What are we to believe

Trump is rich but we can't see his tax returns
Trump is smart but we can't see his grades
Trump didn't collude with the Russians but we can't see the notes from his meetings with Putin

You can fool some of the people some of the time but times up for most of us

P.S.

What a super brain!

Buttigieg is the new candidate the Dems are falling in love with

      The Democrats have brought even more diversity in our political reality with Pete Buttigieg.  As a  young married gay man, our Country is now changing for the better.  While many Americans still have not accepted a black man or a woman as president, Buttigieg shows that we may still become a 21st Century Country.  If you haven't heard him yet (where have you been???) here is a link of him on Morning Joe.

P.S.

• South Bend voters first elected “Mayor Pete” to office when he was 29 years old. That made him the youngest mayor of a citywith more than 100,000 residents. Buttigieg also served as a U.S. Navy Reserve officer from 2009 to 2017. During 2014, he took a leave of absence while mayor to serve a seven-month tour of duty in Afghanistan.

• Prior to holding elected office, the Harvard graduate did a summer internship with Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., worked the campaign trail for Democrat John Kerry’s 2004 presidential run, door-knocked for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign and became the research director for Democrat Jill Long Thompson’s gubernatorial campaign in Indiana. Buttigieg also ran for state treasurer in 2010 and lost.  

• After Buttigieg graduated from the University of Oxford with a coveted Rhodes scholarship, he worked for three years at the consulting firm McKinsey & Company focusing on energy and economic development.  

• Buttigieg raised almost $370,000 from January 2016 to December 2018, for his Pete for South Bend campaign committee, according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis of campaign finance disclosures filed with the St. Joseph County (Indiana) Election Board. Buttigieg has $119,000 cash on hand reported on his latest filing, which covers a time period ending Dec. 31. Unfortunately for him, federal law doesn’t allow him to move any of these municipal campaign funds to a federal-level presidential account. Buttigieg’s top donors from 2018 include Gurley Leep Automotive Group President Mike Leep ($10,000), engineering firm Lochmueller Group CEO Michael Hinton ($7,500) and Mark Neal, COO of the real estate firm Bradley Company ($4,560). Buttigieg’s top corporate donors that year included Michigan’s Four Winds Casino ($2,000) and Niles, Michigan-based Selge Construction Company ($2,050).

• Buttigieg launched an initiative during his first term called 1,000 Homes in 1,000 Days, which called for tearing down or rebuilding deserted homes in South Bend. Donors in the construction and engineering fields must have noticed: Many of the biggest checks to his mayoral committee came from individuals listing those occupations, according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis of filings from 2016 through 2018.

• In 2017, Buttigieg ran for the Democratic National Committee chairmanshipand dropped out, saying he knew he didn’t have the votes. (Former Labor Secretary Tom Perez secured the spot.) Buttigieg’s campaign, however, impressed many Democrats: Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who is a possible presidential candidate, called Buttigieg “the future of the party” and former Obama staffers David Axelrod and Dan Pfeiffer said they would be following Buttigieg’s career.

• To fund his DNC bid, Buttigieg created a political committee called “Pete for DNC” and raised more than $548,000 during the first six months of 2017, according to disclosures with the Internal Revenue Service. Topcontributors include philanthropists and sisters Deborah Simon and Cynthia Simon Skjodt ($33,000 each); Carolyn Schwab Pomerantz, senior vice president of Charles Schwab ($10,000); D.C. lawyer Karen Dixon ($33,000), Facebook chief product officer Chris Cox ($33,000) and Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes ($5,000). Buttigieg transferred $40,000 from his Pete for South Bend political committee to Pete for DNC.

• Buttigieg in 2017 launched a “hybrid” super PAC called Hitting Home, which he used to spread $37,000 among dozens of Democrats running for U.S. Congress in conservative districts. Overall, Buttigieg’s PAC raised about $400,000 in a year and a half, though more than a third of that amount came from his Pete for DNC committee. Buttigieg scooped up donations from prominent donors such as the Simon sisters and real estate developer and LGBT rights advocate Henry van Ameringen.

• Checking off another box for presidential contenders, Buttigieg is publishing a book, “Shortest Way Home: One Mayor’s Challenge and a Model for America’s Future,” which comes out in February. Voters will have to wait to see his federal personal financial disclosure to learn what he’ll get in royalties: Candidates are required to turn in a form to the Federal Election Commission detailing their net worth within 30 days after officially becoming a candidate, or by May 15 of that year, whichever is later. One catch: the FEC is currently closed because of the federal government shutdown.

No collusion???

 

     While the Mueller Report is being fought over, the reality that Trump has openly requested the assistance of the Russian government to hack Clinton's emails is an open collision.  The fact he fired Comey was to attempt to end the investigation into Russian collusion as he stated to the Russian Ambassador and Foreign Minister in the Oval Office the day after the firing shows obstruction of justice.  Trump gives us the "smoking gun" openly.

P.S.
      If there wasn't collusion with Russia why did so many campaign officials lie about their contacts?  And why has Trump made sure there are no notes made available to the public or other national security officials when he meets with Putin?  I would say that isn't smoke but the actual fire of collusion.

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Is it OK?

Red Robin to offer the Impossible Burger 2.0 starting April 1st

   If you haven't tried an Impossible Burger yet here is your chance.  Red Robin will start to offer the new Impossible Burger 2.0 on April 1st.  It is an amazing vegan burger!  I just hope they don't charge $13 which is what I have paid at other places.

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     Oh so true!

Mexicans secure their homes and Donald Trump paid for it

   Has to be the funniest story ever.

About sums it up

Candidate with the "Oprah" factor plus political experience

    As the Democrat Presidential candidates sort themselves out in the next year the person to watch is Stacy Abrams.  Joe Biden has already met with her to discuss "who knows what" but I wouldn't be surprised he was trying to get to know her better to determine whether she would be his ideal running mate.  What Stacy brings to any Democrat ticket is what I call the "Oprah" factor.  She transcends race and gender making her attractive to most demographic groups.  To any of the non- minority male candidate, she brings in enthusiasm from women and African American voters that any Democrat would need to win in the general election.

    To hear her personal message listen to her TED talk. 

Republicans go to their old bogeyman again

P.S.
    The Democrats will push for expanded Medicare in their 2020 platform.  The only question is how far they will go in the expansion.  Just like most social advances in our Country, it will probably be an incremental approach.  Something like offering Medicare to people at age 50 or 55.   This will benefit both the Medicare and private insurance industry.  It will get younger people into the Medicare program and older people out of the private health insurance market.  That is a win/win situation for both.

A day late

Funny for the weekend

But we can't afford it!

    When Republicans mock the Democrats proposals to provide expanded access to health care their argument is that "we can't afford it."   Why can't we afford it?  The simple answer is Republican tax cuts and a military budget that is larger than the military budgets of the next 10 countries.  The priority of being the World's cop is where our budget priority is over providing health care for our citizens as other western countries have been able to provide for their citizens.   Every military plane and ship replaces a possible new component of our health care system.  This Newsweek report has been posted around Facebook this past week that shows the cost of our military adventures since 9/11.  Osama Bin Ladin attacked the United States to draw us into a military conflict in the Middle East to bankrupt us economically.  It looks like he accomplished his goal both militarily and economically.

P.S.
     Trump's latest budget proposal doubles down on the disparity by increasing the military budget and cutting back on Medicare.

National Geographic's movie "Free Solo"

   

      This past Sunday on the National Geographic Channel the documentary called "Free Solo" was shown.  It documents the climbing of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park by Alex Honnold, a climber without using ropes.  It won the Best Documentary movie at this year's Academy Awards.  It is a movie that will amaze you in the accomplishment of this climber.  If you are afraid of heights this movie will give you chills.  The way he can hold onto the face of El Capitan with just a couple of fingers and a small toe hold is AMAZING.  The whole movie is available for rent on Amazon Prime.   Here is a short preview on You Tube.   Here is his TED Talk.

Trump supporters mindset explained

  

    For those of us who find Trump to be the most corrupt person to ever hold our highest office, we have difficulty understanding how so many people can support a person who has shown himself to be a baffoon.  When he said he could shoot a person on Fifth Avenue and not lose any supporters he wasn't exaggerating, he was being literal.  Here is an article that explains how when people get new information they don't revise their views but double down on their long-held beliefs. 

P.S.
    Seeing the American flag get the "Stormy Daniels treatment" was one of the strangest things any of us have ever seen from a non-demented person.

New Republican fear mongering

  

   With a number of Democrat Presidential candidates supporting many progressive ideas, that have been successfully provided in other western democracies, it is not surprising that conservative Republicans like the Vice President are using fear mongering to appeal to their base.  Recently Pense said that the next election is "between freedom and socialism, between personal responsibility and government dependence."   To say that in a socialist country you couldn't have personal freedom or that providing for the common good negates personal responsibility is a false belief.  You only have to look at the latest report on how democratic countries are to see that many of the countries at the top of the list for being the most democratic are one with socialist governments.  I also wonder how Pense would propose providing a defense of our Country with all of us only taking personal responsibility for the task instead of being "dependent" on the government for this task?

Maybe something different for Baltimore's crime problem

   There isn't a week that goes by that we don't have multiple killings in Baltimore.  The response is usually to have the Police Chief talk about putting more police on foot patrols in the most violent areas.   That quick and dirty approach seems to never really change anything longterm.  Scotland once had a problem similar to Baltimore.   Maybe Scotland had a better long term comprehensive approach that gets at the causes of the problem.