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[Dan]

Slick move by Putin to invite the US diplomat children for Christmas instead of expelling them.

Totally not an intelligence op.

And Russia doesn't want to expel our diplomats, they're perfectly happy with the opportunity to harass the diplomats on their own soil.

 

[sphagnum]

Glenn, stop sniffing glue.



https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/814504913199923200

Carrying water for Julian Assange (who hates Jews) is the saddest thing Glenn Greenwald does.

Despite his biases, his article yesterday about The Guardian shoddily interpreting that interview where they claimed Assange had said Russia had "open debate" seems pretty spot on.

https://theintercept.com/2016/12/29...nterview-went-viral-and-was-completely-false/

Let's not fall into sloppy journalism ourselves just because our competitors have lost all pretense of reality. Assange has been helping out Putin's goals, no doubt, but when "our" side does stuff like this it gives them more ammo.

 

[AndyD]

I feel like you'd have to take out all the deep red/blue states to get any real picture of "my vote won't matter" means.

Hell, I voted but I didn't feel my vote mattered, either. I'm in IL.

Fully agree. Here in TN, it was a futile effort for Democrats. I imagine something like CA feels the same for conservatives. Downballot is important, but the overwhelming majority makes those races impossible too.

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

Everyone should vote regardless of how blue/red their state is.

If enough people buy into this "my vote doesn't matter" attitude, then states are inevitably going to change colors.

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

Everyone should vote regardless of how blue/red their state is.

If enough people buy into this "my vote doesn't matter" attitude, then states are inevitably going to change colors.

Absolutely, but it's a lot less egregious when it happens in an extreme state. Also, it happens both directions-- I know lots of liberals who didn't both voting in IL.

They should-- especially for local races-- but it's a lot more understandable.

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

Absolutely, but it's a lot less egregious when it happens in an extreme state. Also, it happens both directions-- I know lots of liberals who didn't both voting in IL.

They should-- especially for local races-- but it's a lot more understandable.

I'm sure, but...eh...it just seems like an idea that given enough time, a substantial number of people could latch onto it, then the country will really be in for some shit.

 

[PantherLotus]

But seriously, 'do you regret not voting?' is such a layered question. Outside of those prevented from voting (not a small number, I know), but people that care vote.

 

[Roland_Gunner]

Despite his biases, his article yesterday about The Guardian shoddily interpreting that interview where they claimed Assange had said Russia had "open debate" seems pretty spot on.

https://theintercept.com/2016/12/29...nterview-went-viral-and-was-completely-false/

Let's not fall into sloppy journalism ourselves just because our competitors have lost all pretense of reality. Assange has been helping out Putin's goals, no doubt, but when "our" side does stuff like this it gives them more ammo.

How is this in any way a response to the previous post? Greenwald is clearly and openly carrying water for Russia in the linked tweet. The Guardian writing an article on an unrelated thing Assange said does nothing to mitigate that.

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

I'm sure, but...eh...it just seems like an idea that given enough time, a substantial number of people could latch onto it, then the country will really be in for some shit.

I think it already has. I only meant that "my vote doesn't matter" has vastly difference meaning and consequences depending on the state in question.

 

[Brawndo Addict]

Too little, too late Obama. The Russian hacking response or the Syria response are probably going to be remembered as his greatest mistake (red line is so bad that it probably takes the crown all by itself). Hell, I don't even think he's doing this because he wants to, I think he's just doing it because he's worried Trump won't do anything so he wants to lock in something.

-----

Also, I expect there to be little to no cultural awareness about the 18% of voters who wanted to vote but were prevented from doing so (either directly or indirectly). The GOP's greatest play in the last 10 years has been disenfranchising voters and getting away with it. Democrats are more interested in blaming each other for single-digit turnout differences than looking at the big picture.

 

[sphagnum]

How is this in any way a response to the previous post? Greenwald is clearly and openly carrying water for Russia in the linked tweet. The Guardian writing an article on an unrelated thing Assange said does nothing to mitigate that.

It wasn't exactly "a response" but it's also not entirely unrelated. It reminded me of the article I had seen yesterday so I wanted to post it. Part of the tweet is about Wikileaks not publishing more Putin stuff which the Guardian claimed was because Assange thinks he doesn't need to when in the interview he claims it's actually because nobody on his staff speaks Russian and that a primarily English based site wouldn't be trusted by Russians (why he doesn't just hire someone who speaks Russian, of course, is a question with an obvious answer).

Guess I should've made that more clear.

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

Can you provide a source for these?

Tony Podesta.
By day, mild mannered Foreign Agent for Saudi Arabia.
By night, Spirit Cooker

https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/794455959133298688?lang=en

“We’re not saying that Seth Rich’s death necessarily is connected to our publications — that’s something that needs to be established,” said Assange. “(But) this organization will go after anyone who may have been involved in some kind of attempt to coerce or possibly, in this kill a potential source.”

http://forward.com/news/breaking-ne...e-again-hints-at-seth-rich-murder-conspiracy/

 

[Wilsongt]

During an appearance on “Fox & Friends" Friday, Giuliani said that if hacking did take place by the Russians, that the response by the U.S. should have been earlier and stronger.

"I find it extraordinary in what President Obama is doing," he said. "I've never seen a President try to create more problems for a future president."

“There's a certain pettiness that I hadn't seen before. I mean, to do this after 18 months, when you could have prevented it 10 months ago,” Giuliani continued. “Petty little actions like this don't mean very much. It's almost a mockery to say this is too little too late. It should have been done 10 months ago, 11 months ago, 12 months ago. If it is really true the response should be much stronger.”

Giuliani also criticized the closing of two Russian compounds that the White House classified as being used for “intelligence-related purposes" in its statement, saying that “if you are going to solve a murder, you arrest the murderer. Not the candy store the murderer went to before he committed the murder.”

The former mayor, who apparently took himself out of the running to be Trump's Secretary of State, said that Trump should not immediately trust all intelligence that the Obama administration gives him because it is "incompetent."

“There's no question that the intelligence that President Obama has been getting has either been incompetent or politicized," he said.

"I would urge President Trump, when he becomes President Trump, to have his own intelligence people do their own report, let’s find out who did it, and let's bang them back really hard," he continued.

Does the Trump cock taste that good that Guiliani would still defend him even after getting snubbed for any cabinet position? Even Christie gave up after a while.

 

[studyguy]

He's probably still collecting a check somewhere from the campaign, lets be real.

 

[Wilsongt]

He's probably still collecting a check somewhere from the campaign, lets be real.

I guess it worked for Corey.

 

[Sirpopopop]

Despite his biases, his article yesterday about The Guardian shoddily interpreting that interview where they claimed Assange had said Russia had "open debate" seems pretty spot on.

https://theintercept.com/2016/12/29...nterview-went-viral-and-was-completely-false/

Let's not fall into sloppy journalism ourselves just because our competitors have lost all pretense of reality. Assange has been helping out Putin's goals, no doubt, but when "our" side does stuff like this it gives them more ammo.

Nothing in that editorial convinced me that The Guardian was wrong in their interpretation.

To paraphrase: Saying that under a Trump administration some things could be better, some things could be worse, is what I would call guarded praise.

Also: Assange outright stated that he feels there is an open and critical press in Russia:

In Russia, there are many vibrant publications, online blogs, and Kremlin critics such as [Alexey] Navalny are part of that spectrum. There are also newspapers like Novaya Gazeta, in which different parts of society in Moscow are permitted to critique each other and it is tolerated, generally, because it isn’t a big TV channel that might have a mass popular effect, its audience is educated people in Moscow.

There is no but clause from Assange to refute that statement. Instead, there is something more akin to 'additionally,' in that he mentions other obstacles to publishing in Russia such as difficulty with language and not being a local player. He isn't directly refuting his original statements.

 

[pigeon]

Frankly, I'm tired of the assertion that people like or hate Assange depending on who he's leaking about, just because Greenwald is a valueless shill doesn't mean everybody in the world is so don't project

 

[kirblar]

Frankly, I'm tired of the assertion that people like or hate Assange depending on who he's leaking about, just because Greenwald is a valueless shill doesn't mean everybody in the world is so don't project

I opposed the Iraq war from the start AND was incensed about the Manning cable dump. I never thought Wikileaks was actually a "force" for anything other than a stupid ideology till the past 2 years, and now we know it's something much more sinister than that.

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

Frankly, I'm tired of the assertion that people like or hate Assange depending on who he's leaking about, just because Greenwald is a valueless shill doesn't mean everybody in the world is so don't project

Assange is an Antisemitic probable rapist who is willing to torture Seth Rich's parents by encouraging conspiracy theorists to keep "investigating" Rich's death, but probably people are for or against Assange based on recent output, really.

 

[pigeon]

But seriously, 'do you regret not voting?' is such a layered question. Outside of those prevented from voting (not a small number, I know), but people that care vote.

About half of the people who were registered by Oregon's automatic voter registration law voted, so this is mostly false

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

Glenn..................................

I think Breitbart is actually a fascinating case. And I do think right-wing media has had a lot more success in pioneering ways to challenge establishment authority that left-wing media has.

I think very much the same spirit that animates Breitbart was also the animating force behind Matt Drudge and, to a lesser extent, Rush Limbaugh — none of which have ever been part of or comfortable within the Republican establishment.

In fact, all of them, in varying degrees, has been very antagonistic to the Republican establishment. Certainly Drudge has and definitely Breitbart has, maybe not Rush Limbaugh quite as much, but to some degree, too.

So there’s obviously a lot of things at Breitbart that are published that I vehemently disagree with and sometimes find repellant just on an ideological basis.

But what I find really interesting about Breitbart is that it captured the ethos of a significant part of the conservative movement and the right-wing electorate, and even independents that have been completely excluded from all of the organs of establishment thought in the Republican party. And not only did that, but it was so independent in how it did it.

You know, it was extremely critical of Republican party leaders, and even today — I mean, obviously, I think it’s fair to say Breitbart has been partial to Trump, but one of the things that has actually impressed me is that even in this transition, when Trump nominates someone who’s record is at odds with the promises that Trump made that appealed to Breitbart’s writers and readers, Breitbart has been very vocal in being very critical, even of the candidate with whom they’re most closely associated with, which is Trump — which is integrity and a sort of editorial independence that I think most media outlets on both the left and the establishment right utterly lack.

And so there’s a lot of bad things I have to say about Breitbart articles and Breitbart writers, just on political grounds, but in terms of how they’re using their platform, and how they’re amplifying and channeling this independence and giving voice to people who are otherwise excluded, I think it’s all very impressive in terms of the impact they’ve been able to have.

Breitbart has only published one negative article about a Trump pick (Puzder) and was only against one other nominee (Romney).


Preetttttty sure Hillary faced various criticism over various things from the left "establishment."

 

[ImpracticalPassword]

The 43% of non-voters who responded with "something came up", "ran out of time", and "physically could not go" is why more states need to do vote by mail and have extended early voting. I'm sure *some* of these people are just using these as an excuse for apathy but even halved, it's far too many people who wanted to vote but couldn't.

 

[sphagnum]

Nothing in that editorial convinced me that The Guardian was wrong in their interpretation.

To paraphrase: Saying that under a Trump administration some things could be better, some things could be worse, is what I would call guarded praise.

I wouldn't. I guess it could be read that way but I saw it more focusing on how Trump is still just some rich guy replacing "one patronage system with another." I think if it was guarded praise it would be more like if he was saying that Trump is "rough around the edges but effective" or something. Not to say I don't think he's happy that Hillary lost but that seems to me to be an extrapolation too far from what he said.

Also: Assange outright stated that he feels there is an open and critical press in Russia:


There is no but clause from Assange to refute that statement. Instead, there is something more akin to 'additionally,' in that he mentions other obstacles to publishing in Russia such as difficulty with language and not being a local player. He isn't directly refuting his original statements.

And this doesn't seem to me like he's saying Russia is great at allowing opposition but that there is opposition, at least to some extent, since Putin tolerates some criticism, and that he doesn't think Wikileaks would do much in that environment because I be trusted as a local source. That's probably a lie but I think the Guardian mischaracterized it, especially since the actual interviewer was upset with the Guardian.

Again, this is not to say Assange is a good guy.

 

[Retromelon]

Here's a 6-Year Update on the Great Tea Party Wave of 2010

A few days ago I posted an update on how the Republican economic revolution was going in Kansas under Gov. Sam Brownback. Answer: not so great. But that got me curious: what about other states that turned red in the great tea-party wave of 2010? Not just a little red, but all red. I'm talking about states that switched from blue or mixed to fully Republican—governor and legislature—and stayed red for the next six years. This would give tax-cut fever plenty of time to do its thing.

There were nine states that filled the bill, and then I added Louisiana even though it only stayed fully red for four years... I counted just the four years of full redness to his record. He didn't get any of the blame for the next two years.

Anyway, the results are below. Only three of the ten states managed to beat the national average. That whole supply-side thing might need a little work.

Probably Obama's fault tho

 

[chadskin]

@realDonaldTrump
Great move on delay (by V. Putin) - I always knew he was very smart!

Unreal.

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

Americans are gonna get killed by the Taliban because this fuckface is such a Stan.

Great move on delay (by V. Putin) - I always knew he was very smart!

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/814919370711461890

 

[NYCmetsfan]

He pinned it. lol

Americans are gonna get killed by the Taliban because this fuckface is such a Stan.



https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/814919370711461890

The taliban?

 

[Prof. Bathtub]

Yeah... I don't think he's going to have the wherewithal to wait until everything cools down to overturn the sanctions.

Russia, if you're listening, just release the sex tape and save us all the time.

 

[Kolx]

Americans are gonna get killed by the Taliban because this fuckface is such a Stan.



https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/814919370711461890

He pinned it?! wtf lol

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

He pinned it. lol



The taliban?

Putin has started talks with the Taliban and is requesting that the Taliban be considered not a terrorist force because he wants to use them. The Taliban claim Russia has helped them fight and kill U.S. backed Afghan forces. That's uncertain if true, but Russia is clearly moving into a proxy war in Afghanistan via the Taliban and it seems like a matter of time before some of our own troops in Afghanistan are killed by Taliban forces helped by Russia.

 

[B-Dubs]

Americans are gonna get killed by the Taliban because this fuckface is such a Stan.



https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/814919370711461890

And of course he pinned it :LOL

 

[PantherLotus]

He's trying SO HARD to get everyone to stop him from ever taking office.

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

Leaked tape of Trump communicating with Putin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOMhN-hfMtY

(America is the girlfriend in the trunk at the end)

 

[Prof. Bathtub]

He's trying SO HARD to get everyone to stop him from ever taking office.

He, like everyone else, underestimated the depths of cognitive dissonance Republicans are willing to commit.

 

[Wilsongt]

Americans are gonna get killed by the Taliban because this fuckface is such a Stan.



https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/814919370711461890

I don't think you're tickling his balls enough, Trump. Don't forget to work the shaft, too.

 

[WaffleTaco]

I'm kind of tired of there being a thread for every time he tweets something stupid. Someone should make an OT for Trump tweets.

 

[Hillary Clinton]

Americans are gonna get killed by the Taliban because this fuckface is such a Stan.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/814919370711461890

Trumpismo-intelligenza aside, it absolutely astounds me that someone who was so quick to impugn the Cuban Missile Crisis as JFK's dick-measuring blunder is suddenly so appalled that the Russians are engaging in the same behavior that we did in exactly the same region, except instead of Charlie Wilson, it's Sergey Shoygu.

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

Trumpismo-intelligenza aside, it absolutely astounds me that someone who was so quick to impugn the Cuban Missile Crisis as JFK's dick-measuring blunder is suddenly so appalled that the Russians are engaging in the same behavior that we did in exactly the same region, except instead of Charlie Wilson, it's Sergey Shoygu.

JFK ran on fear mongering lies and I wasn't a fan of that.

But I'm not a fan of Russia entering a war and working with guys who are trying to kill American troops so I guess that makes me a hypocrite?

 

[Hillary Clinton]

JFK ran on fear mongering lies and I wasn't a fan of that.

But I'm not a fan of Russia entering a war and working with guys who are trying to kill American troops so I guess that makes me a hypocrite?

My train of thought is less obvious than I thought it to be, forgive me.

I wasn't talking about the mythical missile gap, I was referring to the Jupiter missiles -> Cuban missiles sequence of events. Back then it was the Soviet Union looking after its strategic interests. In Afghanistan now, the Russians are looking after their own interests. When is it alright to do so and when isn't it?

Besides, I wasn't calling you a hypocrite, I just legitimately don't know how you feel.

Also, Trump won't get American soldiers killed because he's just going to withdraw from that country if they don't pay him for protection, cosa nostra style. He admires mafia states precisely because this is his ideal model of governance.

 

[studyguy]

If we hooked a generator to McCarthy's grave today do you think we could power a few cities? I feel like the added irony of Roy Cohn having mentored Trump would make that power source extra effective.

 

[Wilsongt]

If we hooked a generator to McCarthy's grave today do you think we could power a few cities? I feel like the added irony of Roy Cohn having mentored Trump would make that power source extra effective.

Please, attach a couple to Teddy Rosevolt and you could power the whole damn country

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

I'm not a fan of Russia/the Soviets pursuing their own self interests at most times since their self interests have been to do terrible things for the last hundred-ish years.

But JFK provoked the Soviet Union into putting those missiles on Cuba and then JFK dealt with it in the worst way possible by being hawkish.

JFK on why Russia putting nukes in Cuba didn't matter.

'Last month I should have said that we don't care' - implying that if he had not given such a strong public warning, he could possibly have let Khrushchev get away with placing missiles in Cuba; 'It doesn't make any difference if you get blown up by an ICBM flying from the Soviet Union, or one from 90 miles away. Geography doesn't mean that much'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/coldwar/kennedy_cuban_missile_01.shtml

JFK justified the crisis by it demonstrating American "credibility" but credibility is a not proven concept in foreign policy.

Obama is not provoking Putin into starting a proxy war in Afghanistan.

 

[BrokenIcarus]

Putin has started talks with the Taliban and is requesting that the Taliban be considered not a terrorist force because he wants to use them. The Taliban claim Russia has helped them fight and kill U.S. backed Afghan forces. That's uncertain if true, but Russia is clearly moving into a proxy war in Afghanistan via the Taliban and it seems like a matter of time before some of our own troops in Afghanistan are killed by Taliban forces helped by Russia.

What the actual fuck? You've got a source for that? Holy shit. Fuck the Taliban

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

What the actual fuck? You've got a source for that? Holy shit. Fuck the Taliban

https://www.yahoo.com/news/russia-iran-ties-taliban-stoke-afghan-anxiety-040857785.html

 

[Polari]

Here's a 6-Year Update on the Great Tea Party Wave of 2010

Probably Obama's fault tho

This is nonsense - "How to Lie with Statistics" 101. There's a whole lot of variables that impact on unemployment, and comparing to the national average doesn't mean shit across such a short timeframe.

 

[Retromelon]

Um did you read the link broh, it is a 6 year average

 

[AntraxSuicide]

This is nonsense - "How to Lie with Statistics" 101. There's a whole lot of variables that impact on unemployment, and comparing to the national average doesn't mean shit across such a short timeframe.

6 years of full control isn't that short. But I'd like to see the comparison for totally blue states.

 

[Dan]

The advertising boycott of Breitbart has apparently topped 400 companies.

 

[Polari]

Um did you read the link broh, it is a 6 year average

*sigh*

I'm going to be lazy and just steal one of the comments from the link:

These data do not support any conclusion about the effect of Tea Party takeover on employment growth. It may well be that these states were poor employment growth performers all along. (Or, in the case of Georgia and Tennessee, high performers all along.) After all, governance is, at most, one of many factors influencing employment. The relevant analysis would be looking at panel data for the states and determining whether there is a *change* in growth rate associated with the Tea Party takeover in 2010. This would also require control group, possibly more than one, that did not experience such a takeover in 2010, to be sure that any such change was not just a more general phenomenon unrelated to governance. It would be a difference-in-differences analysis.

 

[Particle Physicist]

Retweeted David Burge (@iowahawkblog):

Russia invades Crimea: oh well
Russia shoots down airliner: mistakes happen
John Podesta falls for phishing scam: RESTART THE COLD WAR

Yup.

If you want to ignore absolutely everything else Russia did to meddle with our presidential election, sure. Yup.