The Left is Still in Denial as to Why Hillary Lost

The political left and the left-wing media are still in disbelief that Hillary Clinton lost the election.  But, instead of looking inwards for answers, they continue to float the idea that "conspiracies" were responsible.

Just a few days ago, the New York Magazine reported that a group of  "prominent computer scientists and election lawyers" believed that the loss was a result of hacked voting machines in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania -- citing irregularities such as lower vote counts where voting machines were used. Then in that same article, the confidence in their hacking theory is immediately tempered by this statement:

"While it’s important to note the group has not found proof of hacking or manipulation, they are arguing to the campaign that the suspicious pattern merits an independent review."

Just last Friday, the Washington Post theorized that in fact a Russian propaganda effort threw the election; along with the hacking of emails from the Clinton camp and the Democratic National Committee.  However, as above, the veracity of that story was also weakened when the following was written:

"There is no way to know whether the Russian campaign proved decisive in electing Trump, but researchers portray it as part of a broadly effective strategy of sowing distrust in U.S. democracy and its leaders."

The only problem with the above "speculation" is that team Clinton members never disavowed any of the hacked emails as not being "real".  All they ever said was that they were being released because Putin wants Trump to be President.  Hillary's campaign chief, John Podesta, even "suggests" that Trump had before-hand knowledge of the email hack and data dump in the last few weeks.  "Suggests" is not a proven fact, but Time.com thought the story was fit to print.

Recently, there has been a lot of talk about "fake news". The implication is that somehow, the political right is the primary "faker" of news stories intended to hurt Hillary Clinton.  Well, the above stories are only a few from the mainstream media that are solely based on speculation and not fact, in an effort to undermine President-elect Donald Trump. Maybe the agencies writing these types of stories should think about the fact that a lot of people may only read a paragraph or two of a long story and come to the conclusion the voting machines were hacked; not reading further to understand that this was simply an unproven assumption.  Obviously, "fake news" comes in all flavors.

References:

Experts Urge Clinton Campaign to Challenge Election Results in 3 Swing States: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/11/activists-urge-hillary-clinton-to-challenge-election-results.html

Russian propaganda effort helped spread ‘fake news’ during election, experts say: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/russian-propaganda-effort-helped-spread-fake-news-during-election-experts-say/2016/11/24/793903b6-8a40-4ca9-b712-716af66098fe_story.html

Clinton Refuses to Disavow Hacked Excerpts From Paid Speeches: http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/clinton-refuses-to-disavow/2016/10/08/id/752349/

Hillary Clinton Adviser Suggests Donald Trump Campaign Knew About Hacked Emails: http://time.com/4528049/hillary-clinton-john-podesta-emails-hackers-russia/

Could the Recount Have Been Pre-Planned?

While reading a number of articles regarding the recounting of votes in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, I ran across one that intrigued me the most.  Written by Richard Baehr at the American Thinker, he surmised that the whole purpose of the recount is to run out the clock on determining the final winner in those three states so their electoral votes are dropped from the final count.  Thus, Donald Trump would be deprived of the win because he would not achieve the requisite 270 votes.  As a result, it would be up to the Republican controlled House and Senate to determine the final victory for Trump and Pence.  In doing so, the election results would be delegitimized in the minds of millions of Americans.

That is an interesting viewpoint.  But, when you think about it, the groundwork for the recount -- based on the hacking of the voting apparatus of several states -- was laid weeks before the election.  Back in August, the FBI alerted us that the voting systems in Illinois and Arizona were under assault. Then, on October 1st, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that voting systems in 20 states had been targeted.  Thus, the stage was set for a potential recount.

Its  also interesting that Jill Stein filed for recounts in those three aforementioned states on the basis that she wants to make sure the voting system wasn't hacked.  But, what about the two states -- Illinois and Arizona -- that the FBI already said were under attack.  Instead she went after three states that went to Trump and that, in total, would deny him a win if the manual counting of ballots went beyond the cutoff date for confirming a winner in those states.   I am sure this is the case.  A week ago, we were told that Stein had nearly $5 million in support of a recount in all three states.  Yet, she waited until the very last minute before filling the petition in Wisconsin.  Thus, insuring the least amount of time left to conduct a recount.  As of this writing, she still hasn't filed in Michigan and Pennsylvania; and, I am sure that it is for the same "delay of game" reason.

However, the biggest thing that makes me think that this is both political and pre-planned, is that Jill Stein is driving this.  Even if all 50 states were recounted, she couldn't win.  In my opinion, if Clinton feels cheated of a win, she should be the one driving it.  But, she isn't.  For this reason, I think her dirty fingers are all over this effort. Further, as most strategists have noted, recounts of vote differences of the magnitude in those three states have almost a zero chance of reversing the win.  Because of this, the theory that the intent to delay the results past the drop dead dates for the Electoral College is even more believable.

If in fact, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania are dropped from the Electoral College vote count and Trump is denied an outright win by an ongoing recount effort, it will be a travesty created by taking advantage of a weakness in our voting system by someone who had zero chance of winning.

References:

The Democrats’ real strategy in launching recounts: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2016/11/the_democrats_real_strategy_in_launching_recounts.html

FBI alert sparks fears that state voting systems are under digital assault: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/fbi-states-voting-systems-digital-assualt-227523

DHS Confirms Hackers Targeted Election Systems in 20 States: http://fortune.com/2016/10/01/hackers-targeted-election-systems/

The cost of the Jill Stein recount effort keeps going up: http://hotair.com/archives/2016/11/25/the-cost-of-the-jill-stein-recount-effort-keeps-going-up/

United States presidential election, 2016: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_2016

Recount Unlikely to Change the Outcome: https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/international-news/north_america/2016-u-s-presidential-election/recount-unlikely-to-change-the-outcome/ 

Obama: History Will Judge Castro?

Following the death of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, Barack Obama said this:

"History will record and judge the enormous impact of this singular figure on the people and world around him."

I don't know what planet this President has been living on but, for him to think that somehow "history" will think differently of Castro in the future is simply ridiculous.

He murdered and jailed dissidents.  Thousand of Cubans both risked their lives and gave their lives to escape his tyranny to get to the U.S..  The regime strictly controls what Cubans read, hear on the radio, and see on state-run TV.  Human rights groups consider him and his regime abusers of its own citizens.  Outside of the Disney Land appearance of a cleaned up Havana that Fidel created for the benefit of tourists, the rest of the country lives in slum conditions and extreme poverty.  Granted they are fed, schooled, and have their health needs taken care of by the Castro regime.  However, most of the tap water is contaminated and undrinkable; putting the island residents at a serious health risk.  Multiple people live in tiny apartments with no inside bathing facilities.  And, most of the buildings on the island aren't being maintained and in near complete disrepair.

Despite all of this, Obama seems to think that history will judge Castro differently.  He is so eager to have the reestablishment of U.S.-Cuban relations as part of his legacy, that he won't even criticize an obvious brutal dictator and human rights abuser.  Is everything always about himself ?

References:

Obama: History will judge Castro: http://nypost.com/2016/11/26/obama-history-will-judge-castro/

Beyond the Tourist Façade Are Cuba’s Victims of Communism: https://panampost.com/editor/2016/05/27/cuba-beyond-the-tourist-facade-are-the-victims-of-communism/

Human rights in Cuba: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Cuba

Extreme Poverty in Cuba: Welfare in a Broke Country: http://www.poverties.org/blog/poverty-in-cuba

Drinking Water in Cuba - Havana Forum - TripAdvisor: https://www.google.com/search?q=drinking+water+in+cuba&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

Video: A day in the life of Havana: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHBkLj5Bbq4

pb

Are We Headed Towards a Constitutional Crisis?

Ever since Donald Trump was elected, a bunch of "not my President" protestors hit the streets.  Some rioting.  Additionally, there has been an online petition, with now more than 4 million signatories requesting that the members of the Electoral College switch their votes to Clinton.  To top it all off, the leader of the #NotMyPresident movement, Jon Gedney, has published and distributed the names and personal info for all of the Trump electors.  Of course, those electors are now getting threats.

Simply, if Trump is not duly put into office by the Electoral College, there will be a meltdown in this country reversing the will of nearly 60 million disenfranchised citizens who legally elected Donald Trump.  In other words, we will have a full-blown Constitutional Crisis on our hands.  This could be seriously dangerous to the stability of the country.

For this reason, both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama should call for the end to the #NotMyPresident movement for the good of the country.

References:

Distressed ‘Not My President’ group publishes personal contact info on Electoral College officials: http://www.bizpacreview.com/2016/11/17/distressed-not-president-group-publishes-personal-contact-info-electoral-college-officials-413503

Google search: Electors Threatened: https://www.google.com/search?q=electors+threatened&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

Constitutional Crisis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitutional_crisis#United_States

Kerry Takes Aim at Trump Over Climate Change

While in New Zealand, John Kerry said: "We will wait to see how the next administration addresses this, but I believe we're on the right track and this is a track that the American people are committed to." He then added: "The majority of the American people believe that climate change is in fact happening and want to see us address it."

Days later he said this about Trump: "No one has the right to make decisions that affect billions of people based solely on ideology or without proper input."  Additionally, ABC reported that "Kerry said the impacts of global warming are now evident across the world with record-breaking droughts, rising sea levels, unusual storms and millions of people displaced by weather events."
This is factually incorrect.  The American people, in poll after poll, do not rank climate change as a priority.  For example, here's the latest results from Polling Report.com on where America ranks the importance of climate change:

• CBS News/New York Times Poll. Oct. 28-Nov. 1, 2016.  Just 2% said the "environment" was a priority. Don't know if "environment" actually means climate change
• ABC News/Washington Post Poll. Sept. 5-8, 2016. No mention of climate change as a priority.
• NBC News/Wall Street Journal Poll conducted by Hart Research Associates (D) and Public Opinion Strategies (R). May 15-19, 2016.  Just 8% mentioned climate change.
• CBS News Poll. April 8-12, 2016.  No mention of climate change.
• ABC News/Washington Post Poll. Nov. 16-19, 2015.  ABC didn't ask any of the respondents about climate change being a priority.
• Quinnipiac University. July 23-28, 2015. Only 6% gave a nod to climate change as an issue we should be focusing in on.

I could go on and on but the results would always be minimal.  Kerry should never use the words the "majority of American people" when talking about climate change.  It is a lie.  And, because it is a lie, I could easily say that Kerry is the one making decisions based "solely on ideology and without proper input" from the American people. 

But, the biggest problem I have with Kerry and other climate change alarmists is that they attempt to cement support for their movement based on "impacts" that can't be proven or are factually incorrect.  Hurricane impact on the U.S. has been unusually quiet.  Tornado activity has been below normal for the last five years.  NASA tells us the rising sea levels have slowed. Another study shows that sea levels in Manhattan have not risen in 20 years.  And, Remote Sensing Satellite (RSS) data has shown a dramatic fall in temperatures over the last 8 months.  This despite the claim that 2016 will be the hottest year on record.  This unexpected cooling has led to the conclusion by one Russian scientist that a "New Little Ice Age has Started".

As usual, by calling climate change a "hoax",  Trump may just be more in line with public opinion than Kerry or any of the other climate alarmists.

References:

Kerry tells Trump that Americans want climate action: https://www.yahoo.com/news/kerry-tells-trump-americans-want-climate-action-004745308.html


U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry made a stirring appeal Wednesday to all countries — including his own — to press ahead with the fight against climate change, saying a failure to do so would be a "betrayal of devastating consequences." http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/kerry-overwhelming-majority-us-back-paris-climate-deal-43574549

PollingReport.com: Problems and Priorities: http://www.pollingreport.com/prioriti.htm

NOAA: U.S. has gone 11 years without a major hurricane strike: https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2016/10/26/noaa-u-s-has-gone-11-years-without-a-major-hurricane-strike/

NOAA Tornado data: 2016 ‘one of the quietest years since records began in 1954’ – Below average for 5th year in a row: http://www.climatedepot.com/2016/11/12/noaa-tornado-data-2016-one-of-the-quietest-years-since-records-began-in-1954-below-average-for-5th-year-in-a-row/

NASA, University Study Shows Rising Seas Slowed by Increasing Water on Land: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-university-study-shows-rising-seas-slowed-by-increasing-water-on-land

No Sea Level Rise At Lower Manhattan For 20 Years: http://realclimatescience.com/2016/10/no-sea-level-rise-at-lower-manhattan-for-20-years/

Record Global Cooling Over The Last Eight Months: http://realclimatescience.com/2016/11/record-global-cooling-over-the-last-eight-months/

Russian Scientist: ‘The New Little Ice Age Has Started’: http://www.climatedepot.com/2016/10/28/russian-scientist-the-new-little-ice-age-has-started/

pb

 

What Gold & Silver are Saying About the Trump Election

Gold and silver are supposed to be safe-haven investments in times of trouble.   So, it's interesting that since Trump was elected, the prices of these two metals have fallen like rocks.  Just look at the price of silver from the Goldline website:

Then, there's this chart for gold:

Back in July, a senior writer for MarketWatch, William Watts, predicted that if Trump should win, gold would rise to $1850 an ounce.  Implying that Trump's policies would weaken the U.S. economy.  Really? In fact, the U.S. dollar has hit 13-year highs since Trump won the highest office in the land.  A signal that traders are betting that Trump polices would make (you know) America great again.  Along with the rise in the dollar, the stock market has also been on a tear; setting record highs. But that same writer for MarketWatch still can't believe Trump might do good things.  Just last Friday, he wrote a another opinion piece titled: "Stop calling stock-market rise a ‘Trump rally’".

In my opinion, any time William Watts at MarketWatch makes a prediction, a wise investor should do  the opposite. Apparently, he puts his political leanings before any rational and common business sense. 

References:

Goldline Silver Chart: https://www.goldline.com/charts-news/silver-charts

Goldline Gold Chart: https://www.goldline.com/charts-news/gold-charts

Here’s what Donald Trump would do to the price of gold: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-donald-trump-could-spark-a-huge-gold-rally-2016-07-22

U.S. dollar hits 13-year high: http://money.cnn.com/2016/11/16/investing/dollar-13-year-high/

Stop calling stock-market rise a ‘Trump rally’: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/stop-calling-stock-market-rise-a-trump-rally-2016-11-17

Obama's Phony Feel-Good Record on Education

Recently, President Obama announced a record -- repeat "record" -- high school graduation rate of 83.2% for the school year 2014-2015.  But, as usual its always about quantity and never about quality with this President.  At the same time, statistics that tout a "record" are always dubious.

First, let us address the issue of quality. 

In 2011, the people at ACT (American College Testing) found that only one in four high school graduates were qualified to go on to college; failing many areas of college-prep.  More importantly, 23% of white high school graduates failed in reading while 65% of Latinos and 79% of blacks couldn't read well enough to attend college.  This is pretty consistent with other findings by other groups.  Additionally, only 59% of blacks graduate from high school. Obama's own Education Department found that 19% of all high school graduates were functionally illiterate and could not read above a 4th grade level.  The Programme for International Assessment (PISA)that measures educational achievement in the areas of  math, reading and, science among the top economically developed countries found that the U.S. ranked 36th in math; 24th in reading; and 28th in science.  As little as 20 years ago, this country was number one in the world in all three categories.

Then, there is this "record" graduation rate.  Its a little difficult to believe that 83.2% of high school students graduated when other studies have found that one-in-four does not.

Later this year, the newest PISA results will be released. It will be interesting to see if there is any improvement in educational achievement compared to the 2012 results.  Also understand, the PISA result will be the first time common core will be measured.

With all the negatives swirling around high school performance and graduation rates, one questions whether or not we are simply playing a numbers game as we falsely create a positive impression of a failing educational system?

References;

Obama highlights record high school graduation rate: http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/17/politics/obama-high-school-graduation-rate/

College-Bound Students Not Prepared in Basic Subjects: http://abcnews.go.com/US/majority-college-bound-students-qualified/story?id=14325199

Pisa 2012 results: which country does best at reading, maths and science?  https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/dec/03/pisa-results-country-best-reading-maths-science

Was the USA ever No. 1 in education? http://www.historynet.com/was-the-usa-ever-no-1-in-education.htm

11 Facts About High School Dropout Rates: https://www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-high-school-dropout-rates

National Graduation Rate for Blacks 59%: https://www.google.com/search?q=dropout+rate+for+blacks&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

Illiteracy Statistics: http://www.statisticbrain.com/number-of-american-adults-who-cant-read/