Trump as President

The killing of Russia's Ambassador to Turkey by a gunman at a museum exhibit underscores just how volatile and dangerous the world is today even apart from Donald Trump. We shall see to what extent he contributes to the instability. So far he hasn't given us any grounds to feel that he is willing or able to calm these roiling waters. On the contrary. But, he will have an opportunity to improve. Let us hope he avails himself of it.☐

Trump and Russia

Let me be clear. I'm not a Trump supporter. Au contraire. But I am slightly bemused by all the condemnation of Trump for advocating possibly cooperating more with Putin and Russia. Wasn't it Obama who, in 2009, inaugurated the now infamous re-set with Russia? And didn't Obama ridicule Mitt Romney when Mitt identified Russia as America's biggest geopolitical threat in a 2012 presidential debate? And wasn't it George W. Bush who, in 2001, talked about having looked Putin in the eye and having seen him to be trustworthy. 

Chill, people. There will be time to take Trump to task if he actually tries to weaken NATO or otherwise sacrifice America's interests to his own personal or familial interests. I'm not advocating supporting Rex Tillerson for Secretary of State or embracing Donald Trump as someone qualified to be President, which he is not. I'm just suggesting we keep a little perspective on things. 

Obama's Tightrope

Obama seems clearly to be walking a tightrope between, on the one hand, providing a smooth transition for President Elect Trump and not undermining the legitimacy of the election despite Obama's awareness of Russian hacking in support of Trump, and, on the other hand, expressing his views about the impact of birther racism spearheaded by Trump, the threat of fake news to our electoral process, and how Republican obstructionism thwarted many of his Presidential objectives. It's a difficult task, to say the least, and no doubt will leave no one completely happy, particularly Democrats.

Cookies, Computer Style

By now we're all familiar with cookies, computer style. Heck, these days we're blasted with display windows warning us of them and requesting that we acknowledge their existence.

But, Facebook in particular, perhaps because so many of us use it to connect with and keep track of friends and loved ones, seemingly continues to expand its "horizons". These days I'm not only greeted by a "memory" in the form of a photo posted years before but I'm welcomed with a weather report and bombarded with ads specifically targeting me based on my school affiliations, web searches and the like.

It really is getting to be too much but I don't see any respite going forward, other than turning it all off, which may be easier said than done.

Knotting My Sweatpants

It's that time of year in Southern California when it actually starts to get chilly. Time to wear some sweatpants around the house. 

But this year I finally decided to face up to the fact that I may be the only schnook who does not know how to knot the sweatpants' single loop drawstring. I mean for years I've struggled unsuccessfully with the challenge. So tonight I decided to face my demons, or at least this one, use modern technology — Google and YouTube — and try to learn how to do it. 

Well, it turns out I'm not the only schnook in town when it comes to this one. All kinds of videos and diagrams. It makes knotting a tie seem easy. But I think I'm on the road to a solution. Just a little more practice and who knows — maybe I'll be able to venture outside to retrieve the morning newspaper without worrying whether my sweatpants will fall down. 

On the Demise of Obamacare under a Trump Presidency

Mitch McConnell has apparently just announced that, now that there will be a Republican President, the Republicans will repeal Obamacare.

I will be interested in seeing the reactions of the white working class that brought Trump his victory when Medicaid expansions are eliminated, insurers may once again impose pre-existing conditions as barriers to coverage, subsidies for those who do not have health insurance through an employer and have never been able to pay premiums are eliminated, and healthcare costs and insurance premiums continue to increase under Trumpcare, a non-existent health insurance plan. But, then, the Republicans will make every effort to blame liberals for the catastrophe while assuring the white working class that trickle down economics, including massive tax rate reductions for the rich and businesses, will bring them incredible prosperity.☐

The Latest Hillary Email Sensation: FBI Director Comey's Letters

The latest turn of events in the 2016 Presidential election campaign is FBI Director James Comey's letter to certain Congressmen on Friday that the FBI had come upon what appears to be a trove of emails seemingly pertinent to its investigation of Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while Secretary of State while the Bureau was conducting an investigation in an unrelated matter and would be proceeding to evaluate and review those emails. That matter involves allegations that former Congressman Anthony Weiner sexted with an underaged female. The FBI was reviewing a Weiner laptop when it apparently came upon the emails that are linked to an account in his wife's name. She is Huma Abedin, a longterm aide to Hillary Clinton.

Hillary had held a significant 4 to 5% lead or greater over Donald Trump until release of that letter which has resulted in a firestorm. It has reopened the email scandal, a major vulnerability of Clinton's, at the worst possible time - 11 days prior to the election. Comey's statement, added to in a letter he wrote to FBI agents published by the Washington Post, indicated that it wasn't clear whether these emails had any significance on the issue of mishandling confidential information, the focus of the FBI investigation that, last July, had resulted in a finding that there wasn't a sufficient basis to prosecute Clinton, accompanied by Comey's remarks that she had nonetheless acted extremely carelessly. But despite Comey's qualifications, the upshot of his letters has been to roil the electoral campaign and put Hillary on the defensive. She has demanded that Comey issue more information to clarify exactly what these emails are in an effort to limit the damage to her standing. She and her staff maintain that their release will not change the FBI's previous conclusion that there was no basis to proceed with a criminal indictment. But Trump has jumped on this latest development to reiterate his claim that Hillary has committed criminal acts and should be precluded from running for the presidency let alone defeated in the election. Hillary has clearly lost the momentum.

One of the more disturbing aspects of this latest Clinton email "scandal" is Huma Abedin's statement, according to several news sources, that she has no idea how her emails ended up on the laptop at issue that apparently belonged to her husband.

We're told that the laptop contains thousands of Abedin emails that relate to her work for Hillary Clinton but Abedin doesn't know how they got there? That's almost unbelievable.

And then there's all the convoluted news reporting. Despite indications that the FBI has yet to review the substance of Abedin's emails because it has yet to obtain a search warrant or issue a subpoena, various news organizations have published information about the emails attributed to government officials. The Los Angeles Times has reported that none of the emails was sent or received by Clinton. Newsweek reports that Abedin had a practice of forwarding emails that she had received to herself to more easily print them. But what does all that mean? Does it mean emails that had been sent to Hillary or even sent by Hillary that were received at some point in the email thread by Abedin were then forwarded by Abedin to herself at a different email address? If so, then emails sent or received by Hillary would have been included in the email threads, simply not the last or most recent email transmissions in those threads.

This is a mess and despite demands by Hillary to Comey to release greater details, it isn't clear what will be released, if anything, and when. Instead, this story will continue to churn and likely diminish Clinton's poll numbers and actual support. Trump was already closing the gap as Republicans began increasingly to return to the fold but this may cost Hillary the election.

To be sure, we haven't seen polling taken since Comey's letter to Congress and some contend that Hillary's poll numbers will not be significantly affected. Then, too, early voting has already begun and many have voted. Some have even argued that Hillary's poll numbers may increase out of sympathy by some for Comey's action or via mobilization of her base now that it is concerned she may lose. I am more skeptical and concerned. All the negative attention Trump was getting over accusations of sexual harassment and assault has been muted by this latest story, and that is not good.

The World Series may end quickly and Halloween will come and go this Monday. That will leave the final week with a clear focus on the election and the story of Hillary and her emails and new claims that she or a key associate may have mishandled classified information may well hold center stage. 

As a Hillary supporter, I find the present situation not good. Not good at all. Hillary is clearly on the defensive and I wouldn't be surprised to see Trump take a lead in the polls during the next few days. Whether Hillary can reverse the movement, whether by releasing further damaging information about Trump and putting the spotlight back on him, or otherwise blunting the impact of the news story about Abedin's emails, remains to be seen.

This had already been a bad week for Hillary. It began with news from the Administration that Obamacare premiums would be going up quite dramatically. And the daily release by Wikileaks of emails apparently stolen from the email account of John Podesta, Hillary's campaign manager, by Russian hackers, continued to provide negative press coverage, the latest relating to the management of the Clinton Foundation and enticement of wealthy sources to contribute to the Foundation as well as to Bill Clinton's personal wealth. Comey's bombshell at the end of this past week put things over the top for the Hillary campaign. Supporters such as I are dispirited and that is not good.