HECO planning to be 100% renewable by 2040

Hawaiian Electric Co. expects there will be 165,000 private solar systems operating by 2030 across HECO’s territories, up from 79,000 now, the utility said today.

HECO submitted the fourth version of its plans on how it will get the state to 100 percent renewable energy dependence today. The steps include adding utility-scale solar, customer sited-batteries and rooftop solar, wind and biofuels.

HECO said it expects 42 percent of homes in its territories to have rooftop solar by 2030.

By 2020 HECO said renewables would make up 48 percent of the power mix — more than 15 percent of that coming from customer-sited renewables.

HECO said, in the next five years, it plans to add 360 megawatts of utility scale solar, 157 megawatts of utility scale wind and 115 megawatts from demand response programs, which encourage customers to use electricity when more renewable energy is on the grid.

HECO said Molokai would reach 100 percent by 2020.

That year, the Big Island is expected to hit 80 percent renewable, Maui 63 percent, Lanai 59 percent. Oahu would reach 40 percent by 2020.

HECO’s portfolio will be 72 percent renewable by the end of 2030, according to the plan. The law calls for 40 percent in 2030.

HECO said it will achieve 100 percent five years prior to the 2045 deadline.

The electricity utility said it plans to get to 100 percent by the end of 2040, when the law requires 70 percent.

the presumptive Republican nominee

[1/16/17] What will America look like after 4 years of Trump? [Quora]

[12/22/16] Trump tweets that the U.S. must expand nuclear capability
[12/15/16] Kudlow close to being named Trump's chief economist
[12/13/16] Trump picks Rex Tillerson, Exxon CEO, as Secretary of State
[12/13/16] Reid blames Comey for Hillary losing
[12/7/16] Trump meets with DiCaprio to discuss green jobs
[12/7/16] Trump picks Linda McMahon to lead Small Business Administration [jokes to come]
[12/7/16] Trump picks guy suing EPA to head EPA
[12/7/16] Time person of the year (who else?)
[12/5/16] Trump chooses Ben Carson to be secretary of Department of Housing and Urban Development
[12/5/16] Al Gore meets with Trump and Ivanka about climate change
[12/1/16] Trump names General Mattis as Secretary of Defense
[11/29/16] Trump names Price and Verma to repeal and replace Obamacare
[11/27/16] Trump says it is sad that Clinton in joining recount effort

[11/22/16] Trump not looking to hurt the Clintons
[11/22/16] Trump says he enjoyed meeting with Obama
[11/22/16] Trump keeping an open mind on climate change

[11/15/16] In the 60 Minutes interview, Trump said he won easily.  I was surprised he said that since he lost the popular vote.  He did win the Electoral College vote 290-232 according to the New York Times.

But how did he win?  He flipped five states from 2012.

Florida 49.1% to 47.8%
Ohio 52.1% to 43.5% (surprisingly big here)
Iowa 51.8% to 42.2% (big again here)
Wisconsin 47.9% to 46.9%
Pennsylvania 48.8% to 47.6%

[6/14/17] Trump 26%, Clinton 26%, did not vote for either 48%

[11/13/16] Trump names Priebus as Chief of Staff and Bannon as chief strategist

[11/13/16] Greg Popovich: We Are Rome

[11/11/16] Trump tweets that he had great chemistry with Obama.

[11/10/16] WASHINGTON » In a cordial beginning to their transfer of power, President Barack Obama and President-elect Donald Trump met at the White House today. Obama called the 90-minute meeting “excellent,” and his successor said he looked forward to receiving the outgoing president’s “counsel.”

[11/10/16] LOS ANGELES » Late-night hosts pivoted from candidate Donald Trump to President-elect Trump, combining punch lines and audience group counseling after the billionaire’s defeat of Hillary Clinton.

“For years I’ve come out every night and asked how you’re doing, but I’ve never meant it. Tonight I actually mean it. Does anyone need a hug?” Conan O’Brien said in his monologue Wednesday on TBS. Despite divisions among voters, he said, “the optimist in me chooses today to be happy that we have fair and free elections at all. It’s an amazing thing.”

And then there were the jokes. “The first thing I did this morning was call my old high school bully and congratulate him,” O’Brien said.

ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel took viewers through the stages of grief, including denial (“No, the host of ‘The Celebrity Apprentice’ is not our president”) and bargaining (“Maybe he’ll only build the wall waist-high, to keep short people out”) and, finally, acceptance.


“No matter how you feel about it, Donald Trump is the president of the United States. Of America. So thank God we legalized marijuana yesterday,” Kimmel said, referring to pot-related measures passed by voters in several states.

[11/10/16] A day after Donald Trump’s election to the presidency, campaign divisions appeared to widen as many thousands of demonstrators — some with signs with messages declaring “NOT MY PRESIDENT” — flooded streets across the country to protest his surprise triumph.

From New England to heartland cities like Kansas City and along the West Coast, demonstrators bore flags and effigies of the president-elect, disrupting traffic and declaring that they refused to accept Trump’s victory.
Flames lit up the night sky in California cities Wednesday as thousands of protesters burned a giant papier-mache Trump head in Los Angeles and started fires in Oakland intersections.

Los Angeles demonstrators also beat a Trump piñata and sprayed the Los Angeles Times building and news vans with anti-Trump profanity. One protester outside LA City Hall read a sign that simply said “this is very bad.”

[11/9/16] Putin ready to restore relations with U.S.
[11/9/16] Duterte congratulates Trump and wishes to stop quarreling with U.S.
[11/9/16] Mexico say it will not pay for the wall, peso falls
[11/9/16] Clinton, Obama pledge to unite behind Trump
[11/9/16] Stock market jumps after Trump surprise
[11/9/16] Shockingly, it's President Trump [editorial]

***

Who voted for Trump?

Men voted for Trump.  Women voted for Clinton
Whites voted for Trump.  Blacks, Hispanics, Asians voted for Clinton
Rural voters voted for Trump.  Urban voters voted for Clinton.
Older voters voted for Trump.  Younger voters voted for Clinton.

***

Donald Trump has been elected president of the United States.

The Republican nominee won Wednesday after capturing Wisconsin’s 10 electoral votes, putting him over the 270 threshold.

Voters eager to shake up the nation’s political establishment picked the celebrity businessman to become the nation’s 45th president.

Trump rode an astonishing wave of support from voters seeking change and willing to accept a candidate loose with facts and accused of sexual misconduct.

He upset Democrat Hillary Clinton, who would have become the first woman to serve in the Oval Office.

Trump struck a populist tone and placed a hardline immigration stance at his campaign’s heart.

Trump rose to political fame after questioning whether President Barack Obama was born in the United States. He will now follow Obama into the White House.

***

Donald J. Trump has been elected the 45th president of the United States, the capstone of a tumultuous and divisive campaign that won over white voters with the promise to "Make America Great Again."

Trump crossed the 270 electoral vote threshold at 2:31 a.m. ET, according to Associated Press projections.

The rise of Trump, a candidate with no prior experience in the military or elected office, confounded nearly everyone in politics. Improbably, the real-estate-scion-turned-reality-TV-star had not even been a member of the Republican Party for long. That made his victory over Democratic rival Hillary Clinton even more stunning, preventing her from becoming the nation's first female president.

***

Trump’s victory could produce significant repercussions, both economic and political. Stock markets had risen in recent days, believing that Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton would win. On Tuesday evening, as Trump reeled off a string of unexpected victories across the Midwest, futures market nosedived -- likely anticipating global upheaval as Trump tries to follow through on aggressive campaign promises: to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, to impose tougher trading conditions on China, and to force U.S. manufacturers not to move operations overseas.

Nate Silver 2:52 AM

That’s A Wrap

Donald Trump has been elected president of the United States.

In an extremely narrow sense, I’m not that surprised by the outcome, since polling — to a greater extent than the conventional wisdom acknowledged — had shown a fairly competitive race with critical weaknesses for Clinton in the Electoral College. It’s possible, perhaps even likely, that Clinton will eventually win the popular vote as more votes come in from California.

But in a broader sense? It’s the most shocking political development of my lifetime.

Harry Enten 2:18 AM

Trump has won one of Maine’s electoral votes. That means he’ll be the first Republican to win an electoral vote in New England since 2000. He’s the first to win an electoral vote in any New England state other than New Hampshire since 1988.

Julia Azari 2:08 AM

John Podesta just said that Hillary Clinton has no plan to concede tonight, as many states are still close (though most have been called for Trump). The last time we didn’t get a concession speech on election night was 2004. Kerry conceded the next day.

Harry Enten 1:48 AM

CNN has called Alaska for Trump. Trump looks to be on his way to winning over 300 electoral votes, if current trends hold.

Nate Silver 1:40 AM

Which means, Harry, that the AP has essentially called the presidency for Trump.

Harry Enten 1:39 AM

The Associated Press has called Pennsylvania for Trump.

Nate Silver 1:39 AM

We expect that Trump will eventually finish with about 47 percent of the popular vote which, if he wins the Electoral College, would be the lowest vote share for a president-elect since Bill Clinton in 1992 (43 percent).

Harry Enten 1:19 AM

The Associated Press has called Toomey the winner of the Pennsylvania Senate race. The Republican Party has officially retained control of the upper chamber of Congress with that victory.

Carl Bialik 1:07 AM

Some States Are Trying To End The Electoral College

Hillary Clinton could still conceivably win the election — or she could lose the national popular vote. But since both outcomes look unlikely, we should start preparing ourselves for the possibility of the second split between the national popular vote and the electoral vote in the last five presidential elections.

Harry Enten 12:59 AM

Fox News has called Wisconsin for Trump. There doesn’t seem to be enough votes left in Pennsylvania for Clinton to come back. If that’s right, it means Trump is likely the president-elect.

Harry Enten 12:50 AM

The Clinton campaign is basically hanging on by a thread at this point. She needs to pull out Michigan and Pennsylvania and then hit one of two scenarios: 1. Win Alaska and New Hampshire or 2. win Arizona. That’s going to be extremely difficult. It’s not impossible, but it’s a straight, if not royal, flush.

Forecast Bot 12:35 AM

Clinton wins Nevada. Our model now gives her a 21 percent chance of winning the election.

Carl Bialik 12:30 AM

Pollsters May Have Missed Michigan Again

Pre-election polls showed Clinton up by 4 percentage points in Michigan. The New York Times projection shows that she’s likely to lose by 1 point. Pollsters have had trouble polling there in previous races — and they had troubles elsewhere in the Midwest in this one.

Harry Enten 12:26 AM

Clinton has won in Nevada, according to The Associated Press. That’s a consolation prize of sorts for her. The early vote in that state that pointed to a Clinton victory turned out to be predictive after all.

Harry Enten 12:24 AM

Pennsylvania is close, with Trump barely ahead. Here’s the Clinton problem: Lebanon County hasn’t reported yet. Romney easily won there four years ago. This is serious trouble for Clinton.

Harry Enten 12:04 AM

Clinton needs to win Pennsylvania. The problem is that her lead has dropped to about 7,000 with plenty of votes left to be counted in Republican areas. Meanwhile, the city of Philadelphia has had almost all of its votes counted.

Carl Bialik 11:54 PM

We Didn’t Go 51 For 51 This Time

With so many close races this time, FiveThirtyEight was unlikely to match its 2012 feat of calling every state and Washington, D.C., correctly: In that election, far fewer races were close. Given how low the win probabilities were for favorites in many states this time, our average pre-election simulation showed five or six races going to the underdog this time. So far that’s happened in Florida and North Carolina, and it could also happen in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Clinton was leading in our final forecast in all five of those states — Florida and North Carolina by less than a percentage point — but Trump is either the projected winner or ahead in the polls in all five. And each of the five states have at least 10 electoral votes. So these would be enormously important upsets.

6:54PM: Trump 84%, Clinton 14%.  TOTLTPO.

Forecast Bot 11:54 PM

Trump wins Georgia. Our model now gives him an 84 percent chance of winning the election.

Harry Enten 11:43 PM

Fact is, unless Clinton somehow wins in Arizona, Trump is likely to be the next president.

Carl Bialik 11:39 PM

Some Democrats Don’t Have Much Of A Plan For A Trump Presidency

We gave Trump a 27 percent chance of winning the election in our final forecast. Other forecasters gave him a much smaller chance — as low as 1 percent. Some people have raised the possibility of complacency among Democratic voters. There certainly seems to have been some among Democratic elected officials. Last week, Kate Nocera of BuzzFeed talked to some who said they basically had no plan for how to deal with a Trump presidency. “It’s never talked about in much depth or detail because the guy is such a joke,” U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey of Texas said. “We can’t fathom it and therefore are not planning for it.”

Forecast Bot 11:39 PM

Trump wins Iowa. Our model now gives him a 78 percent chance of winning the election.

Nate Silver 11:37 PM

This map is about the most hopeful scenario I can identify for Democrats if Trump wins Wisconsin, which Fox News has already called for him. And it would still only result in a 269-269 tie:

Forecast Bot 11:35 PM

Clinton wins Washington. Our model now gives her a 21 percent chance of winning the election.

Forecast Bot 11:33 PM

Trump wins Florida. Our model now gives him a 77 percent chance of winning the election.  [Not looking good for Hillary.]

Harry Enten 11:31 PM

The Wisconsin numbers are something else, as others have said. This is a state that Trump lost in the primary by a wide margin. This is a state where conservative talk radio was against Trump. This is a state where Paul Ryan, who Trump went toe-to-toe with, is from. And it looks like the most likely state to put Trump in the White House right now.

Looking at the chart at the right.  Too close to call: Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin.

Forecast Bot 11:29 PM

Trump wins Utah. Our model now gives him a 59 percent chance of winning the election.

Clare Malone 11:23 PM

Clinton’s Midwestern Collapse

As the night ticks on, the question that seems to be on everyone’s lips is simply this: What is happening?

Clinton, considered the favorite going into the race is now an underdog — our live forecast now gives Trump a better chance to win the White House. So what are the factors at work, upending expectations of how this race would unfold?

At the heart of all this seems to be a Midwestern collapse by Clinton; she lost Ohio, which Obama won in both 2008 and 2012, the race in Michigan is currently too close to call, as is the one in Wisconsin. Obama won both these states in both 2008 and 2012. Pennsylvania, another state nudging into the Midwest, is also too close to call.

These states are filled with white voters without college degrees, a demographic that has in the past trended more favorably toward Democrats. But preliminary exit polls are showing that Trump’s margin in this group is unprecedented among exit polls that date back to 1980 — he is winning the demographic 67 percent to Clinton’s 28 percent, a spread of 39 points. By comparison, Mitt Romney won non-college-educated white voters by a margin of only 26 points in 2012.

Harry Enten 11:21 PM

I’m looking at this map right now, and it’s pretty clear that Trump is winning the states he needs to be winning in order to be elected. That doesn’t mean he will be. But if you aren’t a Trump fan, you better start coming to terms with the fact he will probably be president.

Forecast Bot 11:13 PM

Clinton wins Oregon. Our model now gives her a 40 percent chance of winning the election.

Nate Silver 11:09 PM

North Carolina, which ABC News just called for Trump, is the first really big shoe to drop against Clinton, since it deprives her of her best backup plan if she loses a Midwestern or Rust Belt state. Now Clinton has to run the table in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. She could wind up losing several swing states by just 1 to 3 percentage points, losing just a little bit too much ground in the Midwest, and not making up quite enough in the Southeast.

Forecast Bot 11:08 PM

Trump wins North Carolina. Our model now gives him a 61 percent chance of winning the election.

Harry Enten 10:48 PM

There’s been a lot of talk about Clinton trailing in Michigan and Wisconsin. Pennsylvania may be a far bigger problem. Clinton is up by just 4 percentage points, and that lead is slipping as more of the vote comes in from outside the Philadelphia media market. Clinton cannot lose Pennsylvania and win the election.

Nate Silver 10:48 PM

ABC News has called Colorado for Clinton, her third swing-state win, in addition to Virginia and New Mexico. So she’s holding up just fine in diverse, wealthy states. But she’s lost Ohio and is in profound trouble in Michigan and Wisconsin, perhaps along with Pennsylvania. Her weakness in the Midwest could wind up costing her the Electoral College.

Ben Casselman 10:47 PM [5:47 HST[

As Andrew noted a few minutes ago, Clinton seems to be struggling in Michigan, a state where she was favored but where there are a large number of manufacturing jobs. As of September, about 14 percent of nonagricultural jobs in Michigan were in the manufacturing sector, the third-highest share of any state. The two above it: Indiana, where Trump won comfortably, and Wisconsin, where Clinton is in more trouble than expected.

5:45pm - 538 now projects Clinton 272.1 to Trump 265.2.  50% Clinton, 48%, Trump, 2% nobody.  What happens if it's nobody?  It will go to the House of Representatives.  And since the House is Republican, you might as well say it's 50-50.  And considering the day started 61-29, I would have to say Trump is the favorite.  Michael Moore may be right.

11/08/16 5:20pm - NBC projects Trump to win Ohio (despite LeBron's support for Hillary).  538 now projects Trump 272.9 to Clinton 264.4.  And Trump at 55% to Clinton 44% and 1% no winner.  Uh oh.  Dow futures now down 700+.

11/08/16 - Election Day.  At 5:08pm HST, Trump doing better than expected.  Leading in Florida.  Leading in Ohio.  What does Nate Silver say.  Earlier it was a 29% chance for Trump.  Right now as I look, "Trump wins Missouri. Our model now gives him a 38 percent chance of winning the election:"  Minutes before, Clinton was at 60%.

Trump leading in Florida.  Silver had it 55.1% Clinton this morning.  If he wins it...

11/06/16 - Comey announces no change after review of new emails
11/06/16 - Lies about Donald Trump (Quora)
11/05/16 - The alternate universe of the presidential candidates
11/04/16 - Trump the Closer (by Scott Adams)
11/04/16 - Unhypnotizing a Clinton Supporter (by Scott Adams)
11/03/16 - Compaing campaign coverage by Fox News to CNN (by Scott Adams)
11/03/16 - Mark Cuban would rather lose every penny than have Trump become president
11/02/16 - Trump campaign denounces support from KKK newspaper
11/02/16 - Bill Weld vouches for Hillary
11/01/16 - Eric Zorn: unkind to Trump
11/01/16 - CNN severs ties to Donna Brazile
11/01/16 - New York Times reports Trump used dubious means to avoid paying taxes
10/31/16 - Democrats sue Trump to shut down poll watching effort
10/31/16 - Clinton lead narrows as FBI reviews new emails
10/31/16 - Trump the businessman
10/29/16 - Sowell: vote Trump because he's more impeachable
10/29/16 - Trump says Justice Department is trying to protect Hillary
10/29/16 - Attorney General Loretta Lynch disagreed with Comey's decision to send letter
10/29/16 - Hillary calls timing of FBI Director James Comey's letter to Congress strange
10/24/16 - Trump declares Democrates are making up phony polls
10/24/16 - Conway says "we are behind" but the election doesn't feel over
10/23/16 - Endorsements: Star Advertiser, Las Vegas Review Journal
10/23/16 - President Clinton's America / President Trump's America
10/22/16 - Trump says he will sue accusers
10/21/16 - the huge education gap
10/20/16 - Trump says he will accept the election results ... if he wins
10/19/16 - Fact check: AP, NY Times, Politifact, USA Today, The Guardian / trumpcheck
10/19/16 - Seven moments / Hillary won (opinion) / LA Time scorecard
10/19/16 - A brutal third debate / Trump won't say if he'll accept election results
10/16/16 - Trump says it's time to retire SNL
10/15/16 - Trump calls for drug test before next debate
10/14/16 - Two more accusers / Trump accuses Carlos Slim
10/13/16 - the list of Trump accusers (so far)
10/12/16 - Steve Bannon says they're going to turn Bill Clinton into Bill Cosby
10/12/16 - PEOPLE writer recalls incident with Trump / and more
10/12/16 - Trump denies incidents reported by New York Times
10/12/16 - Putin ally, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, says to vote Trump or risk World War Three
10/12/16 - Trump says if Hillary wins, ISIS will take over our country ("believe me")
10/12/16 - Trump says Hillary corrupt, media dishonest, disappointed in Congress
10/11/16 - Trump says disloyal R's are more difficult than Hillary
10/10/16 - Bill O'Reilly proclaims at least three media organizations have been ordered to destroy Trump
10/10/16 - Trump crushes in the polls (but not CNN because they're biased) / LA Times has Trump ahead
10/10/16 - Jonathan Gruber responds to Trump
10/10/16 - Warren Buffett responds to Trump's allegation
10/10/16 - The Telegraph coverage
10/10/16 - Paul Ryan won't defend Trump
10/10/16 - Trump's team planned to have women confront Bill Clinton at the debate
10/9/16 - A nasty debate / fact check / winners and losers
10/9/16 - Trump calls his deserters self-righteous hypocrites
10/8/16 - Condoleeza Rice says Trump should withdraw
10/8/16 - John McCain no longer offering support for Trump
10/8/16 - Paul Ryan heckled by Trump supporters
10/8/16 - Pence decides not to attend Ryan event
10/8/16 - Mike Pence offended by Trump video
10/8/16 - Fiornia says Trump should step aside
10/7/16 - Jerry Springer on Trump
10/7/16 - De Niro on Trump
10/7/16 - Letterman on Trump
10/7/16 - Wikileaks releases Hillary's private speeches to Wall Street
10/7/16 - Trump apologizes but says Bill Clinton is worse / two Senators call for him to step aside
10/6/16 - 30 former GOP members of Congress sign letter saying Trump is not qualified
10/6/16 - Hannity calls Megyn Kelly a Hillary Clinton supporter
10/6/16 - Trump tells everyone how to pronounce Nevada correctly (residents disagree)
10/5/16 - VP debate fact check
10/3/16 - LeBron backs Hillary
10/1/16 - Star Trek against Trump
9/30/16 - If Trump was a woman
9/30/16 - If Trump published an academic article
9/30/16 - USA Today declares Trump unfit for the presidency
9/30/16 - Trump calls Alicia Machado disgusting
9/29/16 - Trump can't stop himself from talking about Bill Clinton
9/28/16 - John Warner endorses Hillary
9/28/16 - who won the debate: New York Times, Huffington Post, Michael Moore, Ted Cruz, Vicente Fox
9/27/16 - The Telegraph's (UK) report on the debate
9/27/16 - What Trump means when he says Hillary doesn't have the look (opinion) / Tim Kaine responds
9/26/16 - Debate fact check / who tells more lies?/ Trump fans don't care
9/26/16 - Does Trump have a better temperament than Hillary? (6/1/16, 6/16)
9/26/16 - Did Trump support the invasion of Iraq? (2/19/16, but ask Hannity)
9/26/16 - Does Trump think climate change is a hoax? (6/3/16)
9/25/16 - Trump undeterred / A week of fact checks
9/23/16 - Lyin' Ted endorses Trump
9/21/16 - Hillary's plan to help the poor
9/21/16 - And now an introduction by Don King
9/20/16 - Donald Trump, Jr. compares Syrian refugees to Skittles
9/17/16 - debate prep
9/17/16 - Trump says Hillary's bodyguards should disarm
9/15/16 - Trump interrupted in church
9/14/16 - Trump the haole, Obama the local
9/9/16 - Trump criticizes U.S. policy on Russian television
9/8/16 - Commander-in-Chief forum fact-check
9/5/16 - Why Trump doesn't scare Scott Adams
9/2/16 - Trump catches up to Clinton, but Clinton maintains lead in Electoral College
8/19/16 - Trump says he regrets causing personal pain
8/19/16 - Paul Manafort resigns
8/18/16 - O'Reilly and Beck clash over Trump
8/14/16 - Trump against the crooked media
8/11/16 - Trumps hopes he'll win the presidency
8/10/16 - Trump calls Obama the founder of ISIS, literally / fact check / sarcasm?
8/10/16 - Morning Joe's turnaround?
8/8/16 - Fifty Republican security officials say Trump not qualified
8/4/16 - Melania's immigraton history questioned
8/4/16 - Ivanka and Chelsea remains friends
8/2/16 - The Donald afraid elections are going to be rigged
8/2/16 - Trump says Hillary unfit to serve
8/2/16 - Trump doesn't care much about Warren Buffett, declines to counter-punch
8/1/16 - Warren Buffett goes after Trump
8/1/16 - Koch won't support either candidate
7/31/16 - Mark Cuban endorses Clinton
7/27/16 - Michael Bloomberg says he knows a con
7/27/16 - North Korea calls Trump "a prescient presidential candidate" and a "wise politician" and describes Hillary as "thick-headed Hillary".
7/27/16 - Trump hopes Russia can find Hillary's missing emails
7/25/16 - Trump now leads Clinton according to CNN poll
7/24/16 - Michael Bloomberg to endorse Clinton
7/21/16 - Ted Cruz speaks at the RNC but fails to endorse Trump
7/20/16 - the sociopath and the end of civilization
7/19/16 - parts of Melania's speech questioned
7/15/16 - Trump chooses Pence as running mate
7/12/16 - Historians on Donald Trump

7/2/16 - MODAAK

6/29/16 - Nate Silver currently gives Trump a 20% chance (he also gave Trump a 2% chance of winning the GOP nomination).

6/25/16 - George Will leaves GOP

6/23/16 - AP fact-checks Trump / AP fact check on Hillary

6/23/16 - More than 50 business executives, including several longtime Republicans, will endorse Hillary Clinton for president on Thursday as her campaign seeks to capitalize on discomfort with Republican Donald Trump.

6/23/16 - Rumsfeld to vote for Trump

6/22/16 - "Hillary Clinton may be the most corrupt person ever to seek the presidency of the United States," Trump told a small crowd of supporters at a hotel he owns in Manhattan, accusing her of having run the State Department "like her own personal hedge fund."

Trump read his speech from a teleprompter to curb his off-the-cuff comments but he pulled no punches. He said Clinton "has perfected the politics of personal profit and theft" and described her as "a world-class liar."

6/20/16 - Corey Lewandowski fired

6/11/16 - Donald Trump on Saturday again took aim at Elizabeth Warren on Twitter, continuing the feud between the Republican presumptive nominee and Democratic senator from Massachusetts.

"Goofy Elizabeth Warren, sometimes referred to as Pocahontas, pretended to be a Native American in order to advance her career. Very racist!" Trump tweeted.

"Pocahontas is at it again! Goofy Elizabeth Warren, one of the least productive U.S. Senators, has a nasty mouth. Hope she is V.P. choice." Trump tweeted in response on Friday.

6/11/16 - WASHINGTON — Former presidential candidate Mitt Romney seemed to imply Friday that electing Donald Trump president could worsen racism and bigotry in the United States, hurting the “heart and character of America.”

"I don't want to see a president of the United States saying things which change the character of the generations of Americans that are following,” Romney said. “Presidents have an impact on the nature of our nation, and trickle-down racism, trickle-down bigotry, trickle-down misogyny, all these things are extraordinarily dangerous to the heart and character of America."

Trump, the presumptive presidential nominee, responded on his Twitter account Saturday by saying Romney “chocked like a dog” in his failed run for the presidency four years ago.

6/10/16 - Delete your account 2

6/11/16 - Delete your account

2/18/16 - Trump claims he can save up to $300 billion a year on drugs [reiterated by Cramer today (12/7/16) on Mad Money]

Battle of Aleppo ends

[12/14/16] A cease-fire deal between rebels and the Syrian government in the city of Allepo foundered on Wednesday, threatening plans to evacuate the remaining rebels and tens of thousands of civilians out of harm's way in what would effectively seal the enclave's surrender.

The withdrawal was supposed to start at dawn but shelling resumed in the morning hours and buses meant for the evacuations, which were waiting at the rendezvous point on the edge of the rebel enclave, returned to their depots.

Activists and rebels trapped in the opposition's last sliver of territory in Aleppo said pro-government forces had struck their district with dozens of rockets since mid-morning.

"The bombardment is scarcely to be believed on the eastern neighborhoods and until now 40 people have been wounded," said Ibrahim al-Haj, a spokesman for the Syrian Civil Defense first responders. "They are using all forms of weapons."

The Syrian government ordered its green-colored buses back, signaling that the deal mediated between Ankara and Moscow on Tuesday night to bring the fighting to an end in Aleppo was off.

The Lebanese al-Manar TV, broadcast footage of the buses leaving the evacuation point empty and said government forces had resumed fighting with rebels in the city. Al-Manar is the media arm of the Lebanese militant Shiite group Hezbollah, which is fighting alongside Syrian President Bashar Assad's government forces.

Activists in eastern Aleppo blamed government forces, saying they shot first.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that the rebels "resumed the hostilities" at dawn, trying to break through Syrian government positions to the north-west.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu accused the Syrian government and its allies of trying to scuttle the deal.

[12/13/16] Rebel resistance in the Syrian city of Aleppo ended on Tuesday after years of fighting and months of bitter siege and bombardment that culminated in a bloody retreat, as insurgents agreed to withdraw in a ceasefire.

The battle of Aleppo, one of the worst of a civil war that has drawn in global and regional powers, has ended with victory for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his military coalition of Russia, Iran and regional Shi'ite militias.

For rebels, their expected departure with light weapons starting on Wednesday morning for opposition-held regions west of the city is a crushing blow to their hopes of ousting Assad after revolting against him during the 2011 Arab uprisings.

However, the war will still be far from over, with insurgents retaining major strongholds elsewhere in Syria, and the jihadist Islamic State group holding swathes of the east and recapturing the ancient city of Palmyra this week.

"Over the last hour we have received information that the military activities in east Aleppo have stopped, it has stopped," Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told a heated U.N. Security Council meeting. "The Syrian government has established control over east Aleppo."

Rebel officials said fighting would end on Tuesday evening and a source in the pro-Assad military alliance said the evacuation of fighters would begin at around dawn on Wednesday. A Reuters reporter in Aleppo said late on Tuesday that the booms of the bombardment could no longer be heard.

21st Century Cancer Cures Act

 (CNN)In a rare bipartisan vote the House of Representatives approved legislation boosting federal research efforts to combat cancer and other diseases, including $1.8 billion in funding for Vice President Joe Biden's "cancer moonshot" initiative.

The "21st Century Cures Act" passed 392-26.

"It's personal -- people have family members with Alzheimer's, people have family members who died of breast cancer. They see children with these awful diseases. This is the answer," Michigan GOP Rep. Fred Upton, the author of the bill, told reporters on Wednesday.

Colorado Democratic Rep. Diana DeGette, who partnered with Upton, stressed the overwhelming margin of the vote.

"We have strong majorities from Democrats and Republicans in the House," she said, noting that although a couple of senators raised concerns with a few provisions she expected it to pass early next week when it comes up for a vote in the upper chamber. 

The vice president has been making calls to help generate support, she added.

Biden, who lost his 46-year-old son, Beau, to cancer in 2015, outlined some of the plans for the Obama administration's Cancer Moonshot initiative at a June meeting at Howard University in Washington.

There are 14 million new global cases of cancer a year, and if the current rate of research progress doesn't change, the rate will continue to rise precipitously, he said.

Biden has spent the past year traveling the country, visiting leading cancer centers and meeting with experts to better understand what the government can do to speed up the process.

"The impediment isn't the lack of the gray matter genius (of cancer researchers) and the ingenuity in terms of new drugs and new treatments, et cetera; it's all this stuff that gets in the way," Biden said at the meeting. "The only thing I'm good at in government is getting things out of the way."

Obamacare poll

Despite sharp partisan differences over the Affordable Care Act, Democrats and Republicans, including voters who backed President-elect Donald Trump, strongly support most of the law’s key provisions, a new national poll indicates.

And although most Trump voters still favor repealing the law, often called Obamacare, an increasing share of Americans overall oppose that approach, according to the poll, which was conducted in mid-November, following Trump’s election.

Just a quarter of Americans say they wanted to scrap the law, down from nearly a third in October.
By contrast, nearly half say they want the law expanded or implemented as it is. Another 17% say they want the law scaled back.

The new findings from the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation are the most extensive sample of public opinion about the health law since last month’s election.

And they underscore the challenge confronting the incoming Trump administration and congressional Republicans, who have pledged to roll back key parts of the 2010 health law early next year.

“While President-elect Donald Trump and Republican leaders in Congress work on a replacement to the Affordable Care Act, the new poll finds many of the law’s specific provisions remain popular even among President-elect Trump’s supporters, potentially complicating the path ahead,” the survey’s authors note.

More than 8 in 10 Americans say they like provisions in the law that eliminate out-of-pocket costs for many preventive services such as cancer screenings and that allow young adults to remain on their parents’ health plans until they are 26.

Even the law’s program for providing federal aid to states to help them expand their Medicaid programs for the poor is supported by 80% of Americans.

The same strong majority supports the law’s system of insurance marketplaces – such as HealthCare.gov – where people who don’t get coverage through an employer can shop for health plans.

And 80% of Americans favor the government subsidies provided through the law to help low- and moderate-income people buy health insurance on the marketplaces.

Congressional Republicans are working on a plan that would repeal the Medicaid expansion and the insurance subsidies for lower-income consumers.

And Trump has pledged to act quickly to scrap the law. He and his congressional allies have promised to develop a replacement, but they have not indicated what that might include.

The repeal calls have always been extremely popular with Republican voters. And even now, 81% of people who voted for Trump hold an unfavorable view of Obamacare, according to the Kaiser poll.  Half say they want the entire law repealed.

This apparent paradox – in which Americans view the law unfavorably but overwhelmingly support most of its key provisions – has characterized opinion about Obamacare for years, said Robert Blendon, an authority on public attitudes about healthcare at Harvard University.

“It’s long been clear that what is driving opposition to the law are the mandates,” he said.

The law’s requirement that Americans have health insurance or pay a tax penalty is by far the least popular part of Obamacare.

And Republicans have exploited it as a potent symbol of what they have said is Obamacare’s dangerous expansion of government. That argument has resonated powerfully with conservative voters nationwide.
Today, the insurance mandate is view favorably by just 35% of Americans.

But that makes it the only one of 10 provisions of the health law that does not command majority support in the Kaiser poll.

Several Republican plans to replace the health law include an alternative mechanism to encourage healthy consumers to sign up for coverage that would penalize people who do not maintain continuous coverage.

Both conservative and liberal insurance experts say that any system that guarantees coverage to people, even if they are sick, must include some kind of penalty for not having coverage.

That insurance guarantee is a key part of the health law.

The Kaiser poll was conducted Nov. 15-21 among a nationwide sample of 1,202 adults. The margin of error for the full sample was plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Pearl Harbor 75th anniversary

You might miss it just glancing at the Star Advertiser website, but today the paper has put out a special Pearl Harbor 75th Anniversary Commemorative edition.  You can buy the paper copy for $1.00.  But some (or all? -- I assume it's all in the print replica) of it is online too (for subscribers).

Here's (the beginning of) the cover story.

Oahu was an impregnable fortress.

Japan wouldn’t dare attack the United States, a first-rate nation, and its Pacific Fleet in Hawaii. Possibly elsewhere, such as in the Philippines, but certainly not Hawaii.

That was the American mindset — until just before 8 a.m. Dec. 7, 1941.

From the lowest-ranking American defenders who fought back — some still in their teens, and some firing with .45-caliber pistols and Springfield bolt-action rifles — to the Pacific Fleet commander, Adm. Husband E. Kimmel, the Japanese air and submarine attack was a stunning surprise that caught U.S. forces flat-footed.

On the battleship USS Nevada, the band literally played on as bombs fell, so confused were crew members initially as to what was going on.

Kimmel, in his Pearl Harbor headquarters, was surveying the destruction befalling his fleet, and the death that accompanied it, when a bullet crashed through the window and bounced off his chest. Examining it, he remarked, “It would have been merciful had it killed me.”

In the attacks that lasted just over two hours, 2,390 American service members and Oahu civilians were killed; 21 ships of the Pacific Fleet, including eight battleships, were sunk or damaged; and 164 aircraft were destroyed.  Fifty-six Japanese aviators and up to nine midget submarine crew members died.

Seventy-five years later Pearl Harbor continues to intrigue and mesmerize a nation unused to fighting wars at home.

Fidel Castro

Fidel Castro, the fiery apostle of revolution who brought the Cold War to the Western Hemisphere in 1959 and then defied the United States for nearly half a century as Cuba’s maximum leader, bedeviling 11 American presidents and briefly pushing the world to the brink of nuclear war, died on Friday. He was 90.

Cuban state television announced the death but gave no other details.

In declining health for several years, Mr. Castro had orchestrated what he hoped would be the continuation of his Communist revolution, stepping aside in 2006 when a serious illness felled him. He provisionally ceded much of his power to his younger brother Raúl, now 85, and two years later formally resigned as president. Raúl Castro, who had fought alongside Fidel Castro from the earliest days of the insurrection and remained minister of defense and his brother’s closest confidant, has ruled Cuba since then, although he has told the Cuban people he intends to resign in 2018.

Fidel Castro had held on to power longer than any other living national leader except Queen Elizabeth II. He became a towering international figure whose importance in the 20th century far exceeded what might have been expected from the head of state of a Caribbean island nation of 11 million people.

He dominated his country with strength and symbolism from the day he triumphantly entered Havana on Jan. 8, 1959, and completed his overthrow of Fulgencio Batista by delivering his first major speech in the capital before tens of thousands of admirers at the vanquished dictator’s military headquarters.

A spotlight shone on him as he swaggered and spoke with passion until dawn. Finally, white doves were released to signal Cuba’s new peace. When one landed on Mr. Castro, perching on a shoulder, the crowd erupted, chanting: “Fidel! Fidel!” To the war-weary Cubans gathered there and those watching on television, it was an electrifying sign that their young, bearded guerrilla leader was destined to be their savior.

Most people in the crowd had no idea what Mr. Castro planned for Cuba. A master of image and myth, Mr. Castro believed himself to be the messiah of his fatherland, an indispensable force with authority from on high to control Cuba and its people.

He wielded power like a tyrant, controlling every aspect of the island’s existence. He was Cuba’s “Máximo Lider.” From atop a Cuban Army tank, he directed his country’s defense at the Bay of Pigs. Countless details fell to him, from selecting the color of uniforms that Cuban soldiers wore in Angola to overseeing a program to produce a superbreed of milk cows. He personally set the goals for sugar harvests. He personally sent countless men to prison.

But it was more than repression and fear that kept him and his totalitarian government in power for so long. He had both admirers and detractors in Cuba and around the world. Some saw him as a ruthless despot who trampled rights and freedoms; many others hailed him as the crowds did that first night, as a revolutionary hero for the ages.