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TacticalFox88 from USA Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Dating the Doctor
#129126: Jul 7th 2016 at 8:05:56 AM

Comey HAS to be pissed as fuck on the inside.

"I gave you idiots a ton of material to work for, yet you're going after ME for potential corruption?!"

edited 7th Jul '16 8:06:07 AM by TacticalFox88

New Survey coming this weekend!
GameGuruGG Vampire Hunter from Castlevania (Before Recorded History)
Vampire Hunter
#129127: Jul 7th 2016 at 8:11:20 AM

[up] Comey should have expected it. If the Republican Party were competent, they wouldn't have Donald Trump as their presidential nominee.

Wizard Needs Food Badly
FFShinra Since: Jan, 2001
#129128: Jul 7th 2016 at 8:12:30 AM

[up][up][up]Again, not technology. Agreed with the rest of your statement on the burdensome rules though.

[up][up]This is what is wrong with trying a case before the public rather than in a court. Since tuesday, I've seen nothing but comments comparing Clinton to Snowden (in favor of the latter), despite the fact that they aren't the same incident at all.

edited 7th Jul '16 8:12:41 AM by FFShinra

Krieger22 Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018 from Malaysia Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: I'm in love with my car
Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018
#129129: Jul 7th 2016 at 8:17:51 AM

[up]It's easier to quickly feed images and captions to a meme generator than to have the mental faculties needed to process the implications of the fact that systematic violation of information security rules were needed just to ensure that the State Department can function as intended.

Although it really shouldn't be too much of a shock following the revelation that the ATF is literally forbidden by law to use computers to handle their databases.

edited 7th Jul '16 8:18:18 AM by Krieger22

I have disagreed with her a lot, but comparing her to republicans and propagandists of dictatorships is really low. - An idiot
Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#129130: Jul 7th 2016 at 8:18:31 AM

Nothing the Director says matters, the GOP isn't interested in the truth. I hope they don't have the power to sanction or fire him.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#129131: Jul 7th 2016 at 8:19:15 AM

They do not, but they can make his life a living hell by keeping him awash in committee subpoenas such that he can't execute his actual job. One imagines his staff is busy filtering out all the right-wing* hate mail, and/or forwarding the death threats to their criminal investigation division.

*And left-wing, thanks Bernie Bros!

edited 7th Jul '16 8:20:24 AM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
TacticalFox88 from USA Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Dating the Doctor
#129132: Jul 7th 2016 at 8:21:16 AM

Seriously. How do can you be so blind as to NOT see the Golden Egg he practically laid out Tuesday morning?

Any competent GOP strategist would've taken this and knocked it out of the park now till November.

New Survey coming this weekend!
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#129133: Jul 7th 2016 at 8:22:37 AM

[up] As noted previously, the GOP doesn't have anyone competent left — alternatively, the competent ones are refusing to have anything to do with this mess.

Competence is a counter-indicator for success in the modern Republican Party. They promote you on the basis of how good you are at obstructing the functions of government.

edited 7th Jul '16 8:26:28 AM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#129134: Jul 7th 2016 at 8:49:34 AM

"Black man killed by police near Minneapolis; video posted live on internet" - http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN0ZN0MF

NativeJovian Jupiterian Local from Orlando, FL Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: Maxing my social links
Jupiterian Local
#129135: Jul 7th 2016 at 8:52:09 AM

"They should just admit mistakes were made and move on."
They've tried, but no one will let them. Clinton admitted that the use of a private server was a mistake a long time ago, and said she regrets doing it. (I don't recall whether she went as far as actually apologizing.) But people refuse to drop the subject, so the campaign's options are 1) refuse to comment further on the topic, which leads to accusations of being evasive and refusing to address the concerns, or 2) repeat "we fucked up, we're sorry" ad nauseum, which only associates them with scandalous wrongdoing even further (which is, not incidentally, exactly what the GOP wants), or 3) do what they've been doing, which is to make their case that their actions were justified, which leads to accusations of refusing to accept responsibility for their mistakes.

None of those options are good, but the third one is probably the least bad.

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.
TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#129136: Jul 7th 2016 at 8:55:44 AM

I've learned when it comes to white supremacists like him to never assume good faith. Very rarely has that ever been an incorrect assumption.

This. And the thing about that particular Star of David is that Trump is actually using it "correctly", so far as prejudice goes. That's one of the reasons it's hard to assume it was an accident: there is meaning in it, the exact same kind of meaning one might see in a Neo-Nazi or KKK banner, and used for the exact same purpose.

The Star of David in the ad is used to single Hillary Clinton out as the "Most Corrupt Candidate Ever", as it claims. The Star of David is a powerful symbol in this respect. The Anti-Semitic prejudice against Jews is, very specifically, that they are greedy, money-grubbing, morally bankrupt individuals that will do anything and say anything to make a quick buck and may or may not be secretly controlling the nation and/or world via hidden conspiracies, economic manipulation, electoral fraud, etc.

As such, by applying the Star of David in this context, Trump is using symbolic association to imply that Hillary Clinton is greedy and corrupt like a Jew, and to call the legitimacy of her Primary victory into question. The use of the Star of David actually makes perfect sense! That is, if you hate minorities.

It is seriously way past time we let go of the myth that Trump is attracting overwhelming support from various white supremacist hate-groups by accident.

edited 7th Jul '16 8:59:42 AM by TobiasDrake

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
GameGuruGG Vampire Hunter from Castlevania (Before Recorded History)
Vampire Hunter
#129137: Jul 7th 2016 at 9:02:06 AM

Anyone competent enough to see the Golden Egg of Comey's is also competent enough see the Rotten Egg on a Trump Presidency and thus will avoid doing anything that could seriously take down Clinton.

edited 7th Jul '16 9:04:17 AM by GameGuruGG

Wizard Needs Food Badly
CaptainCapsase from Orbiting Sagittarius A* Since: Jan, 2015
#129138: Jul 7th 2016 at 9:07:16 AM

[up] Yep, which is why, even if Comey was inclined to play kingmaker, he'd have to be an idiot to make a move here; even with an indictment, every alternative candidate the democrats could put forward would absolutely demolish Trump in the general election, and with the likely alternative being much further left than Clinton, there'd be nothing to gain by torpedoing Clinton's campaign like that.

TacticalFox88 from USA Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Dating the Doctor
#129139: Jul 7th 2016 at 9:33:03 AM

Ryan you idiot. This is STILL going on. Comey is basically tactfully telling the GOP to fuck off and giving the Clinton campaign dozens of quotes from him directly to exonerate her of any of their talking points

They can't help themselves when it comes to the Clintons. It's like Bugs Bunny vs Elmer Fudd or Daffy Duck

edited 7th Jul '16 9:40:27 AM by TacticalFox88

New Survey coming this weekend!
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#129140: Jul 7th 2016 at 10:11:27 AM

Bill Season!
Hillary Season!
Bill Season!
Hillary Season!

edited 7th Jul '16 10:11:34 AM by sgamer82

thatguythere47 Since: Jul, 2010
#129141: Jul 7th 2016 at 10:12:24 AM

From what I've gathered the establishment politicians are essentially admitting defeat on the national front and are just trying to keep their seats in congress and the senate. Especially the senate considering the state of the supreme court. If the election starts going terribly I can imagine them quietly accepting Obama's compromise appointment.

Is using "Julian Assange is a Hillary butt plug" an acceptable signature quote?
kkhohoho (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#129142: Jul 7th 2016 at 10:26:45 AM

[up][up]{And then Hilary rips off a nearby poster to reveal a 'Ryan Season' flyer underneath. Cue both Clintons looking at Ryan with devilish grins.}

sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#129143: Jul 7th 2016 at 10:27:09 AM

Anything new on the supreme Court front, btw?

It hasn't been prominent other than a few decisions that, iirc, seem to suggest that things are backfiring on the Republicans re: some decisions.

[up] I'd have gone with Donald Season, myself.

edited 7th Jul '16 10:27:43 AM by sgamer82

Spirit Pretty flower from America Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: Hooked on a feeling
Pretty flower
#129144: Jul 7th 2016 at 10:32:39 AM

All I can tell from Comey's hearing so far is that no-one is arguing that Clinton broke the law, but she shouldn't face charges because 'she didn't know she broke the law.'

Since when did American politics become a Dave Chapell skit?

#IceBearForPresident
CrimsonZephyr Would that it were so simple. from Massachusetts Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
Would that it were so simple.
#129145: Jul 7th 2016 at 10:40:20 AM

Everyone in the government breaks information security laws to some extent. The way government data is protected is pure Right Hand Versus Left Hand.

"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."
GameGuruGG Vampire Hunter from Castlevania (Before Recorded History)
Vampire Hunter
#129146: Jul 7th 2016 at 10:51:24 AM

[up][up][up] It is backfiring purely because things that would be a 5-4 Conservative Decision are instead a 4-4 Tie Decision. However, a 4-4 Tie Decision is better for the Republicans than a 5-4 Liberal Decision since the Supreme Court can come back to it later when it has a full bench. That being said, I don't see how the Republicans can avoid a Democratic President from choosing a Supreme Court Justice given Trump's own chances of getting elected as President. Really, the Republicans have a serious problem with taking the L and need to stop doubling down.

Wizard Needs Food Badly
FFShinra Since: Jan, 2001
#129147: Jul 7th 2016 at 10:52:09 AM

I do not mind Paul Ryan asking Clinton to be denied intelligence reports. I am appalled he thinks Trump should have access in the meantime.

TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#129148: Jul 7th 2016 at 10:54:49 AM

Nobody in the GOP actually wants Trump to pick a judge and I'm sure they're just as sour on Hillary doing it. At this point, it's a Sunk Costs Fallacy. The GOP can't go, "F*ck it, let's just get Judge Garland in there," because it would make them look weak in front of their constituents. They made this bed and they are determined to lie in it.

It's not the first time the GOP has stubbornly stayed the course even after they ran out of reasons to keep doing it. During the government shutdown, Obama called out one of the GOP senators blocking the budget approval for saying, "We're gonna get something out of this. I don't know what that is, but we are."

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
NativeJovian Jupiterian Local from Orlando, FL Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: Maxing my social links
Jupiterian Local
#129149: Jul 7th 2016 at 10:55:15 AM

All I can tell from Comey's hearing so far is that no-one is arguing that Clinton broke the law, but she shouldn't face charges because 'she didn't know she broke the law.'
Because the law is that it's only illegal if you willingly, knowingly, and intentionally share classified material. In order to prove that Clinton was breaking the law, they would have to prove that she deliberately shared state secrets with people who weren't authorized to know them. No one's actually accusing her of doing this — they're just saying that by using a private email server, she didn't follow official security policy. (Though she was following unofficial procedure with plenty of precedent set by her predecessors.)

The law is written this way because if merely screwing up and accidentally leaving something exposed so that there's the potential for leaks, you'd have to arrest everyone with a security clearance, since that standard is so hilariously broad that anyone who didn't immediately burn the secret documents after reading them and then shoot themselves in the head to keep from accidentally revealing state secrets is guilty under that standard.

In other words, the law is against giving secrets away to someone, not just being in a situation where secrets might be stolen from you. The latter can result in your security clearance being pulled (which is a Big Deal, because they don't give security clearance to anyone who doesn't need it, so having yours revoked basically means the end of your career), but not jail time.

edited 7th Jul '16 10:57:16 AM by NativeJovian

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.
Greenmantle V from Greater Wessex, Britannia Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: Hiding
V
#129150: Jul 7th 2016 at 10:55:26 AM

@ Shinra:

I do not mind Paul Ryan asking Clinton to be denied intelligence reports. I am appalled he thinks Trump should have access in the meantime.

I'm quite sure Clinton has been around long enough to gain (unofficial) access to any intelligence reports Ryan decides to block, anyway.

edited 7th Jul '16 10:56:06 AM by Greenmantle

Keep Rolling On

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