Icebound

Lesson to all political parties everywhere: ....Celebrity Trumps everything. Lots of talking heads saying Sanders would have beat Trump. Nope. ...

He won because Americans are not ready for a woman president.... and especially, those ethnic voters which the Democrats depended on?.... the males of those ethnic minorities are not that keen on women leaders.

Read the whole article, will you. There is NOT a majority of Canadians in favour of death penalty, when put against the option of life without parole.

Right. No one will ever plant evidence, for example. No one will perjure themselves on the stand. No one will mistake identity. Right.

What IS this? A glimmer of sanity in a sea of BS... +1

That IS my point exactly. So why SHOULD he get away with it..... and yet Democrats "blaming Russia" (which is probably TRUE) will backfire???? What is the logic behind that? Or is it that there is NO logic?

Is it not interesting that "...accusing Russia of hacking to support Trump".... will backfire.... ...but blanket accusations of Mexicans and Muslims, and blanket slurs of women will not? ...

Uh-huh..... ....then WHICH woman? No matter how many names can be put forward, my personal bet would be that pretty much none of them would reach a 50% approval rating across the country.... and actually: any Canadian woman put forth in Canada would have similar difficulty. No matter how qualified they might be, reasons will be found not to support them fully.... ...

There are only 2 reasons why Clinton is hated: 1.... she has been around a long time: http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/its-hillary-clintons-moment-so-why-is-she-the-most-hated-woman-in-the-united-states Lots of politicians have engaged in forgotten promises, dirty tricks, questionable legality, political massaging of truth, and so on.... In between, they may even have done some good for the country..... But after 4 or 8 years, they disappear and we forget. But Clinton has been around for 25 years, and is "still here". and number 2.: She is a woman. http://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/research/research-output/social-and-behavioural-sciences/tromble-and-hovy-how-much-sexism-clinton-faces ...research quoted in: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/02/24/these-6-charts-show-how-much-sexism-hillary-clinton-faces-on-twitter/ This is going to be a very interesting race: Based on the above, are Americans really ready to elect a woman to president? ...

Trump's (and Manafort's) relationship with Russia is a lot tighter and more complicated than that. http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2016/04/paul_manafort_isn_t_a_gop_retread_he_s_made_a_career_of_reinventing_tyrants.html?wpsrc=sh_all_dt_tw_top additional link explaining Trump and Russia: https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-03-15/trump-s-long-romance-with-russia .

You are right. He has the right man for the job: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2016/04/paul_manafort_isn_t_a_gop_retread_he_s_made_a_career_of_reinventing_tyrants.html?wpsrc=sh_all_dt_tw_top "Paul Manafort made a career out of stealthily reinventing the world’s nastiest tyrants as noble defenders of freedom. Getting Donald Trump elected will be a cinch." Is it a coincidence that they are talking about Russians being behind the DNC hack? ...

I am sure that information is old. It has been released only now, but the authorities probably had it for a long time. That is probably why they were searching where they were. Having found nothing, they have no more leads..... ...

I thought that everybody knew that by now

Has somebody hacked this account, or is it really serious?

Given, their other choice, it would be hard to believe that Sander's supporters would sit home in November. If even half of his "progressive" policies were to be universally implemented across all of the States, it would be a lot more than they have now... and they would probably live with the "conservative" policies that he endorses: http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2016/07/22/3801047/tim-kaine-hillary-vp/

the "Yes, we Kaine" tweets are flying. ...

From the outside looking in we see: supports Obama's Affordable Care Act opposed to death penalty favors a path to citizenship for immigrants universal kindergarten ban smoking in bars and restaurants agrees with need to address climate change favors environmentalist's causes pro gun-control Planned Parenthood likes his pro-choice voting record, Changed view and supported same-sex marriage since 2013 How happy would Progressives be if even half of that were applied universally throughout the USA? That leaves: Supports the TPP ... is that progressive or is that conservative? Supports off-shore drilling Signed a letter suggesting looser regulations on smaller banks Hawkish foreign policy (including strong Pro-Israel, but with caveats) On balance you are probably correct to say "centre", but .... again, from the outside looking in .... hard to see where it is much of a move from the usual Democrat policies????

I think that was clarified by his buddies on the CNN panel. I believe it had something to do with this speech intending to lay out the "what", and the "how" comes later. When asked that same question, they made the point that yes, Mexico will pay for it.

Trump's approach... to treat the government as a business ... to make it efficient, produce jobs, reward effort and competence, etc. etc. sounds like a no-brainer, But there a number of obstacles: In business, he is the boss. In government, he has 2 other bosses that he has to contend with... the Supreme Court and Congress.... and if you throw in the electorate, that's three. Of course he would like to own the Supreme Court and Congress, but that would hardly be constitutional. In business, anybody who can't do the job...for whatever reason...is fired and removed from the property, never to be worried about again. Similarly, if I have enough people to do the necessary work, I simply don't hire any more and I close the gate to the recruitment tent, telling the lineup outside to "go home".. You can't really do that in a society. Somebody who is not pulling his weight (or unable to do so), is still on the property. And if there is not enough work to go around, those extra unemployed bodies are also still on the property. And unless you want them to die and rot right there on your floors, you have to do something about taking care of them....if only to keep them from tearing down your building for spite. And that's the tricky bit. How do we handle those who won't, can't, or are not needed??... because they are NOT going away. I am sure that Trump can build, and I am sure that he can take care of the people who are able and willing participants in the building. (although there may be some questions about the financing and compensation, but I digress) But the 80/20 rule applies to anything and in the political realm, it appears that 80 percent of the effort is needed to solve the problems of the unable, the less able, the un-needed, and yes, the less-willing and unwilling. Good luck to either of them. ...

Are we listening to the same speech? The "wild rhetoric" wasn't so much "trimmed off", as it was hidden between the lines. "This use of fear to destroy democracy is so old that it’s described exactly in Plato’s Republic, written in Ancient Greece around 380 B.C. Tyranny, says Socrates in The Republic, is actually “an outgrowth of democracy.” And would-be tyrants always in every instance claim to be shielding regular people from terrible danger: “This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears above ground he is a protector.” Trump said that he is going to “protect” Americans or some aspect of American life 13 times tonight." https://theintercept.com/2016/07/21/donald-trumps-convention-speech-rings-terrifying-historical-alarm-bells/ ...

Well, to a large extent, I agree.... I think my point is more that Politicians should stay out of the technicalities, but still influence by attitude: "This is the direction that we would like to see: more de-escalation, more non-lethal...." etc. etc. and emphasis on fact-based, research-based policing as opposed to responding to every crisis with the single constant of "MORE FORCE". I think you get those results by firing and hiring the right people to lead those police forces, but without too much meddling in the technicalities. ...

It sounds like all this is just a natural progression. https://theintercept.com/2016/07/21/donald-trumps-convention-speech-rings-terrifying-historical-alarm-bells/ "This use of fear to destroy democracy is so old that it’s described exactly in Plato’s Republic, written in Ancient Greece around 380 B.C. "Tyranny, says Socrates in The Republic, is actually “an outgrowth of democracy.” And would-be tyrants always in every instance claim to be shielding regular people from terrible danger: “This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears above ground he is a protector.” Trump said that he is going to “protect” Americans or some aspect of American life 13 times tonight".

Does the USA intend to turn into Turkey, or possibly Putin's Russia? http://www.reuters.com/article/usa-election-trump-purge-idUSL1N1A611K "Trump could seek new law to purge government of Obama appointees Christie, who is governor of New Jersey and leads Trump's White House transition team, said the campaign was drawing up a list of federal government employees to fire if Trump defeats Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the Nov. 8 presidential election." "

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The "Police" is a civil service, and as such, I am not sure how to what extent political interference is actually appropriate... especially in technical matters such as training and equipment. What governments (AND police services) CAN do... is to understand the new truths about the "security web": http://www.scienceadvice.ca/uploads/eng/assessments%20and%20publications%20and%20news%20releases/policing/policing_fullreporten.pdf "Foremost among these changes has been the growth of the safety and security web. The web comprises an increasing number of nonpolice organizations — including private security, local health professionals, community and municipal groups, and other government organizations — that now interact with one another and with police in the provision of safety and security." ... and to fund and encourage that integration... It does not help when governments of certain ideological stripes acted in reverse...defunding some of those "health professionals, community and municipal groups, and other government organization" ... while proclaiming a "law-and-order" agenda and emphasizing only incarceration. Yes, I fully agree with you that the situation has to be reversed.