kanesrealm

L.G.B.T., Lesbians, Gays, Bi-sexual and Transgender, a succinct acronym, no problem. Apparently it isn't sufficient. Lately we're hearing a Q added at the end. Donald Trump, of all people, said this in his acceptance slash the world is ending speech in Cleveland. He slightly snickered when it slipped from his pie hole but did manage to get it out. There's no way he came up with the line so it must have been Ivanka. But the Trumps did not invent it. If they had the Q would be in gold followed by another T, much larger than the first. This new thing seems to be spreading but it's not new. Where was I? Oh yes, I was still using proper dictionaries when this total perversion of a word took root. In the past year and a half it's common use has begun with the blessings of the Equality Foundation and even amongst some in the Human Rights Campaign. It should not be used and I will tell you why. The word queer is in fact, less we forget, an actual word. It means odd. Al...

As I take up my digital pen to offer meaningless insight into the political season thus far, I pause to reflect on positive versus negative. Alrighty, that's done. The first two days of the Democratic Party Convention are behind us and the difference between it and what we saw from the Republicans last week is stark. As I've said before, these conventions are heavy on boredom, they're supposed to be. But they are also supposed to be positive and occasionally have dynamic speakers that know how to work an audience. The Democrats are delivering on this. Most importantly they are executing a political convention exactly the way it's supposed to be done. It is flowing smoothly and that includes the disenchanted Bernie Sanders voters. There's supposed to be disgruntled delegates sulking over their candidate losing and threatening to sit home or take their vote elsewhere. Comedian and hardcore Sanders supporter Sarah Silverman said it best, you Bernie or bust people ar...

Witness the awesome power that is Kanesrealm. I called for the resignation of Debbie Wasserman Schultz and just hours later she resigned. This is why tens of you are devoted to reading this blog. My influence is spreading from Hindtit to this nation's capitol or at least as far as Horserump Junction. I knew I should have run for President this year. The little voice in my head said, "Francois, run for President". The little voice in my head calls me Francois, he's more continental than I and a bit of snob, I think he may be French. There are many voices in my head. No there aren't. Yes there are. My mental status not withstanding, it's still worth noting. What is? Farewell Wasserman Schultz, I never knew ye!

The Chair of the Democratic National Committee, Debbie Wasserman Schultz and her top leadership need to resign from their positions. The documents which have come to light showing that key leaders of the D.N.C. were discussing ways of discrediting Bernie Sanders is unacceptable. For instance they considered the possibility of casting doubt on his religious faith, which is Judaism. They were going to suggest that he was an atheist. Sanders has spoken about his faith but he never wore it on his sleeve like most politicians. Personally I wish he were an atheist but he's not. The D.N.C. knows full well that the mere accusation is enough to cause damage in a country full of people who profess some kind of religious faith, mostly Christian. All political parties are run by those whose primary goal is to protect the institution of said party. To that end they always have candidates that they prefer and believe have the best chance to win but in theory they are supposed to remain quasi n...

I know you're disappointed, it's not the Kane you wanted, but he's a damn fine second choice! Hillary Clinton has done something Donald Trump did not. She chose the running mate she wanted, the running mate she wants as a governing partner and someone she can trust. There may be some Bernie Sanders supporters that don't like the pick but they need to remember two things, Hillary Clinton won the Democratic Nomination and she has every right to pick the running mate of her choice and do they want a Trump Presidency? Clinton has been very accommodating to the Sanders Team during the platform creation. She has reached out to Bernie and his supporters. Now it's their turn to demonstrate that they really want to move forward or replace rationalism with fatalism in a Trump Presidency. Tim Kaine is an outstanding choice for Vice-president. Constitutionally speaking he has one job and he's more than qualified and capable of delivering on it if called upon. With him C...

All political conventions are boring even for we junkies. But we watch them in the event something important happens or we get a glimmer of something hopeful. The Republican Convention ended in Cleveland last night. It was and I say this with great sincerity, the most vile and negative convention I have witnessed in my lifetime and I've been watching them for decades. I suppose it was to be expected given the way Donald Trump has conducted his campaign since day one. Ivanka Trump gave one of the best and most positive speeches of the convention. Her introduction of her father was a portrait of a man we've never met and didn't see last night. Donald Trump spoke for one hour and fifteen minutes. The longest acceptance speech in modern history. Unbelievably he stayed focused on the teleprompter and delivered his speech as written. Like his rally speeches he doubled down on every whacky thing he has said. He promised the biggest tax cuts in the history of America and then pro...

You invite someone to your home, he drops his pants and shits on the new carpet, what are you to do? That's what Ted Cruz did to Donald Trump last night. In a primetime address that lasted over twenty minutes Cruz did not endorse Trump or say he was the man for the job and ended with vote your conscience. The speech itself was a recitation of untrue Cruziness preparing himself for 2020. Cruz believes that Trump is going to lose and as the man who came closest to defeating him, he will be turned to after November to lead an American Shadow Cabinet against the Clinton Administration. He is of course deluding himself however, stranger things have happened, such as Trump for President. Newt Gingrich tried to mend the fences over Cruz when he spoke and then proceeded to scare the children with threats of nuclear holocaust on the East Coast. Eric Trump gave a speech extolling the virtues of his father and thanked him for his life. I'm sure membership in the Trump lucky sperm club ...

The first two days of the Republican Convention are now over. Each night was to have a specific theme but that didn't happen. It has been wall to wall Hillary Clinton is an evil maniacal monster that should be put in prison. Hellfire is raining down on America and only Trump has an asbestos umbrella, not enough room for all of us, but the special will be saved. This is the most negative convention I've seen in my lifetime and I'm a political junkie who always watches them. This one is excruciatingly painful. Only Tiffany Trump, his daughter by Marla Maples, gave a positive humanizing speech about Donald Trump. Very few speakers have spoken glowingly about Donald Trump and laid out a case for why he would be a good President. There has been no case made based on policies. It has been disorganized and amateurshly managed. Trump is so pompous and narcissistic he has made an appearance every night. Chris Christie delivered a bombastic speech in the guise of an indictment of ...

Donald Trump and Mike Pence appeared on 60 Minutes this past Sunday night. It was probably to show what a dynamic duo they form but it showed anything but that. Pence barely got to speak and looked like a man who would rather be having a colonoscopy. He was clearly uncomfortable and afraid to say anything that might irritate his new boss. He has clearly been counseled to watch out for the alpha dog's urine stream. Donald Trump is consistently a hypocrite and his selection of Mike Pence as his running mate is the pinnacle of proof. Trump regularly attacks Hillary Clinton for her vote to invade Iraq. Mike Pence was in Congress at the same time and also voted yes. Trump regularly and viciously attacks Hillary Clinton for advising President Obama to go into Libya to support the overthrow of Muhamar Khadaffi. Mike Pence was in Congress at the time and agreed with Hillary Clinton and fully supported going into Libya. In spite of Trump's continuing assertion that he was against goi...

The Republican Convention began last night. Each night will have a different theme. The first was make America safer again. There was certainly nothing delivered in speeches last night that gave any policy prescriptions for this, it was all Clinton Obama bad Trump good, not inspiring in the least. I didn't think Rudy Giuliani, whom I once respected, could deliver a worse speech than he did at the 2008 Convention but he did it last night. He sounded like a rabid dog and that's being kind. Patricia Smith, the mother of State Department employee Sean Smith who was killed in Benghazi, delivered a scathing and irrational attack on Hillary Clinton, blaming her directly for her son's death. I understand the emotional pain Patricia Smith is enduring and I empathize with her need to lash out and blame someone. But the blame is not on Hillary Clinton, the blame is on the thugs that murdered Sean Smith. People wrongly believe that employees of the State Department do not have a dange...

So it's now official, Governor Mike Pence is Donald Trump's pick for Vice-president. There are reports that as late as midnight Trump was asking close advisors if he could change his mind. No, he couldn't. As one of the leading political scholars here in Hindtit,Indiana I've written a number of times about Mike Pence. For those of you who don't live in Indiana, you poor things, here's some thoughts. Mike Pence was running for re-election to be Governor another four years. He was in all likelihood going to lose to Democratic former Speaker of the House John Gregg, the man he barely beat in 2012. The Indiana Republican Party was very nervous and hoping that Pence would be tapped for V.P., Pence was also hoping. Let's recap the Pence trajectory. He was a conservative talk radio host in Indiana who spun that notoriety into a twelve year stint in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he ultimately rose to a party leadership role. Here's what he didn...

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg aka Notorious RBG has criticized Donald Trump as a faker and she has concerns about him being President. Trump has of course lost his mind over it and is engaging in his normal sandbox retaliation. That's fine, she criticized and he's punching back. He is as usual wrong on the facts. That would also be fine because that's Trump. Unfortunately there is a whole bunch of people who are commenting on Ginsburg's statements, including politicians and the media. They are all incorrect in their framing of the issue and all are in need of a history refresher. I wasn't going to write about this kerfluffle until Speaker Paul Ryan said this, "political appointees should not be commenting on elections." Appointees Mr. Speaker? You are smarter than that. The United States Supreme Court is not a collection of appointees. Those nine Justices are a co-equal branch of government. They are nominated by the President, confirmed by the Senate and o...

That's the headline T.V. is bombarding us with. They need to take it down a notch and lower the heat of the rhetoric. They won't because bad news sells. Just like a crash on the side of the road, everyone wants to see the wreckage. Last week within 24 hours we learned that two African-American men were shot and killed by police officers. One in Louisiana and one in Minnesota. What we as the general public have seen would seem to indicate these were not justified shootings. The Justice Department is investigating both shootings and in due course we will have a clearer picture. Then comes demonstrations throughout the country about these shootings. In Dallas an individual shot and killed five Police Officers and wounded seven others and some protesters. This man had been plotting to do something for awhile but acted when he did supposedly because of the shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota. He was allegedly angry over this and wanted to kill some white people, especially Police...

In every election there is only the choice we have, not the choice we want. This year we pick a new President. I don't know who will win but I do know that barring some major unforeseen occurrence, the winner will be either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. You don't have to vote for either of them. You can vote for somebody else, if they met the threshold to be on your State's ballot. You can ask for a paper ballot and write in your choice. Regular readers of this little blob of musing know my opinion of polls but if we are to believe them the two leading candidates have the highest personal negatives of anyone who has previously ran. And yet they are the nominees of their respective Parties. How does one, as they say, jive this? I certainly cannot. They won by substantial numbers therefore logic dictates their parties want them. The same logic would apply even if they barely won. I am an independent, I left party politics behind long ago. This country has always needed ...

Not so fast. The U.S. House of Representatives Oversight Committee chaired by Jason Chaffetz, grilled F.B.I. Director James Comey today. Comey is a registered Republican and a Republican appointee. He is a dedicated career public servant who has always been praised and trusted by both sides of the aisle. You wouldn't know it after four hours of Republican nonsense was thrown at Comey including insinuating he conspired with the White House and the Justice Department which brought a stern response from Comey telling Congressman Mica to look him in the eye. Comey said he cared only about two things in life, the love of his family and his integrity. He shredded every accusation made and debunked every false comparison made including the case of David Petraeus. Chairman Chaffetz asked if Hillary Clinton lied. Comey responded no not to the F.B.I. Chaffetz said what about her statements to Congress? Comey responded it had nothing to do with their investigation and no referral had been ...

It's not the latest novelty act to open in Las Vegas, it's the same old Republican game of whack a Clinton. After F.B.I. Director James Comey's email report to the public Republicans are losing their mind, which they can hardly spare, about how the Clintons get away with everything and are held to a different standard, never being held accountable. James Comey will appear before the House Oversight Committee on Thursday where Chairman Jason Chaffetz, who just recently praised the greatness of Comey, will in all likelihood rip Comey apart. Joined of course by his fellow rightwing attack dogs. Attorney General Loretta Lynch will soon take the hot seat. At what point have Bill and Hillary Clinton ever not been held accountable, raked over the coals and exhaustively investigated at great expense to the taxpayer only for those targeting them to come up with nothing? Even Ken Starr, the Independent Counsel, who spent years during Bill Clinton's Presidency investigating him ...

Donald Trump is looking for a Vice-president. Given the overall stink which surrounds him you might think it would be tough to find someone, but it won't be. The lure of being President in waiting since Trump's helter skelter brain could potentially lead to his removal from office, is just too great. Lots of auditions are taking place, just like a reality show. I'm hoping for Gary Busey. Over the weekend the three names being heavily discussed, which means Trump himself leaked it to the press, is Chris Christie, Newt Gingrich and Indiana Governor Mike Pence. Let's start with Governor Christie. He's hated in his home state of New Jersey, he can't run again and wouldn't win anyway. He's effectively finished in elective politics so he would absolutely jump at the opportunity, he has nothing to lose. He also doesn't really bring  things to the ticket that Trump needs. Christie is smart but would be wasted as V.P. Like trump he's a loudmouth bully a...

After one solid year of investigating Hillary Clinton's so called E-mail scandal the F.B.I. turned in it's findings, but instead of just submitting the report to the Justice Department, Director James Comey opted to deliver a public address on the issue. It is an unprecedented act for a Director and it is inappropriate. The F.B.I. reports to the Justice Department and it is up to them to review the report, make a determination and then disclose to the public. Comey said that there should be no prosecutions because nothing individually or collectively represent intentional wrongdoing. He raked Clinton and her staff over the coals and essentially accused them of being careless and that eight top secret E-mails were exchanged. They could not establish that Clinton's private server was hacked but quote "that doesn't mean it wasn't", unquote. Well here's something we absolutely know was hacked, official guarded and encrypted government servers by the Russ...

Today we celebrate the Independence of our nation. To that end I offer the following reflection. " I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." You will note the absence of the word God. That's because it was not originally there even though the pledge was written by a clergyman. It was not until the 1950's that our Congress added the word, yet most people believe it was always there. One of the greatest and most celebrated of our founding fathers was Thomas Paine. It was he who gave the United States of America it's name and who vehemently fought for the Revolution. He also completely and without hesitation repudiated Christianity and the bible. He wrote, "My religion is to do good" and "My own mind is my own church." What an unfortunate thing it is that so many people are so ignorant as to the true founding of this nation...

Wise men wait, only fools rush in, humm, interesting thought. Do you think maybe the media should take a breath and think about that? No, no, you're quite right, not necessary at all. In the wake of the Brexit vote in the United Kingdom our press corps immediately began drawing comparisons between that vote and the general election campaign in our own country, suggesting the rise of Donald Trump plays into some global narrative. I suppose if you know nothing, are easily deceived, intellectually lazy and subject to mental contortionism then there might be a sliver of plausibility in the argument. But if you're open to it, how about we take a walk down a more enlightened path. This ought to go without saying but apparently it can't, the British are not European. They are a pivotal country in the history of the world. Remember when they ruled the world? Of course not, it's been too long ago but perhaps you are familiar with the phrase the sun never sets on the British Em...