2016 Election

[Malsua]

Franklin Armory binary trigger or something similar? Maybe one of those 3 stage triggers? Doesn't really have that FA sound, but still pretty cool.

[Ryan Ruck]

Haven't nailed down the details just yet.

I wasn't planning on any new builds for a little while longer.

The drum mags are just the obvious part.

[Malsua]

Now I want to build something.

[Malsua]

See, I was in the #neverrubio camp. I could not bring myself to vote for that open borders establishment foam party chimpanzee.

Ideologically, I prefer Ted Cruz, but I'll vote for ole Orangutan hair to prevent Hillary. Not to mention, I'm after a destroyer. I'd vote for Cthulhu if he'd douche Washington.

[Ryan Ruck]

Hahaha! So much for his vaunted business sense...

Trump Signals Willingness To Raise U.S. Minimum Wage

May 4, 2016

Donald Trump, the presumptive U.S. Republican presidential nominee, said on Wednesday he was "open to doing something" with the country's minimum wage, but added that any increase would have to be weighed against a potential loss of competitiveness.

"I'm open to doing something with it," Trump said in an interview with CNN, adding that he did not like the current $15 an hour level. "I mean you have to something that you can live on."

"But what I really do like is bring our jobs back, so they're making much more than the 15 dollars" an hour, he added.

[Ryan Ruck]

Mark Levin just featured this on the episode of Levin TV I'm watching right now. I keep telling you guys, not looking to be a doom and gloomer, but November is shaping up to be a bloodbath.

We were going to be starting at a disadvantage and now we're kneecapping ourselves with Trump as the nominee.

Where the Clinton-Trump matchup starts in our Crystal Ball Electoral College ratings pic.twitter.com/IpIryVRJFZ

— Larry Sabato (@LarrySabato) May 4, 2016

As an aside, Levin's done a really good job with this show's production. If you're a fan of his radio show, this is an even better extension of it. The production value is definitely worth the price. And with tuning out FNC, this is a great replacement of a much higher intellectual level.

[Toad]

Are you kidding, Ryan? November is a Preppers wet dream! Cancles? A narcissist? Social upheaval? BAM! Thank God I'm holed up in fly-over country.

[Malsua]

So what happens when Hillary is indicted or at least when the FBI releases her charges and the DOJ won't indict? Bernie Sanders Vs Donald Trump? Sanders might win, ugh.

[Ryan Ruck]

Are you kidding, Ryan? November is a Preppers wet dream! Cancles? A narcissist? Social upheaval? BAM! Thank God I'm holed up in fly-over country.

Ain't that the truth!

I was just telling someone something similar to that yesterday. I said, "I really don't care what happens with the election. Regardless of whether it's Hillary or Trump that causes us to implode, I live on a 55 acre farm 3 miles from the Ohio River, 30 minutes from a major city. I've got almost 2 years worth of food stored for myself, over 500 gallons of water with the ability to filter several thousand more, several hundred gallons of fuel, reliable communications equipment, 5+ seasons worth of seeds, and enough guns, ammo, and gear to outfit 2 squads, and a library full of books to tell me how to do almost anything I don't already know how to do. I've spent the last 8+ years preparing for this. You had Obama as the perfect warning. What have you been doing?"

[Ryan Ruck]

So what happens when Hillary is indicted or at least when the FBI releases her charges and the DOJ won't indict? Bernie Sanders Vs Donald Trump? Sanders might win, ugh.

I think the Clintons have enough pull and insiders to forestall any indictment past January, if she is even indicted at all.

I can easily see her stepping down due to health or indictment after January, letting her VP take over. And as I mentioned, I can easily see Julian Castro being her VP.

[Malsua]

Maybe she'll have a coughing fit and stroke out before the election. If it's after the election and she's won, the conspiracy nutbags would never let it go.

[American Patriot]

I vote stroke, so she can live in hell for the rest of her short, ugly life.

Castro as a VP. Wouldn't that JUST finish America?

Hillary won't get indicted. I just DO not see that happening. Unless Trump wins. He may push it, and order the DOJ to do the right thing. I don't see anyone else doing it. I don't see the current occupants of the WH doing anything, and their political appointees won't do shit to her.

I can see Trump doing something because... revenge. Then again, all the images of the Clintons hanging out with Trump over the years give enough doubt that I can't even say that would happen.

Below are the most prophetic words I've heard in a long time.

Originally Posted by ToadAre you kidding, Ryan? November is a Preppers wet dream! Cancles? A narcissist? Social upheaval? BAM! Thank God I'm holed up in fly-over country.

[Ryan Ruck]

Some interesting news on news channel ratings I heard on Beck's show yesterday.

Consider this... FNC has slipped to #2 to CNN for the first time in 14 years, in the middle of a Republican primary. This is almost assuredly people being turned off by Trump and FNC allowing him to co-opt the network.

I'm among those people!

CNN Beats Fox in April Ratings for Key Demo

May 4, 2016

Fox News Channel is losing the primetime ratings for the key demographic to CNN partly because it has fallen over itself to cover Donald Trump, writes Joe Cunningham at Red State.

According to a press release from CNN last week, the network beat Fox during primetime in the key demographic of 25-54-year-olds for April – the fifth month it did so out of the last eight.

"The last time CNN had this many prime time wins in an eight-month period versus Fox News was over 14 years ago (Nov. 2001)," CNN noted.

CNN also saw the most growth of any television network on cable or broadcast both with total viewers and adults 25-54, CNN said, adding that included a triple-digit increase in prime time.

"Of particular note, CNN has narrowed the gap with Fox News (196k vs. Fox News’ 215k) to its smallest level (-9%) in over seven years (since October, 2008) in Today Day among adults 25-54," the press release said.

Cunningham at Red State cited two reasons viewers are switching from Fox to CNN: Fox is seen as pro-Trump, while CNN is bringing in more conservative commentators.

"Fox News has decided to cater to a (very) vocal minority in exchange for a brief boost in ratings," Cunningham writes. Though host Sean Hannity brags about his own show's 40 percent ratings increase, the overall numbers at Fox are not as good, he said.

"[T]hey are falling in a bad way," Cunningham says. "And, while the Trump supporters would love to tell you that it is because Fox News isn’t kowtowing to Trump enough, the reality of the situation is a lot simpler: They’ve alienated the legions of conservatives who turned into them to see news."

CNN, on the other hand has been "accumulating various right-leaning commentators of actual quality, and really kicked it up this election cycle," he said.

CNN's commentary is more balanced than conservatives normally would expect, Cunningham argued, a sentiment echoed by conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh on Wednesday.

The conservatives on CNN "are not laughed at, made fun of, and hooted and hollered off the set," Limbaugh said. "They are treated as coequals. It's never been done on CNN."

Cunningham agreed, saying, "CNN is still not perfect, and I don’t expect it to conform to my political views, but I find it much more tolerable."

[Ryan Ruck]

More of Trump surrounding himself with "Top Men"...

Good News: Trump’s New Finance Chair Has Given More Than Twice As Much To Democrats, Worked For George Soros

May 5, 2016

Imagine how embarrassing this would be if the GOP were still a conservative party instead of an independent center-left nationalist program under the Republican label.

“Given more than twice as much” is a kind way of putting it, actually. According to the Washington Examiner, fully 85 percent of this guy’s contributions has gone blue. Alternate headline: “Democrat appoints Democrat to top campaign position.”

Although Mnuchin has given to Republicans, his financial ties to the Democratic Party and liberal causes appear to be significantly deeper. Overall, Mnuchin has given more than $125,000 since 1998 to candidates and committees that disclose their donors — more than half of which went to Democrats, according to FEC records.

He contributed to Democrats Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, and Chris Dodd in the 2008 presidential election cycle. He also gave to Obama and Clinton’s Senate campaigns, and supported Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee…

Beyond his contributions, Mnuchin’s past employers don’t fall in line with Trump’s rhetoric on the campaign trail. Mnuchin is a former Goldman Sachs partner and worked for liberal mega-donor George Soros’s hedge fund.

He also contributed to a group called America Coming Together, which was largely funded by Soros and unions.

Remember that heckler in Indiana on Monday who taunted Cruz by asking him where’s his “Goldman Sachs jacket”? Not only did Mnuchin work at GS, the FEC database shows that he donated thousands to the Goldman Sachs PAC. He gave $2,000 to Hillary for her 2005 Senate run, then gave her another $2,300 during the Democratic presidential primary in 2007. But he gave to Romney/Ryan too, so despite his grossly anti-populist hedge fund pedigree and his relationship to Soros, you know what the moronic spin will be. As it was with Trump himself, this’ll be dismissed as Mnuchin simply trying to buy influence according to the rules of our “rigged system” — notwithstanding his lopsided support for one party. Trust President Trump to reform that system, even though he and his rich friends have profited spectacularly from it for decades.

Makes you wonder: Why didn’t Trump name someone with more robust connections to Republican donors since it’s mostly Republican money that’ll be bankrolling him? Would none of the GOP’s top rainmakers accept the job? An interesting anecdote:

Talked to a veteran GOP fundraiser today. Said he thought about helping Trump but his wife promised a divorce if he did. So he's not.

— Reid J. Epstein (@reidepstein) May 5, 2016

Speaking of Democrats staffing up with Democrats, here’s a tidbit from a new NYT report about goings-on at the RNC:

For some in the party, the question of whether to embrace Mr. Trump is not merely an intellectual exercise. Some staff members at the Republican National Committee were told Wednesday that if they were unable to get behind the nominee, they should leave by the end of the week.

The RNC says it’s “100% untrue” but conservatives on Twitter, ever suspicious of Reince’s crew, are outraged. I’m not sure why, and I’m not sure why the RNC wouldn’t implement such a policy. (Although I understand why they’d want to keep quiet about it.) The organization is bound to support the nominee; if staffers can’t work to that end due to a conscientious objection, what’s the case for keeping them in place? Move them aside and clear the way for some alt-righters or Democrats or whoever else is willing to labor for Trump enthusiastically. Trump flirted with the idea of clearing out the organization a few weeks ago, Reince Priebus included, and remaking it with his own cronies. Let him. I’m sure he can recruit a few dozen liberal Goldman Sachs alums to fill the vacancies. He’s a managerial genius, after all.

Exit question via Tom Nichols: How would Trumpers have reacted to nominee Cruz or Rubio tapping a left-leaning GS alum to lead his money-raising operation?

[American Patriot]

FNC has lost me.

[Ryan Ruck]

So...

Any bets on a Trump VP pick?

I'm putting money on Kasich (since he played spoiler for Trump like a good little lap dog) or Boehner since he and Trump are besties. Both also make sense since Trump just recently said he'd like to pick an establishment person, someone with government experience who can "help with pushing legislation through."

Or maybe we'll get lucky enough he can start up an Apprentice-like reality TV show to pick the new VP.

Then again, Carson is out there hinting he might pick a Democrat.

[vector7]

Hmmmm....he is starting to reveal more.





Who's to Blame for the Rise of Trump?

Dr. Frankenstein created the monster that bore his name and if Dr. Jekyll had not conducted those experiments in his laboratory, Mr. Hyde would never have emerged to terrorize London.

In literature, we know whom to blame for the monsters, but who is to blame for the rise of Donald Trump?

Is he the "monster" the elites say he is?

I am no fan of Trump and wish there were better candidates for president from both parties, but the major fault for his rise as the "presumptive nominee" of the Republican Party in 2016 can be laid at the feet of the very elites who are so vociferous in their condemnation of him.

It is they who have presided over the horrific national debt, spending as if there were no tomorrow. They are not good stewards of the money we make and they take.

It is the elites who have started wars we should not have fought and then not fought them to win with too many "rules of engagement" that only guarantee stalemate, or victory for the other side.

They are the ones who over-regulate even small businesses, stifling their growth and preventing the creation of new ones.

They so penalize initiative that if today's OSHA regulations had been applied to Wilbur and Orville Wright the two visionaries would never have emerged from their Ohio bicycle shop, much less flown for the first time at Kitty Hawk, N.C.

The career politicians, the lobbyists, the lawyers, the self-serving institution that government has become (instead of the constitutionally limited, people-serving institution it was originally created to be) have fueled the rise of Donald Trump.

It doesn't help their position now that these elites appear at least as arrogant as Trump in their denunciations of him while refusing to accept responsibility for what they have failed to dismantle.

As Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan has noted, Trump projects love for America and increasing numbers of voters, who also love America, are captivated by his love song, even if he sings it off key.

Many of those voices that have warned of dire consequences should Trump become president have enabled big government. Republican politicians, afraid of their own shadow, the media and the Democrats, have done little to reverse any of this.

When former House Speaker John Boehner refers to Sen. Ted Cruz as "Lucifer," it is a case of the pot calling the kettle black. What did Boehner do as speaker, other than cut deals with Sens. Harry Reid and Ted Kennedy and kiss former Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the cheek as she handed him the gavel?

She must have instinctively known that Boehner wasn't going to rock the boat and would do little damage to the Democratic agenda until the day that party would return to the majority and members resume their former ways.

Voters gave Republicans a majority in both houses of Congress and they did almost nothing with it. It is why Boehner was ousted by conservative members of his own party.

Don't you have a right to be angry if you love America, if you served in the military or have relatives who did, as I have and did?

The anger is bipartisan, as the popularity of the socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., attests.

This lyric from the British punk rock group Dead Swans might help explain the country's mood: "You're lying to yourself, just like you always have, the words you said never meant a thing, I could see it from the start, you just want attention, absent friends and enemies are all that's left in your life, every day is like a knife cutting through your chest, constant frustration, you choked on the best years of your life, no love, no hate, no hope, all lies."

[Ryan Ruck]

Mary Matalin is on Glenn Beck right now. She's officially switched from the Republican Party to the Libertarian Party.

I thought this election was crazy before. I'm starting to think we haven't seen anything yet...

Mary Matalin, GOP Strategist, Switches To Libertarian Party

May 6, 2016

Mary Matalin registered as a Libertarian on Thursday (May 5), the Republican strategist and New Orleans resident said on MSNBC's "With All Due Respect."

"The Libertarian Party continues to represent those constitutional principles that I agree with," Matalin told the show's panel.

Matalin, who is married to former Bill Clinton adviser James Carville, didn't connect her switch of parties with the rise of Donald Trump as the GOP's presumptive nominee. She insisted she was a "provisional Trumpster" and said, "I will never vote for Hillary."

Watch the video below from bloomberg.com:

[Toad]

Can't blame her. The more PO-ed I get at the GOPe, the more Libertarian I feel by default.

[Ryan Ruck]

I think this may be a bit generous as it doesn't show any movement in Utah or Mississippi like the RCP numbers are showing.

New Electoral Scorecard Ratings in 13 States

May 5, 2016

This has been an exceedingly unpredictable year. Although we remain convinced that Hillary Clinton is very vulnerable and would probably lose to most other Republicans, Donald Trump's historic unpopularity with wide swaths of the electorate - women, millennials, independents and Latinos - make him the initial November underdog.

As a result, we are shifting 13 ratings on our Electoral Vote scorecard, almost all of them favoring Democrats. Our assessments are based on publicly available polling, data on demographic change and private discussions with a large number of pollsters in both parties. Much could change, but undecided voters begin more hostile to Trump than Clinton.

With these changes, 190 Electoral Votes are in the Solid Democratic column, 27 are in Likely Democratic and another 87 are in Lean Democratic - enough for a majority. Yet another 44 Electoral Votes are in Toss Up. Although Iowa, New Hampshire and Ohio could shift to Lean Democratic and Nevada could shift to Likely Democratic, we are holding off on changes in these states until we see more evidence.

Nevada, for example, has proven hostile to Republicans in the last two presidential elections thanks to a rapidly growing non-white electorate. However, some early polling shows Trump performing better with whites there than previous GOP nominees. Still, we are skeptical Trump can ultimately win there.

Click here to see the full Electoral College voting ratings.

Electoral College Ratings Changes