BloggeRhythms

As hard as the administration tries to mask its ineptitude, sooner or later the truth always surfaces. Whether that be in regard to staged public appearances to reflect more support than actual, changing formulations for calculating unemployment statistics or health care plan enrollments, or by flat-out misrepresentation regarding administration incompetence in general, such as the VA or Secret Service protection, the public finds out the truth eventually.  

 

In today’s case, a University of Michigan consumer confidence and February retail sales reports released on Thursday surprised economists and investors with another dose of “underwhelming” news. Overall, U.S. economic data have been falling

 

Bloomberg reports that, “The Bloomberg ECO U.S. Surprise Index, which measures whether data beat or miss forecasts, fell to the lowest since 2009, when the nation was in the deepest recession since the Great Depression. Results were short of prognosticators' expectations by the most in six years.”

 

While noting that the only good news was that the economy added 295,000 jobs in February and 1.3 million over four months, “a reflection of a healthier labor market,” Bloomberg went on to report that, “the unemployment rate has fallen to the lowest in almost seven years.” However, that’s not the case whereas the change hasn’t occurred in the labor market, the change has been made in the data used in the calculation which now omits the long-term unemployed completely.  Making the administration look far better than actual. 

 

On the down side were several items indicating that the economy’s performing quite poorly, whereas, “this month alone, personal income and spending, manufacturing as measured by the Institute for Supply Management, auto sales, factory orders, and retail sales have all come in a bit weak, as reflected in the following chart. Reflecting world-wide economic status.

 

 

The chart statistics are additional proof that despite all the speeches and promises made by the president and those around him to the contrary, actual results indicate otherwise. But that should come as no surprise to anyone paying attention, whereas their objective has been to bring the nation down to third-world status for more than six years now. And in that regard, they’re succeeding as planned.   

 

In today’s update on Bill Clinton’s wife, Peggy Noonan writes in wsj.com/articles, that “Maybe we’re not stuck in Scandal Land.”

 

Ms Noonan explains that, “For a while I’ve assumed Hillary Clinton would run for her party’s nomination and be a formidable candidate in the general election. After Tuesday’s news conference I’m not so sure. 

 

“Did she seem to you a happy, hungry warrior? She couldn’t make eye contact with her questioners, and when she did she couldn’t sustain it. She looked at the ceiling and down at notes, trying, it seemed, to stick to or remember scripted arguments. She was shaky. She couldn’t fake good cheer and confidence. It is seven years since she ran for office. You could see it.”

 

The article itself contains considerable interesting thoughts, which evidently stimulated many readers. As of right now there are 1281  comments, so here’s a link: NOONAN-  Hillary Seems Tired, Not Hungry

 

Aside from a change in attitude, however, Bill’s wife has also now got a growing list of self-perpetuated problems. 

 

According to Fox News.com, “A State Department spokeswoman said Friday that the department did not start automatically archiving emails from senior officials until February of this year -- raising questions about Hillary Clinton's claim that her emails were "immediately" saved whenever she corresponded with colleagues.”

 

Although Bill’s wife said on Tuesday that, "The vast majority of my work emails went to government employees at their government addresses, which meant they were captured and preserved immediately on the system at the State Department.”

 

“But department spokeswoman Jen Psaki made clear on Friday that this was not the way the system worked. She said the department only started automatically archiving emails for other senior officials in February.”

 

And then, Amy Chozick writes in nytimes.com, that “Judge Gladys Kessler of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia ordered the State Department to produce passenger manifests from 47 overseas trips that Mrs. Clinton made as secretary of state. Citizens United requested the manifests last July through a Freedom of Information Act Request.” 

 

David N. Bossie, president of Citizens United. said on Friday, “Clearly, the State Department is not getting the benefit of the doubt from judges anymore.” 

 

So, for many at present, and likely far more in the future, it seems that they aren’t just hoping that Bill’s wife decides not to run for the presidency. They're praying instead that she just disappear somewhere else altogether.

 

That’s it for today folks.

 

Adios

BloggeRhythms

While Democrats scramble, in case their presumed presidential front-runner implodes, Republicans are apparently making new inroads in important voter blocs, further upsetting the Dem’s.

 

Buzzfeed.com’s News Reporter, Adrian Carrasquillo, writes about the LIBRE Initiative which “helps immigrants learn to drive in Nevada, does food banks in Texas and holds free health clinics in Florida.” That’s has Democrats in key states ringing alarm bells up to the national party about the organization.

 

Some of the things Dem's are worried about include the following: “Last August, Pastor Marcus Burgos brought a group to his church, which is located in a rough part of San Antonio. Together, Burgos and a handful of people from the group, called the LIBRE Initiative, distributed boxes of food to parishioners in need, the majority of whom were Hispanic.

 

“In Florida, the organization helps Latinos with tax-preparation services. In Nevada, the group is helping undocumented immigrants get their driver’s authorization cards. The LIBRE Initiative, in short, is helping Latinos with the things regular people need help with.”

 

Democrats are alarmed because, “LIBRE is a group backed by billionaires Charles and David Koch. They’ve been providing services and building meaningful relationships with Hispanics since 2011 in states like Nevada, Florida, Colorado, Texas, and Arizona — and they’re doing this all while espousing conservative principles to a key demographic of voters in person, in print, and online.”

 

Which means that this time around, perhaps Republicans have finally learned that to win the White House again, they’re going to have to roll their sleeves up and attract traditional Democrat constituencies. And while that’s something Republicans, and especially conservatives, ordinarily don’t attempt, perhaps they’re not only finally waking up, but succeeding at it to boot.  

 

Another indicator about how the next presidential election might go can be found in an article from Daily Caller via Chris Stirewalt’s column on Fox News.com, as follows:

 

“According to numbers obtained from Nielsen Bookscan. [Dr. Ben]Carson’s ‘One Nation: What We Can All Do To Save America’s Future’ has sold a staggering 355,000 copies since its release in May 2014. It’s only real competition has been Hillary Clinton’s ‘Hard Choices,’ which has sold 264,000 copies since its release in June 2014…Mike Huckabee comes in third place in the ‘book sales primary’ with his ‘God, Guns, Grits and Gravy’ selling 53,000 copies since its recent release in January.”

 

So, it looks like despite all the hoopla, fanfare and promotion, Bill’s wife’s new book is trailing that of a relatively unknown in politics. And if that’s any indication of how she might do at the polls, perhaps she’d be better off deciding not to run at all. She could easily accomplish that by sending out word of her conceding in an email.   

 

That’s it for today folks.

 

Adios

BloggeRhythms

The things people do, when caught by surprise or unprepared is sometimes truly amazing. And that seems to be the case regarding Secretary of State, John Kerry, who’s being forced to defend the president’s questionable deal with Iran against an unwilling Congress. In fact, his lengthy description of the agreement itself sounds like all the hubbub is about meaningless words not worth the paper they’re written on. 

 

Bradley Klapper of the Associated Press writes in abcnews.go.com via Drudge that, “Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday that U.S. lawmakers won't be able to change the terms of any nuclear agreement with Iran because it won't be legally binding, a statement likely to inspire greater congressional opposition.

 

"We've been clear from the beginning: We're not negotiating a, quote, legally binding plan," Kerry told the panel. "We're negotiating a plan that will have in it the capacity for enforcement. We don't even have diplomatic relations with Iran right now."

 

What’s even more ridiculous is that, according to Kerry, the senators' letter "erroneously asserts that this is a legally binding plan. It's not, that's number one. Number two, it's incorrect when it says that Congress could actually modify the terms of an agreement at any time. That's flat wrong. They don't have the right to modify an agreement reached executive to executive between leaders."

 

In summary of the arrangement, Mr. Klapper writes, “No side has emphasized the need for a legally binding deal because each has stronger forms of leverage. If Iran cheats, the Obama administration has spoken of re-imposing suspended sanctions. The U.S. has also held out the prospect of military action if Iran makes progress toward a nuclear weapon.

 

“Similarly, if the U.S. doesn't live up to its side of the bargain, the Iranians can ramp up enrichment levels of uranium, taking them closer to nuclear weapons capacity.”

 

So, what this obviously all boils down to is months of wasted time, countless taxpayer dollars spent and millions of words of discussion for the U.S. and Iran to remain exactly where they were to begin with at the start. Meaning the net effect of the “deal” is zero.

 

Which brings us to today’s update on Bill Clinton’s wife’s shaky campaign status.

 

It appears that the White House may have been behind, or strongly in support of, Bill’s wife’s email problems whereas they don’t want her campaigning against any of the positions they’ve taken regarding the management or direction of the nation. Therefore, the email server leak was a warning.

 

Additional evidence of dislike for Mrs. Clinton came from the president himself when he said, “the American people will want that new-car smell.” The line is already a classic; perfectly capturing the political zeitgeist.

 

Similarly, National Journal columnist Ron Fournier wrote that, “The 1990s tactics don’t work in an age where you can’t possibly spin and intimidate 300 million people,” in an interview with the Daily Beast.

 

Both comments are thought-provoking because they touch on one of the major problems Bill’s wife is going to have to deal with. And, unfortunately for her, she’s far, far beyond the age where technological aptitude, adeptness and adaptability come easily. As proven by failure at something so basic as maintaining separate personal and occupational email accounts.  

 

At present it seems that her main political thrust in getting her point across will remain addressing the public via press conferences, speeches and appearances. However, that tactic won’t likely produce the same positive results as in the past, because adding to what Mr. Fournier noted, the audience doesn’t even exist anymore.

 

According to Nielsen today, “Traditional television watching is declining faster than ever as streaming services become a mainstream feature in American homes.

 

“At the same time, more homes turned to online video, with 40 percent of U.S. homes subscribing to a streaming service such as Netflix, Amazon Instant Video or Hulu compared with 36 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013. 

 

“Adults watched an average of four hours and 51 minutes of live TV each day in the fourth quarter of 2014, down 13 minutes from the same quarter of 2013. Viewing was down six minutes between the fourth quarter of 2013 and 2012. 

 

“Between 2012 and 2014, viewers ages 50 through 64  watched one hour and 12 minutes less of traditional TV each week; they increased viewing of videos over the Internet by 22 minutes. Viewers ages 35 through 49 watched two hours and five minutes less of traditional TV each week and increased viewing of online videos by 35 minutes.”

 

So, at the rate it’s going, to reach the audience she needs, Bill’s wife might be better off forgetting about delivering speeches no one listens to anyway and making a movie instead. Perhaps a remake of “The Thing.”  And even better for her, Hollywood’s make-up artists are the best in the world, something she most assuredly can benefit from.  

 

That’s it for today folks.

 

Adios

BloggeRhythms

Rush spent considerable time yesterday, analyzing the friction building between the president and senate members regarding the pending agreement between the U.S. and Iran.

 

A critical factor in Rush’s opinion, is the letter sent by 47 Republican senators, warning the Iranian government that many of them would remain in office long after President Barack Obama’s second term was over. That action has deeply upset many Democrats, some in the administration calling it treasonous, anti-American and unpatriotic.

 

On the other hand, Rush believes there’s far more to the situation than simply the letter itself. In that regard, he referred to former permanent representative to the United Nations, John Bolton, who said, “Letter schmetter. I mean, a letter's fine, but that's not what the story is. The story is Obama, with this deal with Iran, is surrendering to Iran.”

 

Then, to establish the fact that on other occasions Democrats have done the same kind of things, Rush noted “all of the efforts by the Democrat Party, primarily in the House, but the Senate as well, back in the eighties where they were practically aligned in the mind and heart with the Soviets in Nicaragua.”

 

Rush then explained, what Ted Kennedy did in 1983, as follows: Kennedy, “sent his close friend and trusted confidant, a guy named J. Tunney, who was in Moscow, he charged Tunney to convey the following message through confidential contacts to Yuri Andropov. It was in 1983. This was the message to the Soviet leader...

 

"Senator Kennedy, like other rational people, is very troubled by the current state of Soviet-American relations. Events are developing such that this relationship coupled with the general state of global affairs will make the situation even more dangerous. The main reason for this is Reagan's belligerence, and his firm commitment to deploy new American middle range nuclear weapons within Western Europe. According to Kennedy, the current threat is due to the President's refusal to engage any modification on his politics.

"Kennedy asks Y.V. Andropov to consider inviting the senator to Moscow for a personal meeting in July of this year. The main purpose of the meeting, according to the senator, would be to arm Soviet officials with explanations regarding problems of nuclear disarmament so they may be better prepared and more convincing during appearances in the USA."

Therefore, Rush concluded, “Kennedy wanted to coach Andropov on how to deal with Reagan. Kennedy wanted to assist the Soviets in prevailing against United States and Ronald Reagan in nuclear arms talks with Ronald Reagan. So the New York Daily News and these Democrats, they can run around and belly ache and whine and moan all they want about this letter that the Republicans have written the leaders of Iran and call it traitorous, while they conveniently forget all of the multiple occurrences of things worse than this by the Democrat Party. And remember, John Bolton called this Iran deal what it is: surrender.”

And then we have today’s update on Bill Clinton’s wife, whose email problems were further defined by the nytimes.com’s Scott Shane, who writes:

“A former senior State Department official who served before the Obama administration said that while it was hard to be certain, it seemed unlikely that classified information could be kept out of the more than 30,000 emails that Mrs. Clinton’s staff identified as involving government business.

“I would assume that more than 50 percent of what the secretary of state dealt with was classified,” said the former official, who would speak only on the condition of anonymity because he did not want to seem ungracious to Mrs. Clinton. “Was every single email of the secretary of state completely unclassified? Maybe, but it’s hard to imagine.” 

 

Thus, it seems the email abuses have the potential of becoming a major problem for Mrs. Clinton, who unlike her husband, isn’t exactly adored by the media. Especially so when one of the most biased organizations in the nation, the New York Times, publishes potentially harmful disclosures. 

Along the same lines, Craig Bannister in mrctv.org/blog quotes Darrell Issa, who certainly isn’t an unbiased source, but still knows more than most about the subject. 

Mr. Issa opines; “What we heard from Hillary Clinton today was a rehashing of the talking points we've heard from her defenders over the last couple of weeks. Unfortunately, her explanations are not plausible and her statement did little to answer the many legitimate questions about the mishandling of these emails, including the security risks involved with her use of a non-government server for official communications. She also did not explain why she believed she had the right, for two years, and over the course of multiple investigations, to keep these e-mails from Congress, from the press, and from the American people."

Which means that, as Ricky Ricardo said to Lucy, in I love Lucy, Bill’s wife’s still got lot's more “splainin' to do."

That’s it for today folks.

Adios

BloggeRhythms

It seems the divergent views regarding the administration’s pending deal with Iran are causing further rifts between members of Congress and the White House.

 

Greg Jaffe and Sean Sullivan write in an article on washingtonpost.com, that, “An already heated battle between the White House and Republicans over negotiations to curtail Iran’s nuclear program grew more tense Monday when 47 Republican senators sent a letter to Iran designed to kill any potential deal.

 

“The White House responded by accusing the Republicans of conspiring with Iranian hard-liners, who oppose the delicate negotiations, and suggesting that their goal was to push the United States into a military conflict.”

 

Several individuals were quoted in the column, the most telling response coming from Vice President Joe Biden, who either didn’t carefully think through his remark, or perhaps has subliminal thoughts opposite to the words he spoke. Biden said:

 

“In 36 years in the United States Senate, I cannot recall another instance in which Senators wrote directly to advise another country — much less a longtime foreign adversary — that the President does not have the constitutional authority to reach a meaningful understanding with them.”

 

So, with his comment, “much less a longtime foreign adversary,” the Vice President is actually endorsing the Republican position. Because they too believe that Iran is still a major adversary, won’t live up the their end of the bargain, and in regard to nuclear development, shouldn’t be trusted in any way at all. And apparently, whether he’s consciously aware of his true feelings or not, it seems that Biden agrees with them.

 

In today’s update on Bill Clinton’s wife, buzzfeed.com via Drudge reported a continuing slide in her popularity.

 

Facebook’s been analyzing the sentiment of users talking about her and t Their data shows “a gradual but marked downturn in the tone of conversation about the presumptive Democratic candidate as the 2016 campaign approaches. 

 

“The share of conversation about Clinton that was positive dipped from 57% during one period in the fall to 52% in January and then a 50% average in February. By Feb. 28, that sentiment turned negative, and has stayed largely more negative than positive as conversations multiplied amid debate over her use of a personal email account.”

 

The statistics have great significance because, “The sentiment data is drawn from a Facebook project that analyzes the language and symbols used by the massive social networks users.” And that is a huge base of individuals.

 

Further examples of eroding popularity comes from reader comments, such as the two shown below.

 

Louis Renault · Top Commenter, writes, “People are kicking the tires on this old jalopy and are realizing they want a newer model with more options and less mileage...” 

 

Bill Abernathy · Top Commenter, added, “Don't forget the few trunkful's of baggage.”

 

And that pretty much sums up the gist of what most Facebook readers had to say on the topic.

 

That's it for today folks.

 

Adios

BloggeRhythms

While the major media exhausts itself in trying to prove that the Republican congressional majority is getting nothing done, actual activities belie the claims.

  

After Bibi Netanyahu delivered his speech to a joint session last week, at the invitation of House Speaker, John Boehner, forcefully describing the Iranian nuclear threat to his nation, further steps have been taken.

 

Josh Rogin reports in bloombergview.com that, “A group of 47 Republican senators has written an open letter to Iran's leaders warning them that any nuclear deal they sign with President Barack Obama's administration won’t last after Obama leaves office.

 

“Organized by freshman Senator Tom Cotton and signed by the chamber's entire party leadership as well as potential 2016 presidential contenders Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, the letter is meant not just to discourage the Iranian regime from signing a deal but also to pressure the White House into giving Congress some authority over the process.”

 

The hope is that by pointing out the long-term fragility of a deal with no congressional approval, “something Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has also noted,” the Iranian regime might be convinced to think twice.

 

Senator Cotton said, "Iran's ayatollahs need to know before agreeing to any nuclear deal that … any unilateral executive agreement is one they accept at their own peril.” Which doesn’t sound like a “do nothing” congressional attitude at all.

 

On a similar subject, as ominous as paving the way to a nuclear-armed Iran may be, another administration error makes absolutely no sense either.

 

It would seem that anyone with an iota of intellect would realize that the precipitous drop in crude oil prices is extremely beneficial to the U.S. 

 

In Russia, although there was a cool response from Vladi­mir Putin, his ministers announced drastic cuts in government spending. At the same time, Iran’s revenue is similarly curtailed, which might be very helpful in any negotiation with that nation.  

 

Even Venezuela is feeling the effect, where President Nicolás Maduro, skipped his own state of the union speech for a desperate world tour in search of loans or promises of $100 oil. Getting neither, rumors flew back home about whether he would be allowed to stay in office on his return.

 

Since these are just a few of the benefits to the nation, wouldn’t the most logical step be to approve the Keystone pipeline, further reducing the price of oil? That would not only benefit the population, but practically guarantee no recovery for enemies for a long time to come.

 

However, for this administration, politics always overrides public good, regardless of harm to the nation itself and its people. And what’s even more ridiculous is that the environmental damage of the pipeline has been determined to be minimal at worst, while the State Department has cleared the project five times to date. Makes one wonder what the real game is, doesn’t it? 

  

And finally, Fox News.com reports, “JUST IN CASE you were relying on the Sunday New York Times — or the 'official White House photo' — to give you complete coverage of the 50th anniversary re-enactment of the Selma march, you probably didn't see that in addition to President Obama and family leading the procession of civil rights leaders were former President George Bush and wife, Laura — so we thought we'd show you what they didn't.”

 

And sure enough, the actual photo shows the Bush couple right up at the front of the march. So, one must suppose that this is just one more proof of why Fox outdraws all the other news sources combined, while the major media are almost out of business readership-wise, especially the New York Times.

 

That's it for today folks.

 

Adios

BloggeRhythms

Very little “new” in the news today, which leaves only ongoing discussion in the press about one of its favorite recent  topics, Bill Clinton’s wife’s presidential run in 2016.

 

While most articles treat her pending candidacy as being virtually guaranteed, recent events, such as her private email account, have others believing she may be vulnerable again, as she was to Obama last time around.

 

Phil Noble, a businessman in Charleston and President of the S.C. New Democrats, an independent reform group founded by former Gov. Richard Riley “to bring big change and real reform” to the party, wrote an article posted on scnewsexchange.com, via Drudge.

 

According to Mr. Noble, “Democrats in South Carolina are not a group that is easily impressed, but recently former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley really impressed them… as in a standing ovation impressed.

 

“All the national pundits and so-called experts who are saying that Hillary has it all wrapped up should take note, because it just ain’t so– at least not in South Carolina.”

 

Mr. Noble went on to ask, “Now, is O’Malley a long shot? Sure he is – a real long shot, both in South Carolina and nationally. But Hillary is no more invincible now than she was in 2008, maybe less so.

 

“O’Malley is a bright, new leader with an impressive record that is attracting people wherever he goes – especially the next generation types with the energy, commitment and passion that can fuel outsider candidates. These are the folks that don’t like to hear the status quo political insiders saying O’Malley should “respect his elders and wait his turn.”

 

What was most interesting was the implication that to many “political insiders,” presidential candidacy has nothing to do with capability or competence but is merely a result of having paid one’s dues in the party hierarchy. However, if that were really true, husband Bill would never have gotten the nomination himself, being quite far down the line. And then, nobody would be talking about his wife now. Because without his presidency, no one would ever have heard of her at all.  

 

Another interesting opinion about Bill’s wife was found in thehill.com/blogs by Jesse Byrnes, who wrote that according  to Darryl “Issa: Clinton could have committed a crime.”

 

The opinion, though, came from reader, Lysergsäure who responded to another, as follows: “Tony, George Soros IS the DNC. He tossed her under the bus last time, he will again. I suspect he views her as too old and senile to make good puppet material. You're right though, past criminal activity is a badge of honor to a Democrat.”

 

Most of the other comments were also anti-candidacy which implies that despite her anointment by the mainstream media, this contest is not only not over, it likely hasn’t even started yet.

 

That's it for today folks.

 

Adios