The General Election

[funhusker]

 

 

 

Bnilhome-

 

You need to update that 4400% you keep throwing out.

 

It's currently closer to a growth of 3500% (4400 = 700 to 31000, 3500 = 700 to 25000)

 

That isn't to say dramatic growth didn't happen under Obama's time in office, but it is also dishonest to say the US isn't doing anything. ISIS numbers are shrinking, territory is being taken back by the Iraqi army; sadly many people think this is why there is and will be an uptick in random attacks around the world. Fighters are leaving the failing "caliphate" and taking their fight home with them. We are physically fighting what we can, but this war is going to be won by intelligence (focusing on ISIS recruiting, finances, weapon supply). As far as keeping American civilians safe, it will be a war the public won't see, so many will assume nothing is being done.

 

Back to the growth under Obama. The only thing that Obama could have pushed for (hindsight being 20/20) was to keep a strong military presence in Iraq and swiftly toppling the Syrian govt and have a large presence there also. I don't honestly know if that would have been a better alternative.

 

Are you really arguing about whether ISIS has grown 3500% or 4400% under Obama's tenure? The point is still the same.

 

Second, I do think it's a 4400% growth as the fighters when from 700 up to 31,500 for a difference of 30,800. It's the 30,800 that you divide by 700 to arrive at 4400%.

 

Try reading my post again. I said it was still a dramatic increase, and I understand the math. That is why it is currently a 3500% increase and decreasing (esitmates have ISIS currently at 25,000). But as others have pointed out, that percentage that you keep throwing around, although currently incorrect, needs to be put into context.

 

 

I did read your post and I think I posted my additional thoughts in a different reply...my bad. I don't think the context around removal of territory matters when discussing the bottom line result that ISIS has exploded in the last 7 years. It went from being a beaten down terror group in 2008 to one that had a few successes here and there, and when the leader of the free world blinked and took a path of pacification, ISIS became emboldened and began to spread. It's now a movement that has spread across the world with more fighters joining because they have witnessed the successful attacks over the past 7 years. For Obama to be criticized from Dianne Feinstein is telling...

 

http://hotair.com/archives/2015/11/23/feinstein-obamas-policies-are-making-isis-issue-worse-not-better/

 

I agree that intelligence is key, and after the Orlando attacks most new outlets were reporting that we do not have enough intelligence officials to keep up with all the leads and areas of concern. In my mind the primary job of the federal government is to keep its citizens safe, and I would rather my tax dollars go to beefing up our intelligence than to other initiatives.

 

See, this post meant a lot more and now I have a better understanding of where you are coming from. It explained your position much better than just saying "Obama is horrible because ISIS grew by 4400%". That's all I was getting at.

[BigRedBuster]

[Moiraine]

I don't see how it's an inopportune time for the Clinton campaign to have it done before the convention. I would want it done before so there's no questioning of what ifs during the convention.

[Moiraine]

I'm heading to St. Louis right now and on a bridge over the interstate in Kansas City people were hanging a bunch of Trump signs including one that said "BAN MUSLIMS."

 

As angry as it made me I can't imagine how I'd feel if I were Muslim seeing something like that.

[AR Husker Fan]

REUTERS: Trump tweet attacking Clinton employs image of Jewish star

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Saturday tweeted an image of rival Hillary Clinton alongside hundred-dollar bills and a Jewish star bearing the words "most corrupt candidate ever!", prompting outrage and bafflement on social media.

Two hours after his initial tweet, Trump tweeted a similar image in which the six-pointed Star of David - which appears on Israel's flag and which Jews were forced to wear on their clothing by the Nazis during the Holocaust - was replaced by a circle. The original tweet was deleted.

LINK

[NM11046]

REUTERS: Trump tweet attacking Clinton employs image of Jewish star

 

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Saturday tweeted an image of rival Hillary Clinton alongside hundred-dollar bills and a Jewish star bearing the words "most corrupt candidate ever!", prompting outrage and bafflement on social media.

 

Two hours after his initial tweet, Trump tweeted a similar image in which the six-pointed Star of David - which appears on Israel's flag and which Jews were forced to wear on their clothing by the Nazis during the Holocaust - was replaced by a circle. The original tweet was deleted.

LINK

Can't wait to hear from the two or three Trump advocates here who will say this was a well thought out move by an excellent businessman who planned it and how Hilary deserved it because Bill cheated on her.

[NM11046]

I'm heading to St. Louis right now and on a bridge over the interstate in Kansas City people were hanging a bunch of Trump signs including one that said "BAN MUSLIMS."

 

As angry as it made me I can't imagine how I'd feel if I were Muslim seeing something like that.

Wonder what you'll see as you get closer to St. Louis and Ferguson.

[HuskerNation1]

 

Meanwhile, Loretta Lynch just texted Bill to let him know she is taking care of things and that Hillary will not be charged. I'm just kidding, but only slightly about this. How pathetic that she is meeting with the husband of someone her department is actively investigating.

[Danny Bateman]

I agree that it's pathetically poor optics. Both of them, particularly Bill, should have known better. It's instances like this that the disconnect between them and the average Joe really shows itself. I'm not buying the populist sentiment that they're crooked and live by a different set of rules than anyone else. But they've been in a position of huge power, influence, and celebrity for so long that they don't necessarily operate with some of the common sense of a regular Shmoe sometimes. This was one of those times. I have no idea why he didn't think about the optics of chatting with her.

 

However, I believe them when they say they talked about things like grandkids and Janet Reno. He appointed her his AG and she was there his entire administration. She's got Parkinson's... Perhaps they were discussing her health.

[Danny Bateman]

Trump got his Star of David tweet from White Supremicists:

 

It looks like Donald Trump's presidential campaign has been dallying with white supremacists. Yet again.

 

The presumptive Republican nominee on Saturday tweeted out a doctored version of Hillary Clinton's "history made" image, with the candidate and verbiage superimposed over a pile of money, with a red Star of David next to her with the proclamation "Most Corrupt Candidate Ever!" written on it. Outrage ensued with many suggesting – reasonably – that the combination of the star and the pile of money had anti-Semitic overtones; Trump subsequently deleted the offending tweet without comment, let alone apology, and replaced it with a tweet that had the "most corrupt" message inside a circle instead of a star.

This morning, Mic's Anthony Smith reported that those weren't merely overtones. "Donald Trump's Twitter wasn't the first place the meme appeared," Smith wrote. "The image was previously featured on /pol/ — an Internet message board for the alt-right, a digital movement of neo-Nazis, anti-Semites, and white supremacists newly emboldened by the success of Donald Trump's rhetoric — as early as June 22, 2016, over a week before Donald Trump's team tweeted it."

...

Instead we have Trump, whose baseline level of racism, xenophobia and mendacity has dulled the outrage attendant to his regular offensive and/or insane utterances, electronic or otherwise. The New Republics' Jeet Heer sums it up well:

 

I'm sure it was an innocent mistake.

[Danny Bateman]

Interesting piece detailing why Trump doesn't like to talk about Birtherism anymore:

 

But in a recent interview with CNN, he said "I would love to" talk about the subject.

Trump suggested the reason why he doesn't engage in "birther" speculation anymore is because it gets too much attention, crowding out other issues.

"I don't talk about it. You know why I don't talk about it? Because once I talk about it, that's all they want to write about. So I don't ever talk about it," he told CNN in the June 14 interview.

"And I would love to," he continued. "But if I do talk about it, then what happens, is, that takes up -- then we're not talking about the horrible economy. We're not talking about real unemployment in this country, which is close to 20%, when you add all the people that have given up looking for jobs. We're not talking about ISIS. We're not talking about the things we have to talk about. So when people ask me, I just say, 'I don't talk about that anymore.'"

 

So the moment that the issue that best exemplifies his underlying racism and pandering to conspiracy theories and anti-intellectualism is brought to the forefront, THAT'S the precise moment when Donald Trump wants to talk about the issues.

 

I'd bet my bottom dollar this particular topic comes out multiple times in the debates.

[AFhusker]

 

 

I agree that it's pathetically poor optics. Both of them, particularly Bill, should have known better. It's instances like this that the disconnect between them and the average Joe really shows itself. I'm not buying the populist sentiment that they're crooked and live by a different set of rules than anyone else. But they've been in a position of huge power, influence, and celebrity for so long that they don't necessarily operate with some of the common sense of a regular Shmoe sometimes. This was one of those times. I have no idea why he didn't think about the optics of chatting with her.

 

However, I believe them when they say they talked about things like grandkids and Janet Reno. He appointed her his AG and she was there his entire administration. She's got Alzheimer's... Perhaps they were discussing her health.

 

 

Interesting piece detailing why Trump doesn't like to talk about Birtherism anymore:

 

But in a recent interview with CNN, he said "I would love to" talk about the subject.

Trump suggested the reason why he doesn't engage in "birther" speculation anymore is because it gets too much attention, crowding out other issues.

"I don't talk about it. You know why I don't talk about it? Because once I talk about it, that's all they want to write about. So I don't ever talk about it," he told CNN in the June 14 interview.

"And I would love to," he continued. "But if I do talk about it, then what happens, is, that takes up -- then we're not talking about the horrible economy. We're not talking about real unemployment in this country, which is close to 20%, when you add all the people that have given up looking for jobs. We're not talking about ISIS. We're not talking about the things we have to talk about. So when people ask me, I just say, 'I don't talk about that anymore.'"

 

So the moment that the issue that best exemplifies his underlying racism and pandering to conspiracy theories and anti-intellectualism is brought to the forefront, THAT'S the precise moment when Donald Trump wants to talk about the issues.

 

I'd bet my bottom dollar this particular topic comes out multiple times in the debates.

[Moiraine]

 

 

 

 

I agree that it's pathetically poor optics. Both of them, particularly Bill, should have known better. It's instances like this that the disconnect between them and the average Joe really shows itself. I'm not buying the populist sentiment that they're crooked and live by a different set of rules than anyone else. But they've been in a position of huge power, influence, and celebrity for so long that they don't necessarily operate with some of the common sense of a regular Shmoe sometimes. This was one of those times. I have no idea why he didn't think about the optics of chatting with her.

 

However, I believe them when they say they talked about things like grandkids and Janet Reno. He appointed her his AG and she was there his entire administration. She's got Alzheimer's... Perhaps they were discussing her health.

Interesting piece detailing why Trump doesn't like to talk about Birtherism anymore:

 

But in a recent interview with CNN, he said "I would love to" talk about the subject.

Trump suggested the reason why he doesn't engage in "birther" speculation anymore is because it gets too much attention, crowding out other issues.

"I don't talk about it. You know why I don't talk about it? Because once I talk about it, that's all they want to write about. So I don't ever talk about it," he told CNN in the June 14 interview.

"And I would love to," he continued. "But if I do talk about it, then what happens, is, that takes up -- then we're not talking about the horrible economy. We're not talking about real unemployment in this country, which is close to 20%, when you add all the people that have given up looking for jobs. We're not talking about ISIS. We're not talking about the things we have to talk about. So when people ask me, I just say, 'I don't talk about that anymore.'"

So the moment that the issue that best exemplifies his underlying racism and pandering to conspiracy theories and anti-intellectualism is brought to the forefront, THAT'S the precise moment when Donald Trump wants to talk about the issues.

 

I'd bet my bottom dollar this particular topic comes out multiple times in the debates.

Why the facepalm? The only people whose right to the presidency due to their birth Trump has questioned are either Hispanic or Black. I can see you questioning the claim but it's definitely not facepalm-worthy when you add all of the other things he's sad.

[BigRedBuster]

[NM11046]

To clarify, cuz it's hard to see ... the poll on the right is for Trump, the left is Clinton (I think?). Orange is the level of Distrust each country has in the respective candidate.