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President Trump: The NEW one and only politics thread

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Moderator1, Nov 12, 2016.

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  1. QYFW

    QYFW Well-Known Member

    They are the Neutral Corners, Deskgrunt50s and Tiger Vols of the right.
     
    YankeeFan likes this.
  2. RickStain

    RickStain Well-Known Member

    They’re hanging their considerably live hopes on GOP complicity. Laundry Over Country still makes Trump walking away untouched as the leader in the clubhouse.

    The blatantly dishonest talking points are just the hymns they all sing together to build unity in the ranks.
     
  3. JC

    JC Well-Known Member

    You didn’t look.
     
  4. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    I haven't kept up with the discussion, so I apologize if others have said similar things.

    My first reaction to the indictment of the Russians was, "What did they do that was criminal?" I mean, other than being Russians and trolls, which apparently is the basis for a Federal crime now. Marketing firms are doing this kind of stuff all day long with regard to all kinds of things. ... trying to influence peoples' opinions (and often with outright lies and misinformation). Some might say, "Well, they were spreading false information," but I don't understand why anyone would want our government in the business of being able to criminalize information based on the people in power being able to decide what is true and what is false. Then we are stepping into Orwell's world. It flies in the face of a free society.

    Then, I read the indictment. ... and if what is alleged is true, they used stolen social security numbers and dates of birth of real Americans to open bank accounts and organize political rallies. So that is clearly a Federal crime. And some of the 13 Russians obtained tourist visas to the U.S., and are now accused of provided false info about their employment and the purpose of their visits. And that would clearly be a crime.

    But just trying to keep perspective. ... while those things are criminal, in some people's minds this is being blown into something way different than those levels of crime. I mean, people who are convicted of lying on a Visa application are banned from the U.S. That's about the extent of it, right? ... except when you're a Russian troll and it has turned into a national obsession, apparently. Also, if the indictment is correct, and I am understanding it correctly, those Russian firms spent a fraction of what it has cost some Congressmen / Congresswomen from places that weren't all that special to win their seats. So let's put in into some perspective.

    For what it is worth, none of that was me trying to give Trump a pass on being the biggest moron and bullshit artist on the planet. As I've said in earlier posts, I have no idea if he or people around him tried to collude with the Russians. From the things we know -- the idiot son / Kushner meetings, Carter Page's efforts, there were likely ginger attempts by Russians to at least reach out to him or the people around him. ... and none of the people involved on the Trump side immediately went to the FBI. So there is that. Whether there is something more is still an open question. We don't know for sure yet. What I suspect is that Trump and the clowns he was surrounded by weren't smart enough to actually collude in a meaningful way, and the Russians were probably very careful, in part because they knew Trump was a loudmouth idiot and they wouldn't have trusted him to act discreetly. But that is just speculation on my part.

    What I also suspect is that Mueller's investigation is going to take him into the financial dealings of Trump, his kids and his son-in-law. ... and that has the potential to open up a hornet's nest, because the illegalities and outright fraudulent stuff he's likely to find are probably serious enough to land someone in a Federal prison. ... but the bullshit artist and the people who are invested in obfuscating the truth for him will do more of the same "witch hunt," "they couldn't get him on Russia, so they are making up something else" crap.
     
  5. Azrael

    Azrael Well-Known Member

    Likely quick, but not so cheap it's a slam dunk legislators and school boards would go along with it.

    There are something like 130000 primary and secondary schools in the US.

    Budget just one cop for each at (an average of ) $50000/year, not including overtime or benefits. 50,000 x 130,000 = $6,500,000,000

    A moderately priced passthrough metal detector is about $2000. x 130000 = $260,000,000

    It adds up fast.
     
    Last edited: Feb 17, 2018
    outofplace likes this.
  6. SnarkShark

    SnarkShark Well-Known Member

    I’m pretty sure, unless it’s proven Trump talked directly to Putin about stealing the elections, the true believers will still hold firm and say it’s all a nothingburger.
     
  7. TigerVols

    TigerVols Well-Known Member

    You seem far more concerned about us than you are about Russia’s proven attack on our democracy and Trump’s repeated defense of it. Hmmmmmm.
     
    cowboy2001 likes this.
  8. RickStain

    RickStain Well-Known Member

    I don’t think the “mental illness is the real problem” folks have the slightest idea of how big that statement is. Well, some of them probably do and know they are just deflecting because guns trigger liberals and that is the only governing philosophy they have, even at the expense of dead children. (Real children, not a nonsentient wad of cells. That's for you, Q).

    But the rest are just ignorant. Roughly 50 million Americans have a diagnosed mental issue. If we were actually actively working to accurately diagnose everyone, and remove the stigma to encourage people to be diagnosed, that number would soar.

    Accurately cataloguing and tracking all this would be an effort on par with implementing Obamacare. Then there's the infosec nightmare of trying to protect that information. And that's before we even touch on the logistical nightmare of using this information in a meaningful way.

    It could be done. It really could. All you have to do is empower the federal government to provide mandatory mental health screening for 350 million Americans, along with free ongoing care for everyone with a diagnosis. Then empower law enforcement to close monitor everyone who fits the risk profile. You know what that risk profile is: Male, mental health diagnosis, a history of violence against women. Those are the common threads on mass shooters. You know how many people fit that profile? A shit-ton. The deadliest mass shooter in American history was Stephen Paddock, who wasn't some kid telling his friends on Youtube he was gonna shoot up his school. But he did have a history of anxiety and depression, a gambling problem, and had been seen a lot being an asshole to his girlfriend. You want the FBI showing up twice-weekly for spot checks at the house of everyone who fits *that* diagnosis?

    So yes, we have a mental health problem and addressing it would almost certainly make a noticeable dent in our mass gun violence. But the people trying to deflect from gun control with it would never let that happen.
     
    TyWebb and Dick Whitman like this.
  9. JC

    JC Well-Known Member

    Thank god mental illness is confined to just the US.
     
    lakefront likes this.
  10. Songbird

    Songbird Well-Known Member

    Definite #greatbandnames
     
  11. Baron Scicluna

    Baron Scicluna Well-Known Member

    Thoughts and prayers to those fetuses.
     
    BadgerBeer likes this.
  12. BTExpress

    BTExpress Well-Known Member

    Thank you for the Fisher Price analysis.

    Heh. Some people make about $80 million a year doing it.

    [​IMG]

    America questions EVERY election in which it doesn't like (or couldn't influence) the results.
     
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