This incident comes shortly after the Governor of Arizona, Doug Ducey, signed two pro-gun bills, while vetoing another.
With the newly signed piece of legislation, courts in Arizona can fine cities and counties up to $50,000 if they violate the state statute that prevents the local regulation of firearms. In addition, any school governing board in Arizona is now forbidden to ban someone residing near a school campus to legally possess a firearm.
Billionaire and Dallas Mavericks owner, Mark Cuban, is one of the many millions of sane people wondering what Donald Trump is really hiding. And Cuban is hitting on something with his new way of thinking – maybe Trump is not really a billionaire like he claims.
“I know what I’m good at, and I know what I’m not good at. I’m not so sure Donald knows what he’s not good at,” Cuban said on 77 WABC’s Bernie and Sid.
Cuban said Trump was good at putting his name on big buildings and licensing his name on hotels, but it isn’t clear how much money that has made him. “He’s good at that. Whether or not that’s made him a billionaire, I don’t know,” Cuban said. “He’s not transparent enough for us to actually know.”
Technology really speeds things up, no? We used to have to wait until August to read stories that made little sense or that focused on the non-political part of the political process, but this year we should be proud that the press is once again ahead of the calendar and is in full silly season mode on this, the unofficial start of the summer.
Part of the issue might be that both party’s political conventions are in July, which is upsetting the media. Of course, the other reason is that the Republicans will nominate perhaps the least qualified person for president in our nation’s proud history. Whatever the motivation, we needn’t look very far to see evidence of silly-creep.
Point one – I hate to say – is this notion that Donald Trump is a fascist. He is certainly profoundly ignorant on all of the issues of which he’s spoken publicly so far including immigration, energy policy, foreign affairs, climate science, and taxes. But a fascist he is not. We’ll reserve that title for those who really are official members of the Fascist Party and select foreign leaders such as Victor Orban of Hungary and a few African dictators who revel in their personal bloodbaths. Fascism has a specific definition, and since I am a charter member of the Words Have Meanings Collective, I am not going to accept that Trump is anywhere near one. Racist? Sexist? Offensive? Most assuredly. These are the terms we should use and are enough to render him unacceptable as Commander-In-Chief.
The other sillinesses that occupies my thoughts today are the ones associated with the Clinton campaign tactics and polling. That sound that resembles teeth-gnashing on the left is, in fact, teeth-gnashing over the state of Hillary Clinton’s campaign, or non-campaign, against said non-fascist. Can we get a bit of a break here? It’s May. The campaign hasn’t had a chance to consolidate because Bernie Sanders is fighting to the end, which is both his right and a test to see how the Clinton campaign reacts. Hillary always knew that this would not be easy because of both her last name and her gender. She will become a better candidate once she is able to leverage all of the Democratic resources at her disposal. Many of Bernie’s supporters will back her. Both party’s conventions will have their television moments which I hope are not violent, and then the campaign will begin. Then we’ll see what the strategies are.
As for polling, I’ve said it before, but let’s hear from someone really smart on this and repeat – we will not be discussing polling until August 1. This will be a close race and Trump is getting his pre-convention bump. Hillary will get hers. Then they’ll both get their convention bumps. Then we can pay attention.
In the meantime, enjoy the extended silliness and the holiday.
Yes, the Republican with the biggest mouth apparently shoved his foot deep down his throat when he agreed to debate Bernie Sanders earlier in the week. But on Friday, Trump realized how EUGE a mistake it would have been to get clocked in a debate by Bernie Sanders, and decided against making himself look more like a fool… as if that is even possible.
Donald Trump on Friday said it would be “inappropriate” to hold a debate with Bernie Sanders, throwing cold water on an idea that had captivated the political world in recent days.
“As much as I want to debate Bernie Sanders — and it would be an easy payday — I will wait to debate the first place finisher in the Democratic Party, probably Crooked Hillary Clinton, or whoever it may be,” Trump said in a statement.
The presumptive GOP presidential nominee added that it “seems inappropriate” to debate the “second place finisher.”
Trump had said on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” on Wednesday night that he would be willing to debate Sanders if the proceeds would go to charity.
“Yes, I am,” Trump said. “How much is he going to pay me? If he paid a nice sum toward a charity, I’d love to do that.”
Trump added to the speculation throughout the week, telling reporters Thursday he would “love to debate Bernie.”
The video below was posted on Facebook by Stephen Harlowe. It shows a man in a Boston Red Sox shirt, kneeling on another man and pushing the man’s head into the sidewalk.
What caused the red sox man to act this violent towards the other man?
The victim says he was crossing the street and in the crosswalk when the red sox man drove his car into the crosswalk, cutting him off and almost running him over. The victim said he hit the car with an umbrella and that’s when Mr. Red Sox stopped his car and chased after the man down the sidewalk, eventually capturing him and pinning him to the ground.
“I tapped his [vehicle’s] glass with my umbrella,” the man says.
“And you tackled him and shoved his head into the ground?” Harlowe asks the officer, repeatedly asking to see a badge.
As Mr. Stephen began recording the incident, Mr. Red Sox claimed he was an off duty police officer.
Blatent racism is the only message one could get from this Qiaobi ad, as a black man is forced into a washing machine by an Asian woman and literally got the blackness washed off him.
The ad begins with the black man, full of paint stains on his shirt and face, catcalling a young Asian woman while she is doing her laundry.
After seductively calling the man over to her, the woman goes in for a kiss but instead feeds him a Qiaobi detergent pod.
Adding insult to injury, she then pushes him into a washing machine.
The woman then sits on the machine, while grunts of pain can be heard off-screen.
To her pleasant surprise, when the load of laundry is done, a young Asian man with a clean shirt climbs out of the machine.
And I would add that not only are world leaders rattled by the circus sideshow that has now become the main attraction in the Republican party, but everyday, common-folk Americans are also rattled.
Speaking on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Japan, Mr Obama said Mr Trump had shown a cavalier and ignorant attitude towards world affairs.
Mr Obama said foreign leaders were surprised by his nomination.
There has so far been no response from the billionaire businessman.
“They are not sure how seriously to take some of his pronouncements, but they’re rattled by him – and for good reason, because a lot of the proposals that he’s made display either ignorance of world affairs or a cavalier attitude,” the president said.
“He only has] an interest in getting tweets and headlines instead of actually thinking through what it is that is required to keep America safe and secure and prosperous, and what’s required to keep the world on an even keel.”
Stephanie Chatfield, the wife of anti-abortion Michigan state Rep. Lee Chatfield (R), is speaking out about her own experience with the procedure after receiving threats from people warning they’d expose her.
“Your desire to see this story go public emboldened me to do something that I should have done years ago,” Chatfield wrote in a Facebook post published last Friday. “And no matter the intentions of anybody wishing to see this story go public, this I am certain of: God meant it for good and will glorify Himself through this.”
The post was titled “Be Pro-Life—But offer help to women in need.”
Chatfield recounted her experience of being “taken advantage of” while intoxicated at a high school party and deciding to get an abortion after learning she was pregnant three weeks later. She called her choice “the worst of my life.”
“To tell you the truth, I desperately wish that I had the courage as a teenage girl to accept and welcome my child into this world,” Chatfield wrote. “I wish that I had the same amount of courage that it’s taking me to share my story now. But I didn’t, and I made a decision that I’ve thought about and regretted nearly every day since. It’s haunted me. It’s made me weep. It’s made it difficult to look in the mirror at times. I knew that what I did was wrong at the time, but I never imagined the weight and guilt that I would carry as a consequence.”
Chatfield’s husband, who is currently up for re-election, is a stalwart opponent of abortion who voted to defund Planned Parenthood for providing the procedure. In introducing his wife’s remarks, which were posted on his public Facebook page, Lee Chatfield said he was “extremely proud” of his wife for “her courage.”
Donald Trump counseled Trump University students to take advantage of the housing bubble as an investment opportunity and said, just a year before it burst, that he was “excited” for it to end because of the money he’d make, NBCNews reports.
“People have been talking about the end of the cycle for 12 years, and I’m excited if it is,’ he told the Globe and Mail in March of 2007. “I’ve always made more money in bad markets than in good markets.”
At that time, the housing market was already beginning to decline, and just over a year later the subprime mortgage crisis hit, part of a chain reaction of events that led to the stock market crash of 2008 and cemented the Great Recession.
The subprime mortgage crisis alone caused millions of Americans to lose their homes, but that same Globe and Mail piece reports Trump was “advising investors that their are now great deals in buying subprime mortgages at a discount, and repossessed houses at low prices.”
The Republican Speaker of the House was interviewed by Politico’s Glenn Thrush, and gave a rather conditions-filled answer to a simple question.
“Do you think he can really win?”
“Yeah, sure, of course I do,” Ryan responded. “I’m not gonna — I’m not a betting man,” Ryan added when pressed if he would bet his own money on a Trump victory.
“I think if we get our party unified, and if we do the work we need to do to get ourselves at full strength, and if we offer the country a clear and compelling agenda that is inspiring, that is inclusive, that fixes problems, that is solutions-based and based on good principles, then, yes, I think we can win.”
The Speaker, who earlier this month met with Trump after saying he wasn’t yet ready to endorse the presumptive Republican nominee, indicated he will continue calling out the businessman, telling Politico, “I’ve done that in the past, and I will do that in future if need be, and I hope it’s not necessary.”
Those of us old enough to remember the halcyon days of the late 70s and early 80s and the great New York Yankee teams of that era with their owner, George Steinbrenner.
George knew greatness and proved it when he went out and bought Reggie Jackson to patrol right field for the 1977 and 1978 World Series champions. Reggie excelled when it counted and sealed the team’s 1978 title with three home runs in the final game of the series. For that he was lauded as Mr. October. Clutch. In 1980, Steinbrenner bought Dave Winfield to play for the team, and he promptly fizzled in the 1981 series, going 1 for 22. For that, the Boss labeled him Mr. May. Unclutch.
I think we’re dealing with the same phenomenon in the presidential race. Donald Trump has shown that he can win primaries and woo (some) voters with a message that’s brazen, loud, racist, xenophobic, and politically incorrect, which is just an excuse to say terribly nasty things about women, Muslims, immigrants and members of minority groups. His economic policies are incoherent and his foreign policies would make the isolationists of the 1920s and 30s proud. He shifts his positions daily and repeats his signature slogan to mask the fact that he doesn’t really have anything meaningful to say. It’s an emotional appeal based on the time-tested media strategy that made him and countless others, into wealthy television stars. He’s run his campaign on the backs of the national media, using free air time and phone-in interviews to spout his vitriol and to deflect any criticism as nay-saying and negativity. Trump has no idea what’s coming as he becomes the sole focus of investigations into his business practices, income, taxes and everything else that’s bared in a national election campaign. He’s already shown a Christie-like thinness to his skin when it comes to attacks, and when the press really starts looking into his affairs he will have some memorably bad moments.
In short, Mr. May.
On the other hand, Hillary Clinton has actually won an election and understands what it takes to gather resources and organize a campaign. She has real, practical policies that would move our country forward, would honor all people and would continue to value America’s place in the world. She has a positive message, and the experience of being the focus of unrelenting attacks on her character and gender. Does she have baggage? Enough to make me want to buy Samsonite stock. Emails, speeches, ties to Wall Street, the Clinton name and an unfortunate stint as the point person for her husband’s failed health care reform effort. Will these hurt her in the campaign? You bet, but she’s been through this before, has an experienced team of advisors and actual ideas that will help the United States. And she is also a terrific debater. She will come through when it counts.
Ms. October.
Right now, Republicans are coalescing around Trump and getting used to the idea that he’s going to be the nominee. There are distinct pockets of opposition and many big GOP donors have said they will not be giving to his campaign. Some of the other money that would normally go to the top of the ticket is being funneled to House and Senate races as the party says one thing, that Trump is their guy, while whispering quite another, that Trump is likely to lose and bring our majorities down with him.
Meanwhile, the fun is on the left as Bernie Sanders makes a last ditch plea to voters in New Jersey and California to back him and send a message to the Super-delegates that they should back him instead of Hillary. I don’t see this happening, but it’s prolonging the campaign beyond what the party, and Hillary, wants. That will end by the end of June and I could see a Clinton-Sanders ticket in the fall. In fact, I would heartily welcome it. As for the polls, talk to me on July 30. That’s when I’ll start being interested.
Right now, it’s Mr. May vs. Ms. October. In the end, the clutch hitter will win.
At least one Trump delegate wont be around for the Republican convention.
A Maryland delegate supporting Donald Trump’s presidential campaign was charged Thursday with making and possessing child pornography as well as owning illegal weapons and transporting explosives, according to shocking court documents.
Caleb Andrew Bailey, a resident of a tiny Washington, D.C. suburb and a Maryland delegate for the presumptive Republican nominee, allegedly engaged in sexual conduct with a minor and used the encounter to make child porn, federal authorities claimed in an indictment released Thursday.
The alleged conduct occurred between March 2015 and January 2016, the Justice Department said.
Bailey, 30, “knowingly attempted to and did employ, use, persuade, induce, entice, and coerce a minor to engage in any sexually explicit conduct … for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of such conduct, and the visual depiction had been produced using materials that had been mailed, shipped, and transported in interstate and foreign commerce,” the indictment, filed in U.S. District Court in Maryland, stated.
Bailey was also charged with illegal possession of a machine gun and illegally transporting explosives, including hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
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