Hard to believe that it has been 15 years – I can still remember so much of it so clearly. Getting a call from the Mrs’ daughter asking if anyone had heard from the other daughter who worked in Manhattan. Turning on the TV just in time to see the second plane hit live. Calling my father and telling him to turn on the TV…and then just watching, watching, watching for hours as the disaster unfolded.
It was supposed to be a turning point, but it ended up not being anything of the sort. The national unity which instantly asserted itself was torn down by various actors for cynical political reasons. These days, we’re not even really supposed to say what we’re fighting – and instead of being red blooded American patriots, we’re debating whether or not we should even stand for our national anthem.
Still, this is a day to remember those who died – on that day, and in the battles since then. I only hope that we some how manage to get through this time without a repeat of that day – this will take more luck than anything else, but one can always pray, and hope.
Blogs For Victory 
There are only two events in my life where I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing: the Kennedy assassination and 9/11. Most people thought that 9/11 would usher in a new era of repeated terrorist attacks, and in a sense I guess it has, but nothing on the order of another 9/11. That terrorists haven’t gotten a hold of and detonated some kind of nuclear device in the 15 years since 9/11 is nothing short of incredible.
I agree. I was out of town on business and woke up too early to do anything so I turned on the TV to watch the only cartoon I like—-Clifford the Big Red Dog—-as I never watch TV during the day at home. I turned on the TV just as the announcer was wondering what had happened with the first building, and called my husband to tell him to turn on the TV. We were watching together, in different cities, when the second plane hit. It’s not something you ever forget.
I loved Glenn Beck’s idea of a 9/12 attitude, recapturing the sense of unity, community and national pride we had the day after 9/11. Sadly, the idea just kind of drifted away.
In the meantime Europe is committing collective suicide, and Hillary wants to help it spread here.
That is the scariest video I have ever seen, and it is terrifying on a couple of fronts. One is the graphic portrayal of vast numbers of strong young men determined to destroy Western civilization and culture while being welcomed into Western nations, and the other is the fanaticism with which Europeans are facilitating their own destruction.
I stopped the video a few times to look for true “refugees”—that is, women and children and families—and found a couple of brief shots of men holding up children in some kinds of statements and a couple of women at a train station being ecstatically welcomed by wildly cheering Europeans. The thousands and thousands of others shown were all strong young men.
Refugees or an army?
I never put much stock into claims that Clintons health is deteriorating but the evidence is mounting. Last week she had a coughing fit that lasted for several minutes. Today she had to leave a 911 memorial early and is seen collapsing. This looks like a sick woman to me:
http://www.mediaite.com/online/new-video-appears-to-show-clinton-stumbling-and-being-helped-inside-van-earlier/
This is pretty spooky. I could consider a simple stumble, but for a couple of reasons, One is that she was clearly being supported while standing at the curb and as she took the first step, before she went down, and the other is the photo that came out a few days ago showing her being nearly carried up a flight of steps.
I have bad knees. As in really really bad knees, from a car accident many years ago and subsequent wear and tear. They have gone from just hurting to being a little structurally shaky (something about knee replacement just doesn’t thrill me, in spite of being advised to do this as a young woman and ever since then) so I always go up and down stairs next to a handrail. I hold it in case a knee happens to not want to work properly. But I don’t haul myself up stairs with the handrail, or use it to support myself on the way down, and I have never had to have someone on either side basically holding me up and moving me up a flight of stairs. Even after extensive knee surgery I didn’t need this kind of support.
I don’t know if her problem is structural or neurological, but I suspect the latter. We had a president in a wheelchair and one who could barely function without a serious back brace, and after these details came out later there didn’t seem to be a reaction that these conditions disqualified them for office, and there are plenty of ways to explain a need for some structural assistance–torn ligaments, etc. So I tend to suspect a brain problem, resulting in vertigo, balance issues, memory problems, possible seizures, etc. You may have seen the video where she was being questioned and suddenly looked like she was having a mini seizure. I thought the video of her could possibly have been doctored, but the startled expression on the face of one of the reporters when it happened indicated that she really was doing something quite odd. She has admitted to zoning out.
As much as I can’t stand the woman, for so very many reasons, in this case I am not piling on. I know what it is like to have your foundations shaken, when your body won’t do what you want it to do. After my first knee surgery I developed a pretty vast well of empathy for physical problems. In this case I just think she needs to accept the fact that things aren’t working right, and furthermore that the things that aren’t working right are the things she would need to be president.
I hope Trump addresses this issue with some sensitivity and compassion, instead of ridicule and attacks that might make people defensive of her.
I looked up some stuff on her health and found a long video that is an interview with a doctor who says she has all the symptoms of Parkinson’s. It is probably way more time than you or most people would want to spend watching a video, and I didn’t finish it, but he had some interesting comments. It’s the third video and is less over the top than the graphic would indicate.
He says that the abrupt uncontrolled head-bobbing and bug eyes are a typical involuntary response to sudden stimuli. The one where the women were talking to her was, he said, prompted by both of them asking her questions at the same time, and she just overloaded. Blew a fuse, so to speak. She had those moments of uncontrolled movements, which she realized were happening but couldn’t stop, and then she tried a save with the comment “you have to try the chai” to try to cover it up. The one where she was standing with Bill and went into that open-mouthed head bob was due to a sudden balloon drop which startled her and sent her into one of these uncontrollable spasms. The open mouth and wide eyes are typical of these events.
He went into a lot of symptoms, including weakness in the legs making it hard to stand, poor balance (there is a video of her at Joe Biden’s house having to constantly grab onto a railing, a chair back, a table…) and poor coordination. There are a lot of videos of her experiencing some sort of distress onstage, and a big black guy comes out, steadies her, talks to her, encourages her. In one video a guy comes in from the right side of the screen, in a hurry, pulling something out of the breast pocket of his coat, and is stopped and told it is OK and he leaves. There is another picture of him holding something that some think is an auto-injector of a drug used to snap Parkinson’s patients out of freezes. There are several videos where Secret Service types rush to the stage to help her.
Parkinson’s affects muscle tone and coordination, and often results in small amounts of saliva being aspirated, resulting in severe coughing spells.
What I found most significant was the doctor’s statements about Parkinson’s patients suffering from “shutdowns” or “off moments” where they just shut down. He has a friend with Parkinson’s who told him during a Skype session he had to go do something and would be back in an hour and didn’t get back for more than two days—he left the computer and had one of these shutdowns. There are also times of extreme fatigue when nothing will do but time to rest.
The off moments and the uncontrolled reaction to sharp noises, sudden bright lights and other stimuli such as several people shouting questions at the same time could explain why she can’t do press conferences–flash bulbs and multiple shouted questions would just shut her down.
His premise is that her falls have been due to Parkinson’s, but he said one thing that I thought significant, referring to the shutdowns or off moments, “That 3 a.m. call is likely to go to voice mail”.
In the interest of fairness, and recognizing that the doctor in the third video is not only not unbiased but not a specialist in Parkinson’s Disease, I offer a rebuttal from Snopes. Snopes’ bias is probably about equal to that of the doctor, and the statements offer, to me, nothing but alternative possibilities rather than actual rebuttals. I don’t agree with their assessment of one of the alleged seizure videos, and they don’t address the other one, nor many of the other claims by the doctor. Hillary does show signs of weakness in her legs, she does show signs of poor balance, she does show signs of mild seizure disorders common to people who have been on Parkinson medication for years, she does disappear for days at a time, she does have coughing fits that can be caused by aspirating a small amount of saliva which is consistent with swallowing disorders (common in Parkinson’s sufferers) and so on. But there IS another side and here it is:
http://www.snopes.com/hillary-clinton-has-parkinsons-disease
She could also have normal pressure hydrocephalus, a condition which is often misdiagnosed as Parkinson’s. I only know that because my dad was diagnosed at around age 80 with Parkinson’s, but never developed any of the Parkinson’s symptoms except for a slight balance problem. He declined to undergo the rather tedious and lengthy testing for NPH even though the treatment, most often successful, involved a simple shunt to drain excess fluid from the spinal cortex. He ended up living another 10 years in an independent living apartment and played bridge up until 6 months before he died.
I was at work today and only just saw the video – quite astonishing. She clearly collapsed.
The “explanation” is that she “stumbled” getting into the van, but she was clearly being supported while waiting for it and nearly went down on her first step. She got a step or two in, being supported on both sides, and then completely collapsed. The excuse for the photo where she was being nearly carried up the steps was that she had “slipped”. Slipping on steps in August or September is kind of unusual.
One thing that caught my attention is the number of people who instantly rush to her side when she has a problem on the podium. I assume they are Secret Service, but who knows? All we can tell is that there are a lot of them, very alert to any problem she might have and very trained in how to deal with these problems. Twice one can be heard comforting her, telling her it will be all right, and urging her to go on. Would these people be in meeting with heads of state to keep her focused and on track?
I had tended to dismiss stories of Clinton’s health until today – that was a pretty bad collapse. I’d say it was exhaustion from the campaign trail but she hasn’t done much vigorous campaigning…its not like she’s out there on the hustings day in and day out…mostly swank fundraisers and small-audience gatherings. I figured this was her “keep me out of the public eye and let Trump implode” strategy…but now I’m wondering if her appearances are being carefully rationed in order to conserve her strength for the final stretch? Just don’t know – but I was shocked at the video. Prayers for her health are in order.
I just saw the video of her getting into the van and in my opinion that is not pneumonia as we are being told. That has the appearance of a mini stroke which is not uncommon for someone who has had a blood clot on the brain stemming from a fall. I do hope people around her and who support her will put her health before her presidency. It doesn’t look good.
And now someone I trust on the internet says that on Sunday a meeting was suddenly scheduled between Reid, Pelosi, POTUS, Ryan and McConnell. Work up for some deeply important legislation Obama suddenly needs as the campaign season goes into it’s end run? Or, something else? I guess we’ll find out in the by and by.
She had to stand for an hour and a half at the ceremony, and I can see how that could have exacerbated an existing condition. I thought they should have arranged for seating for her and some of the other people—-it would not have shown lack of respect for the fallen but respect for the older participants. And as for respect, she spent quite a bit of time conversing with someone behind her, while those around her continued to show respect for the ceremony.
Age in and of itself is not a disqualifier for office, but it imposes its restrictions on all of us, no matter what our physical conditions, and that has to be acknowledged.
However, having to be physically supported and even with that support being unable to stand or walk shows more than just being tired or stressed from having to stand, and taken in context with a history of poor balance, fainting, concussion and blood clots on the brain it is a pretty damning set of symptoms.
I think we are talking about cause and effect here.
(1) She was sick for some reason, severely dehydrated or something, and fainted, which caused her to hit her head, resulting in a concussion, resulting in a blood clot, resulting in subsequent issues with balance and coordination. That is, a completely explainable series of events stemming from a fairly innocuous beginning. Anyone who has tried to just motor on through feeling like crap can identify with the sensation of having pushed too hard, though not all of us faint.
OR
(2) It is an underlying neurological condition that caused the fainting in the first place, after which various symptoms can be related either to that condition or to the resulting concussion/blood clot or both, but at this point, to quote Hillary herself, what does it matter anyway? At this point the issue is the original, underlying, neurological condition.
I don’t think you can make a diagnosis for Parkinson’s based on a few seconds of video. But I think the documented evidence that we have raises valid concerns over her health and potentially her fitness to serve as Commander in Chief. Clinton’s doctor is now saying she has pneumonia, which would explain the recent events. If true, how well Clinton can recover from this condition at her advanced age will be interesting. I guess we’ll have to wait and see how things go.
One note, it’s obvious she did indeed collapse and not just stumble today on her way into the limo. There are a few different angles of it and I think it’s quite apparent that she could not manage herself at all at that point and if there hadn’t been several strong arms around for support she would have collapsed and cracked her head, as she’s done in the past.
The wisdom of choosing between two septuagenarians for leader of the free world remains unchallenged. Could be this election will pivot on who can remain conscious throughout a routine event without coughing their lungs out for several minutes. Advantage: Trump.
“The wisdom of choosing between two septuagenarians for leader of the free world remains unchallenged.”
I agree. The conservative wing of the Republican Party was pretty jazzed at the prospect of having a young, vibrant, conservative as our candidate, and we had several to choose from, including a couple who had not declared. We are pleased to see that Trump appears to be hale and hearty and up to the challenges of campaigning, but he was not our first choice, though his energy is encouraging.
The Dems seemed pretty limited. Warren is younger and looks healthier, but I think the Dems dodged a bullet in not nominating her, and in any case the Dem selection was preordained.
“One thing that caught my attention is the number of people who instantly rush to her side when she has a problem on the podium. I assume they are Secret Service, but who knows?”
Are you referring to the moment in the middle of the second video that you posted (blue/grey pantsuit) where she’s interrupted by handlers rushing unto the stage? Because in that clip it seems obvious to me that she’s not “seizing up” but reacting to some disturbance in the crowd off to her right. That’s why her people jump to her side, look at the exact spot in the crowd that she’s looking, restore order, and tell her “it’s all right”. That’s actually a great example of how you shouldn’t jump to rash conclusions over a slight bit of video. Documented reports of falling and concussing yourself and the like are higher standards of evidence that should be considered.
Rusty, I agree that in one video it looked as if the men rushing to the stage were reacting to a disturbance that also caught her attention. But in another video they were dealing with her sudden inability to continue.
I didn’t exactly “jump to rash conclusions” but merely present some information to support a theory. I know it is just a theory, but I also know there are aspects of it that are consistent with the conclusion of a neurological problem such as Parkinson’s. A few posts back I mentioned the possibility of a neurological problem rather than a structural problem, before ever hearing of the Parkinson’s theory.
I also paid attention to the video of her accompanying Joe Biden to his old house, because it was so obvious that she was shaky and needed at least the reassurance of being able to hold onto something even if she didn’t show signs of nearly falling. If you look at that video, you will see her constantly seeking out something to hold onto, particularly in the house where she moved closer to the table and put her hand on it, in a move that was not consistent with what was going on.
Experts see subtle things that most of us simply do not see, or recognize as significant. So I don’t just dismiss what the doctor has to say about things that are not big and blatant and easily recognized by lay people. As a horsewoman, I have worked with veterinarians who could watch a horse step off a trailer and instantly see the tiniest, most subtle, signs of a problem. The tiniest little head bob, or the smallest shortening of stride on one leg, can indicate pain in a limb or foot. I once watched an employee bring a horse in from a pasture, ponying him behind an ATV, and noticed that he was swinging his right rear leg under his midline, just the tiniest bit, as he moved. My vet called in all the other vets at his big clinic and he and I were the only ones to see this. The horse had a cracked pelvis and was swinging that leg under his body to change the way his weight was carried on that side. So no, I am not a doctor, but I know that to a good doctor things we simply don’t see will jump right out at him as significant. He will be able to see physical manifestations of problems and he will be able to spot compensatory actions by the patient , used either consciously or unconsciously, to adapt or deal with them. Just as my horse had a way to compensate for the discomfort of a cracked pelvis. Just as my neighbor with MS will always make sure she is close to something to hold onto. If you don’t know her, you might not notice. Just as someone with hand tremors will be sure to have something to hold to hide them.
I am not trying to pile onto Hillary in this regard. Most of the time when I talk about her, I am openly critical of her, and in this case I am not. In this case I feel bad for her, in a way, getting so close to the one thing that has obsessed her for nearly her whole life and then having to deal with this problem. But it happens. Ask Lindsay Vonn. I just think that whatever the problem is, it is serious enough to disqualify her for the incredibly stressful and demanding job of President of the United States. It is not the only thing to disqualify her for this job, not by a long shot, but it is the one thing over which she has no control, the one thing that seems to have happened TO her and not something that she did herself, and for that reason alone I am sympathetic about it.
Well, I guess we accept different standards of evidence. I think something may be going on with Clinton’s health based on solid, verified incidents such as passing out on several occasions and prolonged coughing fits; time may tell if these amount to anything. And all of this may just be a matter of Clinton simply not being very robust as she ages. Some 70 year olds run marathons, some 70 year olds are tired, forgetful and prone to illnesses and falls. If you fall into the later category I think it’s legitimate for people to question whether you’re fit to serve as President without jumping to un-evidenced conclusions. That’s why I find the videos you post unconvincing and I think the Snopes article contains the most parsimonious explanations. Here’s a similar take from Steven Novella, a neurologist and prominent member of the skeptical community.
http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/clinton-health-conspiracy-update/
I don’t think we have different standards of evidence, but of proof. And as I have said, I don’t find the videos conclusive. They are quite obviously biased, and I did take that into consideration. I thought I had been pretty clear that I don’t accept their conclusions. I just consider that because the conclusions are biased doesn’t mean the evidence is all bogus. I factor in the conclusions, biased as they are, because those conclusions would have to go into the basket of possibilities.
And that is where I am right now. On one hand is a basket of events, on the other is a basket of possible explanations for those events. The explanations run the gamut of just being tired to having pneumonia to having Parkinson’s to a vast right-wing conspiracy, and they are all in the basket of possibles.
I think you will agree that a doctor with a predisposition toward Hillary will find the evidence to lead in one direction while the doctor who doesn’t like her will lean toward a different and perhaps more damaging conclusion. I understand that. I also understand that a doctor who has developed an eye for spotting certain conditions will, when he does an examination, be first led in the direction indicated by his observations. He won’t make a conclusive diagnosis based on those observations, but he will be led in that direction, and that is completely legitimate. So while I don’t accept those observations as conclusive, or as true diagnosis of a condition, I also don’t accept dismissal of those observations as meaningless without an objective and thorough examination.
It’s just that to me, there can be no discussion without bringing out everything and laying it out on the table. Once you (and I don’t mean you, personally) start to omit anything, you are trying to shift the end result to something you want to be true. The videos I posted all contain bits of objective reality and lots of conjecture, but some of that conjecture could be legitimate even though it is also coming from a biased source.
If we never find out the reality of the reasons for the events we have been seeing, then we will have to step back and evaluate the situation without a conclusion of causality, and just look at the events themselves. And at that point, I personally see these events as very very strong standalone indications, if not absolute ironclad bulletproof PROOF, that she is not strong enough to do the job. And for that, I feel the sympathy I mentioned, because this is something out of her control that has happened TO her, and not one of the many many things she has done, caused, or enabled that in my opinion should also disqualify her.
“The videos I posted all contain bits of objective reality and lots of conjecture, but some of that conjecture could be legitimate even though it is also coming from a biased source.”
Well, of course it could be, but that’s no reason to hold the conjecture in high regard. I guess we just disagree on this and I do indeed think we accept different standards of evidence. I get that you don’t accept the conclusions in the videos but I take it a step farther and really don’t think the conclusions need to be considered much at all based on the scant evidence provided. I just think they’re far too speculative and biased. Also, I believe that to give too much weight to what you admit to be “biased conjecture” actually compromises the search for the truth, not aids it. It’s fine to have a “basket of possibilities” but folly to value everything in the basket equally.
I simply don’t find the conclusions in those carefully edited videos compelling and true to Occam’s razor I think there are many simpler conclusions to be drawn than a diagnosis of a grave disease. So no evidence has been omitted here; everything has indeed been laid out on the table and it’s simply a matter of sorting out the plausible from the wildly speculative.
“I personally see these events as very very strong standalone indications, if not absolute ironclad bulletproof PROOF, that she is not strong enough to do the job.”
I agree 100% with this, that’s basically what I’ve been saying. Although at this point I’m in the ‘wait and see’ crowd as to whether she’s up for the job or not. I think the next few months will be revealing.
Rusty, aside from what I think is your over-estimation of the credibility I assign to the conclusions drawn in those videos, I think we are on the same page.
BTW, the neurological issues I mentioned before Parkinson’s came onto my radar can be due to trauma, such as concussion, blood clot, etc. I have a sister in law who was in an accident, hit broadside by a semi and spun sideways into a lamp post, so she had two violent impacts, slamming her head first to her left and then to her right. This tore muscles behind her eyes and damaged brain tissue, and she is still suffering from personality changes, balance issues and so on. While a blow to the head from fainting would not be as violent an insult to the brain as I just described, Hillary’s subsequent blood clot(s) could have very severe effects. We already know they affected her vision. And many of the symptoms the doctor assigned to Parkinson’s can be due to all sorts of insults to the brain other than an organic source such as Parkinson’s.
So when I talk about neurological problems, that does not mean I accept the suggestion that they stem from Parkinson’s. The range of causes of the kinds of symptoms I mentioned earlier—-short brain freezes, balance issues, fatigue, weakness, confusion, etc.—can be neurological by nature but caused by some sort of trauma.
I think once you understand that when I put Parkinson’s into the basket it does not occupy as much space as you think it does, we will find ourselves essentially in agreement. It’s just tucked off in a corner of the basket, next to the kind of bugs featured in “Brain Dead”.
Yeah, I get where you’re coming from. I’m just very cautious about drawing conclusions but I think we both are squinting our eyes and wondering what the hell is going on with her.
Speaking of “Brain Dead” (notice the segue…) in the finale last night, I heard something interesting. It slipped by very quickly, and was spoken very softly. The show is not on Netflix so I need to find out where I can find a copy of that episode.
I have written that, as expected, it had a decidedly Leftist spin. It’s on TV, so that is to be expected. It took place in D.C. and of course the Dems were the good guys and the Republicans the villains. So far, no surprises. Then a Dem also became evil, which was interesting, and it was because bugs crawled into her ear and ate part of her brain. Actually, most of Congress had become Bug People, which does tend to explain a lot.
At the end, there was some Dem comment about Trump and one of the Dem characters said “Hillary’s just as bad”. The first person agreed and then said something that started with “Yes, but..” and then it was over. I was being pestered by a very large dog jumping straight up and down between me and the TV because I was ignoring the ball she had rolled under my feet a hour or so (according to her) before, so I was a little distracted. But it is interesting that a Left-leaning show, in the time slot once occupied by uber-political The Good Wife, which had depicted Republicans as bad guys and Dems as fighting the good fight, slipped that in.
The funniest thing about the whole show, aside from the insanities of Congress being explained by brain-eating bugs, was the repeated reference to Michael Moore and the reaction of the right-wingers. The Republican Senate aide was sweet on a Democrat Senate aide, and overlooked her political position, but when he was told (wrongly) that she had slept with Michael Moore he nearly threw up. He could handle anything but that.
Three of four years ago my wife went through similar, if not identical “episodes” as Hillary has. She began having balance issues — sitting on a stool pulling weeds in the garden she’d just fall over, once hitting the ground so hard she cracked a rib. She’d be walking through the supermarket and have to catch herself on a shelf or the cart. Often she’d get disoriented and not remember it a day later. One night she got up in the middle of the night and fell into the dresser, nearly knocking herself out. The doctor in the ER said all her vitals checked out, but they did an MRI just to play it safe. Our family doctor forwarded the MRI to a neurologist, but it took us 9 months to get in to see him. Long story short, he took one look at the MRI and said, “it looks like you’ve had several minor strokes,” the most recent of which appeared to be prior to her hitting her head on the dresser
I would certainly not dismiss what Hillary is going through simply because some reports appear to be inaccurate or embellished. While there are undoubtedly people who wish her ill, I do think it’s a good sign that many people, even many who detest her, are hoping it’s not serious and that she recovers. The vast majority of Americans, regardless of political persuasion, are still good, decent people who don’t wish for bad things to happen to their adversaries and simply wish to win on the battlefield of ideas.
The show is not on Netflix so I need to find out where I can find a copy of that episode.
It’s on Amazon. In fact, the first episode that I mentioned to you we had watched, we watched on Amazon.
but it is interesting that a Left-leaning show, in the time slot once occupied by uber-political The Good Wife, which had depicted Republicans as bad guys and Dems as fighting the good fight, slipped that in.
If you read between the lines, however, while it portrayed Republicans as being wrong on “issues,” it also portrayed Democrats as ends-justify-the-means type people who cheated in elections, cheated on their wives and committed all sorts of criminal acts including perjury and fraud. The show started with the Democrat State’s Attorney in jail and ended with the same man, now governor, likely returning to jail. The only people in the show who cast aspersions on Republicans were Democrats who were guilty of far worse indiscretions.
“I would certainly not dismiss what Hillary is going through simply because some reports appear to be inaccurate or embellished. ………………..The vast majority of Americans, regardless of political persuasion, are still good, decent people who don’t wish for bad things to happen to their adversaries and simply wish to win on the battlefield of ideas.”
I think you are right. However, hoping that this is not a life-threatening condition does not mean it does not make her a bad choice as president and Commander In Chief. Assume for a moment that her condition is not one which causes temporary freezes at sudden loud noises, bright flashing lights or sudden movements, assuming that it does not result in periods of zoning out that can last for days, basically dismissing the Parkinson’s theory, if she is physically weak (as we have seen in the Biden video, in the “slipping” and needing to be nearly carried up stairs, in the collapse when approaching her van…) that has to be considered when vetting her for what is probably the most demanding and stressful job in the world.
I would hate to see this concern about her physical and even mental health prompt a strong sympathy vote for her, as there are so many things that make her the worst possible choice for the position even if she were in excellent health.
Thanks for the info on Brain Dead. I did find it on CBS but didn’t take the time to go through the whole last show looking for that quote. I also appreciate the comments on even-handedness, a lot of which I did not pick up on.
The Obama administration upped its commitment to get the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty ratified…”
http://dailysignal.com/2016/09/11/obama-advocates-for-un-gun-treaty-ratification
Setting aside this: ”The Arms Trade Treaty went into effect on Christmas Eve 2014, but the administration has never submitted the treaty to the Senate for ratification, where it would require 67 senators voting for it to pass.” and what should be the obvious question of how it can go into effect without first being ratified, this whole thing comes back to United States sovereignty and making our own decisions and laws about our own country.
That makes the following article especially relevant:
http://dailysignal.com/2016/09/11/architect-of-brexit-victory-reflects-on-how-he-won-swing-voters
Q: What kind of change were people looking for and why do you think a majority of Britons wanted change?
A: From a U.S. point of view, imagine a context where you had a parliament that covered all of the NAFTA [North American Free Trade Agreement] countries, which had regulatory powers that basically dictated 60 percent of the laws in the U.S.
Imagine a situation where your Supreme Court, rather than being here in D.C., was based in Mexico with Mexican judges and yes, you have some Canadian and American judges as well, but also judges who weren’t American.
This is the situation the U.K. is in at the moment. Where we have a European parliament and essentially a European government in the European Commission and the ultimate legal authority is the European Court of Justice. So essentially, what we are doing is taking back control and reasserting our sovereignty in the country and our right to govern and decide our future ourselves.