Bill Clinton & The Lolita Express

In chatting with a co-worker the other day, I realized that the people who get their news from Facebook and the mainstream, state-controlled media, have no idea of the indiscretions of Bill Clinton, don't remember (or weren't born) when the Clinton's started enriching themselves at taxpayer expense, and believe that Hillary's DoS tenure was a "success."

This is one of the great things about the Trump campaign.  He's going to rehash all this stuff and run the campaign that many people have wanted Republicans to run for years.

Check out his latest ad, which draws the line directly to Bill Clinton the rapist.

But he's so much more than that.  And Hillary is relevant to this, because she has covered for him for all these years.  She participated in the silencing of Juanita Broadrick.  Rather than being a champion of women in the #waronwomen, she is, as Kathleen Willey (another woman Bill Clinton sexually assaulted) described, "The war on women."

Bill Clinton was impeached because of his lies during the Paula Jones sexual harassment case.  This while he was playing hide-the-cigar with Monica Lewinski.  Most of these things are well know to anyone over 40.  But a large chunk of the electorate have never known that Hillary Clinton was the fixer to Bill's sexual peccadilloes over his career.  To be so close to power required great sacrifice from Hillary and it still does.

Even now, Bill Clinton is a frequent visitor to something those on the right have been calling "Pedophile Island."  This is the private island owned by convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Read all about Epstein here.  Suffice to say, Epstein likes 'em young, and enjoyed peddling his wares to his rich and famous friends, who also included...

Former US President Bill Clinton.  Flight logs for Epstein's private Boeing 727 show that Clinton traveled on it over 26 times.  At least 5 times the Secret Service was not on board.

This will not be reported in the media that most people read.  You won't see this in the left-wing Facebook news feed. and certainly not in the mainstream media.  They don't want anyone to know this is going on.

Now you know.

Erick Erickson on Trump and Faith

Read Erick Erickson's post today if you want to get a feel for Trump, the "Christian."

I think Erickson dwells on past indiscretions, which I know God will forgive (if Trump sought forgiveness, which, by his own admission, he has not), so I would forgive willingly, but otherwise, his points are valid and worth considering.

As for me, Trump thinks he can play the part of a Jesus follower, because he knows the words (the best words), and someone is whispering in his ear, "This is what The Evangelicals want to hear."  Unlike George W. Bush, who I knew was sincere when he said "It will change your life" with respect to accepting God's Grace, Trump has no conception (or intention?) of this.  Maybe he never listened in Church, maybe no one ever shared the Good News with him, maybe he's just too arrogant to accept that there is a God who holds dominion over him.  Who knows.  I hope someone can lead him to the Lord, and he'll accept willingly, but for now, folks, his words are not the words of a man who follows or has accepted Christ as his savior.  They are just not the right words.

Still, that is not a requirement to be president of the United States.

What is important is, just as Trump is playing the caricature of a conservative, he is also playing that of a Christian.  In so doing, he defiles both.

I'd prefer honesty from Trump.  Don't read to me from "Two Corinthians" or tell me how beautiful your Easter Church is and expect me to buy your con. Especially when you can't even complete the con and say you've asked God for forgiveness for even one thing, much less for your sinful soul.   This is how egotistical this man is.  He sees the trappings of Christianity and tries to play into them, but on the core of the religion, his ego prevents him from even completing his own con game.  Sad.

This isn't advice to Trump, as I know he's immune to it.  But for others, try honesty.  I don't care if you're irreligious or atheist or agnostic, if you respect the Constitution's protections for religious freedom and are prepared to support and defend them, that's all I care about.  I think religious people who care about their freedoms would also understand.

Honest atheists/agnostics like Penn Teller and Charles C.W. Cooke are examples of people who I would be perfectly happy defending religious freedom.

Con man Donald Trump, does not inspire confidence. 

But YOU, Dear Reader, you go right ahead and vote for him.

Vote for Trump if You Must. Just Don't Expect Me To

I can give one good, concrete reason to vote for Donald Trump: He's not Hillary Clinton.

If you are of the mind, like Peter Robinson, that Hillary is evil, and that this is a binary election where you only have two choices, I can respect the decision to take what you think is the lesser evil, and go with Trump.

Just do it with eyes wide open.  You don't know what you're getting, and you may (indeed, I think you absolutely will) get something much different than you bargained for.

If that's all you want out of this post, to get my rationalization for why it's ok for YOU to vote for Trump, stop reading.  That part of the post is over.

The next are some of the reasons I find Trumo unpalatable, and why I am unlikely to pull the lever for him.  I'll caveat that as a Georgia voter, Trump will either not need my vote, because he's going to win Georgia handily, or, a vote for him will be a futile gesture, because he's losing so badly.  Yes, that makes sticking to principle easier for me.  The joys of geography.

What makes Trump so awful?

1. He's not a conservative.  I am a conservatarian.  I grew up in a conservative family.  We read National Review.  Witness was a book displayed in my home.  Ronald Reagan was the greatest president we ever saw.  As I got older, I leaned a little more libertarian, but in the classical sense, not in the pot-smoking Gary Johnson sense.
   
   Trump is not conservative.  He's alien to conservatism.  He does not speak of Freedom, or the Constitution.  He seems not to understand what makes America great, only that it should be great.  Donald Trump will not "make America great again," because he doesn't understand what makes us great to begin with.
   
   Being anti-immigration, anti-trade, and parroting the caricature of conservatism doesn't make you one.  Trump's not, and I am.  Period
   
2. He's intellectually lazy.   The guy could have studied the issues and brought a knowledge of the issues to the GOP primary and still have been outspoken and outrageous.  He chose instead to be a boob.   He doesn't even understand the nuclear triad, which has been the cornerstone of deterrence for almost 60 years now.  He seems to think he can just say something is going to happen, like wipe out gun free zones and 20 minutes later it'll be so.  He thinks he can get things done by executive fiat not because he wishes to flaunt the Constitution, but because he seems ignorant of its protections against such thing.
   
3. The alt-right.  In case you don't know, the alt-right is those group of anti-semitic, racists, xenophobes who you often associate with Nazis.  These people are the scum of the earth and they see in Trump a sort of saviour for their White Nationalism.  His refusal to disavow these people is troubling, and their behavior online is that of people I do not wish to be associated with.  I wonder if these people know his daughter is a convert to Judaism?
   
4. Shifting positions.  Don't like one of Trump's positions?  Doesn't matter, in his transformation from businessman donating to Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer, to faux conservative, he's taken pretty much every position on every issue.  Of course, he's been steadfast in his love of Planned Parenthood and that they do great things.
   
5. Fake Christianity.  Come on, this is the guy who's grandmother like to read from Two Corinthians and who's Easter Message, instead of being about the Grace of God and the Miracle of the Resurrection, was about how beautiful the Church was he was attending on Easter Sunday.  And this is a man wooing evangelicals while claiming he's never asked God for forgiveness.
   
6. The Childish Behavior.  I like the idea of giving his opponents nicknames to define them, but lets agree that he's wiffed on Bernie and Elizabeth Warren.  Bernie should be "Bat Shit Crazy Bernie" and if he had half an ear attumed to conservatives, he'd drill in Fauxcahontas for the fake Indian.  These aren't bothersome so much as his fixation with his own hand size, and really, did we need a Presidential candidate lecturing us at a debate about the size of his manhood?  Really?
   
7. Do you need more?  Ok, this was the coup de grace for me was when he suggested that he'd order the military to murder the wives and children of terrorists, and that "Yes, they'll do it."  Because, well, Trump.

These are just in my memory.  If I did any actual research (see the masthead), I could probably get 20 reasons why this clown is not my pick and unlikely to get my vote.  Feel free to call me names, or whatever, I really don't care.  Trumpkins created this monster you own him.

Libya v. Iran - Hillary as Failure

Hillary is going to make her foreign policy "experience" a centerpiece of the Fall campaign.

You'll see all manner of commercials about how she's "ready to lead" and "has been there" and all sorts of things like that.

One of the signal "accomplishments" of the Hillary term at the State Department is the Libyan exercise.  We are told it was largely Hillary who pushed the Obama administration into the large role we took in Libya.

Based largely on her instincts, we took out a dictator for sure (Gaddafi) who had previously been unfriendly to us, but in the aftermath of the Iraq war, had dismantled nuclear programs and decided to ameliorate his stance towards terrorism.  In other words, Gaddafi had looked around at what happened in Iraq and Afghanistan, and decided he didn't want to be next.

Contrast that to another country run by autocrats, Iran.

When the Green Revolution broke out in 2009, the Obama administration stood by the Mullahs, rather than support the rebels in this cause.  Many believe they did this because Obama sought a nuclear arrangement with them, and didn't want the chaos.

Sometimes you have to pick the bully you want to side with because it's in your country's best interest, and sometimes you have to let "your" guy go, gambling on your long term interest.  It's hard at the time to know, but, results are in, and we chose wrong on both these occasions.

These are not Hillary Clinton "accomplishments."

Judged by results, these are failures.  And we're not even into the Russian "Reset", Benghazi, or how Egypt was handled.

Trump: Please say no (or Nyet?)

Ok folks, Donald Trump has now become a Kennedy assassination conspiracist, linking Ted Cruz's father to it:

"Donald Trump on Tuesday alleged that Ted Cruz’s father was with John F. Kennedy’s assassin shortly before he murdered the president, parroting a National Enquirer story claiming that Rafael Cruz was pictured with Lee Harvey Oswald handing out pro-Fidel Castro pamphlets in New Orleans in 1963.

A Cruz campaign spokesperson told the Miami Herald, which pointed out numerous flaws in the Enquirer story, that it was “another garbage story in a tabloid full of garbage.”

“His father was with Lee Harvey Oswald prior to Oswald’s being -- you know, shot. I mean, the whole thing is ridiculous,” Trump said Tuesday during a phone interview with Fox News. “What is this, right prior to his being shot, and nobody even brings it up. They don’t even talk about that. That was reported, and nobody talks about it.”

"I mean, what was he doing — what was he doing with Lee Harvey Oswald shortly before the death? Before the shooting?” Trump continued. “It’s horrible.”

Seriously people, this man has been a Birther, a 9/11 Truther and now this.

What's next, UFO's are real and aliens are being harbored by the government?

Donald Trump is a batshit crazy man, and those of you who support him deserve the shellacking he's going to get, and good.

The GOP may survive and return in full force in 2018, after 2 years of Democrat rule and the disastrous Hillary administration.  I guess I'll just have to hold my nose until then, unless the GOP voters wake up and start taking corrective action tonight in Indiana.

Like many, I agree if Trump wins Indiana, it's basically over, barring a miracle.  

The Top 1% Strike Back

Recently, a Facebook meme was running around of a dog riding a turtle's back.  I likened it to Bernie Sanders' America, where the freeloaders ride the working man.

Of course, someone decided the freeloaders were the top 1%.

I asked, at what percentage do people stop being freeloaders to the Sanders supporters.  Is it acceptable to be in the top 10% of American earners?  The top 20%?  Seriously, where is the line so the Sanders proletariat will not come and trash your home and demand your earnings be redistributed to them (ostensibly)?

(In case you're wondering, CNN has a handy chart here so you can place yourself on the graph).

This got me thinking.  I know we're not in the top 1%, but, where is my family on the continuum (answer, between 10 and 20%) and how did we get there, and how do I feel about it.

So, here's our story.  I am not ashamed that we're not in the 1%, nor do I have any aspirations to be, and maybe that explains better than anything else ever could why we are not.

We are, however, in the top 20% and that's not a bad place to be.  It allows my famuly, and most American families to live comfortably, put kids through college, and have lots of other fine choices.  You never go hungry, you can afford premium cable AND Netflix, and you can send your kids to private schools if you wish.  That may take some sacrifice (back to basic cable!) for some families, but, the choice is there.  The top 20%, yes, is a good place to be.

It's not without its drawbacks.  I am sure many families, like mine, worry abotu what happens if the primary breadwinner has something happen.  A layoff, an injury, an illness that precludes working anymore.  I expect many in this category don't have a great deal of non-retirement savings, or if they do, that it would stretch the one to two years that most financial advisors recommend.  In that way, even people in the top 20% are somewhat at risk of financial calamity.

Still, I'd rather be here, financially, then the bottom 20%.  Those in the top 20% are making about 5x what those in the bottom are.  Whether it buys happiness, I don't think so.  Just some security.

For those Sanderites who might think I got here on the backs of the "working man," let me explain that my family did this by having 2 breadwinners for most of the time, and for myself, I have worked 2 jobs for 30 years.  Sadly, one of those is forcing me to retire next year.  So, we'll be losing that income source, which is sad.  Still, in my full time job, I have worked 9, 10, 11 hour days for 25 years, with some shift work in there early on.  I've always enjoyed what I do, but in my industry, it's a somewhat tumultuous time, so, security has been a little wanting for the last 10 years or so.  Still, we've thrived.

What would it take to get into that top 1%.  Well, if there are willing working men for me to climb over, I have yet to spot them.  Maybe the Sanders crowd can point me to those people.  They make it seem like it's so easy to get into the top 1%, you just need some wiling dupes to hand you their money...or something.

I've worked in Corporate America for 25 years now,  and I know some of the executives are in that top 1% (>$430k/year).  I'll agree that these people don't always seem like the greatest leaders to me, but they have done things and been willing to do things, that I have not, and even though I'm pretty arrogant, I am willing to admit they are probably smarter than me.  But, I'll tell you one thing I know they are more than me - willing to take risks. When we talk about the super rich in this group, the Bill Gates', the Zuckerbergs, Elon Musk, Warran Buffet, etc, what they all share is a willingness to bet everything on an idea, on their faith in their own ability.  It is a rare quality and it is something that sets the 1% apart from the rest of us.  Many of us down here in the top 10-20% possess all the same intellect, much the same schooling, and even the same hopes and dreams, but what we aren't willing to do is risk it all.

Many of these people fail, and spectacularly, but they try again, and in their success, they don't step on working people, they lend them a hand, by creating successful businesses that enable the working guy to earn enough money, to go to school, to learn, to put themselves in a position to risk it all, and join them.

So, I'm sick and tired of hearing about the top 1% and income inequality.

Instead of being envious of people willing to take risks, why don't you try joining them, or benefitting directly from them, instead of stealing from them,

Just about #nevertrump

I have come very close to being in the #nevertrump camp, and my hope is that Trump does not get to 1237 delegates before he convention and that his high water mark is on the first ballot, when he fails to garner a majority.

After that, I pray the delegates wise up and consider nominees who are:

1. Not Trump and
2. Not Kasich and 
3. Electable

I like Ted Cruz, I love that he's tabbed Carly Fiorina, one of my early choices, to be his running mate, should he get the nomination, but, Ted's negative numbers in the general electorate, while not in the Trump stratosphere, are bad.

So, unbound, I am hopeful the GOP convention delegates will look for a compromise candidate, someone like a governor with some decent name recognition who wasn't pummeled by Donald Trump as low energy.  So, I will be just fine with Scott Walker, who was my absolute FIRST choice, or Rick Perry.  

Either of these guys will do, and I might even say - let Trump pick the VP candidate as a consolation prize.

Sure, this shuts out Cruz from the ticket, but he's going to replace Scalia anyway.

Your thoughts?