Presumptuous Politics

Monday, August 1, 2016

Team Trump: Debate schedule instant replay of Dems' blindside on Sanders

The Commission on Presidential Debates on Sunday issued another statement in an apparent effort to end criticism by Donald Trump’s campaign about two of the events being scheduled during televised NFL games -- and suggested Trump is fighting a losing battle.
“It is impossible to avoid all sporting events, and there have been nights on which debates and games occurred in most election cycles,” the commission wrote. “A debate has never been rescheduled as a result.”
Two of the three debates scheduled in September and October will be televised during NFL games.
On Sept. 26, the night of the first debate, ESPN will carry the Monday night game featuring the Falcons vs. the Saints. On Oct. 9, the second debate will air opposite the Sunday night game featuring the Giants vs. the Packers on NBC.
The commission said officials started working on the debate scheduled more than 18 months ago to identify potential scheduling conflicts with religious and federal holidays, baseball league playoff games, NFL games and other events.
“As a point of reference, in a four-year period, there are four general election debates … and approximately 1,000 NFL games."
The commission said the final debate dates are picked a year in advance so TV networks have “maximum lead time and predictability in scheduling these extremely important civic education forums."
“The CPD believes the dates for the 2016 debates will serve the American public well,” the commission also said.
Trump said Saturday that the football league complained in a letter to him about the debate schedule.
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy acknowledged Saturday that the league would like at least one of the debates rescheduled but tweeted: "We did not send a letter to Mr Trump."
The issue follows criticism that the Democratic National Committee intentionally scheduled primary debates on a Saturday night to minimize audiences as a way of protecting frontrunner Hillary Clinton.
And recently leaked emails show that the DNC indeed intended to undermine the campaign of Clinton primary rival Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
“You know, Hillary Clinton wants to be against the NFL,” Trump told ABC’s “This Week," "maybe like she did with Bernie Sanders, where they were on Saturday nights when nobody's home."
Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort seemed to suggested on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the dates are still being negotiated.
“We're going to sit down with the commissioner and talk with them,” he said. “The DNC hack showed you that the Clinton campaign was working to schedule debates against Sanders which have the least possible viewing audience. ... So, I'm not sure what the dates are going to be, ultimately. … But we're not going to fall ploy to the Democrat -- to the Hillary Clinton ploy that she did against Bernie Sanders.”
The Clinton campaign has not comment on Trump's assertion.
Trump did allow that three debates were "fine" and that he'd rather have three than one.

Sunday, July 31, 2016

Burning the American Flag Cartoons By the DNC (not funny)

Mexican flag being waved inside DNC while American, Israeli flags burn outside

The Democrat Party's National Convention.

Democrats cheer American Flag burning.

Your Future Leaders of tomorrow, a bunch of dumb asses?

While the American Flag burns crowd waves Syrian,Muslim & Mexican Flags. These people are living in America and are being fed, sheltered, and clothed for free by the American people.

This is what the Democrat National Party Is All About.

While reporters are beginning to notice the number of American flags popping up around the periphery of the stage at the Democratic National Convention after people took note of its absence on opening day, Fox News host Greta Van Susteren on Thursday spotted a Mexican flag being waved in the upper deck of the Wells Fargo Center. We haven’t spotted any flags from Western Europe, now that we think of it, although a couple of Palestinian flags were spotted in the crowd earlier in the week. They might not have stood out so much if a few people besides the pyromaniacs outside had thought to bring American flags to Philadelphia. There are a few photos of the same woman waving the Mexican flag from the upper deck, although she did express her love of the United States by complementing Mexico’s colors with American flag pants, so that’s something. President Obama noted Wednesday night that in his vision of America, people of every party, every background, and every faith pledge allegiance under the same proud flag. It would be nice if that were reflected in Philadelphia, where Mississippi’s flag was taken down to appease demonstrators who then flew the Soviet flag, the Palestinian flag, and even the North Korean on the streets.

Trump criticized for comments on Muslim mother of fallen US soldier

Muslim lawyer Khizr Khan

Donald Trump is taking issue with a speech at this week's Democratic National Convention by Muslim lawyer Khizr Khan, whose Army captain son was killed in action and who said on stage that Trump has “sacrificed nothing and no one" for America. But Democrats and advocates for veterans’ families say the Republican presidential nominee went too far in his response.
Khan made the comment during his tribute to his son, Humayun, who posthumously received a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart after being killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq in 2004.
As Khan spoke, his wife Ghazala, Humayun’s mother, stood silently by his side.
Trump, during an interview with ABC’s “This Week,” said: "She had nothing to say. She probably, maybe she wasn't allowed to have anything to say. You tell me."
And Trump challenged Khizr Khan’s claims about having sacrificed nothing. "I've made a lot of sacrifices,” Trump said. “I work very, very hard. I've created thousands and thousands of jobs, tens of thousands of jobs, built great structures."
Ghazala Khan has said she didn't speak because she's still overwhelmed by grief and can't even look at photos of her son without crying.

Trump’s comments sparked immediate outrage on social media -- both because they critiqued a mourning mother and because many considered them racist and anti-Muslim.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., has previously raised concerns about Trump’s previous comments about Muslims.
On Saturday, Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong said: "The speaker has made clear many times that he rejects this idea, and himself has talked about how Muslim Americans have made the ultimate sacrifice for this country."
Hillary Clinton campaign spokeswoman Karen Finney tweeted: “Trump is truly shameless to attack the family of an American hero. Many thanks to the Khan family for your sacrifice, we stand with you.”
Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, later said in a statement: "I was very moved to see Ghazala Khan stand bravely and with dignity in support of her son on Thursday night. ... This is a time for all Americans to stand with the Khans and with all the families whose children have died in service to our country."
Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., who served on active duty and is a colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, criticized Trump and Ryan Saturday.
“Slandering a mom and dad who lost their son in service of our country is a new low even for Donald Trump,” Lieu said “What is more surprising is that Speaker Paul Ryan continues to stand by Donald Trump … I call upon Speaker Ryan to do what his heart has been telling him all along and withdraw his endorsement of Donald Trump."
Karen Meredith, a member of Gold Star Families, a support group for families who lost loved ones in the Iraq War, said Humayun Khan’s parents “showed great courage” by standing up in front of the Democratic convention and that for Trump “to insult their culture by saying that is why she did not speak is offensive.”
“This is an attack on all Gold Star Families,” Meredith also said.
Trump's comments come a day after he attacked retired four-star general John Allen while holding a rally in front of military aircraft in Colorado. The Republican nominee also slammed a Colorado Springs fire marshal for capping attendance at his event.
Last week, during the Republican convention in Cleveland, Trump’s children repeatedly said their father had sacrificed to run for president, particularly in setting aside his successful business operations.

Clinton campaign scrambles to defend Rust Belt against Trump

With the general election campaign just hours old, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump began focusing their attention this weekend on America’s Rust Belt -- hoping their separate plans to restore prosperity to the all-important region will sway enough voters there to help them win in November.
Clinton, the Democratic nominee, started a three-day Pennsylvania-to-Ohio bus tour Friday with vice presidential nominee Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine.
“We’re going to create jobs in Pennsylvania and across America, especially in places that have been left behind,” Clinton said at a rally Saturday at a factory in Johnstown, part of Pennsylvania’s western, industrial region, home to a large conservative voting bloc that Trump needs.
“I believe with all of my heart that the economy should work for everyone, not just the top 1 percent. … We’re going to support steel workers,” continued Clinton, who also touted her campaign promise to, in her first 100 days in the White House, make the largest investment in jobs since World War II.
Clinton won the Democratic labor and blue-collar vote in her failed 2008 presidential primary bid. But those voters have been more difficult for her to reach in this election cycle.
Primary rival Sen. Bernie Sanders’ populist message repeatedly tried to portray Clinton as less receptive to middle class needs. The Vermont senator in fact scored a major suprise win over Clinton in the Michigan primay.
Meanwhile, Trump, the Republican nominee, and running mate Mike Pence continued to argue that electing Clinton would continue the Obama administration's failed economic policies -- marked by stagnant wages and bad international trade deals that are sending manufacturing jobs oversea.
“The second-quarter numbers came out -- 1.2 percent growth in the American economy,” Pence, Indiana's governor, said Friday night at a rally in Lima, Ohio. “We can’t keep doing the same thing and expect a different result … People are restless for change.”
Most political analysts predict that the general election will again be decided by four so-called battleground states, among them Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Clinton and Trump are deadlocked in those states, according to two recent Quinnipiac University polls, though an NBC survey released July 13 shows Trump trailing by 9 percentage points.
“It will be interesting to see if Clinton can hold off Trump in the Rust Belt by going back to the blue-collar vote,” Caleb Burns, a Republican strategist and partner in the Washington law firm Wiley Rein, said earlier this week. “If she can, it will be extremely difficult for Trump to find a path to victory.”
To be sure, Trump already has a narrow path toward getting the requisite 270 electoral votes to take the White House.
Beyond winning the 13 states that GOP nominees have taken in the past six presidential races, Trump must also win some combination of battleground states -- including Colorado, North Carolina, Florida, Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
No Republican has won Pennsylvania since 1988, and no Republican nominee has won the White House without winning Ohio.
“And this election will be no different,” Fox News contributor and senior Bush administration policy adviser Karl Rove recently wrote in The Wall Street Journal editorial pages. “If Mr. Trump’s appeal to blue-collar, white swing voters is real, he could paint Pennsylvania red. If so, he is likely to win the White House with 273 electoral votes.”
However, a loss in Pennsylvania would mean Trump would have to find wins in such Midwestern industrial states as Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, all Democratic strongholds.
Clinton and Kaine continued their “Stronger Together” tour Saturday with a late-afternoon rally in Pittsburgh and an evening event in Youngstown, Ohio. Their tour concludes Sunday in Columbus.
At a rally in Colorado on Friday, the day after Clinton accepted the Democratic nomination in Philadelphia, Trump went after Clinton and Kaine on economic issues.
“We have to go over some numbers,” he said at a rally in Denver, a liberal stronghold. “Hillary was talking last night about how wonderful everything was. She didn’t talk about all of the unbelievable long-term unemployment, the fact house ownership is the lowest in 51 years.”
He also argued that Kaine is “not popular” in his home state of Virginia, considering that unemployment nearly doubled in his one term as governor and that his first move after getting elected to the post in 2005 was to increase taxes by $4 billion.

Koch brothers donor network to focus on Senate, not presidential race

The political donation network backed by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch will essentially sit out this year's presidential election and focus on keeping the Senate in Republican hands.
When Charles Koch addressed hundreds of the nation's most powerful polical donors at a weekend retreat in Colorado Springs Saturday, he lamented the choice in the race for the Oval Office between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump.
"We don't really, in some cases, don't really have good options," Koch said in describing the "current political situation."
Mark Holden, general counsel and senior vice president of Koch Industries, told the Associated Press that the Koch network won't spend anything to help Trump directly in 2016, even though it may evoke Clinton in attacks on Democratic congressional candidates.
None of the presidential candidates are aligned with the Koch network "from a values, and beliefs and policy perspective," Holden said, citing other determining factors such as "running a good campaign" and talking about key issues "in a positive productive way."

"Based on that, we're focused on the Senate," Holden said, noting that the Koch network has devoted around $42 million so far to television and digital advertising to benefit Republican Senate candidates.

Saturday was the first day of the three-day gathering for donors who promise to give at least $100,000 each year to the various groups backed by the Koch brothers' Freedom Partners -- a network of education, policy and political entities that aim to promote a smaller, less intrusive government.

At least three governors, four senators and four members of the House of Representatives are also scheduled to attend, including House Speaker Paul Ryan. Republican presidential candidates have been featured at past Koch gatherings -- but not this one.

Neither Trump nor any Trump representatives participated in the event, even though the White House contender campaigned in the same city the day before. It's unclear if Trump was invited.

"I turned down a meeting with Charles and David Koch," Trump tweeted on Saturday. "Much better for them to meet with the puppets of politics, they will do much better!"

Holden declined to say whether the Kochs sought a meeting with Trump.

The weekend's agenda for the estimated 400 donors gathered in Colorado Springs featured a series of policy discussions and appearances from several elected officials in addition to Ryan: Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, Texas Sen. John Cornyn, Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, Utah Sen. Mike Lee, Rep. Mike Pompeo of Kansas. Rep Jason Chaffetz of Utah and Rep. Mike Coffman of Colorado.

Speaking Saturday night, Gardner addressed the presidential contest indirectly, although he did not mention Trump's name.

"Forty years worth of Supreme Court justices are going to be determined this November," Gardner told donors, a reference to the next president's ability to fill at least one existing vacancy on the high court.

Yet Koch later told his guests that America's frustrated electorate is looking at the wrong place -- politicians -- for answers.

"And to me, the answers they're getting are frightening," he said without naming any politicians, "because by and large, these answers will make matters worse."

Charles and David Koch have hosted such gatherings of donors and politicians for years, but usually in private. The weekend's event includes a small number of reporters, including one from the Associated Press.

Koch has put the network's budget at roughly $750 million through the end of 2016.

A significant portion was supposed to be directed at electing a Republican to the White House. It will instead go to helping Republican Senate candidates in at least five states: Ohio, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Wisconsin and Florida, Holden said.

In some cases, the network may try to link Democratic Senate candidates to Clinton, he added, but there are no plans to go after her exclusively in paid advertising. The organization may invest in a handful of races for governor and House of Representatives as well.

And while the network will not be a Trump ally, it won't necessarily be a Trump adversary either.
"We have no intention to go after Donald Trump," Holden said.

Saturday, July 30, 2016

Democratic National Convention Cartoons

Moment of silence for fallen cops marred by jeering at DNC convention


'Black Lives Matter' chant interrupts moment of silence

Do you really want these type of people to lead our country for another four years?

A hard-won moment of silence for fallen police officers Thursday night at the Democratic National Convention was marred by chants from the crowd of “black lives matter!” in an ugly moment that angered law enforcement representatives and underscored the anti-cop climate that has gripped the nation.
After the mothers of black men who had been killed in racially charged incidents were welcomed onto the stage earlier in the week, Philadelphia’s Fraternal Order of Police chapter pressed the DNC to honor fallen cops. Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez was invited to speak about the five cops killed in her city July 7, and said she and her fellow officers took the job to "serve and protect, not to hate and discriminate."
When Valdez asked the crowd to join her in a moment of silence for cops killed in the line of duty, jeers erupted from the crowd.
“Please help me to honor ALL of America's fallen officers with a moment of silence,” as the anti-police group’s namesake slogan echoed through the Wells Fargo Center.
Valdez ignored the jeers and introduced family members of fallen police officers, including the mother of Moses Walker, a 19-year veteran of the Philadelphia Police Department who was gunned down in 2012 hold a moment of silence.
"Moses didn't live long enough to give all of the gifts he had to give," Wayne Walker told the thousands of delegates. "While we're here, we must do the good we can. Absolutely we have to believe that we're stronger together."

Jennifer Loudon, widow of fallen Chicago police officer Thor Soderberg, also addressed the throng and drew cheers when she said police risk their lives to protect citizens. "I know that in light of recent events, some of us have lost faith," she said.
While many in the crowd appeared moved by the presentation, the jeers did not sit well with law enforcement advocates.
“The comments that were made at the convention last night speak for themselves and I think any intelligent person is going to recognize them for what they are,” said Rich Roberts, spokesman for the International Union of Police Associations.
The Philadelphia chapter of Fraternal Order of Police had earlier blasted the DNC for hosting onstage the mothers of black men killed in racially charged incidents, including Michael Brown, who was killed in 2014 in a confrontation with a Ferguson, Mo., police officer who was later cleared by a Department of Justice investigation, and Trayvon Martin, the unarmed teen who was killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer.
The mothers of Eric Garner, who died while being arrested on Staten Island for selling cigarettes, and Sandra Bland, who hanged herself in a Waller County, Texas, jail after being pulled over for a traffic violation also addressed the convention Tuesday as a group called "Mothers of the Movement.”

The group aims to raise awareness about police brutality and gun violence.

Prior to Thursday night’s events, FOP Chapter President John McNesby praised the decision by the Clinton campaign and convention organizers to add family members of fallen officers to the speaking lineup.
"We want fairness to both sides," McNesby told the Philadelphia Daily News. "It seemed like we got the door slammed in our faces. I guess they listened, had a change of thought, change of heart."
McNesby did not immediately respond to a request for comment following the marred moment of silence. However, one retired Philadelphia police officer, who told FoxNews.com he has resumed carrying his gun in light of the growing anti-police climate, said he was disgusted.
“I don’t know what is wrong with people,” he said. “I just don’t understand it. They say they want unity, and then you get this.”
Even as the convention wound down, one San Diego police officer was killed and another wounded by a gunman stopped for a traffic violation. In addition to the five Dallas police officers killed July 7 by a sniper as they guarded Black Lives Matter protesters, three Baton Rouge law enforcement officers were targeted and killed by a gunman on July 16.
Statistics show the number of police officers killed in the line of duty had been on a downward trajectory since 1970. But this year, cop deaths are up more than 50 percent, and the victims in Dallas, Baton Rouge and other cases were targeted for assassination rather than killed in the process of confronting dangerous criminals.
According to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, the number of officers fatally shot is already up 56 percent compared with last year.