Apparently Trump Can't Stop Attacking Harmless People

Donald Trump is the only candidate for U.S. President who seems to adore writing tweets, which can only record short thoughts. And does he use this to tell the voters about his policies on issues that matter? No, all he can do is attack people who done nothing to harm anyone else.

Trump was awake in the middle of the night last night. Did he read a book? Of course not. Did he watch the tv news to learn what was going on in the world? Not that either.

Instead he got on Twitter to send more nasty tweets about a former Miss Universe whom he attacked for gaining weight, calling her Miss Piggy. Now he is attacking her for allegedly being in a sex tape.

This from a man who bragged about his adulteries, who regularly tries to shame women, and who probably would have been honored to have been in a sex tape himself. And he continues to hint that he will attack Hillary Clinton over illicit sex, not by her but by her husband. Trump's 3 spouses haven't engaged in illicit sex but Donald Trump brags that he did that.

More Inhumane News about Donald Trump 

According to the LA Times and videos on tv, Donald Trump followed up on his shaming of a decent women who gained weight on Tuesday by asking at a rally on Wednesday in Iowa for all "non-Christian-conservatives" to raise their hands and asking the crowd if he should kick them out. He said this was a joke. There are some things you don't joke about. Any decent person knows that.

MoCo Board of Education Election in 2016

There are important elections this year in Montgomery County, Maryland -- U.S. president, U.S. Senator from Maryland, Congresmen, term limits. However, please don't forget one of the most important and most overlooked -- the election of members of the MoCo Board of Education.

There are 7 members of the MoCo BOE elected by voters (another is elected by students). Every MoCo voter can vote for those in every contest, even those designated for a district you don't live in.

The members of the MoCo BOE have control over more than half your county tax money, almost $2.5 billion. Is your money being spent wisely by these people? Many think the answer is "No." Find out for yourself.

There was a debate last night by the 6 people running for 3 spots on the MoCo BOE this year. Many of them disagreed strongly with each other. For example, do you think they should use zero-based budgeting, meaning no spending is automatically approved just because it was approved last year? Some support this; some candidates didn't say a word about it. If you support this, find out which candidates are on your side and vote for them.

The candidates (in alphabetical order by district) and their websites are:

At Large:
Jeanette Dixon - https://jeanettedixon.org/
Phil Kaufmann - http://philkauffman.com/

District 2
Brandon Rippeon 
Rebecca Smondrowski - www.rebeccaonboard.org

District 4
Shebra Evans - http://www.shebraevans.com/
Anjali Reed Phukan - anjali4md.weebly.com

Why Nobody Should Vote for Any Third Party Candidate

Some people don't like either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton and are thinking of voting for a third party candidate, Gary Johnson the Libertarian Party candidate, or Jill Stein the Green Party candidate. That would be a serious mistake.

It's not just a mistake because it might help elect the most incapable, ignorant, and self-centered person ever to run for president.

Gary Johnson, when asked about Aleppo, asked what that is. Then when he was asked to name a single world leader who he respected, he said he was having an "Aleppo moment." That is disqualifying.

Jill Stein has commented somewhat favorably about the harmful myth that vaccinations cause autism.

Both lack the slightest knowledge of foreign affairs that Hillary Clinton has in abundance. Even if you recognize that Trump is the greatest fool ever to run, voting Libertarian or Green is not a reasonable response. Every thinking person has to do all we can to elect the highly qualified Hillary Clinton.

More About Donald Trump as a Person

There are plenty of reasons to be disgusted that Donald Trump has been nominated for president by a major party. He has no comprehension of any political issue, he blithely talks about starting a war if someone gives an American ship the finger, he worries our allies by saying we won't defend them unless they pay us, he encourages the dictator Putin to act more irresponsibly.

But there are more reasons to be horrified by this man. He doesn't care about anyone but himself. He seems to not have the slightest bit of empathy for anyone, even a relative.

The New Yorker had a story about Donald Trump cutting off health insurance for his nephew who had cerebral palsy because the child's father had the nerve to question Donald Trump's will. Donald Trump actually didn't care what happened to his nephew.

This is in addition to saying, when asked two days after his debate with Hillary Clinton, if he had anything further to say about the Miss Universe whom he shamed. He started by saying he didn't have anything further to say. Then he went on and on about how awful she was for gaining weight, something that most people, including Donald Trump, have struggled with.
 

Comments on the 1st Clinton - Trump Debate

Trump bragged that he didn't pay any income taxes and said that "made me smart." How does the average person who pays thousands of dollars in taxes each year feel about a billionaire who brags that he pays no taxes while you pay so much in taxes? Is he your kind of guy?

By Dan Rather: "Our Founders believed in reason and the power of intellect. Donald Trump made clear tonight by his wilful ignorance of important issues that he does not. Our founders feared the accumulation of power, they loathed vanity, and tried to build in protections against the demagogues who would appeal to mankind’s basest instincts. Donald Trump relishes in all of these impulses. For him they are instinctual and a prescription for success."

From the Forward website: Outright lies that Trump uttered in last night's debate, and got away with:
He said that the public can learn as much from his financial disclosures as from his tax returns. False. He claimed again that Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign started the birther movement. False. He claimed that he didn’t support the war in Iraq, when he did. He mischaracterized the origins of the Islamic State and the nature of the NATO alliance. He lamented the failed economy in Michigan and Ohio when, in fact, both states gained tens of thousands of jobs in the last year. He predicted the Fed would raise interest rates if Clinton were elected, which one analysis called a “baseless accusation.” He overstated how much control China has over North Korea, and claimed that the Obama administration has done nothing to update America’s nuclear arsenal when it is spending tens of billions of dollars on modernization. He implied that China could be behind recent cyber-attacks, when he must have known that intelligence specialists are pretty damn sure it was Russia. Soon after he said that the murder rate in New York City rose after “stop and frisk” was ruled unconstitutional, the NYPD swiftly corrected him: It’s gone down.

Term Limit Debate

Last night The Sentinel newspaper sponsored a debate on term limits between Robin Ficker and me. I think the debate was mostly polite and concentrated on the issues. I've been told that everyone will be able to see it soon (don't how how soon) on The Sentinel's website.

The headline on the WHAG tv website was that I was "calm and confident" and I'm very happy with that description.

My main point is that although term limits might sound good, they have been proven to be very bad. They have been in  effect in many parts of the country for a very long time and they have been studied by many reputable scholars.

The result of this research is that term limits do not lead to more women and minorities being elected, result in higher spending and taxes, do not bring in truly new people but mainly relatives of those who are term-limited, and result in lower rather than higher voter turnout. My proof of this is detailed in an 85 page research paper with tons of footnotes and bibliography entries that anyone can request from me.

Many people are angry with their government in general and the MoCo Council in particular. I understand that. However, imposing term limits will not make anything better and there is solid proof that it will make things worse.

All of this is not to mention the main point. Imposing term limits is anti-democratic. It takes away from the voters the power to vote for whomever they wish. Voters can get rid of long-term incumbents the proper way, by putting together a campaign to elect an alternative. It is not true -- this is provable -- that it's impossible to beat an incumbent. Term limits are not needed and they do harm. Everyone should vote against term limits if you want good government.

Lies by Donald Trump - continued 

Donald Trump says Hillary Clinton wants to repeal the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution (allowing citizens to have guns) and wants to take away all Americans' guns.

That is another Trump lie. Hillary has never said this and has never even hinted it.

Hillary Clinton supports reasonable gun safety measures, such as prohibiting certifiably insane people from having guns, by having background checks for those who want to buy guns. Is anyone against that? Does Donald Trump want insane people to have guns?

But Trump doesn't end with this lie. He said he wants Hillary Clinton's Secret Service protection detail to give up their guns, and earlier he said if Hillary is elected and appoints judges the Second Amendment people should do something about that. He is literally encouraging people to shoot her.

This may be the lowest thing Donald Trump has said, but it's difficult to determine if this is lower than making fun of a disabled reporter, attacking the parents of an American soldier who died in Iraq, and saying most Mexicans who come to the U.S. are rapists.


 

One of Donald Trump's Biggest Lies - Birtherism

Yesterday Donald Trump said Barack Obama was born in the U.S. and he hopes no one will talk about this any longer. He is wrong. He is lying.

He said Hillary Clinton started the birther movement when she was running against Barack Obama in the 2008 primary election. Even if he can find some obscure memo written by some low level person in Hillary's campaign, Hillary never said or implied that Barack Obama was born outside the U.S. 

At the same time, Donald Trump said that over and over for many years. He even said he has sent a team of investigators to Hawaii and "they cannot believe what they are finding." So why didn't he ever tell us "what they are finding?" Because he was lying the whole time.

He and many of his supporters cannot stand the fact that the president is African American. They feel they have to try to claim he isn't American to try to undermine him.

Barack Obama has been one of the best presidents in U.S. history. The economy is far better now than when he took office, millions more Americans have health insurance, and our allies overseas respect him, unlike their view of Donald Trump.
 

The Law on Petitions Has To Be Followed

The Maryland Constitution allowed citizens to file petitions to amend County Charter. It requires 10,000 proper signatures.

Some have argued that it is "despicable" for anyone to challenge petitions. I wonder if they would find it equally despicable if others filed petitions for something they didn't like and there were problems with those petitions.

It is perfectly reasonable for people to look at petition signatures to find out if the Board of Elections handled them properly. Even the lawyer for the MoCo Board of Elections said in court that humans can make mistakes. 

There is no doubt at all that the Board of Elections made some mistakes when it reviewed the term limits petitions. For example, there are some instances where there are no signatures yet the Board of Elections staff marked them ok.

Citizens have a right under our state constitution to petition for charter amendments. All citizens have the right to examine and challenge those petitions if it appears they weren't collected properly.