Tag: Politics

SO HERE WE GO CHARGING TOWARD NOVEMBER

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 3 Comments

For perspective, remember that the infamous Chicago convention of ’68 took place nearly a month later, in late August. This is going to be a long and brutal battle.

The national government’s been gridlocked, thanks to a Republican vow to oppose and undercut anything President Obama has desired.  They have no basis for blaming him or his administration for anything, then. The failures really fall back on their own shoulders.

The challenge now is to elect officials who will work together to solve problems on behalf of all Americans.

Trump and his party have, in practice, already excluded all but older white males of a nominally Christian persuasion. As a white male, and as a radical Christian, I’m deeply offended by their arrogance and presumption.

The alternative of either the nation’s first woman president or first Jewish president has been far more welcoming in the primary season. Now, if Democrats and Independent voters stay united, the reality of an inclusive White House that serves all Americans is in reach.

So here we go.

NO MATTER WHAT, IT’S NOT PALIN

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 1 Comment

With all of the hoopla surrounding vice presidential picks, I can’t help but wonder where the scrutiny was when John McCain pulled Sarah Palin out of the hat.

His lapse in judgment there may well have cost him the White House.

Quite simply, we dodged the bullet.

Let’s not underestimate the importance of this half of the ticket.

I, for one, am grateful for Joe Biden’s service the past eight years.

WAIT! DO RUSSIANS REALLY ‘OWN’ DONALD J. TRUMP?

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 2 Comments

Apart from the furor over the WikiLeaks release of hacked Democratic National Committee emails is a much bigger, more troubling, question: Exactly why were the Russians doing covert electronic snooping against the American liberal party, anyway?

(Makes me wonder about the presumed security of U.S. State Department lines, by the way – the ones Hillary Clinton avoided at times, to the consternation of her partisan attackers.)

We might begin with the fact that Russian president Vladimir Putin hates Hillary Clinton, probably because of her toughness as Secretary of State in opposition to his aggression.

But now Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo makes more serious connections as he looks at what he calls “the seeming bromance between Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.”

Quite simply, as he notes, ” There is a lot of Russian money flowing into Trump’s coffers and he is conspicuously solicitous of Russian foreign policy priorities.”

Marshall then observes, “Trump has been blackballed by all major U.S. banks with the exception of Deutschebank, which is of course a foreign bank with a major U.S. presence. He has steadied and rebuilt his financial empire with a heavy reliance on capital from Russia. At a minimum the Trump organization is receiving lots of investment capital from people close to Vladimir Putin.”

And Marshall then goes on to note the close Russian relationships with Trump’s closest advisers. That alone should be raising red flags. No pun intended.

It’s all truly frightening stuff, especially for those of us who have viewed many right-wing operatives as more dangerous to American freedoms than any of the “communist takeover” we’ve long been warned against. (Marshall, by the way, steers clear of conspiracy theories.)

How is it Trump’s Republican opponents overlooked these connections? Well, for one, they never took him seriously. He was, after all, essentially a comical TV entertainer. Or so they thought. Look at the disaster they could have prevented.

But now? Could Trump be a Manchurian Candidate?

Put the dots together, and it’s fair to guess, this is worse than we might imagine. Or, as Marshall explains:

“Trump’s tax returns would likely clarify the depth of his connections to and dependence on Russian capital aligned with Putin. And in case you’re keeping score at home: no, that’s not reassuring.”

No wonder Trump has refused to release 10 years of tax filings! On top of all the other shenanigans those documents would likely disclose, we have this reality: He’s in debt up to his eyeballs to Russians! Think about that!

Now, for more from Marshall: “To put this all into perspective, if Vladimir Putin were simply the CEO of a major American corporation and there was this much money flowing in Trump’s direction, combined with this much solicitousness of Putin’s policy agenda, it would set off alarm bells galore.”

Why hasn’t it? Go ahead, blame the mainstream media, if you must. Maybe they’ll catch up. This could be the bombshell to destroy his campaign, believe me, if additional details come to light..

Now, we can also ask: Just how crooked are Trump’s financial dealings? How shaky is his empire? Or how shady? Could it be Russians are simply trying to protect their investment?

For Marshall’s full account, I urge you to click here.

GO AHEAD, ASK

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

Would they live by the Golden Rule? Could they live on the minimum wage, much less raise a family? Will they even donate as much to charities serving the poor as they give to political campaigns? Especially considering how the middle-class has been impoverished?

NOW THAT WE’RE IN THE THICK OF IT

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 2 Comments

Let me confess, I hadn’t intended to blog about the political conventions, but as events unfolded, I couldn’t resist.

But I am intrigued by the unexpected counterpoint my earlier scheduled postings are providing. There’s more to life, after all, than politics, though they can make daily affairs easier or more cumbersome. So here we are, bouncing between the experiences of camping in the high Cascades or walking around town or tending the garden and the manipulated circus that’s become the new Mistake on the Lake. Maybe the real wilderness adds an essential ballast or balance or at least a breath of fresh air.

I suspect this wild ride’s going to continue quite a while. Let’s try to keep our feet on the ground as we go. And don’t forget to smell the roses or coffee. Keep our priorities straight. Maybe even with a sense of humor.

NOT THE AMERICA WE KNOW IN OUR LIVES

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

As the voice across the room says of Donald Trump’s 75-minute nomination acceptance speech, the longest in American history: His is not the America I know.

Maybe that’s how it looks to someone whose billions came from his parents and casinos, but to real working Americans?

Ours is not a place overrun with fear and loathing. We’re not rich in worldly terms, barely middle-class, in fact, but we have good friends, neighbors, an adequate income, a comfortable house, health care, decent folks as our police and firefighters; we can talk to our elected officials, the downtown has rebounded into a charming district, we even feel safe in our frequent visits to Boston.

Not that things are perfect. We are appalled by the police shootings of innocent American black citizens, as well as the shooting of police officers themselves, but that’s a consequence of the current interpretation of the Second Amendment, nothing we can blame on the Democrats. And we are appalled by the redistribution of wealth from the middle-class to the richest one percent of the population, but that, too, points to Republican decisions. And that’s before we get to climate change, which the Republicans won’t even admit is happening, much less that its causes can be mitigated. In other words, those who won’t even admit they created the problem aren’t those I’d trust to correct it. Yes, things could be better — much better — but we know there have always been problems.

Trump-Pence keep portraying as America as broken, but from everything I’ve seen, the country’s in much better shape than it was when the Bush-Cheney squad left the White House. And, let’s be clear, for the past eight years Republicans have done everything they can to sabotage that economic and societal turnaround. In fact, for a list of the biggest troubles and their solutions, you need to listen to Bernie Sanders rather than billionaire Trump. When it comes to fixing anything — other than in an underhanded fashion — Trump remains clueless.

If I take my car in for service, I want a mechanic who can diagnose the condition correctly before I’ll allow him to touch anything more. I don’t want him messing with the brakes if the problem’s really the latch to the trunk. I don’t want to be paying to rip good parts away or to do anything that makes the situation worse. You know what to call folks like that.

Bottom line? The Trump-Pence promises are empty, based on largely campaign-manufactured problems.

By the way, demonizing three-quarters of the population is no way to “make America one again” unless, of course, they unite in response — then you might say Trump-Pence has made the majority one again. Just not the way or the agenda Trump-Pence envisioned.

Last night will remain a dark moment in American history. But we’re praying for Light.

JUST FOR PERSPECTIVE

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 2 Comments

Simply wondering. Does anyone remember:

  • Jeb Bush
  • Ben Carson
  • Chris Christie
  • Ted Cruz
  • Carly Fiorina
  • Jim Gilmore
  • Lindsey Graham
  • Mike Huckabee
  • Bobby Jindal
  • John Kasich
  • George Pataki
  • Rick Perry
  • Marco Rubio
  • Rick Santorum
  • Scott Walker

More specifically, just what do you remember? Anything about their agenda? Or their record? Or has it come down to hair style and bluster?

Miss any of them?

Simply wondering. Just for perspective.

HERE COMES THE HANGOVER … OR WORSE

~ Jnana Hodson ~ Leave a comment

We knew it was coming, but it still comes as a shock. As one conservative tweeted last night, the Republican Party has lost its mind. Or another, more bluntly, “voted to die.” Some said the GOP has even endorsed Putin or at least invited him to speak. And those were the ones who were seeing more or less clearly. Compare that to, say, Chris Christie, who’s still lusting after some crumbs from the table. Is it purely pathetic or worse, tragic? Time will tell.

This is nothing like the party I grew up in, where reason and civility were honored and respected. At least on the surface, in our small part of the world, when Dwight D. Eisenhower was in command. But now?

Donald Trump has had pretty much of a free ride up to this point, but now he’ll finally have to start facing the facts, which aren’t adding up to his boasts. Just how much is he really worth? How bad has his business leadership been? Why is he afraid to release his income-tax statements — or, for that matter, how soon before the public demands to see his emails, too? As for his claims to the Art of the Deal? His co-author’s outing him as a phony.

As I’ve previously explained, the experience of living in New Hampshire, with its test-market role in the presidential campaign season, instills an alertness for the unexpected trip-up that fatally rips through a candidate’s mask. Trump evaded that possibility by largely refusing to engage in the face-to-face encounters with everyday voters here. His not-too-frequent events were largely stage-managed shows, rather than the two-way conversations of Granite State tradition. He never exposed himself to anyone to any significant degree.

His big trip-up — the one that somehow unpredictably takes hold or, as we say in the news business, “has legs” — may be emerging from his staff’s attempt to paint him as a compassionate and caring person. The notion of currying sympathy by having his (third) wife come out from her wall of privacy to say something that would soften his image might have worked. Who knows, maybe the thick accent would have been seen as charming and counter his stream of blasts at immigrants and their American-born children. Or maybe it would harden the perception of hypocrisy. That part was a risk, and it’s hard to tell how it functioned. Instead, the discovery of the lines brazenly stolen from Michelle Obama’s 2008 address in what Melania insisted was a speech she wrote herself now casts questions on all of the positive attributes she tried in invoke. After the cruelty of Trump’s attacks on Ted Cruz’ wife and family, few are likely to show mercy on Trump’s, no matter how much privacy she expects. Remember, this Republican crowd hates President Obama and the First Lady, yet Mrs. Trump turned to them as models to emulate. You can’t have it both ways. Let’s be honest, Michelle Obama is a paragon of intelligence, decency, and tasteful style, hardly what’s come out after Melania’s speech on the opening night in Cleveland as it points to organizational dysfunction in her husband’s campaign staff — his blaming Hillary Clinton’s camp for uncovering the plagiarism rather than his own failures is all too telling in its own way. You’re letting Melania go prime-time without the standard safeguards? From there it’s a short leap to falsehoods about her own accomplishments, from the failure to complete college, as she’s claimed, to the success of her modeling career before Donald came along. Oh, how long before the flood of questions of whether she’s fit to be First Lady, especially in comparison with Hillary’s success there.

It will be fascinating, maybe even painful, to watch Melania’s role in the coming months. Her absence from his side will be noted, as will her silence when she’s in public in his presence. And then if she opens her mouth?

This will not be pretty. But then neither is the nomination.

 

ANYONE ELSE PLAYING BINGO?

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 2 Comments

Leave it to Stephen Colbert to come up with a way of staying awake through the Republican National Convention telecasts. It’s a set of unique BINGO cards you can download and play.

Seriously.

Just look at one and see if his team isn’t covering the bases. Invite your buddies or strong-arm some of the family to sit down and watch the show together. Gee, maybe it’s the one way of making a party out of this political party’s Cleveland circus.

HEEDING THE GHOSTS OF CLEVELAND

~ Jnana Hodson ~ 5 Comments

If anything erupts in Cleveland, we may see smoke harking back to the crowded hotel rooms of an earlier era. Or its blue-gray floating past us might be another specter altogether.

In selecting Quicken Loans Arena for what was supposed to be the coronation of Jeb Bush as its presidential nominee, the Republican Party had no doubt intended to do more than woo a crucial swing state in the November election. The spotlight would have been on the turnaround of a big city not long ago called “the mistake on the lake,” noting its 1969 fire on the polluted Cuyahoga River and the massive 1978 default on municipal loans as well as the struggles of its once-proud professional football and baseball teams. The mighty industrial hub had indeed fallen on hard times, especially as domestic steelmakers collapsed and turned much of the Midwest into a Rust Belt around the same time many whites fled the city for the suburbs, leaving a host of racial challenges in their wake.

Unlike Detroit, Cleveland can point to some progress, which will no doubt be touted. As for manufacturing, it’s bound to be another issue. The city’s once mighty corporations are largely gone. Ghosts of a sort.

There is an irony, though, when we look at the city’s history and the controversy surrounding the presumed nominee, Donald Trump. We’ve already heard rumblings about a brokered convention or of king-makers clustering over cigars in smoky hotel rooms to deal themselves out of a deadlock. Cleveland has a history there, with industrialist Mark Hanna recognized as a key Republican player. Will these ghosts raise their spooky heads?

In the years after the Civil War, Ohio produced seven American presidents. Rutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield, William McKinley, and Warren G. Harding came from Cleveland’s half of the state, flowing into Lake Erie, while Ulysses S. Grant, Benjamin Harrison, and William Howard Taft came from the southern half, dominated by Cincinnati along the Ohio River. Two of those presidents were assassinated. Still, the Buckeye State was a beehive of invention and enterprise, positioned between the East Coast and booming centers like Chicago, Kansas City, and St. Louis to the west.

Hanna wasn’t the only big money player, either. Remember, John D. Rockefeller, co-founder of Standard Oil Co., grew up and lived here, too, and even after antitrust suits broke up his monopoly, the city was long the headquarters of petroleum giant Sohio (Standard Oil Co. of Ohio), before it got gobbled up by BP (British Petroleum).

Cleveland’s proximity to Pittsburgh meant the big players could indeed meet over expensive cigars. It was, after all, steel baron Henry Clay Frick, a Rockefeller aide, who said of Theodore Roosevelt after the 1904 election, “We bought the son of a bitch, but he wouldn’t stay bought.”

There may well be other ghosts. Robert Taft, the conservative standard-bearer from Cincinnati, for one, in his bitter loss to the more moderate Dwight D. Eisenhower – there’s always that question of ideological purity – or of Joseph McCarthy’s Red Scare haunting the party and nation.

Of course, the very mention of loans in the convention site name itself will raise other suspicions. This thing keeps circling back to money, to say nothing of an inflated ego that brags of being loaded. Even Jeb and his record campaign treasure chest might be seen as ghosts running through this convention.

This is getting pretty ghastly, indeed. And we’re still a long way off from Halloween.