I do love it when Obama uses the line "we'll respond at the time and place of our choosing".   I'm no expecting him to do anything that changes Trump's presidency, but I do hope he hits the Russians back before he leaves office. I'm talking about cyber war here not conventional.  We may never know even know what is done.

#BREAKING Obama promises to retaliate for Russian election intervention ‘at a time and place of our own choosing’ https://t.co/rjVUTCF9Kq

— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) December 16, 2016

8 hours ago, Khan said:

"The biggest event in American history"?  Oh, dear.  People really don't need to get their hopes up.

 

Exactly. That's the kind of hype we need less of.

10 hours ago, Vee said:

I'm not holding out hope for anything too massive. There is only so much Obama can do here without being labeled a fascist by the right and centrists. I know what I'd like him to do, but those aren't the same things as what is potentially feasible.

 

10 hours ago, JaneAusten said:

I honestly could care less what the right believes and how can anyone side with the GOP based on what's going down in North Carolina. It's a disgrace and a coup orchestrated within the boundaries of this nation.

 

In terms of why POTUS may not have struck back earlier...maybe because he doesn't be in violation of international rules in how he goes after hackers within a sovereign country, especially if it is regarded as "state-sponsored" hacking.  It actually requires more care in planning a response than we may think.  Although I'm think that by the time POTUS has announced that the US will respond in a time and manner of its choosing, this has probably already been set in motion but it probably has taken quite some time of planning and calculation to get there.

 

 

53 minutes ago, marceline said:

 

Exactly. That's the kind of hype we need less of.

 

The media has clearly not learned its lesson (I guess fake news has offered them a scapegoat for their dereliction of duty).

The promotion of hype and a hyped-up candidate is what has brought us to this state, in the first place.

Interesting that Yahoo believes that their 2014 hack was sponsored by a "government entity" but apparently seem not to know who/what is behind the enormous 2013 hack that they seemed only to become aware of in August. 

 

The only way, I could see Verizon wanting Yahoo is to strip the company for parts.

 

Hacked Yahoo Data Is for Sale on Dark Web

 

This type of stuff is why I will continue boycotting North Carolina for a long time to come. It's a banana republic. 

 

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/pat-mcrory-law-restrict-roy-cooper-power-232758

This is the world that we live in. Trump boasts that he could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue with a gun and shoot someone and his campaign wouldn't miss a beat, people wave it off and claim it's all just talk... he's elected president. Duterte boasts that he's killed people, people dismiss it as exaggeration, he's elected president of the Philippines.

 

Well, guess what?

‘I Cannot Lie,’ Rodrigo Duterte Says, Confirming He Did Kill People as Mayor

 

Duterte has people who he claims are drug suspects killed, yet apparently he takes fentanyl, a very strong opiod. He claims he is not addicted, that he takes the drug only as his doctor prescribes.

Well, guess what? 

Hitler had a doctor too and his doctor regularly prescribed drugs for Hitler (an enormous amount but all 'prescribed'). There is a well researched recently published book all about this!

 

 

 

This is too funny. You know Trump is gonna lose it in a few hours. #Unpresidented 

 

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/typo-making-trump-calls-china-drone-seizure-unpresidented-article-1.2914276

 

 

An article on a big liberal/Bernie supporter who voted for Trump. 

 

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/12/progressive-trump-vote-214534

Edited December 17, 20168 yr by DRW50

 

37 minutes ago, Nothin'ButAttitude said:

This is too funny. You know Trump is gonna lose it in a few hours. #Unpresidented 

 

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/typo-making-trump-calls-china-drone-seizure-unpresidented-article-1.2914276

 

 

That's our boy Trump, making America grate again.

Edited December 17, 20168 yr by Khan

57 minutes ago, DRW50 said:

An article on a big liberal/Bernice supporter who voted for Trump. 

 

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/12/progressive-trump-vote-214534

 

She's such a dumbass. I don't pity her goofy ass at all. Any minority that voted Trump is a moron and abhorrent. She gets no love from me. 

 

57 minutes ago, Khan said:

That's our boy Trump, making America grate again.

 

1 hour ago, DRW50 said:

An article on a big liberal/Bernice supporter who voted for Trump. 

 

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/12/progressive-trump-vote-214534

 

I will hate Bernie Sanders and his ignorant radicals for the rest of my life. My mother grew up in the Jim Crow south and people like them decided to send her back to that because they didn't get their woobie for Christmas.

 

I like Bernie, always will.   He's a cranky old jewish guy who talks with his hands.  I'd vote for him just on that basis alone. 

 

 

So now that his presidency is just about over, I think history will show Obama dropped the ball on Syria, especially when there is now video preserved forever of desperate Syrians begging for help and chronicling their own massacre.  I don't know what Obama could have done given that the country was worn out after 10 years of Iraq and Afganistan, but  the US encouraged revolt when it started and sort of just abandoned them when the going got tough.   

3 hours ago, quartermainefan said:

I like Bernie, always will.   He's a cranky old jewish guy who talks with his hands.  I'd vote for him just on that basis alone. 

 

 

So now that his presidency is just about over, I think history will show Obama dropped the ball on Syria, especially when there is now video preserved forever of desperate Syrians begging for help and chronicling their own massacre.  I don't know what Obama could have done given that the country was worn out after 10 years of Iraq and Afganistan, but  the US encouraged revolt when it started and sort of just abandoned them when the going got tough.   

And that's the problem. When we intervene people get pissed off, say we are trying to be the world's police and that we deserve the terrorism that results. When we don't, we've abandoned whatever vulnerable population that's involved in the conflict at hand. Someone on CNN yesterday was saying we should have armed the moderate rebels. How many times have we done that only to find we are arming the next wave of jihadists? I also don't think we should get involved in any more proxy wars unless we are willing to take it all the way. If we wanted to help we should have taken more refugees, but the country as a whole doesn't seem willing to do that.

 

I'm sorry, but encouraging revolutionaries does not make President Obama culpable in what transpired.  The only way to make a marked difference would have been to send thousands of troops and there was no way that was going to fly, no matter what Obama did.