It's sh*t like this that almost makes me want to support Trump

Submitted by gjohnsit on Fri, 04/01/2016 - 2:32pm

Today's news headline speaks for itself.

NATO and the United States are switching their defense doctrine from assurance to deterrence in Eastern Europe in response to a “resurgent and aggressive Russia,” the top US general in Europe said Thursday.
The comments by Gen. Philip Breedlove in the Latvian capital Riga come a day after the Pentagon said it would begin continuous rotations of an additional armored brigade of about 4,200 troops in Eastern Europe beginning in early 2017.
“We are prepared to fight and win if we have to ... our focus will expand from assurance to deterrence, including measures that vastly improve our overall readiness,” Breedlove said following talks with Baltic region NATO commanders.

So losing the GWOT and bombing seven nations isn't enough? We have to restart the Cold War too?
Russia has made exactly zero aggressive moves against Poland and the Baltics, but maybe we can goad them into a response.
This is where Trump, of all people, is the voice of sanity.

“I don’t mind NATO per se, but it has to be reconstituted, it has to be modernized,” Mr. Trump said Monday on “Fox and Friends.” “You know, we’re dealing with NATO from the days of the Soviet Union, which no longer exists. We need to either transition into terror or we need something else, because we have to get countries together.”

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Comments

Submitted by Martha Pearce-Smith on Fri, 04/01/2016 - 2:36pm

Have you seen Sanders's views on NATO?

He is anti-expansion and thinks Europe and others should foot much more of the costs.

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Submitted by hecate on Fri, 04/01/2016 - 2:46pm

surely you're not keen

to support "bombing the hell out of ISIS," "taking the oil," "killing the families," preventing all Muslims from entering the US, deporting the unpapered immigrants, shoving 30,000 US troops into Libya and Syria and Iraq, maybe dropping a nuke on Europe, building the "big beautiful wall" on the southern border, supporting the cops uber alles over any and all black lives, and non-stop torture of "waterboarding, and worse," are you? Then there's also this:

Sitting in the Oval Office, Trump will listen carefully to the advice of Walid Phares who no doubt will advocate for regime change and aggressive policies in the Middle East, as he has throughout the last three decades. Trump will be told of the need to dispense massively lucrative contracts to the private military firms with whom his close advisers Keith Kellogg and Joe Schmitz have long relationships. He’ll be cajoled to follow through with aggressive actions that will benefit Big Oil and Wall Street, all the buddies and pals of people like Carter Page. Trump will "make deals" based on the advice of Israeli mouthpieces like George Papadopolous, not based on reason, let alone strategy in the interests of the US.

In practical terms, Trump will likely escalate America's mostly fictional and superficial "War on ISIS," embroiling the US in yet another regional war as he puts boots on the ground in Syria and/or Iraq. Trump will do nothing to rein in NATO, he might simply advocate for a shifting of the burden onto European NATO partners, something that will likely not happen.

Trump will aggressively deal with Russia and Putin, puffing out his chest and acting like some kind of strongman with Putin for public relations effect only. In fact, Trump is likely to damage further the US-Russia relationship with reckless rhetoric and policies, rather than moving toward genuine understanding and reconciliation.

Submitted by gjohnsit on Fri, 04/01/2016 - 2:56pm

Oh, sure pull out the facts

That's a low blow.

Next thing you know you'll refer to reality and logic!

Submitted by hecate on Fri, 04/01/2016 - 3:02pm

oh, heavens no

I try to stay far away from reality and logic at all times. ; )

Submitted by mimi on Fri, 04/01/2016 - 8:11pm

redacted - can't stand looking at my own dumbshit /nt

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Submitted by gjohnsit on Fri, 04/01/2016 - 3:19pm

It was sarcasm

hecate got it, as I knew he would.

You aren't on GOS anymore. People here are nicer and more relaxed.

Submitted by mimi on Fri, 04/01/2016 - 8:12pm

redacted more of my own dumbshit

it's a tough life if you are a dumbshitter.

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Submitted by gjohnsit on Fri, 04/01/2016 - 3:39pm

No, just the comment

Relax. Take a breath.

Submitted by mimi on Fri, 04/01/2016 - 8:14pm

redacted - my dumber than dumbshit - you all can relax now

my next dumbshit will not be digitized.

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Submitted by mimi on Fri, 04/01/2016 - 8:14pm

OMG, jeez, no, it's not snark - my dumbshit is always serious/nt

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Submitted by gjohnsit on Fri, 04/01/2016 - 8:20pm

Don't worry about it

I'm not. I doubt anyone else is bothered either.

Submitted by Martha Pearce-Smith on Fri, 04/01/2016 - 4:23pm

giggles

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Submitted by RantingRooster on Fri, 04/01/2016 - 8:40pm

Are you kidding?

If Trump is president it will be a f**king Vegas show (lol). I'm sure prostitution and gambling would be legal within his 1st 100 days in office.

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Submitted by Pluto's Republic on Sat, 04/02/2016 - 3:42am

And, Hillary's blood lust is different, how?

We've already seen her unspeakable carnage and blast of horrific human suffering in Libya; her grotesque war crimes.

We know exactly what to expect with her Neocon horror show.

Trump? He's all mouth, just like Breedlove.

Presidents don't have the power to do any of that crap he spews at the Republican dopes. Plus Trump has zero political capital. Hillary, on the other hand has taken money from the monsters of the world along with the war profiteers inside and outside the Federal government. She's paid to play for the Neocons, and congress will buckle to achieve their bloody goals of global empire. (As for Breedlove, he's a military hack. He has no power.)

Words don't frighten me, especially during one of America's embarrassing and ridiculous primary seasons.

I don't want the devil I already know.

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Submitted by hecate on Sat, 04/02/2016 - 3:52am

i'm

certainly not for The Mad Bomber. Never have been. Never will be.

The Hairball, he is Thanatos, he is a person who genuinely enjoys hurting people, killing people, and he makes that plain, and obvious, and that is why his people, they respond to him so.

It doesn't really matter. Because neither The Hairball, nor The Mad Bomber, are going to be the president.

Submitted by Pluto's Republic on Sat, 04/02/2016 - 4:12am

Hey. Today's Open Thread.

Nice work!

Yeah, I don't think Trump will be allowed in. (By the way, have you seen his violence that you talk about? Who has he killed? Or, did his words build a spooky place in your head?)

I'm still seeing Hillary shimmering in time when I look forward. This business with the emails is delusional. It worries me when I see the Left indulging in it. That means the kabuki still works on them.

Anyway, there is chaos on the road ahead, coming before the elections, I think.

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Submitted by hecate on Sat, 04/02/2016 - 4:53am

thank you

The Hairball, he hasn't, to my knowledge, directly killed anybody. Yet. But his people. They know he wants to. And he does. That is quite clear. And that is why the people of The Hairball, they love him so.

You bet I liked it. Knocking the hell out of that big mouth. Number one, we don't know if he's ISIS. We don't know who he is, but we know he's not acting like an American. He deserved it. The next time we see him, we might have to kill him. We don't know who he is. He might be with a terrorist organization.

The Mad Bomber, I think maybe she is shimmering for you, because she is insubstantial. Because not wholly there. I don't know how it's going to happen. But I do know it's going to happen that she will not be the president.

I think, anyway, that here's always chaos, Pluto. That that's where all and every, it comes from. And into which, all and every, it goes. ; /

Submitted by lizzyh7 on Fri, 04/01/2016 - 2:54pm

I hear your frustration!

And realize this is mostly snark as far as actually pulling the lever for the T Rump. But it is a stupid and arrogant move, one even Obama seems to be on board with, ffs. We know HRC is.

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Submitted by GeekGurl2000 on Fri, 04/01/2016 - 2:56pm

like a broken clock...

so one nugget that could be considered positive out of all the gawdawful rhetoric the orange one spews? I could never support trump, except inasmuch as he's less scary than cruz.

Submitted by shaharazade on Fri, 04/01/2016 - 3:52pm

Less scary then Hillary the Hun?

Submitted by piranha on Sat, 04/02/2016 - 4:40am

Trump might be more scary than her

because she is the evil i know. She will not surprise me, neither positively nor negatively. I know what crap sandwich she'll deliver. She'll cover it in some socially liberal sprinkles so it goes down better with the identity politics crowd, but it'll be the same old neoliberal crap sandwich we've been gnawing on since the first Clinton administration. Which will suck, and it will suck much more for brown people elsewhere, but nobody will push the nuclear button.

Trump I don't know. I should read his book, but *ugh*, will that tell me anything more? He's saying whatever gets him to close this deal of the nomination, which he apparently didn't even want originally (I suspected that), but now that his ego is involved, yeah, he wants it, no matter what. Does he love America? Not as much as he loves himself. We know he can't build the wall, can he do anything else he blathers on about now? Does he stand for anything, does he have an overarching vision -- not for his own life, but for the country? I don't see it. Narcissistic egotists are more dangerous IMO than greedy neoliberals, because the latter have at least some kind of, however narrow, vision in which life gets a little better for those people who properly apply themselves. Narcissistic egotists don't really give a fuck for anyone as long as they got theirs. If you get lucky they become benign dictators because they like to sun themselves in the admiration of their followers. But we might as easily not get lucky, especially since the presidency is not a dictatorship, and Trump will be thwarted at every turn. Will he fight for us? He never did before when he actually had the power to make life good for his employees, why would he now?

He'd scare me less if he didn't seem to thrive on the violence evinced by his followers. I've been scoffing at the "brownshirt" references because these people have no discipline, and no common vision, but I can see why people worry -- a violent mob isn't a whole lot better than a brownshirted militia when they're right in front of you. The only good news is that they're much more easily defeated; just do with them what was done with the Bundys at Malheur.

So yeah, while I dislike HRC greatly, I'd still prefer her over Trump.

Submitted by pfiore8 on Fri, 04/01/2016 - 3:05pm

this is classic Obama

as he hides behind kids reading them Easter stories or crying over kids gunned down... i am sorry, but this is push back for BRIC . . . the same reason, so it is speculated, they went after Libya and why they have Iran in their sites.

empire. empire. empire. what is kind of funny, though is how are they going to manage all this and TPP. it's like the CIA and Pentagon shooting at each.

the truth at the end of the day: these fuckers really have no clue. they are outdated useless evolutionary models and somehow, we got to distracted living our lives and allowed them to stay.

if you look, some of these players have had family in this game for centuries. i mean really...

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Submitted by jiordan on Fri, 04/01/2016 - 3:23pm

A blind duck

and all that, but I get your point. If the world is going insane, why not jump on the ride and help it accelerate to the bottom? Some days, I read the news and I seriously wonder if things would be any more nuts with Trump at the helm--then I recover and realize OF COURSE they could be crazier.

Then I see someone say how Hilary would be better and I'm back to wondering all over again...

There's a reason I'm one of those Bernie or Bust people. Anyone besides him is just a quicker or slower road to economic and environmental devastation.

Submitted by pfiore8 on Fri, 04/01/2016 - 3:30pm

the thing is, we have to pick a course and stay on it

do we know where we want to go? then let's keep heading in that direction.

Hillary and Trump are only out to confuse us and force us to make detours. and every fucking time i fall into the trap of defending Bernie, it keeps me from getting farther down the road. every time i have to analyze what the fuck Hillary is talking about, it takes my energy out of thinking: how do i get restaurants where I live to stop using straws and stirs? and how do i get like-minded people to do the same.

but no. i'm now almost stroking out.

i know this, i really do: we aren't going to change any minds most likely and we don't have the luxury of being evangelical. whatever we have, whoever is with us, that's what we have. but wow. it's hard to rise above.

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“There are moments which are not calculable, and cannot be assessed in words; they live on in the solution of memory… ”
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Submitted by detroitmechworks on Fri, 04/01/2016 - 3:33pm

Honestly, I find myself more and more...

thinking LOCALLY. What can I do if everything goes to hell?

Sad to think that our future city-states may NEED veterans if things keep going downhill...

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Submitted by pfiore8 on Fri, 04/01/2016 - 3:38pm

DMW

local is where this gets staged. it is the only venue we have left and even that's closing up once you realize the corruption just in the fools in town councils and zoning boards. so we have to work on a values shift. not just dumping accusations and data, but when people see there is a response to : maybe you could stop using straws and stirs . . . because most of us want to do good, be part of doing the right thing.

so let's start with stuff that has BIG impact and is really incredibly doable.

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“There are moments which are not calculable, and cannot be assessed in words; they live on in the solution of memory… ”
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Submitted by detroitmechworks on Fri, 04/01/2016 - 3:41pm

Wasn't trying to be an asshole, if that's how it came across

just so tired, and payday's always rough for me, because I always spend the first part of the day paying bills...

You're right, there needs to be a serious shift in the way we thing and do business. Just hope that can change the course before it's impossible to do so.

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Submitted by pfiore8 on Fri, 04/01/2016 - 3:45pm

DMW, not AT ALL!

i was agreeing with you. it is local. absolutely. not sure why you would think that and I am a bit ramped up. but for sure my response was one of solidarity!

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“There are moments which are not calculable, and cannot be assessed in words; they live on in the solution of memory… ”
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Submitted by detroitmechworks on Fri, 04/01/2016 - 3:48pm

Cool... just making sure.

Sometimes I read subtext where there isn't any, and as a result I try to be VERY clear if I feel that I've offended anybody.

Nothing personal, just my own psyche.

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Submitted by Martha Pearce-Smith on Fri, 04/01/2016 - 4:25pm

Our communities will need LEADERS....n/t

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Submitted by pfiore8 on Fri, 04/01/2016 - 3:32pm

on a happier note,

i do love your avatar. your pup looks like one of those earthlings with whom i could easily be in step.

cuuuuuuuuTe.

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“There are moments which are not calculable, and cannot be assessed in words; they live on in the solution of memory… ”
― Lawrence Durrell, "Justine"

Submitted by piranha on Sat, 04/02/2016 - 4:42am

Things could be MUCH worse

Just look at any failed state. I definitely would NOT rather live in Syria or Libya or Iraq. And I am not eager to help the ride accelerate in that direction.

Submitted by dkmich on Fri, 04/01/2016 - 3:31pm

Trump is not the worst by far.

http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/04/01/the-clinton-myth-and-the-strange-...

Great article about the myths surrounding Hillary and Trump. Right now, I would rate Trump as the best of the worst three.

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Submitted by Lookout on Fri, 04/01/2016 - 3:49pm

Ollie Stone

is scared of Clinton's war policy
http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/oliver-stone-makes-impassioned-ple...

Hell I am too. Joe had some scathing Clinton foreign policy pieces over at the evening blues too.

Keep the faith for Bernie. Let's win big in WI Tuesday, and NY 2 weeks later. and not worry about the soon to be indicted HRC!

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Submitted by dervish on Fri, 04/01/2016 - 3:59pm

Do you have any idea

how much money could be made in a limited war with Russia? Think of the contracts! A move like that could have a stunning effect on a well-positioned portfolio.

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"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."

Submitted by gjohnsit on Fri, 04/01/2016 - 4:37pm

Think of the shareholders!

I have some idea

The latest jaw dropper, as Saudi Arabia continues to bombard Yemen with US and UK armaments dropped by US and UK-made aircraft, is sales worth $33 Billion in just eleven months to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) according to Defense News.

Submitted by magiamma on Fri, 04/01/2016 - 6:46pm

sigh

my immediate raction - oh jesus... !!!!
can bernie just be president now please

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Submitted by davidincleveland on Fri, 04/01/2016 - 7:07pm

Sanity.. I suspect Trump would "reconstitute and modernize" NATO

into building a Maginot wall. The place for that wall? He's going to "bring all the countries together" in Scotland. The Scots now live in "terror" of a possible President Trump.

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