The Trump Bandwagon

Let's admit the obvious ... Donald Trump is surging all across the country. He is leading a bandwagon that is big and brash and bold and is not to be denied. Why? Simply because he is saying things that speak to the fears and desires of a great many Americans ... on immigration ... on government corruption ... on the gutting of our military ... on America's diminished status in the world ... on the terrorist threat ... on gun control ... on our poor economy ...  on just about everything. Everything that Obummer has done to try to "change" this country into a third-world hellhole (our just desserts for our evil past) has sparked the blue-collar anger and resentment that is producing those overflow crowds at the Trump rallies all across the country ... see: Breitbart Article ... even in the bluest of blue states, Vermont ... Bernie Sanders' stronghold.

Yes, Bernie Sanders is also speaking to a large audience ... mainly younger Americans who also have been disenfranchised by the cronyism that is rampant in D.C. ... but this audience is not really angry. They are more envious and desirous of a piece of this crony pie ... not the loftiest of ideals. Sanders is playing to this Socialist greed and may well out-promise Hillary. But, in the end, he is just a Pollyanna extension to the failures of Obummer.

Just as Obummer was elected due to the mistakes of Bush '43 ... so Trump is leading his surge based upon the many more mistakes of Obummer. Not the best way to govern a country ... from ice floe to ice floe ... but, unfortunately, the pattern in which we find ourselves. If Trump is elected, will he make mistakes? You betcha! He will likely unleash a racial and class polarization that may well pave the way for a Bernie Sanders-type to take the presidency in eight of twelve years. The suspicions and visceral hatred that the liberal elites feel toward Trump are not all hogwash. Trump is likely to go overboard with many of his fixes to Obummer's excesses ... paving the way for the next political charlatan to fix the fixes.

Such, it seems, is our destiny.

Pardon Me

On March 1^st (coincidence?), President Obama pardoned 17 criminals, including one with a serious firearm conviction (see below ... the penultimate pardon).  Like the release of thousands of illegal immigrants before the sequestration, can we assume that this was an act to save our government money?  Or just to annoy us?  Is cronyism involved?  Or perhaps political contributions? Wouldn’t it be nice if the President were required to give his justification for each pardon?  (President Lincoln issued quite a few pardons, but I think he gave his reasons in most all the cases.)  Anyway here is the list from the White House via Politico:

·    Robert Leroy Bebee – Rockville, Maryland. Offense: Misprision of a felony, 18 U.S.C. § 4. Sentence:  Two years probation.
·    James Anthony Bordinaro – Gloucester, Massachusetts. Offenses: Conspiracy to restrain, suppress, and eliminate competition in violation of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1; conspiracy to submit false statements, 18 U.S.C. § 371. Sentence:  12 months imprisonment, three years supervised release and a $55,000 fine.
·    Kelli Elisabeth Collins – Harrison, Arkansas. Offense: Aiding and abetting a wire fraud, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1343, 2. Sentence:  Five years probation.
·    Edwin Hardy Futch, Jr. – Pembroke, Georgia. Offense: Theft from an interstate shipment, 18 U.S.C. §§ 659, 2. Sentence:  Five years probation, $2,399.72 restitution.
·    Cindy Marie Griffith – Moyock, North Carolina. Offense: Distribution of satellite cable television decryption devices, 47 U.S.C. § 605(e)(4), 18 U.S.C. § 2. Sentence:  Two years probation with 100 hours of community service.
·     Roy Eugene Grimes, Sr. – Athens, Tennessee. Offenses: Falsely altering a United States postal money order, 18 U.S.C. § 500; passing, uttering, and publishing a forged and altered money order with intent to defraud, 18 U.S.C. § 500. Sentence:  18 months probation.
·    Jon Christopher Kozeliski – Decatur, Illinois. Offense: Conspiracy to traffic counterfeit goods, 18 U.S.C. §§ 371, 2320. Sentence:  One year of probation with six months of home confinement, $10,000 fine.
·    Jimmy Ray Mattison – Anderson, South Carolina. Offenses: Conspiracy to transport and cause the transportation of altered securities in interstate commerce, 18 U.S.C. §§ 371, 2314; transporting and causing the transportation of altered securities in interstate commerce, 18 U.S.C. §§ 2314, 2. Sentence:  Three years probation.
·    An Na Peng – Honolulu, Hawaii. Offense: Conspiracy to defraud the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 18 U.S.C. § 371. Sentence:  Two years probation, $2,000 fine.
·    Michael John Petri – Montrose, South Dakota. Offense: Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribution of a controlled substance (cocaine), 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a), 846. Sentence:  Five years imprisonment, three years supervised release.
·      Karen Alicia Ragee – Decatur, Illinois. Offense: Conspiracy to traffic counterfeit goods, 18 U.S.C. §§ 371, 2320. Sentence:  One year of probation with six months of home confinement, $2,500 fine.
·     Jamari Salleh – Alexandria, Virginia. Offense: False claims upon and against the United States, 18 U.S.C. §§ 287, 2. Sentence:  Four years probation, $5,000 fine, $5,900 restitution.
·     Alfor Sharkey – Omaha, Nebraska. Offense: Unauthorized acquisition of food stamps, 7 U.S.C. § 2024(b)(1). Sentence:  Three years probation with 100 hours of community service, $2,750 restitution.
·     Donald Barrie Simon, Jr. – Chattanooga, Tennessee. Offense: Aiding and abetting in the theft of an interstate shipment, 18 U.S.C. §§ 659, 2.  Sentence:  Two years imprisonment, three years probation.
·     Lynn Marie Stanek – Tualatin, Oregon. Offense: Unlawful use of a communication facility to distribute cocaine, 21 U.S.C. § 843(b).          Sentence:  Six months in jail, five years probation conditioned on residence in a community treatment center for a period not to exceed one year.
·     Larry Wayne Thornton – Forsyth, Georgia. Offense: Possession of an unregistered firearm, 26 U.S.C. §§ 5861(d), 5871; possession of a firearm without a serial number, 26 U.S.C. §§ 5861(i), 5871. Sentence:  Four years probation.
·     Donna Kaye Wright – Friendship, Tennessee. Offense: Embezzlement and misapplication of bank funds, 18 U.S.C. § 656. Sentence:  54 days imprisonment, three years probation conditioned on performance of six hours of community service per week.