Scary transfer of nuclear information - Jared Kushner has a security clearance and he's transferring nuclear info to Saudi Arabia

Echo opinion from Arkansas - Why isn't FoxNews (TrumpTV) covering this?

Threat to our security - letter to the editor published in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette newspaper.

I strongly object to the transfer of nuclear technology, led by Jared Kushner, to Saudi Arabia by IP3 International*. (Two article links follow this letter to the editor below.)

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is a cruel and ruthless tyrant in the same mold as Moammar Gadhafi. Uranium 235, the fuel used in nuclear reactors, is also used to make nuclear weapons. Since Iran is a mortal enemy of Saudi Arabia, once this transfer takes place, I believe Iran will have no choice but to begin its own nuclear weapons program.

I strongly urge the Arkansas congressional delegation to do everything it can to stop this transfer, which will ultimately turn the Middle East into a ticking time bomb that threatens not only that region of the world, but the security of United States as well.

What you do or don't do now about this situation will ultimately determine the fate of the world as we know it.

Brad Bailey, Fayetteville, Arkansas

*CEOs Ask Trump to Help Them Sell Nuclear Power Plants Abroad 

By Jennifer A. Dlouhy, Ari Natter and Jennifer Jacobs

IP3 International 

Trump to Huddle with US Energy Executives to Discuss Nuclear Exports - Axios By Jonathan Swan, Dave Lawler, Alayna Treene

Why it matters: Saudi Arabia says it wants nuclear power in order to be able to divert more oil for export, and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) led negotiations with the U.S. Energy and State departments last year over a power plants deal "worth upward of $80 billion," per the New York Times. But the kingdom has reportedly resisted safeguards to ensure it doesn’t develop nuclear weapons, and MBS said last March that Saudi Arabia will "follow suit as soon as possible" if its rival Iran makes a break for the bomb.

The meeting was first reported by Bloomberg, which noted that companies "are working to get U.S. government approval of next-generation advanced and small modular nuclear reactors — and sell them to the world" at a difficult time for the domestic market.

Paul LePage criticizing innocent people on FoxNews- makes no sense (as usual!)

Maine needs immigrants, not LePage’s opinions

MaineWriter - My letter to The Forecaster editor Feb. 4, 2019

(With a personal P.S. added to this blog)

Dear Forecaster, When Fox News interviewed former Gov. Paul LePage about his wrong-minded criticism towards Maine’s asylum-seekers, he made assumptions about the needs of the state’s aging population. He was wrong to say that Mainers who “lived their lives in Maine are without services in their aging years or with their disabilities.” He assumed the reason is because of asylum-seekers. The fact is, the state’s population growth is pretty much flat. Population growth is having an impact on the number of caregivers who will provide care for all Mainers, including the aged and those with disabilities. Maine’s nursing shortage is another contributing factor challenging the access to care for our citizens.

In fact, the correct response to this looming problem is to support allowing asylum-seekers to work while they wait for their legal proceedings. Moreover, welcoming immigrants is the best way to provide for the population needed to sustain Maine’s workforce. Immigrants are needed to work in the tourism industries. It’s pitiful to see the former governor speak about asylum-seekers like they are somehow a problem, when welcoming them and other immigrants could help to overcome Maine’s caregiver and service-sector shortages.

Juliana L’Heureux
Topsham

P.S. What I wanted to include in this opinion was a statement about Paul LePage's personal immigrant ancestry.  He is a Franco-American. His family were among the tens of thousands of immigrants who came into Lewiston and other Maine cities for the purpose of finding work in the industrial and textile mills. In fact, LePage is a hypocrite to criticize other people for aspiring to achieve the same opportunities that the members of his family were offered, when his relatives obtained work in Lewiston's mills. 

Michelle Wolf the star of White House Correspondents Dinner

White House Correspondents’ Dinner: See Michelle Wolf’s Scathing Speech

Beautiful Michelle Wolf

“I know there’s a lot of people who want me to talk about Russia and Putin and collusion,” Wolf said during her address, “but I’m not gonna do that—because there’s a lot of liberal media here and I’ve never wanted to know what any of you look like when you orgasm.”

"Here we are at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner,” said comedian and Correspondents' Dinner host Michelle Wolf as she began her speech Saturday night. “Like a porn star says when she’s about to have sex with a Trump, let’s get this over with.”

For the second year in a row, Donald Trump opted to skip the annual gala. So to kick off the night, the White House Correspondents’ Association presented a video in which a cartoon version of the president—the same one who often stops by Stephen Colbert’s Late Show—spoke with various members of his cabinet about whether or not he would attend the event. (Colbert himself famously emceed the Correspondents' Dinner in 2006.)

Additionally, the clip also guest starred cartoon likenesses of journalists including Rachel Maddow.

Michelle Wolf took the stage—and pulled no punches. As the former Daily Show correspondent told a roomful of journalists and politicos, “I have no agenda. I’m not trying to get anything accomplished. So everybody that’s here from Congress, you should feel right at home.”

Naturally, Wolf didn’t let the commander in chief’s absence slide, either: “Of course Trump isn’t here. . . I would drag him here myself, but it turns out the president of the United States is the one pussy you’re not allowed to grab.”

Though Wolf has said that her upcoming Netflix series, The Break, won't be particularly political, the jokes she told Saturday were appropriately topical—some of them hitting, perhaps, a little too close to home, especially for those guests who work in Trump’s orbit.

Her barbs ranged from predictable to edgy, with swipes at politicians including Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan as well as journalists including Maddow and Sean Hannity.

Moreover, Wolf also addressed the #MeToo movement, aiming digs at Bill O’Reilly and Fox News especially. But a large amount of her time, as one might expect, was dedicated to lampooning the president.

“People call Trump names all the time—and look, I could call Trump a racist or a misogynist or xenophobic, or unstable, or incompetent, or impotent. But he’s heard all of those before and he doesn’t care,” Wolf said “So tonight, I’m gonna try to make fun of the president in a new way. In a way that I think will really get him. Mr. President: I don’t think you’re very rich. Like, I think you’re rich in Idaho, but in New York, you’re doing fine.”

She then engaged the room in a little game of “Donald Trump is so poor.” How poor is he? So poor that "he has to fly failed business class;” so poor that he “looked for foreign oil in Don Jr.’s hair,” and, in a joke that might fall into the "too soon" category, so poor that “Southwest used him as one of their engines.”

In the final joke, a harder hit: "Trump is so poor", Wolf said, that “he had to borrow money from the Russians, and now he’s compromised and susceptible to blackmail and possibly responsible for the collapse of the republic.”

“Trump is a racist, though,” Wolf continued. “He loves white nationalists, which is a weird term for a Nazi. Calling a Nazi a white nationalist is like calling a pedophile a kid friend. Or Harvey Weinstein a ladies’ man. Which isn’t fair—he also likes plants.”

Wolf also made an oblique reference to the upheaval that’s gripped the country over the past year, with a nod to the uptick in demonstrations: “People are saying America is more divided than ever, but I think no matter what you support politically, we can all agree that this is a great time for craft stores. Because of all the protests, poster board has been flying off the shelves faster than Robert Mueller can say, ‘You've been subpoenaed. And thanks to Trump, pink yarn sales are through the roof.”

“I know there’s a lot of people who want me to talk about Russia and Putin and collusion,” Wolf continued, “but I’m not gonna do that—because there’s a lot of liberal media here and I’ve never wanted to know what any of you look like when you orgasm. Except for you, Jake Tapper.”

Some of the night’s jokes filled the room with a palpable tension—like one in which Wolf noted Mike Pence’s anti-abortion stance. “He thinks abortion is murder,” Wolf said, “which, first of all, don’t knock it ‘til you try it—and when you do try it, really knock it. You know, you’ve got to get that baby out of there. And yeah, sure, you can groan all you want. I know a lot of you are very anti-abortion. You know, unless it’s the one you got for your secret mistress.”
“I had a lot of jokes about cabinet members,” Wolf said later, “but I had to scrap all of those because everybody has been fired.” Wolf did manage to squeeze in a dig at one cabinet member, however—albeit an outgoing one. After a joke in which Wolf said McConnell couldn’t make it to the dinner because “he’s finally getting his neck circumcised,” Wolf added, “Paul Ryan also couldn’t make it. Of course, he’s already been circumcised. Unfortunately, while they were down there, they also took his while they were down there, they also took his balls.”

On The Daily Show, Wolf has proven she’s got a deep well of Ivanka Trump material, so naturally she brought a few with her Saturday night. “She was supposed to be an advocate for women,” Wolf said of the first daughter, “but it turns out she’s about as helpful to women as an empty box of tampons. She’s done nothing to satisfy women—so, I guess, like father like daughter.”

“She does clean up nice. . . She’s the diaper genie of the administration,” Wolf added. “On the outside it looks sleek, but on the inside it’s full of shit.”

And as for Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who attended the dinner in Trump’s place? “I’m never really sure what to call Sarah Huckabee Sanders. You know? Is it Sarah Sanders, is it Sarah Huckabee Sanders, is it Auntie Huckabee Sanders? What’s ‘Uncle Tom,’ but for white women who disappoint other white women?”

In general, Wolf also urged the media to stop giving Kellyanne Conway a platform on their programs. “If you don’t give her a platform, she has nowhere to lie,” Wolf said. 

As always, there were plenty of digs at the media, including jokes about specific outlets—like CNN. “You guys love breaking news,” Wolf said. “And you did it. You broke it. Good work.” As for Fox News? “Fox News is here, so you know what that means, ladies. Cover your drinks.” Wolf also targeted Sean Hannity, who found himself in hot water after the revelation that he’s Michael Cohen’s third client. “People want me to make fun of Sean Hannity tonight, but I can’t do that. This dinner is for journalists,” she said. 

Joe Scarborough and Mika Brezinzki’s engagement, Wolf said, “is like when a #MeToo works out.”

And as for Megyn Kelly, whose tenure at NBC has been a bit of a let-down so far, Wolf said this: “Megyn Kelly got paid 23 million dollars by NBC and then NBC didn’t let Megyn go to the Winter Olympics. Why not? She’s so white and cold and expensive, she might as well be the Winter Olympics. And by the way, Megyn, Santa’s black. The weird old guy going through your chimney was Bill O’Reilly.”

One group Wolf refused to attack, however? Print media. After all, Wolf reasoned, “it’s illegal to attack an endangered species.” 

Still, as Wolf wrapped up her performance, she finished with one final scold for journalists: “You guys are obsessed with Trump,” she said, adding later, “I think what no one in this room wants to admit is that Trump has helped all of you. He couldn’t sell steaks, or vodka, or water, or college, or ties, or Eric—but he has helped you. He’s helped you so your papers and your books and your TV. You helped create this monster and now you’re profiting off of him. And if you’re gonna profit off of Trump, you should at least give him some money—because he doesn’t have any.”

And with that, Wolf left the stage. Because, as she put it, “like an immigrant who was brought here by his parents and didn’t do anything wrong, I’ve got to get the fuck out of here.”

Congressman Trey Gowdy sends stern message to John Dowd

This is another view of Congressman Trey Gowdy ~

South Carolina Congressman Trey Gowdy received justifiable criticism from me, when he engaged in relentless questioning of Secretary Hillary Clinton, during the bogus Congressional Benghazi hearings. I can't excuse Congressman Gowdy for his over the top drilling of Mrs Clinton during 8 grueling hours of senseless questioning about the Benghazi tragedy. But he is right to criticize Attorney John Dowd.

A FoxNews report: Trey Gowdy to Trump Lawyer John Dowd ~  "WHEN YOU'RE INNOCENT .. ACT LIKE IT"

Gowdy to Dowd: Act like Trump is innocent

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) urged President Donald Trump and his lawyer on Sunday to stop flailing at special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation and to let the probe continue unimpeded.

Also....Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) ~ GOP lawmakers must stand up for Mueller

Asserting that “when you are innocent … act like it,” Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) urged President Donald Trump and his lawyer to allow special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation to continue, Fox News reported.

Gowdy said that the efforts of Trump’s lawyer, John Dowd, to end Mueller’s probe did the president a “disservice” and that the counsel’s team need the “time, independence and resources” to complete the probe.

Speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” Gowdy said “I think the president’s attorney, frankly, does him a disservice when he says that and when he frames the investigation that way. If you have an innocent client, Mr. Dowd, act like it.”

Gowdy is chairman of the House Oversight committee. He said he hoped the president and Dowd would not try to force an end to the investigation. Trump mentioned Mueller for the first time in a tweet Sunday morning.

“Give Bob Mueller the time, independence and resources to do his job,” Gowdy, a former federal prosecutor, told Fox News. 

“And if you are innocent, act like it. … If you’ve done nothing wrong, you should want the investigation to be as fulsome and thorough as possible.”

Frankly, it's tough for me to give Congressman Trey Gowdy a pass on his horrible grandstanding while he pointlessly questioned Secretary Hillary Clinton about Benhazi. Nevertheless, he is correct to criticize Donald Trump, via the warning to Attorney John Dowd.

Roger Ailes and the Cleveland disaster RNC

In yet another political soap opera, segues for "As the Trump Turns", it seems incredulous to believe that the Fox News recent "has been", Roger Ailes, could have had anything to do with producing the disasterous Republican National Convention (RNC), in Cleveland.  The serial of misteps didn't carry his imprimateur. Proabably, Ailes was too busy trying to find a lawyer he could afford to defend him against sexual harassment charges by female FoxNews reporters.  Nevertheless, even without Ailes micro-managing the script, the Trump convention produced an unexpected bump in the political popularity polls, although I notice none of the reports gave the surveys' margins of error.  

Therefore, I suspect the polls were newsworthy, but hardly trustworthy. How could such an immature production possibly put Turmpty-Dumpty together again?  Yikes! Well, not so fast. It's possible, as Ailes goes, so goes Trump.

David Remnick, writing for the August 1st, The New Yorker, writes a brutal analysis about the Chaos in Cleveland:

The Donald Trump and Roger Ailes Nexus- by David Remnick

Roger Ailes- Donald Trump axis - from The New Yorker

ILLUSTRATION BY TOM BACHTELL

In fact (I agree), "The G.O.P.’s Convention was like a 4-day Fox News fest, full of fearmongering, demagoguery, xenophobia, pandering, and raw anger", writes Remnick.

Roger Ailes, the impresario of reactionary populism and in many ways the ideological godfather of the current Republican nominee for President, grew up in the industrial town of Warren, Ohio, and began his career first as a cue-card holder and then as a producer for “The Mike Douglas Show.” 

Fascinated by the persuasive properties of television, Ailes studied not only American programming but also the films of Leni Riefenstahl. In January, 1968, when Richard Nixon appeared on the show, with hopes of reviving his national political career, Ailes saw his own path to power. Even then a person of gargantuan self-regard, Ailes informed Nixon that he was in need of a “media adviser.”

“What’s a media adviser?” Nixon asked.

“I am,” Ailes replied.

According to Gabriel Sherman’s deeply reported book “The Loudest Voice in the Room,” Ailes determined that politicians could not risk losing voters in thickets of complication and prescription; they had to speak the language of “kickers”—evocative descriptive phrases—and constantly repeat them. He eventually became Nixon’s consigliere for television.

In August of 1968, Ailes made his way to Miami Beach to watch Nixon complete his return from political Elba and accept the Republican Party’s Presidential nomination. 

Nixon delivered a speech intended to heighten the fears of the delegates in the arena and of the “forgotten” majority of Americans at home—“the non-shouters, the non-demonstrators,” the “decent people,” who worked and saved and paid their taxes. His speech, pitched largely to white working-class voters anxious about law and order, was meant to make them even more anxious, more resentful, more tribal; his images and phrases presaged not only the rhetoric of Roger Ailes but also the unlikely rise of Donald J. Trump. “We see cities enveloped in smoke and flame,” Nixon said.

We hear sirens in the night. We see Americans dying on distant battlefields abroad. We see Americans hating each other; fighting each other; killing each other at home. And as we see and hear these things, millions of Americans cry out in anguish: Did we come all this way for this? Did American boys die in Normandy, and Korea, and in Valley Forge for this?

Ailes went on to advise Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and Rudolph Giuliani. Even more important, for the past twenty years Ailes has been the chief of the most influential institution for American conservatism: Fox News. The network, with the financial backing of Rupert Murdoch, was never merely a right-inflected “alternative.” It was from the start a reflection of Ailes—his swaggering personality, his resentments and furies, his misogyny and ethnic prejudices, his quest for personal power. At each stage of his career, he has helped amplify the reactionary memes of the moment: Willie Horton, Whitewater, Travelgate, Monica Lewinsky, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, Benghazi, “the war on Christmas.” Ailes also helped weaponize the language of casual racism in the Obama era. When one of his hosts, Glenn Beck, declared on the air that the President had a “deep-seated hatred for white people,” Ailes hardly reprimanded him. “I think he’s right,” Ailes said.

The Ailes-Trump relationship has been turbulent, roiled by the differences of large narcissisms—two immense egos competing for the same ideological berth. Last year, Trump moodily boycotted Ailes’s network, complaining that Megyn Kelly, as a debate moderator, had unreasonably quoted back to him some of his most memorable descriptions of half of humanity: “fat pigs,” “slobs,” “disgusting animals.” Nevertheless, Trump, who admits that he reads almost nothing and gets his information from “the shows,” adopted Fox rhetoric, Fox fury, and Fox standards of truth and falsehood, all with a dollop of Trumpian nativist flair. The Republican Convention in Cleveland last week was like a four-day-long Fox-fest, full of fearmongering, demagoguery, xenophobia, third-rate show biz, pandering, and raw anger. By comparison, Nixon in ’68 was Adlai Stevenson murmuring sonnets at a library luncheon.

For the unconverted, the Convention was a disaster that will not likely broaden Trump’s appeal. Every night seemed to bring a new serving of fresh hell: Melania Trump’s Michelle Obama imitation, Rudy Giuliani’s Father Coughlin imitation, Ted Cruz’s sententious revenge, the chants of “Lock Her Up!,” the buttons reading “Life’s a Bitch, Don’t Vote for One.” The antic quality of those sessions brought to mind less the savvy maneuverings perfected by Ailes than the stateroom scene in “A Night at the Opera,” but without the hard-boiled eggs.

Still, Ailes could take paternal pride in Trump’s acceptance speech. The nominee began with a phrase about “generosity and warmth” (barked, it’s true, as if some kind of threat), but—untethered to statistics or facts, and with his inner volume dialled past eleven—Trump went on to portray a country facing a Clinton legacy of “death, destruction, and weakness,” a nation of lawless immigrants roaming cities and towns, “chaos” in the streets, radical Islamic terrorists opposed by nothing but a pusillanimous government and its popgun military.

Because Trump was reading a script, there were no astonishments—no Mexican “rapists” or blood “coming out of her wherever.” Instead, we learned of an America blanketed in smoke and flame, a vision of fear meted out in countless kickers. 

And, just as Ailes may have counselled, there was no attempt at building a nuanced case or offering realistic solutions. There was only the assurance that Trump was the panacea. Give him power and everything will change magically and “fast.”

What heightened the drama was that, just hours before, Ailes’s long career had come to an ignominious end, amid multiple accusations of sexual harassment. Rupert Murdoch had long resisted the anti-Ailes protests of his sons, Lachlan and James, who have been embarrassed by Fox News. They believed that they could modify the network’s tone, but their father remained in the thrall of Ailes and of the bounteous profits he seemed to guarantee. Gretchen Carlson’s brave decision to sue Ailes and testify to his lurid, exploitative behavior—and the testimony from other women which followed—made it impossible for Murdoch to keep him around.

The reckoning was long overdue. Ailes’s most ominous political spawn, however, has so far evaded accountability. Ivanka Trump introduced her father by reminding the Convention of the tremendous “sacrifice” he had made to take a leave from his business to run for office. Now, having conquered “the party of Lincoln,” the most dangerous candidate for the White House in generations is hoping to win on a platform of paranoia. We hear sirens in the night. ♦



David Remnick has been editor of The New Yorker since 1998 and a staff writer since 1992.  This article appears in other versions of the August 1, 2016, issue, with the headline “Sirens in the Night.”

Fraud at bogus "Trump University" and Donald Trump is "shocked-shocked"

In my opinion, the fraud perpetrated by Trump University certainly "trumps" any potential issue with #forgetthedamnemails.

"...lawsuit seeks restitution and damages for more than 5,000 students nationwide, including 600 New Yorkers, who paid up to $35,000 each."  FoxNews

New York Judges Decides Tump University fraud case goes to trial.A New York judge decided Tuesday that a fraud case against Donald Trump over his former school for real estate investors will go to trial – raising the possibility that the Republican presidential primary front-runner could testify during campaign season.

New York County Supreme Court Judge Cynthia Kern made the decision at a hearing Tuesday, though it remains unclear whether the case will be weighed at a jury trial – which is what Trump’s team is seeking. Trump attorney Jeffrey Goldman said it’s possible the trial could be held this fall, and Trump could testify.

In the case, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, a Democrat, has accused Trump and others of misleading thousands of students over the school.

Ivanka Trump gave $500 to Eric Schneiderman's Attorney General campaign, but the money was refunded as a result of the fraud lawsuit.

Schneiderman alleges that Trump University was unlicensed since it began operating in 2005 and promised lessons with real estate experts hand-picked by Trump, only one of whom had ever met him. The attorney general said the school used "bait-and-switch" tactics, inducing students to enroll in increasingly expensive seminars.

Trump has denied any wrongdoing. He has said it was "a terrific school" with 98 percent approval ratings by its students.

Schneiderman had sued Trump and the school, which changed its name to the Trump Entrepreneur Initiative before it closed in 2010, for $40 million. The lawsuit seeks restitution and damages for more than 5,000 students nationwide, including 600 New Yorkers, who paid up to $35,000 each.

A New York court earlier had refused to throw out the fraud lawsuit.

Trump filed complaints with the state's ethics commission in 2013, four months after the lawsuit was filed, alleging Schneiderman pursued it to wring out campaign contributions from Trump's daughter Ivanka. 

The ethics commission dropped the complaint after a review. Schneiderman denied it, and his campaign returned the $500 donation Ivanka Trump had made in 2012.

Trump's fellow Republican candidates have attacked him over litigation against the school, including a class-action suit in California. Trump criticized the judge in that case.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Obviously, Donald Trump is unable to defend this fraud regardless of how the court case proceeds.  If Trump were able to defend himself against education fraud, he would have surrogates or even former students explaning another point of view. Rather than being "shocked-shocked" at Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, Donald Trump should, instead, be producing cash refunds for those who were unsatisfied with their bogus education.

Ten ways to defeat Donald Trump- fight fire with fire

Unfortunately, reasonable people, those who do what their mothers taught them, to "think before you act", would never consider stooping to Donald Trump's low level of political rhetoric, to win votes. Nevertheless, the Trumponian communications' style of being "not politically correct" has probably changed the way Americans will perceive political discourse, at least for the foreseeable future. In other words, the only way to defeat an extremist candidate like Donald Trump is to follow the proverb of "fighting fire with fire". Indeed, the Republicans who are intent on taking down Donald Trump, because of his outrageous extremism, racial bigotry and inciting violence at his campaign rallies, must learn the ugly art of "take down". As in wrestling, a brutal sport, Trump opponents must swiftly bring down the candidate who is now standing tall, because he has the most primary election delegates to win the Republican nomination to run as president of the United States. But, he's not qualified by experience or anything else to run the nation or be an international world leader.  

Indeed, it's time to take Trump to the mat, so to speak, and here are ten suggestions about how the Republican establishment can finally remove him from the political scene:

Republicans must learn to "fight fire with fire".

1.  Stop renting Trump enterprises properties - surely, many Republicans are renting space in a Trump real estate deal.  Stop doing it, give notice on your lease, ASAP.

2.  Publish and give away copies of Mein Kampf with Trump's picture and facsimile signature on the cover, in the place of the Nazi insignia.

3.  Stop sending media to follow the violent Trump campaign rallies. In the absence of television of video cameras, the Trump campaign train would quickly de-rail.

4.  Give Megyn Kelly an opening act on Saturday Night Live (SNL). Can the real Kelly anchor a news skit with comedian Tina Fey?

5.  An even better idea, is have Secretary Hillary Clinton play the part of Megyn Kelly, in a news skit with comedian Tina Fey!

6.  Ask, Donald Trump if he will use American Labor Union workers to build his immigration wall, to keep Mexican immigrants from crossing into the USA? (Obviously, Mexico will have to pay American labor wages, if they're really going to build Trump's mythical wall.) Maybe, if Mexican workers could be paid the same as those in the US, it's possible they would build the wall to keep the American workers out of Mexico.

7. An even better idea, is to ask Donald Trump any intelligent question at all, that's especially related to public policy and how he intends to improve the human condition?

8. Take away Donald Trump's "twitter handle" (@therealdonaldtrump)! The reason being, because he uses his social media exposure to incite violence, racism and sedition.

9.  Pay FoxNews and Rupert Murdock ad rates, to show the Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick hilarious video "Trumped"- over and over, and over and over again.

10.  Show a video  of Donald Trump life-like manikins being thrown into the Winooski River, in Burlington Vermont, with a boom box playing "throw them out, throw them out in the cold, take their coats and throw them out", playing full blast on scaffolding.

A combination of all of the above, coordinated in nearly the same news cycle might.....might....be enough to educate Trumponian supporters about the danger their right wing thinking is to the developmental growth of our democracy.  

Donald Trump is a tyrant who isn't qualified to be the leader of the free world. Therefore, Republicans must "fight fire with fire", reduce their conservative intellect to his low level, to put his political conflagration out, like a wild fire, before it ignites the entire national forest.  

Trumponian "professional wrestling" match with FOXNews - ouch! "Cruz to loose"

Selecting a US president shouldn't be like watching a "Punch and Judy Show" or a "professional" (haha!) wrestling match.  

Surprise-surprise!  Donald Trump made headlines again. Often, Trumponian headlines are "everyday-all day". He's like the new McDonald's breakfast menu!  It's a hit!  In fact, "Trump-it-y- trump-trump-trump" is all the politics pundits can talk about! In fact, Trump makes news, even when he's not doing something he should, like debate with FOXNews diva Megyn Kelly. Poor Megyn! Trump is picking on her again! She's mad and Trump's equally mad. All this "mad-mad" made for TV politicst makes Senator Ted "Cruz to loose" angry, too, because, without Trump he'll be the candidate who must answer questions on the Republican debate stage. Imagine, "Cruz to loose" having to say something meaningful!  Now, this media "marriage a trois" is becoming like a professional wrestling match. In other words, it's politcs made for entertainment and to garner viewers ratings. 

Republican politics is like watching a "Punch and Judy Show", especially when the skit is a "marriage a trois", played out between Donald "Trump the Chump", with diva Megyn Kelly and Senator "Cruz to loose"

None this posturing and power playing has anything to do with selecting America's next president or building confidence in who is qualified to be a Republican "commander in chief".  It's a joke, except it's really not funny (even when it is).  

Many Republicans are likely to stay home from the polls as a protest vote in November, rather than be asked to vote for a "Punch and Judy Show" candidate like Donald Trump or his bookend "Elmer Gantry" stand in, Senator "Cruz to loose". 

Here's the skit - "Trump the Chump" wants all the attention.  He's like the McDonald's new Breakfast menu.  Of course, Trumponian hair-dos notwithstanding, he can't compete with Megyn Kelly for looks on made for TV political drama.  Therefore, Trump-it-y Trump must "create the news" he wants to read.

Megyn Kelly, on the other hand, was going to take "Trumpy" down for the count when she could launch her "punditry" club on him during a FoxNews television debate, where she'llbe the diva moderator.  (We've seen this opera before....the diva always wins...)

Except, not so fast.....now, we have the forlorn candidate, Senator "Cruz to loose", who was unexpectedly just launched into "punching range", because the McDonald's breakfast menu decided not to show up for the Diva Debate, and the upstaged "drama diva" has nobody to strangle hold on her debate mat.  

"Punch and Judy" drama can create an entertaining puppet show, but it's not what our nation needs when trying to make an informed decision about electing qualified leadership.  

Perhaps Donald "Trump"( the "McDonald's breakfast menu candidate") can be given a broken clock award for his justifiable anger against Megyn Kelly.  

Indeed, Diva Kelly is out to get Trump. But, so what? Trumpy dealt with her the first time she moderated the debate. He's disdained the women who adore Kelly's "diva-ness", along with denegrating Senator John McCain, stereotyping immigrants, mocking disabled people, throwing protesters into the cold without coats....so, gee, what's another "Punch and Judy Show" bout with Megyn Kelly, anyway? 

It's probably true that FOXNews will woe the decision to have Diva Kelly moderate the Trumponian breakfast menu. Meanwhile, "Cruz to loose" is sadly doing his soliloquy on center stage, all alone, ....while nobody cares to listen and FOXNews slowly fades into viewer ratings irrelevance.

Republican right wing myths - Ripley's Believe it or Not?

Even more worrisome than the rise of Donald Trump the Chump as a Republican Presidential candidate, are the myth makers who present lies as truth.  In fact, immigrant children are being victimized by FoxNews right wing lies.

Numbers of children who're illegally immigrating into the US are increasing, but let's get the data about their arrival correct. 

FoxNews is one perpetrator of political misinformation. This right wing cable news channel thrives on creating right wing truth, regardless of any evidence to back up the rhetoric.

Regarding US immigration from Central America and Mexico, FoxNews has created a dangerous cottage industry of lies.  

Indeed, Mr. Ripley would put  the FoxNews "matter of fact", statements, as being too incredulous to believe. 

Nevertheless, many gullible watchers of FoxNews are certainly falling for myths. For example, the purpose of the FoxNews immigration compulsion is just to create fear about immigrants. 

Moreover, Donald Trump has built his stand up soapbox stump speech on the fear these immigration myths generate.

Myth Number One:

35,000 illegal children immigrants cross into the US through Texas, every month! They enter by riding into the US on the roofs of trains.

Obviously, this myth is ridiculous. It seems to me, any reasonable person would see this myth for what it is - a right wing lie. Yes, the numbers of child immigrants are growing because nothing is being done to stop the violence these children are exposed to in their home countries.

Here's what I found out:

Pipeline of children: A border crisis

Gang Violence, Lack of Opportunity and Misinformation Lead to a Mass Exodus North to the United States. Thousands Travel Well Worn but Dangerous Path in Hopes of New Opportunity.

So, this report from AZCentral doesn't seem to report 35,000 children arriving every month, on the roofs of trains. Nevertheless, this misinformation is in the minds of right wing extremists.

As a matter of fact, a pipeline bringing a flood of Central American migrants to the United States, including thousands of unaccompanied children, begins in villages like Quebrada Maria, near the Caribbean coast of Honduras.  But the numbers are no where near 35,000, every month.  If this myth were fact, there would hardly be any children left in Central America.

Here's who are immigrating: Dimple-faced, 14-year-old Brayan Duban Soler Redondo lived in daily fear of being beaten up or killed by members of gangs like Mara Salvatrucha, also called MS-13, and Calle 18.

Gangs such as these terrorize neighborhoods throughout Central America. Over three days in May, gang members in a Honduran city, San Pedro Sula, murdered five children ages 5 to 13.  "They cut their bodies into quarters as a warning to others because the children didn't want to distribute drugs in their neighborhood," said Father German Calix, director of Caritas Honduras, a Catholic relief agency.

Slayings like these were why Brayan was desperate to leave. He imagines himself working in an office in the United States someday, "wearing fancy clothes" and sending money back to his family.

But his charming smile offered little protection in his village, where gangs kill over the smallest of things, he said, even for trying to go to school or wearing the wrong clothes.

He had no idea how he would escape that world until, the week before Easter, he heard news he thought could save his life.

Two brothers from the same village had set off a month earlier for the United States. Their mother had received a call. The boys, teenagers like Brayan, had made it. Word spread through the village fast. The boys told their mother that, after turning themselves in to "la migra," the Border Patrol, they had been detained briefly and then released to relatives in the United States.

Brayan saw a way out.

There was one big problem. Migrants often pay smugglers thousands of dollars to guide them to the United States. 

Brayan didn't have any money. He's the youngest of eight children. His parents are coffee pickers. And, unlike many migrants, he didn't know any relatives working in the U.S. to send him money for the trip.

But that didn't deter him. After hearing the story about the two boys, Brayan decided to leave his family behind and strike out the very next day on a 1,400-mile journey to the U.S. To earn money, he killed a rabbit and sold it for the equivalent of $9.50, which he carried in his pocket the day he left.

So in mid-April, Brayan entered the pipeline, which has grown increasingly crowded with children looking for an escape route out of their violent homelands. (But 35,000 a month? Impossible!)

Here's another right wing myth:  The reason so many thousands of illegal immigrants are crossing into the US is because they want to vote in American elections!

Well, this is truly ridiculous, because most who're fleeing their homes in Central America and in Mexico are unable to speak or read in English! Moreover, none are American citizens, a requirement before anyone can vote in any US election. 

Rather, these desperate immigrants are trying to earn money. The US dollar is so strong, it's like a magnet drawing them north. They have no interest in voting in American elections, at this time, because they aren't citizens. Nevertheless, in the event any of the immigrants, eventually, become American citizens, they'll certainly remember those who helped them along "a path to citizenship". Those who helped the immigrants, will undoubtedly be rewarded with their votes. Otherwise, this preposterous "voting" myth has no substance.

Certainly, as some wise pundit once said, a lie can travel around the world before the truth catches up. It seems to  me, the purpose of FoxNews is to create an extensive network of lies, too many for any truth teller to ever catch.

Meaning, FoxNews will continue to smother the truth about immigration from Central America and Mexico into the US. Indeed, it will likely take generations before Mr. Ripley will be able to publish the FoxNews myths in the "Believe it or Not" museum, because the facts about the young immigrants may never be entirely known.

Even with 24/7 real time news, it appears the right wing has escaped being "factified". 

Nevertheless, common sense should prevail in political myth busting. There's just no way 35,000 children are illegally immigrating into  the USA every month, arriving on the roofs of trains. Even more incredulous, those who manage to escape the tyranny of the situations the immigrants are fleeing from are certainly not taking this arduously dangerous journey so they can vote in American elections. Thoughtful Americans should never believe incredible lies about desperate immigrants. Yet, the barn door has opened and it will take generations before the news media will be able to "factify" these myths. 

Let's hope Democrats will win all the 2016 US elections. Americans need to follow credible news media, that will be forced to respond to those who believe in the desperation behind real immigration facts, rather than creating unbelievable myths about those desperately seeking a new way of life for themselves. (Whatever happened to investigative journalism, anyway?)

FoxNews shouldn't be a source for "Ripley's Believe it or Not" reporting. Instead, FoxNews should be the perpetrators of factual news

Syria - We Must Remember the Millions of Victims: FoxNews

It's among the least supported subjects I write about but somebody must remember the millions of victims of the Syrian civil war - especially since the ridiculous peace talks fell apart like an avalanche in Geneva, Switzerland this week.

Syria has an ancient history, but now the country's population is under threat of pandemic diseases (polio outbreaks reported) and genocide because President Assad is now focused on protecting the interest of the Russians, who have set up a puppet government in Damascus.  There's no doubt, if polio has erupted in the Syrian refugee camps, then tuberculosis is also endemic in the population, because sanitary conditions must be deplorable. 

Nevertheless, President Assad sent peace feelers to the Geneva peace talks to help resolve the country's daunting civil war, because he thought, maybe, the nations would give him a pass on regime change.

How can any civilized country give President Assad a pass? He is responsible for the disease, dislocation and death of millions of his own people! 

At the imploded Geneva conference, the two sides discussed humanitarian issues and possible ways to end the violence. They made some agreements on local ceasefires to allow access for humanitarian workers. UN aid chief Valerie Amos said the deals had allowed some aid to get through to a few thousand families.

Oh my, aid to "a few thousand families"? There are more than a million displaced people living in refugee camps, because they fear genocide if they remain in their homes. Many of the displaced people support the Syrian rebels and, sadly, are largely Christians.

Syrians Christians seem to be targeted in this horrific civil war.

FoxNews has been covering the persecuted Syrian Christians.

I must say, I'm not a FoxNews fan, but this is the one subject where I believe this reporting is earning humanitarian kudos. 

FoxNews reports how Christianity began in the East, not the West, yet today Christians in the East are enduring an all-out-assault by Islamic terrorists, while Christians in the West live their lives largely oblivious to it all. This has to change.

This is no imaginary persecution; in Syria alone there have been reports of kidnappings, Christian communities intentionally displaced by militants and, worst of all, shootings and beheadings of Christians who refused to convert to Islam.

In Egypt radicals have recently destroyed dozens of churches, and the once vibrant Christian population in Iraq has been decimated.

In my opinion, the world has abandoned Syrians and President Assad is protecting his mortality by doing whatever the Russians want him to do.  If Putin pulls support for Assad, he's done.

Human nature under stress being what it is, Assad thought he might barter for some deal to allow humanitarian aid to be given to displaced and persecuted Syrians. Assad actually thought he could exchange humanitarian aid for his leadership, presumably, exempt from Russian control. This strategy didn't work, so the talks imploded. Thankfully, the Geneva peace talks won't barter with a leader who is responsible for the murder of untold numbers of his own people through violence and persecution.

Thanks to FoxNews for remembering the Syrian victims of the deadly civil war. It's impossible for President Assad to continue as Syria's leader, because he's a perpetrator of genocide.  

Russia has its own internal problems with domestic terrorism. It's a long shot, but possible President Putin will have to, either, declare war on his own people or resign. Who's going to hold Assad's hand when President Putin is distracted or gone?

Who cares what happens to Assad? He's a man who wants to barter the humanitarian aid to his own people to save his presidency.

Meanwhile, millions of Syrians, inheritors of thousands of years of history and culture, will never know peace or be able to claim what they lost during this horrific civil war.

We must remember to care about these tragic people.

Libya and Iraq - FoxNews Tragedies in a Dangerous Place

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction
Bush asserted peaceful measures could not disarm Iraq of the weapons he alleged it to have and launched a second Gulf War,^[9] despite multiple dissenting opinions^[10] and questions of integrity^[11][12][13] about the underlying intelligence.^[14] 

FoxNews continues creating incendiary stories about the tragic loss of four American lives in Benghazi. But, do the right wing journalists  recall know how many people were killed in Iraq after the Americans invaded the country under the false premise that there were Weapons of Mass Destruction waiting to annihilate the world hidden in a mythical underground dessert sand dune?  http://antiwar.com/casualties/

American Military Casualties in Iraq
Date	Total	In Combat
American Deaths
Since war began (3/19/03):	4488	3532
Since "Mission Accomplished" (5/1/03) (the list)	4347	3424
Since Handover (6/29/04):	3627	2899
Since Obama Inauguration (1/20/09):	257	128

Read more »