Year in Review: 2016

I want to start things off by thanking every person that has come to the blog and read my articles!  Words cannot describe how thankful I am to each reader!  With that said, it is New Year's Eve and if you're like me, you just want this dumpster fire of a year to go away.  As worrisome of a feeling that 2017 will be, we do have to stay optimistic about the current climate.  We need to remember that the People of these United States have the final say in all decisions in this land and shall continue to let our voices be heard and considered!

This blog officially started this month and during that time there were 14 articles written for the site.  There will be many more for sure in the next year!  So let's do the Year in Review and highlight the Top 5 articles published in the year 2016!

Top Five Articles of 2016

1. Buddy System- How picking your really rich friends and campaign contributors is not "Draining the Swamp."
2. A Letter to Donald Trump and His Tweets- Donald Trump needs to be more diplomatic in his tweets.  What he posts matters more so now than it did when he was just a businessman.
3. Science: There's a Reason For It- Creationists and climate deniers need to understand that their views will lead to a lot of destruction in this world.
4. GOP Ambushes NC Politics aka Reichstag Fire Pt. 2- How a last-minute power grab by the North Carolina GOP showed the world that democracy does not matter when you lose.
5. Trump and Netanyahu: Partners in Crime- The worrisome tale of Israel and the rejection of the Two-State Solution.

Let's all have a great New Years and I look forward to writing more for Trump Monitor in 2017!  Thank you everyone!

Russian Sanctions and How They Will Affect Trump

For the joint FBI-DHS report on Russian hacking click here.

In a report released after a joint investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) they noted that there were two notable cyber attacks on the Democratic Party; one in the summer of 2015 and another in the spring of 2016.

For his response President Obama issued new sanctions yesterday against Russia in concerns of Russian involvement in the 2016 US election.  In an executive order he has given all Russian diplomats in the United States 72 hours to leave the country as well as shutting down two Russian Government-owned compounds that are located in Maryland and New York.  Vladimir Putin, on the other hand, has decided to not play tit-for-tat and will not force American diplomats in Russia to vacate.

This whole saga leads to a bigger question: What effect does this have on Trump and Republicans?

Quick Muse: Fake News

Fake News played a huge roll in the 2016 election.  Even in the technological age where we can go and verify our sources with ease we still fall for news articles that are made to be seen as real when all it was is a giant hoax.  It's not like this is a new thing of course, but the feeling that we are becoming more gullible and susceptible to the articles we read on a daily basis.  There was a time where it was funny to see who would read an article from The Onion and post it as fact, but we now have articles out there that are published as truth and have caused dire consequences.

People need to understand that they need to check their sources as any person writing a paper for a class should and yes, popular news outlets do post bogus things from time to time and they need to be shown their errors when it happens.  

What bothers me is that some news outlets refuse to own up to their fake news and instead like to finger point towards the other news companies.  Let's look at Breitbart.  Breitbart has been caught by Vice News of posting a fake election map that only showed a small percentage of Democratic support.  Breitbart did admit the map was bogus, but they still continue to tweet that the left posted more fake news than they or other right wing/alt-right news agencies did. 

With so much focus on fake news it does bring every news article posted under scrutiny, but that does bring a positive to it: journalists have to be more on it to bring facts that can be backed up if their work is ever brought up for debate.  Yes, you still should not believe everything you read, say, and hear, but you have to make sure you do your research when you post, share, and talk.

Trump and Netanyahu: Partners in Crime

The nation of Israel is a peculiar place.  It is smack-dab in the middle of what's called the "Holy Land" where Islam, Judaism, and Christianity have been at odds and many conflicts have happened between them over many centuries.  In a modern world there is still issues that cause outbreaks of fighting and devastation between Jews and Muslims in this territory.  Sadly, it doesn't seem to end and probably will never end.

On that note, the current situation in Israel has become dire.  One of the biggest points of contention is the issue of Israeli settlements and how they affect the Western policy of wanting a two-state solution in Israel.  The two state solution involves letting Palestine become a country along with keeping Israel a country as well.  Israel would give up the Gaza Strip and the West Bank to Palestine in order to make this work.  The biggest obstacle into letting this happen is the host country itself: Israel

A Letter to Donald Trump and His Tweets

Let me just do this as a letter.  It's been agonizing to watch Donald Trump continuously tweet as a President-elect and not realize how dangerous he is becoming,  So let me start things off...

Game of Hacks

Chances are, if you have been reading the news post-election you have seen all the news articles about Russian hacking during the election.  If you haven't noticed here are some articles to get acquainted:

• Russian hacking and the 2016 election:  What you need to know (CNN)
• Russia's View of the Election Hacks: Denials, Amusement, and Comeuppance (The New Yorker)
• Russia Had Every Reason to Hack the U.S. Presidential Election (Alternet)
• Prominent Republican Joining Democrats to Solve Russian Election Hacking (Fox News Radio)

Friedman's Bureau

David M. Friedman has been nominated as the US Ambassador to Israel by Donald Trump.  He is an Orthodox Jew and a person that may create some headaches towards diplomacy in the Holy Land.

For background the land that is currently occupied by Israel has been a hotly contested area for centuries.  If you haven't read or learned anything about the Crusades between Christians and Muslims you need to do your research before reading anymore about this post.

It's Official

That's it, Donald Trump is officially the President of the United States of America.  The Electoral College placed their votes today and the count was 304-228 for Trump.  What is curious to note was that there were six faithless electors, but none of them gave their votes to Hillary Clinton.  Their votes went to Colin Powell (3), John Kasich (1), Ron Paul (1), and Faith Spotted Eagle (1).  It would have have taken more than 30 electors to change their votes in order to swing the vote towards Clinton.  While Clinton did have the popular vote by almost 3 million votes, the electoral college is what determines our President.  

The electoral college is designed to make sure the people do not elect the wrong candidate which, depending on the person, becomes a hotly contested debate on whether or not we should continue it.  I, for one, am still on the fence about using just the popular vote.  I think with this election it almost feels evil to beg the electors to change their vote to let Clinton win.  This is the system we have always used and yes, there are times when the popular vote and the electoral vote do not match, but we have to respect the system.  

So, for right now, until further notice, we have to accept the fact that we need to deal with Trump and see what will happen.  As long as we still have the Constitution and our rights to free speech and press I will continue to make articles about him.  Yes, this is a rare time that I am defending him, but it's only because we have a system in place that gives him a chance to have the spot.  

GOP Ambushes NC Politics aka Reichstag Fire Pt. 2

This year's election proved to be a head turner for sure.  The candidate everyone expected to win lost and right now everything feels like limbo, but if there was a ray of light it's with the state of North Carolina.  But like with every bratty child in existence, it shows that there is a reason we all can't have nice things.

North Carolina during the election made absolutely no sense.  For the Presidential race it went Republican for Donald Trump, but for the Gubernatorial race it went Democrat for Roy Cooper.  One of the main reasons it did not go Democrat for both is because there were enough people that while they definitely did not like Trump, they also did not trust Hillary Clinton so they voted for the governor's race, but left the President's race blank.  Trump had it in the bag now, but the race for governor was too tight to call.

Move Over Jackson, There is a New Kitchen Cabinet in DC

The whole platform of Donald Trump was his Reagan slogan of "Make America Great Again" and conservative voters bought it.  What they bought more was that he was a businessman, not a career politician therefore he was the outsider needed to clean up Washington; a modern day Mr. Smith Goes to Washington if you will.  The anti-establishment man is sheep in wolf's clothing, not the other way around.  His voters were hoping for "sensibility" and "forward-thinking" ways but have been stiffed so mightily, yet they do not even see that somehow.  If a Trump supporter gets upset by that then let's show them his picks for his cabinet and their most important asset to Trump: their wealth.

Morning Musings

Is seven in the morning too early to start a blog post?  Not if your profession requires you to be up a lot earlier than that on a daily basis.  Seven is sleeping in for me.  Anyways, here is the Morning Musings also known as "What I plan on posting this weekend."

I have four topics in mind (subject to change of course) that will be either covered all today or some today and some tomorrow:

1. Trump's Cabinet picks so far have a combined wealth of more than 1/3 of all US households
2. North Carolina GOP's last minute power-grabs
3. Russia's involvement in election hacking
4. David Friedman named as Trump's Ambassador to Israel

Stay tuned after I have my morning coffee...

I Chose a Dangerous Profession

Okay, so before anyone jumps to conclusions, I'm not a spy or a soldier so if anyone thinks I am working somewhere that has me in constant danger this isn't the article for you.  I am a teacher, an educator if I want to sound fancy.  I live in a red state that is getting a blue governor and I have no idea what my future holds.

Now before you go crazy and wonder if this is going to be a personal post instead of a political post, let me answer by saying my profession and my area have everything to do with politics.

Science: There's a Reason for it.

It is the year 2016 CE and yet people still cannot understand, nor do they try to understand, a real thing called science. Science has problems, solutions, equations, theories, and laws that are always changing when new theories or equations come through. No one argues (outside of debating which theory is more plausible) and every accepts the numbers when shown. This is entirely different to religion. Religion, as comedian Tim Minchin has stated, "kills" any argument made against it despite the overwhelming theories, laws, and practicalities towards it's falsehood.

Buddy System

Do you remember when you were in your American history class and learned about cronyism?  In case you forgot here is the definition:

The practice of partiality in awarding jobs and other advantages to friends or trusted colleagues, especially in politics and between politicians and supportive organizations.  

Now that you are refreshed lets look at the current storyline of Trump's cabinet setup.  The Trump platform promised to "drain the swamp" aka take undue influence out of politics.  Anyone with clear foresight knows that a shrewd businessman and a clever politician are two sides of the same coin so it should not have been a surprise at the people he has been nominating for his cabinet.  Speaking of which, let's look at some of his picks so far: