politics Post Election Thread: Democracy Dies In Darkness And You Can Help

[Sturgeon]

3 hours ago, Walter_Sobchak said:

 

Odd, I don't think i have commented much about "collusion" here.  My general position has been lets wait and see what the Mueller probe reports.  Also, if you can find posts of mine praising Saudi Arabia or Israel, I'll be quite surprised.  I would probably be pretty amused if the Trumpster aimed his insults at either of them, I think they have far too much influence on US policy.  If you want to talk about influencing US elections, AIPAC make the Russians look like total amateurs.  While I would like the US and Russia to have decent relations, I think the goals and long term ambitions of the two countries are fundamentally at odds, meaning relations are never going to be fantastic.  Overcoming decades of mistrust is not easy.   

 

 

 

I took the liberty...

 

On 7/20/2018 at 10:18 PM, Walter_Sobchak said:

 

I'll be honest, I don't think they are literally controlling Trump via some sort of black mail.  I think it's a more a case that Trump has some sort of admiration of Putin (and other autocrats) and wants to be in their club, so to speak.  I also think he is financially tied to Russian financiers and oligarchs.  And yes, I think he is shallow enough to tailor foreign policy decisions around what is best for his own personal finances.  If he had released his tax returns like most normal candidates, this would be less of a concern.  The same goes for if he had actually separated himself from his businesses while in office.  Ethics rules exist for a reason, but unfortunately there is little political will to enforce them concerning this President.  As to your comments regarding the Mueller investigation, let's wait and see what all they come up with. 

 

As to Russia, I like many individual Russians quite a bit.  They are some of my favorite contributors to Sturgeon's House.  I have a good deal of sympathy for the many great tragedies that have befallen the Russian people over the past 100 years.  That said, I do not like Putin at all, nor do I trust him.  I respect him as a very intelligent and capable adversary, but that's about as far as it goes.  

 

Right now I see the USA and Russia as having some fundamentally different interests on the world stage that place limits on the extent to which the two nations can cooperate.  Trump's attempt to win Putin over by establishing some sort of personal friendship does not seem to be a particularly wise approach to me.  As to some of the points you make, I think you are missing the big picture.  It doesn't really matter to Putin how much NATO spends on defense.  Even right now, NATO spending is magnitudes higher than what Russia can afford.  What I am sure delights Putin is when Trump sends signals that the USA might start to consider its collective defense responsibilities as stipulated by the NATO treaty to be optional, or contingent on some arbitrary set of factors.  If the international security apparatus established after WWII starts to fray, it opens up a lot more possibilities for a second rate power such as Russia to start flexing it's muscles regionally.  

 

The weirdest result of the Trump presidency has been that I find myself in agreement with.....George Will.  I never thought I would be saying that about the old insufferable baseball loving champion of Reagan era conservatism.  He pretty much summed up my feelings regarding Trump in his latest column.

 

 

If I had an ounce of sense, I would stop arguing politics here and focus on writing the next boring script for my next boring youtube video.  Yeesh.

 

On 7/17/2018 at 12:46 AM, Walter_Sobchak said:

The only thing I find weird about Trumps visit with Putin is how everyone is surprised that Trump threw his own country under the bus.  Trump said the same crap he has been spewing for months.   Trump loves dictators and he loves Russia.  He hates democracies.  He treats allies like enemies, and enemies like "competitors".   Trump has actually made me nostalgic for Ronald Reagan...

 

There are lots of less explicit posts on your part that would reasonably inform someone that you do believe Trump is in cahoots with the Russians, these are just the most explicit ones of the past month.

[Lostwingman]

Ah yea there it is. I was wondering where I got the impression from.

[Walter_Sobchak]

Yes, I am very suspicious of Trump and his relationships to various Russian oligarchs.  I have said so, as shown in previous posts.  However, I have not said that I am certain that his campaign colluded with Russian officials, I leave that up to the official release of Muellers report, assuming it ever comes out.   Please forgive me for being suspicious.  I mean, it't not like Trump's campaign manager is on trial for conspiracy against the United States.  Like, that's totally normal. 

[Donward]

Manafort was on the Trump campaign for a total of five months and he was campaign manager for three. He was basically foisted on the Trump campaign by the GOP Establishment after he secured the nomination in a sort of Faustian bargain that no shenanigans would take place during the Convention in exchange for Trump allowing himself to be reined in. 

 

This is isn’t ancient history folks.

 

Suffice to say, no one puts Trump in the corner and he shit-canned Manafort because Manafort was only interested in running a conventional campaign against Hillary, one that would concede the White House in hopes of limiting damage to the GOP down the ticket.

 

History has since shown this to be the wrong strategy and campaign managers are dime-a-dozen.

[Sturgeon]

1 hour ago, Walter_Sobchak said:

Yes, I am very suspicious of Trump and his relationships to various Russian oligarchs.  I have said so, as shown in previous posts.  However, I have not said that I am certain that his campaign colluded with Russian officials, I leave that up to the official release of Muellers report, assuming it ever comes out.   Please forgive me for being suspicious.  I mean, it't not like Trump's campaign manager is on trial for conspiracy against the United States.  Like, that's totally normal. 

Yeah but it kinda does put the lie to this post, donnit?

 

6 hours ago, Walter_Sobchak said:

Odd, I don't think i have commented much about "collusion" here. 

 

Like you pretty much at least brush on collusion in every post you make in this thread, man.

[Walter_Sobchak]

48 minutes ago, Sturgeon said:

Yeah but it kinda does put the lie to this post, donnit?

 

 

Like you pretty much at least brush on collusion in every post you make in this thread, man.

 

I have made no secret of my dislike of the man.  Examining his history as a business man and public figure leads me to the conclusion that he lacks the necessary skills and ethics to occupy the highest office of the land.  

[Belesarius]

Here's the thing.  Do I think Trump 'colluded' with the 'Russians'. Almost certainly. Once you hit a certain level of wealth you will run in to people of all sorts at buisness meetings, social mixers, society parties, showbiz parties.  Because only so many people have a certain level of wealth and it's a small enough circle, you are inadvertently close to a bunch of corrupt, sociopathic motherfuckers, because you don't generally hit the level of fuck the world wealth without being able to screw over your fellow man fairly easily. And it's a small small world.

 

Epstein is a good example of this. Disgusting corrupt motherfucker who partied with people on both sides regularly, deliberately and methodically.

 

[Sturgeon]

20 minutes ago, Walter_Sobchak said:

 

I have made no secret of my dislike of the man.  Examining his history as a business man and public figure leads me to the conclusion that he lacks the necessary skills and ethics to occupy the highest office of the land.  

 

I don't like him, either. But you said you rarely if ever talked about collusion, which is, um, not reflective of your posting history.

And since when has any President had the "ethics" to occupy the office?

[Walter_Sobchak]

Just now, Sturgeon said:

 

I don't like him, either. But you said you rarely if ever talked about collusion, which is, um, not reflective of your posting history.

And since when has any President had the "ethics" to occupy the office?

At least most of the former occupants could fake it.  I want someone who can at least pay lip service to the ideals that we all pretend make the USA a great nation.  Call me sentimental I guess.  

[Sturgeon]

3 minutes ago, Walter_Sobchak said:

At least most of the former occupants could fake it.  I want someone who can at least pay lip service to the ideals that we all pretend make the USA a great nation.  Call me sentimental I guess.  

 

Trump does, just in a very blue collar way. I went to school with Vaisyas for 2 years, Trump speaks their language

[LoooSeR]

5 hours ago, Ulric said:

 

We are certainly trying to go after the life blood of their economy. That's a bit too big of a difference to overlook. Personally, I think it would be hilarious if we teamed up with Russia to take a big bite out of Saudi Arabia's oil exports, but that will never happen.

I am 100% for any actions that will suck money from Wahabi fuckheads. But we are going to sell S-400 to them...

At least their money will be payed to Almaz Antey and finance AA systems development and Canada will have harder time in Saudi-Canadian war of 2020.

[Belesarius]

6 minutes ago, LoooSeR said:

I am 100% for any actions that will suck money from Wahabi fuckheads. But we are going to sell S-400 to them...

At least their money will be payed to Almaz Antey and finance AA systems development and Canada will have harder time in Saudi-Canadian war of 2020.

We just have to cut off spare parts to the shit that we sold them.

Or jack the price up.

Saudis can't fight for shit. We'll send in reservists from the 48th and PPLCI and let them deal with the Saudis and their Sudanese mercs.

 

[Lostwingman]

9 hours ago, Walter_Sobchak said:

At least most of the former occupants could fake it.  I want someone who can at least pay lip service to the ideals that we all pretend make the USA a great nation.  Call me sentimental I guess.  

 

I can't even begin to care about the "faking professionalism" that every one of them has done. The pedestal of any elected office is a sham, getting elected is not like being a doctor or scientist. They all deserve and should be mocked and brought low. Caring about it is a peak non-sequitur. The office of the presidency is not some royal court position, people need to stop raising the theater of the office over the function of it. Oh no the president did a faux pas! Good thing I'm not a bourgeoisie fart sniffer then. 

[Sturgeon]

Trump reflects the true poise and grace of all his predecessors, like the one who gave the Queen a iPod, or the one that made up words, or the one that ejaculated on his secretary in the Oval Office.

[Toxn]

15 minutes ago, Sturgeon said:

Trump reflects the true poise and grace of all his predecessors, like the one who gave the Queen a iPod, or the one that made up words, or the one that ejaculated on his secretary in the Oval Office.

Given that the world has now officially embraced female ejaculation, I foresee a future madam president returning to that latter theme.

[Sturgeon]

YESS YESS DUMP MORE MONEY AND AIRTIME INTO CANDIDATES RUNNING IN UNWINNABLE DISTRICTS YESS

[Lostwingman]

13 minutes ago, Sturgeon said:

YESS YESS DUMP MORE MONEY AND AIRTIME INTO CANDIDATES RUNNING IN UNWINNABLE DISTRICTS YESS

 

Man she ain't the only one. I could probably kill someone with the stack of fliers and ads from this persons campaign. Like every goddamn day for 3 months and the area of San Antonio I'm in is like 90% democrat.

 

The DNC and related groups burn money like nobodies business. I should consider getting into the printing business, sheesh.

[Donward]

"Primaries don't show Democrats divided. They show a party mature enough to handle debate."

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/primaries-don-t-show-democrats-divided-they-show-party-mature-ncna898966

 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...*cough*...HAHAHA...*wheeze*...ha.

[Sturgeon]

Disagreeing about the details is less divisive than denying reality.

 

Oooohooookayyyyy

[Donward]

But muh Blue W... wha... whoa lady... put the gun DOWN!!! *rattle of gunfire*

 

Ex-Democratic Congressional Candidate accused of shooting, murdering former campaign manager in Georgia

 

http://www.augustachronicle.com/news/20180809/former-congressional-candidate-charged-with-murder-in-aiken

 

To be fair, in the interviews with her, she never explicitly came out in favor of gun control.

 

https://www.sparxtribune.org/collins-for-congress.html

 

 

 

[Walter_Sobchak]

32 minutes ago, Donward said:

But muh Blue W... wha... whoa lady... put the gun DOWN!!! *rattle of gunfire*

 

Ex-Democratic Congressional Candidate accused of shooting, murdering former campaign manager in Georgia

 

http://www.augustachronicle.com/news/20180809/former-congressional-candidate-charged-with-murder-in-aiken

 

To be fair, in the interviews with her, she never explicitly came out in favor of gun control.

 

https://www.sparxtribune.org/collins-for-congress.html

 

 

 

 

 

This story has nothing to do with anything.  She wasn't even on the ballot, let alone the Democratic candidate for her district.  Anyhow, if you want to start comparing which party has more nutcase candidates for US house races, I just want to point out that the Republicans can boast of a handful of candidates that are literal Nazis. 

 

 

[Oedipus Wreckx-n-Effect]

 

Interesting. I wonder if it's at all true.

 

http://www.shearsocialmedia.com/2018/08/top-college-tried-to-reject-applicant-who-followed-alex-jones-on-twitter.html

 

https://www.newswars.com/college-grilled-prospective-student-for-following-alex-jones-on-twitter-lawyer/

 

https://www.cnn.com/2016/09/21/health/kids-social-media-college-admissions/index.html

 

https://www.dailywire.com/news/34274/warning-colleges-may-reject-you-based-who-you-ashe-schow

 

 

Who knows.

[Sturgeon]

4 minutes ago, Walter_Sobchak said:

 

 

This story has nothing to do with anything.  She wasn't even on the ballot, let alone the Democratic candidate for her district.  Anyhow, if you want to start comparing which party has more nutcase candidates for US house races, I just want to point out that the Republicans can boast of a handful of candidates that are literal Nazis. 

 

 

 

Betcha $10 the DNC runs more literal Communists than the RNC runs literal Nazis.

[Walter_Sobchak]

Just now, Sturgeon said:

 

Betcha $10 the DNC runs more literal Communists than the RNC runs literal Nazis.

 

I'm sure they all have their platforms posted on campaign websites in case you want to prove your point.  Anyhow, while I am sure there are a number of democratic candidates who are socialists, I doubt there are any that resemble of the hardline communists of old, demanding the liquidation of the Kulaks and Stalinist re-education camps.  Most of the "democratic socialist" candidates seem to be espousing something more in line with the socialist policies of some of the Western European countries.  

[Walter_Sobchak]

12 minutes ago, Sturgeon said:

 

Betcha $10 the DNC runs more literal Communists than the RNC runs literal Nazis.

 

To be fair, the RNC is not running these candidates because they want to, in most cases they snuck onto the ballot in a district that was very noncompetitive, leading to a lack of respectable conservative candidates.  Still, the optics are pretty bad.