Indecision 2016

[Uniform Two Six]

So like, did anyone catch the Republican debate? For the record, I did not, but I caught the "highlights" afterward. Did Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio actually sound as crazy in the debate as they did in the soundbites?

[Terastas]

Funny thing was that you could tell Fox News carefully scripted the whole thing to try to avoid making anyone look crazy. And yet half of them went out of their way to come across as bat-crap anyway.

[Uniform Two Six]

There was this point where they asked if the candidates thought ISIL was an ideological threat or a military one -- and Ted Cruz (I think) instead launches into describing some sort of faith-based social thing he has going on in Texas.

[Uniform Two Six]

Ben Carson just went on the record as saying that Muslims shouldn't be eligible for the presidency.
Apparently we're trying to out-crazy Trump now.

[Uniform Two Six]

So, the two conventions are over and we're into the home stretch now. Presumably Trump was going to settle down and start running a conventional campaign for the general election in November, but that apparently isn't the case. House Republicans are not only beginning to jump ship, but they're starting to row their lifeboats towards the S.S. Hil-Dog. Even Meg Whitman just endorsed Clinton.

And yet, Trump is only around eight percentage points behind her. What the heck is going on?!

Trump is in the mid 30s, Hillary is in the low 40s. The remaining 20-30% are apparently doing write-in candidates or just leave the presidential section blank. Okay, I get the Bernie "Never Hillary" crowd, and I get the right-wing "Never Trump" crowd. But, for the middle of the spectrum -- who have no particular love for either party... what is up with this None-Of-The-Above business?

[Uniform Two Six]

This is depressing. Against Hillary in the first debate, Donald Trump came across as an ignorant fool -- and he went up two percentage points.

What gives?!

[Uniform Two Six]

Oh, God. This damn thing just gets weirder and weirder... Now before I continue, I want to emphasize that I do not in any way condone sexual assault. To be clear: Sexually assaulting someone is very bad. That said...

Trump is caught on tape bragging about sexually assaulting a woman -- and that's what gets everybody upset?!

Like, seriously?! This idiot has advocated using nuclear weapons against defenseless civilians, and nobody cared -- but he bragged about groping a woman and now everybody freaks? God, that is weird. Also, everybody seems surprised. Also weird.

[Volkodlak]

Well if what Wikileaks found on Hillary is true and people hear it she is done.Wikileaks posted emails where Hillary casually ACKNOWLEDGED that our ALLIES, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are FUNDING ISIS plus not to mention she got questions she will have too answer on debates thus prowing debates were rigged.

now question is will people get this new info

[Uniform Two Six]

On the second part of that, this is the very first I've heard of it (the rigged debate allegation, that is). It actually took a bit of digging to find anything online. Apparently this is part of the dump that the Russian government handed over to WikiLeaks (which makes it all kinds of suspect right off the bat). Brazile and CNN are denying the whole thing (for whatever that's worth), and most of the places you can find this thing are on paranoid conspiracy websites. Pretty much all of the reputable news organizations, aren't lending this much credence, and most aren't even reporting it. This sounds like it's total garbage. On a slight aside, I just read an article (by a Washington Post journalist, if memory serves) on an unrelated piece of this same hack-dump, where he was basically laughing at the stupidity of the Russians. Apparently they claimed that an email that was hacked, that was from Sidney Blumenthal and acknowledging that their attacks on Trump's methods as being disqualifying were patently false on their face. Turns out that it was this journalist that wrote it -- as an article -- and he was being sarcastic. The email WAS from Blumenthal, but he was doing a cut-and-paste and sharing the article excerpt with Podesta for a laugh. The article (that I read, not the original) was titled "I am NOT Sidney Blumenthal". This is one of the pitfalls of trying to pull this kind of stunt when you don't speak your target's language fluently (the North Koreans are REALLY susceptible to this).

As for Saudi and Qatar funding Daesh, that's hardly a revelation. That's been something that they've been complaining about for years (in fact, I mentioned it in the Syrian thread, incidentally). If anything, it reinforces the Obama Administration's position on Daesh (which Clinton, as Secretary of State was an integral part of). Specifically:

What are our strategic interests with regard to Daesh? What threat do they pose?
1. The Syrian government of Bashar Al Assad. (Who cares?)
2. Sunni extremist organizations (like Al Nusri Front) opposed to Assad. (Who cares?)
3. Moderate Syrian rebel groups (Like the Free Syrian Army) opposed to Assad. (They will never have any real pull in the country, so who cares?)
3. Turkey -- which actually has a real army. (Who cares?)
4. Israel -- which also has a real army, and moreover is doing everything in their power to oppose our policies in the region, undermine the peace process and tick off as many Arabs as humanly possible. (Who cares?)
5. Iraqi Kurds. (Since supporting the Kurds risks alienating Turkey -- a NATO ally -- there is no win there.)
6. Iraqi government -- which is responsible for all of the sectarian issues that helped Daesh get started in the first place, is hell-bent on establishing Shias at all levels in the government to the complete exclusion of the Sunnis, is slowly becoming an Iranian satellite, and demanded that we remove all of our troops in 2011 specifically so they could do all of that stuff without any further American interference. (Who cares?)
7. Iran. (Who cares?)
8. Saudi Arabia -- who (as mentioned before) considers Sunni terrorists to be less important than countering Shia Iranian influence in the region, and as such is willing to fund groups like AQAP and Daesh to further that goal. (So who cares?)

Meanwhile Trump is so preoccupied with Daesh that he's actually advocating paling up with Russia and stabbing NATO in the back, just so long as they help us blow up Daesh. WikiLeaks is going to have to come up with something more than an email confirming what we already knew years ago, and some vague allegation that hasn't been verified in the first place.

[Volkodlak]

Eh this is getting too funny all mayor news agencys are trying to potray Trump as guy who touched women at wrong places many years ago not too mention this womens waited years too accuse him witch means its all a lie.Meanwhile Hillary is potrayed as saint while in reality she is way worse than Trump.

I think this anti-Trump movement by all mayor politicans and news agencys is giving Trump a popularity boost think about it:
-How was he able too become candidate for president despite his own republican party trying too destroy him plus all the hate?
-he can win this elections becouse people are kinda seeing how news and politicans are trying too take him down and somehow he is still in game so he is viable option plus peoples distrust in goverment and alittle of leaked Hillarys mails could give him an edge

[Uniform Two Six]

Eh this is getting too funny all mayor news agencys are trying to potray Trump as guy who touched women at wrong places many years ago...

Huh?! How are the news media "trying to portray" him? He's on tape bragging about doing it! The only thing about that that's weird is that anybody was surprised in the first place since he's bragged about it on the Howard Stern Show, on air!

[Uniform Two Six]

plus not to mention she got questions she will have too answer on debates thus prowing debates were rigged.

Well, this is the gift that keeps on giving...

Turns out there might be more to this. CNN just fired Brazile formally. At the moment it appears that CN didn't give her the questions, but it looks like she might have gotten it from water-cooler-talk. I still rather doubt that it was done maliciously as the tone of the emails has a very nonchalant feel. At any rate, I doubt that it actually changed much since the idea that Clinton might get a question on the Flint, Michigan issue is about as surprising as the fact that fire is hot. Nonetheless, I'm frankly astounded that Donna Brazile (even innocently) could have been that stupid. She's a sharp tack, and this whole thing is too bone-headed for words.

[Uniform Two Six]

Did not see that coming. It's going to be an interesting four years.

[Meeper]

Did not see that coming. It's going to be an interesting four years.

Not that I care to comment on politics, but I kind of did see this coming. Call it a gut feeling, I have no particular insight to speak of.

America got what it wished for. I hope it works out for them, though I'm not holding my breath.

[Volkodlak]

YES Trump won so america will be great again

[Uniform Two Six]

YES Trump won so america will be great again

Adolf Hitler made good on his pledge to make Germany great again, too.

[Volkodlak]

YES Trump won so america will be great again

Adolf Hitler made good on his pledge to make Germany great again, too.

Yes he did and Germany would be great if west would not interfered

[Grayheart]

YES Trump won so america will be great again

Adolf Hitler made good on his pledge to make Germany great again, too.

Yes he did and Germany would be great if west would not interfered

As a German grown up and living in Germany I find this highly offensive. Hitler was a megalomanic xenophobic Monster responsible for the death of millions of people - let's just hope Trump doesn't turn out like Hitler did - and if so, then let's hope the world wakes up earlier and prevents what came with Hitler and his hate on all living things not like him!

To all Packmembers living in the US - Keep your head up and stand your ground against this hateful person!

[Volkodlak]

YES Trump won so america will be great again

Adolf Hitler made good on his pledge to make Germany great again, too.

Yes he did and Germany would be great if west would not interfered

As a German grown up and living in Germany I find this highly offensive. Hitler was a megalomanic xenophobic Monster responsible for the death of millions of people - let's just hope Trump doesn't turn out like Hitler did - and if so, then let's hope the world wakes up earlier and prevents what came with Hitler and his hate on all living things not like him!

To all Packmembers living in the US - Keep your head up and stand your ground against this hateful person!

Im quite aware what hitler was plus germany conquered my country too and i said germany was great it was big and powerful just that leader was lets say quite evil.

[Uniform Two Six]

Yes he did and Germany would be great if west would not interfered

Im quite aware what hitler was plus germany conquered my country too and i said germany was great it was big and powerful just that leader was lets say quite evil.

"Had the West not interfered". Well first off, presuming that by "the West" you're talking specifically about France and the United Kingdom, that statement would be pretty iffy. Marshal Tito did some pretty serious damage to Nazi Germany without any military whatsoever. Arguably the German occupation of Yugoslavia (a territory which included modern-day Slovenia) was probably from an economic standpoint a net loss for Germany. Although Hitler had not invaded Yugoslavia by September 1939 (generally the point where things went completely off the rails for Germany), there's no reason to think that something similar would not have eventually cropped up in Czechoslovakia, and causing an equally debilitating drain on German resources.

I should say that (although I sort of started the point) I would not conflate Donald Trump with Hitler... He reminds me more of Benito Mussolini -- but all three seem to share certain personality traits, so Hitler makes as good an example as any.

One of the biggest problems that Hitler historically had (and which I think Trump may well share) was he had really poor judgement particularly with respect to whom he chose as allies. Mussolini was another of these fiascos that in the end cost Germany far more than it could ever have hoped to gain. The worst ally that Hitler elected to pal up with however, was Josef Stalin. In his quest for "lebensraum" Hitler completely overlooked the strategic advantage of keeping a nice buffer-state between Germany and the Soviet Union. When Hitler and Stalin divided up Poland between them, the immediate problem presented itself that now the two powers shared a very long land border. And while Stalin's perennial purges of his military leadership meant that in the short term, the Red Army was handicapped in several ways, Hitler faced a very significant strategic threat in the long term. Even if he had not already viewed the Soviet Union as Germany's greatest continental adversary (the Wermacht's high command -- which unlike Hitler, generally did know what it was doing -- tended to share this view), the abortive Soviet-Finnish War of 1939 was an unmistakable warning that even Hitler could not have missed. Soviet Russia was going to get into the expansion-by-conquest game too, and the clock was ticking.

So frankly, even if France and the United Kingdom had sat back and done nothing with regard to the German invasion of Poland in September of 1939, Hitler would almost certainly have led Germany down the same path anyway. Remember that in terms of resources, pretty much everything on the Western and Southern Fronts was sort of a sideshow to the Eastern Front. By far the largest land battles of the war were fought in Eastern Europe. This was compounded by the fact that the whole supposed purpose for the war in the first place was Germany's economic situation -- something that was actually in a significantly more fragile condition that the average person realizes. Soviet Russia became an enormous sponge that soaked up German resources just as fast as Germany could throw them in. The Soviets had the option to trade almost limitless empty space for time in which the German war machine could run out of material, machines, and men -- which is what ultimately saved the Soviet Union from Stalin's generally inept leadership. It's also exactly how Germany lost the war.

France's involvement in the war was fairly truncated so to say that it's involvement somehow materially affected Germany's defeat is a pretty absurd notion in my opinion. The U.K.'s involvement was certainly a much larger drain on Germany's resources... but again, that's really more due to Hitler (although Mussolini had a hand in it too -- but given that Hitler's generals didn't share his high regard for Mussolini, one could argue that that failing was ultimately Hitler's). Mussolini had a tendency to get himself into all sorts of trouble that eventually Hitler had to get him out of. However, "had" to get him out of is something of a misnomer. When Mussolini tried to invade Greece in October of 1940, he fouled it up so badly that the Greeks actually had the Italians on the run by the end of the following month. That should probably have been the point where Hitler (or any halfway competent leader, really) could have realized that Mussolini and Italy were a gigantic albatross around Germany's neck. Instead of cutting them loose, Hitler instead elected to double down and use German troops to effect a victory (invading Yugoslavia in the process in April of 1941 and engaging the British Army which had used the intervening period to put an expeditionary force in Greece). This set the tone for much of the rest of the war. Forces that could have been concentrated on the Eastern Front instead were constantly leached away to prop up (what were really) Italian positions around the Mediterranean. Moreover, war with the U.K. necessitated a costly and clumsy naval war that Germany could ill-afford to engage in, particularly since Germany was at best a regional naval power, while the U.K. was a global naval superpower. But there was no actual strategic imperative that he do so -- Hitler simply convinced himself of the necessity. So, the statement that Britain getting involved led to Germany's defeat, while certainly true -- didn't need to be if Hitler had been a more strategically proficient leader.

Ultimately, though I find the argument rather simplistic. The Brits knew that if Hitler was allowed to run wild long enough, eventually they were going to find themselves in Germany's crosshairs sooner or later. When Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia, and Britain and France formally guaranteed Poland's independence, that was a clear signal to Hitler that his actions were being regarded as presenting an existential threat to his neighbors. That's the point that Hitler should have quit while he was still ahead. To imply that when he pressed on to Poland, somehow the U.K. and France should have stayed on the sidelines and done nothing, is perplexing. It was in both of their national interests to do the opposite.

To all Packmembers living in the US - Keep your head up and stand your ground against this hateful person!

As an American, I would like to sincerely apologize for the next four years. Oops -- our bad.
I would also caution you to not get your hopes up with regard to the Congressional election in 2018. The Democrats tend to do really s*** in mid-term elections, so I'm afraid that the needle hasn't quite finished shifting to the right yet.

[Uniform Two Six]

Wow. This sh***y week just keeps getting sh****er.

So, part of the reason that Trump won was that even when the media fact-checked his pure bullshit statements, nobody believed it. I figured that was just rhetoric. Apparently it's not. A study released found that 62% of Americans get all or most of their news from social media -- with 44% getting it all or mostly from Facebook!

And then if the Trump presidency wasn't enough of a kick-in-the-nuts, Gwen Ifill from PBS Newshour died.

And the worst part is that is part of me is so depressed about all of this bad news, that I sort of just want to tune out and go look at pictures of cute puppies on social media for a while.

[Grayheart]

Im quite aware what hitler was plus germany conquered my country too and i said germany was great it was big and powerful just that leader was lets say quite evil.

Well, then you should work on the precision of your general wording. Besides this - if you define greatness with being a big and powerful land, well, then Germany was 'great' in this regard. But to me greatness isn't being a big, powerful bully-nation. It's being a nation full of considerate, compassionate human beings wanting to help others improve themselves and their situation for the best of all. And in this regard Nazi-Germany was one of the worst and littlest nations I can think of. Like North Korea is today.

To all Packmembers living in the US - Keep your head up and stand your ground against this hateful person!

As an American, I would like to sincerely apologize for the next four years. Oops -- our bad.
I would also caution you to not get your hopes up with regard to the Congressional election in 2018. The Democrats tend to do really s*** in mid-term elections, so I'm afraid that the needle hasn't quite finished shifting to the right yet.

You don't have to apologize for your fellow Americans - it's not your personal fault. It's the fault of decades of mismanaged education - intellectual, emotional, spiritual and otherwise - that led into this new era of 'half-enlightenment' which in Adorno's view ultimately led Germany, the nation of philosophers, into it's darkest era of the modern past. The Problem to him was not that people weren't educated - the problem to him was, they were, but only half-hearted. There was only a civilic husk to be seen, hiding the weak structure behind - but everyone deemed themselves to be highly educated, thus lacking the emotional grounding to stand up against the impending doom of Hitler's new order.

Besides this - I really do not think that something will change the political landscape in the US soon. The Democrats busted this thoroughly in my view. Additionally I wouldn't bet that our elections next year here in Germany will leave a better result. We have our own Trumps - one of them being Frauke Petry from the political party AFD *shudder* - who have a chance of winning a fairly high amount of seats in our national parliament next year. It's the Zeitgeist of our time - populism takes its toll on the uninformed, the left-behinds. All one can do is to held one's head high and go on believing that times will change again - and they will, they certainly will. The ones who see will have to be the ones actively preserving the knowledge that will be needed to build society anew when the tides change once again. We have to be the wolves whose wildness preserves the world.

[Terastas]

Wow. This sh***y week just keeps getting sh****er.

So, part of the reason that Trump won was that even when the media fact-checked his pure bullshit statements, nobody believed it. I figured that was just rhetoric. Apparently it's not. A study released found that 62% of Americans get all or most of their news from social media -- with 44% getting it all or mostly from Facebook!

And then if the Trump presidency wasn't enough of a kick-in-the-nuts, Gwen Ifill from PBS Newshour died.

And the worst part is that is part of me is so depressed about all of this bad news, that I sort of just want to tune out and go look at pictures of cute puppies on social media for a while.

More and more, I'm finding that, actually, Comrade Trump's supporters DID know it was bullshit, but they were okay with that.

Used to be the stooges would recite bullshit rhetoric at me. Now they just grunt "#HEISYOURPRESIDENT!!!" or "Haha, Trump won, time to die libtards!"

Which is what kills me most of all: Not what Trump is, but that millions of Americans were fully aware of what he is and voted for him anyway.

[Uniform Two Six]

I'm actually having trouble keeping track of all of Trump's bullsh*t. I've instituted a "Trump Log" to keep up. As the end of the second week painstakingly creeps up, let's recap:

Falsely accused CNN of reporting unsubstantiated rumor of Russian "honeypot" operation in which he was (supposedly) caught in piss-sex sting in Moscow. Accuses CIA of complicity (after even earlier blaming entire Iraq war on Langley)

Falsely accused New York Times and CNN of misreporting size of inauguration crowd. Doubled down on claim even after proven false. Then visits CIA Headquarters, Langley, to "mend fences" (see above), and while standing before the Wall of Remembrance, Doubles down on claim again.

Claimed 3-5M fraudulent votes cast for Clinton in election cost him popular vote. Still has not substantiated claim. Stated intention to open federal investigation of election fraud.

Issued executive order halting all refugee programs in seven countries. Did not alert relevant departments beforehand. Persons wrongfully deported. Claimed roll-out was "smooth" and "a complete success". Protests hampered airport operations across the country and no less than four separate federal courts issued stays-of-execution against the order due to questions of legality.
After questioning the legality of the order, the acting attorney general issues direction to the Justice Department to cease implementation of the order. Trump fires her -- and for good measure, fires head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) -- that bastion of liberal pussy terrorist-coddlers.
Mocks Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) for emotional interview related to executive order, as well as Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) for failing to support it.

Issues executive order instructing Joint Chiefs to prepare within thirty days a report defining what Donald Trump's brilliant plan to defeat Daesh (the brilliance of which was underlined by how much more he knows about it than the generals, and was a central part of his platform) actually will be.

Issues executive order removing Director of National Intelligence and Chairman of Joint Chiefs from the National Security Council -- and inserts White House Political Strategy Advisor Stephen Bannon in their place.

Issues executive order stating intent to arm Kurdish forces in fight against Daesh.


Wow. F***ing wow. Y'know, I'm in agreement with what Jon Stewart said on The Late Show. This guy needs to pace himself. The presidency is supposed to age him -- not us!

EDIT: Day is not over. Just added:

UN ambassador Nikki Haley addresses the organization, stating: "You're going to see a change in the way we do business. Our goal with the administration is to show value at the UN, and the way we'll show value is to show our strength, show our voice, have the backs of our allies and make sure our allies have our back as well. For those who don't have our back -- we're taking names."

Trump lawyer and diplomatic advisor Jason Greenblatt, when asked for cooperation on a Middle East peace proposal, bluntly tells a European diplomat: "We are business people. We are not going to govern this country with diplomatic niceties. We are going to run it as a business."

Threatens to invade Mexico.

Tries to bully Australian Prime Minister, then hangs up on him.

[Volkodlak]

hes a PRO not an amatur like Obama