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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

AmbarSonofDeshar Since: Jan, 2010
#235876: Mar 21st 2018 at 1:19:25 PM

A lot of right-wing radicals tend to be from poor areas without actually being poor themselves. They're surrounded by poverty, and by the attitudes that sometimes accompany it, and they both absorb and exploit those attitudes in order to be leaders in their community.

ironballs16 Since: Jul, 2009 Relationship Status: Owner of a lonely heart
#235877: Mar 21st 2018 at 1:59:57 PM

I still find it hard to comprehend that you guys have no way to expel or suspend someone from a party, even just at a local level.

Because it's literally the will of the electorate - to get on the ballot in NY, for example, all a Congressional candidate needs to get is 1,250 signatures on a petition from those in the affiliated party. That's it.

"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"
megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#235878: Mar 21st 2018 at 2:32:22 PM

My favorite thing ever is that trump apparently accidentally appointed someone competent and dedicated as the head of the FBI. (Interview with NBC News.)

'Christopher Wray says that in his nearly eight months as director of the FBI, he has not seen "a politicized organization."

In an exclusive interview with NBC News, Wray pushed back at criticism from some in the Trump administration and Congress who accuse his agency of favoring Hillary Clinton at the expense of the president.

"What I have seen is people fiercely focused on trying to do the right thing in the right way, free from political influence, consistent with the best traditions that I've always revered about the FBI," Wray said in the interview, which took place at the FBI's training academy in Quantico, Virginia.

"At the end of the day, we're going to get criticized no matter what."

....As for one of the FBI’s traditional missions, Wray called the 4 percent increase in violent crime in 2016 very significant. The figures for 2017 are not yet final.

"In a country our size, a 4 percent increase is essentially equivalent to about 50,000 people. So imagine Yankee stadium sold out, full of violent crime victims, and that’s the difference from one year to the next," he said.

Among the factors causing the increase are crimes tied to the opioid epidemic and the rise in ultra-violent gangs.

Wray took the reins of the FBI when it was reeling from the abrupt firing of his predecessor, James Comey, and said his foremost priority was "to try to bring some stability and calm to the organization." He said he plans to serve out the full 10-year term.

"All I am is focused on trying to see if I can make this place even better than when I found it," Wray said.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna858786

Combine that interview with his appointments and actions, (appointing David Boditch, who is apparently a "mini Mueller", as deputy director, for example), I'd say he's firmly on the side of the FBI, and not Trump's.

Hopefully Trump doesn't catch on.

edited 21st Mar '18 9:47:25 PM by megaeliz

RainehDaze Nero Fangirl (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Nero Fangirl
#235879: Mar 21st 2018 at 3:04:31 PM

[up][up] To be fair, that's a higher criterion than needed to show up on the ballot in the UK.

I think the point is that the parties somehow have enough formal organisation to have funding and campaigns and the like, yet are simultaneously open to people being members of said party just because they feel like it. Which is absurd.

megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#235881: Mar 21st 2018 at 3:36:38 PM

Someone's on the defensive.

I called President Putin of Russia to congratulate him on his election victory (in past, Obama called him also). The Fake News Media is crazed because they wanted me to excoriate him. They are wrong! Getting along with Russia (and others) is a good thing, not a bad thing......

.....They can help solve problems with North Korea, Syria, Ukraine, ISIS, Iran and even the coming Arms Race. Bush tried to get along, but didn’t have the “smarts.” Obama and Clinton tried, but didn’t have the energy or chemistry (remember RESET). PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH!

edited 21st Mar '18 3:38:40 PM by megaeliz

pwiegle Cape Malleum Majorem from Nowhere Special Since: Sep, 2015 Relationship Status: Singularity
Cape Malleum Majorem
#235882: Mar 21st 2018 at 3:40:59 PM

I still find it hard to comprehend that you guys have no way to expel or suspend someone from a party, even just at a local level.

Because you don't "join" a political party in the US. There are no forms to fill out, no entrance requirements, no dues to pay, nothing like that. Just register to vote, and you can declare yourself to be a "member" of any party you want (or, in my case, none at all.)

Since the party leadership doesn't actually have the authority to accept or deny anyone, they don't have the authority to expel anyone from their (non-)organization.

This Space Intentionally Left Blank.
Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#235883: Mar 21st 2018 at 3:43:33 PM

I still find it hard to comprehend that you guys have no way to expel or suspend someone from a party, even just at a local level.
Keep in mind that unlike democracies that have proportionally voting we only have two parties and thus very weak party discipline. The reason for this is simply that if a party could kick you out simply for doing something they didn't like then that would be extremely undemocratic, can't do much if 50% of the available parties ban you.

It might make sense if you imagine our parties less as parties and more as coalitions of various factions which often pretend to like each other to push their values.

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
DingoWalley1 Asgore Adopts Noelle Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
Asgore Adopts Noelle
#235884: Mar 21st 2018 at 3:44:15 PM

[up]x3 Getting along with Russia is a good thing. Getting along with anyone else is a sign of weakness, and weakness isn't to be tolerated. So declares the Kremlin!

Seriously, people always use the 'Being good to your enemy is good' excuse for Trump and his Russian love, but if that were the case, why is he such a punk to everyone else; Democrats, Judges, China, Iran, North Korea, the Intelligence Community, his own freakin' party. There is no excuse for Trump's Russia love! He's working for them somehow, either willingly or unwillingly.

edited 21st Mar '18 3:44:55 PM by DingoWalley1

TheWildWestPyro from Seattle, WA Since: Sep, 2012 Relationship Status: Healthy, deeply-felt respect for this here Shotgun
#235885: Mar 21st 2018 at 3:49:51 PM

[up][up][up][up]

> "PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH"

> My sides

edited 21st Mar '18 3:49:56 PM by TheWildWestPyro

megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#235886: Mar 21st 2018 at 4:05:01 PM

[up][up] when will they finally put the rumors to rest and tell us, are they engaged?

archonspeaks Since: Jun, 2013
#235887: Mar 21st 2018 at 4:08:28 PM

I don't think Trump is working for Russia, he's just being played by Putin. Cunning and guile are what move you up the ranks in Russia, and Putin moved up the ranks. He's a smooth operator and knows how to get what he wants out of Trump.

They should have sent a poet.
ViperMagnum357 Since: Mar, 2012
#235888: Mar 21st 2018 at 4:09:39 PM

Not sure if this as posted,[1] but the Pennsylvania GOP has formally introduced motions to impeach 4 of the 5 judges that tore up the gerrymandered electoral map. (use a private window)

And that is a wrap-from this point forward, every part of our government is explicitly partisan.

megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#235889: Mar 21st 2018 at 4:14:33 PM

[up] It would never go through, and will probably just make them mad.

[up][up] Useful Idiot

edited 21st Mar '18 4:18:39 PM by megaeliz

Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#235890: Mar 21st 2018 at 4:17:19 PM

Yeah Trump isn't a literal Russian agent but functionally there is almost no difference between a spy and loyal useful idiot, both are assets.

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
TheWanderer Student of Story from Somewhere in New England (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
Student of Story
#235891: Mar 21st 2018 at 4:17:47 PM

12 Republican lawmakers signed on, and Republicans have exactly enough votes to push this through.

I'm not sure they can count on getting every vote, especially since this is nothing but empty payback now, and they can't stop the map from going forward, but both the spite of this move and the determination to keep all government "theirs" are not good trends for the country.

Edit: A new head of the CDC has just been named. Good news: he's a doctor with decades of experience and specializes in HIV/AIDS and virology. Bad news: in the 90s he had issues with the data in his claims and studies, and stuck to that bad data even after acknowledging the errors with it

The Trump administration named HIV expert Dr. Robert Redfield to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ignoring complaints that he botched high-profile vaccine research more than 20 years ago.

The Army in 1994 acknowledged accuracy issues with HIV vaccine clinical trials led by Redfield, but concluded at the time that the data errors did not constitute misconduct.

In an announcement Wednesday afternoon, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar emphasized Redfield's care of HIV/AIDS patients and his work as a researcher, which included the controversial research.

Yet one of the whistleblowers who first raised the matter to the Army told Kaiser Health News this week that he remains so troubled about Redfield's handling of the vaccine research that he has decided to speak out publicly.

Redfield was principal investigator over clinical trials of a treatment vaccine at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. The research was conducted at a time when there was intense pressure to come up with a treatment for HIV/AIDS, which often killed patients within a matter of months.

"Either he was egregiously sloppy with data or it was fabricated," said former Air Force Lt. Col. Craig Hendrix, a doctor who is now director of the division of clinical pharmacology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "It was somewhere on that spectrum, both of which were serious and raised questions about his trustworthiness."

In a letter to Trump this week, Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the ranking Democrat on the health committee, cited the research controversy as an example of a "pattern of ethically and morally questionable behavior" by Redfield that should prompt the president to reconsider the appointment.

Redfield's appointment, which does not require Senate confirmation, was leaked to the news media over the weekend. Redfield did not respond to questions.

Redfield, who denied any scientific misconduct at the time, is now an HIV/AIDS specialist at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He has been praised by his supporters for his care of patients. He oversees a clinical program that treats 6,000 patients in the Baltimore-Washington area, according to an online bio.

But Redfield's critics said the appointment demonstrates that the Trump administration is not vetting appointees thoroughly. The first CDC head, Brenda Fitzgerald, stepped down in January after a controversy over her purchase of tobacco stocks, and former HHS Secretary Tom Price resigned late last year amid criticism over his use of government and private planes for official travel.

"The White House claimed they would do better background checks," said Dr. Sidney Wolfe, founder and senior adviser of Public Citizen's Health Research Group. "But that statement is dangerously laughable. If they had done a proper background check, they wouldn't have chosen Dr. Redfield."

Public Citizen, a Washington watchdog group, was a leading critic of the Army's handling of Redfield's data at the time and obtained and published documents that detailed the controversy.

Hendrix, who was the director of an Air Force HIV clinical unit when he raised the concerns, said: "Two members of his [Redfield's] team told me they had tried to replicate the analysis, but they couldn't. When they tried to go to the Army, they said they were ignored."

After Hendrix couldn't replicate the results, he drafted a letter to his superiors reporting the data problems.

Hendrix said Redfield's superiors initially told him not to send a letter detailing the concerns. Instead, the military scheduled a meeting with Redfield and other researchers so Hendrix could discuss the concerns. In the meeting, Hendrix recalled, Redfield acknowledged he had overstated how promising the results were.

"I thought it was resolved," said Hendrix, who said he later called Redfield to say he was proud to work in an organization that could openly discuss such concerns.

However, Hendrix soon heard Redfield make the same inaccurate representations of the data at a conference and decided to file an official complaint requesting an investigation into scientific misconduct.

An Air Force institutional review board also recommended that the Army launch an inquiry stating: "The committee agreed the information presented by Dr. Redfield seriously threatens his credibility as a researcher and has the potential to negatively impact AIDS research funding for military institutions as a whole."

But the Army did not appear to launch a full investigation, said Hendrix, who was interviewed at the time by the military official who conducted the inquiry. The military official declined Hendrix's attempts to provide documented evidence, telling him the investigation was "informal."

Hendrix later asked the commander of his hospital about the outcome of the investigation. He recalled that the commander called another officer to ask.

"I just remember him saying "Yes, sir," he said. "When he hung up, he told me, 'We will not be discussing this again.' "

edited 21st Mar '18 4:25:41 PM by TheWanderer

| Wandering, but not lost. | If people bring so much courage to this world...◊ |
Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#235892: Mar 21st 2018 at 4:20:10 PM

[up]There is absolutely nothing new about that.

edited 21st Mar '18 4:20:24 PM by Fourthspartan56

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
archonspeaks Since: Jun, 2013
#235893: Mar 21st 2018 at 4:22:47 PM

Yeah, basically a useful idiot. The best thing that can be said in this case is that at least Trump isn't actively selling out the country.

Guys like Putin know a mark when they see one.

They should have sent a poet.
Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#235894: Mar 21st 2018 at 4:23:43 PM

[up]Eh, he totally is though. Not necessarily to Putin but to himself, his allies, and the various friendly corporate interests.

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
archonspeaks Since: Jun, 2013
#235895: Mar 21st 2018 at 4:28:23 PM

[up] Well, I was just talking about actively selling out the country to a foreign government. He probably doesn't even realize Putin is playing him.

They should have sent a poet.
DingoWalley1 Asgore Adopts Noelle Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
Asgore Adopts Noelle
#235896: Mar 21st 2018 at 4:32:48 PM

I don't buy that he's a useful idiot to them, I honestly think he is working with them. He never never never criticizes Russia, for anything. The most we've gotten out of Trump condemning Russia is "Looks like Russia poisoned that one ex-spy in Britain, that's a shame". And knowing Trump, and knowing how he operates and how he functions, it is a massive, massive red flag that he never does anything to criticize Russia, or specifically Putin, and has done the bare minimum to combat their hacking our election.

That and him desperately wanting back channels with Russia before he became President (and both Erik Prince and Jared Kushner tried to do so).

Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#235897: Mar 21st 2018 at 4:37:21 PM

[up][up]Fair enough.

[up]As I said there's no functional difference between a loyal useful idiot and an agent. Maybe due to his mobster view of the world he honestly thinks that Putin is a friend or maybe Putin has dirt on him and he's acting out of his personal best interests. Doesn't really change anything.

edited 21st Mar '18 4:38:59 PM by Fourthspartan56

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#235898: Mar 21st 2018 at 4:37:21 PM

[up][up]Fair enough.

[up]As I said there's no functional difference between a loyal useful idiot and an agent. Maybe due to his mobster view of the world he honestly thinks that Putin is a friend or maybe Putin has dirt on him and he's acting out of his personal best interests. Doesn't really change anything.

edited 21st Mar '18 4:38:59 PM by Fourthspartan56

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
BlueNinja0 The Mod with the Migraine from Taking a left at Albuquerque Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
The Mod with the Migraine
#235899: Mar 21st 2018 at 4:51:52 PM

It is still unclear if Trump read the guidance that was given to him by his advisers.
I didn't know Trump could read.

So to help fight against Fake News, Google is pledging $100mil per year to help verification sites and to promote actual journalism. Full article text 

In a move to combat the epidemic of false and unreliable information on the internet, Google is pledging to spend $300 million over the next three years to support authoritative journalism.

Google’s campaign, which was announced at an event in New York on Tuesday, will be known as the Google News Initiative. Among the initiative’s goals are making it easier for Google users to subscribe to news publications, and giving publishers new tools to create fast-loading mobile pages. The project is Google’s most ambitious attempt yet to improve the quality of information it shows to users at a time when tech companies have come under criticism for letting misinformation bloom on their services.

Philipp Schindler, Google’s chief business officer, said in a blog post that the initiative was intended to signal the company’s “commitment to a news industry facing dramatic shifts in how journalism is created, consumed and paid for.”

As part of its efforts, Google is creating a Disinfo Lab in partnership with the Harvard Kennedy School’s First Draft, which will attempt to identify false news during critical breaking news situations. Google also pledged to take on an emerging trend: “synthetic media,” photos and videos that are manipulated using artificial intelligence software.

Google did not unveil any specific plans to address synthetic media but said it would release data sets to journalism organizations and researchers to help them develop tools to spot the fakes.

I hope that's good news, at least.

Also, an editorial wonders just what Stormy Daniels has on Trump, that he hasn't gone off on a Twitter rant against her, the way he has against so many other people. Could he really be that concerned about her 1-star review of his sexual prowess? Full article text 

Apart from his own kin, there’s no category of person exempt from Donald Trump’s attacks. He has gone after past presidents of the United States, current leaders of our closest allies, stewards of his own party, senior officials in his own administration, the Latina mayor of a city freshly devastated by a hurricane, the Muslim mayor of a city just struck by terrorists and the families of American soldiers killed in combat.

But not Stormy Daniels. Where are the tantrums and tweets for her? It’s a glaring and fascinating omission.

Maybe the explanation is straightforward: He doesn’t want to give her any extra motivation to speak out and describe whatever happened between them in a negative light. But when has Trump ever played the tempered pacifist before?

It could say that he has more discipline than he gets credit for, and that instead of a mad, lonely king ranting in his castle, he is actually a profoundly flawed tactician playing his own pale version of chess.

Trump’s silence could also say that he isn’t actually bothered by Daniels’s account of an affair with him. This is a man whose appearances on Howard Stern’s radio show over the years were all about erotic peacocking; who bragged to Billy Bush about groping women and paid no discernible price for it; and who can apparently do anything shy of converting to Islam and not fret about his evangelical base.

But I wonder more about the opposite. What if the enigma of what Daniels is about to say really rattles him? The assumption has long been that we can chart his distress by his diatribes. But diatribes are his norm. Deviations from them may hold more meaning.

And there are reasons that he’d be rattled. His selling of himself as a super-potent stud (“Best Sex I’ve Ever Had”) is one of the pillars of his vanity, and Daniels could smash it to the ground. She didn’t quite do that in a 2011 interview with In Touch magazine, but neither did she sound remotely wowed.

Then there’s Melania. By all evidence the distance between the Trumps has widened since the surfacing of Daniels’s allegations that he had sex with her shortly after Melania gave birth to Barron in 2006 and that he told Daniels to pay his wife no heed. Every mention of Daniels must mortify Melania, and the president can’t afford that.

Besides, it’s one thing to have the lewder parts of your past aired when you’re a candidate. It’s quite another when you’re president, even a president as unconventional as Trump.

And it’s worse still if a series of recent elections — in Virginia, in Alabama, in Pennsylvania — suggest that you repel women in the suburbs and they’re acting on their disgust. They won’t be soothed by an illicit romance that could be titled “Filthy Shades of Orange.”

So the president ignores its release. He sits on his Twitter hands. They’re big ones, by the way. Just ask him.

Actually, I doubt that Trump really gives a fuck about what Melania thinks, except how it will impact his ratings on Faux News.

That’s the epitome of privilege right there, not considering armed nazis a threat to your life. - Silasw
Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#235900: Mar 21st 2018 at 4:53:39 PM

All excellent points, though if he's really a narcissist (and all evidence points towards that) then he probably does care what Melania thinks in that she exists and he probably demands adoration from her.

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang

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