Ivory tower drops water bombs on dumpster fire A veritable Who's Who of the tech industry have signed an open letter aggressively criticizing Donald Trump and his proposed presidential policies. "We are inventors, entrepreneurs, engineers, investors, researchers, and business leaders working in the technology sector," the letter begins. "We are proud that American …
the silicon valley pirates, the ones whove killed innovation with litigation, and those who have contributed personally and thru their companies hundreds of thousands of dollars of Democrat Party donations and millions dollars worth of in-kind "hearts and minds" positive spin are gonna say bad things about "the other party" no matter who or what he says or does.
I, for one, welcome my new Boris-Johnson-lookalike master.
I also "want a candidate who embraces the ideals that built America's technology industry: freedom of expression, openness to newcomers, equality of opportunity, public investments in research and infrastructure, and respect for the rule of law." but unfortunately I've only got a choice between Trump and Hillary... and I simply *am* *not* voting for Hillary.
Trump is indeed "unsuitable to be president" but Hillary is unfortunately even more unsuitable. Trump's a jerk, but she's a crook.
Obviously you have not kept up on your current affairs, or have only been listening to one side's propaganda.
Yes, Donald Trump is unfit to be president. He says he understands business and will bring business back to the U.S. - but:
o Outsources his products and his buildings to low-cost non-US companies.
o His companies hire undocumented workers to do much of their work at less than they'd pay citizens.
o His corporations don't pay their bills, and then threaten long-running lawsuits against anyone that insists on being paid for work completed (including the architects and builders of his various Trump properties. (One example is listed in the NYTimes of 7/15/2016)
o His understanding of good business practices includes going bankrupt so that other people and companies have to pay for/clean up his messes.
o He publicly bullies and threatens anyone that disagrees with him.
Hilary may have made made mistakes, but they didn't harm the well-being of others. Because of the Clinton mystique, and a Republican majority in Congress, any mistake that she has made over the course of her career has been magnified by costly, never-ending hearings that further besmirch her legacy. In the end, these partisan hearings end up telling us nothing new, give us no additional ammunition to use against her - but amplify any missteps that she has made.
We know Hilary Clinton's faults. She's made her mistakes, and seems to listen to advisors that are trying to keep her on track. But nobody knows what future undiplomatic, and dangerous directions that Donald Trump and his top advisor (himself) will take us.
THE PITCHFORKS ARE OUT AND THEY AIN'T GOING BACK.
High-falutin politically correct "liberal" (in the US-stlye) clowns of the nontrepreneur or the professional gov-supported cultural marxist sort have ignored the down-to-earth flyover country rubes for too long.
PAYBACK TIME! POPCORN!
SOME BABY IS GONNA GET THROWN OUT WITH THE BATHWATER
... BUT!!! YOU CAN'T MAKE OMELETTE WITHOUT BREAKING SOME EGGS as skilled bomberette Condi Rice once said (Yvy league, piano player, whiter than quite a few of the pretend-white metrosexuals around me at the time of the present tweeting. Ans she wasn't even holding forth with Mr. Hilter on the balcony of the Axis Café.)
... And that's before we even get to the point where supporting Hillary is basically treason and pining for Israel-supported neoconnery and war machinations in Europe and Asia (to the detriment of the hapeless Yuropeans, more or less Merkelated if not Emasculated by his Biggness Obama, and whatever Asian country can be dragooned into the Pivot to Asia freakshow). But that's just by the by!
I see the nutball wing of the republican party appears to be getting ready to try to impeach another Clinton. This time they won't wait until the middle of the second term, and hope to get started on it November 9th if the election doesn't go their way.
Brilliant. Really good foil hat-level, saliva-drooling, spittle-drenching, redneck stuff with so much added bile that it makes a spitting cobra look like a grass snake. Loved the bit about 'bomberette' Condoleeza Rice - and you didn't even bring in the 'N' word once!
As you would say "Bake ma burrito, biyatch", although how you will get a burrito once the wall goes up I don't know .. which brings us to another problem: namely, how do you get your Taco/Burrito/BigMac when all the immigrants have been deported and you are far too obese to get a job behind the till?
Pip Pip!
Either way does not bode well for us in the US or the rest of the world. From a purely US standpoint, I fear for the republic with either of these two in charge and the current (or newly elected) Congress off in the wings. There really doesn't seem to be a "lesser of two evils" in this election.
@Mark 85 - Given Hildafelon was given a pass when any other schmuck would be rotting in jail over her email antics I would say the choice is basically bad (Blowhard) and complete disaster (Hildafelon). Most of the US "elite" do not like Blowhard because he says what everyone is afraid to say, the elites are treating the peasants rather badly. Hildafelon, who violated the letter and spirit of the law, is getting a free pass instead of a perp walk. Thomas Frank, a Democrat, wrote a book that castigates the donkeys for abandoning the working and middle class in favor the "professional" elites (in their eyes).
With respect, it's not entirely clear that democracy is always the optimum approach. They sometimes make some bone-headed decisions.
I'll withhold final judgement until after November. If Trump is soundly defeated, then my faith in the unwashed masses will be restored.
To all those that say the choice is binary, either vote for Trump or it's a vote for Hillary, that's pure BS and a total misrepresentation of what voting is. You vote FOR someone, it's a personal affirmation that you believe the person you are giving your voice to will represent you in the role.
Trump does not represent my views or beliefs, in whole or in part. I will vote for whomever most closely does represent my views and beliefs. It's not a vote for Hillary to not vote for Trump. The fact is, he doesn't have my vote.
The problem is the people who consider themselves democrats or republican - not just those who are registered but those who like to claim themselves as independents but maybe only one time voted for a different party for president.
There are undoubtedly plenty of democrats and those who lean democrat who are not excited about the prospect of voting for Hillary, and there are an equal number of republicans and those who lean republican who are not excited about the prospect of voting from Trump.
Unfortunately all they hear from their friends (especially those who live in echo chambers and mostly surround themselves with other democrats or other republicans) is "OMG you have to support [Hillary|Trump] even if you don't like [her|him] or we'll end up with [Trump|Hillary] as President and America is done!" plus a lot of "this is the most important election of our lifetime" (i.e. the same thing that is said about almost every presidential election)
The true independents and those who support different parties (green, libertarian, etc.) are not large enough in number to make an impact by supporting third parties. The democrats and republicans who are not happy with their choices have to get over their irrational fear of the "wrong" candidate winning and stand up to their friends who will tell them that if they vote third party it is the same as voting for the other guy. Or heck, if they just won't shut up about it, let them believe you will vote the way they think you should, but do your own thing in the privacy of the voting booth.
Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson is on the ballot in all 50 states. He's been a republican governor, and his running mate has been a (rather liberal) republican governor as well, so they aren't some crazy nutbags who subscribe to the ridiculous libertarian fantasies about privatizing roads and all that crap. They're serious guys with actual governing experience who can do the job, and they're worth a look. Certainly for disaffected republicans who don't subscribe to the social conservatism that has taken over the republican party in the past few decades, but also for disaffected democrats who think that they've lost their way in supporting too much government with things like free college tuition. With a little more support he can make the presidential debates this fall, and presented with a reasonable third choice there could be a lot of defections from both parties into his corner from people who don't want to see either Trump or Hillary in the White House. He's a longshot, but given the two main choices this is the best chance a third party candidate has had since '92 and one that might not come again for another 20+ years.
Green party candidate Jill Stein is on the ballot in only 29 states, and doesn't have the actual governing experience of the libertarian candidates, but she's certainly an alternative for disaffected Bernie supporters who would have a really hard time casting a vote for Hillary and definitely wouldn't consider Trump. She won't make the debates, but voting your conscience isn't a wasted vote even if she doesn't have a chance of winning.
Sure. I've done that too, sometimes: gone to the polling booth, scrawled "none" across the ballot paper. But sometimes it's a close race and one of the candidates really is significantly less bad than the other, and in those circumstances the right thing to do is to vote tactically even though you can't "endorse" the candidate you're voting for.
You can always tell people afterwards that you spoiled your ballot paper if you don't want to admit to having voted for an idiot/crook.
He's 2nd generation immigrant on his mothers side and 3rd generation immigrant on his fathers side. Does that mean if he gets elected he'll deport himself "back home"?
Or is he only referring to non-white immigrants? What about black African descendants or Hispanics whose families have more American/US born generations than his family?
A lot of the 'populist' discontent is down to the middle classes being hollowed out through austerity and debt. Had the tech giants paid their taxes and not used every loophole going to lobby for their almost tax exempt status - we might not be in the fiscal mess we are in.
Just as bank de-regulation lead to disastrous borrowing policies, tax avoidance on an industrial scale by multinationals and the continued use of tax havens by their owners has created an uber rich class and left the 99% behind. The huge falls in the Baltic shipping index since 2008 is a pretty good indicator of how much trade has dropped for the 'little' people. Tech giants have contributed to the unsustainable inequality that now means 80 individuals own 51% of the wealth of planet earth.
Don't want the pitchforks to come out ? Share out the wealth before automation destroys the system completely.
We should not forget that our opinions about these two are a distillation of what we see and hear through the media. And, with the Internet making it easy for even right wing people to live in an echo chamber, much of what we "know" is bad-mouthing by the candidates' opponents.
So instead of a choice between two very capable, successful people whose plans for the US administrative branch may not align well with our personal opinions, we have a choice between Eva Peron and Biff.
"... we have a choice between Eva Peron and Biff."
So how, is Mrs Clinton's singing voice then?
To be honest, my finger was hovering over the 'down' button until I read the last bit, but that is actually a very good analogy!
For what it's worth, I've been following the life and times of Donald Trump loosely for the past 25 years or so. My background is in civil engineering, so I take an interest in large building projects and the people behind them. So yes, what I "know" about him is entirely based upon media reports and hearsay, not personal experience. But that was enough to conclude that I would go out of my way to avoid any personal experience, let alone work on any of his projects.
Just my 0,02 USD from across the pond.
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