US Elections 2020 (geopolitics, informed debate, no ad hominems)

Biden

14 (66.7%)

Trump

7 (33.3%)

Total Members Voted: 21

Voting closed: November 02, 2020, 06:25:59 pm

[William Walker]

A warning.

"Should the US voters on 3 November decide that another four years of Trump is a fine idea, South Africa’s late- and post-Zuma suffering will be in vain. They could have learned from us. Perhaps the most important lesson of Zuma’s tenure is that it’s far easier to break a country than to rebuild one.

This is an interesting article highlighting the parallels between our previous president Jacob Zuma and Donald Trump...

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-10-17-the-south-african-grapes-of-wrath/

[faberryman]

A little off the horse race, but dealing with Politics, a 48% plurality of voters support ACB's confirmation with 44% plurality feeling she should be confirmed before the election. 

Support for Barrett nomination ticks up to 48 percent: poll

Only 31% disapprove of her altogether with 36% feeling the vote should wait until after the election. 

This, combined with Hunter's email scandal the Media censoring content, makes me feel there is a paradigm shift going on in the country away from leftism.  Who knows if the momentum is there for this to take hold by the election, but leftism is dead.

I thought you guys didn't believe the polls. Could be a lot of Biden supporters telling the pollsters the exact opposite of what they believe. You know, like the Trump supporters telling the pollsters they were going to vote for Hillary.

If leftism is dead, you should be sleeping better at night. Whew! That was a close one.

[faberryman]

Rudy, brought down the mob and saved New York twice.  Quite the whackadoodle.

A lot of people lead fine lives and then go all whackadoodle when they get old.

[Alan Goldhammer]

It would have been nice if you were as circumspect with the Trump dossier known to be produced and paid for by Hillary Clinton.

I don't think I ever commented on that one.  I can only go by what official sources say.  Attorney General Barr has had two people looking into the 2016 business.  The first report came back last week and showed nothing and the second won't be ready, if it ever is, until after the election.  The bi-partisan Senate Intelligence Committee issued a six volume report that pretty much documented all the Russian influence in 2016.  Whether any of that monkey business made a difference in President Trump's election is and will always be an open question.  It also should be pointed out that the dossier you refer to was initially funded during the Republican Party primary by Trump opposition:  https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/25/us/politics/steele-dossier-trump-expained.html   Stuff is always more complicated than either you or I would like to think.

[Alan Klein]

The FBI has had these emails for months.  What have they been doing?  They have been corraborated by one of Hunters partners and they have the email chain directly from his gmail account to prove  it.  These are Hunter Bidens emails.  It was his computer.  No Russian made him drop it off and never go back to collect it. 

The question becomes, will the media do its job and investigate the material or cover it up. So far they are in cover up mode.

Here is the cover page from the NBC News website right now.  How many stories do you see about anything related to the Biden Computer and where is it located on the page?

https://www.nbcnews.com/

How about CNN

https://www.cnn.com/

CBS

https://www.cbsnews.com/

New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/

Or Fox?

https://www.foxnews.com/

The NY Times page had at least 12 articles on Trump, all of them negative.  They had one positive coverage on Biden as a young student.  Journalism is dead in America. Unfortunately, most American don't follow this stuff like we do and believe what they read.   My wife thinks people are smarter than we think.  We'll find out on Nov 3rd.

[faberryman]

Okay, the Infowars website is back up and do they ever have a bombshell:

EXCLUSIVE: Chinese Whistleblower Reveals Hunter Biden “Sex Tapes” Contain Video of Joe Biden’s Son Sexually ABUSING Multiple Under-Age Chinese Teens

https://www.infowars.com/posts/exclusive-chinese-whistleblower-reveals-hunter-biden-sex-tapes-contain-video-of-joe-bidens-son-sexually-abusing-multiple-under-age-chinese-teens/

Nothing yet about this on Fox News. I checked the Trump campaign site and they don't have anything about this up yet either. Trump is in Orlando this afternoon. Maybe he'll say something then.

[Alan Klein]

If I’m to align myself with your and Alan’s interpretation of the status quo, then I’m to believe that the FBI (and by association the CIA) are incompetent / politically motivated / corrupt - any one or all three. Not exactly within the competence bounds of the press.

Given that this all stems from a ‘Giuliani got suckered’ foot-in-mouth moment, I’d tend to believe the US Intelligence services - as and when they report on what, so far, is a non-issue. Prima facie it seems the NY Post and Giuliani have a lot more to answer for than Joe Biden’s son.

Why did you believe Hillary's dossier on Trump prepared during an election?  Do you believe the head of intelligence who falsely swore to Congress? D you still believe Trump conspired with the Russians?  Do you think anyone at the FBI tried to "get" Trump using false dossier with the FISA court? 

[Alan Klein]

A warning.

"Should the US voters on 3 November decide that another four years of Trump is a fine idea, South Africa’s late- and post-Zuma suffering will be in vain. They could have learned from us. Perhaps the most important lesson of Zuma’s tenure is that it’s far easier to break a country than to rebuild one.

This is an interesting article highlighting the parallels between our previous president Jacob Zuma and Donald Trump...

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-10-17-the-south-african-grapes-of-wrath/

The article is blocked for me.  But let me say this.  America isn't South Africa.  America is a rather old republic with a written constitution that is respected by Americans including the president.  No man in America can ignore the law and Trump hasn't.  South Africa was a white supremacist nation until very recently that was dictatorial in rule.  Many say that while the colors of the leaders have changed, property rights issues and other dictatorial tendencies still exist there.  Comparing the two countries is a complete mismatch. 

[TechTalk]

From a friend of the computer repair guy.

Yes, The Hunter Biden Emails Are Authentic by Larry C Johnson

I thought that nut job conspiracy hoax creator's name sounded familiar...

"Larry C. Johnson... is best known for spreading a hoax in 2008 that Republican operatives had a videotape of Michelle Obama complaining about "whitey". "Johnson posted an item entitled, "Will Barack Throw Mama From the Train?" which alleged that a tape existed of Michelle Obama "railing against 'whitey' at Jeremiah Wright's church." Johnson claimed that Republicans were in possession of the tape and it "is being held for the fall to drop at the appropriate time." In a subsequent post, Johnson claimed that Obama's appearance had occurred when she was on a panel with Louis Farrakhan. He also explained that he himself had not seen the tape, but had spoken with "five separate sources who have spoken directly with people who have seen the tape." "No tape was ever released, nor has any other evidence emerged of Obama using the word "whitey".

"In July 2001, two months before the September 11 attacks, Johnson wrote a New York Times op-ed entitled, "The Declining Terrorist Threat," arguing that "terrorism is not the biggest security challenge confronting the United States, and it should not be portrayed that way."

"In 2013, Johnson falsely accused John Kerry of war crimes in Vietnam, alleging that Kerry had "raped some poor Vietnamese woman.". To support his claim, Johnson used a YouTube video that contained audio clips from a 1971 debate on The Dick Cavett Show between John Kerry and John O'Neill. The original interview audio was altered to piece together words that Kerry spoke at different times during the debate, falsely making it sound as if he said, "I personally raped for pleasure." When the falsehood was exposed by a reader of Johnson's blog, Johnson deleted the article without apology."

"In March 2017, Andrew Napolitano spread the unfounded conspiracy theory that GCHQ, one of Britain's top intelligence agencies, had wiretapped Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign on orders from President Obama. Johnson was the source for Napolitano's claim. The conspiracy theory was later asserted as fact by President Trump, with him citing Fox News and Napolitano. GCHQ responded, stating that the claims were "nonsense, utterly ridiculous and should be ignored". Fox News later disavowed the statement by Napolitano.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_C._Johnson

[faberryman]

Gosh, and I thought everything on the internet was true.

[Alan Klein]

I thought you guys didn't believe the polls. Could be a lot of Biden supporters telling the pollsters the exact opposite of what they believe. You know, like the Trump supporters telling the pollsters they were going to vote for Hillary.

If leftism is dead, you should be sleeping better at night. Whew! That was a close one.

I don't think leftism is dead.  In fact I think it's getting worse.  Unfortunately, people like free stuff.  Democrats are better than Republicans at promising more free stuff.  It's one of the reasons our founders distrusted democracy and had electors for presidents and senators being elected by state legislatures rather than popular votes.  Logically, politicians make promises of giveaways for votes.  They care little about debt or the damage from inflating the money supply. So we're all going to vote ourselves into the poor house. 

[Alan Goldhammer]

Gosh, and I thought everything on the internet was true.

Say it ain't so.  I thought for sure it is all true.  Who do we believe?

[Alan Klein]

A lot of people lead fine lives and then go all whackadoodle when they get old.

Sounds like Biden. 

[Alan Goldhammer]

I don't think leftism is dead.  In fact I think it's getting worse.  Unfortunately, people like free stuff.  Democrats are better than Republicans at promising more free stuff. 

When are you going to turn in your Medicare card and purchase private health insurance?  Send back that Social Security check you get each month.  Stop living off the teat of the US government.  Oooops, both of those are Democratic programs.

[Alan Klein]

I don't think I ever commented on that one.  I can only go by what official sources say.  Attorney General Barr has had two people looking into the 2016 business.  The first report came back last week and showed nothing and the second won't be ready, if it ever is, until after the election.  The bi-partisan Senate Intelligence Committee issued a six volume report that pretty much documented all the Russian influence in 2016.  Whether any of that monkey business made a difference in President Trump's election is and will always be an open question.  It also should be pointed out that the dossier you refer to was initially funded during the Republican Party primary by Trump opposition:  https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/25/us/politics/steele-dossier-trump-expained.html   Stuff is always more complicated than either you or I would like to think.

The point I was making was you were ready to accept everything bad about Trump but are willing to give Biden a pass for similar type of evidence.   Certainly, as an individual, I have no problem with that. It's the media that should hang its head in shame.    Journalists are not acting fairly in reporting the news for political reasons.  That taints the whole political arena and puts America into dangerous situations.  The public is misinformed. It taints journalism so many people have lost respect for it because it can't be trusted.

[TechTalk]

Larry Johnson's Strange Trip

BY DAVID WEIGEL  JUNE 24, 2008

https://prospect.org/article/larry-johnson-s-strange-trip/

Excerpts Below

"On May 13, 2006, Larry C. Johnson -- former CIA intelligence officer, counterterrorism pundit, classmate of Valerie Plame -- put up a breaking post claiming that Karl Rove was under federal indictment for perjury and lying to investigators looking into the leaking of Plame's identity.

"Rove Indicted," Johnson blogged. "Frog march the bastard. As Freddie Mercury sang, 'another one bites the dust.'"

"But, by May and early June of this year, Johnson had become much more hated on the left than he ever was on the right. He was instrumental in spreading the rumor that Republican operatives possessed a tape of Barack Obama's wife Michelle railing against "whitey."

"It was months later -- in late April -- that the "whitey tape" rumor started, mostly among pro-Clinton Democratic donors in New York. One of the earliest versions of the rumor, according to one reporter who heard it in April, was that researchers for Rudy Giuliani had their hands on a tape of Michelle Obama at Trinity United giving a speech where she attacked white America using the word "whitey."

On May 30, Rush Limbaugh dropped a mention of the rumor of a tape that shows "Michelle going nuts in the church, too, talking about whitey this and whitey that." The next day Johnson promised "new and dramatic developments" to come on Monday morning. The day after Johnson's "bombshell" post, Roger Stone appeared on Geraldo Rivera's Sunday Fox News show and gave his own version of what he was hearing.

"There's a buzz," Stone said, "which I believe now to be credible, that some indelible record exists of public remarks that Michelle Obama allegedly made, which are outrageous at best, but could be termed racist, including some reference to white people as whiteys, allegedly." NoQuarter bloggers Bud White and SusanUnPC used the Stone video as proof of the story's veracity; NoQuarter even uploaded the segment onto YouTube."

"The next day the anonymously written blog Hillbuzz produced a new version of what was on the tape. Johnson all but endorsed it, calling it "important news," even though the facts and timing of the 2004 event where Hillbuzz claimed the video was taken negated important pieces of the other theories, like Louis Farrakhan's presence, the Trinity United setting, and the timing -- how could Obama have referred to Katrina in 2004?

[Alan Klein]

When are you going to turn in your Medicare card and purchase private health insurance?  Send back that Social Security check you get each month.  Stop living off the teat of the US government.  Oooops, both of those are Democratic programs.

Excuse me.  But I've contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars for Medicare and Social Security over my working life and my employers have matched those amounts dollar for dollar. 

Additionally, had the Democrats allowed me to add those dollars to my 401K plan instead of taking it from me from my weekly salaries, the value would be at least double from interest and growth over the decades.  Also, what's left over when I die, would go to my heirs. That doesn't happen with the current Social Security. The government keeps all the money that's leftover.

[TechTalk]

From a friend of the computer repair guy.

Yes, The Hunter Biden Emails Are Authentic by Larry C Johnson

A tip of the hat to one of our own for putting the name of serial hoax creator Larry C Johnson in bold type or I might have scrolled right past it. Also, thanks for pointing out his connection to the colorful "computer repair guy" that has trouble getting his story straight. It provides some background context for the whole affair.

[Craig Lamson]

A tip of the hat to one of our own for putting the name of serial hoax creator Larry C Johnson in bold type or I might have scrolled right past it. Also, thanks for pointing out his connection to the colorful "computer repair guy" that has trouble getting his story straight. It provides some background context for the whole affair.

Character assassination is really not a good look for you.  Refute the facts if you can. Oh wait, you can't, which is why you went with character assassination. 

I would expect nothing less.

[TechTalk]

There are facts?