Facebook is America’s scapegoat du jour • Hacker News Board

Re: Facebook is America’s scapegoat du jour

#121

Post by equalunique » Fri, Mar 23, 2018, 3:53 PM UTC

macintux wrote: post #73

rdiddly wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...which is ironic, since due to that same polarization, Presidents in general seem to have less ability (or maybe it's inclination) than ever, to effect any meaningful change about anything that matters. It doesn't matter who's President.

> It doesn't matter who's President. It absolutely matters when something goes wrong outside our borders. If, hypothetically speaking, a small NATO country on Russia's border devolves into chaos thanks to, say, a massive power grid failure combined with agitation from Russian nationalists, and Russia then intervenes to "stabilize" the situation, the temperament of the president and coherence of the White House as a w…

Why does this sound like Ukraine

Re: Facebook is America’s scapegoat du jour

#122

Post by jessaustin » Fri, Mar 23, 2018, 3:53 PM UTC

KirinDave wrote: post #115

jessaustin wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you expect no one to google it? Pence had private email while governor of Indiana. Through August 2017, Nepotistic Adviser (perhaps not his official title? I don't know) Kushner had had fewer than 100 emails sent from or to his server from official accounts, all of which are saved and can be produced. Meanwhile many tens of thousands (no way to know how many) of classified messages of the Secretary of State where…

Pence literally fought in court to keep his private election emails private and won. I was sort of hoping you'd Google that too.

OK now I have. Google recommended an article [0] which starts with the following:

Vice President Mike Pence reportedly used a private email account to conduct public business, including homeland security matters, while he was governor of Indiana. Records of the emails were obtained by IndyStar through a public records request.

See, in the second sentence, we learn how this was different from the Secretary's emails! On top of which, this is Indiana we're talking about. Not much of geopolitical import there. I certainly hope that VP has learned proper email discipline at this point.

[0] https://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2017/03/02/penc...

Re: Facebook is America’s scapegoat du jour

#123

Post by cmac2992 » Fri, Mar 23, 2018, 3:55 PM UTC

jessaustin wrote: post #114

cmac2992 wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Flip on fox. someone mentions it basically everyday. Fox is the most watched cable news channel.

The "We" above is rather inclusive then, isn't it? The only time I see Fox is when I visit my grandmother.

"We", as in discourse in the mainstream media, which includes fox and others who overplayed the story.

Re: Facebook is America’s scapegoat du jour

#124

Post by KirinDave » Fri, Mar 23, 2018, 3:55 PM UTC

jessaustin wrote: post #122

KirinDave wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pence literally fought in court to keep his private election emails private and won. I was sort of hoping you'd Google that too.

OK now I have. Google recommended an article [0] which starts with the following: Vice President Mike Pence reportedly used a private email account to conduct public business, including homeland security matters, while he was governor of Indiana. Records of the emails were obtained by IndyStar through a public records request. See, in the second sentence, we learn how this was different from the Secretary's emails! O…

Yeah, he should talk to Cambridge Analytica about getting an email there where every email isn't backed up and there is a timed erase function.

It works wonders for their human trafficking work

But sure. What about her emails. What about indeed. Kushner only had 100! We should do another investigation.

Re: Facebook is America’s scapegoat du jour

#125

Post by macintux » Fri, Mar 23, 2018, 3:57 PM UTC

equalunique wrote: post #121

macintux wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It doesn't matter who's President. It absolutely matters when something goes wrong outside our borders. If, hypothetically speaking, a small NATO country on Russia's border devolves into chaos thanks to, say, a massive power grid failure combined with agitation from Russian nationalists, and Russia then intervenes to "stabilize" the situation, the temperament of the president and coherence of the White House as a w…

Why does this sound like Ukraine

Ukraine is neither small nor NATO, but...yeah.

Re: Facebook is America’s scapegoat du jour

#126

Post by jessaustin » Fri, Mar 23, 2018, 3:58 PM UTC

KirinDave wrote: post #120

jessaustin wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All this is astride the long understood fact that American election security is so bad that there aren't reliable records to disprove a machine that's been tampered with. In this context, is it curious that no one has signed on to co-sponsor the following bill? https://congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/5147/tex...

People could kick up a big stink about it, but the reason it won't go anywhere is that Ryan can hold it in committee in perpetutity. , isn't it? The voting machine observations aren't new. They're old, some dating back to Bush-era elections. I think technological illiteracy and States refusing to replace costly machines represent the bulk of the opposition.

I thought they were trying to win back the House? One couldn't imagine a more evocative campaign issue, for independents suspicious of both parties like me. "We care about democracy and Paul Ryan doesn't! Tell Paul Ryan to restore trust to democracy!" OK, tell me that and I'll vote Democrat. Crickets.

Re: Facebook is America’s scapegoat du jour

#127

Post by creaghpatr » Fri, Mar 23, 2018, 4:02 PM UTC

tim333 wrote: post #79

ams6110 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It has, but it's never been so easy to spout off to the world before, or be instantly informed about what other people are thinking. In the 1980s the media hated Reagan about as much as they hated Bush or Trump. Before that it was Nixon. But you really only heard about it if you watched the evening news, and that was 30 minutes of the day. It wasn't being fed to you continuously like an intravenous drip on your phone…

I'd disagree and say through the Bush Clinton Bush Obama period it wasn't as bad. I guess the levels of stupid vitriolic and hateful come and go. The world has definitely gone through worse phases as well, see the 1930s for example.

They probably would have been worse to Bush up front had 9/11 not happened. Blasting the President in the year(s) after 9/11 would have probably been in poor taste through the eyes of the public.

Re: Facebook is America’s scapegoat du jour

#128

Post by KirinDave » Fri, Mar 23, 2018, 4:03 PM UTC

jessaustin wrote: post #126

KirinDave wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People could kick up a big stink about it, but the reason it won't go anywhere is that Ryan can hold it in committee in perpetutity. , isn't it? The voting machine observations aren't new. They're old, some dating back to Bush-era elections. I think technological illiteracy and States refusing to replace costly machines represent the bulk of the opposition.

I thought they were trying to win back the House? One couldn't imagine a more evocative campaign issue, for independents suspicious of both parties like me. "We care about democracy and Paul Ryan doesn't! Tell Paul Ryan to restore trust to democracy!" OK, tell me that and I'll vote Democrat. Crickets.

You probably won't, but I'm not going to engage an obvious troll any further.

Re: Facebook is America’s scapegoat du jour

#129

Post by whataretensors » Fri, Mar 23, 2018, 4:13 PM UTC

WallWextra wrote: post #15

Here is, roughly, the media's playbook: 1. Never stop talking about Trump. Mention his name 300 times an hour on CNN. He's not a serious candidate, but he is entertaining so they give him free publicity until he is a serious candidate. 2. Start blathering about Hillary's emails, as if that were somehow important. 3. Now Trump is elected. In these tough times, it is more important than ever to support high-quality ind…

The news media is at best entertainment, but mostly it's just straight up propaganda. Even the BBC is like that now.

Re: Facebook is America’s scapegoat du jour

#130

Post by jessaustin » Fri, Mar 23, 2018, 4:17 PM UTC

Mc_Big_G wrote: post #84

WallWextra wrote: post #15

Here is, roughly, the media's playbook: 1. Never stop talking about Trump. Mention his name 300 times an hour on CNN. He's not a serious candidate, but he is entertaining so they give him free publicity until he is a serious candidate. 2. Start blathering about Hillary's emails, as if that were somehow important. 3. Now Trump is elected. In these tough times, it is more important than ever to support high-quality ind…

So the media should have just said nothing about a candidate who is clearly a danger to the country? How does ignoring problems work out for you in your life?

How does doing exactly the thing that leads to all your problems, over and over again, work out for you in your life? From the middle of 2015, Trump was on every channel of TV, all the time. If he is indeed such a threat, it is because the news media made him that. Without the news media giving Trump thousands of hours of free and unregulated TV ads, Clinton would have defeated Cruz by a somewhat narrow margin. Discouraged Republicans would have said, "Well, that's what happens when the opponent is the second-least-popular candidate in history, and you nominate the first-least-popular candidate in history..."

Since I am a cynic, I see that despite their professed political allegiances, the news media are quite pleased by the prospect of seven more years of political insanity. Every USA president from now until the breakup on will be a veteran of reality TV.