Elections | Bob Schwartz

October 5, 2016

Another Cool Way to Show Support for Our Veterans

IAVA Lifeline Flex

I’ve written a number of times before about veterans issues and about the Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), which last month sponsored a televised Commander-in-Chief Forum featuring the presidential candidates.

It is an old song, but worth repeating. Our treatment of those we have asked to fight is a national shame. If we don’t want to fight and defend, and don’t ask others to do the job for us, fine. Peace is wonderful. But once we ask, we have to provide virtually infinite support for those who answer. This should be at the top of any policy priority list, because it is a moral test, not a partisan talking point. For a grade, I’d consider giving us an E for Effort, but really, it’s more like an F.

If you want to show your support, IAVA has a very cool and inexpensive wearable. It’s the IAVA Lifeline Flex:

IAVA Lifeline Flex
$14.99

Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) Lifeline Flex in Night Vision Yellow and Black with engraved logo on a metal toggle clasp. Hand-wound from the same 550 lb tested parachute chord used in WWII to attach men to their chutes, these cuffs give you up to 15ft of usable paracord when unwound. Not just an all purpose survival tool, the 550 cord also looks killer on your wrist. Don’t leave home without one of these killer bracelets.

ITEM DETAILS:
Hand-wound from military grade 550 cord
One size fits all “Flex” interior with IAVA closure clasp

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October 4, 2016

19 things Donald Trump knows better than anyone else, according to Donald Trump

Normally, I would quote a little bit of an article, and provide a link to the whole thing.

19 things Donald Trump knows better than anyone else, according to Donald Trump by Aaron Blake at the Washington Post today is simply too amazing for that. So the link is above, but here it is in its entirety:

I understand the tax laws better than almost anyone, which is why I’m the one who can truly fix them,” Donald Trump claimed Monday in Colorado.

It is one of many issues on which Trump is one of the world’s foremost experts, according to Trump. In fact, you might say he’s the best at being a self-proclaimed expert.

Below is a list of the many things about which Trump says he knows more than just about anybody. Even for a guy who’s fond of hyperbole, it’s a lot to take in.

1) Renewables

“I know more about renewables than any human being on Earth.” — April 2016

2) Social media

“I understand social media. I understand the power of Twitter. I understand the power of Facebook maybe better than almost anybody, based on my results, right?” — November 2015

3) Debt

“Nobody knows more about debt. I’m like the king. I love debt.” — May 2016

4) Taxes, again

“I think nobody knows more about taxes than I do, maybe in the history of the world. Nobody knows more about taxes.” — May 2016

Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
I know our complex tax laws better than anyone who has ever run for president and am the only one who can fix them. #failing@nytimes
7:22 AM – 2 Oct 2016
15,459 15,459 Retweets 41,208 41,208 likes

“Nobody knows more about taxes than I do — and income than I do.” — May 2016

5) Banking

“Nobody knows banking better than I do” — February 2016

6) Wall Street bankers

MATT LAUER: You’re a guy who said you know the Wall Street bankers better than anyone.

TRUMP: Better than anyone.

— April 2016 on NBC’s “Today” show

7) Money

“I understand money better than anybody. I understand it far better than Hillary, and I’m way up on the economy when it comes to questions on the economy.” — June 2016

8) The U.S. system of government

“I think nobody knows the system better than I do.” — August 2016

“I am a person that used to be establishment when I’d give them hundreds of thousands of dollars. But when I decided to run, I became very anti-establishment, because I understand the system than anybody else.” — July 2016

“Nobody knows the system better than I do.” — April 2016

9) Campaign contributions

“I used to be, George, the fair-haired boy — you know, when I was a contributor. I know more about contributions than anybody.” — November 2015

10) Politicians

“Nobody knows politicians better than Donald Trump.” — February 2016 rally

11) Sen. Cory Booker

Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
If Cory Booker is the future of the Democratic Party, they have no future! I know more about Cory than he knows about himself.
10:14 PM – 25 Jul 2016
10,079 10,079 Retweets 34,725 34,725 likes

(We’re putting this on the list assuming that nobody ELSE knows more about Booker than Booker, which would make Trump the world’s foremost non-Cory Booker expert on Cory Booker.)

12) Trade

“Nobody knows more about trade than me.” — March 2016

13) Jobs

Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
I hope all workers demand that their @Teamsters reps endorse Donald J. Trump. Nobody knows jobs like I do! Don’t let them sell you out!
5:03 PM – 8 Jan 2016
2,170 2,170 Retweets 5,972 5,972 likes

14) Infrastructure

“Nobody in the history of this country has ever known so much about infrastructure as Donald Trump.” — July 2016

15) The military

“There’s nobody bigger or better at the military than I am.” — June 2015 Fox News interview

16) ISIS

“I know more about ISIS [the Islamic State militant group] than the generals do. Believe me.” — November 2015

17) Defense — and offense

“So a general gets on, sent obviously by Obama, and he said, ‘Mr. Trump doesn’t understand. He knows nothing about defense.’ I know more about offense and defense than they will ever understand, believe me. Believe me. Than they will ever understand. Than they will ever understand.” — July 2016

18) The ‘horror of nuclear’

“There is nobody who understands the horror of nuclear more than me.” — June 2016

19) The visa system

“Because nobody knows the system better than me. I know the H1B. I know the H2B. Nobody knows it better than me.” — March 2016

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October 1, 2016

Respected Political Journalist John Heilemann Calls Trump a Lunatic

Eclipse

You lock the door
And throw away the key
There’s someone in my head but it’s not me

John Heilemann is one of the most respected, talented and fair-minded political journalists in America.

He and his partner Mark Halperin have written two of the most insightful and entertaining presidential campaign books of all time: Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime and Double Down: Game Change 2012. They are the Managing Editors of Bloomberg Politics. They have a weekly show about the campaign on Showtime called The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth. They have a daily show for Bloomberg Politics that airs on MSNBC called With All Due Respect.

It was on that show that something extraordinary happened yesterday. It was a tiny moment, one that could go unnoticed and unremarked. Talking about Donald Trump and the week he has had, Heilemann called Trump a lunatic.

One possibility is that despite the overwhelming evidence of a career marked by even-handed reporting, Heilemann has all along been a substandard journalist with a secret partisan agenda. The other possibility is that Heilemann is a great professional journalist who just finally had enough and could not avoid speaking the obvious.

In the event, hearing the word brought to mind the song I think about any time the word lunatic pops up, Pink Floyd’s Brain Damage from Dark Side of the Moon. It is the penultimate track on the album, leading into the closing Eclipse. The song is inspired in part by the tragic story of original Pink Floyd member Syd Barrett, whose genius was paired with and compromised by mental illness.

This may have absolutely nothing to do with the presidential campaign and election. Then again…

The lunatic is on the grass
The lunatic is on the grass
Remembering games and daisy chains and laughs
Got to keep the loonies on the path

The lunatic is in the hall
The lunatics are in my hall
The paper holds their folded faces to the floor
And every day the paper boy brings more

And if the dam breaks open many years too soon
And if there is no room upon the hill
And if your head explodes with dark forebodings too
I’ll see you on the dark side of the moon

The lunatic is in my head
The lunatic is in my head
You raise the blade, you make the change
You re-arrange me ’til I’m sane
You lock the door
And throw away the key
There’s someone in my head but it’s not me

And if the cloud bursts, thunder in your ear
You shout and no one seems to hear
And if the band you’re in starts playing different tunes
I’ll see you on the dark side of the moon

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September 30, 2016

Donald Trump Stays Up All Night Tweeting About National Security (Just Kidding)

The Twitter bluebird never sleeps. Neither does Donald Trump.

Last night, his tirade of overnight tweets wasn’t actually about national security, the economy, or anything else significant. Instead, he couldn’t sleep because of, among many other topics, a comment Hillary Clinton made in the Monday debate about the possibility that Trump is rudely disrespectful toward women/human beings. Specifically, toward Alicia Machado, a past winner of his Miss Universe pageant, who Trump mercilessly criticized for gaining weight during her royal reign. (Note the times of the tweetstorm, which began around 3:00am, and here resumes after 5:00am.)

Millions of people stay up all night tweeting nonsense. It’s a free country and a free social medium, and God bless those who have the time for this or don’t need the sleep. But Donald Trump, as has become apparent, is not one of the millions. He is one in a million, maybe one in a billion. And he is running for President.

It might be interesting to learn what he would be tweeting in the middle of the night if he becomes President. But not nearly interesting enough to have anything to do with helping to make that happen.

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September 26, 2016

How to Prepare Spiritually for the Debate

The Clinton-Trump debate is taking place tonight, if you hadn’t heard. People will watch for a whole lot of different reasons. Some to see the candidate they like succeed, some to see the candidate they don’t like that much succeed, some to see the candidate they really don’t like be destroyed, some because they just like to watch twisted spectacles and disaster movies. Sharknado, maybe?

The term soul-sucking may be colloquial, but there’s real truth in it. Some things just seem to draw the life force right out of you, creating a spiritual vacuum. Depending on your perspective, this debate could be one of those.

Here are three optional steps for dealing with this.

Don’t watch. Estimates are that over 100 million people may watch this. This might include friends and loved ones, and it might include you. Which makes it unlikely that you won’t watch a little of it, or the whole thing. Friends don’t let friends watch alone.

Prior to watching, read something or do something that will settle you firmly on the ground and in reality. This may already be part of your regular practice. If not, this may be a good time to start.

After watching, you will notice seemingly millions of talking heads trying to spin what you’ve already seen and heard, or trying to prove how smart they are by repeating what you’ve already seen and heard, and then telling you about it, attempting to impart meaning to what you may regard as meaningless. At that point, if you insist on listening to them, repeat Step 2.

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September 13, 2016

What If There Had Been Hacked Watergate Emails?

The issues surrounding the release of hacked emails from the Democratic Party and related entities are many and gray. If you hear anyone say that all the answers are clear and that there are simple bright lines is either not thinking it through, has some vested interest, or is one of the people who lost their job at the DNC.

To help clarify, consider this. What if there had been emails covering the entire Watergate conspiracy, rather than just the tape recordings that emerged after the fact? What if those emails were hacked and released while the cover-up was still ongoing? (This is not to say that the current situations even approach such gravity.) Would we be wringing our hands because high-level private and confidential communications had been stolen? Would we be happy that what Gerald Ford later called “our long national nightmare” would have been over sooner? Maybe we would be a little of both.

In coming days, as the next batch of leaked documents and data is released, some will be quick to condemn the leaks or to exploit the leaks. The best we can do, hard and unlikely as it is in such situations, is to think it all through carefully. Because like it or not, this is what the future looks like.

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September 13, 2016

Hillary Clinton Has the Rockin’ Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu

Huey "Piano" Smith

Hillary Clinton and her campaign aren’t known for their grasp of pop culture. Back in 1992, the Clintons chose Fleetwood Mac’s Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow as the campaign theme song. As much as you might like Fleetwodd Mac, by that time it wasn’t the height of hip. (Note however, that Hillary never did stop thinking about tomorrow. It’ll soon be here.)

Admittedly, Huey “Piano” Smith’s R&B classic Rockin’ Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu is not exactly new school. But it never stopped being cool.

So don’t you think the whole Hillary pneumonia thing could be going much better for her if she had just explained:

It’s true, my doctor told me on Friday that I had the rockin’ pneumonia and the boogie woogie flu. Yes, I wanted to jump but I was afraid I’d fall. But now, I wanna scream, I want you all to know that I feel better than fine.

I don’t know about you, but that’s all the medical report I would need.

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September 12, 2016

Worst Job in the World: Defending Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump

Terrible jobs can have their rewards. In the case of supporting political candidates, it’s some combination of money, power, friendship or being a true believer.

Even with those possible rewards, you have to think that defending, excusing, explaining or just talking about some of the things that Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump do or say, or have done or have said, has got to be one of the worst jobs in the world. So to those who have taken on that job, we can only guess what you go through, and we hope it’s worth it.

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September 9, 2016

Govern a nation as you would fry a small fish

Sardine

A message to candidates and voters from the Tao Te Ching. It is the first line of chapter 60, in various translations. Please read and feel free to interpret as you like. Comments are welcome.

If I were moderating a presidential debate, I would simply recite this line and ask Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump what this means to them. What illuminating fun that would be.

Govern a nation as you would fry a small fish.

Directing the flow of affairs of a large country
Is like cooking a small fresh fish.

Govern great nations
like frying small fish.

Ruling a large country is like cooking a small fish.

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September 8, 2016

Will Donald Trump Be the First Hip-Hop President?

Hip-hop may be the most influential cultural movement of the past few decades. It is certainly the basis for the most popular and prevalent global music of the century so far.

Listen to it, like it, love it or loathe it, it is complex art. Among its elements is a brutal honesty, not only about conditions in life and the world, but about personal behavior and attitudes. And some of those behaviors and attitudes can reflect self-centeredness, narcissism, and an embrace of materialism and success, all of it verging on a very aggressive artistic id set free. Others will analyze the source of this, but there it is.

Here’s the irony, or maybe not ironic at all.

The above describes Donald Trump perfectly. Word for word, behavior for attitude, id for id.

Which suggests that Donald Trump, unknown to all of us, is one of the great hip-hop artists of the age. Even his talks are more like raps than speeches. That is not meant to reflect badly on hip-hop. Just an observation, contributing to answering the question of how this is happening.

So if Bill Clinton was the first black President (wrong; sorry Toni Morrison), maybe Donald Trump will be the first hip-hop President. Just don’t tell his supporters.

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Category: Elections