Category: Politics

So I saw my first Trump 2016 bumper sticker yesterday (kind of odd considering this is Arizona after all). It was on a massive, jacked-up 4×4 truck (of course), and my first thought was, "Nice to let the entire world know you're a racist, misogynistic, homophobic, mouth-breathing, knuckle-dragging asshole…and you have a tiny penis!"

…after only hours before asking his staff how he could get out of choosing Pence, his candidacy (and by extension, the entire upcoming Republican Convention) isn't a dumpster fire as some have called it. It's much, much worse.

From Hillary's speech (via Cosmo):

1. "Donald Trump's ideas aren't just different—they are dangerously incoherent. They're not even really ideas—just a series of bizarre rants, personal feuds, and outright lies."

2. "This is not someone who should ever have the nuclear codes—because it's not hard to imagine Donald Trump leading us into a war just because somebody got under his very thin skin."

3. "We cannot put the security of our children and grandchildren in Donald Trump's hands. We cannot let him roll the dice with America."

4. "He says he doesn't have to listen to our generals or our admirals, our ambassadors and other high officials, because he has—quote—'a very good brain.""

5. "He says he has foreign policy experience because he ran the Miss Universe pageant in Russia."

6. "It's no small thing when he calls Mexican immigrants 'rapists and murderers.' We're lucky to have two friendly neighbors on our land borders. Why would he want to make one of them an enemy?"

7. " There's no risk of people losing their lives if you blow up a golf-course deal. But it doesn't work like that in world affairs. Just like being interviewed on the same episode of 60 Minutes as Putin was, is not the same thing as actually dealing with Putin. So the stakes in global statecraft are infinitely higher and more complex than in the world of luxury hotels. We all know the tools Donald Trump brings to the table—bragging, mocking, composing nasty tweets—I'm willing to bet he's writing a few right now."

8. "And I have to say, I don't understand Donald's bizarre fascination with dictators and strongmen who have no love for America. He praised China for the Tiananmen Square massacre; he said it showed strength. He said, 'You've got to give Kim Jong Un credit' for taking over North Korea—something he did by murdering everyone he saw as a threat, including his own uncle, which Donald described gleefully, like he was recapping an action movie. And he said if he were grading Vladimir Putin as a leader, he'd give him an A. Now, I'll leave it to the psychiatrists to explain his affection for tyrants. I just wonder how anyone could be so wrong about who America's real friends are. Because it matters. If you don't know exactly who you're dealing with, men like Putin will eat your lunch."

9. "A Trump presidency would embolden ISIS. We cannot take that risk. This isn't reality television — this is actual reality."

10. "So it really matters that Donald Trump says things that go against our deepest-held values. It matters when he says he'll order our military to murder the families of suspected terrorists. During the raid to kill bin Laden, when every second counted, our SEALs took the time to move the women and children in the compound to safety. Donald Trump may not get it, but that's what honor looks like. And it also matters when he makes fun of disabled people, calls women 'pigs,' proposes banning an entire religion from our country, or plays coy with white supremacists. America stands up to countries that treat women like animals, or people of different races, religions, or ethnicities as less human."

11. "What happens to the moral example we set—for the world and for our own children—if our president engages in bigotry? And by the way, Mr. Trump—every time you insult American Muslims or Mexican immigrants, remember that plenty of Muslims and immigrants serve and fight in our armed forces. Donald Trump could learn something from them."

12. "Now imagine Donald Trump sitting in the Situation Room, making life-or-death decisions on behalf of the United States. Imagine him deciding whether to send your spouses or children into battle. Imagine if he had not just his Twitter account at his disposal when he's angry, but America's entire arsenal. Do we want him making those calls—someone thin-skinned and quick to anger, who lashes out at the smallest criticism? Do we want his finger anywhere near the button?"

13. "This election is a choice between two very different visions of America. One that's angry, afraid, and based on the idea that America is fundamentally weak and in decline. The other is hopeful, generous, and confident in the knowledge that America is great—just like we always have been."

And she hasn't even gotten started.

That sense of noblesse oblige disappeared somewhere during the past generation, when the newly global employer class cut regular working stiffs loose, forcing them to compete with billions of foreigners without rights or political power who would eat toxic waste for five cents a day.

Then they hired politicians and intellectuals to sell the peasants in places like America on why this was the natural order of things. Unfortunately, the only people fit for this kind of work were mean, traitorous scum, the kind of people who in the military are always eventually bayoneted by their own troops. This is what happened to the Republicans, and even though the cost was a potential Trump presidency, man, was it something to watch.

If this isn't the end for the Republican Party, it'll be a shame. They dominated American political life for 50 years and were never anything but monsters. They bred in their voters the incredible attitude that Republicans were the only people within our borders who raised children, loved their country, died in battle or paid taxes. They even sullied the word "American" by insisting they were the only real ones. They preferred Lubbock to Paris, and their idea of an intellectual was Newt Gingrich. Their leaders, from Ralph Reed to Bill Frist to Tom DeLay to Rick Santorum to Romney and Ryan, were an interminable assembly line of shrieking, witch-hunting celibates, all with the same haircut—the kind of people who thought Iran-Contra was nothing, but would grind the affairs of state to a halt over a blow job or Terri Schiavo's feeding tube." ~ Matt Taibbi, writing for Rolling Stone

I'm a Bernie supporter. I am not, however, one of the foaming-at-the-mouth, Bernie-or-Bust idiots running around out there acting like petulant children swearing they'll sit out the election in November or—the gods forbid—vote for Trump—if Bernie does not get the Democratic nomination.

How exactly does voting for Trump further the ideals that you admire in Bernie? If you're thirsty and you want water but someone tells you there isn't any available and offers you lemonade, will you turn it down and drink battery acid instead?

I get that Bernie has stirred a lot of passion in the younger generation. I get where he's coming from and I agree with it; that's why I support him. But c'mon people—if you don't vote for whoever has that (D) after their name in November, you're all but ensuring a Trump victory—and quite possibly the end of America as we know it.

Hyperbole? I don't think so. Like so many others, I laughed the possibility of a Trump candidacy. I kept thinking, "No one's going to buy this bullshit. There's no way he's gonna win the nomination. He's going to say something or do something to make him irrelevant in one news cycle." I can't help but believe the vast majority of the German population felt the same way about Hitler in the beginning as well. Yes, I went there.

So far that hasn't happened. Trump is enjoying a free ride with the press, making no apologies for anything, claiming he never said things that are on tape, and simply refusing to answer questions he doesn't want to—and no one is calling him out on it. What are they afraid of? He's exposed the ugly racist, misogynist, homophobic underbelly of America and has given it an air of legitimacy that scares the hell out of me—and should be scaring everyone else as well.

I also find it amusing that the same people who—with straight faces—accuse Obama of being the Christian Wet Dream Antichrist fail to see how Trump more closely matches their own canonical definition of The Beast, yet they're silent on that because he's going to rid the United States of the hoards—hoards I tell you—of pesky Messicans streaming across the southern border to steal our jobs.

Yeah, I know I can't wait until I can start picking lettuce in hundred-degree heat. How about you?

In my heart of hearts I know the United States is filled with a huge majority of good-natured, compassionate people who believe in equality, fairness, and giving everyone a chance to make it here and be happy. And I know that folks on both sides of the aisle are fed up with the ever-increasing power of the oligarchy. Unfortunately, many of those same people don't vote, allowing rabid right-wing christofascists to win elections, giving them power to enact their bat-shit crazy legislation (see North Carolina's HB2 as the most blatant example) and chip away, piece-by-piece at the fairness this country supposedly stands for—all in the name of Jeezus. And quite frankly, I'm done with it. Believe in your invisible friend in the sky (who curiously always seems to hate the same people you do) all you want, but like your penis, keep it to yourself unless asked. If you want to get involved in politics, fine—last time I looked we were still a secular society and if you start telling your congregations who to vote for from the pulpit, it's time to tax your fucking church as the political entity that it is.

As Democrats, we are a diverse and colorful group. We don't like to be told what to do—even by other Democrats. Getting us to agree on anything seems about as easy as herding cats. But while our diversity is our strength, it is also our weakness. We need to borrow from the Republican playbook and unite. So often we lose sight of who the real enemy is and waste time squabbling among ourselves. Republicans march lockstep with their leaders, and they come out to vote in droves; all pulling that lever for whoever they've been told to. They're primarily older, whiter, and more afraid of change and anything that goes bump in the night than Democrats. And while they claim to be "the party of personal responsibility" I find it amusing that so very many of them are suckling at the governmental teat (I'm talking to you, Red States) and looking for nothing more than a daddy figure who will tell them what to do; someone who will somehow magically undo the last sixty years of progress, take us back to the fictitious world of Ozzie and Harriet or Father Knows Best and "make America great again."

Admittedly many of these people do not like Trump, and while there are rumblings of  rebellion and a third party run—not to mention threats of simply staying at home in November—mark my words, when the election rolls around they will be out in their American-flag-bedecked Hoverounds, lighting up Trump's name. And why? Because by that time, the Democratic nominee—whoever it is—will have been made out to be Satan incarnate by the right wing noise machine. And like happens again and again, Republicans will vote against their own best interest out of fear: fear of change, fear of the other, fear of progress, fear of science, fear of Islam, fear of Atheism, fear of liberals, fear of the black, the brown, the yellow—and most importantly— the rainbow people.

I know Hillary isn't the ideal candidate for a lot of Democrats. She's seen as more of the same, kowtowing to the banks, the military, and the multinational corporations. But the chances of seeing jackbooted thugs roaming the streets and dragging people from their homes in the dead of night for simply being the "other" is nonexistent in comparison to the aftermath of a Trump election.

And if nothing else keep these four words in mind: THREE SUPREME COURT JUSTICES.

And that is why it is so vitally important that if you are a Bernie supporter and Hillary does end up being the Democratic candidate, you put your animosity at losing the nomination aside (I'll be disappointed as well, believe me), and still vote for her, because not doing so will all but guarantee a Trump victory. Do you really want to see Trump select three justices, not to mention cabinet posts? How does "Chief Justice Roy Moore" sound? How about "Attorney General Joe Arpaio" or "Surgeon General Ben Carson"? Do you really want to see Obama hand Trump the keys to the White House—not to mention the keys to our nuclear arsenal?

This country—not to mention the world—cannot afford any of that.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose…

I'm a Bernie supporter, but I have to agree 100% with what John writes below:

From AMERICAblog:

There's a common misconception that elections are job interviews; and that candidates need to "earn" our vote, as if we're doing them a favor by putting them in office. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Elections are selfish. They're not about the candidates, they're about us. They're about choosing someone who will have inordinate influence over our lives and our livelihoods for the next four years.

To the degree that the job metaphor is apt, picking a president is more like picking a nanny for your kids. Except in this case, it's down to two candidates, and one is going to get hired. Your only options are to pick one, pick the other, or don't pick either and let someone else make the choice for you.

To take the analogy a bit further, let's call the first nanny Hillary. As hard as you try, Hillary just doesn't move you. You see, there was another nanny named Bernie, and you adored Bernie. But Sadly, Bernie didn't make the cut. So now you're left choosing between Hillary, who doesn't excite you, and another nanny named Donald, who is categorically crazy and hates your kids.

Your only choice is to hire Hillary, hire Donald, or let some stranger choose which of the two is going to have ultimate say over the most important thing in your life.

I've seen people talk about how Hillary Clinton is "bad" on fracking, and Wall Street, and money in politics, so they're just not going to vote for her in November unless she does something "big" to win them over. But how is Donald Trump on all of those issues? Far worse than Hillary, in fact. And how is Donald Trump on the civil rights of gays, women, blacks, Latinos, and Muslims? How is Donald Trump on climate change, immigration, criminal justice, gun violence, privacy, health care, and caring about the middle and working classes? And how is Donald Trump on a woman's right to choose? Awful, awful, awful.

If you choose not to support Hillary in the fall, because of some misguided notion of what she "owes" you, then you choose to cede the election to a man who will destroy every cause that Bernie Sanders, and you, once claimed to care about. And while you may be in a position in life that it won't affect you directly if Trump bans Muslims, repeals Obamacare, and does everything he can to hurt gays, blacks, Latinos and women, is that really why you felt the Bern this election—because you put your own disappointment over the needs of the many?

(More)

1. Public college tuition in the United States was 3.22 times more expensive compared to 1985 adjusted for inflation.

2. Meanwhile, the cost of college textbooks has seen a 1,041% increase since 1977 — three times the rate of inflation. 

3. The average American student debt upon graduation is about equal to the price of a Tesla 3

4. Roughly two-thirds of college students face student loan debts after graduating today. One expert said more than 25% of those students almost definitely won't be able to afford the burden, according to a guest column in Time.

5. Student loan debt in America has surpassed credit card debt.

6. Over 40 million Americans faced student loan debt in 2014. "The population with student loans is actually greater than the entire population of Canada, Poland, North Korea, Australia and more than 200 other countries," the Huffington Post noted at the time.

7. According to the Bay Citizen, the rate at which graduates defaulted on their loans nearly doubled from 2005 to 2010, from 4.6% to 8.8%.

8. For the 7 million Americans who defaulted on their student loans in 2014, they may have become ineligible for certain government jobs, according to the Huffington Post.

9. The student loan debt crisis has prevented millennials from spending on many other life milestones.

Source

Via.