Countdown to Extinction: The 2016 Presidential Election

[Madiel]

Is that site supposed to be Holy Writ or something?

Nope. Just factual.

[Karl Henning]

Whatever may be the priority of El Tupé's determined supporters, it ain't the truth:

For the record, Trump wins at Liar's Dice — by a long shot, according to PolitiFact. At last count, Clinton has told the truth 24 percent of the time, compared with Trump at 4 percent. Clinton's statements have been "mostly true" 27 percent of the time compared with Trump's 11 percent. In the "pants-on-fire" category, meaning not just false but a bald-faced lie, Clinton scores 3 percent to Trump's 17 percent. At least he's winning at something.

So, to be clear, probably no one who is voting for Clinton disagrees that her transparency and embrace of facts could use a shot of vitamins.  But if you're in the tank with El Tupé, it is no better than a sarcasm to call Clinton a liar.

Further upon this theme:  Everyone grants, I suppose, that El Tupé enjoys the legal presumption of innocence until proven guilty.  As a fabulously rich brat who routinely uses the threat of legal action as a cudgel, his financial resources repeatedly shield him from a legal ruling (for one thing).

But for our present purposes, my concern is really with the quality of judgement of Us Out Here.  Given El Tupé's daily demonstration of his character as a serial liar, the Tuperos' insistence that they believe him when he says there is nothing to the multiple allegations borders on slapstick.

[Karl Henning]

Not that it's evidence or anything:

6 people went on the record to back up a reporter who says Trump assaulted her

Both Donald and Melania Trump have made some cringeworthy attempts to discredit People magazine reporter Natasha Stoynoff, who says Donald Trump pushed her up against a wall and forcibly kissed her while she was profiling him and a then-pregnant Melania in late 2005.

Donald brushed off Stoynoff's claims by strongly suggesting that she wasn't attractive enough to warrant his advances. "Look at her," Trump said during a speech. "Look at her words. You tell me what you think. I don't think so."

There are people ready to put this guy in the Oval Office:  his response to the allegations is just continuing to live into the Rape Culture—Look at her. Look at her words. You tell me what you think. I don't think so.

[Karl Henning]

hey zbyrd-

Would you please just take the gloves off already. The GenPop here are beholden to any member of a MajorVictimGroup, so, by merely having the passageway-of-life, you can singlehandedly dispose of all their faux-phemenist brainwashing... if there's one thing these folks are terrified of, it's a woman (Italian horror movie scared!!). Please explain that some men haven't yet been chemically neutered and that today's woman really don't have it so bad. Something. Anything. Nuke 'em.

Congratulations! I think you just may have convinced zb to vote for Clinton.


(j/k)

[Karl Henning]

Psychologists have long studied what power does to the mind. It isn't always pretty.

"Power magnifies personality" — remember that when casting votes for Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton.

For many voters, and especially women voters, Donald Trump's presidential candidacy raises a central question loaded with fear: What happens if you give a person with a long history of abusing power even more power?

More than a dozen women have now alleged that Trump assaulted, groped, or harassed them. The majority said the incidents occurred in professional situations, where he clearly had the upper hand. The leaked Access Hollywood audiotape from 2005 made clear Trump believed his "star" status gave him special access to women's bodies, too. He was comfortable enough to brag about sexual assault while wearing a mic.

The question of whom we should grant political power to deeply matters because research in psychology finds power changes people. Power can have a corrupting effect. Power gives people confidence to indulge in their base urges. It makes us less empathetic, more likely to see our own success in a positive light and harshly condemn failures in others.

As Michael Kraus, who studies the psychology of power at Yale, wrote recently at Quartz, power is only likely to magnify the negative characteristics in a man like Trump. But for an interesting reason: It's not that power is, by itself, corrupting. It's that "power simply brings our true nature out into the open," Kraus writes.

In that light, the recent investigations into Trump's "true nature" — how he interacts with women and around employees, how he responds to failure, and on and on — matter. They may matter as much as his policy proposals and his would-be administration's agenda.

[ RTWT here ]

[Karl Henning]

[ RTWT here ]

This is the way to think about how candidates will wield power: It isn't necessarily corrupting — it's freeing

So if, heaven forfend, we have El Presidente Tupé, the shackles will really be off.

Raise your hand if you're ready for that sort of spectacle.  (Not you, snypsss;  be a good fellow, and recuse yourself from the question.)

[drogulus]

     Finland sees propaganda attack from former master Russia

     

[Karl Henning]

There's a new "silent majority," and it's voting for Hillary Clinton

...But though Trumpniks are certainly the demographic descendants of Nixon's white working-class silent majority, the basic reality is that they are anything but silent. Trump's rallies are, as Trump would be the first to tell you, enormous, raucous affairs. He brings in big ratings. He attracts constant coverage, and so do his supporters, in the form of endlessly writerly explorations of the agonizing anxieties of "Trump Country" communities afflicted by everything from deindustrialization to opiate addiction to an influx of immigrants from the Dominican Republic.

Nor, crucially, are the Trumpniks a majority. Polls give every indication that Hillary Clinton is going to beat Trump, just as she beat Bernie Sanders — who also drew larger rally crowds and more think pieces than she did — in the Democratic primary. Clinton crowds aren't as big, and her voters aren't as loud or as interesting to the media. But there sure are a lot of them. And it's about time we acknowledge them and their emergence as a new silent majority that reelected America's first black president and is poised to elect its first woman.

[Karl Henning]

     Finland sees propaganda attack from former master Russia

Mantila said he believed the whole episode was a follow-up to earlier reports that suggested that Lenin's Bolshevik administration had no right to accept Finland's independence.

Hoo-boy!

[Karl Henning]

There's a new "silent majority," and it's voting for Hillary Clinton

Women, famously, are quieter about their views — less likely to submit blind op-eds or send obnoxious emails — to the point that many of America's Trump-voting husbands are unaware their wives are for Clinton.

[North Star]

"Plus, he said them on a bus. Disgusting."

https://www.youtube.com/v/hKfNp8NU82o

[San Antone]

Judging from all the coverage of Donald Trump's statements and treatment of women one would think that was the most important issue facing Americans today.

Hopefully tonight's debate will cover issues such as the candidate's respective policies on immigration, foreign relations, trade/economy and national security.  Also, maybe Chris Wallace will press Clinton on her security lapses concerning emails and pay-for-play Clinton Foundation activities and her record as Secretary of State, specifically Benghazi. 

I know these topics are not as titillating as rehashing Trump's history with women, but I think they are more important for choosing a president.

[PerfectWagnerite]

Judging from all the coverage of Donald Trump's statements and treatment of women one would think that was the most important issue facing Americans today.

Hopefully tonight's debate will cover issues such as the candidate's respective policies on immigration, foreign relations, trade/economy and national security. 

I wouldn't put money on it. If Trump wanted to discuss those things he would have done so in the previous 2 debates. He isn't really interested in issues, but is prone to exaggerations and sensations. Also it wouldn't take much to set him off and turn him into a raging babbling maniac again.

[Brian]

Judging from all the coverage of Donald Trump's statements and treatment of women one would think that was the most important issue facing Americans today.

Alas, Chris Wallace has already said he's not going to ask about climate.

[drogulus]

 

I know these topics are not as titillating as rehashing Trump's history with women, but I think they are more important for choosing a president.

     I think we reached peak Benghazi long ago. It never made sense for investigations of how the incident happened to focus on wrongdoing by Sec. Clinton. Consulates in dangerous countries don't have the same level of security as embassies, and even embassies are vulnerable.

     As for the fuss over how quickly we released accurate information about what actually happened, as opposed to how quickly authorities learned what actually happened, I have my own opinion, not fully informed (I hope) by facts.

    I'm mostly interested in foreign affairs of the non-Trump kind, and how the next administration will perform on the economy.

[zamyrabyrd]

Judging from all the coverage of Donald Trump's statements and treatment of women one would think that was the most important issue facing Americans today.

Hillary started it all with bringing up "Miss Piggy"in the 1st debate. She knew it would have shock value. Unfortunately it opened up a Pandora's Box for her and her husband. She is reputed to have the mouth of a harridan behind the scenes.

Hopefully tonight's debate will cover issues such as the candidate's respective policies on immigration, foreign relations, trade/economy and national security.  Also, maybe Chris Wallace will press Clinton on her security lapses concerning emails and pay-for-play Clinton Foundation activities and her record as Secretary of State, specifically Benghazi. 
I know these topics are not as titillating as rehashing Trump's history with women, but I think they are more important for choosing a president.

Aye, reducing the debt, stabilizing immigration, bringing jobs back from abroad, reducing taxes and last but not least something Hillary never brought up, defending freedom of conscience, not to force people with religious convictions to have to act against them. Trump did put it in writing to Christian ministers that he would do just that.

[André]

Russia is slowly and methodically bolstering its pan-Russia efforts. It started in Georgia in 2008 , and that war served to articulate the Medvedev doctrine. Then there was Crimea. Bordering states with a russian minority have been served notice of Moscow's intention to aggressively "defend" (by invasion if necessary) all of its nationals.

Kaliningrad will be a beachhead for fostering trouble in Finland and the Baltic States.

This is something I'd like to see addressed, but I don't think it will happen. It's not something to be discussed in the open.

[San Antone]

App maker: Trump will win election

I think this same app predicted the Brexit vote correctly.

[PerfectWagnerite]

App maker: Trump will win election

I think this same app predicted the Brexit vote correctly.

This is what you are referring to?

— "California, who you voting for?" Trump got 55%, compared to 45% for Clinton. In the latest Public Policy Institute of California poll, Clinton has a 16-point advantage over Trump, 46% to 30%.

There isn't a snow ball's chance in hell CA is voting for Trump.

Aye, reducing the debt, stabilizing immigration, bringing jobs back from abroad, reducing taxes and last but not least something Hillary never brought up, defending freedom of conscience, not to force people with religious convictions to have to act against them. Trump did put it in writing to Christian ministers that he would do just that.

Except he doesn't know how to do any of that. Writing a letter? Anyone can do that.

[drogulus]

Trump did put it in writing to Christian ministers that he would do just that.

     ZB, you will be betrayed just as you were by Reagan. Repub abortion politics says keep the issue alive.

     As for the ministers "This morning I had another talk with the Republican candidate, Mr. Trump, and here is the paper which bears his name...."

     

Kaliningrad will be a beachhead for fostering trouble in Finland and the Baltic States.

This is something I'd like to see addressed, but I don't think it will happen. It's not something to be discussed in the open.

      There are aspects that won't be openly discussed, of course. But one thing we can discuss is the qualifications to lead the country through what could be a dangerous next few years. Hillary represent a broad spectrum of foreign policy understandings largely shared by both parties until recently. Trump is the advocate for a "burn the house down" rejection of shared goals. It's a straightforward extrapolation from the views he has expressed that we should withdraw from our commitments. This, far more than sex scandals, disqualifies Trump for the job he seeks.