Category: Elections

What is a Democrat? How do we come in from The Wilderness?

A Democratic Donkey ready to fight
A Democratic Donkey ready to fight
Are Democrats poised and ready for the battles ahead.

If you haven’t yet listened to Jon Favreau’s documentary podcast The Wilderness, it’s time. The content is engaging, fascinating, and inspirational. Most of all, it explores the question, “What is a Democrat?” Who are we? How did we get here, with Donald Trump as President of the United States, a minority voice in Congress, a minority of Democratic governors, so many Republicans elected at the state and local levels? Yet, Democrats far outnumber Republicans in this country.

Who are we? Where are we? Why aren’t we voting? What do we stand for?

The podcast is excellent.

Start here. Start today.


Giuliani Makes Up Date Mueller Probe Will End

Rudy Guiliani

Rudy Guiliani

Rudy Guiliani

The president’s “lawyer” Rudolph W. Giuliani said the special counsel plans to wrap up its investigation of whether President Trump obstructed the Russia inquiry by September 1.

Guillani made his remarks Sunday, according to the New York Times, saying “that waiting any longer would risk improperly influencing voters in the midterm elections in November.”

Somehow I don’t believe Rudy Guiliani, nor do I believe that Robert Mueller’s primary concern is the midterm elections.

Rudy doesn’t pass the smell test, again.

How did he come up with the date of September 1? Likely he said it many times during the “negotiations” with Mueller’s team, finally convincing himself that the special counsel’s office agreed to that date.

In short, he made it up.

The NYTimes reports:

The office of the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, shared its timeline about two weeks ago amid negotiations over whether Mr. Trump will be questioned by investigators, Mr. Giuliani said in an interview. A spokesman for the special counsel’s office declined to comment.

Mr. Giuliani’s comments were an apparent attempt to publicly pressure Mr. Mueller amid their interview negotiations.

Most relevant from this report?

“A spokesman for the special counsel’s office declined to comment.”

That’s all we need to know. Guiliani runs at the mouth every time he gets before a camera or microphone. No doubt this time he is simply playing parrot to what President Trump would like to be true. Mr. Mueller works in a political void — so it seems to me. Let his work continue until it has reached its natural conclusion, and a real report can be prepared.

Bring on the midterms.


Trump’s Early Ties To Moscow Become More Clear

Donald Trump smug smile
From the New York Times:

A business associate of President Trump promised in 2015 to engineer a real estate deal with the aid of the president of RussiaVladimir V. Putin, that he said would help Mr. Trump win the presidency.

The associate, Felix Sater, wrote a series of emails to Mr. Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, in which he boasted about his ties to Mr. Putin and predicted that building a Trump Tower in Moscow would highlight Mr. Trump’s savvy negotiating skills and be a political boon to his candidacy.

“Our boy can become president of the USA and we can engineer it,” Mr. Sater wrote in an email. “I will get all of Putins [sic] team to buy in on this, I will manage this process.”

“Our boy?” Is Donald Trump really some group’s “boy?” And what do they want from him in return?

What does Vladimir Putin want in return?


Hillary Clinton v. Donald Trump: Live Blogging

hillary clinton v. Donald Trump

Hillary Clinton v. Donald Trump. (Screenshot)

10:39 p.m.

And, it’s over. Handshakes.

10:37 p.m.

Trump goes after Rosie O’Donnell.

Rosie O’Donnell.

Says he was going to say something terrible about Hillary and her family, but decided not to.

10:34 p.m.

Trump said Clinton does not have a presidential look, Holt said. She’s the first female nominee of a major party.

“I don’t believe Hillary has the stamina. I said ‘the stamina.'”

As soon as he visits 128 countries or spends 11 hours testifying before a congressional committee, “then he can talk about stamina.

10:33 p.m.

Trump wanders again. “We are losing billions and billions of dollars.”

10:30 p.m.

“Words matter when you run for president and they really matter when you are president,” Clinton says. She acknowledges that this campaign has troubled many world leaders.

“Our word is good,” she reassures.

Says Trump never said what his alternative would be to deal with Iran.

10:28 p.m.

Holt: Do you support the current U.S. policy on first use [of nuclear weapons].

Trump says China should “go into” North Korea, Iran has power over North Korea.

10:27 p.m.

Trump: Saudi Arabia and others should be paying us money.

10:24 p.m.

Clinton speaks of Iran. Sanctions were not enough.

President Obama, John Kerry, she helped, shut down Iran’s nuclear program.

Speaks of Trump’s “cavalier attitude” about nuclear weapons.

“A man who can be provoked by a Tweet should not have his hand anywhere near the nuclear codes.”

10:22 p.m.

Trump keeps naming Sean Hannity as his source.

Trump says that he has much better judgment than Hillary Clinton.

“I think my strongest asset, maybe by far, is my temperament.”

10:19 p.m.

Trump: ISIS formed because of a vacuum formed  by Barack Obama and Secretary Clinton.

10:18 p.m.

Trump: “NATO could be obsolete.” Says NATO does not focus on terror.

10:17 p.m.

Hillary speaks of cooperating with Muslims in America, not alienate Muslims and push them away like Trump has done.

10:16 p.m.

Clinton: George W. Bush made the agreement to leave Iraq. The only way we could have stayed would have been to have an agreement with the then-Iraqi government to protect American troops. That did not happen.

10:14 p.m.

Trump: “Had we taken the oil,” there would be no ISIS.

10:13 p.m.

Holt: “How will you prevent home-grown terrorism?”

Trump: Speaks of ISIS.

10:12 p.m.

Clinton: “I have put forth a plan to defeat ISIS.” It does entail going after them online. We must also intensify air attacks against ISIS. Take out their “claim of being a caliphate.”

“We’re hoping to push [ISIS] out of Iraq in a year.”

This would be awesome.

10:10 p.m.

Trump talks about his endorsements.

Now talking about ISIS.

10:08 p.m.

Clinton: We are not going to sit idly by and let state actors go after public and private information.

“I was so shocked when Donald invited Putin to hack into Americans.”

10:07 p.m.

Hillary Clinton speaks on cyber security. There are independent hackers. There also cyber attacks coming from states. “The most recent and troubling of them has been Russia.”

10:05 p.m.

Trump says Clinton treated Obama horribly.

“As far as the lawsuit,” admits he was sued, “we settled with no admission of guilt.”

That just means cash flowed and the other side was silenced.

10:03 p.m.

Clinton: [Trump] has started his race for president on this racist, birther lie.

Clinton: Trump was sued in 1973 because he would not rent to African Americans. “He actually was sued twice by the justice department.”

10:01 p.m.

Talking about a birth certificate. President Obama’s. “I was the one who got him to produce the birth certificate.”

Lester Holt: “The birth certificate was produced in 2009. You continued to speak about it in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and January 2016.”

10:00 p.m.

“I think Donald just criticized me for preparing for this debate. I did. You know what else I did? I’m preparing to be president.”

[APPLAUSE]

9:59 p.m.

Again, Lester Holt has lost control. Trump rambles on.

9:56 p.m.

Trump: “In New York City, we had 2,200 murders, and stop and frisk brought it down to 500.”

Hillary: Crime has continued to drop under the current mayor. We have to work with faith communities

9:54 p.m.

Clinton speaking of “implicit bias,” which is a problem for all of us, she says. Police now are having to handle a great deal of mental health problems on the street.

9:52 p.m.

“We’ve got to address the systemic racism in our justice system. We can’t just say ‘law and order.'”

Clinton is glad the federal government is ending private prisons. “I want to end them in the state systems.”

9:51 p.m.

Hillary Clinton bemoans the negative picture Trump paints of the Black community.

“Stop and frisk was found to be unconstitutional,” Hillary says.

9:50 p.m.

Trump bemoans Chicago, “I have property there.”

9:48 p.m.

Holt: “Stop and frisk has been ruled unconstitutional.”

Trump: “No, you’re wrong.” Blames the judge and current mayor.

9:47 p.m.

Trump, “African Americans live in Hell.” Calls for bringing back “stop and frisk.”

9:46 p.m.

Trump: “We need law and order. When I look at Charlotte, NC, a city where I have investments.”

9:44 p.m.

Holt turns to the question of race. “Everyone should be respected by the law,” Clinton says. “And everyone should respect the law.”

Clinton speaks of “brave police officers” who also want reform.

Clinton: “We have to tackle the plague of gun violence.”

9:43 p.m.

No focus. Clinton and Trump go back and forth. Lester Holt again tries to take the reigns.

9:42 p.m.

Trump, “Look, it’s all words. It’s all sound bytes.”

Regarding people who did not get paid, “I took advantage of the laws of the country.”

9:40 p.m.

Hillary speaks of people she’s met who were “stiffed” by Donald Trump.

Trump does not deny the accusation from Clinton, “Maybe he didn’t do a good job and didn’t deserve to be paid.”

9:38 p.m.

Again, Trump speaks. Lester Holt has lost control.

9:37 p.m.

“As far as my tax returns, you don’t learn much from tax returns. You learn from financial disclosures,” Trump said.

9:35 p.m.

Hillary Clinton: Trump’s paid zero in federal taxes. What’s he hiding? “There’s something he’s hiding.”

“Were he ever to get near the White House, what would the conflicts be?”

9:34 p.m.

Clinton, “For 40 years, or 39, everyone running for president has released their tax returns.”

9:31 p.m.

Lester Holt to Trump: “You have not released your tax returns.”

“I’m under a routine audit and I will release them” as soon as the audit is over.

Dancing away from the question, now talking about a trade deficit.

Holt presses Trump on his taxes. Trump says he gets audited often by the IRS.

9:30 p.m.

Trump goes after Clinton again. “We are in a big, fat, ugly bubble.”

9:28 p.m.

Lester Holt has lost control of the debate. Clinton speaks of the “Trump loophole,” “Trumped up trickle down” economics.

“I don’t think top-down works in America,” Clinton says.

9:19 p.m.

Hillary speaking of her record. Donald Trump keeps squinting.

The moderator, Lester Holt has already lost control of the debate.

9:18 p.m.

Hillary is keeping her cool. Donald Trump is speaking to Hillary.

 

9:15 p.m.

The debate is on. Donald Trump is wandering, drinking water already. Hillary’s best take-away so far? “Trump Dump Trickle Down Economics.

 


Donald Trump: God’s Gift To The Caliphate (Listen)

Just listen and enjoy.

And then campaign for Hillary, because this is true.


Trump’s Twits on Twitter Appear To Be Bought

So, perhaps, you were amazed at all of these people on Twitter attacking those who dare to attack their “Donald.”

Guess again.

One analyst has taken a look, and then several more looks, at who these “Defenders of the Donald” might be.

And, it appears, they might all be fake.

Fake Twitter accounts created, bought, to attempt to fool us all.

Check out dailywire.com:

The speculation about the phoniness of the Trump Twitter army began with a post by Erick Erickson in The Resurgent, and he bases his conjecture on three main points:

  • There are professional Internet trolls who have the specific purpose of inciting chaos in the U.S. through social media, such as spreading a hoax Ebola case in Atlanta as well as a hoax story of cops shooting an unarmed black woman. Most of them were shut down, but the ones that are still active are supporting Trump.
  • Numerous reports suggest that Trump bought crowd members for his campaign launch in June.
  • An organization called Crowds on Demand has protesters for sale to appear at various events and harass people on social media.

And then there’s more.

Go here for the complete story.


Trump Rally: “Make America White Again”

make America white again Donald Trump supporters

Donald Trump supporters sport “Make America White Again” slogan.

Supporters for Donald Drumpf, a.k.a. Trump.

In 2016.

Yes.

In 2016.


Trump Says He Cancelled Chicago UIC Rally Because Of “Safety Concerns”

Donald Trump says he cancelled the planned rally at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago because of security concerns.

Don’t you believe it.

Trump cancelled the rally for his campaign. His ego.

Do you really think the man who encouraged violence at his rallies would call off one of the potentially most violent rallies yet?

Not a chance. His narcissism would not allow it.

The Chicago PD ostensibly gets the credit making the call on this one.

First, Trump said this:

“Chicago is the home of some very, very bad rallies,” Trump said. “You know that, OK? All you have to do is look back at the conventions that they had in Chicago, and one in particular, as you know, where tremendous numbers of people were hurt, and I believe, killed. And I don’t want to see anything like that happen.

“So I made a decision. Now I spoke with law enforcement and made it in conjunction with law enforcement, and I think we made a wise decision.”

Then, he said this:

Later in an interview on CNN, Trump said police advised against holding the rally. The pavilion, with a seating capacity of about 7,000 people was about three-quarters full during the rally, with a few hundred more people on the floor.

But the Chicago PD says this:

A spokesman for the Chicago Police Department says the agency never recommended that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump cancel his campaign rally in the city.

CPD spokesman Anthony Guglielmi tells The Associated Press that the department never told the Trump campaign there was a security threat at the University of Illinois at Chicago venue. He said the department had sufficient manpower on the scene to handle any situation.

Trump’s first reflex is to lie horribly.

Hats off to the well-organized protesters, inside and outside the UIC Pavilion.

 


John Oliver On Donald J. Drumpf, a.k.a. Trump: No Kidding, Watch This #MakeDonaldDrumpfAgain

This is an amazingly honest assessment of Donald J. Trump, a.k.a. Drumpf (no kidding). This is important political commentary.

What is Drumpf’s true net worth? The answer may surprise you. Even shock you.

You must, must watch this video.

And you will learn that Trump’s real, ancestral name was “Drumpf.”

No kidding. No kidding at all.

And thank you to John Oliver!

Want more information? Try here!

http://donaldjdrumpf.com/

You can also pick up a Chrome extension from that site that will change Donald Trump’s name to Donald J. Drumpf on every website you visit.


Letter to Coffee Party Community from Founder, Annabel Park

A letter from Annabel Park, founder of the Coffee Party, a wonderful organization that is now run by a group full of self-interest.

The original motto of the Coffee Party? Incite Civility! She wrote the following commentary on CNN in 2010. She and Eric Byler gave their hearts and souls to the Coffee Party, a group counter to the Tea Party and their shouting, embodied with the notion that civil discussion could advance great ideas.

The Coffee Party deserves better than the current board, refusing to hold open elections for a few years now, contrary to the organization’s bylaws, contrary to any notion of good faith, contrary to common sense.

Please read the following, read the lawsuit, and sign on.

Dear Members of the Coffee Party Community,

I’m writing on behalf of concerned Members of the organization who have taken an extraordinary step of filing a lawsuit against the Board of Directors for financial self-dealing, misuse of Membership’s personal data, and other abuses of power. Here is a link to the lawsuit filed last December in Washington DC. And, here is a more colloquial explanation of what has taken place behind closed doors.

When I left Coffee Party leadership in 2011, we hired consultants to oversee the creation of a governing board of directors accountable to, and elected by you, the Members. Sadly that is not what happened.

In the fallout from multi-level marketing scheme scandal, this Board of Directors has disqualified all candidates nominated to challenge them, and run themselves unopposed in elections to avoid oversight, transparency, and debate about their conduct.

They prefer to appoint new Directors rather than allowing you to elect them, thus, the Coffee Party’s resources and energy seem to go toward fighting the Membership’s lawsuit and suppressing dissent through censorship, and the purging of dozens of founding and long-time Members, rather than toward campaigns and actions that might impact the real world.

In the interest of moving forward as a community, I would like to invite you to an informal Coffee Party community meeting that you can participate in online and in person.

—————————————————

WHEN:  August 22, 2015, 3pm-5pm ET
WHERE In-Person: 1101 Hamilton Street, Suite 158A, Allentown, PA 18102
WHERE By Phone: Register for the Maestro call here.

—————————————————

You can RSVP here or by replying to this email. Link for the livestream will be posted on Original Coffee Party Facebook group and online discussions and a vote will take place there.

This meeting is at the end of a day-long conference, Awaken We the People, organized by some original Coffee Party founders, including me, about creating a national network of local organizers. Leaders of other networks and organizations including Occupy Wall Street will be participating. The conference is free and open to the public, from 9am to 3pm. I urge you to attend this as well. Please RSVP.

Along with the future of the lawsuit, the agenda for the Coffee Party community meeting (3pm-5pm) will include a number of action ideas about how we can advance the principles of the original vision.

The Members’ lawsuit asks the court to force the Board of Directors to hold legitimate and fair elections, as prescribed by the bylaws, where no candidate can be disqualified arbitrarily.  The Defendants’ and their lawyers say they intend to fight this, and currently the Members are seeking more people to sign on in order to refile the complaint with the requisite number of plaintiffs (about 20 more plaintiffs are needed).

The plaintiffs have recently secured a lawyer in DC who has agreed to take on our case pro bono. This is a big opportunity in terms of seeking a legal remedy.

Unless the plaintiffs see the lawsuit through, it’s very likely that this democracy movement we started in order to fight corruption will continue to thwart democracy and embody corruption. But restoring the integrity and renewing the mission of the Coffee Party will require us all to work for it. At this meeting we’ll decide whether it’s worth it. We would like to make the discussion an open and civil one in the original Coffee Party tradition.

If you’re interested in finding out more about the lawsuit, we will conduct several informational calls prior to the August 22nd meeting with plenty of time for you to ask questions. Or, you can join and participate in the The Original Coffee Party Facebook group where many of us have gathered for the time being.

On a personal note, starting in October, I will be embarking on a year-long road trip across the country, Coffee with Friends Across America. Although inspired by John Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley: In Search of America, my dream has a contemporary twist to it. I hope to meet many of my 5000 facebook friends and 3000 followers including all of you.

During the trip, I hope we can share authentic stories from Main St and search for real solutions together. I hope that videos and content that we make together can impact the national conversation leading up to the 2016 election. To get updates on this, please follow me on my facebook page.

Thanks again for your interest in the aims of the original Coffee Party. Don’t hesitate to contact me on Facebook or by replying to this email to discuss any of this.

Sincerely,

Annabel Park

PS – Please sign this “Step Down Now” petition already signed by 590 people.