Wall Street won't profit if their commercial enterprises do not hire people. The movement to local economies is vital to America's future. Enough of the profit motive for Wall Street.

There is no anti-American elite sentiment. Americans are far too smart for that. 

The electorate is angry because innocent black men continue to be killed by cops in the USA. The day of Robo-cop is coming. I think computer cops will be better at doing the job than human cops.

I am serious, too.


August 21, 2016

Climate change (click here) is set to make it too hot to host the Olympics in the world's biggest cities, according to a university study.

The University of Auckland has undertaken research which has found about 90 per cent of the Northern Hemisphere's most populous cities will become too hot and humid over the next 70 years to safely hold the Games.

Professor Alistair Woodward said the study focused on whether cities in the Northern Hemisphere would be able to stage the marathon without posing a significant risk to athletes.

"Only three cities in North America, two in Asia and none in Africa will fall in the low risk category," he said.

"Projections suggest the last cities with low-risk summer conditions will be Belfast, Dublin, Edinburgh and Glasgow....

The "Second Amendment" threat was no difference than 2012. The same threat existed in 2012 with Romney of President Obama. Same danger to the candidate.

The MVP award for Daesh is George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. The American troop withdrawal could not occur without an illegal and immoral war. Nice try though.

The withdrawal from Iraq was correct. All the training of the Iraqi military was complete. The Iraq military surrendered.

The electorate of 2008 wanted the USA out of Iraq immediately. As a result of President Obama FOLLOWING THROUGH WITH THE BUSH PLANS for withdrawal of American soldiers in 2009, Chelsey Manning exposed three quarters of a million military records. So, don't blame President Obama for the withdrawal, it was on schedule crafted by "W."


12 August 2016

Several foreign embassies in Thailand (click here) have updated travel advisories for their nationals travelling to Thailand after a series of bomb explosions in five Southern provinces.

The American, British, Australian and Japan embassies have informed their citizens about the latest bomb situation in Thailand on Thursday and Friday.

The British embassy advises against all but essential travel to the provinces of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat and Songkhla on the Thai-Malaysia border.

“There have been multiple explosions in tourist areas across Thailand on 11 and 12 August. We are in close contact with local authorities and urgently seeking more information. You should exercise extreme.

The US embassy recommended its citizens travelling to or residing in Thailand enroll in the Department of State in order to receive the latest security updates....

The siege of Allepo has existed for four years. The Russians want to end it.

There is a conflict between the battle for Allepo and humantarian efforts. The military is concerned that a 48 hour cease fire will allow Daesh too much time to reconstitute for the next round of assault ending the seige.

The Russian jets have destroyed the training grounds for Daesh. The assault has goals and it is to end the stronghold in Allepo. The Russians need to place soldiers within the humanitarian caravan to provide insight to the military to allow humanitarian aid. It would be dangerous to place Assad forces among the NGOs. They would become targets. Maybe UN peacekeepers might be better. I would think if the majority of the targets were taken down, the NGOs could proceed within those areas if they were secured with ground forces.

May 10, 2016
...Back in Paris and London (click here) this week to discuss Syria with his European counterparts, Kerry has a hard time inspiring confidence in US diplomacy to find a solution to the country’s six-year-old civil war – a confrontation in which 400,000 have perished so far and created one of the greatest humanitarian crises since the end of the second world war.
The fate of Syria is held hostage by criminal warlords and a ruthless regime with vested interests in maintaining the status quo. Rival neighbouring states supply the resources, the weapons, and much of the impetus that fuels the conflict and prolongs it. Scores of radical armed factions are more committed to battling each other than Bashar al-Assad, leading to the fragmentation of the opposition and the spreading of chaos on the battlefields....

The assault is ending a stalemate that has existed for too long. There is little to no diplomatic in roads that are succeeding.

August 11, 2016

...The offensive sought (click here) to break a siege by pro-government forces, who encircled the east in July with the support of Russian aircraft.
Earlier some of the last doctors in the rebel-held east of the city appealed to US President Barack Obama to come to the aid of the 250,000 civilians there.
They said that in the past month there had been 42 attacks on medical facilities in Syria, 15 of them on hospitals where they work.
On Monday, the UN said countless civilians had been killed or injured in Aleppo in recent weeks and hospitals and clinics had continued to be targeted.
Moreover, attacks on civilian infrastructure had left more than two million people without electricity or access to the public water network for several days, it added.

Donald Trump really needs to tone down the rhetoric.

August 10, 2016
By Eli Panken

..."He was climbing (click here) for a while and I could see that he was getting tired," Emergency Service Unit Det. Christopher Williams, the officer who grabbed the climber and pulled him inside, said after the incident was over.
"And I said, 'If you lock this in, at least if you get tired we will have you, and you won't fall.' And he refused to take the line — his thing was he wanted to go talk to Trump," Williams said.
The man's sole purpose was to meet Trump, and after he was taken into custody he asked to meet the GOP nominee, NYPD Chief of Detectives William Aubrey said. The climber was taken for a psychological evaluation.
Emergency services on the scene removed windows and vents in order to create openings to the climber, who used five suction cups during his attempt. They also set up inflatable "airbags" in case he fell. The man changed his path multiple times in order to avoid officers leaning out of the tower....

The four person race effects the Hillary Clinton's gap to a victory by two points.

In a two person race Hillary Clinton maintains a lead of 6 points, but, when two other candidates are added the lead falls to 4 percent.

According to Bloomberg (click here) Donald Trump is effected more than Clinton with two additional candidates.

Noteworthy is the face there is still an undecided in both polls. The undecided falls by 50 percent with the additional two candidates.

Candidates have to have 15 percent of the electorate in polls in order to participate in the national debates. 

In a political climate favoring an outsider to the establishment it is still going to be a volatile election season. I'd like to hear about the efforts regarding the political revolution of Bernie Sanders. He can have a profound impact on the Libertarian and Green Party candidates.

Gary Johnson is attractive to many people because he is a competent leader with experience as a governor. Jill Stein is a physician and would bring the country health insurance that would work for everyone. Democrats are well invested in the ACA and would seek her out for that reason alone. Bernie Sanders can effectively address the shortcomings of both these two candidates by injecting policy across the board rather than as a focus on simple qualifications.  

August 10, 2016
By Michael Addady
 
Bernie Sanders’ campaign (click here) may have ended, but his platform seems to live on in Jill Stein.
The Green Party candidate outlined what she would want to accomplish as president in an interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box saying, “As the only candidate that is not poisoned by corporate money, lobbyists, or Super PACs, I can actually stand up for what it is that we need.”...

Jill Stein carries the banner of health care and aggressive reductions in fossil fuels. Her platform is similar Sanders but departs from it on student debt. She wants The Federal Reserve to purchase student debt in the same manner it treated a soft economy, "Quantitative Easing." Her plan would purchase the student debt and agree not to collect on it into the future.

Jill Stein sees enormous employment growth. What such cancellation of debt would do is increase the housing market and other large purchases such as cars. Instead of paying a large monthly student debt every month, former students would be paying for a mortgage. Student debt is an enormous drag on the USA economy. If that payment on student debt was held by The Fed there would be a significant uptick in cash flow through the entire economy.

The hurdle to such a plan is The Fed itself. While buying back bonds from Wall Street appears to be the same thing, there are differences. In this case, The Fed would have to purchase student debt directly from the US Government. That is a far different policy and there is no precedent for it.

December 21, 2016
By Courtney Miller
 
...Over 70% of this debt (click here) is owed to the federal government, making Uncle Sam the largest holder of nonrevolving American consumer debt, with $932 billion owed to it....

If the Fed were to investigate that possibility and adapt a policy, the student loan debt relief by The Fed can still go forward regardless of who is our next president. Banks should approach The Fed about such possibilities. It is noted that Jill Stein was the first candidate to explore this possibility. 

June 4, 2015
...ACA International (click here) joined this discussion at a recent forum on student loan debt hosted by the CFPB in Milwaukee that focused on the conversation between regulators, student loan servicers and borrowers.
Richard George, president and CEO of ACA International member company Great Lakes Higher Education Guaranty Corporation in Madison, Wis., said during the forum that improvements to communication are needed, noting that there is a great deal of concern among loan servicers about how to provide relief to overburdened consumers with student loans, especially those who do not finish their education.
A recent survey from We Are Hope Inc., a nonprofit organization serving organizations and businesses in northeast Wisconsin, shows nearly half (49 percent) of the individuals who responded have more than $30,000 in student loans....

The problem with this plan is the fact it would not remain a reduction in the US national debt. Ms. Stein wants to pay for tuition (I am assuming to public colleges and universities). That would return more debt to the country and begin the problem of negating the progress on the national debt. 

Gary Johnson is rock solid in his policies. He is Libertarian through and through. He has policies that attract both Democratic and Republican party voters. He is a sincere concern to the final outcome in November if his percentages in the polls begin to move up, especially if he starts hitting double digits. 

He needs to talk about his policies.

Donald Trump has been blaming President Obama for Daesh for months now, but, the co-founder thing is new. I guess most people weren't getting the idea on their own. His identity politics isn't working. He needs to be a leader and end the hate rhetoric. The identity politics worked for him in the primaries, but, it isn't working now. People want answers not hate. At least most Americans do.

August 10, 2016
By David Caplan

Donald Trump (click here) made a startling accusation against President Barack Obama during a Florida rally Wednesday night, telling supporters that the commander in chief is the "founder of ISIS."

"ISIS is honoring president Obama," the Republican presidential nominee said during a rally at BB&T Center in Sunrise, Fla. "He is the founder of ISIS. He founded ISIS. And, I would say the co-founder would be crooked Hillary Clinton.

Trump's declaration was met with chants of "Lock her up!" from rally-goers.

In addressing Obama, Trump included the president's middle name, calling him Barack Hussein Obama -- a move that's typically been employed by those who claim Obama is secretly a Muslim....

Assange is correct. When political figures are killed there has to be a level of concern and murder should be considered.

Seth Rich's status as an official of the DNC automatically places suspicion of murder. His death is only weeks after the DNC email scandal.

I think Julian Assange is being prudent to raise concern for a valued official of the DNC.

Julian Assange's (click here) WikiLeaks offers a cash reward for information on the death of US Democratic Party staffer Seth Rich.

Doping suspensions are suppose to mean something. But, to enforce it in the face of an athlete that has reformed is too punitive.

Rio de Janeiro: Russian cyclist Olga Zabelinskaya, (click here) who has taken the silver medal in the women's road cycling time trial at the Rio Games after an 11th-hour reprieve due to a prior 18-month doping ban, insists she has always been clean. 

Initially facing a ban from these Games, Zabelinskaya was free to race on Wednesday after a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on August 4 said competitors with history of doping suspensions should not be excluded.

American Kristin Armstrong, meanwhile, notched a most extraordinary gold medal feat: her third consecutive Olympic title achieved the day before she turns 43.

Attention was split between controversial Zabelinskaya, for whom British entrant Emma Pooley expressed disdain in the countdown to the race, and fairy tale Armstrong who said afterwards she felt entirely amicable with her closest challenger on the day....

The US Justice Department needs to review the hearings that were dismissed in the Freddy Gray case for fraud and corruption.

August 9, 2016

By Peter Hermann, Lynh Bui and Matt Zapotosky

The Baltimore Police Department (click here) has engaged in years of racially discriminatory policing that targeted black residents, illegally detaining and searching people and using excessive force, the Justice Department concludes in a report released Tuesday.

In a scathing review that includes the historical backdrop of Baltimore’s racially divided past, civil rights investigators declare that a “legacy of zero tolerance enforcement” that started in 1999 and officially ended a decade ago “continues to drive” the policing strategy of the city.

The federal investigators found that officers are poorly trained and that the department has fostered a culture in which complaints against police are often ignored. Most of the unconstitutional stops occurred in predominantly poor black neighborhoods, the report says, and some people were stopped simply because police perceived them as disrespectful....

Ted Strickland owes America an apology.

The decision by the late Justice Scalia regarding guns calls for moderation and protection of the innocent. That decision by Justice Scalia saved the gun laws passed in Connecticut. 

There are many Americans that disagree with a right wing court, but, to state Justice Scalia died at the right time is an insult to this country. Ted Strickland needs to apologize for the comment about Justice Scalia's death.

His death had the appearance of a peaceful passing. But, to state it was timely is an insult.

Donald Trump is playing the same old sad song. Hillary Clinton has been consistent in her policies.

May 10, 2016
By Eugene Kirby

...Clinton has a gun violence prevention proposal (click here) on her website, which would deny gun owners from buying certain guns and block or delay the ability of some to purchase guns. But it does not call for taking any guns away.

Among other things, her plan would:

• Expand background checks. Her proposal would expand required background checks to include some private sales at gun shows and over the Internet. The current requirement exempts any person “who makes occasional sales, exchanges, or purchases of firearms for the enhancement of a personal collection or for a hobby, or who sells all or part of his personal collection of firearms.”
• Close the so-called “Charleston Loophole.” Federal law currently allows federally licensed dealers to sell firearms after a three-day waiting period for a background check even if a background check on the buyer is not completed. Legislation proposed by Democratic Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina would require a potential gun buyer to pass a background check before being sold the gun.
• Ban semi-automatic “assault weapons.” Clinton supports reinstating the 1994 ban that expired in 2004. The ban was signed by her husband, President Bill Clinton. Her proposal makes no mention of retroactively banning such weapons. She was a cosponsor of legislation that would have extended the assault weapons ban before it expired in September 2004. The 1994 law allowed gun owners to keep prohibited weapons purchased before the ban took effect.

Clinton has said her gun proposals are “consistent with constitutional rights,” acknowledging that gun owners have a constitutional right to own guns....

Republican always prioritize as if there were no national debt.

Donald Trump is no different than any other rhetorical president wannabe. He is placing the cart before the horse. The real workhorse in the American economy is the labor of the Middle Class. When the country wants to grow it's economy the tax cuts should be for the middle class, not corporations. 

There is currently less than 5 percent unemployment. Leave it alone. What has to be addressed is the lagging income of the working poor. 

In order to address the national debt there needs to be more taxes and not less. Cuts have been made for years now and the accumulation of debt still continues. In raising the wages of the middle there is an automatic increase in the US treasury to pay down the national debt. Raising taxes doesn't have to mean raising the percentage of taxes so much as increasing the pay rates of the middle class and let the taxes rise as their income increases.

August 10, 2016

The linchpin of Trump's plan (click here) is the slashing of various taxes on American individuals and corporations, a proposal he said would lead to the biggest tax reform since President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. He would sharply reduce corporate tax to 15 per cent from the current 35 per cent, and set a 10 per cent tax on what he described as trillions of dollars that US businesses have "now parked overseas" but want to repatriate into the country. Personal income tax rates would be compressed from seven brackets to just three, with today's highest rate of 39.6 per cent shrinking to 33 per cent....

Corporate rates can remain the same because there is a high percentage of profits as reflected by stock prices and profit and loss. None of the American companies are in trouble as they were in 2008. The corporate rate is where it should be until there is a marked reduction in our national debt. 

If a President wants to show willingness to decrease the national debt, there are ways of doing it without hurting the income into the US Treasury. Benchmarks can be noted that will automatically trigger a reduction in corporate debt rates. When a five percent of the national debt is achieved the corporate rate can automatically be dropped by 0.5 percent. When the national debt is reduced by 10 percent the corporate rate can be reduced by 1 percent, etc. This is a way to hold down frivolous spending by Congress as well. It is a way of telling Congress American taxpayers and their industries are doing their level best to pay down the national debt, so they can't simply continue to spend with high tax rates.

...Trump would immediately slap a moratorium on all federal agency regulations that he believes are needlessly killing jobs. He said he would "cut regulations massively". Already on the chopping block would be the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan, which forces investment in renewable energy at the expense of coal and natural gas, and the Interior Department's moratorium on coal mining permits. He would also repeal President Barack Obama's landmark healthcare law....

This is nothing more than rhetoric. Every presidential candidate, since the time of Ronald Reagan, has promised to cut regulations. It is all rhetorical, impractical and unachievable.

There is regulation that is necessary. We have witnessed the insult to regulation with the Flint River poisoning of the city's residents. That should be a strong lesson to anyone running for office, Clean Air, Clean Water and containment of greenhouse gases is vital to the health of Americans.

It is easy to tell who is writing the economic proposals, too. The exploitative petroleum industry, namely Howard Hamm. AGAIN! He has no respect for life. Oklahoma has increasing seismic activity due to fracking and does Howard Hamm take responsibility? No, he pretends there is nothing wrong and only focuses on money.

...Trump is opposed to the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) backed by Obama and Republican congressional leaders. It was signed by his Administration and 11 other nations in 2015, but, hit a snag in Congress. He wants to abolish the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Canada and Mexico that was signed into law in 1994, describing it as a pact that has "shipped your jobs to Mexico and other countries."...

I agree.

CAFTA is another thing called "free trade." It was nothing but a crony give away by Marko Rubio.

...Trump reiterated his support for strengthened protections against currency manipulation that allow other countries to "cheat by unfairly subsidising their goods". China, warned Trump, "is responsible for nearly half of our entire trade deficit". He said he would go after Beijing for its "rampant" theft of intellectual property, its dumping of Chinese products on the US market and currency manipulation....

Something has to be done. China impacted the economy and Wall Street when it manipulated it's currency as The Fed was preparing to raise interest on money for the first time in eight years. There needs to be a method of mitigating losses and I am thinking of a proposal to the WTO.

When a country impacts the economies globally and the financial markets there needs to be a place where complaints are filed to regain a significant proportion of the losses due to currency manipulation. 

But, something needs to be done. It needs to be addressed at the global level like that of the WTO, but, domestically Congress can still write and pass a financial law that would provide impacts to Chinese imports with monies from the import tax levy to aid companies effected.

Trump called for an "energy revolution", starting with cancellation of Obama's climate plan and the Paris Climate Agreement, and a halt of US payments to UN global warming programmes. He would also expand offshore drilling, increase natural gas production, and reverse what he called Obama's "war on coal". He would call on Canadian firm TransCanada to renew its permit application for building Keystone XL, the crude oil pipeline between Canada and US oil refineries rejected by the Obama Administration last year.

Rhetoric. The climate crisis is real. The revolution surrounding the climate crisis has been postponed for five decades, it doesn't need to be postponed any longer. There are record droughts in a world where hunger and famine were already a problem.

The Republicans like to point to the initiative of teaching people to farm to insure their food supply. That is interesting, but, it doesn't work if there is no rain to grow the crops people have learned to grow.

We have witnessed unprecedented events on Earth that validates this climate as the most dangerous in human history. The drought and war torn lands from battles for water caused requests of the "Svalbard Global Seed Vault."

There is far too much evidence pointing to a deteriorating Earth from the accumulation of greenhouse gases.

It is not nor has been time to entertain expanding the use of fossil fuels. It is time to let the old ways pass into history.

The Syrian war began when farmers no longer had land capable of growing crops. The Syrian war is a water war. 

Sure the "Svalbard Global Seed Vault" is covered with snow. Gratefully, it is covered with snow. It was designed that way. If there was no snow the vault could lose it's purpose and all the seeds inside might become spoiled and unusable. 

We have to solve the climate crisis and soon. The fact the USA has some of the most densest carbon dioxide and METHANE in the world should be an alarm to create concern in the country and with voters to begin a new era of alternative energy sources and modernized transportation.

No one needs the return of the "Bush Doctrine" of illegal and immoral invasion! A new military profile for the Republicans is welcome.

I thought most of these guys were retired. Their ideas are from at least a generation past. I assume these 50 angry men support Hillary Clinton?

I am actually pleased all these Republican Neocons find fault with Donald Trump's national security (including foreign policy) policy. I don't necessary think his policy is correct and best, but, to realize there is a Republican willing and able to stand on his own is nothing short of a small miracle. It is about time the Republicans take the approach of strong foreign policy that is moral and calls on military as a last resort rather than the first priority. I congratulate Donald Trump for taking an independent and new approach to Republican policy. At least the American people don't have to be afraid of their military shadow with candidates that see diplomacy as a strength in foreign relations.

August 8, 2016

By Eric Bradner, Elise Labott and Dana Bash

Fifty prominent Republican (clickk here) foreign policy and national security experts -- many veterans of George W. Bush's administration -- have signed a letter denouncing Donald Trump's presidential candidacy and pledging not to vote for him.

The letter, first reported by The New York Times Monday, warns: "We are convinced that in the Oval Office, he would be the most reckless President in American history."

Its signatories include former CIA and National Security Agency Director Michael Hayden, former Director of National Intelligence and Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and Eric Edelman, who was Vice President Dick Cheney's national security adviser and has worked closely with Michele Flournoy -- a candidate for secretary of defense in a prospective Clinton administration -- to forge a centrist group of defense experts on key military issues....

...Trump's campaign responded with a statement from Trump denouncing the signatories as people who deserve the "blame for making the world such a dangerous place."...

Exactly! I congratulate him and his supporters for living in the real world and not one created to reap riches from war, ie: Halliburton.

This is a new beginning for the Republicans. I suggest they embrace a deescalated military profile for their policy.

...Bellinger told CNN the letter was circulated five days ago with very few changes....

Precisely. How is it fifty angry men can agree without even a common meeting? Because they listen to advisors without practical knowledge of real policy. ( John Bellinger, a former State Department legal adviser to then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.)

It is a modern day phenomena. Advisers are in control of USA policy without question by the talking heads of the political elite. These advisers have controlled Republican policy for decades and is why the Republican rhetoric exists. The fear factor generation after generation speaks to the sameness of the policies that have directed this country. The same advisers and the same political talking heads. And the media calls it, performance art. Amazing. 

The USA arrived to win. Congratulations.

August 6, 2016

Simone Biles, (click here) the wait is over. Her Olympic competition begins Sunday with the women’s artistic gymnastics qualifying round. She and her American teammates are all but assured spots in the team final, the all-around final and event finals: vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise. Here’s what to know as the competition kicks off.
How to Watch in the U.S.
The qualifications will start at 8:45 a.m. Eastern. The Americans will begin at 4:30 p.m., but NBC has scheduled its coverage in prime time. To avoid the tape delay and see more competition, stream the full day of gymnastics via the NBC Olympics site or NBC Sports app. You will need cable credentials to log in. To watch international broadcasts, use a VPN....