Democratic National Convention (Thursday)

Hillary Clinton, DNC 2016 - Thursday

Wednesday is the closing day of the DNC, and Hillary Clinton will speak to the assembled delegates, and the Nation. Tonight the speakers include numerous politicians and human rights activists, including members of the LGBTQ community. For a complete list of the convention program and speakers, click here. 

Watch the DNC Live (www.demconvention.com)

 

Photo: by Gm2587CC BY-SA 4.0 (wikimedia commons)

Watch the Democratic National Convention – Live Stream Online

Bernie Sanders - DNC

Watch the DNC live online. Today’s speakers include: Bernie Sanders, Michelle Obama, Senator Elizabeth Warren, among others.  At a time when party unity is critical, tensions are high following the hacking scandal that outed favoritism for the Clinton campaign among high ranking DNC staffers. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, the head of the DNC, has resigned in the wake of the scandal, and will not take the podium at the convention.

It will be interesting to see how these tensions play out on the convention floor, tonight and throughout the week. Though Senator Sanders has thrown support behind Clinton, many of his followers remain loyal and are not ready to make the switch.

Watch the DNC Live (www.demconvention.com)

Photo: Nick Solari [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Terror in Munich

Mass Murder attack in Munich, Germany

We, the management team of Face Activities, express our deepest sympathies and condolences to the victims of this latest outrage in Germany. These crimes must stop, no matter what the motivation behind them. Violence against civilians is a clear crime against humanity.

Another horrific mass murder has occurred in Germany. An 18-year-old German-Iranian man armed with a gun attacked a shopping complex in Munich, killing 9 people and sending an additional 16 to the hospital, before turning the gun on himself. Police searched the area and reviewed CCT video footage, but found no evidence of additional shooters. It’s not clear at this time what the motive for the shooting was, though terrorism remains a possibility, along with others, at this time.

Learn about attack in Munich, Germany (Reuters)

 

Photo: Reuters (screen capture)

Senator Tim Kaine, Hillary’s new running mate

Ted Kaine, Democratic VP Pick

Hillary Clinton has chosen Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, as her running mate. The 58-year-old Senator hails from working class mid-western roots. An excellent student, he eventually attended Harvard Law School.

He was the former Governor, and Lt. Governor, of Virginia, as well as a Mayor, City Councilor, and Civil Right’s attorney. Kaine has a solid liberal voting record in the Senate, but he’s considered a political moderate who could help bring independents and moderate republicans to the table.

Kaine is fluent in Spanish, and spent time in Honduras as a missionary. He’s a practicing Catholic who, like the late Ted Kennedy, supports abortion rights. He’s also the first Senator to give a complete speech in Spanish to the Senate, and he recently addressed an audience in Spanish while campaigning with Clinton. Hispanic voters are a major voting demographic that’s key to winning the 2016 Presidential election.

Learn more about Senator Tim Kaine (CNN)

 

Photo: CNN (screen capture)

 

The RNC’s Last Day, and Trump’s Speech

Donald Trump needs better advisors

The last day of the Republican National Convention ended with an impassioned call for Law and Order by Donald Trump, who repeated the phrase numerous times during his forceful presentation. Though the RNC crowd lapped it up, many pundits felt the tone of the speech was too dark, and far removed from the positivity of Ronald Reagan’s “It’s morning in America” rhetoric that became an anthem of the conservative movement for generations. Trump did depart from some mainstay RNC traditions. He didn’t talk about God or the importance of faith in his life, which is typically a must in Republican circles, according to CNN commentators.

And in an unusual move for a Republican Presidential Nominee, he swore to protect LGBTQ people from terrorist attacks, like the Orlando nightclub shootings. And the crowd applauded, which Trump noticed and pointed out happily. It’s important to note, as did Anderson Cooper, that Trump only promised protection from terrorism, but said nothing about protecting marriage equality and other civil rights important to gay people in America.

An earlier speaker that night, Silicon Valley venture capitalist Peter Thiel, announced that he was proud to be gay, which was a truly history-making event. Thiel also delivered an impassioned speech on Trump’s behalf, but it was riddled with some uncomfortable half truths, like blaming the current chaos in the middle east on Hillary Clinton and the Obama Administration while completely ignoring the ill-fated invasion of Iraq prosecuted by George W. Bush and his cabinet, which contributed significantly to the destabilization of the region.

Over all, Trump played the fear card in his speech, stressing at the start how he wasn’t going to cave into PC culture and white wash the truth. He then proceeded to paint a fairly bleak portrait of the state of the nation, emphasizing terrorism, urban crime and blight, the murders of police officers in Dallas, inequality and unfair treatment of citizens, and the many challenges of a slow economy. With great enthusiasm he pointed out numerous problems with the country, and then declared that he’d fix them if elected to the Presidency, but he didn’t explain how he’d make these changes. Trump focused a great deal on crime, even though FBI statistics indicate crime has steadily declined for years.

Perhaps the real star of the night was Ivanka Trump, who spoke before her father, and introduced him to the convention hall. She was beautiful, articulate and poised during her speech heart-felt speech. She delivered a really strong case for her father’s candidacy, mixing her confidence in his business abilities and work ethic with loving memories of her time with him, growing up. She mentioned playing with erector sets in his office, while he worked to rebuild the New York skyline. And she told the convention delegates about the drawings of buildings he’d make for her, notated with the words “I can’t wait for you to grow up so you can help me build them.”

Ivanka also went to great lengths to bolster Trump’s lack-luster standing among young women. According to Ivanka, Trump employs women consistently, hired women when it wasn’t popular to do so, values the contributions of women to the work place, pays women equally to men, and supports pregnant women via progressive company policies.

Ivanka is typical of her siblings, who are all charismatic and talented speakers, fiercely loyal and supportive of their father, and clearly the best campaign assets the Republican nominee has to offer.

Learn more about Trump’s speech (CNN)

 

Photo: CNN (screen capture)

Watch the Republican National Convention, Thursday (Day 4)

Ivanka Trump - RNC, Day 4

On the fourth and final night of the RNC, Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka will introduce him, and he will give an important speech in the hopes of reaching even more voters with his message. Also, a gay republican will speak. Gay people aren’t a demographic group that Trump, nor other republicans, traditionally do well with.

Watch the Republican National Convention (Day 4) (Youtube, RNC Live Stream)

 

 

Photo: by Marc NozellCreative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

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