https://www.dailykos.com/user/wklessens/rss/index.xml News Community Action Copyright 2005 - Steal what you want Mon, 27 Jan 2020 03:03:02 +0000 Mon, 27 Jan 2020 03:03:02 +0000 Daily Kos rss@dailykos.com (Daily Kos) Daily Kos rss@dailykos.com (Daily Kos) https://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/10/31/1589083/-Those-Are-NOT-Hillary-s-Emails <p>The most infuriating thing about the negative and confusing media coverage of the ongoing serial “Hillary Clinton’s Emails Part IX” is the fact that the emails in question aren’t even HER’s. This fact hasn’t prevented compulsive liar Donald Trump from lambasting “Crooked Hillary” to his hypnotized, vociferous flock of shrill hatemongers since last Friday. That day’s “October Surprise” from now-embattled (and possibly soon to be prosecuted) FBI director/Trump-flunky James Comey has thrown a hitch into Clinton’s bid for the remaining Undecided voters, especially the ones who just read the headlines and the first two sentences of the explosive story, and automatically conclude that they know everything they have to know about the matter. And Comey’s congressional letter was sent despite his being ordered NOT to by the Justice Department and Attorney General Loretta Lynch.</p> <p>To wit: the new batch of emails DIDN’T EVEN COME FROM CLINTON’S PRIVATE SERVER: they all came from New York congressman Anthony Weiner’s laptop, the separated husband of Clinton aide Huma Abedin. You’ll remember Weiner’s infamous name from a few years ago as his adulterous “sexting” of a young woman of his acquaintance became national news. But so many people, when hearing “Hillary” and “emails” in the same sentence just combine the two and make the snap conclusion of “Here we go again”, when in reality nothing could be further from the truth.</p> <p>James Comey is facing heat from both sides of the aisle for his obviously political move of releasing his missive to Congress reopening a closed case so near to the national elections, in the process breaking all FBI protocols as well as violating the Hatch Act.  But he has already succeeded in doing what he undoubtedly intended in muddying the waters in a pro-Trump fashion. What his real purpose was and how/from whom Comey may’ve been influenced is unknown presently. But the fact that Clinton has been continually pressing him to release the email information ASAP instead of nervously hoping the FBI sits on it until after the election once again shows the extreme political nature of this literally-unprecedented move, which has obviously delighted Donald Trump and his hordes of haters while throwing the Clinton campaign into an undeserved state of damage control.  </p> <p>And all this is happening while the FBI, in one of the worst-kept secrets of this hateful election cycle, is withholding all information regarding Trump’s secret ties to Russia and its leader Vladimir Putin until - you guessed it - AFTER November 8^th.</p> <p>But between the nefarious, ongoing and mostly-innocuous Wikileaks email disseminations, along with all the mud splashed over Hillary Clinton throughout 2016 mostly related to 20-year-old various debunked White House “Gates” scandals back when her husband Bill was president and not the candidate herself, once again points up the extreme slope that a woman, ANY woman in America, faces in breaking the glass ceiling. And this includes climbing the ladder in the business world, discrimination in countless workplaces regarding equal pay with men, as well as in the cutthroat political arena that we’re seeing now. Hopefully the many millions of decent Americans who recognize the easily-recognizable ugliness and potential world-threatening dangers of an unthinkable Donald Trump presidency will just ignore this knock-on-wood last salvo from the conservative side, this time embodied in Comey’s self-incriminating dirty trick.   </p> rss@dailykos.com (wklessens) notHillarys _1589083 Mon, 31 Oct 2016 16:16:28 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/10/22/1585631/-The-Aberrant-Donald-Trump-Candidacy <p>In 2016 American voters have been witness not only to the ugly presentations and personal invective from the absolute worst presidential candidate in modern US history. We have also seen the spectacle of the Republican Party, one of our two major political bastions for the past 2+ centuries, overtaken and dominated by a fringe element that has been percolating for the past two decades right in front of us. And in GOP presidential nominee and entitled bullyboy Donald Trump, we have amazingly seen the personification of everything the present-day conservative movement in our nation has actually stood for over the past 20 years, only writ very, very large. The national Republican Party has had the “Trump Look” for years. He has simply magnified it past all recognition and sanity.</p> <p>Nobody in their right mind on either side of the aisle could have envisioned the turmoil, white-hot (pun intended) anger, as well as sheer lunacy that Donald Trump has foisted on us over the past year. America’s voters could have ideological differences and disagreements with recent/past Oval Office candidates ranging from Mitt Romney, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, George W. Bush (obviously) on any number of issues, without having their basic “Americanness” being in question. There was always a level of decorum, intelligence quotient and competence present…we could all disagree with each other without calling into question our own decency, current-events’ acumen, and even rationality.</p> <p>In 2016, those days are gone. Donald Trump’s ascension to Republican nominee flies in the face of everything America has and should stand for. Open and vulgar racism; near-total lack of knowledge concerning even basic national and international issues; serial lying almost every time he opens his mouth (33 falsehoods uttered during the second debate to Hillary Clinton’s 3, all of hers’ attempting to defend her husband from Trump’s irrelevant attacks); espousing totally opposite opinions in the same spoken paragraphs on scores of issues from national security to birth control depending on what day it is and what ether his mind is floating through at that moment. Any reasoning person following this crazy election year should know by now how surreal this unending nightmare slog to November 8th has been.</p> <p>Donald Trump is the enemy of all our daughters, wives and girlfriends, and undoubtedly has nothing but contempt for even the American women who are still going to vote for him, except for the ones he deems “hot” enough to interest him. His degrading comments and unwanted physical actions with various females and their angry response has been recorded in full, but a point that seems to have been missed is that his foolish excuse of it being “locker room talk” and that these trash conversations are routine with men is an insult to every decent male in America. No Donald, we DON’T spend our time talking about all the sex we’re having with our wives and girlfriends. Nor do we dwell lasciviously on descriptions of our daughters’ bodies. Not just because you do.</p> <p>Trump is the scourge of every single minority demographic in America, African-American, Hispanic and Muslim, home-borne or not, save for the gay population. He leveled some of his most acerbic and notorious kiddie-insults and nicknames against Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina and his other Republican primary competitors as his adoring fans guffawed along with him, dividing his own political party in the process. And Trump is the last president that our allies have ANY desire to have to deal with in either friendly or contentious issues, a schoolyard bully/loose cannon who has no business discussing issues of import, domestic or external, with any of the world’s real leaders.</p> <p>Donald Trump is an exaggeration, not an aberration. So don’t be fooled by all the phony hand wringing being done currently by all those caught-in-the-spotlight “disaffected” Republicans. Many of them from Paul Ryan to Ted Cruz, Mitch McConnell to Marco Rubio have already announced that they will support Trump on Election Day despite their absolute knowledge of what a destructive candidate he is. Most of the rest will without question be swinging back to his side over the next week and will pull the lever for him, forgetting all the insults to both themselves and their other conservative partners, along with the rampant ignorance and ever-present hate displayed every time he opens his mouth, no matter the topic. Viewers finally lost count of all the times he called the Obama administration “stupid” during the (thankfully) final debate. And this proves unquestionably what most of us have known for years that the national GOP cares not a whit for America’s well-being as long as “their boy” gets in, no matter the dire consequences that will explode across the United States and the world if he does.</p> <p>And lazy Democrats, a group that NEVER votes with the numbers and fervor of their GOP counterparts had better lose the big heads they’ve acquired recently with all the rosy BS emanating from the Daily Cos and other liberal paper-and-online magazines. The only poll that counts is the one on November 8th, and voters who realize the potential disaster we’re all sweating out until then had better get their Hillary Clinton, Jill Stein or Gary Johnson votes ready. Or better yet, vote early if you can.</p> <p>Furthermore, if you asked all those Trump supporters 12 months ago what they thought of Russian president Vladimir Putin, the smart money says that the replies would’ve verged on unprintable. Now, however, they lionize the man, as more and more knowledge comes out that through the Wikileaks dissemination of Clinton campaign manager John Podesta’s emails, he is working behind the scenes in an attempt to influence the election Trump’s way. The bad news for all the Trumpophiles is that there is nothing incriminating on Podesta’s emails, just the usual behind-the-scenes maneuvering routine in political operations Republican and Democratic: what candidates would work best for vice president, disagreements with seemingly-friendly constituents, tough business talk about various political enemies, etc. But as we all know, if the emails contained Clinton’s grocery list Trump’s flock would still be gnashing their teeth and screaming about her “unfitness for office” (along with their continuing and sickening howls to physically harm or jail her at all his Roman Colosseum-level rallies).</p> <p>And Trump continues to stonewall all attempts to release his tax returns over the past couple decades (imagine the hue-and-cry if Clinton hadn’t released hers), laughably claiming that his failure to pay ANY taxes over that period was perfectly legal due to the 1995 largest ($916 million) of his SIX taxpayer-bailout bankruptcies. If all his tax machinations financing Trump “University”, his Atlantic City casinos, Trump Shuttle et al were “perfectly legal” he would’ve released them months ago, and anyone with a brain knows it. Trump in short was a great salesman but a lousy businessman.</p> <p>There are certainly one or two legitimate attacks against Hillary Clinton one can cull from her near-40 years in the national spotlight, but none of them rises even close to the level of incompetence and evil that Trump represents, and certainly don’t equal the rape culture and xenophobia for every demographic except for the angry white male that he espouses. And his latest rabble-rousing canard is his lying claim that the upcoming election is somehow “rigged” in Clinton’s favor, while offering exactly zero proof for his whining allegation. Leaving Trump sycophants Rudy Giuliani and Newt Gingrich out of the equation, even the most conservative Republicans in government are refuting this one.</p> <p>Perhaps Trump’s simply setting himself up for a bunch of lawsuits against the federal government if he loses. But judging from both his thinly-veiled comments urging his masses to appoint themselves enforcement officials and congregate at voting places, monitoring closely for any “clandestine</p> <p>activities”, as well as the many recent violence-promising quotes from his white male fans across America, it looks more and more like there’ll be plenty of potentially-tragic displays we can all look forward to on November 8th. He’s obviously using this tactic to target and frighten away minority voters as they attempt to practice their Constitution-given right. So there’ll probably be lots of available overtime pay for all the extra police security that will be necessary due to his latest incendiary posturing, this being maybe the only real example of job creation that Trump has been able to come up with in his specifics-starved campaign.</p> <p>And his anarchic admission in the last debate that he won’t necessarily accept the will of the people on November 8th, and will “keep us in suspense” until then as to his intentions, only buttresses that fear. As does his declaration in an Ohio speech the next day that he will only accept the election’s outcome “If I Win!”</p> <p>This is the awful imitation of America that the Trump supporters want. It’s up to the rest of us to stop him. He will take the United States on a straight trajectory to hell if he’s elected, a hell that would make the eight disastrous Bush/Cheney years last decade seem like a smooth cakewalk by comparison.</p> rss@dailykos.com (wklessens) anyonebuttrump _1585631 Sat, 22 Oct 2016 12:47:53 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/9/22/1573227/-The-Courage-Of-Colin-Kaepernick <div> <p>San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick has touched many nerves across the United States with his peaceful protest against anti-African-American police brutality by not standing during the National Anthem at his NFL games. And it’s noteworthy hearing and reading all the patriotic invective against his stance, shouted mostly by a segment of white America that frets about whether a second-string quarterback is standing during a patriotic song having nothing to do with <span>...</span><span>the athletic event following, while at the same time typically ignoring all the lost lives and ruined families perpetrated by a tiny minority of police officers nationwide. </span></p> <div> <p>Last week's Oklahoma atrocity, the shooting of unarmed black man Terence Crutcher as he stood next to his stalled car in the roadway, is just the latest in an increasingly-long line of racist violence that has African-American parents across the country desperately and fearfully schooling their children in what to say and do to authority figures whenever they leave their house. This is now a self-defense necessity, far more important than the DWB (Driving While Black) measures that have been part-and-parcel with the black experience for decades. These are measures that Kaepernick's hand-wringing critics won't ever have to worry about learning, either for themselves or their loved ones.</p> <p>And the ludicrous “manslaughter” charge that was hung on Tulsa Officer Betty Shelby on what was clearly a cold-blooded murder of a man with his back to her and his hands raised will do nothing to assuage the grief and anger of our under-siege African-American population, as well as decent people of ALL races.</p> <p>Kaepernick has been joined in the past couple weeks by various American athletes from other professional sports leagues, all who have put their money and careers in jeopardy in the current national racial atmosphere that is threatening to degenerate into a pre-Civil Rights-era mindset. This has been a huge factor in the horrid rise of Donald Trump, the Republican Party’s overtly-racist presidential candidate who has been buttressed by an electorate plainly possessing an overwhelming widespread hatred of non-Caucasian humanity. This wasn’t in evidence years ago when Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke’s two ugly presidential campaigns fizzled almost before they even began. But unfortunately with 2016’s American right-wing, those days are long gone and harder to find.</p> <p>Kaepernick has put his livelihood where his mouth is, and has called into plain view a national disgrace that swung into high gear after 2013’s aberrant Trayvon Martin verdict, an ongoing nightmare that his football-loving detractors would rather disparage with misplaced jingoistic zeal. And it shows no signs of ending.</p> </div> </div> rss@dailykos.com (wklessens) colink _1573227 Thu, 22 Sep 2016 23:18:19 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/9/1/1565843/-Colin-Van-Ostern-For-New-Hampshire-Governor <p>   The first impression a Colin Van Ostern audience gets when the leading Democrat candidate for New Hampshire’s governorship begins speaking is his easy, friendly gregariousness. This is a politician who isn’t trying to talk over his listeners, comes across as a genuinely friendly sort, and isn’t above throwing a Red Sox, exercise program or cinema reference into his conversation.</p> <p>   But it’s on the important state-level issues that we’re all faced with daily that Van Ostern really shines. And along with his amazing amount of managerial experience in both the private sector (New Hampshire’s Stonyfield, Inc.) and the political one (the governor’s Executive Council), it’s no wonder that he has received the large number of endorsements from leading companies, unions and state pols from both sides of the aisle for his run. These include more than 60 state representatives and senators, US Congresswoman Annie Kuster, numerous businesses and nonprofit leaders throughout the state like Planned Parenthood, and unions including IBEW 2320, United Steelworkers, the New Hampshire State Employees Association and the United Postal Workers Union.</p> <p>   Van Ostern’s position points are the citizen-friendly ones that should resonate with most people who want to continue the progress our state has experienced over governor Maggie Hassan’s two terms. They include accelerating our development of solar and other renewable energy initiatives, which will generate thousands of jobs throughout every sector of the state. Van Ostern will legislate raising our ridiculous minimum wage (at $7.25 tied for the lowest in all 50 states), which keeps many of our hardest-working full-time citizens trapped at the poverty level despite all those hours spent on the job. Upping the wage will give these citizens more buying-power, as well as decrease the numbers on our various public assistance programs, a no-brainer win-win.</p> <p>   And you can check out Van Ostern’s detailed and comprehensive economic plan online, which contains resolutions that will enlarge upon Hassan’s already-successful state’s college tuition cuts and advanced high-tech and manufacturing job employment training. He will also expand upon her Gateway To Work program as well as actively drive our Boston-to-Concord commuter rail project to its long-awaited completion.   </p> <p>   Finally, there are two Van Ostern votes while serving on the NH Executive Council that should stand out to Granite Staters. One was his deciding vote to restore Medicaid expansion to 50,000 of our neighbors, which Republicans on the House Financing Committee had unsuccessfully voted to end in 2015. And the other was his recent similarly-deciding vote to restore funding totaling $549,000 to Planned Parenthood, which had been terminated last year again by the GOP due to the infamous doctored/dubbed film that landed the two directors in front of a Texas judge and had temporarily cast a decidedly barbaric and dishonest light on this essential women’s health organization. Over 12,000 of New Hampshire’s female population as well as all of our Medicaid recipients will hopefully remember Colin Van Ostern’s stances on September 13 and vote for a candidate whose ideology and legislation will ALWAYS have New Hampshire’s citizens in mind.   </p> rss@dailykos.com (wklessens) vanostern _1565843 Thu, 01 Sep 2016 16:43:08 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/8/7/1557682/-Donald-Trump-s-Ugly-Path-To-The-GOP-Nomination <p>There is something wrong, and deeply un-American, about an electorate numbering in the millions that is planning to vote for draft-dodging, racist, insulting and serial-lying former reality-TV star Donald Trump this November. As the months go by and his inexplicable ascension to GOP presidential nominee rolled out, the surrealistic nature of this year’s Republican campaign gets wilder and stranger with each and every one of Trump’s actions and quotes. His flock has been hypnotized by his daily onslaught of juvenile tweets, total lack of knowledge and conviction about national and international affairs, and his continuous outright lies about everyone from Hillary Clinton to Khizr and Ghazala Khan. The sheer staggering number of what should all be Oval Office-disqualifying actions has seemingly made Trump immune to whatever tomorrow’s ugly surprise from him will be.    </p> <p>A short and very-incomplete recap for anyone who may’ve been off-planet over the past year :</p> <ul> <li> <p>Trump’s laughable “Wall” yakking, which his adherents actually believe to be a workable idea. In reality, there will be no 1900-mile wall built between the US and Mexico, and “President” Trump couldn’t legally force our southern neighbor to finance it anyway. Period. As Mexican president’s spokesman Eduardo Sanchez said last year,</p> </li> <li> <p>“The Donald” has made himself into an unfunny comedian by denigrating many members of his own party, from presidential candidates he sparred with during the primaries (Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio), to war hero John McCain, House Speaker Paul Ryan, Fox “NEWS”’s Megyn Kelly, et al. With all his 8^th-grade-level, nickname-heavy diatribes (LITTLE Marco Rubio, LOW-ENERGY Jeb Bush, etc.), he spent the primaries destroying his own fractured party from the inside out, making him a scorched-earth traitor to the very people he implores for both money and votes when he ISN’T haranguing them.And most of these Republicans from Paul Ryan to John McCain incredibly are still endorsing him, calling their own sensibilities into question.</p> </li> <li> <p>Trump broke a federal campaign spending law in June by sending email mass-mailings overseas to mostly conservative-leaning officials and citizens in England, Scotland and the rest of Europe soliciting donor dollars for his presidential campaign. In case you didn’t find your copy in your In-Box, here’s the first one : “We’ve set another Trump-sized goal to raise another $10 million by Thursday at midnight. Please chip in what you can to help make Donald J. Trump the next President of the United States.” Fortunately most of the bemused recipients have ignored the illegal online requests, and despite the Federal Election Commission ordering him to stop, the financial overtures are ongoing. This is “Making America Great Again”?</p> </li> <li> <p>Trump can thank US taxpayers for rescuing him four times from corporate bankruptcy to the total tune of nearly $5 billion during his long and checkered career as an investor and businessman. These bailouts ranged from failed casinos to his notorious Trump University scam with all their attendant lawsuits, bewildered students and investors, and ruined lives. Imagine if you or I ran our household/business finances the way Trump has over his entire career, and how much federal aid we could all hope for if we did?</p> </li> <li> <p>The current contretemps between Trump and the aforementioned Khan couple who lost their Army captain son Humayun 12 years ago in the Iraq War is beneath contempt. It remains to be seen if finally a crack or two may be appearing in his seemingly-invulnerable persona, as Hillary Clinton’s poll numbers have improved dramatically in the past week. Only a person totally lacking in both empathy and decency could possibly stand by and approve of the slander and ugly rhetoric from Trump towards these two, obviously due to their Muslim religion. This latest transgression should resonate with anyone who has ever lost a child, as well as anyone who cares about another human being who has.</p> </li> </ul> <p>Donald Trump has proven himself to be a hateful laws-and-people abuser. It’s obvious by now that most of his ardent fans consider this irrelevant, failing to hold him to the kind of standards that common sense would dictate anyone holding the most important job in the world should have to embody. These are the voters who will leave America a rudderless, antagonistic, hate-filled scarecrow of its present self if they get their way on November 8^th.  So to the 10%-15% of Bernie Sanders’ people who at this writing are STILL in the “Never Hillary” group, as well as any Democrat who is planning on exercising his right to NOT vote this election, it’ll be your faults if this depraved demagogue wins the presidency this fall.   </p> rss@dailykos.com (wklessens) stoptrump _1557682 Sun, 07 Aug 2016 15:13:45 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/7/15/1548542/-Beth-Roth-For-The-New-Hampshire-Executive-Council <p>   Beth Roth’s announcement last August to run for the New Hampshire Executive Council came as a breath of fresh air to District 3’s electorate, as she became the only female candidate for the five-member board. She is running for the seat currently held by Chris Sununu who is pursuing the Governor’s chair, with present governor Maggie Hassan having embarked on her Senate run against Kelly Ayotte. And Roth’s credential-list is a long and impressive one, as she has a wealth of both professional and public service experience to recommend her. </p> <p>   Roth formerly served a six-year term on Salem’s Board of Selectmen, including two years as the first-ever Democrat Board Chairman. For the past twenty years she has run her own Andover legal office as a Business Law Attorney, which entails both litigating and advising corporation workers and owners as well as company contract writing. Her past and present professional experience includes nursing (her first career), serving as teacher of legal courses at the University Systems Granite State College, and as a trained psychotherapist currently practicing on the Board of Directors for the Center of Life Management here in Rockingham County.    </p> <p>   Beth’s past positions in public service here in Salem is just as impressive. As well as the aforementioned six years as Selectman she has also served on the Planning Board, the Budget Committee, the Historic District Commission and as a member of our Economic Development Advisory Committee.</p> <p>   Beth Roth’s citizen-friendly platform will include widening programs combatting the opioid crisis endemic in the Granite State, increasing funding for elder care, and private and public-sector jobs creation coupled with ensuring that they all contain livable salaries. She will also ensure continued safe access for women’s reproductive healthcare, funding of which was restored two weeks ago to New Hampshire’s Planned Parenthood due to Roth’s and many other Democrats’ persistence in making their voices heard in protesting last year’s draconian and unfair cuts. </p> <p>   These and other platform points were discussed at length Thursday night at Portsmouth Public Library with her estimable primary candidate Josh Bourden, and Roth’s detailed answers from topics ranging from how the Executive Council works with the governor re: state contract approval, to ensuring that judges place abused children with the correct parent all rang true, and made for an educational evening for the audience as well.     </p> <p>   A victory for Beth Roth would reverse the Council’s 3-2 current GOP majority and would pave the way for a wealth of continued improvements for both our district as well as the entire Granite State. On September 13, please join me in voting for this admirable candidate, a woman who will bring more balance to our state’s Executive Council.</p> rss@dailykos.com (wklessens) roth4council _1548542 Fri, 15 Jul 2016 13:07:05 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/7/14/1548215/-Donald-Trump-The-GOP-Candidate-Of-Bigotry-At-The-Worst-Possible-Time <p>Tuesday, July 12 marked the happy conjoining of both contested factions of the Democratic Party, as presidential nominee Hillary Clinton received progressive rival Bernie Sanders’ endorsement right here at Portsmouth High School. An extremely spirited campaign struggle finally came to its conclusion last month, and most people would agree that the hard-working Sanders, backed by an energetic and mostly-youthful nationwide grassroots organization, pushed the already-formidable Clinton to the max.</p> <p>The melding of these two and their respective voting blocs marks one of the most important unions in America’s entire presidential history, as 2016 is an election year like no other. In Bernie Sanders we saw an unapologetic, self-described socialist and revolutionist bring a number of important topics front-and-center to the country’s voters. Issues ranging from a graduated $15 minimum wage, free college tuition, and even more bank and Big Business regulation than has already been effected by president Barack Obama’s much-needed Wall Street Reformation Act became topics of both written and verbal discussions nationwide. And in Hillary Clinton we watched a seasoned, extremely-knowledgeable centrist candidate push to expand  programs ranging from women’s health issues, Medicaid expansion, climate change and campaign finance reform.  She has vowed to incorporate many of Sanders’ topics into her own now-widened platform as well. And she has been described by many as possibly the most qualified presidential candidate from either side of the aisle ever.</p> <p>Bernie Sanders’ endorsement to Clinton wasn’t  just a symbolic gesture to be taken lightly, expected though it was. It is important that this amazing candidate’s supporters understand full-well how necessary it is to put aside the small number of differences between the two on November 8. Because in Republican opponent Donald Trump, America is facing the possible and unthinkable election of the worst and most divisive Oval Office candidate ever submitted from either major political party. And due to the racial events of the past three years since the lamentable Trayvon Martin verdict culminating in last week’s Dallas policemen and four more black citizens’ tragedies, it’s happening at the worst possible time.</p> <p>There are many shortsighted people who erroneously concluded that “Racism Is Dead” after president Obama was elected in 2008. But unfortunately that wasn’t true then. And it also wasn’t true back in the 1960s when after a decade of violence and carnage African-Americans finally began to slowly gain at least a semblance of the rights that most Caucasians have enjoyed forever. Led by Bill Cosby, Flip Wilson, Sidney Poitier and many others, the nation finally began seeing black people on TV and at the movies (and not just in all those non-speaking walk-on roles that were so prevalent and embarrassing back then). And new civil rights laws made it mandatory that government service jobs and most private industry had to be populated by larger percentages of African American employees. And there was no other way for these needed inroads to happen: anyone old enough remembers the pushback from much of mainstream  America, the Angry White Male syndrome, etc.</p> <p>In Donald Trump, the United States has its first overt racist presidential major-party nominee, a man who has spent his entire campaign denigrating Mexicans, Muslims, and almost anyone carrying the non-Caucasian affliction.  His past ugly comments and insults against African-Americans are legendary, and his one admitted bow to rationality has been his toning down of similar comments over the past year.  He is also a confirmed misogynist, as evidenced by his myriad and continuous degrading comments about women in general, coupled with salacious frat-boy public interviews about his attractive daughter. All the while Trump sounds more like a 14-year-old schoolyard bully making dirty cracks about the teachers to other little boys at recess than an adult, let alone a credible presidential aspirant.</p> <p>So Trump has obviously corralled the bigot market. The Ku Klux Klan and white supremacists lionize him, and with his refusal to disavow their standard-bearer David Duke, why wouldn’t they? </p> <p>Republicans have historically been far more proficient at getting to the polls than Democrats, covering both primary and general elections. This has always been unacceptable and difficult to explain, but remains a fact. And this cannot happen in November. In Hillary Clinton, America has a candidate that will continue and build on the tremendous progress made by the Obama administration over the past seven-plus years to redress the domestic and international nightmare he inherited from two woeful George W. Bush terms. And millions of Trump-enamored Americans from sea to shining sea are champing at the bit to pull the lever for this con artist in four months, and they will indeed be at the polls en masse. And along with all the misery on every level that Trump’s “leadership” would foist on America if he wins, we’ll all be watching the nation’s widening racist divide, as heart-rending and infuriating now as it was fifty years ago, explode.  </p> rss@dailykos.com (wklessens) stoptrump _1548215 Thu, 14 Jul 2016 15:27:37 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/6/21/1540919/-To-Contribute-To-Maggie-Hassan-s-Senate-Campaign <p>In response to a number of requests, the site to access to contribute to Maggie Hassan's 2016 New Hampshire  Senate run against Republican Kelly Ayotte is  : maggiehassan.com. You will then be directed to a contributions page. Thank you !</p> rss@dailykos.com (wklessens) donatetomaggie _1540919 Tue, 21 Jun 2016 12:54:14 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/6/20/1540676/-Maggie-Hassan-For-US-Senate <p>New Hampshire is fortunate to have a truly outstanding candidate for the US Senate running on the Democrat side, our current governor Maggie Hassan. In Maggie’s two gubernatorial terms she has successfully continued the fine legacy left by her record four-term predecessor John Lynch by continuing the Granite State’s membership in the “Top Three States To Live In” club.</p> <p>Hassan’s current record of accomplishments for all of us is an extremely enviable one. New Hampshire’s unemployment rate is at 2.7%, the lowest in the entire country, a testament to the job growth legislation she has enacted over the past 3½ years. Her Gateway To Work employment-skills training legislation, an initiative that begins July 1, is financed by federal funds as well as state surpluses, and will move thousands of Granite Staters off the unemployment/welfare rolls and into paying jobs over the next five years.</p> <p>Thanks to a wonderfully-bipartisan effort that in a perfect world would be commonplace, Hassan expanded our Medicaid program (HB1696) that provides health insurance to over 50,000 lower-income citizens hovering below 138% of the federal poverty level . It is being paid for by state hospitals and insurance companies, and even includes a work requirement for recipients, while also offering mental health and opioid abuse treatment.  After signing the bill in May, Hassan said, “Unlike Washington, we have shown time and again that we are capable of engaging with each other, putting arguments aside and coming together to solve problems, leading to progress for our businesses and families.” Kudos to both sides of the aisle on this one.</p> <p>And on the college/university and police fronts Maggie, after her inauguration three years ago, restored all state tuition aid monies as well as New Hampshire’s prior state police force numbers that then-House Speaker Bill O’Brien and his allies’ budget cuts had decimated earlier. This willingness to stand up to the Tea Party faction in Concord has stood her well during her time in office, and she will continue to fight for us in Washington provided she bests Republican opponent Kelly Ayotte in November.</p> <p>Kelly Ayotte’s 5½-year record as Senator has been one marked by continuous obstruction along with an unwillingness to listen to her Granite State constituents on many issues, placing her squarely in alignment with most of the GOP who have tied up Congress over the past seven years. She is currently running from her record and trying to sound like she had voted for common-sense gun laws to prevent more tragedies like Sandy Hook Elementary School and the recent Pulse nightclub massacre from occurring, when in reality she has voted FOR every National Rifle Association initiative that has reached her desk. This is even after holding many Town Hall meetings after Newtown and listening to all of us begging her and her fellow Senators to do something about the extreme proliferation and easy access of assault rifles and the like throughout the nation. But she ignored her own voting base as she has on this and many other national topics, and the carnage continues unabated.</p> <p>On women’s issues, Ayotte has supported every anti-choice bill that has come up, and joined her conservative colleagues in voting to defund Planned Parenthood. She also voted four times against the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would attempt to redress the 79 cents on the dollar that women earn nationally compared to men. Despite voicing her reservations against the Republican Party’s  presidential nominee Donald Trump, she still plans to vote for him in November.  And she joined her GOP peers and defied our Constitution earlier this year by unethically refusing to hold hearings for President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland, leaving the Court with only eight members in the hope that Trump, if he prevails next election, will get to pick the ninth member.</p> <p>Ayotte told us that she was going to be a “new Voice” in the Senate when we elected her in 2010, but has turned out to be just another in the long line of right-wing ideologues who have given the present Senate the lowest approval-poll  ratings of all time. We need Maggie Hassan in Washington to protect Medicare and Social Security, enact sensible gun legislation that WON’T affect hunters or our own freedom for self-protection, prevent our much-recovered economy from being ravaged by the Washington Republicans, and safeguard women’s rights. We can’t let next year’s Senate continue the firewall against progress caused by years of GOP dominance.</p> rss@dailykos.com (wklessens) hassanfornh _1540676 Mon, 20 Jun 2016 17:15:03 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/5/23/1529888/-Clearing-Out-A-Few-Issues <p>   Gotta love the Republicans in our Washington D.C. House and Senate. While the Zika virus continues its inexorable gains throughout the southern continental US, GOP senators and House members continue to haggle over president Barack Obama’s modest request for $1.9 billion to fight the rapidly-forming epidemic. Never mind that there are currently almost 600 documented cases of infected Americans scattered mostly throughout California, Texas and Florida, with the number slated to rise exponentially as Republican inaction continues. Obama wisely last week unilaterally allocated $600 million of Ebola virus funds to these affected states for mosquito spraying, human blood testing and disease treatment, taking the lead over the do-nothing conservative Congress as he’s done for the past seven years.    </p> <p>   And if you aren’t already familiar with the horrifying effects on newborns caused by this infection, just GOOGLE the topic and take a look and a read. And then wonder why anyone would vote for a political party that is more interested in cutting Social Security and Medicare against our seniors while also lowering business taxes by trillions of dollars, instead of quickly approving this relatively-paltry sum to hopefully alleviate this latest potential pandemic.</p> <p>   Here’s the newest from America’s first genuine Fascist presidential candidate. Already on record as in favor of utilizing waterboarding and “much worse” in prisoner interrogations as Il Duce, er, Donald Trump claims that “torture works”, the GOP presidential candidate now has come out with arming “trained teachers” to carry guns in their classrooms. This is even while saying in the same breath that he “doesn’t advocate guns in classrooms”.  These seeming contradictions will probably be easily explained away by his adoring fans, just as they’ve spent nearly a year explaining away his ugly insults and foolish, puerile namecalling against many of the very citizen demographics that he’ll be depending on for votes in November.  But at least he can gloat over last week’s National Rifle Association endorsement that presaged his latest descent into public speaking insanity.  </p> <p>   The first third-party competition from the conservative side in their attempt to give their more-rational voters a chance to vote for a non-Trump was announced last Friday, May 20. Libertarian Gary Johnson, former governor of New Mexico announced his candidacy, flanked by former Massachusetts governor William Weld as his vice-president partner.  Weld is unquestionably the “star” of the pairing, as he served two successful terms during the 90s in Massachusetts, and has a well-earned reputation of fiscal conservatism/social liberalism that fits Johnson to a ‘T’, while making Weld anathema to most present-day GOP voters, particularly the Tea Party wing. Time will tell the tale, but early polls show the duo able to probably top 10% when matched against the two major parties, with opinions mixed on which candidate, Hillary Clinton or Noriega…er, Trump, would be hurt worse by the new competition.</p> <p>   And finally, speaking of governors and anathema, how would you like to be embattled North Carolina’s  Pat McCrory these days? He’s finding out that even national REPUBLICAN polls are against his homophobic signing of HB2, the so-called “bathroom bill”. There’s been millions of lost revenue from musicians and businesses cancelling their NC plans and taking their wares elsewhere in response to his obviously bigoted decision, applauded by only 36% of his state constituents and decried almost everywhere else across America. The irony is that due to the potential increased financial hit that the state is taking and will take going forward,  McCrory has a good chance of dropping his reelection bid in November by losing the votes of many of the 36% who presently approve of SB2’s signing, along with the majority who continue to oppose the legislation.  Billions of dollars in federal money is slated to be withheld from North Carolina as soon as the state/federal dueling lawsuits are settled, and good luck with McCrory weathering THAT fiscal storm.  </p> rss@dailykos.com (wklessens) afewtopics _1529888 Mon, 23 May 2016 14:28:36 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/5/13/1526197/-GOP-s-Agenda-Led-To-The-Rise-Of-Donald-Trump <p>The national Republican Party continues to fall all over itself in their “all-injured-innocence” act bemoaning the improbable rise of their Toxic Avenger presidential candidate Donald Trump, demonstrating a total lack of perspective as to the reasons for our current shared nightmare. Nervous conservative “leaders” from Paul Ryan to Tom DeLay forget that their party spent the last several decades (at least) pushing their racist, homophobic, misogynist and anti-science agenda both in their legislation and in the media, even as the rest of America became more and more inclusionary.</p> <p>Conservative politicians applauded travesties like the Trayvon Martin verdict and its ugly aftermath of unarmed black Americans being shot by police. Second Amendment aficionados cheered on the NRA’s “gun in every hand” position as America became the most murderous nation in the free world, fighting every attempt of sensible gun sales legislation and accountability. Bigoted conservatives saw nothing wrong with Kentucky court clerk Kim Davis refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples even after the Supreme Court OKed these unions, citing her religious differences with the new rules.  Women’s rights have been under increasing attack over issues from upholding Roe vs. Wade, the 79 cents they make on the dollar compared to men, and even re: availability of birth control. And the crowd that gets their health, science and nutrition tips from the likes of Limbaugh and Savage have nothing but disdain for the 175-nation Paris climate change accord America signed onto in on Earth Day, and would like nothing better than a regressive to get into the White House to pull us out of it.   </p> <p>So….why Trump? Much has been made about the so-called “cross section” of Americans who have stumbled into his noxious bandwagon. Trump parades his pride about his serial infidelity and avoidance of STDs as a badge of honor, calls women who he doesn’t find attractive “ugly” and derides their periods, brags that if he shot another human down in cold blood that his poll numbers would rise anyway (and they did), and has far less knowledge about important national/international issues and policies than most people who read the paper every day. He is absolutely the current personification of the national GOP written very, very large.</p> <p>And so the RNC is justifiably terrified about the campaign to come partly due to the fact that they fear a wipeout victory by Hillary Clinton over their ugly candidate. But let’s say that Trump WERE to win in November, a prospect that would make the shame of American voters actually reelecting George W. Bush in 2004 seem like great political intelligence by comparison.</p> <p>There are a myriad of danger factors that Americans would wake up to every morning if that happened, the fallout of which would ensure the radioactivity of the GOP brand for years to come. Ponder for a moment the prospect of  Trump’s finger on the nuclear button; the unarguable risk of him declaring war and deploying our troops willy-nilly anywhere and everywhere that he sees fit for any reason; the dissolution of our economic structure with a return to corporation-friendly practices that would explode our currently-lowered deficit and bring back the scandals of the Bush years; the hatred and enmity he would sow with our allies and enemies alike with his 14-year-old-schoolboy bully persona and total lack of negotiating sensitivity over important, life-and-death matters.</p> <p>But the simple truth that covers all of the above is that more than possibly any presidential candidate on either side of the aisle EVER, Trump possesses an all-encompassing lack of respect for virtually every human being on Earth not named Donald Trump. All anyone has to do is examine the wealth of derision contained in all those “quotable quotes” that his fans laughed with and applauded over the past six months. And instead of laughing and applauding maybe go one step further and ask yourself how YOU’D feel if you were the subject of continuous personal abuse by someone in power who disagreed with you? Or if Trump was the boss you reported to every day? Or if, God forbid, YOU were the person shot dead by this gun-lovin’ President-wannabe on 5^th Avenue?</p> <p>It was perfectly fine and dandy for this mogul to unceremoniously “fire” all those hapless stooges on his TV show for his audience’s amusement. While in the private realm it was also OK for the loonyness and misogyny Trump displayed over all those years of media interviews : the First Amendment guarantees him the right to be as obnoxious as he wants to be, even up to publicly bragging about his daughter’s “hot body”. But Trump isn’t in the idiot box realm anymore : he’s running for the most important job in the world, a fact seemingly Lost In Myopia with his fans.  The rest of us had better be on board this November 8, unless 4-8 years of suffering under a neo-Fascist strongman ruler appeals to you.                  </p> rss@dailykos.com (wklessens) no2trump _1526197 Fri, 13 May 2016 17:07:45 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/4/29/1521470/-Annie-Kuster-s-Many-Congressional-Accomplishments <p>   From the Workforce Development Investment Act to her Veteran’s Claims Efficiency Through Automation bill, Second District Congresswoman Annie Kuster’s first two terms have followed an encouraging pattern of working for New Hampshire’s middle class, veterans population and women’s issues. With both Annie’s father and father in-law having fought in Europe during World War 2, her affinity for and devotion to the causes of American veterans is well-known in Concord, and is proven by the wealth of legislation that she’s passed in the last four years as well as her current place on the state’s Veteran’s Affairs Committee. Her successfully-negotiated bills, most of them bipartisan, include the Ruth Moore Act, serving victims of sexual trauma, the Troop Talent Act, aiding military personnel in returning to civilian life, as well as the two signature achievements cited above.             And just as important, regionally-speaking, are the Kuster-sponsored new veteran’s facilities in Colebrook and Berlin, clinics that serve 2500 outpatient North Country vets and have dramatically shortened drive times for those needing medical care, exercise therapy, etc.   And along with her other bills and amendments that have aided our small business contractors and workforce-transitioning initiatives, Granite State veterans know that they have an ardent ally in Annie Kuster.</p> <p>    Regarding job creation and employment legislation, Kuster’s Middle Class Jobs and Opportunity Agenda is an aggressive and successful program that provides tax incentives for small businesses to grow, as well as improved and expanded job training for college students about to enter the workforce. And throughout her congressional career an important initiative of Annie’s continues to be her series of Job Fairs, the latest in March in Lebanon, a well-attended event that opened the door for hundreds of prospective employment and business-opportunity seekers to derive information on openings, startup loans and job placement.   <br>    As a former 25-year adoption lawyer, Annie has dealt firsthand with women with regards to family planning, healthcare concerns and dealing with the rise in military sexual assaults (up 30% over two years ago). From the 79-cents-on-the-dollar our distaff workforce earns compared to men despite comprising about half of the total number of employed, and a 20% lower approval rate for women-owned businesses compared to men, females remain decidedly behind the economic eight ball despite the gains they’ve made over the past few decades.  Kuster supports both the Paycheck Fairness Act which addresses the wage disparity, and the Economic Agenda For Women and Families Act, which expands pregnant employees’ rights regarding expanded family and sick leave.<br>     <br>    Washington Republicans as well as here in NH are continuing their efforts to cut both Medicare and the Social Security Retirement Fund, flying in the face of the well-being of our senior population, Annie Kuster and the rest of the House Democratic Party with their votes and lobbying are busy ensuring that these reductions won’t happen, at least as long as GOP majorities in Congress don’t increase. She has also worked to successfully expand funding allocations for Alzheimer’s disease research, and has a vested interest in the topic, having nursed her late mother for years as she battled the illness.<br>           Please check out Annie Kuster’s website KUSTERFORCONGRESS for a complete review of the tremendous ameliorations this dedicated woman has effected over her first two terms. She is ready and willing to undertake a third one to continue fighting for Granite Staters both here and in Washington, and deserves New Hampshire’s Second District votes this November.</p> rss@dailykos.com (wklessens) AnnieKusterforCongress _1521470 Fri, 29 Apr 2016 16:22:45 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/4/20/1517893/-Time-For-The-Democrats-To-Come-Home <p>Hillary Clinton’s sweeping 58%-42% victory in New York on Tuesday April 19 would seemingly put the kibosh on rival Bernie Sanders’ increasingly negative-tinged campaign, an endeavor that has lasted far longer than most pundits would’ve envisioned last year. Realistically her total number of delegates (approximately 1885, to Sanders’ 1190) coupled with her insurmountable superdelegate lead should spell the end of the Irascible One’s improbable run, which included an impressive eight straight contest victories before the New York come-uppance. It’s an opportunity for Sanders to come back to the fold, mend a few fences and make his Democrat electorate understand that the Number One objective going forward is preventing Donald Trump (the other big New York winner) or Ted Cruz from getting anywhere near the Oval Office this November 8th.      <br>    Unfortunately, Sanders’ quotes after the NY results seemed to signify that he plans to soldier on through the upcoming Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Delaware contests, which will simply add more time for his anti-Clinton negativity to continue.  The two-way battle up to now could be construed as a positive for Clinton, making her a “better candidate” as well as toughening her up for the general election debates to come. But now after Sanders’ New York defeat we’re talking about an unrepentant candidate with zero chance of earning enough delegates to win simply continuing a quixotic, party-damaging campaign for his own purposes.<br>      <br>    Until the past two weeks the Clinton/Sanders Democrat tussle had been a comparative breath of fresh air compared to the little-boy tantrums, ugly personal attacks and general cluelessness of their Republican counterparts (it’s funny that John Kasich, the only real issues-savvy adult running on the GOP side, is being almost completely ignored by America’s conservative electorate, as damning an indictment of  their political acumen vis a vis electing a president who is actually both qualified and PRESIDENTIAL as could be imagined). <br>    <br>    But recently Sanders’ legendary volatile debating/public speaking personality has come to the fore, particularly at the Thursday, April 14 New York encounter, when his asides and acerbic rejoinders signified a much tougher line than he had been straddling in their prior meetings. And with Hillary following suit attacking easy targets like Sanders’ support of controversial gun laws as well as his almost-total lack of realistic specifics re: his Christmas Morning array of unreachable objectives that he promises to shower on America if he wins, the CNN affair for the first time turned out to be a loud, stormy one indeed. But at least the two were arguing about actual national issues and not juvenilely insulting family members or worrying about their opponent’s hand size.<br>     <br>    The important thing going forward is to do something that the Republicans seem unable to even attempt, and that is to present a dignified, united front over the next seven months as a clear contrast to the lowest-common-denominator GOP buffoonery. Let “the Donald” and the execrable Cruz continue their hatefest and anti-everything childishness, while alienating almost every demographic in America in the process.  Clinton is going to need a strong running mate, and names like Joe Biden (yes, it would be legal), Elizabeth Warren and even husband Bill (also legal) are already being bandied about. <br>    <br>    But a potentially smart move, both politically and pragmatically, could be to unify the party in a big way by offering the position to Sanders. These are two people who, despite the acrimony of the last debate, genuinely respect each other, have a high regard both for the other’s ideology and intellect, as well as understand the immense popularity each enjoys with their own electorates. They would be potentially an unbeatable team against their reality-TV GOP opponents this fall.<br>     </p> <div> </div> rss@dailykos.com (wklessens) stoptrump _1517893 Wed, 20 Apr 2016 14:42:15 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/4/11/1513845/-Donald-Trump-Slapped-Silly-By-The-BOSTON-GLOBE <p>Like most bullies of all genres, Donald Trump is predictably turning out to be just another thin-skinned, “dish-it-out-but-can’t-take-it” whiner. After spending his entire campaign since last June insulting and belittling everyone and everything that crosses his scorched-earth path on the road to what should be a contested GOP convention in July, he received a well-deserved haymaker from the BOSTON GLOBE in last Sunday’s IDEA’S section.</p> <div> <p>     Mixing some hilarious satirical language with a soupcon of truly horrifying possibilities, the GLOBE published a faux “Page One” from April 9, 2017 prognosticating the first three months of a Trump presidency. With Trump’s cocky face staring out at the readers from a TV screen as he delivers a national  address announcing the mass deportation of illegals (“so fast, your head will spin”), the fantasy “Page One” hits most of the flip-sides of Trump’s preposterous platform of undoable proposals.</p> <p>     The educated guess is that most of the “Page One” negative facts regarding the actual implementation of Trump-policies went unexplored by the people who voted for him in the early primaries. For instance, how could America possibly deport 11 million illegal immigrants without a huge increase in Customs and Immigration agents, not even to mention the additional FBI investigators and local police throughout every city and town in America to find them all? And despite getting a free ride from the slumbering press as most of “the Donald’s” outrageous early-campaign missteps and personal attacks went under the radar, a Trump-sponsored “libel Law” that would muzzle the press similar to how North Korea and China do would be more than plausible with him in charge.  After all, he’s on record as calling the Fourth Estate “absolute scum”, as well as had many reporters evicted physically from his thugfest rallies.</p> <p>        Another headline in this brilliant satire has US soldiers refusing to obey the Trump order to execute the   relatives of ISIS militants, three women and two children left alive after a mythical air strike in Syria. This is a genuine platform initiative pushed by Trump in many of his speeches earlier this year, an ugly directive that apparently met with the approval of the millions of voters who pulled the lever for him.  One wonders how Americans who applaud this policy would feel if THEY stood to be punished or murdered by our government  because of the criminal transgressions of their family members.</p> <p>       And anyone with a brain realizes that the Mexican/American “wall” idea is just another Trump pipe dream that nevertheless was swallowed by much of his xenophobic demographic. And realistically, even if this wall could be built Mexico wouldn’t be paying for it, as they’ve already refused. So what would President Trump do….nuke them? Maybe, but what would probably happen would be a financial imbroglio quite similar to the amusing one posited on “Page One”.</p> <p>       And Trump’s serial contempt that he flings out with nary a forethought would unquestionably lead to contretemps like the GLOBE’S imaginary one having him insult China’s First Lady Peng Liyuan by tweeting out a picture of his pet dog suggestively named “Madame Peng”. This would definitely be a real possibility given the “President’s” misogynistic leanings as well as his oft-demonstrated quick, offensive “wit”.</p> <p>     Except when the insults are directed at him, that is.  After getting wind of the satirical piece an angry Trump railed long and loud against the article and the newspaper itself at a Rochester, NY rally, calling the GLOBE “worthless” and “stupid”, as well as calling “Page One” a “totally dishonest story”. </p> <p>    Number One, Donald, the story isn’t dishonest…it’s a hypothetical, seriocomic look at what a nightmare the United States would be embroiled in if you were to somehow win in November. Every “Trumped-up” article is a brutally-true representation of policies that you are on record as meaning to implement. And Number Two, Mr. Trump : there’s nothing “stupid” about the media finally ending their mass-siesta and educating voters about what America with you as commander-in-chief would resemble. And it’s not a pretty sight, as any clear-eyed citizen has known since the beginning of this misbegotten campaign.                   <br>  <br>  <br>  <br> <br>  </p> </div> rss@dailykos.com (wklessens) bravoglobe _1513845 Mon, 11 Apr 2016 17:32:45 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/3/31/1508545/-Kelly-Ayotte-A-Tenure-Of-Voting-Against-New-Hampshire-Values <p>While the increasingly-ugly Donald Trump/Ted Cruz presidential primary battle continues to plumb the lowest depths of both decency and intelligence, the Granite State has a concurrent US Senate race that is being watched nearly as closely around the country. On one side we have GOP incumbent Kelly Ayotte, whose five-plus years of near-total allegiance to following Senate leader Mitch McConnell’s  regressive lead has led to her voting against every measure that has led to New Hampshire’s current placement in the Top Three in “Best State To Live In” status. And facing her is Democrat Maggie Hassan, whose policies during the past three years as our governor have distinguished her as an outstanding guardian of New Hampshire values as well as a supple legislative architect in our state’s ongoing successes during her tenure.   <br> <br>    Kelly Ayotte’s slavish devotion to America’s special interests as senator led to her voting against New Hampshire’s Medicaid expansion FOUR TIMES, which would’ve thrown some 45,000  families off their benefits and further endangered New Hampshire’s (and America’s) response to our ongoing opioid crisis.  Hassan’s February State of the State address pointed out the importance in the defeat of Ayotte’s anti-Medicaid vote :<br>   <br> <br>    "Already, thousands of Granite Staters have accessed substance abuse and behavioral health services through our bipartisan expansion plan," Hassan said. "And experts have said that reauthorizing expansion is essential to increasing treatment capacity in New Hampshire. We also know that reauthorizing expansion is critical to the health and well-being of all of our citizens, our businesses and our economy."<br>   <br> <br>    Other prime examples of Ayotte’s anti-citizen stances include voting to prevent our college students from refinancing their Pell Grant loans at a lower percentage.  She joined most of the GOP to end federal support for Planned Parenthood, despite the fact that the notorious video of “killing babies” that the Republican party publicized last year was edited by the two conservative filmmakers to show the organization in a false, nefarious light. Both are facing felony charges and long jail sentences. And she voted Big Time for Big Business by opposing an amendment that would prevent companies from getting tax benefits for shipping jobs overseas, leading to 106,000 Granite State jobs either being outsourced or earmarked for outsourcing. <br>        Going along with the GOP’s War On Women, Ayotte voted against the Paycheck Fairness Act, an anti-discrimination bill that would help redress the disparity (78 cents on the dollar) that women face in total wages vs. men. She spent many months three years ago throwing Town Hall meetings trying to explain away her pro-NRA gun legislation votes in the aftermath of the Newtown tragedy, a period of time that even had many conservatives finally enraged about the lack of oversight and background checks on firearm purchasers.</p> <p>   Residents relying on Social Security should be aware that she not only voted for benefit cuts but also helped resurrect a disastrous proposal from the unlamented Bush era by actually voting to privatize the funds. She and the rest of the Washington Republicans apparently forget the stock market tailspin of 2008-2009 which would’ve wiped out most if not all SS monies and destroyed the lives of millions of elderly Americans who depend on that monthly check, if the Democrats hadn’t prevented them from privatizing the program back then. And you can add her support for the vouchering of Medicare payments to her unholy policy decisions as well. </p> <p>      But the coup de grace that will hopefully end Kelly Ayotte’s six-year run of Koch Brother’s mania is her standing with the Senate’s right wing by rejecting an up-and-down vote for president Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland. And the “courtesy meeting” that she and 15 other senators have agreed to have with him is purely another anti-American political ploy, as they all save for Senator Mark Kirk still stand four-square against approving his nomination. This leaves our Court down one justice with a plethora of important decisions coming up, in clear violation of our Constitution. It also renders an outstanding centrist who enjoys ideological support from both parties just another victim of Congress’ eight-year mission to denigrate all-things-Obama.<br>   <br>    Polls show that 70% of Americans believe that a Court vote should be allowed by the Senate, but Ayotte and boss McConnell disagree. Hopefully Granite State residents will see the light this November and elevate Maggie Hassan to Ayotte’s Senate seat to help restore some civility and work-together in Washington, graces that have been sorely missing during Ayotte’s tenure.   </p> <div> </div> rss@dailykos.com (wklessens) maggiehassanforsenate _1508545 Thu, 31 Mar 2016 16:16:15 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/3/24/1505798/-Donald-Trump-The-GOP-S-Self-Created-Nightmare <p>Super Tuesdays II and III have come and gone, and the ugly prospect of a Donald Trump GOP candidacy and a fractured Republican National Convention on July 18-21 are looking more and more possible. By taking Florida, North Carolina, Illinois and (like Hillary Clinton) an extremely close vote in Missouri, Trump has virtually sewn up the nomination over rivals Ted Cruz and John Kasich. And by also adding Arizona last week to his list of shameful conquests, Trump owns over half of the 1,236 total electoral delegates needed, and seems to be in the driver’s seat and cruising towards what promises to be four ugly convention evenings in Cleveland. And the rudderless, fractured national GOP have only themselves to blame for their probable November 8th catastrophe.   <br>   There has never been a presidential election cycle quite like this one. The Republican Party has for the last several decades, and especially the last seven years, essentially plumbed the depths of anti-American divisiveness, and with “the Donald” as their standard-bearer it’s all come back to haunt them. Led by their arch conservative Tea Party wing, they have thrown a continuous stream of monkey wrenches into each and every piece of legislature proposed and enacted by President Barack Obama in their fortunately-unsuccessful attempt to render him a “one-term president”. <br>   <br>    The Wall Street Reformation Act, Obamacare, job creation bills that led to 14 million new jobs and the ongoing 72 straight months of positive job growth, the landmark nuclear arms deal with Iran, allocating $1.5 billion to shore up the Veterans Administration, funding stem-cell research leading to a plethora of new cures for formerly-ineradicable diseases: this partial list of Obama’s many successes is long and impressive.  And for seven years every one of these and other positive policies was denigrated and fought against by the GOP-led Congress, as they deliberately took stands against the very legislation that brought us back from the brink.  <br>           <br>    And now we have Trump, the perfect loudmouthed and hate-filled avatar of what his party represents. Trump’s candidacy has been built and nourished on the very tenets that are part-and-parcel with modern-day conservatism: the marginalizing of women’s issues, overt xenophobia (encapsulated by the ridiculous spectacle of all those “BUILD WALL” signs at his raucous rallies), the disparaging of our gay population, usually on foolish religious grounds, medieval mentality re: science policies, chiefly climate change, Big Business enrichment in lieu of elevating the middle class and poor, et al.<br>   <br> <br>    And the current imbroglio with the Senate’s refusal to vote on Obama’s Supreme Court nominee (both-sides-of-the-aisle favorite Merrick Garland), along with Congress’ rejection of reviewing Obama’s 2017 federal budget are simply the latest examples of Republican obstructionism. No longer does the party stand for smaller, less-intrusive government and a live-and-let-live ethic: they are baldly and completely against all-things-Obama and in the process are also taking down their own misguided voting electorate.<br>   <br> <br>    And Trump has proven to be a serial failure in business-building, inheriting his fortune from his parents and having to be bailed out FOUR TIMES via Chapter 11 as ventures from Trump University to his series of casinos failed. But this has done nothing to blunt his credibility with his enraptured flock. Nor does the near-continuous stream of lowbrow, puerile insults he spews forth against anyone opposing him, his calls to and threats of violence at his fight-filled political rallies, and most importantly his total lack of knowledge regarding any of the national issues brought up in the free-for-all debates, as his vague answers and policy contradictions within his own speeches are all ignored.<br>   <br>    There’s a good shot that the July Convention will be a loud, angry and contested affair, and must-see TV for the Geraldo Rivera/Maury Povich crowd. If Trump falls short of the delegates needed the possibility of another Republican candidate being nominated is a very real one (Rand Paul or Rick Perry, anyone?), despite his almost-definitely having a large majority of delegates over any individual contender. This could easily pave the way for a third-party hopeful for more rational GOP voters to support. There are millions of Republicans who detest Trump and realize the danger he represents to both the continued growth of America as well as foreign policy, an area that the belligerent billionaire, as well as the equally-unqualified Cruz, would render a disaster with our enemies and allies alike.     <br>    </p> <div> </div> <div></div> rss@dailykos.com (wklessens) onlythemselvestoblame _1505798 Thu, 24 Mar 2016 20:13:16 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/2/2/1478702/-Iowa-Has-Spoken <p>   The state of Iowa last night kicked off what should be a rollicking few months of political competition and continued nastiness at least on the GOP side, as Ted Cruz garnered 28% of the caucus vote while former front-runner Donald Trump took in 24%. Apparently the Christian evangelicals who made up a huge segment of the two victors’ winning percentages don’t pick their office-seekers based on any rational reading of what being a true “follower of Christ” means, instead favoring the two most warmongering, misogynistic, bigoted and just-plain uncharitable candidates in the running.</p> <p>   While Trump prattles on and on about his imaginary, Mexican-funded wall he plans to build between the southern borders, while mixing in numerous 12-year-old-level negative cracks about his opponents and anyone else he doesn’t like, Cruz’s Senate history is so unsavory that even his fellow Republicans in Washington hate the idea of his popularity. He gives the raw-meat loving crowd plenty to lionize with his disgusting pro-gun rhetoric and videos (!) that should give even fervent Second Amendment fans pause, as well as his overt desire for as much carnage overseas that he can muster if elected in November.</p> <p>   Apparently the last-decade calamity and tragedy of George W. Bush’s “Endless War” doctrine didn’t teach Cruz nor his flock any lessons, as they evidently ate up his recent anti-ISIS quote  “We will carpet bomb them into oblivion. I don’t know if sand can glow in the dark, but we’re going to find out.”</p> <p>   Tellingly, Cruz doesn’t understand that by “carpet bombing” we’d be wiping out millions of innocent inhabitants of his targeted nations, and his noxious idea was recently derided by Army Lieutenant General Sean MacFarland who said, "Indiscriminate bombing, where we don't care if we're killing innocents or combatants, is just inconsistent with our values." Not Cruz’s, though.    And his hissy-fit government shutdown in 2013 and similar attempt last year don’t exactly play into the idea of a competent, rational commander-in-chief either. With avatars like these two, and save John Kasich the rest of the GOP field, the Republican Party continues to maintain its appeal to the anti-science, hate-everyone-and-everything crowd that is distinctly un-American, even if most of them don’t recognize it as such.</p> <p>   And as far as the Democrat flank goes, Hillary Clinton’s razor-thin 0.2%, four-delegate victory over Bernie Sanders will hopefully finally get the press to do their jobs and get busy with some actual reporting re: Sanders’ proposals and talking-points. He has gotten a virtual free ride so far as story after story concentrate on the huge young crowds he draws, his proud claim to socialism as reflected in his desire to “Scandinavianize” America if elected, as well as his actual and true maverick, outsider status. One wonders if maybe, just maybe it’s time to investigate the feasibility and affordability of his obviously-desirable but incredibly expensive array of ideas, none of which would possibly be approved in toto by a Republican or even a DEMOCRAT-dominated Congress.  </p> <p>   Sanders’ Social Security expansion plan doesn’t take into account the fact that the widely-abused SS Disability program will run out of money this November, and has been due for a serious revamping for decades due to the imbalance of deserving recipients on the program vs. those who should be working. It will also cost $1.2 trillion to implement, even allowing for the lack of SSDI reform.</p> <p>   And Sanders’ other two big ideas are together even more onerous : nearly $1 trillion for his public-university-for-all bow to Denmark, and a whopping $10 trillion for his Medicare expansion. Total cost for these and his other proposals : $15 - $18 trillion over the next decade, much of it ballooning our national deficit (currently $439 billion, less than one-third of what president Barack Obama inherited from Bush), as well as our federal debt (currently just over $19 trillion), with interest.</p> <p>    And the relatively-miniscule $4 trillion he hopes to realize by exorbitant tax hikes to Wall Street/Big Business will barely put a dent into this total. This is why, along with his pro-gun voting history, Bernie doesn’t want to talk much on the stump about the actual figures associated with his ideas, a wise decision if there ever was one.  </p> rss@dailykos.com (wklessens) iowadown _1478702 Tue, 02 Feb 2016 17:41:38 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/1/25/1474813/-Clinton-s-Proposals-are-far-more-workable-than-Sanders <p>As current GOP front-runner Donald Trump continues channeling his inner Adolf Hitler with every stump speech to his adoring flock, substituting Mexicans and Muslims for Jews and homosexuals, Hillary Rodham Clinton tours the nation discussing the important topics and issues that affect the rest of us. Her debate performances have been strong as well, and in the last one she finally began to enumerate  the important differences between her policy propositions and Bernie Sanders’, certainly necessary with the latter’s rise in the New Hampshire and Iowa polls. The gloves are officially off, and here are a few important differences to investigate before NH’s primary on Tuesday, February 9.</p> <p>Regarding gun control and common-sense laws to keep as many handguns out of felons’ hands as possible, Clinton is by far the stronger advocate. While Sanders’ many votes in favor of the gun lobby will deservedly dog him throughout the campaign and should definitely give his supporters pause, Clinton has and always will be four-square for owner registration and closing all gun show loopholes that enable the bad guys to acquire their weapons of choice. Sanders’ excuse that he is simply representing his Vermont Senate constituents is a faulty one, when one realizes that he actually voted against the Brady Bill in 1993 because he disagreed with the waiting period necessary to identify the gun purchasers.</p> <p>And Sanders became a genuine NRA darling in 2005 when he supported the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which shields gun manufacturers from consumer lawsuits. This was a bill that, if defeated, would’ve forced the Association to become more proactive in helping to put a lid on illegal gun sales due to increased liability, and would’ve undoubtedly headed off some of the gun-related tragedies that we are all getting used to now. And Clinton’s policy if elected will counteract Sanders’ and the GOP votes and institute complete background checks on both handguns and assault-style weapons, all sales of which were protected by Sanders’ votes over the years.</p> <p>And on maintaining the universal healthcare progress made this decade, Hillary Clinton’s plans are decidedly more workable and affordable than the (unfortunately) wild-eyed proposals by her opponent. Clinton would build on the tremendous gains that America has made under Obamacare regarding the millions of newly-covered citizens, as well as its concurrent shrinking of the national deficit. Among many other keystones she would repeal the “Cadillac Tax” on expensive healthcare plans, which will make it far easier for corporation unions to afford them for their workers. And she would allow the importation of already price-fixed Canadian drugs, which would make it possible to institute a maximum payout of $250 monthly per subscriber for pharmaceuticals.</p> <p>Sander’s single-payer plan that would guarantee Medicare to every American is simply too expensive, to a cartoonish degree. Along with adding over $9 TRILLION to our national deficit (economists’ estimates, as Sanders hasn’t given his numbers yet), it would scuttle Obamacare, playing right into the GOP’s wishes.</p> <p>Finally on the student loan crisis, Hillary Clinton’s proposal is to increase federal funds to states by about $18 billion specifically for college tuition loans, as well as enable students to refinance their debt at today’s low interest rates, while also expanding availability to low-income students. Sander’s “solution” is to make all public universities and colleges tuition-free, much like several European/Scandinavian countries do. But his “Tax Wall Street” method of paying for this and his other nice-sounding proposals would raise federal revenue by anywhere from $3-4 trillion when the total cost of his three plans (tuition-free college, Medicare-for-everyone and Social Security expansion) will cost $18 trillion or more over the next decade. The devil is in the details, and the increasing numbers of Sanders’ fans nationally are apparently not perusing these details very closely.  </p> <p>When all is said and done, and the figures are put to bed, there are many reasons why Hillary Clinton is the best qualified to lead America over both Bernie Sanders and certainly any of the GOP contenders. The Republican candidates (and not just Trump) are totally unworkable because every plan they have, every position they push, will bring us back to the past failed decade, impacting women, gay and minority rights, the deficit/debt economic combo, and the Obama-instituted sanctions reigning in Wall Street. The Affordable Care Act will become a thing of the past, throwing 25 million Americans off their healthcare plans. And we can look forward to an increasingly  conservative Supreme Court over the next four years as several current judges retire and are replaced by GOP-backed regressives.         </p> <p>And the big albatrosses around Bernie Sanders’ neck remain the absolute economic impossibility of paying for all of his progressive policies, not to mention getting the Republican-led Congress to actually pass any of them. In the general election many independents will either vote against him or stay home simply due to his self-ascribed “socialist” tag. Martin O’Malley’s belief that this nomenclature is one of Sanders’ strengths has no chance of resonating in November.  </p> rss@dailykos.com (wklessens) Hillary _1474813 Mon, 25 Jan 2016 15:33:14 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/1/13/1469262/-Seven-Pretty-Good-Years-Actually <p>As GOP front-runner Donald Trump continues fanning the flames of misplaced rage ingrained in most of his ardent fans, it might be a good idea to toss a little cheerfulness on his loud-mouthed, nasty party. Because despite all the lies and misrepresentations thrown out daily from the right side of the 2016 presidential candidates, America in the past seven years has actually had a very good run of it under President Barack Obama.    <br> <br>    After taking the ugliest handoff ever from the lamentable Bush/Cheney administration in 2009, Obama and our nation was faced with a country enmeshed in two wars, one entered into under false pretenses by a White House that recognized their opportunity to make a lot of money for US businesses on Iraq oil. We had an economy that was completely ruined, whether you’re talking the stock market, housing, the 500,000 jobs lost MONTHLY, and various Big Business scandals (Enron, WorldCom, etc.) mostly caused by their earlier deregulation by the Bush Administration. And we were also suffering the enmity of many of our allies for our Iraq invasion, both from the ones who joined Bush’s “Coalition of the Willing” and the smarter ones like Russia, France and Germany who didn’t.<br>    <br> <br>    Now in January 2016 we have an NYSE well over 16,000 despite its recent China/India based falloff, and a housing market that has rebounded sharply from its freefall of the last decade. We have a national unemployment rate of 5%, way below the post-WW2 average of 5.8%. Inflation is virtually nonexistent, and has been for years.  The nation just celebrated our 70th straight month of positive job growth, a prospect that would’ve been unthinkable on Obama’s January 20, 2009 Inauguration Day.  The Wall Street Reformation Act, along with its ancillary Consumer Protection Bureau, has put a very heavy lid on corporations that bend the rules and practice the predatory lending practices and voodoo accounting that they got away with before. Santander Bank, Allys Auto Lending and General Motors have all discovered that the old lax ways don’t fly anymore.<br>    <br>    And the reasons for all of this economic goodness have absolutely nothing to do with the Republicans in Congress over the past seven years, as led by Senate head Mitch McConnell and former House Speaker John Boehner the party voted continually against every single program and initiative put forth by Obama and his team regarding job creation and business reforming. Remember all the righty laughter over “shovel-ready jobs” and the constant denigration and congressional vote-blocking done from 2010-2014 over everything from multi-billion dollar federally-funded jobs to infrastructure plans? During that period the GOP failed to sponsor a SINGLE BILL on job creation, while simultaneously complaining about the slow progress of our economic recovery back then. Instead they kept pounding their steady drumbeat of social engineering initiatives like defunding Planned Parenthood, gutting Medicare/Medicaid and throwing over 20 million Americans off their Obamacare healthcare plans, all the way up to the present.<br>     <br> <br>    Finally, an important point to ponder : every Republican presidential candidate, and not just their insult-slinging standard-bearer, is poised to repeal this successful healthcare plan ASAP after Inauguration Day. And if the Republicans keep control of both the House and Senate this November he/she’ll be able to do just that. Think about this as 2016 goes along and you’re deciding who to support. And realize that over twenty million Americans will lose their health insurance next year if ANY of these regressives win election. Good luck explaining THAT vote to any affected family and friends.    <br>     <br>  </p> rss@dailykos.com (wklessens) Rescued williamf.klessens _1469262 Wed, 13 Jan 2016 14:52:14 +0000