Countdown to Extinction: The 2016 Presidential Election

[Karl Henning]

There is nothing wrong with advocating for aggressive oversight of elections and enforcement of voting requirements in order to preserve the integrity of an election.  I am surprised that my Democrat friends seem willing to believe the elective system requires no safeguards.  But then again, dead people always seem to vote for Democrats.

That, sir, is what one calls a strawman.


And sending your rally crowd "over to the other place" to be ad hoc vigilantes . . . well, that is aggressive oversight, but entirely the wrong kind.

[San Antone]

Sure, but not by business acumen;  by cheating on contracts and counting on his resources to intimidate the little guy out of seeking his rights.

And you know this because ... oh, yeah, it is the narrative created by the media in this election year. 

Dealing with frivilous lawsuits is the cost of doing business in the US, especially at the stratum Donald Trump has operated at for 40 years.  But, then again, you and the Democrat media machine seem to believe that a lawsuit filed by anyone is proof of wrong doing by the defendant. 

My gosh, I have had the temerity myself of holding back payment for slipshod work done on my house by a contractor who did not live up to his side of the contract.  Shame on me.

[Karl Henning]

And you know this because ... oh, yeah, it is the narrative created by the media in this election year. 

Dealing with frivilous lawsuits is the cost of doing business in the US, especially at the stratum Donald Trump has operated at for 40 years.  But, then again, you and the Democrat media machine seem to believe that a lawsuit filed by anyone is proof of wrong doing by the defendant.

My gosh, I have had the temerity myself of holding back payment for slipshod work done on my house by a contractor who did not live up to his side of the contract.  Shame on me.

I guess if you were right to do so, El Tupé was always right, too.

We have had to hold contractors responsible for doing the job they were contracted to do, as they were contracted to do it.

You're right:  El Tupé cannot have been in the wrong!

[Karl Henning]

Good heavens, and you really said "Democrat media machine."

[Karl Henning]

I am surprised that my Democrat friends seem willing to believe the elective system requires no safeguards.  But then again, dead people always seem to vote for Democrats.

And how do you account for the fact that the writer of the piece above is not a Democrat?

[Karl Henning]

Only I can judge whether a news source is reliable!

Golly, and it's still true!

[Karl Henning]

Curse you, "Democrat media machine," for suppressing Democrat-unfriendly news!

FBI to conduct new investigation of emails from Clinton's private server

[Karl Henning]

A number of polls in recent days have actually shown that Trump's image remains very poor but actually largely static. It hasn't really declined. Clinton's numbers, in contrast, have meaningfully improved with likely voters.

To be clear: Clinton's numbers are still not very good and generally underwater — i.e., more people dislike her than like her — but they are improved. And that at least partially explains her improved standing. It also, by the way, gives her hope for having somewhat of a mandate if she's elected president.

[Brian]

Curse you, "Democrat media machine," for suppressing Democrat-unfriendly news!

FBI to conduct new investigation of emails from Clinton's private server

This reminds me - I read yesterday that in the primary campaign coverage of Hillary was more negative than of Trump (something like 60% of her news mentions were negative).

[Karl Henning]

This reminds me - I read yesterday that in the primary campaign coverage of Hillary was more negative than of Trump (something like 60% of her news mentions were negative).

Bet you didn't read that on Fox News.

[Karl Henning]

After losing the 2012 presidential election, the Republican Party wrote an autopsy report, the key premise of which was that the GOP had to demonstrate a greater level of interest in Latino concerns. Donald Trump's key premise from the moment he announced his candidacy was just the opposite — it was time to stop being PC and start getting tough; stop sympathizing with the motives of the undocumented and start calling them murderers and rapists; stop worrying about the practical and humanitarian aspects of mass deportation and start promising it; stop worrying about making nice with Mexico and start talking about coercing Mexico into paying for the wall.

[Karl Henning]

More adventures of the astute businessman:

Donald Trump negotiates Donald Trump down to 66 cents on the dollar

... If Trump did wire the check, he's probably still not going to hit the $100 million mark in the next 11 days. But he's always got a good way to spin it: As always, Donald Trump managed to negotiate his opponent (in this case, Donald Trump) down. This Trump guy wanted Trump to put up $100 million; Trump got the job done for only $66 million. He's a dealmaker, it's what he does.

The alternative is that Trump's big-spending promises were mostly bluster, and that certainly couldn't be the case.

[San Antone]

This reminds me - I read yesterday that in the primary campaign coverage of Hillary was more negative than of Trump (something like 60% of her news mentions were negative).

True, but that reversed after the conventions.  The negative coverage during the pormary was mainly about her refusal to meet with the press and of course all the stuff Bernie Sanders was saying, and that's when the email server story was getting the most coverage with the IG report. 

Once the general election began and it was between Clinton and Trump, well, of those two Trump has gotten the brunt of negative coverage.  Most of it because of his own junk and all the press had to do was report what he did or said.  However, the press has not given Clinton the kind of investigative coverage one would like tohave seen for a potential president. 

Like I've said before, I think Democrats will experience acute buyers remorse.

[Karl Henning]

"Let's make it happen" "The election is in your hands." Versus, "it's all rigged, they're going to steal it in the cities, you know what I'm talking about."

McCain and Kerry, both fighting hard, both destined to lose. Both aware even as they gave those speeches (though McCain more than Kerry) that they might lose. But still talking up rather than down to the voters, as citizens. Both offering ultimate respect to the process by which a democracy chooses its leaders and transfers power from one to the next.

We have heard so much of the other sort of talk from Trump that many people have grown inured to it. It shouldn't be taken for granted. Of all the norms Trump has broken, including notably the expectation that nominees will provide tax information, his contempt for the democratic process may be the most dangerous.

[Parsifal]

Yep. In lots of people's pockets. Not in the pockets of a few already-rather-rich people in the hope that they'll then spend even more.

I'm not by any means against businesses making a profit, but what's unfathomable to me is the idea that ever-bigger profits are an ever-greater good. No, a good business is one that is viable and can make money. Making even more money doesn't make it even more viable.

I think there's a lot to be said for small, local businesses because they are more likely to be genuinely engaged with a community and form part of the social fabric. But small, local businesses aren't the ones that get the ear of Republican politicians to whisper "give us even more money than we already have, and we promise to make America great again".

There is an other very interesting article by Andy Groves, a founder of Intel, about what is going wrong with the U.S. He argues that the idea that the free market optimizes everything has not served the U.S. well, and that the practice of moving manufacturing of high-tech products from Silicon Valley to Asia has eviscerated Silicon Valley and the U.S. economy.  Most of the job gains and technical expertise comes from the ramp-up phase, rather than the start-up phase of a tech company. The ramp-up phase now takes place in Asia, and as a result Silicon Valley no longer produces many good jobs in the U.S., and the U.S. has now lost the ability to produce technology products on a large scale.

Here is a retrospective the NY Times published upon the death of Andy Groves:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/26/opinion/andy-groves-warning-to-silicon-valley.html

And the original article

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2010-07-01/andy-grove-how-america-can-create-jobs

I could support an astute businessman for president, if it was someone like Andy Groves, who created an entirely new sector of the economy, rather than Donald Trump, who strike me as a parasite.

[San Antone]

"Let's make it happen" "The election is in your hands." Versus, "it's all rigged, they're going to steal it in the cities, you know what I'm talking about."

McCain and Kerry, both fighting hard, both destined to lose. Both aware even as they gave those speeches (though McCain more than Kerry) that they might lose. But still talking up rather than down to the voters, as citizens. Both offering ultimate respect to the process by which a democracy chooses its leaders and transfers power from one to the next.

We have heard so much of the other sort of talk from Trump that many people have grown inured to it. It shouldn't be taken for granted. Of all the norms Trump has broken, including notably the expectation that nominees will provide tax information, his contempt for the democratic process may be the most dangerous.

What I have gotten inured to is the media outrage over Trump's statements over the "rigged election" comments and every other thing they've branded as "disqualifiying".  Pretty tedious.  To the extent a vote for Trump is a repudiation of the media, I know many people who will leap at the opportunity to stick their thumb in the eye of the mainstream press.

[Karl Henning]

So, yah, this guy was once in the race, too.

Chris Christie Is Over

Trump's greatest gift to the GOP may be the distraction he's provided from other party meltdowns.

"Sobbing mother of four" plus "thrown water bottle" is light years away from the Chris Christie that America thought it knew, way back in 2012 when he was the blue state Republican who rolled up his sleeves and hugged a Democratic president in the wake of a devastating hurricane. Back then, Christie was a straight talker with a heart of gold: screaming curse words at a single mother of four and throwing objects at her was not part of the profile. Now it is.

[San Antone]

So, yah, this guy was once in the race, too.

Chris Christie Is Over

Trump's greatest gift to the GOP may be the distraction he's provided from other party meltdowns.

Pretty disgusting.  Btw, have you seen the allegations against Clinton by her former secret service agent?

Ex-Secret Service Agent: "People Need to Know The Real Hillary Clinton And How Dangerous She Is"

[Karl Henning]

Curse you, "Democrat media machine," for suppressing Democrat-unfriendly news!

FBI to conduct new investigation of emails from Clinton's private server

Just got an e-mail alert on this from the Boston Globe.  Can't these people stay focused on The Narrative?

[San Antone]

Just got an e-mail alert on this from the Boston Globe.  Can't these people stay focused on The Narrative?

Oh yeah ... I am sure that any damning evidence will only come out after the election, you know, you can't rush these investigations - even if the voters do not have the information they need in order to make an informed choice.  The same thing happend with Bill.  The NBC interview with Juanita Crawford was not run until a month after the election, although it was ready to go when it would have made a difference.