***Official Political Discussion Thread***

[gry60]

 
Clean energy is the future. Hustling backwards by targeting it.

exactly. what i dont understand is why doesnt the government invest more in cleaner forms of energy? innovation in that field could stimulate job growth and the economy. the first nation with a handle on clean, usable energy that can be accessible would lead the industry imo 

They do. There is plenty of innovation in clean energy and in the power engineering field, from battery storage, to wind, solar, geothermal, ocean waves, microgrids, smart grid, etc... With the internet of things and the fact that more and more utilities want to communicate with your toaster, TV, or other electronics to know how much electricity you consume and to let consumers know when it is cheaper to turn on your devices that require a lot of electricity, there is also a lot of innovation on the security side of the power grid.

The problem is that the field of power eng doesn't appear as exciting on the surface (we take 24/7 electricity for granted here) as Sillicon Valley-related stuff, so not many EE students specialize in that field, and what is happening in the industry is not well known.

 

[dathbgboy]

But da coal and da hemi b

We could have dat hemi runnin on cannoli oil b

word up

Dudes gon let some random country make the first real push into clean energy and then say "Oh, it's not sustainable" to try and save face.

 

[frink85]

Are you talking about this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climatic_Research_Unit_email_controversy



Please tell me that's the best you've got.

Have you ever read a scientific journal or even talked to a scientist in your life?


You gotta stop wasting people's time.

edit: I'm gonna guess you're a piece of work when it comes to fringe medical treatments as well.

Remember this is the same guy who said "them scientists can go kick rocks b" when I asked him to refute the vast majority of top scientists agreeing that climate change is a real threat. Dozens of Nobel prize winning scientists and hundreds more top scientists have condemned Trump's anti-science rhetoric. But of course da ninja knows better than all of them.

I still when I hear trump say he knows more about ISIS than all the generals.

...maybe that why he skips the intelligence briefings he don't need them for some reason...?

Spoiler

IS TRUMP SECRETLY PULLING THE STRINGS ON ISIS TO CREATE CHAOS IN AMERICA, ALLOWING FOR HIS RISE TO POWER...? IVE HEARD SOME PEOPLE SAY THIS....!

edit: changed it to a question so I can't be accused of making up outrageous BS from my ***

 

[whywesteppin]

trump has a strong interest in his terrorist attacks.

also notice how trump towers was never targeted?

it's fishy.

Spoiler

before you call me out for spreading unsubstantiated rumors, how about you trump supporters demand our next president not do the same?

 

[EddieDoyers]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...a-11e6-94ac-3d324840106c_story.html?tid=sm_tw

Secret CIA assessment says Russia was trying to help Trump win White House

The CIA has concluded in a secret assessment that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump win the presidency, rather than just to undermine confidence in the U.S. electoral system, according to officials briefed on the matter.

Intelligence agencies have identified individuals with connections to the Russian government who provided WikiLeaks with thousands of hacked emailsfrom the Democratic National Committee and others, including Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, according to U.S. officials. Those officials described the individuals as actors known to the intelligence community and part of a wider Russian operation to boost Trump and hurt Clinton’s chances.

“It is the assessment of the intelligence community that Russia’s goal here was to favor one candidate over the other, to help Trump get elected,” said a senior U.S. official briefed on an intelligence presentation made to U.S. senators. “That’s the consensus view.”

The Obama administration has been debating for months how to respond to the alleged Russian intrusions, with White House officials concerned about escalating tensions with Moscow and being accused of trying to boost Clinton’s campaign.

In September, during a secret briefing for congressional leaders, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) voiced doubts about the veracity of the intelligence, according to officials present.

The Trump transition team did not respond to a request for comment.

Trump has consistently dismissed the intelligence community’s findings about Russian hacking.

“I don’t believe they interfered” in the election, he told Time magazine this week. The hacking, he said, “could be Russia. And it could be China. And it could be some guy in his home in New Jersey.”

The CIA shared its latest assessment with key senators in a closed-door briefing on Capitol Hill last week, in which agency officials cited a growing body of intelligence from multiple sources. Agency briefers told the senators it was now “quite clear” that electing Trump was Russia’s goal, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters.

The CIA presentation to senators about Russia’s intentions fell short of a formal U.S. assessment produced by all 17 intelligence agencies. A senior U.S. official said there were minor disagreements among intelligence officials about the agency’s assessment, in part because some questions remain unanswered.

For example, intelligence agencies do not have specific intelligence showing officials in the Kremlin “directing” the identified individuals to pass the Democratic emails to WikiLeaks, a second senior U.S. official said. Those actors, according to the official, were “one step” removed from the Russian government, rather than government employees. Moscow has in the past used middlemen to participate in sensitive intelligence operations so it has plausible deniability.

Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, has said in a television interview that the “Russian government is not the source.”

The White House and CIA officials declined to comment.

On Friday, the White House said President Obama had ordered a “full review” of Russian hacking during the election campaign, as pressure from Congress has grown for greater public understanding of exactly what Moscow did to influence the electoral process.

“We may have crossed into a new threshold, and it is incumbent upon us to take stock of that, to review, to conduct some after-action, to understand what has happened and to impart some lessons learned,” Obama’s counterterrorism and homeland security adviser, Lisa Monaco, told reporters at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.

Obama wants the report before he leaves office Jan. 20, Monaco said.

During her remarks, Monaco didn’t address the latest CIA assessment, which hasn’t been previously disclosed.

Seven Democratic senators last week asked Obama to declassify details about the intrusions and why officials believe that the Kremlin was behind the operation. Officials said Friday that the senators specifically were asking the White House to release portions of the CIA’s presentation.

This week, top Democratic lawmakers in the House also sent a letter to Obama, asking for briefings on Russian interference in the election.

U.S. intelligence agencies have been cautious for months in characterizing Russia’s motivations, reflecting the United States’ long-standing struggle to collect reliable intelligence on President Vladi­mir Putin and those closest to him.

In previous assessments, the CIA and other intelligence agencies told the White House and congressional leaders that they believed Moscow’s aim was to undermine confidence in the U.S. electoral system. The assessments stopped short of saying the goal was to help elect Trump.

On Oct. 7, the intelligence community officially accused Moscow of seeking to interfere in the election through the hacking of “political organizations.” Though the statement never specified which party, it was clear that officials were referring to cyber-intrusions into the computers of the DNC and other Democratic groups and individuals.

Some key Republican lawmakers have continued to question the quality of evidence supporting Russian involvement.

“I’ll be the first one to come out and point at Russia if there’s clear evidence, but there is no clear evidence — even now,” said Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and a member of the Trump transition team. “There’s a lot of innuendo, lots of circumstantial evidence, that’s it.”

U.S. investigating potential covert Russian plan to disrupt elections

Though Russia has long conducted cyberspying on U.S. agencies, companies and organizations, this presidential campaign marks the first time Moscow has attempted through cyber-means to interfere in, if not actively influence, the outcome of an election, the officials said.

The reluctance of the Obama White House to respond to the alleged Russian intrusions before Election Day upset Democrats on the Hill as well as members of the Clinton campaign.

Within the administration, top officials from different agencies sparred over whether and how to respond. White House officials were concerned that covert retaliatory measures might risk an escalation in which Russia, with sophisticated cyber-capabilities, might have less to lose than the United States, with its vast and vulnerable digital infrastructure.

The White House’s reluctance to take that risk left Washington weighing more-limited measures, including the “naming and shaming” approach of publicly blaming Moscow.

By mid-September, White House officials had decided it was time to take that step, but they worried that doing so unilaterally and without bipartisan congressional backing just weeks before the election would make Obama vulnerable to charges that he was using intelligence for political purposes.

Instead, officials devised a plan to seek bipartisan support from top lawmakers and set up a secret meeting with the Gang of 12 — a group that includes House and Senate leaders, as well as the chairmen and ranking members of both chambers’ committees on intelligence and homeland security.

Obama dispatched Monaco, FBI Director James B. Comey and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson to make the pitch for a “show of solidarity and bipartisan unity” against Russian interference in the election, according to a senior administration official.

Specifically, the White House wanted congressional leaders to sign off on a bipartisan statement urging state and local officials to take federal help in protecting their voting-registration and balloting machines from Russian cyber-intrusions.

Though U.S. intelligence agencies were skeptical that hackers would be able to manipulate the election results in a systematic way, the White House feared that Russia would attempt to do so, sowing doubt about the fundamental mechanisms of democracy and potentially forcing a more dangerous confrontation between Washington and Moscow.

In a secure room in the Capitol used for briefings involving classified information, administration officials broadly laid out the evidence U.S. spy agencies had collected, showing Russia’s role in cyber-intrusions in at least two states and in hacking the emails of the Democratic organizations and individuals.

And they made a case for a united, bipartisan front in response to what one official described as “the threat posed by unprecedented meddling by a foreign power in our election process.”

The Democratic leaders in the room unanimously agreed on the need to take the threat seriously. Republicans, however, were divided, with at least two GOP lawmakers reluctant to accede to the White House requests.

According to several officials, McConnell raised doubts about the underlying intelligence and made clear to the administration that he would consider any effort by the White House to challenge the Russians publicly an act of partisan politics.

Some of the Republicans in the briefing also seemed opposed to the idea of going public with such explosive allegations in the final stages of an election, a move that they argued would only rattle public confidence and play into Moscow’s hands.

McConnell’s office did not respond to a request for comment. After the election, Trump chose McConnell’s wife, Elaine Chao, as his nominee for transportation secretary.

Some Clinton supporters saw the White House’s reluctance to act without bipartisan support as further evidence of an excessive caution in facing adversaries.

“The lack of an administration response on the Russian hacking cannot be attributed to Congress,” said Rep. Adam B. Schiff (Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, who was at the September meeting. “The administration has all the tools it needs to respond. They have the ability to impose sanctions. They have the ability to take clandestine means. The administration has decided not to utilize them in a way that would deter the Russians, and I think that’s a problem.”

 

[frink85]

trump has a strong interest in his terrorist attacks.

also notice how trump towers was never targeted?

it's fishy.

Spoiler

before you call me out for spreading unsubstantiated rumors, how about you trump supporters demand our next president not do the same?

(One of my favorite boondocks strips)

 

[EddieDoyers]

LMAO

 

[rico x hood]

All this talk about Russia being the bad guy either has Mitt Romney laughing or fuming somewhere.

Dems were so quick to dismiss him and his claims in 2012. Absolutely pathetic.

And where's the article about what we're doing about the Chinese hacking us? Which EVERYONE knows. But no, cats just want to focus on the election because they're sore losers. Sad.

 

[EddieDoyers]

All this talk about Russia being the bad guy either has Mitt Romney laughing or fuming somewhere.

Dems were so quick to dismiss him and his claims in 2012. Absolutely pathetic.

And where's the article about what we're doing about the Chinese hacking us? Which EVERYONE knows. But no, cats just want to focus on the election because they're sore losers. Sad.

You're talking about this?

http://fortune.com/2016/12/07/china-law-firms/

Exclusive: China Stole Data From Major U.S. Law Firms



And well, Obama just said he wanted a full review of the hacking today, so Thanks Obama for letting us know about Russia again

 

[rico x hood]

So what I'm seeing is the Obama administration has essentially chosen to do nothing to protect us from cyber terrorism.

 

[EddieDoyers]

So what I'm seeing is the Obama administration has essentially chosen to do nothing to protect us from cyber terrorism.

Noted from the same article

The timing of the breaches is also notable. They occurred in 2015 at a time when hacking by the Chinese government became a major irritant in Sino-American relations. In September of that year, President Obama delivered a blunt warning to China on the eve of a state visit to Washington by President Xi Jinping, calling such attacks “an act of aggression.”

 

[whywesteppin]

wow. it is real.

predictably the trump lovers will try to deflect. but we know their tired tactics. they can save their energy.

the question is what teeth will this have? how far can they go? if the report does conclusively link this to Russia and/or trump, then it's a massive escalation. Obama is smart get this underway before he's out of office. heads will roll.

time to polish off the treason laws.

 

[rico x hood]

wow. it is real.

predictably the trump lovers will try to deflect. but we know their tired tactics. they can save their energy.

the question is what teeth will this have? how far can they go? if the report does conclusively link this to Russia and/or trump, then it's a massive escalation. Obama is smart get this underway before he's out of office. heads will roll.

time to polish off the treason laws.

he'll give the Russians a blunt warning and then retire to his cushy life in Kalorama. If he wanted to do anything he would've taken action when other countries hacked us. This is just another tactic of crybaby Dems trying to de-legitamize a Trump victory and chip away at his mandate. It's embarrassing at this point.

 

[whywesteppin]

you're not at all concerned that Russia is actively trying to interfere in our election and may have succeeded?

not at all?

do you even America, bro?

 

[EddieDoyers]

wow. it is real.

predictably the trump lovers will try to deflect. but we know their tired tactics. they can save their energy.

the question is what teeth will this have? how far can they go? if the report does conclusively link this to Russia and/or trump, then it's a massive escalation. Obama is smart get this underway before he's out of office. heads will roll.

time to polish off the treason laws.

he'll give the Russians a blunt warning and then retire to his cushy life in Kalorama. If he wanted to do anything he would've taken action when other countries hacked us. This is just another tactic of crybaby Dems trying to de-legitamize a Trump victory and chip away at his mandate. It's embarrassing at this point.

Well China's hacks had to do with stealing law firm data and after obama issued a warning, the hacks stopped.

Now these Russian hacks had to do with the election and Obama didn't act on it until the Senate (both Dems and Repubs) told him to approve the investigation on the reports by the Intelligence officers that Russia had influence in the elections. So I guess it was Obama's fault for not listening to Senate until now right Rico?

 

[whywesteppin]

you guys will ban entire religions and countries of immigrants over a near-zero risk of a terrorist attack but you don't blink an eye when a foreign power tries to undermine our democracy and install a puppet dictator?

stop calling yourselves American.

you're a step away from being traitors.

 

[everysingletime]

do you even America, bro?

 

[EddieDoyers]

you guys will ban entire religions and countries of immigrants over a near-zero risk of a terrorist attack but you don't blink an eye when a foreign power tries to undermine our democracy and install a puppet dictator?

stop calling yourselves American.

you're a step away from being traitors.

Careful whywesteppin, he might just put you on his list!!!!!

 

[00david00]

“The lack of an administration response on the Russian hacking cannot be attributed to Congress,” said Rep. Adam B. Schiff (Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, who was at the September meeting. “The administration has all the tools it needs to respond. They have the ability to impose sanctions. They have the ability to take clandestine means. The administration has decided not to utilize them in a way that would deter the Russians, and I think that’s a problem.”

This whole dynamic has me befuddled.

1. There is evidence of Rus interference
2. The Administration knew about said evidence
3. Did nothing meaningful in response that we know of at the time. (that we know of)
4. There is that request for a report now, due on Obama's last day in office.

What are the possible consequences from findings of such a report?
Will it have an executive summary made public?

 

[rico x hood]

Well China's hacks had to do with stealing law firm data and after obama issued a warning, the hacks stopped.

Now these Russian hacks had to do with the election and Obama didn't act on it until the Senate (both Dems and Repubs) told him to approve the investigation on the reports by the Intelligence officers that Russia had influence in the elections. So I guess it was Obama's fault for not listening to Senate until now right Rico?

So you're telling me China stopped hacking us in 2015? Please say yes. I want you to say yes.

 

[whywesteppin]

he's surely compiling the list for Putin.

commies

 

[rico x hood]

you guys will ban entire religions and countries of immigrants over a near-zero risk of a terrorist attack but you don't blink an eye when a foreign power tries to undermine our democracy and install a puppet dictator?

stop calling yourselves American.

you're a step away from being traitors.

I'm not the President. Obama is the who has consistently let us down.

 

[EddieDoyers]

Well China's hacks had to do with stealing law firm data and after obama issued a warning, the hacks stopped.

Now these Russian hacks had to do with the election and Obama didn't act on it until the Senate (both Dems and Repubs) told him to approve the investigation on the reports by the Intelligence officers that Russia had influence in the elections. So I guess it was Obama's fault for not listening to Senate until now right Rico?

So you're telling me China stopped hacking us in 2015? Please say yes. I want you to say yes.

Well I haven't seen or heard any evidence that they done so past 2015. If you have a legitimate article that proves that, then I'm wrong. Happy?

 

[EddieDoyers]

“The lack of an administration response on the Russian hacking cannot be attributed to Congress,” said Rep. Adam B. Schiff (Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, who was at the September meeting. “The administration has all the tools it needs to respond. They have the ability to impose sanctions. They have the ability to take clandestine means. The administration has decided not to utilize them in a way that would deter the Russians, and I think that’s a problem.”

This whole dynamic has me befuddled.

1. There is evidence of Rus interference
2. The Administration knew about said evidence
3. Did nothing meaningful in response that we know of at the time. (that we know of)
4. There is that request for a report now, due on Obama's last day in office.

What are the possible consequences from findings of such a report?
Will it have an executive summary made public?

Going to be a lot of chaos
A lot.

 

[whywesteppin]

engage max power!