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Yes that great horse, or some part of it, Ol' Trumper wrapped up the Republican nomination today with 1,238 pledged delegates, just one more than needed. This means that he actually is now the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party and can now be rubber stamped at the Convention. He held a news conference before delivering a speech on energy. During this news conference he once again called Elizabeth Warren Pocahontas which a reporter asking him about Native American rights said  was offensive, he then continued saying it. His wit and clever retorts are just so very refreshing. Clearly this is the horse Americans have been waiting on, just be sure to watch where you're walking. He also said during the news conference and again during his speech that Hillary Clinton is going to abolish our Second Amendment rights. This is not the first time he's said it and certainly won't be the last. Informed voters know this is a lie and an impossible thing for a President if t

No, not the singer, Hillary Clinton's e-mails while she was Secretary of State. The State Departments Inspector General has released it's report on this never fading issue. The report says Clinton violated State Department regulations regarding federal records preservation for historical purposes by not turning over all of her e-mails prior to leaving office. The report also says Colin Powell did the same thing. The use of a private e-mail account for official business is not as clear, though the suggestion is she wasn't supposed to do that either even though John Kerry is the first Secretary of State to use a dot gov e-mail and it was after Clinton left office that it became a legal requirement. Clinton should never have used a private server, that's my opinion, it is not what the law stated at the time. What's not in the report, which is certainly not written as a pro Clinton document or is in any way kind to her, is exactly who informed Secretary Clinton of all

If you're a regular reader you already have deduced that I don't put much stock in polls, you're a clever lot. There's a poll for everything, especially in politics. The problem is we rarely know the exact words used in the questions, how many people were asked and exactly who are they. Most polls use hundreds of participants, occasionally thousands but beyond that would be virtually impossible. Experienced pollsters are gifted at getting the responses they need but equally gifted at justifying their accuracy by walking way into the weeds talking about demographics and "snapshots" in time. But if you follow a long series of polls on a variety of political topics you will find dramatic inconsistencies. Here's an example. There is a poll that says 70% of the American people say the Country is headed in the wrong direction. Conservatives and Republicans say this is a direct rebuke of President Obama and liberals. They say the Country wants to move to the ri

Put on your memory caps and come back with me a few months ago. Remember when Trump was in a tizzy complaining about how unfair the debates were and he was at "war" with FOX News? He skipped one of the debates and instead held a rally for the purpose of raising charitable donations for Veterans. Trump claimed to raise six million dollars. It was reported at the time that donations did not go to a special fund but went directly into Trump's organization. Did you ever wonder what Veteran groups received that money? The answer is none. The television media has all but ignored this story but there are investigative reporters who continue to knock on Trump's door and neither Trump or his organization will address the issue. Did he lie about raising the money or did he decide to just keep it? Donald Trump has said that he could shoot someone and never lose a vote, this story of possible fraud that few people seem to care about may very well be proof of that. Trump claims

Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump have both complained that their respective Parties have rigged systems and that the establishments of both are out to stop them. The media describes both of these men as insurgents. The truth, if I may be so bold to state, is that all political candidates for any office they do not currently occupy are insurgents. Ronald Reagan was an insurgent who won. Barack Obama was an insurgent that won. All of those Tea Party candidates that swept the Congress in 2010 were insurgents. The establishment which we hear so much about are nothing more than Party functionaries and current senior office holders who worry about the long-term implications of a given candidates success and or destructive influence on other races down ticket. They are not omnipotent and the days of the true power of Party Bosses is over, much to their regret. Bernie Sanders knew the rules of the Democratic Party when he chose to run which is why his complaining now is a bit much to take. S

Are you bored with the elections? You shouldn't be, it's a circus of unprecedented magnitude. Elephants, donkeys, the high wire with no nets and a butt load of clown cars. At the center of it all a rainmaker the likes of which has never been seen in modern American politics, his name is Donald J. Trump and he may very well be the next President of the United States. Contrary to media reports Trump has not had a bad week. He's had another great week because he is still constantly being talked about and he loves it. The revelations about him posing as his own publicist in the early 1990's has surfaced but it means nothing, because it's a dead and done story. It was proven at the time, the voice on the tape is clearly his and he admitted it at the time. Not only in print but in a court of law. He is now lying and saying it's not true. I guess he just loves to dispute facts but it will have no impact on his campaign or influence his supporters. So why are we hearin

Jerry Brown of California has become the latest Governor to sign a law raising the legal smoking age to 21. I reiterate what I've said before in this blog, you can fight and die for your country on remote battlefields but you can't light up to relieve your stress. This latest act however is not the important news you need to focus on. The FDA has had regulatory control of cigarettes for a little while, now they have gained control of e-cigarettes, cigars including premium hand rolled, pipe tobacco and hookah. This unprecedented nanny seizure has rammifications yet to be revealed. If, like me, you are a pipe and cigar smoker, I suggest you begin stock piling your supplies. I can't afford to but if you can, do it. Let me explain why. There are already highly restrictive states in the U.S., Washington has a 75% excise tax on tobacco and has made it illegal for it's citizens to mail order tobacco products. They must purchase locally. The FDA could pass regulations stoppi

It didn't take Donald Trump long to make the shift from so called self funder to full blown donation seeker. He has already established a finance committee chaired  by a former Goldman Sachs executive named Mnuchin who has both deep pockets and extensive contacts throughout both the Republican and Democratic donor world. For those of you who bought into the self funding manipulation remember this, at the outset of his campaign he loaned himself $36 million, loaned not donated. That means at some point he will call in that loan and will have spent zero dollars of his own money. Watch for it in the months to come because it will happen quick as a blink and receive very little coverage. But don't worry, he's the people's champion.

For months the press and naturally Bernie Sanders have cited polls showing that Sanders would defeat Trump by double digits. I do not believe these polls. Exactly how those polls were conducted and phrased is not known but let's explore some crucial facts. Until he ran for the Democratic nomination Bernie Sanders was not a nationally known figure. He has been a political figure in Vermont for thirty years but he has never faced a national vetting process. In short he has never faced the nasty in depth opposition research that goes in to a Presidential campaign and he still hasn't. Bernie Sanders has spent his entire political career as an Independent and self described democratic socialist. The overwhelming majority of this country has no idea what that is and the only word they hear is socialist and in their minds it's the same as communist and both words are a non starter in the United States. Donald Trump would waste no time in defining Sanders daily as a commie that

The question mark is now what Donald Trump should officially change his name to, you know, the billionaire formerly known as Trump. He won Indiana "biggly" taking all 57 delegates and finally driving Ted Cruz out of the race. This was after starting the day by suggesting Cruz' father was associated with Lee Harvey Oswald and possibly involved in the assassination of John F. Kennedy, this based on an article in the National Enquirer which is published by a close friend of Trump. Trump will say and do whatever it takes to achieve his personal victory. His vision extends to the tip of his nose and his intellectual curiousity is zero. For your brief review here is what we know so far about the Trump Agenda. He wishes to ban 1.5 billion Muslims from being able to travel to the United States, he wants to spy on Mosques in the U.S. He wants to bring back waterboarding and expand all forms of torture and order the military to execute illegal orders. He wants to ignite trade war

I like Bernie Sanders and agree with him on a number of issues most notably that healthcare in the United States should be a right, I've been advocating it for years. I have no great love for billionaires nor do I believe they are automatically bad because of the size of their bank accounts. I do believe that in many ways the largest corporations in America who have benefited substantially due to simply being created and built in this country, have broken  the social compact with their employees which is crucial to the economic survival of the country itself. However, in a recent interview Bernie said that he was just one person and couldn't tell his supporters how to respond if he is not the nominee. He said it was incumbent upon Secretary Clinton to convince his supporters to move to her. Bernie is wrong. It is up to him to do exactly what Hillary Clinton did in 2008. She took the high road and with sincerity endorsed Barack Obama and asked her supporters to do the same. Be