Archive for November 9, 2016

After Last Night

November 9, 2016

After Last Night, Power lineScott Johnson, November 9, 2016

(Trump won. Of even greater importance, so did America. — DM)

With Donald Trump’s improbable victory last night, the Clinton Crime Family can retire from public life to enjoy its ill-gotten gains. Lady Hillary tastes the fruit of an incredibly bitter and humiliating defeat. Her zombie husband is now free to continue his “charitable” efforts and pursue other interests unimpeded by the need to keep up appearances.

I pray that Donald Trump will honor the high office he has attained. As Jesse Ventura put it when he proclaimed victory in Minnesota’s 1998 gubernatorial election, he has shocked the world. He has much to do and to undo to set our country back on course.

It was a great night for Republicans. Against the odds, they maintain only slightly diminished control of both houses of Congress. They too have much work to do and to undo to set our country back on course.

Mitch McConnell and the Senate Republican caucus have been vindicated in declining to act on the nomination President Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court. Trump will now have the opportunity to name the successor to Justice Scalia. To say the least, the prospect pleases — the prospect that the Supreme Court may not fall indefinitely to the left in the left’s battle to destroy limited constitutional government.

Clinton had the gall to make the reversal of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission a litmus test in her Supreme Court appointments. Intended to protect political speech from control by Congress, the First Amendment would have been turned on its head. Clinton thought she deserved protection from criticism in “electioneering communications.” In the ancien régime they called it lèse-majesté. It’s about as home in the United States as titles of nobility.

Trump’s election is unprecedented. Watching the returns come in last night, however, I felt the reverberations of 1980 with the narrow Republican victories in the hotly contested Senate races.

Rob Portman’s victory in Ohio was far from narrow; he crushed an opponent in whom Democrats had placed great hopes. Ron Johnson staged a glorious comeback with a little help from his friends and prevailed over the execrable Russ Feingold in Wisconsin. Todd Young’s victory over Evan Bayh in Indiana was particularly sweet. Given his military background, Young has an important contribution to make along with Tom Cotton in the Senate. Young has already made an important contribution to Evan Bayh. Bayh no longer has keep up the pretense that he is a resident of Indiana.

The schadenfreude we feel in the suffering of the Democrat/Media complex is delicious. Let’s enjoy it while we can. To the extent that Trump’s election serves as a repudiation of Obama, megadittos. Obama has sunk us in a hole out of which it will take us a long time to climb and formidable obstacles will be arrayed against Trump to the extend he seeks to get get us out.

Something was gaining on the Clintons. It finally caught up with them last night. I didn’t see it coming and don’t understand what it was. Having vehemently expressed the view since he emerged in the primaries that Trump was not a viable general election candidate, I need to fortify my understanding of practical politics at the presidential level.

I’m calling a minor penalty on myself for my errors of understanding, of prediction and of pessimism over the past year. I intend to refrain from commenting on politics at the presidential level for the next few months and to use the time to deepen my understanding before I let myself climb out of the penalty box, although I ask that you not hold me to this vow too strictly.

Iran’s FM: Israel is the biggest threat to humanity

November 9, 2016

Source: Iran’s FM: Israel is the biggest threat to humanity – Middle East – News –

Iran’s Foreign Minister launches a verbal attack on Israel, says it threatens world peace and international security.

Contact Editor

Elad Benari, 09/11/16 06:28
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif

Reuters
 

Iran’s Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, on Tuesday attacked Israel and claimed it is the biggest threat to humanity, world peace and international security.

“The most serious threat to our region and the world of humanity is the Zionist regime. This colonial phenomenon is the source of all threats to peace, security and human rights,” Zarif said in Beirut, Lebanon, according to the Iranian Tasnim news agency.

He further claimed that Israel is “the most dangerous enemy of human rights” because it possesses at least 200 nuclear warheads, implements aggressive policies and violates all international regulations.

Zarif also said that the Palestinian Arab issue remains to the Islamic world’s overriding concern, according to Tasnim.

Zarif arrived in Beirut on Monday where he held a meeting with Lebanon’s new President Michel Aoun, whose election was supported by Hezbollah, Iran’s proxy in Lebanon.

The Foreign Minister’s comments are in line with what many Iranian officials say about Israel.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani recently accused Israel, as well as the U.S. Congress and other regional countries of thwarting the implementation of the nuclear deal.

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has also launched many verbal attacks against Israel as well as the United States, to which he refers as “the Great Satan”.

Khamenei has ruled out his country having ties with the United States or “the Zionist regime” – that is, Israel – and has also referred to Israel as a “cancerous tumor”.

Shocking the world, Donald Trump wins US presidency – US Election Results – Jerusalem Post

November 9, 2016

Source: Shocking the world, Donald Trump wins US presidency – US Election Results – Jerusalem Post

Historic upset • Stock futures down over 700 points • Trump shocks in Rust Belt • Takes Florida, North Carolina, Ohio.

NEW YORK — Donald Trump will become the 45th president of the United States and its commander-in-chief, a stunning achievement for a complete novice to governing whose campaign was written off by the nation’s political class.

He defeated Hillary Clinton, the first female presidential nominee of a major party and a former first lady, senator from New York and secretary of state. Shortly after Trump’s victory was confirmed, Clinton called him to formally concede.

The election of Trump may be the greatest political surprise of the modern era, after the Republican nominee trailed national and state-by-state polls for over 100 consecutive days. The New York real estate tycoon and reality TV star– with no experience in public service– has proposed a ban on all Muslims from entering the US homeland, a wall on the nation’s southern border with Mexico, a trade war with China, a softening with Russia and a ruthless war against Islamists across the Middle East.

His victory was a shocking rebuke to the outgoing president, Barack Obama, who warned that Trump is temperamentally unfit for the presidency and an existential threat to the very foundations of the world’s oldest democratic republic.

Stock futures plummeted over 800 points as his victory became apparent. If that drop holds Wednesday morning, it will represent a greater market crash than the world has seen since the Great Recession began in the fall of 2008.

Clinton severely underperformed in several states that have reliably voted Democratic for over twenty years, and the populist, protectionist movement that fueled Trump’s rise delivered upset victories in the country’s Midwest, a suffering manufacturing region where his pitch to white, working class voters turned the race in his favor.

Trump won the White House despite 61% of Americans viewing him negatively, according to exit polls. He swept virtually every competitive state in the race: Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa and Pennsylvania.

“We will get along with all other nations willing to get along with us,” Trump said in his victory speech in New York.

“The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer,” said the president-elect. “We will deal fairly with everyone — all people, and all other nations.”

Trump and Clinton largely tapped into coalitions familiar to Republicans and Democrats: White voters mostly voted for him, and a coalition of minority groups went with her. But Trump’s voters turned out in massive numbers– 70% of the electorate identified as white on Tuesday. Clinton’s did not in the numbers she had expected, or needed to secure victory.

The two candidates offered the American public an unusually stark choice– not simply one between a Republican and a Democrat, but one between a man who is fundamentally an outsider, without experience in politics, and a woman who has spent her entire adult life in government.

Trump, a billionaire who built a career in New York real estate, came to represent among his supporters an opportunity to shatter Washington into pieces. To his detractors, he was an illiberal demagogue, a sexist and a racist, who has exploited the country’s divisions for political gain.

Throughout his unlikely campaign, Trump lobbed unprecedented attacks not just at his political opponents, but at veterans, women who accused him of sexual assault, immigrants, a Gold Star family and those who identify as Muslim. Announcing his presidential campaign, he accused Mexico of sending criminals and rapists over the border.

Clinton tried to cast herself as a pragmatic centrist: An experienced former first lady, senator and secretary of state. But her opponents consider her the consummate politician, willing to say or do anything to retain political power, corrupted by wealth and influence.

Her decision to operate a private e-mail server while at the State Department marked the launch of her campaign and dogged her throughout, despite the Federal Bureau of Investigation clearing her of any wrongdoing after a yearlong investigation into her practices.

Exit polls showed voters dissatisfied with both candidates, hopeful for a change and seeking strong leadership. But more than anything else, Americans expressed glee that this presidential election is finally over.

“I have joined the political arena so that the powerful can no longer beat up on people that cannot defend themselves,” Trump told the Republican National Convention over the summer, accepting the nomination. “I alone can fix it. I have seen firsthand how the system is rigged against our citizens.”

“I have a message to every last person threatening the peace on our streets,” he continued. “When I take the oath of office next year, I will restore law and order.”

Putin congratulates Trump on election win, eyeing improved US-Russia ties

November 9, 2016

Source: Putin congratulates Trump on election win, eyeing improved US-Russia ties – Elections Result – Jerusalem Post

Russian president also said he was sure a constructive dialogue between Moscow and Washington would serve the interests of both countries.

 

MOSCOW – Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated businessman Donald Trump on his victory in the US presidential election in a telegram on Wednesday, the Kremlin said.

“Putin expressed hope for joint work to restore Russian-American relations from their state of crisis, and also to address pressing international issues and search for effective responses to challenges concerning global security,” the Kremlin said in a statement.

Putin also said he was sure a constructive dialogue between Moscow and Washington would serve the interests of both countries, the Kremlin said.

Meanwhille, the speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament said on Wednesday Moscow hoped for more constructive dialogue with the United States now that a new president had been elected, the TASS news agency reported.

Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the State Duma and a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, said parliament would welcome any steps in these directions.

BREAKING: Donald Trump is elected president of the United States+ speech !

November 9, 2016

Clinton not only refused to concede, but refused to appear.

2:45 AM — ABC News: Hillary Clinton has reportedly called Donald Trump to concede.

 

TRUMP FOR AMERICA

November 9, 2016

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