U.S. Intelligence Report

Indeed, I admire their work on Iraq’s WMD program. Your appeal to authority succeeds.

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I see.

Well as to the why question, I do not know but there doesn’t seem to be any “rule” per se. There does however appear to be a discernible content neutral pattern.

When a thread degenerates into bickering and name calling, it gets closed. In this particular thread, nothing is being argued. Up until now, the trolls have been confined to their respective bridges without food. I’m fairly confident that will eventually end.

I will go $100 and the Shriners Children’s Hospital.

If you lose $100 to WWP.

You agree Freighterman?

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I’m not the guy saying he’s betting on a sure thing. You’re the guy who has the lock, so you say. You brought it up. All I’m saying is betting a buck is nothing. You can’t buy a stick of gum for a buck, where I live. If you’re so sure, a buck proves nothing. So bet a $1,000. Hell, bet $10,000, if it’s a sure thing. You can’t lose. :wink:

I never bet more than a $1. I have a wallet full of signed dollars from others. Bragging rights is where it’s at unless it’s for children or veterans.

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Agreed, the US election process is now viewed as 3rd world, they need foreign oversite, lol.
I am not sure whether that perception was created by foreign actors or totally self inflicted?

One thing for sure is social media is not just a tool to send out fake news but its a tool to change your opinion.

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Perhaps our friends east of the Baltic and west of the Urals have stirred the pot…I think it quite likely happened. I would counter though, we have done most of the damage ourselves.

Think about your ship and your crew; would anyone tolerate a slacker or a hand who consistently works at half speed and blames others? We want our people working TOGETHER to get the boat from A to B as safely and quickly as possible, get the cargo off, and then do it again. Everyone works together to get the job done because our job and floating 2nd home depend on it. Why the F can’t this country get its poop in a group and work as a crew?

Politics…the “Cops acted stupidly”, sharpies on a wx chart, allowing the balkanization of the citizens with multi-letter social identies instead of American, allowing an arguably senile old man to be elected…hey, I call it as I see it but when a president is voted in or out of office based on whether the population likes their personality and NOT based on performance, well we get the pendulum swinging pretty far either direction, don’t we? My freezers are full, my basement is well stocked with home canned goods, plenty of fire wood out back, and I am not too.worried about being able to take care of myself and property. The electorate wanted this, let the those who wanted a big change deal with it, I am going fishing.

Oh, and don’t forget the Chinese and their regional goals, that are shifting to global goals. By most MSM though, cancelling Dr Seuss is more important. Idiots.

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On which page of the report did you find that?

See what I mean @MAK ? Hang in there buddy. The tension is building, and it’s only a matter of time before a strong dose of reality rears its ugly head and blows up the thread.

The NIC’s credibility was seriously damaged by their report on Iraq’s WMD program which was nonexistent. They are appointed by and serve at the pleasure of the DNI who is appointed by the president. As they are political positions I take their recommendations lightly normally. However, since the DNI under political appointees of the Trump administration determined there was some nefarious goings on with election influencing I think it is likely.
At the end of the day what difference does it make? If there is a concerted effort to alert people of foreign interference that would be nice. It there was an effort to stop bots from putting out false information that would be good also. But the best thing would be to make voting more accessible to all citizens of the USA . However, lots of measures underway to restrict voting even further. There apparently is a fear of a democracy by some folks, not that the USA has one now, progress towards a true democracy should be welcome by all, especially the patriots of the USA.

That fear appears most apparent among those who self describe as “patriots” as indicated by the number of voter suppression bills introduced lately.

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True. Whenever I see or hear the term patriot I think of the definition of “patriot”.
'A person who loves, supports, and defends his or her country and its interests with devotion.
If these “patriots” only want to support a certain portion of the country and their own personal interests and not the entire country they are not patriots but enemies of democracy.
Sadly most do not understand they are being played. The little country of Russia and the ever growing China snicker at the juvenile nature of the US politic.

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Especially when they see the clusterf%&K going on at our southern border.

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“Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.” … Samuel Johnson

True. But some context is called for.

  1. The WMD’s clearly existed at one time. The Kurds were gassed.

  2. The WMD’s were apparently destroyed at some point.

  3. Hussein then lied and bluffed that he still had them.

  4. The question then becomes: was it incompetence, a reasonable failure of analysis, or was it deliberate.

In that circumstance as well as the current situation, it falls to the evidence.

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Or maybe they were just looking for a palatable excuse to go to war for other, blatantly obvious geopolitical factors so they fucking lied about it.

Just like now when the ability of the American people to elect a candidate to the highest office in the land without said candidate being approved by the political/corporate kingmakers is demonstrated they say the Russians did it. Because we can’t have that happening again. Fucks everything up.

The actual facts don’t matter because people will eat their horseshit with a smile, just like they did for the Iraq war. And just like in the Iraq war I’ll have to watch my friends come home missing pieces if they make it back at all. And people like you will pretend they never supported it in the first place. That they always knew it was bs.

But you’ll know.

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People like who? You care to define your terms…amigo?

That was covered under the deliberate contingency.

People like you. You voted for Biden. Biden voted to authorize the Iraq war.

What would you like defined?

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That covers it. Just wanted to confirm the level of your…ahem…understanding.

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I have a dollar to wager, whoever wins this the silly debate can have it.

Meddling defines spy craft. It is older than the cold war. Consider USA’s installation of the Shah of Iran in 1953. So of course an x-KGB operative turned modern day dictator like Putin is dedicated to using any / all spheres of influences available to disrupt our way of life. A key difference is that prior to Trump there was little doubt that Putin was a dangerous adversary. Trump’s display at Helsinki sent a clear message to Putin; namely that Trump preferred Putin’s word over the dedicated USA patriots that provide the intelligence that counter Putin’s efforts against the USA. Even if Trump completely believed this absurdity, it simply is not a power to cede to the enemy. I believe this sad day represents a quantum shift, A day that Putin knew he had where he wanted us. By 2020-21 Putin was able to sit back and simply watch while the USA went off the rails all on it’s own. If the over 250 proposed voter supression laws pass in the 43 states proposing them, Putin will take a an endless victory lap around the Kremlin. In CCCP a small minority rules the majority, we may be on track for the same. Can you imagine the elation Putin felt when he saw the image of the Qanon Shaman presiding over our halls of Congress? May we live in interesting times, aye.

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