bostonangler

Oh Shabs, now you're just being mean!!! LOL B/A

Newsweek November 18, 2016 ZIMBABWE LAWYERS TAKE PRESIDENT ROBERT MUGABE TO COURT OVER QUASI-CURRENCY Zimbabwean lawyers are taking President Robert Mugabe to court for issuing a presidential decree permitting the introduction of a quasi-currency, which they say is an attempt to reintroduce the failed Zimbabwean dollar through “the back door.” Mugabe invoked the Presidential Powers Act on October 31 to amend the law governing Zimbabwe’s central bank and allow for the introduction of bond notes, which the bank has described as a U.S. dollar equivalent.Zimbabwe Lawyers Take President Robert Mugabe To Court Over Quasi-Currency The African country is suffering a crippling cash shortage and banks are limiting withdrawals to between $40 and $100 per day, according to Reuters. But while the government is attempting to sell bond notes as a solution to the crisis, critics fear they could herald another period of hyperinflation in Zimbabwe. In 2008, the Zimbabwean dollar suffered exponential inflation, so much so that a loaf of bread could cost 10 million Zimbabwean dollars and the central bank printed a 100 trillion dollar note. A man holds up a 100 trillion Zimbabwean dollar note, Harare, Zimbawe, June 12, 2015. Some in Zimbabwe are concerned that the government’s introduction of bond notes could herald a return to the failed Zimbabwean dollar. Philimon Bulawayo/File Photo/Reuters Advocates from Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) filed an application to the High Court Monday, asking for the court to overrule Mugabe’s decree. One of the lawyers involved in the application, Dzimbabwe Chimbga, tells Newsweek that Mugabe’s use of presidential powers was “unconstitutional.” Chimbga says that the act can only be invoked in an emergency, which he maintains is not the case, since the government has mooted the introduction of bond notes since April. “The new [2013] constitution gives parliament the primary legislative authority and the president can only enforce laws that have been put across by parliament,” says Chimbga. “So what we object to is the president, who is a different arm of government, giving himself the powers to legislate.” The Zimbabwean central bank said in September that it would start circulating the bond notes by the end of October and that it expected $75 million worth of the notes to be in use by the end of 2016. But the notes have still not been introduced, and Zimbabweans have been queuing for hours at banks to withdraw cash in advance of their circulation. Following the hyperinflation period of 2007-08, Zimbabwe ditched its own currency and introduced a multi-currency basket. Nine currencies—including the Chinese yuan and South African rand—were legal tender as of February, CNN reported. Chimbga says that the introduction of bond notes is a false start in dealing with Zimbabwe’s cash crisis. “The bond note is being equated to the U.S. dollar, but we know that the bond note does not have transferability,” he says. “In other words, you cannot take the bond notes to the bank and say, ‘Give me pounds.’ It’s only a ‘currency’ in Zimbabwe. In essence, it’s not actually money.” Chimbga says that the application filed gives the government 10 days to respond. Newsweek emailed the Office of the President and Cabinet for a response, but received no timely reply. Zimbabwe has seen widespread protests against Mugabe’s administration in 2016, including a stay-at-home protest organized by the #ThisFlag movement, headed up by Harare pastor Evan Mawarire. Mugabe has been in power since Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980 and, at 92 years old, is the oldest serving head of state in Africa. Article Link

Viral Fake Election News Outperformed Real News On Facebook In Final Months Of The US Election A BuzzFeed News analysis found that top fake election news stories generated more total engagement on Facebook than top election stories from 19 major news outlets combined. posted on Nov. 16, 2016, at 5:15 p.m. Craig Silverman BuzzFeed Founding Editor, Canada View this image › BuzzFeed / Getty Images ID: 9988198 In the final three months of the US presidential campaign, the top-performing fake election news stories on Facebook generated more engagement than the top stories from major news outlets such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Huffington Post, NBC News, and others, a BuzzFeed News analysis has found. During these critical months of the campaign, 20 top-performing false election stories from hoax sites and hyperpartisan blogs generated 8,711,000 shares, reactions, and comments on Facebook. Within the same time period, the 20 best-performing election stories from 19 major news websites generated a total of 7,367,000 shares, reactions, and comments on Facebook. (This analysis focused on the top performing link posts for both groups of publishers, and not on total site engagement on Facebook. For details on how we identified and analyzed the content, see the bottom of this post. View our data here.) Up until those last three months of the campaign, the top election content from major outlets had easily outpaced that of fake election news on Facebook. Then, as the election drew closer, engagement for fake content on Facebook skyrocketed and surpassed that of the content from major news outlets. View this image › BuzzFeed News ID: 9997217 “I’m troubled that Facebook is doing so little to combat fake news,” said Brendan Nyhan, a professor of political science at Dartmouth College who researches political misinformation and fact-checking. “Even if they did not swing the election, the evidence is clear that bogus stories have incredible reach on the network. Facebook should be fighting misinformation, not amplifying it.” A Facebook spokesman told BuzzFeed News that the top stories don’t reflect overall engagement on the platform. “There is a long tail of stories on Facebook,” the spokesman said. “It may seem like the top stories get a lot of traction, but they represent a tiny fraction of the total.” He also said that native video, live content, and image posts from major news outlets saw significant engagement on Facebook. Of the 20 top-performing false election stories identified in the analysis, all but three were overtly pro-Donald Trump or anti-Hillarious Clinton. Two of the biggest false hits were a story claiming Clinton sold weapons to ISIS and a hoax claiming the pope endorsed Trump, which the site removed after publication of this article. The only viral false stories during the final three months that were arguably against Trump’s interests were a false quote from Mike Pence about Michelle Obama, a false report that Ireland was accepting American “refugees” fleeing Trump, and a hoax claiming RuPaul said he was groped by Trump. View this image › BuzzFeed News ID: 9997224 View this image › BuzzFeed News ID: 9997226 This new data illustrates the power of fake election news on Facebook, and comes as the social network deals with criticism that it allowed false content to run rampant during the 2016 presidential campaign. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said recently it was “a pretty crazy idea” to suggest that fake news on Facebook helped sway the election. He later published a post saying, “We have already launched work enabling our community to flag hoaxes and fake news, and there is more we can do here.” This week BuzzFeed News reported that a group of Facebook employees have formed a task force to tackle the issue, with one saying that “fake news ran wild on our platform during the entire campaign season.” The Wall Street Journal also reported that Google would begin barring fake news websites from its AdSense advertising program. Facebook soon followed suit. These developments follow a study by BuzzFeed News that revealed hyperpartisan Facebook pages and their websites were publishing false or misleading content at an alarming rate — and generating significant Facebook engagement in the process. The same was true for the more than 100 US politics websites BuzzFeed News found being run out of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. This new analysis of election content found two false election stories from a Macedonian sites that made the top-10 list in terms of Facebook engagement int he final three months. Conservative State published a story that falsely quoted Hillarious Clinton as saying, “I would like to see people like Donald Trump run for office; they’re honest and can’t be bought.” The story generated over 481,000 engagements on Facebook. A second false story from a Macedonia site falsely claimed that Clinton was about to be indicted. It received 149,000 engagements on Facebook. All the false news stories identified in BuzzFeed News’ analysis came from either fake news websites that only publish hoaxes or from hyperpartisan websites that present themselves as publishing real news. The research turned up only one viral false election story from a hyperpartisan left-wing site. The story from Winning Democrats claimed Ireland was accepting anti-Trump “refugees” from the US. It received over 810,000 Facebook engagements, and was debunked by an Irish publication. (There was also one post from an LGBTQ site that used a false quote from Trump in its headline.) The other false viral election stories from hyperpartisan sites came from right-wing publishers, according to the analysis. View this image › Ending the Fed ID: 9988227 One example is the remarkably successful, utterly untrustworthy site Ending the Fed. It was responsible for four of the top 10 false election stories identified in the analysis: Pope Francis endorsing Donald Trump, Hilary Clinton selling weapons to ISIS, Hillarious Clinton being disqualified from holding federal office, and the FBI director receiving millions from the Clinton Foundation. These four stories racked up a total of roughly 2,953,000 Facebook engagements in the three months leading up to Election Day. Ending the Fed gained notoriety in August when Facebook promoted its story about Megyn Kelly being fired by Fox News as a top trending item. The strong engagement the site has seen on Facebook may help explain how one of its stories was featured in the Trending box. The site, which does not publicly list an owner or editor, did not respond to a request for comment from BuzzFeed News. Like several other hyperpartisan right-wing sites that scored big Facebook hits this election season, Ending the Fed is a relatively new website. The domain endingthefed.com was only registered in in March. Yet according to BuzzFeed News’ analysis, its top election content received more Facebook engagement than stories from the Washington Post and New York Times. For example, the top four election stories from the Post generated roughly 2,774,000 Facebook engagements — nearly 180,000 fewer than Ending the Fed’s top four false posts. A look at Ending the Fed’s traffic chart from Alexa also gives an indication of the massive growth it experienced as the election drew close: View this image › Alexa / Via alexa.com ID: 9987005 A similar spike occurred for Conservative State, a site that was only registered in September. It saw a remarkable traffic spike almost instantly: View this image › Alexa / Via alexa.com ID: 9987063 Alexa estimates that nearly 30% of Conservative State’s traffic comes from Facebook, with 10% coming from Google. Along with unreliable hyperpartisan blogs, fake news sites also received a big election traffic bump in line with their Facebook success. The Burrard Street Journal scored nearly 380,000 Facebook engagements for a fake story about Obama saying he will not leave office if Trump is elected. It was published in September, right around the time Alexa notched a noticeable uptick in its traffic: View this image › Alexa / Via alexa.com ID: 9987125 That site was only registered in April of this year. Its publisher disputes the idea that its content is aimed at misleading readers. “The BS Journal is a satire news publication and makes absolutely no secret of that or any attempt to purposely mislead our readers,” he told BuzzFeed News. Large news sites also generated strong Facebook engagement for links to their election stories. But to truly find the biggest election hits from these 19 major sites, it’s necessary to go back to early 2016. The three biggest election hits for these outlets came back in February, led by a contributor post on the Huffington Post’s blog about Donald Trump that received 2,200,000 engagements on Facebook. The top-performing election news story on Facebook for the 19 outlets analyzed was also published that month by CBS News. It generated an impressive 1.7 million shares, engagements, and comments on Facebook. Overall, a significant number of the top-performing posts on Facebook from major outlets were opinion pieces, rather than news stories. The biggest mainstream hit in the three months prior to the election came from the Washington Post and had 876,000 engagements. Yet somehow Ending the Fed — a site launched just months earlier with no history on Facebook and likely a very small group of people running it — managed to get more engagement for a false story during that same period. “People know there are concerned employees who are seeing something here which they consider a big problem,” a Facebook manager told BuzzFeed News this week. “And it doesn’t feel like the people making decisions are taking the concerns seriously.” ID: 9987295 How We Gathered the Data BuzzFeed News used the content analysis tool BuzzSumo, which enables users to search for content by keyword, URL, time range, and social share counts. BuzzFeed News searched in BuzzSumo using keywords such as “Hillarious Clinton” and “Donald Trump,” as well as combinations such as “Trump and election” or “Clinton and emails” to see the top stories about these topics according to Facebook engagement. We also searched for known viral lies such as “Soros and voting machine.” In addition, created lists of the URLs of known fake news websites, of hyperpartisan sites on the right and on the left, and of the more than 100 pro-Trump sites run from Macedonia that were previously identified in BuzzFeed News reporting. We then looked for the top performing content on Facebook across all of these sites to find false stories about the election. We conducted our searches in three-month segments beginning 9 months from election day. This broke down as February to April, May to July, and August to election day. Even with the above approaches, it’s entirely possible that we missed other big hits from fake news websites and hyperpartisan blogs. To examine the performance of election content from mainstream sites, we created a list that included the websites of the New York Times, Washington Post, NBC News, USA Today, Politico, CNN, Wall Street Journal, CBS News, ABC News, New York Daily News, New York Post, BuzzFeed, Los Angeles Times, NPR, The Guardian, Vox, Business Insider, Huffington Post, and Fox News. We then searched for their top-performing election content in the same three-month segments as above. It’s important to note that Facebook engagement does not necessarily translate into traffic. This analysis was focused on how the best-performing fake news about the election compared with real news from major outlets on Facebook. It’s entirely possible — and likely — that the mainstream sites received more traffic to their top-performing Facebook content than the fake news sites did. As as the Facebook spokesman noted, large news sites overall see more engagement on Facebook than fake news sites. Craig Silverman is the founding editor for BuzzFeed Canada and is based in Toronto. Contact Craig Silverman at craig.silverman@buzzfeed.com.

Straight NewsMax... No lefties there. Judge Tells Trump University Litigants They Would be Wise to Settle Donald Trump stands beside a video sign for Trump University. (AP) The U.S. judge overseeing a lawsuit against President-elect Donald Trump and his Trump University told both sides they would be wise to settle the case "given all else that's involved." Lawyers for the president-elect are squaring off against students who claim they were they were lured by false promises to pay up to $35,000 to learn Trump's real estate investing "secrets" from his "hand-picked" instructors. Earlier on Thursday, U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel tentatively rejected a bid by Trump to keep a wide range of statements from the presidential campaign out of the fraud trial. Trump owned 92 percent of Trump University and had control over all major decisions, the students' court papers say. The president-elect denies the allegations and has argued that he relied on others to manage the business. Trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 28, and Curiel told lawyers he was not inclined to delay the six-year-old case further. Trump lawyer Daniel Petrocelli said he would ask to put the trial on hold until early next year, in light of the many tasks the magnate has before his inauguration. Curiel said he would allow both sides to file briefs on whether to delay the case. He also indicated they should consider making a deal. "It would be wise for the plaintiffs, for the defendants, to look closely at trying to resolve this case given all else that's involved," Curiel said. Petrocelli told reporters after the hearing that Trump might have to be a "little more flexible" about settling the case now that he is president-elect, although the lawyer wasn't sure his client would was willing. Curiel said that he would allow Trump to testify via video given his presidential obligations. In the tentative ruling Curiel, based in San Diego, said Trump's lawyers can renew objections to specific campaign statements and evidence during trial. Trump's attorneys had argued that jurors should not hear about statements Trump made during the campaign, including about Curiel himself. Trump attacked the judge as biased against him. He claimed Curiel, who was born in Indiana but is of Mexican descent, could not be impartial because of Trump's pledge to build a wall between the United States and Mexico. Trump's lawyers argued that Curiel should bar from the trial accusations about Trump's personal conduct including alleged sexual misconduct, his taxes and corporate bankruptcies, along with speeches and tweets. They argued the information is irrelevant to the jury and prejudicial to the case. In court papers, lawyers for the students claimed that Trump's statements would help jurors as they weigh the Republican's credibility. "Defendants have not identified specific evidence that they wish to exclude," Curiel wrote on Thursday. "Accordingly, the court declines to issue a blanket ruling at this time." The judge also barred Trump lawyers from telling jurors that the university had a 98 percent approval rate on student evaluations. That rating is irrelevant as to whether Trump University misrepresented itself, Curiel wrote. Curiel is presiding over two cases against Trump and the university. A separate lawsuit by New York's attorney general is pending. http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Judge-Trump-University-Litigants-Settle/2016/11/12/id/758522/ © 2016 Thomson/Reuters. All rights reserved.

It's just a news article, don't get your panties in a wad. B/A

McCain Warns Trump on Putin as Transition Shows Signs of Disarray By JASON HOROWITZ, HELENE COOPER, JENNIFER STEINHAUER and ADAM GOLDMANUPDATED 4:31 PM The jockeying for power in the incoming administration of President-elect Donald J. Trump and on Capitol Hill is exposing frayed nerves and lingering anger — but also the seeds of new leadership in both parties. McCain to Trump: Don’t get cozy with Putin. Senator John McCain issued a blunt warning on Tuesday to President-elect Trump and his emerging foreign policy team: Don’t try another “reset” with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. During the campaign, Mr. Trump described Mr. Putin as a strong leader and suggested that the United States and Russia might join forces in fighting the Islamic State. Mr. Putin congratulated Mr. Trump on his election in a phone call on Monday and discussed working together to combat terrorism and resolve the crisis in Syria, according to the Kremlin’s account. That was too much for Mr. McCain, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, who cautioned the incoming administration not to be taken in by “a former K.G.B. agent.” “The Obama administration’s last attempt at resetting relations with Russia culminated in Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and military intervention in the Middle East,” Mr. McCain, the newly re-elected Arizona Republican, said in a statement. “At the very least, the price of another ‘reset’ would be complicity in Putin and Assad’s butchery of the Syrian people,” he added. “This is an unacceptable price for a great nation. When America has been at its greatest, it is when we have stood on the side of those fighting tyranny. That is where we must stand again.” Jobs by the thousands, but few takers. Rebekah Mercer, the scion of a powerful family of conservative donors and a member of Mr. Trump’s executive transition committee, has had little success in her mission to solicit names and résumés for potential administration posts, according to a person familiar with her outreach efforts. Ms. Mercer, 42, the daughter of the New York investor Robert Mercer, has told Republican operatives and members of previous administrations that she was having trouble finding takers for posts at the under secretary level and below. She also made it clear that the transition team was more than a month behind schedule and on a tight timeline, the person said. The Mercer family has invested tens of millions of dollars in conservative causes and is considered especially close to Stephen K. Bannon, the chairman of Mr. Trump’s campaign who was named as his senior presidential adviser. Mr. Mercer reportedly invested $10 million in Breitbart, the right-wing news site previously run by Mr. Bannon. Mr. Trump’s campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, also previously oversaw a “super PAC” financed by the Mercer family. Harry Reid: Democrats must defend the defenseless. Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the outgoing minority leader, took to the Senate floor Thursday with a slew of stories about bullied children, racist attacks, and anti-Semitic acts, unholstered to bash Mr. Trump, his new hobby. “His election sparked a wave of hate crime across America. This is a simple statement of fact,” Mr. Reid said before imploring Democrats to stand as a force against Mr. Trump. Reins at House Republican campaign committee change hands Representative Steve Stivers of Ohio was named the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, the party’s campaign arm for House candidates, succeeding Representative Greg Walden of Oregon. In a statement, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan called Mr. Stivers “a talented leader.” Trump team’s long memories are impeding the transition. Eliot A. Cohen, who wrote one of the “Never Trump” pieces this year that called Mr. Trump’s view of American power and influence in the world “wildly inconsistent and unmoored in principle,” said in an interview on Tuesday that a Trump transition aide had asked him for recommendations for the national security team. But when Mr. Cohen, a former national security official in George W. Bush’s administration, suggested the caveat that many foreign policy hands would enlist only if there were credible people leading national security agencies and departments, he said he received a vituperative email in response. The tone of the email surprised him, he said, expressing a level of vengefulness at odds with an administration that is trying to fill important national security positions with qualified people. “They think of these jobs as lollipops,” Mr. Cohen said. “I think we’re on the verge of a crisis here.” A filibuster threat against John Bolton, as Rudolph Giuliani rises. With John Bolton, the former United Nations ambassador, emerging as a finalist for a senior national security post, even secretary of state, Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, said on Tuesday that he would do “whatever I can” to block him. Such opposition is improving the stock of Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York City mayor, to lead the State Department, but Mr. Paul is not so sure about him either, citing Mr. Giuliani’s “worrisome ties to foreign governments” on CNN. The floating of Mr. Bolton as one of Mr. Trump’s contenders for secretary of state has baffled members of both parties, because his hawkish foreign policy worldview is so at odds with Mr. Trump’s campaign pitch for less military engagement in the world. That is one area in which Mr. Paul, one of Mr. Trump’s rivals in the race for the Republican nomination, said he agreed with the president-elect. “I can’t imagine supporting anyone who hasn’t learned the lesson of the last 20 years,” Mr. Paul said of Mr. Bolton, who was ambassador to the United Nations for George W. Bush during the escalation of the war in Iraq. Mr. Paul called Mr. Bolton “unrepentant.” Global security consultant leaves the transition. Matthew Freedman, the chief executive at Global Impact, a consulting firm, was removed from his post overseeing the National Security Council transition after questions emerged about his lobbying ties. According to a former federal government official, Mr. Freedman had been using his Global Impact email to conduct official transition business. The official said that transition members were advised to use only their ptt.gov email, and that use of a business email was counter to transition policy. Mr. Freedman has worked as a security consultant for decades, after a brief career with the federal government working for the National Security Council and the Agency for International Development. He started as a foreign government lobbyist in the 1980s, when he joined a company then led by Paul Manafort, Mr. Trump’s former campaign chairman, taking up prominent international clients, such as government officials from Nigeria and Argentina, and the dictator Ferdinand Marcos from the Philippines. Reached by phone, Mr. Freedman declined to comment Tuesday. A broader lobbyist purge underway? Photo Vice President-elect Mike Pence arrived at Trump Tower in Manhattan on Tuesday. Credit Sam Hodgson for The New York Times Vice President-elect Mike Pence and Rick Dearborn, a Trump campaign staff member who is close to Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, are going over the transition staffing list to make a “very concerted effort to clear house of any lobbyists,” said one transition official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. This means others beyond Mr. Freedman will likely be purged as well. Two rich investors, two big cabinet posts Carl Icahn, a business magnate who is close to the president-elect, tipped his hand on Twitter: Steven Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs financier and hedge fund founder, seems to have an inside track to be Treasury secretary; and Wilbur Ross, a billionaire investor and turnaround artist, could be Commerce secretary. And one of them hints at the ‘huge’ tax cut to come? Mr. Mnuchin, Mr. Trump’s national campaign finance chairman, does seem to have big plans. Spotted entering Trump Tower on Tuesday, he told reporters, “We’re working on the economic plan with the transition, making sure we get the biggest tax bill passed, the biggest tax changes since Reagan, so a lot of exciting things in the first 100 days of the Trump presidency.” Mr. Trump has called for deep tax cuts for people at all income levels, consolidation of tax brackets, higher standard tax deductions, the elimination of the death tax and lower corporate tax rates. He has also called for ending “special interest loopholes” and he has said he wants to end the “carried interest” provision that benefits private equity groups. The estimated cost to the treasury of those plans is more than $5 trillion over 10 years. To put that in perspective, George W. Bush’s tax cuts in 2001 — the largest in history — were a wee $1.35 trillion over a decade. Ben Carson declines health posts. Ben Carson spent months trying to persuade voters to elect him president, but, according to his spokesman, he does not think he is qualified to run a federal agency in the Trump administration. According to the spokesman, Armstrong Williams, who is also Mr. Carson’s business manager, Mr. Trump offered the retired neurosurgeon a “buffet” of job options as a reward for being a loyal ally after dropping out of the race for the Republican nomination. “The president-elect said, ‘Ben, tell me whatever you want to run, it will be yours,’” Mr. Williams recounted. But Mr. Carson has no experience running large enterprises, Mr. Williams said, and did not think it would be a wise move to start in the new administration. Mr. Carson had been discussed as a candidate to lead the Department of Health and Human Services or the Department of Education, or to be surgeon general. “He’d be like a fish out of water,” Mr. Williams said. Is Kellyanne Conway, the victorious campaign manager, out? Photo Kellyanne Conway spoke at the Wall Street Journal’s C.E.O. Council in Washington on Monday. Credit Al Drago/The New York Times Kellyanne Conway, Mr. Trump’s campaign manager who was often credited with steadying his roiling political machinery, may not go to the White House, according to two people briefed on the discussions. Ms. Conway, Mr. Trump’s final campaign manager, sanded down the candidate’s rougher edges in her television appearances, but she has four young children and is weighing what a move to the West Wing would do to them. Instead, she may remain on the outside, as a voice for the new administration on television or with a new “super PAC” set up to support the president-elect’s activities. Democrats are not immune from the disarray. Amid rising calls for change in Democratic leadership, House Democrats decided in a closed-door meeting on Tuesday to postpone their leadership elections until Nov. 30. After last week’s bruising loss, there have been rumblings among some Democrats that perhaps a new leader should replace Representative Nancy Pelosi of California in the role she has held since 2003. Some members have urged Representative Tim Ryan of Ohio to run, and he is considering it, his office said Monday. Mr. Ryan, a former football player from the Youngstown area, is in stark contrast with Ms. Pelosi, an affluent scion of a Baltimore political family long ensconced in San Francisco, one of the country’s most liberal bastions. But House Republicans are all smiles. Photo House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, center, at a House Republican leadership meeting, spoke to the news media in Washington on Tuesday. Credit Al Drago/The New York Times Speaker Paul D. Ryan, who was renominated to his position by his colleagues on Tuesday, gushed at the Capitol, “Welcome to the dawn of a new united Republican government,” noting that his team is working carefully with Mr. Pence on a common agenda. Mr. Ryan added that he saw no problem with Mr. Trump’s children serving in the administration, saying the president-elect was “so successful because he’s surrounded himself with good people.” Long gone are all those qualms about endorsing Candidate Trump or campaigning for him.

Sorry Sarge, but your hate is going to come back to haunt you... Have you seen the children on the news in school chanting White Power? How does that make you feel? I personally find it sad and a step backwards for humanity. JMHO B/A

The idea of the Electoral College was developed to prevent voters from choosing only local candidates that they were familiar with in their own areas. The reason was simple, getting information to all people in the 1700's was a bit more difficult than in today's world. So it's purpose made sense at the time. Does it today? Has it outgrown it's usefulness? Do Americans want their actual vote not to count? Here is the history for those interested. Did you know it was created with inspiration from ancient Rome? In order to appreciate the reasons for the Electoral College, it is essential to understand its historical context and the problem that the Founding Fathers were trying to solve. They faced the difficult question of how to elect a president in a nation that: was composed of thirteen large and small States jealous of their own rights and powers and suspicious of any central national government contained only 4,000,000 people spread up and down a thousand miles of Atlantic seaboard barely connected by transportation or communication (so that national campaigns were impractical even if they had been thought desirable) believed, under the influence of such British political thinkers as Henry St. John Bolingbroke, that political parties were mischievous if not downright evil, and felt that gentlemen should not campaign for public office (The saying was "The office should seek the man, the man should not seek the office."). How, then, to choose a president without political parties, without national campaigns, and without upsetting the carefully designed balance between the presidency and the Congress on one hand and between the States and the federal government on the other? Origins of the Electoral College The Constitutional Convention considered several possible methods of selecting a president. One idea was to have the Congress choose the president. This idea was rejected, however, because some felt that making such a choice would be too divisive an issue and leave too many hard feelings in the Congress. Others felt that such a procedure would invite unseemly political bargaining, corruption, and perhaps even interference from foreign powers. Still others felt that such an arrangement would upset the balance of power between the legislative and executive branches of the federal government. A second idea was to have the State legislatures select the president. This idea, too, was rejected out of fears that a president so beholden to the State legislatures might permit them to erode federal authority and thus undermine the whole idea of a federation. A third idea was to have the president elected by a direct popular vote. Direct election was rejected not because the Framers of the Constitution doubted public intelligence but rather because they feared that without sufficient information about candidates from outside their State, people would naturally vote for a "favorite son" from their own State or region. At worst, no president would emerge with a popular majority sufficient to govern the whole country. At best, the choice of president would always be decided by the largest, most populous States with little regard for the smaller ones. Finally, a so-called "Committee of Eleven" in the Constitutional Convention proposed an indirect election of the president through a College of Electors. The function of the College of Electors in choosing the president can be likened to that in the Roman Catholic Church of the College of Cardinals selecting the Pope. The original idea was for the most knowledgeable and informed individuals from each State to select the president based solely on merit and without regard to State of origin or political party. The structure of the Electoral College can be traced to the Centurial Assembly system of the Roman Republic. Under that system, the adult male citizens of Rome were divided, according to their wealth, into groups of 100 (called Centuries). Each group of 100 was entitled to cast only one vote either in favor or against proposals submitted to them by the Roman Senate. In the Electoral College system, the States serve as the Centurial groups (though they are not, of course, based on wealth), and the number of votes per State is determined by the size of each State's Congressional delegation. Still, the two systems are similar in design and share many of the same advantages and disadvantages. The similarities between the Electoral College and classical institutions are not accidental. Many of the Founding Fathers were well schooled in ancient history and its lessons. The First Design In the first design of the Electoral College (described in Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution): Each State was allocated a number of Electors equal to the number of its U.S. Senators (always 2) plus the number of its U.S. Representative (which may change each decade according to the size of each State's population as determined in the decennial census). This arrangement built upon an earlier compromise in the design of the Congress itself and thus satisfied both large and small States. The manner of choosing the Electors was left to the individual State legislatures, thereby pacifying States suspicious of a central national government. Members of Congress and employees of the federal government were specifically prohibited from serving as an Elector in order to maintain the balance between the legislative and executive branches of the federal government. Each State's Electors were required to meet in their respective States rather than all together in one great meeting. This arrangement, it was thought, would prevent bribery, corruption, secret dealing, and foreign influence. In order to prevent Electors from voting only for a "favorite son" of their own State, each Elector was required to cast two votes for president, at least one of which had to be for someone outside their home State. The idea, presumably, was that the winner would likely be everyone's second favorite choice. The electoral votes were to be sealed and transmitted from each of the States to the President of the Senate who would then open them before both houses of the Congress and read the results. The person with the most electoral votes, provided that it was an absolute majority (at least one over half of the total), became president. Whoever obtained the next greatest number of electoral votes became vice president - an office which they seem to have invented for the occasion since it had not been mentioned previously in the Constitutional Convention. In the event that no one obtained an absolute majority in the Electoral College or in the event of a tie vote, the U.S. House of Representatives, as the chamber closest to the people, would choose the president from among the top five contenders. They would do this (as a further concession to the small States) by allowing each State to cast only one vote with an absolute majority of the States being required to elect a president. The vice presidency would go to whatever remaining contender had the greatest number of electoral votes. If that, too, was tied, the U.S. Senate would break the tie by deciding between the two. In all, this was quite an elaborate design. But it was also a very clever one when you consider that the whole operation was supposed to work without political parties and without national campaigns while maintaining the balances and satisfying the fears in play at the time. Indeed, it is probably because the Electoral College was originally designed to operate in an environment so totally different from our own that many people think it is anachronistic and fail to appreciate the new purposes it now serves. But of that, more later. The Second Design The first design of the Electoral College lasted through only four presidential elections. For in the meantime, political parties had emerged in the United States. The very people who had been condemning parties publicly had nevertheless been building them privately. And too, the idea of political parties had gained respectability through the persuasive writings of such political philosophers as Edmund Burke and James Madison. One of the accidental results of the development of political parties was that in the presidential election of 1800, the Electors of the Democratic-Republican Party gave Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr (both of that party) an equal number of electoral votes. The tie was resolved by the House of Representatives in Jefferson's favor - but only after 36 tries and some serious political dealings which were considered unseemly at the time. Since this sort of bargaining over the presidency was the very thing the Electoral College was supposed to prevent, the Congress and the States hastily adopted the Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution by September of 1804. To prevent tie votes in the Electoral College which were made probable, if not inevitable, by the rise of political parties (and no doubt to facilitate the election of a president and vice president of the same party), the 12th Amendment requires that each Elector cast one vote for president and a separate vote for vice president rather than casting two votes for president with the runner-up being made vice president. The Amendment also stipulates that if no one receives an absolute majority of electoral votes for president, then the U.S. House of Representatives will select the president from among the top three contenders with each State casting only one vote and an absolute majority being required to elect. By the same token, if no one receives an absolute majority for vice president, then the U.S. Senate will select the vice president from among the top two contenders for that office. All other features of the Electoral College remained the same including the requirements that, in order to prevent Electors from voting only for "favorite sons", either the presidential or vice presidential candidate has to be from a State other than that of the Electors. In short, political party loyalties had, by 1800, begun to cut across State loyalties thereby creating new and different problems in the selection of a president. By making seemingly slight changes, the 12th Amendment fundamentally altered the design of the Electoral College and, in one stroke, accommodated political parties as a fact of life in American presidential elections. It is noteworthy in passing that the idea of electing the president by direct popular vote was not widely promoted as an alternative to redesigning the Electoral College. This may be because the physical and demographic circumstances of the country had not changed that much in a dozen or so years. Or it may be because the excesses of the recent French revolution (and its fairly rapid degeneration into dictatorship) had given the populists some pause to reflect on the wisdom of too direct a democracy. The Evolution of the Electoral College Since the 12th Amendment, there have been several federal and State statutory changes which have affected both the time and manner of choosing Presidential Electors but which have not further altered the fundamental workings of the Electoral College. There have also been a few curious incidents which its critics cite as problems but which proponents of the Electoral College view as merely its natural and intended operation. http://uselectionatlas.org/INFORMATION/INFORMATION/electcollege_history.php B/A

Kaperoni November 15, 2016 For those who don’t know, deleting or dropping the zeros in the case of Iraq won’t happen overnight. It’s going to take time. The zeros will go away one by one as the dinar rises in value. What causes the value to rise is what is known as “supply and demand” Or what some call “market forces”. Meaning as investors and investment comes into Iraq, it will drive the value of the dinar up… Which will cause the zeros to go away naturally over time. There is no RV or single event. This is well documented in the IMF…Stand by Agreement.

Such hatred... WWJS B/A

Mnt Goat November 14, 2016 Hi Everyone, There is now so much news pouring out of Iraq on the “project to delete the zeros”. I am presenting many of these new articles to you below. Folks these are not old articles. They are all just recently published this last week. Remember I am not calling a date for the RV. What I am doing is bringing you the news as the government and the CBI announce it. I add my commentary in RED to help you understand. Why all this news now? As I told you they will have to explain the project all over again to the citizens since it has been about a year already since they last tried to do it. They are now ramping up to do just that. I expect even more news in more detail coming out very soon in the coming weeks on the final details of just how they plan to do. I expect they will give a deadline (a time limit) as to how long the Iraqi citizen has to exchange the 3 zeros for the new lower denomination notes before they expire. This is of course in Iraq only. I want to emphasis this over and over again. We know the 3 zero notes will remain in circulation (but more for the inter-banking transactions) for 10 years. If you look at the BIG picture you will realize that us investors will be like the bankers in Iraq, who will remain holding the large 3 zero notes and use them mainly for inter and intra country commerce. Only the value will change significantly from what it is today, IF YOU WERE TO USE IT INTERNATIONALLY. So let’s take an example. I need everyone to understand fully what is about to happen in Iraq. So someone buying a condo for 100,000 dinar will go to the bank and get 4 each 25,000 notes worth $100,000 to pay the owner (or the bank will just transfer the funds for them electronically). Note I did not give a rate. Do I have to? Why would they need a rate? Stop thinking like outside country investors for just a moment. Iraq fully intends to use dinars not USD. So a dinar is a dinar. Right? No need to convert anything. For value? Value in what? Value of dinar in US dollars? Why? Iraqis use dinars not US dollars. Okay to satisfy everyone lets do this conversion to US dollars but remember this is ONLY in Iraq. Thus when they exchange a 25,000 note (now worth $25 US dollars based on 1200 dinars per a US Dollar they will get one 25 note. Yes just one 25 note. Why? No change in value! No RV. Get it? They are just adjusting this currency for inflation. A simple change over rather that looking at it like a currency exchange. Just like when Saddam Hussien post war notes were converted to the 3 zero notes, the citizens got so many 3 zero notes per Saddam notes. Yes it can be confusing if you are outside Iraq looking at it and always trying to go back to the USD but you are not an Iraqi citizen. You are an outside investor and should be converting ONLY to your own country’s currency since your country uses what it uses. So when does our RV happen? So your RV and my RV will happen only when you or I go to exchange our dinars at the bank. The bank currency exchange office will look up the “exchange rates” from dinar to many international currencies namely the one you want ie. US dollars, Euros or Canadian dollars, etc. Then they will simply convert your dinars for you. So how many US dollars do you get for one dinar. You are not exchanging your 3 zero notes for the new lower denoms. Get it? You are exchanging for YOUR currency. So if you worry about what they are about to do, be calm, stay relaxed and just use my example above and you will see it. But above most all – STOP LISTENING TO ALL THESE “intel gurus”. They are not bright people and will confuse you even more with their gobbly goop. In Iraq the only conversions (or exchanges) to the US dollars or any other currency will be limited to a certain amount and for special purposes only, like traveling outside the country. They just recently put these restrictions in place. I showed you the article. They do not want incidences of the US dollar getting in the hands of terrorists or to work down the CBI reserves any more than it is already. This is why now the urgency to pull the plug on the currency launching. Now the anticipation…. Yes- we all should be very excited now, Mnt Goat is VERY excited, but I am also VERY cautious and know they can also postpone this effort again if certain mandated reforms and reconciliation efforts fail. They have already postponed the project twice already in 2012-2013 and again in 2015-2016. But we also know they can not grow their economy either without a real currency as Parliamentary Finance Committee Magda Tamimi told us once again last, Saturday in her published article. I show you the article below. There is just 47 days remaining in 2016. Many say this event will happen prior to Jan 1st 2017. I will tell you THERE IS ABSOLUTLEY NO EVIDENCE SHOWING US OR TELLING US IT WILL HAPPEN SOONER! Can it happen prior? Anything is possible and if it does it does. But why can’t people just listen to the CBI and the Govt of Iraq? Why do many always have to interject and use some illogical sense to put a spin in the news coming and then confuse us and show their stupidity. So recently we heard all the very good news about the Reconciliation Law effort being drawn up and now presented to all of the secs for acceptance, especially the Sunnis. They are very serious this time. There is no more fooling around here. The law also conditions what will happen to Mosul provinces post ISIS and all the non-Iraq fighting forces in Iraq. I will not address this anymore and you can research the contents of the new law yourself. It is very significant and CAN NOT fail if we expect to get an RV. Then they popped out news about the HCL. They told us it too is all completed but still needed the law presented to parliament and passed to make it all legal and long lasting. It now sits in parliament waiting for the final readings. We also know it is in the 2017 budget which will be voted on Nov 26th,,,.so we are told. This law is mandated by the government and the USA (per G.W. Bush). Sheikh Mohammed, the demonstrators Sulaymaniyah: Erbil has not implemented the oil accord with Baghdad and the staff of Kurdistan Twilight News / accused the Presidency of the Iraqi parliament member Aram Sheikh Mohammed, on Saturday, the Kurdistan Regional Government in its commitment to implement the oil agreement between them and the federal government. Sheikh Mohammed said during a meeting with representatives of the protesters from teachers and teachers in Sulaimainh province, he said he “will not hesitate to support the demands, and the situation now is out of a frame of speech. It is time to work hard and put points on the letters.” “We agreed and we voted on the oil agreement between Baghdad and Erbil have been installed in the budget law, according to what demanded by political parties in Kurdistan and they told us we will implement the prospects in all its details but unfortunately has not been implemented,” persisting saying that “now is the staff of the province and the rest of the citizens of the Kurdistan people pay tax “. And left hundreds of teachers and teachers earlier in the morning in the provinces of Sulaimaniyah and Halabja in demonstrations in protest at the continued lack of salaries and financial entitlements Exchange due to the economic crisis experienced by the Kurdistan Region because of lower oil prices in the global Alausaq. (I presented this article to you because I know that there is extreme pressure by both Kurdistan and the Baghdad government to fully implement the oil and gas agreement, but I also know that they need the new HCL law in place and it MUST be voted on in parliament or else it will fail and fail again and again, as it has in the past. Sadly enough, without getting this new law in place could turn out to be a reason why they postpone the project to delete the zeros again come 2017. So we watch this effort and see what happens. It is very important to us and the RV! ) Tamimi: Iraq’s money wasted on phantom projects and privileges of officials and currency auction Special scales News He said a member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee Magda Tamimi, Saturday that Iraq’s money wasted huge amounts of mostly fictitious projects and privileges of officials and auction currency, calling for the activation of other non-oil revenue for the advancement of the country’s economy again. (of course she is talking about the CBI reserves and how it is now down to 40 billion USD and all the corruption involved in this process. She is saying something must be done and do it now. Okay so we heard all the about advancing the Iraqi economy. So what is the hold up? Why is it not progressing? Read my lips – THEY NEED A REAL CURRENCY). She said Tamimi’s / balances News /, that “the government if they have the will they will be able to advance the country again and build its economy and rely on other non-oil and activated ignoring the oil revenues to the fact that continuing on its imports to provides little something to build a strong economy and the government continues regardless of his money on salaries. ” She added that “we have to take advantage of the current crisis for the advancement of a new state must re-calculations and correction of trajectories and the search for the reasons that the state treasury emptied of money and made it unable to rely on loans.” He noted that the “huge amounts of money to the country bellowed mostly fictitious projects and privileges of officials and auction currency,” adding that “every employee has a car, maintenance and fuel, all of the state and the property was sold after the 2003 five thousand dinars per meter, although he value of 5000 dollars.” She noted that “the current crisis, the belief is the beginning of success,” adding that “there must be a comprehensive review of the salary scale in the state and privileges of officials and their properties and their salaries” (she is saying let’s capitalize on the current ECONOMIC situation to make the necessary changes and advance Iraq forward) Reasons for deleting three zeros from the Iraqi dinar The reasons for deleting three zeros from the Iraqi dinar and what it means to delete the three zeroes from the Iraqi currency, the fact deleting three zeros from the Iraqi dinar, the official source at the Central Bank of Iraq, said that the beginning of the beginning of 2017, will the Central Bank of, Iraqi deleting three zeros from the currency of Iraq, Finance Committee also announced in parliament that the central bank will start at the beginning of 2017 by deleting three zeros from the local currency, in other words, that the unity of the coin in 1000 dinars from the old currency will be replaced by only one denarius of the new currency,and so on. (once again we got confirmation the fully intend to start up the project to delete the zeros in again in early 2017. Also the gave an example of how the project will work and also confirms again the value initially will not change but the RV will come later as a result of the change i.e. 1,000 = 1) Start procedures to delete three zeros from the currency in 2017 Going on in the minds of many Iraqis that the important question of whether to raise (the zeros from the Iraqi dinar) harm or benefit? Thus why do not we raise the zeros, the official source in the Iraqi Central Bank stressed that the purpose of deleting three zeros from the currency of Iraq is to lift the economy and prosperity to raise support for the dinar, which will be a key reason for the return of Iraq’s economy again in January 2017, the step by Iraq intended to reform the local currency system based on the use of the currency too high denominations, which leads to difficulties in handling and in private transactions accounts, as well as higher prices resulting from the use of monetary units higher categories, which leads to a decline in the currency and declining purchasing power exchange rate the dinar in a big way. (WOW! Now they even gave us a closer timeframe. They actually said January of 2017 not just early in 2017….WOW! ) CBI decision to remove three zeros from the Iraqi dinarIraqi Central Bank chairman said that the deletion of three zeros from the Iraqi dinar will help in flourishing once again the Iraqi economy and the return of the Iraqi currency traded in international stock markets, the deletion of zeros restore Iraqi currency mind in periods of monetary turmoil and declining public revenues of the state at a time when the expenses increase, resort states often to print more of the local currency, leading to price hikes and the occurrence of high inflation, the need to cross categories with high currencies such as the one thousand and one million one hundred thousand … etc., and with every raise in the denomination as the economy enters the furnace of inflation. (this article reinforces that the project to delete the zeros will in fact also end only once. (telling us that, in fact the project to delete the zeros will lead to the currency moving back to an international status and traded on global exchanges, thus they move out of the closed economy and to Article 8 of their UN charter. So now everyone knows without a shadow of doubt this is the project that will get us the RV. So I don’t want anymore debate from you so called “intel gurus” on this topic. I have been saying this for over 6 years already its about time everyone else gets onboard!) Why delete the three zeroes from the Iraqi dinar The aim of deleting three zeros from the currency of Iraq is one of the means to control the high inflation is monetary reform, coupled with a change in monetary policy by the old currency high Pfiadtha replacement of a new currency with lower categories so prices tend to decline, but does it increase on inflation? The answer is no, because the elimination of inflation is required to follow state moderate monetary policy, an official at the Central Bank of Iraq and stressed that the Iraqi dinar will be the vital currency in global stock markets and the central bank is currently discussing the principles of starting the project and its laws on the beginning of the project of the year 2017 and stressed that the new currency will not have a significant impact on the major currencies, but will raise the Iraqi economy. (so once again they are confirming to us that the project to delete the zeros will lead to a global status of their currency meaning going international and that is when we exchange out our dinar as investors. It all sounds very good. Also they are confirming to us the project to delete the zeros will have little impact on the SDR basket , the major currencies it will gauged with) I am very excited and so should you. The question always lays deep within my mind is this – Will they find another reason to postpone the project to delete the zeros again? We know they now have a new target and they have told us now this target is January 2017 not just early 2017 anymore. So we are getting very close to this target. The aim of deleting three zeros from the currency of Iraq Thagafna source: The official source at the Central Bank of Iraq emphasized that the purpose of deleting three zeros from the currency of Iraq is to lift the economy and prosperity to raise support for the Kuwaiti dinar, which will be a key reason for the return of Iraq’s economy again. (so now we also have confirmation that there is pressure from Kuwait too to stabilize the Iraqi dinar as they are neighboring trading partners. Could this also be true with Iran since, if they correct the Iraqi currency and do nothing with the Iranian Rial, this will allow yet another disparity in trade with Iraq and Iran? So is there also a necessity to bring the Iranian Rial to Reality (no pun intended…lol..) since Iran too is (will be) a major trading partner with Iraq along with Kuwait?) He stressed that the Iraqi dinar will be the vital currency in global stock markets and the central bank is currently discussing the principles of starting the project and its laws on the beginning of the project from 2017 and confirmed that the new currency will not have a significant impact on the major currencies, but will raise the Iraqi economy. (Okay in this paragraph we hear news that the CBI is now coming up with a strategy on how to start up the project to delete the zeros when they begin in 2017. So tell me this – How in hell could the lower demons already be launched, as many of these so called “intel gurus” told you last week this was already done? Please tell me why they would now just publish 6 articles this last week alone on this topic, if it were already done. I will tell you why – read my lips…BECAUSE THEY HAVE NOT ALREADY LAUNCHED THE LOWER DENIMINATIONS – that is why. Get it? So please Mr guru stop spreading all your nonsense! ) Iraqi Central Bank chairman said that this step will help the Iraqi economy booming again and the return of the Iraqi currency traded in international stock markets. (here it is again – “return of the Iraqi currency traded in international stock markets”. This is what we want and this is ONLY when we exchange our dinars at the bank, get it now? No privileged early exchanges) I know the CBI decision to remove three zeros from the currency of Iraq beginning in 2017 Their words not mine…..No Rumors, No Hype, Just the FACTS! Auf Wiedersehen Much love to ya all, Mnt Goat

Dr. Clarke November 14, 2016 [Since the CBI says they are starting the process to delete the 000’s it may very well be a rate change in 2016.] Looking more & more, like the highest probability, is right at the very end of November, 2016…we’d say it’s now at 99%.

Currency Reset In India Causes Panic and Chaos With Massive Hit On Black Market In a stunning move that shocked many people In India, the government decided without warning to make all 500 and 1000 rupee valueless. This while not preparing for this move and printing money for to exchange at the banks has created a panic in this country. Article Link

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-60-minutes-interview-weighs-twitter-use-as-president/

Good thing they were on Trump's side or Markinsa would want to "Eliminate" you.

No No No... Here is the latest... https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=popular+vote+2016&eob=enn/p//0/1/////////// Markinsa, just "Eliminate Los Angeles County in California and you've got a different story? " Well we could just eliminate all the people in Nebraska or Idaho or Arizona.. Who cares what they think? Is the point of your statement, let's just get rid of the votes we don't like? B/A

Time to plant some wheat and make some dough!!! B/A

Well tonight is the biggest brightest moon since 1948... I hope your crystal ball clears up tonight! B/A

Actually all it took was The Electoral College system. The truth is, more Americans voted against Trump than for him. Pretty simple. It's not new math just basic addition and subtraction. Good luck Mr. Trump, like in all things those who supported you will be the same ones who turn on you if you disappoint.

RV, I think we agree on many more things than you might imagine. Common Core makes me want to throw-up. It is a sick and perverse government program, as are so many. When I speak of education and progressives, I'm not talking about recent history. I gather from your examples that you believe I'm talking about the progress (or lack there of) of education in our lifetimes. I'm not. I'm talking about when education was made available to the masses. Looking back to early America, the churches were the ones who starting the building blocks of public education. It was available on a very limited basis. Forward thinking people brought it to everyone. If bringing the working class education was progressive, liberal or whatever one chooses to call it. I'm just glad I was given the opportunity. What's funny is how all things seem political. Myself, I'm not really into politics but somehow I got caught up in these discussions. That's one of the greatest things about America. People left, right, conservative, liberal, forward or backass backwards all have the right to express their opinions. So I leave you with this. I'm going to sit back and watch our new President and save judgement until he is given the time to work his agenda. I, like most of his supporters want to see the government change and get a fresh start. I don't want a bunch of Washington cronies to step in and do business as usual. I will step back and see what our future holds and where President Trump takes us. Finally, below is a bit of history on education and how it was brought to poor working stiffs like me. My family was not one of privilege and prior to the movement to bring education to everyone, which was more than a century ago, I would have been given no opportunity to have a real education. During the Gilded Age America was a country of classes. Those who had and those who didn't, and very few could be lifted from a lower class. Thankfully there were people who found the class system wrong for the new kid on the block, America. This was the land of the free and the old ways had to change. 20th century[edit] Progressive Era[edit] The progressive era in education was part of a larger Progressive Movement, extending from the 1890s to the 1930s. The era was notable for a dramatic expansion in the number of schools and students served, especially in the fast-growing metropolitan cities. After 1910, smaller cities also began building high schools. By 1940, 50% of young adults had earned a high school diploma.[46] Radical historians in the 1960s, steeped in the anti-bureaucratic ethos of the New Left, deplored the emergence of bureaucratic school systems. They argue its purpose was to suppress the upward aspirations of the working class.[78] But other historians have emphasized the necessity of building non-politicized standardized systems. The reforms in St. Louis, according to historian Selwyn Troen, were, "born of necessity as educators first confronted the problems of managing a rapidly expanding and increasingly complex institutions." Troen found that the bureaucratic solution removed schools from the bitterness and spite of ward politics. Troen argues: In the space of only a generation, public education had left behind a highly regimented and politicized system dedicated to training children in the basic skills of literacy and the special discipline required of urban citizens, and had replaced it with a largely apolitical, more highly organized and efficient structure specifically designed to teach students the many specialized skills demanded in a modern, industrial society. In terms of programs this entailed the introduction of vocational instruction, a doubling of the period of schooling, and a broader concern for the welfare of urban youth.[79] The social elite in many cities in the 1890s led the reform movement. Their goal was to permanently end political party control of the local schools for the benefit of patronage jobs and construction contracts, which had arisen out of ward politics that absorbed and taught the millions of new immigrants. New York City elite led progressive reforms. Reformers installed a bureaucratic system run by experts, and demanded expertise from prospective teachers. The reforms opened the way for hiring more Irish Catholic and Jewish teachers, who proved adept at handling the civil service tests and gaining the necessary academic credentials. Before the reforms, schools had often been used as a means to provide patronage jobs for party foot soldiers. The new emphasis concentrated on broadening opportunities for the students. New programs were established for the physically handicapped; evening recreation centers were set up; vacation schools were opened; medical inspections became routine; programs began to teach English as a second language; and school libraries were opened.[80] Dewey and progressive education[edit] The leading educational theorist of the era was John Dewey (1859–1952), a philosophy professor at the University of Chicago (1894–1904) and at Teachers College (1904 to 1930), of Columbia University in New York City.[81] Dewey was a leading proponent of "Progressive Education" and wrote many books and articles to promote the central role of democracy in education.[82] He believed that schools were not only a place for students to gain content knowledge, but also as a place for them to learn how to live. The purpose of education was thus to realize the student's full potential and the ability to use those skills for the greater good. Dewey noted that, "to prepare him for the future life means to give him command of himself; it means so to train him that he will have the full and ready use of all his capacities." Dewey insisted that education and schooling are instrumental in creating social change and reform. He noted that "education is a regulation of the process of coming to share in the social consciousness; and that the adjustment of individual activity on the basis of this social consciousness is the only sure method of social reconstruction.".[83] Although Dewey's ideas were very widely discussed, they were implemented chiefly in small experimental schools attached to colleges of education. In the public schools, Dewey and the other progressive theorists encountered a highly bureaucratic system of school administration that was typically not receptive to new methods.[84] Black education[edit] Booker T. Washington was the dominant black political and educational leader in the United States from the 1890s until his death in 1915. Washington not only led his own college, Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, but his advice, political support, and financial connections proved important to many other black colleges and high schools, which were primarily located in the South. This was the center of the black population until after the Great Migration of the first half of the 20th century. Washington was a respected advisor to major philanthropies, such as the Rockefeller, Rosenwald and Jeanes foundations, which provided funding for leading black schools and colleges. The Rosenwald Foundation provided matching funds for the construction of schools for rural black students in the South. Washington explained, "We need not only the industrial school, but the college and professional school as well, for a people so largely segregated, as we are.... Our teachers, ministers, lawyers and doctors will prosper just in proportion as they have about them an intelligent and skillful producing class."[85] Washington was a strong advocate of progressive reforms as advocated by Dewey, emphasizing scientific, industrial and agricultural education that produced a base for lifelong learning, and enabled careers for many black teachers, professionals, and upwardly mobile workers. He tried to adapt to the system and did not support political protests against the segregated Jim Crow system.[86] At the same time, Washington used his network to provide important funding to support numerous legal challenges by the NAACP against the systems of disenfranchisement which southern legislatures had passed at the turn of the century, effectively excluding blacks from politics for decades into the 1960s. Atlanta[edit] In most American cities, Progressives in the Efficiency Movement looked for ways to eliminate waste and corruption. They emphasized using experts in schools. For example, in the 1897 reform of the Atlanta schools, the school board was reduced in size, eliminating the power of ward bosses. The members of the school board were elected at-large, reducing the influence of various interest groups. The power of the superintendent was increased. Centralized purchasing allowed for economies of scale, although it also added opportunities for censorship and suppression of dissent. Standards of hiring and tenure in teachers were made uniform. Architects designed school buildings in which the classrooms, offices, workshops and other facilities related together. Curricular innovations were introduced. The reforms were designed to produce a school system for white students according to the best practices of the day. Middle-class professionals instituted these reforms; they were equally antagonistic to the traditional business elites and to working-class elements.[87] Gary plan[edit] The "Gary plan" was implemented in the new industrial "steel" city of Gary, Indiana, by William Wirt, the superintendent who served from 1907–30. Although the U.S. Steel Corporation dominated the Gary economy and paid abundant taxes, it did not shape Wirt's educational reforms. The Gary Plan emphasized highly efficient use of buildings and other facilities. This model was adopted by more than 200 cities around the country, including New York City. Wirt divided students into two platoons—one platoon used the academic classrooms, while the second platoon was divided among the shops, nature studies, auditorium, gymnasium, and outdoor facilities. Then the platoons rotated position. Wirt set up an elaborate night school program, especially to Americanize new immigrants. The introduction of vocational educational programs, such as wood shop, machine shop, typing, and secretarial skills proved especially popular with parents who wanted their children to become foremen and office workers. By the Great Depression, most cities found the Gary plan too expensive, and abandoned it.[88] Secondary schools[edit] In 1880, American high schools were primarily considered to be preparatory academies for students who were going to attend college. But by 1910 they had been transformed into core elements of the common school system and had broader goals of preparing many students for work after high school. The explosive growth brought the number of students from 200,000 in 1890 to 1,000,000 in 1910, to almost 2,000,000 by 1920; 7% of youths aged 14 to 17 were enrolled in 1890, rising to 32% in 1920. The graduates found jobs especially in the rapidly growing white-collar sector. Cities large and small across the country raced to build new high schools. Few were built in rural areas, so ambitious parents moved close to town to enable their teenagers to attend high school. After 1910, vocational education was added, as a mechanism to train the technicians and skilled workers needed by the booming industrial sector.[89][90] In the 1880s the high schools started developing as community centers. They added sports and by the 1920s were building gymnasiums that attracted large local crowds to basketball and other games, especially in small town schools that served nearby rural areas.[91] College preparation[edit] In the 1865–1914 era, the number and character of schools changed to meet the demands of new and larger cities and of new immigrants. They had to adjust to the new spirit of reform permeating the country. High schools increased in number, adjusted their curriculum to prepare students for the growing state and private universities; education at all levels began to offer more utilitarian studies in place of an emphasis on the classics. John Dewey and other Progressives advocated changes from their base in teachers' colleges.[92] Before 1920 most secondary education, whether private or public, emphasized college entry for a select few headed for college. Proficiency in Greek and Latin was emphasized. Abraham Flexner, under commission from the philanthropic General Education Board (GEB), wrote A Modern School (1916), calling for a de-emphasis on the classics. The classics teachers fought back in a losing effort.[93] Prior to World War I, German was preferred as a subject for a second spoken language. Prussian and German educational systems had served as a model for many communities in the United States and its intellectual standing was highly respected. Due to Germany being an enemy of the US during the war, an anti-German attitude arose in the United States. French, the international language of diplomacy, was promoted as the preferred second language instead. French survived as the second language of choice until the 1960s, when Spanish became popular.[94] This reflected a strong increase in the Spanish-speaking population in the United States, which has continued since the late 20th century. The growth of human capital[edit] By 1900 educators argued that the post-literacy schooling of the masses at the secondary and higher levels, would improve citizenship, develop higher-order traits, and produce the managerial and professional leadership needed for rapid economic modernization. The commitment to expanded education past age 14 set the U.S. apart from Europe for much of the 20th century.[46] From 1910 to 1940, high schools grew in number and size, reaching out to a broader clientele. In 1910, for example, 9% of Americans had a high school diploma; in 1935, the rate was 40%.[95] By 1940, the number had increased to 50%.[96] This phenomenon was uniquely American; no other nation attempted such widespread coverage. The fastest growth came in states with greater wealth, more homogeneity of wealth, and less manufacturing activity than others. The high schools provided necessary skill sets for youth planning to teach school, and essential skills for those planning careers in white collar work and some high-paying blue collar jobs. Claudia Goldin argues this rapid growth was facilitated by public funding, openness, gender neutrality, local (and also state) control, separation of church and state, and an academic curriculum. The wealthiest European nations, such as Germany and Britain, had far more exclusivity in their education system; few youth attended past age 14. Apart from technical training schools, European secondary schooling was dominated by children of the wealthy and the social elites.[97] American post-elementary schooling was designed to be consistent with national needs. It stressed general and widely applicable skills not tied to particular occupations or geographic areas, in order that students would have flexible employment options. As the economy was dynamic, the emphasis was on portable skills that could be used in a variety of occupations, industries, and regions.[98] Public schools were funded and supervised by independent districts that depended on taxpayer support. In dramatic contrast to the centralized systems in Europe, where national agencies made the major decisions, the American districts designed their own rules and curricula.[99] Teachers and administrators[edit] Early public school superintendents emphasized discipline and rote learning, and school principals made sure the mandate was imposed on teachers. Disruptive students were expelled.[100] Support for the high school movement occurred at the grass-roots level of local cities and school systems. After 1916, the federal government began to provide for vocational education funding as part of support for raising readiness to work in industrial and artisan jobs. In these years, states and religious bodies generally funded teacher training colleges, often called "normal schools". Gradually they developed full four-year curriculums and developed as state colleges after 1945. Teachers organized themselves during the 1920s and 1930s. In 1917, the National Education Association (NEA) was reorganized to better mobilize and represent teachers and educational staff. The rate of increase in membership was constant under the chairmanship of James Crabtree—from 8,466 members in 1917 to 220,149 in 1931. The rival American Federation of Teachers (AFT) was based in large cities and formed alliances with the local labor unions. The NEA identified as an upper-middle-class professional organization, while the AFT identified with the working class and the union movement.[101][102] Higher education[edit] Main article: History of higher education in the United States At the beginning of the 20th century, fewer than 1,000 colleges with 160,000 students existed in the United States. Explosive growth in the number of colleges occurred at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries, supported in part by Congress' land grant programs. Philanthropists endowed many of these institutions. For example, wealthy philanthropists established Johns Hopkins University, Stanford University, Carnegie Mellon University, Vanderbilt University and Duke University; John D. Rockefeller funded the University of Chicago without imposing his name on it.[103] Land Grant universities[edit] Each state used federal funding from the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Acts of 1862 and 1890 to set up "land grant colleges" that specialized in agriculture and engineering. The 1890 act required states that had segregation also to provide all-black land grant colleges, which were dedicated primarily to teacher training. These colleges contributed to rural development, including the establishment of a traveling school program by Tuskegee Institute in 1906. Rural conferences sponsored by Tuskegee also attempted to improve the life of rural blacks. In the late 20th century, many of the schools established in 1890 have helped train students from less-developed countries to return home with the skills and knowledge to improve agricultural production.[104] Among the first land-grant universities were Purdue University, Michigan State University, Kansas State University, Cornell University (in New York), Texas A&M University, Pennsylvania State University, The Ohio State University, and the University of California. Few alumni became farmers, but they did play an increasingly important role in the larger food industry, especially after the federal extension system was set up in 1916 that put trained agronomists in every agricultural county. Engineering graduates played a major role in rapid technological development.[105] The land-grant college system produced the agricultural scientists and industrial engineers who constituted the critical human resources of the managerial revolution in government and business, 1862–1917, laying the foundation of the world's pre-eminent educational infrastructure that supported the world's foremost technology-based economy.[106] Representative was Pennsylvania State University. The Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania (later the Agricultural College of Pennsylvania and then Pennsylvania State University), chartered in 1855, was intended to uphold declining agrarian values and show farmers ways to prosper through more productive farming. Students were to build character and meet a part of their expenses by performing agricultural labor. By 1875 the compulsory labor requirement was dropped, but male students were required to have an hour a day of military training in order to meet the requirements of the Morrill Land Grant College Act. In the early years, the agricultural curriculum was not well developed, and politicians in the state capital of Harrisburg often considered the land-grant college a costly and useless experiment. The college was a center of middle-class values that served to help young people on their journey to white-collar occupations.[107] GI Bill[edit] Rejecting liberal calls for large-scale aid to education, Congress in 1944 during World War II passed the conservative program of aid limited to veterans who had served in wartime. The GI Bill made college education possible for millions by paying tuition and living expenses. The government provided between $800 and $1,400 each year to these veterans as a subsidy to attend college, which covered 50–80% of total costs. This included foregone earnings in addition to tuition, which allowed them to have enough funds for life outside of school. The GI Bill helped create a widespread belief in the necessity of college education. It opened up higher education to ambitious young men who would otherwise have been forced to immediately enter the job market after being discharged from the military. When comparing college attendance rates between veterans and non-veterans during this period, veterans were found to be 10% more likely to go to college than non-veterans. In the early decades after the bill was passed, most campuses became overwhelmingly male thanks to the GI Bill, since few women were covered. But by 2000, women veterans had reached parity in numbers and began passing men in rates of college and graduate school attendance.[108] Great Society[edit] When liberals regained control of Congress in 1964, they passed numerous Great Society programs supported by President Lyndon B. Johnson to expand federal support for education. The Higher Education Act of 1965 set up federal scholarships and low-interest loans for college students, and subsidized better academic libraries, ten to twenty new graduate centers, several new technical institutes, classrooms for several hundred thousand students, and twenty-five to thirty new community colleges a year. A separate education bill enacted that same year provided similar assistance to dental and medical schools. On an even larger scale, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 began pumping federal money into local school districts.[109] Segregation and integration[edit] Segregation laws in the United States prior to Brown v. Board of Education For much of its history, education in the United States was segregated (or even only available) based upon race. Early integrated schools such as the Noyes Academy, founded in 1835, in Canaan, New Hampshire, were generally met with fierce local opposition. For the most part, African Americans received very little to no formal education before the Civil War. Some free blacks in the North managed to become literate. In the South where slavery was legal, many states had laws prohibiting teaching enslaved African Americans to read or write. A few taught themselves, others learned from white playmates or more generous masters, but most were not able to learn to read and write. Schools for free people of color were privately run and supported, as were most of the limited schools for white children. Poor white children did not attend school. The wealthier planters hired tutors for their children and sent them to private academies and colleges at the appropriate age. During Reconstruction a coalition of freedmen and white Republicans in Southern state legislatures passed laws establishing public education. The Freedmen's Bureau was created as an agency of the military governments that managed Reconstruction. It set up schools in many areas and tried to help educate and protect freedmen during the transition after the war. With the notable exception of the desegregated public schools in New Orleans, the schools were segregated by race. By 1900 more than 30,000 black teachers had been trained and put to work in the South, and the literacy rate had climbed to more than 50%, a major achievement in little more than a generation.[110] Many colleges were set up for blacks; some were state schools like Booker T. Washington's Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, others were private ones subsidized by Northern missionary societies. Although the African-American community quickly began litigation to challenge such provisions, in the 19th century Supreme Court challenges generally were not decided in their favor. The Supreme Court case of Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) upheld the segregation of races in schools as long as each race enjoyed parity in quality of education (the "separate but equal" principle). However, few black students received equal education. They suffered for decades from inadequate funding, outmoded or dilapidated facilities, and deficient textbooks (often ones previously used in white schools). Starting in 1914 and going into the 1930s, Julius Rosenwald, a philanthropist from Chicago, established the Rosenwald Fund to provide seed money for matching local contributions and stimulating the construction of new schools for African American children, mostly in the rural South. He worked in association with Booker T. Washington and architects at Tuskegee University to have model plans created for schools and teacher housing. With the requirement that money had to be raised by both blacks and whites, and schools approved by local school boards (controlled by whites), Rosenwald stimulated construction of more than 5,000 schools built across the South. In addition to Northern philanthrops and state taxes, African Americans went to extraordinary efforts to raise money for such schools.[111] The Civil Rights Movement during the 1950s and 1960s helped publicize the inequities of segregation. In 1954, the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education unanimously declared that separate facilities were inherently unequal and unconstitutional. By the 1970s segregated districts had practically vanished in the South. Integration of schools has been a protracted process, however, with results affected by vast population migrations in many areas, and affected by suburban sprawl, the disappearance of industrial jobs, and movement of jobs out of former industrial cities of the North and Midwest and into new areas of the South. Although required by court order, integrating the first black students in the South met with intense opposition. In 1957 the integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, had to be enforced by federal troops. President Dwight D. Eisenhower took control of the National Guard, after the governor tried to use them to prevent integration. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, integration continued with varying degrees of difficulty. Some states and cities tried to overcome de facto segregation, a result of housing patterns, by using forced busing. This method of integrating student populations provoked resistance in many places, including northern cities, where parents wanted children educated in neighborhood schools. Although full equality and parity in education has still to be achieved (many school districts are technically still under the integration mandates of local courts), technical equality in education had been achieved by 1970.[112] Education in the 1960s and 1970s[edit] Inequality[edit] The Coleman Report, by University of Chicago sociology professor James Coleman proved especially controversial in 1966. Based on massive statistical data, the 1966 report titled "Equality of Educational Opportunity" fueled debate about "school effects" that has continued since.[113] The report was widely seen as evidence that school funding has little effect on student achievement. A more precise reading of the Coleman Report is that student background and socioeconomic status are much more important in determining educational outcomes than are measured differences in school resources (i.e. per pupil spending). Coleman found that, on average, black schools were funded on a nearly equal basis by the 1960s, and that black students benefited from racially mixed classrooms.[114][115] The comparative quality of education among rich and poor districts is still often the subject of dispute. While middle class African-American children have made good progress; poor minorities have struggled. With school systems based on property taxes, there are wide disparities in funding between wealthy suburbs or districts, and often poor, inner-city areas or small towns. "De facto segregation" has been difficult to overcome as residential neighborhoods have remained more segregated than workplaces or public facilities. Racial segregation has not been the only factor in inequities. Residents in New Hampshire challenged property tax funding because of steep contrasts between education funds in wealthy and poorer areas. They filed lawsuits to seek a system to provide more equal funding of school systems across the state. Some scholars believe that transformation of the Pell Grant program to a loan program in the early 1980s has caused an increase in the gap between the growth rates of white, Asian-American and African-American college graduates since the 1970s.[116] Others believe the issue is increasingly related more to class and family capacity than ethnicity. Some school systems have used economics to create a different way to identify populations in need of supplemental help. Special education[edit] In 1975 Congress passed Public Law 94-142, Education for All Handicapped Children Act. One of the most comprehensive laws in the history of education in the United States, this Act brought together several pieces of state[clarification needed] and federal legislation, making free, appropriate education available to all eligible students with a disability.[117] The law was amended in 1986 to extend its coverage to include younger children. In 1990 the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) extended its definitions and changed the label "handicap" to "disabilities". Further procedural changes were amended to IDEA in 1997.[118] Reform efforts in the 1980s[edit] In 1983, the National Commission on Excellence in Education released a report titled A Nation at Risk. Soon afterward, conservatives were calling for an increase in academic rigor including an increase in the number of school days per year, longer school days and higher testing standards. English scholar E.D. Hirsch made an influential attack on progressive education, advocating an emphasis on "cultural literacy"—the facts, phrases, and texts that Hirsch asserted are essential for decoding basic texts and maintaining communication. Hirsch's ideas remain influential in conservative circles into the 21st century.Hirsch's ideas have been controversial because as Edwards argues: Opponents from the political left generally accuse Hirsch of elitism. Worse yet in their minds, Hirsch’s assertion might lead to a rejection of toleration, pluralism, and relativism. On the political right, Hirsch has been assailed as totalitarian, for his idea lends itself to turning over curriculum selection to federal authorities and thereby eliminating the time-honored American tradition of locally controlled schools.[119] By 1990, the United States spent 2 per cent of its budget on education, compared with 30 per cent on support for the elderly.[120] 21st Century[edit] Policy since 2000[edit] Main article: No Child Left Behind Act "No Child Left Behind" Was a major national law passed by a bipartisan coalition in Congress in 2002, marked a new direction. In exchange for more federal aid, the states were required to measure progress and punish schools that were not meeting the goals as measured by standardized state exams in math and language skills.[121][122][123] By 2012, half the states were given waivers because the original goal that 100% students by 2014 be deemed "proficient" had proven unrealistic.[124] By 2012, 45 states had dropped the requirement to teach cursive writing from the curriculum. Few schools start the school day by singing the national anthem, as was once done. Few schools have mandatory recess for children. Educators are trying to reinstate recess. Few schools have mandatory arts class. Continuing reports of a student's progress can be found online, supplementing the former method of periodic report cards.[125] By 2015, criticisms from a broad range of political ideologies had cumulated so far that a bipartisan Congress stripped away all the national features of No Child Left Behind, turning the remnants over to the states.[126] Main article: 21st century skills Beginning in the 1980s, government, educators, and major employers issued a series of reports identifying key skills and implementation strategies to steer students and workers towards meeting the demands of the changing and increasingly digital workplace and society. 21st century skills are a series of higher-order skills, abilities, and learning dispositions that have been identified as being required for success in 21st century society and workplaces by educators, business leaders, academics, and governmental agencies. Many of these skills are also associated with deeper learning, including analytic reasoning, complex problem solving, and teamwork, compared to traditional knowledge-based academic skills.[127][128][129] Many schools and school districts are adjusting learning environments, curricula, and learning spaces to include and support more active learning (such as experiential learning) to foster deeper learning and the development of 21st century skills. Oh, and here is your link.... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_education_in_the_United_States B/A

It doesn't matter where we live... It matters that we vote. I don't know so I'm asking, do other industrialized nations have such a system? B/A

I'm not upset or annoyed, I simply brought over a news story from Politico and commented that I see the same 'ol same 'ol which unfortunately is not a surprise. I am surprised that President Elect Trump's supporters are not moved by seeing the list of regulars. There should be outrage by every American by the mere mention of Goldman Sachs for example. They are part of the problem,(you do remember the economic collapse just after the banksters cashed in) not to mention they love Clinton and paid her dearly. Ah but of course we do live in The United States of Amnesia. As I have stated, I will support the president and our country, but I will point out the things I see. And I see the usual suspects. B/A

Sage I totally agree she would have been just as bad if not worse. As you have read in my previous posts, I didn't vote for either one of these two criminals. With that said, any of us would reward those who supported us. But I personally, wouldn't go for anyone from Goldman Sachs (do you even remember the bank crisis?), I wouldn't pick a local county sheriff to run Homeland Security. And I doubt I would pick from a list of insiders for many of these positions. I would bring in non-politicians who know how to work and get a job done, and not a bunch of suck ups like the Washington political professionals on this list. I thought it was about being different, about making change, about the good an outsider would bring. I'm seeing a bunch of Washington has-beens looking for.... Dare I say it? A political handout from the new guy. Business as usual... Let's hope not. As always JMHO B/A

Hmmm. Oil Barons, Wall Street Banksters, Politicians (including Sid Miller from Texas, the one who tweets things like Cu*t) Yup, looks like his potential picks will fit right in with the working class. As always, JMHO B/A Meet Trump's Cabinet-in-waiting He’s expected to reward the band of surrogates who stood by him. By Nancy Cook and Andrew Restuccia 11/09/16 02:56 AM EST President-elect Donald Trump does not have the traditional cadre of Washington insiders and donors to build out his Cabinet, but his transition team has spent the past several months quietly building a short list of industry titans and conservative activists who could comprise one of the more eclectic and controversial presidential Cabinets in modern history. Trumpworld has started with a mandate to hire from the private sector whenever possible. That’s why the Trump campaign is seriously considering Forrest Lucas, the 74-year-old co-founder of oil products company Lucas Oil, as a top contender for Interior secretary, or donor and Goldman Sachs veteran Steven Mnuchin as Treasury secretary. He’s also expected to reward the band of surrogates who stood by him during the bruising presidential campaign, including Newt Gingrich, Rudy Giuliani and Chris Christie, all of whom are being considered for top posts. A handful of Republican politicians may also make the cut, including Sen. Bob Corker for secretary of state or Sen. Jeff Sessions for secretary of defense. Trump's divisive campaign may make it difficult for him to attract top talent, especially since so many politicians and wonks openly derided the president-elect over the past year. And Trump campaign officials have worried privately that they will have difficulty finding high-profile women to serve in his cabinet, according to a person familiar with the campaign’s internal discussions, given Trump’s past comments about women. Still, two Trump transition officials said they received an influx of phone calls and emails in recent weeks, as the polls tightened and a Trump White House seemed more within reach. So far, the Trump campaign and transition teams have been tight-lipped about their picks. (The Trump campaign has declined to confirm cabinet speculation.) But here’s the buzz from POLITICO’s conversations with policy experts, lobbyists, academics, congressional staffers and people close to Trump. Secretary of state Former House Speaker Gingrich, a leading Trump supporter, is a candidate for the job, as is Corker, current chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The Tennessee senator has said he’d “strongly consider” serving as secretary of state. Trump is also eyeing former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton. Treasury secretary Trump himself has indicated that he wants to give the Treasury secretary job to his finance chairman, Mnuchin, a 17-year-veteran of Goldman Sachs who now works as the chairman and chief executive of the private investment firm Dune Capital Management. Mnuchin has also worked for OneWest Bank, which was later sold to CIT Group in 2015. Secretary of defense Among the Republican defense officials who could join the Trump administration: Sessions (R-Ala.), a close adviser, has been discussed as a potential defense secretary. Former National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley and former Sen. Jim Talent (R-Mo.) have also been mentioned as potential candidates. Top Trump confidant retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, would need a waiver from Congress to become defense secretary, as the law requires retired military officers to wait seven years before becoming the civilian leader of the Pentagon. But Trump’s chief military adviser is likely to wind up in some senior administration post, potentially national security adviser. And other early endorsers, like Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), could be in line for top posts as well. Attorney general People close to Trump say former New York City Mayor Giuliani, one of Trump’s leading public defenders, is the leading candidate for attorney general. New Jersey Gov. Christie, another vocal Trump supporter and the head of the president-elect’s transition team, is also a contender for the job — though any role in the cabinet for Christie could be threatened by the Bridgegate scandal. Another possibility: Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, though the controversy over Trump’s donation to Bondi could undercut her nomination. Interior secretary Lucas, the 74-year-old co-founder of oil products company Lucas Oil, is seen as a top contender for Interior secretary. Trump’s presidential transition team is also eyeing venture capitalist Robert Grady, a George H.W. Bush White House official with ties to Christie. And Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr., is said to be interested in the job. Meanwhile, a person who spoke to the Trump campaign told POLITICO that the aides have also discussed tapping Sarah Palin for Interior secretary. Trump has said he’d like to put Palin in his cabinet, and Palin has made no secret of her interest. Other possible candidates include former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer; Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin; Wyoming Rep. Cynthia Lummis; and Oklahoma oilman Harold Hamm. Agriculture secretary There are several names being considered by Trump aides for agriculture secretary, according to multiple sources familiar with the transition. The president-elect has a deep bench to pull from, with nearly 70 leaders on his agricultural advisory committee. The most controversial name on the transition’s current short list is Sid Miller, the current secretary of agriculture in Texas, who caused a firestorm just days ago after his campaign’s Twitter account referred to Hillarious Clinton as a "c---." Miller said it was a staffer mistake and apologized. Other names include Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback; former Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman; former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue; and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry; as well as Charles Herbster, Republican donor and agribusiness leader; and Mike McCloskey, a major dairy executive in Indiana, according to Arabella Advisors, a firm that advises top foundations and closely tracked both transition efforts. Bruce Rastetter, a major Republican donor in Iowa, and Kip Tom, a farmer who ran for Congress in Indiana this year but was defeated in the primary, are also among those being considered, Arabella said. Other top Republican insiders expect that Chuck Connor, president and CEO of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives; Don Villwock, president of the Indiana Farm Bureau; and Ted McKinney, current director of the Indiana Department of Agriculture in administration of Gov. Mike Pence, are also likely to be in the running for the post. Commerce secretary Trump is expected to look to the business community for this job. Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross, a Trump economic adviser, could fit the bill. Dan DiMicco, former CEO of steelmaker Nucor Corp and a Trump trade adviser, is another possibility. Trump is said to also be considering former Texas Gov. Perry, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and even Christie for the job. Labor secretary As with many Cabinet posts under Trump, the campaign and transition staff have been looking for a CEO or executive to lead the Labor Department. One name being bandied about is Victoria Lipnic, commissioner of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission since 2010. She also served as an assistant secretary of labor for employment standards from 2002 until 2009. The Mitt Romney transition team reportedly also considered her for a top labor post in 2012. Health and Human Services secretary Among the names receiving buzz: Florida Gov. Rick Scott, Gingrich and Ben Carson, a former GOP presidential candidate. Carson has received the most attention lately for HHS, even from Trump himself. At a recent anti-Obamacare rally, Trump went out of his way to praise Carson by calling him a "brilliant" physician. "I hope that he will be very much involved in my administration in the coming years," Trump said. One longer shot would be Rich Bagger, executive director of the Trump transition team and a former pharmaceutical executive who led, behind closed doors, many of the meetings this fall with health care industry donors and executives. Energy secretary Continental Resources CEO Hamm has long been seen as a leading candidate for energy secretary. Hamm, an Oklahoma billionaire who has been a friend of Trump’s for years, has been the leading influence on Trump’s energy policy during the campaign. If Hamm passes, venture capitalist Robert Grady is also seen as a top candidate, though he could also be in line for Interior. Education secretary Trump has made clear the Education Department would play a reduced role in his administration — if it exists at all. He has suggested he may try to do away with it altogether. The GOP nominee has also offered a few hints about who he would pick to lead the department while it’s still around. Among those who may be on the shortlist is Carson, the retired neurosurgeon who ran against Trump in the primary but later endorsed the Republican presidential candidate. Education Insider, a monthly survey of congressional staff, federal officials and other “insiders,” said in May that Carson was Trump’s most likely pick. Another possible education secretary under Trump is William Evers, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution who has worked on education matters for the Trump transition team. Evers worked at the Education Department during the Bush administration and served as a senior adviser to then-Education Secretary Margaret Spellings. Veterans Affairs secretary The name most commonly mentioned for Veterans Affairs secretary is House Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Jeff Miller, who’s retiring from the House and was an early Trump backer. Homeland Security secretary One person close to Trump’s campaign said David Clarke, the conservative sheriff of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, is a possible candidate for Homeland Security secretary. Clarke has cultivated a devoted following on the right, and he spoke at the Republican National Convention in Ohio, declaring, "Blue lives matter." Christie is also seen as a possible DHS secretary. Environmental Protection Agency administrator While Trump has called for eliminating the EPA, he has more recently modified that position, saying in September that he’ll “refocus the EPA on its core mission of ensuring clean air, and clean, safe drinking water for all Americans.” Myron Ebell, a climate skeptic who is running the EPA working group on Trump’s transition team, is seen as a top candidate to lead the agency. Ebell, an official at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, has come under fire from environmental groups for his stances on global warming. Venture capitalist Robert Grady is also a contender. Other potential candidates: Joe Aiello, director of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Division of Environmental Safety and Quality Assurance; Carol Comer, the commissioner of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, who was appointed by Pence; and Leslie Rutledge, attorney general of Arkansas and a lead challenger of EPA regulations in the state. Bryan Bender, Jeremy Herb, Connor O'Brien, Joanne Kenen, Marianne Levine, Michael Crowley, Doug Palmer, Nahal Toosi, Helena Bottemiller Evich, Zachary Warmbrodt, Ian Kullgren and Benjamin Wermund contributed to this report. http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/who-is-in-president-trump-cabinet-231071

Thanks Jax, I always appreciate your views. First, I didn't say there was voter fraud, it was those on the right shouting that from the mountaintops. Second, I completely agree. The Constitution stands on it's own as a guiding light for all humanity. Third. Progression is in all things especially science and technology. If not, you would be rowing your boat this weekend and would never know the term waterski. Progression as a political term is no more than a catch phase. Like Make America Great Again, or The Patriot Act or The Affordable Care Act. All great phrases, but without substance. Finally, if progressivism isn't a lifestyle, then neither is conservatism... Personally I think they are both lifestyles. I hope your Veterans Day is both enjoyable and rewarding. I know today's parade and tribute downtown is something I would never miss. Thanks to all those who serve. B/A