Trump is Heavy Load to Bear

Posted on February 27, 2017 by theurbanllama

I’ve never had a 240-pound weight attached to my leg while attempting to tread water, but two months into the Trump administration and it feels like The Donald is latched on tight, pulling the country under with each passing day.

The warning signs were everywhere during his run for the presidency, scattered like buckshot as a prelude to how awful this administration might be. There was his erratic behavior on the campaign trail, inciting violence amongst peaceful protestors, the grade school name-calling of opponents, sketchy business practices, tolerance of white supremacists, the debasing of women, and the stream-of-consciousness Twitter barrages.

Now one month into the Trump presidency and the unfortunate reality is these guys don’t got this. The spotlights are shining, it’s showtime baby, the ball is in the air but nobody is home. In fact maybe Trump & Co. should get some milk and cookies, get comfy on their blankies and watch an after-school special about how to get legislation passed.

[School House Rock | How A Bill Becomes A Law]

It’s disturbing to witness this buffoon insult our intelligence community, the legal system and members of Congress (all in like the first two weeks he’s taken office mind you) – yet he expects those communities to assist in his agenda. The man is a useful idiot at best, and at worst a menace to society. He blunders through uncomfortable mishaps with neither care, humility or embarrassment, much like Homer Simpson tending to a nuclear reactor. It’s a tragic affair.

Weeks after the inauguration we continue to see juvenile rants from Trump about his lower than expected crowd size. Doesn’t matter that he won the highest office in the land. The egomaniacal nature of this man can’t let go of a slight. Doubling down on this same sort of demented thought process, Trump has taken to alleging widespread voter fraud by 3-to-5 million people as his excuse for losing the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by 2.8 million ballots. Mind you there is no evidence. The election commission disputed this erroneous allegation and declared no such irregularities (and they would notice 5 million unlawful votes), but Trump expects special investigations be launched into these bogus claims.

I must admit from an ineptitude standpoint Trump is impressive. His national security advisor, Michael Flynn, almost lasted two weeks before having to resign for his illegal ties to foreign governments. Between Trump’s former advisors and current staff, like Carter Page, Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, Jared & Ivanka and now Flynn – questionable illegal contacts with foreign governments by the Trump administration is a growing scandal.

Demonstrated xenophobia on the campaign trail morphed into a poorly conceived and horribly implemented travel ban that unlawfully persecuted individuals from Muslim countries. Thankfully the courts intervened to check Trump’s misguided racism. Yet hate crimes are up across America since Trump’s victory.

Trump trying to find his way out of the tall grass.

We’ve seen the administration swing and miss on an anti-terrorism raid in Yemen. The locals were tipped off and when special forces arrived a firefight ensued. One Navy Seal was killed, collateral damage resulted in the deaths of women and children, and a $75 million aircraft was destroyed.

Even how this joker chooses to work and relax can’t be simple. Between Melani Trump’s accommodations and security in New York, Trump Tower becoming a presidential stopping place and weekly trips to Mar-a-Lago in Florida, Trump is setting records for travel expenses and crippling law enforcement with overtime fees to secure his whims.

So much for winning the presidency and staying at the White House busily doing the work of the people. Evidently golf takes precedence over governing for The Trumpster.

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The Chaos Candidate Transcends to the Presidency

Posted on January 23, 2017 by theurbanllama

Amid vocal protests across America, on Jan. 20 the unlikeliest of modern-day political scenarios came to pass, as Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States. Hard to fathom? No doubt. With an entire country full of people to choose from, it was an old misogynistic white guy from New York with a bunch of money, lacking any governmental or military experience that was bestowed the honor of becoming the next commander-in-chief. What’s not to like…

After reciting the oath of office, Trump delivered a brief yet dire 16 minute inaugural address that was chock-full of apocalyptic overtones, with extra helpings of nationalistic and populist themes inspired by isolationists Steve Bannon, Trump’s senior strategist and Stephen Miller, a senior advisor.

Throughout the 18-month campaign the country grew use to hearing Trump deliver his angry message of fear-based rhetoric at densely partisan campaign rallies, but it was chilling to hear this dystopian outlook, lacking in optimism or hope, recited from the West Front of the U.S. Capitol. A variety of cures was listed to solve the “American carnage” Trump referred to, but absent explanation for how these might be achieved.

Crime and gangs, drugs, terrorism, immigration, “rusted out factories,” vanishing jobs and failing infrastructure are all legitimate concerns, and there is nothing wrong with putting a premium on security, but banning all Muslims from entering the country, and essentially building a wall around America, locking its doors and sticking our collective heads in the sand is no recipe for making America strong or great again.

“We assembled here today are issuing a new decree to be heard in every city, in every foreign capital and in every hall of power. From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land. From this day forward, it’s going to be only America first — America first,“ proclaimed The Trumpster.

There was plenty of U.S. jingoism to go around, including Trump’s two simple rules of “buy American and hire American.”

Facts again seemed to be an inconvenient truth for Trump, as several of his insinuations about a declining America failed to match reality. The U.S. violent crime rate is far below its 1991 peak; the economy has gained jobs for 75 consecutive months; unemployment is significantly below its historical average; and participation in U.S. welfare programs has declined.

Admittedly some impacted by the 2009 recession never recovered; retirement plans were decimated; houses lost; some have had to take jobs for less money or part-time; others struggle to retrain for new careers; and a robust discussion should be had about the lack of health plans available to choose from under the so-called “Affordable” Care Act.

These issues helped fuel a public backlash on the political establishment. A mutiny of sorts, that voters depicted as a whiplash reaction to a broken political system, where the Washington establishment served its own interests over those of its people.

While much of that blame belongs to Sen. Mitch McConnell, the obstructionist-in-chief, and his Republican Party, Trump pitched the country on his “I’m rich and beholden to no one” version of a new era in American politics, and the rubes bought it. So here we are with a real estate developer turned reality television celebrity starring in a role as president of these United States.

It took almost no time at all for this fledgling administration to show its paranoid and petty colors as Trump heard attendance at the inauguration was well below expectations, so the victorious outsider took to Twitter and started spouting off how his crowd-size set some bogus attendance record.

Anyone watching could see the vast empty spaces across the National Mall. Prior to the event federal and local agencies anticipated between 700,000 to 900,000 might show up. Crowd counting experts put the number at about 160,000. Metro only reported 193,000 passengers rode before 11AM on the day of Trump’s inauguration. Even the parade route had a notable number of empty seats.

That little display of Trump’s ego throwing a fit was odd, then came the utterly bizarre tirade the following day from Sean Spicer, in his debut performance as Trump’s White House Press Secretary. Spicer stormed the podium and stated that the crowd, “was the largest audience ever to witness an inauguration, period, both in person and around the globe,” and accused the media of reporting false crowd estimates to “lessen the enthusiasm of the inauguration.”

Again those pesky facts got all in the way of a perfectly good lie. Spicer fictitiously stated that 420,000 people rode Metro on the morning of Trump’s inauguration, while only 317,000 rode on the morning of Obama’s inauguration. Fact is 1.1 million rode on the day of Obama’s first and 782,000 on Obama’s 2013 inauguration.

Questions about crowd-size and why Trump and his team continued releasing intentionally false information were posed to Kellyanne Conway, the president’s counselor and spokesperson, in an interview on Jan. 22 with NBC’s Chuck Todd. In her frustrated response Conway attempted to utilize the concept of “alternative facts” as a means to explain away what clearly was compelling evidence that Trump was simply making up crowd-size estimates. This caused all who heard it to pause in their tracks, as clearly the Trump administration was fine with completely making up lies to create a fake reality to fit what they attempted to pass off as truth. To which Todd replied “alternative facts are not facts. They’re falsehoods.”

That’s our boy Trump. He gets in office quick to lie early and often. This crowd-size obsession went on for weeks, submarining any positive press he might have garnered. I can hardly wait for all his self-agrandized “easy” job creation, negotiation of more favorable trade deals, reform of the nation’s health care, and border wall building.

“America will start winning again, winning like never before,” declared The Trumpster. Pardon me if I don’t hold my breath until all this “winning” begins.

Honestly it was George W. Bush who summed up the conclusion to the Trump inauguration best. “That was some weird shit,” the 43rd president was overheard saying.

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The Improbable Victory of The Trumpster

Posted on December 3, 2016 by theurbanllama

With 25 days now past since the 2016 presidential election, an opportunity can be taken to reflect upon the twisted logic behind why voters ultimately chose to place an old white racist, bigoted, misogynist child like Donald Trump in the White House.

I remain embarrassed at the outcome, but grasp the reasoning behind it. Over the last 20 years, through Republican and Democratic administrations alike, the cost of living and the multitasking required of all that live and work in the United States has only gone up, yet wages, employment opportunities and job security have remained stagnant or decreased. Our lives have not gotten better, just harder.

What Democrats failed to recognize was 2016 became a change election and referendum on the decline of the American dream. There couldn’t have been a more establishment candidate than Hillary Clinton. In hindsight the evidence was there in the candidacy of Sen. Bernie Sanders. This little known 75-year old liberal socialist senator from Vermont seized upon the issues of educational costs, student loan debt, wage inequality, mismanagement by Wall Street and the disparity in treatment afforded the wealthy versus everyone else.

Hillary’s friendship toward Wall Street and the exorbitant sums she was paid for speeches to corrupt investment firms, along with her personal use of a private e-mail server while Secretary of State, were kryptonite around her neck in a change election year.

Even Hillary’s campaign was standard textbook establishment. She raised big cash from Wall Street, spent large on traditional media buys and direct mail, crafted expensive yet annoying television ads, and held horridly staged campaign rallies that came across as canned.

All I can say is Trump was right. He may be the only person who thought a victory was possible. What made this outcome a reality is one of the most peculiar mixtures of cobbled together voting blocks in American history.

Off the top there was a failure of the Obama Coalition to fully embrace Clinton; the alt-right and individuals that usually don’t support political candidates got behind Trump’s “Crooked Hillary/Lock Her Up” language; and possibly most surprising was the number of Latinos and other minorities that voted Trump even with his anti-immigration rhetoric. I’m at a loss as to why any woman would have backed this charlatan, but more did than possibly expected.

Credit must be given to the Trump team for its low cost campaign style, utilizing large populists rallies, relying on nightly wall-to-wall cable news coverage in lieu of television ads, and its innovative use of Twitter to disseminate his undisciplined messaging.

I just find it ironic that The Trumpster was the change agent voters selected.

Best case scenario is Trump allows himself to be surrounded by veteran appointees that know Washington and how to get things done to steady his inexperience and impulsive nature, but I’m doubtful. After winning the election in such a scorched earth style, my guess is Trump feels like he’s got this and will try running the White House fast and loose.

One thing Washington doesn’t respond to well is unpredictability. So strap in tight Trumpinistas, your agent of change is about to shake up the swamp. My prediction is buyers remorse will set in soon after.

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Election Day 2016 Mercifully Has Arrived

Posted on November 7, 2016 by theurbanllama

Talk about election fatigue. There has not been a presidential race in the past 50 years with less enthusiasm for who wins than the current referendum on who the electorate feels is least awful to serve as chief executive for America.

Considering females make up over half the voting population, one might think there should be considerable enthusiasm for the first female candidate running for major party office, but Hillary Clinton’s questionable decision making has thrown a wrench into all that. Her usage of a private e-mail server while serving as Secretary of State, along with using the Clinton Foundation as some skewed clearinghouse for pay-to-play contributions concerning Bill, Hillary, or for other access-related patronage activities, has mucked up what could have been a coronation for the ultimate power couple.

There remain obscured questions about the ultimate motives behind all these activities, but it appears the Clinton’s generally continue to suffer from an amazing sense of entitlement. They never have seemed to believe that the rules for everybody else apply to them as well. The Clinton Foundation does do amazing and admirable humanitarian work. That doesn’t mean it can also serve as a personal ATM machine for its benefactors.

That being said, considering every eligible human being available, it’s unfathomable that the Republican Party somehow arrived at Donald Trump being the best candidate it could find to run for its party’s presidential nominee. Talk about sad.

Being from Kentucky, home to Sen. Mitch McConnell, Republican obstructionist-in-chief, I do fully appreciate the legislative gridlock that has paralyzed the country’s political process. It’s criminal that a Supreme Court justice died in February and there still hasn’t been a hearing held on filling that vacancy, even though a more than adequate nominee has been put forward by President Obama.

I get peoples’ frustration with Washington. Regardless of the political party controlling the White House or Congress, the individual lives of the electorate never improves. Manufacturing jobs are exported from American shores; zero accountability was placed on big banks after the 2009 financial crisis; our infrastructure system is crumbling; terrorism; climate change; stagnant wages; and dwindling employment in the fossil fuel industry are but some of the weighty ills seeking solutions. Both parties could have expelled special interest interference in politics by voting for campaign finance reform, but the powers that be consciously choose to maintain the current corrupt system.

Life is far more complicated these days from what it was 50 years ago –  but that doesn’t mean we turn our backs on moral imperatives, decency, respect and the American way.

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Intense Second Debate and Election Day Approaching Sets Table for Final Confrontation

Posted on October 19, 2016 by theurbanllama

unknown-2In the second of three scheduled presidential debates, Donald Trump declared that Hillary Clinton had “tremendous hate in her heart,” in regard to her describing his supporters as sexists, racists, xenophobes and Islamophobic.

Hate in her heart? This is a woman who has worked the majority of her adult life in public service advocating for the underserved. It’s true Clinton uttered the comment that half of Mr.  Trump’s  supporters belong in a “basket of deplorables.” That was an unfortunate characterization, and the number is exaggerated, but not untrue.

It’s Trump’s supporters that include a vast array of white supremacists, white nationalists, and folks generally that are prepared to build walls in an effort to infringe upon religious freedoms and discriminate against foreign nationals.

That was the tone set in the second presidential debate. Trump cast a large shadow coming in due to his Access Hollywood recording going public, where he flaunted his fame as a means for assaulting women.

The first 20 minutes of this debate were some of the most uncomfortable live television I’ve ever watched. After Trump was dismantled by the more skilled Clinton in the first debate, combined with the Access Hollywood revelations, Trump entered the contest prepared to be more aggressive and less civil. Obviously his lack of knowledge on issues precluded him from engaging his rival in substantive discussions. Instead he took the low road of tossing about innuendo and injecting offhand commentary as a way to nullify the elephant in the room regarding his sexual indiscretions.

Feeling that Trump was attempting to gloss over the topic, CNN moderator Anderson Cooper asked Trump, “You bragged that you sexually assaulted women, do you understand that?” Sadly, I’m betting Trump justifies his behavior and doesn’t think he did anything wrong.

Many Republican advocates felt he won the second contest, whereas I found he just didn’t suck as much. Trump was more focused throughout this 90 minute session, but more importantly to his core constituency of “deplorables,” he stood face-to-face with Clinton and attempted to prosecute her for anything and everything.

He even threatened that upon winning the presidency, he would dispatch a special prosecutor to review her circumstances and have her put in jail. Of course he has no authority to do this, but that never seems to matter to Trump or to his deplorable following.

The problem with this strategy was Trump raised nothing new. All of these allegations have been reviewed extensively by either congressional oversight, special select congressional committees or the FBI no less. There are no charges to file because there is no evidence to prosecute a case.

Trump can be as boorish and insulting as he chooses, none of that stops the damage he has inflicted upon countless women from his sexually predatory behavior. In the debate Trump attempted to skate away from his recorded commentary with Billy Bush by characterizing it as “locker room banter” and that he never acted on such behavior. Since then at least nine women have come forward to say they were touched inappropriately by Donald Trump.

unknownI thought his demeanor and presence on stage spoke volumes for what the man is capable of perpetrating, as he refused to be seated when Clinton spoke. Instead Trump menaced her, hovering behind her as she addressed questions, looming closely over her shoulder as a means to intimidate.

Considering the debacle that has become the Trump campaign, Clinton played it safe and let the Republican nominee dig his own grave. She maintained an air of grace and poise, choosing to conduct herself in a presidential manner, which she did with style. It would have been impossible to counter all the lies spewed by Trump and instead of taking that bait, Clinton stayed to the issues and out of the gutter where the Trumpster trolls.

Today’s national polls show Clinton has a  nine-point advantage, with inroads being made into traditionally red states like Georgia, Utah, Arizona and even Texas. Tonight’s third and final debate taking place in Las Vegas at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center is The Donald’s last shot to change the narrative on this campaign.

He seems content to complain erroneously about how the election is rigged against him. That distractive noise, while dangerous and possibly inciting violence, fails to take away from the Republican nominee being a useful idiot that serially abuses women.

As President Obama so eloquently put it yesterday, “I’d advise Mr. Trump to stop whining and go try and make his case to get votes.”

I don’t envy Chris Wallace, the Fox News host who is tonight’s moderator, as Trump likely will employ a scorched earth strategy to try and throw Hillary off her game. The Republicans are past just needing a Hail Mary pass to win. Trump needs help from Clinton to bring her down, and that’s not likely to happen.

unknown-1Short of that, the 2016 elections are shaping up to be a landslide set of victories for the Democrats. Steve Schmidt, a Republican campaign strategist who worked on Senator McCain’s 2008 presidential bid, noted that the magnitude of the electoral catastrophe upon Republicans cannot be overstated.

When asked about the over/under on the electoral college victory for Clinton, Schmidt said, “I think she is trending over 400 (with 270 needed to win); Democrats take the Senate; If this election were today I think Republicans are down 25 seats (in the House), with the trendline going in the wrong direction.”

Schmidt added, “The panic is beginning.”

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Prophets of Rage Make For A Wednesday Drive to Cincinnati

Posted on October 12, 2016 by theurbanllama

From right: Tom Morello (guitar), Brad Wilk (drums), B-Real (vocals), Chuck D (vocals) and Tim Commerford (bass).

Coming into the office last Wednesday I had talked myself into staying home on a weeknight. But by mid-morning I was twitchy from spending the past three hours spinning around in my office chair faking there was work. It became ridiculous to argue the necessity of remaining home to rest only to repeat this monotony when Prophets of Rage was playing Cincinnati that night.

For the unfamiliar, this 2016 supergroup is composed of two members from Public Enemy (DJ Lord and rapper Chuck D); rapper B-Real of Cypress Hill; and three members of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave (bassist Tim Commerford, guitarist Tom Morello and drummer Brad Wilk).

These disparate elements may have come from different rebel outfits, but all these boys are heavy hitters who lost tolerance with the mountain of election year bullshit they deemed acceptable and decided to make some noise confronting the lies.

I gave consideration to how seeing Rage without their militant vocalist Zack de la Rocha was not ideal, but came to a conclusion that the authenticity of marginalization reflected through Chuck D and B-Real would be a flavorful two-headed serpent, unleashing inherent venom from its fangs that all these artists’ display when performing.

I made one phone call to get the green light on taking our 13 and 11 year olds along, then connected with pavilion seats midway back and this harebrained idea took flight.

Gabriel and Jacy knew a few tunes from Rage, Audiosoave, Public Enemy and hits from Cypress Hill, but had no comparison for the ferocity and volume that came with these artists live. For me, this was about the boys making the connection between political protest and musical expression, along with the chance to see Chuck D and Tom Morello.

PROPHETS OF RAGE – BULLET IN THE HEAD (LIVE-TORONTO)

AwolNation opened, who played a decent set, highlighted by their 2011 hit, “Sail.”

Tom Morello

When the house lights dropped after intermission, air raid sirens blared in the darkness and searchlights exploded as Prophets of Rage hit the stage. Cincinnati was a late stop on the band’s “Make America Rage Again Tour,” running from May into October. The playlist was an assemblage of protest tunes and cultural anthems borrowed from the members’ bands, with a few originals.

It may not be Rage, but these angsty bastards transferred the ferocity in sufficient standard to bring these colossal tunes their necessary raw energy. After the namesake opener, a triple shot of Rage-friendly tunes was fired across the bow. “Guerrilla Radio,” followed by “Bombtrack” and Audioslave’s “Cochise,” which was finished off with the Public Enemy tune-out classic “She Watch Channel Zero.”

The middle of the show bogged down with all the switching of material and singers, but it allowed the audience to catch its collective breath, coming back on point with two Rage monsters “Sleep Now in the Fire” and Bullet in the Head.”

Morello was a mesmerizing pied piper. His personalized guitars and clothing speak volumes about his mindset and message. He appears perfectly calm until the first chord. His body is then carried upward on the explosive rhythms, possessed by the beat, as sweat streams from the brim of his soaked baseball hat.

The show finished with Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power,” and Rage’s “Bulls on Parade,” followed by their 1992 debut hit “Killing in the Name.” For sure it was the rebellious “Fuck You I Won’t Do What You Tell Me” version.

PROPHETS OF RAGE – KILLING IN THE NAME (LIVE)

It was a thunderous show that pleased on several levels, but also left one a bit shell-shocked and lacking from a consistency standpoint with all the various artists playing songs from each other’s catalogues.

Before heading back south, the kids and I needed nourishment. We stopped in Cincinnati for classic drunk pizza from Adriatico’s. They are open just late enough and offer outstanding cheesy goodness, heavy on the toppings. It was spot on and brought a welcomed comatose state to my young car passengers. I on the other hand remained wide awake as my blood gesticulated with bass heavy thumps and visionary guitar work all the way back courtesy of Prophets of Rage.

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Round One Goes to Clinton

Posted on October 4, 2016 by theurbanllama

th-1We’ve all heard the maxim of the five P’s: Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance. GOP nominee Donald Trump failed to get the memo prior to the first of three scheduled presidential debates with Hillary Clinton, as the Republican nominee was put on the defensive early and kept there by the Democratic candidate’s command of the issues and cool demeanor.

Instead of an equal back-and-forth between the challengers, the debate turned into a 90 minute reveal of Trump’s inability to reach even the minimum bar of qualification expected of a candidate seeking the nation’s highest office. A CNN exit poll showed 62 percent believed Clinton won the debate, with 27 percent favoring Trump’s performance.

Trump started strong, jumping on Clinton about her husband’s passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement. She was a tad wobbly as Trump asserted his alpha dog attack persona, but he scored no clean blows, and peaked early at the 30-45 minute mark. Unfortunately for Trump there was quite a ways to go and he went downhill from there.

Clinton steadied herself and returned fire. This is when the sniffling began from Trump. With every attempt to get a word in Trump noticeably began inhaling audibly and often. He was stressed and it showed. Moderator Lester Holt, from NBC News, and Clinton were nervous at the outset as well, same as anyone should be when being broadcast to an audience estimated at 100 million, but both regained their composure. Trump did not.

As the subject turned to national security matters later in the debate, exhaustion gave way to incoherence. “Sarah Palin looked like Henry Kissinger compared to Trump on national security,” said Steve Schmidt, Republican political operative and NBC political analyst.

There were a couple other bright spots for the Republican nominee when he brought up Clinton’s deleted e-mails and the continued Middle East mess under her watch, but these were fleeting moments. Trump lost any control after Clinton put him in a corner on his refusal to show his income tax returns.

Is his net worth greatly less than claimed? Are his charitable donations less than advertised? Clinton raised both possibilities, but it was her insinuation that most likely Trump had skirted paying federal taxes that stung most and had him squirming.

The weeds got tall when the birther issue was raised in the context of a discussion on how to heal race relations in America. The problem being there is no plausible answer for why if President Obama presented his birth certificate years ago, Trump continued to question whether the first African-American president was actually born in America. It only serves to stir the legitimacy question around the Obama administration, and is a wink & nod to white nationalist groups. Given an opportunity to apologize to African-American voters for pushing this bogus agenda, Trump had nothing to offer.

For a week now Republican spinmeisters have tried to explain away Trump’s performance by insinuating his microphone was bad and that Holt asked too many gotcha questions. His microphone may have had issues, but it worked fine, and if anything Holt exhibited a minimalist style of moderating the event. Both candidates were given room to roam on issues and answers, only hearing from Holt if their allotted time expired or they needed to get back to answering the questions at hand.

Trump simply lost his cool. He did not prepare and choked on the big stage. If this had been a prize fight Clinton would have easily won a unanimous decision on points, and late in the contest it’s likely most corners would have thrown in the towel on Trump for his own safety.

The man could not resist taking the bait every time Clinton dangled a morsel under his nose. Perhaps the funniest moment was when Trump suggested it was he that had the better temperament to be president. Those in attendance who were asked to remain silent during the debate couldn’t help but erupt in laughter having spent the last hour plus watching Trump become frustrated and unravel in a most public forum, as he clearly lacked the demeanor, intelligence and temperament necessary to be president.

In the end Trump made a desperate attempt to slam Clinton on her level of fitness and that is right where she wanted him to go. “I think Donald just criticized me for preparing for this debate, and yes I did,” said Secretary Clinton. “And you know what else I prepared for? I prepared to be president.”

This cut at the very core of the Trump candidacy. He’s not prepared nor is he interested in learning what is necessary to do the job of president. Trump surrogate and former New York City mayor, Rudy Giuliani, said afterward that he would pull out of the next debate if he were running for president.

While that seems extreme, one must weigh the risk of not appearing against the damage Trump will do from trying to debate Clinton twice more. Much of his problems stem from the choices he has made in life and the philosophies, or biases, he encompasses. They are difficult to defend when interviewing for a job that requires the office-holder to represent all equally. Going against a skilled debater like Clinton, Trump ran out of fingers and toes trying to plug all the leaks in his background.

Since the debate Trump stayed in the negative with a steady montage of criticism and Twitter rants about Alicia Machado, a former Miss Universe, who Clinton brought up last Monday. No doubt calling a woman ‘Miss Piggy’ and fat shaming her has not helped Trump’s chauvinistic image, nor signaled to voters on the fence that he is capable of learning a lesson or behaving like an adult. This was followed up by the discovery that Trump lost nearly $1 billion with his company, and proudly has not paid income taxes in decades.

If nothing else Trump is the gift that keeps on giving. With his poor performance and incessant trolling of all supposedly involved with his ineptitude, recent poll numbers for The Donald have slipped. If he keeps up all that good work, the Trumpster will soon find himself blessedly back in the private sector.

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The Trump Perplexity

Posted on September 26, 2016 by theurbanllama

unknown“You like that airplane right,” Donald Trump rhetorically boasted at a campaign rally. “Made in America, Boeing, made in America,” The Donald went on, as he showed off his emblazoned “TRUMP” custom jumbo jet parked behind the podium.

Make no mistake, this campaign is all about Trump. Forget any sentiment regarding the electorate, America or betterment of anyone other than The Donald. It’s about his narcissism and the Trump name as a brand.  Those looking for substantive policy proposals can shop elsewhere.

The sum of what the people have been offered thus far from the GOP nominee is his version of the Big Swindle. After more than a year on the campaign trail it’s blatantly clear The Donald can pitch a product. Whether it be airlines, steaks, wine, clothing, furniture, buildings or his supposed bastion of higher education, Trump University. You name it and there’s a good chance Trump has tried slapping his name on it.

Now the real estate mogul is pitching U.S. voters his bleak vision of a failed America in the same fashion. Trump’s candidacy is promising big gains in prosperity, with limited risk. The caveat – just don’t ask the Trump campaign “how” any of his promises might get accomplished. It’s the hard sell. Better buy into his candidacy or Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s disgraced former campaign manager, will drop by to give your arm a twist.

Lacking any true depth or humility, Trump is an aspirational candidate, that many look upon with dollar signs, like a lottery ticket. His degenerate spin on living the luxurious life combined with people’s hunger for fame and wealth have created this dangerous perception that a vote for Trump will magically transfer bags of money to his less fortunate supporters.

“You like that airplane,” Trump asked the crowd again.

I understand the Hillary fatigue. She is not new, shiny or convincing. The e-mail controversy stemming from the Benghazi attack continues to unfold. Worse for Clinton is that when given a forum to be contrite and accepting of criticism leveraged against her conduct, the former Secretary of State allows her ego to get the better of her, and she tends to double down that no wrongdoing occurred under her watch.

That just isn’t correct. She and Bill are both sketchy – but in terms of substance and commitment to country, there isn’t a question that Clinton is the candidate best suited to guide America forward in this current turbulent time.

I’m angry with everyone else about the plight of the American worker, the outsourcing of jobs, tax breaks to big corporations and 40 years of declining wages. There is a massive underemployment problem in America and the economic recovery from 2009 is tepid at best.

“Hey what have you got to lose!?,” Trump likes to ask potential African-American voters.

Quite a bit it turns out. Freedom is hard. It’s an inconvenient truth that with an open society comes hate, bigotry and a host of unfortunate misdeeds committed by those that wish to take advantage of our protected rights. It has been a long, slow climb back to respectability for America from the damage inflicted by the last Republican president, George W. Bush. President Obama returned America’s dignity and steered our country back into the light. That work is not complete and now surely is not the moment to give the reigns over to a knuckle-dragging Luddite such as Donald Trump.

It’s not like The Donald suddenly grew a conscience. He is running for president because he thinks it’s a good investment. His campaign is simply a pitch, to get the people to give him the okay to use the country as a capital investment. Look at all his other ventures and listen to those who were involved. It always sounded great on the front end when Trump made his pitch, but once profits were maximized, Trump tends to disappear, the investment in question founders, and then fails.

It’s not calculable the damage The Donald could cause to America. “Just believe me,” is the weak basis behind any Trump proposed policy solution. Yes, there is “Make America Great Again,” but the delivery mechanism, the mechanics of how that could occur under a Trump administration is no deeper than “trust me, I got this.” That is a very similar promise that was heard from guys like Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and the rest of George W. Bush’s cronies in the ramp-up to the Iraq War.

America continues to pay for the deceit and outright lies told by Republicans leading to the Iraq invasion, and for the nefarious handling of matters during it. Yeah, trust them… They got thousands of American men and women killed unnecessarily.

Think back to how massive a lightening rod Bush made our troops and America with his nationalistic saber-rattling about “bring it on” to enemy combatants. That ill-advised comment, along with the premature and reckless declaration made aboard an aircraft carrier of “Mission Accomplished,” both from 2003, directly put U.S. troops in greater peril.

Considering the rhetoric and lack of intellectual knowledge exhibited by Donald Trump throughout his campaign, we can only expect worse from a Trumpster presidency.

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Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis Featuring Hillary Clinton

Posted on September 22, 2016 by theurbanllama
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Fifteen Years After 9/11 and America Continues to Adapt to the Violence

Posted on September 11, 2016 by theurbanllama

9-11-01-1-liberty-towersIt’s amazing how quickly the unsettling feeling returns to my gut as I watch historical coverage of the 9/11 attacks. Most of my emotion from that day still resides inside because there is no box that can neatly contain such a tragedy.

Whether living in Washington, DC or New York – we all grieved simultaneously. We could empathize with one another, but that tended to only deal with the surface pain. It would allow those living in the impacted cities to move along to the next memorial service or remembrance.

The nasty part is what welled up after the nation moved on; after folks returned to their normal commuter worries and workplace stresses. It’s when you are alone at night in the dark with only silence as a companion. What if you never got to say goodbye to a spouse or child? Maybe the last words spoken between a family and a lost loved one were heated as he or she was running late to make it to work on time. That regret is consuming.

I hear folks discussing how 15 years has passed since 9/11, and they are ready to move on. I don’t think any disrespect is meant. The statement itself is a means of grieving and an attempt to grasp the immensity of what occurred. The idea being if it could be put away in a lockbox maybe it would go away.

Not so much with the sense of loss, anger and a realization that a dark presence is out there, waiting and planning to hurt America. On September 11, 2001,it was successful.

9-11-01-logo12Life is more complicated in the post-9/11 world. Nothing seems to have a simple explanation or solution, and political polarization envelopes the smallest of issues. While I comprehend the idea of being nostalgic for days gone by, I find trying to negate or move past 9/11 does a disservice to the thousands of everyday people and first responders that were killed on this day 15 years ago. On this anniversary that loss of life is compounded exponentially by the thousands of soldiers killed and injured as a result of carrying out America’s foreign policy and brining to justice those responsible.

Lets be real, the entire tone of America has changed as a result of 9/11. There is no circumventing this failure of our government, law enforcement and corporation-trained safety protocols. Evidence and questionable behavior was on display from the perpetrators, but the concept of utilizing commercial aircraft as a weapon against the country was inexplicable prior its occurrence.

Flash forward 15 years and security is a conscious part of our everyday life. Terror threat levels in larger cities, boarding aircraft, metal detectors to enter ballgames, cameras and key card access doors at offices are all normal these days.

America’s foreign policy and defense focus is predominantly on the Middle East, and the rising terrorist threat of ISIS. This has shifted Muslim-Americans from being a courted political block by the Republican Party, to exiled, where Democrats have given them political shelter in return for their vote. This institutional churn on immigration, naturalization and terrorism has CNN and MSNBC perpetually announcing “Breaking News.”

I appreciate MSNBC replaying the Today show coverage from the morning of 9/11. It’s tough to watch, but a great way to feel connected. My thoughts and prayers go out to all who lost loved ones in this incident or had family members injured or killed in the aftermath.

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