U.S. Presidential Election 2016 (Sponsored by Betty Croker's Hamburger Helper)

[phonics]

I'm certain he's going to go full Mugabe whether he wins this next election or not.

[Henry]

So lets say Trump starts murdering the family members of terrorist suspects, like he promised. Or reinstates torture, like he promised. Are people allowed to protest then?

[Kikó]

No. You never are.

[phonics]

TBF he's already done the former and no-one gave a shit once you pointed out Obama did it for 8 years. Which is at the end of the day, the problem. The 'opposition' is exactly the same apart from they have contempt for poor people rather than hatred of them.

[Jimmy Floyd]

He could start a Second Civil War if the election is lost. It'll probably only be him, Clint Eastwood and Bubba Watson still onside by then, but that could be enough.

[phonics]

That's the other problem, that if it does descend into chaos, the nutters are better armed.

[Henry]

TBF he's already done the former and no-one gave a shit once you pointed out Obama did it for 8 years. Which is at the end of the day, the problem. The 'opposition' is exactly the same apart from they have contempt for poor people rather than hatred of them.

Point taken, although with Obama it was more in the "collateral damage" bracket, whereas Trump wants to deliberately target them.

But whether it's Obama or Trump, to say that it's okay and shouldn't be opposed because he was elected is fucking moronic.

[Lewis]

Wikileaks has posted a load of CIA-related guff, some of which is a bit 'You wot mate?', but nobody cares because they all love the 'intelligence community' now. :harold:

[Shindig]

He could start a Second Civil War if the election is lost. It'll probably only be him, Clint Eastwood and Bubba Watson still onside by then, but that could be enough.

Two of those people are probably going to be dead in four years.

[phonics]

Wikileaks has posted a load of CIA-related guff, some of which is a bit 'You wot mate?', but nobody cares because they all love the 'intelligence community' now. :harold:

All the useful stuff is redacted. All it outlines is what vulnerabilities they're using which are largely the same as any other hacking group. Though they have got through Microsoft Security Essentials which most haven't but there's no documentation on how to so it doesn't matter.

[Bartholomert]

Wikileaks has posted a load of CIA-related guff, some of which is a bit 'You wot mate?', but nobody cares because they all love the 'intelligence community' now. :harold:

What a shambles. This is what happens when we deviate from the Constitution and give government power and resources.

[phonics]

Yeah, the CIA hasn't leaked a thing outside of the last 6 months.

[Magic]

POTUS donning it here.

[Lewis]

Paul Ryan claiming (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFWI8KJzD1w) that Obamacare fails because of what insurance is as a concept is pretty lol. Outside of hereditary dictatorships and banana republics, is he the most over-promoted man on Earth?

[Raoul Duke]

Dunno. What's Magic's new job title?

[Lewis]

This (https://twitter.com/wokieleaks1/status/840201049273167872) is great. 'Weaponised autism', as somebody says in the replies.

[Henry]

Paul Ryan is a total charlatan. The degree of respect that he gets is outrageous.

[phonics]

The twist of proposing a Healthcare Bill so bad that it makes Republicans want Universal Healthcare is a hell of a fuck up.

[ItalAussie]

The twist of proposing a Healthcare Bill so bad that it makes Republicans want Universal Healthcare is a hell of a fuck up.

It's kind of interesting. Especially since the sheer number of bills they tried to pass that would have repealed it cold. Now all of the sudden they have the power to do it, and they've got cold on the idea. Quelle surprise.

[7om]

Trump's doing another one of his lol rallies in Tennessee right now, if anyone is interested. Lots of 'bigly's to kick it off so far.

[Lewis]

I liked him embracing Andrew Jackson to annoy the people he already annoys just a little bit more.

'We built a beautiful reservation...'

[7om]

Calls the assembled media 'the most dishonest people on the planet' to a chorus of boos. :lol:

Better than WWE, this.

[phonics]

When you get fired from your corporate social media job
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C7Cx-56WgAA-usU.jpg

[Raoul Duke]

I'm going to start eating Maccy D's again, just for that :drool:

[Lewis]

We'll find out on Sunday that he has shares in them, and he'll have donned everyone again.

[Lewis]

842543868201570305

What a legend.

[ItalAussie]

He makes Sarah Palin sound erudite.

And, in fairness, he probably can see Russia from his house.

[Shindig]

Libel would fuck this guy raw.

[Lewis]

842809929366945794

How anyone can not even find him funny is beyond me.

[Dquincy]

Don't get it.

[Offshore Toon]

The people that are offended are the type that don't have a sense of humour. Everything is so serious because nothing is.

[John]

He's just a rambling diddy.

The White House Budget stuff is a bit lol, with all the plebs acting as though stuff like completely binning Meals on Wheels isn't the most obvious bit of horse trading ever devised.

[Lewis]

Meals on Wheels received 50 times the typical amount of daily donations on Thursday after the White House proposed cuts to some of the program's sources of funding, a spokesperson for the group said. Volunteer sign-ups also jumped, increasing by 500%, according to Jenny Bertolette, a spokeswoman for Meals on Wheels America

People doing stuff when the state stops doing it. This could catch on.

[GS]

Until they all find something else to concern themselves with within the week.

[Henry]

There's now a criminal investigation into collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

I mean, I still think there's very little in that stuff, but it's nice to see elements of the establishment trying to take him down, and this could possibly do it.

[Bartholomert]

You mean the same investigation that has cleared Trump many times over? It's pretty *yawn* at this stage, if there was anything to find they would have found it a long time ago.

[Shindig]

It's a trifle. I mean, WE KNOW there's Kompromat on a server somewhere but all the best hackers are Russian. So we're knackered.

[ItalAussie]

You mean the same investigation that has cleared Trump many times over? It's pretty *yawn* at this stage, if there was anything to find they would have found it a long time ago.

This is a bit rich, given the election campaign.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Trump will be impeached within the year. I'll bet Mert a few greenbacks on that if he can get his head around odds in the mean time.

[ItalAussie]

Trump will be impeached within the year. I'll bet Mert a few greenbacks on that if he can get his head around odds in the mean time.

I can't see it. Not because he won't deserve it, but because the US senate and congress are too cowardly to make that stick.

Republicans won't want to upset their base - Trump could literally do anything and they'd find a way to support him when the chips are down - and the Democrats have about two-thirds of a working spine between them.

[Bartholomert]

It's a trifle. I mean, WE KNOW there's Kompromat on a server somewhere but all the best hackers are Russian. So we're knackered.

The Vault 7 hacks showed that the CIA very easily had the capabilities to set up Trump by making it seem as if the Russians hacked the servers after the fact (even though Assange had maintained that it was an inside source and not a hack).

[Henry]

You know, just by confirming that leaks are genuine as he has done many times in his tweets, Trump is revealing classified information and should be impeached.

[phonics]

That's fucking retarded Henry.

[Henry]

No it isn't.

If there are leaks of allegedly classified information coming out and someone who knows whether the info is genuine or not confirms that it is, then he is basically revealing it himself. The correct response is to give no comment.

And I say this as someone who supports most of the leaking.

[phonics]

POTUS is the ultimate classification authority. They can release or not release classified information at will. Stop being an idiot because you don't like the guy.

[Henry]

POTUS is the ultimate classification authority. They can release or not release classified information at will.

Where the hell do you get this from? He's not above the law.

[Shindig]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-39335887


President Trump's daughter Ivanka will get an office in the White House, an administration official has said.
But she will not have an official title or salary when she works in the West Wing - the hub of US executive power.
The official also confirmed media reports that the 35-year-old would have access to classified information.

That's .... almost nepotism.

[Bernanke]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-39335887



That's .... almost nepotism.

First female president. Give it 20 years or so. :nodd:

[Pepe]

Remember those memes that said 'the Republican nightmare: Hillary - Michelle - Chelsea - Obama's daughter (can't remember her name)' :lol:

[phonics]

Where the hell do you get this from? He's not above the law.

lol

edit: Is saying North Korea is trying to build a nuclear bomb leaking classified information?

[Henry]

lol

edit: Is saying North Korea is trying to build a nuclear bomb leaking classified information?

No, because that's not classified, is it?

[phonics]

The evidence of it will be. The Bin Laden mission was top secret even from the nation that he was staying in. Yet we know he's dead. Should Obama have been empeached for that? Apart from the obvious point that literally anything the president deals with is classified at one point or another, you're ignoring that you'd basically be destroying the press. What congressman will tell a journalist bad shit that's going down if the President of the United States can be deposed for declassifying information?

[Henry]

The evidence of it will be.

Perhaps, and that hasn't been leaked...


The Bin Laden mission was top secret even from the nation that he was staying in. Yet we know he's dead. Should Obama have been empeached for that?

We don't have primary sources here, but the basic fact of the mission presumably ceased to be classified after it happened.


Apart from the obvious point that literally anything the president deals with is classified at one point or another, you're ignoring that you'd basically be destroying the press. What congressman will tell a journalist bad shit that's going down if the President of the United States can be deposed for declassifying information?

I suspect that there's a proper way to "declassify" information that doesn't encompass blurting it out on Twitter for oneupmanship in a power struggle.

[phonics]

So you're not angry that he's leaked classified information that doesn't exist (lets remember, this thing never happened), you're angry that he didn't do the required paperwork to declassify information that doesn't exist?

And literally do a very basic google. I'd try 'can president declassify information' and the answer is yes. It's been true at least since Bush leaked that active CIA agents name to the press.

[mikem]

Our dotty old racist is the Commander in Chief, which legally makes him the ultimate declassification tool. We did this in the run up to Iraq where Bush was authorizing leaks to win public support. White Al Sharpton doesn't leak classified information; he just can't tell the difference between an intel briefing and a Breitbart story. And he can only get impeached if D's win at the midterms. You need votes not spines.

[Henry]

So you're not angry that he's leaked classified information that doesn't exist (lets remember, this thing never happened), you're angry that he didn't do the required paperwork to declassify information that doesn't exist?

And literally do a very basic google. I'd try 'can president declassify information' and the answer is yes. It's been true at least since Bush leaked that active CIA agents name to the press.

I'm not "angry" at this, I'm pointing out that he's doing it. And it's about intelligence leaks, not stuff that "doesn't exist".

[phonics]

The 'Obama wiretap' doesn't exist, Henry. You seem to be struggling with a few basic concepts here.

P.S. Shoutout to the NYT for constantly referring to it as a "tapp" in quotes during their reporting, passive-aggressively pointing out the leader of the free world can't spell.

[John]

He's continually giving tacit confirmation to everything that leaks, because every time something does he calls it a leak in an angry tweet.

[mikem]

John, you are absolutely right. It is all bad just not an impeachable offense or likely even illegal. Emoluments are a far stronger case but none of it matters as long as Ryan controls the House.

[John]

https://i.gyazo.com/81045104f3fbec38e5ed51c8b13b0720.jpg

:lol:

[SvN]

Lol at Turkey being one of the countries banned from carrying electronic devices. I wonder what Mert thinks of that.

[phonics]

You have to hand it to the Republicans. The bare-faced balls of the stuff they pulll is quite impressive.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C7rpRbyXkAAUG2l.jpg:large

[ItalAussie]

Interesting. The Republicans crossing their own President is a pretty serious outcome. So much for being a great deal-maker. He had a majority - didn't even have to try and "make a deal" with his opposition. He just had to convince his own party that it was good legislation, and couldn't do that.

He should probably have them all on board when it comes to tax breaks, so he'll get some legislation out soon enough, but this is still a pretty major setback.

EDIT: Trump blamed the Democrats for not torpedoing their own legislation. :D

[John]

Apparently when that picture I posted was taken Trump was sitting in the cabin of a truck on the White House driveway, honking the horn and pretending to drive. He later turned up to a meeting wearing a badge that said 'I <3 Trucks'. He's a toddler. He's a six foot toddler at a fair.

[Shindig]

You're laughing but when the new Volvo Megatruck gets built in Detroit, he'll be getting high praise. I'm still hoping he u-turns on Universal Healthcare. Whenever I go into an NHS building, I see where the money goes and the manpower it takes to barely keep that thing running.

[Pepe]

Whenever I go into an NHS building, I see where the money goes and the manpower it takes to barely keep that thing running.

Less money than the shite they have here cost.

[Disco]

So the man who made a big deal about being a dealmaker can't even convince his own party to vote for his legislation. I wonder how long it will take him to get bored of being humiliated at every turn.

[Pepe]

It was not really his legislation was it? Haven't been following all that closely.

[Disco]

The liberal media elites tell me it's 'his' bill but you know how they can be.

[John]

So the man who made a big deal about being a dealmaker can't even convince his own party to vote for his legislation. I wonder how long it will take him to get bored of being humiliated at every turn.

He'll just lie and it'll all be fine. In two weeks he'll deny ever having claimed that he'd repeal and replace, in two months he'll claim that the bill was proposed and went to a vote without his knowledge, and in six months he'll deny that a bill was ever drafted.

[Pepe]

Coal mining coming back. :drool:

[Henry]

The Department of Energy has banned employees from using the phrase "climate change".

The Chair of the House Science committee insists that "Science" magazine is not an objective publication. He has previously cited Mail on Sunday commentary about similar matters.

[John Arne]

Yeah read that earlier, not sure I believe it to be honest. A unnamed source claimed it, whilst the Dept. themselves have come out and said



"No words or phrases have been banned for this office or anyone in the department,”


FAKE NEWS!

[Offshore Toon]

Lol at Henry getting donned by #FakeNews. Sit down, old man.

[phonics]

It would be very unlike anyone in this administration to lie.

[Shindig]

It's not the first time something about this administration's been misreported, either. When it comes language use and websites.

[phonics]

849315635075141633

Sorry lads, turns out Harold was right, I AM a terrorist sympathiser.

[ItalAussie]

I would say that Trump has absolutely reached the Tyson Zone.


Tyson Zone

The point at which a celebrity's behavior becomes so insane, that there is literally nothing they could do that would any longer shock or surprise you, or indeed any human being.

So named after boxer Mike Tyson, who at one time was the heavyweight boxing champion of world, since which time he has 1) married a semi-famous tv-star at the time, 2) alleged to have abused said wife, 3) divorced, 4) chewed off the ear of another boxer during a match, 5) received a facial tattoo, 6) owns and tends to his pigeon coop, located on the rooftop of a New York apartment building.

[John]

That should probably be renamed the 'Sheen Zone'. Three of those six actions are surprising, but that's not a great hit rate and I'd still be surprised if Mike Tyson announced a Presidential campaign. Charlie Sheen could announce his Presidential campaign by base jumping nude off Mount Rushmore and aiming a piss at Abraham Lincoln's mouth during his descent and I'm not sure anyone would be genuinely shocked.

[ItalAussie]

It was a term coined in a less ridiculous time, obviously.

[Disco]

They couldn't find something more 'shocking' than pigeon fancying to top off that list?

[John Arne]

Bannon has been removed from the National Security Council.

[mikem]

He was only ever on the Security Council because the admin reset to an old Bush first inauguration era org chart out of reflexive everything Obama did is bad.

Ignoring the fact that Obama's org chart virtually mirrored Bush's later chart. After Bush's team created the Department of Homeland Security which changed the entire security structure.

[Bartholomert]

Bannon has been removed from the National Security Council.

He was always a temporary appointment in an oversight role to ensure that it was properly organized / the individuals involved had the right opinions and perspectives.

[GS]

It doesn't matter what the reason is, he shouldn't have been anywhere near the NSC. It politicises it in a way that's not acceptable. It's rectified now, so let's just hope that particular line isn't crossed again.

[phonics]

I was reading a New York Times piece about Trumps budget and had to re-read this sentence a couple of times to make sure I was reading it right

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C8uZJyAXkAAWtpO.jpg:large

[Lewis]

That sounds like a new low for projection.

[GS]

Its implication is that all white conservatives in America are inherently racist, so it can almost certainly be ascribed to the same sort of nauseating moral high ground as Continuity Remain and the other anti Trump protestors.

[Pepe]

Because there are no legitimate reasons to protest Trump, right?

[Pepe]

'Look at them generalizing. They are all the same.'

[phonics]

Pepe, I don't think you get it. Trump won therefore we must all pledge allegiance to the King until 2020 .

[GS]

It's quite valid when planting your flag on the moral high ground necessitates vilifying the people who disagree with you as racists, xenophobes, or simply too stupid to understand what they were doing.

[phonics]

GS, out of interest, did you think Harold was a racist?

[GS]

I genuinely couldn't tell you the last time I didn't skip straight through entire pages when his posts were prominent thereon.

I recall some quite distasteful comments on genetics, so you'd have to say yes if my recollection of what his implication was is correct.

[phonics]

mert has stated similar things in the past, (such as Blacks being more predisposed to crime) do you think he's a racist?

[GS]

I'm not getting into this - they can defend themselves from their accusations, if they wish.

I assume your point is that they're right wing and have said unsavoury things. That's fine isn't it, but it, as usual, involves you spectacularly missing the point.

[phonics]

No I was waiting for you to say yes and then point out that the highest (and most influential within this administration as seen by his head of department choices) voting bloc for Trump was merts (white, male, college educated, income over 70k) and proving my point for me. The Republican party is not a working class party so lets stop pretending that this administration is about the 'white working class'. It's not. (outside of maybe Bannon who has his own motives, because he's a racist) It's about appealing to them while fucking them because they are poor and fuck the poor.

[phonics]

Meanwhile the impact of that broadband privacy bill among merts across the nation has taken him to 49% with white males which is lol. It's the one thing that actually affects them and they're fuming. Breitbart tried to spin it as 'These regulations hold back ISPs from doing what Google and Facebook do' and the whole BTL was them going, 'So tell FB and Google to fuck off'

So gud.

[Lewis]

I read something about how much the people who voted that through have received from telecommunications companies, and, say what you want about our newspapers, but they would annihilate anybody being that openly bent.

[mikem]

Its implication is that all white conservatives in America are inherently racist, so it can almost certainly be ascribed to the same sort of nauseating moral high ground as Continuity Remain and the other anti Trump protestors.

No, it is a recognition that a lot of very successful political operatives in the US reject the notion that you win with logical debate. Instead, you win by activating identity pools. The prevalence of zero sum thinking means various forms of tribalism are the easiest route to triggering identity pool coalitions that will win.

Their bet is that you will read a statement like Phonics posted and react to it less with thought than with some form of identity.

[Disco]

Surely you read that and think 'What kind of asshole thinks this way?'

[Bartholomert]

mert has stated similar things in the past, (such as Blacks being more predisposed to crime) do you think he's a racist?

Wut. Any proof? Cultural arguments don't count.

[Bartholomert]

Meanwhile the impact of that broadband privacy bill among merts across the nation has taken him to 49% with white males which is lol. It's the one thing that actually affects them and they're fuming. Breitbart tried to spin it as 'These regulations hold back ISPs from doing what Google and Facebook do' and the whole BTL was them going, 'So tell FB and Google to fuck off'

So gud.

Yes no way he can win the presidency with those reliable poll numbers!


I read something about how much the people who voted that through have received from telecommunications companies, and, say what you want about our newspapers, but they would annihilate anybody being that openly bent.

It's par for the course in the US. And anyways states can erect their own privacy protections, it's not the federal governments job to micromanage everything.

[Pepe]

I read something about how much the people who voted that through have received from telecommunications companies, and, say what you want about our newspapers, but they would annihilate anybody being that openly bent.

That's what I love about the US. Don't get me wrong, I come from one of the most corrupt countries in the world, but over here, corruption is legal.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Probably because USA doesn't have any newspapers or anything other than corporate journalism. We're slowly heading the same way.

Mexico of course cuts to the chase by having all the journalists murdered.

[Lewis]

That's what I love about the US. Don't get me wrong, I come from one of the most corrupt countries in the world, but over here, corruption is legal.

Alright, Tony Montana.

[Pepe]

Mexico of course cuts to the chase by having all the journalists murdered.

Yet we still probably have a bit more investigative journalism. It really is a shit situation we find ourselves in, sadly.


Alright, Tony Montana.

It's true. Privately funded campaings, donations all over the shop, public endorsments, lobbyists being a thing. It really is a big fucking mess.

[Henry]

39

I'll just leave this without comment...

EDIT: Actually, that's very small but you can still read the main bit...

[mikem]

Surely you read that and think 'What kind of asshole thinks this way?'

Yes, it is. And it is why the left so often loses. But that ignores the history. The concept comes from two Republican strategists in the late 60's, Lee Atwater and Kevin Phillips, who created the Southern Strategy. Both left and right have been playing identity since but we don't like talking about it because it is all so uncomfortable.

Phillips pretty much coined the entire current political lexicon we use today: Heartland, coastal enclaves, or Sunbelt. It is all his. In the 90's he did one of those deathbed repudiations and referred to it as "You tell me who hates who and I'll tell you how to win."

Atwater described activating identity like this in 1981:

You start out in 1954 by saying, “Nigger, nigger, nigger.” By 1968 you can’t say “nigger”—that hurts you, backfires. So you say stuff like, uh, forced busing, states’ rights, and all that stuff, and you’re getting so abstract. Now, you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is, blacks get hurt worse than whites.… “We want to cut this,” is much more abstract than even the busing thing, uh, and a hell of a lot more abstract than “Nigger, nigger.”

[Pepe]

I am guessing that you're not commenting because you too can't read it.

[Lewis]

Tax cuts are racist. Got it.

[Pepe]

Nigger, nigger, nigger.

[Henry]

I am guessing that you're not commenting because you too can't read it.

Click on it.

[Pepe]

Still small as fuck.

[Henry]

Okay, well take 5 warning points.

[Disco]

Will those be big enough to read?

[Pepe]

:harold:

What a fucking twat.

[Disco]

It's unlike Henry to be an unmitigated bellend.

[Henry]

You can't honestly have thought that posting that was going to be looked upon favourably.

[Offshore Toon]

Lol how is Henry a mod still? Go shag a prozzie, microphone-head.

[mikem]

Tax cuts are racist. Got it.

No. A tax cut is just a tax cut. If you can code it as saying that program that helps that undeserving group that stops a tax cut you can sell it more easily. It doesn't have to be strictly race - that just makes more sense to Atwater as a man of his time.

Do the same with the left and massive corporations and you get the same place. The argument doesn't sell. The ability to activate a core identity does.

[Shindig]

You can't honestly have thought that posting that was going to be looked upon favourably.

Be honest, you had a cheeky smile to yourself.

[Bartholomert]

What Lee Atwater said is just his opinion and in my opinion, is no longer relevant; Trump won the election by flipping counties in the Midwest that voted for Obama twice. There are a lot of conservatives who are mobilized on the basis of race-blind issues that they feel strongly about and who would accept allies from across the racial boundaries. Just look at The_Donald on Reddit; they elevate literally any minority / woman who voices their support for the cause.

More importantly, based Bannon at it again:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/04/06/steve-bannon-calls-jared-kushner-a-cuck-and-globalist-behind-his-back.html?via=twitter_page

[Shindig]

"Guys, I'm going to use an internet message board to validate a thing a guy said. Guys!"

[phonics]

Anyone want to explain why everyones up in arms about bombing Syria. Hasn't everyone been bombing Syria for about 5 years now?

[Mazuuurk]

"thedailybeast"

:D

[Mazuuurk]

Anyone want to explain why everyones up in arms about bombing Syria. Hasn't everyone been bombing Syria for about 5 years now?

Because it was some sort of gas being used. I think, but I don't know for sure, that the Assad regime was using chemical warfare to some extent before, but since having been more prominently (lol) backed by Russia and whoever else (is it Iran?) they have stuck to normal bombs etc (very grand of them of course). So why it's potentially an extra big deal this time is that theres a possibility that the chemical weapon being used was Russian or even fired by Russians.

That's what I've gotten at least.

[GS]

The difference is that we were previously bombing Islamic State, which everyone broadly supports / can reconcile themselves to.

They've now bombed Assad, who is a) fighting Islamic State, b) supported by the Russians, and c) technically still the head of state of a sovereign country.

It's significantly more serious than bombing a terrorist group, and it also raises far more questions in the medium term about maintaining regional stability, the role of the West therein (we don't have a great track record, after all), and exactly what you're going to do about Assad.

It should also be noted that the West have been dreadfully inconsistent in their policy in Syria. They recognised the rebels as the legitimate representatives of the Syrian people in 2012. Which was stupid, because many of them are jihadis, and it pushed Assad towards the Russians. Putin wanted a base in the Middle East, and the Russians have historically supported countries being able to do what they want (presumably so they can keep bombing Chechnya and thus maintain a consistent line). We could have bombed the Syrian government in 2013, the last time he used chemical weapons, but the House of Commons managed to block that (well done, Ed Miliband) and Obama bottled it going alone. So the West have little to no credibility. Trump's view that Assad staying in some role wasn't a deal breaker was at least new (Obama et al had previously DEMANDED as a precondition of a deal), but using chemical weapons again (if, indeed, he did) sort of makes that almost politically impossible now.

The whole thing is a complete mess, accompanied as it always is by demands for action without anybody thinking through what the end game is.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Yee haw.

[Bernanke]

70 million USD worth of fireworks. :nodd:

Honestly, I don't see what the big deal is.

[-james-]

Shouldn't this be in the WW3 thread?

[phonics]

Have you tried using the search function on this place? It's somehow more broken than the last one.

[Adamski]

If only we had someone who said they were going to fix things in January.

[phonics]

The mobile skin stuff is a nightmare and requires actual coding. I nearly destroyed the place last time I did that.

[John Arne]

"We ask for God's wisdom". Of fuck off, you yellow fucking cunt.

[Offshore Toon]

Harold's on the phone, phonics: http://w11.zetaboards.com/The_Refuge_Redux/topic/30207563/1/#new

[phonics]

'You can not view this board'

[Offshore Toon]

You logged in?

[phonics]

I don't even think I have an account. Can't be bothered. Just copy/paste it.

[Offshore Toon]

Title: Someone tell moronics

If he wants to know whether I'm a big, nasty racist, then come and ask me himself. Are blacks genetically pre-disposed to crime? Not sure I ever explicitly stated that but there's every reason to think there's genetic pre-disposition regarding intelligence and, of course, the more intelligent the less likely to be a criminal you are. It's a fact that certain blacks are better at sprinting. Now that's a positive trait so therefor it's not racist to point it out apparently. The only time something is racist is if evidence points to a negative trait. Because feelings are more important than facts to some people. Not many black chess masters, are there? By the way, Asians are way out in the lead on intelligence and 'privilege' so it can hardly be construed as an attempt at promoting some kind of white supremacy. Whites are only third, in fact.

And this coming from a man who admitted banning me for no other reason than being unable to control his emotions (a typical trait of the modern left). He'll probably be seeing if some of his twitter mates want to organise a protest about my comments if he sees them.

[phonics]

lol. Good to know he's still alive I guess.

[Henry]

Isn't he posting dozens of threads to himself on Teh Refuge? Other than apparently spending his time reading a board that he's been banned from for some time...

[phonics]

Bernie Sanders has got himself a podcast :cool:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bernie-sanders-show/id1223800705?mt=2

[Bartholomert]

Bernie Sanders has got himself a podcast :cool:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bernie-sanders-show/id1223800705?mt=2

Bernie Sanders pays a lower effective tax than the average blue-collar union worker in America. He's a fraud (with 3 houses).

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/434194/bernie-sanders-tax-returns-reveal-hypocrisy

[niko_cee]

So he's a success?

[Bartholomert]

So he's a success?

Yep. Capitalism works apparently.

[phonics]

Bruh, Trump Train ran off the tracks, we're on the Bernard Monorail now.

http://i.imgur.com/fsypytX.png

P.S. Love how those on the other side always try to make it out that the left hate anyone that makes more than 70k. They did it with Corbyn as well. "HAVE YOU SEEN HOW MUCH THIS MAN MAKES" "The same as everyone else in his position and he takes no payments outside of that salary and some after dinner speeches" "FUCKING CAPITALIST" "?"

The mans nearly 70. He got to live through the greatest economic rigging of all time while being a public servant, I'd be a little worried if as a Baby Boomer, he hadn't managed to save any money.

[GS]

They'll all still vote for him because the Republicans will play the Roe v Wade card, so it's not as if this momentary spat with the nutter fringe will matter.

[phonics]

I hate getting in an argument with my fridge, always so cold hearted.

[phonics]

Meanwhile

850449389214683138

[Bartholomert]

They'll all still vote for him because the Republicans will play the Roe v Wade card, so it's not as if this momentary spat with the nutter fringe will matter.

That's like 30-40% of the GOP. He'll lose in the primaries.

[phonics]

Can definitely see them primarying a sitting President and succeeding.

[Bartholomert]

Can definitely see them primarying a sitting President and succeeding.

Establishment faction want him out anyways. If he alienates his core base he's done. You can't even fathom the shitstorm this has set off in the alt-right, and those are the people that meme'd him into the presidency.

[John Arne]

What the fuck is this...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwnSAmIlZPk

[Bartholomert]

What the fuck is this...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwnSAmIlZPk

Welcome to America pussy.

[phonics]

Once again, Chapo nails it.


The thing is, is that they want the policy, they want that show of strength, they want America to be relevant - which means bombing people. But, they want to maintain that facade of responsibility and deliberation - the idea that the people making these decisions to do idiotic, counter-productive, pointless, bloody military adventures are smart and thoughtful and qualified and are serious moral thinkers, and that's like, that's how they want to imagine their American hegemony being expressed.

Instead, and this is why when it was running up to it - the day of - I was thinking, and people were like "oh man, is he gonna strike Syria?", I kind of thought: you know what? If we're gonna do this, if we're going to basically reveal that this system we have, this military hegemony, this global police force for capital is gonna do what it's gonna do regardless of who's in power, regardless of whether it's a good idea, regardless of everything because that's all it can do is show force, then strip away all the bullshit. Have those orders be given by a fucking senile game show host dipshit who is like making the decision in his fucking country club while digging into a gristly London Broil with three retired dentists from Boca Raton - like, make it real...

But, what happened? Like, and then when it finally happened I'm like ok, maybe these people will realize "Oh, the system that I put faith in is basically autonomous, and all of these people whose personalities I invest so much into is totally arbitrary". But they decided "Oh we'll reverse engineer this dipshit into a fucking statesman!" "And he became President that night!" as Fareed Zakaria said, quoting someone else presumably.

Nothing gets cable news hard like a new war. No-one cares about Iraq or Afghanistan, gotta get somewhere new to bomb. It'll be Syria for a while until Assad shoots down one of their planes at which point it'll be boots on ground into invading Iran.

[John]

What did he nail the first time, and was it as badly written as that word salad?

[phonics]

What did he nail the first time, and was it as badly written as that word salad?

Mr. Chapo! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbQx0NTV4TU)

[niko_cee]

Between that and 'the best tweet ever' I do worry about you phonics.

[John Arne]

Welcome to America pussy.

Welcome to comma's, turdface.

[John]

Welcome to comma's, turdface.

Careful. He might introduce you to the correct use of apostrophes.

[John Arne]

Balls.
I was actually meant to type "..world of comma's".... would it have then been correct?

[Kikó]

No.

[John Arne]

I'll get my coat.

[phonics]

Cheers for moving the subject on, John Arne.

[Bernanke]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/09/uk-tourists-to-us-may-get-asked-to-hand-in-passwords-or-be-denied-entry


British travellers to the United States face the uncomfortable choice of handing over personal information, including social media passwords and mobile phone contacts, or running the risk of being denied entry to the country, under a new “extreme vetting” policy being considered by the Trump administration.

Tourists from the UK and other US allies including Germany and France, could be forced to reveal personal data, as well as disclose financial information and face detailed ideological questioning, according to Trump administration officials quoted by the Wall Street Journal. While US citizens have established rights against unlawful searches at the border, the extent to which foreign travellers can resist requests to hand over personal information is unclear.

Hello, my password is: Idontwanttocometotheusanymoresorry

[phonics]

I'll just do what you have to do when you go to Russia and China. Wipe everything.

[John Arne]

I'm pretty sure that after I returned from North Korea - the Viet authorities were "watching" me. My home internet was awfully slow and my phone was sluggish as hell. Either that, or I hadn't paid my internet in time.

[ItalAussie]

I'm pretty sure that after I returned from North Korea - the Viet authorities were "watching" me. My home internet was awfully slow and my phone was sluggish as hell. Either that, or I hadn't paid my internet in time.

Wait, you went to North Korea? How was that?

[phonics]

He took pictures, think it was on the old board.

[John Arne]

Wait, you went to North Korea? How was that?

Yup. :drool:


http://imgur.com/VSlfSJ3.jpg
http://imgur.com/7opykhK.jpg
http://imgur.com/A94S4Ls.jpg



He took pictures, think it was on the old board.

I did. Unfortunately, it seems that the old board is now officially dead. Shame

[ItalAussie]

I would love to hear more, if you feel like telling us. In all seriousness, that's just incredibly cool.

[phonics]

That second picture in the spoiler is a fantastic shot. Well done JA.

[John Arne]

That second picture in the spoiler is a fantastic shot. Well done JA.

Cheers - here is the live version (best viewed in HD)



https://vimeo.com/212601094?quality=1080p

Also, if you liked that previous image, you'll like this... probably my favorite shot of the trip

http://imgur.com/PUIghc1.jpg

[Magic]

:D

Are people really drooling over a 21 second video of a fucking traffic warden and some kids playing? lolol

[John Arne]

It's that or listening to Mert, you choose...

[Offshore Toon]

:D

Are people really drooling over a 21 second video of a fucking traffic warden and some kids playing? lolol
I'm not surprised by the latter. Isn't that what old white blokes move out there for?

[Shindig]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/09/uk-tourists-to-us-may-get-asked-to-hand-in-passwords-or-be-denied-entry

Hello, my password is: Idontwanttocometotheusanymoresorry

"Look, mate. I just want one trip out of the way on these EU passports before I have to buy a new one with a blue cover. But if you're going to have my youtube password, can you at least upload the next three parts of my Sleeping Dogs playthrough?"

[randomlegend]

http://ktla.com/2017/04/10/multiple-gunshot-victims-at-elementary-school-in-san-bernardino-amid-report-of-active-shooter-officials-say/

Do we have a school shootings thread?

[niko_cee]

I think we had a mass shootings thread, but I doubt that qualifies.

[Pepe]

If you didn't let them in this wouldn't happen.

[Pepe]

“Our middle schools have campus security and all of our high schools have uniformed police officers,” she said.

What a country. :cool:

[phonics]

What a country. :cool:

851213253837541376

[niko_cee]

I'd not watched that (although had seen it was being mocked) but that's some serious OCP style shit. Even sounds like it has that ominous 80s sci-fi background music.

[Pepe]

That can't be real.

[phonics]

Posted on their Facebook page. Deleted now.

[GS]

"Law enforcement personnel."

[Lewis]

I once lolled at two lads with 'Railway Enforcement Officer' coats on on a train from Cambridge to London, and they asked to check my ticket again. :harold:

[Disco]

Jesus, that looks like something Henry would have painted on the end of his house.

[Lewis]

Whore enforcement.

[Shindig]

Wait. They're all Sheriffs?

[John Arne]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrnZSLwfzVs

[John]

Sean Spicer has come out with a fucking corker today.


'Even Hitler didn't use chemical weapons.'

:lol:

[Lewis]

He also said that people were gassed at the 'Holocaust centres'.

[Magic]

Well it wasn't a weapon and it wasn't indiscriminate.

[phonics]

"What do you do?"
"I ensure the President of the United States controls the media narrative at all times"
*2 minutes later*
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C9JvYlAU0AEUjYo.jpg:large

[John]

Well it wasn't a weapon and it wasn't indiscriminate.

That's the same clarification Spicer used. He wasn't using it against his own people in the same way and 'wasn't going into towns and dropping it on innocents.'

[Magic]

"What do you do?"
"I ensure the President of the United States controls the media narrative at all times"
*2 minutes later*
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C9JvYlAU0AEUjYo.jpg:large

The brackets. :D

[Magic]

That's the same clarification Spicer used. He wasn't using it against his own people in the same way and 'wasn't going into towns and dropping it on innocents.'

He seems like a clever guy.

[phonics]

In Seans defence, Hitler didn't use it against innocent Jews, just the shiftiest ones which so happened to be all of them. Not his fault.

On Passover of all weeks :D

[Raoul Duke]

That's the same clarification Spicer used. He wasn't using it against his own people in the same way and 'wasn't going into towns and dropping it on innocents.'

:D instead he had them bussed in a put into "showers". Is his main gripe that Hitler was ok because he was more efficient?

[phonics]

He's dropped 3 clarifications in the last hour.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C9JzINGUIAA7E0Z.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C9J1O-pVoAEe281.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C9J4ECzVoAA52ky.jpg

Going to hazard a guess that within 48 hours he'll be seeing the old

http://www.jobscience.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Donald-Trump-Youre-Fired.jpg

Kellyanne Conway will be absolutely torn apart and there's no-one else who wants that job that isn't totally incompetent. I can only hope they put Stephen Miller in there who will die within a week.

[Lewis]

It's a crap justification anyway, without the added fact that America (and Britain) have used and supported the use of chemical weapons since 1945. In which case, the current administration apparently regards some of its illustrious predecessors (and Winston Churchill) as being worse than Adolf Hitler.

[Magic]

Must have been shit chemicals. I'd like to see him go the full hog and dump a bit of VX and wipe out Aleppo entirely.

[Lewis]

People are accusing him of Holocaust denial. Why can't someone just be an idiot now?

[Magic]

People are accusing him of Holocaust denial. Why can't someone just be an idiot now?

Ken Livingstone likes this.

[GS]

You have to say, that's a whole new level for Spicer.

[phonics]

You thought that was bad? He's just gone on CNN (not FOX) to apologise and say this:

851923287370342400

[GS]

Outstanding.

[Lewis]

I think he said that yesterday as well, whilst railing against 'Bassar al-Ashar'.

[phonics]

I noticed that, at this point it may be a dumb question but do you think he thinks Assad sounds too normal and is playing it up or he's just an idiot?

[Lewis]

He's just an idiot, which, given that until about three months ago he appears to have been reasonably well regarded in political circles, makes you wonder how many utterly thick cunts there are advising and representing the elected ones.

[phonics]

In DC if you appear at the right parties with the right people, you'll always be well regarded. It's why mert actually has a half decent chance to be the next big thing calling Hitler not that bad and getting sacked for it, God help us.

[phonics]

P.S. Anyone happen to notice that Alabama legalised religious police today? (http://www.wbrc.com/story/35126003/alabama-senate-oks-church-police-bill) Can't wait for some proper Sharia Law to go down.

What a fucking nonsense country sometimes.

[GS]

Spicer is an idiot, but I suspect there's a sizeable contingent of the 'Twitterverse' (fucking hell) that can't quite wrap its head around the idea that the White House Press Secretary is not always going to speak as clearly and wittily as an Aaron Sorkin script suggests they will.

[phonics]

Oh shut your mouth you projecting knob. Gibbs and Carney managed to go nearly 8 years of bombing the shit out of everyone by just being immensely boring.

[Lewis]

In DC if you appear at the right parties with the right people, you'll always be well regarded. It's why mert actually has a half decent chance to be the next big thing calling Hitler not that bad and getting sacked for it, God help us.

Did I ever tell the story of when I applied to be the researcher for my local MP last summer? I asked for some rejection feedback, and his office manager rang me up (special effort for a constituent) to tell me that my spelling of 'proof-read' was not valid because she had never come across it, and to dismiss my top, top research skilz by claiming that 'Nearly everybody who applies has a degree, and they can all write about complicated things in a boring way'. That was reassuring.

[Pepe]

:D instead he had them bussed in a put into "showers". Is his main gripe that Hitler was ok because he was more efficient?

Holocaust centers mate.

[phonics]

So the Alabama Governer has had to resign for committing multiple felonies as well as/caused by having an affair with his Chief Of Staff or employer (who cares, it's Alabama). His main felony? Terrible sex talk:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C9NYnxdUQAASeQ0.jpg:large

Just awful.

[Bernanke]

On a similar note, Bill O'Reilly reading his own audiobook is really unsettling:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZzY5phG75g

Starts at 2 minutes if you want to avoid Oliver as much as you can.

[Henry]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/apr/12/steven-bannon-donald-trump-approval-jared-kushner?CMP=fb_gu

Trump throwing Bannon under the bus as well?

If both he and Spicer go... :drool:

[Spoonsky]

I don't want Spicer to go. It's very much in the national interest that Trump's administration remain a clown show.

[John]

The Manafort stuff looks like just about the most open corruption anyone could possibly engage in without getting pinged for it. He resigned as Trump's campaign manager and immediately received thirteen million dollars from Trump businesses, and he's now having to register himself as a 'foreign agent' off the back of historic lobbying work on behalf of Russian interests.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Spicer is a legend. He's pretty much making the Trump administration OK on his own.

[Henry]

I don't want Spicer to go. It's very much in the national interest that Trump's administration remain a clown show.

I don't agree. The stupid antics involving Trump, Spicer et al are distracting from the more serious machinations going on behind the scenes involving dangerous fucks like Paul Ryan.

[GS]

I didn't know you'd moved to America, Henry.

[Henry]

You what?

[GS]

You seem to be constantly seething over American domestic policy. Either you live there and it impacts you, or you're being unnecessarily hysterical which would be out of character.

[Spikey M]

Henners has always been weird about America.

[Henry]

The idea that we should only care about our own backyard is intensely stupid.

[phonics]

Look Henry, you're not allowed an opinion on your government because they were elected by the people and you can't take an interest in anything abroad because you don't live there. It's quite simple.

[GS]

Interest, yes. But why would you get worked up about the domestic policies in another country? It's useful as an indicator of what may or may not work here (e.g. Hollande and his useless 75% top rate of tax), but that's about it.

It's particularly prevalent with America, where a lot of people seemed to get very annoyed about things like the Supreme Court. I've clearly missed where it has any impact whatsoever on you unless you live there.

[Disco]

People take an interest, it's a pretty simple concept.

[Bartholomert]

Henners has always been weird about America.

The success of an openly capitalist and conservative nation undermines his entire world view. It's intolerable and a point of obsession.

[GS]

People take an interest, it's a pretty simple concept.


Interest, yes. But why would you get worked up about the domestic policies in another country? It's useful as an indicator of what may or may not work here (e.g. Hollande and his useless 75% top rate of tax), but that's about it.

It's particularly prevalent with America, where a lot of people seemed to get very annoyed about things like the Supreme Court. I've clearly missed where it has any impact whatsoever on you unless you live there.

As above.

[Bartholomert]

A big part of the identity of your average leftist is their condescending sense of intellectual and moral superiority; they KNOW what is best. And yet, to have an entire nation seemingly embody every value that they view contributes to the ruin of a nation...and then for that nation to be the strongest and most prosperous on Earth...is too much reality for even liberals to rationalize away completely. It bothers them, so they feel a constant need to belittle / judge our political system / people as a means to emotionally overcompensate for the nagging insecurity posed by the success of America.

[Henry]

to have an entire nation seemingly embody every value that they view contributes to the ruin of a nation

False. I quite like a lot of American values, many of which are "superior" to the values which predominate in this part of the world.


for that nation to be the strongest and most prosperous on Earth

Also false. It is the "strongest" in a military sense and in terms of economic clout. It is not the most prosperous by a wide range of metrics. It will become less prosperous if your politicians succeed in dismantling things like Social Security - something that they are currently working on while everyone is obsessed by the clown show.

[Bartholomert]

False. I quite like a lot of American values, many of which are "superior" to the values which predominate in this part of the world.

Also false. It is the "strongest" in a military sense and in terms of economic clout. It is not the most prosperous by a wide range of metrics. It will become less prosperous if your politicians succeed in dismantling things like Social Security - something that they are currently working on while everyone is obsessed by the clown show.

Social Security is completely insolvent. It needs to be reformed :cab:

[Henry]

Social Security is completely insolvent. It needs to be reformed :cab:

You apparently don't know what insolvent means.

Nor "reformed", most likely.

[Bartholomert]

You apparently don't know what insolvent means.

Nor "reformed", most likely.

Okay brah, goods and services have costs, regardless of how EMPATHETIC !!! you want to be:

https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/social-security-time-bomb-candidates-arent-talking

[Henry]

Okay brah, goods and services have costs, regardless of how EMPATHETIC !!! you want to be:

https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/social-security-time-bomb-candidates-arent-talking

None of that alarmist nonsense (which is 13 years old lol) justifies the use of the word "insolvent", which would mean that the program is currently unable to pay its bills.
A projected inability to pay in a couple of decades (something which could easily be fixed without destroying the program) is not the same thing.

Brah.

[Spikey M]

http://fatherted.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/FatherTed2.jpg

[Shindig]

A big part of the identity of your average leftist is their condescending sense of intellectual and moral superiority; they KNOW what is best.

You're doing the same thing. It's a huge reason why political discourse in 2017 is such bilge.

[Spikey M]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-39647434

Excellent work from the most moral and Christiany Christian man in the country.

[John]

Trump said the other day that his mate Bill was a good man. He's also said in the past that Fox are 'honourable people'. Hopefully someone gets a comment out of him.

[phonics]

I need to get this Shattered book. It sounds hilarious and a proper case of literally everyone involved failing upwards their entire lives only to get beat around by a complete moron.

"I'm with Her" does sound like a good tagline when you're seriously considering:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C95_4vQU0AAqy_R.jpg:large

[John]

Sarah Palin has apparently, without any hint of irony, put Kid Rock forward as a potential Trump advisor because he can offer the views of the 'middle class'. And since Kid Rock is white, wealthy, and thoroughly ludicrous he'll probably get the job too.

[phonics]

Donald Trump has dementia

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C-IOWgyXoAYpvOS.jpg

[Disco]

It's almost as if they've elected someone completely unqualified.

[Magic]

Senate called. Here we go, lads.