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2016 Presidential Election Thread Archive


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Brickfight? Did you vote in Pennsylvania? And is there a lot of media overkill?

 

Yeah and no. There's not really much of a "media" here, as most of the year, the biggest stories are "Man falls down near road." The big joke is that there were a few Sovcit groups who tried to get open-carry groups to intimidate folks in Pittsburgh, but nobody showed up at the meeting zones for it. Pennsylvania is like a lot of Appalachian states in that it's mostly small, very centralized towns with miles of farmland or mountains separating them, so news media ends up extremely regional, and nobody really cares what happens to one of the polling places in Frog Balls, PA.

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Like most larger states then, it seems Pennsylvania is divvied up into different regions which I guess is equally unemployed steel workers in Pittsburg, inner-city Philadelphia and the Amish. In Washington state we are divided into Hipster Seattle, West Idaho rednecks and North Portland hipsters who are trying to evade Oregon's income tax.

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GiP comments on Ted Cruz;

 


Months of effort, wasted. The clinging darkness of the cavernous chamber swallows most of the dim candlelight but the craggy lip of the Apotheosis Pit stands sharply defined, backlit by the candles arrayed upon the rocks. "The Vessel fails us. Chasten it with the lash." Two robed figures materialize from the inky blackness, grotesque masks dancing with dim reflections of the gathered Synod. They carry between them the wretched form of Ted Cruz, stripped naked, his spilled innards and visceral worm hang limply from the gaping abscess of his lower body. Ted is thrown to the bare stone of the chamber floor. From the assembled, four faithful step forward, each bears a barb of gold. Each barb bears a sigil, each sigil serves a purpose, that which possesses Ted will not leave its vessel. It will be punished. The four seize Ted by his appendages and begin. One by one the golden spikes are driven through the clammy flesh of his arms and legs, for every failure, ten thousand agonies are inflicted. The screams of the corporeal vessel and the obscene essence within mingle and the chamber is alive with the music of retribution. A guttural bark explodes over the cacophony, one of the chosen has arrived to administer the rites of absolution. Clutched in a hand that could not be that of a man, the scourge is ready to be painted with the wage of repentance. The four bind Cruz to a pillar of iron sitting at the edge of the pit with spiked chains and the rag draped envoy of the nameless powers sets about its work with unfettered enthusiasm, its poorly wrought iron mask does little to hide the vicious smile pulling its thin, bestial lips taught around yellowed teeth. Again the chapel erupts with a chorus of pain, a duet of anguish sung by Ted and the malignancy that dwells within him.

Ted's pallid flesh is beaten ragged, the wrought iron pillory stands in a pool of the oily black ichor that pours from his flensed torso, it is The Wine of Sodom and it is what binds him to the corporeal plane. Ebon rivulets of Cruz's fundamental repugnance begin to dribble into the infinite darkness of the Apotheosis Pit, each drop bursts into emerald flame as it plummets into the depths of the maw. Ted is unshackled, the envoy draws a shard of obsidian from his tattered vestments and moves to perform his final duty. The blade shines with an unholy light as the maggot-wyrm that burns with Cruz's dim spirit is unravelled from his guts. With a swift thrust the wyrm is severed and cast unceremoniously into the yawning chasm. Perhaps now, free of such worldly distractions, the vessel will better serve its purpose. "Why am I persecuted?" Ted wails as his beloved strikes the boundary of reality in the formless reaches of the pit and detonates into a pillar of blinding light. "THOU ART CAST DOWN" a nameless one replies as the thin veil of reality around the Apotheosis Pit begins to tear. Jagged spears of empyrean energy lash out through the convocation, disintegrating them into screaming effigies of black flame that diminish to points of light as time and space begin to lose coherence. The Synodites flee as more of their number succumb to the fell energies of the primordial chaos. The envoy laughs and drags Ted to the edge of the pit by his greasy shock of hair, today Cruz will speak to a new god. His purpose fulfilled, the chosen returns to the gap between dimensions and his physical form bursts into a cloud of caustic ash and locusts. It is an end for some, but not all. There is, after all, a presser at 4:30.

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The world is so crazy right now that it's only Donald fucking Trump that talks a sane foreign policy:



I greatly dislike the guy, so I feel like I live in an alternate universe right now.

 

So here are the points he talks about in that video that I've been squawking about for ages:

1. The US acts like a fucking schizophrenic to its allies and enemies, alike. One day we're you're friend, the next we've left you high and dry.
 

2. US military power is scattered and unfocused, making it too costly to do simple things like bomb a bunch of goatfucking ISIS fighters to ash.

 

3. US home security is weak and subject to political whims, including the political fashions of the day.

4. US military security is poor, our enemies find us very predictable.

 

5. The US without question allows our allies to totally piggyback on our defense, without even meeting the minimum requirements of our agreements.

 

6. The US is obviously desperate to reach meaningless accords with nations like Iran, which means we can never strike a truly landmark deal.

 

7. The US nuclear arsenal is decaying and rotten and desperately in need of upgrade. 

 

8. The US lets China and Russia walk all over them for no reason. Trade with China's great, but we're hemorrhaging industrial capital to China and other countries.

 

9. US military equipment (Trump uses B-52s as an example) is old and worn out and must be replaced.

10. President Obama does not have respect internationally. Probably because he gave the Queen of England a goddamn iPod.

 

11. The VA is broken and must be fixed.

 

12. American foreign policy must be based on American interests.

 

13. The US needs to promote stability in the Middle East, not radical change for democracy.

 

14. The US needs to improve relations with Russia from a position of strength.

 

15. The US needs to balance its trade with China to improve its positioning with the PRC.

 

 

 

Don't mistake me, here. I really don't trust Trump, and I definitely don't like the guy. But holy shit, why is he the only candidate talking smart about this stuff?

It's sort of like Bernie Sanders, he's the only candidate that talks at all about the college crisis. We live in a ridiculous time, absolutely crazy.

 

So, think about all these things the next time you wonder why anyone would vote for Trump. He simply has no competition on a lot of these issues!

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Oh, one final thing. Trump gave that speech like he was already President, not like he was a candidate on the campaign trail. I think that's a big deal for his electability.

Lest we get the wrong impression here, we saw similar things with Bush in 2000 when he was campaigning, and I think Trump is greatly overestimating (well, he has to, but) how much power he will have as President. However, it would be nice to have a strong figurehead for a change, at least until he dies in office.

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The world is so crazy right now that it's only Donald fucking Trump that talks a sane foreign policy:

I greatly dislike the guy, so I feel like I live in an alternate universe right now.

 

So here are the points he talks about in that video that I've been squawking about for ages:

1. The US acts like a fucking schizophrenic to its allies and enemies, alike. One day we're you're friend, the next we've left you high and dry.

 

2. US military power is scattered and unfocused, making it too costly to do simple things like bomb a bunch of goatfucking ISIS fighters to ash.

 

3. US home security is weak and subject to political whims, including the political fashions of the day.

4. US military security is poor, our enemies find us very predictable.

 

5. The US without question allows our allies to totally piggyback on our defense, without even meeting the minimum requirements of our agreements.

 

6. The US is obviously desperate to reach meaningless accords with nations like Iran, which means we can never strike a truly landmark deal.

 

7. The US nuclear arsenal is decaying and rotten and desperately in need of upgrade. 

 

8. The US lets China and Russia walk all over them for no reason. Trade with China's great, but we're hemorrhaging industrial capital to China and other countries.

 

9. US military equipment (Trump uses B-52s as an example) is old and worn out and must be replaced.

10. President Obama does not have respect internationally. Probably because he gave the Queen of England a goddamn iPod.

 

11. The VA is broken and must be fixed.

 

12. American foreign policy must be based on American interests.

 

13. The US needs to promote stability in the Middle East, not radical change for democracy.

 

14. The US needs to improve relations with Russia from a position of strength.

 

15. The US needs to balance its trade with China to improve its positioning with the PRC.

 

 

 

Don't mistake me, here. I really don't trust Trump, and I definitely don't like the guy. But holy shit, why is he the only candidate talking smart about this stuff?

It's sort of like Bernie Sanders, he's the only candidate that talks at all about the college crisis. We live in a ridiculous time, absolutely crazy.

 

So, think about all these things the next time you wonder why anyone would vote for Trump. He simply has no competition on a lot of these issues!

 

Welcome to my reality. 

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Well, it's easy to be a critic on the campaign trail, which is why it's so bizarre that the other candidates don't seem to have picked up on these points.

It's not that Trump's saying this stuff that's freaking me out, it's that everyone else is staring so intently at their own navels that he's the only one.

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2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13 - Moderate to Strong Agreement. 12 seems kinda like a no-brainer. 

 

1 & 4 seem contradictory to me. 

 

I generally like the Iran deal, but I don't think it goes far enough. As for Obama being "weak," I don't really care. 

 

8 & 15 - I'm too much of a free trader , or "globalist elitist scum" as I've been told, to agree. 

 

14 - I honestly do not care what Russia does, so I don't see the need to be in a position of strength at all. 

 

Being 8/15 is above 50% though! That's the best of any of the candidates left in the major parties. Yet I do not believe that Trump can actually accomplish any of the things he wants to do. "Strong figurehead" is probably the best interpretation of a Trump in the presidency. 

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1 & 4 seem contradictory to me. 

 

That's because you're confusing the capriciousness of the State Department with the transparency of our military maneuvers.

 

8 & 15 - I'm too much of a free trader , or "globalist elitist scum" as I've been told, to agree. 

 

How does being in favor of free trade mean you think the US should continuously let China take advantage of it and siphon off its manufacturing base? Doesn't free trade mean using aggressive business practices to get the best deal?

 

14 - I honestly do not care what Russia does, so I don't see the need to be in a position of strength at all. 

 

You don't care what the country with the largest nuclear arsenal (and the largest unsecured nuclear arsenal) in the world does? Okeedokee!

 

Being 8/15 is above 50% though! That's the best of any of the candidates left in the major parties. Yet I do not believe that Trump can actually accomplish any of the things he wants to do. "Strong figurehead" is probably the best interpretation of a Trump in the presidency. 

 

Yep, but at least it would be a nice change from having a weak figurehead.

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That's because you're confusing the capriciousness of the State Department with the transparency of our military maneuvers.

 

 

Ok that makes more sense, I thought that was what you meant but wasn't sure. Some of our allies do suck though and need to be scolded, which Trump might be able to do better if he knew. 

 

 

How does being in favor of free trade mean you think the US should continuously let China take advantage of it and siphon off its manufacturing base? Doesn't free trade mean using aggressive business practices to get the best deal?

 

Eh, I'm not really convinced that US manufacturing is actually being harmed at-large. Foreign investment into the US economy is at somewhere around $1.7 trillion in 2015 and, IIRC, most of the goods imported into the US are capital goods used by US manufacturing to stay competitive. I'm also not buying into the fear of Chinese currency manipulation. 

 

His stance on halting Chinese imports or putting 45% tariffs on imports rubs me the wrong way. However I think this is more of Trump playing to people's fears than what he actually wants to do. Negotiate with China to bring down its trade barriers seems to be what his website states, which I agree with. 

 

 

You don't care what the country with the largest nuclear arsenal (and the largest unsecured nuclear arsenal) in the world does? Okeedokee!

 

They aren't invading Alaska or letting the Chechens have their own autonomous nuclear arsenals are they? I'd rather stop the sanctions on Russia than fly F-22s over Murmansk to get better relations. 

 

 

Yep, but at least it would be a nice change from having a weak figurehead.

 

Probably gets old quick. 

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Eh, I'm not really convinced that US manufacturing is actually being harmed at-large. Foreign investment into the US economy is at somewhere around $1.7 trillion in 2015 and, IIRC, most of the goods imported into the US are capital goods used by US manufacturing to stay competitive. I'm also not buying into the fear of Chinese currency manipulation. 

 

His stance on halting Chinese imports or putting 45% tariffs on imports rubs me the wrong way. However I think this is more of Trump playing to people's fears than what he actually wants to do. Negotiate with China to bring down its trade barriers seems to be what his website states, which I agree with.

 

Tell the Rust Belt that, I guess...

 

 

They aren't invading Alaska or letting the Chechens have their own autonomous nuclear arsenals are they? I'd rather stop the sanctions on Russia than fly F-22s over Murmansk to get better relations. 

 

If you actually watch the video instead of making assumptions like that, I think you'll be surprised with what he has to say.

Not that I trust the guy or particularly think the Presidency is that important, but he's got the most convincing foreign policy platform I've seen in a while.

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It's a CNN report so take it or leave it but it was interesting to see this piece about Moscow's positive reaction to Trump's speech.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/28/politics/donald-trump-russia-putin/index.html

 

The embargo on Russia has hurt my bottom line (a small amount) because our evil cannery overlords have informed us that part of the drop in price for salmon that they pay us fishermen is partially due to the Russian embargo. Trident Seafoods hasn't deigned to tell us by how much.

 

While I feel the Ukrainians have the right for self determination and there's plenty of blame to be placed on all sides, I don't fancy dying in a radioactive blast because this town I can't pronounce has more ethnic Russians in it than that town across some river I'll never see. At the same time, I favor Russians dropping bombs on Islamic fundamentalists in Syria. 

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