Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Bits and Pieces

Some things just keep running through my mind....  

  Why does Donald Trump keep bringing up Hillary Clinton's mistake using a personal e-mail server while she was Secretary of State?  Yes, she erased 35,000 e-mails.  The FBI and the DoJ have decided not to press charges against her.
   What about the 22 million e-mails that were lost by the Bush White House administration, all while using a Republican National Committee public server - thousands of people had access to those e-mails....

   Several weeks ago, a teenage driver struck and killed a man confined to a wheelchair while he was using a pedestrian crosswalk in a nearby town.  (I am sorry for both of them, and for their families.) It was only recently realized that the handicapped man had been a "panhandler" in the city of Boulder for more than 20 years.  I remember reading complaints about him in the newspaper, when I moved here 12 years ago.  Since his death, however, the same newspaper is calling the man "an iconic member of the Boulder community."  Why?  Because we shouldn't speak ill of the dead?

   Both Hillary, and her husband, Bill Clinton, have been investigated by Special Government Prosecutors, both before, during, and after Bill Clinton was President of the United States.  No charges were ever brought against either of them, for any type of wrong-doing.  Bill Clinton was impeached by a Republican Congress, but those charges were also dropped.  They may have paid fines and legal fees, but they were never convicted of anything.
   Donald Trump has been sued, faced multiple law suits, paid fines to county and state and the national government.  These have been occurring since the early 1970s and he declared bankruptcy in 1991, 1992, 2004, and 2009.  Of these four bankruptcies, he stated, "I was just playing the game" and used "the law to pare away my debt."  In 1995 he declared business losses of  $915 million, and used the tax laws to not pay personal income tax for 18 years.  He has been sued for his behavior at multiple beauty pageants since 1992, and has always "settled privately."  (Settled privately, here, means that he paid people money to keep their mouths closed and not tell the truth.) In New York City, he was charged with Racial Housing Discrimination in 1973, 1974, and 1975 - his lawyers arranged for him to pay fines.  He was charged with, and fined for, having Mafia ties in both New York City and Atlantic City, NJ.  For four years in the 1980s, he was charged with tenant intimidation in New York City - he settled privately. In 1989, his then wife, Ivana, accused him of marital rape - much later, before their divorce, she said it was "taken the wrong way."  He was fined for breaking Casino Rules in 1990, 1991, and 2000 in both New York and New Jersey.  He was fined $750,000 for Anti-Trust violations in 1986.  Not to mention the Trump Institute and the Trump Foundation...   He admits that he has broken laws, and then pays off the injured, or pays governmental fines.

   Bill Clinton loves women.  And he's had trouble because of that.  But Bill is not running for President; Hillary Clinton is.  Hillary Clinton apparently loves Bill deeply, and has stood by him, in good times and bad.  They have one daughter, Chelsea, and two grandchildren, Charlotte and Aidan.
   Donald Trump has been married three times, and, according to him, has "bedded many, many women."  He married a European model, Ivana, in 1977, and they had three children: Donald Jr, Ivanka, and Eric.  Trump started dating Marla Maples, his second wife, long before he divorced Ivana, his first wife.  Trump and Marla were married in 1993, and had Tiffany.  Their marriage ended in 1999.  In 2005, Trump married another European model, Melania, and they produced a son, Barron.  Trump has eight grandchildren; five are children of Donald Jr, Kai, Tristan, Chloe, Spencer, and Donald III; and three are Ivanka's, Arabella, Theodore, and Joseph.

   Hillary Clinton has her hopes and plans for her Presidency on the internet.
   Trump says his are "secret" and he'll reveal them when he's ready - after the election?  When he's actually in office?  When?

    As far as I can see, and look back, Clinton's biggest mistakes were hiding her diagnosis of pneumonia; and calling Trump supporters "deplorables." She has apologized for both.
    Trump, on the other hand, has made so many proclamations that are wrong, and denied them; has denied saying things that are easily seen (and verified) on audio and visual recordings; and, on Sunday, declared that when he's President, he will see Hillary Clinton jailed.  That's just too much for me.  Today, after multiple Republican statesmen have revoked their endorsements of him, he says he's now "free of the shackles."  What other repulsive, loathsome words will spill out of him before and during the next debate (on October 19)?

   I hate to admit it, but I now feel that I must watch the debate - just to see what outrageous things Trump says, and what he decides to accuse Hillary Clinton (and her husband) of next....  

   May the Gods (not Loki) assist the United States of America!!

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