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The Official Paracast Political Thread! — Part Three

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Gene Steinberg said:
Since so many Americans didn't vote, Trump actually got a margin of about a quarter of the eligible voters. That's a pathetic situation. He won by slim margins in three states that gave him the electoral votes he needs.
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I'd been wondering about that. Thanks for the statistic.
Gene Steinberg said:
Curious — since he won, some of his most vociferous supporters have disappeared from this forum after resorting to attacking people. Maybe they came to realize that they were depending on a healthy diet of fake news to justify their support.
Click to expand...
I am genuinely disppointed that they are gone. I was looking forward to real dialog about Trump, his views, and his actions.

But what I am hearing is Trump supporters - or some element (who are they?) - really troll people who express certain negative or skeptical opinions about Trump - it's done on the internet. Who are they? I do know people who voted for Trump, and (in my case) none of them are abusive people - they were genuinely led to believe that Trump was the best bet regardless of what he was saying, what his past actions revealed about him, though I know that is not the case for everyone, especailly for those who have racist relations. Through the grapevine - from friends - I have heard of some pretty awful holiday family gatherings this year where truly awful things were said by family members who support Trump. The nastiness seems to have racial causes - having nothing to do with facts or reasonableness.

The fake news is huge. What are those who voted for Trump thinking now? Feeling?
 
As you probably know, they surveyed Trump voters in such places as Kentucky. These people were depending on Obamacare coverage for their health. For reasons that make little sense, they never took Trump's repeal/replace mantra seriously. Now that the law may be repealed, and over 20 million people are in danger of losing coverage, they are going to be betrayed. How can Trump supporters who depended on this law explain acting so illogically anyway?

Besides. why do Republicans continue to lie about a law based on their own concepts dating back to a Heritage Foundation study in 1989? Indeed, if we didn't have the first Iraq war, Obamacare may have been Bushcare.
 
Not to mention the whole Social Security and Veterans Administration stuff. I've read that the voter who was swayed to vote for Trump did not think Trump meant anything he said, he wasn't to be taken seriously - yet conversely, others liked what they heard when he dissed people (I guess he was speaking 'true' then). It's all topsy-turvy. Incomprehensible.

Anecdotally, two people that I know who voted for Trump have had immersion in fundamentalist christian churches. There are simlarities to the way they speak though separated by a continent. Right down to the phrases they use which says to me this is a script they have learned (not understanding that it is a script) from some preacher/church. Maybe news outlets?

I am struck by what appears to be the genuine remorse of some. Cenk Uygur sums it up below.

Conservative Talk Show Host Admits Trump Is Their Fault
TEXT: "Published on Aug 16, 2016: Conservative talk show host, Charlie Sykes, says that he and his ilk have gone too far, and Trump is the result. Cenk Uygur, host of The Young Turks, breaks it down.

“ 'While a fair number of GOPers have either outright stated their opposition to Donald Trump or evaded the question with enough skill to avoid providing an on-the-record endorsement, they’ve steered clear of admitting the role the right-wing media machine has played in paving the way for Trump’s rise. In fact, blowhards like Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh keep pushing the right-wing lies that have made their party into a group that believes in everything but the truth.

" 'Charlie Sykes, a conservative radio host, may be the first of his ilk to take responsibility for turning the right—those who pushed Trump to the top of the bill—into a crowd of fact-denying, media-mistrusting, Trump lie-swallowing, angry 'monsters' who cannot be swayed by reality. He goes on record saying as much in an upcoming interview with Business Insider’s Oliver Darcy, who tweeted an excerpt ahead of the full text being published.' ”
 
The president-elect for the United States of America has business dealings within Russia.

The intelligence agencies accuse Russia of hacking into the America databases that may have skewed our election process.

The president-elect suggests that the American intelligence agencies are not credible.

Is it that the president-elect is really protecting his Russian interests?

It's what you get when you think that a crooked businessman will make a good president.

A few things to consider -

1) Trump owes Bayrock group $560 million dollars (one of his largest debtors and the primary reason he won't reveal his tax returns)

2) Bayrock is owned wholly by Russian billionaires, who owe their position to Putin and have made billions from their work with the Russian government.

3) Other companies that have borrowed from Bayrock have claimed that owing money to them is like owing to the Russian mob and while you owe them, they own you for many favors.

4) The Russian economy is badly faltering under the weight of its over-dependence on raw materials which as you know have plummeted in the last 2 years leaving the Russian economy scrambling to pay its debts.
 
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This is the full quote - not sure about the tax returns, weren't they leaked? Posting here as an interesting analysis. One person's take-away on events.

"Here are some facts : Decide for yourselves.
1) Trump owes Blackstone/ Bayrock group $560 million dollars (one of his largest debtors and the primary reason he won't reveal his tax returns).

2) Blackstone is owned wholly by Russian billionaires, who owe their position to Putin and have made billions from their work with the Russian government.

3) Other companies that have borrowed from Blackstone have claimed that owing money to them is like owing to the Russian mob and while you owe them, they own you for many favors.

4) The Russian economy is badly faltering under the weight of its over-dependence on raw materials which as you know have plummeted in the last 2 years leaving the Russian economy scrambling to pay its debts.

5) Russia has an impetus to influence our election to ensure the per barrel oil prices are above $65 ( they are currently hovering around $50).

6) Russia can't affordably get at 80% of its oil reserves and reduce its per barrel cost to compete with America at $45 or Saudi Arabia at $39. With Iranian sanctions being lifted Russia will find another inexpensive competitor increasing production and pushing Russia further down the list of suppliers.

As for Iranian sanctions, the 6 countries lifting them allowing Iran to collect on the billions it is owed for pumping oil but not being paid for it. These billions Iran can only get if the Iranian nuclear deal is signed. Trump spoke of ending the deals which would cause oil sales sanctions to be reimposed, which would make Russian oil more competitive.

7) Rex Tillerson (Trump's pick for Secretary of State) is the head of ExxonMobil, which is in possession of patented technology that could help Putin extract 45% more oil at a significant cost savings to Russia, helping Putin put money in the Russian coffers to help reconstitute its military and finally afford to mass produce the new and improved systems that it had invented before the Russian economy had slowed so much.

8) Putin cannot get access to these new cost saving technologies OR outside oil field development money, due to US sanctions on Russia, because of its involvement in Ukrainian civil war.

9) Look for Trump to end sanctions on Russia and to back out of the Iranian nuclear deal, to help Russia rebuild its economy, strengthen Putin and make Tillerson and Trump even richer, thus allowing Trump to satisfy his creditors at Blackstone.

10) With Trump's fabricated hatred of NATO and the U.N., the Russian military reconstituted, the threat to the Baltic states is real. Russia retaking their access to the Baltic Sea from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia and threatening the shipping of millions of cubic feet of natural gas to lower Europe from Scandinavia, allowing Russia to make a good case for its oil and gas being piped into eastern Europe."

Sources: Time Magazine, NY Times, The Atlantic, The Guardian UK.
 
The following is an opinion - but it's interesting, given the above.

Robert Reich: "Why is Trump planning to pare back and restructure the nation’s top spy agencies? His lieutenants say he believes they’ve become too politicized. In other words, Trump doesn't like the fact that the intelligence agencies have accused Putin of interfering in the election to get Trump elected. Today, they told Congress they’re certain Russia tried to influence the U.S. election.

"Trump worries that the CIA and the NSA could find out more and more about the Putin connection. At the least, they'll hamper his plan to ally with Putin.

"To guard against this, he’s naming retired Senator Dan Coats of Indiana as director of national intelligence, and Representative Mike Pompeo as director of the CIA. Both are safe bets to do Trump’s bidding."
 
It's so clear that Crosscheck stole the election. Hillary won. The 2016 Presidential election was stolen. Fact. That's the story that should be making headlines.

The REAL Election Hack Exposed...
TEXT: "Published on Jan 5, 2017: On tonight’s Big Picture, Thom talks to America’s Lawyer Host Mike Papantonio, about the Interstate Crosscheck program, and why Democrats aren’t talking about the program’s influence on the election. Then, Thom discusses Obamacare and Senate obstruction on Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland with Angela Morabito of StandUnited.org and Sam Sacks of the District Sentinel."
 
And then there's this regarding the Electors. These questions are serious - Trump is going to have a powerful deconstructive effect on the US - and he wasn't even legitamately elected. He has no mandate.

At Least 50 Trump Electors Were Illegitimately Seated as Electoral College Members
More evidence surfaces as calls mount to challenge congressional ratification of Electoral College vote.
LINK: At Least 50 Trump Electors Were Illegitimately Seated as Electoral College Members
TEXT: "More than 50 Electoral College members who voted for Donald Trump were ineligible to serve as presidential electors because they did not live in the congressional districts they represented or held elective office in states legally barring dual officeholders. [...] 'Trump’s ascension to the presidency is completely illegitimate,' said Ryan Clayton of Americans Take Action, who is promoting the effort. 'It’s not just Russians hacking our democracy. It’s not just voter suppression at unprecedented levels. It is also [that] there are Republicans illegally casting ballots in the Electoral College, and in a sufficient number that the results of the Electoral College proceedings are illegitimate as well.'

“ 'Republicans like to talk all the time about people voting illegally,' Clayton continued. 'We have a list of a bunch of Republicans that allegedly voted illegally in the Electoral College. Pam Bondi is the attorney general of the state of Florida and the Florida Constitution says that you cannot hold two offices. And she holds the office of Attorney General and she holds the office of federal elector in the Electoral College. That is a violation of the law. That is a violation of the Constitution. And the vote that she cast in this election is illegal.'

"A joint congressional session is scheduled to ratify the 2016 Electoral College vote this Friday. While there have been calls to challenge that certification—including one women-led effort saying Trump's victory is due to voter suppression targeting people of color—the analysis that scores of Trump electors were illegally seated, and the additional finding that most states won by Trump improperly filed their Electoral College "Certificates of Vote" with Congress, is unprecedented.

"Their research and report grew out of the legal activities surrounding the December 19 Electoral College meeting, where Clayton and others urged Republican electors to reject Trump saying they had a constitutional responsibility to pick a more qualified president.

"Clayton is hoping that sufficient numbers of Republicans in Congress will not vote to ratify the Electoral College results, thus depriving Trump of the 270 Electoral College votes he needs to win the presidency. If that transpires, the House would then decide between the three top Electoral College vote-getters—Trump, Hillary Clinton and Colin Powell, he said. But before any of that can happen, there needs to be a formal challenge to ratifying the 2016 Electoral College results in Friday’s joint session of Congress, which is where the research finding that scores of Trump votes were illegally cast comes in.

“ 'We have reason to believe that there are at least 50 electoral votes that were not regularly given or not lawfully certified (16 Congressional District violations and 34 Dual Office-Holder violations),' the executive summary of the Electoral Vote Objection Packet said. 'The number could be over a hundred. We urge you to prepare written objections for January 6.'

“ 'The compiling of the laws and evidence in this Electoral Vote Objection Package was completed by a national team of roughly 15 pro bono attorneys, law students, and legal assistants who represent no client or entity,' the summary said. 'We are non-partisan—Democrat, Republican, and Independent. We live in different parts of the country, urban and rural, red states and blue states.'

Challenging the Electoral College

"The Electoral College’s results have only been challenged twice since 1877. The most recent was in 2005, when an objection to Ohio’s Electoral College votes was filed by Rep. Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, D-OH, and Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-CA. While that effort did not stop President George W. Bush's reelection, it did force both chambers of Congress to debate for two hours before the Electoral College vote was ratified. Tubbs-Jones and Boxer used the podium to rail against GOP efforts to suppress the vote and disqualify ballots in communities of color.

"The process for challenging the Electoral College vote is two-fold. First, a House member has to file a formal challenge and objection. Then one House member and one senator have to sign on, prompting each body to retire to their chambers for the two-hour debate.

"The Electoral Vote Objection Packet briefing cites two main areas where 2016 Electoral College members were illegally seated and a third where their votes electing Trump were improperly sent to Congress.

“ 'Specifically, at least 16 electors lived outside the congressional districts they represented in violation of state statutory residency requirements, and at least 34 electors held dual offices, in direct violation of statutes prohibiting dual-office holding,' the briefing's executive summary says, noting this violates two sections of the U.S. Constitution.

"The first group of illegitimate electors amounts to political carpetbagging. 'In North Carolina, for instance,' the briefing says, a state law, NCGS 163-1(c) states, "One presidential elector shall be nominated from each congressional district…" Yet, we have voter registration cards showing that numerous North Carolina electors lived outside the congressional districts they represented.'

"The report lists the following states and their number of illegitimate electors: Arkansas (two from outside its congressional district); Indiana (one), Louisiana (one), Michigan (one), North Carolina (seven), Oklahoma (one), and Texas (three).

"The second group of illegitimate electors is based on the fact that presidential electors hold a federal office, however short-lived, and that directly conflicts with states that ban elected officials from holding more than one office at a time. Florida’s state constitution, for example, bars dual-office holding. Its Supreme Court has issued rulings that further define what constitutes an officeholder. And the state legislature has passed other laws treating them as public officials, such as reimbursing them for travel costs.

“ 'Ironically, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who has issued a number of Advisory Legal Opinions on dual-office holding, was a presidential elector,' the briefing said. 'Her name was on the Governor’s certification list of Republican electors, and also Attorney General Bondi cast her electoral ballot on December 19. Joe Negron, who also cast an electoral vote, is currently president of the Florida Senate.'

"The report lists the following states and their number of illegitimate electors based on dual-office holders: Alabama (two), Florida (12), Georgia (four), Iowa (two), Kansas (four), Kentucky (one), Michigan (one), Missouri (one), Nebraska (one), North Carolina (one), Ohio (one), Oklahoma (two), Pennsylvania (two), South Carolina (one), South Dakota (three), Tennessee (two), Texas (four), Utah (one), and West Virginia (three). This tally, which adds up to 49 electors, was taken from a spreadsheet accompanying the briefing and is a larger number than what was cited in the report’s executive summary, which is quoted above.

"Finally, there is another area of concern. Apparently, 23 states—out of the 31 that cast Electoral College votes for Trump—did not properly report separate vote counts for president and vice-president to Congress. That violates the 12th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and a federal law requiring presidential electors in each state to 'provide "two distinct lists of votes," one for the president and the other for the Vice President,' the briefing said. 'Of 31 states, only eight states followed that law,' the report said. 'Some states codify the federal law into their own state law regarding presidential electors. Of those, 15 states did not provide two lists of signatures on their Certificates of Vote.'

“ 'We are not providing any legal advice,' the briefing’s disclaimer says. 'We strongly suggest that members of Congress employ their own legal teams to verify our work.'

"It may be that the efforts to convince Congress to challenge the ratification of the 2016 Electoral College amounts to little more than a Hail Mary aimed at derailing a Trump presidency. As of late Wednesday, Clayton thought there would be House members willing to object to certifying the Electoral College vote, but he was less certain about finding a senator willing to go along.

"But even if a challenge is mounted and fails, it underscores the illegitimate basis of Trump’s presidency and the deep opposition to it, and refutes the GOP’s outrageous claim that it has a mandate for dismantling government programs across the board.

" 'We have a list of 50 illegal electors,' Clayton said. 'That puts Donald Trump below the threshold that he needs to be elected president. Let’s debate it in an open session. According to the Constitution, the Congress, if nobody wins on the first round of balloting, picks from the top three candidates. That will be Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump and Colin Powell.' "
​
 
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Something funny going on: the Russia hacking story is getting more and more layered. Nothing is as it seems. What's the truth? We won't know for years, methinks - and in the meantime.....
 
Still Supporting Donald Trump? This Message Is For You | The Resistance with Keith Olbermann | GQ
TEXT: "Published on Jan 5, 2017: A modest appeal to think about things rationally."
 
Randy Rainbow always good for a laugh. :)

Randy Rainbow Exit-Interviews Barack Obama
TEXT: "Published on Jan 9, 2017"
 
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I think everyone has heard about the Titanic sinking being 'prefigured' in a novel called 'Futility' 14 years prior to the actual tragedy. It's a fascinating 'coincidence'.

LINK: Author 'Predicts' Titanic Sinking 14 Years Earlier

There is also the show 'Laugh-In' from the late 60's predicting the fall of the Berlin Wall in the year 1989.

Berlin Wall Prediction Laugh In

And now we have another oddity - ;). Eerie or what?

Trump Trackdown
TEXT: "Published on Nov 4, 2016: This 1958 TV Western PREDICTED DONALD TRUMP."
 
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So it's being intimated that the Russians have a sex tape on Trump. He's being blackmailed. Believe it? Doesn't surprise me given how the Russians work (Putin - old KGB and all). But how weird is that?
 
Tyger said:
So it's being intimated that the Russians have a sex tape on Trump. He's being blackmailed. Believe it? Doesn't surprise me given how the Russians work (Putin - old KGB and all). But how weird is that?
Click to expand...

This would suggest to me the Russia has Trump and The US over a barrel... Not good
 
Tyger said:
Something funny going on: the Russia hacking story is getting more and more layered. Nothing is as it seems. What's the truth? We won't know for years, methinks - and in the meantime.....
Click to expand...

Why is no-one in the UK or U.S even mentioning that you can bet your last dollar we (the NSA and GCHQ et al) will be doing plenty online shenanigans against Russia - Spying, the 'legal' kind and illegal kind, never stops and especially against the few other names in your own 'weight' category.
We do it to them, they do it to us ad infinitum and the very fact that intelligence can be gleaned from the online world absolutely guarantees that we are 'collecting' it on Russia and many others.

Nobody in office would ever deny that these days, post-Snowden and revelations like The German Chancellor's personal cellphone being tapped...we seem on good terms with Germany, much better terms than Russia right now so if we would do that to an ally......
 
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