News Dump Tuesday: Wikileaks, Hillary, and The Intercept Edition

Just since yesterday morning, the Intercept has come out with three good articles about Hillary.

Hillary and Fracking

Behind closed doors on the paid speaking circuit, Hillary Clinton was far more candid than she has been in public about her prominent role as Secretary of State in exporting American-style hydraulic fracturing — the controversial, environmentally damaging technique best known as fracking — to countries all over the world.
“I’ve promoted fracking in other places around the world,” she declared during a 2013 paid talk to Deutsche Bank, adding that she launched a new wing of the State Department devoted to the initiative.
During a paid speech in Canada the following year, Clinton touted her role in “accelerating” natural gas development in Europe, calling attention to Poland’s embrace of fracking as a positive step.
...
Earlier this year, we obtained emails from Clinton aides discussing plans to make Poland a “laboratory for testing whether U.S. success in developing shale gas can be repeated in a different country.” The emails also revealed efforts to partner with energy companies such as Chevron and Marathon Oil.
Starting early in her tenure as Secretary of State, Clinton traveled the globe encouraging foreign countries to adopt fracking technology. Clinton has both publicly and privately explained that she views fracking, under the right circumstances, as the most environmentally sound method of transitioning away from other fossil fuels such as oil and coal. She has also said that fracking can make the U.S. and other nations energy independent, a foreign policy goal that may weaken gas exporting countries such as Russia.
But in private, Clinton also asserted that there is a conspiracy of Russian-funded groups attempting to suppress fracking development. During a speech to a group in Canada called tinePublic, Clinton claimed that there are “phony environmental groups” that are “funded by the Russians to stand against” fracking.

Corporations pay too much in taxes

In public, top Hillary Clinton surrogate Neera Tanden said at the Democratic convention in Philadelphia that there’s no need to cut the federal corporate tax rate from its current 35 percent.
But in private, Clinton says something quite different to corporations and trade groups.
An 80-page report compiled by Clinton’s own campaign of potentially damaging remarks she made behind closed doors was published by Wikileaks on Friday. It includes extensive comments on tax policy.
During an October 13, 2014, speech to the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers, Clinton told the audience that “A number of business leaders have been talking to my husband and me about an idea that would allow the repatriation of the couple trillion dollars that are out there. And you would get a lower rate — a really low rate — if you were willing to invest a percentage in an infrastructure bank.”
...
This has allowed Corporate America to essentially hold U.S. tax revenue hostage, refusing to pay its taxes until Americans become so desperate that they will cut a deal giving multinationals a special new tax rate.
This strategy has already paid off once, in 2004, when multinationals got Congress to let them bring back $312 billion in profits at a one-time rate of about 5 percent. The legislation required that the cash be used to hire Americans or conduct research and development. Corporations ignored these provisions and instead used the money to enrich their executives and stockholders, while cutting U.S. jobs.

The Russian Boogyman

But come January, Democrats will continue to be the dominant political faction in the U.S. — more so than ever — and the tactics they are now embracing will endure past the election, making them worthy of scrutiny. Those tactics now most prominently include dismissing away any facts or documents that reflect negatively on their leaders as fake, and strongly insinuating that anyone who questions or opposes those leaders is a stooge or agent of the Kremlin, tasked with a subversive and dangerously un-American mission on behalf of hostile actors in Moscow.
To see how extreme and damaging this behavior has become, let’s just quickly examine two utterly false claims that Democrats over the past four days — led by party-loyal journalists — have disseminated and induced thousands of people, if not more, to believe. On Friday, WikiLeaks published its first installment of emails obtained from the account of Clinton campaign chair John Podesta. Despite WikiLeaks’ perfect, long-standing record of only publishing authentic documents, MSNBC’s favorite ex-intelligence official, Malcolm Nance, within hours of the archive’s release, posted a tweet claiming — with zero evidence and without citation to a single document in the WikiLeaks archive — that it was compromised with fakes:
Official Warning: #PodestaEmails are already proving to be riddled with obvious forgeries & #blackpropaganda not even professionally done. https://t.co/UuJZrurHAA
— Malcolm Nance (@MalcolmNance) October 7, 2016

As you can see, more than 4,000 people have re-tweeted this “Official Warning.” That includes not only random Clinton fans but also high-profile Clinton-supporting journalists, who by spreading it around gave this claim their stamp of approval, intentionally leading huge numbers of people to assume the WikiLeaks archive must be full of fakes, and its contents should therefore simply be ignored. Clinton’s campaign officials spent the day fueling these insinuations, strongly implying that the documents were unreliable and should thus be ignored. Poof: Just like that, unpleasant facts about Hillary Clinton just disappeared, like a fairy protecting frightened children by waving her magic wand and sprinkling fairy dust over a demon and causing it to scatter away.
Except the only fraud here was Nance’s claim, not any of the documents published by WikiLeaks. Those were all real.
...
Literally none of that happened. Or at least there is zero evidence that it did. These are smart, rational people falling for a scam. Why? It’s in part because Twitter fosters this group-think and lack of critical thought — you just click a button and, with little effort, you’ve spread whatever you want people to believe — but it’s also because they’re so convinced of the righteousness of their cause (electing Clinton/defeating Trump) that they have cast all limits and constraints to the side, believing that any narrative or accusation or smear, no matter how false or conspiratorial, is justified in pursuit of it.
But while Donald Trump’s candidacy poses grave dangers, so does group-think righteousness, particularly when it engulfs those with the greatest influence. The problem is that none of this is going to vanish after the election. This election-year machine that has been constructed based on elite unity in support of Clinton — casually dismissing inconvenient facts as fraudulent to make them disappear, branding critics and adversaries as tools or agents of an Enemy Power bent on destroying America — is a powerful one. As is seen here, it is capable of implanting any narrative, no matter how false; demonizing any critic, no matter how baseless; and riling up people to believe they’re under attack.
For a long time, liberals heralded themselves as part of the “reality-based community” and derided conservatives as faith-based victims of “epistemic closure.” The dynamics seen here are anything but byproducts of reason.

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China's banks in bad shape

Rising debt levels will worsen the credit profiles of China's top 200 companies this year, requiring the country's banks to raise $1.7 trillion in capital to cover a likely surge in bad loans, S&P Global said in reports published on Tuesday.
The study sees little scope for improvement in 2017 amid worsening leverage and substantial excess capacity in almost all sectors. Seventy percent of the companies surveyed were state owned, comprising 90 percent of the sample companies' debt.

Black people aren't paranoid after all

The ACLU of California has obtained records showing that Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram provided user data access to Geofeedia, a developer of a social media monitoring product that we have seen marketed to law enforcement as a tool to monitor activists and protesters.
We are pleased that after we reported our findings to the companies, Instagram cut off Geofeedia’s access to public user posts, and Facebook has cut its access to a topic-based feed of public user posts. Twitter has also taken some recent steps to rein in Geofeedia though it has not ended the data relationship.

What makes aterrorist? Bombing people

A secret FBI study found that anger over U.S. military operations abroad was the most commonly cited motivation for individuals involved in cases of “homegrown” terrorism. The report also identified no coherent pattern to “radicalization,” concluding that it remained near impossible to predict future violent acts.
The study, reviewed by The Intercept, was conducted in 2012 by a unit in the FBI’s counterterrorism division and surveyed intelligence analysts and FBI special agents across the United States who were responsible for nearly 200 cases, both open and closed, involving “homegrown violent extremists.” The survey responses reinforced the FBI’s conclusion that such individuals “frequently believe the U.S. military is committing atrocities in Muslim countries, thereby justifying their violent aspirations.”
Online relationships and exposure to English-language militant propaganda and “ideologues” like Anwar al-Awlaki are also cited as “key factors” driving extremism. But grievances over U.S. military action ranked far above any other factor, turning up in 18 percent of all cases, with additional cases citing a “perceived war against Islam,” “perceived discrimination,” or other more specific incidents. The report notes that between 2009 and 2012, 10 out of 16 attempted or successful terrorist attacks in the United States targeted military facilities or personnel.
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ggersh's picture

one can only imagine what shit they'll do once in office, this country will need some serious help if/when that happens.

#Jillneverhill

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

The people they demonize listen to what they say, and prepare.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-11/russian-government-officials-to...

Stock up and hunker down!

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ggersh's picture

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

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ggersh's picture

by, of, and for the donor, in public or private.

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I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

WaterLily's picture

on a Facebook thread launched by a friend in which he claims that HRC will be kicking off "a 4-year plan for moving us towards 100% renewables fairly soon into her admininstration."

LOL. This should be fun to watch.

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Anja Geitz's picture

I have a similar conversation going about how fucking wonderful Hillary is.

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

Late Again's picture

a sarcastic remark about how Hillary supporters seem to believe HRH is Frances Perkins, Dorothy Day and Joan of Arc all rolled up into one.

Then just today, I saw a meme comparing her to Princess Leia. Princess Leia! As if she'd ever be on the side of the Rebellion... Senator Palpatine or Grand Moff Tarkin is more like it. I'm still tripping over my jaw every time I think of it.

The blind hero worship has gone beyond the absurd, and they accused Bernie supporters of being a cult of personality. The axiom holds true: whatever they're accusing you of is what they're actually doing.

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"When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained." - Mark Twain

Anja Geitz's picture

How they are able to hold onto to that marketing version of any candidate. It's like rest of us are living in an alternate universe and they are encapsulated in a bubble filled with mind altering drugs.

When this election first began, in what seems like years and years ago, I'd engage blindly ardent Hillary fans with thoughtful arguments. But now, I just can't bring myself to have those kinds of conversations. I feel as if engaging in their utter bullshit is only enabling their troubling condition. So, I just drop truth bombs and wait for their replies. At some point, after they've exhausted all their hackneyed talking points, I argle bargle a response to end the conversation. It usually saves a lot of time, along with my sanity.

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

Telling the truth is now trolling. Newspeak.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

Assuming anybody who's not part of Opinion Management even believes these things.

In a cult, the first assumption is that the leader is good. Everything else is rearranged to support that notion.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

WaterLily's picture

It's a cult.

The convo in which I dropped the fracking article turned into a protracted "discussion" of the TPP, in which I and one other person provided more than adequate evidence of why anyone concerned about the environment should oppose it. The hero-worshippers showed up en masse to -- basically -- publicly block their ears and yell, "Lalalala, we can't hear you!"

Several of them are Catholics. Can't wait to see the pretzeling they're going to have to engage in, in order to excuse Palmieri's Catholic-bashing.

ZB, I think I'm going to have to adopt your approach from now until 11/8 ...

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Anja Geitz's picture

And it works in any hero worship fingers in their ears regurgitating agit prop convo they throw at you. You just pick one of their talking points and sandwich it between argle bargle.

Argle bargle Vote Hillary Argle Bargle

Not much more to say after that.

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

personality. So, of course, Rovian Obamabots were going to accuse liberals who supported Sanders of the same thing.

I think some in both groups are members of a cult of personality, but, mostly, I think it's Dembots vs. liberals, not even Obamabots or Hillarybots. Some will support the candidate of the PTB of the Democratic Party, no matter who he or she is. On another board, posters saw Hillary called everything but a child of God in 2008, when the PTB had tapped Obama, then worshipped starting around 2013-14, when "her turn" was beginning to manifest.

One of them bothered to attempt to rationalize his 180 degree change as to a woman who hasn't changed noticeably since she was 13, but he is (during those moments when his fondest dreams come true) somewhat in the public eye. Others didn't even attempt a rationalization. It was funny and stomach-turning at the same time, if you can imagine such a thing.

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Her choice of Kaine as her running mate should have been enough to tell voters what her true goals are - and we can like it!

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Vowing To Oppose Everything Trump Attempts.

Bernie would have been offered VP and a wave election might have occurred. Well, I guess there is no need for true compromise and unification when one controls the Press and electronic voting machines.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

None for Hillary.

And the polls showing her with big leads interviewed much larger percentages of Democrats than Republicans. At least one was done by a pollster who's working for Hillary's campaign, according to what I read today:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-11/first-post-debate-poll-gives-hi...

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Shahryar's picture

zero Trump. I should get a Jill sign.

But anyway, this street had dozens of Obama signs in 2008, a few in 2012, a bunch of Bernie signs this year. Now only 2 Hillarys.

For reference, our section of Portland is something like 65% Democratic, 8% Republican, the rest some kind of Pacific Green, Working Families Party, other small parties and independents. That's just the registered people. I don't have the breakdown of registered vs unregistered. In any case, it's really overwhelmingly Democratic and yet, outside of those 2 signs, nobody seems enthused....for some reason.

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riverlover's picture

I laughed at Republicans for Voldemort.

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

Anja Geitz's picture

Is endorsing Hillary.

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

Two Trump signs, one Hillary (in a town). Saw a Johnson sign in Indiana.

A VERY interesting fact. In heavily Hispanic Addison IL, the town is covered in yard signs for the Italian surnamed Republican candidate for Congress and NONE for the Indian surnamed Democratic candidate.

Many people assume that all non-white people are rigid Democrats. I think that holds only for African-Americans.

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I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-11/latest-nbcwsj-poll-utter-nonsense

This state, Wisconsin, went strongly and consistently for Bernie. 71 out of 72 counties. At a liberal rally in spring, I felt sorry for the people in the Hillary booth, because nobody was interested. I think Trump could actually take it. He's running good ads here. Principled people are thinking hard about it, gritting their teeth, and declaring for Trump, because we know that Hillary is so unquestionably evil.

And Ryan got booed at his own rally after he disinvited Trump.

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Citizen Of Earth's picture

Hellery used it successfully on Trump during Debate2. He brought up some scandal (can't recall which one, there are so many) that was revealed by the wikileaks emails. Hellery dismissed it as Putin (Trump's buddy) trying to influence US elections. And Trump is such a dumbshit he went into defense mode about him having no connection with Russia -- Instead of calling Hellery out for using the Russian Boogieman to cover up her horrific record.

Intercept is so correct. This MSM propaganda machine will be march us into fullblown fascism in the coming years. It ain't going away.

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Donnie The #ShitHole Douchebag. Fake Friend to the Working Class. Real Asshole.

Although fossil fuels are only about 16% of Russia's GDP, the government budget is 21% dependent on revenues from oil and gas. The way this works, I believe, is that Russia places a higher tax on oil and gas and uses that to keep broad based taxes in the country very low. Income tax is a flat rate of 13%. A great deal of exported gas and oil go to Europe. Consider then that Europe contributes to Russia becoming economically and militarily an international player and allows Russia to use energy as a political lever over Europe, although they have never actually done that, preferring to establish their reputation as a reliable trading partner, again, pissing off the USA who would prefer to see them as a blatant enemy.

It's certainly ironic that Russia, who has been fighting terrorism in the Caucuses and Syria, is the enemy, and Saudi Arabia, who actually funds the terrorists is our good ally. We are truly screwed up, and continue down that road as fast as possible.

I note with interest the mention of the study on motivation of homegrown terrorists. If we are bombing and killing innocent people in the ME, Africa and every other region, don't you think that terrorism is a rational reaction for people who are effected? It's asymmetrical warfare, and it follows the basic ethical rationale that killing people in war is perfectly moral? They don't hate us for our freedoms, they hate us because we kill their people. Why do we not expect blowback from our violence?

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Capitalism has always been the rule of the people by the oligarchs. You only have two choices, eliminate them or restrict their power.

We have known for some time that the neocons (and their ally Hillary Clinton) have been trying to re-start the Cold War. Why? Dunno. Maybe the GWOT isn't generating enough profit for defense contractors.

Everybody laughed when Willard ("Mitt") Romney pegged Russia as "our number one geopolitical foe" in 2012. But now there appears to be a bipartisan effort to sell us on the largely nonexistent Russian menace.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford says "Russia presents the greatest threat to our national security."

Now Hillary has gone so far as to throw both Donald Trump and anti-fracking environmental groups into her basket of Putin-loving traitors. Maybe somebody inside the Beltway can tell us what is going on here. I think they are making bad decisions behind closed doors again.

Such as moving ahead with a nuclear “modernization” plan that violates the terms of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Without any public debate.
The Trillion Dollar Question the Media Have Neglected to Ask Presidential Candidates

Bernie Sanders was the only presidential candidate this year who rejected spending $1 trillion on weapons we would have to be insane to ever use.

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"We've done the impossible, and that makes us mighty."

Oldest Son Of A Sailor's picture

Many of the weapons systems in use in the War On Terror are just too cheap...
The MIC is unsustainable on dumb bombs alone...
Despite the magnitude of drones in service the Predator Drone cost is only $4.03M per unit, and the Reaper is at $16.9M, with cost per flight hour in the $25-3500 range for each, is hardly enough to sustain the appetite of the war profiteers...

We need new atomic weapons systems, and expensive complicated reusable space drones, to have a constant deterrent force in orbit overhead, ready to reenter, and fly a mission to deliver their payload at a moments notice, along with maintaining many more space planes, both manned and unmanned, on constant alert, ready to go at the press of a button by an unhinged mad bomber...

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"Do you realize the responsibility I carry?
I'm the only person standing between Richard Nixon and the White House."

~John F. Kennedy~
Economic: -9.13, Social: -7.28,
dlxtele's picture

IMO he is now nothing more than Russian-plant/spy. If he would go and face the charges and clear his name then we may be able to trust his integrity once again.

Brent

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Chicolini's trial from "Duck Soup" (1933).

"I wanted to get rid of habeas corpus, but I should have gotten rid of you instead."

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"We've done the impossible, and that makes us mighty."

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A brand new troll fresh off the press would be my "guess"...

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Bollox Ref's picture

That Wikileaks is merely Russian propaganda. (I still think it's a bunch of long lost Albanian royalists.)

See drivel from The Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/11/clinton-campaign-wikilea...

Funny how they don't deny any of the facts within the releases. If it was just propaganda, the narrative holes would be obvious.

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

good one.

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ThoughtfulVoter's picture

Assange has risked his life to get us the information he has. That gives him all the credibility he needs in my eyes.

If Clinton doesn't want her info leaked by Assange, then she should have integrity whether in private or in public. Russia is not the enemy here, Clinton is. And grateful to those who expose it!

A politician can't smile to the public but knife them in the back in private. Sooner or later, the truth comes out. Don't try to discredit the messenger.

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Shahryar's picture

that's how I read it at first but I see some are taking it seriously.

It's too nonsensical to be for real. A Russian plant? eh? Come on. Nobody believes that baloney!

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Late Again's picture

lauded Assange when he was going after the Bush cartel.

But now that he's pointing out the Empress has no clothes, suddenly he's Boris Badanov.

Sure thing, buddy.

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"When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained." - Mark Twain

lotlizard's picture

“But that trick never works.”

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

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Shahryar's picture

has everybody noticed that Stein and Johnson aren't ever covered by the media? Unless Johnson says" uh...I don't know".

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Bollox Ref's picture

it's constant MSM outrage over Trump's 'peccadilloes'.

Little about the Wikileaks revelations, and issues have flown out the window. Johnson and Stein stand no chance of any meaningful coverage.

This has to be the worst presidential 'election' ever.

Will anyone turn up in November?

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

This has to be the worst presidential 'election' ever.

Until the next one

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Bollox Ref's picture

that LOTE voting will once again be our 'choice' du jour. A standard shit sandwich, or a shit sandwich with snails.

(Purity/Unicorn loving 3rd parties be damned.)

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

Shahryar's picture

We have to vote for the LOTE (that means Lord of the something that starts with an "E", I believe..."Empire"?) because we need people who won't overturn Citizens United and who think it's probably not a good idea to arrest people for kneeling during the national anthem.

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lotlizard's picture

Obama became the current Lord of the Enema when it became clear the Pentagon and the rest of the federal government think so-called “rectal feeding” is an accepted medical practice.

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Lenzabi's picture

And Stein has no baggage or ammo for them to work with. At least nothing for negative news for her. But her being left in the dark for voters is their only tactics against her.

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So long, and thanks for all the fish

WaterLily's picture

Aside from the trusty, "She's an anti-vaxxer OMG!!!!" attack. Which reveals how desperate they are, that this is the only criticism (not even a legitimate one) they have.

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scare the shit out of anyone else? Does $hillary/MIC want a full blown war with Putin? Or are they just using Russia to deflect from the leaks? Worse part, is that Hilbots eat it up, and the MSM keeps pushing the story with zero proof. We really are screwed this time.

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Scares me! We're talking full-blown psychopaths here, blinded to reality by lunatic greed and who apparently believe that a 'limited' nuclear war crime is survivable, at least by themselves.

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.