Conventions Are Over - 104 Days to Vote - What The Hell Do We Do Now?

Day 3 and 4 - The DNC Convention,

 What Do We Do Now? 104 Days To Vote

2016 Democratic National Convention - Philadelphia, PA

Democratic National Convention - Days 3 

     After the gavel in on Day 3 Erica Smegielski was the first speaker. Erica’s mother Dawn was the principal of Sandy Hook Elementary and was killed while trying to protect her students.The full schedule of speakers can be found here from WTOP.com: Full schedule of speakers for Day 3 of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, PA The headliners were Vice President Joe Biden and President Barack Obama. Vice President Nominee Tim Kaine accepted the nomination for Vice President.

     So President Barack Obama delivered another speech as only a good orator could, Unfortunately he, and other speakers, in going with how we are a great country he sort of, let's say, stretched the truth a little bit. Here are some things fact-checkers found without having done their entire speeches as yet. Don't these people think that fact-checkers are going to check what they say?

• President Barack Obama claimed that under his administration, “we finally began to wean ourselves off foreign oil,” but dependency on imported oil had begun to drop years before he took office.
• The president repeated a frequent boast that the U.S. “doubled our production of clean energy” during his tenure. Monthly renewable energy production has gone up 40 percent.
• Obama said deficits have “come down” under his administration. That’s true, but they are expected to rise again soon under his proposed budget.
• Vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine falsely referred to economist Mark Zandi as “John McCain’s chief economic adviser during the ’08 race,” in touting an estimate of job loss under Donald Trump’s proposals. In fact, Zandi is a Democrat.
• Rev. Jesse Jackson wrongly said “we have not lost a single job, a single month” since Obama became president, and he was also off in saying the U.S. trades “more with Mexico than we do with China.”
• Former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta falsely claimed that Trump “says he gets his foreign policy experience from … running the Miss Universe pageant.” Trump didn’t say that was his foreign policy experience.
• Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid claimed that the GOP ticket wanted to “gamble” Social Security “in the stock market.” But Trump’s campaign has called for making no changes to Social Security.
• Kaine claimed that Trump said he “wants to abandon” our NATO allies. Trump has said that he doesn’t want the U.S. to leave NATO, but has suggested he would not automatically defend NATO allies that do not pay their share of defense costs.

     There was some good in that this convention actually had more viewers that the celebrity show candidate drew, hopefully that will mean more Democrats come out on November 8, 2016 and vote for every Senator and Congressman and woman running. In "the takeaways" by The New York Times America first — in the world. From The New York Times "Takeaways" of the DNC Convention    they said "The third night of Mrs. Clinton’s Democratic National Convention, heavy on national security themes, could have been titled “America First in the World.” Democrats celebrated the country’s diversity, with Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, the vice-presidential nominee, ladling on the Spanish. Prominent Democratic hawks, including Leon Panetta, a former C.I.A. director and secretary of defense, made the case for internationalism and multilateral engagement, harking back to the Cold War tradition." The Fix section of The Washington Post give you their Winners and losers from the third night of the Democratic convention . Overall, a good line-up of speakers; 

Democratic National Convention - Days 4

     The finale, Democratic Nominee for President of the United States Hillary Clinton accepted the nomination. By now I'm way too upset at Hillary. The straw that broke the camel's back was when she "promoted" the Former Chair of the DNC Debbie Wasserman-Schultz moments after she was forced to resign after hacked e-mails showed there was a concerted effort to hurt Senator Bernie Sander's campaign. She could stand up there and promise the moon and just how many of the 70% of Americans that consider her "untrustworthy" are going to believe a word she says. Well, when you look at how many supporters the narcissistic, misogynistic, hateful, racist, businessman/celebrity reality show host, Republican Nominee for President of the United States has, it's not easy to answer that question. "The Democratic nominee for United States president made a play for progressives, moderates, and Independents alike during her address in Philadelphia on Thursday night." Hillary Clinton Begins Building Her Coalition  David A. Graham, The Atlantic reported "While Clinton did not skip over the historic aspect of her nomination, she spent most of her hour-long speech emphasizing two, interlocking themes: the importance of community and togetherness, and the fundamental unfitness of the Republican nominee for office."

So Here We Are - Two Horrible Candidates With 104 Days Left

      I am really angry that the current political system has given us these two candidates to us to choose from for the President Of The United States (POTUS). They say we have a two party system. I had to look for options, I always looked for all my options when I was in business and had to make an important decision. So I looked for people that I can have an honest conversation with, to help me find what options I have.

What Are Our Options? Do We Have Any?

     I've been following and conversing with some people for a few years on Facebook. Many people I follow, to see what they post, are passionate about their beliefs, most are quite outgoing and have no trouble telling you what they think about anything they think is important to them. There are also a couple people that I share thoughts with as they do with me and I find them to be quite intelligent, passionate and stimulate my intellect and thought process. I find that they share accurate information (I do a lot of fact-checking and research) and express their thoughts without being disrespectful, hateful, or immoral. I don't know if they would want me to use their names in my blog so I'll just ask them, if they want, to please comment on this post and tell me, and my readers, Why, or Why Not, should people consider, with the two bad choices we have to vote for, for POTUS, or not consider, Jill Stein, Green Party Candidate for President of the United States? In fact, I invite all readers to comment on this question. 

     
     There are two people in particular that I speak to on Facebook that I eluded to above, I find to be very intelligent and speak truthful about facts and I respect their thoughts and opinions. As to the first one, I'll call him, Knowledgeable, Insightful, Respectful, Facebook Friend #1,  We disagree on some things and that is O.K. and is normal. He has lived through some history that I haven't (he's a tad older) and can site facts, and his prospective of what happened in some situations, movements, events, and eras.  He got involved by speaking up and voicing his educated opinion. He got involved because he cared enough about our country. He witnessed the Civil Rights movement first hand. He served in Vietnam and took the time during, and after, to find out as much as he could about what it was all about. He can tell you things you wouldn't read in any media. I've just decided while I was writing this post that I'm going to ask him, both actually, if they would consider being a contributing author to this blog. I'm sure any readers I have would enjoy their contributions. Anyway, today I was talking to Knowledgeable, Insightful, Respectful, Facebook Friend #1 about the "war on drugs" as it were, and he explained how opium was actually transported by Air America, a division of the CIA during the Vietnam war. My brother who served in Vietnam also had talked about them a number of times so I had heard of them before. They had silver helicopters and were indeed part of the CIA, and there wasn't a bunch more information available about them at that time. These facts are not disputed today. He can tell you, Knowledgeable, Insightful, Respectful, Facebook Friend #1,  the motivations behind the Iran/Contra dealings and much, much more. The "war on drugs" conversation that he linked "Air America" to went on. But I digress. The reason I bring him up is that we have been talking over the course of the past couple years and we find that we are both very angry at the choices we have for POTUS. I said that I really wish we had someone else to vote for, that I really dislike the candidates. I was pretty much giving in as far as saying I can't vote for Trump, I may have to vote for Hillary. I will point out what I like and dislike about Trump and Clinton in the next section, although I can tell you now that it will mostly be what I don't like. So I asked what his thoughts were on the election.

    Knowledgeable, Insightful, Respectful, Facebook Friend #1 made it clear that knowing me, and how active I am in politics, that I would not be content "voting for the lesser of two evils," and he was right. I think a lot of people use that and actually end up voting against someone, instead of for someone. He then said I should look at the Green Party candidate, so I did. I've been looking and researching for two days and I like what I see. I have hesitation that since no third party candidate is ever going to get anywhere near the $2B of free exposure that Trump has gotten, if ANY, that votes for a third party candidate would simply draw votes away from Hillary Clinton, therefore giving the worst candidate in the history of America, for President, a win. But he said if you're not willing to even look at the candidate and try, and vote for someone you despise, how are you going to feel. How will we ever get away from the crooked, lying, disrespectful, broken, system we have now? He hit a nerve. So I started looking at Jill Stein, Green Party Presumptive Nominee for President of the United States.

Who Is Jill Stein? Why Is She An Alternative To Clinton and Trump for President?

    

     Jill Ellen Stein (G-MA) (born May 14, 1950) is an American physician, activist, and politician. She is currently the Green Party's presumptive nominee for President of the United States in the 2016 election. Stein was the nominee of the Green Party for President of the United States in 2012, and was twice a candidate for Governor of Massachusetts—in 2002 and 2010. She received 469,501 votes in 2012 (0.36% of the total votes), more than any other female general election candidate.^[11] On June 22, 2015, during an appearance on Democracy Now!, Stein formally announced she would seek the Green Party's 2016 presidential nomination. (From Wikileaks - Read More)

     She was born and raised in Highland Park, IL and lives  Stein is married to Richard Rohrer, who is also a physician. They live in Lexington, Massachusetts, and have two adult sons. In 1973, Stein graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University, where she studied psychology, sociology, and anthropology. She then attended Harvard Medical School and graduated in 1979. After graduating from Harvard Medical School, Stein practiced internal medicine for 25 years.

     Her platform is called "Our Power to the People Plan" includes Climate Action: Protecting Mother Earth and Humanity; Jobs as a Right, and Key Support for Labor;
End Poverty; Health Care as a Right, and much more. She has actual plans unlike one of the candidates running in the "two-party" system. (Read Jill Stein's Platform here) If you are a Bernie Sanders supporter there is a lot to like here.

     Some news has been coming out and Sanders supporters are taking notice:

     Seattle Times July 28, 2016: the said "On Monday, Sen. Bernie Sanders urged his supporters to vote for Hillary Clinton in a prime-time speech from the Democratic National Convention stage in Philadelphia. That same day, socialist Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant — who had backed Sanders — told a crowd at a rally across town to continue Sanders’ “political revolution,” not by following his lead, but by voting for Green Party candidate Jill Stein." Read More: Thinking of voting for Jill Stein or Gary Johnson? Here are their policy positions

     Politico June 19, 2016:  After an anxiety-inducing and divisive primary, Democrats are starting to breathe easier. Bernie Sanders, while not formally conceding to Hillary Clinton, has turned his fire on Donald Trump. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the darling of the left before Sanders, has effusively endorsed Clinton. So at last the presumptive nominee can hope to gather in all those unhappy Bernie voters and lead a united Democratic Party in the fall, right?
Not if Dr. Jill Stein has anything to say about it.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/06/2016-campaign-election-hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-green-party-jill-stein-progressives-liberal-213972#ixzz4FqKxd7aC

 

Check out Jill Stein's Facebook Page 

                 Jill Stein's Twitter Page 

                 

     O.K. I started writing this post to close out my thoughts on the Democratic National Convention. It took on a whole new direction as I came to find out that we have two candidates that for numerous reasons, will NOT  do the right thing if your in the 99%. We need to look elsewhere, and that is where this post started to be about the "Other" choice, Jill Stein.

Why Not Hillary Clinton? Think About It, Carefully

     I find many, many, things that displease me with her. She is a former board member of Monsanto, and other large corporations that I despise. She has been paid $225,000 per hour to speak at Goldman Sacs on a couple of occasions. She has close ties with many other Wall Street firms, and receives more donations from them then other candidates, that I'm comfortable with. I don't believe for a minute that she will push to get Glass-Steagal put back, or get Dodd-Frank implemented, which was actually passed July 15, 2010 more than 2200 days ago and still has not been fully implemented. It calls for those TBTF banks and institutions to be broken up. Glass-Steagal was regulations put in place after the great depression, removed by George W. Bush which allowed these banks and institutions to become TBTF. Instead of those 29 being broken up they are actually BIGGER today, and to beat all, there are now MORE than 29! When the financial crisis occurred in 2008 there were 29 banks and financial institutions that were Too Big To Fail (TBTF) and the taxpayers had to bail them out. Dodd-Frank was passed after those very institutions put large sums of money (that we helped them make) into blocking it. After it passed they have put even bigger amounts of money, and lobbyist have been successful in blocking it's implementation. H.R. 4173 (111th): Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act . Hillary Clinton was for the TPP but now says she's against it. She set up a personal server hidden in a closet across the country and said it was because she only wanted to use one device. It was proven beyond any doubt she used several devices. She traveled all over the world, where we have people and countries that don't like us, and have the capabilities to hack those devices, and she knowingly sent and received confidential information. WTF?! Just so she could hide her dealings with foreign nations to get money funneled into the Clinton Foundation. She acts dumb when asked why she would not only delete 30,000 e-mails but then have the hard drives professionally "wiped clean" before turning it over. Really?! And she didn't understand what she was doing? GIVE ME A BREAK! 

Donald Trump

     I find it mind boggling that so many Americans are so gullible as to believe a word of what this hateful, racist, narcissistic, ignorant (about everything a President would actually have to know and learn), misogynistic, bullshit artist has come out of his mouth. He displays his ignorance everyday and people still rally behind him. It sickens me that he says he will run this country likes his businesses. He has ripped off so many people that did business with him, and many people struggling to get by, that he had his con-artist's  at Trump University scam money from. He is a hateful, greedy, racist, narcissistic, misogynistic, reality TV host, that doesn't know the first thing of what it will take to run this country. His son, Donald Jr., interviewed Governor Kasich as part of the Vice-President vetting process. Donald Jr. asked Governor Kasich what he thought about being "the most Powerful Vice-President that ever lived?" Governor Kasich said "well, how would that be?" Donald Jr. said "because you will be in charge of all domestic and foreign policy." Governor Kasich said "well, that's everything, what would Donald Trump be doing?" Donald Jr. replied "making America great again." ARE YOU F*CKING KIDDING ME?!

     I'm done for now, I have to calm down. Please think about not voting for the lesser of two evils. Take a look at Jill Stein. Remember that our next President is going to pick probably at least 2 U.S Supreme Court Justices nominees and may as many as 4-5. Also remember that their are a lot of seats open in the House and Senate. We need to fire the obstructionists that have been holding this country hostage by not doing what they get paid for. They don't care, they know that they will get high salaries being lobbyists when they do finally get kicked out of office.

     Please respond with your comments, I welcome them.