kanesrealm

I am returning to blogging. No, you're right, an explanation isn't required but I'm going to give you one. I tried, I really tried, but engaging in political dialogue on Facebook is pointless. When I reactivated my account I chose not to launch political statements from my homepage but I did try participating in other threads. In written dialogue, one person puts down their thoughts, the next person reads that person's thoughts, digests them and then responds directly on point, right? Not on Facebook. With only a few exceptions, I have found that what I write isn't being read, based upon the responses I often received which have nothing to do with what I said. My problem appears to be that I actually read what people write and respond to their words and that's not how it works. It's just random thoughts and in the case of active thread presenters, their main interest seems to be basking only in their own glory, which is fine but don't invite commenting ...

President Donald Trump is a pompous ass and represents a grave threat to the Republic, accept that truth and keep alert. That said, under my own code of ethics even a pompous ass deserves defense when merited. The firing of Acting Attorney General Sally Yates was justified. I would have done the same thing, though I would have handled it far more diplomatically. The reason it's justified and not a Nixonian moment is because the Office of Legal Counsel in the A.G.'s office had reviewed the travel ban and stated it was legal. Whether or not they are correct is for the Courts to decide. Yates made a decision that she did not agree with the policy and issued an order to her subordinates that the Justice Department would not defend the order in court. She did not issue a legal brief outlining why the O.L.C. was wrong in their assessment and present it to the President. She simply issued her order, after the Justice Department had already appeared in court over the weekend defending ...

Donald J. Trump is now the 45th President of the United States and make no mistake in your thought process, his Presidency is legitimate. True, he won because our electoral system failed but that does not change the facts. The Russians did not steal our election, Americans are responsible for the outcome. No evidence of any kind has been suggested or proved that a foreign power directly placed their hands on our voting machines and changed votes to guarantee Trump a victory in the Electoral College. If you feel the need to assign blame, put it on F.B.I. Director James Comey, who went out of his way, in contradiction of Bureau protocols, to smear Hillary Clinton with false innuendo. First in the early summer of 2016 and again two weeks prior to the General Election. Blame the Democratic Party as a whole for believing, like the Republicans, that Donald Trump was not a serious threat to them. Blame the hundreds of millions of Facebook users who love to share lies over and over again. Blam...

No doubt you're sitting in your spinning chair, your fingers rapidly tapping the arms with  piston precision, frequently checking your e-mail and my delightful non-graphic blog site and wondering, "where is Kane?" Well, Mr. Kane is right where he has always been, trapped in darkness and tortured by demons, but enough about my love life. There is a lot of political matters to write about and yet nothing to write about. We have eighteen days to go before Donald J. Trump becomes President of the United States. Speculating on what is about to happen is quite pointless but his Cabinet nominees give some indication of the overall tone of the incoming administration. All very rich with a few poor millionaires thrown in for good measure. All with a philosophy from earlier times in history when the nobles of the land ruled while the rest of us toiled in the field and said yes my Lord. Trump speaks endlessly about deregulation but it won't be about making the opening of a smal...

How ya feelin' champ? A little better? Just take a spoonful of Pepto and a sedative at bedtime, you'll be fine, mostly. Let's start with a deep breath, now on to some useless analysis. We'll begin with draining the swamp. That phrase actually means nothing. Swamps encompass an entire ecosystem and the creatures living there are amazingly adaptable, so it is in politics. Most of the names being floated for the new Trump Administration are old well known names and insiders. Rience Priebus has been appointed Chief of Staff, there is no greater insider in Republican politics than it's current Party Chairman and it is a direct olive branch to the Republican leadership in Congress. Steve Bannon of Breitbart News and a former senior executive of Goldman Sachs has been named Chief Strategist, which simply means advisor, although President-elect Trump says he will be equal to Priebus which is, strange. All Presidents have paid advisors. It seems the long reach of Goldman S...

Well, here I am again. But really, why bother? In nine short days this election will be over, maybe. I don't know who the winner of the Presidential race will be, I've given you my prediction, including the percentages but  no one really knows. Here's what we do know, Donald Trump is completely ignorant of how our election system works and he continues his chant of corruption. What Trump fails to understand is that if he wins, the American people, including me, will accept the outcome because our process is sound and honest. Whatever irregularities that occur are from innocent mistakes, not corruption and the numbers are not significant enough to alter the election. It starts with your friends and neighbors, do you trust them? They are the front line of our elections, volunteering their time to serve on precinct election boards. I was once a Precinct Vice-committeeman and then a Precinct Committeeman, I have seen our system up close and I know how it works. I have parti...

The case for voting against Donald Trump is YUGE, but it doesn't matter. The people who are paid to sit around at think tanks and compile data and analyze polls tell us that the backbone of Trump's supporters are poor to middle class uneducated white people. Trump himself has said at his own rallies that he "loves" the uneducated. I'm poor, white and have no formal education to speak of and Donald Trump could not sway me to do anything but run away from him. So why has he sucked in so many people? Because he is an excellent salesman or conman, you can choose your own words, the result is the same. He has been called a P.T. Barnum for over thirty years and it is a perfect description. Barnum famously said, "there's a sucker born every minute." It's been asked why isn't Clinton miles ahead of him? The answer is shamefully evident, given a choice between a night at the circus or a day at the library, most Americans want the circus. But when it...

No matter how many times well funded lobbyists and political organizations say it and no matter how gravely wrong the U.S. Supreme Court got it, money is not free speech. The Citizens United case brought the subject directly to the highest court and the majority, including Antonin Scalia got it wrong. They essentially took a position that says money in and of itself is an expression of free speech, irrespective of how much of it is dumped into an issue or political candidate and no matter how fact free the message is. It says that free speech isn't free, it's for sale to the highest bidder and that those who have no money to combat those messages are equal because you can still stand on the corner, in your legally designated space, and see if you can get someone to listen. Hillary Clinton has said that she would fight for a Constitutional Amendment to overturn Citizens United but that is highly unlikely to happen and it isn't necessary. Congress can take legislative actio...

Former Chairman of the Democratic National Committee Don Fowler who served from 1995 to 1997 said in an interview today that the Party needed to form a contingency plan in the event Hillary Clinton cannot complete her presidential run. He said a plan needed to be in place by six o'clock tonight. Fowler said he expected Clinton to make a full recovery but added the Party needed to be prepared. Overreact much Don? The "plan" going forward is simple, Hillary Clinton campaigns, wins the Presidency, serves two terms, lives into her nineties. You can really feel the writer in me. Or not. The contingency seems obvious, not that one is required, Bernie Sanders is the runner up and would wear the crown and assume the duties should Clinton be unable to complete her service. Anyone other than Sanders would be rejected by most Democrats, I just hope he doesn't catch a cold. The overblown reactions to Clinton's pneumonia and dizzy spells are proof of why she wouldn't w...

You can't escape death and taxes, so the saying goes. You can however avoid a lot of taxes if you're wealthy and powerful enough to lobby Congress and twist the tax code into a pretzel. Contrary to what you hear from the corporate media, think tanks and wealthy political candidates or candidates who are solely owned subsidiaries of the wealthy, it is not the rich of this country who pay the bulk of the taxes, it is the working poor and the middle class. Without them this country would fold and their voices are all but ignored on the issue of taxes. Taxes are necessary, there can be no society without them but in our country all you hear about is income tax, but that is just one tax. When I have debated taxes with people and start to argue that everyone pays taxes and then proceed to list them I have literally been told, "let's stay focused on income tax", I of course say let's not. Absolutely no one, including the poorest among us who qualify for Earned Inco...

Former Secretary of State and Republican icon Henry Kissinger said Hillary Clinton ran one of the most efficient State Departments in history. You might not like Kissinger, I myself think that he's a bit overrated, but I know exactly what his status among Republicans and some Democrats is. He is regarded as being a towering figure in Foreign Policy and someone you must meet with if you're running for President as a Republican (Trump has) and worthy of consultation behind the scenes at the highest levels. Donald Trump and the Republican Party pound the narrative that we can't trust Clinton's disastrous foreign policy. So, what they are saying is Henry Kissinger is an idiot and should be ignored at all costs. Why don't they just say that? What about Hillary Clinton's so called failed foreign policy? The last time I checked the Constitution, Cabinet Secretaries carry out the will of the President. If you wish to take issue with Barack Obama's foreign policy ...

If you only listen to the far right of the Republican Party and the middle right who give a wink and a small nod, the answer is voter fraud is rampant, well not rampant but happening, well not happening but it could. Some would have you believe we're no better than a one party third world nation that has special inspectors review all the paper ballots before announcing the results. Naturally those inspectors are appointed by the sitting President and not all of those ballots will reach the final count. It's all a lie. Indiana was one of the first States to pass Voter I.D. laws. It was a central theme in the administration of our then Secretary of State Todd Rokita. In the fall of 2003 I attended a Republican Party breakfast with my then boss. The featured speaker was none other than Secretary Rokita. The voter I.D. issue brought many questions. Rokita freely admitted that there were no problems with voter fraud occurring in Indiana but it was better to be safe than sorry. Al...

I continue to be stunned by the lack of basic civics knowledge in my country. Today Donald Trump once again dropped his pants and took a dump in the public square. He was droning on about Hillary Clinton wanting to eliminate Second Amendment rights and if she's elected she'll take your guns. This is an old chestnut used by Republicans against many Democrats and it's total hogwash. Trump went further and suggested that hardcore folks might take action. No one with a sound mind is confused, his intent was to incite violence and potential assassination. The fact is Hillary Clinton is pro gun ownership. That is her record and nothing she has said suggests otherwise. The point here is the profound ignorance of millions of Americans, including Donald Trump. There are very basic things about our Republic that people should know. No President can remove a Constitutional right. That can only occur through the amendment process which requires all fifty states to participate. Let m...

If we believe the polls, and you know I don't, we have the two most unpopular major party Presidential candidates in the history of polling. What are the latest poll numbers on enthusiasm for polls? If these candidates are so unpopular, how is it they beat their opponents? Somebody likes them. The Republicans nominated a Nationalist with fascist tendencies and the Democrats nominated a so called center right lying hawk, in spite of the fact we're constantly told the Democratic Party is all about the far left. If that were true the Democrats would have gone with Bernie Sanders and it wasn't close no matter the spin. The Republicans who are allegedly conservatives have nominated a man who will balloon the national debt to over thirty trillion dollars, start trade wars, destroy valuable foreign alliances and amp up the nuclear arms race. Am I happy with our nominees? Not really and you can't blame me because I'm an independent that actually respects the political pro...

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...

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 ...

Last week Democratic Senator Chris Murphy brought the Senate to a halt with a filibuster on new gun legislation in the wake of the Orlando massacre of 49 people. It ended successfully with Republicans agreeing to bring some bills to the floor for a vote. Yesterday two Republican and two Democratic bills were voted on. They all failed. None of the bills were particularly radical so why no action? Mind you nothing they would have passed would have survived in the House but still it begs the question why? A super majority of Americans support some form of gun reform including better background checks, closing various loopholes and even banning some categories of military grade weapons. The majority of the National Rifle Association's five million members also support serious common sense reforms. The N.R.A. executive leadership does not because they are in reality a critical mouthpiece for gun manufacters. Those forces don't want anything to interfere with their business, so the...