(from No One Left To Lie To; The Values of the Worst Family by Christopher Hitchens)
". . . The admission that Clinton is a political conservative, who has moved the Democratic Party to the right while relying on rather prostituted "correctness" constituencies, is one that few authentic conservatives allow themselves. The concession does, however, show an understanding of "triangulation" and it does possess some explanatory power. By the spring of 2000, it was clear that the liberal pulse of the party was to all intents and purposes undetectable. Even former Senator Bill Bradley, returning to the hustlings after marinating for a while in the casks of Wall Street, looked discountenanced by the utter failure of the patient to respond. And he was only seeking to awaken the liberal reformist instinct in its mildest and most manageable form. He didn't even brush the G-spot. . ."
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My latest solo offering, No Frills, is now available at - No Frills
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(from http://usuncut.com/politics/dnc-email-leak-exposes-bias/)
". . . On Friday, the whistleblowing website leaked approximately 20,000 emails that were allegedly sent by top Democratic National Committee staffers like chairperson Debbie Wasserman Schultz (who referred to a top Bernie Sanders aide as a “damn liar“) national press secretary Mark Paustenbach, and communications director Luis Miranda. This data dump is “Part One” of a series from WikiLeaks they are calling the “Hillary Leaks,” and Guccifer 2.0 has taken credit for the hack behind this first set of emails from the DNC. . . The emails show an unprecedented level of collusion between top party officials and political reporters at establishment newspapers, as well as DNC staffers obviously favoring Hillary Clinton while devising ways to attack Bernie Sanders. . . In one email with the subject line “Bernie narrative,” Paustenbach ponders a way to attack the Sanders campaign as “never having their act together” with Miranda, suggesting they plant a narrative in the media that the Vermont senator’s presidential campaign “was a mess.” . . . Despite Wasserman Schultz repeatedly denied allegations that she was favoring Hillary Clinton in the primary, but WikiLeaks’ emails expose her treating the Sanders campaign as an adversary. . ."
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(by Ronald Reagan, 1980 at http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=85199)
". . . The election will be over soon, autumn will become winter, this year will fade into next . . . and yet, the decisions we make tomorrow will determine our country's course through what promises to be one of the most perilous decades in our history. . . What kind of country, what kind of legacy will we leave to . . . young men and women who will live out America's third century as a nation? . . . In thinking about these questions, many Americans seem to be wondering, searching. . . feeling frustrated and perhaps even a little afraid. . . Many of us are unhappy about our worsening economic problems, about the constant crisis atmosphere in our foreign policy, about our diminishing prestige around the globe, about the weakness in our economy and national security that jeopardizes world peace, about our lack of strong, straight-forward leadership. . . Americans . . . seek a vision of a better America, a vision of society that frees the energies and ingenuity of our people while it extends compassion to the lonely, the desperate, and the forgotten. . . No person who understands the American presidency can possibly hope to make every decision or tend to every detail in the national government. But he can promise to bring to government the best leaders in this nation and put them to work for the American people. . ."
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T - the number of police officers killed in the line of duty has risen by almost 50 percent in one year
Fact - the number of law enforcement officers killed on the job has increased 8 percent, compared to this point in 2015.
T - homicides last year increased by 17 percent in America's 50 largest cities. That's the largest increase in 25 years. In our nation's capital, killings have risen by 50 percent. They are up nearly 60 percent in nearby Baltimore."
Fact - the percentage increase was large because the number of homicides in 2014 was relatively small. Meanwhile, homicide trends have been split in the major cities so far this year: Out of 63 agencies reporting to the Major Cities Chiefs Association, 32 cities saw a decrease in homicides in the first quarter of 2016, and 31 cities saw an increase.
T - Nearly 180,000 illegal immigrants with criminal records, ordered deported from our country, are tonight roaming free to threaten peaceful citizens.
Fact - in fiscal 2015, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported nearly 140,000 convicted criminals, but ICE has estimated that nearly 1 million noncitizens with final deportation orders remain in the United States. Crimes committed by this group are not documented. A significant percentage of their crimes involve immigration violations and nonviolent offenses, according to historical records.
T - The number of new illegal immigrant families who have crossed the border so far this year already exceeds the entire total from 2015. They are being released by the tens of thousands into our communities with no regard for the impact on public safety or resources.
Fact - From October to June, just over 50,000 families were apprehended at the southwestern border, up from about 40,000 in all of the previous fiscal year, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. But overall apprehensions, including of unaccompanied minors, are running only slightly higher than in 2015 and remain far less than in 2014, 2013 and 2012.
T - Decades of record immigration have produced lower wages and higher unemployment for our citizens, especially for African -American and Latino workers.
Fact - Distinction must be made between legal and illegal immigration. The flow of legal immigrants has increased over the past four decades, stabilizing at roughly 1 million people obtaining lawful permanent resident status every year since 2001. The unauthorized immigrant population increased from about 4 million in 1990 to about 12 million in 2007. But researchers estimate that the number of illegal immigrants has been essentially stable since then because of the large number of unauthorized immigrants who left the country during and after the Great Recession.
T - 2 million more Latinos are in poverty today than when the president took his oath of office."
Fact - From March 2009 to March 2014, the most recent year for which statistics are available, the number of Latinos in poverty increased by 750,000 people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. But the overall number of the Latinos grew by nearly 7 million. So the percent of Latinos living in poverty declined from 25.3 percent to 23.6 percent.
T - Household incomes are down more than $4,000 since the year 2000 - 16 years ago.
Fact - Median annual household income was $57,206 in June, down slightly from January 2000, when it was $57,826 in 2016 dollars. So household income is essentially flat, not down $4,000.
T - Forty-three million Americans are on food stamps.
Fact - This is the lowest number of people receiving food stamps since the program reached its peak in 2013, a sign that the economy is finally improving enough to help the desperately poor families who depend on it.
T - Fifty-eight percent of African American youth are not employed.
Fact - According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate among blacks 16 to 19 years old was 31.2 percent in June. This official unemployment rate refers to people who are actively looking for work, as a percentage of the total available workforce.
T - Another 14 million people have left the workforce entirely.
Fact - Half of the decline in the labor participation rate since 1999 is due to the retirement of the baby boomers. Economists estimate just 15 percent of the drop in the labor force involves people who want a job and are of prime working age (25 to 54).
T - America has lost nearly one-third of its manufacturing jobs since 1997, following the enactment of disastrous trade deals (by previous administrations)
Fact - The economy has added nearly 1 million manufacturing jobs since 2010, the low point after the Great Recession.
It is simplistic to pin blame for the decline in manufacturing jobs on trade agreements. Increased efficiency and technological advancement have also played a major role.
(thanks to http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-donald-trump-convention-speech-fact-check-20160721-story.html)
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. . . my friend Bob, also a musician, alerted me to the fact that some jazz players, mainly pianists such as McCoy Tyner and Chick Corea, voiced chords in unique and interesting ways, a fact with which I was quite unfamiliar. At the time mind you, I was entering the twilight of my years of accordion lessons and listening to art/prog-rock bands like Jethro Tull and Gentle Giant. The lessons providing invaluable theory experience and an unrivaled discipline in practice and dedication; the art/prog providing tremendous inspiration and motivation to create; although at the time, I was quite unable to create the kinds of things I would very much have like to created. Nevertheless, this unique voicing of chords, one tactic of which Bob was very explicit, was the use of fourths - resulting in a slightly non-conventional, yet pleasing and ever-adaptable sound as opposed to a major triad or some inversion of same. In any case, although I didn't fully grasp the enormity of this discovery at the time, I did attempt to employ it and have incorporated it into my musical thoughts and deeds ever since. One such composition that utilizes the concept is, as of yet tentatively titled, posted here in all its undecided and raw, new-born glory . . .
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So I said
I've got a roof o'er my head
Some people can't even say the same thing
But it's still not a fact
I can take any comfort in
I want more to make up my legacy
I'm not poorbut everybody's telling me
Money can't buy everything
You've heard it time again
No money can't buy happiness
When will you learn this fact of life my friend
So I said
I've got my very own bed
I don't give it much thought
When I lay down my head
But it's cold and it's lonely
In December on the street
Why do you tell me these kinds of things
I want more of luxuries that wealth can bring
Money can't buy everything
You've heard it time again
No money can't buy happiness
When will you learn this fact of life my friend
I want to be a squire a king a country gentleman
If I can if I can
I want to get respect Ffor what I have
And not for what I am
Just a man just a man
So I said
It's more than daily bread
That I. . . . . . . .
Money can't buy everything
You've heard it time again
No money can't buy happiness
When will you learn this fact of life my friend
My latest solo offering, No Frills, is now available at - No Frills
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