News Breaking Down the 2016 POTUS Race Contenders & Issues

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Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are currently the leading candidates for the 2016 presidential election, with their character and qualifications being significant issues among voters. The crowded field includes 36 declared Republican candidates and 19 declared Democratic candidates, with many others considering runs. Major topics of discussion include nationalism versus internationalism and the stability of the nation-state system versus global governance. Recent polls show Trump as the front-runner, although his support has decreased, while Carly Fiorina has gained traction following strong debate performances. The election cycle is characterized as unusual, with many candidates and shifting public opinions on key issues.
  • #481
Dotini said:
"Fundamentally transform America" is a line used by Obama, but also hinted at in the noises and inchoate plans of both Sanders and Trump. I highly doubt any individual is going to fundamentally transform America. But the people can do that. In the French Revolution, the middle classes forced regime change and guillotined the elites and the bankers. In the current situation, the media and political class is in a panic and the middle classes on both left and right are as angry as boiled owls. So yes, rebellion if not revolution is in the air.
18th century France had little by way of "middle class", which was largely an American creation. The mob and the Jacobins killed aristocrats, clergy, scientists, rich, poor, and generally anyone who they just didn't like at the moment, finally killing the leader of the mob (Robespiere), shortly after he created his own deity mythology for followers to worship.

If there is a revolution model to follow, I'm going with the American.
 
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  • #482
The eminent British historian Paul Johnson has written a brief essay on Trump, why the alternatives are not satisfactory, making an interesting argument with which I am sympathetic. Too bad The Donald can't go forth and speak likewise.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/currentevents/2016/03/23/when-excess-is-a-virtue/#10173ff34b5f
THE MENTAL INFECTION known as “political correctness” is one of the most dangerous intellectual afflictions ever to attack mankind. The fact that we began by laughing at it–and to some extent, still do–doesn’t diminish its venom one bit...

The insidious thing about PC is that it wasn’t–and isn’t–the creation of anyone in particular. It’s usually the anonymous work of such Kafkaesque figures as civil servants, municipal librarians, post office sorters and employees at similar levels. It penetrates the interstices of society, especially those where the hierarchies of privilege and property are growing. ...

Nowhere has PC been more triumphant than in the U.S. This is remarkable, because America has traditionally been the home of vigorous, outspoken, raw and raucous speech. From the early 17th century, when the clerical discipline the Pilgrim Fathers sought to impose broke down and those who had things to say struck out westward or southward for the freedom to say them, America has been a land of unrestricted comment on anything–until recently. Now the U.S. has been inundated with PC inquisitors, and PC poison is spreading worldwide in the Anglo zone.

For these reasons it’s good news that Donald Trump is doing so well in the American political primaries. He is vulgar, abusive, nasty, rude, boorish and outrageous. He is also saying what he thinks and, more important, teaching Americans how to think for themselves again...
 
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  • #483
Sanders looking for a win in WV.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/white-house-dreams-fade-sanders-seeks-west-virginia-181344516--election.html

However,
Among those voting in the West Virginia Democratic primary, about a third said they would support Trump over either Clinton or Sanders in November. An additional 2 in 10 say they wouldn't vote for either candidate. But 4 in 10 said also said they consider themselves to be independents or Republicans, and not Democrats, according to exit polls.

Jobs and the coal industry are the big issues in WV and other parts of the Appalachian Mountain area

Trump has been declared winner of the GOP primary in WV with about 76% of the vote with 72% of precincts reporting. Cruz is barely ahead of Kasich.

Trump has about 62% of the vote in the Nebraska GOP primary with about 61% of precincts reporting. Cruz is a distant second, and Kasich an even more distant third.
 
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  • #484
Astronuc said:
Sanders looking for a win in WV.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/white-house-dreams-fade-sanders-seeks-west-virginia-181344516--election.html

However:
About your quote:
Among those voting in the West Virginia Democratic primary, about a third said they would support Trump over either Clinton or Sanders in November. An additional 2 in 10 say they wouldn't vote for either candidate. But 4 in 10 said also said they consider themselves to be independents or Republicans, and not Democrats, according to exit polls.
Doesn't that indicate that the concept of open primaries becomes problematic once one of the parties has chosen a candidate?
 
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  • #485
mheslep said:
The eminent British historian Paul Johnson has written a brief essay on Trump, why the alternatives are not satisfactory, making an interesting argument with which I am sympathetic. Too bad The Donald can't go forth and speak likewise.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/currentevents/2016/03/23/when-excess-is-a-virtue/#10173ff34b5f

Later in that article Paul Johnson claims that post office sorters are fostering political correctness. ?
 
  • #486
mheslep said:
The eminent British historian Paul Johnson has written a brief essay on Trump and why the alternatives are not satisfactory.

Replace "Hail to the Chief " with "Fanfare for the Common Man" ?


Hornbein said:
Later in that article Paul Johnson claims that post office sorters are fostering political correctness. ?
I had to search the article for "sorters"
The insidious thing about PC is that it wasn’t–and isn’t–the creation of anyone in particular. It’s usually the anonymous work of such Kafkaesque figures as civil servants, municipal librarians, post office sorters and employees at similar levels. It penetrates the interstices of society, especially those where the hierarchies of privilege and property are growing. To a great extent PC is the revenge of the resentful underdog.
Quite a good paragraph i thought.
Self appointed "PC Police" wouldn't mind your business if theirs was worth minding.
 
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  • #487
The one big problem none of the [remaining] candidates are talking about
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/national-debt-trump-clinton-171558058.html

The debt, at $19.3 trillion, is four times larger, adjusting for inflation, than when Ronald Reagan lamented its size in his 1989 farewell address. Yet only one of this year’s presidential candidates, Republican John Kasich, had a plan for doing anything about it, and he left the race after winning a grand total of one state. The two front-runners – Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton – have said little about the debt, except for Trump’s jarring suggestion that maybe Uncle Sam can save a few bucks by renegotiating the debt and paying back less than 100 cents on the dollar.
 
  • #488
jim hardy said:
Replace "Hail to the Chief " with "Fanfare for the Common Man" ?
I had to search the article for "sorters"

Quite a good paragraph i thought.
Self appointed "PC Police" wouldn't mind your business if theirs was worth minding.


Perhaps you can explain to me how post office sorters foster political correctness.
 
  • #489
Hornbein said:
Perhaps you can explain to me how post office sorters foster political correctness.

Not to demean hourly workers as non-thinkers (because i don't believe that's true),
but I think his point was PC is a trivial pursuit . See Melvile's Sub-Sub Librarian and Consumptive Usher, and Eric Hoffer's thoughts on a society run by clerks & scribes.
 
  • #490
Hornbein said:
Perhaps you can explain to me how post office sorters foster political correctness.
There may have been a specific incident of individual misconduct the writer was referring to, but rather than speculate we may have to just let it go.
 
  • #491
Hornbein said:
Perhaps you can explain to me how post office sorters foster political correctness.

I'd like to know too, since very rarely do those complaining about PC gone wild have any true, non-exaggerated examples that justify their sweeping statements.
 
  • #492
Tobias Funke said:
I'd like to know too, since very rarely do those complaining about PC gone wild have any true, non-exaggerated examples that justify their sweeping statements.
Would trigger warnings do it for you?
 
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  • #493
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/politically correct
Simple Definition of politically correct
  • : agreeing with the idea that people should be careful to not use language or behave in a way that could offend a particular group of people


Same government that funded a crucifix in a bottle of pee as art
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piss_Christ
Piss Christ is a 1987 photograph by the American artist and photographer Andres Serrano. It depicts a small plastic crucifix submerged in a glass of the artist's urine. The piece was a winner of the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art's "Awards in the Visual Arts" competition,[1] which was sponsored in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, a United States Government agency that offers support and funding for artistic projects, without controlling content.
arrests a guy who wants to deface a koran ?
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nat...pastor-terry-jones-arrested-article-1.1453195
Koran-burning Florida Pastor Terry Jones arrested in latest attempt at sacrilege
... Cops said they cuffed Jones and his associate pastor, Marvin Sapp, around 5 p.m., as the men were about to start the blaze. Each faces a felony charge of unlawful conveyance of fuel. Jones

You don't have to look very far.

http://thetruthwins.com/archives/20...-political-correctness-is-taking-over-america
The following are 20 outrageous examples that show how political correctness is taking over America…

#1 According to a new Army manual, U.S. soldiers will now be instructed to avoid “any criticism of pedophilia” and to avoid criticizing “anything related to Islam”. The following is from a recent Judicial Watch article

The draft leaked to the newspaper offers a list of “taboo conversation topics” that soldiers should avoid, including “making derogatory comments about the Taliban,” “advocating women’s rights,” “any criticism of pedophilia,” “directing any criticism towards Afghans,” “mentioning homosexuality and homosexual conduct” or “anything related to Islam.”

#2 The Obama administration has banned all U.S. government agencies from producing any training materials that link Islam with terrorism. In fact, the FBI has gone back and purged references to Islam and terrorism from hundreds of old documents.

#3 Authorities are cracking down on public expressions of the Christian faith all over the nation, and yet atheists in New York City are allowed to put up an extremely offensive billboard in Time Square this holiday season that shows a picture of Jesus on the cross underneath a picture of Santa with the following tagline: “http://www.theblaze.com/stories/atheists-post-anti-christmas-billboard-in-times-square-featuring-jesus-being-crucified-drop-the-myth/ ”

#4 According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, it is illegal for employers to discriminate against criminals because it has a “disproportionate” impact on minorities.

#5 Down in California, Governor Jerry Brown has signed a bill that will allow large numbers of illegal immigrants to legally get California driver’s licenses.

#6 Should an illegal immigrant be able to get a law license and practice law in the United States? That is exactly what the State Bar of California argued earlier this year…

An illegal immigrant applying for a law license in California should be allowed to receive it, the State Bar of California argues in a filing to the state Supreme Court.

Sergio Garcia, 35, of Chico, Calif., has met the rules for admission, including passing the bar exam and the moral character review, and his lack of legal status in the United States should not automatically disqualify him, the Committee of Bar Examiners said Monday.

#7 More than 75 percent of the babies born in Detroit are born to unmarried women, yet it is considered to be “politically correct” to suggest that there is anything wrong with that.

#8 The University of Minnesota – Duluth (UMD) initiated an aggressive advertising campaign earlier this year that included online videos, billboards, and lectures that sought to raise awareness about “white privilege“.

#9 At one high school down in California, five students were sent home from school for wearing shirts that displayed the American flag on the Mexican holiday of Cinco de Mayo.

#10 Chris Matthews of MSNBC http://newsbusters.org/blogs/rusty-weiss/2012/08/30/chris-matthews-and-msnbc-now-claim-word-chicago-racist#ixzz252qumTv7 that it is “racist” for conservatives to use the word “Chicago”.

#11 A judge down in North Carolina has ruled that it is unconstitutional for North Carolina to offer license plates that say “Choose Life” on them.

#12 The number of gay characters on television is at an http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/05/entertainment-us-glaad-idUSBRE8940FA20121005. Meanwhile, there are barely any strongly Christian characters to be found anywhere on television or in the movies, and if they do happen to show up they are almost always portrayed in a very negative light.

#13 House Speaker John Boehner recently stripped key committee positions from four “rebellious” conservatives in the U.S. House of Representatives. It is believed that this “purge” happened in order to send a message that members of the party better fall in line and support Boehner in his negotiations with Barack Obama.

#14 There is already a huge push to have a woman elected president in 2016. It doesn’t appear that it even matters which woman is elected. There just seems to be a feeling that “it is time” for a woman to be elected even if she doesn’t happen to be the best candidate.

#15 Volunteer chaplains for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/police-chaplains-told-to-stop-invoking-jesus.html from using the name of Jesus on government property.

#16 Chaplains in the U.S. military are being forced to perform gay marriages, even if it goes against their personal religious beliefs. The few chaplains that have refused to follow orders know that it means the end of their careers.

#17 All over the country, the term “manhole” is being replaced with the terms “utility hole” or “maintenance hole”.

#18 In San Francisco, authorities have installed small plastic “privacy screens” on library computers so that perverts can continue to exercise their “right” to watch pornography at the library without children being exposed to it.

#19 You will never guess what is going on at one college up http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/college-allows-transgender-man-to-expose-himself-to-young-girls.html…

A Washington college said their non-discrimination policy prevents them from stopping a transgender man from exposing himself to young girls inside a women’s locker room, according to a group of concerned parents.

#20 All over America, liberal commentators are now suggesting that football has become “too violent” and “too dangerous” and that it needs to be substantially toned down. In fact, one liberal columnist for the Boston Globe is even proposing that football should be banned for anyone under the age of 14.

I maintain Johnson's point is PC's loudest adherents really aren't fit even to sort mail or stack library books . Let alone dictate public discourse.

What do you guys think he was saying ?
 
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  • #494
jim hardy said:
What do you guys think he was saying ?

It seems to me like Paul Johnson's crackpot personal theory. I'm used to seeing stuff like this on the Internet, but not published in a formerly reputable magazine.
 
  • #495
Tobias Funke said:
I'd like to know too, since very rarely do those complaining about PC gone wild have any true, non-exaggerated examples that justify their sweeping statements.
We may need to split this to a separate thread. There are two incidents active in the news right now that I wanted to point out:
-West Point Cadets making a black power salute.
-White high school girls forming the N-word on t-shirts.

Generally what has been happening lately (see also the half dozen campus incidents this spring) is someone commits a small pc offense and has their life destroyed over it. With one critical caveat: pc enforcement only applies to certain less favored groups/ideologies.
 
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  • #496
Hornbein said:
It seems to me like Paul Johnson's crackpot personal theory.
Argument from incredulity,
fair enough.

russ_watters said:
We may need to split this to a separate thread.
Not on my account. I've had my say.
 

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  • #497
Dotini said:
Would trigger warnings do it for you?

No. I don't see anything so outrageous about telling others that something might bother them. Everyone is still free to read or watch the material. It's certainly not an example of what Johnson calls "one of the most dangerous intellectual afflictions ever to attack mankind."

jim hardy said:
You don't have to look very far.

Some (most?) of those are questionable to say the least.

russ_watters said:
We may need to split this to a separate thread. There are two incidents active in the news right now that I wanted to point out:
-West Point Cadets making a black power salute.
-White high school girls forming the N-word on t-shirts.

Generally what has been happening lately (see also the half dozen campus incidents this spring) is someone commits a small pc offense and has their life destroyed over it. With one critical caveat: pc enforcement only applies to certain less favored groups/ideologies.

I'm not familiar with those two incidents so I can't really comment on them. I don't immediately see how they're related though. Certainly there are questionable decisions being made in the name of (misunderstood) political correctness, and it is terrible when someone is dogpiled at best and doxxed or even killed at worst for saying something judged to be out of line. I just don't think there's a reason to attribute that behavior to PC. Plenty of people had and still have their lives severely impacted for, say, suggesting that video games may have some misogynistic elements, or reporting corruption and abuse carried out by favored groups. Those people aren't from "less favored groups" as you would define them I'm sure.

I'm not debating the existence of isolated cases, but once again I was referring to sweeping statements like Johnson's "one of the most dangerous intellectual afflictions ever to attack mankind" that has resulted in a loss of Americans' ability to think. That's simply wrong.
 
  • #498
Let's get back to the topic or this thread will be closed.
 
  • #500
Finally we are getting down to core issues. :biggrin:

Mrs. Clinton has vowed that barring any threats to national security, she would open up government files on the subject [of UFOs], a shift from President Obama, who typically dismisses the topic as a joke. Her position has elated U.F.O. enthusiasts, who have declared Mrs. Clinton the first “E.T. candidate.”

...“I think we may have been” visited already, she said in the interview. “We don’t know for sure.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/11/us/politics/hillary-clinton-aliens.html?_r=0

It does beg the question, which are we more likely to see; proof of aliens, or Donald Trump's tax returns? :nb)
 
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  • #501
thread needed a little levity. eh ? good one..:biggrin:
 
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  • #502
Ivan Seeking said:
Finally we are getting down to core issues. :biggrin:http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/11/us/politics/hillary-clinton-aliens.html?_r=0

It does beg the question, which are we more likely to see; proof of aliens, or Donald Trump's tax returns? :nb)

From the NYT article cited:
“It shouldn’t be a source of embarrassment to discuss it,” said Christopher Mellon, a former intelligence official at the Defense Department and the Senate Intelligence Committee. “We should be humble in terms of recognizing the extreme limits of our own understanding of physics and the universe.”
 
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  • #504
A search of that article returns neither "hiding" nor "hide" nor "fundraiser"

where's the beef ?
 
  • #505
Dotini said:
From the NYT article cited:
“It shouldn’t be a source of embarrassment to discuss it,” said Christopher Mellon, a former intelligence official at the Defense Department and the Senate Intelligence Committee. “We should be humble in terms of recognizing the extreme limits of our own understanding of physics and the universe.”

Well, with Trump's attitude about aliens, I'm surprised he hasn't hit her on this yet. Is DT pro ET?
 
  • #506
Ivan Seeking said:
Well, with Trump's attitude about aliens, I'm surprised he hasn't hit her on this yet. Is DT pro ET?
Sadly, Trump is said to be neither a thinker nor a reader. It may be Hillary has left herself open to yet one more mockery from The Donald. :sorry:
 
  • #507
Dotini said:
Sadly, Trump is said to be neither a thinker nor a reader. It may be Hillary has left herself open to yet one more mockery from The Donald. :sorry:

One would assume that she has made the calculation that she has more to gain than to lose. However...
Roughly 21% of Americans believe aliens crashed at Roswell. But a “sanity gap” emerges when you take into account party affiliation: 27% of Mitt Romney voters believe in the UFO coverup, versus 16% of voters who backed President Obama in 2012.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nat...blicans-conspiracy-theories-article-1.1306229

I thought she may hope to gain some ground with the younger vote by going public with this, but that doesn't seem to be significant either. I don't see a huge age gap in the beliefs here.
http://www.thearda.com/quickstats/qs_61_p.asp

Wouldn't it be funny if Trump agreed with her on this!
 
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  • #508
Ivan Seeking said:
One would assume that she has made the calculation that she has more to gain than to lose. However...

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nat...blicans-conspiracy-theories-article-1.1306229

I thought she may hope to gain some ground with the younger vote by going public with this, but that doesn't seem to be significant either. I don't see a huge age gap in the beliefs here.
http://www.thearda.com/quickstats/qs_61_p.asp

Wouldn't it be funny if Trump agreed with her on this!

According to those stats, young, left-leaning, non-worshipping and highly educated folks might seem inclined to believe in ET. But who knows where they are? Trump knows what Americans are worried about here and now, and is skillfully and opportunistically taking advantage of this. If there is political advantage to be had in taking any position at all on ET, it would indeed be funny - in a weird sort of way. It might serve to loosen up - to make liquid and inchoate - people's hold on reality. In an environment where anything is seen as possible, perhaps people will vote unexpectedly and emotionally for a perceived messiah?
 
  • #509
Trump, Ryan, pledge to work together; endorsement may come
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-ryan-prepare-meet-republicans-call-unity-072436796--election.html

Despite differences, apparently they plant to work together to unify the conservative base.
 
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  • #510
Love the Donald's new look, his face is as orange as his hair. It's in the news, it's in Astros' link above!
 

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