Many people who know me may tend to think I lean towards the “right”, but I do so much less than they have seen. My newer friends may see me leaning much more to the “left”, but I still have many views that are not. And considering my background, I’ll have to say my views are a bit more valid than the average voter.
In 2015, I dumped my republican registration and went independent. In good conscience, I did not have views strong enough to keep me, in my mind, labelled as a “R” or on the other side to be a “D”. So I just went, appropriately, to an “I” because my views, as a whole, are mine and mine alone and span between both ideologies and beyond. It is all about “I” (and those I care about). Many, on both sides, said it was foolish because in Kentucky, I now cannot vote in the primaries.
So here I am, a fairly fresh “I”, and now, hesitantly, I want to toss a few of my views into the sea of opinions, mass rhetoric and meme driven social discourse to try to bridge some of the “divides” that have been artificially created between the two predominant ideologies currently on display.
I really think that if people I know from both sides step back and honestly *really* look at things, they’ll be amazed at how far they’ve let themselves actually be led off the path they actually thought they were still on.
So in my mind, the biggest question is, “So where to begin?” – Here goes…
Gary Johnson & Jill Stein
Even though I and many of my disenfranchised friends on both sides support one of these candidates, it just isn’t (at this time) meant to be. The political, media and other establishments are not supportive (yet) of these third parties. I wish they were. I think people would be more likely to vote their true political alignment, instead of the “lesser of two evils”, if they were openly treated like the rest of the mainstream candidates and given equal time.
Multi-party is coming, but this election cycle is not the time and I have to reluctantly urge that you continue to support them financially and ideologically, but do not vote for them. It will, unfortunately, be a wasted one.
Hillary Clinton
Hillary, what a loaded person to really start with… I’m going to cover her career more since she has “more experience” (note the quotes).
I just deleted a few paragraphs that I started to write when I realized that it would take many articles, many “chapters”, many books, to even start to explain things about her… So I decided to break down a few issues and let you, if you care enough, do your own research and come to your own conclusions.
Bill was Governor of Arkansas from 79-81 and 83-92 until he became POTUS. There were innumerable scandals during those days (not only the sexy ones). Many didn’t “see the light” until much later, but they still happened… Here are some keywords from those times and some prior. Do your own research…
Cocaine, drug running, Mena Airport, white water, Watergate (Hillary), unethical, Gennifer Flowers, Paula Jones, persistent adultery, 850k settlement, cattle futures, SEC violations, rape, “Thomas Alfred Taylor”, “Kathy Shelton”, “Larry Nichols”, Epstein, “Lolita Express” and there are so, so many more that have been researched, investigated, and ultimately dismissed and/or covered up by friends, political appointees, people scared of the threats (political and physical), or rendered “inert” due to suicide, accidental death, plane crashes or the media’s irresponsibility to even cover them.
Why do I mention so much “Bill” stuff?
Hillary may not have been directly a part of all of the scandals, but she was involved in a good number of them. If she was aware of all that was going on, she is complicit. If she wasn’t then she was ignorant, it was all around her.
As First Lady of Arkansas she FAILED.
In November 1992, Bill was elected President. He finally reached the pinnacle of political accomplishment. He now held the highest office “in the land”, and Hillary, the highest spousal status… “First Lady”.
She attempted a healthcare overhaul and failed, even though she got a small part of it through (CHIP) and tries to use it as a net positive, she failed to get her healthcare plan passed and it just wasn’t the republicans that didn’t vote for it. Many democrats didn’t either.
A number of Bill’s sex scandals carried over from Arkansas to the White House and with Monica, and arguably others, many more were created. Someone as astute as many make Hillary out to be, she should’ve known (she did) the truth about Bill and his womanizing, sexual harassment and outright rape. I watched some old videos of them together in interviews with her defending him and him saying they loved each other. It was almost like watching episodes of ABC’s Scandal series or House of Cards. (It’s curious how people think fictional TV shows are more plausible than the reality right in front of them). Bill has said publicly in interviews that the marriage is based on love, I challenge someone to find Hillary doing the same. There is no real love there. It is a marriage of convenience. There is no active love between them. Maybe a nostalgic longing for “…what could’ve been”, but they are both in it for themselves (financially, politically and socially, in that order) and they will lie, cheat, steal and defend each other until their last breath on their dying day.
So, in my opinion and many others, as a more politically active First Lady of the U.S., she FAILED.
Then after the White House, the Clinton’s buy a house in New York JUST so she can run for Senate. She’s not even from the state, has no real connection with it (She’s a “redneck” from Arkansas) and uses the influence a senator of NY would gain to try and launch her presidential aspirations in 2008, but another senator (Obama), who had no real experience either, ran against her and was quite a bit more articulate and likable than she was.
The Obama campaign trashed her badly, she trashed them badly (they hated each other), even covertly creating the “birther movement” via Sydney Blumenthal, but it was not enough. Obama won.
https://youtu.be/JVS8-1KwS2c
She likes to say she “rebuilt” NYC after 9/11… OK… yea… Her main accomplishment was getting a federal building renamed, but “… Hillary’s Senate career is defined by safe, non-controversial bills, most of which were pure fluff and yet she couldn’t get them passed”- National Review
As a Senator and then first time presidential candidate she FAILED.
But, post election, Hillary didn’t give up, her and the Obamas conveniently became “friends” again and she was appointed to the position of Secretary of State by Obama. A pretty important job. Lots and lots of worldwide secrets pass through that office. One of the earlier scandals was the Wikileaks State Department Wire scandal. 100k+ wires leaked embarrassing her and ambassadors worldwide.
She also asked for a “secure” blackberry device, like one typically reserved for the President and associated officials. The NSA denied it due to the cost. So what does she do? Instead of using her state.gov email or coming up with a truly secure and compliant solution, she hires a guy name Brian Pagliano (A State Department Employee) to freelance and setup a “private” email server for her. Not a .GOV email in a secure federal data center, but @clintonemail.com on her own physical server. For those non-technical, a server is just a typically more powerful computer that is inherently designed to run at full capacity 24/7/365. But it is really no different, semantically, from a desktop PC you may be using now, and no more secure, unless made so by the administrator. He ended up getting immunity in the FBI investigation… Why would he need immunity if nothing wrong was done? Hmmm…
Back to Hillary’s setup. She had the servers setup in the closet of one of her basement bathrooms. Numerous hackers admit (and Hillary denies) that they broke into them, while at the same time she admitted the DNC email hacks and other commercial email hacks of associates happened and is the work of high level Russian hackers. But HER system in her basement was “secure”… Mmm hmm… No… Even the FBI director, that refused to recommend her prosecution, says as much.
I’m a technical person, I have setup many email servers, both “private” and hosted on third party providers (Google, Rackspace, etc.) I’ll even admit to having hosted them in the distant past from my home (on a commercial level setup). They were secured by disparate physical firewall devices, against a multitude of vulnerabilities. As I grew in technical ability, I learned professional data center protected and/or specific third party solutions, setup up properly, were much better and way more secure options.
She lied and avoided taking true responsibility for her mishandling of classified emails, avoidance of federal archiving laws, etc. Usually that type of thing, including lying to the FBI, gets you at least 5 years and/or $250,000 fine *per violation*.
Just because you are not prosecuted, does not mean you are innocent.
Again, I’m not going to expound on every issue, but what it comes down to is that Hillary has a knack for admittedly “Making Mistakes…” (private email server), surrounding herself with people who share her gift for drama (Huma/Weiner, Podesta, even Bill himself, among many others)…
As Secretary of State she FAILED…
I’m leaving out a LOT of important issues here… I’ll do the same for Trump, although there are not nearly as many to leave out.
Overall, her entire career has been a failure.
Donald J. Trump
I’m not going to get too much into his TV career… It was TV. A lot of it was sensational and what some “stiff” folks would see as sexist, mysoginistic, etc. But I will say that even though MANY pundits and Hillary herself bring up Celebrity Apprentice as a negative for him, I honestly know they never really watched it… It was primarily a vehicle for celebrity contestants to raise money for their respective charities. Some are scrambling to criticize by saying some of the donations didn’t come from Trump directly, but via his foundation using donated monies. Who cares where it came from? He helped a lot of people at the expense, and with the connections, of “the rich” celebrities participating and charitable donations. Is that bad?
His bankruptcies then… Terrible!!
No. They were filed using existing finance laws on the books, bankruptcy isn’t illegal and is oftentimes good business practice. Some types of bankruptcies help a business restructure its debt to keep it in operation and *paying* its employees. Considering the number of companies Trump has been involved in (500+), six, seven even twenty bankruptcies is not bad. I believe the official number is six. 6 of even 500 is only (1.2%). He took many risks, some failed, but many more were successful and he has created many thousands of jobs. No one knows exactly because his company is private, which is wise these days.
Sure he may not have much foreign policy experience, as a government official, which he hasn’t been, but he has been an international business man. He already has much more than Obama had at the same point in his first election cycle. Probably more than many politicians had prior to their elections/appointments. Trump knows better how to deal with people and “get his way” in negotiations. Does Obama? Hillary? Yes? Really?! No…
Even the things that Hillary and Obama have done in private that have become public have been terrible and is bowing to the will of our opponents. Keywords: Iraq, Iran, billions, cash, flight, hostage release, ISIS funding, Libya… Bad instincts, lack of foresight.
I’m not going to get into his recent sexual “grab them by the pussy” statement, because it is so irrelevant and so common in the group vernacular among men (and oppositely in women), that almost every human who has ever existed would be disqualified for the same reason. Admit you’ve said or thought something similar and don’t lie to yourself. This happens to women, and happens to men… Even I, as a male, have been forcibly groped by a drunk female I barely knew and kissed involuntarily. I enjoyed it personally. 🙂 Guess that’s the double standard speaking.
Conclusion
I’m sure many of my more liberal friends will fret at my conclusion, some will defriend (Currently at 594 total), but realize that even though I don’t like Hillary and am not the biggest Trump fan, I’ve made my decision in this election cycle. The U.S. needs balance and that balance cannot be achieved if we have 4 or 8 more years of the status quo + the aftermath (Supreme Court Judges) that will result if Hillary “wins”.
Hillary does not like Russia. If we get her, the tensions will continue. World War 3 is already *much* closer than many realize with the current policies in place. Hillary will become an extension of these policies and likely implement worse ones with her anti-Russian rhetoric in the last debate.
Trump is a loud mouth, blow hard, unconventional candidate, but at least he is anti-establishment and when it comes down to it, that really is the primary positive to casting a vote for him. Establishment = Bad.
So let the defriending, acute disappointment and sympathy for the less enlightened one begin! 🙂 TRUMP 2016.
Disclaimer: If anything happens to me, investigate! 🙂
What he is saying now he was saying a LONG time ago…