TheNextReport

It's still October. For those who follow the election of 2016, the month will be remembered as the time when American voters learned that the lurid details of Donald Trump's twisted libido were more important to the electoral discussion than the candidates' positions on a few minor considerations such as: the economy, jobs, the ongoing war in the Middle East, climate change, immigration, energy, domestic and foreign terrorism, trade, healthcare, education funding, tax policy, minimum wage, the budget deficit, and so on. Yet, it's still October and anything could happen. Now, most of the country is familiar with the term "October Surprise."  It refers to a potentially damaging news event or piece of controversial information that is deliberately timed for public release close to election day in order to scuttle an adversary's candidacy. The Surprise is a well-worn tradition in the circus of American politics. A noted example in the race for president is G...

One of the fundamental tenets of the rapidly disintegrating Republican party is opposition to government regulation. Those on the Democratic team need to make sure that Hillary (and other party leaders) talk more about the relationship between Republican party philosophy and the near catastrophic financial meltdown of 2008. In fact, that should be done at every available opportunity.  Deregulation of the banking system and risky practices in the mortgage industry were directly responsible for creating the conditions that resulted in the global financial crisis. A greater collapse was prevented only by the intervention of the government led by George W. Bush's Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Paulson. The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act brought order to the chaos with a life raft of  bank bailouts and corporate rescues. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was signed into law by President Obama in 2009, providing an unprecedented $832 billion for a vast program in...

The country is in an uproar.The release of an audiotape last weekend highlighting Donald Trump's crude behavior toward women has enabled  many Americans to believe that it is just what they have been waiting for:  that sucking you hear is the sound of the last straw... or is it? Obtained by a source at the Access Hollywood TV show, the tape made clear that the Donald believed he could behave with women any way he wanted to because he's a big celebrity. After all he has done for the sake of the nation during his run for the White House, Trump now has the country examining in intimate detail his predatory behavior, debating the meaning and impact of "dirty words" and what can sometimes be their criminal implications.  But don't count out the Sultan of Scowl yet. He has defied the authors of his political obituary many times before. With this latest scandal, Trump has touched a real nerve in the moral psyche of America. General Potty Mouth can clearly see the ima...

With post-debate poll numbers moving positively for Hillary Clinton, it is clear that congressional Democrats should waste no time in augmenting efforts to wage the battle for control of Congress. During her campaign for president, Hillery has emphasized her ability to work with Congress to "get things done."  Could putting another Democrat in the White House spell the end of the hyper-partisan atmosphere that has crippled Washington for the past eight years, or would an electoral victory for Ms. Clinton be seen by Republicans as a clarion call to resurrect the "government by obstruction" regime that right-wing Tea Party conservatives forced on the American people during the Obama administration. As envisioned by Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell in 2008, the GOP response to the election of Barack Obama would be to march in lockstep to the political right. The Republican strategy of strangling legislation in its infancy, blocking judicial appointments, cutting spen...

Alicia Machado was 18 years old when she won the title of Miss Universe, better known as the most beautiful woman in the world. It was 1996 and ownership of the international beauty pageant had recently been secured by billionaire presidential candidate and Jabba the Hutt look-alike, Donald Trump. Some people were surprised when Trump added the pageant to his portfolio of real estate, luxury office buildings, business parks, golf courses, hotels, gambling casinos, television production companies, exclusive wines, signature apparel and other properties. Others who were familiar with the Donald's dalliances and his multiple marriages knew that the pageant acquisition was par for the course. Mr. Trump, who makes millions from licensing the Trump name, likes to collect beautiful things, especially beautiful women.  Like the aforementioned Hutt, he was known as a well-heeled fat-cat, a high-powered wheeler-dealer with questionable ethics and deep media contacts. Mr. Trump's approv...

With sixty days left until the U.S. elections, the campaign for president has turned into an unprecedented circus of vicious personal attacks, bombastic jingoism, and racist rhetoric largely as a result of the deranged behavior of Donald Trump. One of the factors repeatedly cited by Mr. Trump as a justification for his candidacy has been his skill as a business man. Though it has never been shown exactly how business success translates into effectiveness as a statesman, this belief continues to be widespread, even when a business person has demonstrated questionable business ethics. Mr. Trump's business acumen has been shown in the four bankruptcies he has accumulated, in the lawsuits brought by numerous building contractors, trades-people and small businesses that Trump refused to pay over the years, and by students who were denied tuition refunds when Trump University shut down in 2012.    In the run-up to the presidential race, Donald Trump has surrounded himself with...

   The 2016 presidential election (better known as the insane campaign) motored on with Donald Trump visiting a black Baptist church in Detroit where he made another appeal for the votes of the nation's African Americans. The visit was part of the candidate's effort to reach out to the nation's minorities.  It was reported that the event would include an interview with the pastor of the church with the questions and answers entirely scripted.  With polls showing that a hearty one percent of black people support Trump's candidacy, winning over the folks that he has insulted so often would be a long row to hoe. Reports indicated that Mr Trump was greeted with politely scattered applause from the church goers, a reflection it would seem of the profound discomfort felt by the black community aware of his refusal to disavow statements of support from the KKK and other extreme rightest groups. The video of the visit showed the yellow coifed New York real estate magnate a...