The EU's Actual Problem is Not Google, but the EU Itself

Margrethe Vestager, an unelected bureaucrat, in her capacity as Commissioner for Competition of the European Union in Brussels, and formerly a career politician in Denmark, announced a €2.4b fine against Google for alleged antitrust violations in the EU. She said Google abused its power by providing its own companies’ companion services at the top of search results. She found Google “has denied other companies the chance to compete on their merits and to innovate, and most importantly, it has denied European consumers the benefits of competition, genuine choice, and innovation.” Its conduct distorted the market. Thus Google’s conduct was illegal under EU antitrust rules. As I understand it, Google is accused of abusing the market it pioneered. Consumers have choices. They choose Google out of their own free will. Significantly, Margrethe Vestager made no showing consumers were injured by Google’s conduct. Nothing prevents consumers from scrolling down the page and flipping pages. Nothing prevents consumers from using alternate sites, such as Bing or Safari. Nothing prevents consumers from going to Amazon. Nothing prevents consumers from checking out EBAY. Nothing prevents consumers from going directly to company sites. Google has 92% of the global search market and 90% of the European market. The complaint against Google was actually initiated by Microsoft, the arch-monopolist in U.S. computer software. Microsoft has failed and flailed against Google with Bing, eventhough it attached Bing to its operating system found on most personal computers. She’s not through with Google. She’s also looking at Google’s Android platform for cell phones, map app, flight pricing, and local business listings. Google is in a bad legal position with its search engine in Europe because of the choice Commissioner Vestager gave it: Change practices within 90 days or pay a daily fine of 5% of Alphabet Company’s (Google’s corporate parent) daily worldwide earnings. The real problem with Google from European eyes is that it’s an American company. She and her agency have animus against American success. A tentative settlement was reached with Google a few years ago, but the EU rejected it. The story is that France and Germany wanted strong sanctions imposed. Europe is scared of the GAFA companies: Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon. She is seeking $14.5 billion from Apple in tax penalties for complying with Ireland’s tax laws. Investigations are also proceeding against Amazon and Qualcomm, not to mention McDonalds’s and Starbucks. Google is not the first United States technology company to feel the wrath of the EU. Now will it be the last. 2008 Microsoft €899m 2009 Intel €1.06b 2017 Facebook €110m The problem is the lack of innovation in Europe. About 7 decades of social democracy has rained most Western European countries of entrepreneurism. The disease is Eurosclerosis, a hardening of the economic arteries. France is a classic example. Squeezed by a monolithic bureaucracy, rigid work rules, and powerful labor unions, the economy has stagnated for decades. France’s GDP growth has averaged .79% from1949 to 2017. France’s population is growing an average .6% annually. The French people know it. They elected the conservative Nicolas Sarkozy President in May 2007. He failed. They elected the socialist Francois Hollande President in May 2012. He failed. They just elected Emmanuel Macron, a neophyte politician, President and gave his new party an overwhelming majority in Parliament. The European ethos and Brussels bureaucracy have deadened business initiative. The European countries have missed out on the high tech revolution, the greatest economic boom of recent decades, except for illegal drugs. Presence in mainframe computers 0 Presence in PC’s 0 Presence in software Minimal Presence in social me Essentially 0 Presence in smart phones Nokia was once big in cell phones, now 0 Europe has no Silicon Valley or Route 128 - not even a Research Triangle Square Europe has the brain power, but suffers a brain drain. Where are the European: Paul Allen Marc Andreessen Jeff Bezos Amar Bose Steve Case Michal Dell Larry Ellison Bill Gates Andy Grove William Hewlett Steve Jobs Alan Kay Gordon Moore Robert Noyes Adam Osborne David Packard An Wang Thomas Watson Sr. and Jr. Steve Wozniak Mark Zuckerberg, And a host of others? Margrethe Vestager and the EU bureaucracy are engaged in extortion and thuggery under the guise of law.

The Republicans Are Not in a Lose Lose Situation With ObamaCare

If ObamaCare goes under during the Republican Administration and Congress, they will be blamed for it by the Democrats and media If Medicaid fails under the Trump Administration and Republican Congress, they will be blamed by the Democrats and Media for the failure If they repeal ObamaCare or tinker with it, they will be roundly condemned. No matter what they do, they will face opposition in the primaries or general election So just do the right thing – whatever you believe is the right approach. Americans are divided on ObamaCare. Polls, often wrong these days, consistently showed Americans opposed to it, but a recent poll shows only 16% favor the Congressional proposals. Americans did not want it in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. I doubt the majority of Americans want it in 2017. Some Republican members of Congress don’t think the House or Senate Bills go far enough in repealing ObamaCare. They call it ObamaLight. Senator Rand Paul will apparently be satisfied with nothing less than total repeal of Obamacare. That will not happen. Of course the republican proposals are ObamaLight; the Republicans face two major quandaries in “repealing” ObamaCare. The first is keeping the current provision on pre-existing conditions, probably the biggest source of economic distress in Obamcare and healthcare in general. Insurers did not cover pre-existing conditions in individual policies for economic reasons. That limitation, along with lifetime coverage limits and pre approvals were the major problems with existing health insurance. ObamaCare eliminates the pre-existing condition requirement. Many of the people rushing into the exchanges are those with expensive pre-existing conditions, which makes eminent sense and is highly foreseeable. It’s politically impossible to terminate an entitlement program upon which millions have become dependent. Pre-existing coverage is a political given, but expensive. The second issue is the expansion of Medicaid. ObamaCare greatly expanded Medicaid by raising the eligibility limit to 400% of the poverty level. Medicaid is an example of a politically popular program headed to economic disaster. It covers about half of all births and nursing home admissions in the United States and is the primary source of coverage of those with disabilities. States control costs by squeezing providers, such that an ever shrinking number of healthcare providers accept Medicaid patients. Escalating demand while restricting supply is a disaster. The only question is when it will implode. Millions of Americans enrolled in Medicaid pursuant to ObamaCare. Once again, these Americans cannot be thrown out of Medicaid without health coverage. Both the House and Senate bills will retain pre-existing conditions coverage and reduce Medicaid over a number of years, but not immediately. In other words, the Republicans are kicking Medicaid down the road. Critical provisions that will provide a boost to the American economy are the elimination of the individual mandate, the repeal of the scores of Obamacare tax increases, and the relaxation of coverage mandates. Medicaid is a drain on state budgets, often the largest expenditure and growing. The initial increase in Medicaid enrollment was covered 100% by the federal government, but it's share is dropping, placing a greater financial burden on the states. The Republican proposals will convert Medicaid into block grants with great discretion in the states in deciding how to allocate the funds. States currently have little discretion, except in squeezing providers. Of course, the demagogues in the Democratic Party are attacking the Republican proposals, echoed by the media. House Minority Leady Nancy Pelosi, with her usual hyperbole, said “We do know that many more people – millions, hundreds of thousands – of people will die if this bill passes.” ‘Millions, if not hundreds of thousands,” of America died before ObamaCare was enacted, during the past 8 years of ObamaCare, and in the future with or without ObamaCare. She also called it “mean and heartless.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said it was “heartless” and a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.” “Heartless” must be the focus group word of the week. California State Treasurer and aspirant Governor John Chiang said the Senate bill will result in 200,000 in California losing their jobs. Hillary Clinton asserted the Republicans will become the “Death Party” if they enact the Senate bill. Senator Elizabeth Warren called the Senate proposal “Blood money.” She claimed we would pay for the tax cuts with human lives. Her soulmate, Senator Bernie Sanders, called it a “barbaric and immoral piece of legislation.” He was more restrained than Representative Pelosi in estimating the casualty rate from the republican proposals, only asserting “thousands will die.” They are calling the proposals a tax break for the wealthy, such that the sick will subsidize the rich, such that Senator Richard Durbin labeled it a “tax cut for the wealthy.” He compared the Senate draft to the previous House proposal: “Put a lace collar on a pit bull and it’s still a mean dog.” Senator Sanders said the Republican proposals constitute a “massive transfer of wealth from working families to the very rich.” The reality, of course, is that the young and workers are subsidizing the ill and elderly. It’s called the individual mandate. The unsubsidized insured under ObamaCare face escalating premiums, high deductibles, and a limited pool of doctors. The Republicans need to understand that these are dangerous times for politicians; it is not politics as normal. The Republican landslides of 2010, 2014 and 2016 were caused by popular opposition to ObamaCare. Brexit and the election of President Trump further illustrate the vagaries of today’s body politic. 2017 is their chance to slow down, if not prevent, the collapse of the current American medical system. The voters who elected them can just as easily vote them out of office. ObamaCare is the defining legacy of President Obama and the Democratic Congress of 2008-2010. The act was viewed as a step on the path to single payer. The Democratic presumption was that if ObamaCare failed, which it would, then the next step would be single payer. ObamaCare is in a death spiral. The Republicans have two choices: 1) They can suck it up and vote for an ObamaCare replacement; or 2) Be voted out of office in 2018 and await the enactment of a single payer plan, in which case President Obama has won and the American people have lost.

President Trump Signed the Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblowers Protection Act Last Friday

The Veterans Administration in recent years became a national disgrace: poor, non-existent or delayed medical treatment, bonuses and promotions to non-performing administrators and staffer, falsified reports, decrepit facilities, old technology. Veterans died while waiting for medical care. President Obama appointed General Eric Shinseki, former Army Chief of Staff, Secretary of the Veterans Administration on January 20, 2009. President Trump fired General Shinseki on May 30, 2014. General Shinseki failed to solve the VA’s problems and institutional morass, which existed before the Obama Administration. General Shinseki understood the bureaucratic obstacles when he assumed office. He did not resolve them. He couldn’t get past the civil service protections for most of the VA employees. For example, the independent Merit Systems Protection Board recently overturned the punishment meted out to three senior VA executives. Members of Congress, both Democratic and Republican, were outraged by the VA. They considered an accountability act for the VA last year. President Obama threatened to veto it. He was responding to the pressure of the American Federation of Government Employees, the VA employees union, rather than the veterans. He placed public employee unions above the needs of their charges. Donald Trump made a major campaign pledge to reform the VA. That became true last Friday in a signing ceremony in the East Room of the White House. The House of Representatives approved the bill 368-55 on June 13, 2017. The Senate had unanimously approved it on June 6. President Trump signed it on June 23 with very little press coverage. President Trump expressed the sentiments that President Obama could have said: “Our veterans have fulfilled their duty to this nation, and now we must fulfill our duty to them.” Some of the provisions include removing the appeals process for senior executives from the Merit Systems Protection Board and transferring it to the VA Secretary. . Staffers would have only 180 days to appeal their punishment. They will stay off the payroll during the appeals process if they were dismissed from their positions. The grievance procedure has been cut to 21 days. The notice period for removal has been cut to 10 days from 30 days. The standard to remove an employee has been lowered. No bonuses or relocation expenses could be made to staffers found guilty of wrongdoing or abuse. Managers should address poor performance and mismanagement by staffers since this requirement will now be a factor in the VA’s Secretary annual performance plan. The Act will hopefully improve the medical care we provide our veterans. A larger appropriation for medical providers will also help. The Act should also be a warning to the public sector employee unions that they may be losing their power to protect incompetent and venal workers.

Steve Jobs, The IPhone, and the Creative Destruction of Capitalism

Steve Jobs unleashed the IPhone3 on the world ten years ago. Great success in the marketplace can create new industries and opportunities. Capital flows to the winners and away from the failing and flailing companies. Success can also leave in its wake the detritus of failed companies. Civilization improves through the adoption of new technology and ideas. Henry Ford neither invented the automobile nor the assembly line, mass production of cars, but his Model T revolutionized America. It also put the carriage makers and buggy whip manufacturers out of business. It led to highways and suburbs and the demise of downtowns. Walmart’s success has put many retailers out of business. Kmart and Sears did not adapt and are headed into economic oblivion. Thousands more will lose their jobs. Google has shattered traditional advertising. Amazon is hurting traditional retail. Steve Jobs has been one of the greatest innovators of our generation. He and Steve Wozniak in a garage created the Apple computer, which led to the collapse of the large minicomputer manufacturers, Digital (DEC), Data General, Prime, Wang and others, after they in turn took substantial business away from the mainframe computer companies, IBM and the Bunch. Who remembers Burroughs, Univac, NCR, Control Data, and Honeywell? GE and RCA earlier failed in mainframe computers. After the Apple desktops and laptops in their various iterations survived the brutal Microsoft-Pc competition, Apple introduced in 2001 the IPod, a sophisticated MP3 Player. The SONY Walkman became history. Apple’s ITunes allowed the downloading of songs for $.99. The App store allowed independent software programmers to provide apps for downloading onto the Apple devices. The IPod led to the ITouch, a miniature computer with internet capability, including wifi capability and email, a great tool while traveling. The IPhone3, released on June 29, 2007, built on the ITouch, adding the phone service to the pre-existing ITouch features. The days of the dumb phone were numbered, while land lines are disappearing. In addition, pay phones are increasingly hard to find. The IPhone 3 was primitive compared to today’s IPhones, but it took off like Henry Ford’s Model T. Telecommunications will never be the same. Say goodbye to Nokia, Motorola, Siemens, SONY Ericsson, and a host of others, and soon Palm Pilot and Blackberry. Amazon and Microsoft failed in cell phones. The IPhone also included a mapping source and a camera. Future IPhone models substantially improved upon the camera quality and GPS capabilities of the map services. The digital camera on the phone and subsequently IPads shattered the 35mm SLR markets. I still love my digital Nikon phones, but that’s unusual these days. Digital photography sent the once great photo giant Kodak into bankruptcy. The map apps include voice directions. Drivers no longer need separate Garmin or Tom Toms in their cars. (Tom Tom is the basis of the Apple Map app). Traditional map sales are in the tank. The IPhone followed by Google Android phones are miniature computers absent a DVD drive. Apple did not stop with the IPhone. It released the IPad, a tablet, opening up yet another market. The mini computer lacks some of the features of the larger PC’s, but has caused a substantial drop in PC sales. Tablets have become ubiquitous in many commercial operations. All the while during the past decade Apple PC sales continue to grow while the sales of the other manufacturers have dropped. All the while Apple draws upon its cachet to price its products higher than competitors. Consumers, myself included, are willing to pay more for more. Apple hands-on service is outstanding, especially when you have an Apple Store nearby. We have three in Orange County, and have been quite satisfied when we’ve had to use their services. Apple’s products and competitors have revolutionized American society, but have left a trial of failed companies behind. That’s destructive capitalism! Those that couldn’t successfully innovate or respond to competition fell by the wayside. Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google, or Microsoft could also fail someday.

Dump Trump! Wait! No! No! No! Dump Pelosi: More Lessons from Georgia 6

How fast perceptions can change in Politics. Just two days ago President Trump was an albatross wrapped around the Republican Party: Russian hacking of the Presidential Election; the Russian Connection; Obstruction of Justice; the constant attacks by late night shows, celebrities, and the media. His polls, already low, were in the tank. Time to impeach or dump the President. The Democrats had high hopes of winning the special election in Georgia 6. They wrapped the President around Karen Hander, the Republican candidate. The Republicans wrapped House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi around Jon Ossoff, as they have in other elections. The Republicans won. Congresswoman Pelosi is toxic in much of the country. Residents of red America don’t like Nancy Pelosi or her San Francisco Values. The young Ossofff was portrayed as Nancy Pelosi’s pupett. A classic republican ad (available on You tube) for Hander had San Francisco “residents” praising their next Congressman, Jon Ossoff, ending with a san Francisco cable car with a big “ad” for Jon Ossoff, next to a peace symbol, and above “San Francisco Congressman.” San Francisco Values don’t play well between the coasts. They also don’t like her. She comes across as arrogant, contemptuous, shrill and snarky. Congresswoman Pelosi has led the Democrats in the House for almost 15 years. She led them to victory and recontrol of the House in 2006. She gleefully pushed through ObamaCare (“We have to pass the Bill to know what’s in it”), and led the House Democrats to defeat in 2010, 2012, 2014, and 2016, four losses in a row. Yet, she has retained her position as leader of the House Democrats. How? Money. Jesse Unruh, the great California politician, said “Money is the mother’s milk of politics.” Nancy Pelosi is a consummate fundraiser, raining money on her Democratic colleagues, $568 million. Just as money can’t always but love or an election, it also doesn’t always buy loyalty. Democrats don’t like losing, having controlled Congress for much of the past eight decades. They don’t like losing when they believed they would win, and she played a major role in the loss. The knifes are out with several Congressional Democrats meeting behind closed doors to discuss her future. Her days are numbered. The Democrats thought they had a real chance of winning because Georgia 6 contains a high percent of college educated graduates. They believe that educated Americans prefer Democrats to Republicans. The elitists believe the uneducated, hayseed, gun-clinging “deplorables” support President Trump and Republicans. President Trump barely carried District 6 in 2016. National surveys showed that voters with a college degree voted 52-43% for Clinton in 2016. Roughly 60% of District 6’s registered voters have college degrees. Ergo, 6 would turn blue from red, in their dreams. They forgot the great Speaker Tip O’Neill’s adage “All politics is local.” They ran a national campaign against President Trump for a carpetbagger in a local Congressional District. They continue to misunderstand “Flyover Country.” Even if the highly educated District 6 voters were lukewarm on President Trump, they did not want to go back to Nancy Pelosi and her Democrats. They don’t share the same values. Then we have the Hollywood celebrities. They were out in force in the primary and general election supporting Jon Ossoff. Campaign contributions rained in from Rosie O’Donnell, Jane Fonda, Jessica Lange, Sean Daniel, Connie Britton, Sam Waterson, Kyra Sedgwick, Samuel L. Jackson (also did radio ads), Jon Cryer, Rhea Perlman, Lynda Carter, Sarah Silverman, George Takai and John Leguizamo. Tweets came from Chelsea Handler, Debra Messing, Mark Ruffalo, Kerry Washington, Billy Baldwin, and others. Alyssa Milano even drove Ossoff voters to the polls in the primary. The American people may watch their movies and TV shows, but they don’t like Hollywood values. Nor do they think Hollywood understands Americans who reside outside the Beverly Hills/Brentwood/Malibu cocoon. 7,218 contributions of $200 or more were recorded from California for the Ossoff Campaign. From March 29 through May 31 almost as much came from the San Francisco Bay Area ($220,532.10) as from all of Georgia ($228,474.44). Only 14% of his roughly $24 million campaign funding came from Georgia residents. Even his contributions were carpetbagged into the District. Voters don’t like incessant robocalls, which are political spam. The Ossoff Campaign engaged in a multitude of robocalls. (Side Bar – Congress has exempted political campaigns from the Do-Not Call List). Academicians also contributed to his campaign with month coming from each of the top 15 highly ranked universities, and public universities, such as Michigan. The Georgia 6 voters resented the external elitists trying to buy their seat. The Democratic “Get Out the Vote” effort encountered an obstacle in attempting to contact many Millennials, who were living in their parent’s homes because they either were unemployed or underemployed. If President Obama had spent more effort in growing the economy rather than in a policy redistribution, they might have homes of their own. One mother, in answering a Democratic call for her son, told her son that if he answered the call or voted for Ossoff, then he would immediately be cast out of the house on his own. The Democrats need a new message. Anti-Trump failed nationally in 2016. It failed locally in 2017.

Georgia 6 Shows Once Again that Money (and Democrats) Don't Always Win Elections

The Hillary Clinton campaign collectively spent $1.4 billion dollars to lose to Donald Trump’s $958 million. These sums include individual PAC campaigns. Money doesn’t always buy love or elections. An unpopular candidate with a poor message, campaigning skills, and strategy can still lose to a better candidate. She did not lose because of Russian hacking, Russian collusion, the FBI, James Comey, sexism, WikiLeaks, fake news, right wing media, mainstream media, Netflix, the Democratic National Committee, Vladimir Putin, voter suppression in Wisconsin, and Macedonia. She lost because she was the wrong candidate at the wrong time. Jon Ossoff lost Georgia 6 because he was the wrong candidate in the wrong district at the wrong time. About 40 years too late. Georgia 6 has been a strong Republican district since Newt Gingrich first won it in 1979. The Democrats have been seeking a special Congressional election to swing a Republican District to the Democrats. It would be a large morale booster to the dispirited Democrats. It would be a momentum builder. It would provide the game plan first to win back the House of Representatives in 2018 and then the Presidency in 2020 on an anti-Trump platform. It would show a way to divide President Trump from his base. Not Trump! Not Trump! Not Trump! That’s the campaign strategy. The media’s hammering President Trump non-stop. The accusations are relentless. Yet the President keeps coming, just like the Energizer Bunny. Ossoff young, 30, a fresh face, telegenic, an earnest campaigner. He grew up in the district, but now lives outside of it with his fiancé, which makes him a carperbagger. Jon Ossoff – the new face of the Democratic Party – earnest, enthusiastic, energetic! A Bernie Sanders acolyte as the Democrats move to the left. He lost 53%-47%, a wider margin than expected. The polls were wrong again. First Kansas. The Republicans won. Second Montana. A pugilistic Republican won. Today, Georgia and South Carolina. Both Republicans won. The Democrats thought, or hoped, that the moderate, highly educated Republicans in Georgia 6 would reject the Republicans. Donald Trump, the presidential candidate, barely carried Georgia 6 in 2016. Many even believed Ossoff would win. They poured money into his campaign. Total estimated expenditures of the two campaigns are between 54 and $60 million, the most expensive Congressional campaign to date. The Ossoff campaign raised $23.6 million compared to $4.5 for the handel campaign. Outside spending by the Democratic Party and PACs added another $7.6 million to his campaign. However, the Republicans poured another $18.2 million into the Handel campaign. Add them up, the Ossoff campaigners spent about $31.2 million and the Handel campaigners $22.7 million. As with the 2016 Presidential Election, money did not decide the election, notwithstanding the Democratic hysteria over Citizens United. The Georgia campaign on the issues was interesting. Ossoff was stridently anti-trump during the primary, but toned it down during the general election. Karen Handel had the support of President Trump, but did not run with him or against him. Her campaign focused on House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who is still a negative figure in Red America. Other issues were tax reform, ObamaCare, and terrorism. The shooting House Republican Steve Scalise also played a factor in the outcome. The Republicans claim a real victory. The Democrats claim a moral victory. Which do you want in politics?

Memo to Democrats and the Media: President Trump is Implementing His Agenda

Memo to Democrats and the Media: President Trump and the Republicans’ Accomplishments Over the Past Two Weeks The Russian Connection, Obstruction of Justice, Comey, Mueller, and the tragic shooting of the Republicans in Alexandria have sucked the oxygen out of the air. It’s as though nothing else occurred in D.C. this past week. Yet some pundits can’t understand how the President can be so sanguine during this period. He seems unfazed in public despite the relentless academic, media, political, and legal attacks, How can he withstand the massive Trump Derangement attacks, the never ending negative news and blistering media attacks? Why won’t President Trump simply give up and resign? The answer is simple. His Administration, the Republican Congress, and administrative agencies are implementing his campaign promises. One by one, step by step, the Obama Legacy is becoming history. One of the most significant acts was taken by Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Wednesday, June 5 was to end the diversion of federal settlement funds to private liberal, progressive groups favored by the Obama Administration. For example, the settlements with BP and Transocean over the Macano Blowout sent $2.3 billion to organizations, such as the American Lung Association, Ducks Unlimited, and the National Fish and Wildlife Federation. The defendants have been wiling to enter into these “contributions” to NGO’s because they are deductible as charitable contributions whereas government fines are not. These recipients are not victims of the alleged wrongdoing, but they get to benefit from it. The funds not going to the government should go to the victims, not government favored organizations. I have seen an argument that these settlements violate federal law. AG Sessions’ memo prohibits settlement provisions “that directs or provides for a payment or loan to any non-governmental person or entity that is not a party to the dispute.” Another significant step to protect America was done by the State Department. The Obama Administration kept seeing a rigorous processing procedure was used in vetting refugees into the United States. However, it barred the use of a major measure that could uncover some potential terrorists or criminal’ the use of social media. The Trump Administration approved a new questionnaire for visa applicants. It will ask for social media accounts used over the preceding five years and travel history over the previous 15 years. The Obama Administration through the Department of Education went on a Jihad over the past couple of years against for-profit higher education institutions, putting some out of business. The Administration issued rule making it easier for students at these institutions to write off their student loans. These new regulations were due to go into effect July 1. The Trump Department of Education suspended these rules a few days ago. The Department will now restudy and situation and adopt new rules, which will also be directed at reducing the fraudulent practices of which some of the schools were accused. The House approved 368-55 “The Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act of 2017.” The Senate approved it June 6. The bill will make it easier to fire VA managers and employees for cause. The Senate approved 97-2 on Wednesday a bill that will toughen sanctions against the Russians. Wednesday was a big day. The Department of Labor rescinded a controversial Obama Administration standard defining when companies, such as fast food chains, can be held as a “joint employer” with a franchisee. The Democrats as fellow travelers who previously had no problem with Secretary Clinton’s Russian reset, and President Obama’s statement that he could do more after reelection, now had no problem now acting against Russia, since it is the lynchpin of their delegitimizing of President Trump. (I hate writing sentences this long and convoluted). Just today, in Little Miami, Florida, he rescinded much of the Obama pact with Cuba. A little over two weeks ago on Thursday, June 1 President Obama announced “We’re getting out “of the Paris Accords. Why is President Trump hanging in there against a veritable tsunami? He is succeeding with his agenda.

It's Time to Tone Down the Rhetoric, Before It's Too Late

James T. Hodgkinson, a left-wing Bernie Sanders volunteer and supporter, and a crazed nutjob with a long rap sheet, shot up a Republican baseball practice this morning. He severely wounded House Majority Whip Steve Scalise. Capitol Police Special Agent Crystal Griner, Congressional aide Zach Barth, and lobbyist Matt Mika were also shot. He had previously posted on Face Book “Trump is a traitor. Trump has destroyed our democracy. It’s time to destroy Trump and Company.” He did not think of those thoughts on his own. This year has seen the politics of personal destruction reach a new low, dropping into the sewer of politics. The tone of debate has been deteriorating for years. Let’s not blame it on Democrats or Republicans. Donald Trump wasn’t the only presidential candidate this year that said nasty comments about opponents. Hillary Clinton often took the low road while professing to stay on the high road. Politics is a blood sport. Presidential elections can take rhetoric and dirty tricks to unacceptable levels because so much is at stake. This year though did not see the vitriolic end on election day. Instead, it has escalated against President Trump. Illegitimate, impeach, resist, treason have become the watchwords of the leftwing of the Democratic Party. We’ll told to “Resist” and “Fight Back.” Hillary Clinton says she’s setting up a “Resistance” PAC. “Traitor” and “treason” have joined the everyday lexicon. The New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times have led the mainstream media parade in daily drips of anti-Trump rhetoric, anti-Trump-all the time, 24-7. It’s time to back off, relax, take a deep breath, exhale, chill out. It’s time to engage in critical analysis. Reasoned debate is leaving the academy and society. Celebrities have taken low comedy into the swamp. Madonna has thought of blowing up the White House. Kathy Griffin held up a gory decapitated head of Donald Trump. New York’s Shakespeare in the Park is playing Julius Caesar. That’s art. Caesar is assassinated. That’s history. They’ve updated it to modern times; that’s poetic license. The Bard’s plays aren’t copyrighted. Their version of Julius Caesar portrays Donald Trump as Caesar, yellow hair, red tie, and a Slovenian accented wife. That may be protected Free Speech, but it’s outrageous. Progressives, such as the LA Times Michael Hiltzak, have criticized Bank of America and Delta Airlines for withdrawing their financial support of Shakespeare in the Park. He would have been apoplectic if President Obama had received this treatment. Let us not forget the academics, the molders of the minds of our students, promoting intolerance on our campuses. Professor Lars Maischak tweeted President Trump “should hang.” He also wrote that two Republicans should be executed for every deported immigrant. Professor Olga Perez Stable Cox called President Trump “a white supremacist” and the election as an “act of terrorism.” Her colleagues were so pleased with her statements that they voted her faculty member of the year. Professor Ray Michalowski of Northern Arizona called the President “the racist in chief.” Professor Thomas Chung, a professor painting at the University of Alaska Anchorage, displayed a painting with Chris Evans, Captain America, holding up President Trump’s decapitated head, by his hair. The lack of reasoned discourse and freedom of speech on our campuses will test our democracy. Violence did not begin this morning. The past year has witnessed not only threats but also physical violence directed at conservative speakers on our campuses, conduct which far exceeds protected peaceful picketing and demonstrations. Let us remember that protestors were hired during the general election to disrupt Trump rallies. No one statement or act led to this individual act of violence. Collectively they create a tone and atmosphere inciting violence, often by nut jobs. Left wing violence, right wing violence, they’re out there. Don’t feed them red meat. My concern is also based on history. Weimar Germany experienced increasing acts of street violence and riots between the Communists and Nazis before the Nazis came to power. Violence begets more violence. We need to back down from the uncivil discourse.

Lessons from the London Election

The pollsters got it wrong again, as in the 2015 British general election, Brexit, the 2017 British general election and the 2016 United States election. The “finely tuned” pollsters have had difficulty since the advent of the cell phone. Polls were traditionally based on polling land lines. The younger generation doesn’t use land lines. The second problem is estimating turnout, not just by overall percentages, but by demographics and age. The third party is measuring late-developing turnout and voting. The past is not always prologue. The second lesson is the role of young voters, the 18-24 voters. They stayed home in the 2016 and Brexit elections, eventhough they opposed Brexit. They showed up this time. Their turnout was up 12% from 2015 to 2017, and they voted roughly 2:1 for Labor. The older voters had voted overwhelmingly for the Conservatives in 2015 and Brexit in 2016. Jeremy Corbyn, Labor’s leader to the left of Senator Bernie Sanders, had a siren call for the young voters: FREE COLLEGE TUITION! Watch the Democrats pick up on free tuition in upcoming elections. President Obama appealed to the young voters in 2012 by offering to cut the interest rate on student loans. They jumped on it, not realizing that what they really needed was jobs. The young voters are globally dissatisfied with their economies. They no longer see the fabled post - World War II America of upper mobility. They don’t see opportunity in the economy. They see “capitalism” as creating no jobs. Indeed, they have been accustomed in democratic socialist countries to look to the government instead of self-reliance. Think of President Obama’s Julia in the 2012 Presidential Election. The young voters have been educated, especially in today’s colleges, that business is greedy and unresponsive to consumers. They are ignorant even of basic economics. The young have not been taught to engage in critical analysis. Consequently, they look to government to solve their problems, for now. The youth vote is not a constant. Third, Prime Minister Theresa May tried to move the Tories to the left in the general election. Conservatives need to understand that they can never outbid the parties of government! The Prime Minister’s campaign also echoed the American presidential election. An energetic candidate who speaks to the needs of the people can defeat a staid, status quo candidate. Theresa May is not Hillary Clinton, but she also ran a lackluster campaign. The conservative Prime Minister could normally have been expected to rally her voters by stressing law and order after the three terrorist attacks in England in three months. She said “Enough is enough.” However, just as Hillary Clinton could not escape her private server and email. Theresa May could not escape her previous six years as Home Secretary, where she cut the country’s police forces by 20,000 officers. In addition, many of the terrorists were known to the authorities, but nothing was done about them. The American people in 2016 and the British people in 2017 voted against the status quo. Jeremy Corbyn and Donald Trump recognized the will of the people. Mr. Corbyn did not win a majority or plurality, but he was supposed to lose in a landslide. Instead, his Labor Party gained 31 seats while the Tories lost 12 seats, losing a majority in Parliament. Britain and the United States are divided politically. Any party representing the status quo is in danger.

Trump v. Comey

Yesterday's Senate Intelligence Committee with former FBI Director James Comey reaffirmed my view that President Trump should have fired FBI Director James Comey on first day of his Presidency. Director Comey’s reputation going into the hearing was as an independent pillar of integrity. If you listened carefully to him, then you realized he came across as a petty, petulant, vengeful, vindictive bully who did not get his way. It was all about “Me” – “James Comey” and how he was wronged. After the sturm und drang of Director Comey’s testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee today, nothing has changed. The media that thinks the President is an impeachable liar who is obstructing justice still believes President Trump is an impeachable lair who is obstructing justice. They’re long since past looking at the actual facts. He said that many of the “leaked” newspaper disclosures have been false, but that doesn’t stop the media from reporting them to denigrate President Trump. James Comey said he told President trump three times that he was not the subject of an investigation. He also said that not only did the President not call for an end of the Russian intervention investigation, but wanted to find out if any of his staff were involved. President Trump said “if some of my satellites did something wrong, it’ll be good to do find that out.” Director Comey added no order or request came from the President or his staff to halt the investigation. That does not sound like obstruction of justice unless you are deft to the facts. When asked why he had not objected when President Trump asked for loyalty and hoped any case against General Flynn could be dropped, Director Comey responded to a question by Senator Feinstein “Maybe if I were stronger I would have. I was so stunned by the conversation that I just …. took it in. ….” The weak FBI Director then decided to record his conversations in memos, but did not talk to the Attorney General, deputy Attorney general, White House Counsel, or even point out to the President that his remarks were inappropriate. The FBI Director acted “strong” in the Bush Administration when he threatened to resign if the President didn’t make changes to the FISA warrant standards. The Dems can’t let go of their Russian hacking and impeachment of President Trump crusade. It’s their links to their base. Plus, as in the 2016 election, they have nothing to offer the American people. If President Trump has committed obstruction of justice, then President Obama is much more guilty of it when he twice publicly said secretary Clinton was innocent and did nothing wrong with her server and emails. Sooner or later most Americans will realize that the Democrats have been huffing and puffing about nothing. Senator Marco Rubio asked the key question about the leaks: “Do you ever wonder why, of all the things in this investigation, the only thing that’s never leaked is the fact that the president was not personally under investigation, despite the fact that Democrats and Republicans and the leadership of Congress knew that and have known that for weeks?” Director Comey accused the President of being a liar who defamed him and the FBI. He objected to the charge that the “FBI was poorly led and in disarray.” Is President Trump unqualified for the presidency because he is accused of lying? If so, that would disqualify every president since 1932 with the possible exception of President Carter, who was simply grossly incompetent. How about President Obama when he lied both to the American people and the United Nations on Benghazi, blaming it on a 12 minute video nobody had seen? How about Secretary Clinton with her repeated lies about her private server? A few bombshells came from Director Comey’s testimony. First was the actions of Attorney General Loretta Lynch after her meeting on the Phoenix Airport tarmac with President Clinton. The FBI was investigating Secretary Clinton’s private server. The Attorney General asked the FBI Director to call it a “matter” rather than an “investigation,” echoing the talking points of the Clinton Campaign. The FBI does investigations, not matters. That was a direct attempt by President Obama’s Attorney General to interfere with the Clinton investigation. Comey said “That was the thing that capped it for me, that I had to do something separately to protect the credibility of the investigation, which meant both the FBI and the Justice Department.” He was “confused and concerned” by the request. What he did was publicly “indict” Hillary Clinton and then exculpate her in the same press conference on July 5, 2016. His decision against prosecuting the Secretary was not within his jurisdiction. It was the Justice Department’s call. If the Attorney General could not act, then he should have taken it to Sally Yates, the Deputy Attorney General. He also rewrote the statute to exonerate Secretary Clinton, requiring an intent requirement when none is required by the statute. FBI Director Comey also gave sweetheart immunity deals to two of secretary Clinton’s aides. He made sure the server in question would be destroyed. He interviewed secretary Clinton near the end of his investigation, but not under oath. As to “matter” versus “investigation,” he acceded to the Attorney General’s request. He was “confused and concerned” by her request, but apparently did not start creating memos about their conversations. He grossly mishandled the Clinton investigation, both on July 5 and then October 28 and November 6 right before the election. The career prosecutors and FBI agents were very upset at his act. The media commented on the disarray within the FBI, which President Trump echoed in his tweets. It’s not defamation is the statement is true. Who’s mistaken now? The logical explanation for FBI Director’s misconduct in office in the Clinton Investigation is that he thought as did most Washington, D.C., that Hillary Clinton would be elected President. He wanted to remain FBI Director, having prostrated himself before President Obama to obtain the appointment. He knew his status under President Trump was tenuous. President Trump’s mistake was not terminating James Comey on January 20, 2017, his first day in office. Director Comey’s second bombshell was admitting leaking a memo to a friend, a law professor at Columbia, with the intend that his friend leak it to the media. He claimed he did so on May 16 in reaction to President Trump’s May 12 tweet in hopes of spurring the appointment of a special prosecutor. The facts don’t add up. The New York Times published excerpts from the leak the day before the tweet. Go figure! Questions: What else has Comey leaked? What about Susan Rice? How much did Ben Rhodes leak?

What to Expect from Tomorrow's Comey/Comedy Hearing? Nada

Drum roll! Former FBI Director James Comey testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee tomorrow. The Democrats are salivating; this is it; the smoking gun for impeachment is here. The media is setting the stage forth second coming of Watergate. Ignore the substance; observe the Senators. Keep your eyes on Senators kamala Harris (D. Ca.), Angus King (Ind/D Maine) and Ron Wyden (D. Ore). Who will win the 15 second sound bite on the evening news? Did you know the Senate Intelligence Committee held a hearing today? Today’s witnesses, Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, and National Security Agency Director Admiral Mike Rogers, provided nothing of substance for the Democrats today. There is no there, there. They rebutted some of the “bombshell” media The Democrats will show tomorrow a zeal they lacked on IRS, Benghazi, and Fast and Furious. They will huff and puff, grandstand for their 15 minutes of fame. The media will highlight anything, absolutely anything, that might make the President look bad. No matter how much James Comey despises President Trump, he has to be careful about what he says to avoid charges of perjury. He had already testified before Congress that he was not pressured by the President to drop the investigation of General Flynn. Here’s what we know from his 7 page opening statement released by the Committee today. He told the President three times that he was not a target of the investigation. The President asked for loyalty; Mr. Comey responded with “honesty.” The President wanted the FBI Director to give a break to General Flynn, but was not pressured to do so. Two Democrats Congressmen, Al Green of Texas and Brad Sherman of California, announced today that they are preparing articles of impeachment against President Trump for obstruction of justice. James Clapper, former Director of National Intelligence, spoke before reporters in Canberra, Australia today. He said Watergate pales in comparison with President Trump and Russia. Was James Clapper serious? Watergate involved a breakin of the Democratic National Committee, followed by an orchestrated coverup by the President and his White House staff, including the Attorney General. Many of the staff went to prison. So far, there has not been shown to be an underlying crime. Second, isolated statements by the President do not constitute criminal behavior. Third, President Trump in his capacity as President has the power and right to fire members of the Executive Branch, such as the Director of the FBI, for any reason. Fourth, the FBI Director spent much of 2016 upsetting Democratic and Republican politicians for a series of inexplicable acts. Some fervent never-Trumpers may buy into the construct of Comey as a political martyr, but most Americans will not. Fifth, James Comey is no John Dean. Sixth, no evidence exists of any Trump Administration concerted action to stop the Russian investigation or even conspire with the Russians during the election campaign. Seventh, there is neither a smoking gun nor money trail. And yet, James Clapper in Australia and nor D.C., was the highpoint for the Democrats and media today. The media spent little time reporting on today’s Senate hearing. Tomorrow promises to be another yawner.

President Trump Scrapped the Paris Accord - Hardly a Step Towards Climate Armageddon

President Trump fulfilled one of his larger campaign promises. He scrapped the Paris Accord on global warning. It would seem like Armageddon on earth if you listen to the global outrage. If President Trump were a normal politician, he would have exercised one of two options. He could have left it in place, and then ignored it because it is not binding. Or he could have sent it to the Senate for ratification as a treaty, knowing the Senate on a bipartisan basis would have rejected it. President trump is not a normal politician. Instead he did the right thing. He rejected it outright. Period. The Paris Accord was a treaty between nations, no matter how President Obama tried to entangle the United States into an international accord by executive order without going through Congress, which never would have ratified it. Fareed Zakaria said the United States “resigns as head of the Free World.” He conveniently forgets that President Obama’s foreign policy was famously based on “Leading from behind.” President Trump’s is “America First.” President Trump said he represents the people from Pittsburgh, not Paris. 195 countries signed onto the Paris Accord. If you listen to President Trump’s critics and foreign leaders, President Trump has condemned the globe to ruination. Maureen Dowd, the great columnist for the New York Times, wrote “Trump Stomps Planet Earth.” They’re crying crocodile tears. The accord is not binding on any of the signatories, is unenforceable, and subject to change. No penalties exist for violations. Each of the 195 signatories self-determines its “Intended Nationally Determined Contributions,” (INDC) which became its non-binding obligation in the accord. For example, China, the leading greenhouse emitter in the world, agreed to increase its emissions annually until 2030, when it would cut back. If it cuts greenhouse gas emissions before 2030, it will do so because of internal political pressures and because the smog in Beijing and other major cities has become unacceptable. The third world, undeveloped countries would not make any representations that would hamper any economic development. Germany, having shut down its nuclear reactors, is increasing its use of coal. The New York Times even wrote “In truth, the agreement does not require any country to do anything ….” Thus, we are back to Gertrude Stein’s famous quote: “There is no there, there.” The only country that obligated itself to do anything was the United States to carry through on President Obama’s war on Coal. President Obama committed the United States to reduce greenhouse emissions by 26-28% of 2005 levels by 2020. Half of these levels have been met by electric utilities switching from coal to natural gas for economic reasons. Fracking has unleashed a flood of low cost natural gas into the market. China is the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide. It can continue to increase CO2 emissions for 15 years while the United States is engaged in a self-inflicted wound on its economy. India and Russia could continue to increase CO2 emissions while the United States shut down its reliable, cheap energy industries. The Obama bias was directed at all fossil fuels. The rest of the world is upset because President Trump will not preside over the ruination of the American economy. The Third World is upset because they will not be getting economic reparations from the United States. President Obama’s environmental policy reflected the beliefs of the blue coastal state. President Trump’s environmental policy represents the red states manufacturing heartland of America. They elected him to the Presidency. He said “It is time to put Youngstown, Ohio, Detroit, Michigan, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania along with many, many other locations within our great country before Paris, France.” Cries of Armageddon flooded the media today, prophesizing a parade of horrors to the planet from global warming. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the President’s act a “devastating failure of historic proportions,” which is basically what he says of any action by President Trump. The Los Angeles Times called President Trump “reckless and irresponsible.” Al Gore simply calls him “irresponsible.” Tom Stayer, the Silicon Valley hedge fund gazillionaire and possible candidate for office in California, called it a “traitorous act.” Max Boot, the Los Angeles Times columnist, said “The President chooses nationalism over the planet.” President Trump chose sovereignty over global bureaucrats, of which the EU bureaucrats in Brussels are an example. The same outcries of Armageddon flooded the media in 2001 when President George W. Bush withdrew from the Kyoto Agreement. The Paris Accord was one of three Obama-Kerry international agreements which are incredibly disastrous and foolhardy by objective analysis. The first is the Iranian agreement in which the President shipped $1.4 billion in crash at night in unmarked planes to the mullahs of Iran. The idealistic, naive rationale was that the mullahs would use the money to improve the economic conditions of the Iranian people rather than using it to foster terrorism and military expansionism. This agreement puts the world at risk. The second was the agreement reinstating relations with Cuba as Cuba continues its brutal dictatorship. It continues to put the Cuban people at risk. The third is the Paris Accord, which puts the American economy at risk.. How empty is the existing Paris Accord? MIT researcher estimate that if the existing agreement is fully complied with, it will only result in a .2°Celcius reduction in temperature from the predicted increase. Always keep in mind though the climate change models to date have been highly inaccurate. A related agreement is the Global Climate Fund, which purports to transfer $100 billion to third world, undeveloped countries in reparations, sorry renewables and infrastructure, by 2020. President Obama committed the United States to $3 billion of the sum, and paid in $1 billion. So far, only the United States of the major greenhouse gas emitting countries, has paid into the fund. The irony of the response is that many global leaders, corporate leaders, governors, mayors, and university presidents have vowed to continue to adhere to the Paris Accord, which in fact has nothing to adhere to.

Kathy Griffin is a Two-Bit Semi-Comedic Bully Who Can't Handle a Backlash

Kathy Griffin is a “comedic” bully who, like most bullies, can’t handle it when the victims push back. Her comedic shtick can be described as unrefined Don Rickles. The late comedian hurled insults, but they weren’t malicious. Kathy Griffin said “I’m happy to do a beat down to Donald Trump – and also to Barron.” She said she would go straight at Barron, after calling President Trump a “piece of s—t.” A line exists, sometimes a fine line and sometimes a gray line, between the acceptable and unacceptable. An understood rule is to keep the President’s family out of it unless they become involved in political activity. Barron Trump is 11 years old and not politically involved. Kathy Griffin is also stupid and has inhaled too much of the Trump Derangement Syndrome. She figured she could score points with her fellow Hollywood crowd by outdoing them. Any late night show host can insult President Trump. Any politico could hurl obscenities at the President. Anyone can protest the President. Nope, she would do a visual stunt that will exceed anything done before. It would get her the 15 minutes of fame, or infamy. There’s few limits on how far one can go in criticizing the President as critics keep pushing the limits. He crossed the line. Kathy Griffin has freedom of speech to malign the President. Freedom of speech includes the visual. Freedom of speech allows her to maliciously, gleefully show the bloody decapitated head, a la ISIS, of President Trump. Freedom of speech does not prevent a blowback. She half expected a reaction, but not the one she received. The non-funny comedian is suddenly radioactive. She quickly issued a pro forma apology that sounded like it came off the internet. Conservatives and liberals on a bi-partisan basis were shocked. Her CNN New Year partner denounced her. CNN, normally hostile to President Trump, cancelled her annual show. Venues cancelled her upcoming performances. Very few, Jamie Foxx, Jim Carrey, and Alex Baldwin, defended her. Senator Franklin, the comedian in the Senate, initially supported her, but then sensing which way the wind was blowing, ran away from her. Kathy Griffin, if she had even half a brain, would have doubled down on her apology and then ducked for cover, riding out the storm, and then emerging as a penitent in a year or two. Alex Baldwin, Robert Downey, Jr., Mel Gibson, Rob Lowe, Hugh Grant and Martha Stewart have all found redemption. Nope, she hired Lisa Bloom as her attorney. Lisa has learned well from her mother, Gloria Allred, on how to attack. Her press conference was either an act of gross stupidity or rank paranoia. She lashed out at the “mob mentality pile on.” She blamed it on President Trump and his family: “What’s happening to me has never happened, ever in the history of this country, which is that a sitting President of the United States and his grown children and the First lady are personally, I feel, trying to ruin my life forever. Forever.” She said the President “He broke me,” but that she would continue to make fun of him. She added “He picked the wrong redhead.” She also said though that her career is ruined. She’s clearly clueless. Kathy Griffin should look up Kathleen Willie, Paula Jones, and Juanita Broaddrick. She also blamed old white men for her problems. The ladies of The View, no fans of President Trump, were also outraged by her conduct. They are not, last time I looked, old white men. It’s unfortunate she received death threats. It’s unfortunate that death threats are increasingly common in our society as a way to express outrage. She can dish it out, but not take it. Civil discourse is dying in our country. Kathy Griffin has contributed to the loss of civil discourse. Kathy Griffin showed herself to be a D- comedian with an F performance compounded by an F press conference.

Hillary Clinton Agonistes 2017

Hillary Clinton is at war. Hillary Clinton is at war with everyone except herself and perhaps her husband. She is bitter about her loss, lashing out in a state of denial. She needs to go away and fade quietly in the sunset unless she wants to become today’s Harold Stassen, who wouldn’t go away. As long as she pontificates and delves in self-delusion, the Democratic Party needs to move on but can’t. The Democrats need a constructive dialogue, not more polemics, histrionics, and recriminations. She was interviewed at a Recode Code Conference Wednesday in the highly affluent Palos Verdes, California. Speaking in Palos Verdes is illustrative of her out-of-touch campaign with the American people. Hillary boldly said “I take responsibility for every decision that I made – but that’s not why I lost.” She then blamed everyone else, except herself, for her loss to Donald Trump, starting with Donald Trump. She trashes her own supporters. She blamed the Russians, fake news, FBI Director Comey, and even the Macedonians for her lost. She dumped on the Democratic National Committee, saying that when she won the nomination, she inherited nothing from the DNC. The DNC was on the verge of insolvency, its data was mediocre to poor, non-existent, wrong. She said she got nothing from the DNC. She raised over $1 billion dollars for her campaign, but apparently wasted it. The Obama Campaign mastered data mining in 2012, but she was clueless. The DNC under Representative Debbie Wasserman-Schulz paved the road for her nomination, but no acknowledgment of their services to you. Her Wednesday interview was a Clinton compendium of fake news. She blamed President Obama for not being helpful to her campaign. She called out the New York Times for treating her personal server “like it was Pearl Harbor,” ignoring the fact that the Times and other mainstream media hammered Donald Trump seemingly non-stop. She ignored “Flyover” America full of a“ basket of deplorables.” That was her decision – not the Russians. She didn’t lost Wisconsin by 22,000 votes, Michigan by 11,000, Pennsylvania by 44,000, while barely holding onto Minnesota because of the Russians. She lost them in 2010 when the Republicans swept the Rust Belt., seizing control of almost every legislative branch and governorship. They did equally well in 2014. That Wisconsin, home of the Progressive Movement, turned conservative was a warning shot to Democrats. Her response was to ignore Wisconsin – not one campaign appearance. That was her decision – not the Russians. She blamed the loss on voter suppression. Her campaign strategy suppressed her vote in Wisconsin. She barely campaigned in Michigan. That was her decision – not the Russians. She took Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania for granted and campaign on a “I’m not Trump.” She declaimed Trump, saying “He really understands how to inflame people, how to motivate them, how to bond with them,” but she is the candidate who called the Trump voters “deplorables.” She is unable to connect with people, unlike her husband. She blamed FBI Director Comey for her loss. She should have been grateful he didn’t arrest her. She blamed sexism and misogyny for her loss, but that doesn’t explain her loss in 208 to Senator Barack Obama, an African American. She blamed the Russians for weaponizing technology with the help of the Trump Campaign to defeat her, which or may not have been the case, but she set up the server and conducted official government business on it. John Podesta fell for a phishing attack. The Trump campaign did not. The Clinton Campaign raised over a billion dollars on her campaign, but she often ignored the advice of her staff. She campaigned and hobnobbed with Hollywood celebrities, but ignored the hardworking blue collar workers of America. Hillary Clinton is delusional, remaining out of touch with reality. Thank God she’s not President.