# the dumbing-down continues....



## jargey3000 (Jan 25, 2011)

just watching the republican debate on tv... they keep talking about "getting the bad guys" etc. wiping out isis. protecting "the homeland", making america "great" again ..."closing the internet"
jeez, does anyone remember the Kennedy / Nixon debates...
btw... dare i say - i think isis may be winning....
it's interesting infotainment though, all the same...at least no one's brought up "controlling climate change" yet.


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## dogcom (May 23, 2009)

Yeah I was watching some of it and don't forget you need to kill the families of these people as well. I have to admit there is a lot of crazy talk going on. Stepping away from trying to get rid of Assad and stopping the money flow of ISIS is a better start. It seems Rand Paul has some better ideas so far but I haven't heard him talk very much.


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

Wait until the main debate tonight.

Ben Carson wants to mobilize the national guard and army reserves to patrol the border with Canada...............:hopelessness:


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

It is scary to think these people are running for the President of the United States, the most powerful leader of the most powerful country on earth.

Fortunately it looks like none of them would have a chance of beating Hillary Clinton in a general election.

That may be the last hope.............


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

> That may be the last hope


 Trump is last hope and not psycho Hillary


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## indexxx (Oct 31, 2011)

gibor said:


> Trump is last hope and not psycho Hillary


WTF? Who's the psycho?


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

The Republicans sound like a bunch of war mongers. Military spending and doing battle with a wide array of countries is the agenda.

Shooting down Russian planes.............are they nuts ?


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

The last time I can remember such rhetoric coming from the Republicans during a US election was back in the Barry Goldwater days of 1964.

It was scary talk then and it is scary talk now. People were digging bomb shelters in their back yards back then.

Fortunately, Goldwater was crushed in the general election, as President Johnson won with 60% of the popular vote.

With the current Republican field of candidates, Hillary Clinton could win by an equally impressive vote count.


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

gibor said:


> Trump is last hope and not psycho Hillary


Trump showed tonight he has no idea what he is talking about. Ben Carson showed he knows less than Trump.

Rand Paul and Jeb Bush look like the best bets for President, but the Republican primaries are being overtaken by the loony bin and anything is possible.


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## dogcom (May 23, 2009)

Hillary and Jeb Bush stand for a lot of war and making money for large corporations and bankers or more of the same. Hillary erased those emails and has done some shady things.


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

sags said:


> Trump showed tonight he has no idea what he is talking about. Ben Carson showed he knows less than Trump.
> 
> Rand Paul and Jeb Bush look like the best bets for President, but the Republican primaries are being overtaken by the loony bin and anything is possible.


America's newest reality show: The Republican Debates! Next up: The Presidential Primary...


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## stardancer (Apr 26, 2009)

As far as I am concerned, they can't build that wall fast enough


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

My key takeways from the debate last night...

*War...war...war...blah blah....war...bleh...bleh...war...war...war*


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## peterk (May 16, 2010)

Trump surging in the polls after the debate, now at 33%. Is America about to turn over a new leaf and reverse its terminal cultural decline and prevent itself from going the way of Rome? Unlikely, in my opinion, but the prospect _is_ titillating...


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## peterk (May 16, 2010)

For the Keynesians: Will Trump spark a reinvigoration of America's "animal spirits" and in turn the entire western world's? I think the answer is "maybe". He's got a shot at least...

Or will the keys be handed over to Mrs. Bill Clinton, and the animal spirit of America be allowed to fully wither and die as the developed world plunges into a new dark age of economic and social degeneracy?

Very exciting times we live in.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

stardancer said:


> As far as I am concerned, they can't build that wall fast enough



wall? where?

there've been some inane rumours that US should build a wall along the entire canadian border, i wasn't sure what for since there are multiple ways around. As sam bronfman knew when he created the prohibition-era rum-running business that later became the giant house of Seagram.

surely you don't mean that kind of wall? after all, there've occasionally been russian nuclear submarines even as far as the gulf of st-lawrence? what's a wall going to do about that?


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

humble_pie said:


> wall? where?


A wall across the US/Canada border.
More than 1 GOP candidate has suggested that possibility....to keep the Canucks out that routinely sneak in to buy cheap booze and shags.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

^^

wondering what are shags? i thought they were something not usually mentioned in polite forums.


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

humble_pie said:


> ^^
> wondering what are shags? i thought they were something not usually mentioned in polite forums.


Smokes/cigarettes...not sure what you interpreted it as


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## cainvest (May 1, 2013)

HaroldCrump said:


> Smokes/cigarettes...not sure what you interpreted it as


Never heard of smokes called shags before ... Austin Powers uses shag for something else.


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

humble_pie said:


> wondering what are shags?





cainvest said:


> Never heard of smokes called shags before ... Austin Powers uses shag for something else.


Gawd blimey, you blokes are so lacking in your Brit slag...shame on you...


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

^ that's straight out of the venerable _*Merriam Westers*_ BTW.

Shame on you dirty minds :biggrin:


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

even more reason not to spend the $$ to build a useless wall. 

canadians can just go to the nearest reserve on canadian soil, they'll have enough booze & smokes for the nation.

we visited one on mohawk territory - we were actually buying vodka in which to preserve the amazing medicinal plants we'd been able to gather on the reserve that morning - a clan mother from the Turtle clan took us to the shop - they had name brands of vodka so i bought one. My classmates laughed at me, "she likes name brands" they joked to each other.

nearly all the bottles on sale though - at about 1/3 of the Absolut price - were oddly-named seemingly generic brands that nobody had ever heard of. All my classmates bought these. Evidently the mohawk have their own distilleries. On the new york state side.

same thing for cigarettes, the mohawk have factories that manufacture their own, which are offered in smoke shacks all across canada for 1/3 the price.

i won't get into first nation treaty rights to engage in cross-border commerce without canadian federal government interference including no ottawa or local taxation. But it's a wonderful, wonderful story .each:


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

I was kidding about the booze & shags parts (sorry, cigarettes...)
The real reason is to keep out immigrants in general...both at the southern border as well as the northern border.
Remember what the truck driver from Pigeon Forge said....


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

^^

we knew you were kidding about booze & cigs, but now i have to look up what happened at Pigeon Forge ...


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

humble_pie said:


> but now i have to look up what happened at Pigeon Forge ...


*I had posted it a couple of months ago*..you don't read my links :frown:

Anyway..Jake Crosan is the quintessential Donald Trump voter.
And I mean that in seriousness, not sarcasm.











_It's desolate up there in some places on the Canadian border and they’ve gotta do something up there to stop them from coming in."_


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

They do have an alley of clear cut forest at the US/Canada border in some places.

I always wondered if the locals used them for ATV and snowmobile trails, like we rode the pipeline right of ways near the Ottawa River.

I have seen customs meet boaters coming in from the US at the Grand Bend harbor, and it was self reporting along the Great Lakes marinas. They would arrive, call in and wait for a customs agent to show up.

They track boats so they know when one is coming from the US.......or vice versa, but I doubt they could tell if one of the people on board slipped over the side and swam to shore along the way in.

Years ago I drove right past a Canadian customs hut on a back road leading into Saskatchewan from the US. I realized it and had to "back up" to customs. The agent wasn't impressed.

No doubt the border is a lot tighter now.........with electronic sensors and such.

There was a time when we just showed US customs our drivers licence and were waved through. I haven't been to the US for quite some time, so I guess it is different now.


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## OhGreatGuru (May 24, 2009)

stardancer said:


> As far as I am concerned, they can't build that wall fast enough


Think outside the box! Not a wall -- a MOAT!

Put all those out-of work earth moving machines from the Tar Sands to the task of digging a moat along the 49th parallel. Line it with recycled plastic. Then fill it with that heavy oil that's no longer worth much - it'll be the "Athabasca Tar Pits", ready to trap any illegal border crossers. And if Congress gets really aggressive, we can set fire to it to repel invaders!

And in winter we can put water on it - the longest skating rink in the world!


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

The Berlin Wall.............now that was a serious wall.

Fences on both sides with a runway in between where starving dogs ran up and down. To cut down on border guards letting people cross they put down sand so footprints would show if someone got out and wasn't shot. 

If they found footprints and no body...........they shot the guard.

I can't imagine how Americans would feel looking at a hundreds of kilometers long wall on their border, complete with gun turrets, starving dogs, and meandering floodlights.

A siege mentality for sure.


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## Eder (Feb 16, 2011)

Trump is appealing to the average American voter...much like Trudeau appealed to the average Canadian voter. In both cases they are the lesser of 2 evils.


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## Karen (Jul 24, 2010)

I've watched every minute of the five Republican debates, and with each one, I've become more and more appalled at the quality (or should I say lack of quality?) of the candidates . Surely the country that thinks of itself as the greatest country in the world (they don't realize that that is no longer the truth), could come up with many better people than this to consider as their leader. I think the two most popular candidates, until recently at least, Trump (a fool, albeit a fool who knows how to make money) and Carson (a religious fanatic) is simply that neither of them are politicians. I believe the American public is sick and tired of the typical slimy politician, which the rest of them are, and are looking for someone different. The whole situation doesn't speak well for the future - makes me glad that I won't live to see it.


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## Eder (Feb 16, 2011)

Trump is many undesirable things but he is far from being a fool.


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

He just plays one on tv.


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

Putin likes Trump because he know he can run rings around him politically.


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

Trump has clearly said he wants to get America out of the Syrian war...he has said he is happy to leave it to Putin to deal with ISIS.
That is music to Putin's ears.


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## GoldStone (Mar 6, 2011)

Donald Trump said on Thursday it was a “great honor” to be complimented by “highly respected” Russian President Vladimir Putin

Trump:

"It is always a great honor to be so nicely complimented by a man so highly respected within his own country and beyond."

Reaction on Twitter:

"Trump has gone from joke to annoyance to race-baiting inciter to Constitution shredder, and finally, to traitor."


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## peterk (May 16, 2010)

Constitution shredder? That's a laugh. Barry's been wiping his feet with the constitution for a quite a while now, and Mrs. Bill Clinton can hardly wait for her turn.


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

GoldStone said:


> Reaction on Twitter:
> 
> "Trump has gone from joke to annoyance to race-baiting inciter to Constitution shredder, and finally, to traitor."


Oh great...now the Twitter crowd will decide what is, or is not, constitutional.
Exactly which article of the US constitution forbids cordial relations between the US and Russia?

If Trump is a traitor for even suggesting that he will reach out to Putin to foster better relations, they need to dig up Ronald Reagan, impeach him and try him for treason.

_come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!_
- June 12, 1987

But you know what _*is*_ constitutional -- the right to bear arms.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

kcowan said:


> Putin likes Trump because he know he can run rings around him politically.



i'm baffled though, because normally vladimir putin is extremely shrewd in picking the right counterparty. 

he's playing for keeps, so i would have expected him to pick somebody who'd end up with actual power in washington. It's unusual that putin would pick a cartoon.


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## dogcom (May 23, 2009)

Well at least if Trump and Putin get along we will be less likely to be incinerated by WW3.

I don't know why forum buddies are not concerned by the no fly zone over Syria idea and Hillary included is not something to worry about. Do you really want to see your community and everyone you know burned away.


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

humble_pie said:


> actual power in washington


*Actual* power in Washington lies with the banking lobby...you know, the Bob Rubin, Larry Summers, Jamie Dimon lobby.
Their money would normally have been on Joe Biden.
But in the absence of Biden, their second best choice is Mrs. Whitewater.


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

Maybe Putin knows his kind words for Trump, are the last thing Trump needs among old school anti-Russian Republicans.

I am sure Putin understands how dangerous an inexperienced volatile President of the US would be to the rest of the world.


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

HaroldCrump said:


> *Actual* power in Washington lies with the banking lobby...you know, the Bob Rubin, Larry Summers, Jamie Dimon lobby.
> Their money would normally have been on Joe Biden.
> But in the absence of Biden, their second best choice is Mrs. Whitewater.


True that...........I watched Capitalism.....a Love Story the other night.

Disregard everything Michael Moore says and it still remains an eye opener. The Congressmen and Senators, and others do a sufficient job of explaining where the real power lies.

Ronald Reagan's right hand man was Donald Regan, a Wall Street titan who engineered all the deregulation of the banking industry that ultimately led to the collapse. 

Nobody knows to this day, what the banks did with all that money the government gave them. Hundreds of billions of dollars simply disappeared.

Goldman Sachs people run the world. When it became apparent that Obama was going to win, the bankers became his biggest financial supporters.

The only hope is that the recession and banking failures taught the bankers the lesson that it isn't a good idea if they have ALL of the money, and they have to share some with everyone else to keep things going.

As noted in a 2005 Citigroup memo, the US is well on the way to becoming a plutocracy, with the 1% owning most of the wealth and the 99% sharing whatever is left.

But they said the greatest danger to them was democracy and the one vote system. They can have 99% of the wealth but they only have 1% of the vote.

The bankers worse nightmare would be having "social democrats" like Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren elected as President.

Bernie Sanders is showing surprising strength among Democrats but I don't think he will beat Clinton. If Elizabeth Warren had decided to run........Hillary would be in a distant second place to her.

It seems to me that the people are just plain angry and it is being reflected in the polls.

Pretty much the same as happened in Canada.


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## GoldStone (Mar 6, 2011)

dogcom said:


> Well at least if Trump and Putin get along we will be less likely to be incinerated by WW3.


Hitler/Stalin got along perfectly fine, for a few years. Just ask Polish people.

I wonder what kind of a mega-deal Trump and Putin have in mind. Putin gets Ukraine. What does Trump get in return?


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## dogcom (May 23, 2009)

After listening to the republican debate goldstone, if we get one of those candidates except for Rand Paul, what will be left of the world to deal with if they are serious.


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## GoldStone (Mar 6, 2011)

^ They don't have a chance against Hillary.


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

Trump


> “I have always felt that Russia and the United States should be able to work well with each other towards defeating terrorism and restoring world peace, not to mention trade and all of the other benefits derived from mutual respect,” he added.


I don't understand why do you have problem with it?! or you think that new "cold war" (and maybe not so cold one) is better?! Trump is a successful businessman , not professional politician and knows what is better for US


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

HaroldCrump said:


> But in the absence of Biden, their second best choice is Mrs. Whitewater.


HC how long ago was whitewater anyhow?

if she's going to be the first Madam President - what an iconic event - surely it will be a time to bring out the peace pipe, at least for a little while .each:


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

GoldStone said:


> I wonder what kind of a mega-deal Trump and Putin have in mind. Putin gets Ukraine. What does Trump get in return?



(just wondering out loud to myself) do you suppose Trump is imagining that russia will collaborate to assure the continuation of US oil interests in iraq, syria & kurdistan?

what a hoot of an idea


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

gibor said:


> Trump
> I don't understand why do you have problem with it?! or you think that new "cold war" (and maybe not so cold one) is better?! Trump is a successful businessman , not professional politician and knows what is better for US


Trump inherited the company from his father, Fred Trump and promptly ran it into the ground declaring bankruptcy 4 times. 

Apparently he finally got it right, but the President of the US may not get so many chances to be wrong before they are right.


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## dogcom (May 23, 2009)

Sags you don't have to worry about this since the US is already bankrupt.

Goldstone you will still get nuclear winter with Hillary as she supports the no fly zone.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/hillary-clinton-calls-no-fly-zones-syria


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

sags said:


> I am sure Putin understands how dangerous an inexperienced volatile President of the US would be to the rest of the world.


Another volatile guy? No problem! Let the games begin. Do you think Obama is Putin's equal in brinkmanship?


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## jargey3000 (Jan 25, 2011)

you know, the more I think about it, the more I think the US could use a good Harper about now.....


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## GoldStone (Mar 6, 2011)




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## sags (May 15, 2010)

You know it's bad when Saturday Night Live makes up a skit about the candidates..........and then you realize it isn't satire........it's real.


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## Rusty O'Toole (Feb 1, 2012)

Latest from Zerohedge - speaking of dumb - they quote a New York Times interview with Obama which says "Obama indicated that he did not see enough cable television to fully appreciate the anxiety after the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino."

WTF does this guy not attend any briefings? Are we supposed to be reassured that the president of the US gets his information from cable TV, when he bothers to watch it?

The story was quickly revised, removing the quote, but it also appeared in slightly different words in other papers which proves the reporter was not mistaken.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-...just-memory-holed-devastating-obama-admission


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

Rusty O'Toole said:


> Latest from Zerohedge - speaking of dumb - they quote a New York Times interview with Obama which says "Obama indicated that he did not see enough cable television to fully appreciate the anxiety after the attacks in Paris and San Bernardino."




that was not a *quote* from Obama.

it was a personal, subjective & evidently misleading view written - possibly hastily & under pressure to meet a deadline - by an attendee at what appears to have been an off-the-record briefing for columnists. Within hours, the NY Times updated the story, removing the personal slant.

the meeting with the president was not an *interview.* It was a background group briefing. Obama has frequently stated his view, that the US is not willing - for many reasons - to launch a full-scale ground war in syria & iraq.

during the off-the-record session, the US president may have referred to American reaction to the Paris & California attacks. Or he may have never made any such reference, the journalist(s) may have fabricated the "indication." Without a direct quote from Obama, no reader can possibly know exactly what was said or not said.

there would have been several recordings of the full session. It appears the NY Times editors reviewed the tape, came to believe the journalist(s) had distorted or even reported falsely, then corrected the story. Newspapers update & correct their stories all the time. Many times a day, every single day.

the fact that some marginalized hate-Obama publications have seized upon & repeated the zerohedge nonsense (as Rusty is doing here) means nothing imho. None of the marginalized publications - certainly not zerohedge, whoever he may be - were present at the off-the-record presidential session.


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

Agreed Humble.........the media is doing a horrible job of vetting stories anymore.

There was one last week going around in respectable media that El Chapo, the Mexican drug cartel boss had sent an email to the leader of ISIS (as if it was that easy to contact him) and in profane language had threatened to kill ISIS soldiers interfering with his drug trade. The story went on to say the Italian mafia and Hells Angels were on the ground with the rebels fighting against ISIS.

The "story" was all a fabrication of a blogger, picked up by the media and reported as front page news. It was eventually retracted.

What passes as the most respected journalism these days are talking heads on news stations, who have no more experience than getting their make up done and reading from a teleprompter.

They pop up one day in San Bernadino and the next day in Paris to give authenticity to their reporting.

The "real" reporters, most of us don't even know their names.


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## dogcom (May 23, 2009)

Here is Hillary still all consumed at getting rid of Assad, while Sanders is saying the right things.

Hillary's plan is garbage and will create even more terrorism.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-...ates-sanders-clinton-clash-over-syria/7044114

By the way this is from abc news so it is as good as gold.


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

sags said:


> The bankers worse nightmare would be having "social democrats" like Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren elected as President.
> Bernie Sanders is showing surprising strength among Democrats but I don't think he will beat Clinton. If Elizabeth Warren had decided to run........Hillary would be in a distant second place to her.


No, sags, neither of those candidates stand an iota of chance against Mrs. Whitewater.
Mrs. Whitewater not only has the full backing of the union lobby, but she's got the backing of the financial cartel.
At this point, Mrs. Whitewater is the strongest pro-banking candidate.

Given these endorsements, neither Sanders not Warren stand a chance (even if the latter were to enter the race).
Keep in mind that Ms. Warren is an economist, not a populist.

She cannot dumb herself down to the level of the truck drivers of Pigeon Forge (if you recall my reference).

If she were to run a Presidential campaign, all she would be talking about is financial regulation, FINRA, Fed Policy, Volcker Rule, Dodd-Frank, CFMA, etc.
It will sail right above the heads of the MSM talking heads.

Sanders is a well meaning social democrat, but doesn't stand a chance of winning the Democratic nomination, let alone the White House.

I agree with you that neither of them is desirable from the banking cartel's perspective, and they will do whatever it takes to stop them, if need arises.
Thankfully for them, there will be no need.


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

humble_pie said:


> HC how long ago was whitewater anyhow?


So what?
Corruption is ingrained within that family.
Time does not wash away guilt.
If so, let us release Bernie Madoff in 2018, okay?



> if she's going to be the first Madam President - what an iconic event


Why? Only because she is a woman?
Other than purely a sexist event, what is the big deal about it?
Elect a corrupt, self-serving, entrenched plutocrat just because she is a woman?

If that is the goal, elect Carly Fiorina and that will be an equally iconic event.
At least she has less baggage than Mrs. Whitewater.


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