Presumptuous Politics

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Bill Clinton slams 'awful legacy of the last eight years', claims he was criticizing Republicans

Former President Bill Clinton slammed what he called the "awful legacy of the last eight years" during a campaign appearance for his wife, Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, in Washington state Monday.
Clinton made the remarks at an event in Spokane ahead of Saturday's Washington state Democratic caucuses.
"If you believe we’ve finally come to the point where we can put the awful legacy of the last eight years behind us," Clinton said, "and the seven years before that when we were practicing trickle-down economics and no regulation in Washington, which is what caused the crash, then you should vote for her."
The remarks appeared to be a shot at President Barack Obama, in whose administration Hillary Clinton served as secretary of state and whose policies she has defended in her primary campaign against Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Republicans quickly seized on the statement, posting a video of the remarks to YouTube.
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However, a Clinton spokesman told USA Today that the former president was referring to Republicans in Congress with his "awful legacy" remark.
"After President Obama was elected, Republicans made it their number one goal to block him at every turn," spokesman Angel Urena said. "That unprecedented obstruction these last eight years is their legacy, and the American people should reject it by electing Hillary Clinton to build on President Obama's success so we can all grow and succeed together."
Hillary Clinton has a lead of more than 300 delegates over Sanders in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination from primaries and caucuses following a sweep of five states March 15. Alaska and Hawaii also hold Democratic caucuses on Saturday, but Washington has the most delegates ultimately at stake with 101.

At least one dead, several hurt after explosions at Brussels airport, Metro

BREAKING: At least one person was killed and several others were injured after explosions rocked the Brussels airport and subway system Tuesday morning, days after a key suspect in last November's Paris terror attack was apprehended in the city.
Authorities did not immediately confirm that the explosions were a terror attack. However, Belgium's interior minister announced that the terror threat was being raised to its maximum level. Flights were canceled and arriving planes were diverted. Security was also tightened at all Paris airports.
"One person has died and perhaps there are several more," said a police official at the airport told the Associated Press.

Brussels Airport spokesman Anke Fransen confirmed that the blasts occurred shortly after 8 a.m. local time (3 a.m. EST). Reuters, citing the Belga news agency, reported that shots were fired and shouting in Arabic was heard before the explosions.
Zach Mouzoun, who arrived on a flight from Geneva about 10 minutes before the first blast, told BFM television that the second, louder explosion brought down ceilings and ruptured pipes, mixing water with blood from victims.

"It was atrocious. The ceilings collapsed," he said. "There was blood everywhere, injured people, bags everywhere."

"We were walking in the debris. It was a war scene," he said.

About 80 minutes after the airport blasts, an explosion was reported at the Maelbeek subway station, not far from the headquarters of the European Union. Rescue workers set up a makeshift treatment center in a local pub. Dazed and shocked morning travelers streamed from the metro entrances as police tried to set up a security cordon.

Alexandre Brans, 32, who was wiping blood from his face, said: "The metro was leaving Maelbeek station when there was a really loud explosion. It was panic everywhere. There were a lot of people in the metro."
First responders ran through the street outside with two people on stretchers, their clothes badly torn.

The explosions at the airport hit at the middle of the busiest time there. Smoke was seen billowing out of the terminal while other images showed a security officer patrolling inside a hall with blasted paneling and what appears to be ceiling insulation covering the floor. A member of Belgium's parliament, whose wife was at the airport, told Belga that the wounded were struck by flying glass and ceiling tiles.
Marie-Odile Lognard, a traveller who was lining up in the departures hall for a flight to Abu Dhabi, told BFM television that people panicked after the first explosion about 20 meters from her and that a second explosion about 15 seconds later caused parts of the ceiling to collapse.
"I knew it was an explosion because I've been around explosions before," said Denise Brandt, an American woman interviewed by Sky television.

"I felt the explosion, the way it feels through your body. And we just looked at each other and I said let's go this way. It was over there. There was just this instinct to get away from it. Then we saw people running, crying, toward us. So I knew we were going in the right direction and away from it. "
Amateur video shown on France's i-Tele television showed passengers including a child running with a backpack dashing out of the terminal different directions as they tugged luggage.
eslam, the prime suspect in the Paris attacks, was arrested in Brussels.

Monday, March 21, 2016

Leftist Protesters Cartoon

Donald Trump's sister, like son, receives threatening letter

PHILADELPHIA – A threatening letter has been sent to Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump's sister, who's a judge in Philadelphia.
The letter was sent to Judge Maryanne Trump Barry, who sits on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit.
The FBI said Sunday it's "aware of the incident and is working closely with the United States Secret Service and U.S. Marshals Service." It says no further details are available.
Law enforcement officials said Friday that Donald Trump's son Eric Trump received a threatening letter urging the candidate to exit the presidential race. Eric Trump has been campaigning for his New York real estate mogul father.

The money trail: Cruz trounces Kasich, Sanders outraises Clinton in February

John Kasich, Ted Cruz and Donald Trump, the final three Republican candidates running for president, began this month with drastically different campaign fortunes, new fundraising reports show.

In one month, Cruz raised what Kasich has collected over the entire course of his longshot bid. Trump, a billionaire, has raised relatively little money as he "self-funds" his effort.

On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders outraised Hillary Clinton for the second month in a row. But the Vermont senator still started March with about half as much cash on hand as the former secretary of state.

The presidential candidates -- current and former -- were required to file their February campaign finance reports to the Federal Election Commission by Sunday, as they look ahead to the next series of nominating contests -- in Arizona, Idaho and Utah on Tuesday.

What we've learned on the money front:

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KASICH MONEY STRUGGLES

Kasich, the Ohio governor, had about $1.3 million in available campaign cash as this month began.

That's far less than the $8 million in cash that Cruz's campaign had on hand as of the last day of February, although millions of those dollars are under lock until the general election.

Cruz, a Texas senator, continued to lap Kasich in fundraising. His $12 million in February roughly equals Kasich's entire campaign haul, dating to last summer.

Kasich's home-state win last week convinced him to stay in the race in the hope of emerging as a "consensus candidate" during a contested convention this summer. That could be triggered if Trump does not win enough delegates in the remaining primaries. Kasich has no mathematical path for winning the nomination outright.

Both candidates also benefit from outside groups known as super PACs. Several of Cruz's boosters reported beginning March with a collective $10 million left to spend. Add to that another donor-led super PAC funded by a $10 million contribution that remained mostly intact.

Kasich's super PAC, New Day for America, reported raising $3.2 million in February and ended the month with $2.5 million cash on hand.
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TRUMP DIGGING DEEPER INTO HIS POCKETS

The billionaire businessman loaned himself another $6.9 million, bringing the total amount he's loaned to himself to $24.4 million. Trump's campaign manager has said the candidate has no intention of trying to recoup the money he loans himself.
And while Trump continues to boast about self-funding his campaign, he collected about $2 million in new contributions in February, bringing his total raised this cycle to $9.5 million.

He continues to spend big on private airfare, including more than $640,000 to his own airline. And he spent $3.5 million on placed media, including Twitter and Facebook ads.

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TRUMP FIGHTERS

Three billionaires supplied more than 80 percent of the cash last month for a super political action committee dedicated to derailing Donald Trump. The group is called Our Principles.

February fundraising reports show the Ricketts family -- who own the Chicago Cubs and whose patriarch founded TD Ameritrade -- gave another $2 million last month, adding to their earlier $3 million investment. Paul Singer, a New York hedge-fund billionaire who backed Rubio, gave $1 million, and Arkansas investment banker Warren Stephens also chipped in $1 million.

The group has reported raising $7.8 million since its inception. FEC documents show the group has spent at least $16 million attacking Trump -- so far with little impact. The gap between reported income and expenditures means the majority of the donations to Our Principles arrived this month. Those donors will be disclosed next month.

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GOING BROKE FOR RUBIO

Wealthy donors handed over $25 million last month to a super PAC backing then-Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio. And the candidate's official campaign had its best month yet, raising about $9.6 million.

It still wasn't enough. Rubio, a Florida senator, ended his bid after an embarrassing loss to Trump last week in his home state.

Conservative Solutions PAC raised about $58 million in support of Rubio and it attracted a surge of donors in the days after one-time rival Jeb Bush, a former Florida governor, dropped out on Feb. 20.

Poultry magnate Ronald Cameron was Conservative Solution's top donor in February, contributing $5 million. Cameron had previously given $3 million to a group backing former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, also once a 2016 presidential hopeful.

The insurance executive Hank Greenberg's C. V. Starr & Company Inc. and Starr International companies gave a total of $5 million to Conservative Solutions. Last year, C.V. Starr gave $10 million to a group backing Bush.

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DEMOCRATIC CASH

Sanders' campaign reported raising more than $43 million in February, outraising Clinton by about $14 million, federal fundraising reports show.

Sanders, whose online fundraising in small increments has set records, continued to draw substantial support from low-dollar donors. In February, more than 60 percent of his campaign's money came from people who had given $200 or less to federal candidates in this election cycle.

But the Vermont senator also reported spending about $41 million last month. He started March with about $17 million in cash, about half as much as Clinton's $31 million in available cash.

Clinton's supportive super PAC, Priorities USA, reported raising a little less than $5 million in February, half of its January haul. Still, the group began this month with $44 million to spend; representatives say they are preserving much of it for the general election.

The biggest donor last month to Priorities was Chicago media executive Fred Eychaner, who gave $2 million.

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CARSON CASH CONTINUED

One hallmark of a failing presidential candidate is the struggle to raise money.

That's why Bush had to lend his campaign hundreds of thousands of dollars last month, fundraising documents show. And it's why New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie appeared to end his bid owing roughly $200,000 more than he had in available cash.

Not so with political newcomer Ben Carson.

The retired neurosurgeon never won any of the early primary contests, and he suspended his campaign at the beginning of this month. Even so, in February he raised $5.7 million, and he had almost $5 million in cash at the start of March.

Carson was the top Republican fundraiser of the 2016 contest at the time he dropped out, but he also maintained above-average costs for raising that money.

Trump says he'll release list of potential Supreme Court justices

Carson on endorsing Trump: I wanted to stop open convention

PALM BEACH, Fla. – Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump says he's planning to release a list of judges that he would select from to fill Supreme Court vacancies if he's elected president in an effort to ease concerns about his picks.
"I am going to give a list of either five or 10 judges that I will pick, 100 percent pick, that I will put in for nomination. Because some of the people that are against me say: 'We don't know if he's going to pick the right judge. Supposing he picks a liberal judge or supposing he picks a pro-choice judge,'" Trump told a local gathering of Republicans in Palm Beach, Florida Sunday night.
He says the list would include judges "that everybody respects, likes and totally admires" — "great conservative judges, great intellects, the people that you want."
"I will guarantee that those are going to be the first judges that I put up for nomination if I win. And that should solve that problem," he said.
Trump aides did not immediately respond to questions about when he might release the names.
But the vow marks a rare moment of acknowledgement by Trump that he could be doing more to appease the many leaders in his party who still oppose his candidacy. While Trump has been amassing delegates, he remains deeply unpopular with many establishment Republicans who question his electability in the general election as well as his conservative credentials.
Trump, who has come under growing scrutiny for the violence that has become increasingly frequent at his rallies, also praised a supporter who kicked and punched a protester at a rally in Tucson Saturday, calling him "wonderful" and a "very fine guy."
The protester, who had been a carrying a sign with an image of a Confederate flag over an image of Trump, was assaulted by an African-American man while being led out by security. Another protester being had been wearing a Ku Klux Klan-style sheet.
"Now we don't condone violence," said Trump, "but why aren't they showing the Klan outfit walking up the stairs. Why aren't they showing that?" he asked, taking issue with the way the incident had been portrayed by the press.
"All it showed was this wonderful — 'cause I hear he's a very, very fine guy — this wonderful African-American man, swinging, swinging, swinging, and nobody knows why he did it. And I think it's very, very unfair."
Earlier Sunday, in a phone interview on ABC's "This Week," Trump accused the press of having a double standard when it comes to covering his events, criticizing supporters for committing violence while not holding protesters who block roads or hold signs with profanities to account.
"Let me just tell you, it's a very unfair double standard," he said.
Trump also spoke about President Barack Obama's historic visit to Cuba, criticizing him because Cuban president Raúl Castro did not greet his plane at the airport.
"Honestly, Obama should have turned the plane around and left," said Trump. "He should have said, 'Bye bye!'"
The billionaire businessman hosted the Palm Beach County Republican Party's Lincoln Day dinner in a glittering ballroom at his Mar-a-Lago club. Trump's appearance ended with Trump and former rival Ben Carson on stage, swaying along to a rendition of "Stand by Me" by singer Beau Davidson.

Trump reportedly to meet with top Republicans in Washington

Donald Trump will reportedly meet Monday in Washington with nearly two dozen influential Republicans, with the apparent hope of improving relations with the GOP establishment.
The Republican presidential front-runner will be in the nation’s capital to speak at the annual policy conference for AIPAC, or the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a major pro-Israel group.
Trump’s meeting with Republican lawmakers and other party leaders, as first reported by The Washington Post, will be his first major discussion with them since last fall, when he was on Capitol Hill to protest President Obama’s Iranian nuclear agreement.
The off-the-record meeting was reportedly organized in part by Alabama GOP Sen. Jeff Sessions, who has endorsed Trump.
The names of the attendees have not been released, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told “Fox News Sunday” that he’ll be in his home state of Kentucky on Monday, while Congress is on a two-week recess.
At least some factions of the so-called Republican establishment have tried to stop Trump from winning the nomination, in part by supporting other candidates, purportedly backing negative-advertising campaigns and speaking out against the billionaire businessman’s agenda, which includes a vow to dismantle the establishment’s grip on politics, government and wealth.
Meanwhile, Trump has continued to call for party unity to help defeat the Democratic presidential nominee, which increasingly appears to be Hillary Clinton, as he continues to win primaries, add delegates and eliminate primary challengers.

Sunday, March 20, 2016

Me Gusta Trump: Portrait of a Hispanic Trump Voter

John Castillo grew up in Lincoln Heights, the heart of Hispanic Los Angeles, in a tight-knit Mexican-American family. His father’s name was Juan, but his mother decided to name their son John. He attended Cathedral High School, a Lasallian Catholic private school founded in 1925 in East Los Angeles, one of the country’s most populous Latino communities. The red-brick building, which sits on an old burial ground, overlooks downtown Los Angeles. The school’s current population is two-thirds Hispanic, and seventy per cent of its students receive financial aid. Castillo did, too: he had to sweep floors after class to help cover his tuition. Most of his friends were sons of immigrants. Many, he says, became “cholos,” joining local gangs at an early age. “A few of them are doing life in prison,” Castillo says, casually.

Juan, John’s father, was born in Tijuana and, in 1963, immigrated to the United States with his parents and his brother. He was barely five years old. The family moved to Los Angeles, where John’s grandfather, Manuel, who had been a miner in Mexico, worked as a gardener. John’s grandmother, Carmen, put in long hours as a seamstress at a sweatshop. John’s father grew up to work “odd jobs,” until he settled as a bus driver for the local transit authority. He married his high-school sweetheart, a Latina from Los Angeles.

After graduating from Cathedral, Castillo went to boot camp in San Diego: he joined the Marine Corps in 1996 and remained on active duty for five years, mostly working as a truck driver, carrying artillery. He served in Japan and Singapore, and left a few months before 9/11. He felt at home with the Marines. There were “un montón” (a bunch) of Hispanics, he says now: “perhaps more than half.” Castillo remembers the thrill of “loud, powerful, and motivating” weaponry. A tattoo on his right forearm reads “USMC.”

After the Marines, Castillo moved back to California and went to work for U.P.S. He’s now an inspector for an aerospace company. He was once a Democrat but is now a conservative and a Republican. The transition happened in the Marines. “The way they scream at you, it hardens you,” he says. “It makes you understand the importance of respecting the law.” He also thinks travel helped him get rid of a “naïve” point of view that he associates with liberal politics. He believes in the importance of the Second Amendment. At thirty-eight years old, Castillo speaks softly, wears wide-rimmed glasses, and has the build you’d expect from someone who once carried hundred-pound shells for a living but now sits inside a cubicle. When we last met, in Eagle Rock, in northeast Los Angeles, he seemed concerned about crime in the area. “If you were allowed to carry a concealed weapon here, you could protect yourself,” he says. His Twitter bio reads “devout Catholic” and “lifelong pro wrestling fan.” He’s also a fan of Spanish-language radio, and he retweets Pope Francis and the W.W.E. with equal enthusiasm. And he is also a passionate supporter of Donald Trump.

Fourteen per cent of Hispanic voters say they will “definitely support” the Republican candidate in November, and Castillo, who describes himself as an “American of Mexican descent, in that order,” is not an anomaly in his support for Trump. Although eighty per cent of Latino voters held an unfavorable opinion of Trump in a recent Washington Post/Univision poll, a fifth of Hispanic Republicans said they planned to vote for Trump during the Party’s primaries. That level of support has remained constant in states with a discernible Hispanic presence. According to entrance and exit polls, Trump got just under half of the admittedly few Hispanic Republican votes in Nevada and a quarter of them in Texas, surpassing Marco Rubio in both instances. Rubio won Florida’s Latino vote (seventeen per cent of all Republican voters) by a wide margin, but Trump’s backing among Hispanics remained at twenty-six per cent.

Given the fact that Trump has built his campaign around the recurrent disparagement of Mexicans and immigrants, his support among Hispanic Republicans has baffled well-known Latino voices in the United States and Mexico. In an interview with Jorge Ramos, former Mexican President Vicente Fox begged Trump’s Latino supporters to “open their eyes.” “I’d like to know who those Hispanics are,” Fox said, “because they are followers of a false prophet.” Fox is far from alone. Last month, in an open letter to the Latino community, twenty-two celebrities, led by the guitarist Carlos Santana, accused Republicans of turning their backs on Hispanics. “Latinos should understand that Donald Trump embodies the true face of the entire Republican Party,” they wrote. Something similar happened at the Latin Grammys, where the bands Los Tigres del Norte and Maná, both of whom are beloved by Latinos, displayed a banner that read “Latinos unite: don’t vote for the racists!” No prominent Hispanic has endorsed Donald Trump.

John Castillo and others like him beg to differ. Over several recent conversations, Castillo explained his support for Trump in meticulous detail. At times, he sounded like the many white voters who have been inspired by the candidate. He says he finds Trump relatable. “He speaks like a regular person,” Castillo says. “If I were running for President, that’s how I would talk.” He likes that Trump is not a politician. “I’m pretty much fed up with career politicians,” he says. Castillo believes Trump will manage to extricate the United States from unfair agreements, and he likes the idea of Trump imposing tariffs on imported goods. He firmly believes this will help “bring jobs back” Stateside. He also likes the fact that a number of “world leaders” have expressed concerns over a potential Trump Presidency: “He must be doing something right if the élite doesn’t want him.”

Still, Castillo knows that his Latino heritage and Donald Trump’s vow to deport eleven million undocumented immigrants might seem irreconcilable. “I do think about it often,” he admits. The dilemma is not exclusive to Castillo. Trump’s Hispanic supporters are often called “traitors” or worse on social media, which is why Castillo mostly refuses to talk politics anywhere but Twitter, where he does so anonymously. (He never posts anything on Facebook or LinkedIn, and at first refused to give me his full name for fear of repercussions.) He’s also concerned about how his views might be interpreted in the workplace: “They might fire me if they knew I like Trump.” Castillo bristles at the idea that he might be betraying his own people or his own family’s history. “I am not anti-Hispanic at all,” he says. “What I am is anti-breaking-the-law.” Castillo suggests a distinction: “People need to understand, illegal is not a race.” When I ask him about Trump’s plans for deporting millions of immigrants, he seems incredulous. He insists Trump is not anti-immigrant nor would he ultimately expel that staggering number of people from the country: “I think he will only deport some of the criminals,” he says. “And then the other criminals will self-deport.” In fact, Castillo doesn’t think Donald Trump is a racist at all: “If I did, I wouldn’t support him,” he adds emphatically.

When he’s not supporting Trump, Castillo obsesses over the gentrification of traditionally Hispanic areas in East Los Angeles. He’s bothered by the arrival of “rich,” young professionals to Lincoln Heights, where he grew up, and Highland Park, where he lives now. “I’m going to be honest,” he told me suddenly. “I hate the hipsters moving into our town. They’re pushing Latinos out of the area. I love my town. I love my people.” When I responded that plenty of those whom he wants to protect could potentially be deported en masse by President Trump (there are a million undocumented immigrants living in Los Angeles County, more than in any other county in the United States), Castillo rejected the idea that his views were contradictory. “I’d much rather live surrounded by my own people than any other,” he says, “but illegal is illegal.” And yet, there is a possibility that gives him pause: What if Trump keeps his word and rounds up Castillo’s friends and neighbors? “If he were to try that there would be riots and uprisings,” he says, blinking rapidly. “If he did that I would fight back.”

Still, John Castillo remains unapologetic: “I love my heritage,” he says, “I love this country with all my heart. I served it.” He says he lives for “God, family, and country.” For his Twitter profile picture, Castillo has chosen Uncle Sam, index finger pointing directly from the screen. The face, though, is Donald Trump’s. Castillo will vote for him in California’s primary, on June 7th.