Day: August 22, 2015

This is extreme reading of the tea leaves, but.....

If he were to run for President, Jill Biden would be a central figure in his campaign. However, according to Bloomberg, she just registered to teach a full load of classes this fall at Northern Virginia Community College – and that’s the ballgame. Why does this rule Joe Biden out as a candidate? If he were running, she would be on the campaign trail with him, helping orchestrate things behind the scenes, as she has in the past. Her decision to go ahead and teach this fall means that he has decided for certain that he won’t be running. Although the election is more than a year away, the Bidens would need to be on the road campaigning full-time this fall in the primary race. The only question now becomes at what point Joe makes the announcement official, and whether he formally throws his support behind his close ally Clinton now or waits until the primary results are official.

This assumes that Jill Biden could never quit the courses or job, or take a sabbatical, and that somehow her teaching schedule is set in stone. That assumes a lot, in my opinion. Indeed, what did she do in the fall of 2007? That was the last time her husband ran for President. I am willing to bet she taught. Plus, it's not like teaching precludes any campaigning. But, take it for what it is worth.

Conservatives have loved to declare, against all facts and logic, that Barack Obama is a dictator, a tyrant, and in a latest turn to conspiracy, is/was going to use a military exercise in the southwest called Jade Helm to take over the country and declare martial law so as to stay in power for life. Yes, yes.. I know. But it is either what they truly believe, or it is what they say to scare others. I don't think these folks have quite pictured how much the military will be in their lives if mass deportations ever become reality. What it will look and feel like to have soldiers surround and sweep through public schools and neighborhoods to screen and detain children as hostages to coerce their parents to turn themselves in as well. Or worse, how it might play out is if local militias pre-emptively do such deportation sweeps themselves. Because when that happens, it's not deportation: It's ethnic cleansing. It's been done before.

“You know, if this were another country, we could maybe call for an expedited election, right? I would love that. Can we do that? I’d like to have the election tomorrow, I don’t want to wait.” — Donald Trump, quoted by The Hill. OMG. The man's stupidity is staggering. There is no such thing as calling for an expedieted election in other countries. In some other countries, they have parliamentary systems rather than presidential systems, and elections are sometimes held earlier than scheduled because sometimes the government elected in the prior election loses a vote of no confidence, or for some other reason parliament is dissolved by the head of state (usually a constitutional monarch like Queen Elizabeth II, but also like President Reuven Rivlin of Israel). The point is, an earlier election is provided for by that country's constitution or charter. Our Constitution does not provide for earlier elections. It seems the Donald doesn't care much for our Constitution. Which is odd considering he is being supported by the Constitution-loving Tea Party, which of course tells me what I have always known: the tea party never cared about the Constitution. They only cared about the color of the President's skin.