A NEW DEMOCRATIC PARTY 2020 AD.

A NEW DEMOCRATIC PARTY 2020 AD.

The Democratic Party is in trouble . (1)>>It's at its own weakest since 1972 . (1.2)>>If the "party" don't get its act together by 2020 , America is heading toward a one party state .  And Trump will solidify his power by changing the Constitution on the two term Presidency . Democrats have to appeal to the people if they want to balance the political system that is already in a alt -right "radical" takeover. If the Democrats wish to come back they will need to start thinking strategy now. They also need to recognize that their fixation on social justice as the center of all things is placing them in an electoral college and congressional minority. (2)>>The two party system in this country has now sorted itself mainly into urban and rural constituencies. The urban side has received by far the largest benefit of economic recovery after the financial collapse while the rural economies have languished or declined. Some of the dog whistles employed by Trump in this campaign reflect the desperation of the rural areas. They rail against the issues that they see as taking up all the oxygen on the Democratic side. Economic parity in America is the key issue that the Democrats need to take up. The popularity of Sanders and Warren point to this as new and ascendent issue and it will cut across the political divide. That some of Trump's supporters hold highly sociopathic views is not suprising but we should not assume everyone who voted for him shares such views. Avoid prejudice of all sorts. There are places for the Democrats to rebuild a majority of electoral votes but the House should be the real focus and it will take some work and new thinking.  Mr. Biden called on Democrats to deliver an optimistic message aimed at the needs of struggling Americans and to emphasize issues like health care and education, which he described as largely sidelined in the last election. “I’m absolutely positive they want to be with us,” he said of people in economic distress. “We have to prove, again, we understand that hopelessness.”Mr. Biden said he was prepared to storm the country to help revive the party, and boasted of his comfort in wooing areas that voted for Mr. Trump. “Wherever you want, just let me know, because it’s important,” he said. The former vice president spoke Sunday night at an annual dinner hosted by the New Hampshire Democratic Party in a state that the 74-year-old has come to know well through two unsuccessful presidential campaigns of his own and two more as a running mate.Biden, who advisers say is currently nowhere near making a decision on 2020, addressed the question head on. "Guys, I'm not running!" he said with a smile, as the audience in the hotel ballroom booed in response. A vast array of Democratic leaders, divided by generations but uniformly emboldened by President Donald Trump’s perceived vulnerability, have begun taking palpable steps toward seeking the White House in an election that is still 3 1/2 years away. In a largely leaderless party, two distinct groups are emerging.On one side are three potential candidates approaching celebrity status who would all be older than 70 on Election Day: Former Vice President Joe Biden, and Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont.All three are fiery speakers inclined toward economic populism, and they have urged the Democratic Party to shift in that direction since its defeat in November.
Misogyny and Hillary Clinton .

Bill Maher if he agreed with Clinton’s claim she was winning the ’16 election until FBI director James Comey’s letter and (3)>>Russian Wikileaks dumps scared away some voters. Maher said she was not wrong, but added, provocatively, “I don’t know why she need to be coming back; she had her turn and it didn’t work out.”  Maher also agreed with Clinton’s contention misogyny played a role in her electoral college defeat. “I think we learned a lot about this country – and we’re learning more as we watch what goes on with Fox News every day,” he said. According to the Public Religion Research Institute, 52 percent of white men hold a “very unfavorable” view of Clinton. That’s a whopping 20 points higher than the percentage who viewed Barack Obama very unfavorably in 2012, 32 points higher than the percentage who viewed Obama very unfavorably in 2008, and 28 points higher than the percentage who viewed John Kerry very unfavorably in 2004.At the Republican National Convention, this fervent hostility was hard to miss. Inside the hall, delegates repeatedly broke into chants of (4)>>“Lock her up.” Outside the hall, vendors sold campaign paraphernalia.  But what lingers is misogyny—the kind of hate- and fear-filled objectification of women that flourishes in corners of the Internet, and in the rhetoric of Trump and some of his supporters. It turns out that what some of them seemed to have meant when they said they were tired of being politically correct was that they were tired of addressing others with a modicum of respect. Trump encourages people at his rallies to chant “Lock her up!”—in the second debate, he vowed to do just that if elected. Such rhetoric, in its vulgarity and its rawness, is a radical break from conservative norms.The Russian-interference claim is easy to dismiss. Clinton began her campaign in 2015 with a favorable rating of 50 percent. By that summer, though, her favorable rating had dropped to the mid-40s, and it plummeted further to a mere 41 percent by Labor Day. Despite a further year-and-a-half of campaigning, she never rose above the 45 percent mark for the remainder of the race.It’s easy to know why this happened: Her email scandal surfaced. The first news broke March 2, 2015, in the New York Times. By that summer, the FBI had announced an investigation into whether classified documents had been compromised.This timeline easily disproves the claim that Russian-government interference determined the election. The initial Times story was based on leaks from the State Department. Later stories also relied on State Department or administration leaks, not emails or info hacked by the Russian government. By the time any now-suspected Russian efforts began to hurt Clinton, she was already mortally wounded.

 Taking back the Republican Controlled Congress .

Taking it BACK would be a far cry for the Democrats to win in 2020 . The current Republican congress is going to do more damage before it's gone or too late!  . FIRST the Democrats have to purge the party of incumbents.  The best idea is to think, vote and Get Rid of Incumbent Politicians. Names like Pelosi , Boxer to name a few . This idea is not aligned with the right wing or the left wing, with Democrats or Republicans.  For years the two party system has been bankrupt. Even on the Republican platform dumping McCain, Addison Mitchell "Mitch" McConnell Jr's of that party . The Democrat's have sunk to the level of inability right now  . I know that there are young Democratic politicians , they have to (5)>>REFORM the PARTY first .  They are two sides of the same coin.  What have Democrats done or plan to do in any kind of self-examination after 2017? The answer has seemed to be: nothing. Come the next big round of national elections, it seems unlikely that there are going to be major changes to the Democratic party platform, and they still may sweep into Congress anyway.  Democrats will likely need to do little more than pure opposition to Trump in order to win back big parts of power at the federal level. The Democrats' first task is to win back seats in Congress in the 2018 midterm elections. But behind the scenes, would-be Democratic presidential candidates are already jockeying for position to lead the ticket in 2020. In a two-party system of the sort that the United States is stuck with, what we just witnessed is the political equivalent of a baseball shutout. And because the Democratic Party has, since the days of Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman, assumed a growing measure of responsibility for defending America’s tired, its poor, its huddled masses yearning to breathe free—however miserably particular Democrats may have met that responsibility at critical junctures in our history—the Democratic establishment’s failure in the 2016 election has left tens of millions of our most vulnerable fellow citizens at the mercy of Republican plutocrats. So  if we want to send a signal to the rest of the country that we want a  new party that will lead America in a new direction, then Pelosi and Schumer have to go. Its OBVIOUS as to why the Democrats lost in 2016 . The ONLY HOPE is that the Republican's do so much damage that the people who voted Trump { the hard right "conservatives" } in , those on the Liberal base Democrats revolt . Either go to the polls , or an anarchistic fashion protest all over the nation in the likes of (6.1)>>Chomsky , or pick up a few lines from (6.2)Alinsky's book . Or start reforming the Party .

NOTES AND COMMENTS:

(1)>>It's at its own weakest since 1972 .  To understand how the Democrats have talked themselves into such a state of optimistic fatalism, or, if you prefer, buoyant pessimism, it is necessary to grasp the central role that the experience of the 1968 and 1972 conventions has had for party leaders and active Democratic workers.Those conventions looked one way to the television audience and another way to the participants. To many television viewers, they were stupefyingly boring and endless pseudo-spectaculars, in which the Democrats finally made the predicted decisions (nominating Humphrey in 1968 and McGovern four years later) after hours of needless confusion. They were bad shows, to be forgotten as quickly as possible.  In 1972, President Richard Nixon shellacked his Democratic opponent, George McGovern, by a 23-point margin in the popular vote. Following McGovern’s defeat, Democrats began running towards the center and haven’t looked back, even though that center seems to have moved further and further to the right with each passing election.For the past 40 years, whenever a Democratic presidential hopeful has given off the slightest whiff of leftish anti-establishmentarianism, party leaders and mainstream pundits have invoked McGovern’s name. In 2004, Howard Dean was the new McGovern. In 2008, Barack Obama became the new McGovern. This year, it’s Bernie Sander’s turn. But the Democrats’ fear of McGovernism is misplaced. McGovern didn’t lose because he was too far to the left. He lost because he was facing a popular incumbent presiding over a booming economy. Moreover, the Democrats’ belief that they need to steer clear of McGovernism, assuming it was ever correct, now looks increasingly misguided. With each passing decade, the types of voters drawn to McGovern’s 1972 campaign have become a larger and larger share of the American electorate, while the issues championed by McGovern have become more and more salient. (1)>>If the "party" don't get its act together by 2020. President Trump released his first reelection campaign ad on Monday to highlight what his administration has accomplished in its first 100 days, but he is not the only person looking ahead to 2020.Up to a quarter of the Senate's 48-member Democratic caucus are mulling 2020 presidential bids, along with several other prominent Democrats in various public office positions, the New York Times reported Sunday. It's INTERESTING that Mr. Trump is already projecting to run in 2020 . A bit of speculation here on me . Is it possible that Trump , knows about "rigging" , perhaps his looking ahead way before knowing his odds are in his favor ??? (2)>>The two party system in this country has now sorted itself mainly into urban and rural constituencies.  The two-party system has produced politicians who govern to the extremes of their political parties and there is a silent middle that is left with nowhere to go. Both parties are beholden to large corporations and can no longer be trusted to serve the public interest. The Electoral College makes it nearly impossible for a third-party candidate to win the presidency. However, the whole thrust of "The Centrist Manifesto" is that the Senate is different. Senate candidates could easily win in many swing states if they were running as Centrists because you don't need a majority to win as a Senate candidate. All that a Centrist candidate has to do is hold 34 percent of the vote to win. Then, imagine a Senate that's 47 Democrats, 6 Centrists and 47 Republicans. At that point, the Centrists are the swing votes and the ideological center of the Senate. And that's a very powerful place to be. (3)>>Russian Wikileaks dumps scared away some voters.  This has to be the "GREATEST CONSPIRACY " ever  If the Russian's helped Trump , there has to be a long chain of conspirators . Perhaps the entire  , or a few in the Republican Party knew ? .    It's unclear whether WikiLeaks was actually in cahoots with the Russian government or {Trump} . But Reuters reported this week that U.S. intelligence officials are investigating "a campaign they believe is backed by the Russian government to undermine the credibility of the U.S. presidential election." Hillary no dought MAY have been a victim of the system she thought was working for her ! The  "leaks" revealed that the DNC was already in favor of Hillary over Bernie . You have to REALLY pay attention how "deep" the rigging really was . If the idea that  I present is true that the election last year was completely illegitimate on both sides . Both Parties that ran the election were corrupt. (4)>>“Lock her up.”  The political commentator Tucker Carlson said of Clinton, “Something about her feels castrating.” Rush Limbaugh asked his listeners, “Will this country want to actually watch a woman get older before their eyes on a daily basis?” Bumper stickers appeared bearing slogans such as “KFC Hillary Meal Deal: Two Fat Thighs, Two Small Breasts and a Bunch of Left Wings” and “Even Bill Doesn’t Want Me.” The terms “bitch” and “witch,” and the associations they stir up, are slurs that Clinton’s detractors have resorted to freely. (5)>>REFORM the PARTY first .  So how do we go about reforming the Democratic party so it becomes much more progressive without letting the anarchists hijack the party? The answer should be obvious: There is no point to the continued existence of this Democratic Party. It must change, or be replaced. And since no major party has been replaced since Henry Clay’s Whigs, it is time to recognize the need for a reformation of the Democratic Party—(6.1)>>Chomsky. Ever since Hillary Clinton suffered a stunning loss in the November election the Democrat Party has been on a witch hunt to create a Russian election conspiracy without  evidence. Not even considering any Republican involvement in Hillary's defeat . You know an inside job . Chomsky said that America is a world laughingstock when our leaders defer blame on a foreign power for "interfering " ,but completely disregarding internal corruption within our nations government  . The majority of Democrats have shifted to the right so far that the two-party system is almost unrecognizable, according to Noam Chomsky.“There used to be a quip that the United States was a one-party state with a business party that had two factions: the Democrats and Republicans—and that used to be pretty accurate, but it’s not anymore. The U.S. is still a two-party state, but there’s only one faction, and it’s not Democrats, it’s moderate Republicans. Today’s Democrats have shifted to the right,” Chomsky told RT America’s Anissa Naouai. (6.2)Alinsky's book . To this day Alinsky is adored by the left, and he counts as his disciples both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.  Alinsky's Rules for Radicals should be no surprise. Considering the chaos in our American politics . The Trump follows the book exactly. That's  how the alt-Right took over in 2016 is being marginalized by the Republicans more that the Liberal left. There's a frustrating game that the left plays with conservatives. It's an Alinksy tactic called, "Make them live up to their values." Now, living up to one's values isn't a bad thing, but setting high standards ultimately means that you'll sometimes fall short.

100 days of Trump.

(1)>>The 100 days of a President are considered pivotal . But are in reality meaningless.American Presidents make or break their promises . As always they collide with a dysfunctional Congress , end up being eating up by  the media moguls . Weighing in is difficult , but hard to give him a fair shake . In Case in point : Donald J Trump.  (1.2)>>Donald Trump, in the final stretch of last year's campaign, spelled out what he hoped to accomplish in his first 100 days in office. "I am asking the American people to rise above the noise and the clutter of our broken politics, and to embrace that great faith and optimism that has always been the central ingredient in the American character. I am asking you to dream big," Trump said, laying out his plan during remarks in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania   His Presidency has become the demoralizing daily obsession of anyone concerned with global security, the vitality of the natural world, the national health, constitutionalism, civil rights, criminal justice, a free press, science, public education, and the distinction between fact and its opposite. In the preview, Trump promised his First 100 Days would feature an ambitious number of particularly heinous plot points (ask Congress to repeal Obamacare; have Mexico pay for a wall; get rid of DACA), and critics, While Trump managed to muddle through several of the promised plot points, many are absent. His explanation for their absence remains bafflingly vague—there was no budget yet as we will see as he struggles to pass a budget & Tax reform . The hundred-day marker is never an entirely reliable indicator of a four-year term. In fact, only 28 bills have been signed into law since Trump took office in late January. In contrast, Roosevelt signed 76 bills into law in his first 100 days. President Harry Truman, in second place on this list, signed 55 bills into law in his first months in the White House. Trump's predecessor and frequent target of derision, President Barack Obama, signed 11 bills into law, but the early days of his administration are considered productive because they include major legislation to ensure children in low-income households have health insurance as well as the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which fights wage discrimination .White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer on Monday asserted that President Donald Trump had an “unbelievable” number of accomplishments in his first 100 days even though the president has failed to pass a health

care law or secure funds for a border wall.During Monday’s White House briefing, CBS News Correspondent Major Garrett noted that Trump had failed to keep his promises to the American people in the first 100 days of his presidency.“There is a lot that we feel very proud that we’ve gotten off and taken done [SIC] and taken care of,” (2.1)>>Spicer insisted. “If you look at the immigration piece, border crossings [are] way down, the number of executive orders, the pieces of legislation signed. I think we feel very proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish.”  They spent eight years screaming about Obama's executive orders (despite his sparse use of them) and are now using the number of EOs signed as a measure of success? Unbelievable. In a memo obtained first by CNN, the White House highlights job creation efforts, regulation cuts and national security measures, among others.But not all the initiatives have been unqualified success -- Trump's travel ban, which is listed, is currently stalled in the court system.Further, the bulk of Trump's accomplishments have been made through executive action or memorandum, something Republicans decried Obama for doing during his second term. There are 37 points in this list and 23 (62%) were accomplished by executive order or memorandum. 
1. Donald Trump campaigned on repealing and replacing Obamacare, but when he took office, he observed, "Nobody knew health care was complicated." Of course, everyone knew healthcare is a complex issue that requires an intricate understanding of policies. Clearly, President Trump didn't take the time when he was President-elect to bone up on his understanding of America's health-care system. Lol! as of now there is no real replacement of Obama-care . Personally I don't think anyone within the Republican Congress "cares" to "replace" it . They love the market place insurance dominated less consumer friendly healthcare system, They want it to go away .
2. What’s more, the real story of Trump’s first 100 days has been all the positions left unfilled (primarily deputy staff at Cabinet agencies) and the massive number of tasks foisted upon Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, whose principal qualification seems to be that he can never be fired. And Trump is such a unique public figure that judging him by established political conventions has never been a reliable gauge of his future prospects.So a more important question might be whether it actually matters that Trump had a rocky first 100 days. Does history suggest that a rough start leads to a poor presidency?
The "Insanity of the Wall".

We need to build the Wall !

His nearly unwavering support for harsh immigration enforcement and a border wall fed off of the perception of an immigration system as chaotic and uncontrolled. He depicted a porous border and a large illegal immigrant population in a way that made many Americans feel like they weren’t in control of their country anymore. BUT is building a wall part of any immigration reform? I joked that the wall was being built not to keep Mexicans out of America who cross here illegally , but more like keeping Americans from escaping from their country . A wall works both ways  . Remember the GREAT WALL OF CHINA it was built to keep out the northern barbarians out of China in the 3century BC . (2.2)>>It was more or less a symbol of Emperor Chin's power over his people.   As the Trump administration advanced plans to erect a multibillion-dollar wall on the southern border, the leader of Mexico’s national governors association said Saturday in Washington that President Trump’s budget proposal proves that U.S. taxpayers will foot the bill.Trump has insisted that he will force Mexico to pay for the wall, but Mexican officials have refused. The president’s budget request Thursday included $2.6 billion, mostly for first stages of the wall.“Trump is asking the Americans to pay for the wall,” Gov. Graco Ramírez of the Mexican state of Morelos said in a news conference. “The first victory is ours.” Ramírez, who is president of the National Conference of Governors of Mexico, was in Washington for a meeting at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

The Coming showdown & Government shutdown .  Lawmakers returning to

Washington this coming week (3)>>will find a familiar quagmire on health care legislation and a budget deadline dramatized by the prospect of a protracted battle between President Donald Trump and Democrats over his border wall. Trump's GOP allies control Congress, but they've been unable to send him a single major bill as his presidency faces the symbolic 100-day mark on April 29 — the very day when the government, in a worst-case scenario, could shut down.  {since Congressional Democrats and Republicans are involved in tense negotiations on a spending bill to keep the government open, differing over demands to provide Americans with health care. (April 27)  , like I said above , the House Republicans don't have a plan to "replace" , but would rather see Obama-care wither on the vine , return to the "status quo" before Obama-care }  Feeling pressure to deliver results, Trump wants to revive a troubled health care measure from House Republicans to repeal and replace President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act. Trump also hopes to use a $1 trillion catchall spending bill to salvage victories on his promised U.S.-Mexico border wall, a multibillion-dollar down payment on a Pentagon buildup, and perhaps a crackdown on cities that refuse to cooperate with immigration enforcement by federal authorities. It was the latest concession by the White House, which had earlier dropped a demand for money for President Donald Trump’s border wall. Even with Republicans in control of both chambers of Congress and the White House, the Trump administration is learning that Democrats retain significant leverage when their votes are needed on must-pass legislation.A temporary funding bill  had expired Friday at midnight, and GOP leaders late Wednesday came out with a short-term spending bill through May 5 to prevent a government shutdown this weekend. Still nothing is settled .

The Tax Plan ?

(4)>>I am ready for Tax reform  are you ? Is this the opportunity for paying less taxes and getting

more for your wallet ? As a Californian I see my taxes going up . I live in a tax and spend state  anyway . What ever the feds do with taxes probably wont mean anything. The easiest way for Congress to do that, naturally, is to cut taxes, both on businesses and individuals.  It lowers the cost of doing business, and simultaneously increases the take home pay of every single American who pays taxes, having more to invest, save and spend.  That means more businesses, more jobs and more customers. President Trump on Wednesday offered a glimpse into his approach to tax reform, But Wednesday’s release contained no legislative text, or even the kind of detailed outline that policymakers often use to guide discussions of major reforms. Instead, it was a brief statement on how Trump plans to approach a revamp of the tax code, one of the new president’s major domestic objectives. And while it offered a few new insights, it left Washington waiting on key details. Trump’s tax plan proposes three tax rates for individuals: 10 percent, 25 percent and 35 percent.But the plan does not specify what levels of income would be subject to each rate. The lack of detail on the thresholds for the tax rates is a key reason why think tanks such as the Tax Foundation and the Tax Policy Center will find it difficult to provide revenue estimates of Trump’s one-page plan. For the average person, one of the major things to know is the proposal calls for winnowing the current seven tax brackets to just three at 10, 25, and 35 percent. It also means doubling the standard deduction, which is the dollar amount that reduces the amount of income people who don’t itemize their deductions are taxed.The plan calls for tax relief for childcare expenses and a repeal of the death tax, among other measures. The plan would eliminate most deductions, leaving them for mortgage interest and charitable giving. Of note, it would eliminate popular deductions for state and local taxes.For businesses, the plan suggests a standard 15 percent tax rate as well as eliminating tax breaks for special interests, according to a handout from the administration. As you know Trump has been  hiding his own  tax returns so we will not know how much he will benefit from his tax plan. The repeal of estate taxes alone would be worth hundreds of millions to the Trump kids. That is really the main thing Trump wants. I personally do not want to pay one cent to give the Trump kids more money. This plan is just a typical give to the rich rob from the middle class Republican plan. After reviewing the White House’s memo, Lily Batchelder, former chief tax counsel of the Senate Finance committee, tweeted that the plan was “immensely costly and regressive.”Most people could not help but marvel at the “skimpy” press release the administration tried to pass as an actual tax plan.

100 days and epilogue .
The first 100 days is, in large part, an arbitrary standard for evaluating the accomplishments of any new president — particularly nowadays. In our time, and in this political moment, it has become increasingly difficult to get big things done in Washington, D.C., in 100 weeks — much less 100 days.  Forbes magazine has this to say as we go into the full spectrum of a Trump administration . Even it may be a fair assumption , its a test of our political system how it can endure the strangest days ahead . (5)>>Please be aware .

"" The three major failures of Donald Trump’s first one hundred days in office set him up for even more spectacular failures in the next significant period of his presidency: the approximately 150 days between now and the start of fiscal 2018 on October 1.""

NOTES AND COMMENTS:

(1)>>The 100 days of a President are considered pivotal .13 of the Trump-bills were just reversals of Obama regulations. Some others were as historic as naming a Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic in American Samoa or creating a waiver to allow James Mattis to be appointed although he has recently served in the military. In comparison to many other Presidents including Obama he passed no major bill in his first 100 days. "No administration accomplished more in the first 90 days" (Trump) is just ridiculous. And what about his list of 60 promises that he would fulfill in the first 100 days? (1.2)>>Donald Trump, in the final stretch of last year's campaign. Back in October, before his election, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump laid out a 100-Day Action Plan. He called it his "Contract With The American Voter." Among other things, it called for the full repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act, suspension of immigration from certain "terror-prone regions" and the lifting of "roadblocks" to let "infrastructure projects like the Keystone Pipeline move forward." (2)>>Spicer insisted. “If you look at the immigration piece, border crossings [are] way down, the number of executive orders. Facts matter less when people feel out of control. You wouldn’t know it from Trump’s rhetoric, but the flow of illegal immigrants across the border is near a 40-year low. Border patrol is huge and has plenty of resources. The U.S. has an infamously complex and strict immigration system.But these facts don’t penetrate the perception that the government lacks control over immigration.The hard truth for Trump voters is that Trump’s proposed solutions to immigration will not increase control. A border wall, deportation force, and mandatory E-Verify will increase the perception of chaos. Illegal immigrants responded to the doubling of border patrol in the 1990s by hiring smugglers and taking boats up the coast to avoid the border altogether.(2.2)>>It was more or less a symbol of Emperor Chin's power over his people.  As speculation mounts about which “tweetable gifts” China’s President Xi Jinping is bringing to the Mar-a-Lago summit on Thursday, the prize so far goes to a proposal for China to build Trump’s big, beautiful wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. Xi would offer to do this as a sign of respect for America’s new president, at no cost to U.S. taxpayers, and to complete the project within a year. Especially famous is the wall built 220–206 BC by Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. Little of that wall remains. Since then, the Great Wall has been rebuilt, maintained, and enhanced; the majority of the existing wall is from the Ming Dynasty (  Considering the size and effort put into its construction over 2,000 years ago, the failure of the Great Wall of China is rather spectacular. It worked as a manifestation of power that put fear into the hearts of barbarian riders but it didn’t keep any invaders from the north out. According to some historical accounts, tribes in the north of China were militarily ahead but culturally behind, thus looting China whenever possible to steal the riches of their southern neighbors  This is one speculation as to why the Chinese opted to build the Great Wall. Another argument is that the Great Wall was nothing more than an ambitious project contrived by a vainglorious emperor. The Great Wall was supposed to show the world China’s superiority, making a clear distinction between civilized people and barbarians.  The real costs of the "great, great" wall Donald Trump promised to build during his campaign are beginning to settle in -- and threaten to divide the President-elect and thrifty Republicans on Capitol Hill. "You know, the Great Wall of China, built a long time ago, is 13,000 miles," Trump said in 2015. "I mean, you're talking about big stuff. We're talking about peanuts, by comparison, to that."        (3)>>will find a familiar quagmire on health care legislation  . House GOP leaders during a members-only conference call Saturday vowed to avoid a government shutdown and said they're closer to a deal to repeal and replace Obamacare, according to members who participated on the call. But Speaker Paul Ryan also downplayed the possibility of a vote next week, the same sources said. The Wisconsin Republican said the chamber will vote on a conference-wide deal when GOP whips are confident they have the votes for passage — but not until then..........   (4)>>I am ready for Tax reform  are you ?   The goals of the proposal, according to Trump’s administration, are to grow the economy, create jobs, simplify the tax code, provide tax relief for the middle class and lower the business tax rate. So what’s that mean? Two of Mr. Trump’s top lieutenants — Steven Mnuchin and Gary Cohn, both multimillionaires and former Goldman Sachs bankers — trotted out a plan that would slash taxes for businesses and wealthy families, including Mr. Trump’s, in the vague hope of propelling economic growth. So as to not seem completely venal, they served up a few goodies for the average wage-earning family, among them fewer and lower tax brackets and a higher standard deduction.The proposal was so empty of illustrative detail that few people could even begin to calculate its impact on their pocketbooks. Further, depending on where they live, some middle-class families might not benefit much or at all, because the plan does away with important deductions like those for state and local taxes. (5)>>Please be aware . I am worried about North Korea  . Our gun boats are heading over there ,plus a joint military exercise with Japan .  I see some conflict coming . The North Korean leader would be foolish to hit the American aircraft carriers , but it leaves room to speculate .President Trump during an interview that aired Sunday said he thinks North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is a "pretty smart cookie."During an interview that aired on CBS's "Face The Nation," the president was asked what he makes of Kim.Trump said the North Korean leader was a young man when he took over power, adding that he is "dealing with obviously very tough people, in particular the generals and others."President Donald Trump would not rule out the use of military force against North Korea in an interview on CBS's "Face the Nation" on Saturday, just hours after Pyongyang launched a missile test in defiance of international pressure.Trump downplayed the significance of North Korea's "small missile launch," which occurred early in the day. But when asked by host John Dickerson if he would consider military action in response to another nuclear test, Trump responded: "I don't know. I mean, we'll see."

A few Factors on Bill O'Reilly , and Free Speech .

Bill O'Reilly's Factor .

Before his ouster O'Reilly became the
most obnoxious TV personality
in American History .

FOX NEWS pundit (1)>>Bill O'Reilly paid the price this week . After 20 years of giving the "No Spin Zone" & " Talking points"  on his show . FOX NEWS decided to dump him over his reported sexual allegations of harassment . O'Reilly has been in trouble before .We all have heard much about his payouts to women , his outbursts of denial.   Let's focus on his career rather than the allegations for now .  I remember watching Inside Edition in that era of Tabloid themed shows that ran amok on most networks . There were the kings of the afternoon that started out as purely Liberal platforms . There was Geraldo Rivera, "Maury" Povich,  "Jerry" Springer, Michael Medved { I know this list is long .LoL } (1.2)>>Glenn Beck , Mark Levin ,Sean Hannity,  Rush Limbaugh and FINALLY BILL O'Reilly . All these altra right radio , and TV hosts & their shows all had a rather humble start doing gig's for liberal media .  In the 20 years somehow they  crawled to  FOX news , either first had shows on FOX , or appeared as "guests" . The slow transformation from Liberal journalism to the hard line right was taking shape unleashing a monster . One by one, the best of the best have fallen from Fox News. Andrea, Greta, Gretchen, Megyn, and now Bill O'Reilly. What the heck is going on? Murdoch owns Fox. Murdoch and his entire family are HUGE liberals who strongly support very left leaning policies. Any chance that O'Reilly is just the beginninng of bringing Fox more in line with main stream media? Seems so to me. FOX news was built around the Tabloid media format . This tabloid-ism brought in Glenn Beck and O'Reilly shaping how Fox was to evolve.  The idea of a "fair and balanced"a motto liberals have always discounted as clever branding. What ever "fair and balanced" means is an understatement .  Whether Fox is employing adversaries because public feuds fuel ratings, or because it’s in pursuit of a franker public debate, they aren’t saying news from the start faded out over the decade . The only liberal voice on Fox was non other than the late great Alan (2)>>Colmes, who passed away today at age 66.  Another Factor about Fox news was the "bimbo factor" , yea Fox news somehow was able to pull together some of TV's sexy est  { chauvinistic male dominated verbatim  }  sexy  young female anchors . I remember counting how many blue eyed blonds Fox employed , but never connected the dots to O'Reilly and his apparent addiction problem . Foxes big chiefs (3)>>News Chairman Roger Ailes last year was slapped  slapped with a sexual harassment lawsuit  it made the news . I am sure that O'Reilly was sweating this out somewhere that his boss was caught trying to get a piece of Gretchen Carlson . I have a funny feeling that the Fox news floor was full of "liaisons" between co-workers not just besides Roger Ailes , it seems from a psychological stand point that the whole floor was a party house . Yes, this kind of environment would foster litigation . For a Conservative TV station Fox news was more a frat house of liberalism { loose morals } in disguise . Fox News is a company at which female employees were encouraged, during Ailes’s tenure,“to wear your skirts short and your heels high,” and to avoid wearing pants at all,allegedly so that Ailes could ogle their legs more efficiently. (Ailes is said to have once yelled, “Tell Catherine [Crier, a former Fox News host] I did not spend x-number of dollars on a glass desk for her to wear pant suits.”)Fox News is the network that in 2013 hosted an all-male panel to debate the question of whether it was okay for women to be a family’s primary breadwinner. Their conclusion: No, it was not okay, because men have to have control over women; that’s just science. “When you look at biology, look at the natural world, the rules of a male and a female in society and other animals, the male typically is the dominant role. Another factor is that  Former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly’s departure from the network was partially inspired by the behavior of colleague Bill O’Reilly, according to a new report.Kelly was frustrated by O’Reilly’s criticism of her for publicly discussing sexual harassment she experienced at Fox, The New York Times reported Friday.The Times said Kelly sent an email to Fox executives complaining about O’Reilly’s behavior during his appearance on "CBS This Morning” in November.O’Reilly criticized Kelly for discussing how former Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes allegedly sexually harassed her in a book she released the same day as his interview. Ailes left the network in July amid several several sexual harassment claims against him and a lawsuit from former anchor Gretchen Carlson.“Look, it’s open season,” O’Reilly said when asked about Kelly’s claims. “Let’s whack the Fox News Channel. I’ve had enough of it. It’s a good place to work. All right?”

Free Speech and the Berkley Campus .

Below is a video of the demonstrators

wrecking havoc . But is this free speech?

The question of what exactly is FREE SPEECH made its mark at UC Berkley . The violent clashes have set national . Here is a perfect definition of free speech as defined by the ACLU : “Freedom of expression is the matrix, the indispensable condition, of nearly every other form of freedom.”

—U.S. Supreme Court Justice Benjamin N. Cardozo in Palko v. Connecticut

Freedom of speech, the press, association, assembly, and petition: This set of guarantees, protected by the First Amendment, comprises what we refer to as freedom of expression. (4)>> It is the foundation of a vibrant democracy, and without it, other fundamental rights, like the right to vote, would wither away. It’s a shame that Berkeley, once the birthplace for a generation’s free speech movement, has become its graveyard. On Monday, police released the names of 19 people arrested on various charges ranging from battery to assault with a deadline weapon. A 17-year-old girl, who was not named because she is a minor, was arrested for battery. City officials promised to sort through more videos taken from nearby businesses and posted on social media, as they have done since violence also broke out March 4 at a similar rally and counter-protest. That one was planned by several of the same groups and also resulted in several injuries and arrests.Violent confrontations broke out in Berkeley on Last  Saturday. Clashes between backers and critics of President Trump — and scuffles between self-described anti-fascists and white nationalists — resulted in 21 arrests

Louise Rosealma was punched
 by Nathan Damigo —
 a white supremacist 

and numerous injuries. A California woman who was caught on a viral video being sucker-punched by a white supremacist at a protest Saturday recalled trying not to get her “skull cracked open” during the violent demonstration. Louise Rosealma was punched by Nathan Damigo — a white supremacist who attends California State Stanislaus — during Saturday’s “Patriots Day” demonstration organized by alt-right Nazi group the Proud Boys, KPIX-TV reported.   Citing safety concerns, administrators on Wednesday postponed Coulter’s scheduled April 27 appearance, saying it needed more time to find a “suitable venue.” The showdown continues between the (5)>>University of California, Berkeley, and Ann Coulter over whether the conservative firebrand will speak at the famously progressive school.Ann Coulter rejected an offer to speak at the University of California at Berkeley on a new date after the university canceled her event because of safety concerns, then quickly reversed itself, saying it would reschedule her speech. Coulter said she can’t attend on the new date and accused the university of continuing to try to place restrictions on her free speech. The student group that invited Coulter is now threatening to sue the school.But Coulter was not having it. In a Twitter rampage and a Fox News appearance, she accused the school of canceling the event and vowed to speak as planned. Event co-sponsor Berkeley College Republicans also pushed back, saying Coulter, a “highly sought after speaker,” could not change her schedule.   Student protest is often, in itself, an act of free speech. But university is a place where students are supposed to learn how to think. That mission is impossible if uncomfortable ideas are off-limits. And protest can easily stray into preciousness: the University of California, for example, suggests that it is a racist “micro-aggression” to say that “America is a land of opportunity”, because it could be taken to imply that those who do not succeed have only themselves to blame.

NOTES AND COMMENTS:

 (1)>>Bill O'Reilly. In 1989, O'Reilly joined the nationally syndicated King World (now CBS Television Distribution)-produced Inside Edition, a tabloid-gossip television program in competition with A Current Affair. He became the program's anchor three weeks into its run, after the termination of original anchor David Frost. In addition to being one of the first American broadcasters to cover the dismantling of the Berlin Wall, O'Reilly obtained the first exclusive interview with murderer Joel Steinberg and was the first television host from a national current affairs program on the scene of the 1992 Los Angeles riots. In October 2004, the O’Reilly Factor star was hit with possibly the greatest lawsuit in the history of cable news: then-associate producer Andrea Mackris accused O’Reilly of sexual harassment, quoting the famed gasbag verbatim from phone calls she surreptitiously recorded. (1.2)>>Glenn Beck. Beck left Fox News after a tumultuous two and a half years at the network. He drew high ratings, but his tenure wasn’t without its share of controversy. Advertisers dropped Beck’s show en masse after he called President Obama a racist, and tensions between Beck’s camp and Fox News grew over other issues.The two groups decided to part ways in 2011. Beck’s comments on Friday echoed remarks he has made before. “I’m so sick and tired of being in the system,” he said when leaving Fox News. "I’m not going to play the game anymore.”   (2)>>Colmes. Alan Colmes was the only "liberal" Voice on FOX news , it was hard to believe that Fox allowed any other opinion since Hannity and O'Reilly set the standard script. The death of Fox News contributor Alan Colmes, who passed away in New York City at the age of 66, has been greeted with an outpouring of emotion from the channel’s on-and-off-the-air talent. Colmes, it seems, was a nice guy, a good friend, and an ideal colleague: all qualities one would imagine people who have had to spend their lives around the likes of Roger Ailes and Bill O’Reilly would welcome. And while one should usually view tributes to the recently departed with a forgiving cynicism, in this case they are all too believable: Colmes was the most absurd, useless, and mocked television personality in America for many years, precisely because he was nice. In the context of Fox News, being a nice guy—and a “liberal” nice guy at that—meant being a buffoon, and a patsy. Colmes not only played the part to perfection—he defined it. (3)>>News Chairman Roger Ailes .Still, 21st Century Fox has now hired the same law firm that investigated harassment allegations against O’Reilly’s ousted former boss, Roger Ailes. This time, they’re to look into an allegation from former O’Reilly Factor guest Wendy Walsh that he invited her to dinner, told her he wanted to hire her as a contributor on his show, then turned on her when she wouldn’t follow him to his hotel room. An O'Reilly spokesman called the investigation nothing more than the pro forma follow-up to any report to a Fox complaint line.  Fox News’ parent company announced that Ailes would be resigning his position at Fox News but would receive $60 million and continue to work “as a consultant” with 21st Century Fox. Ailes’ ousting from the company follows a sexual harassment lawsuit filed against him by former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson. According to The Washington Post, 25 women have come forward to make similar harassment claims against Ailes. The New York Times reported on July 23 that Fox News may have “a broader problem in the workplace,” that extends beyond Ailes after at least “a dozen women” told the Times that “they had experienced some form of sexual harassment or intimidation at Fox News or the Fox Business Network, and half a dozen more who said they had witnessed it. 
Free Speech and the Berkley Campus .
(4)>> It is the foundation of a vibrant democracy, and without it, other fundamental rights. Freedom of speech is the right to articulate one's opinions and ideas without fear of government retaliation or censorship, or societal sanction. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used. Supreme Court : http://www.uscourts.gov/about-federal-courts/educational-resources/about-educational-outreach/activity-resources/what-does   Free speech is under attack in three ways. First, repression by governments has increased. Several countries have reimposed cold-war controls or introduced new ones. (5)>>University of California, Berkeley. In the 1960s, students at Berkeley helped change the world by igniting the Free Speech Movement, a seminal moment in the history of 20th-century civil liberties. Fifty years later, Berkeley leftists seem to have decided that free speech was a mistake — and the administration seems intent on helping them roll it back.You’ve already read about the riot that attended a speech by conservative stirpot Milo Yiannopoulos. You may have missed the destruction of College Republicans’ property, and the cancellation of a speech by conservative writer David Horowitz, after Berkeley officials told College Republicans that in order to provide adequate security, the speech would have to be held outside the middle of campus, and when many students are still in class.Keeping students safe is, of course, one of the most important jobs of a university. But so is exposing students to diverse viewpoints and supporting the sacred traditions of free speech. Berkeley seems to be willing to sacrifice the main point of an academic institution in order to ensure safety.