In-A-Gadda-Levitre

watching CNN and they made a pretty strong case that: - there were initial classified reports that included the video.demonstration.gone.bad theory and that it was the work of a terrorist attack, maybe p/o Al Qaeda or maybe some other group. Nothing surprising about that. - some militia groups claimed responsibility, and a new source said it was a group affiliated with Al Qaeda, that the CIA hadn't confirmed the source's claim yet, and they felt, at least initially, that they needed to protect the new source. - General Patreus seems to say that he, and maybe the CIA, thought it was a terrorist attack from the beginning. He didn't exactly push that theory when he made his earlier statement right after the attack, but he could have been overruled, he had been sticking to the unclassified talking points, or maybe the intelligence just wasn't solid yet. Unknown I guess. - the unclassified talking points were circulated amongst State, the WH, CIA, National Security, FBI, etc. - the only WH change was from 'consulate' to 'annex'. They did not appear to remove terrorist references or that it had to say it was because of the video; that the unclassified report was written and approved by all those groups. - everyone stuck to those unclassified talking points, while the classified investigation continued, the intelligence was solid, and then it evolved. I'll try to find a link tomorrow

what a beatdown

no, I started a thread about ORCA, Romney's equivalent.

When the Nerds Go Marching In is a really long, but very interesting story about the team that built all the software for the Obama campaign. As opposed to the ORCA implementation, these guys tested the living sh*t out of the code and it worked like it was supposed to. If you're into software engineering, this is a great read, not as much if you're all about the politics...

nice, ya go Bills!

jeez, thought it was news, have a decaf

John McCain chose to battle the WH over Susan Rice and Benghazi. Well within his prerogative. So he schedules a Press Conference and starts demanding answers about the WH handled the attack. He asked Congress for a Watergate-style hearing (which his GOP committee chairperson Sen. Susan Collins later nixed). Ok, but again, he can do that if he wants. In another part of the building at the same time, there was a 2-hour classified Benghazi briefing to his Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. The presenters were officials from the State Department, the Pentagon, the CIA and the National Counterterrorism Center. 5 of the 8 Repub committee members skipped the briefing, and 2 of the 9 Dems skipped as well. But he's not done yet. CNN producer Tom Barrett stops him in the hall and starts asking why he skipped the briefing, and McCain got a wee bit testy. The whole audio clip is near the bottom. His office said it was a scheduling error.

I was just quoting from the vid, you obviously know more about the science than I do. You have the floor...

something to do with vasoconstriction and vasodialation

I have no clue, and to be honest, I didn't notice that until just now. I swear, I only have this ID, never created any others, and never signed in to TSW with any other ID. That's weird though.

The Daily Show on The Married vs. Single Vote as tips for Republicans... Kristen Schaal is hilarious

Other than a couple of the names appear to be random typing, no. Hey, look, I was asking if you meant me, and after I asked you, I thought about why does he think I had multiple aliases (if you were talking about me, I really didn't know), checked my own profile, and saw your name as just visited. I also remembered I had changed my Display Name a couple times over the years and wanted to see what that showed, as if maybe that's what you meant. That's it, nothing more.

I give up, just trying to bring the vitriol and intimidation down a peg, you !@# wingnuts

ok, but duck isn't crusading and 3rd just checked my profile. BTW, is a Display Name change considered an alias? oops, 2 changes in 10 yrs...

you're talking about me? I have no aliases or other IDs.

I'm not violently disagreeing with you, but the problem is that "knowing what you're talking about, caring about the subject matter, and preparing to back it up if challenged" is massively subjective, and if there's deep rooted beliefs on the opposite side, it can get ugly and personal. no issue with your 2nd point...

who said anything about running to a mod. If there was such a mod, he/she would make that determination and whether to let it slide, warn the poster, or take other steps. I answered your 2nd question in my post to Beerball - members with some gray matter who have good things to contribute, don't cuz some Internet tough guys aren't worth it and we lose some great discussions in the process.

ya this newbie has been here since 2002, just cuz I don't post a lot doesn't mean jack. I guess I believe you should have to think about what you say before you click Post, you don't. we can disagree

you're so wrong, personal attacks happen way too often, and maybe it's because people have different definitions of "truly dumb" and "BS accusations"

Help me understand why, maybe with a couple newly minted moderators, that PPP couldn't be treated like officiating the post season, all year? There's still penalties, but lots of latitude, with more enforcement than currently exists. Warning points or messages have to be a part of that. A lot of good posters have no interest in being ripped apart because their viewpoint doesn't jive with the regulars, and thereby some good discussions never happen. Some vitriol is expected, but it doesn't have to be personal attacks with no moderation or respect.

I tried and failed to convince you that the platform, policies, and messages killed the election for Romney. Hard to say how much it was due to the candidate himself not being likeable or strong enough, but probably doesn't matter. No big deal, because you and I probably won't be a big part of the RNC or the 2016 campaign. But, if the party comes away with the same 2012 conclusion as you, that the MSM squashed everything, and the policies, platform and messages don't have to change radically, it's toast in 2016.

no, he provided a 20 year tax summary from his blind trust administrator with data like average annual effective rate, lowest rate he paid during the period, etc. He only released returns from 2010 and 2011.

Bush's transcripts and medical records, no. They were mentioned a few times, but ultimately didn't move the needle Romney's Tax Returns are very subjective, depending on who you ask. What he did provide played into the narrative about being out of touch and not releasing more hurt him. How much? No clue. As George Will said, "The cost of not releasing them are clear, he must've calculated that there higher costs in releasing them"

I know you're smarter than this... Trump - he's a tool, so he gets airtime, and in his brain, probably considers it a win that he's in the news a lot 47% and lack of Tax Returns might mean nothing to you, but combined with Obama defining Romney as a vulture capitalist, aided and abetted by the candidate himself, created the perception that he was out of touch with many middle class voters. Sure the media amplified this, but it's important to millions of people. the anemic economy and the employment rate was brought up in every news outlet, right or left, along with daily speeches and ads by the campaign or its surrogates. Every day, every newscast! Benghazi is on the fence. I won't say it isn't important, just not a key issue in a national election. Obama doesn't decide how many security guards will protect the consulate. Ultimate responsibility falls to him, but an election won't be decided on whether he learned it was a terrorist attack 1 hour, 1 day, or 2 weeks after the fact. Maybe it will come out later that this was the mother of all foreign policy clusterf***s, but right now it ain't so. Romney's strategy of making it political before we knew much of anything probably hurt him quite a bit, but who knows. Fast and Furious - worth investigating, but also not an important election issue, not even close. One more time, birth certificates and college transcripts are noise, don't matter, let it go. Yes, absolutely, positively, no doubt whatsoever, that abortion, combined with the sh*tstorm about exceptions for rape, health of the mother, and incest, asinine immigration policies and messaging, lack of tolerance for gay marriage, and other campaign positions on social issues CRUSHED republican support amongst minorities, women, and young people. Scared Shitless, get it?

that's right Mr Trump, we woulda won if those socialist media hacks didn't conspire with the Obama campaign to prevent us from educating real Americans about big important things like photoshopped birth certificates