The party conventions begin

[Sir X]

The Republican Party’s national convention starts today [schedule]. Conventions are a chance for a political party to showcase their unity, their candidate, and their policies. Next week the Democrats take the national stage. Viewers will get a fairly direct contrast.

As measured via state polls, the Presidential race shows Hillary Clinton slightly ahead of where Barack Obama was at this point in 2008 and 2012. So far, the 2016 race has been stable.


http://election.princeton.edu/

[Sir X]

A labarite convention:Let the madness begin

By the middle of the week, it seemed to have come down to three, Gingrich, Christie and Pence. Keeping the suspense high, a formula requirement, the campaign leaked like a sieve, each story contradicting the other. Chris Christie who had pretty much become The Donald’s man servant over the last couple of months was probably the most pathetic, appearing to have sold his soul without realizing that Trump’s trusted son-in-law, Jared Kushner would likely put the kibosh on him since he put Kushner’s daddy in jail for a very long time. It’s a pretty big ego that would have believed that wouldn’t be a problem, but this is Chris Christie we’re talking about.

Then there was Newt, the garrulous psuedo-intellectual whose aggressive nasty streak was very appealing to the equally nasty Trump. Kushner was rumored to be in his corner, largely at the behest of Sheldon Adelson, a real multi-billionaire, who actually writes big checks. But the rest of the Trump brood reportedly preferred the midwestern wingnut Mike Pence, likely out of some deluded and desperate belief that they could normalize their father by choosing a standard issue conservative Republican. Unfortunately, after it had leaked that he was chosen, the campaign insisted that a choice hadn’t been made so they could keep the “suspense” alive until the big announcement. When that had to be postponed because of the horrific events in Nice, Newt went on Fox and made a last minute hail Mary play for the job by taking a position on terrorism even more preposterous than Trump’s, by proposing a sort of Inquisition demanding that all Muslims disavow Sharia law and deporting all those who “fail the test.”

http://www.salon.com/2016/07/18/let_...lete_insanity/

[Sir X]

Jones, a staunch supporter of Donald Trump, insists the “New World Order” and “globalists” control the planet. He also claims that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Oklahoma City bombing and Sept. 11 attacks were “false flags” to take away Americans’ freedoms.

Trump himself has appeared on Jones’ extreme right-wing show. Some of InfoWars’ more popular conspiracies are that the government is poisoning Americans with water fluoridation and that the United Nations is a communist cabal.

http://www.salon.com/2016/07/18/its_...ight_wing_hub/