Beltway Insider: Trump/Clinton, Mueller, Boeing, Homelessness, 2020 Election Top 2019 News Stories

The 2016 Presidential election between President Donald J. Trump and Democratic Hillary Rodham Clinton dominated the second half of the decade polarizing America, turning politics into a battlefield, as the office dissolved into a swamp of corruption.

President Trump's job approval rating, according to the website fivethirtyeight.com, which tracked for the period ending December 22, 2019, remained consistent at 43.3% of those polled who approve of his effectiveness as President and those who disapprove of his effectiveness decreased two percentage points to 52.2%. A slight 3% of the population polled have no opinion. Ratings are calculated bi-monthly.

The 2016 Election

The 2016 Presidential Election dominated politics from the time Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton announced she was running for the President of the United States. Her first challenger throughout the primary season was Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who with his particular brand of democratic socialism appealed to a wide range of voters and the two were engaged in hotly contested battles throughout.

The political sparring between the two would, with the entrance of Donald Trump, become a full-on mud wrestling match. After Clinton was nominated and Sanders awarded his delegates to her, what appeared to be a fail safe sank like the Titanic.


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Looking back, as it is four year later and the next primary season is quickly approaching, the lessons learned should move the democrats back into the Oval Office. Mrs. Clinton, it seems, never had a chance, not because she wasn't qualified, or the best person for the job, or even the most popular, as history tells us she did win the popular vote, the reasons for the shocking and stunning defeat lie in the belief in the integrity of the office and one fatal flaw.

The integrity of the office wouldn't allow career politicians to openly participate in the fearmongering "hostile takeover" style of politics used by Republican challenger Donald Trump.

The fatal flaw, of course, was ignoring Bernie Sanders' 17million votes and his wide base of support. The American public has a meritorious belief, if the position is earned it should be rewarded. He earned the second place, the VP spot on the ticket, and was overlooked in favor of a democratic gift to a relative unknown. Winning the popular vote isn't enough, demographics isn't enough, the United States presidency is determined on the Electoral College when it works, we embrace it when it fails the system is flawed.

Of course, those are the internal issues. As the Trump Presidency came into full spotlight his use of foreign governments to secure damaging information, and in reality, to do his dirty work for him in exchange for favors, launched the Mueller Investigation which dominated the remainder for the decade.

Mueller Investigation

The 2016 Presidential Election also spawned the Investigation Into Russian Interference In The 2016 Presidential Election led by former FBI Director Robert S. Mueller.

After two years of a meticulous investigation, six members of the President's inner circle have pled guilty and one convicted at trial.

"In all, 34 people and three companies have been criminally charged as a result of the probe. Mueller was named special counsel in May 2017 by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, and directed to investigate "any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump" and "any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation,"' NBC.com reported.

Impeachment

The final report presented by Director Mueller, which did not exonerate the President from any wrongdoing but did state it is impossible to charge a sitting president, spawned a further investigation by the House Impeachment committee.

Two members of the House intelligence Chairman Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA.) and House Judiciary Chairman Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) each controlled the impeachment process beginning with the hearings into the possibility of impeachment.

Following the hearings presided by Schiff and called a sham by Republican members of the House, two articles of impeachment were sent to the Judiciary Chairman, after further hearings, the two articles of impeachment were adopted and sent for a full House vote.

On December 18, 2019, nearly three years after the President took the oath of office, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi presided over a Impeachment vote. By the end of the day, the House of Representatives who has full control over the impeachment voted to adopt the two articles of impeachment presented. President Donald J. Trump had been impeached.

2020 will bring many events to Washington, the possibility of a new president, a senate trial to determine if the sitting president will be impeached and removed from office and possibly as the president leaves office criminal charges from the revelations of the Mueller Report.

Boeing Profit Over Safety Takes its Toll

Aviation giant Boeing took a hard hit this year as the global community banned the company's popular 737 MAX jets from usage after it was discovered a malfunctioning sensor was responsible for two airplane crashes that killed 346.

With more than 5000 737 MAX jets ordered worldwide, the grounding of the fleet crippled the company who lost public trust and in turn revenue from plummeting stock value as the company went into crisis mode and attempted to manipulate and report all is well and repaired.

President Trump also stood by the corporate giant, until the very bitter end, and announced after every nation and airline banned the use of the jets essentially grounding the airliner globally.


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While the world was determined to put the safety of its citizen above corporate profit or plausibility "The U.S. Federal Aviation Authority issued a global notice of "continued airworthiness" on Monday night. "External reports are drawing similarities between this accident and the Lion Air Flight 610 accident on October 29, 2018. However, this investigation has just begun and to date we have not been provided data to draw any conclusions or take any actions," Time Magazine reported in March 2019.

Nations Pushback as Max Fleet Deemed Unsafe

By March 13, 2019 more than 50 nations had banned the MAX 737, the United States soon followed suit and also grounded the aircraft. The jet airliner has remained on the tarmac, grounded and banned from use for more than ten months. It is doubtful, even with the full-scale effort by Boeing to get its fleet operational, the fact of supply and demand has now added safety to the equation. It is not enough to be the global supplier, you must be the global provider with a determined effort to seek safety first, profit second. Unfortunately, the early missteps in Boeing rush to get the fleet operational created a long -credibility problem. Worldwide more than 500 Boeing 737 MAX jets have been grounded.

Who's Expendable in Aviation Safety

The harsh reality comes after two Boeing MAX 737 jets, Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, crashed killing a total of 346 deaths. The Lion Air, a no-frills, inexpensive airlines operating from Jakarta Indonesia crashed on October 29, 2018. Ethiopian Airlines went down minutes after take-off in March 2019 also killing everyone on board.

The similarities in the crashes, and additional flight data recovered from the airliners black boxes enabled the Air safety Investigators to realize the problem wasn't pilot error but a malfunction within the aircraft.

Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines, both used the Boeing MAX 737 jets, each operated from third world countries were the first to suffer the epic loss of life and failures caused by the aircraft.

Even as Boeing has clearly stated since then, the MAX 737 had been delivered globally, the two crashes involved Indonesian and Ethiopian nations. It was a ticking time bomb and those swift and decisive actions from every nation outside the United States proved the sorry fact even as every life matters some matter less in the world of big business and corporate profit.

Board Finally Acts, Too Little Too Late

The Board of Directors at Boeing finally responded internally to the year long loss of profit and more importantly public trust and effectively terminated former CEO Dennis Muilenberg. Greg Smith, formerly Boeing's, Chief Financial Officer, has been named Interim President and CEO. Boeing has also announced David L. Calhoun will take over as CEO on January 13, 2020.

The ouster comes after a year of escalating tensions between Boeing and the FAA and also issues of attempts to secure safety approvals. The plummeting stock and billion dollars losses left the corporation, once the industry leader, no choice.

"Muilenburg, who was fired in the midst of one of the company's worst crises in its 103-year history. Boeing has faced a series of delays in fixing its best-selling jet, the 737 Max, after two deadly crashes, and it's uncertain when the model will return to the air," The New York Times reported.

Additionally, General Counsel Michael Luttig informed the board of his decision to retire at years end. Luttig, who has been with the company for 14 years, and had recently been "managing legal matters associated with the Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 accidents and advising the Board on strategic matters," eturbonews.com reported.


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"Judge Luttig is one of the finest legal minds in the Nation and he has expertly and tirelessly guided our company as General Counsel, Counselor, and Senior Advisor," said Interim Boeing President and CEO Greg Smith.

The entire fleet of pre-ordered MAX 737, which supplied nearly every air transportation fleet in the world, still sits on the tarmac at the Boeing plant. Insiders appear to be optimistic and expect the FAA to approve the MAX 737 sometime in the beginning of 2020.

FAA approval and public trust are two entirely different areas and even with the MAX ready for delivery governments of the world, pilots and passengers, are hard pressed to believe the safety issues have been fully repaired and pilot training is enough.

Escalating International Homeless Crisis Ushers in Decade of New Awareness

The world also witnessed throughout the decade a growing global plague of homelessness, and not the occasional vagrant, entire shanty towns, tent cities, popping up in countries around the world. The worldwide numbers are staggering, more than 1.6billion people are homeless.

"Obtaining an accurate picture of homelessness globally is challenging for several reasons. First, and perhaps most problematic, is variations in definitions. Homelessness can vary from simply the absence of adequate living quarters or rough sleeping to include the lack of a permanent residence that provides roots, security, identity and emotional wellbeing. The absence of an internationally agreed upon definition of homelessness hampers meaningful comparisons. The United Nations has recognized that definitions vary across countries because homelessness is essentially culturally defined based on concepts such as adequate housing, minimum community housing standard or security of tenure," Yale University reported in 2017, the cause and effect of homelessness, "As Cities Grow, So Do the number of Homeless.


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The fact remains in the United States, allegedly the richest nation in the world, and still we suffer with the inability to find a feasible solution to this blight on our society. We talk, hold symposiums, create glossy bi-folds, and hold lengthy studies, present terms and definitions, we arm ourselves with information and to date not one viable plan has been presented that can be adopted globally or even tested locally. All fifty states in the United States suffer with a homeless problem. Major cities throughout the world suffer from the same plague. A global affordable housing shortage and social services that will aid those who should be in monitored care facilities.

Election 2020 – A Year in Review; A Countdown Begins

With January 2020 days away, the countdown to November 2020 Election is almost officially here. The Democratic National Committee, the DNC, scheduled a series of ten debates, to introduce to the American public the next democratic challenger for the president of the United States.

Beginning in June, debates have been held each month. A total of 29 major Democratic candidates started the debate process in June. Of these, 22 candidates have participated in at least one debate. There are 15 active major candidates, 13 of whom have participated in at least one debate.


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As of January, five candidates Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg have qualified to participate in the seventh debate. Debate eight, nine and ten will be held in February leading up to Super Tuesday.

The very crowded field or potential candidates began with 24 and as the DNC continued to increase the benchmark requirements for participation including financial supporters and national poll rankings the possibilities narrowed.

 

For more information on President Donald Trump www.whitehouse.gov.

Sources: Various © Articles covered by Copyright protection.

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