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Anonymous Hacks Donald Trump's Voicemail and Leaks the Messages (betanews.com)
Mark Wilson writes: In the run-up to the presidential election, few days go by when Donald Trump isn't hitting the headlines for something he's said or done. The bombastic billionaire looks set to become the Republican candidate, and his journey towards the White House is littered with offense and controversy, and back in December Anonymous declared war on him. The loose collective of hackers and activist made its declaration after Trump announced plans to ban Muslims from entering the U.S. One of the first strikes in Anonymous' war sees the group hacking the businessman's voicemail and leaking the messages. The messages appear to show that Trump had a surprisingly cosy relationship with the more left-leaning section of the media than one might imagine.
Quick sanity test: is the New York Times a liberal newspaper?
There is one and only one correct answer to this question. Fail it, and...well...you've failed comprehension.
it's a liberal-leaning establishment rag. they celebrate power, they celebrate wealth, they reject the fringe. they nominally lean left. On the dem side, they endorse hillary, on the repub side, they endorse kasich. that's how they roll.
i remember when US accidentally bombed a doctors without borders clinic. every paper in the world was like, "US bombs doctors without borders clinic!" NYT was like "Doctors Without Borders clinic is bombed; US investigating." It took them like a week to finally get around to the fact that it was the US that did it. this is when I cancelled my subscription.
That isn't a problem. The President is free to resign at any time, and the Vice President will then take over as Acting President. It's exactly what Nixon did.
Honestly, I'd be OK with Trump doing that, as long as his VP isn't one of the existing or former GOP candidates. It couldn't be any worse than any of the other current GOP candidates, or Hillary. Trump is likely doing all this for his big ego anyway, but still that's a lot better than the other GOP candidates and Hillary who are really working for special interests.
There's some merit in that idea. I did propose a solution which would result in my voting for Trump. Put him as VP alongside Sanders - it's just crazy enough to work. It's not like Congress is going to let either one of them do anything meaningful. We might as well give us the best entertainment money can buy, or something like that.
I'm not big on conspiracy theories or things of that nature. I'm really not... However! (You knew that was coming, didn't you?) I know this is probably *not* the case but I have wondered if Trump's actually a spoiler that has gone horribly wrong - or fantastically correct. He's completely disrupted the GOP. I don't watch television or see any ads online but I understand he hasn't even been paying for ads. (That's particularly clever and we were sort of discussing that in a journal post last night/this morning.)
What if Trump's not meant to win but is just meant to take enough votes from the Republicans to make the ride a bit easier for the Democrats? He is good friends with Hillary, after all. I'm pretty sure that's a complete bastardization of the political process but I'd not put it past them. I'm also guessing that we'd not hear about it until well after the deed is done and can no longer be undone.
To be clear, I'm absolutely NOT suggesting that is the case. (Sadly, this is Slashdot and I'm compelled to clarify that.) It's not even an accusation. It's just more of a, "What if?" It's probably not illegal. I'm thinking that it might be adequate for impeachment but this is a Clinton we're talking about. They could even be banking on it not becoming obvious until well after the fact. It really wouldn't even require a lot of other people to be involved and they could easily do it with leaving little to no information behind.
Hell, one or both of them could be in a position where they have either plausible deniability or no actual knowledge to begin with. Heh, almost Manchurian in nature. At the very least, it could be fairly easy to get someone in Trump's position motivated to run and convinced he thought it all up himself. It might actually make an interesting novel or movie.
At any rate, I'd absolutely have no choice but to vote for a Sanders/Trump ticket. I might even vote a Trump/Sanders ticket. Why? It's not that I don't like you but that it would be the most amusing four years in my life, collectively speaking. I bet not a day goes by that I'm not given cause to laugh like hell.
In the words of the immortal Chink: Ha ha, ho ho, he he! (Should not be an obscure reference on Slashdot.)
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
I did propose a solution which would result in my voting for Trump. Put him as VP alongside Sanders - it's just crazy enough to work. It's not like Congress is going to let either one of them do anything meaningful. We might as well give us the best entertainment money can buy, or something like that.
A Trump/Sanders ticket would be hilarious; I've thought of that too. Even funnier would be if they both chose each other as running mates, and ran that way: Trump/Sanders vs Sanders/Trump.
However, I disagree about them doing anything meaningful. Even with an uncooperative Congress, the President does have a lot of power, and especially the power to say "no" and refuse action. If Congress wants to start a war in the middle east and the President says "no", that's the end of it: there's no military action without his approval. If Congress or other powers-that-be want to grab Snowden or Assange and torture them in Guantanamo, the President has the power to not do that, and even to pardon them. If Congress wants to pass TPP or SOPA/PIPA or whatever, the President has a lot of power to throw a wrench into the works there. If Congress wants the NSA to spy on all Americans, the President has the power to shut it down.
What if Trump's not meant to win but is just meant to take enough votes from the Republicans to make the ride a bit easier for the Democrats? He is good friends with Hillary, after all.
You're definitely not the first person to think of this. A LOT of people have suggested this for a while now. However, it seems that Sanders has thrown a wrench into that plan. A lot of Democrat voters despise Hillary and will vote for Trump instead of her (or just write Sanders in). According to polls, though, if Hillary dropped out (perhaps because she was in jail) and it became a race between Bernie and any GOP person including Trump, Bernie would win. He's the least unfavorable candidate according to polls; lots of people despise Trump (on both sides), and lots of people despise Hillary (on both sides). Almost no one despises Bernie; they can't even come up with any real dirt on him. They can say stupid stuff about "socialism", they can say his policies won't work, they can say completely idiotic things about 90% tax rates (betraying a complete lack of understanding of marginal rates and also his actual policies), they can complain about his age (even though he's only 5 years older than Trump and 6 older than Hillary who's had a lot of health problems), but no one really *despises* him like they do all the other candidates. The other GOP candidates aren't as unliked, but they're not liked either: everyone thinks Cruz is a liar and a religious nut, and that Rubio is a robot and in the pocket of the establishment.
Kasich obviously can't win the nomination outright via the primaries. 99.5% chance Rubio can't either. What they CAN do is stash enough delegates to deny Trump the majority he needs to become the automatic nominee. When Kasich and probably Rubio drop out after the first convention vote, their delegates become free to vote for anyone else. That'll be the agreed non-Trump nominee. That's why they are still getting big-money donations and other support - because by dividing up the delegates four ways, Trump can't get a strict majority and the convention will be free to choose someone other than Trump. That's also why Ben Carson SUSPENDED his campaign rather than ended it- suspending means he can still select a few anti-Trump delegates. Most if not all of the drop outs suspended for that reason, and also if they had campaign debt.
If they all dropped out and supported Cruz NOW, Cruz might win 48% to Trumps 52%. By offering four primary candidates, hopefully Trump will get less than 50%, then at the convention the anti-Trump delegates (the majority) will choose the nominee.
The part you are missing is that the left in the US is often further to the right than the right in most other countries
Absolutely! This site has a good overview of political leanings, showing the current trend towards the right/authoritarian.
It's sad, isn't it? I hate the " 'merica" movement that has taken root in the country.
"Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless."
For two decades, wherever I went, everyone who was not italian that I met around the world asked me a question, and I felt silently ashamed facing that simple question: "Why Berlusconi?".
True story:
I was vacationing in Bulgaria in the early 'aughts, was chatting people up on the street and almost got mugged *twice* because I was American (and specifically because of Bush).
I went right back to the hotel and told my GF: "From now on, we are Canadian. If anyone asks, we're from Canada!"
Didn't have any problem after that.
Love Bulgaria, the people are nice, but don't tell them you're American...
and here's why. He's moving the country to the Left. Our country has gotten to the point where there's Far Right Wing, Really Far Right Wing and Ted Cruz. Assuming (as Bernie said) you realize words like "Socialism" and "Welfare" have meaning and aren't just things to be afraid of then this is a good thing.
Yes, Trump's a jerk. But he's also the only Candidate besides Bernie Sanders who thinks healthcare (not just "affordable" healthcare) is a right. Yes, he's said some racist things, but he's also said them out loud instead of dog whistling.
I'll take Trump over Rubio any day of the week. Rubio's the kind of guy who'd stab me in the gut, twist the knife and then smile; saying it's nothing personal, just business. If Trump's gonna stab me in the gut it's because he hates them. I can deal with Trumps Hate. Rubio's cold hearted unlimited greed? Not so much.
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Her effort? Having your testicles removed and your penis mutilated does not make a man a woman.
Yeah, he won a decathlon before he went batshit crazy. Why should we celebrate mental illness?
But you have to admit, politically speaking, your country is a fucking laughing stock right now isn't it?
But you have to admit, politically speaking, your country is a fucking laughing stock right now isn't it?
Tough call, actually. We just put over half the government into jail for criminal bribery. Seriously. 14 out of 27 MPs were convicted. On the one hand. Bribery is so common and politicians are so shameless that they collectively walked right into a conviction. On the other hand, we actually showed that crimes among the ruling class have consequences.
Crumb's Corollary: Never bring a knife to a bun fight.