American Politics III: New President, Same Old Country

[Nejii]

Authoritarianism is also a basis of far left politics. Which includes Marxism. Any suggestion as to otherwise is either one in denial or being misinformed.

The sheer insanity of this as a political take is incredible. It's like you just say things whether or not you actually know anything about the subject.

Luke March states that "compared with the international communist movement 30 years ago, the far left has undergone a process of profound de-radicalization. The extreme left is marginal in most places". March identifies four major subgroups within contemporary European far-left politics, namely communists, democratic socialists, populist socialists and social populists.[12] In a later conception of far-left politics, March writes that "I prefer the term 'radical left' to alternatives such as 'hard left' and 'far left', which can appear pejorative and imply that the left is necessarily marginal". According to March, the most successful far-left parties are "pragmatic and non-ideological".[13]

There are different definitions of the far-left. Some scholars define it as representing the left of social democracy while others limit it to the left of communist parties. In certain instances, especially in the news media, the term far-left has been associated with some forms of anarchism and communism, or it characterizes groups that advocate for revolutionary anti-capitalism and anti-globalization.

Bracing for plausible denial.

[Rusozak]

Sen. Angus King (I-ME) says Trump should be cut off from intelligence briefings, says there's a "grave danger" of Trump revealing classified information if he receives briefings after leaving office.

I wasn't aware ex-presidents still got intelligence briefings. Why?

[Trollzyn the Infinite]

I've so far decided that identifying as any single political ideology is a terrible idea.

I'd rather just pull a Frankenstein and steal the good ideas of a multitude of political identities and hope for the best.

This is literally what I do. Yet I keep getting mistaken for a Leftist for some fucking reason...

[Heloin]

Because they like the myth that torture works?

By 2002, several branches of the military had backed away from using waterboarding in training — and in November 2007, the Pentagon quietly banned it altogether.

The military decided waterboarding “provided no instructional or training benefit to the student,” Thomas Crosson, a Department of Defense spokesman, told HuffPost in an email. Crosson declined to release the 2007 directive forbidding the practice, citing classification issues. The existence of the document has not been previously reported, and HuffPost has requested a copy of it under the Freedom of Information Act.

The military’s decision made sense, veteran military interrogator and intelligence officer Steven Kleinman told HuffPost. Waterboarding “teaches failure,” he said. “No one succeeds. They can’t teach a strategy during that. Literally, it was absolutely so painful.”

The problem with waterboarding SERE students was that too many trainees broke, said James Mitchell, a psychologist who was deeply involved in SERE and later reverse-engineered it to develop the CIA’s torture program. “We thought it was too effective,” Mitchell wrote in a 2016 book defending his role in the CIA torture program. When members of the military were waterboarded, they “capitulated, even if it cost them their jobs,” Mitchell continued.

There’s no doubt that waterboarding is an effective way to make people talk. But it’s not necessarily a reliable way to get people to tell the truth or give up valuable intelligence, according to Malcolm Nance, a retired interrogator.

“The entire [SERE] program is designed to show you how it doesn’t work,” Nance told HuffPost. “You will say whatever the interrogator wants you to say. The severity of it makes your mouth open — your desire to survive.”

That was part of why the military ultimately turned against the practice.

Instead of making trainees more resilient to brutal treatment, waterboarding “leaves students psychologically defeated with no ability to resist while under pressure,” Brendan G. Clare, an Air Force colonel, wrote in an internal 2007 memo — obtained by Truthout in 2010. The memo recommended that the military ditch the technique.

“Once a student is taught that they can be beaten, and there is no way to resist it, it is difficult to develop psychological hardiness,” Clare wrote in the memo, which Jeffrey Kaye, the author of the Truthout report, recently made public at HuffPost’s request.

David Morris, who attended SERE school in 1995 as part of the Marine Corps, has warned that the training could have a more problematic effect.

“The experience of torture at SERE surely plays a role in the minds of the graduates who go on to be interrogators, and it must on some level help them rationalize their actions,” he wrote in 2009. “It’s not hard to imagine them thinking, ‘Well, if I survived this, then it’s OK to do it to this guy.’”

The Military Banned Waterboarding Trainees Because It Was Too Brutal — And Never Announced It

That is mostly saying that waterboarding works on US subjects. They broke.

Torture doesn't work because everyone breaks, it's a fantasy that anyone doesn't. The reason that this is useless is because if everyone breaks then no information you can get is useful since most of it was likely just lies to make the torture stop.

[Fartsniffage]

That is mostly saying that waterboarding works on US subjects. They broke.

No it... doesn’t?

It’s saying that they broke yes, but that they broke in the most unhelpful way possible. They didn’t tell the truth, they said what the interrogator wanted to hear. That’s not waterboarding working, especially not in the context of extracting information as we’re talking about here.

Can you quote the part of the quoted article that says that?

[Nejii]

I've so far decided that identifying as any single political ideology is a terrible idea.

I'd rather just pull a Frankenstein and steal the good ideas of a multitude of political identities and hope for the best.

If you can make that work in all honesty tell me please.

[Kowani]

The only time someone wants to Compromise as far as I have heard is when they want to delay actual positive change towards a better world citing debunked articles about why they should keep doing shitty things.

I was more so referencing the right and left screaming at each other about the other not willing to compromise and come together. Both in practice as well as casual blowing steam-blowing.

nope
it's just the right

[Heloin]

No it... doesn’t?

It’s saying that they broke yes, but that they broke in the most unhelpful way possible. They didn’t tell the truth, they said what the interrogator wanted to hear. That’s not waterboarding working, especially not in the context of extracting information as we’re talking about here.

Can you quote the part of the quoted article that says that?

There’s no doubt that waterboarding is an effective way to make people talk. But it’s not necessarily a reliable way to get people to tell the truth or give up valuable intelligence, according to Malcolm Nance, a retired interrogator.

“The entire [SERE] program is designed to show you how it doesn’t work,” Nance told HuffPost. “You will say whatever the interrogator wants you to say. The severity of it makes your mouth open — your desire to survive.”

That was part of why the military ultimately turned against the practice.

[Nejii]

I've so far decided that identifying as any single political ideology is a terrible idea.

I'd rather just pull a Frankenstein and steal the good ideas of a multitude of political identities and hope for the best.

This is literally what I do. Yet I keep getting mistaken for a Leftist for some fucking reason...

Feel my pain. I’ve been called a white supremacist (an Armenian white supremacist ) and a far-right fringe case because I am actually willing to support some pro-right stances. I actually am quite left wing on some issues/stances.

[Fartsniffage]

.

[Heloin]

The sheer insanity of this as a political take is incredible. It's like you just say things whether or not you actually know anything about the subject.

Luke March states that "compared with the international communist movement 30 years ago, the far left has undergone a process of profound de-radicalization. The extreme left is marginal in most places". March identifies four major subgroups within contemporary European far-left politics, namely communists, democratic socialists, populist socialists and social populists.[12] In a later conception of far-left politics, March writes that "I prefer the term 'radical left' to alternatives such as 'hard left' and 'far left', which can appear pejorative and imply that the left is necessarily marginal". According to March, the most successful far-left parties are "pragmatic and non-ideological".[13]

There are different definitions of the far-left. Some scholars define it as representing the left of social democracy while others limit it to the left of communist parties. In certain instances, especially in the news media, the term far-left has been associated with some forms of anarchism and communism, or it characterizes groups that advocate for revolutionary anti-capitalism and anti-globalization.

Bracing for plausible denial.

I'm bracing for something that says what you want it to say.

[Cordel One]

I was more so referencing the right and left screaming at each other about the other not willing to compromise and come together. Both in practice as well as casual blowing steam-blowing.

nope
it's just the right

I mean, Democrats aren't really the left

[Omniabstracta]

There’s no doubt that waterboarding is an effective way to make people talk. But it’s not necessarily a reliable way to get people to tell the truth or give up valuable intelligence, according to Malcolm Nance, a retired interrogator.

“The entire [SERE] program is designed to show you how it doesn’t work,” Nance told HuffPost. “You will say whatever the interrogator wants you to say. The severity of it makes your mouth open — your desire to survive.”

That was part of why the military ultimately turned against the practice.

That doesn't say what you think it does. Read it again.

Exactly what secret meaning are we supposed to divine in “not necessarily a reliable way to get people to tell the truth” and “you will say whatever the interrogator wants you to say?”

[Heloin]

There’s no doubt that waterboarding is an effective way to make people talk. But it’s not necessarily a reliable way to get people to tell the truth or give up valuable intelligence, according to Malcolm Nance, a retired interrogator.

“The entire [SERE] program is designed to show you how it doesn’t work,” Nance told HuffPost. “You will say whatever the interrogator wants you to say. The severity of it makes your mouth open — your desire to survive.”

That was part of why the military ultimately turned against the practice.

That doesn't say what you think it does. Read it again.

If you can't read what you're asking for then that's a you problem.

[Nejii]

I was more so referencing the right and left screaming at each other about the other not willing to compromise and come together. Both in practice as well as casual blowing steam-blowing.

nope
it's just the right

Yeah no, it isn’t.

This is one case where I would question the basis and integrity of the source but I forget “How dare you?”

I mean seriously the amount of times I get gang-flamed for politely refuting pro-left ideologies like Marxism for example.

[Kowani]

Domion sends Mike Lindell (the MyPillow guy) a cease & desist letter, which also orders him to "preserve and retain all documents relating to Dominion and your smear campaign against the company."

(Image)
(Image)
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My Pillow CEO responds, says "I want Dominion to put up their lawsuit because we have 100% evidence that China and other countries used their machines to steal the election."

[Trollzyn the Infinite]

Domion sends Mike Lindell (the MyPillow guy) a cease & desist letter, which also orders him to "preserve and retain all documents relating to Dominion and your smear campaign against the company."

(Image)
(Image)
(Image)

My Pillow CEO responds, says "I want Dominion to put up their lawsuit because we have 100% evidence that China and other countries used their machines to steal the election."

Corporate America must be chock full of raging lunatics.

[Zurkerx]

Biden is expected to cancel the Keystone XL Pipeline permit on his first day in office.

President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. is expected to cancel the Keystone XL pipeline permit on his first day in office, quickly reversing his predecessor’s approval of a project to move oil from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, according to a person familiar with Mr. Biden’s plans for his first days in office.

Environmentalists have long targeted the nearly 1,200-mile pipeline as both a contributor to climate change and a physical symbol of the country’s unwillingness to move away from an oil-based economy. Many Republicans, including President Trump, argued the pipeline would create jobs and help local economies.

In late-2015, former President Barack Obama rejected the permit for the project, arguing it would undermine American leadership on the transition to sustainable fuels. Mr. Trump’s administration reversed that decision in early 2017, giving a green light for construction of the project to begin.

Construction has hit other economic and legal roadblocks since then, but environmentalists were pleased when Mr. Biden said during the presidential campaign that he intended to once again cancel the permit.

That is expected to happen on Jan. 20, amid a flurry of other executive actions that Mr. Biden plans to take to demonstrate his determination to reverse Mr. Trump’s legacy. Ending the Keystone project would send just such a signal.

Had it been completed, the pipeline was designed to take as much as 830,000 barrels a day of Canadian and North Dakota crude to refineries in Texas and Louisiana for processing into oil that could be exported oversees or used to enhance domestic supplies.

It's a promised by Biden. I'm torn: on one hand, this will be a lost of jobs. On the other, I'm not particularly fond of eminent domain being used on these lands, especially tribal and environmentally sensitive areas. Not to mention, a push for renewable energies. So basically, I see both sides.

Too bad he didn't convince Obama to cancel it back in 2016 when indigenous protesters defending their land were getting brutalized by the cops in a way that makes their treatment of Black Lives Matter protesters look civil.

Well, Obama did cancel the permit though whether he allowed other phases to go through I'm not sure:

In late-2015, former President Barack Obama rejected the permit for the project, arguing it would undermine American leadership on the transition to sustainable fuels. Mr. Trump’s administration reversed that decision in early 2017, giving a green light for construction of the project to begin.

Boi (or gurl), stop ninja'ding me

boi!

Okay, boi!

[The New California Republic]

Don't give a shit. You advocated it in the US.

It is better than sending prisoners to be raped and beaten by their fellow convicts as most Americans seem to think is acceptable. I also said that prisons need to be safer.

You want immigrants to be caned. Caned.

[The United Confederacy of Texas]

excuse me what the fuck

He said earlier that he wants illegal immigrants to be caned as well.

I remember seeing that and reacting in a similar manner, just what the fuck

[Kowani]

nope
it's just the right

Yeah no, it isn’t.

This is one case where I would question the basis and integrity of the source but I forget “How dare you?”

I mean seriously the amount of times I get gang-flamed for politely refuting pro-left ideologies like Marxism for example.

ah yes
questioning the validity of the fucking pew research centre

you can always just admit you were wrong
it's not kryptonite

[Nejii]

It is better than sending prisoners to be raped and beaten by their fellow convicts as most Americans seem to think is acceptable. I also said that prisons need to be safer.

You want immigrants to be caned. Caned.

As in “hit with a stick” caned or “drugged” caned?

[Trollzyn the Infinite]

You want immigrants to be caned. Caned.

As in “hit with a stick” caned or “drugged” caned?

"Talk smack? Get whacked!" caned. So the former.

[Comerciante]

You want immigrants to be caned. Caned.

As in “hit with a stick” caned or “drugged” caned?

He keeps pushing Singapore's system so we can firmly be ascertained that it's "hit with a stick" caned.

[Salandriagado]

No. That's just fucking weird.

Owning two swords isn’t at all weird, but 75 knives is. I’d bet you couldn’t find 30 knives in my house even if you were counting butter knives.

I reckon there are about that many (sharp) knives in my house right now, honestly. A dozen or so kitchen knives, a full set of woodcarving and bushcraft knives, a few sailing knives, a rope knife, and a whole lot of duplicates of the wood-related knives for teaching people with.

Zero combat knives, of course, because I'm not a moron.