[The Soup Nazi]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

and speaking of great pieces, and elections having consequences, here's paul krugman from earlier this year:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/04/op...nces.html?_r=0

And here's Paul Krugman from a coupla days ago.

Hillary Clinton Gets Gored

Americans of a certain age who follow politics and policy closely still have vivid memories of the 2000 election — bad memories, and not just because the man who lost the popular vote somehow ended up in office. For the campaign leading up to that end game was nightmarish too.

You see, one candidate, George W. Bush, was dishonest in a way that was unprecedented in U.S. politics. Most notably, he proposed big tax cuts for the rich while insisting, in raw denial of arithmetic, that they were targeted for the middle class. These campaign lies presaged what would happen during his administration — an administration that, let us not forget, took America to war on false pretenses.

Yet throughout the campaign most media coverage gave the impression that Mr. Bush was a bluff, straightforward guy, while portraying Al Gore — whose policy proposals added up, and whose critiques of the Bush plan were completely accurate — as slippery and dishonest. Mr. Gore’s mendacity was supposedly demonstrated by trivial anecdotes, none significant, some of them simply false. No, he never claimed to have invented the internet. But the image stuck.

And right now I and many others have the sick, sinking feeling that it’s happening again.

True, there aren’t many efforts to pretend that Donald Trump is a paragon of honesty. But it’s hard to escape the impression that he’s being graded on a curve. If he manages to read from a TelePrompter without going off script, he’s being presidential. If he seems to suggest that he wouldn’t round up all 11 million undocumented immigrants right away, he’s moving into the mainstream. And many of his multiple scandals, like what appear to be clear payoffs to state attorneys general to back off investigating Trump University, get remarkably little attention.

Meanwhile, we have the presumption that anything Hillary Clinton does must be corrupt, most spectacularly illustrated by the increasingly bizarre coverage of the Clinton Foundation.

Step back for a moment, and think about what that foundation is about. When Bill Clinton left office, he was a popular, globally respected figure. What should he have done with that reputation? Raising large sums for a charity that saves the lives of poor children sounds like a pretty reasonable, virtuous course of action. And the Clinton Foundation is, by all accounts, a big force for good in the world. For example, Charity Watch, an independent watchdog, gives it an “A” rating — better than the American Red Cross.

Now, any operation that raises and spends billions of dollars creates the potential for conflicts of interest. You could imagine the Clintons using the foundation as a slush fund to reward their friends, or, alternatively, Mrs. Clinton using her positions in public office to reward donors. So it was right and appropriate to investigate the foundation’s operations to see if there were any improper quid pro quos. As reporters like to say, the sheer size of the foundation “raises questions.”

But nobody seems willing to accept the answers to those questions, which are, very clearly, “no.”

Consider the big Associated Press report suggesting that Mrs. Clinton’s meetings with foundation donors while secretary of state indicate “her possible ethics challenges if elected president.” Given the tone of the report, you might have expected to read about meetings with, say, brutal foreign dictators or corporate fat cats facing indictment, followed by questionable actions on their behalf.

But the prime example The A.P. actually offered was of Mrs. Clinton meeting with Muhammad Yunus, a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize who also happens to be a longtime personal friend. If that was the best the investigation could come up with, there was nothing there.

So I would urge journalists to ask whether they are reporting facts or simply engaging in innuendo, and urge the public to read with a critical eye. If reports about a candidate talk about how something “raises questions,” creates “shadows,” or anything similar, be aware that these are all too often weasel words used to create the impression of wrongdoing out of thin air.

And here’s a pro tip: the best ways to judge a candidate’s character are to look at what he or she has actually done, and what policies he or she is proposing. Mr. Trump’s record of bilking students, stiffing contractors and more is a good indicator of how he’d act as president; Mrs. Clinton’s speaking style and body language aren’t. George W. Bush’s policy lies gave me a much better handle on who he was than all the up-close-and-personal reporting of 2000, and the contrast between Mr. Trump’s policy incoherence and Mrs. Clinton’s carefulness speaks volumes today.

In other words, focus on the facts. America and the world can’t afford another election tipped by innuendo.

[ilduclo]

yeah, the coverage of the Bondi/Trump illegal bribery scandal is pretty poor. Not sure why they're so anti-Clinton.

[d.sound]

never thought i would agree with paul krugman

[d.sound]

anyone watch the town hall last night? i'm a little nervous that hill-dawg's questions had her on the defensive about honesty and legality, while trump's questions seemed kind of soft. he seemed looser.

i guess i'm glad i don't live in a 3rd world dictatorship?

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by d.sound

i guess i'm glad i don't live in a 3rd world dictatorship?

rejoice

believe me--i used to

[evollove]

Originally Posted by d.sound

anyone watch the town hall last night?

Yeah. Trump was a little incoherent. I might not vote for him.

[!@#$%!]

i watched the highlights this morning and what jumped at me the most is that trump admires the control that putin has over russia--yikes! if that's trump's idea of a good leader, he should self-deport to a banana republic.

[ilduclo]

he wants to increase military fucking spending, what a retard.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by ilduclo

he wants to increase military fucking spending, what a retard.

that is republican talking point numero uno

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by evollove

Yeah. Trump was a little incoherent. I might not vote for him.

i wanted to rep and thank you for the lols

[The Soup Nazi]

OH MAN THAT GARY JOHNSON SHIT THIS MORNING WAS SHEER COMEDY GOLD! That Woody Woodpecker-looking motherfucker!

 

 

 

 

[The Soup Nazi]

 

 

 

 

[The Soup Nazi]

 

 

 

 

[greenlight]

so who would you rather have "commander-in-chief"? it is all a mind game. there must be a war, there is always war. military complex has to run. it must be a great business, while veterans going through some tough shit. it is madness anyway.

 

 

#edit#
...........................

[The Soup Nazi]

Originally Posted by greenlight

so who would you rather have "commander-in-chief"? it is all a mind game. there must be a war, there is always war. military complex has to run. it must be a great business, while veterans going through some tough shit. it is madness anyway.

Yes — The military-industrial-congress complex keeps running, war isn't meant to be won but perpetuated, etc.

NO — That context doesn't mean it's the same whether you have Hillary Clinton or Drumpf as commander in chief; that's a cynic equivalency and a balance-for-balance's-sake fallacy. If anything, given what you mention, who is elected matters even more.

[d.sound]

clinton will certainly continue the middle east war. drones, limited combat.

but what in the hell would trump do? i have no idea. he'd broker a deal with russia in syria. he'd probably start a war with germany because angela merkel isn't a "10". his statements that he thinks dictatorships are the way to run a country, that nuclear war is a reasonable action... he scares the shit out of me.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by greenlight

so who would you rather have "commander-in-chief"? it is all a mind game. there must be a war, there is always war. military complex has to run. it must be a great business, while veterans going through some tough shit. it is madness..

right, but just because "it's madness" it doesn't mean that we have to put a lunatic in charge of the asylum

if it's a mind game, i want a competent, knowledgeable, experienced, SANE woman in charge

[The Soup Nazi]

Originally Posted by d.sound

anyone watch the town hall last night? i'm a little nervous that hill-dawg's questions had her on the defensive about honesty and legality, while trump's questions seemed kind of soft. he seemed looser.

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

i watched the highlights this morning and what jumped at me the most is that trump admires the control that putin has over russia--yikes! if that's trump's idea of a good leader, he should self-deport to a banana republic.

The Washington Post's Daily 202 has a very good, extensive analysis of last night's bullcrap. Fuck Matt Lauer, by the way.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by d.sound

clinton will certainly continue the middle east war. drones, limited combat.

but what in the hell would trump do? i have no idea. he'd broker a deal with russia in syria. he'd probably start a war with germany because angela merkel isn't a "10". his statements that he thinks dictatorships are the way to run a country, that nuclear war is a reasonable action... he scares the shit out of me.

where did Trump actually say anything about nuclear war?

[The Soup Nazi]

Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous

where did Trump actually say anything about nuclear war?

https://thinkprogress.org/9-terrifyi...32a#.idgxekiu5

You can say he was talking about deterrence, but I think that's giving him too much goddamn credit.