Rational Nation USA

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth Update news on Mr. Drumpf, non of it good for him or the GOP. Given he has no consistent or credible plan or agenda , other than to build a big beautiful wall on the southern border, sending 11 million illegal aliens back to their country of origin, keeping Muslims out of the country, starting trade wars with current trading partners, and "Making America Great Again" (without any real specifics as to what that means), the Drumpf is giving America what rational folks always knew. A boatload of bulls*it. Donald Trump has collapsed in general election polls Donald Trump's 3 positions on abortion in 3 hours GOP launches contested convention website Donald Trump: Sure, I Might Use Nuclear Weapons In Europe. Hell, I Might Use Them In Chicago, Too. Watching a once respected and effective party implode is really a sad sight. But given the trajectory of its obstructionist and often irrational activities it is not at all ...

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth Now here is a craft brewery that has their politics absolutely correct! When the occasion arises to travel to Philadelphia this brewery will most definitely be on my stop list for a few patriotic brews. A brewery in Philadelphia has launched a range of anti-Donald Trump beers in a bid to discourage Americans against supporting the Republican frontrunner ahead of this year's US elections. The Dock Street Brewery revealed on 28 March that it has made its first beer in its anti-Trump range, the Short Fingered Stout, a reference to the size of the 69-year-old real estate mogul's hands. The beverage is being sold in a bottle with a label that features a mock image of Trump and the slogan. 'Friends Don't Let Friends Vote Drumpf'. Brewery officials said to NBC they used the name Drumpf after Comedy Central host John Oliver encouraged its use as part of his criticism of Trump, with the Drumpfs being the original name of T...

“By leading by example I’m showing what a rational, responsible guy would do that really wants the constitutional process to go forward.”  Mark Kirk could have been back in Illinois waging what might be the most difficult reelection campaign in Congress. Instead, the Republican senator was on Capitol Hill Tuesday drawing national attention for meeting with Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland. Kirk became the first Republican to meet with Garland, a huddle that took place in the middle of a long congressional recess and was covered by more than 50 journalists. It featured some impromptu remarks by Kirk, who's been tight-lipped in the Capitol as he fights to save his job in November. Sitting beside Garland in his office, Kirk lavished praise on the Illinois native as a “brilliant” legal mind who is “one of the most eminent jurists in the country.” Then he shifted to his own party’s blockade of Garland, remarking that Republican senators who won’t even meet with Garland are “to...

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth Caught an article today in the WASHIGTON Examiner that falls into the category of unimportant trivia. It had to do with how much golf President Obama has played since becoming president. As to why the author felt inclined to devote time to the President's link time shall be left to you to decide for yourself. President Obama, fresh from his whirlwind spring break trip to Cuba and Argentina, hit the links for some R&R Saturday, playing his 281st round since becoming president. He was at Andrews for over five hours. That is slightly more than three quarters of a year of days playing the presidential sport for Obama. The president typically plays for at least four hours, sometimes longer, putting his time at over 1,100 hours golfing, or at least 46 full 24-hour days. After quickly reading the info I decided to have a bit of fun. Days in Office - 2,622 Hours in Office - 62,928 Days Playing Golf - 46 Hours Playing Golf -...

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth Do these nut jobs ever think rationally or are they always dwelling in the land misrepresentation, fear, and political darkness? THE HILL - A senior aide to the Donald Trump campaign said on Sunday that half a million U.S. girls are at risk for genital mutilation because of uncontrolled immigration. "You want to talk about women’s issues? Here’s something we should be talking about,” said Stephen Miller. “It is a fact: As a result of uncontrolled migration into this country – you can look this up, it’s a statistic from Equality Now – half a million U.S. girls in this country are at risk of female genital mutilation.” He immediately faced opposition from the rest of the panel, which included Neera Tanden, the president of the Center for American Progress, who said his comment is an example of the Trump campaign saying “something outrageous.” The report he cited, issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, states th...

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth Woo Hoo! Strap em on and saddle up. Time for a convention at the Okay Corral. Backed by your NRA and patriotic cowboy republicans. Making America "safe" and Great Again . This nation, in its growing fear of multiple boogeymen in the form of immigrants that don't look like us , and Muslim Americans that don't practice the approved faith are opting to put law enforcement into the hands of untrained individuals in the mistaken belief it will make them safer. You want more safety? Increase the presence of qualified law enforcement professionals. Including local police, the FBI, the CIA, and National Guard. All under one central command with an orchestrated proper response to whatever threat or disturbance may develop. Those advocating this insanity are asking for a major accident to happen. Injecting heat into an environment were emotions will be running high and certain disagreement will be present makes absolutely...

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth The following excerpt of an article written by Brent Budowsky and published in The Hill is spot on in defining Donald Trump as well as the strategy his opponents should use to defeat him. A “Trump the loser” branding strategy would weave undisputed facts into a compelling narrative that voters understand. When Trump the loser created businesses that went bankrupt, he turned workers and investors who trusted him — as Caesar trusted Brutus — into victims who lost their jobs and money because they believed in him. When Trump the loser makes money from sales of clothes made in low-wage China and complains that wages for Americans are too high, those deals helped make China great, not America. In his low-wage deals on foreign-made clothing, Trump was a friend to American workers the way Benedict Arnold was a friend to the original tea party patriots. When repeated polls show Trump the loser being overwhelmingly defeated by Hillary Clinto...

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth Wednesday evening the Hannity Show was representative of what often happens when two ideologues with opposing views get together to discuss issues. Hannity again succeeded in coming across very poorly to the more rational viewing audience. Although he likely was cheered by those who support the xenophobia, misogyny, bigotry, and demagoguery of one Donald J. Trump. It is becoming more and more apparent that Hannity obviously does. Click HERE to view the video. Things quickly went off the rails Wednesday night when Fox News host Sean Hannity welcomed Univision anchor Jorge Ramos onto his program to discuss coverage of Republican front-runner Donald Trump. Hannity accused Ramos of taking Trump out of context in regards to the billionaire’s remarks on immigration — something the conservative personality called “fundamentally unfair. “I’m simply reporting what Donald Trump has been saying,” Ramos said. “That’s not true,” Hann...

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth Today felt like a good day to visit a few ultra rightwing websites to see what extreme views were circulating following the terrorist attacks in Brussels. It didn't take long to come across a real doozy, First stop, World Net Daily, also known as World Nut Daily by the more sane and reasonable folks of America. Considered a credible news source by almost no one outside of the most wildly extreme conservative circles we immediately hit pay dirt. Many of you no doubt will remember congresswomen Michelle Bachmann, a conservative and very religious republican from Minnesota. She was rather looney back when she represented the good people of her district, but it seems time has not been kind to her intellectual acumen. Mrs. Bachmann, in all her rightwing religious "wisdom", has chosen the terrorist attacks in Brussels this week to unleash an attack on President Obama as he visited Cuba, our heretofore estranged neighbor 90 miles ...

To Donald Trump supporters, I pose this question: When you think back on your high school, your platoon during basic training, your frat brothers, men you've dated, or the regulars at your local bar, did the loud guy who boasted about his anatomical endowments strike you as a confident winner, or deeply insecure? Was he comfortable in his skin and ready to lead others, guided by the needs of the task at hand, or was he desperate to fill a void in his psyche with attention-seeking? These are not idle questions. Once again, the Republican frontrunner for the presidential nomination is talking at length about his penis to the national press. His comments came in an interview with the Washington Post’s editorial board. Its editor, Fred Hiatt, harkened back to a GOP debate where Trump went out of his way to assure Americans that “there's no problem” when it comes to his genitals. “You are smart and you went to a good school. Yet you are up there talking about your hands and th...

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth President Obama, again doing the right thing . For America as well as Cuba and its people. HAVANA — “Sí se puede,” President Obama told the Cuban people Tuesday in a nationwide address that promised a new beginning and a bright future together. “Yes we can.” “It is time now for us to leave the past behind,” he said, clearly speaking told those watching him on television across the island, as much as to the restricted audience inside an ornate, colonial-era theater here. “It won’t be easy, and it will take time.,” but “we can make this journey as friends and as neighbors and as family.” The speech was like nothing Cubans here have heard in many years. He issued an emotional appeal for an end to decades of “painful and sometimes violent separation” between those who left for new lives in the United States—who were long officially reviled here as traitors—and those who remained behind. He called on the government to unleash the “full po...

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth Donald Trump continues to enthrall his most avid and fervent supporters, regardless of what he says or does. For them he is the American Savior who will Make America Great Again . We can only think he means to so so by taking America back to the idylic 1950's. Especially since he has been very short on specifics and when he occasionally offers some his numbers and logic just don't add up. Putting all that aside, here's some news on The Donald out today. If Republicans nominate Donald Trump as their presidential candidate, he would be the least popular major party nominee in at least three decades of Washington Post-ABC News polling. Trump’s unfavorable rating stood at 67 percent — two-thirds of all Americans — in a March Post-ABC poll, including 56 percent who had a “strongly” unfavorable impression of him. Just 3 in 10 had a favorable impression of Trump (15 percent “strongly”). American politicians tend to be more unpopul...

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth For democrats the following is most certainly a harbinger of good news. Independents and rational republicans are definitely cheering the news as well. As trump works to divide the nation those of us who wish to unite it in pursuit of achieving the common good are hoping for a coalition of reasonable and rational thinking fiscally conservative individuals to come together and defeat the republican ticket in November,. SALT LAKE CITY — If Donald Trump becomes the Republican Party's nominee, Utahns would vote for a Democrat for president in November for the first time in more than 50 years, according to a new Deseret News/KSL poll. "I believe Donald Trump could lose Utah. If you lose Utah as a Republican, there is no hope," said former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt, a top campaign adviser to the GOP's 2012 nominee, Mitt Romney. The poll found that may well be true. Utah voters said they would reject Trump, the GOP frontrunner,...

The Republican Party, under Trump, is headed for a combustive breakup. Ronald Reagan envisioned a shining city on a hill. Trump represents nothing more than a thug with money. Can the man who shouts “I’d like to punch him in face!” and “Knock the crap out of them!” about protesters possibly quote Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower or Reagan in his acceptance speech? He could, but it would be no more plausible than a fish doing a tap dance. In temperament and judgment, this is now Trump’s party. And take him at his word: His supporters will riot, as he predicted this week, if he doesn’t get his way. Sane Republicans, perhaps a third of the party, have no choice but to plot an honorable discharge. The exit polls in Ohio found that 42 percent of Republicans said they would consider a third-party candidate. They can also support Hillary Clinton, or sit this one out. But they cannot show up in Cleveland and have their principles paved over by Trump’s bullies. There is ...

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.   Thomas Paine With not much going on today there was lots of time to set sit and contemplate the positive things our  country stands for. It was an opportunity to think about how fortunate we are to enjoy relative economic freedom and the right to choose our religious beliefs free from government interference, to have our civil liberties protected by rule of law, to live in a land that has embraced diversity and many different cultures, and to look forward to an even brighter and better future. Despite my best efforts to avoid it my thoughts kept going back to Donald J. Trump and the possibility of him as president. As a result my day eventually turned to uneasiness. Donald J. ...

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth Ronald Reagan presided over both a recession and great job growth, and, he told us government was not the solution, that it was the problem. He lifted American's spirits and made us feel good about our nation again after the Iran hostage crises and Jimmy Carter. He said that economic growth created by lower taxes and less regulation would create the rising tide that would lift all boats, and so he oversaw a reduction in top tax rates from 70% to 28%. He raised taxes too during his tenure in the White House, 5 times, yet the federal debt tripled from 994 billion to 2.9 trillion . He talked about reducing the size of government and getting it off the backs of the American people, yet he actually only reduced the growth of government. And, he increased defense spending to levels not seen since WW II. Since 1980 and the Reagan "conservative" Revolution the GOP has been preaching the same gospel to achieve growth and prosperity, l...

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth Some interesting bits of information. ... Mr. Trump is hardly absent from the airwaves. Like all candidates, he benefits from what is known as earned media: news and commentary about his campaign on television, in newspapers and magazines, and on social media. Earned media typically dwarfs paid media in a campaign. The big difference between Mr. Trump and other candidates is that he is far better than any other candidate — maybe than any candidate ever — at earning media. No one knows this better than mediaQuant, a firm that tracks media coverage of each candidate and computes a dollar value based on advertising rates. The mentions are weighted by the reach of the media source, meaning how many people were likely to see it. The calculation also includes traditional media of all types, print, broadcast or otherwise, as well as online-only sources like Facebook, Twitter or Reddit. Its numbers are not quite an apples-to-apples comparison t...

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth While never a huge fan of Paul Krugman , he is expressing the truth of the matter with his explanation of the rise of Donald J. Trump and Trumpism. Primary responsibility for the rise of the beast rests squarely at the feet of movement conservatives, however, the GOP establishment, by choosing to not challenge the fallacies carry with them responsibility as well. Establishment Republicans who are horrified by the rise of Donald Trump might want to take a minute to remember the glitch heard round the world — the talking point Marco Rubio couldn’t stop repeating in a crucial debate, exposing him to devastating ridicule and sending his campaign into a death spiral. It went like this: “Let’s dispel with this fiction that Barack Obama doesn’t know what he’s doing. He knows exactly what he’s doing.” The clear, if ungrammatical, implication was that all the bad things Republicans claim have happened under President Obama — in particular, Amer...

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth Just like on so many other issues Donald J. Trump is wrong on China and trade. In fairness, both Hillary Rodham Clinton and Bernie Sanders are wrong as well. The New Yorker , with links to verifiable data shows us just how wrong they all are. Not long ago, a video mocking Donald Trump’s obsession with China was posted on YouTube , a mashup splicing together some two hundred and fifty instances in which he has said “China” during his speeches. The context of his remarks on the subject, inexorably, is this: “They’re stealing our jobs; they’re beating us in everything; they’re winning, we’re losing.” These sentiments have struck a chord with many struggling Americans, particularly those in the unemployed and underemployed working class. The message has resonated so well, in fact, that other Presidential candidates have felt compelled to demonstrate a properly high level of indignation toward China’s economic prowess. Marco Rubio and Hillar...

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth Article II, Section 2: “[The President] shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint…Judges of the Supreme Court.” The Constitution certainly doesn't speak volumes on the nomination and appointment of justices to the SCOTUS, the above is all it says. It establishes no time frame in which the such nomination and appointment shall be made, nor does it establish specific guidelines or procedures that the senate shall follow while giving Advice and Consent to the president. SHALL - v. 1) an imperative command as in "you shall not kill." 2) in some statutes, "shall" is a direction but does not mean mandatory, depending on the context . From the above legal definition of the word shall we see that it can be interpreted as mandatory or as a direction not meant as mandatory. Because of the limited verbiage in the Constitution, lack of a specific time frame for action, and no procedu...

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth Donald J. Trump, the man republicans must defeat and deny him the GOP nomination if the party is too be saved. Should he (may the Gods forbid) receive the GOP nomination he must be defeated in November 2016 regardless of who the democratic nominee is. ( CNN )—Donald Trump on Saturday called for protesters who disrupt his rallies to be arrested, one day after altercations and protests forced him to cancel a campaign rally in Chicago. The comments capped a tumultuous day on the campaign trail in which a demonstrator rushed a stage where Trump was speaking. Trump also accused Bernie Sanders' supporters of sowing unrest at his events and the GOP front-runner refused to back down from his rhetoric that some have cited as the cause of heightened tension at his rallies. Trump's call to arrest protesters came at a campaign event in Kansas City, Missouri, where he was repeatedly interrupted at the beginning of his address. "I...

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth A new Gallup Poll on March 11th shows just how unpopular Donald J. Trump is among Hispanics. PRINCETON, N.J. -- Presidential candidate Donald Trump has a major image problem among U.S. Hispanics, with 77% saying they view him unfavorably and just 12% viewing him favorably. This gives Trump by far the most negative image among Hispanics of any of the four Republican candidates. He also has a much more negative image among Hispanics than the two Democratic candidates. SOURCE Trump's recent message that he is going to be a unifier certainly hasn't resonated with Hispanics. It is easy to understand why given his xenophobia and nationalist rhetoric. Moving on to a related issue concerning Trump and his political resemblance to a previous era in history. Fedja Buric has an excellent article in this past Friday's SALON in which he draws many analogies between Mussolini's fascism and what he terms as Trumpism. A detailed an...

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth Ben Carson, the reserved and quite voice for civility and inclusiveness, has endorsed the man for president that most would think his polar opposite, Donald J. Trump. It is difficult to grasp why Dr. Carson would endorse Trump, a man who spreads xenophobia and who has a extreme nationalistic agenda. A plausible argument can be made that Trump may be a white supremacist, given his response when questioned abut the David Duke endorsement and his initial unwillingness to disavow Duke and the KKK. Duke was a prior Grand Wizard of the KKK. Quin Hillyer at National Review had this to say on the Carson endorsement. Dr. Ben Carson has just made a hypocrite of himself and done great damage to the country by endorsing the moral monster, Donald Trump. Carson has spent an entire campaign pleading for honor and decency and decorum, only to endorse a man who is the crassest, most vulgar, most deceitful person in the race — a man who has repeatedly...

More truth in pictures.

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth Trump, as well as many in the GOP today, certainly doesn't have the following in common with President Ronald Reagan or President George H.W. Bush, two men Trump wouldn't have earned the right to shine their shoes. Unfortunately there are a yuuuge number of people who share Trump's vision for America. Our advice is simple, BUYER BEWARE . h/t Progressive Eruptions

Rational Nation USA Purveyor of Truth Hillary Rodham Clinton who is undergoing FBI investigation over her alleged inappropriate use of her e-mail server to send classified material if facing another serious challenge that could also derail her hopes of being POTUS. In a two words, Bernie Sanders. Sanders is out performing her I raising money and raked in 12 million more than HRC in February. His campaign has gotten traction and he is effectively taking the fight to Hillary. As me and my better half watched the democratic debate Sunday night we were impressed with Sanders performance (no, my wife did not think Bernie's hush remark was sexist) and came away with a sense that Sanders is both honest and knowledgeable, even though we are not in agreement with some of his agenda. Although we do believe Sanders would be more dedicated to and successful in handling Wall Street and its excesses. Clinton's campaign is, to say the least, concerned with the growing popularity and ...

Rational Nation U S A Purveyor of Truth Isn't there something ever so slightly wrong with this picture? USA TODAY - Death and taxes are supposed to be two certainties of life. But a few companies have at least escaped the taxes part. Investors, though, don't seem all that impressed. There are 27 companies in the Standard & Poor's 500, including telecom firm Level 3 Communications (LVLT), airline United Continental (UAL) and automaker General Motors (GM), that reported paying no income tax expense in 2015 despite reporting pre-tax profits, according to a USA TODAY analysis of data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. Only profitable firms were included in the analysis since firms that lost money - like many energy companies - wouldn't be expected to pay taxes. Escaping the taxman, so far, hasn't been an advantage at least in the eyes of investors. Shares of the companies that paid no taxes are down 11% on average over the past 12 months, which ...