August 24, 2016

Trump as Russian Oligarch -- his business-political model

This is a very interesting article, but when I went back to get an excerpt, I got shut down by a box saying I couldn't get any more free articles. Could someone else please post an excerpt? Thanks!

http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/Op-Ed/2016/08/23/Trump-as-Russian-oligarch-his-business-political-model-Anne-Applebaum/stories/201608310091

August 24, 2016

Hillary's being swift-boated because she's advocated for "micro-finance" since 1983 -- the opposite

of big banking.

One of the (less than 1% of) Clinton Foundation donors she has met with or called was the Nobel-prize winning economist who first developed the concept.

The AP featured her meetings with him as a sign of something shady going on, even though she's been talking and working with him since 1983. His being a Clinton foundation donor had nothing to do with his access to her.

But his promotion of a concept that threatened big banks' lock on the market certainly has something to do with Hillary herself being targeted. She's being swift boated. A strength of hers is being turned into the opposite . . . and the AP and most of the media is playing along.

http://washingtonmonthly.com/2016/08/24/how-the-ap-spun-the-story-about-the-clinton-foundation/#.V72vJUbthsT.facebook

But here is where the AP blew their story. In an attempt to provide an example of how this becomes an “optics” problem for Hillary Clinton, they focused much of the article on the fact that she met several times with Muhammad Yunus, a Clinton Foundation donor. In case you don’t recognize that name, he is an economist from Bangladesh who pioneered the concepts of microcredit and microfinance as a way to fight poverty, and founded Grameen Bank. For those efforts, Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2010.

The connection the AP tries to make is that SoS Clinton met with Yunus because he was a Clinton Foundation donor. What they didn’t mention is that their relationship goes back over 30 years to the time Hillary (as first lady of Arkansas) heard about his work and brought him to her state to explore the possibility of implementing microfinance programs to assist the poor.

During the time that Clinton was Secretary of State, the government of Bangladesh was trying to discredit Yunus and remove him from leadership at Grameen Bank due to the fact that he was seen as a political threat. In case you think Clinton’s engagement on that presents and “optics” problem, consider this press release from then-Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee John Kerry.

August 24, 2016

George HW Bush's IRS chief calls for Trump to release returns -- and endorses Hillary.

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/08/22/trump-has-no-excuse-to-not-release-his-tax-returns-commentary.html

There is, however, a first step that Trump has no excuse for not taking. He can and should immediately release the first two pages of his Form 1040, along with his Schedule A, for the past 20 years. This would tell us how much he makes, how much he pays in taxes, and how much he contributes to charity.

Releasing this information would have no impact on any pending or future IRS audit of Trump. Zero. None. It is a risk-free first step with no downside. While painting a far from complete portrait, it would answer a few of the questions that Trump himself has raised during the campaign: He claims that he makes a lot of money; he claims that he makes significant charitable contributions; and he claims that he reduces his tax liability as far as current law allows.

The first two pages of his enormous tax returns, along with his Schedule A, will shed important light on these claims. The first two pages plus the Schedule A of the Clintons' 2015 tax return tell us they made $10.6 million; that they made charitable contributions of $1.0 million; and that they paid federal taxes of $3.6 million, for an effective tax rate of 34 percent. We have that same information about the Clintons for the past 20 years. The first two pages of Trump's tax returns, together with his Schedule A, would provide us with the same information for him. He can and should share that information with no audit risk whatsoever.

This would be a beneficial first step. His full return, as is the case with any individual having complex business affairs, would provide further important information, helping to paint a more complete portrait of Trump. For example, it could provide insight into Trump's record in business, such as more information about his important sources of income (real estate, domestic and off-shore investments) and the tax impact of debt forgiven in his bankruptcies.

A couple of my own disclosures: I had the honor of being appointed IRS chief counsel by President Reagan, and being appointed IRS commissioner and then Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy at the United States Treasury by President George H.W. Bush. This year, I will be voting for Hillary Clinton. I am confident she will keep us safe and that she could and would work with Republicans in Congress to lead our country to a better future for all Americans.

August 24, 2016

HuffPost: Voters now trust Hillary more than what's-his-name on EVERY major issue.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/voters-dont-trust-trump_us_57bb5784e4b00d9c3a19451f?section=&

More voters trust Hillary Clinton than Donald Trump on nearly every key issue ― a feat not achieved by any candidate in recent elections, according to polling data aggregated by The Huffington Post.

Trump trails Clinton in voter trust on each of the issues that typically rank highest in people’s minds when evaluating a presidential candidate ― the economy, immigration, terrorism, national security, foreign policy, social issues and criminal justice, according to a HuffPost aggregation of polling data. Clinton even leads on the topics that Republicans have historically been perceived as better-equipped to handle.

HuffPost looked at “trust” questions from all publicly available polls between July and August that met the criteria for HuffPost Pollster. The numbers reported are the averages of these polls.

SNIP

August 24, 2016

Trump's new flipflop: according to NBC, he's going to adopt OBAMA'S policy on illegal immigration.

He says Obama has a very strong policy and that's what he's going to adopt.

August 23, 2016

Sad New Poll Shows Trump And Clinton Basically Tied In Missouri

Source: Huffington Post

The Show Me State went to Republican candidates in the last four presidential elections.

Hillary Clinton is essentially tied with Donald Trump in red-tinted Missouri, according to a new poll.

Clinton garners 43 percent support to Trump’s 44 percent among likely Missouri voters in a Monmouth University poll that has a margin of error of 4.9 percent.

While the survey is strikingly bad news for Trump ― Missouri went for the Republican in each of the past four presidential contests ― it’s just one survey. Others show Trump ahead, and HuffPost Pollster tracking shows the conspiracy theorist-in-chief maintaining his advantage in the state.



Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-missouri_us_57bc71d7e4b03d51368addc7

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Kudos to the headline writer.

August 23, 2016

WAPost: the latest Clinton email story just is NOT a scandal

My personal opinion is that the press blows up stories like this to be "fair." Since they have so many negative stories of Trump that deserve front page placement, they take nothingburger stories of Hillary's and make them front page news.

But that isn't fair.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2016/08/23/the-latest-clinton-email-story-just-isnt-a-scandal/?utm_term=.745d0c0e374f

There’s a new round of “revelations” concerning Hillary Clinton’s time at the State Department today, and since it involves some people sending emails to other people, it gets wrapped up with that other story about Clinton. Are you ready for the shocking news, the scandalous details, the mind-blowing malfeasance? Well hold on to your hat, because here it is:

When Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State, many people wanted to speak with her.

Astonishing, I know.

Here’s the truth: every development in any story having to do with anything involving email and Hillary Clinton is going to get trumpeted on the front page as though it were scandalous, no matter what the substance of it actually is. I’ll discuss some reasons why in a moment, but we could have no better evidence than the treatment of this particular story.


SNIP

The second story is that Judicial Watch, an organization that has been pursuing Clinton for many years, has released a trove of emails it obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests, emails that supposedly show how donors to the Clinton Foundation got special access, and presumably special favors, from Clinton while she was at State.

The only problem is that the emails in question reveal nothing of the sort. What they actually reveal is that a few foundation donors wanted access, but didn’t actually get it.

SNIP

But that doesn’t mean that any story touching on her emails deserves screaming headlines and dark insinuations, and this one certainly doesn’t. So why isn’t it on page A14 where it belongs? The most important reason is the oldest one: the “Clinton Rules,” which state that any allegation about Bill and/or Hillary Clinton, no matter how outlandish and no matter how thin the evidence for it, should be treated as serious and worthy of extended attention and unrestrained speculation. In 2016, that’s even more true for anything involving anybody’s emails.

August 23, 2016

Al Gore: Climate/environmental voters should vote for Clinton, not 3rd party.

http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/292196-gore-climate-voters-should-not-vote-for-a-third-party

Former Vice President Al Gore is urging Americans concerned about climate change and considering a third-party presidential candidate to vote for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton instead.

In an interview with ThinkProgress, Gore said he understands the “feelings and misgivings” of voters turned off by both Clinton and GOP nominee Donald Trump.

But he said voters who want to tackle climate change should vote for the former secretary of State, not Green Party candidate Jill Stein or anyone else.

“I particularly urge anyone who is concerned about the climate crisis, sees it as the kind of priority that I see it as, to look at the sharp contrast between the solar plan that Secretary Clinton has put forward, and her stated commitment to support the Clean Power Plan, and the contrast between what she has said and is proposing with the statements of the Republican nominee, which give me great concern,” Gore told ThinkProgress.

SNIP

August 23, 2016

Boston Globe: Hillary's email "scandals" are pure fiction. "Sound and fury signifying nothing."

https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2016/08/23/clinton-mail-scandals-are-pure-fiction/ryXZoEeqANOPSiL7O33QuJ/story.html

Take, for example, the imbroglio over newly released e-mails regarding interactions between the Clinton Foundation and the State Department when Clinton was secretary of state. These exchanges, primarily between Clinton’s assistant Huma Abedin and Clinton Foundation top honcho Doug Band, have become Exhibit A in efforts to brand Clinton as a corrupt figure and the Foundation as a pay-for-play operation. The evidence, however, speaks to a different reality.

SNIP


The scandal here seems to be that people who gave money to the Clinton Foundation had e-mails sent to the Clinton State Department requesting favors that were repeatedly denied. Still, evidence has never been the key ingredient of a Clinton scandal. Optics and the appearance of scandal are always where the action has been.

The recent e-mail revelations “illustrate the way the Clintons’ international network of friends and donors was able to get access to Hillary Clinton and her inner circle” says the Post. All this adds “to the controversy” about “major donors” to the foundation getting “access to other power players,” says Politico. Or, as shown by the evidence, not getting access.

SNIP

That those questions were raised and answered in a way that exonerated Mrs. Clinton is seemingly secondary to the fact that questions had been raised. Even when cleared of wrongdoing, the Clintons cannot escape the ever-creeping shadow of the dark insinuations of their political enemies.

SNIP

Clinton is running for president and thus merits the scrutiny she is receiving. But the American people deserve an investigation into her record that separates fact from fiction and relies on evidence, not innuendo. So far, that’s not happening.

August 23, 2016

So much for Dornsife. The NBC survey monkey, another tracking panel, puts Hillary ahead by 8.

Nationally.

I prefer traditional polls to these tracking polls, but Dornsife has been an outlier all along.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/poll-hillary-clinton-leads-donald-trump-nationally-by-8-percentage-points/

Hillary Clinton leads Donald Trump nationally by 8 percentage points, according to an NBC News/SurveyMonkey Weekly Election Tracking Poll released Tuesday.

The poll found Clinton leads Trump 50 percent to 42 percent -- a lead that’s not much different from her 9-percentage-point lead last week.

In a four-way match-up, Clinton leads Trump 43 percent to 38 percent while 11 percent back Libertarian Gary Johnson and 5 percent support Green Party candidate Jill Stein.

Clinton has an extensive lead among black voters with 87 percent supporting her compared to the 8 percent who back Trump. Nearly three-quarters of Hispanic voters also support Clinton compared to 22 percent who support Trump. Two-thirds of Asian Americans support Clinton, the poll found, while 23 percent support Trump.