US Election: 2016

[mariomike]

Mr. T might be despised, but that doesn't mean he won't be a good POTUS at the end of the day.

 

[cavalryman]

I just know what I read in the US papers,

Which ones?  The ones peddling "fake" news, the ones peddling "real fake" news, the ones peddling "fake, fake" news?  The ones publishing "secret CIA briefings"?  I can't quite identify any of them actually putting out real news anymore.  It seems that we're faced with wall-to-wall polemics trying to push a narrative.  Sad, but at this point, we might as well hope for the best and prepare for the worst, which is exactly what I would have said had the other candidate won.

 

[mariomike]

Which ones? 

I consider government news releases, backgrounders, etc. as primary sources. 

Next, mainstream media (MSM).

After that, blogs. Which basically means anybody with a keyboard. 

 

[tomahawk6]

A little play on Rogue One.

 

[Retired AF Guy]

Since everyone is talking about draining the swamp, I think this oldie-goldie might be appropriate:

 

[The Bread Guy]

Just because you're the selfie King and loved by the masses, doesn't necessarily translate into being an effective leader.

And just because you beat someone you like even less doesn't mean you'll be an effective leader, either.

We will have to see how #POTUS45 unfolds.

Which ones?  The ones peddling "fake" news, the ones peddling "real fake" news, the ones peddling "fake, fake" news?  The ones publishing "secret CIA briefings"?  I can't quite identify any of them actually putting out real news anymore.  It seems that we're faced with wall-to-wall polemics trying to push a narrative.

To defame, you don't have to necessarily discredit, just cast doubt - and repeat over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again, on any social medium you can, that MSM lies all the time.*

* - Does MSM get it completely right all the time?  Not fully.  Does Infowars.com get it completely right all the time?  Far less often than MSM.

 

[jollyjacktar]

And just because you beat someone you like even less doesn't mean you'll be an effective leader, either.

So true, but eventually you'll get the measure of the man/woman and can determine if they're effective or not worth a pinch of coon shit.  Time will tell if their Mr. T will be able to "Pity the Fool" or be one himself as our Mr. T is for me.

 

[Journeyman]

Please explain the difference between the educated charge of "racist, xenophobic, Islamophobic, mysogynistic"  and Archie Bunker's "commie, pinko fag" - aside from the target and the number of syllables.

Are you suggesting that neither are suited to be US President?  Is that what you were going for?   

Trump attended the Army-Navy game to chants of "Make America Great Again ". Proud to finally have a man in the Oval Office that is respected.

Based more on my passing experience with RMC (and Queen's) -- never having been to either US Service Academy -- I can't imagine citing the views of those 19-20 year olds, especially  regarding politics, as justification for my own.  That's just me though, YMMV.

The only useful bit to come out of all that, is that Army won.  [

 

[The Bread Guy]

Another intriguing possible choice - highlights mine ...

Exxon Mobil Corp Chief Executive Officer Rex Tillerson emerged on Friday as President-elect Donald Trump's leading candidate for U.S. secretary of state, a senior transition official said.

Trump met Tillerson on Tuesday and may talk to him again over the weekend, the official said. Trump appears to be in the final days of deliberations over his top diplomat with an announcement possible next week.

Tillerson's favored status was revealed as former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani formally withdrew from consideration for secretary of state.

The transition official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Tillerson, 64, had moved ahead in Trump's deliberations over 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who has met Trump twice, including at a dinner in New York.

But the official said Romney was still under consideration for the job, along with John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations; U.S. Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, and retired Navy Admiral James Stavridis.

Giuliani's withdrawal came after he was fully vetted by the Trump transition team for his overseas business ties in what was described by the Trump official as an "intense" effort by lawyers and accountants.

Giuliani, who runs a global consulting firm, was given a clean bill of health, with Trump's aides concluding his business interests would not pose a risk to his confirmation.

Should Tillerson be nominated, his business ties, too, will come under scrutiny. Exxon Mobil has operations in more than 50 countries and boasts that it explores for oil and natural gas on six continents.

In 2011, Exxon Mobil signed a deal with Rosneft, Russia's largest state-owned oil company, for joint oil exploration and production. Since then, the companies have formed 10 joint ventures for projects in Russia.

In 2013, Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded Tillerson his nation's Order of Friendship.

But U.S. sanctions against Russia for its incursion into Crimea cost Exxon Mobil dearly, forcing it to scrap some projects and costing it at least $1 billion in losses. Tillerson has been a vocal critic of the sanctions ...

On that bit in orange, if one complains about Trudeau's links to Castro, I guess one should complain about this guy's links to Russia, right?  Am I riiiiiiiiiight?

On that bit in yellow, no conflict there, I guess.

 

[tomahawk6]

Are you suggesting that neither are suited to be US President?  Is that what you were going for?   

Based more on my passing experience with RMC (and Queen's) -- never having been to either US Service Academy -- I can't imagine citing the views of those 19-20 year olds, especially  regarding politics, as justification for my own.  That's just me though, YMMV.

The only useful bit to come out of all that, is that Army won.  [

The military voted overwhelmingly for Trump.Those same 19-20 are representative of the composition of our military.Journeyman I dont need to cite anyone or group to support my positions as they are opinion.The reason I liked the video was how Trump was received by those in attendance.It was similar to his rallies.Over time I may not like his policies but for the moment its better than 4 years of Hillary.

 

[Kirkhill]

Are you suggesting that neither are suited to be US President?  Is that what you were going for?   

:not-again:  ;D

I'm heading for the beer cellar until the wars are over.  It'll give me some time to work on my Huguenot history.

:subbies:

All the best.

 

[Journeyman]

I'm heading for the beer cellar until the wars are over. 

Now that  may have been the wisest thing posted in any of the politics threads.    :cheers:

 

[a_majoor]

More post electoral shenanigans. If we are to take the Fake Media at its word, then the Russians have penetrated and taken over the DHS as well (although considering the US record on cybersecurity over the last several years, this may actually be true):

https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/251521/

YEAH, AT FIRST THEY BLAMED THE IRS SCANDAL ON “ROGUE EMPLOYEES,” TOO: Exclusive: DHS Says Georgia Hack May Have Been Rogue Employee: Officials tell members of Congress the attack on state firewall could have been inside job. Plus: “With few concrete answers from DHS so far, the aide said there is a lot of skepticism about the department’s innocence in the attempted breach. ‘There’s a lot of mistrust at the moment.'”

A cynic might conclude that all the sudden hoopla about Russian hacking is meant to distract from what DHS was doing.

UPDATE: From the comments:
I might suggest that the state of Georgia file charges under any number of computer crime laws. So long as they have the logs pointing to the attack source originating from DHS let loose the dogs of law! My lawyer always says “discovery is a bi#$^ whether you want it or not.”

Which would then lead to a very interesting second court case. Georgia having proved the source would very well have standing at SCOTUS for a charge of civil rights violations and a abridgement of Article IV of the US Constitution.

 

[mariomike]

To defame, you don't have to necessarily discredit, just cast doubt - and repeat over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again, on any social medium you can, that MSM lies all the time.*

:goodpost:

 

[The Bread Guy]

More post electoral shenanigans. If we are to take the Fake Media at its word, then the Russians have penetrated and taken over the DHS as well (although considering the US record on cybersecurity over the last several years, this may actually be true) ...

Or, it may just have been the Administration breaking in and sharing emails to torpedo it's own party's fight ...

John Bolton, who may be named deputy secretary of state, is suggesting that the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusion about Russian hacking that favored Republican nominee Donald Trump could be a deception, a “false flag.”

In an interview Sunday, Bolton told Fox News’ Eric Shawn, “It is not at all clear to me, just viewing this from the outside, that this hacking into the DNC and the RNC computers was not a false flag operation.”

Bolton reasoned that Russia would be too sophisticated to leave evidence of its hacking.  “If you think the Russians did this, why did they leave fingerprints?” he asked.

Though Bolton didn’t elaborate on the term “false flag,” he seemed to be suggesting that someone in the Obama administration or the intelligence agencies could have been attempting to falsely lead the public into believing Russia was to blame for the hacking.

Shawn followed up by asking, “Are you actually accusing someone here in the administration or in the intelligence community of trying to throw something?”

Bolton was not specific: “We just don’t know,” he replied. “But I believe that intelligence has been politicized in the Obama administration to a very significant degree.” ...

But wait -- this is a legacy media/fake news outlet reporting on something biased Fox News said, so is it REALLY true?

 

[The Bread Guy]

Or, it may just have been the Administration breaking in and sharing emails to torpedo it's own party's fight ...But wait -- this is a legacy media/fake news outlet reporting on something biased Fox News said, so is it REALLY true?

Ok, now we're certain it's true because a pro-Russian media outlet in separatist Ukraine says it's true - aaaaaaaaaaaaaall sorted out ...
"CIA READY TO OVERTHROW ANOTHER GOVERNMENT, THIS TIME THE TARGET IS THE UNITED STATES, COUP PLANNED AGAINST TRUMP, DANGEROUS TIMES AHEAD !"

 

[Oldgateboatdriver]

Well, John Bolton would certainly know something about "false flag" operations by the intelligence community.

Wasn't he a Dubya hack in diplomatic circles when they tried to sell the world a bill of sales on weapons of mass destruction, based on cooked up intel prepared at their own higher leadership request's !

 

[mariomike]

U.S. police expect Trump to lift restrictions on surplus military gear
https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2016/12/11/us-police-expect-trump-to-lift-restrictions-on-surplus-military-gear.html
Police organizations have argued that military-style vehicles and gear help protect officers’ lives and improve public safety.

See also,

Militarization of the police?
http://army.ca/forums/threads/116026.0
7 pages.
Locked.

 

[cupper]

Which ones?  The ones peddling "fake" news, the ones peddling "real fake" news, the ones peddling "fake, fake" news?  The ones publishing "secret CIA briefings"?  I can't quite identify any of them actually putting out real news anymore.  It seems that we're faced with wall-to-wall polemics trying to push a narrative.  Sad, but at this point, we might as well hope for the best and prepare for the worst, which is exactly what I would have said had the other candidate won.

The same ones that Sarah Palin reads. All of them.

 

[cupper]

Now some of the Electors are requesting intelligence briefs on the hacking investigation, as well as Investigations into the connections between Russia and Trump and his staffers.

Electoral College voters demand their own briefing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/12/us/politics/donald-trump-transition.html?_r=0

One week before the Electoral College meets to ratify Mr. Trump’s election victory, 10 electors — including a Texas Republican who has turned on Mr. Trump, and Christine Pelosi, the daughter of Representative Nancy Pelosi — have demanded their own intelligence briefing on Russian efforts to elect Mr. Trump.

“We intend to discharge our duties as electors by ensuring that we select a candidate for president who, as our founding fathers envisioned, would be ‘endowed with the requisite qualifications.’ As electors, we also believe that deliberation is at the heart of democracy itself, not an empty or formalistic task. We do not understand our sole function to be to convene in mid-December, several weeks after Election Day, and summarily cast our votes.”

Their request:

“The Electors require to know from the intelligence community whether there are ongoing investigations into ties between Donald Trump, his campaign or associates, and Russian government interference in the election, the scope of those investigations, how far those investigations may have reached, and who was involved in those investigations. We further require a briefing on all investigative findings, as these matters directly impact the core factors in our deliberations of whether Mr. Trump is fit to serve as president of the United States.

Additionally, the electors will separately require from Donald Trump conclusive evidence that he and his staff and advisers did not accept Russian interference, or otherwise collaborate during the campaign, and conclusive disavowal and repudiation of such collaboration and interference going forward.”