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It's the Republicans' problem, not the Democrats'.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
As far as I can tell, where Manafort got his money before Trump hired him is a non-issue. It's like the "Russians hacked the DNC" and "Russians hacked the DNC donor registry" claims: Part of an DNC/ Hillary smear campaign that harkens back to the McCarthy era. Based on lies and fear-mongering, designed to distract from the contents of the leaked data, and completely unworthy of the DNC.

I mean you whine and bellyache about Trump's "racism" against illegal immigrants (note: illegal immigrants are not a race, and neither are "Mexicans") and Islam (again, note: Islam is not a "race") and yet you're all OK with the DNC doing the same, or worse. Worse, because while there is evidence that illegal immigrants DO take jobs from American citizens, and there is proof (in the EU, anyway) that jihadists have infiltrated themselves into the flood of refugees, even the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, has called for an end to the "hyperventilation" about the "Russian leak".

So stop hyperventilating. It's irrational, dishonest, and unworthy of you.

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It's the Republicans' problem, not the Democrats'.

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Oh, so illegal immigration- which the Dems encourage, along with the Repubs - is the REPUBLICAN'S problem?

You mean, it's not everybody's problem?

Like I asked before: Which side are you on?

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Because there is always a hidden poison pill inside everything Republican politicians propose and there is always a hidden agenda with nearly every Republican voter I'm probably against everything Republicans are for.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

So far, everything you've said about Trump has been a quote from someone else, and much of it has been hyperventilation and baseless speculation. So, what is YOUR opinion, based on first-hand knowledge, of Trump?

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
So many people talk about Trump without having even listened to him.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
As far as I can tell, where Manafort got his money before Trump hired him is a non-issue. It's like the "Russians hacked the DNC" and "Russians hacked the DNC donor registry" claims: Part of an DNC/ Hillary smear campaign that harkens back to the McCarthy era. Based on lies and fear-mongering, designed to distract from the contents of the leaked data, and completely unworthy of the DNC.

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Originally posted by THGRRI:
BREAKING NEWS:

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Every one of the Romney campaign’s major themes, from the attacks on President Obama for going around the world apologizing for America (he didn’t), to the insistence that Romneycare and Obamacare are very different (they’re virtually identical), to the claim that Mr. Obama has lost millions of jobs (which is only true if you count the first few months of his administration, before any of his policies had taken effect), is either an outright falsehood or deeply deceptive. Why the nonstop mendacity?

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Originally posted by second:

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Originally posted by THGRRI:
BREAKING NEWS:

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Lies, Lying Liars, and Donald Trump
Aug 15 4:26 pm by Paul Krugman
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/08/15/lies-lying-liars-and-donal
d-trump/

So, there’s a new conservative take on who’s to blame for Donald Trump — and the answer, it turns out, is liberal commentators, and me in particular. Yep, by denouncing the dishonesty of people like Mitt Romney, I was crying wolf, so that voters paid no attention to warnings about Trump.

Actually, even if you leave aside the substance, this is bizarre. Do you really think that the fraction of the Republican primary electorate that selected Trump cares what New York Times columnists, me in particular, have to say — that they would have been warned off if only I had been nicer to establishment Republicans? That doesn’t even rise to the level of a joke.

But anyway, let’s talk about what I said about Romney. (By the way, I don’t think I referred to him as a “charlatan” — I used that word to refer to supply-side economists, because that’s what Greg Mankiw, who was advising his campaign, called them.) Here’s a key passage:

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Every one of the Romney campaign’s major themes, from the attacks on President Obama for going around the world apologizing for America (he didn’t), to the insistence that Romneycare and Obamacare are very different (they’re virtually identical), to the claim that Mr. Obama has lost millions of jobs (which is only true if you count the first few months of his administration, before any of his policies had taken effect), is either an outright falsehood or deeply deceptive. Why the nonstop mendacity?

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Is there anything wrong with that passage? The “apology tour” thing was a constant refrain, even though Politifact declared it pants on fire.
www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/oct/17/mitt-romney/mi
tt-romney-says-barack-obama-began/ So were the Romneycare not Obamacare and job loss things, which were equally false. So what is the assertion here? That I should not have called Romney out on lies, because that would undermine my authority when a much bigger liar came along?

How about a different hypothesis: the foundations for Trumpism were laid in part by conservatives who made dishonesty about policy a routine part of Republican politics, and also both-sides-do-it journalists who enabled that culture of lying. This left the Republican establishment helpless in the face of someone who lied as much in a day as they did in a week, because they couldn’t credibly make the case that policy dishonesty was disqualifying.

Actually, I don’t fully believe in this hypothesis either; mainly, Trumpism is the GOP’s id triumphing over its weak superego, which was probably destined to happen regardless. But it’s a lot more plausible than blaming little old me.

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Originally posted by second:
As P.J. O’Rourke, the brilliant libertarian satirist, put it: “I am endorsing Hillary, and all her lies and all her empty promises. It’s the second-worst thing that can happen to this country, but she’s way behind in second place. She’s wrong about absolutely everything, but she’s wrong within normal parameters. Better the devil you know than the Lord of the Flies on his own 757.”

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Originally posted by 1kiki:

Why Everybody Is Lying

Are politicians lying to us more than ever before? And if we can be honest about it, are we also lying more—in our personal lives and/or our business dealings? If everybody is lying more, has it become more acceptable?

The question of how prevalent lying has become is most prominently on display on the political stage this year. Nearly two-thirds of US voters believe that neither Donald Trump nor Hillary Clinton is “honest and trustworthy,” according to recent polls.

Experts in psychology and political science say that politicians deceive us more often and in bigger ways, especially this year. But politicians are not the only ones playing loose with the truth. A study by University of Massachusetts psychologist Robert ­Feldman found that more than half of the college students who participated told multiple lies within the first 10 minutes of meeting a stranger. Such lies included both minor falsehoods about having favorable opinions of common acquaintances…and bigger lies often meant to make the liar seem more impressive.

Here’s a closer look at why our politicians are lying to us…why basically honest people are lying to one another…and what we can do to reduce the odds that people will lie to us—and that we will lie to them…

Lying Among Politicians

My recent research into lying has revealed a fairly simple reason that our politicians are lying to us—it’s because we want them to. I’ve found that people tend to complain most about the ­dishonesty of politicians whose political views differ from their own…while conveniently overlooking lies that come from politicians who echo their own views.

In fact, voters increasingly view ­lying by politicians as evidence that these politicians are willing to do whatever it takes to stand up for “the right side” on the topic.

Voters reinforce this by choosing news channels and publications that they perceive as supportive of their favored politicians—and their own views—and shunning those they perceive as hostile to their favored politicians and views. If they turn to political fact-check authorities such as PolitiFact and The Washington Post fact checker, who hands out ratings of up to four ­“Pinocchios” for lies, it generally is only to gauge the truthfulness of politicians they dislike.

This creates a dangerous slippery slope. Even if we tend to overlook the lies of politicians we like, we cannot fail to notice that American politics is becoming less honest. That erodes the sense of trust we have in American society in general—and makes us less likely to feel that we ourselves must behave in a trustworthy manner.

Lying Outside of Politics

There are changes occurring in the world that likely are encouraging us to lie even more than people did in the past…

• The dominance of electronic written communications in our lives—ranging from e-mails to tweets to texts—means that we can lie to people without looking them in the eye or speaking with them by phone. This makes it much easier, psychologically, to lie than it used to be.

• We are living in an increasingly cashless society. This is a key factor. The fact that credit cards, debit cards and electronic transactions are more common than cash means that money becomes less real. And that means stealing—or lying about money—seems less real. And so does lying in general.

I have conducted an experiment to test the effect of cash versus a cash substitute on honesty. Participants are told to solve as many math problems as they can in five minutes. For each problem they say they have solved, they get $1, either in the form of a dollar bill or a token that is later cashed in. It turns out that those who get tokens lie twice as much about the number of problems they solved as those who get dollar bills.

How to Cut Down on Lies

Here’s what you can do…

• Hold your preferred politicians accountable for their lies. As I said above, we tend to focus on the lies of the politicians we disagree with. Instead, we need to admit that our politicians are lying, too, and not deny it when we have political conversations. And we should factor in honesty when we cast our ballots even if that means voting for, say, a third-party candidate. Our vote might not alter the election, but voting for someone honest at least can remind us that honesty matters. If enough people do it, even the politicians might pay ­attention.

• Make people think about their own honesty. We all have an ­“inner judge” that helps us tell right from wrong. Often the key to keeping people honest is simply waking this judge.

Example: A woman put a note in a shared bathroom asking people to stop stealing rolls of toilet paper “as it is a shared commodity.” Not only did the stealing stop, two rolls of toilet paper were returned.

• Wake our own inner judge. There are ways we can make ourselves think about honesty, too.

Example: Try to recall the Ten Commandments before playing a round of golf…meeting with someone with whom you might be tempted to be dishonest…or doing anything else where you have caught yourself lying in the past. A study conducted at UCLA found that dishonesty drops dramatically after people try to recall the Commandments—even among people who cannot remember most of them.

• Identify and avoid conflicts of interest. Studies have found that when there is a conflict of interest, it is almost impossible for even well-meaning people to see things objectively. If a physician must choose between two procedures for a patient, for example, that physician is likely to pick the one that has the better outcome for his/her practice’s bottom line, even if the other one has a statistically slightly better likely outcome for the patient. That doesn’t mean the doctor is unethical…it just means he is human—we truly seem to not realize how corrosive conflicts of interest are to honesty and ­objectivity.

Because it does not appear to be possible to overcome conflicts of interest, the best solution is to steer clear of them. Do whatever you can to keep your interests in line with those of the people around you.

Examples: If you are choosing a new financial adviser, pick one who works on a fee-only basis rather than on commission. If someone asks your opinion on a matter where you have a stake in the outcome, point this person toward someone who can provide truly objective advice.

• Put up pictures of eyes in places where people might be tempted to be dishonest. These images of eyes are surprisingly effective at making people more conscious of their own behavior.

Example: Pictures of eyes placed near a self-serve tea and coffee honor bar greatly increase the percentage of people who paid up.

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Originally posted by 1kiki:

Why Everybody Is Lying

Are politicians lying to us more than ever before? And if we can be honest about it, are we also lying more—in our personal lives and/or our business dealings? If everybody is lying more, has it become more acceptable? . . .

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Originally posted by G:
Damn that's funny. I love the first tentative steps. Cats against Trump - a hash tag waiting to happen.

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Etan Cohen @etanjc

I never expected #idiocracy to become a documentary.
11:27 AM - 24 Feb 2016

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

As far as I can tell, where Manafort got his money before Drumpf hired him is a non-issue.

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Originally posted by second:
Trump may get into media after losing
www.vox.com/2016/8/19/12527926/donald-trump-celebrity

Presidential politics remains decidedly stuck in the analog age.

Trump-style ideology has fared pretty well in a number of small European countries that use highly proportional electoral systems. In places like Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and the Netherlands, impassioned minorities of populist nationalists have formed large parliamentary blocs that allow them to wield meaningful influence over national politics.

But in the United States, you need a majority — or something close to it — to win. It’s a framework that even in an age of high polarization has always rewarded candidates who are willing to sand down the hard edges of their ideologies in search of a broad audience.

Trump not only hasn’t succeeded at doing that, he’s also never made even a token effort to try.

But his campaign’s latest pivot may help set him up for the next iteration of his media career. The New York Times reported on Wednesday that “in recent months, Mr. Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, have quietly explored becoming involved with a media holding, either by investing in one or by taking one over.” Robert Mercer and his daughter Rebekah, two of the few major Super PAC donors in Trump’s corner, are also investors in Breitbart.

Roger Ailes, now working for Trump starting this week, is in need of a next act now that he’s been fired from Fox. And while Trump’s never had the skills necessary to be a good politician, he certainly has the right disposition for media success. Vanity Fair reported all the way back in June that he was interested in starting a new TV news channel. And Breitbart, for all its considerable success, doesn’t yet have the kind of major on-camera talent that Trump would provide.
www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/06/donald-trump-tv-network

http://bizarro.com/comics/august-19-2016

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As president, Mr. Trump would have substantial sway over monetary and tax policy, as well as the power to make appointments that would directly affect his own financial empire. He would also wield influence over legislative issues that could have a significant impact on his net worth, and would have official dealings with countries in which he has business interests.

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Originally posted by second:
John Oliver explains how Donald Trump could fix our broken political system

Trump simply drops out and tells America his entire candidacy was a stunt, a satire designed to expose the flaws in the system. Trump has indeed pointed out serious flaws in the US political system, from campaign finance to media bias to his own voters’ embrace of disturbingly violent campaign rhetoric.

Oliver offered a roadmap for Trump using Dan Gutman’s The Kid Who Ran for President which contains a speech from the boy president that chastises “the grownups of America” for electing someone so clearly unfit for the presidency:

"America must be in really bad shape if you elected me president. You better get it together and find some qualified people to run this country or we’ll all be in big trouble."

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Originally posted by second:
Trump's Newest Position on Illegal Immigrants

Trump has now basically pivoted to the same position as every other Republican: no immigration police; work with the "good" illegal immigrants on a path to legal status; get tough on border security; and this absolutely positively isn't "amnesty" no matter how much it sounds like it. This is pretty much the position that Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, and Ted Cruz all had, and it's basically the position of the Gang of 8 a few years ago. Until today, Trump attacked this position as craven and weak. Now he's all for it. Gotta win all those exurban soccer moms, after all. The only thing left is for him to casually tell us that "build the wall" was meant kind of metaphorically all along, and most of it will end up being a "virtual wall" of drones and security cameras.

I've been wondering for months why the immigration hardliners were so sure Trump would stick to his guns on this stuff. After all, he's lied about practically everything and shown an eager willingness to change his positions any time he thinks it will benefit him. So what made them think he'd act any differently on immigration?

Beats me. But they're stuck now. They have to defend Trump because he's all they've got.

Hitler Finds Out Trump Supports Amnesty

Ann Coulter, Far Rightwinger, Goes to War with Trump And It Is Glorious
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/coulter-goes-to-war-with-trump-and
-it-is-glorious

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Originally posted by second:
Trump’s Doctor says “I'd go to a gastroenterologist too if bullshit was coming out of my mouth."
www.mediaite.com/online/sanjay-gupta-calls-bullsht-on-donald-trumps-qu
estionable-doctor-and-hyperbolic-letter-of-health/

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Originally posted by 1kiki:

Do you WANT an overt military confrontation with Russia? 1kiki used black letters on a black background to hide: "This is a test to see how crazy you are."

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If Putin invades a Baltic nation (all are part of Nato) to reunite the Russian speakers with the Motherland, then Putin is crazy.

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Originally posted by 1kiki:

CONGRATULATIONS SECOND! You've passed the test and are certifiably crazy! No wonder you like that crazy bitch Hillary so much!

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