Please insert a big fat TOLDYASO right here.

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan is lashing out at opponents to his Puerto Rico bailout bill demanding they stop calling it a “bailout”.  Instead Ryan demands his opposition use the gaslighting term “restructuring”.
Hogwash.

A bailout by any other name is still a bailout.  A taxpayer funded restructuring of debt is still a bailout.  Puerto Rico brought this upon themselves.  Let them go insolvent and be forced to sell off their assets (ie. land, etc.) to pay back the bondholders.
Ryan’s position contends that if the U.S. government does nothing, then eventually the U.S. government will be forced to purchase all the debt and bail out Puerto Rico (ie. Wall Street bondholders/investors) entirely.  More hogwash.
What’s really being done here is Speaker Ryan setting up precedent.  Ryan is establishing the very first federal intervention into unsustainable state debt bailout.   Effectively if this happens the entire system of U.S. republicanism collapses.  (more…)

Candidate Donald Trump appeared together with his family for a CNN Town Hall event on Tuesday 4/12/16.  Here’s the full video of the interview and audience questions:

In an effort to keep the Daily Open Thread a little more open topic we are going to start a new daily thread for “2016 Presidential Politics”. Please use this thread to post anything relating to the Presidential Race and/or any of the candidates therein.

This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.

Donald Trump’s delegate and convention manager, Paul Manafort, interviewed by Sean Hannity last night:

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

One of the interesting aspects to this interview is Ann Coulter discussing the scope of the random support she encounters for Donald Trump from ordinary people.   This is a vastly underreported aspect for an intentional reason.
The financially dependent entities (political and media) don’t want the media discussion to contain any indications of the size and scope of Trump’s broad-base coalition.  Their unified interests are better protected if the consuming audience are kept oblivious to the vast support Donald Trump holds.
Increasingly, we are fine-tuning our antenna to this critical and overlooked point.  Much like Florida, in the run-up to the March 15th primary, there’s an intentional decision by the media to dilute/cloud the appearance of Trump’s support.  However, you might remember -despite their efforts- Trump won Florida by over 20 points; and won every county in the state except Miami-Dade.

There are more of us than them!

(more…)

Somewhat quietly, though not without some water-cooler discussion, the Republican Party Leadership is warning membership to stay away from the upcoming Cleveland Ohio convention.
The media is describing the issue as centering around those elected politicians who may want to avoid the potential for divisive controversy.  However, if you look at the actual landscape, and then look at the political ideology of those who are openly saying they are staying away, what you’ll notice is the RINO caucus, the ‘Decepticons’, are the most cautious.

If you spend some time digging through the professional GOPe messaging, what you’ll note is the party leadership seems fully aware something very dangerous might just come to fruition.  Not dangerous in a violent way per se’, but rather dangerous in a very political and contentious way; there’s very good reason for this. (more…)

Candidate Donald Trump is holding a campaign rally in Rome, New York at Griffiss International Airport beginning at 4:00pm EDT:
Live Stream Link – Alternate Live Stream #1

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan is heading up a National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) fundraiser in New York on April 25th.   However, the venue of the fundraiser is raising some eyebrows:

For those who might not know, the “Ricketts Family” are the primary donors to a Super-PAC specifically created to block Donald Trump from winning the GOP nomination.
Billionaire family Joe and Marlene Ricketts, owners of the Chicago Cubs, have recently given $5,000,000.oo to Katie Packer who heads “Our Principles PAC“, an organization created exclusively to defeat Donald Trump.
(more…)

New York – Running in his home state, Trump is supported by 60 percent of likely Republican voters, the poll found. Ohio Gov. John Kasich and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas trail far behind with 17 percent and 14 percent, respectively.
“Trump is just killing it,” said Baruch College pollster Mickey Blum.

Trump’s support in the April 19 primary is widespread, the poll found.
“Every demographic group goes for him,” said Baruch College pollster Doug Muzzio. “Every geographic group, every socio-economic group. And with large majorities.  Cruz ain’t doing it. And Kasich ain’t doing it.” (more…)