Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Why the #CruzSexScandal Doesn't Matter

Even though the National Enquirer article maybe more or less debunked, Cruz's failure to answer a direct question about unfaithfulness in his marriage may indicate that he has been at some point.  To me though it doesn't matter.  Trump has had several affairs.  Kennedy and Clinton had theirs.  Infidelity may matter at a personal level, but at the political not so much.  Does it mean that he is a hypocrite since he is the family values candidate?  Maybe.  He would be if he had directly criticized someone else for infidelity.  Even so, I believe everyone is a hypocrite at some point or as Christians put it using the verse from Romans 3:23: "for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."  He obviously isn't open about it like Trump, but that maybe to protect his family and the position his father holds. 

I disagree with Cruz on some subjects like same sex marriage, Obamacare, and his comments regarding patrolling Muslim neighborhoods.  You will almost never find a candidate you agree with completely.  Trump's vulgarity  isn't the problem I have with him.  It's the ignorance he's displayed regarding foreign policy and his socialist positions.  He's called for tariffs on imports and tariffs were a major contributor to the Great Depression.  It is government manipulation of the market and ultimately harms consumers who drive the economy.  He also seemed to have a problem with Scott Walker keeping taxes low in his state.   Cruz  has the better economic plan and has a good understanding of foreign policy.

Four years from now I may not support Cruz.  I'll wait and see.  I am a libertarian at heart when it comes to civil liberties and both he and Trump have authoritarian positions.  If Trump becomes the nominee, I will shift my support to Gary Johnson.

Sunday, March 27, 2016

Thoughts on Anonymous

I'm not a big fan of Anonymous, but I have some friends who are.  I liked what they did back in the day with the Church of Scientology, but sometimes I disagree with what they involve themselves in.  The Steubenville issue was one.  I don't believe in vigilantism, but it seems to be a growing fad.  The reason I disagree with it is because too often innocent people are swept and condemned as guilty.  In the Steubenville issue, I didn't really know who was guilty of what there, but I felt that should be decided in a court of law.  They are also involving themselves in political issues.  I saw part of one of their videos where they were claiming to represent the people.  They don't represent me.  I represent myself and I don't do so anonymously.  I believe in individualism and not obeying the will of a collective.  That being said they have the right to voice their opinions as much as anyone else.  Other than that though, I don't spend a lot of time thinking about Anonymous.

Losing Faith in Humanity

I swear I should stop looking at Twitter.  I keep seeing stuff that has been debunked regarding the "Cruz Sex Scandal."  People are calling Amanda Carpenter names like "husband stealing witch" even though everything they've put out about her has been debunked.  It's like trying to explain a spherical earth to a member of the Flat Earth Society.  Some of these people are conspiracy theorists who post the stuff that's been trotted for years about the Council on Foreign Relations and the "New World Order."  I guess some people believe everything they read at least if it confirms their point of view.  I really think we should send them all on a one way ticket to Mars.  When I would debunk some of this, you would think they would look at the fact that so much of it has turned out to be fake and go wait a second maybe Ted is telling the truth, but no.  I almost think it's pointless.  People will believe what they want to believe.

Friday, March 25, 2016

#CruzSexScandal

Let me start off by saying I'm a supporter of Ted Cruz so I do have a bias, but if I could find verifiable evidence to back the claims made by the National Enquirer, then I wouldn't defend him.  I've been able to debunk some things the Enquirer and others are pointing to.  Let's start with the matching tattoos that have been suggested as evidence of an affair between him and Amanda Carpenter.  On April 1st, 2014 Ted appeared on Fox with a temporary tattoo on his arm of Winston Churchill.  The same day Amanda Carpenter posts a picture on her twitter account where she got the same tattoo.  If you do an advanced search of her posts on Twitter for that day, the reason becomes clearer: 
    Had to!
  1. We have staffers w/ Churchill (fake) tattoos on their faces today. I love our office.
  2. CHURCHILL! RT : Did ... Did Ted Cruz just show a fake tattoo of FDR on his arm during an appearance on Fox?

    As you can see it appears to be a much more innocent explanation.  Yet someone named Bill Still used it as evidence of the affair:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dB3VXwD6X0&feature=youtu.be 

    I don't consider the National Enquirer a reliable source and so far at least two of the women, Amanda Carpenter and Katrina Pierson are both denying it.  Katrina by the way is Trump's spokesperson.  None of the women have confirmed it outside of the Enquirer.

    Another thing that is pointed to as evidence is a $500,000 donation that was made to Carly Fiorina's campaign by the Keep the Promise Superpac which backs Cruz.  When it is brought up those saying the affairs are true don't say it was the Superpac, but Ted that made the donation   The reason being is that they feel it was hush money for a woman who worked on the Fiorina campaign and is one of the women the Enquirer implicates.  This is what Keep the Promise had to say about the donation: "
     "Keep the Promise I made the donation in June to Ms. Fiorina at that time because we thought she had important things to say that weren't being heard, including her poignant and effective criticism of Mrs. Clinton, at the time, the likely Democratic nominee," Kellyanne Conway, president of Keep the Promise I told CBS News in an email."  http://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-did-ted-cruzs-pac-give-half-a-million-to-carly-fiorinas/

    Realistically at the time it was felt that Trump was the threat and Carly wasn't viewed as a viable candidate so it was more of a case of helping someone who was opposed to the same enemy as you.

    Someone then stated that Amanda Carpenter's sister in law was interviewed and confirmed the affair.  It's posted in an article by someone who goes by Enforcer for Trump:  https://medium.com/@Blackppl4Trump/l-affaire-of-ted-cruz-c1818b9db18f#.dxk7k1bn6

    Curiously Bill Still in the video earlier mentioned stated it was Carpenter's brother that was interviewed.  The same words are used in both cases so I doubt any such interview happened.   

    It's also been stated that there is a video of Cruz leaving a hotel and restaurant with a woman on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Apparently Breitbart saw the video and thought it was weak.  Other news organizations passed on it as well.  Maybe they were just going to a restaurant in a hotel or were using the conference room, who knows, but until we can see the video it's hard to judge.  http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/03/25/ted-cruz-affair-rumors-peddled-by-marco-rubio-s-allies.html 

    Then there's this which is being promoted but has no verifiable evidence to back it up at least not till they post the video: https://avengersocial.wordpress.com/2016/03/26/interview-with-a-candy-wrapper-the-lollipop-edition/
    Anybody can make up a story like that, but we'll see if they ever provide evidence. 

    One person on Twitter who claimed to be a columnist for the Washington Times stated he had confirmed that the story for two of the women were accurate.  I asked how he knew they were accurate and didn't get a response.  The Washington Times stated he was not a columnist for them and was a former employee who submitted articles to their communities portal as a citizen journalist.  They ended their relationship with him.

    Ted is someone who has a religious family values theme and some are jumping on this to say ha ha hypocrite!  Those who defend Ted are said to be in denial.  They should wait till more facts are in.  Right now the Enquirer's story is looking less than credible.