text:
Trump and America win: A letter to America
By Rick Manning
Dear America:
Thank you, thank you, thank you. You just saved the nation.
All of those unconstitutional pen and phone executive orders to do what Congress rejected — ripped up.
The regulations that are intended to destroy the coal industry and drive up the cost of manufacturing forcing jobs overseas — rescinded.
All the bad, bad trade deals that put the wants of big donor multi-national corporations ahead of the needs of American workers — torn up.
The job killing highest corporate tax rate in the world that has stifled economic growth — lowered.
And the near permanent takeover of the Supreme Court by those who don't believe that the Constitution should be their guide, but instead hate the idea of individual liberties that come from God Almighty himself — prevented.
America, Nov. 8, 2016 will go down in the history books as the day that the people stood up and remembered that their country is one of laws and not men and women, rejecting the easy temptation of continuing a slide into the recesses of history, instead choosing the more difficult, noble path of freedom.
Your choosing in favor of our common national bond over those who would hyphenate each of us, separated by our race, religion and even sexual preference stops the slide into the abyss of mean-spirited fights that deprive us of our individual and national character.
The very transformation that you rejected is one designed to conform our nation to the world, rather than playing the role that God created for America to be a shining beacon of freedom for all in the world to see and be inspired by.
Donald Trump is just one man. He is flawed like all of us. He will need to be kept in check, just as the Framers intended for all presidents. And he may falter and fail, but the vote of 2016 signals that America is not dead, but instead is a concept that its people still cherish and are willing to fight for.
Hope for the future can now replace the despair of acceptance of a new normal where every day each of us were just a little less free, with a little less opportunity to make our own way without Uncle Sam's forceful guiding hand.
In the end, that is what America is about, a land of individual opportunities to try, sometimes fail, get up and try again with an eye to becoming the best that each of us can be with the collective result being a strong, vibrant people and nation.
America is about an abiding faith that our freedom comes from God Himself, and cannot be taken away by men. A freedom worth fighting for not only here, but abroad as we help others overcome oppressors to join us in the light.
We were losing that confidence and sense of purpose and vision for ourselves. On Nov. 8, a glimmer has been restored in the lamp of freedom.
Thank you, America, for taking a chance on yourself again. Now, let's get to work with the hard task of restoring our nation.
A view from the Left
Mostly pretty factual
Trump defied all expectations on Tuesday, sending shudders around the world by claiming the keys to the Oval Office. It was the crowning moment of a political career built on proving the so-called experts — pollsters, campaign advisers, and pundits — wrong again and again.
And as the results were tallied, it became clear that Trump was redrawing the electoral map in the same way that he said he was going to. He won over white working class voters who have felt abandoned.
Accusations of groping women? Didn't matter. Deporting immigrants en masse? Not a problem. Repeated claims that he was unfit, ill-tempered, and too erratic? Didn't change enough minds.
He played it loose with the truth in a way that, in the past, would have been fatal for other politicians. But voters around the country demonstrated on Tuesday that they were so frustrated, so fed up — so mad as hell — that they were willing to roll the dice on the unknown rather than stick with the status quo.
"The country," Tom Brokaw said on NBC, "is more agitated than we realized."
Only 37 percent of voters said in exit polls that Trump is qualified to be president, while a mere 34 percent said he had the right personality and temperament for the office. But the overwhelming thirst for change seemed to take precedence. Some 70 percent of Trump voters said the most important attribute in choosing him was he "can bring needed change."
It was a monumental loss for Hillary Clinton, but it was also an earth-shattering win for Donald Trump. Clinton dramatically underperformed President Obama in 2012, while Trump far out-performed Mitt Romney.
Rural voters turned out in greater numbers. Over and over in exit polls, voters reported they wanted change. But he also won in Florida, a far more diverse state that Hillary Clinton banked on taking by driving up Hispanic turnout.
Trump supporters gathered at a Boston-area F1 track on election night
Pollsters were woefully wrong, and perhaps unable to capture voters who didn't vote before — or who were afraid to admit they were voting for Trump until they got into the voting booth. Political analysts late on Tuesday night were flabbergasted. "I literally have no idea what to think right now," said one.
The New York Times' Upshot had a projection that had Clinton with an 85 percent chance to win — the same probability that an NFL kicker has at missing a routine 37-yard field goal.
Yet Clinton missed. Despite spending twice as much money. Despite running far more ads. Despite a much bigger campaign staff. Despite a popular sitting president of the United States campaigning relentlessly on her behalf.
Those who couldn't wait for Trump to exit stage left now have to imagine him sitting down in the Oval Office, giving a State of the Union address, and hosting state dinners. Anyone who turned the channel when Trump came on the news because they didn't want their children to hear now have to talk with them about Trump or stop watching the news for the next four years.
If you can't stomach a man who built his campaign on chants of "Build a wall!" and "Lock her up!" — or a man who has a Middle East policy that goes little beyond "Knock the hell out of ISIS" — that man is now your president.
He has rocked the Republican Party, but he now will have House and Senate majorities to try and carry out his priorities.
That means Obama's health care law could be dismantled, and Supreme Court nominees will be filled by Trump. He almost certainly will attempt to carry out his far-fetched plan to build a wall along the southern border, on the Mexican government's dime. He wants to deport any immigrant in the United States illegally, which could mean tearing families apart and sending some home.
Any Syrian refugees who had been planning to have safe harbor could be turned away. Muslims could face a temporary ban from entering a country with a motto of e pluribus unum, out of many one.
He could also attempt to follow through on his bold — potentially illegal — suggestion during a debate to instruct his attorney general to appoint a special prosecutor to go after Clinton's e-mail "situation."
When Clinton said it was a good thing he wasn't in charge, he vowed, "Because you'd be in jail."
Trump defies predictions and polls in unexpected win
Later this month, Trump — the president-elect — is slated to testify in a lawsuit from former students who say they were scammed by his Trump University real estate seminars. The case is being overseen by US District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, whom Trump said should recuse himself because he is "of Mexican heritage" (the federal judge was born in Indiana to Mexican immigrants).
Trump never went on the traditional foreign trip that most presidential candidates do. Instead, he went to Scotland and opened a new golf course. While he was there, Britain took a stunning vote to leave the European Union. In answering questions during the leadup to the referendum, Trump did not seem familiar with it. But as soon as it happened, he embraced it.
"I think it's a great thing that happened," Trump told reporters after getting out of a helicopter. "People are angry, all over the world. People, they're angry."
He also drew parallels to his own campaign.
"They're angry over borders. They're angry over people coming into the country and taking over. Nobody even knows who they are," Trump said. "They're angry about many, many things. They took back control of their country. It's a great thing."
Nearly five months later, the United States would do something similar.
The left brought the rise of Trump on themselves
A concise and succinct letter to the editor below
DONALD J. TRUMP is the natural result of the left's highly politically correct, anti-white, anti-male, and anti-American rhetoric.
It turns out that if you demonize the people you disagree with, paint them as racists and oppressors, and tell them that any and all of their successes are a result of some unearned "privilege," they will create a counterrevolution.
Progressives, President-elect Trump is the consequence of your actions, your rhetoric, and the identity politics you brought into American politics. You made your bed, now lie in it.
Crash? What crash? Stocks defy prediction of a Trump meltdown
Conventional wisdom said Donald Trump couldn't win the White House. Conventional wisdom said that in the event of an upset, financial markets would crater. Conventional wisdom was wrong.
US stocks rallied Wednesday, as shock over the billionaire's presidential victory gave way to measured bets that he could stoke economic growth by funding infrastructure and cutting corporate taxes.
Pharmaceutical and biotech stocks rose, freed from Democratic threats to restrict drug prices. Bank stocks gained on prospects of higher interest rates and less regulation.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 1.1 percent, shaking off a 5 percent plunge overnight as global investors had watched Trump claim state after state, despite polls leaning toward Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton.
Investors went into the election with a high degree of confidence that Clinton would come out on top, shaking off an 11th-hour e-mail inquiry by the FBI. Wall Street had favored Clinton as a more predictable hand on the economy.
But instead of taking a Brexit-like nosedive Wednesday, stocks showed surprising resilience after the votes were all counted.
Despite the vagueness of Trump's plans so far, investors liked the sound of spending on job-creating projects, such as roads and transportation, to provide stimulus to the economy that the central bank can no longer provide with near-zero interest rates. Corporate tax cuts, too, appeared to be a welcome prospect.
"Trump has a mandate to get growth going,'' said Kathleen Gaffney, a bond fund manager at Eaton Vance Management in Boston. If Trump is able to generate blue-collar jobs and lower taxes, she said, "those are two things that could affect our economy in a positive way."
Trump helped ease the global markets' early emotional reaction to his win with a conciliatory tone in his acceptance speech, analysts said. But markets were expected to be choppy in the days ahead, as investors at home and abroad try to discern more about the president-elect's intentions.
For more blog postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, and Paralipomena (Occasionally updated), a Coral reef compendium and an IQ compendium. (Both updated as news items come in). GUN WATCH is now mainly put together by Dean Weingarten. I also put up occasional updates on my Personal blog and each day I gather together my most substantial current writings on A WESTERN HEART.
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Posted by JR at 1:32 AM 0 comments
It's Trump!
I am so happy I could cry. America has been saved from the psychopathic b*tch and all her ilk who would destroy America. In my own tiny way, I helped campaign for him so his victory is a victory for me too. Great blessings and prosperity ahead for America now.
And Trump has singlehandedly reformed and reinvigorates American conservatism. The Congressional GOP had become just a watered-down version of the Left. They refused to oppose Muslim immigration because that would be "racist", which is what the Left say. Trump has turned all that on its head. The Left no longer rule the roost. And with both the Senate and the House still in GOP hands, Trump should have little problem getting through any changes to the law that he wants. I am looking forward to his SCOTUS nominee too.
Donald Trump 'could make the world a safer place', claims former British Army chief
Lord Richards said he believes Trump 'would reinvigorate big power relationships' Former Chief of the Defence Staff Lord Richards said he believes controversial Republican Donald Trump could make the world a safer place if elected.
The ex-head of the British Army said the billionaire's approach to foreign policy could "reinvigorate big power relationships" and in the process "might make the world ironically safer".
Lord Richards of Herstmonceux, the chief of defence staff between 2010 and 2013, said: "There is a case for saying that big power politics is what we're missing.
"If countries and states could coalesce better to deal with these people – and I think Trump's instinct is to go down that route – then I think there's the case for saying that the world certainly won't be any less safe.
"It's that lack of understanding and empathy with each other as big power players that is a risk to us all at the moment.
"Therefore I think he would reinvigorate big power relationships, which might make the world ironically safer."
Richards, who is now a peer in the House of Lords, said there was no reason to think Trump would cause chaos adding the biggest threat came from such groups as ISIS.
Speaking to The House magazine, he added: "It's non-state actors like Isis that are the biggest threat to our security."
While on the campaign trail Trump has said he would "make a friend" of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Want to know why Trump wins? Ask Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton understands the white middle class voter who elected him president over George Herbert Walker Bush in 1992 like few remaining in the Democrat Party.
Wikileaks revealed that Bill Clinton expressed thoughts that sound as if they come straight from a Donald Trump rally to a group of donors in 2015 when he said the following: "We have incredible debates all over America that shouldn't exist between people in different racial groups because they don't trust law enforcement anymore." he said.
"And in the middle of all this we learned, breathtakingly, that middle-aged, non-college-educated white Americans' life expectancy is going down and is now lower than Hispanics, even though they make less money. And the gap between African Americans and whites is closing, but unfortunately not because the death rate among African Americans is dropping but because the death rate among white Americans is rising." Clinton continued.
"Why? Because they don't have anything to look forward to when they get up in the morning. Because their lives are sort of stuck in neutral. Because their lives are sort of stuck in neutral."
And that is why Donald Trump will be elected President of the United States, because he has given those who had previously lost hope, a glimmer of expectation of being able to achieve the future they had hoped for themselves and their family.
Bill Clinton understands exactly why the slogan, "Make America Great Again" resonates with so many voters. They have been left behind, sand kicked in their collective faces by multi-national corporations who are incentivized by their own elected officials to move job opportunities overseas.
Former President Clinton understands why voters who have been failed by the status quo will listen to an outsider who promises to fight for them against the elites who have abandoned them, after all, that was at least part of his appeal that won him the White House.
It was Bill Clinton's ability to "feel the pain" of voters contrasted with Bush's seemingly aloof style which helped him connect with those who he grew up with in Hope, Arkansas, even though he had virtually nothing in common with them.
Isn't it ironic that his wife is now cast in the villain role as the representative of big Wall Street against the aspirations of the average person, as a true celebrity outsider hits all the chords on trade, jobs and guns against her.
The question is whether the political wheel turned 180 degrees on the Clinton family, or have the Clinton family turned their collective backs to the hopes and dreams of average Americans?
All Americans Now?
A comment from English Libertarian Sean Gabb
For me – and I think for many others – the American presidential election has been a repeat of the European Referendum. I went to bed with a faint hope. The BBC coverage of the results was filled with faintly crumbling Establishment optimism. I woke and turned on the computer, to look at the same shocked faces as last June. It is too early to say for sure if he has won, but it does seem that Donald Trump will be the next President of America.
Now, I make the usual reservation about the Libertarian Alliance that I direct. We are a charity. We take no part in electoral politics. We were, as an organisation, perfectly indifferent between Mr Trum and Mr Clinton. Speaking for myself, I am delighted, and I extend congratulations to all my American friends, who worked so hard and hoped to such to see this result.
The idea that Mr Trump will do all the things he has promised is, and must be, unlikely. It seems to be in the nature of things for politicians to support the people who elect them. But leave that aside. As with the European Referendum, this has been a vote on the New World Order. For generations, the British and American peoples have stood outside a wall of managed democracy. We have been asked to decide between issues that others have defined for us. At best, we have been able to choose between the lesser of evils. Last June, and this November, we given a real choice, and we raced for the exit.
The moral effect of what seems about to happen will be explosive. Two bloated, treasonous Establishments have faced electoral challenges, and have lost. The "loons" and "deplorables" have ignored the big media and the big money, and have voted for their conscience. Cultural leftism is not defeated – it has too great a control of the institutions to vanish overnight. But it has been put on notice of dismissal.
There will not be an escalation of the war in Syria. There will not be a war with Russia. There will be no pressure from the highest points of the American Government for the British Government to fudge our exit from the European Union. There will, almost certainly, be further upsets in the forthcoming elections through Europe.
Speaking personally again, it is too early to be sure. However, I have, for many years, been denouncing the United States as The Great Satan. It was the New World Order. It was the source of all war and unaccountable government. Well, all I can say at the moment, is that the Great Satan appears to have repented, and I shall look on the American flags that I encounter as I go about my daily business in England with far less distaste than at any time this century.
Regardless of our nationality, my friends and I are all Americans this morning.
Why Elections Today Are So Contentious
The American people have allowed tremendous power to coalesce in DC
It wasn't that long ago when national elections were more perfunctory, less volatile and certainly less contentious. Those halcyon days are long gone! Today the bile and vitriol spewing over the airwaves mirrors that of society generally, and the seemingly innocent question, "Can't we all just get along?", is body-slammed with a resounding "Hell NO!!" So what happened?
To borrow a meme from infamous Clintonista James Carville, "It's the power, stupid!" That is, it's the tremendous power the American people have allowed (demanded, even) to coalesce inside the DC Beltway, and particularly at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Decisions that used to be made by individual states or local governments are now decided somewhere in Washington, DC, often by a single branch, or even worse — and more often the case — an unaccountable sub-entity within that branch. As a result, elections nowadays are "for all the marbles."
We offer as a case-in-point the Supreme Court of the U.S. One facet of the current election is that it is effectively a referendum on who will replace the late, great Antonin Scalia and give the winning party a 5-4 majority on an otherwise (arguably) evenly divided bench. Less than a century ago, the Court was largely apolitical; now it's an ideology-based "final arbiter" of national law. Instead of faithfully interpreting the plain text and intent of a given law, many justices skew their judgments to "outcome-based" jurisprudence, in which they decide the outcome they want and then "walk-back" their logic — and, unfortunately, their "law" — to support the desired result. Thus whichever party chooses the next justice "wins," by-and-large, any issue arriving at the doorstep of SCOTUS. But the problem doesn't stop there.
No, it worsens exponentially because every branch of the federal government has too much power, in one way or another. For example, the Executive Branch has arrogated to itself the power of all three federal branches, temporarily relenting only when checked by another branch of government. As His Worship is fond of saying, "If Congress won't act, I will" or, alternatively, "I've got a pen and a phone." Translation: "I don't need the Legislature: I am the Legislature!" In any case, the current Occupation Force inside the Executive Branch does not consider the Separation of Powers doctrine as an impediment to its reach or effectiveness.
As for Congress, with the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment morphing senator selection by state legislature into popular election, senators are no longer accountable to their states, but only to "the people." That might sound good at first blush, but it crippled states' abilities to check federal government power. Moreover, Congress generally has too much power. The Constitution enumerates specific responsibilities for Congress, the president and the Supreme Court. Those not specifically granted to these branches are supposed to be reserved either to the states or to the people — the Tenth Amendment. Today, the Tenth Amendment is all but a dead letter. Like the Executive Branch, Congress — using the courts as well as the Executive Branch — has assumed far more power than "We The People" ever granted it under the Constitution.
The aggrandizement of power by the federal government was a primary concern of the so-called "Anti-Federalists," who opposed ratifying the Constitution on the grounds that the federal government would eventually become all-powerful and too distant from those it governed. They were also concerned that the states would become mere conduits through which the federal government would exercise its overwhelming power. Fast-forward to today and the Anti-Federalists have been prophetic. An increasingly distant government brandishes immeasurable power over a vast expanse, over hundreds of millions of people with conflicting ambitions and needs. The input of the average American citizen to the federal Leviathan is so remote that the output — the federal government's influence upon that individual in daily life — seems totally arbitrary. "No taxation without representation"? What about the case of "no representation," period?
However, the real issue here is not "who's right" in a national election, but rather the broader issue of "good governance." Originally, the Founders viewed the states as individual "experiments" on how to "get along" as a people. The idea was that if a particular state went awry with respect to governance, people would "vote with their feet" and relocate to a better state. With the power of the federal government increasing and the power of the states diminishing over time, these "experiments" became less and less distinguishable: Today all is now "federal."
The Founders did provide an "out" through which states can bridle an over-expansive federal government: Article V of the Constitution states, in part, "The Congress … on the application of the legislatures of two thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which … shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress."
The basic idea behind Article V was — and is — that if the federal government went so off the rails that it was on the verge of becoming uncontrollable, the states could reel it in, via a "Convention of States." A discussion of the merits and perils associated with such a convention is beyond the scope of this piece, but we've written of the merits and risks previously.
Contentious elections are merely a symptom of a much bigger problem: Too much power amassing in the federal government and a discontinuity between its applied power and the will of the people who have no real say in its control. The solution to both problems is to again disperse the federal government's power by redistributing it across all three branches of the federal government and among the states. But such an act won't happen from any initiative within the Beltway, which has become so drunk with the mass-accrual of power that the vast majority of today's members of Congress and senior Executive Branch leaders are millionaires — another clear indicator of the magnitude of the problem. No, it will only happen if the states and the people resolve to cage the tiger.
Could German-Americans install Trump as President?
Some interesting speculation from Germany below. My translation. Trump himself has German ancestry
46 million people of German descent live in the US - the majority of them supporting Donald Trump. Many live in the swing states that could tip the scales in the presumably narrow election.
The "German belt", ranges from Pennsylvania in the Eastern United States to Oregon in the far West. Although Germans have left a deep impact in everyday life (kindergarten, Pretzels), they have no clear political profile.
Sandra Bullock. Kevin Costner. Kirsten Dunst. David Letterman. Uma Thurman. Christopher Walken. Bruce Willis. They all have two things in common: They are Americans. And they have German ancestors.
And they are not alone. Every seventh American has at least partly German roots: When asked by the Census Bureau, where their family is from, 14 percent of US citizens give Germany in either first or second place.
In elections this group has been because of their sheer size of great potential. And in the upcoming presidential election this weight could actually come to fruition: According to a survey, German Americans are conspicuously strongly Donald Trump inclined. Over half preferred the Republican candidate - and only a third prefers Hillary Clinton.
46 million people of German ancestry live in the United States. There are more German Americans than Americans of English, Irish or Italian descent. There are even more German Americans than blacks (43 million) or Mexican Americans (36 million) in the USA.
Is this the last majority white election?
According to a WalletHub survey on the impact of minorities in America, 2016 is the last chance Republicans stand to win the White House… until 2060:
"The study used two models based on population projections and matched to the overwhelming 65 percent minority turnout for President Obama in 2012 and the underwhelming 50 percent response for George W. Bush in 2004.
The bottom line: In no presidential election from 2020-60 do the Republicans win. The closest the Republicans come is 2020 when the Democratic vote under the 2004 model reaches 50.48 percent, WalletHub said. The widest gap is projected for 2060, when the minority population will be its biggest, delivering the Democrats 58.8 percent of the vote."
The analysis pretty much states the obvious: that the growth of liberal-leaning minorities is outpacing the growth of both minority and white Republicans. It's unclear, however, whether WalletHub's survey accounted for voter fraud, or even acknowledges that it's a real problem.
Why Trump could really win this
A comment from Australia
AS AMERICANS go to the polls in hours, one of the most respected pollsters in the United States, Nate Silver, is giving Donald Trump a 34.6% chance of being elected. That's about the same chance of tossing a coin three times and getting heads twice. It's close.
The question is why. To Australian ears, many of the things that Trump supporters say are outside the boundaries of common experience. The anger and resentment they express towards their entire political system is something that has no real equivalent in the Australian political system.
The idea that the whole election is rigged — which so many of them believe — sounds absurd. In Australia, even outliers like Pauline Hanson respect the basic tenet of the democratic system: That the umpire's decision is to be respected.
Trump has repeatedly said he won't necessarily respect the results of the election — unless he wins.
The key that helped me understand the Trump phenomenon is that — contrary to the impression that you receive from much of the Australian coverage — Trump supporters are, on average, richer than Clinton supporters.
The first time this was put to me, I was sceptical. We were talking to a merchandise salesperson at a rally for Trump's running mate Mike Pence, in Wilmington, North Carolina. Proudly wearing multiple Trump badges, a "Make America Great" cap and a "Hillary for Prison" T-shirt, the salesperson looked like a Trump partisan, but the truth was much better. He was simply a capitalist who knew his market.
He was there to make a buck out of, as he put it, "anyone who is looking to get rid of their money". That afternoon, he was driving an hour across the state to attend a Clinton rally, presumably while proudly wearing his "I'm With Her" badge.
The salesperson explained that in his experience Trump supporters had a lot more money. He said that Trump supporters were crazy for caps, bumper stickers and T-shirts, while Clinton supporters tended to stick to badges.
The idea that Trump supporters were richer ran contrary to all my expectations. Donald Trump sells himself on being the candidate for low-paid white battlers, living in the America's vast rust-belt: The eastern and mid-Western states that used to manufacture America's cars, fridges, airconditioners and anything else made of steel, but had, according to legend, become vast wastelands.
Isn't that the reason that even on election eve, Michigan — once a union-dominated Democratic stronghold — is in the balance, and could provide Trump with one of the oddest paths to victory for a Republican candidate?
I mean, Detroit, right? It's byword for urban decay. Right?
But from a logical perspective, it makes sense that Clinton supporters are poorer. Trump's main supporters are white men. From a statistical perspective, that's a double whammy for prosperity.
In the US, men enjoy 23% more pay on average than women. And white workers tend to be higher paid than black or Latino workers.
But it still runs contrary to Trump's rhetoric. What about the fabled rust belt that Trump is drawing his support from?
I'm not saying that the rust belt doesn't exist, but in our travels through two of the biggest rust belt areas in Pennsylvania and Ohio, it was something that people we met talked about in the past tense.
Take Wooster, Ohio, a town of about 30,000 people, that until the early 1980s, had an economy that centred almost entirely around steel. Steel for car doors, steel for washing machines, steel for old-style American-made toys.
At the beginning of the 1980s, it lost seven thousand jobs directly involved in steel manufacturing at one plant alone, and then tens of thousands more that had supported those industries. Crime soared. The rust set in.
This is Trump territory. For a start, it's white. Very white. City-Data.com puts its whiteness at over 96%. Our hosts in Wooster claimed it was more like 98%.
At a state level, the Democrats have all but conceded the space to the Republican machine. They aren't even running a state senatorial candidate in this election. But it's not because people there are poor and dejected.
Today, unemployment runs at less than 3%. And the new jobs aren't some race-to-the-bottom Wal-Martification of America that you might expect if you listened to Donald Trump. They're steel jobs.
But instead of just making steel, Wooster now imports it from China, and then crafts it into high-precision goods. They manufacture 85% of the world's jet blades in Wooster, and VW now makes its steel drive trains for Audi in the city.
It's a perfect case-study for Economics 101. Low-value manufacturing got replaced by higher-value manufacturing.
Unfortunately, whereas in the textbook, it happens overnight, it's taken the better part of four decades for Wooster to rebuild. If you were 30 in 1980, then chances are that even though you're employed now, you spent much of the second part of your career underemployed, waiting for Economics 101 to kick in.
During that time, the promises that politicians, corporations, and even unions made, bred cynicism — for the entire system.
The life lesson was that you can go from being utterly embedded in "the system", with all the expectations of suburban stability, to being completely abandoned by the very same system: By the corporations and the government who allowed it to happen. Even if you were a white man.
What Trump delivers is a way to explain and put in context that jolting reality, without threatening the idea that there is nothing really that special about being a white man.
He could blame it on Ronald Reagan — who was in charge when it happened. Or he could place the blame on the companies who fled to first Japan, and then Mexico and later, China. And in some senses he does. But mostly he points to a far more tangible threat: Multicultural America.
If you were a white man who just wasted the best years of your life waiting for the next steel boom, it's not your fault. It's someone else's fault — the ones who look different to you, and whose presence has boomed in the past four decades.
Of course, in Wooster, you don't see many Latinos or blacks at all. But you do see them on TV, and it kind of makes sense. By some estimates, 2016 is the year that whites become a minority in America, in that they now make up less than 50% of the population (they are still the biggest race, by a long margin).
But this is why that for all the crazies that Trump rallies throw together, who seem utterly foreign to the Australian experience, there is an underlying logic that makes Trump such a potent force, and brings out many sensible people.
Sure, his plan — to return America to a pre-1980s world of protectionism and steel manufacturing without the pesky presence of 11 million illegal immigrants — is an unrealistic journey into nostalgia, but it speaks to a very real experience that millions of Americans have lived through (or who've watched their parents live through).
Once you understand that, all the policies that may sound absurd at first glance, start to make more sense. A wall between the US and Mexico is a visual metaphor for stanching the flow of jobs south.
His foreign policy is to "make America safe again," is about trying to find a way to get America to a place where 9/11 never happened.
If stopping Muslims at the border sounds absurd to us, it works for his supporters, because many of them wouldn't have even met a Muslim in their life.
And if cutting taxes for those on high incomes sounds like a policy that wouldn't be popular in the rust-belt, think again: His core base are richer than you'd think.
Annual income is one of the best predictors of whether you'll turn up on election day. Indeed, one of the main reasons that Donald Trump still has a good chance at the Presidency is that his supporters aren't that poor. If they were, they would be less likely to turn out.
Which, given his rhetoric, is kind of ironic, really.
The strange way Leftist psychologists measure conservatism
Leftist psychologists have long worked with a concept of conservatism that is very different from what conservatives actually think. Their idea of conservatism is a caricature. Their oldest caricature is that conservatives are opposed to change. Tell that to Trump and his supporters! All the conservatives I know have a whole list of things they would like changed in the world about them.
So where did that strange definition come from? Easy. Conservatives oppose LEFTIST changes. Leftists are all about change and are very authoritarian about it. Note Mr Obama's aim to "fundamentally transform" America. If that's not authoritarian, what would be? So the changes that conservatives oppose are Leftist attempts to boss them around. Mr Trump articulates that.
It's an extreme demonstration of Leftist closed-mindedness that they can conceive of no other explanation for opposition to their policies than a general opposition to change. The reasons conservatives give for opposing Leftist changes -- e.g. "That has already been tried and it failed" -- are simply not heard or not believed by Leftists. To them there is no rational reason for opposition to the changes they want. So opposition to change generally has to be the explanation for what conservatives do and say.
And an inadequate understanding of conservatism leads to dead-ends all the time. Robert Altemeyer's recent work on "Right-wing authoritarianism" was based on a definition of conservatism as opposition to change and his set of questions ("scale") designed to detect conservatism ended up not detecting it at all. High scorers on his scale were roughly as likely to be Democrats as Republicans when it came to voting. Just to rub that in: The highest scorers on his scale were actually Russian Communists! Altemeyer put a lot of work into his efforts to measure conservatism but ended up with an abject failure on his hands. Conservatism is nothing like what he thought it was.
There is actually a larger tradition among psychologists about what conservatives think -- a tradition that goes beyond opposition to change. Conservatives are also said to have a large body of extreme thoughts about all sorts of things. Some examples:
* Patriotism and loyalty to one's country are more important than one's intellectual convictions and should have precedence over them.
* Treason and murder should be punishable by death.
* The English-speaking countries have reached a higher state of civilization than any other country in the world and as a consequence have a culture which is superior to any other.
* In taking part in any form of world organization, this country should make certain that none of its independence and power is lost.
* Certain religious sects whose beliefs do not permit them to salute the flag should either be forced to conform or else be abolished.
* When the dictator Mussolini made Italy's trains run on time, that at least was an important thing to achieve.
Statements such as the above do draw on tendencies in conservative thought but are expressed in an extreme and aggressive way. But conservatives are generally rather moderate people so would disagree with such statements. The first statement could be reworded to attract conservative agreement as:
* Patriotism and loyalty to one's country is important
The last statement would be most likely to attract conservative agreement as:
* "I have never heard of Mussolini"
And so on. So in their haste to demonize conservatism, Leftists create a set of "conservative" statements that conservatives don't actually agree with! No wonder then, that agreement with such statements does not correlate with voting conservative.
So the research into conservatism that Leftist psychologists do is not actually about real-life conservatism at all. They waste their time. They fail to do what they aim to do. They know nothing about conservatism.
So how come that they keep up such foolish behaviour? Easy. Leftists rarely talk to conservatives. They get their ideas about conservatism from one another. They live in a little intellectual bubble that is hermetically sealed against the big bad world outside, with all its inconvenient facts.
Dem donor compares Republican blacks to Nazis
Project Veritas Action released another undercover video Wednesday, and this one may be the most difficult to stomach yet. In the footage, prominent Democratic donor Benjamin Barber compares Republican African-Americans to Nazis at a fundraiser in New York City for North Carolina U.S. Senate candidate Deborah Ross (language warning):
"Have you heard of the Sonderkommandos? Jewish guards who helped murder Jews in the camps. So there were even Jews that were helping the Nazis murder Jews! So blacks who are helping the other side are seriously fucked in the head," Barber said. "They're only helping the enemy who will destroy them. Maybe they think 'if I help them we'll get along okay; somehow I'll save my race by working with the murderers.'"
Project Veritas Action shared the video with some black Republican voters. Needless to say they were shocked and disappointed:
"I think that Deborah Ross has shown her true colors," said Bishop Wooden, another black Republican in North Carolina. "If this is not a, if that…what you just showed me is not racism and condescending and basically calling blacks stupid and ignorant and saying that we are voting against our own self-interest if we support any republican [sic]. I am appalled. I am in incensed. Deborah Ross should be called to task for something like that."
James Carville Loses It, Says House GOP and the KGB Are in Cahoots
Since the GOP was the chief opponent of Russian ambition in thre Soviet period, to say that they are now pro-Russian is strange indeed
When you're insisting that MSNBC is too right-wing, you know you've lost your mind. James Carville argued that his interviewer was defending James Comey and the House Republicans, who he says are behind this investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails. He also alleged that the KGB is hijacking our election. Is it sad to see a once political mastermind become this insane?
SOURCE. (Video at link)
Another campaign ends, and my wishes didn't come true
by Jeff Jacoby
"THE MOST dangerous man, to any government, is the man who is able to think things out for himself," wrote H. L. Mencken. "Almost inevitably, he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, and intolerable."
That was in 1922. If the Sage of Baltimore thought the political class during the Age of Harding was "dishonest, insane, and intolerable," God only knows how he would have characterized the Era of Trump and Clinton, or what he would have made of the ghastly presidential campaign of 2016. About the only good thing to be said for it is that it ends on Tuesday, and that one of the two worst presidential candidates in American history will go down to defeat. The other, alas, will go to the White House.
There's no denying that Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have been uniquely odious nominees. But in too many ways to count, they have also been depressingly typical examples of American politicians in the modern era. When it came to shallowness, insincerity, and hypocrisy, the 2016 presidential hopefuls (along with most of the contenders who faced off during the interminable primary season) were just more of the same — the latest batch of pettifogging jacklegs greedy for authority, and prepared to debase themselves and the American democratic system by any means necessary to achieve it.
So here we are, on the cusp of another Election Day, dreading the national hangover to follow. If you're like me, you may find yourself wondering why campaigns for the highest office in the land invariably play out at the lowest common denominator.
Just once, I wish I could hear presidential candidates set aside the pandering, and tell voters that there are some problems the government has no business trying to fix.
Just once, I wish candidates could acknowledge candidly that yes, they have changed their position on a slew of issues over the years, and yes, the new position has always been the one polls show to be more popular.
Just once, I wish candidates in a debate would refuse to answer a question posed by the moderator, on the grounds that it raises a subject far too complicated to be answered in two minutes.
Just once, I wish the candidates would remind voters that it's not the president's job to wipe their noses, and that people who make dumb personal choices shouldn't expect Washington to relieve them of the consequences.
Just once, I wish candidates would decline to "approve this message," and would repudiate campaign ads that traffic in the defamation and distortion of an opponent's record.
Just once, I wish candidates would stop bragging about the laws "they" passed, and would point out instead that no bills get passed without the cooperation of scores, or even hundreds, of lawmakers.
Just once, I wish candidates would make a point of reading John F. Kennedy's Profiles in Courage — or Federalist No. 51 — or Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men — or Abraham Lincoln's 1865 inaugural address — and then deliver a speech explaining what they learned from it, and how it shapes their political understanding.
Just once, I wish candidates would make it clear that merely because they strongly oppose something, that doesn't mean it should be illegal — and that merely because there's some innovation they would passionately support, that's doesn't mean it ought to be mandatory.
Just once, I wish candidates would show that they understand that a course of action can be unwise, undesirable, and unpopular, yet still be perfectly constitutional.
Just once, I wish candidates, while touting their plan to do X or Y, would have the humility to concede that it might not work as envisioned.
Just once, I wish candidates would fairly and respectfully summarize an opponent's position before proceeding to dispute or criticize it.
Just once, I wish candidates would demonstrate that they've given serious thought to some of the tensions built into America's civic culture — such as equality vs. liberty, or individual liberty vs. the common good — and are able to discuss them with more depth than bumper-sticker sloganeering.
Just once, I wish candidates would admit that elected officials and government regulators are as flawed as any other human beings, and as prone to blunders and temptations as people who work in the private sector.
"If experience teaches us anything at all," wrote H.L. Mencken "it teaches us this: that a good politician, under democracy, is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar."
Just once, I wish candidates would spend less time crowing about what they'll do on Day 1 — which is usually of little more than symbolic importance — and would instead spend more time outlining what they'll do prepare themselves before Day 1.
Just once, I wish candidates would emphasize that it is nearly always more important to block bad bills than to pass good bills.
Just once, I wish candidates would place as great a premium on maintaining their personal decency as they do on achieving political victory — that they would be intent, in other words, not merely on winning, but on deserving to win.
Ah, well. Somewhere, I suppose, the shade of Mencken is smirking at the naiveté of my wish list. "If experience teaches us anything at all," the old cynic wrote long ago, "it teaches us this: that a good politician, under democracy, is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar."
There is a new lot of postings by Chris Brand just up -- mainly about immigrants
Former FBI boss slams Crooked Justice Department for election rigging
It's pretty obvious that the Obama administration is protecting Hillary Clinton from serious scrutiny. So obvious, in fact, that a former FBI assistant director said Thursday that you'd have to be "deaf, dumb, and blind" not to see it:
James Kallstrom, known for leading the 1996 investigation into the explosion of TWA flight 800, told Fox News' "Kelly File" on Thursday evening that current agents are "furious" at how higher-ups in the federal agency and Justice Department have "stonewalled" requests to open up a serious probe into an alleged pay-to-play scheme between the Clinton Foundation and State Department.
"You think they perceive the agency or some at Justice as taking sides?" host Megyn Kelly asked Kallstrom.
"You'd have to be deaf, dumb, and blind not to see that. Of course that's what's happening. I mean just look at what's in the public domain. I mean, look at the stuff that they left on the table. Top secret codeword documents," Kallstrom responded.
Kallstrom added that hundreds of current and former agents are "very, very frustrated" because "they see the whole due process thing going down the tubes" under Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
"There's no way they're going to indict anybody in this administration," he finished.
HILLARY CAN'T STOP LYING
It's typical psychopathic behaviour
Hillary Clinton can't help herself. She lies constantly. Some of her lies, the most memorable ones, have a common quality: she is a superhero in her own fantasy world. Named after a famous mountain climber! Landed under sniper fire! Tried to join the Marines! Granddaughter of immigrants who left the White House dead broke! Yesterday she added a new one: she understands terrorism because she was in New York in 9/11. She will crush ISIS! Here she is:
That couldn't have been in the script. It is a matter of record that Hillary was in Washington on September 11, not New York. The Senate was in session. As you probably remember, Senators and Congressmen of both parties gathered on the Capitol steps to sing "God Bless America." Here is Hillary on the Capitol steps, singing:
And here she is being interviewed by CNN on the Capitol steps at about 8 p.m. on September 11:
Why does she do it? Why does she continue to make up lies that she ought to know will quickly be exposed? There is some psychological defect at work, a need to portray herself as more heroic than she actually is. It is a little creepy, though, when her efforts are so obviously doomed to failure.
Justice, State Departments colluded with Hillary on illegal email server
Everything the Clintons touch turns to corruption. After decades of political involvement, the truth about the Clinton's reign has come to light thanks to the breathtaking releases from Wikileaks this year. The newest releases show nothing less than outright collusion between the State Department, the Justice Department and the Hillary Clinton campaign to help her cover up her illegal private email server that housed classified information.
In the latest disclosure, Justice Department Assistant Attorney General Peter Kadzik, who has been leading renewed investigations into the Clinton email server, has also been given the Clintons a heads up regarding news releases to the Clinton campaign for months.
On May 19, 2015 Kadzik emailed Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta informing Podesta that, "There is a HJC oversight hearing today where the head of our Civil Division will testify. Likely to get questions on State Department emails. Another filing in the FOIA case went in last night or will go in this am that indicates it will be awhile (2016) before the Statement Departent posts the emails." Were they getting their stories straight?
This unbelievable disclosure, has the Justice Department tipping off the Clintons when the State Department would start disclosing some of her emails publicly via the Freedom of Information Act.
While the corruption between the Justice Department and the Clinton campaign has already become obvious to most Americans, the relationship between these actors and the impact of their conversations is much more far reaching.
It all started in the 1990s when Podesta was questioned on perjury during the Monica Lewinsky case. Who was Podesta's brave lawyer able to manipulate the grand jury to his innocence? None other than Kadzik himself.
Podesta has even noted that Kadzik was a "fantastic lawyer. Kept me out of jail."
Ever since then the two's relationship has been nothing shy of complete corruption.
Congress issued the subpoena for all of Clintons private server emails on March 4, 2015. A previous Wikileaks report revealed that on that same day, State Department officials were openly discussing which emails should be deleted, providing Clinton with the perfect opportunity to destroy them. And soon that is exactly what she did.
This is not where the saga ended, though. After destroying evidence that could have been used against her, Clinton had to make sure the press was going to report on this scene lightly and once gain the State Department would assist her.
A March 1, 2015 email shows correspondence between State Department press aide Lauren Hickey and Podesta working with New York Times reporters to "clear" changes to the story to "provide accurate information to the media."
In a major news story about political corruption, the Times gave the final sign off to the corrupt agencies — and the Clintons — themselves.
Despite her best attempts, the Clinton email scandal is still acting as her biggest obstacle to her being elected president. Just last week the FBI announced it was reopening the email investigation due to new information discovered on former Congressman Anthony Weiner, husband of top Clinton aide Huma Abedin.
But we suppose Clinton doesn't have too much to worry about, after all, this is the crooked game she has spent decades playing. The head of the reopened investigation into Clinton's email misconduct is appears to be none other than Kadzik himself.
The Clinton campaign has become one with the Justice and State Departments, making it impossible for the current government to investigate her fairly, let alone one she would take control of if she is elected.
After destroying evidence and manipulating Americans perception of the situation, Hillary Clinton still heralds herself as the only presidential choice which is right for our country. But is more important than ever to realize that Clinton's entire career has been built not on helping the country, but helping herself. She is willing to use government and the law—and subverting the law—to acquire power, and that is the last thing this nation needs.
The 'Untold Threat' Responsible for 40% of Illegal Immigrants
While the debate over illegal immigration tends to focus on how to control and treat those who make it across our nation's borders, a more enduring challenge for the U.S. government has been what to do to stop legal entrants from overstaying their allotted time here.
The problem of so-called visa "overstays"—which make up about 40 percent of the 11 million people living illegally in the U.S.—will continue on past the Obama administration and follow the next president.
That's partially because the government has not yet delivered on its long-promised—and congressionally mandated—plan to create a better checkout system to track who has left the country on time, and who hasn't.
"It [visa overstays] is the most overlooked issue when it comes to immigration," Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, said in an interview with The Daily Signal.
"It's an untold threat," McCaul added. "We are allowing millions of people to overstay visas and remain in this country who could potentially pose a threat to homeland security."
The uncertainty around the scope of the problem comes at a time when a growing percentage of the illegal immigrant population is made up of visa overstays as opposed to people being apprehended at the border.
For more than 20 years, the U.S. government had struggled to quantify just how many people entered the country legally with a visa and stayed too long, making it impossible to prescribe policy fixes.
That finally changed in January, when the Department of Homeland Security released a first-of-its-kind study reporting that 527,127 people who traveled legally to the U.S. for business or leisure and were supposed to leave the country in fiscal year 2015 in fact overstayed their visas.
This figure is larger than the 337,117 people caught crossing the border illegally last year.
The long-awaited data from 2015 was not all-encompassing. It counted only visa holders who entered the U.S. by air and sea, not by land, and it did not include those who came as students or temporary workers.
Still, immigration and security experts as well as policymakers welcomed the new information because they thought it would force the government to move faster on methods to improve, most importantly in trying to assemble a system to obtain biometric data—such as fingerprints, facial recognition images, and eye scans—on those leaving the country.
'A Top Issue'
The 9/11 Commission recommended the Department of Homeland Security complete an entry and exit system "as soon as possible," viewing it as an important national security tool because two of the hijackers on Sept. 11, 2001, had overstayed their visas.
Plagued by financial and logistical challenges, the government has introduced various pilot projects at some airports and land borders, but is still a few years off from implementing a biometric exit system on a large scale.....
'It Doesn't Matter'
Even if the U.S. were to settle on a workable exit tracking method, some national security experts doubt that such a system would be an effective counterterrorism tool, especially when considering its cost.
David Inserra, a homeland security expert at The Heritage Foundation, says the government could just as well use already collected biographical information, such as a traveler's name and date of birth, to track exits and collect overstay data. But other experts say bad actors could use fake passports and aliases to bypass a system that did not require biometrics such as fingerprints and facial recognition.
No matter the method used, Inserra and other experts note that an exit system simply reveals who has departed—and remained—in the country. It would not help discover where those that stayed are living, and whether they present a security risk.
"Even if you have the greatest biometric exit system, if someone doesn't leave, it doesn't matter," Inserra said, adding:
You are now left with the problem of every other police officer looking for someone. They are a missing person who doesn't want to be found. If you want to stop visa overstays, the solution isn't to spend money on an exit system.
Inserra argues that policymakers instead should give more money to intelligence agencies such as Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement so they can go into communities and try to locate—and deport—people who overstayed their visas.
New book: "The liberal's guide to conservatives" by J. Scott Wagner. Summerborne Books. Cotati CA. 2016
Once upon a time, when liberals wrote about the psychology of conservatives, they did so only to demonize conservatives. More recently, however, the tendency has been to say that conservatives have a point but Leftists have a better point. Scott Wagner's book is in that camp. He does seem to be a nice guy and he has made some progress towards embracing reality. He concedes, for instance, that Leftists can be authoritarian. According to psychologists of the past, only conservatives could be authoritarian -- with Stalin and Mao ignored.
He has however still not thrown off a lot of Leftist baggage. He still thinks conservatives have something in common with Hitler, for instance, quite ignoring that the opposition to Hitler was led by a great Conservative, Winston Churchill. More technically he is influenced in his conclusions by such pieces of psychometric garbage as the SDO scale. So his castles are built on sand. Not worth reading. But Leftists will like it.
NYPD to blow the whistle on Hillary
New York Police Department detectives and prosecutors working an alleged underage sexting case against former Congressman Anthony Weiner have turned over a newly-found laptop he shared with wife Huma Abedin to the FBI with enough evidence "to put Hillary (Clinton) and her crew away for life," NYPD sources told True Pundit.
NYPD sources said Clinton's "crew" also included several unnamed yet implicated members of Congress in addition to her aides and insiders.
"It involves Hillary Clinton, Huma Abedin, and Bill Clinton as well as Jeffrey Epstein," DC insider Doug Hagmann said on The Alex Jones ShowWednesday. "According to my source, these files exist – he did not touch these files so he doesn't know what's in them, but the fact that they exist on this computer suggest some sort of overlap here."
"It involves the Saudis, very big money and interests in the Middle East, and it involves Hillary, Huma, and to a much lesser extent Anthony Weiner."
The NYPD seized the computer from Weiner during a search warrant and detectives discovered a trove of over 500,000 emails to and from Hillary Clinton, Abedin and other insiders during her tenure as secretary of state. The content of those emails sparked the FBI to reopen its defunct email investigation into Clinton on Friday.
But new revelations on the contents of that laptop, according to law enforcement sources, implicate the Democratic presidential candidate, her subordinates, and even select elected officials in far more alleged serious crimes than mishandling classified and top secret emails, sources said. NYPD sources said these new emails include evidence linking Clinton herself and associates to:
Sex crimes with minors (children)
Perjury
Pay to play through Clinton Foundation
Obstruction of justice
Other felony crimes
NYPD detectives and a NYPD Chief, the department's highest rank under Commissioner, said openly that if the FBI and Justice Department fail to garner timely indictments against Clinton and co- conspirators, NYPD will go public with the damaging emails now in the hands of FBI Director James Comey and many FBI field offices.
"What's in the emails is staggering and as a father, it turned my stomach," the NYPD Chief said. "There is not going to be any Houdini-like escape from what we found. We have copies of everything. We will ship them to Wikileaks or I will personally hold my own press conference if it comes to that."
The NYPD Chief said once Comey saw the alarming contents of the emails he was forced to reopen a criminal probe against Clinton.
"People are going to prison," he said.
Meanwhile, FBI sources said Abedin and Weiner were cooperating with federal agents, who have taken over the non-sexting portions the case from NYPD. The husband-and-wife Clinton insiders are both shopping for separate immunity deals, sources said.
The Bottom Line on Clinton
Allow me to summarize where this all stands on the eve of the presidential election.
Mark Alexander
Over the past year, the 24-hour MSM news recyclers across the political spectrum have spun and re-spun, ad nauseam, allegations and denials about the criminal activities of Hillary Clinton and her chief prevaricator, DNC point man Bill Clinton. The media is, first and foremost, interested in ad revenue, and the relentless ranting has resulted in "scandal fatigue."
The big winners in this election cycle are the MSM bank accounts. The big loser is the American people, because what is important has been diluted by what is not, and too many media consumers can no longer distinguish between the two.
We note Hillary Clinton's illegal effort to keep all of her communications as secretary of state off the grid in order to conceal them from freedom of information requests, which would expose her role in nefarious activities like the Benghazi cover-up to protect Barack Obama's 2012 re-election and her own 2016 presidential plans.
I have clearly chronicled Hillary's prolific record of malfeasance, and like Bill, her pathological penchant for lying. I have provided concise analysis on their criminal Clinton Foundation enterprise and renewed FBI investigation into their criminal activity — despite protection from "Justice" Department fixers.
The fact is, the Clinton's abject corruption contaminates everything they touch, and it's about to swamp the national government.
The announcement by FBI Director James Comey of a renewed investigation into Clinton's concealed communications is too little too late. The fact is, Clinton ordered 32,000 emails "bleached" from her server archives after congressional subpoenas were issued for those communications. Clinton and her attorneys (who have inexplicably been given immunity) decided for themselves what to turn over and what to destroy. It's highly unlikely that those destroyed communications will ever surface.
The acknowledgment that the FBI has confidentially continued its investigation into the Clintons' illegal foundation pay-to-play political graft and influence schemes may produce indictments, but to what end?
The courts have determined that a sitting president is immune from criminal prosecution. Thus, if Clinton is elected, the only recourse would be impeachment.
Recall that Bill Clinton was guilty as charged in 1999, but Senate Democrats couldn't muster enough integrity to reach the two-thirds mandate for conviction. The next House could refer charges to the Senate, but it's even less likely now that Democrats would muster the integrity to reach the two-thirds mandate.
The only way to avoid nationalizing the Clinton's crime syndicate is to defeat Hillary Clinton at the polls.
The Sharpest Contrasts Between Clinton and Trump
We know, it's a shocker that freedom of speech is even on the ballot. But believe it. The FEC is trying to outlaw conservative media and talk radio. The Ninth Circuit upheld a California law requiring pro-life crisis pregnancy centers to promote abortion clinics. Senators and attorneys general are seeking to use RICO laws against so-called "climate change deniers." And the IRS has gotten away with targeting conservative groups. In other words, while Hillary Clinton may walk free, those who dissent from progressivism get criminal charges.
We will see more of that with Clinton in the White House — you can bet your higher taxes on it. In essence, Trump may be the last line of defense for free speech in this country.
Here, the differences are as obvious as night and day. Clinton is 100% behind the agenda of gun-grabbers, and has praised the Australian gun confiscation of 1996. But most insidious is her desire to repeal the 2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act.
In short, lawsuits from big-city mayors and other gun-grabbers backed by billionaires like George Soros and Michael Bloomberg could drown firearms manufacturers in legal battles — functionally killing the Second Amendment regardless of any pro-2A court ruling.
Confronting the Islamic State/Addressing Syria
Hillary Clinton's approach of taking in more refugees is, at best, putting a Band-Aid on malignant melanoma. But it's likely to be far worse. With all the trouble vetting refugees from the region, we could import the perpetrators of the next Paris-style attack.
For better or worse, Trump promises to "bomb the hell out of ISIS" — which, by reducing its power in the region, would help solve the Syrian refugee crisis.
Just as our free speech rights are under attack, so is religious liberty. The Hobby Lobby case was a 5-4 ruling — and it's on the list of rulings the Left wants overturned. They also want to repeal the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993. We've seen pharmacists in Washington state ordered to either stock abortion pills or shut down. We've seen bakeries close over wedding cakes. Under Clinton, we could easily see a federal version of those mandates — or at least, legal support for them.
The stakes are high, as Justice Samuel Alito noted in a dissent from the denial of cert in the Washington case: "Ralph's [Thriftway] has raised more than 'slight suspicion' that the rules challenged here reflect antipathy toward religious beliefs that do not accord with the views of those holding the levers of government power. I would grant certiorari to ensure that Washington's novel and concededly unnecessary burden on religious objectors does not trample on fundamental rights."
One thing can tie all of the previous four cases together: Who the next president nominates to serve on the Supreme Court and on lower federal courts. The fact is, much of our domestic policy — and even a not insignificant amount of foreign policy — is in the hands of the federal judiciary. It shouldn't be that way, but it is.
These days, a state legislature requiring someone who wishes to vote to show the same ID required to get on a plane, buy a firearm, purchase alcohol or cigarettes, cash a check, attend an NAACP rally against voter ID requirements, and a whole host of other things lands you in federal court. Are your state lawmakers no longer willing to give Planned Parenthood money? A federal court may be the last word on that. Then there's same-sex marriage — 31 states voted NO, but five Supreme Court justices had the final word. Even the Syrian refugee resettlement could be decided in the federal courts.
In short, the Left uses the federal courts to get their way when the American people reject their agenda at the ballot box. Clinton's judicial nominees would continue that trend. Trump has a list of strict constructionists for the Supreme Court — and some of them could end up at the Courts of Appeal, which have been packed by Barack Obama.
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Sierra Wireless (NASDAQ: SWIR - TSX: SW), a leading global provider of wireless solutions for mobile computing and machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, today announced a new organizational structure designed to sharpen focus on distinct market opportunities and accelerate profitable growth.
The new organizational structure establishes three business units – M2M Embedded Solutions, Mobile Computing, and Solutions & Services. Dedicated sales, marketing and research & development functions within each business unit bring teams closer to their customers. Common wireless platforms, an integrated supply chain, and a strong global presence provide unique leverage and highly competitive scale.
Dan Schieler, formerly Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales, has been named Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Mobile Computing business unit, focusing on mobile broadband devices for operators and embedded wireless modules for laptops, netbooks, and other mobile computing devices. Jim Kirkpatrick, formerly Chief Technology Officer, has been named Senior Vice President of Engineering for the Mobile Computing business unit.
Didier Dutronc, formerly Senior Vice President of Global Marketing, has been named Senior Vice President and General Manager of the M2M Embedded Solutions business unit, focusing on embedded wireless modules for a broad range of market segments, from automotive, to smart energy, healthcare and mobile consumer. Pierre Teyssier continues as Senior Vice President of Engineering and joins the M2M Embedded Solutions business unit, reporting to Didier.
Emmanuel Walckenaer continues in his current role as Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Solutions & Services business unit, with expanded responsibility for AirLink Intelligent Gateways and Routers.
Philippe Guillemette, formerly Senior Vice President of Advanced Technology, has been named Chief Technology Officer.
As a result of the consolidation of the Solutions & Services and AirLink business units, Andrew Berman, formerly Senior Vice President and General Manager of the AirLink business unit, will be leaving Sierra Wireless.
Concurrent with the implementation of the new business unit structure, the company has eliminated approximately 60 full time positions. These reductions represent approximately 6% of the company's global workforce and are expected to result in an operating expense reduction of approximately $1.0 million per quarter, once fully implemented. These actions are expected to be largely completed during the fourth quarter of 2010. The financial impact of these reductions is expected to be partially offset in 2011 by investments to support new growth opportunities. The company expects to incur a pre-tax charge of approximately $4.5 million in the third quarter for severance and other costs related to this program. The company also reaffirms its Non-GAAP Q3 financial guidance and Q4 outlook provided on July 29, 2010.
An archive of the webcast will be available at the above link following the call.
Certain statements in this press release that are not based on historical facts constitute forward-looking statements or forward-looking information within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities laws ("forward-looking statements"). These forward-looking statements are not promises or guarantees of future performance but are only predictions that relate to future events, conditions or circumstances or our future results, performance, achievements or developments and are subject to substantial known and unknown risks, assumptions, uncertainties and other factors that could cause our actual results, performance, achievements or developments in our business or in our industry to differ materially from those expressed, anticipated or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include all disclosure regarding possible events, conditions, circumstances or results of operations that are based on assumptions about future economic conditions, courses of action and other future events. We caution you not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. These forward-looking statements appear in a number of different places in this press release and can be identified by words such as "may", "estimates", "projects", "expects", "intends", "believes", "plans", "anticipates", "continue", "growing", "expanding", or their negatives or other comparable words. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding the outlook for our future operations, plans and timing for the introduction or enhancement of our services and products, statements concerning strategies or developments, statements about future market conditions, supply conditions, end customer demand conditions, channel inventory and sell through, revenue, gross margin, operating expenses, profits, forecasts of future costs and expenditures, the outcome of legal proceedings, and other expectations, intentions and plans that are not historical fact. The risk factors and uncertainties that may affect our actual results, performance, achievements or developments are many and include, amongst others, our ability to develop, manufacture, supply and market new products that we do not produce today that meet the needs of customers and gain commercial acceptance, our reliance on the deployment of next generation networks by major wireless operators, the continuous commitment of our customers, and increased competition. These risk factors and others are discussed in our Annual Information Form and Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, which may be found on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on EDGAR at www.sec.gov and in our other regulatory filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the United States and the Provincial Securities Commissions in Canada. Many of these factors and uncertainties are beyond our control. Consequently, all forward-looking statements in this press release are qualified by this cautionary statement and we cannot assure you that actual results, performance, achievements or developments that we anticipate will be realized. Forward-looking statements are based on management's current plans, estimates, projections, beliefs and opinions and we do not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements should the assumptions related to these plans, estimates, projections, beliefs and opinions change, except as required by law.
AirCard is a registered trademark, and AirPrime, AirLink, and AirVantage are trademarks belonging to Sierra Wireless. Other product or service names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.


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Theatre Review: The Full Monty
Manchester • MCR • opera house • Review • the full monty • Theatre
Last week I was kindly gifted with two tickets for the first night of The Full Monty at The Opera House, Manchester. Despite having seen the film many years ago and for some reason under the impression it was a musical (it isn't) I was excited to have a girly night out at the theatre to go see it. The original Oscar winning film starring Robert Carlisle was less Magic Mike and more Wetherspoons on a Friday night, so we knew we were guaranteed some laughs. Though the thought of middle age men stripping off hardly filled me with joy this production starring Gary Lucy was a little more appealing (there were audible shrieks from the audience on his appearance on stage).
Whilst the entrance to the theatre resembled more of a cattle market than a sophisticated night out at the theatre we were pleased to find our seats in the centre of the stalls and got comfy. After perusing the programme, we concluded this was a cast of ex soap stars (explained why 90% of the Coronation Street cast were in the audience) so I knew not to expect Chekhov but it's nice to see a fairly recognisable and hopefully entertaining line up.
Apart from the slightly hard to place accents (a short film about Sheffield played at start and helped to implant the region in your brain… without you would've been clueless) and panto style acting, it was overall a fun night out and full of plenty of belly laughs (a girl next to us even snorted on occasion). The highlight was the ridiculous strip scene at the end with some very sneaky staging and the brilliant on-stage camaraderie. Although it wasn't a musical it features a great soundtrack with the likes of Donna Summers, Hot Chocolate and Tom Jones. With the odd inappropriate gag and hen party knob joke humour, overall, it was a fun night out.
After a night lacking in sophistication, especially for a Monday, we did make our way to The Ivy Manchester to sample some of their Sake… It's all about balance you know.
Check out my last post here!

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


When looking for an explosion-safe air conditioning you choose Artidor. This Dutch company supplies products all over the world. The quality of the products we offer you is high. An explosion-safe air conditioning copes with the demands of the European Directive 94/9/EC (ATEX 95). Our products are suitable for use in an area classified as Zone 2. Artidor is an innovative company who focuses on the wishes of the customer: you can order a single product made according to your wishes.
We belong to the worldwide market leaders in this field.
Innovation and focus on the customer are key aspects of our work.
We have many years of experience with the development of products.
We try to maintain the original features of products.


Route 14 Bridge over Lake Rockwell - PRIME AE Group, Inc.
PRIME performed the engineering services required for the replacement of the Route 14 Bridge over Lake Rockwell in the City of Streetsboro, OH.
The existing bridge was a 162-foot three span rolled-steel beam bridge that carried more than 19,000 vehicles per day between the cities of Streetsboro and Ravenna. It was discovered that the bridge was settling; the existing steel H-piles supporting the capped pile piers had buckled at approximately normal water elevation causing the bridge to sag ten inches. The bridge was immediately closed and ODOT procured the bridge replacement via the design-build delivery method.
PRIME was responsible for the design of the replacement superstructure that is supported by the existing abutments and new capped pile piers on galvanized piles encased in concrete to protect against future erosion.
Due to the impact this closure had on the traveling public, ODOT had an aggressive schedule to complete the design and replacement 45 days from issue of permits. PRIME completed the plans by mid-November, or within 39 days.
Recipient of the 2018 ACEC/Ohio Honor Award.


Match your jewellery to your mood. That was the starting point that led us to develop the new collection of earrings for girls – girls of all ages – in collaboration with artist Eva Armisén. Mums and their daughters have 8 new designs to choose from, allowing them to alternate between and share their favourite pieces of jewellery.
A few weeks ago we gave you a few hints about the collection we were developing with Inma Soria, architect and Coohuco.com blogger. Well, at last it's a reality! The new Bohoo collection it's available from Joid'art stores and joidart.com, and you can see it in detail if you keep reading.
Alternatives is a gallery of contemporary jewellery located in the heart of Rome, an space of creative impulse which has became an important international benchmark. They organize collective and new talents exhibitions. If you like jewels you have to visit them in person (Via de Ascanio, 19) or online.
The new Andra AW12 collection is versatile and changing. Its structure composed by geometric forms in the shape of a prism, with a different finish on each side. You could find them in two finish: matte silver, oxidised silver and brass. A creation of Indra Karp.
The new collection Arlet AW12 is formed by oval shapes of manual texture. Inside the piece is colored and evocative of natural marine forms. It comes in two finishes: matte silver with gold enamel paint and matte silver with cold enamel in different colours. A creation of the designer Carme Fàbregas.
The AW12 Joid'art collections deep us into dreamscapes, forest of creativity and sophistication where imagination permeates even the smallest detail. Each piece is inspired by nature, dreams and imagination. Soon you will be able to discover them.


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2021 Wildlife Sanctuary Tour
via Webinar
Tickets: $10 per device for Georgia Audubon members / $12 per device for non-members
Due to the popularity of last year's Virtual Wildlife Sanctuary tour and ongoing challenges posed by the pandemic, we're going to again offer the 2021 Wildlife Sanctuary Tour as a virtual event. Gabe Andrle, Habitat Conservation Program Manager, will be giving us a virtual tour of some of our great Wildlife Sanctuaries to show how you can transform your yard into a sanctuary for birds and other wildlife. Each property featured has been certified by Georgia Audubon as a Wildlife Sanctuary because it provides four essential criteria for attracting birds and other wildlife: food sources (at least 50% native plants), nesting sites, shelter, and water sources.
In addition, we have arranged with the property owners to be on the call as well so that our guests may ask them specific questions about their properties and how they went about building their wildlife sanctuaries.
Please note, ticket prices are per device and you may have multiple people viewing on the same device. Your registration link is unique, however, and will only work on one device.
Registration for this event will close at 3 PM so that we may do a final upload of participants to the event.
2021 Wildlife Sanctuary Tour Properties
Rick and Sandy Krause
Rick and Sandy carry an important message and tell the story of native flora for native fauna through their incredible greenspace. With about 200 native plant species living on their less than half an acre space, you don't have to spend more than a few minutes in the space to begin to understand its value as dozens of pollinators fly over your head and the songs of birds are practically non-stop.
The Krauses' have used native plants to provide habitat and attract all types of wildlife, including a variety of flower-, nut-, seed-, and berry-producing plants that provide food and insects for birds and other wildlife. There are also a wide array of nectar and host plants for bees, butterflies, moths, and other beneficial insects. The garden features a compost pile, wattles, storm-water control, and a rain garden that helps manage storm-water runoff from storms. In addition to certification as a Georgia Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary, the garden has also been certified by the National Wildlife Federation, Xerces Society, and the Georgia Native Plant Society (gold category). You don't want to miss this stop on the virtual tour!
A Hooded Warbler visiting the water feature in the Zaremba's yard. Photo by Bob Zaremba.
Home of Bob and Deb Zaremba
You would never guess that a residential property the size of 1/3 of an acre has hosted 30+ species of warbler in metro Atlanta, but it exists! Over the last 20+ years, Bob has transformed a space that was once largely turf grass into a thriving habitat for wildlife featuring a variety of native plants, bird feeders, a lovely flowing water feature, and a small lake. Realizing the ecological value of native plants over many ornamental species in recent years, Bob's space has begun to evolve once again as he replaces old ornamentals with natives while trying his best to keep his eye on the stream for incoming warblers and other surprises! The property was certified as a Georgia Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary in 2019.
Deepdene Park
Part of the Olmstead Linear Park Alliance
At 22 acres, Deepdene is the largest section of Olmsted Linear Park which runs along Ponce de Leon Avenue between Druid Hills and Decatur. Deepdene occupies the eastern-most end of the string of parks that comprise Olmsted Linear Park. Deepdene is a largely wooded park and boasts some of the largest trees in the area. The park is situation on a beautiful sloping landscape that is shaped by a meandering stream running the length of the greenspace. A variety of native plants, birds, and other wildlife can be found in the deep shade of this forest. Led by the Olmsted Linear Park Alliance, Georgia Audubon was able to partner on a National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant to restore wildlife habitat in this park. The work continues to this day to remove non-native invasive plants and replace them with native plants. The area was certified as a Georgia Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary in 2016.
Register for Georgia Grows Native for Birds Month Events


This is an open source server side image holder web service. All images are SVG format and they can scale nicely. It doesn't support another image formats. And it gives the requested images with a "max-age one year" header for awesome cache controlling.
The service has six parameters and they separated with a comma.
All sample images scaled by css.


This year's financial results illustrate the substantial oil price decline that took place during second-half 2014 as well as significant impairments and charges incurred during the year. The results were partly mitigated by increased production and higher natural gas prices.
As capital spending and drilling efforts of the OGJ150 companies continued to increase last year, the group's oil and gas production and reserves, particularly in the US, showed robust growth.
To qualify for the OGJ150, oil and gas producers must be headquartered in the US, publicly traded, and hold oil or gas reserves in the US.
Companies appear on the list ranked by total assets but are also ranked by revenues, stockholders' equity, capital expenditures, earnings, production, reserves, and US net wells drilled. In this year's report, the spin-off of California Resources Corp. from Occidental Petroleum Corp. impairs year-over-year comparability of some top 20 lists.
There are 143 companies that qualified for this edition of the OGJ150. Last year's group contained 139 firms. As always, data for this year's list reflect the prior year's operations.
For the full-year 2014, West Texas Intermediate and Brent prices averaged $93.26/bbl and $99.02/bbl, respectively, compared with $97.90/bbl and $108.64/bbl in 2013. During second-half 2014, the average WTI and Brent prices fell to $88.37/bbl and $92.35/bbl, respectively, from $100.76/bbl and $108.77/bbl in the same period in 2013.
The drop in crude oil prices was mainly due to weakening global demand combined with robust supply from rising US production, decreasing supply disruptions, and members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries maintaining production levels.
Front-month gas futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange averaged $4.26/MMbtu in 2014 compared with $3.73/MMbtu in 2013.
West Coast, $8.50/bbl for the Gulf Coast, and $3.99/bbl for the East Coast, according to Muse, Stancil & Co. During 2013, these averaged refining margins were $24.96/bbl, $15.85/bbl, $7.42/bbl, and $2.22/bbl, respectively. Refining margins in northwestern Europe and Southeast Asia in 2014 averaged $3.05/bbl and $2.17/bbl, respectively, compared with $3.15/bbl and $1.97/bbl a year ago.
ForestOilCorp. ................ Merged with................... SabineOil&GasCorp. Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Changed name to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Freeport-McMoRan Inc. Pyramid Oil Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Merged with and into . . . . . . . . . . . . Yuma Energy Inc.
The following companies sold their US producing properties, liquidated, or became private since the last survey: GeoMet Inc.
Historical spreadsheets of data presented here are available for purchase from PennEnergy Research Center. Visit www. ogjonline.com, and click the link "Energy Industry Surveys in Excel" under the "Industry Surveys" section.


Castiron Plant or Aspidistra. This plant is a real symbol of a Deep South shade garden with its coarse, paper-like large leaves up to 30" or more in height. There is probably no other plant that will thrive in almost complete darkness than this species. Its common name, Castiron Plant is indicative of this, as it was a staple house plant in the cold, dark, Victorian foyer. One might not suspect it, but this plant is in the lily family, Liliaceae, and has fascinating, 1 1/2" purple flowers which are at the ground line. The seed are found in a round, green, passiflora-like fruit situated at the soil line as well. If one wishes to simulate a tropical air in the shade garden, there is no better plant than this species in addition to Fatsia and Aucuba. E. Asia, Himalaya to Japan. I have complaints from customers about this plant, but it inevitably comes from being grown in too much sun, where the leaves become a sick yellow with black spots. This Genus needs complete shade. When I was in college in the 1960's, there were only two species of Aspidistra known in the horticultural trade. Now there are 162 recognized species.


For the last issue of the year, TPM magazine wanted to bring back the celebration spirit for the new year's. These patterns were made to give an extra punch of colour and get the party starting. And as an extra token people could download the files and go crazy DIY for the party decorations!


AI, also known as Artificial Intelligence, has integrated into many of our everyday functions even though we may not have noticed it yet. Virtual mobile assistants and chatbots are some of the ways AI has been integrated in facilities available today. Apart from the completion of day-to-day tasks, AI can help you deal with financial issues as well. The following are ways in which AI can be applied in the FinTech industry and everyone in the industry, including FinTech startups, are taking advantage of it.
While there are often problems which can only be solved by humans, many of the problems faced by consumers can be addressed with the help of services such as chatbots or robo-advisors. In today's customer support interaction, these are the main two services that are offered by FinTech companies in India and abroad as well.
Chatbots are automated services assistants that can operate 24*7, and eliminate the need to having people for help for any customer requests. While fintech companies have service executives to solve complicated problems, chatbot decrease time and other costs by handling most of the workload. These chatbots have the power to notify users of any changes in their financial account or transactions. Moreover, they can also reply to some primary questions and solve queries of any user when it comes to managing their account.
These are virtual assistants in the field of finance that are prime examples of how the advent of artificial intelligence in banking is revolutionising the industry. From helping you choose an appropriate investment strategy to advising on the stock market, they are multi-pronged when it comes to utility and at the same time, are more cost efficient than having a human specialist to do the same job.
AI provides one of the best ways to detect frauds by learning the pathways of millions of fraud attacks, memorising them and then analysing them. The system can work around the clock and any fraud attack will be blocked immediately. Other than this, the system will also learn the ways of a customer, how he acts etc and if he deviates from his habitual manner an alarm can be raised. Any inclusion of AI into your financial service to protect will only be an added strength.
P2P lending organisations can also profit from AI as it can analyse the behaviour of each customer and detect all possible risks in association with that customer. Whenever a customer wants to avail loans or insurance, a background check can be conducted on how reliable he or she is. A neural network can also be set up to scan the documents of the customer to avoid fraud of any manner.
AI can help assess the level of damage of any car insured or house, and this has been put to use by various insurance companies already. All in all, it means that AI helps to increase the level of customer service in the field of insurance and can help prevent new incidents.
The process of finding good sources to invest your money in can be automated using AI. It helps in analysis by scanning financial data and producing results through customized criteria. As a result of such specialized solutions, AI can become very useful when it comes to hedge funds by making the process of investing more secure and precise.
Fintegrate zone is a fintech thought leadership conclave- consisting of workshops, panel discussions, start-up exhibits and other types of activities that focus on the future of technology in financial services. Through interactive panel discussions, B2B meetups and workshops, Fintegrate Zone attempts to bring all the stakeholders from financial services industry under one roof to propel innovation.
Posted in Fintech, FintegrateZone.Tagged Artificial intelligence in Banking, Fintech Companies in India.


A key concept for life and death is almost filling the eye shape of a group, which means leaving one liberty inside the eye shape.
White's eye shape is almost filled with two stones. The circled point is the last liberty left inside the eye shape. It does not really matter whether the outside liberties are all filled or not. In this case they are, so White's group is in atari.
Here White has two outside liberties. The eye shape is still almost filled with two stones.
If you manage to almost fill the eye shape of an enemy group with a killing shape and there is no escape for that group, it is dead.
Instead of playing at any of the outside liberties, Black almost fills White's eye space with a killing shape, the farmer's hat.
The term almost fill is used frequently throughout the explanations of life and death at Sensei's Libary.