Trump Presidency

[Buster Bluth]

Worrisome how?

That they weren't fair and impartial and hacked Trump? I mean, is that news?

That they picked a side? Name an election the US didn't have a side picked in.

That they went out of their way to impact the election? Don't pick a flawed candidate that destroys evidence of her wrongdoing and works with her party to rig the primary.

Personally, I don't care.

There are only a handful of countries that oppose the US-led world order, Russia is one of them.

It doesn't bother you that Russians hacked both American political parties and got involved in trying to turn an election towards their favor? Seriously?

It doesn't bother you that the FBI Director knew this and didn't reveal that the Russians were sitting on RNC information? Or that the CIA informed both parties and Mitch McConnell blocked its release to the public?

None of that worries you? Ya just shrug your shoulders on all that?

 

[Irish YJ]

Because Trump is a Republican. It's pretty straightforward.

It's about as straight forward as all Libs being honest and concerned only for the people.

Buster, did they have a class or major in school that trained you in an elitist all-knowing attitude? Valedicktorian?

 

[Irish YJ]

There are only a handful of countries that oppose the US-led world order, Russia is one of them.

It doesn't bother you that Russians hacked both American political parties and got involved in trying to turn an election towards their favor? Seriously?

It doesn't bother you that the FBI Director knew this and didn't reveal that the Russians were sitting on RNC information? Or that the CIA informed both parties and Mitch McConnell blocked its release to the public?

None of that worries you? Ya just shrug your shoulders on all that?

No, it doesn't bother me. I'd have been perfectly happy if they released one or both sides. Did they hack polls and change computer results. No, they just made public dirty deeds.

You would not have had a problem with any of it had HRC won either.

 

[Irish YJ]

There are only a handful of countries that oppose the US-led world order, Russia is one of them.
?

Only every Muslim country as well.
Only a handful? Give me a break.

 

[Buster Bluth]

The biggest threat in the world right now is not Russia. It's China and Iran.

China has probably hacked us more than Russia ever will. They hold a ton of our cash. The whole South China Sea thing. Plus, they are building a military to fight ours by design with our tech that they stole.

Iran is less of a threat per-se, but they would be less challenging to handle than China.

Also, ISIS, ISIL, whatever. Being on the same page with the Ruskies isn't a bad place to be when we need to eye everywhere else.

Dude Russia won't even be a global player in 25 years. Their demographis are a disaster, their population is going to take a plunge like Europe, and even worse for them the young people they do have are riddled with tuberculosis, HIV, alcoholism, and worst of all are rather uneducated to compete in the 21st century. Their Soviet era experts in nuclear power, computer science, military science, etc are nearing retirement age and they disbanded their training/education regimen in the 1980s that would have filled those positions.

Take a look at Russia's future:

Russia is trying to secure their territory now before that reality hits them. The US would have to block this new found aggression for a decade and then they are toast forever. That's the reality. It's not a ship you want to jump on, because it hit an iceberg 25 years ago and has been sinking ever since.

They can't even get on the fracking bandwagon because their shale is under permafrost and isolated from civilization. They are a classic petrostate and low oil prices are crushing them. This is not an economy you want to buddy up with going into the next century.

Iran on the other hand isn't a sinking ship. They're poised to dominate the Persian Gulf region. They are the most diversified economy in the region, with superior education and military and thankfully for us their young people sorta want Westernization.

Unlike Saudi Arabia, they haven't been funding Wahabism/Salafism for decades and oppose Sunni extremists like the Taliban/ISIS/etc. Unlike Saudi Arabia, their domestic instability isn't to become an extremist Islamic state, it's to liberalize and move away from Theocracy. And unlike Saudi Arabia, they are prepared to succeed in a post-oil world.

If anything we should be trying to continue speaking with Iran to pull a Nixon and get them out of Soviet orbit and further isolate Putin and his oligarchs. That massive Iranian gamechanger of people aged 20-35 are the hearts and minds we need to win over because they will soon have a great deal of political power in that country and can undo what happened in 1979.

And China, well it's fucking China and they're here to stay. Crossing China so we can be friends with a dying Russia is so god damn silly I don't know what to say. It's being needlessly antagonistic to our largest trading partner and really the only country on the planet that even could challenge US domination fifty years from now.

 

[Bluto]

Only every Muslim country as well.
Only a handful? Give me a break.

I'm really loosing sleep over the impending invasion of the US by Indonesian troops.

 

[Irish YJ]

I'm really loosing sleep over the impending invasion of the US by Indonesian troops.

I'm not losing sleep over anyone invading the US. The only folks killing Americans these days are Americans, and Muslim extremist...

To Buster's post that I replied to.... are you agreeing with his sentiment about Russia....

 

[Buster Bluth]

Only every Muslim country as well.
Only a handful? Give me a break.

I suppose I would be being an elitist if I told you that this was yet another laughable generalization?

 

[Buster Bluth]

To Buster's post that I replied to.... are you agreeing with his sentiment about Russia....

I think it's fair that I elaborate.

There are only a handful of countries that oppose the US-led world order and have the capability to act in opposition to it in a meaningful way.

 

[Bluto]

I'm not losing sleep over anyone invading the US. The only folks killing Americans these days are Americans, and Muslim extremist...

To Buster's post that I replied to.... are you agreeing with his sentiment about Russia....

Yes I do agree with Buster. His post above is spot on. Anyhow, an unstable government lead by an autocrat and former KGB agent who has no problem with political assasination, invading other countries and with nukes at his disposal is much more toublesome to me than anything else going from a geopolitical stand point. China on the other hand seems to be a rational player with a buerocratic infrastructure that puts a check on any one person makeing bat shit crazy decisions on a unilateral basis.

 

[Buster Bluth]

Buster, did they have a class or major in school that trained you in an elitist all-knowing attitude? Valedicktorian?

I think it says something significant that you guys just duck and call me an elitist and butt hurt instead of, you know, citing some good articles/videos that defend your views and/or the views of Donald Trump.

I'm not going to apologize for speaking on issues that I know a lot about. Specifically foreign policy right now. When it gets to medical insurance/Obamacare, and issues outside of my concentrations, I pretty quickly admit I know very little. You can go back and see me say just that to IrishLax a few months ago and I even thanked him for posting some pretty damn informative articles.

And I'm certainly not going to apologize for criticizing the train wreck that is the Donald Trump administration. Sec of Education with no teaching experience, head of the EPA who denies global warming Sec of HUD with no housing experience, CEO of Exxon as Sec of State and John fucking Bolton as his Deputy...yeah there's a lot to criticize. And it's good therapy to speak my mind on the matter on IE.

 

[Cackalacky]

bad links brother.

Hmmm. They are....Sorry

 

[Cackalacky]

Dude Russia won't even be a global player in 25 years. Their demographis are a disaster, their population is going to take a plunge like Europe, and even worse for them the young people they do have are riddled with tuberculosis, HIV, alcoholism, and worst of all are rather uneducated to compete in the 21st century. Their Soviet era experts in nuclear power, computer science, military science, etc are nearing retirement age and they disbanded their training/education regimen in the 1980s that would have filled those positions.

Take a look at Russia's future:

Russia is trying to secure their territory now before that reality hits them. The US would have to block this new found aggression for a decade and then they are toast forever. That's the reality. It's not a ship you want to jump on, because it hit an iceberg 25 years ago and has been sinking ever since.

They can't even get on the fracking bandwagon because their shale is under permafrost and isolated from civilization. They are a classic petrostate and low oil prices are crushing them. This is not an economy you want to buddy up with going into the next century.

Iran on the other hand isn't a sinking ship. They're poised to dominate the Persian Gulf region. They are the most diversified economy in the region, with superior education and military and thankfully for us their young people sorta want Westernization.

Unlike Saudi Arabia, they haven't been funding Wahabism/Salafism for decades and oppose Sunni extremists like the Taliban/ISIS/etc. Unlike Saudi Arabia, their domestic instability isn't to become an extremist Islamic state, it's to liberalize and move away from Theocracy. And unlike Saudi Arabia, they are prepared to succeed in a post-oil world.

If anything we should be trying to continue speaking with Iran to pull a Nixon and get them out of Soviet orbit and further isolate Putin and his oligarchs. That massive Iranian gamechanger of people aged 20-35 are the hearts and minds we need to win over because they will soon have a great deal of political power in that country and can undo what happened in 1979.

And China, well it's fucking China and they're here to stay. Crossing China so we can be friends with a dying Russia is so god damn silly I don't know what to say. It's being needlessly antagonistic to our largest trading partner and really the only country on the planet that even could challenge US domination fifty years from now.

^^^^^^^^^^

 

[Irish YJ]

I think it's fair that I elaborate.

There are only a handful of countries that oppose the US-led world order and have the capability to act in opposition to it in a meaningful way.

There are only a few countries, opposing or supporting, that can impact us in any meaningful way.

Yes I do agree with Buster. His post above is spot on. Anyhow, an unstable government lead by an autocrat and former KGB agent who has no problem with political assasination, invading other countries and with nukes at his disposal is much more toublesome to me than anything else going from a geopolitical stand point. China on the other hand seems to be a rational player with a buerocratic infrastructure that puts a check on any one person makeing bat shit crazy decisions on a unilateral basis.

My point is Russia will not be invading us and nobody is losing sleep over it... so you're post was a bit of a miss. To Buster's earlier point, Russia is crumbling, and won't be able to do anything in a couple years anyway...

I think it says something significant that you guys just duck and call me an elitist and butt hurt instead of, you know, citing some good articles/videos that defend your views and/or the views of Donald Trump.

I'm not going to apologize for speaking on issues that I know a lot about. Specifically foreign policy right now. When it gets to medical insurance/Obamacare, and issues outside of my concentrations, I pretty quickly admit I know very little. You can go back to and see me say just that to IrishLax a few months ago and I even thanked him for posting some pretty damn informative articles.

And I'm certainly not going to apologize for criticizing the train wreck that is the Donald Trump administration. Sec of Education with no teaching experience, head of the EPA who denies global warming Sec of HUD with no housing experience, CEO of Exxon as Sec of State and John fucking Bolton as his Deputy...yeah there's a lot to criticize. And it's good therapy to speak my mind on the matter on IE.

Buster I have no doubt that you are educated and have a great deal of knowledge in this space. That does not make you right, and everyone else wrong.

My challenge with you is that other edumacated folks have opinions... but you talk in absolutes and act as if you're opinion is the only credible answer to the worlds problems..... whatever the topic is. So everyone who disagrees about this space is an idiot? You criticize peoples articles or links while posting links or graphs of your own and think your fact and data is clearly better than others. Data can lie. Data can misrepresent. Data can be translated differently based on schools of thought by well educated people with different views. Fact and data is great, when it's just fact and data. When people start to spin stories around fact and data, we can all get lost.

We are in uncharted territory, so it's not like one can draw from history the perfect answer. Who knows what this new global economy will create in 10, 50, or 200 years. It's never happened before. Who knows what technology will drive over the next XX years.

What I do know is neither side has had great answers to the issues we are facing. I know that the nation appears to be divided in half, and both parties are unwilling to do anything about it.

I love your passion about things, but hate your delivery..... clearly you hate the GOP so the rhetoric blinds a significant portion of IEers to any good points you may have. Well I hate both sides (because I think our political system has become so corrupt the average joe loses), but can appreciate aspects of both party platforms. I don't see one side's victory as win or lose. I see either side's victory as a loser in the current state of politics.

 

[connor_in]

What exactly did the Russians do in their hacking?

 

[Irish YJ]

What exactly did the Russians do in their hacking?

Leaked the secret recipe of Twinkies and Ding Dongs.

 

[kmoose]

And I'm certainly not going to apologize for criticizing the train wreck that is the Donald Trump administration. Sec of Education with no teaching experience, head of the EPA who denies global warming Sec of HUD with no housing experience, CEO of Exxon as Sec of State and John fucking Bolton as his Deputy...yeah there's a lot to criticize. And it's good therapy to speak my mind on the matter on IE.

Nothing like the tolerant left to give it a chance!!! Ebell does not deny that climate change exists, he just questions the assertion that human activity is fueling climate change at an unprecedented pace. But, again, the tolerant liberals who want us to empathize with black arsonists who are upset about crime and the lack of jobs in their neighborhoods, will mischaracterize and demonize "the opposition" at every turn.

 

[Cackalacky]

What exactly did the Russians do in their hacking?

It is widely reported by the intelligence comunity that they hacked the DNC and RNC, hacked HRC and provide the DNC info to wikileaks to leak. It is also being revealed there may be evidence that the FBI knew about the hacking but witheld it. It is also suspected that they may have hacked certain electronic voting machines Though i think the reporting is not accurate as if yet or very thin anyway.

 

[NorthDakota]

What exactly did the Russians do in their hacking?

Made America Great Again. Lol they did nothing. Democrats are just butthurt.

 

[Cackalacky]

Made America Great Again. Lol they did nothing. Democrats are just butthurt.

I take you arent up to speed on current events lol. I guess the CIA doent know what its saying? #IgnoranceisBliss

 

[NorthDakota]

I take you arent up to speed on current events lol. I guess the CIA doent know what its saying? #IgnoranceisBliss

No, I'm up to date. I just dont think it's a big deal.

 

[Buster Bluth]

Nothing like the tolerant left to give it a chance!!! Ebell does not deny that climate change exists, he just questions the assertion that human activity is fueling climate change at an unprecedented pace. But, again, the tolerant liberals who want us to empathize with black arsonists who are upset about crime and the lack of jobs in their neighborhoods, will mischaracterize and demonize "the opposition" at every turn.

Yeah that's pretty much what people are criticizing. We're way beyond questioning the legitimacy of human involvement.

It's just a phase in the strategy of being on the losing side of science. Don't admit you're wrong immediately, use designed PR work to slow play the defeat for decades. It's often compared to the work of cigarette companies. They knew cigarettes caused cancer but would slowly walk back to that position over thirty years.

With global warming it's first "no way Jose" then "inconclusive evidence" then "yeah but humans aren't causing it" then "yeah but inconclusive evidence that humans are causing it" and "anything we do will be meaningless because of China, so why bother" and a bunch of other malarkey. It's designed to slow down the government effort to reduce green house gases. They'll get there eventually, until then here's a fun read: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/exxon-knew-about-climate-change-almost-40-years-ago/

I don't really get your point about BLM when this is a scientific matter...

 

[Shamrock Theories]

Nothing like the tolerant left to give it a chance!!! Ebell does not deny that climate change exists, he just questions the assertion that human activity is fueling climate change at an unprecedented pace. But, again, the tolerant liberals who want us to empathize with black arsonists who are upset about crime and the lack of jobs in their neighborhoods, will mischaracterize and demonize "the opposition" at every turn.

...Really? Maybe 15 years ago you could defend this. Now?

1. 15 of the hottest 16 years on record have occurred since 2001, with 2015 the hottest and 2016 likely to top it. (Data goes back to 1880)

2. It's a long read but here are some excerpts from the Wiki article on the subject:

"69,406 papers were published by climate scientists from 2013-2014. Number of papers that rejected global warming: 4."

"Since 2007, when the American Association of Petroleum Geologists released a revised statement,[14] no scientific body of national or international scientists rejects the findings of human-induced effects on climate change."

Chart, summarizes the results of a number of scientist surveys:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_opinion_on_climate_change

 

[NorthDakota]

...Really? Maybe 15 years ago you could defend this. Now?

1. 15 of the hottest 16 years on record have occurred since 2001, with 2015 the hottest and 2016 likely to top it. (Data goes back to 1880)

2. It's a long read but here are some excerpts from the Wiki article on the subject:

"69,406 papers were published by climate scientists from 2013-2014. Number of papers that rejected global warming: 4."

"Since 2007, when the American Association of Petroleum Geologists released a revised statement,[14] no scientific body of national or international scientists rejects the findings of human-induced effects on climate change."

Chart, summarizes the results of a number of scientist surveys:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_opinion_on_climate_change

Who gives a shit? Seriously.

 

[drayer54]

Dude Russia won't even be a global player in 25 years. Their demographis are a disaster, their population is going to take a plunge like Europe, and even worse for them the young people they do have are riddled with tuberculosis, HIV, alcoholism, and worst of all are rather uneducated to compete in the 21st century. Their Soviet era experts in nuclear power, computer science, military science, etc are nearing retirement age and they disbanded their training/education regimen in the 1980s that would have filled those positions.

Take a look at Russia's future:

Russia is trying to secure their territory now before that reality hits them. The US would have to block this new found aggression for a decade and then they are toast forever. That's the reality. It's not a ship you want to jump on, because it hit an iceberg 25 years ago and has been sinking ever since.

They can't even get on the fracking bandwagon because their shale is under permafrost and isolated from civilization. They are a classic petrostate and low oil prices are crushing them. This is not an economy you want to buddy up with going into the next century.

Iran on the other hand isn't a sinking ship. They're poised to dominate the Persian Gulf region. They are the most diversified economy in the region, with superior education and military and thankfully for us their young people sorta want Westernization.

Unlike Saudi Arabia, they haven't been funding Wahabism/Salafism for decades and oppose Sunni extremists like the Taliban/ISIS/etc. Unlike Saudi Arabia, their domestic instability isn't to become an extremist Islamic state, it's to liberalize and move away from Theocracy. And unlike Saudi Arabia, they are prepared to succeed in a post-oil world.

If anything we should be trying to continue speaking with Iran to pull a Nixon and get them out of Soviet orbit and further isolate Putin and his oligarchs. That massive Iranian gamechanger of people aged 20-35 are the hearts and minds we need to win over because they will soon have a great deal of political power in that country and can undo what happened in 1979.

And China, well it's fucking China and they're here to stay. Crossing China so we can be friends with a dying Russia is so god damn silly I don't know what to say. It's being needlessly antagonistic to our largest trading partner and really the only country on the planet that even could challenge US domination fifty years from now.

Ok, so we agree? Iran, big threat. China, big threat. Russia, not so scary. Strongly agree on Saudi Arabia.

I'm not saying we should have a bromance with Russia, just that it doesn't bother me if Putin and the leaders are friendly. I don't see any grand alliance forming or getting along with Russia causing a riff with China. They haven't exactly respected us in the South China Sea and they are hacking us as fast as possible now.

I'm not thrilled we're being hacked, but I'm not convinced this is the only hack, the first hack, or somehow more significant. It doesn't matter if they hacked a party or both. I feel like democrats are trying to either

A) Use this as a validation for being wrong on Trumps odds of winning and disliking him so strongly.

B) try to cause an alarm that Russia picked him over HRC. Maybe they knew they weren't on the preferred donor list at the Clinton Foundation.

 

[Irish YJ]

Ok, so we agree? Iran, big threat. China, big threat. Russia, not so scary.

I'm not saying we should have a bromance with Russia, just that it doesn't bother me if Putin and the leaders are friendly. I don't see any grand alliance forming or getting along with Russia causing a riff with China. They haven't exactly respected us in the South China Sea and they are hacking us as fast as possible now.

I'm not thrilled we're being hacked, but I'm not convinced this is the only hack, the first hack, or somehow more significant. It doesn't matter if they hacked a party or both. I feel like democrats are trying to either

A) Use this as a validation for being wrong on Trumps odds of winning and disliking him so strongly.

B) try to cause an alarm that Russia picked him over HRC. Maybe they knew they weren't on the preferred donor list at the Clinton Foundation.

The Clinton foundation prefers richer nations in the Middle East as donors. Putin aint got enough cheese for Hilldog.

 

[connor_in]

It is widely reported by the intelligence comunity that they hacked the DNC and RNC, hacked HRC and provide the DNC info to wikileaks to leak. It is also being revealed there may be evidence that the FBI knew about the hacking but witheld it. It is also suspected that they may have hacked certain electronic voting machines Though i think the reporting is not accurate as if yet or very thin anyway.

They hacked the campaigns and released actual emails from the Ds side only or at least released both sides to Wikileaks and Wikileaks only released the D side. But you don't think that they faked any of the emails, correct? They were actual communications between the D people listed, right?

Do you think the Russians hacked voting machines and did it so precisely as to still let HRC get around 2.5 million more of the overall popular vote, but tweaked just enough machines in just a few states so that DJT would only win by a couple thousand votes where he needed to in order to collect just enough electoral votes?

There were stories out before the election that the Russians were attempting to hack the election. Did DC do everything it could beforehand? If HRC would have won, would there still be this scrutiny now? Since there were stories about Russian hacking before the election why wasn't HRC concerned about it beforehand like DJT instead of ridiculing the idea of inaccuracies potentially occurring? Why only after the election was/is she and many others worried about it?

PS I still think DJT is a giant douche and don't trust him, but still preferred him over the turd sandwich that is HRC. If they decide to determine this election was illegitimate, I suggest that we choose two new people (the Greens and the libertarians can keep their candidates) and we have a 4 week runoff. NOTE: The Constitution still applies and therefore so does the electoral college that is part of our Republic.

 

[Shamrock Theories]

Who gives a shit? Seriously.

Another gem from you, big surprise.

 

[BGIF]

Republican wins Senate runoff in Louisiana, giving party 52 seats | Reuters

By Bryn Stole | BATON ROUGE, LA.

Republican John Neely Kennedy, a candidate for the U.S. Senate, won a runoff election in Louisiana on Saturday against Democrat Foster Campbell in a race that gives the Republicans a 52-seat majority in the chamber.

Campbell told his supporters in the state capital of Baton Rouge that he had called Kennedy to congratulate him on his victory.

Kennedy, the state treasurer and the favorite going into the runoff, had slightly less than 61 percent of the vote with all 3,904 precincts reporting, according to the state Secretary of State's office. Turnout was relatively low.

Kennedy, who said he will not move to Washington D.C. after a campaign spent railing against "insiders," told supporters "I'd rather drink weed-killer than be anywhere else tonight," a reference to a widely reported campaign quote in which he said he "would rather drink weed-killer than support Obamacare."

...

 

[Buster Bluth]

Ok, so we agree? Iran, big threat. China, big threat. Russia, not so scary. Strongly agree on Saudi Arabia.

I'm not saying we should have a bromance with Russia, just that it doesn't bother me if Putin and the leaders are friendly. I don't see any grand alliance forming or getting along with Russia causing a riff with China. They haven't exactly respected us in the South China Sea and they are hacking us as fast as possible now.

I'm not thrilled we're being hacked, but I'm not convinced this is the only hack, the first hack, or somehow more significant. It doesn't matter if they hacked a party or both. I feel like democrats are trying to either

A) Use this as a validation for being wrong on Trumps odds of winning and disliking him so strongly.

B) try to cause an alarm that Russia picked him over HRC. Maybe they knew they weren't on the preferred donor list at the Clinton Foundation.

Well if the Democrats are using the Russian hacking as a cop out for their loss then that is idiotic and totally on them. They lost because of the Clinton baggage. Given the incompetence of the DNC, I wouldn't put it passed them though.

But I simply cannot accept that the hacking, and using the results of the hacking to interfere with an election, is a small issue. It's a pretty freaking big issue. I guess I'll ask, how is this not a big issue?

We all like to criticize how bad the Clinton Foundation looks, but something with how Trump treats Russia and Putin in particular is just off. Before working for the campaign his previous campaign manager, Paul Manafort, advised Putin's Ukrainian puppet, and he received hefty cash payments under the table for it. And on said campaign Trump went out of his way to praise Putin--why? Being pro-Russia was a noteworthy part of his foreign policy rhetoric, and why exactly? American interests don't line up with Russia in Central Asia, the Middle East, or in Eastern Europe. We generally see eye to eye on space as that's about it. What was with the common and direct communication between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin? Why did Trump speak with Putin before his own Defense Department following his victory?

Isn't all of that just as weird as any Clinton Foundation oddities, if not worse? Presidential candidates don't do 180's on bipartisan foreign policy very often. Maybe, just maybe, George Will is onto something:

"Perhaps one more reason why we're not seeing his tax returns — because he is deeply involved in dealing with Russian oligarchs and others. Whether that's good, bad or indifferent, it's probably the reasonable surmise."

...and that's prominent Fox News contributor and former editor for prestigious National Review George Will, not some Huffington Post chump.

Trump has six major bankruptcies. Count em..1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. In my tin foil hat opinion he can't get a loan from US banks and so he has financed his Trump empire in part using cash from Russian oligarchs. Russian oligarchs just straight up own Russia, so naturally he's cozying up with Russia in a break with 70+ years of American policy.