Month: November 2016

Donald Trump One Of The Lowest Popular Vote Percentage Winners In American History, And NOT Due To Strong Third Party Performances!

Ronald Leave a comment

Donald Trump’s percentage of the popular vote continues to decline, and now makes Trump one of the lowest popular vote percentage winners in American History, and NOT due to strong third party performances.

Right now, Trump has 46.28 percent of the vote and is 2.35 million popular votes behind Hillary Clinton, who has 48.2 percent of the vote.

The only 7 Presidents to have lower percentage are:

John Quincy Adams 1824—30.92

Abraham Lincoln–1860–39.65

Woodrow Wilson–1912–41.84

Bill Clinton–1992–43.01

Richard Nixon–1968–43.42

James Buchanan–1856–45.29

Grover Cleveland–1892–46.02

Before it is all over, Trump is likely to fall lower than Cleveland, and possibly Buchanan, in percentage of the popular vote, when all votes are accounted for.

In each of these seven cases, however, there were more than two strong Presidential candidates, and a third party and twice a fourth party gained electoral votes.

Adams had electoral vote competition from Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, and William Crawford in 1824.

Lincoln had electoral vote competition from John C. Breckinridge, John Bell, and Stephen Douglas in 1860

Wilson had electoral vote competition from Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft in 1912.

Clinton had electoral vote competition from George H. W. Bush and Ross Perot in 1992.

Nixon had electoral vote competition from Hubert Humphrey and George Wallace in 1968.

Buchanan had electoral vote competition from John C. Fremont and Millard Fillmore in 1856.

Cleveland had electoral vote competition from Benjamin Harrison and James Weaver in 1892.

However, Trump had no third party competitor who took electoral votes away from him or Hillary Clinton, his Democratic opponent.

And only Adams ended up second in popular votes with a percentage of the vote lower than Trump.

So Donald Trump cannot claim a popular mandate by any means.

Donald Trump: Liar-In-Chief, Spreading Conspiracy Theories And Unsubstantiated Statements With No Validity, Unprecedented In American History!

Ronald 15 Comments

Donald Trump will now be called the “Liar In Chief”, as he is continuing as President-Elect to spread conspiracy theories, and make unsubstantiated statements with no validity, unprecedented in American History.

Crazy loony Alex Jones has been spreading filth and lies, including that seven million votes were cast by illegal immigrants, or by fraud and using dead people as voters. And Donald Trump is saying this definitely happened in California, Virginia, and New Hampshire, three states that he lost. This is totally without any evidence or facts, but that does not matter to Donald Trump.

Meanwhile, he condemns the voter recount efforts being mounted by Jill Stein, the candidate of the Green Party, in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, which Trump won by about 103,000 votes combined in the three states—Wisconsin by 22,000, Michigan by 10,000, and Pennsylvania by 70.000 votes–less than one percent of the 13 million votes cast in those three states that were decisive in the election victory of Trump in Obama “Blue” states of 2008 and 2012.

It is clear that voter suppression went on and affected people who wanted to vote legally, but Donald Trump, with the crazy Electoral College system which made him President, is, nevertheless, trailing Hillary Clinton by more than two million votes popular votes but will be inaugurated on January 20, 2017.

He has so many conflicts of interest with his business dealings and with foreign leaders, which is against the emoluments clause of the Constitution, and is on the road to becoming very quickly the most corrupt President in American history bar none!

Richard Nixon looks like a choir boy compared to Donald Trump!

Giant Historical Figure Fidel Castro Dies, A Transformative Figure, With Great Negative Impact On The World!

Ronald Leave a comment

Fidel Castro of Cuba, the most significant figure in Latin America in the 20th Century, and one of the most vicious dictators of modern times, passed away at age 90 on Friday.

He left behind a legacy of a brutal dictatorship, which while making some improvements in health care and education, took away any semblance of civil liberties and civil rights, and imprisoned, tortured, and murdered dissidents in great numbers over more than a half century of rule.

Castro was the longest lasting leader of modern times, with only Queen Elizabeth II of England having come to office about seven years before Castro took over the capital of Cuba, Havana, on New Years Day 1959.

Who would have thought that someone who came to power on the island of Cuba, which had been a playground for wealthy Americans, under the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, at a time when this author was in high school, would last in power for a half century, and then be replaced by his younger brother, Raul Castro, a decade ago, and still rules?

Castro became the dire enemy of the Unites States, and Cuban exiles fleeing to Florida in 1959-1960 and again in 1980 (the Mariel Boat Lift) and constant escapes since then, have affected the history and politics of Florida and the Republican Party, with Cuban Americans flocking to support of the party after John F. Kennedy failed in his attempt to remove Castro from power in the Bay of Pigs Fiasco in April 1961. This made Cuban Americans the one Hispanic group that would refuse to support the Democratic Party, as many Cuban Americans saw JFK as a Communist for failing to succeed to remove Castro. This led to the most dangerous moment in the Cold War years, as Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet Union’s leader, formed an alliance with Castro, who had declared himself a Communist, and installed Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba, with the Cuban Missile Crisis bringing the world closer to the danger of a nuclear war than any other event in history before or since. Only with the cool headed leadership of JFK was nuclear war averted.

Castro was a maniacal figure, who also abused the rights of gays and lesbians in Cuba, and initiated aggression overseas by supporting national liberation movements in Latin America and Africa, and the people of Cuba suffered economically under his five decade rule. Few more influential and significant dictators have existed, and those he is often compared with–including Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, and Benito Mussolini–only lasted 25, 12 and 21 years compared to his 47 plus years.

The question is how Cuba will evolve now, with brother Raul Castro, age 85, having said he will leave power in February 2018, only 14 months away, and also how Donald Trump will react to the death of Fidel Castro, after Barack Obama had begun new relations with Cuba in 2015.

Trump Security Costs In Trump Tower To Require 100 Secret Service Agents Involved And $1 Million Cost Per Day, Or $1.5 Billion Over Four Years, At Taxpayer Expense!

Ronald Leave a comment

With Donald Trump’s insistence that he plans to spend a lot of time in Trump Tower in midtown Manhattan over the next four years, rather than being full time at the White House and sometimes at his Palm Beach, Florida estate, the security costs for him, his wife and his son Barron, will be astronomical, with taxpayers footing the bill, and many of the estimated 100 Secret Service agents and support staff staying at Trump hotels, with Trump gaining profit from it all!

This is outrageous, as never has any President not desired to live full time in the White House, since John Adams first inhabited it in the fall of 1800. And the idea that his wife and son will be in Manhattan until at least the end of the school term in June 2017, is another added cost because of their constant presence there.

The cost will be at least $1 million per day, meaning about $1.5 billion over the next four years, and if Trump, when traveling abroad, decides he will only stay at Trump properties in foreign nations, that will increase the cost of his security detail, as it means many of the usual locations for Presidents to stay at overseas will be bypassed. And of course, the support staff costs at these Trump properties will be making money for Trump while he is President.

Anyone who is fair minded would argue this is unacceptable, but when and how will anyone tell the President that what he wants is not acceptable?

This is abuse of power, and it will magnify in so many ways over the next four years, including his present refusal to take himself out of his properties and their management and earnings through a blind trust, as Trump says he sees no issue, and only a Republican Congress could mandate otherwise, and that looks highly unlikely. There is more chance of an asteroid hitting the earth soon than Trump being prevented from doing what he wants.

In a way, he is not the incoming President, but instead an Emperor in his own mind!

Vote Recount In Wisconsin, And Possibly In Michigan And Pennsylvania, Enough To Change Election

Ronald 18 Comments

A vote recount will be conducted in Wisconsin, as a result of funds raised to contest the close popular vote lead of Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton, and efforts are being made for the same to occur in Michigan and Pennsylvania, enough, were it successful, to belatedly make Hillary Clinton President.

This is being done without the support of the Clinton camp, and simply the campaign of Jill Stein, the Green Party nominee, and independent efforts to raise money for such a recount.

Wisconsin has 10 electoral votes, while Michigan has 16 electoral votes, and Pennsylvania has 20 electoral votes. If all 46 went to Clinton, she would win 278 in the electoral college, with 270 the number required to win.

The margin of victory in the three states combined is only about 103,000 votes, showing the power of everyone’s vote. Wisconsin was only a margin of 22,00 votes, while Michigan was 10,000, and Pennsylvania about 70,000, and there are accusations of miscounts and hacking. Together, these are less than one percent of the entire vote in those three states.

Could the election results suddenly lead to Trump losing election to the Presidency? This is extremely unlikely, but there is the threat of electors in mid December exercising their right to do what they wish by secret ballot, and voting against Trump.

It would, however, be unprecedented to have the whole election results reversed, and imagine the fallout were that to happen, without Hillary Clinton’s active support!

Democrats’ Dilemma: Weaknesses In State Legislatures, Governorships, US House Of Representatives, And US Senate–A Party In Trouble!

Ronald 4 Comments

The record shows that 900 Legislative seats were lost by the Democratic Party in the past 8 years under Barack Obama. The Democrats are at a low point, with control of only 15 Governorships and 13 state legislatures in both houses, and they face the crisis to defend 25 of 33 Senate races in 2018, and somehow gain at least three more to become the majority, all of which seems highly unlikely. Also, the Democrats only gained six seats in the House of Representatives, so would need 24 seats to gain control in 2018.

Before the surprising results of the Presidential Election of 2016, it looked as if the Democrats had a bright future nationally, but now it seems just the opposite, unless and until, somehow, rural and working class whites are drawn once again to the Democratic Party.

So the question arises if it is time for a change in House leadership from veterans that have been there for many years and are all over 70, including Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer, and James Clyburn, to younger leadership from states that are important battlegrounds.

Congressman Tim Ryan of Ohio, who is 43, is trying to replace Nancy Pelosi as Minority Leader in the House, and after 14 years of Pelosi leadership, and six years out of the majority and counting, it seems wise to make the change, but it seems unlikely to happen.

Donald Trump: A “Third Party” President Masquerading As A Republican? Is He A Distorted Version Of Ross Perot?

Ronald 1 Comment

A new way of looking at Donald Trump is that he is really a “third party” outsider who is masquerading as a Republican, and is trying to make the party he has taken captive over in his own image.

The question is whether this will work, or will the Republican Party divide into factions?

So far, it seems as if many recalcitrant Republicans are trying to make peace with Trump, but once the administration begins on January 20, the odds are good that Trump will alienate many, once he abandons ideas that many think he will pursue, and starts to sound something like a Democrat in some fashion.

Remember that Trump has a longer association with Democratic ideas than Republican, and used to support and endorse Bill and Hillary Clinton, and financially support many Democrats in their Congressional races.

Trump is so mercurial and unpredictable that trying to imagine good results and stability in his Presidency is extremely hard to imagine.

In a way, Trump is like Ross Perot, almost the extension of what Perot attempted in 1992 and 1996, but without the stability and strong convictions that at least Perot had.

Who would ever have thought that Perot magnified and made into a monster would emerge a quarter century after Perot entered politics?

Hillary Clinton Popular Vote Lead At Over 2 Million, As Evidence Of Voter Irregularities Rises In Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, And Even Florida!

Ronald 46 Comments

This morning, we learn that Hillary Clinton’s popular vote lead over Donald Trump is over 2 million and counting, four times the popular vote lead of Al Gore over George W. Bush in 2000.

Hillary Clinton has a greater popular vote lead than John F. Kennedy in 1960, Richard Nixon in 1978 and Jimmy Carter in 1976.

And now, there is growing evidence of voter irregularities in the states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, as well as questions about how Hillary Clinton had such a popular vote lead in early voting, including 27 percent of Republicans, in Florida, and then, magically loses the Sunshine State. Evidence of fixing and hacking, maybe by Russian intervention, seems possible.

Was this election rigged, as Donald Trump claimed it would be, but in his favor, rather than against him?

Are we having the Presidency stolen, as many thought in 2000, by Republican led state governments, as in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Florida, although not so in Pennsylvania?

Will we ever know for sure, and is there any point, two weeks after the election, to contest it, and create an uproar, or should we all move on and accept the inevitable, President Elect Donald Trump?

This author is torn, but at this point, with two weeks to absorb the immensity of what has happened, it seems, somehow, pointless to pursue a law suit, as all it will do is further “poison the well”, so to speak.

This is said with a heavy heart and great sadness, but it is time to move on, it seems to me, and allow Trump whatever “honeymoon” he may have, wish him the best, and be ready to challenge him, as it is certain will happen soon, and on a regular basis, over the next four years, and hope for the best in a terrible situation.

53 Years Since The John F. Kennedy Assassination: Still Not Recovered From The Reverberations Of That Event

Ronald 1 Comment

53 years ago today, President John F. Kennedy, our youngest elected President, with all of his youth, good looks, and charisma, was suddenly shot down at age 46, shocking the world, and we are still not fully recovered from the reverberations of that event in 2016.

America lost whatever innocence it had that day, and it ushered in a whole group of assassinations and attempts over the next decade and more.

Fortunately, no President has been assassinated since then, but Ronald Reagan was severely wounded in 1981, and the problem of protection of the President and the First Family remains a constant security nightmare.

Whatever our political beliefs, we can wish good health and safety for President Elect Donald Trump and his entire family, but also realize the anger, fury, and divisiveness that has continued to escalate with recent Presidents, reaching an all time high of threats against President Barack Obama, are not likely to lessen with a new and controversial President, who speaks his mind openly more than anyone in recent memory, at least since Richard Nixon.

So the challenge to try to make the Kennedy Assassination the very last ever to occur continues to face us in the future.

I wish to remind my readers that my Assassinations book is coming out in paperback in March 2017 at the very reasonable price of $17.95 from the publisher, Rowman Littlefield, and that the Kennedy Assassination is covered in detail in Chapter 9, and the Reagan Assassination attempt is covered in Chapter 14. The threats faced by Obama are covered in Chapter 16.

It is well worth your reading.

Four New Women Senators, And Now Total Of 21

Ronald 2 Comments

In 2017, there will be 4 new women Senators and a grand total of 21, an all time high, up by one.

The four new women Senators are all Democrats, and altogether, there will be 16 Democrats and 5 Republicans.

California replaces Barbara Boxer, retired, with Kamala Harris, who is multi racial—a mother born in India, and her father being a Jamaican American from the Caribbean island—replacing Boxer, after having been Attorney General for six years.

Tammy Duckworth, who had been a Congresswoman from Illinois, replaced Senator Mark Kirk, and she is Asian American, born to a white American father and a Thai-Chinese mother in Thailand. She served in the military for 22 years, and was seriously wounded in the Iraq War, losing both legs and damaging her right arm.

Catherine Cortez Masto replaced Harry Reid, retiring, in Nevada. She was Attorney General of Nevada from 2007-2015. She is Latina with a Mexican American father and an Italian-American mother.

Maggie Hassan, the Governor of New Hampshire, defeated Senator Kelly Ayotte for her seat. She served two two year terms as Governor, after having served in the state legislature for three two year terms.