for a counter to the Project’s effectiveness.

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Is The GOP Done? Or The DNC?

Let’s take a break from the pandemic bad news just for a moment or two…..

This pandemic has shown just how out of touch the GOP is with the rest of America……it was bad enough that idiots in the GOP like Nunes, Meadows, Gantz and Trump have turned the GOP into the biggest joke in political humor circles.

And now the GOP is leading the charge for the worse responses to this pandemic on record……

I wrote back in 2017 that I thought the GOP was on the downhill slide……https://lobotero.com/2017/05/11/is-conservatism-dying/

I have seen nothing since that post to make me alter my opinion of the GOP…..in fact they have gotten worse and more out of touch since my post.

In that world, conservatism could survive failures, ranging from moral to political to strategic, because as a movement it had a standing superior to and somewhat independent of any of particular actor.

No longer. It’s Trump, all the way down.

We have now reached the terminus of craven loyalty and pathetic apologetics. I don’t see how either the political institution of the Republican party or the intellectual movement of conservatism recovers from what we have seen over the last three years—but especially the last three months.

And so we will need to think anew, and to act anew.

Trump Has Broken the Republican Party—and Conservatism—for Good

Even staunch GOPers from the Tea Party no longer see a future for the GOP without some change and the growth of a spine……

former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) predicted that the Republican Party will collapse after the 2020 presidential election — whether President Donald Trump wins or loses.

Walsh, a conservative congressman originally elected during the 2010 tea party wave, has been one of the president’s most vocal critics from the right. After mounting an ill-fated primary challenge to attempt to deny Trump the nomination for a second term, he has abandoned the GOP.

(Raw Story)

Walsh on Twitter…….
 
Joe Walsh
@WalshFreedom
If Donald Trump wins in November, another political party will be born in December. If Donald Trump loses in November, another political party will be born in December. The Republican Party is done. It’s over. It’s breaking up. No matter what. And that’s a good thing.
Let’s not be too hasty on the death of the GOP….the DNC is hanging on for dear life as well in my opinion…..the rift that has been growing between the progressives and the centrist is slowly ending the DNC’s grip on democratic politics.
 
Bernie has called for a coming together to fix the party and win elections…..does that mean to abandon principles for a quick and easy win?
 
I believe this interview with Cornell West says it all…..
 
In the wake of Donald Trump’s election victory over Hillary Clinton, some progressives are now pushing a shake-up of the Democratic Party’s leadership in efforts to reform the party. But Cornel West says he doubts the Democratic Party can be reformed. During the Democratic primary, West endorsed Bernie Sanders. Sanders later picked him to serve on the Democratic platform committee. After Hillary Clinton won the nomination, West made headlines when he endorsed Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein. For more, we speak with West about the Democratic Party and what organizing looks like in the wake of the election.
 
I cannot see me ever supporting what the Democratic Party has become…..it must learn the art of politics for it sucks at it nowadays.
 
Watch This Blog!
 
I Read, I Write, You Know
 
“lego ergo scribo”

Every Night At 7

Closing Thought–10Apr20

We have real-life super heroes and we should celebrate them for all their hard work and dedication……then do it every night for we cannot thank them enough.

Image

Thank you all for everything you are doing.

Stay Calm….Avoid Crowds…..Wash Hands Often…..Stay Prepared

Watch This Blog!

“lego ergo scribo”

Are The Candidates For 2020 Set?

Thanx to this damn pandemic our selection for the upcoming election for president is between Trump and Biden…..if that is the case how do they stack up against each other…..

Biden has led Trump in every national poll taken in the past month and a half. But his advantage in these polls varies — and has rarely been decisive. A Quinnipiac University poll taken from March 3 to 8 (before the severity of the coronavirus pandemic was widely acknowledged) saw the former vice president with an 11 percentage point lead on Trump (with a 2.8 percentage point margin of error), for instance, but an Economist/YouGov poll taken April 5-7 gives Biden a 6 percentage-point lead (with a 3.1-point margin of error). And a CNN-SSRS poll published Thursday, conducted from April 3 to 6, shows Biden leading Trump 53 to 42 percent, one of the rare polls showing Biden topping 50 percent.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/4/9/21213793/biden-presumptive-democratic-nominee-trump-2020-polls-swing-state

Keep in mind that polls had Hillary leading Trump as well…..and we know how that ended up.

His choice for VP will be making news soon…..how should he glo about the choice?

We already know one such criterion: Biden has pledged to choose a woman. But what else is he looking for in a vice presidential nominee?

One view of the vice presidential selection process, often expressed by people who themselves work for campaigns, is that the presidential nominee is making a personal choice, opting for someone whom he or she connects with and feels would be a strong partner in governing. Another view, according to research we (Adler and Azari) have done, is that the vice presidential choice often reflects broader dynamics in the party. In this view the nominee often chooses a running mate who connects with some broader goal of the party or who helps appeal to some faction or ideological bloc in the party that is not well represented by the candidate at the top of the ticket.

How Will Biden Choose His Running Mate?

He promised that he would choose a woman for that position…and some think that Kamala Harris is the prime suspect…..

Aaron Blake of the Washington Post ranks the “most logical” candidates. No. 1 on his list is California Sen. Kamala Harris, the only black woman who is currently a senator or governor. “Her presidential campaign flamed out after an early surge, and given her background as a prosecutor, it is easy to see playing the traditional VP role of attacking the opposition,” writes Blake. Of course, she trained much of that early venom on Biden himself. Rounding out Blake’s top five, in order: Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin. The latter is the first openly gay person elected to the Senate.

A post at SFGate notes that Harris, 55, currently has the best odds at the PredictIt, a prediction market exchange. In fact, she is doing more than twice as well as the No. 2 there, Klobuchar. Then comes Whitmer, Warren, and Stacey Abrams, who gained a prominent national profile by nearly winning the Georgia governor’s seat in 2018. The AP, meanwhile, notes that Harris just made two fundraising moves likely to raise speculation about her as a VP pick. She set up a joint fundraising operation with the Democratic National Committee, and she made a surprise appearance at a virtual fundraising event Wednesday for Biden. He’s the right choice at a time when people “need to have hope,” said Harris. The former VP also spoke. “I’m so lucky to have you be a part of this partnership going forward,” he said of her. “I’m coming for you, kid.”

Any thoughts?

Although Bernie has bowed out of the race there are points that Biden should steal from Bernie’s campaign…..as well as other…..I mean he is pretending to be a progressive then talk like one…..

He certainly has an issue platform, a mix of old Obama administration priorities like a public option for health care and new left-wing commitments like a $15-an-hour minimum wage. It’s a clear platform, if not a particularly creative one. That could be fine, though, as Biden seems to have triumphed against a 2020 Democratic field with a number of creative policy entrepreneurs. Some touted policies that were either new to a presidential race, or newly prominent because of the candidates backing them.

Biden would do well to crib liberally from his ex-rivals’ plans. He’s already started, by endorsing Elizabeth Warren’s bankruptcy plan and moving closer to Bernie Sanders by endorsing free public college for students from families making under $125,000. But there are a lot more good ideas out there for him to borrow.

Here are nine of the best ideas from the field that he should be exploring.

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2020/4/9/21168080/joe-biden-policies-bernie-sanders-drop-out

While I may not support Biden at this time….. he will get a second look from me if he has some truly progressive ideas….so far he is a complete dud on that stage…..

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

A Letter From The Edge

Or….My Baby Wrote Me A Letter!  (sorry had to channel my 60s experience)……

The news has been full of the report that Trump has written (?) a letter to Pelosi ahead of the impeachment vote…..

Trump rattled on…the same song that his Tweets reflect…..

Nancy Pelosi was on the receiving end of what the Washington Post calls an “extraordinary letter” written by President Trump. Over six pages that you can read in full here, he voices his “strongest and most powerful protest” against impeachment, writing that “this impeachment represents an unprecedented and unconstitutional abuse of power by Democrat Lawmakers, unequaled in nearly two and a half centuries of American legislative history.” The AP reports that the “fiery” letter, which comes a day before his expected impeachment, voices Trump’s displeasure at how the House inquiry was handled, alleging “more due process was afforded to those accused in the Salem Witch Trials.”

Trump writes that the Articles of Impeachment that the House Judiciary Committee has come up with “include no crimes, no misdemeanors, and no offenses whatsoever. You have cheapened the importance of the very ugly word, impeachment!” He addresses the claims of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress at length, then goes on to tout a long list of successes that have occurred in his term, writing, “you and your party are desperate to distract” from them. He expresses that he doesn’t believe his letter will change anything, but that he wanted to record his objections “for the purpose of history. … One hundred years from now, when people look back at this affair, I want them to understand it, and learn from it, so that it can never happen to another President again.”

I really would like to hear what my readers think about this letter…it is not a long read….only about 6 pages……

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
Speaker of the House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Madam Speaker:

I write to express my strongest and most powerful protest against the partisan impeachment crusade being pursued by the Democrats in the House of Representatives. This impeachment represents an unprecedented and unconstitutional abuse of power by Democrat Lawmakers, unequaled in nearly two and a half centuries of American legislative history.

The Articles of Impeachment introduced by the House Judiciary Committee are not recognizable under any standard of Constitutional theory, interpretation, or jurisprudence. They include no crimes, no misdemeanors, and no offenses whatsoever. You have cheapened the importance of the very ugly word, impeachment!

…Read On….

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/letter-president-donald-j-trump-speaker-house-representatives/

Did you read?

Whatcha think?

My thoughts is it should have been left un-mailed…..it makes the president look like a childish d/bag….it is a rambling piece of manure that would be better on the rally trail and not in the House.

It sounds more like someone afraid their “brand” will be tainted….he keeps thinking that his legacy will always have a stigma about it with a asterisk after his name….a stain on his person.

But that is just me.

I Watch This Blog!

I Read, I Wrote, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

We Need New Rules Of Engagement

This is not my take on something foreign policy or one of our many wars….but rather the pundits on the Tube that are doing everything but what we need them to do.

I am an old fart and I always believed that the media should be neutral and give all sides to a story….I was naive back in my early informative years.  Even before corporations could own media outlets (thanx Bill Clinton) outlets were controlled by corporations through advertising dollars….now they just own them outright and their bias is f*cking obvious.

I am think that most pundits are soulless assholes that their principles are for sale to the highest bidder….that is NOT what this post is about…..

Nope!  This opinion is about these pundits, no matter which network they work for, hawking their books and personal appearances…..book signings, band dates, speeches and seminars…..plus most have reverted to their days in Congress….that is work 3 days off 4 with long breaks in between their non-work.

This crap has nothing to do with the news of the day…..pushing their personal books or those of the parents is sad and disgusting.  Pushing their seminars is also.

If they need these things to supplement their pay then maybe they should step back and look at their expenditures….or re-negotiate their very lucrative appearance contracts.

Then there is the subject of the Summer…..that of electability….who can best beat Trump……in other words screw principles it is about the win not the nation.

What is being said about the Great Lie of Electability…….https://lobotero.com/2019/07/16/electability-the-lie-that-keeps-on-giving/

All that aside…..there are a wealth of ambitious proposals from every candidate…..the problem I have is they never tell me how they will set about getting these plans through the blockade in DC.

Then there is the lying toad of the DNC, Tom Perez, who tells how they try to protect the Dem candidates…and yet they spend millions protect Biden and not so much the other candidates.

We need to get the big money trolls out of the DNC….the Clintonians.

No one acknowledges the partisan crap that is the nation’s capital……no wants to admit that promises are just hollow words thrown at the voter during elections.

When one of these candidates has a plan for getting these programs into action then I shall give them my vote…..but until then……

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Wrote, You Know

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

This Is How Damn Lies Get Started

Most boasts are usually lies and some of the better ones come from the resident in the White House……” what you have now, so great looking and smart, a true Stable Genius!”  Trump starting a new Twitter thread in which he criticized the mainstream media and his 2020 Democratic rivals while praising himself as a handsome “genius.”  Never trust a person who tells you just how smart or beautiful they are…a true smart person does not need to tell you they are so.

Lies go on and on……

We are bombarded daily by the prez and his attacks on the media as being fake news and an enemy to the people…..most of the media is in the pocket of corporate America and does not actually tell the truth all that often…..but this op-ed is a stretch of truth…

In the June 26-27 debates, the candidates were barely bothered with national security or foreign policy matters because the moderators asked a scant few questions about them. On illegal immigration, a huge national security problem, the candidates made it clear that they are all for open borders. That is one of their most extreme positions.

On the first debate night, one moderator asked if the candidates would rejoin the 2015 nuclear weapons deal with Iran to which former President Obama agreed. Nine of the 10 — the exception being Sen. Cory Booker — said they would. Many said the deal was imperfect and they would try to renegotiate it, but none said that successful renegotiation was a predicate to rejoining. That is a radical position entirely contrary to our national security.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/jul/7/democrats-reveal-their-radicalism-on-matters-of-na/
 
As FOX is the voice of Trump on the tube the Wa T is in print……it is an op-ed and is packed full of bullsh*t, lies and fear mongering manure.
 
Read it!  If you believe any of the observations then we will know who you will vote for in 2020….ignorance over reality.
 
“Lego Ergo Scribo”

Is NATO Dying?

Since Trump became the leader, of whatever it is he thinks he is the leader of, NATO has had a PR problem……there have been several bad moves made by the organization plus the question whether it has out-lived it’s usefulness……I have written on the organization in the past year or so…..https://lobotero.com/2018/07/24/lets-look-at-nato/

Is the NATO we know out-dated?

When NATO was formed seven decades ago, the world was very different: The Soviet Union had advanced into Central Europe, and Western European nations were still recovering from World War II. NATO would help them, Secretary of State Dean Acheson warned, but it would not do so forever. When asked if the United States would need “to send substantial numbers of troops over there as a more or less permanent contribution,” he assured Congress that it wouldn’t. Even Dwight Eisenhower, NATO’s first commander and a future U.S. president, presciently warned that such an American garrison could “discourage the development of the necessary military strength Western European countries should provide themselves.”

https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/outdated-alliance

Some say save the organization by re-purpose it……

NATO’s expansion under the Clinton administration, he observes in his Liberty Forum essay, did not strengthen the alliance that brought down the Soviet Empire, but rather transformed it into something different. The 1999 war against Serbia, which the Clinton administration forced upon Serbia in emulation of the 1914 Austrian ultimatum, provided “the chance to demonstrate NATO’s new agenda and ‘out of area’ operations,” as an instrument of the world’s natural evolution towards a “globalization[that]toppled all barriers to the flow of capital, goods, labor, and ideas, spreading democracy, human rights, peace and prosperity.” Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan was “NATO’s second war.” As McDougall observes, “Unanimity in the face of Al Qaeda was squandered, however, when President George W. Bush decided to invade Iraq in a wider war that 70 to 80 percent of French and Germans opposed. It might even be said that the alliance fell into abeyance during the final six years of Bush’s tenure.”

https://www.lawliberty.org/liberty-forum/repurpose-it-or-it-dies/
 
Then there is the continuous war that NATO seems to embrace….and those that want a way out of the vicious cycle that NATO embraces…….

A strong engagement to find a way out of the war system is of vital importance. This raises the question of the affiliation of Italy and other European countries with NATO.

NATO is not an Alliance. It is an organisation under the command of the Pentagon, and its objective is the military control of Western and Eastern Europe.

US bases in the member countries of NATO serve to occupy these countries, by maintaining a permanent military presence which enables Washington to influence and control their policies and prevent genuine democratic choices.

NATO is a war machine which works for the interests of the United States, with the complicity of the major European power groups, staining itself with crimes against humanity.

 
Let me remind my readers……I am not a supporter of China in any way but look how far they have come without spending massive amounts of cash on war.
 
Just something to think about…..

Closing Thought–10Apr19

I recently read an op-ed written by the media whore, Ralph Nader…..it seems he has an idea to help America rid itself of this president…..that would be Donald Trump.

Even the master distractor himself could not have distracted the mass dittohead media any better from his true crimes.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller spent almost two years to produce a $25 million report that is a flat tire. Still unreleased in full to the American people, Trump’s acolyte, Attorney General William Barr, a longtime friend of Republican Mueller, gave us what Trump long craved—by stating that “the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities” during the 2016 election. As for obstruction of justice by Trump, Attorney General Barr cryptically burped, that “The Special Counsel states that ‘while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him”—whatever that means. Give people the whole report now, as the House of Representatives voted 420 to 0 to do.

What a farce and distraction this whole exercise turned out to be! Mueller’s assigned subject was Trump. So, does this prosecutor demand to interview Trump, to subpoena Trump? No. Does this special investigator conclude with any legal recommendations at all? No. He just wants to be forgotten as he slinks away into deliberate silence (unless he is made to testify before the House Judiciary Committee).

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/03/27/forget-mueller-forget-impeachment-million-people-should-surround-white-house-and
 
Really?
 
What are the chances Ralph?
 
This is just a sad attempt to gain attention….that NO one will take seriously.
 
Besides that many people and Trump will spin it into one of his lies about his supporters and the size of the group.
 
Could we actually get a million people to show up and protest?
 
Thoughts?

It’s “Antisemitism” Again

OMG! The House is about to try and bring”charges” up on a member that they accuse of antisemitic words….Rep. Ilhan Omar is once again in hot water with the d/bags that are bought and paid for by AIPAC…..

It’s easy to name the newest member of Congress making the most headlines: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. But another freshman lawmaker continues to generate controversy of her own, and it’s about to intensify this week. Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Muslim Somali-American, is again under fire for statements seen as anti-Semitic. And while the Minnesota representative has apologized previously for similar controversies, this time she is doubling down while denying the anti-Semitic allegations. The details of what’s going on:

  • What she said: Speaking last week in reference to Israel and its supporters in the US, Omar said, “I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is OK to push for allegiance to a foreign country,” reports NPR.
  • The backlash: Critics pounced on that statement as anti-Semitic, including Jonathan Greenblatt of the Anti-Defamation League. “Accusing Jews of having allegiance to a foreign government has long been a vile anti-Semitic slur that has been used to harass, marginalize, and persecute the Jewish people for centuries,” wrote Greenblatt to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
  • From colleagues: Democratic Rep. Eliot Engel, chair of the House Foreign Affairs panel, also called it a “vile anti-Semitic slur.” Another Democrat, Rep. Nita Lowey, chair of the Appropriations Committee, called on Omar to apologize, saying she “continues to mischaracterize support for Israel.” Rep. Josh Gottheimer, also a Democrat, likened this to when “John F. Kennedy’s loyalty was called into question simply because he was Roman Catholic,” per the Washington Post.
    Doubling down: Omar is not apologizing. “Our democracy is built on debate, Congresswoman!” she responded to Lowey. “I should not be expected to have allegiance/pledge support to a foreign country in order to serve my country in Congress or serve on committee.” She adds that opposing Benjamin Netanyahu “and the occupation is not the same as being anti-Semitic.”
    Possible rebuke: The House is expected to vote Wednesday on a measure that doesn’t mention Omar (at least in its current draft form) but is seen as an “unprecedented public rebuke” of her, per Politico. The resolution condemns anti-Semitism and the “myth of dual loyalty.” Republicans are pushing for more, however, including having Omar removed from the Foreign Affairs panel.
  • AOC defends: Ocasio-Cortez is backing up Omar. “One of the things that is hurtful about the extent to which reprimand is sought of Ilhan is that no one seeks this level of reprimand when members make statements about Latinx + other communities (during the shutdown, a GOP member yelled “Go back to Puerto Rico!” on the floor),” she tweeted, one of several on the topic.
    Trump weighs in: Omar “is again under fire for her terrible comments concerning Israel,” he tweeted. “Jewish groups have just sent a petition to Speaker Pelosi asking her to remove Omar from Foreign Relations Committee. A dark day for Israel!”
    Past controversy: Omar apologized earlier this year after asserting that support for Israel was “all about the Benjamins” and again for a 2012 tweet asserting that Israel had “hypnotized the world.” The “Benjamins” comment led to formal criticism in the House for perpetuating “anti-Semitic tropes.”

All this is so much bullsh*t and a waste of time and energy that should be focused on important issues…I am with Rep. Omar……time for the old farts in the House to admit they are agents of a foreign government…they want to investigate Trump when they may be just as guilty as he.