I'm Loyal to Nothing Except the Dream

"You do realize that when you attack the source rather than the actual content, you have lost the argument."
Isn’t this Trumps primary means of defense by attacking all of the media that report anything negative against him, and then calling it fake news, especially when the news is true.

What exactly is Trump trying to do by alienating his own intelligence agencies? If the FBI and CIA don’t trust him with their data, where does that leave the US. Government to make decisions? Does this not worry you all? Does it make you feel more or less safe?

With the press, obviously he wants only positive spin on what he is doing and is punishing or attacking the media that is not favorable to him (left leaning media). This doesn’t disturb the Trump supporters either? Maybe if the US is attacked by an external entity, this will give him plausible deniability so he can blame the intelligence agencies for withholding information? Clearly it won’t be his own fault at all.

I don’t take any source as gospel without doing my own research on the issue. Much of what I see and judge in Trump is from what he himself says and does. The media only has to replay what he does for you to have a negative image of him. I’m just shocked that so many supporters from all backgrounds, completely dismiss that and say like you do “wait and see what he does”.

1 Like

Speaking of someone who dismisses any contrary view…

Let’s see what the founding fathers had to say about that…

Trump’s move here is deeply unsettling. If Obama had done the same with Fox News, I would have been incredulous.

That said, I implore you to add some variety in your media diet. You might be surprised how much goes on that the mainstream media simply never reports. A homogenous diet becomes a narrative, which becomes little more than an echo chamber.

1 Like

Didn’t he do worse?

1 Like

An excellent point–Obama’s admin was no friend to the press, something even I seem to have forgotten amidst all the Trump noise.

1 Like

The Obama administration has prosecuted twice as many leakers as all previous administrations combined.

It’s worth mentioning that another black mark against the Obama adminstration is its extreme stance towards whistleblowers. I definitely was not a fan of that aspect of the administratrion:

That does pale in comparison to what will happen to Snowden under Trump, though. I’m pretty sure he’ll be executed if Russia turns him over. It’s all extremely weird because of the bizarre Russian connections with Trump…

And Trump has to crack down on his own staff for whistleblowing first, which I’m not sure Obama ever did – or needed to. For that matter, has any president ever had to do that before?

Jeff, as always you continue to be a well articulated voice on any topic that you choose to address.

Your action plan is very similar to my own.

One upside is that this election has cause a LOT of complacent people to wake up and realize that politics is something that every citizen is involved with, like it or not.

1 Like

Wahoowa, Mr. Atwood, and good luck moving the needle

No please, don’t make it a one day when you must show up.

As someone from argentina, the idea of having to go to voting one day, and because of bureaucracy the voting process is slow, and ugly, and tedious. It won’t work.

Also, having to vote leaves to the idea of politicias buying votes, and saying things like “if you don’t vote for me, we’ll now and we’ll kill you” (wich is a real thing because people are ignorant and think the vote is not a secret, or are paranoid about it)

So no, the “you must vote, and the voting period is just one day” it’s a horrible, horrible idea.
Even if it’s done on schools on sunday, it’s horrible.

So an illegal invasion which culminated in the destruction of a country and the murder of hundreds of thousands -of which you and every American share responsibility- didn’t prod you into action. Neither was the complete support given to a country currently engaged in the starvation of 14 million people. You only sprung into action when it was your livelihood and well being that were at stake. Don’t presuppose that you’re doing this out of a deep seated moral obligation towards your country. Had that been the case you would have been vocal in your resistance towards the imperialist and criminal policies of your governments. Policies which were and continue to be made and exacted in your name. Policies which have effectively robbed you of your moral footing in the world and are essentially the catalyst to what we’re seeing today.

The other thing I advocate for every time I get a parliamentarian’s ear is a git style revision system for legislation. It sucks to read “Bill 44” which repeals “section 32 of Bill 23” which modified “paragraph 7 of section 34 in Bill 2”. The tools are there but the culture isn’t.

This. I have thought the same. It would be the best solution to an intractably complex body of legislation.

Given the nature of the thing and the need for integrity, blockchain technology might also help. Ensure no one corrupts the main repository and gets away with it…

Unfortunately McCain picked Sarah Palin who was a mini trump as his running mate. And Romney was running against a sitting president who was kinda well liked by most Americans except the tea party.

The above two reasons are why Mcain and Romney didn’t win.

David, let’s compare:

https://twitter.com/MittRomney/status/897612532386607104

https://twitter.com/BarackObama/status/896523232098078720

with

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/08/15/us/politics/trump-charlottesville-white-nationalists.html

See above ↑ ↑

It is more than a little bit amusing to see a leftist pining for Mitt Romney.

What about Trump’s statement of there being violence on both sides was incorrect? In fact, he vastly understates the problem of left-wing violence. The counter-demonstrators were so-called Antifas, who went to the demonstration to crack heads. These are the same people who have successfully shut down free-speech on campuses across the country using violent means. They are now waging a war on statuary that puts the Taliban to shame. They receive very public support from the highest levels of the Democrat party, from almost all of the media, and lots of large corporations. Their stated goals are to end free-speech, end free-markets, and to end America.

If there is not a perfect moral equivalence between Antifa and the thankfully small and pathetic group of neo-Nazis, it is because the former is in fact worse and a greater danger to America. It is because Antifa is fully backed by a major politcal party while virtually no one backs or supports neo-Nazis.

The country got Trump because the Democrats and the media insisted Romney was a Nazi. If it keeps up with calling Trump a Nazi, I wonder what comes next?

1 Like

I am not a leftist. I am an American. if you must apply a label, call me a scientist. I like data.

The data does not support this:

Nobody except you is calling trump a Nazi. I am calling him the same thing I called him in January: a terrible leader, who can’t even make a strong statement against overt racists who carry literal nazi flags and sing nazi songs as they march. And they killed someone.

Watch the Vice story if you don’t believe me, maybe seeing it with your own eyes and hearing it with your own ears will help. Now we have 6 more months of data bearing that out.

Nobody except the media, the entertainment industry and the Democrat Part and the entire Left. How can you write such an obviously false statement while claiming to be a “scientist” and “like data”?

And lets not forget Christopher Noxon’s graphic essay, which you, yes you yourself, linked to approvingly way back up the thread:

1 Like

As you correctly pointed out earlier, we should look at actual video of Trump to see what he thinks.

Based on the material in this video, in Trump’s actual words, Trump legitimately believes that some people are genetically superior to others.

I am curious, David, do you also believe in the inherent genetic superiority of certain people or races?

Is there supposed to be something about this that’s controversial? Some people clearly are genetically superior than others.

Michael Jordan is, without controversy, genetically superior than you or me within the context of playing professional sports.

Tyra Banks is, without controversy, genetically superior than Roseanne Barr within the context of physical beauty.

You are, without controversy, genetically superior than Katy Perry within the context of analytical thinking.

Instead of clutching at pearls, how about we be honest here and admit that the whole point of genetics, from a literal scientific perspective, is to produce superior offspring?

This is, quite frankly, beneath you. Or should be. I suggest you apply your critical mind to more philosophical endeavors. Read up on logical fallacies. Because this insinuation-in-the-guise-of-a-conclusion of yours here is a textbook example of at least 3 of them.

If you profess to be above partisan allegiances, then the least you can do is reason like it.

Trump may be all the embarrassing things Trump is. That doesn’t make him a white nationalist. And it doesn’t make him a racist. Now, he could be. I don’t know. But none of this crap is what demonstrates it. Snipping some edited montage from HuffPo or referencing some article from the NYT that does nothing but play into the national media hysteria surrounding Charlottesville serves absolutely zero purpose other than to play into the very sort of partisan groupthink to which you claim not to ascribe.

You state yourself that Trump didn’t condemn these neo-Nazis “strongly enough” even when someone died in Charlottesville. Guess what Republicans said about Obama’s response to every act of domestic terrorism when the attacker was Muslim?

Wake up, already. This isn’t rocket science. Antifa and BLM and other so-called “leftist” movements have been protesting and inciting violence and destroying all kinds of property long before Charlottesville, but now that one person has died thanks to some a-hole white nationalist, we’re supposed to get whipped up in a frenzy about Confederate statues and the rise of neo-Nazis and how Trump at least indirectly encourages all of this?

Seriously?

1 Like

Interesting, I have a document here in front of me that claims otherwise.

I’m saying the same thing I said in February, but with the considerable weight of 6 more months of observed data based on Trump’s actions – Trump actively undermines American values, weakens who we are, what we stand for, and our status in the world.

Clever > nuance.

This is the internet, after all.

None of what you posted demonstrates that. Any specific examples that aren’t just regurgitating breathless headlines from the media that are completely devoid of facts?