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

[Sturgeon]

1 minute ago, Collimatrix said:

 

It's a particularly Machiavellian piece of political maneuvering:

 

 

Trump knows he sounds stupid, he is from Queens so he grew up sounding stupid. He learned to do it deliberately, to make people underestimate him. If you can't imagine Trump as an intelligent mastermind, then his strategy is working on you. It's working on all of his enemies right now.

 

Better get used to President Trump, cuz he ain't going nowhere.

[Collimatrix]

So, here's the deal: people talk about the American two-party system and European multi-party systems like they're very different, and they aren't very different.

 

In European elections a bunch of disparate parties get seats during the election, and then need to form some sort of marriage-of-convenience majority coalition afterward in order to get anything done.

 

In American politics, a bunch of disparate interest groups decide which of the two parties they'll align with, thereby forming some sort of marriage-of-convenience coalition that can hopefully grab a majority in the coming election.

 

Same shit, only difference is whether you hold the Yalta Conference before or after the election.

 

The game has been played so many times that the playbook is pretty nearly complete.  One of the plays a canny operator will try to run is to force attention on one of the issues of contention in the opposing coalition.  The Democrats have, or at least had a pretty good angle on this with the abortion issue.  The more libertarian-minded part of the Republican party was either pro-choice or indifferent, while the Evangelical Christian wing was obviously easily and loudly provoked whenever it came up.  This attack was particularly effective because those two factions of the Republican party really needed each other; the soulless free-trade plutocrats had the money while the bitter clinging yokels had the warm bodies to provide votes.

 

Trump is trying to conduct a similar attack against the Democrats.  Until recently, the Democrats were a powerful union of steel-bending Communists (proletariats & allies concerned with their lowly and precarious economic situation) and gender-bending Communists (professionally aggrieved, lettered social theorists).  Trump proved in 2016 that he can steal the votes of steel-bending Communists.  If he can trick the Democrats into re-emphasizing the gender-bending Communist rhetoric, they'll alienate the blue-collar union worker bloc even further.

[Belesarius]

1 hour ago, Ulric said:

 

 

I have no issues with people who can meet the physical and psychological requirements of the job.

 

I have concerns about the mental faculties of people who believe that they are a different gender than they physically are.

 

I have issues with changing national policies of a voluntary organizing to cater to 0.3% of the population. The people who are against having openly trans/gay people in the military cite concerns about the organization, while the people for it cite concerns about the individual.

 

I have zero issues with the military being highly selective of who is allowed in. I think they should be more selective, because the current stigma is that the military is comprised of people who couldn't hack it on their own, kids who want free college, xenophobic rednecks who's hobbies mainly consists of huffing paint, and the rare strong intelligent patriot that wants to protect their country.

I'm fine with leaving that diagnosis up to the professionals. I understand that Doctor shopping is more of a thing down in the US though.

[Ulric]

1 hour ago, Belesarius said:

I'm fine with leaving that diagnosis up to the professionals. I understand that Doctor shopping is more of a thing down in the US though.

 

"Dr. Paul R. McHugh, the Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University and former psychiatrist–in-chief for Johns Hopkins Hospital, who has studied transgendered people for 40 years."

 

Yes, doctor shopping is a thing down here, mostly because we actually have doctors to choose from. Also, I'm pretty sure this guy knows what he's talking about.

 

You could always get a second opinion from John Money, though. Ask David Reimer about his experience with Mr. Money.

 

 

Sorry about the larger text, done on my phone.....

[Ulric]

I'm not saying that transgenders are unstable nutjobs who can't be trusted, I'm saying that they have some psychological issues that should be considered and addressed.

[Walter_Sobchak]

This is some interesting reading...

 

Was the “Russian Hack” an Inside Job?

by Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity

[Ramlaen]

This is a bit dated now but related.

 

Quote

https://www.wordfence.com/blog/2017/01/election-hack-faq/

On Friday we published an analysis of the FBI and DHS Grizzly Steppe report. The report was widely seen as proof that Russian intelligence operatives hacked the US 2016 election. We showed that the PHP malware in the report is old, freely available from a Ukrainian hacker group and is an administrative tool for hackers.

We also performed an analysis on the IP addresses included in the report and showed that they originate from 61 countries and 389 different organizations with no clear attribution to Russia.

Does the report prove that Russia Hacked the 2016 US Election?

No it does not. What Wordfence revealed on Friday is that the PHP malware sample that the US government provided is:

-An old version of malware. The sample was version 3.1.0 and the current version is 3.1.7 with 4.1.1 beta also available.
-Freely available to anyone who wants it.
-The authors claim they are Ukrainian, not Russian.
-The malware is an administrative tool used by hackers to upload files, view files on a hacked website, download database contents and so on. It is used as one step in a series of steps that would occur during an attack.

Wordfence also analyzed the IP addresses available and demonstrated that they are in 61 countries, belong to over 380 organizations and many of those organizations are well known website hosting providers from where many attacks originate. There is nothing in the IP data that points to Russia specifically.

 

[Sturgeon]

3 hours ago, Collimatrix said:

Until recently, the Democrats were a powerful union of steel-bending Communists (proletariats & allies concerned with their lowly and precarious economic situation) and gender-bending Communists (professionally aggrieved, lettered social theorists).  Trump proved in 2016 that he can steal the votes of steel-bending Communists.  If he can trick the Democrats into re-emphasizing the gender-bending Communist rhetoric, they'll alienate the blue-collar union worker bloc even further.

 

And so far, he's been incredibly successful at that. Plus, he's proven he's a winner.

 

The Democrats thought November 8th, 2016 was a dark day for them. They have no idea what is going to hit them on November 3rd, 2020.

[Jeeps_Guns_Tanks]

I thought this was interesting

 

Quote

SUBJECT: Was the “Russian Hack” an Inside Job?

Executive Summary

Forensic studies of “Russian hacking” into Democratic National Committee computers last year reveal that on July 5, 2017, data was leaked (not hacked) by a person with physical access to DNC computers, and then doctored to incriminate Russia.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper (right) talks with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office, with John Brennan and other national security aides present. (Photo credit: Office of Director of National Intelligence)

After examining metadata from the “Guccifer 2.0” July 5, 2016 intrusion into the DNC server, independent cyber investigators have concluded that an insider copied DNC data onto an external storage device, and that “telltale signs” implicating Russia were then inserted.

Key among the findings of the independent forensic investigations is the conclusion that the DNC data was copied onto a storage device at a speed that far exceeds an Internet capability for a remote hack. Of equal importance, the forensics show that the copying and doctoring were performed on the East coast of the U.S. Thus far, mainstream media have ignored the findings of these independent studies [see here and here].

 

 

From this, 

 

https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/07/25/was-the-russian-hack-an-inside-job/

 

An interesting read, but I've never heard of the site, so well, you know. 

[Jeeps_Guns_Tanks]

34 minutes ago, Sturgeon said:

 

And so far, he's been incredibly successful at that. Plus, he's proven he's a winner.

 

The Democrats thought November 8th, 2016 was a dark day for them. They have no idea what is going to hit them on November 3rd, 2020.

 

 

One of the 3D chess theories is he tweeted about not letting mentally unstable people serve in the Military, to get the press outrage on that so the dems new message. "A better deal" on pizza, or whatever, and to get them back on the SJW identity politics path that has done them so much harm.  

[Belesarius]

Well, Scaramucci is entertaining, if nothing else.

 

https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2017/07/27/in-profane-rant-trumps-communications-director-calls-reince-priebus-a-paranoid-schizophrenic-lobs-lewd-insult-at-steve-bannon.html

[Lostwingman]

The. Best. Timeline.

[Collimatrix]

1 hour ago, Belesarius said:

Well, Scaramucci is entertaining, if nothing else.

 

https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2017/07/27/in-profane-rant-trumps-communications-director-calls-reince-priebus-a-paranoid-schizophrenic-lobs-lewd-insult-at-steve-bannon.html

 

 

And to think, a few days ago, people were saying what a natural pick he was.

 

Or maybe this is the sort of thing Trump approves of?  Have we considered the possibility that the post of communications director is cursed?

 

[Lostwingman]

"Communications director"

 

You mean the person who is supposed to interact with the press? Yea, he doesn't give a shit about that.

[Jeeps_Guns_Tanks]

It would be much more amusing if he used that language to talk about the media people. 

[Sturgeon]

8 hours ago, Lostwingman said:

The. Best. Timeline.

 

I have no problem at all with Trump turning the White House into the WWE.

[Oedipus Wreckx-n-Effect]

It's always been as fake, but now it's at least entertaining and fake. 

[Walter_Sobchak]

13 hours ago, Jeeps_Guns_Tanks said:

I thought this was interesting

 

 

 

From this, 

 

https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/07/25/was-the-russian-hack-an-inside-job/

 

An interesting read, but I've never heard of the site, so well, you know. 

 

Counterpunch has been around a while.  It was started by Alex Cockburn, an old lefty from a family of leftist muckrakers.  That said, Counterpunch is definitely left wing but certainly not liberal (in the sense of supporting the Dems).  Anyhow, the article I posted from VIPS has been posted to numerous websites, it's not something that originated with counterpunch.  VIPS is a legitimate group, non-partisan, and made up of actual former intelligence officers.  I would not dismiss anything they say out of hand.  

[Collimatrix]

1 hour ago, Walter_Sobchak said:

 

Counterpunch has been around a while.  It was started by Alex Cockburn, an old lefty from a family of leftist muckrakers.  That said, Counterpunch is definitely left wing but certainly not liberal (in the sense of supporting the Dems).  Anyhow, the article I posted from VIPS has been posted to numerous websites, it's not something that originated with counterpunch.  VIPS is a legitimate group, non-partisan, and made up of actual former intelligence officers.  I would not dismiss anything they say out of hand.  

 

My understanding is that cyber-forensics are pretty weak right now, and actually scary people can hide their tracks quite well.  It may be some time before anyone actually pieces together what happened.  That said, the VIPS article is interesting.

 

Counterpunch is totes worth reading, at least from time to time.

 

 

 

So, you know how Trump really likes to hide his actual moves behind something attention-getting?  Well, here you go.

[Walter_Sobchak]

I bet John McCain is thoroughly enjoying himself right now.  You know he has been looking for a way to screw the Donald ever since the infamous "my heroes don't get captured" quip.  Now that he has nothing to lose and a limited number of days left on this earth, it will be interesting to see what other shenanigans Senator McCain gets up to. 

[Belesarius]

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/344276-mccain-explains-why-he-voted-to-kill-obamacare-skinny-repeal

 

McCain's explanation of his vote.

 

 

[Walter_Sobchak]

23 minutes ago, Belesarius said:

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/344276-mccain-explains-why-he-voted-to-kill-obamacare-skinny-repeal

 

McCain's explanation of his vote.

 

 

I'm sure that's his official reason.  However, the fact that he refused to tell reporters how he was going to vote, saying “wait for the show”, makes me believe he is milking this for all it's worth, rubbing it in the face of Trump and the other Republicans that keep carrying Trump's water.

[Ramlaen]

Priebus must not have wanted to leak that he "resigned" yesterday.

[LostCosmonaut]

 

 

Me: I struggle daily with the nature of the divine and to improve my relationship with God and Jesus.

 

Chris Murphy: Have you considered voting democrat?

[Sturgeon]