Cry me a river RNC.

[grzegorz]

I thought Rand was spot on as far as military spending goes. How is spending billions more on what is already the biggest and most powerful military power the Earth has ever seen a conservative value?

[Michael]

And I thought people said he was (a billionaire) whose independence would make him a friend of the "working man."

Trump is everything to everyone. He has so many fingers in the air! He's been on both sides of most of the major issues, including both parties.

Was watching that John Oliver clip Steve posted and got onto a youtube of Bill Maher and Keith Olberman both saying they think Trump is sincere in his candidacy for President. I was surprised because it's so difficult for me to take Trump seriously, but that's the political issue.

What do you all think, does Trump really want to be President?

[Steve James]

It's hard to say. In one sense, I'm sure that he wants to be president. Otoh, I'm also sure that he didn't grow up with the desire to serve the American people. He may have the "fire in the belly" today, but he hasn't always had it.

People said he wasn't serious because his demeanor and some of his ideas were considered silly, such as his suggestions for solving the immigration problem. But, it was shown that his ideas were popular with 25% of the party. That's more than any other candidate. Many believe that this is also because he and Carson are not politicians by trade, and so would do what the politicians only promise. Imo, that's wishful thinking, which is not to say that politicians are better. Reagan, at least, was a governor; but, even if he had only been an actor, he had ideas that appealed to broad sections of the country. I mean, even if he spoke in idealistic cliches that went counter to fact, one was never ashamed of his (or Nancy's) ideas, whether "star wars defense shield" or "just say no." Trump, otoh, makes me cringe. For example, his suggestion that "Operation Wetback" was a good plan. http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/ ... on-wetback

Afa "conservatism," that's been a laugh for a long time. Neocons are famous for spending money on defense while cutting taxes and social programs --which ultimately has led to debts and deficits that they argue can only be rectified by further tax cuts, especially to businesses, while at the same time involving the country in more foreign interventions that require increase the "defense" budget and sometimes deployment of men and materiel.

However, it's also true that Paul is committed to isolationism because we can't afford it. I think money is the wrong reason. We have a military because it is sometimes necessary to fight back, and sometimes the need to fight for someone or something other than ourselves.

[Michael]

Can learn something new every day. I like how Trump gives it lip service by saying Eisenhower was nice and friendly, as if that's relevant to anything. I guess some people respond to that.

[grzegorz]

Right, I am not so much saying we need to cut down the military as much as I don't think we need to expand as Rubio says we need too but I know Rubio will do just what you said and get a lot of votes for it.

[Michael]

So, did Carson quit or he suspended for a time because of FEC or tax reasons in order to take a trip without using election money? Is he going to see his secret guru and get high? Seems ambiguous. Did I miss something?

[Steve James]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1irIVJwrnrw

[Steve James]

Donald Trump: Presidential Candidate Says Obama Is Picking Republican States for Syrian Refugees
“They send them to the Republicans, not to the Democrats, you know because they know the problem," Trump told Laura Ingraham Tuesday. Several GOP governors say they will refuse Syrian refugees.

Right. Cuz they've already taken in so many of those killers? Anyway, those states have their fair share, with or without Syrian refugees.

Interestingly, the US refused to accept Jews before WW2. If people (like Lindsey Graham) are so invested in comparing IS to the German Nazis, then they should also recognize that the Nazis had victims --who weren't US.

[Steve James]

Donald Trump Says Muslims In America Should Carry Special ID, Evokes Holocaust In Syrian Refugee Debate

For at least the second time since he declared his candidacy for president, Donald Trump has suggested special surveillance of Muslims as a counterterrorism measure in the U.S. In an interview Thursday about the debate over whether the country should welcome Syrian and Iraqi refugees, the real estate tycoon did not rule out requiring Muslims to carry special identification that shows their faith.

“We’re going to have to do things that we never did before,” Trump told Yahoo News when asked if he might require registering Muslims in a database or giving them a form of special identification that noted their religion. “Some people are going to be upset about it, but I think that now everybody is feeling that security is going to rule.”

Identification singling out a religious group sounds chillingly like what was done in Nazi Germany during the Holocaust. Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich required Jews to wear the Star of David, a yellow badge that identified them for persecution.

“Certain things will be done that we never thought would happen in this country in terms of information and learning about the enemy,” Trump said in the interview. “We’re going to have to do things that were frankly unthinkable a year ago.”

He doesn't mean this, but this is where line of thought leads.


But, think about it a minute. If "star and crescent" cards are issued, how far are concentration camps? And, afa combating IS in the USA, when will it be allowed to assassinate potential "American" terrorists INSIDE the US? When can we just change our Constitution so that we can search their homes without warrant or put them in Guantanamo until ,,, we feel safe.

[Michael]

I think with the advanced technology of the airport scanners, it will be easy to detect the subtle anatomical differences possessed by all Muslims, and so they don't have to carry ID or wear a scarlet letter and be stigmatized. We just need to have more security checkpoints with scanners that detect terrorists, like in the airports, then we'll be safe.

I also love it when Trump says the minimum wage is too high. He's such a fighter for the every man!

[Steve James]

Well, if you were a terrorist, would you admit to being a Muslim? Or, would you just pretend to be a Christian? How does Mossad get close to its targets. Of course, we could always try torture (a la the Inquisitions), or we could see if they'd eat a ham sandwich.

I can't tell yet whether it's better or worse that the Parisian terrorists were French and Belgians who went to Syria to train then sneaked back in with Syrian refugees. Meaning, they could easily have come here with their European passports. That could be prevented by simply preventing anyone with an Arab sounding name from getting into the country. The immediate problem is that there are more than a million Muslims already in the US. Listening to the GOP candidates --though the sentiment can be found among many Democrats-- it's not hard to believe that concentration camps are out of the question.

[Michael]

Listening to the GOP candidates --though the sentiment can be found among many Democrats-- it's not hard to believe that concentration camps are out of the question.

The statements most of them make are troubling. I'm not sure if they're a fascist think tank or a fascist freak show.

[Steve James]

Lies, lies, lies, and when someone says "I saw it with my own eyes," it's a delusional lie. This is getting way to close --if not past-- the "Big Lie" theory. More interesting will be the followers who'll swear that DT must be right. Worse, though, is the reason that Trump "saw" what he did. It's purely mental.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: You raised some eyebrows yesterday with comments you made at your latest rally. I want to show them, relating to 9/11.

VIDEO CLIP OF DONALD TRUMP, IN WHICH HE SAYS: “Hey, I watched when the World Trade Center came tumbling down. And I watched in Jersey City, New Jersey, where thousands and thousands of people were cheering as that building was coming down. Thousands of people were cheering.”

STEPHANOPOULOS: “You know, the police say that didn’t happen and all those rumors have been on the Internet for some time. So did you misspeak yesterday?”

TRUMP: “It did happen. I saw it.”

STEPHANOPOULOS: “You saw that…”

TRUMP: It was on television. I saw it.

STEPHANOPOULOS: “…with your own eyes?”

TRUMP: “George, it did happen.”

STEPHANOPOULOS: “Police say it didn’t happen.”

TRUMP: “There were people that were cheering on the other side of New Jersey, where you have large Arab populations. They were cheering as the World Trade Center came down. I know it might be not politically correct for you to talk about it, but there were people cheering as that building came down — as those buildings came down. And that tells you something. It was well covered at the time, George. Now, I know they don’t like to talk about it, but it was well covered at the time. There were people over in New Jersey that were watching it, a heavy Arab population, that were cheering as the buildings came down. Not good.”

STEPHANOPOULOS: “As I said, the police have said it didn’t happen.”

— Exchange on ABC’s “This Week,” Nov. 22, 2015

Btw, as I remember it, not only did U.S. Muslims not celebrate, they put out U.S. flags. In fact, I recall that many of them were attacked. I would have remembered if I'd seen it on tv, I'm sure. Remembering the attitude most people had in those days, I doubt that Muslim celebrations would not have made the news.

Trump appeared on Fox News tonight and Bill O’Reilly actually confronted him over that tweet. He said “this bothered me” and refuted him over the “totally wrong” stats in the tweet.

And the exchange that ensued was, um, quite something:

TRUMP: I didn’t tweet, I retweeted somebody that was supposedly an expert, and it was also a radio show.

O’REILLY: Why do you want to be in that zone?

TRUMP: Hey, Bill, Bill, am I gonna check every statistic? I get millions and millions of people, @RealDonaldTrump, by the way.

O’REILLY: You gotta, you’re a presidential contender, you gotta check ‘em.

TRUMP: I have millions of people… You know what? Fine. But this came out of radio shows and everything else.

O’REILLY: Oh, come on, radio shows?!

TRUMP: All it was was a retweet.

O’Reilly told Trump that putting out things like this easily gives ammo to people accusing him of racism.

"Am I gonna check every statistic?" Um, only the ones that you want to check

[windwalker]

Republican presidential hopeful Ben Carson followed rival Donald Trump's lead Monday in saying he too saw a video of Arab Americans cheering as New York's twin towers collapsed on September 11, 2001.

http://news.yahoo.com/carson-joins-trum ... 25272.html

interesting why would both of them say they saw something that could easily be checked.

[windwalker]

In Jersey City, within hours of two jetliners' plowing into the World Trade Center, law enforcement authorities detained and questioned a number of people who were allegedly seen celebrating the attacks and holding tailgate-style parties on rooftops while they watched the devastation on the other side of the river.

Over the weekend, authorities raided a small apartment building in Jersey City to search an apartment rented by two men who were detained in Texas on Wednesday, on possible immigration violations. Mohammed Jaweed Azmath, 47, and Ayub Ali Khan, 51, both from India, were taken into custody Wednesday on an Amtrak train in Texas, carrying $5,000 in cash, hair dye and box cutter knives -- weapons said to have been used by the hijackers. During the raids in Jersey City, authorities detained a third man, Abdoul Salam Achou, 37, whose visa application allegedly expired on Sept. 1.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/ ... a433fafdc/