Who Hath the Greater Sin?

Count me among the less than a million voters who already cast an early ballot and among those disgusted with this election cycle.

When comparing the two major candidates – that is, their records, their faults, and their failings – Donald Trump is clearly head and shoulders above Hillary Clinton.

Like us all, Mr. Trump is a sinner, said some things out of turn that were inappropriate, and he could have said and handled some controversies better. What if we were all judged by this extremely unfair double standard? Self-righteous men and fathers, like Mr. Trump, I am sure you said some regrettable things about women that you wish you had not. Mr. Trump is not to be excused; but he apologized, and as with anyone else, we accept his apology and move forward.

Moreover, one has to carefully analyze what he is apologizing for: a hot mic response he made over 11 years ago as a private citizen. Clearly, the NBC (No one But Clinton) network and its affiliates (MSNBC) had to know of this tape and its existence for some time now.

Why was it released last week? Why was it not released over the past year during the Republican primary?

A reasonable person may conclude that NBC, as well as The New York Times, does opposition research for Hillary Clinton, not Republican presidential primary candidates.

Yes, his comments to Billy Bush were and are unacceptable; but it was just talk and there exists no credible incidents that he actually did these things.

What about recent accusers?

Interesting, they come forward now- not when the supposed incidents happened (coincidentally under NBC’s watch as they produced and broadcasted the Apprentice for 12 years and the Miss America and Miss Universe pageants), not during the Republican presidential primaries, not two months ago, but now.

The timing is obvious as it is dubious and odious.

If Mr. Trump really assaulted these women, such incidents would be difficult to cover up per the media cycle. If these women are telling the truth, did NBC and its affiliates cover it up at the time they occurred to avoid liability and thus enable and empower Mr. Trump to abuse women?

Why did these women not come forward at the time of the supposed incidents and sue Mr. Trump, NBC, and any and all related affiliates?

All that is substantiated concerning Mr. Trump is words and unfounded accusations meant to tilt the election Hillary’s way- akin to Debbie Wasserman Schultz tilting the Democratic nomination to Hillary per DNC leaked emails.

However, Bill Clinton, per the Starr Report and his subsequent impeachment, actually abused his position and office by debasing and defiling a White House intern, Monica Lewinsky, with slices of pizza and cigars in the White House.

He lied to the American people and a grand jury about it and only came clean when  Monica’s blue dress stained with his DNA came to light; thus giving credence to previous accusers who accused him of sexual assault and rape- the very accusers and true victims that Hillary vilified and demonized as part of “a vast right-wing conspiracy.”

Getting out of the gutter, and looking at actual policy, it is true that Mr. Trump has no political experience as he is not a professional politician whereas Mrs. Clinton has roughly 13 years of political experience as a U.S. senator and Secretary of State besides her years as First Lady of Arkansas and the United States.

As First lady of the United States, she was tasked with health care reform, which ended very badly, and had Travelgate, Filegate, and Furnituregate to her name.

As U.S. Senator from New York, she only had three laws passed that she authored: establishing a National Historic Site in New York, renaming a post office, and renaming a New York highway after Tim Russert.

As Secretary of State, she has the current failed state of Libya to her name, Benghazi, and the catastrophe in Syria in addition to her email scandal per her illegal server and mishandling classified information.

Mr. Trump has a successful record as a businessman; Mrs. Clinton called TPP “the gold standard,” and supported NAFTA and other detrimental trade deals in addition to being a good friend and darling of the banking industry. Her running mate, Tim Kaine, is closely tied to Virginia-based Capital One; furthermore, he oversaw Project Exile which irreparably harmed the African-American community while he was mayor of Richmond, VA (1998-2001).

Furthermore, per a leaked email, while addressing a group of Brazilian bankers, Clinton stressed she was with them on Open Borders, but that this was a private position given the American electorate’s disdain for bad trade deals thus necessitating public and private positions.

When she was pressed on this, she made an analogy to President Lincoln’s handling of the Thirteenth Amendment; Mrs. Clinton was not discussing civics or the American electoral process with these foreign bankers, but trade.

Given this episode, it is not surprising that the Clinton campaign ignored Bernie Sanders’ calls to release the transcripts of her private speeches to banking executives for they would be just as damning as these. It is a shame that Sen. Sanders does not publicly renew his request for the Clinton campaign to release these transcripts per this revelation.

If Mr. Trump is a failed, unethical businessman as the Clinton campaign and their media allies suggest, why were these alleged improprieties revealed over the past ten months as opposed to years ago when they allegedly took place?

Mr. Trump has been criticized for taking advantage of the tax code over 20 years ago for writing off over $900 million in business losses. Doing so may not be good optics, but it was legal and done to protect shareholders. Additionally, he and his business holdings paid other federal (FICA, MICA) taxes as well as local and state income, property, and sales taxes.

Fair minded people may assume that the media is strategically releasing these allegations to deflect from Clinton’s unethical, and some may say criminal, behavior per her email scandal, leaked emails, and the questionable dealings of the Clinton Foundation during her tenure as Secretary of State.

Can it be that NBC and its cable affiliates are assisting in the election of Hillary Clinton given their owners’ (Comcast and General Electric) significant financial services and Wall Street ties?

A sizable portion of the electorate such as myself recognize these and other biased tactics and abhor them. The WikiLeaks emails already confirm what we have known all along. Most people find it shocking that Gen. David Petraeus paid a higher price for his lesser role in mishandling classified information than Mrs. Clinton, and how Mrs. Clinton seems to be immune from responsibility for her various acts.

Though he does not support Donald Trump, Robert Satiacum, Jr., who supported Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary and is on the Democratic slate of presidential electors in the state of Washington, said he may not vote for Hillary Clinton if she wins Washington in the November election.

His rationale: “How can I say and do and be who I am and then cast a vote for somebody that’s the same as Trump?” He described her as “a clown,” “a rat,” and “a criminal.”

Mr. Satiacum’s sentiments are shared by many as he is not alone, especially among dissatisfied Democrats who supported Bernie Sanders and independents.

As Dr. Swier says, “We report, you decide.” Do not listen to the media, check out the candidates and their records on your own accord from reliable and valid sources, and employ common sense reasoning to judge them not by what is said about them but by their actions and what they actually did and failed to do.

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