Countdown to Extinction: The 2016 Presidential Election

[Parsifal]

"I wish you great happiness...never felt the loneliness..."
Sure, Billy-boy had a blast in the Oval Office.
(Sorry, I couldn't resist.)
As for the Bushes, PLEASE read up on the family's history before praising him or their kith and kin. I spent a large part of the summer of 2014 doing just that.
They are anything but graceful. I am so sorry I voted for the last jerk, Dubya. Anyone who talked and acted like a cretin should have never gotten as far except for his family connections. The spoiler of Iraq (I also spent lots of time investigating the aftermath of spent uranium over there - incredible horror not only to innocent civilians but our troops, and for WHAT?) now is painting puppies! The fact that George Walker is supporting Hill, just shows how the TWO parties are in collusion with one another. An outsider to all that is definitely a boon.

It is too easy to assume that being "an outsider" is sufficient. Independent fact checkers have reported that more than half of what Donald Trump says is an outright falsehood. Just this week he announced that he was finally responsible for putting the "birther" conspiracy theory to rest, then stated that the birther claim had been originated by Hillary Clinton (utterly false). I can't see that a person with no honor and no respect for the truth can fix anything.

[zamyrabyrd]

Something to ponder:
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d02360.pdf
Report to the Honorable Bob Barr House of Representatives
pp.1-2:
"On June 5, 2001, the counsel to the president provided us with a list of damage that was discovered in the White House complex during the first days of the Bush administration.
The list was prepared by OA, which provides common administrative support and services to units within the White House complex, which may include the procurement and maintenance of computers, telephones, furniture, and other personal property...It listed missing building fixtures, such as doorknobs and a presidential seal;computer keyboards with missing "W" keys; damaged and overturned furniture; telephone lines pulled from the wall; telephones with missing telephone number labels; fax machines moved to the wrong areas and a secure telephone left open with the key in it; offices left in a state of "general trashing," including the contents of desk drawers dumped on the floor, a glass desk top smashed and on the floor, and refrigerators unplugged with spoiled food; writing on the walls; and voice mail greetings that had obscene messages. The list also indicated that six to eight 14-foot trucks were needed to recover usable supplies that had been thrown away."

pp.44-45:
"The June 2001 list indicated that 100 computer keyboards had to be replaced because the "W" keys had been removed...Twenty-six EOP staff told us that they observed a total of 30 to 64 computer keyboards with missing or damaged (glued, whited-out, or pushed down)"W" keys in specific rooms or offices. We developed a range reflecting the observations because some staff said they saw different numbers of keyboards with missing or damaged "W" keys in the same rooms or offices and as a means of eliminating double counting."

[zamyrabyrd]

Some fun stuff:

Bill Clinton, Al Gore, and Hillary Clinton all die and go to heaven.
Let's assume that they make it past St. Peter and get to see God.
God says to Bill, "You look familiar..."
Bill Clinton says "Hi I'm Bill Clinton and I used to be president of the USA."
God says "OK, you can sit to the left of me."
Al Gore says "Hi, I'm Al Gore and I used to be vice-president."
God says, "OK, you can sit to the right of me."
Hilllary says, "I'm Hillary Rodham Clinton, and GET THE F OUT OF MY CHAIR."

[Herman]

Something to ponder:
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d02360.pdf
Report to the Honorable Bob Barr House of Representatives

As any ordinary person would do, I checked this story, and it turns out to be a joke.

There was NO damage in the White House after the the Clinton Bush handover. Zero damage.

People who work those kind of jobs as White Gouse staffer are very well aware that a spotless CV is crucial.

This story was intended as a joke, but is (anybody surprised?) now taken as gospel by gullibe rightwingers.

[zamyrabyrd]

As any ordinary person would do, I checked this story, and it turns out to be a joke.
There was NO damage in the White House after the the Clinton Bush handover. Zero damage.
People who work those kind of jobs as White Gouse staffer are very well aware that a spotless CV is crucial.
This story was intended as a joke, but is (anybody surprised?) now taken as gospel by gullibe rightwingers.

Apparently the New York Times did not get the "joke":
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/12/us/white-house-vandalized-in-transition-gao-finds.html?_r=0

As well as across the pond:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-17833/Clinton-staff-accused-vandalising-White-House.html

[zamyrabyrd]

As any ordinary person would do, I checked this story, and it turns out to be a joke.
There was NO damage in the White House after the the Clinton Bush handover. Zero damage.
People who work those kind of jobs as White Gouse staffer are very well aware that a spotless CV is crucial.
This story was intended as a joke, but is (anybody surprised?) now taken as gospel by gullibe rightwingers.

I'll keep an open mind but the retractions came around May 2001. A year later, the story or rather the investigation, was still going on:
http://articles.latimes.com/2002/jun/12/nation/na-clinton12

One cannot say "zero damage" either because it was admitted that the staff of about 500 people left their footprints behind. Also there was the incident of moving out furniture and gifts to the White House by the Clintons that they were forced to return.

[Karl Henning]

Also there was the incident of moving out furniture and gifts to the White House by the Clintons that they were forced to return.

http://www.snopes.com/hillary-clinton-stole-white-house-furniture/

[Karl Henning]

Someone who is prepared to believe the worst about a public figure, is not necessarily biased.  The key is readiness to consider evidence that I may be mistaken.

[Madiel]

I'll keep an open mind but the retractions came around May 2001. A year later, the story or rather the investigation, was still going on:

Crap on the internet never dies.

[Karl Henning]

Crap on the internet never dies.

QFT

[zamyrabyrd]

Someone who is prepared to believe the worst about a public figure, is not necessarily biased.  The key is readiness to consider evidence that I may be mistaken.

It's not that at all, not with me anyway. "Public figure" has nothing to do with it. Rather it is the unwillingness to accept what perfidy and destructiveness human beings in general are capable of.

The following vid was originally linked to Lebrecht's blog about a month ago. Maybe this is the wrong place for it and I'm willing to move it. However, musicians can come together in sympathy for a violin maker whose $1.3 million collection was trashed by a vicious ex-wife:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waMjh11BY1Y

I said that I remain open to any interpretation. Also I am not defending either of the candidates. If one is wrong, it doesn't make the other right. Somehow it reminds me of kids taking the side of either mommy or daddy. Actually they can be both horribly wrong in their own way but it takes maturity to admit that.

Similarly, maturity is a process whereby we cannot ignore the problem of evil. Maybe one is lucky if deeply disturbed people don't come into one's path wreaking destruction. I am now witnessing the meltdown of someone who caused so much damage over decades. Yet, she might come across as a nice person! She fooled a lot of people, at least temporarily, especially if they had something she wanted. If any good came out my association with her (couldn't help it, born into the same family), it gave me a good BS detector.

[Karl Henning]

It's not that at all, not with me anyway. "Public figure" has nothing to do with it. Rather it is the unwillingness to accept what perfidy and destructiveness human beings in general are capable of.

The following vid was originally linked to Lebrecht's blog about a month ago. Maybe this is the wrong place for it and I'm willing to move it. However, musicians can come together in sympathy for a violin maker whose $1.3 million collection was trashed by a vicious ex-wife:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waMjh11BY1Y

I said that I remain open to any interpretation. Also I am not defending either of the candidates. If one is wrong, it doesn't make the other right. Somehow it reminds me of kids taking the side of either mommy or daddy. Actually they can be both horribly wrong in their own way but it takes maturity to admit that.

Similarly, maturity is a process whereby we cannot ignore the problem of evil. Maybe one is lucky if deeply disturbed people don't come into one's path wreaking destruction. I am now witnessing the meltdown of someone who caused so much damage over decades. Yet, she might come across as a nice person! She fooled a lot of people, at least temporarily, especially if they had something she wanted. If any good came out my association with her (couldn't help it, born into the same family), it gave me a good BS detector.

Thanks.

[Karl Henning]

Someone who is prepared to believe the worst about a public figure, is not necessarily biased.  The key is readiness to consider evidence that I may be mistaken.

As I typed, I thought about El Tupé and me.  Am I just simply ready to believe the worst of him?  Is there good he is doing which I am, to my own discredit, filtering out, but which I should consider against (what seem to me) his obvious and irredeemable flaws?

I am not certain.  One thing which seems near certain:  he has a regular talent for generating news unflattering to himself.

zb, I take your point about both parties being orful.  None of us other than perhaps El Tupé and his accountants is really enjoying the process this year.

[Madiel]

If we're going to talk about the evil that human beings are capable of, we also need to talk about the gullibility that human beings are capable of, the inability to reason that human beings are capable of, the imperviousness to facts that human beings are capable of, and all the other things that have enabled the TV show "QI" to run for 13 seasons.

These are all a lot more common than genuine evil. Large numbers of people believe a hell of a lot of things that aren't actually true (and indeed are often provably false), and have been doing so for many centuries.

[Karl Henning]

If we're going to talk about the evil that human beings are capable of, we also need to talk about the gullibility that human beings are capable of, the inability to reason that human beings are capable of, the imperviousness to facts that human beings are capable of, and all the other things that have enabled the TV show "QI" to run for 13 seasons.

The sheer volume of impermeable falsehood streaming daily from El Tupé's pie-hole.

Seriously: let that man in the White House, and we'll be drawing comparisons between DC in the 2010s and Moscow in the 1930s.

[knight66]

Orfeo, Yes indeed.


_{https://www.facebook.com/OccupyDemocrats/videos/1247448632014855/}


Mike

[zamyrabyrd]

Orfeo, Yes indeed.
https://www.facebook.com/OccupyDemocrats/videos/1247448632014855/

Yikes, that was funny but also frightening.
Electioneering is no different from selling an advertised brand, meaning people will go by their gut feelings which have already been manipulated, only they think they have (mental) "opinions".

[Karl Henning]

Yikes, that was funny but also frightening.
Electioneering is no different from selling an advertised brand, meaning people will go by their gut feelings which have already been manipulated, only they think they have (mental) "opinions".

I am reading this but slowly, and IIRC I have our esteemed Jeffrey to thank for calling it to my (slow) attention, but it discusses those very issues:

[asin]B00555X8OA[/asin]

[snyprrr]

As I typed, I thought about El Tupé and me.  Am I just simply ready to believe the worst of him?  Is there good he is doing which I am, to my own discredit, filtering out, but which I should consider against (what seem to me) his obvious and irredeemable flaws?

I am not certain.  One thing which seems near certain:  he has a regular talent for generating news unflattering to himself.

zb, I take your point about both parties being orful.  None of us other than perhaps El Tupé and his accountants is really enjoying the process this year.

and you seriously can't say that about Cankles also?? "wiped it with a cloth?"

come on Karl, please, all I ask is that you acknowledge the Nurse Ratchet Syndrome going on here

"WE CAME, WE SAW, HE DIED"
9(sorry... I have the worst problem with caps lock.... I am seeking help for it....)




ANYHOW SLACKERS!!!!

Can't let this ole Thread get bumped away... we've got a big debate to get all cringy over tonight. I can't possibly watch... the titillation factor is too great... I would be expecting too much social horror...


i GUESS EVEN THE AUDIENCE WILL BE WEARING EARPIECES, EH?
(again!!!!!)- how does this happen?)

[zamyrabyrd]

QFT

QFT also be Quantum Field Theory or Queens Film Theatre.
Seriously, it is not too late to cancel the debate by whoever feels under the weather...
Only 10 hours to go...