Street Art of the Day

Respect.

Deutsche Bank

Captain Capitalism (Aaron Clarey) conducted a surprise inspection of the Glorious Hat factory today.

He found everything in order.

He and I discussed the Deutsche Bank issues that made today's news, and he was inspired enough to make this 15min video summarizing the story:




The problems at Deutsche Bank have been building for a month now.  Here is my related post:

Sept 1: Precious Metals News

The Fed's Stock Market

I saw this great opinion piece in today's WSJ by Ruchir Sharma: Trump Tees Up a Necessary Debate on the Fed. 

He ties 60% of post 2008 stock market gains to the Fed's announcements.

. . . the S&P 500 index has gained 699 points since January 2008, and 422 of those points came on the 70 Fed announcement days. The average gain on announcement days was 0.49%, or roughly 50 times higher than the average gain of 0.01% on other days.

This is a sign of dysfunction. The stock market should be a barometer of the economy, but in practice it has become a barometer of Fed policy.

---

Stock prices have held steady even though corporate earnings have been falling since 2014. Valuations—the ratio of price to earnings—continue to rise. With investors searching for yield in the low interest-rate world created by the Fed, the valuations of stocks that pay high dividends are particularly stretched. The markets are as dependent on the Fed as ever.

---

Since the rich own more assets, they gain the most. In this way the Fed’s policies have fueled a sharp rise in wealth inequality world-wide—and a boom in the global population of billionaires.

Never mind how that company's operations are doing when you buy their stock. 

Just make sure Janet Yellen is running the show at the Federal Reserve Bank.

A New Intellectual Froglegs

Posted just moments ago:




Joe Dan's website.

Back in 5...

Traveling.  Posts will be light for a few days.

In the meantime, please visit the super-smart bloggers listed in the Blogroll at the left. 

Or, for the more daring, light your favorite cigar and lose yourself in one of the books listed in the Ushanka Library at the left.

Debate Predictions

My predictions for tonight's debate, assuming Hillary doesn't call in sick:

The post-debate chatter will be full of awe at Hillary's statesmanlike performance, regardless of said performance.  Listen for comparisons to Margaret Thatcher or other successful women.

Trump will go soft on most topics.  I suspect this will a) disarm Hillary, who has no platform to speak of and will be loaded for bear, and b) because many viewers will be seeing Trump for the first time.

Hillary's only strategy is to run out the clock.  If she is still standing at the end, in her mind and the minds of her supporters, she will have done perfectly.  If she stutters and stammers the entire time, we'll be told in the post-debate spin what she had meant to say.

Trump will get one good zinger in that will take the air out of the room and will demonstrate just how far Hillary is from his level of intelligence and capabilities.

The old media has two priorities tonight:

Put Hillary in the best light possible, and

Create the illusion of a horse-race to boost views and advertising.

Remember Comrades! 

While Hillary has lost a ton of sleep over tonight's debate, it isn't all a negative for her.  Tonight is the ultimate event for the Democrat Party.  The first presidential debate always is.  Why?

Because the Democrat finally gets to share the stage, and thus the perceived credibility, with someone with actual life accomplishments.  In a sane world, we'd never see a lying, conniving, classless and corrupt person share anything with someone her opposite. 

Regardless of her performance, tonight is a major milestone for Hillary. 

Pic of the Day

Dedicated to Zhukov and his fellow Mosin-Nagant owners:

BTW: That is not an official Glorious Hat.  Just a cheap imitation.

Here is some Mosin humor.

U/T: FB Comrade John C.

Drudge is Right

A screenshot from Drudge today:

Yes, Kim Kardashian's choice in this year's election is more newsworthy than Ted Cruz's choice.

The lawyer stated today, in his usual lawyer-speak:

In Cleveland, I urged voters, “please, don’t stay home in November. Stand, and speak, and vote your conscience, vote for candidates up and down the ticket whom you trust to defend our freedom and to be faithful to the Constitution.”

After many months of careful consideration, of prayer and searching my own conscience, I have decided that on Election Day, I will vote for the Republican nominee, Donald Trump.

I’ve made this decision for two reasons. First, last year, I promised to support the Republican nominee. And I intend to keep my word.

Second, even though I have had areas of significant disagreement with our nominee, by any measure Hillary Clinton is wholly unacceptable — that’s why I have always been #NeverHillary.

Did you catch yourself saying "blah blah blah" too as you read that?

Such bullshit from such a little man.

He's behind in the 2018 Texas Senate re-election polls and now has to reverse his #NeverTrump position to close the gap with Gov. Perry. He's hoping that by 2018 nobody will remember his behavior in the primaries, the behavior he allowed of his supporters, or his epic face plant at the Republican Convention.

Is there anyone left out there that thinks Cruz is a sincere and honest man?  (Of course, not including the five women in the National Enquirer article.  Or Glenn Beck.)

More at WZ.

UPDATED 9.24 2pm:

Breitbart has a collection of #NeverTrumper tweets on the subject of Cruz's endorsement of Trump.  All are fun, and here are two worthy commenting on:

Dana Loesch is a despicable human. Who can forget the "flat-chested" rudeness?

She is the James Carville of the right.  The difference is, Carville represents the majority of Democrats.  Loesch represents a few petulant Cruzbots and is probably followed by a few lonely old men.

She takes a cheap shot at her primary candidate, Cruz, which reminds me of something:  As selfish and out of touch as Cruz behaved in the primaries, there are still others even deeper in the pit.

Ben Shapiro was fired by Breitbart after he backed Michelle Field's false claim of being assaulted by Trump's campaign manager.  Like Cruz, Ben implied that Trump supporters were stupid, which moved zero votes from Trump to Cruz.  I admire his resolve to stay in the spotlight after such a series of colossal misjudgements.  He pissed his credibility away, yet kept his... Twitter account.

Ben, there are new free thinkers out there.  And they are doing great.  You're dismissed.

The #NeverTrumpers still blame Trump.  It will still take a while for them to shift blame where it belongs - on Cruz.  Cruz stayed in the primaries after it was obvious he wouldn't make it.  Worse, Cruz stayed in long past the moment he was mathematically beat.  He pulled his followers and donors and GOPe allies down a dark hole, then left them isolated from the most exciting election season in decades.

Quote of the Day

Tweets from Seattle Mariners catcher, Steve Clevenger:

Black people beating whites when a thug got shot holding a gun by a black officer haha shit cracks me up! Keep kneeling for the anthem!

BLM is pathetic once again! Obama is pathetic once again! Everyone involved should be locked behind bars like animals.

The Mariners suspended Clevenger for the rest of the season (~9 days).

I'm going to take a knee to protest this horrible development.  The NFL's pussification to pop culture is one thing.  I stopped watching pro football when they started wearing their 'Breast Cancer Awareness' pink shoes.  But baseball falling to the whims of the PC losers?  A shame. A tragedy.  If the Cubbies weren't going to the World Series for the 11th time total, and the first time in my life, I'd boycott the MLB too.

Mr. Clevenger, if you see this during your time off, contact me to claim your free Glorious Hat.  Well done sir.  Well done.

WZ has the story and link.

Charlotte, NC

Two days of rioting in Charlotte, NC because another black criminal was shot while resisting arrest.

Here are two videos that address the entire situation.

Mr. Paul Joseph Watson hits every nail on the head.  (5mins)





Blonde in the Belly of the Beast has riot footage in her analysis.  (15min)




Blonde was a recent guest on Matt Forney's This Alt-Right Life podcast.

I'd only add one thing to the comments above:

The purpose of this year's 'Crisis as a Means' violence (BLM, ISIS, etc.) is to overthrow the US on, or near, the 100th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917.

UPDATED 9.24.16 4:30pm:

Over two years ago I wrote about the "secret pact" we have with the inner city residents:  EBT: Is It Enough?

GP reports today that North Carolina officials have pulled the EBT contract from the file cabinet, and reminded the criminal element in Charlotte that the contract will be revoked if they are caught rioting.

Obviously some in government are reading Ushanka.  Imagine how nice America would be if all government workers would take a break from the porn to review my suggestions.

More on the Fed

SalivateMetal is a YouTube channel I subscribe to.  He's one of several precious metals enthusiasts I follow.  Normally he just shows off his latest coin, but lately he's been commenting on the election and, now, the Fed.  Today's episode is worth a listen.




My post from 3 days ago on the Fed decision.

My precious metals videos:

Play the Ratio
Ratio Strategy #1
Ratio Strategy #1: w/ Trade Costs
Ratio Strategy #2
Updates (Jul14)
Updates (Oct 14)
Updates (Feb 15)
How did Gold do during Obama? (Mar 15)
Updates (Jun 16)

It should be noted that someone who buys precious metals is upset about a banking policy that makes his asset worth more.  For the Hillary voters who found this post on accident because they saw the hammer and sickle in the header, this is called "principled."   A "principled" person is someone who chooses "the right way" even if it hurts them personally. 

Can the #NeverTrump'ers Hear the Bombs?

Here are a couple of lists of "conservatives" who actively worked against the Republican candidate who wants to build a border wall and halt Islamic immigration.  For the record:

The BitterCruzingers

Rush Limbaugh

Mark Levin

Glenn Beck

Erick Erickson

Bosch Fawstin
David Boaz (NRO)
L. Brent Bozell III (NRO) 
Mona Charen (NRO) 
Ben Domenech (NRO) 
Steven F. Hayward (NRO)
Mark Helprin (NRO)
William Kristol (NRO)
Yuval Levin (NRO)
  Andrew C. McCarthy (NRO)
David McIntosh (NRO)
Michael Medved (NRO)
Edwin Meese III (NRO)
Russell Moore (NRO)
 Michael B. Mukasey (NRO)
Katie Pavlich (NRO)
R. R. Reno (NRO)
Cal Thomas (NRO)

Diann Russell (Patriot Retort)

Doug Ross (DirectorBlue)

John Hawkins (RightWingNews)

Dave Blout (MoonBattery)

Michael Reagan

PJ Media

Thomas Sowell

The Federalist

Mitt Romney

John Hinderaker

Bill Whittle

Andrew Klaven

Katie Pavlich

Bob Owens

Steve McCann

Dana Loesch

Matt Walsh

Victory Girls Blog

Robert Zubrin

Eunie Smith (Eagle Forum)
Anne Cori (Eagle Forum)
Cathie Adams (Eagle Forum)
Rosina Kovar (Eagle Forum)
Shirley Curry (Eagle Forum)
Carolyn McLarty (Eagle Forum)

John Podhoretz (Commentary Magazine)

William Jacobsen (Legal Insurrection)

Steve Berman (The Resurgent)

Ben Howe (RedState)

Charles Krauthammer

Bret Stephens

Flopping Aces

The #NeverTrump'ers

George Will

Ted Cruz

John Kasich
Jeb Bush

Former Sen. Gordon Humphrey, NH

Former Rep. Chris Shays, CT

Former Rep. Tom Coleman, MO

Former Rep. Vin Weber, MN 

Mindy Finn (former RNC chief digital strategist) 

Christine Iverson Gunderson (former RNC press secretary) 

Virginia Hume Onufer (former RNC deputy press secretary) 

Beth Miller (former RNC field communications division director) 

Heather Layman (former deputy press secretary) 

B. Jay Cooper (former RNC communications director under four chairmen)  

Patrick Ruffini (former RNC ecampaign director). 

Andrew Weinstein

Terresa Monroe-Hamilton (NoisyRoom)

Fawkes News (SondraK)

George H. Bush, Sr. 

Mike Fernandez

Never Forget.

Fed Punts. Again.

Take your pick:

After another session of talking tough about the need to raise interest rates, the Fed once again decides "no" at the last second. 

After months of being told the economy is booming, the Fed considers the economy too weak to bump the interest rate by 0.25%.

The Fed must keep the illusion that 'all is well' until their like-minded president leaves office.

The Fed gives Obama the green light to add more debt.

MW:

That Was My Answer

Found at Imgur.  Another failed attempt to make me feel shame.

Nice shirt lady.

Video of the Day

Via Conservative Treehouse:




It is hard to stay objective.  I love the optimism like anyone else, but the voter fraud factor is not represented in these polls, and all the polls are tight.  And who is to assume the polls are true?  For example, yesterday Trump packs in 10,000 in Florida, and Hillary only 200 in the same state.  And Hillary cancelled her event today in North Carolina - with no reason.  Is the Trump enthusiasm and Hillary depression factored at all into the polls?

Several are boldly predicting a Trump landslide, including comrade Matt Forney and Social Justice destroyer, VoxDay.  And on the other side, Huffington Post gets ahead of the news cycle by posting a list of nine reasons for Hillary's defeat, 49 days BEFORE the election!  There may be a lot of "I told you so's" on November 9th.  And if Hillary wins, plan on hearing from the NeverTrumpers non-stop.

What a year.

Quote of the Day

Mr. Trump, at his Fort Myers, Florida speech yesterday:

Let's ask Hillary Clinton how many people who subscribe to radical Islamic views and support the oppression of non-believers would you call "deplorable" or "irredeemable," or are those words reserved only for hard-working Americans who truly love our country and they want to make a statement?

To hear the words that Hillary Clinton uses, one could be forgiven for getting the impression that she thinks these hard-working Americans are somehow a greater threat to our country than Islamic extremists. 

More Terror. The New Norm.

Three terror attacks yesterday, with a fourth discovered before the bombs could blow:

1. The first was a pipe bomb in a garbage can next to a 5k USMC run.  A tip delayed the race, the bomb only partially detonated, and nobody was hurt.
2. The second was a pressure cooker bomb in a NYC dumpster.  29 victims.
3.  The third was a knife attack at the St. Cloud Mall in Minnesota.  Nine victims.
4. The fourth was a bomb found in a bag at a NJ train station and detonated by the police. No one was hurt.

Comrade Davis Aurini comments on the timing of these attacks:

... [the] Jihadis are foolish enough to stage terror attacks during the current presidential election, is itself the demonstrable proof that they cannot be reasoned with.

I think we can all agree ISIS, and all of America's enemies, want Hillary Clinton as our next president.  So why these attacks now?

Since we're talking about Hillary, let's review each party's nominee and runner-up's position on Islam and Immigration:

• Bernie Sanders, Democrat runner-up:  Islam is not a threat and I'll keep the borders open.
• Hillary Clinton, Democrat nominee: Islam is not a threat and I'll keep the borders open.
• Ted Cruz, Republican runner-up:  Islam is a threat and I'll double the Border Patrol.
• Donald J. Trump:  Islam is a threat, I'll build a border wall, and I'll stop Islamic immigration until we find a way to do it safely.

Thank God for Donald J. Trump.

The MSM story tells us that nine were "injured" in the mall knife attack.  Click here if you want to see what "injured" looks like.  Warning - graphic.

The NY and NJ bomber was shot and captured today.  Here is a doctored photo that I just had to share:

Who Said It First?

Who Said It First?  

I'm fine. No really, I'm fine.

U/T: Loren Feldman

A Forney Prediction

As the three loyal Ushanka readers know, I am always careful with predictions.  It takes either superior knowledge of the subject, or idiocy to make a prediction.  Note the NeverTrumpers' prediction that Trump would always be behind Hillary in the polls.  I've since cleansed the Ushanka Blogroll of those morons, and we are all better for it.

Comrade Matt Forney has been active in Election 2016 since he spent two weeks in Iowa for the caucus there.  He attended both conventions and provided some of the most insightful and honest journalism at his blog, at RightOn, at Return of Kings and elsewhere.  If Matt conflicts with another trusted source, I tend to go with Matt.

Matt shared his Election 2016 prediction on FB two days ago.

Among others, he's calling Illinois, New York, Washington and Oregon for Trump.  I like it, but I don't believe it.  My confidence in the American voter is at an all time low.

I'm posting with the hope that on November 8th I can link back to this and say:

I was wrong, and Matt is one smart mf.

BTW: Why is Minnesota still in the US?  Did we try to give it away and nobody would take it?

Hillary's Economic Plan

Hillary's Economic Plan, or HEP, favors union labor over private sector (point #1) and prefers socialism to capitalism (points #2 and #3).  If you wish for an economic environment where you can  trade your skills and effort for money, you'll have to find another presidential candidate to vote for.

HEP rhythms with NEP. 

NEP was Lenin's New Economic Policy from 1921.  You'll recall from previous Ushanka posts that NEP was a Lenin surrender.  His full Communism was an obvious failure just three years into his reign.  He had a major Naval mutiny a couple hundred miles North-West, and the largest peasant uprising in human history a couple hundred miles South-East.  He was being squeezed for reform, and his rule - and his life - were on the line.  NEP followed, which "gave" 2% economic freedom to the Soviet citizens in an otherwise 98% Communist setting.  You can read more about these events in my 2013 article: The Original Green Movement.

U/T: Joe Dan for the image.

Headline of the Day

Last Refuge: 

Utah – Hispanic Activist Who Criticized Trump’s Mexican Rapist Comments Arrested for Raping Illegal Immigrant…

And he raped an illegal alien!  He assumed the illegal alien would stay quiet rather than draw attention to herself and her status.  Nope.

Good.

Full story here.

The Obama Legacy

This is just more evidence of what a total disaster Obama and the Democrat Party have been for the United States.  Harvard has published a review of problems in America that went unsolved in Obama's 8 years: Problems Unsolved and a Nation Divided.

ZH linked to this report and posted these nine graphs.  You can click to enlarge.

The national debt would make a nice tenth graph.  And if I were to wish to spend anymore time than is necessary to post this and move on, I could come up with a good dozen more graph ideas.

Leftism - dressed up as Democrats, Nazis or Bolsheviks - ALWAYS leads to suffering and despair. It is a cancer on the human race.

Coming: Negative Interest Rates

The Federal Reserve Bank, or Fed, wants inflation.  Inflation lets the endless borrowing continue as it benefits the US by letting us pay off the debt with ever devaluing currency.  And we have debt.  Obama added more debt than all previous US presidents combined, from $6T at the end of W's term to the $20T today.  Thanks Obama.

10yr Interest Rate graph:

Inflation hurts the consumer but helps the debt-addled government.  Guess how those two are ranked in priority...

But Obama doesn't get all the credit.  He had a partner in Fed Chairpersons Bernanke and Yellen, and some of the debt can be pinned on the banking crisis of 2008.  But chairpersons Bernanke and Yellen abandoned steady monetary policy leadership for the super-fun paint-the-country-into-a-corner trick. It is called ZIRP, or Zero Intrest Rate Policy. They did this by dropping interest rates to near zero.  (A healthy economy should be around 5%.)  And keeping rates irresponsibly low for nearly a decade.  Shameful.

Lower rates did not trigger stimulus nor inflation as promised.

Nov. 2008:  So they did Quantitative Easing, or QE1 (printing money to inflate money supply and trigger inflation).  The Fed bought $600 billion in mortgage backed securities.  No inflation, and no stimulus.

Nov 2010: Then QE2 where they bought $600 billion in treasury securities. No inflation, and no stimulus.

Sept 2012 - Oct 2014:  QE3.  $1.6 trillion.  No inflation, and no stimulus.

The money supply was increased 4.5x under QE, from under $1 trillion to $4.5 trillion.

And inflation never came.

Oh, and Obama never objected.

Next - Negative Interest Rate Policy, or NIRP.  NIRP is the final step in the Fed's quest for inflation.  Force people and companies to take money out of the banks and spend it, or steadily lose their money by paying the banks an interest rate.  This artificial demand is supposed to drive prices up.  Inflation.  It may, or may not.

A reason to keep money in a bank when interest rates are negative is to consider that safer than the unknown.  The unknown includes the timing of a return to sound monetary policy, or the risks with putting the money into stocks or other unpredictable investments.  It is possible NIRP will fail as did ZIRP and as did QE1, QE2, and QE3.  But it is worth trying because it is easier than integrity.

Yellen mentioned NIRP last month at a conference in Wyoming.  She said she would not pursue NIRP.  To me, that was Yellen going on record as objecting to the next easy-out that she will face.  And embrace.

Former chairman Bernanke just said this (ZH):

. . . the fact that negative rates would be temporary and deployed only during severely adverse economic conditions would be an advantage. Like quantitative easing, which was also unpopular in many quarters, a period of negative rates would probably be tolerated by politicians if properly motivated and explained. We have some evidence on this point: Negative rates are disliked by many in Europe and Japan but central banks have been willing and able to use them without facing high political costs, at least so far

This is what fraud sounds like.

Take a listen to these two videos - both from today. 

The first is Mr. Trump accusing the Fed of being political - a very fair and, in my opinion, accurate charge.  1 minute.



Second, the Keiser Report show.  He and his co-host and guest talk about NIRP in the context of other topics, like inflation, gold and the burdens on Americans who live month-to-month.  25 minutes.




His guest metions Judy Shelton.  I had not heard of her before, but it appears her opinions should be known.  Here is a WSJ article has published last month.  She concludes:

It’s time to end the intellectual vacuum and focus on serious initiatives for global monetary reform. The goal is to maximize prosperity by harnessing the power of free-market signals across borders. Monetary clarity is the key to reconciling the principles of free trade with the promised benefits of an open global marketplace.

By focusing on currency manipulation as an unfair trade practice, Mr. Trump has not only identified the crux of the economic dilemma, he has also spotlighted the social and political tensions its consequences have fostered.

Obama is leaving America to Trump in a defeated, bankrupt state.  It took Reagan's policies three years to fix four years of Carter.  How long will Trump need to fix eight years of the most anti-American president in US history?

The Origins of the Soviet Star

English Russia has a photo album post about the origins of the Soviet star. 

I did not know the first symbol of the Bolsheviks was a double-headed eagle. 

I also learned that the star was not initially red. 

A lot goes into the design of a symbol under which millions die early deaths.

NYC Hate Crimes

In the past month two attacks on muslims in NYC have been in the national news.

August 14: an imam and his friend were shot execution style by Oscar Morel (bottom picture).  Motive, nationality of the shooter, residence status are all unknown.  No new information has been released in the month since.  More info.

On Saturday, Sept. 10, someone lit a muslim woman's hijab sleeve on fire.  The suspect got away and the victim is fine.  More at DailyMail.

Are these a sign of a rise in anti-muslim crime?   If so, why? 

Could it be the muslim executions of the Christians in Iraq?
Could it be the muslim kidnapping of young girls for the sex trade?
Could it be people hold a grudge about that whole 9-11 thing? 
Could it be the recent muslim terror attacks that were happening almost daily earlier this summer?
Could it be a reaction to the threat to Western Civilization by waves of muslm immigrants?
In other words, could hate be playing a role?

My answer: Don't care.  First, crime is crime, and all violent crime is hate.  Second, if I did get the memo that said I am to care more about muslims than other people, I must have burned it.

Oscar and the hijab arsonist made the same calculation that all criminals make: Is the risk of getting caught worth it?

It appears they will see penalties stiffer than the norm because their victims were in a protected class.

Can you imagine the impact on the BLM rallies if all criminals were held to the same tough standard?  I suspect the violence we've seen by BLM this year can be directly related to lean sentences and early release in the nation's jails and prisons.  In fact, I'll consider this a fact until I see evidence to the contrary.

Hate Crime laws are a product of liberal racism, liberal sexism and political correctness.  These laws are meant to benefit only those who also receive the benefits of Affirmative Action.  Can you answer this question without using a search engine:  When was the last black-on-white crime elevated to a hate crime?  Or a black-on-gay crime?   There is no proof that hate crime laws deter crime.  Like gun-control, hate crime laws a) don't save lives, and b) were created so liberals could look busy.

Political Correctness is on the chopping block this year thanks to Mr. Trump.  He has shown so many that it is a sign of a leader to question anything unfair, including racist and sexist laws of the past few decades.  It is up to local and state leaders to eliminate these laws so all people can be equal.

UPDATED 9.15.16 3:30pm:

WZ has an update on the hijab arson story: no hate-crime. 

Photoshop's of the Day

IOTW has a collection of these - here.

My favorites:

On with Matt Forney

I am honored to be a guest this week on Comrade Matt Forney's podcast, This Alt-Right Life.

Click the image to go listen, and to find a Glorious Hat special!  Or you can find it at SoundCloud.

Thanks for the invite Matt!

A German's Photos

English Russia has posted photos taken by a German soldier in Russia during WWII. 

Here are three:

Legal Immigrants for Trump

Have you ever discussed the process to legally immigrate to the United States with someone who has gone through it?

I have.  It is wonderful story no matter who tells it.  It was a common story in my former home of Los Angeles.  But many who told me their story, pre-Obama, were Democrat voters.  I wouldn't be rude, but I'd ask their feelings about illegal immigrants bypassing the lengthy and expensive process, and ask their thoughts about the Democrat Party's support for the criminal class of immigrants.  Sometimes they'd acknowledge the disconnect, but it wasn't enough to budge them from voting Democrat again.

It appears that 2016 may be different.  It appears that many people who previously voted Democrat are seeing that Party as a corrupt group of frauds who rank criminals over the law-abiding.  Or maybe it is Obama's free health care that is driving the votes to Trump this year.

WZ links to this article about nine people who are voting for Trump.  Most are not what you'd call the typical Republican voter.

Guardian:  Viva Trump: meet Donald Trump's Hispanic supporters

Ximena Barreto (pictured above):

I moved to the US in 2006 on a work permit. It took nearly five years and thousands of dollars to become a US citizen. I know the process is not perfect, but it’s the law. Why would I want illegals coming in when I had to go through this? It’s not fair that they’re allowed to jump the line and take advantage of so many benefits, ones that I pay for with my tax dollars.

People assume that because I’m a woman, I should vote for the woman; or that because I’m Latina, I should vote for the Democrat. The Democrats have been pandering to minorities and women for the last 50 years. They treat Latinos as if we’re all one big group. I’m Colombian – I don’t like Mariachi music. Donald Trump is not just saying what he thinks people want to hear, he’s saying what they’re afraid to say. I believe that he’s the only candidate who can make America strong and safe again.

Like It Was Yesterday

My 9-11 story.