Tag Archives: Mitt Romney

Barack Hussein Obama…The Worst President Ever???

I am not a sexist!  My realtor and my investment adviser are both women.  During my stint with cancer, two of my three doctors were women.  One of these women, Dr. White, performed three surgeries on me.  During one of my surgeries, my entire operating staff was women.  I know of many fine female officers and female enlisted people in the military and have had the privilege of serving with them.

I am not a racist.  I get along famously with people of all races that share my values.  During my experiences in the military, I was ‘color blind.’  That is because the military is truly an ‘equal opportunity employer.’  An officer or an enlisted person of color had to reach the same milestones, perform to the same standards and obtain the same educational standards as us ‘white guys.’  Everyone was held to the same standard.  Period.  No one was more or less privileged because of race.

I am not any other ‘phobe’ or ‘ism’ as interpreted in today’s media.  So, now if you have read this far, you are wondering why the wordy introduction.  Well….it’s because I am going to say and write something that very few people have the courage to say or even discuss.  I believe Barack Hussein Obama will go down as the worse POTUS this country has ever had and grossly abused his presidential powers while in office.

TEA PARTY

Prior to the 2010 midterm election, there was a movement afoot that was called the ‘Tea Party.’  The purpose of this organization and its increasingly popular movement was to basically cut taxes and spending within the federal government.  They derived their name from the infamous tea party during the Revolution, in protest of the Brits placing taxes on tea and other British imports.  Many of the chapters of the growing Tea Party movement applied to the IRS for tax exempt/non-profit status.  This was so they could raise funds and purchase advertising to advance their conservative cause.  The result?  Lois Lerner, then head of the IRS refused tax exempt status, and then started promoting IRS investigations and audits into the founders!  Personal vendettas were waged by the IRS!  Do you remember Lois Lerner?  She was the one called before a congressional inquiry and pleaded the fifth amendment when asked questions!  A government official, paid by us tax payers pleaded the fifth.  She immediately resigned her position and began collecting a golden parachute retirement.   Lois Lerner was not smart enough or ‘ballsy’ enough to wage this vendetta on her own.  It had to come down from her boss and from her bosses boss.  That would have been Barack Obama.

URANIUM ONE

While Hillary was Secretary of State, the United States decided to sell a large portion of its uranium reserves to…of all the people in the world…the RUSSIANS!  Oh yeah!  These are the same Russians that are being investigated for tampering in our elections.  But during this marvelous deal, the Russians got the uranium and the Clinton Foundation got a $147 million contribution.  Where did that uranium go?  Who will use it and for what purpose?  Will it be used in weaponry against us or our allies?  So, who is ultimately responsible for this deal?  That would be Barack Obama.  And, dear readers, what will be the consequences if a nuclear explosive device is used and the device reads, “This uranium was graciously provided by the people of the United States.”  (As a speculation, do you think all of the $147 million stayed with the Clinton’s, or could some of it been used to grease the wheels of this transaction in Washington?)

BOWE BERGDAHL and BENGHAZI

Do you remember what the reasoning was for exchanging the AWOL Bowe Bergdahl for five Taliban commanders being held in Guantanamo Bay?  Well, according to Carolyn Hayden, spokesperson for the National Security Council, it was for “protecting the lives of Americans abroad and protecting US soldiers.”  (Three of those five Taliban commanders immediately joined the battle against America.  How is that for protecting US soldiers?)   By law, Congress was to be notified 30 days in advance of any releases to be made from Guantanamo Bay.  How long a notice did the White House give Congress?  TWO HOURS!

If the White House was so concerned about American citizens abroad, then we should have sent at least two naval armadas to rescue the US ambassador to Libya and the American protection staff.  But, sadly, we did nothing.  Rumors persisted from the Pentagon and through military channels that a relief flight of planes were dispatched from Italy, but were ordered to return to base.  The rumors also stated that the stand-down order came from the Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.  But, the Department of Defense and the Pentagon do not take orders from, or answer to the Secretary of State.  They take orders from one person only; the Commander in Chief, Barack Obama.

So let me get this straight.  One AWOL for five experienced terrorists represented good American policy, but rescuing Americans in Libya from terrorists was not.

PAYMENT FOR AMERICAN HOSTAGES and THE IRANIAN NUCLEAR DEAL

I will be the first to say I am confused about the two events mentioned above.  Supposedly, we shipped $400 million to Iran to release Americans held by the Iranians.  Rumor has it that they were not released until a cargo plane loaded with pallets full of $100 bills arrived in Tehran.  The chiropractors in Iran were busy for weeks adjusting the backs of those poor individuals that had to carry all that money.

Then there is the murky Iranian Nuclear agreement.  Supposedly, for a paltry $1.7 billion, the Iranians would discontinue nuclear material production.  Who provided that money?  Did France, Germany or England provide any of that money?  Now, they are criticizing Trump for leaving this deal?  Also, the Iranians are threatening us by stating they are going to step-up production of nuclear material.  Do you believe for one New York minute that they ever stopped?  I surely don’t, and, we gave them enough money to fund terrorism for quite some time.  Look at what they are doing in Syria and what they have continually attempted to do in Iraq.  There weren’t any teeth in that initial Iranian nuclear agreement for non-compliance and now the Iranians are waving the stupidity of that deal in our faces using our money.

ROBERT MUELLER INVESTIGATION

Are you getting tired about this investigation?  I know I am.  But here is the spin coming out of the people trying to hide the real intent of this politically motivated witch hunt.  The US government was concerned about the Russian interference in US elections. So where did they decide to look for glaring examples of this Russian interference?  Well, the best place to look would be in the campaign headquarters of the new Republican candidate for President, Donald Trump.  They must have thought there were Russians under every desk and borscht and cheap vodka running down the hallways.

But wait…what was the basis of looking only at the Trump campaign headquarters, and not the Democratic presidential headquarters?  Well, it was a document put together by a former British, disgraced agent working for a company called Fusion GPS.  The purpose of this company is to dig up smut on political opponents. And the Fusion GPS policy is that if smut cannot be found, then make it up.  This matches most of today’s media coverage.   The FBI, under the watchful eye of its egotistical leader, James Comey, received warrants from the Justice Department allowing wiretaps of Trump staffers.  And now, we have learned lately that the FBI placed a mole within the Trump organization.

This whole affair is politically motivated from top to bottom.  How can I say that with certainty?  If the FBI was indeed looking for only Russian influence in US elections, wouldn’t they inform Trump or someone on his staff about what they were doing and ask their cooperation?  From the reaction by the Trump administration, I am sure no one knew about any FBI informant and wire tapping.   And who was the first national politician to use Fusion GPS?  That would be Barack Obama, as he hired them to find smut about Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential elections.  Who do you think authorized this witch hunt and allowed the placement of a mole in Trump headquarters?  Again, I contend that would be Barack Obama.  This, my fellow Americans, is strictly against the law!

SUMMARY

If, as I suspect, Barack Obama ordered or allowed the placement of an informant in Trump’s campaign headquarters, he broke the law.  He has used the Justice Department as his battering ram because of two weak attorney generals that would acquiesce to any of his wants, Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch.  This could ultimately make Watergate look like a pizza party in comparison.

Barack Obama bypassed congressional procedure by releasing five dangerous Taliban commanders without proper notification.  This is a dereliction of duty and an over reach of presidential power.

Barack Obama stifled political freedom by utilizing the IRS as a battering ram to squelch the emergence of the Tea Party movement during a mid-term election.    This, my fellow Americans, is against the law.  And with Lois Lerner pleading the fifth amendment to direct congressional inquiry questions, the obvious link between her and Obama was never established.

The Obama administration policy concerning dealing with anything Muslim was very muddied.  We trade five Muslim extremists for one AWOL soldier, pay $400 million for the release of our hostages from Iran, do not attempt a rescue in Benghazi from Muslim extremists, and give $1.7 billion to Iran in the hopes that they will abide by ceasing the production of nuclear materials.  If this were a game, the score would be: Muslim extremists – 4, USA – 0!

But the one act that is the most serious is the Uranium One deal.  That deal should never have happened and it did by bypassing Congress.  If the Russians sold that uranium to North Korea, Iran, or any other country for nefarious purposes, then I would say that Barack Obama has performed a treasonous act.

The one thing that concerns me the most about Barack Obama and his administration?  With very few exceptions, he has been given a pass by the media for all of these events.  Real reporting, real journalism should have uncovered these events and exposed the gross negligence of his administration.  He has been given the presidency and excuses, because of his race.  Did he get a pass because anyone who criticized him would have been branded a ‘racist’ during his politically correct administration?   He should not have had a second term.  In a word, he made the ‘swamp’ deeper and wider.  I am confident history will prove me right.

There you have it and I will no doubt be called a racist for my remarks.  But just like a stalwart statue in the wind, I am not going to waver even though I may have some pigeons crap on me!

I Love Sarah Huckabee Sanders!

I am in love with Sarah Huckabee Sanders!  But first….a little history pre-Sarah….

My first love-from-afar love interest was Juliet Prowse.  In 1960, Juliet starred in two movies, Can-Can and GI Blues.  I particularly admired her in GI Blues because she played opposite one of my favorite people, Elvis Presley.  Juliet had a fantastic smile, a cheery personality, red hair, and at 5’11”, she had beautiful legs up to her neck.  What more could a farm boy of 12 want from a girl?  Tragically, Juliet died at the age of 59 from cancer.  She jumped started my puberty by at least 3 years!

In 1963, at the age of 15, my taste in women changed.  I discovered that I really was attracted more to brunettes than to blonds.   My theory at the time was that most of the brunettes had natural color brunette hair, whereas, during the 60’s, most of the blonds had natural brunette hair, too.  So, into my young tender life comes who I consider to be the most attractive actress to ever live…..Elizabeth Taylor.  I mention the year 1963 because it was the year that great movie, Cleopatra, was released.  To this day, with all of the actresses that have had cosmetic surgery, I still consider Elizabeth Taylor to be the most beautiful actress of my lifetime.  If you have seen the movie, Cleopatra, and her entrance into the city of Rome, well it was truly spectacular and I have never seen a woman look more stunning.  The term used by men would be ‘drop dead gorgeous.’  And if you did not think so after seeing her, you did not have a pulse.

In the 1970’s, we had Charlie’s Angels.  Farrah Fawcett, Jaclyn Smith and Kate Jackson were the ‘Angels.’  While all of my male friends were going ‘ga-ga’ over Farrah Fawcett and bought her swimsuit poster, I remained true to my brunette belief and actually liked Kate Jackson the best.

Then something truly amazing happened.  I grew up.  While in my earlier life, like most young men, I considered appearance as the only component of beauty.  Then I began to mature and realized that there were other components to beauty.  One such component is personality.  I discovered that it was not enough to have just an attractive woman on your arm, but you had to enjoy being with that woman as well.  Then I discovered another component to beauty, intelligence.  The conversation cannot continue about puppy dogs and unicorns, eventually there needs to be a conversation with a little depth to it. Those are the characteristics that make a woman appealing to me.  (Is this the definition of maturity?)

Enter Sarah Huckabee Sanders.  (Also, Grandma P over 30 years ago.)  I have to mention Grandma P or I’ll be eating cereal alone at dinner for the next 30 years!  Beautiful, intelligent and personable. Check.  (A fourth criteria is that I decided I could live with Grandma P.)  On to Sarah!  Sarah is 35 years old, married in 2010, and the mother of 3 children all under the age of 8.  Whew!  All of this while being appointed White House press secretary last July 17 upon the resignation of Sean Spicer.

I find Sarah very appealing because she has all of the components that I have outlined as being beautiful.  Personality?  Check.  Appearance?  Check.  Intelligence?   Well………..here are the headlines that I pulled off the internet today, Sunday, that she no doubt will have to address in the White House press briefing tomorrow and the coming week:

  1.  Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham warn Trump will be impeached after signing spending bill.
  2. Ivanka takes President Trump to task over his treatment of Jared Kushner.
  3. There are the worst things Donald Trump’s “friends” have said about him
  4. Donald Trump routinely humiliates whoever he pleases.
  5. Melania joins Trump amid cheating scandals as family leaves D.C. ahead of March For Our Lives.
  6. Americans will pay the price for Trump’s toughened approach with China
  7. Trump’s new National Security Adviser has ties to Cambridge Analytica.

These are headlines from today’s news!  Do you see a pattern?  Does anything positive about Trump or his presidency or positive about America make it to the news anymore?

And, dear readers, who will be standing on the podium before a room full of media types to bring levity to a litany of negative headlines?  Why, that would be Sarah Huckabee Sanders.  (Did you notice I did not call the media types; reporters?  If I called them reporters, that would imply that they researched a subject and then ‘reported’ it in an unbiased manner.  That doesn’t happen anymore.)  I challenge you to watch the White House press briefings this week so that you can see first hand that Sarah is the sharpest knife in that drawer of people in the White House press room.  I admire her for being able to raise 3 children under the age of 8, and then handle a room full of media types who ask questions as if they were 8.  And like an 8 year old, they will ask the same question repeatedly, expecting a different answer if they ask it four times.  Watch how Sarah will handle them like the ringmaster of a three ring circus!

Even though the media has attacked her physical appearance, I find Sarah extremely attractive.  After all, any juggler can juggle 3 tennis balls, but Sarah can juggle at least 5 running chainsaws at a time.  And….working for Donald Trump cannot be easy, especially since he is a media target.

Admittedly, I don’t really love Sarah Huckabee Sanders in the biblical sense of the word.  After all, I just celebrated the 30th anniversary of my 40th birthday, making me 8 years older than her dad, Mike Huckabee.  That would be creepy.  But I do greatly admire her for who she is, what she has done, and her capabilities. Because of this, I find her extremely beautiful.   So, Sarah, if you read this blog, I would be happy to be the president of your fan club, and Grandma P and I live close to your dad so we would be happy to babysit your kids one night.  You Go Girl!!!!

My One Hundredth Blog!

Yup, this is blog numero 100!

I wrote this blog for three reasons:

  1.  I needed something to do after retirement.  It became evident that I only had so many lawn ornaments to paint, one lawn to cut, and too few bushes to trim to keep me busy.  And, I did not really like writing high school and college term papers so I decided to ‘step out of the box.’
  2. I wanted to write something that my grandkids may eventually read so they can see how their grandpa and grandma were raised and how America was much different during our formative years.  They would be appalled to learn that I can remember when both of my sets of grandparents did not have indoor plumbing.  We left our houses and cars unlocked.  I have tried to include some of those items in my blogs to create historical interest.  So far, no grandkid readers.
  3. It is no secret that I am a conservative.  I was irritated and disappointed that Barrack Obama got reelected, pretty much because he was black and not because he was qualified.  I understand why he beat John McCain in 2008.  McCain ran on a platform of being a political maverick.  He did not connect with the younger voters at all.  And…lets be honest, many people wanted to say they voted for the first black president. (Read blog #1, November 2012.)  But Mitt Romney was a different and much better candidate.  Successful businessman, successful governor, he had all the qualifications of being a great president.  But the campaign became racist, the biased liberal media did not pass up an opportunity to smear him, even though we had high unemployment, stagnant growth, an escalating national debt, a declining military, radical Islamic terrorism….all of the important issues that should have been of concern to Americans were overlooked for the sake of reelecting a marginal-at-best black president.  Now we have learned that the Obama campaign hired Fusion GPS to deliberately smear Mitt Romney.. History will bear this out.  So, as I am typing this,  I am contemplating whether there will be a blog 101.  My original goal of 100 blogs has now been met.  My thanks to Houston Nefoo, Grandma P and the Bayou Mauler for assisting me with my hobby.

How Deep Is That Swamp?

Stop the presses!  Man the ramparts!  Fill the moats!  Double up the manpower on the ‘Clinton Suicide Prevention’ hotline!

Frankly, I am concerned about the psychological condition of the the Hillary Clinton supporters that have now found out that the Russians did not assist Donald Trump on the way to the presidency.  Could Hillary actually have lost the election for other reasons?  I am concerned about the psychological mental imbalance that the 50 million liberal wonks, who are now clutching their teddy bears for comfort,  must now be suffering because of her defeat.  And…..there is even talk that Hillary may indeed have been the person colluding with the Russians!  Could this get any worse?  How could this possibly be?  But never fear.  I, Grandpa T, am going to attempt to talk you down from your precipice of despair.

Let us take a trip down memory lane.  In 1992, the United States elected a POTUS named William Jefferson Clinton.  He was charming.  He received an overwhelming amount of female votes because of his appeal over his competitors.  (George H.W. Bush in 1992,  Bob Dole in 1996)  And, as later proved, he had the morality of a snake.  Yes, Bill decided to take up with a White House intern, and their affair became public.  But , Bill, being the power seeking cur that he was, lied about the affair just prior to the upcoming reelection campaign of 1996.  “I did not have relations with that  woman.”  And, you liberal wonks, decided that your man just could not be lying like a cheap rug, and decided that because ‘boys will be boys’, you reelected him.  Later, Bill was charged with being a sexual predator.  More importantly, he was required to pay, as a result of a court case, damages to one or more of his victims.  But during all of this, while he should have been impeached, his loving wife, Hillary, stood by her man.  And, because a better script could not have been written by the National Enquirer or by Hollywood, she was regarded as the ever dutiful wife.  As her reward for supporting Bill (and to maintain power), Hillary ran, and won a senate seat in a state she never lived in, New York.  Hillary lamented the fact that on the day that they left the White House, they were broke.  Small wonder, because that’s what sexual predator settlements do to your net worth.

I must interject at this point, that in my entire business career, if someone has deplorable morals regarding their personal lives, they very often have these same morals with their business life.  I digress.

Because of book deals and exorbitant speech fees, the Clintons’ made a quick financial recovery.  In 1997, they founded the Clinton Foundation.  This foundation is headquartered in New York City, but any donations funded to the organization go through Canada.  The reason is because Canada has laws protecting the identity of anyone contributing to the foundation, both foreign and domestic.  After being sanitized, the funds are then forwarded to New York.

So, during the same election that George W. Bush was elected in the fall of 2000, Hillary was elected to her first term as a U.S. Senator from New York.  She was reelected in 2006.

Now the presidential election of the fall of 2008 rolls around, and Hillary believes that she is finally going to get her shot at becoming POTUS.  But…no…this upstart named Barrack Obama, a relative unknown politician receives the Democratic nomination.  Why?  Because every political poll at that time showed that she would lose the election, regardless of the Republican challenger.  So the DNC made a bold and desperate move and nominated Obama.  After his win, Obama appointed Hillary as the Secretary of State.  As it turned out, a very nice consolation prize for supporting him during the election campaign.  The Clinton’s kept their fingers in the political power pie!

I have to backtrack and say that for the purposes of intrigue, the next part of this article should be held to last.  It would provide for a dramatic ending.   But for the purposes of accurate chronological portrayal, it needs to be discussed next.

During Hillary’s tenure as Secretary of State, somehow the Obama administration decided it would be a wise decision to sell Russia 20% of our enriched uranium reserves.  This occurred in 2010.  Perhaps you have heard about it recently as it is dominating the news?  Now I will admit that in 2010, I wondered, as a concerned citizen, why we would sell enriched uranium to a questionable Russian entity.  Why would Congress allow such a transaction to take place?   Well, part of my wonderment has recently been fulfilled when it was reported that this transaction took place because they bypassed Congress.  A decision of that magnitude, with worldwide implication made without Congressional approval!

So why, dear readers and liberal wonks, was this transaction allowed to take place?  And…more importantly, what did Russia do with that enriched uranium.  Let me assist both the liberal and conservative readers by attempting to talk you off the precipice of despair.  The ‘why’ portion of this ordeal is easy.  It was done for MONEY!  Lots and lots of money!  Some in the form of kickbacks, and some in the form of $140 million contributions from Russia to the Clinton Foundation.  In the meantime,  Bill was receiving exorbitant fees for 20 minute speeches in Russia.  Let me interject that the scab is just now being torn off this wound.  The number of people involved, the members of the past administration involved, and the amount of monies being involved will blow your mind once this has been investigated.  We are talking billions!  And the Clinton’s are in this up to there necks as Hillary was deeply involved in this transaction occurring.

One question not being asked is, ‘what did Russia do with the enriched uranium?‘  Now the official response from this whole can of worms is that they would sell the enriched uranium back to the United States.  Does that make sense?  Why would our country buy back what we already own.  Here is my fear, and for once I hope I am wrong.  What if Russia sold this enriched uranium to Iran?  What if Russia sold it to North Korea.  There are billions of dollars at stake here, and our country delivered $1 billion to Iran, in cash, during the Obama administration.  Would this not be treason of the highest magnitude?  Could Iran or North Korea use our own uranium to attack us or our allies?  If so, there should be people in prison.

Now we get to the 2016 elections.  Hillary’s time has come.  She and the DNC decided to undermine Bernie Sander’s election campaign.  But, what the hell, Hillary deserves to win regardless of the cost.  But the upstart Trump needs a political haircut.  Enter…..Fusion GPS.  Ah yes.  Fusion GPS is a company founded in 2011 in, of all places, Swamp Central, also know as Washington, D.C.  Their primary business is opposition research.  They will research a political opponent for a fee.  One of their first targets?  Mitt Romney.  If they do not find any dirt worthy of a good smear campaign, they will make dirt up.  Then they will hire some down and out reporter or author to submit the recently fertilized dirt to a media source.  There are no shortage of media sources that will publish fiction as fact, especially if it is against a Conservative or against the POTUS.   Of course, the article will be submitted stating that it was thoroughly researched and investigated.

So now, we find out that the Trump dossier, that damning piece of evidence that has triggered all kinds of investigations into Trump’s alleged ties with the Russians, is more fictitious than ‘Alice in Wonderland.’  And who paid the $9 million to Fusion GPS for this great work of fiction?  These guys received their payments from the DNC and the Clinton Campaign Committee.

This little dust-up, much like the enriched uranium scandal, are just beginning to surface.  All kinds of election laws were broken because of this.  And now, we have Robert Mueller and his hired team of 17 attorneys, investigating alleged ties between Trump and Russia, based on a fictitious piece of literature generated by Fusion GPS.  Did I mention that Robert Mueller was Director of the FBI during the Russian uranium purchase?  This investigation is going to cost the taxpayers millions, and who should pay for that?  I think the Clinton’s should pay for the whole damn thing.

Another very disturbing fact that has surfaced during this Fusion GPS affair, is that the CIA  and FBI took this garbage as fact, and consequently were granted wire-tap privileges of Trump because of it.  How frickin’ incompetent are these organizations?  If our two primary intelligence agencies can’t separate fact from fiction, our country is in a world of hurt.

So for my liberal wonks that need to come to a logical, analytical stage of emotional fulfillment as to why Hillary lost the election, grab your teddy bear tighter and let me offer the following:

  1.  Bill and Hillary have always been about money,
  2.  Bill and Hillary have always been about power, because power equates to money.
  3.  Bill and Hillary do not care one bit about average American Joe.  They hob nob with celebrities with money, not the working people in Wisconsin.
  4. Hillary spent over $1 billion on her election campaign.  Where did that money come from?
  5. Lying and declaring ignorance are not uncommon to Bill and Hillary. (Or the DNC.)
  6. Neither have been forthcoming about their personal lives.  Don’t expect anything better in their political lives.
  7. Hillary is not  a likable person.
  8. When in doubt as to the Clinton motivation, refer to 1 and 2.

So in the spirit of easing your troubled minds about Hillary’s loss in the last election, here is my soothing, conciliatory advice for you and your teddy bear, “Sorry.  But your candidate sucked!”

It is obvious from the recent events that draining the swamp is going to take bigger equipment and more equipment.  Many people believe that Donald Trump is brash and unreasonable.  I am beginning to think he has the patience of Job.  If I were him, I would immediately terminate any of the Obama strap hangers that have proven to be incompetent, non-trustworthy, or colluding to halt any progress for his administration or are attempting to cover-up the numerous transgressions of the past administration.  Make America Great Again!

Common Sense Applied to Campaign Promises. Are We On the Same Planet?

In the twentieth century, campaign slogans and campaign promises were much more simple than those of today.  In the 1900 presidential election, William McKinley used the slogan, ‘Four more years of the full dinner pail.’  How many millennials would even know what a dinner pail is?

In 1916, Woodrow Wilson’s big slogan was, ‘War in the east, peace in the west, thank God for Woodrow Wilson.’  Well, this slogan is interesting for two reasons: firstly, the US got involved with WWI one year later, and secondly, who today would include God in their campaign slogan?

The most famous campaign promise/slogan was used by Herbert Hoover in his 1928 election.  His famous slogan?  ‘A chicken in every pot and a car in every garage.’  Now common sense would easily indicate that the Federal Government was not going to buy everyone a chicken and a car.  The gist of that slogan was that America would be so prosperous that everyone would be able to afford food and a car. It was still an era of self-sufficiency and independence in the US.   Well, like Wilson entering WWI, Hoover got thrown for a loop because of the stock market crash of 1929, less than a year after he took the oath of office.

Hoover lost the election to Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1932.  FDR’s biggest campaign promise was to provide a ‘New Deal.’  FDR quickly turned on another one of his campaign promises….balancing the budget.   According to one historian, FDR issued in a government that created a ‘firm desire on the part of the American people to use the government as an agency of human welfare.’  FDR determined that balancing the federal budget was outweighed by what he termed, ‘government activism.’

Now we get to some of the more recent campaign issues and promises.

Have you seen the Hillary Clinton TV ad stating that she would tax corporations and wealthy individuals, as it is time for them to pay their fair share of taxes?  I have seen this ad too many times already.  But be that as it may, one thing has become evident, no one from her staff knows how to use a computer for research, … only for sending classified emails.  Here are the most current statistics, easily found by anyone who is familiar with using google.  The United States pays the highest federal corporate taxes of the 34 industrial nations of the world. The maximum federal corporate tax rate is 39%.  In the worldly picture, the US is tied with Puerto Rico, and only behind the United Arab Emirates (55%) and Chad (40%).  The US federal tax rate is 16 percentage points higher that the worldwide average of 22.8%.  (For my info junkies, the federal tax rate in Mexico is 30%)

But, just like the TV commercial, there is more.  There are also state corporate taxes.  Would you like to guess which state has the highest corporate tax rate?  New York?  California?  New Jersey?  All good guesses but the state with the highest corporate tax rate at 12% is……………..Iowa!  Yup, those Hawkeyes finally got to be #1 at something.  Four states levy a maximum state corporate tax rate higher than 9%.  Those states are Pennsylvania (9.99%), District of Columbia (9.4%), Minnesota (9.84%) and Alaska (9.4%)  Ohio, Texas and Washington forego state corporate taxes but instead impose gross receipt taxes on businesses.  Nevada, South Dakota and Wyoming levy neither corporate income nor gross receipts taxes.  All the other states have a maximum corporate tax rate.

Here is an example of why US corporations are moving their headquarters and facilities out of the US.  Medtronic is located in Minnesota.  They make sophisticated medical devices.  Let us imagine that Medtronic makes $100 million profit in a year.  According to our present taxing structure, they would pay $39 million to the federal government and almost $10 to the state of Minnesota.  In round numbers, they pay $49 million in taxes and get to keep $51 million of their profit.  But wait….Medtronic is moving their entire operation to Ireland.  Why?  The new corporate tax rate is going to be 18%, with no state corporate taxes.  Under this scenario, they pay $18 million in taxes to Ireland and get to keep $82 million of their $100 million profit.

And Hillary Clinton wants to tax corporations more?

Let us take this one step further.  Do you know what percentage of federal tax receipts are attributable to corporations and what percentage are attributable to individual income taxes?  Here is a simplified breakdown of where the federal government gets its money:  Social insurance (payroll) taxes are 33.9%, excise taxes are 3.1%, Miscellaneous taxes account for 6.3%, corporate income taxes account for 10.6%, and individual income taxes account for a whooping 46.2% of federal tax revenue.   Would it be common sense to lower corporate tax rates to keep more companies within the United States, thereby creating more jobs?  If we would cut the corporate tax rate in half, would we not create more jobs?  Jobs that would provide more federal income to make up and exceed the difference in lost corporate taxes?

But wait, what are we going to do with all those high income tax payers that are not paying their fair share of taxes?  Well, here again, all those computers at Hillary’s campaign headquarters must be on the blink.  Did you know that the top 1% of the top wage earners in the United States, those people having an adjusted gross income (AGI) higher than $428,713, contribute 37.8% of the personal income taxes paid to the federal government.  The top 5%, those with an AGI greater than $179,760, pay 58.55% of the personal income taxes paid to the federal government.  The top 50% of the US wage earners, with an AGI greater than $36,841 contribute 97.22% of all federal personal income taxes.  Those 50% that are below $36,841 contribute 2.78% to federal personal income taxes. That’s right, 50% of the US population only pays 2.78% of the total federal income tax revenues.  So who pays their fair share of taxes????  There may be tax loopholes that need to be addressed, but if Hillary wants the higher wage earners to contribute more is she advocating a flat tax for everyone?  I doubt that.  That would be too much common sense for today’s political climate. (Remember Mitt Romney being castigated by mentioning that 47% of the population does not pay taxes?  All true.)

How about that campaign promise of free college for everyone.  OK all you college bound students, who will ultimately pay for your education?  That would be all of us, even though there are other ways to pay for school.  I know this is out of vogue, but you could begin working part-time jobs and start saving money.  I had one year of college paid for before I started.  There are scholarships and grants.  There are, heaven forbid, jobs to do while in college.  I did that as well and graduated without a college debt.  You could go into the military and gain use of the GI bill.  Viet Nam prompted my generation to make early life decisions, but until you know what you exactly want to do, why waste your money and flounder in college.  A little maturity goes a long way when it comes to life decisions.

In 2013, the average cost of tuition and fees in private colleges was $32,405.  In state resident public schools, tuition and fees averaged $9,410.  For out of state residents attending a public college, the tuition and fees averaged $23,893.  None of these costs include living expenses.  This year, there will be 21 million students attending college.  If the government were to pick up the tab at an average of $20,000 per student, that would cost, if my math is correct, $420 billion a year.  That would be almost 15% of our $3 trillion annual budget.  It would match our defense budget.   Oh, don’t forget, our federal deficit is almost $20 trillion and we are expecting a $600 billion shortfall for the 2016 budget.  So, do you members of the ‘give me a trophy for participating’ generation and the ‘I can’t work, I’m going on spring break’ generation really think the government should pay for your school?

We will build a wall.  How many times have we heard that recently?  I am neither a proponent or an opponent of this particular campaign promise.  But, having said that I would like to ask a question, “Would you get on an airplane without seeing everyone going through security?”   Not in today’s environment.  The same procedures apply if you want to board a cruise ship.  Your bags are taken and examined as well as your carry-on baggage.  So if we would not board a plane or a ship without going through stringent security, why would we oppose stopping illegal aliens and drugs from entering this country.  I have no problem with work permits or temporary visas, but everyone needs to be vetted.  I would hope some smart people could come up with a quick efficient way of granting work permits and temporary visas.

There are many more campaign promises and slogans circulating during this election year.  I just selected some of the juicier ones for review in this blog.  The next time a candidate comes up with something that smells a little fishy, all in the hopes of buying votes, do a little research.  I am sure your computers work just fine.

The Late Republican Party. Suicide By Stupidity!

There has been much political speculating that the Republican party will not survive if Donald J. Trump is the Republican nominee for POTUS.  I have been mulling this over and I have come to the conclusion that maybe the Republican party should not survive, and here are my reasons.

Two years ago, during the last mid-term election, the voters of America once again gave control of the House and the Senate to the Republicans.  That election should have been taken as the ‘warning shot across the bow,’ indicating that voters were no longer satisfied with the status quo or the Obama administration.  My initial thoughts were that at least, with both houses controlled by the Republican party, a set of brakes would be applied to stop the Obama insanity.  What have they done?  They were elected to overturn Obama Care, and they have not done that.  (Yes, I understand that Obama would veto anything concerning his health care program,   More on that later.)

We got rid of the gatekeeper from hell, Harry Reed,  as senate majority leader, and actually submitted and voted on budgets for the first time of the Obama administration.  Are those budgets being followed?  Are they cutting costs, eliminating waste, and reversing the spiraling national debt?  No. No. And No.

What has this Congress done?  From my viewpoint, Obama has forged ahead with all of his crazy ideas.  We elected that Congress to protect its citizens.   We elected that Congress to straighten out the financial mess that this country faces.  Why do we have this Congress, and all of the expenses of supporting it….if they don’t do anything?

With the Republicans in control of both houses, I blame them.  It has become obvious since the beginning of all those Republican presidential debates that the Republican party has lost contact with the average, conservative American.  Rather than listening to what the average American is concerned about which caused the Republicans to gain control of Congress, apparently they are too stupid to have read the tea leaves, or, they are so self-serving they just don’t care.  The perfect paragon of this was Jeb Bush.  Two years ago, he was the ‘golden boy’ of the Republican party.  He was known, and he was a dynamic fund raiser.  But how well did he do in the debates?  It was obvious that Jeb, much like the Republican party, had underestimated the concerns and anger of mainstream America.  Gun control.  Border security.  Immigration control.  Job creation.  When Jeb was talking, if you would have shut your eyes, it would have been difficult to tell which party he represented.

And there is one more very big thing that both parties have underestimated.  People are tired of the status quo, and they are really becoming tired of career politicians.  It was refreshing to see three non-political career people in the debates:  Carly Fiorina, Ben Carson, and Donald Trump.

Now here we are with less than two weeks before the Republican national convention.

Dump Trump!  Anyone but Trump!  Trump Sucks!  There is no shortage of this, and unfortunately, much of it is coming from career Republican politicians.

Here are three possible scenarios for the convention.

1.  Attempt to undermine the delegate process and replace Trump with another candidate.  

Now you would think that if your apparent front runner brought out more voters to vote in the primaries for one candidate than ever before in the history of the United States, your party would be ecstatic.  Obviously that is not the case.  There has been much talk about attempting to sabotage the delegate procedure and put someone else in, rather than Trump.  Who would they get?  That smooth talking Mitt Romney, who has gone out of his way to back stab and denigrate Trump at every possible opportunity?  His little tirades are so despicable that I am sorry I voted for him in 2012.  I would not vote for him in 2016.  Many Americans who voted for Trump during the primaries would not vote for someone else if they feel their wishes have been cast aside.  If this were done, for sure Hillary Clinton would be voted in as POTUS.

I have to admit that Trump has kind of been my guy from the beginning.  I don’t have his hats or bumper stickers or have my lawn covered with his signs.  When asked if I support Trump, my answer has always been the same, “Donald Trump may not be who you like, but he may be what this country needs.”

This is similar to the Rush Limbaugh approach.  During the debates, one Cruz supporter called his show and wanted to know why Limbaugh had yet to attack Donald Trump.  Rush’s response was priceless.  “I will not attack anyone who has a chance of defeating Hillary Clinton.”  That attitude should have been adopted by the Republican party.

2.  Run someone as a third party candidate.

This option gives me nightmares!  It brings to mind the 1992 election when Ross Perot ran against George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton.  Bush was seeking his second term.  Perot, an egocentric conservative decided to enter the race.  The end result?  Bill Clinton won the election with only 42% of the popular vote.  58% of the country voted conservative, but the liberal won!

Just think.  If it weren’t for Ross Perot, we may never had heard about Bill or Hillary Clinton.

Anyway, this is the worst possible scenario for the country.  If some established Republicans decide this is feasible, they obviously don’t care what happens to this country.  Hillary Clinton would win handily if the conservative vote is again divided.

3.  Support Trump.

It would be about time for the Republican party to step up and support Trump financially and morally.  He did not win so many delegates by mistake.  There is no mistake about what he is thinking.  He may not be as eloquent as Reagan, Kennedy or FDR, but everyone understands what he is saying.

Paul Ryan has played patty cake politics with his lukewarm, milk-toast attitude.  So hear is a word of advice to Paul and all of the other backroom schemers concerning this convention:  Support the people’s candidate….or be prepared to suffer the people’s wrath at the polls!  

Mr. Ryan, you are the speaker of the House of Representatives because the people entrusted the Republican party to right this floundering ship of state.  If you or the party decide to pull any underhanded shenanigans in this convention, you will not be speaker after the election, and you may not be a representative.

You gained control of Congress to repeal Obama Care.  Will you accomplish that with Hillary Clinton as President?  You gained control of Congress to provide security to the people.  Will that occur if Clinton continues with Obama’s policies?  Closing borders, and vetting immigrants are a top concern of the average American.  Have you kept track of the number of murders being done by Islamic terrorists in our country and in other Western countries?  Will anything be done about this if Hillary is President?  The Liberals look at an open border as providing more potential voters for the Democratic party.  How about the national debt?  If people think it is a difficult economic environment now, what would happen if the US basically goes bankrupt like Greece.  Like Spain.  Like Italy.  All Western countries whose socialistic policies have created a unmanageable burden because the governments were too weak and unwilling to address the overspending.  Do you think this would improve with Hillary as president?

I am definitely tired of living under an administration where the cops and the military are the bad guys and the black thugs are the heroes.  Is this what Obama meant when he said he was going to ‘bring the country together?’  This country has never been so divided!

So, Mr. Ryan and all you career politicians that appear to be quaking because a non-career politician may see just how deep the cesspool is in Washington, D.C; I suggest that it is time to quit worrying about how you are going to be reelected, and begin doing what is right for this country.  If the Republican party does not unite to defeat Hillary Clinton, then the United States will suffer and the Republican party may very well disappear because of stupidity, timidity and internal bickering by self-centered, power hungry bureaucrats.  Is this what the Republican party wants as its legacy?

Like I said earlier, “Trump may not be who you like, but he may be what this country needs.”

Make American Great Again.  Amen.

PS.  This blog was written the afternoon before the shooting of eleven police officers in Dallas, five of them fatally.  My heartfelt condolences to the families of these policemen that were murdered by snipers in a coordinated attack during a protest.  Some of these officers were standing in support with the protesters.