Bill O’Reilly admits that he is a Racist

It is not often that a White Christian of considerable fame admits that he is a racist.  That is exactly what Bill O’Reilly did on his “O’Reilly Factor” program on Tuesday, December 20, 2016.

He pointed out that it is the White establishment that is in control of this nation.  Essentially telling his viewing audience that minorities want to take control.  O’Reilly said, “This is all about race. The left sees white privilege in America as an oppressive force that must be done away with, therefore white working class voters must be marginalized, and what better way to do that then center the voting power in the cities.”

What he did not tell his audience is that White Christians will soon be the minority race in the United States.

The change is already happening throughout the country.  In California the change has already become significant. Hispanics now make up 39% of the population and Whites make up 38.4%.  That White population includes Jews.  Jews are at least 3% of the population. That leaves the White Christians at 35.4%.

“The left wants power taken away from the white establishment and they want a profound change in the way America is run,” said Bill O’Reilly.

From the Christian Science Monitor

December 21, 2016 Bill O’Reilly doesn’t want the Electoral College – or the disproportionate power it brings rural, white voters – to disappear.

In a two-and-a-half minute introduction to the segment, the conservative Fox News anchor threw his support behind the system, insisting its survival was necessary to ensure that voters in predominantly rural states are not overrun by a growing population of minorities in city centers.

“The left sees white privilege in America as an oppressive force that must be done away with.” he told The O’Reilly Factor viewers on Tuesday. “The left wants power taken away from the white establishment. They want a profound change in the way America is run. Taking voting power away from the white precincts is the quickest way to do that.”

The segment has left liberals reeling, with many calling Mr. O’Reilly’s comments racist, saying he appears to prefer white votes holding additional influence over ballots cast by minorities. But for some, O’Reilly’s comments illuminate a larger segment of the population that fears the eroding influence of white voters in a rapidly changing America – the very group that President-elect Donald Trump rallied to win key swing states.

Those disappointed with Mr. Trump’s victory have protested the centuries-old system and called for a shift to a popular vote that would create equity among individual votes nationwide. Others have pushed back, arguing that the system put in place by the Founding Fathers in 1787 is a traditional and key element of the US democratic process.

O’Reilly is correct from a mathematical standpoint: The Electoral College does place an emphasis on votes from those in rural, and generally white, areas, allowing a vote cast in Wyoming, for example, to have 3.6 times the influence of one cast in California. But that doesn’t necessarily mean the system is working better for them, says George Edwards, a professor of political science at Texas A&M University.

Under the current system, candidates focus their attention on big swing states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida, never taking the time to visit with voters in large swaths of rural America. That lack of access can hinder voter turnout in states as different as Wyoming and California.

“Right now, the candidates ignore rural areas,” Dr. Edwards tells The Christian Science Monitor in a phone interview. “You can’t do worse than nothing. Any change in the system can’t make them worse off than nothing.”

In O’Reilly’s view, however, a popular vote system would essentially strip states like Wyoming of their voice in the presidential election. Under today’s system, Democratic and Republican candidates alike spend time in places like Iowa and New Hampshire, not only drumming up support but also taking time to hear directly from voters about what issues are important to them.

In the segment, he argued that abolishing the electoral college would make large cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston more appealing campaign destinations for Democratic candidates, who may seek to win favor with minorities and urban dwellers and tip the national vote to the left while largely ignoring white voters living in “fly-over” states.

“[Liberals] well know that neutralizing the largely rural white areas in the Midwest and South will ensure liberal politicians get power and keep it,” O’Reilly said. “White working class voters must be marginalized. And what better way to do that than center the power in the cities?”

O’Reilly’s characterization that the push to abolish the Electoral College is driven by a desire to overthrow the reign of “white privilege” on the electoral process has drawn particular critisism from both ends of the political spectrum.

Juan Williams, a Fox News contributor and regular substitute host for The O’Reilly Factor, dismissed O’Reilly’s claim that race is the driving factor in the debate around the Electoral College.

“There is a racial overlay,” Mr. Williams said on the show. “But not everybody who is challenging the Electoral College is doing it because of race. Lots of people think it should be ‘one person, one vote’ no matter where you live in America. But if you’re out in the sticks now your vote is now worth more than a vote in California.”

That’s a major sticking point for proponents of the popular vote. But, in O’Reilly’s view, simply reverting to a system based on the popular vote would not just bring the weight of a single vote in California in line with a vote in Wyoming, it would also tip the entire election into the hands of Californians.

With more than 39 million residents, California is the most populous state, making up roughly 12 percent of the United States population. In the 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton won California by 4.3 million votes. If the same were to happen under a popuar vote system, California could in effect cancel out the votes of a whole handful of smaller states.

Bu Dr. Edwards, who wrote the book “Why the Electoral College is Bad for America,” suggested that if the popular vote were the law of the land, the campaign in California – and ostensibly the outcome – would have been very different.

As it is now, candidates take for granted that California will go blue. But there are nearly 5 million registered Republicans in California, 30 times as many as in Wyoming. If every vote was to be weighed individually, Republican and Democratic candidates alike would spend time in the state – a point Donald Trump alluded to shortly after the election.

“[Candidates] don’t run ads in California. They don’t invest in the ground game in California,” Edwards says. “But they would. They would take their case to people everywhere because all those votes count.”

L.A. creating $10-million legal defense fund for immigrants facing deportation

Here is the proposal that is planned for a vote by the county supervisors in December and the city council in January. Under the joint Los Angeles city/county effort the two government bodies will put up $5 Million towards a legal defense fund to defend illegal aliens facing deportation.  The remaining $5 Million will be raised through philanthropic groups.  The funds will be called “The L.A. Justice Fund.”

It is estimated that 1 million of the 11 million illegal aliens in the United States are living in Los Angeles County.

The entire article is posted on line by the Los Angeles Times.

It is easy to say that local governments should not be involved in protecting illegal aliens and that the local tax payers are facing an additional burden that has not been approved through a ballot measure.

However, we do have a representative government that authorizes those elected to determine budgets and how money is to be spent.

Because there is a very large minority population in Los Angeles the will of the people is being carried out by those elected officials.  Many of them are members of minority groups.

The argument is that many of the illegal alien:
1. Have been in the United States for decades doing jobs that most Americans won’t do for pay that most Americans consider unacceptable.

2. Are working at businesses that are known to ICE to employ them but have done nothing to arrest and deport.

3. Were brought to this country as children and know of no other country. They are victims of their parent’s decisions.

4. Have children that were born in the United States and deporting the parents will break apart the families leaving the children with no caring family. Those minor children may be orphaned and require foster care.

The above reasons are enough for me to believe that the legal defense fund is an appropriate use of government tax money.

Are Rich People the Best Managers for the United States government?

trump-team-dec-15-2016-2Will a group of ultra-wealthy people holding high offices in the Donald Trump administration be a benefit to America?

We will know the answer after January 20, 2017.

Rex Tillerson, CEO of Exxon, holds just over 2.6 million Exxon shares. But he actually only technically owns 611,087 outright, or nearly $57 Million worth. The rest are so-called restricted stock units. How rich is Rex Wayne Tillerson? Rex Wayne Tillerson net worth: $150 Million.

Steven Mnuchin is a former partner at Goldman Sachs, heads up Dune Capital. The investment firm put together a holding company in 2008 — attracting investors like J.C. Flowers, a George Soros investment fund and Paulson & Co. His net worth is around $40 million.

Senator Jeff Sessions has an average net worth of $7.52 Million as of 2014.

Wilber Ross has an estimated wealth estimated at $2.5 Billion as of December 2016 according to Forbes magazine.

Andrew Puzder, chief executive of CKE Restaurants, the parent company of Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. is worth at least $25.6 Million.

Congressman Tom Price’ net worth is $13.0 Million.

Rick Perry, former Texas governor, total net worth is often estimated to be about $3 Million.

Steven Bannon net worth is $10 Million.

Elaine Chao, wife of Senator Mitch McConnell, net worth is at least $3 Million.

Dr. Ben Carson has a reported net worth of $10 Million.

Betsy DeVos is married to Dick DeVos and is the daughter-in-law of Richard DeVos, the founder of Amway with an estimated net worth of $5.1 Billion.

Not a Member of a Political Party

I am not registered as a member of any political party. Given my interest in politics it may seem an unlikely scenario. Let me tell you my reasoning.

The Republican Party historically in the 20th century was the party supporting business. They fought for lower taxes and less regulation. Who can be opposed to those objectives? Then the conservative religious groups evolved inside the G.O.P. Instead of being the business party they became the party of Evangelical Christians and other orthodox religious groups that put their religious beliefs ahead of business and the rights of non-believers. Today, thanks to Donald Trump, the G.O.P. has become the party concerned with helping the working classes of the country and the party of the extreme right wing (alt-right/neo-Nazi) hate groups. This is not a pretty picture.

Sadly the Democratic Party is no longer the party of the working class and middle class America. Extreme left wing socialists have become the driving force within the party. Senator Bernie Sanders has become a leader of this socialist perspective. America does have some socialist services but not to the level that the left wing aspires to bring to America. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and welfare for the needy are all socialist programs but I do not support government ownership of businesses that should be operated privately (car manufacturing companies, aircraft manufacturers, etc.).

Third parties have had an inconsequential impact on American politics.

I am left with selecting candidates that have said or done something that catches my attention. I voted for both Democrats and Republicans in November. Some races were left unmarked for any candidate.

Donald Trump appears to be a thin skinned man who takes every slight as a major insult to him. How will he conduct himself as president? His behavior as a candidate has not changed since he won the election. The only thing that might stop him from starting a nuclear war might be the decisions of a wiser military.

How did America get itself into such a predicament?

The Fairness Doctrine

From 503ME Blog

We used to have something called the fairness doctrine –

The Fairness Doctrine was a policy of the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC), introduced in 1949, that required the holders of broadcast licenses both to present controversial issues of public importance and to do so in a manner that was — in the Commission’s view — honest, equitable, and balanced.

Fairness Doctrine – Wikipedia

It was abolished under Reagan
Under the Reagan administration, the FCC killed the Fairness Doctrine (in 1987), doing away with a policy — put in place in 1949 — that required broadcasters to cover controversial issues of public importance and offer contrasting viewpoints on those issue
The equal time, or more accurately, the equal opportunity provision of the Communications Act requires radio and television stations and cable systems which originate their own programming to treat legally qualified political candidates equally when it comes to selling or giving away air time.
The law against using propaganda on American citizens was eliminated in 2013.  And then the supreme court ruled it legal for politicians to lie-
, “The truth or falsity of political speech should be judged by voters, not government bureaucrats” became the law concerning if you can sue a politician for lying during a campaign…..in other words, the courts are not going to make a decision of rather or not a politician lied during a campaign. If you think the politician is lying to you, then don’t vote for him or her
Then there is the court case in Florida where the courts ruled that it was legal for fox news to fire two reporters who refused to lieIn February 2003, a Florida Court of Appeals unanimously agreed with an assertion by FOX News that there is no rule against distorting … FOX appealed the case, and on February 14, 2003the Florida Second District Court of …
 now we have Facebook and google saying that they will try to curtail fake news sites-
This is the reason why we do not have actual news in our country and also 95% of our media is owned by only 6 mega media corporate giants and that means all media and not just news.

The Future of Jews in America

Historically, when a country has economic issues the leadership frequently blames the Jewish population.  It is a convenient scape goat that is usually a small part of the total population.

‘Hail Trump’: That’s how a group of white nationalists saluted the November 8 victory of the president-elect this weekend at the annual conference of the National Policy Institute, as seen in an exclusive video filmed by The Atlantic. The disturbing scene came during an after-dinner speech by alt-right leader Richard Spencer, who among other anti-Semitic and racist statements described America as “a white country designed for ourselves and our posterity.” His audience cheered, and many raised their arms in Nazi salutes. Trump has not endorsed these statements, of course, nor has he asked white nationalist groups for their support. But the sentiment is alarming.

Meanwhile Congressman Keith Ellison is the leading candidate to head Democratic National Committee.  A growing number of pro-Israel activists and Jewish community figures are expressing concern that Minnesota’s U.S. Rep. Ellison will turn the Democratic Party away from Israel if he is elected party chairman.

While I am not a Zionist I do appreciate the fact that Israel is the only majority Jewish nation in the world.  “Hail Trump” frightens me and so does a congressman who has a history of relations with Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam movement. The Jewish News Service reports on Ellison’s relationship with Farrakhan in detail.

My family thinks I am too involved with politics and my fears are unfounded.  Sadly history seems to support my fears.

A Sad Decline for America

I am not happy as I did support Hillary Clinton. However I did not support her because she had anything worthwhile to offer. She was “the lesser of two evils” in my opinion. Trump won because he promised change. That was the Obama promise too. We all know how that turned out. Millions of people believed that Mrs. Clinton was just a continuation of the same gridlock that has kept the same bunch of elected people in office (and that includes Republicans and Democrats).  It’s unlikely Trump will be successful but the public keeps hoping.

Charles Krauthammer in his November 11, 2016 column mostly wrote about how a Republican congress can now cancel Obamacare, end Dodd Frank consumer protection, and impose their solutions for illegal immigration.  One point he made does make sense: “Trump spoke to and for a working class squeezed and ruined by rapid technological and economic transformation.” While Krauthammer was correct in that analysis his solutions make no sense.

The greater question for me is what will Donald Trump actually do as president?  His history of remarks and promises is full of contradictions.  Many of those contradictory statements have been played on CNN and elsewhere. A good example is in 1999, when Trump forcefully argued for universal health care, telling CNN’s Larry King, “If you can’t take care of your sick in the country, forget it, it’s all over. I mean, it’s no good. So I’m very liberal when it comes to health care. I believe in universal health care. I believe in whatever it takes to make people well and better.”

The world has changed dramatically over the last two decades.  Donald Trump cannot roll back the impact of globalization.  Our congress is filled with people with an average age of Members of the House at the beginning of the 114th Congress of 57.0 years; of Senators, 61.0 years.  These are a bunch of older people many of whom do not understand the changing world.  This is not the group likely to lead this nation in a rapidly changing technology world.

Sadly, we are likely to see an America in decline.  Tell me I am wrong and why.

Donald Trump and Hate

The United States democratically elects its president and the majority has spoken through the ballot box. The losers must accept the will of the majority.

I am deeply disappointed with the results. Donald Trump is the poster child for hate, misogyny, and discrimination. His election tells me more about America than about him.

I fear for the fate of minorities and the handicapped in this nation under a Trump presidency. I have personally experienced discrimination and sympathize with all who have had to live in a world of hate.

I see Adolph Hitler in the words of Donald Trump. Asians, Jews, Latinos and Muslims are the likely targets of a President Trump.

A rebellion is unlikely. A massive emigration of minorities from the United States is a possible outcome. Certainly the entry of minority peoples to America will be significantly smaller than in previous years.

My likely new home will be Canada – if they will take me.

Age and the American Presidency

 Ronald Reagan was the oldest president of the United States. He was the oldest to be inaugurated for his first term, 69 years old and consequently was the oldest when leaving the office eight years later (77 years old). It was rumored that he fell asleep during briefings in his second term.

Now we have the two oldest people who have ever run for presidency. Donald Trump is 70 years old and Hillary Clinton will be 69 in this coming October.

For the population to accept the idea that these two people, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, are as fit as Barack Obama who leaves office at a 55 is utterly ridiculous. If his hair color is any indication, Obama took a serious physical beating.

barack-obama-3

A young Barack Obama, 2008

barack-obama-august-20-2014

August 20, 2014 Barack Obama

The likelihood that Clinton or Trump could experience a serious health issue is very high. Mrs. Clinton will undoubtedly insist she has no consequential health problems. Mr. Trump will make similar comments.  The public deserves to know both Clinton’s and Trump’s health condition.

If the question of candidate health becomes a significant campaign issue I anticipate that will be a deciding factor on November 8. It shouldn’t!

Look at the vice presidential candidates. Mike Pence as president would be pushing and enforcing his conservative views that include discriminatory views against the LGBT community and his total opposition to abortion under any circumstance. Tim Kane has a record of inclusiveness. The choice between them is clear.

This is a frightening election season. We are forced to choose between a loud mouth, bully, racist, know-it-all and someone who has no other campaign slogan than “I’m with her; Stronger together.”

Maybe best not to vote for either candidate.