GOP on illegals voting.

It seems to me that the position the GOP takes on the subject of illegal aliens voting in our elections is illogical if not absurd. 

First,  nearly 50 percent of Americans who can vote, do not.  That is because they say "one vote doesn't matter" so what is the point.  The GOP then says those Americans don't care enough about our system to get involved so we should not worry about how they might have voted.

Second, the GOP then claims that illegal residents are dying to vote.  That means that illegals are willing to take a risk of a fine, jail time and then deportation after released from their 5 year prison term in order to cast a ballot that will have very little impact on the outcome of an election.

Ergo, if the 50 percent who can vote and don't, why would an individual illegal risk it all to do what most others don't want to do?  How does the GOP reconcile the first reality with the second claim?

The above deals with the question of why would an illegal resident vote.  The second part of this issue is how would the illegal resident go about voting if he wanted to take the risk.

To cast a ballot a person must go to a voting station and report giving a name and having that name appear on the voting register.  If that name is a person who has previously voted there would appear a signature next to the name.  How is the illegal to know what name to give and how to forge his or her signature?  There is also the reality that a polling place has poll watchers from each of the major parties in the district.  That poll watcher is a resident of that district and would have a very good chance of knowing or at least recognizing the person trying to vote.  Even if you don't have to show an ID, the current system would not allow just anyone to vote just because they say they want to.

The only way a person can vote is to be registered prior to the election date.  That would require filling out a voting form with name, address and age recorded and avowing that the statement being made is true knowing that a lie, if caught, would result in a 5 year jail time and a $ 250,000 fine (and in the case of an illegal alien, deportation).

Sorry, but none of this make any sense.

F-35

The first two F-35 Joint Strike Fighter plane have been delivered to Israel.  The program has been lambasted by President-elect Trump for being too costly; billions of dollars that could be spent on other "military and other purchases".  The new planes are the latest in technology and will "allow pilots to evade detection and fly at supersonic speeds while conducting air defense...".  The delivery to Israel was delayed when the planes could not take off from Italy due to "poor weather".

Election Option for 2016

If you can't or won't vote for Clinton or Trump what should you do? (Actually on second thought this is aimed at those who would otherwise be democratic candidate supporters).  One should vote because there are many candidates down the ballot that deserve support; so vote.  For President, one could vote Green or Libertarian.  My suggestion would be to write-in Senator Bernie Sanders.  He will still be around after the election and has a greater chance of effecting change than either Johnson or Stein.  If Clinton wins (which appears likely) my guess is she will push Sanders aside.  He could be the choice to replace Harry Reid as Minority Leader of the Senate; Reid is retiring at the end of this January and Sanders could be a replacement.  If the democrats can manage to re-take the Senate or even win 50 seats (a tie) then the Minority Leader become the Majority Leader and will replace Mitch McConnell.  Unfortunately "Billary" has already made it known that she/he will pick Senator Chuck Schemer of NY for that post, further marginalizing Sanders.  Clinton has already shunned Sanders and his supporters by her pick of Kaine as her VP and I believe some promise was made with Sanders-a cabinet post maybe-to keep him in line and supporting the ticket until after the election. Whatever promise was made to Sanders before the convention will after the election be "shit-canned" and he and his ideas will be ignored for the next four years.  Thus, getting to my point, a write in for Sanders will make an impression on Clinton and her team that his supporters will not stay in line if Sanders is ignored.  

Elections

I hope after this election is over we quit telling other countries how to run their elections.  I know Winston Churchill once said "Democracy is the worse form of government, except for all others".  If this election goes any longer, it will give reason to call into question the wisdom of that old English statesman.

Thought for the day Oct 10, 2016

People do not want to be educated, they want to be entertained.  Think about the ancient Romans and pitting Gladiators against each other to fight to the death.  All for the entertainment of the Roman citizens.  Think of our devotion to the sports of every season and the television programs with violence and sex 24/7; it's entertainment that is the key, and that applies to our election process for President.  It would seem Donald Trump understands that and he just might be proven correct on November 8th. (God forbid).

Supreme Court Nominee

President Obama noted that not since the Civil War has the Congress refused to confirm a Supreme Court justice.  Now the Obama appointee-in case you have forgotten- is Merrick B. Garland. It will be interesting to see what Congress will do once the election is over.  If Trump wins they will refuse to confirm guessing they will get a more right wing nominee from Trump and if Clinton wins that will jump on Garland figuring Clinton will nominate a more left wing judge.
Update:  The MSNBC post on Facebook was; "The last time a Supreme Court seat was kept vacant through Election Day was in 1864.  At the height of the Civil War. So, this isn't about precedent.  This is about the obstruction of a broken Republican-led Congress". On Facebook on Oct 9, 2016

First Presidential Debate of 2016

The "fact checker" for The Record newspaper in Bergen County, NJ provided some answers to statements that were incorrect.  First, Clinton stated she did not call the Trans-Pacific Partnership the "gold standard" of trade agreements.  Trump said she did.  Trump is correct.  She said it during a 2012 trip to Australia.  Second, Trump has claimed he can not release his tax returns because they "are under audit".  That is incorrect.  His attorney's say his returns are "under review"; they do not say audit.  Trump says he is audited every year; IRS officials claim no one is audited that frequently. Third, Trump says he got his start with a one million dollar gift from his father.  He really got "loan guarantees of $ 10 million and a 2005 report stated he "drew an additional $ 10 million from his future inheritance".