Donald Trump Enters 2016 Presidential Race

[Space Commander Travis]

Does the almost inevitable alternative fill you with similar feelings of depression and gloom?

[Big Jim]

No. I really don't understand what faith, if any, people have in him. Obama doesn't matter, he's old tense. Trump is the new tense idiot. He actually speaks at a lower level than young George spoke at. 5th grade rather than sixth grade.

The Idiocracy. I once smiled and passed the concept by. Now I'm growing fearful that this misogynistic xenophobic narcissistic idiot will lead a great nation that I deem as my neighbours, my American cousins.

Do you have a source or other confirmation for this assertion or did you make it up?

[Likely Guy]

Does the almost inevitable alternative fill you with similar feelings of depression and gloom?

Almost but not quite so much. She at least could probably control herself.

[Likely Guy]

Do you have a source or other confirmation for this assertion or did you make it up?

Here you go. http://reap.cs.cmu.edu/Papers/Technical_report_16-001_Schumacher_Eskenazi.pdf

Edited March 22, 2016 by Likely Guy

[aztek]

. Does that really look like a lack of capacity?

it does not show capacity, just spending, and we know those 2 do not correlate all the time. just because some black projects ate billions, does not really reflect overall military capacity at all.

Edited March 22, 2016 by aztek

[Merc14]

Likely Guy, on 21 March 2016 - 10:04 PM, said:

A wise man once warned against this.

"They (the fore fathers) were pillars of the temple of liberty; and now that they have crumbled away that temple must fall unless we, their descendants, supply their places with other pillars, hewn from the solid quarry of sober reason. Passion has helped us, but can do so no more. It will in future be our enemy. Reason — cold, calculating, unimpassioned reason — must furnish all the materials for our future support and defense. Let those materials be molded into general intelligence, sound morality, and, in particular, a reverence for the Constitution and laws; and that we improved to the last, that we remained free to the last, that we revered his name (George Washington) to the last, that during his long sleep we permitted no hostile foot to pass over or desecrate his resting-place, shall be that which to learn the last trump shall awaken our Washington."

- Abraham Lincoln, Young Men's Lyceum Address, Springfield , Illinois, January 27th, 1838.

Okay, this is me getting all conspiracy theory. The last line, "...the last trump shall awaken Washington". Strange choice of words.

Source: http://www.constitut...coln/lyceum.htm

I don't for a second believe that Lincoln had a vision, but he also said in the same address;

"Is it unreasonable, then, to expect that some man possessed of the loftiest genius, coupled with ambition sufficient to push it to its utmost stretch, will at some time spring up among us? And when such an one does, it will require the people to be united with each other, attached to the government and laws, and generally intelligent, to successfully frustrate his designs.

Distinction will be his paramount object, and although he would as willingly, perhaps more so, acquire it by doing good as harm, yet, that opportunity being past, and nothing left to be done in the way of building up, he would set boldly to the task of pulling down."

I bumped this for context, and for the worthy conversation that it might ellicit.

If no one spits, I'll stick a fork in it.

See, i read the above quote you posted and see that the man Lincoln is alluding to is already seated in the Oval office and going about the pulling down as we speak. No campaign has ever offered a less talented, less qualified nominee than the 2008 elections in the form of Barack Obama. He, literally, possessed no qualifications for the job, he displayed a dislike for the United States that was palpable and the electorate simply filled in the massive blanks in his resume with whatever myth they dreamed up. I remember some democrat pinhead on the Imus show gushing over Obama and how incredible a human being he was. He said that Obama would be the smartest man to ever sit in the White House and Imus asked him what Obama's IQ was and the guy didn't know. Hadn't a clue but was convinced of Obama's brilliance without ever seeing a transcript from college.

[Merc14]

Eyewitness account (black police officer attending in civilian attire) of the rioters assaulting people at Trump events http://thisainthell.us/blog/?p=64921A

Apparently these leftist protesters, many paid to be there, are trying to incite a violent response so the press can get it on film.

Edited March 22, 2016 by Merc14

[+OverSword]

Welcome to the USA in 2016

[Big Jim]

Thanks, Likely Guy, that was very interesting. I notice that the two with the consistently lowest scores, Clinton and Trump, are also the most likely to be their parties' nominees. Excluding Republican suicide-by-brokered-convention. It's common for newspapers to be written at the same level. There can be several goals in mind when someone is speaking. One might wish to impress, or confuse, obfuscate or communicate. I believe the goal of the unique type of speech we know as campaigning is to reach as many people as possible and win them over to your point of view. As with any other task, picking the right tool is fundamental to getting the job done. It seems to me that Trump has picked the most effective tool for the job at hand. This is only my guess, but I would think that he uses other language in the boardroom and among his business and social peers. It doesn't surprise me that Lincoln's usage was the highest. The society and time in which he spoke had generally higher standards of language the we do today. Look at letters written by Civil War soldiers with their flowing, romantic language and compare that to what passes for communication today. OMG, What a dif!

[+susieice]

it does not show capacity, just spending, and we know those 2 do not correlate all the time. just because some black projects ate billions, does not really reflect overall military capacity at all.

It is a graph on spending.

[Sir Wearer of Hats]

it does not show capacity, just spending, and we know those 2 do not correlate all the time. just because some black projects ate billions, does not really reflect overall military capacity at all.

Tek, if your country's spending that much and has p*** poor capacity someone's making a stupidly huge profit somewhere.

[Space Commander Travis]

Tek, if your country's spending that much and has p*** poor capacity someone's making a stupidly huge profit somewhere.

Exactly my point. Either someone's lining their pockets bigtime or there's some astronomically poor assessment of value for money going on. Edited March 22, 2016 by Otto von Pickelhaube

[Space Commander Travis]

And going back to the subject of the Big Man, this makes a worthwhile point: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-03-21/whose-bright-idea-was-it-show-naked-melania-trump-attack-ad

This was supposed to be an attacking the Big Man. Now, if that was the potential First Lady, wouldn't you consider it might actually be something of an asset? I mean what would you prefer, Melania Trump or Bill Clinton? Well then.

[aztek]

Tek, if your country's spending that much and has p*** poor capacity someone's making a stupidly huge profit somewhere.

someone defiantly does. but not just that, we spend close to half a trillion on f35 program. planes do not even get used anywhere, that right there 0.5 trillion wasted, that did not add anything to capacity, if anything it only worsened it.

[Yamato]

What do you expect him to say? He's hardly going to alienate a constituency that important is he. Maybe he does love Israel, maybe he's just mastering the political art of saying what his audience wants to hear. he's a would-be politician at the end of the day. You're not expecting Hope and Change are you?

I expect you not to answer what great ideas he has for America for the 5th time. But I expect you still expect to get your questions answered from me because you're a privileged guy, so consider yourself lucky.... What do I expect him to say? I already inferred the answer, that after charming Sheldon Adelson, I expected the exact same charming bs he told Adelson. I just wasn't sure exactly what it was yet, and now I do. And it is bs Otto, wake up. If there is hope and change, it's false hope and the wrong change.

[+susieice]

Tek, if your country's spending that much and has p*** poor capacity someone's making a stupidly huge profit somewhere.

What about countries that only spend 1% on their defense budget?

[Yamato]

Yeah Trump supporters, what about the countries that only spend 1% on their defense budget? In the brain of a Trump supporter, they must be considered to be SO WEAK. Losers, too? Pathetic? Terrible? Disasters? Are they getting killed so badly, so ripped off, so taken advantage of, so abused, so money-manipulated, so many disasters and so many bad deals?

[+susieice]

No. You seem to be an expert on my political leanings and you couldn't be further from wrong on that either. I've actually been a registered Democrat for over 40 years that didn't go for Obama in his last run. I do not like any of my candidates, period. Given my ruthers I'd go with Kasich, and this isn't the first time I've posted that here. But, if given no choice, yes, I'd go with Trump over the others. He does seem to make more sense.

Edited March 22, 2016 by susieice

[Yamato]

Oh I see, so that anti-American BS only works on us?

[Sir Wearer of Hats]

What about countries that only spend 1% on their defense budget?

depnds on how effectively that 1% is spent. You can do a lot with a little if you're clever.

[+susieice]

Oh I see, so that anti-American BS only works on us?

Maybe. But trolling doesn't work on me.

[+susieice]

depnds on how effectively that 1% is spent. You can do a lot with a little if you're clever.

We have a lot of population to protect Sir. And a lot of really big countries that don't like us very much. Best prepared.

[Yamato]

depnds on how effectively that 1% is spent. You can do a lot with a little if you're clever.

Other countries would be spending a lot more on defense if it wasn't for the Godlike United States,the world's selective police force, fighting the crime we want to fight and doing the crime we want to do. So you don't have to, most of the time. You'll still send a token force to the desert adventures when asked, and get to say you did.

Imagine how weak Donald Trump would think we are if we behaved like Australia.

Maybe. But trolling doesn't work on me.

How is waking you up to the BS trolling you? I'm trying to help you!

[+susieice]

Welcome to Democracy.

[Yamato]

I used to watch those old videos of Germans going ape **** over Adolf Hitler, a strong leader with all the right answers the dander-ridden masses wanted to hear with a magnetic personality, and even when I was a kid I asked myself how those people could be so easily fooled. Well now I see exactly how, up close and in the flesh. It's not even about what he says, it's just about how he says it. It's blind faith in a cult of personality. He can be -and is- an endless river of nonsense and bad ideas and it doesn't even matter.