Democracy in action

[SagebrushSage]

If one espionage act conviction for a selfie merits a one-year prison sentence, then Hillary Clinton's sentence should be measured in geologic time scales. Her sentence, if justice were fair, should be some 6 times the length of recorded history.

[RandoRock]

Yeah the whole system is rigged. It's been proven numerous times but until the masses decide enough is enough then it's going to continue unchecked. Unfortunately the masses can't be bothered with anything other than the Kardashians or Branjolina...

[Dudeist Monk]

As a non-US person, obviously, my opinion really holds no water in this discussion. I know very little of the policies of either of the candidates.

However, for what it's worth, the idea of Trump becoming President scares the crap out of me. Just from reading his Twitter posts, watching videos of him and reading about some of the things he has said, I honestly believe his lack of diplomacy could lead the world into a terrible, terrible war.

Like I said, my opinion means nothing and carries no weight. It's just the impression I get from available information that I've seen.

Sorry to butt in to a conversation that doesn't involve me.

[SagebrushSage]

It's America. The American election involves everybody. So international observers are quite relevant. Please look at some of the information that I have posted and that the reddits that I have linked to have posted.

The Clinton Foundation is a billion-dollar money laundering scheme. The largest donor to the Clinton Foundation is Saudi Arabia. She routinely receives multi-million dollar bribes from the world's most evil dictatorships. Our recent wars were enabled by the Clinton political apparatus at the behest of (ed: the arms manufacturers) and the Clintons' foreign masters. The war in Iraq would not have happened without the support of the Democrats in Congress, with whom HRC has immense influence. It concerns everybody if the highest office and the war machine of our "democracy" continue to be sold to the highest bidders, which are the multinational corporations and the OPEC nations. If Clinton wins, then the corporations and OPEC have made the American justice system and the electoral process toothless to hold the wealthy and powerful in this country accountable for their actions.

With Trump, who knows what we will get? His words are, indeed, concerning. But they are just words, and an ordinarily-corrupt career in business. With Clinton, we have actions while in public service to judge her by. Her lifetime of scandal should be more concerning to us all than the bluster of a wealthy and ineffectual reality TV star. Trump can't pull off what he wants to do. Clinton can. And we know what she wants to do. Even now, in between empty promises of social justice, she makes credible promises of war.

(Ed: As for why multinational corporations would want war? War destabilizes developing countries. It maintains a ready supply of lax regulatory environments and cheap labor for the multinational corporations to exploit. As for the OPEC countries, the price of oil is plummeting due to excess supply. Destabilizing certain oil-producing countries such as Iraq reduces the oil supply, which enables the remaining countries such as Saudi Arabia to charge higher prices. And, of course, the American arms manufacturers would be much less wealthy if they were not enabled to equip all sides through exports to proxies such as Saudi Arabia. It's a relatively low-risk endeavor for the American military-industrial complex. The brown peasants kill each other with our weapons, and then our patriotic soldiers who signed up to protect our country's interests are bled for profit instead by being sent in either to finish off the survivors, to produce power vacuums, or to otherwise maintain a violent and profitable equilibrium.)

[SagebrushSage]

I have to ignore all this crap. I can't do anything about it. Democracy and the rule of law are falling apart in this country, and I have to ignore it all and work. And my ability to meet my responsibilities is subject to the whims of either HR professionals who I can give no reason to trust me, or customers for whom I do not really have any compelling products or services to offer. I have forgotten my college training. My family despises me, and I have no social life. Sorry this has left me unstable.

Catch you all later. I've got work to do.

[jgiffin]

I just refuse to vote for another rich prick who's platform is that we should make him and his friends more wealthy. When will we finally learn our lesson?

Except for the masculine pronouns, that sentence applies to both major candidates rather equally.

[Brother D]

Fuck man, this thread is both great AND exhausting!

I feel sorry for the dudes that have to live with the consequences of the next presidency, let alone the past ones!

UK politics isn't much better either. I recently read about the Privvy Council (intermediary beurocrats between the monarchy and parliament, that do have certain information, man) and found another rabbit hole to fall down.

Elections should be a matter of who is the best candidate for the job, not who is the best bullshitter or who will fuck up the least!

[Reverend Al]

...Elections should be a matter of who is the best candidate for the job, not who is the best bullshitter or who will fuck up the least!

Mark it eight.  Every election I've voted for "the lesser of two evils" rather than "the best candidate for the job" simply because those were the choices.  But in this election there is no "lesser"; they're equally bad, just in different ways.  Clinton is a politically polished iceberg who treats people like shit when there are no cameras around, and Trump is a 70-year-old frat boy who cares only about money.  I'll be surprised if the next four years aren't a big pain-in-the-ass regardless of which of them gets elected.

[The Dude Shepherd]

...the idea of Trump becoming President scares the crap out of me. Just from reading his Twitter posts, watching videos of him and reading about some of the things he has said, I honestly believe his lack of diplomacy could lead the world into a terrible, terrible war.

This is the biggest thing I'm worried about with Trump... he will do something stupid like, kick all the Hispanics and Muslims out of the country, or throw them in concentration camps... or he will tweet something at 3am about Kim Jong-un or Muslims and start WW3... the guy is a loose cannon... he says, "We can't take nukes off the table" (talking about the possibility of nuking Europe)

What sort of man-child doesn't understand you can't drop a nuke on Europe?... ... ...

[The Dude Shepherd]

...Elections should be a matter of who is the best candidate for the job, not who is the best bullshitter or who will fuck up the least!

Mark it eight.  Every election I've voted for "the lesser of two evils" rather than "the best candidate for the job" simply because those were the choices.  But in this election there is no "lesser"; they're equally bad, just in different ways.  Clinton is a politically polished iceberg who treats people like shit when there are no cameras around, and Trump is a 70-year-old frat boy who cares only about money.  I'll be surprised if the next four years aren't a big pain-in-the-ass regardless of which of them gets elected.

I agree they are both horrible... I certainly don't endorse Hillary

I wanted to like Gary Johnson, but he doesn't have an answer for anything (similar to Trump)... They asked him, "Name a foreign leader that you admire"... and he couldn't... so the interviewer rephrased the question to, "Name any foreign leader"... and he still couldn't... ... ...
http://www.npr.org/2016/09/29/495896880/watch-unable-to-name-a-foreign-leader-gary-johnson-has-another-aleppo-moment

I suppose I like Jill Stein, but I'm afraid if I dig deep, she'll be just as bad as the rest of them

[SagebrushSage]

Here, I know we're not pro-Hillary here, but in case anyone thinks Trump is the greater threat, I'll make this simple. Hillary wants to piss off the Russians, considering that she blames Russian hackers for everything and that she wants to implement a no-fly zone in Syria. Trump praises Putin, which indicates that he wants to be friendly to the Russians. Pissing off the Russians is always a bad idea. The worst thing that we can do for our national security is increase tensions with them.

Great Britain and Russia also have a nuclear policy that permits shooting first. Trump's response that we wouldn't rule it out is just standard deterrence. Remember that Russia has territory in Europe, so his comment was referring indirectly to Moscow.

I say, let's stop poking the bear. Can we stop poking the bear now? What Trump proposes regarding the bear is pointing a gun at it while talking in a soothing manner and slowly backing away. That sounds entirely reasonable to me.

[The Dude Shepherd]

The thing with Russians and hacking is...

Russians are not stupid... they understand cryptography, they understand TOR, masking your IP address, etc...

So... if the IP address traced back to Russia (specifically Moscow, every time)... ... what that tells me is... it was most definitely NOT Russia doing the hacking...

That's just how hacking works... even noobs know you don't hack from your own IP address... you don't hack from your house... you use public wifi, and make your IP address trace back to a foreign country... that's hacking 101... EVERY hacker knows this... EVERY single one of them, even godless communists know this (say what you will about the communists, at least it's an ethos)


So, what have we learned?  Russia is not behind the hacks... someone is framing the Russians, which implies Americans are doing the hacking... Most countries wouldn't frame Moscow, they'd make sure their IP traced to an American city... the hackers are most likely working for the US gov

[SagebrushSage]

I am entirely unsuited to skullduggery and I have only a basic understanding of programming and hacking. Yet even I know to mask my IP address in such circumstances. Good point.

[The Dude Shepherd]

Yeah the whole system is rigged. It's been proven numerous times but until the masses decide enough is enough then it's going to continue unchecked. Unfortunately the masses can't be bothered with anything other than the Kardashians or Branjolina...

Speaking of Kardashians... One of them just got robbed for $10,000,000 in Paris
http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/kim-kardashians-paris-robbery-assailants-still-at-large-w443244

Makes me feel all Schadenfreude inside 

[BikerDude]

Personally I see numerous flawed candidates who I may disagree with and one candidate that has absolutely no business even being considered a candidate.
I mean only slightly less ridiculous than a Ted Nugent's / Honey Booboo ticket.
Trump is a gigantic trumpeting ass.

I'd have to say that Sam Harris sums it up for me.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=96ZOpzL1Q_A