Discussion: The US Presidential Election

Maybe if the Russians decided which side they wanted to fight on from the get-go they wouldn't have had so many casualties.

1815: Russians switch allegiance from French to British; 1939: Russians start as Nazis then later change sides to the Allies.

Leopards don't change their spots and I wouldn't trust that nation as far as I could throw it.

And to keep on topic I see from the news Sir Trumpo has two new allegations of sexual assault made against him which he instantly branded as 'cheap lies and smears'.
 
floppybootstomp said:
And finally. @nivrip, I believe the film in question about the Enigma coding machine actually claimed the Americans invented it, not just found it. Can't remember the film but I think it involved a submarine.
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I was wrong wasn't I? The film depicts the Americans capturing a sub with an Enigma machine on board, not that they invented the coding system. Ooops, me bad.

And it was our own Alan Turing, of course, who managed to make sense of the whole thing and contributed a great deal decoding the German messages.

And what did we do to Alan for his patriotic contribution?

Hmmmm?
 
Education for the US Election




Can you name this strange old tool?

Do you know what it is?

Kit.webp



Tobacco Smoke Enema Kit (1750s – 1810s)


The tobacco enema was used to infuse tobacco smoke into a patient’s rectum for various medical purposes, but primarily the resuscitation of drowning victims.

A rectal tube inserted into the anus was connected to a fumigator and bellows that forced the smoke into the rectum. The warmth of the smoke was thought to promote respiration.

Doubts about the credibility of tobacco enemas led to the popular phrase “blowing smoke up your ass.”

As you are most likely aware, this odd tool is still heavily used by all levels of government, particularly during an election.


:D:p

 
I am not a natural choice for the part of Republican rebel. I spent a lifetime in the party, despite a short separation in 2012 when I quit it after Newt Gingrich and his plan to build Moon Base Alpha won South Carolina. For some time, I’d been concerned that the party was heading into a dead end of largely symbolic extremism, and Gingrich’s surge in a pack that included unelectable eccentrics like Herman Cain and Ron Paul, for me, clinched it. But I remained a conservative, and I never felt comfortable about leaving America’s conservative party.

Trump claims that he has expanded the ranks of the Republican Party. He’s right, at least in my case: I registered Republican once again this year specifically to vote against him. That might be quixotic — one of my fellow conservatives told me he admired my “John McClane in Nakatomi Plaza mentality” — but I came back because I felt that Trump’s capture of the Republican nomination was an existential threat to the future of American conservatism itself. Trump’s victory, if unchallenged from the right, would force conservatives to replace their own principles with his rancid stew of racism and sexism, along with his slew of various crackpot theories on politics and economics. If he wins, conservatism could be dead for a generation, if not longer.
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Never-Trump Confidential


My hands almost could not type those words, because I think Hillary Clinton is one of the worst human beings in American politics. She has few principles that I can discern, other than her firm conviction that she deserves the Oval Office for enabling and then defending her sexually neurotic husband. She lies as easily as the rest of us breathe. She has compromised national security through sheer laziness at best, and corrupt intent at worst. If elected, she will enrich Wall Street and raid the public coffers while preaching hateful doctrines of identity politics to distract America’s poor and working classes.

But Trump will be worse. Morally unmoored, emotionally unstable, a crony capitalist of the worst kind, Trump will be every bit as liberal as Hillary—perhaps more so, given his statements over the years. He is by reflex and instinct a New York Democrat whose formal party affiliation is negotiable, as is everything about him. He has little commitment to anything but himself and his “deals,” none of which will work in favor of conservatives or their priorities.
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I’ll Take Hillary Clinton Over Donald Trump

So that is Tom Nichols. The first link is from July, the second from February (2016).

From his Twitter FEED:

Here's why Trumpers (and folks like Hugh Hewitt) should stop asking #NeverTrump guys like me about policy or SCOTUS. /1

Because this election is no longer about policy. I don't care what Hillary's views are on abortion or taxes. (I do, but not right now). /2

I especially don't care about Trump's view on anything, because he doesn't have any. He has no policies. No plans. Just Trump. /3

Instead, the election is now between two groups: those supporting a direct attack on our system of government, and everyone else. /4

This is no longer conservatives vs liberals, or Dems vs GOP. This an ignorant mob trying to destroy the Constitution vs the rest of us. /5

At this point, Trump's platform is a farrago of Russian-inspired demands to destroy our system, in order to save his delicate ego. /6

Trump's advisors, a clutch of opportunists and kooks, are pushing mad conspiracies. They are thus at odds with all other Americans. /7

In effect, Trump has removed politics from this election. It's now about where we all stand on protecting our system of government. /8

I'm #NeverTrump because I believe in our system, our elections, and our democratic culture, including the peaceful transfer of power. /9

If you think this is still abt SCOTUS or abortion or anything but your right to vote without threats or foreign influence, you're wrong. /10

Take your arguments about right vs left somewhere else. In my view, this is now an election solely about preserving our democracy. /11x
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As for Trump & Russia, here is a recent Clinton campaign video:

 
My view (for what it is worth) is that Trump is a lose cannon, a vulgar person who is not worthy of any political office especially President of the USA. Unfortunately Hillary Clinton is also corrupt and not worthy of the office President of the office of the USA BUT of the two I would go for Hillary Clinton as I believe she would only just make a better president than Trump but they are both corrupt.
 
Three New York surgeons were playing golf together and discussing surgeries they had performed..

One of them said, "I'm the best surgeon in New York. In my favourite case, a concert pianist lost seven fingers in an accident; I reattached them, and 8 months later he performed a private concert for the Queen of England.


The second surgeon said.. "That's nothing. A young man lost an arm and both legs in an accident;
I reattached them, and 2 years later he won a gold medal in track and field events in the Olympics.


The third surgeon said, "You guys are amateurs”. Several years ago a man was high on cocaine and marijuana and he rode a horse head-on into a train traveling 80 miles an hour. All I had left to work with was the man's blonde hair and the horse's ass. I was able to put them together and now he's running for President of the U.S.A!"

:D
 
Interesting article here written by John Pilger a long time campaigning writer who's written for many UK national newspapers in his long and varied career. He's known for leaning to the left of politics and exposing injustices.

This is a long article but I think it's fascinating reading and actually argues that Trump is a better choice than Clinton, 'odious' though Trump may be. Some arguments are irrefutable but others could be speculation and whimsy. If the whole article is true then the world is a scary place, but I think we all knew that already.

What I do find fascinating is in recent history there's been more war under democrat Presidents than Republican Presidents. The part that stuck in my mind the most was Clintons' alleged pleasure at the rather grusesome death of Libya's Colonel Gadaffi.

Anyhow, as I said, a fairly long read but imo worth a look:

http://johnpilger.com/articles/a-world-war-has-begun-break-the-silence-
 
floppybootstomp said:
... John Pilger...
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I find these guys fascinating in their blind hate of... sorry to be blunt, democracy. Pilger, Seumas Milne...

It is the number one (and two, and three) task of journalists to write about what is wrong with our societies, with the world we live in.

Where it goes to h3ll with these guys is that they think they'll make the world a better place by blaming the United States of all that is wrong and unjust. The fact that, should they have had the fortune (yeah, I'm baa-ad) of being born in, say, Russia or China, and being journalists there, they'd be in prison or dead if they wrote anything REMOTELY like that about those countries.

And yet, in their narratives, Russia or China are innocent victims. Like... so:


In the last eighteen months, the greatest build-up of military forces since World War Two -- led by the United States -- is taking place along Russia's western frontier. Not since Hitler invaded the Soviet Union have foreign troops presented such a demonstrable threat to Russia.
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What build-up is that? "Russia's western frontier" — Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Belarus, Poland, Ukraine, right? The build-up in in the Russian side of the borders. Norway, Estonia, Latvia, and Poland are NATO members, so... what the heck is he talking about?


Ukraine - once part of the Soviet Union - has become a CIA theme park. Having orchestrated a coup in Kiev, Washington effectively controls a regime that is next door and hostile to Russia: a regime rotten with Nazis, literally. Prominent parliamentary figures in Ukraine are the political descendants of the notorious OUN and UPA fascists. They openly praise Hitler and call for the persecution and expulsion of the Russian speaking minority.
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... once part of the Soviet Union... what has that got to do with anything? I hope the guy wont go to, say, Estonia, and start preaching to locals how they should abandon their democratic system, leave the NATO, and go and become a Russian province. My guess is he'd be hospitalized for months. And justly so.

... CIA theme park... nifty. But not a word about eastern Ukraine with Russian troops waging war in a foreign country.

All in all, I find it weird how these guys (and gals) don't give a duck about INDEPENDENT nations' right to be... well, independent, should they happen to have the misfortune to have Russia as their neighbour. Russia, on the other hand seems to be justified to do anything it wants with them. Odd.


In Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia -- next door to Russia - the US military is deploying combat troops, tanks, heavy weapons. This extreme provocation of the world's second nuclear power is met with silence in the West.
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Lemme see, Russia (aka the Soviet Union) occupied the Baltic states for decades, now they are free again, and an Ozzie living in the UK thinks that it is not OK for them to be NATO members and have a uselessly tiny amount (FOUR BATTALIONS) of NATO troops stationed there.

What makes the prospect of nuclear war even more dangerous is a parallel campaign against China.

Seldom a day passes when China is not elevated to the status of a "threat". According to Admiral Harry Harris, the US Pacific commander, China is "building a great wall of sand in the South China Sea".

What he is referring to is China building airstrips in the Spratly Islands, which are the subject of a dispute with the Philippines - a dispute without priority until Washington pressured and bribed the government in Manila and the Pentagon launched a propaganda campaign called "freedom of navigation".

What does this really mean? It means freedom for American warships to patrol and dominate the coastal waters of China. Try to imagine the American reaction if Chinese warships did the same off the coast of California.
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I wonder... did the evil Washington warlords also bribed the Vietnamese and Japanese governments?

My take on these kind of "journalists"? I hope they get paid by their puppet-masters. Or else they are just idiots.
 
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Oooooooooh touched a nerve there did we Urmas? ;) As I pointed out in my post, I read a lot of these type of articles with a large pinch of salt but nevertheless it's interesting to see how other people think. The propaganda machine works all ways for all people.

America IS guilty for a lot of the worlds' ills but unlike other large threats present on this globe she at least gives things back. Not quite the huge bogeyman lots of people like to think of her as though as I said, not free of guilt, not at all.

Methinks there may be some jealousy involved in American critique.

The UK's history with the US does go back a long way and I still sometimes muse on the fact we flattened Washington and then they marched on Berlin with us. Things change.

Personally speaking, I'm not fond of Russia and the denizens within, untrustworthy throughout history, then evolved to the KGB and rule by tyranny and finally to world wide gangsterism.

Hey, just my POV right?

As for Clinton and Trump, this is similar to that which I've espoused previously but imo it's pointless trying to defend any of them, the argument between them is trying to convince people who's the least evil and useless of the pair.
 
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