U.S. Politics 2017 (split fm US Election: 2016)

[Colin Parkinson]

I expect the only way Trump will be "impeached" is through the next election cycle, except for the fact that the Democratic party is still not ready to accept it's own role in helping him win and bitterly screwing themselves and will go into a the next election in panic mode. Trump just needs not to fail badly to have a chance at a 2nd term and focus on winning the electoral college vote again. 

 

[a_majoor]

Using the Logan act to harm the incoming administration. This, along with "unmasking" and other actions of the outgoing Obama Administration makes you wonder what they had in store for an incoming Clinton Administration (especially since the Clintons were so badly compromised and highly vulnerable to blackmail)?

https://army.ca/forums/threads/126965/post-1511708.html#msg1511708
"Lengthy posts and fully quoted articles are posted here. Link to these large posts in the regular boards."

 

[PuckChaser]

Huge blow to the Anti-Trump crowd:

http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/u-s-supreme-court-allows-full-enforcement-of-trump-travel-ban-1.3706662

U.S. Supreme Court allows full enforcement of Trump travel ban

Mark Sherman, The Associated Press
Published Monday, December 4, 2017 4:23PM EST
Last Updated Monday, December 4, 2017 6:10PM EST

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Trump administration to fully enforce a ban on travel to the United States by residents of six mostly Muslim countries.
This is not a final ruling on the travel ban: Challenges to the policy are winding through the federal courts, and the justices themselves ultimately are expected to rule on its legality.
But the action indicates that the high court might eventually approve the latest version of the ban, announced by President Donald Trump in September. Lower courts have continued to find problems with the policy.

Opponents of this and previous versions of the ban say they show a bias against Muslims. They say that was reinforced most recently by Trump's retweets of anti-Muslim videos.
"President Trump's anti-Muslim prejudice is no secret. He has repeatedly confirmed it, including just last week on Twitter. It's unfortunate that the full ban can move forward for now, but this order does not address the merits of our claims," said Omar Jadwat, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Immigrants' Rights Project. The ACLU is representing some opponents of the ban.

Just two justices, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor, noted their disagreement with court orders allowing the latest policy to take full effect.
The new policy is not expected to cause the chaos that ensued at airports when Trump rolled out his first ban without warning in January.

The ban applies to travellers from Chad, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. Lower courts had said people from those nations with a claim of a "bona fide" relationship with someone in the United States could not be kept out of the country. Grandparents, cousins and other relatives were among those courts said could not be excluded.
The courts were borrowing language the Supreme Court itself came up with last summer to allow partial enforcement of an earlier version of the ban.
Now, those relationships will no longer provide a blanket exemption from the ban, although visa officials can make exceptions on a case-by-case basis.

 

[a_majoor]

Looking at the President's use of Tweets. It bypasses the media (but in true PSYOPS fashion, also forces the media to report on them), and shapes the cognitive space in ways of the President's choosing both for his supporters and also for his detractors (who's unhinged behaviour eliminates their ability to rationally respond, and provides confirmation bias to his supporters that the detractors are not rational or working for the best interests of Americans):

"Lengthy posts and fully quoted articles are posted here. Link to these large posts in the regular boards."
https://milnet.ca/forums/threads/126992/post-1511843.html#msg1511843

 

[Journeyman]

....the President's use of Tweets.

Wasn't there a new board set up, specifically for these long-winded diatribes?

 

[Journeyman]

Looking at the President's use of Tweets. It bypasses the media (but in true PSYOPS fashion, also forces the media to report on them), and shapes the cognitive space in ways of the President's choosing both for his supporters and also for his detractors (who's unhinged behaviour eliminates their ability to rationally respond, and provides confirmation bias to his supporters that the detractors are not rational or working for the best interests of Americans):

Now, substantively.....

There is absolutely no shortage of rational responses contradicting Trump's compulsive lying, boasts, threats, and general buffoonery....assuming of course, that: a) one's information sources extend beyond Fox and Breitbart; and b) reading is done to be informed and not solely to reaffirm biases. 

Trump, and the vocal majority of his supporters, simply dismiss all of these responses out of hand as "fake news."  I fear it is this spreading diminishing of media credibility that will have the greater impact upon our world than merely the presence of Trump in 1600 Pennsylvania Ave (caveat: unless he bumbles into a nuclear war).

The key takeaway is that Idiocracy is increasingly turning out to be a prescient documentary.  :not-again:

 

[Colin Parkinson]

The media has been responsible for most of it's own loss of credibility. They have long failed at basic fact checking, then played the "observer role" while clearly being biased. They pretended to be holier than though, but at the end of the day they were a business and chased the dollar like any other business. Trump is just an icing on a cake baked by others.

 

[Journeyman]

I have never doubted that media outlets are biased, nor that they will continue to be so, which is why it's best to follow multiple, diverse news sources. 

Yes, sometimes errors are made; fact-checking often appears to take a hit, but I'd usually blame the rush to get a story out, given the never-ending news cycle, rather than malice -- in a credible news service.*  When a flawed story does appear, there are usually enough people hoping to catch them out that the facts are established quite quickly. 

But automatically dismissing anything and everything negative as fake news usually speaks more about the intellect of those being dismissive.



* The final line of the Breitbart propaganda piece that started this current round reads: "Trump sticks out like a sore thumb at the moment not because he is dangerous maverick but, on the contrary, because he is the only truth teller in a world of lies."

Credibility?  Nope. None that I can see.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

In the CCG out here, our boss refused to do taped interviews with a number of stations due to their habit of editing his statements into something completely else. My sister was a labour judge and when discussing cases in front of her and the reporting on them, the news article and the facts of the cases rarely had much to do with each other. Most journalists see and hear what they want to hear and report that, add in a editor that likely knows even less on the subject and is primary interested in getting papers sold or views, then edits the article even more. It was worse in the 90's when reporters called in a story, to have it transcribed by admin staff and then sent to the editor without the reporter getting a chance to fact check it again.

 

[FJAG]

In the CCG out here, our boss refused to do taped interviews with a number of stations due to their habit of editing his statements into something completely else. My sister was a labour judge and when discussing cases in front of her and the reporting on them, the news article and the facts of the cases rarely had much to do with each other. Most journalists see and hear what they want to hear and report that, add in a editor that likely knows even less on the subject and is primary interested in getting papers sold or views, then edits the article even more. It was worse in the 90's when reporters called in a story, to have it transcribed by admin staff and then sent to the editor without the reporter getting a chance to fact check it again.

This is why the media awareness courses I took taught me that before the interview you prepare an eight-second sound-bite that contains your message and that during the interview, regardless of the actual question, all you deliver is the sound-bite over and over again. It gives them nothing to edit.

:cheers:

 

[Rifleman62]

And there is more since this was published by the WSJ.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/obstruction-of-congress-1512691791?shareToken=st0f2d1146b3c44e1f847aac8b0ab175de&reflink=article_email_share

Obstruction of Congress - Kimberley A. Strassel – 7 Dec 17
Mueller, the Justice Department and the FBI aren’t helping the lawmakers’ probe.

"Lengthy posts and fully quoted articles are posted here. Link to these large posts in the regular boards."
https://milnet.ca/forums/threads/127022.0.html

 

[Jarnhamar]

Nothing but class from Obama.

https://www.dangerous.com/38162/barack-obama-compares-trump-hitler-chicago-speech/

Former president Barack Obama said America could become like Nazi Germany due to “nativism” and distrust of the mainstream media.

Without mentioning President Trump by name, Obama aired his opinions at a recent Q&A at the Economic Club of Chicago, where he made the connection between Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich and the future of the United States, warning that “60 million people died” due to the public’s complacency.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

Call me when the ReichCongress is burning...... :waiting:

 

[Jarnhamar]

I found this article pretty interesting.

https://www.dangerous.com/38305/geller-leaving-bacon-mosque-gets-15-years-hate-crime-sharia-america/

15 years prison plus 15 years of probation for vandalizing a mosque and leaving bacon outside.

In another case someone broke windows and plastered swastikas on synagogue walls and got slapped with 2 days jail time (already served) and ordered to pay restitution and seek mental-health treatment.

Likely more to the case but it still seems unbalanced. Guessing stories like this will play a big part in the next US election.



Also I've read some Canadians are trying to deny Geller entrance to Canada.

 

[FJAG]

I found this article pretty interesting.

https://www.dangerous.com/38305/geller-leaving-bacon-mosque-gets-15-years-hate-crime-sharia-america/

15 years prison plus 15 years of probation for vandalizing a mosque and leaving bacon outside.

In another case someone broke windows and plastered swastikas on synagogue walls and got slapped with 2 days jail time (already served) and ordered to pay restitution and seek mental-health treatment.

Likely more to the case but it still seems unbalanced. Guessing stories like this will play a big part in the next US election.

Also I've read some Canadians are trying to deny Geller entrance to Canada.

Geller's article is tripe but in fairness to her (although why I want to be fair to her type of rabble rousing is beyond me) many mainstream news organizations have also missed reporting the more significant elements behind the sentence.

Firstly, Wolfe has a lengthy criminal record and in fact was sentenced as a habitual offender. Secondly, he pleaded guilty and the sentence was one given under a plea deal where he and his counsel agreed to it.

http://wgntv.com/2017/12/06/vandal-who-left-bacon-inside-mosque-gets-15-years-in-prison/

:cheers:

 

[Jarnhamar]

Thankfully I added the caveat that there's likely more to the story  ;D

I've seen a number of stories like this from Europe too which tries to push the same narrative. X gets published more severely than Y. On the surface it's presented clearly enough. But probably manipulated a bit?  I know a lot of Americans are upset over the Kate Steiner case, I've seen that mentioned a lot.

 

[Blackadder1916]

It seems to be over except for the presidential tweets.

Jones appears to be the new Senator (Democrat) for Alabama.  Though close, the major media outlets are declaring him the winner over Moore.

 

[FJAG]

It seems to be over except for the presidential tweets.

Jones appears to be the new Senator (Democrat) for Alabama.  Though close, the major media outlets are declaring him the winner over Moore.

The margin is very narrow and I'm not uncrossing my fingers until the fat lady sings and all the recounts are done.  ;D

:cheers:

 

[dapaterson]

The hot wash will be interesting to watch - was this a Jones victory or a Moore loss?  Did POTUS and Bannon boost Moore or drag him down?  Lots to parse in this...

 

[FJAG]

The hot wash will be interesting to watch - was this a Jones victory or a Moore loss?  Did POTUS and Bannon boost Moore or drag him down?  Lots to parse in this...

Apparently the Jones ran a good campaign and the DNC stayed out of the way so as not to poison the well.

As of when I'm writing this Jones margin is 21,311 votes (1.5%) and there were at least 22,777 write-in votes (1.7%). My guess is that every one of the write-in votes was a Republican casting a protest vote. That doesn't even count the ones who stayed home. My guess is any other Republican would have won Alabama.

The interesting part is that 12 counties that had a Republican majority for Trump went Democrat for Jones. The 14 Democrat ones all stayed Democrat and 42 stayed Republican (E&OE).

:cheers: