Four More Years of Scandal? (8/22/16)
The declaration by Bill and Hillary Clinton this weekend that if Hillary becomes President, The Foundation will no longer accept donations from foreign governments and companies, offers cold comfort to those who found the interplay of Hillary Clinton’s official and “private” roles troubling. If the acceptance of foreign money by The Foundation at least raises the “appearance” of impropriety with HRC as the Chief Executive; as this declaration suggests, how was this arrangement any less acceptable with Mrs. Clinton as Secretary of State…..or U.S. Senator?
Examples of official favors bestowed by Secretary Clinton to foreign personages that gave massive “donations” to The Foundation – the “pay to play” scheme – have already begun to trickle out – that is, those examples that were not contained within the 33,000 emails that were deleted from Hillary’s home-brewed server that was most likely hacked by foreign powers. The potential for blackmail is manifest- one of a number of reasons why the whole scheme is unethical and manifestly illegal and, at the minimum reeks of bad judgment! It is now obvious why HRC went to such trouble to set up this unsecured private server, that with apologies to FBI Director Comey, Hillary so recklessly and negligently exposed some of the nation’s top secrets that were transmitted in addition to her “private” Foundation communications! The server was not set up solely to safeguard Chelsea’s wedding plans!
The release of future hacked emails from Hillary’s server are to be expected. The only question: whether to wait until after Hillary’s potential inauguration to exert “influence”!
The Clinton Foundation and the Clinton Global Initiative have documented track records of being among the worse charities in regard to the percentage of funds that actually reach those in need. The rest of the money allegedly goes to “expenses”. Not for nothing has The Foundation been described as the Clinton’s private Superpak and their personal slushfund! Their tax returns have revealed that they have written-off a large percentage of their annual income by making charitable contributions to their own Foundation! In effect, they made contributions to themselves! Over $100,000,000 has been netted by Bill and Hillary since Mr. Clinton left office in 2001 “dead broke”! No wonder they looted the White House silverware on their departure!!!
Now, with the polls currently showing Clinton as the victor in the Electoral College, it appears that Hillary Clinton will be the Nation’s 45th President. Those of us old enough to remember the 1990s, recall the never-ending Clinton scandal machine, with Bill Clinton’s paramour Gennifer Flowers serving as the subject of the first Clintonian scandal that made the national news, which erupted during the 1992 election. It turns out Gennifer was merely the appetizer, as Miss Flowers was succeeded by the scandals involving Hillary’s investment in cattle futures, the Whitewater land deal and the White House travel office, followed by the far more salacious scandals involving Paula Jones and Troopergate, Juanita Broderick, Kathleen Willey, etc. and of course, Monica Lewinsky. Hillary called all of these swirling controversies as part of a “Vast Right Wing Conspiracy” and Monicagate would have been chalked up as just another figment of the turgid imagination of sweating-under-the-collar conservatives, if not for the presence of a little blue dress!!! Bill Clinton’s perjury under oath about the Jones Affair led to his impeachment in the House followed by acquittal by the Senate, with the Democrats marching in lockstep; all voting for the President. “It all depends on what the definition of “is”, is.” Well, at least Bill Clinton was disbarred by the Arkansas State Bar for his perjurous statements (not for foolin’ around). It’s too bad, how is he going to make a living?
Now, we have Foundation, with all of the ethical issues that that arrangement raises. Throughout the 1990s, the Clintons were ably served by their corps of talking heads, headed by James Carville, Lanny Davis and Sidney Blumenthal, who appeared nightly on television defending the indefensible! If Hillary Clinton wins the presidency, are we in store for four more years of this sordid carnival in defending the Clinton Foundation, as the office of the President of the United States; so damaged by William Jefferson Clinton, sinks even lower in the hands of his wife?
-The Chicago Patriot
The long awaited pivot? (8/17/16)
News that the Trump campaign has kicked campaign manager Paul Manafort upstairs to become chairman of Trump’s campaign, to be replaced by Breitbart News mogul Stephen K. Bannon as CEO of the campaign and respected Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway as campaign manager, may (once again) finally signal the long awaited “pivot” to attempt to resusitate Donald Trump’s sputtering race for the White House. Together with generally well-received speeches this week on combating ISIS and the law-and-order speech attempting to reach out to African-Americans delivered outside of stricken Milwaukee, could Trump has finally got the message that his preaching-to-the-crowd GOP primary message is now outmoded?
Trump’s first campaign manager Corey Lewandowski let “Donald be Donald” and the results of that strategy won the Republican nomination, but the continuation of that tactic has contributed mightily to the current Electoral College deficit. His successor, Paul Manafort rarely traveled with Trump on the campaign trail and was not on hand to whisper in the candidate’s ear to redirect him toward the “better angels of his nature.” It is reported that the talented Kellyanne Conway will be at his side at all times, to keep Donald Trump focused and directed on the change vs. status quo message that a majority of the country favors. Since the GOP Convention, Trump has been rejected as the messenger of that theme, largely due to his own self-destructive tendencies. The question arises: is it already too late?
-The Chicago Patriot
Obama and Clinton the “founders” of ISIS? No, but…. (8/11/16)
The latest dust-up over Donald Trump’s careless use of words, is his charge that Barack Obama (and Clinton as the prior Secretary of State) were “Founders” of ISIS. No Donald, I don’t think either Barack or Hillary were present in Raqqa, Syria in June, 2014 sharing a hookah, during the proclamation of the Islamic Caliphate! However, neither Obama nor Clinton should be allowed to escape all blame for their inactions during the gestation of this most lethal terrorist monster, that to date, has murdered or enslaved thousands and has metastasized to over 20 countries!
Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State from 2009 through 2012 – the period when under the direction of President Obama, the hard-fought gains of the Iraq War were deliberately squandered. “I was elected to end wars”, said the young, naive president -as if wars could be ended unilaterally! During this time, Clinton as Secretary of State, was tasked with the responsibility of successfully negotiating a Status of Forces Agreement with the government of Iraq, to insure a continuing, residual U.S. military presence in the country to guarantee the security of Iraq, quell sectarian strife and provide a backbone for the Iraqi army. For this task, Madame Secretary utterly failed! No agreement was negotiated and the entire U.S. military presence was withdrawn, leaving a vacumn that first Iran and then ISIS filled.
Fast forward to June, 2014. The Islamic State is proclaimed in Raqaa, Syria. Iraq is invaded across its Northwest frontier by ISIS convoys crossing the open desert. Sinjar is taken and a great percentage of its Yazhidi population is murdered; the women and girls sold into sex slavery. Tal Afar is then conquered and the terrorist columns then advanced across the open desert toward Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city; the convoys magnificently equipped with the latest, captured American military hardware.
Our military leaders pleaded with the President that air strikes should be ordered to wipe out these ISIS convoys, exposed in the naked desert without any means of cover. His response: he refused to order any attacks as “there might be some civilian drivers” piloting some of the vehicles in the terror columns (!). So, no attacks were ordered and the core of the terror army was preserved. Mosul was conquered, then Tikrit, then Ramadi, then Falujjah and the terror cancer then spread to Nigeria, Tunisia, Mali and Libya (aided by HRC’s overthrow of Gadaffi), and then out of Syria into Europe and the West, etc.
So, are Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton “Founders” of ISIS? Well, sort of……
-The Chicago Patriot
Trump’s latest off-the-cuff comment again steps on his message. (8/10/16)
Donald Trump outlined his comprehensive, well-thought out plan to recharge the American economy on Monday, but you wouldn’t know it! Again, Trump stepped on his prime message: the moribund economy of the last 7 1/2 years, by his off-the-cuff comment that if Hillary Clinton is elected and nominates Supreme Court judges that would “abolish” the Second Amendment, “there’s nothing you can do, folks. Although, the Second Amendment people – maybe there is, I don’t know.”
Trump’s comment was for sure inflammatory, but is ultimately again self-destructive. The inarticulate vagueness of his words provided a political Rorschach test to confirm prior-held feelings about him. Was he calling for the NRA crowd to storm the polling places to protect their gun rights in November? Or was Trump calling for the assassination of Clinton after January?
The Secret Service issued a press release that it was “aware” of Mr. Trump’s comment. In all of U.S. history, has the Secret Service ever faced the situation of one of its protectees uttering a threat of violence against another?
Donald Trump’s lack of discipline has again cost him, and the GOP, mightily. Maybe he was channeling his inner-Democrat! It is true that Hillary did state in May, 2008, words to the effect that it was too early to concede the nomination to Barack Obama thst year, as Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June. (of 1968). An unfiltered wish that escaped from the deep chasms of her soul? And of course there was that cinematic tour-de-force, the 2006 film The Death of the President, a fictionalized account of the assassination of George W. Bush, that was lionized by the left as “courageous” and “thought provoking” and won many awards. But Donald J. Trump, whether he meant it or not, had little electoral college room to maneuver prior to this utterance and has even less now.
On a day where commentary should have focused on the latest revealed and previously undisclosed Hillary emails, that nakedly showed the pay-to-play relationship between contributions to the Clinton Global Initiative and favors bestowed by the august Secretary of State; on a day where, for whatever reason, the father of Pulse Nightclub shooter Omar Mateen was seated in a privileged seat directly behind HRC at a rally in Orlando; on a day where discussion should have centered on Trump’s economic plan, all talk centered on whether the Republican nominee was calling for the assassination of his opponent!
The nation deserved a credible, knowledgable, honorable, experienced and wise person to stand in opposition to the candidacy of perhaps one of the most “ethically challenged” individuals (male or female) to ever aspire to the presidency! Instead, in 2016, Hillary Clinton faces Donald J. Trump!
-The Chicago Patriot
Collateral Damage? (8/8/16)
The current state of the presidential race (8/2/16)
As the polls come in following the slickly- produced and star-studded Democratic Convention, it appears clear that Hillary Clinton has gained a substantial bounce, of at least nine percentage points in the race for the presidency, no doubt aided by Donald Trump’s ill-advised retort to the speech of Kzihr Khan at the DNC. Why oh why, does Trump insist on charging Custer-like, into every trap set by the Democrats, especially one as obvious as this one! While Trump reels from criticisms from such conservative organizations as the VFW for his insensitive and tone deaf comments about the Khan family, his indiscipline has prevented focusing on the true weaknesses of the Obama/Clinton era: an anemic 1% GDP growth rate; the worse economic recovery from recession since 1949; the rise of the ISIS terror army and the thousands murdered and enslaved to date; the use of the IRS and the Justice Department for political coercion and to chill free speech; the true U6 unemployment rate of from 9.9 to 13.4%; the doubling of the national debt in eight short years, etc., etc. On top of that, the unindicted Mrs. Clinton continues to lie about her handling of top secret communications, claiming in an almost Alice in Wonderland statement that FBI Director Comey AGREED that she did NOT send and receive classified emails on her home-brewed server! She’s starting to feel invulnerable, isn’t she!
Why is Trump so indisciplined as to not hammer on these issues on a daily, hourly basis? Is it true that deep, down inside, he really doesn’t want to be president – that capturing the GOP nomination was an ego-fueled maniacal romp, but the prospect of actually governing for four long years now seems to be a confining drudgery? Or, as some have posited, is the 70-year old candidate now exhibiting early signs of dementia? As an example, when asked this weekend if he had ever met fellow Manhattan billionaire Michael Bloomberg, Trump said that Bloomberg had never been to his office and that he met him perhaps one time…..Of course, Trump’s statement was then countered by a slew of photographs showing Trump and Bloomberg together at a myriad of functions!!!
Whatever the pathology of Trump’s “inconsistencies”, the state of the race now clearly favors Clinton, with all that portends! God help the GOP!
-The Chicago Patriot
Continue reading “The current state of the presidential race (8/2/16)”
Moscow on the Hudson? (7/27/16)
Donald Trump’s joking entreaty to the Russians to release the 33,000 allegedly “personal” emails deleted by Hillary Clinton from her private server on the Hudson, has caused almost spastic responses from the Democrats that Trump is inviting Putin & Company to conduct espionage against the United States – to “hack” Mrs. Clinton’s lost emails! “Espionage” to snare details of yoga lessons and wedding plans? But unless I’m missing something, hasn’t Hillary’s email server long gone to the great motherboard in the sky – having been totally dismantled and dissected by the FBI? Obviously, if the Russians (or anyone else) have plucked Hillary’s secret shortcake recipe from the cybersphere, the “sluthful” act happened many months ago – long before The Donald’s “treasonous” proposition! Odds are that salacious details of the Clinton Foundation are already in the hands of our adversaries with the drip, drip, drip of new revelations to come!
-The Chicago Patriot
Breech at the DNC, and Chappaqua?? (7/24/16)
The Clinton campaign mused that the 20,000 emails hacked from the Democratic Central Committee, that were released by Wikileaks this weekend, originated in Russia. If true, let’s make an assumption: the DNC’s cyber systems were better protected than Hillary’s home-brewed server in her basement in Chappaqua, New York. The obvious conclusion from that assumption: the 33,000 emails that Hillary and her minnions deleted from outstanding subpoenas and Congressional investigations on the claim that they were “personal” are also now in the hands of the Russians! In light of questions on the possible “pay to play” ramifications of influence by Secretary Clinton on requests by foreign governments in return for outrageous fees for speeches charged by Bill Clinton, ostensibly for the Clinton Global Initiative, can blackmail be far behind????
-The Chicago Patriot
Donald Trump’s acceptance speech (7/22/16)
Donald Trump’s acceptance speech at the Republican convention was not filled with the conventional right-wing laundry list of GOP hot button items; his address was far from that. Loaded with attacks on free trade agreements, blank-check foreign intervention and globalism in general, a prime essence of Trump’s speech was based on old-fashioned populism, geared specifically to appeal to the American blue color worker and those who feel dispossessed by the “rigged” economic, political and mass media systems. The name of Bernie Sanders was specifically invoked in the hope of picking up a percentage of NeverHillary voters! The question that is raised: does the left to right political spectrum actually curve around into a circle, so that some of Bernie’s supporters may actually vote for Trump?
A post-convention bounce of +5 or greater will be construed to mean that convention was a success. Watch the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Florida, Ohio and New Hampshire.
-The Chicago Patriot