Category: GOP USA

Clinton Foundation questions

On By Rick McIn ethics, GOP USA, governmentLeave a comment

The Clinton Foundation (founded 2001) … is a nonprofit foundation established by former President of the United States Bill Clinton with the stated mission to “strengthen the capacity of people throughout the world to meet the challenges of global interdependence.” The Foundation focuses on improving global health and wellness, increasing opportunity for women and girls, reducing childhood obesity and preventable diseases, creating economic opportunity and growth, and helping communities address the effects of climate change. …

I foolishly got into an online debate on whether the Clinton Foundation spends around 15% on charity, 85% on overhead, a recent right wing talking point.

Sounded silly to me. It was.

Limbaugh 15

 

politifact – The claim contains some element of truth but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression, so we rate it Mostly False.

promises

I love it when rich people set up Foundations and do good works. Many Republicans have donated to the Clinton Foundation including Mitt Romney, John McCain, Donald Trump, James R. Murdoch, News Corporation Foundation (parent company of FOX News), etc. It’s a “not-for-profit” organization that should have nothing to do with the Democratic Party.

Trump gave at least $100,000 to the Clinton Foundation
Trump gave at least $100,000 to the Clinton Foundation

One of their partner organizations was the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund.

094500 Former Presidents Bush and Clinton join forces in establishing the Bush/Clinton Katrina Fund to assist with humanitarian and reconstruction efforts. 2005 Photo Credit: Courtesy Reuters, Richard Carson
094500 Former Presidents Bush and Clinton join forces in establishing the Bush/Clinton Katrina Fund to assist with humanaterian and reconstruction efforts.
2005
Photo Credit: Courtesy Reuters, Richard Carson

There are some valid concerns about the Clinton Foundation.

WHAT ARE THE CLINTONS’ CRITICS SAYING?

Among the complaints:

— The foundation could serve as a backdoor for governments or foreign citizens hoping to influence a future president. U.S. law bans political campaigns from accepting foreign money.

— Many big donors to the foundation also lobbied the State Department while Clinton was in charge.

— Despite pledges of openness, names of foreign donors who contributed through a Canadian affiliate of the foundation haven’t been made public.

— Some of the foreign sums are mind-boggling. Canadian mining billionaire Frank Giustra, founder of the Canadian affiliate, has given the Clinton Foundation more than $31 million. Ukrainian billionaire Victor Pinchuk and the country of Saudi Arabia each gave between $10 million and $25 million, according to the foundation. …

— Donations from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other Mideast nations that deny women equal rights have been criticized by Republican presidential candidates. Sen. Rand Paul said promoting women’s rights while taking millions from countries where “rape victims are publicly lashed” is “a grand hypocrisy.”

— Many of the foundation’s donors are companies and organizations that also paid Bill Clinton six-figure speaking fees while his wife was secretary of state. And several are big contributors to Hillary Clinton’s political campaigns.

— Clinton’s husband and daughter are still on the foundation board, leaving an opening for conflicts of interest. Bill and Chelsea Clinton just wrapped up a nine-day trip to Africa to highlight their charity’s good works. The former president said he would consider stepping down if his wife wins her own term in the Oval Office. …

WHAT DO THE CLINTONS SAY?

Hillary Clinton hasn’t responded to specific allegations. She dismissed the criticism generally as the kind of “distractions and attacks” to be expected during a presidential campaign. …

Bill Clinton says he’s proud of his foundation’s work, and that 90 percent of donors give $100 or less.

And the big money? There’s nothing “sinister” about getting wealthy people and nations to help the poor in developing countries, Clinton said in an NBC News interview.

“There’s been a very deliberate attempt to take the foundation down,” he said. “And there’s almost no new fact that’s known now that wasn’t known when she ran for president the first time” in 2008.

The State Department said last month that officials conducted a review and found no evidence that any of Clinton’s actions as secretary of state were influenced by donations to the foundation. …

Clinton family foundation raises big money and big questions

related – Fact Check: Is The Clinton Foundation ‘The Most Transparent’?

Day in the Life of the KKK

On By Rick McIn ethics, firearms, GOP USA, government, product complaintsLeave a comment

Carl, an imperial wizard of a Southern-based Ku Klux Klan realm (or state-level group), takes aim with a pellet gun at a large cockroach (on the piece of paper just below the clock), while his wife and goddaughter try to avoid getting struck by a possible ricochet. …

Carl, an Imperial Wizard of a southern-based Ku Klux Klan realm,

see more crazy photos by Anthony S. Karen – A Day in the Life of the Ku Klux Klan, Uncensored

Any racist who does no harm, breaks no laws, should be encouraged to put on a goofy costume. It’s a free country.

But if they do break laws, they should be prosecuted severely.

… the Klan’s numbers are steadily dropping. This decline has been attributed to the Klan’s lack of competence in the use of the Internet, their history of violence, a proliferation of competing hate groups, and a decline in the number of young racist activists who are willing to join groups at all. …

guns in the home: more suicide, increased risk for women, more likely to be used for crime than self-defense

On By Rick McIn education, ethics, firearms, GOP USA, government, product complaintsLeave a comment

David Hemenway, professor at the Harvard School of Public Health:

… to qualify for the survey the researcher should have published on firearms in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, and that he or she should be an active scientist — someone who had published an article in the last four years. I was interested in social science and policy issues, so I wanted the articles to be directly relevant. …

So,for example, one survey asked whether having a gun in the home increased the risk of suicide. An overwhelming share of the 150 people who responded, 84%, said yes. …

I also found widespread confidence that a gun in the home increases the risk that a woman living in the home will be a victim of homicide (72% agree, 11% disagree) and that a gun in the home makes it a more dangerous place to be (64%) rather than a safer place (5%). There is consensus that guns are not used in self-defense far more often than they are used in crime (73% vs. 8%) and that the change to more permissive gun carrying laws has not reduced crime rates (62% vs. 9%). Finally, there is consensus that strong gun laws reduce homicide (71% vs. 12%). …

LA Times – There’s scientific consensus on guns — and the NRA won’t like it

la-oe-hemenway-guns-20150423-pg-003

That all said, if you still want to own firearms, please handle them responsibly.

Neither myself or Obama is coming for your guns. 🙂

trickle-down #voodoonomics

On By Rick McIn economics, ethics, GOP USALeave a comment

Nonsense perpetuated by the rich. 😦

“Trickle-down economics“, also referred to as “trickle-down theory”, chiefly and originally in United States politics, is the idea that economic benefits provided to businesses and upper income levels, or money appropriated by government via taxation, will indirectly benefit poorer members of society when the resources inevitably “trickle down” to them.

The term has been attributed to humorist Will Rogers, who said during the Great Depression that “money was all appropriated for the top in hopes that it would trickle down to the needy.

In more recent history, the theory is most closely identified with critics of the economic policies known as “Reaganomics” or laissez-faire. David Stockman, who as Reagan’s budget director championed these cuts at first but then became skeptical of them …

See this cartoon on Facebook.

gundamentalist child

On By Rick McIn education, ethics, firearms, GOP USA1 Comment

Some children grow up in poverty, lacking food and sanitation, while others are born in countries where basic necessities are taken for granted. Photographer James Mollison came up with the project when he thought about his own childhood bedroom and how it reflected who he was. Where Children Sleep – a collection of stories about children from around the world told through portraits of their bedrooms – stemmed from his ideas.

16 Powerful Photos Of Children And Their Bedrooms From Across The World

I’m most worried for Joey, age-11, from Kentucky.

Joey Kentucky

Joey Kentucky2

What could go wrong for this kid? 😦

boycott Kroger’s Supermarket

On By Rick McIn education, ethics, firearms, GOP USA, government, product complaints3 Comments

Stop shopping at Kroger’s until they stop open carry of guns.

Groceries not Guns

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

I was in Oklahoma last week. Pretty much every establishment I entered had either a “No Guns” sign. Or a “No unlicensed Guns” sign. Kroger’s does not. Boycott.

good ol’ boy on racism

On By Rick McIn ethics, GOP USALeave a comment

I’m in Texas. There are plenty of rednecks here. Not many poets. 🙂

Here’s a reformed, racist … truck poet.

NSFW language, yet somehow appropriately used. Rockin’ once told me that profanity, correctly used, is part of a good vocabulary.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Here’s another reformed racist, Dale Hansen. From Iowa, he’s today a news broadcaster in Texas. Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Gwynne Dyer: why terrorism is overblown

On By Rick McIn economics, ethics, GOP USA, government, IslamLeave a comment

Gwynne Dyer has an MA in military history from Rice University, Houston, Texas and a PhD in military and Middle Eastern history at King’s College London.

Let’s just admit he’s got more experience and knowledge than you or I.

DyerDon’t panic. Terrorism is a very small problem. And any western president or prime minister who thinks they’ll severely damage ISIS by dropping bombs on its fighters is terribly mistaken. …

“Well, we lost two people in the last year to terrorism and we lost about 250 a month on the roads,” Dyer said. “You know, the Americans lost 3,000 people on 9/11, but they also lost 3,000 people on the roads and another 3,000 to gunshot wounds, mostly delivered by their nearest and dearest.

“The scale of the terrorism is tiny compared to its presence in the media,” Dyer continued. “Really, we should, as much as possible, ignore it. We certainly don’t need to overreact by sending troops to the Middle East …

In fact, according to Dyer, if western countries expand their bombing campaigns against ISIS into Syria, it will only make the Islamic State stronger.

That’s because it will reinforce ISIS’s message that western infidels are attacking and killing Muslims. Dyer said that this provides a perfect recruiting tool to attract more desperate people to join their cause. …

… terrorism is “the weapon of the weak”. And he pointed out that it has been used for centuries in many parts of the world against governments to achieve very specific objectives. …

He also repeatedly characterized terrorism as a “technique” for revolutionaries “who don’t have an army, don’t have heavy weapons, and don’t have a great deal of money”. …

… the Arab world is the second poorest region in the world. Given current economic growth rates in Africa, he predicted that the Arab countries will become the poorest within 15 years.

“There’s virtually no science done in the Arab countries,” Dyer said, characterizing the region as being gripped with “poverty, illiteracy, ignorance, and despair”.

It’s to be expected that under these circumstances, revolutionary movements would emerge. …

What is the Islamic State?

Dyer acknowledged that it’s helpful for Islamists that they have a territorial base in northwestern Iraq and parts of Syria, which is known as the Islamic State. But he also emphasized that it’s a profoundly weak base, mostly open desert, with few resources. …

“Is this a great power arising that we need to worry about?” he asked. “No, it’s not. It’s astounding how little the Middle East matters. I mean, it monopolizes our news media, but the Middle East contains 10 percent of the world’s people. Only five percent of the world’s people are Arabs. And it accounts for about three percent of the world’s economy, including all the oil.”

Gwynne Dyer explains why terrorism is overblown and why Islamists want western countries to attack the Islamic State

only 6% of scientists identify as Republican

On By Rick McIn economics, GOP USA, governmentLeave a comment

Stat via Economist (2010)

The facts have a well known left leaning bias. 🙂

Americans Against the Republican Party

I have Republican friends who get irked when I claim that the GOP are the anti-Science Party.

The GOP are the anti-Science Party. There is no doubt.

abortion, Gay marriage, prison, religion in the USA

On By Rick McIn barbecue, education, ethics, firearms, GOP USA, government, travelLeave a comment

… If you know whether a state was part of the Confederacy, it is possible to make a reasonably accurate guess about where it stands on a range of seemingly unconnected matters, from party politics to gay marriage. …

Today, only five states have no minimum-wage laws; all were Confederate 150 years ago. Of the ten states that lock up the highest proportion of their citizens, seven were Confederate. …

Economist

southern States

The 11 states of the Confederacy were Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia.

I was in Alabama last year. Very nice. I saw no visible signs of the legacy of slavery. I’m headed for Texas next week.

flag controversy