English: Oval Office ceiling medallion. Français : Le médaillon représentant le sceau présidentiel sur le plafond du bureau ovale. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The year long US presidential campaign is not just about electing a man or woman for the Oval Office. That it is. But it is primarily about moving the conversation along on various issues. America is a democracy. The people have to want it before change can happen. And the conversation moves much faster during an election year than during regular congressional years. Except when there is a major event, the year long campaign is when the American people thrash it out. Eventually there is a winner, but everybody who wants to speak is heard along the way.
It is quite a spectacle. And for America being what is it, for good or ill the number one country right now, I think mostly for good, I'd compare the presidential election to World Cup Soccer. Well, not quite. World Cup is World Cup. But you know what I mean.
The handover of power to the most powerful political office on the planet is so peaceful, it is mind blowing.
You see colorful characters. But every candidate is trying to resonate with somebody, with this or that group. The talk is not in a vacuum.
There is a robust debate going on in the Democratic Party. The Republicans tend to be more obedient. They collect around a leader pretty fast. On the Republican side I can't think of one earth shaking idea that has been proposed. It is more about this vague feeling.
Bernie, on the other hand, is looking at some major proposals. And Hillary is a policy wonk. To Donald's credit though, he did challenge the Pope and George W Bush. The guy is a bull in a china shop.
The global warming icon for the ubx. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I don't know if it is overpopulation, or global warming, or maybe we were all this ugly all along, and now we have media saturation to show it all, or maybe the global recession is not fully over and there is too much anxiety, but this intolerance index is up in many countries. Does globalization make people culturally dizzy? Situations keep escalating. In democracies it is rhetoric, in many countries there are outright civil wars. Protracted civil wars.
Diversity issues are out of the Pandora's box. And we need to rise up and appreciate the wealth that diversity is. The old white male dominion is over. We have to move towards a meritocracy. Cultural and gender diversity.
Bernie should talk more about his Jewish experience. And, like I suspect, if he does not have too much of it, he should talk about his father's Jewish experience. Black folks think they have some kind of a patent on victimhood. They got nothing on Jews.
Blacks wrongly think they were/are victimized because they had nothing. The opposite is true, just like for Jews. Jews have a tradition of knowledge. The rest of the world has had to wait for a 21st century knowledge economy to get the message.
Black folks need the Bernie message more than any other group. Bernie is not trying to dismantle Obamacare, that would be Donald Trump. He is trying to expand upon it. College is the new high school. Bernie is right. Taking money out of politics only makes sense. It makes everything else possible.
On Saturday morning just before Gymnastics, My Dranbaby found out that our President Barack Obama was no longer going to be our President!!! He has been her President all of her life and Yes her birthday is also on AUGUST 4!!!! My poor baby!!!
I almost feel this way myself. I just did not realize crying was allowed. This guy should leave the foundation and the money making through speech making and book writing to Michelle. She has been the real power behind the throne anyways. He should become president to the world. His boyhood in Indonesia deserves nothing less. Only when I read about his boyhood in Indonesia that he finally clicked for me personally. Hawaii is too exotic, even today for me. It will continue to be exotic even after I have been there. I have been in NYC over a decade, and I still feel like a tourist, in a good way. Can't wait for Barack Obama to move the city. But who said anything about retiring?
I don't want a new one either. For me personally, this whole 2008-2016 stretch has been warm up. I am just getting started. F___! The more I watch Donald Trump on TV, the more I like Barack Obama. The Chinese might as well just take over. Where are racist white people when you need them? I am willing to Feel The Bern, if that is what it takes.
Here, baby girl, this one's for you. Obama 2008. Obama Forever. I am for a monarchy by now. If the Russians can have one, I mean.
English: President Barack Obama welcomes Israeli President Shimon Peres in the Oval Office Tuesday, May 5, 2009. At right is Vice President Joe Biden. Official White House Photo by Pete Souza. Français : President Barack Obama accueille le président israélien Shimon Peres dans le bureau ovale mardi 5 mai 2009. A droite, le vice-président Joe Biden. Photo officielle de la Maison Blanche par Pete Souza. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
But there were people who were saying Obama is taking Israeli safety down the drain. It was an existential question. How could he?
My point being, sometimes you have to get unpopular with the very people you are trying to help. When you are doing the right thing, the popularity chart is not the right guide. Your compass might not be jiving with it.
So, just on this question, people who got it wrong, will they now take a second look at their prior position? Will they now admit Israel is now in a safer position?
A POTUS, any POTUS, stands with Israel, because America is all about democracy. So Obama's loyalty could not have been in doubt. Ends up he was also right.
I have seen a few pictures of Xi Jinping where he does this subtle body language thing. In one picture Barack Obama is slightly off balance. In another Narendra Modi is caught a little off balance.
Someone analyzed and said he is trying to suggest China is number one. Maybe so.
My analysis is different. This guy is a frustrated movie star. He came into politics because his father was a major communist figure. He is called a prince, for that reason. His father was a comrade of Mao. The family pressure was a bit too much. There was legacy.
He did marry the most famous singer in his country, did he not?
He is really into literature. He is a huge fan of Hemingway, for example. He has sensibilities. You can't become a movie star unless you have deep sensibilities. Al Pacino calls himself an "emotional athlete."
In a freer China, a more comfortable China, Xi Jinping would have been a movie star.
You see a Coke commercial on TV. Then you pick up a magazine, and you see another ad for Coke. You go for a drive, and you see Coke on a billboard. You go online, and there is a banner ad for Coke. Experts say a brand needs to get you seven times, and at that point they got you. The brand plants itself in your subconscious.
So then when you go to the corner store, and you see Coke and Pepsi side by side, you are going to pick Coke, out of "free will."
Advertising is a trillion dollar industry, because it works.
Look at what the Chinese did. They bought over 100 million dollars in real estate from Trump Inc. over the years. There were over seven transactions, all of them legitimate, all of them personally carried out by Donald Trump. He prides himself in sales and negotiations.
The Chinese, over the years, have taken both sides on the abortion issue. They used to have a one child policy. They don't anymore. Donald Trump is also all over the map on the abortion issue.
That is just one example. Experts could come up with the entire list. I am no expert.
The Chinese know better than to outright buy a candidate. They are way too sophisticated to do something so stupid. Although, with a hundred million dollars, you could run for president. That's there.
English: AGRA. Vladimir and Lyudmila Putin visiting the Taj Mahal. Русский: АГРА. Владимир и Людмила Путины во время посещения мавзолея Тадж-Махал. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
English: Vladimir Putin with his mother, Maria Ivanovna Putina, in July 1958. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
English: Vladimir Putin at school age (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Russia has seen three fundamental political paradigms in just the past 150 years. There was the Tsar, then the Lenin monarchy, and now a Putin monarchy. But the country's geopolitical pull has remained constant. Even if Russia were to become a western style democracy, I believe that pull will stay, likely even expand. My point being, we can't blame Putin for Russia's geopolitical pull. It is the country exuding the force.
No two democracy is alike. America is not like Canada is not like Britain is not like France is not like Germany, and so on. Which means perhaps countries are like fingerprints. Each country is going to end up with a slightly unique political system and culture. Russia is not waiting to photocopy any other country politically. Maybe Russia is a little too different.
I believe in democracy and human rights like no American I have ever met. I believe democracy is good for every country. And I am not exactly America inspired. Although it is obvious that America is the loudest example today. The world's first republic was birthed by the Buddha. We also recently found out Iraqis came up with calculus over a thousand years before Newton.
I do want to see a more western Europe style democracy in Russia. I very much want Russia to become a more robust economy. I want Russia to do double digit growth rates. But I don't believe in military intervention. Except in Russia's case that is not even an option. The species should survive.
My prescription would be the deepest possible engagement with the country. If you want a western Europe style democracy in Russia, you want the deepest possible engagement with the country. That is the best option, that is the only option. Which means sanctions are a bad idea, and not sustainable over the long term. I understand the circumstances that brought them about. But at some point down the line they will have to be rolled back.
One mistake America made early on was while it expanded NATO right to Russia's borders, it did not at the same time respectfully engage Russia. Russia joining NATO might be an outlandish thought, but America could have offered to carry out joint naval exercises in the Pacific, for example. This is one more thing we can blame on Bush. (The list is long.) Looks like not only W messed up the War On Terror, he rekindled the Cold War too.
The Russia India friendship does not have a parallel. This is not like the friendship between America and England. India and Russia are not shared cultures. There are no shared languages. There is not even a shared border. It is almost like a friendship between two human beings, only it is between two peoples. It is not a military alliance. And business is not the primary motive. It is just friendship.
Top elected officials called on D.C. politicians to roll back a nearly 50% proposed cut in anti-terror funding to the Big Apple....... “Our message today is both simple and urgent, we need the Congress to step up and protect the people of New York City against terror, protect the people of the United States against terror,” Mayor de Blasio said at police headquarters in lower Manhattan Wednesday.......President Obama’s spending plan for 2017 aims to slash the Urban Area Security Initiative, which provides counter-terror funds to New York and other cities, from $600 million to $330 million. The funding goes to the NYPD, FDNY and Office of Emergency Management...... The city got $180 million under the program last year. The budget proposal cuts that funding in half. ...... Schumer said he was “shocked, disgruntled and chagrined” by the proposed cuts and leveled some criticism at the Obama administration.
Official photographic portrait of US President Barack Obama (born 4 August 1961; assumed office 20 January 2009) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Just getting a black guy in there as the first black president has been a monumental achievement. The self-esteem effects on black children is beyond the clock. But the substantial work has been on education, health care, job creation, and criminal justice system reform. And he has taken huge leaps on each. The impact will play out over a generation.
The first black president has done right by the black people. Why are people wearing wigs offended?
The Great Recession was harder on the black population than on the population at large. And the unemployment rate among young black folks is still too high. And that is a prescription for continued good work. Too bad we have term limits.
Donald Trump Hates Republicans but Praises Mexicans, Obama, Pro Choice, Healthcare and Hillary -- wait, that was 3 years ago, my mistake..reverse all that now! #RockTheVote
Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari— who helped run President George W. Bush’s 2008 bank bailout plan —
sounded a lot like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren
in recent comments he made. ....... Wall Street woke up with a new problem Tuesday: a Republican Goldman Sachs alum using his new bully pulpit atop the Federal Reserve to suggest the biggest banks should break up. .....
Sanders immediately issued a a press release saying he was "delighted" by Kashkari's remarks.
..... the way to fix the problem might be breaking up the biggest banks or forcing them to hold so much capital that they become public utilities. ..... Kashkari's plan shocked Washington's financial policy wonks and lobbyists who have spent years fighting over rules still being implemented from the 2010 Dodd-Frank law. Kashkari's unexpected campaign — in which he says there needs to be "transformational" change — has the potential to shake up the discussion among banks, regulators and politicians...... A big part of the surprise was that Kashkari, who ran for governor in California as a Republican in 2014 and has been at the Fed for less than two months, was taking on the issue. But he can make a compelling argument that he knows what he's talking about firsthand....... He served in the Treasury Department from 2006 to 2009, and at the end of his tenure in the Bush administration, he oversaw the financial crisis bailout known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program...... Kashkari's announcement made waves on the campaign trail, the Hill and K Street, though some bank lobbying groups are taking their time before going on the defensive against a top Fed official....... Tim Pawlenty, former governor of Minnesota who is now president of the Financial Services Roundtable, said regulations requiring larger reserves and decreased risk should be finalized and their impact studied "before policymakers can credibly call for them to be repealed and replaced with actions that could put American banks at a major global disadvantage and have other unintended consequences.” ....... John Dearie, acting chief executive of the Financial Services Forum, said breaking up global financial institutions based in the United States "would ensure that one of the U.S.’s most competitive global industries serving companies small and large is turned over to banks based outside the United States.” ........
While Kashkari earned praise from Sanders, he is entertaining ideas that appear to go beyond the comfort zone of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has run on a regulatory platform that's more focused on risks outside the traditional banking sector.
Republicans haven't spent as much time digging into bank regulation and too big to fail in their debates...... Kashkari said he plans to deliver a plan to Congress by the end of the year.
it highlighted the U.S. central bank's independence from politics. ..... he urged Congress to consider breaking up massive banks...... Kashkari, a candidate for California governor in 2014 who last month began the Minneapolis job, acknowledged he had not consulted broadly with lawmakers or with his colleagues at the Fed, arguing it was appropriate to go public with his views before getting feedback, to which he "looked forward." ..... Bernie Sanders, a Democratic senator and presidential candidate who has tapped into anger toward Wall Street, said on Tuesday he was "delighted" with Kashkari's stance. Asked about this on Wednesday, Kashkari said: "I've never met Senator Sanders and I don't know him and I've never spoken to him. This is not about politics." ....... "If we can demonstrate to the American people that there is a diversity of views within the (Fed) and people are outspoken, what better way to demonstrate that we are not political or beholden to the (White House) or any political party," Kashkari said. "I think this shows more independence." ...... A banking trade group, the Financial Services Forum, said the Fed's own stress tests show the largest banks can now survive a "far worse" crisis than the last, and warned that breaking them up would benefit foreign competitors....."I think that they are surprised and I expect them to push back pretty hard," Kashkari said of bankers.
China's Foreign Ministry warned the United States on Tuesday there would be "serious consequences" if a plaza in front of the Chinese embassy in Washington was named after a pro-democracy dissident and Nobel Peace Prize winner...... By unanimous voice vote, the U.S. Senate on Friday backed a plan to name the plaza after Liu Xiaobo, jailed for 11 years in 2009 on subversion charges for organizing a petition urging an end to one-party rule......"The U.S. has been at its wits' end in dealing with China as it is reluctant to employ military threats or economic sanctions that may backfire. The only option for Washington seems to be petty actions that disturb China," it said in an editorial.....The bill had been introduced by Senator Ted Cruz, a leading contender for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. A White House spokesman has said President Barack Obama's senior advisers would recommend that he veto the bill and it was not an effective way to secure Liu's release.
Fed’s Kashkari: 25% Capital Requirement May Be Right for Banks
The Minneapolis Fed’s new president discusses breaking up the biggest banks, monetary policy and his first Fed policy meeting and what he learned from the front lines of the financial crisis
Students at one of India's premier universities say the government is wielding a colonial-era sedition law as a means to crush dissent. ...... The clash pits ultra-conservative forces of Narendra Modi against the university with detractors calling the tax-payer funded school "a nest of anti-national activity." ..... Tensions erupted at the university after students organized an event last week to protest the hanging in 2013 of Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri separatist convicted of a 2001 terrorist attack on India's Parliament......Some at the gathering shouted anti-India slogans that condemned Guru's execution. "Afzal, your death will bring revolution," one slogan said. "India should shatter into pieces," said another. ...... JNU is sometimes likened to the University of California, Berkeley, with left-wing traditions and distinguished ranks of graduates including prominent politicians, journalists and artists. ........ Prahash Karat, the former general secretary of the Communist Party and former student union president, addressed students this week, declaring, "JNU is a prime target for this [Modi] regime." ...... Since Modi's rise to power, some of his most devoted followers have pursued a hard-line agenda: They have incited against those who eat cow meat, demanded the revision of history books and tried to restrict the way Indians consume entertainment. ......
Nalin Kohli, a spokesman for Modi's ruling party, says the student protest against Afzal Guru's hanging should not be protected as free speech.
........ Mohandas Gandhi was tried by the British under the same sedition law now being invoked against student leader Kumar. .... a warning by India's home minister that anyone making anti-India slogans will "not be spared" has sent a chill through the campus......"I think it is more a case of actually criminalizing dissent," he says. "It's a larger witch hunt for people who don't agree with the agenda of the government."
JNU row: Is BJP mistaken over anti-nationalism?
The situation at Jawaharlal Nehru University, which followed earlier developments at Hyderabad Central University, raises critical questions on BJP's nationalism, what the party considers acceptable what it deems to be anti-national.
A minister in the BJP government General VK Singh, on Tuesday, said: "You consume the nation's foodgrains, reside in the nation and get education here. If after that you abuse the nation, then you are traitor." ...... On whether criticism of the country is anti-national, BJP spokesperson Mittal said - "I had thought that we would place all these comments under perspective of what happened at JNU. There is no criticism of India. It is the destruction of India that has been demanded there. They said - 'Bharat ke tukde karne hain' [Let's break India into parts], 'Bharat ko barbaad karna hai' [Let's destroy India]. This is not criticising India or the government of India."
Cruz has the backing of 28% of Republican voters nationwide, unseating Trump, who won the support of 26% ..... Marco Rubio comes in third with 17% support ..... In South Carolina, Trump leads Cruz 38%-22%, and in Nevada, Trump is beating Rubio 45%-19%.
in a hypothetical race with Donald Trump as the Republican nominee and Bernie Sanders leading the Democratic ticket -- presumably the scenario most conducive to a Bloomberg victory -- Trump was chosen by 37% of likely voters, Sanders by 30%, and Bloomberg by 16%. ..... Without Bloomberg in the mix, Trump and Sanders were in a dead heat — 44% to 43%, within the poll’s margin of error. Bloomberg drew 13 percentage points from Sanders and only seven from Trump. ...... Bloomberg’s mayoral record contains much to please (and dismay) Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives. But to the extent that voters outside metro New York know Bloomberg, they may think of him more as the gun control advocate who tried to ban sales of sodas over 16 ounces than a business entrepreneur who backed stop-and-frisk police tactics. ..... Bloomberg has an impressive résumé: a self-made billionaire who founded a global financial information company; a philanthropist who’s given billions; a mayor who presided over historic reductions in crime, helped the city recover from 9/11 and banned smoking in bars. ...... Bloomberg’s pollster, Douglas Schoen, says his man has the money, message, independence and time to fill that need: "I don't think the conventional wisdom'' —that Bloomberg is perceived as a New York nanny-state liberal — "is going to last. The mayor would be able to build support rapidly.'' ....... But Bloomberg is a stiff campaigner who managed to get just 51% of the mayoral vote in 2009 despite spending $102 million ($174 a vote). His issue would be his own competence and non-partisanship, hardly a rousing call to arms. His region hasn’t produced a president since 1960, and its loyalty might be claimed by one or more of his rivals (Sanders, Clinton, Trump). ..........
He’s a more dedicated proponent of gun control than many Democrats, and a more enthusiastic defender of Wall Street than many Republicans.
...... Schoen, the Bloomberg pollster, admits it’s vital that any third-party candidate make voters feel victory is possible. ...... It’s easy to see why Bloomberg is tempted to run, given his enormous ambition and low threshold for boredom. For 12 years, he had what is often described as the nation’s second biggest job. In the New York magazine interview in 2013, he admitted that philanthropy — even on his own heroic scale – would not be enough to keep him satisfied after leaving Gracie Mansion. .......
Bloomberg turned 74 on Valentine’s Day. This would almost certainly be his last shot at an office he’s wanted to hold since he was a teenager.
The Bihari DNA has done it again. In 2015, it beat the shine out of the NDA campaign spearheaded by the double-cannon Modi-Shah attack team into smithereens, pieces of which are still being hunted for by anxious Bihar BJP workers who hailed their victory in Patna on November 8 a tad too prematurely by distributing laddoos and then retreated into PTSD. ....... nothing gets the goat of the Modi-Shah team like Shatrughan Sinha who keeps faulting the government for every mistake, from the micro detail to the giga gorilla. ...... Then there is Kirti Azad, who has blown soft, good and hard at the edifice that Arun Jaitley occupies. ..... Despite several stares from the party president, Kirti Azad is still at it - thanks to that DNA. ...... It's not that all of Bihar has anti-BJP DNA, there's the venerable Giriraj Singh whose claim to fame is not for being the minister of state for micro, small and medium enterprises. He specialises in the killer quote, the one that kills his party, a self-inflicted wound, like the threat to send anyone who opposes Modi to Pakistan. ....... In his rousing speech (yes, yes, the same one which got him arrested since the Delhi Police still doesn't know if he committed sedition himself), Kanhaiya Kumar defends JNU and the right to speech while condemning the pro-Pakistan slogans. His shrill voice speaks of things which every campus should have, instead of colluding with the establishment and state to count the credits by keeping mum and going with the grain. That Bihari DNA. ..... PS: The writer is not of Bihari descent nor has he been to Bihar, but lives among Biharis.
"This is our flagship model and we think it will bring a revolution in the industry" ..... At present, the firm imports parts from overseas and assembles them in India, but plans to make its phones domestically within a year
