Countdown to Extinction: The 2016 Presidential Election

[The new erato]

The US sure has some healing to do, when all this sorry stuff is over. I think a HRC victory will make that easier, if not only because there's more focus on policy issues and less "hate rhetoric" on the Democratic side.

[Karl Henning]

Electoral contest still a close thing, though Clinton has always polled to her advantage.

[drogulus]

The US sure has some healing to do, when all this sorry stuff is over. I think a HRC victory will make that easier, if not only because there's more focus on policy issues and less "hate rhetoric" on the Democratic side.

     I don't see it that way. The election will be over, and the warfare will continue in the House and Senate as it has for the last eight years, now with an intensity beyond anything we've seen. High crimes and misdemeanors are now defined as what you impeach HRC for. It can be as content free as the bare preimpeachment accusations.

     The charge is "we hate you and want you gone", the evidence is "we hate you and want you gone", and the guilty defendant is nonwhite nonmale nonChristian America. In these binary terms both sides must rule or be subject to the status of inferiors in a Shakespearian way. Bolingbroke must take the crown from Richard just to get his title and property back and keep it.

     If you make cooperation impossible you make zero sum political warfare inevitable. McConnell declared zero sum war, set the zero sum rules and cut Repubs off from Obama and practical governing.

     Montenegro: Russians behind Election Day coup attempt

     I'd like to see some detail. I find dubious the notion that the obviousness of Russian cyberwarfare should count against the claim that Russia is behind it.

     Is Donald Trump Losing To A Mastermind Or A Moron?

     If you believe the polls, yes.

     No, I think the abnormality is Trump, HildaBeast is not a moron or genius.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

The US sure has some healing to do, when all this sorry stuff is over. I think a HRC victory will make that easier, if not only because there's more focus on policy issues and less "hate rhetoric" on the Democratic side.

Whoever wins on Tuesday, s/he will be in the unenviable position of being regarded as illegitimate by a large portion of the populace. This is a recipe for instability.

Meanwhile, in today's "News of the Weird," fashionable Slovenian Marxist philosopher Slavoj Žižek has endorsed The Donald:

http://heatst.com/culture-wars/superstar-marxist-professor-just-endorsed-trump-for-president/?mod=sm_fb_post

I guess he's one of those "heighten the contradictions" types. Or maybe he knows Melania from way back, and wants to help her out. Who knows?

[André]

Comey's dilemma is over: FBI sends legislators a letter saying the latest round of Hillary emails hysteria proved to be... a non event. http://nypost.com

"Sorry everybody, it was a false alert".

Or an exercise. Or a failed coup. You decide.

[drogulus]

Comey's dilemma is over: FBI sends legislators a letter saying the latest round of Hillary emails hysteria proved to be... a non event. http://nypost.com

"Sorry everybody, it was a false alert".

Or an exercise. Or a failed coup. You decide.

     Comey is issuing a makeup call for a makeup call for his original mistake, recommending no prosecution in the email case, instead of making no recommendation because prosecution is up to the Justice Dept. By missing a perfect opportunity to stay out of a political mess he had no business in, he damaged the FBI and fostered a rebellion in the agency that has damaged it further.

     If Comey had really been acting on sound political instincts he would have stayed clear of this mess. The reason he didn't is Comey was not astute enough to know what a neutral position required of him. The damage is done now.

[Mirror Image]

I'm so sick and tired of hearing about Clinton's email dilemma and now it's a non-issue as I thought it would be. Move along you Republican nutters. Move along.

[BasilValentine]

I'm so sick and tired of hearing about Clinton's email dilemma and now it's a non-issue as I thought it would be. Move along you Republican nutters. Move along.

On a similar note: As I was slipping into my nap this afternoon I heard an interview on NPR with a journalist who had actually bothered to read the original 243 page FBI report on the email "scandal." The plot turns out not to be "conspiracy with sinister international cabal" but "Granny doesn't know how to work a computer."

[(poco) Sforzando]

I'm so sick and tired of hearing about Clinton's email dilemma and now it's a non-issue as I thought it would be. Move along you Republican nutters. Move along.

Do you believe for a minute that they will? After all, the day the Comey (I first typed Comedy) letter came out, my revolting Congressman Pete King of the NY 2nd already was certain that whatever was found in those emails had to be significant.

[André]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/malcolm-gladwell-us-election-the-national-trump-clinton-1.3838449

According to Gladwell (journalist to The New-Yorker), there is much more that unites republicans and democrats than there is that opposes them. But this year some very specific issues that have come to the fore give this election a special, unprecedented spin. I suggest you listen to the full interview (scroll down). Gladwell is very articulate and interesting to listen to.

[snyprrr]

Comey's dilemma is over: FBI sends legislators a letter saying the latest round of Hillary emails hysteria proved to be... a non event. http://nypost.com

"Sorry everybody, it was a false alert".

Or an exercise. Or a failed coup. You decide.

Yea, they went through 650,000 emails in 8 days... that's one email per minute... of course they went through them all, - he told us they did-

(btw- this is not snyprrr, so, their self imposed ban doesn't include me (they're gonna be laughably pissed later, wish you could be here)

[(poco) Sforzando]

Yea, they went through 650,000 emails in 8 days... that's one email per minute... of course they went through them all, - he told us they did-

(btw- this is not snyprrr, so, their self imposed ban doesn't include me (they're gonna be laughably pissed later, wish you could be here)

I knew someone was going to come out with this particular piece of lunacy. Computerized comparison of documents is lightning fast. What do you think, they were printing each email individual and comparing them line-to-line by eye? Chances are good they could have compared 8 emails a minute or even many more. Move on already.

[Mirror Image]

Do you believe for a minute that they will? After all, the day the Comey (I first typed Comedy) letter came out, my revolting Congressman Pete King of the NY 2nd already was certain that whatever was found in those emails had to be significant.

Nah, I suppose I had a level of optimism for a second for a party that's on the brink of self-annihilation.

[Marc]

I'm so sick and tired of hearing about Clinton's email dilemma and now it's a non-issue as I thought it would be. Move along you Republican nutters. Move along.

Just relax.
We've been through this before.
It's just as huge as Watergate, that's all.
Granny doesn't know how the computer works, and Nixon didn't know how the law works.

[Jo498]

I cannot imagine anything getting easier. In the unlikely event that Trump wins all bets seem to be off what will happen because he is so unpredictable. Clearly, he will be hated by most Americans (and the rest of the world will be afraid because of his inexperience, especially in foreign policy). There is a chance that in 4 years Trump will have made such a fool of himself that the voters will be happy to go back to any "establishment" candidate.

If Clinton wins she will also be hated by many Americans, it will be business as usual in many respects, maybe a slightly more hawkish foreign policy but most of the rest of the world will be content with somewhat predictable business as usual. But very little will be done about the tensions in the US populace. Without a "Trump disenchantment" the distrust and hate against the political establishment, the tensions between racial and social groups etc. will very probably only grow, so I wonder what kind of populist might become candidate in 2020...

Of course this assumes that the deeper economic and societal problems and tensions will not be successfully resolved by either president and everything will get tougher and more confrontational. Not the least because many of these problems will probably grow "by themselves", e.g. resource scarcity, off-shoring of US labor, instability in the near/middle East, instability in the EU, rise of China etc.

[zamyrabyrd]

I cannot imagine anything getting easier. In the unlikely event that Trump wins all bets seem to be off what will happen because he is so unpredictable. Clearly, he will be hated by most Americans (and the rest of the world will be afraid because of his inexperience, especially in foreign policy). There is a chance that in 4 years Trump will have made such a fool of himself that the voters will be happy to go back to any "establishment" candidate.

He said exactly what he plans to do, no need to repeat here. As for "most Americans" hating him, why would the majority hate someone they voted for?

If Clinton wins she will also be hated by many Americans, it will be business as usual in many respects, maybe a slightly more hawkish foreign policy but most of the rest of the world will be content with somewhat predictable business as usual. But very little will be done about the tensions in the US populace. Without a "Trump disenchantment" the distrust and hate against the political establishment, the tensions between racial and social groups etc. will very probably only grow, so I wonder what kind of populist might become candidate in 2020...

If Hillary wins, there will be President Kaine in the next 4 years, sooner than later, I presume.

[Jo498]

But wouldn't Kaine also be business as usual therefore only prolonging any possible resolution of entrenched and hateful conflicts? Or would it help that the hate tied to the very person of HRC would be defused?

[Turner]

So this is how low it got. Trump Minnesota rally today.

[Karl Henning]

I knew someone was going to come out with this particular piece of lunacy. Computerized comparison of documents is lightning fast. What do you think, they were printing each email individual and comparing them line-to-line by eye? Chances are good they could have compared 8 emails a minute or even many more. Move on already.

Whether it's the El Tupé campaign getting the cues from snypsss, or vice versa, or both of them sucking on the Moscow misinformation teat, is a question.  Not the most interesting question, but a question.

[Karl Henning]

I cannot imagine anything getting easier. In the unlikely event that Trump wins all bets seem to be off what will happen because he is so unpredictable.

Oh, I think it is predictable:  the country finally focuses on the Trump University scandal, and El Tupé becomes the first President to be impeached.  Unlike Nixon, he won't quit, because he isn't A Loser.