So sad. Trump is turning into Obama Lightweight on the Mideast. And he started so well by putting more troops into Iraq and Syria to defeat ISIS and doubling the commitment to Afghanistan after the disastrous pullback by Obama. In Afghanistan, he doubled the troop level and added combat and air missions to the capability there, a much needed improvement in the effort to stabilize that country. He now wants to move back to the disastrous Obama level! Is he out of his mind? He should be adding more troops and additional capability. It took 50 years to transform Japan, Germany, and South Korea after their wars. It will take equally long in Afghanistan. It is like a 30 year rental housing project, a long term commitment if we are to max out our objective of insuring no more 9/11’s hit us from that country. Why is it that Obama and Trump are so arrogant and unwise and wrong that they don’t listen to their advisors? Who knows. Let’s turn to Syria. Now with ISIS almost defeated but still holding territory in Syria where its leadership and infrastructure still are intact and dangerous, Trump wants to pull out before dealing a death blow to ISIS. Relying on Turkey or others to do the job is wrong headed. At least Obama killed the head of Al-Qaida. Trump hasn’t even done that. The head of ISIS is still alive and well. When the head of ISIS is dead, his organization wiped off the map, and the area stabilized, then we can pull out. Trump needs to get a pair. Trump is worse than Obama-Obama lightweight. A Loser.
Sam Allen
The June 12, 2018 summit between the United States and North Korea is a miracle. I hope we can reach agreement and prevent the possibility of war. The US appears to be negotiating to
1. end the war and declare peace between North Korea and the United Nations with its armies from South Korea, the United States, Japan, and its other allies;
2. have North Korea destroy their present nuclear weapons and all missiles (whether short range, intermediate, or long range) that can deliver those weapons against South Korea, Japan, the United States, China or other countries;
3. have North Korea destroy all testing, production, and other facilities devoted to nuclear weapons and missiles;
4. have North Korea disband its nuclear weapon and missile programs and repurpose those remaining assets to peaceful purposes;
5. have North Korea dismantle half of the current artillery and rocket launchers targeting Seoul and its surrounding regions;
6. have robust and unconditioned inspections of North Korea by United Nations personnel to insure the 5 conditions are met and continue to be met; and
7. have North Korea progressively dismantle all but 50 of the artillery and rocket launchers targeting Seoul and its surrounding regions over the next 2 years.
When the first 6 conditions are accomplished, the United Nations and its member nations will rescind the economic sanctions now on North Korea.
The United States may also suggest that North Korea invite China to have one or more military bases located in North Korea to serve as a trip wire, just as South Korea has United States military bases in its territory to serve as a trip wire in the case North Korea again attacks South Korea as it did in June 1950.
We do hope that these steps can be agreed to and implemented, war will permanently end on the Korean peninsula, and a Nobel Peace Prize be awarded to both Presidents Trump and Moon. If not, the current economic sanctions will be enforced strictly and other more arduous sanctions will be placed on North Korea. Hopefully, these will work. Otherwise, war is a frightening possibility.
Every other candidate for the US Presidency has provided the public with their tax returns for almost 50 years. The public has a right to know and needs to know the details of those returns to understand how each individual is conducting their affairs. Trump is the only one not to furnish the last 10 years of US and State tax returns to the public. His argument that the tax returns are in audit and cannot be disclosed is nonsense. Even the IRS indicates that those Trump tax returns can be disclosed to the public.
So what is he hiding. A great deal I suspect. He has already disclosed that he has made $698 million in 2015 so he is happy to let us know that his gross income is substantial and ‘very great’, one of the greatest in the US. This is 14,000 times what the average American makes. But we get no details on where it comes from among his many partnerships and corporations. We just don’t know who he is working with and what holds they have over him.
As to the federal and state income taxes he pays each year, we only know that he paid none in 1995 ( he lost almost $1 billion) and none in the years for those returns furnished to New Jersey to obtain the gaming licenses for his New Jersey Casinos. One thing he is hiding is that he is not paying any US income tax or New York State Income Tax. So in other words, he is not paying one penny to support National Defense and the Army, Navy, Marine, Air Force, and Coast Guard personnel or their equipment that protect us. He is not paying one cent to pay for the Medicare B and D programs that provide seniors with their outpatient and drug benefits. He is not paying one penny to pay for our roads and other infrastructure that he indicates is in such poor shape. The 14,000 average tax payers would be paying $6,000 each and $84,000,000 collectively. If he paid this amount or his fair share which would be substantially higher and others like him paid their fair share, we would have the resources to rebuild these roads and facilities in the past and in the present.
But he says “I am smart” was his comment when he was confronted with this assertion, confirming he paid no US and State Income Taxes. Others have called him a tax genius. He is no such thing. He followed his father into the family business, was given a good stake of money, and inherited all the lucrative tax breaks already available in the US Tax Code for the real estate business. He and his real estate fat cats like the hedge fund managers subsequently gave the Congress monies to increase these tax loop holes. Trump is a manipulator and briber, not a tax genius.
Trump is also hiding his lack of charitable deductions. He does not tithe to his church. Evangelicals note this. He does not give to many other organizations except the Trump Foundation and that is a sham. The Foundation was fined $2,500 by the IRS for paying a bribe of $25,000 to the Attorney General of Florida to stall the review of Trump University. The Foundation also paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay legal settlements for Trump related corporations and partnerships. This is not what most of us consider a charitable purpose, but Trump seems to define everything around himself as most narcissists do. The Foundation should be closed down and the money given to real charitable organizations.
Trump is also hiding his debts and the holders of those debts. We know he is beholden to German and Chinese banks and probably Russian banks. Perhaps that is why Putin and Trump have such a bromance. This lack of transparency in his affairs will put him in an awkward situation when he has to choose between his personal interests and those of the United States of America. Generally, he favors his own personal interests every time.
You have Clinton’s tax returns for the last 20 or 30 years. You know all the warts, all the ways she has conducted herself financially. You know nothing about Trump except that he earns a lot of money and is beholden to a lot of people in the US and other countries. You know he is indebted to the German and Chinese banks (meaning the Chinese government). Given that, you cannot vote for Trump. You must vote for the candidate that has been transparent, Hillary Clinton.
Sam Allen
Trump is a criminal. He has bribed the Attorney General of Florida to impede the investigation and prosecution of Trump University, a clear cut criminal violation of the law. He talks about the missteps of Clinton and how she should be locked up. He indicates he will appoint a special prosecutor, if he is elected, to investigate, prosecute, and jail Clinton for such misdeeds. Yet these misdeeds have already been exhaustively investigated and she has not been prosecuted.
Trump’s clear cut bribe of an elected official is well known especially to the IRS. The IRS fined the Trump Foundation for using $25,000 of its funds to pay the bribe. Why is there no state investigation and prosecution of this bribe? First, the chief legal officer of the state is involved so she is not going to investigate or prosecute herself. Second, the Republican Governor won’t take on a fellow Republican. The real question is where is the Auditor of the State and the legislature especially the Democrats in the legislature.When will they act to investigate and recommend the prosecution of both Trump and the Attorney General of Florida?
This is just the tip of the iceberg in Trump’s criminal behavior. The Trump Foundation is another large source of misdeeds as you can understand from just the one noted misstep above.
Vote for Clinton. Reject Trump, the real criminal.
Sam Allen
The latest effort to persuade Republicans that Trump should be elected because he will nominate good candidates for the Supreme Court is absolutely wrong headed. Don’t fall for such nonsense.
First, Trump is a Democrat, always has been. He just joined the Republican Party because he felt he had a better shot winning the nomination for the Presidency there than in the Democratic Party. If the Republicans had super delegates like the Democrats, Trump would have lost and we would have a more reasonable candidate that could easily have beaten Hillary. Unfortunately, we were not that wise.
Trump changes his mind. He already has moved away from the birther issue. He almost disavowed his immigration stand. He has changed his tax plan 3 times. It is not clear where he stands on the abortion issue. He has said what he would do about the Supreme Court and who his nominees will be. Do you really trust him to do this? Really! Will we get another Warren- like Eisenhower, a Republican, nominated. Perhaps.
Trump is just a salesman closing the sale. That is his training and his experience. He will do and say anything in private or public to win the election. Then he will do what he wants and feels is best for him. And that means tacking to the center and left including his nominees for the Supreme Court.
Trump is a Democrat. He has told Maureen Dowd, the columnist for the New York Times, that the New York Times will be proud of his Presidency. How better to do that than to nominate a New York Times acceptable candidate or candidates to the Supreme Court
The most important issue is this. Trump will get us into a nuclear war with his words and his temperament either with North Korea or Russia as early as the first days of his Presidency. See my blog on August 22, 2016 about how this can easily occur.
For the sake of our children, our grand children, and all those who come after us, you must vote for Hillary Clinton even if you have to hold your nose. Trump will destroy our great country. God bless American and all of us.
Sam Allen
Loose Lips Sink Ships was a saying that goes back to WWII and Trump can’t help himself with his loose lips and his outrageous, undisciplined, imprecise statements making it unclear to allies and our enemies what the United States will do in several significant circumstances. Two of his recent statements could involve us in nuclear confrontations. Here’s how. Trump’s statement number one talks about Trump as President and Commander in Chief considering not defending the Baltic states if they were attacked by Russia. Remember, the Baltic nations are members of NATO and any attack on them requires all NATO members, including the US, to respond by defending the attacked member. We and our European allies have begun rotating troops in the Baltic states to signal to Russian that we will not allow Russian aggression against the Baltic states as Russia had perpetrated against Crimea and Ukraine (Ukraine is not a NATO member). Given Putin’s aggressive nature and Trump’s statement, if Trump wins the Presidency, Putin will begin massing troops in and around the Baltic states in early November. Putin will have agents within the Baltic states stir up trouble between Russian speakers and the native populations providing him with an excuse to intervene on behalf of the Russian speakers just as he did in the Ukraine. On January 1, 2017, just as Trump assumes the Presidency, Putin will intervene massively taking over control of the Baltic states in short order. As a result, many military and civilian casualties will result including those of the rotating forces of the US and our European allies. Of course Trump will not accept Putin’s maiming and killing our soldiers so Trump will get on the red line to Moscow and tell Putin to back off and back out of the Baltic states despite what Trump said in the first place. Given the political situation in Russia and his own ego, Putin cannot and will not back down. The US will escalate the confrontation in its attempt to remove the Russians from the Baltic states. Putin will counter that move. One escalation follows another and at some point, if cooler heads don’t prevail, we move to a nuclear confrontation. Millions will die in that exchange simply because Trump was loose with his lips.
Trump’s statement number two involves Korea. It could also lead to a nuclear exchange. Trump indicated that he will pull out US troops from South Korea. When he does that, it is likely Kim Jong-un will attack South Korea and attempt to unify all of Korea under the North’s regime. The United States by treaty is required to come to the aid of the South Koreas. We will do that and North Korea will be moved back to its borders. However, President Trump may want to stomp his enemy into the ground and he will order the US and South Korea to cross the 38th parallel. Kim Jong-un, backed into a corner, will retaliate with nuclear weapon strikes against South Korea, Japan, and the United States. The United States will respond in kind obliterating North Korea. Millions would die under these circumstance simply because Trump was loose with his lips.
We cannot have someone become President of the United States that does not understand that his words have meaning and that other leaders around the world, both friend and foe, will take actions based upon those words. Trump thus disqualifies himself for the US Presidency. He can be an entertainer in chief or a stand up comedian, but not the Commander in Chief or the President of these United States. I would ask that Mr. Trump resign as the Presidential candidate for the Republican Party immediately.
Finally, it should give us all pause when both Putin of Russia and Kim Jong-un of North Korea support Trump for President of the United States.
Sam Allen
Donald Trump asks us to trust him all the time. Despite what he asks us to do-trust him, we shouldn’t be so naïve. He cannot be trusted in either word or deed.
His word is not his bond. Whether verbal and a hand shake, or a formal written agreement that he has signed, Trump does not feel bound by these spoken or written words. Ask the many contractors that built his New Jersey casino. They trusted him and, as a result, they suffered significant losses or endured bankruptcy as Trump reneged on their contracts.
In his statements to campaign rallies or to the press during an interview, he is not consistent about his statements, nor careful, nor precise. Everyday, his original words are retracted (I was joking), or the original statement is clarified (I didn’t mean that, what I meant was…), and often re-clarified at another time or worse, the first statement is repeated. How do we trust anything coming out of his mouth?
Trump tells us to trust him to support those of us in the middle class or the poor and make things better. Yet in his tax proposal, 99.9% of all the tax savings go to the 1% of the top earners, .1% goes to the middle class, and none goes to the poor. Worse, he provides himself with a huge tax saving with his rate going down from 39.6% to 15%. Talk about feathering his own nest! We can only trust that he will take care of himself.
Trump tells us to trust him but will not be transparent with us about his tax returns. All the other candidates and the Presidents of the United States since 1972 have provided copies of their tax returns to the public. Why is he so special? He says it is because his tax return is under appeal at the IRS. Baloney! Any tax advisor knows he can share his tax returns with us without jeopardizing his appeal at the IRS. He could also share the other 4 years of tax returns not under appeal. He just doesn’t want to. Lots of speculation is out there. Some indicate he doesn’t make that much money (embarrassing) or he makes a boat load of money (in the top .1%-not something he wants to share widely), or he has loans from foreign banks in Germany or Russia (perhaps this is why he plays up to Putin) or … We won’t know for sure what he is hiding until he releases the last 5 years of his tax returns. The sooner the better.
Trump tells us to trust him that he really wants to be President of the United States. Yet when Kasich was approached about being Vice President, Kasich was told his duties would be similar to the Presidents. Trump would be the cheer leader in chief, the entertainer in chief, the spokesman in chief…He wants to be a stand up comic not a standup guy who is the Commander in Chief
Trump tells us to trust him that he will be the best President ever. Yet he does not listen, he goes by his gut and ignores the facts, he does not read and study the issues before coming to a decision, he feels he knows more than anyone else, he is not humble, he is thin skinned and cannot take criticism and becomes obsessed with his critics (take Megan Kelly for instance-how long will he keep calling her out when all she did was ask him and everyone else some very tough questions a long time ago), he makes statements that alarm allies and excite our enemies (NATO and the Baltic States or pulling out of South Korea). He is going to be our best President? Really?
In essence, we cannot trust Donald Trump in anything except in that he will take care of himself and his fortune period.
Sam Allen
I am so distressed about the choices for the President of the United States. After much thought, I have resolved to simply pray for the country and pray for both candidates in hopes that whoever wins will be substantially better in both character and judgment than they have been in the past. Harry Pukay-Martin
This article from the Columbus Dispatch on 3/11/2015 draws attention to the dramatic rise in the number of people who now are on Social Security Disability since 2008 in Ohio. The article indicates that 28% more Ohioans or 77,584 more were on this Federal program in 2013 than in 2008. The rise for Ohioans on the program was from 275,449 to 353,033. The article goes on to say ‘that increase, in part, explains the decline in the Ohio’s labor force-defined as someone with a job or looking for work-since the recession started. The total’ labor force ‘has shrunk by nearly 250,000 workers since 2008’. That is 31% of the decrease in the labor force. The baby boomers retiring constitute at least another 33% of the total. That leaves only 36% left who are discouraged workers that may reenter the labor force when jobs are more plentiful. As the economy expands, we need both these discouraged workers as well as those with correctable disability to make their contribution to the labor pool. This is also required if the Social Security Disability Program is not to go bankrupt in 2016.
To solve the bankruptcy of the Social Security Disability Program, more funding of benefits is not necessary nor is combining it with the Social Security Retirement Trust Fund as has been proposed by the Administration. By the way, that latter proposal would cut 2 years off the present life of the Social Security Retirement Trust Fund. Why should the rest of us suffer because of these scammers and their many partners?
Instead clean up this program by starting with a more sensible definition of disability. Treatable depression and back pain must go. Add more frequent re-evaluation as well as better incentives to return to work for those who can. This requires sufficient personnel added to the Social Security Administration budget to review the 11,000,000 claimants over the next 4 years and to insure the Administrative Hearings are attended by an advocate for the taxpayer and the Trust Fund. Fine the 20 states who are gaming the system and converting their poor from a state responsibility to a Federal responsibility. Prohibit the paying of consultants a bounty of $2,000 to $3,000 per person that is converted. Put in place a system to return these disabled back to work. The short term savings utilizing these steps would be enormous and could return the Social Security Trust Fund to solvency almost immediately. Only $35 billion per year is needed to reach a breakeven. Our estimate of savings by following the steps above are $47 billion out of a $146 billion budget. A $47 billion cut in expenditure would allow the replenishing of the Trust Fund. When will the Congress and the President act. We hope soon.
If this is not done and the fund goes bankrupt in 2016, those folks who are truly disabled and legitimately receiving Social Security Disability benefits will be hurt. Benefits for these legitimate folks will be cut by 25% just as will those benefits for the scammers. Wouldn’t it be better to help the truly disabled by removing the scammers.
Harry Pukay-Martin
In an article by Kevin McCoy of US Today on February 24, 2015, he states that ‘your chances of facing an IRS audit fell to the lowest level in at least a decade in 2014 and are expected to drop further this year’. Wow, this is ridiculous. In other blogs, we have demonstrated that a full audit of those making over $200,000 and increased auditing of everyone else will generate billions of additional revenues for the federal government. We know that Congress is mad at the IRS for its terrible actions against conservative not for profit groups. However, Lerner is gone, the emails have been forced out of the IRS’s hands by Judicial Watch and others, and the investigation is ongoing and hopefully will come to a productive close soon. Given this, there is no further excuse for cutting the revenue agents and others who do these audits, who track and prevent tax refund fraud, and who collect the monies owed the Federal government. The deficit is over $400 billion. The country needs these additional revenues. Restore the full budget of the IRS to the 2010 levels in FY 2016 and increase it another $1 billion in FY 2017.
Harry Pukay-Martin
