hokkaidoguy comments

Sensato

The Bannon & Trump presidency is turning out to be an even greater disaster than Nixon's turn at the helm.

Aside from presiding over Apollo 11, Nixon ended both the draft and the war in Vietnam, established relations with the PRC, took the first steps in ending the Cold War (detente and ABM treaty), desegregated schools, and established the EPA.

Trump is only 2 weeks in. Give him time.

For the last 50 years, Quebec has adopted an official policy of language and culture purity unrivaled in the western world. Language Police literally patrol the streets looking for businesses not using French as the main language. Quebec's unique culture is funded and supported and promoted at the expense of all others. This has produced a culture of xenophobia, of bigotry and startling racism that is immediately evident to anyone stepping out of the Metropolitan areas. Casual rascism and hostility toward immigrants from politicians and government officials is frequently ignored by the English language media, and when it is picked up its given a pass - because it's part of their unique culture that must be nurtured lest Canada be divided.

It is that environment that produced this criminal. But it's so much easier to blame Trump.

@nostromo

interesting how the list doesn't include the muslim countries that Trump has business dealings with....

Ah, the "list".

If you read what Trump signed, the only country named is Syria. Go ahead, read it for yourself.

The other 6 countries were designated as a security risk by the Obama administration over a year ago, and Trump has simply extended and slightly expanded existing barriers pending review of procedure.

In other words, what Trump has done is completely in line with existing policy. Nothing really new here, except the fake outrage. No one gave a damn when Obama cut visas to the Iranians.

@strangerland

Trump once again forgets that everything is on the internet. Here's the comparison of Obama's inauguration and Trump's: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C2oW1tcXUAAW3b1.jpg

If I'm not mistaken, that picture (which is in heavy rotation on Japanese TV) was taken about an hour before the event.

CNN has a zoomable gigapixel image on their site here: http://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2017/01/politics/trump-inauguration-gigapixel/

You can clearly see that the crowds extend all the way to the white building at the bottom of the photo you posted.

@Strangerland

And yet, still the preference of the people. Just goes to show how much of a joke the American electoral system is. The party in charge isn't the one that the people wanted, it's the one that played the game better. The game is more important than the will of the people.

I have no idea how you can cling to that idea. The Democrats lost across the board in this election: the Senate, the House, Governor races and State Legislatures. The DNP currently has the lowest level of public support since the 1940s.

If Clinton had won based on the popular vote, it would have put her completely out of step with the rest of the country based on voter turnout from two urban areas. The Electoral College exists to prevent that from happening, and it did its job.

Jekyll and Hyde. Should that reassure us?

No, it should make you question the version of Trump that you've been sold.

Donna Brazile, interim head of the Democratic National Committee, said the DNC was no match for a sophisticated foreign power in cyberspace that “weaponized” private emails to “sow misinformation and to sow discord” between Clinton and her primary rival, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/5205

Utterly shameless.

@lostrune

Well, at least you glanced at the first story. That's a start.

@lostrune

Anyhow, where can one find that WikiLeaks statement?

Besides the Wikileaks twitter feed? CNBC July 25 http://www.cnbc.com/2016/07/25/wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-no-proof-russian-intelligence-responsible-for-dnc-hack.html USA Today November 3 http://amp.usatoday.com/story/93245454/

And finally from the last week, this. Apologies for it being the daily mail, but they were the ones who landed the interview. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4034038/amp/Ex-British-ambassador-WikiLeaks-operative-claims-Russia-did-NOT-provide-Clinton-emails-handed-D-C-park-intermediary-disgusted-Democratic-insiders.html

Hopefully you get a look at this before the mods delete it.

@strangerland

According to Wikileaks, all of the Democrat e-mails they received were internal leaks.

There is very little public evidence to show that anything was hacked in this election.

@strangerland

Obama- Wars started: 0. Wars ended - 1.

That's some nice revisionism there.

Why doesn't the US led overthrow of Libya get a mention? Drone warfare in Yemen? ISIS? Cameroon? Any of the 130 countries Obama deployed special ops to? And how to you consider a war "ended" when you still have US forces fighting there?

@jimizo

Genuinely curious - where did you find those definitions? I've been out of academia for at least 20 years, and neither of those would have been considered nationalism at the time. Probably xenophobia or exceptionalism for the first and simply "independence movement" for the second.

My first question in this thread was genuine as well. When did this become a dirty word?

@jimizo

If you can't defend nationalism, should I assume you're in favor of colonialism? How else would you describe the populist movements that united nations to break away from empire? That's Nationalism.

Nationalism was the driving force behind German expansion in WW2, just as it was the driving force for defense and resistance. Do you seriously believe Churchill wasn't a nationalist?

If neither of these examples fits your definition of nationalism, I'd suggest re-visiting your textbook.

@NZ2011

Putting aside "nationalism" to fight for freedom and democracy (as defined by the ideals local to where you reside).

Sounds like the same thing to me.

@jimizo

Wouldn't you say nationalist sentiment played a large part, among other things, in those movements?

Yes.

I'd also argue that Nationalism played a greater role in their eradication than formation. Nazi Germany ceased to exist because of the nationalism of soldiers fighting against it.

@jimizo

Why do you naturally equate nationalism with the darkest pages of history?

Why has nationalism become a dirty word?

If an article says that oil companies are backing some candidate, I know what that means.

but that's not what the article is saying.

The article is presenting Chris Sacca as a spokesman for the part of the industry opposed to Trump. It doesn't say that he was a frequent visitor to Clinton campaign HQ. You need to check his twitter for that. Nor does it mention his fundraising efforts - you need to check the hillary clinton webpage for that information.

It's about proximity. He is close enough to the Clinton campaign to be considered part of it. He was also part of the past two Obama campaigns, in a more official role.

He is beyond being a donor level supporter. He has spoken on behalf of the Clinton campaign in the past, and printing his remarks without that caveat is simply poor journalism. It gives the impression that he is speaking for the industry as a whole first and foremost, instead of speaking for the failed Clinton campaign.

If you want to know why he's not representative of the tech industry as a whole, look up H-1B visa on any tech forum. Might be eye opening.

It does say "No industry was more open in its contempt for Trump during the campaign." You can kind of infer that they were big Clinton donors.

That's the problem I have with this piece. Most readers would infer that he was simply a donor. You did, and so did I before a trip over to Google.

He was a fundraiser. He headlined events designed to raise funds for the Clinton campaign. Numerous high profile events, over a period if months.

There is a clear distinction between being a campaign donor and a fundraiser. Given the context and scale of his involvement, I would argue that his highly visible relationship to the Clinton campaign is at least as relevant as his tech background.

The intentional omission of this information by the press is outright dishonest, and the accidental omission is incompetence.

Which one is it?

Some in Silicon Valley think the industry’s best move would be to keep its distance until Trump changes his tone. Former Google executive Chris Sacca, now a tech investor, argues that industry leaders should have steered clear of the meeting altogether.

Why doesn't this story mention that Sacca was a fundraiser for the Clinton campaign?

@plasticmonkey

It's about a man who hasn't thought through the details or ramifications of his emotive outburst, or offered an alternative. What's he going to do? Fly around the world as POTUS in a private jet with TRUMP emblazoned on the side? (I think that's what he'd like.)

The logical, thought out conclusion is that he's planning on keeping the current planes.

Hope the irony isn't lost on you.

@dre hund

Believe it or not, but in the USA you don't need to prove citizenship to vote. In some cases, you can register without any ID at all.

Voter fraud comes up every election there. There have been numerous attempts to institute an official voter ID, but it never happens for some reason.

Castro created over 1.2 million refugees, executed tens of thousands, forced homosexuals into work camps, and made freedom of movement, freedom of belief and freedom of speech crimes against the state. He ran mental hospitals as extensions of the penal system, employing electro shock therapy against political prisoners. He was a despot.

The world is a better place without him.

The Democrats have lost the house and senate, and iirc the number of democrat state governors is the lowest since the war.

If these recounts result in a Clinton presidency, the absolute best anyone can hope for is 4 years of getting nothing done.

The worst case scenario is civil war. If these recounts are not conducted with absolute transparency, that is a very real possibility. The Right is very well armed, and angry enough to vote in Trump. Let that sink in.

@PTownshend

Why do you think Wikileaks hasn't hacked Trump's tax info?

Because Wikileaks aren't hackers.

They are a media organization that publishes material given to them by whistleblowers around the world. How does anyone in 2016 not know this?

JBird

I see that Trump has been named in over 3,500 lawsuits over the years. That's more than any presidential nominee in the history of the U. S.! Does that, perhaps, count as an accmplishment that makes Trump look so amazing to his supporters?

Actually it's over 4,000 now. Here's an interactive website outlining all of them: http://www.usatoday.com/pages/interactives/trump-lawsuits/

Oh, wait. It's actually 4,000 times he or any of his companies have been the plaintiff or defendant in the last 30+ years. Not exactly the scandal it sounds like.

Now, about Clinton deleting 33,000 emails...

Two thumbs down for due process? Lol. Stay classy, hillbots.

Strangerland:

If she's done something illegal. Or do you just want her under arrest even if she hasn't?

What? People are arrested on suspicion all the time. It's the job of the courts to determine guilt, not the police.

@superlib

Clinton's foundation colluded with drug companies to jack the price of the AIDS medicine it was distributing to third world countries.

Nothing Trump has ever done or even been accused of comes close to that level. How anyone can just brush that off as standard politics is beyond me.

Americans never cease to amaze me.

In the past month, we've seen hard evidence of the Clinton campaign colluding with the media to direct the narrative, hard evidence of tampering in the primaries, direct contradiction of core policies when speaking to business leaders in the Goldman Sachs transcripts, conspiracy to mislead congress, felony collusion with their SuperPACs, paid protestors inciting violence at Trump rallies admitting their deeds on video, leaks of state secrets and intel, political and private donations from every level of media and polling company, and a one million dollar "birthday present" from Qatar, which was followed by a massive arms deal. And the really scary thing is that's just off the to of my head. There's a lot more.

All of that is out in the open. That's a small amount of what we know so far from the Podesta emails. And despite all of that, Americans are supporting her over Trump - because ..,why, exactly?