[QUOTE=xilman;439683]Readers may, or may not, wish to pay attention to what's happening to the Labour Party in the UK.[/QUOTE]

Was the UK that little island in the North East Atlantic which was useful during the war?

[QUOTE=chalsall;439685]Was the UK that little island in the North East Atlantic which was useful during the war?[/QUOTE]That's the one.

[QUOTE=xilman;439687]That's the one.[/QUOTE]

Never heard of it.

[QUOTE=chalsall;439691]Never heard of it.[/QUOTE]
The archipelago assisted during the War on Terror (The Blair Witch Project).

[QUOTE=only_human;439692]The archipelago assisted during the War on Terror (The Blair Witch Project).[/QUOTE]

Shhh... [URL="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1232/1232-h/1232-h.htm"]Don't Mention the War![/URL]

Tomgram: Engelhardt, The Election From Hell
 

Tom Engelhardt is one of my true heroes. He publishes many fine writers on politics and world affairs; and writes articles himself, which I frequently find compelling.

[URL="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176173/tomgram%3A_engelhardt%2C_the_election_from_hell/"]The Greatest Show on Earth[/URL]
How Billions of Words, Tweets, Insults, and Polls Blot Out Reality in Campaign 2016
By Tom Engelhardt
[QUOTE]Yep, it finally happened. In [URL="http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/01/us/ringling-bros-elephants-last-show/"]early May[/URL], after a long, long run, the elephants of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus were ushered into retirement in Florida where they will finish their days aiding [URL="http://www.npr.org/2016/05/08/477223929/ringling-elephants-retire-to-florida-for-cancer-research"]cancer research[/URL]. The Greatest Show on Earth was done with its pachyderms. The same might be said about the Republicans after Donald Trump’s version of a GOP convention. Many of them had also been sent, far less gracefully than those circus elephants, into a kind of [URL="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/29/opinion/the-democrats-win-the-summer.html"]enforced retirement[/URL] (without even cancer research as an excuse). Their former party remained in the none-too-gentle hands of the eternally aggrieved Trump, while the Democrats were left to happily chant “[URL="http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/29/politics/democratic-convention-gop-moment-national-security/"]USA! USA![/URL],” march a barking retired [URL="https://www.thenation.com/article/the-temptations-of-militarism-general-john-allen-at-the-dnc/"]four-star general[/URL] and a [URL="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/leon-panetta-interrupted-war-chants-blasts-trump-democratic/story?id=40942892"]former CIA director[/URL] on stage to invoke the indispensable “greatness” of America, and otherwise exhibit the kind of super-patriotism and worship of the military usually associated with... no question about it... the GOP (whose delegates instead [URL="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/rnc-2016-lock-her-up-chant-hillary-clinton-225916"]spent their time[/URL] chanting“[URL="http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/29/politics/donald-trump-lock-her-up/"]lock her up![/URL]”).

And that’s just to take the tiniest of peeks at a passing moment in what continues to be, without the slightest doubt, the Greatest Show on Earth in 2016.

My small suggestion: don’t even try to think your way through all this. It’s the media equivalent of entering King Minos’s labyrinth. You’ll never get out. I’m talking about -- what else? -- the phenomenon we still call an “election campaign,” though it bears remarkably little resemblance to anything Americans might once have bestowed that label on.

Still, look on the bright side: the Republican and Democratic conventions are in the rearview mirror and a mere three months of endless yakking are left until Election Day.

[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=kladner;439702]How Billions of Words, Tweets, Insults, and Polls Blot Out Reality in Campaign 2016[/QUOTE]

I hear what you're (and he's) saying. But still, it's rather difficult for many to not pay attention to a train wreck in slow motion in real time...

[URL="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2016/08/10/trumps-latest-outrageous-statement-wasnt-a-gaffe-it-was-something-much-worse/"]Trump’s latest outrageous statement wasn’t a ‘gaffe.’ It was something much worse.[/URL]

[QUOTE=chalsall;439744]I hear what you're (and he's) saying. But still, it's rather difficult for many to not pay attention to a train wreck in slow motion in real time...

[URL="https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2016/08/10/trumps-latest-outrageous-statement-wasnt-a-gaffe-it-was-something-much-worse/"]Trump’s latest outrageous statement wasn’t a ‘gaffe.’ It was something much worse.[/URL][/QUOTE]
I totally agree. Thanks for the article, Chris. Trump constantly incites his followers to violence, and then cries "foul!" when he is called on it. Worse, all too many of his followers are willing to act on his "jokes" and "sarcasm", and do commit violent acts. No shooters yet, but we can't be complacent about that. This is the US, after all.

[QUOTE=kladner;439752]No shooters yet, but we can't be complacent about that. This is the US, after all.[/QUOTE]

If I may please share a personal experience...

I was leaving SFO after a training exercise. I was retained at gun point being told to remove my shoes.

I removed my shoes.

[QUOTE=kladner;439752]I totally agree. Thanks for the article, Chris. Trump constantly incites his followers to violence, and then cries "foul!" when he is called on it. Worse, all too many of his followers are willing to act on his "jokes" and "sarcasm", and do commit violent acts. No shooters yet, but we can't be complacent about that. This is the US, after all.[/QUOTE]
This time around I actually looked up the Son of Sam killer. For those that don't remember, he thought his murders were obeying messages from his neighbor's dog.

I don't care what Trump thought he was saying, if he is unaware of what people think they are hearing then I do not want him as a leader of messaging for the country.

I found one article that best frames my concerns:
[URL="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/trumps-assassination-dog-whistle-was-scarier-than-you-think-w433615"]Trump's Assassination Dog Whistle Was Even Scarier Than You Think[/URL]
[QUOTE]But it's really irrelevant what Trump actually meant, because enough people will hear Trump's comments and think he's calling for people to take up arms against Clinton, her judges or both. Though most of the people hearing that call may claim he was joking, given what we know about people taking up arms in this country, there will undoubtedly be some people who think he was serious and consider the possibility.

In other words, what Trump just did is engage in so-called stochastic terrorism. This is an obscure and non-legal term that has been occasionally discussed in the academic world for the past decade and a half, and it applies with precision here. Stochastic terrorism, as described by a blogger who summarized the concept several years back, means using language and other forms of communication "to incite random actors to carry out violent or terrorist acts that are statistically predictable but individually unpredictable."

Let's break that down in the context of what Trump said. Predicting any one particular individual following his call to use violence against Clinton or her judges is statistically impossible. But we can predict that there could be a presently unknown lone wolf who hears his call and takes action in the future.

Stated differently: Trump puts out the dog whistle knowing that some dog will hear it, even though he doesn't know which dog.[/QUOTE]
He says "give me a break"
No.

[QUOTE=only_human;439755]He says "give me a break" No.[/QUOTE]

But The Donald isn't stupid.

Why is he making these mistakes?