Posts Made By: Mark Costello III

Patrick Keafer said:

Oh no...could this even end up any worse? Does Trump have a greater attention span than a two-year old?

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CAMPAIGN_2016_DEBATE_THE_PODIUM?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-09-24-11-45-26

"... End up any worse?" It depends on whom you want in the White House. Full disclosure: I want neither the Donald or Billary in there but the grim reality is that it's going to be one or the other.

Even with this article, it may be perilous to underestimate the Donald. First, he is, in his own way, prepping for the debates as best as I can tell. His coaches include Newt Gingrich and Roger Ailes (who also was instrumental in preparing Reagan for his debates). Second, the Donald is probably going to try and keep it very general, the way Reagan did. If he succeeds in keeping the discussion general and not getting into particulars, he has a good chance of winning. Third, maybe not too long or heaving prepping suits the Donald, as Newt mentions in the last two paragraphs of your article. Fourth, there probably is a very large group of people who support the Donald and who won't donate a rodent's derriere how he did in the debates. Perhaps a lot of them live in Pennsylvania, which the Donald is recoloring from blue to at least purple.

http://www.koat.com/politics/polls-trump-clinton-deadlocked-in-colorado-pennsylvania/41827206

Russ Carroll said:

I had been since 1982. I am still very much a conservative, but the man carrying the banner of my former party is not. Fellow expatriate George Will says it this way:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trumps-rise-reflects-american-conservatisms-decay/2016/09/28/e9244732-84cf-11e6-a3ef-f35afb41797f_story.html?utm_term=.8dbece9c115a


"The ease with which Trump has erased Republican conservatism matches the speed with which Republican leaders have normalized him. For the formerly conservative party, the Founders’ principles, although platitudes in the party’s catechism, have become, as former senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan said, “a kind of civic religion, avowed but not constraining.�

The beginning of conservative wisdom is recognition that there is an end to everything: Nothing lasts. If Trump wins, the GOP ends as a vehicle for conservatism. And a political idea without a political party is an orphan in an indifferent world."

Hello, Russ. I'll not contradict your assessment on Trump or even the current state of the GOP. But in all respect, I submit you made a mistake, at least in your timing.

Consider this: President George H.W. Bush is still a Republican. George W. Bush is still a Republican. Senator Mike Lee is still a Republican. Senator Ben Sasse is still a Republican. Governor John Kasich is still a Republican. Governor Mitt Romney is still a Republican. They also have this in common: they are aligned in their opposition to the Donald.

I believe that soon after November 8, the GOP will have some kind of soul-searching retreat. It could be that at this time, the aforementioned men and their allies try to right the party and take it back, or at least reach some concord with the more rational of the Trump supporters. It could be that the Trump supporters repent of the outlandish things they said or did (like Speaker Newt Gingrich commenting on the beauty queen Trump wanted to depose). It also could be that some of the Never Trump people repent of their vote for HRC or at least explain it. It could be that the party reaches out in a decent way to the people like many within five or six hours of my home who thought (mistakenly IMHO) that Trump would do something about their lost jobs and decaying communities. It could be that the party shows the Alt-Right to the door. Or it could be something other than that, something worse. It could be that the guys mentioned above leave the Republicans and form another party.

So as for me, I am still a registered Republican. Even if I agreed with the Democrats on anything (and I probably do on a few things) and though I started as a Democrat, I will not at this time be part of their party. Almost in all certainty, I never will be. But I will wait for the outcome of this retreat I think the GOP will have or see what happens to the party. Then I will decide whether to stay or leave. But not until then.

Best.

The article has a very narrow focus, on HRC's transactions with outfits like Goldman Sachs and her view of regulations over Wall Street activities. That they are close to "main-stream" is fine with me. How it sits with the Bernie Sanders Democrats is harder to say....

There are other areas touched upon in the e-mails but not in the CNN snippet. The latest stew involves attempts to tamper with the Catholic Church with funding from without. It looks to me like what Nazi officials tried to do with Christianity in Germany, get rid of the Old Testament with its "tales of pimps and cattle merchants" and rewrite the New Testament to conform with "the teachings of the Fuhrer" (Shirer Rise and Fall of the Third Reich)....

After the election and as the new President sends his nomination to the Supreme Court, I will write both North Carolina Senators (hopefully, both will be Republican, but it will not matter) with the same essential message as follows:

Dear Senator (Tillis and either Burr or Ross):

I am writing concerning the recent nomination to the Supreme Court. I request that you ensure that the nominee will faithfully interpret our Constitution as it was written by James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton, and the authors of the various amendments to it. The nominee who solemnly promises to interpret and apply the Constitution as it was written has my confidence and hopefully will have your vote. Otherwise, please vote not to confirm his or her nomination to the Supreme Court. In particular, no proponent of the "Living Constitution" should sit on the Supreme Court.

Thank you for reading my letter and considering its contents. May the Lord be near you.

Respectfully,

Mark Costello
Mark Vincent Costello, III

I have no problem with Trump pardoning Hillary. But I thought the investigations into her activities were done with her being "cleared." In that case, I thought Trump would just ignore her and let her fade away.

It was good to look at that one on an empty stomach. That was too funny.

Jim Brown said:

Some of you will hate me for this, but I think Trump ought to pardon Hillary Clinton in his first week. A) This might help him consolidate national support. B) Continued investigations and prosecutions would distract from the business of governance. C) The moral slap-down of a pardon would arguably be more satisfying than any potential prosecution.

Just a thought.

Jim

Here's my small contribution to healing in a different area. When Mr. Trump starting winning his first primaries, I wrote to say that I probably would not vote for him, that if I did, "it'd be like eating a turd sandwich." Somewhere this past spring, I "graduated" to being a "Never Trump-er." This election campaigned got me more active, writing letters to our Senators here and to our local paper, writing against Mr. Trump. I voted for Evan McMullin (most of my household voted for Mrs. Clinton as a "Never Trump" move).

But Mr. Trump has won and will be inaugurated in a little over two months. I will make the same pledge that I made - and kept - concerning President Obama and would have made had Mrs. Clinton been elected. I acknowledge that Mr. Trump won the keys to the White House fairly. When (it will be when and not if), I speak or write against a policy of his or his administration, or words he speaks, or actions he takes, I will refer to him only by his title (Mr. President, the President), or his proper name, no longer will I refer to him as "the Donald." (I did the same thing referring to the current President in the same manner and never stressed his middle name).

When the new President does something I like, I'll say so (I wrote to say I liked President Obama giving the order swatting OBL and at least thought his moves to disentangle us from Afghanistan and Iraq were OK - I may have not been right here). If he does something I don't like, I'll say so, too. But it will always be in terms conveying respect for the office he won fairly.


Best,

My wife "disabused" me on a couple of things about typical "Trump" voters and so I bring them to your attention FWIW. The average income of the Trump voters, at least in the primaries, was $72,000, in the "Middle Class" range...

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-mythology-of-trumps-working-class-support/

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2016/05/05/donald-trump-average-voter-income-72000-middle-class/83972800/

But they were down on the economy as you say.

You might be right about the education but it's not all that clear.

http://www.people-press.org/2016/07/07/2-voter-general-election-preferences/

Evidently, a third of Trump voters had college degrees, 40% of white Trump voters....



Full disclosure My wife Laura and I have two degrees apiece (Laura has a BA in Social Work from Cal State Fullerton and a BS in Nursing from UNCC. I have a BS In Physics and a MS in Nuclear Engineering - both from RPI). Our income is a little north of that of the typical Trump voter. Laura voted for Hillary and I for McMullin. (As best as I know, no one in our immediate family of six adults voted for Mr. Trump. At least half of the people in our extended families did.) Both Laura and I voted for Republican candidates for all other offices down to dog-catcher....

Here's hoping that you and everyone had a good Thanksgiving. (I was off-line nearly all last week, taking my wife and two younger girls to see my side of the family in Jacksonville, Florida....)

I met some Japanese engineers 14 years ago, and have worked with a couple of Japanese-Americans. They are good people. That is a nice note from koji, and well deserved. Merry Christmas....