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The USA Politics Thread

#6261 User is offline   Mezla PigDog 

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Posted 07 January 2018 - 07:51 PM

View PostAlternative Goose, on 07 January 2018 - 05:09 PM, said:

So, segwaying into that wall Trump wants to build. A user on Reddit posted a curious comment the other day.

Instead of spending billions and billions on building, maintaining and manning a stupid wall across the bottom of the US, couldn't you make an invisible one for a fraction of the price? Build a drone air fleet/cheap satellite band that constantly monitors the border for movement, and just have personnel respond to invaders? That would still be ridiculously expensive in terms of deployment but probably a fraction of the cost of this penis enlargement project.

Hell, if you wanted to be inhuman, and you would if you were Trump, just arm the drones have them fire on unauthorised movement identifiable as human beings rapist terrorist criminals.


Would you not spend quite a lot of time responding to wildlife?
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#6262 User is offline   Itwæs Nom 

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Posted 07 January 2018 - 08:05 PM

View PostMezla PigDog, on 07 January 2018 - 07:51 PM, said:

View PostAlternative Goose, on 07 January 2018 - 05:09 PM, said:

So, segwaying into that wall Trump wants to build. A user on Reddit posted a curious comment the other day.

Instead of spending billions and billions on building, maintaining and manning a stupid wall across the bottom of the US, couldn't you make an invisible one for a fraction of the price? Build a drone air fleet/cheap satellite band that constantly monitors the border for movement, and just have personnel respond to invaders? That would still be ridiculously expensive in terms of deployment but probably a fraction of the cost of this penis enlargement project.

Hell, if you wanted to be inhuman, and you would if you were Trump, just arm the drones have them fire on unauthorised movement identifiable as human beings rapist terrorist criminals.


Would you not spend quite a lot of time responding to wildlife?


That raises another question in my mind

How big of a negative impact could the solid wall possibly have on wildlife?
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#6263 User is offline   Aptorian 

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Posted 07 January 2018 - 08:14 PM

It's my understanding that military grade camera's and software now a days have little problem distinguishing between different types of animals, be it via analysing gate patterns, speed, heat, shape, what ever.

Random google search popped up this DARPA drone:

http://www.extremete...from-20000-feet



Take it down to 10,000 feet, feed it's footage to a super computer, have the system alert various patrols that stand ready to move out.

Man, I should be working for the Trump Administration. Do you guys think they are hiring?

EDIT: Of course... then we get into counter drone tactics. What if the bad hombres start disguising themselves as animals? Or what if the smugglers deploy mexican killer drones to fight the American drones? Has somebody notified SyFy of the movie potential here?

This post has been edited by Alternative Goose: 07 January 2018 - 08:22 PM

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#6264 User is offline   Macros 

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Posted 07 January 2018 - 08:51 PM

i see a sharp spike in the sale of those 2 people horse outfits
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#6265 User is offline   Mezla PigDog 

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Posted 07 January 2018 - 09:51 PM

You wouldn't want to routinely use military technology in a civilian area. Spies and all that.
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#6266 User is offline   Silencer 

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Posted 07 January 2018 - 10:16 PM

View PostMezla PigDog, on 07 January 2018 - 09:51 PM, said:

You wouldn't want to routinely use military technology in a civilian area. Spies and all that.


Clearly, you haven't met the USA.

Can you say, mine-clearing armoured vehicle patrolling small town streets? Because they do that now. Surplus military hardware is often given to the various police departments around the states.



(I know that's not really what you were getting at, but the USA is pretty heavily into militarising its police force lately)
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#6267 User is offline   Tsundoku 

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Posted 08 January 2018 - 01:10 AM

What was that military exercise a couple of years ago that all the tinfoil hat/gun nut/Trumpkin brigade thought was going to be an excuse for a Federal takeover?

Well, it's more possible now than ever before and the idiots voted for it.

There's the secret to getting these nuts to agree to something more like a police state - tell them it's to keep them safe from "terrists" and "illegals". They'll organise church bake sales to help pay for it or even work parties build it themselves.

Death by a thousand cuts and all that.

This post has been edited by Tsundoku: 08 January 2018 - 01:11 AM

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#6268 User is offline   worry 

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Posted 08 January 2018 - 02:40 AM

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#6269 User is offline   QuickTidal 

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Posted 08 January 2018 - 02:21 PM

View PostItwæs Nom, on 07 January 2018 - 08:05 PM, said:

View PostMezla PigDog, on 07 January 2018 - 07:51 PM, said:

View PostAlternative Goose, on 07 January 2018 - 05:09 PM, said:

So, segwaying into that wall Trump wants to build. A user on Reddit posted a curious comment the other day.

Instead of spending billions and billions on building, maintaining and manning a stupid wall across the bottom of the US, couldn't you make an invisible one for a fraction of the price? Build a drone air fleet/cheap satellite band that constantly monitors the border for movement, and just have personnel respond to invaders? That would still be ridiculously expensive in terms of deployment but probably a fraction of the cost of this penis enlargement project.

Hell, if you wanted to be inhuman, and you would if you were Trump, just arm the drones have them fire on unauthorised movement identifiable as human beings rapist terrorist criminals.


Would you not spend quite a lot of time responding to wildlife?


That raises another question in my mind

How big of a negative impact could the solid wall possibly have on wildlife?


Likely a fair amount. Migration patterns for any given species will almost certainly cross imaginary borders. In some cases it may even kill off entire subsets and families of creatures if, for example, the wall blocks them form a natural food or water source that their unit of family have used for generations. I wonder what kind of ammunition that would give animal help groups to fight the wall?

I HIGHLY doubt Trump's people would look at ANY of that stuff when deciding where to throw up his useless wall.

Bottom line, if this wall gets even CLOSE to being built...I'll be impressed with the level of sheer hubris associated with it.
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#6270 User is offline   Nicodimas 

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Posted 08 January 2018 - 08:29 PM

View PostSilencer, on 07 January 2018 - 10:16 PM, said:

View PostMezla PigDog, on 07 January 2018 - 09:51 PM, said:

You wouldn't want to routinely use military technology in a civilian area. Spies and all that.


Clearly, you haven't met the USA.

Can you say, mine-clearing armoured vehicle patrolling small town streets? Because they do that now. Surplus military hardware is often given to the various police departments around the states.



(I know that's not really what you were getting at, but the USA is pretty heavily into militarising its police force lately)


I posted a actually inventory of the amount of military vehicles that got converted about two years ago? Really staggering numbers..

Even has a creepy name !! https://en.m.wikiped...ki/1033_program
https://www.google.c...m/amp/606065001
https://www.google.c...epartments/amp/

Anyhow mainly came in here to comment on Oprah for democratic president in 2020!!! I kinda of want to see a 2020 match Oprah vs Jesse Ventura. Can you imagine the media spectacle?
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#6271 User is offline   Aptorian 

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Posted 08 January 2018 - 08:38 PM

I think that Trump should be the political history lessen voters take to heart. Don't vote in celebrities based on their personality and likeability. Being a politican should not be a popularity contest. The president should be the most qualified leader, not the one who has the most likes on facebook.
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#6272 User is offline   Malankazooie 

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Posted 08 January 2018 - 11:00 PM

Uh, Oprah 2020?
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#6273 User is offline   EmperorMagus 

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Posted 08 January 2018 - 11:07 PM

View PostAlternative Goose, on 08 January 2018 - 08:38 PM, said:

I think that Trump should be the political history lessen voters take to heart. Don't vote in celebrities based on their personality and likeability. Being a politican should not be a popularity contest. The president should be the most qualified leader, not the one who has the most likes on facebook.


That's a nice joke.

I think Trump is the political history lesson parties and pundits will take to heart. 2020 will be an orgy of celebrities trying to revive their careers through politics or get into politics on the strength of their pre-existing popularity.

I think the above not out of thoughtless cynicism but because Trump still has a 35% approval rating. His base hasn't wavered a bit, even after all the shit he's done. All that's needed for them to turn out en masse to vote again is another attention seeking celebrity who uses certain dog whistles. The Democrats will try to counter that by having a celebrity of their own.
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#6274 User is offline   Gorefest 

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Posted 09 January 2018 - 12:43 AM

That s why in most other countries you vote for a party, not a person. I genuinely dont think it would have been possible for someone like a Donald Rrump to become party leader in the UK or the Netherlands in the first place. The political systems do not cater for it.
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#6275 User is offline   EmperorMagus 

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Posted 09 January 2018 - 07:24 AM

View PostGorefest, on 09 January 2018 - 12:43 AM, said:

That s why in most other countries you vote for a party, not a person. I genuinely dont think it would have been possible for someone like a Donald Rrump to become party leader in the UK or the Netherlands in the first place. The political systems do not cater for it.


I think far more important than who you vote for is how good your schools are. As long as the school system doesn't educate the citizens about democracy, civic responsibility, and the scientific method, it's very unlikely that those citizens will make rational decisions when voting.
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#6276 User is offline   Khellendros 

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Posted 09 January 2018 - 09:51 AM

I watched Wolff's interview on Stephen Colbert. To Colbert's credit (I think he's generally a poor interviewer), he pushed Wolff on how factual the book is, mentioning that often no source is cited. When Colbert asked him why not just release the tape recordings Wolff claims to have, Wolff was extremely evasive and gave a very wishy-washy answer.

Wolff's argument - which I do believe - is that everyone lied to him about events, or rather, told their version of it. But his mistake is in taking those stories and then recreating his own, third or fourth or fifth, version of events, based on his own judgement of what might really have happened. I'm not saying that you can't do that (that is how historians work, after all), but if you do that, you need to cite your sources, you need to cite what they actually said, and you need to illustrate where your personal interpretation begins.

Having said all that, it's interesting to note that Bannon for one has not actually denied (and in some cases, implicitly acknowledged) anything he's reported to have said in the book, but has instead tried to spin it a different way.
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#6277 User is offline   HoosierDaddy 

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Posted 09 January 2018 - 12:48 PM

View PostEmperorMagus, on 09 January 2018 - 07:24 AM, said:

View PostGorefest, on 09 January 2018 - 12:43 AM, said:

That s why in most other countries you vote for a party, not a person. I genuinely dont think it would have been possible for someone like a Donald Rrump to become party leader in the UK or the Netherlands in the first place. The political systems do not cater for it.


I think far more important than who you vote for is how good your schools are. As long as the school system doesn't educate the citizens about democracy, civic responsibility, and the scientific method, it's very unlikely that those citizens will make rational decisions when voting.


This... is condescending. Every one of my family members are school teachers with masters degrees. Also, as far as I recall, everyone in my school took government, US History, World History, and science through school and they were required to graduate high school.

You are assigning stupidity and ignorance to what more probably should be labeled racism (economic anxiety!!!!) and xenophobia. But, yeah, some of the rednecks are ignorant.

"What's Wrong With Kansas?"

This post has been edited by H. D.: 09 January 2018 - 12:49 PM

Trouble arrives when the opponents to such a system institute its extreme opposite, where individualism becomes godlike and sacrosanct, and no greater service to any other ideal (including community) is possible. In such a system rapacious greed thrives behind the guise of freedom, and the worst aspects of human nature come to the fore....
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#6278 User is offline   Vengeance 

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Posted 09 January 2018 - 01:37 PM

View PostH. D., on 09 January 2018 - 12:48 PM, said:

View PostEmperorMagus, on 09 January 2018 - 07:24 AM, said:

View PostGorefest, on 09 January 2018 - 12:43 AM, said:

That s why in most other countries you vote for a party, not a person. I genuinely dont think it would have been possible for someone like a Donald Rrump to become party leader in the UK or the Netherlands in the first place. The political systems do not cater for it.


I think far more important than who you vote for is how good your schools are. As long as the school system doesn't educate the citizens about democracy, civic responsibility, and the scientific method, it's very unlikely that those citizens will make rational decisions when voting.


This... is condescending. Every one of my family members are school teachers with masters degrees. Also, as far as I recall, everyone in my school took government, US History, World History, and science through school and they were required to graduate high school.

You are assigning stupidity and ignorance to what more probably should be labeled racism (economic anxiety!!!!) and xenophobia. But, yeah, some of the rednecks are ignorant.

"What's Wrong With Kansas?"


Kansas cut all of the funding for schools and teachers pay and school lunchs. Then they have been sued multiple times about it. It is what happens to a state that is ran by the coke brothers. Wisconson is going that way rapidly.
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#6279 User is offline   HoosierDaddy 

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Posted 09 January 2018 - 02:09 PM

Vengy, I was referring to the book: "What's the Matter with Kansas?" Mislabeled by me. Basically, it is the book about how poor conservatives have been convinced to vote against their economic interests.

Anyhow, doesn't mean we don't have great teachers and public education in a whole lot of places, but politics screws it up.
Trouble arrives when the opponents to such a system institute its extreme opposite, where individualism becomes godlike and sacrosanct, and no greater service to any other ideal (including community) is possible. In such a system rapacious greed thrives behind the guise of freedom, and the worst aspects of human nature come to the fore....
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#6280 User is offline   Cause 

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Posted 09 January 2018 - 02:12 PM

View PostH. D., on 09 January 2018 - 12:48 PM, said:

View PostEmperorMagus, on 09 January 2018 - 07:24 AM, said:

View PostGorefest, on 09 January 2018 - 12:43 AM, said:

That s why in most other countries you vote for a party, not a person. I genuinely dont think it would have been possible for someone like a Donald Rrump to become party leader in the UK or the Netherlands in the first place. The political systems do not cater for it.


I think far more important than who you vote for is how good your schools are. As long as the school system doesn't educate the citizens about democracy, civic responsibility, and the scientific method, it's very unlikely that those citizens will make rational decisions when voting.


This... is condescending. Every one of my family members are school teachers with masters degrees. Also, as far as I recall, everyone in my school took government, US History, World History, and science through school and they were required to graduate high school.

You are assigning stupidity and ignorance to what more probably should be labeled racism (economic anxiety!!!!) and xenophobia. But, yeah, some of the rednecks are ignorant.

"What's Wrong With Kansas?"



I don't think its insulting or specific to America. By definition 50% of voters are below average. Its a serious flaw in modern day democracies in which the only criteria to vote is birth and citizenship. Since people without finance degrees, science degrees, management degrees and sometimes even the ability to read are asked to offer their opinion on their countries finances etc however small their individual contribution. Since we don't expect everyone to offer meaningfull contributions we have representative democracies where we choose one or a few people to lead us. Many people then vote for those leaders based on their strength of character and fame regardless of their leadership ability or understanding of the issues. Hence Trump, hence the governator, hence my countries president does not what inflation is. Hence voter turnout in many countires is often below 50% of the countered eligible voter roll.
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