"You, you, and you....under the bus!"

Back in June I spoke up when I heard of the "coincidental" overlap between The Clinton Foundation's list of prominent benefactors and the list of those who were approved for coveted international trade and arms purchase deals by Hillary Clinton's State Department.  No concrete proof of impropriety, no paper trail...a nod by Bill, a wink by Hillary...and things just happened.  RED FLAG!

Now it's Donald Trump's turn.  Today there was a story released by Newsweek that showed the potential conflicts of interest that might exist between Donald Trump the businessman and Donald Trump the President of the United States. 

To his credit, Trump is an exceptionally astute businessman.  He seeks out opportunities worldwide where he can partner with powerful, plugged-in foreign business interests to expand his brand.  These foreign interests are often chummy with the leadership in their respect countries, such as Russia, China, India, Turkey, various Middle Eastern countries, etc.  He is also a staunch believer in leverage, which means using borrowed money to grow his business.  And as the owner of a privately held corporation Mr. Trump keeps these partnerships in the shadows as much as possible, which is understandable.  Nothing wrong with any of this.

But now he just might become the President of the United States.  Can you imagine a situation where a country, where Mr Trump the businessman has interests, might do something detrimental to the interests of the US?  What would happen if the wayward foreign leader threatened quietly through channels to call a massive Trump loan due, or perhaps even nationalize a Trump interest in that country?  

Would President Trump cave, or compromise, and possibly agree to things that were not in the best interest of the United States?  We can't take that chance.  This would be an obvious conflict of interest between Trump the businessman and Trump the President.  RED FLAG!

Mr Trump says if elected he would put his assets in a "blind trust"....he would turn over all operations of The Trump Organization to his kids for them to run.  Oh pah-leeze!

The only way a blind trust would work would be if all the assets of The Trump Organization were liquidated and the proceeds put in the hands of a third party to be invested in ways and places that left President Trump completely clueless where his fortune was.  I doubt THAT is something Mr. Trump would be willing to do.

Now our combined candidates are 0 for 2, which explains their dismal "trust" poll numbers.  

S

What's next? Dancing With The Stars as an Olympic event?

You just knew it was going to happen, didn't you?  I'm talking cheating by biased judges at the Olympics.  It seems yesterday a Russian woman won the Gold figure skating medal while most people thought the South Korean skater did better and should have won.

It seems one of the judges is married to the Russian Figure Skating Federation (?) leader and another was caught cheating back in the 1990's giving preferred scores to fellow Russian skaters.  Did they cheat this time, too?  I have no idea.   

 I once tried to watch figure skating, but all I saw was a skater jump up into the air and in .000003 seconds do 4 spins,  2 flips (and maybe finish off a Starbucks latte for all I know), then land on her feet and do it again going the other direction.  Or so they said.

Meanwhile a judge watches the same and says, "You know, I think the little finger on her left hand wasn't extended far enough.  I like to see a more pronounced pinkie.  I'm going to deduct 6 points."

What I do know, however, is that just putting judges on the panel with those kind of past indiscretions and potential conflicts of interest makes a mockery of the event. The IOC, or whoever it was that selected the judges, needs to be slapped down.  

I've heard many people say these Olympics have lost some of the magic that past Olympics had.  This type of SNAFU doesn't help that image.

It's a shame that all events can't just be timed events where the winners and losers are clear cut, with no room for manipulation.  First one across the line wins.  Here's your medal, sing the song, salute the flag, then go home for the big parade.

And one last Olympic comment:  While I enjoy watching the halfpipe and freestyle skiing and such showy events, they sometime seem more like entertainment events than serious Olympic sports.  

It's like watching the Harlem Globetrotters....they're great fun to watch, but they aren't the NBA.  Not to take away anything from the talents of the participants, but they just don't seem like they "belong" at the same venue.

That said, I've got to get back to my training.  Cow chip tossing, if you must know.  :)

S