301 (edited by Grizzlor 2016-09-15 09:48:16)

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

Informant wrote:

Anyone think that Ashton Kutcher might jump out at the inauguration and reveal that we've all been Punk'd?

Please?

I wish.  I'd vote for Gen. Powell in a heartbeat, by the way, but like most, he wants nothing to do with this crud.  Again I just can't believe NOBODY in the media is making a bigger deal that Russians are simply hacking everyone and everything.  Cyber security is a major issue, far more dangerous to the safety and security of the United States than some rogue wacko's, and it gets no coverage. 

Latest Trump hilarity.  Ivanka comes out and praises their new childcare plan, which they swear NO ONE in government has done before.  HA HA HA.   This considering her father once said pregnancy is a problem for business!  Donald Jr. swears the American public cannot handle the Trump tax return!  Did he imitate Jack Nicholson I wonder?  And of course there's The Donald himself, who literally said Ford Motor Company plans to fire ALL it's American workers and move the whole operation to Mexico.  All of this comedy happened in the last 24 hours by the way.  God we are so fucking doomed.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

I was thinking of some of the Republican conspiracy theories (and watching the West Wing), and I have the following questions

HYPOTHETICAL (Again, I'm not a doctor and cannot judge.  This is a pure hypothetical) - If it was revealed that Hillary had Parkinson's:

1. Would she drop out?
2. If she didn't drop out, would she still win?
3. If she did drop out, would Tim Kaine replace her?
4. If she did drop out and Kaine didn't replace her, who would?

Because if she did withhold that information, I think she'd need to drop out.  Not because of the Parkinson's but because of the withholding.  Even when this happened in fiction (MS and Bartlet), he almost didn't run again.  And it affected his whole second term (and this was a guy universally loved.  Hillary ain't that).

If she still ran, I think she'd lose (for the reasons above).

If she did drop out, I think it'd need to be Kaine that replaced her.  Bernie might be a good choice for a VP (if he'd take it), but Kaine would be the best way to get the Hillary voters (since he was her choice) and keep Hillary's lead.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

She's not dropping out, but as far as I know, both parties have similar rules in this matter.  They would have the power to vote on another candidate.  It probably would not require all the delegates, just the committee itself.  David Schuster, a reporter/TV host, who was fired for stretching the truth, "reported" on this the other day, for (no surprise) the Moscow-owned RT news channel.  He said the Dems would draft Joe Biden.  The bigger issue is that most states would not allow a name change on the ballot at this time, so people would be in the booth voting for Hilary when in fact she was no longer running.  And no, she does NOT have Parkinson's.  The accusation the wackjobs have made on that is an insult to the poor souls who truly suffer from that disease, because what they've even claimed she was exhibiting are in fact NOT associated with Parkinson's.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

Again, just a hypothetical like Bartlet and his MS.

And I agree she'd keep running.  This is what she's worked her whole life towards, and she's not giving it up for any reason.  If she loses, her concession speech will be must-see TV because it might end up being the biggest political meltdown ever.  If people thought it was bad that she called millions of people "deplorables", you can just imagine what she'll say to the American public if she loses to Donald Trump and no longer has anything politically to lose.  She'd be the biggest laughing stock in American political history to lose to this buffoon.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

I agree that Hillary Clinton won't drop out. Her reasons for running have nothing to do with working for America or Americans, and it is all about herself and her ego. She would rather watch this country burn than drop out.

I never went with the Parkinson's theory. People went there because she was asking questions about a Parkinson's drug in one of her emails, so I don't blame them for going there. But I think it's something more like a stroke, which can result in seizures and many other symptoms. Her behavior at times, laughing at inappropriate moments and not getting the context of a situation, reminds me of my father at times. An imbalance of medication could easily cause her to act out of it, as we have seen on numerous occasions. Obviously, a stroke can have an impact on memory, which we know has been an issue with her.

It could be some other neurological issue, but there has definitely been something wrong with her for a very long time now. Even when her doctor released a statement the other day, he was very careful to say that she hasn't been diagnosed with anything else *this year*.

The media is a mess. They report on the stories that will push the narrative that they're trying to tell. Most of the news outlets will not play up problems with national security, the economy, healthcare, etc. simply because Obama is in office. If they report on those stories at all, they breeze by them. The press is a big problem in this country. It is not serving the purpose that it was supposed to serve. It is not keeping the politicians accountable to the people, it is acting as propaganda to help cover the asses of the politicians that they like.


(for more on this issue and how I feel about the press, check out my Freedom/Hate series of novels, available now on Amazon!... I'm joking. It just felt like I was talking about my books for a second. :-) )

Please be informed that the political, scientific, sociological, economic and legal views expressed in Informant's posts and social media accounts do not reflect any consensus of Sliders.tv.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

Yeah, if Hillary really cared about beating Trump, she'd drop out.  Something like 60% of Trump supporters are only voting for him to keep her out of office.  She's historically unpopular, like him, and someone blander (like Tim Kaine) would be absolutely destroying Trump.

She wants to be President, and she's worked really heard to manuever herself into that position.  This is quite literally her last chance to do it, and I'm certain she's not going to go quietly into the night if she doesn't win.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

Plus she's probably still pissed off that the dems gave Obama the 2008 nomination. She and Bill have spent decades manipulating and scheming and playing politics, and then Obama walks in with about an hour of political experience (though decades of experience within the political machine, working with radicals, etc) and takes it from her.

She always thought that she had to at least appear to be qualified for the job. How annoying must it be to find out that she wasted all that time?

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Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

If we elect Trump, a really fun consolation prize will be watching her.  She's either going to go off on the whole country or she's not even going to concede.  Like I said, must-see TV.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

I would like to see that.

I wonder how long the divorce would take as well.

Please be informed that the political, scientific, sociological, economic and legal views expressed in Informant's posts and social media accounts do not reflect any consensus of Sliders.tv.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

She might just straight up stab him on national TV.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

Debate!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ryp51N21vOU

The Avengers wade into the election!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRp1CK_X_Yw

John Oliver compares Hillary and Trump's scandals!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1Lfd1aB9YI

SOUTH PARK observes that we are caught between a rock and a hard place!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlqKFlU7YAs

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

Also in electoral news, a comic book adaptation of CLINTON CASH, itself a book documenting the corruption of the Clinton family and foundation in their receiving money in exchange for influencing US foreign and domestic policy, became a smash sales hit on Amazon.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2016/08/18/ … h-diamond/

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

Still rewatching Arrow's second season. I reached the point where Moira Queen announces her candidacy to run for mayor. I remember when the episodes first aired, I watched it like "Really?!?! She was just on trial for killing 500 people and now she's up in the polls?!?! REALLY?!?!"

Now I watch the episodes and I'm like "Yup."

Please be informed that the political, scientific, sociological, economic and legal views expressed in Informant's posts and social media accounts do not reflect any consensus of Sliders.tv.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

I feel like there are a lot of things that I want to say right now, but I have no idea how to approach the subject of this Trump video, so I can't form a proper post.

This whole election cycle has been insane. These past few days have just... I think my brain is broken.

Please be informed that the political, scientific, sociological, economic and legal views expressed in Informant's posts and social media accounts do not reflect any consensus of Sliders.tv.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

Well, after things were looking pretty good for him for a while, there's virtually no way he wins now.  Hillary Clinton will be president. Now I know a lot of people were anti-Trump, and I get that.  I don't like him, and I think he'd be a terrible president.  But I saw this example on Twitter, and I think it fits.  This election is like the end of The Graduate - we as a country have shown up en masse to rush out to the church and tell this woman we love her because the alternative is so terrible.  So we do it, we tell her, she comes with us, and we escape on this bus.  And, like the characters in the movie, our smiles fade as we realize the decision we just made. 

Hillary Clinton will be president.

During this whole campaign, it's all been about Trump.  Hillary is supposed to be this policy expert, but I've seen about five different campaign ads for Hillary (I'm in Texas so I bet she has more), and only one was about her at all.  When she answers questions, she doesn't answer how she'll do it....she answers how he'll do it worse.  When Hillary supporters talk about the election, it's always about him and how horrible he is.

And he is.  But that's not the point.

Hillary Clinton will be president.

People talk about Hillary using Obama's words.  "The most qualified person to ever run."  And that's always bothered me.  For all the research that's been done into both candidate's pasts, I don't think any major news source really looked into the quote.  People are just accepting it.  I looked into it, and it's basically laughable when you dig into it.  John Quincy Adams was also a senator just as long as Hillary, was secretary of state for longer, and was also foreign minister several times under different presidents, and was a member of the House.  If you want to give Hillary extra years of experience for being the wife to the president, then you have to also give credit to Adams for being the son of one of the creators of the nation. 

Martin Van Buren has the same resume as Hillary (minus being Bill Clinton's wife), but he was also Vice President, Governor of New York, Attorney General of New York, and foreign minister to the UK. 

Is she more qualified than, say, Obama was?  Yes.  But she's also about 20 years older than he was.  I'd hope she has more experience.  In fact, as the second-oldest person to ever be inaugurated, there's almost no reason why she shouldn't have more than 12 years of experience in public office.

What's crazy is that this woman is going to be president, but she really hasn't had to sell herself.  All she's had to sell is how bad Trump is.  And she's done a good job.  But I'll repeat again:

Hillary Clinton will be president.

The same day the Trump tape came out, Hillary's Goldman Sachs speeches were leaked.  In some of the speeches, she admitted that she has a "public and private" position on certain issues.  She talked about how she's out of touch with the middle class because she's so wealthy.  So if you're looking to her to fix any issues related to Wall Street, she won't.  In fact, professionally, I'd suggest buying stock in Goldman Sachs if you can afford it.  She's going to make them a lot of money.

What about Bill helping fix the economy?  While it's true that the economy was great from 1992 to 2000, it has almost nothing to do with anything Bill did.  In 1992-2000, something you're using right now rose to public prominence.  An entire industry was literally created out of thin air overnight, and the economy boomed because of it.  If you want to look at Bill's policies, they actually led to the subprime crisis.  So if you're looking for 90s prosperity out of a Clinton White House again, you're not going to get it unless she's able to invent a new internet.

But she's great on foreign policy, right?  Well, that's also not quite true.  While Trump is an idiot for saying she founded ISIS, a lot of her work as secretary of state certainly didn't make the ISIS situation better.  Her key policy weapon in the Middle East seems to be assassination.  And that might well work in Syria under a Hillary presidency, but I don't think it fixes the problem there.  And the Russians won't like that....but we'll come back to Russia again.

Hillary Clinton is a war hawk.  Plain and simple.  More than the Bushes, if you listen to certain prominent people.  Under Hillary, war will be a weapon she uses quickly and often.  She's promised that she won't put any more troops in the middle east, but based on her record, that's almost certainly her "public" position and not her private one.  There will be troops in Syria.  She wanted to go there while she was secretary of state, and Obama is the one who kept us out.  Hillary Clinton will be president, and it'll be her call.  We're going.

If you don't believe she's a hawk, read this article.  Written by a paper that has been extremely polite to her for a really long time.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/24/magaz … -hawk.html

On ISIS, all she talks about is more of the same.  But is more of the same even working?  Is Obama making progress in defeating ISIS, and if he's not, how could she possibly make progress with the same strategy?

So what about Russia?  We can't elect Trump because he's a friend of Putin.  Or a puppet for Putin.  Trump will dismantle NATO because that's what Putin wants.  We can't elect Trump because Putin wants him.

Here's the bad news.  He wants Trump because he hates Hillary.  I've read that he's *afraid* of Hillary.  Now I've thought about this a lot because it scares me.  A scared Putin scares me.  Because Putin will be in charge in Russia until he dies.  Even if he's removed from power, he'll still be in charge because he's working to make sure one of his lieutenants is in charge. 

Hillary wants to remove/kill Assad.  Putin is friends with Assad.

If you go to Hillary's website, there's sections on her policies on dozens of issues.  If you read them, they're vague one-sentence bullet points that sound great.  She's got one on gay rights, on minority rights, on the economy, on ISIS, and a ton of others.

Nothing on Russia.

She's talked a lot about Russian/American relations if Trump is president.  Nothing about it if she is.  People talk about World War 3 if Trump is president, but they don't want to talk about the very-real Cold War 2 when Hillary is president.

Everyone's thrilled that Trump's finally getting wounded.  But when the smoke clears and Hillary is in office, we're all going to be a little like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TP4MuVnS2A

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

Exactly. And this is what is so f---ing frustrating to me. Do you watch Fox 4 news (this is the benefit of us living close together!). Every night, they have a report on Trump where they play up how crazy he is. If there is a single protester at a rally of his, it will get its own segment. Then they go to a story about a speech Hillary gave, and discuss her position in said speech... They don't mention her crazy outbursts, or her old recordings. They talk about her pneumonia, but not the fact that people were discussing her issues with falling over long before this diagnosis. They demand nothing of her. They question nothing of her. Basically, they are just campaigning for her.

There is a lot for her to answer for. While people talk about Trump being a pig and saying vile things (he did. It is disgusting. I hate him, so I am not defending him), and equate his *words* to rape, they ignore Hillary's history of victimizing the women that her husband had already victimized. He raped them, and she made them keep their mouths shut, threatening them and their families. Some of them did back down or bow out. Others didn't. Those who are screaming to be heard are not being shown on the news. The media is helping Hillary sweep them under the carpet. Hillary claims to be a champion of women, but she aids the destruction of rape victims. She should be made to answer for that, but she never will.

Hillary Clinton ton is on tape in 2008, discussing the fact that she doesn't want to use email because it will leave her exposed during investigations. This is HUGE, in respect to her email scandal (where she destroyed tens of thousands of emails) but how often have you seen that lost video on the nightly news? Fox 4 cut into programming to report on this video of Trump being a pig, yet they didn't even report Hillary's lost video.

The election is a mess because the media made it that way. They, along with the establishment Republicans, (and Democrats for that matter) destroyed our chances of getting legitimate candidates. They chose who they wanted in office and now Hillary could sacrifice a newborn baby to Satan live on Facebook, and it would get zero news coverage.

Please be informed that the political, scientific, sociological, economic and legal views expressed in Informant's posts and social media accounts do not reflect any consensus of Sliders.tv.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

Well, the problem I see is that people are still treating this like it's a conventional election; it's not.  Trump has already done dozens of things every one of which would have destroyed a candidate under the political rules we've known, but Trump survived each of them and stayed competitive.

One telling thing is something I saw on CNN earlier; Erin Burnette mentioned that they spent yesterday and today finding people from past focus groups to see if their opinions had changed since the video.   The opinions hadn't changed except for one guy who said he was kind of iffy but still on the Trump side.

There are 29 days left in the election.  Anything can happen; and as bad as it is, the history of this cycle shows that Trump can weather anything so far.  I believe he'll weather this too; and frankly, his newly revealed lude behavior may even gain him votes with male voters.  The talking heads seem to believe in this American ideal where all people simply must believe in a certain moral value.  They don't.  They may not admit it in public, but when they're behind the curtain voting, no one is going to know.  That's why polls are pretty useless in this cycle - just look at Brexit, Columbia and even the U.S. primaries.

The only thing this has solidified for me is that I will never vote Republican again. These self-righteous fools have finally cut it for me and shown who they are - a right wing of the Democratic Party.  You may as well cut out the middle man and just vote Democrat.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

The process has to change. The establishment Republicans didn't want someone who would challenge their corruption, so they did their best to destroy viable candidates. The people don't want the establishment, so they ran to the guy who will burn down the house and figure out the details later.

The media wants Hillary, so they are doing whatever they can to excuse her sins while blowing up Trump's.

And the internet has become a place where conversation doesn't even happen. Remember those big long political debates we used to have in our Sliders fandom? That can't happen anymore. Now, you agree or you're blocked. You fall in line, or you're a racist, or a sexist, or a homophobe. There is no exchange of ideas. And this is encouraged by the politicians in charge who want us attacking each other, because it keeps everyone in separate groups that are easily herded. We are on the verge of a race war, and people think that it is because of racism and killing innocent people. It isn't. It is about manipulation.

We don't know how to have an election in a world of social media. Where every thought and belief must fit into a tweet.

In closing, I propose that we destroy the internet. It was fun while it lasted, but it is ultimately a weapon of mass destruction that we can't control, because controlling it would be wrong.

I'm either being really deep, or really tired right now. I think I'm just tired.

Please be informed that the political, scientific, sociological, economic and legal views expressed in Informant's posts and social media accounts do not reflect any consensus of Sliders.tv.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

I once told my wife the internet is the greatest and worst invention of all time.

This is right after I told her that the 2nd best thing that could happen to the Earth is an EMP pulse.

--Chaser9

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

TemporalFlux wrote:

That's why polls are pretty useless in this cycle - just look at Brexit, Columbia and even the U.S. primaries.

The primary polls were pretty well spot on.  They said Trump and Clinton were winning, and they both won.  The pundits thought the polls showing Trump winning must be wrong somehow, but they weren't.

The only thing this has solidified for me is that I will never vote Republican again. These self-righteous fools have finally cut it for me and shown who they are - a right wing of the Democratic Party.  You may as well cut out the middle man and just vote Democrat.

We have two military-industrial parties, one pro-choice and one pro-life.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

http://www.luckytv.nl/time-of-my-life/

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Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

As I've said from the start, as bad as Hillary is, she will not be a daily embarrassment to the United States.  Trump would be.  His rally last night was clear evidence of that, as he ramped up the lies.  This is a guy with an out of control ego, who would challenge the Constitution from day one, and probably wouldn't make it very long before both parties called for impeachment.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

Grizzlor wrote:

As I've said from the start, as bad as Hillary is, she will not be a daily embarrassment to the United States.  Trump would be.

Okay, but embarrassment is one thing.  Would you rather send troops to Syria to fight Hillary's version of the Iraq War?  Do you want to restart the Cold War because Hillary wants to kill Putin's friend?  I'd rather be embarrassed than dead, and Hillary's more likely to get me killed.

People always use the nukes thing with Trump, but they seem to think we live in a world where the President has a big button on his desk with "NUKES" written on it.  To fire off a nuclear weapon, the president's command has to go through a handful of really smart people who are really good at their jobs.  Even if Trump wanted to nuke Paraguay because they made fun of him, there's a better chance Trump would end up impeached due to massive overuse of power than any missile would ever leave the ground.

Now restart the Cold War?  That's how nuclear devastation happens.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

The problem is, Hillary Clinton threw the Constitution out the window decades ago. Yeah, she isn't as openly embarrassing as Trump, but she could be far more damaging to the country in the long run.

Trump may very well be impeached. That would probably be a good thing (though it would leave us with Pence). But if Hillary wins, none of her crap will be challenged. She will never be impeached.


Neither one of them are fit to be president. Neither are good people. Neither will be good for the country. Both of them make me sick. But the only choice that I have at this point is to vote for the person who makes me slightly less sick. Trump's list of Supreme Court candidates looks better to me than what Hillary would do. Some of what he says (in between making a complete f---ing fool of himself and our country) is more viable than what Hillary proposes.

I may have to get really damn drunk before I go to do it (which is odd because I don't drink)... but I don't have a choice but to vote for Trump. The impeachment option just makes me feel a little bit better about doing it.

Please be informed that the political, scientific, sociological, economic and legal views expressed in Informant's posts and social media accounts do not reflect any consensus of Sliders.tv.

325 (edited by Grizzlor 2016-10-11 09:38:41)

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

Hillary is not attacking Syria.  Frankly there's nothing left to attack there.  She'll be rebuffed by Congress regardless.  Also, it was Trump who said the other night that our nuclear arsenal was suddenly out of date, and that Russia were upgrading theirs.  This was not only false of course, it was ludicrous.  Another arms race?  Come on.  As for the Supreme Court, I think the GOP made a huge gaffe by refusing Judge Garland, because I personally feel he is moderate if not slightly conservative, and if Hillary wins, she can nominate another Ginsberg and there's little they can do about it.

Trump supporters chant jail her, they have shirts calling Bill a rapist, while Donald says the election system is rigged, the polls are fake, he lies without repent.  If we allow this guy to succeed after running a campaign that resides in the sewers, what does that say about democracy going forward?  Reward the guy or gal who can lie the most, rile up the most people with falsehoods and bigotry?  The same guy who has been reported to have next to no attention span, and limited interest in actual policies?  At some point, you have to take the stand that the decency must win out.  We cannot reward him, and be left with an autocrat like in The Philippines.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

Grizzlor wrote:

Hillary is not attacking Syria.  Frankly there's nothing left to attack there.

Read the NYT article I linked.  She absolutely will attack Syria.  With troops on the ground, despite her "promise" not to do so.  She wants Assad's head, and the only reason we weren't there when she was Secretary of State was because Obama wouldn't allow it.  Now there will be no one to stop her. 

Hillary is Dick Cheney.  Assad is her Saddam.

People are too busy talking about Trump to even ask her about it, but it'll happen.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

As for the Supreme Court, I think the GOP made a huge gaffe by refusing Judge Garland, because I personally feel he is moderate if not slightly conservative, and if Hillary wins, she can nominate another Ginsberg and there's little they can do about it.

It's not too late for them to confirm him, and they should seriously consider it.  If they lose the senate in addition to the presidency, they'll get someone far to the left of Ginsburg.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

Oh absolutely.  If I were the Republicans, I'd have confirmed him yesterday.  I honestly don't know why they're not, especially with Republicans fleeing Trump left and right.  They're forfeiting the presidency, and they gotta know it's out of their hands.  Garland is their safest bet.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

See, I don't get how saying "jail her" or calling Bill a rapist is living in the sewers. Hillary Clinton is guilty 100%, without a doubt, of crimes which would have anyone else in the country either thrown in prison or possibly even tried for treason. Acting as though it is silly, reckless or somehow gossipy to point this out is simply a refusal to acknowledge the truth.

And there is at least as much evidence to convict Bill of rape as their is Bill Cosby, if not more. Again, screaming the truth has become the only option, because what other option is there? Neither one of those people will pay for their crimes. They get away with it because the laws of normal citizens do not apply to them.

I'm sorry, but I can't vote for Hillary. Voting for her is not a vote for decency, or maturity. It's a vote for someone who does whatever she wants, because she is above the law. She lies, cheats, steals, kills, and absolutely nothing happens to her. She threatens her husbands victims and their families in order to cover for his misdeeds, and she is held up as a champion of women everywhere. She wouldn't just be a bad president. She is evil. She is a psychopath, with no regard for human life. With no understanding of basic right and wrong.

And don't get me wrong. The idea of voting for Trump makes me sick to my stomach. I don't think that he is qualified. I don't think that he is stable. I think that he has a whole slew of psychological issues, but being a psychopath is not one of them.

This election is a game of Russian Roulette. Side with Trump, and you're playing with a revolver. Side with Hillary and you're playing with a semi-automatic.

There is no decency here. There is no good option. right now, I'm thinking in terms of cutting off limbs in order to save the patient's life.

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Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

Informant wrote:

There is no decency here. There is no good option. right now, I'm thinking in terms of cutting off limbs in order to save the patient's life.

That's sorta where I land.

I was watching CNN and they were talking about Trump abusing presidential power to go after his enemies.  How he's talked about going after certain republicans, going after Hillary, going after other people.

And while that's silly and embarrassing, it's not dangerous.  Trump wasting time working on a wall that will never (in a million years) get built is stupid but not dangerous.  Trump threatening to deport people that the government has no ability to find (let alone deport) is stupid but not dangerous.

Starting a new Cold War is dangerous.  Prodding Putin until he starts World War III is dangerous.  Putting more troops in the Middle East to fight a war in Syria is just going to stir up the ISIS hornet's nest further.  That's dangerous.  Bringing in tons of Syrian refugees when a) ISIS has said they'll sneak their guys in with them and b) we have absolutely no way of vetting them is dangerous.

I don't see Trump as dangerous.  I see him as an idiot who will spend the next four years accomplishing nothing and enjoying the fame part of being president.  I've yet to see anyone with any actual reasons to fear Trump because the guy doesn't have any real positions of anything.  I know that Hillary will invade Syria because there's tons of evidence to point to that.  In my opinion, there's no reason to fear Trump because he's all talk.

331 (edited by Informant 2016-10-11 10:42:58)

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

Project Veritas is starting to roll out their videos before the election. They're starting with some smaller stuff, but they say that they have bigger bombs to drop next week.

https://youtu.be/jUDTcxIqqM0

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Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

So, I was just watching Project Veritas videos of Clinton campaign staffers openly saying that it's okay to rip up Republican voter registration forms, and to simply not give them forms to allow them to vote through the mail (while pushing the option for Democrats). One was even discussing grabbing a woman's ass (he'd have to do it at least twice in order to get fired!)

These are a couple of blatant crimes. On video. So, where is the wall to wall news coverage? Where is the outrage? Where are the investigations into voter fraud? Why do people care about disgusting talk from Trump, but not actual deeds by Hillary's campaign?


Of course, it probably goes back to one of the latest leaks from Wikileaks, showing Hillary's camp coordinating with a few dozen prominent journalists on the announcement of her candidacy and how the press would frame it. The fact is, they simply won't report anything negative about her. And this is not the way things are supposed to be. The journalists should be holding candidates accountable, not working for them. That is the function that "freedom of the press" was supposed to serve. Now we just have a machine that churns our lies to the people.

And to be clear, I wouldn't want them to hide anything about conservatives either. Politicians should answer to the people. But that doesn't happen anymore. And this is what's wrong with the system. They're changing the rules for what politicians should be allowed to do in office, and they're changing the rules for how they are to be held accountable. It's wrong.

Please be informed that the political, scientific, sociological, economic and legal views expressed in Informant's posts and social media accounts do not reflect any consensus of Sliders.tv.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

Project Veritas has a history of misleading editing and outright manipulation of their videos.  After the ACORN fiasco, O'Keefe's credibility is pretty well shot.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

The problem with the Wikileaks stuff is that people don't care anymore.  People are so disgusted by Trump that they'll basically accept whatever Hillary does.  I think a tape could come out of Hillary dropping a half-dozen N-bombs, and she'd still win in a landslide.  There could be proof that Hillary manipulated the process, and I don't think enough people would be upset.

The election is no longer about Trump's opponent.  It's all about him.  I'm guessing there are only a handful of people on the planet that could beat him in an election right now.  Luckily for Hillary, she's not one of those handful.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

A lot of the reports of Project Veritas videos being edited were false. They released both edited and unedited versions, but the media only reported on the edited videos, just so they could use the term "heavily edited video". As though their own reports aren't heavily edited anyway.

I think normal people might care about Hillary's misdeeds. They will just never know about them because the press won't report them

Please be informed that the political, scientific, sociological, economic and legal views expressed in Informant's posts and social media accounts do not reflect any consensus of Sliders.tv.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

Well, by "people" I mean undecideds and Hillary voters.  I don't think there's anything that she could be confirmed of doing that would hurt her.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

Okay, this might come out as garbled, but hopefully my point comes across.

I think this election is doing irreparable harm to the country.  Because these two candidates are so hated (and don't get me wrong, they are hated), people are becoming more polarized than ever.  No matter how bad your candidate is, the only way to "elevate" your candidate is to attack the other.  Hillary supporters are exclusively talking about Trump, and Trump supporters are exclusively talking about Hillary.

I saw a post today from a casual acquaintance telling his friends to unfriend him if they support Trump and the idea of repealing the 19th amendment.  And while I agree that it's a dumb idea, I didn't like the sentiment.  The media reported that a poll says people are losing friends because of this election.  We're willing to disrupt connections we've made because people are making a choice.  That bothers me.

And I think it's because we have so many ways of filtering the way we get media.  On social media, we can choose to follow only people who think like us.  If you follow only Trump people, you could get the idea that Trump is going to easily win the election.  If you follow only Hillary people, you could get the idea that Trump is actually much worse than Hitler.  And when you only get one side of the argument, you can start to de-humanize the other side.  They aren't people anymore, and that's how these friendships are dissolving.

The media isn't helping.  Fox News has routinely been accused of leaning right, but I'm seeing a ton of the other networks leaning way further left than usual.  CNN has been accused of being the Clinton News Network, but as a former journalist, I'm seeing a lot more editorializing than I'm comfortable with.  During the Republican convention, CNN usually put together a huge panel (10-12 people) that was usually pretty even.  During the Democratic convention, it was usually 80% Democrats with one or two Trump people.  The other night, I saw a panel that was 5 Hillary supporters and one Trump supporter.  A lot of times, CNN will throw Ana Navarro on a panel as a Republican, but she's anti-Trump.  So CNN is quickly becoming Fox News.

(Fox News isn't even trying anymore.  They'll do panels of just Trump supporters or bring on a Hillary person and simply antagonize them for the entire segment)

People are going to disagree.  Your friends are going to disagree.  But that used to be something we wanted.  We wanted people around us who thought differently so we could learn a different perspective.  That's how compromises are made.  But when we completely close out one person's idea, there's no longer room for compromise.  I surround myself with people who think like me, and you do the same.  Instead of trying to understand how the other side thinks, we do the opposite.  Trump is Hitler so Hillary is Antichrist.  Before we know it, both are the Devil.  And so their supporters must be devil worshipers.

At least we have this place still.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

I agree. On my personal Facebook page, I don't discuss politics (I use the page as a means of keeping up with my acting stuff. A lot of my friends are actors... Bringing politics to the set would do me no good at all). I see both sides, but I rarely see them talking in a civil fashion. I have always loved the push and pull of debating issues, where everyone can argue, but it isn't about hating each other. That is just gone now, and I think that this culture didn't just happen by mistake. I think that a people divided are easier to control and manipulate. People literally get offended if you present a *fact* that they don't want to hear. They believe lies, which are known lies, because they're holding their person up as some sort of idol.

I hate Hillary Clinton. I think she is a psychopath (literally, not as a figure of speech). Donald Trump is nearly as bad... Possibly as bad a person, with a .001% chance of not completely destroying the country. My horse was out of this race a long time ago, so now I have no good options.

Our whole system depends on people questioning our leaders. It depends on journalists giving us facts and holding politicians accountable. None of this is happening anymore.

Please be informed that the political, scientific, sociological, economic and legal views expressed in Informant's posts and social media accounts do not reflect any consensus of Sliders.tv.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

The polarization is largely a result of the primaries becoming preeminent in selecting nominees.  We got better candidates when they were picked in smoke filled back rooms.  Today a candidate has to appeal to the lowest common denominator of half the electorate in order to get on the ballot.  Any display of centrism or cross over appeal or less than 100% orthodoxy is damaging if not disqualifying.  The candidates are more extreme because they are chosen by the extremists.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

http://m.tmz.com/#article/2016/10/12/nb … on-debate/

NBC knew about the tape, but held it until closer to the election, to have an impact on the election. This means a few things...

1. They are actively trying to get one candidate elected and are willing to withhold information to do it.

2. They had no problem with what Billy Bush said or did, and he is being punished for show.

3. Depending on when they knew about this tape, they could have prevented the Republicans from making an informed decision about who they wanted as a candidate. Certainly, an earlier reveal could have changed the name on the ticket, especially if they knew before the convention. So this isn't even just about taking down Trump. It is about pushing Hillary.

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341 (edited by Slider_Quinn21 2016-10-13 09:26:49)

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

Yeah, that's the crazy stuff to me.  Almost all this stuff is at least a decade old.  How did none of it come out during the primaries?

I don't believe most conspiracy theories, but the whole election (from start to finish) being orchestrated by the Clintons is one that makes sense to me. 

- Trump and the Clintons are friends and have been for a long time.
- Bill Clinton, according to several noted sources, is the one who convinced Trump to run.
- Many democrats reportedly voted Trump to help him win the republican primary
- The media holds on to all Trump-related negative stories until after the primary is over and it's too late for the Republicans to course-correct.
- Many of Trump's more-awful moments happened right after (or the same day) as Clinton's worst moments (he praised Saddam the same day as the Comey announcement, the Trump tapes came out the same day as the Clinton speeches)
- Trump hasn't released his taxes.  If Trump was paid any amount of money to run, that payment would show up in his taxes.  It's a point to make Hillary look strong and Donald look weak.
- Trump gets money, fame, notoriety.  Hillary gets to beat the only candidate that she could easily beat.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

NBC employed Trump and owns Access Hollywood.  They were probably concerned about legal fallout if they used the tape on their news programs.

343 (edited by Slider_Quinn21 2016-10-13 12:03:00)

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

He announced his candidacy in June of 2015, and yet all this stuff is coming up now.  Hillary would say that the Republicans were just bad at opposition research, but *all* of them were bad?  The media just started looking into him in the last month? 

WikiLeaks and Assange are doing their hacks the same way.  If they have an October surprise that anyone would care about (and I think anything short of concrete evidence of a murder doesn't stop her from winning), they're holding onto it as late as possible.  But at least WikiLeaks isn't claiming to have any integrity.

Whether they did it to help Hillary or just to help their own ratings by keeping Trump in the race, waiting until this point is bad journalism.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

I don't believe that NBC worried about the video being released. They have known about it for at least a couple of months. They planned to release it themselves, and edit around their own guy (one might call that a heavily edited video... Actually, it still is). They waited specifically for the purpose of effecting the election.


Anonymous might have proof of Bill Clinton raping a 13 year old girl on "rape island", according to a video that they released. The idea of Trump and the Clintons being in on this together sounds crazy... But there is another connection. Jeffrey Epstein. Google his name with either Clinton or Trump and you find allegations of pedophilia related to both men.

It could be conspiracy. At the very least, it is interesting to note.

Please be informed that the political, scientific, sociological, economic and legal views expressed in Informant's posts and social media accounts do not reflect any consensus of Sliders.tv.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

I think it's interesting that Republicans are going after Bill.  I think Hillary just used Bill for his charisma, and as soon as she's president, she has no further need for him.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

The problem is that many of Hillary's crimes are directly linked to his crimes. She threatened his victims and used her power and her connections to shut them up.

There are many more crimes to go after, but nobody seems to care about breaking laws or endangering national security. For some odd reason, people can brush that aside. But her threatening rape victims plays against her feminist image. That could be more damaging.

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Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

Yeah, but it was all a means to an end.  I think she set him up to be president so she could be president.  If Bill had his way, he'd rather be chasing coeds.  I think she built him up and used him.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

Informant wrote:

The problem is that many of Hillary's crimes are directly linked to his crimes. She threatened his victims and used her power and her connections to shut them up.

There are many more crimes to go after, but nobody seems to care about breaking laws or endangering national security. For some odd reason, people can brush that aside. But her threatening rape victims plays against her feminist image. That could be more damaging.

People care, they just don't have a viable alternative.  If the GOP had nominated a real candidate instead a circus sideshow they would be winning big.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

I agree. The establishment disagreed with what the people wanted. So, rather than endorse a candidate that the people would get behind, they stomped their feet and refused to grow up until it was too late. We started it with far too many candidates, most of whom never stood a realistic chance, and most of whom stayed in the race for far too long. The establishment hates Ted Cruz, but he was the candidate that the people were leaning toward (others had their following, but obviously didn't have enough).

The more the establishment tried to impose their will on the people, the more the people rebelled. It turned into a giant mess, which is a shame, because we had a really solid candidate this year, but he got tossed in favor of a sideshow.

The same thing happened with the democrats, but with a different method of screwing over their people.

Please be informed that the political, scientific, sociological, economic and legal views expressed in Informant's posts and social media accounts do not reflect any consensus of Sliders.tv.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

I think Cruz would've been close.  I think Kasich or Ryan would've destroyed her.  I'm not sure Pence wouldn't have won pretty handily if they'd dug him out of mothballs to run. 

Jeb or Rubio, I don't know.

But I think all of them could've beaten her.  She has nothing to say positively about herself.  And I think if she were running against anyone else, the "most qualified candidate ever" would have been researched and debunked.  The media was too busy with all of Trump's BS to even look into it.  Or, honestly, even recognize who she's running against.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

I don't think that Kasich could beat her. Hillary was never going to play fair or be nice, and he couldn't take her on. He would look weak and forgettable. Ryan, I have to doubt as well. He's seen as a sellout by a lot of people in the party. Many don't even want him to have the job he has at this point.

This time around, I think it was always going to have to be someone that wasn't seen as part of the establishment. After McCain and Romney, people were too frustrated to go for someone like that again. Trump got support because he says a lot of things that people have been waiting for someone to say for a very long time (in between his being crazy). I think Cruz was also as popular as he was because he's always been willing to challenge the establishment (which is why they don't like him). It had to be someone from the "outside".

Please be informed that the political, scientific, sociological, economic and legal views expressed in Informant's posts and social media accounts do not reflect any consensus of Sliders.tv.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-el … ks-n666656

It's this degree of infantile behavior that time and time again disqualifies this **insert swear word** from being elected dog catcher let alone President.  I'm sorry, I don't want to be represented by a real life version of the fictional Vince McMahon.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

She would have beaten Ben Carson.  Any of the GOP contenders would have taken her, IMO.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

Informant wrote:

I don't think that Kasich could beat her. Hillary was never going to play fair or be nice, and he couldn't take her on. He would look weak and forgettable. Ryan, I have to doubt as well. He's seen as a sellout by a lot of people in the party. Many don't even want him to have the job he has at this point.

As long as it wasn't someone with a laundry list of controversies, they would've won.  The problem with Cruz is that he turns people off.  It's a similar situation to Hillary, actually.  Hillary was unlikable before we even know anything about her.  She just turns people off.  It's the opposite of "it"

The way to beat Hillary is to let the attention be on her.  The only reason she's winning is that 100% of the attention is on Trump.  A boring Republican would beat her in a landslide because she can't divert attention anywhere.

And let's not pretend that Bill is any better than Trump.  They run in the same circles, and they both spent a ton of time with Jeffrey Epstein.  If Bill ran today, it'd be a ton of the same stuff.  But, again, I don't think he ever really wanted to be president.  I'm sure he loved the fame that came with it, though.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how … residency/

I don't know who this guy is, but vote McMullin!

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

From where I sit (and I'm not in the States), this election has brought out the best in all of you. You all come from various ends of the political spectrum, and this election has truly proven to me that your values, despite being ones I have often disagreed with strongly and at times viewed as hypocritical, are held sincerely and with great love for your country and society.

I truly expected Informant and Temporal Flux to support Donald Trump out of their party loyalty and dreaded what it might mean for our friendships and Informant's continued consultation on SLIDERS REBORN.

Instead, both TF and Informant have shown a character and integrity that, to be honest, I did not expect to find. I apologize for that. I am astonished but overjoyed to see Informant declaring Trump to be "balls out crazy" and TF declaring that he is done voting Republican or to see my many Democrat-friends seeking Libertarian and independent candidates for whom to vote.

Despite all of you having very strong disagreements, your shared outrage towards cruelty, corruption, self-enrichment at the expense of others and establishment fictions has somehow brought you all to the same place. This election has united you and made you all realize you're not so different. Even Mitt Romney has won my respect in this election and I used to hate him.

Obviously, I am filled with sympathy and sadness for the plight of my neighbours, but I am also very, very happy to see these wonderful sides to all of you. I have never been more proud of the SLIDERS fan community and the people of this forum.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

I appreciate that. I still have to vote though, and at this point that vote will be about choosing the lesser evil. Looking at what is likely to happen with the Supreme Court, etc.

At the very least, anyone who votes this year should feel dirty and sick about it. I have a family member who voiced her enthusiasm after early voting, saying that she has never been more certain of her choice. Those types of comments make me really nervous about the state of humanity this time around. Anyone who doesn't see the flaws in their candidate is just not keeping their eyes open.

But I won't judge. I will probably have to vote with my eyes closed, nose pinched, and maybe drunk.

Please be informed that the political, scientific, sociological, economic and legal views expressed in Informant's posts and social media accounts do not reflect any consensus of Sliders.tv.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

I'm still voting for Gary Johnson.  He's honest enough to make up for his lack of international knowledge.  My vote in the presidential race is irrelevant anyway, thanks to the Electoral College.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

I must confess -- I've generally always seen the Republican political party as Donald Trump even before Donald Trump become the nominee. Long before Trump staggered into politics, he came off as a geyser of hatred and arrogance who claimed to be successful but whose fortune was ultimately drawn from (a) a predecessor who was as competent as Trump was not and (b) exploiting the poor and gullible to line his pockets at their expense (c) presenting his exploitative practices as a showcase of independence cloaked in religion to obscure how he was simply a man driven by (d) greed and contempt for other human beings while using (e) hatred and fear of minorities, immigrants, refugees, homosexuals and the disabled and marginalized to convince his audience that his monstrosity had acceptable targets.

And that, to be honest, is how I always viewed most Republicans in America. My opinion was that Bush, Cheney, McCain, Palin, Romney and Ryan were essentially Donald Trump but they concealed and hid and dressed up the characteristics that Trump flaunts and parades and that Trump was who Republicans really are and have been all along.

It's been a relief to realize that there can be a massive gulf between having conservative values and being what the Republican party stands for now.

Re: American Politics: Discuss and Debate

That's the image of conservatism that the media sells. The redneck southern folk who ain't never seen a black person before and wants to beat the crap out of gay people... the image of people who claim to be religious, but do everything evil in the world. Who would shun their child for getting pregnant.

The media portrays conservatives as small, hateful people. The truth is that there is a wide range of conservatism. First of all, not all of it even involves social issues. Many conservatives are simply fiscal conservatives. People who want less federal government poking into our lives, and more personal responsibility/local government oversight where needed. Which is really just the way the country was founded. States largely did their own thing in a lot of ways.

But even among social conservatives, it's rare that you're going to find the ugly people that you see on TV. I mean, did Sarah Palin send Bristol off to a nunnery when she got pregnant? I've known plenty of black conservatives, gay conservatives, and conservatives of all kinda. Again, it's about less government and more independence when it comes to living life.

Most of the TV writers have a comedic view of anywhere that isn't New York or California. Their idea of Texas is usually a joke, and their view of Christians is usually just as absurd.

It's funny. I sometimes watch YouTube videos of foreign people talking about their experience visiting the US, or interacting with Americans overseas. There are people who are genuinely shocked to visit the southern states and see black people and white people talking to each other, or gay people joking around with "rednecks".

This disconnect between fiction and reality is done on purpose, just like many "us vs. them" images that are spread around. Keeping people from seeing each other as human beings who might just genuinely have a different point of view. Today, you'll often see people dismissing anyone else's thoughts on a subject by saying "You're not (fill in the blank), so you couldn't possibly understand." It's just a way of avoiding having to hear another point of view. You're not the same race, so you don't get an opinion. You're not the same sex, so you don't get an opinion. You're "on the wrong side of history", as though anyone has ever been able to predict that one.

It's a peeve of mine. Instead of interacting with people, everyone surrounds themselves with a million Facebook friends who are exactly like them, and accuses everyone else of being Hitler. And the idea of context is completely gone. What a person actually means with their words doesn't matter as much as how those words can be twisted.


Donald Trump's popularity represents frustration that people feel. He says what nobody is supposed to say, because the world has become a pampered toddler where even adults need to be shielded from thoughts that might make them have to use a sad face emoji. The thing about Trump is that he's been both a democrat and republican over the years. The one constant is that he's always been a d-bag. Who knows what he actually believes at any given moment?

That said, I think that some of Obama's words have been just as harmful and divisive. He is just played up as being righteous and progressive as he does it.



You probably didn't need me to go on this long rant. smile

Please be informed that the political, scientific, sociological, economic and legal views expressed in Informant's posts and social media accounts do not reflect any consensus of Sliders.tv.