The Many Faces of US Politics...

[J70]

Stew do NOT watch this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziwYbVx_-qg

[seafoid]

Stew do NOT watch this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziwYbVx_-qg

Obama's economics news is BS. Unemployment is far higher than 5%. Stew has more details. 

[seafoid]

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/69dba38c-2e5b-11e6-bf8d-26294ad519fc.html#ixzz4BCR5lljd
June 10, 2016 4:20 pm
For Trump, even American justice is for sale
Jacob Weisberg
Has Donald Trump finally gone too far? So many people have asserted this so often in the past, with so little ensuing decline in his popularity, that the claim would seem to lack any hope of plausibility.
Yet there is reason to believe that Mr Trump really has gone too far and that this time even he realises it.
Future historians may trace his demise to the 12-minute tirade he delivered at a campaign rally in San Diego. That happens to be where a class-action lawsuit by unhappy graduates of the now-defunct Trump University is being heard. Mr Trump accused Gonzalo Curiel, the judge presiding over the litigation, of being "a hater of Donald Trump", noting that the judge "happens to be, we believe, Mexican". Mr Trump went on to describe the case as a "scam", the federal court as a "rigged system", and Judge Curiel as "totally biased" and a "total disgrace". Challenged to explain himself later, Mr Trump responded, "I'm building a wall. It's an inherent conflict of interest."

The response inside the Republican party has resembled what happens when you turn the lights on in a kitchen infested with cockroaches. Paul Ryan, the speaker of the House of Representatives, who finally endorsed Mr Trump just after his San Diego diatribe, called the remarks "the textbook definition of a racist comment". Mark Kirk, the Republican senator from Illinois, withdrew his previous endorsement. Even Newt Gingrich, one of Mr Trump's most enthusiastic sycophants, called the remarks "inexcusable".
All of which raises the question: why are they finally noticing his blatant prejudice now? Mr Trump has made more obviously racist comments about Mexicans, describing them as rapists and drug dealers. He has mocked the disabled and called his female critics dogs and fat pigs. He has claimed that Barack Obama was born in Kenya and faked his birth certificate. Far from being his worst, his comments about Judge Curiel were merely typical.

But in another way Mr Trump did break new ground in challenging core American values and showing contempt for his fervent supporters. The most important ideal Mr Trump traduced in his diatribe was assimilation. Anger about illegal immigration is one thing. Denying that people born and raised in the US are fully fledged Americans is something else entirely. Mr Curiel's father worked in the steel mills of northern Indiana to put two sons through law school. A third son went to Vietnam, where Mr Trump avoided service. As a federal prosecutor, Mr Curiel had to live under armed protection, after he was threatened with assassination by a Tijuana drug cartel. His is the kind of story of patriotism and struggle with which Americans of every ethnicity identify.

A second national premise Mr Trump violated is respect for the rule of law. Politicians stray into treacherous territory when they insult the courts. To attribute legal outcomes one dislikes to political bias — or, as Mr Trump asserted, personal animus and corruption — corrodes trust in the judicial system. For him to make this kind of charge in a case that threatens him financially demonstrates the way in which he thinks American justice is for sale.
Of course, this assumption reflects Mr Trump's past success intimidating his enemies with lawsuits and using his wealth to cultivate friends in high places. Florida's attorney-general considered joining a separate, multi-state fraud suit against Trump University in 2013. She reportedly decided not to do so shortly after he sent a $25,000 contribution to her re-election campaign.

The third and final line Mr Trump has crossed is around financial predation. He has cast himself as a tribune for the economically vulnerable. But Trump University was a flimflam designed to separate the credulous from their borrowed cash. The gullible enrollees were in the mould of Mr Trump's supporters: displaced, desperate for assistance and too trusting of a flamboyant huckster they had seen on television. For prices as high as $35,000 for the "Gold Elite" programme, aspirants were told they could become wealthy real estate investors like Mr Trump. A businessman who launches a venture of this type clearly does not hold his customers in high regard.
This week Mr Trump issued a rambling statement claiming that his comments had been "misconstrued" and read an unusually subdued speech from a teleprompter after the primaries in New Jersey and California. But the suspicion grows that he is doing something other than running to win. Mr Trump's campaign operation remains an understaffed, underfunded, feuding mess. By appearing in San Diego, he was wasting time in a state where Latinos outnumber whites, and which he cannot possibly win. In the same spirit of futility, he has laid the groundwork to contest New York, which has not gone to a Republican since Ronald Reagan.
Nothing he is doing makes any sense for his party. The buyer's remorse that afflicts enrollees in Trump University is now infecting his more prominent Republican apologists. They know they were gulled and want their money back

[whitey]

DOUBLE WOW

https://www.google.com/amp/amp.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/06/10/how_clinton_donor_rajiv_fernando_got_a_job_as_a_nuclear_expert_he_wasn_t.html#

" The rest of the International Security Advisory Board was filled with nuclear scientists, past cabinet secretaries, and former members of Congress. But the only thing Fernando had to offer the group was, in ABC's words, "his technological know-how," which none of his fellow panelists seemed to find all that helpful. Fernando was so out of place, in fact, that one board member told ABC that none of his colleagues could figure out why he was even there."


This is absolutely mind boggling

[J70]

She'll, justifiably, get criticism for this, unless they do manage to come up some rationalization or reason.

But, its hardly news. Political patronage and jobs for the boys is as old as the hills in American politics. Did anyone ever suggest that the appointment of Michael "heckuva job Brownie" Brown to be head of FEMA was illegal, as opposed to the worst example of political cronyism? Trump can hardly complain as he has explicitly said he himself has bought off politicians all over the place in return for access and favours, not least in NJ. So long as governors and presidents and so on are allowed to fill political positions with whomever they want, this type of thing will occur. It stinks, but just what do people think all these massive donors, especially in the aftermath of Citizen's United, are looking for? They're not in it out of altruism. Favourable regs, ambassadorships, administration jobs etc. etc.

I used to work for a regional agency in the NYC area. It was amazing the jobs (not all high paying or high powered) you would find people in purely because of their connection to a mayor or governor.

[whitey]

She'll, justifiably, get criticism for this, unless they do manage to come up some rationalization or reason.

But, its hardly news. Political patronage and jobs for the boys is as old as the hills in American politics. Did anyone ever suggest that the appointment of Michael "heckuva job Brownie" Brown to be head of FEMA was illegal, as opposed to the worst example of political cronyism? Trump can hardly complain as he has explicitly said he himself has bought off politicians all over the place in return for access and favours, not least in NJ. So long as governors and presidents and so on are allowed to fill political positions with whomever they want, this type of thing will occur. It stinks, but just what do people think all these massive donors, especially in the aftermath of Citizen's United, are looking for? They're not in it out of altruism. Favourable regs, ambassadorships, administration jobs etc. etc.

I used to work for a regional agency in the NYC area. It was amazing the jobs (not all high paying or high powered) you would find people in purely because of their connection to a mayor or governor.

Yeah, but if there's a direct line between his fundraising/donations and getting offered this position this could be a major issue.

And we all know people who get "made up" jobs but this one required major security clearances....it wasn't some bs committee to help advance gender equality.

And the fact he resigned within days once it was brought to light shows he should never have been there to begin with

[Gmac]

Hillary would make boss tweed look like teddy Roosevelt

[J70]

She'll, justifiably, get criticism for this, unless they do manage to come up some rationalization or reason.

But, its hardly news. Political patronage and jobs for the boys is as old as the hills in American politics. Did anyone ever suggest that the appointment of Michael "heckuva job Brownie" Brown to be head of FEMA was illegal, as opposed to the worst example of political cronyism? Trump can hardly complain as he has explicitly said he himself has bought off politicians all over the place in return for access and favours, not least in NJ. So long as governors and presidents and so on are allowed to fill political positions with whomever they want, this type of thing will occur. It stinks, but just what do people think all these massive donors, especially in the aftermath of Citizen's United, are looking for? They're not in it out of altruism. Favourable regs, ambassadorships, administration jobs etc. etc.

I used to work for a regional agency in the NYC area. It was amazing the jobs (not all high paying or high powered) you would find people in purely because of their connection to a mayor or governor.

Yeah, but if there's a direct line between his fundraising/donations and getting offered this position this could be a major issue.

And we all know people who get "made up" jobs but this one required major security clearances....it wasn't some bs committee to help advance gender equality.

And the fact he resigned within days once it was brought to light shows he should never have been there to begin with

I will be shocked if a direct line is found! We are not talking some innocent, naive person new to the game here.

Regardless, I can't see something like this being pushed too hard by the GOP. While the security issue is obviously a concern, they probably don't want to give up the jobs for the boys any more than the Democrats. This would definitely shine a light on that too.

[J70]

Hillary would make boss tweed look like teddy Roosevelt

Based on...?

[whitey]

If they recover the 33000 "personal" emails there could be some fireworks

[heganboy]

DOUBLE WOW

https://www.google.com/amp/amp.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/06/10/how_clinton_donor_rajiv_fernando_got_a_job_as_a_nuclear_expert_he_wasn_t.html#

" The rest of the International Security Advisory Board was filled with nuclear scientists, past cabinet secretaries, and former members of Congress. But the only thing Fernando had to offer the group was, in ABC's words, "his technological know-how," which none of his fellow panelists seemed to find all that helpful. Fernando was so out of place, in fact, that one board member told ABC that none of his colleagues could figure out why he was even there."


This is absolutely mind boggling

Did you happen to read the last paragraph?

Still, it's yet one more example of why Clinton is so fortunate that she's set to face off against Donald Trump in the general. She and her allies want to make November a referendum about him, which is understandable given he's a race-baiting demagogue who poses a unique danger to the world. But doing that will also conveniently allow her to skirt legitimate questions about what her past time in office suggests about the type of president she might be.

[heganboy]

Removing posts now Whitey?

Interesting

Alabama politics today took a massive body blow with the first convictions and the prospect of many more  to come

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/06/11/us/michael-hubbard-alabama-house-speaker-is-convicted-of-12-felony-ethics-charges.html

In addition to those case

The chief justice of the State Supreme Court, Roy S. Moore, could be removed from office this year because of his efforts to resist same-sex marriage, and Mr. Bentley is a subject of impeachment proceedings over an improper relationship with an aide, as well as federal and state inquiries

Hardly shocking

[heganboy]

The Drumpf blueprint for making America great.

Starting in New Jersey, Atlantic city:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/12/nyregion/donald-trump-atlantic-city.html

Or How Donald Trump Bankrupted His Atlantic City Casinos, but Still Earned Millions

[stew]

The Drumpf blueprint for making America great.

Starting in New Jersey, Atlantic city:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/12/nyregion/donald-trump-atlantic-city.html

Or How Donald Trump Bankrupted His Atlantic City Casinos, but Still Earned Millions

What have you to say about Clinton's past, compared to that  Trump is a choirboy.

[seafoid]

I watched a few Trump videos. Jesus, he is some narcissist. I can't see many women voting for him. His attacks on the judge will alienate many Latinos.  White people over 35 represent less than 20% of Americans.  The GOP is in serious trouble.