January Iowa Democratic Party Debate

The question for this debate was who should I vote for in the Iowa Caucus on February who can win the election in November?

The second question is who would be the best choice to lead the country in the 21st century?

Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders were the clear winners in the debate. They impressed me with their knowledge on every subject. Tom Steyer was the big loser. Biden with the exception of his closing statement, Buttigieg, and Klobuchar were all mildly impressive but offered little in the way of a reason to gain my support.

I was happy that this debate was focused on foreign affairs. Arguing who voted in support of the invasion of Iraq gave us no idea of when and why we would become involved in another war. Buttigieg’s proposal that all authorizations should include a sunset provision is a wise idea. Warren pointed out that the generals have been saying for years that the war in Afghanistan is about to conclude.

Joe Biden’s closing statement is worth repeating here because it sums up my opinion about the Trump presidency.
“Character is on the ballot this time around. The American character is on the ballot. Not what Donald Trump is spewing out, the hate, the xenophobia, the racism. That’s not who we are as a nation. Everyone in this country is entitled to be treated with respect and dignity. Every single solitary person has to have in a position that may in fact we treat them with decency. It’s about fundamental, basic decency. We in the United States of America can put up with …
we can overcome four years of Donald Trump, but eight years of Donald Trump will be an absolute disaster and fundamentally change this nation. We have to restore America’s soul. As I’ve said from the moment I announced, it is in jeopardy under this President of the United States. We lead the world when we lead by example, not by our power.”

Sadly Joe Biden is too old to lead this nation in this century. Frankly, Warren and Sanders are also too old for this very difficult job. That puts Michael Bloomberg and me in the too old category as well. My reason is the stress is too high. Death of a senior citizen president puts the country in the hands of a vice president who is usually chosen for political reasons rather than capability.

My attention will now be on Buttigieg, Klobuchar, former tech executive Andrew Yang, and Former Mass. Gov. Duval Patriick.

In my opinion if Joe Biden is the Democratic Party nominee Donald Trump will be elected to a second term and then try to find a way to obtain a third term.

Horrible Campaign for President of the United States

Bernie Sanders was not a candidate as much as he was a spokesman for a cause. That is the reason his followers booed him as he implored them to support Hillary Clinton in two different speeches yesterday (one at a Sanders campaign meeting and again when he spoke at the convention).That cause is the views of the more “liberal” wing of the Democratic Party.

Donald Trump faced the same hostility in the Republican Party. He does not represent the conservative views of most Republicans. No past presidents, many Republican leaders, and many of his primary opponents did not come to the RNC convention to offer their support for his candidacy. Ted Cruz, for reasons only he knows, felt compelled to speak at the convention only to be hustled out of the hall out of fear for his safety. Cruz’s primary comment telling everyone to vote their conscience says everything about where many Republicans are with Mr. Trump.

Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump face the same issue. Without the support of a volunteer campaign staff, they will have a difficult time reaching the voters. Trump has run his campaign without a large staff and appears to believe his unorthodox style does not require thousands of volunteers. Hillary understands the need for a significant volunteer army. If Trump wins, future campaigns will not reflect the past.

Public concern should be the future of the United States under the leadership of either of these candidates as they are both seriously flawed.

Bernie Sanders: If you don’t like Israel don’t ask me for money!

Mr. Sanders:

You continually send me e-mails asking me to send you money so that you can be elected to be the President of the United States.

I am Jewish and I fear for the safety and future of Jews in the world, especially when Iran is launching missiles – dedicating to the eradication of the State of Israel.

I will not vote for you because I believe that you do not know the difference between good and evil. You have spokespeople, like Linda Sarsour, who decry the State of Israel and liken it to white supremacists and say that it is an apartheid state.

After the Germans, Arabs and Japanese conspired to conquer the world and wipe out every Jew in the world in World War 2, the world (at the U.N.) voted to divide Palestine into Arab-land and Jew-land (this was after Great Britain gave 80% of Palestine to Jordan in 1922).

Israel agreed to accept the “partition” plan and the Arabs refused, claiming that they wanted 100% of the land – that the Jews could live in the Mediterranean. After the war of 1948, the borders were fixed; except that the Arabs again refused to honor those borders or acknowledge that the Jews had any right to live anywhere.

In 1967, the Arabs launched another offensive against Israel. Israel won that war too. Israel ended up with more territory. They gave most of the “gains” back to Egypt in order to make peace with Egypt.

They offered to give the “West Bank” back to Jordan to make peace, but Jordan refused to take it – because Jordan hates the Palestinians (the Jordanians have kept the Palestinians in camps for the past 60 years – rather than accept them as Jordanian citizens).

Israel kept, accepted and made citizens of the Israeli Arabs. I’m sure that you know that 20% of Israelis are Arabs …. and 20% of Israeli medical students are Arabs. Did you know that the new assistant head of the Police is an Arab (named yesterday)?

Your outrageous lying statement that the Israelis overreacted in the Gaza conflict is immoral. No fighting army (against Hamas terrorists who use human shields and launch missiles from schools and mosques) has EVER acted with such restraint and morality as the Israeli’s.

Shame on you Bernie that you cannot tell good from bad; morality from evil. You are turning your back on the only democracy in the Middle East. You are turning your back on the country that is the nicest and best place for Palestinians to live (Syria, Lebanon and Jordan have them locked up in camps). You support those whose motto is “From the River to the Sea” (meaning that ALL of Israel should be Arab … and the Jews should live in the Sea). You just don’t understand the real world. You have bought into Arab propaganda and turned against the only Jewish country in the world.

written by Michael Waterman, teacher at Temple Beth Am in Los Angeles

Bernie Sanders at L.A.’s Wiltern Theater March 23, 2016

Fresh off of wins in the Idaho and Utah caucuses, a rally in front of more than 10,000 people in San Diego and an appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” Bernie Sanders urged supporters in Los Angeles to stay strong through California’s primary in June.

The Vermont senator arrived at L.A.’s Wiltern Theater on Wednesday night. Sanders, in front of a boisterous crowd at the historic Wiltern, issued a reminder to thunderous cheers.

Secretary Clinton did well in the South,” he said. “We’re not in the South. We’re in the West now.”

Bernie Sanders speaks during a campaign rally at The Wiltern in. Los Angeles, CA. March 23, 2016. (Photo by John McCoy/Los Angeles News Group) — Bernie Sanders speaks during a campaign rally at The Wiltern in Los Angeles, CA. March 23, 2016. (Photo by John McCoy/Los Angeles News Group)

“To dream the impossible dream.”

Don Quixote: “To dream the impossible dream.”

What do all the “establishment” candidates have in common? They all promise to balance the budgets, lower taxes, eliminate tax cheaters, and of course keep America strong. The problem is that those are the basics of the job of president.

Americans want more from their president. They want to vote for someone who can offer a new and improved America. The want an America that destroys the bad guys and raises the opportunities for all Americans. They do want health care for everyone, a free or low cost education for their children, and the elimination of poverty.

Americans want health and happiness for everyone. They want someone who will “make America great again.” All of those wants without any cost.

The outsiders are the group of candidates that offer those results if only you will elect them to the presidency.

Thus “we will build a wall and make Mexico pay for it”, defend the constitution, and provide free universal health care for everyone. Those are the leading visions of the “outsiders.”

Looking at the history of our presidents I see a trail of broken promises. The war on poverty, the war on drugs, the Vietnam War, the Iraq War, Hope and Change all have one common result and that is failure.

I like this quote from Bernie Sanders that at least acknowledges that one man alone cannot bring about change:
“No president, not Bernie Sanders, not anybody else, will be able to bring about the changes that the working families and the middle class of this country, that our children, that the seniors, our seniors deserve.” Sanders continued, “No one president can do it because the powers that be, Wall Street with their endless supply of money, corporate America, the large campaign donors are so powerful that no president can do what has to be done alone. And that is why — and that is why what Iowa has begun tonight is a political revolution.” – See more at: http://www.citywatchla.com/index.php/world-views/10450-why-i-support-bernie-s-revolution-incremental-progress-is-not-good-enough#sthash.Xmw9NSox.dpuf

So I will probably vote for Bernie and dream the impossible dream even though I know nothing will change.

Americans Want an Outsider to Lead the Country

The first GOP presidential debate of 2016 displayed fear. That was the opening round. Fear all Muslims, fear the terrorists, fear all Latinos, fear they will take away our guns, fear that the economy is going to collapse. Of course all the blame goes to the Obama administration. The crowd loved it.

Then we came to part two and that was the Donald Trump reasons that we should support him over Ted Cruz. The crowd loved it.

The rest of the candidates were barely noticed. Nothing they said will change their positions in the polls. We have heard their ideas before and for the most part are not in agreement with their ideas.

The media seems to think the ratings were Trump won and Cruz came in second with Rubio on his heels.

Can anyone beat Donald Trump? Probably not. He learned how to entertain the crowds on The Apprentice and that education enables him to draw in a public yearning for an outsider.

Americans are tired of the Washington crowd that makes promises they rarely keep. That is the reason Bernie Sanders is rising in the polls.

The general election will be very interesting.

Goodbye to America’s Middle Class

Forget about the poor and the rich for just a few minutes. Think about the middle class. The range of the middle class varies by state. According to Pew Research Center in the middle class shrunk in every state between 2000 and 2013. The highest median income for that group was $72,483 in Maryland and at the low end in Mississippi it was $37,963.

Here is the real shocker. Household median income reached $48,474 in 2012 but in adjusted for inflation dollars Americans reached an income of $48,655 in 1978. The median income in 1978 was $13,234.

Pew Research writes: “The hollowing of the American middle class has proceeded steadily for more than four decades. Since 1971, each decade has ended with a smaller share of adults living in middle-income households than at the beginning of the decade, and no single decade stands out as having triggered or hastened the decline in the middle.

Based on the definition used in their report, the share of American adults living in middle-income households has fallen from 61% in 1971 to 50% in 2015.”

Which presidential candidate is likely to change this situation? The answer is no one. While Bernie Sanders rails against big business he has not offered any solutions.

2016 Politics Starts at the Rose Parade on January 1

What a campaign year it will be! The politically passionate started by dragging politics into an event that tries to avoid race, religion, and politics. They just couldn’t stop those passions for even 2 ½ hours.

After the last float left the Rose Parade’s starting line, a skywriting plane soared overhead. Attendees pointed and laughed at the plane’s message: “America is great. Trump is disgusting. Iowans dump Trump.”

Not to be outdone supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders followed behind the last float at the Rose Parade, carrying banners and shouting “Feel the Bern!”

Is Donald Trump the New Hitler?

The similarities between Donald Trump and Adolph Hitler are frightening. The United States is not in the same condition as Germany in the 1930s but many people see themselves as victims of a similar plight. They have low paid jobs or no jobs at all while there are wealthy people who are earning fabulous salaries and bonuses. Bernie Sanders has pointed out that the wealth of the richest 1% is greater than the bottom 90%.

Unlike Senator Sanders, Mr. Trump has rallied his support from those “victims” of illegal immigration from Mexicans who are “all rapists and murderers.”

Today Mr. Trump has added all Muslims to his list of people to fear. This methodology was the same used by Hitler in his campaign of hate against Jews in the 1930s. Perhaps we should blame Sanders for the rise of Trump.

Trump has found minorities to blame for the plight of the poor in America. Who will be his next group to blame? Will it be Jews or perhaps Asians?

Are Americans “that stupid” to fall for this clap trap?

Where are the sensible GOP candidates for president? Jeb Bush makes mild disavowals as does John Kasich and the others are silent.

Hillary Clinton may believe that the nomination of Donald Trump is her path to the presidency but there is a frightening tide flowing across this nation.

Am I just being hysterical? The crowds at Trump rallies tell me we do have something to fear.

Bernie Sanders’ Labor Day Index

This is an OP-ED article in today’s Los Angeles Times. It is posted under Senator Bernie Sanders name. The data is not news to me but might be news to you.

Amount a full-time worker must earn per hour to afford the average two-bedroom apartment in Los Angeles:

$27.38

Factor by which this exceeds the city’s current $9-an-hour minimum wage

3.04

______

Number of manufacturing jobs in the United States on Jan. 1, 2000

17.3 million

Number last year:

12.1 million

______

Percentage change in annual worker compensation from 1978 to 2013:

+10.2

Percentage change in annual CEO compensation from 1978 to 2013:

+937

______

Average CEO pay in the S&P 500:

$13.8 million

Amount of the top-compensated CEO,

David Zaslav of Discovery Communications,

was paid in 2014:

$156 million

Median salary at Discovery Communications in 2014:

$80,000

______

Median weekly earnings for full-time workers in 2015:

$801

For female full-time workers:

$726

______

Real national unemployment rate:

10.3%

(This is from the BLS Table A15, U6 data, 8-31-15)

For young White high school graduates:

33.8%

For young African American high school graduates:

51.3%

______

Percentage of the entire wealth of the United States owned by the top 1%

Percentage owned by the bottom 60%:

______

Percentage of Americans without health insurance for at least part of the year 2013:

11.7

Percentage of Canadians:

Percentage of Israelis:

______

Number of countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that mandate some form of paid family leave:

Number of OECD countries that do not:

Percentage of U.S. workers without access to paid family leave:

______

Number of American children living below the poverty line is 2012:

24.2 million

______

Percentage of Americans who still believe in the American dream: