Source: Huffington Post

Khizr Khan, who denounced Trump at the Democratic Convention, said “an ethical, moral stand has to be taken, regardless of the political costs.”

Khan, the father of Muslim-American war hero Army Capt. Humayun S.M. Khan, who was killed in action in Iraq, implored Republican leaders of the Senate and House to disown their presidential nominee, Donald Trump, once and for all.

Appearing in his living room with his wife on MSNBC, Khan stared unwaveringly into the camera with watery eyes and asked Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.): “Isn’t this time to repudiate Trump?”

“If your candidate wins and he governs the way he has campaigned, my country, this country, will have constitutional crises [like] never before in the history of this country, and my conscience compels me under these very difficult circumstances,” Khan said. “But there is so much at stake, and I appeal to both of these leaders, this is the time. There comes a time in the history of a nation where an ethical, moral stand has to be taken regardless of the political costs. The only reason they’re not repudiating his behavior, his threat to our democracy, our decency, our foundation, is just because of political consequences.”

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/khizr-khan-paul-ryan-mitch-mcconnell_us_579c1d52e4b0693164c1726f

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Mr. Kahn is as brave as his deceased son. A man obviously of great moral character,
and his story is our story, because he could be the parents or grandparents or ancestors
of any one of us, who understands America's unique moral role in the world.

It really is time for Trump to surrender. Every patriotic American must do all they can
to make sure our country does not fall into the sea of darkness.

The possibility that Trump would encourage his supporters not to accept this defeat, perhaps by claiming that the vote was rigged or that undocumented workers voted in droves in key southwestern states, must be gravely considered at this point. This conclusion is not simply the product of progressive paranoia, but it is a reaction to what we have seen and heard from Trump and his supporters for the last year, but even more so during the last week.

Speculating about what a candidate might do if he loses is a strange exercise, and one that should have no place in a consolidated and stable democracy, if flawed, democracy like ours. However, it is something that based on the behavior of Trump and his supporters, must be considered. Throughout this long campaign we have seen Trump encourage and even advocate violent behavior, stand by while his Democratic opponent is accused of treason and murder, and evince little understanding of democratic processes or mores. The question of what this man will do if, as is still likely, he loses on November 8th, cannot be ignored given this context.

Trump, should he be defeated, could easily eschew the traditional gracious concession, mobilize his supporters to demonstrate their dissatisfaction with the outcome and their disbelief in his Democratic vanquisher’s victory. Ultimately, however, it would be very difficult for him to stop Clinton from becoming President. Trump controls no security forces, has little institutional support and has few concrete resources other than his Twitter account, but he clearly has the enthusiastic support of enough people to create problems in the immediate aftermath of his possible defeat. Those people could easily protest for a few weeks and continue a lower level campaign of failing to recognize Clinton’s presidency for years.

It should also be remembered that Trump a man with a loyal following of angry citizens with an extraordinarily exaggerated sense of their own victimhood and suffering, and that he has the temperament of an acutely narcissistic middle school student. He also has built a presidential campaign heavily around overreacting, often viciously and with prejudice towards almost all, to every real, or more frequently, imagined, insult or slight he has experienced. This is not the temperament of somebody who will accept an electoral defeat move on and urge his followers to do the same. In a very real way, while seeing this man elected President of the United States should, and does, strike fear in the hearts of millions, even his defeat could create enduring problems for American democracy.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lincoln-mitchell/but-what-if-trump-loses_b_11153432.html

Source: Bloomberg

Donald Trump plans to create and fund super-PACs specifically aimed at ending the political careers of Ted Cruz and John Kasich should either run for office again, after both snubbed the Republican nominee during his party's convention this week, a source familiar with Trump’s thinking told Bloomberg Politics on Friday.

The plan would involve Trump investing millions of his own money --perhaps $20 million or more -- in one or two outside groups about six months before their respective election days if Texas Senator Cruz or Ohio Governor Kasich stand for office again. The source said Trump is willing to set up two separate super-PACs – one for Cruz and one for Kasich – and put millions into each.

The source said that Trump would be willing to invest tens of millions more if necessary to ensure his former competitors didn't win another race. Of course, the ire that Trump has exhibited in the aftermath of the bitter nomination contest could fade over time, leading the sometimes mercurial billionaire to drop the plans.

The source said that despite another former nomination rival Jeb Bush skipping the national convention and refusing to back the Republican nominee, Trump “does not care” about doing the same against Bush because the former Florida governor is already “destroyed.”

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-07-22/trump-would-fund-super-pacs-aimed-at-taking-down-cruz-kasich-iqybu9m1

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I'm just speechless. Vindictiveness of a bruised and fragile ego. Hopefully
he'll spend the next couple of months fighting his old rivals. They say you
have everything in a campaign - except time.

Source: Huffington Post

CLEVELAND ― Hillary Clinton’s camp is focusing on Tom Vilsack as a potential running mate, but not because he is the former governor of Iowa or the longest-serving secretary of agriculture in half a century.

It’s because Vilsack, in his own mind, remains a son of the place of his birth and upbringing ― Pittsburgh. He maintains close ties there, and is a typically impassioned member of the Pittsburgh diaspora of emigrants created by the collapse of the local steel-based economy in the 1970s.

An orphan who was left almost literally on the doorstep of the Sister of Charity’s Roselia Founding Home in 1950, Vilsack was educated in local schools and steeped in Pittsburgh culture before leaving the city for good after graduating from Hamilton College.

A Roman Catholic whose father was of Eastern European stock ― the staple of working-class white Pittsburgh ― Vilsack grew up an ardent fan of the Pirates and the Steelers and remains focused on them with the kind of emotion and obsessive detail that only the locals fully understand and appreciate.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hillary-clinton-tom-vilsack_us_57910f5fe4b0fc06ec5c20b9?section=

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I can swallow hard on the Monsanto angle, but in resume, personability, intellect,
life story, Vilsack would be quite a VP heavyweight.

Source: Reuters via Philadelphia Inquirer

CLEVELAND (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is considering nominating Oklahoma oil and gas mogul Harold Hamm as energy secretary if elected to the White House on Nov. 8, according to four sources close to Trump's campaign.

The chief executive of Continental Resources would be the first U.S. energy secretary drawn directly from the oil and gas industry since the cabinet position was created in 1977, a move that would jolt environmental advocates but bolster Trump's pro-drilling energy platform.

_______________

Trump, who has yet to make any announcements about his prospective cabinet, has already surrounded himself with strong advocates of traditional energy sources like oil, gas, and coal and has promised to gut environmental regulations to boost drilling and mining if elected.

He tapped U.S. Congressman Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, a climate skeptic and drilling advocate, to help draw up his campaign energy platform, and picked Indiana Governor Mike Pence, also a climate skeptic, as his running mate.

Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/presidential/20160721_Reuters_Report_tagreuterscom2016newsmlKCN10100Z_Exclusive__Trump_considering_top_fracking_mogul_Harold_Hamm_as_energy_secretary___sources.html

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Cheney's Energy Task Force on Steroids!

The end of history is upon us.

Source: Reuters via Philadelphia Inquirer

There was no immediate comment from the American Federation of Government Employees, which is the largest federal employee union in the United States.

Christie also told the gathering that changing the leadership of the Environmental Protection Agency, long a target of Republicans concerned about over regulation, would be a top priority for Trump should he win in November.

Trump has previously vowed to eliminate the EPA and roll back some of America's most ambitious environmental policies, actions that he says would revive the U.S. oil and coal industries and bolster national security.

Christie added that the Trump team wants to let businesspeople serve in government part time without having to give up their jobs in the private sector. Trump frequently says he is better equipped to be president because of his business experience.

Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/presidential/20160720_Reuters_Report_tagreuterscom2016newsmlKCN10003A_Exclusive__Trump_could_seek_new_law_to_purge_government_of_Obama_appointees.html

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This is a really big deal. We have Civil Service for a reason, to find dedicated public
servants who excel in their careers. Previously the Spoils System flushed appointees
with each administration's demise. Purging the government of appointees is sort of
akin to Party Purges in the Soviet Union. The Progressive Era pre and post Robber
Baron fought for a Civil Service System.

Why do we have to upturn everything to suit Christie, and Trump, and Big Business?
There are lots of pieces of America working very well, thank you very much.

The Republicans have shown how they want to take on the Democratic frontrunner, by framing her as a criminal. The result will be relentless negativity

The result will be a relentlessly negative campaign from now until November, with both candidates depicting the other as the greater evil. And if talk of evil, rather than the merely criminal, sounds excessive, consider Tuesday’s closing speech by one of Trump’s former fellow candidates, Ben Carson. He suggested Clinton was a devotee of a man, the long-ago radical Saul Alinsky, who had once praised … Lucifer. Yes: Hillary Clinton was just one degree of separation away from Satan. If this is what the Republicans are saying about their Democratic opponent in July, imagine what they’ll be saying come November.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jul/20/republicans-target-hillary-clinton-vicious-campaign-us-elections

_______________________

This is Willie Horton on Steroids. We have to go negative on Trump. Images of him in handcuffs.
Whatever it takes.

Disposal of national parks, wilderness, forests, and other public lands is not the only way the GOP platform addresses conservation issues. Delegates also approved an amendment aimed at curbing the Antiquities Act of 1906, a law which has protected national monuments ranging from the Statue of Liberty to the Grand Canyon. The amendment requires “the approval of the state where the national monument is designated or a national park is proposed,” which would severely limit the President’s ability to protect at-risk places.

The delegates also passed language specifying that the Republican Party believes that the sage grouse, prairie chicken, and the gray wolf should be exempt from the protections of the Endangered Species Act. This not only gets into the weeds of local issues, but cuts corners in scientific species and conservation management regulations.

Party delegates will vote to adopt the draft document at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland next week.

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/07/15/3798652/gop-platform-national-parks/

Source: Politico

An interlocking blue T and P (for Trump and Pence), with the T going through the white space in the P, appears to the left of four red stripes and three white stripes, imitating the American flag.

Below the logo is Trump's name, in its usual font and blue color, and Pence's name below in slightly smaller type, and in red.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/trump-vp-pick-mike-spence-logo-225612

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Looks to me like an auger going into a toilet bowl