FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2016

Today’s Good News And Bad News

From Our Local Political Junkie We’ll Call “Cincy Dave”

 

GOOD NEWS FOR HILLARY

Former Secy. of State Colin Powell really did tell Hillary to use a private email account, as she has always maintained.   Now, an email from Powell to Hillary has been discovered to prove it.  This may be some more ammunition for Hillary to defend herself with in the never-ending email controversy,

OBAMA’S BIRTH CERTIFICATE

Rudy Giuliani says that he can confirm that Trump, after years of claiming that Obama was born in Africa, now believes that Obama was born in the U.S.   This, after Trump spent a good deal of money to send his buddy, Sheriff Arpaio’s deputy to Hawaii to do research on the birth certificate.  Trump said at the time they were finding some amazing things, and he would report on it later.  That was about 5 years ago.   However, as late as Tuesday, Trump was on Bill O’Reilly’s show discussing the birth certificate issue and its effect on Trumps lack of support among African-Americans and he passed up the opportunity to state that Obama was a citizen.   Trump has never admitted publicly to being wrong on the matter.  Actually, Trump has never admitted to being wrong on anything.

TRUMP BRAGGED THAT HIS MONEY BOUGHT OFF POLITICIANS. JUST NOT THIS TIME
In recent years, as Trump University came under greater scrutiny by state regulators, Trump made donations to attorneys general in four states.   Florida, Texas, California and New York.   He gave $5,000 to California’s Kamala Harris (D), whose office said she is still looking into allegations against Trump University. He gave $12,500 to New York’s Eric Schneiderman (D), who later filed suit against Trump University.  Apparently, these paltry sums weren’t enough to stop their offices from taking action against Trump University. Trump also gave $35,000 total in 2013 and 2014 to Greg Abbott, who was then the Texas attorney general and running for governor.  His office decided not to pursue charges against Trump University.  When asked about his $25,000 gift to Florida Attorney General, Pam Bondi, who also decided not to file any charges, Trump first told reporters, “I never spoke to her about it at all.” Later, Trump’s campaign spokeswoman said that Trump had actually spoken to Bondi but “only about the donation.” They have never spoken about Trump University, according to the spokeswoman Hope Hicks.   We certainly believe that it is just a coincidence that Mr. Trump donated money to these particular States’ Attorneys General and not to Attorneys General in any other states.  One of our staff, who is a math major specializing in probability and statistics, has calculated that the odds of this happening as one chance in 1,015,200 but that assumes that Mr. Trump was already planning to give money to 4 States Attorneys General in some random states and not just the ones that were investigating Trump University for fraud. Still, we are convinced that it was just coincidence and that Trump made the donations out of the goodness of his heart, expecting nothing in return. 

EARPIECE CONTROVERSY

The internet is abuzz with stories that Hillary wore an earpiece in order to cheat in the half-hour interview with Matt Lauer.  This all started with one person, who thought he saw something shining inside Hillary’s ear.  Of course, internet rumors, once started, literally travel at the speed of light, as all data now travels on fiber-optic cables and radio waves to and from satellites.   Some ask, “why would she need help answering the same questions that she has been asked hundreds of times by the FBI, Congress and all kinds of reporters?”  Also, if she was really wearing a wireless earpiece for some nefarious reason, why didn’t she have her hair down over her ears to conceal it?   It sort of shows how desperate the opposition is to find some reason to discredit her. Perhaps the real problem is that The Donald wasn’t wearing an earpiece. (see next item, below)  The rumor has been debunked by a number of news and fact-checking sources but still persists.  That’s one more thing that the upcoming debates will have to do – assure everyone who watches that both candidates have been checked for electronic devices.  Of course, there is still the Sarah Paliin/4th grade method of cheating – writing the answers on the palms of their hands.   Ain’t politics fun? Anybody can make up anything, no matter how ridiculous, and millions will believe it – even swear it’s true.

TRUMP’S CONTROVERSIAL STATEMENTS

In Wednesday’s interview on NBC, Trump made nine controversial statements in only 24 minutes that would have ruined almost any other candidate, but somehow haven’t dented the Trumpster much at all.   NBC made a list of them:

 

·  He said he knows more about ISIS than the U.S. generals

·  He suggested he’d fire the generals if he wins

·  He praised Vladimir Putin

·  He said Putin is a stronger leader than President Obama

·  He said his reading of the body language of the intelligence officials he has met showed they didn’t like Obama

·  He said his trip to Mexico was a success because the Mexican official who arranged it has resigned

·  He said that sexual assault in the military is due to allowing men and women to serve together

·  He repeated his claim that America should have seized Iraq’s and Libya’s oil

·  He said the oil could be taken by leaving a certain group behind, without explaining what he meant

ACCIDENTAL VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE?

Ever hear of Vice Presidential candidate Nathan Johnson?  Neither have we.  Possibly neither has anyone else before now, except the presidential candidate who put him on the ballot.  Is he even a real person?  Sure, there are probably at least a couple of thousand people named Nathan Johnson in the U.S. but which one, if any, is it?  It seems that conservative NeverTrump candidate, Evan McMullin, put the name “Nathan Johnson” as his running mate on his filing papers as a place holder in the 9 states where he qualified, but didn’t realize that his name couldn’t simply be replaced, once a real person could be found that wanted to run with him.   Efforts to get any information about the elusive Mr. Johnson from the McMullin campaign have been unsuccessful.   He may become as big a mystery as D.B. Cooper.   If you know anyone named Nathan Johnson, tell them they may be running for V.P. 

MELANIA DISAPPEARS

After speaking at the GOP convention and receiving a lot of criticism for plagiarizing Michelle Obama’s convention speech, Melania Trump has been almost completely absent on the campaign trail.  In recent campaigns, it has been customary for spouses to be a frequent stand-in and spokesperson for the candidate but not Mrs. Trump.  There are various theories as to why this is – possibly too many questions about her background, former profession, immigration status or maybe she just doesn’t like campaigning.  To those who question her former profession, we have to admit that she does look a lot like Julia Roberts, AKA “Pretty Woman.”

TODAY’S MEANINGLESS POLLS

Another good example of why we use the adjective “Meaningless” is this set of polls.   In NC, Trump is again either winning or losing.- OK.   Also, Ohio is likely to be close, and Trump may even win, but if he does it won’t be by 4 points.  There was a story yesterday about how bad he was doing in Franklin County (Columbus) which is the second largest population county in Ohio, after always reliably Democratic Cuyahoga County.    Trump is going to need a lot of votes from rural counties to squeak out a victory.  Gambler’s advice: – don’t bet the farm on Trump winning Ohio – and don’t bet anything on him winning by 4 points.

— More Good News And Bad News Tomorrow —