Posts by bohm

51

Why are Republican's so consistantly dishonest?

by Coded Logic in

it hasn't gone unnoticed that the republicans who are saying, "we need to get to the bottom of the obama wiretapping" and "let's investigate this" - are the same people, when it comes to trump's russian ties, who are saying, "we shouldn't look at this at all - it's just a bunch of lies and hype.".

no evidence whatsoever for claims about obama need a congressional investigation.

but mountains of evidence about trump with more coming out everyday can be swept under the rug.

bohm

Simon: Obama has said things too that didn't hold up; I got no problem admitting that.

The scale of lying is different, though, as is the importance of what is being lied about. I hope we can agree about that.

51

Why are Republican's so consistantly dishonest?

by Coded Logic in

it hasn't gone unnoticed that the republicans who are saying, "we need to get to the bottom of the obama wiretapping" and "let's investigate this" - are the same people, when it comes to trump's russian ties, who are saying, "we shouldn't look at this at all - it's just a bunch of lies and hype.".

no evidence whatsoever for claims about obama need a congressional investigation.

but mountains of evidence about trump with more coming out everyday can be swept under the rug.

bohm

I also think that was why it was so easy to vilify Hillary during the campaign. She had to be worse than Trump and so the worse Trump got, the worse Hillary had to be. For instance, a tape surface of Trump bragging about workplace sexual harassment and so a pedophile ring is conjured up about Hillary...

This was naturally helped along greatly by the many Kremlin-propagated lies about Hillary during the disinformation campaign...

51

Why are Republican's so consistantly dishonest?

by Coded Logic in

it hasn't gone unnoticed that the republicans who are saying, "we need to get to the bottom of the obama wiretapping" and "let's investigate this" - are the same people, when it comes to trump's russian ties, who are saying, "we shouldn't look at this at all - it's just a bunch of lies and hype.".

no evidence whatsoever for claims about obama need a congressional investigation.

but mountains of evidence about trump with more coming out everyday can be swept under the rug.

bohm

I wouldn't say republicans as a general group is dishonest. I think there is an aspect of the Trump-phenomena which is dishonest in two ways: Firstly, overtly dishonest (but this is rare and mostly found in its leaders) by saying things known not to stand up to facts but secondly (and I think this is more common) accepting or excusing dishonesty.

The main reason for accepting dishonesty such as for instance, that Trump promises more healthcare and then delivers a plan which offers less, or promises he has a plan to eradicate ISIS and then does not have a plan, is because Trump supporters in my experience are not driven by a positive vision for the US/world, but rather driven by fear and negativity aimed against certain targets like Hillary, Obama, Muslims, Jews (though most commonly only acceptable Jewish targets, like Soros) or global trade.

Once you are basing your perception of the world on how evil some people are, excusing errors from your own side as "the lesser evil" becomes second nature. That is why any discussion of Trumps flaws is immediately diverted into a discussion of the acceptable targets, and why the evils of the acceptable targets must now be magnified in proportion to how bad poor Trumps performance is to cope with the cognitive dissonance.

And so as more is revealed about Trumps connection with Russia, Obama must be made more evil by the invention of a false wiretapping story which his supporters immediately accept because of cognitive dissonance.

46

Do You Trust The News Media?

by minimus in

jw
friends

obviously, trump doesn't.

but do you?

do you think that they are generally fair, unbiased and honest?.

bohm

Simon: My understanding is that it was primarily (only?) the CIA which were providing the evidence for WMDs, possibly under some political pressure and relying too much on an assumption that there were WMDs.

When I say mistake I don't mean a mistake like in: whoops, dropped the plate honey, kind of mistake but that they said there were WMDs with a confidence evaluation that was not supported by the evidence, i.e. a 'real' mistake (for instance the famous "curveball").

46

Do You Trust The News Media?

by minimus in

jw
friends

obviously, trump doesn't.

but do you?

do you think that they are generally fair, unbiased and honest?.

bohm

One agency made a mistake on the WMDs and Bush ran with it.

They are clear on the fact that a mistake was made and didn't go on TV to blame a random "legal expert" on Fox.

46

Do You Trust The News Media?

by minimus in

jw
friends

obviously, trump doesn't.

but do you?

do you think that they are generally fair, unbiased and honest?.

bohm

minimus:

Did MSN report about obama"s gay lifestyle back in the day ? No they didn't which is fine with me because it's not verifiable.

The media reported on an intelligence report that Obama and Trump were briefed upon; by definition that is news.

The rumors you are talking about did not make it to the mainstream media because ... they were unsubstantiated rumors. If they somehow had made it into the briefings of Obama then they too would have been news because what the president is briefed on is news. It's really rather simple.

BTW, if you think the opposition to Trump has anything to do with who peed on him you are not following the news...

74

Why is Trump so effective???

by Coded Logic in

i think trump is an absolute idiot.

his tactics, however, are undeniably effective.

thought i'd just put together a short list of some of the things he does.

bohm

FMF: The sale of arms is a contract between the US government and the country that is receiving the sale.

This program is conducted through formal contracts or agreements between the U.S. government (USG) and an authorized foreign purchaser. These agreements are called U.S. letters of offer and acceptance (LOA)

It isn't the state department just selling arms to the afghans (nevermind I can't tell why that is such a bad thing considering the alternatives but I bet it is something Muslim-related).

Since you brought this up as a reason to reduce the state department, your idea is that the US should not be able to sell arms to other countries if it sees the need for that, or that it is okay but the state department should not approve it, or what?

It isn't even an argument; you just point out that the state department approved an arms sale, assume I know why this is such a bad thing (it would be better for the afghan government to fail?), and thereby, well, I should conclude that the problem is the state department and not the US government even if that would be an equally well-supported conclusion.

I am happy that you have returned from your exile to enlighten me.

74

Why is Trump so effective???

by Coded Logic in

i think trump is an absolute idiot.

his tactics, however, are undeniably effective.

thought i'd just put together a short list of some of the things he does.

bohm

Coded and I were having a good discussion, now that bohm is here I will leave and not waste my time as it took him no time to start jumping around with nonsense

The "my arguments are so awesome that I will just call you an idiot and run for the hills" response.

Well, you certainly showed me.

Just to summarize:

The state department is bad because the state department APPROVED a transfer of arms&training from the US government to be delivered to the afghan government which is a democracy fighting the remains of the Taliban....which is a totally bad thing.

Guess a better strategy would be to let the Afghans fail. I mean, it is halfway around the world so what bad could possibly come of that?

74