Politics Thread - Ka-tet of 19

[injurai]

 

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-maria-butina-russian-spy-nra-donald-trump-20180716-story.html

 

Shocking but a Russian female spy tried to infiltrate the NRA...even the good old NRA is a target for Putins  interference 

Why don't hot russian red headed spies ever offer me sex for access? I'd cave in a second

 

 

When you're a shame to your nation, but a hero to your sex. May the lay soothe your traitorous soul.

[Guard Dog]

Hey I'm divorced, late 40's, live alone and I'm not very nice. So I'm not exactly getting a lot of action these days. My nation is going to have to cut me a little slack!

[ShadySands]

Wasn't the last female Russian spy that made the news a redhead too?
 

 

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-maria-butina-russian-spy-nra-donald-trump-20180716-story.html
 
Shocking but a Russian female spy tried to infiltrate the NRA...even the good old NRA is a target for Putins  interference

Why don't hot russian red headed spies ever offer me sex for access? I'd cave in a second

Just don't say you have information that could get Hillary locked up, I'd hate for you to accidentally shoot yourself multiple times from behind.

[Gromnir]

The idea being that people who actually want power are the ones who should not have it. 

 

'cause Congressmen and Governors is noble altruists who is uninterested in power?

 

regardless, am finding an absence o' a few days lead to predictable silliness.  defense o' trump Helsinki performance by folks we would expect to defend the indefensible... resorting to putin-like deflection and false equivalency.  am admitting the absurdist nonsense came outta nowhere, but gonna write it off as aberrational.

 

however, instead o' laughing at wackiness related to trump comments and corrections, am gonna instead take a moment to have a bit o' a guffaw at the expense o' tennessee, which is admitted a bit like mocking the disabled kid with MS who happens to be an orphan, but...

 

http://time.com/5342879/tennessee-confederate-flag-license-plate/

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Guard Dog]

Yeah I posted that on the other thread. Like i said there, to make something go away you need to ignore it. All this noise about banning confederate symbols just makes people dig in their heels and do things like this. The way Memphis moved to get some statues out of a park was measured and stealthy enough not to have occasioned much grief if the folks in Nashville had not made such a big deal about it. 

 

Newton was more right than he knew. Equal an opposite reaction applies not just to force but social actions too. But it may be the people who wanted the confederate stuff gone WANTED the fight. It wasn't enough just to do it quietly. They wanted to provoke their opponents. Gifted1 said as much a little while ago. Our politics have devolved into an exercise of internationally pissing off the other side even if it means doing things that are self-defeating. 

[BruceVC]

Guys I cannot be the only one who has been assessing some of Trumps more controversial comments, especially when he Tweets, since his presidency began and has come to conclusion how truly uninformed he is about  many global and historical events....it becomes embarrassing around certain things he says

 

Granted he does backtrack on most things he says wrong but he still seems to have  very little regard or understanding about what he says in the public arena 

 

For example his latest comments in Helsinki 

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/07/17/trump-addresses-summit-criticism/790354002/

Edited July 20, 2018 by BruceVC

[Guard Dog]

  Bruce your optimism is showing again. Apparently your expectations from him were a lot higher than ours. Nothing he has said or done or tweeted in the last two years has surprised any of us. The bar is so low it would take a lot to do that I think.

[BruceVC]

  Bruce your optimism is showing again. Apparently your expectations from him were a lot higher than ours. Nothing he has said or done or tweeted in the last two years has surprised any of us. The bar is so low it would take a lot to do that I think.

 You right I do have  some expectations for Trump, somethings he has delivered on but I must also not  read too much into the disappointments he makes 

[HoonDing]

Just realized I've been confusing Montenegro with Macedonia.

 

“Montenegro is a tiny country with very strong people ... They’re very aggressive people. They may get aggressive, and congratulations, you’re in world war three,” the US president added.

 

[Gromnir]

Guys I cannot be the only one who has been assessing some of Trumps more controversial comments, especially when he Tweets, since his presidency began and has come to conclusion how truly uninformed he is about  many global and historical events....it becomes embarrassing around certain things he says

 

Granted he does backtrack on most things he says wrong but he still seems to have  very little regard or understanding about what he says in the public arena 

 

For example his latest comments in Helsinki 

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/07/17/trump-addresses-summit-criticism/790354002/

 

defending trump in spite o' frequent ludicrous statements has become the norm for his base.  is a curious phenomenon.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/after-putin-meeting-trump-voters-mostly-dig-in-but-cracks-are-showing/ar-AAAdMAu?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=spartandhp

 

on many/most fiscal issues, we align with republicans.  am more simpatico with the textualists, so regarding Court decisions am gonna be more likely to agree with those Justices (mistaken) identified as conservative or republican.  am more libertarian than republican, but for vote purposes, we tend to vote republican particular at the national level.  hasn't been a libertarian candidate who did anything other than embarrass him or herself when addressing foreign affairs issues, so makes particular difficult to vote libertarian beyond State-level.  heck, we live in a gated community where virtual every resident who chose to put up Presidential campaign signage before most recent election, did so in support o' trump.  *chuckle*  is kinda a joke in the neighborhood that Gromnir is only adult male who did not serve in military and reach rank o' at least army captain. virtual everybody is ex-military officer, and those guys tend to vote republican. on paper, we look like a garden variety republican. 

 

can't figure out what the hell is wrong with our republican friends who defend trump.  "at least he is better than clinton."  ok, am not necessarily agreeing at this point regarding to trump superiority, but we understand and empathize with such a sentiment.  however, compare to clinton and find clinton wanting is not same as defending trump blunders.

 

am not needing go through the laundry list o' trump mistakes, but am simple baffled by the typical republican defense o' their guy.  yeah, the polarization o' American politics has become extreme enough such that folks is no longer able to be reasonable. defense o' trump takes on a personal quality for those who voted for him. even so, there is an almost psychotic break from reality regarding trump, and it does exist both directions.  given trump attacks on media, am not surprised they, as a whole, vilify trump beyond what seems necessary.  the chief executive is constant making comical errors, so is no good reason to indulge in excessive editorializing to expose his questionable fitness.  more than a few folks on the left is as rabid as the folks on the right.  fine.  most o' us agree the excessive polarization is bad, but is not some kinda excuse to defend trump's indefensible.

 

honest, am not seeing a way to correct the current psycho slide into a kinda mainstream adoption o' frothing reddit nerd rage. democrats are gonna have to get their act together and promote a moderate candidate, 'cause republicans ain't gonna dump trump and an extreme liberal candidate in response to trump will make polarization worse, not better.  four years o' a competent and moderate President, regardless o' party, will erase some o' the current emotional gridlock the populace is suffering, but am not believing problem will be solved so easy.  thanks to internet and changes in media polarization, this new dynamic may be more the norm than a historical aberration.

 

regardless, there isn't genuine defense for trump comments.  can't look for one to explain trump defenders.  defense is on an emotional level which ignores reason.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Malcador]

Just realized I've been confusing Montenegro with Macedonia.

 

“Montenegro is a tiny country with very strong people ... They’re very aggressive people. They may get aggressive, and congratulations, you’re in world war three,” the US president added.

 

 

They also have a very intimidating anthem.

[Katphood]

Trump-Putin summit:

 

FBI: Russians meddled with the elections

 

Trump: Hey, Putin. Did Russia meddle with the elections?

 

Putin: No.

 

Trump: Told you so.

[HoonDing]

I am confident you can trust the president of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

[213374U]

Trump-Putin summit:

 

FBI: Russians meddled with the elections

 

Trump: Hey, Putin. Did Russia meddle with the elections?

 

Putin: No.

 

Trump: Told you so.

 

Trump: "le American deep state men are out to get me!"

 

Also Trump: "le former Soviet deep state man is totes trustworthy"

[Gfted1]

Well hes not wrong on the first part.

[majestic]

snip

snap

 

I recall some pretty heavy Bush Jr. defending in YoP way back when which weren't that different from the current batch of Trump defenders. Thinking back, Bushisms weren't that different to Trumpisms either. Trump, on top of it all, is an orange real life meme with a worse hairdo.

 

"There's an old saying in Tennessee—I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee—that says, 'Fool me once, shame on...shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again." -- George W. Bush.

 

Bush at least had the good grace to surround himself with a group of people that stopped him from making an ass of himself more often than not.

[Zoraptor]

Yeah, Trump's considerably worse in terms of verbal compost and near Yeltsinesque capering than GWB was (neither Trump nor Bush got arrested drunk in their underwear outside the Kremlin though, the advantage of being teetotalers). Then again, if that was the worst thing about either man, or Yeltsin, nobody would really care and either would be a decent leader.

 

But for all his many problems Trump hasn't started a war that killed and displaced millions and left the middle east even more destabilised- well, hasn't started one yet at least- and until he does he's better than Bush. And, of course, it was the people he had the good grace to surround himself with, Cheney, Rummy, Wolfy, who really pushed for that war. I'd far rather have had any number more faux pas than Iraq War 2003.

[Blarghagh]

Breaking news: Investigation into Trump administration reveals no evidence of ties to America.

[213374U]

Well hes not wrong on the first part.

 

[smjjames]

But for all his many problems Trump hasn't started a war that killed and displaced millions and left the middle east even more destabilised- well, hasn't started one yet at least- and until he does he's better than Bush. And, of course, it was the people he had the good grace to surround himself with, Cheney, Rummy, Wolfy, who really pushed for that war. I'd far rather have had any number more faux pas than Iraq War 2003.

 

Hasn't started one yet.

[Bartimaeus]

Yeah...wasn't he pushing for invasion of Venezuela not that long ago?

[majestic]

But for all his many problems Trump hasn't started a war that killed and displaced millions and left the middle east even more destabilised- well, hasn't started one yet at least- and until he does he's better than Bush. And, of course, it was the people he had the good grace to surround himself with, Cheney, Rummy, Wolfy, who really pushed for that war. I'd far rather have had any number more faux pas than Iraq War 2003.

 

Yeah. I didn't say Bush had the good graces to surround himself with decent people (outside maybe of Powell and Rice). Just people who helped him run a less ridiculous administration. That said I was pretty much in favor of Trump over Hillary for exactly that reason - I'm pretty positive Hillary would have bombed Syria back to the stone age by now.

 

Not that someone hasn't unsucessfully tried to lure Trump into fully commiting to the Syrian flustercuck. Then he got to happily press a button or two to fire missiles, pat himself on the back, appear to be the big strong man and completely forget about it after twattering about that animal Assad. It's really a pity for al-Qaeda the moderate rebels in Syria.

[Zoraptor]

Yeah...wasn't he pushing for invasion of Venezuela not that long ago?

 

And supposedly was going to directly attack the Russians in Syria in April as well, plus threatened to wipe North Korea out. None of those have actually happened though, it was all talk (and in the Venezuela case, talk as related from 'anonymous sources' too). So long as it remains just talk it's... just talk.

 

 

 

Not that someone hasn't unsucessfully tried to lure Trump into fully commiting to the Syrian flustercuck. Then he got to happily press a button or two to fire missiles, pat himself on the back, appear to be the big strong man and completely forget about it after twattering about that animal Assad. It's really a pity for al-Qaeda the moderate rebels in Syria.

 

 

Yep, and they were the only times he's had close to universal praise from the press too which is just as telling. Unsurprisingly the 2018 Douma attack wasn't a nerve gas/ chlorine mix as claimed (obvious to anyone with basic chemistry knowledge) plus 40% of the victims in the previous Khan Sheikhoun attack turned up to hospital before the attack took place- never once mentioned in the press so far as I have seen, but confirmed by the OPCW albeit buried in the appendix and not mentioned in the body of the report nor the summary.

 

I dunno how Hillary would have handled Syria when it came right down to it and she had to actually do something rather than just appear tough, but most of the rosy projections for sweeping victory for the moderate western vetted head choppers after a no fly zone was imposed involve people making the assumption that Putin would simply back down if threatened hard enough. Which betrays an absolutely fundamental misunderstanding of Putin.

[smjjames]

I don't think it's even possible to uncluster**** the Syria situation. Sure, there was a window where something could have been done, but that closed long ago. Now, there are just way too many actors involved for it to go anywhere good.

 

As for the no-fly zones, just how would those have been enforced anyway? Shoot down Russian planes? What about the Iranians? Syrians? Still, as the incident with Turkey shooting down a Russian plane shows, Putin really doesn't want to get tangled into a fight with the US. So, I think that even with Hillary as President, Putin still wouldn't want to get into a military conflict with the US.

[Gromnir]

is funny.  bush is somehow given credit for starting the war in iraq while at same time he is portrayed as a kinda bumbling bumpkin. bush somehow mind zorked the coalition nations into following his lead, no doubt through the sheer force o' his charisma.  and the iraq resolution, passed in part by a democrat controlled senate by something like 75 to 25 (am forgetting exact numbers) were clear the result o' bush's machiavellian machinations.  sure, bush couldn't even get a republican controlled house to reign in clinton era bank deregulation, and even had one o' his vetoes overturned in an act o' party defiance which with the benefit o' hindsight makes him seem like a modern day cassandra, but somehow bush were the guy responsible for war in iraq? 

 

is all kinds o' things for which we blame bush as the guy responsible. 2004 campaign attacks on kerry were scurrilous and dishonorable.  actual and/or tacit approval o' "enhanced interrogation techniques" post 9/11 were shameful.  lord butler's panel vindicated the infamous "16 words" in bush's 2003 state of the union, but intelligence were not near as strong as the administration portrayed it to be. abandoning the kyoto protocol. etc.  

 

war in iraq were hardly a one-man sh!7 show, no matter how convenient such would be for folks trying to rewrite history.  

 

converse, trump blunders has been almost entire solo precise 'cause he cannot build consensus abroad or at home. a President with a majority in house and senate has rare accomplished so little, and what he has done were managed through hastily written, and often bungled, executive orders.  international we need not worry 'bout an iraq war from trump 'cause is no way we see him build a coalition to invade anybody, though perhaps the chief executive and putin worked out their own molotov-ribbentrop pact during their two-hour private meeting. solo. trump has been offering a parade o' personal blunders and lies from day one o' the Presidency when he directed spicer to lie 'bout crowd size. 

 

HA! Good Fun!