kanesrealm

I smell confusion, a confusion spread by the media and politicians who either need a Constitutional refresher or are deliberately pretending the 25th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution is easy to trigger. Section 4 is what matters in the case of removing Donald J. Trump for alleged mental deficiencies. It reads exactly as follows: "Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office of Acting President. Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall r...

There's a new book out by Michael Wolff called "Fire and Fury", chronicling the dysfunction of the Trump Campaign and inside the Whitehouse. Explosive would be a mild word to describe it. Among the headline grabbing excerpts are the statements made for the book by Stephen Bannon, including his belief that Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting with a Russian lawyer in the summer of 2016 was "treasonous and unpatriotic." Bannon asserts that Special Prosecutor Mueller will get President Trump through Mannefort, Trump Jr. and Kushner and it's all about "money laundering". A close billionaire friend of the President is quoted as saying Trump is not only crazy, he's stupid. According to Wolff when the late Roger Ailes, who was a campaign advisor, recommended to Trump that he consider asking John Boehner to be his Chief of Staff, he didn't know who that was. Other insiders in the Whitehouse believe the President is barely semi-literate. It should be ...

Donald Trump wants to change the tax code and accomplish something that so far has eluded him, a legislative victory. Our tax code absolutely needs serious reform but preliminary indicators suggest that's not what this is. Trump insists that the rich, including himself, will not benefit from the changes he and the Republicans are proposing. So we begin with a lie, how then do we trust anything else in the legislation? The old drum is once again beating it's favorite tune, the elimination of the estate tax. Currently for an individual the first 5.49 million dollars is exempted from this tax which means for most people this is never a factor. The argument for repeal of the estate tax has always been about the family farm and small business owners, it is a false argument. There are no real small businesses or family farms worth more than the exempted amount. Let's, just for the hell of it, act like it's true. The tax, which is 40%, doesn't kick in until after the exem...

If you blog, you're familiar with that phrase. It's a part of the behind the scenes information all bloggers track. I learned from my first blog to not allow any comment to automatically post without my prior approval, not to stop opposing views, but to filter out inappropriate drive by hits and babbling about things unrelated to the specific post. There are rarely comments left on this blog so it hasn't been a hectic reviewing process. But something strange has occurred in the stats section which tells me how many people have visited the blog. Today a very large number of people supposedly read my little plop. Here's the rub, this happened about a week and half ago with a day of large numbers of views, exciting, except when I checked back a day later, those numbers were gone and it showed zero for that day. I will of course be checking on today's abnormally high number. Exactly what is occurring I don't know. Is it a glitch or something else? Frequently the po...

Last weekend President Trump issued an Executive Order banning travel to the United States from seven majority Muslim nations. The media and opponents have called it a Muslim ban. It's easy to understand why that is. Trump's own campaign rhetoric calling for a Muslim ban and his use of the word "ban" last weekend in his usual word salad speaking style have fed the notion. However, the order itself doesn't say this. It is a pause on refugees and citizens of those countries entering the United States until "we" evaluate the vetting process for those visitors. As a democratic Republic it was handled sloppily and incompetently, as an authoritarian state it would be considered business as usual and there is the problem, well, one of them. Note carefully that because of the backlash in our country, the Trump Administration and key Republicans have gone out of their way to point out that the seven countries in question are the ones that were identified by the ...

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...

The new session of Congress officially began yesterday. The super duper amped up Republican control of all branches of government is at hand and up first in the House on the night of January 2, while no one was watching a group of Republican delinquents moved to get rid of the Independent House Ethics Commission. Speaker Ryan and Majority Leader McCarthy didn't want this to happen but they were ignored which tells you they have no power over their own caucus. But the public was watching and reached out in rage bombarding Congress with phone calls. Even Donald Trump tweeted his displeasure that they had chosen this as their first act. To be clear, Trump doesn't mind them getting rid of the ethics commission, he just feels they should wait, (read the tweet.) So down the drain went this first initiative. So what to do? Oh yes, the chestnut, the official introduction of the Bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act. If you read regularly you're about to experience dejavu, get u...

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, how you doing today. Feeling nauseous? Feeling giddy with joy? Feeling like the Republic is now under the control of a Sith Lord? Feeling like the saviour of the nation has arrived? I guess it all depends on where you stand. I said in this little forum from the very beginning that Donald Trump could get the Republican nomination and go on to win the Presidency. I was hopeful that he wouldn't but never delusional that he couldn't. Forget about the polls which got it wrong and forget about the professional pundits who got it wrong and are still getting it wrong in their analysis. Trump won in the Electoral College because of rural America turning out in large numbers. As I write this Hillary Clinton still has over 200,000 more votes than Donald Trump and that number will likely grow by the time the count is complete. The irony is that the same people who voted for Donald Trump are the ones who rail against the Electoral College. Let me repeat again that millions of Amer...

As always when addressing the healthcare topic I begin with reminding readers there is no such thing as Obamacare. Republicans, most notably Mitt Romney in his 2012 Presidential Campaign dubbed the Affordable Care Act "Obamacare" in an effort to demonize it and turn it into a negative. Obama in a very clever political maneuver embraced it and turned it into a positive. Just a week out from the general election, the news is jam packed with all the headlines that insurance premiums are going up in the A.C.A. insurance exchanges from 22% to 25% or as much as 40% depending on whose figures you use, big discrepancy between 22 and 40, don't you think? Here are some basic facts about the increases, less than one percent of those using the exchanges will face an increase directly from their pocket. For the rest, because they can't afford it, the federal subsidies will pick up that increase. Does that mean the impact on that one percent doesn't matter? Absolutely not. It ...

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...

I was not going to write another commentary until after Sunday nights debate but resistance is futile. In light of the Access Hollywood dump of Trump's vulgarness about women many Republicans have unendorsed him. Speaker Ryan disinvited him from an event in Wisconsin and Ryan was booed by Trump supporters at that event. In leadership only Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell demanded that Trump issue a real apology. You will recall that early Friday Trump issued a written statement using the words "if anyone was offended" I apologize. Which of course was not an apology, it's a phrase used when you wish to convey contempt for your audience. Trump's ninety second video released at Midnight Friday was no better but it was Trumpian. Senator Mike Lee said this morning that it was "time to act". No Senator, the time to act was a year ago. All of the speculation about Trump dropping out of the race is total fantasy. The Party cannot force him out, he would h...

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...

I read something in what I'll call another forum and I found it somewhat disconcerting. Not the words themselves but the unintended meaning behind them. It was about our current Presidential election and how we just need to accept the results of the election and not hate the other guy's vote. I agree with the hate part, people of goodwill can disagree and remain respectful and friends. When the political system functions correctly that's what happens. But it's not about simply accepting something as though it doesn't matter. By the very meaning of the word every election is about change. Every election matters. There is no such thing as an election that you can just sit out because everything will be just fine. Donald Trump did not inject poison into our political process he has legitimized it from the first day he announced his candidacy. He is a mirror for the worst elements of our human nature. He has brought incivility and the political fringe into the mainstr...

El Trumpadore the Magnificent journied forth to the land of Mexico, spawning place of all those "rapists and murderers" Trump says are ravaging the United States. He went there to meet with the Mexican President, who strangely invited him and Hillary Clinton. Trump and Pena Nieto met behind closed doors, then closed with a Presidential photo op, both standing at podiums and making brief statements. The supposed understanding is there would be no press questions, Trump then took questions while Pena Nieto looked like he wanted to yell, what the fuck. Trump said they didn't discuss who would pay for the wall, but Pena Nieto and his Foreign Minister both say that's not true, Pena Nieto firmly told Trump Mexico will never pay for it. Gee, I just don't know who to believe. Last night Trump gave his long awaited immigration policy speech. He said he loved Pena Nieto and the people of Mexico, then said they will be paying for the wall, they just don't know it. He ...

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 ...