Watch President Obama, Chelsea Clinton, and others stump for Hillary Clinton at today’s Ann Arbor, Michigan rally.
Photo: RBC NETWORK BROADCASTING / Youtube (screen capture)
Watch Hillary Clinton address her rally today in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania:
Photo: RBC Network Broadcasting / Youtube (screen capture)
Watch Hillary Clinton and Lebron James at her campaign rally in Cleveland, Ohio (RBC Network Broadcasting, Youtube)
Photo: RBC Network Broadcasting, Youtube (screen capture)
Watch President Obama and Stevie Wonder rally for Clinton in Kissimmee, FL.
Alternative: Watch President Obama’s Rally for Clinton (C-Span)
Photo: Youtube (screen capture)
What’s happening in the final race to the election? There’s only 4 days to go, and the polls indicate that the polls are tightening. What are both candidates, and their supporters, doing to bridge the gap and come out on top?
Watch video analyzing the election’s end game for both major candidates (CNN)
Photo: CNN (screen capture)
The FBI is experiencing rough times as field agents question Director Comey’s decisions regarding Hillary Clinton. Agents are concerned that Clinton has been protected for political reasons, while Comey and the FBI’s administration are concerned that field agents may have partisan reasons in mind for wanting to continue investigating Clinton vigorously, and career advancement goals as well.
In July Comey recommended to the Justice Department that Hillary Clinton’s ill-advised home-based e-mail server didn’t warrant a criminal indictment, and recently he wrote a letter to congressional leaders explaining that the Clinton e-mail probe had been re-opened when additional e-mails were discovered during a probe into disgraced congressman Anthony Weiner. Rank and file FBI agents weren’t happy with either situation. And agents feel stymied on their desire to investigate the Clinton Foundation for the way it handled the contributions of donors.
If Director Comey is acting in a partisan manner, he is doing a poor job of it. His actions in July angered Republicans, and his recent actions angered Democrats. One may disagree with Comey’s decisions, which do break with some established precedents at the FBI and Justice Department, but there’s no evidence they aren’t made on principle. However, that hasn’t stopped agents at many branch offices from criticizing him sharply.
Learn about the controversy brewing at the FBI over Hillary Clinton (CNN)
Photo: By Federal Bureau of Investigation – Extracted from PDF version of a DNI 100-day plan followup report (direct PDF URL here)., Public Domain, Link
Respected journalist Donna Brazile has, it seems, betrayed the trust of her colleagues at CNN, and the American People, by e-mailing a debate question to the Clinton campaign before a debate in March, and promising to send more. This bombshell was discovered in a Wikileaks hack. CNN is greatly concerned about the incident, and has cancelled her contract as a contributor to the news organization. In July her contract had been suspended temporarily, after she was appointed Interim DNC Chair, which was a great honor, but this separation is a complete severing of ties that doesn’t reflect well on the journalist.
Brazile’s apparent actions are extremely troubling to those concerned about the quality and integrity of journalism, and our political process. After all, journalism, and our political system, are only as good as the people, the journalists, politicians and administrators, who comprise the system and get the work done. Of course, let’s not be naive. Political antics, and abuses by journalists, have been happening for a long time. But in a landmark election like this one, the American people deserve better, especially from the very best and brightest. And Donna Brazile has been of CNN’s leading, and most respected, contributors.
This revelation certainly doesn’t help Hillary Clinton’s campaign, which has been dogged by concerns over the candidate’s integrity, and the legality of her practices. And it follows the FBI Director’s letter to congress, in which he informs top law-makers that the Bureau is reopening the Clinton e-mail investigation. All of this comes as welcome relief to Donald Trump, struggling for weeks now with his own scandal in the media regarding his atrocious treatment of women.
The election is now very close. Polls indicate that only a few percentage points separate the two candidates in the popular vote, and often by an amount within the margin of error. So will recent news flashes, like the Donna Brazile controversy, win Donald Trump the White House? It’s still a tough hall for the Republican Nominee. Clinton leads in the delegate count, so Trump will need to perform superlatively on November 8th to turn that lead around. It’s still possible, but a very challenging tasks, and unlikely. For now, the real estate mogul who doesn’t like to lose is still the underdog in this race. But the Clinton Campaign needs to avoid any hint of wrongdoing or scandal for the next week. Her campaign can’t afford more dark revelations like this latest Wikileaks release.
Learn more about Donna Brazile’s alleged ethical breach (CNN)
Photo: By Photo by Ron Aira. Copyright holder Brazile & Associates LLC. – The uploader on Wikimedia Commons received this from the author/copyright holder., CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
Once again, Donald Trump starts out strong, sticking to his most favorable talking points, but ultimately manages to derail himself, demonstrating his worst behavioral tendencies. In contrast, Hillary Clinton’s steady, disciplined style, like the proverbial tortoise in the Aesop fable, triumphs over Trumps more dynamic, but erratic, hare.
Though Trump made some headway bringing up valid Clinton weaknesses, like her sticky e-mail scandal that just won’t wash off, and her husband Bill Clinton’s infidelities (a surprisingly effective counter strike to claims about Trump’s obvious issues with women, considering that Hillary Clinton, the wronged wife, is actually the candidate) but he still made two critical missteps, both potentially huge.
When asked if he would stand by the election results, and concede defeat if it should come to that in November, Trump refused to answer. He said he would “Keep you in suspense.” But the effect was to imply he wouldn’t accept the election results, in the event of a loss. This shocked and outraged political pundits and journalists across the media, who stressed the importance of the nation’s continuity of government principle.
One of the greatest features of American democracy, unlike political systems in many nations around the world, is that, on November 9, the nation is whole again, and citizens can confidently expect power to transition smoothly over the next few months to the newly elected leader, even a new President, no matter what passions simmer, or boil, across the land. We don’t have coups. Powerful leaders step down. Always.
But Trump’s hesitance, interpreted as profound arrogance by many, is a slap in the face to this important principle of government. And to make matters worse, this not only contravened a great American tradition, but it directly contradicted statements by his running mate, former Governor Mike Pence, and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. This looks bad, and won’t sit well with thinking voters.
If that wasn’t enough, Trump leaned into his microphone dramatically to call Clinton a “nasty woman.” This is not good news for the Trump campaign, which has scrambled in recent weeks to combat accusations of sexism and predatory behavior towards women, following the release of a scandalous video tape, and actual accusations of sexual harassment and assault by several women. Trump appeals well to his very conservative, poorly educated base, but he needs to win over college educated voters, men and women alike, who don’t respond well to this kind of undignified behavior—-it smacks of sexism and boorishness, to many.
To be sure, Hillary Clinton has some leaks in her game. But her slow, steady, studied approach in each debate, and her ability to keep her cool and stay on message, regardless of circumstances, and ignoring at times withering insults and interruptions by her opponent (particularly in previous debates) has proven to be the superior strategy in the long run. The only question is, with three weeks to go until election day, can Donald Trump make up for his poor debate performances out on the campaign trail, and will his outrageous off the cuff rhetoric be enough to pull him out of his recent slump in the polls? As the end game approaches, the current polls favor Clinton, and that’ s a difficult fact for Donald Trump.
Watch Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton Debate
9 pm ET – Streaming Live from Las Vegas, Nevada
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Amidst roiling controversies on both sides of the aisle, the Candidates, and the nation, gear up for the final Presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. By all accounts, it should be quite a show. Though sadly, Presidential Debates need to be more than spectacles for our amusement: they need to deal thoroughly with substantive issues challenging the nation, and affecting the American People.
However, that’s unlikely to happen tomorrow night. But spectacle and controversy will undoubtedly abound. Trump is still reeling from a sex scandal, of sorts, in which he was recorded on video making demeaning, and even threatening, comments about women, while Clinton is struggling with recent releases of campaign e-mails hacked by Wikileaks, which don’t portray her campaign in a favorable light. In fact, according to some, they seem to support claims that she’s a two-faced, self-serving hypocrite. Of course, interpretation varies widely on this matter.
Trump continues his “scorched earth policy,” demeaning Clinton and challenging her competence and integrity at every opportunity. And recognizing he’s trailing in the polls, he’s now claiming the election is rigged in favor of the Democrats, pointing fingers at the media and high ranking political officials. In response, President Obama has suggested the Republican Candidate should “quit his whining,” while high ranking Republicans, including Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, scoff at the accusation of a rigged election. To paraphrase President Obama today, if you can’t take responsibility for your own situation, you can’t handle this job (The Presidency.)
So, campaign hijinks continue unabated, and will likely explode upon that stage in Las Vegas, while all the while, in the real world, there’s no shortage of problems. There’s a final push underway to eradicate ISIS in the city of Mosul. Scientists tell us that the carbon dioxide content of our atmosphere that’s largely responsible for dangerous anthropogenic climate change has reached an irrevocable tipping point. And the American economic recovery remains marginal, while health care costs for the middle class continue to sky rocket, despite the Affordable Care Act.
And what about the question of foreign policy expertise? Though Hillary Clinton is clearly the winner, in terms of hours served in public office (Trump has accumulated exactly zero) including terms as U.S. Senator and Secretary of State, for many Americans questions still remain. Many feel she’s been deceptive regarding her handling of the tragic fall of the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi during a terrorist attack, despite numerous government inquiries, which cleared her obvious wrongdoing. And others make note of her particularly collegial and cozy relationship with Israel and certain European nations, which she may maintain, in their opinion, at the expense of the welfare of middle eastern nations, and the Palestinian people.
To be sure, the 2016 Presidential Election has turned into one of the greatest mud-slinging competitions of American History, and the American People, in the long run, will suffer for any short-term gains in tawdry entertainment they may get. But make no mistake, those who aren’t thoroughly disgusted by now, and there are many in that camp, will tune in by the millions to watch the fireworks.
Photo: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic
This caricature of Hillary Clinton was adapted from a photo in the public domain from the East Asia and Pacific Media’s Flickr photostream. The body was adapted from a photo in the public domain from the U.S. Department of State’s Flickr photostream. This caricature of Donald Trump was adapted from Creative Commons licensed images from Max Goldberg’s flickr photostream.
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton will square off for their second debate Sunday evening, October 9, 2016. The pre-coverage starts at 7 pm, ET and the debate at 9 pm, ET.
And there could be fireworks: The Town Hall Format event will proceed following the recent release of a video showing Donald Trump speaking about a married woman in a derogatory and predatory manner. The republican presidential candidate has lost a number of prominent political endorsements, and many in the GOP and beyond are calling for his resignation.
These revelations may be a gift to the Clinton campaign, and Trump must perform superlatively well in order to salvage his chances in November. Will he be up to the task, or has he gifted Hillary Clinton with an easy win? Watch the live streaming Presidential Debate to find out.
Here’s a view about this Trump scandal, and the election, from Gill, a long-standing Face Activities member:
This Trump sex scandal is irrelevant to the current election, and it’s a hurtful diversion for the American people at a critical time. His words, recorded during a private conversation, were spoken 11 years ago, back when he wasn’t a political candidate, and had never held public office. He was a private citizen, and a business man with a TV show—-that’s all. His inappropriate words from 2005 aren’t important or relevant to this election in 2016. But issues like tax reform are critically important.
Both Clinton and Trump are extremists, and we must focus on their current stands on important issues to make our decision this November. Trump will have us paying too little in taxes, especially the wealthy, hurting our important programs, and Clinton far too much, driving business interests over seas. We need a happy medium, and much discussion, debate and focus is necessary to select the best candidate to achieve this outcome.
Let’s drop the diverting sex sandal hype and focus on what’s important to the well being of the U.S. Economy, and the American People.
—-Gill
Photo: CBSN / CBS News
