Tag: 2018 Election

2018–Where To Put My Vote

There are just a few days (One lousy week) before we vote and I have heard many people fret over where they can put their vote……(this may not help much in the Midterms but 2020 is coming)

There are many people, voters, that are not happy with the Democratic Party or the GOP and they have a decision as to where to put their vote.

We could always look to the parties of the past…Libertarians, Greens, Reform Party, Constitution Party and of course those on the far Right and Left…..or how about some of the up and coming parties…..

Like The Party of Reason and Progress (PORP)……would you like to know more?

The Party of Reason and Progress (PORP) is an organization dedicated to promoting reason and empirically sound decision-making in modern politics. Our mission is to implement effective and rational policies through educating the general public and supporting reasonable and logical public officials and initiatives.

https://partyofreasonandprogress.org/platform/

Then there is a name from the past…….the Whig Party…..would you like to know more?

Whigs have traditionally stood for representative government, individual liberty, social and economic progress, modernization, public education, a vibrant legislative branch, and ongoing cooperation between the private and public sectors. Our forebears, the original American Whigs, built on those traditions and led the fledgling United States during a period of robust economic, social and political development in the years between the Revolution and the Civil War. We proudly point to some of the giants of American history in our lineage, including such leading lights as Alexander Hamilton, Henry Clay and Abraham Lincoln, among others.

http://www.modernwhig.org/

If you are more radical Left than the others and are looking for a party to put your trust in then may I suggest the Resistance Party……would you like to know more?

We are in the midst of a global crisis of democracy. As the foundations of the post-war international order are shaken, in part due to the real failures of existing American, European, and international institutions to address the needs of ordinary people, extreme right-wing movements are on the rise. Amid austerity, inequality, high youth unemployment and underemployment, strained relations between Russia and the West, and a refugee crisis caused in large part by the disastrous failures of American foreign policy in the Middle East, the threat posed by a virulent anti-democratic Right waxes every day in the United States and in Europe. In the United States, the radicalized Republican Party under Donald J. Trump is laying the foundation for a program dangerously reminiscent of fascism that we may refer to as Trumpism. Under Trumpism, the United States appears poised to continue to depress the wages of workers, to dismantle what is left of our social safety net, to suppress dissent in violation of the Constitution, and to mobilize racism, scapegoating minorities, who are threatened with mass deportation or worse, and who are already experiencing an uptick in hate crimes. We should not underestimate what a grave threat Trumpism represents to our democratic norms, constitutional checks and balances, the rule of law, and human and constitutional rights.

https://www.theresistanceparty.org/

These are the newest of the fledgling parties that deserve a shot at government for the traditional two have screwed the country so bad that it needs a new direction.

Place your vote where it will do the most good….but never compromise your principles.

Turn The Page!

Closing Thought–17Oct18

Before I begin I need to ask a question……for a couple of months there was a stable on the TV thingy whenever it was turned on and now it is missing and I would like to know….WHERE THE HELL IS RUDY?

Just a mere few days before we vote in the 2018 Mid-Terms……and usually the GOP would have their arms wrapped around veterans and the military and a show of FAKE support…..in other words the Vets would be used as a political prop……

It is a new day and a new GOP….a GOP of cowards and d/bags….why?

They are trashing candidates that oppose them that also served this country in the military (something most of the GOP has NOT done)……most of whom looked to their ambition and not the need of the country.  So d/bags is a mild form of what I really think of them.

Today’s Republican party isn’t exactly known for its civility or honesty — but if you thought the GOP couldn’t sink any lower, think again.

Apparently fearing an electoral bloodbath in November, House Republicans have released a series of ads attacking their Democratic opponents — many of whom happen to be military veterans and former intelligence officers — by questioning their patriotism, smearing them as anti-American, and even falsely labeling them as terrorist sympathizers.

The ads are funded by the National Republican Congressional Committee and the Congressional Leadership Fund, Politico reports.

In one ad, Republicans slam House candidate Jason Crow — a Colorado Democratic candidate who received a Bronze Star for heroism in the Iraq war and an award for being a “lawyer of the year” for his veterans advocacy work — by falsely claiming he “neglected” Colorado veterans.

https://shareblue.com/house-republicans-smear-military-veterans-attack-ads/

Vets mean very little to the GOP and especially Trump after the election….this GOP is a pack of cowards and spineless drones.

Vets need to see just how little their service means to these worthless d/bags and vote accordingly.

Vets please do not let these toadies in Congress do what they want….they want to rip benefits from the people that have paid into the system……they are blaming the Dems…..a good slogan but a GODDAMN LIE!

New Politics, Old Ideas

As we keep an eye on yet another hurricane…this one is named Michael……and we wait to see……

The mid-terms are upon us and the so-called “blue wave” and we have a crop of “new faces” for the election……and some are even calling it a New Left.

Personally I think that is so much garbage to sell papers….there are very few new ideas just new faces on the Left….but that does not make it a change of direction.

Several articles on this subject……

Remember the “libertarian moment?” Not so long ago, commentariat from Reason magazine to the opinion pages of The New York Timesnoted a resurgence of libertarian ideas, driven by economic and technological fragmentation of power, and by the rise of a new generation of libertarian candidates such as the Kentucky Senator Rand Paul.

Yet the “libertarian moment” has not ushered in a new golden age of free-market thinking and innovative market-based policies. The Tea Party movement, of which the “libertarian moment” now seems an epiphenomenon, radicalized the Republican base into demanding ever-more extreme measures only to create a zombie—Donald Trump—whom nobody could control.

The bourgeoning “democratic socialism” on the Left carries echoes of the Tea Party movement. Both may seem refreshing after decades of groupthink and complacency in the political center. But neither is offering genuinely new ideas or a coherent governing strategy.

https://www.the-american-interest.com/2018/09/11/radical-politics-old-ideas/

More information…….

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/review-essay/2018-08-13/brand-new-left-same-old-problems

Will the “Blue Wave” change anything?

Americans across the country will be bracing for the coming Blue Wave; a self-induced disaster that will outpace even the climate change induced storms sweeping the country. The Blue Wave is inevitable as the inaction on climate change that will come with it. Democrats feel entitled to fill more seats with hot air now that the Not-So-Great Pumpkin is an international embarrassment. Donald Trump’s speech to the U.N. was similarly full of hot air, despite the encouraging words against globalization. Trump wants less foreign aid, diplomacy and immigration. But he also wants more war and handouts for the global elites. Add this all up and it’s a pitiful resistance to the devastation to working people that globalization has caused across the globe.

Down with the globalists! Trump says he was being funny on purpose. But Trump is never funny, and he never does anything on purpose. But he is right. Down with the globalists! The words may be hallow but they are correct.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/09/28/the-blue-wave-is-awash-with-hypocrisy/

Of course when we talk about a New Left……the minds will go to Democratic Socialism…..which I do not agree with….but to get my readers caught up…….

Occasionally a phrase supports a wide range of political posturing while bearing little determinable relationship to actionable politics. ‘Income inequality’ is one of these phrases. Few using it are communists, a politics that recognizes concentrated economic power as both cause and effect in the skewed distribution of income and wealth. And the entire point of capitalism is the concentration of these that functions as (circular) proof of the social utility created by capitalists. As corollary to American democracy, the phrase ignores centuries of evidence that political power is determined by economic power.

Of current relevance is its place in the programs of Democratic Socialism, a rebranding of New Deal type social welfare programs that proponents (I am one) apparently intend to fit into existing American political economy. As one of ‘a multiplicity of tactics,’ the lives of the poorer 90% of the country could be vastly improved by Medicare for all, Federal government funded college educations and a job guarantee that pays a living wage and benefits. However, the improbability that Western capitalists, particularly American capitalists, will loosen their grip to facilitate functional versions of these programs was better understood in the late nineteenth century than it is today.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/09/28/democratic-socialism-and-political-power/

We will know one way or the other the first of next year…..

Closing Thought–28Sep18

Obama’s Fault!

These days the comedians in the Trump GOP are still blaming everything that goes wrong on Obama.

There is an Arizona GOP candidate that is such a dick that even his family will not vote for him and even went so far as to make an ad against his candidacy….

Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar admitted to being hurt by the political attack ad that featured six of his siblings saying they were voting for his opponent and blamed the tactic on former President Barack Obama.

During a radio interview on The Mike Broomhead Show Monday, Gosar explained to host Mike Broomhead that on a personal level it did “sting” to see his siblings in the advertisement. “Blood is supposed to be thicker than water,” he explained.

Gosar shared that his son is named after his brother, Gaston, who appeared in the ad, and that it’s taken a toll on him. However, the congressman chalked it up to the old saying, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

https://www.newsweek.com/arizona-congressman-paul-gosar-says-ads-featuring-siblings-stings-claims-its-1138279

You gotta love it when the brothers and sisters of a candidate think he is such a bad choice that they make campaign ads against his/her candidacy…..

It is a Friday and the beginning of a weekend….enjoy your time….chuq

Money And Elections

The 2018 mid-terms is just days away…..and as with every election for decades the talking points will be about which party and/or candidate has put together the most donors and cash.

Everybody knows the old talking points about campaign cash…..he who spends the most wins….Dark money……yada yada…..

But there is a bit more to the effects of cash on elections than the 30 second sound bite network TV gives the listeners….

The Nerds at geeky website, fivethirtyeight.com, has put together a good piece to explain the effects of cash on elections.

To quote the great political philosopher Cyndi Lauper, “Money changes everything.” 1 And nowhere is that proverb more taken to heart than in a federal election, where billions of dollars are raised and spent on the understanding that money is a crucial determinant of whether or not a candidate will win.

This year, the money has been coming in and out of political campaigns at a particularly furious pace. Collectively, U.S. House candidates raised more money by Aug. 27 than House candidates raised during the entire 2014 midterm election cycle, and Senate candidates weren’t far behind. Ad volumes are up 86 percent compared to that previous midterm. Dark money — flowing to political action committees from undisclosed donors — is up 26 percent.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/money-and-elections-a-complicated-love-story/

SCOTUS has made corporations equal to individuals and in doing so made the dark money a driving force in elections…..it has replaced real issues with the direction of donors.

Just 15 groups were responsible for more than 75 percent of dark money political spending from 2010 to 2016, and together poured more than $600 million—out of a total of $800+ million—into campaigns in the wake of the landmark Citizens United case, according to a new analysis from Issue One, a nonpartisan nonprofit that advocates for stricter campaign finance rules.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/09/13/citizens-united-just-15-groups-account-75-percent-800-million-dark-money-spent-us

Dems are just as bad as the GOP…..they talk a mean game but do little to change anything…..

For voters concerned about the bad consequences of big business spending on elections, a New York Times reportlast month promised mid-summer relief. “Tired of Money in Politics, Some Democrats Think Small,” the headline read.

The accompanying article, which focused on a Minnesota Congressional contest, noted that, “in mid-term races around the country…dozens of Democrats [are] rejecting donations from political action committees, or PACs, that are sponsored by corporations or industry groups.”

https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/09/12/big-money-in-politics-are-leading-democrats-really-on-the-wagon-or-still-sneaking-a-drink/

Dems are always bitching about the money in politics and all the while are standing with their hands out.  There is only one way to remove big money from politics……by law and by making elections a federal funded operation…..no private money.

Another Congressperson Packs It In

As the 2018 mid term election gets closer the more Congresspeople are packing it in for most know they will lose…..well the latest to say bye is the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.

Wednesday’s buzziest political development comes from Axios, which broke the news that Paul Ryan has decided not to run for re-election. The House Speaker’s office made that official with a statement explaining “this morning Speaker Ryan shared with his colleagues that this will be his last year as a member of the House. He will serve out his full term, run through the tape, and then retire in January. After nearly twenty years in the House, the speaker is proud of all that has been accomplished and is ready to devote more of his time to being a husband and a father. While he did not seek the position, he told his colleagues that serving as speaker has been the professional honor of his life, and he thanked them for the trust they placed in him.”

As for what fueled the decision, which has been rumored for some time, satisfaction is reportedly one: Tax reform had long been Ryan’s goal, and now that he achieved it, he’s ready to bow out, Axios’ Jonathan Swan told MSNBC. Another potential factor, per Swan: He’s “staring down the barrel frankly of potentially losing the House in November. I don’t know that Paul Ryan, minority leader, is a particularly appealing title.” President Trump had this to say in a tweet: “Speaker Paul Ryan is a truly good man, and while he will not be seeking re-election, he will leave a legacy of achievement that nobody can question. We are with you Paul!”

Of course he regurgitated the same reason as most of the others…”my kids are not getting any younger and I do not want to be a weekend father”…..really?  Apparently the kids were not important when they were younger…..it is a lame excuse….tell the truth…you now that you will have a hard time with re-election so why not quit and void the embarrassment of losing an election.

Oh Trey We Gonna Miss Ya

You remember Trey right?  He was the leader of the 2nd Benghazi investigation…..if that don’t ring a bell then how about that Congressperson with the wild hair, anything?

Any way he made an unusual confession……

Republicans are having a hard time letting go of their smears of the FBI, but House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) gave away the whole game on Sunday.

Republicans have spent months trying to smear the FBI’s investigation of Russian collusion over a series of text messages between a pair of agents, an effort that reached its absurd peak this week when a sitting GOP senator claimed he had evidence of a “secret society” within the FBI, only to be exposed as a laughingstock.

“Don’t republicans hurt their credibility on real issues of bias when they make such a big deal about secret societies and palace coups?” Wallace asked.

“Yes,” Gowdy replied, adding “Republicans are the best I’ve ever seen at taking good facts and overstating them, and therefore changing the narrative.”

Who knew that a politician would lie or make-up facts?

Apparently even a good Tea Party GOPer has a problem with what is happening in DC these days…..Gowdy is taking a powder…..

South Carolina GOP Rep. Trey Gowdy says he will not run for re-election and will “instead be returning to the judicial system,” the AP reports. Gowdy is chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee and previously chaired a highly partisan panel investigating the 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya. He is a former federal prosecutor. In a statement, he said “whatever skills I may have are better utilized in a courtroom than in Congress, and I enjoy our justice system more than our political system.”

The Benghazi panel revealed the existence of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email server and controversies involving it proved to be damaging to her failed 2016 presidential campaign. Gowdy was elected in the 2010 tea party wave that returned control of the House to Republicans.

How fascinating…the Tea Party helped create the tension and the broken system in DC and yet one of their own cannot stomach what is happening to this country……

Should tell most people everything they need to know about the DC of a Pres. Trump.

Rats Desert A Sinking Ship

Obstructionism and division has been part of the American political scheme for decades.  And since the election of Trump and his brand of autocratic rule Congresspeople are deciding to cut and run from government service.

After Democrats handed President Donald Trump his biggest legislative achievement, Republican leaders are worried he doomed his party for the 2018 midterm elections.

Trump, “paved the way for hazardous, rolling deadlines over the next six months,” Burgess Everett, Seung Min Kim and Kyle Cheney report for Politico.

“The debt and spending bill approved by Capitol Hill on Friday averted imminent fiscal disaster, but it’s added more misery for a Republican Party whose agenda has floundered even with unified control of Washington for the first time in a decade,” Politico explained. “It’s also given Democrats significant leverage to imperil tax reform, the GOP’s best hope at a major legislative victory.”

Source: ‘It is not going to be pretty’: GOP panicked over midterms as Trump continues destroying their agenda

Repubs have NO one but themselves to blame for their current state of confusion and sluggishness…..and some are running sacred and have decided to desert this sinking ship we call democracy….

Outraged by the behavior and radical right-wing agenda of Donald Trump and GOP congressional leadership, Democrats are laser-focused on winning back the House in 2018.

And that could spell huge trouble for Speaker Paul Ryan, who could end up struggling to maintain his majority.

There is no question Democrats have a massive advantage in voter enthusiasm over Republicans for the midterm, and a record-shattering edge in candidate recruitment. But many political experts are still skeptical that Democrats can win the House, due in part to how Republicans rigged and gerrymandered congressional districts.

Source: Seventh Republican retirement signals House GOP’s massive Trump problem in 2018 – Shareblue

Could this be the only way the Dems can return to the power of DC?  They have no new ideas and Trump is about as popular as a turd in the punch bowl….that alone is a scary thought….

This country needs help….but this is not the type I am talking about.