The Presidency of Donald J. Trump: No smocking guns. - Page 889 - Politics and Economics

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The Presidency of Donald J. Trump: No smocking guns.

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03-27-2017 , 03:30 PM

#22201

dlk9s

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 22,499

When I first saw that attack ad, I just had to laugh. If the best Republicans can do is to say Ossoff did goofy-ass stuff in college, then Ossoff must be squeaky clean.

There has been one Republican candidate with a commercial I've seen a couple times, but he's a non-factor.

03-27-2017 , 03:37 PM

#22202

einbert

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 14,910

Here's what happens next:

Alabama HB 56
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alabama_HB_56

Quote:

Once the federal ruling of September 29, 2011 upholding most of the law went into effect, several Alabama school districts reported a significant drop in the number of Hispanic children attending public schools. State and local officials urged immigrants to keep their children in the schools, saying the law does not bar them from attending.[14]

Industries dependent on migrant labor have been strongly impacted. Farmers have found that Americans are not willing to work under such harsh working conditions for low pay.[15] Some businesses in other industries have lost workers, including legal workers, as a result of the new immigration law.[16]

On November 18, 2011, a German Mercedes-Benz executive was arrested for not having proper documentation on him while on business in Alabama, having left his passport at the hotel where he was staying and carrying only his German identity card.[17] On December 2, 2011, a Japanese Honda executive was stopped in Leeds, Alabama, at a checkpoint set up by police to catch unlicensed drivers. He was ticketed on the spot, despite the fact that he showed an International Driving Permit, a valid passport and a U.S. work permit.[18]

On December 18, 2011, it was reported that Alabama's unemployment rate had fallen from 9.2 percent to 8.7 percent. Supporters credited the immigration law for the decrease.[19] However, Ahmad Ijaz, Director of Economic Forecasting at the University of Alabama, found that the majority of job growth in 2011 was in the automotive sector – an area of the economy where undocumented workers were uncommon. Ijaz attributed a rise in employment to the retail growth during holiday sales. Contrary to expectation, there was no job growth in sectors where Latinos typically work – construction, agriculture, and poultry processing.[20]

In 2012, a study by Dr. Samuel Addy of the University of Alabama estimated that HB 56 could shrink the state's annual GDP by $11 billion or almost 6%, a result of lost sales and income taxes and fall in demand from lost consumers.[21]

One study finds that "Alabama HB 56 contributed to an increase in violent crime rates, while there was no significant change in property crime rates after the act."[22]

03-27-2017 , 03:46 PM

#22203

Max Cut

Guest

Posts: n/a

Quote:

Originally Posted by einbert

My question is, why aren't Dems on the committee calling for this guy to step down? What a joke. He is making a mockery of our precious bipartisan Intel Committee. This is not a trivial thing.

https://twitter.com/cnnbrk/status/846363700344901632

thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/325968-schumer-nunes-needs-to-be-replaced

Quote:

"Without further adieu, Speaker Ryan should replace Chairman Nunes," the Senate minority leader said from the Senate floor. "If Speaker Ryan wants the House to have a credible investigation he needs to replace Chairman Nunes."

03-27-2017 , 03:53 PM

#22204

einbert

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 14,910

Well, that's a step in the right direction. We need to keep pushing the Dems here as well. They have a tendency to believe Republicans will actually play fair, we have to keep reminding them that's not true.

03-27-2017 , 03:57 PM

#22205

MrWookie

Don't Call Me Meredith

Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 94,159

Quote:

Originally Posted by Max Cut

thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/325968-schumer-nunes-needs-to-be-replaced

Lol at whoever transcribed that statement.
Unless Schumer did pronounce it "adyoo" or "adyuh" instead of "adoo" I guess.

03-27-2017 , 04:00 PM

#22206

ligastar

ToP 1o0 pAsS cAtChErS

Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 33,924

grunching: Trump has spent time at a Trump property 33% of the days he has been in office.

03-27-2017 , 04:02 PM

#22207

suzzer99

Save the Cheerleader, Save the World

Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 100,722

I'm surprised it's that low.

03-27-2017 , 04:04 PM

#22208

microbet

Solar Powered

Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 58,412

Quote:

Originally Posted by suzzer99

I've worked for several large corporations that do something similar - under the guise of Total Quality Management, or 6-sigma, or McKinsey or whatever. The key is to a) bring in outsiders because the internal entrenched power structures are untenable and b) make the system the bad guy, not the people implementing it.

Of course in practice it's just the people at the top identifying a bunch of power threats below them and chopping them off at the knees.

A good friend of mine worked for McKinsey and is able to resist the cognitive dissonance well enough to admit that they are generally money not well spent and there's a lot of just them doing dirty work that management is afraid to do.

03-27-2017 , 04:06 PM

#22209

AllTheCheese

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Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 11,898

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrWookie

Lol at whoever transcribed that statement.
Unless Schumer did pronounce it "adyoo" or "adyuh" instead of "adoo" I guess.

Seen this and "much adieu about nothing" a lot recently. Ffs, words have meaning!

03-27-2017 , 04:08 PM

#22210

einbert

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Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 14,910

Long article but well-worth reading. How new propaganda systems are targeted at you based on your specific personality profile. With the use of Big Data analysis, your social media profile, and A-B testing/refinement, corporations and Super PACs are able to target your social media accounts with targeted propaganda designed to systematically break you down based on your specific personality profile, and they are learning more about us and how to exploit us every day.

https://scout.ai/story/the-rise-of-t...aganda-machine

Quote:

“This is a propaganda machine. It’s targeting people individually to recruit them to an idea. It’s a level of social engineering that I’ve never seen before. They’re capturing people and then keeping them on an emotional leash and never letting them go,” said professor Jonathan Albright.

Albright, an assistant professor and data scientist at Elon University, started digging into fake news sites after Donald Trump was elected president. Through extensive research and interviews with Albright and other key experts in the field, including Samuel Woolley, Head of Research at Oxford University’s Computational Propaganda Project, and Martin Moore, Director of the Centre for the Study of Media, Communication and Power at Kings College, it became clear to Scout that this phenomenon was about much more than just a few fake news stories. It was a piece of a much bigger and darker puzzle -- a Weaponized AI Propaganda Machine being used to manipulate our opinions and behavior to advance specific political agendas.

By leveraging automated emotional manipulation alongside swarms of bots, Facebook dark posts, A/B testing, and fake news networks, a company called Cambridge Analytica has activated an invisible machine that preys on the personalities of individual voters to create large shifts in public opinion. Many of these technologies have been used individually to some effect before, but together they make up a nearly impenetrable voter manipulation machine that is quickly becoming the new deciding factor in elections around the world.

Most recently, Analytica helped elect U.S. President Donald Trump, secured a win for the Brexit Leave campaign, and led Ted Cruz’s 2016 campaign surge, shepherding him from the back of the GOP primary pack to the front.

The company is owned and controlled by conservative and alt-right interests that are also deeply entwined in the Trump administration. The Mercer family is both a major owner of Cambridge Analytica and one of Trump’s biggest donors. Steve Bannon, in addition to acting as Trump’s Chief Strategist and a member of the White House Security Council, is a Cambridge Analytica board member. Until recently, Analytica’s CTO was the acting CTO at the Republican National Convention.

Presumably because of its alliances, Analytica has declined to work on any democratic campaigns -- at least in the U.S. It is, however, in talks to help Trump manage public opinion around his presidential policies and to expand sales for the Trump Organization. Cambridge Analytica is now expanding aggressively into U.S. commercial markets and is also meeting with right-wing parties and governments in Europe, Asia, and Latin America.

Cambridge Analytica isn’t the only company that could pull this off -- but it is the most powerful right now. Understanding Cambridge Analytica and the bigger AI Propaganda Machine is essential for anyone who wants to understand modern political power, build a movement, or keep from being manipulated. The Weaponized AI Propaganda Machine it represents has become the new prerequisite for political success in a world of polarization, isolation, trolls, and dark posts.

There’s been a wave of reporting on Cambridge Analytica itself and solid coverage of individual aspects of the machine -- bots, fake news, microtargeting -- but none so far (that we have seen) that portrays the intense collective power of these technologies or the frightening level of influence they’re likely to have on future elections.

In the past, political messaging and propaganda battles were arms races to weaponize narrative through new mediums -- waged in print, on the radio, and on TV. This new wave has brought the world something exponentially more insidious -- personalized, adaptive, and ultimately addictive propaganda. Silicon Valley spent the last ten years building platforms whose natural end state is digital addiction. In 2016, Trump and his allies hijacked them.

We have entered a new political age. At Scout, we believe that the future of constructive, civic dialogue and free and open elections depends on our ability to understand and anticipate it.

[...]

03-27-2017 , 04:16 PM

#22211

ScreaminAsian

For President

Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 33,331

Quote:

Originally Posted by ligastar

grunching: Trump has spent time at a Trump property 33% of the days he has been in office.

mar-a-lago is internationally famous and people mention it almost daily. the value of that property which trump currently owns has gone up because of the actions he's taken as president, namely spending almost every weekend including fridays there, having his spokespeople refer to it as the winter white house or the southern white house. is it worth more BECAUSE he's making a big show of going there all the time? YES OF COURSE! the corruption is so blatant and no republicans will stand up to this

absolutely
de
plorable

03-27-2017 , 04:18 PM

#22212

SuperUberBob

Not interesting enough

Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 48,217

Quote:

Originally Posted by davmcg

Perjury isn't a crime any more as Sessions demonstrated - why should they be worried about anything they say?

Because Congressional hearings are a dog and pony show. Those committees aren't going to hold their feet to the fire and investigate them like the pros do.

When the FBI sends their people to do investigating, it means that there's likely fire behind all the smoke because they aren't going to waste work hours doing something when they know nothing will probably be found.

03-27-2017 , 04:20 PM

#22213

OmgGlutten!

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Aug 2016 Posts: 5,273

1/3rd of Sanders supporters wanted an outright ban on Muslims entering the USA. For average clown in Walmart parking lot it's probably like 80-90%.

Illegal immigration and discrimination against Muslims are probably where Trump does the best with the American public after his cons about making such and such company invest in the USA (even though it was announced in 2015).

I'm not saying we shouldn't fight him on these issues or to give in, but just don't expect to win these issues with the general public. It is good to keep in mind that a lot of people who vote Democrat can also be scumbags.

03-27-2017 , 04:23 PM

#22214

OmgGlutten!

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Aug 2016 Posts: 5,273

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScreaminAsian

He is also forcing all the lobbyists to book rooms if they want access to him and his minions. And probably billing the secret service for their rooms as well, just as he did with Trump tower.

This, along with the fact that he is still cashing a paycheck should get brought up more.

03-27-2017 , 04:24 PM

#22215

OmgGlutten!

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Aug 2016 Posts: 5,273

Someone should ask Trump when he is going to start making his ****ty clothing in the USA?

03-27-2017 , 04:28 PM

#22216

Max Cut

Guest

Posts: n/a

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrWookie

Lol at whoever transcribed that statement.
Unless Schumer did pronounce it "adyoo" or "adyuh" instead of "adoo" I guess.

heh, looks like they got it sorted out eventually. I completely missed that.

03-27-2017 , 04:31 PM

#22217

Max Cut

Guest

Posts: n/a

Quote:

Originally Posted by OmgGlutten!

Someone should ask Trump when he is going to start making his ****ty clothing in the USA?

He has nothing to do with the businesses anymore.

/sarc

03-27-2017 , 04:31 PM

#22218

champstark

aka starkwired

Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 14,838

Quote:

Originally Posted by OmgGlutten!

1/3rd of Sanders supporters wanted an outright ban on Muslims entering the USA.

What? Source?

03-27-2017 , 04:32 PM

#22219

Namath12

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Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 55,863

Quote:

Originally Posted by OmgGlutten!

Someone should ask Trump when he is going to start making his ****ty clothing in the USA?

In literally any other election involving any other candidate, that alone would have sunk said candidate. His supporters just actively shrug it off.

03-27-2017 , 04:33 PM

#22220

Namath12

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Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 55,863

Saw this and instantly thought, "CAN'T A GUY MASTURBATE IN PEACE AROUND HERE??"

03-27-2017 , 04:40 PM

#22221

suzzer99

Save the Cheerleader, Save the World

Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 100,722

Quote:

Originally Posted by Namath12

Saw this and instantly thought, "CAN'T A GUY MASTURBATE IN PEACE AROUND HERE??"

Footage of Nunes at the White House:

Spoiler:

03-27-2017 , 04:46 PM

#22222

uDevil

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Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 6,941

Quote:

Originally Posted by suzzer99

The satistician W Edwards Deming would not consult unless he had access to the top guys. And he wasn't shy about telling them **** was their fault.

03-27-2017 , 04:47 PM

#22223

Onlydo2days

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Join Date: Jun 2012 Posts: 19,973

Quote:

Originally Posted by champstark

What? Source?

I thought I read like 40% of Dems supported it "temporarily" when Trump first called for it. Not sure about sanders specifically tho.

03-27-2017 , 04:50 PM

#22224

Namath12

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Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 55,863

Only 15 days in jail for the Russian oppo leader who dared to protest peacefully against Putin. I guess that's progress? I mean the alternative was a polonium shake and cremation