It's finally hit me that Trump really has a chance. It's against all conventional wisdom and odds that he is where he is. I've actually had nightmares (more than usual), and I may be lucky–I start getting early Social Security (age 62) September 21st. $1007.10 and I have a telephone interview for SNAP (food stamps) this Friday. I owe about a grand to the IRS for the past two years wages (about $6,500 each year as a 1099) and still owe about $2000 in student loan debt. No savings or assets, just the hope that I can scratch by as I always have.
This absolute political joke could get elected. I'm probably old enough that I won't lose my earned Social Security benefits and I've always (as in my foolish youth) been able to find cheap lodging. But what do his supporters expect he'll do for them? He can't bring back an imagined 1950s white paradise or sue our problems away. For years I've gone on about how our country should realize our 'exceptionalism' is a disease that all previous 'great' nations have been inflicted with. "Singled out by God, above all others, destined to rule the globe".
Remember, "may you live in interesting times" is a curse.
Oh, and Gingrich as VEEP may be what finally kills him.
Reporters would find little time to cover much else (like, say, the Clinton campaign) between reports of what nonsense both Trump and Gingrich are spouting on a minute-by-minute basis.
Well, that would mitigate the damage from e-mailgate at least…
I read somewhere today most of the text of the findings on the e-mail report. It is actually not damaging at all. It said that all the SOS's going back to Albright have not handled their e-mail properly, and that it's been more of an institutional problem than anything else. It faults Clinton for using the private server without the proper approval and for not providing copies of her e-mails for the federal record. *However* it says that that was all mitigated by her providing the 50,000 hard-copy pages of her e-mails. Repeat, it says that mitigates it. It did say that she needs to provide hard copies of some more of her e-mails, but that is apparently a minor thing. And this is the government's own investigative report.
So basically, while Fox News and their minions will scream about this as a scandal, she's actually in the clear, and they're not stupid enough to not know that. So they'll twist the information to seem like they've got Hillary cornered and get viewers to buy that, but she's not going to jail over it, congress can't touch her, so it's all really just optics.
It's like Whitewater: started with a land deal, went straight to blowjobs. This starts with FOUR AMERICANS ARE DEAD and goes to a less-than-perfect historical record of official communications. The horror!
E-mailgate won't hurt Hillary. It is nothing. The State Department's "secrets" are all gossip. All previous secys of state, since the advent of email, have used private email. You'd be crazy not to. Would you want to commit your doubts about this or that politically appointed hack ambassador to the official record?
Not to mention, wasn't Clinton's term as SoS going on when there was basically a secret cyber war going on, low key, between us and Iran? The feds, thanks to layers of red tape and needing to set up protocols and figuring the shit out and requisitioning it, were still pretty behind when it came to email tech back then, too (I think we forget how much tech has moved in the last 8 years or so when it comes to communication and processing). Anyway, I'm not so sure it was so dumb to set up a physically separate server for her email.
Reporters would find little time to cover much else (like, say, the Clinton campaign) between reports of what nonsense both Trump and Gingrich are spouting on a minute-by-minute basis.
Here's hoping the voters have a different reaction FFS…
So Chas – have you run across any good stories about Newt Gingrich lately?
The return of Callista Gingrich to the public sphere is a frightening prospect. The points on that hair could hurt somebody.
Are we sure that's original Callista? Seems like Newt is way past due for a trade-in.
<img src="https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTydENvBGDWwu6t6kOC86YYV37urKy7HjuSu8VyCgQKTFe0sopzkA" />
It's finally hit me that Trump really has a chance. It's against all conventional wisdom and odds that he is where he is. I've actually had nightmares (more than usual), and I may be lucky–I start getting early Social Security (age 62) September 21st. $1007.10 and I have a telephone interview for SNAP (food stamps) this Friday. I owe about a grand to the IRS for the past two years wages (about $6,500 each year as a 1099) and still owe about $2000 in student loan debt. No savings or assets, just the hope that I can scratch by as I always have.
This absolute political joke could get elected. I'm probably old enough that I won't lose my earned Social Security benefits and I've always (as in my foolish youth) been able to find cheap lodging. But what do his supporters expect he'll do for them? He can't bring back an imagined 1950s white paradise or sue our problems away. For years I've gone on about how our country should realize our 'exceptionalism' is a disease that all previous 'great' nations have been inflicted with. "Singled out by God, above all others, destined to rule the globe".
Remember, "may you live in interesting times" is a curse.
Oh, and Gingrich as VEEP may be what finally kills him.
I don't think you need to lose sleep over it, Chas. Read |this and maybe you'll feel better.|
<img src="http://images.dailykos.com/images/255517/story_image/got_this.JPG?1464204989" />
Well, that was refreshing! Unfortunately, Kos seems to be overrun with Bernie bros but I enjoyed the read.
Well, that would mitigate the damage from e-mailgate at least…
I read somewhere today most of the text of the findings on the e-mail report. It is actually not damaging at all. It said that all the SOS's going back to Albright have not handled their e-mail properly, and that it's been more of an institutional problem than anything else. It faults Clinton for using the private server without the proper approval and for not providing copies of her e-mails for the federal record. *However* it says that that was all mitigated by her providing the 50,000 hard-copy pages of her e-mails. Repeat, it says that mitigates it. It did say that she needs to provide hard copies of some more of her e-mails, but that is apparently a minor thing. And this is the government's own investigative report.
So basically, while Fox News and their minions will scream about this as a scandal, she's actually in the clear, and they're not stupid enough to not know that. So they'll twist the information to seem like they've got Hillary cornered and get viewers to buy that, but she's not going to jail over it, congress can't touch her, so it's all really just optics.
It's like Whitewater: started with a land deal, went straight to blowjobs. This starts with FOUR AMERICANS ARE DEAD and goes to a less-than-perfect historical record of official communications. The horror!
E-mailgate won't hurt Hillary. It is nothing. The State Department's "secrets" are all gossip. All previous secys of state, since the advent of email, have used private email. You'd be crazy not to. Would you want to commit your doubts about this or that politically appointed hack ambassador to the official record?
Not to mention, wasn't Clinton's term as SoS going on when there was basically a secret cyber war going on, low key, between us and Iran? The feds, thanks to layers of red tape and needing to set up protocols and figuring the shit out and requisitioning it, were still pretty behind when it came to email tech back then, too (I think we forget how much tech has moved in the last 8 years or so when it comes to communication and processing). Anyway, I'm not so sure it was so dumb to set up a physically separate server for her email.
Here's hoping the voters have a different reaction FFS…
Gingretch.
The Secretary of Vacuum Tubes had a much smoother, warmer sound.