Aug 062016
 
 August 6, 2016  Posted by at 11:41 am Finance Tagged with: , , ,


Fred Stein Streetcorner, Paris 1930s

The media choir worked so hard all week to talk down Donald Trump. A collection of headlines in the past 24 hours has the BBC going as far as: “Trump Campaign Teeters On The Brink”. Business Insider ran with: “Hillary Clinton Looks Like She’s About To Crush Donald Trump”. Bloomberg gets in on the action: “Trump Is Cratering’: New Polls Signal Deep Trouble for Republican Nominee”. WaPo does one ‘better’: ”A New Poll Has Trump In Fourth — Behind Gary Johnson AND Jill Stein”.

But then at the end of the feeding frenzy Reuters comes with: “Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s lead over Republican rival Donald Trump narrowed to less than 3 percentage points, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Friday, down from nearly 8 points on Monday.” And mind you, this is after Reuters/Ipsos changed their polling methods when they figured out that no longer offering ‘Neither’ as an option would favor Clinton.

Really, don’t believe a word they say, the goal-seeking is only going to get much worse, and don’t believe a single poll either.

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  • #29734

    Fred Stein Streetcorner, Paris 1930s The media choir worked so hard all week to talk down Donald Trump. A collection of headlines in the past 24 hours
    [See the full post at: The Media Choir Worked So Hard All Week..]

    #29735
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    In fact I believe nothing. I don’t believe Trump; and more importantly I do not believe the vile harpy, Clinton.
    This is the most insane election cycle in my 71 years and, frankly, it scares the holy hell out of me.
    It’s so insane that I’m of the mind that if Trump were to some how pull this off; he would be assassinated if he bucked the MIC and its glorious view of a U.S. hegemon in total control of the planet earth.
    The gods help us; we’re fucked beyond any commonly held view of reality…

    #29737
    SteveB
    Participant

    What do you plan to do about it, V.? I will not go gentle into that nightmare and will instead do all I can to help elect Jill Stein in November. Three months. It’s the least I can do.

    #29738
    WgS
    Participant

    I highly recommend this video as a guide for understanding the media’s role in American politics.

    Mission Accomplished

    What has been the cost of the wars? In terms of global political and economic stability, civilian lives particularly in the Middle East, international human rights, civil liberties and national sovereignty…

    Tony Blair had a plan introduced in 2003 to set up ‘transit processing centers’ outside the EU to ‘warehouse asylum seekers.’ There was even a prototype camp built in Croatia before the plan was shot down by Sweden, France and Belgium, but idea appears to have been ‘out of sight, out of mind.’

    The reason it seems there’s little difference between the wealthy elite of the right and left is because they’re both aiming for essentially the same outcomes (hegemony) using the same tactics (lies, cronyism, aggression). The only difference are the props and storylines they dress use to stage the drama.

    #29739
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    @ WgS

    What? Are you an infant?
    Take your infantile crap elsewhere please; we are well beyond GWB and his propaganda and lies.
    Jaysus, grow up and join the 21st century reality…

    #29740
    rapier
    Participant

    If you care about such things then here is a good a place as any. It aggregates many polls on a state by state basis and then gives the state, and its electoral votes, accordingly.

    https://talkingpointsmemo.com/election/2016/us-president

    For those outside the US, final result comes not from the total amount of votes but from an intricate system where each states ‘vote’ is made based upon the popular vote winner in that state, winner take all (except 1 state apportions its vote) (I know confusing)

    Bush won in 2000 despite getting 530,000 less votes.

    There is no doubt the thumb on the scale in all popular media will be on the Hillary side but just forget all those words and all national polls. It’s the state by state polls that matter. So yes, a Trump win at this point would be out of the question. The Reuters poll is an outlier national poll, so it is meaningless.

    #29743
    Enginer
    Participant

    For those of the “military-industrial-complex had JFK killed” persuasion, Trump doesn’t stand a chance. However, Putin may just have him protected enough….

    #29744
    WgS
    Participant

    There was a 2,600,000 word report released by Sir Chilcot last month that will probably take some time to read properly (should anybody else attempt it). In it, so far, are a lot of facts, comments, quotes, questions and opinions about events leading up the March 2003 US/UK invasion of and subsequent regime change in Iraq.

    It’s well worth noting that Tony Blair introduced a proposal to the EU in 2003 attempting to establish “transit processing centers” and “regional protection zones” for migrants entering Europe. At that time, immigration issues didn’t appear to be nearly as spectacular as today. The number of EU asylum-seekers at that time was about 463,000, many from Kosovo and Albania. As Tony Blair made several comparisons between Kosovo and the then-proposed invasion of Iraq, it’s reasonable to think he may have given consideration to the possible generation of more refugees should the conflict became protracted. While the 2003 British immigration center plan was rejected, the Guardian reported the then-UK Immigration Minister as stating that a program similar to the Blair plan would likely be implemented in the future anyway.

    “Central to that idea is that the centre itself would be close to somewhere, which at the moment is a country where there are significant numbers of people feeling that they have to flee persecution one way or the other.

    “And being closer to them would make that easier for them and prevent traffickers being able to sell their service to people in the way that they do at the moment.”

    Fast forward to August 2008, when Italy signed a treaty with Libya The Treaty of Friendship, Partnership and Cooperation between the Italian Republic and Great Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (the ‘Friendship Pact’) Under this deal, Italy and Libya agreed to work together to intervene with attempted boat migrations from Libya and North Africa. According to Human Rights Watch, Italy’s subsequent forced return of asylum-seekers to Libya in 2009 was a refoulement and against international law. The ‘Friendship Pact’ was entered into on the same day the arms embargo against Libya was lifted and was funded in a 50/50 split between Italy and the EU —amounting to $5 billion in compensation to Libya. From the POV of Berlusconi’s government, the interdictions appeared to be successful in that numbers of migrants arriving in Sicily and Sardinia fell by 55% for the first 6 months of 2009.

    The recent EU/Turkey deal certainly resembles the Italy/Libya pact albeit with some modifications including scale. There are some important questions hanging in the air at this time. For instance, is Erdogan’s Turkey as dangerous for asylum-seekers as Gaddafi’s Libya was? What about reports of attacks in Tripoli against refugees who are also members of the LGBTQ categories? What about Frontex? What is their role and how should they be held accountable for human right’s violations, particularly at armed borders?

    So far, I haven’t seen any planning that varies much in perspective or approach from those set out at the onset of the destabilization of the Middle East. The objectives are always similar:

    * Warehouse asylum seekers as far from the Eurozone as possible.
    * Send migrants back (even to potentially dangerous areas) as a deterrent.
    * Soften tone to and offer incentives for cooperation to difficult states when they are strategically valuable.
    * Overplay the threats posed by immigration.

    In the last instance, the British press repeatedly states that fears about immigration were the primary drivers behind the Brexit vote. However, most of the current waves of asylum seekers weren’t heading to the UK. In fact, the UK has this really steady, nonfluctuating almost flat-line curve of asylum seeker applications. Indeed, it was the lowest percentage of all EU countries receiving asylum applications. So, the immigration is the propaganda but it’s certainly not the true driver of the movement.

    In another little interesting tidbit from the earlier referenced Guardian article from 2003, EU rejects asylum camps plan

    Today the leaders of the 15 member states, joined by those from the 10 accession states who join next May, are debating the EU constitution, EU-US ties and European security. […]

    As the EU leaders took official receipt of Valéry Giscard D’Estaing’s 220 page draft constitution for Europe, Mr Blair agains stressed the “red lines” of British veto he vowed to retain.

    He told British reporters at the summit: “There are certain issues we have to be very careful about: there is no way Britain is going to give up our independent sovereign right to determine our tax policy, foreign policy, defence policy and our own borders,” he said.

    “There is nothing we will agree to that will put any of that at risk.”

    #29745
    WgS
    Participant

    Anyway, I’ll move along.

    #29746
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    70 years ago, on August 6th; the U.S. dropped the first atomic bomb, used in war, on Hiroshima, Japan.
    Barely a mention in any media, anywhere. Already, we forget. Doesn’t bode well for the future with the U.S. sabre rattling of a nuclear exchange with Russia.
    The human race has been infantalized; especially in the U.S.; may the gods help us…

    #29747
    WgS
    Participant

    V. Arnold,

    Bullying, hate speech, gun and racial violence, wars and acts of aggression almost all of these perpetrated by men not by women. So when you say “the human race has been infantilized; especially in the U.S.” don’t include women. We aren’t the ones running around starting all this shit.

    Here’s a definition for you: “Patriarchy is a political-social system that insists that males are inherently dominating, superior to everything and everyone deemed weak, especially females, and endowed with the right to dominate and rule over the weak and to maintain that dominance through various forms of psychological terrorism and violence.” – Bell Hooks

    So before you run around picking on people (women, disabled people, anyone different from you), stop and ask yourself one question, “Are you being a douchebag?”

    When the answer is clearly “yes”, an adult apologizes for his action and makes amends

    Good day, V. Arnold.

    #29748
    garymoo
    Participant

    Im watching all this from New Zealand… and you american people, my heart and strength go out to all of you.
    You must be very scared right now, your politicians are down right stir bat crazy!
    Im even scared.. if that hell fire psycho bitch Hillary gets in the world is doomed to nuclear fire !! If Trumps in, at lest the world wont burn.
    Even our news here in NZ is media controlled for the bitch.
    good luck people ( prep or flee) id flee .

    moo man

    #29757
    TonyPrep
    Participant

    As garymoo says, even in New Zealand, it’s easy to detect the media bias against Trump. I guess I could say he deserves it except that I hate the media controlling our thoughts, although we don’t get to vote on “the most powerful person in the world” over here.

    By the way, gary, the world is already burning, but that’s a different matter and I don’t think either Trump or Clinton would alter that.

    #29758
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    WgS

    You hold women above men; women have not been infantalized? You’re deluded if you believe that.
    It’s the educational system, of which women are also subjected.
    Clinton, Power, Rice (both), and Madeleine Albright are really great examples of women of power demonstrating their humanity; oh, give me a fucking break!!!
    The second greatest myth ever; women will govern more humanely; utter bullshit!
    What this does illustrate is that women are equal to men in demonstrably exhibiting their humanity towards their fellow humans in their pursuit of power; they’ll kill, torture, plunder and ravage along with the worst of men; aka, humankind.
    So, get off your high horse and wallow with us humans looking for a better world.

    #29759
    Raleigh
    Participant

    WgS – I’m a woman and I like to think that I’d govern more humanely. V. Arnold has got a point re the likes of Clinton, Albright, and Rice. They are all despicable people, warmongers. I hope that witch falls flat on her crooked face. So much for my humanity!

    The headlines and the ridiculous behavior of the elites is just further evidence that Trump is either ahead of the monster, or very close. They will stop at nothing, but we could be witnessing a Clexit here.

    Now, wouldn’t that just be hillar – y – ous?

    Just think of the demise of the TPP, the Clinton Foundation slush fund choked off, the wars ending, soldiers brought home, the arms dealers asking for donations outside the Salvation Army, Wall Street banks regulated and split up (oh, no, where’s the cocaine!), and Bill and Hillary back in an Arkansas jail.

    Maybe the Russians or WikiLeaks are holding off on some Clinton Foundation emails as an insurance policy against Trump’s life. If that were the case, I don’t think I’d stop laughing for a month! Make that two! She used her own server in order to avoid the dedicated back-up system on the government’s server (so she could hide her Clinton Foundation emails), and her server gets hacked to pieces. The thought of those emails coming out now (when she can just taste the presidency) must make all of Billy’s sex scandals pale in comparison. Just the thought of this playing out makes me laugh.

    WgS – thanks for commenting. Come back, and don’t let that Thai idiot (ha!) get you down. He’s all bark. None of us know any more than you do.

    #29760
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    @Raleigh

    Why would you say I’m Thai? 😉

    #29781
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    @ WgS & Raleigh
    I’m curious; why do identify as women?
    I’m speaking to the poster of comments, not gender.
    You post something well thought out and I’ll respond accordingly; post garbage and I’ll respond accordingly to that.
    I do not give a wit what your gender is; I only pay attention to the words posted to the thread written.
    Grow up and be part of the real world; not some gender, race, sexual orientation, religious, divided world.

    #29802
    Raleigh
    Participant

    V. Arnold – “Why would you say I’m Thai?” I was joking, V. Arnold! That’s why I put “ha!” after my comment. I thought I remembered you saying that you were an American who lived in Thailand, but perhaps I was mistaken.

    “I’m curious; why do [you] identify as women?” I don’t identify as “just” a woman. How many times have I said I’m a woman on this blog? Maybe one other time? I don’t use being a woman. I’m many things, but one of them is a woman who would like to think that I’d govern more humanely. That’s it, end of story.

    #29803
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Raleigh
    Humor, sarcasm, and irony are very difficult over the intertubes, until or unless one knows one’s correspondee. 😉
    Yes, lived here (Thailand) a long time.
    I should have said “self” identify when posting; of course you identify as a woman.
    And yes, I believe you would govern humanely; but I don’t believe that has anything to do with you being a woman. I think I also would govern humanely (the gods know I want nothing to do with governance); which has nothing to do with me being male.
    It’s about values, not gender, IMO.
    Anyhoo, see you around; so-to-speak.

    #29958
    TheTrivium4TW
    Participant

    Hi All, just to recontextualize everyone, the politicians don’t govern.
    The Debt-Money Power governs.
    The politicians are equivalent to the curtain in the Wizard of Oz.
    Politicians are best viewed as rental rhetorician operatives of the Debt-Money Power that finances and promotes them on the media they control. Think of them as modern day Sophists who, true to their history, still attack nearly everything that Socrates held dear. Yes, there are people like that… and they’ve been around for millennia.

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