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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
@ironballs: To add to that, Hacking an election, why it's not as far-fetched as you might think
; while this article concerns the possibility of electoral tampering by foreigners, tampering of domestic origin is something that would be inherently easier and a fair bit more probable, if riskier due to the repercussions of being caught.
Electronic voting with no paper backup is one of the biggest risks, and it comprises about 20% of the general electorate; in such scenarios, the only way to know if tampering has occurred without extensive (scientific) exit polling is to catch the perpetrators in the act.
edited 8th Aug '16 1:26:30 PM by CaptainCapsase
You know, Donald Trump is in some ways born of Internet logic, and a part of me wonders if the best way to beat him would be to employ the cardinal rule of the Internet: don't feed the trolls. Don't indulge him, don't sensationalize him, and don't give him billions of dollars worth of non-stories that he can use to put his one real talent (salesmanship) to work.
I'd argue that would have worked in the past. Unfortunately, now that he's the nominee, that's not really going to work.
But if this were 8 months or so ago, that's how he would have been beaten. He's only been as successful as he has because there's No Such Thing as Bad Publicity.
edited 8th Aug '16 1:39:02 PM by Protagonist506
Leviticus 19:34"The 10-year old son of Kansas state Representative Scott Schwab (R-Olathe) has died after riding the Verrückt, the tallest water slide in the world, at the Kansas City Schlitterbahn Water Park."
Holy mother of-...God damn it. You know, I'm not the most devout or religiously knowledge of Muslims but there is one thing I remember: children below the age of 13 get automatic admission into Al-Jenah or heaven. I know it's just consolation and it's a Islamic belief but I hope it helps.
"Texas Land Commissioner and Texas GOP victory chairman George P. Bush is urging Republicans to keep supporting Trump."
And...this means or signifies what?
"Evan Mcmullin, a CIA veteran and chief policy director of the House Republican conference, is expected to announce an independent presidential bid on Monday."
Oooohh, that's today!
"Trump Urges Military To Remove Obama If He Refuses to Leave in 2017"
This...this got a chuckle out of me. First, it reminded me of a line in "The Daily Show with John Stewart" about a future where President Obama took over with the military and then invaded Mexico (the invasion and/or the take-over happened in 2020, I don't remember so well) and then there's the sheer ludicrousness of it.
Does he think that the military was just going to lay back and let it happen? What the hell does telling the military do? And I just noticed the year: 2017. I may not know a lot about the election but is the current president allowed to stay as President even after the election and he's been voted out or he has hit his term limit? Does he think that the military won't immediately intervene a bit if he doesn't step down?
What the hell does telling the military do? If the military hasn't already done so by then, the the military is already supporting him and he has already claimed power in an illegal coup, otherwise this wouldn't be a problem by 2017. What the hell kind of connection does that garbage think Obama has with the military? He's not friggin' Eisenhower. I don't remember any news that implies a special connection with the military or anything that implies that the military would want to keep him so much that they would stage an illegal coup. Even then, he hasn't shown any willingness to stay so it would be less "military coup" and more "I, Cladius".
And, just for emphasis, what the hell does telling the military do? Does that bastard (yeah, that's my thing now) think that the military actually give a damn about what he says? What special connection does he think he has to the military? He has literally no military experience as far as I know and I don't he's been wowing the military crowd.
"I like the part where his statement is based on a conspiracy theory that Obama plans to steal a third term in office; a theory stolen from an extreme-right activist who once accused Obama of misappropriating federal funds to build a Death Star."
O.K, that Death Star part actually inspired a burst of laughter from me. From Senator to President...to EMPEROR OBAMA! UNLIMITED HEALTHCARE! (That scene's glorious.)
"Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller is in talks to lead Trump's agriculture team."
Ah. Who's that?
"Double posting due to this deserving its own post. Got an update from 538, shit has gotten absurd. They now have Clinton winning Georgia, Arizona and Nebraska's second district, not only on the now-cast but also the polls-only prediction, but the best is their latest now-cast prediction. If the election was held today Clinton would win not only North Carolinia, not only Georgia, not only Nebraska's second district, not only Arizona, but also South Carolina! South bloody Carolina, that'd been a clean east coast sweep."
I know that this is only a prediction and we've still got a couple of months left but this leaves me with a warm feeling. Wait, is 538 reliable? And, erm, what is 538?
"Guess who is opposing illegalization of conversion therapy. "
You know, I'd say I want to hear the reasoning behind but to be honest, I really don't. Not like it'll be any different then any other reasoning he's provided.
Trans rights are human rights. TV Tropes is not a place for bigotry, cruelty, or dickishness, no matter who or their position.I've never liked Snowden but I am surprised in how low Wikileaks sunk to get him to oppose the way Assange is handling data.
Holy shit, I thought NAMBLA was a South Park joke...
edited 8th Aug '16 3:56:19 PM by AngelusNox
Inter arma enim silent legesThe president stays president until inauguration in January of 2017. The President doesn't step down, he turns back into a pumpkin on Inauguration Day and looses all power automatically. 538 is headed by Nate Silver, the guy who called 2012 perfectly even when the press were doing a nut insisting that it was going to be a close race.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ CyranI was doing a bit of light reading, when I came across this:
Now such a man would never get anywhere in this country, I think. It's never been tried, anyway. This is in the attitude of mind of the populace, that they have to have an answer and that a man who gives an answer is better than a man who gives no answer, when the real fact of the matter is, in most cases, it is the other way around. And the result of this of course is that the politician must give an answer. And the result of this is that political promises can never be kept. It is a mechanical fact; it is impossible. The result of that is that nobody believes campaign promises. And the result of that is a general disparaging of politics, a general lack of respect for the people who are trying to solve problems, and so forth. It's all generated from the very beginning (maybe - this is a simple analysis). It's all generated, maybe, by the fact that the attitude of the populace is to try to find the answer instead of trying to find a man who has a way of getting at the answer.
— Richard P. Feynman, lecture III: "This Unscientific Age"
It's a telling statement, I think. We live in an age of sound bites and instant products and ADHD, so we expect an answer right away, even if that answer is dead wrong. Not having an answer is considered worse than having the wrong answer.
Trump, on the other hand, has no answers, but tries to bullshit that he knows everything and doesn't need help from anybody.
This Space Intentionally Left Blank.![]()
You just gave me an idea for a party game. People need to figure out which quotes are about Trump, and which are about the Joker.
"He is deranged in my opinion; his psyche is sick; he is to a degree mentally ill"
“Because once I didn't care about the rules anymore, I had all the power.”
I gotta start building a list....

@Kostya
The underlying point, really, is that the appearance of fairness and impartiality can be just as (if not actually more) important as actually being fair and impartial. That's why "reality has a liberal bias" went memetic - for some people, yes, no amount of proof or transparency will convince them otherwise, but that doesn't mean that it'd be an inherently bad thing to strive for.
"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"