“We are the world… we are the children;  We are the one’s who make a better life, so let’s start giving….  There’s a dream we’re making, we’re saving our own lives, it true we’ll make a better world, just you and me….

Sound familiar?  Could you sing it if we only provided the first stanza?  Most likely the answer is yes.  The bigger question is “why”?

How about another one?  More subtle maybe; this one from 2011:

This week’s biggest Africa news isn’t from Africa. It’s from a massive online and social media campaign launched by the American advocacy group Invisible Children to capture indicted war criminal and Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony. 

As with their previous campaigns Displace Me and How it Ends, Invisible Children launched Stop Kony 2012 on Tuesday to mobilize the next generation of young Americans to help end the conflict in northern Uganda – except this time, they called on their mostly white, privileged, and educated youth followers to get involved through web-activism on their Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and YouTube accounts. (more…)

In the unlikely event you can’t hear the sound of the Rhinoceros marching on bubble wrap directly behind you, it might be worth while getting a firmer grip on both your ankles:

[…]  “The Senate Democrats have a big enough number to prevent us from doing things. They prevented us from doing any of the bills that appropriate money for the government, thereby forcing a negotiation when we go back in after Labor Day, which I’ll be engaged in with the administration and others to try to sort out how much we’re going to spend and where we’re going to spend it.”  ~ Mitch McConnell

Yes, that’s Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, giving a preview of his “budget plan strategy”.
If you find yourself pausing, well, prior to having the jackbooted foot of a $4 trillion spending proposal rammed into your psyche, and asking yourself why the “Senate” leader and not the House Leader is making such proclamations – you might still be stuck in the old School-House-Rock paradigm of thinking that budgety stuff is actually constructed in the House of Representatives.  (more…)

Clinton Emails Released Here

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(Via NBC) Donald Trump handily won the straw poll at the National Federal of Republican Assemblies event in Nashville, Tennessee, on Saturday, becoming both the first and second top pick among conservatives here after delivering another boisterous speech.
“I don’t want it to be about me. This is about common sense,” Trump said, even as he extolled his surging numbers. “Normally I wouldn’t say this, but I need your frickin’ votes!” he exclaimed at another point.
A few hours after addressing a cheering crowd of about 800, Trump was declared the first choice Republican presidential candidate with 52% of the vote, as well as the top pick for attendees’ second choice, with 26%. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and former neurosurgeon Ben Carson were the second and third choices, respectively, in the NFRA straw poll for first and second-choice candidates. (more…)

The Mitch McConnell legislative agenda was written for him prior to taking his position as Senate Majority Leader.  The author of the agenda was a group of Wall Street financiers who organize under the construct of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Tom Donohue as CoC President.

Donohue then spends millions through K-Street lobbyists to insure his legislative priorities are maintained.  In the run-up to the 2014 mid-terms Donohue was very specific on what his demands were of the GOPe team, Boehner and McConnell:

♦ Comprehensive Immigration Reform – to include Amnesty for illegal aliens. (link)

♦ Support for full delivery of Federal Common CORE education standards (link)

♦ The full implementation of ObamaCare without adjustment. (link)

♦ Trans Pacific Trade Deal (link) (Currently in negotiations)

So it should come as no surprise to see the hand-out given to the Republican senators by John Thune would specifically call for the GOP to frame the CoC position on these issues in the August recess ‘Town Hall’ meetings. (more…)

Just in the nick of time.  A federal judge today blocked the Obama administration’s water pollution rule mere hours before it was set to begin implementation.  Under the new EPA/Obama regulations puddles, ditches and all rain accumulation geographies come under the jurisdiction of the EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Any area subject to rain water transit would have to meet strict EPA rules and compliance standards.  Yes, that means your driveway, puddles upon your property, the ditch in front of your house, or the transverse area around your guttered downspouts would be subject to the inspection and authority of the EPA.

WASHINGTON DC – A federal judge in North Dakota acted late Thursday to block the Obama administration’s controversial water pollution rule, hours before it was due to take effect.
Judge Ralph Erickson of the District Court for the District of North Dakota found that the 13 states suing to block the rule met the conditions necessary for a preliminary injunction, including that they would likely be harmed if courts didn’t act and that they are likely to succeed when their underlying lawsuit against the rule is decided.
The decision is a major roadblock for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers, who were planning Friday to begin enforcing the Waters of the United States rule, expanding federal jurisdiction over small waterways like streams and wetlands. (more…)

Anyone who is viewing the battle between Donald Trump and Megyn Kelly as a representative battle of thin-skinned ego is entirely missing the point.

Trump is not just taking on the construct of progressive ideology that has undermined the essence of American exceptionalism, he’s taking on the very selfish foundation they’ve used to sell out our country.   Hell, he’s taking on all the “Decepticons” simultaneously.
In many ways Fox’s Roger Ailes and Republican Mitch McConnell carry the same ideological character trait, deception.  For McConnell his deceptive ways allow him to retain power inside the DC construct.   For Roger Ailes manipulation benefits his media dominance and political interests.  Neither McConnell nor Ailes can actually be trusted.
It all boils down to a very familiar problem.  Would you rather rid yourself of the schemer, manipulator and deceiver who claims to be your friend – and as a consequence face a visible enemy in their stead.  Or do you chose to be associated within the camp of a person you can never fully trust. (more…)

In 2012 it was revealed that Obama administration officials used pseudonym email accounts to hide their communications.  EPA head Lisa Jackson became embroiled in a scandal when it was discovered that she subverted FOIA concerns by using an account under the name “Richard Windsor”, a name attributed to her dog.
Later, as the EPA scandal evolved, Lisa Jackson quit her position. 

Now, it appears that IRS official Lois Lerner was doing the exact same thing.  Using the email name “Toby Miles” to hide her in house, and ex parte, communication.  The IRS plot thickens.
WASHINGTON DC – The IRS admitted to a federal court there was a second personal email account that Lois Lerner, the official at the heart of the Tea Party targeting scandal, used to conduct agency business.
The email account apparently was set up under the name, “Toby Miles,” which sources tell Fox News is the name of Lerner’s dog.   (more…)

GOP Candidate Donald Trump has three distinct audiences for his message: The 1.) The Electorate; 2.) Wall Street, and 3.) The RNC machine.

One audience, the electorate, is a friend, the other two are potential foes.
Each audience requires a strategic approach, and when you are listening to his openly visible campaign”messaging” don’t get confused on interpretation based on your place within the audience.
♦  Toward THE ELECTORATE – Trump is explaining why he is running, and what he intends to do to “Make America Great Again”.   Unfortunately, in many cases he has to message through the prism of the media, so it’s best to listen directly to his words – rather than listen to the interpretation, by the media, of what those words mean.
♦  At the same time, Trump is also speaking to The RNC Machine writ large.  Trump knows full well the RNC machine is not his friend.  The RNC Machine wants Jeb Bush, their preferred candidate.  In order to keep them in retreat, Trump needs to make their preference transparent – and he knows exactly how to draw them out and force them to do so.  He’s quite masterful at exposing them; everyone (within the electorate audience) is witnessing that right now. (more…)

The RNC is the Republican National Committee – or, put another way, the entire construct of the professional Republican Establishment and those who derive benefit/affiliation from the entity therein, the business end.  (National, State and regional political entities; polling consultants, campaign consultants, committee employees, etc).  The RNC gets the politician elected to Washington DC.

The GOP, or GOP(e), is the financial class or group of financiers who pay the RNC and derive benefit from the policy creation within Washington DC.  Wall Street banks and banking interests, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, K-Street Lobbyists, etc. are all part of the machine that tells the politicians what to do.
In essence, the RNC is the Board of Directors, the GOP are the company officers, and the politicians are the employees.  John Boehner and Mitch McConnell are the managers. Put them all together and you have the RNC/GOPe.
In this example “We The People”, or “the electorate”, are the customers, forced to buy -through the monopoly- their product offerings, whatever they present, every 2 to 4 years.
Got it?  Good.  Now here we go: (more…)