Prelude to Sunday's debate

MarkFL

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Many of my friends who aren't from the U.S. (and some who are), see the U.S. as by far the single biggest threat to world peace. So, many who aren't from the U.S. are following this election closely.
 

MoreCoffee

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The christian party we have here is in the middle. It's weird that you can only choose between two extremes there.

Yes, that is weird. I wonder how the divergence arose?
 

MoreCoffee

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About the same as Hilary's lies about .... too many things to mention. Moral character is not a factor in this election since neither has any.

Some say that one knows a politician is telling lies when his/her mouth is open. It's probably intended as humour. It appears to be exaggeration. But the point behind it is that one ought not to put one's trust in politicians.
 

MoreCoffee

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MoreCoffee,

Curious, why are you - an AUSTRALIAN citizen and resident - so focused and stating so much about the AMERICAN election? I don't see a lot of Americans starting threads about Australian politics or indicating that we as Americans have any "right" to interject in the soverign affairs of Australia. Just seems, well, odd. I have many European and Asian friends - and they do keep up just a tiny bit on American politics (it can be entertaining) but never with your level of involvement.

It's on the news a lot and opinions about politics are as common as people. There's 7 thousand million people and probably more than that many opinions about USA presidential candidates because their performances are broadcast around the world by western media.
 

MoreCoffee

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Many of my friends who aren't from the U.S. (and some who are), see the U.S. as by far the single biggest threat to world peace. So, many who aren't from the U.S. are following this election closely.

Having Donald Trump in the white house and in charge of the "button" is a frightening prospect for us all, just as having Valdimir Putin in charge of the other "button" is frightening.
 

MarkFL

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Having Donald Trump in the white house and in charge of the "button" is a frightening prospect for us all, just as having Valdimir Putin in charge of the other "button" is frightening.

That's my biggest fear with Trump...having a hothead like him as commander in chief of our already over-active war machine is not a prospect I favor at all.
 

MoreCoffee

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That's my biggest fear with Trump...having a hothead like him as commander in chief of our already over-active war machine is not a prospect I favor at all.

People seem to have decided that Russia is no threat to the USA's world-influence but that is a serious misjudgement. Russia still have the nuclear arms that the USSR had and some have been modernised just as is the case with the USA's nuclear arms. The danger of nuclear war is still present and frightening.
 

tango

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OK I usually watch CBS or CNN but have heard that they were not slanted.

Fox News is most definitely slanted. It seems to me (admittedly based on limited experience) that most news sources in the US are biased and most act as if they are totally impartial.

I forget where it was I read some statistics about where Americans get their news from and how, as a rule, Republicans trust Fox and don't trust other media (I think it was MSNBC they rated hugely lowly), while Democrats trust MSNBC and don't trust anything Fox says.

Of course with sites like Faceache growing in popularity and the way sites use cookies it's not all that hard to turn the internet into a huge echo chamber and therefore conclude that everybody with any sense thinks the same way you do.

Here's a pretty good article I found about why politics is become more extreme - I'd say it's a good read whatever your political stance. Linky ----> http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160823-how-modern-life-is-destroying-democracy
 

tango

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That's my biggest fear with Trump...having a hothead like him as commander in chief of our already over-active war machine is not a prospect I favor at all.

Is it more of a threat than Hillary getting "the call" at 2am and, when asked what it was all about, saying "I don't remember"? ;)
 

MarkFL

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Is it more of a threat than Hillary getting "the call" at 2am and, when asked what it was all about, saying "I don't remember"? ;)

Yes, very much so.
 

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Many of my friends who aren't from the U.S. (and some who are), see the U.S. as by far the single biggest threat to world peace. So, many who aren't from the U.S. are following this election closely.


Those people are just illustrating their total ignorance of what the USA is all about. I would point out that many of these people are probably living in freedom today because of the sacrifices made by the USA. And, if they do not see Islamic terrorism as the biggest threat to world peace, they must be referring to some other planet. LOL
 

MoreCoffee

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Those people are just illustrating their total ignorance of what the USA is all about. I would point out that many of these people are probably living in freedom today because of the sacrifices made by the USA. And, if they do not see Islamic terrorism as the biggest threat to world peace, they must be referring to some other planet. LOL

IS (ISIS, ISIL, or whatever other abbreviation is used for Islamic State) is a huge threat to world peace and national security. It is a diminishing threat in some places and may be an expanding threat in others. USA foreign policy is also a threat to world peace and stability which is diminishing in some places and expanding in others. Electing Donald Trump may make it expand everywhere.
 

MarkFL

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Those people are just illustrating their total ignorance of what the USA is all about. I would point out that many of these people are probably living in freedom today because of the sacrifices made by the USA. And, if they do not see Islamic terrorism as the biggest threat to world peace, they must be referring to some other planet. LOL

Yeah, that must be it.

giphy.gif
 

tango

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Yes, very much so.

I was also thinking about the time Hillary visited one of the war zones in the middle east (Kandahar, perhaps?) and returned talking about how he came under fire, only for to claim she "misspoke" when it was revealed she hadn't actually come under fire at all. Let's hope she doesn't make that mistake with her finger on the red button :)

On that note, I suppose it's an easy mistake to make. Only the other week I thought I was coming under mortar fire in the parking lot at my local Wal-Mart but thankfully it turned out to be a redneck with a backfiring pickup. Still, it was pretty scary for a time. Oh how we laughed about it later.
 

tango

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Those people are just illustrating their total ignorance of what the USA is all about. I would point out that many of these people are probably living in freedom today because of the sacrifices made by the USA. And, if they do not see Islamic terrorism as the biggest threat to world peace, they must be referring to some other planet. LOL

As with so many other things the truth lies somewhere between the extremes.

People who say Islamic extremism isn't a threat at all are presumably living somewhere that's universally white and never go anywhere near major cities. People who say it's the biggest threat we face have probably been reading too much sensationalist media.

Some aspects of US foreign policy are good and some aspects are bad. It wasn't that long ago that the Afghan mujahideen were regarded as the good guys because they were fighting Russia. Now they're the bad guys (it's interesting to watch the closing credits of the Rambo III movie and think how things have changed).

It's pretty sad when so many people (on both sides of the political divide) think that everything has to be clearly defined as black-or-white. The US isn't universally good, it's not universally bad. Like any other country it does some things in the common interest and some things in self-interest. It makes some decisions that turn out to be good and some decisions that turn out to be bad. It's often said the only perfect science is hindsight.

Personally I see both Donald and Hillary as threats to world peace but in different ways. It's not that hard to imagine Donald getting hot under the collar if international figures brazenly insult him; it's also not that hard to imagine Hillary not taking decisive action when it's required because the target would be seen as a minority group (e.g. the militant Islamic groups). Donald seems to have issues with stability, Hillary seems to have issues with truthfulness. Frankly I think both are inherently unfit for the presidency.
 

Josiah

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Personally I see both Donald and Hillary as threats to world peace but in different ways. It's not that hard to imagine Donald getting hot under the collar if international figures brazenly insult him; it's also not that hard to imagine Hillary not taking decisive action when it's required because the target would be seen as a minority group (e.g. the militant Islamic groups). Donald seems to have issues with stability, Hillary seems to have issues with truthfulness. Frankly I think both are inherently unfit for the presidency.


I too see Donald and Hillary as equal threats to world peace..... Donald who seems to have no control over his mouth or emotions, Hillary who has been officially declared a very poor security risk, who throws US Military under the bus and lies about it to help her political power and seems to prefer the Islamic world to her own.....


I see both of these as equally unacceptable, equally scary - on a LOT of fronts. I hope neither gets elected, lol (I'm voting for neither).



To my earlier point: My work means I interface with people all over the world. I remember when the whole UK and EU issue was HUGE there..... I found the discussion interesting, and I'm sure it would impact the USA either way, but no one even thought to ask my opinion because I'm an AMERICAN! And I never offered a view because I'm an AMERICAN! The UK is a soverign nation. GOVERNMENTS might choose to express their view to other GOVERNMENTS - perhaps (although I think they do so too much) but I lack the ego to think I should determine what Australia or Sweden should or should not do regarding its own affairs: we have enough problems of our own. And yes, this is a CRAZY election in the USA but I've only encountered one non-American who seems to start all kinds of discussions about AMERICAN decisions, and he's at this website. Just a curiosity to me..... no denial of the right to free speech, lol.




- Josiah
 

MoreCoffee

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I was also thinking about the time Hillary visited one of the war zones in the middle east (Kandahar, perhaps?) and returned talking about how he came under fire, only for to claim she "misspoke" when it was revealed she hadn't actually come under fire at all. Let's hope she doesn't make that mistake with her finger on the red button :)

On that note, I suppose it's an easy mistake to make. Only the other week I thought I was coming under mortar fire in the parking lot at my local Wal-Mart but thankfully it turned out to be a redneck with a backfiring pickup. Still, it was pretty scary for a time. Oh how we laughed about it later.


Maybe she thought her jet was fired upon. Being a VIP she may have been told that it happened, or was told something that she misunderstood.
 

Highlander

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IS (ISIS, ISIL, or whatever other abbreviation is used for Islamic State) is a huge threat to world peace and national security. It is a diminishing threat in some places and may be an expanding threat in others. USA foreign policy is also a threat to world peace and stability which is diminishing in some places and expanding in others. Electing Donald Trump may make it expand everywhere.

Your thinking only illustrates the flaws of the left. Electing Hillary Clinton -- who helped CREATE ISIS with her foolish judgement, along with Obama's -- would only continue the policies that she helped practice around the world. It is funny the way you said it would expand "everywhere?" Where else is there to go??? Under Obama/Hillary, ISIS was created in Iraq and currently operates in 33 nations INCLUDING the USA. They already ARE "everywhere."

The reality is just the opposite of what you said. Electing Donald Trump would result in the destruction of ISIS. Hopefully EVERYWHERE.
 

MoreCoffee

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[MENTION=29]Highlander[/MENTION], Hillary Clinton was not in office as secretary of state (Hillary Clinton was in office from 2009 AD until 2013 AD) when Islamic State first appeared in Syria on 15th October 2006. George Bush was President at the time IS appeared and Condoleezza Rice was Secretary of Sate of the USA. On 9th May 2013 Islamic State (in Iraq) and Syrian Al-Qaeda unified three months and eight days after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton retired from office.
 
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