They're Trying To Tell Us What This Election Is About

Speaking to Fox News' "Outnumbered" on Friday, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick effusively praised police,  Police officers, he maintained, are "really the only ;people that have a job description that every day when they go to work, part of their duty says, if I have to give my life today, for a stranger that I don't know, who is another citizen, whether they're for meor against me I will."

"We have to have the backs of law enforcement," Patrick added, and "they have to know, from the general public that we will not tolerate when people threaten to kill them."

But Patrick wasn't talking about Michael Xavier Johnson. He was talking about the factors which in his twisted mind precipitated the murder of five police officers in Dallas and the wounding of several others. They included Jesse Jackson, "former Black Lives Matters protests," and individuals "out on social media and mainstream media and everywhere else (who) say that the police are racist, that the police are hateful or police are killers."  (Note: in earlier days, critics of the underclass would blame "JesseJacksonAlSharpton" for anything race-related.)

But his more significant, albeit far less controversial, remark was

I grew up in a world, I've been around long enough, that we’ve always had bad people, we’ve always had dangerous people but the general public respected the police.  Too many in the general public, who aren't criminals but have a big mouth are creating situations like we saw last night. This was obviously organized weeks ago because as some someone said earlier this rally, or this protest wasn't arranged until about this time yesterday morning. So this was going to happen at some point. These men were going to use a trigger moment....

"I've been around long enough, that we’ve always had bad people, we’ve always had dangerous people but the general public respected the police." Lest we write Patrick off as simply a manifestation of warped Texan culture (with apologies to the city of Austin, an outlier), his sentiments reach a larger audience in the response of Donald J. Trump, who on Friday issued the statement  

Last night’s horrific execution-style shootings of 12 Dallas law enforcement officers – five of whom were killed and seven wounded- is an attack on our country. It is a coordinated, premeditated assault on the men and women who keep us safe.

We must restore law and order. We must restore the confidence of our people to be safe and secure in their homes and on the street.

The senseless, tragic deaths of two people in Louisiana and Minnesota reminds us how much more needs to be done.

This morning I offer my thoughts and prayers for all of the victims’ families, and we pray for our brave police officers and first responders who risk their lives to protect us every single day.

Our nation has become too divided. Too many Americans feel like they’ve lost hope. Crime is harming too many citizens. Racial tensions have gotten worse, not better. This isn’t the American Dream we all want for our children.

This is a time, perhaps more than ever, for strong leadership, love and compassion. We will pull through these tragedies.

Perhaps it was the reference to "love and compassion," his offer of "thoughts and prayers for all of the victims' families" or to "the senseless, tragic deaths of two people in Louisiana and Minnesota." Maybe it's simply a Republican acknowledging the deaths of young black men. Whatever it was, the usually wise, and unusually wise, Steve M. was impressed by contents of the statement, as were many tweeters and The Washington Post's Greg Sargent, no conservative Republican he.

Yet, Trump's statement, a little more balanced and far less vitriolic than that of Patrick, bears the same markings of someone pandering to the perception that there was a magic, golden era of America that existed way back before, say, January 20, 2009.

For the Lieutenant Governor, it was "I grew up in a world, I've been around long enough, that we've always had bad people, we've always had dangerous people but the general public respected the police."  The "bad" and "dangerous people" of whom Patrick speaks were in fact more numerous back in those days in which he believes "the general public respected the police."

Similarly, Trump- borrowing from Nixon's Southern Strategy- now speaks of "law and order." He, too, furthers the myth that crime has soared as he argues "We must restore the confidence of our people to be safe and secure...." Yet,  as the graphs (respectively, from FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Statistics via Business Insider; FBI Uniform Crime Reports via Left Call; Bureau of Justice Statistics via Forbes) below indicate, violent crime is down considerably since the mid 1980s and early 1990s, the period when the terms "street crime" and even "crime in the streets" still had some currency.

Patrick does not specify when "the general public respected the police" any more than Trump reveals when law and order prevailed.  Inner-city blacks have been suspicious of their local police departments for decades. . Additionally, they may now be less accepting of the abuse of police authority as they hear of, through social media, traditional media, and word-of-mouth of apparent brutality in the face of a declining crime rate.  Their suspicions have been highlighted in several high-profile incidents in the past few years.

More than 200 jurisdictions have some civilian oversight of police conduct, with Kansas City, Mo. the trailblazer over 45 years ago. The distrust by the community of a police department did not begin on President Obama's watch, notwithstanding inferences by the Lieutenant Governor and the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.

Trump's nod to "racial tensions have gotten worse, not better" is a dogwhistle to the right's critics of Obama, who have implied they were duped into believing election of the first black President would end racial tension. Rush Limbaugh, in all his deceptive glory, has advanced this theory as

The theory was that if America, with a vast majority white population and 12 to 14% black population, elected a black man president, "Why, that would speak volumes about how progressive and advanced America had become. It would go a long way toward healing the wounds that apparently remain from slavery and discrimination and all the other things."  But seems it's got worse, to me.  It seems that with the election of Barack Obama, racial strife in this country's worse than it's ever been since the Civil War. 

He missed what in the late 1960s and early 1970s we indelicately- yet accurately- labeled "race riots."

Alleging appeasement of violent criminals, the executive director of the National Association of Police Organizations charges "It's a war on cops. And the Obama administration is the Neville Chambrerlainof this war."  He is merely more blunt than a prominent Texas office-holder and one of the two individuals who may become the next President of the United States. The common thread, however, is thee notion that somehow we have gone off the tracks relatively recently.

It's inaccurate and dangerous, an appeal to voters who not only dislike the demographic shift in the nation but use it as a crutch to explain largely unrelated tragedies and events.  Obama partisans hesitant to vote for Hillary Clinton should recognize the attacks- some veiled- not only on the legacy, but also the legitimacy of the incumbent President.

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Close-Knit Family

At first reading, it seems like just another scam from the master, Donald Trump, not unlike Trump University and Trump towers in Tampa and Fort Lauderdale.

Most of the approximately 250 buyers of condominiums at Trump Oceanfront south of Tijuana, conned out of $32.4 million in deposits, sued Donald and his partners for fraud after the project was abandoned in 2009.  The Los Angeles Times reports

The Baja resort was supposed to cover 17 acres of oceanfront property on bluffs 10 miles south of the U.S. border. The 525 condos cost $275,000 to $3 million; Simms’ was $506,900. Buyers were required to make a 30% deposit in several installments.

As the Trumps and their partners promoted the condos with sleek brochures and what they called “VIP” cocktail receptions in San Diego County, they often left the impression — or said outright — that Trump was one of the developers. Their marketing team determined that the Trump name was the No. 1 draw for buyers, according to documents that surfaced in the lawsuit.

In the suit, later settled out of court, the plaintiffs, according to the Times, claimed they "were not a developer and had no responsibility to refund buyers’ deposits." However

A July 2007 newsletter sent to condo buyers also stated that the resort was being “developed by one of the most respected names in real estate, Donald J. Trump.”

Further buttressing buyers’ belief that Trump was one of the developers, not just a brand name, Trump personally signed an August 2007 letter to condo buyers that identified him as exactly that. It was on the letterhead of P.B. Impulsores, the Mexican company named in unit purchase documents as the resort developer.

The letter, co-signed by Jason Grosfeld of Irongate, urged buyers to read an attached “Frequently Asked Questions” sheet about the project. This time, Trump and Irongate were listed as the developers.

But this case had come with a twist- it involved Trump family members and

“We are developing a world-class resort befitting of the Trump brand,” Ivanka Trump said in a video on the Trump Baja website. “I’m very excited about it. I actually chose to buy a unit in the first tower.”

Her father appeared in the same video saying he was proud “that when I build, I have investors that follow me all over.”

“They invest in what I build, and that’s why I’m so excited about Trump Ocean resort,” he said.

Unable to join the lawsuit because she no longer had money to pay the attorneys, Stephenee

Simms, in a video appearance she now regrets, was also shown praising Trump’s “wonderful reputation” at a VIP reception hosted by Ivanka Trump at L’Auberge Hotel in Del Mar. “The Trump name is synonymous with quality,” Simms said in the video.

Simms, 50, and Sapol, who went to the same party with her husband, Jeff, remembered meeting Ivanka Trump as waiters served canapés.

“She was joking around that she was my upstairs neighbor, and she could borrow sugar from me,” Simms recalled.

A few weeks later, Donald Trump Jr. met potential buyers at a similar event at the U.S. Grant Hotel in San Diego. A Trump Baja newsletter, sent by the sales team to those who put down deposits, reported that he “flew in from New York to purchase a suite at the event and meet with fellow buyers.”

In fact, according to court documents, Trump Jr. did not buy a condo at the Baja resort.

Garten, the Trump counsel, did not respond directly when asked by email why condo buyers were told that Trump Jr. had bought a unit. In general, Garten said, allegations in the lawsuit “were never proven.”

A July 2007 newsletter sent to condo buyers also stated that the resort was being “developed by one of the most respected names in real estate, Donald J. Trump.”

Further buttressing buyers’ belief that Trump was one of the developers, not just a brand name, Trump personally signed an August 2007 letter to condo buyers that identified him as exactly that. It was on the letterhead of P.B. Impulsores, the Mexican company named in unit purchase documents as the resort developer.

The letter, co-signed by Jason Grosfeld of Irongate, urged buyers to read an attached “Frequently Asked Questions” sheet about the project. This time, Trump and Irongate were listed as the developers.

Fittingly, Ivanka Trump now is being considered as the vice-presidential running mate for her father. Not by anyone sensible, of course, but by a Republican senator, a Trump, and a Fox News host. Appearing Thursday on "Fox and Friends," Eric Trump, agreeing with creepy Bob Corker who had remarked "his best running mate, by the way, would be Ivanka," added

"I agree, right? She's got the beautiful looks, right? She's got — she's smart, she's smart, smart, smart. ... She's certainly got my vote."

"Is she 35?" co-host Steve Doocy asked, in reference to the constitutional requirement that the president be at least 35 years old.

"She'll just be 35," Eric Trump said, noting that her birthday is at Oct. 30, "so she'd just make that by about by, you know, seven, eight days."

"And she definitely has the business sense," co-host Ainsley Earhardt remarked.






Oh, yes, she does. She has the same "business sense" of her father, a specialist in separating people from their money and then fleeing the scene, leaving others holding the bag.

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Expressions Of Anxiety Unnecessary

Sometimes, you had to be there. I wasn't at the Wednesday morning meeting Bernie Sanders had with the House Democratic caucus, but neither were the Politico reporters who wrote

Sanders also stunned some of the Democrats in attendance when he told them that winning elections wasn't the only thing they should focus on. While they wanted to hear about how to beat Donald Trump — and how Sanders might help them win the House back — he was talking about remaking the country.

"The goal isn't to win elections, the goal is to transform America," Sanders said at one point, according to multiple lawmakers and aides in the room.

It must be hard to imagine a United States Senator (photo from Greg Nash via The Hill) whose primary objective is to reform the nation. Or at least it is for some of the Representatives, given that

Some Democrats booed Sanders for that line, which plays better on the campaign trail than in front of a roomful of elected officials....

The senator also talked about his outstanding issues with the party's platform, particularly when it comes to trade.

"To say, as he did, that the goal is not to win elections but for people to embrace his ideas is disconnected from what we are trying to do here. He had a chance to talk about getting things done and instead talked about prolonging his process," the Democratic source added.

It appears that "prolonging the process" refers to "not promptly endorsing Hillary Clinton." Politico adds

House Democrats overwhelmingly supported Hillary Clinton during the presidential primary fight, so it was not surprising that Sanders got a cool reception from them.

But frustration with Sanders was also evident. Rank-and-file House Democrats want Sanders to officially drop out of the race and throw his support behind the presumptive nominee, and they can't understand why he hasn't so far.

"It was frustrating because he's squandering the movement he built with a self-obsession that was totally on display," said a senior Democrat, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

He would be "squandering the movement" only if the sole objective of that movement were to get himself nominated and elected. It seems, however, that Sanders has been taking a longer view, which as Vermont's Peter Welch noted, includes the "need (for) a platform that is going to genuinely create excitement for our nominee” with "an agenda that excites people, including the younger people."

Virginia's Gerry Connolly tweeted "Bernie was respectfully received by Caucus" and "expressions of disagreement are NOT booing" (emphasis his). Most of the other members of the caucus appear to be disregarding the importance of excitement.  Sanders could endorse Clinton at any time but the most compelling occasion would be the most dramatic. That would be at the convention, a quadrennial event producing few if any surprises anymore. The endorsement could be stage-managed to occur at the moment when particularly large viewership is expected or when viewers could be drawn to the event with the expectation of an endorsement.

Most of all, Democrats should take the advice given teammates by Aaron Rodgers.  There are four months to go to the election and plenty of time for voters to take sides. Some will go to Clinton, Trump, and back to Clinton or vice-versa. Some will flirt with Gary Johnson or Jill Stein before landing with the one of the Big Two.

Bernie Sanders probably will eventually "endorse" Hillary Clinton.  In the unlikely event he does not, there will be plenty of time for recriminations.










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Star Of David? What Star Of David?

Conservative Boston radio talk show host Howie Carr had finished his interview with Donald Trump last week when he remarked

“Whatever you do, don’t apologize,” he said. “You never hear me apologize, do you? That’s what killed Jimmy the Greek way back. Remember? He was doing okay ’til he said he was sorry.”

That's probably good advice strategically, something Anthony Weiner, a few other Democrats, and one or two Republicans would have benefitted by understanding. Deny, deny, deny- that harm was intended, that the event was interpreted accurately, or even that it had taken place.

And so it is that the social media director of the Trump campaign rationalized on Facebook

The social media graphic used this weekend was not created by the campaign nor was it sourced from an anti-Semitic site. It was lifted from an anti-Hillary Twitter user where countless images appear.

The sheriff’s badge – which is available under Microsoft’s “shapes” - fit with the theme of corrupt Hillary and that is why I selected it.

As the Social Media Director for the campaign, I would never offend anyone and therefore chose to remove the image.

He already offended Americans, thus: mission accomplished, for that is the spirit and the letter of the campaign which has rocketed Donald Trump to a presidential nomination.   Although politically insignificant, the claim of innocence is weak. Gideon Resnick explains

The earliest iteration of the questionable picture seems to have come from the Twitter account @FishBoneHead1, which tweeted the image on June 15. 

From there, the image found its way to 8chan, a gurgling cesspool on the Internet that is currently devoted to celebrating the death of Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel. AsMic.com reported on Sunday, the image was posted there on June 22, featuring the file name HillHistory.jpg which could be a reference to the Neo-Nazi code "HH," short for "Heil Hitler." 

@FishBoneHead1 describes himself as a "comedian" who will "probably offend you if you are Liberal, Politically Correct, Feminist, Democrat." The account has created or shared several racist memes bashing Clinton, Muslims, and other minorities.

The tweet was deleted, political damage thus diminished. Further, we are reminded that Donald Trump understands what so many other politicians don't. Politico notes that his campaign wrote

These false attacks by Hillary Clinton trying to link the Star of David with a basic star, often used by sheriffs who deal with criminals and criminal behavior, showing an inscription that says 'Crooked Hillary is the most corrupt candidate ever' with anti-Semitism is ridiculous," 

"It's ridiculous to charge that my pants are down," Donald Trump would confidently state. They were someone else's pants so it couldn't even have been me."

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No Dog Whistle Needed

Donald Trump's message last December to the Republican Jewish Coalition was rather clear:









Trump had his spirtual antecedent in 16th century England.  Considering a bill in the House of Commons, a lawyer named Molley representing business interests in London statedhttps://www.theobjectivestandard.com/issues/2007-fall/morality-of-moneylending/ before the House of Commons:

Since to take reasonably, or so that both parties might do good, was not hurtful; . . . God did not so hate it, that he did utterly forbid it, but to the Jews amongst themselves only, for that he willed they should lend as Brethren together; for unto all others they were at large; and therefore to this day they are the greatest Usurers in the World. But be it, as indeed it is, evil, and that men are men, no Saints, to do all these things perfectly, uprightly and Brotherly; . . . 

The New York Times on Saturday reported

Donald J. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, came under fire on Saturday for posting on Twitter an image of the Star of David shape next to a picture of Hillary Clinton and calling his opponent the “most corrupt candidate ever!”

While the six-pointed star is used in other contexts, including as a symbol of many Sheriff’s Departments, it has deep meaning in Judaism and the image was overlaid atop a pile of money. It appeared to play into the stereotype of Jews being obsessed with finances. After being derided on social media, Mr. Trump deleted the post and replaced it with one that had a circle instead of the star shape.

As pictured above, the campaign since has replaced the six-point Star of David with a circle but Mel Gibson, in whatever sewer he's currently lurking, must be very proud.  "Believe me."

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Conclusions First

Donald Trump (photo from The Augusta Chronicle) is not convinced former President Clinton is honest and trustworthy and

Bill Clinton “opened up a Pandora’s box” when he met with Attorney General Loretta Lynch earlier this week on the tarmac of the Phoenix airport, Donald Trump said Friday, suggesting that the two did not discuss just golf and grandchildren.

The meeting, which Lynch said had cast a “shadow” over the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server as secretary of state and something she “certainly wouldn’t do again,” is a “very serious thing,” Trump told attendees of the Western Conservative Summit in Denver.

“And as you know, Hillary is so guilty. She’s so guilty, I mean you can read ’em off right here. And how that’s not being pursued properly and I think that he really — I think he really opened it up. He opened up a Pandora’s box, and it shows what’s going on, and it shows what’s happening with our laws and with our government,” Trump continued. “But if you think that he just happened to be at the airport because nobody really — and he may have, honestly, he may have left and gone someplace, but it seems like he was talking about golf and grandchildren,” he said, in reference to Lynch’s account of the meeting. The attorney general on Friday said that she and Clinton also discussed former Attorney General Janet Reno.

The meeting was improper. Fortunately, a President Trump would make sure justice is doled out fairly because he doesn't get caught up in politically incorrect notions of presumption of innocence or due process.   On Thursday he

called for his likely Democratic rival Hillary Clinton to be imprisoned.

"I will say this, Hillary Clinton has got to go to jail," Trump told supporters here as he slammed Clinton's foreign policy speech earlier in the day in which Clinton called Trump dangerous and "temperamentally unfit" to be president.

"Folks, honestly, she's guilty as hell," Trump said of the Clinton's use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state....

A discussion between an ex-president and the Attorney General investigating his wife could prejudice a case. Evidently, though, the presumptive GOP nominee believes a recommendation to the Department of Justice by an incumbent President would be beyond reproach, for he

also suggested Thursday that if Clinton is not indicted over her email use, he would direct his attorney general to investigate her.

"Five years' statute of limitations, if I win. Everything is going to be fair but I'm sure the attorney general will take a very good look at it," Trump said.

President Trump would make sure Attorney General Chris Christie or any other figurehead would do as told. It's how authoritarians, and despots, roll.

                                        HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY








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Outsourcing Champion

Back in March, Mona Charen  recongnized that Donald Trump's insecurity and self-aggrandizement

is far beyond the puffery that most salesmen indulge to some degree. It strays well into the bizarre. Asked who he consults on foreign policy Trump said “I’m speaking with myself, number one, because I have a very good brain and I’ve said a lot of things.” What grown man says things like that and continues to be taken seriously? How can he be leading the race for the Republican nomination?

Trump has criticized the Clinton Foundation, implying that donations from abroad received from the Foundation while Mrs. Clinton was Secretary of State are tainted and a conflict-of-interest. Stepping  (or it would be, if anyone noticed the irony) on that potentially powerful message, the Trump campaign recently e-mailed fund-raising appeals to politicians of foreign nations, an apparent violation of Federal Election Commission regulations barring solicitation of foreign nationals.

Whereas Charen was amazed three months ago that Donald Trump would be the front-runner for his party's nomination, it is reasonable to question whether the real-estate mogul has a single-minded determination to be President.

We maysoon find out.  ABC News' Jordyn Phelps has noted the candidate "talks tough against outsourcing" but

Harvard Trade and Investment Professor Robert Lawrence did a deep dive on the Trump-branded merchandise advertised on Trump.com and found that products made in the U.S. are the exception and not the rule.

Most of the Trump neckties, shirts and suits are made in China, Bangladesh, or simply say “imported.” And virtually all of his daughter Ivanka Trump’s extensive clothing and accessory line for women is made outside the U.S., with many items manufactured in China.

“Of the 838 Ivanka products advertised through the site, none appear to be made exclusively in the U.S.; 628 are said to be imported and 354 made specifically in China,” Lawrence, who formerly served as a member of President Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers, writes in a column revealing his findings published on PBS.

The Ivanka Trump Collection has now been removed from the Trump Organization’s website. A cached version of the page accessed in a Google search indicated that it existed as recently as March 5.

Neither the Trump Organization nor the Ivanka Trump Collection immediately responded to ABC News' request for comment.

Trump's wife, Melania, who is also in the fashion business, has a jewelry line with QVC. The jewelry is produced in China.

Trump has been wise enough to offer an explanation, however inadequate. He

has made no secret of the fact that some of his apparel is made overseas and has explained that his ties are made in China "because they’ve manipulated their currency to such an extent that it’s hard for our companies to compete.”

Usually, a Republican presidential nominee lauds business owners by arguing they, and they alone, create jobs.  Here is a (presumptive) GOP nominee who has tried to make a virtue of sending jobs abroad, all the while claiming "Hillary Clinton gave China millions of our best jobs, and effectively let China completely rebuild itself. Hillary Clinton supported Bill Clinton’s disastrous NAFTA, just like she supported China’s entrance into the World Trade Organization."

Hillary Clinton, never President, Commerce secretary, or US Trade Representative, never "gave" China jobs like Donald Trump has. Nonetheless

Trump has said that he would not let other countries manipulate currency if he's elected president.

“I wouldn’t let them manipulate their currency because that’s what they do,” Trump told CNN in an interview when asked about the fact that his ties are made in China.







If Donald Trump were thoroughly committed to winning his presidency, he could promise a major action on "Day 1." Republicans always vow to remake the world on the first day of their presidency, and Trump should announce that on January 21, 2017 he will close any factory abroad he or any member of his extended family owns or has any interest in. It would be an empty pledge, of course, in part because he could claim afterward complications preventing the closures and he would not be bound by the vow in any manner.

Still, it would sound good and blunt attacks by Democrats that he is a hypocrite. That would be impressive, given it is a characterization he so richly deserves.














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