January 3, 2017

Attacks that would have been used effectively on Sanders if he were the Democratic nominee

Seeing this thread http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1251&pid=2664743
brings up the point yet again that Sanders could have beaten Trump.

I think we should remind ourselves what a Sanders nomination would look like in detail, specifically the typical Republican attacks that would have been leveled against him.

Never mind the nuance to these points, Republicans don't do nuance, and they have a lot of potent anti-liberal talking points refined over decades.

1) over and over, he wants to raise your taxes, even on the middle class

2) over and over, he will enact job killing regulations (Sanders environmental plans)

3) he wants to hobble Wall Street by breaking up banks

4) he wants to redistribute your wealth (wink wink)

5) he's a socialist

6) he's a communist, a marxist

7) he's an old hippie

8) he praised communist dictators

9) he's not Christian and maybe he's even a godless atheist

10) he's pro-abortion

11) he's weird, creepy (his old writings)

12) he's too old

13) he had a child out of wedlock

Now I need to say, I don't mind any of these things myself. I voted for him in the primary. I loved so much of what he said.

However under his plans, my taxes would go up a lot under his plans. I don't mind it, I'm willing to pay more, but I think a lot of people wouldn't. The people in the news media sure wouldn't. Corporate America would not like it.

These attacks would be devastating, in my opinion, for his run. It's just super important to realize how blunt and effective Republican attacks can be, if you don't remember them yourself.

Would Sanders have done better in the rust-belt states with independent voters? Maybe, maybe not. There's no guarantee that independent voters wouldn't be strongly turned off by these GOP talking points. He may well have done much worse than HRC.

Yes, his favorability ratings were high, and that would have helped him. But those ratings were mostly because people didn't know him and he hadn't been subjected to GOP attacks.

Could Sanders have beaten back these attacks with his well-known powerful rhetoric? I think yes, somewhat. But I don't think he could have been strong enough to beat back all the attacks, and there's little doubt that the Dem party would not defended a lot of these attacks very well, because of their typical caution and trepidation. Plus, since Sanders was not a Democrat for most of his life, he would not get the same backing by the party, and there would be a lot of distancing.

So I understand that a lot of people on the left think this election was the best chance they had in ages to get New Deal/socialist candidate elected, and they are still mad that Sanders didn't get the nomination. They think the nomination was stolen from him, despite the actual evidence against that.

But the fact is, he lost the primary, and it wasn't that close, and he would NOT have had an easy time in the general election, at all.

January 3, 2017

WikiLeaks founder: Obama admin trying to delegitimize' Trump

Source: The Hill

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says there's an "obvious" reason the Obama administration has focused on Russia's alleged role in Democratic hacks leading up to Donald Trump's electoral win.

“They’re trying to delegitimize the Trump administration as it goes into the White House,” Assange said during an interview with Fox News's Sean Hannity airing Tuesday night, according to a transcript of excerpts from the network. “They are trying to say that President-elect Trump is not a legitimate president," Assange said during the interview, which was conducted at the Ecuadorian embassy in London where he has been staying.

"Our publications had wide uptake by the American people, they’re all true,” Assange continued. “But that’s not the allegation that’s being presented by the Obama White House.”

Assange reiterated the group's denial that Russia was the source of the Democratic documents released over the summer. "Our source is not a state party, so the answer for our interactions is no,” he said.

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/312431-wikileaks-founder-obama-admin-trying-to-delegitimize-trump

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Oh no! We wouldn't want to delegitimize a horrible man elected tot he most powerful position in the world. Assange is an asshole and tool.

January 2, 2017

Does anyone still trust Edward Snowden?

I don't think he's going to get an Obama pardon...

http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-fable-of-edward-snowden-1483143143

Mr. Snowden’s narrative also includes the assertion that he was neither debriefed by nor even met with any Russian government official after he arrived in Moscow. This part of the narrative runs counter to findings of U.S. intelligence. According to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence report, Mr. Snowden, since he arrived in Moscow, “has had, and continues to have, contact with Russian intelligence services.” This finding is consistent with Russian debriefing practices, as described by the ex-KGB officers with whom I spoke in Moscow

Mr. Snowden also publicly claimed in Moscow in December 2013 to have secrets in his head, including “access to every target, every active operation. Full lists of them.” Could Mr. Snowden’s Russian hosts ignore such an opportunity after Mr. Putin had authorized his exfiltration to Moscow? Mr. Snowden, with no exit options, was in the palm of their hands. Under such circumstances, as Mr. Klintsevich pointed out in his June NPR interview: “If there’s a possibility to get information, they [the Russian intelligence services] will get it.”

The transfer of state secrets from Mr. Snowden to Russia did not occur in a vacuum. The intelligence war did not end with the termination of the Cold War; it shifted to cyberspace. Even if Russia could not match the NSA’s state-of-the-art sensors, computers and productive partnerships with the cipher services of Britain, Israel, Germany and other allies, it could nullify the U.S. agency’s edge by obtaining its sources and methods from even a single contractor with access to Level 3 documents.

Russian intelligence uses a single umbrella term to cover anyone who delivers it secret intelligence. Whether a person acted out of idealistic motives, sold information for money or remained clueless of the role he or she played in the transfer of secrets—the provider of secret data is considered an “espionage source.” By any measure, it is a job description that fits Mr. Snowden.

December 31, 2016

Does Trump have idea any how many people absolutely loath him?

I would guess he doesn't, but a related question is does he have any clue WHY people are upset with him?

How much of a bubble is he in?

December 30, 2016

Now --more than ever-- we need to see Trump's income taxes

Trump is running the highest stakes gamble possible, a con on a global stage.

He is DEEP in debt with Russia and he owes them. So they help him get elected to do their bidding and now he's pulling everyone along on this incredibly treasonous gamble to do Putin's bidding in order to cover his debts.

The GOP has fallen behind this guy, all because he easily manipulated their base (they've been programmed to believe his crap after years of rightwing radio and FoxNews BS) and he's gotten elected POTUS (with the help of Russian aid).

It's freaking insanity, it's the plot of thriller movie. But it seems to be real life.

However-- it could come crashing down so easily if we pull the right threads, and the GOP would be absolutely ruined as a party, after they backed him throughout this campaign.

We NEED TO SEE HIS TAXES. That is the thread we need to pull.

How incredibly wrong is it, that we haven't seen his taxes yet??? They HAVE to be shown. We must DEMAND it.

December 30, 2016

"Fuck you, Donald Trump" by Chris Cluwe

https://medium.com/@ChrisWarcraft/fuck-you-donald-trump-c644ae3dd94c#.u6a4htnvf

Fuck you for being a hypersensitive, grossly plump caricature of a human being; a squirming mass of cockroaches lurking under a skinsuit veneer.

Fuck your wanton plundering of our social fabric, your willingness to tear down the structure that allows you to exist, your glorification of the worst parts of humanity, all in the name of your own insatiable greed and depravity.

Fuck your racebaiting, fearmongering, Nazi-enabling rhetoric that allows the darkest and most destructive corners of our collective zeitgeist free reign to terrorize the rest.

Fuck your ignorant paucity of intellect, your narcissistic belief in your own ego, your inability to recognize your own descent into fascism.

Fuck your promotions of white supremacists to positions of power, of science denying crackpots to oversee our future, of bootlicking toadies to oversee your transition.

Fuck your misogynistic views on women’s rights, fuck your archaic beliefs on the freedom of press and religion, and fuck your idiotic venality when it comes to the destruction of a country that, while not always achieving freedom for all of its citizens, has done the best to get there in the entirety of recorded human history.

Fuck you, Melania Trump.

Fuck you for being willing to support this disgusting slime mold because it means you can live a life of privilege and luxury, never mind the hardships that will befall women across this nation due to your husband’s philistinic views.

Fuck you for posing for puff pieces in entertainment magazines while the cabal of shitgoblins your partner is assembling gets ready to reverse everything that has allowed you to possess even the most moderate amount of power.

Fuck you for taking the easy choice, the choice to suck the dick of a loathsome troll in order to wear Hugo Boss dresses, instead of taking a stand in order to protect the fifty percent of our population who shares your gender.

Fuck you for smiling and waving at the cameras when your husband is on record as saying, “Grab them (women) by the pussy. You can do anything.”

Fuck your betrayal of everything Susan B. Anthony and other suffragettes fought for, fuck your tacit acceptance that a woman should be an accessory to a man, fuck your self-centered interest in insuring your own well-being over the well-being of the country that allows you such a lifestyle.

Fuck you, Ivanka, Eric, and Donald Trump Jr.

Fuck you for being willing lackeys of this pusillanimous ape, for carrying his water on television and in media interviews.

and it continues in that vein. It's quite cathartic.

December 29, 2016

One unexpected result of the 2016 presidential election ...

I've become more trusting of the government (even the dreaded CIA) and more understanding of centrist Dems like Hillary. Also I've become much less distrusting of most alternative news sites that I used to go to because they told a story I liked or because the story was more sensational.

I think the general kookiness of Trump and his cabinet made me realize how important it is to have good journalism and good information, and to have people grounded in reality. Also, I realized how balance is important when dealing with wild stories about a person or a US policy.

Also in the aftermath of the election, I've developed some annoyance with Bernie Sanders (whom I initially supported), and a great deal of annoyance with a lot of people on the far left.

But really, the greater faith in government I've developed is a big surprise, and going forward with President Trump, I will lose a great deal of faith in whatever comes from the executive office.

December 29, 2016

What's the bottom line on possible election fraud, the recounts, and voter suppression stories?

Has anyone tried to sum up what happened particularly in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania?

I assume the recounts, to the extent they could go forward, didn't change anything significant, but also couldn't detect machine manipulation?

What about stories of AA vote suppression in Detroit and Greg Palast's cross-check story ? Is he the only one really talking about that?

December 26, 2016

Americans-- you had one job: keep the crazy guy away from the nuclear weapons.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/blogs/plum-line/wp/2016/12/26/could-trump-help-unleash-nuclear-catastrophe-with-a-single-tweet/

Apart from the horrifying destruction of civilization, it kills me that this asshole and his stupid family would survive a nuclear holocaust, because he's the president.

It's like everything he touches turns to shit but he walks away unscathed... arrrggghhh

December 23, 2016

American voters, you had ONE JOB: keeping a pure madman out of the office of the president.

http://www.salon.com/2016/12/23/whats-with-all-the-suits-7-strange-facts-about-donald-trumps-personality_partner/

I had heard about some of this during the election, but the whole list is very creepy.