The Official Paracast Political Thread! — Part Three

[Tyger]

Good analysis - wide-ranging - thought provoking. Not random - this is about Trump and what is happening there.

Caller: How Do I Explain White Privilege To My Friends?

TEXT: "Published on Dec 13, 2016: Thom speaks to caller Tony, who asks how he can explain white privilege to his friends."

 

[Tyger]

I better stop posting - it's turning into a Thom Hartmann Fest. He is good, though.

 

[Tyger]

Greg Palast - reporting on the 'recount'. Jill Stein did not find a hacked election. She found a Jim Crow election.

Greg Palast: By Rejecting Recount, Is Michigan Covering Up 75,000 Ballots Never Counted?

TEXT: "Published on Dec 13, 2016 http://democracynow.org - Investigative reporter Greg Palast has just returned from Michigan, where he went to probe the state’s closely contested election. Trump won Michigan by fewer than 11,000 votes out of nearly 4.8 million votes cast. Green Party presidential contender Dr. Jill Stein attempted to force Michigan to hold a recount, but a federal judge ordered Michigan’s Board of Elections to stop the state’s electoral recount. One big question remains: Why did 75,335 ballots go uncounted?"

 

[Ezechiel]

Isn't it interesting that Trump's most vociferous supporters. who filled this thread with link after link pointing to fake news about the opposition now cannot voice much in the way of arguments over the current concerns about Trump.
They complained about the decisions to delete a few posts with personal attacks and ran away. Or maybe they realized that Trump won, but they lost the argument.

These are wild and tough times... millions of middle eastern exiles flooding Europe (Syrian war, ISIS... etc..), the british getting out of EU (Brexit) and beefing up channel security , Angela Merkel under pressure for opening doors (She'll get kicked out by the way), and China expanding in the south China sea.

This obviously will be an era led by protectionists where liberal ideas of generosity and protecting the planet go out the door while walls go up. Guess voters decided that you don't need Hillary's extensive diplomatic experience in a time when all you want to do is kick muslims and latinos out... and trash trade deals.

Given the electoral college 'conservative bias' in close elections (conservative smaller states gave the advantage to the Donald even though Hillary had 3 million more votes nationally) , you're stuck having to wrap your brain around what these guys from Mississippi have to say for the next four years lol:

Needless to say, if there's no flexibility on both sides and you pepper the supreme court with additional conservative Mullahs, this could easily create the Divided States of America.

This whole planet could get 'Dork' sided lol

I think what Hillary missed was the concerns of the population and a firm grasp of the nature of the population she was going to lead instead of worrying about who Donald Trump was. Donald said he didn't know what the KKK organization was all about but he sure knew what a redneck hillbilly was

Lesson still not learned if you're a democrat (after 2 losses): Don't underestimate the power of the electoral college when the going is tight or you'll have Jed Clampett or Don Trumpett running the country

 

[Tyger]

 

[Tyger]

I really wonder what Trump supporters are making of all this - the video starts with Medicare being privatized, then talks about internet neutrality. It's gotta be clear that we are entering an 'alternate reality'. Life is going to be very difficult for many people unless the 'opposition' can mount a serious opposition. It's incredible when one thinks about it.

We May Be Facing the Death of Net Neutrality w/Trump

TEXT: "Published on Dec 14, 2016: Big Picture Panel: Gianno Caldwell, Red Alert Politics & Charles Sauer, The Market Institute. A Donald Trump presidency could mean the death of net neutrality. Are conservatives really ready to giant telecom companies massively rip off consumers?"

 

[Tyger]

We'll see....but this activism among the Electors is unprecented in over 55 years.

Harvard Prof: Electors Close to Blocking Trump; Trump Trying to Stop Elector Lawsuit

TEXT: "Published on Dec 14, 2016: The Trump elector revolt grows as Harvard professor Lawrence Lessig concurs with David that there are at least 20 Republican electors planning to vote for someone other than Donald Trump on December 19, and Trump is clearly worried since he is trying to block a lawsuit to free electors from their state’s popular vote."

 

[Tyger]

50+ Electors Now Demanding Full Info on Russian Election Interference Before Voting

TEXT: "Published on Dec 14, 2016: More than 50 electors are now demanding a full briefing on Russian interference with the 2016 Presidential election before their December 19th vote."

 

[Ezechiel]

50+ Electors Now Demanding Full Info on Russian Election Interference Before Voting

TEXT: "Published on Dec 14, 2016: More than 50 electors are now demanding a full briefing on Russian interference with the 2016 Presidential election before their December 19th vote."

Last ditch effort to ditch a clown lol... Rick Perry nominated for DOE lmao.

Three agencies that are gone when I get there... commerce, education.... and I'll nominate Rick Perry to dismantle the agency he forgot during a debate.

 

[Tyger]

Harvard professor says 20 GOP voters may flip against Trump
LINK: Harvard professor says 20 GOP voters may flip against Trump

TEXT: Harvard University law professor Larry Lessig said Tuesday that 20 Republican Electoral College voters are considering flipping to vote against Donald Trump, more than half the number of anti-Trump votes needed to stall the president-elect from being sworn into office.

"Obviously, whether an elector ultimately votes his or her conscience will depend in part upon whether there are enough doing the same. We now believe there are more than half the number needed to change the result seriously considering making that vote," Lessig told Politico.

Lessig has been offering free legal counsel to "faithless electors" who are considering casting a ballot for an alternative candidate as opposed to Trump, who earned 306 electoral votes on Election Day, well above the necessary 270.

The claim that as many as 20 GOP electors would vote against Trump and the wishes of a majority of voters in their states flies against other reports.

Only a few voters have publicly said they will not back the results of their home states, and virtually every GOP elector reached by The Hill said they will vote enthusiastically for Trump.

Politico, citing GOP sources, reported that a Republican whip operation found only one elector, Chris Suprun of Texas, would vote against Trump.

Suprun announced in a Dec. 5 op-ed in The New York Times that he would not vote for Trump.

So-called faithless electors are also a relatively rare occurrence in the Electoral College.

Only 82 electors in U.S. history have voted against their state's popular vote. None of those changed the outcome of an election.

Electors will cast their ballots on Monday. ​

 

[Tyger]

Why Trump's Win is Koch Coup of Our Democracy

TEXT: "Published on Dec 15, 2016: Thom talks with America's Lawyer Mike Papantonio about the latest Republican skulduggery in North Carolina, Big Oil taking over our government, and the ongoing Koch coup of our democracy. Later on in the program, Thom talks with Kymone Freeman of We Act Radio and Angela Morabito of StandUnited.org about the Republican war on the New Deal, the coming crackdown on climate science, and how Portland is taking a stand against outrageous CEO pay."

 

[Tyger]

Chris Hedges: Trump Will Crush Dissent With Even Greater Violence and Savagery

TEXT: "Published on Nov 10, 2016: The tools of state repression that will end up in the hands of a Trump administration were built by both Republicans and Democrats, says the Pulitzer prize-winning journalist."

 

[Tyger]

Spreading sunshine wherever I go..... One must go the route of alternative news - like Thom Hartmann (and other liberal progressives) to get the skinny these days. Hartmann is pretty balanced. But just saw FOX News report that their analysts had determined that Russia had indeed hacked the US elections, with Putin authorizing it. Who'd a-thunk it?

Is Trump Hiding His Taxes So We Don't See He's Flat Broke?

TEXT: "Published on Dec 16, 2016: Thom speaks with caller Tony, who says that Donald Trump's D&B Credit Score of 31 means that he's a bad credit risk. So, is this the real reason that Trump won't release his taxes?"

 

[pixelsmith]

This is SO funny reading what the bed wetting libs have to say.
The ones who left googled gene and bailed.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[SRL+]

I’m neither, and yet still here, as there isn’t a whole bunch of stuff to add right now that Tyger hasn’t already posted.

BTW, where’s Trump’s dream team, out learning the Russian language?
If so, they won't be back for quite some time.

Then again, they may have taken Donald's cue in attending Russian 101, consisting in vodka consumption.

 

[Tyger]

Russia is a distraction. Voter suppression elected Trump.

"As allegations that Russia may have interfered with the election to help Trump dominate the news cycle, other stories of election-rigging have fallen off the radar. But there’s still very good reason to believe a voter suppression scheme, created by Kansas Secretary of State and Trump advisor Kris Kobach, played a big — if not definitive roll in getting Trump elected.

"Essentially a glorified voter purge disguised as a tool to stop people 'double-voting’, Crosscheck kicked millions of people — overwhelmingly voters of color — off the voting rolls before Election Day. In many key states, the number of people purged by Crosscheck was much, much larger than Trump’s margin of victory.

"Crosscheck probably won Michigan for Trump. It also probably won him Wisconsin and Pennsylvania — and probably quite a few other states too!” — Thom Hartmann reports on the racially-biased-by-design tool of mass voter suppression known as Crosscheck and talks to Greg Palast about its devastating influence on the 2016 presidential election."


Greg Palast - Lynching By Laptop?

TEXT: "Published on Dec 12, 2016: Big Picture Interview: Greg Palast, 'The Best Democracy Money Can Buy'. Greg Palast was just in MI w/Jill Stein. Have we forgotten Republican efforts at election rigging that are being actively ignored by the corporate media, even as Democratic members of Congress are loudly calling for an investigation into Kris Kobach and his alleged voter suppression efforts?"


P.S. Greg Palast's 'The Best Democracy Money Can Buy' is "a great film. Longer than expected but covers not just voting, but the corruption that helped cause the collapse of the motor industry and hundreds of thousands of jobs, loss of homes and destruction of communities. Billionaire greed a common factor. Stealing from the poor with the help of lawmakers."

 

[Constance]

Russia is a distraction. Voter suppression elected Trump.

Tyger, I realize that the above does not represent your own point of view, but I want to comment on the problem that arises in our 'soundbite' culture of attempts to reduce complex issues to either/or rather than both/and interpretations. I also want to say how indebted I am to you for posting so many discussions of our current situation vis a vis Trump as US president.

I was especially glad to hear that a number of the members of the Electoral College are considering voting their own consciences rather than replicating the votes of small majorities in many states 'won' by Trump. I don't hold out much hope that those members will be successful, but this vote does represent the last opportunity to prevent this country, and in many ways the entire planet, from four years of unpredictable behavior from this radically unprepared next 'leader of the free world'.

ps, thank you for all your substantive contributions to this thread.

 

[SRL+]

In a roundabout fashion Kris Kobach, (the architect of Crosscheck), is somewhat responsible for Clinton’s loss. Putin, Assange, Comey, and the 90 million registered voters who failed to show up at the polls on Election Day really didn’t help Clinton’s cause that much either.

The architect of the most racist law in modern American history has been named to Trump's team

The GOP's Stealth War Against Voters

FWIW:

The Kremlin, (for the spreading of propaganda), has relied on RT television in the past.

Russian propaganda effort helped spread ‘fake news’ during election, experts say

“Some players in this online echo chamber were knowingly part of the propaganda campaign, the researchers concluded, while others were “useful idiots” — a term born of the Cold War to describe people or institutions that unknowingly assisted Soviet Union propaganda efforts.

The Russian campaign during this election season, researchers from both groups say, worked by harnessing the online world’s fascination with “buzzy” content that is surprising and emotionally potent, and tracks with popular conspiracy theories about how secret forces dictate world events.

Some of these stories originated with RT and Sputnik, state-funded Russian information services that mimic the style and tone of independent news organizations yet sometimes include false and misleading stories in their reports, the researchers say. On other occasions, RT, Sputnik and other Russian sites used social-media accounts to amplify misleading stories already circulating online, causing news algorithms to identify them as “trending” topics that sometimes prompted coverage from mainstream American news organizations.”

 

[Tyger]

This is FOX News, Campers. The world turned upside down.

Fox News Says Trump Is Lying About Russia's Involvement In Election

TEXT: "Published on Dec 12, 2016: Shep Smith criticizes Donald Trump on his reaction after 17 national security agencies determine that the Russian government hacked into computers to influence the 2016 Election and get Donald Trump elected to President of the United States."

 

[Tyger]

Tomorrow - Monday, December 19th - the Electors vote. The votes are counted on January 6th, I believe.
(NPR so said this morning).