MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2016

Today’s Good News And Bad News
From Our Local Political Junkie We’ll Call “Cincy Dave”

BAD NEWS FOR HILLARY
It was revealed yesterday that Hillary has Pneumonia – just what Trump supporters were hoping for – well,  really they were hoping for far worse, and pneumonia can usually be cured in a few days.  However this will cut down on her fundraising trips.  The old lady will have to slow it down for a while.   Maybe she can pick up some sympathy, but probably not much.   Trump offered mild best wishes after weeks of saying that she was too sick and weak to be president.  Other Trump supporters will not be so kind.    Actually, health problems like this are very common with presidential candidates who are traveling constantly and shaking hands with literally hundreds of thousands of people.  Hillary is supposed to be in otherwise good health, especially for a 68 year-old.   Of course, no one ever knows the truth about any candidate’s health as they all try to hide anything serious.   Eisenhower had a couple of heart attacks brought on by a lifetime of chain smoking, LBJ had a history of heart attacks, JFK had various serious health problems and so on.    None of these affected their ability to become president or function as president, at least most of the time.  Nevertheless, expect Hillary’s opponents to make the most of this incident.

MORE BAD NEWS FOR HILLARY
Julian Assange, the Wikileaks founder who has been hiding out in London for the last 4 years, avoiding rape charges, has said that he may dump more dirt on Hillary as early as this week.  Previously, he has said he was going to wait until just before the third debate to do so.   Trump supporters and freelance muckrakers are eagerly waiting to see what there is.  Hillary people are bracing for the worst.  Assange is believed to be working with Russian hackers, who are supporting Trump, so there may be some selective dirt in this particular dump, if and when it comes.

TRUMP GOT AWARD FOR DONATING OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY TO CHARITY
It seems that the Donald has figured out a way to take credit for other’s gifts.  Sometimes he even uses those gifts to buy himself things.  Additionally, holding charity events at his Florida resort can be a lucrative business, raking in hundreds of thousands of dollars in rental fees while appearing to be “hosting” the events.  In 2010, Trump received an award for his donation of $150,000 to the Palm Beach Police Foundation. The only problem was that it wasn’t his money. Earlier, he had gone to the Charles Evans Foundation in New Jersey and asked for a donation for his charity. He got $150,000 and gave this to the Police Foundation, without adding any of his own money. In fact, he made a profit on it, since the police foundation had to pay for the room at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach. A subsequent rental by the police foundation cost it $276,463.  This scam should be compared side-by-side with the Clinton Foundation to see which one is a charity and which one is not.  (Here is more)

TRUMP BRAGGED ABOUT HAVING THE TALLEST BUILDING AFTER 9/11 ATTACK
On 9/11/01,  When asked if his own building sustained any damage in the attack, Trump responded:  “40 Wall Street actually was the second-tallest building in downtown Manhattan, and it was actually, before the World Trade Center, was the tallest—and then, when they built the World Trade Center, it became known as the second-tallest. And now it’s the tallest.”  That morning 3,000 people had died, but what’s really important is that Trump reclaimed the honor of having the tallest building in downtown Manhattan. Not even in the entire borough. Just one segment of it. Congratulations, Donald!  You can listen to it HERE:  

CLINTON WAS CORRECT
On Friday, Hillary Clinton said that half of Donald Trump’s supporters belong to a “basket of deplorables,” –  racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, and Islamophobic, among other categories. Trump strongly objected, and she apologized for saying it was half.  Now, the question arises: “How many of Trump’s supporters belong in this “basket?” Fortunately, we have actual data on this. Ipsos conducted a poll in the spring on the subject of racism. Ipsos didn’t ask: “Are you a racist?” since few would answer “yes” to the question. Instead, the questions were slightly more subtle. The first column in the table below gives the question. The second column gives the percentage of Trump supporters who answered the question with “yes.” The third column gives the average “yes” score of everyone interviewed (including Trump supporters).

If we average these five questions, we get a score indicating that 42%, not 50%, of Trump’s supporters are racist.  Of the entire sample polled, 29% are racist, but that includes Trump supporters. Since 28% of the respondents were Trump supporters, we can calculate that 17% of the non-Trump supporters are racist, vs. 42% of the Trump supporters. However, the poll asked only about black vs. white, whereas Clinton’s comment covered other categories, as well. There may well be Trump supporters who are sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, or Islamophobic, but not anti-black.  If merely being sexist or homophobic, etc. but not racist, also lands you in the basket, then probably at least another 8% qualify, making her original statement correct.

TODAY’S MEANINGLESS POLLS
Trump had better hope that these are meaningless, as he is behind in all the swing states except Nevada, which has only 6 EVs.  Ohio is a particular problem, as this is one of the biggest leads Hillary has ever shown here.

— More Good News And Bad News Tomorrow —