The 2016 US American Election Thread

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Sopan Deb ‏@SopanDeb
Trump says India/U.S. will be "best friends" if he becomes president. Says no relationship will be more important. (Cc @GREATBritain)

[photon]

I think the plan of dribbling them out bit by bit was a good one actually, at least before the tape came out.

Pretty much the whole campaign whoever is in the media spotlight loses. Whoever is grabbing the majority of the headlines has their numbers go down and the other numbers go up. So if Trump wasn't like a giant ape atop a building swatting at everything that comes close, it would actually be good because every day there'd be something to report, even if it was boring and inconsequential (like most of them have been).

But yeah at this point if there's anything truly juicy now is absolutely the time, polls can't change overnight. If they don't release something big in the next week I think there is nothing big to release.

[photon]

A good twitter thread on how you can't rig the election, at least not at the manipulate-the-vote-count level.

https://twitter.com/ashbylaw/status/787352959633981440

Here's a question, how long does the UN need to setup an election? Elections in the US are run by the states so it's probably impossible, but call Trump's bluff and have the UN come in and run the election.

Lol actually that's a terrible idea, he'd say it was proof that the global cabal of whoever is on top of Trump's mind at the moment were in charge.

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by direwolf

He clearly has a burr up his ass about Clinton for some reason and obviously wants a Trump victory. Yet from what I've seen so far in these emails, there's really nothing incriminating about any of it. It's all very boring and a complete non-story. You'd think if they had any kind of smoking gun, it would have been released weeks ago when Trump's poll numbers were actually decent. He's so far behind right now, and with very little time left, it would take something pretty massive to derail Clinton at this point. The whole thing just seems like Assange trying to get more attention and keep his name in the press to sell more books.

The shame of it is I think wiki leaks is a vitally important tool to keep the buggers honest but by persueing this odd vendetta Assange is completely undermining it.

[driveway]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

The shame of it is I think wiki leaks is a vitally important tool to keep the buggers honest but by persueing this odd vendetta Assange is completely undermining it.

My issue with the decision to release the Podesta emails is that they were obtained through hacking. If like, Podesta's secretary had been so concerned about something she was seeing, she handed Wikileaks everything she'd been CC'd on, that would be fine.

What Snowden did was technically theft, but it was all documents to which he had access through his job.

What's happening with these emails is that they were outright stolen by a third party. It's like someone broke into a candidate's house and is sending stolen goods to the media to be reported on. I could totally see an argument being made that who the people involved are makes the emails news and leak-worthy despite the stealing, but something about it just really rubs me the wrong way.

[photon]

Yeah me too, I mean there are rules about obtaining evidence in a court case and some methods aren't allowed and the resulting evidence is inadmissible no matter how juicy it is.

Is a presidential campaign less critical than a court case? Should there be rules around what is and isn't admissible? Probably no practical way to decide or mediate something like that, everything would become a protracted court case.

So probably nothing you can do about it. I bet information security will become a higher priority for lots of people after this campaign, but maybe it's better if everyone just assumed even their private emails are public and act that way.

EDIT: Though even acting as if your emails are public isn't really a solution, the vast majority of "dirt" dug up in the Podesta emails is simply people not bothering to read or understand the context. I guess my real problem with democracy is people are dumb

[kerriffic]

Saw this on Twitter earlier.... I shouldn't be surprised with Trump people openly advocating assassination on that Boston globe story earlier, but this still makes my jaw drop.

[Coach]

This whole thread should be in the "I Don't Want to Live on This Planet Anymore Thread".

[direwolf]

As disgusting as that is, nothing shocks me anymore when it comes to Trump and his deplorables. Thank god this is almost over.

[PostandIn]

It won't be over though. The Republicans will pretend Trump never existed but will continue to obstruct and refuse to legislate on anything that doesn't fits their narrow worldview. Compromise and deal making is not in their current lexicon.

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by driveway

My issue with the decision to release the Podesta emails is that they were obtained through hacking. If like, Podesta's secretary had been so concerned about something she was seeing, she handed Wikileaks everything she'd been CC'd on, that would be fine.

What Snowden did was technically theft, but it was all documents to which he had access through his job.

What's happening with these emails is that they were outright stolen by a third party. It's like someone broke into a candidate's house and is sending stolen goods to the media to be reported on. I could totally see an argument being made that who the people involved are makes the emails news and leak-worthy despite the stealing, but something about it just really rubs me the wrong way.

I don't even mind that they're 'stolen', it's just the fact that wiki leaks is clearly attempting to influence the election by releasing nothing more than gossip, there's nothing on there that is important for the public to know, no issues of vital state importance that aught to be aired regardless of consequence, this is just #### disturbing for its own sake. As such I'm going to question anything they release from here on in.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by PostandIn

It won't be over though. The Republicans will pretend Trump never existed but will continue to obstruct and refuse to legislate on anything that doesn't fits their narrow worldview. Compromise and deal making is not in their current lexicon.

hope they lose the house and senate

[Sluggo]

From what I read the whole Wikileaks thing is Assange attempting to save his own butt. There is a non zero chance that he may be booted from the Ecuadorian embassy due to a change in their government and might be extradited to the US and tried for treason -good chance if Clinton is pres-.

If however a leak damages her campaign enough for Trump to win, he might just look the other way and by some 'miracle' Assange ends up at the Russian Embassy in London.

[The Fonz]

Nvm

[driveway]

Originally Posted by Sluggo

From what I read the whole Wikileaks thing is Assange attempting to save his own butt. There is a non zero chance that he may be booted from the Ecuadorian embassy due to a change in their government and might be extradited to the US and tried for treason -good chance if Clinton is pres-.



If however a leak damages her campaign enough for Trump to win, he might just look the other way and by some 'miracle' Assange ends up at the Russian Embassy in London.

Don't the Swedes have first dibs on Assange for sexual assault charges? That's why he's in the embassy in the first place, right?

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-11949341

[Sluggo]

Yeah they do but If Assange ever steps foot in Sweden his actions will still be aligned to not get extradited to the US. It could be a situation where he is begging them to convict on charges that might begin to evaporate. With Trump in the White House he has a out to fight the charges and avoid Swedish prison -Its probably nicer than the Ecuadorian embassy -

Unless of course he is holding back direct evidence of communications or financial links between Putin/Russia and Trump and co.

[calumniate]

I thought dan carlin hit the nail on the head the other night, sadly.
http://www.dancarlin.com/common-sens...-landing-page/
Episode 310. A little scary, but one of the better arguments against both hillary and trump

[Drak]

Drudge is claiming a bombshell is about to be dropped on Hillary Clinton. Thing is, why fire off a warning?

[photon]

Is it like the other Drudge bombshell of Bill Clinton's son? Or the Drudge bombshell confirming Clinton's lesbian affairs? Or the Drudge bombshell about Clinton's coughing fit proving she was about to die?

Drudge bombshell is just a code word for credulous alt-right conspiracy nuts so they know what to tweet about for days. The warning is like a ringing a bell for Pavlov's dog.

[photon]

https://twitter.com/zeynep/status/786988082981666816

Good twitter thread about the Podesta emails and why it works against transparency. And gives examples of ones that are viral against Clinton when they don't have anything to do with what people are saying.