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Facebook Co-Founder Commits $20 Million To Help Defeat Trump (buzzfeed.com)

Mat Honan reports: Dustin Moskovitz, the billionaire co-founder of Facebook and Asana, announced on Thursday that he intends to give $20 million to a "number of organizations" to help Democrats, and Hillary Clinton, win in 2016. Moskovitz published a fiercely-worded Medium post arguing that Republican nominee Donald Trump is "running on a zero-sum vision" and that his attempts to woo economically disenfranchised voters "are quite possibly a deliberate con, an attempt to rally energy and support without the ability or intention to deliver." He also wrote that while he and his wife, Cari Tuna, have previously voted for Democrats in presidential elections, this is the first time they endorsed a candidate and donated. The move represents a sharp break with Asana and Facebook board member, Peter Thiel, a Trump delegate who spoke at the Republican National Convention and earlier this week published an op-ed in the Washington Post in support of the Republican nominee.

66 of 459 comments (clear)

  1. inaccurate title by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Facebook Co-Founder Donates $20 Million to Hillary For Political Favors

  2. I wish I could participate in American Democracy by negRo_slim · · Score: 5, Insightful

    But I don't have millions to buy a voice.

    --
    On the Oregon Cost born and raised, On the beach is where I spent most of my days
  3. Well... by argStyopa · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...this should certainly reduce the amount of money in politics.

    --
    -Styopa
  4. Brexit. by sims+2 · · Score: 2

    So what he's saying is that Trump is trying to pull a Brexit.
    From what I understand about brexit none of them really expected they would win and when they did win everyone was like oh well we didn't really mean any of the things we said we were just trying to keep any third party from winning.

    --
    Minimum threshold fixed. Thanks!
    1. Re:Brexit. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      No, that is how the media is spinning the Brexit. The people wanted out and the media is just going around saying "no, no, people were confused".

      How fucking hard is it to realize that maybe, just maybe, hard working people are getting sick and tired of being treated as globalists' play toys. The only way to combat this is to shrink government and the number of organizations that can control people. Corporations can't directly control people, they need the government or quasi-government entities for that.

      I hope people wake up and realize some day that Democrats (and Republicans) are not "for the people" like they claim. The government allows people that otherwise can't control people to buy control. Democrats have just been much better at marketing and lying than Republicans the last 8 years. It is dangerous that the Democrats are so good at lying because now they feel they can get away with literally ANYTHING and have no repercussions. That idea is far more dangerous than who is calling the shots, which is why it is so dangerous to elect Hillary. It isn't "Hillary" that is dangerous... it is the idea that a person who can do what she does and still be even considered an option that is dangerous.

      The entire system has been so corrupted that the media is literally a propaganda arm of the government and people are blind to what is happening. I am ok with the people that think Trump is a lunatic. I hate sanders more than Clinton from a policy perspective but I would still rather have him on the ballot because he is not as dangerous. I am not ok with people that think Hillary is good or even normal. Most people are not. It is the media that is telling us she is "ok".

      The blind will think something crazy happened when Trump/Brexit happens but that is just ignoring the people who don't spend 24/7 watching the propaganda networks. It is ignoring the voters who don't dare utter they are voting Trump because the media has made it taboo. It is ignoring that, when no one is looking, people fucking hate illegal immigrants, muslim terrorists, thugs, taxes, etc. and will vote differently than what they may tell their liberal friends.

    2. Re:Brexit. by Kohath · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Did some catastrophe destroy the UK since the Brexit vote? What are we supposed to "be careful" to avoid? Globalist complaining?

  5. Good news! Huge political contributions are OK now by CajunArson · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Hey kids, remember when it was evil for those 1%er nazis to illegally influence elections with their dirty evil money?

    Well, it's officially OK now that the money is going to Hillary. Obey to the 1%er rich people you little drones!

    --
    AntiFA: An abbreviation for Anti First Amendment.
  6. Re:backing Hillary? by darkstar949 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So none of the above then?

  7. Re:backing Hillary? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Hillary is a criminal, breaking the law sending classified information from her personal email server.

    Maybe the FBI should investigate! Oh, that's right, they did, and found no grounds to prosecute her.

    OTOH, Trump's organization was found guilty and paid a fine for illegally donating.

  8. Re:backing Hillary? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Yes. This belief that you have to vote for the lesser of two evils needs to end. Vote 3rd part. Vote independent. Write someone in. But don't vote for someone who is complete crap, which both Hillary and Trump have shown they are.

  9. Re:backing Hillary? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If I were the director of the FBI, I'd say that too. I don't want to come down with a sudden case of very localized lead poisoning.

  10. America has the best government... by zerofoo · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...that money can buy.

    "Of the people, by the people and for the people" ended a long time ago.

  11. Re:backing Hillary? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I seem to recall something about... courts of law? proven guilt?

    Nope, guess armchair lawyering on the internet gets upvotes.

    Slashdot: We saw so much FUD over Linux that we decided we love it.

  12. Too much by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 2

    I'm not a Trump fan, in fact quite the opposite, but this is disturbing.

    No individual should be allowed to spend so much on an election. No one should have this much power. It's not exactly "buying votes" (which is illegal), but it is buying ad-time which can translate into votes.

    It is excessive to allow more than $100 per person (or corporation)- adjustable for inflation. (I don't think those campaigning should be allowed to give more than $100 to their own campaign either). It truly is disgusting how much money is involved in the election and how much money influences who wins.

    --
    "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    1. Re:Too much by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 2

      No individual should be allowed to spend so much on an election. No one should have this much power. It's not exactly "buying votes" (which is illegal), but it is buying ad-time which can translate into votes.

      Sorry. It seems the Citizens (were) United in favor of quite the opposite. I don't agree with that, but that's the way it is, unless someone gets the Law changed.

      --
      It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  13. Re:backing Hillary? by Attila+Dimedici · · Score: 4, Informative

    Well, Hillary did say that if you are under investigation by the FBI you should have your Constitutional Rights suspended.

    --
    The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
  14. Double standard much? by harrkev · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Wait. Aren't these the same Democrats that vilify "big money" from the likes of the Koch Brothers? Funny how they scream about that, but didn't say a word in this case, or when Soros donated 8 million to Hillary.

    --
    "-1 Troll" is the apparently the same as "-1 I disagree with you."
  15. Re:backing Hillary? by AF_Cheddar_Head · · Score: 2, Informative

    An FBI who's director is a Republican who was originally appointed by a Republican. See two can play at this game

  16. Re:backing Hillary? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Hillary is a criminal, breaking the law sending classified information from her personal email server.

    Maybe the FBI should investigate! Oh, that's right, they did, and found no grounds to prosecute her.

    OTOH, Trump's organization was found guilty and paid a fine for illegally donating.

    BULLSHIT

    They found plenty of grounds.

    They just weaseled out with "no reasonable prosecutor" would prosecute Crooked Liar Hillary!, which is BULLSHIT.

    The Clintons, with Obama's help, have made huge strides in destroying the rule of law in the US.

    And the entire press has decided to look the other way.

    At least the press will TRY to keep Trump honest - they've already rolled over and allowed Crooked Liar Hillary! to be above the law.

    And that's a deadly threat to freedom - what happens when Crooked Liar Hillary! decides she doesn't like you or your company for totally personal reasons?!?!

    And THAT'S why you're a fucking idiot if you vote for Crooked Liar Hillary!.

    But hey, Progress!, right?

  17. Re:Good news! Huge political contributions are OK by alvinrod · · Score: 2

    I think that the people who typically held that view point were those who were voting for Sanders and have moved on to vote third party (Green or Libertarian) instead of supporting Clinton. It would be hypocritical for them to complain in this case, but there are a large number of Democrats who had no real problem with this kind of politics so it's unfair to fling this in their faces as well.

  18. Trump works for the democrats by fustakrakich · · Score: 2

    He just scared another guy into giving them another 20 million bucks. Pretty neat trick, eh?

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  19. Re:Anyone else surprised? by AF_Cheddar_Head · · Score: 4, Informative

    Maybe his is against offshoring tech jobs, maybe not. But he definitely doesn't have anything against using undocumented workers in his hotels or outsourcing the tech support for his casino businesses.

  20. Re:backing Hillary? by pteddy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The problem is that one of two people - Clinton or Trump - is going to end up as President. While neither of them is particularly likable you have to consider all the judges that they will appoint, all of the cabinet secretaries that they wil appoint, etc. All of those people have a big influence on the direction of the country albeit less obviously that the President.

  21. Re:Can't buy popular support by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 2

    [...] Trump represents the majority of Americans [...]

    Citation please?

  22. No it's not by the_skywise · · Score: 2

    Jeb Bush spent $150 million on a primary race with tons of ad buys and campaigning goodness that money could buy and came in nearly dead last.

    http://www.politico.com/magazi...

    Money gets your message out but it doesn't mean that it will automatically translate into votes.

    If that were the case the new Ghostbusters movie should be the highest grossing movie of all time.

    Now it does represent a barrier to entry for candidates without the money/support networks - But - here's a perfect example where one man with the means can fund another with the vision. What if he had spent that much on Bernie's campaign instead?

    1. Re:No it's not by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 2

      I'm not disputing that money is a guarantee of success; however, it does give an unfair advantage, and as you pointed out is a barrier for entry. You need $x to win. Democracy, to me, at it's heart is about each citizen having an equal amount of power politically. We all have an equal say, an equal chance to compete. There are so many other realms where having money is advantageous, and I'm not saying it shouldn't be, because its the desire to advance that makes capitalism work.

      When it comes to politics though- who has the most money should not factor. Having more money shouldn't give you the right to shout over everyone else and drown out their political voices.

      The reason we're stuck with two candidates, both hugely unpopular with large swathes of the population, is because third candidates can't thrive because they are drowned out by the finances of the main two. This should be the ideal time for a third party to be successful, but it won't.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
  23. Re:Can't buy popular support by jellomizer · · Score: 2

    There is being similar to vs. representing.

    I don't care if I personally like or dislike the person. However I want someone who will work for their groups they are representations best interests. It is important for a representative to know and understand us and our needs but not agree on our pin hole view of the world's solutions to our problems that we haven't solved ourselves.

    Trump is pandering Bar Room solutions without actually knowing the real issues that affect us. Just because these Bar Room solutions are the quick gut instinct solution we come up with without the need to fully analyse the problem.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  24. Re:backing Hillary? by netsavior · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Whitewater was in 1992... I am 36 years old. That means for 2/3 of my life Hilary Clinton has been continuously investigated, and accused in the media and courts and been called a criminal by default. Since then she has had tons of scandals and accusations of being a criminal, none have ever stuck.

    This means one of two things:

    She is either a criminal mastermind with the power, influence, and pull to continuously break the law and get away with it. Using a vast network of co-conspirators, who have tight lips and similar criminal mastermind status to ALWAYS somehow escape the investigations of an entire country of inept law enforcement, Democrat lead congress, Republican lead congress, Democrat presidents, Republican presidents, and all news media outlets.

    She is a super villain. Greater than any ever seen. She is bullet proof and immune to attacks from foe and friend alike. She is an amazing character straight out of fiction. If this is true, she doesn't need to become president, she is already the most powerful person in the world.
    OR
    The go-to political attack method on Hilary Clinton is to assume she is a criminal.

  25. Re:backing Hillary? by johanw · · Score: 2

    Al of the wars she is going to start...

  26. Re:backing Hillary? by pteddy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Do you think Trump is not going to? He's all for increasing the bombing in Syria and Iraq. He wants to increase the size of the military and military spending. Why do you do that if you don't intend to use them?

  27. Re:backing Hillary? by johanw · · Score: 2

    Hillary: "I AM THE SENATE!" (pulls red lightsaber).

  28. Re:backing Hillary? by pteddy · · Score: 2

    I get your point, but we all know that its either going to be Clinton or Trump who is actually sworn in to office.

  29. Re:backing Hillary? by Nidi62 · · Score: 4, Informative

    The problem is that one of two people - Clinton or Trump - is going to end up as President. While neither of them is particularly likable you have to consider all the judges that they will appoint, all of the cabinet secretaries that they wil appoint, etc. All of those people have a big influence on the direction of the country albeit less obviously that the President.

    How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. The more people vote outside of the 2 main parties, the more exposure the alternative parties get. The more exposure they get, the more people will support them. The more people support them, the better they will poll. If they poll high enough, they get automatic inclusion into presidential debates. The more debate exposure they get, the more people vote for them. When enough people vote for them the alternative parties are eligible for federal campaign funding the next election, which helps them campaign more and gets the cycle repeating again. Best case, they become viable candidates for Senate, rep, or president. Worst case, they garner enough popularity that the main parties shift to include policies supported by the third parties. The system can be beat from within, it just takes a long time and requires a lot of help.

    --
    The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
  30. Odd, he's not on the list of evil billionaires? by mpercy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Just got an email this morning from Public Citizen, a 501(c)(4) organization that is very upset about the Citizens United decision, which allowed 501(c)(4) organizations to spend money to forward their respective political agendas--but not to donate to campaigns. They want it overturned.

    A snippet: "If we lose, the forces of plutocracy — like the notorious Koch Brothers and casino tycoon Sheldon Adelson, the Big Banks and Big Pharma, Karl Rove and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and so many more — would be even more emboldened to continue exploiting Citizens United and dismantling our democracy."

    This guy is not on the list. Nor is Tom Steyer, George Soros, or Michael Bloomberg. Nor the millions spent by the SEIU, AFL-CIO, and other unions. By doing so they paint their organization as nothing more than a group of partisan hacks and not as true defenders of the democratic process.

    The money flowing from their rich donors and supporting their causes is just a righteous investment in good government...the money from the other guys are bribes.

    Speaking of Public Citizen, I recently received an email from them. Now, PublicCitizen.org is a 501(c)(4) corporation, who's primary purpose seems to be opposing the ruling handed down in the Citizens United case. Recall that the Citizens United case hinged on the fact that a 501(c)(4) corporation produced a movie that had a political purpose, in this case a documentary "Hillary: The Movie" that was intended to highlight Mrs. Clinton's shortcomings the first time she was running for president.

    The email from Public Citizen was urging me to donate money to support their production of a documentary DVD highlighting how bad the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United was.

    That's right: a 501(c)(4) corporation made a movie with the express political purpose of protesting the Supreme Court decision that a 501(c)(4) corporation could make a movie with an express political purpose!

  31. Re:backing Hillary? by Jawnn · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Hillary is a criminal

    [citation needed] And no, Fox News does not count. Deliver evidence of a successful prosecution or STFU.

  32. Bloomberg outspent 7-1 or 10-1 in CO gun-control by mpercy · · Score: 2

    Depending on the source, but was soundly defeated on the issue.

    Money doesn't buy votes. Ads seldom sway pre-formed opinions.

  33. Re:Can't buy popular support by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 2

    But it sure looks to be a close horse race this time around.

    It's not even a horserace according to the electoral college map. Hillary's going to win. She may not win the popular vote, but she will win the electoral college vote in a landslide. Trump can win only if he wins Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Florida can go either way. No Republican has ever won the White House without Ohio. The last time Pennsylvania went Republican was in 1988. If he lose one of these states, it's game over.

  34. Re:backing Hillary? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    That doesn't mean you have to vote for them. This mass mentality of wasted votes needs to end.

  35. Re: backing Hillary? by bobbied · · Score: 2

    Qualified? Dang it man, they are BOTH qualified. I am tired of this canard born of partisan rhetoric.

    There are only TWO qualifications listed in the constitution. You must be 35 years old and a "natural born citizen" and they BOTH meet those.

    One could argue that you have to be elected too, but that's not absolutely true. A Vice President is/can be appointed and not elected and become president should the sitting president fail to serve their full term.

    So I'm QUALIFIED to be president..... Just as much as Clinton or Trump are, being more than 35 years old born in the USA....

    Now if you want to argue who's better suited for the job, say so, but stop claiming one is qualified and the other isn't.

    --
    "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
  36. Opensecrets.org Biggest Spenders dominated by by mpercy · · Score: 5, Informative

    Big corporations and billionaires.

    Oh, no. My mistake. The correct answer is unions. Percentages are to Democrats and to Republicans, respectively.

    1 Service Employees International Union $233,948,108 $231,783,862 $1,295,669 99% 1%
    2 Fahr LLC $114,005,803 $113,755,803 $0 100% 0%
    3 National Education Assn $109,427,714 $105,078,729 $3,452,808 97% 3%
    4 American Fedn of St/Cnty/Munic Employees $98,678,433 $97,694,335 $676,830 99% 1%
    5 Carpenters & Joiners Union $80,768,463 $75,823,760 $4,798,328 94% 6%
    6 National Assn of Realtors $74,982,087 $26,027,003 $28,258,810 48% 52%
    7 American Federation of Teachers $74,932,481 $74,120,164 $363,250 100% 1%
    8 Renaissance Technologies $73,792,377 $36,170,416 $36,646,874 50% 50%
    9 Intl Brotherhood of Electrical Workers $72,175,924 $70,714,074 $1,136,150 98% 2%
    10 Las Vegas Sands $70,782,782 $53,240 $70,732,661 0% 100%
    11 Laborers Union $68,330,958 $64,165,186 $3,679,066 95% 5%
    12 AT&T Inc $65,956,335 $27,437,253 $38,360,404 42% 58%
    13 United Food & Commercial Workers Union $65,832,840 $65,272,289 $327,750 100% 1%
    14 Soros Fund Management $59,210,620 $54,524,165 $1,813,415 97% 3%
    15 AFL-CIO $57,212,102 $52,305,234 $1,286,876 98% 2%

  37. Al Capone did much the same for years by mpercy · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Took the IRS to get him. Of course, these days he IRS is a political attack dog with a leash held by Obama, so it will not touch Hillary or the even the Clinton Foundation, which has recently had to redo taxes for several years due to “errors in the report of donations from foreign governments”.

  38. Re:Can't buy popular support by Jason+Levine · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Trump is way behind in the Electoral College map (which matters more than "Nationwide Poll X says..."). This doesn't mean that he's out of the race, just that he'd got more of an uphill climb than Hillary has. I believe the chances to win were something like 85% Hillary and 15% Trump. So he's not out, but he's also not the likely winner if things keep going the way they're going. If you're a Trump supporter, you would do everything to help your candidate gather more electoral votes. If you are a Hillary supporter (or perhaps just a Trump opponent), you wouldn't sit back and say "we've got this in the bag." If you did that, you would find your preferred candidate falling behind. Instead, you'd donate and help keep the candidate that you are against from overtaking the candidate that you are for.

    --
    My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
  39. Re:Can't buy popular support by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If that was true and a Democratic victory is inevitable, why doesn't Mr. Moskovitz save his money?

    Because taking the election for granted is the quickest way to lose the election. Mitt Romney was supposed to win the 2012 election. Everyone told him so. He even went to so far as not to write a concession speech. But Obama won the election with 51% of the vote, becoming the first president since Eisenhower to win consecutive elections with 51% of the vote. As Obama demonstrated twice in a row, getting out the vote operations is money well spent and extremely effective at winning elections.

  40. Technically, not "starting" by mpercy · · Score: 2

    Those would be examples of escalating ongoing efforts. Now, dropping bombs on Venezuela would be "starting" a war.

  41. Re:Can't buy popular support by bobbied · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It is sure her race to loose by electoral college.

    However, if the last two weeks are any indicator, Trump is getting smarter about holding his mouth in check and committing all these unforced political errors and Hillary is loosing ground to the independent candidates nationally. Trump is late getting his campaign going, buying ads and setting up operations in these states, but that effort is now hitting it's stride and I expect him to make the necessary states more competitive over time. Hillary though, continues to face strong headwinds with these E-mail stories and how her story has changed multiple times, how she's not trustworthy and corrupted though that "Clinton Foundation" link during her stint as Secretary of State. I don't think there is any fire behind that smoke, but a wise one said "when you are explaining, you are losing" and she's explaining a bunch right now and the national polls show this.

    I don't think we've seen much recent polling in the battle ground states that reflects all this activity and really it is pretty close in most of them. We haven't seen the debates yet, but if Trump can keep from putting his foot in his mouth and stick to his talking points, I dare say Hillary will have trouble. Trump just has to seem "presidential" and he wins sans saying something stupid, Hillary has to somehow keep from having to explain and re-explain all this E-mail, Clinton Foundation, lying business while not letting Trump under her skin, and she's not real good at this debate thing...

    No, it's way to early to know how this will play out..

    --
    "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
  42. Re:backing Hillary? by Jason+Levine · · Score: 2, Insightful

    For me, it's that changing direction isn't always a good thing even if you think the direction we're going in is wrong. Imagine that the country is a bus. You happen to think that the bus diver is going in the wrong direction. Luckily, we're going to get a new bus driver. One (Hillary) essentially will continue down the path you think is wrong. The other one (Trump) promises a new direction but seems to want to steer the bus off the road entirely and off a nearby cliff. As much as I think the path might be wrong, it's easier to turn the bus around later than it is to recover from the bus going off a cliff.

    I don't like Hillary, but I think she'll make a competent President - not a great President, but not a bad one either. Trump's tendencies to think highly of people who praise him, to get riled up by people who criticize him, and to seemingly not have the interest to read up on issues - preferring instead to just make a "gut instinct call" - scare me quite a bit. Especially when you combine this with his apparent love of dictators (Putin, Kim Jun Il, the Chinese Communist Party for running over protesters with tanks at Tienanmen Square, etc) and his retweeting of content from white supremacist websites.

    --
    My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
  43. It has stuck by KalvinB · · Score: 2, Insightful

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    That's the audio of her laughing about getting a child molester off. The tapes were buried and the media refuses to play them. Snopes still calls it "false" even though we have the audio now.

    It's not disputed that she attacked the women who accused her husband of rape and sexual assault.

    The current FBI investigation turned up the fact that she mishandled classified information and they said flat out anyone else would be prosecuted.

    So yes, she is being protected by the media and friends.

    She's a walking dead politician.

    At least Nixon had the integrity to resign.

    1. Re:It has stuck by quax · · Score: 3, Informative

      This audio tape form the eighties is the best you can do at character assassination? I listed to the whole thing, and it is quite clear that her amusement stems from the oddities of the case, such as, that her client passed the lie detector test, and that this forever destroyed her faith in polygraph tests.

      Also the peculiar nature of the evidence that she only got a piece of underwear, with a hole where the crime lab had cut out material, or that the judge tried to order her out of the room because he didn't want to discuss the sexual nature of the crime in front of a woman.

      At any rate, most of the laughter on the tape is from the interviewer, and that's because the surrealities of the case are funny even if the underlying crime is anything but.

      At no time does she make light of the nature of the crime.

  44. Re:An FBI director who didn't want to end up dead by AF_Cheddar_Head · · Score: 2

    You know an awful lot of people in the Reagan sphere wound up dead, hell even Nancy. Maybe because people die everyday, if you wait long enough eventually everybody dies. Time to put the Conspiracy theories away and come join the adults.

    The same nutters that trot out the Clinton death cabal conspiracy tend to trot out the other conspiracy fantasies. Birthers, Bengazi, 9-11, moon landing, UFOs, vaccines, Kennedy, Tri-Lateral Commission etc. etc. etc.

  45. Re:An FBI director who didn't want to end up dead by Viewsonic · · Score: 2

    Are you ten? Seriously.

    We're coming for you, Martha. We're coming for you! ooga booga

  46. Re:backing Hillary? by ranton · · Score: 4, Interesting

    How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

    I would suggest killing it first, because it's going to get pissed after the first bite. Your analogy works pretty well actually, since the last time a new party won the White House (Republicans) it required the implosion of one of the two major parties about 8 years prior. I agree it is possible for a current third party to win the White House, but by the time it happens it must become one of the two major parties before the Presidential elections begin. Just getting 13% of the vote instead of 2% won't do anything, just like taking the first bite of a living elephant won't be too successful.

    --
    -- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
  47. Re:Can't buy popular support by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 2

    If that was true and a Democratic victory is inevitable, why doesn't Mr. Moskovitz save his money?

    You are assuming that he is donating out of an altruistic belief in "the good of the country". More likely he is trying to buy access and favors. In that case, donating to a "sure thing" makes a lot more sense.

  48. Re:Can't buy popular support by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Mitt Romney was supposed to win the 2012 election. Everyone told him so.

    No. The 2012 election turned out exactly where the polls predicted. Anyone who thought Romney was going to win was delusional.

  49. Re:backing Hillary? by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 2

    it'll get 46% of the vote, the third party 5%, the other party 49% and because most elections are winner-takes-all the 49% wins.

    ... and then the party that lost because they only got 46% will change their policies to recapture that 5%. Nobody did more to push the Democratic party to the left than Ralph Nader. Nobody did more to push the Republicans to the right than Pat Buchanan. Now, personally, I think both of those were terrible results, because I don't agree with either Ralph or Pat on much of anything. But if you actually believed in what they stood for, then voting for them was the best way to achieve that.

    I intend to vote for Gary Johnson in November, not because I hope he will win, but because I think both major parties should adopt policies of greater social tolerance and fiscal sanity, and a good showing (say 5%) by Gary may nudge them in that direction. Since I live in a non-swing state (California) my vote would otherwise be meaningless, so voting 3rd party is the only way for my vote to make a difference.

  50. Re: Odd, he's not on the list of evil billionaires by Kohath · · Score: 2

    No, but if you say fire is evil while using fire to fight fire, why shouldn't everyone laugh at you?

  51. Re:backing Hillary? by Nidi62 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Yes, please, vote for someone like Gary Johnson, who DOESN'T EVEN KNOW WHAT ALEPPO IS.

    Christ Almighty.

    He's also the only candidate that, when confronted with something he should have known, apologized, said he made a mistake and is only human (ie that he will make mistakes) and would try to limit those mistakes by having competent advisers around him. Trump or Clinton would have just danced around the question to begin with until the interviewer gave up and asked another question. I don't know why Americans expect presidents to be subject matter experts in all facets of domestic and foreign policy. Personally, I trust someone who has the balls to say "I don't know" a lot more than someone who just blusters away when confrontest with their lack of knowledge.

    --
    The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
  52. Here's an idea... by poofmeisterp · · Score: 2

    Instead of spending $20mil to help another candidate that is going to do (pardon sarcasm) *SOOOO MUCH* for the "disenfranchised voters", how about giving $20mil to "disenfranchised voters"? Your name would be much more of a legacy and you'd actually be accomplishing something other than indirectly displaying your lack of confidence in the publicly noted length of your manhood.

  53. Re:Can't buy popular support by pnutjam · · Score: 2

    Turning out the vote helps Democrats, because there are many more of them. Despite the loudness of the GOP, they are a minority and are much better served by suppressing the vote. They know this and are trying to do this in many states.

  54. But when a republican does it, it's a war crime by nickberry · · Score: 2

    If a republican were publicly doing the same thing, the left leaning media loses it's collective hive mind over it..

  55. Re:Can't buy popular support by Tough+Love · · Score: 2

    Trump is getting smarter about holding his mouth in check

    If elected, then what remains to hold his unforced errors in check?

    --
    When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
  56. Re:backing Hillary? by Kohath · · Score: 2

    If Trump does it, he'll face opposition from the press and the rest of the government and we will all know what he did. If Hillary does it, the press and the bureaucrats will help her cover up anything or everything and you might never find out about it at all.

  57. Re:backing Hillary? by quax · · Score: 2

    Gary Johnson will hardly ever be the smartest guy in any room, but unlike Trump he knows and acknowledges that.

  58. You idiots! by backslashdot · · Score: 2

    You idiots, you can't talk 3rd party candidate today it's SEPTEMBER 2016!!

    How can anybody even know which 3rd party candidate is not a crook? You should have started the campaign I don't know a few years ago. Maybe you should start the 2020 campaign today .. but guess what we have to select one of the two candidates in November. So yeah if you have zero analytical skills and thus think they are equally bad that's fine .. but if you have a I dunno half a brain or more .. then use your brain and sense of humanity to SELECT THE BETTER CANDIDATE.

    It's too late for a third party candidate. If you can't even change my mind on that and you are able to reply this comment .. how are you supposed to change the minds of 30% of America in TWO MONTHS? You couldn't do it in years, now you expect it can be done in 2 months? WTF?

  59. Brilliant foreign policy quote by Whatchamacallit · · Score: 2

    "The Era of Hope and Change has been one prolonged act of suicide. If anyone had said that Obama would manage to alienate Israel and the Philippines, lose Turkey, pay Iran a hundred billion dollars, preside over the loss of a won war in Afghanistan, lose billions of dollars in military equipment to ISIS, watch a consulate burn, restart the Cold War with Russia, cause Japan to re-arm and go the knife's edge with China would you have believed it? If someone had told you in 2008 millions of refugees would be heading for Europe and that the UK would leave the EU after Obama went there to campaign for them to remain would you not have laughed?" --Richard Fernandez - Belmont Club - pjmedia-dot-com

    Pretty much sums up the foreign policy failures of Obama and Hillary.

  60. Hillary on those dang emails... by Whatchamacallit · · Score: 2

    Look most of us are in tech, heck all of us are in tech. We all know exactly what Hillary did and how it was done and incredibly screwed up things must have been for her to get away with it. I mean don't even get me started... She didn't want to carry two phones and she didn't want to use the States BlackBerry because she feared they would be able to track her personal email (if their BES even allowed personal email) and she feared FOIA Requests more than anything. It's like the IRS manager targeting Tea Party tax exempt status and using a phony alias email to avoid FOIA requests. People she worked with must have been emailing her @clintonemail address knowing full well that it was not a State Department email. She wasn't listed in the GAL directory. Her assistants clearly took top secret and classified emails from the secure systems and retyped them into an email to Hillary and removed the headers in the process. She emailed Blumenthal constantly because she simply couldn't make a decision without him. She actually tried to hire him but Obama was pissed at his tactics during the second term election. There is a clear evidence trail showing she knew exactly what she was doing but she refused to listen to anyone. She even hired that plead the 5th email engineer at the State Department and he was this outcast nomad that no one in IT knew what he was doing. He would be in IT meetings and such and everyone else was whose that guy? This is the guy who dropped much of the security on her private email server because it was causing emails to bounce and otherwise not be delivered.

    It just really pisses me off. On this one topic alone she's done in my book. She should be in prison and she should lose her security clearance. All the pay for play money should be seized and her assets frozen. She deserves to be held accountable for her actions. Anyone else would be locked away by now, it's a damn disgrace.

  61. Re:backing Hillary? by rtb61 · · Score: 2

    You do know how the political system works in the US don't you. maybe at least just a little. The President is the administrator of government based upon the rules and regulations provided by the Congress and Senate. They can turn the President into an empty suit figure head in one sitting. The only reason US main stream media crap on so much about the president is because it is a magic trick for gumbies, you know look at this had doing nothing whilst the other hand reaches around for your wallet. In this case, pay attention to the Presidential election whilst ignoring the Congress and Senate where the real power resides.

    I still do not get why so many Americans swallow the crap and bullshit presidential candidates spread about what they will and will not do. When they have absolutely no control over those policies as they are all controlled by laws written and approved by the congress and senate. The only real power the president has is veto and that is it. All other powers are temporary and provided by the congress and senate until such time as they choose to repeal those powers.

    They are just playing you as fools. Want to see real power, look at the attack on Donald Trump by war industry owned main stream media when Trump threatened to cut funding from NATO, see him back down and promise to spend more on war and see the attack by main stream media slow right down. The US is being completed fucked by war for profit and the public seems incapable of bringing it to an end. Simply far to many resources wasted on war games (to many US politicians enjoy killing https://www.youtube.com/watch?... way too much, it is a real sickness) and not enough invested in infrastructure and services.

    --
    Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen