BloggeRhythms

On a slow day for news, several columns present differing opinions about expectations regarding the presidential campaign.

Pundits, pollsters and loudly opinionated “experts,” have dwelt for some time now on political outsiders. Particularly Trump, Cruz and Rubio as favorites for next November. 

However, another candidate, one having significant personal knowledge of how the campaigning process actually works, evidently doesn’t buy the widely-held theory that Jeb Bush is out of the running.

Zeke J Miller @time.com, writes this morning:“Despite initially focusing his campaign's efforts on New Hampshire, in recent weeks, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has shifted strategy as he eyes an opening in Iowa, not to win, but to place ahead of Bush.”

Thus, it would seem that a hardened professional like Christie still believes that despite all the chest-thumping, self-praising noise coming from the newcomers, the voting public will eventually come to their senses and realize what the nation needs. Above all else, someone in the White house that actually knows what he’s doing. And in that regard, Jeb certainly exceeds the criteria, as evidenced by his success governing Florida.

As far as Trump is concerned, an article at wsj.com delves into his past in detail. Primarily illustrating that his objectives have been self-preservation as the overriding objective in most, if not all, cases. One example, regarding  Wilbur Ross Jr., an expert on distressed assets who advises bondholders, confirms opinions posted here in the past, as follows:

“He began by bringing creditors around to the realization Mr. Ross had: The developer was worth more to them financially alive than dead. A global group holding $2.1 billion of debt, mostly on New York properties, agreed in 1990 to a complex plan that gave Mr. Trump years to work his way through. 

“He also squeezed money out of his casino empire and shifted it to struggling properties. He ran all three of his casinos through bankruptcy court.” 

As far as self-preservation’s concerned: “He continued drawing cash even then. In 1992, when Trump Castle casino was in chapter 11, it paid Mr. Trump $1.5 million for guiding it through the process. In all, he took more than $160 million out of Atlantic City between 1990 and 1996 through fees and other payouts, according to a Wall Street Journal review of a wide array of documents from New Jersey gambling regulators and the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

“For many years I took money out of Atlantic City,” Mr. Trump said in an interview. “The money I made in Atlantic City fueled a lot of projects.” 

Indicating that, if he were to gain the presidency, the nation would likely do quite well. Until such time as something occurred that might require caring for others, a talent or characteristic he simply doesn’t seem to possess.  

On another subject, following-up on yesterday’s item regarding AlGore, there are now 23 days left for the “10 years to save the planet” and “point of no return” planetary emergency he predicted on January 25th, 2006 to come true.

And then, a friend posted this on FB this morning.

Which brings us to todays’ update on Bill Clinton’s wife

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While the FBI quietly pursues Bill’s wife for her apparent misuse of a private email server when Secretary of State, another group is actively working hard to discredit both Clinton’s; women claiming they were sexually abused by Bill. 

According to Breitbart News @breitbart.com, Paula Jones spoke to weekend talk radio host Aaron Klein, slamming “Hillary as a “two-faced” “liar” who waged a war on women by trying to discredit “predator” Bill’s sexual accusers. 

Ms Jones said, “And how dare her. You know what? She don’t care nothing about women. Because if she did she would believe what I had to say. She would believe what the other women had to say. ” 

Further accusing the media of practicing a double standard by  “protecting” the Clintons while deservedly scrutinizing Bill Cosby’s alleged sexual assaults, Jones stated, “It’s really a sad, sad day if Hillary becomes president, because she has allowed her husband to get by with this type of stuff.  Why does he have a right to be back in the White House, the people’s house? 

Jones slammed Hillary as “such a liar. And she’s so two faced. I never once was contacted by her. Not one time and apologized about what her husband did to me.” 

What’s most interesting is that aside from the potential damage the festering story’s present for the presidential campaign, reader comments indicate a huge number of individuals holding negative views of the Clinton couple. At present, 5149 comments had been posted, the overwhelming majority of them disparaging. Suggesting similar attitudes among the “silent” general public. 

Which brings up the ongoing question: Joe Biden, Mayor Bloomberg, Jerry Brown, and Starbuck’s chairman and CEO, Howard Schultz, are you guys reading this? 

That’s it for today folks. 

Adios

BloggeRhythms

Coming back from his taxpayer paid vacation, to his taxpayer paid luxury home the POTUS told reporters he’s “ fired up” for 2016. That probably means even more golf than the numerous rounds played for the past seven years.

He also said he’s looking forward to meeting with the Attorney General tomorrow, to consider ways to control guns in the hands of the public. In that regard, it might do him well to stop demonizing police officers efforts to use weapons against criminals. So that citizens won’t feel the need to protect themselves now that lawmen can’t, thanks to him.

As far as the public’s feel for the need of self-protection, a FB friend posted the following interesting example today, which speaks for itself.  

Then yesterday, on FoxNews, Journal Editorial Report James Freeman, Assistant Editor of The Wall Street Journal's editorial page, discussed the POTUS’s use of his now famous phone and pen to skirt Congressional review and approval of legislation he knows won’t pass.

The moderator and other panelists agreed that this method of bypassing lawmakers would continue, and perhaps accelerate in 2016. To which Mr. Freeman responded that although the major media highlights, extols and supports the president’s actions, the actual results are quite different. 

Because, from his goal’s of admitting millions of illegal aliens, to rescuing Syrian refugees, to curing disease with the help of the human genome, regulating the Internet, to banning ammunition for AR-15’s, each and every effort is bogged down in various courts around the nation. And, as a result, despite all the publicity, he’s actually accomplished next to nothing. 

On another issue, newly arriving House Speaker Ryan’s questionable compliance in passage of the budget bill at the end of the year may now becoming clearer. Because, in what appeared to be his fear of being blamed for a government shutdown if Republicans took a firm stand against passage, many in Ryan’s party felt abandoned and unsupported.

But it now appears that the Speaker’s acquiescence was merely meant to get past the end of 2015. 

FoxNews.com reports today that Ryan and “Congressional Republicans are vowing that the first action upon returning to Capitol Hill will be to send a bill to President Obama that repeals his health care law and defunds Planned Parenthood.”

This establishes a clear choice facing voters in the November  election. Because while all Democrats running for president would keep ObamaCare in place, the bill also places a moratorium on taxpayer funding to abortion providers and redirects the money to community health centers, which serve eight times more women patients than Planned Parenthood and provide more comprehensive care.

And then, in the returning Senate, “early action will include a vote on a proposal by Sen. Rand Paul, for an "audit" of the Federal Reserve. Democrats are likely to block it. But like the health repeal bill in the House, the vote will answer conservative demands in an election year.” 

“Also expected early in the Senate's year is legislation dealing with Syrian refugees, following House passage of a bill clamping down on the refugee program. Conservatives were angry when the year ended without the bill advancing. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky promised a vote, though without specifying whether it would be the House bill or something else.” 

Furthermore, the House Benghazi committee will continue its investigation of the attacks, with an interview of former CIA Director David Petraeus on Jan. 6. 

Thus, there now seems to be no doubt that Republican leadership is not only drawing clear bold lines between itself and its political rivals in the coming elections, but certainly has chosen issues where their solutions make the most sense for returning the nation to it’s former safe, secure and successful status. 

And then, Jaclyn Schiff  @wattsupwiththat.com via Drudge reports that there’s now just 24 days left to Al Gore’s ’10 years to save the planet’ and ‘point of no return’ planetary emergency deadline.

“On January 25th, 2006, while at the Sundance film festival, screening “An Inconvenient Truth,” Al Gore said this as chronicled in an article by CBS News: 

The former vice president came to town for the premiere of “An Inconvenient Truth,” a documentary chronicling what has become his crusade since losing the 2000 presidential election: Educating the masses that global warming is about to toast our ecology and our way of life.

 

Gore has been saying it for decades, since a college class in the 1960s convinced him that greenhouse gases from oil, coal and other carbon emissions were trapping the sun’s heat in the atmosphere, resulting in a glacial meltdown that could flood much of the planet.

 

Americans have been hearing it for decades, wavering between belief and skepticism that it all may just be a natural part of Earth’s cyclical warming and cooling phases.

 

And politicians and corporations have been ignoring the issue for decades, to the point that unless drastic measures to reduce greenhouse gases are taken within the next 10 years, the world will reach a point of no return, Gore said.

 

He sees the situation as “a true planetary emergency.”

 

“If you accept the truth of that, then nothing else really matters that much,” Gore said in an interview with The Associated Press. “We have to organize quickly to come up with a coherent and really strong response, and that’s what I’m devoting myself to.”

 

“Well, the 10 years are about up, by now, warming should have reached “planetary emergency levels” Let’s look at the data: 

“Satellite data since 1979: little has changed since 2006. [Other than] the spike in 1998, in the 18 years since the great El Niño of 97/98, that hasn’t been matched, and the current one we are in isn’t stronger, and looks to be on the way to decaying. So much for the “monster” El Niño.” 

However, although the facts may indicate that AlGore’s predications were totally erroneous and unfounded, we still don’t know what will happen in the remaining 24 days on his countdown clock. Although, to fulfill his prediction of a “meltdown,’” temperatures for the next three and a half weeks will probably have to reach about two thousand Fahrenheit. 

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

Although Trump may not have the experience, sophistication, knowledge or capability required of a POTUS, his unbridled employment of schoolyard-bullying tactics helps to expose both Clinton’s. By broaching subjects other candidates won’t. 

According to thehill.com, this came from him on Saturday: “I hope Bill Clinton starts talking about women’s issues so that voters can see what a hypocrite he is and how Hillary abused those women,” Trump said in a tweet Saturday, referring to sexual allegations made against the 42nd president.” 

So, just like a football lineman, Trump’s out there ahead of those who know how to carry the ball. Knocking down opponents, helping to clear the field and easing the way to the goal for them. Be it Bush, Cruz, Kasich, Christie or Rubio. 

And if the Republican candidates simply stay the course without harming themselves, by next November between Trump, the FBI investigators and the Benghazi committee, there won’t be much , if any, Clinton opposition left to worry about. 

Bringing up the ongoing question: Joe Biden, Mayor Bloomberg, Jerry Brown, and Starbuck’s chairman and CEO, Howard Schultz, are you guys reading this?  

That’s it for today folks. 

Adios

BloggeRhythms

In his continuing quest to pursue issues the public either has no real interest in, or significantly disagrees with, the POTUS is planning to press ahead with a set of executive actions on gun control next week. His efforts also buck growing concerns among citizens regarding terrorism that have dampened Americans’ enthusiasm for tighter firearms restrictions. 

Meeting on Monday with Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch to finalize a series of new gun control measures, he’ll announce his package of proposals soon after, according to several individuals who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the plan is not yet public. 

What’s amazing, however, is that despite all the publicity and promotion the POTUS has made about his goal of controlling weapons, the actions he’s seeking are far more like political noise than they are serious efforts on the subject. 

According to Juliet Eilperin at the Washington Post, “One of the main proposals Obama is poised to adopt would require some unlicensed gun dealers to get licenses and conduct background checks on potential buyers. The change is aimed at occasional dealers, including some who sell online frequently or rent tables at gun shows but do not have a storefront. 

“Obama began examining how he could tighten the nation’s gun rules after October’s mass shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Ore. Administration lawyers have spent months reviewing various proposals to make sure they can withstand legal challenges. 

“The idea of requiring informal gun dealers to obtain a license from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and of conducting background checks came up two years ago when White House officials drafted a proposal for dealers who sell at least 50 guns annually.” 

After reading about the POTUS pursuing “occasional dealers, including some who sell online frequently or rent tables at gun shows but do not have a storefront,” some additional research divulged the actual size of the gun market. 

 

The most recent statistic found is from 2012, when according to National Shooting Sports Foundation, $31.8 billion in gun related sales were made, as reported by the Christian Science Monitor. Which means that the table-top dealers the POTUS is chasing aren’t likely even significant in a massive market. 

 

As far as gun sales themselves are concerned, two major factors have been sending then soaring. First is the reaction to events such as the mass shootings at San Bernardino, California, Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, Fort Hood, Texas and Aurora, Colorado, spurring the public’s wishes to arm themselves for protection.

The second factor is politics, which includes causes that the POTUS himself is directly responsible for. Sales spiked in anticipation of both of his elections, in 2008 and 2012, and stock in firearms manufacturers like Smith & Wesson soared, as buyers feared legislation that would clamp down on Second Amendment rights or restrict their ability to purchase a gun.

So, not only isn’t the POTUS’s feeble gun control effort going to have much, if any, real impact on gun ownership in the U.S., as it turns out, he himself is a major reason for the problem's growth to begin with.

On another issue, Fox News.com reports that: “Leading lawmakers, including supporters of President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, rapped the White House for delaying fresh sanctions on Tehran over its missile program, warning that the move would embolden it to further destabilize the Middle East. 

“The abrupt reversal by the administration came as Iranian President Hassan Rouhani publicly ordered his military to dramatically scale up the country’s missile program if the sanctions went ahead.” 

In explanation: “Senior U.S. officials have told lawmakers the sanctions were delayed because of “evolving diplomatic work” between the White House and the Iranian government.” 

Although the administration had notified Congress on Wednesday that it would impose new financial penalties on nearly a dozen companies and individuals for their alleged role in developing Iran’s ballistic missile program, it pulled back later that day. 

While critical as an individual issue, it also underlines far deeper problems consistently exposed by the administration’s continual mishandling of foreign policy matters. “Critics of the White House accused President Obama of backing down on his promises to take action in the face of Iranian provocations such as missile launches. They drew parallels to Obama’s failure to follow through on threats to launch military strikes on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in 2013 in response to its alleged use of chemical weapons against civilians.” 

And what this circumstance defines again, is the POTUS’s continual performance as if he were still a presidential candidate who’d not yet been elected to office. Because most often, he acts as if presidential responsibilities go no further than frequent speeches, without any need for fulfillment of what’s been promised. And then, if on rare occasion something does actually get done and fails, another speech is made to explain how the mistakes have all been “W” Bush’s fault.  

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

While today’s update's quite short, a reader’s comment makes a loudly resounding and likely very true point. 

FoxNews.com reports: “The campaign for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton announced Friday it raised $37 million over the past three months to support her bid for the Democratic nomination. The campaign said that puts her total raised in 2015 to spend on the presidential primary campaign at $112 million. 

Reader, JoeSnow, wrote: “Lets see,  $110 million taken in, after Bills cut, her election fund should have about $20,000 left ........."

Leading up to the ongoing question: Joe Biden, Mayor Bloomberg, Jerry Brown, and Starbuck’s chairman and CEO, Howard Schultz, are you guys reading this? 

 

That’s it for today folks. 

Adios

BloggeRhythms

As 2016 begins, an article from yahoo.com via Drudge, indicates some very tough going for the POTUS and his highly questionable Iran nuclear deal.  

Comments made by General Hossein Salami, Iran's Revolutionary Guards' deputy, referred to the deepening of a row with the US over Iran's growing ballistic missile program. 

The senior commandant indicated after Friday prayers, that Iran has so many missiles it doesn’t know where to hide them. The statement: “We lack enough space in our stockpiles to house our missiles," came after the United States threatened to impose fresh sanctions on Iran. 

The commandant told worshipers in Tehran that “hundreds of long tunnels are full of missiles ready to fly to protect your integrity, independence and freedom." Also promising to “never stop developing our defence deterrent"

According to yahoo: “The general's comments came after reports that the US had planned -- but later shelved -- to unveil a fresh round of sanctions following two recent missile tests by the Islamic republic. 

“The mooted financial penalties on companies and individuals in Iran, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates, for apparent links to Tehran's missile programme, highlighted worsening US-Iran relations. 

“They also put in jeopardy a landmark deal struck in July between Iran and six world powers including the US, which is due to be formally implemented within weeks. 

“Iran's President Hassan Rouhani denounced the US moves Thursday as "hostile and illegal interventions" that must be met with a response.” 

So, with the passage of time, continuing events indicate what the administration should have known from the very beginning. That Iran had no true intention of living up to its false promises, but would say anything to gain relief from crippling sanctions. 

And what’s most interesting about the dire weaponry situation is that, while the POTUS tries his best to afford Iran the benefit of all doubts, continuing to protect that nation from dissenters in Congress and the public, Iran itself won’t let him as it keeps doing what it pleases militarily, regardless.    

 

On another subject, it appears that the Carson campaign’s suffering major problems. Although reaching second place in the polls in the middle of 2015, the latest Real Clear Politics average of recent polls shows he’s slipped to fourth place, behind Trump, Cruz and  Rubio. 

Perhaps that’s why the doctor’s campaign was shaken up Thursday by the resignation of three of his most senior staffers, despite taking in more donations than his GOP rivals. His camp has announced that they had brought in $23 million in donations in the fourth quarter, surpassing all other Republicans, including Texas Sen. Ted Cruz who had brought in $20 million.

One of those resigning, Communications Director Doug Watts, told Fox News: “Having just announced raising $23 million for the 4th quarter, more than any other Republican candidate, and passing 1 million contributions and over 600K unique donors since March, we are proud of our efforts for Dr. Carson and we wish him and his campaign the best of luck.” 

However, “luck” isn’t likely the real answer. Because as time goes by voters realize that the job of POTUS requires significant skills and experience at senior government levels, which the doctor and several other candidates simply don’t possess despite their considerable success elsewhere.

And although there’s almost a year left until election day 2016, all those that haven’t at least been governors, ought to drop out of the race for the good of their nation. Because, as mentioned here often before, the job doesn’t come with training wheels.  

Which brings us to today’s update on Bill Clinton's wife. 

According to Rachael Bade and Josh Gerstein @politico.com, “More than 1,200 emails from Hillary Clinton's private server during her time at the State Department have now been deemed classified, after the agency publicly released its eighth batch of the messages late Thursday.” 

Among those roughly 5,500 more pages of emails, an additional 275 messages have now upgraded to classified, bringing the total number of retroactively classified emails that moved through Bill’s wife’s unsecured server to 1,274. 

“While most of those were elevated to the “confidential” level, according to a State Department official, two in the most recent batch were upgraded to the “Secret” level, a more sensitive classification for issues that affect national security.” 

In keeping with the pattern uncovered by the ongoing email releases: “Two other emails highlight the extent to which Clinton as secretary of state continued her involvement with the Clinton Global Initiative and the Clinton Foundation — at least from a distance. A Sept. 15, 2011 email shows State sent 10 of Clinton’s senior staffers to the 2011 annual CGI event, where world leaders and CEOs mingle to discuss global problems while also striking business deals.”

Furthermore, the releases show an ever higher number of classified messages: “Some 8.6 percent were redacted in whole or in part because they contained information that the government deemed too secret to be released to the public.”

Thus, the probability of future punitive action from the FBI as its investigation develops now seems considerably higher. Which brings up the continuing question: Joe Biden, Mayor Bloomberg, Jerry Brown, and Starbuck’s chairman and CEO, Howard Schultz, are you guys reading this?  

That’s it for today folks.

Adios