Election 2016-Voice Evaluation of Incumbents

Hi Guys,

So now, I am going to do a voice evaluation of the two winning candidates: Donald Trump and Mike Pence.

Trump's voice is very...unique. It is raspy, but it is not really deep nor is it really high. At times, he sounds like a friggin' 20-something frat boy trapped inside a 70 year old man's body. It at times does get on one's nerve-the press will pay attention to him, whatever the hell he says.

And then there is Mike Pence... Does he sound authoritative? No, not really. He does not talk much, and looks like he is stoned all. the. time. When he does speak, it is very...slow and he sounds like he is putting himself to sleep...it is also mumbly. Because of the fact that his voice is very mumbly, no one really takes him seriously as a result. And because of that, even if he does say something crazy, it probably comes out in a very odd way. Period, and he looks tired, which also enhances the fact that no one in the press will pay attention to him.

Hell, look at the vice presidential debate...Kaine sounded more intelligible than Pence did. Pence at times was hard to understand, and he mispronounced the place where they were hosting it, Longwood University, as Norwood. If that is not a wrong move, than I do not know what is.

And thank god Trump is pro-gay... Pence is one obstacle to that.

My dad says he could beg to differ, but I disagree with him lots. Don't you guys do too?

Let me know what you think

Graham Norton Show Performers Profile #1-The Shires

Hi Guys,

Here, I'll start a series of posts profiling the artists who have performed on the Graham Norton Show (Some who I like, Some who I don't like, Some I don't know who they are). I will jump all over the place in terms of performances from specific dates, not necessarily in chronological order.

The 1st one I'll start with is this alt-country duo called...wait for it...The Shires (I am not at all a big country music fan, but I like these guys, so yeah).

They are from England (surprise, surprise) but sound very convincingly American (Similarly to Keith Urban, who was Australian)... To the point of which first time listeners must think that they themselves must probably be San Francisco transplants from the South, based on how many times they say "We may not have sunshine" or whatever they say during that time in Nashville Grey Skies. But, however, there is a track that makes it a dead giveaway as to where they are from- "Made in England". I think they released their first album last year. Don't know much about them, eh.....

Also, once you look up the word "Shires", you will find out that it is a term for the english countryside. Yeah, go figure.

This is in complete contrast to someone like LeeAnn Rimes (who also performed on the show, and whom I will talk about in a later post) who, though while also country, is actually American and she is from the South... So yes, that twang is genuine for her. She does not have much of a strong accent, but still.... She sure is talented.

They performed the last season (Series 19) on the first episode. Yeah, go figure.

From,
Flannery.

On the Last Week Of School-And My Thoughts On The General Election now that it's starting up

Hey Guys,

So-guess what? Tomorrow is the last day of classes! Whopee! Now I won't have to see that obnoxious kid Cameron Ward or see the face of that creepy kid Flavio Darini (a freshman) exiting the class that I'm in shouting "Make America Great Again". I'm also happy that school is out for the summer-I only have a few exams to go and whoohoo I'm finished!

And also, you guys-Clinton won the nomination! YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!! And as for that email scandal, pfft. Everyone's sick and tired of hearing about it, and the FBI will likely dismiss her case. Sanders gave a speech endorsing her, and Obama gave a powerful speech endorsing her. And she just bounced off Trump insults by asking him to delete his Twitter account. Yes. That motherfucker doesn't know how powerful the hills is. He's gonna get his ass handed over to him.

And as for that Trump University schtick-he did some really bad things like drop investigations against him by the Florida attorney and the Texas attorney general. Now, there's a hearing on the case on July 22nd, and there is even more pressure by the public for them to investigate the entire Trump-Bondi incident. Of course, the FBI will eventually acquit Hillary and turn their attention towards Trump, and that fucker will be exposed for the fraudulent bastard that he is. There's a lot less alarmist articles about him now, and I think he's even losing popularity-Hillary's gaining steam, very quickly. You know what? Trump is gonna be upset by all the negative coverage, denies that he is corrupt (which he is), and there eventually will be so much pressure placed on him that he will eventually go "Screw it. I'm gonna step down and go back to my business.". Cause that's just who he is.

And I went out to lunch today! Yipee!

And I promised to you that I would focus on a variety of topics for the blog-but that's not all.

I'll tell you more later on. Bye!

Flannery

Trump-Why I'm More Confident In His Loss

Hi Guys,

Hey, you know about Trump's "rise to popularity"? Pfft. You wanna know what I believe? He ain't gonna win the election in November. I know this feeling in my heart, that Clinton'll win.

Thing is, Obama's popularity is now really high. And guess what? Clinton hired the speechwriters for the Obama campaign. And we all know that worked out awesomely. He's gonna get his ass kicked, and eventually the b-----d will be out of stuff to rebuff. And Obama is giving more wages to rural people and white poor folks.

And guess what? The economic reports will come out next week, and they are supposed to be awesome, which will not only be good for the Democrats, but it'll also weaken his support. Of course, him being who he is, he will rip his supporters apart for being happy about the good economic prospects and they will turn against him, and he'll get what he deserves. Yeah! Serves you right, motherf----r.

Of course, he's recently attacked the judge (who's from Indiana, by the way) who ordered that his Trump University records be released, and he's lost the trust of many a Republican Centrist and Establishment folk after Paul f'n Ryan, of all people, said he was gonna vote for him. And Hillary just gave a kickass speech ripping him to shreds. And despite the fact that he'll probably pick someone with experience, chance is...that VP pick would be terrible. Newt Gringich? He is old (not good if you want to generate enthusiasm), worked with the Clintons, even though he hates them (bad for attack ads, as it would make the dude seem pathetic), and he's a centrist (not good for the supporters, who'll view him as the worst). He is also not liked very widely. Chris Christie? No one likes him, not even Trump Supporters (dude didn't even win a single state), he's a bad campaigner (people never really paid attention to him), and I could go on. John Kasich? TBH, he's really not that charismatic (He was at the bottom of the polls from the start and got little to no media recognition), he was previously against many of the statements Trump made (Which would lead to many supporters being driven away), and many of Trump's supporters would feel betrayed by the choice and turn against him.


Plus-The Media and the public are losing interest in him, and he has not really campaigned that much (never really spent any money on campaign ads, never really released any attack ads, rarely shows up at primaries and debates, and he only campaigns on twitter, which to be honest is not really good in terms of politics). And he literally was like one day "Fuck it, I'm not really gonna campaign these next couple of days, but I'll be flying to Ireland and Scotland to build some golf courses!". Who the hell literally goes to do a business thing for shit in the middle of a fucking presidential campaign? Trump, that's who. And that golf course could take multiple months and lots of money to build, so it would take time away and cause him to lose steam. Honestly, I think that now, he's kinda losing interest. My dad has stated more than once that he truly does not think that Trump is interested to be president, and his instincts are right. Now he's getting what he deserves. And honestly? Dude, releasing your tax returns (please, for the love of god and everything holy) would be a good way for the Republican establishment to stop bothering you. You are gonna face pressure from everyone to do it and it can get overwhelming, so please release your goddamned tax returns.

Yep-he's losing ground, i'm sure of it. Bye folks! See ya soon!

Trump vs. Clinton-An Update

Hi Guys,

So if you guys follow the news, you may have heard that Trump is using Clinton's past scandals in attack ads, but that is just not going to work. It just isn't.

First of all, using Whitewater- that is just not going to work. It just isn't. No one cares about Whitewater anymore-that crap happened a long time ago, in the 90's. And also the Vincent Foster suicide? Fishy? Pfft... how can a suicide be "fishy"? How can it be "covered up"? And honestly, could you please leave the foster family alone, news channels? They really are suffering terribly, and exploiting their pain is cold and heartless.

And if the FBI would just leave Clinton be-Trump's whatchamacallit went up by 40 percent-and stop bugging her about the emails (in the words of Sanders, people are "sick and tired" of hearing about her "goddamn e-mails"). And now, what with the FBI investigation into those emails, jesus... but I think it'll all work out fine.

The thing is, with this election being crazy-both of the candidates are really, really unpopular. Trump and Clinton both have their fair share of obnoxiousness-in the news. Clinton could face enditment or whatever you call it for the e-mail biz (I'll highly doubt she'll get it though). Trump is viciously racist, sexist, and obnoxiously brash-not very good in a general election (he's trying to tone it down, he really is-it isn't working. Hell, there was a protest that occurred in Washington-and even as he's toning it down, the protests just keep on escalating).

As for VP picks-it really is vital now. Trump's VP pick is unlikely to be a woman or a minority-it's very likely going to be a white male. And one of the leading contenders is...oh god help us all...Chris Christie, the governor of New Jersey. That would be disastrous-he's even more of a bully than Trump is, and he's really unpopular-he was trailing in the polls from the very beginning. The GOP will very likely choose not to have Trump's...er...Mexican immigrant plan as part of their platform, which would drive a lot of his support away.

To be fair, Trump's VP list is pretty weak-and Newt Gringich would also be terrible.

Mary Warren as a VP pick for Clinton would be awesome-not only would she be able to successfully lock in the more youthful and the Sanders supporters in to Clinton's base, she would also be successful at beating the crap out of Trump or whoever his VP pick might be at debates...she's a good campaigner, feisty, and able to successfully attack people without coming across as unlikeable.

I am highly confident in the ability of Clinton to re-capture the popular vote from that mean jerk-it would be awesome to have a two-woman ticket, don't ya think? I bet so.

Anyway, like you guys a lot and hope to see ya soon! Bye!

Hey-About Chorus

Hey guys,

Hey. It's good to give you something other than politics for once. I think it's time to balance focuses, since I do not want this to be all about politics (I for one, have had it with Trump-why does he have a narrow lead ahead of Clinton?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? Good god, sometimes anti-establishment people can get on my nerves...)...

I want you guys to know that I am at my school right now, and that I am waiting for 5 o'clock to roll around so that I can finally get to chorus. I am in the concert chorus, which is performing for their spring concert tomorrow. There are a lot of kids in that class, some of whom don't come everyday, they just come on only even or odd days in the cycle, but everyone shows up for the concert.

Our teacher, Ms. Maria Abeshouse...she can be picky at times. No wait, a lot of the time. She constantly stops us for singing in a particular way and to shape our vowels, she's a bit of a perfectionist, and has a pet peeve for anybody who shows up late past the bell.

I wake up early everyday to go there, and even though I sit down for a lot of the time (I don't know why)-She criticizes me for sitting down and not "joining us" (I do join the group-I apologize for my favors.).

So for the concert, we are doing a lot of songs that are in minor key, us concert chorus. For the guys, they sing this traditional Scottish ancient folk song called Loch Lomond. For us girls, we sing that song by that old folk duo (albeit with a different arrangement) Simon and Garfunkel, Bridge Over Troubled Water. All of us are doing an arrangement of Bohemian Rhapsody by that famous classic rock group Queen (the song came out in '75, and celebrated its 40th anniversary last year). Those are pretty much the only songs in major key that I can think of. There are two songs that we are doing from Mozart's incompleted Requiem (go listen to the soundtrack of that French Rock Musical about him, titled Mozart l'opera rock. Awesome, man.) called Dies Irae (which is really fast and it's about the..uh...day of judgement warning, but it's in Latin) and Lacrymosa (Also in latin, and also utilized in that awesome Evanescence song that's 10 years old called Lacrimosa).

Oh, and for those of you who grew up in or were teens/in college in the 80's, you may have heard of Annie Lennox before. She was the frontwoman of the group the Eurythmics. Why do I bring her up, you may ask? Well, we are doing a song by her (yep, she's had a pretty successful solo career that's still going strong) in a choral arrangement that's 2 years away from turning 15 years old, called A Thousand Beautiful Things. The senior girls all have singing parts of the female solo in the arrangement, as they take turns singing a phrase or two and then we chime in. I plan on checking out the original recording by Annie Lennox when I have time.

The Chamber Chorus are going before us, though, and they...honestly, I don't know what the hell they will be singing. Just have to wait and find out.

I'm waiting, so I'll have to go sometime to the auditorium soon to start the rehearsal. I sent an email to dad, so he knows.

Anyway, I hope you guys have a nice day and see ya soon! Bye!

The presumptive presidential race- Trump v. Clinton-Why I think Clinton Will Win.

Hi guys,

So... good news. Ted Cruz has finally (finally!) dropped out of the GOP race. I'm really glad that he dropped out, since that leaves us one less unlikeable candidate to deal with... but now, we have...oh god...Trump gaining momentum. It does not alarm me, no no no, but... there is a strong feeling in my heart that he is not going to win the general election, Hillary will probably win over him in a heartbeat. You wanna know why? Well, here are some reasons why:

1.) Attacks on Clinton are usually not effective

Even though after his successful win in the Indiana primary has him saying that now he's going to focus on attacking Clinton, extremely aggressive though they may be, that strategy will not work at all. Clinton has fought off attacks with ease, and Trump will probably think that the best way of attacking her would be through her Wall Street and controversial email stuff, which is a bad idea- no one really cares about that stuff any more and it is not enough to harm her, y'know. And even if they attack her for her involvement in Whitewater and her husband getting involved in affairs, that won't work either-pretty much no one remembers the case that well and the fact that it has faded away and no one is interested about it anymore anyway. Clinton's a better campaigner and knows how to reach out to people in a general election, too, so that's a key disadvantage to Trump.

2.) Trump's problem with minorities and women (and pretty much everyone)

You simply cannot win an election nowadays without the support of women or minorities. Or when you are nearly disliked by everyone, for that matter. The case with Trump? Well, he has practically alienated many key voters in the election and in the Republican party, from the very start. He's racist and sexist. He's also alienated many evangelical christians (a vital part of the Republican voting block), pro-abortion and pro-life people, Mormons, Catholics, regular non-evangelical christians, people with disabilities, , the LGBT community, Jews, Muslims, Veterans, the list goes on. And even though his supporters are pretty d--n loyal, there is pretty much a large percentage of them who will turn against him in the General election, I'm sure of it. Clinton, though while she does have a problem with Millenials, would probably get a big majority of them to vote for her in the general election because many of them would be pretty liberal and against the idea of the, ahem, "architectural issue" surrounding the border states and Mexico.

3.) Something terrible will likely happen to Trump's campaign that will create disillusionment and turn some positive supporters against him.

Even though Trump is focusing on the general election campaign already, his company will probably lose lots of money due to his focus on the campaign, and then he will probably lose his investment, most of his institutions will collapse and then many of his supporters would turn against him, since then he would lose a lot of employers, and with that, anger will arise. That would be a big advantage for Clinton, since Trump's attacks would probably lose their power since he will have probably lost a lot of supporters. And there's also the protests, because Trump will probably not tone down his rhetoric, and the violence will probably escalate to the point where one of his supporters will hurt some other supporters or perhaps someone who is a crazy guy supports Trump and then goes on...uh...a big crime shoot-out at a fellow supporter's or some innocent folk's home. That would probably turn public opinion of him negative swiftly and quickly.

4.) Trump's relationship with Television debates

Let's face it... Trump is a terrible debate person on national TV. He practically never answers the questions posed by the people who host the debates, and most of the debates are on Fox News or CNN, where he is not favored by the people there at all and he has a fierce, almost fiery rivalry with Megyn Kelly, which is genuinely terrible since she's probably at half of those events anyway. Also, when he does answer questions, the answers tend to have no relation to the subject matter anyway. Clinton, on the other hand, is a great debater and would probably beat him in a television debate should she be pitted against him. And also, Trump does not even bother to show up to half of the debates anyway, which would hurt him pretty badly in a general election.

5.) Pretty much no one in a general election would support a guy who wants to build a border wall or who wants to throw pro-abortion and pro-life people in jail. And who has also offended many religious groups.

Honestly, this one does not need much explanation. Should he stick to his plan of campaigning on a platform for a wall, he will alienate states with a large latino population or is located in the liberal northeast or West Coast. He will lose an especially large amount of votes in the southwest, which has states close to the border. Especially in Texas, where they have a large Mexican-American population and even though they have a problem with Mexican immigrants, they probably would not be supportive of the idea of a wall being built to stop it. He has also offended many religious groups and leaders, and since he's offended the baptist and other sections of evangelical christianity, which has a very heavy influence in the South and Midwest, since many of his policies don't agree with their views and his abortion policy has been heavily criticized for its harshness by not just members of the pro-abortion movement, but also pro-life people. That makes up a heavy percentage of the voting block, which is not good news for a Republican candidate in a general election. And most of the electoral college members loathe Trump, which is not good. Clinton has more sensible policies, and even though many evangelicals dislike her, they would probably vote for her over Trump because of more agreeableness. And he's also unpopular with Mormons, so that will cost him Utah dearly.

6.) His approval ratings in a general election are pretty low.

Though the news may make it seem like otherwise, Trump is actually not that popular than you think he is. His general election approval ratings are terrible, ranking at just 12%. That is not a lot. On the other hand, Clinton's approval ratings are fantastic! She would crush him just by that. Do not trust the polls.

7.) Both nominations will create divisions within their parties, but will damage the Republican party in particular.

It's pretty clear that both parties are facing a split in divisions, but the Democratic party doesn't seem to be that severe when it comes to the wideness of the division and the damage that has been done. The GOP on the other hand... whoo boy. To say that it has been damaged beyond repair is an understatement. Nearly everyone knows that. A large amount of the Republicans know that they would probably suffer a crushing defeat should Trump get the nomination, as the division will be too wide that it prevents the amount of votes and turnout that the Republicans need to win the white house. The guy who is the chairman of the RNC says that he wants unity, no matter what the candidate. Well, guess what? There is no way the party will unify by now. It's just hopeless.

8.) Trump's running mate choice will probably be disastrous.

You know that McCain/Palin blow that created embarassment back in '08? I have a high feeling (almost a premonition) that Trump, being the person that he is, will pick a running mate that will alienate many people away from the general election even more (if he ever does it, which there is a highly likely possibility that he won't). God forbid if it is a person who was once involved in the KKK or if it is someone whom everyone (even Trump supporters) dislikes... If he picks Ted Cruz or even Marco Rubio or, lord forbid, Ben Carson, he's toast. And if he picks of all people Chris Christie, since he has a relative who made mean comments about the South, that will not do him good. And if he picks a running mate who is a staunch opposer to him, they would probably walk out on him at the last minute. Clinton, on the other hand, will probably pick a running mate who is agreeable and good, i'm sure of it.

9.) Trump will probably say something really offensive towards rural types in the future... and his rhetoric style will fail big-time against debates with Hillary Clinton.

Look, here's the thing. Trump's rhetoric and "common man" speaking style kinda-sorta works in a primary setting, but in a general election setting...uh...not so much. With more liberal and conservative types (many, many, MANY conservatives hate Trump with vehemence) at stake, Trump could put off many people. He's already disliked widely in the Baptist church congregation... their leader just stated for the members not to vote for Trump in the election (mind you, this is the largest protestant section of the United States churches, and it is big in the South and Midwest, that will cost him voters). And also, he will probably make an offensive statement on TV about rural type people and poor people (I am sure of it), because...well...he's that predictable. And even though she has, ahem, questionable ties to "Wall Street", Clinton already has pretty strong support amongst the rural types, and with an offensive comment made by Trump, it will get bigger.

10.) Trump is horrifically terrible at foreign policy.

Listen, whatever you guys may think about the Iraq War decision, we can all agree that Hillary Clinton was actually a pretty good secretary of state. Trump, well...he is not very good with world affairs. And...uh...many world leaders and diplomats do not get along with Trump very well. And with the complicated situation involving DPRK and nukes that has the whole world apparently panicking (Honestly? No. Won't happen. Them nuking us won't happen), Trump's positions...won't work well in trying to tell the nation not to worry in case of a future calamity occurring. He also knows nothing about the middle east, and he'll probably advocate for further involvement (which no one really wants, to be honest) and end us up further into deep doodoo and cause us a second great recession (He doesn't even seem to be the least bit concerned, and treats it as if it is no big deal)). No one wants that, so they'd probably lean towards Hillary's side in a heartbeat.

11.) Trump is an attention whore... and general election people will catch on to that.

I heard from my dad that there was this interview with a person that was involved in the Trump campaign said that Trump actually ran as a so-called "protest candidate" and did not necessarily want to be president, but let his ego get in the way and look where he is now. He thrives on attention, and soon, since the very liberal newspapers are very good at empowering candidates they support, the press will viciously attack and begin a successful smear campaign against him. I think people will tire of his antics, and that will cause him to lose popularity. Clinton, though... is a genuinely down to earth person, and she's not an attention whore at all, so that gives her an advantage.

That's my stuff for now, folks! See ya soon!