Here's a New Immigration Proposal Mr Trump!

I propose the following as part of President Trump's immigration policy: The Citizen Exchange Program. For every foreigner wishing to come to the US to help make it a better place and make a contribution, an America hating US citizen can exchange their citizenship in a one for one swap and then leave. The foreigner gets immediate citizenship; the American renounces theirs. In my opinion that would be a win-win. New citizens who appreciate all America has to offer would get their opportunity for a better life and we could offload a bunch of ingrates.

Do you think any high profile Libs, Hollywood elites, etc would take up the offer? Boy I sure hope so!

Sally Field Joins the Ranks of the Unhinged Liberals

While I enjoy her work as an actress, I would prefer that Sally Field refrain from making a fool out of herself by hypocritical rants on TV and Twitter. On a recent appearance on the Chelsea Show, Field embarked on a unhinged rant to host, Chelsea Handler, that included the following: "If you look at his past, if you look at his history, there is no evidence that he can do one single thing that he says he’s going to do."

I suppose that Donald Trump, a real estate billionaire with dozens of highly successful, very large scale projects to his credit saying "We will build a wall and Mexico will pay for it." Is far fetched but when Barack Obama, a community organizer, state senator, and junior US Senator, said in a speech following the Minnesota primary (3 June 2008), " ... this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal;..." this is a reasonable claim?

Maybe it would be better if Ms. Field stuck with what she knows since it appears she has a blind spot when it comes to politics.

Progressives Cry Like Ripped Off Drug Dealers

Progressives avoiding addressing the issues revealed in the Wikileaks emails are like drug dealers calling the cops over someone stealing their stash. Absurdly ridiculous!

Explaining Trump: Mean Guy vs Pajama Boy

Remember me? Pajama Boy!

Despite being rude, arrogant, and mean, Donald Trump still has a lot of support. Perhaps nice and acting traditionally presidential is just less important than just not being a "pajama boy"

.

Scapegoat Bernie

As polls show a dead heat in a potential match up between Trump and Hillary and as Bernie and Hillary continue to split the primary contests, Democrats are attacking Bernie Sanders and telling him he needs to get out of the race. They are realizing the coronation of Hillary is not a given.

Could Democrats and liberals (but I repeat myself) be searching for a face saving explanation in the event they suffer a humiliating defeat in November? After all, it couldn't possibly be the people rejecting their severely flawed and weak candidate now could it? If that doesn't work, we can always count on their other "go to" tactic: blaming it on the stupidity of the American people.

Misinterpreting Trump's Numbers

A lot has been made by the so called experts about Trump's numbers. They say that, despite having received the most votes in US primary history, still more people voted for someone else than voted for him. While that may be true, the pundits have drawn erroneous conclusions. They somehow equate that to a vote against Trump rather than simply an indication of another preference. They make the assumption that, for all those other voters, Trump couldn't possibly be their 2nd or 3rd choice. Their own biases made them interpret this to mean that if he wasn't their first choice, he was automatically their last choice. This is very poor analysis indeed. Further, these same experts told us after each Trump primary or caucus win that based on his rate of picking up delegates, he would never reach the 1237 needed to secure the nomination. Again, poor analysis. As the number of choices decreased, the rate at which "The Donald" picked up delegates increased. To make matters worse,  the pundits' faulty logic is being used to try to convince Republican voters that Trump will never be able to beat Hillary Clinton in the general election. Funny how the vigorous challenge mounted against Hillary by Bernie Sanders is never seen as an indication of her unpopularity or that she may have trouble in November.

The Trump and Sanders insurgent candidacies reflect or perhaps have even caused a "Sea Change" in American politics. The establishment types in both the Republican and Democrat parties either fail to recognize this shift or are choosing to ignore it. Keeping all this in mind, it seems highly unlikely that Republican voters who didn't get their first choice in their party's nominee would not only cast their ballot for the other party's candidate but also vote for someone who is ideologically 180 degrees out of phase with them. Likewise, I don't see disappointed Bernie supporters voting for his antithesis, Hillary Clinton. In this election, I predict the anti-establishment fervor will "Trump" all. Pun intended.

Points to Ponder

Capuchin monkeys understand unequal pay. See the link.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meiU6TxysCg
So does this mean they are smarter than the staffers that Hillary pays less than their male counterparts  or the executives of the Clinton Foundation who earn less?

Is it the job of a primary candidate to win the nomination or prevent another candidate from winning the nomination? They aren't necessarily the same thing.

The North Carolina law that requires one to use the bathroom corresponding to their biological gender is causing many celebs to boycott the state. Could NC be getting exactly what it wants?

On a related note, Since when does one's attire determine one's gender?

So former Speaker of the House, John Boehner, called Ted Cruz "Lucifer in the flesh." So what? Does anyone really care what that has been has to say?

Republicans in Danger of Letting Losing Become Habit

Americans appreciate the ability to lose with grace but when losing becomes a habit, their feelings turn from respect to disgust. Republicans need to keep this and the following in mind as they consider their options for the future.

 "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing." 
          
         - Vince Lombardi

Spit Take Averted; Computer Saved

A liberal progressive reader recently posted the following response to one of my blog entries regarding the reasons behind the success to date of Donald Trump's primary campaign: "I find it unbelievable that any American would even consider someone as crude and rude as Donald Trump as a presidential candidate. The president is the face of America. Is Trump's scowl and "potty mouth" the way we want America represented to the world? If so, then we are in deep trouble."
Fortunately, I wasn't drinking anything at the time or the resulting spit take would have ruined my computer. The comment is so ridiculous on so many levels I hardly know where to begin.
First, a progressive lamenting "potty mouth" is beyond absurd. Since Rhett Butler said, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." in Gone With the Wind in 1940, progressives have spent the last 76 years polluting our movies, literature, TV, music and culture with so much filth and violence, most of the rest of the world sees America as a cultural cancer on the planet. Today, virtually all PG-13 movies have to have an obligatory f-bomb. I doubt an American political candidate's occasional potty mouth will really have much impact on a world already being deluged with filth from the US courtesy of liberals.
Next there is the "crude and rude" concern. There are 196 countries in the world today and the vast majority are run by either murderous, brutal dictators, criminal thugs or leaders who are both. It would be quite arrogant of us to believe that much of the world has time to concern itself with the demeanor of an American politician when they are living in squalor and oppression or being brutalized by the government. Additionally, we spend millions every year for cultural sensitivity training. As someone who has attended more than my fair share of cultural training, I can tell you it is nearly impossible to generalize how an American's "crude and rude" behavior will be interpreted. Factor in language differences and I guarantee it.
Lastly and related to cultural difference is the concern over that scowl. I don't find world leaders to be a "smiley" crowd in general to begin with. Putin is not exactly a "Cheshire Cat". Further, many cultures equate smiling a lot as a sign of being a simpleton.

Look, there are many reasons to be concerned over Donald Trump as a presidential candidate but "crude and rude", "potty mouth" and that "scowl" are nowhere near the top of the list for me and I seriously doubt they are for most of the rest of the world who see the "face of America". Potty mouth? Really? Are you sh**ing me?

Recommended Reading for Insight Into Today's Political Climate

I'm currently listening to another book on audio CD, The Road to Serfdom by Friedrich A. Hayek during my daily commute and I'm finding it fascinating and surprisingly relevant to today's political environment. Not an easy read or listen but well worth the effort. I think both conservatives and liberals (progressives) will find things of interest contained in the words of Hayek.

I have been aware of this book for years but just recently decided to find and read (listen) to it. I had to wait 6 weeks for it to be available for download from the library but it was well worth the wait.

Even though the book was published in 1944 and was a political analysis of socialism from a "final days of WWII" perspective, the author provided new prefaces in 1976 to help make it more contemporary and if a reader keeps these updates in mind, the book provides some amazing insight into the current political scene. If one allows oneself to not focus on the specifics but rather the broader analysis, this book has much to say to the modern political observer.

History doesn't really repeat itself as the old cliche suggests but the ebb and flow of ideological themes, trends and ideas do seem to have their cycles. I hesitate to call this book prophetic because I think this term is over used and tends to sound a bit too dramatic and ominous. However, if you are up for a challenging read (listen), The Road to Serfdom is worth the effort.

Don't Talk About Trump or Hillary Then!

Oscar Wilde once famously said, "The only thing worse than being talked about, is not being talked about."

Since I think much of the support for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton is based on name recognition rather than their ideas (except for Trump's anti-establishment rhetoric and Hillary's anti-rich rhetoric), the way to oppose them is to stop talking about them.

For those concerned about who gets the party nominations, I propose supporting someone else rather than expressing opposition to someone. Otherwise, you end up actually supporting who you oppose by reinforcing the name recognition by the low information voters of both parties. Rather than connecting an idea you oppose to a candidate and thereby reinforcing the name recognition, support an alternative idea and be sure to connect that idea to the candidate you like. This would help increase the name recognition of the other candidates.

Yeah, I know I've been just as guilty of this as the next guy.

Let's educate and offer alternatives. I promise to try and do my part!

Women May Decide the 2016 Election ... For All the Wrong Reasons

The women vote has been a key factor in the last several presidential elections and is shaping to play an important role in the 2016. The recent "dust up" between Donald Trump and Megyn Kelly however demonstrates that their influence may be a deciding factor for all the wrong reasons. While it is understandable that women would be upset with Trump''s treatment of Kelly and his previous insensitive comments, the country isn't threatened by disrespectful treatment of women. If that were that case, Bill Clinton should have been completely unacceptable to women voters yet they supported him overwhelmingly. Similarly, Kelly's pressing of Republican candidates over their stance on abortion is emotionally charged but irrelevant. The next president will have little influence over the future of abortion rights in America. Since Roe v. Wade, any rollback of abortion rights in the U.S. would require an amendment to the U.S. Constitution which is very unlikely. Lastly, many women appear to be ready to support Hillary Clinton largely because many feel it is time for a women president of the United States. It may be true that it is time for a women president but Hillary would be a terrible choice. A huge percentage of those polled find her untrustworthy and dishonest - for good reason - she is untrustworthy and dishonest and despite her list of non-accomplishment "accomplishments" she is not qualified. We can't afford another unqualified "it's time for" president. If women feel compelled to vote for a women, they should take a serious look at Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett Packard - a candidate who has real accomplishments to her name.

At a time when 90 million Americans have given up looking for work; 45 million Americans are on food stamps; 1 in 5 children in the U.S. are living below the poverty line; we are 17 trillion dollars in debt with 160 trillion in unfunded liabilities; ISIS is expanding unchecked in the Middle East and murdering Christians by the thousands; Iran is on the verge of getting nuclear weapons, and Russia and China are aggressively increasing their influence around the world, there are far more important issues than disrespectful language. American women need to vote with their heads in 2016 so that their hearts will be rewarded with a safer, more prosperous, and more just America for themselves and their families in the future.