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

Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#143151: Oct 10th 2016 at 8:17:13 PM

[up]Thanks, that was one of my initial guesses, but that picture is less formal than the ones I'm familiar with.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Ogodei Fuck you, Fascist sympathizers from The front lines Since: Jan, 2011
Fuck you, Fascist sympathizers
#143152: Oct 10th 2016 at 8:53:01 PM

My speculation is that Giuliani will get to be Trump's Attorney General, mostly since it seems likely that Chris Christie will soon face charges for his role in Bridgegate.

I put the lineup together as a thought exercise:
Secretary of State: Newt Gingrich
Secretary of Defense: Michael Flynn
Secretary of Treasury: Stephen Moore (part of Trump's "Council of Stevens" economic advisory team)
Attorney General: Rudy Giuliani

For Clinton, we've got:
Secretary of State: Jake Sullivan (key staffer on her State Department team, including laying the groundwork for the Iran deal)
Secretary of Defense: James Stavridis (retired Admiral, believed to have been on her VP shortlist)
Secretary of Treasury: Garry Gensler (her campaign CFO who used to have a position at Treasury)
Attorney General: Tom Perez (another VP shortlist candidate, an experienced legal fighter and current Secretary of Labor)

BearyScary Since: Sep, 2010 Relationship Status: You spin me right round, baby
#143153: Oct 10th 2016 at 9:06:07 PM

So Martin Shkreli is a Trump supporter. That... doesn't surprise me at all, really.

Do not obey in advance.
TacticalFox88 from USA Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Dating the Doctor
#143154: Oct 10th 2016 at 9:16:56 PM

Hillary can't appoint Stavridis to Sec Def. She'd be breaking the law.

I think she'd keep Kerry and Lynch, assuming they'd still want their jobs

New Survey coming this weekend!
golgothasArisen Since: Jan, 2015
#143155: Oct 10th 2016 at 9:19:17 PM

Why can't he be appointed?

"If you spend all your heart / On something that has died / You are not alive and that can't be a life"
TacticalFox88 from USA Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Dating the Doctor
CrimsonZephyr Would that it were so simple. from Massachusetts Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
Would that it were so simple.
#143157: Oct 10th 2016 at 9:30:05 PM

Honestly, given how much crazy shit is going on right now, keeping Kerry is probably a good idea, the same way keeping Gates was a good idea when two wars were still being fought. It's good for continuity, at the very least.

"There is definitely a lack of prominent young Democrats. Hopefully another Obama will appear out of nowhere when the time comes."

Blame that one on purges in the House and in local governments. Also, the brand of liberalism that the Dems are about is decidedly unhip — hard to attract young people to run for office on the (D) ticket.

edited 10th Oct '16 9:31:26 PM by CrimsonZephyr

"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."
CrimsonZephyr Would that it were so simple. from Massachusetts Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
Would that it were so simple.
#143159: Oct 10th 2016 at 10:05:52 PM

[up]That law's living on borrowed time.

"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."
LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#143160: Oct 10th 2016 at 10:07:35 PM

Is there even a flimsy rationale for it or is it just a straight up "fuck foreigners (even if they're citizens)" law?

TacticalFox88 from USA Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Dating the Doctor
#143161: Oct 10th 2016 at 10:28:50 PM

It's Louisiana.

New Survey coming this weekend!
TheHandle United Earth from Stockholm Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
United Earth
#143162: Oct 10th 2016 at 10:30:50 PM

This law was brought to you by Inspector Javert and the Obstructive Bureaucrat. (When Valjean was mayor, there was a plot point about him being unable to produce a birth certificate under his new name).

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#143163: Oct 10th 2016 at 11:24:34 PM

[up][up] "Forget it Jake, it's Louisiana."

Edit:

On another note, this happened:

http://www.newsweek.com/vladimir-putin-sidney-blumenthal-hillary-clinton-donald-trump-benghazi-sputnik-508635

Kurt Eichenwald seems pretty pissed off by this.

edited 11th Oct '16 3:52:12 AM by M84

Disgusted, but not surprised
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#143164: Oct 11th 2016 at 4:58:48 AM

[up]Holy crap! To summarize the linked article, the Russian — I mean Wikileaks — leak of an email from Sidney Blumenthal purportedly acknowledging the responsibility of the State Department for the Benghazi attacks was actually Blumenthal quoting from an article by Kurt Eichenwald in which he reached the exact opposite conclusion.

The Russians cherry-picked from the email, altered the context, then dumped it through Wikileaks, and apparently right into the Trump campaign because he was quoting from it immediately thereafter.

edited 11th Oct '16 4:59:30 AM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Clarste One Winged Egret Since: Jun, 2009 Relationship Status: Non-Canon
One Winged Egret
#143165: Oct 11th 2016 at 5:09:04 AM

I can't believe Russian spies are worse at hiding plagiarism than your average college student.

BestOf FABRICATI DIEM, PVNC! from Finland Since: Oct, 2010 Relationship Status: Falling within your bell curve
FABRICATI DIEM, PVNC!
#143166: Oct 11th 2016 at 5:17:02 AM

Wikileaks could have been a beautiful thing. It has been absorbed into the Russian propaganda machine. We can no longer trust leaks that come through Wikileaks.

edited 11th Oct '16 5:17:56 AM by BestOf

Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.
LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#143167: Oct 11th 2016 at 5:18:46 AM

Meh, Snowden was no better and now he's with the Russians too.

It was Assange who put him there so really I've got doubts wikileaks was ever on the common man's side.

Oh really when?
BestOf FABRICATI DIEM, PVNC! from Finland Since: Oct, 2010 Relationship Status: Falling within your bell curve
FABRICATI DIEM, PVNC!
#143168: Oct 11th 2016 at 5:21:23 AM

Assange doesn't seem very trustworthy, to be sure.

It is kind of curious, though, that people who establish channels for leaking documents and people who go on to leak those documeds have to become refugees, even from Western countries. You'd sort of hope that wasn't the case. (Then again, if you didn't pursue some leaks you'd establish a precedent by which more dangerous leaks could occur with impunity.)

I wish Snowden had fled somewhere else than Russia. He's giving them credibility.

Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#143169: Oct 11th 2016 at 5:22:29 AM

It's almost as if leaking documents often involves acts that are illegal in and of themselves, subjecting the leakers to prosecution. It's so weird. Almost as weird is how governments like to protect their secrets. I don't get it.

Russia is playing a dangerous role here by acting as a friendly haven for U.S. whistleblowers. It's quite clever, in a way: it promises them a certain degree of sanctuary against international reprisal, then co-opts them into its propaganda machine. Who needs old-fashioned Cold War style espionage?

There's also a kind of hypocrisy on our part: we talk up the need for cyber-security but then eagerly pore over every document released by hackers, as if their victims' abrogate their rights to privacy by having data stolen from them.

edited 11th Oct '16 5:36:34 AM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#143170: Oct 11th 2016 at 5:40:21 AM

The funny thing is that the Russian network Sputnik that originally posted the story took it offline almost immediately once they realized the plagiarism was too obvious. Which begs the question of how Trump's campaign got the story...

Disgusted, but not surprised
LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#143171: Oct 11th 2016 at 5:43:00 AM

Russians gave it to him. He's been working with them for a long while.

Oh really when?
Julep Since: Jul, 2010
#143172: Oct 11th 2016 at 5:47:30 AM

I don't think Snowden and Wikileaks are on speaking terms now. As for picking Russia, for some reason, countries that are friendly with the United States - so, most democratic countries really - tend to have extradition treaties with them, and I agree with him that any trial he could have on US soil might not be fair.

He's not escaping a rape accusation here.

Elle Since: Jan, 2001
#143173: Oct 11th 2016 at 5:48:15 AM

Can we leave Snowden out of being painted with the same brush as Assange for once? He is not publicly and openly aiding and abetting the Russian propaganda machine in the election cycle. And frankly if Trump won he would probably be in some actual danger of disappearing.

I won't even start the argument trying to defend him today, I just want him left out of this.

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#143174: Oct 11th 2016 at 5:54:07 AM

[up]x3 Another possible explanation is that one of Trump's aides such as Bannon is closely monitoring Russian news sites and such for leaked email reports. Which still raises some questions.

Disgusted, but not surprised
Elle Since: Jan, 2001
#143175: Oct 11th 2016 at 5:57:44 AM

Bannon's said on the record in interviews that he wants to tear the political establishment down. I don't know if that means he's knowingly complicit but his agenda is not incompatible with the Kremlin's.

edited 11th Oct '16 5:58:37 AM by Elle


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