Right-Wing Conspiracists Wrong About Hillary Clinton Classified Info

This blog has always wondered what the right-wing conspiracists do for relaxation.  After all, you and I head for escapism in a novel, the movie theatre, or some long afternoon drive.  But for those who always are way-out-there by living a life of fantasy with their conspiracy theories, what must they do on a night like this when mom turns the lights on in the basement and forces them to open a window?

Many a parent must be walking down the basement steps this evening to alert their man-child that the news reported Hillary Clinton did not mishandle classified material.  After all their energy expended to foment an alternate reality, the result has come down to a report based on nothing more than the truth. That makes your average right-winger mad enough to rip apart all the tin foil hats on his shelves.

The headline in the Washington Post flies in the face of all the far-right-wing media hysteria.

Overall, investigators said, “there was no persuasive evidence of systemic, deliberate mishandling of classified information.” The report cited “instances of classified information being inappropriately” transmitted, but noted that the vast majority of those scrutinized “were aware of security policies and did their best to implement them.”

Maybe the conspiracists can fall back on a classic from their dad’s time of political activism.

Russian Interference Not Concern Of Deplorables

Talk to the average Donald Trump supporter and it is news to them that United States intelligence forces concluded years ago that Russia worked mightily during the 2016 campaign to get Trump elected.  Just this week we have learned more news in this regard as the the Senate Intelligence Committee says Russia infiltrated at least one election system in each of the 50 states.  As noted by the committee in 21 states, the infiltration was significant.

This morning on WGN radio the topic was discussed. Illinois was impacted when Russian hackers successfully penetrating their voter registration database,  and accessed up to 200,000 voter registration records.  One should be mighty concerned they took voter registration data.

Meanwhile over at the Trump White House one might hear crickets if it not for the narcissistic ramblings. Disdainful of reason, and prepared to allow the nation to be harmed, Trump has never given a speech on Russian involvement in the 2016 election.  He can not call attention to the fact he was used by Putin, or honestly address that each state in our nation was targeted by Russian hackers working to elect him.

On the other side of the troubled Trump coin are his supporters who continually prove they are willing to sell the nation out for nothing more than a red hat with a slogan.  On issue after issue, and most galling this week given the focus on Russian interference, they have demonstrated a disdainful view of being educated.  They would not recognize reason and logic if it came wrapped in a Bud beer can rattling about in the back of a truck.  What Trump and his truly addled supporters are not aware of is that election security is an issue of patriotism.

They rant and scream at rallies about America, and those they feel are not American enough.  But when asked to show their true colors this collective band of misfits have no concern or knowledge about the need to protect the very integrity of American democracy from Russian interference. That is due to so many in the base of Trump’s support not having any sense of history or civics.  The demographics that political scientists are using to understand this current phenomenon are most telling when it comes to levels of education.

What many experts in cybersecurity worry about at 3:00 A.M., when not being able to sleep, is the real threat that Russian hackers will be able to more capably interfere with the 2020 election.   This week those fears were underscored when Robert Mueller in his congressional testimony stated that Russia is “absolutely intent on trying to interfere with our elections.”

The news this week about Russia and our elections is another gut punch. Therefore. hearing that Republicans in the senate have twice, in 24 hours this week, blocked the advancement of bills aimed at strengthening election security should almost set your hair on fire. Two of those bills would require campaigns to report to federal authorities any attempts by foreign entities to interfere in US elections, and the third is aimed at protecting from hackers the personal accounts and devices of senators and some staffers.

Clearly partisan measures!  Right?

Would you believe that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell took to the Senate floor to personally object to the measures!  He labeled them partisan.

Can you imagine President Reagan, upon learning that United States intelligence forces concluded years ago that Russia worked mightily during the 2016 campaign, to not support strong measures to remedy the problem?  Can you imagine Reagan allowing a  nicotine stained majority leader preventing legislation for election security from Russian interference from moving forward?

What we have in this nation is Trump who has never accepted the intelligence community’s forceful conclusions about Russia’s threat to our democracy.  He has instead embraced Putin and even joked with him about Russia’s election meddling.  Trump has stated on the record he’d absolutely accept derogatory information from a foreign enemy about a political opponent.  Furthermore, he said he would not tell the FBI should it happen.

In 2016 Trump and his supporters were labeled as deplorables.  That term was criticized by some conservatives and Trump himself.  But, pray tell, what other word. that is family friendly, would this group be called other than deplorables?  After watching just this week regarding Russian interference, and how Trump and his ilk have responded, what else could we possibly say about them?

They have shown their colors.  And their IQ.  (Again.)

Incredibly Detailed, Interactive Map Of 2016 Presidential Election Results

No matter who you voted for this map is AMAZING.

Type in your zip code…..wow!   Use you mouse to zoom in and out. The New York Times has published an incredibly detailed, interactive map of 2016 presidential election results.

Mining Down Into The Minds Of Trump Voters

I have hunted for the types of news stories and information that will allow greater insight into the mind-set of Trump voters who landed this country in the place we now find ourselves.  The latest such find is from The Atlantic.

In the wake of Trump’s surprise win, some journalists, scholars, and political strategists argued that economic anxiety drove these Americans to Trump. But new analysis of post-election survey data conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute and The Atlantic found something different: Evidence suggests financially troubled voters in the white working class were more likely to prefer Clinton over Trump. Besides partisan affiliation, it was cultural anxiety—feeling like a stranger in America, supporting the deportation of immigrants, and hesitating about educational investment—that best predicted support for Trump.

It may not be surprising that Republicans vote Republican. But the analysis also isolated a handful of other factors that drove white working-class voters—ones that defy post-election tropes.

Controlling for other demographic variables, three factors stood out as strong independent predictors of how white working-class people would vote. The first was anxiety about cultural change. Sixty-eight percent of white working-class voters said the American way of life needs to be protected from foreign influence. And nearly half agreed with the statement, “things have changed so much that I often feel like a stranger in my own country.” Together, these variables were strong indictors of support for Trump: 79 percent of white working-class voters who had these anxieties chose Trump, while only 43 percent of white working-class voters who did not share one or both of these fears cast their vote the same way.

The second factor was immigration. Contrary to popular narratives, only a small portion—just 27 percent—of white working-class voters said they favor a policy of identifying and deporting immigrants who are in the country illegally. Among the people who did share this belief, Trump was wildly popular: 87 percent of them supported the president in the 2016 election.

Finally, 54 percent of white working-class Americans said investing in college education is a risky gamble, including 61 percent of white working-class men. White working-class voters who held this belief were almost twice as likely as their peers to support Trump. “The enduring narrative of the American dream is that if you study and get a college education and work hard, you can get ahead,” said Robert P. Jones, the CEO of PRRI. “The survey shows that many white working-class Americans, especially men, no longer see that path available to them. … It is this sense of economic fatalism, more than just economic hardship, that was the decisive factor in support for Trump among white working-class voters.”

Outright Lie From Mango Mussolini To Congressional Leaders

“President Trump used his first official meeting with congressional leaders on Monday to gripe about his loss of the popular vote, falsely telling the lawmakers that he would have won a majority if millions of illegal immigrants had not voted against him,” the New York Times reports.

“The claim, which he has made before on Twitter, has been judged to be untrue by numerous fact-checkers. But the new president’s willingness to bring it up at Monday’s White House reception in the State Dining Room is an indication that he remains focused on his election even assuming power.”

Is it any wonder why the majority of this nation laughs at him.  Not with him.  AT him.

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Lets Talk About Wisconsin Presidential Recount

Up to this point I have remained silent on this blog about the recount that will be taking place of the recently cast presidential ballots in Wisconsin.  My reason for doing so has been mostly that the news event occurred over a holiday weekend.  The second reason is that I trust the voting, tabulating, and reporting process in this state.  I trust the election process.

The place I have always stood in relation to my faith in the process is where I am firmly planted today.   That does not mean, however, that there is not a place for recounts and audits.  There is a statutory right for such actions following an election, and there should be no one who should seek to stop a recount if the process for such actions are followed.

But then I read the email below and I wonder what is wrong with others who can not see the reasonableness in the process as I do?

From: Chris Carr, Political Director <contact@gopteam.gop>
Sent: Monday, November 28, 2016 7:47 AM
To:
Subject: Breaking: Clinton’s allies on the left order election recount 

The far left is trying to stop President-Elect Trump.  

Friend, President-Elect Trump has issued a call for unity, which is exactly what our country needs right now. Sadly, one group would rather continue to bicker and protect the broken Washington status quo.

This weekend, the Clinton campaign joined the ridiculous effort for recounts in battleground states that President-Elect Donald Trump won — and a recount was just successfully launched in Wisconsin.

Over $6 MILLION  have been raised to drag our country through this meaningless recount. It’s a political ploy by the left to further divide our country, gin up support from their extremist base, and threaten President-Elect Trump’s mandate.

Donald Trump won in an electoral landslide, winning states and counties that no Republican won since Ronald Reagan’s triumphant victory in 1984. But liberals still can’t accept the fact that their chosen candidate lost.

We should be taking this moment to unite as Americans after a brutal election and bind the wounds of our divided country.

Can you imagine what would be happening if it were President-Elect Trump contesting an election that was decided three weeks ago?

We know the answer… The media would be eating him alive.

Where does one start in offering up a response?  Give me a chance.

1. “President-Elect Trump’s ‘mandate.'”  Lets get real and state there was NO mandate. Facts show Hillary Clinton has 2.5 million more votes. Furthermore Trump did not even have the ability to secure a plurality.
2. “Donald Trump won in an electoral landslide.” Trump did win the electoral votes of Utah, North and South Dakota and Idaho under a system developed when Black people counted for 3/5th a person (for census only) and women, white men with no land and Blacks and Native Americans couldn’t vote.  There is something to be said for reviewing the Electoral College!
3. “We should be taking this moment to unite as Americans after a brutal election and bind the wounds of our divided country.”  I suspect that means following the GOP example of how to react to a new president? I seem to recall when Obama was inaugurated following a truly historic election (first black president) that Paul Ryan, Eric the Lobbyist Cantor, and Kevin ‘the Benghazi hearings were all about driving Hill’s numbers down’ McCarthy were meeting to negate and vote no on everything proposed by the White House. I also recall that Mitch McConnell claimed his first job was to make Obama a one-term president. The only thing one might say that is accurate about the above email is that this is a historic election if you consider this is our first Dumb-Ass Reality TV Star President
4. “Can you imagine what would be happening if it were President-Elect Trump contesting an election that was decided three weeks ago?”  Frankly no.  I CAN imagine the Donald screaming “Rigged Election!!!   Citizens A-rey-est!!! Rigged Election!   All that would take place about three minutes after the election was called IF HE LOST, not three weeks.  Be mindful that they are still counting provisional ballots from people the GOP tried to disenfranchise and create barriers against them on Election Day.

AP Reports From Corinth, Maine

Though this is a bit late I wanted to add this item to my blog as it comes from James’ hometown, Corinth, Maine.

Marina Villeneuve, The Associated Press , WCSH　10:01 PM. EST November 12, 2016

CORINTH, Maine (The Associated Press/Marina Villeneuve) — Minutes before setting off on a deer-hunting trip in East Corinth, Maison Goodrich said it was pretty funny that the mainstream media describe Donald Trump’s election as an “upset.”

Goodrich sat at a local coffee shop, laughing with a group of men decked in blaze orange shirts about elite media’s failure to see Trump’s widespread support in communities roiled by the loss of manufacturing jobs. Trump’s victory made history in Maine, the nation’s whitest state, where the more rural 2nd Congressional District sent one electoral vote to Trump.

“It was not an upset,” Goodrich said. “When the media says the election was an upset, it’s a ploy because the polls are so incorrect.”

In New England’s sprawling northernmost state, there’s long been the idea of two Maines: the hearty, northern “real Maine” that’s protective of traditions like hunting, and the urban, coastal region that Republican Gov. Paul LePage refers to as Northern Massachusetts.

But no election, and no Republican before the anti-establishment Trump, has so captured Maine’s 2nd Congressional district, the vast district encompassing land north of Augusta and Portland. Trump won by 11 percentage points in the district – a shift from 2012, when Obama won by 15 percentage points statewide.

Clinton found support in southern, coastal Maine and picked up a smattering of inland towns in the 2nd Congressional District, which has embraced the Republican Party in recent years by electing two businessmen-turned-politicians: LePage in 2010 and U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin in 2014 and this year.

Rural voters also sent a resounding “No!” to a failed ballot measure that would have required background checks for private firearm sales and also transfers. Towns in the 2nd Congressional District voted an average 70 percent against the referendum, with critics decrying it as overreach symbolic of an out-of-touch, liberal government.

Inland communities were less likely to support successful ballot questions increasing the minimum wage and having voters rank candidates.

Trump saw some of his biggest Northeast support from Maine communities like Corinth, a town outside of Bangor with a population of 2,800. The town, which has 369 Democrats, 827 Republicans and 671 unenrolled voters, gave him 71 percent of its vote.

That’s compared with 19 percent in Portland, and 31 percent in Brunswick.

“I think things are bad enough that people wanted a change,” said Maison’s brother, Richard Goodrich, who lives in Holden. He cited a “movement” of rural, working class voters upset by the loss over the years of textile, shoe and paper manufacturing jobs.

It’s an economic reality not as keenly felt in Maine’s urban south, where a service-based economy has grown in a post-industrial era. Some northern communities have seen unemployment as high as 20 percent in recent years – even as the state’s unemployment rate dropped.

“In some ways, the Trump campaign reflected those two Maines. He was appealing to the people who felt that they were ignored,” said Sandy Maisel, professor of government at Colby College.

In general, political candidates who’ve managed to appeal to both Maines were centrists, like Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King, and former Sen. Olympia Snowe.

As retired financial adviser and Clinton supporter Larry Towle poured detergent at a laundromat in Corinth, he mused that rural Maine saw in LePage an “intemperate nature that spoke to them.”

“He says what he thinks!” interjected Trump supporter Brian Thompson, as he repaired a laundry machine.

LePage, who frequently likens himself to Trump, has harped on Washington, D.C. and “coastal” elites whom he says harms northern Maine’s economy by lobbying for regulations and a national park. And as the state slowly grows more diverse, LePage has blamed the opioid crisis on minority traffickers and says drug dealers are impregnating white women.

One 2nd Congressional District resident said foreigners shouldn’t get jobs over “Americans,” and another said he didn’t vote for Clinton because she’s a woman.

But it’s creating jobs and cutting welfare – trumpeted by both LePage and Trump – that’s attracted voters like Corinth resident Nancy Harper. She voted for Obama in 2008 but feeling disappointed, voted Republican in 2012.

She said she worries about Trump’s stance on women’s rights and his demeanor, but Clinton seemed too corrupt: “That whole Clinton Foundation thing.”

Richard Goodrich said if Trump fulfills promises like rebooting the military and helping veterans, his supporters will be happy.

“If not, he’ll be a four-year president,” Goodrich said.

 

Hillary Clinton Up By Over 2 Million Votes

David Wasserman shows that Hillary Clinton’s current lead over Donald Trump in the national popular vote is now over 2 million.