Tag Archives: political parties

A Pseudo-Apology

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Recall that Democratic Party Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said that half of Trump supporters are

…you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the “basket of deplorables”. Right?  …  The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic—you name it.

Now she’s claiming to apologize for her bigoted slur.

Clinton…said: “I regret saying ‘half’—that was wrong. But let’s be clear, what’s really ‘deplorable’ is that Donald Trump hired a major advocate for the so-called ‘alt-right’ movement to run his campaign and that David Duke and other white supremacists see him as a champion of their values.”

Look closely at that statement.  Clinton said she regrets—not apologizes for—the number of folks whom she’s accused of being racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic—you name it.  There’s not a syllable of apology for her actual slur.

Consider, too, that while she’s decrying David Duke’s approval of Trump, an approval Trump has repudiated, Clinton is endorsed by the KKK’s Grand Dragon, Will Quigg, and she’s accepted, with her silence on the matter, that endorsement.

Masquerading that statement as an apology is a lie.

Also keep in mind that her running mate, Senator Tim Kaine (D, VA) says her “apology” is unwarranted, she was right the first time.

With this pair saying that anyone not on their bandwagon is a bigot of one sort or another (to say nothing about lying about “apologizing” and saying even the false apology was unnecessary), what can we expect from them were they to be elected this fall?

Still Holding Hostages

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I wrote about this a bit ago.  Unfortunately, the Democrats in Congress still are at it.  The Senate once again failed to pass a bill funding a response to the Zika virus in Florida and elsewhere in the US, because Senate Democrats blocked it—the bill blocks funding for Planned Parenthood.

Yup.

Shamefully, Senate Democrats still are holding the lives of Americans hostage against their getting their way on an entirely separate issue.

Congress should stick the currently proposed Zika funding into the upcoming budget bill, and then pass that budget through reconciliation.  Force President Barack Obama (D) to sign it or to veto Zika treatment funding—and to veto funding the Federal government.

An Outcome of Leading from Behind

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This isn’t just harassment, or actions taken to embarrass us and humiliate our Navy in the Arabian Gulf, though it’s those things, too.  It’s also both a technique to desensitize us to these close approaches by enemy combat vessels and to give those combat vessels and the navies that operate them operational combat practice through exercises that are live in every important way, lacking only live fire.   This time, at least the third incident of this nature just in the last month or so, the

USS Firebolt, a coastal patrol ship, was shadowed by seven Iranian vessels. Three of the vessels came within 500 yards and shadowed Firebolt for eight minutes. Then one of the Iranian vessels broke off and raced in front of Firebolt and “came to a stop directly in front of the ship” at a range of 100 yards, according to the official.

That’s the closest approach, yet, by Iranian Navy combat vessels.  The meek response by the Firebolt, and the other ships in those earlier incidents—responses mandated by President Barack Obama (D), not by our Navy—only encourages more, and more dangerous, such actions.

“Clearly the Iranian behavior has to change,” Capt Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said Tuesday.

Davis refused to outline any specifics on how to bring about that change.

Davis could not identify any specifics because Obama has none; Obama has no plan at all other than to put in his time until the next President takes over and must deal with his mess.

There have been nearly twice as many cases of harassment by Iranian vessels against the US Navy in the first half of 2016 as the first half of 2015.

Oddly, that’s about the time Obama’s nuclear weapons deal with Iran has been in practical effect after Obama signed it last October.

This is one result of leading from behind following along behind events/other nations’ initiatives.  This isn’t likely to end well.

Early Stage Alzheimer’s?

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From the latest FBI document release last Friday, we learned or received a measure of clarification on a few things.

Democratic Party Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton told the FBI during the interviews that were the subject of the document release that

Clinton could not recall when she received her security clearance or whether it was carried over from her time in the Senate. She also could not recall any briefing or training by the State Department “related to the retention of federal records or the handling of classified information.”

And further,

Clinton recalled being briefed on Specific Access Program information (for classified material). But [she] could not recall any specific briefings on how to handle information associated with the SAPs[.]

And

she requested a secured BlackBerry while at State but could not recall why they were unable to provide one[.]

And

Clinton repeatedly claimed to have little training or understanding about the classification process—despite leading the department that handled such information on a regular basis and having a security clearance[.]

And this:

FBI agents also asked Clinton about three emails marked classified. They contained a “C” or portion marking, indicating the intelligence was at the lowest level, or confidential. Clinton said she thought the “C” was part of series like bullet points or a listing, like A, B, C.”

More than 30 times in the FBI’s Friday release, Clinton told the FBI agents interviewing her that she couldn’t remember this or that major briefing or training or similar event.

Recall that Clinton signed off on documents certifying that she had had security briefing when she became Secretary of State.  Recall that then-Senator Clinton served on the Senate Armed Services Committee, in which capacity she also was briefed and periodically trained in handling classified data and documents, and in which capacity she routinely handled classified data and documents.

Couple these memory lapses and instances of confusion with her deflections when reporters ask her questions that she doesn’t understand (back when she was interacting with them)—”You mean like with a cloth?”, her efforts to change the subject when told things she doesn’t understand, and her current months-long (more than 270 days) hiding from interactive meetings with the public (the TV interviews her campaign touts aren’t live; they’re “edited to fit the time slot”).

Assume she’s telling the truth about all of this, about her confusion concerning really quite routine classification protocols, about her not remembering.  Assume she’s not being evasive in response to simple questions when she deflects or changes the subject.

All of this may be why she’s hiding from interactive public meetings like press conferences.

All of this begins to look like Clinton is in the throes of early-stage Alzheimer’s.

Some Labor Day Questions

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First published in 2015, I’ve updated it for today.  In an ideal world, I’ll be able to update it again next year, with a more optimistic tone.

The Wall Street Journal asked some questions on Labor Day 2012, and supplied some answers.  Here are some of those questions and answers, which remain as valid this Labor Day.

  • Q: How are America’s workers doing? Not good. Over the past decade, over the ups and downs of the economy, taking inflation into account, the compensation of the typical worker — wages and benefits—basically haven’t risen at all. … The Labor Department recently said that 6.1 million workers in 2009-2011 have lost jobs that they’d had for at least three years. Of those, 45% hadn’t found work as of January 2012. … Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Friday that unemployment is still two percentage points higher than normal….
  • Q: Things ARE getting better, though. The US economy is creating jobs, right? Back in December 2007 when the recession began, there were about two jobless workers for every job opening.  When the economy touched bottom in mid-2009, there were more than six unemployed for every job.  At last count, the BLS says there were 3.4 jobless for every opening.
  • Q: How much of this elevated unemployment is because the unemployed just don’t have the skills that employers are looking for right now?  …the bulk of the evidence is a lot of the unemployment really is the old-fashioned kind: the kind that would go away if the economy was growing at a stronger pace. Mr. Bernanke said as much at the [2012] Jackson Hole conference….

The Democratic Party President has taken a bad situation and done little to improve it, even though he’s had four more years in which to do so.  He has, though, actively attacked businesses—the hirers—demonizing them, (over)regulating them, demanding to raise taxes on them.

At least as importantly, the current Democratic Party Presidential candidate has vowed to continue these Democratic policies, and to extend them.  Even with nearly eight years of empirical data demonstrating the bankruptcy of these policies.

Happy Labor Day.