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Pentagon Wants To Predict Anti-Trump Protests Using Social Media Surveillance (vice.com)

Alice Marshall shares an excerpt from Motherboard: The United States government is accelerating efforts to monitor social media to preempt major anti-government protests in the U.S., according to scientific research, official government documents, and patent filings reviewed by Motherboard. The social media posts of American citizens who don't like President Donald Trump are the focus of the latest U.S. military-funded research. The research, funded by the U.S. Army and co-authored by a researcher based at the West Point Military Academy, is part of a wider effort by the Trump administration to consolidate the U.S. military's role and influence on domestic intelligence.

The vast scale of this effort is reflected in a number of government social media surveillance patents granted this year, which relate to a spy program that the Trump administration outsourced to a private company last year. Experts interviewed by Motherboard say that the Pentagon's new technology research may have played a role in amendments this April to the Joint Chiefs of Staff homeland defense doctrine, which widen the Pentagon's role in providing intelligence for domestic "emergencies," including an "insurrection."

192 of 421 comments (clear)

  1. Hmmmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I was not aware protestors made their efforts secret. I am personally all for secret protests! It would really help avoid the convuluted traffic the public protests inspire.

  2. What's the term ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    for a country whose army protects the ruler(s) from the people?

    Hint: also the name of an American clothing and accessories retailer

    1. Re:What's the term ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Liberals have spent two years rioting in the streets and on campuses because they didn't get their way in 2016, are regularly driven to assault by the mere sight of red hats, and are triggered into apoplectic rage by the mere existence of alternative viewpoints. Social media (and /.) is flooded with batshit demands for everything from assassinations of republicans and Trump or demands for Trump's trial and execution for "treason", to the overthrow of the government itself.

      In an honest world this is known as "terrorism"; the only reason no one pushes the point is because it would only inflame the situation more and we're trying to contain you psychos as best we can. Actively monitoring and infiltrating the Antifa-types (as well as right-wing nutjobs) looking for any excuse to shut them down is exactly what the government *should* be doing. To not do so is all but asking for another OKC.

    2. Re:What's the term ... by Cmdln+Daco · · Score: 1

      Men's Wearhouse?

    3. Re: What's the term ... by ClickOnThis · · Score: 1

      Victoria's Secret, FTW.

      --
      If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
    4. Re:What's the term ... by bondsbw · · Score: 1

      Billionaire Boys Club?

      --
      All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
    5. Re:What's the term ... by bondsbw · · Score: 1

      White House Black Market?

      --
      All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
    6. Re: What's the term ... by LifesABeach · · Score: 1

      I smell the curse of General Santa Ana growing on Trump?

    7. Re: What's the term ... by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      SSSsssshh, loose lips sink ships.

    8. Re:What's the term ... by zugmeister · · Score: 1

      Parent is marked -1, Troll. In what way is this trolling or not apropos to the subject of the article?
      If you disagree don't mod him down, post a counter to his argument.
      Disagree with people via words. Don't just try to hide / censor posts you don't like.

    9. Re:What's the term ... by Maelwryth · · Score: 1, Interesting

      I went to reply to it and after writing a few lines erased them as I decided it was a troll too. The first sentence at first seemed OK but then I realised that they weren't all liberals, two riots is not two years, incitement to assault is not assault (and either way incitement from POTUS beats 632/330,000,000.), and the last link is either a nutjob or another troll. I can't speak for social media but /. would seem to be doing ok under it's usual onslaught of trolls, idiots, and some apk person. Don't read them, it just gives them time. In an honest world this isn't known as terrorism....you psychos, antifa...blah, blah. No idea what it has against Oklahoma City or having another one either. It's a troll in my eyes. Accidental perhaps but still a troll.

      --
      I reserve the write to mangle english.
    10. Re:What's the term ... by giggleloop · · Score: 1

      Right. Thanks for the anecdotal "evidence" with zero basis in reality. That's really changed my mind. Clearly the guy who murdered an unarmed woman in a terrorist attack was really the victim.

    11. Re:What's the term ... by NicknameUnavailable · · Score: 1

      He clearly meant American Eagle.

    12. Re:What's the term ... by Cederic · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Given the video footage of people attacking his car prior to the collision in which she died I find it bewildering that you think that the crowd of people around him were somehow behaving.

      The good news is that he's being put on trial for murder so we'll get the whole situation properly examined in a court of law, including his act of violence but also any extenuating circumstances (including, e.g., whether he was acting in justifiable self defence).

    13. Re:What's the term ... by Cederic · · Score: 2

      i don't see democrats shooting up churches or schools or ramming their cars through crowds of people.....

      You forgot to mention sending mail bombs.

      But you also forgot opening fire with a rifle at congressional baseball practice.

      Political violence is not restricted to any specific political view.

    14. Re:What's the term ... by btsfh · · Score: 1

      I never realized the Gap implied a country protecting rulers from the people. :)

    15. Re: What's the term ... by jedidiah · · Score: 1, Insightful

      So... the summary is just CNN style fake news. Why am I not shocked?

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    16. Re:What's the term ... by jedidiah · · Score: 1, Interesting

      > i don't see democrats shooting up churches or schools or ramming their cars through crowds of people.....

      That's because you have blinders on. They shoot at congressmen on baseball fields, firebomb and shoot campaign offices, and assault politicians on the streets.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    17. Re:What's the term ... by shaitand · · Score: 1

      Whats the term limit for a leader protected by the army?

    18. Re:What's the term ... by nwaack · · Score: 1

      Right. Thanks for the anecdotal "evidence" with zero basis in reality.

      Ummm, do you live under a rock or are you just really dumb? The things you're referring to were headline news for days!

    19. Re:What's the term ... by hairykrishna · · Score: 2

      Doesn't look much like justifiable self defence to me.

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

      Maybe you have a different video.

      --
      "Physics is to math as sex is to masturbation." -R. Feynman
    20. Re:What's the term ... by Cederic · · Score: 1

      Youtube wont let me watch that :(

      Not to worry, I'm sure it'll be viewed in court by the judge and jury, and more evidence is a good thing.

    21. Re:What's the term ... by Ocker3 · · Score: 1

      If someone who has mod points comments in a thread (last I checked), any mods on that story get dropped. So they have to make a choice, whether their mod points or comment will have a greater impact.

  3. case in point by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Case in point why mass government surveillance is a bad idea.

  4. Why is the military doing this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Law enforcement I could understand, but the military?

    Not that I think it's a good idea. I'm getting kinda sick of the anti-Trump whining, but that doesn't mean you have to go all "pre-crime" on political protestors.

    1. Re:Why is the military doing this? by postbigbang · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Fear is a huge motivator. People now use heavy weapons. Look at the violence of the past two weeks if you had any questions.

      People's trust in government is at an all-time low, and the distrust with law enforcement has also risen. Were these intentional moves so that government might assert control, bypassing both constitutional and legal constraints?

      A pipe bomber plays into their hands. Fear of heavy armament or resistance has always been a motivator to use excessive force. Weapons of mass destruction guarantee a turf war. Will good sense prevail? Will/would the citizenry excuse a military response to a small crisis? Watch the southern US border over the next few weeks, and you'll have your answer. Fear drives a military response against a Honduran march heading towards Texas. This will not go well.

      --
      ---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
    2. Re: Why is the military doing this? by postbigbang · · Score: 2

      Um, no. The pipe bombs were sent to Dems. Can use it as an excuse. You have too many "anyways" in your reply.

      What we can agree on is that the US Military, in principle, is obliged not to be involved in domestic insurrection..... but the state guards do have some sway as directed. The other agencies aren't so good, or so smart, but a preponderance of goofy agencies working against each other is both expensive and entertaining... if it doesn't get bloody.

      --
      ---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
    3. Re:Why is the military doing this? by gtall · · Score: 1

      "anti-Trump whining," yes, it does get irritating. However, have you ever listened to Trump. He's the Whiner-in-Chief. He's always complaining about something and how evil forces are out to destroy him. If he ever looks in the mirror, he'll demand to put himself in the hoosegow.

    4. Re:Why is the military doing this? by dcw3 · · Score: 1

      I'm not disagreeing with your assessment of DJT. But, HRC wasn't far behind him in that category..."vast right wing conspiracy" my ass. Not to mention that everyone but her is to blame for her failure.

      --
      Just another day in Paradise
    5. Re:Why is the military doing this? by postbigbang · · Score: 1

      Well, no that's not quite true. I see you're not a history student, but it does tend to repeat itself. The history of our borders is different than you apparently believe.

      --
      ---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
    6. Re: Why is the military doing this? by postbigbang · · Score: 1

      Are you one of those Russian trolls I've been hearing about? You sure are thick.

      --
      ---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
    7. Re:Why is the military doing this? by postbigbang · · Score: 1

      I giggle.

      Another Russian troll.

      --
      ---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
    8. Re:Why is the military doing this? by postbigbang · · Score: 1

      Still another Russian troll. Seems to be a spate of them on this thread.

      --
      ---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
  5. Executive order to amend the Constitution ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Gosh, is there no limit to this miserable sack of pus' stupidity and ignorance ? Did he seriously tell a journalist and the entire world that he would sign an executive order to effectively repel the 14th amendement of the Constitution of the United States ?

    Yes he did. But you know what ? It's not because he's stupid. It's because he knows perfectly well that his supporters are stupid, and that he can say pretty much any complete absurdity and absolute lie, but if it's what they want to hear, then they'll believe him anyway.

    After all, didn't he get elected even after basically calling all his supporters fucking morons ?

    "I could stand in the middle of fifth avenue and shoot someone, and I still wouldn't lose any voters".

    1. Re: Executive order to amend the Constitution ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Kind of like when Obama signed 14 executive orders on immigration, and stated without embarrassment that they were illegal.

      Most were struck down by unanimous SCOTUS decisions.

      You didn't protest then, so you get to shut the fuck up now.

    2. Re: Executive order to amend the Constitution ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Whataboutary at its finest.

      Also, that never happened, and even if it had, Obama has never signed an executive order to repeal part of the constitution.

    3. Re: Executive order to amend the Constitution ? by SirAstral · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Accusing someone of whataboutism is tantamount to accepting their accusations of hypocrisy.

      There is no anchor baby clause in the 14th Ammendment. The clause says this.

      "Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."

      Key part being... "subject to the jurisdiction thereof"... if illegals are subject to the jurisdiction, then that means that local jurisdictions have powers of establishing immigration... and as we all know... the "Federal Government" is responsible for dealing with that problem! Which is why illegals are supposed to be given to ICE when they commit a crime and not to the local authorities.

      The 14th was carefully worded to make it so that anyone that was considered "property" by way of direct slavery or through "indentured" servitude... basically someone here against their will in some capacity will become citizens and grant them the rights they deserve. It does not grant people visiting the USA as a documented worker, or guest, or being here illegally.

      There is more merit to claims that a person here legally having a baby while still legal at the time of delivery can produce a citizen by birth.

      I personally hate the idea that where a person is born should even have any bearing upon citizenship. I think as long as one of your parents are a citizen of that country the child produced should automatically be a citizen of each nation that their 'biological' parents belong to.

      Now if you think the 14th confers citizenship on any person being born on US soil then why are citizens born in US territories not automatically US citizens? Additionally, since they must be subject tot he local laws to be a valid citizen then this also means that you agree that Arizona SB 1070 is totally legal. But by all means go ahead and pick and chose regardless of what the constitution say... both sides have no problem with abusing it and ignoring it for their own ends. You will not be the first or the last to do the same or try.

    4. Re: Executive order to amend the Constitution ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      " why are citizens born in US territories not automatically US citizens? " They are, moron.

    5. Re: Executive order to amend the Constitution ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      There are thousands upon thousands of undocumented petty nonviolent convicts currently in federal prisons that would be very pleased to find out they're not "subject to the jurisdiction (of the United States)."

      If you ever wonder whether you're too easily influenced by right-wing media, this is a great test. Pretty much nobody believes there's any basis for reading the jurisdiction phrase that way, not even the truly crazy originalists.

      Extra credit: Art. 1 Sec. 8:4 makes it clear the President can't do shit like that on his own.

      Seriously, you dudes went ape-shit over Obama's allegedly unconstitutional actions where there was real room for debate, but hey, now that Trump suggests something wholeheartedly beyond the pale, it's all rah-rah-rah.

    6. Re: Executive order to amend the Constitution ? by serviscope_minor · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Accusing someone of whataboutism is tantamount to accepting their accusations of hypocrisy.

      No it's not. Whataboutism is tantamount to accepting their point because your only defense is to deflect.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    7. Re: Executive order to amend the Constitution ? by gtall · · Score: 1

      Apples and Oranges...Jesus, learn to argue effectively.

    8. Re: Executive order to amend the Constitution ? by jebrick · · Score: 4, Informative

      The SCOTUS has upheld the 14th amendment against this exact challenge multiple times. US v. Wong Kim Ark,https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/169/649

      "The amendment, in clear words and in manifest intent, includes the children born, within the territory of the United States, of all other persons, of whatever race or color, domiciled within the United States. Every citizen or subject of another country, while domiciled here, is within the allegiance and the protection, and consequently subject to the jurisdiction, of the United States."

      The words mean what they say: A person subject to arrest and prosecution in the United States is “subject to the jurisdiction” of the country. Since the 1980s, a small part of the legal world, however, has begun arguing for a new and improved “original intent” of the clause. These scholars claim that undocumented aliens and their children are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States.

      Then to say that the strict Constitutional judges (like Scalia, Thomas and Aleto ) would rule otherwise is just idiotic.

      Almost all aliens in the United States, even citizens of other nations, still fall within our jurisdiction while they are in our territory, otherwise they could commit crimes of all sorts without fear of punishment.” (And that’s the basis of the counterfactual with which we began.)

    9. Re: Executive order to amend the Constitution ? by Cederic · · Score: 1

      Or maybe, just possibly, he didn't just write the 14th Amendment, he could conceivably have written additional commentary and thoughts on its purpose and intended use.

      That writing could even have explicitly articulated what the amendment was not meant to cover or be used for.

      If only we had access to such writing. Just imagine.

    10. Re: Executive order to amend the Constitution ? by jedidiah · · Score: 1

      > What, did you read an interview with the author in Forbes? You know that would make him like 180 years old, right?

      Ever watched C-SPAN? You know how they show video of the Congress? Well, before video was invented we had this thing called WRITING. People used to write shit down before you were born.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    11. Re:Executive order to amend the Constitution ? by XxtraLarGe · · Score: 1

      Did he seriously tell a journalist and the entire world that he would sign an executive order to effectively repel the 14th amendement (sic) of the Constitution of the United States ?

      My guess is that he is trying to set up a court case to challenge the previous interpretation of the 14th Amendment. The full text of the citizenship clause reads as follows:

      All person born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.

      The Dred Scott case ruled that slaves were not citizens of the U.S., but they were still under the jurisdiction of the U.S. So when the 14th amendment was written, this was taken into consideration. The argument Trump could make is that illegal aliens are not under the jurisdiction of the U.S. The author of this clause, Senator Jacob Howard is on the Congressional record, stating

      The first amendment is to section one, declaring that all "persons born in the United States and Subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the States wherein they reside. I do not propose to say anything on that subject except that the question of citizenship has been fully discussed in this body as not to need any further elucidation, in my opinion. This amendment which I have offered is simply declaratory of what I regard as the law of the land already, that every person born within the limits of the United States, and subject to their jurisdiction, is by virtue of natural law and national law a citizen of the United States. This will not, of course, include persons born in the United States who are foreigners, aliens, who belong to the families of ambassadors or foreign ministers accredited to the Government of the United States, but will include every other class of persons. It settles the great question of citizenship and removes all doubt as to what persons are or are not citizens of the United States. This has long been a great desideratum in the jurisprudence and legislation of this country.

      So if the court were to use original intent (emphasized above) as opposed to relying on precedence, there's a good chance it could be overturned.

      --
      Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
    12. Re: Executive order to amend the Constitution ? by Gilgaron · · Score: 1

      There isn't a mystery about what the authors meant with the 14th, there's all kinds of correspondence. Even if you weren't mostly talking out your ass, are you sure you want to give the government a convenient way to strip citizenship? How many generations can you go back with documentation proving citizenship if birth certificates don't even count anymore? How long before your political enemies gain enough power to deport you to some country you've never known that has no reason to grant you citizenship there?

    13. Re: Executive order to amend the Constitution ? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      "Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."

      (emphasis mine)

      The word "thereof" means "of the thing just mentioned".

      Clearly it is saying "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction [of the United States]".

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    14. Re:Executive order to amend the Constitution ? by JesseMcDonald · · Score: 1

      This will not, of course, include persons born in the United States who are foreigners, aliens, who belong to the families of ambassadors or foreign ministers accredited to the Government of the United States, but will include every other class of persons.

      So if the court were to use original intent (emphasized above) as opposed to relying on precedence, there's a good chance it could be overturned.

      To me your quote regarding the original intent reads as being in agreement with the established precedent: the only exceptions to birthright citizenship intended by Senator Howard are "foreigners ... who belong to the families of ambassadors or foreign ministers", who are not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States due to their special status as foreign diplomats. Overturning precedent would thus imply throwing out the original intent of the amendment.

      (For those less familiar with English, Senator Howard did not list foreigners, aliens, and families of diplomats as three different excluded groups. If this were a list then the third item would not start with "who". An alternative typesetting which preserves the meaning and is perhaps easier to read would be: "foreigners (aliens) who belong to the families..."; of course, parentheses don't carry over well into speech, so here they have been replaced with commas to mark the Senator's pauses.)

      --
      "The state is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else." - Bastiat
    15. Re: Executive order to amend the Constitution ? by sexconker · · Score: 1

      Trump's play will absolutely center on "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" and the interference run by sanctuary cities/states. When someone is aided and abetted in their crimes by the state, they are clearly not "subject to the jurisdiction thereof".

      The primary goal is to bitch slap the sanctuary cities and states who think they can illegally defy the federal government by actively obstructing federal investigations and the execution of due process. (Yes, arrest and deportation are part of due process.) Immigration and the border are absolutely the domain of the Executive branch. Any sane reading of the Constitution will result in Trump getting control over immigration. With Kavanaugh in place, Trump's going to blitz the issue through the courts and let SCOTUS tell the world the plain facts of the matter.

      Once Trump wins on this matter, and I think he ultimately will, will he then deport all the illegal immigrants, anchor baby / dreamer or not?
      I doubt it. My guess is that Trump will make a show of deporting those who have committed crimes (beyond illegal immigration) while the sanctuary cities and states throw a tantrum. For the majority, Trump will let them stay as long as they're properly documented.

      Trump can then play all sides of the issue. The "bad ones" get kicked out, making communities safer and the border is enforced and secured, keeping us safe. The "good ones" are documented and allowed to stay, keeping families together, but stopping chain migration, while allowing for a merit-based path to citizenship. The documentation will have a chilling effect on shit like exploiting illegal immigrants with sub-minimum wages, dodging taxes, leeching off of the welfare system (or outright scamming it), and illegal immigrants committing crimes (catch and release will be replaced with catch and deport). He'll also get to talk about preventing illegal immigrants from voting, which will be a huge deal by the time this shit winds through the courts.

      I don't give a shit if anyone agrees with what he's doing or not, or what anyone thinks about illegal immigration. I'm just pointing out his game plan. People love to mock Trump for being an unqualified ass and buffoon. He was a joke candidate the media and the DNC created, up until he won. Oops!

    16. Re: Executive order to amend the Constitution ? by sexconker · · Score: 2

      No, but the alternative is separating children from their parents.

      Literally the opposite. Anchor babies mean parents get deported and the kid goes into foster care, with some estranged relative, or on the streets. In sanctuary cities / states, anchor babies mean parents get the catch and release treatment. Can't deport them because you're separating families!!!

      If you nix the anchor babies idea then you fix the issue. The parents get deported and the kids go with them. You get to keep families together!!!

      If you don't have enough morals to see why that is unacceptable then you need Jesus.

      Families are separated when parents are sent to jail for other crimes all the time. Why is illegal immigration different? Why do illegal immigrants who do get arrested for other crimes get special catch and release treatment that citizens don't get?

    17. Re: Executive order to amend the Constitution ? by sexconker · · Score: 1

      And we have a new SCOTUS bench that may come to a different conclusion for a different case.
      Trump is going to point to sanctuary cities & states for the "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" piece.

    18. Re:Executive order to amend the Constitution ? by XxtraLarGe · · Score: 1

      (For those less familiar with English, Senator Howard did not list foreigners, aliens, and families of diplomats as three different excluded groups. If this were a list then the third item would not start with "who". An alternative typesetting which preserves the meaning and is perhaps easier to read would be: "foreigners (aliens) who belong to the families..."; of course, parentheses don't carry over well into speech, so here they have been replaced with commas to mark the Senator's pauses.)

      Alternately, it could be interpreted "foreigners; aliens who belong to the families of...".

      --
      Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
    19. Re: Executive order to amend the Constitution ? by squiggleslash · · Score: 1

      Accusing someone of whataboutism is tantamount to accepting their accusations of hypocrisy.

      No, it's not. It's pointing out that the original statement has gone uncriticized, and therefore is both true and the implications of it are true. Whataboutism rarely actually raises hypocrisy, it usually merely claims that someone else did something that kinda sorta looks vaguely similar to the act being criticized. It rarely suggests that the person it's addressed to did that thing.

      "Oh, so you're saying Trump eats babies? Well I saw you eat a baby!" is addressing hypocrisy. "Oh, so you're saying Trump eats babies? Well, I saw Clinton eat a chicken and I didn't see LIEberals complain!" is whataboutism. In both cases, the poster is admitting Trump eats babies. But in the first case, the poster is correctly raising a case of hypocrisy, while in the second the poster is merely trying to deflect.

      There is no anchor baby clause in the 14th Ammendment. The clause says this.

      "Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."

      Key part being... "subject to the jurisdiction thereof"... if illegals are subject to the jurisdiction, then that means that local jurisdictions have powers of establishing immigration

      Stop right there. The constitution doesn't say "local jurisdictions", it says the jurisdiction of the United States and the State wherein they reside. It's also not saying that US or State jurisdictions can contain laws telling you if you're a citizen, it's saying that if you are under their control, that is, if it's possible for the police to arrest you and bring you to court for a US or State crime, and it's possible for them to force you to pay taxes, and so on, then, congrats, if you were born here, you're a citizen.

      Also, FWIW, calling someone born here an "illegal" (which is already an absurd term) inherently contradicts the above constitutional statement.

      The funny part is that there's a kinda sorta loophole I could see that would work, except for one thing. It could be argued that someone who is born here but immediately leaves is not under US jurisdiction.

      ...except they are. The US has weird income tax rules which means if you're a citizen you're obliged to pay US taxes except in a small number of circumstances. So to treat people who are born here and immediately leave as non-citizens then, at the very least, you'd have to reform the tax code. Good luck with that.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    20. Re: Executive order to amend the Constitution ? by DamnOregonian · · Score: 1

      if illegals are subject to the jurisdiction, then that means that local jurisdictions have powers of establishing immigration

      It actually quite clearly indicates Jurisdiction of the United States, not Jurisdiction of the Many States. It refers to the jurisdiction of the federal government.

      The 14th was carefully worded to make it so that anyone that was considered "property" by way of direct slavery or through "indentured" servitude...

      I find this claim particularly bizarre as slavery was constitutionally prohibited prior to the passage of the 14th Amendment. You may be familiar with the 13th?

      I personally hate the idea that where a person is born should even have any bearing upon citizenship

      It was an important notion for a country that was to be composed of immigrants and refugees from Europe.

      Now if you think the 14th confers citizenship on any person being born on US soil then why are citizens born in US territories not automatically US citizens?

      Because the US had no overseas territories in 1868. Next stupid question.
      I don't want you to think me calling you a fucking moron is an ad hominem, because it is entirely separate from the refutation of your ridiculous ass argument. I just wanted you to know that you are in fact a fucking moron.

    21. Re:Executive order to amend the Constitution ? by DamnOregonian · · Score: 1
      That's part of the story. The clause's wording comes from prior established law which was already interpreted to mean the children of immigrants, though precluding the children of ambassadors or other foreign dignitaries. Along with the Amendment, was passed the Expatriation act, declaring that humans have the right to declare themselves no longer subject to a former foreign power. As such, common law and all passed law allowed for immigrants to have citizen children in the US.
      The idea of the anchor baby was indeed desired back then. We needed people.

      The debate on the Civil Rights Act [of 1866, precursor to the Amendment] contained the following exchange:
      Mr. Cowan: I will ask whether it will not have the effect of naturalizing the children of Chinese and Gypsies born in this country?
      Mr. Trumbull: Undoubtedly.
      ...
      Mr. Trumbull: I should like to inquire of my friend from Pennsylvania, if the children of Chinese now born in this country are not citizens? Mr. Cowan: I think not.
      Mr. Trumbull: I understand that under the naturalization laws the children who are born here of parents who have not been naturalized are citizens. This is the law, as I understand it, at the present time. Is not the child born in this country of German parents a citizen? I am afraid we have got very few citizens in some of the counties of good old Pennsylvania if the children born of German parents are not citizens.
      Mr. Cowan: The honorable Senator assumes that which is not the fact. The children of German parents are citizens; but Germans are not Chinese; Germans are not Australians, nor Hottentots, nor anything of the kind. That is the fallacy of his argument.
      Mr. Trumbull: If the Senator from Pennsylvania will show me in the law any distinction made between the children of German parents and the children of Asiatic parents, I may be able to appreciate the point which he makes; but the law makes no such distinction; and the child of an Asiatic is just as much of a citizen as the child of a European.

      President Johnson even object to the provision that it would make "anchor babies" legal citizens, and sent it back to Congress, at which point they promptly *overrode* his veto, making their intention quite clear. Relevant citations:
      1st Session, 39th Congress, pt. 1, p. 498.
      1st Session, 39th Congress, pt. 4, pp. 2891-2.
      Johnson's Veto

      A reinterpretation would require quite a bit of intellectual dishonesty. Not that I'm putting that past anyone.

    22. Re: Executive order to amend the Constitution ? by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1

      No. "Whataboutism" is confronting a jackass like you with the simple fact that you happily accept this stuff when a member of your own tribe does it.

      Utter rubbish.

      Whataboutism means whenever someone points out something about the Republicans to you, you always point the finger at the Democrats.

      Here's the thing you seem to be missing: what the Dems did is irrelevant to whether the GOP did something bad. Completely utterly irrelevant. But yet you reach for it. Because you would rather shout at people than admit your tribe did something bad.

      At the very best you're pointing out someone has the same hipcracy as you. At the wrst you are using that as an excuse to avoid ever seeing the bad things your tribe does.

      That my man is Whataboutism and you are 100% guilty of it.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    23. Re:Executive order to amend the Constitution ? by JesseMcDonald · · Score: 1

      Alternately, it could be interpreted "foreigners; aliens who belong to the families of...".

      Not really, because then you'd have an unnatural pause (comma) between "aliens" and "who" to explain away. Even if you did change it that way I don't see how that would change the overall meaning of the sentence; you'd just equate "foreigners" with "aliens who belong to the families of..." which is an odd way to define "foreigners" but the end result is still to only excludes the families of diplomats.

      If all foreigners were exempt then there would be no point in mentioning aliens—which is just a more precise legal term for foreigners—or the families of diplomats, who are also foreigners. Even ignoring punctuation altogether, and the fact that there is no conjunction, there is no natural way to read "foreigners aliens [and] ... the families of ambassadors or foreign ministers" which does not make at least one element of the list redundant.

      --
      "The state is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else." - Bastiat
  6. If this were Obama Fox News would be losing their by rsilvergun · · Score: 4, Interesting

    shit right about now. Now, Fox & Co are propagandists, so I don't expect even a tiny bit of consistency from them. But I expect a little better from the right wing. There was zero outrage when Trump praised Chinese President Xi for seizing power for life and suggested he'd like to do the same. Again, imagine the shit storm if Obama had done that.

    Somebody raised a very good point today. Trump pulled back the FBI from investigating right wing domestic terrorists. We just had a synagogue shot up and a pipe bomber. That is not a coinki-dink. The president responded to this by tweeting about baseball and saying he thought he might miss his rally.... because he was having a bad hair day. That's not "Trump being Trump". That's Trump signaling to the far right that violence is OK.

    I'm not gonna try to speak to the alt-righters here because I'm not good enough at it to do anything but piss you off more than you already are. Go watch some Secular Talk or Aron Ra or Bad Mouse Productions on youtube

    This message is for the Blacks, Jews and Mexicans who stayed home when it was time to vote for Bernie and did it again when it was time to vote for that bitch Hilary. And it's for the white guys who've got friends in those categories:

    I get it. Taxes suck and you don't like being told what to do by smarthy liberals. But if you sit another election out Trump & company are gonna get some signaling themselves. They're gonna figure out that their strategy of riling up the violent alt-right is working. Those people are going to come for you. Because they've got problems. Big ones. And Trump can't solve them. He's not clever enough. To stay in power he's gonna wind them up and send them after you. It's a trick that's thousands of years old and it works.

    They're coming for you and you're not going to be safe in your gated communities. Vote. And Vote for whoever has the best chance of taking down Trump and company. Or the violence is going to get worse. A lot worse.

    --
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  7. Crisis of capitalism by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    As capitalism goes into crisis yet again, people are again scrutinizing, and beginning to see though their ideological programming. There is a danger for the first time in decades, that people can't be kept pacified by abundant cheap consumer goods.
    States in general (rather than specifically the current US Trump government) will be looking to consolidate their power.

    The entire ruling class, government, military, media and tech will be forced to engineer a crisis to kill off a chunk of the working classes, in order to preserve their place in the hierarchy.

    1. Re:Crisis of capitalism by SirAstral · · Score: 2

      You should consider picking up a dictionary or something.

      Capitalism is only 1 thing. People rather than Government owns the means of productivity.

      You are talking about consumerism... get a clue if you expect to troll better! Also, there will never not be a ruling class, if you want a ruling class to be gone then you need to institute complete anarchy and instantly murder anyone talking about forming government or a council or a chief, because those guys become the ruling class.

      And as long as you remain ignorant like this, you will need to be ruled by someone or you will just contribute to the decay of society.

    2. Re:Crisis of capitalism by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      No, Capitalism, if you bother to read Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, is when the Government peers over the shoulders of business and regulate the market for the purpose of guaranteeing access and fair dealing. Without that you have exactly what existed before Capitalism; a Feudal system where the entrenched powers in every industry conspire to prevent competition. That's the natural state of things with private ownership! The whole point of Capitalism is to overcome the natural tendency to use power to cheat, so that markets have prices that move only based on money-related concerns.

  8. I should add by rsilvergun · · Score: 4, Interesting

    the post above is what happens when a lefty rants with the kind of bitter rage usually reserved for the alt-right.

    Speaking of rage: I'd be a lot less better if I didn't have so many family members who've had the shit kicked out of them by our crap healthcare system because folks won't stop voting for the GOP when they keep telling you they're gonna end Obamacare with it's protection for preexisting conditions. Jeez, I wish I knew how to reach the electorate. 26% of Americans still believe the GOP is gonna save them even after 60 votes to repeal and Mitch McConnell going around saying he's gonna end social security and Medicare.

    --
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    1. Re:I should add by R3d+M3rcury · · Score: 1

      No no no! Republicans will keep the option of having protection for pre-existing conditions. You'll be able to choose! Isn't that great! And all those people without pre-existing conditions won't have to pay more to support those leaches with pre-existing conditions! I mean, if they have pre-existing conditions, they should have to pay more, right? Won't somebody think of the insurance companies!?

    2. Re:I should add by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      the post above is what happens when a lefty rants with the kind of bitter rage usually reserved for the alt-right.

      Speaking of rage: I'd be a lot less better if I didn't have so many family members who've had the shit kicked out of them by our crap healthcare system because folks won't stop voting for the GOP when they keep telling you they're gonna end Obamacare with it's protection for preexisting conditions. Jeez, I wish I knew how to reach the electorate. 26% of Americans still believe the GOP is gonna save them even after 60 votes to repeal and Mitch McConnell going around saying he's gonna end social security and Medicare.

      Here's the problem:

      The moment the GOP actually tries or does end any of the programs you mentioned, the voters will simply hand them their ass and we'll return to Team Blue for X number of years until, they too, do something similar and the cycle repeats. Both sides like to induce hysteria on various issues ( 2nd Amendment, Immigration, Health Care, Terrorists, Russia, etc. etc. ) and folks just keep eating it up. Folks are so brainwashed by their " team " that they have never figured out there really isn't much difference between Team Red and Team Blue. In fact, they're so much alike they may as well just be Team Fucking Purple for all intents and purposes.

      It's been this way forever and it's not likely to change as long as we have a two party system.

    3. Re:I should add by e3m4n · · Score: 1, Insightful

      my healthcare went to shit after obamacare, I live in the midwest, so when you hit someone with a $3000 deductible and run the drug formulary so that a generic drug that costs $22 gets stuck in the $40 copay tier instead of the $20 tier..... I mean for fucks sake, they cant even pay two fucking dollars??!! That $3000 deductible sucked. Most people dont get hospitalized. Maybe you need an MRI for $1500, healthcare didnt pay shit. When I first got out of the military in 1995 the typical healthcare plan cost an individual $86 a month or $400 a month for the entire family. The deductible was $250 and they paid everything 80/20 meaning that you only paid 20% on anything after you paid $250. Lets go back to that $22 drug... my cost would have been $4 not $22. I had office visit copays of $40 after obamacare, except that when I read my explanation of benefits it shows that my insurance only paid the doctor $15. Sure the doctor claims he charges $150, but he accepted $65 from the insurance. That tells me that $65 is the real cost, not the bullshit inflated cost. However, in the last two years, the government has now allowed smaller business to join groups where their premiums and benefits are based on a larger number of employees. I dont know if you know it but the premiums are based on an average of usage across all members of a group. Over 85% of businesses have less than 20 employees. This deliberately screwed up insurance premiums making the insurance companies higher profits. Allowing more people to be a collective group helps offset the cost of premiums. This isnt perfect, but it is helping to lower costs for smaller businesses while still providing better benefits. By doing this our costs went down about 15%, but more importantly, my office copays are now $20, even for a specialist, and my deductible is back to $250 (office visits and prescription drugs are not subject to deductible). After I pay $3000 they pay everything at 100%, but even after I pay the first $250 they start paying 80% right off. So if you need an MRI, your looking at $250 plus only 20% of the remainder. Thats a MUCH smaller pill to have to swallow.

      Im not against universal healthcare. I was in the military, we had universal healthcare. Here is the problem with the way the left, and the right, are approaching this. There are two sides to any equation. The side that puts money into the system, and the side that takes money out. So on the money-in side you have the government taxing people to have enough money to finance the system. On the money-out side you have the Doctors, who make very high 6 figure salaries, and in some cases 7 figure salaries; and you also have the blood sucking lawyers with their malpractice lawsuits. The left only keeps focusing on the money-in side. The doctors have proven time and time again they will continue to milk and rip off the system to make more money (think about the commercials that say 'if you have medicare, you can't be denied for any reason. Fill out this form and get this scooter to ride around even if you run marathons'). There is also no shortage of lawyers looking to get rich. Every country that has universal healthcare has one thing in common; Doctors are most assuredly middle class, not upper class. There is a limit on lawsuits when the government is footing the bill.

      So if you want universal healthcare, you have to be willing to solve all 3 sides of this equilibrium. You have to limit costs by telling doctors they are now employees of the US Government, welcome to your upper middle class salary. BTW we just erased your student loans and there is no such thing as malpractice insurance. Then they tell the lawyers that there is no such thing as malpractice law anymore, its time to learn how to make a living doing real lawsuits or go stand in line at the soup kitchen. Its the only way to keep the Money-out side from bleeding the system dry getting rich. Its abso-fucking-lutely moronic for these talking heads to think that a system is possible for the government to just pay for everything without reigning in the damn costs that are beyond unreasonable.

    4. Re:I should add by e3m4n · · Score: 5, Interesting

      its been a while since I worked in that industry (1995 when i first came back from 3 tours in the persian gulf after the gulf war); but pre-existing conditions were never permanent. Usually they had a 6month clause that meant that for the first 6 months they would review claims to look for a pre-existing condition. It basically meant that you could not choose to forgo insurance to keep more money, find out you needed medical attention, get insurance, and pay less; then later drop the insurance again. That was supposed to be a deterrent. They would order medical records to see if you had been seen for anything related to it prior to having insurance. They would even invoke the 'prudent person' clause that said 'a prudent person WOULD have sought help'. Internally we had a commentary that went like "No, actually I was in the waiting room for something else, but while I was here, suddenly this started happening..." However the Healthcare Reform act of 1996 had abolished most of this and then HIPAA came along and helped with that by fixing the gap that happened when an insured had to leave one employer and go to another employer.

      FACT. The idea that insurance is provided by the employer is deliberately geared to turn you into an undervalued slave. No other insurance works this way. How likely are you to accept abuse or take shit from your employer because they hold the strings on some health benefits you might currently need? It empowers the employee to enter a codependent relationship with the employee where they can misuse you.

      Please do not get caught up in the bullshit belief this is only a GOP thing. This shit has been going on since 1995 at least. From 1996 - 2018 the Democrates have controlled the House, Senate, and Executive branch more than once. They COULD have fixed this. They get paid by these special interest too. Nobody in congress is in it for your best interest. Dont fall for the partisan bullshit on this particular topic.

    5. Re:I should add by e3m4n · · Score: 1

      why the hell did you post this AC??? You should own it and be proud to have realized it.

    6. Re:I should add by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      There's a steaming pile of bullshit for you. ...

      I worked in that industry

      ...

      for the first 6 months they would review claims to look for a pre-existing condition

      Yeah, not surprised. Not surprised at all. This is exactly why the problem can only be solved by the government. People still tell these same lies, even after all the focus that was put on what was really happening during the original debate over passing Obamacare.

    7. Re:I should add by Mordaximus · · Score: 2

      In fact, they're so much alike they may as well just be Team Fucking Purple for all intents and purposes.

      It's been this way forever and it's not likely to change as long as we have a two party system.

      Indeed. There should also be Team Fucking Green too. They should then fight for an entire fucking cycle.

    8. Re:I should add by houghi · · Score: 1

      You have to limit costs by telling doctors they are now employees of the US Government, welcome to your upper middle class salary

      I know several docters, surgeons and lawyers in several countries. None of them are employees of the state. Yet we still have universal healthcare. Either absolute 100% or a really minimal payment of a few EUR.

      A doctors visit costs me 25 EUR and I get 20 EUR back (Ballpark figures). I think I paid 20 EUR for a CAT scan for my backpains. Again ballpark. Could be a lot less, but certainly not much more.

      Malpractice lawsuits can, should and do happen.

      And let us not go offtopic by talking student loans, shall we? I live in a student city where the world largest brewery company is located and there is more stress about the price of the beer than there is about the cost of their contribution. (Yep, not free.)

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    9. Re:I should add by aquacrayfish · · Score: 1

      The moment the GOP actually tries or does end any of the programs you mentioned

      Well, they're not defending the program against lawsuits, so I guess it's time to hand it to them, yes?

    10. Re:I should add by Daralantan · · Score: 1

      (think about the commercials that say 'if you have medicare, you can't be denied for any reason. Fill out this form and get this scooter to ride around even if you run marathons').

      This is always funny to see after having worked at a medical equipment company for years. Medicare (and most other insurance companies, usually they just copied Medicare policies) had strict requirements on a lot of things. Of course some doctors use and abuse this. "No, I won't update my notes from yesterday to have the correct wording. He has to come in again. No I don't care if he loses his oxygen, he needs to make another appointment."

    11. Re:I should add by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

      Trolls go back and forth to distract from the OP, which is about a disturbing increase in the surveillance state.

      --
      (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
    12. Re:I should add by jareth-0205 · · Score: 1

      I think you're right generally, in that the money-out is one of the biggest problems, but I think your targets might be misplaced. Malpractise isn't a significant cost, neither is salary compared with what would be expected - the biggest cost is down to the separately privately run businesses that run the healthcare, that all make their cut, and can't negotiate collectively to get the best price.

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

  9. Nope by iggymanz · · Score: 5, Interesting

    read the article, no source within the article says Trump admin is actually doing that. A bunch of other studies and models referenced.

  10. Re:"Monitor everywhere, always" by LifesABeach · · Score: 1, Troll

    I'm just thinking that Trump wears the Secret Service like a cheap suit. And then again, how did all Caesars lose their jobs?

  11. Re: If this were Obama Fox News would be losing th by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Will be voting straight R, for the first time in my life.

    Fuck yourself.

  12. Is Linux Being Used? by LifesABeach · · Score: 1

    Else why is this fat bucket of puke being mentioned on /.?

  13. Re:If this were Obama Fox News would be losing the by Darinbob · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That's why politics is like a dumb sports game. Everyone drinks a bit too much, they boo for the other time and call them rude names for no reason than for being on the wrong side, and they cheer on their own team as the greatest of heroes merely for being their guys. If one of their guys gets arrested they will wring their hands and wonder if the police are taking things too far, and if one of the other guys get arrested they cheer at their own good luck. After the game is over all the drunk fans go into the parking lot to fight each other.

  14. Easier solution. by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 1

    If it's not one of his never-ending succession of self-promotional rallies, it's probably a protest.

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  15. I'll give you MSNBC by rsilvergun · · Score: 3, Insightful

    bunch of pro-establishment right wingers over there. Don't let the occasional bit of left wing social politics fool you. MSNBC is hard right on the stuff that matters (economics). CNN would cover it in a centrists milktoast way that doesn't matter worth a fuck. But the right wing media engine? They'd go ape shit.

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  16. Re:"Monitor everywhere, always" by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 2

    ... And then again, how did all Caesars lose their jobs?

    Not quickly enough?

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  17. It's like a dumb sports game by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    the decides who lives and who dies. 45,000 Americans die every year from treatable illnesses. 20 million folks die globally from hunger and thirst in a world where the only reason they have to die is logistics and getting people to pay for it. We're at war with 8 countries and have been at war for 94% of our life as a country.

    Politics isn't a dumb sport, it's what defines ever aspect of your life from cradle to grave.

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    1. Re:It's like a dumb sports game by e3m4n · · Score: 1

      dont forget the opiod epidemic. More people are now dying from that than firearms (including suicide) and car accidents combined. In 3 years its going to be the single highest rate of death on the whole graph.

    2. Re:It's like a dumb sports game by epine · · Score: 1

      20 million folks die globally from hunger and thirst in a world where the only reason they have to die is logistics and getting people to pay for it.

      The other reason is people who insist on putting the word "only" in front of political logistics, despite all evidence to the contrary—as in, the "only" reason we get cancer is because human metabolism sucks at self-repair.

      You do realize that the phrase "all the king's horses and all the king's men" is satiric, don't you?

      The "only" reason they couldn't put Humpty back together again is because no-one present had a diploma in egg reassembly.

      Well, offer the course already!

      If MOOC can't put Humpty back together again, no-one can.

  18. He's getting it from Fox News by rsilvergun · · Score: 1, Troll

    and other right wing outlets. They've been caught multiple times suggesting the shooter was an anti-Trump lefty. It's gas lighting. They've been called out on it (Geraldo even backed down) but the people they're speaking to are in a bubble and just hear what they say.

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    1. Re:He's getting it from Fox News by e3m4n · · Score: 1

      not to make an argument but I think people really misuse the term 'gaslighting'. Gaslighting is not pouring gas on a fire. I know it sounds like it should be. Its a movie. In early 1900s (maybe late 1800s) houses had halway lights lit by natural gas. The antagonist would increase the gas flow to the lights to convince the protagonist that she was losing her mind. The term gaslighting means to deliberately cause someone to think they are going crazy.

    2. Re:He's getting it from Fox News by Darinbob · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Nazis were right wingers, part of the definition of fascist. I know it's fashionable on the alt-right to claim Nazis were socialists but that's patently ridiculous. Anyone who claims Nazis were liberal socialists is not worth listening to, you may as well hold a more cogent argument in an insane asylum.

      The conservative wing of the Republican party got its start as the segregationist Democrats - hardcore racists, home of the Klan, and so forth. Very anti-Jewish. This group migrated en-masse to the Republicans when the Democrats supported civil rights, though some had a brief sojourn with the Dixiecrats. The southern segregationists *hated* the Republicans for a century as the party that forced them to give up slaves, so when today it's ironic when some of the same people still alive claim to be in the Party of Lincoln.

      The reason this particular shooter did not like Trump is because he felt that Trump does not go far enough in supporting the racists.

      This is the biggest problem Republicans face; how to jettison their racist and white nationalist wing. Or it was shortly before 2016 when there was concern about getting black and hispanic votes in order to remain relevant. Trump proved them wrong though, that you can give a wink and a nod to the racist wing and win an election. I am still surprised that not more Republicans jumped ship after this.

    3. Re:He's getting it from Fox News by e3m4n · · Score: 4, Interesting

      IMO jewish people keep their opinions to themselves. They might think I'm going to hell for my lifestyle, but they keep it to themselves and do not try to tell me how the fuck to live my life. For that, they always get my support to continue to exist in that exact manner. If they don't fuck with me, I wont ever fuck with them. Its pretty simple. Unlike the southern baptist convention that tried to put Disney out of business in the 90s because they wanted to have same-sex benefits. How exactly was that going to ruin their visit to Disney World? Exactly.

      The only religious groups I have a problem with are the ones that want to get in my face and force me to live their lifestyle. Vegans, they are very much like that too. Let me fuck my life up the way I see fit.

    4. Re:He's getting it from Fox News by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      One method in the movie was to always claim that whatever the heroine saw didn't really happen. Sort of like how Trump calls everything fake news.

    5. Re:He's getting it from Fox News by Dutchmaan · · Score: 1

      Nazi-ism is a liberal ideology, so yes, it would follow that neo-nazis would be liberals as well.

      Well answer me this then... why do conservatives celebrate it!?

    6. Re:He's getting it from Fox News by dunkelfalke · · Score: 2

      There is no hell in judaism and besides, it emphasizes doing the right thing for its own sake, not because of some possible punishment in the afterlife. This (and a couple of other concepts like pikuach nefesh) is the reason why I have a grudging respect of judaism even though I am generally an antitheist.

      --
      "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
    7. Re:He's getting it from Fox News by Daralantan · · Score: 1

      I am still surprised that not more Republicans jumped ship after this.

      In general a lot of people probably disagree with a lot in their party.... but are afraid to leave it because the only options they see are "join the other side or quit completely."

    8. Re:He's getting it from Fox News by mjwx · · Score: 1

      This is the biggest problem Republicans face; how to jettison their racist and white nationalist wing. Or it was shortly before 2016 when there was concern about getting black and hispanic votes in order to remain relevant. Trump proved them wrong though, that you can give a wink and a nod to the racist wing and win an election. I am still surprised that not more Republicans jumped ship after this.

      That is a problem a lot of western conservative parties are struggling with at the moment. Certainly in Australia and the UK where they've been snuggling up to racists and bigots to get the votes. The current problem they have is that they aren't getting the numbers, the UK and Australian conservative parties (Conservatives or Tories and LNP respectively) both came out of the last elections by the skin of their teeth. The Tories in the UK are dependent on a third Northern Irish party or they'll lose control of parliament. The next Australian election is expected to go to Bill Shorten and Labor, I'm not taking bets on the UK at the moment but the only reason Labour isn't in after 2017's election is because Corbyn is so unpopular.

      The thing about these conservative parties is that the majority of their votes actually come from moderates. Moderates who are presently being ignored to claw votes from racist parties like UKIP (UK) or One Nation (Australia). Its said the average Tory voter "holds his nose and votes Tory" because conservatives are pretty backwards socially but OK fiscally (not at the moment, they've just announced a new raft of tax increases). These voters are changing to "hold your nose and vote Labour" because the Tories have become so backwards, not just on social issues but also on finance. They've sacrificed their larger voter-base for a smaller extremist one and cant keep relying on Corbyn's unpopularity. The Republicans are in the same boat, they've courted the so called "alt-right" at the expense of the but fiscally conservative everyman. Its going to take a shocking loss for them to realise it though.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
    9. Re:He's getting it from Fox News by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      I'm a decline-to-state. Meaning that I haven't selected a party preference (in California). I'm not opting out of voting or quitting completely. I just refuse to side with any of the existing parties.

    10. Re:He's getting it from Fox News by Kielistic · · Score: 1

      No, they were "socialists". They promised to overthrow the powerful elites that were stealing all the money and power from the little guy to bring about a socialist utopia. Obviously they were full of shit. Which is pretty much exactly how I see most of the "socialists", "progressives", "left", "liberals" or whatever they're labeling themselves now that use pretty much the same rhetoric and tactics. Remember the "final solution" wasn't the first thing attempted; it was the atrocity that happened after all their previous attempts failed because they had no basis in reality.

    11. Re: He's getting it from Fox News by Tyler+Durden · · Score: 1

      Also: you used the term "white nationalist". No such people exist, outside your excited feverish mind.

      Are you sure?

      --
      Happy people make bad consumers.
    12. Re:He's getting it from Fox News by Harlequin80 · · Score: 1

      This is very true in Australia. I've always been an LNP voter, mainly due to the economic policies. The lurch to the right and the sudden increase of religion in the LNP though has made it impossible to vote for them.

      Which means I'm truly stuck. The labor party's economic approach is just retarded, it's not even true socialism it's just jobs for the unions.

      What I really want is an actual social liberal, economic dry party. Which is what the liberals were meant to be when they were founded.

      Even better that peter dutton is my MP as well.

    13. Re: He's getting it from Fox News by terrycarlino · · Score: 1

      Nice deflection. Unfortunately anyone who actually knows history knows that the socialist and Nazi's in the 1930's were separate branches of the socialist movement.

      Hitler parted ways first with them (the SPD) and then with the SA of his own party.

      The identification of the Nazi with the right was and is a tactic of the left used to paint conservatism and the right in general as espousing Nazi beliefs, which is of course, false.

      Under the present political alignment the laissez-faire policies of right has more to do with classical liberalism than the income redistribution policies of left does. In any meaningful way conservatism is the political heir of classical liberalism and in no way related to Nazism or any form of fascism.

    14. Re:He's getting it from Fox News by Daralantan · · Score: 1

      I mostly meant the politicians rather than the voters. In the voters' case I'd say a lot of it is sort of a tribalism. A "Well I don't wanna vote for the dirty dems even if I dislike Republican X!" The ones that just vote Republican on everything no matter who or what it is.

    15. Re:He's getting it from Fox News by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      Which is a pretty dumb way to vote, given that the parties have changed their core values within relatively short periods of time in the past.

      But I think this effect also plays out mostly in the minor races. When it's president, then voters pay a lot of attention. When it's senator they pay attention. When it's for conress then voters pay less attention, and often don't even know the name of the incumbent.. When it's state office or small, voters pay very little attention. So the less attention voters are paying, the more likely they are to just vote their bias (look and see if there's a D or R next to the name). This is why you will see a state elect a president or senator from a different party than the majority of congress members.

  19. Trump's the president by rsilvergun · · Score: 1, Insightful

    he owns everything the Pentagon does. That's what it means to be the Chief Executive.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:Trump's the president by h33t+l4x0r · · Score: 1

      That's what it used to mean. Now the generals ignore him and he doesn't seem to care.

    2. Re:Trump's the president by iggymanz · · Score: 1

      irrelevant point, there is no source in that article that says the Trump administration is doing what is claimed. Instead innuendo and extrapolation done from reports of other things.

      In short, no proof.

    3. Re:Trump's the president by e3m4n · · Score: 1

      quote Harry Truman... 'The buck stops here!' he was famous for it.

    4. Re:Trump's the president by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      Yeah, but it would only seem to apply narrowly to types of situations where responsibilities are being bucked. Why would it automatically extend to all other types of action?

      At this point, we don't even know if it is true. And if nobody ever even admits they're doing it, nobody will be trying to buck the responsibility up to their boss!

    5. Re:Trump's the president by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      Uhm, those were military actions taken in war zones.

      Hey asshole terrorist: Don't bring your family with you to the war zone! They might die!

      Does that help?

      How about this? Bringing human shields into the war zone doesn't mean you have superpowers and nobody is going to bomb your ass. It is just more deaths you're responsible for.

    6. Re:Trump's the president by CptJeanLuc · · Score: 1

      Sure thing. If you give Trump a buck, based on his track record as a "business man" (translation: con artist) he will surely lose it into some scheme that ends with bankruptcy. But the amazing thing is that a new buck will magically enter the system from some unlikely source ... like mafia or foreign powers.

  20. Except article doesn't say that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The article is in the conspiracy gish gallop format. Lots of implying and connecting dots. Yeah the cops look at Facebook. Yeah the Pentagon is looking at using hell any of a number of buzzwords to analyze social media. However the article doesn't mention much operationalization - though I started skimming when the conspiracy format became evident - so it's put Trump in headline because he's scary.

    Lefty conspiracy gish gallop is different than righty conspiracy gish gallop but I wouldn't be worried about the gummint, paranoids, the extremists on the right are watching social media and no doubt some of them are making lists. Be more worried about your neighbors or that alt-right gun-nut ranter who threatened you for, say, supporting Hillary. Don't worry too much because they're idiots but there's gonna be more guns involved before things calm down so watch yourself.

    1. Re:Except article doesn't say that by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      Hey new guy. Don't click the links. There be dragons.

  21. Isn't this unconstitutional? by Freischutz · · Score: 4, Informative

    The United States government is accelerating efforts to monitor social media to preempt major anti-government protests in the US

    So basically they want to conduct mass surveillance, predict where protests are being planned and crack down on them with maximum force so his Orange Imperial Majesty's delicate little snowflake heart won't melt form the heat of all that unwanted criticism? I seem to remember having read the following in a document considered so important it is kept in a climate controlled armoured glass box flanked by armed guards:

    "The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretext, infringed. The people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, to write, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable. The people shall not be restrained from peaceably assembling and consulting for their common good; nor from applying to the Legislature by petitions, or remonstrances, for redress of their grievances."

    Pay particular attention for that last part, "remonstrances" means "forceful reproachful protest" the US constitution literally guarantees the citizen's rights to protest and not be particularly polite about it. The constitution guarantees that the US citizenry's can voice its grievances without having to give a damn about the delicate sentiments of thin skinned and whiny little bitch politicians .

    1. Re:Isn't this unconstitutional? by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      Re "So basically they want to conduct mass surveillance, predict where protests..."
      Thats just the normal police part.
      Think long term over decades and where political people can get work at later if they can hide their pasts.

      Say a person who has the ability to become an engineer, is able to pass most of the US university exams to be able to get most jobs in the US mil/NSA/CIA.
      A smart person who spent years on a political campus with "arts" students who want to spy on the USA and give its secrets away.

      Years later and many exams results later that person is accepted into the US gov/mil/as a contractor.
      Will a digital FBI/court document "investigation" show anything other than the person is not a wanted criminal/was a criminal?
      They can pass any and all polygraph tests as they are not "spying" for another nation, not accepting money to spy. No cult/faith problems with sending US secrets back to another nation.
      Such a person is then free to sneak into the US/gov/mil without too much to indicate their past domestic political background.

      A database can then track who was political on campus and all their friends many years into the past. Friends of friends. Who ever attended a protest and then expected their identity to stay hidden decades later.
      Who liked investigative journalism but stayed in science/math/engineering? Who was 'also' friends with the many campus protesters?
      The people of faith, in a cult, the people who have a well hidden split loyalty to another nation.
      Thats what so many people with no FBI file and no criminal record can do.
      Stay hidden for decades, waiting to walk out with US gov/mil documents due to their "politics"/faith/friendships.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  22. Re:If this were Obama Fox News would be losing the by SirAstral · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Centrist here, I see a lot of complaining about people on the right not taking their own to task while the same problem appears on the left. If you want to have standing when you call people on the right out you really need to be free of guilt yourself. If you think that what I just said is a bunch of BS then you are only going to prove that you are guilty of what I said.

    As a centrist I watch both sides endlessly accuse the other of the very things they are guilty of themselves. Each time one of their own abuse the Constitution they don't care... at least they gave the other side what for... and they enjoy it too.

    And you should abide your own warnings... you think the people on the left are against ripping themselves apart? Good luck, I have a sneak suspicion that the worst thing you could ever do for a lefty or a righty is to give them everything they want so you can sit back and watch them build tyrannies. A total trash nation on one hand and a complete police state on the other. It is the constant struggle between the two that I enjoy because the more time they spend fighting the less time they have to get together and scheme more liberty away.

    You bet the violence is going to get worse, because like you... no one is interested in talking this out... they are only interested in talking AT people and not with them. The moment someone says something you don't agree with and all the accusations and name calling come out.

    The constitution is practically ignored by both parties and no matter which rights or liberties are trashed by laws neither party works to restore those liberties, they instead try to "rewrite" the law to fit their agenda's. Kinda like how all the republican ran on the platform of repealing ACA but actually did nothing of the sort. And much like Obama's "Hope & Change" was actually just more of the same of Bush policies.

  23. Deja vu all over again by Blinkin1200 · · Score: 1

    I saw enough of this crap in the 60's and 70's as the government was sending my friends and relatives off to die half way around the world. This just changed my opinion on assault rifles.

  24. Re:If this were Obama Fox News would be losing the by e3m4n · · Score: 1, Interesting

    As long as you're equally critical of everyone, you'll get no criticism from me. However, let me really get you thinking about these recent random acts of violence. First we had a guy sending 'pipe bombs' that didnt have a snowballs chance in hell of blowing up. I mean zero chance. The only reason there was any sort of black powder in them was probably to get the dogs to hit on it. I know you're younger, but there was a real mail bomb terrorist when I was younger named Ted Kackzynksi, alias Unibomber. He would rig the bomb with a bunch of nails and use a contact closure with cardboard separating the contact points that had glue on it so that when you closed the lid it would glue to the top. This would explode upon opening because the cardboard would get removed as it was attached to the lid and close the contacts... -boom-. If you really wanted to hide it, why not stick the pipe bomb inside a stuffed animal so that it goes unnoticed?

    So here is my take. 1 week before these incidents we were paying attention to Saudi Arabia and their killing of the journalist from the Washington Post. First they denied anything. Then after a few days they said things escalated and he was killed during the conflict. The day after the Soros pipe bomb made news, the crown price admits it was premeditated. Buried. Page 7 at least. Dont you think its ironic that the Soros package was identified as 'suspicious' and the butler ditches it in the woods and calls bomb squad??? The package didnt look _that_ suspicious. Not enough to throw it in the woods and call the cops. How often does Soros call the cops when he gets junkmail????? I think this is a deliberate distraction. NOBODY is even talking about this premeditated murder where the guy was literally cut up alive, according to Turkey, who obviously was bugging the consulate.

  25. Re:If this were Obama Fox News would be losing the by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I see Trump attacking the specific people that lie about him first.

    I see the left attacking ME, non-stop for daring to have a job and not having the correct color skin. Go ahead and tell me I'm wrong, but when your former president (Carter) said I was a racist for not liking the ACA, your last candidate telling me I'm deplorable, Auntie Maxine telling people to harass me when I go out to eat, former AG (Holder) telling people to kick me, and on and on. Meanwhile Trump ridicules Dr. Ford for LYING under oath to prevent the Senate from doing its job. BIG difference.

    By the way, a bunch of women are accusing Robert Muller of sexual abuse. Know the reaction to it? They aren't to be believed, but are being put under investigation by the FBI instead. Thats right, you can LIE about people who support the president and get a million dollars, but if you accuse one of his opponents you are not believed and are quickly put under FBI investigation.

    Liberals are SHIT, pure and simple. They can't tell the truth, they can't be civil, they can't be trusted with power ever again. Just look at them acting like Trump called up the shooter and told him to shoot Jews, no one believes you, you just once again prove you all are shit.

  26. Great work guys by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

    Forget the mail bombers and the wannabe apartment shooters and the vehicle attackers, those women in pussyhats are the real threat.

    --
    "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
  27. Re:If this were Obama Fox News would be losing the by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Mexicans can't vote. It's very telling you think they can, though. Or read Slashdot. Seriously, you should get a translator and ask Mexicans what they think of Americans one day. You'll get an earful.

    I also like how you can read minds. That's a remarkable ability shared by many on the Left. When Black Lives Matter murders five police officers it doesn't reflect on them, but some nutcase has a Trump sticker and that obviously means it was planned from the top.

    --
    Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
  28. Posse Comitatus by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Military and their contractors shouldn't be allowed to behave as domestic law enforcement.

    1. Re:Posse Comitatus by tinkerton · · Score: 1

      Nor should they need to , if domestic law enforcement is sufficiently militarized and outsourced.

  29. Re:If this were Obama Fox News would be losing the by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    From the precious article

    "The tool was originally developed under the Obama administration back in 2011 by the US Army Research Laboratory.."

    So damn I guess Fox news wouldn't "be losing their ..."

    Oh and did you know black support of Trump is higher than the past recent Republican presidents? Do you still want them to come out and vote when they disagree with your agenda?

    Oh and did you also know that the Democratic primary is less Democratic than the Republican primary? Why do I bring this up? Because do to the superdelegates all the blacks, Jews, Mexicans (why would Mexican citizens be voting in the US anyway.. I think you mean Latino Americans) could have voted for Bernie and he still would have lost the primary. Interestingly enough I would bet that he would have won against Trump in a Presidential election.

    Since we are educating you on how real life works. Did you know that the actual policy of Bush, Obama, and gasp Trump hasn't been that different in many aspects other than the TPP? Bush supported the Patriot act, Obama extended it, and now Trump seems to be using it. Obama built a wall 600 miles long down on our Mexican friends border...and did you know Trump wants to expand it? And what do you know Bush started bombing people all across the world and tortured them in the name of terrorism... Can you take a guess as to if Obama or Trump stopped it? Oh and that little doosey of an ACA Obama is so well known for .... Guess what? Its shares many similarities to something our Mormon friend crafted for his little state. Of course any die hard Democrat or Republican will have a host of fake news article to fervently assault these claims with. The reason? In current American politics it matters more who supports the law than what the law actually contains. This is why our debate in this country is nothing more than ad hominem attacks.

    Go ahead and mod me down because I didn't scream Trump evil Obama a Muslim like the mods look for.

  30. Re:"Monitor everywhere, always" by Z80a · · Score: 1

    Every tool you build, your opponent will use against you.
    Google and facebook are creating a lot of tools to "fight the alt-right", but when trump gets his orange hands on em, well it won't be pretty.

  31. Re:If this were Obama Fox News would be losing the by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Well said. If only more people internalized your point.

    The elephant in the room is how polarized the nation is. It began way before Trump. It has a lot to do with rating-driven news and advertising-driven social media. Sensationalism sells. Moderate people talking things through calmly does not.

  32. I'm saying Don't forget to Vote by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    you can bloody well forget about me and my dumb /. posts all you want if you get that one message through your skull.

    And we each do what little we can. If I push a few over the edge to vote against Donald Trump and the modern American Aristocracy then I call that a win. If the Russians can get Trump elected then us Americans can get him kicked out. At least in 2020. In the meantime vote in your Mid Terms for anyone who'll oppose Trump's agenda.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:I'm saying Don't forget to Vote by e3m4n · · Score: 1

      did you just say bloody?

  33. Just wait until they start shooting the Migrants.. by Grog6 · · Score: 2

    "They were coming right at us!!"

    This will probably happen, so IDK why I'm making a south park joke... :(

    --
    Truth isn't Truth - Guliani
  34. Nobody's free of guilt by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    you're setting an unreasonably high standard so you don't have to bear the burden of the results of being "centrist". Don't fool yourself. You can't stay neutral here, any more than the UK could in WWII. You'll get dragged into the violence sooner or later on one side or the other.

    America got a temporary reprieve when the wars distracted us long enough for the ruling class to rob us blind. But they're out of wars. Iran was the next one and looks like that's a no-go. The rich and powerful always use the same trick to divide the working class: Create an enemy for us to hate so we won't notice them robbing us blind. If they can't get one overseas they've got to make one at home. Eventually we'll kick out the Mexicans, ban the Muslims and turn to the Jews. Just like Europe does. This has been going on for thousands of years. We've got the internet and Wikipedia. We can read history and spot the pattern. Now's the time to end the cycle.

    --
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    1. Re:Nobody's free of guilt by Aighearach · · Score: 2

      Centrists aren't normally separate or neutral, instead we believe in compromise solutions that address all the major concerns that different people have, instead of just trying to pass by force with 50.00001% something that 49.999999% hate.

      Instead with compromise, you can get a policy that 45% of people like, and only 20% hate. The goal isn't to make a perfect world, just to make it suck less.

    2. Re:Nobody's free of guilt by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Centrists aren't normally separate or neutral, instead we believe in compromise solutions that address all the major concerns that different people have,

      No such thing when you have people who are diametrically opposed, e.g. over abortion rights or the death penalty.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    3. Re:Nobody's free of guilt by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      Don't be such a dunce, I just told you that I'm a mouse, and I'm stirring. There is no sense in making a direct reply just to say that no mice are stirring.

      As for abortion, a simple centrist solution:
      * Access to chemical abortion protected up to 5th month
      * Abortion banned after 5th month except with exceptions controlled by doctors
      * Surgical abortion banned except with exceptions controlled by doctors

      That would satisfy 70% of Americans on the topic, because there are lots of people who aren't absolutely opposed to it, there are just lots of edge cases they think are horrible or that they falsely believe are common, like "partial-birth abortion." The whole trick in getting the haters down to 20% would be education; it would be easy to get strong opposition among people who understand the details of the policy down to under 20%. The general population, I doubt you'd get it under 25%. But that's still a quality compromise compared to the current situation.

      Death penalty, there are lots of people who are against it because of the way it has been wielded disproportionately based on race and economic class. And there are lots of people who would oppose it if they had confidence that people on death row could be punished effectively with a life term without risking that they get released, or spending more money than the current system spends on executing them. I'm against the death penalty, and I think we have too many people in prison, and yet I'd support increased sentences for violent crimes, and I'd support increased penalties on career criminals if I thought that a policy to achieve it wasn't going to be abused by prosecutors. There is lots of room to be "tougher on crime" while reducing the number of executions, so compromise is certainly possible here.

  35. Re:If this were Obama Fox News would be losing the by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    If you want to have standing when you call people on the right out you really need to be free of guilt yourself.

    Only angels can complain? That's ridiculous.

    And while you may have convinced yourself that you're a centrist, I don't think you've convinced anyone here.

  36. Re:If this were Obama Fox News would be losing the by Xylantiel · · Score: 5, Informative

    No you can take your false equivalence and shove it. I've always thought political parties were a bad idea, and nobody is a saint, but the degree of lying and cheating that people in the current US republican party will stoop to is unacceptable in a civil society. Your one example shows your argument is hollow. The GOP was all for repealing the ACA because it sounds good in a campaign slogan but didn't do it because they have no real alternative policy, just talking points. That's a concrete promise that was broken. Then you say some random squishy crap about Obama not sticking to "hope and change". Nothing concrete. On the same issue, the democrats ran on revamping healthcare, and that's what happened. Not single-payer, but the ACA was a concrete improvement to the status quo that could be put into law at the time despite an obstructionist opposition party. One of the main motivations for the ACA was getting the healthcare part of the national economy and national debt and deficit more under control, something the GOP claims they want to do but never do. Your claim that both of these are parties saying one thing and doing another is simply false equivalence.

  37. Re:Just wait until they start shooting the Migrant by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    "They were coming right at us!!"

    This will probably happen, so IDK why I'm making a south park joke... :(

    It is not that Trump particularly wants to kill them. He seems more amoral than anything else. If they die to serve his agenda, well that's fine, seems to be his thought process. In fact actual deaths of good people don't seem to register much to non teleprompter Trump. He just makes up a lie and moves on.

    Let's look at the facts. Who does he admire and get along with? Strongmen. Dictators. That's pretty much it.

    Which tactics does he use? You guessed it, the tactics of dictators and strong men. Blaming everything on a minority or two. Calling all your enemies evil or an angry mob, or any of the other variations. Continuous, vast, and uncountable numbers of lies.

    People are angry. Righteous anger is normal and at times appropriate, but I worry that Trump is making people so angry with his scorched earth tactics to win, that we as a country can never heal.

    Will we have our own Tiananmen Square anytime soon? Possibly.

    Imagine this scenario. Does it seem likely?

    "They were an angry mob with weapons (of some kind, not necessarily guns. Perhaps just a few brooms or something) and they were getting too close to the president. They had to be stopped. This is what happens when you let an angry mob take too much power, but thanks to our new pentagon programs we are active an alert about potential targets of insurrection against the homeland. In fact, to promote public safety we regularly update the public watch list database so employers can make informed decisions."

    I find such a scenario quite possible, and if it happens, I'm not sure where it ends. (Needless to say the pentagon should not be involved in law enforcement at all.)

    We already are talking kids in cages. Now he is openly talking about disobeying the constitution and throwing out people born in our country. We now have the military facing a non existent threat just to gin up his poll numbers. All of this should be grounds for removal, yet the right does nothing.

    We just had proof that one of his rabid followers tried, seriously tried to assassinate two former presidents and a bunch of others. The fact that the guy was apparently too stupid to build a credible bomb is all that saved from disaster.

    Another guy walked into a church and started killing, and if you don't think Trump's Us vs Them rhetoric fed the flames your an idiot. I remember Charlotsville well. He was an apologists for an angry mob shouting, "Jews will not replace us!" He said they were fine people.

    We don't really need a vast system to predict and quell protests. That way leads on right down a path probably more like Communist China or possibly North Korea, though the shear number of guns in this country limits how far that is likely to go.

    What we do need is simple honesty and people in charge willing to at least try to work together and do the job they were elected for, including the president.

    I'm beginning to think we also need some history lessons, so as to better guide and guard us against making even more mistakes.

    In the last election far too many of us asked, "What do we have to lose?" Now that answer is clear. We could lose everything that makes us a great country that one can be proud of. If there is a time to take action it is one week from now to restore checks and balances, for if we fail, it is possible we won't get another chance.

    America the surveillance state. Just the words smell like ashes. Let us hope we can right this ship of state.

  38. Obamacare didn't make your healthcare go to shit by rsilvergun · · Score: 5, Insightful

    the for profit insurance industry did. There's multiple studies that show it kept prices down.... a bit. They're selling you something you can't live without and that has virtually no competition (since most get it from employers and there's only a few big companies left). The only cap on what they can charge is how much Americans will bear before they demand single payer.

    Single payer solves everything. Every country in the world that's implemented it has made it work. Costs are limited because there's virtually no overhead. Doctors aren't employees of the government. It's single payer not single employer. The government is just paying. Docs do better because they no longer fight insurance companies for every scrap and penny.

    Malpractice doesn't go away either. Again, we're not talking about nationalizing healthcare, we're nationalizing insurance. Just the paying for it.

    The problem you're having is there's a multi-billion dollar propaganda engine putting ideas in your head. That's because the insurance companies are fighting for their lives. If Americans every realize they've got a bloated tick literally sucking the life out of them that's it. End of the gravy train. They spent half a billion last time we did a major reform and it paid off in spades with the "individual mandate" aka Romneycare being the best we could do even with Dems in charge. Don't fall for it. Single payer has been shown to work again and again. It saves money and it saves lives. 45,000 Americans will die of treatable illness this year. Next year you might be one of them. Demand single payer and don't vote for anyone who won't give you it.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  39. Re:If this were Obama Fox News would be losing the by e3m4n · · Score: 1

    wow thats probably the best analogy I have seen to summarize what partisanship has become. IMO senate and representative positions should be like Jury Duty. I should go to the mailbox, open my mail, and go "well shit! Ive got Senate duty this year". The problem with this career politicians is that they know where all the bodies are buried.

  40. Re:If this were Obama Fox News would be losing the by e3m4n · · Score: 1

    OK, I like the fact that your eyes are open to this, but this is actually not a one sided issue. Its a ping-pong back-and-forth power play that will, end the end, turn us into a economic devide of those will all the wealth and those of us getting shit on. The problem is there are still too many people falling for the 'pick a side' politics. We so fucking need a Libertarian party with full recognition on a national level.

  41. Re:If this were Obama Fox News would be losing the by Harlequin80 · · Score: 1

    The absolute best thing that could happen to the US is compulsory voting.

    Make it a requirement to be on the electoral role once you are over 18 and make it a requirement to vote.

    Blah blah blah what about my freedom to not vote blah blah blah rights about me blah blah blah it's a free country I shouldn't have to vote if I don't want to. Simply put it's not a free country, try not paying your taxes and see how free the country really is. In the end, as citizens, we get privileges and in exchange we pay costs. If there is no one you want to vote for then draw a giant cock on the voting sheet. Nothing requires you to make a valid vote, just to turn up on the day. And for all the too poor, too sick, too remote people there are a million ways that the vote can be got to you.

    Then you stop getting dog whistle politics, because mobilizing the voter is no longer the challenge. Now the challenge is to actually win the majority of your people. It inevitably pulls you towards the middle.

  42. Re:"Monitor everywhere, always" by Z80a · · Score: 1

    He always can pay someone to do the job for him.
    You don't need big hands to hold a credit card.

  43. Or he could just be moving the Overton window by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    further right and into the realm of dictators. It's the same thing we're seeing with Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell going around saying they want to end Social Security and Medicare right when they're getting ready to retire. They're putting the idea into the public discourse in a politically safe way. For Ryan & McConnell it's because they're close to the end of their careers (though Ryan might try and come back for a presidential run in a few years). For Trump it's because he's Teflon. Nothing sticks.

    --
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  44. Re:If this were Obama Fox News would be losing the by hey! · · Score: 1

    Nope. He was a white supremacist name Robert Bowers. Trump was not extreme enough for him.

    --
    Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  45. Re: "Monitor everywhere, always" by Z80a · · Score: 1

    My point is that the political side is irrelevant. It's just the act of spending money into those technologies that make the future worse, because technology don't choose side, it is on the side of those who wield it.
    You can kill an american with an AR-15 and a communist with an AK47. The tool will not take a side because it's only a tool.

  46. and the problem is ? by Archfeld · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Shouldn't be hard, Where Trump goes a protest will follow, much like Mary, and her lamb.

    --
    errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
  47. Talk about over engineering by KeensMustard · · Score: 1

    Bringing in the fancy analytics and social media sentiment analysis. Here's a foolproof Protest Prediction Algorithm.

    IF (TRUMP IS PRESIDENT) THEN

    SIGNAL(WIDESPREAD PROTEST)

    END IF

  48. Trump, the model American Fascist by TiggertheMad · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They're coming for you and you're not going to be safe in your gated communities. Vote. And Vote for whoever has the best chance of taking down Trump and company. Or the violence is going to get worse. A lot worse.

    Well, it was the instability of Germany in the 1920s that allowed the Nazi party to come to power. The communists has just overthrown the Czar in Russia, there was massive inflation and economic instability, mass unemployment, and the fascists were having weekly street riots with the communists. The Nazis stepped in, and offered to mop up the filthy communists, Jews and foreigners who were causing 'problems', and the German people ate it up.

    Fascism is about national strength, militarism, xenophobia, and authoritarian solutions. Some of the first attacks Trump made when he came to power were on scientific programs, and he wants to start having military parades. In the 1920s the Nazis had their own newspapers and loved to attack any news that wasn't their own, sometimes go so far as to break into offices and smash other people's presses. The parallels between now and the 1920s are disturbingly similar.

    Go read about the early history of the Nazi party, from 1920 to 1933, and think about what is happening now.

    --

    HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
    1. Re:Trump, the model American Fascist by JabrTheHut · · Score: 1

      I don't like your innuendo. Trump can't even spell "Nazi."

      --
      Work like no one is watching. Dance like you've never been hurt. Make love like you don't need the money.
    2. Re:Trump, the model American Fascist by larkost · · Score: 1

      One significant correction: the Nazi party formed a coalition with the socialist party, and combined they ran on a 40 point socialist plan. Then, in a bloody purge called the Night of the Long Knives Hitler had that part of the coalition killed (at least 85 dead, many more arrested). They then abandoned the 40 point plan that they had run on, and started in earnest demonizing those we now remember as their enemies (Jews, homosexuals, socialists, gypsys, Poles).

      And it would be remiss not to mention that the prime cause of Hitler's rise was the catastrophic conditions placed on Germany after World War One. Without the imposed hardships that that caused he would never have come to power.

    3. Re:Trump, the model American Fascist by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      By far the biggest factor causing instability and resentment in 1920s Germany was war reparations.

      After WW1 the victors made Germany pay them massive reparations and severely limited Germany's military and industrial expansion. It was both very damaging to the German economy (which experienced hyper inflation among other things) and also humiliating.

      It both created Hitler and the environment in which Hitler and Nazism could flourish.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  49. At this rate by turkeyfish · · Score: 2

    At this rate, worrying about terrorists attempting to overthrow the government hardly seems necessary. The Trump administration appears to be doing just fine destroying what government we have left all by themselves without intervention of any outsiders, whether foreign or domestic.

    No doubt allowing Trump to determine who is and who is not a US citizen by decree will fix everything. After all, who needs a Constitution when "only he can fix it"?

  50. Breaking amendments in sequence by Tristao · · Score: 1

    The president of a certain country broke constitutional amendments numbers 1, 2, 4, and 9. Can you guess which amendment he broke next?

  51. Re: Just wait until they start shooting the Migran by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Kids in cages happened while Obama was President, and all those images were from there. Check your facts because the fake news doesn't. They do anything to stir controversy for profit.

    As to your idiotic statement about throwing out people who were born here--who in power said that, ever? I'm waiting....yeah, nobody did so quit lying.

    Now, do you realize the whole birthright citizenship misinterpretation comes from a FOOTNOTE that Justice Brennen put in a ruling in the 1980s? Yes...a footnote has changed our country. Wrongly, it turns out. You see, the people who wrote the 14th amendment were asked what it meant at the time and their answers were written down. They specifically said that it did not cover children born to parents who owe allegiance to another nation (are citizens of, say, Honduras). That's what 'subject to the jurisdiction thereof' means. If it did not mean that, they could have left it at just all persons born within the United States--but they didn't. For a reason.

    The 14th amendment was written as it was to guarantee citizenship to ex slaves. Ex slaves who were having their rights denied by Democrats, btw. Ex slaves were brought here with no choice in the matter and who because of that were subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, had no other nation to legally owe allegiance to and be citizens of, and so they were made citizens as were their children.

    At the time, the 14th amendment did not even cover Native Americans--because they had separate nations we made treaties with. They were thus not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. Congress made them citizens by law in 1924, as is their right to do under the Constitution, btw, so that settled that.

    What Trump is doing is entirely Constitutional. Birthright citizenship is based on a misinterpretation of a lie, and he's going to fix it. (So is corporate personhood, btw, but that's a story for a other time) If it were not in accordance with the Constitution, he wouldn't and couldn't do it.

  52. This seems reasonable by JabrTheHut · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Currently:
    The US military is there to monitor and steer social media to prevent mass protests.
    The NSA is there to seed misinformation and monitor what people are thinking or planning.
    The FBI is there to stop the wrong people getting too close to being elected president.
    The Police are there to stop too many black or brown people voting.
    ICE is there to separate families and traumatize children.

    I'm sure there's nothing sinister about any of this and all these roles were explicitly written in the constitution...

    --
    Work like no one is watching. Dance like you've never been hurt. Make love like you don't need the money.
    1. Re:This seems reasonable by tinkerton · · Score: 1

      And the Weekly Standard and the Atlantic Council are there to guarantee that the population doesn't start complaining on social media that anything would be wrong with that.

  53. Re:If this were Obama Fox News would be losing the by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

    Buried. Page 7 at least.

    I don't know which papers you are reading but on the news outlets I frequent it was headline news for multiple days. The BBC lead it with on their prime time news programming more than once, discussed it at least.

    NOBODY is even talking about this premeditated murder

    There was extended debate about if the UK should continue to supply arms to SA, and if our political leaders should attend the "Davos in the desert" meeting. I seem to recall Trump making a slightly bizarre statement about it too.

    I'm thinking that maybe it was the right leaning news outlets in the US that buried it, because the bombs were targeting those in the centre-right and on the left of politics. I've noticed that e.g. Fox News often buries stories that would look bad for the Republicans and the far right, e.g. they barely mentioned a lot of the Mueller stuff and their coverage of the recent shooting was mostly talking heads calling it a false flag op. Could it be that you have this impression due to the sources you are using?

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  54. Re:Just wait until they start shooting the Migrant by acrimonious+howard · · Score: 1

    We don't really need a vast system to predict and quell protests. That way leads on right down a path probably more like Communist China or possibly North Korea, though the shear number of guns in this country limits how far that is likely to go.

    If most of the gun owners think the same way, and they're easily duped, they could be convinced into becoming the ruling communist party. They'd need to be really hierarchy-oriented though, and willing to follow a strongman. Good thing we don't have that in America.

  55. dumb fuks by AndyKron · · Score: 1

    How hard can predicting an anti-Trump protest be? It's like every protest now.

  56. My guess why they focus on "Anti-Trump" protests by gotan · · Score: 1

    My guess would be, that the researchers aren't specifically endeared to Trump, but that they see a fine opportunity for their research in the controversy around Trump resulting in frequent protests about a subject that is relatively easy to find in keyword searches ("president" and/or "Trump").

    By focusing on Trump they can severely cut down on the amount of social media chatter they have to work with and see what methods they can apply to it (e.g. simply seeking words like "protest" in the vicinity of "Trump", frequency of words with negative connotations etc.) to predict protests. Once they got that (reasonably) pat they can apply said methods to a wider range of subjects.

    Surely one can discuss the morality of such research, but when doing so it shouldn't be seen as a "Trump thing" but as a "predict protests thing" that can (and if feasible will) be applied to all kinds of controversial subjects (climate, environment, police shootings, gun laws, abortions, ...).

    Once algorithms are in place to filter out social media posts that lead up to protests a next step in research might be a better understanding how momentum builds up in the public discussion, and that might lead to ideas how to manipulate and "guide" such discussions to get back some of the control that journalistic "gate keepers" had before wide spread social media. That aspect should be of far more concern than the current research focus on "anti-Trump" protests of a research that probably won't see much (if any) real world application during Trumps presidency anyway.

    --
    "By the way if anyone here is in advertising or marketing... kill yourself." -- Bill Hicks
  57. Re:Just wait until they start shooting the Migrant by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Will we have our own Tiananmen Square anytime soon? Possibly.

    You people have completely lost your minds.

    You seriously need to get a grip. Turn off the TV, the computer, whatever you need to, for awhile.

  58. Re:If this were Obama Fox News would be losing the by Cederic · · Score: 1

    Yes, there are incidents at some protests. But one side has a real problem with more than just idiots and vandals, it has people convinced that there is a literal war and that they are soldiers in it.

    Yes, indeed. Luckily the authorities took notice.
    https://www.independent.co.uk/...

  59. Re:If this were Obama Fox News would be losing the by Cederic · · Score: 1

    censoring (i.e. deleting or hiding) any videos that question the veracity of the synagogue 'attack'. Why is that?

    Because only hateful racist idiots are posting them?
    Because there's plentiful evidence that someone murdered people in a synagogue?
    Because there's someone charged with multiple counts of murder?

    Fucking hell, feel free to be a fuckwit but please, do try not to infest the rest of us.

  60. Re:Just wait until they start shooting the Migrant by jedidiah · · Score: 1

    > How are you people proud of anything?

    You are probably alive, fat, and happy because of a number of things we created.

    That's not even getting into us rescuing you from one of your little inter-tribal conflicts.

    --
    A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
  61. Re:If this were Obama Fox News would be losing the by Daralantan · · Score: 1

    tweeting about baseball and saying he thought he might miss his rally.... because he was having a bad hair day. That's not "Trump being Trump". That's Trump signaling to the far right that violence is OK.

    I had to pause a moment before responding, I initially took this as one of the silly things that "SJW"s say about secret signaling or whatever it is.

    But other than me remembering that dumb stuff from Twitter or wherever, I completely agree on both sides. Republicans and Democrats really could've picked better candidates than Hillary and Trump. What a joke the last election was. I so wish 3rd party was some kind of viable solution in this country rather than whoever gets picked in the 2 main parties.

  62. Re:"Monitor everywhere, always" by lgw · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Every tool you build, your opponent will use against you.
    Google and facebook are creating a lot of tools to "fight the alt-right", but when trump gets his orange hands on em, well it won't be pretty.

    Indeed. The left always wants more government. This is what "more government" looks like. This sort of thing is exactly why forward-looking people want to reduce the current size of government!

    (And before anyone types "Somalia", there a lot of room to reduce our current government and still have a large government.)

    --
    Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
  63. Let's regain control of our Business of government by 3seas · · Score: 1

    As the Founders of the United States Intended, lets make it not matter so much who we hire but how well they do the job directed by the people, See/read/do/share http://www.3seas.org/ for a government work order giving the people their bottom line voice back as intended by the Founders of the US. Otherwise what to expect of employees without direction?

  64. just because you can doesn't mean you should by Thud457 · · Score: 2

    First of all, "anti-Trump" protests are not "anti-Government" protests. The Pentagon has a few smart people, you'd figure they'd point that out to the rest of them.

    Secondly, it's not very democratic to take sides against the People. A lot of those smart people at the Pentagon study a whole lot of history and should know the inevitable negative consequences of such policies.

    --

    the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

    1. Re:just because you can doesn't mean you should by shaitand · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "First of all, "anti-Trump" protests are not "anti-Government" protests."

      Yes, actually they are. He is the President and the head of the United States Government even if only during his term.

      "Secondly, it's not very democratic to take sides against the People. A lot of those smart people at the Pentagon study a whole lot of history and should know the inevitable negative consequences of such policies."

      Agreed. The Constitution outranks the three branches, including the military and the President and the people outrank the Constitution. If only people had stuck behind the Constitution when doing so conflicted with expediency and their personal agendas the government might have remembered that.

    2. Re:just because you can doesn't mean you should by shaitand · · Score: 1

      I didn't say he represented all, he heads all. His assistant takes leadership of the senate, he is empowered to reject all acts of the congress, he is immune to legal prosecution and can parse out that immunity as he pleases via pardon. The supreme court is selected by him. The President isn't all powerful but the role was created when George Washington refused to be king outright and he is the boss of everyone in government, including the congress and supreme court. He's the politician that everyone gets to vote on.

      The idea was to limit the power of the entire federal government with the people and their Constitution reigning supreme. This was so much the idea that the first attempt produced a federal government too weak to function. The current federal government and lack of respect for the Constitution is the result of short sighted people letting lawmakers lower the bar and ignore the Constitution while granting themselves more and more power. Usually they've used heart tugging causes and anything that riles people up to do it, save the children, the war on drugs, free the slaves, protect the poor children, immigration, etc for the sort of sociopaths who seek out these positions of power they are all just tools.

      It doesn't matter which way you are tugged on these issues, their goal was to distract you by dividing you. Whichever bill or policy wins out you can be confident it contains provisions to consolidate power and strip freedoms. Sure there are exceptions among the sociopaths, they think the ends justify the means and drinking the kool-aid the same as everyone else.

      Why do you think any act of congress is a few thousand pages long?

    3. Re:just because you can doesn't mean you should by shaitand · · Score: 1

      If you are protesting his spray tan you are right, if you are protesting the actions of The POTUS you are wrong.

    4. Re:just because you can doesn't mean you should by DamnOregonian · · Score: 1

      His assistant takes leadership of the senate

      Well, he presides over it while present, taking over from the President Pro Tempore, the actual leader of the Senate. It's hard to call the VP the "leader" of a body he is not allowed to speak or vote in unless in case of a tie.

      he is empowered to reject all acts of the congress

      And they empowered to reject his rejection.

      he is immune to legal prosecution and can parse out that immunity as he pleases via pardon

      But not immunie to being removed from office and subsequently prosecuted.

      The supreme court is selected by him

      And serves at the pleasure of the Congress, the body that confirms, and can remove said Justice.

      The President isn't all powerful but the role was created when George Washington refused to be king outright

      There is precisely zero truth to this old myth. A single colonel in the Contintental Army telling Washington he should declare himself King isn't the Continental Congress deciding a republican form of government isn't for them.

      and he is the boss of everyone in government, including the congress and supreme court.

      And this is *dangerously* ignorant. The branches of government are equal. There is no boss.

      He's the politician that everyone gets to vote on

      He's the politician that constitutionally, states get to vote on. The fact that the states currently allow their populace to vote is by no means guaranteed federally. Ya, I didn't even go past your first paragraph. It was so fucking wrong that the rest would be a waste of time. Stop lying. You're making this world a fucking shithole by doing so. Nobody can separate fact from fiction while assholes like you make shit up to fit your agenda.
      What's worse, is likeminded pond scum actually moderated you positively.

    5. Re:just because you can doesn't mean you should by shaitand · · Score: 1

      A bunch of quotes and addendums to my comments which added nothing tangible. The POTUS is the head of state.

      https://www.quora.com/Why-did-George-Washington-turn-down-an-offer-to-become-a-king

      As for the king part, you seem to be suggesting because the proposal was raised by an officer that officer was the entire basis for it. That is incorrect.

      If you are protesting the local board, you are protesting government, if you are protesting the POTUS you are protesting government. He is no longer a person but rather an office. Those acting otherwise have either been selling or buying a bill of goods from someone who wants you act and support actions in accord to how you feel about the individual who holds the office rather than consider positions with regard to the office of the POTUS regardless of occupant both in the past and the future.

      In any case, it is kind of a weak argument. Are you trying to suggest that protesting against the government isn't the right of the people? This entire point is a spit in the eye of democracy. The government works for us and this undermines the orders we've given it via our Constitution.

    6. Re:just because you can doesn't mean you should by DamnOregonian · · Score: 1
      You literally just pasted a reply from Quora as support of your ridiculous claim?
      Amazing.

      As for the king part, you seem to be suggesting because the proposal was raised by an officer that officer was the entire basis for it. That is incorrect.

      No, that was merely to outline the illegitimacy of the suggestion. No body in power had any intention of allowing a King, and had he declared himself one, the revolutionary war would have continued.

      You are of course welcome to show evidence that some party with the power to select our form of government considered making Washington a Monarch. I'll wait.

    7. Re:just because you can doesn't mean you should by shaitand · · Score: 1

      "had he declared himself one, the revolutionary war would have continued"

      Okay, and who would have been fighting the colonial army under Washington?

    8. Re:just because you can doesn't mean you should by DamnOregonian · · Score: 1

      The Colonial Army.
      The gentlemen who signed up to fight for a republican form of government in the face of an oppressive monarchy.
      Next dumb question.

    9. Re:just because you can doesn't mean you should by shaitand · · Score: 1

      Protesting your government isn't protesting against your country, protesting against the POTUS is protesting the government. But you have the right to protest the government in this country which is the point here.

      Making the argument that protesting against the actions of our government isn't a protest against it carries the strong implication that people don't have the right to do so.

  65. Re:If this were Obama Fox News would be losing the by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

    Okay, so we have one possibly attempted murder (he was actually charged with assault). Against a long list of actual murders. Can you see why I'm saying it's false equivalence?

    I'm not disputing that there are some bad people with left wing views or in Antifa, by the way.

    The reason for the 2001 cut-off is that's where Wikipedia's list begins, and apparently there was some change in the way such things are defined and recorded due to 9/11 that makes data from that point forward more reliable.

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  66. I agree with 90% of what you wrote by rsilvergun · · Score: 2

    but don't count on guns to save you from tyranny. The government will have the military, and a disorganized resistance without supply lines is no match for a modern army. Don't look to Afghanistan for solace. We took the valuable parts of the country and let the "insurgents" run wild in the desert mountains and occasionally come down and blow up a school bus.

    "Second Amendment Solutions" are the political equivalent to "getting my MCSE". Something you tell yourself to feel better about a worsening solution. Something /. nerds tell ourselves we can do to solve any problem if all else fails.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:I agree with 90% of what you wrote by Whorhay · · Score: 2

      In the USA it might start as an insurgency vs the military but it would likely escalate into a regular civil war pretty quickly. The military is not some homogeneous force of like minded individuals. The civilian population also contains a large portion of veterans that would likely participate on both sides. The military equipment and supplies are spread out all over the country and basically impossible to defend properly. Military bases in the USA, even when named "Fort" something or other aren't really very fortified. The fortifications are usually just a few perimeter fences and earth berms/vehicle barriers at entrances and particularly important buildings. The military personnel also live off base for the most part and so they are vulnerable to gorilla tactics. Speaking of supply lines, military facilities are often entirely reliant on the infrastructure from the surrounding communities. Some parts of some facilities will have backup utilities like generators but those are almost entirely meant as short term solutions to get through outages caused by stuff like bad weather.

      Afghanistan is actually a great example for how it could all go wrong. We've been there for how long now and still can't say we've won. Sure we control the important bits, but since the Taliban is still out there and just waiting to come back the military has to be actively on guard constantly. Just look at the condition of our forces when they've been fighting that kind of war for most of two decades. How long do you think it'd take the military to completely fall apart trying to hold much larger amounts of territory here in the USA without even having a safe place to go back to after a deployment.

    2. Re:I agree with 90% of what you wrote by Whorhay · · Score: 1

      Military history has shown over and over again the problems with trying to fight a gorilla conflict with traditional forces.

      The psychological affects of fighting those kinds of wars are also more well known today than ever before in history. If you doubt that it affects society just go ahead and start talking to combat vets and their families, it's not like there is a dearth of them today.

      If you think that the armed forces and veterans are homogeneous in their political and moral thought you'd be sadly deluded. And again if you think that the military has their bases fortified, isolated, and self sufficient you would be greatly misinformed. The US Military for decades now has been configured to fight conflicts external to the USA, as it should since internal security is the realm of the civilian law enforcement agencies.

  67. Re: "Monitor everywhere, always" by lgw · · Score: 2

    And as we're seeing, conservatives are the ones abusing government power.

    Indeed. Left or right, you should want a smaller government, because there's always someone who will abuse whatever power you give them. The only true defense is giving them less power.

    Any power you give a currently-OK government to solve some problem will eventually be used against you unfairly and maliciously by the next evil man who ends up in charge. Make sure it's worth it.

    --
    Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
  68. Code Speak For by LifesABeach · · Score: 1

    Be able to update their FB and not get shit for it

  69. Re:If this were Obama Fox News would be losing the by squiggleslash · · Score: 1

    Go ahead and tell me I'm wrong

    OK, you're wrong, Nobody has ever criticized you for having a job, or for having "the correct color skin" whatever the fuck that's supposed to mean.

    Go ahead and tell me I'm wrong, but when your former president (Carter) said I was a racist for not liking the ACA

    I have no idea what this refers to, it sounds like a ridiculous interpretation of something, and that feeling is helped by the below:

    your last candidate telling me I'm deplorable

    I assume this is a reference to when Clinton said that 50% of Trump's then supporters (this was the primaries, and he had around 30% of the Republican vote, so 15% of registered Republicans) were neo-nazis and misogynists and specifically referred to that 15%, AND ONLY THAT 15%, as "Deplorables". Here's the quote:

    You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trumpâ(TM)s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobicâ"you name it. And unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up. (...) [the other half of Trumpâ(TM)s supporters] feel that the government has let them down [and are]desperate for change. Those are people we have to understand and empathize with as well.

    Now, please, tell me what is specifically wrong with any of that? Because I don't see it. It's 100% accurate, and it neatly distinguishes between Trump's fascist supporters and his supposed good faith but misguided supporters. One thing that's impossible to do is to assume that it's a reference to YOU unless you're saying you're "racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic (or) Islamaphobic" in which case I'm struggling to see why you'd think liberal push back would be right.

    Auntie Maxine telling people to harass me when I go out to eat

    Are you saying you work for the Trump administration and you're directly involved in policy such as Family Separations? Because if not, then "Auntie Maxine" said nothing of the sort. She was never referring to people who didn't work for the regime.

    I could go on but I won't. The reality is it doesn't matter what liberals say, you'll find a way to invent a meaning for it that turns it into an attack on you personally. So stop it, listen to what we say, and, hey, if you still disagree then that's fine, but for fuck's sake nobody is saying those things about you.

    --
    You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
  70. Re:My guess why they focus on "Anti-Trump" protest by Gilgaron · · Score: 1

    I hadn't thought about that... it is a dataset they can get their hands on 'cleanly' and then apply the algorithms to countries that need to be 'liberated'...

  71. Burn the Constitution by sdinfoserv · · Score: 2

    So the Pentagon is calling the 1st amendment "insurrection"
    "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

    And Lord Trumkin believes he can invalidate the 14th Amendment with a waive of a pen.
    Amendment XIV, Section 1. "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside."

    Yet, he's the most popular Republican president with his base in the modern era.
    https://www.washingtonpost.com...
    Meanwhile the Right continues to deny any and all correlation between the talking head hate site FauxNoise, Trumpkin's rhetoric, and an increase in hate crimes.
    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/p...

    vote people, get out and vote.

  72. Why not pro-trump rallies? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    If their aim is to counter terrorism, it seems like targeting pro-trump rallies would be far more effective.

  73. Re: Just wait until they start shooting the Migra by sexconker · · Score: 1

    Everything he wrote was factual and true. I particularly like how you can't point to anything and refute it.

  74. Re: If this were Obama Fox News would be losing t by Kielistic · · Score: 1

    Glad to see the 2016 election strategy is still the go-to.

  75. Protest? by bblb · · Score: 1

    People in this country haven't protested in decades... all that's happen today is petulant children and sore losers staging small scale riots where they attack anyone who doesn't adhere to their particular brand of insane social justice. When you go from legitimate protests against war and injustice to mask wearing nutjobs shutting down city streets and attacking citizens who are just trying to move about their neighborhoods, you don't get to hide behind a "right to protest" any longer.

  76. Re:If this were Obama Fox News would be losing the by Dutchmaan · · Score: 1

    Good luck trying to keep off the FBI watch list Mr. MAGAbomber 2.0

  77. Re: Just wait until they start shooting the Migra by Archangel_Azazel · · Score: 1

    "Everything he wrote was factual and true. I particularly like how you can't point to anything and refute it."

    In a civil discourse / debate, it's the person MAKING the claims that has to PROVE them, not the other fucking way around. Amazing how people still don't get that.

    Are you Christian as well? Seems like really religious people cling to this fallacy like it's a floating door or something....it's annoying. Prove your own shit or stfu plz.

    --
    Your mind is like a parachute. It works best when it's been opened.
  78. Re:If this were Obama Fox News would be losing the by Cederic · · Score: 1

    Your side

    You don't know which side that is. For instance..

    you're just a whiny apologist for violent fascists

    You're making shit up. I haven't apologised for anybody. I don't support violent fascists. I also don't support violent anti-fascists. One of those seems to upset you.

    You scream "Antifa" because they look scary

    No. I drew Antifa into the conversation because they've been declared a terrorist organisation. My views on them are irrelevant to that designation.

    Take it up with the US Government if you disagree.

  79. Re:Obamacare didn't make your healthcare go to shi by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Every country in the world that's implemented it has made it work ...because they had to, because communists made them.

  80. Bullshit. by Grog6 · · Score: 1

    You lies are straight out of his playbook.

    My only wonder is if you're being paid by the Russians, or really believe what you're Spewing.

    I bet you have some nice Stickers on the windows of you PaedoVan. :)

    --
    Truth isn't Truth - Guliani
  81. Re: "Monitor everywhere, always" by LifesABeach · · Score: 1

    All hale the Praetorian Guard