tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956640239266684732024-03-18T00:42:44.997-07:00Global American® ValuesInsights on global events that impact America.
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Michael's story is in: "Better Times Ahead: April Fool"
www.BetterTimesAheadAprilFool.com
It ends with Agenda for American Greatness--how we get back to No. 1 again.Global Americanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402854360957989139noreply@blogger.comBlogger723125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695664023926668473.post-22672189039489219032017-04-23T15:56:00.000-07:002017-04-23T15:56:57.767-07:00Agenda for American Greatness - 2017. Model for Democrats<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Updated. From the chapter in </span><a href="http://www.bettertimesaheadaprilfool.com/"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">"Better Times Ahead: April Fool" by Michael Fjetland, BBA/JD</span></span></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "calibri";"> Chapter 9: </span><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">American Agenda for Greatness - </span></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> Trump Won't Get Us There. This Will.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "calibri";">So, are we looking at "Better Times Ahead?" or "April Fool?" in the days ahead?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">There is wisdom in Proverbs 29: 18: "Where there is no vision, the people perish.” </span></div>
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Will Trumps plans "make America Great" again? As one who has negotiated globally for both Fortune 500 and small companies (as described in Better times ahead april fool), and as someone who has been a small business owner and a Congress candidate, the answer is clear. NO. Trump's ideas will not only not work; they will destroy the U.S. more than any number of terrorist attacks ever could. In fact, his election was the dream of ISIS, but that we'll address later.<br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The challenge to America today is that people in other countries are acquiring skills that are equal or exceed our own workers. I personally have seen the world wide economic changes the past 30 years. When I started going to China in 1982, they had nothing but poor people making $30 a month. Thirty years later I returned to ride the fastest train in the world - a MagLev that floats on magnets and doesn't even touch steel. India in the late 70's and early 80's was a miserable place to go to. Now India is one of the fastest growing countries in the world. But that's not all.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "calibri";">We now have over 2 million U.S. high-tech jobs that Americans don't have the skills to fill! However, Chinese workers and those in India do have those skills. So, either American acquire those skills or the jobs will go to those who do... Democrats believe in retraining workers and educating them for the inescapable high tech global economy we now live in. The GOP has wasted trillions on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan while letting our education system starve to death and our 50 year old bridges and pipes collapse around us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "calibri";">Another way of seeing this: the skills need to assemble a car or dig coal are so simple any worker from Mexico to Nigeria to China can perform just as efficiently as an American, and do it for less money. Gone are the days a semi-skilled worker can demand $25 an hour to put bumpers on cars-- someone in Mexico will do it for $10 a day which they can live on. But even those unskilled workers are facing the day when they will be replaced by robots doing that work as they now perform routine tasks like spot welding in an auto assembly line. And the robots never complain or call in sick or take a smoke break! Only the highly skilled will do well in this new future we face. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "calibri";">Those assembly skills are not good enough run a computerized machine tool which would pay a worker $70,000 or more.</span><i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> That</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> is where our future is: it's not competing for jobs offering the lowest wages, but for the highest skills for the highest wages. Don't expect mining jobs to come back when it was low-cost natural gas that killed coal --not to mention the negative impact on our environment (China's air is now BLACK from burning coal--yet they are now the world leader in building out clean, renewable energy because their air is killing them and they see that industry as the future.) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "calibri";">If you are someone living in Ohio or the "rust belt" your future is not returning to the days of working in a dangerous, hot steel mill pounding steel. It's in writing software code for this high tech economy we now live in, or flying drones that do aerial surveys of pipelines and will be soon delivering pizzas. If you were making buggy whips when the car came along, you either changed jobs or bite the dust. It is the same today. CHANGE is the one constant in this world. Nothing ever remains the same. We either adapt or die.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">I lived this in the 80's when a Fortune 500 company I worked for had a division that made simple hand tools, like screw drivers and wrenches. However, the imports of the same tools sold for less than our cost to make them here. So the company sold that division to businesses in Asia (they should have set up a joint venture to continue receiving half the profits instead of none, but that is a strategic discussion for another day.) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "calibri";">Then they focused on more high-end products, like the "electrostatic precipitators" --basically a multi-story steel box they shoot electricity through to knock the dust out of the exhaust of coal-fired electric plants, a technology which took me to China as a solution for their coal fired power plants in the early 80's. That is when I got to see the beginning of the "Chinese miracle" going from a nation of nothing to a superpower of know how in 30 years. Their economy is about to be No. 1 in the world, passing us. India will be No. 3. Everyone else is an afterthought.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The true test of character and success is someone who, starting without possessions or riches, uses his or her brain and ingenuity to succeed. America did that for over 200 years; China has done that in the last three decades. Now, in this global economy, the country that leads in technical knowhow and has the population with the most education and skills will be the winner. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "calibri";">Studies show that every low wage, low skill country has seen its jobs migrate to a lower wage country. Even China is now losing jobs to places like Vietnam because their labor costs are lower. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">America's future must be in the opposite direction and we have plenty of role models. Steve Jobs (Apple), Bill Gates (Microsoft) and Elon Musk (Tesla, SpaceX) were poor entrepreneurs when they started their innovative companies that grew into billion dollar enterprises, unlike Mr. Trump, who inherited millions and generated wealth by not paying the small contractors who sold to his casinos and by using special interest tax years to avoid paying personal income taxes for decades. Anyone can succeed with that kind of stake--a million dollars at 10% interest is $100,000 a year, no sweat. That's more than most people make at manual labor. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "calibri";">A person starting out with millions has no idea what it is like being poor or broke; they know nothing of the pain in choosing between paying the rent or buying food, having a medical emergency they don't have insurance to cover or having the power cut off. Pick someone who knows that pain of being poor as your president, someone from the 99% who does know what it is like to start humble and get the education and experience needed to succeed. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "calibri";">Picking a spoiled rich kid who has a need to belittle people has insulted even our closest allies with his ignorance (declaring "Korea was once a part of China" for example), a man who has cheated on wives and taxes his entire life has no clue how to make America great.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">As I had to do when my "Better Times Ahead" boom turned to "April Fool" bust, America has to re-invent itself in order to avoid losing its edge. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Here is where we are in 2016:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">America has pulled out of the Great Recession that started in 2008. After reaching a peak of 9.9% in 2010, unemployment under Obama fell to under 5%, despite little help from a GOP Congress that refused to pass jobs bills, retraining and infrastructure spending proposed by President Obama that would have created millions more jobs. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "calibri";">In fact, Mitch McConnell, GOP leader of the U.S. Senate, admitted publicly “We want to make him a one term president.” They did it in order to claim he wasn’t doing his job so they could win future elections. They weren't putting American jobs and workers first. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "calibri";">That hasn't changed. In 2016 the GOP Senate continues to refuse to work with the president or even hold hearings or an up-or-down vote on his U.S. Supreme Court nominee, Mr. Garland, and hundreds of other nominees. That's like poking sticks into the wheels of government instead of finding bipartisan solutions on behalf of the American people. The GOP majority House still can't even pass a budget! Even with a majority in the House and Senate they couldn't even repeal Obamacare! What a bunch of jokers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">As a result, we still have millions of people without the skills to fill high tech jobs open in America today, so they are struggling on minimum wage or not-much-better, working multiple jobs while Congress shows up only 111 days out of 365 and fails to do anything to create jobs or raise the minimum wage that hasn't changed in decades. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "calibri";">I made minimum wage of $1.60 an hour as a high school senior in 1968; that would be over $10 an hour today if it was adjusted for inflation. Congress should do that now. Even $10 is not enough but it is a start.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Today there are more renewable energy jobs in just California alone than all employment in the entire coal industry. Coal is a dying industry just as the carriage makers at the turn of the last century became a dying industry when the automobile was invented. Obama didn't kill coal--as I said before, natural gas did! Right now solar and wind energy employes more people than coal! Think about that. Coal can't compete any more than the horse could compete with the car. If you want to be unemployed, stick with being a carriage maker in a car world--or an oil patch job instead of a solar or wind farm job! (I was one of those oil patch employees who found that out a couple boom-and-bust cycles ago when I lost it all, described in "Better Times Ahead April Fool").</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "calibri";">Your job can't be saved by rejecting the new technology, only by adopting it. When the computer came along we either learned to operate it or became technological cavemen with no connection to the new world.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> We Can’t Win the Future Doing the "</span><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Same o, Same o"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Our national strategy should be upgrading our skills as Hillary Clinton called for in her campaign --and our infrastructure-- so we can lift all boats, both low skilled and high skilled people. That should be a national priority as vital as the Marshal Plan was to rebuilding Europe after World War II. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Only by upgrading our skills will we avoid that black hole and upgrade income. Only by embarking on massive infrastructure replacement of our rusted-out, rusted-out bridges and roads can we also employ the low skilled and give the economy some rocket fuel that would also put us in a competitive position with China, which is about to become the No. 1 economy in the world. Our competition in the 21st century will be China and India, countries I saw and wrote about in "Better Times Ahead April Fool."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">On the campaign trail we are hearing two different visions for America. Which one is the vision needed by our people not to perish? Which is a true vision, and which is pure fantasy or pixie dust, or just plain Bullshit?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">One vision is that we invest in America and its people, its education and skill levels, to retrain people and invest in the infrastructure that we depend on that is now over a half century old and falling apart. Both Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton wanted to address these issues as well as income inequality and tax reforms that give special breaks to the rich and nothing to anyone else. Why build roads in Afghanistan but not new pipes in all of the Flint Michigan's in the USA?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The other vision, offered by Mr. Trump, is the "Ugly American" one of overt racism, sexism and fear that blames economic stagnation on people of color and immigration instead of poor education, lack of training and skills. He is like the boss from hell who causes chaos then blames you for his foul ups. His plan promotes tax policies that have stripped wealth from the middle class to redistribute wealth to the top one percent--people like him. He says people from Mexico are "rapists" and "assumes" some are good people. He has called woman "fat pigs" and accused Hillary Clinton of playing "the woman card" since obviously women must be happy to get paid 77 cents for doing the same job a man gets paid $1 for, right? Not. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "calibri";">"I will bring jobs" is all talk, not a plan; its bullshit.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Voodoo economics is back. Mr. Trump has called for a 45% tariff on imported goods from China. Such a tariff would increase the cost of consumer goods like his shirts "made in China" overnight by 45%--a $100 shirt would suddenly cost $145! Mr. Trump’s tax plan would cut taxes on the rich and generate an additional $20 Trillion in the federal deficit (Hillary Clinton’s would increase the debt only $1 Trillion). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Our economic situation has been made worse by an obstructionist Congress that slows growth when it shows up only 111 days a year to collect a full time paycheck, yet refuses to do its job passing timely budgets, appointing judges and adopting the traditionally bipartisan transportation bills. Politics now calls for the GOP to refuse to even hold hearings or vote on court nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court as required by the Constitution they swore to uphold. Never in 240 years of our history has that happened--never! It's sabotage of democracy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Can we reach the next level up and create millions of jobs when we have 58,000 bridges old enough to qualify for social security and are near collapse; yet Congress refuses to invest in their replacement, which would create tens of thousands of new JOBS and safer roads for our people? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">How do we succeed if our kids in countless places like Flint Michigan with aging water pipes are exposed to brain-damaging lead poisoning from 50 year old pipes? Why can't we undertake a "Marshal Plan" to replace them with new ones, which would also create tens of thousands of NEW jobs? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">That is what I heard Hillary Clinton saying in her campaign -- she favors a major investment in American infrastructure, retraining and education that will create jobs for those on the edge and the training needed for America to lead in the global high tech economy as well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">I hear Donald Trump saying "let’s put coal miners to work" which ignores the fact that natural gas competition is what is putting coal out of work -- if their unsafe mine doesn’t kill them first. He does talk about infrastructure but then proposes a tax cut that would eliminate any possible funding for it. It's voodoo nonsense.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The first part of this chapter shows how we got into our current situation; the last part is an economic road-map for America to succeed as more countries accelerate their education and technology skills to match or exceed our own. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">It's based on my experience negotiating for decades on behalf of American companies (large and small) to sell American products worldwide--products made here in America which creates jobs right here in America. I rode strapped in to the saddle on countless global flights. That experience gave me unique insight how America stacks up in the world, seen over the last 30 years (which exceeds that of any candidate for President save one.) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Trump himself is reported to have used un-documented workers on his projects and Chinese steel on his latest hotel. He has not practiced what he peaches. His "Buy American" is a cruel joke when his companies he still controls buy all their products from 12 different companies. The Keystone Pipeline is being built with Russian steel! We have to prepare his supporters and people with limited skills for the jobs of tomorrow, not the jobs of yesterday. That will take education and training, something they sorely need when they believe his phony claims.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The Great Depression was made worse by trade wars and tariff increases like the ones proposed by Mr. Trump. It took FDR's "New Deal" programs to pull us out of the economic black hole it put us in during the 30's. This is what has been happening since 2000.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">In 2000, America was No. 1 in education. By 2008, America had fallen to No. 17 in the world in education, depending on whose calculation you use. Obviously, the trend was in the wrong direction. OECD ranking in 2013 put our students at No. 36! Then in 2007, the economy fell off the cliff, leaving President Obama with a $1.3 Trillion deficit his first day on the job, which industries near collapse from Wall Street to Detroit's auto plants. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "calibri";">Without a willing partner in Congress, he was able to stabilize the economy, and unemployment has dropped to about 5%. But the lack of Congress action has left the folks in places like Ohio and the rust belt wondering "is that all there is?" when it fact a Democratic Congress would have taken action to give them a hand up.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">It matters because we aren't just competing with ourselves on an island. We are already seeing the rise of China and India – the rise of ASIA that will make it a focus of the 21</span><sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: xx-small;">st</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> century. They will also competing with us for limited fossil fuels as China alone adds more than 170 million more cars the next five years! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> Many Americans may not be aware of this and the status of our global competition because of a simple fact: Only one in five Americans has </span><a href="http://bettertimesaheadaprilfool.com/Agenda_for_USA_Greatness.html" title="Click to Continue > by Giant Savings Extension"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">a passport</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "calibri";">! That means that they haven’t traveled internationally. That means eighty percent of Americans have little idea what the world is really like. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">That lack of exposure to reality of other global neighbors can lead to dangerous assumptions by our citizens, and our Congress representatives, that can lead to disastrous results – like the invasion of Iraq. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "calibri";">I know because of one reason. I left a farm. Got a law degree, and found myself flying the world negotiating deals. That turned into being a 911 terrorism analyst on TV in Houston warning against an invasion of Iraq because I had been in the Middle East and knew what was going on. Anyone who had not been involved would have made assumptions that proved to be false - like the Iraqis would welcome our invasion. Unfortunately, Congress was given bogus information on Saddam's alleged WMD program, which turned out not to exist (unless you are a Fox News viewer and still think the world is flat and WMD's were 'found'.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">HOW DID WE GET IN THIS SITUATION? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">I repeat: the economic winner in this 21</span><sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: xx-small;">st</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> century will not be the country with the biggest military, but the country with the best educated people creating the best technologies with a skilled workforce that leads the world. It’s a techno-global race we can’t afford to lose, but we are fumbling the ball away. (Having 12 aircraft carriers won't help if each can be blown out of the water by one cruise missile in a pissing contest with Iran or North Korea.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> This will be difficult (but not impossible) because the average age of American schools is 40 years! Texas, for example, cut</span><i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> billions </span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">from its education budget and now ranks towards the bottom of the U.S. We have the highest rates of uninsured; the highest drop out rates. None of this will position Texas for competing in a high tech world. We got in this situation because the GOP controls our government.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The lack of education impacts our democracy. Of the 172 democracies in the world, the </span><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/tags/topic/United+States"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">United States</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> ranks 139th in voter participation. In the French election just held in 2017 the turnout was 59%! Barely a third of Americans can name the three branches of government. More than half of college seniors recently flunked a civic literacy exam. And in half of US states, civics education isn’t even required in high school. Texas has revised its history textbooks to mask the truth about slavery and to proclaim “Moses” as a major influence on the founders of America., that slaves were "workers" and the Texas Board of Education was considering a book on Hispanics that portrayed them as "lazy" --sounding much like Donald Trump. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "calibri";">Life expectancy at birth for American men was 75.6 years and 80.8 for women in 2007― 36th and 33rd in the world! In Texas, 25% of our residents do not have health insurance, the worst rankings in the U.S. The U.S. is the only developed nation in the world that does not provide healthcare as a citizen's right. Since when should medical care to save a life only be a privilege and not a right?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Our infrastructure is No. 23. Meanwhile, China will have a new Space Station in orbit in 2020 when ours is due to be retired and dumped into the ocean in 2024. China has the world’s first “MagLev” train that runs over 260 miles per hour from the Shanghai airport to the city--I rode it and not even a glass of water would have spilled during the process. Magnetic Levitation is when magnets cause the train to hover over the track, avoiding the friction of steel rails and the prospect of running a high-speed train off steel rails warped in a summer’s heat or winter’s ice.) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">So, what about the REST of the world’s trains? Surely we beat or match them right? See the photo below on how we compare.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> As of 2013 China is the largest car market in the WORLD. It will add another 170 million more car the next 5 years! All competing for the same gasoline we are -- a scarce resource which costs $6 gallon in China and $8 in Europe. Feel better? Americans don’t know how cheap gas has been for us versus other people, but it is a finite resource and it will run out. If we do use it all up, our planet will continue overheating into a mini-Venus as our high temperatures are becoming startling--one place in the Middle East recently posted a 165 degree day! Life can't exist in those temperatures for long. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">China is our No. 1 competitor for the future - their students just scored No. 1 on the OECD test for science and math. The USA score: 39! Our GOP leaders are the only conservatives in the entire world who do not believe in climate change, or science! Failure to recognize facts is dangerous for a country's survival.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> “Are we looking at Better Times Ahead for America?” Or are we “April fooling” ourselves? That depends on us as Americans, individually and as a nation. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> After I was laid off during the great Texas oil bust in the 80’s (the one before the latest oil bust), I had to re-invent myself several times after losing my globe-trotting job. My Better Times had become April Fool. It was tough. I resisted the change but when I made changes it all worked out, even better once I acted. Even with a successful company, I still find it true that changes continue to be necessary to continue to thrive. Change is a constant in life.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">America will have to do the same to prosper in the complex, unpredictable times that we live in, a world where strange names like ISIS and Ebola have made an impact on our lives. Others like it will arise in the future and intrude upon our daily routines of work, school, soccer and football practice whether we want it or not and whether we like it or not. It is how the world works. We didn’t ask for a Hitler or Pearl Harbor or 911, but they came anyway. That’s why global awareness is vital for our prosperity and security.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> Since 2000, we have wasted trillions on useless military adventures that built roads in Afghanistan and Iraq but didn’t fix potholes or crumbling bridges in Texas or other states. The reckless fiscal actions of the Bush administration in passing tax cuts that were not paid for and pursuing two unpaid for wars with borrowed money discarded two centuries of American creditor nation status and left the world’s financial power in the cold hands of old men in China who care not for democracy. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "calibri";">Today's $20 Trillion debt comes from the structural deficits created by the Bush tax cuts. It would have been higher but for Obama's success in reducing our annual deficit to a fraction of what it was.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">China financed our deficits and manufactured our goods as our companies sent manufacturing and jobs to China at the urging of companies like Walmart. In the end China ended up with over $3 trillion in foreign reserves and the United States ended up with another $10 trillion in debt. Add to that wealth inequality in which the top 1% controlling 48% of wealth and a minimum wage of $7.25 an hour that buys less than $1.60 an hour did in 1968 and you have a recipe for disaster. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Agenda for American Greatness is a roadmap back to American leadership and a greater prosperity for those left on the bottom and for our country as a whole. It’s how we start adding oil to the economic engine and putting gas in the tank so people can get moving again. It’s about America getting back to No. 1 again. It’s “now or never” if we are to survive as a leading democratic nation.</span></div>
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For a visual picture of the changes in the last 30 years, check this out:<br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Here is a photo of me in the middle of Tiananmen Square of traffic in 1982:</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVWhY9xFOrFGRgLgfHxhvD6b-3PpNGGCWOnT7iaaGoHDcSm5lJG7vBKhNSl_tGw2nK2FkBF0sR-q7QOQFWq3GlxeSqQ5fUTA1BRrmAocOgoS7-jOF0LyRExrSNU8MsxShp9CUrcKxWRup_/s1600/Michael+in+China+82.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVWhY9xFOrFGRgLgfHxhvD6b-3PpNGGCWOnT7iaaGoHDcSm5lJG7vBKhNSl_tGw2nK2FkBF0sR-q7QOQFWq3GlxeSqQ5fUTA1BRrmAocOgoS7-jOF0LyRExrSNU8MsxShp9CUrcKxWRup_/s320/Michael+in+China+82.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> Michael Fjetland, Tiananmen Square, Beijing, china. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> Now compare that to that same spot in 2016:</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYyDunHdAxFI4_Rm2HnaUnPjUuuVvRe2yLkgZw50RhjhwbDa2nVk7exlN0m_SYrliEkY0roBRqjL1cGdfP__xlK-SjzSppIg77ltca-YYQzbQRI6q2FTEwiR4iEl1Jy8m4Com3hl2afCVh/s1600/CompareToBeijingCarTraffic2010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYyDunHdAxFI4_Rm2HnaUnPjUuuVvRe2yLkgZw50RhjhwbDa2nVk7exlN0m_SYrliEkY0roBRqjL1cGdfP__xlK-SjzSppIg77ltca-YYQzbQRI6q2FTEwiR4iEl1Jy8m4Com3hl2afCVh/s320/CompareToBeijingCarTraffic2010.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">China's economy is now No. 2 behind ours and is expected to become the largest within 5 years. They just landed a rover on the moon and plan to have a Moon Base in a few years.<br /><br /> For another technology comparison, the next photo is one of a train I took in China in 1982: </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeH9uZZjQsleOtqEZNRK6QZCjmyvYskPi0GNM79WzKGA6zdPcMqRw8OzCJEAmqdr-jBdAfaj1HvaeRDWbFg0cKS_bsUuO6EcDt-kKeGMqXZV-ChTwophGstsq0d5ii-PDA9GOuJdWaSPp_/s1600/China+trip+1982+%252822%2529+-+Copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeH9uZZjQsleOtqEZNRK6QZCjmyvYskPi0GNM79WzKGA6zdPcMqRw8OzCJEAmqdr-jBdAfaj1HvaeRDWbFg0cKS_bsUuO6EcDt-kKeGMqXZV-ChTwophGstsq0d5ii-PDA9GOuJdWaSPp_/s320/China+trip+1982+%252822%2529+-+Copy.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> Now compare how our American 2015 Amtrak train looks like the 1982 Chinese train!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwZ8ms7E-tWaYkb6hl1tXs9FK7B2caylDePYNWJ3HgIP6Zx47hTGzGxjVlXBtmNaILLwlYYM8nPSQ7BtpBQQ3iqmp8af4VPRP98CVW7987HVlyg2pNsB0ZfXnmSidnaTyGXOoJktB-SHe_/s1600/Compare+Trains+from+Around+the+world2013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="309" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwZ8ms7E-tWaYkb6hl1tXs9FK7B2caylDePYNWJ3HgIP6Zx47hTGzGxjVlXBtmNaILLwlYYM8nPSQ7BtpBQQ3iqmp8af4VPRP98CVW7987HVlyg2pNsB0ZfXnmSidnaTyGXOoJktB-SHe_/s320/Compare+Trains+from+Around+the+world2013.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The Chinese Bullet trains (which run on steel rails) travel at 186 miles per hour. Amtrak is lucky to hit 79 miles per hour. I once rode it to New Orleans in the 80’s and it rocked so much over huge Lake Pontchartrain—New Orleans 600 square mile lake-- that I didn’t want it going more than the 20 or 30 it was going! We even stopped once in a field between Houston and New Orleans because a car ran out of diesel or whatever was running the air conditioning. It was so slow I could hang out the door between the cars and take photos! LOL. (Wish I could find those).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">China’s Bullet trains are not China’s fastest train! That title goes to the only MagLev in the world. It runs into Shanghai airport and hits 265 miles per hour! Japan is now testing one that has hit 300 miles per hour!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"></span><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Photo: I took this photo of the MagLev in Shanghai, China in October 2012 –when I returned to China exactly 30 years after my first time to arrive in China. it hovers on magnets! The differences I found were stunning – vastly greater than changes in the U.S. during the same period. Magnetic levitation (magnets repelling magnets) cause it to hover above the track, avoiding friction and “steel-on-steel” which have to be perfectly aligned to avoid a derailment. Not so with the MagLev which beats the 186 mph steel-on-steel Bullet Trains by going 265 mph (link to 7 minute video “Riding Smooth at 265 mph on China’s MagLev”).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> How do we “Win the Future?” </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "calibri";">One thing is clear: we can’t win it by not knowing the global facts we face as a nation. Nor can we win by having Republicans and Democrats become so extreme that they are unable to reach across the aisle to pass the simplest law to advance our future. An ostrich doesn’t avoid becoming a predator’s dinner by keeping its head in the sand. Trump's administration won't get us there with its anti-science, anti-education lineup of bizarre characters trying to kill the EPA, etc. <br /><br /> The recent events with ISIS and Ebola should be yet another reminder that the world is not going to go away and leave us alone. What happens on the other side of the planet can and does impact Americans, like it or not. For example, the war in Syria resulted in millions of refugees fleeing death from ISIS, which has overwhelmed all the European countries from Greece to Belgium. Unstable countries has led to greater instability for Europe--exactly what Mr. Putin wants! It has also given ISIS a training ground so they could send fighters back to their home countries in Europe, as we have seen in the bombings and shootings in Paris, Brussels, etc.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> Yes, it makes us develop new vaccines to fight new diseases and new allies to fight the bad guys determined to kill us. That's the way it works. The entire world can be reached in one eight-hour flight, by anyone sick or well, good or bad. The idea that we can “seal the borders” is a fantasy an unrealistic. We did build a wall at the Mexican border (show me a 15 foot wall and I will show you a 16 foot ladder) but what stopped most immigrants was a better economy in Mexico.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Stopping the gang killers in Honduras and El Salvador would drop illegal immigration even more since people are fleeing certain death, just as they are fleeing Syria and Iraq and ISIS and jumping into small boats to cross the Mediterranean, risking drowning, to flee to places like Greece and Italy where they are safe from the extremists who are killing their families. ISIS kills more Muslims then anyone else!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Our country needs global awareness so we can develop the best strategy to “win the future.” We can’t win by repeating the mistakes that got us into this mess. We can’t win by believing in voodoo economics. We can’t win by having representatives who are clueless about the world around us at one of the most critical times in our history.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> Settling for anything less than No. 1 is national suicide my fellow Americans. This is not a choice. We </span><i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">have </span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">to stay on top or lose all that our founding fathers granted to us. It won’t be easy, quick or cheap but do you wish you children to inherit second class world status because we didn’t invest in their future?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> Texas is now a majority minority state. America is a diverse country which, like Texas, will soon become a "majority minority" country. Hispanics are predicted to be the majority in Texas by 2020. Our country’s population looks like the world. We have a system that should be copied by all, but we don’t help ourselves by starving our education engine of investment. How many of the disadvantaged poor and minority youth can become the next Edison or Einstein or Stephen Hawkings of the world if we give them the education they need?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "calibri";">I was a farmer and became an international expert without the necessity of going to a Harvard or Yale. Anything is possible in America – if we keep the dream alive for everyone including those at the bottom of the economic food chain. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> China is also becoming a space power and plans to have a new space station in 2020 when our International Space Station is like our bridges -- old and in need of replacement. We are abandoning the "high tech high ground" to China.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">China’s proposed Space Station- 1</span><sup><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: xx-small;">st</span></sup><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> stage</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">South Korea’s Internet speeds are eight times faster than our own. The United States continues to lag other nations in its use of computing and communications technology, where we rank 5th! Why are we not No. 1? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> Spies in China and Russia no longer have to come to the U.S. to steal secrets, they can do it from their desks in Shanghai and Moscow. Our intelligence sources confirm that Russia was behind the hacks of the Democratic National Committee. The theft occurred 5,000 miles away, in a computer lab somewhere in Moscow. The material was then given to "WikiLeaks" in an effort by Mr. Putin to get Mr. Trump elected, since Putin could see Trump would cripple NATO and throw our alliances into chaos. The fact that not one hacked email from the Republican National Committee has been released is evidence that Putin wants Trump elected, not Hillary. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "calibri";">Putin's Russian hacking trolls continue to interfere in elections in France, Germany, etc.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "calibri";">A year or so ago, it was reported that the Office of Personnel Management lost over 20 million sensitive personnel records to hackers because it had failed to encrypt the files! Even the head of the FBI had his information compromised. In spite of this, Congress has refused to even pass a cyber-security law that would have prevented this from happening. Had Hillary used a State Department computer, it would have been hacked, because their ancient dinosaur computers have been breached by Chinese, Russians, etc. How is this inaction by Congress good for our security?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Our leaders wait for 50-year old bridges to fall before our leaders act to repair them, like the one that fell into the Mississippi River killing many when Governor Pawlenty (R) was in office. We have over 77,000 bridges that are considered “derelict and dangerous” by engineers. Our roads are falling apart yet we do nothing, invest nothing, while believing we will lead the world anyway as our 60 year old gas pipelines explode from old age and half century old water mains leak millions of gallons of water. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> Another example is the I-10 bridge over Lake Charles. It is 70 years old and the local Republican Congress rep, Charles Boustany, told me that it vibrates so much from traffic that replacement light bulbs quickly break. It is so rickety that two of the four lanes have been closed at times. Yet he has been unable to get his fellow Republicans to pass an infrastructure bill to replace it. Will Congress wait until it collapses before approving repairs? The delay is costing us billions in lost time and productivity. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> Photo Above: I 35 bridge over Mississippi in Minnesota collapsed, </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> killing 13 commuters and injuring 145. Beware the next bridge you cross…</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">We have millions of people who could be employed fixing our failing infrastructure if we put our mind to it―fixing old bridges and pot-holed roads while providing jobs at the same time. Our Transportation Bills are normally bipartisan bills that fund repairs and infrastructure replacements for five year periods. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">How do you pay for it? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">By doing what our people have done in the past when faced with the Great Depression and World War II, and what Ronald Reagan did when he realized he had cut taxes too much – he raised them over eleven times. We could accomplish the same thing today by reforming our tax code and closing loopholes for the privileged 1% --like Mr. Trump -- who use them to get deductions for moving jobs overseas. Trump sources his products from over a dozen countries overseas -- not from U.S. plants. He even brings in foreign workers for his Florida estate, Mar A Lago, because they cost less than Americans. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Over $2 TRILLION dollars in corporate profits are stashed overseas, paying zero taxes. This should be changed so the money can go into our infrastructure such as aging water pipes like Flint, Michigan and Houston's, which loses almost 1/3 of it from leaks. All cities face the same problem.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The world has changed dramatically in the last three decades from my first visits to China and India. India, with 1.3 billion people is the largest democracy in the world. It was a government-controlled, stagnant economy in the 1970s and ’80s when I first traveled there. It became a market-driven economy in the ’90s and is now growing over 8% per year and producing more engineers than the United States. Add China’s 1.2 billion people and these two Asian giants account for 40% of the world’s population of 7 billion. China went from a poor country where everyone made $30 month to a rich country with 300 million people in the Middle Class and more billionaires than any country but the U.S. – all in just the last 30 years.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Both of these countries will dominate the 21st century global economy. Recently China replaced Japan as the second largest economy behind the U.S. and may actually be the world’s largest economy any day. It became the third country to put astronauts in space and plans to complete its own space station in 2020, just as the International Space Station is nearly the end of its lifespan. China just put its first woman astronaut in space along with two men to test their first space station module. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">China is becoming more militaristic as it has grown more rich. It is even building its on islands in the South China sea to capture more offshore resources, despite claims to the same area by other countries. This will pose greater challenges to us as China becomes the No. 1 economy with a bigger military (despite our military being larger than the next 8 countries combined).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Despite its pollution, or perhaps because of it, China has also taken the lead in the green economy, which is the next major growth sector. It invested $20 billion in solar panel production, which caused solar prices to fall 40% in the U.S. That is what destroyed Solyndra and took it into bankruptcy after getting a $500 million government loan. In 1995 the U.S. had 40% of the solar panel market. Today it is 6%! In 2005, China had 6% of the solar market. Today they have 54%! That is why Solyndra could not survive. It was already doomed by American failure to invest enough to remain a leader in the technology. That failure is costing us millions of jobs. Perhaps that is why some politicians don’t seem to believe in science. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> According to </span><i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Clean Technica,</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> “China, Japan, and South Korea will invest about $509 billion in clean tech over the next 5 years (starting from 2011), whereas the U.S. (even with our greenest president in decades, maybe ever) is only expected to invest $172 billion (about a third as much)—this is assuming the climate and energy legislation in Congress passes.” </span><i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Clean Technica</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> goes on to say: “Asia’s rising ‘clean technology tigers’―China, Japan, and South Korea―have already passed the United States in the production of virtually all clean energy technologies, and over the next five years, the governments of these nations will out-invest the United States three-to-one in these sectors.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The report’s conclusion: “This could jeopardize America’s economic recovery and its long-term competitiveness while making it even more difficult to reduce the U.S. trade deficit. The U.S. will lose jobs, tons of money and much of its economic presence globally. Hopefully, policy makers will wake up to the urgent need for greater investment and stronger, more coordinated policy around clean technology (regarding energy, transportation, and other sectors.)The economic future of the U.S. depends on it.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> That is an amazing and true analysis of our situation. Certain elements (aka “tea party”) in our Congress seem to sneer at “green energy” and “green jobs.” Imagine that same attitude as the first computers came on the market or at the start of the Internet. The green economy represents trillions of dollars in future sales and job growth. It is the “next big thing” as we advance into high technology and the space age, in which over 40 nations are now competing for the high ground. Whoever wins that high ground will dominate the 21st century. The U.S. is at risk of losing it, because of our low educational levels. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Simply put, we haven’t invested enough to remain market/technology leaders. Did you know that U.S. businesses make more profits in Europe than anywhere else, twenty times more than in China? Or that 179 of the world’s top companies are European, compared with 140 that are American? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Even our southern neighbor Mexico has made big changes in the last twenty years to make it more competitive. Mexico has actually </span><i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">expanded</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> its middle class as ours has shrunk. In a recent article by Thomas Friedman he points out that Mexico has greatly increased the number of engineers and </span><i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">skilled</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> laborers. You would never know that immigration is now "net zero" meaning that as many people leave the U.S. as enter it. Mexicans are getting more work in Mexico, so they don't need to come here. In other words, building a "wall" is not necessary. It would be an enormous waste of resources. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "calibri";">China learned that lesson. Long ago it built its "Great Wall." I've been on it (see photo). Yet that wall was easily breached; Genghis Khan from Mongolia simply bribed the guards!</span></div>
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Michael Fjetland (left), Great Wall of China. 1982<br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> Mexico has also signed 44 free-trade agreements with other countries (NAFTA being just one), more than any other country in the world. Mexico exports more than the rest of Latin America combined! When Mexican companies lost out to China in the 1990’s (about the time I drove through Mexico as described in "Better Times Ahead") it realized it had to become more productive. Their political parties have signed a pact to deal with the big energy, telecom and teacher monopolies that have held it back. It’s opened its energy sector to foreign investment for the first time in its history. Texas companies are about to begin piping oil to Mexico.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Mexicans have always thought “we should have our parties behave like the United States.” They are no longer thinking like that. Our political dysfunction has been damaging our image as a “can do” nation as well as our economy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> We must either embrace the job-creating potential of the Green Economy, “Clean Tech,” and the technologies of the 21st century―or watch China and the rest of the world embrace these technologies and blow past us. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The U.S. has 5% of the world’s population and consumes nearly 33% of the world’s energy (and imprisons more than China or Russia!.) Ramping up our energy efficiency would create even more jobs and could save us hundreds of billions of dollars in energy costs, while drastically cutting the billions spent importing oil. Another win-win. Just by being more energy efficient we could avoid building 7 out of 10 power plants that will be needed to fuel our growing energy demands. Yet there are some in Congress who think conserving energy is bad. Isn’t conserving our resources what “conservative” means? How is wasting energy conservative or smart? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">With climate change now threatening our coasts and food chain, we need a "moon shot" on renewable energy. Mr. Trump says he doesn’t believe in climate change. Hillary Clinton recognizes it is a threat to our future life on earth and proposes accelerating our adoption of clean energy, which also creates jobs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> For the past 30 years, a U.S.-based magazine, </span><i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">International Living</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">, has compiled a quality-of-life index based on cost of living, culture and leisure, economy, environment, freedom, health, infrastructure, safety and climate. France tops the list for the fifth year running. The United States comes in 7th! We can do better. We </span><i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">must</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> do better.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> The Space Shuttle was 30 years old when it was retired on orders of President Bush in 2004. At that time we didn’t have a replacement ready because no one had made the commitment, with funding, to invest in a replacement vehicle―which takes at least ten years to produce. No one was thinking ahead. So now America has to rely on Russian rockets to ride to the International Space Station. This is just one example of many where we haven’t been investing in our future—or thinking ahead to be prepared for it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Fortunately, some of the gap will be filled by private space companies like SpaceX which President Obama has encouraged to take over the mundane space activities like sending astronauts to and from the space station, while preserving NASA’s cutting edge focus on exploring places like Mars and hunting for city killer asteroids like the one that blew up over Russia in 2013. However, when NASA started using commercial launch services, Congress failed to fund it sufficiently to start sending astronauts to the space station in 2015. They will have to wait to 2017.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The U.S. is NOT the only player in space: 44 countries have space programs! We either lead or fall behind. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> American students keep falling lower in math and science skills―the drivers of the global high-tech 21st century. However, China and India have millions of students who do have those skills. We could be teaching </span><i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Americans</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> those skills. Congress should be paying attention to it and helping make it happen as a national priority as states continue to slash education funding which is sabotaging our future. There is no global prize for knowing all about celebrity trivia and nothing about running computerized aircraft machine tools. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> We have a choice: either upgrade our education and technology skills or lose forever our status as global leaders. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Today China has over one million millionaires. It has over 300 billionaires, and adds more every year. (India adds a new billionaire every 33 days.) It has over $3 trillion in cash reserves and has used that financial strength to buy up rare earth minerals needed to make things like missiles and jet aircraft. It has invested in green energy, high tech, thousands of miles of high-speed rail, and on and on. Chinese architects want to build a mile-high building, one that would loom over a city like New York. They have the mojo America used to have. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> We have replaced the vision of our forefathers who built the Interstate Highway system and NASA with “tea party” mentality that doesn’t believe in repairing our roads or honoring our debts or educating the next generation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> Above: Students need help upgrading their skills for America's future success</span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> India has come a long way from the “Better Times Ahead” sign I saw 30 years ago. They really have produced better times for large numbers of Indians who are moving into the middle class from poverty. The Chinese have moved nearly 300 million people into the Middle Class, while ours has shrunk. Shouldn’t we do the same? In the last thirty years we have concentrated wealth at the top and cut the Middle Class. Recently, the head of the Federal Reserve, Janet Yellin, said that inequality in wealth is hurting America’s ability to grow. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Raising the minimum wage to at least $10 (to $15) would help correct that inequality and benefit the economy at the same time – since 100% of the extra money earned would go back into the economy in the form of rent and car payments, and food. </span><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Major corporations like McDonald’s and Walmart that pay minimum wages cost the federal government over $6 billion a year to help their employees survive. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "calibri";">Why should the American taxpayer subsidize rich, profitable companies? No one can support themselves on a minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. Mr. Trump ran for the GOP nomination opposing raising the minimum wage, saying “people already make to much” money. Now, he says he might favor raising it, so who knows what he really believes. Hillary Clinton has always supporter raising the minimum wage and the only question has been whether it would be $12 or $15, she can accept either. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> While U.S. wages are too low we are also running short of another vital resource: water! About 97.5% of the earth’s water is salt water. Only 2.5% is fresh water, and 70% of that is locked up in polar ice caps. That leaves less than 1% of fresh water for human use. We can live without oil―think electric cars―but we can’t live without water! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> Texas discovered that in the drought of 2011, when 10% of our trees died. Animals were under severe stress. We had the worst fires in our history. Lakes became mud pits. Failure to fund a water plan has increased the cost of securing our water resources by tens of billions of dollars, and those costs grow with every year of delay. Today California in the worst drought of its history and faces a water crisis that will get only worse as wildfires have become nearly year round events. Desalination of sea water is extremely expensive but may become vital to our survival. Texas went from too little water to too much as the floods of 2015-2016 killed dozens and caused billions in property damage. The climate has turned hostile and swings from one extreme to another. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> One fracking expert I heard recently claimed that there is enough “shale gas” to last us another 175 years! The problem with that claim is that each well requires over six million gallons of water. In short, the water needed to frack will run out within the next decade. Then what? Can you drink oil?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Our weather extremes are getting more extreme. In 2014 the Pacific Ocean was hotter than the Atlantic and produced a series of the largest hurricanes (Typhoons) ever recorded. January and February 2016 were the hottest months on earth in recorded history! In the last two years the Pacific Ocean hurricanes have been record CAT 5 monsters - we even had two of them at once! One storm was so big that it exceeded the scale - it would have been a CAT 7 based on wind speeds, if there was such a category! 2016 continues the streak of "hottest" months ever recorded. We must take action.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> When the Atlantic is as hot, the United States will feel the impact of storms that have battered countries like India, China and Japan in 2014 and 2015. In January 2016 I flew back to the U.S. from Spain. Two passengers got sick but our plane could not land in the Azores to drop them off --because of a hurricane Alex, the earliest one on record in the Atlantic in over 73 years! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "calibri";">In November 2016, when hurricane season officially ended, I went on a cruise through the Panama canal. The guide in Panama said "We never get hurricanes!" Well, the next stop was north in Costa Rica - and the captain of the ship announced that we could not go there because a "hurricane from no where" had just formed! So, we are having hurricanes and hurricane-force winds nearly year round now. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Our failure to act on climate change threatens the future of our children if we do nothing. Even the Pentagon sees climate change as a national security threat. Those opposing climate change argue that it would damage business but if we kill our planet by overheating it, there won’t be any business to worry about. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Already there is evidence that tropical fish are migrating towards the poles because the tropical waters are getting too hot for them to survive as the oceans absorb the excess heat we are putting into the atmosphere. Bees that pollinate our food crops are stressed by the heat (and pesticides) and are dying off. No bees. No food. Simple as that. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The overheating ocean is also killing our coral reefs that are the basis of our seafood chain. It is depleting oxygen levels in the water, threatening our ocean life.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> If you have children they will pay a terrible price for our neglect and lack of foresight. Did you have another planet to move to when this one is toast? This isn’t like moving to the suburbs to escape crime. We are on track for the extinction of our own species!<br /><br /> We are frantically searching for the last of the fossil fuels instead of using our brains and diversifying our energy sources to include as many renewables as possible, which would avoid future damage to our fragile planet and move us closer to energy independence. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> Even our military has found that using solar panels for energy in Afghanistan is better than paying $400 for each gallon of gas it ships in (that’s the cost by the time it arrives on a truck from Pakistan that the Taliban didn’t blow up). Yet there are those in Congress, especially the “tea party” types that oppose the military using this “green” technology! It defies logic and common sense. In 2013 Texas is facing power shortages – yet it has not approved the building of solar farms that would generate the most electricity during the peak load demands during the hottest times of the day. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">In the last 30 years, wealth in the United States has become concentrated so that we look more like the old Mexican economy, where a few people at the top control the wealth and everyone else has nothing. In the last 30 years, our middle class has been squeezed so that now one per cent of the American population controls 33% of all wealth now in the U.S. The top 10% of the population now control 56% of the wealth! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The top 20% control 84% of the wealth! That means the other 80% of us have to fight over 16% of the remaining wealth. The middle class has been squeezed at the expense of the wealthy who hire the lobbyists to get special tax breaks ordinary people don’t. Ironically, Mexico has been working to grow its middle class by breaking up the monopolies that have stifled growth and opportunity.<br /><br /> American tax policies under Presidents Reagan and George W Bush favoring the top 20% have given the lucky few at the top over 84% of the total U.S. wealth!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> To his immense credit, Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor, said “Quit coddling the rich like me.” He said that he pays a lower tax percentage than his secretary who works for him. “It's unfair,” says Buffett. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">He’s right. The Bush tax cut was weighted deliberately to give the top earners the biggest break, not the middle class. That has fed the wealth concentration: corporations that get tax breaks to ship jobs overseas; billionaire hedge fund managers who nearly bankrupted the world with phony credit default swaps pay 15%, while their driver and housekeeper–and the rest of us―pay twice that amount. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> In 2012 GOP Presidential candidate Mitt Romney paid about 13% on his income tax return. The rest of us pay about 30%. Unlike most Americans he deducted $77,000 for his pet show horse, a deduction greater than most Americans’ annual pay! Then it was revealed that Mr. Trump claimed nearly $1 <i>billion</i> in losses on real estate, meaning he hasn't paid one penny in income taxes in decades, despite millions of dollars in income. How is that right? To this day he has defied 40 years of presidents revealing their income taxes to the public. What Russian connection is he hiding?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">In 2017 nothing has changed. All the Republican economic plan calls for </span><i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">more</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> tax cuts for the wealthy, which will explode the deficit even more. Mr. Trumps tax plan would add $10 Trillion to the debt! He would repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) aka “Obamacare” which has provided insurance coverage to millions of Americans who didn’t have it before. Without its protections over 40% of Americans have pre-existing conditions and would be denied insurance coverage. If you got sick, insurance companies could go back to canceling your insurance – and terminating coverage once you hit the lifetime limit of your policy. The ACA prohibits that from happening. Repeal would leave millions of Americans without insurance once again, going bankrupt with medical bills. Premiums keep going up because we still have a "for profit" health insurance industry instead of a single payer system like Medicare (which is great, I must say, now that I have it).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> <b>HOW DID WE GET INTO THIS SITUATION</b>?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">To figure out how to get out of this mess we need to recognize how we got into it. The financial mismanagement that put us into this situation flipped us from the world's No. 1 creditor nation to the No. 1 debtor nation in under four years. Then we can address solutions based on reality.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> It started with the 2001 tax cuts under President Bush, who had been handed a $350 billion </span><i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">surplus</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> by outgoing President Clinton. It was the only balanced budget by any president in the last thirty years. It was as if he was handed a shiny new Cadillac with cash stuffed in the glove box. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> The 2001 Bush tax cuts created an instant $1.2 </span><i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">trillion </span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">deficit. Revenues were far short of our fixed expenses―about 40% short, requiring increases in our debt ceiling. From 2000 to 2008 our national debt doubled. In 2003, they cut taxes a second time. Over $6 trillion in new debt was added by the GOP controlled Congress and President Bush 43 to cover the cost of two wars that were unpaid for. Plan D for prescription drugs was not paid for and neither were two tax cuts in 2001 and 2003. It took 200+ years to get America to $5 trillion in debt, but that debt was more than doubled in a mere eight years under Bush. Then in 2008 the economy collapsed, cutting tax revenues and running up even higher deficits. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> America went from the world’s No. 1 creditor nation to No. 1 debtor nation in less than four years under the Bush administration. Instead of investing billions in emerging technologies like solar panels and “Clean Tech,” we invested over $1 trillion in war equipment for Iraq and building roads in Afghanistan that do not produce a return like China gets from its manufacturing investments or its high-speed rail network and new roads. When you look at war torn Afghanistan and Iraq today, was it worth it?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">That’s a huge difference. A total of $6.1 trillion in debt was acquired during </span><a href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/government/presidents-of-the-united-states/george-bush-PEPLT000857.topic" title="George Bush"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">George W. Bush</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "calibri";">'s eight years in office, $1.9 trillion in </span><a href="http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/government/presidents-of-the-united-states/ronald-reagan-PEPLT005429.topic" title="Ronald Reagan"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Ronald Reagan</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "calibri";">'s, $1.5 trillion in George H.W. Bush's four years, $1.4 trillion in Clinton's eight years and $2.4 trillion during the first three years Obama's administration, much of it spent trying to pull us out of recession, just as FDR did to get us out of the Great Depression in the ’30s. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> Yet under Obama, total federal spending has been </span><i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">lower</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> than any President in the last thirty years! You seldom see this reported in the news. Under Obama, the deficit in 2015 has dropped to its lowest amount since 2001! Over 10 million jobs have been created since 2009 when he took office.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">From day one Obama has faced an FDR-type crisis―the worst recession in over 70 years, since the Great Depression of the 1930s. It was a </span><i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">financial</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> recession (like the ’30s), which takes an average of seven years—seven years, vs. a 4-year term—to recover from.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">In 2001, Bush inherited what could be described as “the shiny car and money in the bank.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">In 2009, Obama inherited the “empty bank account stuffed with IOU’s and a wrecked, smoking economic ship of state.” Obama faced a $1.3 Trillion deficit his first day on the job, plus trillions in piled up IOU's from two unpaid for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "calibri";">When Trump took office in 2017, he inherited from Obama a healthy economy that had produced over 15 million jobs and an unemployment rate less than half of when he took office. Two months later Trump tries to claim credit for 600,000 jobs created under the Obama-created economy he inherited!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> It takes time to fix a ship that has run aground, just like the Exxon Valdez, especially when there is no cooperation across the aisle in Congress. On his first day on the job, before he had done a thing, the GOP declared they would oppose</span><i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> everything </span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">he proposed. And they have – even rejecting GOP ideas that President Obama adopted, like the health insurance mandate the Heritage foundation had recommended. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">As I stated previously right after Obama was elected in 2008, Senate leader Mitch McConnell said: “Our goal is to make him a one-term President.” To that end, Congress refused to pass any bill that would create jobs and help the economy. It was economic sabotage from day one, designed by politicians more interested in gaining control of the U.S. Senate and House –even if it cost jobs for Americans. In the old days it would have been called “treason” by deliberating sabotaging growth and jobs in order to regain political power.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Had the GOP had their way, the U.S. would have allowed Detroit’s automakers to go bankrupt, which would have cost over 1 million jobs and killed America’s car manufacturing business. Today, because of the stimulus and bridge loans from President Obama, GM is once again a leading auto manufacturer in the world, producing cars and jobs right here in the USA. Even Ford Motor Company’s President said that if GM had gone down, it would have also bankrupted Ford since both companies rely on the same suppliers for parts. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> Voodoo economics almost cost America its economic lifeline. Political sabotage has been the reason too many Americans who are not seeing economic gains because the GOP has refused to pass any bill that would create jobs, including the highway bill which has been traditionally bipartisan. Congress is allowing bridges to fall apart in order so it could take control of the Senate (which it did in 2014), so it can then set about gutting Obamacare so you can, once again, lose your insurance for a preexisting condition and be denied coverage by the whim of the insurance industry. How is that progress? Healthcare is a right of citizens of any civilized country, not a privilege for only those who can afford it. How is denying healthcare considered to be “pro life”?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Had Obama followed the GOP advice and done nothing to stimulate the economy as President Hoover did during the Great Depression, or followed Europe’s Austerity hysteria, we would have had unemployment approaching 20% or more –like what has happened in Spain, England and countries in Europe following the “austerity” plan. In 2016 Europe is still struggling. They are realizing that they need to stimulate their economies to avoid negative growth in 2016. Had Obama not acted, more millions of jobs would have been lost as Detroit auto companies shut down, leaving us dependent on foreign-made cars.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Austerity created 50% unemployment for Europe's youth, including young Muslim men in places like Brussels and Paris, who then are easily turned into recruits for a "promised land" or caliphate because they have nothing, and nothing to lose. That has led to the rise of radical right groups in Europe like Marine Le Pen, a Trump-like white nationalists running in the French election.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Austerity cuts jobs; it doesn’t create them. Greece in 2015 is Exhibit A. Youth unemployment is over 50%. The stimulus passed right after President Obama took office pulled us out of the worst case scenario –we were facing massive bank runs and panic in the streets. The stimulus action brought our unemployment down substantially while Europe in 2015 is still stagnating under the austerity policies they have clung to rigidly. Had more of Obama’s stimulus been directed at building roads and bridges instead of giving block grants to states like Texas -- which used it to cover its budget shortfall instead of investing in our roads and schools, we would have gotten even more bang for the buck.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> Taking smart action to improve the economy should be a common American priority, not playing politics to get back into power. Thomas Friedman recently put it aptly this way: “We have only a decade to set up a good century for our people, but if we don’t, Americans will face a bleak century.” Right now, prospects of that happening are bleak. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Cuts to CDC and National Health Institute prevented work on vaccines for Ebola that would have given us a weapon against it and avoided the panic of 2014 when Ebola turned up at a Dallas, Texas hospital and no one knew what to do about it. It was the GOP Congress that cut funding for embassy security that left Ambassador Stevens unprotected in Benghazi! Now Trump proposes gutting our investment in health, science, climate, etc. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Ever since the Bush tax cuts, we have had to borrow 40% of the cost of the budget, including the Pentagon's budget. Our defense budget is greater than the next 20 countries put together. Then Trump has the audacity to claim we need to "rebuild" it. What malarkey. But when it comes to “cutting defense” they scream “it will cost jobs!” Funny, they only recognize that budget cuts cost jobs when it involves defense, but not when it comes to cutting education, firefighters, or investment in new technologies.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Above: Compare how much the USA pays for its Pentagon versus other countries - it is more than the rest of the world COMBINED.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> So, what do we do to start turning the job machine back on? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> It's going to take a series of steps: improving education, upping our job skills and retraining those in lost industries (like coal), and investing in rebuilding our crumbling bridges and roads. It was the investment in the Interstate Highway System by President Dwight Eisenhower that provided the infrastructure that was a major factor in America's growth. It improved our nation’s productivity and made transport faster and better. Now those roads are in desperate need of repair. Upgrading the old is vital, as is investing in the new technologies that create 21st century jobs. <br /><br /> Recently water pipes broke in one of the buildings housing U.S. Senators due to age. It is a symptom of a Congress that refuses to invest in our aging infrastructure. Houston, for example, is losing millions in dollars because its water pipes are so old that they are leaking billions of gallons of much-needed water at a time we are in the worst drought in our state’s history. Our gas lines are exploding across the country because they are so old. <br /><br /> Some </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">SOLUTIONS</span></b><span style="font-family: "calibri";">…</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">So let’s talk </span><i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">solutions</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">. Here is what we do: INVEST in AMERICA! We also need to address<b><i> income inequality</i></b> produced by a tax system that favors the 1% and drains revenue that could reduce our deficits. It needs major reforms. Hang on, this isn’t about being isolationist. It’s about focusing on what makes us stronger – tax fairness and investing in our people’s knowledge and skills. Trump's plan would destroy any chance of investing in our future. Like Bush before him it gives huge breaks to the 1% while throwing peanuts at the middle, while exploding our debt into economic collapse territory far worse than the last GOP created disaster in 2008 - then the largest economic meltdown in 70 years since the great depression!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Instead of increasing the defense budget let's take $10 billion from defense (from their $650 billion/year) and give it to NASA, which has an $18 billion/year budget. That would let them led a scientific revolution in new technologies while working with commercial companies to set up a moon base to test the technology needed for living on Mars. It can develop advanced space propulsion systems needed for a Mars trip (a 1 year journey each way in a slow tin can is just nuts and makes a round trip less likely to be successful without people killing each other. They could invest some of it into building a space-based </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">solar</span><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> energy system that could feed unlimited solar energy to drive our economy </span><i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">and </span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">develop new space skills at the same time―a win-win.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Better yet, NASA needs to develop a much needed “detection and deflection” program in conjunction with the Pentagon Space Division to divert an asteroid from wiping out a city or our planet from what a direct hit did to the dinosaurs. In 2013 we just had an asteroid come out of the sun that exploded over Russia. Had it hit a city it would have been destroyed. in 2017 another one just missed us that would have devastated the planet. Had it targeted us, a nuclear interception in deep space would have been required as a last ditch effort to save our planet. It's a matter of time.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "calibri";">Sooner or later, we will need that protection of our planet as much as we now need an "Ike Dike" to protect our Texas coast from the next hurricane that could wipe out 25% of our country's gas refining. A few billion spent on coastal protection is vastly better than yet another overpriced F35 program. Another hurricane hit in the Houston area would flood out refineries and fill Galveston Bay with toxic mass of chemicals, killing everything. It would cause gas to skyrocket to $7 a gallon overnight--because we were warned but didn't invest or prepare. That's pretty stupid for an "intelligent" species!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Space-based Solar Power could yield vast zero </span><span style="font-family: "calibri";">carbon power for U.S. Energy Independence</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The Pentagon has a $26 billion space budget larger than NASA’s! It has so much money that it recently gave NASA two space telescopes it didn’t need! Poor NASA doesn’t even have the funds to launch them. NASA is still using space suits that are 35 years old! They are so old that one almost drowned an astronaut when it started leaking water into his suit. How to we lead a space race with 30 year old Shuttles, 35 year old spacesuits and an International Space Station nearing the end of its life cycle? The components on the space station were warrantied for only ten years, and it is already 15 years old and will be 24 by the time its retired – with no replacement in sight. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "calibri";">Investing in a new station is a far better use of money than a useless border wall with Mexico - a complete waste of money. Show me a 20 foot wall and I will show you a 21 foot ladder (much cheaper) or a tunnel. We have had a border barrier for years. Guess what? Most of the drugs come across the border in vehicles crossing our checkpoints! Yep. In the future drones could hop the wall no problem at all. I am reminded of the Great Wall built by China to keep the Mongols out. I walked on it. It cost tens of thousands of lives - its known as the longest graveyard in the world. The Mongols found it easy to bribe their way across.</span><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "calibri";">The Pentagon has never been audited. Immense waste has gone unnoticed. One study that has been hidden showed that the pentagon could save $125 BILLION by eliminating duplicate programs! Now Congress is pretending not to notice.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "calibri";"> We should audit the Pentagon to cut waste and fraud, potentially savings billions per year in unneeded costs. This same Pentagon recently has been trying to force veterans to repay bonuses to get them to go to Iraq during the worst period in 2006, 2007! For a measly $20 million, they are sticking it to the vets. The pentagon spends more than $20 million on toilet paper every year folks! It's chump change.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> Planning ahead and investment are important! As I said, China is </span><i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">building </span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">a vast network of new roads, high-speed rail, power plants, etc. while Congress does nothing but insist on allowing millionaires to pay half the taxes the rest of us pay, bickers and cuts funding for Pell grants that students need to obtain 21st century skills. It has attempted to take away the Affordable Care Act aka "Obamacare" to deny millions of Americans access to healthcare. Yet Congress gets its healthcare paid for by U.S. taxpayers. How is that right?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "calibri";">Russia and China are now planning a high speed rail link between their countries, linking them economically and politically as each vie to compete with the United States in technology and control of the seas and space. NASA astronauts are riding Russian rockets into space while Russia’s Putin is grabbing territory from Ukraine and Russian leaders laugh about us using a trampoline to get into space. Our best bet to get Americans traveling on American rockets again is by private space companies like Space X.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">NASA is in fact using private space companies who have plans to take people to places like near earth orbit, and even Mars, long before NASA itself could offer anything like it. We could soon see "space hotels" by Jeff Bezos and other space pioneers like Elon Musk. Space tourist and space-based manufacturing could supply new products and drugs that can't be made on earth. We could be mining asteroids for heavy metals. The moon has platinum and rare earth minerals we need for high tech manufacturing that can only be found in parts of Africa (and now controlled by China). Our space age is just beginning to become available for the rest of us civilians who will never be astronauts.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> Above: The Dreamchaser, a mini shuttle</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> Equality, fairness and justice have always been American traditions. But not in this empty minded Congress. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Students and Free College: In Norway and Germany, college is </span><i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">free</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">, even to foreign students. Meanwhile our student debt is piling up. Obama has proposed making two years of junior college free. It is a step in the right direction. Hillary Clinton offered a plan to make college affordable and debt free. Bernie Sanders wanted free college like Europe does. Providing higher education and skills training for our people will pay dividends in higher earnings and higher taxes received from the future earnings. On the other hand the so-called President Trump and the GOP wants you to have nothing and like it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> President Obama wanted us to double our exports – that would also boost jobs. Each $1 billion in exports creates 25,000 jobs right here in America. It would diversity our economy instead of relying solely on consumer spending. We should export products, not jobs. Instead, Congress let the Ex Im bank charter expire, despite that it makes a profit of $1 billion and helps produce over 150,000 jobs! It was finally restored but a Congress that can't see the benefits of getting America's products to the world is dangerously naïve and stupid. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "calibri";">Another thing. The U.S. gets billions in tourist dollars every year from foreign tourists coming to the U.S. With the Trump travel bans and bombastic attacks on nearly everyone including allies (but excluding Mr. Putin!), tourism to the U.S. is DOWN. That means we have lost over $30 billion at last count in income for our travel industry, hotels, restaurants, theme parks, hospitals, etc. He is killing our economy, not improving it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Get rid of Tax credits for hiding money overseas? Stop giving deductions to move headquarters overseas. Oil companies have received tax credits for over 100 years -- as if they were small startup companies instead of the largest, most profitable corporations on the planet that they are. Corporations get foreign tax credits on foreign taxes paid on money earned overseas― over $2 TRILLION, which is not taxed until brought back to the U.S. That money is subject to a stiff tax when it is brought back into the U.S. We could lower the tax on those earnings and use it to invest in infrastructure that would create millions of jobs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">We need new revenues to finance our education and high-tech training needs, and to replace rusting bridges and schools where ceiling tiles are falling on the children. We can do that by making the tax system a level playing field where special interests don’t get special deals that the ordinary American doesn’t get. The GOP claims we have the "highest" </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">We should reform our tax code to bring down the top rate but also eliminate many of the deductions that allow companies to pay zero taxes on substantial profits. General Electric, for example, paid zero taxes on billions in profits.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">We could eliminate the foreign tax credit which lets companies get a credit on their U.S. taxes—instead of a deduction—for paying a tax overseas. The foreign tax credit should be turned into a </span><i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">deduction</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">. Corporations’ worldwide earnings should be taxed, just like they are for American individuals, even if they leave it parked in a bank overseas. No corporation should get a tax deduction for shipping jobs overseas. Instead they should get a tax incentive to bring jobs to the U.S.! We definitely need to reform the tax system. While the state corporate tax rate sounds high, the net rate is quite low, as low as ZERO.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">I know how the international tax system works due to my time as an international attorney for the Fortune 500 for nearly a decade, setting up international contracts and foreign operations (described in "Better Times Ahead April Fool".) I was sent to over thirty countries in one five-year period―from China to Brazil to Europe and the Middle East—negotiating agreements with other large entities. I’ve now negotiated in over 50 countries. Part of the job meant I had to know international law, tax law and tax treaties—not to mention local culture and the unwritten rules in places like India. I know how the global business game is played. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Global business is vital to our future, especially exporting products. Americans don’t realize how much trade between countries creates jobs right here in America. International business generates jobs and income worldwide, both here and overseas. But it has to be a fair and equitable system. Our present one is not. I discovered that Americans missed sales in other countries because of their tariff system that made our goods more expensive. We lost out to companies from countries that did have a trade agreement. For example, Brazil was buying a $200 million telecommunications project. But companies bidding from Canada did not face a 10% tariff that our companies faced. Why? Because Brazil and Canada had a trade agreement and we did not. So the jobs went to Canada.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "calibri";">Inversions are another tax rip off –basically companies renounce their citizenship even though they don’t change their business presence in a meaningful way. Today, a Halliburton or a Noble Drilling based in Texas can send a couple of people to Dubai, and suddenly they are no longer an “American” company and not subject to U.S. taxes on their income, even though the company building -- and 99% of its employees -- are still sitting in Houston! (However, their employees still here can’t claim an exemption from their taxes.) That tax loss means less for the cities and counties need for roads and schools needed to compete in the global economy. General Electric made billions, yet paid ZERO taxes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Is that fair? Does that make sense? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Another way to generate jobs―and move us towards energy independence― is to improve our energy efficiency. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">America contains five percent of the world's population, yet we use one third of the total energy. Energy efficiency projects like weatherization of our houses and offices would employ vast numbers of Americans and cut our energy use enough to forego the need to build three of four power plants that would otherwise be needed. Congress used to provide a tax credit up to $1,500 to homeowners for making these improvements, but phased them out. They should bring them back. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "calibri";">Energy saved is energy we don’t have to burn and dangerous carbon that doesn’t go into the atmosphere, adding to climate change. At the same time we could "harden" the building envelop to prepare for the more common hurricane-force winds we get even without hurricanes!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> This is an area where small businesses could prosper and serve the American market – installing everything from weatherization materials to solar panels on rooftops. Installing radiant barriers in attics would cut solar heat. Forty percent of a building's energy is lost through its windows, the weakest link of every building. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Installing newer technologies like Armor Glass security window film would save up to 30% of a building's energy consumption -- and at the same time provide protection from break-ins by burglars and window breach by increasingly powerful tornadoes and hurricanes that lead to roof loss and costly internal damage that can leave a building uninhabitable for months. Substantial jobs would be created. Insurance claims could be drastically reduced, which would lower premiums. Less down time for repairs would boost our productivity. It’s another win-win for America and our future success! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> Unfortunately, many Americans are global virgins, with limited travel experience outside their hometown or home state. How do we lead a world we know nothing about? If American citizens don't go see what China and Europe are doing, how do they know where America and Americans really stand in the competitive world of technology and global business trends? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">In 2016, we have seen a hate-mongering campaign on the GOP side that is staggering. The old GOP used racial ‘dog whistles.’ Mr. Trump dropped the code words for overt racist and sexist statements. First it was "young black men." Then it was about "Mexicans who were rapists" coming across our border (even though net migration is now zero). Then it was barring "Muslims" from America. then it was women as "fat pigs" and a tape where he described how he would "grab them by the p***y). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "calibri";">We have seen a presidential candidate actually </span><i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">encourage violence </span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">at his campaign rallies against protesters. Now he claims the system is "rigged" (by people like him, yes; but not our voting system which is decentralized and controlled by each of the 50 states). </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "calibri";">It's bizarre, like a chapter from fascism in the past. It's all about fear without a solution in sight. "Believe me" is not an economic plan. It's snake oil. Changing your position to both sides of an issue is not credible, consistent or believable. His "business experience" has been one of bankrupting even casinos, where the odds are stacked in favor of the house! It takes special talent to bankrupt a casino along with Trump University (whose students are now suing him for FRAUD; trial set for this Nov. 28).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">America is a diverse country while the GOP has become a party of one (color) that is dying and being replaced by a new America of different colors and religions--all welcomed by the Democratic party.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "calibri";">When I ran for U.S. Senate in 2014 in the democratic primary in a district near Houston, I saw a diverse group that looked like America—gay and straight, black, white and Hispanic, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim and Christian as well as non-believers. That is our future. When I ran in 3 GOP primaries starting in 2000-2006, I saw only white people (old ones) at the party meetings. It did not look like the America I saw everyday; the America of our future success.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> The point is that America has a diverse population of people from around the world who share our values. Immigrants like these have driven our success the past two centuries and can help us regain our dynamism in the future. Texas is already a “majority minority” state. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> By 2050, the United States as a whole will be a “majority minority” country. Education of all of our people—not a privileged few-- will be critical to maintain our global leadership. Texas already is a majority minority state. Houston is the epicenter of what America will look like. Check us out - we are rich in diversity, jobs and imagination.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">One GOP presidential candidate said it wasn’t important that he know about the world “because he would have advisers for that.” Trump said that he was his own adviser "because I have so many thoughts." That sounds like a chapter from "Alice in Wonderland." So what happens when those advisors disagree, as they always do? Guess? That kind of guessing cost America over $1 trillion dollars in a “pre-emptive” war with Iraq to eliminate weapons of mass destruction that didn’t exist. It cost thousands of American lives and left our country poorer as a result.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "calibri";">In fact, Trump's claim that he would authorize our military to shoot Iranians who give our troops "the finger" could kill more of our military in 1 day then we lost in 8 <i>years</i> in Iraq! How? Google the "Millennium Challenge" wargames of 2002, an imaginary war with Iran. We lost 16 ships including an aircraft carrier before they called it off. One Chinese made Sunburn missile fired by Iran could wipe out a carrier and its 5,000 crew in a few seconds. This is why you don't want an ignorant man in the oval office.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Global experience in our leadership is vital for our future success. We live in an inescapable global economy. We won’t win by being “dumb and dumber” when it comes to dealing with 200 countries which are becoming more technically advanced because a Republican legislature in Texas won’t even use a Rainy Day fund designed for funding Texas schools to compete in this high-tech global economy. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> According to Bill Hammond of the Texas Business Association only twenty five percent of our kids come out of Texas high schools college ready! How is that a mark of success of Gov. Rick Perry after fourteen years in office, and his GOP replacement Greg Abbott? I’ve seen it up close and personal, kids in the family who can’t spell. Then I realized it wasn’t just them. There is a whole generation like them in America. We have to do better because it won’t help them --or our future as a skilled country in the new space age we live in if they don’t have the basic knowledge necessary to become skilled (versus unskilled) labor in this increasingly high-tech world evolving around us. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> Minimum wage jobs flipping burgers won’t feed a family or make life easy if that is all the educational skills our kids achieve. We must allow our talent, even those of all races like who don’t have family money, to go to school. An educated citizenry enriches us all.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> I did a series of TV interviews and videos in the ’90s that warned about the potential of a 9/11 happening. Some of it is on YouTube. No one listened, of course. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "calibri";">Why did I have a clue? It was because of my international travels into the Middle East. I was lucky. I saw things few Americans get to see: dozens of countries and their legal systems, customs, and laws. On one trip I'd be in China; on another I would travel to India or Vienna or London (on business, not as a tourist). I had to study each system to know the best way to proceed. I found a journal entry I had written which mentioned Saddam Hussein in 1981―nine years before he attacked Kuwait! That knowledge is what I based my 9/11 prediction on. That is the kind of knowledge in Congress that makes a difference between a good decision and a bad one, like starting a war.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> Even though all the laws, customs and languages were different, I saw that people are very much the same. That was confirmed again when I ran for Congress in one of the most diverse counties in the nation: Ft. Bend County, Texas. That was in 2000. I went inside mosques, synagogues, and Hindu temples, as well as Catholic, Episcopalian, Lutheran and all kinds of Christian churches. I heard imams, rabbis and Christian pastors all giving the same lecture: be good, love your family, pray. We have more in common than most people think. If you travel you will find that to be true. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">We have the ingredients for success. We need a global strategy for technology leadership to guarantee American success in the years ahead. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> We won't win the 21st century with thirty-year-old space shuttles, rusting bridges, kids not getting pre-K education and by failing to improve our education and job skills to meet the challenges of an inescapable high-tech global economy and space-age century. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> We need smart strategies and smart investments to win this race.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> To win the future we will also have to reform our present political system. Your Congress rep mostly likely sits in gerrymandered districts that make their seats safe from a general election opponent. As a result, our political system encourages the most radical ones the primary - not the type to work across the aisle to fix America's issues. I cover that subject in the chapter "Predicting 911 and Running Against the Hammer" in my book.<br /><br /> We have to reform a system where Congress pays more attention to rich corporations than their voters who aren't handing them big checks. The U.S. Supreme Court, for the first time in American history, because of </span><i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Citizens United</span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> , has allowed corporations to spend unlimited billions to buy this election to elect the candidate of their choice, allowing them to get more special breaks for themselves. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The Constitutional principal of “One man one vote” has been gutted by the Robert’s court and replaced with “One corporation, one billion dollars to buy unlimited votes.” It’s no longer a level playing field for the average American voter who can’t spend billions funding candidates of their choice.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">America became great because its best leaders focused on improving life for those who were at the bottom of our economy through means such as the G.I. Bill, Pell Grants, etc. People could bootstrap themselves up with a little help. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">We built the Interstate Highway System and a world leading space agency. We invested in education and training and infrastructure. We were the gold standard of the world. Then we lost our way. Our companies’ outsourced jobs overseas and we let our education system falter. We gave tax incentives to export jobs. We engaged in unnecessary wars without bothering to pay for them even during the “good times.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> What's next? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">To succeed in current real world, we have to have leaders who know the world well enough to develop winning strategies. Isolationism is a fatal mistake.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">I went to Norway for the first time in May 2011. Despite my having been in some 50 countries before, and reading everything I could on Norway before arriving, I thought I knew what to expect it to be like. When I got there, Norway was nothing like what I had read about! By the end of the trip I knew things I could never have known otherwise. Here's is why that is important.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">While there, I discovered how a couple of Norwegians stopped Hitler from getting “heavy water” to make an atomic bomb first. They made a movie about it called “Heroes of Telemark” starring Kick Douglas. Without the Norwegians stopping that shipment, Hitler could have gotten the A-bomb first and would have won the war instantly. How would a member of Congress know more if hasn’t “been there, done that”? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Photo: Telemark, Norway - Where the Nazis were making "heavy water" for their A-bomb in WWII. The Allied bombs failed to wipe out the heavy water. It took two Norwegians sabotage teams to blow up the ferry carrying it back to Norway. As told in "Heroes of Telemark" starring Kirk Douglas. I knew none of this until I went to Norway for the first time in 2011 - despite having been in nearly 50 countries. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Imagine an elected congressman/woman, senator or even president who has never been in Asia, Europe, South America and the Middle East (except perhaps as a tourist or on a junket) pushing the voting buttons in Washington. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">In 2010 nearly eighty Congress reps were elected from places like Frog Jump, Arkansas, whose wife called his government issued Blackberry phone a "Blueberry" because they had never used one or been out of their home state. These reps caused us to lose our No. 1 creditor status by voting against a debt ceiling increase based on mindless politics. That increase was required from prior spending decisions of that same Congress! One of them, Senator Cruz shutdown our government over people getting access to healthcare like he has, costing us $24 billion. The world has to be laughing at us shooting ourselves by the actions of our own Congress. But no, they aren’t laughing because when we screw up the economy the world pays a heavy price.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The Euro crisis makes the U.S. dollar still the most reliable currency on the planet. To fix the domestic issues we face, we also have to make sure Europe's system becomes more stable. They don’t need a bailout from us; they need to fix their own system. However, if their barn catches fire the flames will spread to ours. Over 20% of U.S. exports go to Europe. Millions of U.S. jobs are at stake if Europe burns. It is an interconnected world. What happens in the U.S. doesn’t just stay in the U.S. What happens in Europe, and China, will also impact our own economic future. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Terrorism in Europe can jump the "great pond" to the U.S. if we don't help them. The millions of refugees fleeing death in Syria is now upsetting the stability of western Europe and jeopardizing its security. Putin is making the situation worse by bombing civilians in Syria--he <i>wants</i> to destabilize Europe. Failure to enforce a ‘no fly’ zone in Syria set this disaster in motion. It was Hillary’s suggestion that such a ‘no fly’ zone be established--which would have stopped Assad from dropping barrel bombs on his people, sending millions on the dangerous trek to Europe to escape the slaughter. Hillary was right. Failure to follow her advice made the situation worse, not better. We cannot isolate from the world and not expect it to bounce back on us. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Wall Street's hedge funds and phony credit default swaps brought down not just the U.S. financial system, it also crashed the global financial system as Wall Street's worthless paper was brought by pension groups and investors worldwide. It caused every bank in Iceland to go bust. Had President Bush not started TARP (which Obama continued) and all our banks had gone bust like they did in the Great Depression, we would have seen scenes of misery and unemployment in the 50% range.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Americans need smart government, smart roads, smart schools, and smart policies that will get our momentum back. We need a smart, world-wise Congress and a smart, world-wise president with a smart plan to deal with a China, whose economy is the second largest in the world; with Europe, the largest market in the world; with the fiery Middle East; and with our neighbors in South America. China has built its first aircraft carrier. Its basketball team ended up in a fight with the American team, and the Chinese blamed their own team for being too aggressive! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Ninety-seven percent (97%) of Chinese grade school kids graduate from high school. Eighty percent (80%) of them go to college. Less than 50% of American kids make it through high school! This must change with a government that builds our people up.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">How do we both regain our technological lead </span><i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">and </span></i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">recover from the financial mismanagement of the past decade that put us in this mess? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">We can only do it by using a smart strategy based on real facts, not the nonsense from politicians who got us into this hole starting in 2001. Instead, new textbooks based on Texas guidelines omit slavery and Jim Crow laws against blacks from our history books. Like radical Islam, radical Christians on the Texas State Board of Education question the principle of separation of church and state which our founders wanted after seeing what happened in England with a state religion. The books even glorify the McCarthy era witch-hunts for suspects “communists.” If any books deserve to be burned, it i these sorry excuses for “education” by the hard right controlling Texas politics and education policies.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">If we don't get smart and global fast, we are toast. Stick us with a fork, because we’re done. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Chinese students are showing up at our universities with perfect 800 math scores. Our kids still seem to have a culture blowing off the importance of school. They definitely are experts in celebrity trivia. We won't win the future on celebrity worship.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">At the beginning of the 20th century we couldn’t have competed if we insisted on continuing to make buggy whips when the world moved on to automobiles and put the horses to pasture. Now that the world is entering the space age, we can’t compete by clinging to old technology, like producing oil from dirty tar sands. If the lobbyists of today were in charge in 1900, the buggy whip lobby would make sure we were still driving buggies! Our oil companies today still want their tax subsidies but don’t want the emerging clean energy wind and solar power industries to have the same thing! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">To win we need to invest in education, training, and rebuilding our transportation networks and other infrastructure, and to change our tax laws to make them more fair and equal. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> We also need to reform our election system. Our current system leaves out the moderate voters who show up in November. The decisions as to who will win a congressional district are made in party primaries in safe districts by a few voters who are hyper-partisans on each side―the type who would rather walk on burning coals then talk to the other side. Gerrymandering is the problem.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">To win a seat in a primary, each candidate must run “left of left” or “right of right,” ensuring more extreme candidates are elected to safe districts, making them less willing to compromise to get things done―the opposite of what our Founding Fathers did in starting our great country. These reps are more afraid of a primary challenge than a November challenge by the opposing party. We saw that in 2012 when veteran lawmakers lost to “tea party” types who were so extreme that they ended up losing in the general election. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">We are seeing it in 2016 a celebrity who has never run as a Republican is now the GOP nominee despite never having been elected dogcatcher. It's beyond bizarre. Trump is killing the Republican party. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Stop the gerrymandering. California and Arizona have removed partisans from drawing district boundary lines, making those races more focused on the vast majority of people in the moderate middle instead of the extreme ends. Thankfully, the U.S. Supreme court has upheld this new way of drawing boundaries. Our current districts are mainly drawn by legislators who pick their voters instead of the voters picking them. They pack R’s and D’s into safe districts so that the winner of the party’s primary automatically wins that district in November, cheating the voters out of a real choice. What we need are more centrist, moderate, middle American-type congressional representatives who can work across the aisle for our common good― who also have sufficient global experience to get us back into a strong economy and win the global game. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">We have only one shot at a comeback now that our money and the world’s No. 1 creditor status are gone. It took less than eight years, from 2000 to 2008, to dissipate our wealth built up over 200 years! Obama has been smart and worked to get us to lead technically and economically to get back into the game, with Congress dragging him down by not doing its job.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Now, more than ever, we need vision and purpose. We have the tools for success. The question is whether we will use them or not. It’s up to each of us. That’s why I started the “Global American” campaign to inform Americans about events in the world that impact our future (see “About the Author”) and ways to succeed. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> Our future depends on who we elect and what we each do to upgrade our skills. The world is rapidly catching up with us. We can’t succeed by standing still or by not giving it our best. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> That is why I am supporting Hillary Clinton as President in 2016 - one of remaining centrists who the global expertise we need to take us to the next level. She has negotiated in over 100 countries worldwide, meaning she knows what is going on there. Never before have we had such a globally qualified candidate (Bush had been in only 3 countries when he was elected). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">We certainly do not need a candidate who appeals to racism, sexism and nationalistic whites-only fascism, as Trump has. Even Mr. Cruz has called for racial profiling of Muslims. Both candidates would increase terrorism in America and the world by their words and actions, not diminish it. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Nor do we need more voodoo economics from the GOP, Mr. Cruz and Trump. THAT is what got us into a deep financial hole we must dig out of.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">In closing, I ask you to once again remember Proverbs 29: 18: "Where there is no vision, the people perish.” </span></div>
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<span style="color: blue;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "calibri";">For America's sake, we need that vision. I believe the only party willing to offer this vision is the Democratic party. </span><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Pass it On...!</span><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> About the Author</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Michael Fjetland (“Fetland”) grew up on a farm in Iowa, moved to Texas at 15, and began his career as an in-house attorney for two Texas Fortune 500 companies and led negotiations in over 50 countries since the 1970’s. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Since a layoff in the Great Texas Oil Bust of the 1980’s, Michael has been an entrepreneur domestically and internationally. During the first Gulf War he predicted 911 on TV. In the 90's he produced a video with a weapons expert from the Reagan administration about the potential of a 9/11 attack entitled: "Nuclear Terrorism: Could It Happen Here?" (available on YouTube, search "Michael Fjetland")</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">On 911, he served for a few years as a 911 terrorism analyst on Houston TV. He has been a speaker on global threats, issues and opportunities from Washington, DC to South Africa. Michael is also a licensed pilot and after 9/11 flew search and rescue missions with the Civil Air Patrol, which is the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Today, Michael continues his security work as founder and CEO of Armor Glass International, Inc., a company that installs security film on glass to armor it from shooters, hurricanes, burglars, tornadoes and solar heat. Glass failure is what leads to structure collapse in high wind events--and is easily penetrated by intruders. Its a 21st century carbon negative “Green+Security” technology that saves enough energy to pay for itself. (Details at: www.ArmorGlass.com)<br /> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Take a ride with Michael on this 7 minute video on the Fastest Train in the World - China's MagLev..at 265 miles per hour. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Then ask yourself: "We Used to Do Great Things Like That; Why Aren't We Doing it Now?" Look at what we are up against. Take a </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dVK3fzs0FI"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">7 minute ride with me on the fastest train in the world </span></span></a><span style="font-family: "calibri";">- hovering on magnets not touching steel...<br /> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">For Michael’s updates on Current Global events that impact your Future, "Like" Global American values on Facebook at this link.<a href="https://www.facebook.com/AmericanRespectEquality/" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/AmericanRespectEquality/</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">“Follow” or “subscribe” to his blog, Global American Values at:</span></div>
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<u><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://globalamericanvalues.blogspot.com/%0b%0b"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">http://globalamericanvalues.blogspot.com/</span> </span></a></span></u><span style="font-family: "calibri";"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "calibri";">or his “Global American” newsletter</span></div>
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<a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GlobalAmerican/"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GlobalAmerican/</span></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Opt-in, out – Your call. The list is never shared or sold.</span></div>
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<u>Or follow on Twitter at </u></div>
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<u>@Fjet2020</u></div>
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<u><br /></u><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Agenda for American Greatness was developed from the global experiences of the author, Michael Fjetland, BBA/JD, detailed in "</span><a href="http://bettertimesaheadaprilfool.com/"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Better Times Ahead April Fool</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "calibri";">"(looking back at the future of America). Time warp around the world the last 30 years and experience vicariously some bizarre adventures that gave the author a front row seat to the complex global gamesmanship between America and the world -- a magic carpet ride for less than the cost of a Starbuck's coffee.</span></div>
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br />Global Americanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402854360957989139noreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695664023926668473.post-76860241549838730402016-11-13T08:26:00.005-08:002016-11-13T08:43:30.760-08:00PUTIN and His HACKERS JUST PICKED OUR NEXT PRESIDENT TRUMP : World’s First Cyber CoupPUTIN and His HACKERS JUST PICKED OUR NEXT PRESIDENT TRUMP : <br />
World’s First Cyber Coup<br />
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For the first time in American history the leader of a foreign country just helped elect the president he preferred: Donald Trump. <br />
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HOW? By having his state hacking organization breach the Democratic National Committee computers and, via wikileaks, sent them out, drip-by-drip to undermine Hillary Clinton. <br />
American intelligence officials have confirmed that it was the Russians who hacked the DNC computers. By contrast, not one Republican national committee email was released. Between Putin and Mr. Comey’s actions 11 days before the election, it threw the election to Trump. We just had the world’s first “cyber-coup.” <br />
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The irony? Hillary Clinton won the popular vote (over 2 million more votes than Trump so far as they continue counting ballots.)<br />
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So, the bottom line is that Mr. Trump is Mr. Putin’s president. Trump was the only candidate to praise Putin, who has invaded the Ukraine and bombed civilians in Syria while destroying the free press and independent reporting in Russia. Mr. Putin has a history of <a href="http://www.cnn.com/.../27/europe/russian-politician-killed/" target="_blank">murdering reporters and his opponents</a>. He has sent fighters to breach the air space of our European allies. Like his role model, Mr. Trump has already talked about making it easier for him to sue the press and often made the press a target during his rallies.<br />
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The press has been toothless and allowed Mr. Trump a pass on his failure to file tax returns and his racism. They painted the picture of “lesser of evils” when the choice was starkly clear which candidate was prepared to be president. Hillary would preserve our alliances; Mr. Trump promised to destroy them and pull out of NATO. He would give Mr. Putin a pass on their un-democratic actions.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX41JLL-Xy4AyD_OV4luepm6LirjgkAUwafX-QDSVhtq9coP1iGMqFwdrW3ZR41AG-kzIN590XA3pJJib1QoyRn5P5aGA5muA31Lw0T-3-YdaiIH4fRoyV7NK6XnkRg54kZnPH5eBoabMZ/s1600/TrumpPutinAndMurderOfAnna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX41JLL-Xy4AyD_OV4luepm6LirjgkAUwafX-QDSVhtq9coP1iGMqFwdrW3ZR41AG-kzIN590XA3pJJib1QoyRn5P5aGA5muA31Lw0T-3-YdaiIH4fRoyV7NK6XnkRg54kZnPH5eBoabMZ/s320/TrumpPutinAndMurderOfAnna.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Already, Mr. Trump’s campaign has been reaching out to the leaders of Europe’s radical right, like France’s Marie Le Pen. This is a dream of Putin: to destabilize Europe and its democracies that operate by the rule of law. Mr. Trump’s inner circle includes America’s alt right aka “radical right” in the form of Mr. Steve Bannon, who was a part of Breitbart “news” that hated on Obama and even moderate Republicans.<br />
<br />
So it begins. The Chinese have a saying “May you live in interesting times.” It’s a curse. I see “interesting” times ahead. Indeed, Dark Days ahead. A leopard doesn’t change its spots. Trump is as ignorant and racist as he was before the election. His economic proposals would explode our debt over $30 TRILLION dollars. His trade protectionism, if carried out, will create a Global Depression far greater than the 2008 Great Recession that ended the Bush administration.<br />
<br />
It’s a matter of time. With Putin’s man in the White House, no American should rest easy, even those who voted for him. I predicted 911. I predict Trump will screw even the white working class who voted for him. He ran for office while being sued for FRAUD on the working class who believed in Trump U. The trial was to begin November 28. Now we’ll see our court independence threatened by our Putin President-Elect.<br />
<br />
Michael Fjetland<br />
Author, “Better Times Ahead April Fool” (title seems prophetic now)<br />
www.BetterTimesAheadAprilFool.comGlobal Americanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402854360957989139noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695664023926668473.post-66724340348799502472016-11-13T08:26:00.004-08:002016-11-13T08:42:55.406-08:00PUTIN and His HACKERS JUST PICKED OUR NEXT PRESIDENT TRUMP : World’s First Cyber CoupPUTIN and His HACKERS JUST PICKED OUR NEXT PRESIDENT TRUMP : <br />
World’s First Cyber Coup<br />
<br />
For the first time in American history the leader of a foreign country just helped elect the president he preferred: Donald Trump. <br />
<br />
HOW? By having his state hacking organization breach the Democratic National Committee computers and, via wikileaks, sent them out, drip-by-drip to undermine Hillary Clinton. <br />
American intelligence officials have confirmed that it was the Russians who hacked the DNC computers. By contrast, not one Republican national committee email was released. Between Putin and Mr. Comey’s actions 11 days before the election, it threw the election to Trump. We just had the world’s first “cyber-coup.” <br />
<br />
The irony? Hillary Clinton won the popular vote (over 2 million more votes than Trump so far as they continue counting ballots.)<br />
<br />
So, the bottom line is that Mr. Trump is Mr. Putin’s president. Trump was the only candidate to praise Putin, who has invaded the Ukraine and bombed civilians in Syria while destroying the free press and independent reporting in Russia. Mr. Putin has a history of <a href="http://www.cnn.com/.../27/europe/russian-politician-killed/" target="_blank">murdering reporters and his opponents</a>. He has sent fighters to breach the air space of our European allies. Like his role model, Mr. Trump has already talked about making it easier for him to sue the press and often made the press a target during his rallies.<br />
<br />
The press has been toothless and allowed Mr. Trump a pass on his failure to file tax returns and his racism. They painted the picture of “lesser of evils” when the choice was starkly clear which candidate was prepared to be president. Hillary would preserve our alliances; Mr. Trump promised to destroy them and pull out of NATO. He would give Mr. Putin a pass on their un-democratic actions.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX41JLL-Xy4AyD_OV4luepm6LirjgkAUwafX-QDSVhtq9coP1iGMqFwdrW3ZR41AG-kzIN590XA3pJJib1QoyRn5P5aGA5muA31Lw0T-3-YdaiIH4fRoyV7NK6XnkRg54kZnPH5eBoabMZ/s1600/TrumpPutinAndMurderOfAnna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX41JLL-Xy4AyD_OV4luepm6LirjgkAUwafX-QDSVhtq9coP1iGMqFwdrW3ZR41AG-kzIN590XA3pJJib1QoyRn5P5aGA5muA31Lw0T-3-YdaiIH4fRoyV7NK6XnkRg54kZnPH5eBoabMZ/s320/TrumpPutinAndMurderOfAnna.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Already, Mr. Trump’s campaign has been reaching out to the leaders of Europe’s radical right, like France’s Marie Le Pen. This is a dream of Putin: to destabilize Europe and its democracies that operate by the rule of law. Mr. Trump’s inner circle includes America’s alt right aka “radical right” in the form of Mr. Steve Bannon, who was a part of Breitbart “news” that hated on Obama and even moderate Republicans.<br />
<br />
So it begins. The Chinese have a saying “May you live in interesting times.” It’s a curse. I see “interesting” times ahead. Indeed, Dark Days ahead. A leopard doesn’t change its spots. Trump is as ignorant and racist as he was before the election. His economic proposals would explode our debt over $30 TRILLION dollars. His trade protectionism, if carried out, will create a Global Depression far greater than the 2008 Great Recession that ended the Bush administration.<br />
<br />
It’s a matter of time. With Putin’s man in the White House, no American should rest easy, even those who voted for him. I predicted 911. I predict Trump will screw even the white working class who voted for him. He ran for office while being sued for FRAUD on the working class who believed in Trump U. The trial was to begin November 28. Now we’ll see our court independence threatened by our Putin President-Elect.<br />
<br />
Michael Fjetland<br />
Author, “Better Times Ahead April Fool” (title seems prophetic now)<br />
www.BetterTimesAheadAprilFool.comGlobal Americanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402854360957989139noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695664023926668473.post-84529576956097584742016-11-13T08:26:00.003-08:002016-11-13T08:29:30.020-08:00PUTIN and His HACKERS JUST PICKED OUR NEXT PRESIDENT TRUMP : World’s First Cyber CoupPUTIN and His HACKERS JUST PICKED OUR NEXT PRESIDENT TRUMP : <br />
World’s First Cyber Coup<br />
<br />
For the first time in American history the leader of a foreign country just helped elect the president he preferred: Donald Trump. <br />
<br />
HOW? By having his state hacking organization breach the Democratic National Committee computers and, via wikileaks, sent them out, drip-by-drip to undermine Hillary Clinton. <br />
American intelligence officials have confirmed that it was the Russians who hacked the DNC computers. By contrast, not one Republican national committee email was released. Between Putin and Mr. Comey’s actions 11 days before the election, it threw the election to Trump. We just had the world’s first “cyber-coup.” <br />
<br />
The irony? Hillary Clinton won the popular vote (over 2 million more votes than Trump so far as they continue counting ballots.)<br />
<br />
So, the bottom line is that Mr. Trump is Mr. Putin’s president. Trump was the only candidate to praise Putin, who has invaded the Ukraine and bombed civilians in Syria while destroying the free press and independent reporting in Russia. Mr. Putin has a history of murdering reporters and his opponents. He has sent fighters to breach the air space of our European allies. Like his role model, Mr. Trump has already talked about making it easier for him to sue the press and often made the press a target during his rallies.<br />
<br />
The press has been toothless and allowed Mr. Trump a pass on his failure to file tax returns and his racism. They painted the picture of “lesser of evils” when the choice was starkly clear which candidate was prepared to be president. Hillary would preserve our alliances; Mr. Trump promised to destroy them and pull out of NATO. He would give Mr. Putin a pass on their un-democratic actions.<br />
<br />
Already, Mr. Trump’s campaign has been reaching out to the leaders of Europe’s radical right, like France’s Marie Le Pen. This is a dream of Putin: to destabilize Europe and its democracies that operate by the rule of law. Mr. Trump’s inner circle includes America’s alt right aka “radical right” in the form of Mr. Steve Bannon, who was a part of Breitbart “news” that hated on Obama and even moderate Republicans.<br />
<br />
So it begins. The Chinese have a saying “May you live in interesting times.” It’s a curse. I see “interesting” times ahead. Indeed, Dark Days ahead. A leopard doesn’t change its spots. Trump is as ignorant and racist as he was before the election. His economic proposals would explode our debt over $30 TRILLION dollars. His trade protectionism, if carried out, will create a Global Depression far greater than the 2008 Great Recession that ended the Bush administration.<br />
<br />
It’s a matter of time. With Putin’s man in the White House, no American should rest easy, even those who voted for him. I predicted 911. I predict Trump will screw even the white working class who voted for him. He ran for office while being sued for FRAUD on the working class who believed in Trump U. The trial was to begin November 28. Now we’ll see our court independence threatened by our Putin President-Elect.<br />
<br />
Michael Fjetland<br />
Author, “Better Times Ahead April Fool” (title seems prophetic now)<br />
www.BetterTimesAheadAprilFool.comGlobal Americanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402854360957989139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695664023926668473.post-55085071172917271222016-11-13T08:26:00.002-08:002016-11-13T08:35:15.129-08:00PUTIN and His HACKERS JUST PICKED OUR NEXT PRESIDENT TRUMP : World’s First Cyber CoupPUTIN and His HACKERS JUST PICKED OUR NEXT PRESIDENT TRUMP : <br />
World’s First Cyber Coup<br />
<br />
For the first time in American history the leader of a foreign country just helped elect the president he preferred: Donald Trump. <br />
<br />
HOW? By having his state hacking organization breach the Democratic National Committee computers and, via wikileaks, sent them out, drip-by-drip to undermine Hillary Clinton. <br />
American intelligence officials have confirmed that it was the Russians who hacked the DNC computers. By contrast, not one Republican national committee email was released. Between Putin and Mr. Comey’s actions 11 days before the election, it threw the election to Trump. We just had the world’s first “cyber-coup.” <br />
<br />
The irony? Hillary Clinton won the popular vote (over 2 million more votes than Trump so far as they continue counting ballots.)<br />
<br />
So, the bottom line is that Mr. Trump is Mr. Putin’s president. Trump was the only candidate to praise Putin, who has invaded the Ukraine and bombed civilians in Syria while destroying the free press and independent reporting in Russia. Mr. Putin has a history of murdering reporters and his opponents. He has sent fighters to breach the air space of our European allies. Like his role model, Mr. Trump has already talked about making it easier for him to sue the press and often made the press a target during his rallies.<br />
<br />
The press has been toothless and allowed Mr. Trump a pass on his failure to file tax returns and his racism. They painted the picture of “lesser of evils” when the choice was starkly clear which candidate was prepared to be president. Hillary would preserve our alliances; Mr. Trump promised to destroy them and pull out of NATO. He would give Mr. Putin a pass on their un-democratic actions.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX41JLL-Xy4AyD_OV4luepm6LirjgkAUwafX-QDSVhtq9coP1iGMqFwdrW3ZR41AG-kzIN590XA3pJJib1QoyRn5P5aGA5muA31Lw0T-3-YdaiIH4fRoyV7NK6XnkRg54kZnPH5eBoabMZ/s1600/TrumpPutinAndMurderOfAnna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX41JLL-Xy4AyD_OV4luepm6LirjgkAUwafX-QDSVhtq9coP1iGMqFwdrW3ZR41AG-kzIN590XA3pJJib1QoyRn5P5aGA5muA31Lw0T-3-YdaiIH4fRoyV7NK6XnkRg54kZnPH5eBoabMZ/s320/TrumpPutinAndMurderOfAnna.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Already, Mr. Trump’s campaign has been reaching out to the leaders of Europe’s radical right, like France’s Marie Le Pen. This is a dream of Putin: to destabilize Europe and its democracies that operate by the rule of law. Mr. Trump’s inner circle includes America’s alt right aka “radical right” in the form of Mr. Steve Bannon, who was a part of Breitbart “news” that hated on Obama and even moderate Republicans.<br />
<br />
So it begins. The Chinese have a saying “May you live in interesting times.” It’s a curse. I see “interesting” times ahead. Indeed, Dark Days ahead. A leopard doesn’t change its spots. Trump is as ignorant and racist as he was before the election. His economic proposals would explode our debt over $30 TRILLION dollars. His trade protectionism, if carried out, will create a Global Depression far greater than the 2008 Great Recession that ended the Bush administration.<br />
<br />
It’s a matter of time. With Putin’s man in the White House, no American should rest easy, even those who voted for him. I predicted 911. I predict Trump will screw even the white working class who voted for him. He ran for office while being sued for FRAUD on the working class who believed in Trump U. The trial was to begin November 28. Now we’ll see our court independence threatened by our Putin President-Elect.<br />
<br />
Michael Fjetland<br />
Author, “Better Times Ahead April Fool” (title seems prophetic now)<br />
www.BetterTimesAheadAprilFool.comGlobal Americanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402854360957989139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695664023926668473.post-16737315277839908012016-11-13T08:26:00.001-08:002016-11-13T08:27:39.475-08:00PUTIN and His HACKERS JUST PICKED OUR NEXT PRESIDENT TRUMP : World’s First Cyber CoupPUTIN and His HACKERS JUST PICKED OUR NEXT PRESIDENT TRUMP : <br />
World’s First Cyber Coup<br />
<br />
For the first time in American history the leader of a foreign country just helped elect the president he preferred: Donald Trump. <br />
HOW? By having his state hacking organization breach the Democratic National Committee computers and, via wikileaks, sent them out, drip-by-drip to undermine Hillary Clinton. <br />
American intelligence officials have confirmed that it was the Russians who hacked the DNC computers. By contrast, not one Republican national committee email was released. Between Putin and Mr. Comey’s actions 11 days before the election, it threw the election to Trump. We just had the world’s first “cyber-coup.” <br />
The irony? Hillary Clinton won the popular vote (over 2 million more votes than Trump so far as they continue counting ballots.)<br />
So, the bottom line is that Mr. Trump is Mr. Putin’s president. Trump was the only candidate to praise Putin, who has invaded the Ukraine and bombed civilians in Syria while destroying the free press and independent reporting in Russia. Mr. Putin has a history of murdering reporters and his opponents. He has sent fighters to breach the air space of our European allies. Like his role model, Mr. Trump has already talked about making it easier for him to sue the press and often made the press a target during his rallies.<br />
The press has been toothless and allowed Mr. Trump a pass on his failure to file tax returns and his racism. They painted the picture of “lesser of evils” when the choice was starkly clear which candidate was prepared to be president. Hillary would preserve our alliances; Mr. Trump promised to destroy them and pull out of NATO. He would give Mr. Putin a pass on their un-democratic actions.<br />
Already, Mr. Trump’s campaign has been reaching out to the leaders of Europe’s radical right, like France’s Marie Le Pen. This is a dream of Putin: to destabilize Europe and its democracies that operate by the rule of law. Mr. Trump’s inner circle includes America’s alt right aka “radical right” in the form of Mr. Steve Bannon, who was a part of Breitbart “news” that hated on Obama and even moderate Republicans.<br />
So it begins. The Chinese have a saying “May you live in interesting times.” It’s a curse. I see “interesting” times ahead. Indeed, Dark Days ahead. A leopard doesn’t change its spots. Trump is as ignorant and racist as he was before the election. His economic proposals would explode our debt over $30 TRILLION dollars. His trade protectionism, if carried out, will create a Global Depression far greater than the 2008 Great Recession that ended the Bush administration.<br />
It’s a matter of time. With Putin’s man in the White House, no American should rest easy, even those who voted for him. I predicted 911. I predict Trump will screw even the white working class who voted for him. He ran for office while being sued for FRAUD on the working class who believed in Trump U. The trial was to begin November 28. Now we’ll see our court independence threatened by our Putin President-Elect.<br />
Michael Fjetland<br />
Author, “Better Times Ahead April Fool” (title seems prophetic now)<br />
www.BetterTimesAheadAprilFool.comGlobal Americanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402854360957989139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695664023926668473.post-19612658892190245322016-11-13T08:26:00.000-08:002016-11-13T08:27:12.927-08:00PUTIN and His HACKERS JUST PICKED OUR NEXT PRESIDENT TRUMP : World’s First Cyber CoupPUTIN and His HACKERS JUST PICKED OUR NEXT PRESIDENT TRUMP : <br />
World’s First Cyber Coup<br />
<br />
For the first time in American history the leader of a foreign country just helped elect the president he preferred: Donald Trump. <br />
<br />
HOW? By having his state hacking organization breach the Democratic National Committee computers and, via wikileaks, sent them out, drip-by-drip to undermine Hillary Clinton. <br />
American intelligence officials have confirmed that it was the Russians who hacked the DNC computers. By contrast, not one Republican national committee email was released. Between Putin and Mr. Comey’s actions 11 days before the election, it threw the election to Trump. We just had the world’s first “cyber-coup.” <br />
<br />
The irony? Hillary Clinton won the popular vote (over 2 million more votes than Trump so far as they continue counting ballots.)<br />
<br />
So, the bottom line is that Mr. Trump is Mr. Putin’s president. Trump was the only candidate to praise Putin, who has invaded the Ukraine and bombed civilians in Syria while destroying the free press and independent reporting in Russia. Mr. Putin has a history of murdering reporters and his opponents. He has sent fighters to breach the air space of our European allies. Like his role model, Mr. Trump has already talked about making it easier for him to sue the press and often made the press a target during his rallies.<br />
<br />
The press has been toothless and allowed Mr. Trump a pass on his failure to file tax returns and his racism. They painted the picture of “lesser of evils” when the choice was starkly clear which candidate was prepared to be president. Hillary would preserve our alliances; Mr. Trump promised to destroy them and pull out of NATO. He would give Mr. Putin a pass on their un-democratic actions.<br />
Already, Mr. Trump’s campaign has been reaching out to the leaders of Europe’s radical right, like France’s Marie Le Pen. This is a dream of Putin: to destabilize Europe and its democracies that operate by the rule of law. Mr. Trump’s inner circle includes America’s alt right aka “radical right” in the form of Mr. Steve Bannon, who was a part of Breitbart “news” that hated on Obama and even moderate Republicans.<br />
<br />
So it begins. The Chinese have a saying “May you live in interesting times.” It’s a curse. I see “interesting” times ahead. Indeed, Dark Days ahead. A leopard doesn’t change its spots. Trump is as ignorant and racist as he was before the election. His economic proposals would explode our debt over $30 TRILLION dollars. His trade protectionism, if carried out, will create a Global Depression far greater than the 2008 Great Recession that ended the Bush administration.<br />
<br />
It’s a matter of time. With Putin’s man in the White House, no American should rest easy, even those who voted for him. I predicted 911. I predict Trump will screw even the white working class who voted for him. He ran for office while being sued for FRAUD on the working class who believed in Trump U. The trial was to begin November 28. Now we’ll see our court independence threatened by our Putin President-Elect.<br />
<br />
Michael Fjetland<br />
Author, “Better Times Ahead April Fool” (title seems prophetic now)<br />
www.BetterTimesAheadAprilFool.comGlobal Americanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402854360957989139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695664023926668473.post-76970082658433369662016-10-30T09:59:00.000-07:002016-10-30T09:59:13.999-07:00 FBI Director’s Strange Act. Is Comey Helping Putin Rig the Election for Trump?
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>FBI Director’s Strange Act.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Is Comey Helping Putin Rig the Election for
Trump?</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">I
am a lawyer by training.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>What we are
seeing makes we wonder if the strange act of releasing a vague letter on emails
not even on a Clinton computer by FBI Director Comey is a last-minute attempt
to ‘rig’ the election for Mr. Trump -- who has already been getting the help
from Russia’s Putin, who hacked the Democratic Party’s computers and gave them
to Wikileaks, whose founder-who-is-hiding-from-rape-allegations in London.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">That
is a head spinner. Note that not one email from the Republican Party has been
released by Wikileaks, showing their partisanship. It proves that another
country is trying to influence our election, and our own FBI director, a
Republican, seems willing to pitch in without due process. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">Apparently
Trump’s videotaped record of being a sex predator of women and
insulter-in-chief of POW’s, <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Hispanics,
Blacks, Muslims, etc. is <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>OK with Mr.
Comey, but by God we need to read more emails Hillary’s aide found on her
husband’s computer while ignoring Trump’s calls to violence at his rallies and
assault on our democratic values.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">I
am not a criminal lawyer so I take guidance from those who are experienced
prosecutors who say this was abnormal and “just not done.”<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Even the Justice Department said that Comey’s
act was against normal procedures” and that he was advised of that before he
released his letter. He released it anyway; the letter went first went to GOP
members of Congress.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">It’s
not Comey’s first time to violate common prosecutor procedures – you don’t hold
a press conference on an investigation as he did. Ethical prosecutors don’t
release un-substantiated allegations in a press release, nor do it 10 days
before an election! Not unless the intent was to throw the election to Mr.
Trump who has been trailing badly in the polls.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">This
last minute “hail Mary” act by Mr. Comey –who had already cleared Clinton of
wrongdoing in July -- puts him and Russia’s Mr. Putin on the same page. Both
acted in an underhanded way to support a narcistic man who has the gall to
claim our voting system is “rigged” when he ran for president despite being
sued for FRAUD (a trial on those claims scheduled for November 28.)<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>This is a fact that doesn’t get reported on
the same level as every phony allegation against Hillary.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">ON
November 8 we have a choice between a qualified, sane candidate for President
who has released her tax returns and proposals to make America stronger versus a
shallow, self-centered, ignorant loud-mouth man who has refused to show the
public his tax returns, treats women like dirt, and wants to be buddies with
the world’s dictators. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">Mr.
Comey has tried to tilt the table in favor of depravity and racist rhetoric
over Hillary’s sanity and treating people with respect. Despite his and Putin’s
actions, the choice couldn’t be more clear.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">Hillary
Clinton needs to be our next president if this country is to meet the great
challenges it faces. We don’t need a Putin puppet in office.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">Michael
Fjetland, BBA/JD</span></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><a href="http://www.bettertimesaheadaprilfool.com/" target="_blank">Author, Better Times Ahead April Fool</a><br />
"Agenda for American Greatness" (at the link)Global Americanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402854360957989139noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695664023926668473.post-62542859600566208622016-10-25T11:27:00.003-07:002016-10-25T11:27:51.518-07:00The Stunning Clear Choice Between "Bad Hombre" and the "Nasty Woman"<div data-block="true" data-editor="1468m" data-offset-key="d5ipg-0-0" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
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<span data-offset-key="d5ipg-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: inherit;">Never before have we had a choice so stunningly clear between candidates for president of these United States. Here it is in a one page.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="cdpd-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: inherit;">On one hand, there is a man who promises jobs for Americans --while he builds hotels with Chinese steel, imports his over-priced shirts, wine etc. from over 12 countries, and even imports foreign workers for his Florida estate, claiming he “can’t get Americans to do the work.” What that really means is that he’s too cheap to pay Americans to do the work, and he can abuse the foreign help since if they complain they lose their work visa.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="5r6ts-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: inherit;">How does that promise ring true by his own actions? He machine-gun-insults women, mocks the disabled, doesn’t like POW’s who were captured after he bragged on radio with Howard Stern his “personal Vietnam” was “dodging venereal disease” --along with the draft. He hates on Hispanics, Muslims, the list goes on, so long that the New York Times published a two-page list of people Trump has hurled vindictive insults! </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="c7gp8-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: inherit;">Trump says he is impressed by North Korea’s Kim Jung Un—who executed his own uncle he felt had too much power. Trump was briefed on Russia’s hack of the Democratic Party in his presidential briefing, yet he denies the Russians made the hack. What Republican candidate has ever done that before? Is he a Manchurian Candidate for Putin? He certainly has been a shill for Putin, willing to dump NATO and our old allies—throwing the world into hell, perhaps for a hotel deal in Moscow for all we know. </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="adigr-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: inherit;">Furthermore, Trump has said he, if elected president, would sue the women who say he groped them – and he now wants to shut down any news organization that has said critical things about him. Maybe there will only be “Trump TV” like what China Daily and Russian TV does for their 1 party states run by dictators. He is born rich billionaire wannabe oligarch with Putin.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="1lbqj-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: inherit;">On the other hand, we have the only person who not only beats my negotiating experience in over 50 countries (she has done much higher level work in over 100 countries), but who has actual plans to make college debt free, invest in infrastructure building like replacing century old bridges and pipes and roads that creates jobs. Hers are not the empty words like Trump’s vague non-speak “we will have the best plans.” </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="8411b-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: inherit;">But more than that Hillary has the long-term goal to increase American skills and education needed to compete in this inescapable, global high-tech economy.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="cc20d-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: inherit;">America’s kids are losing jobs to foreigners because Republicans have cut the education and training needed to gain those high-tech skills. We can’t win in the space age with Model T skills or people with degrees they can’t use. Over 3 million American based high tech jobs are begging for American workers, who don’t yet have those skills – but workers in China, India do. Trump would do nothing to help American workers because steel died along with the Model T -- and natural gas killed coal. He opposes the new renewable energy that will create millions of new jobs while keeping our planet from turning into 200+ degree Venus, ending all life on our only home in space.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="e0duu-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: inherit;">I discovered after the 80’s crash in Texas, you got to do new things and re-invent your future. That was what my book “Better Times Ahead April Fool” is all about. Blaming “the other” for these changes won’t fix it; in fact it plays to what Putin wants – to downgrade America.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="t82o-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: inherit;">Trump’s latest ploy of calling into question the legitimacy of the election is exactly what Putin wants.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="4rico-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: inherit;">This is not a choice of the “lesser of evils.”</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="7a8ht-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: inherit;"> It is a choice between Hillary the qualified, smart candidate with a purpose-driven plan versus the chaos constantly created by a narcissistic demagogue groper of women who likes dictators too damn much.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="803bd-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: inherit;">Michael Fjetland, BBA/JD</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="f0qk0-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: inherit;">Author, Better Times Ahead April Fool</span></span></div>
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<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="6rnio-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="6rnio-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: inherit;">www.BetterTimesAheadAprilFool.com</span></span></div>
</div>
<div data-block="true" data-editor="1468m" data-offset-key="8v628-0-0" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="8v628-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="8v628-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: inherit;">“Agenda for American Greatness” – How America Wins the 21st Century, at the link</span></span></div>
</div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br />Global Americanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402854360957989139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695664023926668473.post-64442550188314444862016-10-08T15:34:00.003-07:002016-10-08T15:34:32.739-07:00If President Obama Had Done THIS, What Would Republicans have Said?
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; margin: 0px;">If President Obama had run for office:</span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 51px; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.5pt; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "Times New Roman"; margin: 0px;"> </span></span></span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; margin: 0px;">after
having five kids by three wives, and was on tape laughing about the fun of grabbing
a married women’s private parts, would he be president?<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 51px; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.5pt; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "Times New Roman"; margin: 0px;"> </span></span></span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; margin: 0px;">If
President Obama had run for office while being sued for fraud by university
students who took a $35,000 course that had the same material contained in his
$20 book, pocketing millions while students lost their credit and were left
with nothing, would he be president?</span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 51px; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.5pt; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "Times New Roman"; margin: 0px;"> </span></span></span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; margin: 0px;">If
President Obama had called Hispanics “rapists and murderers” and said “some, I
assume, are good people” would he be president?</span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 51px; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.5pt; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "Times New Roman"; margin: 0px;"> </span></span></span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; margin: 0px;">If
President Obama had insulted Gold Star families and said he didn’t respect
military like John McCain who had been captured, what would have been the GOP reaction
to that? Would he be president?</span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0px 51px; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.5pt; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "Times New Roman"; margin: 0px;"> </span></span></span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; margin: 0px;">If
President Obama had praised Putin of Russia after he allowed anti-aircraft
missiles in Ukraine that shot a civilian airliner out of the sky, and said that
we might not honor our NATO obligations, what would Republicans be saying about
that?</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 51px; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;">·<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt "Times New Roman"; margin: 0px;">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">Had
run for office on the promise of creating jobs in America, but it turns out his
business empire was made by importing goods made in a dozen countries from
China to Mexico, and imported foreign labor to staff his Florida resort, what
would Republicans have said about that? Would he have been elected president?</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">So,
why would any Republican support a nominee who hides his taxes, insults women,
Hispanics, POW’s, disabled vets, and asks Mr. Putin to hack our computers (wish
granted) for the purpose of electing Mr. Trump? How can evangelicals call him
even remotely a “Christian” role model for their kids who are learning how to
hate and bully from Mr. Trump.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">How
is Mr. Trump more important than the American values of our country? Or is it all just a GOP sham that they have real values?</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">There
is only one choice in November, and it isn’t Mr. Trump.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">Michael
Fjetland, BBA/JD</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">Author,
Better Times Ahead April Fool</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">www.BetterTimesAheadAprilFool.com</span></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Global Americanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402854360957989139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695664023926668473.post-20284138131973480352016-09-29T07:59:00.003-07:002016-09-29T07:59:35.698-07:00I predicted 911. I predict if Trump is elected, we will lose more military in 1 day than 8 years in Iraq!
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I predicted 911 on TV ten years before 911 (its still on
Youtube with nearly 2 million views if you don’t believe me). </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Here is another: I predict if Donald Trump wins the
presidency America will lose more military in 1 day then we did in 8 years in
Iraq! His comments about shooting at Iran soldiers giving our navy the finger
is proof. Look up “Millennium Challenge” a 2002 military exercise with a
simulated war with Iran. We lost 16 ships plus an aircraft carrier that has a
crew of 5,000. We lost 4,400 in Iraq in 8 years. Do the math.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I also predict he will generate a monster recession like
that in 2008 in Bush with his Bush-type tax cuts for the 1% and trade wars. America
cannot afford a man who has built a campaign on racism and sexist remarks,
hides his tax returns, brags about paying zero taxes that fund things like veterans’
care, roads, schools and has his goods made in a dozen countries overseas, and
even imports foreign labor to his Mar A Lago resort in Florida. No Americans
need apply. His line about “bring jobs” to America is just another lie.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">He is a con man like Iowa’s “Music Man” but unlike the
show, Trump only loves himself, and that is no prediction.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">His ignorance is matched by Gary Johnson who
doesn’t even know about Syria or names of foreign leaders. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There is only one sane choice in November – Hillary.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Pass it on..</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Michael Fjetland, JD/BBA</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Author, Better Times Ahead April Fool</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">www.BetterTimesAheadAprilFool.com</span></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Global Americanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402854360957989139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695664023926668473.post-68121250481148794262016-09-10T14:03:00.002-07:002016-09-10T14:03:43.094-07:00My Day as a TV Terrorism Expert 15 Years Ago on 911 - How this election could repeat itGlobal American Values<br />
911 Special Edition<br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Fifteen
years ago on this September 11, 2016, I spent the entire day in a TV channel as
a terrorist expert. I had talked about the potential of a 911 on that same TV
channel ten years before during the Gulf War of 1991 (which is documented on YouTube
at this link </span><a href="https://youtu.be/Jr_SXX2qp-M"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #0563c1;">https://youtu.be/Jr_SXX2qp-M</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><u><span style="color: #0563c1;">) </span></u></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">My
prediction had become sadly true.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitOJOtuY30uyBBItKP4n_VtSY8ZckJyKVc_N8BVFLQo6ud19RbfM0L81NXfUFkz1_2tTWQvD5Ejln1RlqxJp7Bfwkk2WJrlaMncfN_VD8RksvQ_QJI17Mqlq30grQilNXLxFSNOy4xtAi8/s1600/ArchiveFromSDJan2007-169.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitOJOtuY30uyBBItKP4n_VtSY8ZckJyKVc_N8BVFLQo6ud19RbfM0L81NXfUFkz1_2tTWQvD5Ejln1RlqxJp7Bfwkk2WJrlaMncfN_VD8RksvQ_QJI17Mqlq30grQilNXLxFSNOy4xtAi8/s1600/ArchiveFromSDJan2007-169.jpg" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">That
September 11 was a picture perfect beautiful blue September day, the kind of
day you think nothing bad could happen. I was getting ready for work when I
heard the TV report. When they said that a “second” plane had hit I knew that
this was no freak accident. I called the TV station and said “I was your expert
during the Gulf War, would you like me to come in?” Yes, was the answer.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">So
I hurriedly drove to the Houston station. When I got there, people were
watching reports of a third plane, which hit the Pentagon. Then reports of a
missing fourth plane, which turned out to be Flight 93, which had gone down in
a field in Pennsylvania due to heroic efforts by passengers to keep it from its
destination: either the White House or Congress (the latter is a perfect target
and would have eliminated our entire Congress, paralyzing us). </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">We
had no idea what was really going on or the extent of the attack, but suddenly
I was at a desk with the same TV anchor I had met during the ’91 Gulf War
interviews.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We did the best we could
with what little we knew. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nine months
before 911, I sent a video to the Bush administration and my Congressional
representative going into details with a nuclear weapons expert about its
potential, but got no response. That video is on YouTube at this link: </span><a href="https://youtu.be/gfRE-JkUSRg"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #0563c1;">https://youtu.be/gfRE-JkUSRg</span></span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">It
was a very long day. Those caught in Pearl Harbor at least knew war was
possible—Hitler had been on the rampage for years. We didn’t.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Back in 1991, based on my global experiences as
an international legal negotiator, I had thought Saddam could be behind such a
dastardly act (he did try to have President H.W. Bush assassinated on a trip to
the Middle East). On 911, we didn’t know anything and spent the day guessing.
So did the White House as it turned out. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only later did it become evident it was Osama
bin Laden, hiding out in Afghanistan. Bin Laden was the ultra-religious
terrorist; Saddam was the non-religious brutal dictator who invaded Kuwait. Bin
Laden hated Saddam, who would not let him set foot in Iraq (the 2003 invasion
opened Iraq to him for the first time.)</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">During
a break on that strange, horrible day, the TV anchor told me that someone from
New York had sent her some photos reporters had taken of people who had jumped
from the top of the towers. The shot was of some of them midair. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Do you notice anything unusual about those
people?” No. “Look, none of them have feet!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Apparently the fierce fires that burned from the tons of jet fuel spewed
on impact from the big Boeing 767’s was not only melting the steel and feeding
the fires; it was so hot that people who made it to the roof had to choose
between burning to death or jumping. The photos were not shown on air.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">At
9 pm that night I made my final comments as their terrorism expert, still
guessing. I continued in that role, making several appearances a week for two
years. It became evident it was bin Laden that was solely responsible. I
opposed the invasion of Iraq and my appearances on TV ended when Baghdad was
invaded and my prediction of a prolonged nasty street war proved correct.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Ignoring
the Middle East was a disaster. Invading Iraq was a disaster. That shows how
complicated it is and why we don’t need an amateur as president who loves the
Russian president, who was trained by the KGB, and has taken over Crimea by
force and now threatens Ukraine and our NATO allies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>ISIS has said it is praying for a Trump
victory. They know that his intolerant statements will draw more Muslims to
them for the “holy war” they hope to have. Like George W. Bush, Trump would
fall into the trap of making a bad situation worse. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">As
bad as 911 was, we face greater dangers if we remain ignorant about the world
or elect a president who admires dictators like Kim Jung Un (our new Saddam – a
dictator with an actual growing nuclear arsenal.) There are zero easy answers
as neither sanctions nor negotiations have worked. Bombing Kim’s bomb factory
would result in North Korea firing thousands of artillery weapons on South
Korea’s capital, Seoul, only 30 miles from the DMZ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Millions would die.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
next president must be able to engage in the complex and bizarre politics of
the Middle East and Asia. Putin has been hacking the DNC computers to help Mr.
Trump get elected. That should worry you. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Iranian boats recently passed close to
U.S. warships, Trump said: “I would shoot them.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That would result in a war that would make
Iraq look like a cakewalk. According to a 2002 war exercise called Millennium
Challenge (a mock war with Iran) our Navy lost 20 ships destroyed including
aircraft carriers before it was called off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">As
one of the very few who predicted 911, I am convinced that Mr. Trump would be an
insane presidential choice and global disaster for our future. It’s tough
enough when you do know what you are doing, but a Trump presidency would be a
global nightmare beyond anything we have seen to date.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Michael
Fjetland, BBA/JD</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Author,
Better Times Ahead April Fool</span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.bettertimesaheadaprilfool.com/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="color: #0563c1;">www.BetterTimesAheadAprilFool.com</span></span></a></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Global Americanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402854360957989139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695664023926668473.post-65119537987033012472016-09-05T08:58:00.001-07:002016-09-05T08:58:22.903-07:00Stop Attacking My Hispanic Friends (and Muslim friends, etc.) Donald Trump!<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Stop Attacking My
Hispanic Friends (and Muslim friends, etc.) Donald Trump!<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I am really tired of hearing Donald Trump’s negative,
nasty comments about my Hispanic friends (and Muslim friends, etc.). He talks
as if they are all rapists and murderers. All Muslims are terrorists. Stop it!
This bigotry and need to insult others makes you unfit to be an American
president -- because deep down you are a spoiled rich kid who is a bully
ignorant on the issues and tries to cover it up with arrogance and by making up
names like “Lying Ted” “Little Marco” and “Crooked Hillary”).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I have a Hispanic friend who sells over $1 million of
products for his boss every year, yet he doesn't get paid even 10% of that in
salary and benefits. His boss is like you, a GOP type who votes a straight
ticket and claims to be "Christian" but treats my friend like dirt,
cheats him out of commissions and keeps bringing in new managers to berate all
the sales people. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My friend (one of many Hispanics I know) was born here
and served in the Air Force. Yet when he went out to a restaurant with his wife
one night, some white guy at a table nearly felt compelled to look in his
direction and say --loud enough for my friend to hear -- “Check out the
illegal. I bet he’s a drug dealer.” My
friend and his wife said nothing in return, but the hurt was like a knife in
the gut.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And this was before Donald Trump made insulting people of
color and religion OK and acceptable. You never heard such talk from previous
Republican presidential candidates like Mitt Romney and John McCain, so this is
a new low.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This is the kind of talk that is now “OK” because of
Donald Trump making racist statements against individuals and against entire
groups which is treated as “normal” and OK.
STOP insulting my Hispanic friends Donald Trump! You are scum compared
to them. The same goes for my Muslim friends, women friends, disabled friends,
POW friends that you have insulted, while claiming your biggest “Vietnam” was
avoiding venereal disease.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I have Muslim friends in Texas and around the world –
people I met while on business or campaigning for U.S. Congress. As a candidate
in the Houston area, I went to Mosques, Synagogues and all kinds of
churches. I heard the same sermon in
each – be good, pray, repeat. In Fort Bend County (Texas), we live side by side,
we know each other, and we all get along working for the community. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I went to Syria before the war and met great people, one
of whom drove us to see a church outside of Damascus. Yet to hear Trump you
would think that they are all plotting to blow us up when all they want is what
everyone else wants: an education, a good job and to be left alone. They are
not killers but are fleeing the killers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Now we see reports of school kids being insulted because
of their color. Disgusting ignorance. In this high tech economy it’s your
skills not your color that defines your future.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A neighbor of mine moved out. I happened to see the door
was open and someone was doing a rehab of the unit for the next occupant. It
needed it big time because the prior tenant had dogs that were alone all day
and had fouled the nice wood floors.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
So WHO was doing the work? A very nice HISPANIC man and his crew. In fact, it
appeared to be a family event with a woman and boy
having breakfast as a plumber did his thing and the floor guys did their thing
- it was quick, quiet and "get the job done." They were still working
when I went outside 8:30 p.m. on a Saturday night. How many people do you know
that work that hard?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
If you don’t have a Hispanic or Muslim friend, meet some, have dinner with them
like I have. If you do have Hispanic or Muslim friend, please share this to
send the message to Trump and his kind to stop the bigotry! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Let's stand up for our friends of all colors and all
religions. THAT is what America is all about - not the hate generated by Mr.
Trump who is hiring men like Roger Ailes who sexually harassed women at Fox
News and Mr. O’Bannon, who is a white supremacist. These are birds of a for
feather that are not the kind of advisors a president should have, a nation
dedicated to “all men are created equal” -- not just some, not just the rich,
not just one religion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Michael
Fjetland, Author<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Better
Times Ahead April Fool<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://www.bettertimesaheadaprilfool.com/">www.BetterTimesAheadAprilFool.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Sponsered
by Armor Glass International Inc.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><a href="http://www.armorglass.com/">www.ArmorGlass.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Protecting
Your Weakest Link from Burglars, Storms and Solar Heat<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Global Americanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402854360957989139noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695664023926668473.post-24052563552903944172016-09-02T06:11:00.001-07:002016-09-02T06:13:58.713-07:00American Workers: WHO Sent Your Jobs Overseas? DONALD TRUMP, Even TodayAmerican Workers: WHO Sent Your Jobs Overseas? DONALD TRUMP. <br />
<br />
And he is doing it even TODAY. His claims of being on your side requires you overlook what he has always done. Consider the FACTS that are in evidence and undisputjed.<br />
<br />
Donald Trump has his products made in 12 countries overseas. Where was the Donald Trump insisting that they be made in the USA? Ties and shirts made in Mexico (yes, Mexico!), China, etc. Did he choose to have them made HERE? No...Did he care? No....And NOW he is your hope for a job? Hey, be sure to get his special $35,000 Trump University course (which he admitted in a deposition had no more information than was in his $20 book!)<br />
<br />
"But that's in the past" you say. Really? Just this month Trump applied to have dozens of foreign workers enter the U.S. to work at his Mir A Lago property in Florida. Foreign workers NOT Americans! So WHERE ARE THE JOBS?<br />
<br />
Some people say this: Trump "as a businessman" will "fix" our economy! Fix it for him for sure. His record shows that he never built a business from nothing but did the opposite. Trump inherited great wealth and then bankrupted company after company after he emptied the till to fill his pockets. People lost their jobs but he made millions from it. Now he wants to do the same to our country.<br />
<br />
Trump has even managed to do the impossible in business - bankrupt a casino! In case you didn't know, every casino has the odds stacked in favor of the house (not you gamblers/voters). That means he even killed the golden goose of businesses--by his greed and constant chaos. <br />
<br />
So if he can kill a cash engine like a casino, how does he bring growth to the U.S. when his policies would kill it? Because if you look at his policies, its like the Bush tax cuts that gave 90% to the top 1% and a few crumbs to the working class - who were told they were getting chicken salad when it was really chicken sh_t. <br />
<br />
Trumps economic plan is just as crazy: It would add $15 TRILLION in new debt that would crash our economy just like Bush's unpaid for plan did in 2008.<br />
<br />
Trump's track record is a disaster. And he doesn't even pay his taxes! YOU pay more than he does --that's why he is hiding his tax returns when every other presidential candidate in 40 years has released his (and hers) so the American public could see the TRUTH. The couple years of tax returns from the 90's we know of that had to be released for Trump to buy a casino showed him paying ZERO taxes. Yep, YOU paid MORE than him.<br />
<br />
Tell me again how this helps you when you guys he said "get paid to much!" pays nothing to support this country he says he wants to lead? All he will lead to is more for the wealthy like him --who unlike most of us never had to face the quandary of having enough money to either pay the rent or buy food.<br />
<br />
Trumps biggest "quandary" was how to gain publicity even if it meant calling in to a TV station using the fake name "John Miller" to claim how many women he was cheating on while married to his current wife. Wow, Bragging on cheating on your wife. Does that sound like real American values? Iowa values? Texas values? Not to me....<br />
<br />
You may not like Hillary but she does know the complex global issues we face -- unlike the school boy Trump who rann for president without even bothering to read the Constitution he would be responsible for (he told GOP Senators that not only did he support Article 1 but also "Articles 9 and 12" when it has only 7 articles). I know this, when you are that far behind you can't cram it in now - it took me 30 years of international law to know what I know. No one gets that from an advisor or a last minute briefing.<br />
<br />
Our future is not dependent on you liking Hillary - its dependent on having a president who knows the real facts of this 200-country world and its global economics. <br />
<br />
We need someone who isn't changing his mind every 5 seconds and finding someone new to insult. Another example if his strange need to make new enemies: Trump recently took issue with the leader of Canada (Justin Trudeau) and said "he is the worst president they have ever had." Mr. Trudeau is Prime Minister, not a president, showing once again Trump's arrogant ignorance. Trump reminds me of the lazy student bullshitting his way through an exam, while thinking it brilliant, while the teacher gives it an "F."<br />
<br />
If you think this doesn't matter, then go flying with a blowhard who says he knows how to fly, but he hasn't even bothered to read the manual--and YOU are the first passengers! See how that comes out....<br />
<br />
P.S. Make sure your will is in order first. <br />
<br />
If you want a better, stronger America, please SHARE. Hillary has flown the plane before and knows the words of the Constitution (they do teach us that in law school).<br />
<br />
Michael Fjetland, JD/BBA<br />
Author, <a href="http://www.bettertimesaheadaprilfool.com/" target="_blank">Better Times Ahead April Fool</a><br />
Chapter "Agenda for American Greatness" - Election 2016 update<br />
at the link<br />
<br />Global Americanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402854360957989139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695664023926668473.post-64394806792713199532016-08-18T18:26:00.004-07:002016-08-18T18:26:38.571-07:00From Reagan Democrats in 1980 This Could Be the Year of Hillary Republicans Who Jumped From the Titanic
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I heard a Republican woman on POTUS radio today who said that
she had been a republican and voted for Republicans ever since Ronald Reagan.
She campaigned against Obama twice, but this year she couldn’t stay in the GOP
because of Trump. In fact, she said she has decided to vote for Hillary! </span></div>
<br />
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Why? Because Trump scares her. It wasn’t just his attacks on Hispanics (she is
Hispanic), and the disabled; it wasn’t just the Gold Star attack. What got her
was the suggestion of assassination by “2nd Amendment people” and that he is
clueless that words matter. When other Republicans tweeted during the interview
about “the Supreme Court” she said “Do you really think he would appoint
conservatives? He’s talked about his own sister! There is no telling who he
would appoint.” </span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
She’s right. He blows with the wind and is so uninformed he could do anything
crazy. She also said that 3rd parties don’t win and it was a choice of either
Hillary or Trump.</span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
Apparently that was enough for one woman who tweeted that she too was a
Republican and based on what she heard, she too was going to vote for Hillary. </span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
Never before has there been an election this strange before. In a way it’s the
reverse of the “Reagan Democrats” of the 80’s. the GOP has become so extreme
that its members have no place to go but jump from the sinking Trump Titanic and become Hillary
Republicans, even if reluctantly. These would be the moderates, which I found in my run for
Congress do exist. They don’t vote in primaries (the more extreme voters do), but
they do show up in November.</span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
This is such a bizarre year between hellish fires on one end of the country and floods and Zika on the other end while Congress dozes on vacation and we pubic witness an Alice in
Wonderland election that has lowered the standards of decency to the gutter. It is an election that is about to get more bizarre as Trump
stokes the fires of extreme nationalism and false claims for the gullible, the
same people Trump has fleecesdout of millions in his fraudulent business
schemes…</span></div>
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Global Americanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402854360957989139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695664023926668473.post-26368672332277515332016-08-17T06:39:00.001-07:002016-08-17T06:40:56.239-07:00 if you are worried about your job, or have lost a job...How to Handle Unexpected Change is the point of "Better Times Ahead April Fool" - <br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 4.5pt;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">I just got a
blistering criticism on private message on Facebook about my book. The person, who has been
highly successful, thought I whined too much and focused on my career implosion
and on and on.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 4.5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.5pt;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">The point I was trying to make
when I described all the disasters that I encountered was not to bitch. The
point was the discovery I made that we have to keep RE-INVENTING OURSELVES when
things don't work out. All the time.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 4.5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.5pt;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Yes, I whined because it was written
when I was like those folks in Louisiana, all washed up on a dry spot with
nothing but my body and brain to my name. Like you, I've been cheated and lied
to.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 4.5pt;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">But my point
wasn't that, it was about getting past it, not being trapped in negative
feelings or by negative people. I wanted to show if I could survive the crap I
went through (including a trip to Syria for a Texas mom), then maybe people
today going through hard times would realize it could be worse - and its
survivable. It can lead to remarkable new things.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 4.5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.5pt;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">Partnerships don't always last.
Jobs don't last. Marriages don't work out. It does close a chapter. But then
you have to open a new one and it won't be the same, look the same. If I was
still a farmer in Iowa, I would truly have failed to see a much bigger world.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 4.5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.5pt;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">I went literally from living on a
farm to flying the world (even twice on the supersonic Concorde) in a 10 year
span, to getting laid off like people are today, and losing it all, like people
are today (Louisiana being but one example).</span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 4.5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.5pt;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">In the end, if you are still
alive, losing THINGS doesn't matter. What you do to turn it around does.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 4.5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.5pt;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">The book says it. I finally
realized I could not wait on someone giving me a job. I had to create one. And
not just one. In my late 50's I founded a company that was asked this year to
help NASA, as it helps ordinary people. It didn't just happen.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 4.5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.5pt;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">So, if you are worried about your
job, or have lost a job, that's the point of "Better Times Ahead April
Fool" - Things go up and down, but you re-invent. Learn from it. And keep
going! Get new training, start a new business. Find a better job. Move to a new
city that needs your skills.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 4.5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.5pt;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;">We have to do the same thing as a
country as well. Change is a constant in life...That is another discovery I
made in my global Alice in Wonderland experiences....</span></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 4.5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 4.5pt;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit" , serif; font-size: 10.5pt;"><a href="http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.BetterTimesAheadAprillFool.com%2F&h=wAQGccB9JAQHo91VqHrlVZ30zk4JPQ1h58m48eV9cdnTPnw&enc=AZPpNL6uJJEHvQNEy2BAeOeYXRYfU1TUSCXDl3060P0VYWE0Nf7Co1ALNC65DtNI20IuQscSX5vVxv_dzdXHUNoxBdXWntgVRxtGHD0ywaj6fhLUjNWxAIz6MCknS9fc7GxefGE70FWqtfEEJMti0GTCCWDsm3bOJ0wwFLqc3D9JEAN7Q7RmccM84dOIR3GAk9Q&s=1" target="_blank"><span style="color: #365899;">http://www.BetterTimesAheadAprillFool.com/</span></a></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit" , serif; font-size: 9.0pt;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10206573088878086&set=a.1100271679149.2015031.1597380117&type=3"></a></span></div>
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Global Americanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402854360957989139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695664023926668473.post-6621012539461825162016-08-15T10:52:00.000-07:002016-08-15T10:56:29.259-07:00How GOP is Losing an Entire Generation As Trump Brands GOP as Racist Know Nothing Party<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="c5dfn" data-offset-key="eseiq-0-0" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
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<span data-offset-key="eseiq-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: inherit;">What is so COOL about the young people today is that they are very tolerant of others --unlike the old farts (especially conservative whites with no skills who s<span style="font-family: inherit;">a</span>t in the back of the class thinking they didn't need to learn anything) who are declining, and supporting trump's bigotry. Why? Because they think their color trumps having real skills in a high tech global economy.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="debqi-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
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<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="c5dfn" data-offset-key="8tmla-0-0" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="8tmla-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="8tmla-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: inherit;">So its 'game over' for the GOP - a whole new generation are branding on the Democratic Party as the inclusive cool group vs. the mean nasty name callers who hate everyone. They have lost their way along with the dodo bird...now they are being branded as a racist Know Nothing Party out of the 1850's.</span></span></div>
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<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="1kl18-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="1kl18-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="c5dfn" data-offset-key="em6d3-0-0" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="em6d3-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="em6d3-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: inherit;">That kind of bigotry in diverse America needs to die. The moderate R's need to get back in control. I wrote about how our system is promoting the extreme in the primaries with gerrymandered districts that make it a one party election in my book "Better Times Ahead April Fool"...</span></span></div>
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<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="fdbp3-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="fdbp3-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="c5dfn" data-offset-key="flseu-0-0" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="flseu-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="flseu-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: inherit;">I propose we either reform that process or you will get more nutters instead of the common sense people needed to make government work.</span></span></div>
</div>
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<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="29nq5-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="29nq5-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="c5dfn" data-offset-key="9st0u-0-0" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="9st0u-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="9st0u-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: inherit;">Details in <a href="http://www.bettertimesaheadaprilfool.com/" target="_blank">"Predicting 911 and Running Against the Hammer</a>" </span></span></div>
</div>
Global Americanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402854360957989139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695664023926668473.post-16241654361611699752016-08-15T09:43:00.000-07:002016-08-15T09:43:24.014-07:00What would you think if it was Obama who did THIS?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I ask this:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
What would you think if it was Obama who:</span></div>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">ran for president with his 3rd wife, who had posed nude?</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">had founded a university under his name that was now being sued
for FRAUD?</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">bankrupted several companies after walking away with millions,
and not paying small businesses who supplied his projects?</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">imitated a disable person in a mocking way and insulted women,
calling them “fat pigs” and saying an entire group were “rapists” and “some
were good people”?</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">had said he didn’t respect military who were captured?</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">said he supported “article 9 and 12” of the Constitution, then
you found out there are only 7 articles in it?</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">walked around calling people names, like “Lying Ted” and banned
the press from his events?</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">at a rally encouraged people to beat up protests and offered to
pay for their legal expenses if they hurt someone?</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">didn’t reveal his taxes?</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">said that “we don’t need NATO and our allies” and encouraged the
spread of nuclear weapons to places like Japan and Saudi Arabia?</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
THEN WHY would you support Donald Trump , who has done all of these things? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
You really think a guy who inherited wealth and whose tax plan helps only the
1% like him really cares about YOU since he is going to trial on fraud charges
Nov. 28 and tried to have an old lady evicted from her land next to his casino
because he wanted it for a limo parking lot? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
If so, then I have a special deal for you on a bridge in Brooklyn! Just send in
your cc# now because a brain is a terrible thing to waste. Don’t leave home
without it on Nov. 8.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
Pass it on.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
Global Americanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402854360957989139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695664023926668473.post-23320704806186973502016-08-07T09:20:00.003-07:002016-08-07T09:55:24.562-07:00Trump Reminds Me of My Last Boss From HELL – Created Chaos & Nothing Got Done<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Donald
Trump reminds me of my last “Boss from Hell” before I left the Fortune 500 for
good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had worked in our group for over
two years for another General Counsel, and all was smooth and
professional.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then he left and they picked
a man from another group to take that spot. Suddenly chaos erupted. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Before
I knew it, the new General Counsel had initiated a “war” with one of the
divisions we did the legal work for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Suddenly, every day he would pull me into his office and spend an hour
or more telling me how “stupid” the division president and officers were, Every
day!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since I was the only other attorney
for the group he was wasting my time.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Trump
seems to have the same playbook. Every day he finds someone he has to insult,
then wastes everyone’s time listening to him bloviate how “smart” he is and how
“stupid” they are, repeat ad nauseum.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Work was delayed and nothing good came out of it; only bad feelings. NOTHING got done as a result. Our system w<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">ould</span> become even more dysfunctional, if that's possible.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">If
Trump were elected, I’d expect the same chaos that would kill our country as we
spent day after day listening to Herr Trump stir up another enemy to denounce
(like a fellow Republican) while saying “I have such good words, my words are
the best words” and other total gibberish that sounds like a student writing a
paper for a course in which he never bothered to read the book. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">For
example: When asked by GOP Senators if he supported Article 1 of the
Constitution, the would-be president promptly said “yes” but, like the
bullshitting student, promptly added, “I also support Article 9 and 12!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oops. If he had read the Constitution, he
would know that there are only 7 – not 9 or 12 – articles!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He runs for president without bothering to
know anything.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">In
my workplace things got so bad that finally our Group President called in my
boss and said “Knock it off!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But who
can tell a U.S. president acting like that to: “Knock it off?” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only the public can by NOT electing someone
who declared in an interview that “Putin would never go into Ukraine” and when
informed by the journalist that Russia had been in the Ukraine for two years, Trump
tries to cover his ignorance by blurting more gibberish of the know nothing student:
“I haven’t been there; it’s a mess…yada, yada, yada.” Spare us from stupid! </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">How
can having a president this ignorant help America succeed?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Having an email mistake with classified
information in this day and age is not on the same dangerous level as a
candidate openly encouraging Putin to take over Eastern Europe and condoning
the spread of nuclear weapons and backing off our allies in NATO! </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">We
don’t need a Putin patsy in the White House.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I know 12-year-olds more qualified to be president than this “Boss from
Hell” who is totally ignorant of the Constitution and has a dangerous
personality defect, low-life gutter mouth and total lack of decency that he
willingly attacked a former POW and a Muslim Gold Star family while claiming he
“sacrificed” by dodging the draft and avoiding a venereal disease (he said it,
I didn’t make it up.) </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I spent my career promoting American-made products
globally. Trump is promising jobs yet had his products made in 12 countries
overseas – creating jobs overseas, not here, while ripping people off from
small businesses in the U.S. who supplied his casinos. I admit his talent of
bankrupting casinos, where the deck is stacked in favor of the house, is a
nearly impossible feat!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">America
is better than this. Don’t elect the “Boss from hell” who has publicly said how
much he admires ruthless dictators, including Saddam, Putin and North Korea’s Kim
Jung Un – Trump was so impressed that Kim would kill his own uncle to establish
his authority. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">We
don’t need the narcissist sickness Trump would bring to the presidency.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Michael
Fjetland</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Author,
Better Times Ahead April Fool</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">www.BetterTimesAheadAprilFool.com</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
Global Americanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402854360957989139noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695664023926668473.post-1942378753254652892016-08-07T09:20:00.002-07:002016-08-07T09:22:01.397-07:00Trump Reminds Me of My Last Boss From HELL – Created Chaos & Nothing Got Done<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Donald
Trump reminds me of my last “Boss from Hell” before I left the Fortune 500 for
good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had worked in our group for over
two years for another General Counsel, and all was smooth and
professional.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then he left and they picked
a man from another group to take that spot. Suddenly chaos erupted. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Before
I knew it, the new General Counsel had initiated a “war” with one of the
divisions we did the legal work for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Suddenly, every day he would pull me into his office and spend an hour
or more telling me how “stupid” the division president and officers were, Every
day!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since I was the only other attorney
for the group he was wasting my time.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Trump
seems to have the same playbook. Every day he finds someone he has to insult,
then wastes everyone’s time listening to him bloviate how “smart” he is and how
“stupid” they are, repeat ad nauseum.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Work was delayed and nothing good came out of it; only bad feelings. NOTHING got done as a result. Our system w<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">ould</span> become even more dysfunctional, if that's possible.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">If
Trump were elected, I’d expect the same chaos that would kill our country as we
spent day after day listening to Herr Trump stir up another enemy to denounce
(like a fellow Republican) while saying “I have such good words, my words are
the best words” and other total gibberish that sounds like a student writing a
paper for a course in which he never bothered to read the book. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">For
example: When asked by GOP Senators if he supported Article 1 of the
Constitution, the would-be president promptly said “yes” but, like the
bullshitting student, promptly added, “I also support Article 9 and 12!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oops. If he had read the Constitution, he
would know that there are only 7 – not 9 or 12 – articles!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He runs for president without bothering to
know anything.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">In
my workplace things got so bad that finally our Group President called in my
boss and said “Knock it off!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But who
can tell a U.S. president acting like that to: “Knock it off?” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only the public can by NOT electing someone
who declared in an interview that “Putin would never go into Ukraine” and when
informed by the journalist that Russia had been in the Ukraine for two years, Trump
tries to cover his ignorance by blurting more gibberish of the know nothing student:
“I haven’t been there; it’s a mess…yada, yada, yada.” Spare us from stupid! </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">How
can having a president this ignorant help America succeed?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Having an email mistake with classified
information in this day and age is not on the same dangerous level as a
candidate openly encouraging Putin to take over Eastern Europe and condoning
the spread of nuclear weapons and backing off our allies in NATO! </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">We
don’t need a Putin patsy in the White House.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I know 12-year-olds more qualified to be president than this “Boss from
Hell” who is totally ignorant of the Constitution and has a dangerous
personality defect, low-life gutter mouth and total lack of decency that he
willingly attacked a former POW and a Muslim Gold Star family while claiming he
“sacrificed” by dodging the draft and avoiding a venereal disease (he said it,
I didn’t make it up.) </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I spent my career promoting American-made products
globally. Trump is promising jobs yet had his products made in 12 countries
overseas – creating jobs overseas, not here, while ripping people off from
small businesses in the U.S. who supplied his casinos. I admit his talent of
bankrupting casinos, where the deck is stacked in favor of the house, is a
nearly impossible feat!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">America
is better than this. Don’t elect the “Boss from hell” who has publicly said how
much he admires ruthless dictators, including Saddam, Putin and North Korea’s Kim
Jung Un – Trump was so impressed that Kim would kill his own uncle to establish
his authority. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">We
don’t need the narcissist sickness Trump would bring to the presidency.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Michael
Fjetland</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">Author,
Better Times Ahead April Fool</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">www.BetterTimesAheadAprilFool.com</span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
Global Americanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402854360957989139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695664023926668473.post-23807028608311738732016-08-06T10:16:00.000-07:002016-08-06T10:16:36.510-07:00How Brazil's Olympics Message Beat a Queen Jumping from a Helicopter - Yet Is a Warning on Oligarchs<div id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1490">
<span id="yui_3_15_0_4_1470501571096_7">Global American values</span></div>
<div id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1492">
<span id="yui_3_15_0_4_1470501571096_14">August 6, 2016</span></div>
<div id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1494">
<span data-offset-key="5imh1-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1397" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1396" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1526">
<span data-offset-key="5imh1-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1525" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" id="yui_3_15_0_4_1470501571096_75" style="font-family: inherit;">The Brazilians did more with their opening in message than other cities did with hundreds of millions and James Bond and the Queen look alike jumping out of a helicopter.</span></span></div>
<div id="yui_3_15_0_4_1470501571096_21">
<div data-block="true" data-editor="2omsh" data-offset-key="flnh4-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1391" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOuA6r0gVDja4iUlQVvHwhzsr7kvS6pB1byGzpQktiplCfyIPpRNafPoE3U9HL7W9ZzXBKt4hMfHZn5kx1zrdH-1B8iBx0D4kU8cg5lxrvFIe-UbaDQWTT0EcJTfB7QOHTYia_bjAKHuew/s1600/Rio+at+Night.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOuA6r0gVDja4iUlQVvHwhzsr7kvS6pB1byGzpQktiplCfyIPpRNafPoE3U9HL7W9ZzXBKt4hMfHZn5kx1zrdH-1B8iBx0D4kU8cg5lxrvFIe-UbaDQWTT0EcJTfB7QOHTYia_bjAKHuew/s1600/Rio+at+Night.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span data-offset-key="flnh4-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
</div>
<div data-block="true" data-editor="2omsh" data-offset-key="56cjr-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1385" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="56cjr-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1384" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="56cjr-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1388" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1387" style="font-family: inherit;">They conveyed a message about how they came to be as a country, a mix of African, European and Native. They conveyed the message of the adjustment they have had to make to deal with their conflicts and respect each other. </span></span></div>
</div>
<div data-block="true" data-editor="2omsh" data-offset-key="ni0p-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1400" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV6t-WmDIbzs6k2G4n_wo0JDP1fDdAGAAsNnyTKzxoxrHWE4D_LDreQOKVSZBQ7R0lR2Zc2LcMmhSNIdh-Jrh04WiIX2ENLvzdstNm2MKotG0TW3vsgSuCbxnzDBVh_d93FXZKHVW0nZP6/s1600/rio-de-janeiro960-373.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="124" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV6t-WmDIbzs6k2G4n_wo0JDP1fDdAGAAsNnyTKzxoxrHWE4D_LDreQOKVSZBQ7R0lR2Zc2LcMmhSNIdh-Jrh04WiIX2ENLvzdstNm2MKotG0TW3vsgSuCbxnzDBVh_d93FXZKHVW0nZP6/s320/rio-de-janeiro960-373.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span data-offset-key="ni0p-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
</div>
<div data-block="true" data-editor="2omsh" data-offset-key="320ga-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1405" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="320ga-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1404" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="320ga-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1403" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1402" style="font-family: inherit;">But then they went on to take up bigger issues so it wasn't just about THEM, a huge country that holds half the world's endangered Rain Forests, but has massive economic inequality.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div data-block="true" data-editor="2omsh" data-offset-key="ep6vn-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1500" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">
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<span data-offset-key="ep6vn-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
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<div data-block="true" data-editor="2omsh" data-offset-key="8laqe-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1411" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="8laqe-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1410" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="8laqe-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1409" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1408" style="font-family: inherit;">They conveyed a global message with a video showing Earth HEATING UP as the time lapse shots showed our eyes how our blue planet is turning into an orange HOT -- that impacts all children and future generations. Like frogs sitting in a warming pot, we don't notice it. The message was worth more than China spending $100 million on flashy stuff while their citizens choke on some of the blackest air in the world...(even china is now leading in green energy development because breathing coal dust is killing millions of Chinese every year.)</span></span></div>
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<div data-block="true" data-editor="2omsh" data-offset-key="9falk-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1415" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="9falk-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1414" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">
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<div data-block="true" data-editor="2omsh" data-offset-key="6pmbs-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1427" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="6pmbs-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1426" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="6pmbs-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1428" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" id="yui_3_15_0_4_1470501571096_34" style="font-family: inherit;">It also gave a sense of what Brazilians are like - they are warm and like to dance, drink. They have their annual Carnival which we call Mardi Gras. A friend of mine went and loved it. I would need to lose 30 years to do it and live to tell.</span></span></div>
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<div data-block="true" data-editor="2omsh" data-offset-key="bvs94-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1424" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="bvs94-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1423" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="bvs94-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
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<div data-block="true" data-editor="2omsh" data-offset-key="a6khq-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1420" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="a6khq-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1419" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="a6khq-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1418" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1417" style="font-family: inherit;">I met the Brazilian people on a trip for a large company when I was young and they were the same then, warm and friendly. It was the first time I had been approached by women in a bar! That just didn't happen in the USA or European places I had been to (that story is part of "Better Times Ahead April Fool" at the link below.)</span></span></div>
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<div data-block="true" data-editor="2omsh" data-offset-key="emi6h-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1382" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="emi6h-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1381" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="emi6h-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
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<div data-block="true" data-editor="2omsh" data-offset-key="fhgeu-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1376" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="fhgeu-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1375" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="fhgeu-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1379" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1378" style="font-family: inherit;">The opening ceremonies didn't say that Brazil is losing that valuable rain forest by clear cutting that is turning it into vast wasteland, all for a quick buck. Its president wasn't there because she is being impeached. Her predecessor is under investigation for fraud - and it was that way when I was there about 1980. </span></span></div>
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<div data-block="true" data-editor="2omsh" data-offset-key="5a0cn-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1373" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">
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<span data-offset-key="5a0cn-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_4_1470501571096_43" style="font-family: inherit;"><br data-text="true" /></span></div>
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<div data-block="true" data-editor="2omsh" data-offset-key="4d9jc-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1369" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="4d9jc-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1368" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="4d9jc-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1367" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1366" style="font-family: inherit;">We Americans aren't perfect but we are nuns compared to the official corruption in places like Brazil, South Africa, Russia, etc. - unless we got a President Trump, who would like to be a WORLD OLIGARCH - just him and Putin, brother oligarchs, billionaires with a common interest in getting rid of the free press and carving up the world between them, NATO allies be damned.</span></span><span data-offset-key="4d9jc-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1531" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" id="yui_3_15_0_4_1470501571096_84" style="font-family: inherit;"> Trump has already banned major media from his events, and he is only a candidate! He has a strange fixation on dictators he likes to praise, including North Korea's Kim Jung Un who murdered his own uncle to assert his authority!</span></span></div>
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<div data-block="true" data-editor="2omsh" data-offset-key="dei1j-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1443" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">
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<div data-block="true" data-editor="2omsh" data-offset-key="3ul75-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1437" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="3ul75-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1436" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="3ul75-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1440" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1439" style="font-family: inherit;">Brazil has massive income inequality where the rich 1% have it all while the 99% have nothing. That same inequality was made possible in the USA by the 2001 Bush tax cuts, which put all the benefits at the top 1%, so that a hedge fund manager making billions pays less percentage tax than his secretary--so a Trump can play with the tax code and pay ZERO taxes. That is probably why he has refused to disclose his tax returns as all other candidates have for 40 years. </span></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="3ul75-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1540" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="3ul75-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1539" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" id="yui_3_15_0_4_1470501571096_96" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="3ul75-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1541" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="3ul75-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1542" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" id="yui_3_15_0_4_1470501571096_100" style="font-family: inherit;">Rules don't apply to billionaires, right? If they did, someone wanting to be president would produce his returns like everyone else so the public knows the truth, unlike countries like Russia and China, and Brazil.</span></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="3ul75-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1535" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="3ul75-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1534" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" id="yui_3_15_0_4_1470501571096_88" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="3ul75-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1536" style="direction: ltr; font-family: inherit; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="3ul75-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1537" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" id="yui_3_15_0_4_1470501571096_92" style="font-family: inherit;">We need to avoid becoming like Brazil, with oligarch billionaires like Mr. Trump cutting deals for themselves at the top while the middle and lower income people get left out so that even an Olympics will not benefit them when the games are over.</span></span></div>
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<div data-block="true" data-editor="2omsh" data-offset-key="bue14-0-0" id="yui_3_15_0_1_1470501571096_1446" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br />Global Americanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402854360957989139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695664023926668473.post-39716550022343712592016-07-10T10:30:00.000-07:002016-07-10T10:33:26.635-07:00It's not about black versus white; it is about the tolerant versus the intolerant<div data-block="true" data-editor="601ce" data-offset-key="dso14-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 14px/18px helvetica, arial, sans-serif; letter-spacing: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 0px;">
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<span data-offset-key="61f0v-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: inherit;">After this week's shootings here is how I see it - because its not about blacks versus whites, as some say. </span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7VzECWSvj4nOo2qLDEWZnBBGtRdMOhwTOVM6TYTOffngCP9m3BVnI3pXYy-LG3ERz46qbjZ7_x77JhtreQbzoRZeXDXtP9aS8n5pp2vaIujbe19DYjNhvCsYue4vU5aedj5VXnYinq1zu/s1600/tolerance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7VzECWSvj4nOo2qLDEWZnBBGtRdMOhwTOVM6TYTOffngCP9m3BVnI3pXYy-LG3ERz46qbjZ7_x77JhtreQbzoRZeXDXtP9aS8n5pp2vaIujbe19DYjNhvCsYue4vU5aedj5VXnYinq1zu/s1600/tolerance.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span data-offset-key="446ln-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: inherit;">It's about those who respect others and those who don't. (Racism is a lack of respect).</span></span></div>
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<div data-block="true" data-editor="601ce" data-offset-key="e9qk0-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 14px/18px helvetica, arial, sans-serif; letter-spacing: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 0px;">
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<span data-offset-key="cjgvv-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: inherit;">It's about those of us in each race sex and religion being tolerant, versus those who are intolerant and disrespectful towards others.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="6ruhf-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: inherit;">It's about those like Hillary who speak respectfully, as head of a diverse party of like-minded people of all religions and colors, versus the hate speech and overt racism that led voters in a mostly aging "whites only" party to pick Donald Trump, who is disrespectful of all and a generator of hate.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="ejqcb-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: inherit;">The choice is between an inclusive party that looks like America today and its future -- versus a "whites only" party, a mostly aging, angry, low skilled whites (especially primary voters) who loved to hear Trump's hate speech. They loved his promoting violence against protesters at his own rallies. They are not what our diverse America founded on "all men are created equal" is all about.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="3aohf-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: inherit;">So which presidential candidate and party looks like America or its future?</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="a89rb-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: inherit;">Who speaks with respect and seeks solutions instead of being on both sides of the issue at the same time and is ignorant of our own constitution?</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="fk9f8-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: inherit;">Easy answer. Women have always acted better than men in communicating instead of insecure hate mongering. The Democratic party includes all people, straight and gay, Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist and beyond. The GOP rejects people who don't look like them. Trump has feed off it and been a divider, not a uniter.</span></span><br />
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<span data-offset-key="fk9f8-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: inherit;">ISIS feeds off the Trump's who try to make this a religion war. Picking Trump would boost ISIS and PUTIN. </span></span><br />
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<span data-offset-key="fk9f8-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: inherit;">Picking Hillary is a blow to both. It is a blow to bullies and intolerant and purposeful division. It is a blow to inherited wealth turning our democracy into another Oligarchy of intolerance that leads to racism and violence caused by sectarianism. </span></span><br />
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<span data-offset-key="fk9f8-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: inherit;">Michael Fjetland, Author</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="fk9f8-0-0" style="font-family: inherit;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.bettertimesaheadaprilfool.com/" target="_blank">Better Times Ahead April Fool </a></span></span></div>
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Global Americanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402854360957989139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695664023926668473.post-58894428255729171872016-07-04T06:52:00.000-07:002016-07-04T08:36:18.519-07:00American Values Under Attack by Donald Trump - July 4 RefresherAmerican values that made this country great are under attack by the first presidential candidate in history to make racism a central plank of his campaign -- starting with his statement that Mexicans were "rapists" and "some, I assume, are good people." After attacking minorities, he went on to disrespect women, when he wasn't bragging about the size of his sexual organ (somehow connected to your hand size). <br />
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<br />He called women "fat pigs" and said Megyn Kelly had "blood coming out of whatever."Lying Ted" and "Little Marco" is now "Crooked Hillary." Is this what you consider "presidential"!?<br />
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Then it was Muslims. When Hitler started it was the Jews. I see no difference between his hate towards Jews and Trumps painting all Hispanics and Muslims as bad people. Trump even pretended not to know who the Ku Klux Klan was; then encouraged <i>violence</i> against protesters at his rallies.<br />
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This is one sick bastard who inherited wealth, never faced a day having to chose between food for his family or paying the rent, making phony promises of making our country "great" again - by being a bigoted, sexist promoter of violence and racism.<br />
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If his followers think he can bring back coal jobs when natural gas was the killer, or bring back American greatness by inciting attacks on minority Americans, they need to invest $35,000 into Trump University today (never mind the same info is in his $20 book). They need to ask why he has not revealed his tax returns as every other presumptive nominee has, and why they think he should be immune from following the rules everyone is does?<br />
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This is the first election where the choice is between black and white. It is between the real elite - the inherited wealthy like Trump was born rich and whose tax plan would favor the 1% even more and run up another $11 TRILLION in debt.<br />
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The other choice is the daughter of a small businessman and her housewife mom who inherited nothing. Dad didn't give her a "it was only $1 million" loan Trump claimed his father gave him. She bootstrapped her way up, just like other Americans<br />
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It is between a candidate whose entire campaign has been based on getting votes by racism and gutter talk, name calling and disrespect of one group after another. The other candidate's campaign is entirely based on offering <i>solutions</i> and speaking in respectful dialogue on improving jobs and the economy instead of trash talking street bully language.<br />
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In case you think Donald Trump represents American values July 4th is a good time for a refresher on what American values really are:<br />
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Our Declaration of Independence states: "All Men (and Women) are Created Equal"<br />
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Our Bill of Rights includes the 1st Amendment that addresses both free speech and treats ALL religions with equal respect. It reads:<br />
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<i><b>"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of
speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to
assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."</b></i><br />
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That means that Muslims and Jews are free to practice their religion. We don't have religions dictating laws. We don't have Sharia law or any state religion dictating how people dress, work or play. When our first immigrant forefathers came to North America, it was to flee England's monarchy rule and its state religion. The "Church of England" was picked by a king, not its people. When our forefathers set up camp, having the right to practice your religion without interference was a high priority.<br />
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Mr. Trump endangers our 1st amendment rights to a free press which we take for granted. He has "banned" certain news organizations from attending his rallies, such as the Washington Post, because he didn't like what they wrote. Its not the first and won't be the last. That is classic Fidel Castro and Putin - who eliminated Russia's independent press soon after he was elected. Who is to say his friend Trump would not do the same since he is so thin skinned about press criticism.<br />
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Never in history has a party nominated a candidate so flawed, bigoted, ignorant and consumed with his own self. When "Brexit" -- the biggest event in a half century hit the UK as Trump was visiting his golf course in Scotland -- all Trump could talk about was how the crash of England's currency would help his golf course and his pocketbook. Not a word about the damage to ordinary people.<br />
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He was clueless that Scotland, where he was standing, had voted in mass to remain in the EU. Trump and Putin both wanted them out of the EU - unbelievable for an American president to want what a dictator desires!<br />
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America has always been special because our nation was founded on equal treatment and respect for all --a justice system with a jury of peers designed to not favor the rich over the poor. It wasn't based on labeling various ethnic groups and religions as evil. Hitler did that. Americans fought that.<br />
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Global American Values takes those American values of equality, justice and fairness and applies them on a global scale - that's how we win the battle of ideas in the world. Not by following a foul mouth candidate who was born rich and whose opinions change by the minute depending on whether it will yield votes or not. <br />
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We don't need a president who pretended to be his own press agent who called the press to brag about cheating on his wife with multiple women at the same time. Trump is a candidate suitable for school yard bully scum, but not president of the United States.<br />
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Michael Fjetland, JD/BBA<br />
<a href="http://www.bettertimesaheadaprilfool.com/" target="_blank">Author, Better Times Ahead April Fool</a><br />
<br />Global Americanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402854360957989139noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695664023926668473.post-56771072388408506592016-06-12T17:42:00.000-07:002016-06-12T17:42:41.891-07:00Orlando Shooting Combines ISIS and Gay Bashing Religious Right Hostility Towards Gays<div class="" data-block="true" data-editor="f9o8o" data-offset-key="qffl-0-0" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 18px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">
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<span data-offset-key="qffl-0-0"><span data-text="true">There were actually TWO guys with assault weapons heading towards gay celebrations today.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="dnd9j-0-0"><span data-text="true">One was arrested in Santa Monica while heading for a West Hollywood gay festival. Oddly it is NOT linked but the same intent. He even had a pipe bomb. To my knowledge he was NOT Muslim, just another nut wanting to do violence to people just because they are gay. But there is a common ground here.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="2i0sc-0-0"><span data-text="true">Ironically, ISIS and the anti-gay U.S. conservatives are on the same page, I regret to point out. That should be a message. Both of these group have had open season on hate on gays and and the consequences are violent. I don't believe we can reform ISIS, but I would hope conservatives can finally see the deadly consequences of hate speech.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="brjob-0-0"><span data-text="true">The Orlando attack was inspired by ISIS. it was made EASY by our very own loose gun rules. This is why we don't sell grenades at the KMart folks.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="bqv5k-0-0"><span data-text="true">It was very predictable (I am onYoutube record having predicted 911). It won't change without action by Congress. The Orlando mass shooter was investigated by the FBI --twice-- and yet was cleared to buy an assault weapon the very week he used it! </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="bjfc6-0-0"><span data-text="true">So, yes, we have our first -- combined acts of terrorism and a hate crime. It mixes religious extremism from the middle east with American conservative discrimination and constant condemning of gays. </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="eqrvi-0-0"><span data-text="true">Who is to say that this shooter was not also influenced to kill based on listening to American Evangelicals and radio hosts calling for them to burn in hell? He too was born in America. Why was he feeling so alienated? The Santa Monica would-be shooter was NOT following ISIS. So, WHO influenced that intended killer?</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="ea48n-0-0"><span data-text="true">Forget big 911 events. That was so last century. Enter a new age.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="io76-0-0"><span data-text="true">LONE Wolf attacks will be the new normal. They are made easy by Internet communications and "big lie" propaganda. Once radicalized by ISIS and its sleek bullshit, we make it easy for these morons to kill us with efficiency. America is so stupid it makes it easy for deranged terrorists to get the worst weapon possible, a war weapon designed solely for mass killing.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="ej2un-0-0"><span data-text="true">If the shooter only had a 9 mm, it is very possible that someone would have been able to tackle him after just 9 shots. The odds are better than the alternative--over 50 dead in minutes. So awful.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="76ujj-0-0"><span data-text="true">If you are facing a shooter with an AR 15 and 30 round clip, you are screwed even IF you had a handgun in your pocket, especially in a small place where you can't run. One shot from you and he sends 30 your way and you are history (and everyone around you).</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="8ukd-0-0"><span data-text="true">You can't fight firepower like that with a security officer and his 9 mm. And no, we don't need a guard spewing AK 47 rounds at a shooter either. How many would he kill while trying to defend them?</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="936r2-0-0"><span data-text="true">Out of millions of people in America, all ISIS has to do is to get 1 or 2 or 3 to ACT and we get another San Bernadino or Orlando. Yet, insanely we continue to keep it easy for them to get the weapons of mass destruction to do it.</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="402bn-0-0"><span data-text="true">The more this happens, the more it inspires other losers to do the same. Have you forgotten that a lone shooter just shot the voice singer within 24 hours before this mass shooting. What's the difference? Then he shot himself after killing her. We have some attitude adjustments to make folks...</span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="fh68g-0-0"><span data-text="true">My condolence to the families of those killed and injured in Orlando. Let us work together to stop this insanity, worldwide. </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="cj5m0-0-0"><span data-text="true">www.GlobalAmericanValues.blogspot.com</span></span></div>
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Global Americanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402854360957989139noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-695664023926668473.post-75932354483490243862016-05-28T13:56:00.001-07:002016-05-28T14:13:38.748-07:00 RESIGN or RELEASE YOUR TAX RETURNS TRUMP AND SANDERS....NOW! EVERY Presidential candidate has done for 40 years - Stop HidingFor the last 40 years EVERY candidate for President of the United States has disclosed (his and her) tax returns -- except for Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. Until they do, they need to withdraw from consideration because Americans have the right to know.<br />
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Aside from a lack of knowledge of the real world (Mr. Trump has now decreed California not to be in drought, his godly powers are so strong). Bernie Sanders bailed out of a radio interview when asked what real jobs he has had other than being a taxpayer-funded politician, and had no idea how to answer questions related to Central America "It's not something I know anything about" he admitted.<br />
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These two jokers claim the right to be our president--by hiding their tax returns from the people they want to vote for them? What are they hiding? The <i><b>truth</b></i> for sure.<br />
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Let me guess. Voters would find Bernie to be worth a lot more than he pretends on the campaign trail as he promises free everything. Trumps voters would discover that once again it was all a lie and he's not worth a fraction of what he claims.<br />
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The American system depends on transparency and honesty. Whatever those returns says, it is an important document that is a bridge of openness between the one we pick as president and the people of this country. We aren't seeing it with these two. They are acting like the corrupt leaders of 3rd world countries I've been in where their people are kept in the dark.<br />
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What about Hillary your ask? She has released 33 years of tax returns. You are free to go look at them. Compare them to returns ZERO for Trump and Sanders. 33 to 0. So, WHY should a guy who wrote in "The Art of the Deal" that when you tell a lie 3 times its easy to screw people" and why should a guy who has lived on taxpayer money his entire adult life be so "special" to avoid doing what every other candidate has done for DECADES?<br />
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Are we Americans going to accept a president who can be a dictator whose tax returns we never see? Trump is scheduled to be the defendant in a FRAUD trail November 28, so let that soak in if you don't think tax returns are important. Besides, if they don't have to release these returns now why do you think they would ever release another one if they were elected? Then we do have a dark turn to an open country that has made America special in the world. Obama, leader of the strongest country in the world, releases his tax returns every year.<br />
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Failure of them to release these returns now opens the road to dictatorship, like the 3rd world corrupt leadership I have seen in my decades negotiating in nearly 50 countries. that is where we are going if all Americans don't DEMAND THEY RELEASE THEIR TAX RETURNS NOW.<br />
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Let's stick apples to apples. Tax returns are NOT speeches (which NO ONE has ever had to release so that's another issue for another day).<br />
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What are you hiding Deceitful-two-faced-change-my-mind-every-second Donald?<br />
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What about you Bernie, who is so righteous and pious on "corruption" yet won't release all your returns "because Jane can't find them"? What's next? The dog ate it? What makes you "special" from all the others who disclosed their tax returns including the woman you claim to be better than.<br />
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Until you candidates play by the same rules, we don't need you running for the highest office in the land that requires open disclosure BEFORE taking office. <br />
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RESIGN or RELEASE YOUR TAX RETURNS TRUMP AND SANDERS....NOW!<br />
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Pass it on.<br />
Michael Fjetland, Author<br />
<a href="http://bettertimesaheadaprilfool.com/" target="_blank">Better Times Ahead April Fool</a><br />
"Agenda for American Greatness"<br />
Twitter: @Fjet2020<br />
Like us on FacebookGlobal Americanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09402854360957989139noreply@blogger.com0