Obama’s People!

Many people seem to miss president Barack Obama. Even conservative Max Boot says “How I miss Barack Obama.  His presidency appears to be a lost golden age when reason and morality reigned. All of his faults, real as they were, fade into insignificance compared with the crippling defects of his successor. And his strengths — seriousness, dignity, intellect, probity, dedication to ideals larger than self — shine all the more clearly in retrospect.”

And Max is not the only one to miss Obama. 

Now that the midterms are over, people are considering running for president of the United States and some of those people are friends of Barack Obama-here are a few to consider.

Eric Holder!

Eric Holder was Barack Obama’s Attorney general from 2009 to 2015. 

Holder says he will decide if he will run for president by early 2019. 

With former president Barack Obama's backing.  former Attorney General Eric Holder is leading a new party effort to redraw the jurisdictional lines, thus ending  gerrymandering, 

The National Democratic Redistricting Committee-the NDRC,  is building a targeted, state-by-state strategy that ensures Democrats can fight back and produce fairer maps in the 2021 redistricting process.

Great work! The USA needs fairer elections. 

Will Eric Holder run for president of the United States in 2020? He has not yet announced but we wish him luck if he does.

Joe Biden!

Joseph Biden was Barack Obama’s  vice president from 2009 to 2017. 

Biden had family issues in 2016 but if he had ran for president in 2016 many people think he would have won. Will Joe run in 2020?

Slate says Democrats can do better than Joe Biden in 2020. Paste Magazine agrees.

Vanity Fair thinks a Biden presidency is worth  considering. Spoiler alert Biden is not ruling out 2020. Trump claims he would love to run against Biden in 2020.

Here at the Strangest Adventures  we like Joe Biden for president of the United States but wonder if the US needs younger leadership now.

John Kerry!

Speaking of older leader ship, John Kerry was Obama’s second secretary of state. 

John Kerry ran for president in 2004 but he was swift-boated and  lost to George W. Bush.

Obama made Kerry his second SOS and he did his job well but Trump is not a fan. 

But now Kerry sounds like a 2020 candidate according to Politico. 

Kerry was quite angry after Trump withdrew the United States from the Paris climate accord, 

Kerry once told the British newspaper The Guardian  “People are going to die because of the decision Donald Trump made.”

Obama has other friends too but perhaps they are long shots to run for president of the United States of America. 

The Rock!

Dwayne Johnson, also known as The Rock, is multi-talented and has played college football  for the University of Miami. He has also been a professional wrestler and still is an actor and producer.    

Will he run for president of the United States in 2020? Maybe. 

We say his lack of political experience rules him out but then Trump had no political experience either.

Oprah Winfrey!  

Oprah Winfrey  is possibly one of the most famous women in America.

She turned a job as a TV news anchor into  a career hosting a talk show. then transitioned her hit talk show into a media and business empire. 

Oprah supported Barack Obama as a presidential candidate.

One year Oprah Winfrey gave a rousing speech at the Golden Globes, afterwards many people thought she should run for president. 

At the Strangest Adventures we also know that everyone should consider the irrational, pseudoscientific fantasy land Oprah helped create in the United States Of America.

We do not approve of Oprah promoting scientifically dubious theories.

Some people have suggested that Oprah Winfrey  should run to become president of the United States. We disagree but who knows who will run in 2020? We can hardly wait to find out.

Vote 2018!

It’s election time in America-midterm elections are on Tuesday the 6th of November.That's tomorrow! They are midway between presidential elections and people often ignore them but this time they are important. If one or both houses of congress get controlled by democrats (president Trump is a republican) then congress can start holding the president responsible for his actions and maybe even his words. In the last big election, in 2016, Trump became president and the world was shocked: this time the world could be just as shocked, by change. The United States House of Representatives has 435 seats and all are contested but only 35 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate will be contested.

Most political analysts believe that democrats will take the house and republicans will keep the senate.

Also 35 governorships are being contested, the democrats expect to take the majority there as well because Trump seems to be very unpopular.

Republicans seem to be only too aware of their own unpopularity. Though Trump has the white house and his party controls congress a majority of voters are unhappy with this situation. Because of this some fairly substandard republican candidates are running this time. 

Here at The Strangest Adventures we already told you about Nazi republican Arthur Jones.

His "secret" identity" is Jack Justice

Steve West is another troubled republican. 

Steve West is running for the Missouri House of Representatives District 15   and is such a bigot that two of his children are speaking out against him. 

Even the republican party is denouncing him. 

He plays a character on radio and the internet, Jack Justice. Here is a taste of his antisemitism and hatred of other groups on his youtube channel.

Is he too extreme? You decide.

Neoconfederate Corey Stewart

Corey Stewart is another bigot republican running. Corey Stewart was Donald Trump’s Virginia campaign chairman In 2016 Corey said “I was Trump before Trump was Trump.” He is a favorite of white supremacists and he is trying to get elected to the US senate from Virginia. 

Is Corey Stewart too extreme? Read this and decide.

One aspect of this election is extreme republicans but another aspect of this election is women running for office. Why are so many women inspired to run for office this year?

Is it because the president bragged about grabbing women-his sexual misconduct?

Are women angry about the Kavanaugh supreme court hearing? And how it reminds them that they are not being heard?

Are they angry about how little has changed since the supreme court hearing for Clarence Thomas in 1991?

Keep in mind the reaction then was president George Herbert Walker Bush lost his reelection bid in 1992 and many women got elected to congress.1992 was called the Year of the Woman.

The class of 1992

Women that won in 1992 discuss the midterms of 2018 here.

A historian explains the striking parallels between 1992’s “Year of the Woman” and 2018.

2018 is also becoming known as the  Year of the Woman because a record number of women are running for political office in 2018.  Sixteen gubernatorial candidates,  twenty three senate candidates, and 237 house of representatives candidates are woman. Maybe 2018 should be called Year of the Women!

Alyse Galvin who is running for the open seat representing Alaska in the US house of representatives as a democrat against republican Don Young, exemplifies these times.

Alyse is a first time candidate running against the house’s longest serving member, Don King. A woman replacing a man is a recurring theme this year.

Woman replaces man?

Alyse Galvin thinks  it is time for a new Alaska voice in Congress. Is it?

Good luck Alyse, she may get elected: she is leading Don Young by one point in a recent poll.

Amy McGrath celebrates becoming the nominee

Retired Fighter Pilot Amy McGrath  is running for Kentucky's 6th congressional house district. Amy has been mentioned here on The Strangest Adventures before.

Once again a woman that has held no other elected office before hopes to replace a man. Can Amy McGrath win? 

Real Clear Politics says Amy is polling one point behind her republican opponent, Andy Barr.

Will she win anyway? Tuesday will tell the tale.

The future of Georgia?

Stacey Abrams is running for governor of Georgia. If Stacey wins she will be the first black woman governor of Georgia, or of any state in the United States. she was in the Georgia General Assembly, 2007–2017 and she was minority leader there from 2011 to 2017. 

Here she is on the Daily Show.

Former US President Barack Obama endorses Stacey

She seems very charismatic and she may have great potential on the national stage someday.

Her opponent, Brian Kemp, is current Secretary of State for Georgia- he has been scrutinized in the wake of a report from the Associated Press that he had stalled more than 50,000 voter registrations by disproportionately black voters under the state’s exact-match requirements.

Former Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter endorses Stacey

However, U.S. District Judge Eleanor L. Ross ruled Friday that the procedures were likely to result in the violation of voting rights for a large group of people and needed to be halted immediately.

This has focused national attention on this governor’s race.

Is it patriotic to burn this symbol of the confederacy?

By the way Stacey burned the old Georgia state flag, featuring a confederate battle flag in it’s design when she was a college student in 1992-will this destruction  of a confederate symbol hurt or help her?

Many people were unhappy to see Trump elected in 2016-will 2018 be a backlash? For every action there is an opposite and equal reaction.Will 2018 be a reaction to 2016 or will the current status quo be maintained? Time will tell but we urge every American to vote!

Beto Versus Ted!

The Democrats have a problem.Donald J.Trump is president of the United States and his party, the Republicans, control congress. Democrats want to control congress and they want to have a president. The control of both is controlled by elections; an election for congress and other offices, including governorships, takes place in November. Thus the long time war between Republican party and Democratic party control continues.

Each party wants to control congress by having more elected members than the other party. The democratic party is expected to win control the house of representatives but probably not the senate,which they want also want. The biggest senate contest is Beto O’Rourke versus Ted Cruz. 

Beto is  the U.S. Representative for Texas's 16th congressional district since 2013 but he wants Ted’s position as a senator for Texas. Many see Beto as a political rockstar and he has raised record amounts of money for his campaign.

Here you can explore Beto’s policies and decide for yourself. 

Beto played punk rock in a band —- and Ted is, well, Ted.

The democrats want to fireTed Cruz.

Willy Nelson supports Beto!

Beto is trailing Canadian born Ted Cruz in polls and is expected to lose but tonight they will debate on CNN. Here are some suggestions on what to watch for during this debate.

Will this debate change the polls or is Beto destined to lose? 

Ted Cruz has a supporter too!

Many democrats are convinced that Beto O’Rourke is a political superstar and has what it takes to run for president against Trump in 2020. 

Very interesting. Only time will tell.

Trump Meets Putin!

Come into my parlor said the spider to the fly

On Monday 16, 2018, president Trump meets with president Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation.It appears obvious that Putin led a cyber attack against the USA that assisted in the election of Donald Trump to the presidency of the United States.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced Friday that twelve Russian intelligence officials were indicted in special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into 2016 election hacking  ahead of the 2016 election. 

Oddly enough, Putin is one of the few world leaders that Trump has refused to condemn. In fact Trump praises Putin.

It leads some to ask “what if Trump has been a Russian asset since 1987?” Amazing. if true.Read and decide for yourself.

Is this the end of NATO?

This weekend Trump met with world leaders at a NATO summit in Brussels, Belgium. It was a meeting dominated by Trump’s bluster and insults and included Trump saying that “Germany is totally controlled by Russia”. 

It ended with Trump fabricating success.

Unusual baby Trump  balloon and unusual protestors

Next Trump went to England where he was lampooned by balloon and protested with great vigor. 

Trump was interviewed by The Sun, a British newspaper, and in the interview he registers his displeasure with how PM Teresa May is conducting Brexit, among other issues. The next day Trump lied to May about the interview, which was recorded, calling it fake news.

Trump's choice for PM Boris Johnson

Trump is insulting to  ally nations and praises those nations the US is, at best, antagonistic  toward. We can not say for sure what will happen when Donnie meets Vlad but expect Trump to continue praising Putin. President Trump is certainly very predicable.

Don't forget about the pee pee tape

True History?

According to What if #4, published by Marvel Comics in 1977 Hitler was killed by the Golden Age Human Torch! Feel free to edit your history books!

This is now considered history by Marvel Comics.

Bernie Sanders!

Is Bernie a Wizard of Wisdom?

Many people want Independent Senator Bernie Sanders to run for president again in 2020. After all, e drew large crowds and more than 13 million  Americans voted for him in 2016.

Many of his voters were happy to support  his policies of Government-provided health insurance, free college tuition, a $15 minimum wage, stronger unions, high gas taxes, guaranteed parental leave and more but were then unwilling to accept anything less optimistic after Sanders  lost the Democratic primary. Young voters were especially receptive to Bernie's message. These ideas are very much like those used by governments in Scandinavia  and have proven somewhat successful in those countries. However it seems obvious that the general population of the USA is not yet receptive to his message. 

Guess which one.

Here at The Strangest Adventures we like Bernie’s ideas too but in a nation that elected Donald Trump as president it seems unlikely that his Bernie’s ideas will achieve any traction any time soon but we give Senator Sanders credit for not giving up. The week of the election Bernie Sanders published a book-he is a noted author-Our Revolution: A Future to Believe In. 

Is this a book that will launch a revolution?

In the book Sanders outlines his policies; those policies are the foundation of the plan to convert his campaign into a permanent activist group called “Our Revolution.” Thus “Our Revolution” began. 

Their next hoped for achievement is getting Dennis Kucinich elected in the democratic primary for Governor of Ohio on May the eighth, but  a lot of Democrats have been offended by Kucinich’s strange emergence as a Fox News Democrat who often defends Donald Trump. This makes Dennis Kucinich, at best,  a questionable alternative to Democratic front-runner Richard Cordray, who has the backing of most national Democrats, most notably Elizabeth Warren.

Bernie Sanders himself has not endorsed Kucinich saying “Let me be very clear: Bernie Sanders will make endorsements, and Our Revolution will make endorsements. Sometimes they will make endorsements in races I’m staying out of. I will not be making endorsements in the governor’s race in Ohio or Illinois. I’ve known Dennis Kucinich forever, I consider him a friend, but I am not making an endorsement there.”

So “Our Revolution” endorses a candidate that Bernie Sanders does not endorse. We will see how that works out on May 8th.

Here at the Strangest Adventures we believe Ohio voters will have no desire to elect a Trump loving democrat but we’ve been wrong before. More Kucinich hi jinx here.

As for Senator Bernie Sanders, will he run for president in 2020? Has his chance came and went? He’s still keeping his options open so no one can say for sure.   However a recent Suffolk University poll of New Hampshire Democratic primary voters found Sanders trailing Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former Vice President Joe Biden in the New Hampshire Democratic primary. In the poll, Warren leads the pack with 26 percent, followed by Biden with 20 percent and Sanders a distant third with just 13 percent. Of course that is only one poll about one state-is it “proof” that Bernie should not run?

Bernie Sanders certainly seems to be an energetic,compassionate,  unique candidate-we wish him well whatever he does.